My plan for the New Year 2012

MY STEPS TO A HEALTHY AND HAPPY ME!
[step1] 64+ oz water [step2] one fruit daily [step3] 1+C green tea [step4]??

I plan to use [stepping stones] to add changes along my road, sometimes these steps are diet related, some will be activities.  Every year I stand in front of a board that represents my life for that year and try to draw in new improvements.  Of course weightloss and fitness are always part of it, but since this is my first New Years as a retired person, I feel its important to try some new things this year.  One my biggest perks of retirement is the flexibility to share more of my grandchildren's school lives.  I volunteer to accompany them on field trips and attend extra curricular events. You will not see anything planned for weekends, I reserve that time for my family activities.  The exception to this rule being healthy eating because I do think its important to teach it to my little ones.

Without a doubt, blogging is my number one weapon for weightloss/fitness.  Daily postings keep me focused and accountable for what I eat and my physical activities.

This year I want to report to myself on each area of my resolutions, it worked well for my friend Tina.
Each Monday I will post an update covering each area.

Healthy eating- I will log and weigh everything.  I bought a new food scale to replace my broken one.
I will continue to add a new [step] to my road each week..


Fitness- I signed up for Zumba classes 2x a week, Tues & Thursday nights beginning Jan.24th.  I plan to walk 2+ miles each day and strength training 2x a  Monday & Wed.

Life-  This category covers "ME" time.  It includes 1 book each month, 30 mins each day gardening and a beading class! I am so very excited to signup for this beading class Mondays 1-3p starting Jan.9th.  I hope to teach my granddaughters what I have learned :)

I do not normally share my blog with family and friends.  It's an outlet for me that prefer to keep private.  However, this particular post will be printed and hanging inside my closet .




THATS IT!  DO YOU HAVE A PLAN? WHAT IS IT?

Tiny steps but progress

Doing great with my tiny steps in my road to healthy.

So far:

1.  Drink 64+ oz of water each day [check]
2.  one piece of fruit each day [check]

add today
3.  1+ cups of green tea each day

1st step done

I have done great with monitoring and tracking my water each day and have had no trouble getting in 64oz or 8 glasses of water.  I am not so crazy as to think I can start I diet going into Christmas Eve, so here is the next step on my healthy lifestyle road.  Continue with the 64 oz of water each day and in addition add one piece of fruit each day.  Merry Christmas everyone :)

and here I am again

When I had lapband surgery Sept 2009 I weighed 209.5 lbs, at my lowest weight following the surgery I got down to 157lbs.  Today here I sit back at 187.5 lbs.  Since I no longer have the help of the lapband, I need to find another way to get back on the road to a healthier lifestyle.

What went wrong?  First off, I think I let myself get over confident when I had the band.  I believed that I was doing the work when it seems it really was the band. Secondly, I have quit all exercising, which led me to the usual depression that snowballed into a year long binge.

With a New Year coming, I it is time for me to make a new plan.  I am 52 years old now, not interested in getting model skinny, just healthy and stronger.

Blogging was a big part of my weightloss success with the band, I hope it will help me now without it.  I am going to start each week with a new step.

The first step is going to be simple...As of today, I will drink 8+ glasses of water, I will track it  and I will post to my blog each day.

A good one

Today was my final physical therapy visit for my knee. After PT, lunch was tuna with wheat crackers. Supper was a small salad with a couple spoons of chicken salad mixed in.

After supper my hubby & I walked for an hour around our neighborhood. It was nice.

The good....water
The bad.....small bowl banana fosters ice cream ;)

An OK day

Today is a beautiful warm day. The good part.... my hubby & I walked 2.5 miles on a nearby bridge, the views were fantastic. Water intake was good .

The not so good was 2 pieces of fried alligator for lunch with several bites of dessert. The boiled shrimp was good ;-)

Took nexium for heartburn when I got home, not sure what caused it this time :(

alone again

I am pretty much on my own again in my quest for a healthier me.  I can no longer tolerate fills so what I have now is pretty much it.   I have not been getting much love from my band in almost a year.  My surgeon wants to remove it all together due to my reflux problems.  So its time for me to face life without the band.  Revision surgery to the sleeve is an option but, I don't wish to self pay and insurance would require removing my band, gaining back all my previous weight and then a 6 month supervised diet.

While my first instinct was to reject my surgeons offer.....the truth is I am slowing gaining all my weightloss back anyway.  If I could lose weight without my band, I wouldn't have gotten it in the first place.  I am trying....I really am.  I walk 3-4 days a week for 60 minutes, I do resistance training on my knee twice a week.  I just cannot do this on my own.

I have decided to have the band removed and do the supervised diet.  Hell I'm dieting anyway and if left on my own, without a doubt,  I will be back where I started anyway.  I started this journey with the band for health reasons, I already have high blood pressure, diabetes runs rampant in my family.  It is so scary to think about going through another surgery :(