Things I managed not to learn

I learned a lot from my grandmother - Mamaw as we called her. I learned to sew and to cook and that boys were a dime a dozen and if one went away another would come along. That last one is pretty good advice for girls in high school. Not that all boys are replaceable, but she taught me that any boy who couldn't see my value wasn't worth my time and those kinds of boys were easily replaced. She had a lot of spirit. Could be grouchy and a bit nuts, but she had spirit. 

I also learned what NOT to do for weight management. Looking back I'm kind of glad that I didn't follow her examples because I would be all sorts of a mess today. My grandmother had an hour glass figure and spent all of the time I knew her battling her weight. I take after her except that the sand keeps settling in the middle. LOL 


Things Mamaw and her friends did to lose weight that were kind of insane. 

There were the basic diets where you only ate one type of food. Forget balanced meals. Eat only cabbage or turnips - whatever the fad of the moment was. 

Diet pills. They never took them the way the doctor told them to. Nope, they traded them, took a handful and just generally abused the heck out of them. 

Exercise. Why work when you can slip into a sauna suit? 

They had a club. Groups can be very supportive and helpful when you are struggling. Sparkpeople, My Fitness Pal & Daily Mile being a wonderful examples of that. Not their grop. If you gained weight the entire group stood up and oinked at you. Yep, they oinked like a pig to remind you that you were a big pig with no self control. After meetings they would all go to the local pizza joint for the buffet. For some reason the pizza consumed after meetings didn't have calories. 

Diet pills not working? That's why God invented laxative pills. 

Big event coming up? Never ever eat more than 400 calories a day if you plan to fit into that dress. 

That was their way of staying in shape. Scary now to look back and think about some of the crazy stuff they did and told me to do. Tried the sauna suit once. Gross. I did not like wearing pools of my own sweat. I could not have handled being oinked at and I was too young for diet pills. Thankfully none of their lessons ever took with me and while I got very fat (much to the dismay of Mamaw and her friends) I have been able to find better, healthier ways to handle it.

Morning Check In

Not a bad day - not as good as the previous days, but still above my goal for steps.  March starts tomorrow, so I'll start working on my goal for stairs too.  #7 on fitbit friends list, but I don't think that will last long.  Several people are close to me in number, so we will likely be going back and forth again for ranking as the day goes by.  Competition is good for me.  :-)

Me too!!

I saw this on Scrambled Legs Running - facebook
https://www.facebook.com/scrambledlegsrunning

My version of running slower than a lot of people walk.  I don't care.  It's running.  :-)

Creating My Life

Life isn't about finding yourself, Life is about creating yourself. - George Bernard Shaw 

That's one of my two favorite quotes. I love Shaw - he was something else. That's how I want to be remembered - as someone who was a character - someone who created her life instead of just getting through. 

For a lot of years it really wasn't that way. I let life control me and that's part of how I ended up so overweight. The journey back to who I want to be has been interesting so far. I've learned a lot about myself and quite a bit about other people too actually. 

Some people are super supportive and want me to succeed, grow and prosper. Lots of those people are here on online and I may  never meet them, but they take a second to send me happy thoughts. It makes me feel great when so many people take time out of their lives to wish me well. Thank you all. 

Sadly, not all people are supportive. There haven't been many, but a couple of people in my life simply can not handle the change. I've severed ties with one and may have to with another. I do wish them well, but my life does not have a place for people who are going to drag me down. 

Part of creating my life is making choices. I always made choices, but sometimes I would choose to do nothing and let life flow by or let other people decide for me. Not any more I am in charge now and every day I get to make the choices that determine how my day will go. Even when everything around me is horrid and I wish for nothing more than to go and hide - even then I have a choice. I can choose to hide and let it get the best of me or I can choose to deal with it and become a stronger person. 

Creating my life also includes planning. How does that old adage go "failing to plan is planning to fail" I hated it when my dad used to spout it off, but turns out he was right. Now I'm working on learning to plan because that's how I will succeed. 

Another important thing that comes with creating my life is letting myself have it. I am worth it and I deserve it. It's ok to be a little selfish and go to the gym even when there is stuff to do. I deserve that hour a day and taking it is a good thing.

So I've quit trying to find my life and have set off to create it.

Running for Beginners

There are a LOT of running plans for beginners out there.  Couch to 5k is a good one - but this one made me smile.  I love how it ends with Leap For Joy on week 12  That's how I see running.  It's fun.

Motivational quote puzzle

Eat for fuel, not comfort.  Exercise to feel better

Morning Check In

Not a good day as far as my food intake goes.  I was HUNGRY.  And snacky.  I had pizza for dinner.  It was gluten free, but it wasn't calorie free.

One bad day does not a failure make.  I'll just have to improve today.

Moved up a bit on ye old friends list.  Right now I am 7 out of 45

Don't be afraid of failure

I liked this quote from Don Lemon

Read the article here
http://stories.illinoisstate.edu/magazine/illinois-state/state-side/cnns-don-lemon-isu-dinner-dont-play-safe/

Waffles & Beer

Waffles & Beer

Those are the two things I miss most about having gluten in my life. I have an awesome waffle maker and I don't get to eat the products any more. I loved odd beers from small breweries and I can't have those anymore. Hebrew was one of my favorites. It's the Chosen Beer according to the label. 

I don't miss the weird rashes, feeling sick all the time or the depression. I didn't even know I was depressed until I wasn't anymore - but that one thing alone is worth not having pizza, bread, waffles or beer. 

It's not easy to avoid all the gluten products and it's not always fun. At Panara the manager once checked for me and the only soup they had that was gluten free was the corn chowder. That was my favorite so I was happy - but what if I hadn't remembered to check. Tomato soup is there but it is NOT gluten free. I wouldn't have given it a second thought because it didn't seem like the kind of thing that would have gluten, but it does. I usually stay away from Panara and other bakery/restaurants - but I also don't like to hold friends hostage to my food issues. 

At a different restaurant I forgot to ask if there were croutons on the salad. There were and they were extra crumbly so I couldn't eat the salad at all. My friend took it and I had to order again. I always have to avoid bbq sauce because most of the time it isn't safe and the staff very rarely knows if it is. 

At home I'm more in control, but I have to stay on my toes. Just because one thing doesn't have it this week doesn't mean they won't change their formula next week. I read labels a LOT. If it says modified food starch it is usually corn starch - except that sometimes it isn't so I avoid things that I'm not sure about. 

Basically this is a pain in the rear! So when I encounter people who live this way on purpose - because they think it is a magic bullet to weight loss I am flabbergasted! Yes you will lose weight when you avoid all wheat products - but you will still lose it if you eat them in moderation and avoid the ones that come in the form of things like cookies and pizza. And unless you are willing to make other lifestyle changes you will have to commit to eating gluten free forever. No bread ever again? Why do that unless you are like me and you have to?? 

Manufacturers are quick to pick up on fads. I noticed that the bacon and green beans I bought this week were both labeled as gluten free. That cracked me up. 

Yes I still eat bacon - moderation is the key. Unless a food contains gluten I put it on the "once in a while list" I don't banish anything I really like. That's where I've always failed before. I want something and instead of learning to have a little I had zero or too much. 

So waffles and beer don't get to be on that list. They are gone from my life forever and I miss them. Not enough to feel that way again - but it's like that bad boy you dated in high school. He was trouble, and you don't want to go back there again, but part of you still misses the fun.

Morning Check In

A little competition is good for the soul!

I'm at #9 this morning.  Yesterday I moved up and down a lot as several fitbit friends and I outdid each other.  It's motivating.  :-)

I don't include a screenshot that shows my water, but I have been drinking it pretty consistently for a couple of weeks now.  My hair is one of the first places that shows when I'm well hydrated.  I guess it's the scalp and not the hair itself.  Whatever - I just know I have bouncy hair.  :-)

How did I end up here?

I think that's a question every overweight person has asked themselves. Sadly it's also one that non overweight people ask too. Even when they don't say it to you, you can sometimes see the question in their eyes. "how did you get so fat?" It feels like the implication is "Why didn't you stop yourself?" 

It's not an easy question to answer. There are a lot of reasons for overeating. A lot of reasons to not exercise and it doesn't just happen overnight, but you don't always see it coming. First you gain a little and worry. If you're a stress eater that will trigger more eating. The numbers on the scale are stressful, so you don't use it anymore. After a little while you avoid looking down in the mirror, you only concentrate on your face. You start to avoid pictures and in some cases outings with friends and family. I have missed events that I would have liked to attend because I didn't want them to know how big I had gotten. 

It's not like I was able to hide from my body. It was with me, but if I avoided looking at it, then I could avoid dealing with it - for awhile. Clothes in the large sizes help you hide from the truth too. Stretch knits, elastic waists. I still have some clothes that I can wear now - 150lbs away from my highest weight. 

Avoiding situations where I was reminded about my size was also key. If I didn't enter the situation I wouldn't have to acknowledge that I didn't fit. 

Then I started to lose weight. After people started noticing and telling me that I had lost at least 40lbs I decided to get on the scale. Imagine my shock when it read what I had guessed my starting weight to be. I was at least 80lbs heavier than I thought - probably more. When you get that big it sometimes takes a lot of loss for people to notice. 

Avoidance is a powerful temptation. Today I still find myself slipping into those behaviors but I make a conscious effort to overcome them. I look at my whole body every day. Naked. I smile and pose for pictures and I take time to appreciate myself. I have a long way to go, but I am going to get there AND I am going to be satisfied with who I am along the way. 

Janelle Monáe - Dance Apocalyptic

Janelle is my workout music today

My Lunch

Today I'm having pintos with jalapenos for lunch.  It's really kind of a side dish, but who says you can't make a meal from a side.  I just love beans, they're cheap, filling and very very tasty.  For dinner I'll bake some chicken and serve them as an actual side.

The recipe is here

http://www.krulewich.com/2014/02/pinto-beans-w-jalapenos.html

Unlike several of my other recipes this one got a A on the rating scale.  Although, I pretty much expected the caramels to get an F.  Only because there isn't an F-.  Although it's not diet friendly, I do use butter over margarine.  Why?  Because I like milk better than oil.  I'll use olive oil, but margarine just doesn't taste right to me.  Even though there is butter, I'm not Paula Deen.  I didn't go overboard.  4tablespoons for 25 servings isn't too much per bowl.  

Think About Why You Started - Jigsaw Puzzle

Today's motivational graphic jigsaw

Need a bigger board?  Use the arrow key in the bottom right corner

Morning Check In

I've added a new thing to track.  Where I am on my fitbit friends list.  I joined a fitbit group on Sparkpeople and added a bunch more fitbit friends.  My goal is to be in the top 5.  It's going to be a challenge because some of my new friends are very active.  :-)

13 out of 41

Back on Spark People

I've decided to readd sparkpeople.com to the list of things I use.  It was super helpful in the past and I'm a fan of using what works.

I'm SolsticeChild on sparkpeople

Jigsaw Puzzle - Today is your day

Because every day can be your day!

Use the arrows in the corner to "pop it out" and have a bigger puzzle to work with.

Sitting too much, needing to move more

I don't work at a desk, but what I do weekdays does have me sitting too much.  These won't help with my step count, but they will help keep me moving even when I'm stuck in a chair.

Gluten Free Lists & Labels

I have seen some interesting lists on bembu.com but the gluten free one made me laugh out loud - and sigh a little too.

The thing about gluten free being a fad is that so many things are being labeled as "gluten free" when there is no chance that they contained gluten in the first place. I've seen bottles of water that are labeled "gluten free" as well as packages of steak.   Really, the cow isn't made of wheat?  Go figure!

The bembu list starts with beans and then goes to beef before listing chicken.....yeah, those are wheat. It includes milk, cheese, vegetables...... all common sense items.

A better list is one of things that CONTAIN gluten where you aren't expecting it.  I once got a package of fruit snacks from Aldi's.  I expected corn syrup and was dumb enough not to read the ingedients since every other package of fruit snacks I've ever had contained corn syrup.  These were not made with corn syrup, but rather with wheat syrup.  Which until that reaction, I didn't even know existed.

My son worked at IHOP, he says their omelettes are made with pancake batter.  You can get them with real eggs, but that annoys the cooks.  At least at the one he worked at.  So, an omelette - which shouldn't have gluten at all - is heavy on the wheat stuff.

Some candies - like Twizzlers.  As a matter of fact, most licorice that I've seen has it.  Shame, because I do like licorice.

Chewable vitamin supplements.

and so on and so on and so on.

Lists are great, but it's an ever changing world of ingredients.  Read the label if you want to be sure.  And if the label isn't clear - avoid it unless you are willing to risk it.  Fine if you have allergies like mine, but for someone who has celiac disease, it's a much more serious matter.  I wish companies would clearly label gluten instead of slapping the "gluten free" label on everything that would have never contained it in the first place!

Paleo

The paleo diet fad is still going strong.  I eat that way a lot, though I am not an adherent to the diet.  I'm just allergic to wheat, so my diet just kind of follows along that way.  Paleo cookbooks are great sources of gluten free recipes.  When I got my first one the paleo thing was still a hippie thing.  Now that it's more mainstream, there are a lot more of them.  I'll should start increasing my collection.

Anyway, here's an infographic on the paleo thing.

Morning Check In

Missed my steps yesterday.  I've got to find a way to crochet while walking.  Have not mastered that one yet.  I'm just a little too uncoordinated for that.

Sunday Selfie - Feb 23

Change Your Routine, Change your life - Jigsaw puzzle

You can't change your life until you change how you are doing things.

Need a bigger board?  Use the arrow button in the bottom right corner of the puzzle

Morning Check In

Hit goal with steps again today!  I need to start working on hitting my goal with stairs too, but one thing at a time.  I"ll wait until I am consistently hitting my steps goal before I tackle that one.  Most importantly - once I got active (around 9:30) I STAYED at least active.  Sometimes I get caught in the sitting down too much mode.  I'm trying to avoid that.  

Sodium issues again today.  It was the cheese.  I always forget how much sodium there is in cheese.  

Bette Calman is amazing!

I've posted a jigsaw puzzle with a photo of Bette Calman in a yoga pose.  I can't do what she does and she's  4 decades older than I am.  At the time I didn't know her name, but some diligent googling led me to the information I wanted.

She's awesome!  Here is a link to an article on her - and another puzzle featuring her amazing skills!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1172810/The-yoga-supergran-bend-backwards-age-83.html

also a link to her facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bette-Calman/362784150417442

Bette has been one of my "no excuses" heros and I'm glad I found out a bit more about her!

93 and more flexible that I may ever be!

This woman is 93 and still teaches yoga!

Very inspiring.

Here's the link to the story

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2091191/Tao-Porchon-Lynch-93-year-old-yoga-teacher-whos-flexible-students.html

I'm important too

Saw this and it rings very true.  Exercise and eating right are taking care of myself and if I don't make time for that how am I going to take care of others?  Like many women I get caught up in all the stuff I have to do for everyone and put the stuff I need to do for myself last.  Not such a good idea.

Exercise takes energy, but in the end it gives you energy.  Better than drinking a red bull for wings that only last a few min and lead to a crash!  Exercise and good food give you energy that lasts and lasts and last - just like a certain pink rabbit.  

It's easy to get caught in the trap of having so much to do that you don't have time for the things you really need to do.  It's fast to grab some junk food instead of stopping for a proper meal - but that path leads to exhaustion and frustration.  When I get to that point I can't get anything done for anyone.  So today I took time out from the list of things I have to do and did the stuff I need to do.  A little meditation, a little dancing and a little exercise.    Because I'm important too and I need to treat myself that way.

Two Days worth of Check Ins

Yesterday

Thursday

Funny Bibs

This one is my favorite, but there are 9 other very funny ones.  I do have other shoes - a bit of a shoe addict, but my running ones cost more that most of them combined!

Click the link to see them all

http://running.competitor.com/2014/02/photos/10-ebibs-only-runners-could-understand_94785

Jigsaw Puzzle of the Day - Long run

today's puzzle is a meme that made me smile

One does not simply walk up the stairs after the long run!

Morning Check In

I got my goal 2 days in a row.  Yay!

Training for Jane

Got 3 miles in on the bike.  Brought up more coughing that my walk yesterday.  Probably because I was pushing myself harder.  It felt good to push myself yesterday so I did it again today.  :-)

The coughing is likely a good thing.  Work the rest of that gunk out of my lungs.

felt good.

I wish I had known when I was younger how good it feels to exercise.  I didn't know I loved it until it was hard.  I didn't know I wanted to run until I couldn't.  It's never too late to figure these things out though.  :-)

Jigsaw of the Day - Limits

Today's puzzle is a quote from Arthur C. Clarke

Morning Check In

 got my goal for the first time in FOREVER yesterday.  My daily goal is 12500.  I set it higher because I have a shorter stride and 10k steps really wasn't giving me 5 miles.  I did a lot of sitting around too, but I did manage one good workout.

Eating was higher, but then I moved more, so it's good.

Jigsaw of the day - Reasons To Run

Some reasons to run!

Making up for yesterday

Darn headache sidetracked me yesterday, but I got out there today and did 3miles.

Three sluggish, tortoise like miles.

And I loved every second of it!

Felt so good to get out there even if it wasn't perfect.

Some surprising aches.  The knee I fell on didn't hurt.  I expected it to, but it was fine.  Shin pain today.  Which I don't often have.  My hip hurt, but after I got hit by that truck a few years back, I've come to expect that  At least until I can get loosened up and work on those muscles again.

I could tell from my shadow that my hip was throwing my gait off.  Had that obese person limp.  If you've been obese, you know what I mean.  The hips get tight and cause you to kind of rock instead of just moving forward.

I'll work that out because I do NOT want to be that person again!

And today I'm not. I will celebrate my 3 miles because it felt good and deserve to be celebrated!

Daily Check In

Only 7763 steps but I'll take them.  Migraine kept me in bed until 12:03, so I think I did pretty good!

Today's jigsaw - I wish I could do that now!

Inspiration.  I wish I could do this NOW, much less a few decades from now.  Going to go on the goal list.

Outside

I am venturing outside for the first time in days.  I planned to head out this morning but I got sidelined by a migraine.  It's passing and I'm going to venture into the sunshine.   I'm lucky, the rare occasion I get a migraine, it will only last a few hours, not days like some people.  I can't imagine having one for a long time.

They suck.  I am going to be grateful for my lucky and say a quick prayer for everyone who isn't as lucky.