Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Weight Loss Update #14

Two more pounds gone.  Since starting my 6 weeks of maintenance I have lost a total of 10 pounds.  Very unusual.  After all, "maintenance" is supposed to be just that ... maintaining your weight over a period of time.  The only thing that I'm guessing contributed to this unexpected loss is the fact that I have been eating based on food combining.  Food combining was a part of a healthy eating plan that I followed a couple of times in the past.  You don't combine carbs with proteins, you eat fruit by itself, & you wait a certain amount of time to eat one of these categories before/after eating another.  Anyway, I should be starting back on the diet but I'm going to wait until I see my doctor on Monday & talk with her about it.  It seems my health took a nosedive in conjunction with my losing weight.  I'm wondering if I turned out to be "over-supplemented" when I saw her for my initial appointment because my weight had dropped & my body didn't need the same amount of medication anymore?

I made crafting progress yesterday & will work on things again today.  I am happy to report that by being rather astute last night I was able to "stretch" my overdyed floss by starting out with a solid color visible in the overdye (I'm suspecting they used this solid color as a base) & then picking up with the overdye.  It worked just fine for the fancy stitching I needed to do across one area.  I don't really anticipate any further problems until I get to the point where I need to take the stitched piece & make it into a needleroll.  Wish me luck!

Another thing I did yesterday was look through some old photographs.  This is something I have not done for many a year & there's a good reason ... the passage of time.  I am not afraid of getting old.  In fact, I've always rather looked forward to it.  There is a wisdom that comes with the years.  By the time you are somewhere in your 50s you have usually learned what really matters in this life.  You are not swayed by the current trends.  You don't live your life based on how you think others will perceive you.  I did say "usually" ... lol!  I'm sure there are some people who sadly haven't learned these things.  I talked about plastic surgery & the obsession with physical appearance a couple weeks ago.  I'm sure there are people who have "good genes" & they naturally look younger than they really are ... but not 25 years younger!  I have met people from time to time & they admit to being in their late 50s or early to mid 60s ... sometimes even older ... but they have the appearance of being in their late 30s or early 40s.  Except for a very, very few instances, you know that a 65-year-old person is not going to naturally look 40.  It's quite sad really ... & freakish sometimes.  Sorry ... I'm getting away from the point of this paragraph which was looking at old photographs.  I was actually searching for some photos of the woman I've mentioned who has Alzheimer's disease.  I did find them ... but in my search I also came across photos of my husband & myself in our early years of marriage & it was like "Did we really look like that once upon a time?!?!?"  I didn't really think "if only we still looked like that" but I did think "if only we could go back to that time knowing what we know now."  I've heard many older people over the years say this same thing ... that they wish they could be young again & know what they know now.  That can't happen of course but I think it should teach us something.  One day 20 years from now we are going to look back to this day & think "I wish I could go back to that time & know what I know now."  Yes ... with age comes wisdom.

Below is a photo of the woman I mentioned that we finally tracked down only to discover she has severe Alzheimer's.  We are planning to visit her in October even though she won't know who we are.  I'm sure it will be extremely difficult to see her but both my husband & I are hoping to be strong.  The only "helpful" thing might be that she doesn't look like this anymore ... doesn't look like we remember her.  Still, we will know that it's her.

  
I apologize for the poor condition of the photo.  You know what these old photo albums are like.  Over the years the pictures have forever adhered themselves to the pages which are discoloring & starting to fall apart.

May you all have a very blessed day   : )         

3 comments:

renee said...

I am glad that you will go see her anyhow. I know it will be hard, but it will be some closure for you! Good luck with the crafting, I need to get started on mine as well. Gotta get through Saturday first!
Hugs,
Renee

Angela said...

Good evening Shirlee, I love the picture of your home in your header. Really wish we were off the road, but poor you having to do all that mowing. Can see why it must take so long. Thanks for the link to the needlerolls. I LOVED them. Yes, a bowl of them would be wonderful to display. Good luck with yours. There were lots of really pretty ones on that site. Great post today. Enjoyed reading it.
Angela

Robin at The Primitive Hutch said...

Hi Sirlee,
Congrats on the continued weight loss.
Glad to hear your stitching is coming along.
You'll have to post some pics.
I love looking through old photos and the memories they share. Even though your friend has Alzheimers it's nice that you are going to visit her, sometimes they remember more in the past than the present.
Have a great week.
Prim Blessings
Robin