I have felt very out of sorts this week -- my sleep has been off and short, a few things are work are annoying me more than they should and I am generally more stressed than usual. Nothing majorly amiss .. just everything a little off kilter.

I am down 2lb this week-- but still up 3 since November. I am not thrilled with this but I am working through it. It's only a little more than 2 weeks until the end of the year and I am no where near my goal for the year. It is time to think about what I will do differently in the new year. I know my wonky eyes are keeping me out of the kitchen .. but that should change in the early part of next year. I need to plan to carve out more time for cooking-- not just to eat better but also as a mental break. I will benefit from both those things! I am also hoping that after my eye surgeries I will be able to incorporate more exercise and activities into my weeks! I need that both physically and mentally!

This week I am focused on improving my sleep and maintaining an even keel. I think

the key to both will be sticking to a schedule -- something I am not always good at!

How did your week go? Do you feel like you're on track and managing the holiday events, stresses and foods well?

Funky, you are the rock star of consistency. Whatever goal you had doesn't take into account the progress you've made. You have made too many good decisions throughout this year, and you're not giving yourself enough credit. I hope your week is better... give yourself some grace. You have provided so much inspiration to us all year long, and I appreciate you very much.

On my end, I started the holiday season with a "first, do no harm" strategy in mind. It has evolved into "just don't do too much harm." Between a wedding, parties, and get togethers, the food temptations have been overwhelming. And it's so bitter cold here that I'm getting in fewer walks. I'm still going to the gym, but I'm just in a maintenance phase and not making any substantial progress. I'm ok with that for now.

My sons and I were supposed to go to a famous Chicago pizzeria today, followed by a walk through the Lincoln Park Zoo lights (outdoors), but it's only 11 degrees here. We are postponing until next weekend so we're not rushing through the light display. I'm a bit relieved because I've dined out the past few days. I just want something simple at home today. I am going to bundle up and take a quick, brisk walk.

On my end, I started the holiday season with a "first, do no harm" strategy in mind. It has evolved into "just don't do too much harm."

LOL

Dining out and entertaining mean that this is a "maintain" time of year. So be it.

One stupid thing I did was put out a candy dish. This i very unlike me but we had some from gifts, and I have some leftover from a gift I filled with salt water taffy. I always say "don't advertise "bad" food to yourself," but here it is, on the counter, in a pretty bowl, splayed in front of me.

DH and I grab a piece of taffy when we go by. It is not even good taffy.

I am going to throw it out.

Ditto what Feathers said, Funky!

I ended up on antibiotics for a suspected sinus infection but at least the cough is pretty much gone. DH is making progress but is a couple days behind me — hopefully no more than that. We cancelled everything we had planned for this weekend but we have plans Thurs, Fri, Sat, and Sun so he needs to shake this off. I guess I am just glad this happened now and not later in the month, for Christmas and traveling.

Very little exercise going on here thanks to the cold (ha, both outdoor cold and sick-cold). Still doing PT stretches etc and seeing the ortho dr tomorrow. PT hasn’t helped a whole lot so I am hoping for a big ol’ shot. (I hate needles so I am not really happy about it but hoping it will help.)

Like Feathers, I guess I am in the ”don’t do too much harm” camp. Four dinners out this week, Christmas, then a week of restaurant meals, I have zero expectation of losing an ounce but hope to rein myself in enough that the scale isn’t too scary on Jan 4 when we get home. The rest of the month will be Dry January and Get Back On Track!

Mtn LOL I did the same with Grinch Hershey Kisses. ”For the kids” who will not be here until the 23rd.

Thank you, Feathers and Sue!❤️ I appreciate you all so much!

I rarely have or enjoy candy but cookies have been consumed! I received a gift package yesterday with dried cherry shortbread cookies... and this morning I met my nephew, wife and 2 great nephews at Barnes & Noble. It was a tradition started at Borders when the now adult kids were little. Hot chocolate, treats and books! I only had coffee there but I brought a ginger cookie home. I devoured it right after whining above about my weight being up. LOL

I have been feeling like I have to lose at least 2 lb before I fly out on the 25th. You all have helped me to see how ridiculous I am being. First off, SO won't notice 2 lb. Honestly, I'd be surprised if he noticed 10 lb. What he will notice is if I am uptight, grumpy and stressed over the next few weeks. I need to shift to a "do no harm" .. or a "not too much harm" mindset.

Hope the ortho gives you some relief, Sue .. both my BFF and mom get shots and they both see very quick results.

In a funny twist... as my cataracts progress, I have a new symptom: When it is sunny out, I see tiny sparkles *everywhere*! I can see how it would be a problem if I were driving or walking, etc but I have found them absolutely delightful lol. I was looking forward to going out this morning with our fresh layer of snow but it was overcast and no sparkles. That almost makes it more magical .. they will just be a surprise when they show up next!

Sparkles are floaters. They are more noticeable in sunlight.

Funky, I agree ypu are being too hard on yourself. The only way to fail is to quit trying and you are certainly in no danger of that!

Between Christmas activities and taking my mom to doctors and rainy weather I have not played nearly enough golf lately and I feel sluggish as a result. I went out once this past week and played nine holes by myself— couldn’t talk anyone else into going out in 45 degree weather.

I’ve put on a couple of pounds from a combination of lack of exercise and restaurant meals but not fussed as it’s temporary 🤷‍♀️ I have two tee times for this week and between people’s holiday scheduled and the frigid weather will probably end up playing alone again. Luckily I don’t mind, it gives me time to myself and to try out different clubs and techniques.

My ONE resolution this year is to prioritize my sleep. I have difficulty staying asleep or getting back to sleep when I wake up in the night. The endocrinologist thinks this is my biggest— really only— lifestyle related problem and I am going to tackle it with better sleep hygeine, self hypnosis techniques and short term medications if necessary to develop a sleep habit.

Both worthy reasons, Pal!

Pal, haha, makes sense! I have been getting PT fully clothed in long (jogger type) pants. He wanted to try cupping so I had to wear shorts last time. First of all, shorts in Dec are never a good idea, and shorts on me is a no-go 99% of the time, no matter what season. My hip/thigh area is the ugliest part of my body and here was this nice young man having to massage and ”cup” my thunder thighs. Of course it meant nothing to him and he’s (probably) seen worse, but I felt sorry for him having to get that close to my cellulite. Today someone is going to jab a needle into that area and they might need an extra long needle to get to their target?!

I have had floaters but they appear as black spots, not sparkles. I would prefer the sparkles!

I don't think I have floaters -- it was only when I was looking into the sun/bright area and only for a few minutes. When I looked in the other direction or got in the car, they disappeared. We'll see. It hasnt happened again.

I havent thought about drs having to look at my cellulite or any other part of me -- but now I will! 😂

Total attempt at maintenance here! Funky I can appreciate your feelings of ‘out of sorts’ as it has happened to me as well. Everything I do seems to take twice as long as I intend for it to take, or I hit some snag along the way. Gah! I am not the least bit worried that you, Funky, will attain your goals. You do everything to exceed goals at work so you will succeed at this also.

As for food, I’ve attended a few luncheons and group parties and for two of them have been asked to bring a dessert. Not that I mind that, but I’d really rather not have dessert left-overs, especially at this time of year. I made a pumpkin cheesecake for one and brown butter Blondies for the other. Both had others who brought desserts also. I managed to give away the last few slices of the cheesecake to our hostess & others to take home and took leftover Blondies to a neighbor with a teenage son. Next year I’m signing up to bring salad or veggies.

Feathers’ ”don’t do too much harm“ applies to a lot of us, lol!

Not too much harm - love it!

Eating is going OK, but definitely doing more desserts than normal. Because of out of town travelers, we had our family Christmas Friday and brought home some dessert leftovers just in time to be stuck in the house for a snow day. So, of course those were eaten. And I too put out a candy dish with hershey kisses for my company - who ate none I'm sure.

The worst part is no real exercise - my back and neck are starting to ache. I've been trying to jump and stretch but it's not enough to makeup for the inactivity. It's so cold, but tomorrow is warmer so I am going to try a long walk/jog to try to loosen everything up.

I am still doing the 800 gram challenge. Fell short most days last week, but concentrating on good choices does at least lessen the bad ones to a degree.

I'm doing mostly OK. Yesterday was my worst day in quite a while. I think the being lazy (didn't get on treadmill), watching football and watching the snow come down got to me. Had to snack on crackers and salami in the afternoon. And of course had way too much. Scale was expectantly up a bit this morning,

Back on tread this morning. I think I've noticed an increase in my stamina. Peloton app is also congratulating me on that, so hopefully it's not just in my head.

4.5 weeks until we leave for a warm weather vacation. Hoping I can get to the goal I set for myself by then. About 3.5-4 lbs to go for that goal. And then maybe another 5 lbs after getting home from that one before the next one in April.

@Funkyart you are definitely being too hard on yourself. Your goal for now should be to get into that relaxed holiday mode to make the most of your time with family and SO.

Okay, there are some roadblocks here.

This is just in the past month:
Gingerbread cake

Apple Bavarian Cheese Cake

Rein de Saba and Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Walnut Bread

Snickerdoodles and Gingersnaps

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip

Pretzel + Kiss+ M&M

Chocolate Chip and Candied Bacon

Oh noooo… so dangerous. The second cake (?) looks like a giant cinnamon bun on my screen.

You can send me the Apple Bavarian cheesecake Pal, I’m happy to help out 😬

Luckily most of the cakes get given away, and so do cookies but the cookies are produced so quickly, that new batches come along

I made chocolate chip cookies for my class, and they were good and I didn't make a mess. But they took time.

My SO can make three different doughs, clean up in between, and have the doughs wrapped in plastic resting in the refrigerator in the time it takes me to get started with one dough. And then bake all 12-15 dozen the next day. :(

The cheesecakes used to get made 6-8 at a time back in the pastry chef days.

Choc chip and candied bacon? How interesting. That's a new one for me. I bet it's delicious.

I gained 5 lbs looking at those photos!

Well they are a little troublesome. They have to be baked right away and they have to be refrigerated. Some dough was left over and it was refrigerated unbaked. The fat in the bacon must have permeated the dough, because when that dough was baked, they did not taste as good and they baked differently.

And the bacon has to be candied because regular bacon in a cookie gets a greasy slightly rancid taste in my opinion. Most of the time chocolate, and cookies in general taste better at room temperature (stored in sealed containers), but these seem to be an exception, and they are better cold.

I am just about done with grading. Have I sent out Christmas cards or put up our tree--NO. I may make Christmas cookies. I usually do the Hershey Kiss PB blossoms.

Got one Pilates class, but she was sick the other day so my private session got canceled. So, since I was dressed to workout I just did another day of weights. I may go to the Y tomorrow for upbeat barre, but I'm also trying to stay low. I get my big award at graduation on Saturday and I just don't want to be around people breathing too much in an enclosed space. Too many people with flu and C here. Luckily the students are gone so our building is empty.

Made turkey lasagna the other day, so we've had that. I'm starting to titrate down on the medication and will move to a lower dose.

BTW, here is a good webinar that just premiered on per/ menopause and weight from the Obesity Action Coalition. Dr. Patel is pretty active on social media too.