Fat Girl Learns To Run

The Energizer Bunny ---------- Day 121

Energy is an interesting thing.  When I wake up from a good night’s sleep and have a healthy breakfast, I usually have enough energy to keep going for the most of the day but I start to fade in the evenings.  I remember the days when I was in my early 20s and had a hot date lined up for a Saturday evening.  Since I had something to look forward to in the evening, I was like the Energizer Bunny during the day where I would have so much energy to get things done.   During those years, I had this girlfriend who I would go out with on Friday nights.  Our ritual was that we would go to this club after watching Dallas which ended at 10:00 p.m. (that tells you how old I am). Depending on who we met at the club, we might not get home until the sun was coming up. 

My late night clubbing was not contained to only the weekends but also during the week.  This other girlfriend of mine would somehow keep me out until about 3:00 a.m.  I would go home and sleep for about 3 hours and then have eggs for breakfast (eggs were the magic food for me for those short nights of sleep).  I would then be ready for a full day’s work.  When I think back on those days, I wonder how I did it.  These days, I am lucky if I can stay up until 10:00 p.m.

Today my son came to visit me at work.  After work we walked on Michigan Avenue for awhile and then had a bite to eat before heading home.  We got home about 7:00 p.m. and I was ready for bed.  My son also said he was tired and was not going to do much. Now here’s the difference between youth and myself.  After writing this post, I am going to bed.  By son on the other hand just came into my office and asked if he could have people over.  Who knows how late the kids will be up?  It really doesn’t matter since they are on Christmas break.  Ah, to be young again and have all that energy.

 

Let it Be ------------ Day 120

There is popular Beatle’s song called Let It Be.  It is actually sort of a spiritual song.  Why you ask do I bring up this song?  Not that long along I heard the expression, Let it be, used by someone else.  This person was a chef on a cooking show.  During the show’s competition when things weren’t going as planned for this chef, he would take a deep breath and say, “Let it be.”  For some reason I thought about this song the other day.  Listening to the song, gives me hope that ‘there will an answer’ when I am faced with a situation that I don’t know how to handle.   Depending how deep you get into the lyrics of the song, the song could be interpreted as just letting God’s will “be.”

Sometimes we are so consumed with worry or upset about a situation that it disrupts our lives and we don’t focus on the things that we should be doing.  Most of time worrying is just not necessary.  By that I mean we worry about something that might happen but hasn’t happened.  For example:  When we were waiting to hear if my son was accepted at Boston University, I didn’t think about what we would do if he wasn’t accepted.  My mindset was that if he wasn’t accepted then we would have to think of Plan B but before we knew for sure, wasting our energy worrying about the situation wouldn’t change the decision.  I just kept on repeating the mantra, “Let it be.”  Luckily we didn’t have to go to Plan B.

My mom can’t sleep at night at times because she worries about things concerning her family.  My dad on the other hand, clears his mind before going to bed so he can get a good night’s sleep.  His philosophy is that worrying is not going to change anything.

As I am on my year’s journey, I need to be focused and not be distracted by things I can’t control.  I will just have to take deep breaths and say to myself “Let it be” and go on from there.

As a bit of Beatle trivia, during a Beatles documentary, one of the Beatles was talking about the role drugs played in their song writing.  Apparently, this Beatle was having a dream while being in a drug induced sleep and during this dream his mother (Mary) came to him and said “Let it be.”  When he woke from this dream, he wrote the song.  Below are some of the lyrics from the song.

When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be.
Let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

 

It Worked ---------- Day 119

Its Saturday so that means it is my day to weigh in.  On Saturday mornings the first thing that I do is run on my treadmill, and then I weigh myself, shower and then have breakfast.  When you run, you lose some water weight from all the sweating so I try to have the same routine each Saturday morning.  When I got on the scale this morning, I was shocked.   I had lost the most weight ever during a week.  The thing that I did different this week is that I went on the ‘Skinny Chick’ diet.  I kept to the diet for most of my meals during the week which really wasn’t that difficult to do.  I did exercise but not as much as I usually do but still lost all this weight.  Now don’t get me wrong, my weight loss wasn’t in double digits but it was a lot for me.

In the past month, the needle on the scale has been going down but ever so slowly.  Since I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong, I thought I would follow a more regimented diet plan.  There are many different diet plans out there and the key is finding the one that works for you.  I guess I found the one that works for me. What works best for me is having a balance of protein and carbs with a little fat at each meal.  Even though the diet included eating carbs, bread and pasta were not part of the diet plan for the first week.  Bread and pasta can now be part of your meal for the following weeks but I think I am just going to kept them out of my diet.  Maybe those two products are what were throwing my diet plan off even though I was eating the healthiest brand of bread and pasta. I now feel that I can hit my goal weight by August if not sooner.

Tiny Bubbles ---------- Day 118

After work today I went to the CARA office to pick up my volunteer goodie bag since I wasn’t able to attend the volunteer party.  It was good to see two of my group leaders there and have a chance to chat with them.  When I got home, I just didn’t have the energy to do much.  The rainy damp weather just wore me down during my commute home.  When I feel like this, the best thing for me to do is take a bubble bath to relax.

I have tried different bubble bath product in different price ranges and the one that works the best is this store brand bubble bath which comes in a 48 oz bottle for about $5.00.  I am all about the bubbles.  Some brands make bubbles but then the bubbles disappear so quickly.  This brand makes good bubbles that last quite awhile.  Lying in the bathtub lets me unwind but is also a good place to clear my mind.  I get some of my best ideas while in the bathtub.

After my bath and after writing this post, I am going to read this book that I started yesterday while waiting for my medical test.  At this time I have four books that I started to read but haven’t finished.  This is getting out of control.  My goal is to finish one book after another before I start another one.  What can I say; I love to read and need to keep switching off the types of books that I read.

Since I didn’t exercise this evening, I plan on running the first thing in the morning.  Things have been off for me this week and I hope to get back on track.  What I have realized is that if I have something going on in the evening, I am not going to exercise when I come home from the event.  Even though I have good intentions of exercising afterwards, I just can’t do it.  On those event days, I just need to exercise in the morning or it not going to happen later.  Living life is an ongoing process where I continue to learn something every day.

It's Better to Know ------------ Day 117

During the fall I usually schedule all my yearly checkups.  On Saturday a few weeks ago I went for one of my preventive care checkups.  On the Tuesday after my checkup I got a call from the hospital saying that they wanted to retest me just to be sure that nothing was wrong.  My first thought was that this is really an inconvenience for me and they are probably overreacting.  I was tempted not to do a follow-up test but then I thought it is better to be sure instead of wondering if there could possibly be something wrong.  Today I had my follow-up test and was told by the doctor that there is nothing to worry about.  Even though I thought nothing was wrong, it did feel good knowing for sure that everything is okay.  I guess that is why they categorize certain tests under preventive care so that if there is a problem, it can be caught at an early stage.

Since I had my test today, I was working from home.  The project that I was working on required me to save files to our company’s network drive.  I am able to do this from my laptop but it takes much longer to save a file from home than it does at work.   Now that I am reading my book on moving your body when you get a chance, I would get up from my desk and walk around my office until the file was saved.  Even though it might not seem like much, this was a big behavioral change for me.  In the past when I worked at home, I would hardly get out of my chair during the day.  When you work in front of a computer all day, you really need to make sure that you periodically get out of your chair to stretch.

After I was finished working for the day, I didn’t feel like exercising.  Instead of doing nothing, I decided just to walk on the treadmill which isn’t that strenuous.  Once I got on the treadmill, I ended up walking for about 75 minutes.  The hardest part about exercising is just getting started.

 

Dream On ----------- Day 116

I woke up at 3:00 a.m. this morning from the weirdest dream.  In my dream I was helping one of my co-workers move some boxes to her new apartment by loading them in the backseat of my car and driving her from her old apartment to her new apartment.  Once we arrived at her apartment, there were some people there who were getting things ready for a party.  Soon all these other people from work arrived along with some of my friends who knew no one else at the party but me.  That was really weird since I didn’t know a party was planned but my friends did.  The apartment had a really strange layout.  It had no separate rooms (I don’t even remember a bathroom in the apartment) but it was all one space with a wall cutting the apartment in half with only a small opening to go from one side to the other.  I remember sitting on this really long couch with about 5 other people.  Then one of my friends, a guy, started hitting on another one of my co-workers which kind of pissed me off and then I woke up. 

I very seldom have dreams so having one was weird in itself.  When I do have dreams, I am always skinny and wear really nice clothes.  Now if that part of my dreams came true, I would be really happy.  Some people think that dreams have some meaning but I don’t buy that.  Most of my dreams make no sense at all.  I would never consciously include my co-workers in my dreams. If things are going bad for me I try to dream of a life where everything is good.  Sometimes it is good to escape from reality for awhile at night.  When I wake up in the morning, the reality of my life is back.

Normally my work day is pretty routine.  Today my whole day seemed to be thrown off.  I came home later than normal which in turn threw off my evening routine.  On top of all that I was just so tired after I ate dinner.  When I am tired like this there is no use trying to be productive.  I have a busy work day tomorrow so I am just going to go to bed early.  I think my weird dream charted my course for today.

 

NEAT ---------- Day 115

I have a long ride on the train to get to work.  Just sitting on the train and doing nothing is very boring and make the train ride seem even longer than it is.  I have found that if I am reading something interesting, the time goes by quickly.  Since I have loved reading since I was a little girl, I always have something to read.

I brought home this weekend the books that I bought at the book sale last week (2 cartons full).  When I got home I saw this book on top of the other books and thought to myself, “I don’t remember buying this book.”  But then again when you buy 40 books it is difficult to remember everything that you bought.  The title of the book is Move A Little; Lose A Lot by James A. Levine.  One of the bad reading habits that I have is starting to read a book and if it is not that interesting, I start reading another before returning to the first book.  That was the case with this book.

The focus of the book in on a concept called NEAT (nonexercise activity thermogenesis).  The author states that America suffers from “sitting disease” which leaves Americans less active and much heavier than we were thirty years ago.   NEAT is a simple as standing, turning, bending or walking.  Even though I just began reading this book, the author’s point is that we just need to incorporate as much movement that we can in our lives.  We need to look at our daily routines and determine where we can make some changes.  Here’s an example the author gives in the book.

11:00 a.m. Midmorning break.

-    Harry gets coffee from this thermos and calls his wife on this desk phone.

-    Tim walks over to the café across the street and calls his wife on this cell phone

Both men accomplished the same thing but one burned more calories than the other.  The author gives an example of your workday the old way and at the end of the day, you burn 395 calories.  The example of your workday the NEAT way burns 2,100 calories.  This proves that you don’t need to sweat to burn calories. 

I find this an interesting concept and I am going to try to find ways that I can move more during the day.

My Inspiration ----------- Day 114

This morning my son told me that he had officially lost 50 lbs since he began on his journey to lose weight.  I told him his reward for losing all that weight should be receiving news from Boston University (BU) that he was accepted into their Engineering program.  When he came home from school today he checked his application status online and received an email welcoming him to the school.  This was the best reward he could have gotten especially since BU was his first choice of schools.

As I am trying to lose weight, my son has really been an inspiration to me. After Spring Break this year, my son said that he was tired of being chunky (his term) and was going to do something about it.  As I look back on his weight loss journey, he basically just cut down his portion size, eliminated sweets as much as possible and exercised nearly every day.  This was no quick fix program; it took him about 8 months to accomplish his goal.  The good thing is that he lost the weight in a healthy way and has no excess skin hanging from his body. 

The only bad thing about losing all this weight is that he needs new clothes.  Yesterday my son had an orchestra concert at school and then right after the concert we headed to our Church for a Hand Bell concert.  His attire for the orchestra concert is a tuxedo.  Since there wasn’t any time for him to change from his tux before the other concert, he went to the other concert all dressed up.  As we were sitting waiting for the concert to begin he said that he had to make his cummerbund really tight to hold up his pants since they didn’t have any belt loops.  I told him that it was time to get a better fitting pair of pants from school to wear.  Since he wears his own black pants for his Band concerts, I think it is time to buy him a pair of black pants that fit properly.  Speaking of band, my son told me today that the Band Director made a comment to him that he better stop losing weight or his pants will be falling down.  When you lose 50 lbs; people notice.

Being the Mom, I am really proud of what my son has accomplished.  I believe that his setting a goal to lose weight and achieving that goal will give him confidence to set other goals in the future.

The Sister ---------- Day 113

My dad and mom were talking about this nun that they had visited lately.  They kept on telling my how cute she was and how well she moved around at age 95.  For some reason I was intrigued by this nun.  When my parents said that they were planning on seeing her on Saturday, I said that I would join them.  Yesterday I took a drive with my parents to the convent where the nun lived. My parents always refer to the nun as the Sister.

We arrived at the convent and told the nun at the front desk that we wanted to see Sister Agnetta (that’s the nun’s name).  The nun told us to wait in the parlor for the Sister.  My parents said that when they visit the Sister that they all sit on the couch with the nun sitting between them.  After a few minutes, the Sister comes to the parlor to visit with us.  We visited with the Sister for about one hour.  Let me share with you my thoughts about the visit.

I found out that my dad got to know this Sister when he was working at the convent.  After my dad would eat his lunch, he would go to their Chapel and pray during part of his lunch time.  The Sister started noticing this man always at the Chapel and started talking to him.  Since my dad was retired before my son was born, we figured it was over 20 years that he knew this nun.  During these 20 years, he always visited the Sister a few times a year.  Just lately my mom starting to go with my dad to visit the Sister.

My parent's visit to the convent was quite amusing to me.  My mom can’t hear that well, the Sister can’t hear that well and my dad is a low talker. I acted as a translator between them because I could hear everything.  What amazed me about the nun was how happy she was and said she really didn’t need much in life.   She is still able to walk without a cane.  My mom always refers to the nun as a weasel because she moves around so quickly.  My mom also said that the Sister walked as straight as a candle.  After our visit my mom did say that the nun now walks a little hunch backed.  The cutest part of the visit was that the nun was holding on to my dad’s hand the whole time.

Since I wrote about longevity the other day, it was so ironic that I was able to visit with a 95 year old woman. All in all the Sister was in quite good shape but the most important thing to me was that there was nothing wrong with her mind.  When you ask her a question (and she heard you) she would answer the question quite intelligently.  For some reason this Sister had such a calming effect on me. My biggest take away from the visit was that having a positive attitude about things and trying to see the good in everything has a lot to do with your well being. 

I have included a picture of the Sister and my parents at the convent.

 

 

What's for Dinner? ---------- Day 112

Some people cut out coupons to use at the grocery store.  I cut out recipes from magazines or the newspaper in the hopes of trying those recipes one day.  My method is to cut out the recipes and then put them in a file folder.  Once my folder gets full, I revisit the recipes and then decide which recipes to keep and put in my recipe binder.  Today I went through my recipes and organized them.  Since I have changed the type of foods that I eat, I looked at the recipes already in my binder and weeded out the recipes that didn’t fit my new lifestyle.  This recipe project took me several hours to complete since I reorganized my food categories.  I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I finish a project.

Today is day 2 of this new diet that I am trying.  So far I have kept to the diet without cheating.  With the holidays approaching I won’t always keep on track with the diet but most of the time I will.  This morning I spent a few hours organizing my food.  I did something that I haven’t done for a long time and that is measure food.  So this morning, I dug out my food scale and weighed my chicken breasts to the allotted amount of protein that I can have at a meal.  I kept out one portion to eat tomorrow and froze the rest.  I also got out the measuring cups and portioned out a serving of my carbohydrates and put each serving in a container; anything to make life easier for me. There are various meal plans in the book but I think that I will stick to a few meals and repeat them.  This way I don’t need that many types of foods in the house.  I have already decided what my breakfast will be every morning.  It is too much effort to think about what to eat when I get up. 

I don’t know if this diet will work any better than what I have already been doing.  I guess the scale will tell the story.