Term time again

Monday:

Yesterday we went to brunch at a friend's house and that was a lovely end to the school holidays. Today the kids are back at school for the last four weeks before we move. I was busy with various stuff, but I found half an hour for a nap on my bed. Lovely.

I continue to work on increasing my CPAP hours and reducing my carbs. I've found it matters a great deal which carbs - obviously sugary junk food is bad but also any rice products (rice, rice crackers, rice noodles) are terrible for my blood glucose levels, yet a couple of slices of low-GI bread is fine, a moderate quantity of potato is fine. Even ice cream is fine (probably because all the fat slows down the absorption of the sugar). So I don't have to give up carbs entirely! I'm still testing things as I go.

I continue to watch The Biggest Loser and I found last night's episode really sad. After four weeks there is still one family of three sisters (their father was voted out in week one) who fight constantly and haven't settled into any kind of healthy mindset. They are horrible to each other. The twins will yell at each other then suddenly turn on their big sister and gang up on her. And fight with the trainer, and everyone else in the house. And wonder why no one likes them. Their relationships with each other are so dysfunctional. But the extra sad bit was that Jodie - who argues with her trainer all the time and seems to sit out of half of each session because she hates the treadmill, she hates getting dirty, she hates boxing, he doesn't understand her, no one listens - didn't lose much weight and she immediately started blaming everyone else. It was her trainer's fault (???) that she hadn't exercised as much as she should have. She stood up there on the giant scale and said that it was her sister's fault she was fat because the sister moved in with her and "made her" get fat. She is an adult, and just doesn't get it. She is so sad and lonely and angry and unhealthy and she'll never change until she realises that it's her responsibility to change. Did she think going on the show and being physically present in the Biggest Loser house would be enough? No one can magically make her be thin and happy.

It's one thing to find dieting hard, or to realise that there are some external influences on your health, it's quite another to completely deny all personal responsibility. No wonder she feels powerless.

Brunch

Sunday:

We went to a friend's house for lunch today, at least it was lunchtime but the food was bacon and eggs. Is it still brunch if it's after noon? And if you've already had breakfast? Anyway it was great company with I think nine adults and eight kids, our kids were the eldest. It was a nice summer day so the kids were outside most of the time while the grown-ups sat around and enjoyed adult conversation - like the worst toilets we've encountered in various countries around the world. And the worst flat-mates people had back in their younger days.

Then at home in the afternoon we played our family Dungeons and Dragons game. They followed the rumour of a scary ghost and found he was a noble knight guarding his master's tomb and not a threat unless you were a grave robber.

The only bad thing today was a very disappointing cut of meat for our Sunday roast. I'm not at all confident that I got the expensive cut I paid for.

My thighs are so sore from all those stairs yesterday! I can hardly get up out of a low chair. But I don't mind that, makes me feel like I got some good exercise in yesterday.

Report card:
Diet: Mostly good, and no food after 8.
Exercise: As I was about to write this post I realised I didn't want to have to say I broke my promise about exercise, so I got up and marched around the lounge room for five minutes. Not much, but it was something. Otherwise a very sedentary day.
Water: Good.
Sleep: Tick for CPAP. Seeing the technician tomorrow. Ok sleep. I slept in an extra hour this morning, which was lovely.
Mental health: Good. I listened to my meditation while dinner was cooking. Didn't hear most of it, of course, as I drifted off. But it still counts.

(Edit: I broke my no food after 8 quite late this evening, picking at leftovers then toast. I should have eaten more at dinner, but I was very unhappy with the meat.) (Further edit: that is just an excuse. I ate when I shouldn't have.)

I've decided it's time to step things up a bit. I think maybe each Monday I'll increase one or more of my promises. So from tomorrow I will start tracking my food, without a requirement yet for keeping within any calorie limit. I just have to track it. Also, with exercise I still have a requirement to do something, no matter how small, every day, but this week I will do at least half an hour on five of those days.