Tomato Watch 2008

Anxiously checking my tomatoes for signs that the ripening process is underway. Today's status:

1 casualty. Some critter or other obviously thinks that green grape tomato tastes just fine.



My faithful Scotia Tomatoes - this being the very first tomato that appeared on my plants this year. It looks like it is just starting to change colour.



I think this one may not be far behind. This being the greenhouse tomato plant that I can't remember the name of...But it's supposed to be an early variety, that much I remember.



Beck Diet Progress

Day Nine's task on the Beck Diet is to start an exercise program. Again, that assumption - if you have weight to lose, you must not be an exerciser. Sigh.

Exercise being the topic of the day, I will take the opportunity to discuss where I'm at right now. I am taking some time to focus on Yoga, as well as trying to get out walking in the evenings as long as I can. Before long it will be too dark and I'll be back to treadmilling it. Which is ok too, just enjoying the opportunity to get out in the fresh air while the weather is still good.

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Daily Record
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Weight: 145.1 lb

BF: 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt w/2 peaches & 1/4 cup Alpen Cereal, coffee w/cream
Lunch: Salad & Kashi Granola Bar
Snack: Yogurt, Quaker Crispy Delights
Supper: PC Blue Menu Mandarin Chicken breast, turned into sweet & sour chicken with: red bell peppers, tomato, pineapple & peaches and served on Basmati Rice

Workout: 45 minute walk. Had hoped to do my Yogini workout DVD, but by the time I got my kitchen cleaned up it was getting to late. Will do some sun salutations & stretches before bed though, just to get a little practice in.

Beck Diet - Day 8

Day 8: Create time and energy

Another good reminder. Weight loss takes effort, it takes mental energy. It requires planning. I've said it before: it's almost like having a second job.

Meal planning, meal prep, exercise - you have to find time for all of these things in your schedule. It may mean you have to let other things slide for a time. Or perhaps you need to ask for extra help from your spouse and/or children; they could take over an extra chore or two and give you the time you need for your weight loss plan.

I have to say, so far the most beneficial thing about the Beck program - for me - is that it is requiring me to take some time every day to think about dieting. I revisit my goals, am reminded that I need to put in the effort, take the time to plan and strategize. It keeps me focused.

I guess the trick will be to keep that focus. Remembering to review the index cards on which I have written goals and thoughts. Hopefully that will keep me on track.

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Daily Record
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BF: muffin, coffee w/cream (realize muffin is not best choice, but was running late this morning)
Lunch: Salad, PB & J sandwich on multigrain bread
Snack: Yogurt
Supper: Western Sandwich on multigrain toast, sliced tomato & raw cauliflower with dip

Workout: 45 minute walk, 20 Minute Yoga Power Beauty Sweat

Beck Diet - Day 7

Task for the day: to arrange my environment.

This is a lesson that I learned long ago, so fortunately not much to do here. I already do my best to keep junky foods out of the house - except for those moments of weakness that happen every now and then, or when Husband brings things home.

Right now, things are pretty good. There is a pint of Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Tracks in the freezer with my name on it...One of those "moments of weakness" that happened on the weekend. However, as treats go, this is a fairly safe one for me to have in the house. I had some on Sunday evening and haven't touched it since. A little taste of ice cream now and then won't kill me, right? If it was a bag of potato chips, I'd be in trouble, but with ice cream I can control myself.

So that is Day 7 handled. Still thinking on the Diet Coach thing from Day 6 though.

Speaking of treats.

These:



are good. Or at least the chocolate ones are. I don't remember seeing the other flavour on the shelf at the store...But then, chocolate has a tendency to jump out at me so I couldn't swear there weren't any. 150 calories, 4g of fibre and they are a tasty, chocolate-y treat.

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Daily Record
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Weight: 145.3 lb

BF: 1 peach, 1/2 cup Alpen Cereal, 1/2 cup Basmati Rice Milk
Snack: 1 pkg LeClerc Praeventia Dark Chocolate Cookies
Lunch: Lemon Chickpea Lentil Soup, 1/4 cup Kraft TexMex Shredded Cheese (bcs the brand new container of cottage cheese I opened yesterday has now gone bad, I had my heart set on cheese in my soup, and the TexMex was there to be used).
Snack: Cherries
Supper: Salad, Bacon & Tomato Sandwich

Workout: Shakti Yoga Basic Flow

Beck Diet - Day 6

Making it quick because it's almost time for me to be tucked into bed.

Got off track over the weekend - which identifies an issue in itself: Must make this a priority.

Anywho, on to day 6 in which I have to select a diet coach. Someone for me to report back to once a week, who I can talk to for support and feedback when I need help. Kinda stuck here. What do you think? Do all you guys out there count? Anyone wanna be my diet coach? I really can't think of anyone in real life to ask.

Feeling like I am getting back in the swing of things. Eating was not great over the weekend, but could have been worse, and overall I feel like it's getting to be back under control.

Workouts were good on the weekend. Saturday was Iron Yoga and a 40 minute walk. Sunday was Ellen Barrett's Yogini Workout. This evening I got out for a walk. Then the rest of my evening mysterioulsy disappeared while I was playing Rock Band on the Wii. Darn that Husband for bringing home a computer game that I might actually be able to get hooked on.

Some photos real quick...

This was my supper. Tasty though it was, the reason I photographed it is: Those green bits? Baby Pak Choi, grown in my garden. First actual meal made with ingredients from the garden.



Okay, so a tiny component of the meal...but it's in there!



Next, what I am anxiously awaiting: Tomatoes!







Lots of green ones, just waiting to get ripe...I can't wait!

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Daily Record
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Weight: 145.0

BF: Whole Grain Toast w/PB & J, Coffee w/cream
Snack: Vanilla yogurt w/1 peach, 1/4 c. raspberries, 1/4 c. Alpen Cereal
Lunch: Lemon Chickpea Lentil Soup w/ 1/2 cup cottage cheese
Supper: Ma Po Tofu stir-fry with Basmati Rice

Workout: 40 minute walk

Another weekend bites the dust

Where do they go? The weekends just never last long enough.

I did have a little bit of time tonight where I thought it might be nice to take my book out to the hammock and relax for a bit. But the hammock was already occupied.







Who am I to argue with that? So I puttered around and pulled a few weeds. Not much later I saw a couple of deer out enjoying the evening as well.

You probably can't see it in this first picture, but there is a deer up at the top.



I used the zoom for these shots. There are two deer in most of them.









Now, I hate to give in and go to bed because that means the weekend is over...but I'm tired, so off I go.

Beck Diet - Day 5

Eat slowly and mindfully. Check.

I've always been a slow eater. Always the last one to finish my meal. When I was younger this was not seen as a virtue. Parents would want you to finish your dinner already. In high school we had 15 minutes to eat, then we were supposed to be finished so that we could go outside. Eat lunch in 15 minutes? I thought this was crazy.

Now my slowness is a good thing. Take your time! Enjoy every bite!

This is my kind of rule.

Makes sense. You want to give yourself time to appreciate that you have eaten a meal, and therefore feel satisfied. You want to give your body a chance to register the fact that you are full and do not need to eat more. All very common sensical.

Not something you have a talent for? Dr. Beck recommends that you change something in your meal setting to remind yourself to slow down. Use a special plate. Put a flower in a vase in front of you. Anything that, when you catch sight of it, will remind you to slow down.

So that's Day 5, under control.

Can I just say that I'm missing my garden posts? All the pretty pictures? The joy I get from seeing things grow?

But there's not much to see these days. The tomato plants keep getting bigger, growing more green tomatoes. I've had more ripe tomatoes from the Cupid Tomato plants, more Sugar Snap Peas. I harvested my first batch of Baby Pak Choi and put in some more seeds. But things aren't changing much, day today. Plus, it's been rainy and I've been tired. And busy. Have I mentioned tired/busy?

Moving on.

Giving Myself Credit
1. Didn't want to track my calories today (I'm using The Daily Plate. Still kind of miss my FitDay, but The Daily Plate has such a good database of foods). Now that I'm back in meal planning mode, breakfast, lunch, snacks are pretty repetitive, the only thing changing much from day to day is supper. So I had a little bit of a 'Why bother?' moment. But this is what I have chosen to do. So I tracked it anyway.
2. Followed my planned meals/snacks
3. Went for a walk

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Daily Record
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BF: Fibre 1 Bar, Vanilla Yogurt, 2 peaches, coffee w/cream
Lunch: Lemon Chickpea Lentil soup, 1/2 cup cottage cheese
Supper: Tacos

Exercise: 45 min walk

Beck Diet - Day 4

Is all about Giving Yourself Credit.

Because we are often very hard on ourselves, berating ourselves for every little mistake, every bad choice. But how often do we give ourselves credit for the things we do right - even little things?

If we are constantly putting ourselves down, thinking negative thoughts, thinking we are failing it will be all to easy to give up. And then we will fail.

Instead we should give ourselves credit for the successes. We can then acknowledge the mistakes and think about how to avoid those mistakes in the future.

So for yesterday:
1. I planned my meals/snacks and followed my plan
2. I didn't do the workout I had planned on, because I wasn't feeling great, but I did get out for a walk so I still got some exercise.

Today:
1. Thought about cookies when we stopped at the grocery store on the way home tonight, but stuck to my list and did not stop to look at cookies.
2. Planned my meals snacks for the day and came close to following plan.
3. Didn't get in a workout this evening, but did get out for a short walking break away from my desk during the work day.

Where I went wrong: I forgot about the wine. Last night, was discussing with Husband what to plan for supper tonight and he spied the bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer. It was on sale last week when I was picking up groceries, Husband loves shrimp, so I picked up a bag but had forgotten. Husband suggested the Shrimp Pasta dish we often make - it's pretty easy, and where I'm still feeling kind of blah, I'm all for easy, plus pasta = comfort food for me. Recipe calls for white wine, and I will often sub in white grape juice, but we didn't have any (since this was a spur of the moment thing and didn't really think that I could have picked some up today), so I said better put a bottle of wine in the fridge. Of course, open bottle of wine means I'm going to drink some. But as mentioned, I forgot about that when I was planning out my meals. So I was over my calorie target today, but yesterday I was under, so hopefully it will all even out. And next time I will either work the wine into the plan, or get the grape juice.

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Daily Record
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BF: Multigrain toast w/PB, coffee w/cream
Snack: 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt w/2 peaches
Lunch: Lemon Chickpea Lentil Soup, 1/2 cup cottage cheese
Snack: Kashi Granola Bar
Supper: Shrimp Scampi, 2 glasses of white wine (love that Riesling!)