Health and Fitness, May, 2014

[OKay]

It is exciting to read your plans and successes.

And yes, even the failures are inspiring because I know we can overcome them if we just keep trying. At least, that is what I am telling myself instead of beating myself up. I didn't restart logging food yesterday and I KNOW I over ate big time. The way my stomach felt and the scales shot up this morning are confirmation.

This week focus heathy habit it going well. I was successful in not eating after 6pm last night. I am discovering that going to bed at the same time as LO means it is impossible to binge eat at night since I'm asleep. Establishing this early to bed habit will also help me achieve 7 hours of sleep each night.

[OKay]

Posting for accountability and focus....in good times and not-so-good times.

I ate during the night. I was up several times (LO sick) and then rationalized with myself until I gave up and ate to calm the crazy cravings. Not good and I'm not pleased, but know establishing healthy habits is a process not perfection. I'm not giving up.

[Cowinkie]

Receive many nice compliments yesterday on my weight loss. Either I was looking worse than I thought or my weight loss is showing off more than I realized.

Either way it reinforced I'm on the right track. With all the food available yesterday, mostly carbs and sweets, I didn't over indulge. All the pies, cakes and lemon bars tasted way too sweet to it much of. They looked much better than they tasted. That was a surprise.

This morning when I opened the refrigerator door and saw all the leftover sweets staring at me, I found myself reaching for some sliced watermelon. I haven eaten fruit in a month and it was calling to me. That was a. Interesting surprise.

I am back on my plan and tomorrow I will start another challenge.

Okay... Night eating like that is easy to do and for some reason carbs are what speaks to me.

[OKay]

Cowinkle - YGG!!

I'm back on track with healthy habits. This week I am focusing on Stop eating before full.

I am going to work on slowing down my eating speed. I tend to eat fast so this is going to take some conscience effort. I've looked around for some suggestions how to accomplish this. These are some of the suggestions that I'm going to implement -

** Before meal -
** Drink a glass of water while getting food ready
** Take a fiber pill with glass of water
** Always relax before you start eating. Take a few deep breaths through the nose and out through the mouth. As you do so, hold your breath briefly and exhale slowly by the mouth. Get rid of the stress before you start eating – in this way, you start to remove any risk of comfort eating, where food is used to alleviate stress and bring yourself to focus on relieving stress independently of food
** Remind yourself of the rewards (good health, good looks, etc.).
** Serve a proper portion and don’t go back for seconds.

[Nancy]

I walked yesterday between rain storms!

[Ivy]

I've lost 6 Lbs. I ordered 5 more 10-week Calorie-King calorie-exercise food journals.

I've done 1-hour of moderate housework today. I'm shooting for 90-min. of activity daily for my week, as I decrease my daily caloric intake by 50 calories a day, this week. (Nurse's tip was to decrease by 50 calories a day, each week, until I noticed better improvement in losing weight.) She's VERY helpful!

When I get my 10-week books in, sometime this week via UPS or USPS, I'll date the days on each page, so I'm already PRE-prepared through going into 2015. I'm in this for the long haul. At the end of the 5-booklets being filled up, I"ll decide in 2015, if I want to order more or try a different brand of food diary. I noticed how there were some from The Biggest Loser, etc... available, too.

[Harmony]

You guys are all doing so much better than I am.

Note to myself: quit going to supermarket on the way home from hospital. It's too stressful a time and I'm usually hungry by then.

I read your suggestions about the thyroid medicines last month. I think my insurance company won't fill less than 1 month at a time. I think they prefer 3 months. Oh, well. Must think about it.

[Nancy]

I did a walk today part of it with dgson.

[Ivy]

I checked my mini 2014 calendar booklet where I log my daily weight. This evening, I noticed how on Jan. 16, 17, & 18, I weighed 189.8 Lbs. But NOW, I'm 178.3 Lbs. That's minus 11.5 Lbs., since January, which I "know" is extremely slow, but slowly, but surely, it's coming down ounce by once. I'd love to weigh anywhere between 140 - 165 Lbs., too. I'm going to go by how I feel physically and how my energy level is. Also, I'll go by my blood pressure at the doctor's office. My blood pressure is always low and normal anyway, but it'd be nice to see it be even better.

I tend to emotional or stress eat, too. So it's a "challenge" to keep on track, to keep my emotions in check, so I don't binge or eat the wrong foods. I journal my thoughts out, which helps so much with stress and have a gratitude section in my other journal I write 10 daily thankfulness things in daily. It keeps me feeling so grateful, by doing this, with the smallest of things and huge happy things, too. I don't want to be blinded from my emotions anymore so I am running to food. I'd rather write out in my journal, whatever is challenging me that day or night. It's helping me anyway.

Also, I sometimes get discouraged when I have a gain, especially after a big family get-together holiday sometimes with dessert. I try to just get back "on that horse again," to try again. I know that by keeping at it, day after day, I'll slowly be a winner, to finally get to goal- whatever goal it ends up being. I want to take my journey one day at a time, so when I do lose, I can judge which weight is best for me. My doctor's slide rule thingies from the insurance company, on a circle thing in his shirt pocket said for my height and my age (5 ft. 5.5" tall and 62 and 4 months old), I should weigh between 137 - 165 Lbs. I know that's quite the range to fall into, but like I said before, I'll go by how well my energy level is and how my joint pain feels. If I look bad at a lower weight, because of aging loose saggy skin, I'll put on 10 Lbs., so I'll look better and feel better about how I look.

I'm so glad this thread's here, too. It makes me feel like I'm walking along side by side with others, trying to get fit and be healthier, too. I don't feel so solitary and alone. The camaraderie here is good for the soul, too. Thank you, Everyone, for being here with me, too. I feel like you're supporting me, too, and I get so much information and good vibes from reading your posts, too. Thanks!

[OKay]

Continuing to post for accountability.....even if I'm just treading water.

LO and I are both sick. Really? It has been 2 weeks since I have felt well. In addition to ongoing sinus infection, now sweet LO shared his stomach bug with me. It just keeps on...... I took my last antibody med but the sinus infection is still with me. I'll be calling doc office today and asking for guidance.

IN the meantime. I'm not giving up healthy habit focus. I know how hard it is to restart so I would rather continue even if I'm not doing my best.

Focusing on SLOW DOWN & STOP EATING BEFORE FULL. These are some more suggestions I found online...

** During Meal -
** Take smaller bites.
** Put the fork down after putting food in your mouth. Take a sip of water, engage in conversation. Savor each bite, make it a pleasant experience so you will want to repeat it. This is the essence of slow eating and it's about reconnecting with the people you're sharing a meal with
** Concentrate on your food and really enjoy it. Your brain will keep a record of that pleasant experience and this new way of eating will become automatic (second nature) with practice. This means not eating in front of the television, not reading while eating and not trying to surf the internet when eating. Distractions from the food belittle the value of the food and encourage you to think you've eaten less than you have and your ever working brain will be likely to trick your appetite into thinking you need to eat more food. Give your brain and body a rest and truly focus on the food before you. Savor it, appreciate it and be present for the food and the ritual of eating.
** Slow down eating speed.
**  chew each bite about 15 times or until you reflexively swallow.
** Savory each bite of food - assign words to them - salty, sweet, crunchy, smooth
** Trying to taste both the flavor and the texture; imagining how the texture changes as the food is slowly broken down by your saliva.