Month: October 2013 (Page 1 of 2)

Could you all post the sizes of your various children, so I can use that information for Christmas clothes shopping?  Maybe your sizes, too, in case I run into something cute that I think you could use. If you post them as a reply here, everyone can just get the information for everyone else from here, too.

We went over to Shakopee yesterday to see the new house and for Dad to help Tim put the glass door on the music studio. I got to take the kids to the park while the guys were working and Erica was sorting and arranging Chloe’s room for her.

The house is very nice. Lots and lots of space with the huge basement. I love the colors and the finishes and so on. Very clean and up-t0-date. Very unlike any house we ever buy! It is kind of a mess, although they got an enormous amount of putting away done before we arrived – there weren’t hardly any boxes sitting around in the way. Just a few by the hutch in the living room and in corners here and there.  They must have been working like crazy!

Here are a couple of the pictures that turned out okay.The first is of the kitchen – I know it is messy, but doesn’t it look like they have been living there a while, instead of just one day? The bottom one is of the tent we set up in the closet under the stairs. Quite cozy, but Chloe has to locate her flashlight, so she can turn the closet light off and have it dark in the tent!

For the rest, you will have to wait until Erica posts pictures when everything is cleaned up!

So I have been “not dieting” for about three weeks now. And I think I hit a milestone today. I have been basically allowing myself to eat what I want and I haven’t gained any weight from one week to the next. But I am still a lot heavier than I want to be. Today I just felt that it would be okay to start using more control on my eating. I think it took these three weeks for me to trust myself that I’m not going to deprive myself. But I also know that not eating sweets is a healthier way to live. And now I think I’ll be more able to see that saying no to a sweet isn’t really depriving myself. I can see that it is going to be a slow process and I can honestly say that I’m still motivated by the sight of things, whether they are things I should eat or not.  I ate quite a few pieces of candy that I’d “hidden” in the glove box of Don’s car when I was driving back from the Country Lane Pantry today. I’m not sure what’s up with that, since I’d just decided I was going to try to cut back on sweets. It’s like one half of myself is still at war with the other half. But it’s okay. I’m not beating myself up about it. I’m able to just take a step back and say “I wonder why I did that.”

Tonight was the first concert of the year – the middle school choir and band concert. It is 36 degrees and rather nippy out. But nothing like about 5 years ago when we had a horrible snowstorm on the evening of the middle school fall concert and some people (like Jamison Wendlandt) couldn’t make it up to Chetek for the concert because the roads were so bad. So I’m not complaining about our weather this year! I sure wish we’d have a sunny day, though. Awful lot of gloom lately.

We’ve been diligently working on 117 East North St. in New Auburn. I just haven’t mentioned it for a while. We have the south room – living room – all wired and sheetrocked and ready to mud and paint. I think the laundry room is totally done, too. So we have been working on what was going to be my piano room and is now planned as the dining room. We decided to take out the arch and totally strip the wall between that room and the kitchen. So that is done. We made a larger, but squared-off, opening between the rooms, and are just finishing getting the header in. It is complicated by the fact that this was once an exterior wall, so is a bit thicker than normal, and the fact that the adjoining wall to the east is not nearly straight up and down. We can’t change the whole wall, so we are trying to gently transition from straight at the opening (because crooked would be obvious there), to the way it is, before you get to the entryway door opening.  Plus there was wiring in that section of wall we removed, so Dad has had to deal with that, too.

Once we get that corner done, we just have to sheetrock the north wall and the opening to the front entryway, get the heat runs under the floor for that room and the living room, make sure all the electrical is pulled to the room directly above (I think it already is), and put down the plywood on the floors. Then it is mud, paint and carpet and the house is done. (I think..) We’re definitely getting there!

Last Saturday was my first 4 mile run/walk, but I didn’t time it. I just wanted to see if I could go that far. Today I timed it and measured it (on MapMyWalk). It was actually 4.11 miles and I did it in 53 minutes. I don’t think that is too bad for an overweight 59 year old woman. I remember doing the Fishy Four in around 52 minutes years and years ago.

Speaking of overweight, at my weekly weigh in yesterday, I was a pound lower than last week, and I didn’t “diet” at all.  We actually ate very good this week, as we are using up all the stuff in the freezers.  I’m not doing so hot on my filling the plate at the counter and not having seconds. Some days, I’m perfect, but other days, I rather forget and take all the food to the table, and end up nibbling on this or that while we are talking. But at least I’m working on it and have to assess each day how I did that day.

It has needed doing for months – dare I say years? I emptied out both freezers and threw away everything that we are obviously not going to eat, because it has been in there for years and organized the remaining stuff, writing down what I have and where it can be found. It was a very satisfying project. I ended up with an entire kitchen garbage bag full of throwaway stuff, but also enough meat and fish to plan 5 weeks of meals for the two of us without having to shop at all. Cool.

I also finished painting the decks. Today I did the front deck. The new steps didn’t match the rest, so I repainted it all to match the steps. It looks oh-so-nice. 🙂

Tomorrow we show 1208 Sexton to about 10 couples/families between 5:00 and 6:00, then try to decide who to rent it to. I hate having to disappoint so many people, but we only need one renter. We will probably keep some names for this place once we move, but we really don’t know when that will be. Now we’ve decided to sell the Ladysmith house, partly because when we live in Prescott, it will be too far away to take care of, and partly to get money for a down payment. First we are offering it to the renter who has been there the longest. If he isn’t interested, then we offer it to the other renter. After that, we’ll list it on Craig’s List. Then a realtor, if need be.

After I read the book, “Mindless Eating,” I made a chart of three things that I was going to work on that month. I ended up changing one of them halfway through, because there wasn’t any opportunity to do the other. Anyway, this is my report. After the month, I have the not weighing every day down just fine. I weigh once a week and am okay, sort of, with that. So far, no big surprises.  The other one that was fairly easy was not taking my CLA with an exercise bar, but rather just in capsules. I did have two boxes of bars left, though, so I do allow myself the CLA bar on Saturday morning before my longest workout, seeing as it is my only long before-breakfast workout. So those two are off the list.

I have also gotten pretty much in the habit of not putting food on the table, but rather filling my plate at the counter, then not going back for seconds, unless the seconds were planned. Like last night, only half the rice was warmed up, so I had half my left over Chinese on that, then went back for the rest when the second bowl of rice was warm. I don’t do that one 100%, though, so I’m leaving it on the list for this month.

One thing that I added for the coming month is not eating while I’m reading or watching t.v. in the living room. I’m still allowing myself to read when I’m eating in the kitchen or dining room during meals I eat by myself. But no mindless eating of snack foods while I’m preoccupied with entertainment.

And the other thing is to pray about all things. This includes my eating for the day. I’ve gotten away from daily prayer (other than spur of the moment prayer for someone who comes to mind.) But there are a lot of things in my life that I need to be praying about and asking God’s help and guidance. Hopefully after a month it will be a habit again.

These are three things I know I can do and when they become habits I will be closer to having my weight under my control without feeling deprived or frustrated.

So I’m cruising along feeling pretty good about my new way of looking at food when I notice that I’ve been eating really a lot of sweets the past several days. And I wonder what’s up with that?

But that has always been my reaction to stress and I’ve been stressed lately with two houses up for rent and people calling about both and trying to line up Tony to show the one and get in touch with Tricia to see when we can show the other, etc. etc.

But today I realized that these are habits that it took me a long time to establish and I will need to really concentrate on changing the habits. It isn’t so much about dieting (which it isn’t at all) or about depriving myself of what I want (because I really don’t want the second, third, fourth, or fifth one). It is more about becoming aware of when I’m using food for something other than enjoyment or alleviating hunger. I’m not sure how I will become more aware. I think it will just come in time. I’m hoping so, anyway. Meanwhile, I’m trying not to beat myself up about it. And I’m certainly not responding as I have in the past by restricting myself more today in response to overeating yesterday. That would only add to the stress that is still here, and undoubtedly end in another binge today.

So today when I wanted chocolate, I walked over to the drug store and bought one of my favorite Russell Stover’s mints and sat on the deck in the sun and enjoyed it. It was great!

Back to my series.

While giving up dieting is a good idea, giving up sensible eating, obviously, is not. But the goal is not so much to curtail your intake as it is to keep your appetite under control so that you don’t feel like eating so much.

One way that has been endorsed by many is to drink lots of water. Now, while water is necessary for life and good health, drinking water to mask hunger isn’t such a good idea. The effect will only last a short while, until it empties out of your stomach, and then you will be back to being hungry again.  Additionally, when you respond to hunger with water, it is not really appropriate. Water is for thirst and food is for hunger and mixing things up like this is one thing that makes dieting so hard.

So, let’s say you are hungry. What do you eat? As you probably know, carbohydrates are digested quickly and can be used right away for energy. Unfortunately, they burn quickly and the energy level plummets. Protein digests slowly, but doesn’t provide energy so much as it provides muscle repair. It turns out, though, that if you eat them together, so they are mixed up in your stomach, the whole mess will digest slowly like the protein, but still provide energy from the carbohydrates. And this energy will be longer lasting. Sounds like what we are looking for, right? The suggestion is to eat between 1/4 and 1/3 protein and 2/3 to 3/4 carbohydrate with each meal or snack. And it even helps if you have the protein first, so it is already in the stomach, slowing down the digestion, before you send the carbohydrates down.

The best carbs, of course, are the ones that come from natural sources – fruits, vegetables, whole grains. And if you want to get energy from them, they can’t be really low calorie vegetables like salad vegetables. These have a place in filling out a meal, but you want to be sure to eat carbs that have some calories, because this is where the energy comes from. Just steer clear of the empty carbs – we all know what they are – when you need an energy boost!