I’m fat. I used to wear a size 10 and now I’m a size 18. There is no reason, no excuse, other than the fact that I’ve been sitting on my arse since I retired. I do walk the dogs every day, but that’s nothing to the exercise I used to do on a daily basis. I’ve tried going to the gym, but I’m not a gym person. I don’t like the ambiance of a gym and I don’t like the disapproval that comes from the gym regulars. I actually don’t each much, but I eat a whole lot of all the wrong things, including sweets in just about any size, shape, or configuration.
A couple of weeks ago, a guest was on a talk show and talking about hidden sugars. It caught my interest when she said how many drinks have huge amounts of hidden sugars that we pay no attention to, but which could be sabotaging our diet plans. Being a person who drinks about 5 quarts of sweet iced tea a day, I wondered how much sugar is in the drink mix I use. Wish I had been sitting down when I read the label because I almost fell over: the first ingredient on the label is cane sugar, and the breakdown is 17 grams per serving (1 T.), which makes 8 ounces of drink. My glasses are all 16 ounce servings, so I was drinking 34 grams of sugar with every glass, and I drank probably 2 dozen glasses a day, which results in 408 grams of sugar a day. In one month, that’s 1264.8 grams of sugar or about 8 cups of sugar!
Well, I never do anything half-way, so I decided to replace all the iced tea mix drinks with plain water, which means instead of ingesting cups of sugar, I’m running to the bathroom every 20 minutes. My massive stomach, which I could see when I looked down on myself from above, is no longer visible unless I look in a mirror. It’s a good start, but I have a lot more pounds to go, so I’ve also made myself a 3-meals-a-day promise, rather than snacking and calling it food. Using Blue Apron for the evening meal has been a blessing, and on the days we don’t BA, we go to the store and buy fresh meat and veggies and cook ourselves dinner.
I was embarrassed when I couldn’t get into my size 18 jeans two weeks ago when we went to LA to meet with some of Y’s friends and talk about our trip to China. I finally struggled into them, but they literally popped at the seam while we were on the way to our destination, and there was nothing I could do about the bulge of fat shouting to the world that I need to lose weight. I am proud to say that this week, I can fit into my jeans, but they still are several sizes too large at size 18 for me to look good in them. By the time we leave for China, I want to be wearing my size 16 jeans – and when I return home, I’m going for the goal of size 14.
Like I already know, I take it one meal at a time, one day at a time, one week at a time -- and soon it's one month. I'm committed to losing weight and firming up the massive fat cap on my abdomen by the end of the year. And yes, I'm committed--not just saying it to sound good.
Monday, May 8, 2017
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Se Habla Espanol
There is a disadvantage to living in a community that has at least half of the population Hispanic and with restricted English-speaking abilities. Today, both Y and I had an encounter of the Espanol variety when we decided we each needed a hair trim before we leave on our visit to China. There’s a shop down the street that has both a lady’s hairdresser and a female barber. Last time I was there, I had the female hairdresser cut my hair, which was shoulder length at that time, and I liked the end product, so I headed out this morning for the haircut shop.
I went at 9 am, then 9;30, again at 10, back at 11, cruised by at 12 noon – and finally found the shop open when I gave it one last effort at 1:00 pm. It would be helpful if the hours of operation were posted, but that isn’t part of their business plan.
When it was my turn to sit in the chair, I shared a conversation with the stylist, who is actually a barber, rather than a hair dresser. We discussed my goal of shorter “cute” hair that would be easy-care on my upcoming trip. She asked me how much she could cut, which was a good sign, and I agree with ½ inch off the present length.
All ready to go, I confidently sat down in the chair. She held up a hank of hair and mimed cutting off ½ inch, to which I readily agreed. Here’s where the language thing raised its ugly head: I thought she was confirming she would cut off ½ inch from the present length, which is what I wanted, but what she was actually indicating was that she was going to cut my hair to an overall length of ½ inch. If you know Ellen Degeneres’s current haircut, that’s what my stylist had in her mind – and that’s what I am now sporting.
Yeah, yeah, I know: no sense in crying over a bad haircut because you can’t put the hair back on and just have to live through the growing-out stage. Y was kind and said it looked okay from the front, but he agreed that the back view was really, really short hair. Man’s barber short hair.
About an hour after I returned home, Y decided he, too, would go get a haircut as we’re leaving in a couple of weeks and this is a good time for some grooming. He returned home ½ hour later with the sides shaved bald, and the rest of his hair appropriately short enough to make my ½ inch length look long. He grimaced as he told me that he showed her a picture of what he wanted, a very current and stylish cut, and I could sympathize, but … you can’t glue it back onto your head.
So, we’re going to China with really short hair, which will be easy to care for while we’re doing the tourist things we have planned, but we’re both committed to finding another stylist when we return from our trip and need a trim!
I went at 9 am, then 9;30, again at 10, back at 11, cruised by at 12 noon – and finally found the shop open when I gave it one last effort at 1:00 pm. It would be helpful if the hours of operation were posted, but that isn’t part of their business plan.
When it was my turn to sit in the chair, I shared a conversation with the stylist, who is actually a barber, rather than a hair dresser. We discussed my goal of shorter “cute” hair that would be easy-care on my upcoming trip. She asked me how much she could cut, which was a good sign, and I agree with ½ inch off the present length.
All ready to go, I confidently sat down in the chair. She held up a hank of hair and mimed cutting off ½ inch, to which I readily agreed. Here’s where the language thing raised its ugly head: I thought she was confirming she would cut off ½ inch from the present length, which is what I wanted, but what she was actually indicating was that she was going to cut my hair to an overall length of ½ inch. If you know Ellen Degeneres’s current haircut, that’s what my stylist had in her mind – and that’s what I am now sporting.
Yeah, yeah, I know: no sense in crying over a bad haircut because you can’t put the hair back on and just have to live through the growing-out stage. Y was kind and said it looked okay from the front, but he agreed that the back view was really, really short hair. Man’s barber short hair.
About an hour after I returned home, Y decided he, too, would go get a haircut as we’re leaving in a couple of weeks and this is a good time for some grooming. He returned home ½ hour later with the sides shaved bald, and the rest of his hair appropriately short enough to make my ½ inch length look long. He grimaced as he told me that he showed her a picture of what he wanted, a very current and stylish cut, and I could sympathize, but … you can’t glue it back onto your head.
So, we’re going to China with really short hair, which will be easy to care for while we’re doing the tourist things we have planned, but we’re both committed to finding another stylist when we return from our trip and need a trim!
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
3 Goes for the Movies
Recently, I've viewed three films that I enjoyed enough to recommend. First is The Zookeeper's Wife, followed by Born in China, and then Jeremiah Tower.
The Zookeeper's Wife is a strong story about a woman who dares to defy the political climate in her war-torn country by hiding Jews in the bombed-out zoo where she lives with her family. She devises a way to pick up the Jews, transport them through the German lines, and hide and feed them until they can be transported to safety. It was a daring act of courage, but well worth the efforts she made. I give this film an A- primarily because all the characters speak with an accent, and I find that tedious over the long-run.
Born in China is the moving story of three families of wild animals: the giant panda, the wild monkey, and the leopard. Each of these families have to live in ruggedly isolated terrain to be able to survive as their dietary needs depend on nature. The families are followed through an entire year of life, and it is interesting to engage with the animals in nature and see what the struggle for survival means to them. This is not a children's film, but older children who like animals will enjoy it. This film earns a solid A.
Jeremiah Tower is the biography of a well-known chef who suffered through a challenging early life, and then had three pivotal life-changing events as an adult. The look at his life is told through flash-backs interwoven with contemporary narrative by Jeremiah Tower himself. He fights valiantly for his career in fine dining, but with each step of his career comes an event that collapses what he's worked so hard to achieve. The end of the film is left open: is he permanently out of the food business or just waiting for another chance to fulfill his life-long dream to prepare the best food for patrons who will appreciate his talent. This film earns a strong B+ because it leaves the story open-ended, which I felt would have been better with an actual conclusion.
The Zookeeper's Wife is a strong story about a woman who dares to defy the political climate in her war-torn country by hiding Jews in the bombed-out zoo where she lives with her family. She devises a way to pick up the Jews, transport them through the German lines, and hide and feed them until they can be transported to safety. It was a daring act of courage, but well worth the efforts she made. I give this film an A- primarily because all the characters speak with an accent, and I find that tedious over the long-run.
Born in China is the moving story of three families of wild animals: the giant panda, the wild monkey, and the leopard. Each of these families have to live in ruggedly isolated terrain to be able to survive as their dietary needs depend on nature. The families are followed through an entire year of life, and it is interesting to engage with the animals in nature and see what the struggle for survival means to them. This is not a children's film, but older children who like animals will enjoy it. This film earns a solid A.
Jeremiah Tower is the biography of a well-known chef who suffered through a challenging early life, and then had three pivotal life-changing events as an adult. The look at his life is told through flash-backs interwoven with contemporary narrative by Jeremiah Tower himself. He fights valiantly for his career in fine dining, but with each step of his career comes an event that collapses what he's worked so hard to achieve. The end of the film is left open: is he permanently out of the food business or just waiting for another chance to fulfill his life-long dream to prepare the best food for patrons who will appreciate his talent. This film earns a strong B+ because it leaves the story open-ended, which I felt would have been better with an actual conclusion.
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