working out for Disney

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

I started a 6 week program yesterday. I don't know if I will complete it, but the workouts are short and intense. Six weeks is the run up to my vacation, so I'll be ready for a break. I've been walking with my husband in the mornings, too.

I've just been purging the house of stuff I don't need this week and getting ready for the 4th. I am hoping we have weather where it does not feel like I need gills to breathe outside for the 4th. I'd like to sit out in my backyard with some sangria and tasty eats on Friday.

 

[Songbird76]

I understand why your ex- bf's brother and you got away from her. Good grief. How exhausting.

I had a boyfriend with a mom like this. She was a very loud, very crass woman. She was convinced that I was going to get pregnant and "trap" him. No amount of telling her I had my own goals (none of which involved getting married or pregnant until I finished college, at minimum) could convince her otherwise. He was valedictorian of his class got full scholarships to schools like Stanford, UChicago and University of Illinois. He went to U of I to study chemical engineering. She was so scared I was going to derail him, as if he had no agency of his own and I had him spellbound. She would say really inappropriate and insulting things about my body. But it was always a joke when I would ask her to repeat what she said. I told my mom what she was saying to me and holy heck, the phone call that ensued. It was two female bullies shouting at each other. He worked at Taco Bell in HS and then at college. He reached out to me 15 years ago on FB to be friends, but I did not accept it. I looked at his profile, though. Someone else "trapped" him in college, he dropped out and manages a Taco Bell. He was her golden boy and someone else prevented him from reaching her goals for him. I love this for her.

Wow, our lives seem to run somewhat parallel!! My ex was also valedictorian and was on a full ride scholarship. He could have gone Ivy League if he had wanted to, but his parents didn't make enough to send him to such a school, and while they give scholarships, full rides are rare. Not to mention I don't think his mommy would have been happy if he had gone so far away. But there is some program where they invite the top boy and girl from each state to go to Washington and meet the president, based on their test scores. He had a 35 on his ACT both times he took it, and the only section he never scored a perfect 36 in was...Math? and he had a 35 on that. The average composite score that year was a 20.8. My brother scored a 33 and was contacted by Cornell recruiting, and turned them down because they didn't have good enough scholarships for him to afford it and he also had a full ride to the University of Wyoming. But my ex was the top boy in the entire state, so he was definitely the golden boy and his mom's pride and joy. His mom deeply offended my mother because she made a comment about how she "would never allow one of her sons to become Mormon, Lutheran, or Catholic." My mom was with her on the Mormon and Catholic, but she was very clear that she had chosen Lutheran for me and I wasn't allowed to be anything else. It was completely lost on both moms that they didn't really get a vote in what we believed or or practiced. They were both extremely controlling and thought that they got to call all the shots for their adult children.

His mom was also very proud of the fact that she had rid her husband of his habbit of going out for a drink with friends after work once they got married. It was all well and good for single men to go out and have a drink, but once they got married, they needed to be at home. The Bible says you cleave to one another....he has no business socializing with anyone but his wife outside of work and church. This is how she justified telling me (and him) that I was being unfaithful to him by having friends he didn't like. We were engaged, which is a promise, and you should only socialize with people they approve of. You shouldn't be going out to a bar, or to the movies, or to go bowling....you shouldn't NEED those things. You have your spouse. You socialize with people at your work while you are there, and at church while you are there, and that's enough. And for a woman, she needs to be at home taking care of her husband and children, making the home nice for them. She didn't have time for socialization!! At least not outside of church, or like in the grocery store check out line. My mom was kind of opposite...she wanted me to get a college education because she felt that women needed to be independent of their husbands. Her dad died when she was only two and her mom had no education or skills. Her older brothers largely filled the role of man of the house. Her oldest brother got a job in high school to support the family and all the aunts and uncles helped. Her mom did have a job at the watch factory, but it wasn't enough to support the family on. Mom was adamant that a woman needed to be able to make her own money in case something happened to her husband. And my mom had had a very rich social life....she had a large family who all lived in her neighborhood, she had a lot of friends from school and once she was an adult, she had a job and socialized with her co-workers a lot. I actually don't think my mom really believed in the institution of marriage anymore after her divorce...I think part of the reason she was so awful to me about this boyfriend was that she didn't want me to get married at all. I think she didn't want me to get tied down and become a housewife, where my ex's mom wanted desperately for her golden boy to have a wife who would dote on him as much as she did. She thought he deserved more than anyone else ever, and so that was the role she was expecting me to fill. Our moms were both super controlling, but polar opposites in what they believed about marriage. My ex found a wife when he started teaching and got married before I did, so for his sake I hope she was a wallflower kind of girl who had no desire for anything but to be a housewife and mother. That was never going to be me and I would have been miserable and always butting heads with his mom.

 

[Songbird76]

Hello-

I started a 6 week program yesterday. I don't know if I will complete it, but the workouts are short and intense. Six weeks is the run up to my vacation, so I'll be ready for a break. I've been walking with my husband in the mornings, too.

I've just been purging the house of stuff I don't need this week and getting ready for the 4th. I am hoping we have weather where it does not feel like I need gills to breathe outside for the 4th. I'd like to sit out in my backyard with some sangria and tasty eats on Friday.

How's the weather so far? We're up around 100 today, and we hit 100 yesterday, which is MISERABLE with no air conditioning. Can't really do anything. They canceled A's tennis because it's not safe in this heat and humidity. But it's supposed to storm tonight and cool down tomorrow, so E can bake for her picnic with her friends on Friday. Tomorrow is her last day of school since she doesn't have to retake any tests. She has a presentation tomorrow and then she's done, so she made arrangements with her high school friends, who are also done, to get together to have a picnic. They don't get to see each other much, so they are really looking forward to it.

 

[Sans Souci]

Wow, our lives seem to run somewhat parallel!! My ex was also valedictorian and was on a full ride scholarship. He could have gone Ivy League if he had wanted to, but his parents didn't make enough to send him to such a school, and while they give scholarships, full rides are rare. Not to mention I don't think his mommy would have been happy if he had gone so far away. But there is some program where they invite the top boy and girl from each state to go to Washington and meet the president, based on their test scores. He had a 35 on his ACT both times he took it, and the only section he never scored a perfect 36 in was...Math? and he had a 35 on that. The average composite score that year was a 20.8. My brother scored a 33 and was contacted by Cornell recruiting, and turned them down because they didn't have good enough scholarships for him to afford it and he also had a full ride to the University of Wyoming. But my ex was the top boy in the entire state, so he was definitely the golden boy and his mom's pride and joy. His mom deeply offended my mother because she made a comment about how she "would never allow one of her sons to become Mormon, Lutheran, or Catholic." My mom was with her on the Mormon and Catholic, but she was very clear that she had chosen Lutheran for me and I wasn't allowed to be anything else. It was completely lost on both moms that they didn't really get a vote in what we believed or or practiced. They were both extremely controlling and thought that they got to call all the shots for their adult children.

His mom was also very proud of the fact that she had rid her husband of his habbit of going out for a drink with friends after work once they got married. It was all well and good for single men to go out and have a drink, but once they got married, they needed to be at home. The Bible says you cleave to one another....he has no business socializing with anyone but his wife outside of work and church. This is how she justified telling me (and him) that I was being unfaithful to him by having friends he didn't like. We were engaged, which is a promise, and you should only socialize with people they approve of. You shouldn't be going out to a bar, or to the movies, or to go bowling....you shouldn't NEED those things. You have your spouse. You socialize with people at your work while you are there, and at church while you are there, and that's enough. And for a woman, she needs to be at home taking care of her husband and children, making the home nice for them. She didn't have time for socialization!! At least not outside of church, or like in the grocery store check out line. My mom was kind of opposite...she wanted me to get a college education because she felt that women needed to be independent of their husbands. Her dad died when she was only two and her mom had no education or skills. Her older brothers largely filled the role of man of the house. Her oldest brother got a job in high school to support the family and all the aunts and uncles helped. Her mom did have a job at the watch factory, but it wasn't enough to support the family on. Mom was adamant that a woman needed to be able to make her own money in case something happened to her husband. And my mom had had a very rich social life....she had a large family who all lived in her neighborhood, she had a lot of friends from school and once she was an adult, she had a job and socialized with her co-workers a lot. I actually don't think my mom really believed in the institution of marriage anymore after her divorce...I think part of the reason she was so awful to me about this boyfriend was that she didn't want me to get married at all. I think she didn't want me to get tied down and become a housewife, where my ex's mom wanted desperately for her golden boy to have a wife who would dote on him as much as she did. She thought he deserved more than anyone else ever, and so that was the role she was expecting me to fill. Our moms were both super controlling, but polar opposites in what they believed about marriage. My ex found a wife when he started teaching and got married before I did, so for his sake I hope she was a wallflower kind of girl who had no desire for anything but to be a housewife and mother. That was never going to be me and I would have been miserable and always butting heads with his mom.

It's too funny, when I first read your post from the other day, I thought, "Did we date the same guy?" lol I could not live how your ex's mom lived. I would have been miserable living like that, too. Not being able to have friends unless your spouse likes them? That's a recipe for controlling someone and isolating them from friends and family.

I think this woman was living vicariously through her son. His father had to drop out of law school, because she got pregnant and I think she was trying to prevent that from happening to her son. That's understandable, but you can't control other people's children. Talk to your son, I am not responsible for your internalized misogyny. I went out with this boy for three years and not once did she ask me what I wanted to study in school, what I wanted to do for living. I was just this empty vessel with no redeeming qualities, but wanted to latch on to her son for the ride. How pathetic do you have to be to feel a teenaged girl is an existential threat?

 

[Sans Souci]

How's the weather so far? We're up around 100 today, and we hit 100 yesterday, which is MISERABLE with no air conditioning. Can't really do anything. They canceled A's tennis because it's not safe in this heat and humidity. But it's supposed to storm tonight and cool down tomorrow, so E can bake for her picnic with her friends on Friday. Tomorrow is her last day of school since she doesn't have to retake any tests. She has a presentation tomorrow and then she's done, so she made arrangements with her high school friends, who are also done, to get together to have a picnic. They don't get to see each other much, so they are really looking forward to it.

Aw, good for your daughter for keeping in touch with her friends. It gets hard when you end up at different schools.

It sounds like you are getting the weather we had here last week. Tomorrow is going to be upper 80s, but lower humidity. So that's good. It's the humidity that makes it unpleasant. I have sweat dripping off my chin and nose when I am out walking.

My nephew in England texts me a lot and he told me last week they were told they could wear their PE kit to school because of the heat, instead of the uniform. I looked at the weather 70 was the high. lol

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

Checking in with a workout that was a mix of different things--kettlebell, jump rope, pull ups. I also went for a sticky, sweaty walk.

We're keeping it low key tomorrow. I went to an Italian butcher and got some nice filets and a couple of sides. I am also making a no bake cannoli pie. My husband bought this big bottle of this very nasty sangria that is so rough. I end up mixing with it Fresca. I am just gong to hang out in my yard with rough sangria and some tunes. I don't think Callie likes it when we're out in the yard because I think she thinks it's her yard. She is a funny little thing. She sleeps in here and lets me pick her up (and purrs when I do it), but I can't approach her outside. Her pupils get large and she runs away.

 

[Sans Souci]

Good morning

Happy Independence Day.

Checking in with a quick 25 min workout. I made the pie. I think the pie dish wasn't deep enough, but it'll be ok. I usually bake a nice cake, since it's my anniversary. But I am in my lazy heifer era, so a no bake pie it is. I am going out for a walk in a bit. It seems less humid outside.

I've been seeing this commercial for a prescription drug that treats psoriasis and it features people going in a gondola lift up the side of a mountain, then hiking and eating in a cafe. It looked like a beautiful place to go hiking, so I googled it and it's in Palm Springs. So, I looked at Costco Travel to see if they had any deals and they did. I booked a week in a small resort in Indian Wells. It's just over an hour from Joshua Tree National Park, so we'll have lots of options for hiking. We usually go to Phoenix in Jan to hike, but this was so much cheaper and it sounds like January is a little bit warmer than Phoenix, too.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Good morning

Happy Independence Day.

Checking in with a quick 25 min workout. I made the pie. I think the pie dish wasn't deep enough, but it'll be ok. I usually bake a nice cake, since it's my anniversary. But I am in my lazy heifer era, so a no bake pie it is. I am going out for a walk in a bit. It seems less humid outside.

I've been seeing this commercial for a prescription drug that treats psoriasis and it features people going in a gondola lift up the side of a mountain, then hiking and eating in a cafe. It looked like a beautiful place to go hiking, so I googled it and it's in Palm Springs. So, I looked at Costco Travel to see if they had any deals and they did. I booked a week in a small resort in Indian Wells. It's just over an hour from Joshua Tree National Park, so we'll have lots of options for hiking. We usually go to Phoenix in Jan to hike, but this was so much cheaper and it sounds like January is a little bit warmer than Phoenix, too.

Palm Springs is lovely and really dives into the retro vibe. We went a few years ago in June so it was hot, but a dry heat. The gondola up the mountain is a little scary but the views are great and the temperature was nice up there. Joshua Tree is a really interesting park. We did some hiking early in the morning but quit by noon due to heat. Then we just drove to a few sites, one site was closed due to a bee infestation in the area (we were even advised to keep our windows up and air circulating the in car air for a certain section of the drive so bees wouldn't get in the car). The bee thing was just a fluke though not a common occurrence at all. I would go back to Joshua Tree in a heartbeat.

 

[Sans Souci]

Palm Springs is lovely and really dives into the retro vibe. We went a few years ago in June so it was hot, but a dry heat. The gondola up the mountain is a little scary but the views are great and the temperature was nice up there. Joshua Tree is a really interesting park. We did some hiking early in the morning but quit by noon due to heat. Then we just drove to a few sites, one site was closed due to a bee infestation in the area (we were even advised to keep our windows up and air circulating the in car air for a certain section of the drive so bees wouldn't get in the car). The bee thing was just a fluke though not a common occurrence at all. I would go back to Joshua Tree in a heartbeat.

That sounds really wonderful. I honestly thought the whole tram and scenery in the commercial was AI generated, but I love there are hiking trails at the top. I adore midcentury modern stuff. Do you remember the trails you went on at Joshua Tree? I've been looking on the NPS website to get an idea.

 

[Sans Souci]

Good morning-

Today is a rest day for me, but I did a quick workout yesterday.

Had a great 4th of July. Beautiful weather, sunny, lower humidity. It was so nice to sit outside in a nice breeze without sweating buckets. The summer is going by so quickly.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

That sounds really wonderful. I honestly thought the whole tram and scenery in the commercial was AI generated, but I love there are hiking trails at the top. I adore midcentury modern stuff. Do you remember the trails you went on at Joshua Tree? I've been looking on the NPS website to get an idea.

I didn't remember what trails we did but I pulled up my write that I did of that trip. We had asked the park ranger to recommend trails that were fairly easy and not too long. Since we knew it was going to be hot we wanted to maximize what we could see. Plus we are not experienced hikers so we didn't want challenging trails.

We started with the Hidden Valley trail (the ranger highly recommended that one), there were bigger rocks to step up on but not a big deal and some of the path was sandy. I wrote that it took us about 40 minutes and that is what the ranger said it would take. The next stop was Barker Dam, again about a 40 minute walk but I wrote that we spent more time reading more of the signs and enjoying more of the scenery there. I also wrote that there was a little spur off trail that we took there to see petroglyphs. Then it seems we went to Cap Stone and that was a 10 minute loop trail, it looped around a lot of Joshua Trees and rock formations. I wrote that there were a lot of benches on this trail but that we didn't get to enjoy them because they were all in the hot sun by this point. Then we drove to the Skull Rock and Big Rocks trail, we walked around Skull rock a bit but felt it was too hot out for the Big Rocks trail that that point in the day. Then we drove down the main road that bisects the park to the Cottonwood visitors center. On the drive we stopped at a couple viewpoints of the old silver mining operations and then stopped at the Cholla cactus garden and walked around the cactus garden. I also noted that there was a small hike to a spring at the Cottonwood visitor center but by that point we were a little hiked out and hungry. So we didn't hike it but drove back up the road and exited out at the Oasis visitor center, which was not the entrance we came in but this exit was about a minute drive to 29 Palms where we found a Del Taco and enjoyed a feast of tacos! Turns out according to my notes we didn't end up paying to enter Joshua Tree, we had entered by one entrance and they weren't ready to accept our payment yet and told us to go in and no one was at the exit either. We did buy stuff at the Oasis gift shop so at least we gave something to the park.

One day in Palm Springs we did a private tour and he took us around to see where the old celebrities (like Bob Hope & Bing Crosby and such) had lived, we are old movie buffs so it was interesting to catch a glimpse of "Old Hollywood". He also took us to Indian Canyons at the start of the tour for a short hike along a creek and we really enjoyed that area too. I wrote that we walked along a creek in Andreas Canyon and along Palm Grove at Indian Creek. I think the area is controlled by the Native American tribe out there and it is a very pretty area, there was even a small recreation of native settlement. The tour wasn't supposed to be private there were supposed to be 4 other people but apparently they canceled. If you are interested I could look and see if I wrote down the website. I would recommend looking into the Indian Canyons place though.

We didn't really eat at a lot of places in Palm Springs but we went to the Tonga Hut and another tiki bar called the Reef (?). We had lunch at a place called Lulus and it was really good and seemed popular. And we were lame and had dinner at Del Taco (again after a lunch at Del Taco) because we just wanted to chill out although we heard that a place called Melvin's was good and iconic to the area. We had liked the little shops on the main drag of Palm Springs especially people watching. There were a lot of fancy cars in that area too. We had rented a Toyota and felt like we were driving a junker in that town filled with BMW's and Bentleys.

 

[Sans Souci]

I didn't remember what trails we did but I pulled up my write that I did of that trip. We had asked the park ranger to recommend trails that were fairly easy and not too long. Since we knew it was going to be hot we wanted to maximize what we could see. Plus we are not experienced hikers so we didn't want challenging trails.

We started with the Hidden Valley trail (the ranger highly recommended that one), there were bigger rocks to step up on but not a big deal and some of the path was sandy. I wrote that it took us about 40 minutes and that is what the ranger said it would take. The next stop was Barker Dam, again about a 40 minute walk but I wrote that we spent more time reading more of the signs and enjoying more of the scenery there. I also wrote that there was a little spur off trail that we took there to see petroglyphs. Then it seems we went to Cap Stone and that was a 10 minute loop trail, it looped around a lot of Joshua Trees and rock formations. I wrote that there were a lot of benches on this trail but that we didn't get to enjoy them because they were all in the hot sun by this point. Then we drove to the Skull Rock and Big Rocks trail, we walked around Skull rock a bit but felt it was too hot out for the Big Rocks trail that that point in the day. Then we drove down the main road that bisects the park to the Cottonwood visitors center. On the drive we stopped at a couple viewpoints of the old silver mining operations and then stopped at the Cholla cactus garden and walked around the cactus garden. I also noted that there was a small hike to a spring at the Cottonwood visitor center but by that point we were a little hiked out and hungry. So we didn't hike it but drove back up the road and exited out at the Oasis visitor center, which was not the entrance we came in but this exit was about a minute drive to 29 Palms where we found a Del Taco and enjoyed a feast of tacos! Turns out according to my notes we didn't end up paying to enter Joshua Tree, we had entered by one entrance and they weren't ready to accept our payment yet and told us to go in and no one was at the exit either. We did buy stuff at the Oasis gift shop so at least we gave something to the park.

One day in Palm Springs we did a private tour and he took us around to see where the old celebrities (like Bob Hope & Bing Crosby and such) had lived, we are old movie buffs so it was interesting to catch a glimpse of "Old Hollywood". He also took us to Indian Canyons at the start of the tour for a short hike along a creek and we really enjoyed that area too. I wrote that we walked along a creek in Andreas Canyon and along Palm Grove at Indian Creek. I think the area is controlled by the Native American tribe out there and it is a very pretty area, there was even a small recreation of native settlement. The tour wasn't supposed to be private there were supposed to be 4 other people but apparently they canceled. If you are interested I could look and see if I wrote down the website. I would recommend looking into the Indian Canyons place though.

We didn't really eat at a lot of places in Palm Springs but we went to the Tonga Hut and another tiki bar called the Reef (?). We had lunch at a place called Lulus and it was really good and seemed popular. And we were lame and had dinner at Del Taco (again after a lunch at Del Taco) because we just wanted to chill out although we heard that a place called Melvin's was good and iconic to the area. We had liked the little shops on the main drag of Palm Springs especially people watching. There were a lot of fancy cars in that area too. We had rented a Toyota and felt like we were driving a junker in that town filled with BMW's and Bentleys.

Wow. Thank you for typing all of that out. National Parks always seem overwhelming to me. Some of them are so massive! We went hiking in Tonto National Forest in Jan. and you could drive for hours and still be in the park. I am somewhat intimidated by hiking out west. It's such a different terrain and then there are venomous, bitey creatures you need to be aware of. I tend to play it safe.

I am definitely interested in mid-century modern architecture, so I will look into tours.

I've never eaten at a Del Taco, but I will check it out. I love tacos.

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

I tried a new app this AM and I not sure how I feel about it. The workout was meh, but I love the functionality of the app. There is lots of audio guidance and your music gets lower when the trainer speaks. There are many trainers who have different styles and you join their "team." There is a group chat for each team, I am not interested in that. lol I'm trying a different trainer tomorrow. It's not blowing my socks off so far and it's $30/mo. I am currently subscribed to 3 streaming services/app and all three of them combined aren't even $30/month. I am on a week trial.

I was going to get out for a walk, but I got side tracked with chores. I like to go out early when it's hot and humid and I missed my window. I went out to get the mail and the air felt so saturated without any breeze.

I cancelled our trip to FL. No shade to anyone who is visiting. This just feels right to me. I am going to visit Chicago instead. I'm saving money and visiting family. We were going to go to MNSSHP and tickets for 2 were a little over $400 That's on top of park tickets. We were only going to visit for a long weekend, and you get hosed on the shorter-duration tickets.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Wow. Thank you for typing all of that out. National Parks always seem overwhelming to me. Some of them are so massive! We went hiking in Tonto National Forest in Jan. and you could drive for hours and still be in the park. I am somewhat intimidated by hiking out west. It's such a different terrain and then there are venomous, bitey creatures you need to be aware of. I tend to play it safe.

I am definitely interested in mid-century modern architecture, so I will look into tours.

I've never eaten at a Del Taco, but I will check it out. I love tacos.

No problem. I was afraid of seeing a snake but never saw one. I just made sure not to explore rock crevices they like to hang out in them I guess.

Sometimes planning for National Parks can be a little off, some have tons of information and maps online and others have little information. I didn’t find good information at the time about Joshua Tree that’s why we waited for a visitor center to open up so we could talk to a ranger about the best hikes for us. We didn’t want to get stuck hiking a 10 mile trail!

If you like fast food tacos you’ll probably like Del Taco. I don’t know if it’s really the best taco or not, but we were so hungry by the time we ate at one after Joshua tree that it seemed super delicious to us. We did find out that they do hand, shred all their cheese and lettuce each day so that was kind of nice to know that something was fresh. I think the meat is better than Taco Bell. So because of that famished experience with them they are highly elevated in our mind.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I'm sure she'd send me to a dietician if I asked. I just have a hard time with that because I'm a picky eater. Like, one of the most popular things on a plant based menu seems to be beets, but I can't stand beets. They taste like feet. So nasty. I'm terrified a dietician is going to give me an unrealistic diet for me full of things I won't eat. When I moved over here, one of my language teachers told me her dietician had told her she HAD to eat sandwiches with butter on them. I can't stand butter unless it's melted, so that would be a big no for me. And my BIL gave me a diet he got from a doctor that they give to patients who need to lose weight before a surgery and it was stuff like coffee, cottage cheese, boiled eggs... None of which I will eat. I don't do condiments or cold sauces (like on a pasta salad), cheese and butter both have to be melted. From what I hear, it seems they base those diets on the average person... Someone who starts their morning with a cup of coffee and maybe a sandwich or some plain yogurt with fruit and that just won't work for me because I won't eat any of it.

Which is unfortunate because anyone in the profession should have a variety of alternatives. I rely heavily on eggs, especially hard boiled, but since I don't do much in the way of dairy I avoid all of the high protein recipes that focus on cottage cheese. That being said, much of what I'm doing really has nothing to do with limiting you to foods you hate. This is about making sustainable long term dietary changes that don't further damage my relationship with food. It's simply about managing your calorie intake like a bank account. I stop eating when I'm approaching max balance for a day while trying to make satiating and satisfying choices that also help with muscle growth/maintenance. I do try to be more mindful of things that are lesser in nutrients and/or higher in bad fats but there is no daily quota in my life for things like beets or eggs and there are times where I have what some people might poorly classify as "bad." It's just simply about understanding how much you can have while staying on track and not erasing positive progress.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Checking in after the Colorado leg of the summer travel. I had mixed results with being on the road for nearly 2 weeks. For starters, I did still continue to lose weight (3 more pounds)...although, not as much as I would have liked. Nonetheless, the amount loss is what experts would classify as healthy for the time span.

The good...
- I switched to a Planet Fitness black membership, so I was able to hit the real gym pretty frequently while we were away.
- Hotel 2 had a decent gym, which helped me supplement on days where I was just too drained to hit a local PF.
- Hotel 2 was an easy walk to the 16th Street Mall in Denver, so I had one day where I even walked to that PF location.
- Every single ball field complex we visited was linked up to trails. So, I got my daily walks in no matter where we were playing. Some were better than others but I was averaging just over 5 miles a day.
- Having a full kitchen in hotel 2 was extremely helpful when it came to making better choices and staying on track.

The bad...
- Hotel 1s gym was awful. Just a few old pieces of cardio equipment and nothing more. In fact, I booked the black membership as soon as I saw it. It was in the laundry room and both the gym and the laundry were limited to the hours of 7am-9pm.
- A couple of the trails wouldn't be my first (or tenth choice) for walking. One was all direct sun and favored cyclists. Another was pretty but was in a part of the metro that rapidly changed and had me coming across quite a few homeless people and signs of locals potentially looking for drugs or even gang activity.
- I was hoping for a day in RMNP to do some hiking and be one with nature. We got into the park but I was having tummy issues, the other guests were being unusually loud and seemed to be scaring the animals, and it was an absolute madhouse as soon as the timed entry period ended.
- Maybe it was the tummy issues or the fatigue of being on the road but towards the end, I wanted no part of measuring anything and had one day of indulging that went far more overboard than I've been in months. I was still in a deficit, from what I could tell, but it was my sign that I needed some normalcy ASAP.

We leave for the Atlanta area late on Wednesday and will be there potentially through Sunday. So, just a few days of normal working out and eating at home before we're back at it on the road. What's crazy is that we'll pick right back up to head to CA later next week...and that's another long one. I'm waiting on time off approval, but it also looks like I'll be heading to Montana for a long weekend next month.

On a sad note, I know many people have been following the Texas flooding. A teacher from Sam's school is among the victims. The rest of his family is still missing. She didn't really know him but saw him in passing regularly and knows a number of her friends worked with him for FFA. I know they're really hurting.

 

[Songbird76]

Which is unfortunate because anyone in the profession should have a variety of alternatives. I rely heavily on eggs, especially hard boiled, but since I don't do much in the way of dairy I avoid all of the high protein recipes that focus on cottage cheese. That being said, much of what I'm doing really has nothing to do with limiting you to foods you hate. This is about making sustainable long term dietary changes that don't further damage my relationship with food. It's simply about managing your calorie intake like a bank account. I stop eating when I'm approaching max balance for a day while trying to make satiating and satisfying choices that also help with muscle growth/maintenance. I do try to be more mindful of things that are lesser in nutrients and/or higher in bad fats but there is no daily quota in my life for things like beets or eggs and there are times where I have what some people might poorly classify as "bad." It's just simply about understanding how much you can have while staying on track and not erasing positive progress.

When E was in her first year of high school, there is a doctor who goes to schools and does a sort of checkup on every student and fixed ages. That one time for E, they told her she needed to lose weight. She really wasn't that big, but she isn't built like a lot of girls. She is like me.... Very well-endowed, which adds weight. And we have wide hips and thighs. And like me, she developed a lot earlier than most girls in her class. She was one of the first girls to get her period, and the first to need a bra. So this doctor asked about her diet and she said she couldn't really eat breakfast because she gets nauseated if she eats in the morning. And for lunch, she ate wheat bread with peanut butter and jelly or Nutella. The doctor told her she should eat a cheese sandwich instead. She said she didn't like cheese. So then the doc gave her this whole list of things, most of which she didn't like, and told her those were the things she could have. We started making her salads to take instead because there was nothing on the list she would eat. And she did lose weight, but she was constantly hungry. It just didn't work and wasn't sustainable.

We do a lot of veggies and if we eat carbs, they are usually whole grain types. Whole grain bread, silver rice, whole grain pasta. But we are still overweight. My mom used to say I didn't eat enough to keep a bird alive. But I was always bigger than all the other girls, and those girls could eat like pigs. We're just not made to be skinny minis.

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

Checking in with a muscular endurance workout that had me sprinting on my treadmill, then it moved onto a strength training circuit. I liked it a lot. I went out for a stroll, too.

I'm getting used to my husband sleeping here every night again! lol I kind of miss having the bed to myself a few nights a week and watching Golden Girls on my iPad in bed until I fall asleep. I feel like I can't do that now. He wakes at 4:30 AM to get ready for work, so he's in bed very early. We have a guest bedroom, so maybe I will sleep there. lol

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We have a guest bedroom, so maybe I will sleep there. lol

Welcome to my world! David snores so badly that the guest bed has sort of become my space. It's been like this for decades.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

When E was in her first year of high school, there is a doctor who goes to schools and does a sort of checkup on every student and fixed ages. That one time for E, they told her she needed to lose weight. She really wasn't that big, but she isn't built like a lot of girls. She is like me.... Very well-endowed, which adds weight. And we have wide hips and thighs. And like me, she developed a lot earlier than most girls in her class. She was one of the first girls to get her period, and the first to need a bra. So this doctor asked about her diet and she said she couldn't really eat breakfast because she gets nauseated if she eats in the morning. And for lunch, she ate wheat bread with peanut butter and jelly or Nutella. The doctor told her she should eat a cheese sandwich instead. She said she didn't like cheese. So then the doc gave her this whole list of things, most of which she didn't like, and told her those were the things she could have. We started making her salads to take instead because there was nothing on the list she would eat. And she did lose weight, but she was constantly hungry. It just didn't work and wasn't sustainable.

We do a lot of veggies and if we eat carbs, they are usually whole grain types. Whole grain bread, silver rice, whole grain pasta. But we are still overweight. My mom used to say I didn't eat enough to keep a bird alive. But I was always bigger than all the other girls, and those girls could eat like pigs. We're just not made to be skinny minis.

It sounds like the doctor was clueless. Yes, there are benefits to cheese but with it being so high in fat, I don't know any doctor that would push hard on cheese unless you have someone severely underweight/struggling with an eating disorder that is in desperate need of calories or has some kind of bone deficiency. Salad is also one of those things that is good some of the time but it needs to be packed with nutrient dense add-ins if it's going to be part of a healthy diet. Constant hunger is a sure sign that you're not getting enough and definitely not sustainable.

I don't eat much in the way of bread, but I know a lot of US dieticians are pushing the whole grain breads that veer more into keto territory. Not that they endorse doing a keto diet, but those breads tend to have significantly lower calories, are low carb, have reduced sugars, and boosts in both protein and fiber. I've seen a lot of people raving about ROYO bread and bagels. For the bread, it's 30 calories a slice vs. the standard 100-120 you find in average loaf bread. That's a major calorie cut if sandwiches are a big part of your diet. I've seen similar approaches with low carb tortillas for wraps. I have never been one of those people that could just eat whatever in mass quantities, so I get it. I've just found that I have to push myself into new foods and/or lower cal subs of favorites so that I can see results. I may not like them as much as the higher calorie and fat choices, but over time, your taste buds and mental feelings on them do shift.