Just prior to my 52^nd birthday, I challenged myself to get healthy and get rid of that 15 extra pounds I had been carrying around for several years.  My knees hurt, my hips hurt, I was bloated all the time and just felt yucky.    I am thrilled to say that I worked very hard with my diet, exercised and did manage to lose those 15 terrible pounds and I felt great.  I supplemented my diet with Herbalife shakes [thank you to my son Craig for making me try the product] and I began training for a 5K [that will get you to exercise].  I was so focused, tried to eat right, had my Herbalife shake every day and the pounds did come off.  I ran my 5K and yes, I ran the entire thing without stopping.  Slowly, but I ran the whole thing.

I was plugging along pretty good but noticed my stress level was increasing as my dad was suffering with dementia.  I began to notice that some of my exercise time was dwindling as I needed to check in with him more.  Then in August last year, I lost my dad.  I was not prepared mentally or emotionally for that (who is) and that rollercoaster of emotions because I had now lost both my parents.  I will tell you it made me feel like I had fog in my brain, I cried easily, ate everything and DID NOT EXERCISE.  In addition, my awesome “underactive” thyroid was just that “underactive” and it was having a field day just lying there doing nothing.  Obviously my meds may also need to be adjusted.  Well as you can imagine, 12 of those 15 pounds are back, just like a bad penny.  Does anyone really know what that phrase means, “like a bad penny?”  Are there good pennies and bad pennies?  Anyway, it is time to turn over a new leaf yet again.  When I admitted to my son [the health guru in our family], that I had put my weight back on, he very simply said, “Well, you know what to do right?”  Yes, Craig I do.  But you know what, it’s hard!

So I am tweaking my strategy this time and I’m saying it publicly so maybe it will hold me a little more accountable and from time to time, I’ll let you know how it’s going.  First off, I have two very dear friends that have made massive changes in their lives and have lost over 100 pounds each.  In fact, one of them has lost 150 pounds.  I am so proud of Kathleen and Ruth Ann.  They are my inspirations.  What seemed like an impossible task for them was achievable with their hard work and dedication.  Makes me feel almost ashamed that I can’t keep off a measly 12 pounds.

So what am I tweaking this time?   Well to start with, I need to better understand this calories in vs calories out thing.  To lose one pound, you have to reduce your calories by 3,500, so if you want to lose a pound a week, that’s 500 calories less a day.  Seems easy enough.  Well it’s not.  First off, how many calories do I eat regularly [too many obviously].  Secondly, how many calories should I be eating?  Each time I begin this diet process, I log my food intake.  I use Myfitnesspal.com for that.  It’s imperative that you know what you are eating and how much you are eating.  It’s real hard to log my food on days I choose to have a piece of Key Lime Pie or a margarita, but I do.  There are days, when I go over the amount of calories I have set out to eat.  And that is OK.  If you deprive yourself of everything you love, you are truly setting yourself up for failure.   So I know immediately, there will be days I will blow it.

Then I was reading an article the other day that talked about a person’s BMR.  What’s that?  According to Wikipedia, BMR is your basal metabolic rate and it is the rate of energy expenditure by humans at rest.  Now that was an interesting concept to me.  I never realized that there was such a thing.  So my mind is telling me that I need to know what that number is for me before I can even begin this process.  Of course the BMR calculator won’t take into account my stupid thyroid, but it would certainly give me a good idea.  So if I am at rest all day and do no exercising, how many calories do I need to maintain my current weight?  Wait a minute, I don’t want to maintain my weight.  Let’s start over.  So if I am at rest all day and do no exercising, how many calories do I need to maintain the weight I want to reach.  If I were to lay in bed all day and never get up, I would use up 1101 calories.  Hmmm.  So the next number it gives me is if I get little or no exercise:  1322, then 1514 with light exercise 1-3 times a week and 1700 for moderate exercise 3-5 times a week.  Holy cow.  Add some exercise into your day and look at what you get!

I know from all my other previous dieting, you should not go below 1,200 calories a day.  Less than that and you are creating other problems.  So I am setting a goal of 1,200 calories a day.  Now if I need 1322 calories for little or no exercise, that is a calorie deficit of 122 calories a day and that will take me 28 days to lose a pound.  Wow, going to be a little hard to stay motivated there.  Ok, the recommended amount is 1 pound per week, which will be a 500 a day calorie deficit.  How am I going to do that?

I will start by using my newest gadget.  I love gadgets so here’s my next tool in my toolbox, my Fitbit.  My Fitbit keeps track of how many steps I take in a day from the time my feet hit the ground until I fall asleep at night.  It also talks to Myfitnesspal.com.   It takes my steps and my BMR information and gives me a pretty accurate estimate based on my level of activity, how many calories I burned up for each day.  It is awesome.  For instance, on days I am at the office and rarely get out of my chair unless I go to the bathroom and then I plop onto the couch when I get home, I’m doing good to get 3,000 steps in for the day.  According to my Fitbit, I will have expended 1455 calories.  So If I met my 1200 calorie goal, I used up 255 more calories than I ate.  That is awesome.  It’s not 500, but it’s not bad for a day I did nothing but go to work and come home and plop.  But on the weekends when I’m doing laundry, cleaning house and actually get out and walk like last weekend, I used up 1,840 calories and only ate 1,200.  That was a deficit of 640 in one day, clearly over the 500!  So it is a balancing act every day, but I am having fun with the statistics and seeing if my new method is going to work.  The bottom line is I have to move my body every day, I feel better when I do and it is beneficial to every area of my life, not just my weight.

So here’s my new commitment to myself.  I need to lose 12 pounds by eating better and getting some form of exercise. I am giving myself until next June prior to my family trip to the beach in Florida [I sure hope it doesn’t take that long].  I will not do this by crash dieting or using some diet product, but by eating better and getting the proper nutrition.   I will use food as “fuel” not as entertainment.  However, if I choose to have a piece of key lime pie or a couple of margaritas, I will.  I will continue to have my Herbalife shake each day for my guaranteed nutritious breakfast, lunch or dinner and have my energizing tea with mango aloe throughout the day.    Lean meats, fish, fruits, veggies and whole grains are my friend.  I will do my best to put on my walking shoes and hit the pavement or treadmill each day, or some other form of exercise to help me reach a calorie deficit.

In a few weeks I’ll report back.  Hope I’m still sane by then.

I have been to my local Wal-Mart too many times in the last two weeks. We are in the back end of moving and I keep needing things, so it’s off to Wal-Mart. First off let me say, if you are in a hurry, don’t go to Wal-Mart. So here’s my experience when I’m in a hurry.

1. Park a mile away from the entrance because it appears to be pay day and everyone in my county is shopping today.
2. Grab a buggy, which of course has wheels that don’t all turn the right direction, it shakes like it has a vibrator attached and it is making a terrible noise.

Got my buggy, off I go. I have my list and know where I need to go in the store. Straight in front of me 10 yards out is roadblock #1. A group of people have taken the opportunity to get caught up an do a little visiting. It doesn’t really matter that people are stacked up all around them. So the 5 or 6 of us that need to get through have to find an alternate route. That’s always fun.

Back on the main isle heading for the isle I need. There it is just a few feet away, I’m turning onto the isle and there’s roadblock #2. This isle has 6 shopping carts already on it, but only 4 owners of carts. The other 2 carts, just blocking traffic don’t you know. Well I need things on this isle, so I turn in and wade through the muck with everyone else and work my way around the abandoned carts.

If you listen while you are shopping, count how many babies or toddlers you hear crying. As a mother, I’m real good at telling which crying children are pissed, which are tired, which are hungry, which are hurt, which are just brats. Can you? When you finally reach the crying child, sometimes they are blessed with parents who have no business being parents. As you go by them you can see the little looks in their eyes and the big tears they are trying to not let fall and a parent yelling at them for God knows what. Some of them are visibly frightened and it kills me that I can’t help them. I just want to grab those people and give them a good shake, among other things. What are they thinking, they are molding their little minds forever. Moving on……

Have you ever noticed that the isles are not quite wide enough? When I visit my daughter in Little Rock, her Wal-Mart seems to have wider isles than mine. It just seems roomier. Is it a conspiracy?  Is it because her Wal-Mart is in Arkansas, the “home” of Wal-Mart?   They also have a guy who greets you with a “BAM” at their Wal-Mart. Frightened me the first time I visited, but now I look for him and so do my grandkids. His name is Mr. Willie and he is an attraction all on his own.

I am always amazed at the different ways people dress. I am trying to say this diplomatically but not sure I can. Bottom line, if you weigh way more than you should, whether you can help it or not, you should not wear clothing that highlights the “extra” things you have, especially when those things are hanging over your pants, riding up your crotch or falling out of your blouse. Some things should be left to the imagination, PLEASE.

I have also noticed that we have a whole generation of people who like tattoos. Your business, do whatever you want with your skin, but really, if your entire body is covered in these “works of art”, wonder what they will look like when they are my age or better yet, in their 80’s or 90’s? Be a different kind of tattoo for sure. Two different images for the price of one I guess.

I also just love it when I am waiting in line to check out with young ladies standing behind me who have piercings all over their face: nose (OMG, the snot factor alone here), cheeks, eyebrows, TONGUE (really?) It freaks me out. I am imagining what my mother would have said to me if I had said to her that I wanted to get my TONGUE pierced or get a cute little diamond stud in my nose. Or hey, let’s get those big discs in my ear lobes… Yea, let’s do that…

Then there is the awesome checkout line, waiting and waiting. Lately I have taken a different approach to this. I can’t imagine standing on my feet all day ringing people up, sacking their items and then doing it again and again and again for hours. As much as I hate waiting in line, I feel for those employees who have to deal with all of us people in line, all day, every day. I try to be a little kinder to them when I finally reach the register. They are after all, just trying to do their jobs.

So bottom line for me, go to Wal-Mart when I have to, take a deep breath when I walk in the door, and just do it. Life is an adventure and a trip to Wal-Mart is no different.  Sometimes, it’s entertainment on a Saturday night.