Luminous Kells

Hey, Mortimer! Here are a couple of birds that have been at my feeders the last week or so. (Pictures are not mine. Note that these look like birds and not blobs. Nope, not my pictures.) They are an American goldfinch, a Western tanager, a lesser goldfinch and a lazuli bunting. Both goldfinches dine here pretty regularly, but the other two are new to my feeder. It's the first time I have seen the bunting at all. Edit: Well, I messed that up. Please ignore the HUGE pictures and the duplicate one. Sigh.

Oh, Mortimer --- I am SO stealing this! Thanks for sharing another of your magical concoctions. You are definitely a food mage.

Harborcoat, I was 90 minutes from Yellowstone Park when I went to college --- you can not imagine what an incentive to ditch classes that was! I really enjoyed spotting animals (deer, elk, moose, antelope, coyotes, the occasional bear) and birds (swans, osprey, pelicans, sandhill cranes once) and the habit stuck. I have bird feeders outside my kitchen and watching their antics keeps me interested. So watching for birds as I walk gives me that last little kick to get my butt out the door. You don't know what new thing you will see or what cool behavior. It feels more like I am an active person engaged in a healthy hobby than a fat person forced to schlep along to drop some pounds. I'm not preparing for the life I want, I'm already living it (if that makes any sense.) I need to work on consistency, however: get out every day, push myself to walk a little faster and a little further each day, and not stop to identify every new flash of color. Do you have an interesting (and safe) place to walk? Do you ever listen to music? (It seems like that would help with keeping your speed up?) Do you find that just getting outside is a mood lifter?

If you are as good at Rebelling against bad health as you are at spotting birds, you are going to be making steady and significant progress. I had to expand the second pic to even find the darn thing and it's not like any pigeon I've ever seen. Weird and wonderful! Thank you for ending my night on such an interesting note. And thank you for the advice regarding the food prep --- I venturing into uncharted waters there. Life is good!

Right back atchya, harborcoat --- welcome to the Rebellion! I am a newbie, too, so take my musings with a healthy dash of salt. You sound like maybe you don't know why you eat the way you do; would keeping a food/emotional journal for a little while help you find triggers or habits that might be undermining you? Food-wise, I fail to prepare for success; if you are the same, would mapping out exactly what you're going to eat for the next 5 days and doing the prep ahead of time help you? And maybe you need to switch the obsession with pounds gained to an obsession with health: when you find yourself Golem-ing over those preciousssss poundssss, break the negative feedback loop by imagining yourself as a strong, kick-ass warrior. Assume the Wonder Woman pose --- stand straight and tall, chin lifted, feet shoulder-width apart, hands on your hips. Breathe deeply and imagine yourself running a 5k or working those weights. Those pounds aren't the important thing; they're distracting you from the important thing: becoming the strongest, fittest, healthiest you.

Hey there, Mondestrucken --- sounds like you have had some crap going on, both long-term and short-term. I admire how you are calmly putting things behind you to get yourself back into health. I know from personal experience that depression is a bitch, but you sound on track to make it your bitch. (Do you find exercise itself helps with depression? Cool added benefit, yes?) And I love your name! I had to google it because I am a Philistine and I love the poem. So welcome to the Rebellion and thank you for introducing me to Mondestrucken (you AND the art). ps. If that's your hair in your profile picture, the color is fantastic.

Wow, Gibsorz, you obviously have a very solid foundation of discipline and hard work; your post kind of glows with it. You've had a great first month already. Your clear goals, your unbiased assessment of your current conditions, a month of solid gains --- you are definitely setting yourself up for success. Welcome to the Rebellion!

Thank you, Mortimer! Batch cooking looks like a really good approach for me (saves me from those OMG I need to eat now times) and your zucchini boats look very interesting. I am a boring meat/potatoes cook, so pictures of new recipes like what you posted help a lot. Good luck with the birding --- hope you spot some exciting specimens!

Hi, everyone! I'm Kells and I've gotten myself into a pretty bad spot health-wise. Year of self-neglect have left me very overweight, diabetic and struggling to perform normal physical tasks. I need to make some major changes now before I no longer have the option. I'm the only one that created this mess and I'm the only one that can fix it. However, I do have some great IRL support from my family and my amazing doctor; this is doable. Since my core problem is all this excess weight, that's where I'm concentrating my efforts. To get my eating under control, I am starting Intermittent Fasting M/W/F under my doctor's supervision. (This is the easy part. Coming up with what I eat on those other days is the problem. ) Instead of concentrating on what I shouldn't eat, I am trying to design a food plan based on what I should/need to eat. I am researching programs/recipes and how well they fit in with the whole diabetes mess; advice welcome! For exercise, I am going to walk at least 30 minutes every day. I am a very amateur birder that lives in an area with great trails (and birds!) , so my teensy binoculars and I should enjoy some good one-on-one time with each other. However, I am in desperate need of strengthening my core and improving my flexibility (which is basically non-existent). I have discovered a couple of super-remedial yoga videos, but am open to any suggestions about safe stretches or poses suitable for an incredibly unfit person. I know I need to incorporate strength training, but my thinking is to establish the routine of walking and stretching first, then start adding the strength work. As a new recruit in this Great Rebellion, I know I'm currently weak and under-equipped. However, it might be hard to find someone whose skills could be improved so quickly by application of basic common sense. I am delighted to have found such a wonderful training camp and look forward to supporting the rest of you in your battles.