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person4I've successfully broken my addiction to caffeine.
I've been drinking pop as my main source of liquids ever since I was a kid, since that was the only thing that was usually around the house other than milk (which I've never been able to stand when it's not mixed with something) or tap water aside from the occasional packs of kool-aid. Before I decided to start dieting I was at at least four regular cans of pop a day most days, because I always like to have something to drink close at hand and, like I said, that's what I drink (not at all incidentally, I also have a bunch of cavities). Otherwise my diet was already pretty close to being fine, but that's a pretty big "otherwise."
And, because I've been drinking so much pop for so long I was really addicted to the caffeine in it. If I went more than about a day without anything caffeinated I would end up with the most insanely bad migraines. I've never had headaches that bad at any other time. And I knew that that couldn't be good for me, but, without any real reason to do anything about it, I just tried to make sure I never ran out of pop.
But, when I decided to do this diet thing, the first thing I decided to do was use it to wean myself of addiction. First I cut down to just one can a day, just enough to keep ahead of the headaches. A couple of weeks later I went even further down, to one every other day. And I wasn't quite at the point where I could handle that perfectly well yet, I had mild headaches by the end of every pop-free day until I got one the next day, but I just kept going along like that and now I'm having my first soda in about five days and I haven't had even a hint of a headache in the entire time.
Of course, I know it would be even better to just quit drinking it all together now. But I like pop, even if it is unhealthy! So just one every so often'll be enough for me.
And, on how the actual diet is going, uh... I haven't had a working scale in ages, so I neither know how much I weighed to begin with (but it was probably 160 lbs, since I've been that weight for years) or how much I am now. Possibly for the best, since that means there's no chance at all I'll become obsessed with keeping track of how much I've lost. But I think I already look a bit skinnier, I can feel that my thighs aren't quite as soft when I squeeze them, and a couple of weeks ago when I was on my traditional girls of the family vacation my mom commented on how I've lost weight and she doesn't even know I'm on a diet. Like I said when I started this, I'm not really interested in getting skinny skinny, just fit, but it is nice to know that there's a difference being made by the effort I'm putting into it. Which reminds me that as soon as I'm done typing this I need to go down to the basement and get in the first part of my exercise for the day.
In news not related to my body, you might've noticed that I also managed to finish the fic-a-day thing. I didn't really go into it expecting that I would, I was sure that since I was going on vacation at the end of the month I'd eventually just go "Meh, I'm not going to make it anyway so I might as well just skip today," one day when I was pushing it too close to the wire, and from there I'd probably have soon just given up altogether. But I kept going, and I put a story for each day I'd be gone on disc so if I could find a computer in Stratford I could post them, and then, when the computer that was at the bed and breakfast wouldn't read my disc, I quickly rewrote the two stories I could remember and made up a new one for the one I forgot before going off to do vacationy things each day. And, when I ended up crashing for the night at my grandparents on the way home instead of going all the way to my own house and computer on the last day of the month, I used my uncle's computer to bang out the very last oneeven though I'm fairly sure that the stuff mucking up his keyboard was dried come, which I really, really, don't want to think about too much.
And I'm so glad that I made myself keep going, because it was great to be writing regularly again in the way I haven't ever since I graduated high school and no longer had to fill study hall with scribbling away to keep from being bored to death. And to write in a bunch of fandoms I've never touched before. There're a few stories that I really think would've benefited from being written in more than the few hours a day I had to write, but I also know I probably never would've written them at all if it hadn't been for the challenge so it's okay. And hopefully I can keep it up.
Also, now that I've proven to myself that I can keep myself on schedule, I'm kind of considering trying to write some harlequin romances (under a penname, of course). I'd probably never, ever, bring myself to actually let anyone IRL know about them, but they're short, an easy genre to write, and I would really be glad for the slight money cushion I'd get from them. I'm not stupid enough to think I'd get that big an amount of money out of them if I did do it, but I've known people who were able to keep up with their college expenses aside from tuition by writing a few crappy (by their own admission) Harlequins a year, so I know that if I could do it it could work as a cushion.
Of course, there's part of my pride yelling "Harlequin? Are you kidding? You dream of having respectable things published someday, so how could you lower yourself by thinking about writing crummy romances geared toward the lowest common denominator?"
To which I reply to myself that, if I ever do write a novel I can be proud of, having books published in the past would make it easier to find an agent and/or publisher for that book, that just because there're a lot of awful romances out there doesn't mean that I can't try writing better quality manuscripts than that, and that I write mushy romantic fanfic for children's series, so I don't have all that much room to be proud. And I already have the beginnings of an idea that I think would be fun to write, so it wouldn't even be purely for the money. Mostly for it, but having a fun idea makes me feel a little less 'Ugh, how can I call myself a writer when I'm planning on writing a book just for cash?'
And, mostly, I want that extra money to help out my mom some. She's a realtor, so she only gets paid by commission, but this year the market around here just flopped, and she's only had two closings all year long while her appliances have started falling apart all around her. Last year she was so happy because it was the first year since my father left that she was really getting financially stable without having to rely on the money dad needs to send to cover some of the bills (important, because he skips paying so often). Then the market went to hell, and money's flowing out while it comes in at a trinkle, and if I can even just make enough to hire someone to fix the clothes dryer and water heater for her, I know what a relief it would be. There's no way she'd be willing to take my money to help cover the bills, but that, at least, I arrange to have done without letting her have a chance to turn it down.
If anyone has any thoughts about the Harlequin thing, I'd be glad to hear them. I do realize that throwing one off won't be as easy as I make it sound like I think it'd be by using terms like 'throwing on off' to talk about it, but if can keep myself writing and they buy anything I write to inspire me to keep on keeping on I think it'd be worth it, both for the money and for the practice it would get me. And even if I write one and they don't buy it, there'd still be the practice bonus.
I've been drinking pop as my main source of liquids ever since I was a kid, since that was the only thing that was usually around the house other than milk (which I've never been able to stand when it's not mixed with something) or tap water aside from the occasional packs of kool-aid. Before I decided to start dieting I was at at least four regular cans of pop a day most days, because I always like to have something to drink close at hand and, like I said, that's what I drink (not at all incidentally, I also have a bunch of cavities). Otherwise my diet was already pretty close to being fine, but that's a pretty big "otherwise."
And, because I've been drinking so much pop for so long I was really addicted to the caffeine in it. If I went more than about a day without anything caffeinated I would end up with the most insanely bad migraines. I've never had headaches that bad at any other time. And I knew that that couldn't be good for me, but, without any real reason to do anything about it, I just tried to make sure I never ran out of pop.
But, when I decided to do this diet thing, the first thing I decided to do was use it to wean myself of addiction. First I cut down to just one can a day, just enough to keep ahead of the headaches. A couple of weeks later I went even further down, to one every other day. And I wasn't quite at the point where I could handle that perfectly well yet, I had mild headaches by the end of every pop-free day until I got one the next day, but I just kept going along like that and now I'm having my first soda in about five days and I haven't had even a hint of a headache in the entire time.
Of course, I know it would be even better to just quit drinking it all together now. But I like pop, even if it is unhealthy! So just one every so often'll be enough for me.
And, on how the actual diet is going, uh... I haven't had a working scale in ages, so I neither know how much I weighed to begin with (but it was probably 160 lbs, since I've been that weight for years) or how much I am now. Possibly for the best, since that means there's no chance at all I'll become obsessed with keeping track of how much I've lost. But I think I already look a bit skinnier, I can feel that my thighs aren't quite as soft when I squeeze them, and a couple of weeks ago when I was on my traditional girls of the family vacation my mom commented on how I've lost weight and she doesn't even know I'm on a diet. Like I said when I started this, I'm not really interested in getting skinny skinny, just fit, but it is nice to know that there's a difference being made by the effort I'm putting into it. Which reminds me that as soon as I'm done typing this I need to go down to the basement and get in the first part of my exercise for the day.
In news not related to my body, you might've noticed that I also managed to finish the fic-a-day thing. I didn't really go into it expecting that I would, I was sure that since I was going on vacation at the end of the month I'd eventually just go "Meh, I'm not going to make it anyway so I might as well just skip today," one day when I was pushing it too close to the wire, and from there I'd probably have soon just given up altogether. But I kept going, and I put a story for each day I'd be gone on disc so if I could find a computer in Stratford I could post them, and then, when the computer that was at the bed and breakfast wouldn't read my disc, I quickly rewrote the two stories I could remember and made up a new one for the one I forgot before going off to do vacationy things each day. And, when I ended up crashing for the night at my grandparents on the way home instead of going all the way to my own house and computer on the last day of the month, I used my uncle's computer to bang out the very last one
And I'm so glad that I made myself keep going, because it was great to be writing regularly again in the way I haven't ever since I graduated high school and no longer had to fill study hall with scribbling away to keep from being bored to death. And to write in a bunch of fandoms I've never touched before. There're a few stories that I really think would've benefited from being written in more than the few hours a day I had to write, but I also know I probably never would've written them at all if it hadn't been for the challenge so it's okay. And hopefully I can keep it up.
Also, now that I've proven to myself that I can keep myself on schedule, I'm kind of considering trying to write some harlequin romances (under a penname, of course). I'd probably never, ever, bring myself to actually let anyone IRL know about them, but they're short, an easy genre to write, and I would really be glad for the slight money cushion I'd get from them. I'm not stupid enough to think I'd get that big an amount of money out of them if I did do it, but I've known people who were able to keep up with their college expenses aside from tuition by writing a few crappy (by their own admission) Harlequins a year, so I know that if I could do it it could work as a cushion.
Of course, there's part of my pride yelling "Harlequin? Are you kidding? You dream of having respectable things published someday, so how could you lower yourself by thinking about writing crummy romances geared toward the lowest common denominator?"
To which I reply to myself that, if I ever do write a novel I can be proud of, having books published in the past would make it easier to find an agent and/or publisher for that book, that just because there're a lot of awful romances out there doesn't mean that I can't try writing better quality manuscripts than that, and that I write mushy romantic fanfic for children's series, so I don't have all that much room to be proud. And I already have the beginnings of an idea that I think would be fun to write, so it wouldn't even be purely for the money. Mostly for it, but having a fun idea makes me feel a little less 'Ugh, how can I call myself a writer when I'm planning on writing a book just for cash?'
And, mostly, I want that extra money to help out my mom some. She's a realtor, so she only gets paid by commission, but this year the market around here just flopped, and she's only had two closings all year long while her appliances have started falling apart all around her. Last year she was so happy because it was the first year since my father left that she was really getting financially stable without having to rely on the money dad needs to send to cover some of the bills (important, because he skips paying so often). Then the market went to hell, and money's flowing out while it comes in at a trinkle, and if I can even just make enough to hire someone to fix the clothes dryer and water heater for her, I know what a relief it would be. There's no way she'd be willing to take my money to help cover the bills, but that, at least, I arrange to have done without letting her have a chance to turn it down.
If anyone has any thoughts about the Harlequin thing, I'd be glad to hear them. I do realize that throwing one off won't be as easy as I make it sound like I think it'd be by using terms like 'throwing on off' to talk about it, but if can keep myself writing and they buy anything I write to inspire me to keep on keeping on I think it'd be worth it, both for the money and for the practice it would get me. And even if I write one and they don't buy it, there'd still be the practice bonus.