Motel trash

Ok, I have to admit something.  I don't blog everyday cause when I sit at the computer, I usually do online banking first.  Check in with the ole bank account, just to see how my budget is going.  Lately the checking in part has been so depressing I don't feel like writing in a journal.  But, I need to get over that.  It's a weight loss journal.  And I honestly believe having no money has encouraged me to lose weight.  The dollar menu at Wendy's is great.  A whole baked potato with small chili and water is $2.14 and a great meal for someone who is low on funds, on the go, not wanting to eat fried food. If God works in mysterious ways maybe this is one of them?

So, I'm writing before I look at my bank account. Happy to report I was down a couple of more ounces this morning.  I did not exercise yesterday.  Parties for the upcoming nuptials are taking up some exercise time.  And I miss the gym.  The optimal day is three lovely hours to spend there.  One hour on the elliptical, one hour in pool and sauna and one hour to shower and do make up and hair.  Seven days a week.  I wrote once that losing weight is like taking on a part time job.  So this job would be 14 hours a week.  It would be so much easier if I could get my fat butt and menopot out of bed at 5:30 am and just go.  It would be a mini miracle if I could ever get into that routine.

A bright spot to report is I wore a belt that was a present from my husband last Christmas.  My daughter reminded my when I unwrapped it last year she and I both looked at it then looked at my husband ( who by the way was clueless.) The belt did not even fit my daughter who was four sizes smaller than me at the time.  It was one of those awkward moments.  The "how in the world did you think I could fit into that?"  moment.  Which, once again, proves my point.  My husband stopped looking at me after baby weight came along. I'm not saying this fact is bad.  It's probably one of the reasons we stayed married.  He became very happy with the lights off and he has a great imagination. SO, I wore the belt around my waist and not hips.  It was not uncomfortable.  I'm thinking it is the elliptical.  I'm not too sure how that machine works on the waist though.

And, in the car today, my daughter wants me to start writing down stories from my childhood and life so they won't be forgotten.  Since this is my journal, I'm going to start adding them at the end of each weight and exercise portion. Who knows, it may offer some insight into weight gain or habitual eating.

Humph.................................................................It's almost like forcing someone to look at slides of family vacations. I'll start with the motel stories.  Besides, I remember these the best and they still make me laugh.  Owning an interstate motel was a dream of my father's.  He wanted to have a business with "non-depletable inventory."  After my father passed away I can't say I ever wondered what he would say about any given situation.  His voice seems to ring through my head.  My relationship with my father is probably one of the reasons for the weight gain.  But, I need to make one thing very clear.  He was never mean or cruel in any way to me.  In fact, he loved me very much.  I have no doubt.  Working beside him was hard. My daughter ask me why I was not a millionaire like my father was.  I could never work as hard as he did.  And he could never truly understand why other people did not want to work as hard.  When he died, I will admit to being relieved.  I felt like I could breathe for the first time ever.  It is still odd to me that I feel that way.  He died with his running shoes on....literally.  On a treadmill.  He ran four to five miles each day on a treadmill.  He had his first heart attack at 55, starting running and never quit till the age of 69 when he had his second heart attack that killed him.  My family knows he would have never stopped any other way.  So to say, "he stopped dead in his tracks," makes me smile simply because he was a force of mental energy.  God knew this was the only way to get him to relax.  We owned a motel for about 20 years.  It was the Texas version of the BBC series "Faulty Towers."  Adjacent to the motel was a restaurant and on the other side a little store.  We owned both of those also.  The store we leased out, but the  300-seat restaurant we ran seven days a week. Dad lived full time at the motel in an apartment, so he could manage it 24/7.  Mom lived in a brick ranch style house just across a pasture and a pond behind the motel. My two sisters and I worked alongside our parents for most of our lives.  In Dad's previous restaurants in the 70's when we were teenagers and his retirement business when we were all married with children.   One of the things that amazed me most was the perception by the public that things done at an interstate motel were somehow private.  To this day I am very conscious of what I put in the trash at any motel/hotel. 

Sincerely,

I'm Not Oprah

Fat cells

I heard something very interesting on the radio last night.  During one of those call-in shows.  This particular one was on AM radio and always comes on locally 9-10 pm on Saturday nights.  It's a medical doctor answering questions about health etc. Does it make me sound weird that I like to listen to this guy?  Here's what I heard.  A new study about fat cells was published.  It's been proven that there are different kinds of fat cells.  That is not new.  What he was pointing out is a study about skinny people who agreed to try very hard to gain weight all for the purpose of studying fat cells.  It was discovered that as they gained weight new fat cells formed on their legs and thighs, but the fat cells in the mid-section simply stretched and got larger.  When trying to lose the weight gained, it was more difficult to lose the weight from the stretched cells than from the newly formed fat cells.  Ah ha! I really don't know why it is rewarding to have science prove what I already knew. My menapot seems destined to be with me.  Yet, the study indicated all weight gained was eventually lost. 

And, I did it again at a wedding yesterday.  I ate the cake and I really don't like cake.  I need to give this some thought.  Going to a wedding shower today.  I need to tank up on a HUGE salad before.

Sincerely,

I'm not Oprah 

The Gym Part 2

Yes,  I'm still alive.  Yes I'm still on track towards my goal of 140 pounds of resplendent beauty. Ha! I'm the smallest I have been since I started.  It's about two - 4 ounces daily gone, vanished from my body.  I checked my records, from Sept. 4 to Oct. 4, four pounds disappeared.  I am now really anxious to go back to the OBGYN for the weigh in.  That's the place I consider my official weight record. 

Ok, on with Gym Part 2.  Things I like about it....................
1. It's close.  Five minutes and I'm there.
2. Salt water pool.  Much better than chlorine.
3. Priced right through my husband's insurance.
4. Has a kid's zone.  I took my granddaughter once.  She loved it. It's $1.80/hour( if  you purchase 25 hours in advance with no expiration. )
5. I've now done two days on elliptical and did not kill myself or hate it.  Those people on The Biggest Loser make it look awful.  It was NOT awful.  Of course, I only did level 2, 30 minutes.  AND, you can charge your IPhone, watch TV, listen to your IPod. And, these machines have built in fans that blow in your face. Pretty darn cool.
6. Reconnecting with several older people from our community.

Things I do NOT like...............

1. Exercising next to men of any shape and size.  Call me a complete weird-o but this bugs me.
2. Sitting in the sauna where countless sweaty guys have sat.  The sauna is clean.  It's just the thoughts that bug me.
3. Walking in.  Yep this bothers me 'cause EVERYONE stares at you.  And I normally look like crap to go exercise.
4. The general noise of a gym.  I exercise for peace of mind.  I have always enjoyed walking.  With no headphones.  The pool is peaceful. The gym is noisy.
5. The $35 monthly I'm spending for the privilege to experience numbers 1 - 4.

I'm absolutely positive this list will grow. As it grows, maybe my butt will shrink.

Sincerely,

I'm Not Oprah

The Gym

I joined a local gym.  I thought I might as well bite the bullet before I got out of the habit of exercising.  My neighborhood pool will close soon and the weather is turning.  The one time in my entire life I wanted it to stay hot....and we are having an early fall....you can feel it in the air.  Crisp nights that feel like football and hot chocolate.  With loads of whip cream...Ha!!! It is so obvious why my hips are the largest part of me.  Everything in my life seems to relate to or revolve around food.  I was at a wedding shower today and could not wait to eat the cake and I didn't even like the taste of it. I kept hearing the voice in my head say it would be rude not to have a piece.  Not a soul there would have noticed if I had politely declined.  After growing up in the home I did, I caught myself during my college years counting the number of drinks everyone had.  Today I caught myself watching other women at the party eat cake.  I am feeling seriously deranged.

Back to the topic of the gym.  I visited on Saturday and discovered they have a salt water pool.  I had swam there years ago and the amount of chlorine they used was sickening.  The place was clean, the music was not blaring and I discovered mostly old people.  70+ in the heated pool.  That works for me.  I'll miss my resplendent tan.   "My" gym is also opened 7 days a week.  I have already packed my morning workout bag with shampoo and such.  Cutting out all the excuses not to go.  I told one spry octogenarian that I was very achy and sore and hobbled and limped everywhere before I started exercising.  She described a horrible future for me if I were to ever stop. 

My husband is home now.  Gotta go.

Sincerely,

I'm so Not Oprah

Hippos

My exercise buddy suggested I call this blog hippos because of our last conversation in the pool.  It has become apparent of us why hippos spend so much time in the water.  I'm typing this as I slowly suck on 18 choc. malt balls( worth 180) calories which is pretty darn good for me.  Usually by this time I'm out of calories and over the daily limit I've set for myself.  I could probably eat 18 more and still be in good standing but 18 is honestly all I want. 

I'm exercising daily.  I read somewhere that three days a week of exercising maintains your weight, exercising four days a week you should lose weight.  Four days WAS NOT cutting the mustard.  So, I just said to myself , "better exercise today cause you never know what is going to happen to prevent it tomorrow."  So, it's been 8 weeks of exercising every day or nearly every day.  This morning when I weighed I was down the lowest since I started.  Remember when I say that, my scale measures by the ounce. So, I'm a few ounces smaller.  Very small daily victories. Yet, from my armpits to my knees I still look lumpy.  ARRGGGHHH. I would die if I had to be on the biggest loser and stand in front of the world in a bra and exercise shorts. 

Two things did happen today worth noting.  I saw someone I had not seen since last October.  A man that mowed our lawn when I was a child.  He has always been somewhat of a Casanova and good at it.  He did not recognize me in a restaurant today.  He winked at me.  I was taken aback and so was he when he realized who I was.  He told me how good I looked.  That is not normal for my daily life.  Hmmm
Plus, the deli man offered me free meat.  That does not happen in my daily life.  I thought the deli man was acting odd cause he kept asking me deli questions.  It's usually I want a pound of this or that, sliced thin, please.  Ok, here you go, thank you ma'am.  Today was different.  It's probably the tan. 

I'm happy I've graduated up to larger juice jugs in the pool.  The smaller Welch's jugs are no longer challenging.  My financial class is challenging.  I'm going to have to really like my TV and community pool for the next year or so while I'm paying off a wedding. 

Thank you to my friends that read this.  I'm not poor pitiful polly, I have more friends, but the ones that are particularly understanding and compassionate are the ones I have shared my blog with. Reshaping your life is difficult. I could not do this without you!

Too much sugar

I ate big red ice cream for dinner.  (audible sigh) so, I really didn't have much except a bunch of sugar.  I can't sleep and I'm up writing on the computer at 4:45 am. 

My husband has to go in front of our city council tonight to defend our community theater.  The council wants to charge more than our non-profit could afford for use of the newly built civic center.  I usually toss and turn in bed putting together speeches in my head and building arguments ( like debate class.) I think I have decided now since I have an empty nest,  just to get up and write things down.  So I did and emailed my thoughts to my husband, which sounds odd since I hear him snoring, but he'll get it at work.  It's basically just an intro and conclusion for whatever speech he is going to make.  He is a very capable public speaker, but I am a better writer.  We make a good team.  I really like the basis for the speech I wrote. My husband wrote a wonderful letter to the patrons in our season program tallying  30 years of community service hours given by volunteers at our theater.  I'll give him credit for that part of my speech.  I appealed to the community service aspect of being a council member.  I decided to approach them with the idea of charging them every time they sat in their seats, and then also charging them for every minute it took them to make a decision. And also point out the people charging them for their community service have no idea how a city council worked. Oh well, the speech I wrote was much more eloquent and tactful.

For a blog about diet and exercise I have really gotten off topic.  Except that all this extra energy must be from the sugar, yet my Dad would swear the less he ate, the less sleep he required. 

Lastly I signed up for Dave Ramsey's financial freedom thirteen week course at my church.  If I am going to be more disciplined in my eating and exercising I might as well throw in finances also!

I just figured out how to use the spell check.  Words misspelled show up in yellow.  I am way behind the curve ball in many aspects of my life. 

Sincerely,

I'm Not Oprah

Swimming

I took my menopot swimming today.  I could win a treading water contest.  I come complete with a ready made flotation device. Once again, exercise is easy.  My largest obstacle continues to be logging the food and calories that go through the lips.  If you don't log it immediately you forget.  Logging it as soon as you eat is important because my app records time also, so I can go back and see what time of day I eat the most. 

As with any addictive behavior, becoming AWARE of all aspects of the habit is one of the keys to changing the pattern.

Here is an aspect.  Take a look around at the patrons in the all-you-can-eat pizza place. There is one in my town.  I look around at the people eating the high-fat-extremely-awful for you food.  Depressing. 
That is not who I want to be. 

Sincerely and continuing to take my menopot swimming,

I'm Not Oprah