lovely day
Happy Hump Day folks!!
We accomplished soooo much today that I feel like dancing around the house. Our bedroom looks terrific. Ever since LOG moved in, we've had these extra pieces of furniture kicking around the upstairs hallway and our bedroom. They didn't go to goodwill because we weren't entirely sure that we weren't going to use them, we just couldn't figure out what we'd use them for. One of the items was a semi-ugly black cabinet that LOG brought with him, the other was a computer desk that my folks gave us (it's actually nice but we weren't sure where to put it). Anyway, at long last, we found a use for the black cabinet, the computer desk is out of the way and our bedroom is totally clean and tidy and it almost looks like it belongs to two grown-ups and not two teenagers who have inherited tonnes of crap from their parents. We also fixed our two wonky dressers and the room looks just fabulous!!
Now that the bedroom is sorted out, we'll spend tomorrow morning re-arranging computer desk and finishing up our big clean up. I've still got some boxes to sort through in our office but the biggest part of it will be done and our handy man is coming on Saturday morning to help complete the wiring part of it. Getting organized feels so good, I'm always kind of disgusted with myself for putting it off for so long when we finally get around to finishing a project.
Last night, after dinner, actually sort of right before bed, we took a nice stroll around the neighbourhood. The weather has been just gorgeous all week and it was so nice to get out and do a good, steady walk, without being fried by the sun or bitten by bugs. This is a terrific time of the year!! This morning I slept in a little bit but I stuck to my same-old routine. I worked out and had breakfast right after. My workout was terrific and I felt great afterwards. The moving of furniture and heavy cleaning followed and right now, I feel really strong and healthy.
For a treat (and because we've been dying to see it, we saw Fahrenheit/911 this afternoon. I wrote a bit about that experience on my regular blog if you're interested. It was the first time in a long time that I'd been to one of the new movie theatres (when we saw Super Size me a couple of weeks ago, that didn't count because it was in an arthouse place that had old/comfy seats). I'd been a little nervous about going to the mega-plex because the last time I'd been in one (in 1999), my ass did not fit comfortably into the seat (what with those stupid cup holder things and all). I was really happy to discover that my still huge ass fit into the seat pretty well. I could actually put a drink into the cupholder while seated. It's silly, but it was very cool for me!! Seeing how we had worked through lunch, I decided that I was going to have unbuttered popcorn and a diet coke for lunch. Not the healthiest of choices I know but it was really yummy and I counted every calorie. I just calculated what I ate today and I came in under my daily allowance for today. I may just treat myself to some strawberries later on (we got some more locals yesterday and they are divine!).
Overall, I'm really pleased with myself and how well I've been coping with the time off this week. Last Friday, I was a little nervous about facing a whole week without a routine. As we all know, lack of routine can spell chaos for those of us on this journey. I also wanted to say thank you to all of you lovely folks who have been leaving me such encouraging comments and sending sweet emails my way. The support and encouragement that I've been receiving means more to me than you'll ever know!
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
so far so good
After all of the stressful months of transition and being overloaded at the office, it feels weird to have a few days off. Not too weird but a little odd all the same.
Yesterday I worked very hard around the house, physically mind you, my brain was not exactly strained. It felt good to get it all done but today I really vegged. We had stayed up way past our bedtime last night, watching the election coverage. It was kind of difficult to get going this morning but I managed to get up at my normal time. I had a good workout and breakfast but basically spent the early part of the day just puttering around, not doing much of anything really.
Later in the morning, we took LOG for a hair cut and then he wanted to go for lunch. I didn't really want to go out for lunch (I like to plan my meals out well in advance and this was sort of sprung on me) but it was okay anyway. After lunch, we did errands for a few hours and by the time we got home, we were both pooped. I just calculated my calories for the day and I actually went over by about 75. They weren't "bad" calories though so I'm not too worried. All the walking around I did this afternoon while we were out more than made up for the extra calories.
Anyway, I just read the following article and, while it's not surprising, it was kind of nice to see something I've known for years (from first hand experience) in black and white:
File this article under "Well, duuuuh!!"
Dieting Makes Little Girls Fatter, Study Finds
Tue Jun 29, 3:44 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Girls who are starting to get too fat at 5 are often experienced dieters by the age of 9 -- but put on extra fat instead of taking it off, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
They said their study shows that children and their parents are well aware when they weigh too much, but they do not know the best ways to slim down.
Jennifer Shunk and Leann Birch of Pennsylvania State University studied 153 girls living in central Pennsylvania. Those who weighed too much tried to diet, but ended up putting on more weight, they wrote in their report, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
The unhappier the girls were with their weight, the more they tried to diet, but they failed. This supports other research that shows "youths' attempts at weight control may promote weight gain," Shunk and Birch wrote.
At age 5, 32 of the girls were considered at risk of being overweight by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards.
They were checked again at ages 7 and 9. At 7, girls at risk for overweight were eating significantly more than those not at risk, the researchers wrote.
For the study they were asked about foods they ate and answered questions such as, "Do you try to only eat a little bit on purpose so that you won't get fat?"
The girls were left in a room with toys and snacks and told to play or eat while the researchers left the room. The researchers watched to see what the children ate.
The heavier girls tended to munch snacks even if they were not hungry.
The researchers said their study supports other research that shows when people try to diet by simply eating too little, they eventually set themselves up for binges.
Mothers may also help this along by forbidding the girls to eat snacks, they said.
"Even during the preschool period, before any evidence for the emergence of dietary restraint, maternal feeding practices that restrict children's access to palatable foods can promote children's overeating," they wrote.
Middle-class families, especially, try to restrict snacks because they do not want overweight children, they added.
"However, rather than promoting moderation, these feeding practices can promote disregulated overeating in children."
Instead, parents should themselves demonstrate healthy patterns of eating and exercise, the researchers advised.
After all of the stressful months of transition and being overloaded at the office, it feels weird to have a few days off. Not too weird but a little odd all the same.
Yesterday I worked very hard around the house, physically mind you, my brain was not exactly strained. It felt good to get it all done but today I really vegged. We had stayed up way past our bedtime last night, watching the election coverage. It was kind of difficult to get going this morning but I managed to get up at my normal time. I had a good workout and breakfast but basically spent the early part of the day just puttering around, not doing much of anything really.
Later in the morning, we took LOG for a hair cut and then he wanted to go for lunch. I didn't really want to go out for lunch (I like to plan my meals out well in advance and this was sort of sprung on me) but it was okay anyway. After lunch, we did errands for a few hours and by the time we got home, we were both pooped. I just calculated my calories for the day and I actually went over by about 75. They weren't "bad" calories though so I'm not too worried. All the walking around I did this afternoon while we were out more than made up for the extra calories.
Anyway, I just read the following article and, while it's not surprising, it was kind of nice to see something I've known for years (from first hand experience) in black and white:
File this article under "Well, duuuuh!!"
Dieting Makes Little Girls Fatter, Study Finds
Tue Jun 29, 3:44 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Girls who are starting to get too fat at 5 are often experienced dieters by the age of 9 -- but put on extra fat instead of taking it off, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
They said their study shows that children and their parents are well aware when they weigh too much, but they do not know the best ways to slim down.
Jennifer Shunk and Leann Birch of Pennsylvania State University studied 153 girls living in central Pennsylvania. Those who weighed too much tried to diet, but ended up putting on more weight, they wrote in their report, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
The unhappier the girls were with their weight, the more they tried to diet, but they failed. This supports other research that shows "youths' attempts at weight control may promote weight gain," Shunk and Birch wrote.
At age 5, 32 of the girls were considered at risk of being overweight by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards.
They were checked again at ages 7 and 9. At 7, girls at risk for overweight were eating significantly more than those not at risk, the researchers wrote.
For the study they were asked about foods they ate and answered questions such as, "Do you try to only eat a little bit on purpose so that you won't get fat?"
The girls were left in a room with toys and snacks and told to play or eat while the researchers left the room. The researchers watched to see what the children ate.
The heavier girls tended to munch snacks even if they were not hungry.
The researchers said their study supports other research that shows when people try to diet by simply eating too little, they eventually set themselves up for binges.
Mothers may also help this along by forbidding the girls to eat snacks, they said.
"Even during the preschool period, before any evidence for the emergence of dietary restraint, maternal feeding practices that restrict children's access to palatable foods can promote children's overeating," they wrote.
Middle-class families, especially, try to restrict snacks because they do not want overweight children, they added.
"However, rather than promoting moderation, these feeding practices can promote disregulated overeating in children."
Instead, parents should themselves demonstrate healthy patterns of eating and exercise, the researchers advised.
Monday, June 28, 2004
happy monday
You know, I could have slept in this morning, if I'd really wanted to. I didn't want to though so I didn't. Over the weekend, we slept in pretty late on both Saturday and Sunday (until almost 8 a.m. both days) and it seemed to throw me off a bit.
Over the weekend, I will admit that we didn't really pay much attention to what it was that we were eating. We decided that we were going to take a couple of days "off" from what we'd been doing. We didn't pigout on crap but we weren't that careful either. In the end, it didn't add up to us actually eating much more as far as calories go than we normally would have. What did happen is that we had 2 much larger meals over the weekend than we normally would eat. I enjoyed the meals but I know that they were too big. Afterwards, I didn't feel fantastic, I felt a little weighed down actually. I have really gotten into eating smaller, more frequent meals over the past 5 weeks.
Today, I got back into my normal routine and feel the better for it. I don't want to get off track while I am home this week. Once I get off my routine, it's over for me. Instead of laying in bed all morning, I got up at my regular time, worked out and had breakfast. I did a bunch of housework today that needed doing. It felt good to get some things sorted out (yes, I'm still throwing stuff out if you can believe it!!) and to stay out of the kitchen.
At the moment, our bedroom is clutter free and actually organized. It's about half-way to being totally clean too. The computer room is becoming a little less cluttered with each week that goes by. It's not perfect but I'm not sure it ever will be. By the end of this week, I'll be happy if we can say that we've removed another 10 boxes of "stuff." We sure don't need all the stuff we have and unless I have a very strong, emotional attachment to something, I'm not keeping it. I see no reason to hang onto things anymore just for the sake of keeping them. Clean Sweep fever is rubbing off on me I guess.
Tomorrow I'm seeing my mum. We're going to do some errands together so that will be nice. Right now, I'm going to check in on the election results and see how that's going. It's been way too close to call up until today, should make for interesting television tonight!!
You know, I could have slept in this morning, if I'd really wanted to. I didn't want to though so I didn't. Over the weekend, we slept in pretty late on both Saturday and Sunday (until almost 8 a.m. both days) and it seemed to throw me off a bit.
Over the weekend, I will admit that we didn't really pay much attention to what it was that we were eating. We decided that we were going to take a couple of days "off" from what we'd been doing. We didn't pigout on crap but we weren't that careful either. In the end, it didn't add up to us actually eating much more as far as calories go than we normally would have. What did happen is that we had 2 much larger meals over the weekend than we normally would eat. I enjoyed the meals but I know that they were too big. Afterwards, I didn't feel fantastic, I felt a little weighed down actually. I have really gotten into eating smaller, more frequent meals over the past 5 weeks.
Today, I got back into my normal routine and feel the better for it. I don't want to get off track while I am home this week. Once I get off my routine, it's over for me. Instead of laying in bed all morning, I got up at my regular time, worked out and had breakfast. I did a bunch of housework today that needed doing. It felt good to get some things sorted out (yes, I'm still throwing stuff out if you can believe it!!) and to stay out of the kitchen.
At the moment, our bedroom is clutter free and actually organized. It's about half-way to being totally clean too. The computer room is becoming a little less cluttered with each week that goes by. It's not perfect but I'm not sure it ever will be. By the end of this week, I'll be happy if we can say that we've removed another 10 boxes of "stuff." We sure don't need all the stuff we have and unless I have a very strong, emotional attachment to something, I'm not keeping it. I see no reason to hang onto things anymore just for the sake of keeping them. Clean Sweep fever is rubbing off on me I guess.
Tomorrow I'm seeing my mum. We're going to do some errands together so that will be nice. Right now, I'm going to check in on the election results and see how that's going. It's been way too close to call up until today, should make for interesting television tonight!!
Sunday, June 27, 2004
quickie
As you can tell by the time, it is well and truly past my bedtime.
We had a great day, took a quick trip to Ottawa, did lots of walking. It was an enjoyable day that I'll write more about tomorrow...for now, I feel good (although I'm a little tired) and am looking forward to my week off.
hope you all had a great weekend too. 'night!!
As you can tell by the time, it is well and truly past my bedtime.
We had a great day, took a quick trip to Ottawa, did lots of walking. It was an enjoyable day that I'll write more about tomorrow...for now, I feel good (although I'm a little tired) and am looking forward to my week off.
hope you all had a great weekend too. 'night!!
Saturday, June 26, 2004
happy happy happy
I feel terrific this morning. I had a great night's sleep, I'm on holidays now for a whole week and I had a fabulous weigh-in this morning. I'm down 2 pounds again this week. That's 15 pounds in the past 5 weeks. I'm not just 2 pounds away from virgin fat and that feels amazing!
I'm still not sure what we're doing this weekend. We ended up not going to the drive-in last night. Today we're trying to decide if we're going to do yardwork or take a quick trip to Ottawa or just veg around the backyard or do errands in town...choices, choices, choices!!
A proper workout is not planned for today but I do plan to get some walking in, whether it's here or in Ottawa. It's just way too nice to stay inside for long!!
I feel terrific this morning. I had a great night's sleep, I'm on holidays now for a whole week and I had a fabulous weigh-in this morning. I'm down 2 pounds again this week. That's 15 pounds in the past 5 weeks. I'm not just 2 pounds away from virgin fat and that feels amazing!
I'm still not sure what we're doing this weekend. We ended up not going to the drive-in last night. Today we're trying to decide if we're going to do yardwork or take a quick trip to Ottawa or just veg around the backyard or do errands in town...choices, choices, choices!!
A proper workout is not planned for today but I do plan to get some walking in, whether it's here or in Ottawa. It's just way too nice to stay inside for long!!
Friday, June 25, 2004
finally friday
This week seemed to fly by and drag on, both at the same time. I guess the draggy part came from not feeling so great for a few days. Today I felt much better though and managed to get a proper workout in this morning.
At lunchtime, my friend and I walked across campus to take a tour of a new building. It was actually kind of cold out today so the walk was quite refreshing. It felt great to get out of the office in the middle of the day and stretch my legs!!
Eating has been really good today and this week is ending up having been perfectly on plan again. I'm still very happy about that! I'm not getting cocky but I'm not too worried about this weekend. I've managed to keep things on track for the past few weekends, mostly by keeping busy. I'm sure I'll have no problem keeping busy again this weekend. I also have all of next week booked off and I'm looking forward to it. We don't have anything planned really but the break will do me good.
Right now, we're debating about whether or not we want to go the drive-in. It's not something we normally do but Shrek 2 and The Terminal are playing in a double feature so we may take advantage before mosquito season starts. If we don't do it tonight, maybe we'll try tomorrow. We'll see. Right now, we don't have to make a plan, we're on holidays!!
This week seemed to fly by and drag on, both at the same time. I guess the draggy part came from not feeling so great for a few days. Today I felt much better though and managed to get a proper workout in this morning.
At lunchtime, my friend and I walked across campus to take a tour of a new building. It was actually kind of cold out today so the walk was quite refreshing. It felt great to get out of the office in the middle of the day and stretch my legs!!
Eating has been really good today and this week is ending up having been perfectly on plan again. I'm still very happy about that! I'm not getting cocky but I'm not too worried about this weekend. I've managed to keep things on track for the past few weekends, mostly by keeping busy. I'm sure I'll have no problem keeping busy again this weekend. I also have all of next week booked off and I'm looking forward to it. We don't have anything planned really but the break will do me good.
Right now, we're debating about whether or not we want to go the drive-in. It's not something we normally do but Shrek 2 and The Terminal are playing in a double feature so we may take advantage before mosquito season starts. If we don't do it tonight, maybe we'll try tomorrow. We'll see. Right now, we don't have to make a plan, we're on holidays!!
Thursday, June 24, 2004
blah blah blah
That wet noodle feeling is still hanging on. I can't even count how many ibuprofen I have had to take over the past four days. My period arriving late has made it much more difficult than it normally is. I'm not complaining though, at least I'm not curled up at home with a heating pad. With the help of the drugs, I am able to function at least. It makes me very thankful that my period is not like this every month, when I was younger it was horrible. I guess I'm just not used to feeling so weak and fragile, it's really kicking my butt.
I had a great visit with my doctor yesterday afternoon. As I expected, she was quite pleased with the progress I have made over the past four weeks. We chatted about what I'm doing and what works for me as well as radical treatments that some folks try to lose weight and how dangerous things were. She and I discussed at length, the elusive magic pill/shot/whatever, weight loss methods that so many of us spend so much time and money trying to find. There is no magic solution though and we all know this. She and I agree that the only thing that will work in the long-term (and that is a healthy method) is to do the eat less, move more thing. It's not rocket science, is it? It's also not easy or sexy or fun (although I am enjoying myself recently so maybe it is a little bit fun).
This morning I didn't work out at all because I was feeling so weak and yucky. My eating has been absolutely perfectly on plan all week though. Every good eating I day have just makes me feel so happy. I know it's dorky when you consider all of the years in my life where I just ate without thinking about it at all. The happy feeling is keeping my motivated right now so I'm not going to make fun of myself too badly for feeling so good!!
Right now, as I type this, there is a big strawberry social happening on the lawn outside the door to my office. I don't usually go because I like to have more for lunch than strawberry shortcake (and I have my own strawberries anyway). The "entertainment" is absolutely horrible. I have had to close up all the doors and windows. Some woman, who I am certain is a lovely person with many skills and abilities, is singing out there and it's beyond terrible. Truly. ~shiver~
That wet noodle feeling is still hanging on. I can't even count how many ibuprofen I have had to take over the past four days. My period arriving late has made it much more difficult than it normally is. I'm not complaining though, at least I'm not curled up at home with a heating pad. With the help of the drugs, I am able to function at least. It makes me very thankful that my period is not like this every month, when I was younger it was horrible. I guess I'm just not used to feeling so weak and fragile, it's really kicking my butt.
I had a great visit with my doctor yesterday afternoon. As I expected, she was quite pleased with the progress I have made over the past four weeks. We chatted about what I'm doing and what works for me as well as radical treatments that some folks try to lose weight and how dangerous things were. She and I discussed at length, the elusive magic pill/shot/whatever, weight loss methods that so many of us spend so much time and money trying to find. There is no magic solution though and we all know this. She and I agree that the only thing that will work in the long-term (and that is a healthy method) is to do the eat less, move more thing. It's not rocket science, is it? It's also not easy or sexy or fun (although I am enjoying myself recently so maybe it is a little bit fun).
This morning I didn't work out at all because I was feeling so weak and yucky. My eating has been absolutely perfectly on plan all week though. Every good eating I day have just makes me feel so happy. I know it's dorky when you consider all of the years in my life where I just ate without thinking about it at all. The happy feeling is keeping my motivated right now so I'm not going to make fun of myself too badly for feeling so good!!
Right now, as I type this, there is a big strawberry social happening on the lawn outside the door to my office. I don't usually go because I like to have more for lunch than strawberry shortcake (and I have my own strawberries anyway). The "entertainment" is absolutely horrible. I have had to close up all the doors and windows. Some woman, who I am certain is a lovely person with many skills and abilities, is singing out there and it's beyond terrible. Truly. ~shiver~
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