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6805. thoughtful - 4/4/2007 8:39:59 PM Years ago mother said she wanted to be buried under a tree on a hill with a nice view....i suggested she'd be getting 0 view from 6' under. She's into body donation now, if they'll have her. Hubby wants to be cremated and i imagine i'll bury him in the family plot with his parents. 6806. thoughtful - 4/4/2007 8:41:45 PM never heard about them vultures...very interesting. I guess they will want your bones, clydefo.
that only leaves the question of who gets the meat? 6807. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 8:46:52 PM I need some input here.
I have gained weight off and on since I was 30 and in that time I have lost down to around 132 or so, but my best weight was 123. Since "Huckabee spoke," as I always put it, and I began working frantically on rural education issues, I have gone up. So have all--not most, but ALL--the women I've worked with, statewide, black or white, regardless of age, on this issue. One (black, middle-aged) is now battling breast cancer, as well. The men seem the same weight-wise, though their stress has been extreme too.
When we won some major battles, organized sufficiently, my personal district was secure for the moment, and I was within three years of being able to retire in the event something happened where I work, I started the fast track to an MSE, which was important to increasing my career choices if my school shut down. That weas last spring, after having had a hysterectomy the year before. I had gone down some from the surgery, but last spring to this fall I have been extremely busy and stressed and the pre-surgery weight is back.
I was thinking of doing a VERY informal blog/daily journal/shared discussion in this thread along with anyone else who's working on weight and/or health issues, the reason being I'm hoping it will help with planning, starting, and sticking with a diet/exercise program and reaching a target (below 130 lbs). I'm starting today (was going to start Saturday after my visit with Judith and Keoni, but this is Plan B), and I'm going to the doctor Friday. I'm planning to start slowly, with calesthenics (why I was asking about them) and a nice treadmill Bob brought back from New Orleans (courtesy of his friend who was anxious to get it out of her house--outdoor walking isn't a good option with my allergies), along with a simple diet that is hopefully healthy but without any potential for gastric surprises, to which I am prone. In the summer I don't care, but now isn't a good time to be implementing a really high-fiber diet or one that might cause my stomach to react.
What I thought about doing was posting my diet/exercise--very beginner stuff--here, whether and to what degree I follow it on any given day, and how I change it. It's like telling everyone you quit smoking, then hoping they'll all drop the subject when you pull that little red plastic tab on a pack of Winstons. If I quit posting, you'll know I quit my program.
What do y'all think about me doing that? Would it bug anyone for me to use this thread in that way? 6808. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 8:51:51 PM A friend of ours who died suddenly about ten years ago had her insides donated to science, and they buried what was left. It was a good donation, because she had a sudden massive heart attack at 45. She had been on high blood pressure medication, but her father had died of the same thing. He was quite a bit older, though not yet 70, if I recall. 6809. thoughtful - 4/4/2007 8:55:00 PM Fine by me...would you be open to helpful suggestions...with the caveat that you can tell me to shut up if I become too helpful?
(I'm a lifetime member of weight watchers and have been involved with diet and nutrition and exercise since my teens.) 6810. Wombat - 4/4/2007 8:57:11 PM Arky:
Not at all. I have been dealing with--or not dealing with--weight issues since college (many many years ago), and now as I approach 50, am dealing with parts of my body that function suboptimally (back and knees mostly).
Four years ago, I had succeeded in losing 40 pounds through a fairly simple combination of calorie counting and a lot of walking. I lost my job not long after, and felt that I had other things to worry about. The psychological dimension in my case seems very strong. 6811. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 9:01:39 PM Oh, suggestions would be great! I won't tell you to shut up at all. If I don't like them I just won't do them, and some people who might be working on similar things (whether they post what they're doing or not) might find useful ones for them as well. I also think it would be great to open up some debate about some of that stuff. What prompted me was reading comments on the MSNBC site about what works, what doesn't, etc. But it's not an ongoing thing. I know they have that on the internet for just about anything, but it would be better for me to do something here, with people I know.
I did the Weight Watchers thing years ago and it worked well, but I was much youner. We've done shared stuff at work too, including pools of money and weekly weigh-ins, but it's been a while and I don't think anyone's interested right now. Too much drama going on where I work this spring (not a common thing for us, thankfully), and only 2 more months of school left anyway. 6812. judithathome - 4/4/2007 9:02:03 PM I think that's a great idea, Arky. And when we come see you and when you come here, we'll maintain our good eating habits so we won't backslide. ;-) 6813. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 9:02:47 PM I was younGer, and more inclined to drive over once a week and participate in WW more actively than I would today. I still have all the stuff, though, to keep records on my own. 6814. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 9:03:38 PM Judith, I worry more about the liquid issues in that case! ;-> 6815. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 9:09:19 PM Wombat, you sound similar to Bob, except he has been VERY fortunate not to have any pain or weakness issues at age 55. His breaking point came before any success (though he had quit smoking and was walking at one point and doing very well, it was very temporary) while caring for his dying father, which involved a lot of physical stress along with the emotional, and he suddenly found himself--after years of being overweight--as a serious diabetic. He's lucky he didn't suffer permanent vision loss.
Bob's done the calorie/walking thing entirely to great success, but the last few months he's had difficulty--after two years of maintenance with a weight loss of around 70 lbs--so he may be interested in participating as well, at least through me if not directly, in the thread. The mental part has to be dealt with, and it's so hard to make exercise and diet a priority when the world imposes on us, as it tends to do. 6816. clydefo - 4/4/2007 9:11:06 PM Something to do after death!
Keeping the chain-saws at bay:
"An eco-cemetery also known as a green burial ground, or a natural burial preserve is an environmentally sustainable alternative to existing funeral practices, where the body is returned to the earth to decompose naturally and be recycled into new life...
...Cemetery legislation protects natural burial preserves in perpetuity from future development while the establishment of a conservation easement prevents future owners from altering the original intent for these burial grounds. These protective covenants are what permit natural burial preserves to function as landscape level conservation tools..." 6817. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 9:12:07 PM I couldn't help but notice, regarding Elizabeth Edwards, that when she was diagnosed she was significanty heavier than she is now. You get busy and you grab food when and where you can and you find you're hungrier more often and less inclined to exercise. You just want to sit. Even if you've been sitting all day doing email, research, or whatever.
And I love my laptop, but I've got to get a grip on it, or it will be the death of me. I spend way too much time lounging around with it, calling it "downtime." It's no better than TV and may be worse, at least for me. 6818. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 9:15:37 PM I like that, Clyde. Bob and I already agreed we want pine boxes. If you're poor, they use corrugated cardboard boxes. 6819. thoughtful - 4/4/2007 9:23:36 PM I'll start with my own struggles.
I became addicted to trader joe's dark 72% belgian chocolate and my weight went up. So now I'm trying to find a substitute that is lower calorie but will still give me something sweet to eat after lunch. Dealing with my sweet tooth has always been my problem.
So now I'm doing a couple of trader joes' meringue cookies, but I'm concerned they're too sweet as by dinner time I'm crashing.
Once the container is gone, i'll have to look for something else.
the nutrition letter really likes the new TLC cookies, so maybe i'll try them. 6820. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 9:30:33 PM I LOVE the Kashi granola bars with cherries and dark chocolate chips. For chocolate I eat one square of Ghirardelli's dark chocolate with some coffee.
I've always fought a sweet tooth, and I was absolutely addicted to Pixy-stix for years. I haven't eaten them in a long time, though I don't have the heart to tell my students, who still tease me about them. Sweet stuff has much less effect on me than it used to. I don't know why. It had been my bane since childhood. 6821. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 9:36:18 PM A "serving" of the Ghirardelli's is four squares, which is 220 calories and 17g of fat. One square makes me happy, though, especially as a way to get a little "me" time before work every morning. The Kashi bars are about 120 calories.
Which reminds me. Another very important thing to my success in the past has been routine, and it's been impossible to establish one. I'm just now to the point where I feel I have some control over my routine, and I know if things get crazy again I have to maintain something resembling structure or I'll fail. My dad has managed to successfully do that, and at age 75 he still eats, runs, and lifts weights. He maintains a very healthy lifestyle, though he's retired, but he did this when he was far busier than I am, by getting up at 4:30 and jogging every morning.
I will say right now. Ain't happening here. I am not and will never be a morning person. But all that is fighting battles that haven't come up. Right now I can work with a good routine without having to make those kinds of sacrifices. 6822. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 9:39:13 PM And I know there are a lot of people opposed to Slimfast, but when I'm working it's what I do for lunch, even when I'm not dieting otherwise. Lunchroom food is the quickest way I gain weight, and Slimfast is the easiest way for me to avoid it. I grab a can and pop it into the lounge freezer first thing when I get to work and dig it out the period before lunch. We have a late lunch (12:45), which I love, and that routine leaves me with a slushy and cold lunch that sticks with me until I get home. 6823. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 9:42:34 PM Okay, here's my plan, and I'm going to log off for a while (when I get my WildBlue, hopefully soon, logging on and off in chunks will no longer be an issue):
The "core" of this: Humananatura Calisthenics, plus 15 minutes on the treadmill, at a fairly slow (2.5-3mph) pace to start. Not necessarily right together in a day. 6824. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 9:43:14 PM I'll post the diet part later.
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