Keep on Going

The days go by as they usually do and it's almost another weekend - the time that most employed people look forward to, well, at least those employed people who work Monday to Friday. I missed a couple in between there with a few down days as I felt under the weather, so to speak. My back was giving me grief and every other part of me seems to chime in with sympathy creating a general feeling of blah! The weather was a bit cooler so sometimes I wonder if my problem is more arthritic. In any case, I needed the rest and the ability to just do nothing if I chose. I tend to like those days very much as I don't really do nothing - I write and do little things here and there. I rest when needed but the most important thing is that I just stay home.

Not everyone has that luxury and it has taken me quite a few years of working to find the job that allows me this flexibility - my back or weight issues have not interfered with my work and I want to keep it that way. My work is brain not braun driven, good thing, although long days in front of the computer can take its toll on a body in so many different ways. It is important to move, get up and stretch - I make sure I do this or else I won't be moving much at all. Those back pills first thing in the morning allow me this mobility until there is a stabbing reminder to shift positions for a moment.

Yesterday was a good day, well as good as it can be right now - there is that niggling feeling that if I do too much I could be in pain again. Although I drank my water as required, I made the mistake of not eating all day. This is something I know to be the wrong way to go for proper body fueling... sometimes you just go along, consciously ignoring pointed cravings and it's like eating is not one of the things high on your list of things to do. I wish this were the case all the time but as time goes on it will get easier to move it down the list.

I spent a wonderful evening with my Mom - we enjoyed supper together and shared a few laughs and conversation. I have to say that the supper we had did not stay with me long and we even commented at one point during the visit "why do I still have weight on me if things I eat go right through me?" By the time I got home later that evening, more stuff was moving through me... so feeling hungry, I finished up another bottle of water and had some fruit for a snack while watching Survivor.

There are a number of things that keep me going and it is my hope that by blogging this challenge I can manage to make it past that point of giving up in sheer despair. Often while doing what you know is right, there are feelings of "why am I doing this... struggling and suffering through this?" But right there is the most important reason to do anything for yourself - to lessen the struggle and the suffering. It's worth the challenge to live right, live healthy and live long.

March ON!

It's the last day of March and we are moving into my favorite month and spring is well on its way. I am continuing my resolve to think positively and do more things that are good for me and my health. There are a few things I refuse to stop, but if it came to a life-or-death decision I guess I could give up everything for the cause. Yesterday, I worked on increasing my hydration with enough water throughout the day; I am cutting out artificial sweeteners (i.e. diet pop and flavored waters) due to the negative affect these additives have on a body and the ability to cleanse the internal workings. Natural is always a better way to go and the best thing to drink, of course, is just plain water. I actually like drinking water but have to make it a habit so I get enough of it during the course of the day.

I also love coffee - I am a writer - the cup is in one hand and the pen in the other! Or, it's close at hand if I am on the computer keyboard and considering that I work on a computer all day and then write in my spare time as well... the coffee cup is always close at hand. I especially love coffee in the morning AND I use creamers, vanilla preferably, or milk works fine too. Until such time as I am told that I need or should cut them out I use them. In the big scheme of things, I feel that they are minuscule in comparison to other things that are more detrimental to my well being.

I did well yesterday and my daughter topped off the evening with a wonderful supper and I was really hungry by then. It was awesome - wraps with lots of fresh vegetables, meat and cheese; a fruit tray with yogurt dip; mushroom caps... It was worth the wait all day to have such a good meal. She made it on the night of one of my writer's group committee meetings and we shared the tasty spread with friends. Thank you, Kelsey.

One of the others things I will not give up is chocolate - really, it's Easter bunny time! Chocolate and I go "weigh" back... it's one of those relationships that just won't let go... lol. I don't go crazy with it, although I can - but in terms of my new attempt to lose weight I won't go overboard. It will be the treat that I allow myself to have, after all, you have to have something. Oh, yes, and pizza... that is allowed, but maybe only once a month?

If I don't stop thinking about food I will have to sit here all day and blog. Keeps the hands and the mind busy...

Ever feel like a walking bladder?

So, day one's attempt to hydrate properly has me visiting the facilities on a regular basis. It's the right thing to do - keep our bodies replenished with enough water that we don't retain it. It's what I've heard anyway - hopefully my swollen feet will go down soon as slipping into the shoes is a real chore!

I decided I'd better have some breakfast too - so an orange, two pieces of toast and a glass of milk helped wash down the vitamin I am determined to make a habit AND the usual morning dose of back pain medication. It's easy to make bad things a habit so why not try to make the things that are good for you a habit too?

I think I will interject here a little tid-bit of information that might answer what some of you may be asking... "why don't you get your butt out and walk it off????" And the short answer would be, I'd love to but easier said than done. The weekend before Christmas I did a lot of walking - you know shopping and all the running around that goes with the season - and the Monday before Christmas we had a staff lunch and gift opening *up and down stairs twice* then I visited a friend's office after work *up and down stairs* and then we (the girls I work with) went to see Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat at Festival Place where our seats were in the second level balcony *you guessed it, up and down stairs again*... At the time I was renting the basement suite area of the duplex I shared with my daughter and her boyfriend. Yes, downstairs. Tuesday = morning shopping. Wednesday = I couldn't walk, had to call in to work and later that day my daughter went shopping for a cane! I spent the rest of my Christmas break (I was off until after New Year's, good thing) recovering from a pulled/sprained/twisted/ or just a plain old overworked knee.

I am still favoring it and trying to absorb some of the pain without taking Tylenol as well as the back meds, although, that is usually not the case, especially if I want to assume a somewhat normal life.

So the swelling can also be due to injured or stressed joints, especially my knees, but possibly hips and of course, the good old lower back. Knees have not been my strong point since about 1997 when I had the left one go on me so badly that it hurt to sit, stand, drive, lie down and just be. I took heavy doses of Glucosamine for several months and never had a problem with it again. It is my weak knee though and the strength in it is gone. In 2005, during a brief hiatus to Toronto, I worked security in a 9-floor bank office building. It was great fun and I learned a lot, however, due to a shoe malfunction I pulled my left knee. Boy that breakdown in footwear is not apparent until AFTER the fact and the damage is already done. So my good knee now becomes not much better that my bad knee and with the incident just a few months ago, sometimes it is slow going and often painful. I am now not only watching what, where and how I sit to ease the back pain, I am watching what, where and how I walk.

Hence, the walking for the benefits of losing weight are out for the time being. The increased water has me jumping up quite early a couple of times in the morning though, so perhaps this can be considered "increased activity?"