Sunday, February 1, 2015

First Monthly Assessment – January 31st



It’s hard to believe the first month of the year is over already!  I’m not sure I’m one twelfth of the way to being strong, but I have made a start. 


As you can see, just standing up straight and losing the hat and wine glass helped!  And I've lost 6 pounds.  My starting weight for this blog was 144, which isn't that heavy, but I'm 5'2" and small-boned.  In my twenties I was 5'3" and weighed 110.  (Jason Seib, The Paleo Coach, says forget about losing weight - we're trying to add muscle, which is heavier, so the weight isn't the important thing.  I measured my waist and it is 32 3/4 inches.  Will report that monthly as well.)


What is going well?

·      I’m sleeping better.  After not drinking wine for several days, I can be pretty confidant I will sleep most of the night, and if I am wakeful I am still comfortable, not tossing and turning or having a hot flash.

·      I love walking!  I’ve always enjoyed taking walks, but now I’m getting excited about going for longer distances.  It’s fun to use Runtastic to see how far and how fast I went.

·      I have definitely proven to myself that when I don’t eat sweets for a while, other food tastes better.  Fruits taste amazing!

·      I haven’t had a single incidence of feeling stuffed and bloated – no GasX needed. I think this is due to cutting out bread and grains.

·      I have only taken one Tylenol this month.  I was using it several times a week when I woke up tossing and turning and had hip pain.  Now I’m either sleeping through the pain, or just not having it!

·      When I started this blog, I had a skin rash that the doctor said was a yeast infection.  I also had gotten a sore throat and cold right before Christmas.  I think they would have been better by now anyway, but maybe my avoidance of sugar helped get rid of the yeast.


What Still Needs Work?

·      I still want wine, and when I drink some, it’s very hard to keep it to one glass.  If we go out and I have one glass with dinner, I tend to pour myself another from Stan’s box of red when we get home.  For me, it seems to be all or nothing - the easiest glass to avoid is the first.  Darn it.

·      It was much harder sticking to my plan while traveling than I expected.  Since we want to do more traveling, I need to fix this!  We’re taking a short trip to Victoria, BC in February so I have another chance.

·      I skip my physical therapy exercises more often than I do them.

·      I still have occasional hip pain, especially going up stairs and after a long walk.

·      I ignore the plan when a "special occasion" arises.  Could be bread on the table when we go out, a trip to Starbucks with a friend, something nice happens, something bad happens;  I have a treat or glass of wine. 


Goals for February:

·      Stick to the plan regardless of emotions or opportunity

·      Quit drinking wine!

·      Keep eating veggies!

 

 

2 comments:

  1. Awesome posts mom! Your efforts are really showing here and the three of us are enjoying it very much! Also, it's obvious that you are really working deeply on building a healthy lifestyle. It seems to me that at least half of the effort is related to learning and just generally developing a philosophy regarding diet, fitness and overall health.

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    1. Thanks for your encouragement Tyler! It means a lot to know my family and friends are checking up on me. Yes, definitely a learning effort - there's so much contradictory information, I think individuals can vary greatly in what works for them.

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