Yesterday’s post walk weight was 150.6, exactly 35 pounds from the starting weight in mid-May.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And this morning, at the official before-breakfast weigh-in, the same.\u00a0\u00a0 (Sometimes I gain weight overnight without eating or drinking anything.\u00a0 Last Monday, for instance.\u00a0 But not this Monday.)\u00a0\u00a0 This takes me solidly below the “overweight” category on the BMI charts , and yes, I know those charts are not an accurate determination of anything much.\u00a0 Nevertheless, should I come in contact with medical personnel,\u00a0 they’re less likely to offer hassle about my weight.\u00a0\u00a0 Which will save me a blood-pressure spike sure to bring on more hassle.\u00a0 Once in the 140s, I’m also at a weight where trotting and cantering a horse is less likely to put strain on the horse, no matter what tack the horse carries.\u00a0 Below 140 I can use my western saddle again (it’s built to a particular weight range–vintage Orthoflex with panels designed to conform to a horse’s back properly within about a fifteen-twenty pound range.<\/p>\n
Toward the end of last week I tried on the riding jeans from Miller’s (now gone, but once a good place to buy riding clothes and tack) and lo, I could zip them without having to lie down on my back to do so. \u00a0 I loved those jeans when I fit into them before.\u00a0 They’re real denim jeans–solidly made, with real pockets, not those “fingertip length” ones, but I have only the one pair and when I start riding again I’ll need two pairs.\u00a0 I needed to go into the city anyway, so decided to add a quick trip to Dover Saddlery,\u00a0 to see if I could find a pair of riding tights, denim pants, or breeches that fit now and for the next size, size & a half down.\u00a0 Also I needed better mane-untangling stuff, a belt that actually fit (lose 10 inches of waist *and* your leather punch, and no belt in the house really fits or can be made to, despite tries with an ice pick and screwdriver), a “shade thingie” for my riding helmet, and another pair of S&G rancher gloves (they had none in my size, all too small.)\u00a0\u00a0 Knew I was going to buy only one pair to ride in, because…still losing.\u00a0 Will be losing the next 3-4 months.\u00a0\u00a0 Next purchase I hope will be two sizes down, since I have one pair (leftover, old stuff)\u00a0 at that size, and if I time it right, it will mean I only need one pair at the size beyond that.\u00a0 Then…assuming stabilization at the final size, I will buy an additional pair or so at that size.<\/p>\n
Found “denim riding jeans” with skimpy lady pockets, very low cotton content (lightweight but they fit and are comfortable) and a humongous price.\u00a0 Celebration, though, so bought them anyway.\u00a0 Best for hot weather but by the time it’s really hot again, I’ll be smaller yet.\u00a0\u00a0 And it was straight off the rack, not the largest size carried (checked other styles & manufacturers, too) which means from here on I’ll have less trouble finding something I like that fits.\u00a0\u00a0 I wish it had a cellphone thigh pocket, which has become a thing in the riding breeches styles. The belt wasn’t expensive–and it’s adjustable by cutting it shorter as you shrink.\u00a0\u00a0 Managed not to stop any of the places I used to stop to eat on the way home by taking a different road and–when the last serious temptation appeared–being in the wrong lane to turn in.\u00a0 Once past, no urge to find a way back, either.\u00a0 Win!\u00a0\u00a0 Got home to find the box of seed from Native American Seed had arrived and R- had brought it into the kitchen.\u00a0 Win, win, WIN.<\/p>\n
He’s gone off to pick up a replacement hearing aid (still on warranty so *only* $300!)\u00a0\u00a0 The right one fell out while he was working outside and he didn’t notice at first, so though we both looked in the horse lot and then out on the land…no luck.\u00a0 We will do pictures of seeding the burn scar, though, once we get started.\u00a0 (He got back after I wrote that and will get his right hearing aid replacement in a week or so.)<\/p>\n
Please note that what I write about my personal weight-loss situation is NOT intended as directions for anyone else.\u00a0 We each have a unique body that reacts uniquely via both genetics and past experience, including injury and illness and environmental insults.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We each have foods that agree with us, or don’t agree with us, even beyond the level of allergy or the other level of like\/don’t like.\u00a0 There are some generalities that *seem* (at this time) to hold, and which *might* be applicable to most people, such as the decline of metabolism rate with age, the associated loss of muscle mass and increase of fat that has seemed (until relatively recent research) to be inevitable, but for which a combination of more protein to preserve muscle mass and continued exercise now seems to point to a better future for many.<\/p>\n
For me, as a person who for more than half my life was on the thin side, and ate a high protein diet by choice, changing to a “normal” diet as then defined (and still defined), plus other changes, including injuries and personal stresses, resulted\u00a0 in weight gain, less energy, less strength, and an increasing feeling of alienation from my body.\u00a0\u00a0 Discovering this year that old people in general need more, not less, protein, and feeling the change inside when I reached that higher level, has been a strong motivator to ignore advice I’d been trying to follow.\u00a0\u00a0 In the last week, nearing a level I’ve not seen for years and years,\u00a0 I’m feeling more myself.\u00a0 I see myself in the mirror…older self, sure.\u00a0 Wrinkles, age spots, thinning hair, stiffness in the morning, complaints in some joints, all that, sure.\u00a0 But now it’s the same underlying contours, the bones that used to be so prominent.\u00a0\u00a0 And out walking, it’s the same gait, my trail walk.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It feels like<\/em> me to<\/em> me.\u00a0 Not just the weight lost, though that’s part of it, but the way the body feels, as if the old tired wolf resting under a tree suddenly felt less tired…got up and padded off down the trail, awake from nose to tail.<\/p>\n If you feel like taking anything from this, take the possibility that your unique, individual, physical body may have a resilience, a “life-force” that can be nurtured and encouraged, if you try things out after due consideration…an equally unique, individual, set of things–foods, actions, colors, surroundings, amount of sleep, daily routine, etc, etc–that will work for<\/em> you, not against you if you tune in to them.\u00a0 Broccoli and kale are not the answer for everyone, though they may be the answer for some.\u00a0 For every so-called “superfood” there’s someone for whom it’s no help at all, and for everyone there’s something that *does* make things better.\u00a0\u00a0 What I’ve done this time has worked for me so far and I’ll continue until I’m back to the weight that feels normal for me.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What you do…is up to you.\u00a0 I’m not here to judge your culinary choices, or your health choices.\u00a0 If you’re happy as you are, keep doing what you’re doing.\u00a0 If you’re not…consider a change.\u00a0 Understand that age *does* bring changes, and what worked for you for years may not work as well now….or may just be impossible for some reason.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But since change is going to come, you can be actively in it maybe longer than you think.<\/p>\n Today’s Nature News…from this evening’s walk out on the land…the monarch migration is now here and trickling through, with monarchs showing interest in the Maximilian Sunflowers and the milkweeds in the near meadow.\u00a0 I need to get down to the creek woods tomorrow and see if they’ve come to the frostweed there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday’s post walk weight was 150.6, exactly 35 pounds from the starting weight in mid-May.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And this morning, at the official before-breakfast weigh-in, the same.\u00a0\u00a0 (Sometimes I gain weight overnight without eating or drinking anything.\u00a0 Last Monday, for instance.\u00a0 But not this Monday.)\u00a0\u00a0 This takes me solidly below the “overweight” category on the BMI charts Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-beyond-writing","tag-life-beyond-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":957,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions\/957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}