30lbs to lose... Started AGAIN yesterday (Darn Lockdown Snacking)

Hit done too fast 😔
Catherine-A 4h walk and a good catchup session with your friend, I confess, it sounds fantastic. No wonder you were exhausted. It’s good for your body to be tired, though- I know I’m not doing that enough and then my brain comes up with crazy scenarios in my sleep.
I am amused that you were told not to sit outside. Here’s like Barb said, a gentle reminder.
Not friends with my scale at the moment, either. In my case blame is somewhere in the middle, I messed up too, but she’s holding grudges and doesn’t reward a good stretch, either.

Katrina- speaking as a person that ignored her hurting shoulder for months, don’t do it! Take care of your feet the best you know, all the time!
I like your couple extra minutes in the morning strategy to start the day not rushed and well fed. You say the scale is stuck, but this good plan would unstuck it soon, I’m sure of it. Sorry to hear about feeling sick and hope you’re resting and feel better today.
I mentioned keeping my cool because I was so surprised it happened that one time, unlike all the other times when I only thought about it after the fact.

Barb- I need to be more consistent because I have this tendency in January to throw my hands in the air- I checked my last 3 years in FitBit history. I can blame the externals, and although they are really good excuses this time, they are still excuses. So I’m copying you here and in a while I may even come close to match your check marks.

Saturday:
Exercise ❌
Under ❌
Veggies ✅

Katrina, I am sorry to hear the ugly migraine has been giving you a fit again! ESP with vomiting, that is so painful! I hope that is all behind you now!
And the plantar fasciitis is painful as well. I struggled with it a couple of years until I started taking turmeric daily. It’s a natural anti inflammatory. I take it every single day still!

I’m glad you’ve found that waking up a few minutes earlier helps you have a better relaxed morning! I’ve been trying to convince one of my daughters of that for years. The other daughter is an early bird. It’s not good to start the day stressed before you even GET TO WORK!

Catherine, did you recover from your massive hike?

Gabi, I know what you mean about being consistent. Unfortunately, lately I’ve focused so much on being under calories that I haven’t always focused on healthy. I’ve got to do a better job of it. My body deserves it!
I saw your check marks tonight! Great job! What did you do for exercise?

My husband wanted to go look at neighborhoods and land for sale again today and I just couldn’t force myself to do it. He went without me. I stayed home and made chocolate fudge. It turned out great this time( I finally broke down and bought a candy thermometer because my other one is still in storage). I had to slice it and put in baggies in the freezer since my husband doesn’t want to take the rest to work ( this is the first time he said No when I asked him to take treats I made to work, but it has pecans and I’ve of the girls has a nut allergy. I’d even made a small dish of fudge without nuts with that in mind.). Oh well, hopefully I can forget about the fudge tomorrow!

Exercise:✅
Tracked:✅
Under:✅
2+veggies❌

A yucky rainy day all day here. I never left the apt! Good thing I have my spin bike, weights, kettle bells etc!

I made a nice homemade pasta fagioli for dinner. It’s the version without any meat, but has northern beans, ditalini noodles, chicken broth, basil and LOTS of fresh garlic! It is my husband’s absolute all time favorite! A good thing to have on a chilly, rainy day. When my daughter is around, I make it vegan with vegetable broth. And even more garlic!

Exercise:✅
Tracked: ✅
Under:✅
2+veggies✅

Yeah Gabi, that bit you do that "doesn't count" is more than I get in all week sometimes... lol Happy birthday! Your takeout dishes sounded delicious! Also, I need a dog, and still can't have one cause we need a house... sigh. My time will come.

My feet are feeling better after a restful weekend. Still a little sore from saturday with any deep yawns or burps, and another headache reared its head when i took an appointment in very bright sun-shiny room with a window this afternoon, but took some meds and stopped it quick. Our two missing receptionists (one lost her stepdad and the other has been sick) were both back today so I'll say our clinic was able to function at full capacity today! What a relief to have all hands on deck. Still worked a bit late today, but nice to be fully staffed. Still pretty exhausted from the weekend so im going to bed early again.

Katrina, I’ve so glad you were able to head that last migraine off with the meds!
Forget not having a house or land yet, I don’t know you’d find time for a dog with everything else you’ve got going on! But maybe having the dog will help you take some time for “yourself” as you take the dog for a walk every day!

Gabi, the pasta fagioli is really a soup. It just has the tiny ditalini noodles in it. The Italian restaurant we used to go to almost every Friday night when we lived in FL made it so yummy. I’ve tried it at other Italian restaurants and didn’t care for it. ESP don’t like it with ground beef, even back when I used to eat it. I think that’s how Olive Garden makes it. Anyway it’s very easy to make. You just chopped up a lot of fresh garlic. At least a good handful ( I also use some of Trader Joe’s frozen garlic) and sautée it in a little olive oil. Add a good bit of basil to it. I use dried, prob a teaspoon and a half. Meanwhile, boil a cup of ditalini noodles.
In a big pot add a carton of chicken broth and 1 1/2 cans of northern beans. A little salt and pepper. Then add drained noodles and garlic. Bring to a boil for a few minutes and it’s good to go. The soup freezes well but I have to add more broth once I thaw it. The noodles absorb more of the broth when it’s in frig or freezer. I add butter and Parmesan cheese in the bowl before I pour my husband’s. I don’t put butter in mine because I like to have a roll with butter on that.

Yesterday I was feeling a little defeated. I found out my county has only vaccinated 10% of those 75 and up. I had hoped to have the vaccine by May so we could get on with things. That doesn’t look realistic right now.
But then today the weather was GORGEOUS! I jogged outside and took off my light weight jacket!! On Sunday morning when I jogged, it was about 30 degrees. It’s going to be colder than that the next couple of times I jog. But just for today, I could enjoy
the “warm” weather. I went to the lake and read for a few minutes, then came back and opened up the doors to the balcony for the rest of the afternoon. We have a pop up enclosed “clubhouse” for the cats so they can enjoy being on the balcony safely. We are afraid they might jump up to get a bird and fall( we are on third floor). We had screened in the balcony in our other apt( and had a gorgeous screened in porch at our house in NC) but we haven’t gotten around to screening this balcony yet.
All of that was to say the weather gave me a nice reprieve in my feeling defeated last night.

Catherine, how are you doing with everything? I know I have it super easy compared to you! I can sit at the lake by myself without fear. What is the attitude of most people on your side of the pond? Is the new variant causing greater havoc? Do they feel there that the vaccine will protect against it?
I read that the variant from Brazil is in our country now.

I was thinking about @MommaGemz today and wondering what she’s up to! I hope her family is healthy!

Exercise:✅
Tracked:✅
Under: ✅ (barely)
2+veggies ❌ just under

Good job, Gabi getting a walk in after dinner( but now I know it’s your FIFTH walk of the day!)

Stepped on the scale this morning and was up 2 pounds. Not sure if some of it is high sodium meal. But did I scale back today...NO! I ate almost every one of my exercise calories back! Can’t seem to get control of my desire for lots of food lately.
Not only that, I made homemade Chinese for dinner tonight. Cashew chicken with zucchini, mushrooms, onions, water chestnuts, and lo mein. High sodium content again.


Exercise:✅
Tracked:✅
Under:✅ (barely)
2+veggies✅

Hope you had a good birthday, Gabi!

As you might have guessed from the silence, I temporarily went off the rails again. I was worried about something, it affected my sleep, I got into a weird sleep cycle, my appetite got messed up, and, yeah... that's it, really.

Back on track today (so far!), but slightly concerned by how little it took to completely mess me up. I am learning a lot about my relationship with food. I wouldn't even have registered this as a problem last year.

Anyway, in better news, I passed a professional exam that I wasn't feeling very sure about. I mean, I thought I'd passed it, but I passed it well, and I've signed up for some more exams off the back of it. I'm going to have to be quite rigid with my timetabling to get through these exams (I know, more stress - what I need, right?) but it's also going to help me build a routine. I've not been doing well without a routine.

If I do lots of studying at the evening and weekends over the next few months, I'm going to need a good sleep routine and a good food routine. I can do nothing until I have to do something, then I do lots of things really well, so even though this doesn't sound like the best idea, I do think it might give me the focus I need.

I keep seeing that Barb has gone out for a jog - I'm really impressed by how you manage to stick to this, Barb! I guess it comes back to my point about routines and habits. If we spend the time trying to create them, yes, sometimes we have a bit less flexibility than we might like, but overall, they can do us a world of good. You have to keep sticking with something to form that habit.

Barb - you asked about Covid. Things are starting to get quite tense on the Continent, but there's not really that much change here in the UK. People have been angry with our Prime Minister for a while, and that's not really changed. There's talk of Scotland pushing to break away from the UK, and I think they're the closest to independence that they've been in a long time. The Scots have been furious since Brexit (they didn't vote for it) and the handling of Covid (the Prime Minister's party has never done well in Scotland anyway, plus he has genuinely handled this shambolically), so this could be the beginning of the end.

It feels like England is cutting more and more of its ties with every day. I miss being European and I'm going to feel very funny if Scotland and England break up. Won't be anytime soon, but if it happens, it will be in my lifetime. I expect Wales will stick with us, but Northern Ireland might break up with us too if Scotland does first. The world is getting smaller and smaller!

In good news, I do know people starting to get vaccines. My poorly dad, my friend with severe breathing difficulties who works in healthcare, my friend who had cancer last year and two of my 75+ friends. It will be a long time until my group (the non-priority) group gets vaccinated, but it's less of a worry to know that the more vulnerable people in my life are getting their jabs. They should all hopefully get their second dose by March.

Forecast here is currently that I'll get my first jab in July and my second jab in October. It's only an estimate, but it's before the end of the year, so you never know, I might get to see family for Christmas this year. Maybe not, but it's too early to rule out, so there's hope.

Anything is improved with aioli. I love garlic so much - my mum really hates it. Whenever I see her in person (it's been more than a year) I have to make sure I stop eating it a few days beforehand. She has such a sensitive sense of smell and such a strong aversion!

I'm not doing the exercise one because I'll only hit that twice a month, but I can join with the other three check boxes. Need to figure out when is the best time for me to note them down... Maybe when I get back into a routine it will make sense!

I've only ever been to Berlin, not Munich, but I obviously love London a lot and am incredibly biased. Things are likely to still be restricted when you come, but assuming you change via Heathrow (which would be more popular for international layovers), it's not a bad airport to kill time in, as far as airports go. It's a shame you're unlikely to be allowed to travel into central London and/or see anyone.

London is an amazing city, and it pains me how many people keep passing through who aren't getting the full experience. If you do stop via London, I hope you stop by again when the city is back to normal!

Friday:
Exercise ✅ indoor bike 30 min
Under ✅ with wine too
Veggies ✅
Today I tried a new fruit (to me) pomelo. A citrus, kinda like oranges, but even less calories. Harder to peel, so you get a workout too 😁

Catherine, congratulations on doing so well on your exam. It’s great you’ve decided to study for and take a few more! Will that allow you more responsibility at work?

You’re right about once you’ve made a habit, you just do it. With exercise, I don’t have to make the decision to do it- it’s just not an option. The only time I really was unable to exercise was when I was pregnant with my first. I went from major swimming and biking to absolutely nothing seemingly overnight. The pregnancy gave me hypoglycemia and just walking through a parking lot was enough to make me pass out. It was so strange for me. When they did the testing, they said I would be hypoglycemic for life but it reversed itself after the baby was born. That was a relief because I had to give up driving during that time.
When I got plantar fasciitis so bad, I just biked instead. I wear clip ons on both my spin bike and road bike so I had to pull up versus push down on the pedals.

So the exercise is not a problem but the eating is. I struggle almost every single day with wanting to eat more, and it’s not that I’m hungry because I’m not. BTW, I don’t jog every day; I alternate with biking on my spin bike.

Yes, it’s very unsettling what is happening in UK as well. Change is scary and it’s definitely not always for the best.

Catherine, I LOVE your check marks! I love that I’m not the only one doing them now! Gabi, it’s never about patting myself on the back; it’s about holding my butt accountable!!

Gabi, I’m salivating reading about your fish grilled with aioli. Sounds delicious! And look at your check marks, even with wine! Impressive! I’ve never heard of pomelo. Do you buy that at the regular grocery? I’ll share a tip for peeling any citrus. Roll it around on the counter first; that loosens the peel from the fruit.
Gabi, do you have your own indoor bike? Do you listen to music or watch something? Or take a virtual spin class?

Well I did something I’ve been meaning to do. I went and picked up 3 13 gallon bags of trash from by the road. I noticed it the other day and told myself I’d pick it up when I had time. I had time today but it was cold! I made myself do it anyway so I could forget about it. Littering is one of my pet peeves.
Just don’t understand it. Most of it is from the students who are leaving the community college next door I’m sure. They have trash cans prominently displayed around every single parking lot there. Makes no sense why the kids toss it by the road. Oh well.

Exercise:✅
Tracked: ✅
Under: ✅ ( barely with pizza)
2+veggies❌ I had mixed veggies but not 2+ servings.

The exams I've done so far under lockdown really are for my own academic amusement, Barb - I could have done them much earlier in my career when they would have mattered.

The ones I've just signed up for aren't essential in my current role, but some other employers would much prefer someone with those exams. So, I guess if I manage to pass them, I'm giving future me more options for if she gets truly fed up and seriously looks for another job!

Had some mystery soup for lunch, to help with the veggie green tick challenge I appear to now be participating in. I was really hoping for parsnip from the colour, but it turned out to be cauliflower. Stirred in some pecorino and adjusted the seasoning and it wasn't bad. Only 120 calories for the bowl, even with the extra cheese.

I'm coming back down from the massive binge spike. Need to stick at it, and also get below the damn settling point. January is up and down and up and down to overall no net change. Maybe February will be my month.

I understand what causes my binges, but what I haven't cracked yet is stopping them when they happen. I'm not even hungry when they do. I guess I just switch off my brain and the 'so what?' takes over. Fatigue has got to be a large part of that. Maybe I'll try forcing myself to have a nap next time...

Well done on clearing all that litter, Barb - I bet you some people will have noticed and silently appreciated the disappearance, even if they didn't know who to thank.

When I was in elementary school, my teacher bought all the exotic fruits she could find and challenged us to taste them all. I don't think I've had the opportunity to try all of them since, and it's only as an adult, I realise she must have funded that little shopping trip herself as it's not something schools would pay for. Some teachers are just awesome, aren't they? It wasn't a particularly good school, so most of the kids there would never have had the chance to try such expensive foreign fruits otherwise.

I think my favourite one was physalis - it's not so rare now, a lot of restaurants use it for garnish on desserts like cheesecake, but when I was little, no one had really come across it.

Katrina, so glad the plantar fasciitis is resolved! I just wrote a very long post that got deleted so I’ll try to write an abbreviated one.
The drawback of being so committed ( obsessed my husband would say) is I never consider whether I’m going to exercise, I just do it. When I first started getting plantar fasciitis, I kept running. Even when I finally had to stop every quarter mile to stretch because it felt like my foot was being stabbed over and over. I jogged until I could hardly walk across the floor. THEN I went to the ortho, who put me in a boot for several weeks ( didn’t work) prescribed prescription anti inflammatory ( did nothing after second dose), made me a custom orthotic ( cost me $650 out of pocket after insurance and didn’t help at all), gave me a cortisone shot( little relief). Then he wanted to do surgery. I told him I didn’t have any confidence because he told me all the other things would work and none of them did. He said without an MRI he couldn’t be positive but he was fairly certain I’d completely severed the fascia. It took me almost TWO years to completely heal! Part of the problem was I kept trying to run again prematurely. The point I’m trying to make is I don’t listen to my body! I’ve had 3 herniated discs, only the one in my neck really bothered me. So I was used to hurting at the beginning of a run and loosening up as I went along. But feeling increasing pain as you run is not a good thing! Just thought I’d confess that it’s not always a good thing to be commuted to exercise!
I’ve learned my lesson and I don’t push thru pain any more. ( actually I learned that after I pulled my SI joint out and then proceeded to run five miles and then could barely walk. But at least it just took a few therapy sessions to get it popped back in and stayed in) THEN I got the message completely. So yes, I’m a little hard headed!

Catherine, it sounds like the exams are definitely in your best interest if they may help you get an even better job one day if you should choose to do so. At least you’d know you have options. To me knowing you have options makes a current job a little more bearable. What do you do for your job anyway? Gabi, I don’t know what you do either! I only know what Katrina does.

Wow, that’s great you’ve tried all these exotic fruits and from a young age! I’ve never even heard of physalis. Now I feel illiterate in the fruit world!
My favorite fruit is probably pineapple. Only fresh though. It’s really good for the knees. Mine never hurt but my Dad played tennis competitively until he was 80 and passed from lymphoma. So maybe good knees are genetic.

We finally finished Homeland on Hulu. Tonight we watched the first 2 episodes of Bridgerton to see what the fuss is about. It’s pretty good so far.

I mentioned that I was struggling wanting to eat junk even when I wasn’t hungry. I gave myself permission to just eat anything I wanted today to hopefully get it out of my system! Went WAY over on calories.

Exercise: ✅ ( it warmed up to 28 while I was jogging!)
Tracked: ✅
Under:❌❌❌
2+veggies❌

I intend to be Back on track tomorrow!

Gabi, yes I’d be interested to have a group! You’d have to explain all the details. I’m not savvy with that.

Only quickly popping in, will write more later.

Saturday:

Tracked: ✅
Under: ✅ (Mainly because I fell asleep, woke up after midnight and missed dinner!)
2+veggies: ✅

People keep trying to get me to watch Bridgerton - I thought it might be quite good because of Shonda Rhimes, but the trailer didn't blow me away. Maybe I'll have to give it a chance!

The only reason for using this thread rather than a group is in case MommaGemz comes back, but she hasn't logged in since early November. Still, I suppose we could send her a message with the details so she can find her way over to us if she does come back.

I did it, it’s called The last 30 or 20, and I send you all 4 invitations. 🤞🤞🤞🤞