Points to Ponder

Chinese fortune cookies have gotten pretty lightweight in the past few decades it seems, turning into mere random numbers suitable for the lottery and a ways to pretend you can learn how to pronounce a word of Chinese from reading its meaning.

One I found which fell out of this trend of frivolity caused me to ask this question: What would these things be? These "lighter things" and these "deeper joys" forecast by the following slip of paper tucked in a sugar-hardened folded edible treat:

"the lighter things in life and deeper joys will follow"

Today, this is your fortune because you chanced across it here. So it's your time to decide:

what are these things (for you)?

Thurs Day 4 Week 2 Induction

"To Thine Own Self be True, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
Inspiration for Thursday of Week 2 Induction: It's my party, and I'll diet if I want to, diet if I want to...you would diet too if you had the guts to(too)!
*******************************************

Random Thoughts:

It's my birthday - do I have to follow the rules? Well, duh. If I'm in induction, and my weight loss and health supercede an "annual" event (i.e., a once-a-year happening that will occur again), then my priority is to induction and not to indulgement.


However, a friend on one of my ediets support groups (the "Strictly Atkins" group) gave me a great idea: all-you-can-eat crab legs! I love crab (if you haven't figured that out yet, it's because I haven't made the crab/seafood omelet with hollandaise sauce yet this week - maybe this weekend, huh?)

So, the search was on and we went to Joe's Crab Shack, even tho the nearest locations had closed and we had to drive an hour. They have dungeness crab on the menu - this is the sweetest most succulent crabmeat ever - comes from the Pacific northwest (think Seattle!) area. No one else had that on the menu, so we made a "road trip" out of it and I had the triple crab bucket and skipped the potatoes and corn-on-the-cob that came with it. I also had some lobster bisque soup for an appetizer. There may be some carbs in it (to thicken it) but there were definitely carbs in everything else and since I stuck with NO carbs for the main entree (crabs and garlic butter messy-yummy-um-um-good!)

For dessert, I promised myself some low-carb ice cream (Breyer's makes this) ..Breyer's has rocky road (which is so good for Low-Carb that it's dangerous for me to have in the house) and chocolate in addition to the good stand-by of Butter Pecan (the pecans and buttery flavor offset the lack of sugar). I stuck to the portion size (because I was in Induction still) and noted that while net carbs were 4 per 1/2 cup of ice cream, there were some sugar alcohols. This is important to note because sugar alcohols affect different people in different ways. I'm not sure how I react to them, but generally speaking, you don't want to add those in during Induction (which is very likely if you use bars and shakes, so I don't in Induction.)

PERSONAL HAZARD (S)- Birthday - wanting to be good to myself and have something fun for me today.

******************************************
Assignment:

Progress so far:

Doctor Appt: Did it. The follow-up checkup is already scheduled for March.

READ THE BOOK: Did what I needed, still referring to as I "work the system."

ONGOING ASSIGNMENT: Induction continues: Food, Water, Exercise!!

NEW ASSIGNMENT: Plan the menus, work the plan. 30 minutes of zumba daily.


Vitals:
BP -
Weight: 184.0
Cholesterol: Numbers from 30 May 08 (Doctor's office):
Total: 250
Trig: 56
HDL: 93
LDL: 146
Vitals that day: Wt: 171 BP: 126/82 Pulse: 72

Exercise: skipped today since we drove so far and back for dinner (out of time)
Stretching
Cardio
Strength

Water: 96 oz

Food:
Breakfast: 1 portions (of 8 in a casserole) of Moussakas (greek eggplant casserole), 3 mugs of coffee w/ S/L and milk
Lunch: another portion of Moussakas
Dinner: crab legs with garlic butter, lobster bisque, diet coke
Snack: 2 cups of romaine leaves at home (they were out of romaine at the restaurant and iceberg is a wasted effort, plus they were going to add in carrots, which are a no-no during induction)
Dessert: 1/2 cup of low-carb Breyer's ice cream (4 net carbs) - there may be other brands that are good in your area, be sure to try them all over time to find your personal favorites

________________________________
NOTES:

Wt: going down again - YAY!!!
BP: not taking regularly anymore - will begin to look at it monthly
Ketones: a few more days before I check

Wed Day 3 Week 1 Induction, Jan 14, 2009

"To Thine Own Self be True, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
Inspiration for Day Three of Week 1 Induction: Just one day, just a few more hours - Eat, Drink, Exercise - You Can Do it!

*******************************************

Random Thoughts:

Exercising yesterday seems to have paid off; plus I am definitely in ketosis (low end, but it's still the right place to be!).

Running around all day with my dog (in the car), then getting the car checked out, it didn't seem I"d find time to do exercises. Later, fiance took me shopping for a new dress for a ball at the end of this month. After not sleeping well the night before (had to pee one time, then the dog, who was in the garage for the night, wanted to go out about 40 min later, and that just really broke up a good sleep).

So, by the end of shopping, I'm ready to sleep in the car on the way home. I even started justifying how I had walked the dog for 20 min and could just skip exercising (the strength stuff) because I was tired and would make it up tomorrow. Then I remembered that I wanted to do them every other day and I needed to finish 3 of them this week to be on track with that, and that 30 minutes is a lot faster than an hour.

Set the kitchen timer for 5 minutes, turned on the radio (great dance music, great for exercising to) and stretched the whole time (5 minutes can seem sooooo long), then reset it for 10 and started doing crunches to 200...30 in one position, change the legs to one side and then the other, trying for each being 30, that kind of thing...legs straight up in the air, ankles crossed one way then another, and also the pelvic tilts to work the back, anything to kill the pure boredom...
Finally set it for 20 minutes and just worked thru arm exercise using my wine bottles and then some of the butt-kicking exercises...much better than the machine at the gym. I really should keep them in the mix, even when I get back to a gym...

...which I did visit today to check out the facilities...there's a basketball court and a boxing ring and training center - no pool or spa - does that tell you anything? But there was an exercise room with a CD player and speakers. I talked to a couple of women who were there and got their takes on the gym, too. Have to see it at a busy time I think.


PERSONAL HAZARD (S)- Forgetfulness - getting distracted easily and not liking strength exercises all by their lonesome.

******************************************
Assignment:

Progress so far:

Doctor Appt: Massage yesterday really seemed to help my shoulder. She did deep tissue and was aware of my condition. I still have a popping sound there every once in a while....will keep an eye on this for a week and see how I do with stretching and exercising.


READ THE BOOK: Refering to it constantly whenever I want to know how many carbs are in a food (quick list in the back) or which veggies are on list 1 (2 cups) and which are on list 2 (only 1 cup, but usually the ones Ilike most, doh!).

ONGOING ASSIGNMENT: Induction Week - all systems go! (Food, Water, Exercise)

NEW ASSIGNMENT: Look ahead each day to the next day's menu; make sure it's ready to go.

Vitals:
BP - 118/68 p 64, 8:30 am

Weight: 185.5 - down 1 and 1/2 lb WOO HOO - very good AND unexpected! Exercising and sticking to my less than 20carb menu paid off!
Cholesterol: Numbers from 30 May 08 (Doctor's office):
Total: 250
Trig: 56
HDL: 93
LDL: 146
Vitals that day: Wt: 171 BP: 126/82 Pulse: 72

Exercise:
Stretching 5 min before strength
Cardio 20 min, walking Bailey (Old English Sheepdog) before his vet appt.
Strength 30 min

Water: 96 oz, plus the soup

Food:
Breakfast: 2 egg beaters with cinnamon, onion powder and splenda, as an omelet; 2 precooked maple sausage links, microwaved for 30 sec.
Lunch: - Grilled flank steak salad - measured 2 cups lettuce for the salad - dressing

Dinner: Chicken soup (broth with chicken and celery today)

Snack: 2 oz cream cheese with cinnamon and splenda, 3 T of orange jello

Dessert: nothing

________________________________
NOTES:

Wt: Wt down 1 and 1/2 lb. - very unexpected!!
BP: Looks normal for when I am not at the doctor's office. Guess stress raises it the most?
Ketones: Checked again this morning. Definitely in ketosis.

Creative Visualization, and Getting What You Want!

There was a story about a person who wanted something so badly (s)he would pray to g-d, just begging g-d to let them win the lottery.

In disgust that none of their praying does any good, this person begins scorning g-d's way, saying "What good does praying to you do?"

Finally g-d shouts down at them, "I'm doing all that I can. Can't you please go buy a lottery ticket?"

The moral to this story (for me) is that of "G-d helps those who helps themselves," but more to the point of: you can't get your dreams to come true if you don't get out there and put yourself on the line to make it happen!

I'm reading all about that again now in a book written by this guy named Peter (Peter Bowerman to be specific (see link on the sidebar)) who may have had such an opportunity thrust upon him.

Some of the lessons he learned and that he shares in his book The Well-Fed Writer apply to all goals, like weight loss: You have to be able to visualize what you want.

This is part of being able to believe that it can happen. Your dream has to be visual and specific.

Mark Victor Hansen (see link on the sidebar) added the specific part. He said to write your dreams down, but be specific. For example, saying you want a big house is not specific. Saying you want a 5000 square foot house with a butler, a maid, and a cook who live in their own quarters out back on the 5 acre lot, back behind the retangular swimming pool and the flagstone patio and professionally landscaped backyard .... I think you get the idea. You would probably want to specify the number of bedrooms, size of the garage and kitchen, etc., as well.

But that would be visualizing it so much you can taste it. For someone I know who's actually auditioning today for Canada's version of American Idol, his dream might be appearing on Canada Idol and maybe then appearing on American Idol, or it could be actually winning a recording contract.

But he just did the 2nd important thing that Peter writes about in his book: he went for it!!!

Just as we are going for the weight loss, if we simply don't do anything - or if my friend chose not to go - then we won't be able to lose weight, and similarly he won't be able to appear (at least this time) on Canada Idol, the same outcome as the person in the story who can't win the lottery this week because (s)he didn't buy a ticket.

The second thing to do, after being able to "see" it being real, is to go for it!

My goal this week - as I am out of town on a business trip - is to keep eating foods I would eat at home, allow myself one special meal that I can't get anywhere else, drink all my water daily, and to get exercise - cardio - at least 3x this week.

My reward? Not having to work extra hard next week to make the weight loss and toning continue!!