Time on the 21st

I just haven't felt like posting anything since Friday's tragedy in Connecticut. How does anyone deal with the horror of those little lives being taken so violently? I don't know. I do know I was immensely happy to hug my 6th grader when he came home from school that day. I felt guilty because I had a child to hug.
I have heard some talk of folks saying they are walking for at least 27 minutes on Friday the 21st, in order to remember those 27 lives lost, both young and old. For 27 minutes they will walk in silent contemplation and reverence. I plan to do something similar during my Friday walk. I don't want to hold it to a specific 27 minutes, but will dedicate 30 minutes without music or podcasts playing in my ears...to remember all that have been lost too many times in too many places. Join me?

Being Comfortable

I am enjoying a most delicious apple right now. I take a bite and type and bite and type. As long as I don't drool on the keyboard, I think this will work out just fine!
Speaking of working out, I was thinking about my exercise regimen yesterday. I really like the balance I have right now:

• Sundays I often go for a very long walk. 
• Monday is yoga and I like how I get to stretch all my muscles after having done whatever I've done on the weekends. It seems to start the week out right.
• Tuesday is a short walk in the morning and upper body weight training class in the afternoon.
• Wednesday I am back in yoga class. After the workout on Tuesday, I find yoga relieves tight and sore muscles.
• Thursday is a short walk in the morning again. In the afternoon I go to weight training class for the lower body and legs.
• Friday is a free-for-all day. I usually schedule some sort of errand running or I might do the short walk. Sometimes I don't leave the house, but I will do some housework. I also have recently made a morning appointment with myself to sit for 15 minutes and work on my art journaling.
• Saturday is a toss-up day. I can go for a walk, work on the strength machines, go in the pool, or do major yard work or housework or shopping or nothing. 

I am comfortable. Not TOO comfortable, but just the right amount of comfortable. As each week passes and my weight does not go up, I am thinking..."Is this real? Why is this time SO different? How can this be SO freakin' easy???" Is it because I give myself permission to not be perfect? Is it because I don't need to be 120 pounds to be healthy? I think for each of us, the answer is a different reason.

All those years of trying to lose weight and failing over and over again...why am I successful now? In part I think it comes down to the fact that I educated myself and continue to educate myself about foods and new discoveries in the world of heath. I remain a skeptic about most things (especially the NEWEST things) and stick to the basics that keep working well for me, time and time again. In part, I...

• eat sensibly and mindfully.
• add vegetables every time I can.
• make changes where I can and don't stress about the changes I can't make.
• keep active in life or in exercise classes.
• utilize a support group that helps me stay motivated and is very therapeutic.
• change up my exercise routine if I get bored doing what I am doing. 
• if something keeps tripping me up, I figure out how to not trip over it!

My weight has remained down from where it was a month ago. The more I live, what seems normal to me, the more I am amazed that I am not gaining, and in fact I lost a bit. This is exciting...well to ME it is!

Till next time, Walk-on!!!

Granny was right

Granny was right about more than we realized at the time.

Remember when she was doctoring her family? 

It has been so long ago since I've seen this show but I still recall one episode that has stuck in my mind all these years. There was an episode where a woman asked Granny for help. She couldn't sleep at night. Did Granny have some hill-country medicine that would help her sleep?

What did Granny prescribe? I seem to recall butter churning, floor washing, wall washing, washing clothes by hand with a washboard, and various chores that were normal for Granny to do every day. The woman was well off and had a maid that did all her household chores. When she followed Granny's advice she slept like a baby that night.

I've always remembered that part of that episode. If you're lazing around and at the end of the day you can't sleep, SOMETIMES it is because you haven't been active enough during the day.

A parade of wheat

It has been a whirlwind around this household! After the 'Big Dam Bridge Full Moon Walk' we had a birthday for my son. We then followed up that with a parade! The three of us were in the parade group from Fit 2 Live out of North Little Rock.

That is my son on the left, my husband in the middle and myself on the right. The parade theme was "A Psychedelic Christmas" so I found my original big bell, bell bottom jeans from 1974. Funny how tight they fit back in '74 and how lose they were now! I had to wear a belt to hold them up. What a fun way to get a 4+ mile walk done for that day's exercise!

So many things are on my mind! Before I forget all of them, I am trying to type really really fast! Here are the tidbits from my mind today:

• My weight started a downward trend again! I am not sure why but I am not going to argue the fact that over the last four weeks I've dropped at least two pounds!
• It has now been over a week since I quit smoking. I've been off the patch for four or five days. I declare that I have again, quit!
• I like having a trainer to work with on weight training. He keeps track of what I am doing and what I need to do and when I need to change it up. I like the freedom to not have to think about every detail and to just DO what he says I should.
• I like the structure of the yoga classes too, for the same reasons as the weight training sessions. 
• Having two days a week of structured yoga and structured weight training is plenty for me. The other three days are toss up days to exercise how I want to. I do make it a point to do something in the name of exercise each day, but I no longer am worried that I am not doing enough or doing exercise hard enough.
• I am starting to wean myself off of calorie counting. My New Year's goal is to stop all together. It is scary but at the same time exhilarating to think I can do this!
• My eating habits are getting more and more second nature. I love not having to be so damned obsessive about every morsel that goes into my mouth.
• I enjoy helping others with their weight issues. The longer I am successful at this the more empowered I feel that I CAN make a difference in someone else's life so that they do not have to suffer like I did.
• When I 'cheat' or just have to have something extra I am making it a point to have some mixed nuts, or a piece of fruit, or Greek yogurt. My theory is that since those are more natural foods, they will be absorbed better, health-wise, than a processed food would be.

I saw this on Facebook the other day:

I love the one that says the unopened registers

are there for decoration only! hahaha

My eating habits are leaning more and more towards eating more protein, vegetables, fruits, and drinking more water. I am trying to cut more and more wheat carbs out of my diet. That is an experiment I am working on to see if it makes a difference in how I feel or if the belly fat that I still carry around goes away more.

There is a theory out there that says the wheat we eat now is so far removed from the wheat our grandparents ate, that it is the cause for every ailment under the sun! I am undecided about *GMO stuff, but heck, this is worth a try! (*GMO = genetically modified organism) We often eat too much wheat anyway. Look at the processed foods and just see if there is any wheat in it. We are supposed to be surprised at what does actually have wheat in the ingredients.

We think of breads and such as having wheat, but I think we forget just how much wheat we use in other products. Maybe it IS something and maybe it isn't. I am ever the skeptic, so I can't take anyone's word for it. I will be my own guinea pig again. I'll keep you posted on the results.

That's it in a nutshell for today! My exercise of choice today is decorating the house for the holidays. It is a lot of work but it is also a fun way to exercise!

Till next time...walk-on!

It was a cold and stormy night...

No, not quite. It was cold but the sky was clear. It was almost a full moon. My husband and son joined me in our second annual "Big Dam Bridge Full Moon Walk" last night.

When we arrived, it was almost dark. Aren't those lights pretty? They changed with the music that was playing over the loudspeakers.

There I am, about halfway back to the North Little Rock side, where we started at:

I love how the lights are checking me.

Here I am, posing for a photo. I was on the Little Rock side of the bridge at this point. I wish I could share with you just how exhilarated I was! As I strode along, this feeling of power and strength and pure enjoyment flooded over me. When I did this same walk last year, I didn't weigh THAT much more than I do now...I was about 25 pounds more a year ago. It was a bit of a struggle to do that walk, but this time...this time I felt SO STRONG! That feeling carried me all through today. I was proud of myself. It is a strange feeling to admit that I could be PROUD of what I've accomplished. Little old me...I DID it. I lost the weight. I worked at getting stronger. I accomplished so much! Little old me.......and now I hope I can help others to feel this good about themselves too.

Walk-on dear readers...walk-on.

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving Day! 

I am thankful to all my readers who see my messages and are inspired to keep on, keeping on, with improving their lives, losing weight, and just living healthier! YOU keep ME going! Yes, you do!!!

I am totally not stressed out about today. I plan to eat well and sensibly. I will have pumpkin pie. It won't be the whole pie though, and I plan to enjoy every bite of what I do have. I also will go for a little walk later today as it is super lovely outside today!

I am grateful, that after all these years, I seem to have finally figured things out! I am successful, for the first time EVER, all on my own with no surgery, pills, gimmicks, or major life stresses used to lose weight for a short time, only to then gain it all back again.

I love my diamonds! I did have help though. Without the support of my husband and the folks in my support group, I really believe I would not have been this successful.

So again, thank you!

Not real exercise?

I didn't go to the gym today.
I didn't go for a swim.
I didn't walk on the trail today.
I didn't pick up my weights.
I didn't sit on the bouncy ball.
I didn't stretch out the bands.
I didn't do yoga or a DVD.
however.....
I did cover our 21,000 square foot lawn with fertilizer.
I did feed and mulch the roses.
I did sweep the sidewalk clear.
I did clip off the dead heads of flowers.
I did trim down some shrubs.
I did rake out my neighbor's huge flower bed.
I did sweep off her sidewalk.
I did a load of laundry and a little housework too.
I guess I did a little bit. How about you?

Did I mention we have NINE mature oak trees in our large yard? AND that we take care of our neighbor's yard too? I think almost three hours of yard work will count as exercising today.

Happy Fall! Oh, and walk-on dear readers, walk-on.

Random Thoughts

In no particular order, here are a bunch of random thoughts going through my head today:

1. No news about my friend who was injured. I hope to hear something on Monday at yoga class.

2. I finally took some photos off my phone and have them in my computer now. I have done this before, but here is a reminder of why I don't like the trail so much in the summertime in the south:

That is 77 inside and 110 outside. I bet I could have fried eggs without grease this summer if I'd put them out on the driveway!!!

3. About a month ago these flowers started blooming again. My cell phone camera doesn't begin to do them justice!

They are bigger than a baseball!

4. I have not stopped smoking, but have set Monday as the day to wake up and be smoke free once more! (damn cigarettes)

5. Mark Sisson of paleo eating fame was on a podcast I listened to today. He talks a good talk. He suggests trying his methods for four weeks and judge for yourself. I hate when things sound good because so many turn out to be just another twist on low carb or low fat or .

6. Crabby McSlacker, over on Cranky Fitness, asked on a recent post if we are guinea pigs with ourselves. I read her posting last night and was tired, but that thought stuck with me a lot today. Do we experiment on ourselves to see what works and what doesn't? I would say a resounding yes! 
See #5 above...am I thinking about experimenting with myself with Sisson's program? (the key word there is thinking about) I am not ready to give up on grains and dairy yet though.

7. I am really enjoying weight training classes. I think I am getting stronger. There are hopes that we can keep working together when these free sessions end.

8. I've been avoiding the trail a lot. I have no real reason or excuse. I finally forced myself out of the house at ten this morning and took off. Again, this photo doesn't do it justice. I am SO glad I did go out there.

9. THE BLAME GAME: I was thinking about how we play the 'blame game' with excuses as to why we do this or that or turn out the way we do. I think I started gaining weight around age four when my sister was born. So should I blame her for me being fat? My parents entertained a lot and always had chips and snacks and very buttery popcorn around. Should I blame them for me being fat? Fat makes us fat, or so they said in the 70's. Now they say it is sugar. Should I blame the government for getting it wrong?

I've said it before and I will say it again...we CAN blame everyone and everything we want to blame for how we ARE. We can really only blame ourselves for how we proceed from here.

10. For whatever reason, I have managed to lose over 100 pounds. "Whatever reason"? I worked at it. I didn't give up. I tried again. I tried a different way than from before. THIS time, it worked. THIS time it continues to work. I don't feel like I am starving. I don't feel I am over exercising. I am leading an active life but not at breakneck speed.

Will my way of losing weight work for you? It might. I can offer suggestions. I can offer tips. The trouble is, what happened to me, happened to ME. Not you. YOU have to experiment with yourself to learn what will work best for you.

We all have generalities that we can follow that seem to work on some levels for all of us. Knowing what we eat; eating quality food; fitting exercise in our lives; those all make a difference. Remember that we are all different. We all have to devise a lifestyle that will work for us, personally.

"OH that is TOO hard! I don't want to do all that WORK to lose weight!" Fine. You don't have to! That's the good news, right? Yes, there is bad news. You won't change if you don't change.

That's it for today friends. Walk-on!

Hurting for a friend

I am sad today. At our yoga class we learned that a well liked member had been in an accident on Saturday. She is 65 and was riding her bicycle when she collided with a vehicle. She's been in a coma ever since. We don't know the prognosis.
She was one of the first ones in class that I talked to on a regular basis. An avid bicyclist and gardener, she always seemed full of energy and had a smile. I hope she will be ok. 

And they call it "The Streak"!

I admit it...I am a streaker! When I started changing my life around, I was adamant that FAT was very bad and was making me fat. I cut back everywhere on fatty foods. The less fat the better...in EVERYTHING! I was on a zero tolerance, no fat streak.

I then went on a tangent of having oatmeal every morning. Without fail, I HAD to have oatmeal.

I had a streak of Greek yogurt eating. I often had four or five servings a day!

There was the chicken salad for lunch streak that turned in to baked chicken with spinach salad for every lunch streak.

Right now I am eating eggs a lot. I love them poached on an English muffin with a piece of Canadian bacon. I have two eggs, one each on a half muffin, for breakfast. Yum!

There was the walking over ten miles a week streak, and the swim in the pool five days a week streak. That was followed by shopping every day at the thrift store streak. Shopping became my exercise of choice for a while.

I seem to go in streaks all over the place!

 The trail is beautiful this time of year.

 Ziva is always ready to go farther.

 I noticed this interesting piece of wood buried in the trail bed.

 Early morning sun makes the trail almost look magical.

 This could be a weed, but it still stuck out and begged to be noticed.

 Long tall morning shadows are interesting too.

 Walk-on dear readers!
 But with clothes on please...we don't do that type of streaking!

Move along, move along, nothing to see here

As I write this, this morning, I am beating myself up over two stupid things. The first is that I am still struggling with cigarettes. I am not smoking much, but I am smoking some. I know I will quit again. I hope I get myself kicked in the butt hard enough to make that happen REAL soon. Right now I am having a royal pity party though, and it ain't happening.

The other thing that I am beating myself up for, is over shampoo. Shampoo??? WHAT? Yes, shampoo. I am cheap frugal. It is a holdover from 20 years with my first husband who was a penny pincher extraordinaire. Sometimes this IS a good thing, but not always.

When I go grocery shopping I go down isle 20 in my local Kroger's, to see what is in the markdown section. I have had great luck with trying new things there, that I would never have bought at full price. The latest was Pantene shampoo and conditioner that was 50% off! Wow, a quality shampoo instead of the cheapo watered down stuff that is .99 cents a bottle! What a deal.....until this past week. We used it and it left a waxy feeling in our hair. We could not rinse it out! My hair looked wet or greasy, even though it was just cleaned!

So today I went to the store to return the bottles that I hadn't used. All SIXTEEN bottles worth...over $48 of shampoo and conditioner. The store would not take it back because it was marked down and I didn't have a receipt. I don't blame them, but that hurt the pocketbook a LOT. I did arrange to have the bottles donated to a women's shelter so perhaps someone there could get more use out of it. But I am kicking myself and feeling REALLY bad that I made such a huge and to me, costly mistake.

That's about it for today. The weight is staying the same again, but at  somewhat lower number that is three pounds down from where it had been for over five months. That is good. I am trying very hard to keep doing what I need to do to keep things in line as far as exercise and food intake. My heart is not in it. However, being the cheap frugal person that I am, I am STILL hanging on to those 100+ diamonds and I will not give up. I trust that things will turn around for the better soon...they always do. And I know in the whole scheme of things in life, that this too, shall pass and it really is NOT that big of a deal!

Walk-On my friends, walk-on......oh, and don't buy Pantene shampoo!!!

Floating Along

Weigh-in later today. Struggling with those blasted cigarettes this week. Kinda floating along right now with a maintenence mode of good eating most of the time and exercising too. Keep watching. Knowing me, things will change again soon! (in a good way)

Keep positive! Walk-on and see you around the bend!

The Numb3rs Game

As Frosty the Snowman says when he is awakened,
"Happy Birthday"!

Yes, today is my birthday. Number 58! I can hardly believe I am that old. I can hardly believe I am this young! I realized that my Mom was only five years older than I am today, when she passed away. My baby sister who passed away a few years ago last week, would have turned 50 this year. My oldest son will turn 30 in a few weeks and my youngest son will turn 12, a few weeks later.

What a life I have lead! What an adventure! What a thrill to contemplate all the curiosities the future will bring! And I have a much brighter future with a lot better quality of life ahead because of all the changes I've made over the past 24 months.

Let's do the boring stuff now, to see what has changed:

Year               2010            2012
Weight            291              188          
Cholesterol     225              177          
Waist              51"               36"          
BP                  159/89         113/70
BMI                43                 27
Body Fat        42%              27%
Size                28                16

One of my old goals was to be at 175 by today. I missed that. Will I ever be at that weight? Maybe. I am not as concerned as I was just a few months ago, about reaching that goal weight. I am still learning how to live life in this new body. I am still learning how to accept that I am looking like a normal person. I still have a body image problem in that I still often see a fat woman in the mirror.

For 2012 I made the One-derland goal in January and the 100 pound total loss goal in April.
I've  stalled out since then. However, I find it very easy to maintain where I am at. I still count calories because I still struggle with knowing if I have eaten too much or more often now, if I have eaten too little! I cannot believe I just typed that!!!

MY NEW GOALS for 2013:

1. To continue to eat healthy and to live an active and FUN life!
2. To continue to work on believing in myself that I CAN keep this life style going and that I WON'T gain back the weight.
3. To continue to educate myself and others about living a better life.
4. To continue finding new and fun activities to spice up my activity levels. (I am going to check out martial arts in November!)

Notice that there are no numbers in the goals I have set. I am enjoying where I am at right now. If more weight comes off later, that would be terrific. As long as more weight doesn't come back on, I think I will work more on just learning how to live this way for now. I have to learn how to buy the right clothes that flatter me. I want them to be comfortable too, but I want them to actually enhance these new parts that are looking pretty good for an old lady.

  

Happy Birthday to me! Walk-on friends of my blog! See you around the bend.

The Blame Game

We can't help what was done to us as children. We can help what we do to ourselves as adults.

We can't help how our parents raised us. If you want to blame your parents for not teaching you how to eat a healthy diet, go ahead. Then get on with your life and teach yourself how to do it right!

Do not let your past be your excuse to stay fat!  

The "Un-Meal"

I am often asked about what I eat on a day to day basis. I really don't eat too many odd things....at least not every day. You'll always find my Fage - 0% fat - Greek yogurt in my fridge. Most of the time you'll find eggs, baby organic spinach, and a variety of veggies. More than 50% of the time you will find some form of chicken, cooked, and ready to add to salad, sandwich, or soup. Pre-cooked oatmeal will be in the fridge or freezer in single serving containers.

Today has been an odd day...an "un-meal" day. Breakfast had sauteed onions and mushrooms, wilted spinach, two poached eggs, a fresh orange, and an English muffin. That isn't too radical, but it isn't oatmeal either. I used to eat 99% of my breakfasts as oatmeal.

Not strange enough for you? I made up for it at lunch time. I had an organic apple, a half cup of 'diet' trail mix, and ten pickled herring pieces. The Norwegian is coming out of me with that herring. YUM!!!



Supper will be much more traditional. I am fixing pork loin roast, red potatoes, and steamed veggies.

I have been enjoying lots of food experiments. Some work out and many do not! I like making food more fun. I love not having food as 'the enemy'!

A few tips regarding yogurt. I really am loyal to my Fage Greek yogurt. If I want a tangy flavor or want a substitute for sour cream, I use the fat free style. If I need something sweeter and more dessert like, I use the 2% style. I sometimes use a very good quality jam (not jelly) to add my fruit to the yogurt. I will not buy the yogurt with their own added fruit on the bottom, or even on the side. I sometimes use sugar free, fat free instant pudding mix with my yogurt. A teaspoon or more, to taste, can truly turn simple yogurt into a very satisfying treat! Plus, yogurt is good for you!

And yes, I know that instant pudding is not the best thing. I make exceptions for some things. I also have discovered lemon and lime curd. I will add one or the other to yogurt as well. Curd has a LOT more sugar in it though. It comes down to the lessor of two evils I guess. Chemicals or sugars. More important to me is being satisfied from a craving that could have soooooo many more calories. I like these concoctions that keep guilt out of the ingredient list.

(LATER THAT DAY) Ok, so that is how my day had gone until supper. I made the mistake of making brownies for my son for after supper dessert tonight. The Chocolate Demon then descended upon me, forced my mouth open and made me eat about two or three chewy oooooey gooey brownies! Bad Chocolate Demon...bad bad bad.

I have also had the "Eve Complex" today. Whole Foods has their great fall apple crops in, in all their glorious splendor!!! I've had four so far today.


I bet I have gained five pounds. Grrrrrrr......and how many thousands of extra calories have I eaten? I actually kept track and it was between two and four hundred. Big whoop-de-do! It isn't exact because I am not sure on the brownies' calorie count. I have allowed for a bunch of them, just in case. I would rather over estimate than under estimate. Too bad I can't "Un-Meal" the times I over did my caloric count. I guess I need to find a magic wand for that too!

In other news our state's fair started today. I think I will go there and have cotton candy...and a funnel cake. Actually, though I might have some of those treats, I doubt I could eat a whole funnel cake without getting sick. Even when PLANNING to be bad, I am not bad. Nope. I am LIVING life with indulgences now and then.  It is all part of living a healthy lifestyle. I have said it before and will say it again...if I can do it, so can you!


Walk-on folks! See ya next time...

Just Sayin'

On my way home from weight training class I had to slow down and brake three times for three different cars that all stopped short. All three cars turned into three different fast food joints within a few blocks of each other. See? This goes to prove that fast food can be dangerous to your health!!!

Why IS Processed Food so Bad?

I mean, doesn't processed food have lots of extra vitamins? Doesn't it have less fat and more nutrients?Aren't the pictures on the outside of the box appetizing? That food looks so good....doesn't it? AND it is SO easy to make into a meal! How can this be a bad thing?

First of all, let's define "processed food".  My definition is that processed food is any food or food-like substance that is not in its original form. Box mixes are processed foods. Pasta is a processed food. An apple is not. An apple pie is. Applesauce is a processed food. A food that has been 'worked on' is a processed food.

Where it starts to get tricky is when you start defining what type of processing has been done. To what degree has a real food been converted into a processed food?

I realize that most of our foods are processed to appeal to our modern day palates. Most folks like their peas cooked, not raw. Same goes for meats. Boiling peas is a very basic processing step. Grilling meat is pretty basic too. Peas in canned pea soup are processed more and usually have more added to it for flavor. Meat that is breaded and fried is more processed. Meat that is ground up is even more processed. Meat that is finely ground and mixed with God knows what, is slime is even MORE processed. Is it still food? Well, ya...kinda......but.......

Think about bread for a moment. On the back of most loaves of bread in the store, you'll see dozens of ingredients and additives. Most homemade breads are variations of flour, water, a bit of salt, and yeast. (mmmm YUM!!! homemade bread!!!) How long does a store-bought loaf taste fresh and soft? How long does homemade taste fresh and soft?

Take a bite of store-bought bread and it practically melts in your mouth. It will do that on day one and day two and day three and day four and day five and day six and often, even longer!

Take a bite of homemade bread and it is a bit more chewy. It tastes really good that first day, especially when still warm from the oven. Day two and it is ok. Day three it is french toast. Day four it is often bird food or frozen for stuffing in whole chickens or bread puddings. I think of the store-bought bread as pre-digested. Some of the work your gut is supposed to do, is already done by the pre-processing of the store-bought bread.

I tend to think of most foods this way...the more you don't have to do to it, the better it is for you. Remember the closer you are to picking it, plucking it, or shooting it, the more your food is not processed.

This is gross, but think of how a bird feeds its young. A bird eats a bug, processes that bug in its gut and then regurgitates pre-processed food into the baby bird's mouth. It makes it easier for the baby bird to digest. Processed foods get easier and easier to digest through our gut. The faster it breaks down, the faster it is absorbed. The faster it is absorbed, the faster it gets into our system and gets stored, often as fat. And who knows how many additives and questionable chemicals are also added in there? Is that good?

I am not a scientist but this all makes sense to me. Processed food just is not processed by our systems in the same way or in the best way for us as humans. Processed foods contribute to our weight gaining society. It may even make our systems hang on to calories from them as fat. I believe this to be true. Do you?

I try to eat the least processed foods that I can, however, I do not totally avoid processed foods. You have to choose what is best for YOU. Sometimes that might be what I do, but all the time, it should be what YOU do for YOU!

As Tim Gunn says, "Make it work!"
As Walker Lady says, "Walk-On!"

Anyone for lunch?

One chicken thigh and leg; de-boned, skinned, and chopped up makes a great salad, especially if you add red seedless grapes, chopped celery, grape tomatoes, a little honey mustard, a tablespoon of Miracle Whip Lite, and curry.

How about a whole bag of organic steamed veggies on the other side of the plate? That is 310 calories on a big plate and includes a tablespoon of butter! Now I ask you, how can you be hungry after this for lunch? Hmmmmmm?

What does a size 16 look like?

All the women above used a sewing pattern that was a size 16, for the slacks they are wearing. 

Size 16 seems to come in all shapes that don't look quite the same!

How can you feel good about yourself if you are not a model size 2? An article I glanced at had the subject line:

"Look Gorgeous Even With Size 16 Jeans".  

EVEN with size 16? What? Is size 16 normally an ugly size? 

What does size 16 look like?

 Oh how flattering this is! (insert sarcasm)
That size 16 model is so NOT pretty!

Here is a size 16 model that does a lot of work for Lane Bryant:

Her name is Ashley Graham and she's 22,  5' 9" tall. 

Her measurements are reported to be 36-34-47. 

By the way, her bra size is a 38D.

Here is another size 16 woman, although she is not a model:

She is 57, 5' 9" tall and her measurements are reported to be 40-37-43. 

Although she wore a D cup when she was in her 20's, 

somehow it measures as an A cup now. (38A-40A)

Let this be a lesson to you...if you are younger and have weight to lose, either lose it while you are still young so your skin shrinks back or save a lot of money so you can get plastic surgery to remove it later!

I am sure you've guessed that the photos of the 57 year old are mine. This is why it is hard for me to grasp that I am a size 16 and only considered to be overweight a bit. I "see" a huge belly and think I am still obese. My intellectual brain says differently. Someday I hope the two catch up to each other!

See the scar above my belly button? That is what stomach stapling surgery did to you 30 years ago.
I hear that the modern day version of this surgery leaves smaller scars now, but I would still never recommend the surgery.

Sometimes I AM allowing myself to catch a glimpse of what others see. This woman below, with her dog, doesn't look as huge as her brain sometimes wants to tell her she is. 

She actually doesn't look half bad for an old lady. 

I will enjoy my size 16. I will have to hunt a bit more, than some might, for the right clothes to hide the loose skin because I cannot afford plastic surgery, but that is ok. Being a size 16 is pretty cool and with the right clothes, you might even say a little sexy. Maybe spicy? Ah heck, I'll take being a nice woman who has a neat dog named Ziva!

Walk-On!!!

Can you keep a secret?

Shhhhhhhhhh....don't tell anyone or we might jinx this. After a week of eating more, my weight was down 1.8 this week. Now this could be just that same swing that has been going on since April OR it just might be the start of something good. I shall keep you posted...of course!

Can't wait to hit the trail tomorrow morning! Upper 50's and sunshine make for perfect walkin' weather. See you there!

Walk-on