First hump day of June.

Blessings Darlings!

Tomorrow, June 4, is Hug Your Cat day.  I don't know who designated this.  I do know that not all cats like to be hugged, so I suspect that this holiday was created by a company that makes bandages.  Always follow the money.  Always.

Sunday looks like it will be busy for me - one protest, one occult book launch party, family time, and goodness knows WHAT else that I've forgotten so far.  My gracious!  And I'll need to make signs for the protest ...

I exercised my ass off today.  Unfortunately, I'm trying to get my belly off.  I don't have much ass to begin with.  I guess I should add some dead lifts to the mix to help my ass a bit.  Blew the diet this morning, but was good the rest of the day.  I did laundry and hung it outside, I voted, I didn't get a darn thing done in the garden other than water.  I'll do the dishes shortly.  I did cook the chicken outside, in the toaster oven, as it was in the 90's today and I didn't want to heat the house.

Just a day in the life.

Frondly, Fern

Re-taking The Hill. Again.

Blessings Darlings!

Dreams last night were frustrating but immensely informative. In them I took on every single task other folks gave me. Every . Single . One . Of . Them . I also had my repetitive dream of 'driving a vehicle so big that I can't see the street to steer and drive over other vehicles'.

Time to re-assert sovereignity over my life and time. I've been slipping on that again.  

 

Yeah, I slip on this with GREAT regularity.  Okay - it's not 'great' for me.  It sucks for me, and is a habit ingrained from childhood.  I'm not going to bore myself by citing some of the examples.

So today I'm back to setting time limits on housework, on cruising the internet for other folks, etc.  Freed time is for MY goals - food gardening (yes, even in winter), writing, study, exercise, planning healthier meals for myself, etc.

Gotta run - it's going to start raining again soon, and I need to get stuff done in the garden before it does.

Frondly, Fern

Weight. Fiber. Healthy Stuff.

Blessings Darlings!

Book reviews are coming - but life's been busy lately.  Very busy.  My husband has a new contract that's a bit of a death march on timing (so much to do, so little time to get it done) - so I'm doing all the housework except the bathrooms (our spawn does those.)  I'm also doing a lot of support work on the project, since, after all, I am the co-owner of the business even if I don't do the programming.  And then there's the keeping him fed/coffee'd, etc...

Meanwhile, I've got a butt-ton of my own goals that I'm working on.  Not just the reading, but increases in magical practice and ... there are a lot of health goals in play.  So the rest of this post is going to be whining about problems manifesting the sometimes contradictory actions to reach an assortment of health goals.  Just ONE part of ONE thing I'm doing - getting at least 10,000 steps a day - takes me a lot of time.

Still with me?

Okay.

I'm old, chubby, and out of shape.  Actions are underway to work on those things.  Part of the problem is insulin resistance due to metabolic syndrome.  For that - increase exercise, reduce weight, reduce carbs in my diet (especially highly refined ones.)  Being a woman over 60, I'm also supposed to get 21 grams of fiber a day.   That's the fiber in about 4 cups of cooked broccoli - one of the BETTER vegetable sources of fiber.  A cup and a half of salad mix has only 1 gram of fiber.  The double serving of spaghetti squash I had for breakfast had only 2.2 grams of fiber!

The only good food sources for fiber are ... starches.  Sweet potatoes. Cooked dry beans.  Cooked barley.  Exactly the types of food I'm trying to reduce in my diet.  The foods I was heavily relying on (and getting heavy from!) during the last decade of Broke Ass Eating.

I feel personally betrayed by this, even as it makes clear what I'm going to have to top my salad with.  And I might end up buying some fiber supplement to add to water/coffee/whatever. Because I'd really like to have fruit as my carbs - I really like fruit.  I don't mind beans, but fruit is, well, sweet.

Yeah.  First world problems - losing weight and making sure I poop regularly as I age.

Frondly, Fern

Healthy Eating

Blessings Darlings!

So it's noon, and so far I've eaten the way .... sigh .... the way I feel I should be eating all the time.  Brunch was one small left over cubed baked potato, leftover home-canned green beans, diced onion and red pepper, all topped with a sprinkling of shredded mozzarella, nuked to heat it/melt the cheese.

Cheap, filling, two servings of veggies.  I dunno if I can count the tater as a veggie or not - it's certainly not a grain!  So I'm on my way trying to get 9 servings of fruits/veggies for the day.

Rah.

Frondly, Fern

Crunch

Blessings Darlings!

I'm sitting here eating a very healthy breakfast as I type.  Freshly made hummus and freshly sliced veggies that I'm dipping into it.  This is a change.

I've been eating very badly lately.  Like - yesterday, for example.  No fruit or whole grains with breakfast, just eggs/ham/white bread, a huge sugary coffee for lunch, and two slices of greasy pizza for dinner. So I'm trying to crawl back to eating ... better. More veggies. More whole grains. 

I'm less concerned with what I should NOT eat as much of.  If I make it a point to eat good tasting good stuff, I'm hoping that will crowd out the good tasting bad stuff. 

I sure wish that cucumbers weren't a dollar each right now.  Oh well.

Frondly, Fern

Progress!

Blessings Darlings!

I've finally reached a GOOD milestone in my work on improving my eating habits.  For the first time .... I bought a big ol' 1 pound box of  organic spring mix AND WE ATE IT ALL BEFORE IT WENT BAD. 

Salads at dinner for everyone.  Salads as lunch or breakfast for me. Salads anointed with hard boiled eggs, or lentils, or leftovers, or whatever.  It took work and planning - I'm hoping that this gets more automatic over time. 

Next trip to the store I need to remember to get some fresh mozzarella for salads (as well as for pizzas), because Suz had one with that and drizzled balsamic vinegar that was AMAZING when we were out on Monday.  And today I'll roast portabellas and potatoes to re-create the salad I had while out ... wait, I'll need some feta for that, so that might wait.  I guess I'll just make some more lentils.

No, my weight isn't better.  And, yes, the spring mix was in a plastic box, and I have NO idea where they were grown.  So it didn't help all of my green and Pagan and Wiccan and health and environmental goals. 

Frondly, Fern

Diet/Fitness Update

Blessings Darlings!

Well .... uh ....  you see ..... I'm starting over on this diet/fitness stuff.  I let it go, again. I'm calling it another practice round.  This time will be for real!  Yeah, that's the ticket.

Weight is up.  Endurance down. Don't know what's gong on with blood pressure.  I assume my cholesterol and triglycerides are at their usual high levels. 

Today I ate well and got back to beginning levels of exercise.  Still HATE HATE HATE to exercise.  Still don't have the knees or endurance to bike to the store instead of using exercise bike.  Current plan is to walk tomorrow. 

I've been meaning to take some psyllium fiber supplements before meals, but keep forgetting to do that.  It's not only supposed to help you feel fuller but also block absorption of dietary cholesterol.  OTOH, my cholesterol and triglyceride issues are not just diet but also genetics.  Still, it's something to try that's cheap and doesn't have a litany of bad side effects.  Unlike most of the cholesterol drugs on the market.

That's what's up here today.

Frondly, Fern

Recipe Modification

Blessings, Darlings!

So, since I'm trying to lose weight to lower my blood pressure, I suppose I'm going to have to modify a recipe or two.  Like the chicken & Dumplings I'm planning on serving on Sunday.  The guys like it, uh, with puff pastry instead of dumplings. That's probably not my best choice in starches ... and, really, it's not my favorite starch anyway. 

I'll probably serve THEIRS that way, anyway, since I heat the chicken/veggies/sauce apart from baking the puff pastry.  But for me, hmmmm.....

I thought about serving it over brown rice, sort of like chicken a la king.  That would be okay.  Over barley? No, not appealing.  Lentils?  Oh!  Now THAT sounds good.  I'll use brown, only because the red ones become more of a puree and I don't happen to have any green ones.  And, yes, I'm using evaporated skim milk instead of cream in the sauce.

First-world problem solved!

Frondly, Fern

Family

Blessings, Darlings!

This losing-weight/getting fit program I'm on is a solo program - the rest of the family isn't coming on this roller coaster with me.  Which has good and bad points.

Bad, of course, is that they want, and are getting, normal meals.  Tonight's dinner was served with puff pastry for them, but brown rice for me.  I made the brown rice in bulk a few days ago, so nuking some wasn't a big deal. My son is still bringing home the fried chicken lunches he doesn't eat, as we're having that for dinner once a week.  I eat mine minus the skin and breading.  And it KILLS me to take the skin and breading off and throw it away!

On the other hand, I'm Druish - Druid of Jewish Origins.  So I'm making the most of the Martyr Points I get for letting them not change their eating habits while I change mine.  I also get oodles of Self Righteousness Points and Smugness Points.  I hug those points to myself as I have fruit for dessert.

Actually, I AM slowing moving their diets in 'my' direction.  For example, we had pasta last night.  I had whole wheat, they had regular white semolina based.  But both TASTED mine, and agreed it was perfectly adequate.  Which is an improvement - in the pasta, not their taste buds.  Whole wheat pasta used to taste overly sweet and didn't have anywhere NEAR the same mouth-feel as regular pasta, but now the taste and mouth feel is almost the same as the regular.  So I will be able to serve them whole wheat pasta now, or at least a mix of the two.

We'll see what other steps I can get them to take with me.  Maybe my husband will take walks more often, or walks that are longer than 12 minutes?  Yes, I timed his walks!  I admit it!  Using chutneys to season lean meats is right out as husband HATES that, and he hates sweet salsas, too.

The Chubby Hubby IS helping one aspect of my diet.  I bought a bag of tiny square 3 Musketeers, and gave them to him to dole out to me when I ask for them.  Only one or two at a time.  They have only 25 calories but really nice sweetness and, of course, CHOCOLATE.  They make me very happy.

Frondly, Fern

Sweating

Blessings, Darlings

So, I'm reading my timeline on Twitter, and Men's Health has this link: Identify What's Stopping You from Losing Weight.  My immediate reaction - dudes, what's so hard about figuring THAT out?

For me, it's really easy:  I love to eat, and I hate to exercise.  Food TASTES GOOD, at least food I buy/make. I love salt.  I love grease.  I love carbs.  I love protein, covered with salt, and even better when covered with grease.  Breaded and fried and salted?  Excellent!

And I HATE sweating.  It doesn't matter if it's from the day being hot or from exercising.  I hate it.  Today was a really ROUGH day for me on the exercise bike, because I SWEATED while exercising.  Yech.  Well, also my right butt cheek started whining, even BEFORE I got on the bike, "I do NOT want to get back on that bike seat".  Great, I though, prototypical 'talking out of my ass'.  I got on the bike anyway.  I did my exercising - warm up 4 minutes, then 30 minutes of 30 seconds at medium speed/30 seconds of sprinting, then 6 minutes of cool down (I did cut 5 minutes off, in deference to the now screaming butt-cheek).  Yes, I had the fan on while I biked, to help me feel better while doing it.

Weights and aerobics will follow (I'm typing this at noon).  But I do NOT like to exercise.  I may never like to exercise.  I may always HATE to sweat.  I expect to love to eat all my life.

I know WHY I'm fat. One of my problems in dropping weight is that the 'doing' doesn't have an intrinsic reward - putting on weight comes with activities I love, dropping it means NOT doing things I love (eating lots of fatty, salty, etc, food) and doing things I hate (sweating).

Yeah, yeah, I know, there's a reward if I keep at it.  Pie in the sky by and by.  How odd - I appear to be a "Reverend Ike" type dieter, who want reward NOW not in heaven after I die.

Frondly, Fern

 

Dramatic Sigh

Blessings, Darlings!

Remember the series I did earlier this year, Life Wellness?  How's that going for you?  For me, it meant I stopped GAINING weight, I am now dealing with arthritis in my knees, and my physical endurance has improved.

My diet, however, is still pretty miserable, I'm still fat, my blood pressure is still high as are my triglycerides and   cholesterol (total and LDL). So, as of this afternoon, I'm kicking up working on that.

Why?  Because I hate looking at myself in the mirror.  Is this a good time to do it, with the move and all?  Of course not.  There's never going to be a good time.  I did have the CH take my picture for a 'before'.  CH has not made any noises about joining me on this, BTW.

So, I got my 2 servings of fruit and 3 servings of veggies today.  I don't know if I should count the sweet potato as one, so I didn't.  I had a good serving of beans with lunch, and a little lean organic beef for dinner.  Alas, that's the last of the lean organic beef I have, so I'll be eating regular grocery beef for a while.  I'll probably pick up some whole grain bread tomorrow.  Or not.  I may try to avoid stuff with flour in it and just to less processed grains.  We'll see. 

I also got 45 minutes in on the exercise bike, at increased resistance.  My knee is not amused, but not whining too much.  Did an upper body workout with the heaviest weights I can use, obviously almost no reps.

Doing this while moving and while trying to keep the grocery budget on track will be kind of a challenge.  We'll see how it goes.  I'm sure that I'll slip at times, but I guess the point will be to just get back on track.

Stay tuned.

Frondly, Fern

This Kid Can Kill a Diet

Blessings, Darlings!

My beloved Spawn is making dinner tonight. He has a craving for Fettuccine Alfredo. Full of cream and butter and white flour noodles. And saute'd shrimp and clams.

I love it. But it's not at all healthy! Or cheap, for that matter.

So he and his dad will have the pasta and a salad. I'm having vegetable soup, salad, the delightful pasta, steamed asparagus, and strawberries for dessert. My hope is that I won't have room for a second serving of the fettuccine. A similar plan worked yesterday, when I didn't have seconds on the main course of dinner by eating an extra orange.