Tuesday:
My dad was supposed to be visiting this week but can't because he's sick, and has been for weeks. Not sure exactly what with, he had some tests done yesterday. I'm trying not to worry too much. My dad lives quite a long way away and he usually visits every school holidays for a few days. We hardly ever go to him, it's tricky with Tim's work and too far for a weekend visit. He's got his girlfriend there looking after him (my parents divorced when I was six, and dad's second marriage ended years ago), but his health hasn't been good for a few years now. I always thought he'd die before mum, but he's held on through heart bypass and diabetes and who knows what else. He brings a box full of medication when he visits, and washes the pills down with wine. It's hard not to worry.
The kids and I had a busy morning, visiting the library and various shops. It is really windy outside, some trees down here but much worse on the coast. In Sydney it is complete chaos with major storms and three people have died and houses have been washed away. Here last night the wind was raging outside. Even today, it is a lot calmer but not pleasant. Not a day to spend outside, we hurried from place to place. The kids spent the afternoon anti-tidying the interior of the house. I did some deskwork and huddled in my jumper.
I made things difficult for myself with water intake today. I had a cup of tea with breakfast and then we were out all morning. At lunchtime I still had a whole day's drinking to go. But I just kept refilling my glass over and over and right now (just after dinner) I've had seven cups of water, three cups of tea, and a bowl of soup. Not bad! I'll easily have another glass of water before bed. That's pretty much what I did all afternoon; drank, and wore a path in the carpet back and forth to the bathroom.
I realised this afternoon that I wasn't feeling miserable. Isn't that nice! I've had a few hard days lately, but I feel good today.
I just recorded my food for the day all at once on fitbit, and it told me I'd gone over by several hundred calories. I was dumbfounded, I thought I'd done really well. I checked down the list and there it was right at the bottom; 250 grams of zucchini (I made zoodles to have with bolognaise instead of spaghetti) - over 500 calories!! Are you kidding me? There is no way zucchini has 2 calories a gram, more than most meats. I had chosen the first entry, just "zucchini" with no modifiers. I went back and changed it to "zucchini - raw" (I had weighed it raw) and it told me 250 grams of raw zucchini was 25 calories. That is more like it! 536 vs 25 for the same thing. So what on earth was the other type of zucchini? Marinated in duck fat?
Report card:
Diet: Great. Second low carb day achieved. High carb/low fat day tomorrow. I'm interested to see how that affects my hunger levels.
Exercise: Poor. Didn't do any. Around 6,000 steps going about my day.
Water: Excellent.
Sleep. Good compliance. It was bad night's sleep turn, though. I would love to start getting more than six or seven hours a night, and for the good night to be more than every second one.
Mental health: Good.
Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Friday, April 17, 2015
Home
Friday:
As I was going to bed last night I realised that I'd made a commitment to myself to drink my water each day, and I hadn't. It was already late because I'd stayed up to watch the finale of Ink Master. I had a choice, I could chug down two more glasses of water but seriously disrupt my sleep - probably getting up four times in the next couple of hours - or not keep my promise to myself. I ended up deciding that sleep was more important. But I'll make sure to drink my water today and in future.
Since my current focus is sleep and then hydration, I am going to try to worry a bit less about actual weight loss right now. That doesn't mean I'm okaying binge eating or not exercising! But if I'm serious that I need to get a handle on one issue at a time, then I need to accept that I might not lose dramatic amounts of weight right now. I might not make many of my dietbet goals (sad face) although I still want to get the overall six month one. But I am a long term project. I will add specific commitments about exercise and food when I feel more confident about sleep and water. One step at a time. It won't take that long. I started to feel pretty good about my routine to use my CPAP after a couple of weeks. Sometimes I don't want to put it on, but I do anyway. I just know I have to, like I have to brush my teeth even if I'm tired. Last night I slept seven hours straight, barely moving a muscle (although I am pretty tired today, still catching up). I only did three days of great water consumption before yesterday's stumble, obviously I'm not set in that routine yet. I need more time to get into that groove. Then I think exercise will be next, hopefully starting a week from Monday when the kids go back to school and I can go to the gym again. All these things make controlling my food intake that little bit easier. Exercise can make me hungry, but also makes me feel strong and virtuous and unwilling to sabotage what I have just achieved. Water diverts those false hunger signals that are really thirst. And sleep means I don't have to reach for food to keep me awake. Dieting is never easy, but I think it's a bit easier when everything else is under control.
Also need to work on stress, of course. Maybe be more regular with my meditations, which I only do about once a week or less now. And have some long talks with my husband about what we want to do about the whole move situation. And fix my novel so I don't see its now-glaring flaws every time I look at it. I always put "mental health" last on my report card but that doesn't mean I think it is least important, just harder to control. I can't just decide "be happy today". But I think feeling like I have other things in control will help.
I need to decide whether to judge Aurealis again this year, they've asked if I want to. It is a lot of reading, up to two books a week for around nine months. And some of those books are terrible! They include self-published as well as traditional-published. Not that self-published is necessarily bad, sometimes the books are great. Year before last, one won the Fantasy category. Overall, I would say that 25% of submissions are great, 50% are ok, 25% terrible. That is quite a lot of ok and terrible to wade through. And since the ceremony will be over the other side of Australia I won't be going to it, which means less networking will result from being part of it. I need to spend time doing my own writing, and exercising! And I've also committed to the critique group, although that is only one book a month. But still. Maybe. It's a lot of free books, and I am helping out an industry that is very special to me, and having a say in it, and to be honest it makes me feel pretty important!
The kids and I went to see the movie "Home" today and it was really good. It's animated with Jim Parsons (Sheldon) voicing the alien. Mainly funny, but in the scene where the human girl can't find her mother the whole cinema was full of choking sobs. Sniffs and noses blown all over the place. I may have shed a tear or two myself. It was probably all the parents crying. Since having children myself, anything like that really gets to me.
Then grocery shopping, and we congratulated ourselves on a mainly healthy trolley. We did have a treat in the cinema (I had some chocolate) but I'm feeling pretty good about how most of our meals are healthy. We don't get fast food that often. I cook at home nearly every night, and lunches too. Snacking between meals is more of an issue, especially when we are out and about, but at least home is a mainly healthy place, even during school holidays.
You may be able to tell I'm feeling a bit less dismal today! Much better. And my foot seems completely healed now, not a single twinge. I'm ready for a more active weekend. Even if it is going to rain for the next week. Temperatures are dropping, too. It may not snow here but it gets well below freezing at night in winter, and we are starting to feel that chill. Another reason to want to move to more temperate climes!
Had two awkward phone calls with mothers of Jasmine's friends. One yesterday, I know her quite well but I guess I haven't spoken to for a while because she said she hoped my mother was doing better and I had to say she died back in January. The other tonight, I've never met or spoken to the lady before, she called and opened with who she was then said "how are you?" and I said "good, thank you". Pause. Then she said, "I'm good too, thank you." Was she being snarky because I didn't ask or just automatically responding as if I had asked because people usually do? Whoops. I was just kind of waiting to find out what she wanted.
Report card:
Diet: Good.
Exercise: Poor. I should have, today, but didn't.
Water: Good.
Sleep: Great.
Mental health: Good.
As I was going to bed last night I realised that I'd made a commitment to myself to drink my water each day, and I hadn't. It was already late because I'd stayed up to watch the finale of Ink Master. I had a choice, I could chug down two more glasses of water but seriously disrupt my sleep - probably getting up four times in the next couple of hours - or not keep my promise to myself. I ended up deciding that sleep was more important. But I'll make sure to drink my water today and in future.
Since my current focus is sleep and then hydration, I am going to try to worry a bit less about actual weight loss right now. That doesn't mean I'm okaying binge eating or not exercising! But if I'm serious that I need to get a handle on one issue at a time, then I need to accept that I might not lose dramatic amounts of weight right now. I might not make many of my dietbet goals (sad face) although I still want to get the overall six month one. But I am a long term project. I will add specific commitments about exercise and food when I feel more confident about sleep and water. One step at a time. It won't take that long. I started to feel pretty good about my routine to use my CPAP after a couple of weeks. Sometimes I don't want to put it on, but I do anyway. I just know I have to, like I have to brush my teeth even if I'm tired. Last night I slept seven hours straight, barely moving a muscle (although I am pretty tired today, still catching up). I only did three days of great water consumption before yesterday's stumble, obviously I'm not set in that routine yet. I need more time to get into that groove. Then I think exercise will be next, hopefully starting a week from Monday when the kids go back to school and I can go to the gym again. All these things make controlling my food intake that little bit easier. Exercise can make me hungry, but also makes me feel strong and virtuous and unwilling to sabotage what I have just achieved. Water diverts those false hunger signals that are really thirst. And sleep means I don't have to reach for food to keep me awake. Dieting is never easy, but I think it's a bit easier when everything else is under control.
Also need to work on stress, of course. Maybe be more regular with my meditations, which I only do about once a week or less now. And have some long talks with my husband about what we want to do about the whole move situation. And fix my novel so I don't see its now-glaring flaws every time I look at it. I always put "mental health" last on my report card but that doesn't mean I think it is least important, just harder to control. I can't just decide "be happy today". But I think feeling like I have other things in control will help.
I need to decide whether to judge Aurealis again this year, they've asked if I want to. It is a lot of reading, up to two books a week for around nine months. And some of those books are terrible! They include self-published as well as traditional-published. Not that self-published is necessarily bad, sometimes the books are great. Year before last, one won the Fantasy category. Overall, I would say that 25% of submissions are great, 50% are ok, 25% terrible. That is quite a lot of ok and terrible to wade through. And since the ceremony will be over the other side of Australia I won't be going to it, which means less networking will result from being part of it. I need to spend time doing my own writing, and exercising! And I've also committed to the critique group, although that is only one book a month. But still. Maybe. It's a lot of free books, and I am helping out an industry that is very special to me, and having a say in it, and to be honest it makes me feel pretty important!
The kids and I went to see the movie "Home" today and it was really good. It's animated with Jim Parsons (Sheldon) voicing the alien. Mainly funny, but in the scene where the human girl can't find her mother the whole cinema was full of choking sobs. Sniffs and noses blown all over the place. I may have shed a tear or two myself. It was probably all the parents crying. Since having children myself, anything like that really gets to me.
Then grocery shopping, and we congratulated ourselves on a mainly healthy trolley. We did have a treat in the cinema (I had some chocolate) but I'm feeling pretty good about how most of our meals are healthy. We don't get fast food that often. I cook at home nearly every night, and lunches too. Snacking between meals is more of an issue, especially when we are out and about, but at least home is a mainly healthy place, even during school holidays.
You may be able to tell I'm feeling a bit less dismal today! Much better. And my foot seems completely healed now, not a single twinge. I'm ready for a more active weekend. Even if it is going to rain for the next week. Temperatures are dropping, too. It may not snow here but it gets well below freezing at night in winter, and we are starting to feel that chill. Another reason to want to move to more temperate climes!
Had two awkward phone calls with mothers of Jasmine's friends. One yesterday, I know her quite well but I guess I haven't spoken to for a while because she said she hoped my mother was doing better and I had to say she died back in January. The other tonight, I've never met or spoken to the lady before, she called and opened with who she was then said "how are you?" and I said "good, thank you". Pause. Then she said, "I'm good too, thank you." Was she being snarky because I didn't ask or just automatically responding as if I had asked because people usually do? Whoops. I was just kind of waiting to find out what she wanted.
Report card:
Diet: Good.
Exercise: Poor. I should have, today, but didn't.
Water: Good.
Sleep: Great.
Mental health: Good.
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Aurealis Awards
Sunday:
I didn't write yesterday because we went out last night, a pretty rare occurrence these days. It was the Aurealis Awards, Australian book awards for speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction and horror - spec fiction is basically anything with elements that aren't in the real world). I was one of the judges, as I have been four out of the past five years. It is quite a lot of work, being a judge, reading a lot of books (my record was 63 when I was doing the fantasy novel category) over about a eight month period and critiquing them and arguing with the other judges about which is the best.
The kids had sleep-overs with friends and we went out to dinner and to the Awards which was fun. I don't actually do anything at the ceremony, just watch from the audience, but I get to talk to authors and publishers at the drinks before it starts. Except I'm generally too shy to approach people, and also I don't know what they look like so I don't know who to approach anyway! So we only chatted to a few people. The ceremony is moving to Perth next year, way over of the opposite coast, so it's the last one I'll be going to for a while although I may still judge, I haven't yet decided. It is a big eater-of-time and I come to resent reading what I have to instead of what I want to!
I didn't exercise yesterday because I hurt my foot somehow. I kept hoping it would get better but it didn't - in fact is still hurts today. I wasn't even exercising when I hurt it, I just got up from a chair. It's nothing serious, but I don't want to make it worse by doing much with it. My body insists on reminding me how middle-aged and unfit I am. Today I did an hour of Fantasia, which didn't involve moving my feet much and was fine.
My water consumption was absolutely shocking yesterday - two glasses of water and one of cup of tea all day. I've been pretty slack with this for a while now. So, with my commitment to my CPAP going really well, I'm adding step two. My new focus is my water consumption. I know it really does help me lose weight and keep healthy. I will keep that damn Plant Nanny seedling (my current plant is a cabbage, as they grow up they get put in the "garden" and you chose a new baby) alive and unwilted! I can do this, it just takes focus. I am trying to take one step at a time and not expect myself to be perfect in all areas all at once. I've got the sleep under control, now I am tackling water.
Speaking of the CPAP, that is finally going much better. Two more nights of keeping it on for much longer stretches and sleeping peacefully most of the night. I think it really took that mental shift where I no longer just assume and expect it will be an annoyance. I'm still often feeling quite tired during the day but after all I have years of poor sleep to catch up on so I'm hoping that will gradually improve.
In less-happy news, my weight was way up this morning, nearly a kilogram overnight. Damn restaurant food! And I thought I made a good choice avoiding the pasta, and only had half a glass of cider, and one nibble at the cocktail party and no wine there. But it was probably very salty and with the minimal fluid all day I wasn't able to flush the salt out. Still, even knowing that it is a bit discouraging. I'd lost about half a kilogram during the week, a small amount but a good start, and then put it all back on and more overnight. Oh well, I know I can lose it again.
We signed up for Foxtel today because it is the only way to see Game of Thrones in Australia. Other than piracy, of course, and they are really cracking down on that. We've got the previous seasons on DVD, and I've read all the books of course. We've never had pay TV before, we get plenty of free channels and I watch too much TV anyway. But after my husband set it up up the kids watched the movie "Turbo" and then I watched two episodes of America's Next Top Model and an episode of Junior Master Chef from the UK, and Tim looked at me and said "we're keeping Foxtel after Game of Thrones is over, aren't we" and I said "yup"! Because of time zone differences GoT will be on Monday 11:00am, so I'll have to lock the kids in their rooms for an hour! Not suitable for children! And Tim goes out Monday nights, there is no way I am waiting until Tuesday night after the kids are in bed to watch it with him.
I did really well with food today and didn't eat any of the cupcakes Tim and Jasmine made!
Report card (for Sunday):
Diet: Great.
Exercise: Good. I'm happy I worked around the sore foot.
Water: Amazing! 💦 I'm on glass 12 now.
Sleep: Great.
Mental health: Good.
Teacher's note: We think Natalie is ready. We are moving her up to the next grade. 😃
I didn't write yesterday because we went out last night, a pretty rare occurrence these days. It was the Aurealis Awards, Australian book awards for speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction and horror - spec fiction is basically anything with elements that aren't in the real world). I was one of the judges, as I have been four out of the past five years. It is quite a lot of work, being a judge, reading a lot of books (my record was 63 when I was doing the fantasy novel category) over about a eight month period and critiquing them and arguing with the other judges about which is the best.
The kids had sleep-overs with friends and we went out to dinner and to the Awards which was fun. I don't actually do anything at the ceremony, just watch from the audience, but I get to talk to authors and publishers at the drinks before it starts. Except I'm generally too shy to approach people, and also I don't know what they look like so I don't know who to approach anyway! So we only chatted to a few people. The ceremony is moving to Perth next year, way over of the opposite coast, so it's the last one I'll be going to for a while although I may still judge, I haven't yet decided. It is a big eater-of-time and I come to resent reading what I have to instead of what I want to!
I didn't exercise yesterday because I hurt my foot somehow. I kept hoping it would get better but it didn't - in fact is still hurts today. I wasn't even exercising when I hurt it, I just got up from a chair. It's nothing serious, but I don't want to make it worse by doing much with it. My body insists on reminding me how middle-aged and unfit I am. Today I did an hour of Fantasia, which didn't involve moving my feet much and was fine.
My water consumption was absolutely shocking yesterday - two glasses of water and one of cup of tea all day. I've been pretty slack with this for a while now. So, with my commitment to my CPAP going really well, I'm adding step two. My new focus is my water consumption. I know it really does help me lose weight and keep healthy. I will keep that damn Plant Nanny seedling (my current plant is a cabbage, as they grow up they get put in the "garden" and you chose a new baby) alive and unwilted! I can do this, it just takes focus. I am trying to take one step at a time and not expect myself to be perfect in all areas all at once. I've got the sleep under control, now I am tackling water.
Speaking of the CPAP, that is finally going much better. Two more nights of keeping it on for much longer stretches and sleeping peacefully most of the night. I think it really took that mental shift where I no longer just assume and expect it will be an annoyance. I'm still often feeling quite tired during the day but after all I have years of poor sleep to catch up on so I'm hoping that will gradually improve.
In less-happy news, my weight was way up this morning, nearly a kilogram overnight. Damn restaurant food! And I thought I made a good choice avoiding the pasta, and only had half a glass of cider, and one nibble at the cocktail party and no wine there. But it was probably very salty and with the minimal fluid all day I wasn't able to flush the salt out. Still, even knowing that it is a bit discouraging. I'd lost about half a kilogram during the week, a small amount but a good start, and then put it all back on and more overnight. Oh well, I know I can lose it again.
We signed up for Foxtel today because it is the only way to see Game of Thrones in Australia. Other than piracy, of course, and they are really cracking down on that. We've got the previous seasons on DVD, and I've read all the books of course. We've never had pay TV before, we get plenty of free channels and I watch too much TV anyway. But after my husband set it up up the kids watched the movie "Turbo" and then I watched two episodes of America's Next Top Model and an episode of Junior Master Chef from the UK, and Tim looked at me and said "we're keeping Foxtel after Game of Thrones is over, aren't we" and I said "yup"! Because of time zone differences GoT will be on Monday 11:00am, so I'll have to lock the kids in their rooms for an hour! Not suitable for children! And Tim goes out Monday nights, there is no way I am waiting until Tuesday night after the kids are in bed to watch it with him.
I did really well with food today and didn't eat any of the cupcakes Tim and Jasmine made!
Report card (for Sunday):
Diet: Great.
Exercise: Good. I'm happy I worked around the sore foot.
Water: Amazing! 💦 I'm on glass 12 now.
Sleep: Great.
Mental health: Good.
Teacher's note: We think Natalie is ready. We are moving her up to the next grade. 😃
Monday, February 23, 2015
A bit of shade
Monday:
Today my exercise was walking, and I made it to 10,000 steps. I certainly didn't feel like exercising at all after another bad night (even though it wasn't as hot, the fresh sheets were neatly tucked, and I'd exercised that day which is supposed to help). But "don't want to" is not a valid excuse, so I went out. It was very hot, but luckily there were some nice shaded bike paths.
Still, I was hot and sweaty by the time I got home from my morning walk. In the afternoon we walked up to the school for a parent/teacher meeting and that was a lot hotter! At least it got me to my step goal.
I changed my mind about giving up Plant Nanny, I just lied to it about how much I weigh so it tells me to drink 8 glasses. But that got me thinking, I've read blogs written by people 400, 500, even 700 pounds. How many glasses of water is a 700 pound man supposed to drink? 50 glasses a day?
Aside from my walking in the heat, I worked on my new novel. No actual words added to the official count, but notes written and a lot of thinking about what is going to happen in chapter one to start the story. I may have fallen asleep while thinking with my eyes closed, but I got some work done before that.
Report card:
Diet: Great, within calories and more fruit and vegetables today.
Exercise: Good. Not high intensity but plenty of it.
Water: Good.
Sleep: Poor.
Mental health: Good.
Today my exercise was walking, and I made it to 10,000 steps. I certainly didn't feel like exercising at all after another bad night (even though it wasn't as hot, the fresh sheets were neatly tucked, and I'd exercised that day which is supposed to help). But "don't want to" is not a valid excuse, so I went out. It was very hot, but luckily there were some nice shaded bike paths.
I changed my mind about giving up Plant Nanny, I just lied to it about how much I weigh so it tells me to drink 8 glasses. But that got me thinking, I've read blogs written by people 400, 500, even 700 pounds. How many glasses of water is a 700 pound man supposed to drink? 50 glasses a day?
Aside from my walking in the heat, I worked on my new novel. No actual words added to the official count, but notes written and a lot of thinking about what is going to happen in chapter one to start the story. I may have fallen asleep while thinking with my eyes closed, but I got some work done before that.
Report card:
Diet: Great, within calories and more fruit and vegetables today.
Exercise: Good. Not high intensity but plenty of it.
Water: Good.
Sleep: Poor.
Mental health: Good.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Five stars and choices
Sunday:
I played some World of Warcraft with my husband this morning, and then did an hour of Fantasia. I was fine, back to 100%. And for the first time ever I got 5 stars in a song! Yay me. That was right at the end of the hour. In the afternoon I listened to my meditation app and had a nap.
I have chosen and paid for my meditation apps after giving them a good trial. I think they are both by someone called Surf City. One is for sleeping; the daytime one I use has a weight-loss element. There is all the relaxing bit then a visualisation of standing in front of a mirror and seeing the person you want to be. No idea if it has any effect, but I like listening to it. And if it helps me slide into a nap, I really don't mind!
I slept very badly last night, tossing and turning. Too hot and the sheets got all rucked up and I don't know what else. My Fitbit says I was fully awake 5 times and restless 20 times. Felt pretty tired and headachy but refused to let it stop me exercising. Did well today in spite of it.
After some deliberation, and a period of not really tracking at all, I've made the commitment to change over fully to Fitbit with my food tracking. It means starting over with programming in favourite meals and finding substitutions for foods it doesn't list, but I'll have everything in one place.
I'm also rethinking my Plant Nanny app, cute though it is. It requires me to drink 12 glasses of water a day, which is the current fashion. Eight glasses is more traditional, and some nutritionists even say that includes liquid from foods. I'm usually quite dehydrated so I did need to increase my water intake, but I've decided 12 is too much. I hardly dare leave the house as I have to go to the bathroom every 20 minutes, it makes going for a walk or even doing the shopping problematic, and no jumping during exercise! And I'm up too many times at night, which is the wrong choice for me given my sleep issues. It's bad enough if I stop drinking early, but usually I'm having my last glass or two too close to bedtime and I have to get up over and over. So, back to 8 glasses and goodbye Plant Nanny (the plants wilt and die if you don't drink to water them and I can't change the 12 glass requirement unless I tell it I weigh 2/3 of my actual bodyweight. Which I considered).
Speaking of sleep, I've decided to put away my CPAP for the time being, since I haven't used it for weeks. Our bedroom has several built in wardrobes and no space for a bedside table, so I keep it on a stool beside the bed, blocking access to the wardrobe. Every time we want to open the door we have to move it, careful not to spill the water in the humidifier. It is a real pain. I can't bear to use it in this heat (that's my excuse anyway) so it is going inside the cupboard instead of blocking the door to it. I can always revisit this decision later.
Now I need to think about how to increase my exercise intensity. Maybe another three month gym membership.
Report card:
Diet: Good. Right amount of calories, could have had some more vegetables.
Exercise: Great. An hour today.
Water: Great. Eight glasses.
Sleep: Poor. But I did get a nap this afternoon.
Mental health: Good.
I have 11 days left in the first month of this dietbet. I can do it!
I played some World of Warcraft with my husband this morning, and then did an hour of Fantasia. I was fine, back to 100%. And for the first time ever I got 5 stars in a song! Yay me. That was right at the end of the hour. In the afternoon I listened to my meditation app and had a nap.
I have chosen and paid for my meditation apps after giving them a good trial. I think they are both by someone called Surf City. One is for sleeping; the daytime one I use has a weight-loss element. There is all the relaxing bit then a visualisation of standing in front of a mirror and seeing the person you want to be. No idea if it has any effect, but I like listening to it. And if it helps me slide into a nap, I really don't mind!
I slept very badly last night, tossing and turning. Too hot and the sheets got all rucked up and I don't know what else. My Fitbit says I was fully awake 5 times and restless 20 times. Felt pretty tired and headachy but refused to let it stop me exercising. Did well today in spite of it.
After some deliberation, and a period of not really tracking at all, I've made the commitment to change over fully to Fitbit with my food tracking. It means starting over with programming in favourite meals and finding substitutions for foods it doesn't list, but I'll have everything in one place.
I'm also rethinking my Plant Nanny app, cute though it is. It requires me to drink 12 glasses of water a day, which is the current fashion. Eight glasses is more traditional, and some nutritionists even say that includes liquid from foods. I'm usually quite dehydrated so I did need to increase my water intake, but I've decided 12 is too much. I hardly dare leave the house as I have to go to the bathroom every 20 minutes, it makes going for a walk or even doing the shopping problematic, and no jumping during exercise! And I'm up too many times at night, which is the wrong choice for me given my sleep issues. It's bad enough if I stop drinking early, but usually I'm having my last glass or two too close to bedtime and I have to get up over and over. So, back to 8 glasses and goodbye Plant Nanny (the plants wilt and die if you don't drink to water them and I can't change the 12 glass requirement unless I tell it I weigh 2/3 of my actual bodyweight. Which I considered).
Speaking of sleep, I've decided to put away my CPAP for the time being, since I haven't used it for weeks. Our bedroom has several built in wardrobes and no space for a bedside table, so I keep it on a stool beside the bed, blocking access to the wardrobe. Every time we want to open the door we have to move it, careful not to spill the water in the humidifier. It is a real pain. I can't bear to use it in this heat (that's my excuse anyway) so it is going inside the cupboard instead of blocking the door to it. I can always revisit this decision later.
Now I need to think about how to increase my exercise intensity. Maybe another three month gym membership.
Report card:
Diet: Good. Right amount of calories, could have had some more vegetables.
Exercise: Great. An hour today.
Water: Great. Eight glasses.
Sleep: Poor. But I did get a nap this afternoon.
Mental health: Good.
I have 11 days left in the first month of this dietbet. I can do it!
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
There's an app for that
Thursday:
Usually I like throwing myself into things, but I'm struggling to cope a bit at the moment so I'm not trying to do everything at once. What I am doing, however, is covered by cute new apps.
I have my "Headspace" for my daily meditation.
Yesterday I downloaded "Plant Nanny" - every time you drink water you get to water your virtual plant and it grows. Very cute.
And today I downloaded "Carrot Fit" that has 7-minute workouts. Carrot is a harsh taskmistress and makes it fun by being rudely abusive. Pushups become bowing before Cthulu. For squats she says you can wee on the floor if you want but to remember she isn't waterproof. Stepping up on a chair to get away from an aggressive mouse. The kids did it with me and thought it was very funny. I'm not really that keen on that sort of exercise but it's only 7-minutes (12 exercises for 30 seconds each, 10 second break), and guided by a robot overlord, so I'll give it a try.
Usually I like throwing myself into things, but I'm struggling to cope a bit at the moment so I'm not trying to do everything at once. What I am doing, however, is covered by cute new apps.
I have my "Headspace" for my daily meditation.
Yesterday I downloaded "Plant Nanny" - every time you drink water you get to water your virtual plant and it grows. Very cute.
And today I downloaded "Carrot Fit" that has 7-minute workouts. Carrot is a harsh taskmistress and makes it fun by being rudely abusive. Pushups become bowing before Cthulu. For squats she says you can wee on the floor if you want but to remember she isn't waterproof. Stepping up on a chair to get away from an aggressive mouse. The kids did it with me and thought it was very funny. I'm not really that keen on that sort of exercise but it's only 7-minutes (12 exercises for 30 seconds each, 10 second break), and guided by a robot overlord, so I'll give it a try.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Water
Thursday:
I thought I'd weigh in on this water thing that is going around, the idea that you should drink 1/2 your weight in water in ounces every day. Of course I have to convert kilograms to pounds, then ounces to millilitres for this to make any sense to me. But I like maths, I can do it.
This would mean a slender model-type woman might need to drink about 6 or 7 cups of water a day - and I am very sure most drink a lot more than that - and one blogger that I follow is required to drink 17 cups a day, which seems like far too much. (And that person has other fluids on top of the 17 cups of pure water.)
I'm a bit worried about that amount. My husband's mother once made herself very ill drinking too much water (not sure of the details) by diluting her electrolytes too much or something. So I'd say don't do it if it makes you feel sick or dizzy. Your body needs water, but not so much you are diluting or peeing out a lot of essential nutrients and electrolytes.
The old standard was 8 cups a day and I've even heard a nutritionist say that that includes fluid you are getting from food - you don't need to actually drink 8 cups of water.
Of course humans are extremely adaptable and we can survive on very small amounts of water. That doesn't mean it's the healthiest. I'm not saying to stop drinking. And we are so out of tune with our bodies (many of us) that we don't realise we are thirsty.
At my current weight, if I use this rule I would have to drink about 11 cups a day. I consider it a win if I manage 6.
In summary, I have no idea how much people "should" drink. But I don't think a formula like the 1/2 body weight thing is a sensible way to go about it.
I thought I'd weigh in on this water thing that is going around, the idea that you should drink 1/2 your weight in water in ounces every day. Of course I have to convert kilograms to pounds, then ounces to millilitres for this to make any sense to me. But I like maths, I can do it.
This would mean a slender model-type woman might need to drink about 6 or 7 cups of water a day - and I am very sure most drink a lot more than that - and one blogger that I follow is required to drink 17 cups a day, which seems like far too much. (And that person has other fluids on top of the 17 cups of pure water.)
I'm a bit worried about that amount. My husband's mother once made herself very ill drinking too much water (not sure of the details) by diluting her electrolytes too much or something. So I'd say don't do it if it makes you feel sick or dizzy. Your body needs water, but not so much you are diluting or peeing out a lot of essential nutrients and electrolytes.
The old standard was 8 cups a day and I've even heard a nutritionist say that that includes fluid you are getting from food - you don't need to actually drink 8 cups of water.
Of course humans are extremely adaptable and we can survive on very small amounts of water. That doesn't mean it's the healthiest. I'm not saying to stop drinking. And we are so out of tune with our bodies (many of us) that we don't realise we are thirsty.
At my current weight, if I use this rule I would have to drink about 11 cups a day. I consider it a win if I manage 6.
In summary, I have no idea how much people "should" drink. But I don't think a formula like the 1/2 body weight thing is a sensible way to go about it.
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Trying little changes
Sunday:
Apart from my little slump the other day, I've had a happy and contented couple of weeks. I was so miserable on Whole30 that when I stopped the whole world seemed brighter. Everything was more pleasurable - I don't mean food (although that too), but things like cool brisk air when walking the kids to school or the smell of a lavender bush. I just appreciated everything so much more. No more headaches or endless fatigue was nice, but more importantly the depression was gone. Depression is not something to mess with, in my opinion.
So for a couple of weeks I was in between the two ends of the diet pendulum. At one end is eating everything in sight but feeling guilty about it, at the other end is restrictive dieting and feeling virtuous but in the end no able to sustain it. In between is relaxing, eating and behaving in a way that maintains my current weight. Or so I thought. After already deciding I need to take start working at it again, I weighed myself this morning and I'm up to 82 kgs. Why is loss so slow and gain so fast?
Time to get the pendulum swinging back to weight loss again.
The pendulum metaphor is sad because it is true. The harder I push in one direction, the faster I swing back the other way.
So instead of jumping on the latest diet fad bandwagon (which I do not because I am expecting to find the perfect miracle diet, but because I find a new diet exciting and motivating if only for a little while) I will try to make some small permanent changes and build on them.
I want to load myself up with new rules, but I am resisting that. Two things: drinking more (my fluid intake is always terrible and a constant struggle for me) and exercising regularly. When I've got a handle on those I will add more improvements.
Apart from my little slump the other day, I've had a happy and contented couple of weeks. I was so miserable on Whole30 that when I stopped the whole world seemed brighter. Everything was more pleasurable - I don't mean food (although that too), but things like cool brisk air when walking the kids to school or the smell of a lavender bush. I just appreciated everything so much more. No more headaches or endless fatigue was nice, but more importantly the depression was gone. Depression is not something to mess with, in my opinion.
So for a couple of weeks I was in between the two ends of the diet pendulum. At one end is eating everything in sight but feeling guilty about it, at the other end is restrictive dieting and feeling virtuous but in the end no able to sustain it. In between is relaxing, eating and behaving in a way that maintains my current weight. Or so I thought. After already deciding I need to take start working at it again, I weighed myself this morning and I'm up to 82 kgs. Why is loss so slow and gain so fast?
Time to get the pendulum swinging back to weight loss again.
The pendulum metaphor is sad because it is true. The harder I push in one direction, the faster I swing back the other way.
So instead of jumping on the latest diet fad bandwagon (which I do not because I am expecting to find the perfect miracle diet, but because I find a new diet exciting and motivating if only for a little while) I will try to make some small permanent changes and build on them.
I want to load myself up with new rules, but I am resisting that. Two things: drinking more (my fluid intake is always terrible and a constant struggle for me) and exercising regularly. When I've got a handle on those I will add more improvements.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Sunday weigh-in; 77.9 kg, down 0.6 kg
Sunday:
I've made my new home weigh-in Sunday, partly because it seems like a logical kind of day and partly because last Sunday was my highest weight (78.5) in recent months so it seemed like a good place to work my way down from. I've had a week of plenty of exercise but also far too much unhealthy food; luckily the exercise seems to have won and I'm down more than half a kg to 77.9.
I haven't been to the gym since Thursday, on Friday my body was really tired and I just wanted to rest it, yesterday I was suffering from both the physical and the emotional issues of PMS. Although in my case is it more "during" rather than "pre-" MS. I had a very greasy salty dinner and felt much better.
The Olympics have started and I've been watching avidly. Of course we're on the other side of the world, here, so the events are going all night Australia-time; but we watch live coverage in the evening and then see highlights on the following day. One channel has almost 24 hour Olympics, a 3 hour break in the middle of the day and half an hour of news in the evening -- although of course the news is also quite Olympic-centric. Edit: turns out this was wrong, we have 6.30pm-9.00am live coverage but then only a 2 hour highlight show during the day - they just repeat it morning and afternoon which fooled me.
I noticed yesterday evening that I'd only had two cups of tea and no other liquid all day. I still need to work on that! I just don't feel thirsty or think of drinking, but as soon as I start drinking I realise how thirsty I actually am. Maybe I need to set up a reminder on my phone or something. Sirri, help me!
I've made my new home weigh-in Sunday, partly because it seems like a logical kind of day and partly because last Sunday was my highest weight (78.5) in recent months so it seemed like a good place to work my way down from. I've had a week of plenty of exercise but also far too much unhealthy food; luckily the exercise seems to have won and I'm down more than half a kg to 77.9.
I haven't been to the gym since Thursday, on Friday my body was really tired and I just wanted to rest it, yesterday I was suffering from both the physical and the emotional issues of PMS. Although in my case is it more "during" rather than "pre-" MS. I had a very greasy salty dinner and felt much better.
The Olympics have started and I've been watching avidly. Of course we're on the other side of the world, here, so the events are going all night Australia-time; but we watch live coverage in the evening and then see highlights on the following day. One channel has almost 24 hour Olympics, a 3 hour break in the middle of the day and half an hour of news in the evening -- although of course the news is also quite Olympic-centric. Edit: turns out this was wrong, we have 6.30pm-9.00am live coverage but then only a 2 hour highlight show during the day - they just repeat it morning and afternoon which fooled me.
I noticed yesterday evening that I'd only had two cups of tea and no other liquid all day. I still need to work on that! I just don't feel thirsty or think of drinking, but as soon as I start drinking I realise how thirsty I actually am. Maybe I need to set up a reminder on my phone or something. Sirri, help me!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Half the weekend gone already
Saturday:I made it through BodyStep again today despite the water-Nazi instructor. Man, that is a hard class. I was thinking today about how it is the hardest thing I do on a regular basis -- just shows how easy my life is!
I had a disturbing dream last night where I had chosen assisted suicide (no idea why) and they were going to hang me but when they put the rope around my neck I cried out "I don't want to die" so they took it off again. But the weirdest thing was that what stressed me most was that I hadn't chosen to live so much as chosen not to die, if that makes sense. It had been a very negative and cowardly decision (not wanting to die) rather than a positive life-affirming decision (wanting to live). I wandered in and out of sleep for the rest of the night worrying about it.
As usual the Step class exhausted me so I didn't do much for the rest of the day. Now it's Saturday night and I feel like I have wasted half the weekend.
photo by stopherjones
Friday, October 7, 2011
Put down that bottle of water!
Saturday:
I had my usual resistance to Saturday's BodyStep. It is after lunch, and I generally do better exercising first thing in the morning; and I was tired and my body was a bit sore from Pump yesterday (because I didn't stay for stretches?); and it is the most intense class of the week. I was considering taking an easier option like an hour of treadmill. We were running a bit late for the kids swimming lesson and I was quite ready to (oh so reluctanty) miss the class if they had already started. But luckily/alas I got there in time. Yay/damn.
The first 20 mins were great, I had a brick under my step and leapt around like a pudgy middle-aged gazelle. Then I ran out of energy. I blame the nazi instructor who doesn't let us drink between tracks (we are only allowed 2 drinks, I think, throught the whole class). I sometimes defy her, but when you have someone yelling into a microphone for you to come back, don't drink yet, don't leave your step... it's kind of hard. I was dripping sweat and dry mouthed and exhausted. As usual, I dragged myself through the rest of the class without a modicum of pep or vim. And then ate a chocolate bar.
I wore my heart rate monitor but forgot to turn it off until I was in the car on the way home. So it is a bit inaccurate, but I did spend 22 mins in zone 1, 20 mins in zone 2 and 1 min in zone 3. The rest was zone 0. 214 calories. Peak HR 144.
I am very happy that I have exercised 4 days out of the past 5. My eating is still not under control though. I am just so hungry! And when I am not hungry, I still eat anyway. At least I don't have much junk in the house now, but I am pigging out on cheese and buttered cruskits.
I have quite a few family events in the next couple of months; at fortnightly intervals in Sydney (3.5 hours drive away) I have a friends birthday party, a cousin-in-law's birthday, and my cousin's engagement party. Also, back here, we have my boy Aiden's 5th birthday -- and his best friend's the week before. Then Christmas is looming, and holidays away. I wish I was thinner already to show off to family and friends. But getting there slowly.
I had my usual resistance to Saturday's BodyStep. It is after lunch, and I generally do better exercising first thing in the morning; and I was tired and my body was a bit sore from Pump yesterday (because I didn't stay for stretches?); and it is the most intense class of the week. I was considering taking an easier option like an hour of treadmill. We were running a bit late for the kids swimming lesson and I was quite ready to (oh so reluctanty) miss the class if they had already started. But luckily/alas I got there in time. Yay/damn.
The first 20 mins were great, I had a brick under my step and leapt around like a pudgy middle-aged gazelle. Then I ran out of energy. I blame the nazi instructor who doesn't let us drink between tracks (we are only allowed 2 drinks, I think, throught the whole class). I sometimes defy her, but when you have someone yelling into a microphone for you to come back, don't drink yet, don't leave your step... it's kind of hard. I was dripping sweat and dry mouthed and exhausted. As usual, I dragged myself through the rest of the class without a modicum of pep or vim. And then ate a chocolate bar.
I wore my heart rate monitor but forgot to turn it off until I was in the car on the way home. So it is a bit inaccurate, but I did spend 22 mins in zone 1, 20 mins in zone 2 and 1 min in zone 3. The rest was zone 0. 214 calories. Peak HR 144.
I am very happy that I have exercised 4 days out of the past 5. My eating is still not under control though. I am just so hungry! And when I am not hungry, I still eat anyway. At least I don't have much junk in the house now, but I am pigging out on cheese and buttered cruskits.
I have quite a few family events in the next couple of months; at fortnightly intervals in Sydney (3.5 hours drive away) I have a friends birthday party, a cousin-in-law's birthday, and my cousin's engagement party. Also, back here, we have my boy Aiden's 5th birthday -- and his best friend's the week before. Then Christmas is looming, and holidays away. I wish I was thinner already to show off to family and friends. But getting there slowly.
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