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BASTET2's Recent Blog Entries
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Monday, October 10, 2011
I had been doing really great on my diet--I had gone three months without cheating, but then my knee got worse, I had to take prednisone and anyone who has ever had to take that knows how much it makes you want to eat--and you also retain water with Pred..
So, before I gained a lot of weight, I studied up on how to lose weight while taking prednisone. Said that low carb is best, so this week, I'm going low carb.
I am taking in 30 grams of carbs a day and I plan to do this for one week. I had lost down to 277lbs, but gained up to 281, so I'm hoping to jump start my weight loss again. It is so annoying when the weight loss stops and you are still watching every calorie.
Also, I don't get to swim every day. I bought a stationary bike, but it bends my knee too high and it hurts. I might have to pedal with one leg. LOL
Thursday, August 04, 2011
I haven't blogged in a long, long time! Lots have happened. I lost my job on December 31, 2010. I really hated leaving that job because I loved it. I was the Director of a computer center and helped people look for work, apply to college, helped kids with reports, etc...lots of different things. The company closed all of its centers because they couldn't afford us any more. We didn't make money for the company--we were basically a non-profit within a profit company. They got huge tax savings by having us, but I guess it wasn't enough.
I was going along okay with my diet, but then got depressed, and I know you all know how that goes. I ate my way up from 275 to 310! Yikes. Then I started having major problems with my knee. I could barely walk for over 2 1/2 months. I have arthritis in it as well as gout. I also have gout in my right foot and Fibro myalgia all over.
But, about 5 1/2 weeks ago, something "clicked" and I knew this weight just HAS to come off. So I went back to my favorite way of dieting: Low calorie (1200-1500 a day), and low fat and I've lost 15lbs. So now I'm feeling better and my knee isn't as bad as it was.
I haven't found work. It is very, very difficult. I totally blame the idiots in Washington. They have completely ruined our economy and now they are the ones that are going to fix it? LOL That's like letting the fox fix the fence on the chicken coop.
When are they going to chip in and help by taking huge salary and benefits cuts? How about it Obama--eat some peas--and serve them up to Congress!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
HOLIDAY EATING TIPS
1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet
table knows nothing of the Holiday spirit. In fact, if you see
carrots, leave immediately.. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls. (However, if you MUST eat a carrot, be sure to dip it in Ranch dressing.)
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare.. You
cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-alcoholic or something. It's a treat.. Enjoy--with rum, if possible. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!
3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.
4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.
5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Holiday party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?
6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that keg of eggnog.
7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.
8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?
9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards. (I actually love fruit cake with a big cold glass of milk!!)
10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.
Remember this motto to live by:
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of
arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate and wine in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"
Merry Christmas, my friends!!!!! Have a safe and Jolly Christmas!
Then start repairing the damage in January. lol
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Yesterday was like hundreds of other mornings for me. I took my bath, fed the cats, ate breakfast, and then I was on Hwy. 82 headed for work. Nothing different, nothing special about this morning--until....
I was listening to the race results from Tuesday's elections on the radio when all of a sudden something crazy seemed to be happening...there was a big silver car, bouncing and rolling towards me! I remember thinking "this is like a movie"...what I said out loud was "Oh, my God, Oh my God!" I just knew that I was going to be crushed..Should I speed up? slow down? What could I do to keep from being under that car? What could I do to keep from being crushed? Suddenly, there was a huge wind and a "rain" of dirt, glass, mud, and car parts and I realized that I had made it through the danger zone and was on the other side! I was alive--I didn't know how, but I was. I looked in my rear view mirror and I could see that car upside down in the outside lane behind me. And I began to shake...
I have to say that when it was happening, I didn't feel any fear at all. In fact, I was quite numb. I also realized later that although I can still see, in my mind's eye, that car rolling and bouncing towards me, that I have no memory at all of any sound--nothing. The radio had been on, and I'm sure the car rolling and bouncing towards me had been loud--but even now when I think about it, there is silence--I just see that car looming up towards me!
When I realized I was still in one piece, I sort of went all weird. My legs and arms were jelly and as I tried to punch 911 into my cell phone to call emergency out, it seemed like my fingers were suddenly twice as big and that the cell phone buttons were twice as small. My lips seemed to be swollen and numb, too...sort of like how your mouth feels after the dentist has deadened everything, it was an effort to make intelligible words. I apparently wasn't making a lot of sense to the 911 operator, either, because she spoke rather sharply to me.
Once I was off the phone with her, I turned my car around in the median (the road is a 4-lane) to go back and see if I could help. When I got there, there were already many people out of their vehicles trying to help the driver. But as I watched, I felt a chill. In the south, when someone is injured like that, generally someone talks to them, and if they can, they touch them, hold their hands, someone gives them a human connection. But none of these people were doing that. They looked in the upside down car, and stood up. A medical person got out of a car and came running up dressed in white, her stethoscope around her neck. She crawled into the back window of the car, then back out. I knew that either the person(s) inside were knocked out--or dead.
In tears, I looked up the expanse of road and it suddenly dawned on me of the danger the drivers coming over the slight rise on the road were in. They couldn't see the wreck or people who had stopped to help until they were almost on them! People were going up to 75 miles an hour and were having a lot of difficulty stopping. So I drove my car to the top of the hill and facing the traffic, started waving and quickly flashing my lights to slow down the traffic. Once the traffic backed up enough to top the rise and people could see that traffic had stopped from a distance, I got in line myself to try to get to work. I would have to go back by the wreck. I sat in line about 30 minutes and during that time called my Dad and daughter-in-law. Everything still felt unreal as if I were in a waking dream. I asked my DIL if I were really talking to her or maybe I was dead and my ghost was making the conversation up. She laughed and said, "you really are talking to me, I promise!" I couldn't believe I wasn't dead, and I couldn't believe that I had probably just witnessed someone's last seconds on earth. The traffic crept by and sheets had been placed over the windows of the car. No doubt. Someone had died in the car.
I learned later that her name was Eula Shanay Smith. She was only 27 years old, was newly married and had two young children. She was a therapeutic technician at a nursing home. I just feel so awful for the family. I want them to know that it was over in seconds and that she didn't suffer. I plan to call them in the next few days.
I can't seem to shake this feeling of surrealism. I know I am so blessed to be alive. I'm sure I will learn lessons from this, but truthfully, I am still too numb to retain much of any kind of message. I do know that but for the hand of God, I wouldn't have made it. At the time it was happening, I thought for sure her car would land on mine.
So why would I blog this on a health site? Well because of what I've been doing since this happened. I've been eating high calorie foods, rich in fats and carbs. I will probably gain 5lbs and have to lose them all over again. But this time, I'm okay with it. I cope with emotional issues by eating. Eating calms and comforts me. It's odd--if I exercised, journaled, took prescribed meds or did something else--even drank-- to cope with high stress, those would be is socially acceptable. But because I eat, that behaviour is considered aberrant--after all, when a "normal" person is upset, they CAN'T eat--if I'm upset and eat, I'm abnormal. I remember thirty years ago when I was told I had cervical cancer and how I cried while I ate a cheeseburger and fries.
I really wish that people, and especially the health professionals (even the fat ones don't seem to "get" it) would acknowledge that eating to cope with emotions is just another tool that people use. It is no worse or better, in and of itself, than any other coping mechanism. The only difference is that overeating can negatively affect ones health and self-esteem if it is the only tool used to cope with life. I think, though, that if the health profession would say, "Emotional eating is a legitimate coping skill," then maybe those of us who do it won't feel like we are failures and can gradually learn to do other things to "cope". But I have a feeling that when something huge happens to many of us, like a near-death experience, that food will always be the best and most used coping skill we have, because we do what works and overeating releases those endorphins and helps us normalize. I'm not going to beat myself up about eating right now. I don't drink or use drugs to cope with life's stresses--I eat. It's really no different. While I admit, I think that everyone should have multiple coping tools, that doesn't mean eating is a horrible thing to do or that I am a failure when I resort to it. It just means that I eat to reduce stress, that I can learn other ways to reduce stress, but when huge emotional things happen that maybe I need to cope first and deal with the other later. After all, how "cool" is it to be a skinny person on a mental ward?
So, what about you? Do you feel like a failure when you "use" food? Do you think it's a legitimate coping skill or just another excuse?
BTW, if any of you are interested in seeing a very short video (38 seconds) of the news report on this wreck, you can watch it from the link below. The spot where the two state patrol officers are standing (the firetruck is further above them in front of the the wrecked car) is where my car was when that car came to rest. As you can see, seconds and inches separated me from death!
www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=1343
6621#
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
It's awful to eat a meal and when you finish, you are still hungry!! Some meals are just more satiating than others. I make up recipes all the time, and last night I think I "hit" on the most satiating meal of all times! I could only eat half of it and had the rest for a snack later! When does that happen? And at a little over 500 calories, that's pretty amazing!
Here's the recipe. It is for a SINGLE serving! I've decided to call it
Stir-fry Ginger Chicken Couscous
In one tsp of EVO, stir fry:
boneless, skinless Chicken breast cut into pieces
half an onion
half a bell pepper
green tomato
celery
Mushrooms
cup of cabbage
Once they were almost cooked through, I added 1/6 of a cup of couscous (Don't forget, I'm making a single meal)1/8 teaspoon ginger, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 cup chicken broth, Monterrey beef seasoning and salt. Cooked that for 5 minutes. Add a slice of Nature's own White Lite and fresh tomatoes and I guarantee this meal will fill you up! (I think maybe it's the couscous that does the "filling".) The calorie count is 481!!
I think I'll have it again tonight--with a lean pork chop in place of the chicken.
So, what is your most satiating meal? I need ideas! No more getting up from a meal hungry!! I have one other--a low fat Creamy Parmesan Chicken Pot Pie that I have in the winter months--it's also amazingly filling, for less than 500 calories!
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