Keeping up appearances.......

Honey_Bear

Good Intention Number 1:

By the time I get back from this trip to France, be able to use this sodding tablet without wanting to hurl it across the room every 30 seconds. It was so kind of Mr Bear to want me to have one for my birthday back in April but it's a nightmare teaching myself how to use it. I'm pretty sure it's because he wants me to figure out how to use them so he can then get one for himself and ask me to teach him.

Notes on other Good Intentions are in my intray at home. They'll keep.

Dolphin1

Update for Sunday & Monday (last 2 days of September)...

1) To have at least 15 NCDs - Sunday no, Monday yes so final total of 13 days for September. I'm pretty happy with this because I got off to a really bad start and also it's 13 more NCDs than I would have had if I didn't set the target!

2) To meal plan at the end of the week for the following week - All done for this week!

3) Be in bed by 10.00pm and light out by 10.30pm Sunday to Thursday - Sunday, bed at 9.45pm and light out at 10.45pm. Monday, bed at 9.30pm and light off at 10.20pm.

4) At least 30 minutes walking during the day - Sunday, none. Monday, 45 minutes (1 x 25 minutes & 2 x 10 minutes).

I'll be back later with my Optimistic October targets!

Dolphin1

HappyNow wrote: »

Target wise, September was a bit of a washout for me but October is only 70 minutes away and I am Optimistic. New targets are:

• Sleep. Fitbit has a new feature, or maybe I've only just spotted it. It now records a nightly sleep score, which is a mark out of 100 taking into account sleep duration, quality, and restorative qualities. 90-100 is excellent, 80-89 is good, 60-79 is fair, and below 60 is poor. It's logged mine since 22/8/19 and every night has been Fair, apart from one Good and one Poor. I'm aiming for at least ten Good nights in October, although I've still got to work out how to do that!
• Weight I will weigh myself first thing tomorrow morning, but aim to be 8st 7lb by the end of October. - Wow, good luck with that, the last time I was 8st 7lbs, I was probably a toddler!
• Ten NCD Shamelessly nicked from Dolphin but with lower aspirations. - Have you decided what your 'crap' is that you don't want to eat? For me this means none of the following... butter, cake, sweets, biscuits, chocolate, ice cream, cream or desserts of any kind. The one I struggle with the most is the butter so I rarely buy it any more.
• Nails I've bitten my nails and the skin around them since primary school and they literally hurt. Surely I can stop if I really try?? I've taken a photo of them tonight and I'll take another on 31/10/19.

I was a nail-biter for years. I didn't even know when I was doing it but OH hated it so he would remind me to stop every time I started. This actually helped a great deal although I would never tell him that. I found that once they started to grow out and I saw how much nicer they looked that the habit just disappeared so if you can keep it up for the month it might just work.

HappyNow

Dolphin1 wrote: »

1) To have at least 15 NCDs - final total of 13 days for September. I'm pretty happy with this because I got off to a really bad start and also it's 13 more NCDs than I would have had if I didn't set the target!

This. I gave myself a bit of a kicking last night because I've failed at everything in September! But you're right, as is Honey above, we are having more partial successes than if we weren't trying. And actually, one of my early September targets was to be pro-active about making extra money. I've just withdrawn £22.49 from Prolific Academic, and I've got £1.30 worth of points in Receipt Hog. Nothing life-changing but it all helps.

Dolphin1 wrote: »

I was a nail-biter for years. I didn't even know when I was doing it but OH hated it so he would remind me to stop every time I started. This actually helped a great deal although I would never tell him that. I found that once they started to grow out and I saw how much nicer they looked that the habit just disappeared so if you can keep it up for the month it might just work.

Mr H hates it when I bite mine, he can't stand the chomping noise! It hasn't stopped me yet though. Next time I'm near a chemist I'm going to buy some of that awful tasting stuff to paint on. I did try it years ago but it was so horrible I didn't keep it up.

My definition of NCDs is going to be the same as yours, apart from butter. I can't imagine eating enough butter in normal use for it to be a problem - do you scoop it out of the tub with a spoon or something?

Honey_Bear wrote: »

Good Intention Number 1:
By the time I get back from this trip to France, be able to use this sodding tablet without wanting to hurl it across the room every 30 seconds. It was so kind of Mr Bear to want me to have one for my birthday back in April but it's a nightmare teaching myself how to use it. I'm pretty sure it's because he wants me to figure out how to use them so he can then get one for himself and ask me to teach him.

Ah I'd noticed you were posting while away which is unusual for you - I assumed you'd taken a laptop. No advice from me, I've never used a tablet. I like big screens and proper keyboards. I'm useless on my phone too.

Elnora32

[FONT=&quot]I think everyone has done really well this month – it’s not easy to change habits. I started making changes a few years ago – drinking more water, cutting down on chocolate & walking and found it difficult for them to become ingrained. At times I dropped some because I was struggling and continued with the ones where I was more successful. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]I have found that I do have to be in the right frame of mind to make the changes and once I started to be more successful it has become easier to make more changes.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Dolphin [/FONT][FONT=&quot]– I think you’ve done really well with your NCD target, you only missed it by a couple of days and it is really difficult to give up chocolate. I also think you’ve met the walking target more often than not.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Happy[/FONT][FONT=&quot] – I don’t think you should beat yourself up for missing some targets. You set off well and then had time away and have been busy since you got back. Excellent on the money making – it might not be much but the small amounts add up.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Honey [/FONT][FONT=&quot]– good to ‘hear’ from you and good luck with learning how to use the tablet.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Seasidegal, BB50 & Milann [/FONT][FONT=&quot]– hope you’re all OK and have been doing well with your targets.[/FONT]

Elnora32

[FONT=&quot]My Good Intentions for Optimistic October:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Garden[/FONT][FONT=&quot] – I need to tidy the garden before winter so I will aim to complete as much as possible during the month. This will depend on the weather but I will aim to do something every day that I am able. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Food [/FONT][FONT=&quot]– I used to have a cookbook night to try new recipes which meant our meals were more interesting but recently our meals have become a bit boring so I am going to try new recipe each week.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Make time for me[/FONT][FONT=&quot] – I am usually busy and don’t really make time to do something that I enjoy so I would like to make time to read or complete a craft project etc.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Autumn clean[/FONT][FONT=&quot] – I have annual clean at this time of year which needs to be done before C Day. Now you’d think I’d have plenty of time but I always end up cramming it all in at the last minute. So this year I will aim to do 2 or 3 rooms during October.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]And just to let you know the month started on a low as I didn't do anything on the list today :rotfl:I can only improve
[/FONT]

Seasidegal58

Apologies for neglecting Serious September! Please don't expel me - I'm back with my results and new goals as follows:

SERIOUS SEPTEMBER – DAY 20-30

· 1,500 cals three days in work week, 500 cals on two and lighten up a bit at weekend! – this week went well Ended up losing 4lb when I weighed in on Saturday. A total of 1 stone 8lb lost in five weeks!!!!

Walking at least 30 mins per day, plus the leg exercises that Elnora/Dolphin gave me – Again ok haven't managed to walk excessively above my 30 mins. Again - stretches mostly good, but odd days when I've not bothered……

· - Drink six glasses of water per day – this is gone well.

· Go to bed at a sensible time during the work week – - very hit and miss – I don't honestly think this is going to work properly until I retire and can get myself into a real routine. Unless I'm really tired in the work week I tend to want to stay up to offset the feeling that everything is all work and then bed!

Eating down from the freezer – I had the smoked haddock but ended up giving away the rest of frozen meat and fish. This is because of my big new goal for October……………

….which is I've decided to try going vegan! I've sort of been leading up to it over the last couple of weeks in that I've not been replacing any meat/fish or dairy products and trying plant based versions or lot of fruit, veg, grains and beans instead. This has been brought on as I've been watching quite a few documentaries on a plant based diet and the health evidence appears overwhelmingly in favour of plants! And that's without the environmental/ethical effect as well. Two excellent documentaries that set me on the path are on Netflix – called 'Forks Over Knives' and 'What The Health.' I've been reading up on recipes - DD has decided to join me as well. I'm not saying I won't ever lapse – I don't want to push it into people's faces – if someone offers me a coffee and they only have milk to add then I'll have it. I'll probably lapse a bit a Christmas and New Year as well. The main thing is to keep it going most of the time.

On Saturday I gave all my tinned sardines, tuna, unopened dried egg pasta etc to the food bank and the rest of the meat/fish frozen/dried food to my friend (there wasn't that much left actually). All the perishable dairy in the fridge has been eaten (boo hoo! I had my final frittata with the last of the eggs!

So OPTIMISTIC OCTOBER today (thank you milann for that heading!)

Goals are:

· 1,500 cals three days in work week, 500 cals on two and lighten up a bit at weekend, BUT KEEP IT PLANT BASED AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!

- Keep on with the walking and foot stretches, but see if I can incorporate a few back stretches as well.

Only two goals, but I think this month I'll have enough to contend with re. going vegan.

I'm going to miss cheese terribly though. The vegan version isn't a patch on the real stuff. And the vegan milk chocolate I tried wasn't up to much – although Green & Blacks dark chocolate is vegan apparently, apart from the toffee version. I like dark chocolate so should be ok here.

And eggs…………. I love omelettes and frittatas. I've had to forgo redo's egg wrap on 500 cal days. hummus and ryvitas instead…..

Wish me luck!

Dolphin1

HappyNow wrote: »

My definition of NCDs is going to be the same as yours, apart from butter. I can't imagine eating enough butter in normal use for it to be a problem - do you scoop it out of the tub with a spoon or something?

Well, I do like an occasional bit of toast with my butter. Seriously though, I use so much on my toast that I can see my teeth marks when I bite into it and I have noticed that it has a detrimental affect on my weight.

Dolphin1

Good targets Elnora and SSG. Good luck to both of you but especially to SSG with the whole going vegan target.

My targets for Optimistic October...

1) To have at least 15 NCDs - There is a lot going on this month so I'm not going to increase the target.

2) To meal plan at the end of the week for the following week - I need to keep this up because if I don't then it will be no time until I'm back to having to decide what to have on a daily basis.

3) Be in bed by 10.00pm and light out by 10.30pm Sunday to Thursday - Most definitely need to keep trying with this.

4) At least 40 minutes walking during the day 6 days a week - I have changed it slightly so I get more walking in overall but give myself a day off too.

5) Deep clean the kitchen - Over the course of the month, do the oven, clean out all of the cupboards, clean the windows/blinds etc.

HappyNow

Elnora Excellent targets - I could have chosen them myself. Most of our new garden is in its first year and I'm not really sure which of the plants are due to disappear underground and which will hang around looking tatty. At the moment it's 90% covered in fallen leaves so that's my starting point Let's hope the weather gets better so we can crack on with it (although it's lovely today and I've chosen to sit inside typing this!).
I'm another who likes the house all freshly cleaned for Christmas. I think it's because my parents have always spent Christmas with us and I didn't want them thinking they'd raised a slob! Anyway, my dad died nearly two years ago and my mum's almost blind so can't see if it's clean or not - as long as the oven's not mucky enough to set the smoke alarm off I'll get away with it!

SSG Wow to going vegan. I will watch you with interest because I've thought about it myself. It'd be giving up cheese and having chocolate restrictions that would get to me. It's becoming much more common-place though so hopefully the alternatives will start to improve. I'd carry on eating eggs (so not really vegan!) but I'd either get more chickens myself or carry on eating eggs from my neighbour's pet flock. Well done on most of Setember too!

Dolphin Lol at you having a bit of toast with your butter!! :rotfl: Good targets, similar to last month but with a bit of fine-tuning, and with a kitchen clean thrown in. I remember setting kitchen scrubbing as one of my targets a couple of years ago. It never did get done, and since then we've replaced the whole kitchen so I'm glad I didn't bother!

Honey If your tablet hasn't been lobbed out of the window and you happen to drop by, hope you're having an excellent hollibob.