Buns Again

[bunsofaluminum]

Hey Buns,

I'm with you and Marsha and Shmookitty. Good advice. The challenges are appealing because I think it will drive me to do what I want but it does add stress. Like you, I just need to concentrate to getting on plan and being kind to myself. I hope you enjoy Christmas and the holidays!

Thanks moonlight! Deciding not to do the challenge turned off that craving beast THAT moment. I haven't been super good at on plan, but the stress disappeared and I'm going back to normal on Dec 26, not waiting until "the Challenge" begins. which is what I would have done if I'd stuck with it. Maybe I'll post in the FB group after Jan 1, because there's nothing wrong with a challenge. But I'm not making that day my start date, per se. I will start the Zero Processed part of WFPB eating that day. Up to then, between my Xmas Feast Day and Jan 1, I'll eat normal on plan McDougalling. That's the plan.

[bunsofaluminum]

Oof way too much food on Christmas Day. I even apologized to my body lol along with wondering how my poor digestive tract would handle all that had been dumped on it. We partied all day starting with watching the youngun open gifts in the morning... no wait. Starting at 5:30 because I forgot to turn off my alarm AFTER hitting the hay at 1:30 a.m. so then I was awake. THEN going to open gifts with the grandkid. Our gift to him was his favorite for a long time.

Then home again, rested a bit, then up and at ‘em for smashing some potatoes...col canon yum! to take for the feast. But I ate everything including a puff pastry Hors d’oeuvre with cream cheese filling. I mean the appetizers were huge! They would have been just fine for the meal. But Then there was prime rib, mashed potatoes, green beans, dinner rolls. I actually had a bite of the prime rib. What is the appeal? Yuck. And I skipped dessert. It was too much.

My family is the best though. We had tons of fun with the gift exchange, ate way too much, way too rich, and passed out by 10:30 ish , didn’t get out of bed until 8:00 this morning, and today have eaten very sensibly. Baked potatoes, some lentil stew. Some peppermint drops, a few pistachios, some chocolate. It’s been a pretty sane day. More to come

[bunsofaluminum]

Well I got through the week. Christmas Day was actually pretty bad, food wise. It all tasted okay, but it was too much. The meal itself was prime rib roast (way overdone. It was a uniform gray brown color and completely unappetizing), col canon, sauteed green beans, and salad. Dinner was set for 6:00, but my daughter and her partner produced these giant appetizers at about 5:30: asparagus wrapped in bacon, cheese, and puff pastry. AND a puff pastry cream cheese thing. I'm talking Fistfuls of Fat. Salty fat, to boot. So here are these massive wraps, actually the size of an entree, that were out as appetizers... *shrug* I had one without the bacon or cheese, but I did have a serving of the cream cheese filled thing. These massive appetizers were presented like 30 minutes before the meal, in addition to the standard veggies and dip, fudge, pistachios, and cookies that were sitting out. SO MUCH FOOD.

Christmas Feast. At the end of the day, I apologized to my body. I had 20 lbs of food in my stomach, and it had to make its way through my intestines, and I felt bad for my digestive tract.

Why is salty the only flavor?

Seriously. My mom made some old fashioned mac n cheese. I'm talking macaroni, grated cheese, sauteed onions, milk, salt and pepper, in a casserole, baked in the oven. When Wylie had a serving, he gave me a little taste. The flavor of onion and pepper dominated, and he was all "It has no flavor!"... Ummmm, it isn't super salty, if that's what you mean by flavor, but there are other flavors there. It wasn't SUPER flavorful. I would've dribbled chipotle tabasco on it for sure. But what Wylie meant by no flavor was "it isn't salty"

Anyway. Sure enough, having a "January Challenge" in place did set me up for some out of control eating on Xmas and the days after. Heh, I didn't do another day like Christmas though. Never will again actually. It became unpleasant and was not enjoyable. I will remember that feeling, when a "feast day" starts calling my name.

I had the rest of the week off at work, so I stayed home lazy and comfy just like I wanted. Did a load of laundry, binged Friends on Netflix, did Zentangle. Did a couple of yoga routines. And ate some of the gifts: bucket o' popcorn, turtles candies, chocolate, Bob's peppermint melts, pistachios, Triscuit crackers (my favorite, and I hadn't eaten them in a couple of years) ... and so forth. Way off plan nibbles and snacks, in addition to pretty good on plan meals.

My goals for January are simple:

1) zero processed foods/nothing above 600 calorie density
1a) dark chocolate is allowed on Saturdays only
2) daily yoga (following Yoga with Adriene on YouTube, a 30 day challenge she is posting there. I got the app...warm, inviting community)

and that's it. I want to do those two things every day and not fret about any other type of goal. But these two are set in stone. Especially the food choices. Every. Day. I want to end January with ZERO off plan choices. I've got Chef AJ on my YouTube watchlist for some motivation/inspiration and ideas.

I know that Wylie is going to fix some high fat stuff for dinner on New Year's Eve, so that is actually in plan, and I ate a cinnamon roll today that a co-worker made at home and brought for a treat. And I'm done. I'm trying really hard not to kick myself, to be honest. My eating was so stupid from Christmas on. I mean, I ate on plan meals, then ate all the things. I never got close to the gluttony of Christmas Day, but dang I didn't stop myself on anything for five days in a row.

I wrote my goals, and wrote "set in stone" but truth be told, I'm not sure that I'll stick with it for even one day. Feeling really down on myself right now.

[moonlight]

I wrote my goals, and wrote "set in stone" but truth be told, I'm not sure that I'll stick with it for even one day. Feeling really down on myself right now.

Heidi, you've got this! That <groan> beforehand will go away with good food in your system. You will feel happy inside with the relief of not feeling so guilty about overeating. Perhaps make a list of all the strategies you can use to get through the withdrawals of the Pleasure Trap. Two of my favorites are: go brush my teeth (for some reason I'll forget about food for a while) and drink hot tea. Figure out what works for you. Maybe start a new sketch book of Zentangles. You are so artistic.

You've given yourself reasonable goals. I have confidence that you will get back on track! The New Year sets up a clean slate with a Start Line. Go!
XO

[bunsofaluminum]

Okay, I got on FB and found an awesome post by a woman in her late 60's...I'm always searching for success stories by women in or post-menopause, because the myth is that once you hit that phase of life, it's nearly impossible to lose weight.

Well, Pamela from FB is a testament to the exact opposite. What she writes is absolutely inspiring and a little bit mind-blowing. She talks about trying to eat only when hungry, but hunger for her was "more like the onset of an illness or an emotional breakdown" so she and her (French) husband set firm meal times of 7 am, 12 noon, and 5 pm. Unbreakable meal schedule (The French are this way, she mentions and I have also read that elsewhere. They eat on time, and they DO NOT snack. Ever.)

She doesn't wait until she is hungry to eat. They eat by the clock, largely because this is how her husband wants it, but she mentions the emotional stuff settled itself, as well. Making their schedule firm this way removes food from her thoughts and her dealings once dinner is over. (I know from experience that being strict about not snacking goes a long way to removing the constant presence of food in one's mind. When I was firm with myself in this regard, I simply didn't think about food all the time. Set meal times with zero snacking gave me CLOSURE and it was nice) (I will probably bring this into my goals as much as possible, myself)

She writes about her health benefits such as GERD be gone, and the ability to ditch all her meds. Writes about the flat out FACT that if you have adipose tissue on your body you CANNOT consume oil/fat. Writes about deliberately not adding exercise at all, other than the movements of daily life, until now. She was testing Dr. M's assertion that "it's the food" and sure enough, eating MWL without any "on purpose" exercise, she lost 70 lbs in 66 weeks.

But the best thing that I got from her post is thus: Food is fuel. No more, no less. The rest is an industry looking to make a buck off of my poor health. One more plank to add to my slowly building platform regarding The Pleasure Trap.

[bunsofaluminum]

I wrote my goals, and wrote "set in stone" but truth be told, I'm not sure that I'll stick with it for even one day. Feeling really down on myself right now.

Heidi, you've got this! That <groan> beforehand will go away with good food in your system. You will feel happy inside with the relief of not feeling so guilty about overeating. Perhaps make a list of all the strategies you can use to get through the withdrawals of the Pleasure Trap. Two of my favorites are: go brush my teeth (for some reason I'll forget about food for a while) and drink hot tea. Figure out what works for you. Maybe start a new sketch book of Zentangles. You are so artistic.

You've given yourself reasonable goals. I have confidence that you will get back on track! The New Year sets up a clean slate with a Start Line. Go!
XO

You're the best, moonlight! pfft mood swings much? I was feeling pretty low and very down on myself for a while, but seriously the FB post in Well Your World...a McDougaller in her late 60's who dropped 70 lbs in a little over a year. What a difference that made. My mindset went from glum and blue to hopeful in one second.

Zentangle will definitely get me through some of this stuff. There will be withdrawals for sure and I'll want some strategies in place. But I feel a lot more capable of actually doing this, than I did a couple of hours ago.

Thanks for your encouragement! ((((Moonlight))))

[Morris]

Frustrated because I woke up at 3:43 and never did get back to sleep.

I find it interesting that this link was in my recommended youtube videos and then I read you post:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cJVqRUrxok

So, I thought I'd share

[bunsofaluminum]

Frustrated because I woke up at 3:43 and never did get back to sleep.

I find it interesting that this link was in my recommended youtube videos and then I read you post:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cJVqRUrxok

So, I thought I'd share

Thanks Nancy,

I remember reading somewhere that the hour when you wake up in the night tells you what your issues are. I don't remember any others, but the 3 o'clock hour I do remember, was spiritual concerns. If you wake in the 3:00 a.m. hour, spend some time talking to God, center yourself, etc. I like what the video says about getting into YOUR flow when you wake up at this time. Follow your calling during this hour. I would rather not be in the rhythm of the planet if it means waking up every morning at that time...but that is actually what's currently happening with me. I always turn over and see the time around 3:30-3:40. Sometimes I fall back asleep and sometimes I lay awake for a while before getting up.

So, I joined the Yoga with Adriene 30 day Yoga journey Home. Yesterday I did her "Day Zero" (a short sit with her talking about what is coming in this 30 day commitment) and then I found a 20 minute practice from Adriene...I think it was the final practice from the 30 2018 yoga journey. It was a pretty simple practice, but it pushed me physically. And today I did Day 1 which also kicked my butt, even though there was nothing physically strenuous about it. I can feel it in my abs and hips. At one point, coming up to mountain from Standing Forward Fold, it felt like I was ascending. My feet were far below, and my head was up high. It was strange and cool. I'm excited to be following this journey.

Eating. It turns out, I didn't go back to normal on Jan 1 because...day off, big fat feast that Wylie made. Etc. So today IS my first day of 100% Unprocessed January. I grabbed hummus from the fridge and realized on my way to work...added oil. So I'll be bringing that stuff back home without eating it.

A word about Broccoli Oats. It's just like making oatmeal from old fashioned rolled oats, only you add as much broccoli to the bowl as you can (adding veggies for breakfast, because Chef AJ recommends 1 lb of veggies for brekkie, to speed up weight loss) I just put everything in a bowl together, a light sprinkle of salt, and cook for however long it takes. Usually 2:30 and stir, then 2:00. The oatmeal cooks gloppy the way I like it, and the broccoli adds more ballast to possibly keep me from feeling hungry until closer to lunchtime.

I am almost done with the training for my part time job. Today I'll finish up with the end review/quiz and the final test, and they'll put me on the floor for 30 minutes, to reacquaint me with the screen while on calls. Tomorrow is my long day...get this. My FT job is from 7:00 to 4:00 and my PT shift starts at 4:30 to 9:30. IOW, I'll be leaving my house at about 6;30 am and not getting home until about 9:45. This means packing food for two meals, and making sure my brekkie stuff is stocked at my FT desk. Sat and Sun won't be as brutal, with my shift being 3pm to 8pm. I think the main thing at the PT job will be getting used to how to do things. What do I click on to clock in? How do I access the screen for captioning? Because I have done it before, and I worked there for five years, it'll come back to be really fast and I'll be set. Kind of excited to get paying down on my debts, and building my savings. Not super excited about having zero full days off, but having the early mornings to myself on Sat and Sun will be wonderful.

To Do:
GROCERIES
buy a 10# of potatoes
get some veggie sticks/finger foods for light dinner at PT job evening
leafy greens

COOKING
bake 10# of potatoes
make not-chicken-soup
make lentil stew

There we go. Gonna get er done.

My goals for January are very simple. Zero processed/zero above 600 calorie density. Yoga every morning for 30 days.

A sub goal, if you will...eat some raw veggies every day (Doug Lisle says "salad") so, included in my food goal is a goal for daily raw vegs. It might be salad, but probably not. More likely, it will be veggie stix and bean dip or hummus made at home to keep the oil out. Also, I want to include leafy greens in my meals. Protect the Telomeres!

I miss chocolate. dangit, chocolate! Why are you so craveable?

[AnnetteW]

Those sounds like doable goals, concentrating on caloric density and yoga.

[moonlight]

A word about Broccoli Oats. It's just like making oatmeal from old fashioned rolled oats, only you add as much broccoli to the bowl as you can (adding veggies for breakfast, because Chef AJ recommends 1 lb of veggies for brekkie, to speed up weight loss) I just put everything in a bowl together, a light sprinkle of salt, and cook for however long it takes. Usually 2:30 and stir, then 2:00. The oatmeal cooks gloppy the way I like it, and the broccoli adds more ballast to possibly keep me from feeling hungry until closer to lunchtime.

I'm going to try broccoli and oatmeal for my morning meal. Thanks for sharing!

I am almost done with the training for my part time job. Today I'll finish up with the end review/quiz and the final test, and they'll put me on the floor for 30 minutes, to reacquaint me with the screen while on calls. Tomorrow is my long day...get this. My FT job is from 7:00 to 4:00 and my PT shift starts at 4:30 to 9:30. IOW, I'll be leaving my house at about 6;30 am and not getting home until about 9:45. This means packing food for two meals, and making sure my brekkie stuff is stocked at my FT desk. Sat and Sun won't be as brutal, with my shift being 3pm to 8pm. I think the main thing at the PT job will be getting used to how to do things. What do I click on to clock in? How do I access the screen for captioning? Because I have done it before, and I worked there for five years, it'll come back to be really fast and I'll be set. Kind of excited to get paying down on my debts, and building my savings. Not super excited about having zero full days off, but having the early mornings to myself on Sat and Sun will be wonderful.

Congratulations on landing the PT job! It will feel so good when the money comes in to pay off lingering bills. Sometimes I've worked 3 jobs just to stash away the money. Also, now my main job is itinerate. I travel from place to place during the day so no refrigerator to plop food in for lunch. I wanted to give you a suggestion about organizing food to take for the day. I often use 3 thermos containers. One I will put in the refrigerator the night before, open, so it can get cold. I put some sort of salad in it. The other two I use for hot foods. I preheat the containers with hot water before I add hot soup/stew or some kind of casserole. Two of my containers have a very wide opening so it is easy to eat from them. If all the food is ready to go in the refrigerator, zapping the food in the microwave before filling the containers doesn't take long. Add a couple of pieces of fruit and I have two meals and snacks. This might be too elaborate for you and you may have access to a kitchen at work. I just thought I'd mention my system.

Good luck with your goals!!

[bunsofaluminum]

Hi Moonlight!

Hope you enjoy the broccoli oats. It's a good way to get greens in first thing in the day. Thanks for the suggestions about meals away from home. Fridays are going to be where I need this kind of thing the most, because all three meals will be eaten away from home. At my FT job I have my own desk and keep a small container of oatmeal there, and big bags of frozen broccoli in the freezer. I currently have enough to get me through a couple weeks of breakfasts. Then, I pack a lunch which I can heat in the microwave in the break room. A wide mouth Thermos is a fantastic idea for Fridays. It's soup season, but I have nothing that I can carry it in without leakage. For today, I brought baked potatoes which are quick, easy to eat out of hand, and require no refrigeration to speak of... and there's raw veggies in the fridge at the PT job (Thankfully, there are microwaves and refrigerators there)

I'll be okay. I'm relearning how to eat Simple, Humble Food

~~~

Last night coming home after finishing training and spending 30 minutes on live calls...going back to a job that I did for five years, and finding that there are a few people still there that I remember from my tenure with them. I was feeling kind of happy to be there...and it took me a long time to wind down last night. I started a 5# bag of potatoes baking then took a shower and sat up until they were done, then hit the hay at 9:30...and laid awake with all these thoughts in my head about this stuff, unable to drop off. I know I saw the time at 10:33. Then woke up at 4:45 this morning so it is what it is. Got started doing yoga and could not keep up. I hurt my knees...

OMG I almost forgot. I fell down the other day! Turned my ankle on a piece of garden bark and did a face plant. Knees, hands, and my upper lip, of all things. And my ankle didn't even FREAKING hurt! Well, later in the day I felt it in my boobs and my chin. So yeah, I pretty much did a belly flop on the driveway and this morning my knees just couldn't do any of the yoga. Table pose of course hurt. Down dog was rough on my foot (even though turning it didn't cause pain, my ankle is weak and gets hurt easily with various placements in yoga poses) Plank was impossible because I use my knees for that one...etc.

I ended up crying because I couldn't do the Day 2 from Yoga With Adriene 30 Day Journey. I got about halfway through and was just standing there watching and crying. I'm so tired of my body. Even simple self-care things like washing my hair...that takes too dang long! ... putting lotion on after a shower, what a burden. Two minutes brushing my teeth? Forget it. I'll give it 30 seconds. Not that I'm not doing these things, it's just a fight with myself to DO them. And I've been this way for a few weeks. Like...why do I have to bother with doing these things for my body? So that was part of it, plus my fat apron prevented me from getting into the lunge properly, plus my hurt knees, plus sleep deprivation.

Well I planned ahead, let me just say. A few days ago I found some chair yoga videos on YouTube and put them in my yoga favorites watchlist, so I could find them easily, and I found one, positioned a chair, and did an easy flow chair routine focused on the breath and stretches. I didn't finish the Adriene practice, but I DID do yoga. It didn't really help my mood, but I'm glad I did it.

Here's to a long work day... going to find my peace and get er done.

[Shmookitty]

Good for you for adapting your yoga routine! That shows strength!

And table pose is evil any day, not just when your knees hurt.

[bunsofaluminum]

Thanks, Shmookitty I think it’s going to help me break free of the must do’s to modify my yoga that deeply. The main thing is to get on the mat. I’m not going to get stressed about how perfectly I follow a practice.

So, I stepped on the scale today just for fun and have gained 3 pounds. Therefore I won’t be going near the scale in January again. I don’t really care anyway. I do have a good mindset about staying strictly compliant so I’m going to flow with that and enjoy the ride. Internally, physically I feel pretty good. That is to say, my organs feel sort of light and healthy if you will. That’s pretty weird, thinking about your organs. However, I do think that following the McDougall plan starts healing your digestive tract first, right? Food is where our innards meet the environment. Get the gut healed and the gut is master of the immune system and so many other things. Once the intestines are healthy, so much else will fall into place. I just need to be patient. I’ve been living in the pleasure trap lately. It might take a while, but I have to trust that my body will respond as it has in the past by being healthier and by dropping fat.

Still feeling pretty tired of my body. Fighting depression, that’s all. It’s that seasonal affective disorder a little bit, and it’s the high fat high sugar foods that I consumed in the last half of the month of December, and it’s just my financial situation where I’m working full-time and have a part-time job just to cover my bills. I’m a little bit exhausted.

OK… Time to get on the mat. I woke up early, and decided to try posting something here from my phone and look at this! I did it.

[bunsofaluminum]

This morning I did a very VERY minor yoga practice involving some straight forward folds, some shoulder range of motion stuff, some dragon breath chair pose, and a stress relief motion that Adriene calls Knocking on Heaven's Door...which is really wobbly arms, swinging back and forth at the torso and just letting the arms swing around your body. It took about 10 minutes and that was all I wanted. I didn't *want* to get on the mat at all, but am determined to do yoga every morning, and I did, and that's that. I'm not feeling strong in my body right now, and not really liking my body much, so I'd rather do this extremely small yoga than skip it all together and feed this kind of down feeling.

Food is going along nicely. I fought off cravings for some Triscuit crackers today, and did not have chocolate. I keep going back to that FB post, a woman in her late 60's who ate MWL for 66 weeks and lost 70 lbs. She did it without exercise, to see if Dr. M's word about "it's the food" was correct or not. Though I do want to be disciplined enough to get on the mat every morning, I consider getting everything under control in the food department by far the most important.

[Shmookitty]

Good for you for getting on the mat even when you didn't feel like it! WOO HOO!

If you have a Whole Foods by you, try their Woven Wheats. They are like Triscuits but are oil-free. I keep them in the house and really like them. You can also order them on Amazon if you don't have a WF. They're cheap, only $2.79 a box.