I fell off the FlyLady wagon, oh I don't know, about a year ago? I am trying to get back on again.
I keep seeing the testimonials from the FlyLady list for Leanne Ely's Saving Dinner. I decided to check out the site a couple of weeks ago and have been debating joining. I finally decided to try it out, and luckily for me when I joined the menu mailers for three months were on sale for $6.95.
You can try a free sample menu without signing up. It was a little confusing when I joined. First off, I used PayPal and the money had to move from my checking account, so there was a delay on my subscription. Secondly, you only get access to a sample menu mailer until the first Tuesday after you subscribe. They don't make that clear, at least I didn't grasp it, and was unsure as to why I wasn't able to get to "my menus".
Saturday night we had our first meal from the sample menu mailer. I am very picky about how things taste, and this meal was truly delicious. It was chicken breasts with lemon slices, olive oil and zucchini squash, topped with the feta cheese I started earlier in the day, which Kev finished making so I could leave to go to Home Depot with dh.
I decided to start with the "Body Clutter" menu mailer. The neat thing about this service is Leanne not only gives you six days worth of dinner meals, with the recipe, but she also makes a shopping list which shows what you'll need to make all the meals. You just go through the shopping list and check your fridge and pantry and cupboards and cross off anything you already have "in stock", leaving you with a list of what you need to buy.
Oh, and I guess a new feature is she used to subscribe you to just one menu mailer, if you signed up for Body Clutter, that's all you could access. But now she allows you to subscribe to one, and have access to all. The others are Regular, Heart Healthy and Low Carb. The Body Clutter menu seems to be quite Low Carb. I hate to admit it, but I am so sensitive to carbs that I feel much better when I avoid them. 
For our family, the shopping list caused a little bit of a problem because well, it is becoming obvious to me that we eat too much food. The menu creates meals to serve four people, and there is no way we could get by with preparing that small amount of food. I have food issues, it is becoming more and more obious that my dh has food issues, and on and on. Anyway, if Kev or I dared cook only four servings there would be mass hysteria and rebellion.
So we'll have to take it slow. What I decided we'd do is make double the menu. This also offers the option for me to have lunch for leftovers the next day. We were supposed to make a vegetable to go along with the meal, and a salad. But we only got the dinner part cooked.
I am also trying to incorporate some FlyLady routines. I've never really got them started, and it is so difficult for me to get to work on time for all I have to do in the morning. I am trying to get a weekend routine put together, which would include getting my clothes ready for work for the entire week. Last Thursday morning, it was 4:50am and I was trying to find a shirt to wear that wasn't wrinkled or stained. I ended up wearing one of ds1's shirts that was very huge on me, had cat hair on it, and I'm sure I just looked like a mess. I've also been having a problem deciding what to wear for church on Sunday.
So if I get my clothes ready on the weekend, including what I'll wear to church, I can eliminate that stress.
I have also started having scrambled eggs for breakfast for me and dh, and I really like that little bit of time we have together in the morning. It only takes about 15 minutes, but it has been making me late for work. We switched milking to mornings, because it's too hot in the afternoon now, and the flies bother us. That takes up at least 30 minutes. And I need to figure out something for my lunch for the day, plus 2 to 3 snacks so I'm not tempted to stop for something from a convenience store, or fast food. I also have to get my vitamins together. So I'm hoping to move these things to the evening prior, as well as looking at the Saving Dinner menu to see what's for dinner the next evening and taking the meat from the freezer so it can start to thaw.
Until next time.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Saving Dinner
Labels: Body Acceptance, FlyLady
Monday, December 31, 2007
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Starvation Diet
Labels: Body Acceptance
I know a lot of the way I think was heavily influenced by Mrs. So and So. One of the things she did regularly was try to lose weight. She would try any fad diet she heard about. One time, she tried the lettuce diet. All you eat is lettuce.
As a result, the only diet I ever considered was a sensible one and I've never tried to eat less than 1800 calories a day.
A new acquaintance told me recently she'd lost 40 pounds by eating nothing but Lean Cuisine. The story she told me originally was that she did this for one year, lost 40 pounds and learned "portion control". Yesterday she told a group of us that she was "starting on her diet plan" again. She told us that she ate nothing but Lean Cuisine and 40 pounds dropped off in two months, she learned portion control and her body would no longer allow her to eat too much food and she was able to begin cooking her own food and eating small portions. She intends to lose another 20 pounds by Christmas. This is in part due to the fact that she has regained 5 pounds that she lost. I was quiet as usual, but the other women were curious about her plan. She also told us she walked on her treadmill for 40 minutes the night before. Her choice of exercise and she hasn't used her treadmill in some time.
Her plan is to eat 3 Lean Cuisines each day, plus one handful of almonds. She says the almonds help your metabolism in some way.
This woman strikes me as intelligent. She is a hard worker and conscientious. But she's embarking on a starvation diet.
Most Lean Cuisines contain 200 to 300 calories, with a minimum of 140 and maximum of 400. One handful of almonds, approximately 1 ounce or 23 kernels, contains 160 calories. Even if she managed to eat only the LCs which contain 400 calories, three of those plus the almonds equals 1360 calories.
The University of Michigan's website had this to say about low calorie diets:
It is harmful to reduce your daily calorie intake lower than 1400 calories per day. If you reduce your calorie intake too much, your body adjusts to a semi-starvation state and looks for alternative sources of energy. In this case, in addition to burning fat, your body will eventually burn muscle tissue. Since your heart is a muscle, prolonged starvation will weaken it and interfere with its normal rhythms. Extreme low-calorie diets lack protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins and minerals. Without these nutrients your body cannot function normally. Extreme low-calorie diets are not recommended.
Since most LCs contain between 200 and 300 calories, it is more likely she's going to be getting 600 to 900 calories each day, plus the almonds. Some days, she will be ingesting less than 1000 calories.
Two of the other women she was talking to were diabetics. Both obese. Both wish they could lose weight. Both made comments indicating they could get on board with this "diet".
I estimate the dieting lady to weigh 160 pounds. Losing down to 140 is not unreasonable. It's not like she's 125 trying to get down to a size 0 and weigh 105 pounds. However, she does not look overweight by any stretch of the imagination. She looks healthy and beautiful.
Each person's body expends a specific number of calories in a given day, based on the exercise level which is called the Basal Metabolic Rate. According to this BMR calculator, my acquaintance's body burns 1468 calories each day. I'm basing this on her age (41), my estimation of her weight (160) and height (5'6"). She needs to eat at minimum this number of calories (1468) to sustain her body. This is what her body needs at complete rest while awake, not counting any other activity. An estimation of her daily activities, calculated at Calories Burned comes to 682.
I based this on these activities:
Activity Calories burned
3 minutes to Brush teeth 9
10 minutes of Cooking (how long can it take to nuke a Lean Cuisine?) 33
30 minutes of Reading 40
20 minutes Washing dishes 56
30 minutes of Driving 79
60 minutes Talking on phone 79
30 minutes of Housework 109
40 minutes Walking 2 mph 139
60 minutes Studying 139
So 1468 just to keep the ol' body going, plus a minimum of an additional 682 calories. 1468 plus 682 comes to 2150 calories.
If she eats three of the highest caloric Lean Cuisines, she's getting 1200 calories, plus the almonds, 160, bringing her to a total of 1360 calories each day. Since most of the LCs are 200-300, she's more likely to ingest 760 to 1060 calories each day.
It is said that in order to lose one pound each week, you have to take in 3500 calories less per week. 500 calories less each day. This is less than you normally take in. Meaning if you normally eat 2500 calories a day, a reduction in calories of 500 per day should result in 1 pound each week. However, our bodies aren't machines. There are many other factors that determine weight loss. Genetics for one thing.
My acquaintance plans to lose 20 pounds in 8 weeks. That's more than 2 pounds each week. Going about it in the way she is will probably result in the desired weight loss. But is she doing her body a service by starving it? Is she losing muscle? Which could include muscle to her heart, the muscle which pumps blood through her body and keeps her alive?
I wish her luck, in more ways than one.
Until next time.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Retiring the 38s
Labels: Body Acceptance
I decided last night I can't take it any longer. I've gained an inch or maybe two around my waist in the past couple of months, and my pants are so uncomfortably tight. Every time I sit down I'm almost in pain for the waistband cutting into my stomach.
I tell you, stressful situations make me eat badly. Just thinking about trying to lose weight makes me gain weight. Because I feel denied, um, what's the word... well, you know it means something like being denied. I have also been overeating eating quite a bit. This happens when I wait too long to eat. I am by then so voracious that I consume large amounts of food without thinking about what I'm doing. Crazy Aunt Purl talked again recently about her vow she made to never diet again. I cannot diet again either. A friend asked me just a few days to go on a diet with her, but I just can't. Just planning for the wedding in the past few months has packed on pounds, the thought of "oh I need to do SOMETHING, lose at least ten pounds".
At any rate, I bumped up to size 40 Wrangler Relaxed Fit jeans. I believe just not having to gasp every day all day long from the pain in my stomach from the cutting waistband alone will give me relief.
Back to real life. Floating doesn't clean the house. I've already tossed clothes in the washer and should get out to milk and feed soon.
Until next time.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Lane Bryant
Labels: Body Acceptance, Wedding
Yesterday afternoon as I approached the Lane Bryant store, I admit... I was apprehensive. I had never been in a Lane Bryant, have never shopped online from Lane Bryant. After all, that's the "fat girls" store. I don't mean it like, "I'm too good/thin (HAH!) to shop there" more like "I can't believe my body is really this size so that's not where I would shop." I still think my body just got this big a year or so ago. I dieted my way from a size 14 down to size 10 or 12 when I was 30, in 1993 and from birth until 1987 I was very slender. So basically the first half of my life I was slender and the last half I've been not slender.
I was apprehensive because I was dressed in blue collar type work clothes. I was wearing my company shirt that I wear to pick up the "shred" and black jeans. Apparently I look like a Walmartian for nearly every time I'm in Walmart dressed this way, I'm asked where something is. Last week I was in the fabric section and a lady asked me where the Southwestern type material was located. I told her politely, "I'm sorry, I don't work here." She was a bit hard of hearing and replied, "It used to be right here." So I repeated myself. Then she was embarrassed.
I was also apprehensive because even though we have air conditioning in the truck, it's so hot out that was already sweating, okay, glistening. But I smelled sweaty. And dh was dressed in coveralls. So we were quite a pair.
Nonetheless, I bravely approached the counter and asked the lady for help with a bra fitting. She was new, and said the other lady would be able to help me once she was done checking out her customer. So she did the fitting over my bra and shirt and said I measured 40" around my ribcage. Oddly enough, when I took my own measurement, it came out to 42". So she said you add two inches to your actual measurement. Another oddity, as on the Lane Bryant website it says nothing about that. I'm still curious how I'm 2 whole inches smaller with my own tape measure. I actually asked her to measure me again, while in the fitting room and then she said I was actually 39".
All right. I just stopped typing to tape my own measurement. I am only 39". Could it be that I was retaining water last week? Maybe that's what it was.
Enough of that.
After she deemed me a 42DD, she took me over to the wall to show me some bras, but first she asked me if this was for an everyday bra or a special occasion? I said actually we (pointing to dh) were remarrying, so she picked out a lacy bra. I told her I was making my own gown and it would either be light blue or jade green, so I thought beige would be the best choice.
I went in and tried on the bra. It was a challenge to get it hooked -- I finally caved a year ago and started buying bras that hook in the front -- but I got it hooked and got myself situated and OH.MY.GOODNESS. Was that really ME and my bust in the mirror? WOW. I have never had a push up bra, and my heavens did this one ever push them up! In a few seconds, my salesclerk was there at the door, asking me how the bra was fitting. She came in and checked the fit and deemed it good. That's when I asked her to measure me again.
She left and I took off the beige lacy bra. While laying it down, I discovered its secret... little baggies of air in side pockets, lol. No wonder it pushed and lifted. Next I tried on the black bra, it fit well also. Next I tried on the white "everyday" bra. She came and looked and said maybe I only needed a D cup since the bra looked a little big at the top. So she brought back a 42D and I tried that one on. It looked better than the DD. She reminded me they were having a sale on bras, buy one, get one for half off.
I decided to take the beige and the white. The beige was $34 and the white was $30. I have never spent anywhere near that on a bra in my life. I think $13 has been the highest I've ever spent and I ended up taking that one back. When I checked out, she asked me if I would like to apply for a charge account and get an additional 15% off. She said I'd get the discount whether I was approved or not. Once I was approved (I knew I would be) she announced I would receive 20% off.
So I ended up paying $42.30 for two nice quality (still MADE IN CHINA though, drat!) bras.
Overall, the experience at Lane Bryant's was amazing. Even dh commented on how helpful they were. To tell you the truth, I've never been to a "quality" clothing store and been treated so respectfully and like I'm really there. And the salesclerks were all "real" women and in addition they were mature women. Not just a bunch of young, skinny girls. Of course how inappropriate that would be to hire skinny girls to work at Lane Bryant's.
On a list I'm on for overcoming overeating (not to be confused with overeaters anonymous!) we have recently been discussing how as we age we become more invisible to store clerks. Maybe it's not JUST weight, but also age. I don't know. I am 44, but look more like I'm 25 or 30. So I still think it's my weight. My sister who has maintained her weight loss (I would guess about 40 pounds?) claims that store clerks consider her one of the "beautiful people" now that she's slender. She claims Walmartians practically fall over themselves trying to get her to check out in their lane.
I wish I had more money to spend on clothing, I would return to Lane Bryant's again.
I do plan to write a note to the saleswoman and thank her for the very positive experience I had in her store.
We have begun milking in the morning and so I am on my way out to milk. Today is the day we grocery shop and pick up the shred. I wish we could be home by noon so I could work on the dress again. Tomorrow I'm planning to go to a friend's house, the one that is going to do my makeup. I will arrive around 8am and I hope to be home by noon or 1pm at latest, again, so I can work on the dress. Ds2 did a "house blessing" on the livingroom yesterday, so that worry is off my shoulders. Also my Fit for Real People book came yesterday and I read some of it last night. Lots of information!
Until next time.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
It's a Good Day to Clean
Labels: Body Acceptance, books, goats, knitting, work
I'm thinking weekly posts are going to be my best hope at this point in time. I'm trying out the "working 15 minutes, taking a 15 minute break" FlyLady idea today. I think that's her suggestion. I figure I can get four hours of housework done if I stay at it all day long. (Hah, that worked for about 1 hour and now I've been here since.)
So I'll be here on and off for the next couple hours or so. Depending on how much I end up fonting about. Pretty cool on the new Blogger feature - auto-saving drafts. NEAT.
My keyboard and mouse arrived. The mouse is awesome, now to learn how to use all the buttons all over it. The keyboard's spacebar isalittle funky... as you can see I am having some spacebar issues. I hope I'll get used to it.
On the baby sweater front... well, it's looking like I might be giving it to someone else's baby. Maybe. I've become a bit annoyed with the previous recipient baby's parent who didn't even know I was knitting a baby sweater, so will never even know what the baby almost had. I was confused about the front and blogged about it here. I think I solved the problem. I'm pretty sure I was backwards on my sides. I will try to remember in the future to use patterns which show the layout of the pieces. This pattern doesn't, so I have no idea how the individual pieces are supposed to look. But this is what I have for now. I think the piece on the left is the right side. The piece on the right side is the first side I did and I had to take out several rows to be redone correctly.
Because this part of the pattern takes so much thinking effort, I decided to start my sock gauge. I hear a lot of grumbling about making the gauge, but then I read a blog somewhere - did I already link to it in a previous post? I see that I haven't. Anyway, I decided to embrace gauge swatch-making and use it as a tool, which is what they say it is anyway. That said, I discovered why I couldn't get my gauge without using needles 3 sizes smaller with this knit baby sweater. It's because I knit freakishly loose. So I decided to tighten up my knitting on the sock gauge. I left this image extra big so you can click on it and maybe see what I'm taking about. The bottom few rows are very loose and stretchy. But as I continued on perfecting my technique my knitting became tighter and more uniform. Later in the day I worked on the baby sweater again and was still able to achieve the loose knitting effect which is important if I ever want to finish the baby sweater.
I like this article about gauging.
Rethinking Thin arrived. I've had a chance to read a bit of it, and frankly am astonished at how long people have been dieting, and learned that like fashion, diets resurface their way through the generations.
Yesterday dh had another side job. It's actually a continuation of side jobs for an elderly woman. We neglected to call to let her know our estimated time of arrival so naturally she was a bit annoyed at us. It was getting late in the day so we had almost decided to wait until next weekend to finish the job, but then we decided we just wanted to get it done. We refinished her back gate, and replaced the door frame (the decorative part) around one of her side doors. We stained the back gate and painted the door frame. It took longer than expected - four hours both of us working steadily. These jobs always do. I told dh yesterday to start doubling the time he's estimating for jobs. If the person doesn't like the cost, then they won't hire us for the job. That's fine.
The lady knows we work four days each week and made a point to comment on how she only has two days each week to get things done and can't sit around waiting for us to arrive. Well, her roommate also drives but doesn't work at all. I say she should do the errands and running around during the week. Whatever. It's not we slept in until 10am and finally decided to get going. I was up by 4:30am, out milking by 5am and we were finally leaving just about 7am. It was a non-stop day. We finally arrived home at 8pm. Ds2 had a wonderful dinner ready for us. Butter fried chicken breast (no batter coating), a lovely tossed salad, eggplant and zucchini and fried rice. It tasted so good. I got overheated while working in the sun and at one point had to sit down and kick off my shoes and socks. I was just too hot. The lady had some friends over, a man and woman and their young daughter, for swimming. They're splashing and yelling (Marco - POLO - Marco - POLO) and we're burning up from the heat.
No one has any time anymore. Today ds2 said the weekend never even started and it's already over.
I was late for milking this morning. The girls were yelling at me. I started milking around 7:10am. Very late indeed. I noticed Ms. Z was still in heat (I questioned whether she was yesterday but wasn't quite sure) and have been toying with the thought of some off season breeding - especially since I'm noticing my girls coming into heat this late in the year. Usually they stop showing signs of cycling by end of March. So I decided to take her over to visit Elvis once I was done milking. I have been worried about his fertility since I stupidly didn't pay attention to the important things when choosing a buck. Things like positioning of the equipment... when humans have fertility issues, men are advised to switch from jockey shorts to boxers for maximum fertility since having the scrotum snuggled near to the body keeps the sperm warm. God designed the sperm to be cooler, thus the hanging design. Elvis' ahem seems to be very near to his body.
Today I moved our other buck, a Nigerian Dwarf -- who is excessively sexy (iow, constantly peeing on his own head) and always ragingly in the mood (and quite frankly he seems more like a dirty old man pervert the way he's always leering and snorting and sticking out his tongue at the girls, lol) -- into the hallway which separates the does from the bucks, while Elvis and Ms. Z had a chance to get to know one another. Ms. Z immediately reared up and popped Elvis one on the head, so I had to hold her to stop her from doing that. One of my goat mentors says there is nothing worse than a young buckling being bashed by a doe to make him less likely to perform his job successfully. Finally he covered her and was done in a fraction of millisecond.
I debated leaving her with him for the day, to make sure she was bred but ended up taking her back home. Next I took out one of our doelings who is 14 months old. She has always been on the wild side and I've been worried about her ability as a milker. I've heard some horror stories of people trying to milk wild does. So I've been catching her once each weekend, removing her from the yard, putting her on the milking stand, locking her in and giving her some grain. She's taming down nicely.
I am working with Elvis each weekend (should work with him more, but just don't have the time) training him to walk with me when I hold him by the collar. I need to be able to take him to visit the does and take him back home. Bucks grow to be very big and it's important that they learn to take commands. Once he weighs 250 pounds, it's too late to teach him to walk calmly. By that time he'll be charging and racing to get where we're going and that would be a disaster. I'd never get him back home. So I took Elvis from his pen to walk him for a while. Last week was the first time I went into his pen. While he didn't run from me too much, he did run. But this week he came right over to me. He knows good things happen when he comes with me. Namely he gets grain. But best of all, he'll learn walking peacefully with me will allow him a visit with one of his wives. I did take him over to visit again with Ms. Z. She stood for him this time, that's a good sign that she's at optimum fertility.
If she produces kids in October, his fertility will become less of a question. I will probably breed a couple other does if they come into heat in the next couple of weeks. We have never bred off season before. Usually we wait until September or thereafter to breed. That is the normal season for breeding Nubians. Also, for people who show, it puts their does at the peak of their lactation so they have these huge udders when being shown at the fair. But since we don't show our goats, that isn't a priority for us.
Sweet dreams, kitty.
Until next time.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Running Into Family
Labels: Body Acceptance, Memory Lane, Musing, recipes
Yesterday dh and I ran into one of his sisters. She is a mean one. She takes after their father. He passed away about sixteen years ago. He was a scary father in law. I'm sorry to say I'm glad he is no longer with us. He was very verbally abusive. He would say mean things on purpose to people, just to get a rise out of them, and then laugh at them. You could never trust him, because just when you thought he was being nice and really listening to you, he'd say something mean and nasty.
She didn't recognize us at first. I haven't seen her for probably a dozen or more years. But she had seen her brother and our sons less than five years ago. She said she couldn't recognize me because I was wearing a bandanna. Sigh. I know why she couldn't recognize me. I'm fat! Twice the size I ever was when she knew me way back when. She's gained a little weight around her stomach and is a little pudgy.
I know that I shouldn't care, but deep down inside I do.
Oh well. Not really much I can do about it. It's not like I can go on a diet and lose 60 pounds and never see that weight again. Some people can, but I'm not one of them.
Okay, so it's not like we're planning to hang out with her or anything, so I can just forget about it.
That's another thing I was thinking about (yet again). Why is it that I have to be so worried about how and what people think about me?
I'm pretty lucky, I think, because we don't do family get together type things. Neither my family, nor my dh's. It works for us.
Ds2 is outside on the tractor right now, preparing a new campfire pit area. The weather is turning chilly and it will be fun to sit and roast marshmallows and hot dogs. We are hoping to check it out tonight.
In the morning, when I milk, it's getting a lot more chilly. I am still milking under the starry sky and enjoying watching the herd while I milk each doe. This morning it was 48°F and I was not cold... and I was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. All that extra padding, you know.
One lady called it being "fluffy". I'm not really "fluffy" though. I look like I weigh about 180 or 190 and I'm about 25 pounds heavier than that. I am definitely pretty solid for the most part. Anyway, I think chubby grandmas are much nicer to hug than skinny, bony grandmas.
I have dinner in the crockpot as I type. Five chicken breasts with 2 cups kefir, about 10 cloves garlics crushed and one sliced onion. If you don't have kefir, you could try using sour cream, or yogurt. It is supposed to be really delicious poured over warm rice. It smells good as it is cooking.
Ooooh, I feel tired already. I wish I could take a quick nap, but I have so much to do before this day is over!!
Until next time.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Bad Body Thoughts and Potato Salad
Labels: Body Acceptance, Memory Lane, recipes, Self-Sufficiency
I've probably already used today's header (okay, not exactly, probably didn't include potato salad prior to now) for a previous entry, as this issue crops up every once in a while. Once in a while isn't so bad, as many women experience "Bad Body Thoughts" on a daily, even hourly basis.
According to Jane Hirschmann and Carol Munter's theory discussed in their book _Overcoming Overeating_, Bad Body Thoughts are never about our bodies - no matter how much we want them to be. They're always about something else going on in our heads.
My Bad Body Thoughts started yesterday, when I pulled out a pair of coveralls that I haven't worn for over a year, and they were tight on me. Immediately I started feeling like crap. My dh knows how sensitive I am about my weight, and thinks women are much too hard on themselves. To his credit, one of the many reasons I love him, he also does not think I'm fat. When I asked him if he thought the coveralls were too tight on me, he said they weren't. I complained that it feels as if I've gained weight and that it seems this will be my fate, to just keep gaining weight and gaining weight, every year, year after year. Because at the mere thought of going on a diet, I begin to overeat and continue in that vein. Gaining weight, losing
weight, I eat. I recall a couple of weeks ago, feeling that my pants were a bit baggy. It's like somewhere in my mind, a celebration begins. "Now we can EAT!"
I'm wearing a pair of shorts that are cutting an indention in my waist.
Then suddenly it occurs to me that it IS that time of the month... and customary for me to have some bloating at this time.
Having Bad Body Thoughts are a way to avoid the real issues. When we focus on our bodies and our dislike for them, it is a convenient way to get our minds off the real problems. I've been following this theory for over ten years now, and it seems to be correct. Because when I am feeling happy and content with my life, I do not focus hatred toward my body. When I stop to ask, "Why the Bad Body Thoughts? What else is going on?" I am usually able to find something underlying that is bothering me.
For the first twenty-five years of my life, I ate whatever I wanted, when I wanted, in the quantities I wanted. I know that I even overate some foods, like pasta. I was slender and my body was beautiful, but at that time, I was unhappy with it. The way my belly pooched out, and on and on.
I began to diet and bodybuild in my late twenties, for a few years into my thirties. It really did a number on me, psychologically. Messed me up big time. I feel like I'm broken, when it comes to dieting. It doesn't help that 1) all the advertisements for weight loss have skinny SKINNY people, size TWO and then in tiny font you see the words, "Results Not Typical" 2) Studies show that 95% of dieters gain back the weight they lost, and usually more. I have done that, and I wish I'd never dieted in the first place. I feel certain I'd be at least fifty pounds lighter than I am now.
Anyway, enough of that. I know I've fonted on about it in past entries. I need to print out all my entries and put them into a notebook binder for quick reference.
For the faint of heart, you may want to skip over this part of my entry as I blog some fact of life farm details. I will italicize it so you can skip over it to the potato salad recipe. Just skip down to the next set of dashes.
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Today we harvested one of our wethers. It is the second time we have done a four legged critter on our own; the first time I was not present. I cried when I heard the details on the first one, and I cried today -- just for a few seconds I got teary-eyed, but then it was over and we were worked to process the carcass. I think today went much more smoothly. We were taught back the procedure on Memorial Day 2005 by a friend of ours; he came over and demonstrated the process. We had two Barbardos Black Bellied Sheep to do. He did the kill with his bow and arrow, which did not phase him a bit. He is used to hunting and killing, and grew up in PA and his family raised and processed their own animals, so it is easy for him. This is the most difficult part for us. We had the backstrap with our dinner tonight. Chevon is not really meant to be BBQ'd or fried, because it is so lean it should be slow and moist cooked. We have four more to go. Three are youngsters, which really makes it a lot easier. The fourth one is going on a year and a half. I am planning to make some goat bone broth, and I saved the liver and heart for a day when I'm more ambitious.
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I did make my potato salad, here is the recipe, but bear in mind I don't do exact measurements:
- 5 pounds russet potatoes, boiled, peeled and diced
- 1 bunch radishes, diced (about 10 or so)
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 1 medium sized cucumber, diced (seeds removed)
- 1 large whole pickle, diced
- 1 - 6 ounce can whole black olives, sliced
- 2-3 Tablespoons pickle juice
- mayonnaise to taste
- salt and pepper to taste
I have been working on getting a contact form to work for one of my client's website today, and have finally gotten it done!
Until next time.
