Quick post as we're off for lunch out. It's a place where I know exactly what to eat. I'm still not planning (neither the day or my food), but I spent much of the last 24 hours looking at paper planners -- ha! I ordered one this morning so I hope to get my entire life in order when it arrives later this week.

Good Morning, Coaches.

Back home from the beach and ready to "hunt bear" as they say. I did my official weigh in this morning since I have been without a scale for a week. Credit that I only gained two pounds this time. Last year I gained five. "Oh Well" to the highest number since 2009. And I was practicing Beck skills. Still I have laid a wonderful foundation and now that I am actually modifying my food, I know the number will drop.

Credit for food in MFP, planned exercise, and time/space for organizing healthy habits.
Shopped in my home for a journal that was gifted to me last year. I am using it for this month's food journal.

onebyone and curleyjax: I commented on my meal planning strategies on happysimpleliving if you look at the bottom of today's challenges.

KarenRN: It is so simple to say "I'll have water" but it is not easy. Why is that?

BBE: Still checking house for two year old tagged items. It is fun - like a treasure hunt. Thought of you and your nut passion. On the to do list this week is to shell 30 pounds of our pecans.

Lexxiss: How do you make your salmon salad?

nationalparker:I have a tremendous gratitude for my extra few days of vacation. Everything seems so much more manageable if I don't have to go to work.

MaryAnn Your beach time sounds great, and only 2 pounds instead of 5 sounds like progress.

NationalParker Sorry your Florida trip had to end but it sounds as if it was well worth the time, effort and money. Safe travels the rest of the way.

Credit: Eating healthy again. CREDIT: Tossed rest of my favorite ice cream and requested family to PLEASE DO NOT BRING IN MORE OF THAT ONE!!!! Scale shows 1 pound gain since first of December so I'm now back trying to go at least 5# lower by February.

Good afternoon coaches,

Food on plan. Today's walk was at the trailhead, while on greeter duty, back and forth to get some steps in and then at the mall. I got about 5 miles of purposeful walking in along with the usual daily stuff, credit. Food on plan, credit.

I went clothes shopping which is always frustrating. The waist on slacks is always too big and I can't get used to the narrower legs. Yes if I shopped soon enough I could have things tailored. But do I ever think of that? No. I did end up with a couple of pair of slacks one of which I will likely return and a cute top. I was really looking for a winter coat, shorter to wear with pants. I guess we don't have them here. It's a little cold right now and then I'm going to Washington. The only coats I have are a leather jacket, which isn't very warm and a rain coat, which isn't warm at all. I guess I'll layer.

I think I'll hold off on the personals. I'm a tad crabby and want to try on the clothes for dh to see what he thinks.

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Walked, CREDIT moi, to an early morning appointment with the dental hygienist - what a way to start the day. Naturally we discussed how often I flossed. Someday I'm going to floss twice a day for three months to test whether I get a different lecture. But, since I was out, I bought a Boston Globe rather than wait all day to see if it got delivered. A front page article detailed how angry its customers were because home delivery wasn't working - an article that would be of great interest to the very folks who . . . wait for it . . . can't read it because they aren't getting their papers.

Meals were on plan, CREDIT moi, nibbling continues with increased effort to keep it to the level of my planned snacks. I had a bureaucratic issue to figure out with an insurance company that their web site didn't cover. For the whole time that their telephone robot kept telling me, "Your call is important to us," I kept beating on their web site. They won. Before "The next available agent" made it to availability, I'd found my answer and hung up. Since they'd already extracted my ID, somewhere in the bowels of their system is the record that I only last so many minutes and then go away. I suspect that I'll never get an agent in less time than that in the future, LOL.


onebyone – Kudos for moving your ceramics. Kudos for moving your ceramics. Kudos for moving your ceramics. No second guessing allowed.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Ordering a paper planner is a big step.

Debbie (Lexxiss) – Kudos for only water in the midst of plenty. Drooling over your Alaskan salmon salad.

maryann - LOL at my image of you out to "hunt bear." Yay for being able to find a journal from last year. [In my childhood, we'd sit around the table shelling pecans before brownies were made. I don't think pre-shelled pecans had been invented yet, LOL.]

Karen (karenrn) - LOL at not being able to buy a winter coat in Arizona. Fly up here for a weekend - our stores are well stocked.

curlyjax - Love reading, "Candy will always be there" - so much stuff that immediately appeals is just the daily junk.

Sandy (love2garden) - Kudos, indeed, for tossing that ice cream.

Readers -

Good morning coaches,

Food on plan all day yesterday, credit. I'm heading out soon for a walk with a friend and then to the gym for my class and more walking on the TM to ensure I get my 5 miles in for the day, credit.

I tried on both pair of slacks at home and decided I will take both of them back. I still want to lose 10 pounds and then I'll worry about new slacks. In the meantime mine are a little lose, but oh well. I don't want to spend money and then find the slacks aren't right.

Bill, I hear you on the dentil hygienist. I think I started getting better reports after I started the water pic.

Love2garden I'd say one pound since December 1st is great. That will be gone in no time.

Maryann If you use MFP what is the food journal for? Just curious. My new journal is to track miles intentionally walked vs incidental daily mileage and a note or two about what I did that day. I must keep up with tracking the mileage, but who knows about the other stuff.

Gardenerjoy I like the paper planners. I guess it's just what I'm most used to.

Onebyone Credit for all the hard work you're doing. I will get with the sorting and tossing once the visitors are gone and I have more time again. I think the week at a time plan is great.

Waving to Curlyjax, Nationalparker and Lexxis as I head out the door to meet my friend.

Hi coaches!
I discovered some old rolos in my desk drawer yesterday after.and totally ignored my new candy card! And then I pilfered some from my co-worker, sheesh.
Okay, here is my new one- I do not eat candy in the morning.
There is junk around today and I will look at this card and abstain.
I find the combination of craving sugar after lunch and being bored makes it hard to resist any treats that are lying around.

But credit for resisting the urge to snack last night!

I bought a Jumble puzzle book- where you unscramble words, they used to have them in newspapers, maybe they still do? Anyhow I have been enjoying that as a mini focusing break. It forces me to think only of that task and not worry or anything.

Onebyone- I am enjoying reading your mini decluttering progress! Good job to you and Lexiss! I will try to do something on my day off, on these cold winter nights all I want to do is curl up and vegetate!

I have a 9:30 meeting at Panera. I'll have tea. I'm off to eat my real breakfast so that I'm not tempted by any food offerings there. I continue eating better and continue to not be doing some other helpful things that are normal for me, but I'll get there.

Phone check in. Credit for another OP day and a 20 min yoga - the first in 6 months. I finally can reach my hands above my head.

Karen: The food journal will be for menu planning and cooking notes/ remarks. Plus the good good memories Beck talks about. I am on a pantry challenge this month and have to plan meals around things that need rotating yet also make sure the family is getting healthy meals. So I put nutrition checks in as well. DH says to do it until March when we go to Ireland. It will be interesting how long my stock will go.

It's so good to finally be home, though the trip was a good one. I'm a terrible passenger, so many kudos to DH who never raised his voice to me while he was driving, though I know I most likely deserved it and just cannot relax while not behind the wheel. He deserves a treat of some sort, non-food, but something. Will come up with it but need to do so quickly. Missed the pets so, so much. Our standoffish cat, whom I adore and feel I have made serious strides with in the past two years, is snuggled up next to me, closing her eyes in trust that I'll stay. My heart is joyful.

Will weigh in the morning and again on the weekend - know it'll be a bit higher to normal cycle, but also know I'm going to have to adjust my ticker up and declare yet another restart bc the last one stunk. No, I stunk at the last one.

Talked to DH about WHAT he thinks we should do bc he is on board - do you want to set a calorie range that we each target for, and then he knows what I cook, what it is, so he can adjust as well, etc. I suggested he think about it and we reconnoiter on Saturday. He agreed. I said when we just lightly say we'll cut back or be more active, it just doesn't happen.

Returned home to texts from DH's ex saying she was told by the younger daughter that their older daughter is pregnant (clearly, third-hand). Oddly enough, DH and I spoke about this as a "What if" on the drive home ... what if this came to pass and hours later he received a text with it. Shocked. I had said that, if being totally honest, I did not want to raise a child with its mother in/out of its life. I've rewritten this paragraph about four times bc I sound hard-hearted, but I'm just leaving it now and closing. I'm weary and want to shut this out of my mind as it makes me sick. DH is preoccupied with it as well - we'll find out if true soon enough. The only thing is both lie like crazy about what the other is doing, so perhaps not true. I cannot handle the never-ending drama.

Goals for tomorrow - 1) weigh. 2) check in and do personals to reconnect. 3) healthy meals with fruit if hungry between a meal. 4) Journal for first since '16 started, and 5) finish putting away stuff from trip to end the day with a clean house after work.

Hi coaches!

Nationalparker, welcome home!

My evening is winding down and it looks like I will go to bed on plan for the day. Credit. I've had some frustrations today and although I've tried to deal with them via way of resolution, this evening I felt like I just wanted some kind of Comfort food. I used to resistance and talked to myself in a positive way. I ended up making a cabbage and tofu salty soup which eased my pain in a healthy way. LOL. Tomorrow is a new day and I will try for some rest tonight.

Coaches

Phone check in

Credits: dining room decluttering almost done
Kitchen being maintained
Art shows being arranged
Cooking from scratch
80% on plan
Drinking more water
Weighed in today

But
Ate 1/2 bag of snacky things
Did not exercise today

G'night.

Good Morning all!

onebyone, I'd like to suggest that decluttering/cleaning IS exercise. I had a bout of insomnia so I worked pretty hard in the house for almost 3 hours this morning. Credit. Dog beds are washed, house vacuumed and fake tree is dismantled and stored in the basement. Every step moves me forward.

Mental exercise was continuation of issue with coffee maker. I did call and find out Breville will pay shipping and will repair it for $99. If this one is not fixable they will replace it with their brand new model for free. I did a major "de-scale" on it and will give it a few days before I spend the $$.

I have a food plan for the day. Credit. Enjoy it everyone!

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Walk, CREDIT moi, happened at 8am to get a Boston Globe - without waiting to see if one eventually got delivered. In fact, it never did get delivered. Apparently, this is learn-to-appreciate-your-news-paper-person week. As a kid, I was delivering newspapers as soon as I could walk. That's almost true since I had older brothers and I wanted to help out as a very young kid. And we did it riding our bikes across people's lawns which was great fun.

Meals on plan, CREDIT moi, snacks just slightly over plan. Evening snack was a California Navel Orange - that always solves the desire for evening nibbles.


onebyone – Kudos for a good list of credits. I like the notion from Debbie (Lexxiss) that decluttering is exercise.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Yay for a plan for Panera. Yesterday, five seed catalogs arrived in the same mail delivery - perfectly timed to that feeling of despair when the ground is frozen solid.

Debbie (Lexxiss) – Many Kudos for finding an alternative to Comfort Food.

maryann - I'm inspired by your pantry challenge - it would be great if we never let food sit until it expired.

nationalparker – Welcome home from warm sunny Florida. Reality is harsh - not "hard-hearted." Sending supportive thoughts as you're forced to struggle with the idea that this could be so.

Karen (karenrn) - Smart to feel enough respect to take back trousers that don't make you feel good.

curlyjax - Kudos for choosing that Jumble puzzle book for mini breaks.

Readers -

Morning coaches!
It's supposed to be warmer today thankfully. I don't know how our ancestors survived these long winters without tv, internet, phones, huge variety of books etc to amuse them. I guess they went to bed early

Sugar is calling me strongly these days!! I am home today and there is very little temptations currently here, plus I have lots to do and won't be bored, so I should do okay.
I am planning to take DS to gym right after school since we have the time to do that for once. We had planned to stop membership as we haven't gone for months, but will try it a few months more in the winter and make a push to go.

Maryann- I saw your food post in the happysimplelivng website- very impressive with a lot of cool sounding stuff!
Lexiss- good job on resistance, and cabbage tofu soup too!

I need to make myself get going and do something productive, so bid you all good day!