Search the Community

Well, that sucked. Just before Christmas I feel off the wagon, hard. I shouldn't berate myself too much, but it was a bad time. I stopped going out to walk, I ate more sugar than is really advisable, I didn't get to the gym nearly enough. All around, it was a mess. But hey, one bad month =/= total failure. I need to respawn, and I'm working on a useful plan for that. I think part of the issue is that I've had a hell of a time coming up with good rewards. Up until now, I've been using food as a reward. It wasn't until early last month that I realized how much I was doing that. I started feeling bad about that. When I feel guilty about what I'm eating, I tend to eat worse - usually much worse. That rapidly turns into a guilt spiral, and nothing good will come of that. However, I think I've found a replacement. I was part of a huge secret Santa type gift exchange with fellow roller derby officials. My gift package included a couple of tea tins from Adagio. The Melisandre blend that she got me is AMAZING. The tea is expensive enough, especially with shipping, that I shouldn't be getting a ton of it. A tin every couple months should be doable, though, and it would make a very nice reward. My goals for this month are to get back to the physical activity I was doing a couple months back. I've been going to practice regularly, but I've been much worse about gym workouts. I'm on the Academy level 3, which should be good. The activities are difficult, but don't feel impossible. Unfortunately, my gym doesn't have anything that can be easily used as a pull up bar, and besides, there are no boxes to stand on anyway. I'm not going to use any of the lifting machines, because it seems like peak asshole to stand on a bench to reach the not-actually-a-pull-up-bar. Oof. Any suggestions for good replacement exercises would be appreciated. I'm taking the walks of the list, at least for now. It's below zero out right now, and no amount of good intentions will get me to spend more time outside than necessary in these conditions. Going for walks will be bonus points, but requiring it will only lead to guilt for avoiding misery inducing cold. (I know that there's gear out there for cold weather activity. I just don't have the money to pick that up right now, especially for only a couple minutes a day. Here's where realistic expectations come in.) I also need to get on the financial health wagon. I didn't do the name change paperwork in Dec, which is pretty much inexcusable at this point. I changed my name over 2 years ago, ffs. So, that's back on the chart for this month. I also will be assessing my budget. Because of some dental work at the end of the month, I doubled my FSA contribution. My margins are thin enough that I need to account for that extra $50/mon. My goal is not to change my habits directly, but just to watch the effects of my choices. Given my financial history, paying attention regularly will likely be enough. Tracking sheet:

Passersby were shocked by the unusually large numbers of grue. /bad joke This is my second challenge and, per the good suggestion by @ShadowLion, I'm going to take my lessons from the first challenge and build. Note: Thanksgiving week kind of kicked my butt. I'm chalking week 4 up to not making myself miserable and moving on. The successes and failures are based on my progress up to Nov 23. I'll be starting this challenge with Week 0 to make up for my slacking last week. Successes - Food Tracking - I only missed over Thanksgiving weekend. I don't terribly much enjoy this, but it's a good deterrent for small snacking. I'm going to try to keep this up. - Practice - I did it! Well, I did it fully through weeks 1 to 3. There was no practice Thanksgiving day, and I was in the middle of a three-hour drive to my parents place on Sunday. Still, two times per week is eminently doable, and I can and will keep that up. - Dietician! - This was as helpful as I was hoping it would be. Now I have a good handle on how to get fresh fruits and veggies in my diet without making myself sick. This is so amazing, I can't even tell you. Partial Success - Cat Box Cleaning - While I didn't get anywhere near actually doing this daily, I'm now doing it far more frequently than I had before. This means a happy household. - Daily Walking - This wasn't actually a challenge point, but it was something I wanted to do. I didn't really get there, though. As with the cat boxes, I'm doing it more often than I was before, but not daily yet. Failures - Body Weight Work Outs - I only did two of the four I was setting out to do. I think this failed because I didn't actually schedule them. Also, once per week is far too easy to just put off. New Goals! Smarter Grue - Track all the foods Better Grue - Clean cat boxes daily - Clean bathrooms on Sat - Get financial name changes done Faster Grue - Go to practice on Thurs and Sun - Walk 5 min per day, intentionally Stronger Grue - Do BWW on Wed and Sat - Eat one fruit and one veggie daily

Hey folks. One of the prime reasons I started NF is because I need some support for starting, and then sticking to, a low fat, low fiber diet. (See step 3 at the bottom here for an example: https://www.gicare.com/diets/gastroparesis-diet/) I have gastroparesis (slow stomach emptying) and GERD (reflux). I'm one the milder end of the scale; thankfully I don't have a feeding tube or need a full liquid diet. But, I'm still haven't really even started following my restrictions. I'm good at avoiding raw plants, but that's only because they immediately make me feel bad. The though of leaving behind nuts, dried fruit, whole grains, most red meat, legumes and vegetables with skins or fibrous sections? It's terrifying and completely overwhelming. I realize that these restrictions mean that I should basically be eating the opposite of a Paleo diet, but I'm hoping that there are a couple folks here facing the same thing. I recently tried to find a support group to talk to, but they are mostly for folks at the severe end of the scale. That is totally cool; I just don't want to bother people recovering from cancer with my much more minor issue. Any advice or commiserating is appreciated.