:: Free 2 Be :: the Odyssey ::

1 good thing I did about food: Hmm. Had a nice 7.5 ounce can of salmon with avocado and tomato.

1 good thing I did about exercise: still to come. Will post later.

1 good thing I did about food: ate big salad AND stayed pretty much on track.

1 good thing I did for exercise: took an unscheduled rest day… :-/

Susan, over at Happy Hag got me thinking with this question, quoting Patty, at Sistah Pat: at what age can you say the hell with it and slip gradually into the “Grandmotherly Figure”?

Well, I’d say I’ve accomplished the grandmotherly figure and surpassed it!

Now that I’m fast approaching GREAT-grandchildren (Lord willing), I am fighting to ditch the grandmotherliness-plus. Yes I’m tired of looking like a blimp. But I’m even more tired of feeling and acting like a man-made mountain (trash mountain).

I WANT MY LIFE BACK!

And, I’m getting it. Gradually. I’m actually down just over 40 pounds in just over 4 years. Not a great accomplishment, but then one way I got up to 150 pounds over weight was by gaining 10 pounds a year for 10 years. After that (long story short), I reallly let go and piled on the last 50 pounds even faster.

Looks are important - to an extent. They affect how we feel about ourselves and they also affect how people think about us and treat us. But that’s not the worst.

The worst is, gradually I had to give up things I wanted to be doing and give up doing things with people because - I just couldn’t. Many of my friends have succumbed to gaining weight, sitting in a chair and waiting life out while watching TV or such. Did you know that invites disease?

Not me!

I WANT MY LIFE BACK!

And, I’m taking it back. And, I’m picking up the pace. And, I’m enjoying the changes. Already I have a great life, much improved. And…

YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHIN’ YET!

I’m taking my life back. No blaming, no hostages, no excuses. I’m having a blast! How about you?

1 Good food thing: ate three meals AND resisted the french fry urge when it came. =)

1 Good exercise thing: did a small workout even though it was midnight-thirty and had to be designed not to wake the house mate! LOL

5 decreasing sets (10-8-6-4-2) of

• 45# shoulder presses
• door-frame squats
• push-ups, lowering the bar each time

with recovery time between sets. Total time: 28 minutes.

Okay, I’m not going to be able to focus on everything during this time of moving so I’m changing my strategy to reporting one good thing I did today on food and one good thing I did today on exercise. My hope is that I will do more than one good thing on any given day. Meanwhile, I will continue to strive for weekly weigh-ins.

One good thing I did today on food: I had the things at work to make protein shakes and drank two, plus ate two apples. (Better than skipping meals).

One good thing I did today on exercise: worked out! First time since back from Branson: warm-up plus 5k in 58:05, then 10 doorway squats for warm-down. The 5k is a new PR (personal record) by 23 seconds! I’m baaaaack! =)

This time I’m heading to Colorado for a few weeks or months. Will get to spend some family time, and hope to be mutually inspired with my DDIL to eat right and exercise, among other things.

This week will be hectic as I need to replace myself at work, prepare for an indefinite stay, and, basically detach from everything here… in 8-10 days! I do plan to come back - Lord willing - and look forward equally to Colorado and the return to North Carolina. I love this vagabond, missionary lifestyle!

On the one hand - the very pleasant milestone: I’m still here after 3 full months.

On the other hand - I really didn’t do anything remotely like staying on program this week, with the single exception of continuing to avoid wheat.

What I did do was coast through a very busy week when I was too lazy to go shop or cook, so ate what was at hand or nothing. Way too many meals skipped, which for me equates to a weight gain. Go figure.

The calories I did eat were mostly fruits and MUFAs (the good fats: molyunsaturated). Starkly absent were protein and veggie selections, which should be the bulk of my food.

Ah, so. I gained 1.2 pounds. Not really bothered by that. This not taking time to do the food is a bad trend. I need to get back to work on it - and on exercise.

Thanks to ALL of you for your kind comments which I’m not going to try to answer now… Later. From here on out it looks like I’m going to get seriously busy… Must figure out how to eat right when time and attention are needed elsewhere. Welcome to reality, huh!

What keeps you on track in challenging weeks?

As in: you are doing GREAT!!

How many times have I read posts in diet-blogs bemoaning the lack of weight loss while recounting the many right choices, diligent walks or workouts, or worse, life tragedies successfully navigated.

We need to re-define *great* from seeing the numbers we like to congratulating a job well done: choices made, little decisions and follow-through in spite of a sometimes un-budging scale.

If you got up today and made choices on food, exercise, life - based on what is good for you and the goals you would like to achieve - you are doing GREAT!! Whether or not the scale shows it yet.

And I hope you recognize that about yourself and others, and give an encouraging word and a pat on the back for successful choices and right behaviors, not just number results. Results are one reward. Good choices and actions *are* the GREAT achievements.

Everyone has a turning point. Mine was not the top weight, but the waistline, a measurement I took sometime around hitting the top weight. 58 inches. Suddenly it hit me - I am almost FIVE FEET AROUND! That got my attention. My belly got so big that if I clasped my hands in front while sitting, it pulled my arms and shoulders forward in a stretch! I couldn’t sit that way.

For the last few years, whether I was eating right or not, I concentrated on adding foods that help with belly loss, like olives, low fat dairy, dark chocolate. This summer, although I was only down 16 pounds, my waist was down 5 inches, to 53 inches. Score one for MUFAs, the moly-unsaturated fats. That was without exercise.

In July, I started getting off wheat again (my other nemisis) and dropped another 3 inches before starting my diet in August. In the first few weeks of the Flat Belly Diet I lost a couple more inches. Then, progress slowed. I quit checking, until yesterday. 46 inches!!??!!

I’VE LOST A FOOT OFF MY WAIST!

My whole belly looks about half the size of what it did a few months ago. WooHoo! I’m starting to look like a person instead of a blob. =)

This may be the most important post I’ve ever posted. Please check out: A Paleo Diet Diary by a fifty-something man with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high triglycerides who used Paleo eating and exercise to turn his health around.

paleoeater.blogspot.com

He blogged for only one year and then left the blog up for info and inspiration. ALL his health conditions had long since returned to normal before his one-year Paleo experiment ended.

This is an amazing story of one person’s search for what difference eating and exercising could make in the diseases we are told will always be with us. Through simple experimentation he *cured* himself and discovered a life even better than dreamed was available for the price of a little attention where it mattered. I want to be that healthy, feel that good. Simple but profound. Oh, and he lost weight.

And let me know what you think, please.

Before reaching my top weight of 300 pounds I had been eating *off* and drinking sodas (my nemesis) steadily for a while. I had gotten so heavy I would park illegally rather than walk a half mile.

Headed up to the 288/289 mark I remember thinking: I’ll just hit 300 and turn around. And, I did. I only saw 300 on the scale once. At that point, I started tightening up on foods and walking a little, losing 50 pounds over the next two years.

My aim was to lose 15 pounds 10 times with a 4-6 week break in between. The idea was to lose slowly and let my body get *re-set* at each new weight, down 15 pounds.

I think it was a good plan, but got excited in those last 10 pounds, got in a hurry, and didn’t take a break at 15 pounds. Next thing I know - I’ve completely fallen off. Over the next two years, I gained back 34 pounds.

As of today I have re-lost about 28 of the 34 pounds. 34 will put me at one-third of goal, the threshold of ONE-derland. I thought I might make it by the end of the year. Now, I’m thinking, maybe by the end of November. WooHoo!

Today, I weighed in for my weekly weigh-in: down 3 pounds from yesterday. (See why I wasn’t concerned about that 1 pound gain yesterday? I knew it was because I had eaten so late.)

Today: 256.2, exactly 25 pounds down from where I started 12 weeks ago. 43.8 pounds down from my top weight. I was shocked, I tell you, shocked, when I saw the scale this morning. Weekly average for last 3 weeks: 1.93 pounds lost.

I went out and ate a great, huge, good-for-me lunch at the steak house:

• house salad made with romaine lettuce, balsamic vinegarette on the side, no croutons
• 2 chicken breasts with a fresh tomato salsa
• lightly grilled seasonal veggies
• baked sweet potato, no toppings (still sweet, you know!)
• lots and lots of water with lemon
• no MUFA, but that’s okay - will get back on that tonight

I’m mulling now about monthly goals and weekly focus. I feel like I’m in transition between making a good start and making this a lifestyle.

Thank you all for your support! It so helps me keep on track. Check out my weigh-in page above - it really shows the progression! I’ve adjusted the graph to show 250 as my goal so the line shows up better. And, that will get me to ONE-derland! WooHoo! This feels like it is coming up so fast! That will also be 1/3 of goal. =D

I’m thinking I do better keeping my eyes on the short run. How about you?