With so many people mentioning goals in this area for the new year, I thought it might be fun to talk about some of our favorite podcasts. I like to listen to podcasts while I'm doing my chores, or while I'm walking or hiking. It can be a fun way to stay motivated. I think my overall favorite is probably Rich Roll, because he has such amazing guests on his show. He talks about health and fitness with experts in those fields, and more than that, he also just talks about how to have a good life. Also, for any other vegans reading this, I really like Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's "Food for Thought" and I would appreciate any other vegan podcasts you might be able to recommend. So, what are your favorites?

I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did, and that you have a great 2018 too! :)

I like that - well said!

I should mention in case you prefer other formats, the information in How Not to Die is available on his website in the form of videos and in his podcasts.

Not sure if this counts since I'm looking to maintain, don't need to lose more, but just in case..... I went vegan in August and within weeks dropped all the weight I'd been trying to lose for years. So I'm sticking with it! I follow Dr. Gregor's "daily dozen" checklist (except that I can't eat nuts because they trigger migraines for me): https://nutritionfacts.org/video/dr-gregers-daily-dozen-checklist/

First, :grouphug: And second, yes, trying to reduce the frequency of my chronic migraines has been a pretty powerful motivator for me. Seeing loved ones suffer as they age - that's something I would like to avoid or at least reduce as much as possible.

This may just be me, maybe I'm weird, but I find books that are packed with tons of information about diet, lifestyle, and health to be very motivating. I highly recommend Spark and How Not to Die. They changed my life!

Oh, of course! I'm so bad at figuring out abbreviations! I'm sorry about your digestive issues, wintermom. I've been through that too, but I tested negative for celiac. Doing better now, but it sure was miserable.

I ordered the book from the "A Slob Comes Clean" lady, and I plan to listen to her podcasts while I wait for it to arrive -- starting today while I fold the mountain of clean towels in my bedroom. :D I also meant to mention before that we have no attic and no basement, and the garage has been converted into a home gym and equipment room (hubby is a mountaineering and outdoor exercise enthusiast). So that means a lot of the things (e.g. Christmas tree and other holiday decorations) that would normally get stored in those kinds of places has to be stored in our closets instead. The closets are quite full. And that's the main thing that irritates me about my home: every drawer, every cabinet, every closet is overflowing with stuff. I'm just tired of all the stuff. I don't know how to explain it, but it's like all this stuff weighs on me, even when I'm not dealing with it in any way. To the point where I've actually daydreamed about living alone in a tiny little apartment with nothing in it but a bed, a couch, a small table, one plate, one mug, one knife, etc. Silly thing to daydream about, isn't it? Having less. That's not what most people want! While I can't do the alone-in-a-tiny-apartment thing, I can set some limits on the amount of stuff in this house, though it will be an uphill battle all the way. Still, for the sake of my sanity, I just have to do it. Again, thank you for all of the replies. This thread has been such a huge help!

Yes, that makes sense, and seems obvious now that you've said it to me. :blush:

To address what several of you brought up, yes, I can usually get him to agree (not always!) to donation rather than trash. I had not thought anyone would want our old towels and sheets, but I didn't consider animal shelters! Thank you for that idea, HomeAgain! (We do have a "rag bin" where I can put some of the old towels and clothes with holes in them. But he insists that we wash and reuse and wash and reuse the rags, so they last forever, and that bin is overflowing!) And again, I want to thank you all. Every post here was so helpful and insightful! I love you guys! :D

Honestly, it's some of both, but the messiness is the bigger issue. I guess as I'm thinking about it, I don't mind the cleaning part so much. Like the actual *cleaning* of the bathroom sink and cabinet, don't mind that a bit. It's that first I have to pick up and put away all the stuff that's been left scattered on the bathroom cabinet before I can get to the cleaning, that's what really irks me. (I bought myself a nice countertop organizer for my makeup and storage bins under my sink for my deodorant, lotion, etc. so I've been doing a much better job on this particular issue, it's just an example.) So, yes, I need to work on that "touch things ONCE" principle! It's kind of a chain reaction. The linen closet is so full of old sheets and towels that we don't have room there to store all the blankets. I have some quilts, for example, that are in very nice condition and were handmade by my grandmother which I want to keep. So the quilts are (folded neatly) stacked on my bedroom dresser. So the room looks more cluttered, and the dresser doesn't get dusted as often as it should. (Again, this is just one example. Multiply that by 100 other issues in my house, and you start to get the picture!)

Thank you all so much! I plan to re-read (and probably re-re-read) all of your replies to make sure it sinks in! So many great suggestions. I actually started asking myself this after I posted. Other than my three dogs, who do create an inordinate amount of hair on every surface, I really have no one to blame but myself, my own bad habits. I think my biggest problem is in the “maintenance phase†so to speak. I will clean a room, and then feel like “hooray, it’s done!†But the thing about housekeeping, and I guess why I hate it, is that it’s never done. You have to keep doing it over and over and over again. And I don’t seem to get motivated to do it again until it’s so messy that it is bothering me. So I fail at the keeping things clean part. Also, not to shift the blame, but my husband creates some issues too. He is super neat and organized, BUT he wants to keep everything forever. To a point that I think is ridiculous. Our linen closet, for example, is stuffed to the gills, because we have to keep the towels that have holes in them and the queen sized sheets even though there is no queen sized bed in this house anymore, because getting rid of things is a crime against the environment. We have argued about this endlessly. I’m not going to change his mind. What I’m going to have to do is toss stuff when he’s not home and can’t bring it back inside (yes, he has literally brought things back into the house after I put them in the garbage bin!!!!). He’s not messy, he doesn’t leave things lying around. It’s just that we have too much of everything! That makes every chore harder.

...then I would appreciate any advice you might have to help me change mine! I know there's a similar thread going on already about family chore charts. But it isn't my whole family that I'm trying to change, it's just me. I'm a messy person by nature, but nature needs to stop being an excuse. This is something about myself that I have wanted to change for years, but I've never succeeded for more than a few weeks at a time. I want my house to be welcoming, inviting, and peaceful. Not messy and chaotic. There are so many systems and programs out there that I'm overwhelmed. Did one of them truly work for you? Or did you find success in your own way, and if so how?

I can understand your disappointment. And I think it's very sweet of you to want to protect your husband's feelings. But I also think that a stocking full of candy and three tubs of peanut butter for someone who is dealing with an eating disorder is so clueless that it deserves correction. Gentle correction is fine! But in your shoes I just don't think I'd be able to let that go. Perhaps you could exchange the Kindle Paperwhite for store credit to buy more books for your Kindle Fire?

:grouphug: From one anxious mama to another, I'm sure it will be fine. She'll have a great time!

I still don't know what it is! :lol:

That sounds interesting. Any particular ones that you'd recommend?

Yes, I agree, and I was going to say, go out of your way to go there at least just once to try it. You don't want to invest in one not knowing how it will feel.

I googled, and yes they basically look the same to me. I guess AMT is just what Precor calls the same basic design (it stands for Adaptive Motion Trainer). Again, it's a personal preference, though. Within 30 seconds of trying it, I was hooked. Within 30 seconds of trying it, my daughter stepped off and said "I don't know how you stand that". :lol: In fairness, I should have pointed out that this fact doesn't bother biking enthusiasts in the least, so it might not bother you. It doesn't bother me enough to keep me from doing it, but it bothers me enough that I don't like it as my *primary* form of cardio.

We have a spin bike at home, and I also go to spin classes at my gym from time to time. My opinion... The advantage to doing that over replacing your treadmill is that you can get a good quality bike for considerably less money than you can get a good quality treadmill. The disadvantage is that cycling is a pretty quad-heavy activity, while walking or running on a treadmill is more balanced (works both the front and back of the legs). Women tend to be quad-dominant to begin with, so if you start biking as your primary form of exercise, you'd want to do some training that specifically targets the back of the legs to make sure you're balanced. Whether or not you will enjoy a bike as much as a treadmill is really the deciding factor though. If you have access to a gym, I'd recommend trying out every type of cardio equipment that they have, to see which one you enjoy the most. I discovered that I really enjoy an AMT machine that way, and I'd never heard of an AMT machine before that. I also like the step mill a lot (but they are crazy expensive!). Personally I prefer either one of those over a bike, but the bike isn't bad. I certainly prefer the bike over the elliptical or arc trainer. My husband likes machines that use the upper body, like the rowing machine and ski ergometer. I despise those. So, I recommend trying out a variety. ETA: Classes versus home. If you like the convenience of working out at home, and you can just watch tv or listen to music or an audiobook while you do your cardio, then that works well. But if you have easy access to a gym, the classes offer more variety and fun than what I can seem to generate for myself at home.

Dinosaur plushies from Wild Republic. My daughter wanted one of these, and I went to a couple of places but couldn't find them. Where did you buy them?

:iagree: I came here planning to post something very similar to this, but you said it more cleverly than I would have! I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I've never heard of a running streak before, but I think I might try it. I posted recently about how running had started triggering migraines for me. But in looking back over my journal, I realized that only happened once my runs hit 1.5 miles in length. I wasn't having that problem when I ran only a mile. So I'm going to test my hypothesis, and see if I can run a mile without triggering a migraine. If so, I might try a mile-a-day running streak. I really enjoy running, so if that works (fingers crossed!) then it might be a fun way to get back into it. Thanks for mentioning this!

Wow, 15 families in a two bedroom house would be something to see! I have very fond memories of large gatherings at my grandmother's 2-bedroom house when I was a kid, but she only had 8 children, so there was never 15 families there at once. I normally shy away from (i.e. "avoid at all costs") large gatherings because I'm such an extreme introvert. But it's different with family, even extended family, and especially for the holidays. But if you're dealing with bland chit chat rather than lively conversation, then yes, I think the board game is a good idea! Or cards. Nertz is so much fun with a big group of people. Those gatherings at my grandma's house often included Nertz marathons. Good times. :D

I'm sorry that it's a pain for you, but given that it means a lot to your kids, I think you are doing the right thing. I would love so much to be able to give my daughter a Christmas with grandparents. She's never had one and never will. (My parents don't celebrate Christmas, and my husband's parents both died before she was born). We've always had the simple Christmas at home, just the three of us. And while it is nice that it's low-key and stress-free, it's also a little lonely sometimes. I really wish we could do the big family gathering at least some times. I guess a happy medium, where you have the big family gathering every other year, might be ideal? Or maybe it's just human nature to want whichever one you can't have? Because I admit I'm jealous that you have in-laws who want you there so much that they insist on it! That sounds so nice to me! :001_smile: