I made many minor tweaks this past week, hoping to trick myself into getting more exercise and eating better.
Tweak 1- Parking father away while delivering (parking lots only.) Most days, I did park at least 3-5 spaces further than I usually do, forcing myself to walk a little farther each time I stopped in a new parking lot.
Rainy days were the only exception, but as a whole, this worked really well! I found myself getting tired earlier in the evenings, which is a good sign.
Tweak 2- Not filling the pantry right away. Chips are still eaten regularly and usually restocked before the last bag runs out. I wanted to see if running out of chips would cause a panic, so I skipped them on my previous shopping trip, opting for fruit and veggies instead.
I found that I really enjoyed that handful of chips, and though I was never in a panic about getting them, I still missed them terribly when I had a small sandwich during my eating window. The good news is that I can do without them- I just don't want to. The bad news is fruit and sandwiches don't mix...at least for me.
Tweak 3- Baking bread for the week. My husband and I have made homemade bread and sandwich rolls for the past two weeks now, and the entire family prefers that over store-bought or even bakery bread! I'm sure we'll still go to the bakery when we want something we can't bake yet-like bagels-but for now, homemade loaves and rolls are fantastic. It even toasts well and goes great with soup!
Tweak 4- Changing the snacks. Yes, I'm keeping my chips, but we're also bringing in healthier foods as snacks, even though I hardly snack anymore. Strawberries, pears, bananas, and oranges are replacing junkier foods, and though we still have chocolate, it's the dark kind with cracked almonds made into bits of bark.
Just a palm-sized bark piece is enough to satisfy, and you can never go wrong with fruit when you have a craving for something sweet. I still have some jellybeans, but they are top-quality ones that actually taste good and are only eaten in small quantities. Once or twice a week, if that.
Tweak 5- Changing the way we cook. We are a family of four and have been cooking in bulk for so long that it usually lasts all week when we cook on the weekends. But lately, I've seen a trend I don't like. Food is getting wasted. Soups stand uneaten in the fridge for longer than I'd like, and leftovers wind up molding before they're consumed.
I hate wasting food. We were blessed with an abundance of food storage, but you can't freeze everything! We had a family meeting, and I found out why no one was eating the leftovers, and we agreed that we needed to adjust our bulk-cooking habits and make half of what we usually do. We're trying out that this week.
Remember I told you last week about making homemade pasta? I'm still working out what kinds of dough to make, but we're implementing that in the next week or two. The pasta sheeter remains unused, but not for long!
My son wants to try it using our homemade stromboli dough and see if he can make homemade hot pockets for the family and work. Now that's something I can support! The entire family has ideas for all kinds of filling. We can make these in bulk, freezing half and baking half for heat-em-ups during the week.
The only concern I have is I'm not sleeping as well or as deeply as I'd like. I have trouble staying asleep and find myself crashing right before going to work at noon. Sometimes I took a cat-nap about thirty minutes before I leave.
I've never done that before. I nodded off several times over the weekend too. I still haven't been able to figure out why. It could be the exercise, or it could be the bread. I might have to do a few self-tests to see what's going on.
My feet are starting to swell again, and it could be because I'm not mobile enough when I get home. Mornings I do well-I run errands, do chores, etc. and then walk further during work, but when I get home, I eat and crash on the couch, then stay there for the most part until bedtime. I need to be on my feet at night, too; otherwise, my joints don't work, and it's a struggle going up the stairs.
Next week is weigh-in day. I've been doing my up and down days this entire month, so hopefully, I'll see a positive change on the scale. Making my homemade Green Soup definitely helped with my down days this week- it's filling, brothy, and light- perfect with a small sandwich made out of a homemade dinner roll.
Next week will be two weeks over the six-month mark; a real achievement for me! Even if the weight loss isn't stellar, I'll take pictures just for comparison from the beginning until now. I know the numbers will be vastly different!
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