Happy Monday!

I intend to enjoy this Monday at home. Alone. By myself. Quietly.

Sure, sure . . . the Lowe's people will probably call and inform me that our custom-made door is in. that'll be nice to schedule the rest of my week. Door in, then alarm system. Hopefully we will hear from the heating specialist today as well.  I'm really hoping to keep all these repairs from the break-in under five thousand dollars. Sweetie is keen on getting some new hyper efficient solar doodads added to the bill, but I think he'll change his mind once he sees how much we minimally have to put down. Of course, if you're going to do something like that I suppose this would be the time. I just hate letting go of money for something non-fun.

Lots of laundry to catch up on today. Everybody was scrambling to find a pair of matching socks this morning. I would've done a lot yesterday but I ended up going on an impromptu road trip to Ann Arbor (M - Go Blue!) to a tiny art gallery with a friend I don't usually get to spend time with. We had a blast.

Reading, centering, trying to get my head in the right place. Those are my goals, in addition to laundry, today. Probably a little napping too as I slept lousy last night. I haven't decided yet whether or not I'm looking at the forecast. It might be too depressing.

Do a little better each day and eventually you'll be doing fantastic things again. This is what I tell myself. What are you doing this lovely Monday?

Hot 100 Update: embrace failure

I'm not really embracing it, but besides my outstanding job on fruit  lately, I've not been doing well on my Hot 100 goals. I am so sleepy all the time that I'm usually in bed by 10 pm anyway but if i nap too much during the day I am up reading until midnight. I've been playing  around. Exercising - bah! eating when I'm not hungry, YOU BET!  playing around losing and gaining the same five pounds? Great fun! Bloggin 2x daily? I missed a whole day and nobody noticed so why bother? Chores? whatev.  The good news is I have a Dr. appointment first thing Monday morning and that'll prolly get me going. I HAVE made some progress since I saw her 2 months ago. . . I think. And I'll ask her all about what kinds of supplements she recommends to make sure they don't interact with anything i'm already taking.

Nothing really pushed me into this rut and I'll find my way out soon enough. The only explanation I have is that I was really REALLY close to weighing less than Sweetie. When I can truck along fine for a long while but when I notice I'm close to a goal, and especially if I say it to anybody out loud - then it's like the expectation is there that I will meet it quickly and my inner child or whoever rebels against it. Every time I think I have it figured out, then I just stop caring.  I haven't even been reading blogs much. had a great book to read, though.  I'll have a review for that prolly later.  I haven't even updated my Shelfari yet. I think I need to reread Women Food and God!

And so there ya have it. I'm all "why bother?" right now. Eating for fun, sleeping even more, exercising hardly at all . ..  but I am still weighing in every morning which is the only thing that's kept me within that 5 lb range - I'm sure of it.

Now HERE is some amazing food for thought!

This dude Mark Haub is a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University. He was overweight and as a class experiment, he decided that he would severely limit his caloric intake but eat mainly junk food such as Twinkies, Little Debbies, and HoHos.  He had significantly fewer calories but food which was considerably not "healthy". He would eat a cake-let every 3 hours or so WHEN HE WAS HUNGRY and only EAT TO SATISFY THE NEED for food. And he counted calories while doing it.  He lost 27 lbs and discontinued the diet when he reached his healthy BMI.
Best quote from the article right here:

On August 25, Haub, 41, started his cake diet focusing on portion control.


"I'm eating to the point of need and pushing the plate or wrapper away," he said.




What's freaky? His cholesterol levels and triglycerides IMPROVED.

Now, he's not promoting this "snack-centric" diet. And he's not sure what the long term effects are going to be. He does admit to starting the day with a protein shake and also eating a vegetable or two a day (sissy) but I won't hold it against him (much).  Especially since he ate the veggies at the dinner table with his family to avoid setting a bad example for the kids.

Adding meat back into his diet after the experiment, increased his cholesterol levels.

Oh, did you want to read the article yourself? Here it is, straight from those crazy fellas at CNN!

Fake it 'til you make it!

Not a new concept.

To be healthy, live healthy.  Each of  us that is trying to make positive change in our lifestyle is doing this.  I certainly haven't got the market cornered on this.

I want to be a person who makes good choices in life, who makes mindful decisions about all kinds of things, including what I put in and on my body.  I may not LOOK like a person who does this right now. I may be the "fat chick" giving advice that obviously hasn't gotten me thin (yet), but I will be.

This I believe

I believe . . .

That I can trust my body to tell me what it needs

That I can be mature enough to separate my physical needs from my emotional needs

That non-food problems cannot be solved with food

That people are capable of managing their own good choices

That it is possible to disagree respectfully and with dignity.


That how I fuel my body and my spirit is my choice, and my choice only

That mindful decisions about how I treat myself and my body will lead to an overall healthier lifestyle

That food can and should be enjoyed.

That moving more, and eating less is the only way to lose weight.

That my life is a result of choices that I've made in response to the blessings and challenges I meet.

That I am in control of me, and only me.

That there will always be haters but there will always be enough love in the world to go around.

That each human being deserves a great portion of that love.

Happiness is the enemy?

Strange! When my alarm sounded this morning, I did NOT wake up angry. I felt good, happy, ready for the day. Can't wait to get started. I didn't like my weigh-in this morning but there are always fluctuations and I'm sure I'll make up for it tomorrow or the next day. I didn't follow my intuition yesterday and ate more dinner becaue it was yummy instead of listening to my hunger signal or lack thereof. I'm finding that being in a good mood is more dangerous than being depressed with my eating habits. When I'm unhappy or stressed, it's easier these days to gain a little control of my world by thinking about what I'm eating. When I'm relaxed and things are going well and I have no reason to freak out (this happens rarely) I am more likely to eat for pleasure instead of nutrition.

Overeating is not the same has having a binge though. I wasn't uncomfortable and "full" when I got up from the table. I didn't feel horrified or guilty about what I'd eaten. In fact, I didn't really think much of it until the scale showed me this morning. I know I ate too much. I'm ruminating on why and I think that my  diligence just isn't where it usually is when I'm relaxed an happy.  Oddly, I don't feel the need to stress out about it. I know that I can undo this. I'd love to be able to hit the 50 lbs down mark by the end of the week. All of the walking I'll be doing in Chicago should help. Today's to-do list is long but nothing I can't handle.

Stepping up my awareness!

It's all good.

Scale numbers are still trending downwards. Eating when I'm hungry is going well and making good choices about food. Whole grains, lots of fruits and veggies, chuggin' the water. Exercising daily. Walked a mile today - about 3500 steps - on the Wii Walk It Out game. Gotta love the music on there - Black Eyed Peas, Smashtrax, all kindsa goodies.

More photos of the kitchen to come tomorrow. Maybe I'll get it all nice and shiny before my trip. I intend to take some photos and print them out & tape them to the fridge so Sweetie knows what I expect it to look like when I return.

Very sleepy tonight. No problem getting to bed before 10 as long as the kitchen hasn't been wrecked when I go down to shine the sink. I just found out that I left the light on in the garden shed earlier as well so it looks like I get to go outside in my new PJ's. Well, at least they fit for a change.