Posts by vcruicky

Hi everyone,

I have used all the above excuses, and will try not to use any to explain why I have taken so long to post.

1. My life is so complicated -

I am a carer for my husband who is having a really bad week  with his Parkinson's , and needs a lot more attention. My daughter depression has spiratlled and am fighting with the local primary care trust to get her a mental health worker. My son  and his partner have their little 11 year old girl with  cerebral palsy in  hopspital, as on Thurdsay she had 9 hours  prep for surgery to break both her legs, and I have  been their support and they have used my car so I have had no transport to get anywhere or do anything all week. I live with no buses or shops for miles.

To turn this into a positive.

I understand that my husband needs my help 24/7, so as I am at home  I have more time to cook from scratch and eat my vegetarian options.

2. I am too busy taking care of my family -

Turning into a positive.

My daughter, will get help in time, and I can only do what is humanly possible, minor miracles are not in my pervue. I am supportive of her 24/7, I do all she needs at the moment until she is able to funciton as a human  being again, and that is enough. Therfore, when I take time out for my self that is my right and is something I should do on a more regular basis. If I was a stranger, I would tell me that I deserved 'me time', and not feel bad about it.

3. I don't have a car on any  means of transport this week -

My son  and his partner have their little 11 year old girl with  cerebral palsy in  hopspital, as on Thurdsay she had 9 hours  prep for surgery to break both her legs, as she is walking on her inturned ankles, and I have  been their support and they have used my car, as they do not have one at the moment. So I have had no transport to get anywhere or do anything all week. I live with no buses or shops for miles.I have given my son  and his parner all the support I can.

Turn into a positive.

I do not need to feel guilty about taking time out for my needs, and learning how to say I have things that need taking care of.

Recurring theme: I am a wife and mother who is trying to do everything for everyone except my self. My excuses are my family, and I should not use them as an excuse.

I need to be proactive for myself, not reactive to family and situations.

Thanks sorry for  being MIA - I will try and put  -  no - I will put myself first for at least some of week.

thanks Vera

Hi everyone,

this is something I don not normally do, but right now I am hitting a crisis. My daughter is severely clinically depressed, and I have found out in the last few hours that she has been physically sick every time she takes her anti-depressents, so has not been on them for nearly 7 weeks. She has put on so much weight she is not menstruating any more, and she polycystic ovaries and  is insulin resistant. I took her to the doctors this morning and she said I can't stop you being sick so I can't help with that, I can't refer you to a specialist as there is nothing in the NHS to help, all I can do is get a mental health link worker to ring you to make an appointment when she can.

My heart is breaking for my daughter, she needs help and so do I and I  do not know where to turn. My husband is having a bad time, and tomorrow I fill in the papers to have my beautiful dog rehomed, as I can't  cope with her dominance. OH GOD I FEEL LIKE MY WORLD IS FALLING APART ALL OF A SUDDEN.

Hi everyone,

Checkin: well so far so good, have been using some prepared vegetarian meals like veggie sausages, so eating similar to the family. Also made some nice stir-fys and salads, eating losts of fruit too.

Will get more into the cooking bit soon, but have had the rehab people in the huse for what seems like ages doing some modifications to the bathroom for my husband.

However when things are all finished it will make life easier for both of us.

I have done weight in the past and loved them, and hopefully when my husband is more stabe on  his meds and I feel more confident to leave him ofr a couple of hours I will hit the gym and will definitely do weights.

Good luck to all on the goals you have set

Vera

Hi Laura,

I am sorry if I made you feel bad, I gave you more personal information as I though that was what was expected.  I then thought it might be better if it was more to do with the weight loss journey, and was given another opportunity - It was not done to make you feel bad - and I humbly apologise if it  did , it was not the intention.

Please do not feel bad, as it was all my doing and I am very sorry for any embarrassment or hurt it may have caused you.

Vera

Sorry double post hit the wrong buttons again.

HI everyone, I would like to  introduce carryonandon. I chose her to get to know, because we both chose goals with out calories or a deficit in them.

I asked her this first question:

 Does her goal of cooking meals help with her weight loss or motivation? 

Her answer was

Actually, I formed this goal for a number of reasons. I had been focusing too much on the number of calories before because I wanted to take the easy way out on the weight loss issue by just restricting my calories. This turned out to be a mistake in a big way - since it stalled my metabolism and made it harder to control bad feelings. Also, I wound up actually gaining a little bit of weight which made me reconsider everything. So, I decided to bite the bullet and work on exercising more instead which led to weightlifting. Cooking my meals at home will help me get the nutrition I need to support my exercise goals. Also, it fulfills some side goals - as a creative outlet, a learning opportunity, etc. I'm sorely lacking any skills in the culinary arts, and I'd like to remedy that.

So, yes - it helps with weight loss because it supports my exercise plan and it helps with motivation because I have this crazy idea that I can learn how to cook all my favorite foods on a more healthy basis.

I then asked her why was the goal so important to her for this 12-week period and beyond?

She answered

Well, for this 12-week period it is important because I know I am more likely to accomplish my goals if I share them with someone else - whether they can punish me for not reaching them or not. :-) For the long term, I am committed to making changes to my life that will eventually fit into my lifestyle and therefore be sustainable. I'm hoping things that seem like challenges now will just be a habit in the future - something I do and couldn't imagine my life without.

I  think we can all take on board the changing old challenges into healthy  new habits. I want to wish carryonandon every successs with her goals.

Vera

Hi everyone,

it is interesting to see the different goals  everyone is focusing on for the next 12 weeks, hopefully we will all do well.

Just wanted to let you  know how I feel about bieng a wagon jumper for 1 whole month. Well the time has flown, and I feel I have learnt a lot, especially with the input and advice about goal setting -  I realised that much of my downfall before with  goal setting has been my goals have been too  difficult to keep, to complicated to remember, and  consisted of several goals all rolled into one goal.

So this forum in one months has helped me overcome a life long habit of trying to goal set in a way that had set me up to fail and not to succeed.

I know I will learn more along this journey, but for my first month that was a biggie.

Thanks for all the input from everyone, and good luck to everyone on the goals they have set.

Vera

Hi everyone,

just checking in before taking my husband to the doctors for his check up.

NEW GOAL: eat 4/7 days vegetarian; the other 3/7 days fish. Do this at least 9/12 weeks. This will be a success for me.

This goal is measureable as I can log my daily food intake into the CC daily food log. 

Logging the food is two fold, it will keep me on track and be accountable, and then will become part of my maintenance goal next time. I  know when I do not log food, I forget I have  eaten it. 

It is  not that I am not counting calories, I am trying  to focus on healthy eating rather than numbers. Because of the clean eating challenge I have been doing my idea of portion sizes is better, so focusing on the food is my  next step.

'RESPECT' to all who do loads of excercise - I need to focus on what is going in my mouth - and then hopefully what I am doing with the rest of my body will become an achievable new goal later.

I do  try and walk at leat 30 minutes at least 3 times a week, but this is a personal goal not a public one, it is one that is dependent on hw my husband is, as he has cancer and parkinson's, and  I am his full time carer, and my daughter is  licing at home with severe depression, and sometimes leaving them alone is not an option.  So when I can get out I do, and when I can I walk rather than take the  car. But our local shops are miles away, and on a bad a and windy coutry track - that is supposed to be a road.

Good Luck to everyone on there goals

Hi

the logging on the site is a measurement tactic for the vegetarian goal, as I log nearly every day, but it is to remind me of how many days I have eaten vegetarian.  With the days in the week to eat vegetarian I really think I want to do 4 days a week, and that be my measure of success, and do it for at least 9 weeks out of the 12.

Goal: to eat 4/7 days a week vegetarian - the other 3 days eat fish. [4 days is important to me as it is more than half the week].

Measureability for this is by logging my meals on cc.

Thanks for all the advice and helping me reach a clear  and measurable and yet achievable goal.

I think  it is close or even just right.

Vera

Hi everyone,

nearly got all my computer gremlins sorted, so hopefully will be more regular on the posts.  My goals are easy focus on, I am doing the clean eating challenge, and enjoying that. My goal is to move more into vegetarian foods, but with the healthier options not things loaded with cheese or chips. I want this to become a way for me to be healthier and more educated in what I eat, and learning how to cook other things from scratch.

I want to measure it by the end of the 12 week goal setting ,to be eating at least 4 days totally vegetarian options,(this means all my 3 meals and 3 snacks a day) and to have cut out chicken, and only be on fish, for the last 3 days of the week.  I have already cut out all red meat, lamb and pork.

I would also like to increase and be more consistent with my water intake. Some days id o really well, other nowhere near my goal of 1.5 litres a day.  I dirink the volvic bottled water, and I want to achieve a 1.5 litre bottle of water at least 4 days out of 7. Hoping as I eat vegetarian, I will be focused and drink the water as well.

4 out 7 for both vegetarian and water will be my target, any over that will be a bonus, and anything under means I need to try harder.

Excercise is my hardest goal - 3 times a week of walking is my goal. So focusing on food and water, and hope the excercise will help me when Iam able to get into the swing of moving more.

Everyone is doing so well, and I love the passion and enthusiam for life on this forum - good luck to all in deciding on your goals, and lets all help each other to make the next 3 months go better than we had hoped.

Vera

Hi everyone,

sorry not to have posted earlier, but a savage virus ate my hardrive - and have been sans computer - am only now just getting back online - everyone is doing so well, I have  been still eating clean even with the stress so really proud.

Will post more later still sorting out and trying to salvage files and documents I need.

see you all soon

vera

Hi everyone,

wltennisgeneral, I hope your  father-in-law is ok, and everyone can relte to how difficut is is to eat healthy around a hospital. I do think you are being very hard on yourself - sometimes a helathy  option is not available - unless keeping a healthy bar in your bag, but emergencies come up.  Good luck on the restart.

yuchan2, welcome this is agreat forum, and everyone is so motivating.

An update - I have lost another 0.5 lb, so still going down. i had a great day yesterday, went out withmy son, and smelt frying onions and sausages, it was a hevenly smell. i resisted, and went home and for tea, took out a quorn sausage, dry fried onions, and had it with salad and brown rice - and lost this morning -so felt very good. Doing more walking, as I have been delievering flyers for my charity day - so doing marketing/publicity and exercising.

walked for 2 hours over the last  day or so - very happy with that.

Hi,

I m glad you have a plan, and despite all the diagnosis, at least if you know what is wrong then you can treat it - better to face up to it than to  not be aware -as hard as it was to hear.  Right now you can focus on one thing at a time, and that is letting the prozac work. I m sure the doctor knows what he is doing, and everyone has their own reaction to meds, just stay postive that it is going to help you on your journey and use it as another tool at your disposal.

God bless, and with the support of the doctors, our family and all of us you will neve be alone in your recovery, and each and every one of us are here for you. Each one has a different part to play to help you - some with meds, some with practical experience and advice, but all with the hope and prayer that every moment of every day life and your struggle with ED, is one that will get easier. Each step is a step towards your recovery, and the chance for a new and normal life.

your friend Vera

Hi everyone,

I am vcruicky, just introducing myself to fellow wagon jumpers. I am 49, but turning 50 on the 25th September, so on the countdown.  This has been part of my motivation to rejoin CC, and also to become an honoured member of wagon jumpers - tht is to redefine some very bad habits, become healthier, fitter, and ultimately become vegetarian, and at some stage vegan - with hopefully the by product of losing the seven plus extra stone that my 4 foot  inches  frame is carrying as extra insulation.

I have been on the clean eating challenge on this site since August 12, and have lost 11 lbs, which has been a good stepping stone to eating healthier, and starting the weight loss.

I eat 3 meals a day, and 3 snacks, and as my bad habits evolve around drinking diet coke, then wanting chocolate, and then copper kettle crisps, which then needs something sweet again so icecream and chocolate sauce - so you can see putting on 7 stone was a breeze - and I might add thoroughly enoyable. As i did not believe in portion control - if I wanted it I ate it - and as an emotinal eater when under stress - with my husband having had prostate cancer for 7 years, and in the last 18 months Parkinson's, stress eating was a regulare occurrence.

However, since the date I started the clean eating challenge I had an epiphany, not only my 50th, but having my 18 months old grandson on the weekends. I want to be the grandma that  can play,not just puff and wheeze on the sofa, and say "grandma is sick and cannot play today"

So no more processed food, diet soda, bread, cakes, junk food, sweets and the all the crap i have been eating for 35+ years. No more excuses, just as the Nike saying says i am going to "JUST DO IT".

I am doing 30 mins of gentle walking, as I need to get my head around the food issues, and then I will get reved up on the excercise. I also a while ago did loads at the gym, about a year ago, and was doing great, and whilst at the gym, myhusband took a tumble, and I felt very guilty for leaving him for so long , I had been 2 hours. So, now I do shorter stints, and will eventually do more but, when I feel able to leave him for longer, or get some at home stuff to do.

Well so much for an introducton I just wrote a book - sorry.

Hope to catch up and become friends with you all, feel free to add me to your buddy list.

vcruicky (Vera)

Hi mrsroo,

what a great day for you - it is always satisfying when you do something tht you are trying to do - stopping at 6. Even restarting - it is a positive step for  you and I for one am very proud of you. Making real changes and commiting to them is not an easy challenge - the by product is our BMI and weight going down, but the real reward is learning new eating behaviours and even more of a reward when they become a habit that we do not have to think about.

So well done to you mrsroo, and thanks for posting the Hunger and Fullness Scale - it is something we all need to do for ourselves.

Vera

Hi everyone,

hope everyone is doing well, I hve been doing really well and lost another 1.5lb, so that is 11lbs since I started this challeng on 8/12. 

I know about  money and buying healthy food, I have been scouting around the local area, and have been buying fresh veg from people who grow the veg in the back yard and have a glut, it works out a lot cheaper and it is freshly harvested.

Farmers markets are also a good idea, and also some of the cut price supermarkets do great deals on some veg -so shopping around can help whhilst getting a few containers with your favourite veg can help cut the food bill.

Keep eating clean to  be lean everybody

Vera