Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 21

Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 21

by | Jul 13, 2017 | Trust Your Gut

 

Trust Your Gut is a series of stories about real people with weight issues, and complications arising from those issues.  It will explain what the person is facing, what their options are, what they have decided to do to take action, and why they chose the path they are on.  Each person’s story will be based on truth, so it won’t all be happy, but it will be real.  The goal of this series is to get people talking about options that are available for people who have weight issues, on either end of the scale.  If you would like to contribute to this series, there is a contact form linked on my Homepage for this blog.  I know there are people out there that want to help people like them; as I do.

 

The names here may or may not reflect the person’s real name.  If someone wants to remain unknown, we will choose a different name for that person’s story.  The goal is to help people, and anonymity is a valid personal choice for contributors.  I will use a person’s name only if they give permission to do so.

This week I am pleased to share another of my own stories.

Here is  Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 21

Here I am, in the middle of the week, at 8:30 pm, wondering what to make for supper. Again.  I have mentioned before that planning is the key to me staying on plan.  Last week I was on vacation and enjoying myself.  Yesterday I went back to work, and I have not planned any meals this week.  I need to thaw out the chicken that is in the freezer so I can cook it.  I also want to do some more barbequing but the meat is frozen, so that is out.  Garbage day has come and gone, and I still have food from before vacation in the fridge, that should have gone out with the garbage.  When I open the fridge, it is hard for me to figure out what is good and what is not.  So the fridge needs to be cleaned out.  It may not happen before the weekend.  I have only so much energy during the week, and extra energy is being focused on cleaning my kitchen in the war I am having against the ant invasion.  Cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning.  I do not like the thought of making food in the kitchen at the moment, because of this.

I have done fairly well with staying on plan with my lunches.  Did you ever have a breadless ham and cheese sandwich?  You use the cheese to hold the ham.  No need for condiments, just the ham and cheese.  It would work with any type of meat and cheese.  I had mini cucumbers and grape tomatoes with it.  I rather like it for a change.  It is a good summer picnic style lunch.  If you can keep your lunches tasty and healthy, that is half the battle.  I usually have light laughing cow cheese with unsweetened applesauce as my mid-morning snack.  I then wait until I get home and don’t usually eat in the afternoon at work.  On Zumba days, I have a Quest Bar before class.  Protein bars are made for that.  The ones on the plan are sweetened with Stevia and Erythritol.  My husband has picked up the wrong ones in the past, so I came up with a tip to help him remember what ones to get.  The ones with, “Steve and E”  He actually remembered it, and it worked the last time.  He brought the right ones home.

I am going to be walking more in the next few weeks.  Not far, but a little here and there. To get the mail, to my neighbour’s house because I am cat sitting, just enough to start building up my activity level.  I want to be more active, and even doing a small amount of extra walking is a good way to start.  I have gone back to Zumba both days this week.  I felt stronger tonight, and a little more like I was able to participate more in the class.  I was not in my head as much tonight, and that means that I enjoyed the class more.  I also plan to get in a few more beach days and to do some swimming.  I used to teach swimming lessons in high school.  I love swimming, so I am working on planning some time well spent at the lake.  It’s not the same as the ocean, but it is close to my home, and I have friends that I can make plans to meet there to have some summertime fun.

I did look for the ginger juice on Monday.  I found a local store that carries other products made by the same company, and I will be going back soon to see if they brought some into their store for me.  While I was talking to the lady at the store about it, another customer also expressed interest in it.  I never left my name, I will just wander back in one day soon.  I may contact them about it first, as I want to be able to get it very soon.  I also need to get some more apple cider vinegar.  It seems I have almost used the whole bottle.  When I am certain the ants are finally gone, I will resume making more recipes that are on plan.  For now, I have decided on a simple supper.  Grilled cheese sandwiches on bread I bought while on vacation.  It has to be eaten up before it goes bad, so it might as well be enjoyed while it is reasonably fresh.  Treats are OK.  I did exercise today.  I ate reasonably well.   I am also going to get the chicken out of the freezer and put it into the fridge with some greek dressing.  That way I can start cooking it tomorrow when I get home from work.  It’s all up to the planning.  Time to take control again.

#TrustYourGut

 

Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 21

Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 18

by | Jun 22, 2017 | Trust Your Gut

 

Trust Your Gut is a series of stories about real people with weight issues, and complications arising from those issues.  It will explain what the person is facing, what their options are, what they have decided to do to take action, and why they chose the path they are on.  Each person’s story will be based on truth, so it won’t all be happy, but it will be real.  The goal of this series is to get people talking about options that are available for people who have weight issues, on either end of the scale.  If you would like to contribute to this series, there is a contact form linked on my Home page for this blog.  I know there are people out there that want to help people like them; as I do.

 

The names here may or may not reflect the person’s real name.  If someone wants to remain unknown, we will choose a different name for that person’s story.  The goal is to help people, and anonymity is a valid personal choice for contributors.  I will use a person’s name only if they give permission to do so.

This week I am pleased to share another of my own stories.

Here is  Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 18

Tomorrow.  Monday. The first day of the month.  We have all been there, and we have all promised ourselves that we will do better, but not now.  It is hard when you are addicted to food and addicted to sugar.  It is impossibly hard when you are too lazy to find the way to a healthier lifestyle.  I have written it before, and I will likely write these words again, it is easy to be lazy.

I am told quite frequently that I am too hard on myself.  I have come to accept that quality as something I am.  The truth is, I don’t know how to be any other way.  In my dabblings along the curvy path I am walking beside, around and sometimes hanging upside down from a tree on,  sometimes I cut myself way too much slack.  There is no middle ground when it comes to me and some things.  Some things being food.

I am finding it really hard to stick to staying on plan.  I know, it works.  I know I feel better when I do follow the plan.  I know it is the best thing for me to do.  Yet here I am again, thinking that tomorrow is a new day, for a fresh start.

What is a person supposed to do when this happens?  It is like I am on the side of a mountain in the middle of a mudslide, and in MY world, it is hailing Swedish berries, and all the mud is chocolate mixed with hot fudge, of course.  It is a struggle for most people to eat healthy most of the time.  I find if I give myself a little slack, I tend to give a little more, and a little more, until there is no more slack left, and I am way off track and possibly lost.

I am watching my body change, sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worst.  I keep a close eye on my gut, and it does fluctuate, frequently.  I have also noticed that when I do put in the effort to work on me, I am starting to see the shape of the oblique muscles cause dents in my stomach.  I see them, so they are in there, somewhere.  Underneath the curves and fluff.

My chin causes me great concern.  I know what makes it look like that, and I know what fixes it.  You might think that is a little weird or eccentric, but it is true.  If I make GGMS, it gets smaller.  If I hit up chocolate a lot, it collects in my chin.  I kid you not.  I am wearing the chocolates I bought last Christmas in there right now.  I am positive that is what did it.

I did some sweeping and mopping this past week. We were expecting company.  I had a tight, sore back for two days after that.  I didn’t like it, but I didn’t pull anything, and I was able to do most things without any change.  Bending over was horrendous.  The good news is that I feel better now.  The bad news is that I am not convinced that cleaning my floors is good for my health.  They don’t clean themselves, though.

I need to work more at being on plan.  I know this.  It is hard to convince the monster that it doesn’t belong here anymore.  It wants me to dive into the mudslide of chocolate and never come up for air.  Or find a really big straw.

I just spent 2 hours taking the meat from the chicken I cooked.  It was a really big chicken.  I will be making that chicken chili tomorrow.  Or tonight, if I find a second wind.  Either way, the prep work is done, now I just assemble in the pot, and cook it.  That is the thing, though.  It is easy to say I am going to do something, but the prep time is never less than 10 minutes for me.  So that is why I go the easy way sometimes.  Because I take the time to do everything right, and sometimes it takes too long in real life to do what I want to do.  This is another trap down a slippery slope of marshmallow strawberries.  Can you tell I am having a hard time with sugar cravings this week?  I have my favourites, and sometimes I have to give in a little before it becomes a big mistake.

Goals for the upcoming week?  Find out if Ginger Juice by The Ginger People is available locally, or if I have to order it online.  I am using frozen ginger cubes in my GGMS now, but I would like to add the juice if I can find it.  I am wondering if I will like it better than the frozen cubes.  I found the powder too gritty, and want to make the GGMS the best I can.  I already know I LOVE it with Black Cherry Berry Tea by Celestial Seasonings.  So good!  I make the basic recipe and add the tea bags to steep, and drink over ice.  Not early in the day, I would run all day long.  I also need to make the Shrinker.  Another tea drink, made with oolong tea.  The recipes can be found here and I have tried most of the recipes on this page.  Good Girl Moonshine and The Shrinker are the two I am referring to in this story.

Tomorrow is a new day, and I am going to make healthy food to eat.  One day at a time.  Listen to the voice of your inner beauty, and let it help you shine!

#TrustYourGut