Cleaning, Day 2: Sparkle, Sparkle!

Well, so far so good.  As I write this, my bed is made, my room is straightened up and my kitchen is nice and clean.  I did a good job of staying on top of the kitchen mess, especially, and made sure to put everything away right away.  I really am sort of childish about that sort of thing, and I tend to just make a big mess and leave it when I’m cooking.   This would be a good habit to break.

Lent, Day 34: How I Do It

OKay… so… I’m down nearly 60 pounds now, and believe it or not, people actually notice!  I’m sure this has to do with the fact that my clothes actually fit now, thanks to Michelle and Lisa, but regardless… Easily the most common reaction I get from people is, “What are you doing?” and, when I tell them, “Wow, how do DO that?”

So this will be the overview post.  It will be redundant, but it’s the sort of ’shop talk’ version of the ADF thing, so it might be interesting even if you’ve been reading awhile.

Here’s what I do:

Sleep, Day 6: This just in: JEN DOES NOT LIKE MUFFINS!

I am pleased to announce that I am walking as I type this.  I made good on my threat to come down and walk this morning as quickly as could be managed, a feat that was made all the easier because Andy made muffins for breakfast.  Bleh!   And of course, in his usual fit of Complete Insensitivity To What Jen Likes, Andy made Chocolate Chip muffins.  I mean, seriously…. if there is one way to make a muffin even LESS appealing to me, it’s to throw chocolate into it.  YUCK.

Exercise+, Day 21: DONE!

Success!   As of this writing I have officially completed this round!  The ‘Winter Birthday Party’ today ended around 8:30, and I actually got down here by 9:00 to walk.  In the last part of this round, that’s surprisingly early for me, so I’m finished and it’s only 11:00.  I figure I’ll write this entry and then head up to bed and get a jump on next week’s goal of getting to bed by 11:30.

Exercise, Day 9: New Books!

Yesterday was MUCH BETTER as fasting days go.  I was hungry enough to feel like I was accomplishing something, but I wasn’t ‘jonesing’ for food.  That’s probably a tacky way to describe it, but when I’m in that horrible compulsive mode, I can completely understand what it must be like to be a drug or cigarette addict.  At any rate, I was just glad to feel like I was doing well again.

The happy weigh-in probably helped.

ADF/WW: Day 11

Sadly, the reason why WW hasn’t been working for me in recent years has come back to me.  Journalling is good, and I know this… but it can be very discouraging too.   Presumably, on eating days I’m supposed to eat ‘whatever I want’, since that’s the reward for restricting calories.  The ‘right’ to splurge a little without guilt.

But still… when your children are, for example, Boy Scouts, and they sell, for example, caramel corn packs with pecans, peanuts and cashews, and you, for example, really love that sort of thing, it is really disheartening to find that 1/4 cup of that stuff is something like 6 points.   I mean…seriously, what is that? Four pieces of popcorn?   How do you measure 1/4 cup of caramel corn anyway?  It doesn’t exactly fit nicely in a measuring cup.   Is it 1/4 cup by volume, or is it the equivalent of 1/4 cup crushed up?

And for heaven’s sake, WHO EATS ONLY 1/4 CUP OF CARAMEL CORN?  I thought popcorn was sort of the go-to snack food for dieters..  There aren’t even that many nuts in it!  By this logic, eating 1 1/2 cups of Caramel Corn would consume an entire day’s worth of points, and I have a LOT of points, given where I am on the scale!  I guess a ‘normal’ person would have to stop at one piece of popcorn?

ADF/WW: Day 7

Okay… just a bit of advice?  If you fast on Saturday, DO NOT skip breakfast on Sunday on the assumption that the Fellowship Hour at church will supply you with something to eat.  We stayed up late last night to watch a movie, and therefore woke up late this morning.  I had to play handbells at the 9:30 service, so we ran out in a rush, I didn’t eat anything, and when I was able to take a minute to run down and see what was available in the Church Basement, everything was gone.  By the end of the service, I was feeling downright wobbly.

Never again.  I know fasting is a spiritual experience for some people, but I need more of a run-up to a spiritual fast than that.

ADF/WW: Day 4

I have so much to say today that I barely know where to begin.  This is probably going to be one of those rambling, ruminating entries, so feel free to skip reading today.

ADF/WW: Day 3

I feel good today.  I could get used to this.