Today there are seventeen days until 2026 and ten days until Christmas.
I am infinitely grateful that we offered our newlyweds, Genie & Alec, the opportunity to host Christmas this year. And moreso that they accepted the offer with the full support of Alec’s mother Denise.
That being said, it is ten days until Christmas and in two days I am booked for surgery…
And son Dan and family are coming on the 21st..
I am not ready. Not by a long shot.
But my win for the day yesterday was Christmas baking with granddaughter Prim!
We had a good time, filled a few baking containers and our bonus win was having Grandpa (Dan) making an awesome supper of Shepherd’s Pie.
My Daily Food Diary win for the day was learning in real time the benefit of long term gain over instant gratification.
I am not good at meeting specific result driven goals. I get too frustrated if I cannot see my goals getting closer with every passing day. My power is in commitment and longterm persistence. I just plug along doing what I know has to be done – one day at a time. The win is looking back over the year (or years) and seeing what I have accomplished. ☺️
Daily Food Diary – Day 348
Breakfast:
(1) c coffee (2)
(1) 2 egg scrambled eggs with bacon (415)
(2) potato patties (240)
Snacks:
(36) Oz water
Supper:
(12) Oz carbonated water
(1.5) servings shepherds pie (735)
Total consumed calories: 1392
Total used calories: 0
Total net calories: 1392
Net calories goal: 1208 – 1392 = 184 over 👎
That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! 😍💖
Today I started my day with a BIG win! 🙌 I got up at 6:30 this morning to go pick up our Maddy and drive her to school for band practice. It was already fairly light out, thanks to the full moon shining bright above a thin cloud cover. And it is always a win to see our Maddy – even before dawn! It was an even bigger win to back into our garage on the first try when I got home!
The picture of positivity! 😉
Today is another day to count the wins I have accumulated over the past eleven months.
The win I chose to appreciate today was my ability to use James Clear’s book “Atomic Habits” to make effective changes to stay on track with my Daily Food Diary and to make gradual improvements to my general diet.
By stacking my new habit of posting my Daily Food Diet between my existing morning habits, I have managed to post 337 days in a row without missing a beat!
And, by keeping a cruet of olive oil in a handy location beside our stove, I have successfully eliminated the habit of reaching for the butter dish every time I pan fry.
Other helpful habits, big and small, have been made along the way, but you get the idea!
A book I would absolutely recommend for anyone working to make positive changes in their life.
Daily Food Diary – Day 337
Breakfast:
(1) c coffee (2)
(1/2) grapefruit (39)
(1/2) tsp sugar (8)
(1) granola bar (160)
Lunch:
(1) Taco salad (899)
(8) Oz water
Snacks:
(2) Belgium chocolate cookies (107)
(15) Lays lightl salted ripple chips (218)
(2) mini chocolate treats (80)
Total consumed calories: 1513
Total used calories: 377
(30) min walking (137)
(42) min aerobics (240)
Total net calories: 1136
Net calories goal: 1208 – 1136 = 72 under 👍
That’s it for today. Take care and have great day! ☺️💞
Despite snow storm warnings for the past week, any such weather seems to have missed Saskatchewan. It is cool this morning but dry. While there are plenty of dried leaves that have finally fallen, most of the grass around here is still suspiciously green. I swear our seasons are shifting later each year. We are still mid autumn – and come June it will still be winter. 🤔
I am still enjoying that break between our Canadian Thanksgiving and full on Christmas Season. But, I do have two wins to celebrate today.
1) Yesterday, I broke away from my less than impressive typical lunch and made myself a full on (small) salad. I should generally make more of an effort when it comes to lunches, but it is too easy to grab a handful of chips and/or a couple of cookies. But, yesterday I did it. I made myself something relatively nutritious so I will take the win.
2) This morning, I took Molly for a walk by myself. That alone is win worthy, but today on our walk I coughed twice. A couple of coughs each time to clear my lungs/throat and we moved on. I know it doesn’t sound that impressive, but for me, walking our dog alone without multiple coughing fits is a massive double win for me!
Molly sharing the win. (She did contribute to the win by being an especially good girl this morning. 💞)
Daily Food Diary – Day 328
Breakfast:
(1) c coffee (2)
(1) c brown sugar Shreddies (210)
(1/4) c 2% milk (28)
Lunch:
(1) small salad – romaine lettuce, green onions, radishes, cauliflower, ham, cheese, peppercorn ranch dressing, fried dried onions (393)
(36) Oz water
Supper:
(2) large sour cabbage rolls (360)
(12) Oz carbonated water
(1) snickerdoodle (90)
Total consumed calories: 1083
Total used calories: 337
(35) min aerobics (200)
(30) min walking (137)
Total net calories: 746
Net calorie goal: 1208-746 = 462 under 🤔
That’s it for today. take care and have a great day! 💞🥳
Today is off to a bit of a rocky start. It is Day 6 of my latest round of antibiotics and oral steroids for a lung infection. I don’t know if there are any prescription medications that agree with me, but I do know Prednisone is not one of them.
This morning, I made Dan and I each a Cheese Biscuit breakfast sandwich. I took my Prednisone and set off on our morning walk with Dan and Molly. I made it about four blocks before I was feeling so wobbly, that I decided I had better head back home. Dan and Molly walked me back and I am fine, but definitely not the start of my week that I was hoping for. 😥
But the day has just begun and yesterday made a good turn around for me!
Yesterday morning, my glasses met with an unfortunate fatal incident. I found an older pair of single vision glasses and decided they would have to do until I got in to see my optometrist. I wasn’t thrilled but, you do what you have to do!
For over a decade, I have been wearing progressive bifocals. I have never been particularly happy with them, but I got used to dealing with them. The biggest issue was the bottom part of the lens that was set for reading. I never could read through them (I just read without glasses) and I struggled to go down steps or walk outside on any uneven ground.
Walking with progressives vs single vision glasses.
So yesterday, I put on my old single vision glasses and didn’t notice much difference puttering around indoors. I stepped outside onto the back landing, and when I went to go down the steps EVERYTHING was in perfect focus. I walked around our yard in complete confidence – over uneven ground, cracked sidewalk, anything. It was amazing. This morning, on my short walk, I also noticed a drastic difference on the streets and sidewalks.
I can’t wait to see my optometrist to get a new (updated prescription) for a pair of glasses that work FOR ME!
In the meantime, these will work just fine!
Daily Food Diary – Day 250
Breakfast:
(1) c coffee (2)
(2) pancakes (350)
(2) breakfast sausages (270)
(2) slices bacon (87)
(2) tsp butter (68)
(2) tbsp Maple syrup (104)
Snack:
(1/4) c mixed nuts (180)
(48) oz water
Supper:
(2) servings homemade wonton soup (300)
Total calories consumed: 1361
Total calories used: 56
(30) minutes cooking/food prep: 56
Total net calories: 1306
Net calories goal: 1229 – 1306 = 76 over
That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! 😊❤️
It is Day 225 of my Daily Food Diary. Not a single miss in 225 Days! 💃
Yesterday was another busy and productive day. I got to go for Molly’s morning walk with Dan. (We have been wildfire smoke free for a few days now. 👍) I did my morning aerobics and Wednesday weights. I spent the afternoon outside watering, pulling weeds, trimming plants, and doing general yardwork. And, I came in to bake apple pies and straighten up the kitchen.
I can’t tell you how great it feels to wake up every morning feeling well and going to bed every night feeling that my day was productive.
I have been on this Health and Fitness Journey for three and a half years. It hasn’t always been easy. Not that it has been that hard, but there have been setbacks. Regardless, weeks like this make it all worthwhile.
It isn’t about living forever, it is about living well. This week, I am living exceptionally well! 😊
Daily Food Diary – Day 225
Breakfast:
(1) c coffee (2)
(1) c Rice Krispies (120)
(1/4) c 2% milk (28)
(1) tsp sugar (16)
Lunch:
(2) chicken drumsticks (401)
(9) Lay’s Low Salt wavy chips (131)
Supper:
(1) sourdough bun (190)
(2) tsp butter (68)
(1) tomato (22)
(3) slices bacon (130)
(1) PC apple pie (178)
Total net calories: 944
Net calories goal: 1222 – 944 = 278 under 👍
That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! ❤️😊
It is 200 Days since I started my Daily Food Diary! 🎈 It is also Sunday and another wet, chilly Saskatchewan summer day.
Our garden is struggling this year. We have not had enough warmth or sunshine. AND we have a forty foot Blue Spruce tree that has taken over our side yard and blocks out any sunlight that our garden used to get. AND some of our tomato plants have developed a fungal issue that makes their leaves dry out and turn rusty. I have been picking off the affected leaves and spraying the tomato plants with a fungicide (which washes off an hour later during our next rainy spell).
Dan went out to check things over this morning and came back to say that one little tomato plant should be pulled out because “it is too small and will never amount to anything and it will only spread this rust fungus to the other tomato plants” .
I get it. It’s a sick little tomato plant that is unlikely to produce fruit and will more than likely spread this fungus thing. I did go out and picked off the worst leaves. (Now it is more of a tomato stick than a plant.)
But, saying “It is too small and will never amount to anything” was triggering. Being the youngest of six siblings, I heard it. Being the most non-athletic kid in a town that was all about athletes, I heard it. Leaving a miserable seventeen year dysfunctional marriage, I heard it. “YOU can’t take care of yourself and THREE teenagers! What will become of you?” “I will THRIVE!”
And that is exactly what I did. 💪
I survived, I thrived, and I have celebrated many successes since. Family wise, career wise (in a male dominated industry), dealing with serious health issues. I have thrived and I have amounted toANYTHING! (Anything I want to be!)
I know this is just a sickly, contagious, little tomato plant but it is going to thrive or die trying.
I have too much of my own baggage invested in that little tomato plant to give up on it. 🙄
Daily Food Diary – Day 200
Breakfast:
(1) c coffee (2)
(1) Granola bar w/ nuts & dark chocolate (160)
Snacks:
(1/3) c mixed nuts (216)
(1) c caramel corn (133)
(48) oz water
Supper:
(4) oz Rotisserie chicken – dark meat w/skin (200)
(1 1/2) c white rice (363)
(10) Asparagus spears (33)
(1 1/2) tsp butter (51)
(2) tbsp soya sauce (30)
(1) small salad – lettuce, cucumber, green onions, tomato, sesame seeds, fried dried onions, French Salad Dressing (216)
(12) oz carbonated water
Total net calories: 1114
Net calorie goal: 1229 – 1114 = 115 under
* Highlighted items contain significant collagen or significant contribute to the production of collagen
That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! ☺️💝
I am 66 Days into tracking and reporting everything that I eat and drink in a day. Generally, this is getting easier as I go.
Using the Lose It! app has made tracking calories and nutrients easier so that has helped. Being retired has made it easier to take the time to do a blog every morning. Using habit building skills that I have been utilizing for years, definitely helps me to be consistent without a lot of effort.
On another note… Today is International Women’s Day. Of course, I am celebrating the women in our family.
Daughter Jennifer with her daughters….Genie, Maddy, and PrimDaughter-in-law Amanda with daughter Gabby
All of the women in our family – young and not so much, are strong, independent, intelligent, capable, caring, adventurous, ambitious and so much more. It is easy to celebrate them.
However, I have to admit that I am disappointed that we are still at a point where we need a special day to celebrate women, a special day to fight for women whose lives are made harder simply because they are women, a special day to show respect and appreciation for women who deserve respect and appreciation every day of the year.
In my mind men and women are different in many ways, but as humans they are equal – and they should just be treated as equals, in the workplace, in the home, in the news, at the ballot box – everywhere and every day. 😏
Food Diary – Day 66 of 365
Breakfast:
(1) c coffee (2) (.3)
(1) c Honeynut Cheerios (147) (2.7)
(1/4) c milk (31) (2)
Snacks:
(24) oz water
(1) c Lemon Ginger tea
(2 1/2) oz fresh coconut (175) (6.8)
(2) tbsp Chocolate topping (129) 2)
(1/2) c sunflower seeds in shell (360) (12)
Supper:
(1/3) Tray Nachos (865) (31.7)
(12) oz carbonated water
Total calories: 1707
Total Protein: 57.5 grams
Daily protein goal: 46 to 58.5 grams
That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! ☺️❤️
I am thirty-seven days in on my Food Diary and my mission to become more mindful and responsible in what I consume.
This exercise is just part of what has become my health and fitness journey to adopt a strong and healthy lifestyle.
I have learned a lot in the past three years but there is one quote that I came across recently that really sums up the method to my (possible) madness.
“If you are persistent, you will get it.If youare consistent, you will keep it.“
This quote has been credited to Harvey Mackay who is a successful American businessman, author, and syndicated columnist.
His advice is obviously relative and effective to more than creating a fit and healthy lifestyle. Words worth noting. (Take note Genie. 💞)
Granddaughter Genie (with her Mom and our daughter Jen). I recently discovered Genie has been stalking me (following me 😂) on my Food Diary blogs.
Food Diary – Day 37
(1) c coffee (2)
(3) Crumpets with jam & butter (408)
(1/2) c pineapple, (1) peach, (1/2) cup raspberries (123)
(2) cookies (146)
(25) salt & vinegar chips (270)
(2) c beef stew (300)
(2) Tea biscuits (200)
(12) oz carbonated water
(1/2) Bag popcorn (250)
Total Calories: 1699
That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! ❤️😊
I’m still struggling to find the time or inclination to write these days but it’s time to have a go at it!
When I began my health and fitness journey eighteen months ago, I was unhealthy and unfit. I spent my days thinking that if I rested today, I could start doing something about it tomorrow. Of course, tomorrow came and I was no healthier, fitter, or motivated than I had been the day before.
I decided I just had to get up and do SOMETHING. I had no goals in mind – just do what I could, hopefully lose a few pounds and build up some strength, energy, and stamina. I started small and worked a little harder every day until I had built up to a respectable workout program.
My first six months or so went great. Then I hit setbacks – weeks of a serious respiratory illness, a broken arm, more respiratory issues … Finally, I felt I was somewhat ready for a return to full workouts. I was even cocky enough to think that it may be time to start setting some goals. In early May, I decided that in six months, on August 11th, my future self was going to be healthy, strong, and fit!
July 2022August 11th, 2023
**I wouldn’t call this a win, but it’s not a total miss.
On the downside, my health is not what I would hope for at this point. I have been struggling with my workouts since being sick this spring. After x-rays, lung function testing, and a return visit to my respiratory specialist, I am back on antibiotics and Prednisone. The good news is they seem to be cleaning up the lingering infection I have been dealing with. I am feeling better and I can feel it in my workouts.
My fitness is not where I would like it to be – literally anywhere but hanging around my waistline. But, it is improving – notably on my upper arms and legs.
My strength is gradually improving. I have been getting out and doing some work in the yard and doing some deep cleaning in the house. I am even – FINALLY – starting a full redo of the spare room. I have been clearing out drawers and dressers and am ready to strip wallpaper and repaint.
After Dan spent hours prepping the porch, I gave it a fresh coat of paint and he finished it off by rebuilding the landing and steps. We are getting foundation work done on Tuesday, then we can begin some other projects that are well overdo.
In other family news, Jennifer and Genie are both feeling (and looking) much better. Genie is starting her HR courses and has started working with Jen at her second job – working at a restaurant/lounge for son Danny’s best friend from school. They both seem to be enjoying it – and from what I hear, Dave appreciates having them.
Genie, Maddy, Prim, and Jen at the Regina Ex.
And in more family news, Dan and I headed out of town last week for an impromptu camping visit with my sister Lorraine and her husband Jerry. We were joined at our rental cabin for a day by my sister Elaine and her husband John who live close by the camp – and their son Les and his son Ethan.
Elaine, Lorraine, and I. King and Molly camping out.
Speaking of Molly, we took her for a weigh-in at the vet’s yesterday and she has lost 5.7 pounds. Another, 10 to 12 pounds and we can put her on a maintenance diet. 👍
All in all, life is good. My progress is not where I would like it to be at this point but my mindset is on course and my determination is holding strong, with the ongoing support of my workout buddies Dwight and Jackie.
Monthly Motivation
That’s about it for now. Take care and have a great weekend! 🌞💞
It is forty-three weeks since I decided to get on my fitness journey.
I am rather disappointed that I got sidelined for a few weeks by a miserable flu bug and the ongoing issues that it caused, but I do have a few reasons to celebrate.
I do finally appear to be on the mend, although my voice is still hit and miss and I am still dealing with a couple of minor issues.
As mentioned previously, I managed to lose a few pounds. 😁
I made it through the past few weeks without having to resort to a visit to a health clinic or emergency room. That is definitely a bonus with how crowded they are these days with those suffering from a variety of viruses and bacterial infections. Not places I want to be for sure!
Other than the first few days, I managed to be up, dressed and groomed every day – and I managed to handle meals, dishes, laundry, and general housekeeping.
I finished reading David Goggins book “Can’t Hurt me” and I am ready to start his second book “Never Finished”.
And finally… Yesterday, I got back into my workout routine! 🙌🙌🙌. I am not where I was before I got sick, but I am in way better shape than I thought I would be! I can dance for about half an hour in the morning and lift lighter weights for fifteen minutes or so in the evenings. It is a (re)start.
It feels so great to get back on track! My year one to a fit and healthy lifestyle wraps up on February 13th and I am excited about regaining any progress I lost AND ending the year with a strong finish. I have accomplished so much, health and fitness wise, that I can’t even imagine what I can accomplish in year two.
Molly is getting super excited about heading out for our daily walks soon. Watching her friends go by… 😔
That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! 💞🌞
Seclusion 101 with AnneMarie 