I wanted to start a new thread where I/we could post about goals and challenges.

My personal goals are about overall better health, losing some more weight, and coping with stressors.

My current plan is to avoid alcohol, baked goods and other sweets, and junk food. Instead I want to focus on cooking at home and making healthy choices at work.

So far, the results haven't been too dazzling. Yesterday was my first day back at work after the holidays, and I immediately had trouble with lunch. The healthiest lunch establishment (my workplace restaurant) had a bad menu, and commercial restaurants didn't appeal to me, so I walked to the nearest dept store (a very expensive place) and made some pretty poor choices. Dinner was no better.

Mental note to self: Plan better.

I just realized I'm probably approaching menopause (it feels really weird to write this as I don't really feel any particular age) and this will probably impact my weight and overall health.

Anyone here who has personal experience and can tell me more about how it might feel? I know I can google all about it, but right now I wanted to ask you ladies.

thursday challenge:

still feeling hurt by dd words--makes me grumpy. i could rip someone's head off--for instance. but trying to pray a lot over this. thursday was not that hard. i felt hungry--that was mostly my problem. just plain hungry. i woke up in the middle of the night--had to pee--and i felt the hunger. i was so damned tempted to go downstairs to the kitchen and eat under cover of nightfall. but i did not. then this morning, on the way to the gym, i was tempted to eat becuase the hunger pains were a bit much. but i did not.

i sometimes get discouraged, wishing i stayed away more from sweets during the holidays. because it feels like such an uphill battle now just to get back to where i was in september 2009. so i am praying a lot about just surrendering to this process, not getting wound up about it, taking baby steps, and enjoying all aspects of life more (not focusing on on this one thing).

i had a wonderful chat with my old friend patricia yesterday- she left a great job with great benefits to follow her passion and open her own business. not a small feat in this horrible economy. i was so impressed with how fearless she is, and how much faith she has. she was an inspiration to me, and i wondered how many decisions i make from a position of fear versus love.

I've been struggling this month. I've been up and down with my weight and never consistently down. Too many football parties, too much entertaining and not enough self restraint.

I'm back to exercising an hour/day but no running so the calories burned aren't great.

We have no weekend plans (first time since before x-mas) and I'm planning on a low cal weekend.

I'm not doing so well on this challenge. I can stay away from junk food (not 100% though) and I don't have a problem with no alcohol on weeknights, but the sweets dept is hard. Sigh...

i was posting my meals on the dinner thread. but i thought it was more relevant fo rme to post my challenges and obstacles becuase my meals are pretty much the same. veering off the plan is the difficulty.

wednesday's challenge: going back to the kitchen after i closed it down. i had forgotten to pack a meal. so i turned on the lights again, and i munched on some rotisserie chick breast, and some guayaba. it's not that those were bad choices. it is just that i was not even hungry.

tuesday's challenge: dd was angry and blaming me for everything. (nothing new there) but while she was venting, i found myself eating a biscotti that was not planned, and i know that the feeling of eating was comforting, given the situation I was in. not hungry. just stressed.

quote:

Originally posted by Nbox:
Dh has taken an interest in cooking. I want to encourage him and so I'm not going to try and make him cook "light". The main thing is to get him started and make him feel comfortable in the kitchen. We'll see if I gain weight on his diet and how much I need to tweak my own intake to keep us all happy.

To be continued...

I love when my SO cooks. He doesn't always cook the way I would, and often uses more unhealthy ingredients. I tend to eat smaller portions if I know he did not follow one of our healthier recipes. When he cooks I get to do something else. Like read, or relax. It is so nice to share that responsibility.

Jill

that is awesome that you are encourging him in the kitchen!

overall, cooking at home is way more healthy than eating out.

Dh has taken an interest in cooking. I want to encourage him and so I'm not going to try and make him cook "light". The main thing is to get him started and make him feel comfortable in the kitchen. We'll see if I gain weight on his diet and how much I need to tweak my own intake to keep us all happy.

To be continued...

I'm back to my current "usual" weight and today I've already walked for 90 minutes. Since today's Sunday, I plan to indulge in something sweet and small (or if not so small then at least just one).

Even though I've been doing this for 3 1/2 years, I still can't quite follow how my body works. Maybe the important thing is that it does work, and not how.

quote:

Originally posted by Nbox:
Sweets three days in a row and wham! 3-4 lbs.

This is MOSTLY from the carbs in the sugar and white flour. Makes people retain water. That is why Low Carb diets are so popular... people lose all kinds of water weight and get immediate gratification. And eating "too many" (and WHAT is the definition of "too many"???) carbs is like the opposite of immediate gratification. It is immediate discouragement.

You can goole "Why the Scale Lies".

To gain 3.5 lbs of fat... you'd have to eat 12,000-13,000 calories too many. That is like the calories in one and a half 9" double layer cakes. Or 12 pints of ice cream.

The problem is that people get discouraged by a big jump... and stay off track and eat 300 calories too much a day, and gain a pound (of fat come back) every couple of weeks.

Hang in there... It is just water gain (MOSTLY).

I went to San Francisco with friends last night and ate out and "gained" 4 lbs over night. OK... the scale doesn't REALLY lie. That is what I really weigh... but I did NOT eat 12 pints of ice cream... or the equivalent in calories last night.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GoingSkiing,

Wii Fit tells me I have worked out every day for the past two weeks .

I usually spend about an hour on it but not all at once. Usually do two sessions.

My week started off not so great with eating and exercising. By Wednesday I was feeling bloated and yuk. I've been trying to make better choices with food. Wed night I took a kickboxing class at the gym (it was tough, made me work, not sure how much I like kickboxing though) and last night I took a Zumba class-LOVE IT! I wish they offered more during the week. I think tomorrow I am trying a Body Pump class. I'm really enjoying trying new classes, it's a nice break from just weights and elliptical.

Jill

I gave myself permission and am now doing a lot better mentally. I'm still slightly up but not more than I can handle.

I'm trying to deal with some heavy stressors and sleep deprivation; I can make some reasonable food choices, but a super clean life is just not on my radar screen today.

starbucks also has mini tubs of ice cream ( more calories i believe than the other brands) and also Edy's (which typically are around 170 calories).

quote:

Originally posted by fbroadie:
[...] Hagen Daz has just started making mini ice cream cups. [...]

Ain't it great!! Ben & Jerry's has also started making little single serving "tubs".

Could you work the sweets into your plan? Instead of giving yourself free reign, could you add 2 small cookies for your afternoon snack and then just have 1/2 the portion of starch with dinner or some other caloric equivalent?

I like sweets a lot, and I know I eat more than my share. But because I know that dinner doesn't feel complete without dessert, I try to keep things around that will satisfy my sweet tooth without doing me in. 100 calorie pudding cups, sugar free jello cups, frosted mini-wheats, individually portioned chocolates. When things are pre portioned I find that I don't go back for more. Hagen Daz has just started making mini ice cream cups. Usually I just buy a big tub of lower fat ice cream in a boring flavor that doesn't tempt me too much, but those little mini cups are a nice treat from time to time.

Good luck with your new goals.

I'm rephrasing my ambitions for January. Now I'm back to saying, "If I want something sweet, I can eat it." Maybe that'll make me want it less. Not drinking any alcohol on weekdays is far easier.

Christmas went well in terms of weight maintenance, but since then I've gained 2-3 lbs. Maybe I just got too cocky. It's happened before.

i am with you judy. i have had to work very hard to change my mindset. now, i have no problem eating a 400 calorie brownie. why? because if i think that brownies are eliminated from my eating totally, i will have a 4000 calorie lovefest with brownies--i know it.

my SO is great. he brings home 6 brownies. i freeze them. if i cannot resist them, then i take 5 of them to work (my assistant has 4 kids who love the brownies). then i eat 1.

quote:

Originally posted by Nbox:
I'm up, and discouraged.

The minute I make a conscious decision to stay away from something, the exact opposite happens. Sweets three days in a row and wham! 3-4 lbs.

Renewing my efforts... but why the **** am I so **** hungry all the time?!

That is why I practice "moderation, not elimination". The instant something becomes off limits, that is what you will crave.
I love Danish Wedding Cookies, it is one of the few things I don't keep in the house, but I give myself permission to buy some anytime I want to. I pass them every week when I buy groceries. Most of the time I don't even notice them, they are not at eye level, but when I do I decide then if I want to buy some or not. Most of the time I don't but if I really, really want a taste I will get a bag. It didn't used to be that way.
About 20 years ago (my, my where does the time go ) I was camping with the in-laws and my sil and I bought a bag but we knew they wouldn't last long in that crowd so we hid it in her camper. Individually, we kept sneaking in and having a cookie or two until they were gone