Beautiful Behaviors - May 2017

Thank you all for the feedback. My hubby and I have had this talk about us losing weight often. This is nothing new. LOL The problem is when we are together we just want to please the other one I guess. Im over it. Moving on and so I had chicken and cherry tomatoes for lunch with some greek yogurt. Looking forward to a good healthy dinner...hubby already said he is going to stop by the market and pick up something good to cook...usually means a big grilled salmon steak. Im ok with that.

@aleahurst - my mom went thru having to have oxygen with her all the time. I feel for you. I know it can be pretty irritating at times. Just remember, its for the best.

Hope everyone has a blessed night!

@aleahurst - **taking on my "mom" voice**: little girl, you need to listen to your body, and if your body needs the oxygen, then you shall use it! I am stubborn too, and have learned that it's better to listen to my body. I Hate Hate that I know I could lift WAY heavier on squats and more legs, however my knees say, -girl, ya know ya in your 40's now and ya need ta back off a little smidget!!!! I now have to wear a compression sleeve on my right knee on leg day. Take care of yourself
@str8bowbabe - There you go! See, that day was your high carb day lol You have the right mind set, I'm not worried. Great work - cherry tomatoes, chicken and greek yogurt (I can have all of those on my low carb day, yay)
@KimF0715 - WIN! Wow, you are awesome. You practiced willpower and had a victory! Remember perfect is not ideal, allowing yourself the piece of cake was a good treat. Keep it up

Update: I had dinner with my son and asked him 20 million questions about his girlfriend because he's never had one and I had to find out through social media that he had one lol They just started going out the other day. She sounds nice and I told him to be a gentleman. My son is suppose to take me to the movies on mother's day and the hard part is going to be not getting popcorn (and it's a low carb day) I feel slightly tired today but I will survive. I have fluctuated down about 1 and 1/2 pounds from Sunday, so I'm going to keep going.
Yesterday was my first high carb day and did I learn a bunch!!!! I learned that it's harder than I though it would be, I was about 40 grams under my carb goal. I learned that I need to plan and meal prep better for high carb day. And that it's not as enjoyable as I thought it would be. Trial and error I just think it's funny that I had better success on low carb days - because I love me, my carbs!!!

Thought for the day: You're not going to get the butt you want by sitting on it. **Ha ha, just though this was cute. I've read a lot of everyone kicking themselves in the butt to give an extra oomph this week. BRAVO! While we practice self love and we definitely don't want to have negative self talk, we also need to motivate ourselves. We've heard the excuses before, and some of them are legit but other times we just need to get off our butts! I need this the other day when my bf encouraged me to go to the gym. And I feel like I will need an extra oomph tonight because I feel kinda tired.

FRIYAY, could not be happier to see you!

Hello all!

We are on the second day of three days of rain around here. I'm ready for the sun and some warmer weather!

@str8bowbabe My husband and I started MFP together back in February. It has been so much easier for me to stick to it with him weighing food and counting calories as well. He never realized how many chips he would snack on in front of the TV. Now he weighs his chips. It's great! He's lost about 18 pounds and is 7 pounds from his goal weight!

@aleahurst Take care of yourself! I have asthma, which is no where near the breathing problems that you have, but I feel for you and think of you often.

@KimF0715 Happy Birthday to your daughter! The teen years are a rollercoaster ride! But I've enjoyed watching my two boys become young men.

@happysherri I wish I had your will power with exercise. I'll stick with it for a week or two and then don't do it for a month. I will make my goal this weekend to get back on that treadmill and use my dumbbells. Your thought for the day has inspired me!

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!

Welp. I did great on Thursday ...salmon over pizza and all that....and blew it last night.

Sangria and rice. Lord help me. And before you ask...NOT a small portion of rice. Portuguese BBQ. My goodness. Thankfully grilled shrimp and broccoli completed the meal, but no. Epic fail.

Extra long cardio session tonight to recoup.

LOL...Talk soon!

Whoa! What a weekend! Yes, I chose poorly and went over calories on Mother's Day. Johnny Carino's some food thing that wasn't good for me, but I did enjoy it. Pleasure from food makes it a half good choice. GERD symptoms made it half bad. I really liked the good half!

@CT0526 - thank you. I love your sweet nature!

Well, I get back to the real world today! I'm thinking of ways to derive pleasure from food. I know it is fantastic to have chewy foods. After that, who knows?

I'll report back if I found it.

Love to all.

Lea

@jessiquoi - How did you do? Hope you had a great weekend
@CT0526 - Don't I know that feeling, it rained here for it seemed like 2 weeks straight some roads were closed because they were under water! But this weekend was sunny and loved it.
@katadx - That's awesome. I need to add more stretching into my week. I always stretch before and after my workouts but I know that my body would benefit from yoga or a whole session of stretching. OhmyDelicious - I love pineapple ---haha, now I want pineapple
@KimF0715 - So, really if you look at it from a different perspective - Truly you could have bombed both days, pizza night and sangria + rice night. BUT instead you only had 1 night of splurging?! See, I allowed myself some treats yesterday, however the rest of last week was on track. And you are aware of what you want to change and you can work toward that.
@aleahurst - I am glad that you were able to enjoy mother's day and the food. I agree, food tastes so good This being aware and working toward what we want thing, is hard lol

Update: Friday I completed 100 minutes of James Grage Rewired back and treadmill incline. I had to meet my bf at the gym that night because I wanted to get my cardio in and the gym closes early on Fridays. This was the main reason I did so much cardio, I don't want to sit and wait on him so I just extended my cardio session. (I guess that's kinda good) Also, I need to eat more earlier on in the day on training days because I was feeling a little woozy and low energy.
Saturday I completed 70 minutes of Legs! Again due to a sudden schedule change in my day, I didn't have time to eat lunch before my workout. Again, I felt low energy and it was hard to push myself in my workout. Lesson learned, more fuel for my workouts, better timing with my eating and always carry protein bars with me!!! (normally I do have protein bars in my purse, but ran out) I immediately stopped at Chipotle after and got double chicken, lettuce, veggies with salsa!
Sunday - I allowed myself small popcorn at the movies, but didn't eat it all. And then late last night I didn't feel like cooking so we had Five Guys, cheeseburger and fries. It tasted so good!
I read over my carb cycling (I couldn't find the information last week). I actually should be doing a 2:1 with one flex day, so I will be practicing that this week. Depending on your goal and how much you have to lose effects which carb cycle is best for you. So having the Five Guys and popcorn was my flex

Thought of the day: Don't give up pursuing what's going to make you feel most alive! **I cried and was very sad Sunday morning because I was remembering my mom. I made a healthy breakfast, I did not eat my feelings. Also today I've already had feelings of 'why am I trying to eat healthier, why am I trying to lose this little bit of weight. why can't I just be like everyone else here and buy pancakes, hashbrowns, muffins, cinnamon rolls, etc for breakfast, why do I care so much about this goal'. Then I snapped out of it, because I'm worth it! I don't want to just let myself go - that's giving up on myself. I actually enjoy the challenge and I know I can do it. -Beautiful Behavior

Hope your Monday is stress free

This week i am contemplating taking a few days off from my normal exercise routine, or at least cutting it in half for a week. I'm moving on Thursday and going to be joining my new gym joining classes there and really want to be rip-roarin and ready to go. Here at school, I've been feeling a little lack of inspiration at the gym lately. Maybe I'm just burnt out from being away at school and missing my family. Do any of you think a few days off could help me feel re-energized and help my mental state towards exercising? Have you tried this? I'm a little nervous to take time off or lessen my routine.

Hope everyone has a quick and painless monday!

@jessiquoi - you are super inspiring! I think what you said to @str8bowbabe was straight on! I love that you asked her what she could do differently
@str8bowbabe - I think a conversation with your hubby is in order before this happens again so that it doesn't happen again - I like Jess's "always believe he has positive intent" then once you speak your mind and discuss this should NOT happen again and you can order the chicken and salad - or have one slice of pizza and skinless baked chicken or some combo - and please learn to forgive yourself - think about what you would tell your best friend if he or she did what you did - then tell that to yourself
@aleahurst - use that oxygen! we don't want to lose you dear
@happysherri - I love that you both inspire each other - that is what partners are for!
@KimF0715 - I wouldn't worry about eating the french fries - you stayed under calories - I ate chipolte twice last week and stayed under calories - you made other good choices that day

So I got to spend some quality time with my son that turns 18 on Wednesday! We went to an all you can eat brunch. I did okay. I ate a little of this and that. Stopped eating for a bit and then had a piece of roast beef. Yummmmmmy. I just threw a bunch of calories on my food intake and didn't bother measuring. Had some shrimp and a few baked fries for dinner. Weight wasn't too bad this morning.

I had my MS infusion this morning and I don't feel too bad like I did last month. I should be able to swim tomorrow morning.

So I put on this dress yesterday and I noticed that my shoulders and arms are skinnier. They are still super muscular, but not as fatty as they have been. My tummy is still fat, my swimsuit is rolling up a little in the middle. I wonder if my tummy will ever go away.

Have any of you ladies put on a lot of menopause weight and then lost it in the stomach? I have always had a tummy, but menopause made it bigger.

I am in my in between clothes. I went through my jeans and shorts yesterday and put big ones away and tight ones in my older son's room since he doesn't live here any more.

Here is a picture from yesterday.

@nickiphillips1 Your dog sounds amazing! I can't wait to get a dog. Some days I still wander onto petfinder.com and just browse all the dogs in my area and I drive myself crazy! Also, congrats on your arms!!! I can't speak from experience with menopause, but I still have tummy fat and I'm underweight. I guess I've just started to trust that it's there for a reason!
@happysherri Awesome! Thats a lot of shoulder work! Way to power through And haha I think random meals made of bits and pieces are some of the best and most satisfying. Going out more sounds like an excellent beautiful behaviour to practice! What kinds of things do you want to plan?


Today I felt a little more energized at the gym. My final exam today wasn't until 10:30 so I got a little bored and ended up going to the gym and told myself I'd go for just a 3 mile elliptical session. Well, once I got to 3 miles I felt like going my complete 6! I had the right music going and I decided to take advantage of my good mood and do it all. It hardly felt like work! I just wish I could make all my workouts feel this way. The first 20 minutes is always the hardest. Does anyone else have experience with this difficulty too? The first 20 minutes I'm exercising I'm thinking 'Oh heavens why am I even here why am I paying for this' but by the time I'm 2/3 done I'm like 'WOO THIS IS THE LIFE I LOVE THIS FEELING' and it's so frustrating some days. I always feel great afterwards though so thats what I remind myself of. I also practiced my beautiful behavior and took enough time to properly stretch today. It really helps with the soreness to take time to slow down and care for my body with stretches.

@nickiphillips1 - I would love to be able to swim at least 2 - 3 times a week. I miss it so much. I am part fish or so my momma said. I don't really have a pool close to me but soon the lake at the farm will be warm enough and I can get some swimming in there.

@katadx - I feel that way most of the time when I am on the treadmill but when I am outside I am fine.

Goal for today - heading home to do more rock moving. Hoping to get in a nice long walk too. Maybe I go for the walk first...

The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.
- Confucius

@katadx - That's beautiful behavior, stretching is very important. I love those days where you feel energized and kill the workout! I am planning on possibly hikes, volunteering at pet shelters, mini roadtrips (day trips), swimming (leisurely, not like ya'll ), also my daughter and I are going to start painting (I used to paint all of the time)
@nickiphillips1 - Woot Woot! Under 180!!! Love it! That picture is Fire! Foxy
@str8bowbabe - Rock moving - whew, that sounds exhausting. Keep it up
@CT0526 - Aw, happy mother's day to you. Enjoy the swim meet and do your best on the other.
@aleahurst - Good Golly! 3 hours of hard yard work, I know you melted some calories with that! I bet the yard and flowers look fabulous! Cole Slaw - blech, I just don't like cole slaw, never have no matter how it's made. However I did have some on a spicy sandwich and could barely taste it and liked it then. Hmm. Enjoy!
@gophermatt - Thanks! I really do love it too. Obviously after focusing on weight and nutrition and exercise, it's good to talk about and think of other things that add to our health and mental well being. I love positivity and try to practice it.

Update: I have not worked out in 2 days. My stomach has been cramping and I just couldn't pull through. Monday night I was holding my stomach in between sets. I will survive (with a little Midol haha). I have been doing okay on the carb cycling. Yesterday was my high carb day and I added an extra piece of texas toast and a handful of m & ms that I could have left off and it would have improved my stats. However, I didn't feel well and Gosh, darn it, I wanted that bread and chocolate LOL! I still ended up in maintenance calories and due to the prior 2 days being low calories, it all balances out. Yay!
A plus was that I did stay home from work yesterday and toward the later part of the day I felt up to going to the grocery (I always put this off until we only have mustard left ha). I meal prepped last night and ended up vacuuming - it was so dusty!!!
Beautiful Behavior - I reached out to my sisters (I have 4!!!!) to make plans for this weekend, I never make plans. So, I am putting my plan in action.

Thought for the day: If "plan A" didn't work. The alphabet has 25 more letters, stay cool. **Obviously no one is perfect, we all make mistakes and things don't always work out the way that we plan. We have options, stay down and continue to feel defeated. Or look at it as a journey with bumps in the road and keep going or take the other road and find our way. Life definitely hasn't worked out the way I pictured it, with - divorce, depression, loss of different jobs, loss of some friendships, disappointments, etc... Truth is I did stay with my head down for a little while (partly because of the depression), but after a while of 'woe is me'. I raised my head and thought I can still have a fabulous life, maybe just not with the people I thought were going to stick around (-meh, their loss). Now, I feel like a strong warrior who can take the tough times when and if they come!!!

Happy Thursday.

nickiphillips1 wrote: »

I was under 180 today for the first time in a few years! Yay!! I keep wondering if my scale is broken and I weigh more.

I talked to someone from swimming this morning that told me she still hasn't lost her belly from menopause, yet her belly looked awfully flat to me.

I know we all are hard on our bodies. Does it bother you when people that are really skinny call themselves fat?

She told me that I looked like I lost weight in my face. That, I can tell. And my suit is rolling a little, because it has been stretched out. I may need to find a new suit. It also rolls a little in the butt, which is weird because I didn't think I had gained weight there.

I took a selfie for the dating app.

Great picture! You have a beautiful smile, and I love that shirt.

I've really been enjoying this thread (and April's). It's nice to see so many supportive people posting and sharing.

I just came across this thread, how lovely!

A kind thing I did for myself yesterday was skip the ice cream social I helped throw yesterday at work. Skip in the sense was pass on eating the ice cream.

Today I aim to get a walk in at lunch