Everyday Systems

You are not alone. I have been hitting the sweets and snacking more than usual on my S days. I think it is the aftermath from the holidays. Once I shake up my habits, it is sometimes hard to get back on track.

Here's to a good week for everyone!

I'm a little bowled over by a cold right now and had to take yesterday as a No-S/Exercise sick day. I'm still feeling pretty lousy, but am planning a No-S success for today, possibly augmented by a little juice between meals. Unless I make a good recovery during the day (while at work), it'll have to be another sick day for exercise, though. The energy that's in my body needs to be reserved for basic functioning.

Tuesday, SUCCESS. Not feeling great, but definitely better.

B - hot grape nuts with honey
L - wonton soup, mini handful of almonds, apple
D - bagel with cream cheese, chips, mango (I couldn't quite muster the energy to really cook)

I think I'm going to do some resistance work tonight. I can't make my body do cardio tonight, but I think I can make it do something.

Julie

Wednesday, SUCCESS. I struggled against eating cookies this afternoon, but did manage to get by without giving in. This week has been much harder than weeks in recent history, but I'm not giving up (so far, at least). I know that sometimes you have to work harder than others when trying to make real changes so here I am.

B - hot grape nuts with honey
L - about 1/3 of a chinese take out container of fried rice, 2 shrimp dumplings, apple
D - spinach (from my garden!) salad, lean steak cooked with a little olive oil

Did the 2 mile WATP with extra arms/weights this morning. It felt really good to push my body a little.

Julie

Thursday, SUCCESS. Today was an easier day.

B - oatmeal with pecans and brown sugar
L - leftover steak on a roll, potato chips, apple
D - strawberry banana smoothie, english muffin with peanut butter

I did 20 minutes on the exercise bike (and turned up the resistance a little). I'll do another 20 of weights/resistance work in a bit.

Julie

Friday, SUCCESS. More or less. Dinner was really pushing the envelope on size and I had one bite of dessert after dinner (which they just brought us without ordering so I felt compelled to take a bite and taste it -- but I stopped with the one).

B - grape nuts with milk and banana
L - cheddar and avocado on rye, potato chips, apple
D (out with a friend) - wonton soup, pot stickers, mongolian beef with rice

It's been a very meat and cooking oil heavy week, probably somewhat related to it being a very chinese restaurant/take out filled week. I was feeling so lousy on Monday that I ordered food, which then gave me several more meals and then tonight we went out for Chinese again.

I'm looking forward to an in-control weekend where I'm eating meals, more healthy than not, most likely with a treat each day. For the record, Monday's a holiday, but not an S Day.

Julie

Saturday, S-DAY. A pretty good one.

B - oatmeal with pecans and brown sugar, plus a bit of milk
L - grilled cheese, baked fries, clementine, olives, 2 mini brownies
S - peanut m&ms (eaten with friends while chatting and knitting, and on a saturday, so I feel totally good about them)
D (with a friend) - caesar salad, 2 pieces veggie pizza (I wanted to add a third piece, but knew I shouldn't so didn't)

Walked about an hour, although rather slowly, plus 20 minutes of upper body weights.

Julie

Sunday, S-DAY. Pretty solid.

B - grape nuts with milk and 1/2 banana
L - banana pancakes with a little maple syrup and butter, bacon
S - brownie batter licked from the spoon and handful of chocolate chunks (while making brownies), fresh baked brownie
D - roast chicken, cheesy risotto, caesar salad, glass of wine

Off for the day on exercise, but pretty active around the house.

Julie

Monday, SUCCESS! I had to fight hard not to give in to the cookies today. Sometimes I'm amazed at how hard this still is after focusing on No-S so steadily for more than a year; and sometimes it makes sense to me that it should still be a struggle: I ate badly for something like 34 years and have now been eating better for not much more than a year. Today was a "fake it til you make it" kind of day and I'm proud of myself for doing that.

B - raisin bran with milk and 1/2 banana
L - small english muffin with veggie sausage patty and an egg, home fries with ketchup (made from one small potato), kiwi, dried mango
D - italian sausage and mustard greens risotto (recipe called for spinach but I had the mustard greens available in my garden so I decided to go with those instead), strawberries

I walked outside 75 minutes today at walking-for-exercise pace.

All in all a good day with nice homemade food, fresh fruit and veggies, indulgent feeling dinner (but actually a cooking light recipe so not really that indulgent), and a good chunk of exercise. And no cookies! Hopefully I've now written that enough to steel myself against the call of the cookies for the rest of the evening.

Julie

Tuesday, SUCCESS!

B - hot grape nuts with honey
L - fried rice with chicken (also planned an apple, but never ate it)
D - large bagel with butter, strawberries, skim latte (later, while out knitting, but assumed in advance)

Did 20+ minutes of upper body/abs work and walked outside for 45 minutes.

Julie

Wednesday, FAIL! I'm not even really sure what went wrong. I just decided to eat chocolate and then more and then more for no good reason despite having perfectly fine breakfast and lunch. And none of it was even very good.

B - raisin bran with milk and 1/2 banana
L - leftover risotto (I had an apple I never ate), small brownie
S - snickers bar, peanut M&Ms
D - (making it be very light to try and make up for the afternoon a little bit) small amount of cheddar cheese (somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 ounce), 8 melba crackers, 1/2 kiwi

Off for the day on exercise.

Julie

Thursday, SUCCESS! Although I had chips at 2 meals, which isn't ideal.

B - raisin bran with milk and 1/2 banana
L - cheddar and avocado on rye, potato chips, dried mango
D - shrimp quesadilla, chips with salsa, apple

Did 2 mile WATP with extra arms/weights.

Julie

Cheddar and avocado -- that's an interesting sandwich! Actually, one of my favorites is cottage cheese and avocado on rye. It looks a little gross but tastes great. I "invented" it in Israel when I was on a kibbutz that grew avocados. I'll have to try with other cheese; might be a bit less messy!

I love cheddar (especially sharp cheddar) with avocado. A couple slices of avocado with some cheese is much more interesting and much more filling for me than just cheese.

I'm going to try it!

Friday was a failure. I simply need to do better and control myself. There's nothing more to it. I did get a workout in, which I'm proud of given the circumstances. For that, it really was a matter of taking control and making myself do the right thing. I'm not sure why I'm suddenly able to do that with exercise, but still many times not with food.

Yesterday was an S-DAY and I feel good about it. It's actually the best overall day I've had in several days.

B - cereal with milk
S - 2 smallish homemade peanut butter cookies fresh from the oven
L - 1/2 tuna melt, carrots, olives
S - 2 more of the cookies
D - the other half of the tuna melt, baked fries with ketchup, frozen pomegranate bar

Off for the day on exercise. I had dinner about 5:15 before going out for the night and then got home at 11:30 feeling quite hungry. I resisted the container of cookies sitting on my counter and just went to bed and I feel good about that.

Julie

I too had a bad Friday. I decided to make it an S day due to 2 events, but it wasn't nearly as controlled as your admirable S day. Quite the opposite. I made Saturday an N day, and that went well. Today is another S day and I'm hoping I won't do anything stupid. It sounds like you recovered very well from Friday.

I agree that it's perplexing why you can make yourself do so many things, but the one thing is so difficult.

Well, good luck to both of us!

We'll just have to keep on keeping on.

Another S Day today and I feel pretty good about it.

B - cereal with milk
S - one of the peanut butter cookies I made yesterday
L - bagel, egg, and veggie sausage sandwich, potato chips, carrots
D - apple, about an ounce or a little less of cheddar cheese, few pieces of fresh coconut
S - few bites of what was meant to be a chocolate milkshake that didn't turn out as my blender died, a couple too many candy cane joe-joe's (the trader joe's oreo like cookie with peppermint cream filling -- i love them so!) that I used as a replacement treat for the failed milkshake

Took a nice 2 mile walk today.

Julie

Monday, SUCCESS!

B - piece of rye toast with cream cheese (just didn't feel like much this morning for some reason)
L - greek yogurt with banana, walnuts, and honey, 2 slices buttered rye toast, few pieces of fresh coconut
D - maple mustard glazed chicken (from a cooking light recipe and very tasty!), small serving of brown rice, mixed greens salad with few olives and a bit of blue cheese in light honey mustard dressing, some mixed berries

Did the 2 mile WATP with extra arms/weights.

I'm feeling pretty good right now, although, as always, I'd very happily eat a cookie.

Julie

Tuesday, SUCCESS!

B - grape nuts with milk and 1/2 banana
L - maple mustard chicken with brown rice, 3 pieces dried nectarines, apple
D - bagel with cream cheese, potato chips

Did 15 minutes upper body weights and took a 40 minute walk. I hate to jinx myself, but I'm really very pleased with my exercise these days.

Julie

You are doing great on the exercise! It becomes addictive, doesn't it?!

I've been keeping up more with my weights work but not getting in 30 minutes of walking, yet I feel the difference and think it will be only a matter of time before it becomes more routine. Ain't it great?

It really is! I think this is probably the longest I've ever gone with consistent exercise. I think the big change is that even when I don't feel like doing it, I can remember how much better I'll feel when I do well enough to push myself over the hurdle.

Wednesday, SUCCESS!

B - raisin bran with milk and 1/2 banana
L - last of the chicken and rice, mixed berries, satsuma
D - apple (in advance), (then, on a date) grilled cheese with cup of spicy tomato soup

Scheduled off day for exercise. It has become addictive enough that I was actually considering doing something anyway, but I could really feel that my body needed the break and I think taking the days off is important for me keeping it up.

Julie

Thursday, SUCCESS!

B - grape nuts with milk
L - greek yogurt with walnuts, banana, and honey, 2 pieces buttered rye toast
D - pureed squash with touch of butter and brown sugar topped with a few pecans, dinner roll with bit of butter, green salad with craisins, olives, and blue cheese in light honey mustard dressing

2 mile WATP plus extra weights this morning.

Julie

Official January weigh-in: I lost 1.5 pounds and 1.5 combined inches from waist/hips, and maintained last months loss to chest and thigh. And the jeans that 6 months ago I couldn't wear at all, and that 3 months ago I could wear but felt very, very tight, are now comfortable. My jeans that were fitted at that point are now my loose jeans.

It's also the 5th consecutive month that I've lost, which is something I'm really happy about. All the losses have been in the .5-1.5 range, but as long as I keep that up I'm okay. Of course, if I could finally get better control and cut out the few failures I have each month, I'm sure I'd do even better, but I just need to remember that it's a process and that I am making progress. I just have to put on the jeans and I can see there is some change a-happenin'.

Off to do my exericse -- today and tomorrow and I'll have 100% success (based on my 4 weekday/1weekend plan) for the month on that, which is surely a big part of the positive results.

Julie

Friday, SUCCESS!

B - large bowl of raisin bran with milk and 1/2 banana
L - frozen spinach and feta pie, apple, small handful peanuts
D - (take out eaten at work) 6 gyoza, california roll, spicy tuna roll, satsuma

I feel like I had a little breakthrough today. I tend to struggle and often fail on "weigh in day" because I feel like the pressure is off or something and I can not worry about it for a while. I haven't been like that today. Today's just as important as every other day and anything "off plan" I do will only set me back next month (and for life). Not sure how I managed to flip the switch in my brain on this one, but glad to be seeing more clearly now.

I did the usual 2 mile WATP with extra weights/arms this morning. I always add the weights and arms, I realize, so I don't think I really need to keep saying that every day. I think I'll just note it if I don't for some reason.

Julie

Had two S Days with S's, but that were fine. I think on weekends I'm going to leave it at that for reporting. I also walked about 2 miles yesterday so keeping up my good behavior there.

Back to the real world tomorrow.
Julie

It's only 11am, but I am already SO hungry. I have to wait longer, though, or I'll never make it til dinner especially since mid to late afternoon is my particularly difficult time.

I don't know why I'm so hungry today -- I had my normal breakfast, have had a good amount of water, and didn't even work out this morning (planning evening today).

I'm hoping that posting about it will help me fight the good fight.

Monday, SUCCESS. Although my lunch was pretty ridiculous.

B - grape nuts with milk and 1/2 banana
L - 2 slices leftover pepperoni pizza, 1/2 sandwich of fancy cheese, lettuce, pickle on baguette, apple
D - tuna rice casserole, frozen pomegranate bar

Did 20 minutes on the exercise bike and 15 minutes upper body weights.

Julie

Tuesday, SUCCESS!

B - grape nuts with milk and 1/2 banana
L - (staff lunch from a local super yummy mediterranean restaurant) 2 dolmas, 2 mini chicken wrap things (few bites each), 1 mini spinach and feta wrap thing, hummus with pita, little bit of cheese, few strawberries, several bites pineapple, 2 date roll things
D - cereal with milk (it's all I felt like having)

2 mile WATP+ this morning.

Julie

Wednesday, SUCCESS! I'm not sure I'm all that proud of my meals this week, but still in the land of success.

B - hot grape nuts with honey
L - (out, with colleagues) virgin pad thai, (later, but planned in advance) strawberries
D - dolma, mini pita with cream cheese,3 slices dried nectarine, 2 date rolls

I'm off for the day on exercise.

Tomorrow's a NWS Day for the opening of the show at the theatre. I'm allowing myself one piece of "opening" candy, the dessert that's served with dinner, some bites of things at the post-show reception. I am not allowed to just snack all day or have sweets for breakfast.

Julie

Thursday was the NWS day as planned. I really wasn't at all out of control and I'm proud of that. Its probably the best opening night day I've had in a long time food-wise.

Today, Friday, SUCCESS! This is also probably the first day after opening I've managed to keep from blowing it all year, which I'm even more proud of. Somehow it wasn't so hard today. I'm not sure why. I'm fighting a cold and maybe it's keeping my appetite down? Maybe it's letting myself eat rich foods at meals? Anyway, yay!

B - hot grape nuts with honey
L - mac and cheese, several bites bbq pulled pork, large glass orange juice
D - mini frozen pizza, frozen pomegranate bar

I've taken yesterday and today as sick days for exercise. I really do think they're legitimate and that I'll be okay to pick it right back up when I'm physically better.

Julie

Saturday, S-DAY. Solid. But mostly because I'm still not all that hungry from the cold so am just eating for social occasions and because "its time" so its easier to keep in check.

B - cereal with milk, orange juice
L (out) - lightly dressed caesar salad, 2 slices margarhita pizza
S - orange juice, brownie bite
D (at a friends) - lightly dressed spinach salad, shrimp cocktail, few pieces of bread in cheese fondue, homemade fudgy brownie, 1/2 glass wine

Took another day off of exercise. I'm using all the energy that exists in body to do basic activities. In fact, its 10pm and I can literally barely hold my head up. I have more "hanging out with friends" activities tomorrow and I really just want to cancel -- but I'm trying hard to make friends and be social so also really don't want to. We'll see....

Julie

Sunday, S-DAY. Perfectly fine. Dinner was big with the addition of pre-dinner snacking and end of meal sweet, but all as a part of super bowl-ness at a friends and no other s's during the day so I'm happy.

B - piece of buttered rye toast, orange juice
L (out, with friends) - half a cheese and potato omelette, 2 pieces bacon, 2 pieces buttered sourdough toast
S - (right before dinner, at a friends) chips and guacamole, carrots, peanut m&m's
D - pan seared salmon with curry peanut sauce, potato pancakes with applesauce, fudgy brownie

Went to a big antique fair with friends/co-workers today so walked slowly for about 90 minutes. Calling that exercise. I'm still cold-y, but getting better. Hopefully tomorrow'll be better enough to do morning exercise.

Julie

Monday, SUCCESS.

B - smaller than my usual portion of hot grape nuts, orange juice
L - rice noodles with curry peanut sauce, strawberries, banana
D - bagel with cream cheese

I have my fruit from dinner left and I might eat it later tonight. This is a 12 hour day at work and I might need it then. I'm also still feeling pretty lousy, but had to be at work. It couldn't be helped. I did do some slightly light exercise this morning: 20 minutes walking outside and 10 minutes upper body weight. I wanted to get back into it and felt like I could handle it sickness-wise. I'm not sure if it was a good idea or not to use that energy that way as I'm totally out of it right now.

Julie

Tuesday, SUCCESS! Including eating the lunch I planned and brought with me instead of giving in to the pizza I was craving.

B - bagel with cream cheese, sliced banana, last little bit of the orange juice
L - rice noodles with curry peanut sauce, strawberries, apple
D - leftover potato pancakes, applesauce, dried nectarines

It's been a carb heavy, protein low day, which isn't ideal, but sometimes that's how things'll shake out, I guess.

I'm still feeling pretty sick and am taking another S day on exercise. I'm feeling slovenly, but I really believe I'm being legitimate.

Julie

Wednesday, SUCCESS! I stayed home from work today and struggled to not snack after lunch. But I pushed through focusing on my goals and am happy for it.

I'm still fighting this stupid cold. With the day at home I am hoping I'm nearing the end of the yuckiness. I also took yet another day off of exercise as part of it. Now that it's been so long I'm getting more worried about losing the habit -- especially because I'll be out of town much of next week so dealing with an unusual schedule and no access to my WATP standby. I'll just have to stay focused and work hard, I guess.

B - hot grape nuts with brown sugar
L - grilled cheese (gouda on rye), potato chips, few carrots, few olives, apple
D - 1 slice pepperoni/olive pizza, salad with lots of lettuce and spinach, carrots, avocado, olives, bit of blue cheese and light dressing, strawberries

Julie

Thursday, SUCCESS! And feeling much better.

B - large cereal with milk
L -greek yogurt with banana, walnuts, honey, slice of buttered rye toast, apple
D (out, date #4 with the new guy) 1/2 thin 9" pizza with bacon and potato, pint of beer

Did 15 minutes upper body weights in the morning and took a slightly slower than regular exercise pace evening walk.

Julie

You really have tons of willpower and I like your optimistic attitude - no wonder you'rs successful!

Thanks! The willpower is a muscle that's definitely built up over time. I've been at this for a while and it's only in the last several months that I've started to really pull it together. And even with that weight loss is slow, but it's going.

Friday, SUCCESS!

B - cereal with milk
L - leftover pizza from last night, apple
D - large eel maki roll, 5 pieces nigiri, orange

Did the 2 mile WATP+ this morning.

Julie

You're inspiring me - I haven't been exercising because of illness, but am starting to feel that I've crossed the line from legitimate excuse to sloth.

It's sometimes so hard to see which side of that line you're on.

I'm struggling really hard against snacking. Yes, its a Saturday, but my dinner is going to be fatty and caloric (we're going for burgers and shakes) and I want to let that be the treat of the day. I do not need more than that. I do not need to eat anything now. But it's hard to resist while sitting at home. Again, I'm trying to post about it to help keep myself from giving in. No giving in!

Don't give in! Avoiding the snack will make that burger and shake more delicious.

Thanks, Grace! I did power through. Although it was an S Day and I included a chocolate shake in my day, it feels like a success because I refused to give into the desire to snack for no good reason this afternoon.

B - greek yogurt with honey and walnuts
L - very full plate of: homemade hummus with crackers, carrots, and olives, bunch of doritos like chips, strawberries
D (out, with a friend) - most of a 1/2 lb cheeseburger on bun, about 1/2 order of fries with ketchup (I'd estimate I ate a large handful-full), rich and wonderful (and not insanely huge) chocolate shake

Off for the day on exercise.

Julie

Sunday, S-DAY. Fine, although not the healthiest I've ever done. Very devoid of fruits or veggies.

Skipped breakfast, which is weird for me, but I was having an early lunch.
L - (out) dim sum, about a plate full, but, of course, not eaten that way
S - bunch of the cookies and cream ice cream I made a couple weeks back
D - rye toast with cream cheese, chips

I'm also looking at a fail for the day on exercise. It'll be my first in quite some time. I feel bad to take it, but I just don't see exercise happening at this point. No matter how much I don't want to, I will get tomorrow's done first thing in the morning. Absolutely no slide allowed here.

Julie

Monday, SUCCESS! I did technically have 2 bites of cheesecake, but I kept it to just those two that were needed to approve at a tasting today (one with chocolate, one with raspberry, which is why I needed 2). Given the circumstance, the stopping, and the small quantity I'm still calling it a success rather than a NWS day, which I think it's far from.

B- raisin bran with milk and banana
L- (the tasting) several bites each caesar salad, baguette with brie and fig, phyllo with spinach and feta, melon with prosciutto, dinner roll, roast chicken, roast potato, broccolini, salmon, asparagus, mushroom ravioli, cheesecake, strawberries
D - bagel with butter and cheese, chips, apple

Did the 2 mile WATP+ this morning like a good girl.

Julie

Your tasting sounds delicious! I have WATP, although I have never tried it. How do you like it - have you done it for long/seen results? TIA!

I'm a huge fan of WATP. I think it's a much better workout than just walking outside (for me at least, especially because I add a bunch of work with upper body weights/arm movements as I go). Plus it doesn't require the weather or time of day to cooperate and can easily be done in a not even very big apartment. I feel like I've really done something at the end, but also don't find it so impossible that I resist doing it.

Tuesday, FAILURE. The good news is it was contained. And I still came home and did my exercise.

B- hot grape nuts
L - bagel with cream cheese, chips (also brought an apple that I didn't end up eating -- instead I had candy )
S - 3 hazelnut chocolate balls, 3 hershey kisses
D - carrots and few crackers with homemade hummus, few olives, couple bites cheese, small handful raisins

Did 30 minutes on the exercise bike (up from my usual 20!), 15 minutes of upper body weights.

I'm heading out of town tomorrow to meet my new niece. I'll be gone through Sunday night. I'm not going to seek out S's on weekdays and will keep the good habits in my brain, but not expressly prohibit a few extras across the few days. We'll see how it goes.

Julie

Wednesday, travel day, Success!

Snacking while traveling is so ingrained in me its always hard not to, but I did it.
And resisted the temptation of ice cream for dessert with the fam.

B- grape nuts with milk and banana (before leaving)
L- bagels with cc, chips, apple (on the shuttle between airport and my brother)
D- teryaki glazed chicken, mashed potaotes with butter and sour cream (pre-mixed, we don't really do "healthy" here), salad with dressing (basically iceberg and carrot, but still fresh veggies so I was happy to have it)

Stretch of walk/run mix plus bunch of slow walking that was enough to be called exercise.

Julie

Thursday, nws, but okay. I'm definitely in Idaho, though: meat at every meal.

B- cereal with milk, banana, 2 sausage links
L- roast beef sandwich, few tortillas chips, kiwi
D-pulled pork sandwich, au gratin potatoes, salad with dressing
S- 2-3 cups movie popcorn

Took a slightly slow hour long walk with the family.

Julie

Friday-Sunday devolved into eating way too much crap, much of the processed variety, and not nearly enough actual meals. The lack of the meals and an erratic schedule, plus being in an environment where snacking is the norm, were pretty much the culprits I'd say. Not that it really matters, but it helps me to think about what went so wrong. And it really went very wrong.

I'm back home and back to my healthier ways today. I didn't end up getting home until after midnight thanks to a 5 hour flight delay (also part of yesterday's eating fiasco) so am pretty tired today. I think I'm going to let this be my weekday off of exercise. I usually like to do it late in the week, but I think I need today.

Julie

Monday, SUCCESS!

B - oatmeal with touch of butter and sugar
L - crackers with cream cheese, chips, craisins and raisins
D - panko crusted baked chicken breast, dressed salad (lettuce and spinach from the garden, plus avocado, craisins, freshly shaved parmesan), apple

Took the day off on exercise. That means I have to do Tues-Fri without exception. Seems doable.

Julie

Tuesday, SUCCESS!

B - cereal with milk and banana
L - panko crusted chicken, dinner roll, apple
D - yogurt with granola, creamy coffee

I hurt my back/neck very early in the lifting of freeweights this morning. I immediately stopped the weights and as it's really pretty sore decided to skip the cardio as well. I'm about to put heat on it and am very hopeful that it'll feel better in the morning.

Julie

Wednesday, SUCCESS!

B - cereal with milk and banana
L - oatmeal with sugar, butter, pecans, and walnuts, 2 slices buttered rye bread
D (out) - brussel sprouts, several bites fried polenta, maccheroni with pork ragu, glass wine

My neck/back was still pretty sore so I kept exercise to a slowish 30 minute walk. I'll probably do the same today. I really want to let it heal before pushing.

Julie

Thursday, SUCCESS!

B - hot grape nuts with honey
L - greek yogurt with banana, walnuts, and bit of sugar, slice of buttered rye toast
D - last of the panko crusted chicken, lightly dressed salad (spinach and lettuce from the garden!) with a little avocado and cheese, raisins

Neck and back still sore so keeping off weights for now, but took a good paced almost 40 minute walk tonight. I was being lazy and really didn't want to, but forced myself and am glad for it.

Julie

It is a bummer to be hurt. Sounds like you have the exercise addiction now and have substituted exercise that will work while you are healing. That is great! Hope you feel better soon.

I think I might, Jean. Thanks.

Friday, SUCCESS.

B - cereal with milk and banana
L - bagel with cream cheese and avocado, chips, large handful of raisin/craisin/dried cherry packed trail mix
D -boca burger with a little cheese, mayo, ketchup on mini pita bread, about 1/2 cup of fresh squeezed orange juice

I walked about 15 minutes, but my back/neck is bugging me and I need to just call it another sick day on real exercise.

Julie

Saturday, S-DAY. Okay, if a tad chocolate-y and not the greatest meals ever.

B - small chocolate croissant, cup of milk
L - about 1/2 a chipotle chicken burrito bowl, whole lotta chips
S - yogurt covered raisins mixed with a few almonds and cashews
D - apple with a little peanut butter (had meant to have a smoothie, but accidentally got my wooden spoon caught in the moving blade and ended up with wood splinters mixed in my smoothie), 3 chocolate coated digestive biscuits, dried mango

Another day off of exercise. Tomorrow I'll definitely be taking a long walk.

Julie

Sunday, S-DAY. Okay, but I'd vaguely intended to keep it to one real S, but had 2 (plus borderline lunch, but that was planned).

B - cereal with milk
L - belgian waffle -- 1/2 with butter and syrup and 1/2 with butter and homemade jam, bacon
S - 2 small homemade peanut butter cookies
D - 2 slices pizza (in the freezer from a pizza ordered a while ago), hunk of chocolate with almonds

I didn't do any exercise. I tried -- got dressed and went out to walk. But somehow my body just wouldn't and I came back a few minutes later. I was really struggling to move at all. I ended up calling it yellow rather than red, but it's borderline. In better news, I've already gotten up and done my "real" exercise for Monday.

Julie

As a fellow fan of WATP, I wanted to ask what version you have. I have had the same DVD set for years, and it consists of 1, 2, and 3 mile routines with round 2# weights. Like you I add to the routine. I use 3# weights, and I use them the entire time. I also add extra arm movements.

I got a different version of WATP for Christmas called Walk Slim, and it comes with an exercise band. It has a warm up, 5 miles and a cool down. You can pick and choose which miles you do or you can do them all. She also has added movements like toe taps, and it is harder to follow. (I am sure it will be fine in time.). I like parts of it, but I am not sure about it. I am already modifying it by using weights sometimes and bands sometimes.

I was told she has a running DVD, but I have never been able to find it.

I have the one called WATP Express. It includes the stretchy band and 1, 2, 3, and 4 mile versions. It includes arm movements and the stretchy band, but no actual weights. I add a bunch of extra arm movements with 3# weights, plus use those weights for everything she just has them using the arms for. If I've only ever done the 2 and 3 mile ones. I do also have the Walk and Jog, but had somehow forgotten about that until just now. I remember that I did like it. I think at the time it seemed like it'd be hard to add extra weights to that, but I think I might be more able to now. I'll have to try to swap that one back in.

And, today, Monday was a SUCCESS! Dinner was haphazard because I got caught up in work insanity, but I think okay. I also got some unhappy news about an employee I really like leaving this afternoon and resisted the urge to dim the disappointment with chocolate.

B - cereal with milk and banana
L - bagel with cc, chips, apple
D - bread, 2 slices cheese, slice salami, few olives, few chips, large handful raisin/craisin packed trail mix

And, as mentioned earlier, the 2 mile WATP +arms/weights this morning. And a lot of extra running around the theatre today. I had meant to add some squats and wall pushups throughout the day, but completely forgot. Hopefully I'll remember tomorrow.

Julie

Tuesday, SUCCESS! I am hungry tonight, but that's just part of the deal sometimes. Actually, I was really hungry this afternoon to the point of being perpetually distracted so I went and got a creamy coffee, which definitely helped. I'm reminding myself that I did eat a good 1400+ healthy calories today -- I could be a whole lot less lucky.

B - cereal with milk and banana
L - bagel with cream cheese, chips, apple
D - homemade vegetable barley soup (more like stew, though, as it came out very thick), dinner roll

Did the WATP walk and jog, with extra arms and weights thrown in when I could.

Julie

Unfortunately, I fell apart a little yesterday. As basically always, the real issue was mental. I'm pretty sure it stemmed from weighing and seeing I'd gained a pound in the month. I was really disappointed about that. I did have one minor fail day and another (plus the two S days following it) that were definitely out of control, but had felt good about things overall. Between being sick and then injured I didn't get in much exercise for the month, though, which surely influenced things. My body also generally isn't that fluky about weight (meaning I trend pretty consistent), but it also only a pound so there could be some randomness in there. Anyway, I felt bad. I tried to ignore it for all these reasons and because I'm trying to see the long term picture, but it was in my head all day and I think a big part of the "collapse." On the positive front, the car got scraped up, but I managed to hit the brakes before really crashing it.

B - cereal with milk and banana
L - 2/3 of a large milanese sandwich (I was hungry enough for the whole, but decided to throw the last 1/3 and planned to have my fruit for the rest of the meal -- but then didn't)
S - large chocolate chip cookie
S - another large chocolate chip cookie (and now I feel sick)
D - banana and spoonful of peanut butter (trying to keep it small, but still with a little substance to try and "recover" some calories from earlier)

I DID do my exercise last night, though. I had decided not to after the cookies, but then ultimately changed my mind and did just over 30 minutes of full body weights/resistance work.

Julie

Back on track with a SUCCESS today. I'm rather hungry, though. Again.

B - cereal with milk and banana
L - veggie barley soup with dinner roll, tangerine
D - large serving of greek yogurt with sliced strawberries and grape nuts (and a bit of sugar), piece of buttered rye toast

No official exercise yet, but I did manage to do 40 wall pushups and 10 squats during the day, plus vacuumed the apartment. "Real" exercise still to come, I guess.

EDIT -- WATP Walk and Jog complete. Yay. And tomorrow is my schedule day off exercise!

Julie

Friday, SUCCESS.

B - grape nuts with milk and 1/2 banana
L - bagel with cheddar and avocado, chips, dried mango
D (at a theatre event) - strawberries, 2 beef sliders, bunch of tater tots with ketchup

Off for the day on exercise.
Julie

Pretty good weekend No-S-wise (and personal happiness-wise). Not so much calorie-wise, but that's a different issue.

Saturday:
B - grape nuts with milk and 1/2 banana
L - wheat thins with cheddar cheese, apple with ff caramel sauce, chips
S - (at brew fest with friends) about 2 pints worth of beer one tiny cup at a time, red velvet cupcake
D - (out, with the same group) a little less than 2 slices stuffed pizza with meat (Chicago style and actually good outside of Chicago!)

Sunday:
Meal 1: 1/2 a 3 egg bacon and cheese omelette, buttered sourdough toast, hashbrowns, orange juice
S - about 1 glass worth of wine at a tasting
Meal 2: bowl of clam chowder soup, small caesar salad with bay shrimp, piece of sourdough bread
S - creme brulee

A bunch of walking both days that'll satisfy my weekend exercise requirements. I've also got meals planned and groceries purchased for the week.

Julie

Monday, SUCCESS! I'm working on making sure that my calories are in line at least on N days that I don't have reason to eat out. It seems like a good compromise in the fight to lose some weight without getting crazy with restrictions.

B - cereal with milk and banana
L - lean cuisine pizza, mango
D - crockpot chicken and biscuits, dried mango

I did 40 squats and 40 wall pushups during the day, but no other exercise yet. I'm really struggling to get myself to do it today. I could take today as my weekday day off, but I suspect I'll regret that on Friday.

Julie

Tuesday, SUCCESS. Except I never ate my fruit with dinner.

B - cereal with milk and 1/2 banana
L - bagel with cream cheese, chips, apple
D - leftover chicken and biscuit

Did 15 minutes upper body weights and walked medium pace for 50 minutes.

Julie

Wednesday, NWS -- it's Purim! I was very controlled, though, and feel very good about it.

B - cereal with milk and 1/2 banana
L - leftover chicken and biscuit, plum
S - 2 smallish hamentashen (1 of each flavor we had)
D (out, with a friend pre-synagogue) lentil soup, hummus with bread

Did the 2 mile WATP with extra weights and arms this morning, and got in a little extra around the neighborhood walking.

Julie

Thursday, FAILURE. I was insanely hungry -- to the point of not feeling well -- and ate a snickers bar. Here's where my real mistake was: since it would count as a fail anyway, I might as well have the snickers bar over the fresh, fruit filled trail mix. Actual fat/calorie count would also not be that much more for the snickers, but still, I know the trail mix would have been better for me. I did eat 3 perfectly reasonable meals including fruits and veggies otherwise. And did very well on exercise: WATP plus weights, plus close to 2 more miles walking throughout the day. Anyway, moving on.

Julie

It seems like your exercise has gradually increased so maybe you need to eat a little more. (Great job on the exercise BTW.).

As I increase exercise, I get really hungry. To keep myself from being so hungry I try to add some healthy protein. I can add nuts to top just about anything. I seriously overeat if I let myself get too hungry which is why I could never stick with conventional dieting.

Yeah, it seems like I did just need more. I've been pushing exercise a little more. I've also been tracking the last week in fitbit and I have it set to a calorie level to lose 1/2-3/4 lb each week. With the exercise I did yesterday, it shows me being right in the middle of the appropriate calorie zone with the snickers, and a large handful of nuts, and the three full meals. Healthier and more planned out choices to hit that level are the key. I'm still learning, I guess.

I did okay today, although haven't done as much exercise.

Today:
B - cereal with milk and banana (hard to believe, huh?)
L - slice of cheese pizza, apple
D - homemade 1/3 lb. cheeseburger without bun, chips, dried mango

Took a 20 minute walk and am about to do 20 minutes of weights. I'm also going to walk around the apartment a little more to get my step count up since 20 minutes isn't really that much.

Julie

Saturday, S-DAY. Kind of a hodgepodge of food at meals, but at least in a 3 meal structure.

B - largish hunk of coffee cake (saved from tuesday when we had it at work, baked by my boss), potato samosa (from the farmers market), banana
L - last of the leftover chicken and biscuits, small serving of dried mango, 2 small chocolate covered mints (like bite size versions of a york peppermint patty)
D - mango spring rolls (like you'd usually have with shrimp, but with mango instead of the shrimp) with sweet chili sauce, bunch of wheat thins

Got a lot of walking in today -- about 11000 steps -- for exercise. Tomorrow's a planned day off. Sadly not a day off work, though.

Julie

Sunday, S-DAY. Very carb heavy, but overall good and very in control.

B - oatmeal with milk, butter, sugar, piece of buttered rye toast
L - 2 biscuits with turkey sausage, strawberries
S - 2 bites chocolate (saved from Wednesday)
D - whole bunch of wheat thins, little bit of peanut butter, potato chips, ginger ale

Off for the day on exercise.
Julie

Monday, SUCCESS!

B - cereal with milk and banana
L - 1/2 turkey sandwich on rye with mayo and pickle, chips, dried mango, raisins
D - large tuna maki roll, strawberries

Slightly slow 40 minute walk with 15-20 minutes of upper body weights to come.

Julie

Tuesday, SUCCESS!

B - cereal with milk
L - 1/2 roast beef and cheddar on croissant sandwich, large handful mixed nuts, several olives and slices of pickle, very large handful of raisins
D - small serving of pasta salad (whole wheat pasta, tuna, cheddar, miracle whip), frozen strawberry bar

I feel like eating, but don't really feel hungry. I ate less than half my pasta salad. I've just finished so will allow a brief window here where I can either finish the pasta salad or replace it with something similarly appropriate (i.e. not something like potato chips) if I want.

Taking today as my weekday off exercise.

Julie

Wednesday, SUCCESS!

B - cereal with milk and 1/2 banana
L - 1/2 turkey with mayo and pickle on rye, small serving chips, carrots
D - 2 eggs scrambled with cheddar on small wheat tortilla, handful of spiced walnuts, sumo mandarin

I'd originally planned to include avocado with my eggs, but discovered mine wasn't ripe yet and needed something else to bulk things up a bit so added the nuts to the plate.

Did the 2 mile WATP + this morning -- I'm at about 9000 steps for the day now including 18 flights of stairs. The goal is 20 so I'll go and walk up and down the ones to the laundry room in a bit. I recently got a fitbit that tracks that in addition to steps (and calories, and miles, and what they call an activity score). I'm liking it a lot; its a very cleverly designed device. And it is pushing me to get in more steps and stairs, which can only be good.

Julie

Thursday was a Failure day. It's the second Thursday in a row, I realized. I'm not sure if that's a bad coincidence or a trend I need to think further on. The failure was candy mid-afternoon. It was totally emotional eating at my most vulnerable time, but it was contained to the one incident and that 250 calories. I did also still get my exercise in.

Friday was a SUCCESS. Also got my exercise in.

I had a heavy breakfast that did include 2 mini muffins, but am off to a fine start with today's S DAY. I'll probably have something light mid-afternoon and then we're planning dinner out. I don't know that I'll have any other S's today, which would be good. I think I'll take today off of exercise and do my weekend day tomorrow.

Julie

Sunday, S-DAY. Not too bad.

B - scrambled eggs with onions, piece of buttered rye toast
S - 2 small peanut butter cookies, about cup of moose tracks popcorn
D - stir fry of pork, veggies, egg, and rice, banana with drizzle of chocolate sauce

Took a nice (outdoor!) 40 minute walk.

Julie

Monday, SUCCESS!

B - about 3/4 of a large egg foo young patty with sauce, mandarin
L - greek yogurt with banana, walnuts, and a little honey, apple
D - 1/2 breast chicken piccata, lightly dressed green salad with few sliced kumquats (lettuce and kumquats from the garden!) and a little crumbled aged cheddar, frozen strawberry bar

Half hour walk plus 20 minutes upper body weights/abs. I'm just over 10K steps right now.

Julie

Tuesday, SUCCESS!

B - cereal with milk
L - "fried" rice with pork and veggies, apple
D - 3 small latkes, strawberries, spiced walnuts

Off for the day on exercise.

Julie

Well, things have slightly fallen apart in the last couple days and both have included sweets and, yesterday, no real lunch just more sweets. It's led me to think a lot as I keep having these few failures a month. I think I'm going to try switching the system to 5 S's a week rather than focusing on days of the week. I am not at all sure that that'll work better for me, but I think it ultimately might. I've been going a long time and am fairly in control and fairly habitual, but just not enough and I don't know how to get myself to do it. Sadly, it's too late for this week so I'll start with the new system next week.

I did get in my exercise both yesterday and today, which is good news. Somehow I have managed to get that well under control and do feel so much better for it.

Julie

So does that mean 5 S events for the week? For example a snack one day and a dessert another day, etc? Hmmm. Tell us how it works out.

Yes, that'd be the idea. I'm really not sure how it'll work, but I think it might help me really think before giving in to these things. It might be a bad plan -- I'm not sure yet.

It occurs to me right now that I could possibly try to do the exact same that I do with exercise -- take one S day during the week and 1 on the weekend, but not determine which day that is until close to the moment. I'd been thinking that 2 not determined in advance S days would be a mess, but it's actually working well for me with exercise that way.

Hmmm.... I need to think a little more about it over the next couple days.

I have one floating day off each week for exercise but rarely use it. My minimum is half an hour, and after walking dogs, I do not have to add much to get to half an hour. However, I do usually have one or two days of lighter exercise, and that works.

I have also toyed with the idea of keeping Saturday as an S day and having my second S day be a floater. I have found that I go through most Sundays without any S events. So far I have flexed my weekends to include a choice of either Fri/Sat or Sat/Sun. However, there are some weeks that I only ended up with Saturday. So I will be interested to see what you figure out. Is this a slippery slope or is it a natural progression after doing No S for over a year?

That's definitely the question, Jean, and I'm just not sure. I really can't decide if this is the way to make it work or just an excuse to get out of doing something really hard. I think I'll try the 1 weekday 1 weekend option for the next couple weeks and try to really honestly assess whether it's helping me keep overall eating more reasonable or not.

Yesterday, Monday, SUCCESS!

B - cereal with milk and small banana
L - 1/2 homemade cashew butter and jam sandwich (it wasn't very good so only had half), trail mix (added to the pile after getting rid of 1/2 sandwich), potato chips, small apple
S - orange beef and green beans with white rice

20 minutes hard work on the exercise bike and almost 20 minutes upper body weights.

Julie

Tuesday, SUCCESS.

B - greek yogurt with small banana and grape nuts
L - (staff lunch) chicken pad thai, eggplant and tofu with rice, mango prawn salad
D - (out, with friend pre-theatre) dressed greek salad with gyros meat, largish pieces of pita bread, some grapes

Off for the day on exercise.

Julie

Wednesday, SUCCESS!

B - cereal with milk and small banana
L - some of the leftover orange beef and rice (but only a small serving because it just didn't hold that well and wasnt very good), supplemental handful of trail mix, apple
D - oatmeal with homemade cashew butter, wheat thins (fruit would have been good, but somehow I just didn't add it)

Did the 2 mile WATP + this morning.

Julie

Thursday, SUCCESS. I'm not feeling too well today so my exercise has been limited and dinner choice a little odd, but all fine.

B - cereal with milk
L (out with my boss) - french onion soup and (really good) bread, apple (eaten back at my desk, planned in advance)
D - hot grape nuts with brown sugar, fruit (to come)

Did 20 minutes of upper body weights this morning and walked 15 minutes slowly midday. I'd originally planned 20 minutes on the exercise bike tonight too, but I truly just don't have the strength with this stupid cold pulling me down.

Julie

GREAT JOB, thtrchic!

Hope you're feeling better soon !

Thanks! It was the first Thursday in 4 weeks u haven't messed up and am glad for that change. I'm not sure if my new allowance of the option to take one of my s days on a weekday helped or not.

I'd been contemplating swapping today for Sunday's S Day and did decide to do it. The test of how it worked will be on Sunday, but I think it'll be fine and worked well for this week.

I still also wasn't feeling very well today and took the day off of exercise. I also cancelled plans with my boyfriend to night due to being sick so seems legit to me.

Julie

Saturday, SUCCESS (Swapped for Friday).

B (out, with friends) - eggs benedict, home fries
D (out, with the boy) - cup of matzo ball soup, small piece of rye bread with chopped liver, latke with applesauce, 1/4 tuna melt

Off for the day on exercise.

Julie