Looking Back

As I come upon my one year anniversary of my surgery at the end of this month I looked back at the start of my blog.  Last year I said I wanted my life back, I wanted to shop without back pain.  I wanted to be able to sit in a chair and not wonder if it would hold me.  I wanted to be able to tie my shoes and breathe at the same time and I wanted my lap back so I could sit my grandkids on it.  Well, I have reached all those goals and more.  I can fit in a restaurant booth again!  I guess that means I need some new goals.

I need to stop eating for the wrong reasons.  I still eat compulsively at times.  Last night while I was playing on the computer I was not hungry but I kept noshing.  Why?  Who knows.  The other day I ate because I was bored.  I need to eat less packaged food and more fresh vegetables.

I also need to give up the Glucerna snack bars for the summer.  Yesterday it was really hot in the house and the bars became really soft and stuck to the wrappers.  They're really nice and chewy though.  They taste way too good.  I need to keep them out of the house and avoid the temptation to eat more than one.

There is one original goal I haven't reached.  I want to wear jeans!  I don't care if they're MOM jeans.  I might be able to wear some but I don't feel ready yet.  Jeans have changed a lot since I last wore them.  I don't want a "muffin top" so I want to get something that comes near my waistline.

It is nice to know that I when I go to a plus size store I won't find that the biggest size is too small.  I have bought most of my newest clothing items at Walmart or Fashion Bug.  I don't need to buy the biggest size they sell!

The women's organization in our church is having a pool party on June 23rd.  I don't know if my swimsuit will fit.  Am I brave enough to show the other women my saggy arms and thighs?  Maybe it will be a scorching hot day and I won't care who sees me.

Life is pretty good.

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan

All Bars Are Not Alike

I eat a fair amount of bar-type snacks.  I have trying to limit myself to those which have 100 calories or less.  There are some that I love that have more calories but since I've been trying to eat more real food I've given those others up.  Glucerna has mini snack bars with 70 or 80 calories.  I like the chocolate peanut butter or the oatmeal raisin.  I was eating the Slim Fast chocolate mint mini snack bar.  It kind of tastes like those mint Girl Scout Cookies.  One day I bought a large box of Slim Fast peanut butter crunch bars at a warehouse store.  When I tasted one I felt that it had a strong resemblance in taste to Butterfingers candy bars.  I checked the ingredients and found those bars are loaded with sugar.  Way too much sugar for me.  I checked the ingredients of other Slim Fast bars and found they all list sugar as the first ingredient.  This means there is more sugar than anything else.  So I gave the rest of those disguised candy bars to my husband.  Even though the calories were reasonable I did not like how I felt eating all that sugar.  I'm not used to it anymore.

For years I drank mostly diet soda.  I would have the occasional non-diet soda but I preferred to drink the diet. Now, of course being post-bariatric surgery, I don't drink any carbonated beverages at all.  I remember the first time I got a jolt about how sugar can affect us in a negative way.  I was at a family picnic on a very hot, humid day.  The only beverage available was soda and none of it was diet.  I was so thirsty because of the heat that I kept drinking can after can of the soda.  It seemed that I kept wanting more.  My thirst was never quenched.  I was not a diabetic at this stage of my life but I felt the effects of the sugar causing my thirst to increase.  A diabetic who does not control their blood glucose level feels the same way.

So the advice I have here is READ LABELS BEFORE YOU BUY!  I've learned my lesson.  Since Glucerna is targeted to diabetics I feel they're ok.  Beware of disguised sugar.  High fructose corn syrup and evaporated cane juice are the same as plain old sugar.  If a product uses all three in smaller amounts none might appear as the first (and therefore more abundant) ingredient.  However, the sum of all the parts might have quite a large chunk of the product being sugar.  Other ingredients to beware of are honey, brown rice syrup and agave nectar.  These may be presented as more healthy but in essence they are sugars that are metabolized quickly and can cause rapid spikes in blood glucose.  I'm always interested in hearing about tasty low sugar treats.  Let me know what works for you.

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan

Pedaling My Way To Fitness

I've been working really hard at the gym.  I am doing about 45 miles per week on the stationary bicycle.  I do the elliptical trainer for ten minutes at a time.  I think I'll bump up to fifteen next week because I am no longer gasping for breath after ten.  I have compiled a workout song list that keeps me going.  My choices in music are eclectic or maybe schizophrenic.  For cycling I need fast paced, hard driving tunes.  For the elliptical or walking the tempo is a bit slower.  Some of the music is from Blood, Sweat and Tears.  When I was in college I performed with our marching band.  Our director was not fond of typical marching music.  His staff made arrangements of a lot of  jazz/rock music from the early 1970's.   Those songs bring me back to when I was young but they have the kick to keep me moving now.  There's some disco, hip-hop and even some Mozart.

 Devil With the Blue Dress On / Good Golly Miss Molly Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
Jump Van Halen
When Will I Be Loved? Linda Ronstadt
Michael Jackson - Beat it
Madonna - Express yourself
Gloria gaynor - I will survive
HeartBreaker Pat Benatar
Vehicle The Ides Of March I
Old Time Rock & Roll : Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
Hot Stuff                                  Donna Summer
I've Been Everywhere Johnny Cash
What A Feeling Irene Cara
Jump (For My Love) The Pointer Sisters
Marriage of Figaro Overture
Back In The USSR Paul McCartney
Walk This Way  Run-DMC
Immigrant Song Led Zeppelin
Don't Stop Believin' Journey J
Paint It Black The Rolling Stones
We Are Family Sister Sledge
Born This Way Lady GaGa
Shout The Isley Brothers
Any Way You Want It Journey
I'm So Excited The Pointer Sisters
Hit Me With Your Best Shot Pat Benatar
I Love Rock 'N Roll Joan Jett & The Blackhearts I
Loco-Motion Little Eva
I Like It (feat. Pitbull) Enrique Iglesias
Go Down Gamblin' Blood, Sweat & Tears
Dance to the Music Sly & The Family Stone
Born to Be Wild Steppenwolf
You Better Run Pat Benatar
I Want Candy Bow Wow Wow
We Will Rock You Queen
Barracuda Heart
One Way or Another Blondie
Lucretia Mac Evil Blood, Sweat & Tears
Magic Carpet Ride Steppenwolf
Squeeze Box The Who
Lovin' Every Minute of It Loverboy
Gonna Fly Now (Theme from "Rocky") Bill Conti
Sgt. Pepper's/The End Paul McCartney


I love having the Rocky theme near the end.  When I hear it I feel like standing on my pedals with my arms up in a touchdown position.  One of my friends said "If you can't get motivated by the Rocky soundtrack there is something seriously wrong with you"  I agree.  Rocky beat the odds.  We all can.

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan

Working Out the Workout

Another of my friends who advise me on my gym activities suggested that I vary my routine so that my body doesn't get too used to doing the same thing.  He also suggested that 20 minutes on the elliptical was really a lot to start with.  On Thursday I did ten minutes on the elliptical, 20 minutes on the recumbent bike and 35 minutes on the regular bike.  This worked out pretty well.  I don't really like the recumbent bike at PF because my butt gets numb.  Back when I was having physical therapy on my knee the PT place had a great recumbent bike that had arm action too.  I wish PF would get them.

Its been really humid and rainy for the past week and it looks like we're in for another rainy week.  I learned something about the gym in damp weather.  First my glasses fog up a lot.  I guess I should start wearing my contacts more.  Either way I get sweat in my eyes.  Wearing a sweatband was cool in the Eighties but I may have to get one anyway.  I noticed that the body odors are stronger in damp weather.  At first I thought it was just me but other people I know agreed that their gyms smell worse when the humidity is high.  I can't wait for summer.

This was a big week for the family.  Our fifth grandchild was born on Wednesday.  Andrew Lucas.  We had all the other grandchildren together at a family barbecue on Saturday for my mother-in-law who was 84 on Friday.  We had rain, of course, but we still had fun.

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan

Hanging in there

After two weeks of doing the exercise bike at the gym I feel pretty good.  I did around 13 miles per visit on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I also did some walking outside of the gym including taking my grandson to the park and chasing him around the playground.  On Wednesday I thought I'd step it up and try the elliptical trainer.  Well I bit off a little more than I was ready for.  I was using the lowest setting but I had trouble keeping up momentum.  The readout kept showing "workout paused"  and "resume workout" all while I was still trying.to go as fast as I could manage.  I lasted 20 minutes and went one mile.  The calories burned in twenty minutes were the same as an hour on the bike.  I believe it.  I did go to the bike after I gave up on the elliptical and did my usual hour.

A thin friend of mine told me she thought the elliptical was the hardest to do except for doing an inclined treadmill.  That made me feel better.  I think I'll wait a couple of weeks before I try it again.  I think the one day last week when I did the 21 miles was directly related to the people around me.  I find that when people next to me are doing over 100 RPM on the bike I tend to keep up with them.  If my neighbors are slower I follow suit.  I can get over a hundred on my own but I don't seem to keep it up for as long.  I have to rearrange my music so that I keep up the pace along with the rhythm.  I like to use the Rocky Theme near the end and follow with Sargeant Pepper/The End.

I wore a skirt to church today that I only bought last month.  I had to pin the waist band smaller otherwise it might have fallen off.  It's that big on me.  My wedding rings are pretty loose but I plan on the summertime swelling to keep me from losing them.  I told my hubby I need a guard ring to wear on that finger because I don't want to get the rings re-sized just yet.  Some of my friends are surprised that I still want to lose 90 more pounds.    It seems like a lot but there is still plenty of me left.

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan

I've Busted Out!

First, let me say Happy Mothers Day to all.  If you have ever had a mother, been a mother or loved someone else's mother I hope you enjoy your day.  I am past the stage where I can expect breakfast in bed on Mothers day but I remember those years where the children proudly put together their best efforts for me to surprise me when I awoke.  Those days were special and I miss them.

These days I am enjoying my new found freedom of movement since losing 140 pounds after my gastric bypass.  As I said in my last entry I have discovered the endorphin "high" from aerobic exercise.  My total miles on the Life Cycle for the week was 46 miles.  On Wednesday night I did 21.6 miles in one hour and amazingly I felt like I could have kept going.  I truly feel like I've been let out of my prison of fat.  I was watching other people living life but I was literally dying.  I am so much freer to do the things I need or want to do.  Why have so many of us incarcerated ourselves?  Obesity has become so widespread in my lifetime.  We are a generation who has never known food rationing.   We are so blessed with abundance but do not know how to say no.

Now that I have come so far I must ensure that I never be back in that cell where I isolated myself from so much.  I feel younger, more energetic and I am enjoying life more than I have in many years.

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan

By George I Believe I've Struck Endorphins

A while ago I mentioned that my psychiatrist advised that endorphins usually don't kick in till after 30 minutes of exercise.  I took that advice and started doing the exercise bike for around 60 minutes at a time.  I listen to my workout music on my IPod and have felt pretty good.

Usually after my workout I use the Planet Fitness massage chair for 5-10 minutes.  You sign in for the chair and the attendant gives you tokens for the chair.  Tonight when I signed in I had difficulty writing.  It felt like when I'd try to write after having an argument with someone.  I discovered this one day in high school.  After a loud disagreement with one of my friends I sat down in a classroom and started taking notes.  I found that my hand was difficult to control and my words came out much larger than my usual penmanship.  I've had this happen a few more times in my lifetime and I attribute this phenomenon to an adrenalin rush.  Its kind of like developing superhuman strength in a crisis.  Fortunately I've never had to lift a car off of one of my children.  I did have a car accident on the San Diego Freeway once.  The horn wouldn't stop blowing because the steering wheel bent forward while I was standing on the brake trying not to hit the car in front of me.  After realizing what the noise was from I unbent the steering wheel to get the horn to quit.  Now somebody told me that these days steering wheels are meant to be flexible to minimize chest trauma but I still don't think I could have moved that wheel without a body chemical stimulant.  I've really gone off on a tangent here!  The point I was aiming for was that I felt so "juiced up"  on endorphins that it caused the same type of chemical rush.  I was feeling pretty good while doing my cycling and wasn't in a hurry to stop.  Who would have thought that I'd ever be reluctant to STOP exercising?  My, my!

On Saturday I my husband and I got to watch all four of our grandchildren for a while.  Grandma and Grandpa had our hands full but everyone survived.

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan