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 ...

Tough time to be a Pollyanna

Remember when 9/11 was just a date or a number you called in an emergency? Our lives changed dramatically post 9/11. For weeks after that September day, we seemed to walk around in a fog, like the haze that loomed over the now-fallen twin towers. I remember trying to minimize my obsession with the news, trying to keep the three little Piggins away from the enormity of the disaster. Remember when corona was simply a beer best served with a lime wedge? It now and forever will be instead associated with this virus that has upended our world in ways we could never have imagined. This tiny little, microscopic virus has brought the mighty to their knees. It has us quarantined and distancing socially (though I believe we've been doing this emotionally for years) and working from home. As anxiety peaks, our economy tanks. As toilet paper and hand sanitizer flies off the shelves, we are looking for new ways to stock our pantries. A good friend observed, "I never thought I'd...

Treatment begins

Today is the first day of the rest of my life. Today is the day I begin, at last, treatment. Today is the day I begin to kick cancer's ass. Today is the day I start infusing ugly, nasty, side-affect laden, toxic chemicals for the greater good. Today is a day that I wish I could rewrite the script for completely deleting the part requiring me to need breast cancer chemo. And yet, here it is and at 1:15 EST I will be at the Cancer & Hematology Center in Holland. It's where I will be a lot for the next five months. It's where I will, I'm sure (and surety is something I have less of these days as I know not how I will respond to chemo), create new friendships and forge bonds with people that I am currently unfamiliar. Because that's who I am; a lover of people and a woman that wants to know and love on all the people she comes to meet.  I don't know why I have breast cancer but someday I will ask God (along with a whole bunch of other questions!). I do b...

Christmas cards

I sat down to reluctantly address Christmas cards. While our list has slowly dwindled through the years it's still a sizeable number, especially when it's viewed as a task approached reluctantly . Know what I mean? Some Christmas 'tasks' are a lot less taskier - like decorating or shopping or eating or opening presents. I mean, there's a whole different level of enthusiasm associated with 'tasks' that aren't viewed as tasks - I can't ever remember a time when I sat down to reluctantly open a present or eat a Christmas cookie! Anyway, I approached the Christmas card addressing with a less-than-positive, more bah-humbugish attitude. I poured a cup of coffee, grabbed the markers (I had to have a green, a red and a black one), the list and of course the envelopes (which John had already stuffed with the card). I turned on some Christmas music, but not too loud or it would distract me (and it really doesn't take much to distract me. Squirrel!),...