This week has been a funny old week which began with Gary being at home for the first three days and ended with me in hospital on Friday for an investigative procedure. We had decided that the three days with Gary would be our staycation, as we were not going on holiday until later on in the year. We had takeaways two nights and ate out the rest of the time, both breakfast and lunch. This was enormous fun but not so helpful for any weight-loss. I have picked up my walking though, and really do notice a difference in how I feel and the quality of sleep I get after I have exercised. Friday brought a hospital appointment I would rather have forgone and whilst the results were good as far as the consultant could tell (no cancer) I do have one more test result (cytology – to check for any cancer cells) and I will need to go back for an operation. I was particularly nervous about the appointment yesterday and whilst I certainly didn’t over-eat I have to say losing my wibbly wobbly weight was low down on my list of priorities!
When one has had a diagnosis of cancer before, the possibility of having another one remains in one’s head regardless of how well one has come to terms with the prior diagnosis (if that makes any sense?). And when you are told that everything looks cancer free there is a strong sense of being given a second chance. I already hold life as being very dear, but there was an overwhelming feeling of thankfulness which washed over me yesterday. I am healthy, and I have been given time and opportunity to get even healthier.
Last week I talked about eating more during the day and less in the evening. Gary and I have had a chat and have decided on six small meals a day rather than three large with 2 snacks. The difference may not seem much at first glance but basically we are foregoing a large evening meal. We will now eat our main meal at lunch time (with me making extra for Gary’s lunch the next day), and have small regular meals throughout the rest of the day. The reason for this is that Gary has his lunch at between 10 and 11 in the morning. He is therefore hungry when he returns home from work. It used to be that we would have our main meal at 4pm to assuage his hunger. This does not work so well since we have started going to the leisure centre and exercising. We are, therefore, going to do afternoon tea (tea and a selection of sandwiches) at 3pm on his return and then something small at 7pm such as fruit salad and yogurt. This will prevent us from being too full to exercise in the late afternoon/evening time.
I ordered a smoothie at the leisure center the other day. To my surprise they used some fresh apple juice and then went and got a bag of frozen cut up fruit (pineapple, kiwi, melon and strawberries), added it to the juice and blended it up. I have never seen it being done that way and I thought how easy it would be to replicate at home, preparing, cutting and freezing the fruit in bags until I needed it. I shall try it this week and let you know!
I am upping my exercise next week when Gary and I have our date night. As his new job pays a little better we are now able to afford to have a babysitter in. Gary and I are planning to play badminton for an hour during our date! T12 has been nagging me to play with him but I have declined because I’m concerned about embarrassing myself so I’ll be doing a few trial runs with Gary first!
Thanks everyone who joined in last week and left a comment. There were some really encouraging ones! Audria in particular has been encouraging everyone with her enthusiasm and has enough motivation to go round everyone, I think! Thank you Audria, we all really appreciate you! Audria also linked up her Wibbly Wobbly post, sharing how she is pre-making salads for lunch each day making it easier for her to make sensible decisions. Phyllis has also written another great post, on fibre this time.
Francis continues to do well and lost 1 1/2 pounds to bring her total to just under a stone. Well done Francis! May finds she is less hungry over summer and is losing weight, although her main goal is to try to reduce her processed sugars. I love this goal and after reading Made to Crave, I think sugar is probably my weakness. May has lost 28Ib in total!
Christy has been eating out more than she would like yet has managed to lose 1Ib over the past couple of weeks. I know eating out this week has not helped my weight loss in the slightest. It was so lovely to hear though, that the community here is encouraging Christy to keep at her work outs even when she felt too tired. Christy, I will be praying for more energy for you as you work through the minefield of allergies.
My lovely friend Donna, believes that exercise is the key for her rather than food and has been doing her best to move more. I loved how she finished off her comment with ‘ I didn’t get out of bed last night to get a pb&j sandwich while watching British comedies! Yay!!!’ Well done Donna!!
Viv was a newcomer last week and has lost a large amount of weight. She has asked for help getting her remotivated again. She has kept at her healthy eating for a long time but feels like the initial excitement has worn off. Any ideas anyone?
Lovely Marie has decided to make walking round old towns her exercise regime! What a fantastic idea Marie, and if I wasn’t trying my best not to spend any money I would come and join you!
A few of you were interested in pursuing Made to Crave together and Francis suggested we do it maybe once a month. How would that suit? Donna, we’ll wait for you to finish your current study first, I don’t want to go ahead without you!
You might have noticed that I have done a whole post without mentioning either Gary or my weight-loss (gain). There is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this! Neither of us has weighed ourselves. I took the decision to stay away from the scales because I am almost certain I have put some on and quite honestly I don’t want to know. Another friend made the comment that she noticed I had lost weight, and you know what? That’s good enough for me this week. I would appreciate prayers for my continued commitment to a healthier life.
So how has everyone done this week? Is there anything I can pray for you? Please do share your successes and failures, big or small.
I have a pinterest board for ideas which may be helpful if you need a bit of motivation to continue through the week. It is not very extensive yet as I am quite new to the whole pinterest thing, but I intend to add more pins as I come across them during the week.