The next decade....what's in store?

Under 200

You all know that a big part of this blog has been about weight and diet and exercise, right?

Also, those of you who have been reading for a long time, will remember the weight loss countdown leading up to my 40th birthday, right? What you probably didn't know is that I was killing up myself in the gym 4 - 5 times per week and stressing over the weight not going down fast enough towards Under 200.

I eventually reached down to 199lbs (90.45kg) by that milestone birthday. In between then and now, a few pounds have crept back on. Not many, thank goodness. It went back to as high as 220 (100kg....nice and round figure, just like my butt) in July 2009. Guess I was enjoying life and not being mindful of what I was putting in my mouth.

Since last year, I have weighed every week, so I keep a track of the weight fluctuations.

Since last year too, I've had a mind-shift where nutrition is concerned. Part of that came from a book I read most of, called The Brain Diet. I haven't finished reading it yet, but what I read was enough to let me know that sugar is the worse thing you could put in your mouth. Fat is bad too, of course, but sugar is the brain's worse enemy, and it sets off a whole other set of complications in your body. Oxidative stress, free radicals, inflammation....all the things that don't go with weight loss.

So here I am today, weighing in at 198 pounds. But the difference between this journey and the one back when I was turning 40 is remarkable. Of course, this time around I didn't have so much to lose. I didn't back then either. I had started that countdown at 229 in January of 2004, marching towards October 2006, but the real coutndown started 8 years ago when I hit 241. Never in my life was I so horrified at myself. Anyway, I digress.

The point that I am making is that knowledge is indeed power. If four years ago I knew what I now know about nutrition and diet, I wouldn't have killed up myself in the gym. Well it wasn't strenous exercise I was doing...it was Pilates and cardio. This time around, I just cut my portions, ate more often, and reduced my sugar intake. Some weeks I did not go to the gym at all. When I did, it was a maximum of 3 times.

Oh...and it doesn't hurt to stop stressing, which is also bad for weight loss because of the hormone Cortisol which stress produces. It hangs around as fat....aka high belly.

I'm not saying that exercise is not important. What I'm saying is that I am living proof that nutrition plays a bigger role in weight loss than anything else. Cut back on sugar today. You won't miss it.

Now where's that Chocolate Brownie I had in the fridge?

Everything...including potholes....can be fixed

Well, I thought long and hard about the kind of conversation I would have with the landpeople. The day I planned to have it, I found out the man had gone away. Drat. Didn't want to tackle him the first night back, but then I didn't see him the second night.

Then it was made so easy for me.....

I came home one night to find him right at the place where the steep slope was. So I very nicely said that the slope was affecting my ankle, that I didn't think it would have affected it, and that I had to be doing physio every week.

"You know, I didn't like it either, but I wasn't here when the guy was casting it....."

So within a week, he got the guy to put steps in. I had offered to give a small contribution, just to show how badly it needed to be done.

Regarding the washing situation, I've solved that too. I had taken part of a discarded cart from work. That is now my "line" and I put it on my patio. No more laundromat visits for me.

See, everything can be fixed. Just wish I'd said it sooner, and also wish I could let people who contemplate suicide know this.