What the????

I want to make one thing clear from the beginning - this was not my idea.  If you can picture a cartoon character with her heels dug down into the ground and her daughter pushing her like a two-wheel dolly – that is how this all started!  My daughter, the one doing the pushing, has been blogging for a long time now but I am a 50 year old woman who “lurks” on Facebook (my children’s term) and has been on Pinterest maybe twice in the 6+ months I’ve been signed up for it so I wasn’t too keen on putting myself out there in a blog.  But to her defense, I did agree to try this so she set me up.

The title of this blog “Last20again” is why I am blogging.   About 5 years ago I found myself to be a 45ish year old woman who was gaining weight rapidly, having knee problems, battling with depression and not sleeping well.  So after a visit with my MD I went to see an Orthopedic Surgeon for my knee and he said “If you would only lose 25 lbs. your knees would feel so much better”.  The following week I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea and put on a breathing machine, which I HATED (yes it was so hateful I have to put it in caps) so when I went back for a check-up with my sleep doctor I asked if there was anything else I could use besides that blasted machine and he said “If you lose 25 lbs. I will fit you for a mouth piece.”  So back to my MD I went and said – “I need to lose at least 25 lbs.  What do you recommend?”  She recommended Weight Watchers so I joined.

I not only lost the 25 lbs., so my knees felt better and I was fitted for a mouth piece, but I went on to lose a total of 75 lbs. in about a year and a half.  I was in heaven!  I was walking better – I was sleeping better – life was better - period!    

Then my father became ill suddenly and within three weeks passed away.  I thought I was handling the whole situation ok but my body was saying otherwise… that was almost 5 years ago now and I’ve gained and lost (most of) the same 20 lbs. over and over and over and over and over again!  So I was lamenting to my daughter about those stubborn 20 and we talked about putting money in a jar to buy something special when I lost the weight, but I’m blessed to be at a point in my life where I don’t necessarily have to save for the fun stuff – if I want it, within reason, I usually just buy it.   Then she suggested that I do a blog to keep me accountable… as I’ve stated I wasn’t too keen on the idea but as I thought more about it I decided I had to try everything if I was going to get down and stay down.

As I see it, I have a couple of problems with these last 20 lbs. 

1.    I LOVE food (again with the all caps – yes I feel that strongly)!  While I don’t always like preparing it – there isn’t much out there I won’t eat and enjoy.

2.    I suffer from portion distortion.   If something tastes good isn’t more better than less?

3.    I haven’t found the motivation needed to exercise regularly.   Now don’t get me wrong- I love to be active.  I love to swim, ride bike and walk.  My problem is the motivation to get to the pool at 5:30 am and not be uncomfortable swimming laps with all those other swimmers that swim so much better than I.  Or it’s getting on my bike or walking the dog after I’ve worked all day, made dinner, eaten dinner, cleaned up after dinner, etc.  This only gets worse as the days shorten and I ride to work and home in the dark.

So that’s my story… I’m back on the WW bandwagon (I’ve never left – just have been paying for years when I should be able to attend for free) and am going to see how this blogging thing goes.  Today I’ve done well.  WW oatmeal, almond milk and a banana for breakfast, a bottle of water, Diet Coke and 5 pts of Almonds between breakfast and lunch and a Jimmy John’s Turkey Unwich, hold the mayo add avocado, with a pickle for lunch.  I have pork chops out for dinner – we’ll see how the rest of the day goes.