Moonwatcher's Primal/Calorie Counting Adventure!
- Thread starter moonwatcher
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moonwatcher
Gold Member
Update for Wednesday
Although I'm not really counting or tracking anything at the moment I am going to report my food in here to keep me a little bit accountable.
I have realised that although I haven't yet cracked the whole weight loss story, last year's reset has most certainly made a difference to my emotional approach to the whole issue of food and eating. I have spent years feeling guilty every time I was 'off' diet. Now, although I obviously care long term about the pounds themselves, I feel no guilt about being off diet for the holidays. The irony is that it means I'm not trying to eat everything in sight! Yesterday and Tuesday I ate very little for lunch as I was busy and not hungry enough to stop to eat. A few days ago I bought a pack of Snickers (one of my favourites) on special offer. They are still sitting in the cupboard. I know I can have one when I want, but no overwhelming urge to eat all three! I think whatever way you look at it, a more relaxed and intuitive approach to food, without the guilt, has to be good.
So, food for yesterday, Wednesday.
Breakfast - one Activia prune yogurt and one Activia fig yogurt
After breakfast I stripped the bed. stuck the first of four loads of washing into the machine, opened all the windows for a good airing and then set to the spare room for sorting! This room is a nightmare - it's the one that you always keep the door shut when someone comes round. Officially it is the second bedroom but we use it as a 'study.' That is what we call it, but actually it has become a general dumping ground, so much so that when I need something from there my heart sinks. So on Tuesday I sorted through five bags/boxes of our paperwork and one of my brother's (have a load of his paperwork to sort through as well - mainly for burning, but each piece has to be looked at first). Hopefully OH will have a session with the incinerator this evening.
Yesterday I started to tackle the room itself. By mid afternoon four boxes of Christmas decorations, two sleeping bags, a large quilt and OH' s motorcycle helmet and gear were ready for the loft (he doesn't have a bike at the moment, so why keep the gear downstairs?), another stash of paperwork sorted, two old broadband routers, an old scanner, keyboard and mouse were ready for dumping/donating, the desk was sorted and dusted, a CD shelving unit had been retrieved from the shed, cleaned, dusted and filled with my brother's CDs, to be listened to one at a time for keeping/donating, one ironing basket moved out, ready for ironing, a whole box of computer CDs sorted (OH will need to sort these ready for keeping/dumping) and a bin bag of general rubbish was in the bin! Yay - I can actually see the floor!
Lunch - three slices of cooked beef, packet cheese and onion crisps
Once OH was home I showed him the fruits of my labour, then after a coffee and cream I jumped in the shower, washed and dried my hair and we set off to the Cinema for Orange Wednesday two for one tickets. We saw 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' which was good, I would say quirky, gentle humour. We enjoyed it anyway, and followed it with a quick stop at Wetherspoons for Tenesee burger (no bun for me), chips and onion rings and a G&T. I risked the onion rings and the chips (coated) and have had no gluten reactions. I seem to be OK with small amounts as part of a meal, but definitely not something like the multiple hot cross buns I had last week!
Also had one finger of twirl and some American hard gums in the cinema, plus several earl greys and water during the day.
Came home, ironed a shirt, made up the bed, fell into it. ZZZZZZ
Although I'm not really counting or tracking anything at the moment I am going to report my food in here to keep me a little bit accountable.
I have realised that although I haven't yet cracked the whole weight loss story, last year's reset has most certainly made a difference to my emotional approach to the whole issue of food and eating. I have spent years feeling guilty every time I was 'off' diet. Now, although I obviously care long term about the pounds themselves, I feel no guilt about being off diet for the holidays. The irony is that it means I'm not trying to eat everything in sight! Yesterday and Tuesday I ate very little for lunch as I was busy and not hungry enough to stop to eat. A few days ago I bought a pack of Snickers (one of my favourites) on special offer. They are still sitting in the cupboard. I know I can have one when I want, but no overwhelming urge to eat all three! I think whatever way you look at it, a more relaxed and intuitive approach to food, without the guilt, has to be good.
So, food for yesterday, Wednesday.
Breakfast - one Activia prune yogurt and one Activia fig yogurt
After breakfast I stripped the bed. stuck the first of four loads of washing into the machine, opened all the windows for a good airing and then set to the spare room for sorting! This room is a nightmare - it's the one that you always keep the door shut when someone comes round. Officially it is the second bedroom but we use it as a 'study.' That is what we call it, but actually it has become a general dumping ground, so much so that when I need something from there my heart sinks. So on Tuesday I sorted through five bags/boxes of our paperwork and one of my brother's (have a load of his paperwork to sort through as well - mainly for burning, but each piece has to be looked at first). Hopefully OH will have a session with the incinerator this evening.
Yesterday I started to tackle the room itself. By mid afternoon four boxes of Christmas decorations, two sleeping bags, a large quilt and OH' s motorcycle helmet and gear were ready for the loft (he doesn't have a bike at the moment, so why keep the gear downstairs?), another stash of paperwork sorted, two old broadband routers, an old scanner, keyboard and mouse were ready for dumping/donating, the desk was sorted and dusted, a CD shelving unit had been retrieved from the shed, cleaned, dusted and filled with my brother's CDs, to be listened to one at a time for keeping/donating, one ironing basket moved out, ready for ironing, a whole box of computer CDs sorted (OH will need to sort these ready for keeping/dumping) and a bin bag of general rubbish was in the bin! Yay - I can actually see the floor!
Lunch - three slices of cooked beef, packet cheese and onion crisps
Once OH was home I showed him the fruits of my labour, then after a coffee and cream I jumped in the shower, washed and dried my hair and we set off to the Cinema for Orange Wednesday two for one tickets. We saw 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' which was good, I would say quirky, gentle humour. We enjoyed it anyway, and followed it with a quick stop at Wetherspoons for Tenesee burger (no bun for me), chips and onion rings and a G&T. I risked the onion rings and the chips (coated) and have had no gluten reactions. I seem to be OK with small amounts as part of a meal, but definitely not something like the multiple hot cross buns I had last week!
Also had one finger of twirl and some American hard gums in the cinema, plus several earl greys and water during the day.
Came home, ironed a shirt, made up the bed, fell into it. ZZZZZZ
moonwatcher
Gold Member
Morning!
I think you're supposed to bathe in it!
LOL!
moonwatcher
Gold Member
Need to get off Minis now and get back to the spare room. The plan for today is as follows: sort top shelf of desk, printer, paper etc., and three desk drawers, tackle the wool mountains - sort into colours to stash on top shelf of wardrobe, and/or behind sofa in spare room. Not ideal, but at least I will be able to find the yarn when I want it for making something. At the moment, nothing will ever get made because finding the wool is impossible! Once that is done there are piles of novels - mainly my brother's, and three bookcases of ours to be sorted, and books got ready to donate at the weekend, plus sewing gear, knitting and crochet mags, the filing cabinet and another holdall of my brother's papers to go through, plus general other stuff - I think there is a tent in there somewhere! Not sure of the running order for all this yet - will see how I get on with the desk, drawers and wool first.
Right, as I am still in my dressing gown, shower, wash dressing gowns, sort another load for washing, make bed, put on some good happy music, and... I'm goin' in!
Right, as I am still in my dressing gown, shower, wash dressing gowns, sort another load for washing, make bed, put on some good happy music, and... I'm goin' in!
moonwatcher
Gold Member
Yes I would recommend it. It was a good film to relax with for the evening.
moonwatcher
Gold Member
Thursday 10th April
Breakfast was greek yogurt with dark brown sugar
Lunch - one salami stick (like a peperami) and 3 slices of roast beef, one satsuma
Dinner - fish and chips with a little curry sauce
Drunks - earl grey teas with milk, one coffee with cream and a dash of brandy, water, glass dry cider, can diet cream soda
Operation clean up and clear out is going well in the spare room/study. Today I cleared out the knitting wool to the top of the wardrobe (didn't sort it into colours yet, as decided that would delay getting the other room done, and I don't want to get side tracked into sorting out the wardrobe yet)
Back into the study to sort through the three bookcases; pack up the tent into its bag for OH to put in the shed; DVD player, three fold up wooden chairs, two spare pillows and a thermal suit which OH used on his bike all went into the loft; the car boot and back seat are full of books for the second hand shop at the weekend; more CDs sorted through; dead sky box, dead laptop, speaker stand and lots of smaller bits and bobs in the bin, with two bags of OH's old camera mags and old gardening mags, three yellow pages, two road atlases from 2005 (?); old sewing box which is falling apart dumped and all sewing gear sorted and put into a jewellery box which my uncle made for me years ago. Three more loads of washing done in between.
Once OH got in he went through 'his' bookcase and (at last) chucked some more for donating. We then moved three boxes of old tax papers down from the top of two of the bookcases (they are destined for sorting tomorrow, when I tackle the filing cabinet), all of which meant we could move three shelves of books from the smallest bookcase to the larger ones, and get rid of the small one, which was crowding the window area of the room. The room looks so much bigger for getting rid of it. One of the books I rescued from the floor was Fly Lady's Sink Reflections - one of life's ironies!! LOL.
So... tomorrow the plan is to tackle the four drawer filing cabinet; get the old tax papers ready for burning; sort the stationary and everything else in the cabinet; tidy the music CDs; clear the top of the heater; sort out the top shelf of the desk and sort the last bag of my brother's papers (ran out of time today) and hoover/dust the whole room. I am hoping to get rid of the old, big filing cabinet eventually and replace it with one or two smaller more modern ones we have. The big one was leftover from a business we had years ago, I don't really think we need it now. Because of all the washing I now also have a massive pile of ironing waiting! That seems a lot to get done in the day, but we'll see. It is amazing how long it is taking, but very satisfying. Oh, and I need to wash the curtains soon too, which also need turning down, as now we have got rid of the bookcase you can see that they are too short!
I think I better get to bed now for an early start tomorrow!
Breakfast was greek yogurt with dark brown sugar
Lunch - one salami stick (like a peperami) and 3 slices of roast beef, one satsuma
Dinner - fish and chips with a little curry sauce
Drunks - earl grey teas with milk, one coffee with cream and a dash of brandy, water, glass dry cider, can diet cream soda
Operation clean up and clear out is going well in the spare room/study. Today I cleared out the knitting wool to the top of the wardrobe (didn't sort it into colours yet, as decided that would delay getting the other room done, and I don't want to get side tracked into sorting out the wardrobe yet)
Back into the study to sort through the three bookcases; pack up the tent into its bag for OH to put in the shed; DVD player, three fold up wooden chairs, two spare pillows and a thermal suit which OH used on his bike all went into the loft; the car boot and back seat are full of books for the second hand shop at the weekend; more CDs sorted through; dead sky box, dead laptop, speaker stand and lots of smaller bits and bobs in the bin, with two bags of OH's old camera mags and old gardening mags, three yellow pages, two road atlases from 2005 (?); old sewing box which is falling apart dumped and all sewing gear sorted and put into a jewellery box which my uncle made for me years ago. Three more loads of washing done in between.
Once OH got in he went through 'his' bookcase and (at last) chucked some more for donating. We then moved three boxes of old tax papers down from the top of two of the bookcases (they are destined for sorting tomorrow, when I tackle the filing cabinet), all of which meant we could move three shelves of books from the smallest bookcase to the larger ones, and get rid of the small one, which was crowding the window area of the room. The room looks so much bigger for getting rid of it. One of the books I rescued from the floor was Fly Lady's Sink Reflections - one of life's ironies!! LOL.
So... tomorrow the plan is to tackle the four drawer filing cabinet; get the old tax papers ready for burning; sort the stationary and everything else in the cabinet; tidy the music CDs; clear the top of the heater; sort out the top shelf of the desk and sort the last bag of my brother's papers (ran out of time today) and hoover/dust the whole room. I am hoping to get rid of the old, big filing cabinet eventually and replace it with one or two smaller more modern ones we have. The big one was leftover from a business we had years ago, I don't really think we need it now. Because of all the washing I now also have a massive pile of ironing waiting! That seems a lot to get done in the day, but we'll see. It is amazing how long it is taking, but very satisfying. Oh, and I need to wash the curtains soon too, which also need turning down, as now we have got rid of the bookcase you can see that they are too short!
I think I better get to bed now for an early start tomorrow!
moonwatcher
Gold Member
Morning MW!
Not much of a school break!
OH is on leave next week Mel, so although there will still be some things at home we want to do (hopefully some gardening) we will get out for some days then. I am just so pleased to be getting this room finally sorted out once and for all! Just had breakfast and about to start today's shift. Eggs already boiled for lunch of egg mayo salad and pork mince defrosting for pork burgers, so have even thought about food today as well! Today's clothes washing sessions should see the bottom of the laundry baskets too!
Atomic pink
Gold Member
That is a very busy week of holiday there! If you don't have plans next week my house could do with the Moonwatcher touch... Hope you have some lovely days planned for next week when OH is off too. Or else you will need to go back to work for a rest!
Food is sounding lovely. It actually sounds like on the days you have eaten at home you may well be under target calorie wise. You have said before that your target feels pretty natural to eat to most of the time. Maybe that means there is hope that you won't need to actively count the calories forever and in time you may be able to eat more instinctively and get the weight down to where you want.
Hope you have some lovely days planned for next week when OH is off too. Or else you will need to go back to work for a rest!Food is sounding lovely. It actually sounds like on the days you have eaten at home you may well be under target calorie wise. You have said before that your target feels pretty natural to eat to most of the time. Maybe that means there is hope that you won't need to actively count the calories forever and in time you may be able to eat more instinctively and get the weight down to where you want.
moonwatcher
Gold Member
It was a bit chilly here today, but apparently should get better. I hope so as I have an appointment with some rather active weeds soon!
moonwatcher
Gold Member
That is a very busy week of holiday there! If you don't have plans next week my house could do with the Moonwatcher touch...
Food is sounding lovely. It actually sounds like on the days you have eaten at home you may well be under target calorie wise. You have said before that your target feels pretty natural to eat to most of the time. Maybe that means there is hope that you won't need to actively count the calories forever and in time you may be able to eat more instinctively and get the weight down to where you want.
Being able to lose weight 'naturally' would be a dream come true! I gained a few pounds back the two weeks I was using my vouchers etc., but this week, when I have had much less focus on food because of being busy, I have lost about a pound of that. I can't get my head into gear to track calories etc., so I'm not even going to try until I go back to school after Easter.
Today's food was nothing for breakfast except two cups of earl grey with milk and four squares of Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate.
Then we had to drop OH's van back at his work ready for some work to be done on it while he is off, drove to the charity shop and off loaded the 12 bags of books. While we were there I picked up a great handbag for £4 - black with red veleveteen patterning, and also a hand held mini vacuum cleaner for £8. OH found a pair of Tommy Hilfiger sun glasses in a leather case for £15. He really made me laugh as he didn't have his reading glasses on and he is not at all into designer brand names, so he came up and asked me if I had ever heard of a 'Tommy Huff-finger!' Anyway, he is very happy with his Huff-finger shades!
We popped into the local pub for a jacket potato with chilli and cheese and a piece of carrot cake. Drinks were a double spiced rum with ginger beer and a mocha coffee. Then we drove back home to tackle the study again! It is very nearly there, but a lot slower going today, because a) we were both full of food, and b) OH takes ages to sort anything because he gets side tracked!
Yesterday I sorted out the top desk shelf, which included cleaning the printer; tidied the music CD shelves; emptied all the big filing cabinet drawers; sorted the tax papers ready for the loft; cleared the top of the heater; put all the loose paper/card/laminate/plastic folders into labelled folders and bagged up a whole bag of cassette tapes to give away/chuck. The haul yesterday was a bin bag full for burning, two bags for tossing/donating and half a wheelie bin of papers/mags/envelopes for recycling!
Today we had to move the PC (it is a tower system - OH has planned to use it for photo and video editing for a long time, soon he will be able to!). This meant moving the desk out and changing all the wires around, moving the tower off the floor into the desk so we could fit the first small filing cabinet underneath. As the micro wave in the utility room was sitting on top of the filing cabinet (a rather random pairing, but it worked well!) we had to find something else to stand that on first! Then we emptied out the small filing cabinet (more bin bags!) and FINALLY started restocking it with the paper etc., all neat and tidy! It was getting a bit late and we had both had enough so we left it at that and I had a plate of cold meat (lamb and chicken) with salad, sweet chilli jelly and greek yogurt, followed by a coffee with cream and a shot of brandy, half a glass of dry cider and five more squares of chocolate while we watched BGT on catch up.
Tomorrow we will move in the other small filing cabinet and finish organising the stuff in the drawers, put an ad in the local shop for large filing cabinet free to good home, sort through the remaining computer discs and do the last sorting and flinging, stick the final bits in the loft and we're there! I even found some floppy discs, so I will check them and wipe them and then either fling them or take them to the charity shop. I'm not sure anyone will want them now, but people do buy all sorts of things! I have a very ancient notepad machine which I can check them on, and then that will get donated to a friend who 'does' computers.
I cannot believe how much rubbish has accumulated in one room over a few years! It has probably built up over about four years. It made me feel like one of those people you see on these TV boarder programmes. Thankfully it was just that one room, but it was where all our paperwork was kept. When we had to sort put my brother's flat, where he had twenty years worth of paperwork all over the flat, it made me think about if anything happened to us, I wouldn't want anyone in our families to have to do that for us. It was a really awful task at my brother's and I would hate to put anyone I loved in that position. So now there will be one neat filing cabinet again, with everything in its place, and a note to say exactly what is in the loft.
I have my eyes on the utility room next - nothing like as bad, but with some re-organising and getting the OH on board to chuck some of his hoarded stuff, I will be able to make room to get my strider, cross trainer and exercise bike in place again, where they can actually be used!
Atomic pink
Gold Member
That is pretty promising that you have lost a lb of the gain while eating much more instinctively. Very promising indeed
Atomic pink
Gold Member
Hope you are enjoying your week off with OH and aren't buried somewhere in the spare room under a pile of books or something you are sorting out!
moonwatcher
Gold Member
F I n a l l y. The study is done! There was a bit of a gap in the middle as OH and I decided to have a few days off from sorting and chucking. He also had to go through the dozens and dozens and dozens of his unlabeled CDs and DVDs (the few of mine were all labelled and took a couple of hours to check through and keep a handful). We fitted in several pub meals and breakfasts, in fact my plan of cooking in the holidays didn't really happen. It was nice to have several days out of the kitchen for a change though. We went to the coast a few times, and to see Noah ('OK') and The Quiet Ones (looked good on the trailer - made by Hammer - but all been done before. There were a few scary moments, but mainly too predictable IMO) We also had several delivery visits to the second hand shop, and a couple of days just lazing around at home.
Back to work for a very interesting training day today. Kids are back in tomorrow. The scales have a layer of dust on them - suppose I will have to face the music soon and get back on track. Not feeling the urgency yet - sitting on sofa with a raspberry and white choc cheesecake slice and a coffee and cream, having just got back from a steak and chips meal, Sure I will feel very fed up once I actually see the damage on the dial, then it will be back to Primal based calorie counting I suppose...
Back to work for a very interesting training day today. Kids are back in tomorrow. The scales have a layer of dust on them - suppose I will have to face the music soon and get back on track. Not feeling the urgency yet - sitting on sofa with a raspberry and white choc cheesecake slice and a coffee and cream, having just got back from a steak and chips meal, Sure I will feel very fed up once I actually see the damage on the dial, then it will be back to Primal based calorie counting I suppose...
MinnieMel
Why Be Normal?
Evening MW,
Sounds like you had a very productive and lovely break. I think most of us gained a bit the past couple of weeks. I'm back to where I was last month this time - which is four pounds higher than my lowest weight in late March. So, maybe by the end of April, I'll be where I was at the end of March and I can make progress through out the summer.
I need to make a few donation trips myself.
I hope your first day back goes well.
Sounds like you had a very productive and lovely break. I think most of us gained a bit the past couple of weeks. I'm back to where I was last month this time - which is four pounds higher than my lowest weight in late March. So, maybe by the end of April, I'll be where I was at the end of March and I can make progress through out the summer.
I need to make a few donation trips myself.
I hope your first day back goes well.
Atomic pink
Gold Member
Glad you got everything sorted you wanted and managed to fit in some fun time too.
The cheesecake sounds like a very nice way to round off the holidays. Also sounds like a nice psychological place to be in re: the scales. Long way it last!
The cheesecake sounds like a very nice way to round off the holidays. Also sounds like a nice psychological place to be in re: the scales. Long way it last!
moonwatcher
Gold Member
Well Atomic, the relaxed scales approach lasted until I got on them this morning! I am up by about 5lbs over the holidays, to 16 st 5 lbs again - which means I have allowed myself to creep back up to what I was two years ago. I am pretty miserable with myself about it tbh, especially the 5 lbs over the last two weeks. Sigh! It seems that eating by my appetite still leads to a gain - obviously my appetite is still too much for me! I am so cross to be back up to this weight in time for another spring/summer.
Will be eating mainly out of the freezer and the pantry for the next week as have completely spent out over the holidays, so meals will be limited to what I have in. Tonight was red onion and garlic risotto with goat's cheese and parmesan. I'm still at the sulky stage - not got round to the determined fresh start stage again yet. I think I am fed up with them!
