This week has been a busy week for both my head and my emotions. Monday's weigh in sent me into a negative spiral after I weighed in after 2 ladies who had both lost 2kg and I lost less. Crazy as my goal is to lose 500grams to 1kg weekly and I exceeded that. Anyway, I managed to journal that particular monkey off my back. We also had news that our exchange student from Denmark had been pulled out of the programme because her parents won't let her stay with us. Why? Because we have no children. That's been a bit of a blow as it's not by choice that we are childless. It's brought up all the crappy feelings of loss, rejection and failure that we have felt through infertility, being unable to adopt because of health issues, and now being rejected again. It has definitely brought some difficult emotions to the surface, springing them on me at unexpected moments throughout the week. Jeff, however is severely gutted and I think perhaps it's making him feel things he has managed to dodge so far on this awkward and often unpleasant journey. I understand her families decision but can't help but think I could do without the emotional fallout at this time.
I've also been a bit tired this week. Shades of the not-so-long-ago days of fatigue. While not full blown fatigue, it's been different to normal tired and has ramped up my anxiety metre. I listened to my body and rested immediately, adjusted my plans and I think it has worked. I'm not so tired today and was even able to have a pretty full on day yesterday. I wonder how long it will take me to get over being afraid of falling back into that insidious, debilitating fatigue that I've lived with for years. I don't trust that it's gone. I don't trust my body not to fall back into this state again, after all it's not been 2 months since I started to climb out of it. All I can do is care for myself as best I can, listen to my body and care for it accordingly and trust that one day I will be well again.
Although I've been anxious and emotional this week, I've stayed within my points allowance and made my selections from the usual healthy foods I eat. Exercise has been inconsistent due to fatigue and just loss of focus. Planning of my meals has been non-existent too and this had added to my stress. I don't feel confident enough with the point system as yet to wing-it. So I need to get back into planning my meals, planning my exercise and then putting these plans into action.
In the spirit of Self-care week, I reached out for help in an area that I'm having trouble with. We are heading off to the States in a few months time, the land of excess and ginormous portion sizes. I've been becoming increasingly anxious about how I'm going to maintain my healthy lifestyle while on a 3 1/2 week driving holiday where we'll be mostly reliant on eating out in some form or another. I'll buy fruit, nuts, carrots and water for the car but don't know whether to buy an esky so that I can carry salad ingredients, yoghurt etc. Still to decide whether to take my collapsible tupperware bowl or go for the convenience of paper plates and cutlery for the duration. Babble, babble, babble. Anyway, I reached out for help with this dilemma by emailing a lady whose weight loss and maintenance blog I read. She's based in the States so may have some ideas. I think it gives you a good picture of my where my head's at that I am worried about this now. By the time we go I'll have 12 weeks or so of counting points, making changes and losing weight under my belt. I expect I'll be more confident about my ability to lose weight, make good choices and better able to trust my body.
Time to get out of my head. Off to notch up some steps on the treadmill then I'm going to treat myself to a long hot soak in the bath on this cool and rainy afternoon.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteI saw Lynn's post about your travel dilemma; I'm popping over to say that I live in Northern California, so if you'll be passing through my part of the West Coast, I might be able to help. The West Coast is probably one of the easiest parts of the United States to find fresh, healthy food choices. (Whoops, my bias is showing. ;-)
I think getting yourself a cooler (esky) is a fantastic idea. (We do that when we go on vacation; it's a tremendous help.) Most stores here carry them. Stores you may see out here includes Safeway (a grocery store chain-goes by "Vons" in Southern California), Rite Aid and CVS and Walgreen's (drugstores, which carry both prescription medication and sundries, as well as some food and beverages). Trader Joe's carries mainly foods and beverages, and they are a super place to find lots of healthy options. Whole Foods grocery store is a treat as well, it can be a good place for healthy eating, but a bad place for staying moderate in portions, because their prepared food is really tasty! My town of Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz to the south have a store called New Leaf, which is like Whole Foods but smaller (and their prepared food, at least in Half Moon Bay, is not quite as tempting). All of the grocery stores tend to carry wonderful fresh veggie trays in the produce section, with pre-cut and pre-washed veggies.
If you'll be traveling down Hwy 1 between San Francisco and Santa Cruz, there are lots of little farm stands and such, and the San Francisco Bay Area has a lot of farmer's markets. Here's a page on SFGate (hosted by the local newspaper) from which you can look up farmer's markets (http://www.sfgate.com/food/farmersmarkets/). The best farmer's market, though, is in San Luis Obispo on Thursday nights; definitely worth a stop!
Restaurants do tend to serve large portion sizes here. In California, though, there are lots of salad options and most places are great about accommodating special requests when ordering. Consider splitting entrees and getting extra sides of steamed veggies, or substituting starchy sides with veggies. I usually have great luck with, "May I please have extra steamed veggies instead of the rice/potatoes/pasta?" Sometimes I get tomatoes on the side instead of toast or potatoes at breakfast places.
Please feel free to email me if you'd like more specific info. Hope you enjoy a wonderful trip!
Hi..I also received Lynn's post about your anxiety over travel and staying on a good food plan. I'm from Texas, USA. Welcome! I have the same anxiety as you when I travel, because often I have packed on a lot of pounds during those times. Pubsgal gave great advice. I'll try not to duplicate, although the idea of a cooler is definitely a must. I do well when I load up first with fruits and almonds/walnuts. If you do dairy, yogurt is easily handled in a cooler. You will need a good little paring knife, which might have to be purchased after you arrive. Also you will be driving past some great little fruit and veggie stands if you get off the interstate highways. Any good grocery store will have produce. Some will have organic. More of that in California! That still won't take care of when you are really hungry. Pubsgal has good advice for eating in a restaurant. My best tip are the McDonald's salads. You can almost always find a McDonald's on the road. (Subway has good, fresh salads, too. You choose what you want in them.) I especially like the McDonald's Southwest with Paul Newman Southwest dressing. If you like spicy, they are great. It has grilled chicken, just a few crunchy tostitoes, and a little black beans and corn along with a lot of salad greens. Sometimes I use just part of the dressing. But in the scheme of things, having something very tasty makes me happy. If you don't like spicy, they have some other salads. Last fall, I managed to lose 20 pounds, with my husband buying me a Southwest salad every day. I also suffer debilitating tiredness from various health problems. I wasn't peppy enough for much cooking. I hope you have a wonderful trip. And feel well! Jeanelle
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