….my weight stats from one year ago:
October 2010: 125 lbs.
October 2011: 139 lbs. Uh….ya…
Over the weekend in NY I visited my daughter in her new apartment. She had a bathroom scale. I hopped on and low and behold, there were 14 lbs I received as a gift from my journey this past year.
Ten hours in a chair for three solid months will tend to do that to you. From January thru March, I would go to yoga, get home at noon, hit the chair, and have only two goals:
1. Wash my yoga clothes for the next day
2. Try not to go to bed before 10 pm
It was the fighting to not go to bed until at least 10 pm that clued me in to the fact I had a real problem here. The extreme fatigue is the body’s way of protecting itself physically from the emotional trauma, but there is a fine line where the body’s defense ends and our minds take over and take us further than we need to go to survive. If I had given in to going to bed earlier and earlier each day, I’d eventually end up there as soon as I got home at noon. This was the first spark of self-help and vowing not to give in. It was from there I began taking that walk down the road everyday in April. In May I added a small workout on my exercise machine. In June I added running around the block to all of that. In August I added an ab routine. And just now, yesterday I bought a mini-stepper and added 30 minutes of cardio. I now do 90 min of yoga in the morning, and from 3-5 pm I do all of those, and end with a brisk walk.
It has taken a full nine months to return to my activity level of one year ago. The problem is now I have to move 14 lbs. Not an easy task at my age or place in life. I no longer have that active grueling workday, which, combined with a 90 minute gym workout, kept my weight in check for the last ten years. This sudden lack of activity knocked my metabolism all out of whack. Also, I believed I should eat as a way of taking care of myself. Uh….more calories in than out – well it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand where 14 extra pounds came from.
BUT – that is all behind me now. I can’t let the past months taint the future one’s. I need to take what I have learned, the new-found strength I have gained, and set out to attack those 14 pounds. So, here’s the goal: 10 of those 14 pounds gone by Halloween. Here’s the plan:
Goodbye white flour and sugar, and, oh no…..GOODBYE WINE! The white flour and sugar are easy. Wine is not. Wine is also the biggest diet reason for the 14 lbs not moving. Wine is total sugar. One 5oz glass of my favorite Relax Reisling is 120 calories….not alot if that were food my body could use to refuel and build muscle, but it’s 105 calories of pure, useless, sugar. AND if I drink alot of it, with minimal activity, guess what my body does with it? Says, oh we don’t need to burn anymore calories today, so let’s just store these as fat. Yes, fat. Visceral fat, right down on my stomach where I look down at it everyday. I was heading for a serious “wine belly”. And on top of this, those who know me also know I just don’t have the one glass. I will drink 4 glasses over the course of a friendly evening with my family and friends. Four. What could 120 x 4 equal? 500 calories!!! Almost half of my caloric allowance for the entire day – OF PURE SUGAR! Ouch. And I have been doing that on Fridays and Saturdays for nine months! Did I think I wouldn’t gain any weight? Sometimes I’m delusional.
On Sunday I finished my last bottle and kept it. I’m going to fill it with sugar and look at it everyday for inspiration. So, now, does that mean no social drinking? No. The drink of choice will be gin n tonic. The cleanest drink, calorie wise there is, and, only one allowed per weekend night.
So, exercise and food plans in place – look out 14 lbs. I feel better than I have in nine months. October may be a month of both physical and emotional challenges, but I’m prepared to meet them. When that glass of wine is missed, or a piece of that heart starts to wiggle loose, I’m on it.
And so, as another day goes by, with God, family, friends, yoga, this blog, and your encouragement as you read all these months, even with the extra 14 lbs, I’m in a better, stronger, place than I was on this day one year ago, and….I have written.
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