Sunday:
I’ve been binge-watching old seasons of Project Runway. In one episode they had to design resort-wear, and the host said something like this to the eliminated contestant: ‘You mentioned that your grandmother was your inspiration, and it showed.’
Very clear. Not allowed to design clothes that would look nice on an older woman, make her feel comfortable and attractive on a holiday. Only allowed to design for skinny six foot tall models, because they are the only people who need clothes.
Showing posts with label tv. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tv. Show all posts
Sunday, June 17, 2018
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Rain
Wednesday:
Pouring rain today so I stayed at home. In the afternoon I sat in front of the TV catching up on America's Next Top Model (the end of cycle 21) and did my editing, snuggled under my lap rug while the rain beat against the windows. Rather nice.
Another good day of heathy eating. I am eating enormous amounts of vegetables. When you can't eat processed junk you have to replace it with something, and I am trying to eat moderate amounts of protein and fat. So the gaps are filled with vegetables. I think I had nine "servings" of vegetables yesterday. I find they are much nicer when covered in something tasty... garlic cream sauce... satay sauce (home made of course). Not exactly low calorie but delicious! Or at least lots of spices. I have not yet learned to love vegetables for their own flavours except for a few.
Tim's father goes to poetry nights where you can get up and read your own poems, there is one tonight near Tim's work so he has gone to it to support his dad. The things you do for family!
Pouring rain today so I stayed at home. In the afternoon I sat in front of the TV catching up on America's Next Top Model (the end of cycle 21) and did my editing, snuggled under my lap rug while the rain beat against the windows. Rather nice.
Another good day of heathy eating. I am eating enormous amounts of vegetables. When you can't eat processed junk you have to replace it with something, and I am trying to eat moderate amounts of protein and fat. So the gaps are filled with vegetables. I think I had nine "servings" of vegetables yesterday. I find they are much nicer when covered in something tasty... garlic cream sauce... satay sauce (home made of course). Not exactly low calorie but delicious! Or at least lots of spices. I have not yet learned to love vegetables for their own flavours except for a few.
Tim's father goes to poetry nights where you can get up and read your own poems, there is one tonight near Tim's work so he has gone to it to support his dad. The things you do for family!
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Macros
Tuesday:
I think night sweats are worse in winter. At least in summer you dry out quickly. In winter you either get up and change your pyjamas or you get all cold and clammy. I wasn't keen on having a shower at 2am, but I probably would have been more comfortable for the rest of the night if I had.
The TV man came today. He got it going temporarily but has to bring a new part tomorrow.
I just coded my dinner in the Fitbit tracker and realised that it doesn't show any macros! How many carbs etc. Only calories in (and calories burned). Bummer. Since I don't find it comfortable and I'm not trying to beat my own walking record or anything, I might stop using it again. I prefer the food tracker I was using before, CalorieKing, which breaks everything down into protein, carbs etc. It's a Fitbit Charge HR, so if anyone knows something I've missed about how to see more info, please let me know.
Oh well, second healthy eating day in a row.
B: leftover broccoli cheese, tea.
L: satay chicken and vegetables with quinoa, tea.
S: apple.
D: beef fajitas (one mini tortilla, the rest in lettuce leaves).
S: vegetable soup.
... that Fitbit thing put me in a bit of a snit, I took it off (decided to charge it instead of tossing it in a drawer, but still) and went into a sulk and spent the rest of the evening wrestling with food. In my defence it is that time of the month (and with uterine fibroids, that time of the month is supercharged). So I ate some dark chocolate. Still within my calories, so tried to convince myself that I was still on my diet. Cashews. More chocolate. Cheese and crackers. Fail.
I think night sweats are worse in winter. At least in summer you dry out quickly. In winter you either get up and change your pyjamas or you get all cold and clammy. I wasn't keen on having a shower at 2am, but I probably would have been more comfortable for the rest of the night if I had.
The TV man came today. He got it going temporarily but has to bring a new part tomorrow.
I just coded my dinner in the Fitbit tracker and realised that it doesn't show any macros! How many carbs etc. Only calories in (and calories burned). Bummer. Since I don't find it comfortable and I'm not trying to beat my own walking record or anything, I might stop using it again. I prefer the food tracker I was using before, CalorieKing, which breaks everything down into protein, carbs etc. It's a Fitbit Charge HR, so if anyone knows something I've missed about how to see more info, please let me know.
Oh well, second healthy eating day in a row.
B: leftover broccoli cheese, tea.
L: satay chicken and vegetables with quinoa, tea.
S: apple.
D: beef fajitas (one mini tortilla, the rest in lettuce leaves).
S: vegetable soup.
... that Fitbit thing put me in a bit of a snit, I took it off (decided to charge it instead of tossing it in a drawer, but still) and went into a sulk and spent the rest of the evening wrestling with food. In my defence it is that time of the month (and with uterine fibroids, that time of the month is supercharged). So I ate some dark chocolate. Still within my calories, so tried to convince myself that I was still on my diet. Cashews. More chocolate. Cheese and crackers. Fail.
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Dead TV
Thursday:
I told you our TV stopped working the other day, while we were watching it. At the time Tim checked all the cables, tried again the next day to turn it on, still didn't work, so we got onto the repair people (still under warranty as it's only six months old). We moved the old TV down from the kitchen to the lounge and have been using that. Well the repair guy was to come this morning to look at it in situ so last night we plugged it back in. And it worked fine! This morning, still worked fine. I cancelled the repair visit. I turned the TV on a couple of times during the day to check, still fine. But tonight I sat down to actually watch something and it lasted about 15 minutes. Then off, on. Off, on. Off..... on. Off. Sigh. Need to get that repair man after all. Of course I'll be calling Friday morning so there is no way it will be fixed until next week. Oh well, first world problem. Still have the old TV.
There was a Tai Chi session on this afternoon but I'm waiting until my foot is more comfortable to stand on so I didn't go. Hopefully next week. It looked like a lovely day outside, through the window.
After school I took the kids to Acrogym, sat and read and had a cup of tea at the café bit which has seats which are merely averagely uncomfortable instead of the horrible seats/stairs in the gym part. It means I don't get to watch the kids do their cartwheels etc which I think disappoints them. I went in for the last 5 minutes but didn't see much. I was trying to read the book for this month's book club, "The Dressmaker" which was recently made into a movie which I have not seen. I am hating the book. Nasty people being nasty to each other in a small country town. And it jumps around to a dozen different characters when I want to read about the main character.
Then we dashed home for an early dinner of pulled pork that had been in a slow oven all afternoon, then out to Jasmine's school for her "musical soirée". The school goes from kindergarten (around 6 yrs old) to year 12 so there was a lot of variety. Jasmine played the clarinet in the high school band, they also had a few squeaky primary school (very small) singers and drum bands and a couple of child prodigies on piano and violin, and a rock band which was amazingly good for three year 8 boys.
I told you our TV stopped working the other day, while we were watching it. At the time Tim checked all the cables, tried again the next day to turn it on, still didn't work, so we got onto the repair people (still under warranty as it's only six months old). We moved the old TV down from the kitchen to the lounge and have been using that. Well the repair guy was to come this morning to look at it in situ so last night we plugged it back in. And it worked fine! This morning, still worked fine. I cancelled the repair visit. I turned the TV on a couple of times during the day to check, still fine. But tonight I sat down to actually watch something and it lasted about 15 minutes. Then off, on. Off, on. Off..... on. Off. Sigh. Need to get that repair man after all. Of course I'll be calling Friday morning so there is no way it will be fixed until next week. Oh well, first world problem. Still have the old TV.
There was a Tai Chi session on this afternoon but I'm waiting until my foot is more comfortable to stand on so I didn't go. Hopefully next week. It looked like a lovely day outside, through the window.
After school I took the kids to Acrogym, sat and read and had a cup of tea at the café bit which has seats which are merely averagely uncomfortable instead of the horrible seats/stairs in the gym part. It means I don't get to watch the kids do their cartwheels etc which I think disappoints them. I went in for the last 5 minutes but didn't see much. I was trying to read the book for this month's book club, "The Dressmaker" which was recently made into a movie which I have not seen. I am hating the book. Nasty people being nasty to each other in a small country town. And it jumps around to a dozen different characters when I want to read about the main character.
Then we dashed home for an early dinner of pulled pork that had been in a slow oven all afternoon, then out to Jasmine's school for her "musical soirée". The school goes from kindergarten (around 6 yrs old) to year 12 so there was a lot of variety. Jasmine played the clarinet in the high school band, they also had a few squeaky primary school (very small) singers and drum bands and a couple of child prodigies on piano and violin, and a rock band which was amazingly good for three year 8 boys.
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Niece
Saturday:
We babysat our three-year-old niece for a few hours today so Nick and Ping could enjoy their anniversary with lunch and a movie. We walked up to the park, quite a distance for little legs, and had lunch at McDonald's before walking home again. That took up a lot of the time, and Jasmine entertained her the rest. Emma is a little inclined to wilfulness but it all went smoothly and was fun.
My plantar wart is back. 48 hours back to full size and sore to walk on. Sigh.
In the evening we went out to a surprise birthday dinner for Tim's Aunt Vanessa's 60th. She thought she was just going out to dinner with her husband, walked into the restaurant to find 60 of us waiting! Far too much food, I feel quite bloated. Her son, Tim's cousin Matthew, is a musician and he played guitar and sang throughout the evening which was lovely. I'll have to find you a link to his YouTube channel.
My Christmas present last year from Tim was a big TV. As well as wanting a bigger screen, I particularly wanted one so we could put the old one (only ever had one TV before this) in the kitchen. In our old house I could see the TV from the kitchen while I was cooking, as well as the lounge and eating area. But in this house I can't, the lounge is separate from the kitchen. I like to watch while cooking and washing up etc. Anyway, tonight the new one suddenly died! It's only six months old! At least it's definitely still under warranty.
We babysat our three-year-old niece for a few hours today so Nick and Ping could enjoy their anniversary with lunch and a movie. We walked up to the park, quite a distance for little legs, and had lunch at McDonald's before walking home again. That took up a lot of the time, and Jasmine entertained her the rest. Emma is a little inclined to wilfulness but it all went smoothly and was fun.
My plantar wart is back. 48 hours back to full size and sore to walk on. Sigh.
In the evening we went out to a surprise birthday dinner for Tim's Aunt Vanessa's 60th. She thought she was just going out to dinner with her husband, walked into the restaurant to find 60 of us waiting! Far too much food, I feel quite bloated. Her son, Tim's cousin Matthew, is a musician and he played guitar and sang throughout the evening which was lovely. I'll have to find you a link to his YouTube channel.
My Christmas present last year from Tim was a big TV. As well as wanting a bigger screen, I particularly wanted one so we could put the old one (only ever had one TV before this) in the kitchen. In our old house I could see the TV from the kitchen while I was cooking, as well as the lounge and eating area. But in this house I can't, the lounge is separate from the kitchen. I like to watch while cooking and washing up etc. Anyway, tonight the new one suddenly died! It's only six months old! At least it's definitely still under warranty.
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Thirty six: let food be thy medicine
Tuesday:
I watched a Michael Mosley show last night (I'm doing his Blood Sugar Diet atm), the first episode of "Trust Me I'm a Doctor" where they look at widely held beliefs about health. They covered a few topics but the main one was about how to lower cholesterol and therefore heart disease. They talked to experts and did an experiment where they split some people with high cholesterol into three groups: one reduced saturated fats (animal fat, cheese, butter), one added oats every day, one added almonds every day. And Michael Mosley himself did all three! I think it was for three weeks. It was to see if diet was as effective as statins. The group reducing saturated fats and the group adding oats both had major improvements, cholesterol down around 9-13%. The almonds on average appeared to do nothing, but when they looked at individuals some had a big improvement but some got worse. So that one seemed to depend on the person. And MMs cholesterol was down by about 30% - so it seemed the three strategies stacked benefits! Pretty sure his at least was as effective as the statins he had been taking. Interesting that he has high cholesterol even though he is not at all overweight and presumably follows his own healthy Mediterranean diet plan.
There are online forums for the BSD diet I'm doing and some people (who have stuck to it better than I have) have had amazing results. Weight loss, but also reversing diabetes which is what the diet is designed to do. The received wisdom was that you can't reverse diabetes once you get past the pre-diabetes stage, and maybe that is true in the sense that if they went back to their old eating habits they would have the same high blood sugar problems, but on this diet they have normal blood sugars WITHOUT all the medication they had to take before. Diet is enough, if it's the right diet. Yet the authorities still tell diabetics and prediabetics to eat plenty of carbs, spread throughout the day, to keep blood sugar levels steady! And that diabetes is progressive and you'll have to go on more and more medications eventually. Well yes, if you keep eating lots of carbs! When I've stuck to the diet a bit longer and lost some more weight I'll have my blood sugar tested and see if it's helped me. I don't think that any diet is perfect for everyone, and I tend to be happier with some carbs in my diet, but so many people have improved their blood sugars I am trying to stick with it for the duration.
Another day of clean eating under my belt.
B: roast beef, cucumber, tea.
L: chicken, grapes.
S: Apple.
D: bolognaise with zoodles.
S: cashews.
I watched a Michael Mosley show last night (I'm doing his Blood Sugar Diet atm), the first episode of "Trust Me I'm a Doctor" where they look at widely held beliefs about health. They covered a few topics but the main one was about how to lower cholesterol and therefore heart disease. They talked to experts and did an experiment where they split some people with high cholesterol into three groups: one reduced saturated fats (animal fat, cheese, butter), one added oats every day, one added almonds every day. And Michael Mosley himself did all three! I think it was for three weeks. It was to see if diet was as effective as statins. The group reducing saturated fats and the group adding oats both had major improvements, cholesterol down around 9-13%. The almonds on average appeared to do nothing, but when they looked at individuals some had a big improvement but some got worse. So that one seemed to depend on the person. And MMs cholesterol was down by about 30% - so it seemed the three strategies stacked benefits! Pretty sure his at least was as effective as the statins he had been taking. Interesting that he has high cholesterol even though he is not at all overweight and presumably follows his own healthy Mediterranean diet plan.
There are online forums for the BSD diet I'm doing and some people (who have stuck to it better than I have) have had amazing results. Weight loss, but also reversing diabetes which is what the diet is designed to do. The received wisdom was that you can't reverse diabetes once you get past the pre-diabetes stage, and maybe that is true in the sense that if they went back to their old eating habits they would have the same high blood sugar problems, but on this diet they have normal blood sugars WITHOUT all the medication they had to take before. Diet is enough, if it's the right diet. Yet the authorities still tell diabetics and prediabetics to eat plenty of carbs, spread throughout the day, to keep blood sugar levels steady! And that diabetes is progressive and you'll have to go on more and more medications eventually. Well yes, if you keep eating lots of carbs! When I've stuck to the diet a bit longer and lost some more weight I'll have my blood sugar tested and see if it's helped me. I don't think that any diet is perfect for everyone, and I tend to be happier with some carbs in my diet, but so many people have improved their blood sugars I am trying to stick with it for the duration.
Another day of clean eating under my belt.
B: roast beef, cucumber, tea.
L: chicken, grapes.
S: Apple.
D: bolognaise with zoodles.
S: cashews.
Monday, February 22, 2016
Content vs striving
Tuesday:
I got hooked in to a documentary last night, when I should have been in bed, about how people in the UK allocate their spending money. Like whether private school was worth the money, or clothes with designer labels. They interviewed people from all different backgrounds and income levels and it was fascinating. But the two people at opposite ends of the scale were the most interesting (and a little sad) to me. One man, a Romney gypsy who grew up poor in a caravan, was very rich with over 100 million UK pounds worth in assets. He had several enormous houses, very expensive vintage cars, artwork. But when the interviewer asked him if he liked the artwork he said no, he had no attachment to any of it. He bought things for investments, then sold them when they had increased in value. He bought houses fully furnished without regard to his own taste. He was only interested in making more money. But what for? He didn't spend it on his son, who he wanted to grow up with a good work ethic like he had. Not even private school (he himself left school at 12). His wife cleaned the enormous mansions herself - no household staff! He gave no explanation of what he wanted all this money for, he didn't use it for anything except to make more money. Maybe the process itself made him happy, who am I to say?
At the other end of the scale was a family of six struggling to make ends meet. The wife seemed content to buy her clothes at op shops, getting food on sale and bulking meals out with cheap beans because meat is so expensive. Until the show sent her to visit a wealthier family for a few days. Not rich, but comfortable. She saw the children with the latest electronic devices, photos of holidays overseas, food with price labels that shocked her. And you could see her getting more and more dissatisfied with her own life. She surely knew that there were other people who lived like that, but I guess it's different having it laid out right in front of you. She got very sad as she talked about her endless financial struggles with no expectation of it ever getting any better. I think the documentary did her a real disservice. Her circumstances didn't change at all over the course of the filming. Only her attitude to it did.
It's so easy, isn't it, to look at what other people have and be envious. Whether that is material possessions, relationships, weight loss, other achievements. Facebook posts of their exciting holiday or the cool jazz cellar they went to or the amount of times they went to the gym this week. Maybe you feel like you're doing well, then you see someone doing so much better and your life suddenly seems worthless in comparison. And you think if you had what they had, life would be better.
Yet on that show, the poor wife wanted what the wealthy family had - but the wealthy family weren't content, they wanted more money so they could afford to send their children to private school (without sacrificing other things in their lifestyle). And the guy who had millions and millions, seemingly enough to buy anything in the world he wanted? He was forever making more, not content with what he had either!
But should we just sit where we are, being happy with what we have? Does being content mean stagnation? I think that as humans we need to find a balance between appreciating what we already have - and who we already are - and striving for more and better. You can be grateful for what you have while still working to get more... and then appreciate the new all the more because you had to earn it. You can love yourself and still want to improve. Indeed, "they" say you have to love yourself first, before you can progress.
I got hooked in to a documentary last night, when I should have been in bed, about how people in the UK allocate their spending money. Like whether private school was worth the money, or clothes with designer labels. They interviewed people from all different backgrounds and income levels and it was fascinating. But the two people at opposite ends of the scale were the most interesting (and a little sad) to me. One man, a Romney gypsy who grew up poor in a caravan, was very rich with over 100 million UK pounds worth in assets. He had several enormous houses, very expensive vintage cars, artwork. But when the interviewer asked him if he liked the artwork he said no, he had no attachment to any of it. He bought things for investments, then sold them when they had increased in value. He bought houses fully furnished without regard to his own taste. He was only interested in making more money. But what for? He didn't spend it on his son, who he wanted to grow up with a good work ethic like he had. Not even private school (he himself left school at 12). His wife cleaned the enormous mansions herself - no household staff! He gave no explanation of what he wanted all this money for, he didn't use it for anything except to make more money. Maybe the process itself made him happy, who am I to say?
At the other end of the scale was a family of six struggling to make ends meet. The wife seemed content to buy her clothes at op shops, getting food on sale and bulking meals out with cheap beans because meat is so expensive. Until the show sent her to visit a wealthier family for a few days. Not rich, but comfortable. She saw the children with the latest electronic devices, photos of holidays overseas, food with price labels that shocked her. And you could see her getting more and more dissatisfied with her own life. She surely knew that there were other people who lived like that, but I guess it's different having it laid out right in front of you. She got very sad as she talked about her endless financial struggles with no expectation of it ever getting any better. I think the documentary did her a real disservice. Her circumstances didn't change at all over the course of the filming. Only her attitude to it did.
It's so easy, isn't it, to look at what other people have and be envious. Whether that is material possessions, relationships, weight loss, other achievements. Facebook posts of their exciting holiday or the cool jazz cellar they went to or the amount of times they went to the gym this week. Maybe you feel like you're doing well, then you see someone doing so much better and your life suddenly seems worthless in comparison. And you think if you had what they had, life would be better.
Yet on that show, the poor wife wanted what the wealthy family had - but the wealthy family weren't content, they wanted more money so they could afford to send their children to private school (without sacrificing other things in their lifestyle). And the guy who had millions and millions, seemingly enough to buy anything in the world he wanted? He was forever making more, not content with what he had either!
But should we just sit where we are, being happy with what we have? Does being content mean stagnation? I think that as humans we need to find a balance between appreciating what we already have - and who we already are - and striving for more and better. You can be grateful for what you have while still working to get more... and then appreciate the new all the more because you had to earn it. You can love yourself and still want to improve. Indeed, "they" say you have to love yourself first, before you can progress.
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Blah day
Thursday:
I woke this morning feeling a bit sad and out of sorts, and the feeling was reinforced by various events of the day.
Damnit. I called the real estate agent to arrange seeing that house we really liked which was supposed to go to auction in two weeks - and it sold yesterday. Within our price range. I knew we should have cancelled the relatives visit and go down last weekend so we could make an offer if we liked it. But I suppose we couldn't have because we still don't have an answer from Tim's work, and won't this week (hopefully next week but who knows). So it's Tim's work's fault. Anyway, we had only seen pictures on the internet so who knows if it was right for us? I do. I know it was. Sigh. Feeling a bit down about that.
I shouldn't even look at other houses online until we get a firm offer from his work. But I like looking at houses!
...Looked at more houses online. Nothing I liked.
The tiler came back this morning (I thought he must not have yesterday, it was getting dark) to finish the roof, which is fine with me, I just wanted it done. So now the outside is done, yay! Something good happened today.
And I went for a walk. It has been cold all week but my wattle tree seems to think Spring is on its way:
I've always been blonde but the past ten years or so my hair has been gradually getting darker, to "blondish". For about a year I've been lightening it out of a bottle. This afternoon, after the kids got home, I applied the stuff then sat around for the required 45 minutes. The instructions are covered in warnings to not go longer than that. I was just about to jump in the shower to wash it off when there was a knock at the door, and I heard Aiden open it (which he shouldn't have done). I had to rapidly pull some clothes back on and rush out there. It was a neighbour, so I stood in the doorway in the winter chill and chatted for a couple of minutes, aware all the time of my inadequate clothing, freezing feet, and bleaching hair! Luckily he only stayed a couple of minutes and the colour turned out fine.
My brother is really irritating me at the moment (when does he not?). But I just came back and deleted the long rant I wrote about that.
I feel like a pincushion at the moment with all the finger-prick tests, but interesting the only thing I've eaten that has raised my blood sugar continues to be that sweet chocolate I had twice. I have not been restricting my foods particularly, in fact I deliberately ate some dark chocolate this afternoon - blood glucose was fine. I had pasta again. Fine. Potato. Fine. I had a large amount of starch at lunchtime and my blood glucose went up a bit - but still within the normal range. Only the really sugary stuff has affected me. (Before anyone criticises my deliberate testing, I remember recently someone who got sunburnt just to see if they had lost enough weight to change the pattern of red!) I know from past testing that processed rice products - both 2 min/ramen noodles, and rice crackers, affect my bgls, and they are not sweet so I will keep trying and testing some more. I need to buy more test strips!
I've been watching a new reality cooking show Hotplate in which restaurants from around Australia compete, and I've been to the Sydney one that was on tonight! I went with my sister-in-law to a girls' night out only a few months ago, it is very near her house. How exciting. We thought it was pretty good when we went, and they did well tonight, scoring best so far.
Report card:
Diet: Ok.
Exercise: Good.
Water: Good.
Sleep: Ok.
Mental health: Poor.
I woke this morning feeling a bit sad and out of sorts, and the feeling was reinforced by various events of the day.
Damnit. I called the real estate agent to arrange seeing that house we really liked which was supposed to go to auction in two weeks - and it sold yesterday. Within our price range. I knew we should have cancelled the relatives visit and go down last weekend so we could make an offer if we liked it. But I suppose we couldn't have because we still don't have an answer from Tim's work, and won't this week (hopefully next week but who knows). So it's Tim's work's fault. Anyway, we had only seen pictures on the internet so who knows if it was right for us? I do. I know it was. Sigh. Feeling a bit down about that.
I shouldn't even look at other houses online until we get a firm offer from his work. But I like looking at houses!
...Looked at more houses online. Nothing I liked.
The tiler came back this morning (I thought he must not have yesterday, it was getting dark) to finish the roof, which is fine with me, I just wanted it done. So now the outside is done, yay! Something good happened today.
And I went for a walk. It has been cold all week but my wattle tree seems to think Spring is on its way:
I've always been blonde but the past ten years or so my hair has been gradually getting darker, to "blondish". For about a year I've been lightening it out of a bottle. This afternoon, after the kids got home, I applied the stuff then sat around for the required 45 minutes. The instructions are covered in warnings to not go longer than that. I was just about to jump in the shower to wash it off when there was a knock at the door, and I heard Aiden open it (which he shouldn't have done). I had to rapidly pull some clothes back on and rush out there. It was a neighbour, so I stood in the doorway in the winter chill and chatted for a couple of minutes, aware all the time of my inadequate clothing, freezing feet, and bleaching hair! Luckily he only stayed a couple of minutes and the colour turned out fine.
My brother is really irritating me at the moment (when does he not?). But I just came back and deleted the long rant I wrote about that.
I feel like a pincushion at the moment with all the finger-prick tests, but interesting the only thing I've eaten that has raised my blood sugar continues to be that sweet chocolate I had twice. I have not been restricting my foods particularly, in fact I deliberately ate some dark chocolate this afternoon - blood glucose was fine. I had pasta again. Fine. Potato. Fine. I had a large amount of starch at lunchtime and my blood glucose went up a bit - but still within the normal range. Only the really sugary stuff has affected me. (Before anyone criticises my deliberate testing, I remember recently someone who got sunburnt just to see if they had lost enough weight to change the pattern of red!) I know from past testing that processed rice products - both 2 min/ramen noodles, and rice crackers, affect my bgls, and they are not sweet so I will keep trying and testing some more. I need to buy more test strips!
I've been watching a new reality cooking show Hotplate in which restaurants from around Australia compete, and I've been to the Sydney one that was on tonight! I went with my sister-in-law to a girls' night out only a few months ago, it is very near her house. How exciting. We thought it was pretty good when we went, and they did well tonight, scoring best so far.
Report card:
Diet: Ok.
Exercise: Good.
Water: Good.
Sleep: Ok.
Mental health: Poor.
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Slow walk
Tuesday:
This morning I had to fill in a form to get my dad out of jury duty. Weird and sad having to tick the "other reason" box with an explanation that he couldn't be a juror because he was dead.
In the afternoon I walked to the library with some very heavy books in my backpack, and returned with some less heavy ones, rocking along to Queen. An hour total walking, not including time in the library. I remembered to alert my fitbit that I was intentionally exercising so I could look at the stats when I got home. I was a bit shocked that I spent a lot of time with my heart rate up in the peak zone, even though I was just walking (effectively with weights, I suppose), up to 168bpm on the hills. Very unfit. I was pretty tired by the time I got home.
I am slow walker. I think I'm striding along, but I get passed by everyone; people pushing prams, little old ladies, business-women in high heels... today it was a blind man with his guide dog. It gets discouraging, but I just keep walking.
I watched a documentary about obesity (it was part 2 of 3, missed the first one) and it divided overweight people into three categories. Firstly "constant cravers". These are people who, due to gene issues that interfere with hunger signals to the brain, want to snack all the time. They might not eat a huge amount at once, but eat a lot over the course of the day. When walking around a fair, they looked at food, ads for food, people eating etc more than twice as often as the even the other obese people; drawn to it and thinking about it all the time. They were told to do Intermittent Fasting, dramatically restricting calories two days a week. If they said why this would help, I missed the explanation.
The second group were emotional eaters. Their issues were psychological, and often caused by trauma or abuse in childhood, or a period of food deprivation or uncertainty in their life. In a brain scan, when they were upset and then offered treat food the reward centres in their brains lit up much more than was normal (much more than if the same person wasn't upset). The strategy for them was to join dieting groups, get counselling, anything that would give them emotional support, rather than being given a specific diet.
The last group were called feasters. Once they started eating, they kept eating well past fullness. This was blamed on an imbalance of the gut hormone that was supposed to tell them to stop. The strategy for them was to make sure they ate very filling foods; protein, low GI carbs, fibre, lots of vegetables. Also soup, which surprisingly doesn't empty out of the stomach any faster than solid food.
They all lost weight in the first fortnight but then a lot started to stall and find sticking to their diet very difficult. Being given a tailored diet isn't particularly helpful if it isn't any easier to stick to than the million others you've tried! So I don't really know if all their research was very helpful.
The other thing covered in this episode was the effect of tiredness. They had one group with enough sleep, the other they deprived of sleep by keeping them up until 3am the night before. Then they were each sent to a supermarket with a general shopping list like "cereal" and "snack for after shopping". The tired group ended up with nearly twice as many calories in their trollies, with much more saturated fat and sugar. And that was after just one night! I know all about the effect of tiredness on my own shopping and eating habits.
There was a hilarious episode of Mythbusters tonight (my son's favourite show). They were trying to replicate something they'd seen on the web, where startled goats would go stiff in the legs and fall over. There was lots of goat chasing and lots of goats falling over, legs sticking straight up in the air. So it wasn't a myth, it was really true. Most of the other myths they pursue seem to involve guns or explosions, or car crashes.
Still no word on Sydney, or my roof.
Report card:
Diet: Good (but I'm writing this straight after dinner, and my recent record of evening eating isn't good).
Exercise: Great.
Water: Good.
Sleep: Poor.
Mental health: Ok.
This morning I had to fill in a form to get my dad out of jury duty. Weird and sad having to tick the "other reason" box with an explanation that he couldn't be a juror because he was dead.
In the afternoon I walked to the library with some very heavy books in my backpack, and returned with some less heavy ones, rocking along to Queen. An hour total walking, not including time in the library. I remembered to alert my fitbit that I was intentionally exercising so I could look at the stats when I got home. I was a bit shocked that I spent a lot of time with my heart rate up in the peak zone, even though I was just walking (effectively with weights, I suppose), up to 168bpm on the hills. Very unfit. I was pretty tired by the time I got home.
I am slow walker. I think I'm striding along, but I get passed by everyone; people pushing prams, little old ladies, business-women in high heels... today it was a blind man with his guide dog. It gets discouraging, but I just keep walking.
I watched a documentary about obesity (it was part 2 of 3, missed the first one) and it divided overweight people into three categories. Firstly "constant cravers". These are people who, due to gene issues that interfere with hunger signals to the brain, want to snack all the time. They might not eat a huge amount at once, but eat a lot over the course of the day. When walking around a fair, they looked at food, ads for food, people eating etc more than twice as often as the even the other obese people; drawn to it and thinking about it all the time. They were told to do Intermittent Fasting, dramatically restricting calories two days a week. If they said why this would help, I missed the explanation.
The second group were emotional eaters. Their issues were psychological, and often caused by trauma or abuse in childhood, or a period of food deprivation or uncertainty in their life. In a brain scan, when they were upset and then offered treat food the reward centres in their brains lit up much more than was normal (much more than if the same person wasn't upset). The strategy for them was to join dieting groups, get counselling, anything that would give them emotional support, rather than being given a specific diet.
The last group were called feasters. Once they started eating, they kept eating well past fullness. This was blamed on an imbalance of the gut hormone that was supposed to tell them to stop. The strategy for them was to make sure they ate very filling foods; protein, low GI carbs, fibre, lots of vegetables. Also soup, which surprisingly doesn't empty out of the stomach any faster than solid food.
They all lost weight in the first fortnight but then a lot started to stall and find sticking to their diet very difficult. Being given a tailored diet isn't particularly helpful if it isn't any easier to stick to than the million others you've tried! So I don't really know if all their research was very helpful.
The other thing covered in this episode was the effect of tiredness. They had one group with enough sleep, the other they deprived of sleep by keeping them up until 3am the night before. Then they were each sent to a supermarket with a general shopping list like "cereal" and "snack for after shopping". The tired group ended up with nearly twice as many calories in their trollies, with much more saturated fat and sugar. And that was after just one night! I know all about the effect of tiredness on my own shopping and eating habits.
There was a hilarious episode of Mythbusters tonight (my son's favourite show). They were trying to replicate something they'd seen on the web, where startled goats would go stiff in the legs and fall over. There was lots of goat chasing and lots of goats falling over, legs sticking straight up in the air. So it wasn't a myth, it was really true. Most of the other myths they pursue seem to involve guns or explosions, or car crashes.
Still no word on Sydney, or my roof.
Report card:
Diet: Good (but I'm writing this straight after dinner, and my recent record of evening eating isn't good).
Exercise: Great.
Water: Good.
Sleep: Poor.
Mental health: Ok.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Not feeling very perky
Thursday:
My Fitbit says I'm sleeping better but it doesn't feel like it. I feel exhausted and yuck. Definitely trying to fight off some kind of illness, it seems without much success. Just wanted to collapse in front of the TV. Alas, my schedule was a bit full for that. I don't think I've been so busy in my life as I have these past few weeks! At least tomorrow involves me sitting at home while the roof guy comes about the leak, the cleaner comes back to do the floors, and someone comes to pick up our broken TV for repair. Easy.
Well I got my To Do list done then after the kids got home I took a nap for an hour.
I was a bit blasé in the last post about using our old TV while the newer one is repaired. It is so small, a squat cube that weighs more than the big flat screen. I laugh to think I considered it quite large when we bought it ten years ago. Watching it is quite a different experience to our large screen. We can't even plug in the Xbox, so can't watch Foxtel on it. Had to use Tim's computer to watch RuPaul's Drag Race last night. My computer screen is quite small too, since my other one broke, so I'm downsizing all over the place. Such a first-world problem isn't it! Oh dear, my TV doesn't take up half the wall any more, woe is me, my life is so hard.
The highlight of my day today was being able to give directions to the Post Office to an elderly lady. She thanked me so nicely and I just felt really good! It only cost me a few seconds but I was able to help someone who was lost. It made me think there might be something in this helping others idea.
Report card:
Diet: Ok.
Exercise: Poor. Still raining, and I feel a bit unwell.
Water: Poor.
Sleep: Poor.
Mental health: Good.
My Fitbit says I'm sleeping better but it doesn't feel like it. I feel exhausted and yuck. Definitely trying to fight off some kind of illness, it seems without much success. Just wanted to collapse in front of the TV. Alas, my schedule was a bit full for that. I don't think I've been so busy in my life as I have these past few weeks! At least tomorrow involves me sitting at home while the roof guy comes about the leak, the cleaner comes back to do the floors, and someone comes to pick up our broken TV for repair. Easy.
Well I got my To Do list done then after the kids got home I took a nap for an hour.
I was a bit blasé in the last post about using our old TV while the newer one is repaired. It is so small, a squat cube that weighs more than the big flat screen. I laugh to think I considered it quite large when we bought it ten years ago. Watching it is quite a different experience to our large screen. We can't even plug in the Xbox, so can't watch Foxtel on it. Had to use Tim's computer to watch RuPaul's Drag Race last night. My computer screen is quite small too, since my other one broke, so I'm downsizing all over the place. Such a first-world problem isn't it! Oh dear, my TV doesn't take up half the wall any more, woe is me, my life is so hard.
The highlight of my day today was being able to give directions to the Post Office to an elderly lady. She thanked me so nicely and I just felt really good! It only cost me a few seconds but I was able to help someone who was lost. It made me think there might be something in this helping others idea.
Report card:
Diet: Ok.
Exercise: Poor. Still raining, and I feel a bit unwell.
Water: Poor.
Sleep: Poor.
Mental health: Good.
Monday, June 23, 2014
Fat vs sugar
Tuesday:
Last night I watched a show about fat vs sugar. It started off a bit unscientific, they got ONE set of identical twins (the hosts of the show, both doctors, one person in each group is not really a valid sample size for a study!) and put one on a high fat/low sugar diet and the other on a high sugar/low fat diet. They could eat as much as they wanted of their assigned foods. They both lost weight, fat and muscle loss, in the four weeks. The high fat twin was deemed to be doing more damage to his body, I think. Surprisingly, his insulin resistance was much worse than his high-sugar brother's. But overall they said either extreme was bad and you shouldn't cut out any food group or overeat in another like that.
They then looked at scientific studies. The bit that interested me was that people don't generally eat just fat or just sugar. Lump of butter, anyone? A couple of tablespoons of sugar by itself? (But what about soft drink/soda?) And in studies with rats, they generally wouldn't overeat or get fat when given free access to fat or sugar along with healthy rat food. But mix them together... oh my. Apparently the most palatable combination is around half fat, half sugar. Cheesecake! It seems to switch off our self-regulation ability. The rats stuffed themselves and got obese. And people are the same. One reason all that processed food is so dangerous. The combination of fat and sugar together does not appear in nature, they said! (Although it occurs to me, isn't milk - including human milk - both fatty and quite sweet?) Anyway, it wasn't really an in-depth report and mainly covered one researcher's life work, but it was interesting just the same.
The last two days I've finally got back to writing properly instead of just staring blankly at the screen, I've had a couple of good sessions, the first since we got Thor. So that is exciting. Maybe I'll get this book written eventually after all. It's amazing what a bit of sleep can do for the brain.
The temperature has plummeted here and it is definitely making me want to eat more. Have to make sure I have hot and comforting yet healthy options available. I've got some chicken soup simmering away on the stove for tomorrow's lunch.
I cleaned up my blog roll a bit today, taking off blogs that hadn't been updated in months - or in some cases years. Still following around 30, either weight-loss or writing related. It's always sad when a blogger disappears. Unless they say goodbye you assume relapse that they don't want to confess. Other people I follow have said they are taking a hiatus. I guess I understand that, although I mostly just talk about day to day stuff so I never have to stress about what to talk about, or about being profound. It must be almost exactly four years since I started, just before my 40th birthday. Happy birthday, blog!
Last night I watched a show about fat vs sugar. It started off a bit unscientific, they got ONE set of identical twins (the hosts of the show, both doctors, one person in each group is not really a valid sample size for a study!) and put one on a high fat/low sugar diet and the other on a high sugar/low fat diet. They could eat as much as they wanted of their assigned foods. They both lost weight, fat and muscle loss, in the four weeks. The high fat twin was deemed to be doing more damage to his body, I think. Surprisingly, his insulin resistance was much worse than his high-sugar brother's. But overall they said either extreme was bad and you shouldn't cut out any food group or overeat in another like that.
They then looked at scientific studies. The bit that interested me was that people don't generally eat just fat or just sugar. Lump of butter, anyone? A couple of tablespoons of sugar by itself? (But what about soft drink/soda?) And in studies with rats, they generally wouldn't overeat or get fat when given free access to fat or sugar along with healthy rat food. But mix them together... oh my. Apparently the most palatable combination is around half fat, half sugar. Cheesecake! It seems to switch off our self-regulation ability. The rats stuffed themselves and got obese. And people are the same. One reason all that processed food is so dangerous. The combination of fat and sugar together does not appear in nature, they said! (Although it occurs to me, isn't milk - including human milk - both fatty and quite sweet?) Anyway, it wasn't really an in-depth report and mainly covered one researcher's life work, but it was interesting just the same.
The last two days I've finally got back to writing properly instead of just staring blankly at the screen, I've had a couple of good sessions, the first since we got Thor. So that is exciting. Maybe I'll get this book written eventually after all. It's amazing what a bit of sleep can do for the brain.
The temperature has plummeted here and it is definitely making me want to eat more. Have to make sure I have hot and comforting yet healthy options available. I've got some chicken soup simmering away on the stove for tomorrow's lunch.
I cleaned up my blog roll a bit today, taking off blogs that hadn't been updated in months - or in some cases years. Still following around 30, either weight-loss or writing related. It's always sad when a blogger disappears. Unless they say goodbye you assume relapse that they don't want to confess. Other people I follow have said they are taking a hiatus. I guess I understand that, although I mostly just talk about day to day stuff so I never have to stress about what to talk about, or about being profound. It must be almost exactly four years since I started, just before my 40th birthday. Happy birthday, blog!
Friday, December 13, 2013
Models
Friday night:
It may be controversial, but I love "Next Top Model" shows. You get to see that these "perfect" girls are still just people with many flaws (both physical and emotional) and they often only look good with heavy make-up that took experts a couple of hours to apply and then they take a hundred photographs to get one good one.
And then, apparently, in the real modelling industry if not on these shows, they air-brush the photographs. A lot.
What you see in the magazine is nothing like what the girl started her working day looking like. It's reassuring to know that.
And I'm a sucker for a transformation, too. Love that you can take a weird-looking person and make her look fabulous.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Do I really want to see my behind on TV?
Tuesday:
This morning I went to the local shopping centre for my appointment with my doctor. As I was getting out of the car I noticed a guy with what looked like a small TV camera on his shoulder, but all black with no branding or channel. Over in the next aisle of cars was a sound man and some other people, calling back and forth about 'wait one minute', 'ok, ready,' etc. My first guess was it was an advertisement, then an amateur movie or stunt for YouTube.
Then they filmed a young couple running from their car to the shops and the woman had a row of shopping bags over her arm, all branded MKR! My Kitchen Rules is a cooking show where each pair of contestants (a couple, or a brother/sister team, or best friends, or any other combination really) hosts a dinner party for all the other contestants. One pair from each Australian state, plus a couple of celebrity chef judges. It means cooking a fancy three course meal for a dozen or more people, a real strain on a home kitchen.
Obviously they were shooting for the upcoming season. The contestants only get one day to prepare (apparently they have to submit a few menu options and they only get told which one they are doing that morning) so they have to shop, decorate the dining area, prep and cook everything all in one day; and they are only allowed to start preparing the food three hours before people arrive. In previous seasons I've seen overconfident underprepared teams eventually serving dessert around midnight. It was about 9.20am when I saw them arrive, both outside and then inside the centre going into the sponsoring supermarket Coles.
I didn't want to spoil the shoot so I just went about my business as a casual bystander. If I do appear in the background, it is most likely of me walking away from them. So, wonderful, if any of me gets on TV it will be my butt. It was very exciting though. I love that show. Go team ACT!
I had my appointment with my doctor to discuss my pelvic exam. She is referring me to a gyno, just in case, but actually thinks my problems are most likely due to my low-dose pill not being strong enough. (I brought this up last visit but she wanted me to have the ultrasound first.) So I'm changing to a higher-dose pill and we'll see how that goes for a few months then see the gyno. She was not at all worried about the little nodule in my uterus, as I'm not having any pain from it.
I spent the rest of the morning shopping - picking up dry cleaning, socks and pjs for the kids. There were I few things I needed for myself but that didn't go well. My jeans split a month or more ago and I've been wearing my older "fat" pair that are men's jeans, a bit saggy at the crotch, and a size too big. I was determined to get some new ones today. But I went to my two favourite shops and tried everything on and nothing was even as good as the ones I had on! Either my stomach sagged or if it was reined in I had a huge muffin top, or if they fit at the waist then the crotch drooped. If they fit my thighs nicely, I couldn't zip them up.
I used to have an hourglass shape, a bit overweight but with womanly curves. Now I am just apple-shaped. It was very discouraging to not be able to find a pair of jeans that fit nicely.
I also tried on a sports bra, as mine all dig in painfully around the rib-band. The one I tried on was even worse, it was like a vice and left a welt after only being on 30 seconds. The assistant suggested an extender.
I'm starting to need an extender to get clothes to fit?
I've had some kind of stomach flu for a week so I haven't been exercising, but I have been eating. It's really cold so I've been craving salt and fat.
There have been other stresses, too. My husband has been unhappy at work for a while - and on medication for high blood pressure due to stress - and looking around for another job. Things have suddenly got worse so he really wants to get out and is willing to take a bit of a pay cut if it means a better work environment. But we might need to move house in a hurry, even to another state. I actually want to move, but it is a stressful situation all the same.
I need some other way to deal with stress, sadness, boredom, anger, happiness, tiredness etc than eating.
This morning I went to the local shopping centre for my appointment with my doctor. As I was getting out of the car I noticed a guy with what looked like a small TV camera on his shoulder, but all black with no branding or channel. Over in the next aisle of cars was a sound man and some other people, calling back and forth about 'wait one minute', 'ok, ready,' etc. My first guess was it was an advertisement, then an amateur movie or stunt for YouTube.
Then they filmed a young couple running from their car to the shops and the woman had a row of shopping bags over her arm, all branded MKR! My Kitchen Rules is a cooking show where each pair of contestants (a couple, or a brother/sister team, or best friends, or any other combination really) hosts a dinner party for all the other contestants. One pair from each Australian state, plus a couple of celebrity chef judges. It means cooking a fancy three course meal for a dozen or more people, a real strain on a home kitchen.
Obviously they were shooting for the upcoming season. The contestants only get one day to prepare (apparently they have to submit a few menu options and they only get told which one they are doing that morning) so they have to shop, decorate the dining area, prep and cook everything all in one day; and they are only allowed to start preparing the food three hours before people arrive. In previous seasons I've seen overconfident underprepared teams eventually serving dessert around midnight. It was about 9.20am when I saw them arrive, both outside and then inside the centre going into the sponsoring supermarket Coles.
I didn't want to spoil the shoot so I just went about my business as a casual bystander. If I do appear in the background, it is most likely of me walking away from them. So, wonderful, if any of me gets on TV it will be my butt. It was very exciting though. I love that show. Go team ACT!
I had my appointment with my doctor to discuss my pelvic exam. She is referring me to a gyno, just in case, but actually thinks my problems are most likely due to my low-dose pill not being strong enough. (I brought this up last visit but she wanted me to have the ultrasound first.) So I'm changing to a higher-dose pill and we'll see how that goes for a few months then see the gyno. She was not at all worried about the little nodule in my uterus, as I'm not having any pain from it.
I spent the rest of the morning shopping - picking up dry cleaning, socks and pjs for the kids. There were I few things I needed for myself but that didn't go well. My jeans split a month or more ago and I've been wearing my older "fat" pair that are men's jeans, a bit saggy at the crotch, and a size too big. I was determined to get some new ones today. But I went to my two favourite shops and tried everything on and nothing was even as good as the ones I had on! Either my stomach sagged or if it was reined in I had a huge muffin top, or if they fit at the waist then the crotch drooped. If they fit my thighs nicely, I couldn't zip them up.
I used to have an hourglass shape, a bit overweight but with womanly curves. Now I am just apple-shaped. It was very discouraging to not be able to find a pair of jeans that fit nicely.
I also tried on a sports bra, as mine all dig in painfully around the rib-band. The one I tried on was even worse, it was like a vice and left a welt after only being on 30 seconds. The assistant suggested an extender.
I'm starting to need an extender to get clothes to fit?
I've had some kind of stomach flu for a week so I haven't been exercising, but I have been eating. It's really cold so I've been craving salt and fat.
There have been other stresses, too. My husband has been unhappy at work for a while - and on medication for high blood pressure due to stress - and looking around for another job. Things have suddenly got worse so he really wants to get out and is willing to take a bit of a pay cut if it means a better work environment. But we might need to move house in a hurry, even to another state. I actually want to move, but it is a stressful situation all the same.
I need some other way to deal with stress, sadness, boredom, anger, happiness, tiredness etc than eating.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Dancing
Tuesday:
Today I resisted the lure of the zombies and just did some dancing in my loungeroom. I was supposed to go to BodyPump but I decided I didn't have time (an hour class plus set up and driving and shower and changing is a big chunk out of my short working day) and ... just didn't wanna. BodyPump is not where my head it at at the moment.
I find balancing work and exercise and mothering etc etc tricky. I honesty don't know how others do it. Some people work many more hours than me (full time or more hours of part-time) and still have kids and have cleaner houses and go to the gym and maybe even study too. I guess they don't watch as much reality TV as I do. [At the moment (not right this second, in the evenings) they have simultaneously on three different channels The Biggest Loser, My Kitchen Rules, and The Voice. Bastard programming. They are each only on a few nights a week -- but the SAME nights as each other!] I can't watch them all, and don't have time to catch up later.
Time to retrieve children from school and have a playdate/cup of tea with a friend.
Today I resisted the lure of the zombies and just did some dancing in my loungeroom. I was supposed to go to BodyPump but I decided I didn't have time (an hour class plus set up and driving and shower and changing is a big chunk out of my short working day) and ... just didn't wanna. BodyPump is not where my head it at at the moment.
I find balancing work and exercise and mothering etc etc tricky. I honesty don't know how others do it. Some people work many more hours than me (full time or more hours of part-time) and still have kids and have cleaner houses and go to the gym and maybe even study too. I guess they don't watch as much reality TV as I do. [At the moment (not right this second, in the evenings) they have simultaneously on three different channels The Biggest Loser, My Kitchen Rules, and The Voice. Bastard programming. They are each only on a few nights a week -- but the SAME nights as each other!] I can't watch them all, and don't have time to catch up later.
Time to retrieve children from school and have a playdate/cup of tea with a friend.
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