Monday afternoon

I got moderately depressed, sat outside for a while in the sun.  My aunt mentioned "grounding" where you plant bare feet on the ground (not concrete) to help balance.  Couldn't hurt and I like bare feet in grass, so I sat in my chair with my feet in the grass.  It did help.  

I came inside and took a nap.  Woke up with a moderate headache and realized carbs were very low, so I ate some crackers (I do better around 50-80 carbs a day).  I have some mystery roast out of the freezer with a little bit of rice thawing in the fridge for dinner.  That should get me in a good zone.  

That's the mistake I made before doing low carb, I went too low.  Some people do better at higher levels.  I have Asian coworkers ideal weight have a huge bowl of rice with a little bit of meat on top plus crackers for lunch every day and they look great.  Then I have huge coworkers eating a Lean Cuisine for lunch and looking worse every day.  You have to find what works for you.  

I found it sad, one obese coworker (always brings a bag of chips for lunch, TV dinner, etc. and a diet soda which I am now convinced is the most fattening thing of all...) talking about her daughter wanted to lose weight so she was going to buy some "diet" TV dinners and snack foods for her.  

I was dying to tell her I have lost at least 60 pounds (who's counting? 😂) in the last couple years and to encourage her to do a low carb approach.  But she also has a son she admits is well over 400 pounds and buys him Cocoa Crispies, etc even though he has met with a nutritionist and gotten a healthy eating meal plan none of them apparently follow.  So I did not tell her about the low carb approach.  Because low carb half done is worse than not doing it at all.  Some people want to eat what they want and complain about how hard it is to lose weight, I won't even try these days.  

Now if someone walks up to me and says "You have lost a ton of weight!" I say thank you and I have.  If they ask how much I tell them.  And it always ends there.  If someone asks how I will tell them.  But it's never gone there.  Every workplace is different.  

My doctor did a calorie counting approach that has worked very well for him.  I would say I do about half counting calories and half counting carbs, even though dear Dr Atkins swore that was a terrible idea.  It is telling sometimes I have eaten far less, or far more, than I thought for the day.  Today I am only around 600 calories today I may need to take some coconut oil to keep my calories up.  I try to do a minimum of 1200 or so a day and under about 1600.  So far it is working and I feel full 98% of the time.  

When I hit goal I will have my calories at a maintainer level and not losing any more.  My body may lose more anyway just because of activity level.  We will see.  I plan to stay pretty active.  

Dad sent me a screenshot of his workout this morning so I will get on the bike later.  It is a good plan we have figured out.  He went farther this time which is wonderful.  Heart rate in a great zone for a man his age.  I am really proud of him for keeping his mobility.  As I saw with Ron it is so easy to lose.  

I think one day God will show me what Ron's pain level was and I will be horrified.  But he did show me it is important to stay as active as possible.  

I started the dishes I will finish them later.  The one dish with the left over night at room temperature sausage and cheese casserole was pretty vile.  And I am cheap enough I put food waste into a store "thank you" bag now instead of my kitchen trash.  That way I can throw it out in the big can outside before it stinks.  

Tomorrow I work 11:30-3:30 which is great as the other girl is supposed to start at 3, so for once I won't have to stay over.  Looking forward to that.  

I am also seriously considering a rotisserie chicken that would be nice to eat on my day off.  And not expensive.  I still have, counted it, $30 left from my budget so I am pretty pleased with that.  Theoretically I could buy the chicken and pay for a cab ride home.  I don't plan to do that.  I do plan to get the chicken if they have a likely looking one.  

For once I don't need to buy candy I have some.  I will need to make up some all strawberry candy for my third driver tomorrow morning.  He loved the candy.  I may get some more tuna but I will get meals and meals out of the chicken, and I OUGHT to be OK food safety wise taking it home on the bus.  I have thought about it some.  

If they have a Traditional or a Lemon Pepper that is a sure fire yes.  We will see.  I need to see if my large insulated tote bag will fit in my work bag.  I found the medium tote bag definitely big enough for a chicken, and it fits.  So that will be dinner tomorrow.  I don't like to stand in my kitchen, hungry, trying to figure out dinner it is no fun.  

I will cook up my Italian Sausage in tomato sauce tonight.  Cut up some cheese to take to work (would be better if I had a scale for that one), can eat a wedge of cheese with the sausage in meat sauce.  It is only 20% fat and a lot of that renders in cooking with this brand so I will need additional fat to make a filling meal.  

And who would think in the 2020's we would be worried about getting enough fat with our meals?  I find that funny.  

That's it for now.