Please Slap The Donut Out Of my Hand

Bleh.

Why do I keep doing this?

During the last holiday season (aka the “eating season”), I ate and ate and ate. I gained a good (ok, bad) 20 lbs.

For those of you who actually have will power and don’t know what I’m talking about, the eating season begins with Halloween candy and ends with the New Year’s Eve black eyed peas.

By January 1st I was fed up and disgusted with myself so I began to be more conscious of what I was eating. I ate a high protein breakfast, a salad and fruit for lunch, and a light dinner. It wasn’t really much of a struggle. I wasn’t getting tired of the foods I was eating and I felt a lot healthier.

On my birthday, Evelyn got me a Fitbit One.

 

 

It’s a great little device. It measures steps, distance, calories, stairs, and sleep. I began to challenge myself even more.

Within 90 days, I had lost at 20-25 lbs.

Then we went on vacation.

Within a week, I had abandoned all good habits and even though I was walking 8-10 miles a day (almost 50 miles in a week)I gained about 3 lbs.

Ever since then it’s been a free-for-all. Sausage McMuffins for breakfast, more fast food for lunch, and take-out for dinner. A month of binge eating. Bad choice after bad choice. I just can’t seem to stop myself. I’ve gained at least 10 pounds, if not more. It’s an addiction to junk food.

Today alone, I’ve had about 8 cups of coffee with cream,donuts for breakfast, pizza and chicken wings for lunch, candy, cookies and soda. As I write this, I’m nursing a cup of peppermint tea to calm the nausea roiling through my body.

Much like once an alcoholic always an alcoholic, once an overeater always an overeater.

It’s something I’ve dealt with my whole life (I weighed 150 lbs. at the age of 13) and I know I will deal with it until I die. So to use another cliché, time to get back on the horse.

Tomorrow is a new day. (cliché). I’ve got less than 3 weeks to get back on track (cliché) before we hit the road for New Jersey. My goal is to lose at least that 10 lbs. if not more and then not fall of the wagon (cliché) during the road trip.

So, please feel free to slap the donut, cookie, cheeseburger, etc.. out of my hand.

I may seem a little upset at the time but I will appreciate it in the long run.

 

 

While writing this I was listening to " Nobody Else" from "Los Lonely Boys [Or. Music]" by "Los Lonely Boys"

Mission Accomplished

For Lent I decided to give up Facebook. I pledged to not logon from March 5th to April 19th.  Mission accomplished.

It wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought, it’s April 21st and I still haven’t logged on.

At first it was a little tough because notifications and alerts are forwarded to my phone but I managed to ignore them.

Considering I would spend a couple of hours each night perusing the site, I really didn’t miss it that much.

Sure, I missed knowing what my friends were up to and what life events they were experiencing but I did not and still don’t miss all the endless memes, recipes and game requests.

Later today I’ll be logging on to do some catching up but it will be a quick and condensed session. I’ll look through the notifications and friends requests and respond to them but I’ve got things to do.

This experiment has made me realize how much of my time Facebook sucked up and I can’t go back to my old habits.

So what have I been doing the last 6 or so weeks?

Well, I managed to read 9 books, catch up on several saved articles and magazines, applied for a new position at work (didn’t get it), cleaned up my music collection, and I spent a week in Washington DC (expect lots of pictures and stories to come).

I also spent a lot of time, as I have the last few years, contemplating how to be mindful, happy and generally improve my physical, mental and emotional health.

So with that in mind I want to share a video that was shown at our All Staff meeting last Friday. It really hit home with me.

 

I know I come off a little crazy (ok, sometimes a lot) sounding when writing this blog but I really want to thank everyone for being there for me and reading it.

 

 

While writing this I was listening to " Flirting with Time" from "Highway Companion" by "Tom Petty"

This is a only a test

There's not going to be much substance here. I recently found a blogging app for my Kindle Fire so I thought I would try it out.
So far so good. It is called Blogaway for Android and can be found at Google Play.
It appears that it may work ok enough to use while on vacation in a few weeks. That way I won't have to take my laptop.
Alright, I'm posting this now. I hope it looks ok.
Wish me luck.

Posted via Blogaway

Lent For The Non-Religious

I’m not Catholic. I was raised in a Christian home but I haven’t attended a church service in years, maybe decades. As I’ve gotten older, I have become more agnostic. (It’s a long and winding story of how I got to this point so I’m not going down that path….for now.)

 

"An agnostic position is one that leaves open the question whether there exists a god or gods, professing to find such a question unanswered or unanswerable. For the atheist, the question has been answered, and in the negative."

-Jaroslav Pelikan

 

With that said, I do admire the idea of giving up something for Lent. It shows a sense of committing to making a change in one’s life. Traditionally something that is considered a luxury or vice is given up. Like millions of people, especially library support staff, I pretty much live from paycheck to paycheck. So while there are some luxuries, there aren’t a lot.

As for vices, I don’t really have any of the more traditional ones. I don’t drink a lot or do drugs. I don’t gamble much, an occasional trip to Cripple Creek, but I get bored and tire of losing money.

I haven’t really kept up with any of my New Year resolutions (see “The 3 Rs”) but I haven’t been that productive in other areas of my life recently either. As I thought about why, I realized I spend a lot of time surfing the web.

Mindlessly surfing.

It’s not just Facebook. It’s Netflix, Good Reads, YouTube, Library Thing, etc.… I spend a lot of time adding items to wish lists or to read/watch queues but I don’t actually read or watch them. I constantly check and recheck Facebook and some other sites in case someone has posted something new. I can spend hours sitting in front of my trusty laptop and do absolutely nothing. This has interfered with what I really want or need to do.

So starting from March 5th (Ash Wednesday) to April 19th (Easter Eve), I am giving it up for Lent.

No more Facebook. There are some things that automatically upload to FB from other sites such as this blog but I will not be perusing the site for the purpose of looking at all the recipes, jokes, etc., that everyone posts over and over and over. My phone alerts me to any private messages or friends requests so I’ll answer those.

I’m only going to go to Netflix or YouTube if I am actually going to watch something and not search the catalog for items to add to the queue. 

Good Reads or Library Thing, only to update what I have read.

Then it’s onto the 3 Rs. Reading, writing, and learning.

If you want to get in touch with me, why not do it “old school”.

Email me or call me.

Maybe write a letter or send a postcard.

 

 

While writing this I was listening to " Mona Lisa" from "Parallax" by "Atlas Sound"