February is such a ‘neat’ month just four whole weeks which seems to be a ‘magic’ number for lots of us. Also it’s the last whole month of dark days, wind, rain and snow (in the northern hemisphere) before the clocks move forward taking us towards spring. So inspired by Esnecca’s ‘pep-talk’ on another thread yesterday I thought it might be an idea to take just four weeks to ‘break-free’ from an old habit.

Reading the boards there seems to be a lot of talk again about bad habits, and self-sabotaging stopping us from reaching our ultimate goals and/or maintaining successfully once achieved. As Esnecca says about ‘treats’ etc. ‘…. (they’re) not nice but traps. No comfort to be found in these foods, no solace, no joy, only imprisonment.’

So given that it’s said that it takes about 21 days to change a mental image I thought it might be a great opportunity to start a new month with a ‘new goal’ of breaking a bad habit. Last year I successfully managed to stop ‘lusting’ after digestive biscuits and crisps. I do very occasionally have a few crisps but I enjoy them because I eat them ‘mindfully’.

I have decided the time has come for me to stop drinking red wine. Although I know wine sits quite happily with a Mediterranean diet it can all too easily become a ‘bad habit’. So that’s my challenge for the month of February. Whether your ‘poison’ be doughnuts, biscuits, sweets, or any other manner of ‘treat’ maybe now is the time to ‘Break-Free’!

Hi Verano

Sounds like a good idea. My go-to snack food has become nuts and I just think that I’m eating too many. We got shed-loads in over Christmas and I have been working my way through the stockpile. Whilst, like wine, they’re not at the Cadbury’s Dairy Milk end of the “worst thing to overindulge in” scale, I’m just conscious that the calorie count can add up quite quickly.

So I may go for a nut-free Feb!

At the moment mine is cheese. Have a tendency to just cut a chunk and guestimate, rather than actually weigh and account for it. Don’t want to give it up completely, but I will sign up to eating it mindfully, weighing and accounting for the cals and carbs. Hopefully doing this during Feb, will give me a better and more realistic understanding of what represents a sensible portion of cheese.

Mine is Fage yoghurt. I’m just eating too much of it. Eating extra portions is becoming a ‘sneaky’ treat I slip in while no one else is in the kitchen. I really don’t want to go back down the road of secret eating, whatever food it is! So, I’m signed up, too.

Similar to SunnyB, I’m going to make sure I weigh it, count it and eat it more mindfully – I’m also going to go back to using it more as an ingredient in meals rather than see it as ‘pudding’.

May I join in too? My current bad habits are skiving my gym classes and eating crackers with my cheese. So I need to do more of one and (much) less of the other. Great idea to have 4 weeks of habit-changing!

Another brilliant thread idea, Verano. You are so good at this!

I’m with Jules and Marie of getting a little too loose about nut and yogurt intake. I ate so many (unweighed) nuts yesterday that I experienced for the first time in a long time that bowling ball in the gut feeling. Thankfully they were Pili nuts which are virtually carbless, hence my lack of measuring, but I’m still feeling extra full today and it’s uncomfortable. I’m going to fast until I’m hungry again, give the bowling ball a chance to dissipate, and then stick with my favorite light proteins (broiled salmon with a crispy skin, grilled chicken, turkey zucchini burgers) and fermented foods until my digestion gets happy again.

Griannach, can you find flaxseed and/or almond meal crackers where you are? I make my own, but there are also commercial brands out there. Just be sure to check the ingredients for wheat, rice, potato flour, etc. Stuff you find in regular stores is likely to be packed with carbs anyway and only have a touch of flax and nuts to disguise the truth of the product.

This is such a great idea. On reflection, after 11 weeks of Fast 800, I am getting less strict with weighing everything and this discussion has reminded me tighten that up. But there really isn’t a food stuff that I’m overindulging in, although cheese and nuts need a constant eagle eye.

So rather than diet related, I’m going to give up moaning about my back. Sure it’s awful, sure it’s restricting all the lovely things I would rather be doing, but I just don’t think moaning about it is being very helpful. Recovery is going to take months, that’s a lot of potential moaningif left unchecked.

So thanks Verano, this has been a really useful prompt to reflect!

I will not dive into the next pot of nut butter I open like I did the last one! 1 teaspoon at a time only in February. Great thread idea, Verano.

Good morning and a Happy February!

Great to see so many people wanting to break habits or just stop that train from running away with us. Yes I can see, only too well, just how easy it is to over indulge in that extra spoon of nut butter, chunk of cheese or bowl of yogurt. I can do all of the above with very little prompting! The interesting thing is that we have all chosen foods that are within the accepted spectrum and aren’t as JM says “ at the Cadbury’s Dairy Milk end of the “ worst thing to overindulge in” scale.”

I have to add another ‘bad habit’ that I have acquired recently, to that of red wine ….. dark chocolate. When I look back at the last few months I realise that my once, one or two squares, of Lint 90%, to replace digestive biscuits, are now my ‘runaway train’. Last night I finished the last part of a bar of Green & Blacks, which I don’t even like, but have persuaded myself that I do in the absence of Lindt. So no more chocolate for me during February!

So let’s just get through today without our ‘runaway train’. Today will be the first day of our resolve to get to grips with a habit that needs either breaking or making.

Another great idea Verano, thank you.

Peanut butter is currently looming large in my life. The trouble is, I have it WITH butter …double jeopardy, right? I won’t stop it altogether but will have no more than 3g butter and 5g pb on corn thin. And only once a day.

A good day to start this. I’m out of reach of the pantry until about 9.00 tonight. We’re at cricket (BBL semi final Natalie) Had early lunch, left home 12.45, couldn’t find parking at our usual train station. Eventually did so a couple of stops further back along the line. There is simply no public parking at our new stadium, we’re all being directed to public transport. That’s OK, adds to my daily steps.

Will be using and following this thread with interest xx

Oo Marsie seeing it live! I’ve got it on TV right now, about to start. I’ve been to one-day games but not BBL because it’s nearly always on late and I don’t like going out at night, I get too tired! Comfy chair in front of big TV for me.

I have too many bad habits to list, so I’ll just join everyone weighing and measuring. I’ve become a bit lazy with guesstimating.

Marsie I’ll look for you in the crowd – are you the one in orange? 😁

Hi Verano. Thank you for the thread. My break free will be from sitting too much! I’ve bought an egg-timer and will make sure I get up and MOVE about at least every 40 minutes. Just hope it doesn’t drive the rest of the family mad!

My break free is to add something rather than take away – I have nothing less to take. In summer I swim every day as I have my own pool. In winter I have to trudge along to the local baths. For many years my friend and I have done the Wednesday morning early slot every week during October through to April but alas, she has moved away and being naturally lazy I have not been once until yesterday. Then you remember how good it feels so I have given my alarm a dusting down and I will be going every Wednesday except for school holidays (Feb half term and Easter) although I cant imagine kids getting up early to swim so I might also test it out during the hols.

I would like to break free from working every day. – It may sound like a silly break free, but going from working in an office environment 5 days a week with weekends off to working from home feels like taking on the contract for painting the forth bridge. There is always a long list of things to do, and as fast as you tick one thing off the to do list there is something else to add. When its your own business you can’t say its 5pm Friday, I am not paid to think about the job between now and 9am on Monday morning, its sat there in front of you all the time. – I need to start off by designating half a day, two days a week to doing hobbies or things for me.

This is a great idea Verano – I’d like to break free by doing something. I joined the local leisure centre last year and I went regularly for all of – I don’t know – 4 weeks maybe! I keep paying membership but never go – so rather than cancel my membership I’m going to start using it again – starting this Saturday. I might have to work up to going 3 times a week but I’ll commit to at least once a week for February.

Natalie, you would definitely have been able to see me, not! (Orange&white patterned top, probably looked like camouflage amongst the massed orange on the 52+thousand bodies). We were in the members’ section which didn’t get a look in with the cameraman. Didn’t see us on the screen at all, and me being such a diva I thought I might have been up there😂

Verano, how do you do it??? Time after time after time you come
up with the most marvelous idea for a thread!! This one is just
plain INSPIRED 🙂 Thank you so much!

JGwen, did you ever speak to me today! How you keep returning
to your work is a spot on description of how I go about things…
I’m quite the opposite of you I think, I’m not analytical or logic
driven, but in fact completely right brained, creative and intuitive,
but when I’m working I block out everything else, and every time
I pass by one of my projects I return to it. It takes over my
existence. Sometimes I even get up in the middle of the night when
a new idea or technique strikes me, and I can be found sitting in
the darkness with only my work light on! I know this suggests
some strong OCD tendencies…..I haven’t worked for quite awhile,
and just yesterday started pulling my art supplies out of cupboards.
I’ll soon find out if I do better with some mindful balance! Thanks
for bringing this up 🙂

Isn’t Verano a genius, everyone??

Allie

February will be my time to break free of my resistance to counting and measuring. It’s just too easy to eat nuts by the handful and peanut butter by the tablespoon. I live alone so there’s no-one to say ‘You’re surely not going to eat all that!’. It’s down to me, girls, so wish me luck.

Little baggies/reusable ounce-sized containers can be really helpful, Crazyquilter. When I make my own nut butters I portion them out in wee screw-top plasticware to ensure I don’t just take a spoon to a big jar and go, well, nuts. 😀 I do the same with tamari almonds, Brazil nuts, etc. I portion them into baggies one ounce at a time. I didn’t do it with the Pili nuts because of how low carb they are, and promptly went off the deep end.

That way you don’t have to keep weighing all the time, just do it all in one fell swoop. Less temptation and less tedium.

Good morning. Lovely to see more ‘makers or breakers’ joining in. Yes I think exercise is one of the most difficult aspects to be disciplined with unless you actually enjoy it! But as you always say, s-g you just have to keep on keeping on. I think I’m with you caronl in needing an egg timer especially when I’m engrossed in a jigsaw. It’s amazing how the time disappears!

Anyway, to yesterday I hope it was a good start to the month for everyone. I had a blip because I found 4 squares of a new Lindt chocolate, 78%, which I’m not that fussy about …. hence not eaten. So I made small work of that and now there is no more chocolate in the house. I did have some wine but only because I had a very salty courgetti puttanesca and I felt the need to cut through the salt. Anyway that’s my excuse!

So its Day 2 and in the words of Nina Simone…. it’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me and I’m feeling good…. hope you are too. Must never give up on trying.

P.S. Allie believe me I’m certainly no genius just a poor soul looking for help on my journey. So when I identify my problem of the day I try and find others to help me resolve it ….. just selfish really!

Esnecca – that’s such a good idea. When I get home tonight I’m going to weigh all my nuts and store them in 10g portions 🙂

Sorry, V., but you’ll never convince me of that 🙂 🙂 🙂 ! You help us
all refocus and codify our goals…I’m so pleased to hear that you
know of Nina Simone! I’ve yet to meet an American who knows
who she is. What a unique and haunting voice. Very best of luck
in keeping the cork in the wine bottle this weekend. For me, that’s
always the challenge when we socialize. Two glasses, and my
body holds on to extra fluid for dear life!

Enjoy the weekend, everyone…

Allie

Oh no no no Allie…….I love Nina Simone! I bet she has many American fans.

My favorite is Oh Sinner Man (but have to admit that this was my introduction to her after hearing her on the soundtrack of the remake of the Thomas Crown Affair, which remains one of my favorite movies….sexy, smart, beautiful to watch and listen to). Heard that and had to find out who the fabulous singer was. Count me in as a Nina Simone fan.

Me three! Love love love Nina Simone. Hers was a voice for the ages. Have you seen “The Amazing Nina Simone”? It’s a documentary that came out a few years ago. I thought it was a great movie. It relies heavily on interviews with people who knew and loved her.

No I haven’t Essie. I went on Netflix and saw they had a documentary on her “What Happened, Miss Simone”. Did not see the one you listed ….may be able to find on Amazon. Will have to add that to my watch list.

Well you all surprise me I would have thought that Nina Simone was very well known in the US. She was certainly known here or maybe I am just familiar with her because she was part of the genre of music I grew up with. When I was in my teens my two ‘go to’ pieces of music if I was feeling reflective were ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ and ‘An American in Paris’ both of which have stayed with me ever since.

Anyway, I hope everyone is still ‘breaking or making’ or both. I’m getting there. Have a good weekend.

Love Nina Simone, what a stunning voice!

Have kept to my PB strategy, woohoo!

MFODAAT

‘Morning, All. I hope everyone is doing well on day 3!

Hi, V. You’re probably right about Nina, but this is the first time I’ve met actual fans 🙂 You’ve given me some beautiful
memories today, with your mention of George Gershwin. When I was a child, classical music was always played at the
dinner table, and on sunday afternoon (father’s idea to teach us about music and how to differentiate between the
different instruments). I even remember the graphics on the album covers! As soon as you mentioned it, I heard
Rhapsody playing in my head. Debussy will be up next on that playlist….

Superb idea, this thread! My break free, as well as the cheese, is do more stuff outdoors, break free from too much indoors! During the week, get a 15 min brisk walk in at lunch time, start in the garden at the weekend. I’ve sat here in bed the last 2 hours, catching up with these threads. I’m now going to get up and go out for an early morning walk! Thank you, V!

Marsie ‘PB’ strategy???
Allie pleased I helped you to evoke good memories. It’s funny how certain music stays with you forever. I’m not a lover of ‘heavy’ classical music but I do have a few favourites amongst the lighter stuff.
Kazz I used to be a cheese nut, just couldn’t get enough of it but now I just have Roquefort or St Agur with a couple of Ryvita, in my allowance, and I find that really satisfies me. Good luck with early morning walks!

Well yesterday I went a whole day without chocolate or a substitute even though I found some After Eights and half a tin of milk chocolate sweets in the cupboard. So extra proud of myself! Not so rosy on the wine front but will do better.

Hope everyone is managing to keep to their resolutions.

Hi V. PB = peanut butter. Was having far too much of it – you know, spread a bit, then another, larger, bit straight from the jar into my mouth, add a bit of butter to the spoon so the pb wasn’t too claggy in my mouth. And so on. ..

Strategy = will have no more than 3g butter and 5g pb on corn thin. And only once a day.

Haven’t had any today. Give a few days like that and I’ll claim a NSV☺

Well done with your resolutions, proud indeed. And wine? Well, you can’t do away with everything at once, that could lead to back-peddling. Just enjoy it in half measures.

I’ve failed miserably at sticking to my pledge – I had every intention of going to the gym yesterday. I packed my bag – dug out my old sports bra (I’m sure it wasn’t so tight last time I wore it) but couldn’t bring myself to actually leave the house. The rain was a good excuse not to go. I may have to try again another day…

Don’t panic Gattina, sounds like you made an effort, even if it didn’t actually happen this time. Next time I’m sure you’ll get there. Exercise is a bete noir for me as well, the difference is, you’ve put your hand up to be honest about it and to try to tackle it, so well done.

I’m sort of doing okay on the cheese, although I confess that I have had some grated into a homemade soup and a very small wedge from a small camembert – so not complete abstinence, but a definite reduction in what I was consuming.

Like that this thread is keeping us mindful of our pitfalls and I’m sure we are all much more aware of them, now that we have made ourselves accountable. Keep going everyone!

Gattina, if dragging ass to the gym is a stumbling block (I hate it myself), how about trying an exercise you can easily do at home? YouTube is full of 10 minute workouts. I started with an 8-minute chair aerobics routine for seniors and people with mobility issues. I was so obese I’d easily break into a sweat getting up out of a chair anyway, and my knees were in constant pain from having to carry such a heavy burden. The routine was easy, fast, and became a habit very quickly. After a couple of months I had outgrown it. Or rather, outshrunk it. 😀

There is no reason to make it hard on yourself or go from zero to 60 in 3 seconds. Any action you take will make you feel better and be good for you, so pick one you actually like that is convenient and suits your needs to a T.

Thanks Marsie sometimes my ‘detective’ skills are poor and I just couldn’t work out PB! Well done anyway for taking back control because I guess that’s what this thread is really about.

Gattina Esnecca’s advice is really good. Nobody fails here when we hit a stumbling block we just readjust our goals and start again. As a matter of interest what did stop you walking through that door? Nonetheless, you made me think about exercise, yet again, and I think I will take Esnecca’s advice and find myself some chair exercises on you tube.

Still no chocolate yesterday and that was with 5 bars of 90% Lindt staring at me! OH thought he was being kind! Anyway think I may put them in the freezer for the moment. Wine is under control, but like your cheese SunnyB, is not abolished totally.

I broke free today and went out for a quick 15 minute walk then back into the office. I also walked around the park yesterday morning. My left hip aches a bit today – think I over strode! It’s all good!

2nd day pb free. Other things, though everything within my own cal/carb goals. No butter but a small dollop of cream on some luscious blueberries after dinner. Probably not needed but certainly enjoyed. We’ll see what weigh-in brings tomorrow.

Never mind, Gattina, it will only really matter if you don’t do some sort of exercise in the next couple of days. Esnecca’s ideas sound so sensible, as usual😊

We’ll done everyone else. Great thread 👏👏

Hello just wanted to share a little information. On (UK) Channel 4 program, ‘How to lose weight well’ last night there was an interesting feature about alcohol. When you eat energy is taken first from sugars and then fat but if you have a drink with a meal then the alcohol takes first spot and stops the absorption of both the sugar and fat, which are then left swishing around your bloodstream. They undertook a very unscientific experiment with just three young women who each had a different meal, high fat burger, high carb pizza or high protein chicken, burger I think. Then they each had 4 pints of beer. Their blood was tested before and after the meal.The results: high fat meal led to an increase of 45% fat and 50% sugar in the blood. The high carb pizza meal showed a reading of 50% increase in both fat and sugar but the high protein meal showed no increase in fat and only and 18% increase in sugar in the blood. I know this is hardly proof of much but the conclusion was that alcohol stops you from metabolizing the energy from both sugars and fats and leads to weight gain. Hardly a revelation, we probably always knew that alcohol wrecked diets but, I for one, certainly didn’t know how.

Verano, I have read the same thing…alcohol gets metaboized first. First in line in the queue. Bit of a pushy devil. It can also cross the blood brain barrier, hence the rapid effect.

Its also worth noting that beer is very high in carbs….the average for non-lite beer is 13 -15 g and can go as high as high as 28-30 for dark beers and stouts. Times four of them for those gals ! No wonder the blood sugar went up…and a pizza on top.

Would be interesting to see how many carbs were in the “high fat meal”? High fat meal meaning french fries (sorry….chips to the rest of the English speaking world).

But all very interesting. I guess we are all going for the steak, chops and filets then. Throw in a big salad and I am a happy camper.

Hi Verano, LTC, very interesting observations on the effects of beer+++ on the various meal types. Low carb is the go👍

Successfully avoiding PB, though that had not been my intention. I was allowing x1small serving per day but have not felt the need, so didn’t. Best of all, so far, nothing dangerous has snuck in through mindless snacking. Happy. 👏

Marsie I did even more reading yesterday on how alcohol is metabolized and it really is interesting. People always say alcohol is a poison and you know what , it really, really is!!

Talking about PB I had a little fest last night. I had one teaspoon which soon became two and I’m not sure how many times I went back to the fridge for more! It really is so moreish I can’t take the chance of eating it again. The good news is that the scales dropped a little this morning so maybe the PB got my metabolism working harder!

Oh, V, don’t fall into the PB trap. It’s insidious, but I’m glad there was no harm done.

And I can’t believe it but this is 7 days without. I’d only intended to limit my intake of PB but I’m not wanting any, even though it’s right there in my face every time I open the pantry. A minor NSV so far but we’ll see how I go over the rest of the month.

Hi, everyone! This is just a cautionary tale (and TMI), but PB is notorious for creating “transit issues”, at least
for me. 🙂

Hi all
It’s been a while since I posted on this thread – good to see so many powering through and breaking-free in Feb 🙂
Thanks for the advice Esnecca – I’ve been walking in the park at lunchtimes as much as I can. I only managed 15 minutes today because it started raining – but still better than nothing.
I will try the gym again tomorrow – my bag is still packed from last week 🙂 I quite enjoyed it when I made the effort last year and I want to get out more. I have a bit of a collection of exercise dvds at home – good intentions collected over the years and rarely used – if I don’t manage to make to the gym again, I will put on a dvd and jump up and down in the living room.

Now watch that cheese and pb… ooh … that sounds like a nice combination…

Hi, alliecat, thanks for the cautionary note. Thinking aloud now (apologies in advance for TMI), “free transit” was not an issue but the last few days have seen me become a “retainer” which I could now attribute to no PB. Will look for other remedies 😼

Had two teaspoons of PB on Thursday, but have had several days with none, so clinging on with my fingertips to my ‘Break free’. I am using the Whole Earth peanut butter with seeds at the moment, which is one of my favourites, and gives I think an extra nutritional hit.

Confession! The cheese got the better of me today – twice!! In general I have been ‘off piste’ for the last couple of days and I’m prepared to rue the results when I weigh in tomorrow morning.

Going to have to rebolster the resolve again as of tomorrow.

I failed again with my exercise pledge – didn’t make it to the gym and didn’t do an exercise dvd. I’ll have to face it – exercise just isn’t for me. I have been walking more though and I found my old pedometer which I’ve been wearing for the past few days. It’s not a very good one as it registers that I easily do 15,000 steps most days and I know that is nowhere near realistic.
Well it’s raining in London today so it’s unlikely I’ll go for my lunchtime walk in the park, which is a shame as I sit at a desk all day long.

Keep going with your breaking free everyone – best of luck.

Well almost half way through the month and I am yet to ‘break free’ ! Well done to those of you who are succeeding and to those, like me who still need more work, the month isn’t over yet so still time to change those habits.