emb's 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.

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emb
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emb's daily check-in

Post by emb » Mon Aug 15, 2005 10:43 pm

I am going to give this a try as I went seriously off the wagon last week and think this might help, as well as track my progress for me....

My goals are :

1. follow the no-s diet as I have been, and trying to make healthier meal decisions
2. exercise everyday, includes: training for a 5km run on Oct. 1st. , swimming multiple times a week, weight training 3x a week.
3. Drink 2 litres of water a day at work
4. Minimizing my sweets on the no-s days (i tend to go a little overboard). I think 1 sweet thing a day would be reasonable.

Right now i weigh around 160 -165 lbs (5'6"). I haven't weighed myself in a while expect on a friend's scale which i am not sure if it was accurate (i weight 161). I am not too concerned about my exact weight, but want to get down to 145 lbs, give or take a few.

Anyhoo, today, which is a monday, I started no s again after a week of craziness, and already had a freezie! So, I guess I am starting now, at 3:41 in the afternoon. I have a litre of water to drink before 4:30....

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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Tue Aug 16, 2005 12:24 am

Good luck!
Peace,
8) Deb

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Post by carolejo » Tue Aug 16, 2005 7:59 am

Personally, I found that 1 sweet thing a day on N days didn't really work, cos it still caused a sugar crash later on, so I cut them out completely except for Sat and Sun. The first week was like complete torture, then I didn't have any problems with sweets after that.

It's up to you, but you might find it better to take that hard step up front and quit eating sugary things for a whole 5 days in a row. In the long run, it does make things much much easier.

Good luck. Hope you find the right balance for you.
CaroleJo

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Post by emb » Tue Aug 16, 2005 4:28 pm

oops - i meant minimize the sweets on the S days. No sweets at all on the no-s days. Sorry for the confusion.....and thanks for the encouragment!

Anyways....yesterday, I ate the following:

B- two raisin scones
L - small container of left over chinese food, 1 peach, 1 coffee w/ cream
D - a falafel
funny stuff - 1 big orange freezie (it was so hot in our office!)

So I drink coffee black....but once in a while I will put cream in. I am going to count that as part of my meal, but just normal black coffee, I won't count.

Water - 1 1/2 litres

Exercise - rode my bike to work and back, cleaned out fridge (that garbage bag was heavy!)

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Post by carolejo » Tue Aug 16, 2005 5:03 pm

Coffee & cream vs. black...

I think this is one of those 'micro' things that doesn't make much difference in a 'macro' sense. If you want cream in your coffee, you should have cream in your coffee, I reckon. Afterall, how many cups of it are you really going to drink in a day?

C.
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Post by emb » Tue Aug 16, 2005 5:42 pm

Well, I drink a small thermos a day of coffee at work, and sometimes another after lunch from starbucks. On the weekends, I'll drink ALOT of coffee (probably around 6 cups). I also used to like alot of cream in the coffee. At some point, I forgot to put cream in my thermos of coffee before work one day and drank it black. I discovered I like it! But I can still apreciate a nice blond americano once in a while.

I just figured, every little bit helps....

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Post by cvmom » Tue Aug 16, 2005 6:00 pm

Just to add to the discussion: there are somethings that I will not give up and one of them is 1%, 2% or half and half in coffee. We usually have one or two percent in the house but when we are out I will have 1/2 and 1/2 in the coffee.

If I have to put blue milk in my cofee I'd rather just drink it black.

Thanks. Rant over. Dru

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Post by Blondie » Tue Aug 16, 2005 7:14 pm

This is so funny because I prefer skim (the dreaded blue milk, which I think refers to the carton AND the hue of the milk itself) because it's sweeter. Up to 2% still tastes fine to me (in coffee ONLY, eating it on cereal tastes like cream to me!!) but whole milk and cream taste way to salty.

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Post by carolejo » Wed Aug 17, 2005 7:26 am

Sorry EMB for hijacking your checkin thread!

I found that I got used to skim milk (less than 0.1% fat) really quickly and now I also prefer it to full cream or 2%, which feels almost greasy in my mouth now.

It's funny what we worry about, but I'm a little concerned about being able to find skim milk in the Netherlands when I move over there in a couple of months' time - last time we were visiting, it was pretty hard to find in the supermarkets. I got a bit of a shock actually cos I picked up some 1% Karnemelk thinking this might be skim, but Karnemelk is actually buttermilk!! You can imagine, this wasn't very good in tea! :lol:
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Post by emb » Thu Aug 18, 2005 4:09 pm

I grew up on skim milk and couldn't drink anything else for ages. Now i drink soymilk due to it's tastiness. Unless its half and half in coffee ocasionally and 2% in tea.

Anyways.....back to my daily check in. Forgot to check in yesterday, soooo:

Tuesday...
B - Oat Bran (hot cereal) with sliced banana and plain soymilk
L - a toasted flax seed bagel with avocado and tuna on top
D - Red curry with chicken and pumpkin, a spring roll, salad
funny stuff - i had one tiny wheat thin with a little scoop of veggie cream cheese on it at around 9pm (damn roomates!)

Wednesday...
B - an Omlet with 2 eggs, orange peppers, onion, tomatoes, and cream cheese, 1 piece of toast
L - a greek veggie wrap, 2 pieces pita and hummus, americano with half and half
D - toasted sandwich, with light veggie cream cheese, tomato and smoked salmon
funny stuff - none! didn't even have a sip of my friend's green tea frappacino (anybody try those from starbucks? they are delish')

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Post by emb » Thu Aug 18, 2005 4:11 pm

oops forgot the exercise.....rode bike to and from work on tuesday. Didn't do any exercixe wednesday, except shopping. All day. Now i am poor.

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Post by carolejo » Thu Aug 18, 2005 4:15 pm

I'm *Salivating*

That sounds so tasty! I occasionally wonder now what was so great about crisps and sweets, when there's so many yummy-tasting other things to eat!

C.
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Post by cvmom » Thu Aug 18, 2005 4:36 pm

Emb: that red curry thing sounds delicious. Did you cook that yourself?

CaroleJo: it's funny that you mention not being able to get skim milk in the Netherlands. One of my distinct memories about Holland was the very rich thick cream that they serve with the coffee. Good luck. I'm sure your skim milk is out there somewhere. D.

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Post by emb » Thu Aug 18, 2005 6:52 pm

the red curry was ordered in from a thai restaurant. I do make a tasty red curry at home though. I now substitute soy milk for coconut milk when i found out how much fat is in coconut milk! It was something like 48 grams per can. I am sure it is good fat, but i don't really need it and the curry turns out great with soy milk.

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Post by emb » Fri Aug 19, 2005 3:16 pm

yesterday:

B - two pieces of rye toast with avocado and a banana
L - a toasted flax seed bagel with cream cheese, and apple, crackers
D - Sushi! two soya sheet sweet potatoe rolls, 2 pieces of tuna roll, miso soup
funny stuff - i had a small piece of toast with marg' before dinner (we ate dinner late) Sometimes i really need a bite of something if its a long time between meals. Start to feel woozy.

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Post by emb » Mon Aug 22, 2005 6:23 pm

Friday went well.....except for a freezie again! This week will be better!

My S days were fairly under control. Had a chocolate bar on saturday.....a couple of samosas....chips on Sunday....a veggie burger from Burger King too. I went canoeing and hiking so got in lots of exercise.

Now back to the no s-ing.

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Post by emb » Tue Aug 23, 2005 7:43 pm

monday:

B - Oat Bran (hot cereal) with a cut up peach mixed in
L - Left over stir Fry (veggies, tofu, brown rice) a pakage of nuts and dryed fruits
D - One corn on the cob w. marg' and salt, salad (veggies, apple, avocado, provolone, oil and vinegar dressing)
funny stuff - none!

Rode bike to work and home. Rearanged furniture!

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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Tue Aug 23, 2005 10:36 pm

No funny stuff *and* rearranging furniture?????
Sounds like a fantastic day!!! :wink:
Peace and Love,
8) Deb

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Post by ClickBeetle » Wed Aug 24, 2005 12:42 am

Re: skim milk -- that's funny about blue milk -- My grandmother grew up on a Tennessee farm in the 1910's, and she told me they skimmed the milk, put the top milk (which was basically light cream) on their cereal, and slopped the hogs with the "bluejohnny"!

BTW, she was thin her whole life, despite never stinting on sugar or fat. She didn't snack, and she stayed physically active (mostly with hard work). She used to mow the lawn into her early 80's.
Chance favors the prepared. - Louis Pasteur

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Post by emb » Wed Aug 24, 2005 4:44 pm

it was a great day, thanks deb!

As for tuesday:

B - Oat Bran with half and half.
L - Left over salad and a spinich and feta brioche
D - Bean salad, spinach pizza (frozen thin crust). I ate one too many peices though. Not something i usually buy as I prefer to eat things that have a short, and pronouncible ingrediants list. But those frozen Ristorante pizza's are sure tasty.
Funny stuff: glass of beer, and several glasses of wine (hung over today)

Rode to work and back.

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Post by emb » Thu Aug 25, 2005 4:03 pm

Wednesday:

B - Oat Bran with half & half
L - left over bean salad, english muffin with light veggie cream cheese
D - half a cob of corn, Itlalian bread wedges with green dressing, feta and parmesan (yes they were delish', although I had to make two batches as I forgot to disolve the yeast on the first one)
funny stuff - i had half a can of pop. This is absurd as I don't even like pop, but I was at the store and very thirsty and got a pink grapefruit out of the vending machine, thinking it way be juice. It wasn't.

Got half the day off work due to a power outage on our block (woo!). Went to the pool and slept on the grass and then attempted to swim some lengths (maybe did 10 - sad, very sad). The pool was lovely though.

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Post by emb » Thu Aug 25, 2005 4:05 pm

oops...not "green dressing"...greek dressing.

Also, weighed myself at the pool : 162 lbs. Not bad, but I can no longer remember what I started at. I think I will stick with that is 8 lbs I have lost so far.

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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Thu Aug 25, 2005 4:07 pm

Yeah EMB!!!! I always sleep when I'm on grass!!!
LOL..
Just kidding!

Sounds like the power outage was enough to get you out of work, but not be too much of a hassle.... Cool!

No laps is far sadder than ten!
Unless you are training for a decathelon or something....
Congrats on doing some relaxing exercise!!!
Peace,
8) Deb

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Post by emb » Fri Aug 26, 2005 4:32 pm

Thursday:

B - fruit salad (pineapple chunks, banana, green grapes) with plain yogurt
L - a flax seed bagel (silver hills - no flour) with cream cheese and avocado, a bag of pretzels, a nectarine
D - Went out to a restaurant and had a chicken burger and minestrone soup
funny stuff - none! well, i think I coulda gone with out the pretzels but thats ok

rode bike to work and up the big hill home...and I went for a walk with my roomie. I HAVE to start running soon. The 5km breast cancer run is on Oct 2nd. Thats not very far away.

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Post by emb » Mon Aug 29, 2005 4:28 pm

Friday:

B - Bagel with cream cheese and avocado, a banana
L - Salmon with mayonaise and green onions mixed in on a left over Itallian bread wedge, grapes
D - A spagettii casserole, with tomato sauce, salmon, feta and parmesan
funny stuff - an ice cream sandwich, popcorn after poker and some left over casserole (friday night gets me!)

The rest of the weekend went ok. I had crepes for breakfast on saturday (yum). Perogies and some tater tots for dinner. Had a cinnamon bun for breakfast on sunday (it was great!) ate some chips on sunday night. So I guess i didn't go too crazy on the snacks this weekend. Feelin' slim today so that is great!
Exercise - Swam on friday, went for walks on sat and sun. Meant to go for a run but it didn't happen.

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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Mon Aug 29, 2005 5:21 pm

Great Job Emb! Or can I call you E for short? LOL...

Ooh I love Pierogies!!!
Good call!

Glad you are feeling slim! That's a terrific feeling :)
Peace and Love,
8) Deb

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Post by emb » Mon Aug 29, 2005 7:22 pm

thanks Deb....

Feel free to call me E (or M or B for that matter.....)!

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Post by emb » Tue Aug 30, 2005 4:02 pm

monday:

B - Oat Bran
L - two ww buns with jam, an apple, a can of sundried tomatoe tuna
D - Greek Salad, 2 peices of toast
funny stuff - a bite of this vanilla stuff from greece (a friend just got back from there!)

no exercise :(

Found a stray kitten at work and my roomate brought it home. Guess it'll live with us until it's owner claims it. I work in a sketchy part of town tho, so it may not be claimed! I think its a girl. She is quite cute. No name yet.....i want to call her Squishy, but my roomie isn't so keen......

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Post by emb » Wed Aug 31, 2005 6:10 pm

tuesday:

B - fruit salad (apple, banana, strawberries) and plain yogurt
L - two peices of toast with cream cheese, left over greek salad
D - Sushi! two soy sheet sweet potato rolls, miso soup, and a couple of peices of spicy agadashi tofu (soooooo delicious!)
funny stuff : bite of a friend's oat fudge bar

exercise: none again....bad...visiting friend who is back from Greece

emb
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Post by emb » Thu Sep 01, 2005 7:56 pm

Wednesday Aug 31....

B - fruit salad (apple, plum and banana) with plain yogurt
L - Avocado on toast, nectarine, 6 pakoras
D - Spinach dip and an unknow amount of bread for dipping. One peice of pizza from the best pizza slice place in town.
funny stuff: bite of frozen yogurt....seriously just a tiny bite....

exercise: none......played poker and lost! it was fun though...

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Post by emb » Fri Sep 02, 2005 6:58 pm

Thursday:

B - A can of pinapple with plain yogurt
L - 1 1/2 avocado and cheese sandwiches
D - Stirfry (veggies and peanut sauce), little left over spinach dip w/ bread
Exercise - went for a run!! woohoo!

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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Fri Sep 02, 2005 7:25 pm

Woo hoo to you!!!!!
Love,
8) Deb

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Post by emb » Tue Sep 06, 2005 6:05 pm

Looooong weekend.....went out of town. Had some treats such as: MacDonald's breakfast, Triple O's dinner (burger and fries) and a blizzard from DQ (didn't finish it tho - it was a small). Ate an entire package of ginger cookies. Oh....and some frozen yogurt : hagen daaz vanilla raspberry (highly reccomended).

Back to the no s-ing!

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Post by emb » Wed Sep 07, 2005 6:53 pm

Tuesday:

B - fruit salad (grapes - fresh from the vine, peach, apple) and plain yogurt, small bowl of kashi and soy milk
L - vegitarian curry noodles (packaged - baked)
D - Spagetti casserole

Exercise - a run....gotta go BEFORE supper next time - stomach cramps

I think i am going to have to have a snack before running though! I'll have to figure something out, because i am usually so hungry after work and make dinner right away. I can't see running on an empty stomach and yet I can't go after dinner because i get a cramp. Maybe just a plain yogurt or some crackers.

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Post by emb » Thu Sep 08, 2005 4:36 pm

Wednesday:

B - bowl of kashi and bananas, two peices of toast with avocado
L - left over spagetti casserole, a grapefruit
D - sourdough and spinach dip.....prawn stir fry (no rice)
funny stuff - 1 chocolate

no exercise....went to the dentist!

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Post by reinhard » Thu Sep 08, 2005 5:01 pm

It sounds like the check in is working well for you, emb. No "seriously off the wagon"s. Congratulations. Some S day excesses, but that's to be expected. Do what you need to regarding the running. If you want to keep a completely clear conscience, keep an empty corner of your dinner plate for the yoghurt and crackers.

emb
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Post by emb » Fri Sep 09, 2005 7:27 pm

thanks, reinhard....I will do that! The daily check in is great....i can look back to see how successful I've been eash week, and its really a motivator.

As for yesterday (thursday):

B - Kashi, with vanilla soy milk and a peach mixed in
L - Black pepper (baked not fried) noodles, grapes (fresh from my aunt's garden) banana
D - Rice casserole
no funny stuff!

Exercise - none

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