What's On Your Mind Today?
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Question for the early risers, I hve been waking up at 4.20am for last 64 days and love it! I do a workout, stretching, mediation and beach dip all before bub wakes up. Also I am due back at work soon so i wanted to start this routine so wen I do go back I hve a routine already in place. I am happier than ever until 3pm wen I crash and loose all my energy. I am sure the calorie deficit isnt helping with this. This week I plan to go to bed earlier so the aim is to be asleep by 9pm. Is there anything else you guys can think of that I can do to get more energy whilst still waking up early? Xox2
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@donna25trinity , I have no suggestions, I am simply amazed that you can function at all after getting up so early! Even when I had babies, I never got up before 6. After the children left home and I only had to get myself up and ready for work I set my alarm for about 6.30.
Surely you need more than 7 hours sleep when you have such a busy day?3 -
@donna25trinity
Donna - I agree with @lesdarts180 with concern that this approach will ensure you are getting enough sleep? Perhaps that amount of time is enough for you and you can always sleep uninterrupted?
Lots of articles with tips to beat the afternoon slump (fresh air, 5-10 minute brisk walk, chewing gum, listen to music, schedule collaborative meetings during that time, limit sugars and carbohydrate heavy items at lunch (unless they are complex carbs, which are better), etc). Interested to find out what you learn. Hugs 🤗0 -
@donna25trinity I spent a few years as an early riser for run training. I would get up no later than 5:45am most days, but as early as 4:30 on long run and mid-week long run days. I went to bed crazy early to get at least 7.5 hours of sleep (I do well waking after a sleep divisible by 90 minutes) so generally by 9pm, some days at 8:30. I was fortunate to be in a situation at that time where the two older kids at home didn't really need any more supervision than an adult in the house, while the two younger ones simply went to bed at that time easily.
Mid-afternoon crashes for me have always been a sign of insulin resistance issues. Unless I hadn't slept well enough for a while.
I see no reason you can't be an early to bed, early to rise person if it fits in with everything else. You might ask a doctor about that mid-afternoon crash. The fact that it's so severe like that really sounds all too familiar to me, but may not be the case for you, of course. Better safe than sorry!2 -
lesdarts180 wrote: »@donna25trinity , I have no suggestions, I am simply amazed that you can function at all after getting up so early! Even when I had babies, I never got up before 6. After the children left home and I only had to get myself up and ready for work I set my alarm for about 6.30.
Surely you need more than 7 hours sleep when you have such a busy day?
I'm not going to lie it's been tough @lesdarts180, the early rising is easy for me it's the lack of sleep that is taking its toll. I am def a morning person so if I dnt do my workout, mediation etc in the morning before work it doesn't get done. Ur so right tho i need more sleep than I am getting! Thanks for ur honesty, I will move my bed time to 8.30pm this week and see if that does the trick. Bub is asleep my 7pm so it's doable. If this still doesnt work i will reluctantly shorten my workout, swim, mediation etc to wake up later. Thanks again im so glad i reached out. Xo2 -
jamcnewman wrote: »@donna25trinity
Donna - I agree with @lesdarts180 with concern that this approach will ensure you are getting enough sleep? Perhaps that amount of time is enough for you and you can always sleep uninterrupted?
Lots of articles with tips to beat the afternoon slump (fresh air, 5-10 minute brisk walk, chewing gum, listen to music, schedule collaborative meetings during that time, limit sugars and carbohydrate heavy items at lunch (unless they are complex carbs, which are better), etc). Interested to find out what you learn. Hugs 🤗
@jamcnewman u are right 1st things 1st I need to start with getting more sleep cos atm I prob fall asleep between 10 and 10.30pm so u guys are so right i am def not getting enough sleep and if I want to keep wakimg up early I am goimg to need to go to bed much earlier!!! Thanks so much for highlighting this. I know it seems like common sense lol but yeah I thought I cld pull it off and clearly I'm struggling!! Ahh afternoon slump that's wat its called!, i cldnt think of wat its called so I can Google it.lol! Thanks for the suggestions u gave, they are really helpful I shall try them today as it's 3pm and bub has just woke from his arvo nap so im going to need a pick me up!! Thanks again. Xox2 -
WhatMeRunning wrote: »@donna25trinity I spent a few years as an early riser for run training. I would get up no later than 5:45am most days, but as early as 4:30 on long run and mid-week long run days. I went to bed crazy early to get at least 7.5 hours of sleep (I do well waking after a sleep divisible by 90 minutes) so generally by 9pm, some days at 8:30. I was fortunate to be in a situation at that time where the two older kids at home didn't really need any more supervision than an adult in the house, while the two younger ones simply went to bed at that time easily.
Mid-afternoon crashes for me have always been a sign of insulin resistance issues. Unless I hadn't slept well enough for a while.
I see no reason you can't be an early to bed, early to rise person if it fits in with everything else. You might ask a doctor about that mid-afternoon crash. The fact that it's so severe like that really sounds all too familiar to me, but may not be the case for you, of course. Better safe than sorry!
@whatmerunning so glad u hve done this before as means it's achievable for me. Like you part of my workout is going for a run, so 30 min run 1 day then the next day a 45 min run. I just love it soooo much, I get to see the sun rise and I dnt hve to worry about it being too hot and I just love starting my day on that runners high!!! As all u guys hve mentioned tho sleep is where I am def lacking and u guys hve made me realise that! So i am goimg to aim to be asleep by 8.30pm his week that way I can keep up my Morning routine without it effecting my energy levels. If i still feel crap after i get more sleep i will def take ur advice and see a Dr. Thanks once again. Xo1 -
@donna25trinity I get up at 4:30am 3 days a week to go into the office. I have almost an hour drive, and have to be there by 6am. The other 2 days/week I work from home. On those days, I start heading to bed about 8:30 and try to have lights off by 9 or 9:15pm.
Back in 2008 I had a 2nd job where I delivered the morning newspaper in Columbus, Ohio. We had to be at the warehouse to pick up our papers about 2:30am, load the car, drive to our route, then deliver. I walked my route (for the exercise), and had my scheduled timed so that I got back home in time to jump in the shower and get dressed for my day job (at the bank). Back in those days I was in bed by 7pm.
I'm just saying that no matter what time you are getting up, you need to make sure that you're going to bed early enough to get enough sleep.4 -
Mrs_Hoffer wrote: »@donna25trinity I get up at 4:30am 3 days a week to go into the office. I have almost an hour drive, and have to be there by 6am. The other 2 days/week I work from home. On those days, I start heading to bed about 8:30 and try to have lights off by 9 or 9:15pm.
Back in 2008 I had a 2nd job where I delivered the morning newspaper in Columbus, Ohio. We had to be at the warehouse to pick up our papers about 2:30am, load the car, drive to our route, then deliver. I walked my route (for the exercise), and had my scheduled timed so that I got back home in time to jump in the shower and get dressed for my day job (at the bank). Back in those days I was in bed by 7pm.
I'm just saying that no matter what time you are getting up, you need to make sure that you're going to bed early enough to get enough sleep.
@Mrs_hoffer yep that makes perfect sense! I've been making it my business to get to bed earlier since getting advice from u guys so I've been in bed by 8.30pm but I'm finding its taking me a really long time to fall asleep, like longer than usual. it's been pretty frustrating it's like the more im trying the harder it is, where usually I don't hve a problem falling asleep. Im hoping that with time my bod and mind will get used to the earlier bed time.. @mrs_hoffer pls feel free to tell me if u hve any secrets on how to train urself to get to sleep earlier. Cheers. Xo0 -
@donna25trinity I don't recommend this for longer than just a few to several days, but a low dose melatonin (5mg) 30 minutes before bed may help you adjust to a new (earlier) bed time. Just don't keep taking it if it seems really helpful because your body produces it naturally when it is accustomed to normal bed time. If you take it regularly your body can drop production of it making you have trouble going to sleep without it. But for a short period, introducing it before your body normally releases it can help you get to sleep earlier than it is accustomed to, and over a few days start regularly producing it at that new bed time.1
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Referring to the yesterday’s discussion about “self-discipline”, “willpower” or “habits”. I found another piece for reading from Mark Manson. Maybe you guys in the USA know him. He seems to be a successful author. The only thing that irritates me is that he uses “F”-word too often.
Here is a short extract just to arouse curiosity. By the way there are some other articles on his web-site that I find interesting for me.
“Many equate self-discipline with living a good, moral life, which ends up creating a lot of shame when we fail. There's a better way to build lasting, solid self-discipline in your life.”
“Chances are, at some point in your life, you’ve tried to change your behavior through sheer willpower. And chances are, you also failed miserably. Don’t feel bad! This is what happens most of the time.
Most people think of self-discipline in terms of willpower. If we see someone who wakes up at 5 AM every day, eats an avocado-chia-fennel-apricot-papaya smoothie each meal, snorts brussel sprout flakes, and works out for three hours before even wiping their *kitten* in the morning, we assume they’re achieving this through straight-up self-abuse—that there is some insatiable inner demon driving them like a slave to do everything right, no matter what.
But this isn’t true. Because, if you actually know anybody like this, you’ll notice something really frightening about them: they actually enjoy it.”
https://markmanson.net/self-discipline7 -
WhatMeRunning wrote: »@donna25trinity I don't recommend this for longer than just a few to several days, but a low dose melatonin (5mg) 30 minutes before bed may help you adjust to a new (earlier) bed time. Just don't keep taking it if it seems really helpful because your body produces it naturally when it is accustomed to normal bed time. If you take it regularly your body can drop production of it making you have trouble going to sleep without it. But for a short period, introducing it before your body normally releases it can help you get to sleep earlier than it is accustomed to, and over a few days start regularly producing it at that new bed time.
hahaha. I tried using that a few times - low dose. But it really knocks me out - for an otc type supplement I was shocked that it actually blanked out my short term memory. I could not remember if I had brushed my teeth or not one night when I got in bed.3 -
Regarding melatonin, you should start with the lowest dose, which is 1 mg. If that doesn't help, then try 3 mg. I agree with @WhatMeRunning that you don't want to take it for more than a few days at a time otherwise it's really going to mess with your sleep. I have a bottle of the 1 mg melatonin on hand and that seems to be fine for me. I'll take one if I've had a couple of nights where I can't get back to sleep in the middle of the night.1
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I recently figured out how to move yesterday’s meal to the next day from my phone app. I go to the previous day and select the three dots on the meal category and then I select move to today. Such a time saver. I am going to try copy from date by starting from today. I saw a comment from @LazyBlondeChef on yesterday’s check in. I hope this helps. Have a great day!2 -
@jmu1965 @LazyBlondeChef I love these functions too and they are one of the reasons why I truly don't feel that logging is a burden anymore. I have a lot of recurring recipes/foods/leftovers and these help so much. Examples for any one not using these functions: instead of recipes, I create "meals" to log the ingredients so that I can easily alter the exact grams used that time I make it; for common foods I eat everyday for breakfast, I turn on the smart copy function (click/touch the three dots) for breakfast and then just swipe to add those items each morning; for leftovers, I use the copy to/copy from function to easily add all the components of the meal I cooked. Hope that might help someone out there looking for a faster/easier way to log!2
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@WhatMeRunning okay got it thanks, I've never heard of it so great to know just in caseI need it for a bit. @SummerSkier wow that is soo full on and just hve been scary as hell! @slimtastesbetter awesome good to know much to take if I need.
Thanks guys. Xo
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Hubby’s birthday today 🥳 and I pre-ordered a special dinner from our favourite restaurant & chef to enjoy at home tonight, before we head to see Death on the Nile. We have socially distanced seats booked, and we are attending prior to Monday, when the vaccination passport requirement will have ended in our province 😳.
I had planned that today would be a pass day. Spur of the moment, but I decided that to cope with what I found to be a really stressful meeting this morning, I’d take it on the treadmill. My role in the meeting required that I keep my video and microphone off (outgoing board member at the membership AGM). I walked, walked, walked and got 30 minutes completed and half my daily step target. Then I got my core exercises done. What a good use of my energy and time! I feel great, and I would never have been so motivated to take constructive and healthy action for self-care prior to starting this journey. I am proud of myself 🥰
Will report in on the daily thread as to the results — whether I end up with ✅✅✅ or my first pass day of February.
Have a great day everyone 🎉🎉🎉8 -
jamcnewman wrote: »Hubby’s birthday today 🥳 and I pre-ordered a special dinner from our favourite restaurant & chef to enjoy at home tonight, before we head to see Death on the Nile. We have socially distanced seats booked, and we are attending prior to Monday, when the vaccination passport requirement will have ended in our province 😳.
I had planned that today would be a pass day. Spur of the moment, but I decided that to cope with what I found to be a really stressful meeting this morning, I’d take it on the treadmill. My role in the meeting required that I keep my video and microphone off (outgoing board member at the membership AGM). I walked, walked, walked and got 30 minutes completed and half my daily step target. Then I got my core exercises done. What a good use of my energy and time! I feel great, and I would never have been so motivated to take constructive and healthy action for self-care prior to starting this journey. I am proud of myself 🥰
Will report in on the daily thread as to the results — whether I end up with ✅✅✅ or my first pass day of February.
Have a great day everyone 🎉🎉🎉
I wish you the most beautiful day. Enjoy every minute of being together 🎂🎉🍾4 -
@jamcnewman Oddly enough I thought of you first when I heard about the upcoming changes. Guessing that's not getting you into a pool anytime soon... sorry for that.
Hope the movie and dinner was great and thanks for sharing your meeting idea... what a great use of time.2 -
ashleycarole86 wrote: »@jamcnewman Oddly enough I thought of you first when I heard about the upcoming changes. Guessing that's not getting you into a pool anytime soon... sorry for that.
Hope the movie and dinner was great and thanks for sharing your meeting idea... what a great use of time.
Thanks for your note Ashley 😊 I am thankful every day for my trusty treadmill! 🚶🏼♀️🚶🏼♀️🚶🏼♀️🚶🏼♀️🚶🏼♀️🚶🏼♀️🚶🏼♀️🚶🏼♀️
Dinner was wonderful (and not over the top so I probably didn’t really go over on the calories but it is good to use the pass day just in case). The movie (Death on the Nile) was about 40 minutes longer than necessary. 😴😴😴. Have a lovely week 💛
@ashleycarole863 -
Winner_in_Life wrote: »jamcnewman wrote: »Hubby’s birthday today 🥳 and I pre-ordered a special dinner from our favourite restaurant & chef to enjoy at home tonight, before we head to see Death on the Nile. We have socially distanced seats booked, and we are attending prior to Monday, when the vaccination passport requirement will have ended in our province 😳.I had planned that today would be a pass day. Spur of the moment, but I decided that to cope with what I found to be a really stressful meeting this morning, I’d take it on the treadmill. My role in the meeting required that I keep my video and microphone off (outgoing board member at the membership AGM). I walked, walked, walked and got 30 minutes completed and half my daily step target. Then I got my core exercises done. What a good use of my energy and time! I feel great, and I would never have been so motivated to take constructive and healthy action for self-care prior to starting this journey. I am proud of myself 🥰
Will report in on the daily thread as to the results — whether I end up with ✅✅✅ or my first pass day of February.
Have a great day everyone 🎉🎉🎉
I wish you the most beautiful day. Enjoy every minute of being together 🎂🎉🍾
Thanks so much Svetlana 💛 @Winner_in_Life2 -
I've been thinking about fiber lately. Do you all think about fiber? Do you get the recommended amount of fiber? How do you do it?
Here's my problem: I am trying to eat at 1200 - 1350 calories depending, so I don't have a lot to play with. I do find I feel better and am more satisfied with more protein and more fat than the basic recommended breakdown. And then I like to fit in a small treat each day, which generally is carbs and milk and no/little fiber. So all that kind of crowds out the fiber, I guess.
I eat a lot of veggies and a bit of fruit each day - I think I am meeting the goals for those. but finding that they don't actually have enough fiber to get to the recommended amount. When I add in beans or grains then I get closer, but that often brings me over calories.
Is there something I'm missing her? Some magic foods to try? Some different way to do the math?
Another obvious solution is to make my small treat have some fiber in it. Any recommendation of something that would feel like a delicious treat but with some fiber?
I am thinking about fiber because I am finding that when I am doing well with weight loss I struggle with constipation and hunger, and I have heard that fiber is good for both of those.1 -
@Caroline_slowandsteady I tend to think a lot about fiber myself, especially when focused on healthy low-carb eating. I personally found the best results in slowly introducing Benefiber to my water or coffee throughout the day until I was getting the RDA of fiber regularly. I say introducing it slowly because it is a soluble fiber so your gut needs to adjust to it, a probiotic may help there, but I've never trouble with it unless I start suddenly having a lot of it.
ETA - I also added an updated food entry to MFP that subtracts the grams of fiber from the carb count because there is no point counting a fiber supplements fiber content to your nutritional daily carb count (in my opinion). The only reason it's there is to up your fiber, not total carbs. There are some non-fiber carbs that you will want to track, especially if you're going low-carb, particularly keto1 -
@Caroline_slowandsteady I have been experimenting with fiber as well. I have been eating prunes as suggested by my dietitian to help with constipation along with magnesium citrate pills. A little has changed but need to give it more time. I eat three servings of prunes a day. I have also been documenting in the notes section. I also take Citracel. One thought I had was maybe I am eating too much fiber. I will keep trying 😁!1
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@Caroline_slowandsteady I just scoured the MFP community forums last week re: fiber. I have similar reasons as you for wanting to figure out fiber intake (satiety higher with protein and fats, digestive health/BMs different in weight loss mode). I have taken a high quality probiotic consistently for a few months which helps significantly with my skin and digestion and I intermittently use Calm (magnesium powder supplement) at night which helps with sleep and digestion/regularity for me. Just last week I added soluble fiber powder (metamucil/benefiber) to my morning routine and could tell the difference the next day (in a good way - more bulk moving through my system). Just wanted to share what I'm experimenting with right now in case it helps spark some ideas!2
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Reading with interest on the fiber front. I've been experimenting lately and have found a couple of things helpful: a snack or dessert of non-fat Fage greek yogurt (170g) with 1 tbsp chia seeds and then a fruit add-in. I'm a little lazy so I usually add 25g of craisins. This adds up to be 203 cal, 28 carb, 3 fat, 20 protein, and 3 fiber. I sometimes have this combo twice a day, primarily to up my protein for relatively low (and vegetarian) calories. The rest of the day is usually a salad for lunch, and dinner is generally more carb heavy but usually with something that has beans or roasted vegetables. I hit between 1200-1300 calories on most days and that's with adding a couple of squares of dark chocolate for dessert every night.
I also notice if I eat a fresh apple every day, it seems to help (if you know what I mean).3 -
I tend to have a metamucil cookie (100 cals pack of 2) daily, In the evening I have 2 sugar free small zero reeses cups. Something about the sf chocolate acts a bit like a scouring agent which means you can have all of them you want in the house because you are not going to eat more than 2 at a time more than once. LOL. I don't pay much attention to fiber honestly but if I wasn't "regular" I might.2
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Caroline_slowandsteady wrote: »I've been thinking about fiber lately. Do you all think about fiber? Do you get the recommended amount of fiber? How do you do it?
I have it as one of the items I follow but I rarely get the recommended amount of 21gm per day. The only way I can do it is by including a serving of Kroger's Simple Truth Organic dried apricots which is the only brand I've ever found that doesn't add additional sugar. Like you I eat in the 1200-1300 calorie range and include sufficient vegetable servings most of the time but as you noticed they don't add much fiber.
I think as long as your system is functioning well it doesn't matter. It might be that those of us who are eating lower calories need less fiber overall. I know fiber intake is one of those things that is pushed on us but I've read some alternative views that take a more moderate stance with it.
I have no interest in taking supplements outside of my normal multi-vitamin and vitamin D (the latter recommended by my doctor). I don't follow any particular eating plan but overall tend to be lower carb and higher fat because that's what I feel best with. Additionally, I don't do well with a lot of whole grains and beans which do have more fiber so I minimize quantities. However, something like adding chia seeds to fruit and yogurt could add fiber with minimal calories. Or making a fruit smoothie with some hemp powder which is pretty high in fiber could be a way to add more fiber without a lot of calories.2 -
I track fibre and I have 35g as my goal. Years ago, I read the “F-Plan Diet” which suggested that high fibre would help with weightloss partly because it fills you up. That was before we all heard about our gut microbiome and the beneficial effects of lots of freggies and fibre.
So far today I have had 43g of fibre in 1,480 calories. (I also had 88g of protein)
My breakfast includes a high fibre cereal (Kelloggs All Bran or supermarket equivalent half and half with another less intensely high fibre cereal) with seeds and fruit and a slice of wholemeal bread. (Plus an egg) 15g fibre.
Lunch is usually salad but it is not high fibre. Just 4g fibre.
Dinner included lots of low calorie veg – cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, with meat and a small portion of beans and a small portion of potatoes. Dessert is yogurt and fruit and – for extra fibre – soya bran. Here in the UK one of our “health food” stores sells’ soya bran, which works well in yogurt. Massive 20g of fibre.
Snacks include raw carrots, and maybe rice cakes or hummus chips. 4g fibre so far.
I will have another treat or two before bed – a fibre one bar or something similar – probably at least another 5g fibre.
My baseline calorie allowance is 1,500 but I will often “earn” at least 300 exercise calories. (I usually only use about half)
The soya bran is very useful – 5g of bran has only 11 calories but 4g of fibre.
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lesdarts180 wrote: »I track fibre and I have 35g as my goal. Years ago, I read the “F-Plan Diet” which suggested that high fibre would help with weightloss partly because it fills you up. That was before we all heard about our gut microbiome and the beneficial effects of lots of freggies and fibre.
So far today I have had 43g of fibre in 1,480 calories. (I also had 88g of protein)
My breakfast includes a high fibre cereal (Kelloggs All Bran or supermarket equivalent half and half with another less intensely high fibre cereal) with seeds and fruit and a slice of wholemeal bread. (Plus an egg) 15g fibre.
Lunch is usually salad but it is not high fibre. Just 4g fibre.
Dinner included lots of low calorie veg – cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, with meat and a small portion of beans and a small portion of potatoes. Dessert is yogurt and fruit and – for extra fibre – soya bran. Here in the UK one of our “health food” stores sells’ soya bran, which works well in yogurt. Massive 20g of fibre.
Snacks include raw carrots, and maybe rice cakes or hummus chips. 4g fibre so far.
I will have another treat or two before bed – a fibre one bar or something similar – probably at least another 5g fibre.
My baseline calorie allowance is 1,500 but I will often “earn” at least 300 exercise calories. (I usually only use about half)
The soya bran is very useful – 5g of bran has only 11 calories but 4g of fibre.
@Caroline_slowandsteady — be sure to cross check any plan to include or to increase soy consumption with regards to your thyroid function. I know that there can be complications. Take care. Julie1
