What Will I Do?

What will I do?  To answer that question I make a barrage of lists.  My resolutions for 2019 are under the 2019 To Do List of which one is to 'cut down on social media perusal time.'  In turn I created yet another index titled Hobby List to help with the goal of cutting down that time.  Digitizing pictures, scrap booking, family history and counting calories are a few bullets from this series.  I know counting calories as a hobby sounds odd, but mentally when I categorize it that way I am apt to dedicated more time in doing so.  From November of 2017 I  had an entry in my journal asking the same question.

16 Nov

What will I do?

Crafts, exercise, count calories, lose weight, buy new clothes, fix bad habits! While my serious weight loss program starts on my birthday January 24, 2018 I start weighing in tomorrow, and will do so each Friday until January , 2019. :-) 

I stayed up late making rolls for George's holiday work luncheon.  I slept in this morning, giving myself only 20 minutes to get ready for work.  If I had picked out my clothes the night before my morning would have gone smoother.  I felt that crunch for time.  I made toast to find out George had taken the margarine tub to work.  The internet wasn't connecting so one of my morning tasks was not achievable.  And, when I left for work I couldn't find my work keys where I had previously left them.  Instead of beating my head, I used cream cheese for my toast, delayed my task until after work and left home knowing there was an extra work key to borrow once I arrived.   And, once I parked at work I looked down between the seats and there laid my keys.    Life, all in the perception.  Now I need to actually recognize that I am seventy pounds overweight and do something about it.

So, I did do something about it.  I lost 55 pounds of my initial goal of 72 and have gained ten back over the winter.  April arrived and so did the big 'awakening'! :-)  The next goal is to lose 27 pounds in 27 weeks, which is specific I know.  As these weeks progress I will be faithful to this blog and share the journey.

I Know, Right?

I've come to the conclusion that the idea of people earning a living while blogging totally baffles my mind.  I started this year with every intent of keeping this journal updated on a regular basis and then February hit followed by her sadistic cousin March.  Since I started this weight loss journey the one sector that I have not yet totally slip is aerobic exercise.  I continue to walk, hike, run, walk/run, which is why I have maintained the same weight since early March, which is nine pounds heavier than the first recorded weight of the year.  I'm o.k.  I took the February-March winter blues in stride, literally.  I kept running while everything else seemed to fade away.  Not disappear- just fade for a bit.  Looking back I found a journal entry from November 15, 2017 reaffirming that I am weather affected (is that a term?) individual.  Coming to know this I mentally and physically gave myself a break, and will continue to do so when needed.

15 November 2017

I can't believe how much the weather affects me- as in my mood and sometimes my health.  Today a warm front came through as it is raining and the temperature is to reach 55.  I felt this upcoming weather occurrence yesterday.  I went home, half way through the school day with a minor headache and sore throat and overall malaise.  I took medicine and slept until Emma came home from school.  I am very much a home body and I believe the honeymoon period with my job is over.  Once I arrive at work I enjoy it, but getting to the school is becoming harder.  We changed our clocks back earlier in the month and  I have come to believe that my body takes two weeks to adjust-in the fall and in the spring.  The sky is dark when I wake up and it is dark when we eat dinner.  As I head towards the end of that second week I constantly look at the clock to remind me that bedtime isn't for another three  hours.

A new twist, for which I am grateful, is happening this winter… a first since Samantha started competing in gymnastics at the age of six- twelve years ago.  No child is participating in an organized winter sport.  Sam has college softball practice and Shannon has summer softball practice and a few tournaments on the weekend but my afternoons and weeknights are free of any parental obligations, i.e. supplying rides, watching games, popping corn, swigging soda.  So exciting and at the same time so bizarre.   Free time.  What will I do?

My Fitness Pal

During the last year I copied, printed, cut and pasted a number of motivational pictures and/or sayings into my journal.  There are days like today when words won't flow.  For now, new pictures with old words.  Following is my entry from 10 November 2017.  

10 November 2017

Aging sucks. Let me say that out loud.  Yesterday I hurt my knee at work trying to hit a volleyball like a teenager from years past.  The extra weight doesn’t help my ego either.  A present to my myself could be a new phone.   A phone the app makers support in full (unlike my current phone) so I can load it up with all the technology I need to help me in my year’s quest.  My Fitness Pal is one app I’d love to use on my phone.  I have it on my computer and have paid the premium (inexpensive) to unlock all the features.  Now I would like to use it on my phone, which I currently cannot do.  Times are a’ changin’.  While I love technology, and look forward to what the future can bring I also longingly look to the past when weight wasn’t an issue, those beloved teenage years.  One such time was the summer of 1985!  What a summer.

A Start

In the fall of 2017 a friend of mine decided she was going to lose 50 pounds by the time she turned 50, which at that time was six months in the future.  After thinking about her objective I counted up the days until my 50th birthday and decided the weight loss journey was worth another try. I researched caloric intake versus exercise output, set goal weights and dates and made an exercise plan.  As I go forward discussing the remainder of my mission I feel looking back will help keep me energized...motivated...inspired...to finish.  Following is my bullet journal entry from 9 November 2017.

9 November 2017

Let me start out by saying that I have been at this starting point many times. Too many to count.  I should say, too many to remember.  The big motivating factor this time?  I turn 50 in 440 days, 21 hours at this specific time of writing.  So...in 440 days and 21 hours plus some change I would like to be in shape and at the weight I was most of my high school days-140.  Last time I weighed in the number down by my colored toe nails was 214.  My first goal is to weigh 210 by my next birthday in 75 days.  As I start this endeavor before Thanksgiving and Christmas I need all the good Karma I can muster.  Wish me luck.

During this time, while it seems I was writing to an audience, there was only one--me.  I kept my journal entries private-just in case- I failed once more.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!  

And the year is 2019. 

The last post for this online journal was March of 2016! 

Over the holiday break I had this tremendous feeling of something momentous happening this year.  As such I created yet another site to share with my brothers inviting them throughout the year to post their family news.  For now I am the only one contributing.  

In doing all this I looked at this online diary and decided to wake it up.  While a lot has happened since the last insertion I'll share specifically the past year during which I finally achieved the goals I laid down eons ago.  I'll also relate current events as I travel forth into finishing up.  For now I'll share a To Do List that has been sitting here for a few years and is apropos today.

To Do List

1. Drink at least 64 ounces of water a day.

2. Exercise aerobically 30 minutes 4-5 days a week.

3. Replace soda with water-permanently.

4. Start with the end in mind.

5. Ab work 3 times a week.

6. Strength train.

7.  Eat between 1200 and 1800 calories.