TaDa! The Lifelong Journey!!

[TaDa!]

September 8, 2010

Everytime you feel a little down on yourself something comes up to remind you of just how far you have come and how well you *are* doing right now.

DD had a rehearsal in an old mill building and ... it was up 9 flights of stairs. We sprinted right on up - no bother to us, but the heat - leaving a fit-looking man, about my age, halfway down, shouting to his daughter further up "are you sure this is the right place?"

We weren't sure either, but we didn't care if we had to climb up there for nothing.

lol!

[NWLoser]

Pauline, what a great great reminder of how far you have come. I can relate to this in a similar way. I used to hate walking very far. I was w/my daughter and kids at the dr. office and she needed the diaper bag from the car. I went to get it and we had parked quite a ways away. I realized when I got back to the dr. office that it was no big deal and quite easy. Before losing the weight, I would have dreaded going after it and been out of breath, tired, etc. from the effort.

Great job on those 9 flights of stairs and being so fit!

[TaDa!]

It is amazing -- the little things -- I even got into that room last night (after the 9 flights of stairs), looked around and realized that everyone my age was a good bit heavier than me. Yah, up close I look my age, but from a distance, I could be a good bit younger, lol! So many advantages you never really think about too much. How cool to be the fit younger-looking grandma .. right??!!!!

Wednesday September 8, 2010 Continued --

Just popping in to mark down a few recipes I want to try from this ironically-named blog I found! everybodylikessandwiches.com .. lol! There are lots of recipes that can be turned lowcarb or vegetarian and she cooks using her CSA allotment, so lots of interesting produce!

I made myself hungry perusing this blog ...

Spicy tofu with shiitake mushrooms

Green beans & tofu in a thai coconut sauce

Braised turnips, onions & carrots
(she says she'd leave out the potato next time)

braised-greens-with-alm0nds-and-an-egg-on-top

grilled scallop ceviche

[TaDa!]

Sunday September 12, 2010

So I have been back on Maintenance technically for about three months now and appear to be doing fine if I keep to a normal amount/type of food with the occasional restaurant indulgence, or a bit more at home sometimes. Everytime my weight heads down down down, I seem to make up for it naturally ..



I added the black horizontal lines to show my goal range (128-133 lbs). The big spike upward was my trip to Costa Rica .. and it was as a result of carby foods like plantain and papaya. It still left me in my goal range -- but I am very very sensitive to any carbs .. as my weight than plummeted to 126 (below goal) soon after getting home and eating normal. I actually didn't even exercise at all (at the gym) from August 15th - August 31st!

Anyhow, I am pleased with myself right now, but have to be very vigilant. I have been having some binge feelings - associated with the kids getting back to school and organizing them. My weight upswing last year happened because of the pressures I felt due to little dd being in a big production and trying to make sure she did a good job for the director.

She just got into 2 shows and we just picked the one she would do .. it is a much less professional organization, but a really really cool opportunity for her to learn and perform. I will have to make myself stay out of it all as much as possible and let her really work with this director. She is older now, and there is less to go wrong too, lol! It will be a chance for her to be creative and funny which is something she is very good at! and to have some solo singing -- another thing she can handle without any help!

It is actually very very amusing to me, that I stress out on the "sweet child/leading lady" type roles, lol!!! My little redhead is waaaay more the Carol Burnett / Angela Lansbury type, lol!!! I am very excited that they made such a role for her.

Lol! The director left a voice mail to "talk to her" before publishing the cast list .. and my impression, it was to make sure she was not very upset over not being cast as a child lead (again, another one of these sweet childlike roles) .. I had little dd return the call and I am sure the director was shocked at how excited she was, lol!!! We are not all Angelina Jolie! lol!!

[TaDa!]

Monday September 13, 2010

I am back on a recipe quest, lol! I need to add a 200 calorie protein snack after my workouts (3-4x a week). When I schedule my food and just go by "the daily schedule" most days, I seem to do my best!

For today, I just plopped 2T crunchy almond butter, 1/2 scoop cytosport whey protein, some coconut flavoring and splenda drops in a container, mixed, wrapped in plastic wrap and it is now firming up in the freezer. If I really like it a lot, I'll be able to easily make them in larger quantities. it comes out to 265 calories and packs a walloping 16 gm of protein! nice!!! If I like it, it would have been perfect, maybe cut down slightly in size, except for the need for refrigeration as I want to be able to keep this either in my gym bag or the car ..

Following are some other protein bars I might like to try out! This one had rave reviews on this thread, Protein Bar Recipe?, with a suggestion for a chocolate tweak too.

Originally Posted by BarbDe

I make these for my body building son, (affectionately known as "Protein Boy") and he and his friends love them.

Peanut Butter Protein Bars

¼ cup butter
½ cup peanut butter (pref chunky) at room temperature
4oz cream cheese, softened
1 ¾ cups vanilla flavored whey protein powder
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 tablespoons Splenda
½ cup chopped peanuts

1. Melt the butter (a microwave works well for this), and add the peanut butter and softened cream cheese to it. Mix together with a spoon (no need to drag out a blender or mixer), and then add the protein powder, vanilla, Splenda and peanuts; stir well. (It will be very crumbly)
2. Taste and see if it is sweet enough. If not, add a little more Splenda.
3. Press the mixture firmly into an 8x8 inch pan. Slice into 12 pieces and put the whole pan in the freezer. Remove when the bars are firm.
Yield: 12 bars, each with 9 grams of carb, 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 8 grams of usable carbs and 31 grams of protein.
*For storage, it’s a good idea to package these in individual zipper –lock bags in the freezer.

I would also consider making this one that may not need refrigeration, from Mark Sisson, here: Primal Energy Bar Redux

Recommendations including subbing out the egg for 2 egg whites to help hold it together better and of course, I'd likely skip the honey altogether (as mentioned below):

Primal Energy Bar Recipe:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup pecans
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup almond butter (cashew, hazelnut, walnut and even pumpkin butters work well too!)
1/4 cup coconut oil (check your local health food store)
1/4 cup almond meal (simply pulse approximately 1/4 cup of almonds until it creates a coarse flour)
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp of raw honey (optional because the egg will help hold the mixture together)
1/2 cup unsweetened whey protein powder (or 60g)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries or blueberries
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut to sprinkle on top

Method:
1. On a cookie sheet, toast nuts and shredded coconut until golden brown. In order for them to cook evenly, you need to shake up the tray at least once during cooking…trust us!
2. Once toasted, pour mixture into a food processor and pulse until nuts are chopped and the mixture becomes coarsely ground (sort of the consistency of bread crumbs).
3. In a mixing bowl, melt coconut oil and almond butter (about 30 seconds). Remove from microwave and stir until smooth.
4. Add vanilla extract, honey and sea salt. Mix thoroughly.
5. Fold in nut mixture, almond meal and protein powder until mixed thoroughly.
6. Add whole egg and mix thoroughly.
7. Fold in blueberries/cranberries.
8. Press mixture into an 8 by 8 loaf pan (a modification that we made to keep everything crisper and help the bars to hold together).
9. Cook in a preheated oven at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.
10. Remove from oven, sprinkle a ¼ cup of shredded coconut on top and place under broiler until top begins to brown.
11. Let cool for 10-15 minutes. Cut into 12 pieces/bars.
12. Enjoy or stack on wax paper/parchment and store in an airtight container.

Note: You can also add dark chocolate chips instead of the cranberries/blueberries (available at Whole Foods or health food store). If you add the chips while the mixing bowl is warm (from the coconut oil/almond butter mixture), they will melt into the mixture and you will have yourself a chocolate primal bar. Alternatively, you can just let the mix cool, then add the chips, then refrigerate the pan to get chocolate chip primal bars. The bars stick together pretty well without being cooked.

Nutrition Information:
Nutrition for 1/12 of the batch. Nutritional breakdown courtesy of ******.com:

Calories: 184
Fat: 15.4 grams
Carbohydrates: 6.4 grams
Protein: 7.5 grams

And, for those of you who feared they would eat the whole pan… the total nutritional breakdown for the whole darn lot!

Calories: 2,206
Fat: 184.3 grams
Carbohydrates: 77.2 grams
Protein: 90.1 grams

That’s 1659 calories from fat, 309 calories from carbs and 360 calories from protein. Or 72% fat, 14% carbs and 16% protein.

[TaDa!]

Thursday September 16, 2010

I have just had such a huge victory over emotional eating that it just floors me. I feel like I have just become an adult for the first time - of course it has been a process - I was so angry at dh and a situation he forced on all of us that I was not only ready to eat everything in the house, but to do - I don't know what! We're talking so angry I was shaking inside.

Rather than have a screaming fight with him and eat anything I could find, I waited until the kids were occupied and just told him how angry I was and how he was being inconsiderate, putting all of us in harm's way, and putting the burden of his "plans" on myself and the children.

I know he was very angry that his own concerns were not the #1 priority in the house, but I can see this morning that he is going to try and work out at least the part of it that puts the biggest burden on me - don't get me wrong, it still sucks, he still made a huge mistake and I am still angry and still keeping my mouth shout about what a huge mistake it was -- I'd say he knows that now.

I also told him the other day that I demand to be treated with respect, after one of his out-of-the-blue unnecessary digs at me. The victory is that I have been speaking up for myself the last week and not letting passive aggressiveness mow me over and send me into a rage where I yell and scream and/or head to the nearest source of food to eat anymore.

[TaDa!]

Friday September 17, 2010

I was checking out my stats and my weight range this summer had been from

127-131.7 lbs

With the high weight during Costa Rica. My weight at the moment is hanging around 128 and so I guess what I am doing with food and exercise wise is fairly on target with a few tweaks always possible ..

Great great news for me!

* I've been in this narrow range for 3 months -- the longest I 've been able to keep to a 5-pound range!
* I maintained in the range even without exercise for three of the weeks
* Got right back to exercise when I could (that's not a new achievement really, but it is an achievement for me each time, lol!)
* Maintained during my annual high stress July trip to my folks! and a vacation to a high-carb country, with awful choices for a vegetarian, lol!

Now, onward to tackle Fall and Winter and their special challenges .....

[debbiedo]

Pauline, you are doing super!!! You have this down to a T. Even with a few bumps in the road you do fine.

[TaDa!]

Thanks Debbie! It is hard to get that into my head .. but I'll eventually get there! lol!

Saturday September 18, 2010

Thought For the Day:


"It Is Hard To Soar Like An Eagle
When You Are Surrounded By Turkeys"


And a teriyaki sauce recipe to try once my Netrition order comes through with the diabetisweet:

Originally Posted by gvmema

I like using a teriyaki marinade a friend gave me.

1/2 c light soy sauce
6 T Diabetisweet, Brown Sugar Substitute
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp marjoram
2 tsp cracked black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T oil
2 Tsp sesame seed oil

Mix together and add chicken or steak. Let marinate all day and then grill.

...

I'll have to skip the sesame for dd's allergies .. but sounds good!

[janj]

Smiling to myself at your thought for the day

Hope I'll be able to look back in 3 months time and have maintained as successfully as you, Pauline! Good for you!

[Bobbin]

Pauline, I love your journal! I've lurked off and on for a while, but now I'll seriously be here a lot to copy some of your recipes. I'm not going fully veg, but I do need to learn to cook tofu since I'm not a huge meat fan, and I want to have 1 or 2 veg. recipes a week to start. You are such an inspiration to everyone here at LCF, I hope you always post!!!

[TaDa!]

lol Jan! So true though .. isn't it?!

Bobbin .. a tofu tip for you, if you are going to saute, pan fry, or stir fry as is called for in most recipes .. buy the firm or extra firm. You find it in the produce section of the supermarket usually.

About an hour or two hours before you plan on using it, you want to press it to take out excess water. First, take it out of the package and place it on a plate or shallow bowl. I then place a small cutting board or plate atop the slab of tofu and a few cans of soup on top to weight it down .. after an hour or so, you can simply pour the water that seeps out into the sink and then cube it before frying ..

It makes a great difference in how well it comes out .. I made stirfry last night. You just do the tofu first, pan fry in oil until the sides are all toasty brown. Remove from the pan while you do your vegetables one by one - fried onions, etc etc etc, then throw it back in and add your sauce ... (my kids love it and eat theirs without rice, lol! I make dh's with chicken, over brown rice) ..

hth!



Pauline

[Bobbin]

thank you for those tips!! Do ever use tofu in soups (we love miso soup, I'm going to make some of that too) and if so do you use the extra firm for that too? Thanks again!!

[TaDa!]

Bobbin .. I have never made it, but from having tasted it at the japanese .. I am pretty sure you do not use the firm tofu, but rather the soft tofu (and you do not press it). They have different "firmness," so you definitely want to make sure you get the right one .. they may even make special "silken" ones for use as milkshakes, etc and that might not work in the soup either .. so something to find out!!

I have made miso from various soup packets of dried stuff and it is just plain nasty!! whatever you do, definitely buy miso from the supermarket or whole foods -- it is in the refrigerator section in a tub and it comes in different varieties too with slightly different flavors. If I were going to try to make it at home, I would want to do some google research on both of those things!

If you do end up making it, do let me know how it turns out!!

[TaDa!]

Sunday September 19, 2010

I now know why I have been insane the last few days ... PMS symptoms just hit (namely the water weight in the chest). Since getting a partial hysterectomy like five years ago, I don't actually get my period. The insane cravings, hideous mood swings and mental food obsession should have been a big tip-off, lol!

Anyhow, I just started to document binge-y days, looked back on my weights for the past few months and the weight pattern makes it pretty obvious when I was in pms/water weight territory. Hopefully this will be helpful next time the insanity hits! It always blindsides me and I get so upset that the correct food amounts are suddenly not satisfying me. I always feel like, "This is it. This is when I regain all my weight and end up back at Lane Bryant."

I wonder if any quantity or type of food would satisfy those cravings at times like this? Or whether it is simply a time when I need to grin and bear it?! If I continue keeping good records, maybe I could just add extra fat on those days, or lower carbs right before to get into ketosis .. hmmm, something to think about for mid-October ..

Even though I know the cause of 2 pounds up in two days (at 130), despite perfect eating and exercise perfectly, it annoys me, lol! Hopefully it will not continue up! My last two months I hit 131.5 and 131.7 mid-month both times, so I have to be prepared that it will go up even more the next two days <hmf!>

Today should be easier for me to keep on plan as I will be busy most of the afternoon with little dd's first play rehearsal .. Big dd (who is still asleep in teenage la la land) mentioned she might want to go to the gym this morning, so if she wakes up in the next hour, I may take the two monkeys and supervise their workouts ..

I have no doubt that the best PMS cure for me is endless activity with little access to food, lol!

[msmoon]

[Glamour P!]

Thanks Hun!! Ur a star. New recipes on this thread-woo xx

[TaDa!]

Thanks Mavis! and GlamourP!! to both of you!!

Tuesday September 28, 2010

So I am still amongst the binge-y days along with water weight and I think my food cravings have been compounded by stressing out about the talk I am to do this morning at TOPS ... I do not mind getting up in front of people to talk on something I know inside out .. and I do know a lot about carbs .. but have had to wrap my head around an understanding of insulin and trying to gauge how to present the idea of glycemic food values in such a way that it can be understood and used by the audience ...

I just feel like I am not 100% sure about what I will talk about, lol! and that stresses me out, lol! I did come up with a whole list of how to choose different carbs, and avoid the real baddies, and had a little epiphany, and that is, that this really is the way I feed my family since going on Atkins myself 7+ years ago, and so I can also talk about how to make a painless transition and lessen / give up potatoes, white rice, the use of breads and cakes, etc painlessly .. so i know that will be received with interest ...

and also the fact that most diet plans have incorporated aspects that buy into the glycemic index/load in the last 20 years, but that if the do the old programs -- older Weight Watchers, regular calorie counting, the TOPS exchange program, that they can use the chart I made to make better choices, etc ...

Anyhow, we'll see how it goes, lol!

I had a nice boost this morning and that was why I was coming in ... I dropped my youngest off to a before-school music program and got stopped by a friend I have seen only off and on in the last 7 years .. lol! He stopped the car in the middle of the street as dd and I were crossing to lean out the window and go on and on over how good I am looking, lol!!

It helps on a morning when I am holding pms water weight, have to get in front of 20-40 people and weigh in, in the weight room, and have my " 2 pound weight gain" shouted across the room with interest by one of the ladies who seems endlessly fascinated with me

lol! This is the same woman who ran out of the weight room two weeks ago shouting that I couldn't lose anymore weight or I'd be below my goal range ... My large - normal - scale weight fluctuations are upsetting enough to me without them making a big deal out of it. For gods sakes, it's not fat gain ..

OK I think I am rambling and ranting incoherently at this point ... Back to my notes! I cannot wait until this is over!! lol!!!! I may be back in to report my success, lol! Unfortunately people seem to like my talks ...

[TaDa!]

<Tuesday September 28, 2010 continued>

All went well ... only about 15 which was good! People were very pleased with the information, although there were a few distraught people over the high sugar impact level of bananas .. lol!!

I think it was a great way to introduce lowcarb concepts in a very simple manner .. in a way people can incorporate without feeling any threat to what they are already doing as far as a diet .. I also included a bibliography on the handout sheet -- all the books from the local library, plus some of the current "diet" books listed, so anyone wanting more info can come ask me or read on their own .. I think it did make an impact ..

I feel as if a weight has been lifted, lol! I am so silly!!! and I did ramble some <sigh> but I warned them I might ... that my head was stuffed full of too much stuff after reading all those books, lol! so it worked out ok ..

[TaDa!]

Wednesday September 29, 2010

Having a great day!!!

I jumped on in to post some info .. I responded to a thread asking for some specific information / advice and am posting the q' and a' here for safekeeping, lol! in case Rainypep should need the book suggestions and link again .. In any case, I get lots and lots of requests like this in pm's all the time .. so anyhow, here it is:

Originally Posted by Rainypep

I am curious about your massive success at lc veggie lifetyle. What does a week of menus for you look like if you don't mind sharing that is.
Thanks

Originally Posted by TaDa!

I'm on Maintenance right now! (Yay -- thank God and Dr. Atkins!)

For a week's worth of Atkins weightloss menus - as a vegetarian, you can pick up one of two books:

New Atkins For A New You, by Eric C. Westman, Stephen D. Phinney, and Jeff S. Volek on page 261 starts a list of 7-day menus for vegetarians ... at different carb levels. Looking at them, they are not unlike what I have done in the past - with my own preferences of course. I highly recommend that approach.

I also can highly recommend: The Vegetarian Low-Carb Diet by Rose Elliott. She is a cookbook author as well and her meals are a little more gourmet perhaps than I would bother making for myself, most of the time. Starting on page 73, she lists 14 days of a "carb cleanse" plan for Vegetarians that I could see totally be substituted for induction and then going from there, adding in carbs a la carb ladder, etc.

As far as what I eat ... you can read through this thread on vegetarian lowcarbing that I wrote to help people with that ..

If I can help in any way with specific queations, or explanations of some of the weirder vegetarian stuff - feel free to ask ...

Vegetarian Lowcarb -- another round!

hth!



Pauline

[TaDa!]

Thank you for all the pm's! Just a note ... my pm mailbox is 90% full and I don't have time to go in and delete (I have a hard time deleting here!!!) before I go out tonight - in 5 minutes .. so if you get "box full" that's what happened, lol!!

Catch you all later!



Pauline

[TaDa!]

ok ... I did delete some and its back to 90% full ... erp ... I will have to set aside some time to go through pm's and do more deleting .. but if you get "box full", you'll know what the deal is ..

Thursday September 30, 2010

I am really feeling great the last few days, I am feeling special, proud of myself when I am out and about. At the gym, I feel like I am in the top 1% there .. I go in, I do what I do, I socialize a little bit, but mostly I just go in and like a machine, get the job done and go live my life.

Last night was High School open house with about 900 other parents and some people were dressed up trying to impress others, there were the parental cliques, but mostly there were just your normal average people, and among everyone, I felt really good about myself. DH and I were in boring shorts and tshirts, giggling away as usual, being friendly with anyone I recognized and I realized - then and yesterday at the gym - that I felt really good about myself, confident, not needing to prove anything to anybody except that I am strong, fit, self-motivated, and full of inner confidence.

I do not need to impress anyone with material means, social status, beauty, my figure (things others are trying to showcase under such circumstances). I can be certain that my outward physical appearance shows to the world that I have something else few people have ... the mental stamina, and pride to be the best Pauline out there. It is a new page for me really!

Simultaneously I have reached a new level of dealing with problems and issues - for some reason I am having better insight into "the other side" ... the last two days I have had to deal with some slightly problematic things via email and I managed to take out irrelevant stuff from my emails that would not be helpful to move the processes forward ... yet I dealt with these things rather than just sitting here getting angrier and angrier .. and my reward has been that I will be getting good results and people like to work with me ... and best of all, I do not have to sit here hitting myself over the head about p'ing people off (even though they deserve it, lol!!).

Personal growth
Boundaries
Always aiming to be a "class act"

The weight was about dealing with these things differently and I am better person for changing my relation to the outer world. Progress comes in different forms for me these days! But I am feeling huge achievements here ...

p.s.
My pms weight is coming down too ... gotta love it! At 129.5 this morning and the chest still is sore. I have to say that helps the mood too! (I post a weekly weigh-in figure as my official weight, so I'll have to look at that othah numbah over in my details and sig for a bit longer, lol!) I have been shooting up higher too like 131.5-132 at pms time, so I am wondering whether I did peak or not for the month ...

[TaDa!]

Saturday October 2, 2010

To continue on from my last journal post .. Dh and I went out for a little drink and a chat which was nice and I came home to an email that I was thrilled to get .. Again, the result of taking action earlier today and finally sending out an email about something I wanted and needed to know, but was afraid to call too much attention to myself as we do not want to be pegged as people who are a pain / hard to work with, but rather as team players not needing to be in the Prima Donna position ... and as it turns out, the answer was better than expected and .. stupid me ... I'd have done better to email 2 weeks ago and not worry on it, etc ...

Not that you can know that at all when dealing with new people -- you can't. I know because I recently did the same thing, trying to "do the right thing" and had a bad result, lol!! Not that it matters as we were rejecting *them* and their offer, for a better one, lol! And I had heard through the grapevine that this guy was a problem person, so to speak and lol! it was just a no-win situation, but had to be done, lol!! ..

In general, I feel so so so good about taking action and taking the high road (as I see it! lol!!!) no matter what difficult people might do/say/feel. You cannot plan in life, or make provision, for every messed-up circumstance or individual out there! All you can do is take the high road as you see it, be true to yourself, and hope it rings true for others too.

Anyhow, I am getting great reinforcement for taking action and standing up for what is right without compromise and I have to say, it is part and parcel of this weight thing. I am enjoying Maintenance in a way I never have before .. a new me that is not about my weight or weight problems of the past .. but about confronting life and getting through it actively ...

[pooticus]

TaDa I know you probably get this alot, but you are and have been a huge inspiration for me. I DO consider you to be a Class Act! Very nice - Lady!

I love how you do the head work and how you really show through illustration and how you live your life first hand, that losing weight isn't just about what goes in your mouth or what you do for exercise. To successfully maintain all these years as you have, it has to be about the headwork too!

Great job on working with your DH and your friends!!!!! girl, you rock!!!

[Reva72]

Pauline I just wanted to say thank you for all the dedication you take on the boards. You are a inspiration to me. Without all the post I read from you I think it would be harder for me this time around than I thought. You rock!!!

[TaDa!]

Monday September 4, 2010

Thanks so much Poot and Reva!! Believe me when I say that I get back tenfold what I put out for my friends .. it is such a huge mental process really. The more I look around me, the more I see that life is 90% perception and only 10% life events ...

And Poot .. as you say, the actual elements of a person's weightloss or maintenance plan are such a small thing compared to the frame of mind needed to succeed at either thing ... Which plan is going to suit which person is going to be a direct result of that person's ability to change their attitude when made to eat or exercise a certain way ... the attitude change is what we all have in common .. have all been lacking and need to harness for the rest of our lives, imho.

I envy the people who can do Atkins or very low carb plans and get total appetite suppression and be miraculously cured of their overeating tendencies ... but I think the great majority of morbidly obese people have something else going on in addition to any blood sugar / insulin resistance type stuff - maybe that's not true for people who have simply gotten to "overweight" over time, but I think there is a big group of people, who like me, need to get their heads together while doing whatever they are doing to get to goal ...

I'm still getting my head together and trying not to fall into my old bad mental habits ... and it is a daily thing, but I have to make myself do this!!! So far so good today .... lol!

[pooticus]

I totally agree with you! What's the old saying that success is 99% inspiration and 1% perspiration?? Something like that.

Yes as someone who has an eating disorder knows, any of us are only one bite away from the next major derailment. So headwork and learning proper ways to verbalize and communicate are major for me too and that work never stops. Complacency is the devil lol!

You are just doing marvelously though! I was so happy to read about how you are renegotiating your communication with your hubby and friends. That's just MAJOR girl!!!

I'm also glad you realize how much you impact other people's lives for the better!!!

[msmoon]

Hiya Pauline, I have to chime in agreement. You're so very thoughtful and as many have said, such an inspiration!
Sneaking in a hi to "the Pootlady" too.

[TaDa!]

Thanks ladies

Sunday, September 10, 2010

I had a really great day and it was just an ordinary day but I overcame a big source of stress (self-created) with one of my children and this strange overwhelming urge to be one of those awful "helicopter parents." I lay down the law - to myself - mentally gave myself a list of "tasks" that are my job as the parent, and basically told myself that the rest is up to my child, including interfacing with other adults and older kids, etc.

I cannot even explain to another person how overwhelming and compulsive my urge has been the last few years to intervene and be involved and not only was it a source of stress for me (and weight gain last Winter), but it was not at all helpful or good. It felt like one of those bad compulsions, just ugly and obsessive-feeling ... so weird!!! A psych professional would have a field day with me!!!

Anyhow, so today was the first day I managed to be 100% hands-off and I am hoping that strong inner voice that can tell me **what** my job as parent is and, is not, will prevail from now on.

My next such "trial" will be next Sunday, I think ... I think I need to give "alter-ego me" ... the sensible responsible adult who can see through some of my insanities a name .. "Mary" maybe .. for Mary Poppins ... hopefully I won't be acting too terribly schizophrenic talking about the Mary in my head ...

[pooticus]

Glad you had a great day!

I have a 200 cal post workout snack for you. I eat this sometimes when the mean hungries hit me in the afternoon. It fills me up unbelievably!

1 String Cheese
1/2oz Crispy Walnuts
1/4 Granny Smith Apple (Large)

201 Cals
Fat 14.1g (60%)
Carbs 9.8g (18%)
Fiber 2.2g
Protein 10.9g (22%)