Thanksgiving. The giving of thanks....to whom?..for what?
First I must thank God, the Creator and Sustainer...from whom all good gifts come.
Secondly I'll thank all those who touch my life from the least to the greatest.
The what consists of the Creation, the whole earth, its goodness and fullness...and all the benefits I receive from those who share or touch my life.
That I get to live in the United States of America, while not perfect it is the best country in the world, is a tremendous blessing for which I am most humbly grateful.
And to each of our troops, I thank them and their families, for their sacrifice on my behalf.
God bless them, God bless you, God bless us everyone!
Weight Loss Update: While the number on the scale has stalled...it's not going down, I'm not discouraged because it's not going up either...and that is a huge improvement for me. The scale has lost its power...I'm following the plan, and that is the best I can do for now....in time I may have to adjust the plan....in fact, I'm seriously considering taking up running! I found this website, Cool Runnings, with a plan to go from the couch to a 5K...I don't really care about running a 5K, but getting off the couch would be good...I had to give up my daily walk when I hurt my tendon...it seems to be almost completely healed, so it's time to get moving again.
Running appeals because I read that a 130 pound woman walking for 30 minutes would burn 72 calories, while that same woman running 20 minutes, with a 5 minute each warm up and cool down, would burn 200 calories at a very slow m.p.h....which would be my speed! If I could burn 200 calories that easily I'm in! In fact when I hurt my tendon, I was doing some interval stuff...you know, walk so many steps than run so many steps. The first day I thought I'd die carrying my heft while running. But I persisted...and it amazingly got easier...and then it became "fun"...gulp...me, who hates boring exercise, having fun running?..yep....But it was short lived when the tendon began to hurt. I've discovered that I did too much too soon too fast. You can be sure I won't make that mistake again.
I read a lot of weight loss blogs, which are a huge encouragement to me and incentive to keep on keeping on, and I noted that the most successful people, who've lost the most weight are runners.....and they are all ages..young, middle aged and older. And some didn't take up running until later...in their 50's....so I think I can join the club.
I did find out during some recent labs that one of my thyroid numbers was not normal...the doctor said we were going to watch it for now. I've suspected for a long time that my thyroid is under active, or at least not "acting" consistently. I have almost all the symptoms of an under active thyroid. In the past when my thyroid was checked while my numbers were all normal, they were in the fringe range...mostly low normal...which is not optimal.
However, I have no desire to take thyroid medication...most medication has some negative side effects. But I must give due diligence to keep from gaining weight.
It is a vindication, though, to know that the thyroid may be part of my difficulty with losing. Why? Because since 2002, when I became a Lifetime Member of WW, when I've returned and been unable to lose the weight I gained since attaining lifetime, it was "implied" that I was not following the program. Which I was. I am one of those people who follow the rules, in fact pride myself in it. So it was an affront to me to be treated like I was a rule breaker. I am a person who has to work at not being obsessive about it all...following any weightloss program that is.
And I have learned not to value so much, or depend so much, on the number at the scale. It only reflects my weight...not my effort. But at WW, the number at the scale was huge...it determined whether I had to pay additional money to WW. And hearing about everyone else's successes for the week only served to discourage me even more...I was glad for them, but myself felt like a failure. And it didn't help that the WW leaders offered me no insight, but mostly "judgment".
You can probably read between the lines that I am not a huge fan of WW. I was when I was losing weight following their program...but it was I who did the work, not they. And the plan eventually failed me, as it has so many.
I follow may WW bloggers and a huge number who, like me, initially lost weight, have stalled. One who lost over 100 pounds has been at a plateau for 8 months...the scale won't budge for her either. And she is just one of many.
Well, enough of that. To those of you who have done or are doing WW, I say congratulations on your well deserved success...it's working for you and that is awesome.