NON WW & WW NEWBIES, OUR NEW LIFE, THE START OF SOMETHING WONDERFUL

Morning all, got my lunch prep all done (kid party at school) and still had time for a half hour elliptical (DH didn’t get a kiss goodbye the morning tho - gotta prioritise my time 😂). When food time came around my head started telling me I needed two pieces of toast this morning cause I was so hungry and I did toast two, but while cooking got to reassess and knew I only needed one - which is my usual. So yay for another good start to the day. Have some errands in the afternoon so fingers crossed I can stay strong for that. Youngest DS always wants to stop for sweet foods and I usually do because I love spending one on one time with him, but I’m going to offer to spend the money on a toy for him instead. Then we can still spend time shopping together and talk about things he likes, and I’ll spend the same amount of money as I would on food anyway, and we both keep our calories in check. It’s a sound plan, just need to follow through. I’m hoping that telling you all will give me motivation to stick to it and report back with success 😊

@theslightedgeforever So sorry you & dh now positive. Hope you get better quickly. I have had a headache for a couple of days, so retested again today, but still negative which is good with family here. Leaving for fireworks soon.

@Tamevv Good job assessing how hungry you were before eating it just because you made it & for getting your exercise in.

Sorry I’m not “speaking” to the rest of you, but your posts are on the other page & I will lose this if I go back, lol.
My eating today has not been good…enough said.

Hope everyone in the US is having a good 4th of July! Gotta run!

@cbabie Good job with the walk, sorry about the stress. LOL yes, I wanted a bunch of dogs but now, I want 1! Thank you.

@Tamevv Great job with the prep and the elliptical! And wise decision about the toast. How did the errands go? Did you stick to your plan? The pasta salad...it was really good. Yeah, I used chickpea pasta so it wasn't too bad in points (4 pts per serving). I feel lethargic after pretty much anything I eat, I don't know what is going on with that. That wrap sounds delicious! Thanks for the brussels sprouts recipe, I love them and this recipe looks easy to do. Garlic would be a nice addition.

@theslightedgeforever Oh no! I'm so sorry. I hope it is a mild case. Yes, you can come get on here and chat with us! Speedy recovery, slightedge.

@RetiredAndLovingIt LOL no worries. I hope you had a good 4th!

Hi all. For the Americans, I hope you had a good 4th of July weekend. I had a good 4th, my husband and I just lazed about and I read a book and drank American beer lol. The dogs go home tonight and I'll be glad to get back to my normal routine. It's really thrown me off having them here. We ordered pizza for dinner last night, not ideal but it is what it is. I will recover.

Water yesterday: 25 oz

My phrase for the year: "Something needs to change…so I will take no crap and eat no crap!"

Exercise - tick
Water - a bit behind
Strength - tick
Tracking - on track
Calories - on track (but it’s middle child’s 13th today so more cake on the cards. I usually make them but special ordered his request for today and am really looking forward to sharing his afternoon - no party till after holidays so just is family and “quality time” 😊. Hoping to still keep calories in check for my chart 😊

A day late but Happy 4th everyone! Was busy spending time with family. Had a nice phone conversation with the admissions advisor today. Going to apply to that school and check out a few others.

@Tamevv Great job! And yay for additional veggies. Enjoy the family quality time!

@theslightedgeforever Oh no. I'm sorry to hear that. And sorry that you are feeling bad and have to put up with a dog lol. Yeah, I like the quietness too. I've never enjoyed children enough to have my own BECAUSE I like the quiet. Yes, the doggies are gone and now it's time to do the work. That's a good method to try. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but it's worth a shot.

@gemwolf110 I hope you had a good 4th! Sounds like you did.

Hi all. The dogs are gone, we are left with our girl Daisy who seemed kind of depressed that the others left. Too bad for her lol. Yesterday wasn't so good. It started off okay, I ate the breakfast that I brought but then my boss asked if I wanted to go to lunch with her at the cafe at work so I said yes and bought my lunch. I bought a sandwich and chips. I could have had a salad (but then again, she said her salad didn't taste good so maybe I did myself a favor). Then later in the day, our director said there were cookies in the breakroom so of course, I had to see what that was about. They were just boring frosted cookies from a box from Trader Joe's but I ate 2 anyways...boring and not worth it. Oh, I forgot: one of my coworkers brought me 3/4 of my favorite kind of chocolate bar and I ate half of that. I need to get back to business pronto.

Water yesterday: 25 oz

My phrase for the year: "Something needs to change…so I will take no crap and eat no crap!"

Hi all. Today went better than expected. Was touch and go for a bit this morning but did my strength exercises then hid upstairs. Was 2pm by the time I went to the kitchen and made myself that wrap I mentioned. I didn’t snack at all today because I knew it was more birthday cake when the kids got home. Success with that too - I’ve cut my piece in half and will have the second piece for dessert. Look at me all in control and planning!! Wooho!

Had a chat to DH this morning about my concerns for the time away - specified that I don’t want to restrict anyone else, but I don’t need to order myself a full meal or sweet each time. I would actually rather just have a small piece of everyone else’s and taste all the different things, instead of having a full plate then wanting to taste as well 😏.

I had a 2kg loss this morning which is huge and validating for the work i put in this week. Definitely want to keep that going. Anyway so I’m currently sitting on 77 cals but realised as I was making dinner that I have not drunk water today!! Totally was just not on my radar. So, yep, I stood there and poured a full two litres in, in the space of an hour. Not the way it’s sposed to be done, but I’m giving myself the picture nonetheless 😊.

So, assuming no dramas this evening, another clean sweep today. And I still have my cake to look forward to 😁

@cbabie - how did the exercise go today? That waiting-till-hungry strategy is awesome, but some days it’s not the physical need that gets to me, the people in my head are like two year olds and just want what they want 😒

@TeresaW1020 - hangovers are the worst! Glad you had a good night though. Interesting about the Elvis movie. I’m not a huge fan but my mum is. Will let her know it was worthwhile. Course, might be forever before it comes out here - we tend to lag behind you guys a lot. Hope the meeting went well.

I found an interesting article that summarizes the key points in the book, "The Joy Choice" by Dr. Michelle Segar. Basically, diet and exercise, according to the author, is not conducive to the techniques of habit formation in books like "Atomic Habits". It really depends on how consistent your life is whether or not those techniques will work. Segar suggests that we identify the "disrupters" of our habits. Here are the four key types of disrupters that keep people from doing what they know they should:
- Temptation: this is a little deeper than just I want that thing. “The chocolate cake isn’t tempting you,” she said. “It’s the memory of how you felt while eating chocolate cake that makes you want it.”
- Rebellion: Pure and simple, we are contrarian beings, and when we are told what to do — even by something like an app that we programmed to remind us of our goals — we have a tendency to push back, and say “%$#@ this!”
- Accommodation: This is when we allow other people’s needs to take the place of our own desired behavior. “I have been trying to cut down on sweets, but it was her birthday, and she made a cake…”
- Perfection: This is the big one. If you can’t hit the bullseye, why shoot at all? We decide that since we can’t do a full workout, we’ll just skip it, instead of doing a partial one. If I didn’t write yesterday and broke my streak, no point in picking up the pen today, is there?

Supposedly, when we name these disrupters, we can gain control over them. Here are the steps to take to disrupt the disrupters:
- Pause. Before you make the decision to do it or not, take a moment. See if you can figure out if any of the four disrupters is the thing that is keeping you from doing the action that you know you should do.
- Options. Think about what you could do instead, that might be a compromise that still moves you towards your goals. No time for the gym? Maybe you could do a quick YouTube dance workout. Don’t want to say no to the cake? How about asking for a smaller piece. Figure out what you could do instead, and make it a list.
- Pick. This is where the title of the book (full disclosure: I haven’t read it yet!) comes in. She calls it the “Joy Choice” — picking out the thing that gets you closer to your desired action rather than doing nothing.

I've basically summarized the article but if you want to check it out: https://graymiller.medium.com/how-a-bit-of-pop-psychology-helped-me-make-the-joy-choice-70309fb47745

@trooworld - thanks heaps for that summary, very interesting, and sits perfectly with my current headspace. Will definitely do some holiday reading 👍