SW Appt done!

Aug 22, 2014

After the orientation (my second time around, two years later), I heard a few smokers asking to cancel/push back their appointments. I smiled because I was in their same boat nearly 3 years ago! And I am already so grateful to the Ontario rule that you have to quit smoking. It took me some time, but I did it, and as I told the social worker today - even if I don't get the surgery this program has already had some benefit.

I called the morning after Orientation to scoop up one of the cancelled appointments, and managed to get my social work appointment today and my nurse appointment after the long weekend. I did all of my paperwork yesterday evening (luckily I had all my food data from SparkPeople) and got up early before work to go to the meeting. It was great. I am actually pretty glad that the process has taken this long for me (over 2 years since first referral) because I needed that time to change a lot of habits and also to get mentally/emotionally ready. The SW says I sound like I am in a great spot & ready to take on the challenge. 

We are picking up our new puppy (!) next weekend and I am so excited! I am going to have a sweet lil walking buddy soon! Which is great because my Fitbit score is up and down lately - some days I hit 10k steps like a breeze, other days I walk home and STILL don't hit my steps. Sitting all day at work doesn't help but I've been trying to get up and take walks when I have a break.

I downloaded the Eat Chew Rest app to practice taking small bites, chewing lots, putting down fork and resting between. It really opened my eyes to how fast I eat normally. It took me almost a half hour to eat a smallish grilled chicken breast with salad. I definitely felt satisfied by the end of it, slow eating has its perks. 

My goals for the next few weeks:

- Stay off pop entirely - I had been "soda-sober" for over a month but OF COURSE the days I recorded my food diary happened to be two days I had 2 (small) servings of diet pop...aaaagh.

- Use the Eat Chew Rest app for every meal

- Reduce volume of food I'm eating - even though I've been pretty healthy I still tend to eat in higher volume of foods like salads, watermelon, etc to feel really full. Want to avoid this.

- Stop drinking with a straw - been good at keeping hydrated but I use those plastic tumblers that come with a straw and want to get out of the habit. Considering just giving the cups away.

- Walk or workout in the gym every day.

- Finish getting the house "puppy-proofed"

0 Comments