A Time For Everything

This coming Sunday, June 14th, is my next reward day. It'll have been three weeks since the last one.

I wasn't sure the original carb-fast worked, so I embarked on the second. As the days have passed, I've wondered... "Is it really working?" At first I wasn't so sure, but now I'm pretty sure it is for a number of reasons.

My belly pooch is the biggest fat store and the one I'm most interested in reducing. It didn't seem to be shrinking. But then I remembered that your body reduces fat from everywhere equally. So, the proof: I can comfortably wear my FitBit on the smallest band setting now, my clothes are looser, my bust actually looks smaller and, if I look closely at my tummy, it's getting a bit more wrinkly below the line where my underwear rides.

In addition, I bought some ketone test strips for urine and the first (and only at this point) test I took showed I had a goodly number of Ketones in my urine which is a good thing as those are a by-product of the body converting fat to energy. YAY!

During this process I have come to realize I need a little less protein and more healthy fats in my diet, so I'm researching keto recipes this week to implement for the next carb-fast. The other question becomes do I go back to a two-week plan or bump up to four weeks? I'm leaning toward two weeks because I really like reward days and I'll have an easier time staying the course during the other thirteen days rather than having to resist temptation for twenty-seven days. :0)

Hope you're having a great week. See you Friday!!

The carb-fast started yesterday, so there's not much to report on that front just yet.

I did finally reach the weight window I wanted to be in, so I now have to add calories, i.e. additional snacks and/or meals, to the day. Which I have done. Might have to add more. I also cut back my time on the elliptical so as not to burn as many calories. Although, they're all in fat burn mode, which is actually the goal at this point--to burn the flab I have for energy, so that might not be the best course of action. But we'll see how it goes and fine tune later.

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I should, with any luck, finish my WIP this week. Just as far as having the full story told and "on paper." It'll still need a good editing before I send it out to others, but the storytelling will be done. Then I can move on to the other project.

Speaking of the other project, after chatting with a friend and fellow writer, I'm going to have to issue a deadline for myself if I want to reach my goal of having this thing ready for publication in October. The sense of urgency may be helpful.

October because that's when my annual conference is held and, barring the complete closing of the hotel and/or the city, it is going on as planned. I will be there.

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In some random hockey news, there's a new housing development being built in Las Vegas and the streets are all going to be named after the roster of the hockey team's inaugural year. I love the name I street I live on, but sign me up for hockey-related residential street names!!

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Have a great week--

I mentioned the carb fasting last week and I've been doing my homework in regards to how many carbs are in the foods I regularly eat.

My 5-grams-or-less rule might have to modified for one food item: my Greek yogurt. Most flavors have 10 grams of carbs with 3 grams of fiber for a net carb count of 7 grams. I'm not willing to give up the yogurt right now, so I think that's going to be the exception item.

And I also mentioned, I'll be upping the veggie intake mostly via salads. Now it's time to research a few salad fixins'. Few people like a plain salad and kale salad definitely needs a bit of sprucing up. Plus I'll have some calories in general to work with since I'm also trading in the daily (Stouffer's delicious) meatloaf for tuna.

My targeted start date for this fast is either May 10th or May 17th at the latest, and my goal is to fast for two full weeks.

The targeted exercise routines are still in trial and error mode, but we're getting there. My goal is to have at least six, but hopefully nine exercises for each body area to mix and match from.

My reward for fasting for the full two weeks, no matter the results, will be this:



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Last week's trip to the grocery store was mostly fine. I didn't run into any shortages food-wise, but was unable to find Vitamin C tablets. I'll try again this week. The thing that really floored me (but maybe shouldn't have, considering the COVID-19 mandates for masks) was the complete obliteration of the fabric section and thread. All I wanted was a roll of black thread for my sewing/mending kit as my spool finally ran out, but the thread rack was decimated too. *sigh*

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The publishing admin as well as the writing is coming along. I've made progress everyday and I'm looking forward to at least three full uninterrupted hours of writing bliss tomorrow morning.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Not an utterance I'd ever thought I'd make, but it's true. I've dropped too many pounds.

Remember, I talked about the moratorium on carbs except for what comes naturally in meats and veggies...? As my body transitions from not sourcing its energy from food (as much) to sourcing it from my stored body fat, I have been feeling draggy. After stepping on the scale, thinking about what I've been eating, and a convo with DH, it seems I'm not eating enough. More protein is definitely in order.

Meatballs are a quick and easy way to get more protein in my diet. Relatively inexpensive too, which is good for my beleaguered budget. Unfortunately, I'm going to get tired of spaghetti / marinara sauce quickly. BBQ sauce has too much sugar. But I did mix Ranch dressing with Buffalo sauce the other day for dipping chicken, so I'm going to make a slightly larger batch of that and slow cook a serving of meatballs and see what happens.

I might add the carb-light tortillas back in...there are only 4 net carbs per serving and it gives me something in which to eat egg salad, chicken salad, tuna salad, and peanut butter, so thinking hard about that. Plus it'll soothe my bread craving and helpfully keep me from breaking down and cheating horribly at some point.

Anyway, hope you're all well. Stay cool and hydrated--it's still hot hot hot here in North Texas.

Last week, I reviewed my progress or lack thereof on last year's goals. I didn't do nearly as well as I thought I had, nor did I have as many goals as I thought I had. But it's spilled milk or water under the bridge and there's no use in beating myself up. I can't go back. I can only move forward and try to do better.

Several of last year's goals are being carried over. They're that important. Let's start with those.

1) Writing to my Grandma in Denmark. This is important. The woman is in her 90s. She's not going to be around much longer in the grand scheme of things. In order to make this easier to accomplish, I think I'll find some postcards depicting Texas and send these along monthly with a few notes and then go for a longer letter every couple of months. Honestly, there's not a lot going on in my life, but I know my Grandma doesn't care that much and would like to hear from me, her only granddaughter.

2) Calling my moms monthly. Again, not much going on in anyone's lives, but you never know what's going to happen and not just to someone who's older. I drive the streets every day. I could be the one who leaves this world far too soon. So yeah. Monthly phone calls to say "HI" and "I love you."

3) Walk the dog three times a week. I took Rayna into the vet a few months ago for some reason or another and mentioned a limp she gave into seemingly randomly. It turns out she tore something in one of her "knee" joints and has developed arthritis. One of the ways to help combat the pain and stiffness of that, not to mention the excess weight she's carrying, is to get her on an exercise regimen. Plus I could stand to be a little more active at the end of my day, so Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays are the days I'll take Rayna for a walk. These are all days I'm at home--so instead of driving home from work, I'll walk the dog. Good for her, good for me. Now if the temperatures would warm up just a little.


4) Cook & eat better. Honestly, we're doing okay. Not great, but okay. We usually eat fish once a week and chicken every one to two weeks. It's the "scrounge" days that get us, so I guess that means planning another one or two healthier-ish meals on a weekly basis. Maybe incorporate chicken weekly. Maybe adding a pork-based meal weekly as well. With leftovers, at least six out of seven days ought to be covered, right?

And the last carryover goal is...

5) Re-institute the cleaning plan. All I have to do is dig out the box of index cards, re-sort them, and get started. There's just so many other more fun things to be doing than cleaning. :0) I guess until I can afford a cleaning lady, I'm it, eh?

As for new or similar/adjusted goals, let's see...

6) Work on my writing career--such as it is. I'm not looking to be a New York Times Bestseller or support DH and myself with my writing, but there are a lot of areas to improve upon and that need my attention. The sub-list is as follows:

a) publish books 5-8 this year. Books 5 and 6 are written. They just need final revisions and formatting. Books 7 has been started, but I'm not very far along. Book 8 has characters and a vague plot line.
b) spend some time on marketing the series and the books.
c) enter a contest or two to increase readership.
d) choose an aspect of my writing to work on and, you know, work on it.

*There are probably a few more things, but they're vague notions at the moment.

7)  Now that I've finally reached my weight goal and have maintained that weight for three months, it's time to work on a different aspect of my physical health.

As a side note, I officially started my journey in January of 2012. It took me just under five years. I knew it was going to take a while; I was in it for the long haul, and I never got really discouraged. YAY me. :0)

My new endeavor is to reduce fat--not weight--just fat. I have way too many jiggly spots and losing weight does not automatically mean you've lost fat. Just as gaining muscle does not mean you've lost fat. Fat doesn't turn into muscle. They are made up of two different things. I started the fat burning process once I reached the weight goal and made a bit of progress, but my cruise and holiday hiatus has reversed the process a little. Again, come January 2, it's back to work and back to a stricter diet for a time.

8) Now I can't reach this next goal without DH, but I'm putting it on here anyway because he mentioned wanting to while on the cruise. And that's take dance lessons... DH took ballroom dance lessons many moons ago before I'd met him and he enjoyed them a lot. I just think it'd be fun and then we can dance at family events or on next year's cruise or even just go out dancing.

9) Do more crafts! This was on this goal list a couple of years ago and I didn't do much better, but I always get nostalgic for my craftier days around the holidays. I've been cross stitching some small hockey related things, so I need to keep on going. I also have some other, larger projects rolling around in my brain. And maybe I can get a head start on next year's ornament and make something decent, not only for my kids but for my close circle of writer peeps who also get ornaments each year. Another friend of mine (shout-out to N!) does felt crafts and she's made me some lovely felt ornaments the last couple of years. That might be a fun new craft to try.

10) Take ballet and/or ice skating lessons. Part of this stems from the "be more active" mind set, but also from a get-more-flexible and build-up-stamina thought process in mind of staying healthy and active as long as possible as I face my 50th birthday this year. Also, they look fun, and the ice skating, of course, stems from my new-found love of hockey.


11) And my fluffy goal for the year--attend more STARS games. I'll say five more games between now and the end of the season in early April. Fingers crossed they make it to the playoffs and that I can afford a playoff ticket. :0) Then we'll say three games once the new season begins in October. So eight Stars games in 2018. And if I travel to a city that has a hockey team, chances are I'll buy tickets to a game if there's one being played while I'm there.


So there you have it. A decently ambitious list. How about you? Have you got a goal or two on the record for 2018? Do share.

While in Denver, I fell off the carbohydrate wagon, and I've really struggled to get my willpower up and running again. It's coming along slowly, but still, those grain-based carbs are not good for me.

It's hard to not to dangle my legs over the side of the wagon, though, because despite my indulgences, I'm still making progress in eliminating the first layer of fat. The key turns out to be a combination of things--

A) As long a fasting period each day as I can hold out. Usually, it's about 13 hours. I don't eat after 7pm in the evening and I don't eat before 8am in the morning.

Which means that when I go to the gym and work out in the mornings, B) my body is forced to fuel my workouts with energy I already have stored. Fat burn for the win!!

So that means consuming carbohydrates again hasn't stopped the fat loss. Makes it so hard to stop eating the bad ones...

But I'm making better choices day by day and eating less and less of the unhealthy ones. I need to get back to eating more vegetables and maybe my body will find enough satisfaction in those that the temptation will be easier to resist.

Hope you had a lovely and relaxing weekend. I sure did.

I've come to discover the Fitbit has at least one snafu in it's something (I'm not sure what)--it won't always (hardly ever) register your elevated heart rate. Except it sorta does, sometimes? My higher heart rates from when I'm working out don't always register on the Fitbit's screen, but if I go into the dashboard and look at the data, sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not--weird.

In order to burn fat (my long-term energy storage/source) rather than my short term energy, I need to do two things: get into fat burn mode by getting my heart rate up to a certain level and do that when my body doesn't have easy access to short-term energy reserves--those that come from recently eaten foods.

Two weeks ago, I gave up tortillas and cold cereal yet again. I fell off the wagon once, but have been good ever since.


Last Friday, I was really craving cold cereal... But as I have seen progress in losing the weight I had regained, I held fast, as difficult as it was, and was able to successfully resist that delicious bowl of sweet crunchy goodness.

My willpower paid off and I have lost a few more ounces and am 17% of the way to my target weight.

I still have several adjustments to make to my diet, but all in good time and in moderation. I figure once I've been on the wagon for a while, I won't crave them so badly. That's my hope, anyway.

This is constant state of learning and adjusting--well, isn't everything in life??-- and eventually I'll find the right combination.

Have a great rest of the week!!