Weight! Weight! Don't Tell Me, II

 

Arugula & fresh tomato pizza = Good (in moderation)

“I finally figured out the big, elusive secret 

to weight loss. Don't eat! Who knew?”
― Richelle E. Goodrich

 My post yesterday got a lot of people talking about weight, diet, exercise.  Great! I have a few additional thoughts and comments that I'd like to add. I wanted to wait to see if anyone commented before I wrote this part. (Actually, that's only partially true.  I was dead tired last night when I wrote that thing since I had slept only two hours the night before and had spent the day car shopping. I'm not sure I could have written anything more that would have made sense.) 

So, if you permit me, I will step on the soapbox a bit.  ( I'm writing stream of conscious here, so I hope it all blends together....)

We all struggle to some degree with weight and body image. A number of you have written me privately or via FB to mention that you do not think of me as "fat."  Neither do my doctor or husband, but here's the thing:  It is a self image.  As I mentioned yesterday, my dear mother had a need to remind me that I was bigger than she. The problem was more hers than mine in the beginning, but it did affect me even to this day. I started, at some point, rebelling by eating just to show her. It gave her more fodder and me more despair. I knew what I was doing, but it was a vicious cycle.  Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up.

Tangerines = Good

After Mom passed 10 years ago, I lost weight and was down to what I weighed when I was 25. Most of my friends thought I was too thin.  *I* thought I was too heavy.  What did I do?  I ate.  We moved back to Las Vegas, and I ate more. Up. Up. Up. Down. Down. Up. Up.  There is one person to blame, and you'll be surprised, maybe, that I'm not blaming Mom.  It is I.  I *know* what I have to do, and i *know* how to do it.  The thing is that i *have* to do it.  Exercise. Diet. Food choice.

I was going to talk about European lifestyle and food and such, but I deleted all of that because I thought I sounded preachy. I don't mean to be. I just like the fact that there I walk and eat differently. Can I do it here?  Of course, and I do to a point.  I buy fresh produce as much as possible, and if it isn't available, I'll buy frozen.  The only canned vegetables I buy these days are beans for chili or tomatoes for sauce. We've cut portions greatly, and we try to eat main meals earlier many days.  That does make a difference. 

Mixed vegetable salad = Great

I don't, however, walk as much, and that is my fault. No excuses. It's my fault.

When I was in with Dr. Bedotto two weeks ago, we had a short conversation about exercise.

"Do you exercise regularly?" he asked me.

"Regularly? How regularly?" I was thinking that once every six months is pretty regular as long as I keep it on a regular schedule.

He apparently thought something different. "At least 5 days a week. "

"I have a sedentary job," I replied in hopes that it would end the conversation.  He just stared at me, so I continued.  "No. Truth is, I'm lazy. I hate exercise."

"Do you hate walking, too?" The man did not give up.

"No. I walk all the time in Italy. The only time I'm in a vehicle is if I'm in a train." I was pretty proud of myself.

"Well, you should go to Italy then."  Hey.  I was not going to argue.  "Until then, you can find 30 minutes a day to walk here. Start now."  ZING.


 "I'd rather just go to Italy."  He was not amused.

Cookies, milk, & cocktails = BAD BAD BAD

 So, I bought a Jawbone. As I mentioned last evening, I do need a good kick in the ass someway to be accountable, and it entices me to walk more because I set a goal of 10000 steps/day.  I've not hit it yet, although I'm working on it. When I was sick from the allergy crap last week, I  walked around the house just to put in steps since I couldn't go outside. Before the concert last week, I walked up and down the steps of the theater to put in some exercise time. I ended up walking about .75 mile in there.  

Now if I can only keep it up.