Movin on....

All is well here.  I'm having my house remodeled and haven't been to the gym all summer.  Currently dealing with aggravating heel pain.  Doing to the foot doc tomorrow to see what is really wrong and what I can and cannot do to heal this heel.

Until then, here is a picture of flowers to lift our spirits.

Love my happy little violets. 

Well, that's it for now.  If you want to know what's going on with me this summer come over to my other blog and check out the progress.

Sorry that I seldom post here...

Since my husband died I seldom post here anymore.  I have lost some weight this year, which is, as you know, the name of the blog.  I used to match Tim, treat for treat and sandwich for sandwich.  Now that I'm not doing that any more I have lost eight pounds.  In an effort to keep my hands busy and not feeding my face with them, I do art.  Here is the watercolor portrait that I had in the works for a gift for my hubby before he died.  I know he would have loved it.

Here is a picture of him, holding a little polymer clay sculpture that he made for my sister's wife.  He made her something every year for Christmas and her birthday.

Since this actually is a weight loss and healthy eating blog, here are a couple of shots of lunch and other yummy dishes that can be still be considered healthy.

Chicken fajita (on flat bread) topped with low fat sour cream and low fat cheese and a side of mock re-fried beans is full of protein and promise (promise of what we won't go into).

You can call this dish white chilli, or white bean Mexican soup, depending on the spices you choose.  Either way, it's a great source of protein and when topped with a bit of sour cream and cheese, both available in low fat varieties, it makes your taste buds soar.

Well, I don't know if any of my old readers hung in there with me, but I certainly hope so.  Gradually, I'm finding ways to get back to blogging more often and hopefully, we'll keep losing weight and staying healthy.

Take care and Happy Easter.

My life will never be the same.

Eventually I will get myself back in gear, but Monday, my husband had a massive heart attack and could not be revived.  Please hop over to my other blog  (A Walk In The Park) to keep up with me for a while.  Thanks so much.

Here it is almost New Year's Eve...

Yes, here it is almost New Year's Eve and it's been six months since I updated this blog.  I suppose it's because, even though I have titled my blog "Let's Lose Weight This Year", I never do.  I could give tons of excuses, like the holidays mess me up, or it's my body style, or even it must be my age but I know that isn't correct.  Of course, those things contribute to my plumpness (that's what I'm calling being 50 pounds too heavy today), but the bottom line is that I don't always monitor what I eat.  I keep and cook all sorts of healthy foods every day, but I then add in junk food.  I know that if there were not chips and cookies and ice cream in the house we would not eat it.

I do try to monitor my consumption some, but the thing about sugar and salt is that, for me, it's almost addictive.  Hubs and I had an all night movie watch-a-thon last night and when we finally went to bed at 5:00 a.m. I had consumed a bag of microwave popcorn, six cookies, and an ice cream bar.  There was certainly not much of a fast to break from this morning (actually noon) when I woke up.

While I slept, quite soundly I might add, I had a reoccurring dream.  I am in a city that I am familiar with, headed to a location that I know, but I can never get there.

There are always obstacles in my way.  I take it to mean that this is an indication that my subconscious is thinking about all the things I place in between being healthy and actually getting there.  In real life, I do know what my health goals are and I know how to get there, but for some reason I always go the long way, instead of just taking the shortest path.

For me, the shortest path is a series of "dont's" that I think I need to change to "do's".  Don't eat junk food, don't eat sugar treats, don't drink soda...well, you get my drift.  In an effort to put a positive spin on things, I am going to monitor my sodium and sugar intake.

I still go to the gym, but for over the past year, it has dropped from five days a week to four, to three.  The gym has had holiday music playing for over one month now and I just don't dig it.  I don't listen to it at home and it's not motivation for me at work.  They even got five new Muzak stations for this very purpose.

Well, tomorrow is New Year's Eve and the gym doesn't open until 8 a.m. bummer, I like going at 7. It's closed Tuesday for what I hope will be the last holiday for a while.  I'm ready to put my Brooks Pure Cadence plantar fasciitis shoes on and get on the elliptical.

I'll hit the weight machines, use my food journal at My Fitness Pal and hopefully, prayerfully I will begin to lose weight this year.  I hope you will join me.  Sign up for My Fitness Pal, it's free and "friend" me.

Maybe, just maybe, this will be the year we lose...together.

Yep, I'm still kickin'

I cannot believe I have been so lax in updating this blog.  I think part of the fact is, that once AGAIN, I haven't lost the weight I wanted to.  I am still ten pounds lower than my highest weight since I started, but I get so tired of never losing large amounts of weight.  I think the problem lies in the fact that for me weight loss is a long term exercise (pardon the pun) and sometimes I get so tired of "doing the right thing" that I don't do things right.

I still workout an hour each morning, 4-5 days each week.  Then for the most part I sit on my tush the rest of the day.  Being an artist/jewelry designer/blogger/reader lends itself to a day's worth of sitting.  I, of  course, get up and cook and do dishes and push the laundry into a more manageable pile.  At the end of the day, though, I have still moved very little.

Do NOT get me wrong, I love my life.  This Blessed Life that affords me the luxury to stay at home and do the above mentioned things.  I know that I have been blessed with this life for a reason and that I need to do my part to stay healthy in order to keep pushing toward the goals that I have in life.

With all that being said, I'm going to try to ramp up my routines just a bit.  I am going to incorporate more exercise into my day.  Today I'm going back to the gym to take part in a class called "Back in Shape" which concentrates on balance, stability and core work.  It's geared to the over 55 set, so I should be able to catch up with the class that has been in session since June.

If there is anyone out there that still reads this blog.  PLEASE stop by and say hi.  I sometimes feel that the blogging community has moved on to other things.  I miss you.  Let me know how you are. Let's have virtual tea and cookies...something.

Anyway, that's it for now.  Hope to be back soon, even if there is no one out there.  I have to stay accountable to myself.

TTFN.

Portion control

This is an older article, but so worth the click...

Check it out here...


Talk soon!

I'm still hanging in there...

I know, I know.  Who does she thing she is, not posting on her weight loss blog since December.  She is, like many of you, feeling a bit sheepish because she has gained back about ten of the twenty-three pounds she lost last year.

OK, really, that third person thing just is too hard to keep up so here I am, in all my glory, weighing in at 187.  I am down 5 pounds since last week, due to my first week on The Dukan Diet.  I researched this plan for weeks before deciding that I really wanted to try it.  It is basically, a low fat version of Atkins.  I did really well doing a controlled carb plan about ten years ago.  Of course, that was pre-meno and if there are any chicks out there of a certain age, they KNOW what I'm talking about.  Nothing I have done in the last five years, other than literally exercising myself to exhaustion and counting calories, has made any difference.

When I had my cholesterol checked in January, my numbers were very, very good.  My blood pressure was a bit high, but I think that is a bit of "white coat syndrome" that always happens with me when I get it checked.  All this being said, I felt like a low fat, low carb eating plan would be completely safe for me.  My hubby isn't crazy about it, because he likes when we eat fruit together.  Sorry, honey, but I've got to try this plan.  Which means no fruit until I have reached my goal weight.  The plan is pretty much pure protein for five days then protein and non starchy veggies for five days with oat bran every day for fiber.  This is done until you either have lost your weight or you just dont want to do it any more.  At that point, you are guided into adding back in various foods (bread and fruit, etc) in a fashion that will help you maintain your weight loss.  You do this plan for five days for every pound that you have lost (i.e. 20 pound loss...this phase for 100 days) after you get to the suggested number of days, you go into the final phase that you will follow for life.  In other words, by this time you now have made a lifestyle change and are shown how to introduce the occasional treat into you life in a fashion that will prevent you from going back to your old ways.

I am only into phase two which is called Cruise, and it's working for me.  If you know anyone who has had success on this plan I'd love to know about it.

So short version is this...I have not given up and I wont.  I'll be 59 tomorrow and I workout at the gym 4-5 days every week and I'm no slouch about it.  I keep myself motivated, knowing that God gave me this life and this body because He knew he could trust me to take good care of it.

That's the way this old chick rolls.

By the way, if you want to see pictures from my recent Amtrak trip from California to Virginia, check out the link to my everyday blog  "A Walk In The Park".  I'd love for you to stop by.

Take care and stay motivated. We are going to lose weight this year. I just know it!!!!