heathengirl's journey (daily (?) check-in)

Counting carbs/calories is a drag. Obsessive scale stepping is a recipe for despair. If you want to count something, "days on habit" is a much better metric. Checking off days on a calendar would do just fine, but if you do it here you get accountability and support. Here's how. Start a new topic in this forum called (say) "Your Name Daily Check In." Then every N day post a "reply" to that topic as to whether you stayed on habit. A simple "<font color="green">SUCCESS</font>" or "<font color="red">FAILURE</font>" (or your preferred euphemism if that's too harsh) is sufficient, but obviously you're welcome to write more if you want. On S-days just register that you're taking an S-day. You don't have to do this forever, just until you're confident you've built the habit. Feel free to check in weekly or monthly or sporadically instead of daily. Feel free also to track other habits besides No-s (I'm keeping this forum under No-s because that's what the vast majority are using it for). See also my <a href="/habitcal/">HabitCal</a> tool for another more formal (and perhaps complementary) way to track habits.

Moderators: Soprano, automatedeating

Post Reply
User avatar
heathengirl
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:16 pm
Location: Boston, MA

heathengirl's journey (daily (?) check-in)

Post by heathengirl » Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:25 pm

Okay, here I am at last! I found ES a long time ago via Krista's Women's Weightlifting site (http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/index.php) and was entranced by the ES concepts. I've also shared them with friends and colleagues, most notably JWL/Freakwitch/James.

I've been casually and "unofficially" No-Sing for a while, and I have a 10 lb. shovelglove here at home. And now that I'm all but graduated from massage school, it's time to get back on track with eating well, exercise, dance and fitness. One of the keys to a long and healthy massage practice is fitness and self-care, so I'm gonna use No-S, Shovelglove and Urban Ranger as elements in my personal health program, and track my progress here. Feel free to visit and offer commentary and support, if you wish!

User avatar
gratefuldeb67
Posts: 6256
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:26 pm
Location: Great Neck, NY

Post by gratefuldeb67 » Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:57 pm

Yay Heathengirl!
Good luck!

If you can get through massage school, then you can do anything!!!
I too am a LMT...
When are you sitting for the boards?

Peace and Love,
8) Deb
There is no Wisdom greater than Kindness

User avatar
JWL
Posts: 634
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 3:58 pm
Location: Planet Earth
Contact:

Post by JWL » Thu Jun 22, 2006 6:39 pm

Welcome! Heathens are just as welcome as Freaks and Witches around here.... :wink:
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

User avatar
heathengirl
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:16 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Post by heathengirl » Thu Jun 22, 2006 6:51 pm

gratefuldeb67 wrote:Yay Heathengirl!
Good luck!
Thanks Deb! I appreciate the support.
gratefuldeb67 wrote:If you can get through massage school, then you can do anything!!!
I too am a LMT...
Very cool! It's good to "meet" another MT here. :)
gratefuldeb67 wrote:When are you sitting for the boards?
I'm not sure yet. I can't apply for the National Cert. Exam until after I officially graduate on Sunday. And from what I hear, it usually takes at least a month for them to get and process all the paperwork. So hopefully I'll be taking the exam sometime in August.

Mass. doesn't have state licensure yet, so we get licensed on a town-by-town basis. Which is a pain if you want to practice in more than one town. Most towns require you to pass the National Cert. Exam before they'll license you, so the exam is the first step after graduating.
Last edited by heathengirl on Thu Jun 22, 2006 6:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
heathengirl
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:16 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Post by heathengirl » Thu Jun 22, 2006 6:53 pm

JWL wrote:Welcome! Heathens are just as welcome as Freaks and Witches around here.... :wink:
Good to know! :)

User avatar
reinhard
Site Admin
Posts: 5918
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:38 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA
Contact:

Post by reinhard » Thu Jun 22, 2006 7:59 pm

Welcome, heathengirl.

Maybe we'll bump into each other urbanrangering around boston (though I usually stick to the camridge side of the river).

Reinhard

User avatar
heathengirl
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:16 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Post by heathengirl » Thu Jun 22, 2006 8:52 pm

reinhard wrote:Welcome, heathengirl.

Maybe we'll bump into each other urbanrangering around boston (though I usually stick to the camridge side of the river).
Thanks for the warm welcome, and for sharing all this stuff in the first place!

I'm actually located a bit north of Boston, but I end up in both Boston and Cambridge fairly often. The walking in Cambridge is great (definitely a pedestrian and bike-friendly city!), but I really enjoy walking the length of the Emerald Necklace on the Boston side of the Charles River. So yes, maybe I will see you urbanrangering some day. :)

User avatar
heathengirl
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:16 pm
Location: Boston, MA

First progress update

Post by heathengirl » Fri Jun 23, 2006 6:24 pm

Well, yesterday turned out to be an S day. We had a little party in my last class ever in massage school, and there wasn't much I could eat (being vegetarian mostly) so I ended up eating some sweets as well as lots of hummus and chips and a bit of cheese. Not a nutritional high point for me, but not the worst meal I've had either. So my plan is to stick to N days today and tomorrow and have my second S day of the week on Sunday (graduation day!).

Exercise: Mmm, not so much. A bit of walking but not as far or for as long as I'd like. It's started storming here, so that rules out walking outside for a while. Maybe when I get back home I'll do some stair work just to get moving. And a bit of celebratory dancing in the living room perhaps. :)

User avatar
heathengirl
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:16 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Weekend Update! :)

Post by heathengirl » Mon Jun 26, 2006 10:33 pm

Well, my first official No-S weekend went pretty well. Despite it being somewhat chaotic and definitely celebratory, I made it through Friday and Saturday as N days without any funny stuff so I could enjoy yesterday as my other S day of the week. Good thing I planned for it that way, too. There was a reception after the graduation ceremony that featured fruit, veggies and dip, cheese and crackers, and cookies. The reception food turned out to be our breakfast, as we all got up late and had to rush out the door to get to the ceremony on time. After my graduation, we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts for much-needed coffee before heading over to the movies to see X-Men 3. I got myself a donut there, which I probably could've done without but I was still a little hungry even after the reception.

After the movie, I developed a sick headache so I took some ibuprofen and had a long nap to try to get over it. When I awoke, I drank some water to rehydrate and cautiously ate some saltines and then some chips in lieu of a real lunch. When everyone got back home, we went out and I had a good, real dinner. So, happy planning there.

Today has been a bit off, foodwise, in that we had a late breakfast and I pretty much missed lunch. So I had a large ice coffee and some chips to tide me over until dinner. Definitely funny stuff, but when my life settles back into a regular routine over the course of the week, a real lunch will be part of it and there will be much less of this "two meals and a snack" action.

Not as much walking this weekend. I intend to get back to daily walking this week, weather permitting, since I'm going to England for a month in 2 weeks (woo-hoo!), and we won't have access to a car for much of that time, so I'll be an urban ranger by necessity and might as well work up to it. I wonder if I'll be able to find a sledgehammer to use over there... :)

User avatar
operababe
Posts: 141
Joined: Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:48 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Post by operababe » Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:14 pm

Hello Heathengirl, and welcome! It's exciting to read about your graduation as a massage therapist. From what I've heard, you've chosen a wonderful and rewarding profession. Kudos to you!

I also want to congratulate you on focusing on your health as an important part of being a successful therapist. I provide acupuncture treatment in the clinic I work in, and since coming to No S I'm finding that there's a new level of intention and care with the work I do.

I hope we see you posting and sharing as often as you can. I think it helps to keep up the motivation and committment to No S.
It's time to make it beautiful.

User avatar
heathengirl
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:16 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Post by heathengirl » Tue Jun 27, 2006 1:36 pm

operababe wrote:Hello Heathengirl, and welcome! It's exciting to read about your graduation as a massage therapist. From what I've heard, you've chosen a wonderful and rewarding profession. Kudos to you!

I also want to congratulate you on focusing on your health as an important part of being a successful therapist. I provide acupuncture treatment in the clinic I work in, and since coming to No S I'm finding that there's a new level of intention and care with the work I do.

I hope we see you posting and sharing as often as you can. I think it helps to keep up the motivation and committment to No S.
Thanks so much, Operababe! It's so cool to see people come by and offer such friendly and supportive welcomes. Makes this really feel like community. Thanks also for sharing your experience with No S as it affects your work. I strongly suspect I'll find much the same in my own practice as it gets off the ground.

Be well! :)

User avatar
heathengirl
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:16 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Post by heathengirl » Wed Jun 28, 2006 8:50 pm

Tuesday check-in: Successful N Day. I had a real breakfast and lunch, and pizza for dinner as usual--3 slices. Our pizza place often gives us extra goodies because we're such regular and consistent customers. This week it was cheesecake. I'm saving it for my next S day (probably Friday since I'm going on a day trip with friends to celebrate my graduation--man, I know how to milk a happy occasion, eh?). Not much in the way of exercise, though. :(

Wednesday's going well so far, No S-wise. Bagel and coffee for breakfast, a medium salad for lunch. Not sure what I'll have for dinner--depends on what's available at Whole Paycheck before drumming class tonight.

So far, my main No S issues have been with non-meal coffees throughout the day (I'm down to 2 now that I'm not in school anymore) tempting me to get a donut or muffin at the same time and getting enough protein. Although I'm mostly vegetarian (technically I'm pescetarian, but my fish flesh intake is pretty low these days), my diet is fairly carb-heavy and not as protein-rich as I'd like it to be. And it doesn't help that I don't like tofu much.

At least the food part is going well. Making consistent time for exercise (either shovelgloving, urbanrangering, biking, dance, yoga or gym workouts) and getting enough sleep are my major non-food lifestyle challenges. As they say, "Onward and upward!"

User avatar
JWL
Posts: 634
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 3:58 pm
Location: Planet Earth
Contact:

Post by JWL » Thu Jun 29, 2006 5:16 am

how's the shovelgloving going?
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

User avatar
heathengirl
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:16 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Post by heathengirl » Thu Jun 29, 2006 7:43 pm

JWL wrote:how's the shovelgloving going?
Slowly. Very slowly. :)

User avatar
JWL
Posts: 634
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 3:58 pm
Location: Planet Earth
Contact:

Post by JWL » Thu Jun 29, 2006 8:45 pm

Heh. Slow is good.

Now where have I heard that before? :wink:
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

User avatar
heathengirl
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:16 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Post by heathengirl » Sat Jul 01, 2006 6:51 pm

Well, I made it through the week of N days successfully, with only a little funny stuff. Not even the free cheesecake has passed my lips. :)

Things are still going slow on the exercise front. I'm dealing with a fair amount of resistence here, and I'm not sure why. A re-ingrained habit of sedentary life after a year and a half without regular dance classes? A dislike of hot weather? Whatever... I'm determined to take at least one long walk this weekend, no matter what. And maybe pick up that hammer again too...

User avatar
heathengirl
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:16 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Post by heathengirl » Thu Jul 13, 2006 8:13 pm

Well, here I am back again after a brief hiatus. Sticking to No-S has been challenging lately, and there's been some funny stuff and at least one outright No-S failure day since my last update. But onward and upward, as they say...

I'm writing this from Oxford, UK. I arrived here yesterday (was it really only yesterday? Wow...) and have been settling in. I'm here for almost a month. And hopefully I'll do a better job of sticking with No-S during my stay. I haven't done too badly so far. I haven't eaten any sweets or had any snacks, but I did take multiple servings to finish my Indian dinner last night. I've also been urbanrangering around Oxford and taking the bus a lot. Oxford is a very friendly town for pedestrians and bicyclists, and it has a good public bus system. It's pretty easy to get by without a car here if your home and workplace are not too far away from each other. So no shovelgloving done here, but I've gotten quite a lot of walking in already, and there will certainly be more. I may also bike around some, since I have permission to use a bike at the house we're staying at now.

Not much else to report, so I'm off...

User avatar
heathengirl
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:16 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Post by heathengirl » Mon Jul 17, 2006 12:34 pm

I'm back in Oxford after a weekend visiting various ancient and sacred sites in Somerset (Avebury, Salisbury, Stonehenge, Glastonbury, Wells and Bath) with my partner. We got back not long after midnight last night, but I slept in and woke around 11 this morning (the UK is 5 hours ahead of EDT). I'm stiff from all the walking and climbing up hills we did all weekend, but otherwise feeling pretty good. And I stuck to No-S pretty easily for the most part. No shovelgloving, but lots of brisk walking and aerobic activity provided more exercise than I've been getting lately. Whew!

Yesterday was a 2-meals-and-a-snack day, which I'm still debating whether it counts as funny stuff since it's becoming a standard eating pattern for me. I usually get up late, eat breakfast late enough to consider it brunch or even lunch, and stay up late most days, so 2 meals is often what fits best with that. I could fit in another meal rather than a snack, but that would make having dinner with others difficult and often ends up with me eating my last meal fairly close to bedtime, which I try to avoid. I think if I can manage to keep my snack snack-sized and relatively healthy, it'll do for my purposes. But any thoughts y'all might have on this issue are welcome.

User avatar
JWL
Posts: 634
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 3:58 pm
Location: Planet Earth
Contact:

Post by JWL » Mon Jul 17, 2006 3:19 pm

hey heathengirl....

2 meals on N days works for me. Despite the warnings from lots of people to make sure I'm eating enough, I find that I feel best when I do this. I've heard this is the "European" model, that many Europeans eat 2 meals per day.

I would say stick with what you think will work for you for a couple of weeks, give your body time to adapt to whatever you decide to do. If it's right, then you should be able to adapt to it fairly easily.

Can't wait to hear about your travels this weekend!
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

User avatar
heathengirl
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:16 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Post by heathengirl » Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:41 am

Back in Oxford again, and doing pretty well with No S-ing here. Last night was a wash-out, though, because I had the unique-for-me opportunity to make and eat ice cream solely through the magic of chemistry! Not much sugar in the ice cream, though, so it wasn't particularly sweet. There are leftovers but they'll keep in the freezer for a while, so they won't disturb my No S routine more than they already have. :)

Aside from that, it's been fairly easy to stick to No S during the week. Since we have a list of things to do in Oxford before I leave in 2 weeks, I've been going into town to meet up with my partner in the mid-afternoon for lunch and touristy activities. Yesterday it was climbing the two tallest towers in Oxford, one after the other. Today it will either be a tour of the Bodleian Library or swimming, depending on the weather and the timing.

Since the sun sets relatively late here (I'm farther north now than I am when at home), I've tended to eat later in the day than I usually do. I find I don't get hungry for dinner until after dark unless I've had a fairly light lunch. But everything about my daily schedule has been skewed later here. I get up around 10, start work around 11:30, eat lunch around 2-3, eat dinner around 10 and go to sleep around 1-2 am. It's not a bad schedule, really, especially during the long summer days. But it does throw my work schedule off.

Not much else to report. I have been sleeping more here, which is good since I spent much of this year being sleep-deprived for part of each week. And eating pretty well, walking a lot, and enjoying my visit. Yay!

User avatar
heathengirl
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:16 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Post by heathengirl » Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:51 am

Hey, you freaky witch, you!

Thanks for the feedback and advice. Sounds good to me. I'll see how things feel as I go along, and adjust accordingly. I think I got a bit hung up on the "no snacks" part of No S as I saw my eating pattern change.

Be well...

P
JWL wrote:hey heathengirl....

2 meals on N days works for me. Despite the warnings from lots of people to make sure I'm eating enough, I find that I feel best when I do this. I've heard this is the "European" model, that many Europeans eat 2 meals per day.

I would say stick with what you think will work for you for a couple of weeks, give your body time to adapt to whatever you decide to do. If it's right, then you should be able to adapt to it fairly easily.

Can't wait to hear about your travels this weekend!

Post Reply