Loving the Journey - Feb 2020 W.I.S.H. Challenge

So Kelsey is no longer hangry, she had some healthy snacks to help her. Hanger isn't good adviser.
We talked to her about protein and fruit to keep her blood sugar level - so important!
We encouraged her to take a course to learn about healthy eating and join a group - cooking class or social activity club.
We encouraged her to seek counselling, as in the end of the day her emotional needs need to be looked after and unless they are things won't get any better.
And we also had a chat about feeling connected, building network and finding her tribe.

I will give her one of those plates to give her visual image of what healthy balanced meal is. I find very helpful. I am firm believer that if half of each meal is veg (potatoes don't count!) most people will land on healthy weight without much other effort.

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I will ask her to wrap up and get out somewhere around nature like local park, sea, lake or mountain if there is one nearby. Fresh air away from all of it can help get some head space. If we are at the sea side, I will ask her to draw a line in the sand, and step over it. If elsewhere - just use a crayon. At times we all need to draw a line and put behind the things that needs to be left behind . What was until today is no longer, we are moving on.

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Motivation Monday​

Repost of my favourite quote for the art of weight maintenance

"What I’ve found is that it’s less about being motivated than it is about being conditioned with your habits — having the keystone habits in place that will keep you doing those things even when motivation is waning, which it will. One of the biggest misconceptions is that you have to feel motivated in order to do the behaviors necessary to keep you at your goal weight. I have found just the opposite to be true; if you do the behaviors, you then receive motivation. You feel better. Those behaviors bring on a determination to do more healthy, positive things."

Let's talk to Kelsey about doing the things that need to be done to get us and keep us at healthy weight, even if we don't feel like it?
 
This one is very hard question for me as I failed to maintain my loss and I am going to think of it on my walks today and see what I come up with but would love to hear your replies.

I think we did great looking after Kels yesterday, didn't we?
 
I think we did great looking after Kels yesterday, didn't we?

Yes - that was a great exercise! Most people I know are far better at helping others than helping themselves. I think it was a good way to realize what we all need.

"What I’ve found is that it’s less about being motivated than it is about being conditioned with your habits..."

This one is very hard question for me as I failed to maintain my loss and I am going to think of it on my walks today and see what I come up with but would love to hear your replies.

I think your quote is spot-on about habits, and for anyone who likes to read, I recommend:
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( Goodreads Link )
 


Just got back last night from Vero Beach. I already miss waking up to this beautiful view!
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My husband and I had a great time relaxing. Spent the entire first day on the beach including a lovely walk. We had dinner at the Riverside Cafe and watched the sunset while a friendly dolphin added some unexpected entertainment in the river! Second day (Valentines Day) started out with a little shower. So we hit the gym. It was a little crowded, but we fit in 20 minutes of lifting. Then we went for a 7 mile bike ride on the trail. It was beautiful! In he afternoon, we went for massages off site. Soooo relaxing! We did dinner & a movie in our room. Third Day also started out a little cloudy with some showers. We drove down to a manatee observation area, but no luck seeing manatees. We stopped at the Navy Seal Museum. Then headed back for an afternoon at the pool and an evening walk in the beach. Yesterday I went for a morning run. Then we spent the morning at the pool before heading to the airport. Came back with a slight cold, but got my workout in this morning too.

I will have to catch up on “helping Kelsey.” One of the books we have read at school that has helped me in forming good habits is
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for Kelsey, I would start with the first Habit - Be Proactive. You get to choose how you feel. For me personally, this was a hard on to accept because I am such an emotional person. But it’s not so much choosing how you feel as it is choosing how you left situations affect you. I still get hurt, upset, and angry...but those feelings don’t last as long as they used to. So working on making choices that will lift me up (even when others don’t) and avoiding the things that will put me down.
 
Just got back last night from Vero Beach. I already miss waking up to this beautiful view!
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My husband and I had a great time relaxing. Spent the entire first day on the beach including a lovely walk. We had dinner at the Riverside Cafe and watched the sunset while a friendly dolphin added some unexpected entertainment in the river! Second day (Valentines Day) started out with a little shower. So we hit the gym. It was a little crowded, but we fit in 20 minutes of lifting. Then we went for a 7 mile bike ride on the trail. It was beautiful! In he afternoon, we went for massages off site. Soooo relaxing! We did dinner & a movie in our room. Third Day also started out a little cloudy with some showers. We drove down to a manatee observation area, but no luck seeing manatees. We stopped at the Navy Seal Museum. Then headed back for an afternoon at the pool and an evening walk in the beach. Yesterday I went for a morning run. Then we spent the morning at the pool before heading to the airport. Came back with a slight cold, but got my workout in this morning too.

I will have to catch up on “helping Kelsey.” One of the books we have read at school that has helped me in forming good habits is
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for Kelsey, I would start with the first Habit - Be Proactive. You get to choose how you feel. For me personally, this was a hard on to accept because I am such an emotional person. But it’s not so much choosing how you feel as it is choosing how you left situations affect you. I still get hurt, upset, and angry...but those feelings don’t last as long as they used to. So working on making choices that will lift me up (even when others don’t) and avoiding the things that will put me down.

Looks dreamy! I would love to go to Florida some year away from the theme parks and explore the state.
 
I like today’s question. That’s really my biggest struggle. The doing what needs to be done. I seem to do better at times with exercise. I can keep up good behavior there better. I guess because I see more immediate reward. My biggest issue is food. I am motivated for a week and then I Sam all tired and just eat crap because it’s easy...

@MickeyMom76 we love Vero Beach! The beach location is not that great, but the resort has such a relaxed vibe!

@HappyGrape I think there are other areas of the USA that are more interesting than Florida, there is lots to see besides WDW! I like adding on some time to WDW trips to explore. I can totally recommend it!
 


I am struggling answering today's question to be honest.

I will tell Kelsey that any habits she choose to adapt have to be scalable and realistic.

If she can't do her 10 000 goal and the day is really crazy, to celebrate anything she is able to do - even if it's only 10 minutes walk.

I will tell Kelsey that there is motivation but also there is decision to do things and get on with them - as brushing my teeth.

I will also tell her the list with thing that needs to be done never ends and finding time to relax, take a walk, prepare ahead, take long bath - self care is important. Its' all fine to be motivated but if you don't have healthy food around you will be more tempted to eat whatever if you end up having a long day. It's all fine to be motivated, but if you keep over committing yourself and you don't put time for self care - your motivation will not last and when it's gone you will do what is easy.
 
I would tell Kelsey to take things one day at a time. Don’t let a bad choice turn into a bad day or a bad week. Focus on far you have come, not on how far you need to go. All those little losses add up!

Another great exercise-PollyannaMom is right-we are so often kinder and more encouraging to others rather than ourselves.

Loved the Vero pictures! It’s a beautiful resort.
 
Topic Tuesday!​

Today we take Kelsey groceries shopping. Going through isle after isle - we talk food. Veg, meat, fruit, diary, canned goods, freezer section. Any tips on reading labels? What does Kelsey need to know to navigate her way through all the healthy claims and labels? Remember - in terms of teaching Kelsey you are an expert in the field!

What about

Do you plan your meals before going to the store? Do you shop with list? Do you schedule time to go food shopping? What is your healthy food shopping looks like?
 
Week 3

Lets play pretend. I am 18 year old teen called Kelsey.
I am in university away from home, overweight, full of excuses and poor habits. Exams are stressful, I am home sick, my boyfriend is a cheat, cooking is too hard, the groceries shop is too full, I have too much to study and all the very real and never ending parts of life that keep happening.

It's Sunday. I am sitting my on the couch and browsing the net looking for opportunity to give out and feel sorry for myself. You are my life coach/dietitian who needs to do some straight talking and get me to do my groceries shopping and some easy meal prep and drop the excuses and take responsibility! I am 18 so ... good luck with that!

Your turn.

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1. Considering that she is an 18 year old university student living away from home I am going to guess based on the fact that most schools in the US require students who are freshman and who are not married or have dependents other than a spouse and not living at home to live in student housing that some guidance on what to select in the cafeteria or food court is one of the first things that needs to be discussed along with how much is being ate at meals as well as snacks.
Breakfast for example if your in a rush to get to class good choice options could be a container of cottage cheese and a container of mixed fruit-don't forget to grab a spoon and a napkin, a hard boiled egg (my school had them all peeled in containers), or even a bagel and cream cheese or peanut butter. If you have more time any of the above, a bowl of oatmeal-if your lucky your school will have things like raisins, walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, ect to add to your oatmeal, scrambled eggs and some toast better if you can choose whole wheat white, cracked wheat or any other non white bread a;pmg with some fruit and a carton of milk.

2. Learning how much she has as far as cooking skills are concerned and building on the skills she has or teaching her how to do more than slice a bagel put in toaster and operate of coffee pot or call the delivery driver for pizza or all we know how to do is make fried or scrambled eggs and toast. Thank goodness both those roommates of mine knew how to operate a toaster.What does she have available as far as stove, microwave, toaster, toaster oven, fridge (what is the size is it a full size shared with an entire dorm or just a floor, or is it a small dorm size in the room.

3. Time management so maybe for this week it is make 1/2 to 1 dozen hardboiled eggs and having them in the fridge along with making a batch of her favorite flavor of muffins or invite a friend over and make a batch of a couple different kids and split them or two friends and make 3 different kids maybe one person makes blueberry, one makes banana nut, and one makes cinnamon strussel-considering unless you use the jiffy brand you get a dozen regular sized mufffins that gives you four of each flavor on Sunday afternoon/evening so that you can grab those in the mornings. Spending some time cutting vegetables and fruit for grabbing and going out the door, ect.

4. 1-2 activities to try the next week such as go to the basketball game this weekend which should be free with her student id, check out the habitat for humanity club, attend the dorm students association movie showing, ect.

5. If things are really bad as far as homesickeness and her major is one that could be done closer to home looking at finishing out the term and transfering. My sister did that when she decided to drop from two majors to one major and the one she kept did not require her to be within a few hours of an ocean. Technically she should have had to live in the dorms because she was not living at home but the school she transfered to was so overcrowded on dorm space they not only had 4 students in doubles and 6 crowed in tripples, they were using portable walls in common spaces to make rooms. When she asked if she could possible live with our aunt and uncle they were well normally it has to be a parent or grandparent but since you have a term living in dorms and actually have 18 credits go right on ahead.

6. Making sure that she knows about campus resources such as peer tutoring as well as acting out how to approacher her professors for extra help or clarification on things including when is a good time to do so. A simple do you want our paper to be double spaced in 12 point font is different than I am not understanding where x city in Europe was back in date is today for my research for this paper as far as the time you need to get the answer and when it should be asked. The first one can be asked after a class really quick where the 2nd one is going to need time during office hours and not showing up the last 10 minutes is going to be a wise idea.
 
Topic Tuesday!​

Today we take Kelsey groceries shopping. Going through isle after isle - we talk food. Veg, meat, fruit, diary, canned goods, freezer section. Any tips on reading labels? What does Kelsey need to know to navigate her way through all the healthy claims and labels? Remember - in terms of teaching Kelsey you are an expert in the field!

What about

Do you plan your meals before going to the store? Do you shop with list? Do you schedule time to go food shopping? What is your healthy food shopping looks like?

Serving Size and Number of Servings. A food that is 450 calories per serving sounds great till you read that there are 8 servings in a container that can not be resealed so relistically are you going to eat 1/8th and then put the rest in something else to store in the fridge for later. For a lot of people that is a NO so now that food is 3600 calories so maybe the food item that is 475 calories but has 2 servings in the container is a better choice because it comes out to 950 if she goes I don't really want to put the other half of this in the fridge and save it for later I will just eat it now.

Words that end in OSE are sugars (Sucrose, dextrose, maltrose, galactose to name a few) and lose is a chemically made form of one of those sugars the most common one being sucralose aka splenda in the US.

Ingredients are listed by weight so if you see the words contains no sugar and the first item is water, high fructose corn syrup, tomatoes,vinagar, spices it is might as well have sugar in it because the body treats HFCS as sugar when it breaks it down in very simple terms. it has a ton of sugars in it. Look at another brand and see that it is listed as water, tomatoes, sugar, vinagar, spices now which is the better choice. Oh and points if you know which common food in a lot of american households this is.

What fruits and vegetables are in season because while you can get strawberries in MT in January they are going to be pricy and they are going to go bad within 2-3 days compared to buying them in June when they are in season and going to cost you less and stay nice in your fridge for 7 days. If there is something special such as it's a friend's birthday and I am throwing a surprise party and my friend just loves strawberries so I am going to serve strawberry shortcake made with an angel food cake and some whpped topping and sliced strawberries Wednesday night than getting them if they are in the budget would work.

Buying preprepped vs prepping your own when is it a good idea even though the cost is more. Example in most cases a single person can not eat a whole pineapple before it goes bad so buying the precut in the produce section if you want fresh pineapple would be a better use of your money. Now most people can eat an apple so even if slices are prefered over whole apples teaching her to use an apple corer and slices and making sure she has one if she does not or using a paring knife to cut slices and in both cases a good cutting board is a better choice.

Simple recipe subsituions that can be done such as in most cases regular yougart can be ran through the blender and subsituted for greek at a much lower cost. Or if making a chinese dish and you can't use corn starch because of an allergy subsituting potato starch or arrowroot is going to be a better choice over subsituting flour or xatham gum. The former is great if you are making gravy provided no one is allergic to wheat or gluten intolerant and the later one needs to be mixed with a number of different non glutten flours such as almond and rice and is most often used for breads. All these were listed on a resource I found for subsitiutions for corn starch and resulted in a lovely discussion with my county family and consumer sciences home economics extension agent when I called her to ask which one would be the best just to confirm what I was thinking was the right one to use.

I do a rough meal plan as in this week we are going to have enchaladas one day, cheesy chicken mac soup another (it is calling for sub zero wind chills around here and that is a favorite), either a ham or a pork roast another day with some sort of potato either baked or mashed or even rice the next three days with a day of left overs and a day of breakfast at dinner we have sausage and eggs and pancake mix in the house if for some reason I don't get to the store on Friday when DH gets paid. Right now I am down to a little over $26 for groceries plus about $15 that DH has on him. We need for sure a couple bags of mixed vegetables, a family size container of frozen mac and cheese, a container of blocked processed cheese, and possibly need a can or two of enchalada sauce. Yes I have a rotissary chicken in the fridge plus chicken breasts in the freezer, I have pork roasts and ham in the freezer along with plenty of sausage 3 different kids breakfast, maple, and italian. I can also do something with either pork chops or pork steaks and I have a bunch of venison in my freezer still. Bacon is another story all together as we are out of the good bacon and I have one container of higher priced bacon from the store. Waiting to hear we have another hog coming which are usually anywhere from mid February to late March very early April and then again in August/September. My parents tend to get a beef in October/November so if they need freezer room we get some of the previous years one. All the meat is well wrapped in butcher paper not in the plastic covered from the store.

Next trick to teach Kelsey how to buy meat in bulk such as 10 pounds of burgar getting at least 80% lean but if she can swing 95 or even 98 that is even better and then if the store does not have a sale with a limit and you order what you want at the butcher counter how to divide it at home and wrap. No sticking it in gallon freezer bags.
 
Ok now for the Monday fun around here.
Woke up about 9:45 had told 15 year old to be up and starting to get moving around 10 the night before as we were going to go in and pick up fruit sale checks from the manager of the TSC store and their Dr who we tend to get in trouble with the office because we use his first name not Dr last name at his request because he grew up with DH and they went to school together and even hung out at each other's houses. funny story involving our family Dr and my mil in a moment. We were also going to see which of the other ones we could collect from people who had ordered but had not paid when they ordered. plan was to leave about 11:30 to go to the smaller town where these needed to be done.

11:30ish got a call from the lab technician at the medical center that the specialist lab the pediatric genetics hospital for state residents uses said the urine sample was no good because it needed to be frozen from when it was collected and kept frozen. Not wanting to have to rearange things in my freezer to store that tonight and then get it packed in a cooler bag with some hard blocks of blue ice and a few soft ice packs around it (ice maker is broke so we don't have actual ice right now) and rush it into the office where they could put it on their freezer system and pack it in a styrofoam container with dry ice for shipping time to get 12 year old moving because change of plans 12 year old is coming with us.

11:45ish off the phone, call 15 year old are you moving I'm starting too. Mom is starting to get upset here and no I am not hangry because I had a nice bowl ok mug of oatmeal about 11 for my breakfast. We need to get moving here is what is going on. Fill DH in on what is going on 12 year old is up for the day tell her to go get a clean dry bedwetting pant on (she has outgrown everything else but those and depends and those might be too big for her still) and I go pick out some clothes for her. Make note we have pants for tomorrow for therapy andthen it is using the ones that she can get by with but are getting a bit too small in length to last till Friday when it is payday and I can plan to go to the laundry mat and do some washing.

12:30ish 15 year old finally wanders upstairs and is dressed but in her slippers. Were you planning on wearing those to town no I need you to do 12 year old's hair. 12 year old lets sister do her hair but mama it is a battle to get anything more than a pony or piggy tails is not allowed and spinning top is activated. 15 year old tells 12 year old to come downstairs with her.

12:45ish I ask DH if he has checked the oil on the car as he was going to teach 15 year old how to that skill. He hadn't and heads outside while I get my coat on and my bag to head out the door. Start down the stairs and see he and 15 year old were finishing up look athe car why is the front in down lower look again honey the front driver's tire looks flat. 15 year old gets a lesson on how to actually change a tire.

1:30ish spare is on and DH tells me that it is low and to stop by a gas station and add some air. Ask 15 year old if she has different pants to change into as hers are a bit dirty on the rear from sitting on the ground working lug nuts by hand. She does not and tells me her other ones are dirty. Ok move laundry day to later today instead of waiting till Friday. Call my dad and see if he is around the property he is but in the house and is going to be heading out to the shop soon. Drive over to the shop on my way out DH walks over and we get the spare now on the car more air and put air in the original tire to see if it's a straight flat or just a slow valve leak.

Stop by first place and get the check (that person had returned by phone call from earlier) swing by the bank and get some money out, stop by Subway and get something to eat and drinks. 15 year old had the footlong daily special, I had the daily special as meal and we got 12 year old an off the menu flatizza (6 inch flatbread with maranara sauce from the meatball subs covered with pepperoni and choice of chees for 12 year old that is the cheddar blend toasted and then sprinkled with parmasan cheese) that they no longer make and try to tell us that the pizza sub is the same-that one has the sauce put on after the pepperoni and it is folded in half instead of kept flat and cut in a meal and a cookie and a chocolate milk.
I give 15 year old the chips from my meal and the drink from 12 year old's meal because it was cheaper to buy the chocolate milk seperate than with a meal. I have a cup of the strawberry, guava, lime beverage than fill it with some water and drink that to rinse it out before getting some barts rootbeer to have some caffine. I take a few drinks and pass the drink cup to 12 year old to drink more.
Stop by TSC and 15 year old goes in to find out the manager forgot to leave the check with the assistant manager before he left town. Onto the medical center now. Wait what seems like forever while the person in front of me checks in.
Finally get up to reception and let the receptionist who fills in at all the locations know what is going on and who we need to talk with as the tech had said to ask for her when we came in. Get told to just head on back to the lab area, tech meets us and set us up in the bathroom with the collection hat in the toilet. As the tech is coming in and talking to me my blue tooth rings and I do answer it because I am expecting a number of returned calls. They ask for a th ending instead of ee sound ending of my first name and my maiden last name in an accent that says I am working at a call center in India, Pakastan, or other such country. I hang up and tell 15 year old to block the call on my phone so I can deal with 12 year old as I tell the tech yes I hung up on them it was a call from someone in India and I have no friends in India or from India (ok my first college roommate was from there but while we were friendly after she didn't live with me past the first 3 weeks of school I don't think she even had my parents phone landline number. She requested to be moved elsewhere as I was not into dusting at least 2 times a day, vacumming 3 times a day, and using comet in the sink everytime I used it. I would make sure the soap was rinsed out and if I got toothpaste in would wipe it up immediately but beyond a once a week wipe down I was not doing more and dusting and vacumming was a once a week deal in my book) besides if you can't pronounce my name which is a constinant sound long vowel sound constant sound ee sound without changing it to constinant sound long vowel sound constant sound soft th sound I know your a spam caller. 15 year old tells me call could not be blocked because they were calling on a restricted number.
Head back to the house and while I wait in the car 15 year old is supposed to gather up more laundry including her's that I thought was in the laundry bag I spent downstairs with her the last time to use for her laundry. Get the laundry and head to the larger town and do laundry. Until we were down to the last load finishing drying and I was folding what we had to sort the piles into the bags we had the place to ourselves other than the one worker. Stopped by the grocery store on the way home and sent 15 year old into get a box of macaroni and cheese and a block of cheddar cheese. Just about get home when DH calls and use my blue tooth to talk with him and drive. love that it takes less time to answer his call than it did to dial in a radio station when I had a vehicle that the radio worked.

Now the story involving our Dr and my MIL.
Back in September 2011 12 year old who was 3 not quite 4 was bitten by some sort of crawly thing I was thinking a spider and she reacted to it. We were going to be joining most of DH's family for the day on a Saturday at the lake and didn't want to be that far from home and have her have a worse reaction. I scheduled an appointment with the Dr I happened to have seen in August that I liked because their then regular one was booked up.
Since it was 3 year old DH went with me to assist with her and since 15 year old was 6 at the time we took her with as well. The Dr walks in greets us with a hello DH's name and they talk about how they went to school together from like first grade on in a generation where most of the class did not go to kindergarten at least in this part of the country. She has a spider bite so we get a script for some cream and get told to use benardryl. This is on Friday.
Saturday we go up to the lake to spend time with the family before younger Brother in law leaves for an Iraq deployment with the national guard. MIL sees the bite and says we should get that taken care off. DH tells her that she saw Dr Last name. MIL goes you took now 12 year old to a veterinarian. DH tells her no we took her to the son who is now working as a Dr in their hometown (the smaller town we live near). He is a DO instead of a MD and is great at researching things with 12 year old's special needs.
 
Do you plan your meals before going to the store? Do you shop with list? Do you schedule time to go food shopping? What is your healthy food shopping looks like?

I plan ahead some of the time (and things go way better when I do, so I'm trying to make that a more consistent habit.)

I used to have a good routine of when I shopped, but then my work schedule changed, and grocery shopping became an all-over-the-board thing. I go to different stores at different times as well, so that doesn't help.

Trying to shop mostly on the perimeter of the store, making a mid-week run for fresh fish, and trying to avoid impulse sweets purchases or too much salt (for DH).


Words that end in OSE are sugars (Sucrose, dextrose, maltrose, galactose to name a few) and lose is a chemically made form of one of those sugars the most common one being sucralose aka splenda in the US.

So important to know!!

I would also go over some other label highlights with her - especially looking for reasonable sodium content and good protein and fiber numbers.

I would show Kelsey how to "doctor up" bagged salads as well. It's not the most economical way to make salad, but it may be the most practical in student housing.

As for saving money, I would tell Kelsey:
* Track your store's sales. - Many things go on sale at predictable intervals, and if they are non-perishable items, you can plan when to stock up to get you to the next sale.
* Shop on the high and low shelves. - Stores tend to put the highest-priced brands at eye-level.
 
My husband does the grocery shopping. I’m very specific on the grocery list so that I get what I need. Unfortunately he is my saboteur. He brings home junk food. When I ask him not to, he says, “It’s for the house.” He did that with Valentine candy. Even though he respected my request for Valentines Day and gave me a Valentine card and Disney gift card, on Sunday he brought home two large boxes of Valentine candy “for the house...it was on sale.” If the junk isn’t “for the house,” it’s for him. He really doesn’t like my weight, and yet, he goes out of his way to sabotage me.

I’m working closely with my Noom counselor to deal with all of the saboteurs in my life. I have them at work too.

I think everyone’s thoughts on Kelsey are right on the money. I have nothing to add.
 
Today we take Kelsey groceries shopping. Going through isle after isle - we talk food. Veg, meat, fruit, diary, canned goods, freezer section. Any tips on reading labels? What does Kelsey need to know to navigate her way through all the healthy claims and labels? Remember - in terms of teaching Kelsey you are an expert in the field!

@sweetpeama covered already a lot!!

One Thing I would stress is the meaning of "no added". It does not mean None. Honey usually doesn't have any sugar added to eat and is still full of it. I can add Sugars to a product by adding raisins and it still can be called "no added sugar".

I would also work with her on how to build a sensible pantry. What Food stuffs do you want to Always have at home that can be used for an easy meal. That's something that really depends on your tastes and such. Some of this might even be soup cans (read lables to pick out the ones with healthier ingredients) and such.

Do you plan your meals before going to the store? Do you shop with list? Do you schedule time to go food shopping? What is your healthy food shopping looks like?

It depends. I try to make meal plans and make a list for them. But it does not Always work. My big Shopping day is Saturday as in Germany Shops are all closed on Sunday. And I find that I am often too tired at the end of the week to plan and then Saturday I just want to relax. Maybe I Need to meal plan for the week on Sunday and then go Shopping Monday after work… Good Question. Made me think About my own Routine...
 
@Oneanne I am so grateful that you jumped right in and took over this week - and with amazing topics! Thank you very much! :flower3:

I especially had to think about Tuesday's question quite a bit. I think I am far too much governed by my inner parent. I don't think I am a bad inner parent to myself, but I do set very high goals for me and set myself up for being disappointed. And therefore lose trust in my own abilities. I had amazing news at work last week about a review that was far far better than I thought was justified. It sets me on fast track for an upcoming promotion. I know part of it was luck, but as my friends at work pointed out: I am really good at what I do and I shouldn't feel like a fraudster. I guess part of this is what they talk about how women are less in higher positions because they are more critical about themselves. Anyway, back to the inner parent. One of my issues is that the fear of disappointing my inner parent often is very paralyzing. Because I am afraid to fail I just go into hiding. That's what I did here at the beginning of last week. I am actually really happy that I was able to admit to my failure to all of you - and then received the help I needed. I think if I hadn't done that I would have disappeared from this thread for a month... So, that's something that needs to be worked on.

As to weight loss the last two weeks have been horrible. I ate whatever I could find. Ugh... Good thing is that I wasn't able to find that much. And there is a limit at how much damage you dan do with a bag of fried tofu...

Talking about the tofu: I am thrilled that I have finally found a good tofu!! This weekend I am planning on making a large batch of vegetable and tofu curry which should last for three meals. Just need to figure out which veggies are good for-reheating.
Happy to be able to help!
 
Just got back last night from Vero Beach. I already miss waking up to this beautiful view!
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My husband and I had a great time relaxing. Spent the entire first day on the beach including a lovely walk. We had dinner at the Riverside Cafe and watched the sunset while a friendly dolphin added some unexpected entertainment in the river! Second day (Valentines Day) started out with a little shower. So we hit the gym. It was a little crowded, but we fit in 20 minutes of lifting. Then we went for a 7 mile bike ride on the trail. It was beautiful! In he afternoon, we went for massages off site. Soooo relaxing! We did dinner & a movie in our room. Third Day also started out a little cloudy with some showers. We drove down to a manatee observation area, but no luck seeing manatees. We stopped at the Navy Seal Museum. Then headed back for an afternoon at the pool and an evening walk in the beach. Yesterday I went for a morning run. Then we spent the morning at the pool before heading to the airport. Came back with a slight cold, but got my workout in this morning too.

I will have to catch up on “helping Kelsey.” One of the books we have read at school that has helped me in forming good habits is
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for Kelsey, I would start with the first Habit - Be Proactive. You get to choose how you feel. For me personally, this was a hard on to accept because I am such an emotional person. But it’s not so much choosing how you feel as it is choosing how you left situations affect you. I still get hurt, upset, and angry...but those feelings don’t last as long as they used to. So working on making choices that will lift me up (even when others don’t) and avoiding the things that will put me down.
That sounds like such a lovely trip!
 
Kelsey is sure getting a lot of support and good advice!

The only thing I can think of to add with habits is to take the Kaizen approach, in that little adjustments can lead to big results. And to remember to check and adjust to make sure you are getting the results you had thought you would and tweak the plan if you are not. And to experiment.. try new things out before you make a commitment to do them long term.

For grocery shopping I'd add to look for "whole" foods, and stay away from processed foods as much as possible.

It was a super lazy weekend, with lots of sleeping in late and taking afternoon naps. I did get the front porch cleaned up and did a few things in the yard... when the sun is out it seems like gardening should be done, but it is still quite cold and everything is soaking wet so really all I could do was trim some things back.

I make my last trip out to Maryland Thursday - Sunday of this week. The building there will finally start using the robotic equipment, so woohoo for that. I'm really looking forward to getting this building up and going because it frees me up to move on to other things and there won't be any more work travel for the foreseeable future. Since I work/travel home Sunday, I'm going to take a day off during the week, then the following week I already have Friday off to go to the knitting retreat in Port Townsend. Then two normal Mon/Fri work weeks, then... two weeks off! I haven't taken two consecutive weeks off in maybe 10 years! I fly to WDW on a Tuesday and come back the Thursday of the following week, so that's a long trip there plus bonus days at home on either end... getting very excited!
 
Lots of good advice given by everyone! I will assume she is in student housing and gets meals on campus. From what friends tell me, the food in college cafeterias is much better and easier to find healthy options. Make a salad-but avoid toppings like cheese and bacon. Choose carefully when selecting salad dressings. Look for lean protein to fill you up. Don’t drink your calories! Water with lemon, unsweetened tea. Grab a piece of fruit on your way out. Go out with friends and enjoy-have a slice of pizza. And try to surround yourself with people that don’t overeat or drink.

Grocery shopping is much less of a pain since I retired. I don’t have a regular day-when I was working I always went Thursday for some reason. I have a general idea of what we’re going to eat over the next week but will change out if something is on sale. We always need fresh vegetables and fruit. I love summer when we can eat corn and tomatoes every night! Watermelon for dessert.
 

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