Lettuce for the win...

Well, good news I lost 3 lbs.

Also noted that pretty much the minute I started eating a salad every day and trying to get 50% or more of my calories from vegetable two things happened:

1. I have not even thought of eating a Tums, let alone the 3-5 a day I was taking before.
2. I have been sleeping much better.

I attribute this entirely to my diet. It is the only change I made last week. Who knew? Lettuce is a sleep med.

I was pretty sure I was going to like what I saw when I got on the scale. I noted about mid-week doing up my pants in the bathroom at work that I didn't have to cinch my belt tight to get to the first hole on my belt (I was down to the 4th hole....) It has been getting to the point I was considering buying a bigger belt. So I was very pleased when I yanked on my belt to get it to go to the 1st hole and it went past there. That's a win, I'll take it.

I did fall off the wagon a little on Friday. I ate a whole Walmart pepperoni pizza, which is 56 points on WW. (More than a whole day's points...) and I drank quite a bit of beer, like..... almost a 12 pack. However, that was the only time I drank all week, and I did it consciously -- I knew I was going to, I planned it, including my own little dance party, and I enjoyed it. (Rather than suffering both a hangover and crushing guilt the next day, I was like, "Hm. Yeah, I'm a little shitty this morning, but that was fun.")

I'm 10 days out from the 6-week mark on the St. John's Wort and I can definitely tell I am starting to level out. I'm not having the side effects that much any more, although taking it on an empty stomach is still pretty ugly afterward in terms of yucky stomach feeling. Once I hit the 6-week mark I am going to probably start taking 450 mg 2x/day instead of 300 3x. I find taking a pill mid-day is inconvenient and I have to carry a sketchy looking ziplock bag in my pocket with an unmarked pill in it -- I work in a healthcare facility, that is just not good. 

I have also increased my Valerian to 1500 mg (from 1000) at bedtime, and it is working much better. I don't really like Sleepytime Tea, and it wasn't doing that much for me. I'd rather drink a cup of tea whose taste I actually enjoy for the relaxation / psychic benefits, and also, I like a cup of tea in the late afternoon (tea time...) rather than at bedtime. I like the idea of drinking tea to help me relax and refocus my attention on my well-being. It's just that the Sleepytime was not effective as a treatment for me. And the taste is merely tolerable, not that enjoyable.

I started using an activity tracker last week and saw the actual hard data that I am not getting enough physical activity by about half or more. Gotta raise the bar on that. More activity will be this week's #1 point to work on.

Overall, I am happy with the direction things are going. My weight is going down and the quality of my sleep and my moods is going up. I got this.

New Old Rules

So there are somethings I know I need to do, that I was doing at various times with varying success. Gotta try to get back to them.

New Old Rules:

• Reading in bed, not watching TV (Netflix)
• or if I do watch TV, I have to read before I turn out the lights to sleep
• I got away from this one because during the spring and summer when my living situation was in flux, my Chromebook / Netflix was my only access to TV, so I watched it in bed every night. 
• No eating more than a snack within 90 min of bedtime
• Do my bedtime meditations
• I used to do this (excuse the pun) religiously, every night for literally decades and for some reason I've stopped. I need to start up again tonight. I know now even more why it works so well for me, and screw the people who say you shouldn't meditate to fall asleep, it works for me super well. 
• Drink a cup of herbal tea in the evening
• There really is something psychically soothing about a cup of tea, I particularly like peppermint
• Don't go to bed early
• I know that seems counter-intelligent, but I find a lot of times I go to bed super early and all that happens is I fall asleep early, wake up a couple hours later as though I had a nap and then toss and turn the rest of the night
• No more than 9-10 hours in bed
• Don't stress over problems in the evening, it can wait til morning
• Sounds weird I know, but it is more about having internal control than anything else. I might have stresses to deal with, but I get to say when.
• Start going for a walk
• Another thing I used to do religiously every day, even if it was just walk down the road and back. Gotta do it.
• At the very least, so something active every day, preferably outdoors
• Drink more water
• Take breaks at work, like actual short breaks where I get up from my desk and walk away for 5 minutes, other than going to the bathroom

That's enough rules for one day. None of them are new. I know how it feels to do all of them right all of the time. I don't know when I lost the sense of these things, but I want them back.