Answers and lots of hard work ahead.

I had my second psychologist appointment yesterday and after having completed a food diary for a fortnight and describing the way I eat and how I feel and how they interact, I have been diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder (BED).

I always just thought I was a fat pig!

I had heard of BED before, the psych who did my initial evaluation suggested I keep a food diary for a few weeks before my sessions started because she thought I may have it but I guess up until I found out more about it I didn't really take it seriously. I mean are you really trying to tell me the way I stuff my face has a reason behind it???

So I'll be following a programme developed by the world's leading expert on eating disorders which will involve me following certain steps to understand what triggers a binge and how to overcome that. The first two steps are monitoring and getting into a regular eating pattern, which I kind of do now through Calorie King but this is really amped up. It's more about not only recording which foods I'm eating and when but the specific feelings and thoughts I'm having at the time. Also I have to eat at certain times of the day and if I have a binge at 5pm but I'm scheduled to have dinner at 6pm then I have to make sure I don't skip that meal as that will then lead to a further binge later on. My body is so out of whack from years of eating disorders (I'm pretty sure you all know I was anorexic in high school) that it needs to be retrained into knowing when to eat and when to know to eat.

Anyway we're in the very early days so far but I'll keep you all updated with how I'm going.

xxx

I'm back too

Well, up until the end of September I was still doing my four exercise sessions a week, mixing Callanetics, the Cher hips/thighs/bum video and the step class video.
Then, what with everything, I didn't do any workouts for five weeks.

I've started back on my workout programme now, so we'll see how it goes.

Shame on us!

Nothing since August?
I mean, I knew I was lame, but I was expecting more posts!
:-P

Ok, I haven't done any Callanetics since before we went away, bar the half-hearted 15 minute session I did at Nettie's. (Side note: I found that Nettie's Callanetics DVD is the one featuring my ex-teacher, Karen.)

Anyway, I really enjoyed the reinstatement of the weekly torture sessions this week. It wasn't fun, of course, but I felt so energised afterwards!

*Sigh*

Crap! How did I manage to not exercise tonight?

I know. It's because I opted to fix my daughter's beloved duck, instead. She's had him since she was 8 months old, and his neck had finally gotten so worn that I was afraid she'd wake up one morning clutching his mutilated body, with his head rolling around on the floor somewhere.

So I got out some yellow fuzzy yarn that I'd bought a while ago for just this purpose, and made a...scarf, or something...a dickey, perhaps? Anyhow, made this fuzzy yellow piece to go around his neck (after re-stuffing it, of course). All was going well, until it came time for me to go pick up her older sister Kaila from work and she herself had to go to bed.

I told her that I would finish sewing on the new neck while I was gone. This was apparently not good enough. After all, how did I expect her to sleep without the duck?!? I insisted, though, and left with duck in tow. Got most of the new neck sewn on while waiting for Kaila, and finished when I got home. Then I took him up to his owner, who, even though nearly asleep, was very glad to see him. She kept petting his new fur and thanked me very prettily for fixing his neck.

I think I can be forgiven for not doing my workout tonight, yes? It was, after all, a very good cause! :)

Exercising

Okay, I've located my Callanetics tape (no, I don't have it on DVD...*sigh*) and I have a 30-minute all-over workout DVD. So I'm planning to do the tape on Sundays and Wednesdays, and the DVD on Fridays. Of course, I actually meant to start this past Sunday, but things kind of got in the way. So, I'm going to start with the DVD tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Haven't heard from anyone else lately. How's everyone doing?

Woohoo!

I haven't been wanting to weigh myself because I was convinced that I wouldn't have lost anything even though I've noticed that I've toned up a lot. I finally weighed myself this evening, and I've lost seven pounds (just over three kg) in the last four weeks.
I'm really bloody happy! :-D

Pasta Sauce

I thought I'd add to the healthy recipe collection. Shop-bought pasta sauce seems to have a lot of sugar in it, so I sometimes make my own.
This makes enough for two people.

1 chopped onion
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
As much chopped garlic as you want*
A bit of chopped chilli
Optional extra - Any fresh tomatoes that have gone a
little squooshy but are still good, chopped up

We also usually add some low-fat bacon, either very lean pork bacon or turkey bacon.

Grill the bacon. Cook the onion, garlic and chilli in a little oil
or low-fat cooking spray, then cut up the grilled bacon and add to the pan along with the tin of tomatoes and the fresh tomatoes, if using. Simmer until it thickens.

*We use these. The ginger is very good for curries too.

The other good thing about ths recipe is that since we generally have dried pasta, garlic, chilli and onions already in the kitchen, the only necessary extra expense is a tin of tomatoes, which costs 21p. This is a good meal for the end of the month when there's nothing left in the bank!