+-+-+ Weekly Goal Setting: 7/27/15 +-+-+

[icequeen]

Good morning, ladies!

Happy Monday. Hope you are all doing well and had a nice weekend. Please give us an update on how you did with your goals over the past week. Feel free to set some new goals for this coming week by following the format below and be sure to include any trigger warnings you feel are appropriate. Thanks

Goal:
Short or long term?
Why is it important?
How am I going to accomplish it?

[yoshijo28]

**ED mentioned**

Last week's goal #1 was to only exercise an hour a day 3 times total on vacation. I accomplished this for the most part. I still had a few instances where I forced myself to do x amount of laps everytime I went in the pool or tread water for x amount of time in the ocean. But this relaxed as the trip went on.

Goal #2 was to not log anything I ate on vacation. I could have connected to wifi but chose not to and didn't log a thing. I'm back to it now but it was nice not doing it for the week. I also ate a ton so it was best not to see it.

New Goal: try not to freak out with my boss being out for the next 2 weeks. I get so anxious when he's not there since I have no one to really go to for advice or decisions and a lot has to wait for him to come back. I also don't have a ton of work to do (I have a very self motivated position and create most of my own work which sometimes I hate). We usually bounce ideas off of each other which creates projects for me. Unfortunately I finished all major projects before my vacation

Short or long term? Short term

Why is it important? Last time he was on vacation I went into a bad depression, would sit in my office bored for hours, and felt so terrible the whole time
And this time he's gone for almost 2 weeks

How am I going to accomplish it? I'm trying to plan a project or 2 to work on while he's away. I told him about my fears so we're trying to create work for me. An unhealthy way to deal with this is me going to the gym before work once or twice a week so I go in later and don't have as long of a work day. I know it's a bad idea but mentally helps me stay calm. I also leave early once a week for therapy. Im not supposed to but I plan on listening to music or reading if I have to. I don't have the best plans on dealing with this.

[Deleted]

Jul 27, 2015 11:02:27 GMT -5 yoshijo28 said:

**ED mentioned**

Last week's goal #1 was to only exercise an hour a day 3 times total on vacation. I accomplished this for the most part. I still had a few instances where I forced myself to do x amount of laps everytime I went in the pool or tread water for x amount of time in the ocean. But this relaxed as the trip went on.

Goal #2 was to not log anything I ate on vacation. I could have connected to wifi but chose not to and didn't log a thing. I'm back to it now but it was nice not doing it for the week. I also ate a ton so it was best not to see it.

New Goal: try not to freak out with my boss being out for the next 2 weeks. I get so anxious when he's not there since I have no one to really go to for advice or decisions and a lot has to wait for him to come back. I also don't have a ton of work to do (I have a very self motivated position and create most of my own work which sometimes I hate). We usually bounce ideas off of each other which creates projects for me. Unfortunately I finished all major projects before my vacation

Short or long term? Short term

Why is it important? Last time he was on vacation I went into a bad depression, would sit in my office bored for hours, and felt so terrible the whole time
And this time he's gone for almost 2 weeks

How am I going to accomplish it? I'm trying to plan a project or 2 to work on while he's away. I told him about my fears so we're trying to create work for me. An unhealthy way to deal with this is me going to the gym before work once or twice a week so I go in later and don't have as long of a work day. I know it's a bad idea but mentally helps me stay calm. I also leave early once a week for therapy. Im not supposed to but I plan on listening to music or reading if I have to. I don't have the best plans on dealing with this.

It sounds like you did really well on your vacation! I hope you had a nice time.

I get pretty down when I'm not busy at work, too. I find a lot of fulfillment in my job so when I'm light I think my self-worth takes a hit. I also get anxious about not being busy because I work for a consulting firm, and when people are chronically light they are in danger of getting axed. I've never really been in danger of losing my job, I don't think, so this is an unrealistic fear.
Anyway, I think planning a couple of projects for yourself is a good idea. I know it can be hard to drum up work, I am light at work right now and I breezed through all the backlog admin-type things I had within a couple of days. I've also taken a little vacation time here and there to do personal stuff. Is there anything else you can do that will help ease your anxiety but won't be contributing to a bad habit?

[yoshijo28]

Thanks ladies, I'll update more about the trip in the check in. It was a great trip overall, some struggles, but relaxing and fun.

@rocknrollfriend I'm trying to think of better things to do. I created a few mini things and will leave my office and make sure I interact with co-workers when I feel depressed. When I get like that I lose all motivation and concentration and just can't get started on something.

jennykat I'm glad you wiped the slate clean and are starting over. Good luck tomorrow, that's so exciting letting your emotions control your eating is so difficult. I wish I had advice but I can just send encouragement and hope you can stick to your plan

[somebirdswalk]

Rough day today, but I'm here and glad that you all are still here too. Keep up the hard work.

3 steps forward, 2 steps back is still progress!

[icequeen]

yoshijo28, I'm glad you were able to tell your boss about your fears so you can both work on making you productive. That in itself is showing that you are a valuable team member. I would talk to some of the other workers and see if they want to work on a joint project so that way you will be forced to communicate with them more. Maybe going out to lunch with your coworkers would help you face some of ED behaviors and not seclude yourself.

jennykat, so happy to hear you have a refreshed attitude for tomorrow! Can't wait to hear how it goes. You are definitely way harder on yourself than anyone else is and I hope you can be content with how much you are pushing yourself.

I am pretty happy with how I did this weekend but the last two days I have been feeling like I did too much. I have a bad body image and feel fat/gross/uncomfortable. I'm trying to push those thoughts out of my head. I was able to eat the 4 meals (I actually had 5) with 2 cheat meals without purging. I definitely don't think I lost any weight just based on how I'm feeling physically.

* Trigger: ED/PG mentioned *

Goal 1: Eat 5 meals (3 cheat meals) on different days this week.

Short or long term? Short

Why is it important? I need to slowly get used to learning how to eat normal meals and enjoy them without making myself throw up because I am afraid of gaining weight.

How am I going to accomplish it? Go out to lunch with DD one day, tell MH about my goals so he can help me on the weekend.

Goal 2: Cut down exercise to 45 minutes on Sunday

Short or long term? Short

Why is it important? I have to give my body a chance to rest during the week.

How am I going to accomplish it? Take my phone with me on my walk so I can keep track of how long I am gone, tell MH about my goals.

Goal 3: Set up new psych appointment

Short or long term? Short/long

Why is it important? Medication is an important part of my treatment, encouraged by my therapist and OB, especially since I parted ways with my old psych.

How am I going to accomplish it? I have called twice, just playing phone tag. Hopefully we can get something set up today.

[bocaburger]

yoshijo28, Great job accomplishing your goals over vacation! I hope you had a great time!
somebirdswalk, I'm glad you're here too. :-)

I did much better with my goals last week - not perfect, but better. And I was sick, so I'm cutting myself some slack on what I didn't accomplish.

One of my goals was to cook for the weekend. H ended up having to make some of the side dishes, mostly because I wasn't feeling well, but I did make 2 lasagnas and a bunch of artichokes (H's favorite!) so I felt good about that.

As for this week:

Goal: Don't watch tv except when using the time to do another mindless task (eating, folding laundry, et).
Short or long term? Both
Why is it important? I use tv to avoid facing my emotions, but I get sucked in and can't stop watching, sometimes for hours at a time. Sometimes I worry that it's almost an addiction.
How am I going to accomplish it? When I feel the urge to watch tv or continue to the next episode, go for a walk or change tasks. Think about why I have the urge and if I'm suppressing feelings, work through them instead.

Goal: Get my studying done in advance.
Short or long term? Short term
Why is it important? I have a busy weekend (throwing a party for my MIL's birthday) and then a good friend is visiting this week and I want to be available for her. I have an exam and a project due next week. I am usually a major procrastinator so this is going to be tough.
How am I going to accomplish it? Set aside a chunk of time on Thursday and another chunk on Friday morning. Make flashcards that I can study on my car ride to my in-laws.

[somebirdswalk]

TV! So with you, although DH and I actively put on Golden Girls to calm me down and get me out of my head when I'm feeling too much. (Thus my GIF) It's quite a complicated luxury we've created for ourselves, this TV business... Best of luck bocaburger,

[yoshijo28]

somebirdswalk Golden Girls is wonderful. Who doesn't get in a good mood from watching?

bocaburger you cooked a lot, I wish I had that motivation! I'm curious, do you have specific shows you enjoy watching? Could you set aside time to watch shows you enjoy or do you just have it on as background? Or does that lead into the compulsion to keep watching?

icequeen great job this week! I know you increased by 1 meal but just make sure as you're pacing yourself and comfortable before you push yourself too hard. I hope you reached your new psych. Can't wait to hear how it goes with him/her

[yoshijo28]

Jul 28, 2015 23:11:48 GMT -5 jennykat said:

I'm watching Golden Girls right now yoshijo28 and somebirdswalk!

icequeen I am so proud of you! Yay!

Oh........... AND I GOT MY PERMIT!!!!!!!!

Yay!! So proud of you I'm sure it feel awsome

[icequeen]

bocaburger, with the TV watching, I would maybe set aside one hour of TV a day (or another limit) so you can at least look forward to watching your shows without feeling deprived. TV is a great relaxer and you need that too. With the studying, I would also break up the studying time so you know which task you are focusing on. Maybe write an outline, intro, and 2 paragraphs and do half of your flashcards on Thursday, and write the remainder of the paper and the other half of the flashcards on Friday, so you can have the weekend to go over them.

jennykat, WHOOO! Way to go!

[bocaburger]

Thanks icequeen. Sometimes I forget to break things down into smaller tasks, which is part of why I end up getting overwhelmed and not completing them. Thanks for the reminder.