I said that when I started Phase 2 of the South Beach Diet, I would move my journal over here. So, that's what I'm doing.

I've come to a conclusion, of sorts. Dieting has always seemed odd to me. How can NOT doing something (as in, NOT putting that food in your mouth) be helpful? Okay, I'm not suggesting that this is exactly rational thinking, but it is the point that's been tripping me up. So, I'm just going to work with my mental block. I'm going to think up positive things that I can be doing that will push me towards my goals. I'm going to get out of my own way.

Moreover, my goals are more than "merely" weight loss -not that weight loss alone isn't entirely challenge enough. No sirree, Bob. I have to make it harder. But I do think there are other issues of appearance and "bearing" and even health that are linked to this weight.

So, the plan is this: 52 weeks to a more fit, more attractive (less unattractive), lighter me. One week at a time.

This week's weight loss goals: don't eat after 7, stick to South Beach diet, Phase 2, exercise 500 minutes.
Health goals: make an eye doctor appointment; start taking thyroid medicine again
Appearance goals: make a haircut appointment

So far, I've stuck with the diet. barring breaking a leg or something, I'll make my exercise goal, and I've been pretty good, not perfect, about eating after 7.

I did make an eye doctor appointment, but haven't taken care of the thyroid medication. I can do that today.

And I haven't made a hair cut appointment. re-commiting to that.

Here we go!
Andrea

SO GOOD TO HAVE YOUR SMILING FACE AMONGST US!!!!:D

I love your thought organization. Yours is, as always, a soothing rational voice. I love it :)

Your plan sounds good. I should use your plan to keep on track. We are close to the same height but you are more ambitious than I am. Hope you make it to 110. I haven't seen that in many, many years.

Carol

Hi Andrea,
now that we have you back at the exercise challenge, i will make sure you stay there by checking in here with you too :)
i like having you around as you always push the rest of us to achieve our best also!
i like your way of thinking...weight loss isnt where it starts and finishes you are right about that! Looking at other goals along the way is a great idea...
Since making goal i have turned my attention to fitness based goals to keep me motivated...
I wish you much success with SBD Phase 2...i will be interested to read how you find it...i still am a bit clueless about SBD really..
hugs bell :)

Wow, thanks for the moral support, sweeties. I assumed I'd be talking to myself here. (Not all that unusual now that I think about it!)

So, yesterday's tasks to move me forward. I got one of my thyroid medicines and actually remembered to take it. I also realized that there is much research to be done before I make a treatment decision, and possibly opt for still MORE medicine. So, doing that personal research needs to go on my list so I can make an informed decision. Fortunately, my doctor tells me that nothing terrible will happen if I putter around for 6 weeks making a decision, so I have the luxury of time.

I exercised: 45 minutes of circuit training, which brings me within shouting distance of my goal of 500 minutes. So, today I'll meet that goal.

The haircut appointment still isn't made.

And I realized that, being me, I need to build some kind of non-food rewards into this system. I'm actually a 2-year-old in a 45-year-old's body, apparently. I want this new "plan" (mostly an undeveloped plan at this point) to be a celebratory thing -charting a course to something good, but having fun in the process. So, today I'll think more about treats I can earn with my good -and admittedly slightly goofy- behavior.

Today's plan: yoga with a friend and swimming; make the haircut appointment; buy a new workout DVD, because I'm in the mood for some retail therapy; stay on the South Beach Diet; take medicine. We may be having people over tonight, so I might give myself a pass on the no-food after-7 thing. They won't get here until 6:30 and I KNOW me. Dinner won't be ready when they get here. I'll still eat well, but later than usual. The world will not end....

That's all for now. I have to get dressed so my poor yoga-friend isn't treated to the sight of me in my jammies and with chicken-hair. Even friendship can't withstand THAT!

Another day of fitness and celebration!

Andrea

Oh man! Diet meltdown yesterday. We did have people over and they stayed until the wee hours of the morning -and we were eating and drinking the whole time. While we solved all of the world's problems, you understand :o

So, it's back to Phase 1 for a few days while I undo the damage I've done. I don't mind so much. I'll stay on Phase 1 until I'm safely back at 134. I guess I can eat a few more eggs :c(

While I was avoiding cleaning and cooking, I puttered around with goals and rewards and plans. I love making plans. I don't always follow through on those plans, but the making of them is delightful. Here's what I came up with:

Social Health: have people over; journal here; coffee with friends; knitting group; book discussion group

Physical Health; back to Phase 1 until safely at 134; take thyroid medication; create March workout rotation; make a meal plan for the week; make the darn haircut appointment; stope ating before 7

Intellectual Health: work stuff; book discussion group; reading

Emotional Health: journaling, practice integrity, do something fun and out of the house every day; tend to creative projects such as knitting; date-night with Dave

Spiritual Health: yoga and meditation; book discussion group; church is in the "maybe" category -must muse on that some more

Reward: buy Cathe's Slow and Heavy DVD; make some DVD trades for more interesting workouts

So, I cheated a bit, since some of this stuff is already done. But basically that's the plan for the upcoming week. I'll be busy!

Feedback is welcome!

Andrea

:) You know what's funny...Over the last several years I've been able to look at my dissatisfaction and point to the cause of it being a lack of balance. And the areas of my life that I pinpointed were very similar to those you've outlined. I had it as, physical, emotional(to include intimacy), intellectual, creative, spiritual (here I includided musical enjoyment), and social.

And I still feel it holds true, if I'm falling short in any one of these areas, I feel off kilter.

Being as I am, I may "overdose" on one area at any given time, but over the course of, say, a "quarter" If I didn't do *something* to nurture all of these aspects, I'm just sort of.....funky...

thanks for reaffirming that my idea had merit!! Alot of my friends thought I was "out there" when I tried to describe this. Your organization makes it more clear!

Have a great Sunday! (note--eggs, mushrooms, spinach, and fresh mozzerella, omeletted together with a tiny bit of garlic (I used garlic-infused olive oil) and some seasoning salt, was actually quite palettable. If you like all the listed ingredients :) )

Hi Andrea- balance is very important...sometimes i find myself going into hibernate mode where i stick to my own company too much...i need to find/juggle my life so as to make time for physical/mental/spiritual needs...glad to see i am not alone in that thinking...
So whats the exercise goal/minutes for the coming month...i need to know what i am in for!
hugs bell :)

hmmm.... I think I'm setting goals week-by-week. This week I'm going for 525 minutes of exercise. If I don't increase across the weeks (which secretly I want to do), that will be 2100 minutes of exercise for March. I think that's possible. If not, I'll adjust.

Andrea

I got on the scale this morning. I squinted, peeked between my fingers, braced myself..... and it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. It isn't the 134 I was hoping for by the end of February, but I was afraid I'd sent myself way the heck over the top. So, the bottom line is I'm back on Phase 1 until I've lost two more pounds.

And I'm also picking up the exercise pace a bit with more traditional weight work and more step. I've been doing a lot of yoga and swimming, but I'm not sure they're enough to really burn up the calories -at least the way I do them. So, the workout plan for the week is: yoga every day, because I don't think I can get out of bed without it, step three times this week, swimming twice this week, one upper body weight workout, one lower body weight workout, and one total body weight workout

In terms of my other goals, the tasks for today are:
* take thyroid medication (I forgot yesterday.)
*make the haircut appointment
* errands of bank, post office, video store, and grocery store
*before I go to the grocery store, I'll make a meal plan
* knitting on this sock I'm making for me -I'll do the heel flap, turn the heel, and finish the gusset today -probably during N's hockey game
* exercise
* journaling
* reading
* writing
* sew a knitted hat together
*collect ideas for the knitter's guild newsletter that I said I'd do

Between working and maybe actually cleaning something and/or doing some laundry, it looks like a busy day. So, I should get to work.

And I should remember to keep this FUN. This is all supposed to be a celebration of the person who lives inside me -the person that all this work is trying to make visible to the rest of the world. So, it's not a "nose to the grindstone" "my way or the highway" kind of project. It's more like a carnival, with balloons and party streamers and silly Bozo noses. If I keep it light-hearted, I'll enjoy the process, and I'm more likely to succeed!

Andrea

balloons and Bozo noses may be a bit OTT in my world. But a good belly laugh is always welcome :)

Well, I'm not LITERALLY doing Bozo noses, in case you were worried. It's just that I'm very capable of turning this project into some kind of grim, ascetic nastiness -and that's not me, at all. And I don't have the strength of character for much ascetism, I'm afraid. This needs to be fun and more consistent with who I really am. Or that's what I'm aiming for, anyway.

I only had an okay day yesterday. I did meet most of my goals for the day, but came spectacularly unglued in the diet department. I think I've safely removed (by eating!) :o all the food I'm not supposed to have. I went to the grocery store last night and spent a fortune on fresh veggies, etc... that will help me stick to a more appropriate diet. I also know that I can NOT let myself get too hungry on this diet. When I do that, I just start grabbing all the food that's not nailed down. And that's what happened yesterday.

Today's tasks:
book group tonight => clean the living room, finish the reading
finish knitting the sock or at least finish up to the toe
do some work-related reading
Upper Body Yoga
Jay's Step Revival
Gilad's abs
take thyroid medication


That's enough......


Andrea

they sound like very sound plans, Andrea! Hope you make it a great one :)

Hello. Thanks for being such a great support! I giggled at your goal of being less unattractive! haha That SO sounds like me. heh heh On a more serious note, I see you are a humongous list maker for self improvement (also, comme moi). I'm taking my first baby steps at not having zillions of goals and I'm going thru list withdrawal, I think. I've made it two months now and I'm only mildly going insane. Have your lists helped? The jury's still out on mine. I tend to get in the mode where even the fun stuff feels like work. It's so hard to just live (for me). I'd love to find out what your experiences have been.

Hmmm.... I don't know if my lists are really working or not. I confess to having pretty much daily dietary failures. So they certainly don't prevent that from happening. They do make sure that I don't obsess on one area of my life at the expense of others. They remind me to stretch myself a little. What they won't do is rescue me if I'm in just a hugely bad mood re: my weight or fitness level.... or just a hormonal snit. Then I just ignore the list altogether, or worse-let it make me feel like a failure.

And OH!! WOE to the person who makes a list for me. This is something I must do for myself. My poor husband tried it once. Let's just say he hasn't had the courage to try THAT again ;)

Maybe what's working is the combination of the list and posting it semi-publicly. There's some accountability built in that way.

Honestly, the answer is "I don't know if it's helping or not." I do know that I really want to lose this weight -dietary lapses notwithstanding- and improve my general health and appearance -and I'm grasping at anything that will keep me focused on those goals.

Andrea

Okay, my weight is back down to where it was pre-diet blowing dinner party. Now, it's on with the regular show.

I have my meal plans, and my marching orders for the day. I've got my attitude adjustment semi-firmly in place. I have a plan for some exercise. And I'm just focusing on losing the next pound. Just the one. Surely I can do THAT!!!!!

Tasks for the day:

Creative: wash and block new blue sweater
assemble brown lace sweater that I've already blocked
work on baby booties for my brother and his wife's new baby
Physical: stay on-plan
Yoga Quickie
swimming tonight
Firm Volume 6 for some weight training (easy-ish)
General Life-Stuff: mend Nicholas's jeans
errand to the post office
buy a new sump pump :( How fun is THAT?????
Spiritual: yoga and journaling
Emotional: journaling and time with Dave
Intellectual: reading for book group (over lunch, I guess)
Social: just regular stuff, including hanging out here

Well, that looks like a list that is too long. So, I guess I'd better get to work. I'll start with yoga and then head out to work -and I'll remember to take my book-club book with me. If the weather is nice, maybe I can sit out on the quad and read during my lunch hour. It's pretty gray and chilly now, but I can dream....

Andrea

I was a raging hormonal maniac yesterday, and didn't want to do anything that I was supposed to do. I get that way sometimes. Unattractive, but true.

I did get a few things from the list done, but not everything by any means. There is a vague sense, though, that I'm moving forward in various "stuck" areas of my life, so that's a good thing. But gracious, it's hard work!

I'm giving myself permission today to slide over into Phase 2 of the South Beach diet again. I went back to phase 1 to recover from the dinner party, but that weight re-gained has now been re-lost. So, it's onward and downward, I hope.

Unfinished Business I'm hoping to address today:
block blue sweater
assemble brown sweater
finish baby booties
mend Nicholas's jeans
reading
Knitters' Guild newsletter
journaling
writing
proof-reading
there's a crisis a-brewing in the basement -stuff that needs to be taken to Goodwill, and piles of stuff that I don't even know what they are. I hereby pledge to deal with one pile of junk and get it hauled out of the house.

Raging hormonal maniac? Here? At DT? Are you kidding me? Are you f'in kidding me?????

Pffft.

If we were worried about seeming unattractive, we wouldn't be here!!! hahaha Isn't it great to be somewhere where being a HUGELY HORMONAL HELLION is a fun thing???

hee hee hee

You are doing great, Andrea! Congrats on getting the post-dinner weight off! AND for graduating again to Phase 2!!!

:super:

Hello Andrea
I didn't realize you were a knitter! How nice! I love knitting, and these days I wish I had more time to do some.
I love the warm feeling in my hands when I hold a knit.

Knitting is my therapy! I do it when I really should be doing other things. I buy yarn when I shouldn't. I plan projects when meetings get boring. I'm pretty much a basket case -but you knew that ;)

Well, work is over for the week. Thank God! And now the little darlings are off on spring break, and we can get some actual work done! But it IS a little late in the day to set goals, I suppose. I'd like to get some more exercise in, but I doubt it's going to happen.

I did finish the brown lace sweater (although it needs blocking and to have the pewter clasps sewn on).
I finished the baby booties -that took half an hour, but done is done!
I started a new chocoalte brown sweater for me, but I'm still figuring out gauge issues, so I didn't get very far at all.

SIgh... pretty much nothing else from yesterday's list got done. But tomorrow is another day. A friend is coming over to do yoga in the morning. I'll just get as far on these projects that I have listed as I can.

Andrea

Morning yoga is done, and now I'm musing on the next right step. The house is a pit, so that clearly has to be addressed. There are errands to run. There is knitting that I want to do, reading that I ought to do, and unfinished tasks in pretty much every area of my life. Dont you just love the weekends?????

I think it's going to be a one step at a time kind of day....Just do the next right thing..... which is start laundry, and then I can exercise while the washer uses up all the hot water. When it's done, the hot water will be back and I can shower and start running errands.

That works for now...

Oh yeah... eating, dieting... how are we going to take care of that today? So far I've had whole wheat/flax seed cereal and skim milk and green tea. Chili is on the schedule for tonight. I guess lunch will be a big Greek salad and maybe a few spears of asparagus. That sounds reasonable enough, right?

Andrea

Clean eating rotation:

These are just random thoughts.... ways that I can improve my diet, one small step at a time...

Week 1: stop eating before 7 -I was pretty good about this. Not perfect
Week 2: increase water consumption by having a glass with lunch and one bottle during exercise
Week 3: add another glass of water at dinner
Week 4: Evaluate... you haven't slipped up on the whole grains/healthy carbs thing have you?
Week 5: add a high fiber food -this week it will be tabbouli for lunch salad since bulgur is high in fiber and a-ok on South Beach
Week 6: no carbs after 4
Week 7: be sure you're eating chicken breasts and fish at least once a week :(
Week 8: increase fish to twice a week
Week 9: aim for 40-30-30 ratio of protein, carbs, and fat
Week 10: add old-fashioned oatmeal into the breakfast plan -top with a few strawberries. -high fiber, low glycemic index, everybody wins
Week 11: add grapefruit to breakfast plan, for the same reasons

breakfast now looks like this:
Sunday: pretty much none
Monday: eggs
Tuesday: oatmeal with berries
Wednesday: half a grapefruit
Thursday: the other half grapefruit
Friday: Uncle Sam's high fiber cereal
Saturday: fruit smoothie with low-carb yogurt and fresh/frozen fruit of choice

Week 12: add a small juice-glass of cranberry juice for breakfast twice a week
Week 13: whole wheat pasta OR brown rice in a week, but not both
Week 14: one cup of decaffeinated green tea per day
Week 15: Evaluate... where have you slipped up and need to devote another week to practicing this new habit?

Well, it's not 52 weeks, but it's a start. I never do fast food as it is. I never salt anything, pretty much. (I just threw away a box of salt that was dated 1998, so I guess that tells me something.) I pretty much don't use convenience foods, but that would be a good place to do some monitoring. I hate eating meat, but I really do need to increase the protein a bit. I need to add something about general quantity of food. Like maybe no seconds or set snack times and then no other eating between meals or some such thing. I'll have to keep after the water issue. Anyway, these ideas will get me through the summer -or almost, anyway.

i like your random thoughts Andrea..while reading them gave me some food for thought about my own eating routine...i will be glad when the weather gets cooler here so i can get back into my oatmeal with fruit for breakfast..
Hope you have a productive weekend, sounds like you have plenty to keep you busy!
hugs bell :)

I'm sitting here with a glass of water, so I'm at least trying to meet my new clean-eating goal. Of course, I've already had a little South Beach oops today :( I ate a blueberry bagel with some margarine. Shame on me.

But I've collected myself and I'm willing to stay on the straight and narrow for the rest of the day. I'm making my charts and plans for the week, so that I can do something, as opposed to not doing something, that moves me towards my goals. I'm terrible about dieting -just really terrible. But I figure if I fill myself up with good foods and water, that's at least better than some choices I could have made.

First stab at the week's goals:

Physical: eye doctor appoinment, get help making the glasses vs. contacts decision, hair cut and color appointment, thyroid medication, lose one more pound -which should happen if there's a 500 calorie deficit every day, 6 yoga workouts, 5 cardio workouts, 3 weight/strength sessions, make a meal plan for the week, manicure and pedicure

Social: Victoria's birthday, schedule time with an out of town friend, knitting group, social worker group, book clubs, dinner with friends who have out of town guests

Emotional Health: fun time out of the house every single day, even if it's just going to get coffee somewhere, journaling

Intellectual Health, writing, reading, book clubs, proof reading

Spiritual Health: yoga and meditation, journaling, reading

Creative Goals: sewing green skirt, alter the jacket that goes with it, make sure I have shoes that work with this new outfit, start knitting chocolate-brown sweater for me, find fabric for making quilted table runner. I'm sure I have something already :o

Homemaking Projects: wash, prime. paint kitchen cupboards. Sounds like a bigger deal than it is. There are hardly any cupboards in my stupid kitchen. I'm also going to choose new door hardware. FUN! and renew my passport

Well, clearly I've over-scheduled myself. But, if I get ANY part of this list done, I still will have moved myself towards a healthier, more graceful me.

And this glass of water is almost gone, so that's probably a signal that it's time to get to work.

The sun is shining and the birds are singing. Spring might actually be coming to the frozen North! Silly as it is, these things give me hope that this is going to be a good day. And that in spite of the fact that my weight is back up a bit. I KNOW it's because Dave and I went out for dinner late last night. I KNOW a day or two of being careful will eliminate it. But I am a bit aggravated that I keep losing and then finding this same pound. It's all a gentle process of changing and cleaning up my eating habits, right? Geez, I hope so. Today is a yoga and cardio day, so maybe the pound will actually be gone tomorrow morning. crossing all my fingers and toes....

Andrea

I was reading Chum's journal, where she was teasing us about feeling suicidal about a slight weight gain. Okay, I DO NOT feel suicidal, but I do feel very discouraged. My weight is up a bit, even though I did pretty much everything right yesterday. But these things don't happen out of thin air, right??

I can think of several possible explanations, I suppose. I did eat more carbs than usual. Completely healthy and on-plan carbs -flax-seed and bran cereal, 100% whole wheat bread, AND brown rice.... and maybe I just can't have that many carbs in one day. Or maybe there was hidden salt somewhere and I'm retaining water -although the bread was the only place where there was any salt. Or maybe my completely unpredictable and erratic cycle is taking over and I'm retaining water for that reason.

Whatever.... the question is how to work around these things? I exercise at least an hour every day, closer to 1.5 - 2 hours more days than not. I keep my calories between 1500 and 1800, with the occasional splurge up to 2000. I've been pretty good about staying on the South Beach Diet. This should work, right? How long do I have to wait?

Andrea

I had alot of South Beach "issues"--the debilitating guilt over eating a piece of fruit or bread, for one; the fear that any one of these "transgressions" would put me over the top on the scale. Geeze, it's food, for Pete's sake. A blueberry bagel, nice supper out, homemade bread---these are not "bad" things. An overabundance of these items may not be so great but...oh well. :shrug:

I guess in my mind now, I have the questions going on, do I now begin eating like an "athlete?" or do I continue to follow the majority of South Beach Phase Two tenets that I have been?

But it's your journal. It just spiked these thoughts.

I think you're doing awesome. You're healthy, you're well, and you're figuring out a "lighter" way of being. It's all good, right?

It's another beautiful almost-spring day here. I woke up this morning to hear birds singing -a sure sign that spring really is coming to the frozen north... and then there was the new public health report that obesity is rivaling tobacco as the leading cause of death in this country.

Of course, everyone dies of SOMETHING, so there will always be a leading cause of death. What we ought to be interested in is the leading cause of PREMATURE death... but tobacco, obesity, and cars would still be highly implicated here, I imagine. But the intervention plans, while undoubtedly sensible, make me grouchy. Eat less... move more....

Okay, I'm doing that. And, of course, I've never struggled with obesity, so I should probably just shut up. But what should I do???? What are the guidelines for people like me? Clearly a bit overweight... clearly that could have health consequences.... But already moving a lot and eating... semi-well. Grump...grump...grump...

It's too pretty a day to sustain a grumpy mood ;) I'll just try to have another on-plan day, with lots of good exercise, remember to drink some water, and really REALLY try to get this late-night eating stopped.

Andrea

Hi Andrea!
I relate to the night snacking thingy.
What a tricky habit to break!
A friend of mine just settles for 1/2 cup of cereal with milk right before bed (she is on WW) and she is doing fine.
Good job on the exercise!

I've just been having a piece of whole wheat bread as my late night snack -and the craving for it is much stronger if I've pulled a hard-exercise session late at night. (Late, meaning 10:30 or so; I'm not much of a night owl!) I'm really just struggling to figure out why the weight is budging so slowly, and that's a place I could be doing better, for sure. Perhaps a piece of fruit before exercising would be better than bread afterwards. I have no idea.

Andrea

Okay, the scale has finally budged a bit. I'm going to wait until I've seen this number for a few days before changing my stats, though. I exercised a LOT yesterday, and the hormonal dam burst -so to speak. So, I guess everything conspired to budge the scale -finally!!!

The down-side to this is that I'm lethargic and crampy today. At least I know that I won't over-eat!

Oh my! yesterday was a blow-out. It was DD-22's birthday celebration and I kind of over-did it in the eating department and under-did it in the exercise department. I was afraid to get on the scale this morning. I'm hoping that whatever damage I've done will go away quickly when I revert -as I already have- to eating well and exercising.

I'm going to be stern with myself today re: food and exercise and weigh in tomorrow morning, on my regular schedule. Today's it's South Beach Phase 1 for a day -no big deal- and yoga, step, ab work, and possibly a short bike ride, if the weather perks up, for exercise.

I have the house to myself today, which is kind of nice. I hate to be selfish, but a day of peace and quiet is a treat. I'm going to work some more on scrubbing the kitchen cupboards so that I can prime them. Yesterday, I chose new hardware for the drawer pulls and the cabinet handles. It's nothing really fancy, but it's new and shiny and I like it. But before I can install the hardware I have to paint the darn things.

So, back to the salt mines for me....

Andrea

It's a sunny, pretty day here in the heartland. The weather guy tells me it's cold -I haven't been outside yet- but at least there's some sun. That always gives me hope!

I was looking over my goals from when I started this journal. Since I started, I've broken through a years-long weight plateau -broken through by one pound, but gone is gone. Right? I've gotten new glasses, re-started taking my thyroid medicine, started painting the kitchen cabinets, started implementing a clean-eating plan... and probably some other stuff. That's not bad.

I think I'm devoting this week to solidifying these habits, rather than adding new ones. It's starting to feel like I'm adding so much that I'm going to lose track of all the balls I have in the air. Not that it's really so many things, but it's so many NEW things. Which means I have to think about them all the time. I want them to become as solid in my daily routine as exercise is.

Therefore, this week I'm devoting to:
regular exercise -the pool re-opens, thank goodness!
not eating after 7
sticking with South Beach, Phase 2
drinking 3 glasses of water daily
taking my thyroid medicine
finishing the kitchen cupboards
and all my regular work stuff and regular leisure-time activities.

It's a plan!
Andrea

YAY!!!!! Busted that Nasty Plateau!!!!! Where have *I* been?

And, as always, your plan sounds mahhhhvellous.

happy days, happy sun, happy happy.

Wow. That is an amazing feat -- breaking a YEARs LONG PLATEAU!!!!! I could use some of that energy. In many areas, ahem. You must be so excited! You always seem to have a lot going on and never seem to be bored. I've always been a bit TOO fond of time spent doing NOTHING. Kind of embarrassing, but true. Oh well. I also do lots of stuff like reading and watching films and seeing music and writing and travelling and stuff but I truly treasure my time of nothingness. hahaha Do you ever have times like that?

Well, hope it went well!!!!

Well, I was pretty quiet about the plateau-busting because I was afraid it wasn't real. I'm STILL afraid it wasn't real. I've snuck back up over 135 once or twice -after DD's birthday blow-out, for example. But so far, I've been able to get it back down to 134. Cross your fingers and toes!

And Chum, I don't know that I get a lot done. A llot of going to work, a very little house cleaning, some exercise, some knitting or reading, go to bed, get up in the morning and do it again. It's just that I have to make lists for myself or I'm always doing the urgent things and somehow the important things keep getting pushed off to the side. I have plenty of time that's very quiet. I'm not sure that I LIKE that, but it's the way my life is structured these days -and it's probably good for me.

Today was kind of an eating blow-out day. Not a lot of food and not a lot of calories -but the food there was wasn't GOOD food. This is what happens when I don't plan. All hell breaks loose, that's what! So, humbly re-committing to a meal plan and actually COOKING tomorrow.

Andrea

I thought I might be down another pound this morning, but I wasn't. Oh well. I didn't really EARN it, after all. Today I'm going to eat more carefully. I've already had scrambled eggs, with some chopped up broccoli -no added fat, no cheese- this morning. And I've committed myself to fish tonight, with some steamed asparagus -because that needs to be used up. Lunch is always an issue, but I'm thinking in terms of a Caesar salad -no meat, though. There's only so much meat I can stand.

Between that food -which seems balanced and healthy and not excessive to me- and exercise (yoga, swimming, and a few miles on the bike trainer) I should be doing the right things. Eventually, another pound will go away, right?

And, in other late-breaking projects, I get to pick up my new glasses today AND I want to finish this interminable kitchen cupboard extravaganza. I am SO ready for that mess to be cleaned up!

Now I'm off to the salt mines.....

Andrea

Sigh.... what a week. It's already Thursday, and I'm almost through with Monday's to-do list :( I've hardly exercised, and my eating hasn't been terrific, either. And Thursdays and Fridays are my busiest days at work. Oh joy :(

Grip! Must get one!

Okay, I will eat some oatmeal and blackberries for breakfast. It's snowing out -again- and that feels like it will be a good breakfast. I will figure out something healthy to throw in the crockpot for dinner, which will hopefully keep me from scavenging for heaven-knows-what after work. Which leaves lunch. I might just have to resort to going to Subway. Maybe I'll have time to pack up a salad to take with me.

I'll do some yoga before I leave for work. After work, I just don't know. Maybe I'll have the time and energy for some weight work. I hope so.

The cupboard project is done, except for adding the new handles and drawer pulls. Taking care of that will have to wait until the weekend. MY new glasses are working out fine. They look SO different from my old ones, but DD assures me that is a good thing. Now if I could just figure out what to do with my hair, then all would be well!

Ok.... onward and upward...

Andrea

Hi, Andrea!

I've seen your posts in some other journals that I visit, and you always sound smart, sensible and fun. Decided to pop in and visit when I noticed your jounal... hope you don't mind. :)

Always nice to meet another 5' person! Was curious about your book group, too -- do you have a lot of members? What do you read? I run one for my library & it's interesting to learn about what others are doing.

All of your plans sound great. I think you're wise to let the changes you've made so far stick before adding more. Your too many balls in the air analogy makes perfect sense to me. Baby steps are what got me this far. You're doing great!

Lisrey :wave:

Hi, Lisrey! And welcome to my journal. I don't know that I'm smart OR sensible, but thanks for thinking that ;)

I'm finally crawling into my seat at 10:00 at night. Thursdays and Fridays are my busiest days and I'm just exhausted. I went to the pool but it was an absolute madhouse, so I left. I feel better because DH made the same decision. Usually he'll just tough it out and swim through the crowds, but he didn't do that tonight. So I came home and did a step aerobics tape, which was pretty fun. And I was ready to have some alone time, I have to say.

Eating and exercising this whole week were just disaster areas. I don't really know why I lost my grip, but I surely did. So, tomorrow is another day. I'm going to reclaim my eating and exercising. A friend is coming over in the morning for yoga, which will get the day off to a good start. And I'll swim early, hopefully before the crowds descend on the pool. Then I'll be done with exercise for the day and can focus on my other goals.

Andrea

It's turned into a beautiful -dare I say it???- spring-like day here. Maybe I'll get out on my bike for a few minutes today. But before I get carried away making plans, let me think for a minute.

I've done just over an hour of yoga this morning, which feels great. Honestly, I don't know how I could haul myself out of bed without doing yoga. So, that's done. In about an hour, I'm heading to the pool. Maybe I could ride my bike there. Now wouldn't that be little miss over achiever????? :o We'll have to see. I'd have to be sure to leave myself enough energy to ride home.

I also have to go to the groan-cery store. A lack of the right foods has certainly contributed to my bad dietary choices this week. Must fix that!

Tonight is date night -and I have to figure out what I want to do. Because if I don't, we'll either do nothing or just go out to dinner by default. I might actually be in the mood to cook. Hmmmm...... maybe the romantic dinner at home? There are worse things.

I have a knitting disaster I need to rip out -only about an inch, but that's going to involve at least one glass of wine. Maybe I'll pass on that and just work on my no-brainer socks until I have some moral support from the knitting group for my ripping-out endeavor.

And then, during yoga this morning, I noticed a fairly urgent need for a pedicure. So that will happen as well. And when you add the necessary weekend cleaning, this day has just filled itself up nicely.

Oh, and I need to get ready to interpret at church tomorrow. Sigh....


Ok, I'm off to get things started....

Andrea

There are several rather amusing things I could comment upon here Andrea. First of all, I'm sure the church interpretation is a very serious thing...maybe sign language or something. But it calls out for something lovely and sarcastic and perhaps a little...dare I say, witty??? Perhaps not. Sigh. It is slightly spring-like here too today. All the hyacinths at the farmers' market smelled absolutely delightful! I am thinking perhaps the problem with the socks has more to do with the wine consumption during knitting than with your innate skills at said hobby??? hee hee Though I'll admit the wine drinking doesn't seem to affect all the hobbies that Kilogo and Jessica have, so who am I to comment??? hahahaha

This week I hope you will join me in GOOD FOOD CHOICES. I will try harder to eat more, I promise. You try harder to eat better, too. It will only get easier as there are more fresh veggies and better fruit as the weeks go by.

Have a fun date night!

Ugh..... It's a beautiful day, but I sense a major crabbiness coming on.

How blunt am I willing to be????? Oh heck, it's MY journal!

I get just plain EXHAUSTED by judgemental opinion that is also uninformed. I guess that makes me a grouchy elitist. Actually, I think it really DOES, and that's not very attractive.

But honestly, how much of "parents are bad because they don't see obesity in their children", "obese children should be pulled from the parental home" and "professionals and experts are out to get us" can a person STAND???? It all just makes me want to hide in my little corner, follow my diet, do my exercise, and leave people alone. Unfortunately my job involves people, so that last part will be a little difficult.

Yes, I know I'm being grouchy and unreasonable. I just want to strike a quiet blow for rationalism AND tolerance.

Coffee... must get coffee......

Ignore this post if it seems inflammatory. I just needed to get these thoughts off my chest, while I muse about the best way to find support for my personal weight loss journey.

Andrea

Oooo I love major crabbiness.

Now Andrea. You MUST let me know how I can best offer support. I am happy being sarcastic, wickedly funny, sympathetic, sometimes empathetic, but am unhappy being a crutch or an enabler. Hmmm. I completely understand needing a certain type of support, asking for it, and then expecting it.

You go girl!:mus:

Oh Chum you are always welcome in my journal. Hunger advocates and social work professors have a lot in common, after all ;)

I'm not usually that much of a grump or an elitist, so I hope people forgive me for my lapse in good manners. I have to admit that I've never been obese. Pudgy, yes. Obese, no. But I have learned a lot from people who are or were obese. I have to say that I'm always honored when people allow me into their life story. And the life stories that I've read here are a long long list of pain and despair - in the process of being overcome through amazing strength of character. How totally cool is THAT?

The piece that I am struggling to understand is how people who've experienced such discrimination and pain can turn around and inflict it on someone else. I know it happens in groups of all kinds, so it's not as though this were an unusual phenomenon -but I struggle to understand it whenever it happens.

And it's not true that I can only share mutual support with people who agree with me. Although -just for the record- I'm always right ;) Just ask my husband! JOKING!!! Nor is it true that everyone here -or even an unusally high number of people- are doing this kind of guilt-turnaround. I guess what's true is that I'm giving the rare occurences of it too much improtance to mess up my day, huh?

Oh heck... now I'm just hand-wringing. I don't know what got into me this morning. Let's just leave it at that.

Andrea

I actually find this a very interesting line of discussion.

Thanks for the food for thought, though.

How did it go today Andrea?

I had the Pad Prik King for supper (at least a little of it) and thought of you.

Ugh! I'm crawling into my chair at 10:30 at night. Surely things will slow down soon.... but it won't be this week.

At least I managed to exercise semi-well and eat semi-well today.

But now I'm exhausted, so I'm going to bed. So I can get up in the morning and do it all again :(

Yawn......

Andrea

eeewwwwwww.

I don't like the "crawling into my chair at 10:30" thing. Sounds (yawn) tiring.

Though the sock, knitting, pulling out stitches, and wine thing is utterly understandable in my world. But I was one of the "hobbyists with nasty habits" to whom Chum referred.

Personally, I find it sad, and perturbing, when parents enable children to become friggin' huge. Having said that, when Ab looks at me with her long lashed, huge, blue eyes and says, mommy geekoo peese? (cookie, please?)--who am I to refuse her sweet, newly politely structured thought? Particularly as finicky an eater as she is?

I mean, I'll ask her, uhhhh....hmmmm...geekoo....do you want...cheese? (no.) uh.....geekoo....mmmm.....yogurt? (no.) Oooookay, fruit? (nope. wrong again, eejit!) Probably geekoo isn't celery? (at this point child will either shoot me with lethal glare or walk up to cabinet where Shawn's stash of Oreos are kept and look at me like, DUH...) and yeah....I give her a dang cookie.

But she's not heavy, so I guess we have no problems.


Yet.


Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.


thanks for the thought-food!

I'm just keeping my head down and trying to make it to the weekend. Yesterday was another 12-hour-work day. Today will be another one, and I'll be lucky if I get off with 12 on Friday. But then.... there might be some light at the end of the tunnel. Please cross all fingers and toes!

Exercise has hardly happened at all this week -a bit of yoga. That's it. I am making the time to go to the doctor re: my painful shoulder. Unfortunately it's my crazy-making GP, whom I have to see to get a referral to an orthopedic person. Oh, I love the way we do health care in this country :o So, the most I can hope for is bureacratic process but not really medical progress.

And if SOMEONE doesn't have a few minutes to do some laundry, DH and I will be going to work in our jammies tomorrow. And since he doesn't WEAR jammies, that could be a real problem. Ok... that's TMI..... signing off to get more coffee and head out the door.

Have a good day, sweeties!

Where are you???? You are missed!!! Did you get arrested for going to work naked???