Harriet

Indeed.... what is healthy? Certain sources make it seem very simple - cut out all carbs and you will become hercules. But I'm not sure.

Talk to me about what you all do for lunches and breakfasts. I feel like most of the quick, convenient no-cook things I grew up with are all based on refined carbohydrates or are otherwise unhealthy: breakfast cereal, sandwich bread etc. And things with more veg & protein require more involved cooking. That's what I do for dinner. But do you all cook three times a day? I also tried prepping chicken and sweet potato for the whole week, but I got less and less willing to eat the cold, shrivelled stuff after a few days. Also, I want opinions on bread. Is bread a nasty refined carbohydrate that will mess with my insulin and make me fat and dead? Or is it a perfectly wholesome vehicle for other foods? Various internet and book-writing people promised me that if I gave up carbs I would be thin and have boundless energy. Certainly, eating less junk food has made me slightly less tired. But is a nice sourdough bread junk if I put chicken or hummus or eggs or avocado on it? I just want to spend a bit less time on food.

I have never brined. I shall try it, and see if I can get my hands on a thermometer. Whole chickens also sounds intriguing...I don't really have any lunch ideas at the moment, maybe a whole chicken would make things easier. I want something easy but I am still unsure if bread is unhealthy.

Awesome! Although I lack the moral authority to give advice about procrastination, I certainly have the benefit of experience. Would it help if you set a specific time like "after dinner on Wednesday" or "5pm Tuesday"? Sometimes I fail to do things simply because I have no specific time for them, so it's never the case that I need to be doing it now.

You're lovely and wise, just like Grumble says. How about "Trousers displease me, so I am considering banishing them from my sight and filling my closet with war dresses and battle skirts"

That depends on your level of equanimity versus the forces of chaos that assail you.

I'm working on the social stuff, too, though it's not as bad as it used to be. The therapist person I speak to regularly was trying to encourage me to not take responsibility for other people's feelings or to attempt to read their minds, but to focus a bit more on what I want/need and trust that others will speak up if there's a problem. In this case I agree with the others: it's a cardio machine and therefore is designed to be used for longer stretches. I feel 30min is a reasonable minimum, but honestly, if you want to do 45, do 45. If someone else regularly wants to use it but finds it occupied, they can tell management they'd like to have more of the machines. If they want to use it urgently one day they can ask you. Actually the rowing machine is an awesome idea because I want to do some cardio for increased energy, but I want to do it in the gym because I'm lazy and need that environmental prompt, but also I don't want to buy running shoes, and furthermore I assume the rowing machine is good for the pulling muscles, which are my current worst weakness... Could be perfect. Going to search my gym for rowing machines. That's my favourite part, walking around the gym looking like I don't know where I'm going, trying not to make eye contact, staring at weird contraptions wondering what their purpose is. Nice! Spirit of the iron be with you.

Sounds super productive! Getting through the training when you're tired is a win even if it's not spectacular. Yes! There must be a grace period of tea and looking at nerdfitness before productivity can be contemplated.

Clothes that go in and out are definitely more flattering. I am thinking about giving up and just wearing knit tops/skirts and stretchy dresses from now on unless I find that magic pair of trousers. I love sweaters. Sleeves are excellent for pulling over cold necromancer hands. I am just working on finishing off a little blue sweater that I knit myself, but my gauge was off so I'm not sure it's exactly as it should be. Plus I'm not sure I like the comparatively open fabric I got from the lace-weight yarn. Need a nice sport weight yarn for my next one.

Love your attitude. Going to borrow it for this week. Plus, 64 weeks of walking every day is pretty amazing! 50 points for consistency!

So, one of the nice things about a journal is I can see what I actually did this week: Gym 3/3 Writing 3/7 Art 5/7 Meditation 6/7 Reading 5/7 Cleaning 4/7 Hmmm. Could be improved. I had a couple of bad days this week though as I am sick/tired. Oh well. Today, Monday, is a fresh start. Small things can be done even when tired. Also, I signed up for and went to the first class of a new writing course. It seems focused on technique and should be helpful.

Yes, no need to stress about it. I think I'm a bit sick, actually. Interesting that I felt depressed and tired before noticing any other symptoms. Hmmm. Probably bad to go to gym with cold. But how soon can I return? All food discussion welcome! I have never bought pre-made dressings for some reason. I associate them with terrible salads at my aunt's house as a child, and I just assumed they're full of weird ingredients. I also try to buy organic chicken whenever possible. I have eaten the rotisserie chicken from the supermarket, and it is surprisingly delicious, but I would feel bad about getting what I assume is miserable cage chicken regularly. It would be awesome if I knew how to make chicken breast at home a bit more interesting. I mean, I do cook it with different flavours, but I don't like the texture somehow. Maybe I overcook it? I really liked the chicken breast mince that I made recently. Maybe large chunks of chicken breast are just not my favourite thing. Hmmm.

4.5-5 hours is not awesome I hope you see some improvements soon. I assume you've already read up on sleep hygiene, but I just want to mention two things just on the off chance you weren't aware of them or thought them unimportant. 1: temperature. If our room is even slightly too warm I'm much more likely to walk up repeatedly throughout the night and have weird dreams that wake me (could you try making your room a smidge colder than you would consider comfy?). 2: wake up/get up. If I get into the habit of snoozing/laying in bed after waking up, my sleep suffers. Getting up as soon as I wake up in the morning makes it much more likely I'll fall asleep quickly at night. This one has been hard - someone recommended it to me ten years ago but I didn't do it because snoozing felt like compensation for not getting enough sleep.

Oh man, you have all the episodes and their names memorised? That's true love. Yeah, I can see they're trying to do some progressive stuff, even if it comes across awkward at times by modern standards. Then again, there are some super sexist elements in some modern films (in my opinion) that other people seem to find normal. I think I prefer star trek, because there's no sensationalised, lingering, close-up scenes of graphic violence (or threatened violence) against exquisitely beautiful, naked or otherwise vulnerable women with agonised expressions (yuck). I feel like the violence in film and tv is getting more and more emotionally intense and hyper-real to keep desensitised audiences excited, and I just hate it when violence against non-fighting characters (women, someone's grandad, animals, children, skinny nerds who just wanted to pour a weird blue chemical from one beaker into another beaker) is used to up the stakes instead of, you know, actually investing in the plot and characters. Okay, now I'm rambling. I'll stop.

Yep. One time on holiday I was in a vile mood, told my husband I was unhappy about life, the universe and everything, and was generally very low and angsty. He could have shown me a unicorn and I would have said "hmph". He convinced me to go to a gym with him, and afterwards I was smiling, relaxed, chipper, and thought the universe was just fine. Gotta remember this lesson for next time.