Diet Coaches/Buddies - A long slow day with no major events or accomplishments. Life should have more of these.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, with grilled never-frozen salmon for dinner. Have no idea how Whole Foods got salmon here without freezing it first. Me thinks someone has fibbed, LOL.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Glad that you avoided being blindsided by emotional stuff at your meeting.

Karen (karenrn) - Sobering to be reminded that a 7 1/2 mile hike isn't a long one for you.

Penny. - I guess that Arlo Guthrie once had his second banjo lesson and he won a Nobel Prize. You're on your way.

Readers -

Good morning coaches,

Food was on plan and weight very slightly down. Wouldn't it be nice if it would swoosh down as quickly as it jumps up? Yesterday I took Otis to the park for a walk and then went for a hike. I will say I didn't feel like going, but of course once I did I was happy I did. My friend is here until tomorrow, so I won't go hiking today but will take Otis out for a walk for some exercise. I'm feeling very motivated, but I'm sure my portion sizes are a little too large. No drinks for 3 days, so that is a good start. It isn't that it is enough to change the way I feel, but between the 200 calories for the drinks and some peanut butter on my waffle in the morning I know I was adding 300 to 400 calories a day. That means 30 to 40 pounds in a year without any other changes. Not good! So, I'm trying to rein in those things that were slipping in to the daily plan.

Bill I have quite a few of those days with no major events or accomplishments. Mostly I like it, but sometimes it's a little boring.
Penny Have fun with your banjo and lessons.
GardenerJoy I'm glad the meeting was more intellectual than emotional.
Maryann I'm hoping your week is going okay. I'm sure it isn't easy with jet lag still in the mix.
Curlyjax How is work going this week, and how are you?

No big plans for me today, but maybe my friend and I will take in a movie. You all have a good day!

Food was OP. Credit. Weight is trending down as expected after a vacation filled with restaurant food and an airplane flight. Still it feels good to log in the lower number. I am waking too early but being productive. Hopefully this weekend I will catch up.

I made some chicken broth and had it as an afternoon snack so dinner was smaller. The book Volumetrics talks about having lots of soups to fill up on. Maybe I’ll try that more often while it is so cold.

Gardenerjoy: I have to get out of my head often. The hamster in there won’t stop running on the treadmill and it helps no one.
Karen: sobering to think what an extra 400 calories can do.
Penny: Credit for doing the Beck principal of trying new things.

Wave to all.

Good morning!

Yesterday was on plan and weight is not budging. Maybe tomorrow is the day.

Have a great day, everyone!

Today is off to an awkward start. We had an early breakfast before meeting MiL at a doctor's office. Things went about as well as can be expected. With a bit of luck, her vision will improve in a couple of weeks and that will be a big leap forward in quality of life for her. It's nice that we're able to work on quality of life issues, now that the more scary stuff seems to be behind us.

We came home hungry. So, we're going to have a second breakfast in a little bit. My plan is to skip my snack which will make things normal and on plan. If I get hungry in the afternoon, there's an orange in the kitchen that would take care of that.

Exercise: +40, 505/1300 minutes for January

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Exercise was chase the (4 yo) DGD day, CREDIT moi. At the Boston Museum of Science, she was mesmerized by an African Bullfrog at the science demonstration. It was humongous - they get to be 2 kg. In a room filled with 150 grade school kids, she raised her hand and loudly answered a question from the docent, "Salamander." I was snowed watching from the back of the room. She's never shown that much confidence to speak out in a public crowd. Turns out that she'd asked her grandmom for the answer, LOL. Have to give her credit for that.

Lunch was a bowl that included kibbeh over lettuce and everything Mediterranean that can be gathered, including olives, feta cheese, and chopped veggies. Really good; certainly good for me; plausibly calorie limited. The other option was to be over a thick loaf of pita bread that looked heavenly with all the carbs that made it look so good.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Glad that your MIL's vision is improving enough that you can now think of the quality of life issues.

maryann - Thanks for the reminder that soups are filling while often being nutritious and low cal.

Karen (karenrn) - Neat to calculate the weight gain of small calories consumed daily.

Penny. - Weight does seem to have its own schedule for moving.

Readers -

Quick wave. I've decided to let myself sleep until 6:30 instead of getting up at 6 during the week, and now i'm running late everyday so i haven't been posting. I need to get myself more organized at night if I want to continue this. I was spending too much time online in the morning so its better for me to sleep in.
I've been staying on plan during the day at work which is great, but falling apart at night eating sweets and chips. A couple of emotional eating days so I need to stop that.

Yesterday was another OP day. I will not take it for granted. Weight has dropped another portion of a pound. I now feel my first goal of dipping back into the 60s within the next two weeks is reasonable. Tomorrow will be my official WW weighin and then I am really going to try and not weigh for a week. It will be a challenge but I want to see what happens.

I put another new food into the rotation - air popped popcorn. I know some people go off the rails with this but it is just not that fascinating to me. A little goes a long way.

School today has a modified schedule and I need to adjust. Kids are always a little wacko. On days like today I feel I am not teaching government but socialization. Sigh!

Glad everybody checks in. It really helps.

I woke up tired this morning. That's mostly remarkable because it's fairly rare for me these days, but it used to be fairly regular. There's a danger in attempting to cure fatigue with food.

I've already made one good choice -- I got started prepping cabbage salad for my lunch at breakfast. The alternative was a trip to the grocery store to fetch a few things, plus a salad bar. Who knows what trouble I could get into there? So, I'm pleased that I'll stay at home for meals.

My only outing today is a book club meeting tonight, so I'm aiming for a fairly low-energy day, conserving some reserves for tonight.

Exercise: +60, 565/1300 minutes for January

maryann: socialization is a skill set that I sometimes wish to see more of in adults, so I'm sending hope and energy toward your lessons today

Good morning!

Late night eating happened again and weight is holding in the bad range. I am meeting with a contractor to look at two bathrooms with bad, leaking tiles in the showers. Fingers crossed it won't cost more than my mind thinks reasonable within our available funds. I hate going in without even a ballpark estimate for what these things should cost.

Bill, DGD sounds very brave to speak up like that!

Curly, I hope the extra sleep makes for a better day.

Maryann, good luck with the rowdy kids. Credit for eating on plan.

Joy, avoiding the store and staying home sounds like a win to me.

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Walked, CREDIT moi, to the subway to get to Boston's Old South Meeting House to hear Jill Lepore speak of Jane Franklin's Spectacles. The Old South Meeting House holds a special place in the American Revolution. Ben Franklin was born in the house across the street. His younger sister, Jane, lived there her whole life. Seems that in those days, the only 'glasses' worn were spectacles for reading the fine print of books. Ben sent sister Jane a box of spectacles for her to select the ones that fit her eyes. Lepore wrote Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin. I now know more about Jane than I ever thought possible - especially since I'd never heard of her before.

Eating was good enough, CREDIT moi. Dinner was a quick bowl of leftovers since we had to leave early for our evening. I'm still eating all my snacks; I do better when I skip them all, or at least skip all but one of them.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Understand: I'm capable of getting into a LOT of trouble at a salad bar.

maryann - I join the chorus: if you're succeeding at teaching socialization, you're making a huge contribution. DW dug out one bag of popcorn from her last pantry clean. It sits on the kitchen counter for me to eat or toss. I want to eat it, but don't want to eat ALL of it. Trying to figure out how to invite someone over to have half a bag of popcorn.

curlyjax - Kudos for staying on plan during your work day - especially since you have a bunch of time in your car.

Penny. - Hope your bathroom estimates are satisfying. The cost of bathroom work always surprises me.

Readers -

I'm posting quickly at work while I'm waiting to talk to someone. Fridays are usually pretty slow, and i'm learning to embrace that. I have told my supervisors that, so i shouldn't get in trouble if they think i'm not doing enough, i have been honest, and offered to help in other ways. Probably a good day to do some planning/reading, but there is a limit to how much of that i can do . Anyhow-yesterday i broke my resolution to not eat sweets during the day, and stoppped at a fabulous chocolate shop that is close to one of my sites. It's so cold out and i felt kind of bleagh, just craving chocolate. anyhow, back to on program today. I went out to eat with a friend last night and brought almost half of the meal home.
tonight i'm having dinner at a friend's house and she's on WW so i know i won't overindulge.
Penny- good luck with that estimate! I have terrible shower tiles too, am putting off dealing with it.

Good Morning, Coaches.

Yesterday was slightly over plan. Today is official weighin day. I have changed my stats and put the scale far away in the cabinet. Out of sight, out of mind. I have planned my food for the day. I am determined to exercise on bike this afternoon with yoga tomorrow. I went to bed at 7 pm yesterday exhausted. I don't know if I am playing catchup, have a low grade illness or just experiencing a mild depression. I feel better this morning, though, and glad I have a plan. Off to work.

Good morning!

Yesterday was the same maintenance eating.

The contractor took a look at the bathrooms and will have the bid to me early next week. Still nervous about what it's going to cost.

Bill, interesting about the Franklins and the history of glasses.

Curly, have a great day at work. At least you will certainly get finished on time.

Maryann, maybe you are still recovering from the time change from travel. That always takes a while for me.

Good morning coaches,

My friend left yesterday afternoon, but I seemed to use her time here as an excuse to have a few drinks and overeat and the scale shows it. Heading in the wrong direction. We did see two movies, Little Women and Just Mercy. Both of them were very good. She will be here quite a few days within the next week, so I'm planning how I'm going to make sure I don't use that as an excuse to eat off my plan. The two things I've thought of are to share my plan with her and also to think about how what portions my future self at goal weight would be eating. I'll let you know how that goes. I'm going to get my lazy dog up soon and take him for a walk. Not sure about more exercise, but maybe a hike for me after that.

Penny I hope the estimate is not too bad. I hate things like that too.
Maryann I was going to say the same thing as Penny. I would think your jet lag could still be in play. Take care.
Curlyjax It's nice that you are getting together with friends.
Bill The speech about Jane Franklin sounds very interesting and it's so nice that you can get there with walking and the subway. I see on my weather ap that you are much colder than we are now.
GardenerJoy I hope the tiredness has passed.

I've been on a cycle of falling asleep way too early and waking up way to early. I think I'm going to take a nap this afternoon and then try to stay awake until a reasonable hour. Hopefully that will get me reset.

You all have a great day!