Curves Progress Update!

   Yesterday, I was concocting my lunch on the cutting board and it was so pretty, I wanted to take a picture!  Yesterday was also a day when my lunch carried me through the day.  It was healthy and entirely vegan, so we're meeting a goal.  Starting at the top, we have a dozen triscuits.  Also packed with the lunch was a jar of peanut butter.  If you put just a teaspoon between every two crackers, that is the two tablespoon serving size.  Every time I was hungry, I grabbed a couple of crackers, a piece of celery and a carrot stick.  Below that pack is my water bottle that was frozen in the freezer.  A couple of oranges, some lettuce and spinach and my lovely salad in a jar.  Bottom layer is avocado ranch dressing, then tomatoes, then cucumbers that I grew in my plot at the Temple Terrace Community Garden. Topped off with a few olives and I'm ready for work!

Making progress.  Can't say enough how the only way to see that you are making progress is to record where you have been.  Today, I went to Curves- just getting started again.  Last time I got started was a year ago and maybe went 3 times- but I've been working- you've all seen me.  So it was great to see that since March 2012, I've lost nearly 14 pounds and more than 16 inches!  And if I keep my goal- will be able to report that I've made 200 visits to Curves in my lifetime by the end of next week!  

Feel like I'm living the Discipline of Self Esteem again.  New insight- the Discipline of Self-Esteem and the Addition Principle are more closely linked than I thought.  You can't build discipline without starting- so you need to make the first step- and those steps add up bit by bit.  The principle of inertia states that a body in motion remains in motion- so once you start- then there is some momentum- and building that momentum leads to success- at least according to Donald Trump:

"To be a big success in any field you need to build momentum. Momentum is all about energy and timing. " - Think BIG
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2013

And so- to build the Discipline of Self-Esteem, you have to start somewhere- anywhere- do anything- as in the Addition Principle.  That start will build energy and create momentum.  As for timing, I believe that in building self-esteem- the moment is when you decide to start.  Every second sitting on the couch feeling awful is a moment wasted- and our life is to short to waste moments.

the song that has been running through my head lately is "Every drop of rain, every grain of sand, makes the mighty ocean and the pleasant land.  Never let a minute, lie upon the shelf- for in that little minute is all of life itself..."  It's a Judy Garland song on a record my Mom bought for us when I was seven.

As for quoting Donald, I'll try as much as possible, to let you know the GOOD stuff that Donald posts.  He has two minds- the inner mind that is as good as they come- and that has advice that people would do well to follow- and an outer mind of half-baked ideas that are formed from reading things that agree with his opinions and ignoring the rest- and those we should all ignore because they are what they are.  For more on this idea- you should see Mark Bittman's post today.  And I shall try- with all my heart to do my best to bring you the best of what my inner mind produces. Until tommorow!

Getting Into a Walking Routine

This morning, I walked 1.3 miles in 32 minutes which is 24.6 minutes per mile.  The week of April 20th, I was walking at 28 minutes per mile, so in 4 weeks, the speed increased 13.75% or a little over 3% a week!  That's pretty good considering that my walk schedule is far from consistent.

Four weeks ago, I wanted to follow the schedule here:From 0 to 30 in 10 Weeks.  That would have a person running 30 minutes per day in 10 weeks.  But I can't make it through that time without limping and feeling that tiny pain in the chest I feel when my heart starts it's stress reaction (which thanks to my thorough hear exam this year I know is safe- just time to slow down).  While I didn't want to run, I definitely thought that I could brisk-walk the entire time starting out-about 5 minutes in, realized that wasn't going to happen, so slowed to a moderate walk for 5 minutes, then a slow walk for 5 minutes, then repeated the cycle.  By the time I got home, realized that I could follow the 0 to 30 schedule by substituting brisk walking for running, doing moderate walking as much as possible, the slow walking when needed.  Will keep you posted on that plan.

What does the photo have o do with this?  Nothing- but I like posting with photos- don't always take my camera with me, and have thousands of pictures on my hard drive.  This was one of my early patio garden back in August 2010.  When I look at all the plants I have now, it's amazing how much my garden has grown in less than 3 years!  Which may be how this ties into the post- we started out small with a patio garden- now the patio is full and have a 3 by 10 community garden plot too!  Maybe 3 years from now, I'll be amazed at how far I've come in my exercise!  Here's hoping!  

Update on dieting week

Donald Trump summed up my life in a sentence today! https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/334381240482410497

Success is going from failure to failure with enthusiasm! This is a quote from Winston Churchill.  Not sure that I got the wording exact, so click on the link!  This week, I held steady on my weight according to the Weight Watchers scale.  This backs up the need to track my points along with the VB6 approach.  Tracking points is always a good exercise and always leads to more success.  Lots of catch-up work today, so this is a short post.  If I want to succeed in this weight loss journey- need to get back to basics- diet and exercise. Still working on VB6, but a also realize that this seems to be more work than I can fit into my life at the moment.  But also need to always remember that everything that you do to improve, is better than doing nothing at all- which is probably the logic behind that Churchill quote!

New Approach to Food: Vegan Before 6

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to take a long weekend before my birthday.  One of the shows I like to catch on weekdays when I am home is Dr. Oz.  This time, Mark Bittman was on and he was promoting his new book Vegan Before 6.  I thought that this was a super-cool approach/  The time that I lost weight and had low cholesterol was when I was trying vegan.  But never eating meat, cheese, eggs, and cream ever again was just too unrealistic for me- just adore good food too much.  So this approach seemed really cool.  To date, I have not really implemented this too much.  Doing the best I can to be be vegan before 6 and eating as usual after 6.  Keeping up with Weight Watchers, so I have some way to monitor the nutritional values of the approach.  Made some new discoveries.  Discovered that almond milk is only 30 calories compared to 150 calories for whole milk- coffee is just not that enjoyable.  Some of my 'vegan' choices are a little un-vegan- like getting chili and a side salad at Wendy's- but that is a very good choice (6 points)- even if it is not that vegan.  On the other hand, the veggie burger at Johnny Rockets is 11 points which is not huge- but a lot more than I expected.  Running late today- there will be a lot more later.  Sort of easing into this- will report in Wednesday on whether I have lost any weight on this approach yet.

Tommorrow, I will talk about my attempts to make a vegan ranch dressing!

Retirement Dream

My dream for my retirement is to live in four places at different times of the year. 

From Easter to Mom's birthday weekend (near July 10th), I want to live in the country near New Haven in the Orange-Seymour-Derby area where my Mom's ancestors lived.  I love Spring in New England and being in New Haven leaves that time of the year to make frequent trips to New York to shop for fashion, spend my birthday with my family in CT and MA, get over to Medway for the Memorial Day parade, have some time to do genealogy research locally, be within commuting distance of the Boston Marathon (which I intend to enter after I finish my training regimen), plant my New England garden, and still be there for my sister's annual family reunion party and Mom's birthday.

From the time I leave New England until the Stone Lake Cranberry Festival (first weekend in October), I want to live in Stone Lake.  I love trees and lakes and they have plenty there.  It's a little late to start a garden (unless I swing over and plant one on my way to New England) but it's the coolest place to spend the summer (literally) and I'll have plenty of time to spend with Bill and his daughters and just enjoy the natural beauty.  I just love trees and water- and they have plenty of that there.

From the time I leave the Great Woods until Christmas, I want to live in or near Medway MA.  I love fall in Massachusetts and the natural beauty of the foliage along I-495 (which passes through Medway) is known to be one of the prettiest.  This also gives me a chance to harvest the New England garden.  There is no better place to spend Thanksgiving than New England, and would love to tour all the old historical places in Massachusetts in the Fall.  Also gives me a chance to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family- and to see the Christmas parade in Medway.

From New Years to Easter, I want to be in Florida.  Florida gardening season last from September to December and March to July, so this plan really doesn't include a Florida garden unless I swing south between Stone Lake and Medway to plant and then come back down between New Haven and Stone Lake to harvest.  In Florida, I can catch up with old friends, visit with my family in the Orlando area, and visit theme parks with my son.

The main problem with all this is financing.  I will have the income to just live simply but not have the assets to travel and maintain four homes.  It might help to rent out those homes on a weekly or monthly basis while I am not there, but there is the problem with down payments and all the travel etc.  I have to find a way to make a living writing to make this dream feasible at all. So here I start over again with this blog.  One way to make this more fun is the idea of being the Answer Lady.  I find that whenever anyone wants to know anything, I can find the answers- either with my research or my problem-solving abilities (both of which are considerable).  One of the most popular times with this blog was when I was doing the DOSE series where I essentially chronicled all the answers to the questions that I asked myself each day.  But if would be more fun (and challenging) if other people asked the questions or posed the problems.  So if you have a question- ask in the comments- and I'll write a blog about it the next morning.

Tomorrow I'm going to discuss my question about finding a way to get rid of gray hair by understanding the natural processes that produce gray hair in the first place.  Until then!