Tristi's Friday Update

When you turn on the Wii Fit, one of the first options you see is to weigh yourself. It becomes nearly second nature to click the little button and see if you've lost anything, but there's a danger in this - you can go for a whole week eating chicken breasts and carrot sticks and lose one ounce, then eat a slice of pizza and go up two pounds. This makes you think, "I can never, ever cheat, even a tiny bit, or I'll stay fat forever." And, as we all know, this kind of thinking makes us head straight for the fridge. You can't tell someone they can never, ever again eat something they would like to eat ... it's a recipe (pardon the pun) for disaster.

I've decided to weigh on Fridays, before breakfast. If I watch my weight inch up and sneak down and inch up and sneak down by mere ounces all week long, I go stark raving bonkers. It's better for me if I see the results of an entire week's work at once.

I did pretty well this week. I exercised every day but Wednesday - Wednesday was a really odd day. It's like my world got turned upside down and a great many things didn't happen that should have. I'm still trying to increase my vegetable intake and decrease my sugar intake, but that will be my goal for this next week.

Now, I'm ready to make an announcement.

A couple of years ago, I went chocolate free. I went for nine whole months without any chocolate whatsoever ... and then this happened (click here for link). Easily, one of the worst days in my writing life. I headed for Baskin Robbins and got two scoops of the most chocolatey chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks they had. From there, I sort of went back to my old chocolate consuming ways.

But, the announcement! I am now chocolate free again. One day so far. :) I did it once, I can do it again.

Today chocolate, tomorrow - the world!

Less Chocolate, More Music

This morning I weighed in and I've lost another 2.5 pounds. That's nice to see after being stuck in a rut last week.

I think a huge factor is that I no longer have a bag of chocolate at my desk to piece on all day long. The problem was, because I was unhappy with my job (medical transcription), the chocolate made it more enjoyable to sit and type reports all day. I needed to replace it with something. So I decided to listen to more music. When I was younger I had music playing all the time, everything from pop to classical. But with marriage and children, what I like was pushed aside more and more.

I've discovered YouTube playlists. I can have Mozart playing continuously while I transcribe medical reports. And some of those piano concertos are so fast, I find myself typing faster to keep up. I've tried other forms of music, but Mozart just works best. It seems to fill the gaping hole I'm not stuffing chocolate into anymore. (I haven't totally given up chocolate. I've just put it lower on my priority list.)

Ring Update: I can actually get my wedding ring on my finger, with a little pushing, but it's still an uncomfortable fit. Maybe by next week.