Self-Talk

I thought of a great post to write last night and I've forgotten it already, so I'm just going to recap my latest Weight Watchers' efforts.

I lost 0.8 lbs this week.  I was doing some negative self-talk around the whole weigh-in.  I had the stomach flu late last week, and felt that any loss wouldn't really count, cause it was due to illness as opposed to staying on the program.  Of course, if I had gained weight, I would have felt bad about myself, thinking "I can't even lose weight with the stomach flu!"  So, it was fortuitous that this week's topic at Weight Watchers was about positive vs. negative self-talk.

I'm trying to work on the voice in my head though.  I am happy with the loss, and before the flu, I really was working the program.  I've started using measuring cups when I eat at home, particularly to measure the amount of milk I'm putting into cereal, tea or coffee.  Apparently, a Jen quarter-cup is not equal to a Science quarter-cup.  :)

This week, I'm going to focus again on portion sizes and I'd also like to focus on water intake.  I'm really not drinking enough and it shows in my dry lips and skin.  I haven't been able to get our Wii set up yet, but I've gotten in a bunch of lovely walks outside.

Remember how I used to have that big 101 in 1001 list on the left sidebar?  That list's deadline was in June 2010, but I kept working on the tasks that I set for myself.  This was really the first time that I articulated so many discrete goals for myself, and I found it to be incredibly helpful and enjoyable.

I was able to cross off the vast majority of items on my first list, so I decided that it was time to make a new list.  Here is my 101 in 1001 list - version 2.0!

Mission: Accomplish 101 discrete tasks in 1001 days
End Date: December 2, 2014

Green tasks are in progress.

HOME
1. Bring all wedding gifts from parents’ house to our house.
2. Choose wedding pictures to have printed and to make parents' albums.
3. Put together an emergency box (water, flashlights, etc.) for the house.
4. Put together “72-hour kits” in case of emergency/evacuation.
5. Put together an emergency box for both cars.
6. Write and properly execute wills.
7. Complete china service.
8. Complete silverware service.
9. Learn how to iron clothes properly.
10. Fully unpack house.
11. Set up guest room.
12. Set up office.
13. Set up “launchpad” in entry.
14. Put together a Task List/Control Journal for the house.
15. Back up computer.
16. Organize front-hall closet.
17. Organize master closet.
18. Plan and start an Evening Routine.
19. Plan and start a Morning Routine.
20. Start a filing system for paying bills and saving paperwork.
21. Hang pictures/paintings in house.
22. Get family room couch and chairs fixed.
23. Create a photobook of Lil’ Man’s art.
24. Create a photobook of Lil’ Man’s first year.
25. Hang and maintain a height chart for Lil’ Man.
26. Put clothes in hamper (not on floor) every day for 1 month.
27. Get a hamper for dry cleaning.
28. Get the kitchen to a shiny sink before I go to bed for 21 days straight.

FOOD
29. Start buying grassfed meat and pastured poultry.
30. Make homemade yogurt.
31. Join a CSA.
32. Follow a menu plan for 1 week.
33. Follow a menu plan for 1 month.
34. Bring lunch and snacks to work for 4 days in a week.
35. Bring lunch and snacks to work for 4 days per week for 1 month.
36. Make matzah ball soup.
37. Make a green smoothie.
38. Make jam
39. Preserve a food by canning.
40. Make fresh pasta
41. Bake a pie.
42. Go apple picking.
43. Bake 10 new things and blog about it.
44. Cook 10 new things and blog about it.

HEALTH
45. See a personal trainer to start a weight-training regimen.
46. Get eyes checked.
47. Take meds & vitamins every day for a month.
48. Floss every day for a month.
49. Exercise 30 minutes 3-4 times/week for 1 month.
50. Try Zumba.
51. Reach a healthy BMI.
52. Do the Couch-to-5K program.
53. Find a new foundation (makeup).
54. Put on makeup before I leave the house every day for 1 week.
55. Take a yoga/pilates class.

SELF/SPIRITUAL
56. Have Friday night Shabbat dinner at our house for family/friends
57. Have a sukkah for Sukkot.
58. Make hamentashchen for Purim.
59. Make mishloach manot for Purim.
60. Go to a Tashlich service at Rosh Hashanah.
61. Go to Shabbat services at least once a season.
62. Have a dairy meal for Shavuot.
63. Write a list of 50 things that make me happy.
64. Make a list of 5 people who have positively influenced me and write them letters.
65. Contribute to our tzedakah box every week before Shabbat candlelighting.
66. Bake challah and freeze small portions for use over a month.

RELATIONSHIPS
67. Take Lil’ Man to the Zoo.
68. Take Lil’ Man to the Playseum.
69. Play in the leaves with Lil’ Man.
70. Send Mom flowers for no reason.
71. Send 5 friends flowers for no reason.
72. Bring JD breakfast in bed.
73. Create our own “Family Rules” and display in house.
74. Write an “If Something Happens to Me” Letter

FUN
75. Learn how to play the piano.
76. Read all of Shakespeare’s plays. (9/36)
77. Ride in a hot-air balloon.
78. Take a golf lesson.
79. Learn how to play bridge.
80. Complete a needlework project.
81. Make/do 10 things on my Pinterest boards.
82. Read 10 books that I haven’t read from 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.
83. Write a blog review of the 1001 Books… I read.
84. Have a picnic.
85. Take a picture of Lil’ Man at least once a week.
86. Write an article for my work newsletter.
87. Knit something.
88. Ask 20 friends to suggest one book and read them all.
89. Write a blog review of the “20 Books from Friends” I read.
90. Take a photo of the same place every month for a year and turn it into a calendar.
91. Host a dinner party.
92. See 10 classic movies I’ve never seen.
93. Go horseback riding.
94. See a play/musical.
95. Listen to a lecture online.
96. Write a blog post once a week for a year.
97. Pay for the person behind me at Starbucks.
98. Have a girls’ weekend.
99. Donate blood.
100. Do swab test for bone marrow donation.
101. Create and send out a family photo holiday card.

This Goin' Up Is Bringin' Me Down

I gained at Weight Watchers this week.  Instead of being down 2 lbs., now I'm only down .6 lbs.  This stinks.  I'm being religious with the tracking and I walked at least 20 minutes most days.  I also brought in lunch 4 times and brought snack for myself every day.  I think it's the going out on the weekends and the portions.

I don't think it's realistic for me to not go out to eat, but I do need to improve upon the good choices that I'm already making.  For example, I teach a class on Wednesdays and after class, I went out to The Cheesecake Factory and had the Asian Chicken Lettuce Tacos from their SkinnyLicious Menu.  Good choice - low in points and very filling (btw, tastes fantastic!).  Yet because I was starving when we got to dinner, I also ordered the Beets with Goat Cheese, and a couple slices of bread with butter.  I had brought a snack to class, but it definitely was not enough for me to not feel starving.

So, here's what I'm going to do about that this week -- bring a bigger snack with me to work on Wednesdays so that I won't be starving when it's time for dinner.  I'm also going to try measuring my food when I'm cooking at home, so I don't have "portion creep."  I would like also to keep up the amount of activity that I did this past week.

Time for my afternoon snack: fruit cup with grapes, pineapple and cantaloupe.

Once More Unto the Breach and All That

I'm 35 now.  Thirty effing five.  I've been having a bit of a hard time adjusting to the change.  Some of this angst is because I'm now officially old and must admit that I will now never do some of the things I wanted to do in my life (be thin while I'm young, can't think of anything else, it must just be that).  More of the sturm und drang though comes from us getting back on the TTC bandwagon.

I made the appointment for the consultation.  It's real.  I'm actually signing up to go through all this another time.

I'm out of practice here -- there's so much going on in my head and I'm finding it difficult to articulate.  Hopefully, I'll be less rusty as I keep posting.  I would like to keep a record of this time -- not for my child(ren, hopefully) to read later, but more for myself -- to have it memorialized that I was here, I went through this, I wanted this.

I am in a better space to be starting a new IF journey.  I've lost a lot of weight since we first started trying.  Thanks to hyperemesis during the pregnancy and gallstones afterwards, I lost 70 pounds all tolled.  Of course, once my gall bladder came out, I started eating and eating and eating.  I'm still down 25 lbs though and I'm doing Weight Watchers to inculcate those healthy eating and exercise habits again.

We're also in a new (to us) house, in a new (to JD, but home to me) state.  Yay Maryland!!  It's lovely to be back on this side of the river.  I've got a 10 minute commute and it's just lover-ly.  Sure, our home has been invaded by packing boxes which multiply like Gremlins, but otherwise, I'm really happy with the house.

We'll see where we go from here, eh?