Friday- Weekly Weigh In & Movement

 Weekly Movement & Weigh In

Goal Weight:  115

May 30 Weigh In:  121 

Weight Lost This Week:  0

Weight Left To Lose:  6 pounds

It was a very busy week for a variety of reasons, meaning my activity mileage suffered, plus we had several dine out events, so I'm actually thrilled to be ending the week where I began, weight wise.

Other than after a big evening event involving food, after which I do a semi-fast the next day, I've become accustomed to eating less, and established a routine that I think will work for a good long time to come, beyond reaching my goal weight. 

Once I reach my goal weight, I should be able to enjoy weekend dineouts, while adhering to my food plan otherwise. Because I'm really liking my food plan - it's tasty and it's filling now that I'm used to eating less overall.

Here is my general food plan-

Early Morning - Coffee with a touch of Non Fat 1/2 & 1/2.

Late Morning- One egg, over easy, on one slice of toast - 200 calories.

Lunch - 275 calorie bagel sandwich, comprised of one Trader Joe 240 calorie bagel lightly toasted, one 35 calorie serving of deli meat, generous lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and pickle slices, plus lots of mustard, none of which add any calories but do add lots of bulk, crunch, and flavor. 

Post Lunch Pick Me Up - Iced coffee with a splash of NF 1/2 & 1/2, plus one sliced apple with a generous sprinkling of cinnamon - 100 calories. 

Mid Afternoon Pick Me Up - One small carton of Greek yogurt with 1/2 cup of blueberries from freezer, and 1/4 of a sliced banana for 175 total calories.

Dinner- Whatever is on my menu, capped at 300 calories total for my serving, all in.To achieve this, I generally have a big serving of whatever vegetables I made, including salads, and a small portion of the main entree. So, as an example, last night I had a large serving of sauteed & seasoned vegetables, and a very small serving of the chicken enchiladas I'd made.

Daily total approx 1000 - 1100 calories. I've moved somewhat gradually into this lower food quantity, as a note. I'm sure I would have felt hungry at this calorie count some weeks ago, but it now satisfies me, because eating less - or more - are habits into which we train our bodies to adjust.

Here is a terrific article discussing just this, and which I can now attest to:

Getting Used To Eating Less

Weekly Mileage/Movement:

• Fri- 5 mile walk
• Sat- 2 mile walk
• Sun- None
• Mon - 7 mile walk
• Tue- None
• Wed- None
• Thur - None
• TOTAL FOR WEEK:  14 miles
• TOTAL FOR MONTH SO FAR:  89 miles

Those black dots in the water are surfers, not birds!

No Sugar Progress

Nothing to discuss really, because I've beaten it back, for now at least. I no longer have noticeable cravings, and I accept it will not be a part of my life moving forward. I can now make dessert for my husband and other people, and have more forms of it in the house, without feeling any compulsions to eat it myself. I have developed other ways to treat myself when the mood strikes, my favorite being iced coffee, or if after dinner, a small serving of fruit. 

Total time to get to this point: Approximately two months. 

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If you are likewise on a quest to improve some aspect of your dietary or fitness life, please feel free to share here. The more we can work to support and encourage each other the better!

Weekend Wrap Up & The Week Ahead

Weekend Wrap Up & The Week Ahead

As I've mentioned previously, it's a goal in retirement to plan the type of non-stop weekends that we did not have the energy to create or do during our working years. And this weekend delivered and then some!

But first, I have to give tribute to 84 year old Welsh singer, Tom Jones, who I had the privilege of seeing live this past week. Tom Jones was one of my mother's singing idols, right up there along with Elvis Presley. My early idols were more along the lines of Davey Jones and David Cassidy, but I did/do of course know who Tom Jones is. So, when my girlfriend invited me to see him via a free ticket she had, I said 'Sure,' but without any particular excitement on my side.

Well, I am here to say that I was wrong! He was adorable, delightful, entertaining, and still had his trademark powerhouse voice.

No hip swivels though, just in case you are wondering. He sat on a stool for most of the show, which at almost 85 years, I will not judge him for whatsoever!

Back to our weekend, here's how it flowed:

Friday - Five mile walk around the harbor, picnic lunch enjoying the marine bird life. Home to do a few chores and clean up, then over to one of our favorite coastal venues to enjoy dinner and a country band, during which, yeah, line dancing occurred. We learned the 10 Step - fun, fun, fun!

Saturday - Spent time in the AM on the computer and on the phone with my girlfriend, deciding which of a few organized wilderness trips we were considering doing together was 'the one.' We landed on a one week hiking and kayaking trip in Newfoundland, Canada a little later this year, and we are both so excited as it looks like it's going to be absolutely gorgeous!

After sending in my deposit and completing lots of online paperwork, my husband and I left to attend what turned out to be a great tribute concert to Foreigner and Journey in always-fun Laguna Beach.

Afterward we had dinner at one of our favorite Laguna Beach restaurants, where we were seated alongside a former Real Housewife of Orange County. This has happened to me a few times over the years, and honestly, it's always fun.😄

Sunday - Spiritual services in the AM, then over to the harbor to launch our kayaks and enjoy a concert on the water. 

Dinner back at home afterward.

This upcoming week is packed. In addition to several events, appointments, commitments, and miles of hiking and walking plans, we're also prepping for a wine event we are holding here next weekend.

As my 88 year old father always says, whenever we say goodbye after chatting about his many and ongoing activities, 'I can rest when I'm dead, Tamara!'

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How was your weekend???

Friday- Weekly Movement & Weigh In

 Weekly Movement & Weigh In

Goal Weight:  115

May 23 Weigh In:  121 

Weight Lost This Week:  1 pound

Weight Left To Lose:  6 pounds

I began last Friday's post by saying that the effort to lose these last few pounds has been considerable. And I'm here to repeat that again this week- in spite of the many miles I walk on and hike each week, I must have the metabolism of a sloth, because this is indeed hard! I'm creating a game plan each morning when I wake up, on how I'm going to structure my day with regard to activity exercise, and meals eaten. If we have an evening social event, I skip breakfast, have a small lunch, and ingest a small bag of almonds just prior to leaving for our event, so that I don't arrive starving.

As long as I give myself time to walk through the evening event in my head, I'm more successful than not in sticking to my eating plan.

Conversely, if we have a big multi-mile daytime walk or hike planned, I can enjoy a mini-splurge for lunch, such as a shared carnitas burrito or a shared burger with fries, but I then need to skip dinner. Again, as long as I walk through the evening eating plan (or non eating plan!) in my head, I can stay with it more often than not.

And yes, that is the crazy extent to which I'm having to visualize and cut back my calories in order to effect even a minor weight loss. The primary reason I'm continuing to fight off these last few vanity pounds is that I really do love getting dressed up for our many social activities, and I appreciate the way being on the lower end of my personal weight bell curve leaves me feeling in my clothes. Plus, to be honest, I really like the complements I get when I'm close to my goal weight, generally from women my age, or slightly older - they give my aging ego a boost, which feels nice!

That reminds me of a funny story that happened recently. We were leaving a restaurant, and had to walk through their bar to exit. Inside the bar there was a group of young people singing loudly and having fun, and they invited us to join them as we walked by. As we laughingly said 'No, but thanks!,' a clearly tipsy guy yelled out to me, 'I don't know who you are, but I love you!' I laughed, turned to my husband and said, 'I know he's likely drunk, but damn, at my age I'll take it!' 😅

I enjoy clothes shopping and dressing up in our casual California way, and I'm electing to focus on that more so than on food at this point,
in order to remain motivated to power through the last few pounds.

Weekly Mileage/Movement:

• Fri- 4 mile walk
• Sat- 4 mile walk
• Sun- 5 mile walk
• Mon - 5 mile sand walk
• Tue- 4 mile walk
• Wed- None, but a good number of hours trimming and mulching in the adjacent HOA area, as my property is basically zero maintenance. So I get my yardwork love itch scratched by making the adjacent HOA area on my side as close to pristine as possible. 😄
• Thur - None
• TOTAL FOR WEEK:  22 miles
• TOTAL FOR MONTH SO FAR:  75 miles

No Sugar Progress

I did great this week, week eight, and had virtually no cravings. I'm now very, very comfortable being in the presence of sugar outside of my home. As an example, my husband and I did a long beach walk over the weekend, going out for iced coffee afterward. He ordered a well-earned berry muffin to go with his coffee, and I was 100% fine ordering nothing, and felt zero compulsions to ask for a bite of his treat.

In my head, I now view sugary treats as drugs - they are literally drugs for my brain, and do zero to satisfy genuine hunger.

What a turnaround from my first few days of attempting to break my sugar addiction, when I felt like a caged animal. Fortunately, however, sugar is nothing remotely like 'real' drugs, and thus it only took a few days for the worst of the cravings to quiet. 

This is my umpteenth attempt to break my sugar addiction, but without question, this is the longest stretch I've ever managed and I would say I'm close to 100% at peace with not ingesting it again, because I understand that I will be quickly right back where I started if I do. There is no moderation switch for me to engage when it comes to sugar. Instead, I've pretty much replaced it in my head with treats like a great iced coffee, a nice piece of fruit, a dozen roasted or salted nuts, small amounts of dried fruit atop cheese, or even a bowl of crunchy vegetables.

It feels damn good to be in charge of my life vs being under the control of when my next sugar hit was going to come.**  And again, I am so thankful it was only sugar that I was addicted to, and not something more detrimental to either myself, my loved ones, or my community.

**As a reminder - this is not intended to be an indictment of sugar at all. This is specifically about those of us that are literally addicted to sugar, which is very different from those of you that can simply enjoy it, and then carry on.  😊

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If you are likewise on a quest to improve some aspect of your dietary or fitness life, please feel free to share here. The more we can work to support and encourage each other the better!

Wed- Five Intentional Spending Things

 Five Frugal Intentional Spending Things

After giving it a bit of thought, I think that spending with Intention is a better description of my life these days, vs Frugal. I'm not looking to spend less per se, but I am absolutely looking to spend with Intention, or mindfulness if you will.

So here goes-

1)  My monthly Housecleaning team (oh how I appreciate not having to clean my fairly good sized home!) leaves out any supplies that need replenishing, and this past week that turned out to be furniture polish. So I added Pledge to my shopping list, and headed to Target to pick up a can, because I find their prices to be consistent and reasonable. However, when I saw the price, now almost $6, I blanched. So though I did go ahead and purchase it, I decided to also check out the Dollar Store. Well, guess what? The Dollar Store carries a no-name furniture polish for just $1.25 a can.

So back to Target went the overpriced furniture polish. I'm now going to start doing the same with the other products that get set out for replenishment, and see if my Housecleaning team finds any difference in their performance.  Fingers crossed they judge them as adequate, because there are vast price differences between Target and the Dollar Store for name brand vs no-name brand cleaning products.

2)  Along the same lines as above, I returned an unopened container of $4 curry spice to the supermarket after finding a very large selection of 99 cent bagged spices at a Mexican market I recently visited. They not only had 99 cent bags of curry, they also had 99 cent bags of saffron, which I thought was amazing, given that I'd been very proud of myself for finding saffron for just $4 at a specialty Indian market vs twice that amount, and then some, at the supermarket.

I've long shopped for $1 bagged spices at Aldi's, located in their Mexican food aisle, but the selection there is somewhat limited - primarily peppercorns, cumin, paprika and chile powder, so I'm thrilled to have a larger selection to choose from going forward.

My other spice tip is to stop by Sprouts when you need just a small amount of a spice you don't use regularly. They have a bulk spice section where you can scoop out - and pay for - just what you need. As in 5 cents even! Yes, I needed just a single star anise one time, for an Indian dish, a cuisine I don't cook very often because Indian restaurants do it so much better than me(!), so I literally placed a single star anise in the spice bag Sprouts provides, and it rang out at 5 cents. 

3)  Cancelled YouTube Premium, which we primarily subscribed to in order to stream jazz music channels. I decided to give free Pandora another try recently, after placing YouTube on hold for a month while we were out of town. To my very pleasant surprise, Pandora's jazz channel has very few commercials, and the ones that do run are not obnoxious whatsoever. So an easy and painless $180 a year win for us.

4)  More Intentional than Frugal here - Jumped on the June signups email alert from a cooking school near us, as their classes sell out quickly. My husband has a big birthday event in June, and he just loves doing events at this cooking school as they do most of the prep-work ahead of time, plus most of the finishing work, and definitely ALL of the dirty dishes (ha!), leaving us to just show up and cook and have fun. And once the meal is deemed completed, the cooking school team seats us all at long table set with flowers, and serves us. It's fabulous!

Plus, we are encouraged to bring bottles of wine with us to be enjoyed both during the cooking and after while eating our meal. How great is that?

The cost is $90 a person, but that is all in, as in ALL in. Meaning there is no tax added, there is no tipping expected, and we get three full hours of being entertained by the two hysterical chef owners, first while cooking, then while dining. Plus there are always leftovers, which we are encouraged to bring containers for in order to bring them back home.

All this, versus an expensive, rushed, impersonal meal at a noisy, crowded restaurant. 

This is what we'll be making and enjoying for his big June event - he's already so looking forward to it, which warms my heart -

Escape to the islands and cook up a Hawaiian Inspired tropical menu full of sweet, savory and sun-soaked flavors! 

• Spicy Tuna Tartare on Crispy Rice
• Coconut Sweet Potato Soup with Lime and Ginger
• Macadamia-Crusted Mahi Mahi with Fresh Pineapple Salsa
• Hawaiian Luau-Style Fried Rice
• Chocolate Coconut Cream Pie with Oreo Crust

From a prior cooking event we attended with friends. 

We're the couple on the left.

And . . . 

5)  Planned out my menu for a neighborhood event we are hosting in June, in order to start purchasing the necessary items both 1) slowly over the upcoming weeks, which allows for easy adhering to my grocery budget, and 2) if/when any of the needed items happen to go on sale. 

I do this for pretty much all parties and holidays, or any event where I bring food. By making my plan well in advance, I never have to run to the supermarket and pay top dollar. I find it so annoying to put myself in that position, because I feel like supermarkets live to exploit their customers through their here-now-gone-tomorrow sales gimmicks. Not to mention the challenge of buying exactly the correct product in exactly the correct size in exactly the correct combination. 

And hence why I'm so loyal to the Trader Joe's and Aldi's of the world. Just give me fair pricing and stop expecting me to jump through hoops in order to obtain a decent price.

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What about you all? Have you done anything particularly frugal or intentional this week?

Monday- Weekend Wrap Up

Weekend Wrap Up

As I've mentioned previously, it's a goal in retirement to plan the type of non-stop weekends that we did not have the energy to create or do during our working years. We were to wiped to do anything but go out for dinner on Friday nights, and we would generally carve out Sundays as the day we got ready for the work week ahead, so really only Saturday was reserved for a fun and activity during our working years. Now, in retirement, the fun generally begins on Friday morning, and doesn't conclude until Sunday evening.

So beginning with Friday morning, this was our latest retirement weekend, though I have to qualify that it was tempered somewhat by my husband's last minute decision to not attend a Men's weekend as planned. That left me a bit flat-footed in quickly coming up with a couples vs on-my-own game plan:

Friday- Five mile walk around the harbor, home to have lunch and shower, then over to our membership winery to enjoy complimentary glasses of wine while looking out at the ocean, then back home for an easy but delicious dinner of quiche slices I pulled from the freezer, plus salad in a bag. (I gentle warmed the quiche slices in the microwave at 50% power, then placed them for a few minutes in my hot air fryer for a perfectly crisp-ed finish.)

Boats at the harbor getting ready for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.
There will be several floating bands playing over the weekend,
which we look forward to enjoying via our kayaks.

And then a rare Friday night at home streaming a movie, because I thought I'd be home alone in my PJ's watching old seasons of Top Chef while my husband was gone, LOL.

Saturday- Walked again to the Farmers Market, where I purchased a dozen fabulous frozen pot stickers for two future dinners. I learned a tip the first time I purchased the dumplings - to add both oil and water at the same time to the pan when cooking them. The water first boils, then boils off, perfectly steaming the pot stickers in the process, at which point the remaining oil in the pan starts to sizzle, browning and crisping them perfectly - how could I never have learned this two step process???

After arriving back home to shower, my husband and I headed out to see a matinee performance of Broadway's longest running musical ever, The Fantasticks. Not only did the show exceed our expectations, but it only cost us $12 a ticket due to it being a college (vs professional) production, and at the senior rate, so incredible value for the price. 

We ended the day with Happy Hour at one of our favorite seafood restaurants. One glass of wine each, a shared salad, and a shared fish entree, which we enjoyed in the Happy Hour designated area of the restaurant.

Sunday- Back to the harbor on another gorgeous day to do another five miles, then over to the next coastal town for a shared iced coffee, then a scenic easy drive back to the house. Spent the afternoon sitting out on our patio finishing the chilling non fiction book, The Well Trained Wife by Tia Levings, which details her traumatic experience with Christian Patriarchy. I then returned to reading the equally excellent book Horse by Geraldine Brooks. And both were borrowed from the library as eBooks, so zero cost to me.

I highly recommend both books!

Finished off the day with our own Happy Hour here at home, and then made Curry Shrimp Pasta, yet another great make from my Taste of Home One Pot Favorites cookbook.

I have a crazy busy run of days ahead, including some great evening events ( Tom Jones live anyone? 😄 ), so a somewhat quiet Sunday to end the weekend is appreciated even if unusual!

How was your weekend???

Friday- Weekly Movement & Weigh In

Weekly Movement & Weigh In

Goal Weight:  115

May 16 Weigh In:  122.0

Weight Lost This Week: 1.2 pounds

Weight Left To Lose:  7 pounds

Something I read years ago gave the measurement of 10 pounds as being the general difference between pant sizes, so if I use that guideline, I'm about 3/4 of a pant size away from my goal. That feels very encouraging to say to myself, because the effort this is taking is considerable! 

Taken in my home office, a space I much enjoy. Hubby has his own home office space as well. 
We both enjoy and appreciate having our own spots to engage in our various pursuits.
Attempting to take a remotely decent selfie is clearly one of mine, ha!

Weekly Mileage/Movement:

• Fri- 5 mile walk
• Sat- 6 mile walk
• Sun- None
• Mon - None, but I did work in the yard for a couple of hours
• Tue- 5 mile walk
• Wed- Quick 1 mile walk on an otherwise busy day
• Thur - 6 mile walk
• TOTAL FOR WEEK:  23 miles
• TOTAL FOR MONTH SO FAR: 53 miles

Here are some of this week's beautiful walking views, one of many reasons it is not painful whatsoever to walk out the door and put on some miles!

Can you spot the Egret? 

No Sugar Progress:

Another week of no specifically sought-out processed sugar, which in my case primarily means cookies/pastries/ice cream/desserts. I'm qualifying because I did make or purchase some meals that included small amounts of products containing sugar such as BBQ sauce, hoisen sauce, sriracha honey, and ketchup.  The goal is to break the cycle that sugar addiction creates, that being the struggle to stop. None of these condiment or cooking items generated anything remotely close to the addictive mind-swirl, and thus I had zero problems sticking with the food quantity I'd pre-determined before sitting down to eat my designated meal.  

I found this article to be helpful  Sugar Addiction & How To Break It  as I continue to explore why I respond so strongly to sugar. This part in particular made a clear connection between sugar and the brain's response to it for some of us:

Why can sugar be addictive?

Because our bodies need glucose, we’re evolutionarily programmed to seek it out. “When sugar hits our tongue, it activates certain taste buds that send a signal up to the brain,” says Nicole Avena, Ph.D., an assistant professor of neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and author of Why Diets Fail: Because You’re Addicted to Sugar. This activates the brain’s reward system: Feel-good dopamine is released and the behavior is reinforced, which makes us want to repeat it (just one more cookie!).

I had only a few minor sugar cravings over this past week, which I was able to satisfy quite easily with a small amount of fruit, or a nice sized bowl of satisfyingly crunchy vegetables (baby carrots, bell pepper strips, and cucumber slices primarily). I continue to be surprised that I'm satisfied with one serving of any of the above, never seeking to 'keep going' such as I did with sugar.

So while not yet 'easy,' easier for sure.

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If you are likewise on a quest to improve some aspect of your dietary or fitness life, please feel free to share here. The more we can work to support and encourage each other the better!

Thur- What We Ate & What It Cost

What We Made/What We Spent

A specific call out to the second recipe I've made from my new A Taste Of Home One Pot Favorites Cookbook - it was super easy, and really delicious. So that bodes well for future recipes from it, yeah!

What We Made

Fri-  Out with friends for Happy Hour dinner at a local restaurant.

Sat-  Out at an event that included dinner

Sun-  Mother's Day! We enjoyed Slow Cooker Braised tri tip steak with Horseradish mashed potatoes. That, plus some roasted broccolini and rosemary sourdough bread (which I'd brought home & froze after a recent luncheon I helped with for my women's group), was our Mother's Day meal. Restaurant dining is a zoo here on Mother's Day, so I much prefer either takeout or some easy home cooking.

Treated Mom and hubby to some chocolate raspberry truffle ice cream from a nearby ice cream shop for dessert. I happily watched them both enjoy as I'm now seven weeks without sugar and am really appreciating the freedom from extreme sugar cravings. 

Mon- Sun night repeat

Tue- Grilled Salmon, Mango Cilantro Salsa, Brown Rice, Broccolini

Wed- Hoisin Sriracha Chicken Bake, White Rice, Salad. This is my second recipe from cookbook below, and it was just as fantastic as the Curry Coconut Chicken soup I first made last week. I made some mods, which you can hopefully see in the photo below. 

Just $12 on clearance when I picked it up last week.

Thur- Wed night repeat

What We Spent:  $106.21, so easily under my weekly budget of $125, particularly considering that $30+ of this week's spend was to load up on loss leader beef for future meals.

This week's loss leader stock up items were:

• 99 cent strawberries (1 lb container). I bought two.
• $5.99 lb chuck roast, which I'll use in a slow cooker pot roast at a book club dinner I’m hosting in June.
• $6.99 lb NY Strip steak
• 99 cent soft wheat bread, which I'll use to make myself lower calorie sandwiches in that each slice is just 60 calories. The ‘good stuff’ wheat in our freezer weighs in at 120 calories a slice, so a whole sandwich vs half a sandwich for the same overall calories holds more appeal for me. 

Otherwise, in addition to the above meals, my weekly spend includes the usual repeat breakfast items as needed  (Greek yogurt, frozen berries, sourdough bread, bananas, strawberries, peanut butter, eggs, and coffee), the usual repeat lunch items as needed (Wheat bread, deli meats, deli cheeses, spinach, tomatoes, avocado, Mini oranges, apples, grapes, plus cookies for hubby - he has no sugar issues - he can stop!), plus the usual snack items as needed (Hummus, pita chips, baby carrots, cucumber, Trader Joe cheeses, and crackers).

How did you all do this past week? Any winner recipes?

Monday- Weekend Wrap Up

 

Weekend Wrap Up

So this was a great weekend, with nothing that I would label as being extraordinary, but with lots of activity due to things we've worked hard to develop since moving here in 2017. That would include social connections, social clubs, local community performances, physical activity groups (hiking, kayaking, biking, walking, SUP'ing) and our spiritual community. Which means that there are a plethora of things to choose from pretty much every weekend, all within easy reach of where we live.

As I've mentioned previously, it is a goal in retirement to plan the type of non-stop fun weekends that we did not have the energy to create or do during our working years. We were to wiped to go out on Fridays after work, and we would generally carve out Sunday as the day we got ready for the workweek ahead, so really only Saturday was reserved for fun during our working years. Now, the fun begins on Friday morning, and doesn't conclude until Sunday evening.

So starting Friday morning, this was our latest retirement weekend:

Friday- Met a girlfriend to do a five mile walk around our local harbor, during which she shared about her recent separation from her second husband (no children, thankfully), and what lessons she was attempting to take from the relationship. Afterward returned home to do some bookclub reading (finished A Frozen River, now onto Horse by Geraldine Brooks- already excellent!), then showered and got ready to meet friends for a Happy Hour dinner. We had a really nice time at the restaurant, coming in at just under $70 for three drinks (total) and three small share items. After dinner we were invited back to our friends home to learn  and play the card game Euchre. The game was easy to learn in that we all four play bridge together at the same Bridge Center, and Euchre has many of the elements of Bridge. But unlike Bridge, it was relaxing! We also enjoyed their gorgeous ocean views while playing - I've never found myself envying someone else's home, as I really like ours,  but I definitely find myself envying a lovely view on occasion!  

As my realtor told us some years back - every block closer to the ocean comes with a corresponding uptick in price. At just under a mile and a half back currently, we have lovely ridgeline views, lovely sunset views, and some partial-ocean views, and we're much closer to the ocean than I'd every imagined we'd be when we first started looking to relocate here. So, I make a point to remind myself of all of those things when experiencing view-envy!

Saturday- Walked from the house to the Saturday Farmers Market and back, including along several picturesque streets in the historic district that the market is held in. I didn't buy anything, but I took notes for an upcoming wine event I'll be holding at our house. Items from the fresh berries stand, the hummus and pita stand, and likely the Italian pastry stand, should all find their way to my event food table when I return there next week.

The Cilantro Lemon hummus was a fave!

After returning home, I quickly showered, and my husband and I departed for a Spring BBQ Party with our social wine club. The food was really terrific - grilled salmon with dill sauce, and pork loin with a Bing cherry chutney were just some of culinary delights, plus there were lots of different wines to sample, and a terrific DJ that kept the dancing area full. At these quarterly events, inevitable, the gals will group together for line dancing, which I love way more than my husband, so he is thrilled that he gets to kick back with the other non-line dancing husbands while we women wear ourselves out.

Sunday- Early AM calls from my two girls, neither of whom currently lives here in California, then spiritual services, then we took my mom to a super cute live musical production featuring the music of Neil Sedaka, whom we both enjoy. Afterward, we stopped at the beach briefly, since my mom doesn't get to the ocean nearly as often as we do, then we returned to the house for a delicious braised steak and horseradish potatoes dish that I'd started in the slow cooker when I first woke up. I sauteed some fresh Broccolini to go with it, plus some warmed some rosemary sourdough slices. For dessert, for my mom and husband, I'd picked up a pint of specialty ice cream - chocolate raspberry truffle.

So, again, it was a great weekend! Today's plans are minimal by comparison - do some light yardwork, read, and start on the 2025 holiday ornaments, which I make for my granddaughters each year.

How was your weekend???

Friday- Weekly Movement & Weigh In

Weekly Movement & Weigh In

Goal Weight:  115 

May 9 Weigh In:  123.2

Weight Left To Lose:  8.2

Ended the week pretty much where I started it, and where I've been more or less since returning from our cruise. Looking forward to the transparency this blog will provide as giving me the incentive to dig deep and make it through those last few pounds. 

Weekly Mileage/Movement:

• Sat- 8 mile walk
• Sun- None
• Mon - 6 mile walk
• Tue- None
• Wed- 8 mile walk
• Thur - 3 mile walk
• Fri (Pending)- 5 mile walk, 1 session weight training
• TOTAL FOR WEEK:  30 miles, 1 session weight training

Here are some of this week's beautiful walking views, one of many reasons it is not painful whatsoever to walk out the door and put on some miles!

No Sugar Progress: Today concludes six weeks of avoiding processed sugar, other than one night on our cruise when I had a piece of apple strudel. Although that one night did not lead to a relapse, I'm electing not to repeat it for the foreseeable future to be safe. I've come to understand that my brain processes sugar more like a drug than as food, and that clarity has really helped me see the difference between being genuinely hungry vs simply wanting a sugar pick me up. 

A friend told me that three months should be a turning point, wherein random thoughts of sugar as a comfort food should pretty much cease. And even at the halfway point my sugar cravings are now quite minimal and easy to ignore.  As compared to the first few days, when I felt like I'd never get beyond the cravings. 😒

And already I'm 100% fine watching others enjoy their sweets, as well as having some here in the house. I'm not yet confident of having sweet treats that I love in the house, but there are lots of sweets my husband enjoys more than I do, such as Chips Ahoy cookies, and I'm fine having those here. He has no issues with sugar, and is content to ingest just a small quantity each day, so the treats that are currently here are lasting a very, very long time, nicely. 

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If you are likewise on a quest to improve some aspect of your dietary or fitness life, please feel free to share here. The more we can work to support and encourage each other the better!

Thur- What We Ate & What It Cost

What We Made/What We Spent

A specific call out to the first recipe I've made from my new A Taste Of Home One Pot Favorites Cookbook - it was super easy, and really delicious. So that bodes well for future recipes from it, yeah!

What We Made

Fri-  Picnic dinner at harbor- Cold chicken, mango slices, Leftover Baked orzo & feta pasta salad (Recipe below)

Sat-  Out at an event that included dinner

Sun-  Curried Chicken Soup, Naan, Salad (Recipe below - I sprinkled chopped peanuts and cilantro on top just prior to serving, which I highly recommend!)

Mon- Ham & Cheese quiche (leftover from a Women's Club event that I helped at), Salad

Tue-  More Sun leftover soup, Naan, Salad

Wed- Last of leftover soup, Naan, Salad (We both loooved the soup!)

Thur- On my own tonight, so will eat one half of a Salad In A Bag mix

What We Spent:  $123.45, so just under my weekly budget of $125. 

A portion of this week's spend was to stock up on the following sales circular loss leader: Nature Valley Granola Bars, 6 pk, $1.99, so I bought 5 boxes at a total of $9.95. My husband eats them primarily as snack when we are out hiking, or when he's out running errands and can't snack at home (see below for our usual at-home snacks).

Otherwise, in addition to the above meals, my weekly spend includes the usual repeat breakfast items (Greek yogurt, frozen berries, sourdough bread, bananas, strawberries, peanut butter, eggs, and coffee), the usual repeat lunch items (Wheat bread, deli meats, deli cheeses, spinach, tomatoes, avocado, Mini oranges, apples, grapes, plus cookies for hubby - he has no sugar issues - he can stop!), plus the usual snack items (Hummus, pita chips, Mini carrots, cucumber, Trader Joe cheeses, and crackers).

How did you all do this past week? Any winner recipes?

New Blog Structure - Weekly Wrap Ups

 

I am fond of lists, and use them regularly. I make a weekly menu, a weekly grocery list, a daily to-do list, I keep track of where we've traveled via lists (see right here in the tabs on this blog, LOL!), and so on.

So, as I'm giving thought to how best to re-approach blogging, I think having daily check-ins on specific lists topics would work well, and perhaps encourage some of you to play right along, thus providing added incentives all around.

So these are my initial thoughts:

Monday- Weekend Wrap Up. It's important to me in retirement to have ongoing things to look forward to doing, and planning our fun weekends is at the top of that list. 

Tuesday- Five Happy Things. Always a positive mental reset to look for the good whenever possible.

Thursday - What We're Making. This is my regular grocery shopping day, so coming up with an interesting menu and then sharing it here will be an incentive to keep doing it. On average I make two - three new recipes a month, as it keeps me excited to be in the kitchen. 

Friday - Weekly Movements & Weigh In. I really don't have any issues with getting enough exercise - the joy of motion has been a constant in my life since my 20's - Instead, I struggle with eating intentionally vs mindlessly. Having accountability here should thus be very, very helpful. My goal is to reach my high school weight of 115. I'm close, but dang those last few pounds are h a r d !

Would love for others to come along for the ride, so we'll see where this goes beginning tomorrow - Right now I have to scoot and get ready for an eight mile beach walk with friends that will, of course, include a food stop at the halfway point. Earning my meals continues to be one of my favorite retirement activities!