WATCH-ME'S Goal Seeking Journal

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Originally Posted by tempted_by_food

Your mom sure did a great job raising you all, if you are anything to go by you are one of the most selfless people I know always looking to help others and share your knowledge!! I love where you have put the precious ornament its perfect. I would love something like that for my dad he raised 8 of us alone too, single parents deserve a medal!!!

Wow. In praise of your dad today, Sans! Bless his heart.

As for helping others, it's a natural reaction. Reaching out to others when you see they might be in need is the natural response of people who choose to live by the Golden Rule. When others approach me to help them, I try very hard to listen and be what they need. My Mom was that kind of woman, always giving of herself in countless ways, day after day.

I reflect on the people in my life’s path who have cared enough to help me when I needed their help, and it humbles me with a desire to do the same.

After all, it’s often the small gestures of kindness that make us most happy, not the monumental things.

Simple acts of kindness.

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TKD

Bookmarking this thread in my journal to make it easier to find. I like going back and re-reading some of the stuff in here now and then.

Fat loss with ketogenic: cyclical & targeted ketogenic w/weight training

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Friday Jan 28

Updating, and weigh day. Weight up one pound, but I am not worried about it, because I'm certain it's not fat, just flux. I should have a sign made to hang over the scales: NOT FAT, ONLY FLUX.

I'm sure my body is having a council meeting, and they're discussing the changes that have taken place, i.e, nutritional changes, the signals from and the recomping as a result of my workouts, and they're taking a vote on whether to let go of the water weight and fat cells or hold onto it a little longer. Well, I've got 'stuff' to do, so I'm not hanging around to find out what it decides. I'm already ahead of the meeting.

I felt leaner all day yesterday and this morning, despite my voracious appetite on Tues and Wed, which I managed to fight with higher fat and protein and more calories, but keeping the carbs low. Yesterday's carbs were only 20, and cals yesterday were 1500. Recomp changes are in the process.

Workouts:
Gym Monday,
28 mins of cardio Tues,
45 mins of Callanetics and 30 mins of cardio on Wed.,
Gym Thursday -- 30 mins cardio, 40 mins weights.

Today will be only light, steady cardio.

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It's Saturday night. I had a great workout at the gym earlier today -- delts, abs, cardio. Tried a new exercise for abs with the medicine ball, higher intensity. Felt great. I've upped carbs today, backing off after 5:00. I'll return to 60ish carbs for the next few days.

So right now I'm just chillin. Listening to music. Relaxing. Feels good to do that now and then.

I love surfing the net at times like these in search of new music, or just GOOD music. Meaningful music. Lasting.

One of my favorite female artists of all time (I have both her CD's) is Dido. She's quite possibly my favorite. It's her voice. THAT VOICE. What a refreshing, unique sound. And she can sing live as well as recorded. Few can do that.

This is my favorite song she's recorded. I will never grow tired of listening to this song. Her voice. How I wish she'd record another CD.

YouTube - Dido - White flag (Letterman 2003)

[tempted_by_food]

Oh I love that song she has the voice of an angel!!! I hope your having a great sunday!

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CRAP.

I just typed a somewhat lengthy post and when I hit submit, POOF....off it went into cyberland.

Gotta run.

[Danipower714]

Hope you are having a good week!

[tempted_by_food]

love your new avatar very beautiful

[GardenGirl639]

Originally Posted by tempted_by_food

love your new avatar very beautiful

Agreed! You are gorgeous!

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Thank you, Sans and Elizabeth.

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Catching up a bit for my journal.

Yesterday was a high octane workout: 30 mins cardio, 60 mins weights (biceps, back, glutes, abs)

My carb rotations have been working as planned. (Imagine that!) After about 225-250 carbs yesterday on my high day, I woke up to very little bloat -- if at all. I'm back to low carb today, and just finished up 45 mins of cardio. FELT WONDERFUL. 15 mins on elliptical, followed by 25 mins of running intervals (45/30), and then another 5 mins on the elliptical. It was cold outside, so warming up first on the elliptical made it a little more bearable. How I've missed running.

My appetite is more suppressed today than it normally is for this hour of the day.

I have to agree with the halftime entertainment. I'm making it my OWN PERSONAL theme song for this week...

"I've gotta feelin...woohooo
That this week's gonna be a good week
That this week's gonna be a good, good week,
....a FEELING...wooooohoooo
That this week's gonna be a good, good week...."

I've gotten all legal snacks ready to watch the game tonight.

Feeling encouraged with MY GAME plan.

[Lisa46]

Just seeing the new avi now.

Could you GET any more gorgeous???

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I wish I could hit a PAUSE button that would halt the passage of time in the early morning hours when I'm having my coffee, waking up, preparing for my morning _________ workout. It's at this time that I get so ABSORBED -- oh.how.absorbed. -- in reading fitness articles, notes, studies, statistics, etc. There's never enough time during the day to do this, and it's such a wonderful escape for me. It excites me, fascinates me, mesmerizes me, teaches me. I can't seem to get enough.

And then I get the tap on my shoulder from my inner realist that says, "Hey, pssst....do you know what time it is? Get busy."



Whatever. I'd rather pour another cup of coffee and keep reading. It's SO QUIET. So blissful, peaceful. I want to pause this moment of my day and let it last and last and last.

I wanna be able to talk about this stuff I read. I wanna exhange ideas, ask questions, make notes. What is up that I can't let it go? Why am I so hungry for this stuff?

So I carry on conversations with myself mostly.

All right. I'm hearing that voice again. It's time to start my second Callanetics session for the week. It always makes me walk taller, reach easier, feel more graceful, sleek. It WORKS ME. It deserves this time.

So off I go...I will have to read and rest and "pause" when the next day dawns.

[GardenGirl639]

Twila,

Don't know if you popped back into the "My secret weapon" thread, so I'll add my answer here:

I think it has something to do with the taste buds in your mouth. You want sweet, so you eat salty/sour.

I like olives because they add a little fat as well.

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Originally Posted by GardenGirl639

Twila,

Don't know if you popped back into the "My secret weapon" thread, so I'll add my answer here:

Quote:
I think it has something to do with the taste buds in your mouth. You want sweet, so you eat salty/sour.

I like olives because they add a little fat as well.

Yes, Elizabeth, I had seen your post. I plan to try that strategy, because I love both feta and kalamata olives too.

That's whetted my appetite. I plan to make a HUGE salad, mostly spinach, with red onions, olives, feta, fresh basil, red wine vinegar and olive oil, with a touch of Splenda.

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Valentine Vibes...

[eggshell1970]

Happy Valentines Day to a sweetheart! Thanks for being my inspiration still and always!

[GardenGirl639]

Happy Valentine's Day! Thank you for all the love you share with us!

[Bronwyn]

Popping in to say Happy Valentine's Day to a sweetheart of a girl!

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Hugs and kisses to all of you, sweet friends. I return the love unconditionally! Hope your Valentine's Day (weekend) was spent enjoyably.

My weekend was a bit stressful, unfortunately. My hard drive began a nose dive to death on Saturday, late morning...

"....It being a Saturday, I struggled to find a computer repair place/dealer that was open. I got Lucky around 3:30. "Mike" answered the phone. He sounded techy. Smart. Serious. BUT HELPFUL. Yay. Mike's my man. He warned me that it was a rush job, a weekend, and I'd be paying $120 per hour. I told him I had no choice. I had to SAVE two files off the hard drive before it took its last breath BEFORE MONDAY. I needed these for court. The two important files I had NOT backed up (which I usually do daily).

Mike looked like I expected he would. Those computer geeks all have "that look." It was comforting to me to see "that look." Reassuring. God bless Computer Geeks. He was able to retrieve those files via "surgery," and said he'd try to retrieve the remaining files on Monday. He said placing a hard drive that wasn't quite dead in the freezer sometimes helps to revive the "brains" a bit. No assurances. There are files on there that I have NOT backed up in a while and would love to have saved.

Luckily, all of my photos, music, and work-related files had been archived to my external hard drive.

I'm now struggling along, learning a new laptop....we've exchanged courtesies, made surface introductions, but we're not quite friends. Not yet. It has an annoying habit that I need to figure out how to axe. It keeps popping little suggestions and cr(a)p intomy business. Little pop up bubbles.. do you wanna do this? Or this? How about trying this? Or this? Hell, NO!!!! I'll let YOU know if I need your help. Go away!

I must be patient. It means well. I'll figure it out. We will be friends. We'll eventually become intimate. We'll learn each other eventually. We must.

This is stressful. It makes me want chocolate. Lots of chocolate.

NOOOOOOO, T.

Big breath....fingers crossed till I hear back from Mike the Computer Wizard on Monday.

And then I'll need to make funeral arrangements....my beloved friend and companion has served me well..."

So. I did NOT overdose on chocolate, as it turns out. I hung on for dear life and tried to keep everything in perspective. My husband and I ended up spending most of the weekend doing things for our sons, meeting their needs, TCB, etc., and we woke up Monday morning thinking: Hm. Did we just have a weekend? No down/rest time for either of us. But that's what parents do. So I juggled kids stuff with the stress of worrying about saving a few files from my terminal hard drive (fingers still crossed) and learning the ins and outs of my new laptop.

I lost my cool a few times on Sunday. It's a very nosey PC. It wants to suggest crap all the time, intermittent little pop up messages. ANNOYING. I don't want it to suggest anything. I know what I want, and I felt myself screaming, "Hell, NO! I don't want ______, how about I call YOU!" I was against the clock, trying to draft a letter that Son#2 needed, complete with bells/whistles, all relevant points addressed, etc. Just STUFF all.day.long.

Death of a laptop.... I remember sitting in the retail section of the computer place on Saturday, waiting for him to emerge from his office/repair cave ... it felt like sitting in a hospital waiting room, fearing the doctor coming out any minute to announce, "I'm sorry...we tried...there's nothing we can do."

As of yesterday late afternoon, I get word from "Mike" that there is still hope. (What does that mean?)

Ugh.

On a more positive note: I did NOT indulge in crap and sugar and comfort food throughout that storm. I got in cardio on the weekend, and even went for a run (oh.yes.it.was.fabulous.) Sunday afternoon. Yesterday was gym day, cardio, LB, back, abs. My tracking yesterday was spot on.

I'm hopeful that my hard drive can hang on long enough to save a FEW files I need/want, one being my FitdayPC file. I hadn't backed it up since July, and I've added a lot of data since then --- records, custom food, diary entries, etc. Not a huge loss, but meaningful nonetheless.

I'm going for a run this morning. It's mild this week. I'm gonna milk this baby for all it's worth, because cold air is supposed to return next week.

Another sip of coffee....and I'm on my way....

[Meek75]

Hi Twyla. I missed you. Glad to see you're doing well, as always. Have a good day. Hugs.

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Originally Posted by Meek2010

Hi Twyla. I missed you. Glad to see you're doing well, as always. Have a good day. Hugs.

Hello, Meek. I've missed YOU. You weren't around for a while, and it's great to see you back at it. I've glanced (*) at your journal and saw that you were doing Weight Watchers and really liking it. GOOD FOR YOU. Keep at it. If this is YOUR fit, go for it and don't look back.

I have to admit, for the last several days I've been very busy AND preoccupied with putting out "fires" of one sort or another in my life, and I've had zero time to post, visit, etc.

Once my dust settles, I'll hopefully not be such a stranger.

Again...great to have you back on the boards with us.

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TOTALS for Monday:

cals......1608
prot........171 43%
carbs........65 14%
fiber.........20
fat...........80 44%

Cardio (32 mins running a.m.)
(Noticeable DOMS in lats and in hamstring/inner thigh from Monday)

I'm hoping to get up and running and return to normal with my computer issues by the end of the week. I've had to download drivers, patches, install this, that, the other; I've been on the phone with Tech Support three times (long calls) with Windows 7 compatibility issues for my court reporting realtime software, googled how-to's for this and that, and have been trying to beat the clock to get a long transcript finished before next week. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go....Keep running, T. The end is in sight.

Side note: I don't like where my DELETE key is on my new laptop. Some things matter. Position matters.

Good news is: Mike the Wizard called yesterday and announced he was able to save my documents from my dying hard drive. I'll stop by his place this morning; holding my breath till then.

Zach returns from Germany today.

Time to begin my Callanetics.

[Lisa46]

Girl, when my computer died, I went thru an entire bottle of red wine, shut the door to my office to avoid killing anyone who walked by, and was pi$$ed off at the world for 3 days. You did good!

[tempted_by_food]

I have been using a laptop the last few weeks and let me tell you it is so difficult getting used to where the keys are I keep pressing the wrong buttons one good thing though I can lay in bed and post now

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Originally Posted by Lisa46

Girl, when my computer died, I went thru an entire bottle of red wine, shut the door to my office to avoid killing anyone who walked by, and was pi$ off at the world for 3 days. You did good!

"Went through an entire bottle of red wine..."

I've definitely considered it.
More than once.

If there is ever an excuse to drink alcohol, it's when your hard drive is dying and/or you're troubleshooting new hardware/software on a new laptop.

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Originally Posted by tempted_by_food

I have been using a laptop the last few weeks and let me tell you it is so difficult getting used to where the keys are I keep pressing the wrong buttons one good thing though I can lay in bed and post now

Yep, me too. That DELETE key is outta reach why? Maybe that's intentional. Makes it more difficult to delete stuff? Who knows...

Lay in bed and post? Hmmmm. Now that sounds cozy.

[WATCH-ME-SHRINK]

Here I go again, scrambling to catch up. WHAT.A.WEEK.

Yesterday was a low carb day in rotations, and I was also trying to keep it at 1600 cals or under. Didn't happen. Hungries (true hunger) hit late afternoon/evening and I tried to appease it, but just kept grazing. As it turns out, my cals were almost at maintenance levels, but my guess is I was probably either in a slight deficit regardless, or broke even. I've learned not to FEAR hunger, not to allow it to DEFEAT me. I know why it happens now. (Thank you, Btinc) And I know how to either go with it, but "responsibly," or if necessary, fight it, depending on what's going on in my rotations, workouts and such. I went to bed slightly annoyed that it didn't go my way, but today was back to normal, so it works out.

Yesterday was 45 mins of Callanetics and 12 mins of cardio. Had to pick up my son at the airport, so it was a busy evening.

Today was supposed to be a medium day in rotations, but I've only had 75 carbs, so I didn't plan well. I guess I could throw in another 25 before bed, but I'm not sure if that would serve a purpose.

Today was gym day. I normally begin my workouts at the gym with 10 mins of cardio on the elliptical, but when I got home from the office, it was 70 degrees, and I was dying to run. So I went for a 20 min run. You're not supposed to do cardio before you lift, esp higher intensity, but when it's 70 degrees out in February, you're allowed to "break the rules." Sweating and uplifted, I then drove to the gym, did 50 mins of weights (delts, inner thighs and abs) and was gonna come home to finish my ss cardio (too beautiful out to do cardio in a stuffy gym), but my calves and feet were beginning to cramp from dehydration -- even though I'd gone through 40 oz of water at the gym -- so I thought I'd wait and maybe do 15-20 mins walk this evening. It's still nice out. Such a tease.

It's been a good week for me overall fitness goals wise, despite the hurdles and annoyances of working through my hard drive crash and trying to get a big transcript out on a new computer that I'm not familiar with (driver issues, etc.) Incredibly busy this week. I'm wanting the dust to settle. Afterall, tomorrow is Friday, and it's CHILL DAY. I plan to take full advantage of that opportunity. Bring on the red.

TOTALS TODAY:

CALS.....1406 (Huge deficit!)
PROT......169
CARBS......73
FIBER.......19
FAT...........53

TOTALS YESTERDAY:

Around 1900 ish cals
190ish protein
70 carbs

(My plan for nutrition didn't agree with my body's plan, but I'm good. It works out.)

[Meek75]

Great post Twyla. You are doing a fantastic job...so in control. I love it!

Have a good night!

[Lisa46]

T, popping in to tell you that your suggestion to track every bite of eats has been such a great tool for me! It really puts it out there in black and white and I LOVE having the data at my disposal.

Have a great weekend!