Not enough left

Have you ever had that occasion where you find that after you've measured out your cereal and you know there's not enough left for another meal? I do (yes, I weigh my cereal), and instead of putting it back and mixing it with the next days cereal, I go ahead and pour the rest in my bowl and proceed to eat it! It's not so bad when it's just a little bit left, but if the amount is half a days amount or more I should leave it. I don't though, because I don't like to mix cereals. Seems a little strange, but it's what I do. I have to account for the extra cereal I eat, but that doesn't keep me from doing it. It evens works that way with other foods. Just a little bit left. Snarf! I need to see the larger amount left as significant, which I don't now. Something to work on I guess.

It may seem strange, but the same thing happens with TV. I have to watch the last few minutes of a TV show, including the credits, or the shows aren't complete. I can leave the TV when the last commercials start, but only then. Something to do with my ADD and focus I guess. When I'm doing uninteresting stuff, I can quit at the drop of a cobweb, but when I'm focused on something, my do not disturb sign is out and woe to him or her who violates my focus. Sometimes if the disruption goes on long enough so I lose the drift of the show, I just quit watching. That missing part is so essential to the whole experience that I no longer consider the experience worthwhile. I'm getting better at diverting my attention and still following the show, but I have a lot to work on.

For those of you who have been following my sketchy story of going on the FAST diet, here is the latest. First of all, I have lost 9 lbs so far on it. I weigh myself tomorrow, so I'll know how this week has gone. I'm expecting another loss, but I'll see. I'll try to remember to post my results sometime tomorrow.

Does anyone know of a good ADD lifestyle coach? I'm really beginning to believe I have to have one to make changes, so your advice would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

Another day on the plan

Did pretty good on Monday. No stuffing myself because of the fast day. Wednesday's the last fast day this week. I had the same thing for breakfast that I had on Monday. I have to get some easy fruit to use with breakfast to replace the apple juice. Tomorrow's shopping day, so I can get something then.

Worked on a friend's computer yesterday, getting rid of viruses and trojans. I took quite a while, but booting to a Kapersky Rescue Disk and running the software did the job. Now I have to fix the OS as it was severely damaged by the viruses and trojans.

Oh well, her old hard drive, which has her files on it, was bad. I'm trying to recover data from it but it looks grim.

I had a glass of milk to take my pain pill Wednesday night. Thursday morning I woke up starving. Really was hungry all day. I don't know if it's because of the milk or just the fact that Wednesday was the second fast day.

Fast Day One

Today was my first fast day. I've been a little apprehensive about it as I haven't had to go on this much less food since I was in the Army. Anyway, I had a hard boiled egg for breakfast, a glass of unsweetened apple juice and a slice of bread. The funny thing is, I was hungry when I woke up this morning. That NEVER happens! I think my body and mind are trying to tell me something. I think for my next fast day I'll have a solid fruit, such as an orange or grapes, and take my pills with water.

Went through lunch time OK. No food but some chilled water. Sat at the table while my wife ate. It did increase my hunger, but nothing that I couldn't handle. After lunch did some reading and met with my wife. Hunger still under control.

Supper consisted of 20 baby carrots, 25 grapes and a yogurt. I was hungry during the afternoon leading up to supper, but no pains. Felt pretty well filled after supper. No real problems before bedtime and was able to sleep OK, so it looks like this plan will work for me.

I actually felt pretty good until I attended the church meetings in the evening. I swear this church is trying to kill itself. I'm outvoted on every issue, so what will happen will happen.

A little catching up

Well, it's been a while, so I thought I should catch you up on a few things. First of all, my stair lift was installed a few weeks ago. The VA came through. Boy is it a blessing too. I'm able to walk further when I go outside because my legs and knees aren't so stressed by going up and down on the stairs. One of the biggest stresses was on shopping day. Carrying the bags of groceries up the stairs really gave me pain. It would take a couple of days for me to recover from it. Now, the wife goes to the top of the stairs and I send up the grocery bags on the lift and she takes them to the kitchen. Works great. She has Parkinson's, so walking up and down the stairs was hard on her too. Oh yes, I do ride up and down on it. It's a life saver.

As far as the dieting goes, it's been a bust. I haven't been gaining weight, but I'm not losing either. It's been very frustrating. So I am going to do the Fast Diet, or lifestyle change as I call it. I'll use the 5/2 plan, where I eat normally 5 days of the week and fast on two days. The days I've selected to fast on are Monday and Wednesday. I'll eat 600 calories on the fast days.I'll probably eat a light breakfast and a slightly heavier meal for supper. For instance, this Monday I'm planning to eat a hard boiled egg, a piece of toast and a glass of unsweetened apple juice for breakfast. I use the juice so I can take my pills. For supper I'll have 15 baby carrots, 25 grapes and a Yoplait yogurt. Total calories for both meals will be below 600 calories, just barely. I'm planning to blog about how the fasting goes and my weight and BMI. To start with, I weigh in at 374.8 lbs with a BMI of 52.3. Defiantly morbidly obese. I'll weigh in every Saturday and get my BMI figured and post them every Saturday. I've been reading an excellent book on the Fast Diet by Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer called "The FastDiet: Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, and Live Longer with the Simple Secret of Intermittent Fasting." It's a great book, and I highly recommend it. In it you'll find the basis of the FastDiet and why I decided to pursue it. It's available on Amazon.com both on paper and as a Kindle book. I bought the Kindle version a couple of days ago for 9 dollars and change. I just looked it up and now it's 5 dollars and change. Oh well.

Sittin' in my mess

Well, here I sit. I'm at the computer looking at the mess on the left side of the desk, the table that is by my desk, and all the other things in sight on my main level. And, of course, I am paralyzed by what I need to do. Where to start? I've made some progress, I've got a trash bag by the computer so I can start on the piles on my desk and table. I ordered Velcro ties to use to organize all the wires that run from my computer to the printers and other devices hooked to it. And yet, I still can't get going. This ADHD is really giving me problems. I'm almost afraid to start because I don't like to stop in the middle of things, and I don't know how long it will take me to finish even one part of the cleanup. So what did I do? I started writing in this blog just now. It's less threatening than working on the piles, and makes a good distraction. I've still got about half an hour before I start watching my game shows on TV, so maybe I'll still get something accomplished. One other thing about sorting: besides the trash I throw away, what do I do with the stuff I need to file? I still don't have a filing system set up, so I guess I'll either put them in a plastic bag on the floor with all the other plastic bags that hold the results of previous sorting or I'll put them on another pile.

Some good news: It seems I have a good chance of getting the chairlift for the stairs. They were back again yesterday to get more measurements and fill out another form. The only bad side of this is that I have to move all the clutter that is on the stairs and at the top of the stairs before it can be installed! Just another challenge, I guess. I'll contact the kid that has helped me with some things in the past to see if he is available to help me. Wish me luck.

No changes on the weight front. I don't get paid until the 16th, so I will wait until then to get the AARP book on losing weight. I've only had one moment of weakness with the Little Debbie's.  I had one of my wife's Fancy Cakes last week. Other than that, I've been clean. I don't buy the Little Debbie's for myself anymore so I don't have the temptation around. I still haven't got the batteries in the scale, so I don't know what my current weight is. I'll do that later today but I won't weigh myself until tomorrow morning. I like to weigh myself first thing in the morning, before I have anything to eat. I don't see why Al Roker weighs himself every morning and every evening. I get it that he averages his weight, but my way shows my true weight. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Time to quit on this entry. It's almost time for TV. See you another day.

How time flies...

I really didn't think I'd gone this long without writing in the blog. Last weekend and Friday were decidedly different days. I started a new pain killer on Friday. It doesn't seem to be working as well as my old one, but I'm supposed to try it for two weeks before giving up. The way it's going, I'll be going back to the old med. And then the doctor will prescribe a new painkiller. It seems to be a never ending cycle.

I spent most of the weekend getting ready for a meeting on Monday night. I created reports and lists of potential projects the Outreach committee can do. Even though I'm the chairman of the committee, there's one woman on the committee that really runs over anything I try to do. It's very frustrating. I've considered quitting, but I want something to get done so I'll continue to push and reach pass her limited vision. Hopefully something will get done, but what?

This week is turning out to be busier than the last. I've had the dog groomed and the oil changed in the truck. A funny thing about that is that it's been almost a year since my last oil change. I only drive about 5000 miles a year, so I guess I'll have to start changing the oil every six months. I'd drive more if gas wasn't so expensive and the truck didn't get such bad mileage. I don't have the money to trade for a new vehicle, so I guess I'll just have to wait until I can save it up.

I finally listed something on eBay today. It's a postcard of Washington's inauguration. Nice postcard. If you want to see it, go to http://www.ebay.com/itm/290842139432?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649. I hope to get more listed this week.

The Challenge

I'm reading an amazing and challenging little booklet by David Platt called "The Radical Question." It's about how we as Americans follow Christ compared to the persecuted church in the rest of the world. It's very eye opening. The central question to me is are we Americanizing Christ, and how do we follow Christs' message to forsake all else for Christ. As I read the booklet, I find myself reviewing my view of Jesus with the reality of who Jesus is and what he is asking us to do. As the Outreach/Mission's chair for our church, I feel the need to bring this message to my fellow church members and to provide a spark that will ignite action among the members, and myself. Unless I take action, I feel I can't provide the leadership and example for others in the church to act on their beliefs. I'll keep you informed on how it's going. If you want to get the booklet, the ISBN is 978-1-60142-321-4.

Another challenge I've decided to get serious about is my weight. I weigh almost 400 lbs, and that's intolerable. I have to make changes in my life-style that leads to weight-loss. I'm currently reading Al Roker's book, "No Goin' Back." I'm only a few chapters into it, but it is very inspirational, and very easy for me to relate to. I've lost tons of weight, only to gain it back, and more, over the years. This time I plan on making the change for good. I don't plan to do the gastric bypass like Al did, but I am going to focus on the weight loss, and maintenance when I reach my goal weight. I don't have a plan currently that I will be following. I've looked at tons of diets, and either I've tried them and failed or they don't look safe to me. What I'm looking at now is a book by AARP and this medical group. I'll buy it when I get my next paycheck. Until then, I'll be making changes in my lifestyle as I can. The first I made was to quit eating Little Debbies. I love them, but I was eating too many of them and so I'm cutting them completely out of my eating plan. I'll miss them, but not their effect on my weight.

Well, I'm back and promise to post regularly

Can you believe it? A new year has just begun and I've STILL got things undone for last year. There's no need for me to make New Year's resolutions as I have all this undone stuff still to do. I really intended to start writing in the blog yesterday, but ADHD stole my day. Oh well. The Rose Parade was great. I love watching it on HGTV as they don't have any commercials. The commentators were quite mouthy though. And it was amazing the number of things they didn't know or understand.

I started off today planning to take out the trash and put mail out, but I was caught up in some phone calls and checking tax questions on-line. Didn't get done what I wanted to, but it was a profitable morning never-the-less.

Just had a call from Cedar Valley Mobility. They're coming over this morning to do an evaluation on putting in a chair lift on the stairs. That'll be great if they can do it. The VA should pay for it. I'll let you know how it goes.

Well, I'll take out the mail and trash early this afternoon and shovel the deck. It's still got 10 inches of snow on it. I don't use it, but the dog likes to go out there and check on his kingdom. Bye for now.