yeah, it's been ahwile, so let's sit and catch up on my adventures

 
The pics on the left are of my right  6 months after I got out of the nursing facility in 2014 and of me in Fall of 2017. What a difference.
 To say that I had an interesting year last year is the least I can say of my adventures during 2017.  I lost 50 pounds, only to come under some stress regarding my health and regained some of the lost weight. I look and feel better now and am still on the lo-carb high fat lifestyle plan and I have a small daily eating window. I eat from 5am-2pm daily, it's called intermittent fasting. I really feel. good. I don't eat all of those hours, I just do all of my eating between those hours each day. I just have a smoothie in the morning around 5 am and then I eat a good lunch between 11:30-1:30 pm. It's amazing the hunger cravings are almost gone. 

I also took the pic on the above  right to showcase those earrings that I made last night. I didn't like them at first. because they didn't come out exactly like the ones at World Market. But, I love them today. They are so pretty to me. I added the bail and the stone to this necklace last night. It was  a set of green beads that someone gave me and I like them, but decided to update them with the bail and stone set in wire.  I also made the red set last night too. So you can tell that I really enjoyed myself last night. More to come later.

Rummage sale event

I've been preparing for a month for the rummage sale held in the parking lot of my church on last weekend. I've been making bookmarks, necklaces, earring and bracelets. I made about 100 pairs of earrings alone! I've been having too much fun preparing for this event. 


Here I am at the Rummage Sale at my table. I had so much fun.

These are the paperclip bookmarks that I made. 

These are some of the single strand bracelets that I made. They came out so nice.

 Here are some of the memory wire bracelets. They were a very popular item.

 Paper bookmarks. I wish that i had my laminator for these.

 Supplies for making baskets

These are some of the finished baskets and bracelets

Here is a finished journal, made by a friend.

At the rummage sale, I found some Cubs fat quarters, which I promptly made into a Cubs journal for  a friend.

Inside cover of the journal.

The finished product.... She loved it.

Swimming and Carb lesson learned again

Friday, I went to swim Fit and it was a great class. I've learned which exercise that i can do and which ones to avoid altogether. Some make my knees and back hurt. I love being in the water walking and even running. I do my exercises with the heaviest weight available. I stay in for 45 minutes and then go shower, since there are about 20-25 women in class and only 6 showers available. So, I go down early and shower and get dressed. As I got out of my friends car and started walking into my building, I felt so, so very light. I felt amazing. I had done my cardio exercises at home for one hour as I started my day earlier. 

I was feeling great! I weighed less than I had in 12 years and I kept feeling a dread, as I was thinking that in the next couple of weeks or so, I'd be in a weight that I hadn't seen but once, in decades. That dread increased and I ate a little  more carb than I should have (I knew better) and I was soon eating a whole box of protein bars and spoonfuls after spoonful of PB and nuts. Thank God that I had nothing else in the house to pig out on or it would have been worse. It was downright FEAR, FEAR, FEAR of entering the unknown.  The fear of even feeling so much lighter, the bounce in my step. I felt the fear, tasted the fear but I couldn't overcome the fear. I should have starting praying and fighting it as soon as I felt that little something within me. The nervousness and fogginess, the crazies coming over me. but, like I said in the title, lesson learned. 

It's a War!

I have to realize that In a war, we listen for movement, every twig breaking, sounds, inflections, the unusual. So therefore in my own war, I have to be on the lookout for every thing not quite right in my spirit and mull over it, meditate on what's causing that. Listen for whispers in my ears, move more slowly and be alert, on guard and gird up my mind for any and everything that comes into my realm, good or bad or questionable. That's how battles are won or lost.

So Yesterday, I zeroed in on Zero-Five eating, which means that I ate when I was hungry ( eat when I'm not hungry and just because) and to stop when I'm satisfied, not full. I had a smoothie in the morning and I didn't get hungry until 8pm and I had a great and tasty salad with a Morningstar Farm Griller. Correction from earlier posts, I'd been saying these Grillers where made by Gardein but, I was mistaken, they are mad by Morningstar Farms. I also use Gardein meat substitutes in my other dishes.

It's Sunday July 30th and I've just finished my hour of Cardio and had my smoothie. I'm getting ready to go out to a jewelry class in a few hours, which is relaxing and fun.

I have to remember daily, that I'm in a war and it's a fight for my life and health!

Thursday July, 27, 2017

Good day everyone. Sorry for the blurry pics today. But, you get the idea. It's time to stop sitting on the sidelines or straddling the fence, it's time to up in, leap forward into our future. Nike say "Just do it". That's what I'm talking about. let's do this thing!!!!

I learned something again, I finished a 7 day smoothie cleanse recently and lost 6 pounds. That was good, but, 4 of those pounds have found their way back fast. I love the cleanse because it resets the palate and cleans you of toxins but, its' just not so good for sustained weight loss. The same holds true for juicing. So now in order to have a good weight loss total for the month, I'm going lo-carb mostly veggies for awhile. I love lo-carb, because I get nice and full when I eat, even though I don't eat meat.  The cravings diminish and it's not such a battle. This also means no  cauliflower, quinoa and also no berries in my morning smoothies either. But, it will be worth it in the long haul. 

I exercised for an hour cardio and on the beast pictured below. My neighbor calls it "The Beast". She loaned it to me and it has been a blessing. I did't go to the gym today but, I still don't want to miss a day of exercise either. I wanted to relax today and not be flustered with catching the bus, since my ride backed out of the class today.  

Well, I'm going shopping today for the week and there will be plenty of asparagus, bibb or boston, romaine and the Artisan blend of lettuce, along with tomatoes, Purple onions and other veggies to complete my salad. I'm so glad that I finally love salad, because it seems to be a mainstay a lot of the time. I'll be so glad after this year is over, so I can relax into my other veggies and foods that I now love, but which have a few more carbs. when I eat them I don't lose weight but, I just maintain my current weight. Things like Brown rice, sweet potatoes, lots of quinoa,a few fruits, like berries and mango, grapes, apples, even a little fish. All healthy stuff, but things which stall my weigh loss quickly. So, Im finishing my 7th month on this and I've learned what I can eat and what I can't eat, the hard way. I'm also glad that I have learned to love exercising too. Getting up at 5:30 am was so hard but, then again it wasn't when I thought of my goal for 2017. It was a no-brainer for me. I have to exercise and when I exercise I feel so much better halfway, even when it was torture getting out of the bed.

That's all for today folks. Now, you get up and go out and grab this day by the horns.

This is me in a wheelchair in the nursing home back in 2014, not able to walk yet. 

Now 3 years later, Here I am getting my health back.

 As you can see, I am in the Swim Fit class twice weekly and below I'm using NuStep machine at the gym to regain strength in my lower body.

 Late last year in 2017, I visited the doctor and she said that all of my numbers weren't good. I was being attacked by high blood pressure, cholesterol and Pre-diabetes. I left her office an unhappy camper to say the least. Then as the year was nearing a close, my journal was getting filled, so before I selected a new book, I decided to review the events of the earlier months of 2016 and to my horror, I discovered that I had not grown at all. I was praying for the same thing over and over and I was not making progress at all. So as of January 1, 2017, I got off Facebook for one year, so I could focus on God and my health. I decided to go on a plant based diet to lose 100 pounds during this year. Here is my story  as I look back almost 7 months later  know the success of losing 41 pounds, normalizing my cholesterol and high blood pressure, reserving pre-diabetes, by lowering my A1C from 7.0 to 6.1. But, most importantly gaining a viable relationship with God and His Word. I've memorized over 18 scriptures and written an article on "Transforming the Mind from the inside out".  

My weight loss has been as follows:
High weight: 287 (2014-2016)
Starting weight:275 (2017)
Current weight: 236.6

Jan-14.5 pounds down
Feb-6 pounds down
March-8 pounds down
April-4 pounds down
May 3.5 pounds down
June-1.5 pounds down

My doctor was shocked and happy. I asked her why she was shocked, she said: people won't change their eating lifestyle, especially at your age. I'm 65 years old and I know I had to change or watch my health diminish.

As you can tell it has been a battle for real. Old mindsets, resistance to change, downright rebellion, self sabotage, disobedience, lack of surrendering to God and other factors have had to be overcome on a daily basis.

January was a great weight loss month, because who doesn't lose weight  when they start out on a new lifestyle of eating?
I gave up all meats, dairy, breads and other unhealthy things such as sweets, pop and chips. It was hard, but the results helped me to hang in there. I ate mostly smoothies and tuna.

February as difficult too but, I was still making progress, as was the month of March.

Then came April and May, my most challenging months, My flesh was tired of doing without all my goodies and was looking for any excuse to rebel. I started adding stuff to my menu. All kinds of crazy stuff, like yogurt (I can't even eat dairy!),  crisp breads, Sugar free jello and whippings to go on top( which has dairy) and numerous other things, which I didn't need. I need to mention that month three is the month where I rebel and give up. So I was well aware of what was happening to me, but, I sought the Lord and prayed and cried out to hold on this time and not give up as I had done EVERY time before.

God's grace kept me through those two difficult months, then came June. The month of my birthday and everybody's, birthday, graduation, wedding and so many other events. I struggled and managed to lose 1.5 pounds.

 I was elated to say the least for even that weight loss.

Well, it's July and I recommitted to obedience to doing what God wants me to do regarding my seeking Him, my eating and my prayer life. So fat this month I have loss 6 pounds. I'm so happy. I'm halfway home and I hope to lose 60 more pounds this year for a total weight loss of 101 pounds.

So now since you know the past, I'll be blogging by day to day or week to week journey. 


I hit a weight of 233.6, a weight that I haven't seen since 2005, along with an important paperwork item I needed for my work assignment to be completed It made me nervous. I felt fear and an unsettling in my spirit. Then chaos began, I was eating more of the things I'm allowed to eat ( I don't even keep crazy stuff in my house).  For the past 3 days, it's not been good. Too much peanut butter and nuts. Then after having my smoothies, I'd want 2 Grillers (soy burgers by Gardein). Why? I was becoming unglued again, because of fear. God has blessed me so much with fear and being delivered of it this year. So I decided to fight and battled harder. No more nuts and PB in the house, after I finished what I have. I don't have much left. I packed it all up and  hid it out of sight. I'm hoping out of sight and  God will bless with out of mind.

I've decide to Smoothie cleanse until next Tuesday, which will be August 1st. I'm determined to keep this weight loss. I refuse to give in for another moment longer. I'm so glad that I noticed this nervousness on day #3 and not on day #30-#45 asI used to do and then come out of the fog and wonder "How did that happen?'. That's what  surrendering to God does, He reveals things to you. When we want to please Him, He gives us our hearts desires. Yeah, I know my hearts desire is to lose 100 pounds in a month, but that ain't happening! But, I believe someone out there knows exactly what I mean...lol. Yes, God could deliver me in the blink of His eye but,  how would that help me? It wouldn't Instead, He tells me that His grace is sufficient for me. 2 Corinthians 12:9
Wow, that's deep. 

Sufficient:
This which is adequate, enough for a particular purpose as much as is needed; equal to what is specified or required; enough, competent; well-qualified; able.
So what God is telling me that He has already put in me that which I will need to make it through this particular phase of my journey. So now, it's up to me to choose to believe this or to continue to wander off on my own ways an plans, which always fail. People, my plans have failed for decades, decades! So today once again, I surrender, submit and obey what God wants for me at this juncture, no Peanut butter nor nuts. MY eating thingy is so broken that once I get started on them, I ca't stop. So in order to have victory, Ill just not have any for awhile. God has promised that He has already given me the grace to make it through this, and I choose to believe Him.

Exercise
That's a word not many people like to discuss. Well, I've been exercising since Jan.1 I sit in a chair and walk and thenI get up and walk in place as long as I can and then I fall back into the chair and do some more. I do this an hour 6-7 days a week. I have up at 5:30 in the morning to accomplish it and to have a good Bible study, because it's no longer business as usual for me this year. Now in this my 7 month, I can say that I enjoy it most days.
Week before last I found out about a program called Silver Sneakers, which is for old adults on Medicare. It's a free program,in which I can go to as many fitness places as I desire at no cost! So, I joined the High Ridge YMCA and the Levy Senior Center. I wanted to go to the YMAC and swim but, I was full of trepidation and body shame. But, I enlisted a friend to go with me and  was even willing to pay for her so I wouldn't have to go alone.I also joined the LevySenior Center, because on the videos there were a lot of people who looked like me (senior citizens). Well, my friend and I went to the YMCA and I fell in love with the place, so clean, even the locker rooms and the pool and staff. The weight room was amazing with every kind of equipment possible and one hour of free training on the machines. Oh Yeah... My friend and I swan the very next day in the Swim Fit class, which was filled with mostly seniors.
I had to get used to the whole thing, lockers, showering in public shower stalls and getting dressed with others around. but, it was amazing, just amazing. The next day  since my friend had to work, I went to the Levy center on the bus by myself (another fear conquered). I went into the weight room. I was shocked to find out that I could not use any of the bicycles, because my left knee is completely frozen again. I need two knee replacements but, while I was in the nursing facility, they had gotten that left knee unfrozen. So I had to request physical therapy sessions from my doctor to work on that problem. the other thing was that I thought that I'd just get on the treadmill an blast away at it, since Id been walking at home. Not so! I lasted only15 minutes on that thing and that was a real struggle.
So now I've attended 3 swimming class and been to the workout room twice. Yesterday I swam for an hour, lasted 20 minutes on the treadmill and 40 minutes on the NuStep (picture above).Pretty good, I'd say. Ys, I'm sore today but, I feel so great.

Well, I had a lot to add to this blog, since I have been away for awhile. I hope this is helpful to someone. Catch you later. We can do this with God as our head, no matter what our age. Yippee!

Great doctors visit, Body feeling great!

Well A lot of things, good things have happened since March, 3 months ago. It is just miraculous to me, how far I have come since then.

I also wanted to include in the post, some pics of my new apartment. I love this place, it's across the street from the park and a beach.

Yesterday I went to the library to return some books and then to Whole Foods to get some good "clean"healthy foods and on to aldi for cheap produce.
Here are some of the things I purchased.

I got some Wasa Crispbread, upon which I put hummus or guacamole, Sunflower seeds and dried cranbeerries and raisins. I don't want to eat meat anymore, because it's bad for my health and ethical reasons, so I got "Beyond chicken" and quinoa burgers and a few other goodies.
After we unloaded the goods at rhe apartment, I got dropped off at the mmovies to see "Inside out" a Disney film, since it was a birthday outing for an 11 year olds birthday. I was able to walk and sit easily inside the theatre and I was in no pain at all. After the movie, we went up on the roof of the parking garage to have the party but it was barricaded, so we had it one floor below the roof. It was too kool. I sat in the truck, because I can't stand that long. Then I had them drop me at a bus stop with  a shelter, where I could sit and wait on the bus.  I refused their offer to take me home, since they live about 15 miles from the bus stop and about 25 miles from me. They have twins in tow, who were sleepy and upset. I enjoyed my free bus ride and got home about 1 1/2 hours later. I am getting over my fear of being out by myself, since I have so much strength from the daily exercise. What a great day and I still had strength to spare. Another fear overcome. Oh yeah.....

Exercise

I exercise for 30-45 minutes a day, every day. I do cario every day and then resistence training. I have hand weight and leg weights. I started out with 3 pounds hand weights, but, now they are too light, so I use two 3 pound weight together when I do my upper body resistance exercises. I will have to get some 8 pounders soon, but these will have to do for now. I started out with  2 pounds in my leg weights but, I'm up to 8 pounds per leg now. I have gained so much strength on each leg, knee, and ankle now, that I'm amazed. I let go of the rollator at the end of March. I no longer needed it. I now only use my cane and then only outdoors.  yipee ki yey!! The exercise makes all of the idffrence in the world. They say  that I need two knee surgeries, but, after 58 days of 30 minute exercising and drinking smoothies daily, I have been healed of all arthritis pain. I have stiffness but, no pain, unless I stand up too long. I'm really trying to avoid thoose two surgeries, if at all possible. I don't like exercising but, it works wonders for my attitude and my health. I might start the day, not wanting to exercise, but, i do it anyway and halfway through , i start to feel wonderful and light. Those endorphins kick in and do their job of elevating my spirit. Since, I know that this happens every day, I RESOLVE, that I will exercise every day, no matter what. I know things happen and I sometimes i can only exercise for less than my daily allotted time or I have to exercise later in the day. But, I commit to exercise daily, because I matter, my health matters to me, I'm learning to take care of me, to love myself more.

Medications
 I visited my doctor for refills on my meds on June 19th. He was amazed. he gave me a high five. He took me off  the diabetes med-Metformin, which I was taking once daily. My A1C had dropped to 6.0 from a high of 7.0. He also reduced my blood pressure meds and my pain medication. I had already dropped them from 3 times a day to once in the morning before seeing him. It was a good visit.

Weight
I have dropped 22 pounds and lots of inches in the last 3 months. I'm so happy. I wore a shirt buttoned yesterday that I was not able to button 3 months ago. it was nice and loose on me.


Accountability Partner
 I now have an accountability partner. She doesn't play. She tells me like it is. When I'm rebelling with the food or doing something else stupid, she rebukes me. She sends me articles on clean eating, videos, encouragement and health tips. She went through the book "Made To Crave" with me and we completed all the questions at the end of every chapter. After reading that book, I realized that this is a lifestyle change, that will never end. There is no end and I go back to eating that crazy, disease causing stuff again. No way !!!! There are some foods that I might never have the freedom to enjoy again, but, if I want to enjoy a good quality of life, this is how it has to be.

Foods
I now have a smoothie, consisting of a green ( spinach, kale or collard) celery, carrots, berries, bananas, protein powder, cocao, agave nectar every morning after my exercising. I usually have 32 ounces. I also have 1-2 ounces of sunflower seeds. I am supposed to only have 1 ounce of them. I'm still working on that. Here's one picture of me juicing, which i do on odd days.

Later on in the day, I have crispbread with guacamole, feta and dried cranberries or carrots with hummus or some type of healthy snack.

For dinner, I have a great salad with about 6 different kinds of lettuce, feta, dried tomatoes, raspberry viniagrette,fresh garlic, onions with dried cranberries and raisins. on top of this I had something like Beyond Chicken or Beyond Beef or Quinoa burgers.  I decided last week that I just cannot do real meat, for  moral, ethical and many other reasons.

Evening snack- Smoothie, if needed

Note: I was having peanuts as an evening snack, but, I could never get a handle on eating the right amount, so I eliminated them for now from my lifesttyle.

Let me give you a picture of my day.

Alarm at 5:30am to wake me up out of the groggy state. I take my meds, which make me sleepier, which is why I take them at 5:30 am, so I can sleep the effects off for a couple of hours and then start my day.

 7:30 or there about I get up, journal, have bible study and prayer.

 10:30-I exercise for 30-45 minutes, after which I have my smoothie immediately.

I then get cleaned up and get dressed.

 2-3 pm-Snack time

6-7 pm-dinnertime

9-10 snack

12-1am- bedtime

God is blessing me with miracle after miracle. I expect more miracles in my life as I walk in this new journey to health. My thinking, is changing, my nervous system is changing, my ideas about my body and my life are changing.

Just think last year this time, I was just learning to walk again and was in a wheelchair most of the time, to me just using a cane now and going to festivals, parties, the beach across the street from where I live. I'm living again. Thank you God! What a miracle!

My next phase to renewed health

Since, I've been out of the rehab/nursing facility for almost 3 months now, it's time to move onto the next phase of renewing my health, which is strength training. I've used strength training to revitalize myself on two prior occasions. Both times, I was successful.

 Let me review all that has happened to me in the last twelve months. On Feb. 7, 2014, I was attacked with stenosis of the back and infection was found in my back. I was unable to walk until the end of May. By then, I was walking using a walker and then a rollator.  A class action lawsuit against the governor of our State, caused me to be included in a project, in which I was allowed to transition into my own apartment from the nursing home. After leaving I was provided with everything that I needed for the apartment, including all the furniture needed, household items, groceries for one month and my rent was paid for three months. Thereafter, my rent is 30% of my monthly check. 

Well, I was moved into this beautiful, wonderful one bedroom apartment on Dec.16, 2014. I was excited, afraid and curious all at the same time. After everyone left, I was alone. I got very afraid at that time since, we had CNA's everywhere at the care facility. I was afraid that I would fall and no one was there, since, I had not set up the security device yet.

My building  has an intercom system, that works with the tenants cell phone. My old cell phone was not compatible with this system. I also needed wifi in my apartment, since, I had so many things to do for myself. I had my friends take me to the local Cellular store and I had to purchase a new over-priced cell phone. I also made sure that it had a hotspot included.Thank God now, I now had the means to let people into the building or so I thought. Well, now it turns out that, I have to either have a Google Voice # or a Pinger #. I got a Google # and then found out, it has to be of a certain prefix and exchange, so my new Google #will not work. Okay, so I got a pinger number and after calling the management to inform them of my new pinger #, they added it to my apartment inercom box.Well, it doesn't seem to be working.ughhhhhh!

So now, I have to ride the elevator down to let the nurse, physical therapist, occupational therapist, care coordinator and whatever else comes to see me. I was aggravated to say the least. So, I was overjoyed about the apartment and it being my new home but, drained about the intercom and wifi situation.

OKay, So, I use my phone wifi to water a movie for two nights and it uses almost half the GB's allowed to me monthly. So, I knew that I had to get wifi  in my apartment.

So, I called the  cable company and got cable. They came out two days later and installed it.  Pinger started working on the intercom system about 5 days later.

The Home Health agency came out for the next two weeks. They made sure that I had a shower chair, went over my daily exercises with me, learned bath and home safety and taught me so many other things that I needed to know, now that I was on my own. 

Homemaker

I wanted a specific homemaker. but, since she was not registered with any of the agencies, I could not request her services. I signed up with another agency and they send a young lady out unannounced. I mean I'm still half asleep. I had her clean my apartment. I also told her that I am not available until 10 am. I don't want to get up until after 9am. Out of 6 days, she came only two days to work, she made excuses every day. I had to call the agency and tell them that I didn't want to use their services anymore.

 Because of that incident, I was able to request whoever I wanted to be my homemaker. Well, you know what happens next.... I had to do all of the legwork myself. It took the care manager over 3 weeks to get the paperwork to me. I received it yesterday and had it faxed to her office today. I'm hoping that I will begin to receive services next week.

We'll see.

Strong Women, Strong Bones

I had been exercising for 30 minutes daily and I stopped. I got discouraged.

But, I continued to drink my smoothies every day. I drink 32 ounces of green smoothies daily. I feel so much stronger. I'm walking more with my cane.  Funny, the right hand side brake broke on my rollator yesterday, so I'm more determined to walk just with my cane or without any aids. Here's where this book comes into play. 

"Strong Women, Strong Bones".

I used this book twice before to rebuild my body. I felt the effects about 3-4 weeks after exercising  3 times daily. I had strengthened the muscles surrounding my knees, in my legs,calves and ankles with the ankle weights and also improved arm, wrist and shoulder tone using the hand weights. I started out using 3 pound arm weights and with the ankle weights, I started with one pound weights and improved so much, that I was using 16 pounds on each ankle. My balance improved 100% and I had no fear of falling. But, alas after going through what I went through this last week, I need all the help I can get right now. 

The Plan

I ordered ankle weights (10 pound each leg) from Wal Mart today and I will pick them up on Friday from the store. They cost $17.00 and I also ordered two 3 pounds hand weights for $4.00.

I will work upper body one day and the lower body the next day. I know that I'll see results with 3-4weeks. 

I'm so excited and happy.  I've been going out 2-3 times a week. I go to free art and craft classes, to all kind of events. I'm looking on Craigslist for even more free classes to attend. That's why i have to get well, get healed, lose weight.This is the miracle that I believing in for 2015,weight loss, restored health and a new commitment to myself to take care of myself.

This book is a blessing to anyone wanting to stop osteoarthritis in it's tracks. the exercises build muscles, tone, balance and more in bodies of any age.  The research by Tufts university proves that this technique will work of women of all ages.

Well, I'm going to be blogging about the improvements in my body, when I get started hopefully next week.

Last year, This year

Last year was a year of miracles. One miracle after another. This year, like last year, will be a year of miracles. I've spent the last 3 months getting acclimated to living by myself, doing what I needed to do to to know within myself that I could make it living alone. 

I don't think it will be boring, no not at all. You will see,my baby steps, my epic fails and my great successes. All i ask is that will pray for me as I journey through this year.