Spicy Food

I am enjoying a spicy salad while waiting for my chicken breast to bake. I use spicy hot salsa and cottage cheese to make a dressing for my spicy salads. I have read that eating spicy food curbs the appetite but I am not sure if that is true for me. I will see tonight since evenings have been challenging lately. I have been working hard and feeling very productive at my new job and when I get home I feel like lounging around. I want to start an evening exercise ritual of some sort. Anyway, I will have to report back tomorrow on the spicy food experiment...

Grateful today for how hard my daughter studies, and how well behaved both my teenagers are! Can't say the boy studies, I never see a book open in front of him, but his grades are good so far..

Been forgetting my gratitudes..

Biking for Distance

Today I challenged myself on my bike ride. I did an eight mile round trip and tried to work on speed and endurance. I went four miles took a short water break and had small snack and then turned around and went the four miles back. It was a great workout. I don't usually go that far and I never measure really or time myself. It was nice to have a goal and to feel like I accomplished something. I know I can go further, but this was good for today. Then I had my cozy coffee experience afterward. It got steadily colder during the day so I am glad I rode when I did. It is raining now.

There may not be as much nice weather since we are into mid-November now but I plan to ride when I can and now that outdoor activity is limited I guess I can start hitting the gym again. I want to pay up a membership where there is a pool. I miss swimming!

Got to get to sleep for now. Trying to bump up the exercise before the next eating holiday. I love warm fires and baking. Today I cooked a roast. I can still bake and roast, just have to make sure I do it in a way that does not sabatoge my healthy eating!

Finally a Photo!

Finally uploaded pictures from our trip. I like this one of the three of us at the Bean... I have been getting over being sick and my energy is getting better. The first couple of days this week I felt pretty lousy at work but not unbearable. A little better every day. Just wanted to share a photo. More later...

The Library

Daughter was sick all last week. I have it now in a milder version, but I am trying to ignore it as much as I can. It is mostly a cough and upper respiratory ick and I tire easy. I am taking extra vitamin C and lots of liquid. It is such a beautiful weekend I did not want to miss out on the weather. I did my favorite Saturday morning ritual of a bike ride and coffee shop yesterday. I took it easy on the bike ride. This morning I stayed in prepping veggies for the week but may do a nice dog walk on the river front if I feel up to it. The fresh air should do me good.

We cleaned house yesterday downstairs and that makes my room mess even more unbearable. I am not up to that task yet so I have set up shop in the library. I love this room. It is bright all day with natural light. It is full of books and inspiration. It is just big enough for a small couch and a chair. I watched a movie in here on my laptop last night and also lounged around reading from some of the many books. I have a lot of great books. I added a couple that I found to my coffee table books. I don't buy books too much anymore but we used to go to the bookstore often when daughter was younger. We'd relax and read for hours and then each pick a book to bring home.

I had lost five pounds as of the middle of last week, staying faithfully on a program of healthy eating but when I got sick I started eating weird stuff. Three pounds were back this morning but I am not worried. I am stabilizing today and that fluctuation will go back down. I wish I had not deviated but I am not going to beat myself up and get all sad over it. I am moving on. I stocked up with the veggies and lean protein and I am prepared. One thing that helps me is to clean, cut, chop, peel, etc. all the fresh veggies on the weekend after I purchase them. If I don't then during the week I am far less likely to use them because the task of preparation is too daunting. So I have them all at my fingertips now.

I feel very optimistic and good about my body. Being in the library reminds me of how far I have come. Many of the books purchased in the self help department were to address issues that I have faced and healed, including the food issues. It makes me happy to see all the many different books I drew inspiration from. Different programs of eating all meshed together to make up my choices that eventually melted away fifty pounds or more of fat. I will never really know how high my highest weight was because I stopped weighing in the worst of times. But it does not matter to me anymore. What matters is now. I am at a very good place in my life right now. The pesky pounds that I work with now are manageable and no longer overpowering like in the old days.

Anyway, I am getting a bit tired so it is time for rest.

Today I am extremely thankful for my home and especially my little library.

Proclamation Extension

The candy is gone now (hooray!) and I ate none of it. I have extended the Proclamation to any sweets for now. The sweetest thing I have eaten are my frozen blueberries and the fresh crispy apples. Today I am grateful for New Job. I am grateful for Ezekiel sprouted wheat bread which I finally decided to try. The price put me off before, but when I shopped for office food I decided it would be handy because it comes frozen. So far a loaf has lasted from last week into this week. It satisfies without making me crave more. It is amazing actually. I am grateful for Our Lady of Weight Loss. I have been reading from her two books each night at bedtime. Also I have Wisdom Cards published by Hay House (Louise Hay) that I flip through before sleep. They are positive statements with drawings and bright colors. I love them.

It has been a week now since I started my new eating habits and I feel very good about it.. I naturally gravitate to the veggies and lean meat. I cut up fresh veggies tonight so I would have a supply. I boiled eggs and made salmon salad. I was tired but determined. It is so rewarding to be prepared. So today I am also grateful to be prepared. And grateful for my friends who are landlords who recommended a lawyer to assist with the Situation a/k/a operation Love Boat. You have to read this past Friday's post to understand the name.

Anyway as always, more will be revealed!!!

Happy Gratitude Month

I was true to my Halloween Proclamation and I was down two pounds for today's weigh-in so the re-gained pounds are going away (again). Being true to myself is so crucial to eating healthy. No one but me makes the choice!

It is sort of a tradition to talk about gratitude in November. I talk about gratitude often, but make it a point to bring it up in November for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Maybe this year I can celebrate Thanksgiving by actually thanking people. Sending thank you notes or something. I am keeping food on the back burner this year. Sure, I want to make nice meals at the holidays with some traditional items, but it will feel better for me if they are good for us and not something that will sabotage progress.

Back to gratitude and appreciation. I appreciate the blogging community so very much. I can always find hope, strength, inspiration, understanding, humor, good ideas, and more when I take the time to read and cruise my blogging community. I have found unconditional acceptance and support in the past three plus years. I am so glad that so many of us are still posting even if only every so often when we have the time. So for today I am grateful for the blogs. I will try to include at least one thing I am grateful for in each post this month.

Anyway, also grateful I have passed up the candy bowl for what might be the first time in my memories of Halloween. I do recall a Halloween when I was on the soup diet (anyone remember that?- tomatoes, cabbage and onions..yikes!!) where I munched celery and such but even then I most likely had a little something.

Thanks to you all you blogging buddies!!!!

Halloween Proclamation

For me Halloween symbolizes the start of the "eating holidays'"so this year I am celebrating by not eating any Halloween candy! No candy shall pass my lips. That's the Halloween Proclamation. I want to be a pound down tomorrow. And I believe it is possible if I eat the yummy veggies and fruits. In fact right now I am nibbling crisp apple slices dipped in yogurt. I am not a big Halloween person anyway. The timing in my life is such that I will be losing weight during the Holidays and that's a good thing because it means I won't gain any. That's the bright side. I had somewhat of an epiphany at Halloween 2006. I even went to a support group the next day. So Halloween is special in a different sort of way for me now. It is more about my right to choose and treat myself good. The scariest thing in my life is my room and I think I will spend the evening cleaning it up!

Happy Halloween!!!!

It is 8:40 p.m. and no candy has passed my lips. The bowl is still full and sitting out next to the jack-o-lantern. It can sit there forever. I never use the front door. The kids can dispose of it. I don't want them eating it either, but I have decided not to touch it. Ever. The postman can have it. Possums can carry it away. It is exiled. Banished. Maybe the big older kids that come out without costumes later in the evening will take the whole thing.....