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

 

Weekend Warrior #20

Weekend Warrior #20

by | Jul 11, 2017 | Weekend Warrior

Yes, I know it is Monday.  But when your vacation ends on a Monday, the weekend ends on Monday too.  What a week I have had!

I will be writing about that in a guest post as soon as I can.  I am waiting for pictures from family members to put into that post, and what I write will be determined by the pics they send.

I can tell you that I went home.  I went swimming and spent a fair bit of time between visiting with my family and one of my best friends.  It was a full week.

I was supposed to be writing at this time.  I have not yet started my book.  I was very busy on my vacation while being able to relax and have fun at the same time.

This weekend was also busy.  I was on the road for most of Sunday, after staying Saturday night at my friend’s house.  We stayed there most of the week.  It was nice to spend time with her at her home.

Today was a day to make phone calls, and get my driver’s license renewed.  Then the first step back into my routine, back to Zumba class.  I go back to work tomorrow.  So this is the end of my vacation right now.

I did have a hard time in Zumba.  It has been a while since I have gone to class.  I am not looking forward to going back to work, and back to normal tomorrow.  So I was in my head in class.  I broke free for a few minutes, but it was with a heavy heart that I worked out in class today.  I have a hard time saying goodbye, and there were more than a few this weekend.  It was good to see the people I was able to see and hard to come home.

I was ready, though.  It was time to come home and feel like I was home again.  I love my friends and family, but being home is also a feeling that is good.  Another weekend has ended.  Back to life in the real world tomorrow.

 

 

Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 21

Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 11

by | May 4, 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 11

I bought my first tankini. I went to one store and tried on the one piece swimsuits.  I was disappointed.  So I had to go outside of my comfort zone.  The people working there were helpful.  They told me that the best thing about a 2 piece was that if you had to go to the bathroom, it was a lot easier.  I thought about that and decided to try on a tankini.

The style I chose has a tank top and shorts.  Everything is still covered.  Just like a normal bathing suit.  The shorts are comfortable.  The top was a challenge.  I need support, but didn’t find the right kind in the first few tops I tried on.  Support in a swimsuit = constrictive.  It felt too tight.  So I kept trying on different tops until I found one that fit right in that area.

Then it was the wrong style.  Of course.  So the search continued.  I settled on a striped one that looks just like a tank top.  Then I went swimming.  The top floats!  I didn’t want one that did that, and I was assured that they don’t do that now.  That was my main reason for wanting a one piece.  I was a little paranoid at first.  There is a built-in bikini support in the top.  So I just fussed with it a lot but had a good time swimming.  It will be OK for Aquacise, I think.  It will take some getting used to but I think it will work better than my old swimsuits.  It actually fits and was a size smaller than the other ones I tried.  Yay me!

While travelling this past weekend, I let the plan slide a little.  I didn’t overeat.  I ate healthy choices when I could.  I ate, and I didn’t worry too much about it.  Sometimes life takes priority.  You do what you can, and let it slide a little.  Then you have to get back on track.  For me, prep cooking helps me to stay on track.  I have to do the work so that when I want to take the easy way out, the easy way IS to stay on plan.  I have learned this while on THM, and I am the only person that can make those choices for me, so ultimately, it is up to me.

A friend introduced me to spaghetti squash.  I was reluctant to try it.  I do like squash as a side dish, but I had never tried spaghetti squash before.

It sat in my kitchen for a week before I bit the bullet and tried it.

I was pleasantly surprised!  I now eat spaghetti squash a couple of times a month.  It is good with spaghetti sauce.  It is good in spaghetti pie.  It is good in casseroles.  The verdict is that I like it.

When we have spaghetti, I have spaghetti squash instead of the pasta.  I load the sauce on it, and the parmesan cheese and eat until I am full.  Without the tired feeling that I get when I eat pasta.  I call it SPAGHETTI SALAD! What a wonderful gift my friend gave me when she told me to take that spaghetti squash home to try it.  If you haven’t tried spaghetti squash, try it with an open mind.  It really is worth it for me, and if you like it, you can thank me for the tip after you try it.

If you don’t know how to cook it, I didn’t either.  Here is a link for cooking it in the microwave or the oven:

How to cook a spaghetti squash in the microwave or the oven

I found this link and the one below in my own internet searches, all credit goes to the authors of the instructional pages.  The other method I can recommend is the slow cooker.  You can find the instructions for that here:

How to cook spaghetti squash in a slow cooker aka crock pot.

So my tip for you this week is to try spaghetti squash if you have never tried it before.  If you already love it, maybe try it in a new recipe, or try another healthy recipe that you have been hesitant to cook for whatever reason.  Just go for it!  And comment below if you did.  Let me know how it turns out!

Do you have a favourite way to cook spaghetti squash or a favourite recipe for making spaghetti squash?