Phase 2, Days 8-11, Phase 3, Day 1

Blogging daily about flossing is very much not interesting. Neither are my post titles, so I'll be mixing it up with that. 

First some roundups:

Tuesday:

Exercise: Check

Flossing: Check

Wednesday:

Exercise: Check

Flossing: Check

Thursday

Exercise: Check

Flossing: Check

Friday

Exercise: Nope

Flossing: Check

There was also a lot of going out with friends for drinks and the sort of food one eats while drinking, so I took in way more calories than the exercise I was able to squeeze in burned, but that's just how it goes sometimes.

Except that's not how I'm usually able to think of it. Instead of being relaxed and energized afterwards, or being hungover but feeling it was worth it, I beat myself up for overindulging. I'm too food and weight obsessed. And I can't do it anymore. 

All that beating myself up over what I've eaten is taking up more energy than I can give anymore. I need that energy for other things. Like, say, keeping myself from stress eating. (You can also see that giving myself extra stress over my eating would only lead to more stress eating anyway.)

I also expect that I'll be able to channel that extra energy into tackling my To Do list, working on my writing, etc. 

So I'm starting Phase 3 and I'm starting it Today. Before old habits start up again. I'm calling Phase 3, "Enough with the Food Guilt Already" or "Food Guilt" for short. When I finish eating something indulgent, I want to think, "Damn, that was good," not "Wow, I'm such a piggy."  Calories I take in, but don't really enjoy and appreciate are wasted ones. I'm going to eat healthy, but not track points or calories. And I won't use it as an excuse to overindulge. ("Ooh, since I'm not counting points today, I might as well have a second piece of pie."--Sound familiar?) 

I can have it if I want it. I have plenty of self control, so I'm capable of looking at a cake and not wanting it, so that should work in my favor. I'm not on a plan to gain weight, after all, and I expect I'll manage to lose a little too.

How do I earn a check mark for Phase 3? By not beating myself up over what I've eaten. If I mildly regret indulging in something, that's OK. But lamentations are not. 

Let's see how that goes.

Phase 2, Day 7

Yesterday's Roundup:

Exercise: Nope. There was a reason why that I have completely and totally forgotten. Oh right, yeah. We met up with some friends for eating and drinking. And there may have been some working late so that I'd be able to go to happy hour on Wednesday. Virtuous reasons for not exercising indeed.

Flossing: There was flossing and it was glorious. Or satisfactory. One of those.

Thing # Whatever Number I'm Up to that I Hate About Flossing: When you move on to a new bit of the floss, you end up holding used floss. Ew.

Phase 2, Day 6

Yesterday's Roundup

Exercise: Nope, not really

Flossing: Check. The power of the post-it did indeed compel me.

Thing #3 I hate about flossing: I really can't imagine a more boring thing to talk about or blog about. Oh boy! Can't wait to get to my iMac and tell the blog if I flossed!

Phase 2, Day 4 & 5

Friday's Roundup:

Exercise: Nope, but I think I figured out what I did to my ankle.
Flossing: Check


Saturday's Roundup:
Exercise: Nope
Flossing: Nope--forgot. Clearly I need a post-it in the bathroom. As far as my brain is concerned, all I have to do it take my medicine and remove my contacts and I'm done. Hopefully, the power of the post-it will compel me.

Thing # 2 I hate About Flossing--I can't seem to be able to do it without making my gums bleed. I seem to be getting better at that.

Phase 2, Day 3

Yesterday's Roundup

Exercise: Nope (starting to wonder if I should show my ankle to one of those doctor people even though I totally know it's just a sprain or something)

Flossing: Nope (forgot. But when I woke up this morning, I remembered that I had forgotten by the way my mouth felt and tasted. So that's gotta be progress, I guess.)

Phase 2, Day 2

Today's Roundup (OK, actually Yesterday's Roundup--I need to start flossing earlier, as in before the last possible moment)
Exercise: Nope (foot still hurts in a worrying manner)
Flossing: Check!

Thing I hate about flossing #1:
I have trouble flossing in the back. I have a small jaw. The main reason I needed braces was because there wasn't enough room for all my teeth. One of my wisdom teeth actually cracked from tooth decay because I hadn't been getting my toothbrush back there (and hadn't realized).

But as I was at it last night, I realized that I shouldn't neglect flossing the teeth I can reach easily just because I always leave out a couple of molars. Unhealthy perfectionist streak. I suspect I'll need to address that in other areas of my life as well.

I never imagined I'd get philosophical insight from removing particles from between my teeth.

Phase 2, Day 1

Today's Roundup

Exercise: Nope
Flossing: Check!

And now you know.

Thwarted, Plus Phase 1 Wrap Up, Phase 2 Launch

My printer died, so I can't print out a new calendar to mark up with little checks. Plus, Phase 2 was going to involve printing as well. Oh, and I hurt my foot (as in, I got out of bed Monday morning and thought, "hey, that hurts." So no exercise for me.

And now we see why I need this project in the first place.

OK, so Phase 1 Wrap Up. I started to exercise quite a bit more often in weeks 3 and 4 than in the first 2 weeks. I went from 2 or 3 days a week to 5. However, 2 days of this involved walking on city streets in regular shoes for a mile or so and that may account for my foot pain. So I'll have to change into sneakers if I'm going to do that again. It's all about the arch support.

I had every intention of posting a photo of my calendar, but since the printer's broken, I can be bothered. No, I don't understand the logic of that, and yet, that is how I feel. Besides, if I touch the camera and it craps out too, it will not be good for my mental condition.

On to Phase 2! I have to work around the lack of printer and I can't let myself go another week without starting a new phase, so flossing it is! It dawned on me last week that I have no dental insurance any more and so maybe I'd better take better care of my teefers.

The Goal: to floss my teeth before bed every night. If it sounds easy to you, then you're just not appreciate the extent of my not caring about flossing. I had some really great dental tape once made by the people who make gore-tex, but I ran out and I haven't seen it anywhere since. Maybe I'll buy some fancy floss to keep myself motivated. But flossing before bed reduces morning breath (so my dentist says) and my morning breath could kill small animals, so I'd really better get on this one.

I'm not going to wrap up day 1 of phase 2 just yet because I want to have a snack and I'm not going to floss until after that. But posting has to happen! Blogging can wait for no floss! So we'll all just have to wait to see if I floss tonight or not. Can you stand the tension?