27 - It's not a magic number, but still feels great!

Twenty-seven pounds!  Yes, I am very proud to report that after what appeared to be an endless PLATEAU of non-weight loss, I am finally down another couple of pounds, bringing my total weight-loss to date to twenty-seven pounds.  This method of weight loss has not proven to be the "Speedy Gonzales" method by any means.

I'm hoping, however, that it will prove more like the case of the tortoise and the hare ...

And hopefully by changing my life-style in small increments rather than by following some radical diet plan, I will be able to keep the weight off once it's gone, and have a healthier lifestyle pattern.

So, here are 27 things I have been doing differently that are all helping me to have a healthier lifestyle, some of which are contributing to my weight loss:

1).   Almost entirely switched from white flour to whole wheat flour.

2).   Endeavouring to eat 80% fruits and vegetables and 20% starch and protein every day.

3).  Trying to remember to DRINK LOTS OF WATER!  (although I often forget this one!)

4).   Walking every day - a brisk walk of between 3 and 4 kms.

5).   Drinking 2 oz of Noni Juice everyday.  It tastes hideous but Dr. Oz highly recommends it.

6).  Taking my multivitamin every day.

7.)   Taking 100 mg of B6 every day.

8).  Taking 25 mcg of Vitamin D every day - which, by the way, comes in the form of a soft chewy chocolate so I consider it my chocolate fix for the day.  (Most days this works, although once and a while I feel the need for a bigger chocolate fix!)

9).  Taking my EstroSense everyday - a herbal blend that includes calcium, green tea extract, indole 3 carbinol (an extract from cruciferous vegetables), sulforaphane (broccoli sprout extract), turmeric (curcumin), milk thistle extract, rosemary extract, and lycopene (tomato extract) - all of which is supposed to do wonderful things for me.

10).  Sneaking veggies into everything!  Especially having veggies ready to snack on around 4 in the afternoon when I suddenly feel at my munchiest.  And trying to get the most "bank for my buck" with veggies in that I'm trying to focus on those veggies that are really crunchy and satisfying to chew.

11).  Eating an apple a day.  Yup, I know it's simple.  But it has really become something I look forward to as an extra treat during the day.

12).  Taking my metamucil once a day ... maybe this TMI, but the thing is, I have struggled with irritable bowel syndrome for most of my life and this really helps.  Also, it's supposed to help lower bad cholesterol so it seems like a good idea to take it.

13).  Wear bright colours every day.  The thing is, I love colours and it cheers me up to wear bright colours.  Maybe this sounds weird to stick this in here on the list of healthy life style choices, but if wearing a bright colour helps me feel better about myself and my day, then I figure it's a very inexpensive, painless way to help myself.

14).  Making myself find something humourous every day about my life.  Seriously (or actually, not seriously!), I sometimes forget to take a light-hearted approach to life and laughter really is great medicine!  So, I'm trying to focus on the funny side of life more often and I'm sure I'll lose weight by exercising those laugh muscles!  As a result, I am finding myself noticing more funny and peculiar things that come across my path during the day and I take great delight in sharing them with my husband so we can both have a  good laugh at the end of the day.  Like this hotel sign and the random weirdness of the picture ....

15).   Eat less, exercise more.  Yup, it really is that simple!

16).  Think about my husband's needs more than my own.  Once again, perhaps an unusual thing to throw on a list about healthy living, but healthy living does include mental health and one of the drawbacks of not having children, is that I can become a bit to self-absorbed sometimes.  It's really good for my mental health to think about someone else's needs.  It also makes it much easier to do my daily tasks (like laundry, house-cleaning,  and washing dishes) with a cheerful attitude when I look at them as ways to help Mr. Magnolia's life become easier, rather than just chores that need to be done.

17).  Okay, I admit it, I'm pretty much stumped at #17.  I can't really think of too many other things - except maybe to repeat the DRINK MORE WATER one since that seems to be one I have to constantly repeat to myself.  Maybe by the time I've lost 50 pounds, I'll have come up with 50 inspiring things to help with my healthier lifestyle.  But for now I guess I'll have to stick with 17 .... unless perhaps, I include one more ...

18).  Take time to celebrate the victories!   Yup, whether it's another pound lost, or another day of positive thinking, I am taking time to celebrate the victories along the way.  I am celebrating the fact that I am feeling stronger and healthier than I have in a long time.  And even though I don't want to get all obsessed with numbers, I am celebrating that there are 27 less pounds now that I have to lose than when I started!  :)

Things that go bump in the night...

"It was square and shiny, enclosed in cardboard, sitting in the living room as if it had been there always. But it had not been there the day before. I walked around it, gingerly giving it a wide birth. I had seen these before and each time I had been afraid. The picture on the top of the box showed a streamlined clear-glass panel, with four silver knobs for feet. At the very top, a small rectangular shape would give the digital read-out. I feared the worst. I could not open the box."

Studying popular culture as an elective a few years back, I was quite intrigued by the idea that science fiction is actually quite conservative. I had always thought of sci-fi as a radical type of fiction that postulated the impossible and stretched the reader’s mind to embrace objects and beings that were products of the author’s over-active imagination. How could it be conservative, yet clearly have such unorthodox elements? 

But as I began to study it, rather than just read it for pleasure, I could see how the genre reflects and asserts our most conservative fears about the world we live in. As J.P. Telotte suggests in Anthology of Drama, science fiction is chiefly characterized by fear – “as a genre that often deals with speculation about the future, science fiction (like other genres of fantasy) is familiar with and particularly well-suited to address our various fears: of technological and cultural change, of the future, of the unknown…” (Anthology of Drama, 115). When taken in this light, the sub-story of every science fiction piece becomes a fascinating look at the culture that produced it as it can become a tell-tale indicator of the fears with which that culture struggles. 

So, what does that little introductory paragraph reveal about my own culture of fear?

Yeah, that's right.  The dreaded bathroom scale!  The battery in our bathroom scale died a few months ago and I keep promising my husband that I'll get a replacement.  Finally, the day before yesterday, I happened to see this scale for sale and at $13, I figured it was almost as cheap as a new battery.  I bought the darn thing but haven't gathered up my courage yet to take it out of the box.  It's sits ominously in my living room, waiting for my fears to dissipate, or at least, temporarily retreat.  

On a more positive note, however, I have been making a concerted effort to cook with more veggies!

I've never cooked artichoke before, so I'm looking forward to giving that a try.  And we just read recently that dragon fruit is supposed to be extremely healthy so we're trying that too.  The bag on the right is one of my favourite products - broccoli slaw.  It's such a convenient way to make stir-fry, salad, etc. and ups my veggie intake for the day really quickly.  

Hopefully, with all the veggies we've been eating, the bathroom scale isn't something I need to fear.  Still, I'm pretty sure I could write a convincing sci-fi novel about our society's obsession with weight.  In the mean time, it occurs to me that the old adage "you can run but you can't hide" would be more applicable in this situation if I was to re-arrange it a little - "you can run, but then you wouldn't need to hide!"  For now, I'll leave running to those of you who are more physically fit - I think I'll stick to trying to increase my veggie intake and getting a good walk once a day.  And given enough time, perhaps I'll get over my fear of the dreaded bathroom scale.