Things I did today

I moved my coffee table and my keyboard! It's now in my way to watching TV, and so the goal was to be reminded that I want to sit at the keyboard and play, and watch a lot less TV. I only get half marks for that. I now no longer watch TV, but I've also not played any piano. Instead I've read and done things on the computer, on my not as comfortable chair. I did watch two modules on Practical SQL Server Security, Compliance and Auditing. It was implementation of things I already knew about, so it wasn't all unknown material for me. I hope the encryption portions are of similar ease! But, back to the original problem: For a person who talks about piano and likes piano and enjoys playing piano, why the heck am I not playing the piano? I made that habit obvious and easy to do. The TV watching now is not easy and it is not satisfying. Atomic Habits Chapter 5 summary: The 1st Law of Behavior Change s make it obvious. The two most common cues are time and location. C

Yesterday I had dinner with a friend of mine. I had a no sugar added dinner except for the roll, that I misunderstood was a 'honey roll with butter' and not a 'roll with honey butter'. I ignored the butter, but halfway through the roll, I remarked how sweet it was... then realized my mistake and stopped eating the roll. After not eating added sugar, it tasted like cake! If that's the only mistake I make this month, I'll be more than pleased. I ate just over 1,500 calories, and didn't lose any weight, so I'm ok with that. It seems like 1,500 is the correct amount to eat in order to stay the same weight, for my particular activity level. Chapter 4 talks about noticing habits and understanding and listing what habits we have and if they are good, bad or neutral toward our goals and desired identity. The chapter summary: With enough practice, your brain will pick up on the cues that predict certain outcomes without consciously thinking about it. Once

Well, I'm down another pound and a half. I didn't feel well last night and only managed to eat 1,228 calories in total yesterday. I'm still not feeling the best, so I'll just eat what I feel is appropriate for the amount of hunger I have. This also means I didn't get around to moving my coffee table and keyboard yesterday, but I can do that today or tomorrow (I'll be having dinner with one of my friends, so I might not get to it today.) Facebook reminded me of a post I made on January 9, 2014. "One of my co-workers added another goal for me this year." Those are three (I guess four, actually) way too large goals for one year. And I thought I was going to do all  of them in 365 days? I managed to lose ~20lbs of the 50lbs I needed to lose to hit 120, I continually got better at my SQL skills, but it ended up being not knowing what you don't know - there's no way to get true mastery of the entire SQL language unless that is all you d

As far as I know, I'm between projects at work. I fixed a report that had an issue, but no one was reporting it. I sent files to an external client, and until I get told that I'm needed for something, I guess I'll do some training in Pluralsight. And, I just got picked to do a full stack refresh, so I guess my afternoon is no longer free. I'll take lunch and read chapter 3 in Atomic Habits. This evening, I'll be hanging out with one of my friends. Chapter 3 discussed how habits are created and sustained despite the person wanting to stop a habit, or start a good habit. The Chapter Summary: A habit is a behavior that has repeated enough times to become automatic. The ultimate purpose of habits is to solve the problems of life with as little energy and effort as possible. Any habit can be broken down into a feedback loop that involves four steps: cue, craving, response and reward. The Four Laws of Behavioral Change are a simple set of rules we can use to

Today, I just stuck with my chicken taco leftovers for food. Even though I ate a huge salad and drank two beers last night, I still lost another half pound. I'm feeling full after all the Mexican food, and I'd be surprised if I lost any more weight. I bought bananas and blueberries and have canned pineapple for times where I feel I want a little quick energy without needing added sugar. I still need to focus on my water intake. I drank a can of seltzer water, three cups of tea and two cups of decaf coffee. It feels like a lot! I've been thinking more about Atomic Habits in Chapter 2. From the summary: The most effective way to change your habits is to focus not on what you want to achieve, but on who you wish to become. I'd agree with that, though it's often difficult to change yourself drastically. I'd like to become a healthy, fit and patient person, who is a musician and photographer. Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuo

Not too bad today, I ate more chicken tacos, split some breadsticks (sans dipping sauce) with a friend of mine, and ate a salad. I'm stuffed! I read Chapter 2 of James Clear's Atomic Habits. He discussed how change is easier when you associate your identity with a habit. I agree. I used to be 50 pounds over weight. I remember deciding that enough was enough, and I was going to lose the weight. After a rough start where I went a little extreme (lost 15 pounds in 2 months, was exhausted and gained it all back) I decided to make a more measured approach about how much I was going to exercise, and an easier approach about diet. Laura of that moment: No more sweets. I just don't eat them. I used to, I don't now. It made it much easier when making decisions about food in company meetings. If it wasn't low carb, I wasn't going to eat it. End of story. No "Well, if I just have half of it" or "I can do this now and not eat dinner", it was "If i

Today was a rough day. I likely accidentally ate far fewer carbs on this diet than I usually do, so my medium intensity walk seemed like a never ending slog up some hills. I happened to have some canned pineapple in juice (not syrup) and some lefse and ate those (not together!) to get an added carb burst. I'm feeling much better, but still a bit sleepy. I've yet to eat dinner, which will be chicken tacos, leftover from last night. So far I've still not had added sugar except for the very small amount present in the oatmilk I use in coffee. While sweet things sound good, I'm staring at the crackers and chips in my pantry rather hard when I go for another glass of water. Aaaand I lost another pound. But, I finally ate enough yesterday to not wake up hungry today! I guess my new range of at least 1400 is good. I ate 1,491 calories and felt full, and was satisfied with just coffee for the morning. I think I'll make sure to add some fruit in my diet so I don't start