Fitness Fellowship 2026: Check-in 17

[sylvanwitch]

Well, we've made it another week, friends, and what a week it has been!

As usual, please share your ups and downs with us. Where has your fitness journey taken you this week? How have you been feeling? I hope the week has been kind to you and you've found opportunities to make yourself happy.



Weight: 194.4, I think. Up again by 1.8 pounds. It's totally food-related. More on that below.

Exercise: Yoga 4/4, strength-training 3/3, meaningful steps every day (and LOTS of them!) and even some outdoor work yesterday. Yay!

Eating plan: So, I've been within my calories most days, if you include what I "earn" by exercising, but Saturday was a BIG splurge day, and I was already seeing the number creep up before I had pizza and an entire pint of non-dairy ice cream, and that's because I'm eating my exercise calories. I need to pretend they aren't there and just stick to the lower daily calorie goal. The eating is happening because work is stressful, among other things. I need to stop the emotional eating.

Hydration: Yes!

Meditation! Yes, 2/2!

Sleep: Pretty good. I've been making a big point of being in bed on time, ready to sleep and not amped up on screen-time.

The week ahead: I have rededicated myself to clean(er) eating, so I'm back to sprouted multigrain bread with nut-spread in the AM, healthy lunches, and rice, beans, and greens and/or salads for dinner. T. complicated my plan by bringing home vegan peanut butter cookies last night, but I can't be mad at him for being excited to have discovered that the grocery store where he works has *several* "secret" vegan products in their in-store bakery. (They don't label it vegan because they're afraid it will turn people off to the baked goods. Even though the baked goods have *always* been vegan and taste amazing.) So, I'll save room for one cookie after dinner, with the goal of still reducing daily calories.


May the week ahead be a good one for us all.

Comments

[batdina]

I'm mostly back on the road to health. I'm hoping to start lifting weights again, but I'm back on the meditation/yoga path.

Life has been hard for the past year, but things are finally looking up in my personal life. I'll share other info later, but today I'm feeling pretty much on top of my life again. FWIW, I have been following along, even as I've been very quiet.

[sylvanwitch]

It is always so very good to hear from you, friend. I am genuinely thrilled to hear that you are feeling so much better and that life is back on track for you. I can imagine, though never know, what you've been through. Big *hugs* and all the blessings to you. And, as always, I hope you know you may share as much or as little with me, here or elsewhere, as you're comfortable sharing. More *hugs* just 'cause.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>The eating is happening because work is stressful, among other things. I need to stop the emotional eating.<<

Alas! Nature abhors a vacuum. It's hard to break a habit that has a functional purpose, until you replace it with a better habit that achieves the same purpose. If you can't find a less stressful job, you might explore other options for stress relief than eating -- especially something that keeps your mouth and/or hands busy doing other things, such as playing a musical instrument. Sometimes it takes a while to find a satisfying replacement, but if you can, it makes dropping the bad habit a lot more doable.

>> sprouted multigrain bread with nut-spread in the AM, <<

That sounds delicious.

Farmer's markets around here start opening in May. :D I am looking forward to that. My container gardening is in progress. Peas, carrots, lettuce, and bok choy are sprouting. I bought tomato and cucumber plants. I'm still holding out in hopes of Gypsy peppers.

Today has been pouring rain, so no yardwork. Instead we hung up the apothecary cabinet in the kitchen, which was a lot of work but quite an accomplishment when done.

Sunday: Lots of planting things, and ass-busting amounts of effort clearing dead weed stems from the south lot.

Saturday: We went to the Douglas-Hart Nature Center for their Earth Day Celebration with a native plant sale. I bought a bunch of plants. We did a bunch more running around town too. Then at home I planted things.

Friday: We walked around Spring Fest. It was too wet for much yardwork though.

Thursday: Lots of planting and hauling things around.

Wednesday: Lots of planting, also ass-busting effort on stick pickup in the south lot.

Tuesday: We bought plants at DeBurh's. I got a few actually planted.

Re: Thoughts

[sylvanwitch]

It sounds like you've been as busy as the weather will allow. That's marvelous! May your garden bring you peace and joy in the hot season, when it's least comfortable being out there laboring. :-)

[cornerofmadness]

we decided to extend water aerobics by one week I'm happy

[sylvanwitch]

Oh, excellent news! Yay!

[oschun]

Good luck with trying to reduce emotional eating. It's not easy to unravel something like that when it's wrapped up in a big emotional, psychological, stressful ball. I hope things settle down for you at work.

I've been craving sweet things lately after dinner, so I've started preparing fruit salads with Greek yoghurt and toasted seeds. I love it. I don't enjoy sweet stuff like that for breakfast - I'm more a marmite on toast kinda gal in the mornings - but it's great as a dessert.

I did weights at the gym last week and it was really quite enjoyable. I'm feeling positive about embedding strength training into my life.