Oh yeah, baby! Two days in a row, I worked out!
Yesterday, like I normally do, I got dressed and then went to the kitchen to see what I should make & bring for lunch. I felt uninspired. I didn’t buy enough “easy” lunch options and there really was nothing in the fridge to do anything with. I’ve toyed with the idea of planning my meals weekly but to be honest, this idea seems so large & overwhelming. Thoughts?
When lunch time came, I hit the gym and did a 13 minute run + 20 minutes of weights. By the time I finished, I was so hungry! I walked into the cafeteria and asked for a grilled chicken breast. No bun, just gimme a grilled chicken breast please.
As the chicken was grillin’, I wandered around and looked to see what else there was. On the salad bar, I found an artichoke salad. It looked DELISH so I scooped me up some.
Artichokes, anyone?
Okay, I swear it wasn’t a plate full of artichokes, although I would have been okay with that. I covered my chicken with a lovely layer of that artichoke salad.
There's the chicken!
oohh – I’m pretty sure I need to put artichoke on my grocery list so that I can make my own artichoke salad concoction. Does anyone have any good recommendations on how to buy an artichoke? Also, how to cut it?
Picky Eater?
Tonight, Lindsay, another priorfatgirl, her boyfriend, Adam and their puppy Dexter are coming over for dinner. I’m thinking of making pot roast + mashed potatoes & gravy + veggies. Since I’m not super excited about eating high calorie mashed potatoes & gravy, I’m going to make acorn squash for me as a substitute. I’ll offer it to Lindsay, if she wants some but I’m pretty sure Carlos & Adam are prefer good ol’ white mashed potatoes.
Speaking of picky eaters, I have a video of Iggy for you. Wait, I didn’t say I was picky,did I? I’m not. Well, sometimes I am. Anyway, I digress. Back to the video. I’ve actually been trying to get this recorded for months. The food Iggy eats is organic, all natural. There are little brown pieces and little black pieces. Iggy does not like the black pieces, never has. Every day, I have to pick up the little black pieces that he scatters all over the floor around his dish. Check it out!
oohh – I just wanna squeeze him to pieces, he is so cute! Anyway, I know some of you don’t appreciate a ton of doggy talk so I’ll move on, quickly.
Healthy Food Relationships & Blogging
I had a pretty good 2nd session with my therapist yesterday. I brought ya’ll up — I told her about the blog, the support I get, what I normally talk about on here & all that jazz. We talked about the blogs importance to me, my journey and my future. The conversation gave me a lot to think about…about the role blogging has in my journey, the contributions it has made and what aspects are helpful to me really truly figuring out this whole “healthiness food relationship” concept. We also discussed what aspects about blogging I may need to work though & figure out.
I’ve got some thoughts roaming around in this brain of mine and just need to work on forming them into sentences. This process can take as little as a couple hours or up to a couple of weeks. Stay tuned for more info 
In the mean time…
- What do you think about bloggers who write about their healthiness journey?
- Do you have a healthiness blog? If so, what do you write about & how do you find it helpful?
- Do you think healthiness blogging is always helpful or can blogging become an obsession which distracts the author from really dealing with their journey?
{ 41 comments… read them below or add one }
I think that the questions you write about are interesting. I have recently felt internal pressure cause my numbers are down. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG? Then I was like..who cares? This blog is for you. To go further, sometimes I think that the constant processing of something, for instance weight and how we want something different, can actually be a bad thing. It’s something that I have also thought about a lot. I do think that blogging has helped me get to where I am now, happy. But it was a definite decision to stop feeding into the mental space that I had allowed myself to be in for so long, esp. on the blog. Further, I don’t think that just because you’re one type of blogger doesn’t mean you have to stick to exactly that. Life is life…
I’m glad to hear that your sessions with your therapist are going well!
Your blog actually gave me the confidence to start my own blog. It was seeing your posts and how you talk honestly and openly about your journey that enabled me to put my story out there. I’ve lost a lot of weight (70 lbs worth), and I was hiding it. I never wanted to talk about it and was content to go at it on my own. But I saw your blog and the interaction you received through your posts and decided that I wanted to share my story. I’m not perfect and my journey has been trying! But blogging holds me accountable. I can’t hide a 4 lb gain, so instead I blog it and hold myself accountable. I don’t think I’m obsessed with blogging. Although sometimes I wish my posts had more comments and more followers, but that is a trivial matter. I blog because it helps me. I get support from people that read my blog, and am able to get ideas and help when I need it. Blogging is a good tool on a weight loss journey I feel!
OOOOHHH I LOVE YOUR NEW LOOK!!
where have I been, Woman?
love.
I plan my meals on a weekly basis and let me tell you – at the time it is a major pain in the butt but I am then grateful at every single meal time that I have done! Also, I have found that planning your shopping means less wasted food which in turn means less wasted money. So, the summary of this story is that while it’s a pain to plan your meals the benefits are so good, that it’s worth just biting the bullet and doing it anyway! Plus, after a couple of weeks you will have your ‘staple meals’ down pat and this will make it easier. Good luck! xox
I think blogging about our health journeys help us to not “feel” so alone in them. I write about my life not just the numbers on the scale. I love the whole healthy journey blogging community and feel like I have found more friends online:)
I agree with another poster that planning your weeks meals is a pain but worth it so you never have one of those Whats for dinner, lunch etc moments and it keeps you from having to go to the store so much which does save $$.
I pretty much eat the same breakfast and lunch most midweek days, so no big deal to plan
If I fancy a variation then I just have one. I guess most people would find that montonous tho. But I never plan dinners and just choose what I fancy eating and cook/buy it every day. Dinner is my fave meal of the day and the day 
As for blogging, it was a bit of a phase for me. Helped to get my mind in focus at a time when I needed to write/vent/express and didnt feel my close friends needed to hear my emotional turmoil. I think you ought to do what comes naturally to you. Nothing wrong with being passionate about something. Not really sure when passion turns into an unhealthy obsession, but I wouldnt call 1 post per day an obsession
If you start to post once an hour, salivate when you think about a blog post and a warning cos every time your boss walks past you are logged into wordpress, I would start to worry …. lol
Tusc
Have you ever tried mashed cauliflowers? Taste the same, way less calories!
I recently started a blog. After losing 115 lbs, I was a little lost on how to switch from a diet mentality to a healthy mentality. I’m nowhere near resolved on this issue, but to me, blogging is a way of “normalizing” my life. I mean, I want to cook great recipe, visit amazing restaurant and be part of fun event, and not be stuck in my “how many calories in that glass of wine” type of thinking forever.
I agree with the meal planning — we started it as a way for my husband to know what to cook on the nights when he gets home earlier than I do, and it has totally worked for us. We (well, I) write up the dinner plan for the week as we’re writing the grocery list. We usually eat the same types of things every day for breakfast and lunch, so not a lot of thought goes into that. It helps our shopping to be more focused so that we’re not making a bunch of impulse buys, and it makes our evenings waaay easier when it’s already written out what we’re going to eat that night. I am also able to plan ahead better during the week in terms of thawing frozen items that I’ll need to cook that night, etc. It was a hard habit to get into at first, but it works well.
I love the food blogging world! Starting my own blog has held me accountable and makes me think of more diverse meals (for better pictures). Reading other blogs has given me numerous ideas and support to know that eating a whole box of cookies on one sitting is only “normal”. It has given me the freedom to know that nobody is perfect. I also use my blog to share with family and friends my daily eats as a result of my 50 pound weight loss. I love reading your blog, sharing your same struggles, and knowing that I’m not alone.
I love artichokes! I find the best ones in the store are the ones where the leave are more “open”, sometimes you can find them when the petals are very compacted and tight. I think the open ones are more ripe and then it makes the leaves and heart more tender. I then steam mine for about 18-20 mins depending on how tight they are. I would eat these every day if I could!
I think that blogging about food and exercise is not healthy. I see you (and other people) use the word “healthy” to describe weight loss – which it can be healthy. But bingeing, obsessing about food, making “special” food for yourself when company comes over – those aren’t “healthy” behaviors. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to lose eight to be skinnier. You can admit that! But masking weight loss for vanity / fashion reasons behind the word “healthy” is just not right. So does this blog help you on your journey? Maybe. Does it keep your mind on food / exercise / calories all day? Yes. Try to drop the blog for a week and see how you feel. You’ll be forced to deal with the reality of life through your eyes, not the eyes of your blog readers.
I think blogging about a journey is a good thing if it is being used to keep you accountable and it truly helps. I have seen people get way too obsessed with everything and it turned into disordered eating.
I write for me and write to talk about fitness, food, travel and wine. At the end of the day I love putting my thoughts down and coming back and re-reading them.
Yahoo for working out 2 days so far!
Okay now on to the questions you asked.
I really enjoy reading the healthiness/weight loss blogs. They give me motivation and it helps to read about what others are going through (have been through) as it might be something I’m dealing with as a newbie. I do have a healthiness blog but it has been abandoned temporarily. I have topics floating around in my head that I want to talk about but just need to figure out what I am doing first. It’s helpful for me because it gives me an outlet to just get things off my chest that I might otherwise hold in. Also I don’t think of my blog as a, well, blog but rather as an online journal for myself. If someone else reads it then great but ultimately it is something I am trying to do for myself. As for your third question, I believe it depends on the blogger, their mindset, where they are on their journey and even their reasoning for blogging. That’s just my opinion though.
My blog is a mommy blog about my weight loss journey, my books, my life etc. I do think it helps in the same way when I did weight watchers going there and venting about my issues. I also like other people’s blogs because it is nice to hear about other peoples journey/struggle/success. I think though that just like anything for someone struggling with eating issues, you can become obsessed. In the same way you can with restricting eating, binging, or the on/off of the scale.
I started my blog for myself – to help me stay accountable. What I’ve realized from feedback is how much I’m helping other people. They tell me all the time that they can relate to what I’m writing about. They comment on how honest I am. I’m finding that their comments and reactions are helping me more than the original idea behind my blog. They motivate me.
Stephanie
http://immyfavorite.blogspot.com/
Haha Oh Iggy! We definitely don’t have that problem with our little piggy… urrr, I mean, PUPPY!
To answer a question you asked… do I think blogging is always helpful to me and my journey… no. I do feel like it distracts me sometimes from what I should REALLY be focusing on. I get caught up with trying to “please the people”. Haha I love it though, so for now, it works for me.
Excited to see you tonight! And I’ll take some of that acorn squash. I love me some taters… but they’re kind of a big, huge, dangerous trigger for me, I won’t even go there tonight or you may have to roll me out of your house to my car… and THAT would not be a pretty sight!!
Artichokes are so good! A fresh arichoke is a lot of work though…and will taste a little different than the artichoke hearts that I’m sure were in your artichoke salad. I would buy canned arichoke hearts for a salad. Good luck!!
Hey There! Want to answer a couple of your questions:
1. Yes, I plan out my breakfast, lunch and dinner for the week for a couple of reasons. It does take up a chunk of time, but it helps me create a grocery shopping list so that I only buy what we are going to eat, we hardly ever need to throw out food that has gone bad now, and for the point that I am at in my weight loss journey I need the structure of knowing what I am going to eat. I post my weekly plans on my blog so that others can get ideas from it if they would like. Overall meal planning has been a huge help for me though because in the evenings I just don’t feel like making choices after work because I am tired, so now I don’t have to. Win-win all around.
2. The only way I know how to prepare an artichoke is by steaming the entire thing, then again I don’t make them too often – not much help in the artichoke department.
3. Before joining WW to help me on this journey I tried Food Addicts in Recovery for a couple of weeks. While many of their practices didn’t fit with my lifestyle, they did have a couple of suggestions that really made sense to me – one of which was journaling. Often times people who have food/weight issues have something deeper that they are trying to deal with, but are using food as a means of coping. Journaling allows people who are working to redefine their relationship with food to constantly analyze and assess what is changing in their life and what they are discovering about their habits. However, I have tried the journaling approach in the past and I just didn’t stick with writing because I got bored and I certainly never took the time to go back and re-read it. I got the idea to turn my journaling needs into a blog so that I could still capture what was going on, and learn from it, but also collect the feedback and support from others. I also am motivated to post because I know my cheerleaders are out there reading and it inspires me to stick with journaling/blogging. Plus I hope that someone can gain support from my blog as I have gained support from other blogs.
So, in a very long-winded answer, yes – blogging has been a crucial element in my experience for a variety of reasons. I don’t think that one could necessarily become obsessed with blogging, but they could perhaps forget what their prime purpose of blogging was to begin with.
I do think that blogging can distract someone from their true journey to be healthy. However, I don’t see that in you. IMO, the bloggers who are constantly doing “bikini challenges”, and “summer boot camps”, “30 days to a better booty”, and all that jazz are the ones who are distracting.
Of course I’m no expert, and I’m only speaking from experience…but I think that the biggest challenge for you will be to stop THINKING so much about if you “should” eat this or that, and start transitioning into eating what you truly want. p.s…did you WANT the mashed potatoes? =)
I began meal planning about a month ago, and it has made my life so much less hectic! Each Thursday, I take about an hour to look at magazines and online for recipes that I want to make. Then, I make my grocery list of the things I need, and I pick everything up on Friday when I shop. I make my meal plan for Friday-Thursday, and plan it based on my workout schedule and whether Rick will be home or not. If I know that I have to hit the gym on Tuesday after work, I’ll have a meal that goes in the crock pot so that I can just whip up a veggie when I get home to go with it. On the weekends when I have more time, I’ll plan something a little more involved (and even dessert!). SO much easier!
I was finding that I kept eating out or stopping for Chipotle because I just didn’t have a plan for dinner. I always make enough dinner so that I can have leftovers the next day, so there’s dinner and lunch planned every day!
I plan my meals out for every day, every week. I have found I save lots of $$$ at the grocery store, and saves me from staring at my fridge and cupboards every meal. As for artichokes, never had one, so can’t help you there!! I haven’t been blogging for very long, but I find it keeps me honest, and reading others who are trying to lose weight or who have already lost the weight keeps me motivated.
Jen
http://jenslosinit.blogspot.com/
Buy canned artichokes…WAY easier to use than the fresh ones, and they taste great!
I love reading blogs, it helps me feel like I am not along, like I am not the only one. I am a WW member and back for the third time after having my first baby. I find I am not getting what I need in the meeting because I have heard all the same topics before, your blog especially helps me look at different topics and gives me new ideas. I do have my own blog called Baby Weight, I started it when I was trying to lose weight before I got pregnant and now I am using it as a space where I can write down what I am feeling, some things I can’t say to anyone else. I know it is not always a healthy thing as I can use this as a place to feel sorry for myself, but sometimes it leads to a very empowering place where I learn alot of myself with what I write….I hope you keep blogging as you are such an inspiration.
I have a blog about weight loss. For me, it’s an incredibly motivating tool. I went public with it, and sent the link to most of my friends. Everyone knows I’m trying to lose weight, and this is working for me, because now I’m accountable to everyone who regularly reads it. If I give up, someone will call me out on it – or at least that’s what I tell myself. Blogging keeps me on track, keeps me interested, and keeps me motivated. I enjoy posting my successes, and when I’m not successful I have people to turn to for help.
On the other hand, my whole life seems to now revolve around weight loss. My other hobbies have fallen to the side and I spend all my time reading other blogs, writing blog posts, and responding to comments. That’s perhaps a bit unhealthy
I don’t know from personal experience, but it does seem that having a healthiness blog can sometimes lead to obsession. However, it seems like it most cases it creates accountability and encouragment. I think it depends on your personality to begin with.
Like any blog, I think a healthiness blog can make someone appear more “flat” than they actually are. For instance, I’ve met you (Jen) IRL and it was a relief to learn that she doesn’t talk about calories and working out constantly. Another thought I had though was it’s sometimes nice to have a forum to talk about things people aren’t always comfortable with. Likewise, my blog is about “frugal food”… a seemingly innocuous subject – however, I have been known to bore people with my strange calculations, and worse yet make people feel bad about what they eat. Anyway, blogs allow for conversation that people want to have but aren’t sure how to bring up.
Way too many questions for me to answer so I will concentrate on your first one…
I LOVE meal planning. It is a little tough at first but then it just becomes routine. I have a little trouble just sitting and watching tv so I put aside an hour program to meal plan. I alternate between planning the menu and watching tv. Works great.
Also, if you need motivation, there are some great websites and blogs that you could get inspiration from.
I love that iggy-pie! hes soo cute!
i get my artichokes in a jar. becuase i dont know how to peel and prepare a fresh one.
oh lots to write about in regards this post. planning meals for me is a big deal, and something i’ve done for a long time. and not really during times when i was watching what i was eating, it was because i was watching the money i was (am) spending. i have a “rule” that i’m allowed to spend money monday through friday, so that is what forced me to plan my meals. …because i wasn’t allowed to buy lunch at work, i had to make sure i had all my meals ahead of time. once i started strickly watching what i eat to speed up my weight loss, planning all 3 meals and snacks everyday is key for me. it can be overwhelming, but for me since it is a habit now, not so much. just sit down during a calm time and write it out. i usually plan my meals on saturday afternoons, and go grocery shopping saturday night. it works for me.
as for blogging. my blog is not a weightloss/healthiness blog specifically, but i do talk about it because that is a huge part of my life right now. my blog talks about all aspects of my life. the way that my blog is a specific weightloss blog is i’m only allowed to blog when i workout. so blogging for me is like my reward for working out. i’ve done this since january 2009, and it has worked out very well for me. it helps me to keep my accountable as well. because then my readers know that if i haven’t blogged in a long time (the longest has been 4 days) it is because i haven’t worked out. and because i only blog when i do workout, it helps me with tracking my workouts and how many times i do workout.
Just buy the artichokes in a jar. They are by the olives in the grocery store (most of the time…) I find they taste about the same as fresh and are way less work because you only use the heart and that’s such a small piece of the entire artichoke. We have used name brands and cub brand and don’t really see a difference. And they are pretty cheep – only a few bucks.
Enjoy!
I don’t plan my menus in advance, because I like to cook what I feel like eating on any particular day. However I am a very experienced cook, can easily think up lots of things to make with what I have on hand and I keep some good freezer and pantry staples for moments when creativity fails me or when I’m too tired to think about it. Having said that, I do make sure that I always have lots of fresh vegetables and salad in my cart when I shop, and I mentally think about the protein onhand to see what I need. I portion out the protein into appropriate sizes when I get home from shopping (I shop at Costco) and freeze. I cook brown, black or wild rice in larger quantities and then freeze in serving-sized amounts. I marinate and grill chicken breasts in quantity and then slice and freeze the extras – which are great for salads or mexican dishes. I also keep a small white board on my frig and write down ideas based on what I have, I always have at least 3 written down. I defrost two things at a time (for example a couple of fish fillets and a portion of steak) and then in the evening choose one and decide how to cook it. Then I take another protein out of the freezer before I go to bed. I keep canned beans, tuna, salmon and mock duck in the pantry and frozen peeled raw shrimp, chicken breasts and other meats in the freezer, along with a container or two of homemade soup. So I guess I’m always thinking ahead about food, but leaving myself flexibility on a daily basis. Works for me.
Well, you’ve had some answers already, but I’ll throw in my two cents
Planning meals – I do this every week. At the minimum, I plan out 4 nights of dinner for us (me and my husband). I try to plan for recipes that will yield leftovers for lunches, but that doesn’t always work out (for example, fish for dinner is awesome – not so awesome heating it in the microwave at lunch). Planning out meals is a huge pain at first, but after a while, it becomes habit.
Artichokes – I’m a huge artichoke fan & this is what I know: Pick an artichoke that has leaves tightly packed together…if the leaves are pulling away, it is drying out. Weigh it in your hand – it should feel a little heavier than it looks. If it has a few brown spots, that’s totally fine. This site has really good pics and directions on cooking and eating your ‘choke: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_cook_and_eat_an_artichoke/ I usually steam mine with some lemon slices for about 45 minutes. I also cut off the stem, peel away the tough part with my veggie peeler and cook it along with the whole artichoke. I think the stems are really good, but some might find them bitter. However, as some others said, artichokes can be a lot of work and if you are just going to use them in salads, I would just buy the canned variety.
Artichokes – I always buy Reese brand in the can down the veggie isle…love you cuz….
I love planning my meals! I’m really busy during the week, so I do most of my meal planning and cooking on the weekend during the day. I immediately put everything in single serve containers so I just have to grab and go during the week. Otherwise I feel food-lost and eat out a lot.
Because I have been able to keep off 30 pounds for more than a year, I have to assume that the blog has helped me. I’ve never kept with weight loss for this long in my entire life. While yes I do slip and I don’t always run to my blog to admit it, I do feel like the blog has helped me express fears, concerns, and triumphs to a community that I don’t have in my non-online life. Blogging about every morsel of food and every single workout is probably not the best idea and it’s easy to replace on obsession (food) with another (blogging). But with most of the blogs I read it seems that blogging is just an outlet for people. And when you’re trying to change your life, you want to talk about it! Blogging allows people to do that and get feedback in productive ways. It’s fun to say “hey! Here’s what I’m doing!” and to have people respond to that. Sorry for the ramble, I’m done. Ha!
Okay, I thought my dog was the only picky one – he does the same thing for an old brand of dog food we got – it was cheap so he was probably like WTF is this shit?!
I have been lost these past two weeks without a meal plan being out of town two weekends in a row – can’t wait to shop this weekend – I’ve called my meals “throw shit in a bag and see what I can put together for lunch!” Luckily I have a full kitchen at work and a stocked pantry with my seasonings etc.
Case in point – my lunch today I brought a cajun sausage, rice, edamame, spinach, a can of corn, 1 ounce colby cheese, flat out wrap, 1/2 a cucumber and a container of leftover herbed rice. My thought was to eat the sausage like a hot dog with lots of ketchup. One problem – it had expired and was all slimey – seriously the sell-by date was May! Have I not cleaned out my fridge since May??!!
Anywho (aren’t you glad I type fast!) I ended up making a corn, edemame, spinach and cheese quesadilla with sliced cucumbers with ranch dressing and I poured some Thai curry sauce on the rice – unusual, but filling!
What I think about health bloggers: I love reading these blogs because as the blogger shares their journey, I learn from it and it helps me with my own.
Bloggers and obsession: Blogging in and of itself isn’t a problem; if a person’s life and current way of coping leads them down the road to obsession, that obsession can manifest on anything.
For a generally healthy person, I think the blog serves many purposes but one is certainly “processing”- getting feelings out of your head, giving them words, getting feedback, and being able to then grow as a person and grow toward your goal(s). Even just keeping a personal journal can be helpful for many people working toward a goal, whatever that goal is, because it keeps the goal on your mind, and you get a lot of good processing even without an audience. Blogging adds an extra element of feedback, which is mostly helpful and supportive I think.
I think planning your meals out a week or two in advance would be LESS work than you’re doing now, figuring it out day by day! Just a thought.
I agree with Michelle – this blog is for you and it should be for you whatever you need it to be. Need to post less? Do it. Need to post about different topics? Do it. This blog has been helpful to you because you used it to help you work through your stuff AND to build a supportive community. The blog will STAY helpful to you if you let it evolve as you need it to.
I am new at the fitness blogging thing. Like, brand new. I wrote my first post about ten minutes ago.
But I’m doing it because it will hopefully make me more accountable to myself, and if anyone else reads it maybe I’ll feel accountable to them too. Hope so.
I think my blog has really helped me this time around. It keeps me accountable which helps. I use it like a journal. I wirte what I feel and do. I don’t make it about what I eat, etc. It is mostly about the mental. Which I feel is 80% of the weight loss challenge, at least for me. There can be some obession with it. “is someone reading my blog”, “did I can any more followers”, “did that post get a commet”, etc. On the other hand if you have an obsessive nature (I sometimes do) then anything can become obsessive.
I love healthy journey blogs of any kind. I feel like I am getting inside people’s heads for just a minute, as they let me see part of their personal life. I learn all kinds of things from people. I love getting to “know” bloggers by reading about their journeys.
My blog is for me. It always has been. However, when people started to care about ME by reading my blog, I started to care back
So now, it’s more like, this is for me… but for you who care, too!
I’ve just gotten serious about losing weight and getting healthy. I have always read that journaling is very important to weight loss. I, however, have always gotten bored with journaling about 3 days in. I am now blogging several times a week, and it has not yet gotten boring. It forces me to try and remain positive. It also keeps me accountable. So much of my weight has been from secret bingeing. Blogging pulls my eating “out of the closet” so to speak. It keeps me honest. For me, for now, I will continue to blog.
Artichokes are awesome, but I use canned, as I have no idea how to prepare them.
Iggy is adorable as always. My puppy also only likes certain colors of her doggy food. She too pulls out the pieces she doesn’t like and deposits them all over the floor. It drives my guy nuts, but I think it is too cute for words!!!!
Your dog is so cute! =) My cat does the same thing w/ his dry food. There are pieces he doesn’t like and he spits them out. Glad to hear your sessions are going well. Keep up the great work!