Everyday Systems

It's a lot easier to No-S when your days are predictable. Those sorts of stressors do make it much more difficult. In fact, I was nearly perfect for over a year, then failed after a particularly difficult time at work made it harder to comply.

Anyway, back at it, right? Right.

Day 3 Sucess

It was kind of hard to get back into it, but I made it through the day. BUT... I had breakfast an hour ago, and i already feel hungry (had the same as usual, this is just the nibbles) But I am committed to this. I believe in this and I believe I will do it.

And thanks, Kevin and Sue for the votes of confidence. This would be so much harder on my own.

Day 4 success

Funny stuff: drink-yogurt before my bike ride home.
Shovelgloved. Suddenly harder than before.

Am sooooo looking forward to being able to walk again. Physical Therapist says it may be years. No wonder I'm not losing weight (was losing until the accident and now I'm sitting on my butt all day.)

Day 5 Failure
Day 6 Failure
Day 7 Failure
Aargh. Habits down the drain. Blech. Didn't even want to post here but figured I had to own up to this. So, failure. So, back on track?

So strange: In the past 3 months I haven't been perfect, but I've had more successes than failures by far. Now I've just totally lost the plot. I don't even believe that I CAN get back on track.

Sounds like you are having a bad time of it with more than the food battle. Things will get better. Just hang in there. I know that is easy to say and hard to do when things are going bad for a time but life is a roller coaster. That means there are highs as well as lows. There is a high on the way. Be patient and true and it will happen.
Hugs to you.

Thanks, Sue! I can't wait for another high....

Z.

I don't know what the trials are that you have been going through but is there something you can do about them? Or are they something that needs to be endured? If there is something to be done, maybe making of list of things you can do might help and then moving to do them. If it is something that must be endured, try to find outlets for the stress (preferably non food outlets). On the 365 Tao site I was telling you about, they talk a lot about the ups and downs of life and how they are all part of the plan. An example for me was how I met and married my husband of 33 years. We were very good friends in college and then went our separate ways. We wrote a couple of times a year for the next couple of years. In the meantime, I was trying to find a job teaching and was having no luck at all. I was feeling desparate, lonely and like a failure. Here I was 27 and living at home making $1.80 an hour working in a restaurant. I felt like I was stuck. Then one day Tom called and said he was back from living in Arizona and wanted to go out for a drink or something. The rest as they say is history. If I had actually gotten any of the jobs I applied for out of state, I would never have reconnected with him and that would have been very regretable. He is my soul mate and I would be less without him.
So, please embrace all parts of your life because you never know what will happen next, if you believe and hold on.
I hope something wonderful is just around the corner for you, Zoolina.

Day 3 (S days included!) Sucess...

..by dint of eating huuuuge meals so that I could not be hungry. I must have eaten more than usual, but as far as habits goes, back on track.

I don't know why I really resist the idea of taking charge of how I deal with stress. I mean, I just don't want to hear what anyone else says about it, which is a strange reaction when I consider how I actually ASKED for advice to begin with. Maybe what I wanted to hear was a "poor you" and when I didn't hear that, but rather kind encouragement and "buck up, this is you're life and you've got to do it" I just closed my eyes and ears, preferring self pity.

What I can do:
No-S consistently. There's nothing better than writing "Sucess" at the end of the day
Decrease my coffee intake-- resign myself to the fact that it's unhealthy and that, if I don't like the taste of tea, maybe that's all for the best. If caffine makes me stressed maybe (!) I shouldn't drink it.
make a point to really get arobic when I'm riding, at least on one direction of the commute.
shovelglove
Realize that if nobody's perfect, why should I expect myself to be?
Notice something beautiful every day.
journal about what's bothering me, think about solutions rather than letting myself get that deer-in-the headlights immobility.

Enough monthly resolutions to last a while...

Some good thoughts, there. And I will add one more. Sometimes when I try to help my daughter by giving her all kinds of advise, she says, "mom, please stop. I just wanted to tell someone I was feeling awful. I didn't want advise. Just hug me and say 'poor baby' and let me feel bad until I don't anymore."

This same smart daughter bought me huge stuffed panda a lot of years ago. She said she heard me tell someone once that I had one as a child and that he was my best friend. At the time, I thought he was just cute. Since then,that bear has heard many stories and he has been soaked with tears. He has been hugged many times while I rocked and tried to feel better. When my husband was diagnosed with cancer, I needed to be strong for him and I couldn't scare my daughter anymore than she already was but I was rocked to my foundations. Bear and I had many nights of hugging, rocking and crying. I don't know if I could have made it through without him. He was the best present I ever received. If one of us is hurting and there is nothing any of us can do or say, I bring bear out and say, he's yours for the night. I know it sounds kind of "out there" but it has been very theraputic for me.
Maybe you just needed a shoulder to cry on and an ear to hear you and we didn't see it. So, for what it's worth, I hope you feel much better soon and if you want an ear and nothing more, I've got two that will listen.

Day 4 Failure

Ate dinner too early and (stress again?) had a burning stomach later in the evening. Eating did sooth it.

I don't feel too down about the failure since it was so physical, and I never get that kind of feeliing from just having the nibbles. I was No-S all day up till then.

March's Monthly resolutions:

1) Vanilla No-S, super strict!
2) Coffee S days are Smondays and Saturdays, other days I will drink tea. The glass ceiling is two caffinated beverages a day.

Day 1-- Sucess
Tea day 1: sucess

2 more days till S day...

No time to say much...It's very late and I'm tired. Just wanted to cheer you on. Rah rah rah!

--H

Day 2 Success
Day 2 Tea-- Glass ceiling exploded: had 3 cups

Day 3 Success
Still eating a LOT at every meal, just to keep me from getting hungry between. I think I'm eathing too much, but I guess habit is more important than high-piled plates right now.