Bunsofaluminum in 2012

[bunsofaluminum]

still doing well...oops, I had a banana w/peanut butter this morning.

B: nuked yellow potatoes w/catsup and mustard
L: I have a subway card, so I'm gonna get a salad there
D: um...dunno. Maybe fast for dinner. I've been going to bed with a full tummy which hasn't felt good.

sleeping very tense and waking up aching in all my joints.

My greatest triumph over the past two weeks has been my NOT eating between meals that's a big change from the past however long...since Christmas, I think.

Here's to another day on plan

[kirstykay]

Good going, Buns!!! Great job on eliminating the snacking and staying on plan!!! You're doing GREAT!!

[nomikins]

YAY, Bunnsy! Great progress. Keep on improving.

[bunsofaluminum]

glad I peeked in here...I stopped at work to finish up some work, and decided to just look and see...

here's the thing...Reese's miniatures are totally calling my name, but I just read my own journal, where I wrote "Here's to another day on plan"

and provided myself with my own motivation

I might still find something sweet: like berries and bananas w/some maple syrup (?) maybe not the syrup. But I already know what that particular candy tastes like...and why bust my streak now, after seven days (eight?)



veddy good.

[nomikins]

On March 26, I stopped eating anything with sugar in it. I have not even so much as looked at a piece of candy, cake, cookie, etc. Yesterday, I ate an apple for a snack. It tasted so sweet that I was stunned. That reset was just what I needed. The scale is also responding accordingly.

Great job on not listening to those reese's. They are bad, bad, bad. And the chocolate product is also the result of slave child labor. That alone keeps me away from mass market chocolate.

Here's to another day on plan!

[carollynne]

HI buns! good for you about the no candy!! sugary stuff is my downfall for real!! Just stopping by to say hello and how are you?
Still doing my best too!

[bunsofaluminum]

nomikins I've done that reset thing dozens of times. It's true: once you get off sugar...or salt, for I've done the same with salt...and you taste even the commonest of fruits, then you can taste the true sweetness that God put naturally into foods. Salt is the same way. I cook everything without the stuff, and recently had some brown rice at my mom's house... SO salty! almost unpalatable to my taste.

carrollynne! how are you? You still in Slick City? How about the lovely December weather today? hee hee. I'm hanging on, but just barely. I had a couple of jelly beans that my kids had in the house. Otherwise doing okay.

B: nuked potato w/mustard and ketchup; crazy bread L.O. from kids' party last night
L: nuked sweet potatoes
D: ??? maybe something lentil, as it's Good Friday

[bunsofaluminum]

ooh, I ate rich yesterday and Saturday (I went nuts on sweets on Saturday going through some very real, very difficult emotional crap, and just ate candy...UGH) And had McDougall's Revenge BIG TIME

shows muh body works, eh?

so, back to sanity today.

b: fruit salad; two pieces whole wheat toast
L: baked potatoes and veggie marinara sauce
D: dunno yet. Maybe a repeat of lunch. BUT---

I start CNA classes today, which go from 6 to 10:15 every night until April 30, and two entire weekends, Sat and Sun, 6 am to 2:30 pm.

so, I have class pretty much during dinner hour, but I'll have a couple hours between work and class, where I'll be able to eat something. I may just take to eating two meals, and not worry about dinner, but carry a baked potato for munching.

we'll see. Retrain my appetite? hm...

[bunsofaluminum]

Yesterday was a good day, food-wise. I ate two meals, B and L, and was in class during D, so I didn't have Dinner...I ate a small helping of the fruit salad when I got home, which was okay, but I could have gone to bed without...which is what I will do today.

it's gonna be a sleepy three weeks, but when I'm done, I'll be certified and possibly have more to offer the job market AND if I eat two meals a day and take along baked potatoes or fruit in case of the munchies, I might just take off some pounds.

TODAY'S FOOD:

B: wheatena w/berries, banana and 1 TBSP maple syrup
L: linguine with veggie marinara sauce
D: I'll take a nuked sweet potato just in case, but really I might do very well without dinner.

[kkrichar]

Oh man, Buns, your schedule sounds grueling. I don't envy you that one. As you pointed out it is possible to have a plan and follow it. Good luck.

[kirstykay]

Buns,
It's so exciting that you're getting your CNA...seems a natural fit for you -- you definately have gifts of compassion and mercy! You will be a great CNA!

I agree with Kelly, won't be an easy couple of weekk. But you are right -- that schedule may just work in your favor! Good luck, and hope it all goes well.

Peace

[bunsofaluminum]

thanks Kkrichar and kirsty

I'm excited too. Sleep deprivation is starting to get to me, though. I wake up naturally quite early, and today I was awakened by my early alarm going to bed at 10:45 or so, and then waking up that early, too many days in a row...ugh...

we learned how to do BP last night. I used to be a cna so it was sort of a refresher for me. We had fun practicing on each other, and I'm practicing on people at work today

I hate it that my weight has gone up to where it is: 198 that's a 25 lb gain from my lowest of 176 (about Easter of last year, after a 10 day fast) and 15 more than my longtime low of 185...but three weeks of this more moderate eating should make a difference. I'll have to do some bulk cooking on Saturday, so I have good food to take with me, so I don't start relying on off plan snacks.

with this schedule, I have less time for snacking!

[bunsofaluminum]

Two meals yesterday, and a snack of strawberries

One of the meals was a veggie delite at Subway, and it was a footlong, because I was HUNGRY. I ate about 3:30, and then didn't eat again in the evening.

the fat on my belly feels different today. Less dense. i think things are starting to shift! yayaaya!

TODAY:
B: rice and garbanzos over spring green mix with sliced mushrooms. 2 T of balsamic vinegar for dressing
L: I brought a sweet potato, some chunks of fresh pineapple...gonna do "snacky" for lunch and eat a more full meal at about 4:00.
D: repeat of breakfast.

This is interesting. yesterday my alarm woke me up and I was super sleepy all day long. Last night I went to bed about the same time, but woke up naturally (only 8 minutes later than yesterday's alarm) and I feel rested and well. Hm.

I've also been reading about immunizations (because in the health care field, vaccinations are required in most facilities, for all employees, unless they have immunities already present in their blood)...well, I'm healthy. I have a very strong immune system, as evidenced by the recent outbreak in this area, where everyone had a cough and some were staying home sick for a day or two. I did stay home one day, feeling punky, and rested all day long and DID NOT GET SICK, while everyone around me was hacking, coughing, dribbling and generally miserable. I also take oregano oil a few times per week, and every day when stuff is going around or if I get feeling icky.

So...with all that in mind...do I need a vaccine? I won't get the flu shot. I simply won't do it, and I hope I have the right to waive it on personal grounds. But the Hep B? Hm. And I might get the titer test, to see if I have antibodies for it already...

I don't want the shot, but I also don't want to get sick.

but I also have a strong immune system, thanks to very healthy eating practices, and my oil of oregano. so I think I'm safe from getting ill, without the shot.

watching the video last night about airborne, bloodborne, and contact illnesses...I went and washed my hands as soon as the video was over!

I hope this ends up being worth it. New doors will open up, I'm sure. Just hope they don't all open up onto nursing homes.

[bunsofaluminum]

aaah, Saturday! I've finished my first five days of CNA training, and survived. I've aced three quizzes and we've done some "scenarios" to practice various skills. I keep on thinking "Put me to work in a nursing home with an experienced CNA beside me, and I'll learn all of this, and more." It really isn't book learning type stuff. Very practical, nurse aide stuff is.

emotionally I'm still going through it kinda bad. I've switched churches and started attending at the local Episcopal church (I grew up Episcopalian)...well, about a year ago, i got hungry for the depth and glory of the Anglican service, and about the beginning of this year, I found that I just couldn't handle the hyper, rock-concert quality of "evangelical charismatic" worship any more.

long story short: I am grieving saying good-bye to my loving warm church where we've been for three years. I run the prayer chain, and it's going to be heart breaking not to minister in this way to these people. Yeah, I'm pretty sad, but it's time. I have felt God leading me this way for more than a year, and now I must follow.

But...that said, there is a potluck at the E church tonight, for which I am making Mac and Not Cheese and some homemade bread. There will be lasagne, salad and dessert there, too. I'll be careful.

the scale went down two lbs this week. I'll keep an eye on it and see if it's actual loss, or just a fluctuation.

I ate toblerone chocolate yesterday, but nothing else off plan. of course, Mac N Not Cheese is packed with cashews, which are definitely not MWL, but I wanted to make something that non-mcDougallers would possibly find palatable.

Ah! speaking of which, how surprised was I on Easter, when the youth leader at the E church told a little group during coffee hour, that he owns Forks Over Knives and wants to show it for the congregation! I told him to keep me in mind, I could help with whatever he needed, and count me in! There is one other vegetarian at this church, and the congregation are much more mindful of good stewardship of creation, than where I have been going, so I think it is a good change.

gonna be sad to say good-bye, but i think I'll find myself in a group of people who i have a lot more in common with, in many areas, than I have had up to now.

[bunsofaluminum]

I'm still here, and still kicking.

Super simplified my meals, to rice, spinach and beans. For one thing, it's what I have in the house, and there's no grocery money right now, so I'm eating what I have.

Secondly, it's simple.

Plus which, it is highly portable. Just put things in a container with some seasonings (usually garlic powder, vinegar...today, I made 321 dressing with smoked paprika added...YUMMY!) and haul it along wherever I need to go.

I'm also eating mindfully, which slows me down so I'm eating less.

Between meal snacking...I bought a big bag of pretzels last week and munched them here and there on my drive home, a few days last week.

Oh...over the weekend...huh...talk about emotional eating.

On Friday, I took a nosedive and damaged my hand. I was pushing a wheelchair around outside, just for fun. There is a bumpy section of the parking lot that is fun to go over...however, when I came to that place with Ms T, suddenly the wheelchair tipped all the way backward, until it was lying on its back...my hand was under the wheelchair handle, knuckle down, and everything skidded about a foot, with my hand under it. Ms T was just fine. didn't even phase her, but I was rather freaking out...

the ring I had on my finger ended up embedded in the flesh (this is called "ring avulsion" and it's VERY scary looking in person, though I wasn't too bad off, comparatively) and my middle finger had a deep gouge along the side.

long story short, I ended up at the workmed ER, getting cleaned up and stitched up, with a swollen hand and pretty worn out. Both the ring injury and the gouge needed three stitches each.

My plans for the weekend: to deep clean my kitchen and start culling my stuff to simplify, to scrub the basement floor where the cat peed on it, and maybe to do some yard work...those plans went out the window and I spent Saturday sort of dozing in my easy chair, and when not dozing, watching movies or reading, and eating.

Peanut butter and pickle toast is TEE riffic comfort food.

Sunday I did a bit better. When I stepped on the scale on Monday and since then I've adopted the super simple mono-diet I describe above. And not only that, I haven't stepped on the scale again.

And the hand injury wasn't the only reason for emotional eating. I've been going through a LOT recently...looking back in my journals, i can see it's been pretty much one thing after another for about five years, but there's been a concentration of things recently which have me working hard on my inner life. God is walking me through a lot of things, and I'm clinging closely to Him in all of it, and He is good.

so, if I eat emotionally, so be it. If I am a compulsive/addictive over eater, so be it. I'll work on it, but first things first. HOWEVER, I can choose, and I have been for the past few days. Thank goodness for two years of experience with McDougalling, for I haven't gone berserk with SAD foods...just higher fat, or richer...calorie dense... whole foods.

So, yeah, I'm still around. At work all internet is blocked...but that's okay, I''m going to be moving on, not in order to have a job where I can dink around online when I should be working, but in order to have a job that pays well enough so I can afford internet at home.

Which brings me to the main reason why I haven't been interacting here as much, and that's the CNA class I've been in. Just a few more days! *gulp* more transition. More change. *gulp*

Lord, lead me to the perfect job. Whatever's next, lead me through it into "a place of abundance" and set my feet upon a broad path of peace. Amen.