Keeping It Real

I guess it was Woody Allen who quipped, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans."  Woody had a point!  A couple of weeks after writing about my new vocabulary (see prior post) and just a couple of days before my doctor appointment to be released as far as my new knee is concerned, I slipped on a concrete floor at church and landed HARD on the hip I'd had replaced last March.

The pain in my buttocks (pardon the vivid language) is excruciating when I walk.  Up to a couple of days ago, I used a walker to get around.  Now I've tried to graduate to a cane, but progress is slow.  X-rays showed the hip itself was not damaged.  For that I'm immensely thankful.

BUT (no pun intended), my workouts were abruptly halted.  I believe SOME flexibility has returned, and I have learned and incorporated some tricks to make moving easier. 

All this to report that I have temporarily suspended any real exercise 

and that while I've tried to keep Fast-5 eating plan intact, 

I have at times left its confines to sooth my discouragement. 

Just keeping it real here!

I look forward to a much healthier and sane New Year personally

and wish the same to anyone who reads this post.

A New Vocabulary

Treadmill

Elliptical

NuStep

These are three new vocabulary words that I'm encountering at least 3 times a week!  (There are other machines, too.  Specifics escape me just now.)  After successfully completing 6 weeks of therapy for my knee replacement, I bit the bullet and purchased a quarter of a year's worth of time at the Health Fit center of the Hicksville Community Hospital.  My husband works out there regularly, and I have resisted membership for YEARS.  However, I don't want to fall back in my progress, and I think it will be a fine way to continue through the winter months especially.

Fast-5 continues to be working for me.  I WOULD like to lose 5 pound this month (November) and believe it is possible unless my body has just decided THIS is where it needs to be.  We'll see.

Choice, Decision, Commitment, Favor

A choice, a decision, a commitment, a FAVOR I do myself. 

Don't complicate it, friends! No regrets here.

Last March, I fell and broke my hip.  I got a new hip and began eating 3 meals a day while in the hospital.  I kept up the 3 meal a day habit in the weeks of rehab.  This was a change from the Fast-5 lifestyle I had been living for a couple of years.  Besides the change in meal patterns, I found myself eating more sweets and making silly food choices.  The pounds began to add up.

On September 23rd, I had a knee replaced.  While I ate meals in the hospital, I determined that when I got home, I would return to the Fast-5 lifestyle.  This means eating within a 5 hour "window" and "fasting" the other 19 hours of the day.

I am thankful for the decision I made and for the results that I've already achieved.  This morning, I wrote the words at the beginning of this post on the Fast-5 facebook page. 

Soon I expect to ADD more walking to my knee rehab exercises and will continue to SUBTRACT pounds until I am a healthy weight again.  (It should take about another month.)

Coming Up:  Lessons Learned

Walking, Walking, Walking

A couple of weeks ago, we parked our car next to this pickup truck.

I couldn't help but take a picture of these words!

My hip is healing from hip replacement surgery,

 but the knee on my opposite leg is NOT happy about it!

X-rays indicate a knee replacement is in my near future.

Meanwhile (after a cortisone shot), I am doubling my efforts

to get the hip strong and ready to do ITS part when the knee needs it.

Walking.  Walking.  Walking.

God help me Git er Done.

The Mostly No Sugar Plan

I'm back.  Kind of.  I'm not going to lie.  My mid-March fall and subsequent hip replacement did me no favors in the health department!  But last night, the evening of our 43rd anniversary, found us outside enjoying the beautiful weather.  Total relaxation.  And with it, a sense of health returning.

Oh.  I said I'm not going to lie.  Earlier in the day, I ate a piece of apple pie and and had later indulged in a homemade mocha latte.  Sugar enough for a week!  So when I read this morning's  How to be Chic, I was ripe and ready for "The Mostly No Sugar" idea.

 I am implementing it this minute.  Not a moment too soon.

Interrupted

 I've been out of commission since slipping on ice on March 15.

I now have new parts in my hip.

This means daily exercises - twice each day...

NOT the kind necessary to maintain weight  & cardio health, etc.

I'm doing well, but needless to say, the whole experience was NOT on my agenda.

Surgeon's sketch of my new hip apparatus.

Soon I'll be graduating from walker to cane.

(I tried using it a bit too much yesterday while spending 

a delightful afternoon with all my siblings and their spouses.  

I spent last night "paying", so will transition a bit more gradually.)

 Thoughtful friends from my Bible study group gifted us with

gift certificates from our local restaurant.  These, interspersed with

other gifts of food, make food choices and preparation simpler.

I look forward to being mobile enough to enjoy spring weather

which seems to be dragging ITS feet, too!

Dream and Do

 I'm sorry I can't remember on whose blog I found this description of her friend:

"I'm also incredibly inspired by her for she is a dreamer and a doer. 

Whether it's publishing her first novel, sewing a quilt, knitting a scarf

...throwing an annual Christmas party, or making me jam

...she dreams and she does."

My fingers sometimes get ahead of my brain.  After cutting and pasting, I hit SOMEthing that took me out of the blog.  (Hmmmmm.  As I type this, I think, "I guess I COULD use the history tab to figure it out...."  But that's complicated.)

All this to say that my goal is that someone would be able to say of me (accurately), "She is a dreamer and a doer".  In the area of weight management and healthy living, the combination of these two words is powerful.

a dreamer and a doer

she dreams and she does

dream and do

Dreamed and DID a bowl of mixed fruit.  Yum!

I Needed That!

Wow!  Did I NEED this! 

I hope if you have the time to read it 

that you'll find it as inspiring and useful as I did.

Check out Frugal Queen's post 

Staying Happy on the Cheap!

Especially the paragraph about "health"...

"We judiciously look after our health. Diet, exercise and plenty of sleep are non-negotiable. We eat healthily. We don't eat rubbish and we maintain a healthy level of calories. The answer to feeling bad about our personal appearance is never ever ever to reach to food as it can't love us, doesn't comfort us and never ever makes anything better. The same goes for exercise. Our bodies are not designed to be sedentary. I work hard to keep my serotonin levels up by exercising. We set a go to bed time and get up time which ensures we get plenty of quality sleep. We make sure the TV is off early and we never keep ourselves up late for any reason whatsoever. I run.............slowly but I'm always faster than the person who never gets off the couch. I work out...............as best I can but I'm fitter and leaner than the person who never does anything about it!"
 

True in My Own Experience

"We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it."

C.S. Lewis

I'm finding this true in my own experience.

WALK

Read today while sitting in Barnes and Noble.

Only when I got home did I wonder why I didn't take the time

to WALK around the mall!?!?

Too much snow and too cold to walk ANYwhere outside presently...

Today.

20 minutes MINIMUM!