For the Memorial Day weekend of 2007 my husband and I took a short trip to visit daughter Amanda and family in North Texas. On the way home on Monday we did a bit of dreaming. Actually we did a lot of dreaming. We talked about our future home and gardens and what kind of things we want to do with it and other things like that. At the time I weighed more than twice what I should. I could walk and go up and down stairs but it was getting harder and harder and my knees were starting to rebel. I had to do something or I wasn't going to be here to enjoy the future we were discussing or if I was here I would not be healthy enough to even care if I had a future.
In 2005 I battled breast cancer and I won so what was I doing still obese? Obesity is a killer just like cancer but in some respects it is far more difficult than battling cancer. Unlike smoking or drinking or even drugs, you can't just quit eating. There really are no drugs you can take to get rid of fat. All you have is personal committment, will power, and lots and lots of emotional support.
Many have asked what diet I'm on and I'm not on a diet. In the summer of 2005 I asked my wonderful internist what type of diet I should follow: low carb, low fat, low protien, ADA, etc. His answer was short and complete. He said, "Eat less food and exercise." Well how hard is that? I'll tell you it took two years for me to finally get it. I thought I was eating less food and really could not eat more. I was not exercising at all except for several trips up and down the stairs at work. What was I doing wrong? I gained 21 lbs in those two years.
My mother has been extoling the virtues of Weight Watchers for years. She is a lifetime member. I put her offers to pay the fees off for as long as I could. But after that trip to the future my husband and I took on Memorial Day last year I was ready. I went to Weight Watchers and signed up for the Monthly Pass. So far Mom has not had to help me pay for the Monthly Pass.
The first thing I did was document what I ate on the online calculator. I Pretty much at my "last supper" on Sunday and beginning Monday I just cut what I ate in half or even more. Oh my, did I really eat that much? How embarrassing. Week after week I went to the meetings and week after week I lost weight. To date I have lost 60 lbs. Yes 60 lbs.
My next hurdle is exercise. I have not started doing any kind of regular exercise. I walk now and then but that isn't going to do it. So the plan is to get over to the little workout room at my apartment and see what they have and then figure out what to do with it. I've got a great walking workout in the complex parking lot because we are on hills so a 30 minute walk has several inclines in it.
My friend, Shea, and I went to see Bucket List this past Saturday and finally broke our bad movie streak. We have not had very good luck with movies lately. I must recommend that you see this movie. It is phenomenal and will get you thinking about your life. I do not want to say much about it because I do not want to give up anything. I will tell you that Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman make a great team. As always, Jack Nicholson was full of those wonderful facial expressions. This film was a deeply emotional experience for me.
Those emotions carried over to Monday when I sat down at the computer to start my job hunt. Job hunting has definitely changed in the last 10 years. I really have not had to look very hard for a job ever. I have basically walked into most of the jobs I've held. In the early 80's the IRS hired pretty much anyone who could type and didn't have a criminal record. After a five year stint at home I did some tax preparation and then my divorce lawyer begged me to come work for him while I went to school. What could I say?
One of my classes was an internship class and I took an internship at the company I just left. After the internship was over they asked me to stay on. Again, what could I say?
So now I have to go find places that I am interested in as well as would be interested in me. This is not fun but I'm not going to give up.
Well it happened. I got laid off. I was a bit surprised until I learned who was calling the shots. If you are reading this and you are a former coworker of mine at this company, I'm sure you will know who I am talking about.
The choices of the people they kept were pretty stupid. They left no one in Customer Support that could actually support the customer. That was a brilliant idea. BUT the person calling the shots has an agenda and I'm afraid it is to run the company into the ground.
Oh well...life goes on. I'll have a break.
Blogging has been where its at for quite sometime and I am finally here. There are all sorts of blogs because there are all sorts of people. Some people have many blogs, one for each interest. I'm not so split and this blog will be everything.
