Skip to main content

Roll out the barrel


It seems appropriate, in a strange-only in my head-sort of way, and keeping with my theme recently of rolling, that the song playing in my head lately is 
"Roll out the barrel . . ."

As I've been rolling lately instead of walking, I seem to have added to my girth and it has landed, like a big ole roll around my mid-section. It's happened gradually over the last year and I attempted to:
1)   Deny and/or;
2)   Cover and/or;
3)   Exercise and/or;
4)   Change my diet.

Well, the "And/Or Plan" wasn't working because my waist kept expanding and with that expansion my motivation (which is minimal on a good day!) was dwindling.

So, with a roll around my midsection and "Roll out the barrel" playing in my head, I rolled into Weight Watchers three weeks ago.

I had weighed myself at home and the number on that scale was sad - but I guess I should have had my glasses on when looking because the scale at WW showed me a number that was 8 pounds sadder!! Have you ever heard of someone gaining 8 pounds at their first WW meeting??!! 

So, I came home and my darling daughter and accountability partner, Delaney, refocused me and we made our grocery list. Re-motivated, I got on the recumbent bike and rode that damn ... I mean darn bike six of seven days between weigh-ins at WW. I worked it. I ate well, not great, but better, and I exercised.

So, when I rolled in to my second WW meeting, I was confident that the scale would show I was working it . . . WRONG! I'd gained 0.2 pounds. "Roll out the barrel" played again and I almost rolled right out of that room because tears were starting to roll. But I stayed, and boy am I glad I did because had I left I would have missed the amazing support of the people at that meeting. Had I left, I would have had the mindset of a loser - and not a weight-loss loser, and based on previous experience I could have made some bad choices with that "Roll" song playing in my head. Instead, I stayed and got refocused. I was advised to turn off that song playing in my head because it wasn't working for me - bad thoughts never do. I came home and continued to make good choices the next week. I worked it. I ate well, better than the previous week, and I moved more.

So, when I rolled in this week, I was really nervous to step on the scale. I was thrilled at a 2 pound loss! I sure have to work a lot harder to lose 2 pounds than I ever did before - but age and the immobility restrictions of MS aren't going to discourage me from working it! I can't let those restrictions restrict me from moving more and eating better. After the meeting, two women I hadn't previously met, said I was an inspiration to them. ME - an inspiration to anyone at a WW meeting?? There are many inspirations - and weight losing/loss stories and these will keep me going and working it. 

So, what will meeting #4 hold for me? It all depends on me and how I roll!
I will carry the motivators - my daughter and the women in WW- with me through the week.

For now, I've got to roll - time to ride the bike!

Comments

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

Francis of Assisi would run away from home if he lived here!

The title might be a bit extreme - Francis might just go to his room and shut the door and put a pillow over his head to silence the 'noise'. I have done that on occasion. And not because I have toddlers, or a kid that plays the drums or even really loud kids - it's because I live in a house where there is one lawyer, one law school student, and two more potential lawyers. And me - the one singing "Let there be peace on earth . . ." The other four Piggins family members enjoy debating. Sometimes, I think for the sake of the debate. John, Michael, Matthew and Delaney seem to really like these 'discussions'. For instance, we were watching a television show recently - I cannot even recall which one, but it seemed fairly bland - when one of the barrister Piggins made a comment that inspired disagreement from another barrister Piggins. That inspired another from another. And then one more from another until the four of them were debating on some point that wa...

You don't know me . . .

I stopped blogging for awhile. I know some might think that I was being lazy, or overly-involved in some community or school venture or in the middle of some really good books or projects. While all of those are true, that's not the main reason. I stopped because it felt strange to be somewhere and have someone refer to something I wrote. It was like they knew a secret about me (though secrets are not usually published on the Web) that I hadn't shared with them. Though in reality I had shared because I wrote it on the blog.  Truth be told, I don't know who reads this - I have a smattering of followers but a lot more readers. Blogger lets me see how many page views for each posting and I can even tell the referral site. The most I have had for any post was 152 and I've had readers from as far away as New Zealand (thank you Gretchen) and Alaska. Most readers are referred through Facebook. I know that if I were more diligent, I could market the crap out of the blog ...

Struggling to not feel like a failure

Okay all of you 'struggling to stand' or 'not wanting to have to use a wheelchair' or others that look upon using a wheelchair as a symbol of failure, you're about to get punched. Punched in the figurative sense. I am about to go on my soap box and my Irish is up which means that I'm fairly peeved (though I've been mulling this over for awhile so I'm not as angry as I once was, which means there will be fewer expletives and a kinder tone). If you've read this blog or know me at all, you know that I did not go easily into using a wheelchair as my primary mode of transport. I too, may have had a little bit of your attitude about the wheelchair being sign of failure or of having given up. My sister, Kerri, helped put it in a different light. She said, and I'm paraphrasing here, "It's actually an energy saver since walking is stressful and you're worried about falling - using a wheelchair will take away a lot of that stress. You will hav...