Grit and Determination

[sirdle]

Sometimes I tell myself that I will NOT workout today... just a gentle warmup, some stretches, then I'm done.
But after a gentle warmup, I often change my mind.
Cheers,

Hi Sirdle, this reminds me of the 10 minute rule for house cleaning. Plan to clean for at least 10 minutes. Often once you get started you keep going after the 10 minutes. I guess sometimes it's just too overwhelming to think about what we "should" do.

I like this! I think I'll clean for 10 min today. No more!

[moonlight]

Last night I felt like I couldn't get enough to eat. Thankfully I stayed on McD food and didn't get up during the night to eat.
I'm concerned about this week. I will be spending Thursday-Sunday at my mother's apartment, which is a minefield for me. She keeps crackers, chips, and ice cream. I sleep on a fold out couch when I go without my husband. I don't sleep well and I usually start eating during the night. I'm afraid I won't be able to get any exercise and I'll start eating the junk food.... My plan is to keep ready made potatoes or bulgur ready for late night eating. I haven't been in the weight range I am now in 10 years. I really don't want to blow it... The other thing is stress. My mother has a tumor in her chest. She will have that biopsied on Thursday. It is just a lot of unknowns at this point. So, my strategy will be to write in this journal during the night when I want to eat. That could be a lot of whining!!

Exercise Today: Built another flower bed and finished cleaning gutters and house siding

Food Intake:
Purple hull peas and mixed vegetables steamed and bulgur
red potatoes and turnip greens
Meatless loaf, couscous
Popcorn

[bunsofaluminum]

You're smart to plan for night time eating by having on-plan foods ready in the fridge. Do that, and yeah...rattle around on your keyboard in this forum as much as needed.

Hopefully all is well with your mom.

[moonlight]

Thanks, Buns! I'm planning to stay as close to MWL diet as possible, try not to feel bad if it's not perfect, and PRAY I don't start binging at night! That's my biggest fear. Last night I ate a can of corn for very late night snack.

Yesterday and today I spent a lot of time at a hospital two hours away. We stayed overnight in a hotel. There is much incentive there to encourage a healthy lifestyle... My mother, sister, and cousins who are close to my age take a lot of medicine for various ailments... Cancer is not common in my family so I feel blessed about that. Chronic disease is common. I appreciate being awake to the notion that I want to live a healthier lifestyle. At the hospital there are 4 miles of marked trails inside the hospital. I walked a total of 3 miles this morning waiting for my mother to get finished with her procedure. That was very nice. Now, I'll be staying with her at her apartment until Monday. We go back to the hospital Monday and figure out the next step. The doctor thinks she may be in surgery on Tuesday. Hopefully, she will have a good prognosis. Hopefully, I will continue to make good choices regarding my health.

[moonlight]

This last week I was in probably one of the worse situations for me, foodwise. Surrounded by family, being stressed with emotions regarding my mother's health, and not having control of what was around for me to eat. I think I did very well. I didn't go crazy and have some kind of food binge in the middle of the night. That was huge. A couple of meals in restaurants were not MWL compliant but not terrible. One, I had a mushroom flatbread which was loaded with fresh mushrooms and a little bit, maybe 1 1/2 tbsp. of goat cheese. The other was a Chinese meal of vegetables and steamed rice. I think the sauce had oil in it. The rest of the time I was able to stay on my plan. My mother keeps cookies, crackers, and chips sitting out on a buffet table and ice cream in the freezer. I'm so glad I didn't get started eating any of that. And, at night she would eat a little ice cream and ask if I was sure I didn't want some. I'm so glad I didn't give in. I probably will be going back soon. I hope I can keep my resolve. I did some grocery shopping for her while I was there. I bought a big bag of frozen vegetables to leave in her freezer so that would be there when I got back. I've talked to her about her diet but she isn't feeling well and I don't think she will cook for herslf. The retirement center provides lunch and she eats that for lunch and dinner most of the time. On her grocery list was canned English peas and potatoes. I cooked her some orzo with peas and she loved it so she wanted some more orzo. I don't think her diet is terrible but I wish it were better. She doesn't seem to overeat ice cream (like I would!!) and I never saw her eat any cookies or chips. She has a lot of fatigue right now so she won't spend much time in the kitchen. She also doesn't have much of an appettite.

I discovered that I like canned green beans for a midnight snack. So, now my road food box has canned corn, beans, and green beans. I also had canned artichoke hearts. I've tried canned potatoes but can't eat them. I think I'll try canned carrots. Easy road food. I think corn tortillas are sometimes sold in a can, too.

[Mark Cooper]

It seems to me that you were excellent, given the circumstances. I'm so glad you were able to persevere so admirably. My heart goes out to you in dealing with your mother's health challenges, it is SO tough to have a parent (or any loved one) in such a difficult and scary position. I wish you and her all the best.

[moonlight]

Mark, thank you for the well wishes! I've always felt like I was bracing myself for the pain that is coming if my mother passes before me... Hopefully, my mother will recover from this health issue and we will have many more days to enjoy each other.

Another good missed opportunity to eat out. Yesterday evening I suggested we go out to dinner. I was so tired from driving and was in the mood to treat myself. My DH said he would rather not. Later, after I had eaten I thanked him for keeping us at home. Then today he suggested we go out and I said I’d rather not. We are really complimenting each other and keeping ourselves on track.

Today's eating activities:
couscous and blueberries
1/2 sweet potato, 1/2 cup brown rice, artichoke hearts, and diced pimentos rolled up in grape leaves with a little garlic and fat free wasabi dressing - yum!
Corn and broccoli
Kale, brown rice, pinto bean burritos

Exercise: 1 hour hula hoeing in the vegetable garden

[moonlight]

Today I've been working on a house project. I'm moving quite a bit but it is a slow pace, not aerobic. I'll row tomorrow morning. I'm at least moving. My tracker says I've walked 1.5 miles so far today.

My food intake today isn't 100% MWL compliant. I’ve been doing this outside house project and not taking time to prepare food. My energy is zapped from the heat. Tomorrow I’all be back on plan.

Food Intake:
1/2 sweet potato and banana
pinto beans and rice burritos (whole wheat flour tortilla)
whole wheat pita bread and hummus
apple
Canned Amy’s low sodium lentil soup and brown rice

[moonlight]

My intention to reduce caffeine consumption kind of fell flat! I found some decaf coffee in my freezer. I’m going to mix it with my regular coffee and see if I can succeed. I just really love that one,,rather large, cup in the morning. Argh! I know my cardiovascular system would benefit. Maybe if I can keep that in mind....

My exercise got interrupted. I’ll try to finish this evening

Today’s Food Record:
Roasted millet with sautéed kale, tomatoes, summer squash (all from my garden either this year or last year ), mushrooms and onions
Apple
sweet potatoes
millet and lentils
2 slices pumpernickel bread

[moonlight]

…..
Just to clarify, I think anyone trying to do this is a “success” whether you have one day, one week, one month, one year, even if you have slipped many times in the process, etc. A success is one who never gives up and keeps trying.
.....
In Health
Jeff

I copied this quote from JeffN from another discussion. I appreciate what he said about succeeding at this diet because sometimes I feel so defeated when I read about some people's journey changing their diet and lifestyle. It appears that some people can make this switch and not look back while others, like myself, must not only look back, but actually go back and sample SAD eating several times before really having it all become a habit - and even then not be 100%. Lately I feel like I've taken a big step in the direction of settling into this lifestyle. My eating plan has gotten more simple for everyday eating. It feels routine. I don't feel deprived. I look forward to eating and to exercising. Yay!

Exercise: gardening for 1 1/2 hours. I monitored my heart rate and it stayed in the moderate range, so I think this is considered good exercise.

Food Today:
Roasted millet with sautéed kale and mushrooms
coleslaw and baked potato
popcorn
watermelon
sweet potato with jalapenos
ww pasta

[moonlight]

Yesterday I weighed myself. I was at 170.2 lbs. No weight loss to report. I decided to not eat and see if it would drop to 169. So, I worked through my day not eating. All was fine until I remembered I needed to get some packages sent off before 6:00pm. I left the house hungry and very thirsty... I ended up stopping at Salsarita's. I had a rice bowl with all compliant food, then they asked if I wanted chips... Could I please have a do over?!? I ate chips. Then in the evening I was hungry all evening. I ate a sweet potato. I ate vegetables and WW noodles, I ate watermelon and popcorn. Then I couldn't sleep. I ate crackers and home-made cranberry bread. Argh!! That plan really backfired... I was hoping I was back on track and starting to lose weight again. Hopefully this next week will be better. Sigh.

Plan: vegetables, starches, exercise, vegetables, starches, exercise, vegetables, starches, exercise, vegetables, starches, exercise, vegetables, starches, exercise, vegetables, starches, exercise, vegetables, starches, exercise,,,

[Lyndzie]

Whenever I have fasted the same thing happens to me. Last time I ate everything not nailed down for two weeks before I regained my footing. Your mantra is right. Vegetables, starches, exercise. Plants, movement, sunshine...

[moonlight]

Thanks, Lindsey! I’m glad to know I’m not alone here. Huge learning moment... I guess, too, it depends on a frame of mind. I’ve gone hungry before and it didn’t backfire. I think being so dehydrated played a big part.

I started the day with steamed chard, onion, mushroom, garlic, and cabbage combined with buckwheat groats. Yum!! I ate this again mid-day. I drank a lot of water, too. In the late afternoon I stopped at Salsarita's and got a rice bowl with chips. No cheese or avocado but chips... Later at home I had WW pasta (twice) with Brussel sprouts and tomato sauce. In the very late part of the evening I ate two packages of peanut butter crackers I found in my husband's pantry cabinet... Still struggling with getting back on track.

Exercise: walking 3.3 miles (7741 steps)

[moonlight]

Exercise: 30 minutes on WaterRower

I cooked a big batch of black beans. I'm planning to make the meatless loaf and maybe a big batch of chili, then freeze the rest.
I have lots of cilantro growing. I'm planning to make salsa and some cilantro and white bean pesto.

I just finished listening to Ray Kurzweil (while rowing) on a TED talk. Interesting talk about how we are evolving with our knowledge and the impact of artificial intelligence. Very interesting! It gives me hope that the Western diet will eventually be debunked by the mainstream. (BTW, an update on Mr. Ray Kurzweil. He wrote a book a few years ago with Terry Grossman, M.D. It's about diet and how to eat better to live longer. I read about it. Looks like he might have had some good points to make but he recommended tons of supplements. So now, I'm thinking he might be a little too optimistic without digging in deep for the research to back up his claims. Anyway, the TED was an interesting topic about predictions in artificial intelligence.)

I've made an effort today to eat before I get too hungry and to have at least 50% of my meal from vegetables.

Food Today:
WW pita bread with black beans, brown rice, bell pepper, and onion, and cabbage slaw
brown rice and Brussel sprouts
small Yukon gold potatoes with steamed vegetables
brown rice with homemade pear butter

[moonlight]

Exercise: walking 1.7 miles (4,102 steps)

Food Today:
brown rice and steamed vegetables
brown rice and steamed vegetables and black beans and fresh onion with salsa
black bean chili with potato and groats
watermelon
Then I went off the MWL cliff and ate pizza with my husband!!