Ann and Jane - Their YouTube Videos, Cookbooks, and their infectious zest for life and food!!

Once I knew my eating life was going to change and center mostly around a plant based diet, 

• ... and once I found a way to control my disappointment that this would be forever, 
• ... and once I recognized that my body had already been evolving in that direction anyway, 
• ... and once I accepted the time involved to develop a library of meals that were good,
• ... and once I adopted the idea that I would need to do more cooking (!!yikes!!), 

Yeah ... once I got passed a few little bumps in the road - I decided to change up my approach.  After all, what we enjoy in life is frequently influenced attitude ... and I had to 'go find me' a different attitude!! 

I started with YouTube videos because they were cheap (free) and I could skim through various feeds quickly (‘cause not everyone out there is good at this, you know.)   I don’t know how many videos I started then skipped before I came to an almost hour long video called:

                Fresh Start! An Intro to Plant-Based Eating for Newbies

.  

That's me - Newbie and a Fresh Start is what I was looking for!  

At first a man was briefly going over the main points of this diet.  Ok, I was good with that. But behind him his wife starting doing silly things as each point was introduced.  That was corny.  I decided to skip it.  I watched and skipped a few other videos, and then I came to another video with this same woman (Jane) and her mother (Ann), and they were cooking together, chatting away, and obviously enjoying each other’s company. Something just drew me in.  I paused that video, and I returned to the Fresh Start video - and this time I listened to the full hour.  What followed was Ann (mother, age 87) and Jane (daughter, age 56) cooking together and talking about the topic of Plant-Based eating.  They were charming.  It looked totally unrehearsed, the background was Ann’s very normal kitchen, there were no edits,  or no glossy professional food pictures. The video just ran and their little disagreements were captured but never taken seriously, and they both were filled with enthusiasm and joy for this Plant Based diet.  By the end of the hour, I was totally hooked!

In the picture on the right - the two ladies in the Yoga pose - Ann, the mother, is on the right.
At the time the book was published, she was 88!  

What wasn’t evident initially was the real science from the Esselstyn Foundation and family life experiences behind this very like-able pair.  Ann is the wife of Dr. Caldwell B Esselstyn, the author of a book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.  Ann then wrote the recipe companion book called Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook.   In addition, their whole family, (adult children, adult children’s spouses, and grandchildren) are all plant based.  Ann and Jane have over 140 videos on YouTube demonstrating various food prep strategies, and they are the authors of the book Be A Plant-Based Woman Warrior which I ordered.  It is an amazing book.  Extremely well done and very inviting.  

So ... did I find my new attitude?  I did.  I totally love these two lovely ladies and their approach. 

Now here is my disclaimer on all this. 

My goal is to improve my diet.  I believe eating a more plant based diet will do that following many of their guidelines.  But have I adopted ALL their practices without exception? No. 

Here are my exceptions.

• Eat nothing with a face: Well ... if you are plant based, that is an expectation, but in social situations I'll be flexible just to be polite.  That shouldn’t happen often.  This is about diet choices, not cult obedience! One animal protein meal now and then won’t undo months of plant based eating.
• No eggs, no dairy: Hmm ....  I eat eggs or egg whites every morning.  If I start my day with anything else, I am hungry at 10:30 am.  I'll listen to my body for now and keep to my routine.  And no fat plain greek yogurt is a healthy choice in almost every other diet. It will remain in my diet occasionally. 
• No oil:  I can drastically reduce my oil intake, but minimal olive oil will stay.

Other plant based guidelines strongly recommended by Dr. Esselstyn and company that I can get behind are:  avoid salt (buy salt free products) and minimize sugar, eat greens 6 times a day - as much as possible, eat more oats - as much as possible, eat lots of beans and lentils, eat whole grains, limit coconut, nuts and avocados (eliminate those 3 entirely if you have heart disease,) eat a tablespoon of chia seeds and/or flax seed meal each day, drink lots of water, read the ingredients of any item you purchase.  

Got it!

 

I suspect their ideas are very similar to that of others who espouse plant based eating.  But what the mother and daughter team brought to me was their total joy and fun and enthusiasm for cooking and eating a plant based diet ... all of it presented in a way that says ... “Yup!! - you can do this -  follow us.”

I am following.

A "Don’t Fence Me In” Update

The habit of writing seems to be lost on me of late!  The thought of writing pops up at regular intervals but the action seems absent.  Lately, if there is a structure to anything in my life - I seem to resist it!  Regardless, I am here now, so update time.

COVID-19 VACCINATION update

I am within a week of being fully vaccinated - meaning that I will soon pass the 2 week waiting period after the 2nd shot.  I won’t be barred from seeing my family anymore (specifically my dearest grand daughter.)  FREEDOM!  But I have been fortunate in this pandemic.  No illness and little to no reaction to either shot.   But I will continue mask wearing and social distancing until we are closer to herd immunity ... because that is the sensible, logical and the “adult” thing to do - until we ALL can be free!!

DIET update 

I spent time thinking about my diet - not for weight loss but mostly for health.  I finally settled on a mostly Mediterranean diet.   But it isn’t really ‘mediterranean' if you aren’t being semi compliant!  In the end I settled on listening to my body’s needs! And what is needs are smaller meals, more veggies, less meat, lower carbs and no 'no-nos!’ That is as much limitation as I am willing to do.

EXERCISE update

I miss walking.   Walking "my way."  And during this pandemic,  any kind of walking has been scarce.  I refuse to blame the pandemic. Nothing has kept me from going outside and walking during these months.  Nothing but myself and one small deterrent.

What is most satisfying about walking is the solitary time, walking by myself.  Setting my own pace, viewing the scenery, thinking about things - mind drifting, no socialization or expectations.  But my husband also needs to walk and due to is disabiity, he cannot walk alone.  Oh I know there are blind folks who can do absolutely everything independently, but those kind of people are very rare when you lose vision as a senior.  That means when I walk (with him) I am "on duty."  I have to be on alert the whole time to make sure the obsticals are announced or avoided, always checking our pace since he has exactly one speed - fast - but he doesn’t have the heart and lung capacity for that speed any more.  His mind drifts, he forgets to “listen” to the messages his cane gives him.   I know it sounds (and feels) a little selfish to want to have some alone time on my walks.  But the only fix for this is to find time for 2 walks a day.  Working on this.

CLEANING OUT update

I joined a blog event last fall called Making Space. But as I suspected, I found the discipline of blogging about it hard.  I enjoy reading the posts of others, but I am happy to clean out on my own when the spirit moves me.  

My current decluttering has focused on exercise tapes and cook books.  

I get absolutely NO satisfaction out of exercising indoors.  If I am forced to exercise inside, I prefer to have a list of exercises that I can do while I watch some sort of distracting TV.  And yet I had a shelf and a half of exercise disks - each one I thought would be “the one” that helped me get in shape indoors. I am down to about 5 disks.  Big declutter there.

I hardly ever crack open a cookbook.  Same logic - I buy the book thinking this is “the one” that will help me enjoy cooking.  I will make wonderful tasty things from that book. Never! When I want a new recipe, I just hop on my computer and print something out.  I have several loose leaf binders of recipes I have pulled from the internet that I use when menu building.  I have donated a great number of cookbooks, and now I am in the process of cannibalizing a few - pulling out any recipes I made that were good, but never repeated because ... well ... hardly ever crack open a cookbook.

Funny, I never thought I would get rid of exercise tapes and favorite cookbooks.  And here I doing both.

KNITTING AND CROCHETING update

Scarf - my only knitting project right now. Finger weight yarn and it will take a long time finish because ...

... I started an Annie’s Club project called Plumberry Sampler Afghan in crochet.  

This is an indoor shot of the first 6 rows of this Afghan.  The colors are hard to capture correctly.

This is an outdoor shot and the colors are closer to normal.  

And even with natural light, the colors don’t show as true.

I am enjoying working on this - it is a great crochet learning project.  And the yarn they use for this is wonderful stuff.  Acrylic, but hard to tell without the label.

Queen blanket, also crochet, is well underway.  This is the most satisfying project I am working on at present.  No pictures to share yet but the finished object should look something like this.

My colors will be somewhat different, but you get the idea.  It really is a fun and easy project.

And then there is this little lady, Aja.

Yes, that is a smug and self-satisfied face.  Don’t those eyes say it all.  

She has made large strides with my husband.  And he has put great effort into it.  Several times a day, he goes into the bedroom to “visit” Aja.  He sits on the bed and she jumps up and rubs and rubs and rubs - and he pets - and usually it ends peacefully.  She gets herself over stimulated ending in a hiss or a swipe, but that is more rare now.  Oh, she does come out of the bedroom and wanders around the condo regularly, but she is most comfortable where her two beds are and food and litter - and she has safety behind the gate at the bedroom door (it has a cat door in it - and no one but her can pass through.) So she can come out any time she wants.

Here she is behind my recliner.  And if you look close, Milo is in the recliner.  Guess she felt the coast was clear if he was asleep.

Next month it will be the first anniversary of her adoption.  She has come sooo far since that skinny frightened and distrustful cat came to live with us.  Change is hard for her.  Not everyone could give her the time and distance she needed to adjust.  I kind of feel like she was just meant to be with us.  We love her so much and she has shown in her own way that those feelings are returned.

I think I hit all the topics.  Until next time ... 

The Diet Game Decision

After days of reading, researching and experimenting a bit

 ... I have come to a sort of decision.

At my age and with my long experience with eating - (ha!) - I know that my ability to adhere to a strict eating regimen will fail eventually even if I am successful for months and months.  It comes down to a simple fact.  I need listen to my body better to feel better - and a structured regimen change with lots of rules and no-nos just never works for long.  

Thankfully the current messages coming from my body fall in line most closely with the Mediterranean diet way of eating, but with a few modifications that I know are realistic for me.  So, let the transition begin.

What does transition look like for me:

1. There will be no "kitchen purging" - an activity I typically did in the past when I attempted to eat differently.  Items we would normally eat will stay and get used up. But the ’seed’ change will happen in the grocery store - by purchasing the right options recommended.  That means simply, that I will be weaning myself off what I do now.
2. Finding new recipes to make that are appealing yet simple are a serious transition goal right now - a cook I am not!  For example:  Crushed avocado mixed and chopped hard boiled egg with lemon juice, a little hot sauce, and salt and pepper on whole wheat toast filled the bill perfectly for the traditional egg salad (with mayo) I was craving this morning.  Tasty, simple and somewhat nutritionally improved! 
3. I love vegetables and can make of meal out them with no effort.  This is the biggest plus of moving in this direction.  I even discovered a website (thank you, Michelle, of Boulderneigh Blog) called A to Z Alphabet of Vegetables - A Veggie Adventure at aveggieventure.com.  It is a grand site for vegetable identification and ideas for cooking them (like 1300+ ideas!). I was stunned that there were soooooo many vegetables. Next summer visiting farm stands will be more exciting.
4. Backing away from most animal proteins will be easy for me.   I’ll experiment with plant based proteins. Fish and chicken will be my occasional options.  I still will have a tablespoon of evaporated milk in my coffee in the morning.  But my body won’t miss beef or pork at all. (Although full fat bacon will beckon me I am sure  😀) 
5. My favorite bread is Sour Dough - and that showed up on Mediterranean diet lists as a good choice along with high fiber choices in moderation. Healthy breads are ok for me, but  making bread the “devil" will never fly for me.  
6. I already use Olive Oil - with almost everything.  I love it especially with bread!  Yum.
7. I can move away from my high sugar desserts if I substitute another sweet item when my tongue says “Don’t you want to top off that meal with a sweet thing?” - which happens all the time!  I just discovered dried figs as a substitution - knocks out that “gimmy a sweet” reaction.  Fruit sometimes does the trick but not always.  Sometimes a teaspoon of honey tricks my mouth and brain.  I need to retrain this auto reaction to top off meals with a sweet (even breakfast, haha.)
8. I love red wine and red wine is on "the ok list” in moderation, but most wines upset my GI system.  Vodka with diet tonic (quinine) and diet coconut water (potassium) is my cocktail of choice (in moderation as well - being the daughter of an alcoholic who is extremely careful to avoid that illness,) but vodka is not on “the ok list.”  I did find one wine that was GI acceptable from Black Box called Red Blend - yes, a box wine!  Significant changes in this area probably will not happen. 
9. And, finally, there will be no calorie or carb or fat or points counting at all.  For some reason, that counting and tracking triggers the strong desire in me to eat up to and sometimes just over my permitted levels regardless if I am hungry or not.  It focuses me too much on food, and not enough on eating just enough to avoid hunger.

I really want to “eat to live” rather than “live to eat.”  In fact in my researching I found a book called Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman, MD.  Reading about things I want to do is always inspires me to stay focused.  I haven’t begun to read this book, but one statement in the 2011 summary of the book on Amazon really rang true for me.  It referred to a new added chapter in the updated printing: 

It explains how and why eating the wrong foods causes toxic hunger and the desire to over consume calories; whereas a diet of high micronutrient quality causes true hunger which decreases the sensations leading to food cravings and overeating behaviors.

Toxic hunger!!  Now doesn’t that paint a descriptive picture.  I know that sugar causes a toxic hunger in me.  After the blood sugar ‘high' is over, the blood sugar ‘low' takes over ... and I am at the refrigerator once again looking for a snack.  Carb rich foods do the same thing.  Once I have read this book I will update it here on the blog.

Anyway, I think I have a plan that just might be sustainable.

  And that is the real crux of the issue, isn’t it.

The Diet Game

After months of self isolation (and no real end in sight), no access to my senior gym and no logic to my food intake - I am feeling pretty sluggish!  

My go-to methods to combat that feeling are not cutting it now.  I am a big fan of Weight Watchers as a healthy and successful method for losing weight BUT I am not a big fan of the tracking you needed to do for the long term.  I am not a fan of the low fat diets, low carb diets, low calorie diets or the restrictive “buy your food from us” diets either. They all require some form of tracking and tracking is what I can’t do for the rest of my life.

Then, on the TV last night there was a story about the best and healthiest diets from U.S. News World Report ... you know, one of the many topics typically covered in January.  They mentioned the top 3 diets for health and weight loss.

#1 Mediterranean Diet

#2 DASH

#3 Weight Watchers

I did a little research on the internet ... and depending on the site, #2 and #3 could be exchanged for the Flexitarian Diet.  BUT, the Mediterranean diet is always part of the top 3 on all the sites I visit.

Feeling like I need to take some action to combat this sluggish feeling, I am going to give the Mediterranean diet an official “try" while I am stuck at home with time on my hands.  I have often said I could be a vegetarian if I was feeding only myself.  And the Mediterranean diet is heavy on fruits and vegetables, and low on red meats, sugar and saturated fat.  Since I am still feeding one other person - who is a meat and potato man - it will mean more food prep for me (who hates cooking, ha!)  But it seems that my body chemistry is changing anyway, and I frequently crave a lettuce salad and chicken or salmon over eating a burger or a steak.  I often prepare two different meals now because I don’t feel like eating what he is eating.  

The other biggie in my mind ... besides the lack of tracking is ...  because this is an eating pattern - not a structured diet - you’re on your own to figure out how many calories you should eat to lose or maintain your weight, what you’ll do to stay active and how you’ll shape your Mediterranean menus.  Good.

I really need to do more reading on how to stock my kitchen and what to make.  

Anyone else on a Mediterranean-style diet and have feedback about it?  Any resources you know of to round out my knowledge of this subject?  As luck would have it I have America’s Test Kitchen, The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook already.  I’ve been attracted to this eating plan before apparently - must have bought the book!  Ha!

My Self-Destructive Path to Wellness

Yes, I am well 

despite my best efforts to undermine that effort! 

But I am not entirely a 'good do-bee' when left unattended!

Yesterday I made a trip to the library - an innocent trip.

After all, who gets into trouble going to the library.

On the way I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things.  

It can't get any more innocuous than a grocery store.  

While pulling into the parking lot I got very hungry - VERY hungry.  I had left the house around lunchtime without eating (something I wouldn't ever do in my 'pre-flu, dieting days.' )

Upon entering the store I decided to pick up a sandwich.  I also determined that I deserved salty fatty potato chips.  A big bag so I could have some for later as well.  After all, I had suffered! I had earned chips.

I walked to the prepared food section and found 3 small ham and cheese sliders (without mayo - being virtuous because of the potato chips), walked passed the bakery and a slice of cheese cake with strawberry topping landed in my basket (fruit, you know), then I headed to the chip isle.  Being a sanely reasonable person, I decided against the big bag of chips - and decided to get the medium size bag (2-3 servings per bag size).  Ok, I got 2 of those bags.  I couldn't make up my mind between cheddar flavored chips and regular chips.

As I reached the check out I noticed that the candy was on sale - buy one and get one free.  Decisions, decisions.  I settled on my all time favorite Hersey's Chocolate bars with Almonds (2 of them) and my second favorite, Baby Ruths (2 of them as well.). I just couldn't decide - and they were on sale after all, AND, just in case anyone is wondering, they both had protein: nuts!!

Before my hand even hit the exit door, the Chedder flavored chips were open and I was eating them.  Hungry - remember?  When got in the car - instead of driving and eating at the same time (safety, ok) I decided to eat in the parking lot.  As I opened the ham and cheese sliders a thought cross my mind, "You should really throw away half of this junk food."  Before I could let my better self take action on that thought (I had just purchased these things.  Crazy thoughts to throw them away within 10 minutes of purchase!  Who does that ??????), so before I did anything regrettable - I stuffed those sliders into my mouth, finished the potato chips, and started in on the cheese cake.

Somewhere between the start of the cheese cake and the end of it, my stomach started sending messages to my brain - urgent messages - "What the heck is going on?  For weeks you feed me nothing but soup, yogurt, scrambled eggs, lemon/honey tea, soft toast ... and now I am getting an avalanche of ... whatever this crap is!!  Have you lost your mind?"

I eyed the chocolate bar.  

Seriously, I did.   

I couldn't help wondering just how serious my stomach was.

Ok, I won't eat the chocolate now, but I won't be throwing it away either.  (Compromise - I am nothing if not a compromise.)

On the ride home I began to calculate the diet damage I had done to my months of Weight Watcher weight loss.  It wasn't pretty.  Just before I came down with the flu I returned to Weight Watchers - and the damage I did over 3 1/2 months absent from the program was only 3 1/2 lbs.  I had been good even when I wasn't being weighed weekly.  In fact, when I was seen by the doctor during the flu I had lost weight from my last Weight Watcher weigh in.  I was golden!!

Except ... how would this feast - eaten in about 7.5 minutes - play out on the scale?

Those 4 candy bars had to go.  I got home and unpacked my purchases.  I realized immediately that I couldn't just throw them away.  If I really wanted to throw them away, I should have thrown them out the car window driving home.  That would be littering and I couldn't do that!!

I put them in the freezer.

That was yesterday.
Today they are gone.

And they were good!

  Four candy bars - spread out over time,  (a short time)

because I didn't want to wake up the sleeping giant in my stomach.

Now what to do about Weight Watchers!  It will be 3 weeks from my last weigh in.  How will I explain all of this?

I am nothing if I am not inventive (and compromising.)

Here is the tale.  I had the flu (true ... going for the sympathy vote here), and I had to take steroids for a swollen throat (also true ... more sympathy) and everyone knows that steroids adds weight to your frame no matter how little eat (absolutely true - it is the doctor's fault!)  I am off the steroids now.  Things will improve - if I just avoid libraries and grocery stores.

That's my story.

What do ya' think?

An eyeball popping discovery

After a year of recovering from a 'broken' knee (torn meniscus) and a month of 'the cold from hell,'  I decided that another 5 pounds on top of what I was previously hauling around was a problem.

Curiously, my doctor has held that opinion for some time.  😁 Go figure!  I guess you could say that I treat medical advice like a buffet - pick out what I like and ignore the rest.

As age has crept up on me, I have a better appreciation for the gift of good genetics I inherited.  Elevated blood pressure and cholesterol are my only real issues (along with most elderly Americans,) and I could make a case for me personally that those two are caused by my life style choices.  (Ok, ok, my doctor said pretty much the same thing.). But a new 'player' has poked its ugly little head on my radar in the last few years ...  'pre-diabetic.'  Yikes.  While not diabetic now, I know that this is one condition I really don't want to manage.

Have I been good to myself?  Yes.  I have been building up my endurance and flexibility with exercises classes, gym time and at home routines since early spring.

Have I been bad?  You betcha!  My diet is the "Retired Knitter's Whatever I Feel Like Eating" diet (with the justification that life is short - and no one gets out alive.  If you need more information on the RK diet - just re-read the title!! 😋)   But sneaking in a McDonalds Big Mac or a candy bar has done me no favors.  Truthfully, I am amazed that my body has handled the RK Diet as well as it has.

Sadly exercise alone isn't the answer.  Darn.  So what else is there!!

Photo credit:  Weight Watchers.com

As always ... waiting in the wings for me has been Weight Watchers.

I have used Weight Watchers several times in the past to bring down my weight or to just feel better.  And every time I go they have changed their program (improved it based on current science actually.) This time was no different.

I am not good at the online memberships - I need to be kept accountable by going into the center, stepping on the scale in front of another person and receiving the written update from their computer.  I don't attend meetings.  I don't need hand-holding, cheering, or instruction.  What I need is another human being staring into my face as they inform me of my success or lack of it.  (They all have nice faces and they are low-key about it - BUT someone else knows my status and type A personalities like me need that.  We believe in winning, even if we have to lie about it!  Truth!!)

So a week ago, I rejoined.

Of course I had to buy a cook book.
But their online library of recipes is robust.
Also, another very good online resource of excellent low cal recipes
is SkinnyTaste.com.  She includes WW Freestyle points for all recipes.

The program is pretty simple.  Well ... not as simple as the RK diet, you understand, but simple as far as traditional (and medically approved) diets go.  Ha!

• You can have anything (I love diets like that - no no-nos - so when you slip and have that candy bar you haven't broken your will to live diet!  Ha)
• All fruits and almost all vegetables are allowed without limitations.  Yes!  That includes beans and bananas and some traditionally high calorie fruit choices. You can have lean proteins like fish, chicken, turkey, eggs, beans, and no fat yogurt without limitations.  Yes!  Everything else has a points value and you can scan the points with your phone on to an online tracking data base.  So easy.
• Basically - it is a low carb, low fat diet.

The first week was an eye-opener for me in how my body responded to this new regime, (or as Weight Watchers describes it) a new life style choice.

• As long as I wasn't hungry - I didn't crave my chocolate or my Pringles or my Big Mac. I still think about sugar cookies.  Apparently they mean more to me than that other stuff.  Who knew!
• I wasn't hungry because the diet rests pretty soundly on lean proteins.
• When I did I want some 'unspecific something'  having a fruit seemed to do the trick.  Win-win so far.

Photo credit: The Tropes Wiki - Fandom

Now here is the BIGGEST eye-opener of all  - to the point that my eyes could fall out of my head ... the regular thirst that I have lived with for about 5 years (thirst that prompted me to carry a water bottle literally everywhere) - THAT thirst - gone!  In the first day of the diet - GONE!!

VERY STARTLING.  And I suspect know the reason.

Remember that pre-diabetic state I mentioned earlier?  Well I did a little research.  With diabetes or pre-diabetes that is not controlled - thirst is one of the warning signals that something is not chemically right with your blood values - specially your glucose or sugars.

Ok - I get it.

A little message from my body sent by way of my mouth -  eat more sensibly.  Since I ignored that little thirst message for years - I guess I was lucky that diabetes didn't jump all over my ignorant self and add condition #3 to my treatment plan.  If I am lucky - the new diet choices may also impact blood pressure and cholesterol.

As far as weight -  down 2.8 pounds.  Pretty painless weight drop as well.  My knees will probably thank me a few more pounds from now.

Win-win.

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks!!!

Fine print for anything I wrote here:  Nothing I have conveyed in this post should be accepted as medical advice. NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING!!  Remember I am the creator of the RK diet - and I assure you that the RK diet has killed a bunch of people.  I am just lucky I am not dead.  I have no medical training.  Do not take anything in this post as medical advice for you.  Consult with your doctor - and if you choose medical advice like a buffet (like I did), you might want to reconsider that decision.  Cheers.  Now I am covered legally.  😇

It doesn't take much ...

... to lose physical conditioning when you stop moving!

I read somewhere that a 3 week break from aerobic exercise drops physical conditioning down to pre-exercise levels.  WHAT!!??  How unfair is that?  Seems like if I devoted 3 months to improving this old body, it should take 3 months to tear it down!! 

In March I devoted two days a week to a senior exercise class (aerobics, strength training and minimal stretching). and another two days to the gym for strength training.

Then I got sick ... 

Walking from the bedroom in the morning to the kitchen and back again required a nap before lunch.   My afternoon exercise was runs to the grocery store to buy ice.  

Lots of inactivity.  

Earlier this week I decided to go for a walk.  Best to get moving again.  It wasn't too bad, and the walk was slow and steady on a cool evening - with no effort to track distance or speed or steps.  Still, I did ok.

The first exercise class of the new session started on Monday.   I feel like raising a flag 'cause I survived!!

On the upside - all this unavoidable sitting and napping made my 'surgery knee' feel almost normal.  It struggled with stiffness and soreness prior to the cold - that seems to have disappeared.  On the downside - I have gained some weight.  Boo!

So I once again begin the struggle up hill to regain some endurance, strength and flexibility.  And I am considering going back to Weight Watcher's to get that weight down.

Fitness is like marriage.

You can't cheat on it

and 

expect it to work.

Increase, Decrease, Decrease 2016!

I am not much for resolutions!  In my experience a resolution is good for about 3 days and then it is broken.  I also hate starting anything on a traditional date when "everyone is starting something" - i.e. New Years Day.

It is just a trap, trap, trap!

But this year I am falling into the trap for 3 personal goals. Simply put - Increase, Decrease, Decrease.  I thought I would share them here, because a public admission (and a public flogging if needed) might help compliance beyond 3 days!  Ha!

Goals should be measurable.  Pledging to be a happier person is a wonderful life attitude to seek out, but as a goal ...  how do you measure improvement.  My goals are measurable and I have a tracking system set up.

So here goes with the public pronouncement.

Goal #1
I need to Increase my activity.  Man, I hate this goal.  I have started it over many many times on this.  But I keep trying.  The past year was my couch potato year.  I thought 2014 was miserable for me and 2015 was pretty much a loss as well.  2016 must be more active - mostly because this body I have must last me precisely another 38 years (more on that in goal #3) and at this rate it won't.

Goal #2
I need to Decrease the load my legs haul around each day.  Simply put - lose weight.  I hate this goal, too.  It is so trite and so common and usually so unsuccessful.  But my weight continues to creep up. Sitting on the couch in 2015 didn't help.  I don't care if I "look younger," but I want to feel more energetic.  And if I have another 38 years, it is a long time to feel this way.

Goal #3
Finally, this goal will make some of you smile.  I need to Decrease my yarn stash.  (the operative word is decrease.)  I don't actually hate this goal.  It is clear, however, that my yarn is secretly reproducing while my back is turned  I could not possibly be guilty of contributing to this obsession!  (I am going to have to answer to God at some point for all these lies!  But for now, lying works.)

Here is where the '38 years' comes into play.

• About 5 years ago I did a yarn inventory, noting type and yardage on an excel spreadsheet.  I owned about 140,000 yards of yarn.  Using a typical measure of knitting up 5,000 yards a year - I could knit for another 28 years without ever buying yarn!  I was appalled!!  Embarrassed actually.  I went on a yarn diet in that moment.  
• A few years later I updated my inventory and I was bouncing about 170,000 total yards of yarn.  Gads!!!  Epic yarn diet failure!!!  (That was when I decided that I should be buying only male or female yarn.  No more mixing up the sexes.  The yarn was showing no control!!)  I could now knit for another 34 years without buying yarn.  Unacceptable.
• This fall I updated my inventory - (and by now no one should be surprised) the total was up again.  I now own about 191,000 yards of yarn - and this is with regular knitting and giving away yarn since the last inventory.  Now everyone, all together ... how many years can I knit without buying yarn???       "38 years!"   Correct!  You all are so smart.  :-)    

But ...

Let's get real.

For the record

 I will be buying yarn again!!

  I have a love affair with the stuff. 

It is a hobby that lights up my life. 

I want my yarn stash numbers to decrease or at least stay the same.  This goal will be the hardest one of all.  Like all 'addicts,' I am reducing my yarn temptations. I stopped all knitting magazine subscriptions, I have 'unsubscribed' from all on line yarn vendors, and I am avoiding yarn stores. It is going to be tough, but my hobby should not take up one whole room in my house - and it does!

So welcome 2016!

The year of Increase, Decrease, Decrease!