Tag Archives: exercise

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Ebbs and Flows

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I had a perfect Noom day yesterday. I stayed in my calorie count. I exercised. I got my steps in. It was a wonderful accomplishment. However, when I weighed myself this morning fully expecting to weigh the same or slightly less than yesterday, I was .2 pounds up.

My first thought was That can’t be right. So I stepped on the scale again and again and one more time. It was right.

The body is a funny thing. the littlest things can make our weight fluctuate. I know this from previous weight programs: Weight Watchers, Tops, Jenny Craig, and many more. I have lost weight on all these programs, hundreds of pounds throughout the years. They all work. And I’ve put those pounds back on. But in all of them I learned that our bodies fluctuate. Sometimes we retain water. Sometimes we don’t. That’s why I’m not discouraged.

I’ve never been a fan of getting on the scale every day. It’s one of the rules for Noom. But I do think it is interesting to see how weight fluctuates daily, so I’ll keep hopping on that scale every morning.

I know I just have to keep on keeping on. Keep making healthy food choices within my calorie budget, keep getting my daily steps in, keep exercising, and keep believing that this change is possible. I can become a healthier me. I’m on my way there right now.

Meet me at the Kingdom.

Donna

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Routine and Surprise

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This morning I officially restarted Noom. So I weighed in (I hate that part), I’m logging my food, I did my ten minute lesson, and I started walking. Since I am retired, I can sustain the routine pretty easily. But I’ve got to tell you, I only walked for ten minutes, and it totally kicked my butt! (See the red, sweaty face in today’s photo.) The weight that I’ve regained in the last eight months is mostly in my belly and butt. Yugh! Moving around is so exhausting! That fat used to be more evenly distributed; now it’s concentrated in my mid-section. I’m not discouraged; however, I realize that I have  a long road ahead of me. I am not at all defeated, defeat for me is defined by quitting. I will not quit!

In 21 months we hope to vacation at Disneyland Paris. As Disney Vacation Club members, we can trade our points for five nights at Disney’s Sequoia Lodge in Marne-la-Vallee, France. We’d like to go Paris rather than Orlando next time so Emi (my daughter who lives in England) and her family don’t have the expensive flights for one vacation. So we’ll spend five nights there, visit the parks for two or three days, and head into Paris for a day or two.

This trip is my long term motivation for sticking to better food choices and for keeping more movement/walking in my daily life. I have 21 months to do this, and I want to focus every day of those 21 months on a healthier, more mobile lifestyle.

Now for the surprise: we had a short, but very sweet, drop-in visit from our dear friends Wayne and Caleb. They swung in for a cup of coffee on their way to a conference. What a delightful treat! It was a slice of Yooper heaven. Mike and I grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, so we are Yoopers born and bred. This visit was such an unexpected blessing!

Thank you for you faithfulness, Dear Readers! Meet me at the Kingdom!

Donna

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Starting down the Road Toward Disneyland Paris

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Hello Dear Readers,

Well, I finally decided to face the music. Ever since our trip to Walt Disney World in October of 2018, I have been completely off the rails.  Eating every sugary thing in sight, and sitting all day long. I’ve packed on over 30 pounds, and I feel pretty lousy.  Low energy, cranky most of the time, isolating myself. And frankly, I’ve been a bit depressed.  Wow! First world problems, right??

I restarted Noom, an online weight management program, today. It worked well for me before, so I re-upped. Tomorrow I start my daily walks again. And I will choose less dense foods, foods with more water content. For example I’ll choose a cup of grapes over a 1/4 cup of raisins. I’ll pick 1/4 pound of salad over 1/4 pounder from McDonalds, a hard-boiled egg over a fried egg, lettuce rather than a tortilla for a wrap, and a baked potato over fries.

I’m also going to start some self talk when I walk. “Heart, this walk is for you, to make you stronger. Legs, this walk is for you, to build more muscle. Brain, this walk is for you, to get more oxygen to you.” Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

My ultimate goal is looking toward March 2021, when we hope to meet up with the kids and grandkids at Disneyland Paris for 6 days/5 nights. Lord willing and the creek don’t rise…  We make plans and God smiles, right? But this goal will help to keep me on track. They do not have ECVs there, only wheel chairs, so I want to be able to get myself around the parks. I want to enjoy every minute of our time together there.

So here we go again, dear friends. One foot in front of the other, one healthy meal at a time. Will I sustain it forever? I believe I can. Mostly I believe I can do it today. And tomorrow is a new opportunity to do it again.

Join me on this road to Paris. The possibilities are so exciting. The road is mine, with the help of God, to create and choose.

Meet me at the Kingdom.

Donna

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Loving Myself

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Nine (9, IX, nueve, yhdeksan, neuf, GAH! single digits) nine days to go in striving to be a healthier me when I meet up with Mickey in WDW.

Here is my renewed mantra:

Eat like you love yourself.

Move like you love yourself.

Speak like you love yourself.

Act like you love yourself.

Thanks to hplyrikz.com on Pintreest!

I have not lived my life this way.  But now I am convinced that I have to love myself, so I can better love those around me.  If I eat, move, speak and act like I love myself, then perhaps I’ll can put my self-destructive ways in the rear view mirror once and for all.

  1. Eat like you love yourself–Healthy, nutritious foods that fuel my body.  Bye-bye sugar and salty treats.  Hello veggies, lean proteins and other complex carbs.
  2. Move like you love yourself–Move my body through space everyday.  And get involved in strength training of some sort.  Bye-bye couch potato.  Hello walking and BodyGym (with special thanks to Marie Osmond).
  3. Speak like you love yourself–This one will takes time.  Bye-bye all negative self talk.  (I’ve been so good at this.)  Hello positive self talk.  No more I can’t.  I am an Ameri-CAN!
  4. Act like you love yourself–this one moves into other areas of my life: spiritual, mental, financial.  I will move toward loving myself in all these areas of my life.  This will take much contemplation and planning.

That’s enough to chew on today.  Meet you at the Kingdom!

Donna

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Five Minutes More

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I head to Walt Disney World in twelve days, so I upped my daily walk by another five minutes today…thought I was gonna die! My walk yesterday was on a cool, overcast day. It was a pleasure. Today it was hot, humid and sticky again, and I was not prepared for it. Notice the red face and knackered hair in today’s featured photo. But then I had a think about it and realized that I’m vacationing in Florida…sunny, hot, humid Florida. I better learn how to suck it up.

Tomorrow it’s supposed to be hot here again. I will bring along some water and take it nice and easy. Lord, give me strength!

Meet me at the Kingdom.

Donna

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Once in Awhile Life Just Feels Right

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Only thirteen days now until my Walt Disney World vacation. Whoop, whoop!

I have now lost all the weight I had put back on and am down to my lowest weight in years. Since my stroke in 2017, I have lost sixty-five+ pounds. I notice it everyday. I notice it when I get in the car and buckle up my seat belt. I notice it when I slide into a booth at a restaurant, and I don’t have to move the table out. I notice it when I go to bed at night, because I can turn over much easier, and I am sleeping better. I notice more energy when I take my daily walk. And I notice it when I put on my clothes in the morning, because I’m two sizes down.

So my thanks to Diabetic Living Magazine for great tips on managing my blood sugar and for the delicious, nutritious recipes that are expanding my horizons. And I am thankful for Southmead Hospital in Bristol, England, and to Advocate Condell in Libertyville, IL, USA, for education about managing life with my limitations, and for encouraging me to reach beyond my limitations. I am thankful for Noom for helping to get my metabolism kick-started and for providing such helpful coaching and behavior modification methods. (Thanks to Emi, my beautiful daughter, for getting me excited about Noom.)

I’m happy to be in my saggy, lumpy, sixty-two year old body. This is the best that I can be for now, and I am very pleased to be here. Here’s to tomorrow and the next long walk and the next healthy meal and to staying the course.

Meet me at the Kingdom.

Donna

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Making Lemonade from Lemons

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There are only seventeen days until our Old Key West Family Reunion. Seventeen days until I can hug my daughter, son-in-love and granddaughter. How exciting!

I am exhausted tonight:

  1. My increased walking has my muscles sore and tired.
  2. I watched my sweet baby granddaughter today, so I am weary.
  3. I tried a new recipe tonight for dinner, which took way longer than I expected, so that by the time we finally ate, I was super hangry (hungry + angry).
  4. And I am grieving for our dear friend and patron who passed away two days ago.

But here’s the thing:

  1. My muscles are sore, but it’s good sore. They are sore from exercising, instead of sore from being sedentary. Result!
  2. Each minute with Linnie, my baby granddaughter, is precious. It’s exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. I always feel so blessed after my time with this amazing baby!
  3. I tried a new recipe (my assignment from Noom) from Diabetic Living Magazine called Chicken & Wild Rice Casserole. There was a lot of pre-cooking, chopping, measuring, mixing, and finally baking. We ate over an hour later than usual, and by then I was cranky and famished. But dinner was absolutely delicious, and it turns out, well worth the wait. I will make this recipe again and again. It will be perfect for a cold winter’s night.
  4. I am grieving, This recently departed soul gave us so much, including a wonderful place to raise our kids and encouragement for Mike to be the best furniture designer and maker possible. But I am not without hope. “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”-Romans 5:5

And so I carry on. Meet me at the Kingdom.

Donna

PS: I highly recommend Diabetic Living Magazine. It has been such a help for healthy eating. And Noom is working out very well, too.

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Noom Report

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Twenty-three days until we travel to Lake Buena Vista and Walt Disney World.

I have been on Noom now for eleven days, and so far I am eight pounds down. That is phenomenal, because I’ve been kind of stuck for months now. I like the program, but I’m still in the Honeymoon Phase.

The nice thing about being only a little over three weeks until our trip to Florida is that I am making sure to walk every day to be in a bit better shape for the extra walking that I’ll do on vacation. I like the way I feel after my daily walk. Yes, I’m pooped and red-faced and sweaty and panting, but I feel invigorated, too. So bring it on!

Meet me at the Kingdom.

Donna

 

 

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Time to Get Ready

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Hiya Dear Readers,

I haven’t blogged since November. Wah! We are just 73 days away from our next scheduled vacation at Walt Disney World. Woo hoo! We are Disney Vacation Club members with 150 points to use per year. We banked points from last year, borrowed points from next year, and are using this year’s points. That gives us 450 points to use for this trip. With those points we will stay in a three bedroom Grand Villa for 8 nights. Being able to bank and borrow points is the reason  we vacation together every three years.

By “we” I mean, Mike, Jake, Eliza, Linnie, James, Emi, Ida and me.  That’s my husband, my son and daughter, their spouses and their little girls. When we went to WDW three years ago, Emi and James couldn’t come last minute, because of pregnancy issues. Now that little issue is nearly two and a half years old. I can’t wait to watch her as she discovers her grandma’s Happy Place. It will be such a pleasure to slow down and take it at the little ones pace. I expect to spend more time at the playgrounds of WDW than we ever have before.

To get ready for WDW, I began my daily walking today. Thirty minutes is a lot for me right now, but I feel so good about getting out there. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I get to watch Linnie for a few hours. She will benefit from my walking, because she absolutely loves being outside. And, when it appears, a cruise in her stroller can even sooth the savage beast in her .  🙂  I tend to chat to her while we walk. Usually she just studies me, as we stroll along, a look of pure concentration on her sweet face. I’m grateful to Linnie for making me move around more than I have for a long time. She’s a great workout buddy.

That’s it for today. It’s good to be writing again, and I hope to keep up daily until our trip.  God bless and keep you, dear readers.

Meet you at the Kingdom.

Donna

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Carrying On

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Hello Dear Readers,

I hope this post finds you healthy and at peace.

In just 5 days I will call Disney and schedule our next trip to Walt Disney World. We hope to go on October 20 of next year. Because we are Disney Vacation Club members, we can call and book our home resort, Old Key West, 11 months in advance. Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, we will have 8 nights and 9 days at Disney: Mike, Emi, James, Ida, Jake, Eliza, Baby Jarvi and me.

This time it won’t be so much about time in the parks, although we will have tickets for 5 days. This time it will be all about the babies. Ida will be 2 & 1/2 and Baby Jarvi will be 8 months old. Dumbo, Prince Charming Carousel, Meeting Mickey, It’s a Small World and splashing in the water fountains will be the focus of our days. Probably just a few hours in the parks and then time at Old Key West.

I take none of this for granted. I know that if we are all there it will truly be a gift from God. I am doing my part to be there. As of this morning, I am 54.4 pounds down since May. I am learning how to eat as a diabetic. Now I just need to start moving more. Please pray that I can and do move more.

May God bless and keep you, dear Readers. Meet you at the Kingdom.

Donna