We'll Keep You Plump as a Partridge

I had an appointment with the cardiologist yesterday. Everything's good, just a pre-surgery check up and EKG. On Thursday, I'm going to have carpal tunnel surgery plus trigger finger release. Oy vey!!

That trigger finger business is the worst right now. It hurts to flip the bird. I keep painter's tape over the knuckle so the finger can't bend enough to lock. And arthritis kicked into that same knuckle. Ouch. Yes, I take the tape off during most of the day so I can flex that knuckle. Anyway, I'll be glad when this is a memory. Meanwhile, doing any knife or scissor work in the kitchen is painful.

What wasn't good about the appointment is that I weighed three pounds more according to their scale. But this morning, I weighed the same as I did a couple days ago. Again, my goal is to lose 55 pounds over the next year. The realization is that after I hit that mark, I'm still going to be overweight. And as  I keep on shrinking, I'll have even MORE weight to lose.  Daaaaaamn. I wish I would have started measuring myself right from the get-go. That's also a little bit of encouragement when nothing is changing with the scales.

I didn't exercise yesterday since we went to 'the city' (about 30 miles from here) for my doctor appointment and did a couple errands after that. We ate big salads at one of the Dillon's store (Kroger) that has an awesome salad bar and little dining area. Of course, there's nothing that would be my first choice for salad dressing, so I used a spoon of cottage cheese with a little blue cheese dressing on it, then stirred everything up in the bowl. It worked.

Today, I exercised for 30 minutes. I had to sit more than stand, march or walk as both hips and both knees were complaining. I always have something that I can do in a chair. I have learned a few tips along the way. My first chair exercise experience was from Silver Sneakers, 10-Minute Chair Workout for a Stronger Core. Easy peasy, so these are my fall back exercises to do when I can't do all of the chair workout with Curtis on A New Way 2 Move.

"I'm amazed by people who lose weight with exercise. When I exercise, nothing happens because my DNA still thinks I'm a European peasant. So it's like "Oh! Are we running from the English again, lass? Dinnae ye worry, we'll keep ye plump as a partridge to outlast the murderous bastards!"
(Jamie Kenney on twitter)

And while the quote still makes me laugh, this time I'm determined to shed these pounds so I'll feel better.

Belly Fat

Two Meals a Day? And Common Pain Triggers

Captain's Log 08.25.2019

Two meals a day just won't cut it yet. Yesterday, we ate a late lunch or early dinner, around 4 p.m. By 9:00, both of us were starving. I had already snacked on a small bowl of frozen grapes and the 100 calorie fruit and grain bars. Later another bowl of frozen grapes. I finally ate two pieces of toast with the thinnest smear of peanut butter and split a rounded teaspoon of low sugar blueberry jam that I had made. It wasn't much jam (preserves, actually), but there was some on each slice of toast. I would have been better off eating a couple sliced cucumbers or a big green salad. Lesson learned.

I was pleasantly surprised when I weighed in this morning and the scale showed that I'd lost 2 lbs. I need that to help me stay motivated. I got a nifty little weight loss ticker that I can put at the bottom of some pages. But damn...55 pounds to go to hit my goal of 150. I gave myself a year to get there, so that's roughly 5 pounds a month.

I'm now making a conscious effort to go at least 12 hours between eating at night and eating in the morning. It's much easier for me to NOT eat in the morning. When I was young, I would not eat at all until around 3 p.m., then I'd eat until I went to bed. If I ate breakfast, I'd eat all day. It's still like that today, but I'm trying to change my ways. Erg.

I just finished my 20 minutes of exercise with Curtis and have a cup of oatmeal in the microwave. I use 1/2 c. thick cut, old fashioned oats with some 30 calorie, unsweetened Almond milk. I like Aldi's brand the best. Plans are for a big chopped salad with red and green cabbage, romaine, sliced cucumber and a homemade oil freed dressing - homemade ACV, some Dijon mustard and maple syrup to taste. Sounds wretched, doesn't it!! But it's actually pretty good. I think I got that recipe from the McDougall page years ago. She used a lot of mustard, but I'm pretty iffy on mustards of any type, so I don't use nearly as much. No plans for supper yet.

I have this saved on my computer, but I didn't save the source, nor the exact quote:

Pain-safe foods virtually never contribute to arthritis, headaches or other painful conditions: these include rice, cooked green, orange and yellow vegetables, cooked or dried non-citrus fruits.

Common triggers that cause pain in susceptible people include alcoholic beverages (especially red wine), caffeinated drinks, monosodium glutamate, aspartame (Nutra Sweet) and nitrates. Here are other common food triggers, also known as the 'dirty dozen': dairy, chocolate, eggs, citrus fruits, meat, wheat, nuts and peanuts, tomatoes, onions, corn, apples and bananas.

Stuff I like.

Marianne

Belly Fat

Choosing the Healthier Path

Captain's Log 08.24.19

Yesterday I did pretty well compared to how I have been eating. I had a cup of oatmeal cooked with almond milk and added a few raisins (we have a ton of them that are getting a little...past their prime). Ate an apple after that just because I thought about it. I wasn't really hungry after the oatmeal, so that's another obstacle I need to get past.

We were away from the house for several hours, so I didn't have any lunch.  We live in the country and I tend to stay away from stores, especially places like Wal-Mart or wherever there are crowds of people. It's the germ thing. Every time I get sick, I lose some lung function that will never come back, so I'm a hermit. I'm okay with it. But we ended up in town to pick up a few groceries, then ate at Burger King.

I know, Burger King? Not healthy a'tall! But definitely a treat for me. I had an Impossible Whopper, a few fries and a few onion rings. I ate until I was full and recognized that I was full. And left everything else for the trash. Victory! Okay, hardly a victory, but I didn't feel compelled to eat every crumb.

Late night snacking, dammit. Small bunch of red grapes, and a couple of whole grain raspberry bars, 100 calories for the two. Far less than my usual grazing at night.

This morning, 25 minutes of chair aerobics with my dude Curtis, on YouTube. My usual cup of oatmeal with almond milk and a few raisins plus an apple. Coffee, Elderberry/ACV with medications and vitamins.

A neighbor came over, so no lunch. We had an early dinner of Teriyaki Soy Curls with Pineapple and Bell Pepper and rice. I used just half the package of Soy Curls, added some onion, used Pyure instead of sugar (and less than the recipe stated) and baked (instead of frying) the Soy Curls. Pretty good. Next time I'll make twice the sauce. BTW, Soy Curls are much better in recipes if you rehydrate them in beef, chicken or veggie broth instead of plain o' water.

If you're interested in Soy Curls, they are cheaper if you buy them from the manufacturer, Butler Foods,  BBQ Soy Curls are the bomb! Just like eating BBQ Chicken. Bring it on.

I did screw up and got a second helping because I had been so hungry. I was halfway through it before I remembered, so I put the big o' spoon down.

More baby steps, headed in the right direction.

Marianne

Getting Started

Captain's Log 08.12.19

Engage

Starting weight - 207.5

I had a big bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, then went back for one slice of grainy bread with peanut butter, later a banana. Coffee (Pyure sweetener and powdered coffee creamer) and an elderberry drink that I make (recipe at the end of this post).

I follow Curtis Adams on YouTube. He has a series of exercises for seniors and you can do them in a chair. He's my dude. Stuck it out for 20 minutes, so I'm making progress. A week ago, I struggled to do 10 minutes. I didn't exercise for a couple days because I was aching so badly. I don't know if it was because I ate some tomatoes, or because of the weather change. Maybe both.

I have everything laid out to go into a black bean soup for lunch and then leftover soup for supper.

I found these little acronyms to live by: WOE and No S

WOE= Way of Eating

No S= No Snacks, No Sweets, No Seconds (except on the days that start with S or Special occasions.)

Yeah, I can do this.

My biggest obstacle is that I stay up really late, some nights I don't even go to bed. Sucks. And I'm snacking, snacking, snacking half the night. I tell myself that it's all good for you stuff, like frozen grapes, maybe a piece of toast with peanut butter and honey....more fruit.... what needs to be eaten from the frig AKA leftovers, brazil nuts....chocolate chips with raisins in a little cup...you get the idea.

I also don't eat complete meals. I snack off and on all day long, so I'm not really hungry at meal times. Then I keep grazing from the kitchen the rest of the time.

One step at a time.

My Elderberry/Apple Cider Vinegar drink (I make my own elderberry syrup and ACV. Both taste a lot better than stuff that you buy):

Into a quart container: 2 Tablespoons Elderberry syrup, 2 Tablespoons ACV and sweetener to taste. I use the equivalent of 3 tsps of sugar. Add water to fill container, refrigerate and drink throughout the day.

I am sold on drinking this. I had chronic bronchitis bouts all the time last year. If I was lucky, there would be three weeks in between being sick, but most of the time I was sick for two weeks, then better for two weeks, then sick again, and on and on. I started drinking this in January and honestly, I have not been sick ONE DAY this year.  Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I'll keep drinking it. I don't drink the entire quart every day. Some days I only have a glass of it.

Marianne

If Your Lifestyle Doesn't Control Your Body, Your Body will Eventually Control Your Lifestyle

"If your lifestyle doesn't control your body, your body will eventually control your lifestyle." Ern Baxter

Captain's Log - Ship still in dock: The Beginning of the Journey

The first steps towards being healthier is to eat healthy. The standard COPD diet tips that everyone agrees on are:
1. No sugar
2. No dairy
3. No nitrates
Pretty straightforward. From then on, opinions vary, depending on individual results. And especially from those who refuse to give up bacon.

Standard Arthritis Diet:
1. No potatoes
2. No tomatoes
3. No sugar
4. Anti inflammatory Diet
Okay, got it.

Standard IBS diet:
1. Eat some fiber first thing in the morning
2. Avoid fiber
Uh, ok.

THEN I had bloodwork done to see what foods created an inflammatory response in my body. Worth.Every.Dime.  I bought this one for about $150. A LOT of foods that are supposed to be good for you are not so good for me. Depressed, I made a list of food that I should avoid:

Sugar, red meat, clams, fish and shellfish, all cured meats.
Tomatoes and tomato products, potatoes, red and orange bell peppers, paprika, mustard, garlic, ginger, celery, squash, asparagus, corn, apples, citrus, bananas, fresh pineapple, kiwi and raspberries.

Barley, sunflower, wheat, cocoa (Noooooo!), coconut and coffee (Noooooooooooo!)

Egg yolk, dairy and Whey Isolate

Taking action:

I decided it would be better to list the foods that I can eat with no problem:

Chicken, egg white, fresh pork, turkey

Carrots, kale, spinach, romaine, beets, green beans, green peas, sweet potatoes, broccoli, red and green cabbage, cauliflower, onion, cucumbers.

Nuts and nut butters, oats, beans and legumes, lentils, split peas, rice, soy products.

Watermelon, apricots, peaches, blueberries, pears, cherries, grapes.

Elderberry, apple cider vinegar, water kefir, tea, almond milk, plant milks

Looks like I won't die.

A lot of the foods that I listed from the blood test didn't have much of an inflammatory response, but I try to limit them. It's a good thing that I'm okay with eating mostly vegetarian. 

Let's do this.

Marianne

Changes and Attitudes Towards Them.

2019 now. So it's been years since I wrote here. A lot has happened and I'm learning to roll with it. So, today, my journal here is taking a different direction.

My health has taken a slow nose dive since May of 2012. First a diagnosis of COPD. Emphysema. Hey, I quit smoking two days before I finally went to the doctor because I couldn't breathe. Later came ILD - Interstitial Lung Disease. If you never heard of it, don't be surprised. I hadn't either. But here's a link explaining what it is if you're interested - here . I don't have the scarring type at this point.

In 2014, I had a triple bypass. Four months later I had a stent put in my heart. Funny, my total cholesterol was 176. I went vegetarian for 6 months. Cholesterol went up to 197. WTH? I went vegan for the next 6 months. Cholesterol went up to 207. WTH???? No, I wasn't eating processed foods, no vegan junk food. Apparently there is a group of us that does this. Oh well. I put butter back in my life and my cholesterol dropped 26 points, with no other change. Actually I did that a long time ago, too, with the same results - cholesterol 176. My husband, Bill, finally did the same. His cholesterol dropped 50 points! Wowser.

Moving on. Oh yeah, IBS-C and IBS-D decided to live with me in 2014. I didn't know there was IBS-C for Constipation. I was eating beans, oatmeal and fruit like crazy and wouldn't poop for days. When I was in the hospital after I had my bypass, I lied to the nurses that I'd had a bowel movement so I could finally go home. Eight days in the hospital...no shit. Literally.  Passed a few marbles a couple days after I got home. What's up with that???

Last year, Chronic Bronchitis was added to the list.  Add to that, over the past few years, I've gained 50 lbs. It's hard to exercise when you can't breathe. Try exercising when you have a clothespin over your nose while breathing through a straw in your mouth. Some days are like that. Most days I sit a lot.  In February, my left hip decided that it was done with this shit. Three weeks later, my right hip agreed. A couple months after that, both knees joined them. Arthritis can really hurt.

Weather change? I'll let you know a day in advance. Ha!

So, in an effort to change my life and my health with positive motivation, I'm creating my own little Captain's Log for my journal. I'll list what I'm eating, how I'm exercising, what I'm battling. Since public humiliation seems to be the trick with a lot of people trying to lose weight, it's going here as well. Probably no recipes, but for my own sanity, I'll talk about my ups and downs and try to keep it positive.