BBR -- Wed. 07/08 -- Day 8

I was very driven when I started to lose weight and it was my number one priority so I made the time I needed. It is part of my life now and I don't have a lot of demands on my time. What I do have problems with making time for exercise. Right now I am exercising 30 minutes a day and I'm happy for that.

In 1974 I was in college full time and worked part time when I lost 40 lbs. I would go to school and then travel to the Elaine Powers fitness center near my job in Midtown NY, workout, have my meal that I brought from home, and then go to work. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were always planned ahead. It became a habit to exercise and meal plan since I was then. After marriage and children it became a struggle but I regained my footing when I joined WW in 1983. Of course, after losing the 25lbs. that I had regained I stopped going to meetings. I repeated that cycle 2 more times before I was ready to accept that I had to continue to make time to plan my day around a healthy diet and exercise and support.

At 40, I lost 16 pounds with WW, but slowly I’ve put on weight every year since then, with some ups and downs. My husband and I are turning 60 this year and, twenty something adult kids and 1 aging parent who lives with us, his job, and covid aside, we feel fortunate:  the only thing we believe we really need to truly focus on is our health. So we’re trying to make the switch to consistent healthy habits.

We’re both motivated to lose weight, and so a quick touch base the night before or morning sets up the plan for the day’s meals. 

For planning meals further out, particularly when trying to use up our weekly CSA garden allotment, I scour their cookwithwhatyouhave web site for recipe tips that come with the produce. 

I also love the recipe and meal planner cooking app Paprika that lets me set a weekly plan when/if I’m that motivated. 

The best plan for exercise we execute is one that has us doing something- cardio and weights- 6 days a week. (I have 2 more weeks in a boot due to a stress fracture due to hard garage floor exercise and aggressive gardening? and I can’t wait to trigger regular exercise again, along with Beck accountability.) . We’re also trying to return to active weekend days off with hiking and biking when possible,  and we just celebrated our 30th anniversary with a spin bike purchase.

Finally, we enjoying Oregon summer on our deck by socially distancing with one other couple with two distanced tables and take out dinners in separate bags. Our default weekly order is healthy: salad rolls and cabbage salad with tofu. 

This focus is good for me. I grew up in a household where family gatherings always focused on FOOD, where seemingly every gathering was a celebration with food and drink, and I’m trying to still enjoy entertaining, but with much less emphasis on what’s being served.