Good morning!!! When my alarm went off this morning, I had to try to think if I had to get up or not. I didn't, so I went back to sleep but had a disturbing dream about working at a garage sale and taking stuff that I had permission to take, but didn't pay for.
TOM is here in full force, so it's hard for me to tell if what I'm feeling today is a result of the vaccine or TOM. I really think it's TOM. I've taken some pain relievers, but I'm not sure about going to the gym today. I'm feeling muscle fatigue in my legs, so I'm wondering if the anemia is back. And I'm having lower back pain, which is quite typical with TOM. My arm where the shot was is only the slightest sore now - only if I press on the area. We'll see.
I'm looking forward to having a relaxing weekend, with the usual chores. I won't list those here today, because it's the same old stuff, but let me just say, after almost a week away from the puzzle, I've made some *amazing* progress today. (The crowd goes wild -- LOL...) It felt good to focus on the puzzle and just kind of zone out. And that's kind of the whole point of a relaxing activity.
I'm very excited for the month of May. I'm going to be stepping away from the scale after May 1st, to focus on what I eat -- mindful eating, getting a handle on the stress-eating, etc. Not following any specific plan or program other than to eat less -- but not restricting calories per se, but just eating less than what I would norally eat (that's the "mindful eating" part). And NOT reaching for food when I get stressed out at work -- that's the "stress-eating" part of my plan.
I will be cutting my morning cardio by 10 minutes and incorporating weight training in the mornings, still sticking to the Tu/Th at home workouts, and then Sa/Su at the gym (as far as weights go).
It will be cloudy but a little warmer today, which is perfect for me. I'd better get out there to make my bird friends happy. Then it will be on to mop the floor, etc. Today's musuem tour is the National Museum of Mexican Art. I love art, so I'm really looking forward to this.
Progress as of today: 41 lbs lost so far, only 10.5 lbs to go!
Recently, I've been seeing older posts pop up on Diet Diaries - coming up as more recent entries. Is it me or is something happening with this site?
Yesterday was quite odd. The first 40 minutes or so at work was so drama-filled that I wanted to just go home. I guess we're going to be finding a replacement for Mistakes Girl. I don't know if we can even do this. Isn't firing someone for having a complicated pregnancy against the law? I mean, she's not going to get FIRED fired -- I'm sure the Boss will dress it up as a "parting of the ways". Mistakes Girl won't fight it, I'm sure.
I wish I could have gone home early. I started having some side-effects - just the typical ones that you read about - to the shot, and it would have been nice to go home and rest. Instead, because we're short-staffed, I pushed myself, worked until 5:40pm, came home, ate a weird dinner, and got ready for bed. When I say "get ready for bed", that takes me about an hour. I clean cat boxes for the 2nd time, shower, charge my phone and Fitbit -- all of that takes time. Lights out at 8:30pm.
I woke up in the middle of the night, when Husband came to bed, and then kind of floated in and out of sleep for the remainder of the early morning. I slept in and had a really easy bike ride this morning. Didn't push myself at all, just to work out the kinks in my back...
No weights last night. No weights tonight - I'm having a Zoom call with my friends from the Legal Clinic. There's "news" so that's the reason for the meeting.
My arm is still quite sore, but perhaps by tonight, that will have worked itself out. If I feel this way tomorrow, I will not go to the gym - no need to do a strenuous workout. But if I feel better, then yes, I will go to the gym. I *should* feel better tomorrow. I've signed up for the virtual museum tour - this week it's Mexican Art. I'm really looking forward to this!!!
First, I just have to get through the flotsom of today.
Progress as of today: 40.5 lbs lost so far, only 11 lbs to go!
Honestly I think there should be another paralegal but maybe lacking experience that you train a little - at your job
Ran out of time to write much here this morning. BUT I did want to let you know that my shot went well and I woke up feeling great this morning.
During my morning bike ride, I checked my stats (miles and "calories burned") at the point at which I would stop, if I were to cut back by 10 minutes. I think I can make those numbers work for me, as long as I'm OK with a lower step count.
Then I did 3 lower body weight exercises. I will do more tonight. Trying to see if doing these "split" sessions helps. Also, maybe I'm subconsciously trying to get into the habit of doing weights in the morning. Could be.... I never really thought about it, but it would seem that way, wouldn't it?
My work load wasn't too bad yesterday and I was able to do some of Mistakes Girl's work that she does for me -- mainly, opening up my contracts. However, there are other attorneys that give her contracts, and so she will come back to at least 3, maybe 4 contracts on her desk to open as new files. None of them are mine.
One thing that MG does *really* well is to call up our new clients to welcome them. Not only am I very uncomfortable doing this, but I'm no good at it either, and it takes up a LOT of my time. I find though that it's best if I work with my weaknesses and shortcomings and not try to be someone I'm not, doing something I can't do well.
Progress as of today: 40.5 lbs lost so far, only 11 lbs to go!
I’m bingeing on the legal drama The Good Fight now. A lot about law firms poaching/stealing clients from other firms. Is that really done? They will even go to a competing dead lawyer’s funeral to meet potential clients. lol
Oh my.... today is feeling a little overwhelming at this moment. There are 3 reasons for this:
It seems as though Mistakes Girl is having some complications with her pregnancy, and she will be out today as she has an appointment and possibly procedure with a fetal specialist. Her doctor tried to get her in with the specialist yesterday - that's how urgent this is - but the specialist couldn't get her in.
So on a very superficial level, this means more work for me today - just what I don't need today - but on a deeper level, we (and by that I mean the Boss) realize that Mistakes Girl might be leaving us sooner than expected, if she goes on mandatory bed rest. It is my understanding that the Boss now realizes that we will most likely be in the situation where we will need to replace Mistakes Girl, because she wants to work part-time and he feels that we need someone full-time. And now with this latest development, we might need to find a (temporary to possibly permanent) replacement sooner rather than later.
I went to buy some more sugar-free gummies and the store that carries them (cheap) was out of stock. So I bought some sugar free licorice, to help me through the after-dinner sugar cravings, to try. Not bad, but 2 strings are 50 calories. It's probably better to have 1 Hershey's Kiss, with real sugar than the sugar-free junk.
I had an awesome upper body weights workout last night, with my dumbbells at home.
I'm giving serious thought to cutting my morning bike rides by 10 minutes.
Progress as of today: 40.5 lbs lost so far, only 11 lbs to go!
i will write more later..back to work..
I may be speaking too soon. I think my husband had some soreness like 2 days after his shot. We'll see.
Will have to try sugar free licorice! Hadn’t thought of that, thanks. I continue to really like the 70 cal Fun Size M&Ms. hard part is limiting it at a few.
let us know what comes of your shot <3
yeah, i think it would be good to find that temp/replacement for mistakes girl and someone maybe BETTER? maybe boss should hire a secondary paralegal who is knew to the field and you can train??? someone with more qualifications than mistakes girl, but for around $40-50K salary..? may benefit the company that way...or break down that salary to hourly for a temp? you may think about this ??
what is the brand for sf licorice, that sounds incredible.!!i would want it too, maybe for work.
But I wouldn't want to be salaried anyways, because if there is overtime, then you don't get paid extra for it.
I forgot that you asked about the brand name of licorice. I'll get back to you on that :-)
Very quick entry this morning. Had intended to do a little weight training this morning -- and then a better workout this evening (upper body) -- but ran out of time, and with the time that I had, I realized I wanted a 2nd cup of coffee and some breakfast.
Had a white-bread bun with my burger last night, and for the first time, I've made the connection between the bun in the evening and the gut bloat and discomfort in the morning. I may have been able to do OK with just half a bun, but that never occurred to me to do/try. When I have a burger from take-out, from a restaurant, I usually only eat half of it, and I'm OK (unless I then have some birthday cake or something foolish like that, LOL).
My calories at dinner were OK, so I didn't feel like I overate. I really think it was the bun that just sank my tummy, last night and now this morning too. A lesson learned - and my body is probably saying to me "FINALLY!"
Yoga last night was wonderful. I really like how I have the one night a week to just relax. However, at this time, I don't have more free time to devote to it. I suppose if I worked part-time or retired, I could do more yoga. I really would like to be better at it. But right now, with the limited free time I have, I want to spend that decompressing with some cardio and then making progress with the weight training.
Upper body weights tonight!
Progress as of today: 40.5 lbs lost so far, only 11 lbs to go!
Well, when one of your first thoughts in the morning is, "Should I have coffee or wine?" you know it's going to be one of those days... I admit that I'm feeling a little anxious, with all the shootings that went on this weekend, and the unrest in Chicago, closing arguments in the Chauvin trial today....
Anyway, I had a wonderful Sunday. I finished everything on my list except cutting up boxes, because my husband said he had started it. OK, but then I learned last night that he hadn't done it, but might get to it today. Like I said, our recycling bin is full for this week already.
I did actually take the 2.5 hours yesterday and watched the movie on TV. During the commercial breaks, I got up and walked around, did little chores, etc., so it wasn't a solid 2.5 hours of sitting. About halfway through, i realized that I was glad that I took this time for myself to just relax. I also realized that I didn't need an afternoon snack, because my activity level was down (although I did enjoy a cup of coffee with creamer in it - 45 cals).
I went to the gym after dinner, to do lower body weights, came home, cleaned up, went to bed after watching the first 10 minutes of the news.
Male Co-Worker comes back today. I would like to get his feedback on his vacation, not what he did per se, but rather, how he did with stress, relaxing, any insights he may have realized. I actually feel kind of bad for him, because I know what it feels like to come back to work after some time off, feel good for about an hour, and then it becomes just as though you had never left, as far as stress levels go. But maybe now that he's on Xanax, it will be different this time, for him.
Tonight is yoga night, and then rest. I'm kind of looking forward to yoga as a mental "reset".
I will work on being mindful of eating. I think eating is going to become more of a focus for me in May, if my stress levels can handle it.
Progress as of today: 40.5 lbs lost so far, only 11 lbs to go!
gotta tell you, if i drink in the AM, i promptly fall back to sleep!
great relaxation yesterday and fitting in the gym in one shot!
so many people are on meds...it's crazy. perhaps it's the fault of our culture...everything needs to be done now.
i woulnd't feel bad for male coworker too much - people need to be able to go on vacation. i guess he'll eventually catch up. LOL.
Not the best morning, but it will be a better day regardless, than having to be at work, LOL.
I got everything done on my "to-do" list done yesterday. I had a very good time at the gym, and used the hot tub AND the steam room afterwards. However, this morning, I woke up rather achy in my back and hips. Not injury pain, but achy pain. I will take some Aleve for that, and I should be fine.
My husband, on the other hand, is very grumpy this morning, mostly because he's in a LOT of pain from his disease. Today is "shot day" when he takes his bi-weekly medicine. The medicine doesn't quite last him a full 2 weeks, so by day 10 or 11, he's in pain. He does well not to focus on it, but today, he's having a hard time.
So I'll be on my own for the most of the day, to leave him to deal with his pain. That's fine. I have 2 days off every week, and I need to try to keep them as stress-free as possible.
DIET TALK:
Where I struggle the most is with eating. Stress and hunger (that slightly hungry feeling you get when you are trying to reduce calories) don't mix. They are hard to handle together.
I suppose that if I prepared my meals - the actual food, not menus - in advance, that would really help, but that's not practical for the life I want to live at this time. When I lost weight before, this last time when I dropped the 50+ pounds, food was very much in focus. Somehow I could deal with the stress and eating. Now that I've put on 10 pounds, it's been a real struggle.
I just admitted to someone yesterday, that during this whole COVID thing, I gained 10 pounds, and then have struggled to lose & gain the same 3-4 pounds, never getting back into the 130's.
I find it so much easier to focus on exercise and activity, rather than food and eating.
TO DO SUNDAY:
There's a movie I want to watch on TV, but I just can't imagine spending 2.5 hours just sitting. It's on during the time I usually go to the gym. I might be better served to wait and check out the DVD from the library system, once my library re-opens in May.
PS The virtual tour of the Conservatory was wonderful! That's what I had hoped the presentation by the DuSable museum would be like too, the week before, but it wasn't. The Conservatory has beautiful plants and flowers this year. I felt it was time well-spent for my precious weekend time off.
Progress as of today: 40.5 lbs lost so far, only 11 lbs to go!
i guess i'm saying it's not eating that's the issue, but what you are eating.
i did the same thing with wine last week, drank about 1.5 servings of wine, more than ever, to put me to sleep after working late (it worked). i wouldn't recommend this though. also, it was a low calorie day so i didn't mind a wine/food "splurge." still, it wasn't to deal with problems as to why i drank the wine, just to go to bed after a rushed day..
I would say that we froze just a little less than half the cake. And now that it HAS been frozen, I can cut one slice at a time and moderate my intake, because the rest of it will be frozen.
I'm really quite grateful that you are providing me with objective feedback.
I am also a stress eater. One thing that i do not mention too much that has helped me is sleep. when i sleep well, my cravings are so much less it's astounding. by sleeping more, i can be in much easier control of cravings and food choices. the difference is night and day.
i also gained weight after losing, like 5 lbs compared to your 10. it's not a rush thing to get the weight off, it takes time to both gain and loose. try to look at it like you are a success, which you ARE. you are not in the same place as you were when you weighed the whole 50 pounds more. Look at your mindset, i do think sometimes you are talking yourself "down" or out of being successful bc you may not believe that you already are - which you are.
i will say it's also easier for me to focus on exercise, as it's more of a relief...than eating. i don't love cake like you do, or it would be a struggle, i think.
but you can teach yourself new ways still and change old habits to enjoy other foods instead of cake that iwll help you (certain cookies,etc)...try to make MORE substituions. only my advice, i'm no dietician, just trying to help you.
if it's a struggle and so difficult, you do not need to make necessarily a big change, but small ones will help you to change a small habit or two and help you lose the weight (i'd aim just to lose 5 lbs max and maintain that).
And for the most part, I think I have done well with substitutions and small changes.... Maybe I am meant to be at this weight - low 140's. Once I embrace this, I might be able to let it go... Hmm...
Personally, I think it has more to do with wanting to do ANY laundry MY way. I don't think my husband nor my daughter do laundry properly (meaning "MY way" LOL).
Happy Saturday! Today is supposed to be the best day weather-wise, which is good because all of my birdfeeds and birdbaths need refilling. Maybe Daughter will want to go for a walk with me later, or perhaps the gym.
Not to dwell on the past, but Friday was just *insane*. Everyone felt it. Came home and had a glass of wine with the fish dinner. Then, had too much birthday cake, but having all that sugar helped me stay up until 11pm working on my cat puzzle, and then almost another hour to get ready for bed to sleep. But look at my weigh-in -- that's what happen when you have cake for a week. Oh well, so be it.
The cake is now in the freezer, at the Daughter's direction & blessing. So life returns to normal.
I just noticed that May starts on a Saturday, which is my weigh-in. I've mentioned here about changing things up a little bit. May is usually a terribly busy month for work, being the height of real estate. But I'm thinking that May might be a good month to really focus on my journey: weights, diet, balance.
Finally, I'm very excited to say that I am scheduled for my first vaccine shot on Wednesday afternoon next week. I will leave work at 4pm to drive to a nearby town where the county is giving shots. It's closer than having to drive to the VA hospital, which I was also signed up with, but waiting until they had availability. (My husband is the veteran.) I had a choice of going Tuesday (for the Pfizer shot) or Wednesday (for Moderna). What I really wanted was the Johnson & Johnson shot (blood clots - BAH!). The times were better on Wednesday, so that is how it was determined that I would be getting Moderna. I'm very excited, very proud to be part of the solution.
To Do Saturday:
Progress as of today: 40.5 lbs lost so far, only 11 lbs to go!
BTW, I agree with you that tracking can be very triggering for OCD and eating disordered folks. I think that's one reason why I'm so reluctant to track calories.
Yep, they are making too big a deal out of J&J. Not a medication ever developed that doesn’t have some negative side effects, including the rare fatality. Still unclear if the vaccines were causal as far as I know.
I left the office yesterday SO MAD. The opposing attorney in one of my files was just being nasty to the point of ridiculousness. So I closed out my computer windows and went home, right at 5:08p. Not gonna put any more energy into that. BUT on the way home, I was still fuming, so - as I was driving - I was doing some deep breathing, focusing on a glass of red wine I'd have at home, and observing the countryside I was driving by, to help calm me down.
I drive by a lot of rural area on my 15 minute commute, and I usually use that to help calm me down, remind me to slow down (for wildlife), and that nothing is so urgent that I need to rush past all of this beauty.
I did mention/warn my husband that this is how I ended my work day, and the rest of the evening was quite calm and pleasant. My husband was truly sympathetic, and I didn't really dwell on this any more.
Unfortunately, this didn't stop me from having a piece of birthday cake last night, LOL. I've tried to encourage my daughter to freeze the rest of it, but she said she wants another day or 2 of it before she puts it away. That's fine.
Yesterday, I did a little leg weights in the morning, and then I did some more in the evening.
I followed up with Nice Lady yesterday, since Associate Attorney was out of the office all day -- eating out, at a realtor party, etc. - and it was confirmed that Mistakes Girl had truly made that big mistake yesterday,
To answer Jacky's question - I don't know why the Boss puts up with all of Mistakes Girl's mistakes. They are awful. Every single file she works on has multiple mistakes. I caught one yesterday where she opened a new file and had the street name completely wrong. "Oh did I get that wrong? Oh OK... I'll fix that." That's why I couldn't find it in the database - because the property address was wrong.
I've complained to my boss. His solution is to ask her to fix her mistakes. I did that for a little bit, and then it felt like (a) I was the only one pointing out her mistakes, and (b) it felt like nagging. So I've stopped correcting her mistakes, unless it's something that affects me directly. Unfortunately, that means that Male Co-Worker has to try to find her mistakes too. But as I've explained it to the Boss, I can't be the only one pointing out her mistakes.
Having to check for her mistakes also makes a LOT of extra work for me. I know it makes a lot of extra work for Male Co-Worker too, but that's not my problem.
The Boss likes Mistakes Girl -- we all do. She's very nice and calming and willing to do anything. She's also bi-lingual, which we really need, now that we have a bi-lingual attorney (New Guy). It's just that she makes a lot of mistakes and doesn't seem to realize why this is such a problem. Good thing she's not a brain surgeon.
Progress as of today: 43 lbs lost so far, only 8.5 lbs to go!
Nothing changes.
donkey, i'll be commenting later today concerning your entries that i fell behind on! i have a lot of reading in store, just want to do some homework first! :)
I told my boss that when he leaves the office for appointments or marketing events, my files start to explode the moment he shuts the front door. Yesterday was no exception. He and New Guy went to a marketing event, and sure enough, I had 4 angry files waiting for him on his chair when he came back. And I *KNOW* he didn't want to do any more work. He looked tired. He had just had a very positive marketing experience and just wanted to relax and bask in that, but the files just don't wait.
Then, Associate Attorney got mad at Mistakes Girl for making a BIG mistake. Mistakes Girl reviewed the mistake with the Boss, and while the Boss felt she was right, he surrendered and said, Well, let's see what the title company has to say. WHAT????? YOU'RE the attorney - the lady at the title company didn't even graduate from college! And YOU can't make this call?
So it will be interesting to see how that plays out. Associate Attorney told me twice that he's 100% sure he's right, but then, he tends to be egotistical like that. I'm pretty sure he's right too, but none of this is my problem. I'm just an interested bystander, LOL!
Sorry to focus so much on my Work Life. Queen Bee is working from home in the morning, but said she'd come in for 3 hours in the afternoon to work in the office. OK.
I did OK with food, but I've been chipping away at the leftover birthday cake every night this week, so far. I'm going to try hard to refrain tonight.
Last night, I could have gone to the gym to do cardio. I *should* have gone to the gym to do cardio. But instead, I stuck to my old habit of riding my bike at home. I didn't ride as long as usual, and came upstairs to work on my latest puzzle ("Cat in the Library"). This is a much more difficult puzzle, but this time, I'm OK with doing it by myself. It gets done, when it gets done. The process (of doing the puzzle) is the part that helps me relax and let go from the worries of the day.
As I mentioned yesterday, I tried waking up early today. I had time to do some lower body weights. My plan is to do more leg exercises tonight, after a short bike ride, so it will be a bonus leg day for me today.
I'm thinking about taking the last week of April "off" from weights and then start a new weight training routine in May, that would be more of a daily thing. We'll see.
You know, you can take a fitness class or hire a personal trainer, but I think what I really need (want?) is a nutritional coach.
Progress as of today: 43 lbs lost so far, only 8.5 lbs to go!
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Oh, no! TOM and maybe vaccine reactions! You poor kid. Relax lots this weekend.
Thanks for your kind words of encouragement re Little Flash. I’m on the porch with her now. I am both shocked & delighted & amazed that she let me pet her & apply the topical after a day! She is somewhat skitterish
Maria7 on 04/24/2021:
Hope you feel better. Try to get some rest today. Take care.
bearcountrygg on 04/25/2021:
I totally believe in stepping away from the scale when it isn't helping........I do that often myself.
horn_of_plenty on 04/25/2021:
I did the same thing today without an alarm - I woke up and saw it was around 7 or 7:30 and decided to go back to sleep which happened somewhat easily despite the brightness in my bedroom.
Great May goals and I’m cheering for your progress on the puzzle !