There are two things that helped me start and stay on the program I am now using.
God was the first thing I needed to begin and maintain what has become a life change for me. God is the one who helps and encourages me to stay true to this eating pattern. I know I can turn to Him whenever I feel discouraged, like when I hit the plateaus were I stop losing or go on a rollercoaster ride of gaining and losing. I always know He is there for me, so I do not become completely discouraged and give up.
Determination was the second thing I needed. Now, I have been determined before, but what I lacked was a platform whereby I could make a change and monitor what I was eating. I have to admit that I have felt determined in the past, and the desire to lose weight has been with me for a very long time; the problem was that I did not know how to go about it. Oh yes, there is the concept of just eating less, but how can you do that when you don't want to give up certain foods. That was one of the major factors that stopped me many times before I even started.
As I said before, my doctor made many suggestions, and one of those suggestions was counting calories. Now, anyone who is of the older generations and remembers what it was like to try to count calories will remember that you had record everything on paper, you had to look up foods in books, and you had a real hard struggle with meals that came from your favorite recipes or from restaurants. It was not an easy task and became frustrating very fast, and what generally happened was that you gave up. Absolute frustration that leads to giving up puts an end to anything whether you have the determination or not, and even knowing that God is on your side may not be enough to keep you going in the fact of frustration so overwhelming that you do not know how to make something work effectively. With that said, so ends any attempt at losing weight, and if you lost anything, you immediately gain it all back.
So what if you have determination and God on your side? How do you go about gaining your GOAL? That is where the platform came in for me. MYFITNESSPAL was a God send for me, and the fact that I even stumbled upon it was great. Here was something that would count the calories for me, and not even just that, it also had the calorie count for restaurants and fast food places. I could also add my own recipes and it would give me a calorie count for my meals. With that said, I past the first major roadblock in my personal goal to not only lose weight but to make a life change in eating that I could live with. That fact was also one of the major roadblocks in my quest for losing weight.
If whatever way you want to use to lose weight, it has to be something you can live with for the rest of your life. Any diet you choose is never going to be something you can live with because all of them are to last only as long as you are losing weight. They do you cover what to do to maintain that weight lose. Myfitnesspal has a setting for maintaining your weight, and for those who need to gain rather than lose, there is also a setting for that.
Let me, right now, warn anyone who decides to use this wonderful app to lose weight that it is not a magical app that make weight loss easy. Weight loss is never easy, and anyone who convinces themselves or anyone else that is lies. Nothing worth really having in this life is easy; there will always be struggles. It might start easy or seem to, but you then hit areas in your life that make it much more difficult and that is where God and determination step in to help, at least for me. You see, I know that my determination to succeed is coming from God and that God helped me find a platform that would work with my determination.
So how much have I lost? Well between January to April, I lost another 26.8 pounds, and I was not ready to stop there. Was it easy to shed those next pounds? Heck No! It was a struggle, but once again God and determination were on my side. Between that 26.8 pounds and 25 pounds I lost before that, I have seen a total loss of 51.8 pounds; I first-time achievement for me.
I was not done at the point; I still had more to go before I would reach my goal, but I was not going to give up, become frustrated, or lose heart even as more changes in my eating had to change to continue on my personal road to success.
Friday, August 28, 2015
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Dieting
The most horrendous word in the English language is 'diet'. To me, it is a word that breaks down into two words: 'die' 'it', and most time diets do die. No diet is meant to be lived on for the rest of one's life, and in order to lose weight and keep it off, at least for me, it has to be something I can stay on as a new lifestyle.
This is me at what is probably my heaviest, and I must admit I was never proud of it and have wanted to do something about it for a long time. I just did not know what to do. It was not until last November that I became very determined to try something if I could find something that would work. To date, I found that pills, regimented diets, and regular diets did not work for me. My doctor suggested those foods you buy, but I could not afford that, and I knew they would have too many foods I could not eat. I cannot eat tomato based sauces or recipes - tomatoes make me want to throw up because of an encounter I had with stewed tomatoes when I was a child, plus they give me bad heartburn as in the case of sauces made with tomatoes, canned tomato pasta, and canned tomato sauce - nor can I eat anything too spicy. I also dislike most vegetables and especially most of the cooked ones with the exception of cauliflower, glazed carrots, and corn. Other vegetables I prefer to eat raw if I eat them at all.
The next thing my doctor suggested was sending me to another doctor who would put me on a calorie diet. See, there is the word again - diet, and again, we were talking about money I did not have. So, I decided I would look for something I could live with on my own.
The first thing I found was a calorie program that started me at 1200 calories, and I knew that was not something I could start out at. It was dropping too much too soon and meant instant failure. I wanted something that I would not fail at and something I would be able to live with over time. So that program led me to an ad for another program called My Fitness Pal.
Now, My Fitness Pal can be used three ways. There is the on-line program, an app for your cell phone, and an app for iPad. Better yet, it started me with 2200 something calories, so I thought I would try it. One of the best features is that you can scan the bar code of the food you are eating or type in the type of food it is and it gives you the calorie count without having to look it up in a stupid book that only lists the most common types of food. Second, you can put in your own recipes and it will figure out how many calories are in a serving, and even better, if you find a recipe on-line or on Pinterest that you want to try, you can copy and paste the URL code and it will match the ingredients (most of the time) for you and also give you a calorie count for a serving. The one glitch with recipes by other people is that they do not always tell you what constitutes a serving size. It will say it serves 4 but does not tell what the portion size is and you usually cannot figure out the actual size of a serving until after you make the recipe.
Okay, so I decided I would try this app and see what would happen. The first thing I discovered was that I certainly exceeded my daily allotted intake, so I had to make some adjustments to what or how much I was eating.
Now, this app is very nice because you can go back to the beginning of your records and see how you have done over time. In the first month - November to December - I lost 15 pounds and that includes having Thanksgiving dinner, and from December to January - the dreaded Christmas food season - I lost another 9 pounds. That was a total of 25 pounds in two months. It was a very good beginning, and, for me, I found it very easy to do; now that does not guarantee it will be as easy for everyone else, and that is something I will address in on coming blogs.. The one surprising thing, but it should not have surprised me, was that for every 10 pounds you lose, your calories are dropped. Of course, you could tell the app that you did not want to drop the calories, but that simple fact is part of the reason you can keep losing weight.
Overall, I felt very happy with myself because I had finally found something that worked and that I was able to live with because I chose what foods I would and would not eat and nobody became the food police saying 'No, you can't have that,' unless it was me that said it. Donuts, for instance, I found out how many calories one donut had and decided to avoid them unless it was to have it as a treat, but if I chose to eat one, then I have to give up the calories someplace else during the day. Do I eat donuts now - no, and I find I do not miss them, and they now have ended up tasting too sweet.
The next thing my doctor suggested was sending me to another doctor who would put me on a calorie diet. See, there is the word again - diet, and again, we were talking about money I did not have. So, I decided I would look for something I could live with on my own.
The first thing I found was a calorie program that started me at 1200 calories, and I knew that was not something I could start out at. It was dropping too much too soon and meant instant failure. I wanted something that I would not fail at and something I would be able to live with over time. So that program led me to an ad for another program called My Fitness Pal.
Now, My Fitness Pal can be used three ways. There is the on-line program, an app for your cell phone, and an app for iPad. Better yet, it started me with 2200 something calories, so I thought I would try it. One of the best features is that you can scan the bar code of the food you are eating or type in the type of food it is and it gives you the calorie count without having to look it up in a stupid book that only lists the most common types of food. Second, you can put in your own recipes and it will figure out how many calories are in a serving, and even better, if you find a recipe on-line or on Pinterest that you want to try, you can copy and paste the URL code and it will match the ingredients (most of the time) for you and also give you a calorie count for a serving. The one glitch with recipes by other people is that they do not always tell you what constitutes a serving size. It will say it serves 4 but does not tell what the portion size is and you usually cannot figure out the actual size of a serving until after you make the recipe.
Okay, so I decided I would try this app and see what would happen. The first thing I discovered was that I certainly exceeded my daily allotted intake, so I had to make some adjustments to what or how much I was eating.
Now, this app is very nice because you can go back to the beginning of your records and see how you have done over time. In the first month - November to December - I lost 15 pounds and that includes having Thanksgiving dinner, and from December to January - the dreaded Christmas food season - I lost another 9 pounds. That was a total of 25 pounds in two months. It was a very good beginning, and, for me, I found it very easy to do; now that does not guarantee it will be as easy for everyone else, and that is something I will address in on coming blogs.. The one surprising thing, but it should not have surprised me, was that for every 10 pounds you lose, your calories are dropped. Of course, you could tell the app that you did not want to drop the calories, but that simple fact is part of the reason you can keep losing weight.
Overall, I felt very happy with myself because I had finally found something that worked and that I was able to live with because I chose what foods I would and would not eat and nobody became the food police saying 'No, you can't have that,' unless it was me that said it. Donuts, for instance, I found out how many calories one donut had and decided to avoid them unless it was to have it as a treat, but if I chose to eat one, then I have to give up the calories someplace else during the day. Do I eat donuts now - no, and I find I do not miss them, and they now have ended up tasting too sweet.
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Memorial
Kit, also known as Kibby and Kibbles, was born sometime in July in 2001, and he passed away on June 8, 2015. I had him for just under14 short but wonderful years. He was the only pet I ever had, but he was so much more than a pet. He was like my little boy.
When he was little, he would crawl up on my shoulder and snuggle into my neck; when he got older, he became too big for that, but he still sat on my lap and cuddled with me. He also allowed me to play with his paws and spread his "toes" and massage the pads of his feet. Not something most kitties would allow, but he trusted me, so he allowed it.
It was unfortunate that about a year ago he was diagnosed with diabetes, but we gave him his shots and monitored what he ate. About 3 weeks ago, he took very ill, and we had to take him to the vet where we discovered his blood sugar was very low, and he had a major infection. He stayed with the vet for 4 days before coming home, and we hoped that he would recover from this illness. The major infection did clear up, but something happened to him because of it. His health deteriorated, he lost weight, and he finally stopped eating. Toward the end, he walked very little, he could no long jump up onto the couch, chairs, or even my bed, and he seemed to only live on water. He also seemed to stop sleeping and not even real tuna tempted him to eat. All we could do was watch him waste away.
He looked so sad and seemed to give up, and the only kind thing we could do for him was to take him to the vet and have him put to sleep. It was one of the saddest days of my life, and grief is what I felt even though I knew it was the right and humane thing to do for him. Knowing you have done the best thing for someone you love, does not make it easy, and watching him slip away was very hard.
Most people would argue that losing a pet is not the same as losing a parent, child, or other human loved one, but I would disagree with that thought. Losing anyone, even an animal, that you love is hard and causes great heartache; a loss is still a loss, and spending time loving the one you lost is just as heartbreaking.
Kit was 4 weeks old when he got him and his brother from a farm. They were very tiny and had not been weaned, so we had to give them kitty milk until we would get them eat other food. We started them on soft food that had water or milk added to make it even mushier.
These are the best pictures I have of Kibby when he was younger, but he is still bigger than when we first got him. He was so tiny he fit in the palm of my hand. For a long time, I did not know what to name him, so I just called him 'kitty', and then I decided to call him Kit, but later I began to call him Kibby after the pet food Kibbles & Bits. Not very original I know, but I just could not come up with anything else, and Kit stayed because I is what was put on the Vet's patient form when we first took him in to get a check up and his first shots.
The following are some of the last pictures we took of Kibby before we had to lose him.
You will notice that he is much bigger then the picture of him when he was still small.
Kibby was the best cat I had ever met. His purr was loud and comforting, but his meow was very low and soft. For a cat as big as him, it was funny to hear the little meow that came out of his mouth, and he did not meow very much.
He had some very interesting character quirks. He loved olive and pickle juice. If you left any in a bowl when you put it in the sink, he would go over and lick it. He also loved my massager. I have an electric massage wand, and whenever he heard it, he would jump up on my bed and rub his face against it. He would even allow me to give him a massage over his entire body. He would just lay there and enjoy every moment of it.
He also had one special toy that he liked. I received an orange tool for the kitten; I cannot remember its original use, but I left it on the kitchen counter for washing, and the next thing I knew it was missing. I later found it in the living room and discovered that Kibby had been batting it around and chasing it. Since Kibby did not play often, I let him keep the orange thing as a toy.
He also loved balls of yarn. He and his brother found a ball of yarn that my other had, and they started batting it around. When my mom saw what they were doing, she chased them trying to get the ball back while they ran around batting it away from her. There was yarn strung all across our living room floor, and our living room has two sections to it, so it was a big area.
Kibby also liked boxes and other small, strange places he could crawl or jump into, as seen in the following pictures.
He also liked curling up and sleeping with his brother, Taffy.
Sometimes they did not both fit into the bed they chose, but they did not care, they slept there anyway.
And he would sleep anywhere he was allowed to sleep. He liked to be by a person's head when allowed to sleep with someone in the family. Many times he would try to sleep above my head and then he would pull my hair as the tried to sleep on it.
Sleeping on his back was definitely not a problem for him.
Kibby was a very lovable cat, and he will be greatly missed by the family and by many of our friends who remember him kindly.
When he was little, he would crawl up on my shoulder and snuggle into my neck; when he got older, he became too big for that, but he still sat on my lap and cuddled with me. He also allowed me to play with his paws and spread his "toes" and massage the pads of his feet. Not something most kitties would allow, but he trusted me, so he allowed it.
It was unfortunate that about a year ago he was diagnosed with diabetes, but we gave him his shots and monitored what he ate. About 3 weeks ago, he took very ill, and we had to take him to the vet where we discovered his blood sugar was very low, and he had a major infection. He stayed with the vet for 4 days before coming home, and we hoped that he would recover from this illness. The major infection did clear up, but something happened to him because of it. His health deteriorated, he lost weight, and he finally stopped eating. Toward the end, he walked very little, he could no long jump up onto the couch, chairs, or even my bed, and he seemed to only live on water. He also seemed to stop sleeping and not even real tuna tempted him to eat. All we could do was watch him waste away.
He looked so sad and seemed to give up, and the only kind thing we could do for him was to take him to the vet and have him put to sleep. It was one of the saddest days of my life, and grief is what I felt even though I knew it was the right and humane thing to do for him. Knowing you have done the best thing for someone you love, does not make it easy, and watching him slip away was very hard.
Most people would argue that losing a pet is not the same as losing a parent, child, or other human loved one, but I would disagree with that thought. Losing anyone, even an animal, that you love is hard and causes great heartache; a loss is still a loss, and spending time loving the one you lost is just as heartbreaking.
Kit was 4 weeks old when he got him and his brother from a farm. They were very tiny and had not been weaned, so we had to give them kitty milk until we would get them eat other food. We started them on soft food that had water or milk added to make it even mushier.
These are the best pictures I have of Kibby when he was younger, but he is still bigger than when we first got him. He was so tiny he fit in the palm of my hand. For a long time, I did not know what to name him, so I just called him 'kitty', and then I decided to call him Kit, but later I began to call him Kibby after the pet food Kibbles & Bits. Not very original I know, but I just could not come up with anything else, and Kit stayed because I is what was put on the Vet's patient form when we first took him in to get a check up and his first shots.
The following are some of the last pictures we took of Kibby before we had to lose him.
You will notice that he is much bigger then the picture of him when he was still small.
Kibby was the best cat I had ever met. His purr was loud and comforting, but his meow was very low and soft. For a cat as big as him, it was funny to hear the little meow that came out of his mouth, and he did not meow very much.
He had some very interesting character quirks. He loved olive and pickle juice. If you left any in a bowl when you put it in the sink, he would go over and lick it. He also loved my massager. I have an electric massage wand, and whenever he heard it, he would jump up on my bed and rub his face against it. He would even allow me to give him a massage over his entire body. He would just lay there and enjoy every moment of it.
He also had one special toy that he liked. I received an orange tool for the kitten; I cannot remember its original use, but I left it on the kitchen counter for washing, and the next thing I knew it was missing. I later found it in the living room and discovered that Kibby had been batting it around and chasing it. Since Kibby did not play often, I let him keep the orange thing as a toy.
He also loved balls of yarn. He and his brother found a ball of yarn that my other had, and they started batting it around. When my mom saw what they were doing, she chased them trying to get the ball back while they ran around batting it away from her. There was yarn strung all across our living room floor, and our living room has two sections to it, so it was a big area.
Kibby also liked boxes and other small, strange places he could crawl or jump into, as seen in the following pictures.
Kit also liked Christmas trees; he found them fun to chew on, play with, and sleep under.
He also liked curling up and sleeping with his brother, Taffy.
Kibby also like to cover up when it got cold.
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Retirement
I have finally taken the leap and retired, so what do I do with my life now?
Well, I have become my mom's chauffeur since we had to take away her driving privileges. Imagine this, she is giving away her sewing machine because she can no longer work the pedal because she has no feeling in her toes. So how, you might ask, does she drive a car and work the pedals? She claims she uses her heel, and then she wonders why we took away her driving rights. It came down to her safety and the safety of those around her while she was driving, that helped us make the final decision. Do I dislike driving her around? No! I feel much safer knowing she is not behind the wheel of the car.
What else am I doing? Twice a week, when my schedule allows, I volunteer at the Santa Fe Trail Center. I have two projects I am working on, and one deals with the digitalization of records, which is what I would really like to do as a part-time job.
Speaking of part-time jobs, I really need one, so I am looking.
I am also spending my time on the computer: writing, reading emails, taking Lumosity tests to improve my mind, playing games, working on genealogy off and on, and other tasks that I perform on the computer. Too bad I cannot find a job working at home online using my computer; now that would be a great job.
Anyway, retirement has allowed me time to think, reflect, and get some needed rest and relaxation.
Well, I have become my mom's chauffeur since we had to take away her driving privileges. Imagine this, she is giving away her sewing machine because she can no longer work the pedal because she has no feeling in her toes. So how, you might ask, does she drive a car and work the pedals? She claims she uses her heel, and then she wonders why we took away her driving rights. It came down to her safety and the safety of those around her while she was driving, that helped us make the final decision. Do I dislike driving her around? No! I feel much safer knowing she is not behind the wheel of the car.
What else am I doing? Twice a week, when my schedule allows, I volunteer at the Santa Fe Trail Center. I have two projects I am working on, and one deals with the digitalization of records, which is what I would really like to do as a part-time job.
Speaking of part-time jobs, I really need one, so I am looking.
I am also spending my time on the computer: writing, reading emails, taking Lumosity tests to improve my mind, playing games, working on genealogy off and on, and other tasks that I perform on the computer. Too bad I cannot find a job working at home online using my computer; now that would be a great job.
Anyway, retirement has allowed me time to think, reflect, and get some needed rest and relaxation.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Remodeling finally completed
It is now time to post pictures of Gwen's completed room. She has emptied the last of her boxes and has organized (to the extent that everything has a place at the moment) her belongings.
The first organizational challenge, of course, was the closet, and
when buying shelves the length you want, you end up paying for the entire length of shelf available and have them cut it to size.
Gwen, however, was able to put the remaining pieces to use as well, as seen the the pictures.
She now has more closet room than ever before.
Her sitting room, also, took shape nicely and allows room for books, knickknacks,
two comfy chairs,
and her new desk for her computer.
Even the bedroom, although smaller than the original because the bathroom wall was moved, has ample space for sleeping,
watching and storing movies,
storing her music CDs,
and setting up her new keyboard, which she received for Christmas and never played because there was no room in the living room.
See, lots of room to practice now.
This is Gwen's new room, and the new color of her door.
Notice anything of interest, Lisa?
The bathroom door, to the right is handicap accessible,
just in case, after the bathroom is finished, someone in the family bedsides Gwen needs to use it.
And here is Gwen enjoying her new room.
when buying shelves the length you want, you end up paying for the entire length of shelf available and have them cut it to size.
Gwen, however, was able to put the remaining pieces to use as well, as seen the the pictures.
She now has more closet room than ever before.
Her sitting room, also, took shape nicely and allows room for books, knickknacks,
and her new desk for her computer.
watching and storing movies,
storing her music CDs,
and setting up her new keyboard, which she received for Christmas and never played because there was no room in the living room.
See, lots of room to practice now.
This is Gwen's new room, and the new color of her door.Notice anything of interest, Lisa?
The bathroom door, to the right is handicap accessible, just in case, after the bathroom is finished, someone in the family bedsides Gwen needs to use it.
And here is Gwen enjoying her new room.
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