Busy, Busy, Busy

I have not posted for awhile not because nothing is happening in my life, but because I have been so very busy. As many of you know Jackie and I are celebrating our 50^th wedding anniversary this June 21^st.

We will be going to England to have a good time and see some things we both have wanted to see. We are not what you would call world travelers. Other than Canada and Mexico we have only gone to Honduras on a cruise so that is not many places. This will be for sure the farthest we have ventured from home. We already have our reservations and are madly getting thing ready.

We want to have the house and yard all spiffied up so that we can go and not worry about what it will be like when we get home. These efforts have taken much of our time. Last year because of my WLS I did not do much on the yard and, well to say things went to the dumps would be an understatement. Now I have to do things like re-planting some of the grass and restore the flower beds just to name a few things.

Now that I am at goal, actually a little under, I and Jackie our working on staying on maintenance  and not gaining weight but also not lose any more. It is hard to do mentally, as I am afraid to eat more to stop the loss, but I am afraid that I will start myself back on the road to getting fat again. So we are taking it a week at a time. I am eating a little more and I will see what effect that has on my weight. If I gain much, I will have to again adjust what I am eating. I am also working in the yard so much that I may be not eating enough to keep from losing.

This is for sure going to be the hard part of the process. I am happy for the weight loss but scared that somehow I will fail again as I have so many other times. My mind tells me that I will be just fine, but the fear is always there in my mind. I know I can still not eat very much at a time, but when I have a snack I feel like I am cheating but know I am supposed to eat a little more now.

I will try to do a better job of updating this blog now that much of the ground work on the house is done. Stay tuned. 

Looking Back At My Weight

Great Great Grandfather
George

Now that I am at my goal weight the real fight begins. I have never gotten down to what I consider a goal weight in the many attempts I have made over the years, but I set a goal of being in a normal BMI and I have done it now. In looking back I may have made a mistake going down that far because when I look at my body I may be too thin. But I am going to try my best to stay within a 5 pound at most, with a swing either way up or down for the rest of my life. I will weigh myself each week and record it and continue to record my daily eating on My Fitness Pal web site to make sure I am not eating more calories than I should eat only a daily basis.

I have had time now during my weight loss, to look back at my life, and a few things really bother me and I really think I have found some things in my own family that seem to make sense as far as how we are getting more obese as a society over the years. Especially over the past few decades.

Great Grandfather
Warren

As a hobby I am very involved in genealogical research and have traced my family back hundreds of years. I am even fortunate to have photos of many of my grandparents, great grandparents and in a few cases great, great grandparents. What strikes me, is that looking at them, none are obese or even overweight. I understand that one of my great grandmothers who I do not have a photo of was over weight, and I know that my paternal grandmother Wassmann was overweight, but these people were an exception. My mother and father were thin, most of my dad’s brothers and sisters were thin all their lives. Uncles and aunts were all thin. Even my brother was extremely thin. On all sides my ancestors are thin people. Where did I get my weight problem. From my one grandmother and great grandmother??? Well maybe I guess. All my heavy grandmother’s brothers and sisters were thin all their lives just grandma was heavy and I never saw her eating a lot of food or foods that would be considered bad foods, other than people back then fried a lot of foods, that are now considered bad for your heart.

These days my kids all have some weight issues. Some worse than others. One is currently waiting for WLS which is scheduled soon. Another one should have it, in my opinion and the third one is not overweight but has to watch it very closely. My wife eats the same thing as I do and she has never been over weight. Well maybe a few pounds she did not want, but never even close to obese. I don’t think my family is that much different from others I have talked to about how their family is doing as far as weight problems. Many report to me that they have weight problems and that their kids are well on the way to being morbidly obese. What is the difference?

Great Grandmother

One thing I can confirm is the eating habits of my ancestors. My mother and father, and grandparents on all sides did not eat what we call today FAST FOOD. They would buy things in the store to make meals or grow their on foods. No overly processed foods. If they wanted a cake or pastries, they made them from scratch. I know my grandmothers never bought a cake mix in their lives. And another thing and I know this makes people mad at me, is that they NEVER go to places like McDonald’s, or Wendy’s or places like that EVER.  My mother who is still alive at 95 would have to be dragged into one of these places. They also never drank things like soda.

Now days I have to admit that we in the past and I suspect most families go to the store and buy some prepackaged fast food. A bag of something or go to a place where a take out meal can be put in containers and bring it home for the family. Places like Boston Market, and oriental places come to mind.  How many folks go to the store and buy a roster chicken and Jo Jo’s? Or stop buy one of the chain of fast food places and bring bags of stuff home for the family. Do I have to tell you how fattening this stuff is. Just look it up and see how many calories there are in them. They are also very easy to over eat these types of foods. They are full of salt and other preservatives that are really harmful to us all. I bet our ancestors did not eat these things as my family didn’t. Doesn’t it make sense, that maybe, these things are a major cause of our weight problems today???

My Father

I know you who are reading this, have the same excuses. I am too busy, or don’t have the time, or that the kids and the rest of your family, beg me to take them to these places as ALL their friends parents take them there. Guilt, Guilt.

I am going to do my best to stay away from these things in the future. I have not had a soda in a year now. I have not had anything from a fast food chain in the same year and I have lost with the help of WLS over 140 pounds. I have been happy with the food I eat now and enjoy my menu selections. I do not feel I am deprived at all and I really don’t miss that stuff. Will I ever have some fast food again, of course I will, but it will not be a regular thing I have daily or even weekly. Just occasionally or when I am away from home and do not know where to shop for good foods. I know many people disagree with what I say here but I would appreciate anyone who disagrees contacting me and telling me where I am going wrong.

First Easter after WLS

We had a wonderful Easter this year. We went to church of course and enjoyed the talks, and music. After church we went to Sundee’s home that she is renting while her home is being repaired after the fire. We are just grateful that nobody got hurt. We are hoping that the insurance company will help her recover from her losses. For anyone reading this and does not know it, Sundee is my youngest daughter. I have included here some photos of the fire. We did not get to the house until the fire department had already gotten the flames down and there was just a little smoke coming out by the time we got there.

Well I have never been a real big eater of candy. I usually reserve candy for holidays like Easter and Christmas. Then I usually like good chocolates. But I did like a few other candies during Easter. I really can not remember an Easter when I did not have at least some candy. This year I did not have even one piece of candy of any kind. And to be honest, I really did not miss it at all.

We had a wonderful steak dinner at Anthony’s in Olympia. Of course I took my scale and cut off about 4 ounces and ate that part and took the rest home. I had a few bites of salad and some asparagus as well.