My Diet Story

Good Sunday afternoon! It’s a cloudy, but nice, day here in the lovely town of Cobourg. And, it’s the last day of January!  Can you believe it?  I have now received the first of my monthly pension deposits to my account, so I guess that I am truly a pensioner!

I thought I would document my diet journey in this week’s blog, which will tell you how I got to the paleo lifestyle, which I was much better at sticking to this week, I might add!

I have been heavy pretty much all of my life.  I knew it wasn’t acceptable, based on the teasing I got in school and, even at home, as I was the only one in the family with ‘exercise’ on my list of chores.

So, I half heartedly did exercise on and off, but still had to wear bigger clothes than my siblings.  Does anyone remember when they had ‘chubbies’ sizes?  Yes, I wore those.  In grade 6, I remember that we all lined up to be weighed on the scale.  I was the only one, at 11 years of age, that was over 100 pounds.  It was only 100.5 pounds, but none-the-less, I was the heaviest in the class--even heavier than any of the boys!  It was embarrassing, but I never really did anything about it until college.

I moved away to attend college and because I could only afford to eat once a day, my weight actually went down to 132 lbs.  I actually don’t remember what my weight was when I started.  When I started working after college, my weight went up into the 150s and someone I was working with wanted to go to Weight Watchers.  I joined and actually got down to 123 lbs.!

I didn’t last at that weight very long, but didn’t go crazy.  It crept up until I was getting married and then I took weight off for that and then again before I had my first child.  I put on 50 pounds with my first child and didn’t take much off between my two pregnancies.  I weighed 204 lbs both times I delivered.  My husband left after our second daughter was born, but there was a gym in the building I worked in and I got down to 184lbs.

I continued to struggle with my weight and discovered in 2002 that giving up wheat helped not only my weight, but I felt better. I didn’t stick with it.  In 2009, I was at my highest weight of 222 lbs!  I lost 20 lbs. that year and then Cavan and I both stuck with the ‘cookie’ diet and I lost an additional 40 lbs. by the end of March 2010.  Eating only 300 calories a meal was not sustainable, so the weight crept on again, although I maxed out at 218 lbs. that time.

In 2015, I ‘played’ at the paleo lifestyle.  I was good most of the time and I lost 20 lbs., most of which was in November, when I lost 11 lbs., between the first and the 18th of the month.  That was the month I got laid off, though, and then, of course, there was Christmas.  Mind you, I was at least paleo-ish and only gained 2 lbs.  

This month, I have been trying harder and adding exercise.  I have lost those 2 pounds and 4 more, so I am trying to stick to this lifestyle.  It is tricky, but doable.  So, I am increasing the exercise a bit each week.  I will work with the Bowflex and free weights this week, along with the Tzone and stretches!  I’ll see how it goes.

I made a paleo chocolate mug cake yesterday, for a treat, and I’m going to do a paleo shepherd’s pie this week.  I need to find the recipes that are reasonably easy to work with and I think I should be okay.  I’ll blog about it from time-to-time as I go along.

Well, folks, I pray that everyone can meet their own lifestyle goals!  God bless!

Still Paleo-ish

I was hoping to report that I had gone totally paleo this week, but I have to confess that I am still only paleo-ish.  I was pretty good most of the week and noted that I was even down the two pounds I gained over Christmas and New Year’s, but I failed a couple of times.  The epic fail was last night, when I was too lazy to make anything other than nachos.  So--dairy, chilli with beans and corn chips!  I am feeling a rather uncomfortable belly today in retaliation.

Well, we start a new week and I will work on better planning and try to get through the week without a paleo fail.  Here’s hoping!

On a good note, I continue to work on the re-organization of my house.  I am taking it slowly, as I don’t want to tax my MS and I want to make sure that I do things in the right order, so that I don’t have to go back and re-organize anything.  So, slowly but surely.

I am quite pleased to note that we got the microwave oven delivered and installed, to replace the one that gave up the ghost after only five years.  I don’t bake or cook much in it and as a matter of fact, I mostly heat, melt and soften things in it, but it sure saves the effort and the pans on the gas stove.  I also ordered two shaker sideboards and hutches, that will complete the dining room. They will be made by an Amish fellow in Ohio and will take about 12 weeks, so I guess I won’t re-organize the kitchen and dining room until those arrive.  The other piece of furniture that I just bought and arrived on Friday was an electric fireplace/TV stand for the basement.  The TV had been sitting on a big desk that took up a lot of room and I’m very happy with the fireplace--a great purchase.

I think that is all I need that is new, as we settle into retirement.  Once we get everything organized, we should be able to sit back and enjoy it!

So, we’re busy, busy, busy!  I’m trying not to tax Cavan or I too much.  Cavan is still stiff from the fireplace construction (it of course, required assembly!) and I decided to take on the extra washing that I do from time to time that includes the cat blankets, chair covers and bath mats. There is never a dull moment here!

Now, I am looking forward to a paleo week (got a pork roast for dinner tonight!) and continued re-organization!  Hopefully, I will also fit in some reading.  Interestingly enough, although I was in the city once each of the last two weeks, I’m not due back for three weeks, when I take my friend Viv to see Gaslight.  

All is good with us here in the lovely little town of Cobourg!  May you have a blessed week!

Paleo-ish

I was reading a blog recently, where someone was mentioning that their husband is paleo-ish.

I can tell you from experience, that if I stick to the paleo lifestyle, that I feel better and that my weight comes off.  I have lived it, but, (isn’t there always a but?), I sometimes stray from the paleo ways.  I truly have no good excuse for it to tell you the truth, and I even do it knowing that I will feel crappy when I do.  I will say that I never go whole hog when I do.  I stay mostly paleo and just become paleo-ish.

So, time to get back to it!  This has to be more than a New Year’s resolution.  I know that Cavan will never be more than paleo-ish because he really loves his pasta and even I will tell you that spaghetti squash is not the same as spaghetti.  I am on a bit of a mission, though because I know that the more tasty meals I can make to keep him off the grains, the better.  I may have trouble getting him off his chocolate milk though, but we will see how it goes.  Cavan and I do not drink coffee or soda and Cavan doesn’t even drink tea and he also likes his sugary lemonade.

I am thinking that if I take it day by day, knowing that he will start to feel better and the pounds will start to come off that I may not be able to keep him to paleo every day, but perhaps at least most of the time.

You see, the problem is this: his knees are getting worse.  I’m afraid that he is kind of between a rock and a hard place here though.  I don’t think they will operate until he gets his weight down and yet I believe that if he gets his weight down, he won’t need the surgery.  Hm!  Either way he needs to get his weight down and I need to try to do it without him realizing that he is actually becoming paleo.

Aha!  This is the gauntlet of challenge.  Am I up for it?  Well, I shall do my best!  This will take some planning, AND he get desserts!  Let’s see how this goes.  It will do us both the world of good, but I need to try to keep it interesting.  He won’t eat some of the paleo things I love, like sweet potatoes and squash, but I’ll figure it out.  Also, he is allergic to onions, but I don’t mind because I don’t care for them, anyway.

So, let’s see how we do this week.  One day at a time and if he starts to see results, I may have him hooked!  It’s gotta be better than the last diet we were on that was essentially 300 calories a meal.  We did lose 60 pounds each, but it was not sustainable.  I believe that this is sustainable.  I know it is for me, at least it should be, I just get lazy.

God bless you all with your own diet challenges!

Retirement

And so my empty journal begins to fill.  If you read the blog from Monday, I was commenting that a new year begins like an empty journal and with each day, you fill it with entries from the year.  Here it is only a quiet rainy Saturday and I am already blogging again, as I try to ‘schedule’ daily activities in retirement.

This week, I managed to get three years worth of filing done, cleaned up the office, loaded up the new bookshelves, saw the dentist and began to pack away all the Christmas stuff.  I had discovered in 1998 that if you don’t plan anything, nothing gets done.  So, every day, I have a task or two that I want to accomplish.  I don’t want to take on too much at a time and tax my MS and I want to make sure I include some reading time!

Today’s task, after I finish blogging, is to take the ornaments off the two Christmas trees that I have and pack up the trees, as well as bringing in the outside decorations.  Then, sadly, Christmas is truly over for another year.

My overall plan is to go through the house closet by closet and room by room and get rid of stuff, organize things and basically make my life easier by making the things I use the most more easily accessible.  Somewhere in there, I will organize my paperwork for the taxes, so that as soon as I get all my receipts, I can get them done and submitted and get onto the next thing.

So, I often get asked how retirement is.  Well, I think that this is the first week that I have actually felt like I can think about that.  Before now, I was so busy with paperwork for the severance and retirement, and then there was so much to do for Christmas, that I couldn’t really look at it like retirement.  Now, I have a bit of time on my hands, like a retiree should!

I’m enjoying it so far!  At the end of the year, I will see what the year was all about and decide then, if retirement suits me.

Well, one thing hasn’t changed I see, as I watch two sleeping cats on my desk.  They still want to be near me and whether I’m doing ‘work work’ or I’m just blogging or doing my morning e-mail/Twitter/Facebook stuff, life for them hasn’t changed.

Here’s to things that change and things that remain the same!  God Bless!

An Empty Journal

The new year began three days ago.  It’s like starting with a blank canvas or empty journal.  We have the opportunity to paint, or write anything we like.  It’s a whole new year!

As I begin a new ‘schedule’ as a recent retiree, I have an even greater opportunity to write my story for this year.  I have already begun to get back to my daily work out, much more reading and also on the agenda is organizing (and purging--we’ll see how well that goes!).  I plan to go room by room, closet by closet, cupboard by cupboard to better organize what I need while, hopefully, getting rid of what I don’t.

Later this year, I will be taking a diaconate course that will allow me to better serve the Cobourg and surrounding community.  By then, I should have the house sorted out!  At least that’s the plan…

In amongst all of that, I will have to see if I can manage to live on the pension I will get monthly from my company.  I am hoping so, as I really don’t want to have to pick up a part time job.  I think I shall be busy enough with what I hope to accomplish.

As I begin my new year, my daughters also have a whole new year to look forward to.  One daughter will be finishing her degree in April and even starting a new job this month.  Another daughter got a raise and already has many weddings booked for the year, for which she works her magic on ladies hair.  

As to Cavan, he is now a reseller of 3D printers, which I hope will bring in some customers.  He has one possibility in Sudbury, but there is still a bit of work he needs to do to fully understand them and he has discovered that because they take a long time to print, that you really need a backup battery, because they don’t recover well from a power blip.

All new and exciting stuff!  Let’s see how we make this year into the latest chapter of our lives.

I pray that everyone who reads this also has great prospects for this new year.  God bless!