COMPLETELY OFF-TOPIC HERE, BUT...

Holidays are a LOT. And they cause a lot of stress - money, family, etc. And they can be pretty dark for people, too. Some people's mental health takes a big hit. So if ANY of you need to vent, reach out! If you have a friend who you suspect is struggling a bit, reach out!

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Carry on!

I think my body is at least starting to adjust to the diet again - although there is some carb craving if I'm thinking about it, I'm not missing it when I'm eating or not hungry lol.

Lots of life stuff + work related stuff (good, but extra stressors) + holidays + still feeling down about losing "my" place sometimes = sometimes feeling like I'm almost at the brink of a mini-meltdown. Haven't gotten to that point (yet lol), and my task list is at least keeping me focused each day so I'm not a complete scatter brain.

Thankfully both pets seem to have settled in reasonably well. Dog still adjusting a bit, but she's been fine home alone a couple times now, so we're past the worst of it with her (rescue with semi mild separation anxiety that I've worked through with her, but there's always a tough call on when you can trust them - or not).

Hi ladies. Yes, I went awol for some time again. I have no excuses, just life that got in the way.
I'm still going to list some of the excuses though ... Work hit hard as my colleague of 13 years got sacked just like that. We started together and even if I didn't like her that much, it still hurts. Also because I need to cover her work now, "temporarily" they said. Second thing is that my usual physical therapist was in sick leave herself as she needed hip replacement. The new therapist and I didn't click terribly, I always got the impression that he wasn't inclined to go to the limit and I didn't progress as much as I should have. That kept me away from the gym also. The good news is that my usual PT is back since yesterday. Yes, I'm sore today from the hard work, it really is a big difference. So I renewed my fitness subscription again.
And then the weather ! Boy, it is freezing here, as in biting arctic cold! As a result the diving went a bit on the backburner as well, but I'm going again on Thursday. My hands are already freezing from the thought alone.
So yes, I have a plan: activity every day (walking, diving or PT/fitness combo and update my food log daily.
And check in here of course !

I have a large Breyer model horse collection that started before I can remember (preschool) and still gets added to every now and then (rarely, but it happens). I refuse to get rid of them, a few were even my mother's growing up, so there's a lot of keepsake value too.

Took le floof dog for a walk yesterday with my weighted vest, and we did a lot of obedience work - she did really well (for her) so that was fun! My knee, however, got MAD about that and completely blew up - sleep and a few drugs and supplement and it was down this morning, but this is getting annoying (I think its a prepateler bursitis (sp?) from the hours of crawling around on hard floors cleaning the old house.....doesn't hurt, but isn't giving up the ghost yet, either.

@zenobia9777 : have you have your ear issue checked out? I have inner ear issues and no amount of exercise will increase my balance, so you might be doing something that will not pay off. Just be careful with that.

@k8richly : I'm with you on the no cheese month. We had a ton of cheese in the house as we had a whole family coming over last weekend, but they had to skip last minute because the baby got sick. Guess who ate all the cheese?

@SherryRueter: girlllll ... you are mighty strong! That video is showing some skill!

@honeybadger302: you've been through a lot of changes lately, just give yourself some credit every now and then. Hopefully that knee will mend soon.

@ceebeeslim: sometimes I miss the lockdowns, apart from the insecurities on so many levels, daily life was much simpler. AND I did declutter a lot during that time. Although hubbie stopped me every now and then, he is simply a hoarder. He has a shed full of tools that are never being used. But I'm sure if I was to give away one of them, of course he would need it the week after. That's how the universe works, right?

@JBanx256: that is so true, so much stress in December... I've cut down all parties except one - Christmas eve with my family at our place. All the rest: nothing. Some people - like my sisters - are a bit angry with me as we won't attend Christmas day or New Year, but so be it. I think one holiday in a week is more than enough. Just my way to stay sane at the year end.

Have some good workouts ladies!

dupe

@honeybadger302 Okay, thank you for re-sharing. It does sound like tight quarters for the time being. Nice job on tracking your food. I've been doing that more consistently and I'm starting to feel better about it.


I listened to a podcast about resisting urges yesterday.
We are surrounded by urges all the time.
* Run the yellow traffic light or to stop
* Buy the "new sweater" or leave it in the store
* Sit in the chair and watch more TV or tidy the kitchen
* Yell "hello" to the friend across the street or stay quiet.

While they don't' have anything to do with food, they do teach us that we resist urges all of the time.
for example, you see a cute guy in the store. You don't just go up and pinch his rear end. You resist the urge to do anything more than look.

The same should be done with Urges.
Shut the urge down immediately and don't negotiate with it.
Don't make deals with the inner voice.
Just simply look at the food and say "NOPE". and go away.

We will always have food temptations, urges if you will.
Stopping the urge immediately will not only be gratifying but, it will keep you more on track with your goals.

@zenobia9777 Great Job on the evening exercises. You mentioned that you struggle(?) with impulse control. So, when you see a cute stranger, you just run up and pinch their rear end! LO being reminded through the podcast I listened to (Burn fat with your brain, Maggie sterling) - Its HELPED me SOOO much the past 3 days. I just tell myself, Nope. and shut it down. She has a TON of great episodes. highly recommend listening.

We had our final weigh/measure yesterday - over the eight weeks I lost 14.1 pounds and 9.5 inches. I'm the most excited that I lost 3.75 inches off my waist!
@zenobia9777 - glad to hear your sciatica didn't hinder your run. Sounds like your yoga class is really helping you out with the balance. I've had 3 yoga classes so far and am loving them! I think it's really going to help with both my balance and flexibility (or, more accurately right now, my lack of both ).
@SherryRueter - I'm not too worried about the potassium, everything else was fine and the doctor said she'd call if she had any concerns. Could have just been a bad result-I read that if you flex your muscles during the blood draw the potassium result could be higher.
Who gets to eat the gingerbread house not that it's done??!
Thanks for the post on urges, it makes a lot of sense.
@HoneyBadger302 - I find that I always loose or maintain better when I track my food. I do especially well if I plan it out ahead of time, then just tweak during the day with any last minute changes.
The puppy sounds like so much fun! How long is the wait?

@SherryRueter and @zenobia9777: my inner ear issue are not linked with sinuses, but with my vestibular system. It's called Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo or BPPV. There are some exercises that I have done in the past, but they didn't seem to help. It just comes up and disappears again, and I cannot find a plausible cause-effect. My symptoms are also not completely within the BPPV realm, to make things easy.

Wiki has a good clear explanation here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinthitis and here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benign_paroxysmal_positional_vertigo.

After having talked extensively with multiple specialists, as I have also an extreme form of motion sickness, the consensus was that not enough studies in that area have been done yet. Now, because of my motion sickness and my frequent diving, I take an antihistamine & scopolamine again seasickness almost two times a week, and this helps. When I'm not diving for some time, I'm more prone to get an episode of BPPV.

Holy Hannah, I missed a few days and there's so much to catch up on! (We're a chatty bunch 😀)

@SparkSpringtime69 this is a major loss! Was it over a year or what period? Congratulations on the measurements! Amazing!

@Antiopelle I would've assumed that deepsea diving would cause havoc on your inner ear but that's fascinating and great that it makes your condition better! But I'm sorry it's a hard ongoing issue that you need to deal with. I get just a bit dizzy sometimes from low blood sugar when i stand up and that is enough of a feeling of vertigo for me. I would hate to not feel balanced! @zenobia9777 good for you for continuing to work on it. Balance is kind of fundamental to our daily lives and not just fitness!

@HoneyBadger302 - I ❤️ dogs! They are (or can be - ha!) so smart and work so hard to please, its very inspirational. I have a 6yr old chocolate lab and she's finally mellowed out and a great listener. We love going on runs together - it's a win-win. Training them must be so fulfilling (and a workout?)

I'm a Marie-Kondo and my husband is a Marie-collect-everything. GRRR. I've advised him that before he is allowed to bring another Tshirt or coffee mug into the house, he must get rid of 2. Mostly he obeys. I can chuck house stuff out and he will never notice. I do this all the time but I am careful - I check with him if I think it will matter. I do collect books however. Its so hard to just get rid of them when I might want to reread them one day! We should all swap books.

Re gingerbread houses, the secret is you buy the cheapest crappiest box set you can find, let your kids do the decorating and then tell them they can't touch it until Christmas eve or day. By then it is hard as a rock and tastes like drywall. Literally it is inedible! It is then so easy to just say "NOPE" à la Sherry. Problem solved! You're welcome 😆

I've been successful in my no-cheese oath but otherwise it's been a hard month so far. I've fallen off my workout/nutrition regime almost completely. Too much work, sitting, stress, snacks, etc. It's all very unlike me. I know I need to snap out of it but I'm having a hard time. Work has pulled a fast one on me (changing my fricking work description without consultation!?) so I'm choosing to switch positions in January which is my way of keeping control and getting back at my big boss (good luck without me!) but making the decision and the change is nevertheless stressful. I know it will be hard on my employees and my wonderful manager who I'm leaving behind. I have 2 weeks off at Xmas and I will need it. I have hardly done any shopping or planning. Thankfully we aren't going anywhere.

The admin details following my father's death are also stressing me out. I have no time to fill out all the darn paperwork and advise the banks, insurance etc! I have reserved the details for his celebration of life in February but it's all keeping me up at night.

The good thing about me is that I always always know that everything is a phase. I've bounced back from worse low points and I just need to give myself grace right now. I will get through the holidays and the job change with maintenance and all will be just fine.

Deep snow is falling right now and it is a beautiful calming sight on this dark cold morning. It's lovely to have this quiet time to myself before another crazy day begins. Have a great day friends.

@ceebeeslim Yes, I concentrate one day on shoulders, one on bi/tri, one on Back, one on chest. (these vary of course, it could be chest and triceps). The current series I'm following has 2 lower body days....Hamstrings and Glutes / Calves and Quads.

@zenobia9777 - I normally do Single Leg deadlifts using one weight and then the other arm on the back of the bench for stability. I would have to go much lighter if I used 2 weights. Going too heavy sometimes causes back issues for me.... its a thin thin thin line.