Weekend Warrior #11

Weekend Warrior #11

by | May 7, 2017 | Weekend Warrior

Yesterday was busier than I had planned it to be.  Also, I was still fighting an almost week long migraine and was still not feeling so good yesterday.  So I took a nap in the middle of that busy day, and it ran longer than I had planned.  When you fall back to sleep on a Saturday after you woke up and turned off the alarm, obviously the nap was a necessary thing.

In the morning, I attended the #BUTTBLITZ2017.  You can read all about it here: Butt Picking in the Rain It was my third year volunteering at this event, and I stayed dry by working at the event table and running the numbers.

Insert lunch and a nap here.

Then I woke up to the phone ringing.  I had an invitation to join some friends to play Cards Against Humanity.  They have mixed in 4 booster decks and a Kinderperfect deck. Hilarity, Margarita Moments, and the consumption of adult beverages were just what I needed to kick the migraine out of my head.  I am glad I decided to join in for a night of fun!

Today, I must scramble to resume the kitchen to its shape of last weekend.  When the dishwasher is running, I will also be prep cooking.  That is probably going to fill up my Sunday.  I need to be ready for the upcoming week, and today is when I have the time, and more importantly, I feel like doing it.  Soon after I publish this story, I will be making something to eat and heading into my kitchen.  Coffee will be consumed with the meal.

I think it stopped raining!  That sentence has an exclamation point because there is a flood watch here this weekend.  It happens every year, and they were not expecting it to be too bad this year.  It is bad for some areas, there have been evacuations and roads are blocked also.  I am staying home today, and my house and street are still OK.  If I get a chance, I may go take some pictures of the flooded areas, but that will be another day and another story.

What are you up to this weekend?

 

Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 9

Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 9

by | Apr 20, 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 9

Timing is very important.  When I started the THM plan, I was shocked at how often they eat meals and snacks.  I had heard before that you should eat 4-6 smaller meals a day, instead of 3 large meals.  It is incredibly important to make sure that you never get hangry.  Yes, I spelled that correctly;  it is when you are so hungry that you start to get angry.  Just like on the Snickers commercials.  Not that they are the healthiest choice, but in a pinch, they can help you to combat low blood sugar and hangry feelings.  They are not on plan, though.

So how does this adapt in the real world?  I do get breaks at work, and they are not quite at the 3-hour mark, but I make do.  I have fruit and protein for my snacks.  It is really easy to eat an unsweetened applesauce and some laughing cow cheese.  I have also been known to snack on turkey pepperoni sticks.  The kind I like is not too spicy.  I have a low tolerance for spicy foods and am very sensitive to spices.

Meals vary for my lunches and suppers.  I enjoy grabbing a banana on the way out the door, again not on plan, but that is my quick dairy free and iron free start to my day.  The thyroid pill requires water and an empty stomach for it to work properly, to avoid these foods for two hours after taking it, so I don’t have side effects.  I have tried other things, but the food I can eat in the car when my husband is driving me to work is what I choose.  I also have black coffee when I get to work.

When I prep cook, it is the best way for me to stay on plan.  I have tried a lot of THM recipes, and I really like them.  I have been slacking in the prep cooking department.  I have things I can make, but I am not feeling like cooking.  Part of that is the effort, part of it is the storage situation, and the other part is that my husband is not on the plan with me.  Sometimes that requires making two meals, or different side dishes.  Again, more time, energy, and effort.  Not to mention that I don’t jump up to do the dishes every day like I should.  I know that is a different story, but it all ties in together with a big pretty bow.

If I make my lunch, there is a good chance I will be on plan.  When I don’t, I can stay on plan, but it is more difficult to buy lunch and stay on plan.  I am getting better at it, but the budget dictates that I need to start prep cooking again.

There are also meals when my husband and I don’t eat the same thing at all.  If I am eating on plan, he may have something that he likes instead of joining me.  That used to bother me.  Now I try and think that if he isn’t having the same thing as me, then there is more for me to eat and stay on track longer with.  So it is all about perspective.  And timing.

When the time is right for you, the choices will be easier because you are ready.  It took me most of my life to feel like I was ready to tackle this plan and become healthier.  When I found it, the timing was ripe for me to make a change and try something new.  I didn’t know then that it was going to be the answer for me, and that all I have to do is get serious about staying on the plan.  It is time to get serious.  Are you with me?

What have you cooked in your Turkey Roaster?

What have you cooked in your Turkey Roaster?

by | Mar 21, 2017 | Cooking Adventures

 

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Where’s the Beef?

 

I just put this massive Beef Stew in the oven.  The beef is on the bottom.  Then I cut up cabbage, turnip, carrots, onion, mushrooms, and radishes.  You read that right.  There are radishes in my beef stew.  It is a new thing for us, and as I am on the Trim Healthy Mama (THM) plan, I have tried this once before, and I liked it.  The husband did not like the radishes as much as I did.  Last time he said,  “Fewer radishes and more potatoes.”  There are no potatoes this time.  That’ll teach him.  Just kidding.  He bought a bag of potatoes, and he will have mashed potatoes on the side.  I can bake a sweet potato if I want a potato.

I added a carton of beef broth.  I was thinking about adding some red wine for flavour but decided to save it for Thursday.  TGIT and I have plans that involve wine and popcorn.  It’s our thing.  So I  added a carton of mushroom stock instead of wine.  Then I hit the spices.  Some bay leaves, garlic, onion powder, dill, parsley, and a little Montreal Steak Spice for that little something unexpected.

I have made homemade baked beans in this roasting pan.  They cook all day.  I have made turkey in it, of course.  I have made a ham in it;  and boiled dinner which is a ham with vegetables, like the stew above.  I usually don’t add mushrooms to that one.  Or spices, the salt from the ham is amazing with those veggies.

If you have lasagna lovers in your life, you can make a many layered lasagna in one of those roasters.  It is absolutely amazing, especially if you have the right flavour combination.  I have been hit or miss with regular lasagna lately.  Or as I call it now, his lasagna.  With noodles.  I make the THM Lazy Lasagna for myself when I want a lasagna.

THM Lazy Lasagna Recipe

I have also made Bangin Ranch Drums in this roasting pan.  I eat them with sweet potatoes and green bean fries.  I add nutritional yeast flakes instead of onion or garlic powder, when I make the green bean fries.  I finally like frozen green beans, but only if they are cooked this way! 😉

 

THM Green Bean Fries Recipe

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Bangin Ranch Drums THM

 

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The cooked stew

I hope it tastes good, or I’m going to have to go off plan and top it with ketchup!

Update: The stew was really tasty.  My husband told me it was better than the last time, even though he was dubious about how it smelled.  He said the radishes weren’t even so bad this time.  I ate the stew by itself for my lunch today and paired it with baked sweet potato for supper.  He made his own regular boiled potatoes to go with his supper.  Ketchup was not necessary, but a pinch of sea salt and a light sprinkle of pepper would be the only change I would make next time.

Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 9

Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 5

by | Mar 16, 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.

Here is the next addition to my own story, Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 5

Emotional Eating Epiphany

Today’s Trust Your Gut story is brought to you by alliteration, and the 5th letter of the alphabet, the letter “E”.  It is the fifth entry in my own story.

You don’t generally get to be hovering between 299 lbs and 301 lbs by eating healthy, drinking lots of water, and exercising regularly.  It doesn’t work that way.

I love food.  Not only am I addicted to sugar, but I centre a lot of my thoughts, moods and feelings around food.  I never thought about it too much before this past week.  I have had a doozy, but the point of this story is not to focus on what is happening in my life, but rather how it affects me in terms of my weight issues.  That’s what the series is about.

So I’m going to break it down real simple.  If I am bored, I eat.  If I am hungry, I eat.  If I am moody, I eat sweets.  Sometimes I can keep myself to the small sample of one of each type.  In candy, this can be reasonable.  If it is a box of doughnuts, that could be a disaster.  I have cravings.  I do obsess about food sometimes.  If I am lazy, I eat fast food.  If I am gearing up for a real honest to goodness attempt at not having junk food in the house, I will eat it all and then it is gone.  That is what I tell myself, I can really work on that plan after the bad food is all gone.  Not thrown in the trash, but devoured.

I am working on it.  All the time.  I find if I give into a craving when it happens, I can have what I am telling myself I need to eat, and then I can move past it.  The problem is, the damage is already done.  I have to take extra medicine for my sugars when I am not behaving. I have recently discovered, the hard way, that if I eat too much sugar, not only does it make me sleepy, like narcoleptic, but I can now feel sick to my stomach if I eat too many sweets.  Does that stop me?  Not if I am mad, or sad, or bored.  Not if I know in the back of my mind that there are cookies in the kitchen or that box of chocolates, well it is empty because I ate those a tray at a time so it was gone from the house faster.  And doing damage to my health by being in my belly.

It is easier to eat your emotions than deal with them.  When you associate feelings with food, you learn to rely on it to feel good things.  Food makes me feel better.  In the short term.  It keeps me from thinking about what is really happening, and from having to deal with it.

I have spent a lot of time eating, and a lot of time avoiding the reasons why I am eating what I am eating.  I have had to start to focus more on what I am eating, instead of just grabbing whatever is quick and easy.  It takes grocery list making, meal planning, meal prepping, and a plan for storing what I have made.  That consumes a lot of time and requires energy and the desire to spend the time on myself and my health.  To want to do better.  For me.

It does no good for me to meal prep too much because it would be a waste to not have the containers to divide it into meal sized portions.  I am now trying to plan different meals at times.  That is more work.  But my husband appreciates the efforts to make him his own food, as he has a day job too, and we can’t afford to eat out every day, financially or healthily.  It is hard, sometimes, to pace myself with it, as I would benefit from having extra food made in advance so I can eat healthy with little effort on a regular basis.  I go in circles, with the creative mind, and when I get on a roll, if I don’t go with it, I don’t know when I will feel like tackling the prep cooking again.  I go through productive spells, and slumps.  Currently, I am in a slump.

This is my second year of being on the Trim Healthy Mama Plan.  There are times when I follow it like a Bible, and I am able to be strict and keep myself on the plan.  The plan does have some foundation from religion, so it is an accurate description.  There are other times when I view it as a guideline, like when I am dabbling with it.  I like the 3-hour rule.  If you go off plan, you get right back on it in 3 hours.  Give yourself some grace, allow yourself to be human, and move on.  Don’t wallow in it.  Good in theory.  I like this concept.  But if I am being honest, I am cutting myself too much slack right now, and not making myself get back on plan as a reaction to keep the momentum going in the right direction.

I finally put it all together, this week, when I was thinking about writing this week’s story.  I need to stand up to my feelings.  It will be rough.  But I am avoiding them every time I eat them.  That is a bad place for anyone to be in.  It is time for me to take action.  I want out of this cycle.  When I follow Trim Healthy Mama, I do feel better, and I do see results.  Win win!  It’s time to up my game, and work on myself.  Nobody else is going to fix it for me, so I have to work on myself for myself and by myself.

After the week I just had, the hardest part is going to be convincing myself that I am worth the effort.  I know it in my heart, but it is covered in layers of unhealthiness, telling me the easy way is the best way.  Old habits die hard, and I am fighting for my life. Again.  One day at a time, one meal at a time, one snack at a time.  Every 3 hours, I can stay on plan, not need to get back on plan.  Start with something you can do as a beginning, and ride it through to the end.  I will keep reminding myself that I can do this, and the food is wonderful, so I should work harder at this.  I know I will see results.  I just have to be strong, and learn how to deal with my feelings.  

I am also going to have to change one of my favourite sayings.  I really believe that the day gets better after lunch.  It means you are closer to the end of your workday after lunch.  Or it means I am focusing on my food because I don’t want to think about work.  It’s going to be a hard thing to get a solid 8 hours of sleep every night, but I am going to try and focus on that, for a while.  Rest is important to your health, so it is a better thing to focus on, rather than food, or the next meal or snack.  I don’t like going to bed, I never have.  Once I am settled, it is hard to climb back out of bed.  I didn’t like to have to get in the shower when I was growing up, either.  Same thing, once I am in there, I don’t want to get out.  I have changed my train of thought on that one, I play music in the shower, it helps me try to keep it reasonable in length of time when I am in there.  And music makes my world go round.  If I can change my mind about that, then I can change my mind about lunch.  A new focus may be just what I need to get out of my slump.

Getting back on track with everything in one day

Getting back on track with everything in one day

by | Feb 19, 2017 | Weekend Warrior

I made some resolutions at the start of this year.  I am working at them, at my own pace.  This week I feel like I am falling behind.  We had a lot of snow early last week.  I missed two days of work just digging out from under it.  My husband, who normally does the shoveling, hurt his back, and is still recovering.  So I did it myself.  It was a lot of work, and the reason I missed the second day is because I spent more than 4 hours shoveling, and it exhausted me.

So I rested for 2 days, when I wasn’t shoveling.  Eat; shovel; sleep; repeat; for 2 days.  I didn’t get much done inside the house for those days.  We managed.  We averted the crisis of having no Pepsi in the house for my husband.  It was a close one, though.  He doesn’t enjoy coffee, he likes Pepsi.  I enjoy coffee, and today, I am home without the car, so I can focus on what needs doing inside the house, and drink a lovely bucket of coffee.

I prep cook on the weekends.  It is on my list of things to do.  I need to get at the dishes and laundry.  I want to finish the kitchen and move on to other rooms, but life happens.  Other projects have popped up in the last month, so it was not a productive couple of weeks in my kitchen.

If you are following my blog, you are familiar with the Tish-ism in Bouncing the House.  It is what I do.  I crank the tunes and clean.  This is in my plans for today.  But where do I start?  There is SO much to DO and only ONE DAY.  I am a weekend warrior when it comes to cleaning, and someday, when I am more energetic or have things under control so that I only need a half hour a day in the week for maintenance house cleaning, that won’t be the case.  I will be able to manage it this way at some point, and then I will have the time I need to focus on writing and crafts.  What I WANT to do.

At the start of the year, I decided on three things as my resolutions.  Work on me by living a healthier lifestyle, clean my house, really clean it, top to bottom, and write a book.  I will not begin writing in earnest until the house is done.  I will never get the cleaning done if I jump into writing and get lost in my creativity.  I have a plan, but it takes dedication to stick to it and get it all done.  One thing at a time, one project at a time, and one day at a time.

My creative mind travels in circles, and this can be distracting when I am working on something.  I start loading the dishwasher, and go through the house to collect dishes.  I find empty bottles and cans that also need to be relocated to the kitchen for rinsing and recycling.  I fill the sink with really hot water, dish soap, and dishes that don’t go in the dishwasher.  I wander into the bedroom and find laundry that needs doing.  Get the laundry started.  And realize that the dishwasher door is still open, the dishwasher is still not full and running, and the sink now has cold water with bubbles and dirty dishes in it.

So I add more hot water to the sink of dishes, and finish loading the dishwasher and take a break at my desk for a few minutes, only to realize that I lost track of time and the water in the sink, which was too hot when I sat down, is cold again and the dishwasher is finished and needs to be unloaded and the clothes in the washer need to be put into the dryer and a new load put into the washer but there is a load in the dryer that needs to be folded and put away.  That was a long and busy sentence on purpose.  It is demonstrating how I get in a loop.

Putting things away is a hard thing for me.  I get so far with the cleaning and I just leave it for later which essentially is never and the clean clothes get piled up and the dishes are just used straight from the dishwasher so they pile up again as the dirty dishes can’t go into the dishwasher if there are clean dishes in there and you get the idea.  I go in circles, constantly, if I let myself, and when I do this, the chances of me finishing anything are slim.

What do I do to fix it?  Well, I am stubborn, and that means if I make myself do all the dishes, I can get them done.  If I don’t start ten other things at the same time.  Some of the chores in my list are the kind you start and have to walk away from, so I try to get them going first.  That is also a trap.  I need a break, and I lose three hours.  I have no concept of time at all.  

Turning the music up LOUD helps, as long as I don’t turn it down on a break.  I can’t sit at my desk for too long if the music is loud.  That is another tactic I use.  It works if I don’t just grab the remote and turn the music down so I can spend more time at my desk procrastinating from the things I really should be doing.

Another thing I am going to implement today is a list.  I find crossing things off of my list gives me a small sense of accomplishment, it means I finished that thing on my list.  I make lists whenever I travel, and go over them several times to be certain that I don’t forget anything, and I cross items off as I pack.  I don’t forget things when I have a list made.  So I need to make more lists.  This can take time and be distracting.  I can put too many things down and never get back to the list, because I need to start a new one.  Or I can just spend too much time making the list and get nothing else done.  Not productive at all.

I think today I will be making more than one list.  I also think I need to make lists more frequently until I get things back under control.  After all, that is one of the goals here, to get things under control so I can let myself do the things I want to do.  I will make two, on a small piece of paper.  One for cooking and one for cleaning.    If I just use both sides of a small piece of paper, I can flip it over, and not waste paper that way.  If the list is small; maybe, just maybe, I can finish everything on it.  And that would help to get me going in the right direction again, and help me get back on track.  OK.  Time to make my little lists and get my day going in the right direction!  When I finish them, I have two writing projects that do need my attention.  That will be my reward for getting the chores done, I can then work on some other projects that will make me feel good about working on them, not just to finish them, as I may or may not finish them by the end of the day.  Getting time to work on them, though, will be a reward I can work toward.  Progress is progress, and that is my ultimate goal for today.

to-do-list