Happy Thanksgiving...a few days late

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Do you see our turkey on the meat and cheese plate below:

Good food, good friends, good weather, good times. Isn't that the way it is supposed to be? I think so.
Walk-on!

Day Seven - The Happy Thanks-I-Can-MOVE-Giving Challenge

Exercise: Nice walk and then leaf raking.
I am grateful that my husband did the lion's share of the yard work today. We have nine mature oak trees and the leaves were thick! He was out there for HOURS!!! I am also grateful that my son did his science fair experiment today. Finally, I am grateful for the fantastic weather (well the wind was a bit much for leaf work!!!) and the leftover turkey hash we are having for supper made for an easy cooking day for me and it will be yummy!

From a week ago, I went out to the trail and they put rocks across the opening to the street to keep vehicles out. I wondered if they moved the two downed trees too.

They HAD!!! We walked all the way to the other end with no more trees blocking the path. At the other end they also put rocks up to keep vehicles out. It was wonderful to have the trail back!

Even Ziva approved.

She liked the rocks and even got up onto one of them.

Such a proud puppy!

To fulfill the Happy Thanks-I-Can-Move-Giving Challenge we need to donate stuff for a good cause. I have four full bags of clothing and household items that I no longer need. We will deliver them tomorrow morning!

It's been a fun challenge. I would do one like this again! ‪#‎TGChallenge‬
I hope you are all Walking-On and keeping your belts from having to be let out a few notches!

Day Six - The Happy Thanks-I-Can-MOVE-Giving Challenge

24 hours ago our first company arrived for Thanksgiving. We had great foods and wonderful conversations. We played several games of Farkle, a dice game. The day did not start well though. Ziva bit one of our smaller dogs, Tipsy, and drew blood. This morning I took him to the vet and he should be alright. We have antibiotics and pain meds for him. Poor little guy. :(

Exercise: A soul cleansing walk, even though I am dead tired today!
I am grateful for my youngest son today, as he turns 14! Happy Birthday kiddo!

Tomorrow is the last day of the challenge. It has been a fun distraction as well as a fun challenge. Thank you Roni, for organizing this all!
#TGChallenge

Day Five - The Happy Thanks-I-Can-MOVE-Giving Challenge

What a day! I am copping to having my exercise be all the walking I did today, in house. From the time I finished my second cup of coffee till after the last of the guests left, I only sat long enough to eat! lol
I am grateful for the company because it recalled years gone by of when my Mom did the Thanksgiving Feast. I have tears from the memories. They are good tears though. :)

Will walk-on a bit extra in the morning. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Day Four - The Happy Thanks-I-Can-MOVE-Giving Challenge

Exercise: Yoga and a walk.
Grateful: I am grateful for all the students that showed up at the yoga class I taught this morning. They loved the special practice we had and told me so. It is nice to get positive feedback.

I am grateful for the students in my healthy living class who showed up. The three of us had a great time and talked about how we were going to celebrate the holidays.

I am grateful for the two strong young men who helped me by bringing boxes down from the attic and ran to the store for more pie crusts and vacuumed and so much more. It made a huge to-do list a huge done-it list.

Walk-on and Happy Thanksgiving weekend!!!

Day Three - The Happy Thanks-I-Can-MOVE-Giving Challenge

Exercise: 30 minute walk outside.
Grateful for: this gorgeous day! The sun is shining, it is a bit cool, the sky is blue, and the walk was invigorating! I am also grateful that I have all the Thanksgiving feast ingredients in the house so I can start baking and making stuff tomorrow!

Day Two - The Happy Thanks-I-Can-MOVE-Giving Challenge

Exercise was Yoga today.
My grateful posting was: Day 2: I am grateful for a bright sunny day, a great yoga practice this morning, and that my little dog wasn't badly hurt by my stupid big dog this morning. #TGChallenge.

Day One - The Happy Thanks-I-Can-MOVE-Giving Challenge

I did my 30 minutes of 'on purpose' exercise today. I started with a short walk and added exercises that I plan on developing as the new year comes in. It involves squats, sit-ups on the ball, side steps with stretchy band, leg lifts on the ball, arm curls and more. When it is only 20-30 minutes, it really is easy to add such easy exercises!

My grateful posting on FaceBook this morning was: Day 1: I am grateful that I have a nice warm house on a rainy day, with family around, and time to work in my studio without guilt!
‪#‎TGChallenge‬

I am working on several bags to donate to charity later this week. I love this challenge! See you tomorrow!

Walk-on and Happy Thanksgiving week!

Come Quick!!! It is a one week challenge!

Roni from Roni's Weigh blog has issued a fun challenge:

I am doing this. How about you? You can check out Roni's blog clicking on the above poster.

Walk-On everyone and Happy Thanksgiving holidays!

Same Thing, Different Time

This will be a quick post as I either do a little one or do none at all! I have also shamed myself into posting since some bloggers, that I respect a lot, are also having troubles being consistent or feeling the content is inadequate. You know what? It really should be ok. I mean for the other bloggers. Not so much for me. I have a few followers and I DO feel I owe them a posting more often than what I've done. But I do feel repetitive and like I owe more magic pills of wisdom to help others lose weight too.
Then I feel like a hypocrite because I gained some weight back. Why can't I give myself credit for having lost SEVENTY pounds and having kept it off for over two years? Not only have I lost the weight, AND in spite of having gained some back, overall, I am down TEN FREAKIN' INCHES off my waist! That counts for something, yes it does.
Tonight I am trying to give myself credit for what I HAVE done.  If I really want to re-lose those 25 pounds, I know I have to exercise a little more. I am not sure if I will. I am going to keep on walking and keep on with yoga. I might add more strength training. I am not sure how I am going to go about that though. If money was no object, I would hire a trainer. I work well with a trainer. I don't have to think. I just have to DO. It might make a good Christmas gift this year. I will ponder that thought.

In other quick news, the trail is still closed. Oh I do still go out and climb over under and through but if it's been wet I don't like to do that. Maybe I will hike out there with a saw and trim off a few branches so I can go around the trees a bit easier.

Speaking of walking, Spark People sent me this notice a few weeks ago:

According to their records, I have walked a distance of 1,800 miles since joining them. That is about 600 miles per year! Neat!

That's the latest my friends. I hope you are all doing the best you can do, and trying the best you can try, for today. Then go back at it again, tomorrow.

Walk-on!

October Trail Tails or Tales?

A few days ago we ventured out to my favorite trail. We wanted to see if they've mowed down the weeds. The trail is growing narrower and narrower!

It was still overgrown though. As Ziva and I walked along we saw an orange kitty. Well I saw it. Ziva was tracking it with her nose! She never looked up and actually saw the cat! hahahaha  We also saw a huge jack rabbit with ears as long as its body. Finally, in a flash of white, we saw the tails of two grown deer as they bounded off the trail. TOO COOL!!!

I am not fast enough to get photos of such things. I did manage to take a photo of Ziva and my shadow though. Gads it felt good to be back out there!

Today's weather was also perfect. I was working on a tricky project in the sewing studio and around 2pm I needed a break. We took off for a walk. The first thing we came upon were these pretty purple-y flowers:

I am not sure what they are. The bees were really enjoying them though! I was listening to my podcasts as we walked along. I decided to make a big hike out of the day and went to see if anything had been done to clean up the remote part of the trail since the last time I was out a few days ago.

There sure was something that had been done, and we were not too pleased about it!

Someone had cut a tree down to block the trail! At first I thought perhaps it was the wind we had had about a week ago, but then I saw this:

Mother Nature does not make such clean cuts.

We managed to climb over the branches though and took this parting shot as we left the roadblock:

As we neared the end of the trail, and our turn around point we came upon this:

Yes, another tree down. What the heck! This one wasn't as easy to climb through, but we did. I took another photo from the other side of this downed tree too.

I suppose the owners of the properties near the trail are tired of the shenanigans that go on at night. There are often signs of parties and such things. I still don't think this is right though. I guess I will keep going through these obstacle courses, if I want to keep using the trail.

We ended our walk today by flushing out a young hunter. I think it is illegal to hunt on the trail because it is in city limits. He thought I didn't see him and turned and walked away. When I came around a corner, he had mysteriously lost his rifle! The little chit had ditched it in the brush and was walking towards me with his phone, as if he were out for a stroll. If I had seen the gun I might have been tempted to grab it! Dang little whipper snapper!!!

So how did you spend your Sunday afternoon?
That's all for tonight. I plan to keep walking and hope my dear readers will, as always, walk-on with me!

What has Abby been up to?

Abby has been busy. Late in September you could find her busy in her sewing room, repairing and making new costume pieces!

She likes going to renaissance faires! Do you know what they are? Imagine you have gone back in time to when Queen Elizabeth the 1st was queen. The time would be around the 1600's through the 1700's. (give or take a hundred or so years)

Abby, her husband, and her young son all dress in costumes that could have been found way back then. They all play music! Abby plays a penny whistle, which is similar to a flute. Her son and husband both play many different instruments with strings. When they play music, Abby sets her basket down in front, just in case someone wants to tip them. They have a lot of fun!

Abby has also been struggling, as you all know by now. She can't figure out why her weight is not moving in a more favorable direction.

She's been trying to walk more.

She's been keeping a food journal, although she really hates that!

But her weight would still keep going up and down and up and down, over and over. Since May, she's been around 217-220 pounds. Why?

She is so tired of her muffin top.

Her belly seems to be hanging out even more these days. Why?

Poor Abby. So how has she been approaching all this? She tried going out on her favorite trail but found it was all grown over and hard to walk through.

So she started walking in town more. The weather was nice and that helped. She also looked LONG and HARD at WHY her body and weight was doing what it was doing. She did research and read up on things.

One day, she looked at her belly again:

Ugh. Talk about your spare tire! Why? Her food journal showed she was eating the right amount of calories. What could the problem be?
Then she asked google the question: "Beer, wine, alcohol, bellies". She had heard of beer bellies. Could wine cause the same thing? She always accounted for the calories in the wine she drank. Surely that couldn't be the issue! But no, there it was. . . article after article explained why drinking wine, or beer, or spirits could cause the belly fat issue. Damn!

What she found out was that the body's metabolism will work on metabolizing alcohol first. If you eat  at the same time, or after drinking, or snack during or after drinking, those food calories will go straight to storage. . . in the form of fat! That is the simplified version of the process.

So Abby has decided to cut way back on her wine intake. She took her belly measurements on the 14th and will take them for the next two months to see if just decreasing her wine, will make a difference.

While she's doing that, she still plans to go for walks. She adores this time of year! Stay tuned to see how Abby's experiment works out! And walk-on dear readers!

Grumpy Mornings

I am grumpy this morning. I've been journaling my food and walking more and my weight was up yesterday. I know I shouldn't let this bother me so much, but it does. I really struggle to find the balance between a weight I'd be happy with and the work I have to do to maintain that weight. I used to dream of being 150 pounds. That was about three years ago. Then when I stopped losing around 185 pounds, I thought that 175 would be more realistic. Then my weight went over 200 again, so now I am saying I'd be really happy to just be in one-derland.

Since I am grumpy I will share one pet peeve. I am so tired of skinny women saying they need to lose 10 more pounds. If you look good, have a good body fat percentage, can't you be happy there? I know, we ALL have trouble accepting how we look is really not the pounds on the scale. Does ANYONE out there, actually LIKE how they look?

So what did I do on this grumpy morning? Did I sit at home and eat a bunch of bread? Nope. I went for a walk. I went for a three and a half mile walk. It hurts so much. My left knee has osteoarthritis in it and it can get very painful. But I did it. I am sweaty. I need a shower. I am also not so grumpy now.

So if you're grumpy too, just Walk-On dear readers, Walk-On!

The truth hurts good!

Shame on me for not posting sooner. I've been preoccupied and busy. No, that is a lame excuse. I really wonder if it is worth writing about the same old same old. I bet there are only one or two people that even read this blog of mine. Oh well. If even ONE person reads this blog still and it helps them out, I will keep on posting. It might only be a few times a month, but I will post anyway. . . just in case.

Autumn is just around the corner and it is my favorite time of the year. Today I walked on my trail. I haven't been out there for many many months. Sadly, I won't be going back there any time soon. It has become terribly overgrown and it is hard walking through tall grass and weeds. Plus I worry about ticks. It was still nice to be out there though. I should hit over 10,000 steps today because of it too! I will be sticking to the pavement though. We have a pretty decent neighborhood and I can go in many different directions so as not to become bored with the same pavement each time.

I've lost a few pounds and am back under 220 again. I will admit I am ever the skeptic and I don't know if this is the road back to one-derland or just a fluke. I hope it is the roadway!

School has been back in session for a month now. It is nice getting back into a routine. My Friday yoga class still has people showing up. I hope I am doing right by them. I take it very seriously. I want to help. I also love the attention and positive feedback. Being the oldest child in my family makes for somewhat of a narcissistic personality. I try to keep that a positive trait though. I will admit I like being the center of attention. (Why is that such a bad thing?) I balance it out with caring for my family. I also try to remember to ask how folks are feeling and to recall their personal stories that they've shared so I can ask them how that situation is. For me, that takes a bit of work to do. I feel good about myself when I remember to do that though.

I need to go start supper. Speaking of food, the biggest reason some weight has started to come off has been that I am keeping a food journal again. Damn I hate how well that works! This is the sort of truth that hurts in a good way! hahahaha

Walk-On!!

Patience Grasshopper, Patience

Abby is not a patient person. She does not handle waiting too well. She wants it NOW!!! A lot of us want the pounds to go off our bodies, NOW too! It doesn't happen that way.

What does work is food journaling, a bit of exercising, and educating yourself as to portion sizes, calories per SERVING, and knowing the ingredients of processed foods. Abby had thought she could do without food journaling and she gained weight. A week ago, she started journaling again. When she weighed in, she found herself down FOUR pounds!!!

I can hardly wait to see what happens next week. Will she be down again or was this week just a fluke? 

Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend y'all! And Walk-On.

Well flip my switch and call me Norman!

What the heck am I saying? I hardly know where to begin. How about with a cute picture of Abby with a toy spider to play with and to tease the cat with?

Abby has had a hard time of it. Things have been going sour for months now. Although she kept hanging on, she was loosing ground. One thing about Abby, she doesn't like taking pills. She thinks she is strong enough to deal with life on her own. She thinks she isn't SO depressed that she needs a pill to make her happy.

Then she fell apart . . . again. She had mild depression, anxiety attacks, panic attacks, crying way too hard for no real tangible reason, and was so miserable. She felt like she was under her own private rain cloud…all doomy and gloomy. She put on a good front though. She was in denial. She did not want to take any damn pills.

She wasn't suicidal. (You don't have to want to end your life to need help.) Abby just figured everyone was sad, every day. She felt very empty too. She bravely sought help and started taking a medicine that helped, but it made her very sleepy.

She could barely make herself go to yoga class, much less keep up with the ten minute a day walks. She was mad at herself for being this way. She went back to the doctor and tried a new pill. She isn't as tired now. Hopefully this new pill will help her with coping skills and get her back into the life she really wants to live.

* * *

It's funny how Abby has a lot of the same problems I have! I've been on my new pills for two weeks now. I am now in my studio more and have a bit more energy. I am still not happy with my level of alcohol intake although it is a LOT less and getting more-so.

I had something happen this past weekend that I really truly hope means I am headed back on the right path. I got a kick in the pants. I tried to put on a dress and it didn't fit. I love this particular dress. It really brought it home that I might only have gained 20 or 30 pounds, but it IS making a difference in my size. And I do NOT like this, not one little bit!

Today I felt that spark of renewal and rebirth. Today I felt that I might be able to make this life, MY life, on MY terms again. Keep your fingers crossed.

Oh, and walk on, even if only for ten minutes a day!

DIY: Fat Removal Surgery

I could not find out who the artist was. 

There are a lot of ways to think of this statue's message. Is it her inner beauty coming out? Maybe she is chipping away the fat, or wishing it was just as easy to lose weight by cutting it away? However you see it, it does make one pause and reflect. Or at least it caused ME to!

Walk-on!!!

Back from the Doctor

Lately I've been struggling with extreme fatigue. I finally allowed myself to spend the $20 co-pay to go see the doctor about it. I expected blood-work to be done and then be told it is all in my head. That is not what happened.

He said it was most likely a side effect of the meds I am on! He also said that some of the more recent weight gain could be a result of these meds too. Our plan of attack is to wean me off these and to try something else in a few weeks. He even offered me diet pills to jump start my weight loss. I declined them.

I really hope this works because I have become a major slug. I don't want to get out of bed in the mornings and can't wait to get to sleep at night. Then I sit around all day and watch old black and white TV shows. I don't want to go shopping or play in my studio. This is not me!

A FEW DAYS LATER: The meds must be about all out of my system. I was crying today at the sites of familiar views from the San Francisco area. I was watching some crime drama tv show. I get SO HOMESICK sometimes! I called in as doc said to and arranged for the new script to be filled. I do not want to get back to that sad weepy puddle again! I'll keep you posted on the results.

Someone asked me about sharing the meds I've tried. I tend to not do that because everyone reacts differently to different medicines. This will be the fourth one I will be trying. I actually took this over 17 years ago when going through a nasty divorce. I don't recall anything negative or positive about it. I like trying the older medicines that have long track records though.

I came across this the other day and found it kinda fun:

I am still leading the yoga class on Monday and Friday. For now I plan to keep on doing that. Other than that, life is pretty quiet with a busy autumn looming. I am looking forward to that!

Hope you are all doing well out there! Walk-On!

Who, me? Worry?

This saying is SO me! I need to work on not worrying so much about stuff. 

If you can't see beauty in yourself, get a better mirror.

Have you heard of "TED Talks"? There are a lot of interesting and inspirational stories on their site. I was listening to a recent one and I LOVE this quote from it:

Isn't that a great thought?!? If you click on the 'Abby cartoon' it will take you to the whole video that I got the quote from. 

Doing GREAT here!

Walk-On!!!

Here we go!

Well, who'd a thunk it? The scotch was messing me up much more than I realized! My system is back to normal. I am not craving a drink. I didn't have any alcohol on Monday. I had three glasses of wine on Tuesday as we had gone out to eat and to play music at an open mic night. I had nothing on Wednesday or Thursday, even though both days were stressful.

I am still going to have wine on the weekends. I have for years and just don't feel like worrying about it now. One step at a time as I get my head screwed on right again.

I just finished those two thirty day exercise challenges and started new ones. They are going quite well! I do leg lifts:

I am repeating the squat challenge, adding two five pound hand weights. I am doing the knee to elbow twists too. My knee and elbow don't get too close together though. Not yet anyway. I am still walking at least ten minutes a day too!

The other exercise is called Starfish. You lift opposite leg and arm to each other while laying down.

I am also still teaching yoga on Monday and Friday. I think I will make that Friday class a permanent one. I get lots of feed back from it that makes me feel so good about myself!

Things are looking up! Let's go for a walk!

It's not easy being me..(at least I am not a frog!)

Ribbit!

It's not easy to love myself. I have no excuses. It is not easy to write about some things … like admitting I have a drinking problem. Or admitting I weigh 220 pounds (up twenty pounds from January). It isn't easy admitting I spend a lot of time sitting in my rocker recliner while watching old episodes of Thriller and Alfred Hitchcock. My head is not on as straight as I'd like it to be, but then, was it ever?

I have not figured out the why of everything. I keep trying. I have upped my yoga to three times a week. The next thing will be to add strength training after the Monday and Friday yoga. Once the weather cools down, I plan to walk more.

I did a lot of research and have decided to pass on being certified in yoga. I am not comfortable with where the money goes and what you get in return for it. I would do better by taking classes from different teachers, by reading more books, and by researching online. Right now, I am teaching two days a week. I am substituting for our regular yoga leader on Mondays. I started offering a Friday class after several people expressed an interest. Eventually, I will be leading just the Friday classes. I keep getting this awesome feedback from my fellow practitioners! I feel this is the right step to take.

Last night was the first night in a LONG time that I didn't have anything to drink. Magically, the IBS cleared up. Gee, do you think two or three scotch and waters might mess up your gut? DUH! I plan to allow myself a little more time to be sure the drinking is back under control and not an every night thing before seeing my doctor too. If I continue to be a lump for most of the day, I will be talking to my doctor about the meds I am on. Perhaps they are making me sleepier than I thought? Right now, at this point, I do not plan to be alcohol free, just alcohol sensible. That means not drinking every night and definitely staying away from hard liquor! It seems like I go through this drinking crap every ten or so years. At least for today, I am confident that this latest binge is over.

In an easier topic to talk about, I finished the two thirty day challenges yesterday! That means I did 125 sit-ups, 200 crunches, 65 leg lifts, and a two minute plank. and 175 squats yesterday for my last challenge. My form was questionable. I didn't do sit-ups and crunches on the floor. I did them on my bed. I DID do them though! I seem to enjoy challenges. I am still walking ten minutes (or more) per day and still have not smoked a single cigarette this year. Yay me!

My next 30 day challenge is to repeat the squat challenge and add five pound weights to make it harder. I am also going to add this Muffin-top challenge:

At the same time, I am working to cut back on the alcohol. I am also working to watch my portions and to keep eating healthy. I will NOT give up.
Thank you to so many that take a moment to comment on my blog postings. There are a few of you that email me directly too and for that I am also grateful. I don't think I could do this without you and my support group. THANK YOU!
And now it is time for me to do a ten minute, Walk On y'all!!!

Fail … NOT

So ya, I have been ignoring you. I don't like to blog when I am not performing up to my own standards. I am still not back on track. My current downfall has been that I've been drinking too much. WTF is it with addictive personalities??? If it isn't food it is alcohol. If it isn't alcohol it is cigarettes. If it isn't cigarettes it is food. If it isn't alcohol it is shopping. What AM I searching for? What is lacking in my life? I have not figured it out just yet.
However, kudos to me for not giving up! I may not be doing as good as I should, could, would, want, hope, wish, to be doing, but I am not giving up. I would have given up long ago if I hadn't changed at least some part of my personality and life.

Believe it or not, my eating is still mostly clean and healthy. However, after a MONTH of having a bottle of wine a night, my tummy has expanded a full SEVEN inches!!!!!!

I know I have to cut this out and I am working on that. I am down to two bottles of wine over the weekend. I have NOT smoked at all this year, though I have come close. I am also still walking ten minutes per day. 

Now that summer is here, my 13 year old son and I will go out biking more. Our first outing was this week. We got to the trail and headed out. I noticed my tire was low. We stopped at a repair station, on the bike trail and tried to pump air into the tire. We ended up making the tire flatter than it was! I had no choice but to walk the 2.5 miles back to the van; and it was so hot and humid!!!

I've been practicing yoga for over three years now. It is the one exercise that I have kept up, out of all the exercises I've tried. For the past several months I have been substituting as a volunteer yoga teacher at our local senior center. Our regular teacher has been out with knee surgeries. I have found that I rather like teaching. I get a lot of kudos from my fellow practitioners. 

Perhaps, instead of fighting the thought of being recognized as "That woman who lost all that weight" and someone who knows all the answers for exercising and eating right, perhaps, I should embrace this newer version of me?

This in mind, I am toying with the idea of becoming a certified yoga instructor. The biggest thing that is holding me back is the expense. It costs about $3,000 for the classes and materials. It takes nine months to complete. I am tripping up over the expense of taking the classes. It isn't that I am not worth it. It is more that it is a hardship to afford that much money. I am not sure that this is a path I should take. The money is the negative part. We could carpet several rooms in the house. We could buy a new dishwasher. There are so many practical things we could do with that money. 

There are many positive aspects to becoming certified. I could be an advocate for heavier people and people in their senior years who think yoga isn't for them. I might even be able to get paid a little for my services. Of course having a bunch of people bowing down before me, has nothing to do with it!

That is the latest from this crazy house. I really am doing well, other than not working as hard as I should to figure out how to take off the weight I've gained. I am more happy than not. We've been playing music at the tavern and that makes me feel good. OH! I have also kept up with that Abs challenge and a squat challenge for June. NOT easy!!!! But I AM doing it. GO ME!!! hahahaha

Walk-on dear readers…it is the least we can do!

Tummy Tucking

Restarting again, again. I got over my 'thing' with not going into my sewing studio. The fabric therapy has definitely helped me! I am not sure I can do this June challenge, but take a look at this:

It has been all over FB and I don't know the origins of this challenge. I know my form will be non-existent, but am wondering if I can somehow DO this? I will let you know.

Plans are to update you on more of what is and is not going on in my life. It is not pretty nor is it awful. It is what it is.

Till then, if you can, Walk-On!

I am still out here