Tuesday. June 27

Weight: 153.8, Calories: 1619, But only 42g protein!!! :( :( 70 min. exercise--45 min. chest & tris + 25 min. HIIT

Glad my weight is more in the "normal" post-loss range. Need to fire it up again. Went to the lake this weekend with my sisters and older sis's kids. Was fun, but sometimes sister drama doesn't end. Best part was that I was so busy doing stuff that (even though I did consume plenty of beer) I was only eating when hungry. That's so awesome! Such a duh. But still something I struggle with. Tbh, maybe I eat more when I'm not hungry now than I did pre-surgery. Bc I was hungry often pre-surgery. And now, I get to eat so rarely if I wait to be hungry :( Haha strange thing to say but do you know what I mean? Plus I'm almost unnaturally fearful of hunger now. I rarely allow myself to truly be hungry!

Another thought I had while around 4 kids 7 & younger: they only eat what they want. What they really really want. Is this good or bad? The non-parent in me is shocked that such little people can make such big demands. One wants round chicken nuggets, the other wants dinosaur. One will not eat spaghetti so she has special-made rotini. Obviously this is the far end of the "picky" spectrum. Is this a desirable trait or not? I love food. Almost all food! since having my sleeve I'm quite a bit more "selective" but I wouldn't say I'm picky. I just choose to eat the foods that I like best. there's something to be said for that. And I definitely practice that more than some dieters. You're more likely to find me eating a reese's cup than a protein bar if it's a sweet I desire. Why? Because I like it. And they have approximately the same calories (though the macros are quite different). On the other hand, you often hear the mantra "food is fuel." Perhaps the kids should be told this? That you need to eat your vegetables and I don't care if you like them because they are good for you. Clearly kids are a bit more difficult to entice to eat the good-for-you foods. But it did get me started thinking about what's healthier: eating intuitively and what you enjoy, or eating what you know to be healthy? (an important limitation here: I think the older we get the less in tune we are with our "intuitive" eating which is why it was interesting to watch the kiddos. I know that I can never fully eat "intuitively." I broke that barometer long ago).

wow I think too much.

Anyway, good reset weekend. And a very good day yesterday. Lots of work done for a Monday, had acupuncture (reason for feeling so positive? idk but I'm happy to believe it), got groceries, picked up house, had a pretty good chest & tris workout, did some cardio for the first time in forevvvverrr and realized I need to not neglect it, went home and dinner was 1/2 bun with leftover pulled pork, a piece of melon, and about 1/3 c. pasta salad.

I'm leaving work early today to have my folks and niece over to swim and grilling hotdogs.

Have a beautiful day. Remember that the body follows where the mind leads. Too often I think we make this journey purely physical when it's primarily a mental battle!

Greetings Busy Ones

136 today but I feel quality bathroom time coming on.

Good grief Carbon, you must be Wonder Woman. 3 pianos? Glad the skinny jeans are loose. I agree you are toned up on piano lifting.

Liz you are right. Don't eat what is not excellent. For lots of reasons. And enjoy your last day and don't go to the airport with ham in your pocket!

Dave, glad you are feeling good about being involved in remodel project. Hope your dental work gets done and you keep the good feelings.

Paula, will be interested to see what you do about cataracts. I am working on some too. My younger brother had those corrective lenses implanted even though he did not have cataracts. He just was sick of glasses. He is happy with them.

BB interesting about the young ones food preferences. Not sure how to handle it as I was never picky and as a kid I ate everything put in front of me. Even liver and brussel sprouts!

Well Devon, rest up. Sorry about the reserve. No fun to be miss runner up #1. But you will finish the guy very soon I bet. When are puppies due?

Off for an eye exam since I wrecked my glasses and have been wearing old ones.

Shel, don't work too hard. Looking forward to your next hike. Its cloudy and cool this morning so its a long sleeves day. No such thing in Aruba I bet.

Diane S.

Exactly! Same here (down to the brussels sprouts and braunsweiger). I would think that kind of full spectrum eating would make me healthier than my fruit loops-crescent rolls-chicken nuggets surviving nieces (step daughter is actually this way too) but they are all so much thinner than I ever was. Hmmmm

Weight same as yesterday. I found it interesting how strongly I was craving carbs yesterday. Not surprising after the "tired" carb eating I did on Sunday. Interesting to me how quickly the carb cravings can go into hyper drive.

Will do some shopping today to get some meat, salad stuffs, and some fruit in the house. Need to get some of that yogurt salad dressing I like, too. It's called Bolthouse Farms and the stats/cals are good and the flavors are varied enough that I can have some variety in dressings during the week.

Diane S, Ella has 3 more weeks before delivery. She's due on the 19th by the vet's calculations. I thought the 20th, so I'm getting better at my calculations! However, I don't think she's going to make it to term. She's already heavy with puppies. I put her in a maternity trim yesterday and was amazed by how much she's "grown" in only 6 days! Remarkable! Poor thing is already alternating between ravenous, tired, and hormonal. She is also more and more attached to me, rarely leaving me out of her eyesight. Right now she's stretched out napping next to me on the floor.

BB's observations about the children reminded me of something that I did over the weekend. We were provided a nice box lunch on Sunday. It contained two ham and cheese sliders, a container of pasta salad (the oil and vinegar kind), a bag of chips and a chocolate chip cookie and pickles. While I was eating one of the sliders, which really held little appeal to me, someone walked by with ice cream. I took one look at the ice cream and thought, "I'd rather have that than this." I put down the slider, closed up the box lunch and went and got the ice cream instead. Was it a "Healthy Choice"? Hell, no! Was it the right choice in that moment? I think so. I ate what I wanted, was satisfied, and didn't have to eat again until later that afternoon. Had I eaten the chips (which are a total slider food) I'm guessing it would have been roughly half the calories as the ice cream, but I found the ice cream far more satisfying in 102 degree weather than the box lunch.

Intuitive eating is a hard call for me because my eating is disordered. Sometimes I want to eat something for a purely emotional reason which serves as a coping mechanism. To me that's not intuitive eating, but rather a negative form of emotional eating. Other times, I may "crave" beef all afternoon. I will eat some beef and be satisfied and move away from the beef craving. That's intuitive - giving my body what it wants to eat. I find I do that with fruit and meat more than anything else. If a food involves sugar or highly processed carbs I have to be sure it's truly not an emotional craving. Sadly, it usually is. Then I have to decide whether it's the right thing for me to eat at that time. It is one hell of a Fandango, I can tell you that! The other day the ice cream was an okay thing to do. Last night when I wanted it, it was better to say, no, No, NO! I had a stash of Halo Top on hand and had that instead. A wonderful alternative with far fewer calories - even if the cost is prohibitive comparatively.

Enough of my rambling for today! Cheers all!

See for me it's all hard to tell what's real and not real. Because often my "diet" eating is more screwed up and, to use your example, I would've eat the slider and not enjoyed, then eaten the chips, and then finally eaten the ice cream when I'm "dieting." Whereas more "intuitive" eating I probably would've done what you did :)

It's just so hard to know. I can't tell when I'm hungry or not, and furthermore I think I'm far too sensitive to hunger. I personally believe that food should be more than food. And I'm glad it is. I love cooking, I love food. But I overdo.