Kindness

I'd like to start today's post by extending a big "Thank you!", to Lynn from Lynn's Weigh and her very kind readers for all the advice and reassurance they have given me regarding my trip to the States. I'm not sure why I got myself so stressed about the whole thing. Ladies, your kindness has helped me take a breath, calm down :), and relax about my trip. That's how it should be really. Your descriptions of roadside food stalls, farmers markets and the like have made me quite excited. It sounds rather lovely. I grew up in and live in a farming community and love the stalls that nestle by our roadsides. After briefly looking at hiring a camper, we are mostly decided on just hiring a car and heading off to the store for a cooler. Your suggestions for eating out were valuable as well. We don't eat out often and I'd not thought about asking for changes to what the menu offers. I shall try that.

At weigh in this week I had a loss of 0.7kgs which I'm happy with. That's a total loss of 1.9kgs over two weeks. That's about 4 pounds for those of you who prefer pounds. After a tired beginning of the week my activity levels were down and I had a special dinner with a friend on Saturday which got my points up a bit. We had roast chicken and veg and Donna supplied little chocolate mousse muffins. It was just lovely. I did 2, 20 minute walks on Saturday to at least earn some of the meal and then made sure I ate lightly and upped my exercise again on Sunday. I can't tell you how good it feels to have been able to do something as normal as a longer walk and to not crash in a screaming heap for days or weeks afterwards. Woohoo! It is also very empowering to enjoy a treat, good company and still lose.

In my efforts to heal on all levels, I have just started to read the 'Stress Eater Diet'. I have experienced a number of quite stressful circumstances in the time that I've gained weight. Let's be realistic, chronic health issues are stressful too, so I need to look at how that muddle has all helped lead me to this point. My goal is to develop a greater understanding of how my body and mind respond to stress and to develop good strategies to help me out in future. Hopefully along the way I'll discover that I'm already doing some things 'right'. It has been my habit to take action rather late in the game when I find myself stressed. I tell myself I can put up with it, or I don't want to upset anyone so I bite my tongue, or I procrastinate and do nothing because I can't think of the 'best' way to deal with something. Crappy, inhibiting perfectionism. I need to develop the awareness and skills to take action early on to minimise the effects of stress on me and to address or resolve the situation earlier rather than later (if possible). Will review the book for you when I've finished. I think Lynn may have one on her blog if you are interested.

How do you deal with stress? Do you let it build up by dealing with it too late as I do? Who has problems saying 'no'? Nobody! I don't believe you. :) Let me know, I'd love to hear how you cope.

Until next time, take care everyone and thank you for your kindness.