Author Topic: No Excuses November!  (Read 22635 times)

kaypinkHH

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #100 on: November 14, 2017, 07:47:38 AM »
No more being lazy- going to exercise 5x per week. (45 mins min)
No more takeout lunches, sticking to the food budget and saving our restaurant food for special occasions
No new clothes- if something wears out, I'm going to a thrift store.

Day 1: Went for a 45min walk to the grocery store to buy stuff to make fried rice instead of take out. 2 Birds one stone.

Day 2: Didn't exercise, went to a networking event, got free food, no shopping.

Day 3: Already blew it- bought a soup at lunch.

Day 4-5: Went on a road trip, did some restaurant spending. I'm going to restart today: I packed a lunch. Also, not enough exercise so far, so I'll also get on that today! Still no shopping :).

Day 6-8: No takeout lunches/snacks! Went to cycle classes on the 7th and 8th, still no shopping (not just on clothes, but on anything other than groceries!)

Day 9: No take out food, no shopping, but no exercise

Day 10: Caved and bought mat clothes (I feel like this is a need more than a want at this point.) BUT I bought them all second hand off kijiji and got ~$1000 worth of clothes for ~$130. No take out, but no exercise.

Day 11: Went out to eat with friends (allowed in above goals), went on a road trip, no exercise. No shopping.

Day 12: Grabbed a canteen snack when it wasn't needed, and went out to lunch with family, and no exercise. No shopping.

Day 13: Didn't bring enough food for ride home, had an impromptu date lunch with Mr.HH, no exercise, no shopping.

Day 14: So far...will have to buy lunch since my packed lunch mysteriously disappeared from the fridge (Currently living with inlaws and I think they threw it out). Didn't have time to pull something together this morning.  I know this forum is no excuses but "someone threw out my delicious lunch" should at least be a partial excuse....it also makes me sad because #foodwaste. 

Mongoose

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #101 on: November 14, 2017, 10:36:27 AM »
I feel like garbage (cold/flu) but NO EXCUSES! Dinner for tonight made. Lunches for the week made. Extra breakfasts made. Now I am going to go collapse.

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #102 on: November 14, 2017, 10:46:48 AM »
13/13 on my PT exercises, but today might be a failure. It's my press deadline at work, my boss took the day off for a family emergency, and I've been running a fever on and off since Sunday. So far I did 1 of my 12 exercises. Maybe I can manage half of them and call it a good-enough win?

ixtap

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #103 on: November 14, 2017, 11:40:30 AM »


No fast food/ solo eating out.
No excuses for less than 30 minutes of exercise

Nov 14: Back is still bad, but I had to leave home, so some walking is happening. However, I really don't feel like I can walk back home for lunch unless I can stay there the rest of the day and I couldn't carry anything with me this morning...

Nov 13: I hurt my back and didn't leave home. So, not eating out was easy, but 30 minutes of exercise was very simple and gentle stretching.

Nov 12: I think I have mentioned that my office is next door to a restaurant. The restaurant bathroom is my closest option, as a matter of fact. Planning is the key to avoiding temptation when you can hear the fajitas sizzling while you work. Green bean casserole with chicken for lunch today, with a BBQ with friends for dinner.

Week 2: SUCCESS!

Week 1: SUCCESS!

PJ

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #104 on: November 14, 2017, 08:27:59 PM »
Day 14: So far...will have to buy lunch since my packed lunch mysteriously disappeared from the fridge (Currently living with inlaws and I think they threw it out). Didn't have time to pull something together this morning.  I know this forum is no excuses but "someone threw out my delicious lunch" should at least be a partial excuse....it also makes me sad because #foodwaste.

Agreed.  #foodwaste = :-(

That being said, I throw out way too much of my produce.  Two reasons.  First, when I go shopping, I get all excited about eating right, and optimistic about cooking and eating all my meals at home.  Then I have multiple evening meetings in one week, and hardly cook at all, and stuff goes to waste.  The second reason is because church members like to feed me, so I often end up bringing food home on Sunday (and sometimes mid-week too!)  It's not unexpected, but it's unpredictable as to what kind of food it will be.  Sometimes salad, or sandwiches, or macaroni or rice and peas, sometimes fruit, sometimes all cake and cookies!  And if I've shopped as well, then I may have too much of one type of food and I can't always get to it fast enough.

But the last couple of weeks, I've been trying to be really diligent about prioritizing eating the stuff that must be eaten first, regardless of whether it's what I really *feel* like.  Have also needed to put aside my perception of what a normal meal is on occasion.  So, for example, tonight I was cooking a rice and red lentil dish.  It had onions in it, but no other veg.  I was looking for something else to add, but there wasn't much else in the way of other fresh veg in the house.  But there was half a cucumber in the crisper, really needing to be eaten.  So I had cucumber slices as an appetizer, just to finish it before it went totally bad.  (I also added oatmeal to the rice mix, but that's another story, which you can read more about in the Eat All The Food In Your House thread if you want - believe it or not, it was good!)

horsepoor

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #105 on: November 15, 2017, 07:17:56 AM »
Last night:

Arena was a soppy mess so I couldn't ride, but used the time to do some groundwork training instead
Made two batches of cookies for a work meeting I'm hosting today
Did 40 minute yoga routine.  I haven't done yoga in ages and definitely have some tight spots. 
Re-listened to two videos from my online training course and read an educational article

Tonight I shall walk the dog if it's not raining, and if it is, hit the gym.

Linea_Norway

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #106 on: November 15, 2017, 07:24:26 AM »
Day 14: So far...will have to buy lunch since my packed lunch mysteriously disappeared from the fridge (Currently living with inlaws and I think they threw it out). Didn't have time to pull something together this morning.  I know this forum is no excuses but "someone threw out my delicious lunch" should at least be a partial excuse....it also makes me sad because #foodwaste.

Agreed.  #foodwaste = :-(

That being said, I throw out way too much of my produce.  Two reasons.  First, when I go shopping, I get all excited about eating right, and optimistic about cooking and eating all my meals at home.  Then I have multiple evening meetings in one week, and hardly cook at all, and stuff goes to waste.  The second reason is because church members like to feed me, so I often end up bringing food home on Sunday (and sometimes mid-week too!)  It's not unexpected, but it's unpredictable as to what kind of food it will be.  Sometimes salad, or sandwiches, or macaroni or rice and peas, sometimes fruit, sometimes all cake and cookies!  And if I've shopped as well, then I may have too much of one type of food and I can't always get to it fast enough.

<...>

In the past I would also buy way to many vegetables, just because I always get inspired by seeing good veggies. But now I have changed to only buy veggies for the next 3-4 days. I also try to count how many days we eat from them. E.g. a box a salad leaves is something we often eat 2 or 3 times from. I also try to buy at least one vegetable which doesn't perish very fast, like a cauliflower, so that it can lay in the fridge for close to a week. Often the veggies last much longer than I expected, since we sometimes eat portions of leftovers. I am now just shopping less often.

ixtap

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #107 on: November 15, 2017, 06:00:41 PM »

No fast food/ solo eating out.
No excuses for less than 30 minutes of exercise

Nov 15: It's my birthday. I used a gift card to go to the movies, went out for fast food afterwards. Back is still bad enough that I am not making any concerted effort to walk. In otherwords, all the excuses.

Nov 14: Back is still bad, but I had to leave home, so some walking is happening. However, I really don't feel like I can walk back home for lunch unless I can stay there the rest of the day and I couldn't carry anything with me this morning...

Nov 13: I hurt my back and didn't leave home. So, not eating out was easy, but 30 minutes of exercise was very simple and gentle stretching.

Nov 12: I think I have mentioned that my office is next door to a restaurant. The restaurant bathroom is my closest option, as a matter of fact. Planning is the key to avoiding temptation when you can hear the fajitas sizzling while you work. Green bean casserole with chicken for lunch today, with a BBQ with friends for dinner.

Week 2: SUCCESS!

Week 1: SUCCESS!

kaypinkHH

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #108 on: November 16, 2017, 01:05:27 PM »
I like the way Ixtap is summarizing it by week!

No more being lazy- going to exercise 5x per week. (45 mins min)
No more takeout lunches, sticking to the food budget and saving our restaurant food for special occasions
No new clothes- if something wears out, I'm going to a thrift store.

Nov 15: Exercise!! No take out lunch! No Shopping!

Nov 8-14: Exercise 2x, 1 Takeout lunch purchased, 1 canteen snack purchased (other restaurant food, but was all with family/friends). Bought a bunch of Mat Clothes on Kijiji, still no "new clothes"

Nov 1-7: Exercise 2x, 1 Takeout lunch purchased+Roadtrip food. No new clothes!
 

haypug16

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #109 on: November 17, 2017, 08:16:05 AM »
Nov 1 - #1 Failed #2 Check #3 Check
Nov 2 - #1 Failed #2 Check #3 Check
Nov 3 - #1 Failed #2 Check. #3 Check
Nov 4 - #1 NA No Work #2 Check #3 Check
Nov 5 - #1 NA No Work #2 Check #3 Check
Nov 6 - #1 Failed #2 Small Fail #3 Check
Nov 7 - #1 Failed  #2 Check #3 Check
Nov 8 - #1 Too Cold #2 Check #3 Check
Nov 9 - #1 Too Cold #2 Check #3 Check
Nov 10 - #1 Too Cold #2 Small Fail #3 Check
Nov 11 - #1 NA no Work #2 Check #3 Check
Nov 12 - #1 NA no work #2 Failed #3 Check

Nov 13 - #1 Too Cold #2 Failed (purchased Decor for the Thanksgiving potluck I'm having Sat) #3 Being very productive at home (cleaning and learning French)
Nov 14 - #1 Too Cold #2 Check #3 Check
Nov 15 - #1 Too Cold #2 Check #3 Check
Nov 16 - #1 Failed (kind of nice out today but still have a flat) #2 Failed (went out to Trivia and spend $20 on meals out when my budget was already over for this category, still under my total spending budget for the month though #3 Check


fluffmuffin

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #110 on: November 17, 2017, 01:16:25 PM »
Days 13-17: Fine, no issues--maybe a liiiitle over where I'd like to be on the food budget, but we're well stocked so it should be easy to rein in to meet the sub-$250 goal. This weekend should be okay as well. We're doing Friendsgiving on Saturday, which will be a nice low-cost way to get in the food + socialization time.

ixtap

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #111 on: November 17, 2017, 03:08:17 PM »


No fast food/ solo eating out.
No excuses for less than 30 minutes of exercise

Week 3: Uh three lunches out in four days is a lot of excuses. I would blame the muscle relaxants, but that is just another excuse.

Week 2: SUCCESS!

Week 1: SUCCESS!

horsepoor

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #112 on: November 17, 2017, 08:18:58 PM »
Made it successfully through a tough work week!  After work activities:

Monday - rode horse, walked dog, dressage study
Tuesday - exercised horse, did yoga, baked cookies, dressage study
Wednesday - went to gym, dressage study
Thursday - walked dog, yoga, dressage study
Friday - rode horse at indoor arena, about to do my dressage study

Side benefit:  less time to drink wine at night!

Next week should be easier with a quiet office Thanksgiving week and Thursday off.

To do this weekend: 
Run with dog 1x
Gym 1x
Exercise/ride horse 2x
Preserve last of the tomatoes
Mulch the garden beds
Prep cook for next week

PJ

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #113 on: November 17, 2017, 11:40:14 PM »

No fast food/ solo eating out.
No excuses for less than 30 minutes of exercise

Nov 15: It's my birthday. I used a gift card to go to the movies, went out for fast food afterwards. Back is still bad enough that I am not making any concerted effort to walk. In otherwords, all the excuses.

... snip

LOL!

No fast food/ solo eating out.
No excuses for less than 30 minutes of exercise

Week 3: Uh three lunches out in four days is a lot of excuses. I would blame the muscle relaxants, but that is just another excuse.

Week 2: SUCCESS!

Week 1: SUCCESS!

OK, well, at least you've identified the problem? 

Make you feel any better to know that I bought a bunch of new clothes for myself when I went into the thrift store looking for possible Christmas gifts?  Gifts were permissable, and planned, but the clothes were not.  And though a number of them do fill gaps in my wardrobe, I definitely bought more than I needed, and some that are more iffy than they should be (i.e. will look better if I lose a little weight, rather than great for right now.) 

Back on the wagon?

ixtap

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #114 on: November 17, 2017, 11:45:12 PM »


Back on the wagon?

Yes, let's do that!

PJ

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #115 on: November 18, 2017, 12:14:07 AM »

ixtap

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #116 on: November 18, 2017, 11:05:35 AM »


No fast food/ solo eating out.
No excuses for less than 30 minutes of exercise

Week 3: Lots of excuses, but back on track for Saturday in the office :)

Week 2: SUCCESS!

Week 1: SUCCESS!

akzidenz

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #117 on: November 18, 2017, 07:52:51 PM »
I just found this thread but I'm so happy it's here! My No Excuses November goal is to keep my savings rate up. I started the year strong (note February is my bonus month, so it's unfortunately the only time I can hit 70%+)…but I fell into a summer slump.



September and October were huge improvements! My goal is 55%+ for November, no excuses.

ixtap

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #118 on: November 20, 2017, 11:46:39 AM »



No fast food/ solo eating out.
No excuses for less than 30 minutes of exercise

Nov 20: Exercise is easy, the office doesn't get any sun this time of year. Even though it is a warm day, it is still 66 inside. Must go out and circulate frozen blood. Then come back and eat lentil stew :)

Week 3: Lots of excuses, but finished strong.

Week 2: SUCCESS!

Week 1: SUCCESS!

Dollar Slice

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #119 on: November 20, 2017, 01:31:36 PM »
13/13 on my PT exercises, but today might be a failure. It's my press deadline at work, my boss took the day off for a family emergency, and I've been running a fever on and off since Sunday. So far I did 1 of my 12 exercises. Maybe I can manage half of them and call it a good-enough win?

I ended up managing to do at least half of my PT exercises every single day (focusing on the more important ones). Even though I have bronchitis and I had four out-of-town visitors in the last two weeks and it is a critical time at work and I haven't been able to take a sick day. This has been really tough. But it's no excuses November so I guess I am doing my PT exercises until I drop dead :-P  I am going to PT in an hour and I might go to urgent care afterward to make sure I'm not getting pneumonia :-/

horsepoor

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #120 on: November 20, 2017, 04:20:47 PM »
To do this weekend:
Run with dog 1x DONE
Gym 1x FAIL
Exercise/ride horse 2xDONE
Preserve last of the tomatoesGetting There
Mulch the garden bedsFAIL
Prep cook for next weekMeh

To make up for my fails, I did clean up and repair the little storage locker next to the chicken coop.  That's been on my "should do" list for a long time.  My ankle did not appreciate Saturday morning's run, but I can at least do yoga and try for some other non-impact exercises tonight and tomorrow.


fluffmuffin

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #121 on: November 20, 2017, 05:01:40 PM »
I just found this thread but I'm so happy it's here! My No Excuses November goal is to keep my savings rate up. I started the year strong (note February is my bonus month, so it's unfortunately the only time I can hit 70%+)…but I fell into a summer slump.



September and October were huge improvements! My goal is 55%+ for November, no excuses.

I really like the idea of graphing your savings rate! Might steal that idea...I love visual stuff like that.

The weekend went fine challenge-wise. But today at work I got all the way to the checkout on Etsy of this adorable holiday dog collar for our little bud...before I thought about how embarrassed I’d feel to have to come onto this thread and admit I’d impulse-bought a totally unnecessary seasonal dog accessory. Hooray, the challenge is working!

(I’m totally gonna buy it on December 1 though.)

ixtap

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #122 on: November 21, 2017, 06:41:50 PM »

No fast food/ solo eating out.
No excuses for less than 30 minutes of exercise

Nov 21: On track and back is at 90% :). Only one more day on my own, then a four day weekend of sailing, jambalaya, and finishing off this quarter's minimum spend at the yacht club.

Nov 20: Exercise is easy, the office doesn't get any sun this time of year. Even though it is a warm day, it is still 66 inside. Must go out and circulate frozen blood. Then come back and eat lentil stew :)

Week 3: Lots of excuses, but finished strong.

Week 2: SUCCESS!

Week 1: SUCCESS!
[/quote]

akzidenz

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #123 on: November 22, 2017, 11:26:45 AM »
ixtap, I'm inspired. I had a pretty good exercise routine in the summer (running 2x or 3x a week after work) but I've let it slip. I'll try to recommit in the winter months!

fluffmuffin, the graph really works for me because I feel an emotional connection to images much more than numbers—and now that I'm pulling my savings rate up from a summer slump, seeing the graph go up is very rewarding!

I think frivolous purchases (like a dog collar) can turn out fine if you wait…either you forget you want it, or you cautiously rearrange your budget to make it reasonable.

kaypinkHH

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #124 on: November 23, 2017, 09:05:02 AM »
No more being lazy- going to exercise 5x per week. (45 mins min)
No more takeout lunches, sticking to the food budget and saving our restaurant food for special occasions
No new clothes- if something wears out, I'm going to a thrift store.

Nov 15-21: 1. Exercise 4.5x (WOOOO!), 2. 1 take out lunch (Mondays are my downfall) 3. Did have to go buy new undergarmets...Making this goal with an ever expanding pregnancy body was a dumb idea...but almost through the month and only a few absolutely needed new clothes purchased isn't too bad.

Nov 8-14: Exercise 2x, 1 Takeout lunch purchased, 1 canteen snack purchased (other restaurant food, but was all with family/friends). Bought a bunch of Mat Clothes on Kijiji, still no "new clothes"

Nov 1-7: Exercise 2x, 1 Takeout lunch purchased+Roadtrip food. No new clothes!

ixtap

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #125 on: November 23, 2017, 09:14:04 AM »


No fast food/ solo eating out.
No excuses for less than 30 minutes of exercise

Nov 23: Despite it being 8am, I am pretty confident about today, what with our schedule packed solid with relaxing and  sailing and cooking, and probably a gentle walk if we get to our destination before sunset.

Nov 22: it was a good day. Getting the walking back up now that I am healed.

Nov 21: On track and back is at 90% :). Only one more day on my own, then a four day weekend of sailing, jambalaya, and finishing off this quarter's minimum spend at the yacht club.

Nov 20: Exercise is easy, the office doesn't get any sun this time of year. Even though it is a warm day, it is still 66 inside. Must go out and circulate frozen blood. Then come back and eat lentil stew :)

Week 3: Lots of excuses, but finished strong.

Week 2: SUCCESS!

Week 1: SUCCESS!

horsepoor

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #126 on: November 24, 2017, 07:33:09 AM »
To do this weekend:
Run with dog 1x DONE
Gym 1x FAIL
Exercise/ride horse 2xDONE
Preserve last of the tomatoesGetting There
Mulch the garden bedsFAIL
Prep cook for next weekMeh

To make up for my fails, I did clean up and repair the little storage locker next to the chicken coop.  That's been on my "should do" list for a long time.  My ankle did not appreciate Saturday morning's run, but I can at least do yoga and try for some other non-impact exercises tonight and tomorrow.

Argh.  Fell off the wagon for the most part this week.  Ankle ended up really sore after last Saturday's run, and I used it as an excuse to veg out on the couch too much this week.  I have been keeping up with my dressage study, so that's something.  Gym for me tonight!

This weekend:

Can turkey stock
Yard cleanup
Chicken coop cleanout
Ride horse 2x
Walk dog/see if ankle can handle a short jog
Prep cook/meal plan

ixtap

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #127 on: November 25, 2017, 01:29:52 PM »

Any interest in doing this again next month?

No fast food/ solo eating out.
No excuses for less than 30 minutes of exercise

Week 4: SUCCESS!

Week 3: Lots of excuses, but finished strong.

Week 2: SUCCESS!

Week 1: SUCCESS!

mrbasepauly

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #128 on: November 25, 2017, 04:53:12 PM »
Only a week left, but I'm jumping in on this as well (very cool idea!).
No excuses: getting work done!! no drinking!! no mochas during the week!!

1. Work hard, be efficient, but throw down the gauntlet!
2. No drinking (1 day in, 180 days or so to go)
3. No mochas before work (weekend mocha ok)

Thanks for the inspiration!

Dollar Slice

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #129 on: November 25, 2017, 09:23:06 PM »
Still haven't missed a day of PT exercises! Rough week: my physical therapist gave me a new exercise on Monday that made my legs hurt like hell for three days, and my bronchitis didn't start getting better until Thursday, after I decided I was going to bed and not coming out until I was feeling better. I stayed in bed (except for food/bathroom breaks) for 22 hours.

I have an appointment with my surgeon on Tuesday, so I'll find out if I need to sign up for No Excuses December...

Linea_Norway

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #130 on: November 26, 2017, 07:31:14 AM »
No more buying my favorite cheesecake and have that for dinner whenever DH plans to eat somewhere else. This cheesecake is very expensive and unhealthy. Is is only sold by 2 pieces and that is exactly 1 piece too many.

No buying of sweets if I go shopping the coming days, even though sweets might be on sale in the shops now for Halloween. Both DH and I need to watch our weight at this moment.

No more buying of comfort food at the newsstand if I need to visit the city for work.

No more buying of chocolate bars when the grocery store has discount market. This will be a very difficult one. I often buy quite a large pile when they are so cheap.

Well, yesterday was the second of November and the first point blew already. Facepunch!
The cheesecake was on sale, so I bought 2x2. They have all bern consumed by now. Yes, I am aware of having an eating disorder. It has something to do with being home alone for three days and having the freeday to behave in an irresponsible way, for matters of eating. I also bought a bottle of wine and had 3 glasses last night.

The small positive thing is that I had leftover food from the fridge for dinner yesterday and will do the same tonight. And apart from the cheesecake and wine and a box of Christmas cookies (still closed) I didn't buy other unnecessary things.

I have a lot to work on when it comes to self control on food. BTW, my BMI is still in the normal range, because I do this relatively seldom. But still, this is not normal behaviour.

Approaching the end of November. Time to look at the current status.

1) Last week I was home alone for 2 nights and did not buy any cheesecake.

2) Did not buy sweets on sale, but on the night I was home alone I did buy a small size bag of sweets that were not on sale. Ate those before eating a leftover dinner portion from the freezer. At least the shop has introduced small sweet bags which really cannot contain as much as I usually would buy.

3) I did not visit the city and have therefore not been tempted to buy sweets at any news stands. Just that once at the grocery shop, as described above.

4) I haven't seen the chocolate bars last time the shop had sale. This particular problem is solved. Our drawer at home where we usually keep these snacks is very empty, apart from two closed packs of oatmeal cookies that are not attractive enough to open.

Challenges for me for the rest of November (and for December):
5) Don`t buy meat and fish. Empty the stuffed freezer first.
6) Drive to the communal garbage collection of bring away the broken office chair that stands in our hall way.
7) Notice when fuel prices are cheap and fill up both cars.
8) Do daily exercises for my back as I want it to give me less trouble.

« Last Edit: November 27, 2017, 04:35:34 AM by Linda_Norway »

horsepoor

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #131 on: November 26, 2017, 10:10:24 PM »

Gym for me tonight!

This weekend:

Can turkey stock
Yard cleanup
Chicken coop cleanout
Ride horse 2x
Walk dog/see if ankle can handle a short jog
Prep cook/meal plan

Woohoo, I completed all of this.  I also got my basement home office area cleaned up as I'll probably be teleworking more frequently starting next week.

On the downside, I lifted weights Friday night, then walked 3 miles with a very short little jog in part of it, and now my ankle is thrashed.  Relegated to the gym elliptical machine for the next week.  Dog not happy.

fluffmuffin

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #132 on: November 27, 2017, 06:52:43 AM »
Nearing the end of November update on my challenge items. I don't have any reason to spend money for the next three days, so this should probably be it!
  • No eating out. Didn't make this one--spent ~$25 for one dinner out. But that's still under what I'd normally spend, so not a complete failure either.
  • No unnecessary or unplanned purchases. Didn't quite make this one either, in that life circumstances led me to spending 4.5 hours in a Target on Thanksgiving (don't even ask), and I boredom-shopped for some stuff that I'd been planning to put off until December. Everything I bought was going to be purchased eventually, but I hadn't budgeted for it in November and it wasn't 100% necessary to buy at that moment. I  had enough flex in the budget to cover it so it's not as if I'm in the hole, but still a failure on the challenge parameters.
  • Absolutely NO new clothing or boots for fall. Success!
  • Grocery spend under $250. Juuust barely missed this one, coming in at $261.63. Without having to buy the turkey for Thanksgiving I would have crushed it, since I splashed out $80 for a local, organic, pastured bird (#ValuesBasedSpending)

I only succeeded at 1/4 goals, which was honestly the easiest one. But this has still been a useful exercise! Even if I didn't meet the other 3/4 items, my overall spending on was still lower than normal, which is exactly what I was hoping for. Hopefully nothing goes off the rails in the next three days :)

PJ

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #133 on: November 28, 2017, 10:45:24 AM »
13/13 on my PT exercises, but today might be a failure. It's my press deadline at work, my boss took the day off for a family emergency, and I've been running a fever on and off since Sunday. So far I did 1 of my 12 exercises. Maybe I can manage half of them and call it a good-enough win?

I ended up managing to do at least half of my PT exercises every single day (focusing on the more important ones). Even though I have bronchitis and I had four out-of-town visitors in the last two weeks and it is a critical time at work and I haven't been able to take a sick day. This has been really tough. But it's no excuses November so I guess I am doing my PT exercises until I drop dead :-P  I am going to PT in an hour and I might go to urgent care afterward to make sure I'm not getting pneumonia :-/

Took a little break from the forums, but have enjoyed coming back and reading everyone's updates.  Sounds like only Dollar Slice met 100% of their goal - being willing to die rather than fail is very inspirational, DS!  (See above)

And what about me?  Time for a brief assessment:

I did do some more thrift store clothing shopping after my last post, tried to be a bit more discerning and had a discount code to reduce the price even further.  The question of whether I really "needed" all that is a serious one to consider.  For sure I needed to assess my wardrobe with a critical eye, as I'm finding it harder to find stuff that totally fits and works for me.  After all the shopping, I've weeded some things out, but need to do more.  In the final analysis, I certainly bought more than I needed to, but most of what I got will be used and useful, and much of it will replace things that need to be discarded.

I did much better with other spending though.  It's hard not to do any shopping in the lead up to Christmas, if yours is a family that gives gifts.  But where I found myself really able to stick to the challenge was in drastically minimizing the dribble spending.  The coffee here, quick lunch on the road there.  I made my coffee at home even more (such a huge change from a couple years ago, when I'd hit the Tim Horton's drive-thru at least once a day, and often 2 or 3 times!)  I took my lunch, or dinner, or snacks with me more.  I didn't pop by the convenience store for junk food on the way home.  And so on.

So on the whole, I'd say that November was a moderate success.  And I think I saw a "Deliberate December" thread, so you can probably find me there next month!

ixtap

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #134 on: November 28, 2017, 10:55:39 AM »
Did y'all see the Deliberate December thread?

This challenge really helped keep me accountable for a plan I was making anyway (no solo eating out). Even yesterday I found myself struggling to forego the fast food when I had an unexpected errand over lunch time, so it is not quite an automatic habit just yet.

I pushed the exercise too hard and ended up aggravating a back issue, but was strong enough to recover relatively quickly.

Dollar Slice

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #135 on: November 28, 2017, 11:15:12 AM »
13/13 on my PT exercises, but today might be a failure. It's my press deadline at work, my boss took the day off for a family emergency, and I've been running a fever on and off since Sunday. So far I did 1 of my 12 exercises. Maybe I can manage half of them and call it a good-enough win?

I ended up managing to do at least half of my PT exercises every single day (focusing on the more important ones). Even though I have bronchitis and I had four out-of-town visitors in the last two weeks and it is a critical time at work and I haven't been able to take a sick day. This has been really tough. But it's no excuses November so I guess I am doing my PT exercises until I drop dead :-P  I am going to PT in an hour and I might go to urgent care afterward to make sure I'm not getting pneumonia :-/

Took a little break from the forums, but have enjoyed coming back and reading everyone's updates.  Sounds like only Dollar Slice met 100% of their goal - being willing to die rather than fail is very inspirational, DS!  (See above)

Haha. I came closer than I really would have liked, honestly, I did have to go to urgent care and I was very ill for a while. And there was one time I had to do my PT exercises in a hotel room with a friend in the middle of the afternoon because I was too exhausted/ill to do it in the morning and I was otherwise busy from noon to 12:30AM. The good(?) news is that since I was too sick to attend the family Thanksgiving, I had extra time for my exercises. I did extra reps and tried some more advanced versions of the exercises over the holiday weekend. Result: the ROM in my joint has gone from 15 degrees to 45 degrees in four weeks! The surgeon was very pleased when I saw him today (he seemed almost surprised at the amount of improvement) and prescribed another month of PT since it's been helping so much. Normal movement in the joint is 70-90 degrees, so I still have a ways to go. But I think even if I don't get all the way there, it will be a big help to me. I have to decide what I would consider "success," because I told myself that if this one was a success, I would have the operation on the other foot which has the same exact problem... but I have a while to decide still.

PJ

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #136 on: November 28, 2017, 11:21:16 AM »
13/13 on my PT exercises, but today might be a failure. It's my press deadline at work, my boss took the day off for a family emergency, and I've been running a fever on and off since Sunday. So far I did 1 of my 12 exercises. Maybe I can manage half of them and call it a good-enough win?

I ended up managing to do at least half of my PT exercises every single day (focusing on the more important ones). Even though I have bronchitis and I had four out-of-town visitors in the last two weeks and it is a critical time at work and I haven't been able to take a sick day. This has been really tough. But it's no excuses November so I guess I am doing my PT exercises until I drop dead :-P  I am going to PT in an hour and I might go to urgent care afterward to make sure I'm not getting pneumonia :-/

Took a little break from the forums, but have enjoyed coming back and reading everyone's updates.  Sounds like only Dollar Slice met 100% of their goal - being willing to die rather than fail is very inspirational, DS!  (See above)

Haha. I came closer than I really would have liked, honestly, I did have to go to urgent care and I was very ill for a while. And there was one time I had to do my PT exercises in a hotel room with a friend in the middle of the afternoon because I was too exhausted/ill to do it in the morning and I was otherwise busy from noon to 12:30AM. The good(?) news is that since I was too sick to attend the family Thanksgiving, I had extra time for my exercises. I did extra reps and tried some more advanced versions of the exercises over the holiday weekend. Result: the ROM in my joint has gone from 15 degrees to 45 degrees in four weeks! The surgeon was very pleased when I saw him today (he seemed almost surprised at the amount of improvement) and prescribed another month of PT since it's been helping so much. Normal movement in the joint is 70-90 degrees, so I still have a ways to go. But I think even if I don't get all the way there, it will be a big help to me. I have to decide what I would consider "success," because I told myself that if this one was a success, I would have the operation on the other foot which has the same exact problem... but I have a while to decide still.

Reading that update, I don't know whether to laugh or to cry, to be honest! 

I'm just hoping you're feeling much better, all way around, and that December is not nearly as traumatic!

Dollar Slice

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #137 on: November 28, 2017, 12:23:05 PM »
I'm just hoping you're feeling much better, all way around, and that December is not nearly as traumatic!

Yes, I'm 98% over the illness, and things are easing up with my schedule. No friends visiting this month, no crazy weeks where I'm out till midnight every night. And I managed to schedule every PT appointment at 5:30PM so I can just stop on my way home from work, which cuts out one subway ride per appointment. Saves me almost 4 hours of commute time and ~50 flights of stairs on that post-op foot in December.

Everything's coming up Slicey!

PJ

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #138 on: November 28, 2017, 12:40:29 PM »
I'm just hoping you're feeling much better, all way around, and that December is not nearly as traumatic!

Yes, I'm 98% over the illness, and things are easing up with my schedule. No friends visiting this month, no crazy weeks where I'm out till midnight every night. And I managed to schedule every PT appointment at 5:30PM so I can just stop on my way home from work, which cuts out one subway ride per appointment. Saves me almost 4 hours of commute time and ~50 flights of stairs on that post-op foot in December.

Everything's coming up Slicey!

Glad to hear it.  If you don't take care of you, no one else is going to!

kaypinkHH

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #139 on: November 29, 2017, 10:49:07 AM »
Wait what...it is the end of November already??

READY FOR ALL MY EXCUSES...
Lesson learned: made unreasonable goals. Growing a human/living with other people made meeting these goals tough.

Overall though,
1. No more being lazy- going to exercise 5x per week. (45 mins min)
Didn't quite get to 5x per week, but the classes I did were more intense than going for a walk. Feel ntb about this one!

2. No more takeout lunches, sticking to the food budget and saving our restaurant food for special occasions
Wow..that was like 3 goals in one. 4 take out lunches, and approximately $150 of unneeded restaurant spending (rest was with other people aka special occasions). Need to be less lazy.

3. No new clothes- if something wears out, I'm going to a thrift store.
I only spent $50 on new clothes- NEEDED. (and $135 on kijijji finds)..when the total retail value of purchased items from kijiji of new to me clothes was probably $2000. #almostwinning

I'm going to pass on deliberate December myself, but look forward to joining a future similar challenge when I have bit more control over my life (aka my own kitchen).

Dollar Slice

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #140 on: November 29, 2017, 09:37:46 PM »
Everything's coming up Slicey!

Rarely is hubris punished so quickly! I posted that yesterday, and this morning I woke up with bad pain and stiffness in my knee, for no apparent reason (I did not injure it, and it's not even on the same leg where I had the surgery). I have a PT appointment tomorrow so I can ask her what to do about it or what she thinks could cause it. Possibly a long-term consequence of the foot problem I've been living with for years, but kind of weird for it to start so suddenly. Tonight I am sticking to just the PT exercises where I am sitting or laying down, to make sure I don't hurt it further.

JoshuaSpodek

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #141 on: November 30, 2017, 10:50:26 PM »
Launching my podcast, Leadership and the Environment, that I meant to launch last month.

I said I would launch my podcast this month and late in the evening of November 30th, I launched Leadership and the Environment.



Thank you to this thread, whose public accountability motivated me to work like crazy the past few days to finish this month. I think I got a sophisticated, professional looking page up with four episodes of world-class guests.

  • Dan Pink, multiple #1 NY Times bestseller, over 40 million TED views
  • Marshall Goldsmith, multiple #1 bestseller, #1 rated leadership coach
  • Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and New Yorker writer
  • Michael Bungay Stanier, WSJ bestselling author

Plus my personal statement Episode 000, which describes the story and goals of the podcast, and a few videos for more background.

Many more guests coming soon, two episodes per week.

It’s not up in iTunes yet, but please spread the word if you like it.

Most of all, please visit the page to commit to a personal challenge to take a leadership role acting on the environment.

There are lots of little details to fix and Apple won't validate the rss feed (https://leadershipandtheenvironment.libsyn.com/rss) even though other validators do, so it's not on iTunes yet, but check it out: http://joshuaspodek.com/podcast.

I'd love your thoughts (plus help with iTunes for any experienced podcasters).

Linea_Norway

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #142 on: December 01, 2017, 01:12:14 AM »
November has passed. Summing up the total status:

1) Failed - in the beginning of November, but passed in the second half of November. Let's continue this way.
2) Failed - Buying sweets: still not cured. I will need to focus. Out government will soon make sugar products even more expensive, so maybe this will motivate me.
3) Passed - Not buying candies at a news stand where they are expensive. But that was perhaps because I haven't been in a tempting situation.
4) Passed - Have not bought chocolate bars on sale. I haven't seen them on sale either.
5) Passed - I haven't bought meat or fish in the past week. Freezer is getting slightly emptier.
6) Passed - Broken office chair is gone.
7) Ongoing - Haven't seen cheap fuel, but haven't filled up with expensive fuel either. Need to find cheap fuel before the next Friday when we go on a long drive. Sunday afternoon will probably be cheapest.
8) Passed - Doing daily exercises for my back.

I am joining the Deliberate December thread, as I like the concept of having short monthly goals.

akzidenz

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #143 on: December 02, 2017, 01:51:11 PM »
My goal was a 55% savings rate. I didn't make it, sadly—just a 51%.

I'm a bit embarrassed to say that the reason I'm a 51% and not a 55% is that a pair of shoes I've wanted to buy (for one or two years now!) went on sale. It's absolutely a luxury, not a necessity. It's nice to have it now but I feel a bit conflicted about whether I need it…I might end up returning it.

It's nice to have the MMM forums—I know that most of my friends would say "but you've wanted it for so long!" and "you can afford it!". But it's more about principles—I made a goal and didn't make it, and I want to train myself to not see luxuries as ordinary/necessary things in my life.

One good thing, though: I ate out only 7 times (visited 1 bar, 6 restaurants). No coffee expenses either! I normally eat out 4x/week, or even more…

On to Deliberate December!

middo

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Re: No Excuses November!
« Reply #144 on: December 02, 2017, 03:27:40 PM »
I failed my goal. Unexpected expenses and lower income meant I couldn't pay down the debt I wanted. Next month hopefully.