March is going to be my "muscle" month. I was asked to participate in a special group challenge on FB, and it involves squats, planks, crunches and push-ups. I TRULY SUCK at push-ups, so I figure this will be a good challenge, and will keep working on my strength and form...even if knocking out the quantity each day means spacing it out throughout my day. I'm also going to be working on my flexibility. I did a short bit last night, but I need to set a routine in place to do regularly on this. I'm working on a goal of reducing my total carbs to 40 or less. I'm needing to get a bit more organized for my weekly meals, especially since my son and husband are not eating LC and I find that currently I'm having to make more than one meal, one for me and one for them....that's a lot and frustrating. Monday night's meal was a good compromise of homemade cream sauce that they were able to pour over noodles and I poured over veggies. Hopefully I can have some other good nights like that, which won't require additional steps for more meals.

This week's goals:
*Get my stretching plan worked out - do it 3 times this week!
*Consume <40 carbs daily for the rest of the week

Hmmm, #'s 2 & 3 are my issues, multitasking while eating, and not always eating at the table. Even though I am doing many things at once I at least do find myself enjoying the look of my food especially if it has a hugely colorful mix on the plate, and flavour and texture comes high in my awareness.
So this month - less eating on the run, even if it is my own healthy food prepared then transported.
NEED TO BREATHE!

March 3, 2015
SW: 147
GW: for March 142
Exercise - No
Sleep - Good, but went to bed later than usual.
Calories - Good
Carbs - A bit too many (52)

How to get to my goals in March:

1. Start small. 2. Stop multitasking at meal times. 3. Only eat at the table.
My Plan: Stop eating lunch at my desk everyday and stop to enjoy it, instead of grabbing it and going through the motions while catching up on emails.

4. Appreciate the appearance.
My Plan: Doubtful my sushi tuna fish lunch qualifies as food porn. I'll save this one for making a nice dinner that is pleasing.

5. Focus on each mouthful. 6. Chew
My Plan: Going back to 1-3. Be mindful that I've set aside some time just for eating and not working.

7.Use cutlery and put it down between mouthfuls.
My Plan: I found using chop sticks helps me take smaller bite sized pieces and more aware of each bite.

8. Talk and share.
My Plan: I want to eat with my son together more often instead of in front of the TV.

9. Go for quality not quantity. 10. Make time to prepare your own meals, preferably from fresh ingredients
My Plan: Been doing this for a while now and loving it! I've been buying the highest quality meats I can find. I make a special trip to the premium grocery stores for awesome veggies.
I think "shop the perimeter of the store" every time I walk into a grocery store now. Crazy that I never realized before that the freshest stuff is on the outer aisles. I haven't eaten a frozen packaged meal or something out of a box in over 10 mos. Even the thought of it grosses me out now.

Thanks @baconslave for a moment of reflection.

Very happy that I ate exactly the portion I served myself of dinner last night, and despite how delicious it was (and how my husband and my mom went back for seconds) I stuck to just what I had, listened to my stomach, and recognized (and obeyed) that I was satiated.

I have definitely started to notice that my first reaction to considering whether it's time to eat or not is to consult my stomach on whether it's in agreement.

So, my biggest way of being mindful this month was trying to get up earlier. Since I've loaded the Sleep Cycle app, it's been going well. I select the range of wake-up time that fits my morning routine and so far I've been up within 10 minutes of my alarm. Yesterday I was up by 5:39 and today I was up by about 5:45 or so. I'd like 5:30 to be my 'time' - but I haven't gotten brave enough to set the sleep cycle for 5:30 (because then it could wake me anytime between 5-5:30...and 5 sounds dreadful LOL). So, maybe next week I'll make my goal to set it back a little further and see how I feel.

Today, particularly during the day, I want to be very mindful of how much I'm eating. It's a dinner at a friend followed by drinks at a comedy show kind of night, and I want to be as good as I can while still enjoying

Mar 3

SW: 247 (12/12, started keto)
SW: 214.2 (Mar 1)
CW: 210.0
GW for March: 206
GW for 12/31: 180

Be Mindful of:

Staying under 30 carbs daily -- Yes
Logging at least 1 day ahead -- Yes
Exercising 4 days per week -- will only get in 3 days this week (since it's already Thursday) ... 2 of 3

MAR 5
SW: 153.4
CW: 130.6
Calories were just under goal today.
Carbs were 50 net.
30 min exercise.
Enough sleep.
As for mindfulness while eating, I did some multi-tasking today; need to work on that.

I'm struggling with figuring out what I want my goals to be now.

I said I was going to stay in weight loss mode for one more week and then shift to recomp, but I've gone over calories and carbs several days this week.

I've just been feeling hungry, and struggling with wanting more variety. I really do NOT want to rebound weight-wise, but I don't know if I have the patience and discipline right now to increase calories and carbs as slooowly as I had planned. Grocery budget was also tight last month so options on hand weren't always as ideal and appealing.

Would bumping up calories by, say, 100 or 200 (and carbs by like 10 gm) off the bat throw me off too much? And then increase more gradually from there until I hit maintenance?

macchiatto wrote: »

Would bumping up calories by, say, 100 or 200 (and carbs by like 10 gm) off the bat throw me off too much? And then increase more gradually from there until I hit maintenance?

That sounds like a perfect plan to me. Why shock your system with too much too fast?