Exercise is doing it, as is monitoring my food intake

Don't you just hate it when all the weight experts were correct. It really does come down to eating less calories than your calorie output due to exercise and doing your daily activities. It does help to be of good mind also. To have some hope that you will continue to lose weight even if you have a bump in the road for a while. You just have to return to the behaviour that helped you lose weight in the first place. That upwards bump may mean your body will release your fat (to be disposed of again) as it no longer thinks you are starving. It won't clutch on so hard to those calories coming in.

The other annoying thing is the amount of exercise I need to do daily to have that consistent downward trend seems to equal 2 hours of brisk walking or some other aerobic exercise, It is a large chunk of my day and I have so many other things I either have to do (look after Mum and do the housework) or want to do; my writing, my crafts and my reading. I need another 20 hours in the day I think. Less time eating, nibbling and making food is giving me some time back. The positive thing of all the walking is that it puts me in a happier mood. If you don't believe me try it. Walk for at least 60-90 minutes regularly and note how you feel.

Our house is at the top of the hill and I walk a variety of routes through the subdivision below it. There is hills to go up and down, walkways that are used by both cyclists and walkers so you see others doing their daily exercise too. They have a park with a few exercise options so 1-2x a week I hit them too. The area has lots of nice houses, trees and views to see so every day is slightly different. There is also lovely dogs to say hello to as they enjoy taking their owners for a walk. Of course if you go to town you might see something else to drool over.

The bottom photo (my granddaughter Maia using exercise equipment at park) shows a couple of the exercise stations at a local park. You have to be gutsy to do it as others walk past but it is a way of doing something other than walking till I can afford to pay gym fees.

This I have on my desktop to remind me that I am worth the time I need to take to lose the weight and get healthier. I do it for me as I move more freely when I am lighter and with less, or no, pain from my joints. If I don't do it now it would mean more joint replacements in my future. When I was larger I fell over too easily because I was top heavy and my centre of gravity was out of whack. I broke my upper humerus badly due to a fall and had to have operations to fix it. I slipped on wet steps and ended up with a knee joint replacement because of the amount of damage the fall caused. I find with the 40kgs I have already lost that I am much more stable and I don't have massive damage (except to my ego) if I do fall over.Falling right over is unusual now. I might stumble then recover on rough ground now.

Things I did for me this week:

• Attended my fortnightly writing group. We talked about how to start writing, keep on going on your project and possible goals for what you are writing.
• Attended Adult Colouring In at the local library and met some lovely ladies. It sounds like later in the year I might have to demonstrate how to make bath bombs at the Fun Friday craft days they have there. I will have to practice doing so at home before then too ( a new goal)
• Listened to a webinar by Jeff Goin on how to make an income from blogging -very interesting
• Started back into doing a Needlepoint tapestry called "Starbirds" as only have the face to complete on it
• Brought some new plants for the garden and am about to go and put them in. Still eating heirloom tomatoes off our plants daily and beans every couple of days.
• Walked Daily for at least 90 minutes.

What did you do just for you this week? How is your journey proceeding?

Starting to go down again - 0.5kgs

It may be in small increments, and some days are better than others, but a downward trend is starting up again. The steps I put in place are helping. Documenting what I eat makes me think first as I really don't want to write down something I know should not be going in my mouth if I want to lose weight. I am not perfect and the food I eat is not always perfect but I have substantially decreased eating empty calories. Sugar is so addictive. It is also one of the easiest things to eat even with an LGS.

TV1 has a new program "The Big Ward" that follows people through the process of having WLS and what they want them to do before the operation goes ahead. This is being done in the Public Hospitals for free so they are very strict on the criteria you have to meet. I was lucky that my brother paid for my surgery privately but I still had to get down to around 120 kgs to make it safer and a bit easier to do the operation. I took appetite suppressants for a month to help me stopping full time grazing . This was followed by using Optifast for a month . I lost 10 kgs on each of these months.  http://tvnz.co.nz/the-big-ward/6444924     to see how others work towards better health and a much better life.

One of the ladies was up front about the fact that she really had a sugar addiction and I know where she is coming from. Stress, probably accompanied by cortisol release, really wants your body to eat sugar and carbs. This goes straight onto many people's hips(entire body) instantly. It is so hard to fight though as it is the thing that is most prevalent in supermarkets, cafes, food halls etc. Everywhere you go there is a place to eat. I swear KFC pumps the scent out of their extractors directly from a scent pack. Saying that I have only eaten KFC once in the last five years. As we were watching TV last night around 10 pm the  ads for New World and Countdown came on one after the other. My 82 year old mother grumps, "I wish they weren't allowed to put food or chocolate ads on after 7 pm. It just makes me want to eat and I am trying not to have anything extra after tea as it goes straight on my body."

I have asked my daughter who brings non-gluten free, lovely smelling potato/herb/pumpkin bread (and other things I don't need to eat) to start to put it into containers I can't see through so it is not visible to me. For preference I really don't want it in the pantry at all but the house is small and the storage tight. We need to go back to not buying some foods that I know I eat and gain on. It would help Mum  and my daughter as they need to lose weight too.

A 90 minute walk can take 0.4 kgs off at the time and I think if I can do that walk most days it will help me keep going down. Through various small bits of work (doing ironing and giving a massage) I am $84 towards the startup fee for the local gym just a few metres down the road. I need the weights and cardio that I can get at a gym for sustained weight loss. It is a 24 hour gym so you can use it at anytime as you have a swipe card that gives you admittance. You pay just under $11.00 per week for the use of the gym which is direct debited from your account. I will have to cope with the cost, in money, for the pay off in health and weight loss. The cost would ensure I actually use it. I like to exercise before my mother gets up as I find I have more energy for the rest of the day if I do that. I would still be able to go any other time of the day if I couldn't get there earlier so it would be a win-win situation. A couple more weeks and I should have the money.

This mirror in The Warehouse (14th February) gave me a better idea of where I am in my weight. It is less than I have been and more than I was at this time last year. By this time next year I want to be able to say that I have lost all the weight I want to lose. I want to be 70 kgs but to get there I am going to have to go back to working hard at it again. You do lose weight with WLS but you can nibble your weight back up if you fail to keep your eye on the goal. I would love to lose a number of cup sizes on my breasts as I still fill a G Cup. I like the thought of wearing the lovely dresses that are in the shops at the moment but the excess boobs stop me from doing that. I know why small breasted women sometimes want larger ones but we ladies with XXXL boobs often want just a little less of nature's bounty. No more sore and rounded back, no more falling over if you start to trip (top heavy centre of gravity) and being able to wearing nicer clothing are all good reasons for less.

INTENTIONS  FOR THE COMING WEEK:

• Walk daily even when it is raining
• Monitor food/water intake during day and use MyFitnessPal to see how I am doing
• Lose 0.5 - 1 kg before next week.
• Work daily on book
• Do exercises at home to videos on the Net
• Set up a vision board for my weightloss and my book this week, photograph and post them next week
• That more people read this post and maybe leave some comments so I know what interests them.

A few questions that I would like comments on: 

• Do you want more on different exercises?
• Do you want more on food eaten or recipes?
• Do you want graphs showing changes occurring?
• Do you want more on creative things to do to keep your hands/mouths away from food and do something positive?

I am going up in weight - noooo!!!

I am trying to figure out what is happening at the moment. I am getting back to walking for at least an hour or more daily, with only 1 day off a week. I am using my kettle dumbbell to get my arms smaller again. I am tracking my food / glasses of water each day. I am journalling. I joined a Facebook page for WLS people in New Zealand.

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/1596568713949751/permalink/1660344167572205/

 I am still going up and I am freaking out. I am finding out that I am eating some empty calories so am attempting to change that each day, one day at a time. I don't care what they say food can be an addiction to some people, me included. I love my fruit especially bananas. Most fruit is high in sugars though. Peanut butter is another thing I have daily. I won't buy it this week, see how I do.

My mother is noted that I am wearing more flowy clothes again and commented on it. I had moved to more shape conforming clothes as I lost weight but they are not so comfortable at the moment. It is lovely and hot this summer but that can make you sweat if your clothes are too tight. It is maddening as I went through this op to have a good permanent weight loss and regain my younger body weight or at least under 100 kgs and as close to 70 kgs as I could get. I managed to get to 99.2 kgs. Some of it is the food that my daughter brings into the house. Some of it is me wanting to taste that food.

I need to go back to how I ate when I first had this op: smaller portions, no daily puddings, fruit/vegetables in controlled amounts and more protein(eaten first). Hide my mother's lollies so I don't dip as I go past. I snorted at a person who was going on about the pizza etc they were still eating after their LGS and queried why they bothered. I knew it would come back to bite me when I did it.I don't eat pizza and fast food myself, but I have been fooling myself about the amount of so called good, non-processed food that I am eating.

I must work out what I am going to eat the day before and stick to that. I will walk daily and do other forms of exercise also. MyFitnessPal needs to be entered as I eat, I think, or at the end of the day if I note it elsewhere. I think if I manage to get my drinks up to 10 glasses that may help. Documenting how many I have had is getting me up to 8 glasses most days now.

The top photos are today, the left hand lower one was early 2015, the right hand one is November 2015.  I know we dealt with shifting etc and I comfort ate but I need to learn and practice other means of dealing with my emotions. I don't want or need this weight.

These are affirmations I am using to get back into the right headspace again. So, no more whining. The positive things that have happened since my last post:

• I finished a small crochet blanket that will be given to some-one in need to help them stay warm in cool weather
• I attended a Creative Writing Workshop at my local library which even though it concentrated on poetry (not good at that) gave me more insight into writing
• The person in charge of the workshop asked if I was interested in being a local contact for other weekend workshops (YES)
• I met some lovely people at that workshop and some are coming to our Tuesday writing group (woohoo)
• This week's writing group went well and one new member has done a Copy-editing and proofreading course already.  
• The people in the Facebook page referenced above are lovely people to communicate with

Synchronicity in action again.

 

                                 The next time I blog I will record a weight decrease.

2016 - the year for creativity and joy

I have decided to have two words to describe my coming year as both are and will become more important to me in the year that is unfolding. Creativity is a positive action that leads to positive changes: mentally, emotionally and physically. To try something new will help me grow in so many ways. It is difficult to eat if your hands are fully occupied elsewhere. It also becomes a thought out process when you decide to eat as you have to stop what you are doing creatively, get up and walk to where the food is. This means you can trick your brain and say "I'll get something in ten minutes." Most of the time after 10 minutes you will have forgotten that urge because you are involved in something you find enjoyable.

I like to write as evidenced by this blog ( forget last year's slacking) and I like to do handcrafts. I completed a jumper in aran stitches for myself last year and a castle for the library from my knitting group. Others did their bit too. Meeting with good friends has brightened my year especially when they usually live overseas and it was a serendipitous meeting that led to us having a good meal together with lots of talking done while eating.

Joy comes from friends and their caring. It comes when you reach a goal you were not sure you would complete. It comes from loving times with close and extended family. It comes from time with your grandchildren or children. Sometimes life just hits you with a gust of happiness unexpectedly. Being present in the moment is helping me have more moments of joy.

So this year I create:

1. A Middle Grade book
2. An erotca book (under another name)
3. A picture book
4. Knitted clothes for me and my family
5. Knitted goods for people in need
6. A slimmer, healthier, stronger me
7. A lovely bedroom for me I love to be in
8. A clean and healthy environment for my family 
9. A garden of food, flowers and joy
10. Exercise I do daily

[Image] | These Lamps Create Incredible Art On The Walls Surrounding... - TIMEWHEEL

[Image] | These Lamps Create Incredible Art On The Walls Surrounding... - TIMEWHEEL When you stop worrying about your weight and can put effort into something creative you never know where it will lead you. I have taken to writing and being in two writing groups. I am also doing a monthly Fun Craft morning, an adult colouring morning monthly and a fortnightly Knitting in Public group.



Whatever you decide to do to bring creativity into your life is correct. You know what makes you happy. If you don't know what that is yet then get out there and start trying things out. Something you do will make your heart sing. Grab onto it with both hands and keep doing it. Often we eat because of boredom or stress. Doing something you love is the best counter for both of these. Don't take notice of anyone who scoffs at you especially if they are not doing something they love to do on a regular basis. TV watching is not creative unless you are watching the TV series you wrote yourself to see if it came out right.



Trying different forms of exercise is creative as well. You are creating your new body. Muscles will grow. Fat will lessen. Health will improve. Finding out foods that work for you is creative for your health. New foods may work better for your body. Changing what you eat means your body has to work differently to absorb new minerals, vitamins, proteins, fats and carbs. Variety is the spice of life especially if you use different spices and herbs in your food.



Be creative in your home. Get rid of the things you have not used in the last year. Clearing space in your home creates new space in your life for something good to enter. Get rid of old craft tools and goods if you have not touched them in any way for a long time. Donate them to a charity shop, win/win.You may have liked it once but some-one else would love the use of the old crafts things as they would be new to them. My mother always made my father sell off his old hobby goods when he went onto a new one. It cleared space and gave him extra money for his new hobby - win/win.



Go into your computer and delete old files (not photos) that no longer have any relevance to you and your life. Gain space in your computer. It will probably run faster too. Get rid of programs you haven't used for the same reasons. If you are not absolutely sure about deleting them save them into an external hard-drive just in case.



In January it is a good time to look at all aspects of your life and see what needs changing. Make Intentions not Resolutions. Go get your new life.

2016 Intentions and Affirmations not Resolutions

I don't keep my resolutions like most people so I might try to use Intentions and Affirmations this year to help my life in every way possible.

Health:

• Exercise every day but not necessarily the same exercise; so walking, swimming, weights are  my new friends that I like to see and do daily in some form that I love.
• Eating right; the food I put into my mouth is fresh and full of the minerals, vitamins, carbs, proteins and fiber my body will utilize so my body remains fit and full of energy.
• I practice walking freely and straight and sit well; I move freely and pain free through life as I love my body and do the best I can to keep it healthy.

Creativity

• I will finish writing my MG novel by the 6th February; the novel I am writing will be enjoyed especially by boys between 8 and 12, but their sisters will enjoy it too.
• I will work to use my wool stash entirely by May 2016; many people in need of warm clothing will be the recipients of hand-knitted goods from me this year and like what they have.
• I will keep going to the Adult Colouring sessions monthly; my mind is soothed and relaxed by colouring books so that my body de-stresses in an enjoyable way.
• I will continue with my writing groups this year and encourage us all to have something published by 2017; our stories will be published in 2016 whether it is self publishing or mainstream as we have stories others are interested in reading. 
• I will learn a new craft this year; Creativity is good for the soul.

Home and garden

• I keep the house clean and tidy; everything is balanced, clean and full of love.
• We grow more of our food at home to eat better; our garden is a space of beauty and the vegetables grown in it are healthy and life-giving to all
• Tidiness becomes part of my day; nightly I tidy up so we start our day well

Weight-loss Intentions

• To loss steadily and safely throughout the year till I reach 70 kgs (154 lbs or 11 stone)
• To tighten my muscles up with exercise to lessen the effects of loose skin
• To have weekly, monthly and yearly aims met each time
• To understand why I may want to eat; comfort, de-stressing, thirst, emotions and address that rather than eat food I don't need.

Louise Hay affirmations are good ones to use especially those in her Little Blue  Book though I might have to find up my newer book as I think the other has disappeared into the Place of Lost Books. We have become more visual so putting supportive affirmations in you Pinterest Board and re-reading them regularly or printing them out and displaying them on your wall or fridge can be helpful. Vision boards help you define and display your desires to you and/or the world. Journaling helps in so many ways. This site is really an online journal of sorts. I used it regularly at the start of my journey but let life get in the way last year and ended up gaining 6 kilos. This year I am aiming to get back to at least a weekly post. It is a way to be accountable too. So I will try to show what exercise  I did, maybe talk about what I have been eating and any changes I make that are helpful, talk about positive changes in my life and how I deal with negative moments (other than eating).

I wish you a good year of joy, abundance where needed in your life, weight loss if that is your goal, a healthy energetic life doing the things you love and changing the things you don't. 2016 is Red Fire Monkey year in the chinese horoscopes

The top photo is my  writing group fo 2 Tuesdays a month throughout the year.

Christmas lilies and orchids that are flowering well this summer in our garden.

I am a Snake so this is my Horoscope http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/2016/ to check out yours.

 You were born in the Year of Snake. The following is the Red Monkey year prediction for people born in year of Snake.

When Snake meets Monkey, Monkey will become a good assistant or escort to Snake.

Career: Monkey contains Metal and some Water. You will encounter little trouble in the career. You need to work a little bit harder. It will be worth after all, because you will get a satisfied return.

Job Change: If you have a promotion chance, then you can consider to take it. The sign shows both of your career and money luck are good.

Wealth: Your income and investment will have stable increasing. If you can find good financial adviser to manage your finance, then you might get much more return.

Love: The younger generations are easier to find their matches. If you are a female, then you need to push or encourage the boy to accept the relationship. If you are a male, then you have very good love relationship. A man will have more chances to meet the girls. If you are married or in love, your love relationship will maintain well.

Social Circle: If you can help people, then you should spend time on it. That will help you to expand social networks, and then the money making opportunity will come after.

Quarrel: If you have argument or dispute with someone, then you need to take care the business by yourself. You won't get a perfect result, if you only hire someone to handle the issue.

Health: Try not to over-exercise and then injure the body. Pay attention to arthritis, arms, legs and shoulders.

General Fortune: Monkey will bring a good fortune opportunity to you. Don't miss the opportunity in the year of Monkey.

Good luck in 2016

Merry Christmas 2015

 I gained weight over our winter and went up to 105.9kgs (232.98 lb). I am a bit mad at myself as I intellectually know why I did but it still happened. I am in the process of slowly grabbing the weight loss back. Once again emotional eating and the inbuilt need for comfort ( carbs) food over winter has made the difference. My mother is ending up in hospital with heart problems (CHF and AF) every few months at the moment. She also had a severe bowel infection caught while she was on holiday.

I visited my daughter and her family (my grandies) in March. Mum visited her family in Palmerston North. While she was down there she drank infected water. The infection she caught is known to kill babies and elderly people. She was fairly close at one stage but my battling mother pulled through once more, thank god.

Mid year my brother came into our flat one day and asked how long it would take us to pack if we were to shift? Could we do it in a week? I responded we could be packed in 4 days if needed and if he could keep boxes, tape and bubble wrap coming. He came back with 25 cardboard cartons. We were on the move. Together with my mother and daughter we set to. I listed the contents and box number, prepared more boxes by taping them up and stacked filled , sealed boxes. Mum wrapped the fragile things and told my daughter where they needed positioning in the box.  It was a production line. My brother would come every few days and take a carload to his garage. There was a hiatus 2/3 of the way through to settle when we needed to be out so he could put the flat on the market, if we all stayed at his place  for a few weeks and when our new place could be occupied. Mid-July to his place and mid-August to our new place in the end.

We have been busy sorting out our new home and the slightly larger garden. It is lovely here. The distance to town is a bit longer but still walkable. If the rainy weather makes me not want to do that walk then there is a bus stop just over the road. I am using the walk to the library in town as my exercise. We no longer have a gym I can go to daily until I save enough to afford the membership at a gym down the road from us.Tthat is a goal I am aiming for early next year. I can do other forms of exercise at home till then.

The pictures show the outside of our new house and the bigger garden. Lawn moving takes a few minutes with an electric mover. We frequently move the planters around so the best flowers can be seen from the sitting room where Mum spends most of her days. I am the person with the red velvet top second from the left. The KIP (Knitting in Public) group I attend knitted a castle with Knight, Princess, Page and two horses for the Botany Library to use in their Storytimes.It was a thank you for them having us use a large room at the front as our meeting area on a fortnightly basis. 30+ women and 1 man can be a little noisy at times when a few of them are deaf..

 I have had a good year in my 2 writing groups though. We are attempting to get a group of short stories together to publish next year. One of our Saturday group published a children's book recently called "Rabbit's Big Idea" by Elise Da Silva. She launched it at Botany Library as that is where she went to our writing group. She got up the courage to do this book. I did Nanowrimo again this year but with a lot of other things happening only got to 25,000 words. I will finish that book though. My niece got 55,000+ words so my wish for her in the coming year is that she does something with it.

I have my grandchildren in the country at the moment though they are mostly visiting their other grandmother and their father. We went out to the airport to welcome them here and got an hour of time to cuddle and talk. They have both grown heaps even from when I saw them in March. Once again a young male in out family is so much taller than me. Genetics will out; my younger brother is 6ft 3 inches and their grandfather( Paul) was the shortest in his family at 6 ft. One of his brothers was 6ft 5 in.

  So I wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS, fun and games with your family, joyful eating, ravishing exercise, no weight gain and JOY, PEACE, LOVE, GOODWILL, CHARITY AND HOPE for a better world in the year to come.