Amazing weekend even if I didn’t track. We saw loads of animals. Huge group of elephants at the water hole today, oh and yesterday had to reverse quickly because one of the Ellie’s walking down the road decided to turn into the Bush right where my car was. Lots of Buck (kudu, eland, red hartebees) and hoarders of zebra. Today we had to wait twice for zebra to move off the road so we could drive on. A free monkeys and some jackal. A super cute jackal first thing this morning who stopped and watched us for a bit. And some jackal feeding off a dead elephant. Lots of warthog as always. Their babies are adorable. Last night at the water hole by the accommodation we saw 4 spotted hyena, a huge group of buffalo come and drink (separately) and a male lion walk past. Plus this morning after the moon set and before the sunrise, the stars were epic. Watched the sunrise driving through the park looking for animals.

So blessed to have all this less than an hour away from home.

APR 25 - Pass day
T ✅ | C ❎ | E ✅ [1:35 h walk]
Pass = 16/3 | No sugar ❎ | Sleep ❎

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@victorious55 @RangerRickL @MadisonMolly2017 @SModa61 @fractaltiger @biketheworld @lazyblondechef @lesdarts180

Please excuse my late reply and thank you for all your recommendations and encouragement!

@SModa61 It is funny that you say that our struggles mirror each other, even our weight seems to do so! Resisting sweets in the office kitchen is my biggest challenge (I simply did not get any when I worked from home).

@biketheworld I would very much appreciate your podcast recommendations about maintenance (I saw that you mentioned Half Size Me no. 477)!

I think I need to accept that figuring out maintenance will require some trial and error and hence time...
Starting next month, I might start counting my successful rather than my pass days.

25/04/2021

Exercise – yes bike 35 minutes, walking 40 minutes, and some light cardio.
Tracking – yes
Calories – yes

"just showing up and keeping in touch" that's me for now.
I've signed up for May hoping to keep in touch again.

"Get present in the moment and ask yourself what is important this very second"?

This is something I’ve been doing a lot recently. I find it hard to plan ahead, I get muddled and can’t concentrate. I’m often on the brink of tears. I can only operate in short time scales. So, on Saturday at 11 o’clock it was important to help the 4 year-old climb the ladders in the play fort, at 2 o’clock it was important to watch the 7 year-old being brave on the high ropes, it was important to watch the almost 6 year-old in the paddle boat. And I pushed back the thought that their daddy/uncle should have been there to watch them. Those thoughts came when I was alone on my way home.

April 25, 2021

Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes? Yes
Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? yes
Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? Yes

Kitchen Closed? Yes
Pass day 1/3 (this is for accountability to myself and my records)

Yes, yes, and yes!

Exercise:✅
Tracked:✅
Under:✅ barely

Exercise- yes - spring cleanup inside and outside this weekend.
Calories- under
Tracking - yes

Yes x 3 for me.

@biketheworld Thanks so much for recommending that episode of Half Size Me--I listened to it on my walk this morning, and it helped me think through a bunch of things I'll need to figure out as I transition into maintenance. I found it really interesting when the interview subject pointed out that maintenance and weight loss involve the same skills; you're just using them for a different purpose.

That helped me realize something important: I've always thought of maintenance as NOT doing things. Not dieting, not going to Weight Watchers meetings, not skipping sweets, etc.. Thinking of it as an active process--just like working at weight loss--offers me a lot of control that I've simply given up in the past. Now I just have to figure out how that control will benefit me over the long haul.