Comments (40)

By kilax, January 12, 2010 5:31 am

Thank you for all of your feedback and questions yesterday – I really appreciate it. I am taking many notes to review. Keep the suggestions/questions coming!

I have to share a little secret – I have been weighing myself every single day since October 17th.

And to make it worse? I have been tracking every weigh-in in excel. Oh yes, so I can make fun charts like this:

What does this all mean?

That I am about to get chewed out for weighing myself 7 times a week?

Actually, it means that I have been using the home scale since October 17th and have not stayed overnight anywhere since then.

Well, that is about to change! We’re going to Barbados!

Ha! Not! I wish. No, we are leaving for Iowa soon and will be there 5 nights and 4 whole days.

That is a lot of time away from the scale.

Dun dun dun… what is going to happen?

What usually happens when I visit family (or they visit) is that I lose all abandon and stuff my face silly. But these past few months we’ve had family over a few times, and I have been fine. In fact, in the past few months I have only had four incidences where I felt like I was binge-eating, and they were all at work.

So, I am feeling pretty optimistic that I can forget about that scale for (gasp!) 5 days and see what happens. I think I can have fun and eat reasonably. And I know I can fit exercise in.

But just in case, what are your tips for eating healthy when you are in a situation that normally triggers the opposite?

My tips are to focus on the company, not the food, and to drink lots of water.

Comments (18)

By kilax, September 14, 2009 4:32 pm

This is my first time going on travel for the job I started back in December. I’m in Washington DC all week for training that is being held at the hotel where I am staying.

Mommy, don’t go!

Originally, I was scheduled to do this training with someone from another division that I don’t know. But, fate changed, and I ended up getting to go with my favorite work friend! She works in a different division now, but when I started, she kind of showed me the ropes. We think we’re pretty lucky that we got to come to DC together!

When we got here last night, we decided to squeeze in a visit to the Washington National Cathedral.

Washington National Cathedral

Washington National Cathedral

We arrived fairly late in the evening, so mass was starting. We could hear their beautiful singing and organ playing from the back of the cathedral. The sound really resonated throughout the space.

We spent a bit of time walking around inside and around the cathedral, but I realized I still feel a bit burned out from all of the church/cathedral visiting I did in Rome/Europe. It’s not like once you see one, you’ve seen them all… but to me, they just aren’t as exciting the second time around. They’re still magnificent and beautiful, just maybe not as awe inspiring.

We were starving after visiting the Cathedral, and visited the first place by Dupont Circle that looked appetizing – some place called “DC Cafe,” where I got a falafel pita. Nom nom nom. I need to quit eating these things.

I had a falafel pita on Friday too!

My lifestyle on travel feels so different than at home – I have a per diem to cover my food for the day (it’s very generous) and I have a 2 minute commute… that doesn’t require me to get into any sort of vehicle. Now, if only the bed was comfortable…

Comments (12)

By kilax, July 16, 2009 5:35 pm

I hate that I wear my heart on my sleeve, therefore making every emotion I am feeling obvious.

Last week, a coworker said, “Hey! You seem happy today.” I was happy that day. The last few times she’d seen me, I’d been very stressed or sad.

Yesterday, I ran into my mentor in the hallway of my building. I just said hello, and from that, he asked “what’s wrong?” He could hear the stress and panic in my voice.

And the worst example – a few of my college friends are visiting this weekend, and one just called me and said, “It seemed like you are kind of stressed out in the last few emails you sent. You seem worried about what we will do while we are there and what we will eat. We just want to see you and relax! We can just sit on the couch all weekend and eat whatever, it doesn’t matter!”

I wanted to cry when she called. She was trying to reassure me, but knowing that my stress was so obvious just made me feel worse.

Comments (20)

By kilax, November 16, 2008 10:34 pm

We have a super stressful week ahead of us. Besides preparing for my family’s visit next weekend with the typical cleaning and shopping, we also have to ship four Saab winter wheels and tires somewhere (?), put up our Christmas tree, as well as finish PAINTING our bedroom so we can SLEEP in it.

And did I mention the shopping won’t be normal shopping for guests, but shopping for guests and for ingredients for about 10-15 different cookies and sweets?!

And what did I do all weekend that I did not get any of the above mentioned done? I had neighbors over for dinner, ran a 5K, got my oil changed, test drove a car, went to Lowe’s, went to Quantum of Solace, did laundry, painted test samples, went back to Lowe’s and Target, taped, painted, cursed, went to Home Depot, cut up all the vegetables, took the garbage out, cleaned the kitchen…

I feel like the only time I sat down this weekend was at the movie. And I was being anxious and jumpy anyway (slow movie).

I am stressed out. I have so much to do, and what? Two and a half free hours each night to do it? If I skip dinner, and don’t exercise?

I don’t care if I have to stay up late to get all of these things done. I just want to exercise. I am already feeling anxious and stressed out about the fact that I may not have the time to (logistically, I can’t right now – there is no room in the bedroom to pull the treadmill out).

And I’m feeling stressed about stress eating. And stressed about the fact that I’ve been feeling so much more hungry lately. What is THAT about? I thought you got LESS hungry when you weighed less? Am I confusing hunger with something else?

I am trying to mentally prepare for the week and these challenges. I may actually have to make a little schedule to make sure I get all the things done I need to get done.

Monday – Paint
Tuesday – Paint?
Wednesday – Shopping
Thursday – Cleaning / Tree

I’ve just gotta let out all of my stress here. And say that it’s going to be a rough week, but an awesome weekend with my family. And a great Monday off NEXT week. That’s when I’ll get my rest!

Comments (13)

By kilax, March 14, 2008 4:55 am

Do you love or loathe having house guests?

Steven and I really love having house guests. We like cleaning the house and stocking the pantry, in anticipation of our guests arrival. We like making special meals, or taking our guests to our favorite restaurants. We like to show (off) the work we have done on our town home… especially Steven’s schmancy pants A/V system. We like to stay up late, play fun games, and entertain.

Of course, I ask because my family is coming to visit, and from what I’ve heard from other people, not everyone gets as excited about that as I do.

I am also wondering…

Do you have any good house guests stories?

Now, this isn’t a good story, per se, but it is definitely… interesting. A few years ago I was on a school trip in NYC. Our departure flight was canceled and we ended up on a flight that put us in the O’Hare airport overnight before our connecting flight home.

Of course, I looked at that as an opportunity to see Steven. And it just happened to be on Valentine’s Day! Since I am so nice, I asked three of my friends if they wanted to come stay at our house in the guest bedroom or on the couch so they did not have to sleep in the airport/front the money for a hotel.

Steven was really nice and picked us up in the middle of the night. We all woke up early the next day to catch our flight home. Trying to be nice, I asked my friends if they wanted some breakfast – maybe milk and cereal? I told them I wasn’t feeling awake enough to have any, but they all said yes.

So, we are standing around in the kitchen, them eating their cereal, and me and Steven chatting, when one my friends makes a funny face, places her bowl on the counter, and runs into our powder room and forces herself to throw up into the sink.

Yeah, that alarmed us, especially the other two.

She comes out and we ask what was wrong. “Oh nothing,” she brushes it off. “There were just some live bugs in my cereal.”

Everyone dumped their cereal in the sink. Steven and I were mortified. How did this happen?! She had a different cereal than everyone else! Did she confuse the pieces of cereal for bugs since it was so early in the morning? Or did she actually feel something moving around in her mouth?

Well, it hasn’t happened since. And luckily, I was still friends with everyone after that. That girl was even one of my bridesmaids.