Tag: exercise

Ch Ch Ch Changes…..

My Doctor says I have a fatty liver and we’ll need to do an ultrasound after the pandemic is more under control. I don’t think this explains my joint pain but I know all the tests ruled out a whole bunch of things so there’s that. So, this diagnosis means lifestyle changes like diet and exercise. I’m to lose between 15-20 LBs. and eat whole grains, fruits, veg, all the stuff they always tell you to eat, and I need to limit dairy, meats, fats, salt, sugar and alcohol… all the stuff they always tell you to limit. No real surprises. Funny how the same diet is good for so many things isn’t it? Not really, I feel foolish because I had a fairly excellent diet years ago and my burgeoning food allergies caused me to more or less give up. It seems I should have stuck with it even though it was getting harder to maintain. Oh well, this is where I am, this is what I have, so I’ll go from here.

Under this new lifestyle I also need to drink more water which, happily, I enjoy. I had fruit and tea and iced mint tea for breakfast this morning so off to a good start there. We’ll see how I do the rest of the day. Olive oil is supposed to be good in moderation and I can have avocados which I like. I’m allergic to almost all nuts and I hate olives so those are out. A Mediterranean diet is recommended but I’m allergic to tomatoes, lemons, nuts… and a host of other things that make healthy eating difficult. Obviously I’ll have to work on this, figure things out, limiting dairy and fried foods is going to suck.

Maybe I need to make a list of foods I especially like that are “allowed” in my new diet so I can focus on that instead of all the things I’m losing and need to curtail. Good foods I love:

  • Avocados
  • Mushrooms
  • Raspberries
  • Homemade granola
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Kale
  • Chickpeas
  • Potatoes
  • Limes
  • Sesame seeds
  • Summer squash pasta sauce
  • Onions
  • Garlic
  • Kidney Beans
  • Blueberries
  • Mint tea
  • Rice
  • Okra
  • Butternut squash
  • Apples
  • Pears
  • Nectarines
  • Red peppers
  • Beets
  • Broccoli
  • Zucchini
  • Scallions
  • Garlic scapes
  • Asparagus

So, pleny there to work with, and I am allowed some dairy, though I imagine my holiday indulgences will be way off book. I’m glad fast food is a no-no. I can be really bad about that at times. My weird indulgence in fast food seems sort of cyclical, I’ve gone through phases with it, I either have it frequently or not at all, so not at all it is. Not frying food at home will be weird, I’m pretty sure Sauteeing is frying and I do a lot of that especially my beloved onions & garlic. I suppose I’ll get it sorted out. I need some new recipes for certain and that’s going to be a bit tricky. Mediterranean cookbooks are out as they lean heavily towards many of my allergies. I think adapting to this new diet might be helped by growing some of the foods I can have and enjoy. I guess it’s time to invest in some raised beds and to learn how to vanquish my black thumb.

To-Do lists and such

Yep, I just plain eat too much for how active I am… or am not. Up the activity level, lower the calories, I should be able to do that. We’ll see, no luck so far. My husband has lost 7 pounds already. No success in this are for me, BUT my progress on today’s to-do list is already impressive at 9am.

  • laid a fire in the wood stove
  • fed the cats
  • put away clean dishes
  • drove kids to school
  • got sick hubby breakfast in bed
  • filled the wood box
  • started a load of wash
  • cleaned the cat boxes
  • knit 2 stripes on the Hufflepuff scarf
  • put away the rakes and clippers
  • brought the snow shovels up from the shed
  • located and ordered firewood
  • remembered to get chicken out to thaw for tomorrow (yay)

Seems like a long list when I write it out like that but it’s just part of all I need to do today. I’m going to lay that out and see what it looks like…

  • take trash and recycling to transfer station
  • drop off check at farm stand
  • plan and execute dinner
  • clean fridge
  • wash dishes
  • fold and put away yesterday’s laundry
  • hang today’s laundry to dry
  • sweep kitchen and dining rooms
  • clean downstairs bath
  • pick up kids, probably separately (ugh)
  • get cash for the wood delivery
  • finish sewing felted mittens and fleece liners
  • knit 2 more stripes (I need to finish all 4 house scarves for mid-Dec.)
  • Try to figure out how to fix my friend’s coat
  • read at least 2 chapters of my book (probably at bedtime)
  • clean and declutter a bit in our bedroom
  • finish planning Thanksgiving feast
  • start planning Yule feast
  • look into craft projects for Yule and order supplies if needed

That ought to be enough for one day. I do want to try to have some kind of family activity tonight if we can, though it looks like I’ll be pretty tired by the time dinner is done and hubby is sick. hmm. Maybe we could have a movie night at home on Saturday or a game night. I feel like all I do is write I.O.U.s to my kids for stuff like that. We did have a Mutants and Masterminds game on Sunday but that was pretty much my husband’s doing. He’s a really good dad. ^_^

Clear

Now that I have figured out how to enter what I eat into the food diary it is clear why my weight stays pretty stagnant. I eat too many calories for my activity level. Way too many calories, and beer isn’t helping either. LOL. Who could have guessed? But the new information is how far over the line I am, which isn’t all that much, so it should be fixable. I can also become more active and being able to eat brownies is a pretty good motivation for me.

So, here, now, today, I weigh 165 lbs. That’s about 30-35 more than I probably should be. So, little calorie and step counting app. let’s see what you can do for me.

Minor Revelations

My 17 year old is depressed and anxious. He’s also very introverted and doesn’t feel motivated to hang out with people so we have to push him to do that. He has fun when he does, usually. His therapist has been giving him assignments over the past year, to hang out with peers, to introduce himself to people, to reach out more in general, to get involved in activities with others. Recently, my husband has started giving him assignments too. He told our son to pick a girl he finds attractive (at this art activity he was in) and walk up to her before he left and just say “I really like what you did, it’s cool.” and smile. He did it! (I freaking saw him do it because I was running the activity)

He does try to do all the things we and the therapist suggest to him. He and his dad have been running in the mornings for a few weeks and eating better too. He used to drink a ton of juice and juice, beyond a small glass or 2 per day is rubbish for you. It’s basically all sugar. I took juice away a while ago and the kid lost 12 pounds in a few weeks. I’ve been trying to get him to drink water all along, it being the actual liquid our bodies crave, but he hasn’t been into it at all. Since our weekend away at the Cape, besides decluttering I’ve been washing up the dishes right after meals and also keeping a full pitcher of water in the fridge. Suddenly the kid is drinking water all the time. I can’t believe it, he hated water, now he loves it because it’s cold from the fridge. He’s also eating fruit, especially grapes, he and my husband agree that grapes are AWESOME right after their morning run.

Oh, and he also wants to get into Tae Kwan Do now. The only exercise I’ve ever been able to get him to do was swimming! A whole combination of things has come together and all these long wanted changes are suddenly happening. He’s been in therapy and on meds for a year, we’re eating family meals together much more consistently, there is cold water in the fridge at all times, and he started running with his dad. He is becoming a happier, healthier kid. Some changes are dramatic and some are subtle but they are happening. He and my husband are both losing weight. Oh, for anyone who’s wondering, they are using something called “Couch to 5K” it’s an app you can get for your phone that tells you what to do each day and builds you up to being able to run 5K. I’ve been walking using the new Harry Potter game as motivation because I am on my feet at home and at work much more than they are and I don’t like running. (Plus, Harry Potter ^_^ )

Do any other Gen-Xers out there find parenting to be this insane guessing game? I’ve always looked back on my own upbringing and found almost nothing but a negative example from my Boomer parent’s F***-ups. They were a lesson in what NOT to do but I still struggled with what TO do. Yeah, I chose not to punish my kids by hitting them, I chose not to dole out art supplies with an eye dropper, I chose not to force them to subscribe to any particular religion or anything, lots of mistakes of my parents I was able to side step… but not doing things isn’t really much to go on. I read to my kids like crazy, I made loads of art with them, I reasoned with them rather than using punishment, (at least 90% of the time) and I fed them, clothed them, housed them, loved the stuffing out of them. We always had plenty of pets, usually a sane amount like 4 or less but occasionally more, and had the kids help care for them. We didn’t demand high grades, middling were ok, we didn’t send them to a lot of activities… and that’s one thing I would go back and change. I think that was a mistake. We should have had them in activities and lessons more, at least to try way more things out. It’s too late now, maybe we can still do a little of that for our youngest but it’s too late for the older 2.

Why does that make me feel like such a failure? Parenting has been a very seat-of-our-pants affair and our parents were no help at all. We’ve done the best we could, taken our best guesses, but I feel awful for what I didn’t do that I now think might have helped. Even if you read books by so-called experts on parenting they all contradict each other and the general advice changes every few years. What the heck are we supposed to do with all that? So, here I am, trying to help my kids where they are now, basically having to hope that loving them so much all these years will have been enough so that they can still get to the point of Adult Functioning… even if it’s LATE. And still hoping all this won’t kill my beautiful, wonderful marriage to the best guy I’ve ever met.

I’m trying to build myself up to be more hopeful but I live in Bummerville.