Long Time, no see

It's been a hard couple of weeks.

Classes started back, and my internship schedule changed. My work schedule did too--and my hours increased. So I have 12 hours of class (plus prep time), at least 20 hours of internship, and 8-16 hours of part-time work a week. So, I'm putting in 40 hours a week if I do the minimum amount of work required--and that does not include studying/preparing for class, working extra shifts, or the extra half hours I work here and there to finish whatever I'm working on when my internship hours are over for the day. Tomorrow my spinning class starts--3x a week at 6am. When I'm busy, I'm busy. (Plus, my browser lost my blogger password and I kept forgetting to reset it.)

Also, along with the new very busy schedule, my uncle died unexpectedly this week. It was a shock to all of us in our close family and it was terrible for days. His funeral was yesterday and while it was sad, being with my family brought a sense of peace and acceptance that is hard to explain. He will be missed by so many people because he was a kind and generous person who brought joy wherever he went. He and my aunt had been married for forty years; he was buried on their anniversary. Even after yesterday, the fact that he is gone is unreal--it's as if I cannot comprehend family and home without him.

In blog-relevant news: in weights I was 160 and 159 in the past couple of weeks; I walked for an hour tonight; I haven't had a soda in about a month.

Woohoo!

Well, yesterday was very productive. I cleaned a lot of the house--well, really, picked up a lot of it. Most of the time, our sty isn't dirty but there are papers everywhere and books, etc. We just don't have enough space. For example, I straightened the bookshelf yesterday (one of them) and realized that we actually do need another entire bookshelf for all of our books, binders, etc.. We have six booksheves in our little duplex, and each of them is overflowing. Two of them are over six feet tall and over three feet wide. But that is not enough! So I put all of my law books on one shelf and then neatly stacked about a shelf's worth of books on top of them. Semi-organized. That's all I ask.

This many books must be what you get when there are/will be six college/graduate degrees between two people and both of them had (before those degrees) voracious reading habits. At least our collection is varied--law, evolutionary biology, public administration, anthropology, wildlife management and ecology, latin and other ancient languages and cultures, science fiction, "the classics" of literature, contemporary fiction. Plus, magazines that we LOVE do not get recycled, so we have several years of food magazines (which we do use for recipes a great deal), computer gaming magazines, and my Marthas and adventure magazines that I keep to inspire me. Can you see how we might need more shelf space?

Anyway, besides that I bought some bins to unload some clothes to make moving the furniture easier this weekend. Plus, I looked through a mememto shoebox (of things I will not throw away) and found that I could part with two things out of it. Obviously, we're sort of pack rats. I try to get rid of things that I don't love and don't use, but there are lots of things that don't meet those criteria. So they stay. I also try not to bring things home that I don't love and don't use, and I'm pretty good at that.

Weights and Measures

W: 160
M: 41-35-41

I've been very tired recently. On the good side, it is easier to go to bed by myself. On the bad side, it does nothing to boost my spirits.

This weekend will be my first on-my-own weekend that I am staying in town. What will I do with myself? Probably clean the house.

R@isinets

You should add a pack of R@isinets to today and yesterday's fitday. I'm too lazy to add them as a custom food. I was glad to see that they do not have any of the stuff I don't eat in them, but I don't really need to eat them every day (just like sherbet, cookies, etc.). I haven't learned yet not to bring sweets into the house. Although I don't gorge on R@isinets.

Rar.

What a grumpy day! Dr MM went back to his home again, and I had to work my desk gnome job until late tonight. BLAH.

I had my first "Uh-oh" moment about tv tonight. I was reading the rankings of various entertainment in the NYT, and saw that Teh C!oser was number one for cable. It comes on tonight, and I'd been recording it on the dvr. But not any more. I have a movie left over from this weekend that I can watch instead.

A new week

Well, this weekend was a doozy! Dr. MM had his graduation, so he is finally finished with anything possibly related to his degree. (Well, not really, because he's still doing research related to his dissertation, but that's different.) Our families were in town, and we ended up going to another family function after graduation that was fun as well. So much excitement in one day can wear you out, though!

I didn't track anything this weekend, because we ate out at restaurants so much. Plus, what we ate would be impossible to put into fitday. After graduation, we had this gigantic banquet meal at a Chinese restaurant--I don't even know everything I ate! Very good. Still no soda. I've been really good about that habit. The hardest part of it is not ordering it at restaurants where it was always part of the meal. But I've done that too this weekend, and I wasn't unhappy with that decision.

I'm a little over my food budget for last week--we bought pork chops for dinner last night and breakfast foods and snacks. Plus, I bought some food earlier in the week that I didn't record.

Thurs.
S@br@ hummus (which is the best packaged hummus ever) 4.99
Whole wheat pita: 1.50
Coke (for Dr. MM): 2.49
Total: 9.25
Balance: 8.09

Sun.
1/2 gallon of milk: 2.20
Oj: 3.29
Gummi Life Savers: 1.59
Raisinets (which actually have none of the junk I don't eat in them): 2.49
Cereal: 3.29
Pork Chops: 7.74
1 ear of corn: .50
Store Discounts: 2.76
Total: 18.89
Balance: -10.80

So, I guess that starts me out this week at 29.20. Even more of a challenge!

Also, my gas challenge is totally going to have to be re-thought. I'm over by about the same amount as I budgeted. I'm hoping that I can be more efficient when classes start, but I don't know since I'll have to go to work in my car still.

Weights and Measures

W: 160

M: 40.5, 35, 41

I was short on 4 RDA's yesterday, but only under 50% on Vitamin A. That's usually not a problem, so I guess I just didn't eat as wide a variety of food as usual. My Vitamin K was wonderful, thanks to the broccoli I had with dinner. I eat broccoli all the time, so I shouldn't have as much problem dealing with that vitamin as I seem to. Note to self, eat more broccoli! Yum.

Also, I noticed today that my skin is looking much smoother and not breaking out as much, which I think is from all the water I've been drinking. Three weeks, with only about four servings of non-water beverages--that should do it.

Yesterday

Well, I did very well yesterday on the nutrition front. Only 4 nutrients did not get to 100%--and only one of those was under 50% (Vitamin K, as usual). I ate a little more than I probably should have, but most of it was healthy. Next time, I will not get fries (and dip for them) if I'm not going to share them. Or I will get a smaller portion, and no dip. Although both of these things do have vitamins in them and aren't pure sugar like soda is, so it's not completely empty food. In any event, I still ate less than my daily calories needed to maintain my weight.

While I do track my food, I'm not actually counting calories or fat percentage or anything. All I aim to do is hit 100% of my RDA's. I can eat whatever I want, as long as I'm working toward that goal. I do keep in mind the max calories that I need for a day to maintain, which is over 2500, and I do keep my eyes open about fiber and what percent fat my diet was that day (less than 30% is fine). I look at the record with no judgement about me being bad/good for what I ate, although I will think about whether the foods were good choices for me RDA-wise and calorie-wise. When things aren't, like soda, realizing that it is nothing more than empty calories with nothing to offer me health-wise makes it a great deal easier to quit putting that into my body. I've had soda once this week, and about three times in the past two weeks. Not bad from a two+ a day habit.

Focusing on RDA's was what made losing the five pounds earlier in the year effortless. I'm not sold on losing weight for losing weight's sake. If it is a result of my eating nutritious foods rather than junk, or of playing harder than usual, then that's fine, but my aim is health not weight loss. I don't think those two necessarily go hand in hand, and I think that you can have either without the other. I track my weight and measures because I want to see how changes in my life change me, but it's just an observation. And it's a habit that keeps me focused on this task.

Tracking whatever I'm doing keeps me more aware of my actions. Today I had an actual serving of cereal, instead of a serving and a half like yesterday. Yesterday, I didn't know what a serving was, so I couldn't choose to eat just one. Today, I'm aware of it, so I can choose to just have one. Little things like this make a big difference for me and my health.

Also, my dinner last night was not my night out dinner, so I really should deduct it from my food budget--so now I have $17.34 left until Sunday.

TV

Well, I no longer have cable! It cut off in the middle of a show last night. I will still have basic cable--network tv and a few channels like that, mostly because I don't think Dr. MM could stand visiting without any tv at all! But that's ok. Recently, I've been playing music at night instead of watching a lot of tv anyway.

I will have to watch myself to make sure that I don't replace tv with internet. I don't need to go from one screen to the next! I think I will use a timer for internet time in the evenings, and when time's up I will have to go do something else for a while. Walk, read a book, clean.

Soon I will be able to sign up for classes at the student rec center. I think I will take a spinning class and swimming lessons. We'll see.

RDA's

Well, today's tracking went pretty well. I exceeded my needs for six vitamins by a whopping great amount, and came close (90+%) on most. Vitamin K, D, zinc and iron are the ones I need to work on--as usual! Back to eating spinach, I guess.

Weights and Measures

The last time I had a weights and measures post was in May! Then I weighed 155, 40.5, 34.5, 40.5. I was doing a good job of tracking RDA's and my weight and measures, which really does help motivate me to do good things for myself--like eat healthy, nutritious food.

Today I weighed in at 159 and my measures are: 41, 34.5, 41. I don't think that Tuesdays are going to be my weight and measures day, because I know I will forget more often than not. I'm going to try Fridays. That should help me get back on track more in doing good things for me.