Not going anywhere today....as far as I know. I might mop the back room and do some yard work for exercise later. We're back in West Edmeston for now, but we've sold the house. We'll be moving out in September, hopefully. Nothing yet on the job front. I had an interview with Best Western last week, but they haven't called back. I applied for Nice N' Easy....I really REALLY need a job....
Intake: Grapefruit; Toast with Cream Cheese; Tea Cream Cheese 2 tbsp. : 101 cal. Grapefruit, 1 fruit (3-3/4" dia.). - 74 cal. Bread, whole wheat (including toast),1 slice, thin (3-3/4" x 5" x 3/8") - 92 cal. Tea, brewed, 6 fl oz - 2 cal. Total: 268 cal.
Been a while again, sorry. D; Things are going well, we move to the new house Friday. I got a call back for Fun Zone, so I have to call for an interview, as well as AT&T.
Intake: Flank Steak; Baked Potato with Sour Cream and Grated Cheese; Green Beans; Pear Cheddar or Colby Cheese Low fat, 2 oz. : 98 cal. Flank Steak, 3 oz. - 131 cal. Pears, fresh, 0.5 pear, large (approx. 2 per lb.) - 62 cal. Green Beans (snap), 12 beans (4'' long) - 20 cal. Baked Potato, with skin, 0.5 medium (2-1/4''-3-1/4'' dia.) - 80 cal. Sour Cream, reduced fat, 2 tbsp. - 41 cal. Total: 432 cal.
Exercises: Close-Arm Wall Pushups Triceps Dips with Straight Legs Reverse Plank Two-Part Pushups One-Arm Side Pushups After Workout Stretching
So T.J. leaves tomorrow. Kinda depressed, but I got a call from someone at the mall who is interested in interviewing me for their AT&T booth, so I'm excited about that. A new job means more money, less food and more exercise. Though I"m not sure how it'll go, I've never worked in the technology department before. D;
Intake: Oatmeal with Blueberries; Scrambled Eggs; Milk Milk nonfat, 1 cup : 86 cal. Blueberries, 0.75 cup - 61 cal. Instant, Quick and Regular Oats Cereal, 0.75 cup, cooked - 104 cal. Egg Substitute, liquid (egg beaters), 0.33 cup - 40 cal. Total: 290 cal.
Honestly, I'm glad that mom can't afford food right now, because I have nothing to eat. I love not being able to binge. It is so hard to stay on track when I'm so depressed. Blew off exercise again today, I will tomorrow, I promise. Going to have sex tonight to burn some extra calories. I'm trying to keep it to 300 a day. T.J. has drill this weekend so I'll be at my parents house, where they have a lot of food, but I'll try to just sleep all weekend. That's really all I want to do when T.J. isn't around anyways.
One of the goals of making a “lifestyle change” (as opposed to going on a diet) is to develop a healthy relationship with food and eating that feels normal, comfortable, usually enjoyable, and relatively easy to maintain over time.
No elaborate eating rules, no worries about “good” foods and “bad” foods, no guilt feelings or verbal self-abuse for breaking the rules, no getting obsessed with weigh-ins or calorie counting, no restricting your social life so you can avoid people/situations that might make you blow your diet. Just a little common sense, some basic nutritional knowledge, and a willingness to trust your body to make up for your occasional dietary “mistakes” and balance out your calorie and nutrient intake over time to match your needs.
According to this article, this desirable state is called “normal eating,” and it’s something all of us can achieve by simply eating when we’re hungry, eating the things we like, and stopping when we’re satisfied.
But just how realistic is this notion, especially for those of us who struggle with maintaining a healthy weight? Can things really be this simple?
This approach also goes by other names, like mindful eating or intuitive eating. But the basic idea is simple: we’ve all got an innate, evolved appetite regulation system (or, if you prefer, an “inner normal eater”) that is capable of maintaining a balance between energy in and energy out over time, and predisposing us to eat and enjoy the foods we need for good health.
I don’t know about you, but a few years ago, when I weighed almost 400 pounds, this made about as much sense to me as claiming that the two essential food groups are chocolate/peanut butter brownies and beer (oh, wait—I think I did believe that at the time). I felt like I had little or no control over my appetite or my eating, and was probably allergic to vegetables (quite possibly to vitamins in general). For my inner normal eater, “normal” meant about 5000 calories/day worth of mostly junk food.
Since then, I’ve learned that in fact, I really do have something that at least resembles an inner normal eater—maybe a normal-eater-in-training would be more accurate. Trying to cooperate with this healthy part of myself really does make life a lot better and easier, compared to all those years I spent believing that my real self was the problem, not the solution.
But it took a while and a lot of hard work to overcome my problems with emotional eating and negative thinking to find and establish contact with my inner normal eater. The first step, for me, was recognizing that my feelings of being out of control and powerless over food and eating weren’t reality—they were part of a mental and emotional pattern called learned helplessness that I had developed over many years.
I still struggle with these issues to some extent today, and I can’t say that I’m comfortable with totally trusting my appetite to maintain a healthy weight. Right now, for example, my effort to lose the 30 pounds I regained over the past year isn’t going very well because the combination of new physical limitations and a few medications that affect my metabolism has apparently changed how many calories I need, but not my appetite. What feels “normal” to me at this point is making the scale go up, not down.
So, I’m also counting calories and watching the scale pretty closely for a while again, until I get a better idea of what it actually takes for me to lose this weight. But this feels normal to me, too. There’s nothing abnormal about using appropriate tools to get and apply the knowledge you need to accomplish your goals, as long as you’re mindfully using the tools and they’re not controlling your feelings or running your life. And there’s nothing to be gained by becoming a fanatic or a perfectionist about mindful or intuitive eating, to the point that you become compulsive about not using tools or adopting reasonable food rules to accomplish your goals.
Or so it seems to me. The key is to trust yourself to be able to do the right thing, at the right time, and in the right way often enough to accomplish your goals.
What do you think? Do you feel like you have an inner normal eater you can trust?
so i started taking apidexin again, but only in the morning. i really do feel less hungry during the day, but it's night eating that's my problem.. still struggling. i think these pills make my stomach feel fucked up though.. overall, i'm not sure if i like them.
i just need to eat healthier food, rather than peanut butter, bread, and eggs.
we just have to go grocery shopping... so i can blow some more money, great.
the boy comes back tomorrow night. i miss him.
I'm not a real mom, but I did play one once.
Some friends of mine, planning an overseas trip, asked me to stay with their boys while they were gone. Honored to be chosen-- especially after I heard that the boys, ages 12, 14, and 16, had approved my appointment-- I took a deep breath and plunged in.
Boy, was it an education! When I wasn't planning menus, budgeting, shopping, cooking, and cleaning up, I was on the run: chauffeuring, doing laundry, playing homework cop, high-tailing forgotten permission slips over to school, and herding kids to bed. Following the daily schedule left by my friend (a blow-by-blow timeline in 15-minute increments, punctuated with humorous asides like "It's now 8:20 and you're late for choir practice—again!"), I kept trying to find a slot for the gym. Used to long lovely stretches of time, I now had it in snatches. Five minutes here. Ten minutes there. I finally realized that if I was going to get in any exercise, I’d have to make the most of those little snatches of time.
Here are some ideas I followed that helped me fit in small bits of fitness in small bits of time:
During Drive Time Try some isometric exercises: Squeeze your glutes, contract your abs, work your calves by raising your legs up on your toes at red lights. Park far away from your destination so you’ll have to walk; arrive early to your event if possible to allow time for a brisk walk.
At Programs, Practices, and Games Walk around the facility before or after the event; look for chances to combine a class or activity with those of your children. For example, take aerobics while your daughter has basketball practice.
While Keeping House Shop at big stores where there’ll be lots of walking; do meal prep and cleanup with a little music and dancing. Clean to music, and shun some of your labor saving devices (like remotes). When doing yard work, keep moving! Use your leg and glute muscles (instead of your back) to shovel, rake, move dirt, etc.
When doing laundry, do squats to pick up unfolded laundry from the basket, and take fitness breaks during homework time, such as stretching or jumping rope for three minutes. (Your kids will love it!) Become your dog’s best friend-- most dogs are always ready to boogie. (And let me tell you, when you walk a dog on a regular basis, boy can you feel the love!)
For Play Dates Keep in mind the old adage that children live what they learn. If you don't want your kids to be couch potatoes, be a good example. Walk to the library for story hour; plan regular play times at the park or pool; when snow keeps you home, go play in it. By making physical activity fun, you'll lay the foundation for your kids to have healthy, active lives. What’s more, you’ll rediscover that activity can be fun—not just another item to check off your grown-up list!
