Getting and Staying Healthy After Fifty

I almost burned my kitchen down today. I put some grease on the stove to heat, then went and called my son. Stupid. I hear crackling, ran into the kitchen, and had a nice little grease fire going. Luckily, I had a fire extinguisher and put it out, but there is some damage, and a lot of smoke damage, and I don’t know if my stove will be safe to use again.

So if I can’t cook, I guess I can’t eat much, huh? Oh, I’ll find a way, believe me. I have a toaster oven, and a microwave, and if I want to eat, I’ll find some way to do it.

If the entire kitchen had burned down, I guess that would make it difficult to eat, but I can live with this. I hope my insurance company writes me a check, because I’m flat broke, but that’s a big “if” since I have a high deductible. I’m sure they’ll find lots of stuff that isn’t covered at all.

What a horrible Christmas. Good thing I was alone, and nobody was expecting dinner, huh?

You got it. I’m sitting her munching on dark chocolate chips. Hey, at least it’s dark chocolate, right?

I’m not even going to think about dieting until the first of the year. It’s just pointless. There is all that Christmas food, and I want fruitcake! I can’t find a Claxton’s fruitcake anywhere. It’s making me sad. Guess I waited too long.

I didn’t walk today, because I was up until 3 a.m. with leg and foot cramps, and finally had to take a pill to get to sleep. Just didn’t feel like going anywhere today.

I guess the first Christmas without my mom has me down. I really miss her.

I’m going to eat more dark chocolate chips now.

Other than that, the diet is off the table until after Christmas.  Not because I plan to be eating a lot, but because I lost my mother on September 23 of this year, and this Christmas is stressful enough without having to watch what I eat.

 I’m very tired lately, and haven’t been taking my vitamins regularly.  I’m going to try to remember to take them every night.  I don’t know how, but I am.  My memory isn’t what it used to be.

I have been doing more calisthenics, both with weights and the stretch bands, so I’m pretty proud of that.  I watch t.v. on the computer, so I was working out while watching.  At least that keeps it from being wasted time.  My plan is to move my computer and treadmill/exercise stuff into the other room, and have a sort of home office/workout room combo.  Right now the treadmill is in the Living Room, and the computer is in the back room.  I want them both in the smaller front bedroom, and I’m going to rent this room out.

Of course, none of this is going to happen for a few weeks, because I have to get rid of a room full of junk first.  When I say a room full, I LITERALLY mean a 9 x 9 room full of stuff.  Just stuff.  Not even very important stuff, just stuff people have left here over the years. 

It’s all going. I’m going to have so little stuff in my house that it’s going to be absolutely zen.

I didn’t stick to my diet today. Well, it’s not like I’ve been sticking strictly to it anyway, but today was a bust.  First, I didn’t sleep well last night.  I went to bed at 11, got back up at 2:00 after tossing and turning for hours.  I actually got an article written for Bright Hub while I was awake, which was good, I guess. 

I had to get up at 8:15, because I had to go walk with my neighbor.  No fast walking today, I was too tired.  I did do a little raking, but not enough to even call it exercise.  

I don’t remember what all I ate today, but I know not much of it was diet worthy, except maybe the homemade guacamole and homemade tortilla chips, unsalted, friend in canola oil.  I had a couple of pieces of fruit, but no protein.  Oh well, tomorrow’s another day. 

I went walking with my friend this morning, and about halfway in, I told her I was going to “lap her” and I took off walking really fast. It didn’t work, I didn’t lap her. Either she walks faster than I thought, or I walk slower. Anyway, I walked about a two of the two and a half miles really fast, then just petered out and trudged back to her house at a normal pace.

We decided that I should walk a fast lap before I come to her house, then come get her, and we’ll walk her pace as a cool down. The problem with that is that she wants to sit and have coffee, so I won’t actually be maintaining any sort of pace. I hate to say it, but I think I need to not walk with her anymore at all. It’s nice having someone to chat with, but seriously, it’s not doing me any good.

I need to do the 2-1/2 miles really fast, with a shorter warm up and cool down. I don’t want to hurt her feelings, but this just isn’t working for me, and I really don’t have time for two walks, one fast, and one slow.

What should I do? I’m committed to doing this walking, but I need to do it where it helps me, not hurts me or just keeps me where I am.

I’m going grocery shopping tomorrow, and I’ll be looking for more high protein foods to munch on with my fruits and veggies. I’ve added more protein the last couple of days, and good fats. Now if I can just start drinking more water, but I hate water plain! I have been trying to drink more herbal teas without sugar. I want to find the stevia I had somewhere around here, and use that instead of sugar.

I also walked more yesterday, because I knew I wouldn’t today, since I had to sit and wait for UPS to bring the computer. Tomorrow, I’ll double my walk. I walk with my neighbor, who is 71 and sort of slow, so I’ll walk to the corner with her, then take off faster, go around the block and catch back up with her for a cool down. That will be 2.5 miles. That should be a good walk, and if I feel like it isn’t later, I can just jump on the treadmill.

I have started doing a few calisthenics. Nothing big, just some leg lifts, and some arm work with weights. But hey, anything is better than nothing, right?

I have now gained back every pound I lost on my 10 day fast.  I have joined the thousands of “yo-yo” dieters everywhere who lose the same 10 lbs. over and over.

I got a Christmas card today from a friend who came down to visit two years ago.  In it were two pictures, one of each of us on our trip to Selby Gardens.  I was totally shocked when I saw the one of myself.  

I put that picture up on my mirror in the bathroom, where I have to look at it every morning. I’m having a copy made and putting it on the refrigerator.  I’m so ashamed of how I look.  I looked like a butterball turkey with two strings sticking out of the bottom (my skinny legs).  

If it absolutely KILLS me, I AM going to lose these 25 lbs. before I got to visit my sons in March! That’s about 2 lbs. a week, and I CAN and WILL do it!

Wish me luck.

This video raises a good point. Where do the “experts” come up with these “ideal” weights? When I weighed 117 lbs., I was too skinny, but they have my ideal weight between 117 and 121. I doubt I’ll ever be that thin again, and at my age, if I was, I doubt I’d look very good.

So how fat is too fat? I’m about 25 lbs. above my “ideal” weight. Being 20 lbs. over that is, I believe, considered obese. 20 lbs. overweight is the cutoff for getting prescription diet pills. So technically, I guess I’m obese.

Since when did a size 12 become obese? Marilyn Monroe was a size 12, after all.

I need structure if I’m going to make this weight loss/get in shape thing work. So this will be the regimen from now on:

Morning:
1 cup of coffee
Morning walk (1.3 mi.) with neighbor, which is more of a stroll for me, but better than nothing I guess.
Come home, drink a 12 oz. glass of mixed veggie and fruit juice and walk on treadmill for 30 minutes fast enough to actually burn some calories
Drink one 8 oz. glass of water

After that, I will alternate one 8 oz. glass of juice with one 8 oz. glass of water every hour. Every two hours, I will have one fruit or veggie, such as an apple or a couple of celery sticks.

At dinner time, I will eat a nice salad and drink another 8 oz. glass of juice.   I won’t eat or drink anything after 7:30 p.m.  It will probably be 7 p.m., but I’m giving myself an extra half hour just in case I get tied up and have to eat late.

I feel like if I have this structure, it will become habit.  After a month, I’ll add a small midday meal.  I’ll stick with this for 6 months and see how I do. 

I just didn’t even feel like eating today. I nibbled on some stuff here and there.  Tried to eat a meal, but the closest I got was two small zapped sweet potatoes. 

I’m going to definitely have to start taking my vitamins on a regular basis again, as my feet are threatening to cramp.  That hurts so much! Why does it always happen at night, and always in the middle of a great dream?

The worst leg cramp I ever had was right after my shoulder surgery. I was stressed, on Vicodin and nausea medicine, and wasn’t eating or drinking much, much less taking my vitamins.  Mostly, I was just sleeping and praying that the pain wouldn’t last long.

On about day three after the surgery, I woke up feeling like someone had driven a red hot poker into my left calf muscle!  Oh My God!!!  It was so terrible, that I tried to stand, and literally fell to my knees screaming out in pain!  I was so scared I was going to fall and injure my shoulder again, but somehow, I managed to maneuver myself down to the kitchen, grab a dishtowel from the drawer, wet it, heat it in the microwave, and put it on the muscle.  

I didn’t even try to get into the Living Room like I usually do when I have a cramp.  I sat right on the kitchen floor, crying, holding that hot towel on my leg.  It took three hot towels to get that muscle to relax.  

After that, I faithfully took my multi vitamin and extra calcium/zinc/magnesium and extra potassium every day for a very long time.  I tend to forget, though, when I’m stressed and in survival mode like I am now.

Better go take them, before I forget and get waked up screaming tonight.