Not much motivation over here today... Struggling to get out of the downness that my son's recent troubles. However, I did want to thank Bear for being so supportive. This too shall pass...
I've started to think ahead to the eating situations I have coming up this week.
Friday, I am planning and hoping to attend chair yoga with my husband, at which point, we usually use eating dinner out afterwards as an incentive. However, last month we did not go because that weekend was his "Medicine Day" (the day he takes his bi-weekly dosage for his disease) and he just wasn't up to it. In typing this out, I realize that this weekend, once again is his Medicine Day, and he may not be up for chair yoga.... Well, if we don't do chair yoga, then dinner will definitely be at home - no great loss without some small gain!
There is an unexpected party next Saturday, held by some Veterans' group that my husband had joined this year. He hasn't been too involved with them i 2018, but hopefully we can do more stuff with them in 2019. (See, there's something to look forward to!) Anyway, their Christmas brunch is Saturday, catered by IHOP (International House of Pancakes). Whoa, that is SO not me. I've never been a big breakfast person, but eggs and sausage and/or bacon will fit the low-carb requirement. Well, heck, there will be coffee, so I should be OK to go. (Another thing to look forward to: FREE COFFEE.)
What I'm really dreading is the office party the week after. Queen Bee is running that whole show: White Elephant Christmas gift exchange, Ugly Christmas Sweater, etc. Male co-worker made the snide remark that he thinks she's planning to drink a LOT of liquor at this. So not me.. Oh well, I'll deal with it later.
I've spent most of the day doing nothing. I think that's OK.
One thing I wanted to mention was that I finally did pack up the remaining gingerbread cake and put it in the freezer. It's been calling my name ... Friday night and tonight.. but that's only because I got into the HABIT of having a dessert. Staying strong with sticking to a decaf coffee only.
Progress as of today: 62 lbs lost so far, only -12 lbs to go!
Now that the holidays and the hormones are over, the weight has settled back down. This is in part to a very light dinner yesterday, for 3 reasons:
I'm still quite upset about my son, but it is what it is. He made a comment that was inappropriate - said he felt like punching a wall - and one of his co-workers, who he thought was a "friend" reported him. I guess there were other people there who felt uncomfortable around him, so they let him go. I actually think that the store was right to do that. My son has always been a square peg, having a diagnosis at one point of Aspbergers. He has had this problem of making off the cuff comments (to him) that are taken offensively or seriously (understandably so), which lead to problems. We've told him over and over, keep your mouth shut, don't say anything that isn't kind or positive. Most of the time it works, but when he forgets or doesn't follow this, it's usually very bad. This is not the first time he's run into problems with saying things and suffering the consequences for that.
No sense in dwelling on this; what's done is done. So I must internalize any feelings I have about this -- I guess "eat my feelings" would be the way to put it. It's hard to see your children struggle. That's all.
Anyway, it's the beginning of a new month. I was/am planning to kind of coast through this month, as there are quite a few eating occassions with the holidays and wedding anniversary. Wouldn't it be great to try something different, though, and come through at the end of the month and say, "Hey, I did this!"
Progress as of today: 62 lbs lost so far, only -12 lbs to go!
Wish I was at maintenance like you and HOP already, but it's coming soon as long as I don't have any major screw-ups......
I'm getting to the point where the smarter choices are coming more naturally. There is no more "on plan" and "off plan" for me any more. Wow, I really just realized that!
I used to have days and months where i'd do countdowns similar to Graindart. I'd go for several weeks and then just go totally off plan and the more tho that i watched and saw what worked, the better i got. but as i got better and ate to feel better and not just skip out on carbs or any one source of nutrition, i no longer needed to binge bc i was getting what my body needed...better than before.
i totally get you with the hormones. I had one of my worst weeks in months last week. Hormones had me crying and so sad. Glad it's over.
I would like to suggest sprinkling saffron on your food...you only need a pinch (20-30 strands of it) to make a difference. it's been proven that having that amount 1-2x per day is similar effect to prozac. i can attest i am feeling better (mood-wise, not energy wise as i'm just tired from doing a lot of work still and realizing it's gonna stay that way) after using it semi-frequently all week. but my mood, it's lifted.
try to bring him up...he will not be without a job for long, i don't think.
tell him to learn from it, and just keep thinking forward.
is he still exercising at the gym?
He'll be going tomorrow, doing a M/W/F schedule.
I promised myself again this morning to take some time for myself and log on to DD from my computer. I did not allow myself to sleep in too much so that I could assess the weather, as my (older lady) co-worker kept talking about how we're supposed to get ice rain last night. This is the one who is afraid she's going to lose her job if we stop doing bankruptcy cases. She was in quite a chatty mood yesterday, which, if I had been busier, would have definitely gotten on my nerves more so. But I had time yesterday, so not so bad. She was kind enough of to bring in a small Christmas tree to put by the enterance to our suite, so now I have a nice, lit Christmas tree to look at from my desk :)
In addition to Older Lady Co-Worker chatting away, Queen Bee starts bossing me around yesterday morning. Just sat there at my desk, doing a silent burn. When I spoke to my boss about it, he said that we all have to try to make everyone happy because it's the holiday season.
I just realized that we have a closing at our office this morning, and so that I means I need to get to work early to help set up anyone who needs setting up. DARN!
But before I go, I do want to say -- maybe it's too soon to talk about this -- that in looking in the mirror this morning, I *think* I've lost enough weight to be content -- with the exception of my fat knees and inner thighs, but only plastic surgery will help with that. So now I need to be thinking about truly getting into a maintenance mode.
We hear so much about losing weight, but not so much about how to keep it off and assume a maintenance lifestyle.
Progress as of today: 60 lbs lost so far, only -10 lbs to go!
With regards to the exercise, if you're enjoying the workouts you're getting in now, why change them? The only thing I would change? Remember to challenge yourself often - rather than setting goals with regards to weight, try setting workout-related goals instead. Get that high-intensity bike ride in one morning; try adding some heavy weights to a strength workout one day; switch out one movement pattern for another one and see what kinds of changes that brings. If you want to lean up - work on lunges, squats, rows, push workouts and pull workouts, adding weight or resistance as you go.
Well, to talk about Maintenance. Well, basically you are in it now!
You have lost the weight very slowly and in a healthy manner. Keep doing what you are doing...with exercise and eating.
Know that you can indulge, but to do it with moderation. realize that if you indulge at holidays it's ok as long as you will promise yourself to be healthy and continue to do what you are doing now in the New Year!
Basically, in maintenance, it's what you are doing now and if you do indulge, realizing it's not an indulgence over weeks, but one-time small occasions for it.
also, though, indulgences will change as you will start to , as you already do! , want to eat in this moderate and maintenance way. so at holidays, have those extra veggies, prepare extra veggies dishes, order when you go out sides of veggies...
you will no longer feel you are in maintenance once your lifestyle becomes fully yours, as it basically is now in your case.
it's about realizing you can have whatever you want, but it's a balancing act in terms of portion sizes and how to eat to feel satisfied, not starving all the time or low energy always.
for me, maintenance this year will include reaching for foods that will help to increase my energy: more berries, more greens, more salmon, and more herbs and seasonings.
I like the idea of preparing extra vegetable dishes. I think I may start doing some research into that. That is a good idea!
What I really love is what you said: You will no longer feel you are in maintenance once your lifestyle becomes fully yours. I LOVE THIS. This goes along with what legcramps said to me the other day about maintaining exercise (paraphrase): If you like what you're doing, why change it?
Logging in from my phone, which I dislike doing, while I exercise, because I won't have any time to log in from the computer because I have to shovel. Had I known it would show, I would have woken up earlier.
Went to bed early last night and finally got good sleep.
Nobody is eating the keto gingerbread cake I made, and I've gotten into the habit of having a piece every night this week. So I think it's time to wrap up the rest and freeze it.
Yesterday, Queen Bee announced that she doesn't eat carbs, that she's living on eggs and string cheese . Ha ha ha!
Progress as of today: 60 lbs lost so far, only -10 lbs to go!
your cake sounds wonderful :) enjoy it!
I prefer DD on the desktop too, not the phone!
I've been so tired lately. Monday, shoveling the wet, heavy snow really wiped me out for the rest of the day. I woke up at 4am so that I'd have enough time to get everything done, and I did, but by 10am at work, I was really wiped out. I told myself I would sleep really well that night, but I didn't. Last night was the first night, from how I feel this morning, that I think I got enough QUALITY sleep.
Work is rather busy for being December with a foot of snow on the ground... Even my boss mentioned it to me. I said that I'm OK with the workload though. I didn't tell him that I feel like I've been fighting off something - sinus infection? - the past few days. I still get the strong sense that something is up at work, changes are coming or something like that. I'm completely out of the loop. I could ask my Male Co-Worker, but I'm not going to. I made the mistake yesterday of chiming into someone else's conversation, and realized it immediately. Kept my mouth shut after that. I MUST NOT DO THAT AT WORK. It just really stokes the fires for dumping on Donkey at work.
I haven't made any real changes to what I'm eating or what I'm doing. My wedding ring is no longer loose on my finger, so I think I'm going to stop using that as a way to monitor myself. It's just disappointing. About once a week, I look at the back of my legs - around the knee area, which is so ugly on me because I'm knock-kneed - and today I realized that depending on which leg I rest my leg on, or if I turn my foot out slightly (which is unfortunately, my normal step), then my legs look almost straight up and down, rather than having this bulging knee that moves up to a fat inner thigh, rather than tapering in for a more slender looking thigh. Seriously, my legs look like this: VV. I'd rather they look like this: ||
Progress as of today: 60 lbs lost so far, only -10 lbs to go!
Aren't we our own worst critic when it comes to our body? I hope you get better sleep.
like you, i've been a hair too busy and not getting enough sleep. emotionally i'm beat...actually it's all emotoinal that has been very DOWN!
listen, you are putting yourself SO DOWN! there's no reason for it.
it's the Winter Blues, i think :(
i feel you, i've cried two days in a row, at work! not in front of everyone.
keep your head up.
So I did a bad thing... I know I'm supposed to be downsizing and getting ready to move in a couple of years... But I just couldn't resist getting more Christmas lights. Now both front and backyard have beautiful LED multi-colored lights! I was on the fence about this yesterday, about to take what I had put up in the back down, when my daughter mentioned that in all the 11 years we've lived here, we've never decorated the back for Christmas. So now all of the patio railing has lights, not just the one section I did. And when you look out our supper table, you can see some of them now, which will be really nice in the winter.
I also had enough lights to light our front porch railing as well. So now the deck in back has lights, the porch has lights, and our little mis-shapened evergreen-y tree in front has lights. I also have a string of lights bordering the ceiling in the kitchen, to keep on at night as a nightlight for anyone who has to work late or come down for a midnight snack.
Just as I finished putting up all of these outdoor lights, it started to rain, but it was like a freezing rain or something because it was very loud. Now it's doing something else. I can't tell if it's snowing or like ice-raining. I'm going to call it snow because that sounds better to me.
We're supposed to get anywhere from 6-12 inches, so the rest of my day will probably be spent inside. I bought myself an early Christmas gift at the resale store on Friday. (Again, very bad of me.) I bought a small, heart-shaped silicon baking tray so now I can make sugar free gummies for myself. I love gummies! I also have all of the ingredients to make my low-carb, Paleo gingerbread cake. I'll probably do a little walking on the old treadmill and then ride the bike later on as well.
EVENING EDIT: Went out to shovel less than an inch but because it is such a heavy, wet snow, it was really hard shoveling. Looks like most of the snow is coming tonight (starting about a half an hour ago), so I'll have my work cut out for me tomorrow morning.
Made sugar free gummies, but I'm not happy with the recipe. Once they stay room temperature, they become essentially Jello. I didn't use enough gelatin for my recipe modification. Next batch should be better. They're good out of the fridge.
Also baked keto gingerbread cake which I plan on having a small piece of after dinner, which I think is the last of the leftovers.
Then more shoveling...
Progress as of today: 60 lbs lost so far, only -10 lbs to go!
sorry about this snow! our NYC weather was sun and decently warmer! sorry i cannot send it to you!
so keep these sf gummies in the fridge, no? will they be good in fridge? oh, i just continued to read, you said they are! :)
how did you like this gingerbread cake? that's a nice flavor for a cake!
Let me say that I'm completely shocked at my weigh-in this morning: no loss but NO GAIN. I thought for sure with the dinner I had yesterday (more about that to come), no evening bike ride session, and hormone/TOM issues that I'd be up a few more pounds. Right before I weighed in, I put on my wedding ring to see if my hands were swollen (with excess salt from dinner, plus monthly bloat) and they weren't. The Ironman scale (the better scale) showed me up about 0.5 pound, but muscle/water/bone stats were also up a little bit, so nothing I'm worried about.
I had a lot of fun with my husband last night, but my dinner was OOF! I ordered a "bang bang shrimp" salad -- and it was one of those salads that ends up being like one of the highest calories on the menu, I think... Or at least that's how it felt. It wouldn't have surprised me. I also overdid it with the tortilla chips and hummus & guacamole we ordered for an appetizer. Not a binge by any means, but this all sat very heavy in my stomach all night.
We went shopping afterwards, to visit the kids. First we went to Target (son's job), didn't see him there, but I bought hooks for hanging Christmas lights and LED lights to hang in and out of the house. Sadly, I've been looking for LED lights at second-hand stores and haven't been able to find any. So I bit the bullet. I like having lights up all year round. I have some on an upper bannister that act like a night-light throughout the year. I'd like to have the same thing in the kitchen, and in the backyard. It cheers me up to see the little lights in the dark.
Then we went to Walmart, and did run into my daughter. I had some food items to pick up for my stash at work. It was good to walk around too, but I was like, "I gotta get home and get some Tums." But when we got home, my husband had a huge slice of apple pie! Oh my goodness.... I don't even know what to say. (shaking my head sadly...)
We are expecting 5-7 inches of snow tomorrow, into Monday morning. Kind of excited about it, but also dreading the shoveling. Right now, because of the hormones, my back is in a very precarious position. I don't know if the kids will be around to help shovel. Husband cannot, of course.
On my list of things to do today: laundry (already started, run errands (pick up protein bars, visit Goodwill to see what they have), find old Christmas lights I have packed away somewhere to hang, start hanging lights :)
Progress as of today: 60 lbs lost so far, only -10 lbs to go!
I did NOT want to go to work this morning. I slept through both of my alarms and then slept in for another 45 minutes. Got out of bed and my legs felt so fatigued (this is hormones, not actual fatigue). I *almost* talked myself out of riding my exercise bike this morning, but I'm glad I got up and did it, because it's just so much better when I do it.
I left work at 1pm, as I ran out of stuff to do. The boss had said he was going to come in, but he never did. Because he did not come in, I ran out of work to do. Things at work might be changing and if they do, it will affect one of my co-workers (one of the nicer ones, unfortunately) in that she may lose her job. Because she is so stressed out about it, she is in the bathroom all the time. She also keeps talking to me about it, which I appreciate that she feels that she can talk to me about her worries. But on the other hand, the whole subject is worrisome and depressing to me. She is me in about 20 years is how I look at it. We'll have to see, I guess, what the boss wants to do. He might very well decide not to make any changes.
It's too bad that this isn't happening to Male Co-Worker or Queen Bee. However, if Male Co-Worker does follow through with his intention to retire in 2019, it will definitely change things, and I cannot say for the better at this time.
On the bright side, I have figured out what I want to do for my next step, because I have a strong feeling that my position will be changing within the next couple of years as well. The bright spot is that this will work whether we stay here or move out to live closer to my family or some place else.
Today is Friday, so I am wearing my tighter pants in anticipation of weighing in tomorrow. The tighter pants are a constant reminder to me today not to overdo it, for weigh-in tomorrow. However, Mr. Donkey wants to go out to dinner tonight, and I kind of do too. So weigh-in will be dangerous tomorrow, due to a number of factors: Thanksgiving dinner, Friday night date, hormones,
I'm a little envious of the few of you that have spoken about reaching benchmarks in 2019 and 2020. I do not have any of those for myself. I still do fully intend to have the "Year of Remodeling" but have no benchmark to measure myself with. I do not measure inches, and I'm not sure for what I want to do, that would be helpful to me at all.
Progress as of today: 60 lbs lost so far, only -10 lbs to go!
also the one at work talking to you, try not to let her drain you regarding the fact she may lose her job. remember that this is her scenario and you cannot control that. keep on with you, put yourself first, and remind yourself it's ok to smile and realize you are in a good position now, bc you do the work and can be counted on! this is an amazing thing!
My husband had a similar perspective regarding my co-worker's predicament. There are a lot of people out there that need prayers.
Happy Thanksgiving!! And to those who do not celebrate American Thanksgiving, please know that I am truly grateful for your support and friendship here every day.
The brisket is in the oven and it smells so good! I've made the whole-cranberry jellies (one with sugar, one sugar-free). My keto baking ambitions have once again been thwarted because I do not have any granual Swerve (sugar substitute); I thought when I ordered confectioners, that I also ordered granular, but alas, my memory has failed me again. Ha ha, you should have seen me looking around for a bag of Swerve that I don't have. So the gingerbread cookies will have to wait again, but I'm thinking... maybe it just wasn't meant to be, at least for today.
So for dessert, I will probably have the sugar-free cranberries with whipped cream, rather than pie. Not that I can't have a bite of pumpkin - which I might - but it's more of making a conscious decision of where to spend my calories. That's all.
Now that the jellies are cooling off, I'm going to go for a walk outside to clear my head a bit, so that I can focus on the positive things in my life today, right now.
EVENING EDIT: I was amazed that even though my husband ate so much more than I did at noon that he was ready to eat again at 5pm! I said "OK, maybe a little later" which to him meant 5:15p - LOL!
I wasn't full but I wasn't hungry, but did that stop me from having a full plate? Of course not! Granted, most of my plate - for noon and supper - was vegetables, but still! Oh hard it is to resist!
Progress as of today: 60 lbs lost so far, only -10 lbs to go!
I totally forgot all about cranberries this year not buying even one bag yet ! Great idea to make it two ways ! Do they taste vet different ?
Did you use confectioners for the sugar free ?
I will hopefully bake a pumpkin cheesecake soon :)
Nice job on your baking and eating :)
I may have indulged but really watched my eating today and am happy overall with my ability to not binge on the holidays as much as I had in the past !
Survived the class... Actually, it wasn't too bad. Most of the subjects were at least a little interesting, and I did learn something that I can use at work. I don't really use my license at work, because my job is different, but what I learn helps me be better at my job.
I fell short of getting 250 steps for 2 of the hours during the Webinar; thank you FitBit, for keeping track. I always try to get 12 hours of sufficient steps, every day, but oh well, sometimes it just doesn't work out that way. Once I knew that my step streak had been broken at around 3pm, I was able to relax, mentally, about it. I *was* pretty much glued to my home desk while watching the webinar. I didn't have enough confidence in my WiFi or my logged in status with Adobe Connect to disconnect the internet cable and roam around the house. So, in order to compensate, I ended up doing several sets of lunges, sitting on my yoga ball on and off, doing a lot of squats, etc. My legs are only *slightly* feeling that this morning.
I anticipate that today will be a full day, even though the lady co-worker was checking on my emails. I think she doesn't have a lot to do... so she might choose to keep the files moving forward, hard to tell. I really left it up to her, since I'm going in on Friday to catch up. I might end up doing Sudoko most of the day, and that would be fine with me too.
Oh, and I'm not throwing out any romaine lettuce. I'll take my chances.
Progress as of today: 60 lbs lost so far, only -10 lbs to go!
also, nice job getting thru your class and you couldn't have known exactly what to expect in regards to getting in your steps...but, you did what you could in the moment and this is what matters most! nice job to you, this is a positive and well thought out entry! i'm glad you got to work from home :)
[ Previous Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 Next Page ]
Doing nothing is OK......because you needed that!!! heck YA...That's okay! Thank you for the shout out...parenting can really be tough sometimes...... Maybe NOT DREAD the office party....at least you don't have to host it.......!!!!! Isn't Queen Bee the one on the egg and cheese diet?????? Watch her eat...LOL
Believe it or not - and I'm sure you can believe it - I sit as far away as possible from Queen Bee every year that I've worked with her.
Horn_of_plenty on 12/02/2018:
I left 3 comments, 2 on yesterday's entry and one on the entry before that. :-)
I will be back to commenting here soon :) Enjoy your eve, J-Donk!
Thank you! I've gone back and responded to your very helpful comments :)
graindart on 12/02/2018:
Mmmmmmm.....eggs, string cheese, and all the liquor you can drink. Sounds like a party you need to have your camera phone ready for!
Ha ha ha ha! Yeah, right?
Horn_of_plenty on 12/02/2018:
regarding your son, he's a "newbie" to the working world. and a young adult. he will fare better as life goes on...i am in no doubt that he has learned from this experience. please don't be too down...i think he will find a job soon...it's retail season.
your son must learn some things himeslf. so, please understand that you can sympathize but like others have said, this too shall pass.
I also have some "eating events" at work and life this month. i've already also started thinking about them! for instance, i'm hoping to have "free red wine" at our office party on Thursday night. it'll be interesting just getting there with public transportation with everyone from the office, it's around half hour from my job location.
but there will be at the IHOP breakfast hopefully fruit? and the free coffee = excellent. so you can sip that to keep your mouth and hands busy.
and nothing wrong with a slice or two of bacon and some bites of eggs. a bite of a waffle or pancake, sure. just keep it maintenance size and with your coffee of course! tasty! (throw out any food you have left over if you feel full!)
my coworkers / workers at the company i don't directly work with also some of them drink too much. that's not my plan either at the work party.
no need to be "that drunk office worker." let her be a big clown, you don't gotta do it.
same for my work party.
it's from 5-9pm thursday night for me and as of late i'm pretty sure i'll just stay till dinner has been eaten...or leave as soon as the coffee is served / dessert...def not gonna be the last to leave, more like one of the first.
i'll show up & show out ASAP! :)
keep a smile, you got this DONKEY :)xoxoxo
You are right, my son has to make his own mistakes. He should make them now, and learn from them. You are exactly right. Thank you.