Busy days

Some days I just can't believe how much there is to do in a day. Or maybe I am just experiencing a low energy week this week. I know that everyone has them. Sometimes when the weather is not quite what we want or in this case, expect, maybe it drains us of something. By this time in the year, I am usually just wearing a t-shirt and jeans to do the morning walk. But I am still wearing a jacket this year. OK not a heavy jacket, but it is weighing me down. The other thing that is really weighing me down is ♠I have to admit that I seem to have lost my focus on weight loss. I have been at a standstill for a couple of weeks, and it is so disappointing. It's not that I have been really attending to portions like I should. So I have only myself to blame. I am eating the "right food", prepared right, but I am just not attending to the right amounts. Is it only that I am tired of weighing and measuring? Or is it the prospect of always having to weigh and measure? Is it laziness, or is it something else. It's too early in the game to lose focus. I have run into alot of my cohorts in the program at the gym, and I am so proud of all of them. I need to shake myself out of this lethargy and get back on course. I like going to the gym, and it really energizes me, so I should really want to do it, and today I was planning to go, but by the time I finished all the undone chores from the week, I was beat.
I can't wait for tomorrow's Group Health Strategies session. I am hoping to get back some focus and soak up some of the energy from the group.
Have you noticed my new frog picture? I just love it and am looking for a frame for it for my bathroom so that I can look at it closely every day. Just can't return to those frog days!
The weekend will be a challenge and I am looking to my cohort group to help me with strategies to get through it. It is my aunt's 95th birthday and there will be a party with cake and ice cream and lots of family. It is a recipe for lots of mistakes. I have decided to sit and meditate all morning on how wonderful it will be to be healthier by NOT indulging in things that are unhealthy for me. After the party, I will plan to show up at the gym.
Well, everyone, have a happy weekend, and to my group who I will see in the morning, I am really looking forward to sharing and learning group health strategies. See you tomorrow!
Looking over what I have written, it doesn't even sound like me. I must need more sleep. I promise my next post will be more UP!

Getting Organized

Today was the day I finally got organized. Already into the game, I was finding, or rather losing, lots of the papers that I have just been stuffing into my original folder that I got on the night of the original award. I was forever looking for stuff, so today I put everything into a divided accordian folder with slots for medical results, nutrition, appointments, charts I should be keeping in a more organized way, fitness, recipes etc. What a relief. I had lost track of my recipes and was wandering through my kitchen searching for them, and finally I got so frustrated, I just sat down at my desk and started excavating to get everything organized and put away, and there were the recipes. Since I have never cooked anything at my desk, I don't know what they were doing there.
Well, I have to report that the good results that I am getting are getting noticeable. My daughter say I walk differently, and while I feel that I have better balance and am walking faster and stronger, I hadn't realized it was noticeable. I have convinced my husband that he needs to exercise, and today he took the first step by calling to find a place near his work where he could get some water therapy. I am just thrilled. Already a force for good is happening. I have noticed that I feel stronger. I have also noticed that taking a day off is not sloth, but a needed regeneration. With the new upper body exercises, my shoulder was hurting, and I was feeling like "am I going to have to be in pain for six months while I get in shape?" But Lorrie had said that the strength training should not be on consecutive days, so a day off in between took care of the pain. Also, I decided to add a two mile walk on Saturday afternoon to my regular morning walk with Lucy my dog, and I wore us both out. So on Saturday night I went to the gym so I couold rearrange my schedule, met Dave there, and we had the whole place to ourselves. Balancing on the BoSu ball was nearly impossible, and walking the treadmill without holding on was also not in the cards. So on Sunday, Lucy and I just had our morning play session, and took the rest of the day off. But guess what. Yesterday when I went to the gym, I could balance for almost the whole 30 seconds! "Look ma, no hands" and I was able to walk the treadmill also no hands at my regular speed. Lorrie had said to back off the speed if I needed to. Wow, was I jazzed by that great leap forward. OK, so it's not such a great leap, but it felt like it. I have to be satisfied that each of us has to go at our own pace. Do you notice a change in your shape? Look for it, it is there.
I woke up this morning thinking that having a group that we are working with, even though we don't see each other, is a really good thing. The group dynamic wants us to help each other, and not to let the others down by not working at the program. I guess that is why groups that make you accountable are so successful, like Weight watchers and Alcoholics anonymous are so successful. We all have our moments, but I have to remember, that if you work the program it works. I think that is a paraphrase from something they say in AA. There are so many people rooting for us, I have to remember to root for myself. How about you? By the way, a lot of the recipes call for lemons and lemon juice, and I have a tree that just gives and gives, so if you need lemons, let me know.

I have to go to the gym now, so I will just say bye for now. Keep up the good work,