Everyday Systems

Well, Day one is not over, not even halfway, but I'm here, and going to make a go of this. I had to re-register, because I couldn't remember what my name was before... about 3 or 4 years ago.... and so I figured I'd just start over.
I recongise a few names here and there, so its encouraging to see people plugging on.
Its been a rough few years, and food became a comfort, and probably a bit of an obsession.
Last night was the last straw in the "I've got to do SOMETHING" thoughts. My 6 year old, while we snuggled on the couch, said to me, Mummy, how come your tummy still looks like it did when our baby was still in there? Grrrr.....

So here I am. I know its going to be hard, because I've been feeding my face for several reasons over the past few years... mostly to comfort, and well, we know how that's worked out.

Till tonight then!!

Welcome back Mama-g!

janie

I think I'll have to go to bed early to keep this a good day!

I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and say SUCCESS

B/f: Banana, clementine,2 slices of challah bread with butter, glass of skim

Lunch: 2 small baked potatoes with tuna salad, peanut butter- banana smoothie

Supper: 2 popovers with low-sodium bacon.

Bev's: milk, water, rooibos tea throughout the day.

Exercise: Leslie Sansone's 2 mile walk and tone. Used baby as a weight. We both had fun.

Loading up during set meals to keep my intake up, since I am nursing my 6 month old. Also trying to make sure i get the fluids in.... mainly water, since my orange juice habit was a little out of control, and probably loading me up on sugar.

I survived Day 1, but have a major headache... probably sugar withdrawal! I have been eating so much junk, my body probably doesn't know what's going on!
Till tomorrow!

p.s. Thanks Janie for the welcome back.

~Carmel

SUCCESS

b/f: ½ bagel sandwich with cream cheese and lox, 12 oz glass of skim

lunch: small chicken thigh, bread with butter, mango/ yoghurt drink

supper: pizza, glass of red wine

Bev's: milk, water

exercise: nothing formal, but lots of cleaning and moving furniture today

No headache today . Today was not bad, but I was even more aware of all the mindless eating I have been doing. So far, I haven't slipped, but I wouldn't be surprsied if I had to stop eating something because I suddenly realised it was in my mouth!

Till tomorrow

SUCCESS
Didn't have time to update, but both the past couple of days were successful.
Went to my Kindergartner's Pj's and popcorn day at school, and took a glass of water and some popcorn. Was about to have some and realised what I was doing. Caught myself!! YAy! So I made it. Its been crazy... snow days... sick kids, but its almost Friday and oh Ic an hardly wait for that S day!

Day 5 was a SUCCESS!!!!!! YAYYYYY!!!

It feels good to have made it through the week. I have not been strict about portions... I know I need to get the snacking habit under control, so I feel like I have conquered that much for the week. I do miss the occasional bowl of ice- cream as I watch a bit of tV...

Its been a hectic week, so I got some exercise in, but not every day.

But today is SAturday and its a baking day, since tomorrow is my 6 year old's birthday.

Till next time... HAPPY SATURDAY!!!!!!

Well, I have s'd to my heart's content this weekend.... which will probably make this week a killer to get into, but I'm not feeling badly about it. My little girl had a super birthday, the cake was soooooo good.

So I bid farewell to my first s-weekend, and go to sleep to get ready for the new week.

I have realised that my problem is definitely snacking. I could goall day without REAL food, but my mouth is constantly moving with a bit of this and that. Andof course I have this thing for good ice cream.

till tomorrow then- I bid you a good week ahead!

Week one complete,a nd Day 1 of Week 2 SUCCESS!

I wasn't sure how yesterday was going to go. It was HARD! So of course I'm thinking, what if I made supper an "s", that way, no total deprivation for 5 days and then binging on the weekend..... this no-sing is boring etc etc.
My husband, was the one who encouraged me. He reminded me how well I did last week, how motivated I was and so on.

I was grumpy, because I was hungry and tired and sugar deprived. So perhaps I need to have a salad with some kind of meat or beans in it for lunch, because I love salad, but it didn't do the trick yesterday. Lunch was at 12ish, and supper was after 8 because we had to go somewhere, so ate out. Anyway, I was good.

I know for sure that snacking and sweets are my downfall. I'm eating bigger meals now simply so I can go the distance. I'm still nursing my 6 month old and plan to do so for a while, so that's why hunger strikes really badly if she's been eating a lot.. adn she must be going througha growth spurt, because she's hungry all the time this past week. So my food choices need to be good so that I keep both of us covered, and milk production up.

Need to repeat my mantra..... keep my eyes on the goal! Till tomorow!
cg

I don't know... felt like a FAILURE. I SNACKED between lunch and supper and got mad. I don't know why yesterday was so bad. Perhaps I really can't have a salad for lunch if I'm not going to be able to eat anything between meals.

But today was better, so far anyway.
So what happens now? do I just go on, or do I have start all over again. Please tell me NO!!!!!

to better days.

I guess this is where I've fallen and get up again.

So apart from that one awful grumpy day, the rest of the week's been good.
Today is Friday, and Day 11. we had an anniversary yesterday and may be going out either tonight or tomorrow, so if not tonight, then I won't have to make today an "s" day. Otherwise, tomorrow's an s anyway.

I think I'm going to go a bit easier on the weekend, apart from the anniversary dinner. Going crazy with the sweets was soemthing I was determined to enjoy and not regret, but in retrospect, it made the beginning of the new week awfully hard.

Here's to a great "s" weekend... moderately.

Mama-G....

You are absolutely doing well! You just picked yourself up and kept going...which is exactly what you should have done. We're so used to these diet plans where you feel like a complete putz when "failure" happens. This is a struggle at times, but we're not just following a set plan for what we can and can't eat, we're working on changing from the inside out...that's more difficult, but also far more life-changing. Every time you pick yourself up, dust off the crumbs and move on you're replacing those bad habits with fantastic ones!

Don't be discouraged...you're doing great!

janie

Thanks Janie!!
I was thinking that perhaps I'll add a 22nd day or swop a day or something. Anyway Yesterday was pretty much an N day (as I wordily explained in my "Zumba and full-length mirrors" post), except for supper.
Our anniversary was on Thursday and we celebrated last night. It was fantastic!

I find that I'm getting better at stretching between meals without totally dying in between!!
I'm a bit of teapot, but I have been drinking a lot of tea!! Seems to work better than water when I'm feeling hungry.

dust off the crumbs and move on

I like that! And I did... figure there's no sense beating myself up about it forever... counterproductive.

Thanks again, and here's to a great weekend and a better week![/quote]

Bleh! I guess I won't have to trade a day, 'cause I live don Powerade yesterday,a nd then a slice of toast int he evening.

The tummy bug that's been going around hit my house this weekend. Saturday one o f my girls had it, and yesterday was my turn.

Anyway, back on track today, and I'm positive that it's going to be a green week.

Till tomorrow!!

Its been a busy week, but a good one. Perhaps being busy helps.

So Week 3: Days 1-3 SUCCESS! YAY!

So far today is good, also a busy one. Have to start getting supper prepped, because its the ballet day. no Time to cook once we get home. Just enough to feed the girls,and put them to bed. Almost 21 days on habit!!!

Well, today is the last day for No-s on my first 21 day cycle.

I haven't been concentrating somuch on portions, but rather getting out of the face-feeding habit.
Seems like, as I look back, that Tuesdays were always hardest...don't know why, but Mondays were fine. Tuesdays though, were verrrry tempting. I failed one day, but then got sick on an s-day and didn't eat at all, so I figured, I paid my dues.

I don't really feel like this is stuck yet. Things are a little looser. Can't say that I've lost significant amounts of pounds, but I feel better looking at myself in the mirror these days.

I think the next round, I would like to focus on making my portions smaller, and perhaps being a bit more consistent with the exercise. My left knee seems to be sensitive to high impact stuff, and I know that its because I'm carrying more weight around than ever, and also poor muscle condition. so I need to find a way to build my thigh muscles, without placing too much strain on them, and without spending any money. Then I think that the muscles will do more of the work and take the strain off my knees. I feel like an old lady talking about my knees!!

Till next week.

Congrats on your first 21-day cycle! Well done!

Reading your post reminded me of something I just read...sorry, can't remember who wrote it though...and I also don't remember the exact words, but it mentioned that what we're doing is learning the maintanence first....that makes so much sense to me! We're learning the habits that will carry us through the rest of our lives! For me, if all the pounds don't come off until after I learn to maintain, that's fine...I just want to learn to be healthy & never go back!

Again...congrats on doing really well!

janie

Success- eating
success- exercise

Looking forward to vacation, but we've been on vacation all week, and though Monday and Tuesday were successes, yesterday it was all over once I had the birthday cake at my little girl's friend's party. So today was an s-day pretty much too. Once we get back into our regular routine next week, and are not having chocolate cake on a Wednesday (!) , I am sure we'll be fine.
On the exercise front, I've tried to do something every day this week, and haven't done too badly.

This morning, I do believe I noticed a bit of definition in the shoulder area, which hitherto has been fairly round and not so nice looking. So while food and my resistance to it is a day by day battle at this point, it seems as though the motivation to exercise is getting stronger.

I'm happy about that, since winter is tough for me to get motivated... I basically go into hibernation from November to May. I'm still just a South African transplant living in the American Northeast when it comes right down to it.... I hate winter. But I've been reading the Urban ranger posts, and I guess I just have to change my mind about getting out there. and if I can do it in the winter, by the time the nice weather hits, it might be easier. I DO enjoy walking, but after 10 years here, I still have a hard time with the cold.

So not only do I have to change my relationship with food, but also with my surroundings. You'd think I'd have made my peace with it by now....

Anyway, enough rambling . We leave on a mini vacation tomorrow, so I'll be doing plenty of walking with my family, but probably eating whenever, or perhaps not. Either way, I seem to have taken a few s-days , so we'll just start fresh on Monday.

Till then....

Well, its been a while. I've been on a bit of a computer diet. Boy I thought snacking was a bad habit!!! My computer habit was sooooo much worse!
So I have not been strictly no-S-ing. However, I had to take a break for more than just computer dieting. See the whole failure /success thing was really getting me down. If I had a bad afternoon... that awful lunch to supper stretch, and had a snack, I would get so disheartened, I'd just do it for 2 more days. There's a counselling session in there somewhere!!

Well, I just decided that I had to make my commitment in stages. This all or nothing stuff doesn't work for me. So my first commitment is to move and cut back. Which, having done no-s for a month or so, had already helped with. If I snacked, I wasn't going to deem it a failure on the diet. Funny how once I removed that restriction, my desire to have it wsan't so bad. I don't snack as much anymore.

I also have fruit here and there, because I was having a hard time fitting my fruit and veg into 3 meals that don't always have veg. So I try as was suggested to make one meal, usually lunch a veggie lunch. Its either a salad wrap/ sandwich with avos, grated cabbage, carrots and so on, with a mayo dressing. Lots of fiber, so its filling. If I feel peckish, I have an orange.

So right now, my major thing is focussing on the exercise part, and cutting back. As before, but more than ever, I realise that a lot of this is a mental thing, and also emotional. I never realised how much I turned to food and my computer to take away the aches, and not deal with them. Now I have to, and facing my demons alone, has contributed to taking away the desire to feed my face all day long.

I'm still loving the Zumba, and try to do an exercise video on the other days.
Perhaps what I'm doing now doesnt qualify as no-s, but the basic concept is still there, I'm just not going to punish myself for my lapses. Who needs that stress, and for me, it was becoming that. I certainly don't need any additional stress.

So I'm going to bid farewell, to daily check-ins and habit-cal, and check-in now and again with progress reports. I have measured myself, and the mirror seems to show a bit of shrinkage. I guess that's what matters, that things are not as tight as they once were, and I can stand to look at myself again.

Hope all are doing well, and if you're in my neck of the woods... hope you're just loving this sunshine today!!