Endurance

About a month ago someone asked me to do a guest post for their blog. I never saw it there, and I sure didn't want to waste it! Sharing it here today.

Going to a new doc today at 9. Hope it's a fit. If not, I'll keep looking.

Man it's something that is needed in weight loss and healthy living for sure.

When X asked me to blog on endurance, I thought it could be a quite interesting topic.

I read a lot of blogs and lots of them are rock stars of endurance. I'm not going to use links here as this isn't my blog. If you mosey on over to my blog you'll be able to find all the people I talk about here in my blogroll. Wow, I just went to check and I only had like 4 on my blog roll....fixed that pronto!

OK, so of course the first one that comes to mind is TJ. OMG she is the queen of endurance. Loses slowly, but never gives up. Sticks with it. True endurance. Bitchcakes has been with it for ages, and reached goal and is maintaining. Endurance. Fit to the Finish, wow she's been at goal for ages. Endurance. Heather, goal, former Weight Watcher leader, keepin it off. Endurance. The list like that goes on.

There's another list though. A list of those of us that have tried, slipped a little (OK a lot!), tried again, slipped some more, tried again...seeing a pattern here?

Bigger Boat, Fat Daddy, Mason's Mommy, Puffypixie, CJ, this list also goes on.

Who has endurance? Those from list A, or those from list B? I'm here to tell you both of them.

If you're a member of list B, do not, and I repeat, do NOT think you have failed. It takes true endurance to keep trying. I don't give a shit what some out there think. Trying again after it didn't go so well the first time is true freaking endurance. Hell yes it is. We're like the Energizer Rabbit...keep going and going and going.

We learn from our screw ups. We get back up on that horse and we try again. We may not make it this time either, but by golly we're going to learn something in the process. We will get it one day. We really will. I have confidence.

I've learned that the more times I don't succeed, the harder it is to gain back lost ground. Not fair, and it sucks. So, knowing that, this time, I intend to not give up lost ground. I've claimed it, climbed to the top and stuck my flag in it, it's mine. I'm not looking at how much ground I have to cover, I'm looking at what I've got under my belt.

Lemme splain. You were on a weight loss program. You were exercising, and you lost 50 pounds and you felt great. You had a blip and you gained 60 pounds. Oh the horror. None of the rest of us have ever done that! So, now, you're back. You look at that 60 pounds now you have to lose on top of maybe some more. Crap, that's a lot. If only you'd not gained that 50 back.

Well cupcake, the if only's aren't going to help you or me. Hell yes, if only I hadn't gained back 50 of the pounds I lost, I'd only have 50 more to get to goal and now I have 100. How the hell is dwelling on that going to help me? It's not. I gained them, they're securely ensconced on my ass, thighs, stomach, you name it. I was stupid and I did it to myself. Oops, it's done. I can't undo it no matter how much I'd like to. So, because I have endurance, I'm back. Hopefully smarter and stronger this time. So like Grant took Richmond, Pixie is taking on the blubber. One pound at a time.

C'mon peeps, come join me.

Endurance today.
Endurance tomorrow.
Endurance forever.

Peace be the journey

Boy Scout Debby

Man this week is so much better than last. The crockpot has been awesome. Two fantastic dinners. Last night TBM had off and I was dying for tacos. Super TBM to the resuce! He went to the store (I know! Gasp!), and got ground turkey and maters and a few other things. I got home from work 15 minutes early and since he was whipping up dinner, I sat with a glass of wine and my feet up. Oh ya, that's what I'm talking about! I can't wait to see if my little changes are paying off.

In the past, if I wasn't strictly on program, I was strictly off program. If I wanted tacos, it would have been ground beef, tons of guac, piles of cheese, oh and yes, lets pour on the sour cream. Yesterday I asked him to get ground turkey and we used Greek Yogurt instead of sour cream. We also SHARED a 100 calorie pack of guacamole! That's unheard of ppl! It will be so interesting at my WI next week.

My note from the universe today was a little spur in a further direction. I'm not exercising at all. Here it is. Maybe it'll light a little fire under you too.


Although there are a few exceptions, Debby, the more you do, the more you'll get, by huge margins. HUGE.

So unless an exception applies to you, I say do more.

Huge,
The Universe

Hmmmmmm so even though I'm doing something, maybe I could do a little more? Freakin awesome. I can do more.

Can you?

Peace be the journey

:-)

Reinventing the wheel

I hear that a lot. Don't re-invent the wheel.

Well, was that very first wheel perfect? I doubt it. I bet it needed a bit of tweaking.

Life is like that for me. Maybe not for you, but for me it is.

I was forced to go back to work. Oh, no part time job for me. Oh no, I had to jump in with a 40 hour work week. To say I am not used to this is an understatement!

I have worried a few of my friends with my comments about burning at both ends etc. I need to make things perfectly clear here. Of course I don't want to work, but the job is good. It's right up my alley. It's not physically demanding. I swore I would never do that again. This summer working in the restaurant, coming home every night in tears sucked. This job is excellent, if you have to work. I'm learning new programs on the computer. I get to interact with people. I'm challenging myself and winning and that makes me feel great. I like the job. Will I continue with it after both our houses and our 5th wheel and truck sell? I don't know. I would if it could be done part time, but it can't. I really do love it though, so probably! So, now that that is clear as muc. Let's reinvent shall we?

This last week was difficult as it was all new. I wasn't prepared. I didn't quite know how to go about getting prepared. I tried a few things, they didn't work, so I tried a few more. I'm getting it.

As you know I'm an avid Weight Watchers supporter. I think it's a fantastic program. It works. It really does. I made the difficult decision to cancel my membership. I can't go to meetings. I do know the program. I can use the $40 elsewhere for sure. Money wasn't the reason I cancelled it though. My brain needs a rest. Excuse? Maybe. I know that this week it was all I could do to grab anything to eat, never mind counting points or figuring recipes. That's not going to work for sure! There are bowls of candy sitting around at work and huge bags of individual sized chips. All my favorite things. So, reinventing and preparation were in my future for sure. I couldn't face it M-F, but as I have weekends off for right now, I made it my goal to tackle it yesterday and today.

I've decided to try to do what I've read so many places. Eat less and move more. One step further, I'm going to try eating more whole foods, more healthy options. Incorporate more fruit and veg into my life. I'm planning ahead for the week to come. I planned meals, made a list, and we'll shop later when TBM gets up.

I asked for help. TBM works 3 days a week, midnights. I've asked him to fix dinner on his days off. I'll fix his on the days he works. Sounded like a fair trade to me and he agreed. I'm going to use the crock pot more. I'm going to prepare foods on my days off and freeze them. I thought partial preparation would work. It didn't. Example. I got up Friday morning and put chicken on to simmer. I asked Den to drain it, take the meat from the bone and put it in the fridge so I could make soup when I got home from work. He even chopped the celery, onion, and carrot for me. Bless. I got home at 5:30 and I was just beat. I wanted brown rice in the soup. I like my brown rice to cook about an hour. I didn't want to wait that long to eat. Lesson learned. Wheel reinvented so to speak. I know now that I need food totally prepared or I'm just going to grab what I can. Cooked brown rice freezes well. I shall cook a batch today and freeze it in 1 cup portions for recipes.

So many of you have given me great ideas. I want you to know how much I appreciate them. Yes, I worked a lot of hours and still ran with my kids when they were little. I was younger then. That plays a huge factor. I'm not over the hill by any means, but it is harder now than it was then for sure.

There aren't enough hours in the day to do all I want to do so I have to prioritize. I have to keep my mind sane and my body healthy. Balance is my motto.

I'm going to get this. I really am.

Peace be the journey

:-)

Give me strength

On the day that you were born

Sing it with me....

The angels got together and decided to create a dream come true!

OK, so I don't have hair of gold, eyes of blue, or a penis, but I'm sure the angels were really singing about me and that brother and sister duo just changed the words around!

I love my birthday. Weird for most women I know. It's my day. Feel free to adore me at will.

I'm 52 today. I don't bother lying about my age. It's just a number. Always has been. Didn't mind turning 40 or 50. Just means a day to get bigger presents!

Big new plans coming in my weight loss journey. Planning to be done because of the new job. Looking forward to the challenge.

Life is good.

Peace be the journey

:-)

What a way to make a living

Working 9-5

Wow. I never thought I'd be doing the 9-5 thing again. Actually, I never did the 9-5 thing. I owned my own daycare back in the day. I made my own hours. They were 7-5 but still, I made them.

This is scary as hell people. I wanted a part time job. One day a week. We're in financial difficulty, but if we're frugal, we'll be OK. We HAVE to sell the house in Michigan. We HAVE to sell the smaller house here in Florida. We HAVE to sell the 5th wheel and the truck. After that, we'll be fine. Until then? It's freaking hell. I'm not complaining. I know people have it a whole shit load worse for sure. Our financial situation right now is of our own choosing. Lots today sure can't say that! TBM has 3 days at work, hoping to pick up 2 more. So far, that's not happening. So, I'd pitch in, get a day a week in the office at the park. Ya, well, that turned into 40+ somehow! WTF????

I have to learn things. I have to learn to be prepared ahead. I did NOT want to fix dinner last night when I got out of work. Well, that's a bad example as yesterday I got up at 6, went to the dermatologist, had something frozen off my head, rushed home and went to work, skipping both breakfast AND lunch. Rushed out of work at 4:45 to get to WW then rushed to eat dinner and rushed to shop. STOP THE FUCKING TRAIN! This is NOT going to be my life. I'm too old for this shit! OMG people, how DO you do this?????

So, now here it is 8am of another 9-5 day and I'm in my nightie typing this drinking coffee chatting on AIM to a friend. Breakfast? Nope. Hell I'm not even dressed yet. Lunch? No frigging idea. Dinner? Hell no, definitely no idea about that.

Kinda scared peeps.

Peace be the journey

:-)

Stop thief!!!!

Too late!

OMG I had to share this picture that I borrowed (stole) from my friend Sally. OK, so she's not my friend, she probably doesn't even know who I am, but you understand the term friend in blogspeak right? I'm a happiness whore. If you make me laugh, you are my friend. So, this morning, Sally is my BFF for sure. I laughed right out loud. Before I finished my coffee. Quite unsettling actually. I got looks of horror from the hubster and the dog cowered in the corner. They probably thought I was going to go on another binge with the 10 inch chef knife. Nah, you only do that once. Anyway, without further ado, I bring you...



I for one have been there. Oh I know I should have my act together "at my age", but know what? I don't. I'm not perfect. Hell I'm not even mediocre...yet. I'm striving for mediocrity though. I'm trying to learn moderation. I'm going to print this little guy off and put him on my fridge. If you're struggling, you are not alone. Let me say that again. You are not alone.

If you've just eaten enough food to keep a camp of starving Ethiopians full for 2 years, don't despair. You are not alone. When I do things like that, I'll think, "OMG I'm the only one in the world that does this". It makes me feel better to know I'm not. That I'm not totally insane.

We can do this people. We may be old dogs, but we can learn new tricks. We can learn to leave one slice in the box. Just one. When we get that licked, we can learn to leave 2 slices. Baby steps. One day we'll learn that we can take just 2 slices from the box and leave ALL the rest.

Oh ya. Nothing better than old doggies learning new tricks.

Peace be the journey

:-)