Category Archives: DIET!

April 3, 2022 · 9:38 am

Lard Progress Report – Week 1

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This is the end of WEEK 1 in my RENEWED ‘getting-serious-about-losing-the-lard-and-exercising.’

I’m trying to eat low carb and do 30 minutes daily yoga stretching. On good weather days, I’m trying to do yard work to add more movement and exercise.

RESULTS – WEEK 1:

WEIGHT: Down 3.4 lbs this week, down 26.8 lbs since my heaviest.

MEASUREMENTS: No change this week.

REACTION: I’m feeling happy that the scales noticed my efforts. This is motivating to redouble my efforts to continue. My weight loss seemed to settle into .2 pounds daily toward the end of the week, and that’s fine with me. I’m hoping to see some change in measurements by the end of April.

I found myself ‘hungry’ a couple of times, having to talk sternly to myself. I drank a bunch of lemon water and the hungry-ness passed. I’m fighting some bad habits, plus my pull toward eating when I’m stressed or angry. My worst times for this are mid-afternoon and when I’m up in the middle of the night. I’ve figured out a good keto snack for me for mid-afternoon, and just drink water if I come downstairs at night.

Figuring out what I will eat for the day using MyFitnessPal.com is really helping me. I add what I’m planning to eat, adjust it if I’m not meeting my macros on low carb, and then stick to it. Sometimes I’m getting big surprises on what we HAD been eating. I’ve crossed off some frozen meal choices from two different sources for me. My husband, who is closer to his goal, will eat those while I stick to what I NEED to be eating.

On to WEEK 2!

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March 30, 2022 · 11:45 am

Wet Wednesday

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The rain started early this morning. We avoided the possible severe weather, though, thank goodness. It’s still rainy, though we’re due for a break in the rain until ‘downpours’ this afternoon. An inside day, for sure.

Happily, I pushed myself yesterday, doing three sessions of weed whacking to clean up the edges from my husband’s good lawn mowing. We almost look like someone cares!

Since we have a cool front along with the cloudy, rainy weather, I’m cooking Keto Chili tonight from Suzanne Ryan’s Simply Keto recipe book. I feel I have a good start now on my renewed effort to lose the lard. My scales are noticing my efforts this week. :0) Today, since I can’t work in the yard, I’ll try to add some time on my elliptical trainer in the garage along with my afternoon yoga stretching session.

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A good thing: my husband agreed to try using a cell phone again, mainly because he wants to be able to receive verification codes on HIS phone rather than mine. We went to AT&T yesterday, and the two nice people there got the new phone added. The guy showed my husband how to get rid of the stuff he doesn’t want on the phone, so now he’ll quit bothering me about the stuff on mine… PLUS, the lady helped me make it so I can again take pics with my phone and email them to my computer for use on the blog again. (I haven’t been able to make it work since I had to change my email address.) The final great thing was the guy suggested I call ‘611’ on my cell to ask them if they would waive the extra fees associated with adding another phone. I was to ask for the Loyalty Dept. I did and they DID give us a credit toward our next bill. Yea!

Another good thing: I spent a long time on the phone this morning, trying to get the status on some wire transfers we did lately. The nice lady was able to confirm one was ‘good,’ and is researching the other to find out what’s what. It’s good to find competent, polite help when you need it.

My husband is trying to make his new computer work. It’s together physically now, but he’s having trouble adding software. My contribution is to keep my mouth firmly shut. Some access to things we share aren’t working yet, so I’m modifying my activities until they do again.

Stay dry and warm wherever you are.

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March 29, 2022 · 10:32 am

Yesterday’s Small Triumphs

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  • I managed to bake some really low-carb dinner rolls for our dinner. (I’m trying to replace the deli/bakery dinner roll we’ve been eating.) They were okay. I will continue to look for a recipe we like better, but this would work. :0)
  • I also cooked a Sausage, Egg and Cheese Bake recipe for a low-carb dinner. It was as good as we remembered. I froze the leftovers into individual containers so we can have two more easy dinners from one cooking session.
  • I got a gold star on my calendar for doing a good session of yoga.
  • I mixed and sprayed two gallons of weed killer under the planter boxes in my raised bed square foot garden. I’ll probably need to spray at least one more time, but I have a good start on it now.
  • My husband mowed our lawn for the first time this season. He had to air up the mower tires first, having to repair a leak on our air compressor in order to DO that, and then get the mower running – always a headache after it sits all winter, but he prevailed and it now looks like someone cares, at least a little, about our yard.

Today I’ll try to weed whack all around the front and back yard to complement the good job my husband did on the lawn. (I have even more motivation than usual because we have a 90% chance of rain tomorrow.)

Happy Tuesday!

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March 28, 2022 · 10:50 am

Reboot – 1003+

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Once again I’m trying. I hope this is mainly annoying, rather than a red line for you – reading things I’ve said many times before. If the line is red, stop reading here, and I apologize.

If you’re still reading, THANKS!

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My husband and I had a talk, continuing over the past several days, about our eating. Due to the weather encouraging comfort food, plus my husband trying to be ‘nice’ to me, bringing me popcorn or ice cream, and other assorted excuses (pick one. ANY one will do…. :0) ) I have regained weight I tried really hard to shed. We’re doing a lot right, but never enough to actually make significant progress in my goal to LOSE the lard.

This morning we are AGAIN getting serious. Today I’m trying a new recipe for “Keto Bread Rolls” from Arman online to hopefully take the place of the deli roll we have been eating with dinner. I’m also making “Sausage, Egg & Cheese Bake” from Suzanne Ryan’s Simply Keto recipe book. We love this.

I’m tracking my eating, drinking, and exercising via MyFitnessPal again. I have my macro set up there now (5% carbs, 25% protein, and 70% fat) so I can see how I’m doing. My personal macro is actually 14grams of carbs, 77grams of protein, and 85grams of fat daily. I’m trying to keep my calories to around 1137 daily.

I’ve entered what I’m eating today already so I KNOW I’m staying within my calorie total, plus am hitting the right percentages on lunch and dinner, with even a snack some time today. I have also entered my activity and have already started that. (I get some credit for moving more, though I don’t really make any allowances for it on how much I’m eating.)

Our lunch stays the same, except I’m not having any fruit. The only changes are at dinner – plus snacks – and that’s not bad at all.

I have found FitnessPal.com more to my liking than others because they allow you to add recipes not in their database (which is large) quickly and easily without having to list each ingredient and quantity in the recipe separately. They also allow you to repeat easily what you eat daily, rather than having to enter it all again every day. (We basically eat the same lunch every day with the exception of Lunch Bunch on Friday.) Once you enter something, when you go to the category again for each day, what you listed previously is there if you wish to check the box. NICE.

I’m motivated to stay with my plan. My husband has agreed NOT to bring me ‘goodies’ just because he likes me, so I’M in charge and the only one I can blame is myself if I don’t stick to this. So far, I’m feeling energized.

I’m going to start cooking now. Hopefully, by the end of this week, I’ll see a bit of improvement. Fingers crossed.

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March 27, 2022 · 10:42 am

Modification

Maykos

I have read and poured over various lists of foods to include in our diet for our various ‘conditions/problems/concerns’ – trying to come up with a master list. I’ve tried and tried and finally officially give up.

The eating regimen that is closest to what my husband and I need is low-carb, so that’s what I’m concentrating on, starting tomorrow. There is only so far my husband is willing to go – and there are definitely two strong personalities and likes and dislikes to consider here.

One of my favorite low-carb recipe books is Simply Keto by Suzanne Ryan. She provides delicious recipes we both like without a lot of hard-to-find ingredients and without a lot of spices we can’t tolerate. I also like the fact that I can cook once and have enough for at least one more meal, if not more. I can freeze the leftovers into individual containers we can nuke, serve with a side veggie, and enjoy.

Tomorrow I’ll cook her “Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Bake.” We like it for dinner with a side veggie or salad. I’ll also get supplies for her ‘Keto Chili.’

I’ll intersperse cooked meals with the ones we’ve been buying from Real Food and Stu’s Clean Cookin’.

I’ve lost a couple of pounds in the last few days, so I’m hoping that this further modification will result in scales that quit laughing and smirking at me.

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March 23, 2022 · 9:13 am

Zipping My Lips

Tenor

One of my many excuses for stuffing my face is stress eating or emotional eating. My husband is definitely a keeper for many reasons, but the last few days he has WORKED on getting on my last nerve. When I told him I was digging a hole for him in the back yard, he agreed that he probably merits it. We have agreed to spend ONE DAY without a crisis or ‘do-it-or-die-trying’ project. Hopefully, that day is today.

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Each day this past week I have promised myself I’ll be good. I make it through till lunch, then eat like a lunatic the rest of the day. I’m blaming it on the stress around here, but since I’m an adult and ADMIT it’s an excuse, I should be able to zip my lips. Right?

I’m now hoping that

  1. we will have a quiet, calm day
  2. I will react to that by eating like a rational human being

Update –

My husband just asked for my phone. He says one of the things we thought we finally did yesterday didn’t work, so he’s starting to tackle it again. I started typing here again and he asks, “Do you really need all this on your phone?” AND HERE WE GO AGAIN…. I wonder if we have any chips in the pantry….

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March 19, 2022 · 10:19 am

Thoughts on a Saturday 3-19-2022

Tenor

I’m reading Life Force by Tony Robbins. One of the suggestions is that you drink half your weight (in ounces) of water daily. My eyeballs are already swimming, but I’ll work on it. (He says that coffee actually dehydrates you. Since I’m a coffee-a-holic, this is a sad thing to hear.) So I’ll try to cut back on my coffee and TRY to drink even more water.

Another is to eat a more plant-based diet. My husband tends to dig in his heels, so I just talked to him, telling him I will include more veggies in our meals. Since he told me last night he LIKED the way I cooked the broccoli, I’m encouraged that I can do more of this type thing without riots. Small, gradual changes in a good direction.

I’ll go out later to visit our new early spring garden to see how our new plants made it through the latest rain. I’m hoping that the rain was greedily slurped up and that all are feeling happy. I’m reading about growing cauliflower better, since I’ve only been minimally successful, growing very small heads before having to harvest. Fingers crossed. I’ll take some pics.

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I’ve been neglectful regarding saving stuff on my computer lately. SO neglectful that I actually had to refer to my NOTES on how to make a new system disk and save my data to another. I’m embarrassed, but I got it done. I’ll put it on my calendar now so it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.

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I told you that our air compressor suddenly quit working. My husband took apart the top of it, finding the part that he thought was causing the problem. He ordered what he HOPED was a replacement part, and it arrived yesterday. So when we got back from Lunch Bunch, he took it out to the shop. He spent a couple of hours, and he FIXED it! He replaced the part, put everything back together and tested it. It worked perfectly. So now we’ll be able to change our snow tires on the truck for the regular tires once we really believe we are finished with snow and ice for awhile. :0) Another wonderful thing was that he fixed the compressor for around $80. If we had had to buy a new one, a much smaller one would have cost around $450 plus tax, plus shipping. He’s a miracle worker.

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I’m starting to feel a difference in my efforts to move more. I’m feeling less creaky in my afternoon old lady yoga practices, and the working in the garden is definitely getting me moving more. I’m going to see if I can increase this as the weather improves.

Wishing you a happy Saturday.

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March 17, 2022 · 10:09 am

Spring Lard, Sweet Chariot….

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Lard is CUTE on this sweet hippo, but not so much on me.

Now that we finally seem to be calling winter over – at least according to the calendar officially designating spring this Sunday – I’m trying to call comfort food eating over, at least until next winter!

My husband and I have discussed NOT putting food that is NOT on the list in the shopping cart. This goes in one ear and out the other with SOME of us. Since my willpower is laughable, I have seriously asked for his help. We’re going to try to get back to our once a week salad night, as well as eating the good individual frozen meals we’ve been getting from Stu’s Clean Cookin’ and Real Food, both of which are easily accessible, now that getting snowed or iced in isn’t nearly as possible. I’m trying to include a side veggie from my list of ‘good’ veggies from various lists that are supposed to maintain or improve the status on our various health concerns. We also have some good low carb dinners we like that I can cook, freezing leftovers into individual dinners.

Happily, spring already brings me to more physical activity with our garden and trying to get the yard and our planters in shape. I’m also continuing to do my old lady yoga stretches each afternoon. If I can, I’m going to TRY to include a session three times a week on my elliptical trainer, now that the garage isn’t freezing.

Losing the lard will be in two phases –

PHASE I – getting back to where I was before the winter hit.

PHASE II – starting to enjoy new territory.

A full two-armed embrace of spring for my garden and hopefully, less of me, with the exception of a huge smile on my face.

Happy Spring!

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March 14, 2022 · 11:04 am

Well…

KETODirty

We’re still eating ‘sicky-food’ around here, at least another day – soup, crackers, eggs, toast. I awoke suddenly last night with my husband being sick. We got his system settled down with Alka Seltzer. I dealt with the aftermath and then couldn’t sleep, so came downstairs and read for quiet awhile. We both slept in this morning a bit. My husband slept through the night and is feeling stronger today, thank goodness, but we’ll be very careful with his food again today, hoping this will be past us soon.

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One of the really LARGE perks of being old and retired is that – if you’re up a lot of the night for one reason or another – you can take a nap or two during the day so you’re not TOO much of a zombie. To say we’re grateful for this is a vast understatement.

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If my husband’s health improves, we may look for garden plants this week. I’m just ITCHING to throw off the tarps from our raised-bed, square foot garden planters and get some plants growing! If I do, I’ll take some pics to share.

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I wish us a calm, quiet day.

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March 11, 2022 · 11:55 am

Sabotage Can Be Fun

Tenor

My husband is watching a rented movie right now. He has decided that we should be in full survival/comfort-food-mode since it’s snowing, and asked for chili mac with cheese and onions for dinner tonight.

Since I have absolutely no willpower, and wasn’t aware we HAD any chili left, that’s what we’ll have. I can now say – and no one can dispute my veracity :0) – my PLANS to eat right just went out the window for the day – ALL because of my husband. (That’s my story and I’m trying to keep a straight face as I type it.)

It WILL be much easier for me to be good when I can concentrate on planting my early spring garden, play in my planters around the yard and more. For now, I WILL be a good girl and do my yoga this afternoon, but it won’t begin to offset the chili….

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March 8, 2022 · 9:01 am

A Thorny Situation

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March 6, 2022 · 10:28 am

YUM

KETO Dirty

I was doing pretty well on my efforts to ONLY eat the right things until early this morning.

At 1:30 a.m. my husband woke me up. When I asked him what he wanted, he said that I had awakened HIM. I tried to talk to him again, but he was already snoring.

I was pretty angry, so I came downstairs to read my way back to being able to try to sleep again. THAT started a whole ‘eat-everything-possible’ binge for which I make no excuses, and it was two hours before I could go back upstairs.

So today I’m trying to wipe the slate clean and eat what I SHOULD the rest of the day. (My husband is taking a nap in his chair in the living room as I type this.) GRRRRRRR….

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February 25, 2022 · 9:52 am

Too Much Comfort!

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Being iced in and eating comfort food is making my scales smirk at me again. Can you say, ‘Yo-yo?”

It’s 23 now, but it’s supposed to get to 40 this afternoon, with a slow warming trend in the coming days. Our driveway looks like a ski slope, and when we’re stupid enough to try to walk on it, where we walked doesn’t show, as the ice is still much too solid to allow footprints. It’ll be at LEAST another day or two before we venture out – at least I HOPE my husband doesn’t decide to be all macho about it.

When I looked out this morning, my eyes actually hurt, looking at the bright sunshine bouncing off the ice-covered EVERYTHING. It seems as if you can see every branch on every tree. Very pretty, but WAY too cold for me.

My husband requested that I make chicken chunks, onion, mushrooms, and soup over rice for our dinner this evening. I can FEEL the scales smirk. At this rate, a crane will be needed to pull me up out of my chair…

I HAVE been doing my yoga, though, so I’m starting to loosen up, and THAT feels wonderful. I’m doing a session each afternoon.

Since we’re still iced in, no Lunch Bunch today. I called each of my friends, and we visited a bit. Hopefully, NEXT Friday will be a time we can get together again.

Have a wonderful Friday.

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February 19, 2022 · 9:43 am

Ah, Sunshine!

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It’s chilly now, but it’s supposed to get into the 50s this afternoon. Ahhhhh. Nice weekend ahead for us and I’ll take it. I’m afraid I’ll have to reschedule my happily-anticipated massage on Thursday of next week – if the weather people are right – due to forecast ‘wintry mix,’ (especially ice), on Wednesday and maybe Thursday, as well. Did I tell you I’m ready for spring?

I’m feeling good today, having lost a bit more poundage – almost 4.5 lbs this week – and I did my yoga practice again yesterday. I’ve decided I will try to do my yoga each afternoon. I’m feeling less stiff and sore and hope to improve my practice each day.

I thanked my lucky stars when I discovered Cat Kabira a couple of years ago. I found her on a website called Sixty and Me. I bought the DVD they were selling to get seniors into yoga. I didn’t want to wind myself into a pretzel shape or fold myself into a paper airplane, but I did like the idea of getting and staying more flexible, alleviating pain, and improving my balance.

I now do my own thing on yoga stretches, but the thing that Cat stressed was that no one gives you awards for putting your hands flat on the floor after touching your toes, or bending forward while sitting and putting your face on the floor in front of you. (Good thing!) :0)

The thing that is important is that you stretch yourself in that DIRECTION and then breathe into it. You will improve as you learn to relax into the positions and you will get the same benefit as if you HAD touched the floor. THAT freed me from feeling defeated before I started.

As I’ve told you, I’m a champion hard-head, so I have to keep reminding myself that the benefits don’t continue if you don’t practice. So now I’m almost starting at square one, stretching TOWARD where I would like to go, trying to get my poor, sore and stiff body to relax into it once again. I AM starting to feel a difference, and my husband noticed I was doing better yesterday.

I’m on a roll with my determination to ‘shut my mouth and practice yoga daily.’ Hopefully, I can keep this going.

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February 16, 2022 · 10:10 am

Thoughts on a Wednesday 2-16-2022

Petr Vaclavek – Dubanci.cz

We have some interesting weather here in Arkansas the next couple of days. We have a ‘wind advisory’ today – even warning about being watchful of gusts when driving! THEN we have ‘heavy downpours,’ ‘thunderstorms,’ and possible severe storms late this afternoon and overnight, a cold front moving in tomorrow, with possible FLURRIES (It’ll be in the 60’s today…). It’s ‘hold-onto-your-hat weather!

I MAY finish the infamous ‘Find-My-Desk’ project today. My husband mentioned that he saw there was a piece of furniture under the piles yesterday, but then his intelligence kicked in and he wisely shut his mouth rather than adding to his observations. :0)

Tenor

My simultaneous ‘Shut-My-Mouth-and-do-More-Yoga’ project has a good start now, though the results may not show for quite awhile.

youshouldgrow.com

A third project I’m beginning to think about is my Raised-bed, Square-foot Garden project for the spring. I’m getting out my grid paper and will start to plan what I’ll plant and where I’ll put it in the garden. This is all based on where I put things last year, so I’ll have reasonable crop rotation, and then I want to have a ‘square’ between like plants (like I don’t plant broccoli plants in adjoining squares) so cut down on any disease problems. I use up lots of grid paper as I dream, making notes on when I should start looking for plants in our local stores. I want to be ready to plant broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, and spinach, for example, as soon as I can get them into the ground. I’ll group them so I can cover them each night with tarps until the weather is more cooperative, making their growing season as long as possible.

As soon as I finish at the computer, I’ll get to work on my desk again. I’ll post pics when this project is done. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

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February 15, 2022 · 10:45 am

Hopeful Tuesday

I just came back in from driving our trash down to the bottom of our driveway and getting our mail. When I started to go down the driveway I caught a glimpse of yellow out of the corner of my eye. When I got back, I got my camera and went out in the yard to find two groups of daffodils budding and blooming in the middle of February! Talk about something that really lifted my spirits. I wanted to share them with you. I KNOW that they don’t realize that it’s still the middle of winter here and that they’ll get frozen one day soon, but their determination to bloom in the middle of whatever is happening around them is motivation for me to try to do the same.

My “Find-and-Re-Organize My Desk” project is going slowly, but I’m definitely making progress. Instead of just stuffing things away somewhere else this time, I’m really trying to re-think where it makes the most sense for things to live – rather than piled on my desk. This takes more time, but will be helpful in the long run. I’ve already cleaned out my tax records file drawer in the desk, caught up with January 2022 records on new spreadsheets on my computer, and filed January’s stuff in old-plus-added folders. It won’t look like I’ve done anything on the project until it’s finished, but I’m plugging away at it with several sessions during the day, with walking out to the shop and back between sessions to enjoy the weather and get my body moving more.

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I actually did a session of yoga yesterday afternoon. It felt so good I’m going to do another today, rather than waiting until Wednesday.

I hope that you enjoyed your Valentine’s Day yesterday and that you’re having a hopeful Tuesday, too.

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February 14, 2022 · 10:37 am

Back on the Wagon

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Okay. The Super Bowl is over. I love it that they were so evenly matched. I was happy the Rams won because they won it the same way they got to the Super Bowl in the final game that won their place there – a come from behind win. I switched allegiances several times during the game because I love a really close, nail-biter game more than anything. (My husband is still rolling his eyes because I liked the uniforms of the Bengals MUCH better than those of the Rams.)

We enjoyed our splurge dinner of chili mac with onions and cheese, thoroughly enjoying every forbidden bite. :0) Splurge mode is officially over now. I’m using cronometer.com to track my eating. I’m still trying to work out how to eat the foods that are supposed to be good for my husband’s and my various health concerns – building a master list of foods to INCLUDE as often as possible and ones to AVOID. I’m adding to it as I read more and reprinting the list so I can keep it on the fridge to remind me.

I have a yoga session on my calendar for today. I’m also going to include a walk out to our shop and back each time I take a break from my ‘find-my-desk’ project started yesterday and continuing until the emergence of an actual piece of furniture, rather than a pile of STUFF.

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February 13, 2022 · 11:14 am

Food for Thought

The Writing Cooperative

I’ve told you several times that I’m really trying to eat right. This quest is not only to lose the lard, but also to improve my husband’s and my health.

It’s easy to Google things like, “Increasing your fiber,” or “foods that clean your arteries,” or “low carb foods”, etc.

My newest pet peeve is that a food that is on ONE list is not on another. (An example would be foods to increase your fiber may be really high in carbs.)

I have several issues for which I’m trying to eat the right foods. My husband has another list, including foods NOT to eat since he is a Type II diabetic.

I’m trying to make 2 master lists:

  • Foods for us to include in our diet as much as possible
  • Foods for both of us to avoid

The foods to avoid is easier, but you might be surprised at how hard it is to find foods that meet all of our needs. It seems that the PAPER the food comes in might be a better bet than the food IN the container or bag.

I’ve now printed several lists from the net and am in the process of comparing them to see if there are any foods on ALL (or most) of them for my master INCLUDE list.

THEN there is the whole issue that the two new frozen food places in town we love that provide real food with no preservatives that TASTE good, help us with portion control, and are actually good for us, include foods we are supposed to be avoiding for one reason or another. ARRRGH!

In my next life, I will be a nutritionist specializing in creating custom food lists to address health problems or issues about which people care.

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February 13, 2022 · 10:25 am

NO DIET Today!

Cheezburger

In honor of the Super Bowl, we are officially ‘off the rails’ on our diet today. We’re looking forward to one of our all time favorite splurges – chili mac (chili with macaroni) with cheese and onions for dinner while watching the game. We may also throw caution to the winds and enjoy a bowl of popcorn!

If there were a competition for excuse-making for not eating right, I would win it hands down. No need for an actual official contest. But I’ll enjoy today to the fullest and then redouble my efforts ‘tomorrow.’ (Like Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind).

Our weather is nice again, though chilly at 38 right now. The sun is shining brightly. I’m hoping that the 60-70% chance of precipitation Wednesday and Thursday is in the form of just rain.

Enjoy your day and evening!

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February 9, 2022 · 9:54 am

Shut My Mouth

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Lots of excuses – so little time!

Due to –

  • being snowed in for about a week
  • still celebrating a good result from a scary health examination
  • having a husband who craves foods not on the list a LOT
  • having very little personal willpower and being a sloth by nature

my weight is up and my disgust with myself is up, as well.

Thankfully, although our driveway is probably the last snow-covered place in Greenwood, the snow IS melting and our snow tires are equal to the task of getting down the driveway (changing from ‘drive’ to ‘first’ before starting down) and hurrying a bit to get past the steepest part of the driveway to the melted places on the way back up. We are no longer snowed in and our weather is really nice now. Maybe Mother Nature has decided to give us a bit of a break after slamming us with a thick layer of ice before the snow.

I AM trying to do a session of yoga each day, although I’m having to shame myself into it, rather than doing it as habit as I was doing awhile back. There is something about winter that encourages me to do things that are sedentary – reading, working or playing on the computer, listening to music, taking naps – all nice things, as long as they are spread out between more mobile activities. Even starting to get our tax stuff together is sedentary!

My new meme will be, ‘SHUT MY MOUTH AND MOVE MY REAR!’

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February 7, 2022 · 10:31 am

“Never Enough for Me”

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I’ve been enjoying listening to music while we’ve been up on our ridge line riding out the winter storm. One of the many great songs chosen by good singers to try to win the talent shows is “Never Enough” by Loren Allred. It’s a good description of my appetite when Mother Nature makes us stay inside for days on end, and my current excuse for stuffing my face.

Tonight my husband has requested, “Frito Chili Pie,” a no-no on SO many levels. Assuming that we can get back up our driveway from our trip to town, he’ll get it.

I used to do the chili part using a keto recipe. The chili was GOOD. Unfortunately, my husband’s favorite part of this is one of two variations: lots of fritos in the chili, OR what we call, “Chili Mac,” (chili with macaroni sprinkled with cheese. Making keto chili doesn’t make up for the variations, and trying to eat the chili while my husband adds the variations is spirit-breaking. And so once every couple of years or so we splurge.

NOW I’m telling myself that since our weather is warming and things are melting, PLUS the weather forecast for the next week is a calm one, I can get back to eating like a normal person once again once the ice is gone and we are free to be normally active. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it. :0)

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

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February 6, 2022 · 9:42 am

Thoughts on a Sunday 2-6-2022

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We’re having a heat wave – sunny and 32 degrees F. right now! It’s supposed to get to the low 40s this afternoon. We’ll check again this afternoon, but I think our driveway will still look like something used in the Olympics. I’m really hoping my husband doesn’t insist we risk life and limb by trying to go to town anyway, when we have all we need.

Our cat, Abby, should be boasting to all her cat friends how ‘well-trained’ her people are. The driveway detector just went off. Since my husband is trying to take a nap, I leaped up to see what had caused the alarm. I opened the garage door and the cat calmly strolled inside. She didn’t seem impressed that I had acted so quickly, obviously assuming that this is her due… I was chatting with our son online when the alarm went off. He was amazed first that she set off the alarm, and second, that we jumped up to let her in. :0)

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I am TRYING not to make what we’re eating the focus of our days. Since we’re stuck up here on our ridge line, there is still snow and ice on the ground and it’s COLD (even with the heat wave), I’m doing a lot of listening to music, reading, and watching TV – all sedentary things. Food then becomes ‘entertainment’ more than sustenance – a very bad thing.

I’m making promises to myself to MOVE more once Mother Nature gives us a break.

I hope that you are having a happy Sunday.

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January 31, 2022 · 11:19 am

Grateful

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Excuses abound. THIS TIME it’s a combination: possibly getting snowed in and my husband wanting chili mac…

If there were a contest on best excuses for NOT staying on your diet, I would win hands down. No contest. I’ve brought it to an art form. I haven’t yet gotten to the point where I’m proud of my abilities here – I would MUCH rather be boasting about the poundage or inches I’ve lost.

It would also be good if I could brag about the fact that I can make things for my husband, and eat healthy stuff myself, but that’s probably for another lifetime –

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January 26, 2022 · 1:53 pm

Temptation

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As I’m feeling better, my appetite increases. I keep thinking of things that ‘sound good’ to eat – a SURE sign I shouldn’t have them.

I’ve always envied – though never understood – people who ‘forget’ to eat. They simply don’t seem to get hungry. If I were a violent person, these people should fear me. Or, at least they should be willing to GIVE me whatever genes they have that result in this attitude!

I can’t remember a time when I ‘forgot’ to eat. I fondly remember some of my mother’s cooking. She would serve our plates, heaping my dad’s HIGH with a mountain of spaghetti and sauce. He would eat it ALL, plus sometimes a second helping, plus garlic toast, plus dessert, and never gain an ounce. He was 6’2″ and weighed 165 at his heaviest.

I took after my mom, who had to watch her weight. She was quite sedentary, considering walking to the car and back at the store as exercise. She really hated the idea. She did have willpower, though. I wish first that I inherited my dad’s metabolism, or second, my mom’s willpower. Sadly, I’m on my own.

I’m still down the same 30 lbs that I lost awhile back. I’m still trying to exercise daily (thought I’ve taken time off getting ready for the health test recently and my fear of that, plus, now with the bad cold/Omicron/whatever I’m having now).

I’m trying to get to the place mentally and emotionally where I’m ready to redouble my efforts to lose the lard – getting to a new, healthier place. It’ll have to wait until I can bend over without having to leap for the kleenex box, but hopefully, that will be in another day or two…

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January 23, 2022 · 9:48 am

Diet Day 1

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My husband and I have been in a kind of celebration mode ever since my test showed I won’t be croaking from cancer soon. It’s good because – no cancer – but bad because I gaining back lardage I’m determined to shed.

My husband dug out some packs of popcorn. Honestly, I have NO idea where he got it. I had THOUGHT I cleaned out the pantry really well. These packs must have been YEARS old. He went ahead and popped it. It smelled a bit over cooked. It tasted truly AWFUL. One piece of popcorn for each of us resulted in trashing both packs. I had him show me where he had found the popcorn – WAAAAAAAY back in the corner of the middle shelf. I almost had to climb into the shelves to reach them. I threw them all out, feeling a bit proud that I had avoided a bad thing and now the stash was gone.

Last night when I was fixing dinner, I found a NEW box of microwave packs of popcorn. My husband tried to give me his innocent look – one that hasn’t worked ONCE in 52 years of marriage – but he still tries.

You KNOW where this will end. The popcorn is calling to me now…

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January 18, 2022 · 10:34 am

Rethinking

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I am now researching good ways to increase the fiber in my diet going forward. It’s easy to find good lists of high fiber food on the net, thank goodness. A harder thing is to figure out how to add these while trying to lose the lard while trying not to alienate my husband.

So far, I’ve figured out that I can –

  • surreptitiously add some things to the stews we like that will increase the “healthy” and won’t change the flavor.
  • I can eat a pear, for example, as my mid afternoon snack
  • When I make main meal salads, I can add chick peas or beans to MY salad after serving my husband
  • I can eat raw veggies, including cauliflower and broccoli and carrots as my snacks on days when I’m not eating fruit

It looks like I will be trying to eat 25 grams of fiber per day. I’ll see if my cronometer.com site will help me track how many grams of fiber I’m eating.

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January 16, 2022 · 9:47 am

Diet Wagon

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I lost several pounds getting ready for my exam Friday. Since then, I’ve been able to eat and drink more normally. That’s bad news because apparently I walk around ‘full of it,’ already gaining back the poundage I had shed. Oh, well.

Each day is a new day. Each day I try to watch WHAT I am eating, and HOW MUCH. I am trying to exercise, now doing yoga stretches MWF. If I’m successful with the yoga in the coming week, I’ll try to add back a session or two a week on my elliptical trainer the following week.

One day – one meal – at a time.

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January 10, 2022 · 9:29 am

Is It New?

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I’ve lost around 3 lbs lately. Nothing to write home about, but enough to be encouraging in my efforts to lose the lard. I figure that I’ll ‘keep on keepin’ on’ and see if this trend continues. :0)

My efforts to do my yoga stretches MWF are a bit spotty yet. Things keep coming up, and then the opportunity passes. It’s a reasonable excuse and I’m going to use it – at least for now. This afternoon is my next opportunity.

My goal for this year is for there to be significantly less of me, and what is left healthier and more fit, more flexible with better balance and more stamina.

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January 7, 2022 · 9:03 am

Friday Yoga

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The three-times-a-week yoga stretches are helping this sweet old lady loosen up. I’ve lost 3 lbs this week, too, so thumbs up. :0)

Speaking of feeling a bit ‘long-in-the-tooth’ lately, three things:

Thing One – when we were looking for a replacement cover for one of our kitchen fluorescent fixtures lately, a kind guy was trying to look it up for me at the service desk at Home Depot. When he told me he couldn’t find the one we needed, I realized that our fixtures are over 30 years old, installed in 1987 when we built the house – and older than the nice guy has been alive!

Thing Two – shortly after my husband and I married, we decided to try building a digital clock, building one with the use of a Heath Kit. (I’m probably showing my age again, but Heath Kits were popular back then for the fun of learning a bit about electronics, and having things you couldn’t afford otherwise.) I learned about circuit boards, learned to look at various parts to install, learned to solder, etc. My husband kept trying to prepare me that the clock would need a lot of trouble-shooting to get it to work and that things almost never worked the first time. Can you imagine his face when it worked perfectly the very first time we plugged it in? :0) We’ve had this clock with us ever since, most recently living in our entertainment center in the living room. We noticed it was losing time – something it has never done. We reset it several times, and it kept gradually going off the right time. I was a bit sad that we need to shop for another clock now, but realized that it lasted over 50 years!

Thing Three – The latest heart throbs are younger than our son….

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January 4, 2022 · 11:29 am

Wish for 2022

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With all of our labors in trying to take an old fluorescent light fixture down and install a new one yesterday, I didn’t do my yoga stretching. I’m trying to get back into exercise again, doing yoga MWF, so I’ll do a session this afternoon to make up for yesterday.

While I was at the post office this morning, I saw my friend, Hieu, a beautiful little lady from Vietnam who heads up the post office. We have visited here and there, in quick spurts of conversation as she processes whatever I have brought. It’s amazing how you can get to know people like this, care about them, considering them friends. She never fails to ask about our son. I ask about her mom, who was sick with Covid, but made it through.

Hieu was sick this past week and today was her first day back. She said she lost weight while she was sick, and is now down to 87 pounds. My left LEG probably weighs that much! I graciously offered to donate some of MY fat to her cause. Maybe we can figure something out.

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January 2, 2022 · 11:02 am

Thoughts on a Sunday 1-2-2022

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Good morning! I hope 2022 will be a great year for you!

Although my husband scoffs, the weather people were absolutely right about what the weather would do yesterday. Temperatures fell all during the day and it was 17 degrees F. this morning. We didn’t get any snow flurries yet, but I don’t think you’ll hear any complaints. It is COLD and gray outside, with some stiff breezes.

I got the ingredients for beef stew into the crock pot first thing this morning, so we’ll have a nice comfort meal this evening. I also got a comfort gift – having a chat with our son. He’s in Thailand and has almost forgotten how cold it can get in Arkansas. He considers wearing a hoodie and shoes other than sandals “cold” there. :0) He fondly remembered my fixing beef stew in the crock pot while he was growing up. Although crock pots aren’t big in Thailand, he’s thinking about trying to order one online so he can fix his own stew. It was a wonderful way to start the morning, talking with him before he goes to sleep. (He’s 13 hours ahead of us this time of year.)

This is a great day to have a warm, dry home. My heart goes out to the people in Colorado who are now suffering through such awful devastation of hurricane force winds driving wildfire. I hope help comes soon.

I’ve become a slug. I’m not exercising as I should. I’m trying to “get back on the horse” exercising three times per week and see if I can actually keep that going. It is said that you can build a habit in three weeks. I guess it takes longer for me. I’m not really kicking myself, having learned that that isn’t productive, but I HAVE written it on my calendar, and hoping to check it off. Fingers crossed and trying to build determination. I’ve also gotten back into cronometer.com an online program for tracking your food, drink, and exercise. Things CREEP in insidiously. You THINK you’re only fudging a bit, and one bit is added here and then there, and…. OUCH. As my friend Maria encouraged me to do, I’m breaking my goal into “doable chunks ” and I plan to reward myself with stars, time to play in my art room, etc. to encourage success.

I hope you have a warm, quiet Sunday, doing something that brings a big smile to your face.

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