Tag: grateful aging

It’s day 43 and the final day of YEAR THREE of my health & fitness journey.  At this point, it is more of an established health and wellness lifestyle. ☺️

At this point, I am still  consciously focussed on finding how far I can go and watching for anything that might be tripping me up along the way.  

Year One was a gradual awareness of how much work I had to do, the benefits of doing it, and a glimpse of the potential that I possessed.    The year ended with two setbacks –  a severe flu that caused my asthma, COPD, and bronchiectasis to flare up and take me down.  AND… A broken left arm thank, to a collision with our Molly dog, who was an awkward hundred pounds of unbridled enthusiasm at the time.

Year Two was an ongoing battle to maintain the progress I had made and to claw my way to a few gains.  First… My arm did heal,  surprisingly well, and in a shorter time than my ambulatory care doctor had anticipated.  I give full credit to the level of activity I had reached in year one, and the fact that I could keep active enough during my recovery to keep my circulation going strong.   Second…I realized that the severe  digestive issues that I had been dealing with for years were due to an allergy or intolerance to yeast.  Cutting yeast out of my diet has been a game changer!  Third.. Respiratory issues triggered from the flu I had at the end of year one, continued on and on, lingering cough punctuated by serious relapse.   Throughout the year, I went through SIX rounds of antibiotics and prednisone.  Near the end of Year Two, I figured out that my ongoing coughing and flare up of infections was not due to my chronic lung conditions but by then a well established case of sinusitis.  🙄🤦

Year Three… was a good year for recovery and steady progress.   My health improved and I upped my strength training to three times a week, going from 5 pound weights to 10 pound weights by early fall.  Then, I suffered my first setback.  I struggled with all of the digestive issues that I had while consuming yeast, I tried and failed to shed ANY weight, I felt sluggish and off physically, mentally, and emotionally.  My strength training started to slide.  Finally, I took a realistic look at my diet and realized that I had been consuming a ridiculous amount of processed sugar.  Getting that under control did wonders for me until I suffered my second setback.   The umbilical hernia repair that I had had three years earlier became a major issue.  There had been ongoing issues from day one, but they could be easily resolved. Now that was no longer the case.   I have had an ultrasound and I have an appointment to see a surgeon in a few days.  In the meantime, I have had to ease off on my strength training but I did start this Daily Food Diary to get a better handle on my diet issues.

Year Four.. will no doubt bring unexpected benefits and unanticipated setbacks.  Such is life, and I am ready to embrace whatever life brings my way.

Food Diary – Day 43

(1) c coffee (2)

(3) Eggo waffles with butter & syrup (411)

(24) oz water

(1) c tea (1)

(1/2) c Mini Ritz crackers (150)

(1) c raw broccoli, cauliflower, & radishes with 2 tbsp. Dilly Dip (185)

(12) oz carbonated water

(1/3) tray of nachos with lean ground beef, shredded cheese, peppers, onions, and black olives (1200)

(1) c tea (1)

Total calories: 1950

*** More calories than I would have liked, but despite starting my day with sugar, I did fight off the sweets cravings for the rest of the day.   For me, that was a BIG win.

That’s it for today.  Take care and have a great day! 💞🌞