11/21/18 Wednesday

BB, poor Baby Becca! Catheter is nooooo fun! Hope she is not one prone to UTIs. Costco and Sam's are similar. I have friends who are devoted to Sam's Club and pass on Costco. I am a die hard Costco fan. They have excellent dog products! LOL!

Diane S., sometimes having that person walking behind you is a good thing. Keeps you focused. LOL! For me, in the beginning having a trainer was about the accountability factor, too. Honestly, my two training sessions per week still keep me accountable.

Cecily, I felt proud of you when I read that your butt and outer quads are sore. I hope it's the good kin d of sore this time.

Ann, great to read you are back to yoga! As I've written before, you yogis humble me! 45 minutes is a kick workout! I also have to say, your outlook on life is inspiring.

Shel, we have regular fridge clean outs and still find outdated, expired condiments, flavorings, etc... It's part of experimenting in the kitchen I think. Some things you'll use again and again. Others, not so much.

Diane O., looks like you have a nice day planned tomorrow. Simple and healthy. Happy Birthday to your mom. 90 is impressive!

Liz, have done our fair share of waiting for repair and tradesmen this past week. I am envious of how much you are able to do in your Florida home and your Massachusetts home. I would be happy getting about a 1/4 of what you do done here! Your tenacity for home improvement is impressive.

Shirl, your tales of country living are intriguing. I was thinking last night I'd love to see video of your daily life in the country. I could live vicariously. There is a plot of land for sale up the road a bit and I would so love to make that my homestead!

David, hope your grandpa-ing gets a good fix in tomorrow for Thanksgiving and that your back is healing up nicely.

Bonnie150, I hope you are healing and that you find you have lots to be thankful for tomorrow. My thoughts stray to you often during the day.

Diamond - hope you have a nice respite from school. I am certainly enjoying my lengthened Thanksgiving holiday.

Lesa, if you're lurking - huge hugs. I miss you here. Hope you and Andy have a nice Thanksgiving.

End of part 1.....

Definitely good sore, but sore nevertheless! I laughingly wondered if someone snuck in and lowered all my toilets during the night. It's a long way down when your rear and thighs are sore!

Do you do any supplements for workouts? I've had 3 people tell me to get BCAA powder to drink during/after workouts. Two are trainers and one is a diehard workout person, so it must be a thing?

BCAAs are branch chained amino acids. They help with recovery. They are found in all sorts of protein based foods. They can also be found in supplemental powders. BCAAs are a good thing.

Healthline.com has a good article about BCAAs. Here's the link: BCAAs

However, IMO, a good, well rounded real food meal rich in BCAAs is the best thing you can do for yourself when exercising regularly. If you want to do something for recovery a high protein and moderate carb meal within 45 minutes after working out is the best thing you can do. Lately, I use a plant based protein powder mixed with unsweetened almond milk, a 1/2 cup of Fage 0% and a half cup of frozen blueberries. Here's a link to a great article about eating for recovery after a workout: Eating after a workout

My home decorating distracts me from the pains of having a largely zombie husband these days. I commented to SIL that in some ways it is weird that I can do all this with no input from him, as he used to want to help make all decorating decisions. Now he doesn't even notice that anything is different (which seems odd to me). I am sort of like a single person but tied down at the same time...

I'm glad decorating is a good distraction. Your last sentence certainly gave me pause and tugged at my emotions.

Part 2

It is RAINING! Not a piddly little rain, but a good flowing over the gutters type of rain. Our satellite TV is even spotty. That is a good storm for California. The rain was supposed to make it to the Butte County fire area this morning. I am hoping the rain has put the out the fire or at least helped Cal Fire fully contain the beast! It is expected that we will have 3 days of this weather. We desperately need the rain, so even though I hate rain with a pack of dogs, I am glad we are having measurable rainfall. Our air quality will get back to beautiful Northern California clean now, too. I feel the smile under my skin and a twinkle in my eye as I type this. It feels so good to take a deep breath. I didn't realize how deeply the horrible air was affecting me.

My new scale is my new truthful friend. I had some fun with it last night. I put both scales side by side. My new scale didn't waiver. Each time I stepped on it, it told me the same truth. My old scale played with my emotions telling me things I wanted to hear and then took them back the next time I got on the scale. In other words, I stepped on the old scale three times and got three different weights - though the first weight was the best. I did the same this morning. New scale was resolute in its message. Old scale was willing play with me and even begged me to keep it by offering me a weight of 239. It knows I like my new decades! However, the new scale knows the truth is more important and promised me consistence and truth. While new scale's truth is not as wonderful as the fibs old scale has been telling, I am going with new scale. I like her honesty. I do not need a friend filled with false compliments!

My new friend tells me my weight this morning was 246.8. While I preferred seeing the below 245 numbers, this truth makes more sense to me. I'm also into the truth, so this totally works for me.

Workout was good yesterday, though I had to do Bosu ball burpees. I do not like burpees. Luckily, they were a lot easier than I remembered them being. Guess I'm in better shape than I was the last time I did burpees. Am going to go do a strict cardio workout today in preparation for tomorrow.

As for tomorrow, I realized talking with my therapist on Monday I actually have a plan. My plan is basically a non plan of sorts. I have a very tough time going into an eating holiday with high expectations for regulating my intake. I usually end up being disappointed with myself for not being able to follow through with my pie in the sky hopes for my holiday eating behavior. Really after my first full year post VSG, holidays have presented a special challenge. My sleeve is tolerant of all foods and has a great capacity for slider foods. So, to take away any chance of guilt or disappointment I decided on the following plan: From 12 noon to bedtime (whenever that may be) I am allowed to eat any damn thing I want. If I want pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving dinner, so be it. That's what I will have. At bedtime the food fest ends and I go on a sugar reset. I have a training session scheduled at 11:30 am on Friday morning and my trainer has planned a personal boot camp for me. OH NO! I do not know what this will be, but I am a bit worried. She can really kick my butt when she puts her mind to it! LOL! I will not track food tomorrow, but plan to write it in my journal.

I forgot how soothing the sound of rain is. So thankful today for the clean air.

I wished Ron a happy HUMP day this morning. Can you believe he was unfamiliar with the term Hump Day? I'm still having trouble buying it, but he was so sincere, I think he was being quite honest.

Happy 4th day of the week instead!

Peps, you are on FIRE! Well, not actually. But metaphorically, in the good way.

And your writing is hilarious ... again, in the good way. That dueling flirt-scales and the loyal-virtuous-scales passage should be in a book.

Actually, and I've said this before, the smarts and writing skilz in this group just blow me away some days.

Hehe! Thanks for the nice compliment!

I am sort of feeling that way, too. I went to the gym to do my "prep" for tomorrow. Seriously, that was my thought. I have done two back to back lifting, sculpting days, so today is rest day. My "rest" was doing 2.5 miles on the elliptical trainer.

I have not been on the elliptical trainer in probably close to a year. I was thrilled to find that a half hour of interval training was a piece of cake. I could have easily kept going. That is proving to be the highlight of my day.

Wishing my VSG family a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks Devon...I am lurking:) I can't remember if I told you Andy had a stroke in 2012 and has had a full recovery for the most part. Scary stuff I know. Hoping Ron continues to heal and recover. You amaze me btw...I'm inspired by you and am hopeful I can do the work and get healthy again.

I know I've been AWOL. I've been dealing with some health issues and will be having my 3rd surgery December 11-a total hip replacement. I'm hoping it will relieve a lot of the pain I'm experiencing so I can get back to moving my body again. I'm hopeful.

BB-congrats on the new baby! Such fun to have babies close together.

Florida sounds wonderful Liz and new appliances! We just had a ceiling fan installed in our master bathroom. I'm loving it!

When do you go to NOLA, Ann? Can't wait to hear about your adventures.

Diane, I gallery-sat for some friends who just opened an Art Gallery called Marvin's Place. Made me think of you:)

DianeO-love your new profile pic. I love Chicago. Fun trip for you.

Shirl- I'm Lesa...nice to meet you!

Cecily-enjoy your Dad. We had my family Thanksgiving today. Tomr my husband's family.

David-hoping you're feeling better everyday. Enjoy those babies!

Bonnie-hope you are recovering and healing well.

Shel-I have to say I'm still laughing about the pimple boots. Funny, I've noticed people in Southern Oklahoma wearing those boots. Ha,

I love this group and need to do better at connecting. Sometimes I feel like I have nothing to offer but I know that is not true. Have you ever heard the song Die Vampire Die...all those negative voices in your head...I'm trying to change those voices!

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm blessed and Thankful! Love to all!!

Paula-Firsts are hard...hoping you can find happiness through the sadness.