Baby steps day 12 - babying myself

Sunday, December 12, 2010

The good news is that I have a Very Very Clean House

The not so good news is that I didn't earn 3 points yesterday. And once again, it was a matter of forgetting. There's a cogent point that's trying to worm its way into my consciousness ... and the point is ... consciousness! I go around unconscious too much of the time. Here's how it plays out:

1. Deep clean the house - that's my exercise for today ___X___
2. the water and 5 f&V thing ___0___
3. S L O W dining tonight because dinner is going to be steak. I want to really enjoy my healthy 4 oz portion - every single bite. Cause I'm not getting one bite more. ___X___

Score 33.5 or 2 hours and 48 minutes.

It also means this is day 2 of a 10 day streak. 8 more days and I get an extra 15 minutes.

As for the water and 5 F&V ... I just forgot to drink water - and forgot to eat vegetables and fruit. I got busy. I dashed here and there and at the grocery store I succumbed to the temptation of snack crackers. A new brand. The promise of cheese flavor. They weren't even that good. I threw the box away half way home because I realized I was ruining my appetite for the marvelous steak dinner I'd planned for later. Unconsciousness - I really have to work on that.

For today I'm going to do some special Pay Attention Consciousness Training.

1. FIVE times today, at 10, Noon, 3 p.m. and during dinner and at bedtime, do a "How am I feeling?" assessment. How is my body feeling, how hungry am I? do my muscles feel comfortable? Am I thirsty? Is anything bothering me?
2. the Water, Fruits and Vegetables thing
3. Take a NAP! (I've been skimping a bit with sleep. Not smart)
4. tap into my right brain with some left hand writing

December has been a juggernaut month so far, with work, parties, gatherings, and powerful emotional events. I love it that way, too, but I believe the universe wants me to have a slow down day and it's sent me

RAIN

It's going to rain all day today. seepy slow long drizzly rain - which the ground needs right now - and which induces me to slow down, take it easy and recharge my holiday batteries. I have 4 Christmas movies to watch, 3 dogs, 2 knitting projects and 1 husband to cuddle up with. Yup. sounds like a baby myself day to me.

Happy Sunday to you all.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

SHEILA1505 12/12/2010 7:57AM

I don't know if it will help but I have a 500ml glass that I use to make sure I drink my water - I take it wherever I go in the house and drink from it all the time. I mark off my daily chart every time I empty it and at 3p.m I have drunk more than 2litres - that's 72oz - and plenty more to go! Admittedly it is warm here but I manage this in the winter too Good luck with clocking up those minutes! Hugs Report Inappropriate Comment

GETBACKUPAGAIN 12/12/2010 7:38AM

Love your attitude! Report Inappropriate Comment

MSLZZY 12/12/2010 7:20AM

I have to have my water daily-it's such a habit. And f/veggies? My body needs and craves them. Keep working on it and keep adding those minutes up to LOTS of free time! HUGS! Report Inappropriate Comment

SUNRISE14 12/12/2010 7:17AM

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Baby steps day 12 - Perfect holiday gathering

Saturday, December 11, 2010

One of the best reason's for setting little daily goals down in writing is that now and then, you do them all! Wow! Of course, it helps if they are BABY goals, but I have confidence in their cumulative effect.

1. eat a healthy breakfast ___X___
2. call both my parents and tell them how much I love them ___0___
3. healthy snacks and water in the car because we are off to the city for a family gathering ___X___
4. Journal my eating ___x___
5. Walk for hours around the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Festival of Lights tonight. ___X___

That's 4 points. I did call Daddy but didn't get an opportunity to call mama - I'll do so today.

Score 32.5 points - 2 hours and 40 minutes of time off in January!!

For today the plan is:

1. Deep clean the house - that's my exercise for today
2. the water and 5 f&V thing
3. S L O W dining tonight because dinner is going to be steak. I want to really enjoy my healthy 4 oz portion - every single bite. Cause I'm not getting one bite more.

I'm proud of my healthy eating yesterday and I though I was on my feet, walking for about 6 hours, my Skechers Shape-up shoes were the perfect foot support for my tender ankle. I bought those shoes last summer because I suspected the flex caused by the curved sole would help with my wanting-to-slip disc. It does, but the built up arch support had a powerfully comforting impact on strained tendons around my ankle. Good shoes - but don't expect that you'll become Imam by wearing them (or whoever is the latest super-model)

Last night I gathered with 22 of my all time favorite friends and family to tour the Lewis Ginter botanical garden's festival of lights; acres of whimsical beautiful garden themed lights, glass houses filled with 30 foot trees, orchids in full bloom, paperwhites, poinsettias, libraries full of doll houses, conference rooms filled with animated model trains, all canopied with frosty stars in a black sky. Sisters, beloved cousins, close friends, all of us caroling along the paths, bursting into song because, in the dark ... nobody knows who's making all that noise.

right now, my heart is so full of Christmas spirit, love for mankind, joy, thankfulness, and bliss, I ought to be bottled and given away on street corners. sometimes, we're lucky enough to have a Perfect Holiday Gathering. Last night was my turn. I hope yours comes soon.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

MSLZZY 12/11/2010 8:13AM

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SHEILA1505 12/11/2010 7:49AM

Sounds like a wonderful way to spend the evening - apart from all that cold, of course! Hope our family is going to go to Carols by Candlelight in the Botanical Gardens this year - we all picnic first but don't have to bundle up like you do :)) Hugs Report Inappropriate Comment

Baby steps day 11 - Cornbread goeth before a fall

Friday, December 10, 2010

You aren't going to believe this! Or, maybe you will... but it's SO lowering ... it lead to a tumble.

first off, My Bad

1. NO rolls OR bread at lunch with my cousin period! she's my bread temptress and I eat enough bread as it is. ___-X___
2. 30 minutes of fast walking at the gym after work ___0___
3. 5 fruits and vegetables ___x___

Score for yesterday BIG FAT ZERO

so, first off, the biggest My Bad. After all my highfalutten big talk, the delicious winter salad set before me at the restaurant lunch with my beloved cousin came with CORNBREAD!!

If there is anything besides cheese that I have a weakness for it's cornbread. golden, crunchy fragrant cornbread. Corn. the sweetest of the grains. I would forgo gooey chocolate desert for one square of buttery cornbread. And this restaurant that never serves bread with it's meals, plunked down a yellow block of yumminess right in front of my face! That I paid for!!

And I lied to myself saying "Oh. Well. I meant no ADDITIONAL bread, not something that came with the meal". What a big fat goofy whopper THAT was.

And perhaps, deep inside, the rebellious little snot of a wild child said "don't worry, you'll earn at least one point today because you are getting your 5 fruits and vegetables and you'll exercise after work.

Only NOT

Because as I was walking out to my car, preparatory to going to the gym, I twisted my ankle and crashed to the ground. It isn't a bad sprain, just a wrench, but it's too tender to walk on. I know that from past experience. I knew I would have to go home, put it up on the couch and wrap it in ice. It's still tender today and may put paid to my planned christmas shopping trip. But it won't really lay me up for long.

but dang. what a popped balloon yesterday turned out to be.

Ah well. there are Other Balloons and they shan't all pop.

So. what's the plan for today?

1. eat a healthy breakfast
2. call both my parents and tell them how much I love them
3. healthy snacks and water in the car because we are off to the city for a family gathering
4. Journal my eating
5. Walk for hours around the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Festival of Lights tonight.

that #2 is to remind myself that a healthy lifestyle isn't just about me ... and loving is always good for us.

Thank Goodness It's Friday, hmmm? hugs to you all.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

SHEILA1505 12/10/2010 10:59AM

Hope you manage your walk around the pretty lights - look after yourself Hugs Report Inappropriate Comment

JLITT62 12/10/2010 8:29AM

Sorry about the ankle AND the cornbread! Life is just cruel sometimes. Altho personally I'd pass up cornbread in a heartbeat for a gooey chocolate dessert. Then again, I already had chocolate waffles (home made) for breakfast. But at least I planned for that. Report Inappropriate Comment

MSLZZY 12/10/2010 7:41AM

Sorry about the ankle! Just get back on track and the points will add up again! HUGS! Report Inappropriate Comment

Baby steps day 10 - mid-point mileposts

Thursday, December 09, 2010

Oh Sheila! Thank you for a fantastic suggestion! Mini-bonuses for making my way along the baby step process!! What a fabulous idea - and how apropriate that today is I'm reporting about day 10. I believe that for every 10 day streak of making at least one point I can add another 15 minutes to my total time off. It will work like this:

1. swim 30 minutes after work ___X___
2. drink extra water all day ... 8 glasses before I go home. I'm going to have a salty dinner tonight and I want to be well flushed out ___-X___ (can you believe it? I forgot!)
3. 5 fruits and vegetables ___X___

Today's score: 1
I earned 2 points for steps 1 and 3, but I have to take away one point for not even trying to do step 2. If I'd remembered, tried and failed, the score would have been zero but if I don't even try at all, I have to subtract a point from the total.

BUT since I have earned at least 1 point every day for the past 10 days - I get the bonus.

SO

Score - 25.5
+
Bonus score - 3
---------------------------
Total Score = 28.5 or 2 hours and 23 minutes of Time Off In January!!!! Yippeee

It has been about 10 degrees colder this month than usual - with days in the 40's and nights in the low 20's. And it's often been windy, so what ever cold there is has blown right through you. Dark, cold, windy evenings are not conducive to going to a swimming pool and it was especially hard for me to go last night. When my car leaves the library parking lot I turn right to go home and left to go to the gym and man I could feel the magnetic tug on the steering wheel. There was a LOT of pull to go home and snuggle cozily into my cocoon like house.

Interestingly enough, it was the thought of reporting here that I'd blown off my swimming that enabled me to turn to the left. The little imp on my shoulder groused all the way through town (my town is VERY small - it's maybe 30 blocks from the library to the gym - and after that there's only a Walmart and a Lowes and you're out in the country again). But once I'd turned left, there was no turning back till I was finished with my swim.

and wasn't it nice that the water was only cool, not frigid? 30 minutes later I had forgotten I'd ever thought about skipping the gym. good thing, too, since I completely forgot about drinking extra water, because I knew I was having ham for dinner - and the extra salt would need extra flushing. I just... forgot. so today I'll jot down my baby steps on a little card to carry around with me. No excuses today. I want to earn the full 15 minutes today!

So what are today's baby steps?

1. NO rolls OR bread at lunch with my cousin period! she's my bread temptress and I eat enough bread as it is.
2. 30 minutes of fast walking at the gym after work
3. 5 fruits and vegetables

Happy Thursday to you all!

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

JLITT62 12/9/2010 6:25PM

Now imagine it's in the teens when you go swimming. And you have to leave your nice, cozy, already warm home. That's me tonight, but I'm gonna do it -- and am thankful I read your blog. I planned to do it before that, but you gave me that extra nudge. Report Inappropriate Comment

MSLZZY 12/9/2010 8:02AM

Go for it! HUGS! Report Inappropriate Comment

SHEILA1505 12/9/2010 6:56AM

:)) I'm delighted that my bonus idea has given you an extra 15minutes! We'll get you that day to yourself before you know it! BTW - I have no idea how I find all the minutes on my fitness tracker - sometimes I think they double or treble them - but then I have been doing back to back classes for a month or so to get rid of the post-travels muffin-top - Yay! Gone, but in the habit now of doing the classes so I'll carry on - also dancing ends today and tomorrow :(( so I'll have to find substitutes for those hours. Maybe they'll open a Salsa club near me or bring Zumba to my gym?? And Father Christmas's Elves are real, too aren't they? Hugs Report Inappropriate Comment

Baby steps day 9 - Who was I kidding?

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

I believe somewhere in November I boastfully said I could coast on into Christmas. I mean.... who was I kidding? What planet did I think I was on? And where is my easy ride into an instantly prepared tinseled holiday wonderland? When did I think it all just appeared magically?

Not, mind you, that I am no't having fun right now, but goodness! I am one heck of a lot busier than I intended to be. And there's nothing for it but to just keep on pluggin' on.

so - how did I do yesterday? well. I went 4 for 4!

1. 30 miinutes fast walking at the gym ___X__
2. pack lunch AND snacks just in case. I may be going out with a girlfriend but just in case... ___X___
3. 8 glasses of water ___X___
4. (so I can catch up to my goal) 5 fruits and vegetables ___X___

Score 24.5 ... 2 hours and 3 minutes! If that were all I earned it would mean I could leave work at 3 o'clock one day. But I'm aiming for that all day treat and I really am thinking of another spa day like I had last June.

The next big family party is coming up on Friday and this is NOT a foodie party. Cousins and friends are gathering at a beautiful botanical garden in Richmond to traipse around the whimsically lighted plantings, peek into the Victorian conservatory filled with 30 foot Christmas trees, orchids and elf houses, sip hot chocolate around a fire pit and watch the model trains in action. Temperatures are promising to be in the low 30's and I have made pages and pages of Christmas carol lyrics in large type for us to sing from in the dim colored night air. Nobody is hosting this family gathering but I've been the coordinator. Just thinking about it makes me happy. And what will I remember when we gather in the cafeteria for pre-ambulatory meal? SOUP! (chanting soup soup soup so I don't forget)

But for today what shall I do?

1. swim 30 minutes after work
2. drink extra water all day ... 8 glasses before I go home. I'm going to have a salty dinner tonight and I want to be well flushed out
3. 5 fruits and vegetables

Stay warm ... or cool, you naughty Southern hemispherians

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

MSLZZY 12/8/2010 7:35AM

4 for 4! Report Inappropriate Comment

RWALTON730 12/8/2010 7:11AM

You are doing GREAT! I need your determination and perseverance. Report Inappropriate Comment

SHEILA1505 12/8/2010 7:08AM

OK Bess - trying to stay cool today - more than 32*C outdoors and about 24*C indoors - so laundering the family room curtains (drapes??) Also had an aqua class and that was cool, followed by hot and sweaty BodyWorx :)) doing well with your mini-goals and earning those precious minutes - don't forget when you have had a good long streak of good behavious, to give yourself a bonus :) And also don't forget at the end of the challenge to round up your time to the next hour :)) Big hugs Report Inappropriate Comment

BAYSIDE07 12/8/2010 6:55AM

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RIDLEYRIDER 12/8/2010 6:52AM

I admire your determination! Keep up the good work! Small successes will lead to the bigger ones! Report Inappropriate Comment