This is the time

felici said:
Yet, I did enjoy the swim! I was at the pool for 50 minutes and actually swimming for 40. I counted myself up to 20 laps - a definite improvement on the one or two I was doing when I started this. Also, I decided my laps of freestyle one way and backstroke on the way back, didn't seem like as much of a stretch as they did at first, and so tried for the first time to swim back freestyle as well. Then I realized that it wasn't that hard and so finished my last 5 laps as all freestyle. I did all those last laps on 4 strokes a breath though, the others I have up to 6 strokes a breath now. I have quite a clear memory of when I was reluctant to try for half a length of that stroke not many weeks ago. :)

I have very little idea about technique... I must google. Not tonight though. :)
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Hey, that's wonderful! Lucky you, it's so cold and dark up here in the Northern Hemisphere! Have a fantastic weekend!
 
Britta Bear said:
Oh we have lots of eucalyptus trees! In fact my tree house was built amongst two of them when I was little. I love the smell of them :)
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mmmm me too! That's one of the (many) reasons I love to walk over fallen leaves.

maleficent said:
I'm sure if you googled blue mountains you'd find lots of those trees :)

Do you ever see Koalas in the trees?
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Yes. There are lots of pics - I was thinking of something that showed some in blossom. There are lots of trees here though
View attachment 5312and here
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I also took this while I was there - clearly the location isn't typical!!
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There are no naturally occurring koalas over here in the west. I've only seen them in zoos. It would be a massive buzz for me to see one in the wild, on holiday. I was excited to see a lyre bird the day I took those pics.

Curvie Girlie said:
Hey, that's wonderful! Lucky you, it's so cold and dark up here in the Northern Hemisphere! Have a fantastic weekend!
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You too!

I feel for you about the cold and dark. Even here last year I found the change to darkness impacted a lot on my exercise.

I know some people use their lunch breaks to try and make the most of daylight. I did that years ago when it suited me, though now my lunch breaks are barely long enough for food! Maybe yours are like that too.



I weighed myself today, in a bit of trepidation after a bad week. Last weekend I rocked up ready for a good result and the scales had run out of battery – so no result! This week I was all excited when I saw a number starting with a 6 instead of a 7 ... but the scales said I weighed 61 kg. I weighed twice and got the same thing!! They must have been recalibrated wrongly when the guy came out to fix the battery. Now I'm worried he got it wrong by exactly 10 kg!!

Truth is I think I weigh about the same as I did, maybe up a little, but if so then not much. That's judging by my unreliable scales here... I say they are unreliable – they are unreliable with regard to any particular weigh in. However, I use them every morning, but without trying to remember them, recording them, or taking them to heart - but I would have noticed if they were bouncing around at 10 kg or so less!! I reckon they do give me a reasonable idea of what any trends are. No I didn't suddenly lose 9 kg (19lb)!! :D :D

Saturday December 14, 2007

Breakfast: 7:30 Toast (70-80) with plum and cinnamon jam.(15) A boiled egg.(70) Weetbix (107) with soy milk (122) and tinned peaches (50). C coffee with a little hilo milk. (5) Breakfast - 449 calories.

Lunch: 1:30 1 slice toasted wholemeal bread (70-80). 30 gm hard low fat cheese. (105) 1(40 gm) amarosa tomato (6), 1 medium mushroom (4). 1 small apricot (10). 2/3 medium peach (25). Small (½ C ?) bunch green seedless grapes (75). Green tea. Lunch - 305 calories.

Dinner: 4:45 Casserole. Probably 200 gm lean steak (300). 120 gm potato (110). Guessing a ¼ each of carrot (9), turnip (8), parsnip (15), broccoli (10), celery (1), onion (10). EVO oil (60). dinner – 523 calories.

Snacks:

~ 9:00pm Most of a packet of sugar free jols. 40- (50)
~ 12:00 mid Carton diet apricot yoghurt (84)
1:00 am 14 cherries (70)

Total for the day: 1481

So the concert is finally done. Tonight was heaps better for me than the dress rehearsal. I made sure I had everything ready earlier this time. That helped a lot. Also, I limited my caffeine earlier on, and tried to stop my body getting too tense (well tried!). We got there earlier than necessary (despite having to get past a Lionel Ritchie concert – what is it with these international acts trying to slow down my kid's concerts!), with everything we needed, and I was feeling good.

At first when we arrived there was a little confusion over how things had been rearranged, in order to help with the quick costume change we needed between the tap item and the hiphop, and I could then easily see how the environment could have turned into mega stress for me if I hadn't been feeling very sure of myself already. The same woman who was “helping” us the previous time was there giving a constant agitated stream of gratuitous advice, the main teacher didn't know, and the other one was negative! Good grief. I got the basic info and set up regardless, then we found out who was to be the supervisor for her for the evening - the one mum (not an enemy of mine, but still), the one mum there who I would never trust to care for my girl. So we looked at each other, the girl and I, and I said, “Do you want me to come down while you're getting ready for hip hop?” She had previously been pretty resistant to me interfering but “Yes”. And then I got us both out of there before the tension flying around in the talk could properly grab a hold.

Later, as the tap dance finished I was speeding up an aisle, bursting out the door, flying down a staircase, and across the foyer, down the passage to the change room, and unhooking, pulling down, slipping on, dragging up, holding ready, pulling on, pushing through, running with ... kissing goodbye and flying back the other way and into the theatre and into my seat, with 100% focus on speed!! And I suddenly thought, omg, imagine doing that a year ago!!! LOL.

The concert went well, the girl performed well, we all enjoyed it, my mum (who hadn't seen one of the girls dance concerts before), was impressed, the girl finally got a real trophy with her own name on it. And I didn't even consider eating badly. So now it's really holiday time, and a sleep in tomorrow. :D


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Night all !
 
Yes, I never was in a performing dance class, but my best friend was, and I was backstage once when we were 8, and YEAH! Talk about hustle and bustle!

The scales are unreliable! ;)

Dec 22nd is out Winter Solstice this year (6:08 am) and thus the days shall slowly get longer....opposite for you I believe. AT least it's been sunny!!!

Great pics!
 
Thanks, Val.

It's interesting the solstices don't match up better with the weather - maybe that's a good thing, because they're not equally awkward at the same time. For sure that winter solstice is something to look forward too!!

Here, right now it has been rainy and windy! But not cold. Well, not in the middle of the day anyway. So it looks like I am on track for a physically uncomfortable traditional Christmas street party tomorrow night. Time for some brandy I think. (Calories counted of course!!)

Breakfast: 10:30 Toast (70-80) with plum and cinnamon jam.(15) A boiled egg.(70) Weetbix (107) with soy milk (122) and tinned peaches (50). C coffee with a little hilo milk. (5) Breakfast - 449 calories.

Lunch: 2:30 6 Vive crackers. (157) 100 gm low fat cottage cheese. (91) 2 (80 gm)amarosa tomatoes (11), 1 medium mushroom (4), ~ 1/2 yellow capsicum (14). 2 small (30gm) apricots (20) 1 smallish (100gm) peach (35). Lunch - 332 calories.

Snack: Diet yoghurt (84)

Dinner: 7:35 pm Red Rooster skin free Portuguese chicken. Well skin free this may be, but having finally tracked down the calories, I see it is nowhere near as low cal as my own grilled chicken! 2 thighs and a drumstick (500). Small (80 gm) roast potato (64). Small serve of peas - (65) small piece roast pumpkin, small piece roast carrot probably (20) for the vege and (? < 50 for fat?) ~ 10 fresh snow peas (10) 2 medium mushrooms (8). 3 fresh dates (60) Dinner - 857 calories.

8:30 - Still hungry (?)

4 small rounds bread – 40 gm (80) Tspn honey (5 gm) (17) 7 cherries (35) Cup of coffee with milk (5)
total 125

For the day: 1824 calories.



Sometimes I really seem to need those end of meal drinks to give me the feeling that a meal is over. Like tonight I did. I'm honestly not sure whether I really should be finished eating or not sometimes. I think tonight that was because I let myself go too long without eating before dinner.

Exercise: Walked over an hour in the afternoon, in the bush and parks. I was out for about 2 hours but stopping a lot to look at things! A rainy day though. Not good for pics. These were the trees I was talking about earlier
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though there are also other kinds of gums flowering in people's gardens.

A nice thing about the extra walking I did this past year has been that it's increased my awareness of when some of these things happen. I've noticed that while most of the smaller flowers (herbs and shrubs) are finished blossoming by October, there are a lot of trees that are only getting started then. So there always seems to be something special happening - as far as I remember, some of the prettiest gums won't flower till autumn.
 
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Breakfast: 10:30 Toast (70-80) with plum and cinnamon jam.(15) A boiled egg.(70) Weetbix (107) with soy milk (122) and tinned peaches (50). C coffee with a little hilo milk. (5) Breakfast - 449 calories.

Cup of coffee with milk. (5)

Lunch: 2:30 4 small slices (~ 80 gm) wholemeal Vienna bread (170). 100 gm low fat cottage cheese. (91) 2 (80 gm) amarosa tomatoes (11), 2 small mushrooms (4), ~ 1/2 yellow capsicum (14). 1 small carrot (40), 7 snow peas (7).1 small (75gm) peach (26) 1 medium (100 gm) nectarine (38). Lunch - 332 calories.



Dinner: 7:30 pm Street party. 150 gm lean barbequed rump steak (225). 1 (80 gm) wholemeal bread roll (192) . ~ ¼ C tabbouleh salad(20). ~ ¼ C coleslaw (20). 1 cherry tomato (5), ¼ capsicum (7), a little zucchini and spinach. 1 mushroom (4). Slice avocado (~ 1/10 whole Hass) (25). 4 black kalamata olives, marinated (<10 cal prob). 6 caper berries ( 2). 3 small dried apricots (60), ~ 15 green seedless grapes(40-50). 50 ml brandy (2 brandy and diet dry ginger ales) (130)
Dinner - 750 calories.

10:00 200 gm diet apricot yoghurt (84) 3 almonds (21) 1 coffee with milk (5)

For the day: ~ 1640 calories.



Exercise: Scant 15 minutes local walk with dog.
(because even though I remembered that street party yesterday, today I forgot I had on until it was rather late - even though I still had to shop for it.)
 
Cannon 2006 said:
Ah, I still remember my first real trophy. Great pictures as usual :) You're doing a great job avoiding holiday temptation!
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I still have that chocolate marshmallow thingy I regret a little from the other night, but I have dodged a few things. I actually took macadamia nuts with me last night, but I didn't eat any. Just a couple wouldn't have been too bad calorie wise, but they so make me want to eat more!! (and the bag is still in the pantry - so I figured I'm better off just putting that on my xxxxx list this week.) It's one thing to have extra food on Christmas Day, but these extra food events are just going on and on right now!!

bmohearn said:
Yummy food like always. And what beautiful pictures!!
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Thank you!! I replaced the flowering gums today as the weather's a bit brighter and that makes them easier to see.


(? I left out half my post yesterday....)

It's a bit sad that I mucked up the exercise again Monday. I saw myself as officially on holiday with no reason not to go for it ... Probably why I missed it – because I saw my day as more flexible than usual ...

I just today decided that I would follow Blancita's example and post my exercise for the week in one go. Now I have mucked up the first day!! (Well I want to do them Saturday – Friday so I have already noted two – but this is the first day since I planned to do it!)

Anyway my thinking was that seeing it a week at a glance (and then a month, etc), would be useful in that I am still working towards the consistency I need. (ie “working towards” = teacher talk for “not achieved”). I remember when I first started here I found it useful to keep a tally in my signature of how many days I'd gone without missing each of my main goals. At some stage there was a change and it wouldn't fit any more, but I think this will help.

So I opened a new file and thought I'd put my “Reasons” to lose weight at the top of the page the way they are in my Word diary record, to prompt me to read them more often.

Which made me think that I'm disinclined to read them the way I'm supposed to. I'm thinking this is partly because I flick back and forth to that page repeatedly, and it's not practical to read them every time I open it, and partly because I find them unappealing despite having revised them once already. So here is Mark 3.

Old version
1. So that I have a minimal amount of fat in my body, only enough to be healthy.
2. So that I can be there when my daughter has a baby.
3. So that I stay alive.
4. So that I can walk and dance stand up straight when I am 70.
5. So that my slim fitting clothes sit flat over my tummy.
6. So that I am in a safe part of the kilos.
7. So that I feel I am responsible and in control of myself.

New Version


Reasons to lose weight


1. To get healthy hormones.
2. To be here for my kids – for ages and ages and ages.
3. To keep on walking and dancing and standing up straight – for ages and ages and ages .
4. To have flat sitting, slim fitting clothes.
5. So that I can breathe when I tie my shoes.
6. To be in control of my weight.

OMG I hate it when the typing program re-numbers my points.

I think what I'm aiming at with this calorie counting is to be able to deal with things better when I'm away from home and can't eat what I would normally. By away from home I mean holidays, parties, restaurant and take away meals. We won't go away like we did this year again, but most years we've usually had a shorter holiday closer to home, and I found the one we went on in 2006 messed up my food a lot too. Sometimes eating out is rare and not an issue but other times it can get a bit crazy. I need to have a clearer idea of what's in food that I don't routinely eat – or be able to make decent estimates.

When I'm away from home, on the one hand the issue is obvious overeating. The flipside issue for me is not eating (because I can't get what I normally eat), and getting so hungry that when I finally give up and eat something I'd normally avoid I go crazy - make bad choices and badly overindulge – while probably thinking “it's only for now”. No doubt there are other issues there too, but this is one ... Pursuing the numbers on the items that I found hard to work out has been a bit interesting – some much less than I thought and others wa-a-ay more.
 
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Hey Felici, it really sounds like you're doing some serious thinking on this stuff and that's a great start. Eventually, you'll get to the point where healthier behaviors become more natural to you.
 
I hope so. The way I had been eating earlier this year was healthy and had become natural. I would be happy enough with that but I think it will still be useful to learn more, so that I can be more flexible at times.

I see I'm nit picking somewhat, but I'm hoping that if I pay attention for a while I will start to better remember some of these things.


Breakfast: 10:30 Toast (70-80) with plum and cinnamon jam.(15) A boiled egg.(70) Weetbix (107) with soy milk (122) and tinned peaches (50). C coffee with a little hilo milk. (5) Breakfast - 449 calories.

Cup of coffee with milk. (5)

Lunch: 2:30 Open toasted sandwiches. 3 small slices (72 gm) wholemeal Vienna bread (158). 30 gm low fat hard cheese. (105) 3 cherry tomatoes (10), 1 med mushroom (4), ~ 1/4 yellow capsicum (7). 3 marinated black olives (6). Zucchini. (). Lunch - 290 calories.



Dinner: 8:50 pm Leftover lamb casserole : 90 gm lamb (117), 55 gm potato (37), 35 gm parsnip (12), 55 gm turnip (16). 1/3 medium carrot (5). 65 gm (cooked) grilled eggplant (10) with (45) cal worth of EVO oil, and 5 gm parmesan (19). 50 gm tinned red salmon (82), 5 gm tinned beetroot (2). 5 marinated black olives (9), 12 caper berries (4), 7 cherry tomatoes (15) , 5 snow peas (5), 4 baby carrots (20) and a partridge in a pear tree. Dinner – 398 calories

Snack 10:00 13 (35 gm) small green seedless grapes (20) 5 small dried apricots (100) 200gm diet apricot yoghurt (84) 7 almonds (49) 253

Total calories so far 1395

Exercise: 4:00 30 minute walk, in park nearby, with dog.

6:30 20 minute swim. Mainly freestyle.

I joined a health club this morning. I'm not quite ready to go for it, but the club I was most inclined to join, approached me with a better offer than they usually have so I thought I would do it now. It has a pool so I'll shift my swimming over there. The hours I can swim there are more flexible than at the pool I've been attending most recently (though there are still gaps in the weekend times that I wish weren't there). Also I get to access the spa and sauna ... which I do love. I have to resist that a bit I think. A spa is great for sore spots, but I know that most of my visits will have time pressure attached to them, and I need to put the time to more active use. I might take some classes. Probably just yoga for now.

I will spend some time over the next 3 weeks building up the strength in my knees (ie the urky massage and full on super slow stepups), before I meet with a trainer I think. I'd like to be a bit more confident that my joints are starting out as good as I'm able to get them, so that I can make the most of starting something new.

One thing I'm interested in getting from a trainer will be a body fat measure. (Not cos mine's good :(), but it is a major interest for me so it would be nice later on to have numbers for how it's going.
 
i understand your problem with the not having normal foods around and getting to hungry and eating the wrong ones, lol, ive had that problem a couple of times now :/

Good on you for the swimming, i always end up being bored within 15 mins of doing it (and yet i can ride a bike for 6 hours straight!)
 
Hey Felici,

Just popping by to say hi, and well done on the swimming, it's something I just can't do. I have a bad shoulder injury from years back and alot of nerve damage there, so I admire all swimmers out there.

A few years back I thought I would try and get a one on one coach to help me, and so went there, talked to the coach, told him my situation, and he said no probs, be here at 6am. Now this is a pool in the city and meant being organised for work the night before and leaving home by 5.15am. But I did it, and turned up. Said coach then told me to get into the pool with another squad of tri-athletes (i kid you not) and proceeded to yell at me (and everyone else) through one of those speaker things to get a move on blah blah. I got out of the pool and left. Yelling neveer works for me - especially at 6am.

Best wishes,
Frankie
 
Oh Frankie - that is a ba-a-ad story.

I don't want to wish you anything that will mess up your karma or mine, but it wouldn't be a bad thing to see some of that bloke's idiocy rebound on him some time. I did love this post of mal's. http://weight-loss.fitness.com/363316-post52.html

Clearly you are doing really well without needing to swim, so it's not really an issue. However, if you ever wanted to try again, maybe some advice from a good physio first would be more help. My own family (including me) has been enabled heaps from our local practice this year. My husband finally gave in and went, after 10 years of thinking that his issue was something he just "had to put up with", and the difference was amazing. Mind you, it helped a lot that he decided his physio looked "like Miss World". :D

Wednesday 19th December

Breakfast: 10:30 Toast (70-80) with plum and cinnamon jam.(15) A boiled egg.(70) Weetbix (107) with soy milk (122) and tinned peaches (50). C coffee with a little hilo milk. (5) Breakfast - 449 calories.

Lunch: 12:00 (While I was driving to York). 10 snow peas (10), 1 small carrot (40). 25 gm beef jerky(71). 4 Vive wholemeal crackers (105). 1 small Pink Lady apple (50). Lunch - 276 calories.

Snacks 5:00 “Skinny” cappuccino from Gloria Jeans, that is “skinny” on the milk, “muchos +” on the chocolate dust (because I was the sprinkler!)(80?)

8:00 Small ladyfinger banana (60)

Dinner: 9:30 pm Spaghetti (70 gm cooked ie a loose ¾ C) (100) with sauce: 70 gm tinned red salmon (130), 56 gm tinned crab (33), 6 (17 gm) small olives (13), 2 big black marinated kalamatas (4), 1 big green stuffed olives(?4), 25 gm spinach(4), ¾ medium tomato(25), parsley 15 sugar snap peas (15), 4 baby carrots (20), 1/6 capsicum (5), ¼ zucchini (4), 2 mushrooms (4). 200 gm diet apricot yoghurt (84). Dinner – 445 calories

2:00 am 25 gm dried apricots (42).

Total for the day - 1352

Exercise: 8:25 pm 30 minute swim. Freestyle : breaststroke : backstroke about 6 : 4 : 3 . Trying to increase my speed, but focused mainly on making sure that the strokes feel smooth, and practicing trying to breathe properly during the breaststroke.

Yet another reason to get eating right at a younger age: it's best done before you have to start trying to read the tiny writing on tins and in the calorie counter book at night with dodgy vision!! Unfortunately the more automated sites don't seem to have enough relevant info in them for me to be able to avoid this yet. I really want to pay more attention to how much protein, carbs and fat are in the different foods too, but I think I might have to do this one step at a time. Otherwise this post would still not be finished when I need to start the next one!!

A busy day but pleasant. I drove to York, a small town a 100 kms (~1 ½ hrs) from here to collect my girl who'd been staying there with a friend. The weather was fine and warm, not hot and the drive is pretty much tourist country the whole way, mainly forest with some pasture. Mostly an emptyish decent highway and the last stretch virtually no traffic. I was glad to have her home again. I thought it was cute that she interrupted me rushing to get ready to leave for one last phone call to ask me to “Please wear some of the clothes that fit you, Mum,” - meaning something tight - not the baggy leftover t-shirts I use in the house and for kid collection at times. :) I did wear things that were too big when I was fatter and now I wear things that are too small ... I guess somewhere between 4 – 9 sizes bigger does make a difference. :)

I also had to fit in a doctor's visit to get antibiotics for a minor infection. She said she thought I was a little dehydrated! :( I did purposely skimp a bit because of the long drive ... still ... I didn't think I'd drunk that much less than usual, so I guess I need to make a bit more effort with that.

It was great being able to get in a swim, despite it being late in the day. Door to door, the club took me about 4 minutes travel time each way. It was probably light enough for walking to still have been possible, but I think this will suit me better because I will be able to keep doing it even when the light changes, and because at present it's natural for me to make more of an effort with the swimming, whereas it would feel a bit risky to push myself to the same extent if I was walking. :) Not that I can quit walking of course. I love it too much for that, and I know it makes stronger bones.
 
Thursday 20th December

Breakfast: 10:30 Toast (70-80) with plum and cinnamon jam.(15) A boiled egg.(70) Weetbix (107) with soy milk (122) and tinned peaches (50). C coffee with a little hilo milk. (5) Breakfast - 449 calories.

Lunch: 12:30. 2 Slices wholemeal bread (72). 2 ½ slices 80 gm grilled eggplant (12) with (55) cal worth of EVO oil, and 15 gm parmesan (57) 85 gm tin Smoked Oysters in springwater (125) Lunch - 321 calories.

A bit of an odd lunch. Clearly I went to the fridge first and then realized I should have gone to the supermarket first! The eggplant was leftovers, that I just warmed a little and popped into the bread. At the time I thought the protein was probably a bit low and added some of the oysters ... well that might not sound like a treat to everyone, but it tasted like one to me! Yum!

5:00 2 x 50 gm apricots (35).

? Medium banana (80)

Dinner: 9:30 pm 120 gm threadfin bream (108) with fresh lime, chilli and coriander, dusted in <10 gm flour(36) and fried using 22 ml EVO oil (180!!). A giant chopped salad. ½ small box (50 gm) baby cos lettuce (9), 1 ½ small carrots (60), 2 mushrooms (4), ¼ red capsicum (8), ½ small lebanese cucumber (5), 8 sugar snap peas (8), ¼ zucchini (8), 5 small cherry tomatoes (12), 2 large marinated Kalamata olives (4), 8 ml vinegar (1), 4 ml EVO oil (32) . 3 perfect fresh dates (60). 200 gm diet apricot yoghurt (84). Dinner – 619 calories

Far out! I thought I used the teensiest bit of oil I could, to fry the fish, but by measure, it still had more calories than the actual fish! This is actually the amount of oil I ate by the way - not counting any left in the pan.

2:00 10 almonds (7)

Total for the day - 1574

Exercise: 8:25 pm 35 minute local walk. I felt like it was fairly brisk this time – focused on walking. I wanted to feel that I had actually had some exercise, partly because I was feeling a bit stiff and achy in a way that I knew the walk would help. It was still slow compared to what I was doing a while back. I left off 2 of the little loops from my old walk. When I started I had a little pain between my shoulder blades and sore feet and would have preferred to be heading for a swim, but the dog hadn't been walked, and my time was supershort trying to beat the light. Still it was nice to walk with a bit more effort, it did still help my back and felt good, the weather was very pleasant and the dog was well behaved. It was starting to get dark enough to show off people's Christmas lights too. We seem to get more of them every year.
 
MMMM, I'm coming to eat dinner at your house! that sounds fantastic!! Oh I think your drive the other day seemed very relaxing, how beautiful to just take a nice drive and reflect on the beauty of the day.

I'm so very happy to see your still swimming and walking, it's so hard to do that all the time, so pat yourself on the back for staying on top of that. I could easily see myself try and talk myself out of swimming, even though I LOVE IT, when the weather gets cold, it's very, very hard for me to consider water in anyway other than going down my throat as a beverage. I'm Proud of you!!

Good luck the rest of your week. It's so hard during this time of year for everyone! I love the Christmas lights also, and sometimes it makes me sad knowing we are so far away from town, we really don't get the chance to enjoy them as much anymore. I plug everything in first thing when I get home at night, I don't want to miss a split second of all the pretty lights and the flavor of Christmas. I love this time of year!!

God bless and many hugs to you and your family
Kim
 
I do often love the food we have. I think we're lucky with it. It is interesting that I often prefer what I can arrange here, to what I could buy that someone else has made. I mean I prefer knowing what's in it, but also I guess I make it to suit my own taste!! I'm not actually much of a cook though - I shop carefully, but I like easy foods!!

I am getting better again at what I'm doing with my exercise. There's still quite a gap between what I do and what I think should be my routine. Even so it pleases me to see that I'm constantly making gains at present.

I do get what you mean about swimming and the cold. I don't mind the swim - to exercise I only use heated pools anyway, but come winter, I won't be able to run out wet to the car, and shower at home like I am now!! :D I'm sure there'll be an adjustment in what I manage!!

As far as lights go. I love the sound of your house and all the little lights. I bet other people love to come home to your arrangements too.


Friday 21th December

Breakfast: 10:00 Toast (70-80) with plum and cinnamon jam.(15) A boiled egg.(70) Weetbix (107) with soy milk (122) and tinned peaches (50). C coffee with a little hilo milk. (5) Breakfast - 449 calories.

Lunch: 2:30. 6 wholemeal Vive crackers (158). 65 gm low fat cottage cheese (60) 2 medium apricots (35). Lunch - 253 calories.

6:15 McDonald's small cappuccino (95) with lots and lots of chocolate (25?), cos I asked for that thing. Normally they rush and skimp the chocolate and I don't feel as though I've had a treat, in the way that I wanted.

Dinner: 9:00pm 10 (150 gm) grilled King Prawns (132) marinated in ½ tbspn EVO oil (60), chilli, garlic and coriander.
160 gm lean chicken thighs (161) marinated and cooked in tomato juice, sambal oelek and yoghurt. I doubt there were too many calories added to the chicken in the end (10-20 max?). A lot of spice though!!.
½ C boiled basmati rice (105).
2 slices red capsicum (7), 2 slices green capsicum (6), 5 sugar snap peas (5), 2 slices orange (20).
¾ medium lebanese cucumber (8) and 1 ½ tbspns potset yoghurt (30).
½ granny smith apple and curry powder (60).
½ lady finger banana (30).
Chopped salad: 1 amarosa tomato (10), ¼ green capsicum (6), ¼ red capsicum (7), ¼ medium red onion (13).
Glass (12ml) of champagne (85).
Dinner – 765 calories

Total for the day - 1587

Exercise: No. I was busy, but I guess I should have got going earlier and fitted at least some in.

I did feel like I was doing a bunch of squats while I was actually doing the laundry!! :rolleyes: I see that having some time out for exercise is a different thing. :D It was nice to find my knees quite happy with all the ups and downs today though.

Exercise really doesn't fit into Friday nights. If I'm not actually going out to work though, then I reckon I should normally be able to do something during the day, even today.

One thing I did that I liked, was that I took a free tasting of a (half a) Belgian chocolate while at the supermarket, and passed it to my girl!! Why is cappuccino ok for me and half a Belgian chocolate not? I don't quite know! But I seem to be better off this way. I guess one is satisfying and the other is stimulating?

I don't feel like I missed anything I wanted, or that the day was off target for food either. I'm not that sure what's the right amount of calories for me to be getting. I have the feeling this is about right (if I would make sure to get my exercise in!), considering how tall I am. (IE not very!!) More lunch would have been good. Lunch was rushed. An earlier, lighter, afternoon snack would have been better too I expect. Dinner was yummy. Last time I made an Indian meal for a Friday night I tried to stick to the recipes. Then when it came time to add up the calories I wasn't that happy about amounts of oil I'd ended up adding. This time I made things up a bit more - and the only difference was that I wasn't tasting the extra oil that I find a bit unpleasant anyway. My husband was just as enthusiastic as before too.

I'm about on track for my Christmas preparations, which are not too massive this year, though Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will be fairly busy. I have a couple of things to organize tomorrow, but that shouldn't be too hard to do.
 
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I know what you mean about taking one item that might have some calories over another that you might see as being a "NO WAY" item, but really what is the difference, I agree. I did the same thing last night, my H made this chocolate/peanut butter/graham cracker treat and easily I could have went into the fridge and grabbed a chunk, but instead I told myself really you don't want that, I'm not really craving it, I just know it's there and so I feel like I should have a bit, but I ended up talking myself out of it, because in my mind it truly was just a temptation or as you put it stimulation, not something I really had a craving for. Did all this just make sense?? It did when I was thinking about it. LOL LOL funny how that happens when we try to reply back and get distracted. Well, I hope your day is a good one!! And I hope your weekend is even better!! Keep up that exercise girl, your on the right path, just stick with it!
HUGS
Kim
 
Yes. That made sense! Your example is pretty much the same as my chocolate offer at the supermarket - the thing we're not even looking for and maybe when we're not even hungry but which still needs to be dealt with! I don't know about you, but part of my reason for not eating it was that the "stimulation" involved would have been a likely stimulation of my chocolate craving - so that I probably would have started wanting more!

Also, now that I think about it again, I drink cappuccino for the chocolate too, but also it fills me up at the same time, and with milk, which has nutritional value and which I'm ok about drinking in controlled amounts.

Actually I just looked up the calories - and that little piece of chocolate probably was only 33 calories - which is much less than my cappuccino! As far as calories go I guess it would be better if the chocolate was the treat I could manage.

I probably could too if it was at the end of a meal, and not an isolated offering on an empty stomach! I guess I partly used the cappuccino as food and a boost because I was a bit light on food at the time.

It's interesting that you say
I just know it's there and so I feel like I should have a bit.
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That's a real issue at times. I think that whole feeling/idea is just a habit, and will get less for us with time, but still can be very powerful. Good for you, for shutting it down because the more often we say "I don't do that," the truer it gets!!
 
Hey Felici, just wanted to wish you a merry Christmas :newangel:.

That's cute what your girl said about you wearing something that fits. Kiddies embarrass so damn easily he he.

Best wishes to you :).
 
Hi Blancita!! Merry Christmas to you too!!

Kids embarrass easy. Oh yeah! Actually I don't mind wearing clothes to suit her. The thing I really wish she didn't care about is me singing along to the old songs they play in shopping centres!! :D Some of them are very hard not to sing along to!!

Saturday 22nd December

Breakfast: 9:30 Toast (70-80) with plum and cinnamon jam.(15) C coffee with a little hilo milk. (5)

11:30 A boiled egg.(70) Weetbix (107) with soy milk (122) and tinned peaches (50). Breakfast - 449 calories.

Lunch: 2:00 Large (160 gm) banana (95).

5:15 25 gm beef jerky (71). 4 Vive crackers (105). 3 dates (170). 15 (40 gm) medium green grapes (25). Lunch - 466 calories. .

Dinner: 6 :45pm 180 gm lean grilled rump (192). ½ cup mashed potatoes (70). ~ 1 carrots (40). ¼ broccoli (30). Diet apricot yoghurt (84)
Dinner – 416 calories

8:45 2 Vive crackers (53). Large diet lemon drink.

Total for the day - 1384

Exercise: Yes!! I expect I have forgotten what else I was supposed to be doing, because I ended up with a nice long patch of time and went for a swim. 55 minutes swimming. 10 minutes warmup/cooldown. And even had time for a spa. Yay!

I am still really slow. That was 20 laps, with no real stops. Still I'm happy I can keep swimming so long though. In the freestyle I'm mainly focussed on my breathing (and hence arms), in the breaststroke I'm thinking about the kick, and in the backstroke I mostly notice my knees! For some reason I feel like my knees do more work in the backstroke than in the freestyle, though it's the same kick – just upside down ...Anyway, with all that I have to master and with the three strokes, there's plenty to attend to, so it's not boring, even despite the limited view!

The pool actually got a little busy today. Not much. But both times when someone was looking for a spare lane to join, they picked mine!! I have a feeling this is a disadvantaged attached to being the slowest swimmer... Perhaps I should be glad that I don't look like I need it all to myself.
 
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