Recording in Small Doses

Today’s the last day of recording, and it’s strange to say but I think I might miss it. I had stopped recording early December after recording for 9 straight months, because I was tired of it and at that point it felt useless. I was going over calories constantly and just didn’t care. So I decided to take a break, resuming January 1st. Well January 1st came, and nothing changed. It was still a drag. I managed to record for a whole week before giving up. But now it feels different. I’m actually enjoying myself and seeing the results of the day is fascinating for me for the first time in a long time. I’m not making my calorie range, but I am learning something. So far, I discovered that currently I am snacking too much. Every day the past three days I managed to overdo it. Very interesting. Here’s hoping that I’ve learned my lesson for the fourth day.

Weekly and Lenten Challenge

I have started to record food intake again, starting today and ending Saturday. I’ll see how it goes. I do not have the urge to record food in-take everyday for the rest of my life. These four days will have to do for now, and we’ll see what I should do after my next weigh-in on Monday.

I’ve decided to set-up personal weekly challenges and reward myself when I meet those challenges. The recording food in-take for four days will be this week’s challenge. If I complete this challenge I will give myself 50 cents towards my weight loss fund and if I’m within calorie range for three of those days I will give myself another 50 cents. I know it has taken me a long time to mull over and finally decide on a something so simple, but simple is actually very difficult to do. I read other weight loss blogs of those whom belong to Weight Watchers, and I must say, I’m jealous that they have a reward system ingrained in their program. That they don’t have to sit there and think about what reward system would be best. Might be for the better, considering how fiercely independent and defiant I am.

Yesterday, Ly and I were talking about Lent coming up. As usual, Ly has difficulty coming up with what to give up and asked me to decide for him. I tell him, because it always makes him strangely happy since he likes to treat abstinence during Lent as a dare. The drawback, however, is that he thinks he can tell ME what I should give up. Um… I don’t think so. I was ready to say “Don’t tell me what to do!” but this year he actually came up with a good one that I would never have thought of: procrastination. Since I started abstaining for Lent it was always been a toss up between chocolate and TV. It’s high time I try something different.

Insatiable

If there were one word I would use to describe the month of August (so far) it would be “insatiable”. Not only eating-wise, but bedroom-action-wise also. This is strange for me since most of the time I’m a cold fish and last month was so cold I feared it would last until I got myself a therapist. Fortunately for Ly, it was not so.

I am a serious procrastinator and my life feels like there’s a constant drill sergeant to get me out of my funk. Growing up, my parents took on this role. Now that I’m married, Ly does. But there are still ways to procrastinate without retribution. You see. The funny thing about sex is that it is the one form of procrastination that Ly never puts over my head. Heck. For him there’s nothing more important than doing it.

Growing up, it was eating that I was allowed to do to procrastinate. I was a skinny child and my parents were concerned that I had very little appetite. So when I ate without being told (like say, to get out of doing homework or practicing the piano), they did a mini happy dance. Unfortunately, this kind of behavior also makes me fat. So I’m working at undoing it.

Another thing I noticed was that I tend to get in the sexual mood when I want to procrastinate but am not yet overwhelmed. If I do reach the point of overwhelm-ness, then eating is the only thing I like do. This is usually the time when family life starts to suck, so I should tackle my stress before it gets this far. Maybe I should take up meditation.

Why Do People Get Fat?

My friends and relatives believe I became fat because I have a tendency to eat too much snacks and sweets. I had told my sister Jen that Ly didn’t like it when I bought chocolate because they tend to disappear too quickly. Jen nodded her head enthusiastically, recalling how sweets never lasted that long in our house when we were growing up. She blamed the fact that our parents rarely kept sweets and snacks in the house, so that we tend to crave it then binged on them when they’re around. Then she pointed out a neighborhood family that constantly stock piled sweets and snacks and how the children in that family didn’t binged or craved sweets. She pointed out these houses as if the parents had done the right thing, but I’m not so sure. 3 out of 5 of the family members that she mentioned were and still are obese. In my family it would have been the same ratio if I hadn’t lost the weight. So who’s to say which parents did the right thing? Personally, I feel our parents were more in the right. I did not feel deprived of snacks and sweets, because if they were present, we had free reign. And overeating during parties was encouraged. They kept snacks and sweets out of the house not because they were concerned about us getting fat or cavities. It was because they never cared about sweets and snacks for themselves. They didn’t have a sweet tooth, and the only time I’ve ever seen them snack was when my mom would occasionally eat cheese or fruit in the late afternoon at the breakfast table.

That brings me to another question. Why is my mom obese? She had been thin until my paternal grandmother moved in during the mid-80’s. My grandmother moving in was particularly stressful for my mom because she was such a control freak and my grandma fancied herself as being equal in household decision making. If I were my mom, I would have gained weight for sure. But watching her now, I can’t understand why she is still obese. Granted she eats Filipino food, which tends to be high in fat, but there’s plenty of chicken and seafood to balance out the deep fried and pork fat. And in addition, my mom naturally eats in moderation. So why? Am I missing something? It’s a mystery and I wonder if it’s important enough for me to unravel. My mom and I share the same gene pool and I’ve had people tell me I look like her, but we differ on so many things. She’s pear-shaped like Jen, while I’m an apple. She had gastro diabetes during all three of her pregnancies, while I didn’t during either of mine. However, we both do have a tendency to get carried away with something to only abandon it soon after. As a result, my mom was a cycle dieter and I’m afraid that I might share the same fate. This I should probably keep in mind.

Control

Last year, after Ly and I had the heart-to-heart about me needing to lose weight, he gave me his support through and through. Unfortunately, that meant policing what I ate and telling me how to go about my losing the weight. Being a naturally defiant person, I rebelled and we had another heart-to-heart.

It’s impossible to lose weight without support, but what happens when the support you get is not working? When Ly and I sat down for heart-to-heart part 2, I outlined to him how he can help me, and you know what? He disregarded it. Well not exactly. He said he would try, and the policing died down but did not totally disappear. He still occasionally tells me not to eat so-and-so and when I can treat myself. So annoying, but I’m learning to ignore him and others like him. Before I tried desperately to control my environment to ensure my success, and when I failed I would get angry with everyone around me. I too am a controlling person and get irritated when my environment is sabotaging my efforts. Now, I think I’ve changed. I decided a while ago that I would stop trying to control everything and work on controlling myself. It’s a struggle, but I think I’m getting pretty good at it.

One thing I use to do was force low-fat food on the family, now I buy food for myself and food for them. On a recent trip to the grocery store, Hunter asked for me to buy Cheetos, which I have a tendency to binge on when it’s around. I thought, “Here we go again.” I didn’t even think that I wouldn’t get the Cheetos that is how much I have changed in mentality. If it were me last year, I would have said “no” right away, because I knew it was a “trigger” food. Then I thought, why struggle? So I did ended up saying “no”. He can get Cheetos another time. Controlling the situation when I can is also a good idea.

Obsessing and Researching

I’m obsessing about weight loss again, and when this happens everything else is neglected. Father’s Day was last weekend, and I didn’t do anything for Ly! And it’s not like I didn’t have time. It’s just that I was preoccupied with myself. Last night I spent two hours writing a blog entry, ignoring my kids’ cry for attention. Then when I was preparing Hunter for bed, I realized he’d be going to my mother-in-law’s today, because Ly won’t be home in time for me to go to my sewing class in the evening. That means I wouldn’t be seeing him the whole day! I felt regret and wished I had paid more attention to him. I wished I could be more balanced.

In trying to find ways I can insure my weight loss and maintenance, I've been thinking of intuitive eating. I unknowingly tried this method twice using "A Lifetime of Weight Control & Fitness" by Debra Waterhouse. It didn’t work out for me, because I was too particular about rating my hunger/fullness and had difficulty being attuned to my body. And although this method was suppose to eliminate the guilt that comes with dieting, I still felt guilt and maybe more so when I fell into social pressures. I know that everyone (excluding those with extreme and special circumstances such as autism or anti-social personality disorder) is subject to social pressures, but I like to fancy myself as above it. Intuitive eating has helped me discover that I’m not. Also it suggested that I should eat without distractions, which was impossible when feeding two kids at the same time. And I didn’t want to give up eating vegetables in front of the TV, since it helps me eat them.

Despite my issues with this method I do still utilize its techniques somewhat, but I wonder if I should look more into it. Maybe buy a better book regarding it. But I have great hesitation making purchases for myself, so I decided to do a little academic research on the effectiveness of this method first (I have my student access to the academic journals on-line until the end of the summer). I discovered that I couldn’t find any existing research whether it was or wasn’t effective. I guess it shouldn’t have come as a surprise, considering how new this method is. Although this may indicate a better prognosis than traditional methods since most research only demonstrate how unsuccessful they are, it’s not enough for me to back it up with my money.

Then I ran across ”The Beck Diet Solution” by Judith S. Beck while perusing on Amazon and I remember reading about it on jen’s blog. It talked about utilizing cognitive behavioral therapy towards weight loss. Currently, this method is all the rage in my industry, because it’s backed by tremendous empirical evidence regarding all different kinds of situations (although I’m not sure if there’s evidence directly towards weight loss). Never the less, it has peaked my interest. And I’ll look into it …later. Right now, I need to give some attention back to the family.

Doubt

Lately parties are guaranteed diet failures. I know that social functions are challenging for everyone, but it hasn’t always been that way for me. In the beginning of my weight loss efforts I was actually “good” most of the time. Lately, I’ve been falling victim to the “social munchies”. This weekend, it dawned on me what part of the problem could be. While I was with a group of family standing around the food, everyone was happily munching away while I steadily tried to ignore the food that I wasn’t hungry for nor really craved. My cousin complimented me on my weight loss, and then his girlfriend asked if I had to give up on certain foods. My sister Jen quickly said, “No. Not that I have seen.” This made me feel good, because it indicated that everything was the same. That I was still that crazy sister/cousin with the sweet tooth and the snack attacks. But then I realized that it wasn’t the same, because I wasn’t munching with the rest of them. So I dipped a tortilla chip in the salsa bowl and didn’t stop munching until it was time to go. I’m fighting with change.

Between that and home remodeling, I was eating close to 2400 calories a day! Which is no wonder I only lost 1 lb last month. In the past, I would make myself feel better by saying that I must be eating close to my maintenance calories, but I never really know what they were. I finally searched for an on-line calculator (I know I shouldn’t trust these things, but I’m so lazy lately), and it turned out that to maintain my current weight I only needed 1773 calories a day. This surprised me, since I had always imagined that the calories to maintain my goal weight would be around this number. I calculated it so there wouldn’t be any surprises when I reach that point. Only 1688 calories.

I know I shouldn’t be thinking this way, but I thought that the misery of dieting was only temporary. That when I start maintaining there’ll be so much calories that I wouldn’t know what to do with it. Once I used the word “diet” and someone corrected me and said “lifestyle change”. But “lifestyle change” would indicate that I would be eating at a deficit for the rest of my life! Although I don’t mind maintaining my “good habits” well into maintenance, I still liked to daydream of all the calories I can have once I get there. Calculating my maintenance calories at goal weight had shattered that dream. It really isn’t that much more than I’m eating now. Well, no matter. I simply have to start thinking like everyone else. That this will last forever. And one way to make it more acceptable for me psychologically is to stop starving myself for the sake of staying within the calorie range. Only that would require me to limit more of the foods I love. But is it really possible to do that forever when my tendency to overeat is so overpowering?! I then ran across a blog of a lady whom lost 100 lbs to only gain it back again plus 5, because her life became stressful. Last time my life became stressful, all the weight I lost also came back. What happens when my life inevitably becomes stressful again?

Although, I may be sounding disillusioned, I have recently gained some motivation back. I started weekly challenges in the forum I’m participating at and bought some motivational postcards to mail out as raffle prizes for those whom completed the challenges. It’s something new and I seem to have become obsessed with it, which has helped my motivation in the past. But I still wanted to sound off on my doubt, which is still there in the back of my mind. Because once the shine of this new toy wears off, it’s going to become larger than life.

Made a Few Changes

The first one is that I’m no longer weighing every day. I just fell out of it, since I get bouts of laziness. And it was a lot of trouble. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I can read my scale without having to drag it into good lighting, zooming in on it with my digital camera, and taking several pictures (because the first ones are always blurry). My husband had bought the scale when I had just given birth to my daughter, so that I can kick-start my weight loss efforts as soon as possible. Now I know to never to ask him to buy anything for me again. He never takes thought on what he’s buying, always opting to get the cheapest or most readily available one. Needless to say, I hate it. But I’m not going to buy a new one, until I have enough award money for a new one. The one I have is troublesome, but it works. However, when I do get a new scale, I think once a day is still too much. Maybe twice a week would be good.

Another major change is with my award system. In the past I would award myself by weight milestone. I had wanted little incentives and large ones, but the only large incentives I could think of were weight milestone. I never liked it, because for one I get a big enough high from seeing the number that I don’t think I need anything else to keep my motivation going. For another, weight milestones seemed to be so far and few between. Then I read a blog post talking about weight versus time milestones. The blogger awarded her self every 100 days she’s actively trying to lose weight. I like it. So that will be my new big incentive. Tomorrow will be my 100th day since I started weighing myself, so I decided that the award I would have given myself for my 134-lb milestone will be my 100th day award. I’m also tweaking my little incentives a little, but the differences are nothing worthy to mention and I think I might still want to do some more tweaking.

The Buffet Strikes Again

This is my last week at my internship. Also it was my supervisor’s last week on the team. So we, along with one of the chaplains, went out to eat Indian Buffet. I totally didn’t feel like putting the effort into figuring out what everything was. Also the chaplain made me feel nervous, so I didn’t bother recording what I ate. I didn’t even bother figuring out if I was full or not. I just ate and ate while my supervisor and the chaplain talked. I went over today, but I can’t tell you what I would have done differently. I didn’t feel like I overate. Maybe I should have stopped eating the naan when I discovered it was burnt. Maybe I should have passed on the Chinese pastry that was offered at the meeting.

I think my motivation to record what I eat is dwindling. It could be because I’m so tired.

Knee Problems and Family Bugs

I’m concerned about my knee. It’s been feeling stiff ever since I went lifting on Tuesday. I’m afraid I may have injured it. Maybe I had lifted too quickly. Also on Friday, I did strength training without doing cardio for the first time ever. Although, I warmed up for 5 minutes, I’m afraid I might not have been warm enough. Maybe that injured my knee further. Today, I focused on stretching it, and I also iced it. I might do strength training tomorrow. I might not. It depends on how I feel.

For lunch, we brought one of those pre-made pizzas to my parents’ house. It only took 15 minutes to bake, but I was so hungry and there were so much tempting snacks I could have eaten. I held out okay, only eating 2 chocolate covered macadamia nuts. Although, I ate two pizzas, when I should have limited myself to one, and I would have been fine with one and a half. Ideally, I should have eaten one slice and the banana I brought with me. I find my parents’ house stressful. There’s just too much stimuli. Plus my mom’s so annoying and she was sitting right by my ear as I ate. Does she always have to yell when she talks? Does she always have to be such an airhead? It makes me want to eat more.

After I ate I went back to my sister’s room where the package for macadamia nuts were so that I can record the nutritional information. My sister had assumed that I went to eat more chocolate, speaking disbelievingly that I would “go all the back to her room for more chocolate.” Why is this so unbelievable? I hate how my family associates me with my uncontrolled snacking habits. But I didn’t bother correcting their perception. Somehow I would rather have them believe that I’m a crazy snacker than someone whom recorded her food down. My mom told me to bring the chocolate downstairs so that she can eat some, so I ended up recording the nutritional information right in front of her. Mom stated, “That’s good that you do that!” This bothered me.

My Award System

Each day I will pay myself money, depending on how many days I was able to stay within my calorie range in the last 10 days, including the day of.
<8 out of 10 days $0.00
8 out of 10 days $0.50
9 out of 10 days $0.75
10 out of 10 days $1.00

Each 10 days I stay within my recommended calorie, fat, carbohydrate, and protein range I give myself a dollar.

Each time I turn down food despite peer pressure, I will pay myself $1.00

At the end of the month I will use the money to buy myself a weight loss related prize. If I didn’t earn any money, but I tracked food for 80% of the month, I will still award myself a prize that I do not pay for.

I will award myself every 100 days I am actively trying to lose weight (weighing myself weekly and recording intake).

No One’s Forcing Me

For Easter, my mother-in-law invited us for dinner. Ly’s sister, Linh, is a wine connoisseur and likes to bring high-priced alcohol to these get-togethers. She’s very excited about what she brings, puts a glass in everyone’s hand, and speaks enthusiastically about the drink she had chosen especially for the get-together. Unfortunately, I cannot share in her excitement. I don’t like flavored drinks, except orange juice at breakfast and smoothies. And I consider smoothies to be more of a dessert than a drink. Anything else, I consider a waste of calories. Well, on Easter, Linh brings a mix drink. Ly thinks that I might like it, so he offers it to me. Twice. And not in a subtle way. In a "Come on! Come on! Just try it!" way. I hate it when he does that. It brings attention to the fact that I don’t drink alcohol, which seems to be a social oddity. But I know that this is not his intention. He believes everyone should try everything and nothing should be forbidden. He’s been known to badger our vegetarian friends about their life choices and shove meat foods under their noses. And this way of thinking runs in the family. Ly’s other sister Xuan use to have a boyfriend whom was allergic to peanuts. Poor guy had to be subjected to my mother-in-law pushing dishes with peanuts in them. And even Xuan would force-feed him peanut foods. At one party, Xuan had a peanut food in her hand, positioned right in front of his lips as if to feed her boyfriend, she said, “Come on. Try just one.” I had to stop her, before she went to far. Her poor boyfriend was so meek that several times he had suffered the consequences of an allergic reaction because Xuan and my mother-in-law had insisted that he "try" a peanut-laden food. But I don’t blame Xuan’s boyfriend. Turning down offers is hard, especially when they’re so persistent as a Truong offer. Well, after Ly offered the alcoholic drink twice, Linh makes a virgin version for me. Although, I can reject Ly with a glass in my face, I can’t seem to reject an in-law whom has made a glass especially for me. I drank it with resentment towards Ly. I thought that if Ly didn’t make such a big deal that I don’t drink alcohol, Linh wouldn’t have made me a virgin drink. So yesterday, I told Ly to lay off badgering me to try alcoholic beverages, since I found his badgering annoying. He wouldn’t agree to do this. He insisted that he offers me these drinks because he believes that I might actually like one. As if he knows what's best for me! I told him I would never like one. I hate feeling thirsty after I just drank something. I hate feeling polluted with drinks that are not pure as water. He just couldn’t understand me, so he wouldn’t agree to stop. Then he said, “No one’s forcing you!” This is easy for him to say. Him and his family walk around with an air of confidence and stubbornness. No one can force them to do anything. But for Xuan’s boyfriend and myself it’s harder. I can’t seem to turn down an offer when it’s presented to me a certain way. But then I think, "It is not impossible." I'm sure Linh, whom always gives up all kinds of foods for Lent and whom has always been successful at this, has no problem turning anyone down. So I’m going to work on this. Next time Linh makes me a drink, I’m going to say, “Sorry Linh, I just don’t like flavored drinks.” Another thing I also know about the Troung family is that hardly anything hurt their feelings. But with Ly, that self-righteous bastard!, next time he offers me an alcoholic beverage; I’m going to take the drink and pour it down the sink!

Buffet…on Good Friday?

You heard correctly! On the day that we Catholics are suppose to be fasting no less. Although what a Catholic means about fasting is hardly what other religions consider to be fasting. For Catholics, we are supposed to only have one full meal and two optional snacks. Never the less, I find it impossible to eat this little and not be cranky and I don't want my unhappiness to affect the happiness of those around me. But my husband always observes it. This year was no different from any other year. He comes home from work and all he’s eaten was popcorn, so he was cranky. He says, “Let’s go to Sweet Tomato.” Which is a salad bar, a buffet with very little meat options. Perfect for someone who can’t eat meat. I was totally not wanting to go, because although I don’t want to fast, I still wanted to aim for the low end of my calorie range as a weak observance of the day. I should have said no, but my initial reaction was to do whatever my husband wanted. When it suddenly dawned on me that I didn’t want to go, he was already getting the kids ready to go. I voiced my protest, which pissed him off. “Do you not want to go or not?” he demanded, irritated. And a little too loudly, in my opinion. I know if I said no, he would be pissed off for the rest of the night, so I said I did. Now I’m totally resenting him. I have not mastered the buffet yet; so, needless to say, I went over in calories yesterday, breaking my streak. I’m totally disappointed in myself. Wished I done things differently.

The Shark and the Aristocrat

I didn’t think it would be possible, but I think I’m getting use to eating treats in moderation.

If you have read my blog in the past, you would know that I like to use analogies about me and my snack attacks. And one description I have of myself when I snack is one of a shark. Mostly because I seem to engulf everything with my eyes closed. Lately, I’ve been doing the exact opposite. I’ve been eating like an aristocrat. When I have a treat, I would savor the flavor, and then move on. I feel so proud of myself!

Let’s hope that this will last.

Badminton, Indian Buffet, and Awards Earned

Last weekend I played badminton with my hubby. I didn’t even play for the whole time, and I ended up being sore for three days after! It was fun, though. The type of exercise that you look forward to. I plan to play badminton whenever my husband’s guy friends drop out and whenever my mom can take care of the kids. We’ll be playing again tomorrow.

On Tuesday, my supervisor took me out to an Indian buffet. I knew a week ahead of time, so I researched it on the Internet then took the notes with me. Indian food is truly a mystery to me, and I didn’t want to make any mistakes. Although, I felt like I was cheating on a test, pulling the notes out whenever my supervisor was distracted with the phone or whenever she went to the buffet. My supervisor, however, caught me taking notes. She must think I’m really weird. In the end, I went over my calorie range, but it was all so worth it. If there’s any consolation, I think I only ate the vegetarian dishes. Which is good for the environment. Right?

On other news… I have added an “Awards Earned” on my side bar. I will earn money the more days I stay within my calorie range. Then the first of the month, I can use that cash to buy a weight-loss related reward for myself. Even if I earn no money, I will still give myself an award for keeping track of what I eat, albeit it’s worth should not cost any money. I’ve set up an award system before which didn’t pan out. Hopefully it will work out this time.

Procrastination and Skipping Dinner

Why can’t I focus on more than one thing at a time?

I’m totally procrastinating on my special project, and I think I’m using my weight loss efforts as a way to procrastinate. It’s always something. If it weren’t that then it would be snacking, so this way is better. I’m trying to set a timer so that I only spend an hour a day online doing non-school stuff. It hasn’t worked so far.

Counting calories is going well, now that I track them on-line. I can save previously entered food, so I can use it another time. Additionally, it’s much more fun to do it on line. Looks organized and creates graphs.

Now that I track calories, I know when I eat too much. Last Tuesday, my internship had a big potluck, and I ate a lot! I felt full, but I also thought that it would still be okay. Calorie-wise that is. Well, I was wrong. When I went home to record my calories, I discovered that I went over, and I haven’t eaten dinner yet! So I thought to eat a small dinner, so that the damage wouldn’t be so bad… Then another thought hit me. Can I skip dinner? I’ve seen people do it before. A friend, sister, cousin, husband says, “I ate a big lunch and ended up not eating dinner”. And they were okay. A part of me was afraid I would crash. I still had to co-facilitate a support group, so that means I will be separated from food for about 3 hours! with no opportunity to get to my snacks. Can I do it? I decided to “test” it out. If all didn’t go well, then I would know better next time. If the co-facilitator or members noticed I was looking famish, I can just tell them what I have heard others say, “I ate a big lunch and I didn’t eat dinner”. And you know what. I was okay. I didn’t crash and I wasn’t famished. I just felt mildly empty by the middle of the group, and that was okay.

What is the moral of this story?

Trust the BMR. Those scientists know what they’re talking about.

Counting Calories Day 5

Day five in counting calories, and I am finding it hard to keep in my calorie range. The last two attempts at counting calories I was breastfeeding so my range was higher. During that time I was eating salad with Ranch, while keeping in the range. Now I’m seriously re-considering my Ranch habit.

I’m gritting my teeth when I make food decisions. I’m trying to be conscious of it and relax my jaw.

Need to Change my Habits

I have a serious sugar habit. It’s been extremely bad lately. The good news is that my weight hasn’t change despite my poor diet. The bad news is that my weight hasn't decreased either. These are things that I know can curb my urges.

1. Regular exercise

2. Healthy snacks

3. Plenty of water

I think I’ve been okay with exercise. I’ve been poor with healthy snacks. It takes a bit of preparation, and I’ve been un-motivated and lazy. Water. I can do better. Maybe I should keep track of my water intake to see how much I really am drinking.

I should eat more vegetables and count calories, also. I tried counting calories earlier in the year, but the task is so daunting. It’s not so much the keeping track of what I eat but the searching for how much calories foods are is such a pain. I’ll rather be doing something else.

Acid Reflux and My Unlce's House

My acid reflux is concerning me. I read in the Internet that it can lead to cancer! Yikes! So I started my vacation, vowing that I would avoid problematic foods (chocolate, peppermint, alcohol, caffeine, spicy, fatty, acidic), but I can’t seem to do it. You would think avoiding cancer would be motivation enough. Compounding matters is the fact that I’m at my uncle’s house right now. Granted my aunt is out of town and my culinary cousin is secure at his apartment near campus two hours away. Unfortunately, my aunt took the liberty of well stocking the pantry with sweet treats for our visit, including baked cookies and pies. In addition my uncle’s house is a very stressful place. The walls are thin and they have my room right behind their big screen TV, which is constantly on and constantly in surround sound. I can’t escape it and it’s driving me nuts, so I turn to food for comfort.

The Wagon Is Covered With Oil!

Boy! Have I fallen off the wagon! I’m not doing anything that I’m supposed to be doing. I’m not keeping track of my weight, my goals, my behaviour, and my food intake. I had wanted to continue cooking and blogging three times a week. That’s not happening. I’ve decided to aim for once a week cooking and twice a week blogging. I’m aiming to do something towards my weight lose every day.

Monday: revisit goals
Tuesday: blogging
Wednesday: weigh in
Thursday: go grocery shopping
Friday: cook dinner
Saturday: blogging
Sunday:

If I can keep this up for six weeks, I will gift myself.