Counting My Calories

They say that as you age you put on extra pounds. In my case, it was a lot more pounds than my body could tolerate. I have always exercised. I am in the gym at least three times per week, but my eating habits did not change as I grew older. Twenty years ago I could eat whatever I wanted to, never having to worry about my gaining weight. The problem is I am no longer 20 years old so the pounds started to pile on and before I knew it, I was xxxlbs heavier. Honestly, sometimes I look in the mirror and I think, who is this person looking back at me and how did you let this happen? When did my hour glass figure turn into the shape of a balloon? Six months ago, at my yearly physical, I received the diagnosis of having high blood pressure. It was difficult to hear my doctor say those words, because I had always been healthy. I had never been on any type of medication so to hear, I am going to be prescribing blood pressure medicine for me was a shock. It took a while for me to even fill the prescription because I thought you know what, this must be a mistake, for I have never had high blood pressure. A month later, I went for an OB appointment and again I was told, your blood pressure is too high, you need to be on medication to bring it down, I going to write you a prescription. No need, I had one. So I filled the prescription, but nothing was really changing, I took a couple of pills, but in my mind I still hadn’t accepted it. It wasn’t until I almost past out at home, that I told my kids what the doctor had said and that he also told me that my excessive weight gain played a huge part in the fact that I now had high blood pressure. My daughter being a nurse, stayed with me monitored my pressure and when everything settled down, scolded me for not doing what I was told. Imagine, I had her when I was sixteen now she chastising me. Nice! Anyway it was then that I decided that I had to become serious about my health and my weight gain. Since I was already exercising that was good, but my diet had to change. My eating habits were horrendous. I did not eat breakfast, sometimes skipped lunch so by late afternoon, I was starving. I ate anything and everything I could get my hands on I had and then ate dinner and then nighttime snacks. That was my diet and before I knew it I was 75 pounds overweight. We decided then that I would go on a 1200 calorie a day diet and that I would have to start counting calories, which meant keeping track of everything I ate. We found a diet online and we found a calorie counting program on my iphone and I started. That was three months ago, I have since then lost 25 pounds. Sufficed to say when I returned for my follow-up appointment with my doctor he was pleased. Like I said before, I’ve always exercise but I would leave the gym and go eat anything I wanted, which somewhat defeated the purpose. You don’t realize how much you’re eating until you begin to take note of the amount of calories you’re taking in each day. One slice of pizza is good, approximately 140 calories, but two slices is too much when you’ve had breakfast and snacks and dinner. One glazed donut about 180 calories but many of us eat two maybe three. Now I eat breakfast, a slice of toast, a hard-boiled egg, a banana. This starts my day off the right way. I eat lunch and I am not starving by late afternoon so I am not eating everything I see. Because whatever I eat have to fit into my 1200 calorie per day. I have to admit it was difficult in the beginning. We had a family dinner and my daughter was there saying, no mom you can’t have that or that, and that in and of itself was hard. Now I find that I am full on small amounts of food and it doesn’t matter where I am, at home or at a banquet, I’m not craving more and more. One of my weaknesses was night time snacking while watching TV. I don’t have that as often anymore and when I do have a cup of tea without sugar, it settles my cravings without adding calories and I’m good. Counting calories has worked wonders for me, it helped me to change my eating habits, because I am determined to lose this weight because I need to healthy, I need to be here for my children and grandchildren, get off this medication and look good again, because when you look good you feel good about yourself.

Eighteen

My son turned eighteen last week and although this was not my first, it always feels so surreal to me. A week before his birthday, he says to me, “mom, you know next week is my birthday and technically, I will be an adult”. Really! It seems like just yesterday I was taking him to his first day of 1st grade and I can still remember how afraid he was walking into school on his first day of Junior High. Now, he's getting ready to go off to college, independent of mom or dad. A couple of weeks ago, we attended his college campus orientation and I have to admit, it felt good to see that he was still a little apprehensive, not knowing what to expect, and was happy that I was with him. Whenever I happen to drive by his high school I find that I am saddened by the realization that he won't be there in September. Keep in mind that I still have a sixteen year-old still attending, so you would think it doesn’t matter, but it does. Time will soon close the door on a part of my life that has meant the world to me. Raising my children was such a major part of who I am. Whatever else I’ve done, nothing was more important. It’s hard letting go and it’s just sad. I’m always telling younger parents, don’t rush it, enjoy your kids now don’t think about tomorrow, because they’re little ones for only a short while.

Fashion and Antiquity

 I Spent most of today with some fabulous ladies over fifty at the metropolitan Museum of Art viewing the Spring 2012 Fashion collections of someone named Schiaparelli, whom I personally had never heard of and Prada. I never really thought of fashion as being art until I viewed this collection. There truly was a wow factor in these designs and It was amazing to see the similarities between the two designers even though they were decades apart. Although Schiaparelli is a designer from the 1930's, her designs to me are fabulous in any decade. I would wear them. Then we went over to the Egyptian exhibit. Amazing!. I have never been that close to a mummy before. Everything was awe inspiring. All in all a good day.

A Summer's Eve

Hot, lazy summer evenings and ice cold lemonade takes me back to my old neighborhood where I grew up.  On nights like this, everyone would be out on their porches drinking homemade lemonade, just trying to stay cool and all the kids in the neighborhood would be out playing kick ball or hide and seek, which was a particular popular game.  The heat just sort of forced everyone outdoors, you got to know your neighbor. That's what I miss most. Here everyone stays indoor each in their own air conditioned space with their children playing hide and seek on social networking sites. We would stay outside until late into the night.  Even the ice cream truck came around late.  That's another thing I miss, the sound of the ice cream trucks.  Oh wait, we buy it at the supermarkets.  There was no curfew because it was so hot, we couldn't even to sleep.  Oh well, here and now I just got me a tall glass of ice cold lemonade, stocked the refrigerator and the cupboards and I told my kids, they're on their own, because I just want to lay perfectly still.

Fireworks

The sun's gone down and it was a bit cooler out which made it the perfect night to enjoy an evening in the park at the Town of Newburgh's annual community day and their pre-4th of July fireworks celebration,  The only problem was then having to walk the mile of so back to where I parked my car, but it was worth it.  It might not have been in as grand a scale of New York City but the look on the kids faces was priceless.

My Life In A Nutshell

I was explaining to a co-worker that although I love scrapbooking, I can never find the time to do it.  So she told me about Smashing, so I am going to give it a try. Now I can do my scrap booking with half the work done for me.

Congratulations

My son graduated from high school last week and that for me was one of those bitter, sweet moments. The morning of his graduation, I woke up in a state of depression and could not stop crying because I knew this would be the end of an era for both of us. There is a particular parent child dynamic that ends when they graduate from high school and go off to college. They leave as children still saying, "mom can you", and return as adults completely independent of you and for me that's never been easy. I have never handled high school graduations well. I just kept seeing him as a baby in his walker trying to figure out how to make it move. I remember his first day of first grade how excited he was to go to school all day. Then I remembered his first day of Junior High School how terrified he was to walk into the building. It all seems to have gone by at warp speed. Over the years, I can remember saying to him let me enjoy you right now, today at the age you are. I don't want to think about next few years. You've got to enjoy your children day by day, because the years fly by and before you know it they're gone. No matter how many times I've done this, I am never prepared this moment in my children's lives. Yesterday, he says to me, "Mom, you know that next month, when I turn 18, they say that I am legally an adult". That's what I mean, bitter/sweet. Anyway, he's graduated from High School and has done very well, so I know that I have done my job and that if he keeps doing what he has been doing, He will be successful.