Saturday: John is 'testing' me...I explained to him we'd be changing our eating somewhat and he's convinced that all of a sudden, I'll turn into some health guru feeding him things like spirulina and hemp hearts (which he's already been eating for years by the way) and chia seeds. Does the man even know me at all?
What I have done is up our vegetables, try to decrease our fats and monitor the carb counts a little more closely. Does he want ice cream? Have it I say. It's in the freezer. When it's gone it will be gone, and we'll buy better smaller portioned ice cream when we do want it again.
Today he wanted to go get a pizza from the pizza place. No objections. He got a regular crust pizza, and we had added vegetables on it. I made a salad. We ate our pizza and enjoyed it greatly and had more than enough leftovers for a second meal.
Eventually he will settle down and realize that while I would like for him to change things about his diet and habits (move more) I'm not focused on making him do anything. I hope that as I begin to move more and get better lab results that he'll join in more freely. I learned a long time ago that I cannot change anyone else. I can change myself and that's as far as my will power can go.
Still feeling a bit blah and definitely not up to usual energy level but I'll get there eventually. I've just got to go through this until I can get to the other side.
Had a box delivered from Stitch Fix. I kept a pair of jeans, a pair of sandals and two t-shirts. As far as I am concerned, I now have enough to see me through spring and I'm quite satisfied. Still a bit disappointed in Stitch Fix. My stylists simply cannot discover the interesting pieces I'd like to have. Perhaps it's my current size that has me locked into these particular styles? Oh well. I needed the jeans and sandals and t-shirts are always welcome in my wardrobe especially for the warmer days that are most surely ahead.
Sunday: Katie came out with a friend of hers last night and told us all about the homes they'd been looking at earlier that day. She's thinking a move will be in the offing sooner rather than later. I think it will happen when it happens, having been through this whole business of selling, buying and setting up.
In the meantime, we were in church today which was nice. I avoided physical contact with anyone since I sound as though I'm just freshly coming out of illness, but it was good to be out of the house and to see people.
We went by to see Caleb, Bella and Henry while we were in town. Bella argued that I wasn't a girl. This is an argument I had last year with Caleb, too. Eventually he accepted that indeed I am a girl. Bella was less convinced, but she did at least acknowledge that she was a girl, so there's that.
Caleb was eating lunch and Katie asked why he wasn't eating his yogurt. "I think I'm awergic to cherries today..." he told her. Katie and I met eyes across the top of his head, and she grinned. She told him it was okay if he didn't want it, but he wasn't allergic.
And Henry, who was meant to be napping in his pack 'n play got all excited when I went past him to go to the restroom. He got all wiggly. I said, "Oh I can't pick you up. You got to take a nap." And that bright young man shook his head NO at me! My goodness six months (tomorrow) is a bit early to start saying "No" to folks, don't you think?
My biggest mistake today was not eating anything until it was quite late, and I was so bottomed out where blood sugar was concerned that I could barely form words. Note to self to make darned sure I start taking some sort of snack with me on these long Sunday afternoons!
Monday: I have come to accept that I am not so much depressed as deeply subdued. I just don't have the oomph to want to do much of anything. I consider it a major win that I sat down with a book this morning, my first in two weeks' time and I actually read. And I read my Bible portion as well...I decided to start with 1 Corinthians and just slowly work my way through that small book.
I made myself get up and move and have logged a good 20 minutes in walking. Not nearly enough but it's more than I've been moving, and I'll keep pushing myself to do a little more and a little more. That's over and above any movement associated with housework.
It rained yesterday afternoon, and the temperatures plunged down. It never made it to 50F today. I say each spring that every time these temperatures rise and then drop again that the cold is doubly hard to take. I feel very resentful that I am shivering and in need of a jacket and socks in the house when it was so very pleasant on Saturday (nearly 80F).
John has gone off to Men's Meeting tonight and I am awaiting my supper to come out of the oven here in hopefully ten minutes. I shall see if there is a movie on YouTube that I might like to watch. Jane Austen perhaps? Her gentle humor and innocent romance rather suit my subdued mood at present, I think.
Tuesday: I feel tired this afternoon but not as abnormally so as I've been feeling. I managed to do some meal prep for the week, made breakfast and lunch. I have sorted out my dresser drawers once more, done the normal routine cleaning. I have not walked today but I am able to log household activities as part of my movement for the day.
The two meals I've eaten ranked pretty high on my score for the day which is something. I thought for sure I'd be critiqued a bit harder for lunch but as it happens it was quite a good review much to my surprise. The thing that I enjoyed the most with my lunch today was having carrot and celery sticks with a low-fat Ranch dressing. It was so good that I went back for seconds since I knew the vegetable sticks basically didn't count calorie-wise.
I am fully engulfed in a book by Rebecca Yarros, The Fourth Wing which has kept me engrossed. It is a fantasy type novel which I do enjoy though I seldom indulge in them. I will definitely look for more of Yarros' books. I picked this one up at the library a bit over two weeks ago (it's past due) and then I was watching Acre Homestead with Becky on YouTube and she was looking at books at Costco. The title was right there in a stack of the books she'd looked at and I thought, "Why don't I go ahead and read that?" So, I picked it up yesterday morning and I've been stuck in it ever since.
I'd thought last night while John was gone that I'd watch a Jane Austen film but the only two available to me (I forgot to go check Prime, darn it!) were "Emma" and "Northanger Abby" neither of which are among my favorites. Instead, I watched a Lucy Worsley video on Jane Austen's last days, another short on what Jane Austen might have looked like (AI generated at the end, but with a really good biography done ahead of the portrait reveal) and then a history buff/chef who talked about Jane Austen's favorite breakfast and discussed the differences in habits of various classes during the regency era regarding breakfast times and such.
I'd always felt there was something extra meant to be gathered from the scene in the breakfast room when Elizabeth is shown into the Bingley's when Jane has taken ill. Turns out that she'd have walked about an hour or so to get to the estate from her own home and she'd already breakfasted when she left home. The gentry were more prone to eat breakfast around 11am each morning. So, the scene was very much meant to point out the class differences between the Bingley's, Mr. Darcy and the Bennets. It was all very interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed all three programs. The time flew by while John was gone.
Wednesday: I really don't plan to bore you all with my eating habits and exercise, but I admit that I am feeling very confident with this app helping me to figure out what is needed, how to amend things, and the tracking of meals and movement. Not going to lie, movement is still at a minimum, but I'm doing something every day, and I figure something is better than nothing. Today I pushed myself to walk around the back yard in addition to my other (minimal) movement.
I am feeling better finally. I don't know if it's because the cold is finally wearing out (still stuffy but not nearly as congested and exhausted), or if my blood sugar being regulated is the helper I needed, but I do feel better. I still have little to no ambition for tackling a project of any sort. I'm going to assume that the energy I normally have will return soon enough. In the meantime, I'll read and write and putter and wait.
Thursday: I had an absolutely miserable night filled with coughing and gasping for air if I dozed off. Absolute crap. Sometimes it feels like one step forward and two back with this mess. Ugh.
I've been playing with my Simple.Life app and am slowly learning how to adjust things like choosing fasting hours that suit me and my schedule, found the recipes they have online and more helpful information. I'm slowly finding my way around all of this. So, I think it's been a good first week on the program. Next week I'm going to work on decreasing portions and choosing better foods. I resign myself to the fact that no matter what I eat, even unsalted foods, the app insists I am eating too much sodium. I've even asked the app why they keep insisting I have eaten salt when I haven't. Poor excuse on their part was the broth and other things do have sodium. Not unsalted broth! However, that's just something I'll have to ignore unless I'm pretty sure that I am indeed overeating salty foods. Because I'm used to having a larger eating window each day, I'm learning now that I'm really full sooner than I think I might be. The last three meals I've had food left on my plate. This is not a bad thing. It's all learning to listen to my body and accepting that it is more certain of how full I am than my mind says I am.
We went grocery shopping today. On our way over we talked long and hard about several things that are on our heart and minds at the moment. So many things. We were still talking when we arrived at the grocery store.
I told John as we left home my main focus was produce and that's where we spent the bulk of our money today. We went to Aldi and both of us were impressed with what we purchased for the price. It may just turn out that Aldi and Sam's become our routine for a time. We'll see. We definitely found ourselves impressed today. I will say though that the prices that 'used to be', sure aren't anymore!
John stopped and picked up sandwiches for us at a popular Georgia chain restaurant. Then he drove to a church along the highway, and we sat in the parking lot and had our meal. It was not the most peaceful, since we were by a busy highway, but it was different. We shook ourselves out of ruts today by getting food we'd typically not purchase as well as eating in the church parking lot.
Once home I put away groceries and quickly planned supper (I really planned it last night but confirmed it this afternoon).
And of course, walking about the grocery store counts as activity as well. So that was a bonus.
All in all, it was a simple day. It was a good day.
Friday: I slept very well last night and was grateful for it. I made my third solid 16-hour fast today, watching the clock until I took my first sip of coffee. I find I'm feeling very rushed with this 8-hour window of eating.
I'd barely finished coffee this morning. Adjusting my sleeping hours will occur shortly. Just now I'm still running on pre-daylight savings time schedule. Katie called and said she and her friend Tina would like to run by. They'd been out looking at Peaches to Beaches and the baby needed a change and a bottle. Liam, Tina's little one, took to John right away. John knew his magic language: he took him to the toy box and showed him the Match Box cars. Done deal. Liam was occupied for the next two hours.
Henry, who just learned to roll over mid-way of last week (also started getting baby food at the same time) kept rolling off his pallet towards Tina. He was overjoyed with all of us and spent his time gurgling and smiling and either scooching off laps to get back to the floor or wiggling at each of us to pick him up. It was a fun visit for mid-morning. Katie mentioned how much she's looking forward to being closer when they get their new home.
After they left, I made us dinner. Then I cleaned up the house which was woefully behind on its Friday blessing. Tomorrow I'm taking the other children to the library and then off to do something, not sure just what. And on Sunday we will have Fried Chicken Sunday with Taylor. Perhaps once Katie and the family are here, I can include the other household in Fried Chicken Sundays. That would be lovely. I'd like to make it a routine thing to get the grandchildren together.
But that is far in the future and in the meantime, it is today and tomorrow, and Sunday I am focused upon.
And that's enough from me this week.
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4 comments:
I've found that when I am changing how I eat, which changes how I cook, I don't say anything. I do it slowly. Over the last year I lost 60 lbs. I still bought ice cream and hubby had his bowl each evening. As I was dropping weight I noticed that his bowl of ice cream was getting smaller and smaller. He now is watching his portions and has lost almost 45 lbs.
Hi Terri, I try to generally keep my mouth shut. I think it's worth noting and what worked for my issues with the ugly D word was finally figuring out that all vegetables and fruits are carbs. Some, like celery and lettuce and cucumber, totally negligible. Some others, carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, tomatoes all have a fairly considerable carb count. Fruit is higher . Diabetic diet generally starts at under 100 carbs per day. Can I afford to eat 12 grams of carbs in a serving of carrots (per 128 g) and use over 1/10th of my carbs for the day in one go? Maybe I can, and that's what I want, so I make everything else fit. I was astonished when I realized how many total carbs I had been eating, because we have all been taught veggies are good, kind of like they are a separate food with just nutrients. I stopped struggling hard when I started writing it down and could mathematically see the number and reason it out.
Wendi, that is what I'm hoping with John. He'll just watch and see and maybe be inspired to change how many snacks he eats or chooses better. In his favor, I will add that he has gone from drinking 6 sodas a day to not drinking any but the occasional 'clear' soda. Beyond that I cook and serve foods but if he goes back for more I say nothing unless it's meant for another meal. I'm also slowly cutting down on how much I cook so there's less and less 'leftover' lol. Subtle tricks, right?
Mostly he's just fearful that he will want foods he can't have and I keep telling him that it's not about what you can't have, it's about making better choices so you can occasionally have those things.
Thank you Heather. Counting carbs is something I will be working on sooner rather than later. I don't eat cooked carrots only raw ones (yes, still carbs but fiber counts). I've added beets once a week for heart reasons. I avoid all corn as I've noted it really doesn't sit well with me nor does pasta (even whole wheat). I avoid most bread because honestly it's never done much for me even pre-diabetes. I can do baked potatoes with peel but eat only half...that sort of thing right now. Eventually I'll be back to counting carbs more carefully. It's just all going to be a slow progress or I'll quickly get overwhelmed and burn out. This week: cutting portions so I feel comfortable, not full.
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