This week didn't start off great, weather wise, but since Wednesday it has been absolutely beautiful. Today I mostly puttered around home, which was nice.
And look at this...
Excited!
Aside from the veggie garden, things are pretty much winding down garden-wise. Next year I really need to think about finding some autumn blooming plants. There is not a whole lot left at the moment.
These things have amazed me though:
These plants are called Fan Dancer. I had one last year growing in the flower bed by the driveway and I thought it was pretty, so this year I picked up 3 of them. I ran out of room in the bed by the driveway, so brought them inside the fence area and they have grown like crazy. I guess last year they were getting periodically 'trimmed' by the deer. Inside the fence they can just grow.
The Lobelia and Lavender are still providing some colour.
The Holly berries are turning red.
And I still have one variety of sedum left to bloom.
Often on my evening walks I see things that make me wish I was carrying my camera. So this week I've been taking it with me, and tonight I saw this little fella.
I know that most people would consider them to be pests, but I think they are so cute. This guy went about halfway down the rock wall, took a headfirst dive and disappeared. He must have an entrance to his burrow in the rock wall. I have seen him there before. Hopefully, with his entrance being in the rocks and not someone's lawn, he is not bothering anyone and will be left in peace.
Beck Diet
Day 15 - Monitor Your Eating.
Dieting officially starts on Day 15 and the exercise is to monitor your eating. There should be a plan - written out - for what I will eat every day. Then, at each meal/snack, I make note of it - check off planned items, note any unplanned items.
I have bought a smaller notebook, that can fit in my purse, for this purpose. The weekend is a hard time to be starting this, as weekends are generally unscheduled and spontaneous. But for that reason, it may also be a good time to start. I do plan during the week, but I think weekends are often where I lose control. Obviously that needs to change.
Day 16 - Prevent Unplanned Eating.
I really liked this section. The gist: Often when we are restricting our eating to lose pounds, and we want to eat something that we shouldn't, we argue with ourselves about it. This creates tension. The tension disappears as soon as we make a decision. So if we decide to go ahead and eat whatever it is, the tension is gone and we feel better - before we even eat the food item in question. If we just automatically tell ourselves that we are not going to eat this, because it is not on our plan & not in line with our goals, we will be eliminating the tension.
Now, I'm thinking this is one of those things that is easier said than done, but I think it could get easier with practice...And it is a strategy that should work well with planning daily menus ahead of time. You plan your menu, something is offered that is not on the plan, you don't give yourself a choice because the decision is already made.
The past few days - menu planning, monitoring (journalling) your eating and preventing unplanned eating seem to be common sense, important ideas that should make dieting easier...but at the same time I can see difficulties. It's not always possible to avoid a change in plans. Sometimes we have to be spontaneous and/or flexible. How we react to unexpected events is important. But hopefully these lessons, which should keep me focused, will also help when the unexpected arises.
Okay, I was having a hard time putting my thoughts into words there, but hopefully that made some sort of sense.
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