“Weighting”Time

What a good way to get exercise-GARDEN! It seems as though spring would never get here. If it only weren’t frustrating, at least this year for us.

We had gotten plants last year from a local farmer and our veggie output was awesome. As I said to Jim, our kiss of death works, because this year, it looks like the farmer is either not farming, or hopefully nothing serious, but no plants there. Bummer!

Now, about last years friend, and this year’s nemesis, the gerber daisies. I bought four, as where we were, they only had four. Bought a red, yellow, fuchsia and orange. Don’t you know, the yellow and fuchsia got shock from being transplanted?

**Sigh**

It’s nice. This time last year I had no stamina for gardening like I used to. This year I was out there and it felt good. Now, if I can fix my gerber daisy situation, I’ll feel great.

The weather was great today. Kasia and I had some quality walking time that we both enjoyed.

So it was a day to reap the benefits of feeling and being fifteen pounds lighter. No, I am not stopping: fifteen is the current number. It is worthwhile to feel as if I am getting back in the land of the living.

Springtime Sunday

It is a gorgeous day today, and it is Easter Sunday to boot. Kasia and I have already had one longer walk and as soon as I post this, we’ll have walk number two.

Jim is already out, as he likes to do a really fast walk, and Kasia and I tend to move too slow for him. I am getting her out for the second walk because we have to go up and see Jim’s family that is ninety miles northwest of us. I want to get Kasia nice and tired out, and it will also benefit me, as I’d get the exercise too!

Enjoy the day and make the most of it.

Savor every moment!

Easter

It is almost Easter.

Nothing for me to worry about, as there is no junk in our house to blow calories on. I have to admit that I would have paid a million dollars for a piece of my Mother’s babka and a cup of coffee this morning.No worries, though, just happy memories wistfully thinking about it.

I am traveling for Easter dinner.If you are making the holiday dinner, here’s hoping it comes out delicious. If you are traveling, stay safe.

Me? I’m just hoping to stay clear of the Easter basket.

A Long “Weigh” to Go

This is a picture of the Cape May canal, which I pass over when I go back and forth to work. The allure of the water is deceiving. You figure you are at the ocean, bay or whatever. What do you forget about?

POLLEN.

I have been doing longer walks with Kasia trying to burn up the calories. Now the problem is I have a pocket full of Kleenex I have to deal with while handling Kasia and her paraphernalia.

Sure, the flowers are a beautiful sight, and I always appreciate the view of them after the snow of winter.

I try to be good to my body with as much holistic medicine as I can get ahold of during allergy season. I figure that to throw chemicals down my throat isn’t really the relief I am looking for: as a matter of fact, I feel it is an invitation for y0ur body to start trouble where it currently may not have trouble. While I am doing the calorie counting, I feel more in tune with my body than I have in the past couple of years. So, for example, when I am congested, I use a saline wash to clean my nose out. That simple act puts the YOU in user friendly.

Well, speaking of walks, it’s time for my buddy/training partner, Kasia, and I to go and get some fresh air in our lungs and hang out together. We’ll hopefully enjoy it and come back worn out.

School’s Out…

…for spring break.

The last few weeks, having sporadically taught sixth grade, I felt like I was in Florida with the students during spring break.

You see, for fourth thru sixth grade, swimming is compulsory in gym. After all, Cape May is on the Atlantic Coastline. I remember whenI started here, I thought that it was an awesome idea, and that it makes a lot of sense. When I would go with the students to their gym class, the pool looks so inviting..The rough part? The humidity in the pool area makes me feel like Florida in July.

Although I will miss the students for a little bit, I do admit that it will be nice to sleep in once in a while for the next few days, and more importantly, spending quality time with Jim and Kasia.

“Weight” a Minute!

In a minimal amount of time, here are some things that have made me grateful and happy during this leg of my behavior modification.

Even with fourteen pounds off, my feet hurt less. I basically wear the same shoes when I am in school and it’s absolutely amazing how the loss of weight has my feet saying thank you.
“Weight”! Are those my missing in action abdominal muscles? All of a sudden I have the ability to take steps without walking one step at a time. Now I can ambulate one foot after another! It has sadly been a while since I did that.
I always drank water. That was never really an issue for me. However, starting again from square one in behavior modification has stirred up the thirst in me. I like that. Ever look at low calorie lemonade, soda, juice, etc? Ever look at the label and read the ingredients? You go and read until you see the big 5 syllable words that translate into chemicals. Ugh. No thanks: I’ll pass.
My cheerleading squad is with me every step of the way. It helps that Jim is doing this with me, but he is truly in my corner, encouraging me by telling me how much better I look. My neighbor behind me comes down over the weekend and we go for a walk. Gregory, my neighbor, does research work for me and tells me about different twists on “Eat this, not that”.He also finds comprehensive quick lists of calories in things, such as lunchmeat. My 81 year old neighbor calls over to me to tell me she can see the loss of weight in my torso. Oh, and let’s not forget my Kasia, my number one walking partner.
My support group rocks!
No, I don’t waltz by myself in a women’s room stall, but all of a sudden I seem to have a little bit more room to take care of business in.You go from banging elbows on stall walls, to noticing I don’t have to hang on anything to get myself up. I missed that and am grateful to have that ability back.

So this is my quick list for now. Sometimes, I have to admit, I see the little changes and kick myself for letting myself go that far. Depression sucks, and I was deep in it. Crawling up and taking care of myself? I find it a much more pleasurable task.

“Weighting” to Change a Lifestyle

When I had gone to my doctor, I had a good conversation with his nurse, Anne. We talked about dieting and counting calories. To look at Anne, you would never know that she counted calories once upon a time.She had clued me in upon what worked for her and one of her hacks that she let me know about was ice cream sandwiches.

Ice cream sandwiches?

She had my full and undivided attention.

Evidently, you would get two chocolate graham crackers. Ok, I thought:so far so good. Then you fill the cracker with whipped cream and stick it in the freezer. On the surface, this sounded like a good substitution.There is only one problem. When you first take them out of the freezer and hold it as you would an ice cream sandwich, they are no longer as large as an ice cream sandwich. You might as well just eat two graham crackers and touch the can of ReddiWhip to them. I would already have my 1 cup of fruit with some whipped cream on it. Don’t get me wrong.

I appreciate what Anne was sharing with me. It worked for her. Hacks are not universal. The ice cream sandwich might work for you. It didn’t for me.

The one thing you pick up, when trying to get back to a healthy lifestyle, is that you do, indeed,learn by doing.

“Weighting” to Figure It All Out.

This past week, I had an appointment with my relatively new general practitioner. He commended me for my weight loss, and with his next breath, said most of his female patients my age hit a plateau and then stop watching what they eat, recording calories, and start eating junk. I had thought that it wasn’t really thought through by my doctor, because he knows that I need to be positive about this lifestyle change. I decided to cut him some slack, as he really is a good doctor and just was throwing the conversational thoughts out there.He was “spit-balling”, as it were.

I am still under the weather with either early allergies from pollen or a run-of-the-mill head cold. I usually can make due using a saline wash to clear my sinuses out, but it just wasn’t working. When that happens, I have to pull out the big guns: I take a decongestant. Hopefully, I will be ok for work this week and for the Easter holiday. I am hoping , also, that Easter dinner will offer me good choices. As I am going to someone’s house for Easter dinner, I don’t think bringing my own salad would be too good. I just hope that I can get through Easter without it causing my calorie counting to go into overdrive.

“Weighting” for Good Health

It was a beautiful day today, albeit colder thanks to the current winter storm hitting the midwest. For example, I’m wearing polar fleece over a sweatshirt as I type this. Will it stop my weight-loss mission?No way.

Our local hospital,in conjunction with our registered dietician and a few other physicians and nurses, ran a healthy eating program at a country-club located in our vicinity.The program started at 6PM and at 5:30PM, they offered us healthy choices for dinner. There were various salads with light dressings that were very tasty. I had the spring mix with sliced Granny Smith apples and walnut halves that was really good. Jim also opted for this choice. They offered hummus and sliced veggies and dip in addition to fresh cut fruit. The offerings were cantaloupe,pineapple,honeydew and grapes.

It was a 1 1/2 hour program and definitely worth the time and attention. Now, if I can shake this cold?

I’ll feel great!

“Weighting” for Good Health

It was a beautiful day today, and, on the top of it, it’s my day off. .What better time to go to the doctor!

Seriously?…..

With my cancer history, I keep my doctor appointments. I learned early after my first diagnosis You have to stay on top of things. It’s a small price to pay to skirt by cancer scares. Actually, today was the first time, in a long while, I looked forward to going to the doctor.

I was thinner!

Anyone who has ever been overweight knows how much you look forward** insert heavy sarcasm here** to getting on a scale in the doctor’s office. Once in a blue moon, you might luck into a nurse about your age. Otherwise, they are always 25 and flowing the Keto diet and there is no fat on them anywhere. No wonder my self esteem always was M.I.A.going there.

Today’s visit was different. I had lost weight for the first time since retiring and moving here. I give the dietician the credit for me getting my act together.Even my blood-work has shown an improvement since deciding to count calories. It is an exec end, almost winning way to start, and I am going to try my damndest to keep it going.

It may not have the equivalent of Willie Wonka’s golden ticket, but good health is always the grand prize.