What's the Plan? My Left Brain and Right Brain figure out Thanksgiving Dining

Thursday, November 22, 2012

I thought you'd like to listen in on my School Marm Left Brain and my Wild Child Right Brain as they get ready for this Food Fest of a Day.

LB Happy Thanksgiving to you! How do you feel?

RB Thanks, pretty good. How do you Think?

LB LOL It's not HOW I think but WHAT ... and I think we look pretty durn good compared to a year ago - which was an improvement over the year before. Doin' good girlfriend

RB You know what? That's just how I feel too. I'm really proud of how slim I look and I really love that sparkly shirt we bought

LB Yeah - even though we DON'T NEED ANY MORE CLOTHES! I think we look good in it too, though. So. I am thinking also about how to keep on looking this good. I have a plan.

RB Why am I not surprised. I hope it isn't a Nothing Good To Eat plan

LB of Course not. I wouldn't ruin Thanksgiving for us. My plan is this. Let's figure out how many calories/points a modest thanksgiving dinner is and then decide how to eat around it the rest of the week. AND figure out how much more exercise we're going to have to get in to counter the "weight" of that dinner.

RB ...uh. OK. There will still be pie, right?

LB Absolutely. And thigh meat and dressing - but .. how about skipping the gravy?

RB What about the jello?

LB You betcha.

RB And cranberry sauce?

LB If you want it.

RB hmmm. and wine?

LB yep

RB Well. It doesn't look like I'll have to give up anything. what's the catch?

LB I think we might pass on the whipped cream with our pie.

RB well... okay. I'm always sort of sick by pie time anyway

LB And if you decide to NOT put butter on your roll - that saves something ... but that one is up to you. I've factored it in.

RB What about the surprise dish our guests are bringing?

LB I've factored that in. Plus the hour of housework we have to do and the 2 mile after dinner walk we'll take.

RB So. what's the damage?

LB Well - dinner will be about 2400 calories or 50 points. give or take

RB oh. that's a lot

LB It will be less if you eat less turkey thigh - but that's about the only place I can see you could cut back and ... even I don't want to do that

RB Me neither.

LB But we can shave off 4 points by taking that after dinner walk and cleaning this house - the floor looks awful!

RB LOL but we always do that anyway.

LB Yes - we do. But listen - this means we have oatmeal with apples for breakfast and only carrots and apples the WHOLE rest of the day.

RB I'm good with that.

LB I'm glad. It also means we only have 15 bonus points and 10 activity points .... about 1,000 calories of wiggle room the rest of the week and there will be ALL THAT PIE in the house.

RB Couldn't we give some of that away?

LB Yes! We can! And I plan to cook only enough mashed potatoes to eat up in this one meal. No Leftovers of that. You know that - it's not really this one big meal that causes so much damage. It's all the aftermath. The snacking. The pie for breakfast.

RB Yeah. I know. I wish ...

LB Don't go there. It's NOW. and it's HERE and TODAY deserves as much fun and attention and enjoyment as ANY Yesterday!

RB Okay. I won't go there. Besides, I'm looking forward to getting to know the K's better.

LB Me too. And sharing the beautiful autumn colors with two artists. Won't they love the views and the colors and the fresh air smell?

RB Yeah - I'm so thankful we could invite them this year. And really really thankful it's such a pretty day.

LB I'm thankful too - for the opportunity to have a smaller feast.

RB LOL I bet.

LB and we'll be taking long walks on Saturday and Sunday and maybe even going to the gym on Friday. We can rack up some exercise points this weekend. But we really have to eat only healthy nourishing food the rest of the week - in appropriate sized portions.

RB Yeah yeah yeah. I understand. But talk to me about THAT later because ... I can't care about Saturday when there's today to live in. Remember "It's NOW. and it's HERE and TODAY deserves as much fun and attention and enjoyment as ANY tomorrow!

LB Touche! And thanks for having this talk with me. I'm really THANKFUL for it. I love you, you know.

 RB I'm thankful for it too. Love ya right back

Dancing Around My Weight Loss Goal - a Left Brain Right Brain Conversation

If you hadn't realized, I am a fluffy woman (love that term)
who has spent a lifetime werkin' on it. At the moment I'm again on a downward effort via my own combination of Weight Watchers, Vegan, and ThingsIMadeUpMyself. Yesterday I weighed in at just a few ounces over last week's weight.  That's just over 3 pounds from my WW goal and just under 2 pounds from not having to pay to go to meetings. I like those meetings and plan to continue to go fairly regularly when I reach that goal, even though the rule is only once a month. I like the WW employees and I like the people who attend. But I would rather have the $. 

When I look in the mirror, though, I see that I would also rather weigh 10 lbs less than that goal weight. It's a proportion thing and it's an age thing. The only thing that would keep me heavier would be if my face sagged too much at the lower weight (also an age thing). But way back in 2003 when I first picked this WW goal I thought I'd look and feel better at that lower weight. I just didn't want to work towards it any more. Now, almost a decade later and half an inch shorter, I need to see if this is right for me. 

So. So what's going on? I'm playing around with the same few pounds - or even ounces - again. Time to get my Left Brain Wild Child talking to my Right Brain School Marm and see what we can do to start moving again. 

 

LB  Well, my friend - we're starting to dance away from our weight loss goal again. Want to talk about it? 

RB   Yes 

LB   So, do you want to get slender? 
RB     Yes but I'm afraid 
LB    What are you afraid of? 
RB    I'm afraid I'll have to work this hard for the rest of my life 
LB    Oh - I understand how that feels. I suspect, though, that if we get used to good habits we might not feel they're such a burden. Don't you love going to the gym now that it's a habit?

RB    Well. Yes.

LB    Okay, so what else? 
RB   I'm afraid I won't be able to live up to our expectations. And I'm tired 
LB    What are you tired of? 
RB   I am tired of having to think all the time. Think about what to eat. Think about exercising. thinkthinkthink 
LB     Yeah - I understand that too. I'm a little tired of it too.  How else do you feel? 

RB    I don't feel free enough 
LB    What would make you feel more free? 
RB   LOL - a cook in the kitchen who made all the decisions for me and they were all good ones. And restaurants that figured out how to make good-for-me food as tasty and cheap as not-so-good-for-me food. 
LB   Well. I'd like that too - but what can I do to help you feel more free? 

RB  Give me a safety net. Make the lists. Make the plan. Plan out meals. Take time to do your job. 
LB   Hmmmm. I can do that. I even like doing that. But it means not doing other things. Time is finite when it comes to this sort of thing. You have to be willing to Not Play with Other Things while I do all this list making and planning. 
RB    When? When? 
LB    How about Thursday afternoon? But you will have to be quiet 

RB    OK - I can be quiet while you're working. 
LB    And we may miss our drawing session that day and have to double up on the weekend

RB    OK 

LB    Anything else? 

RB    I am getting older and I don't know who I am as an old lady 

LB   You're the same person you always were 

RB   No I'm not - I have creaky bones and aching joints sometimes and I have to watch out for my back and I'm scared I'll look bald if I let my hair turn grey but I'm afraid I'll look stupid with an old lady face and died hair. 

LB    Nobody's looking at you that hard 

LB    I'm looking at me 

RB   How can I help?

LB   Oh. I didn't think anybody could help. Can you make a plan about that too? 

RB   I'm sure I could 

LB   When When When?

RB   Well - hmm. How about this weekend? No. Wait. Hmmm. How about Labor Day weekend? And btw, I'm glad to learn you see the value of all my list making and plan writing ... 

LB   I've always valued you - I just don't like it when you forget about me 

RB   Fair enough. Well - Let's work together on this 

LB   Deal 

   Well. Who knew? I'll be back when I have plans to share. Hope you got a chuckle out of all this.