Furbabies: Life, Adoptions, Surgeries, Happy Times . . . and Now Loss
LynnNM
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
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Time to change my life
Comments (10)Hi Theresa! Welcome! I hope to reach my goal by December 2006 so I understand about longterm goals. I've been shedding about a pound every 10 days or so by adding a lot more activity. I retired in January and that has helped me a lot. I used to have a desk job and was a workaholic on top of that so more than 40 hours per week. Add a long commute and I didn't have much time left over to have much of a life except relax so I could go back to work again. I've lost 25 pounds since January 2, 2004. Your questions: - How much have you increased your activity? A whole bunch on most days but I don't track it with regularity. I now have the luxury of gardening. Also, cleaning house can really be a workout and I didn't really have time to do this before. If you work at an office job, I think you may need to face reality and try to plan some type of regular physical activiy. This was something that probably really caused me to gain the most weight. I should have realized that some form of "working out" if I wasn't moving much on the job was absolutely necessary. I didn't want to believe that. Now I do. - How do you handle breakfast on the run? My breakfast is 1/2 to 1 cup of yoghurt (brand White Mountain which I have learned to love but didn't initially. This stuff helps your digestion also. I don't use the fat-free or low-fat stuff. I try to avoid artificial food whenever I can.) I also add 1 to 2 ripe avocados (depending on how hungry I am) along with my cup of yoghurt, I eat these with a spoon right out of their shell. It makes breakfast very quick and easy and almost gourmet since I love both of these. This can be portable if you put the yoghurt in a containter with a lid and don't leave it in the heat. This helps me to hit the ground running and I haven't gotten tired of it yet. Been having this breakfast (most days) since I retired in January . - Do any of you use Leanne's meal planner from FlyLady? Does it help? I have thought about Leanne's meal planner but haven't subscribed. I did try some of her test recipes and liked them. My husband and I are vegetarian so though she has options, it wasn't quite a good fit. Also, part of my retirement is trying to learn to cook good food largely from scratch where I can. I know everyone doesn't have this luxury. Sometimes I wonder if cooking from scratch has helped me lose weight? I've heard that smells can be very satifying. I find that I don't really over eat at the meals that I prepare, only ones that I eat when I go out to dinner in a restaurant. Strange? some significance there, I think. - Please tell me what keeps you going. I need to keep going too! I do feel so much better. And it is wonderful to see my weight on the scale drop. I'm going to have to be more rigid about things probably before too long but not having easy access to a vending machine like I did at work has helped tremendously. I love Snickers and haven't had one since January. I have prayed as has already been mentioned. Never hurts to pray, whatever your religion or meditate if you're not religious. I plan to do some regular swimming since I love that even if it is healthy. Find something you really enjoy so it will feel like you are pampering yourself even if it helps you lose weight. - How do you "unlearn" bad portion sizing? This is my toughest problem. I finish everything on my plate when I go to a restaurant. Restaurant portions are getting bigger and bigger, if I don't succeed losing all that I want to lose, this will be the reason. But one funny thing I have learned is that nuts really help me lose my appetite quickly. I have bought all kinds, brazil, walnut, cashew pieces, pecans and almonds. Not the salted kind and not peanuts since I itch and think I'm allergic to them (and they aren't really nuts but are "legumes"). Anyway, if I find myself wanting to eat something after I should be full, if I have a couple of handfuls of nuts, it seems to really help the ole "hypothalmus gland(sp?)" shut down. Mine seems to tell me I need to eat all the time unless I really struggle to counteract these messages. Raw is best if you can get them. I like the raw walnuts the best but I vary them because diversity is usually good in most things. I buy them at "Whole Foods" grocery, a health food store not too far away. Walnuts are also supposed to help lower cholestoral. Even though their calorie count isn't that low, I highly recommend. I seem to lose weight on those days I eat the most nuts, strange... Another trick I've found is that a piece of fruit about 30 minutes or an hour before dinner will keep back the munchies really really well for just the right amount of time. Otherwise, I may eat too large of a "snack" and then eat dinner too which is just too many calories. Also, I try to keep from becoming famished because terrible things happen when I do. Bananas are a real treat and I've eaten two of them before to keep from eating unhealthy. I try to always have bananas around since they are such a treat, even though they are one of those fruits you are supposed to be careful of. Much healthier than ice cream and they don't seem to be as addictive to me as snickers :). Sounds like you don't have as much to lose as I do. All I can say is please, please take care of it now. It is so much worse if you let it continue. Have as your goal to quit gaining at least. Then worry about losing. Don't bury your head in the sand like I did. But also don't beat yourself up. It seems like the easier I take this, the better I feel and am not so negative about this losing weight thing. I'm also taking a bunch of vitamins. Not sure how they affect losing weight. One supplement I take that may be related, I think, is Chromium Picolinate. (not positive so I don't want to get into a serious discussion on which vitamins are best:) Everyone is different of course. Hope that some of my personal information can help you. Bottom line, take care of yourself, nurture yourself as best you can and I think it will help you hang in there for the long haul. --Alice...See MorePet Loss: How Many Times?
Comments (29)Such sad stories my heart goes out to all that have suffered through the pain of losing a precious pet. Last July we lost our beloved Joey while he was getting his teeth cleaned at the vets. No chance to say goodbye until after he was gone. We had still had 3 dogs, a 16 yr old maltipoo and her 2 11yr old "pups" to help us through the loss of Joey. You can imagine our devastation when our little girl Jessie only 11yr was diagnosed with a highly invasive aggressive spleen cancer in Nov. She died in my arms only weeks later. Three weeks later her mother 16yrs had to be euthanized after some strokes. We expected to lose her soon due to her age but it was very hard after the other two losses. I told DH I didn't want any more dogs...we still had one left and that was it for me. Never again I was done. Radar, the one dog left, was very special to me. DH missed having the others so much I relented and we bought a havanese pup. This pup was a little hellion and after 3 wks of tormenting my Radar we went back to the breeders and bought the little devils' sister. So now we had the devil and the angel a calm, sweet little girl and they played so well with each other that Radar wasn't being harassed and ambushed at every turn. This was working well for all. One week after getting the second pup I found a lump in Radar's side. We rushed him to the vet.....he had a very large, inoperable tumour on his liver. All we could do was give him meds to hopefully slow down the tumour. He seemed the same happy boy he always was for about 5 wks but things changed and he went downhill almost overnite. We had him euthanized last week. I'm glad we got the second pup when we did cause I know wouldn't have been able to bring another pet into my home after 4 losses in less than 8 months. These were pets that were at the vets for yearly check ups and shots ate premium dog food and we still lost them too soon. Sorry this is so long....See MoreHappy news--new furbaby!!
Comments (26)Thank you, everyone, for the well wishes. Panda continues to settle in and explore her new home, and giant kitty has been super good with her. MIL came over to meet her today. She's got quite a personality already and we see more of it every day. We're working on changing her over from dry to wet food. It does just seem like it's meant to be that we got her since so many people have tried for us to get another cat or kitten. Really, we just weren't ready for a long time after losing our last one. We are so thrilled to have little Panda....See MoreAnother furbaby intro
Comments (24)Thank you for all the kind words for my boys. They are so lovable and quite the characters! A few more pictures from their first night home. Their favorite furniture when I'm not available to hold the are my new chairs in the library. I fear they will be shredded to pieces before long. I have them covered but those sweet little kitty claws are quite sharp!...See Morebusybee3
9 years agoLynnNM
9 years agoLynnNM
9 years agoLynnNM
9 years ago
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