DEBBIE-DABBLE BLOG

I am a Victorian Soul, who lives in a small townhouse that was built in the mid 1970's, not a huge Mega Mansion!! I just recently lost my Hubby Joe, who was a Retired Letter Carrier. I worked night shift as an RN on a Hospital based Rehabilitation( Physical Medicine) Unit for 37 years before I had Knee Replacement Surgery and officially Retired in 2019 after 41 years working in Direct Patient Care ... I am so glad that we retired at 62 years of age and got to spend that time together before he passed....I still do love Retirement!!!!

I DABBLE IN A BIT OF THIS AND THAT!!!!

" IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO BE WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN"
George Eliot

George Eliot was actually a pen name for a woman named Mary Anne Evans......

BLOGGING FOR FUN AND FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

How I Lost 31 Pounds , Part 2 of My Journey to a Healthier Life!!

Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

I am so happy you decided to stop by!!

ANNOUNCEMENT

I am now posting 3 times a week !!!

I will be posting on TUESDAY, THURSDAY and SATURDAY

With the beginning of Fall, the HOLIDAY SEASON starts for me....

I consider the Holiday Season from September until after Easter as I decorate for all the Holidays and Seasons in between those months....

So I usually have a lot to share....

As always, click on each picture if you would like to enlarge it....

Today will be my last post on this Blog for awhile as on THURSDAY, November 3rd,. I will start posting over on my Christmas Blog, A Debbie-Dabble Christmas, for the remainder of the year....

Today, I will be sharing how I lost 31 pounds since June 1st as I continue my journey toward a more Healthier Life....

In my last post, I shared Joe's annual Trip to Pittsburgh, more Fall Foliage, our Grand Pups, who are visited us for a few days and a new look for my dress form named Minerva!!

Click HERE to see this post if you missed it!!!

I want to Thank Mel, over at Decor, Craft Design, for choosing my post, Pink and Black Halloween in the Powder Room as one of her features from last week's Home Matters Linky Party!!!!

Thanks so much, Mel!

Please stop by and link up to this charming party!!

And now for a few Personal Notes...

Happy November!!

We had one Tricker or Treater last night!!

I was thrilled as that was one more than the last few years.....

I hope you all had a great Halloween!!!

Our Grand Pups went home after staying here for a few days while Jim and Danielle stayed in NYC for a few days....

Uncle Joey and Azumi....

Joe and Faye who is chewing on her toy stick!!

We had been taking them on walks up and down our road at least 3 times a day.....

Between the rain and wind that we had a few days ago and temps. below 32 degrees the last few mornings, a lot of the leaves have fallen off the trees and some are turning brown like the tree across the Court from us that I have been sharing through out this Fall Season....

Here is how it looked last week.....

And now it is starting to brown and lose it's leaves....

Soon it will be bare....

Here are a few more pictures that I took while walking the pups up and down our road behind us....

This is the Court behind us with only one row of 10 townhouses and the woods across from them that separates our development from Interstate 81.....

This used to be a field that I was able to easily walk through that led to a dirt road that is behind Michael's in the Arena Hub Shopping Center, located on the side of our development....

It is all grown in now.....

This is a Common Ground area on that Court and this is such a pretty tree that is still hanging on to it's Fall Foliage...

Even the leaves on the ground look pretty!!!

So we have woods behind us and on one side of us but on the other side is one of the busiest shopping areas in our County....

Looking through the fence on the side of our road, you can see Barnes and Nobles and the back of Lowes, and Five Below in the Arena Hub Shopping Center.....

There used to be woods on that side of us too until about 25 years ago when the shopping center was built....

The trees still have some color looking down the huge hill that we are on toward the apartment complex where our sons live....

Joe walking with Faye....

Our row of 10 townhouses....

And Azumi, who thoroughly enjoyed running through all the piles of leaves on the road!!!

We are supposed to have a beautiful week for the first week of November with temps.in the high 60's....

So it looks like I will be packing up and covering all the patio furniture, pots and some garden things in the back yard along with taking down Fall/Halloween decorations in the front of the house and then decorating for Christmas.....

In NEPA, the weather could change quickly this time of year and I decorated the front of our house too many years when it was 30 degrees or lower....

Last week, Joe and I met with our AARP Insurance Sale Representative who came to our home to explain different drug plans and sign me up for the same Medicare Supplement that Joe has with United Healthcare which is Plan G.....

Since you are eligible for Medicare starting the 1st of your Birthday month, I will be starting to get Medicare on January 1st of 2023!!!

So I fit right in with the Open Enrollment period which makes things a lot easier!!

I received a discount for 2023 as a new Enrollee and Joe also received a discount because of both of us having the same plan....

Joe's current drug plan increased their monthly premium so we both signed up for a Drug Plan where we each only pay a monthly premium of $11 and only have to pay $15 every 3 months for only one of our meds as the other ones are all FREE!!!!

HAPPY DAY!!!

Because of this, as of the first of the year, I alone with be saving anywhere from $550 - $575 a month on my Healthcare because of now being on Medicare, a drug plan and a supplement!!!!

Joe will be saving about $20 a month because of the discounts....

I am thrilled that I am finally Medicare eligible and no longer have to get my Healthcare insurance through Pennie. even though I did get tax credits through the Affordable Care Act and last year, through the American Rescue Act!!!!

And now maybe, Joe will stop yelling at me because of the price of my healthcare as for this year, mine is cheaper than his!!!

Maybe I should turn the tables, huh????

In the beginning of October, I shared why I started on a Journey to a Healthier Life....

Click HERE to read that post if you missed it!!

As of today, November 1st, I am very proud too say that I have now lost 31 pounds since June 1st!!

And I don't even know how many inches I have lost as I did not measure those at the start of this Journey.....

I have been posting pictures here on this Blog and on my FB page of my progress....

I was "hiding" before this because of my weight but now, I am no longer doing that....

In my last post, I broke down and shared a picture from 2020 which was one of the last pictures that I allowed to be taken of me because of my weight....

WOW!

How did that happen????

In Part 1, I mentioned that I made the mistake of no longer weighing myself daily like I did for most of my life....

Out of sight, out of mind......

Not weighing myself made it easy to ignore what was happening....

Until I took a good look at myself.....

I have been enjoying my Retirement so much that I decided I wanted more of it and needed to start on a journey to a more healthier life and my weight was so NOT healthy!!

I wanted to be a much healthier version of myself by the time I turn 65 years old next year....

So I took charge of my own actions, making no more excuses!!!

The excuses that I used were my numerous health problems such as Hashimoto's Thyroiditis , which lowers your metabolism and makes weight loss almost impossible no matter what your levels or dosage of your medication is.....

IBS which does not allow me to eat the "Good for you" foods like vegetables and fruit...

After years of drastic dieting, I totally screwed up my metabolism and put myself into what dieticians call "Starvation Mode"

This means that my body grabs on and holds on to whatever calories are ingested because it feels it has to combat starvation....

So these were all the Excuses that I had been using....

It was time to challenge myself.....

And take back control of my Life!!

In May, I did some serious research about what I could do to start to lose weight and I went back to what my ortho surgeon told me when he suggested that I lose weight prior to my knee replacement surgery....

"Burn more calories than what you take in and you will lose weight"

Simple, right???

And it works because I lost 55 pounds doing just that for my knee replacement surgery.....

Before I gained most of it back....

So I developed my own plan based on me and what I knew I could eat.....

This is what I did....

I started to weight myself daily again......

I bought a new scale that even gives me encouragement every time I step on it!!

"Thinner"!!

I stopped eating after 7 pm in the evening after I kept a food journal and realized what I was picking on when watching TV even though I only eat one meal a day.....

When I feel hungry during the day, I drink a glass of water.....

Dehydration also masks itself as hunger so I drink at least a minimum of 64 oz. of water a day and also drink a glass right before I am going to eat my meal so I feel fuller....

Many years ago, I went to a hospital based Behavior Modification 8 week class for Weight Loss ....

Along with drinking a full glass of water before eating, these are a few more of the "tricks" they taught me....

Take over 20 minutes to eat because it takes that amount of time for your stomach to register it is full.....

As a Mom of 2 sons who worked full time night shift, I was used to always eating on the run and eating fast....

A trick to slowing yourself down, if you were like me, is to put your fork down on the table after every bite , chew and then pick it back up for the next bite and time your meals....

Portions was another big thing....

Trick your mind into thinking you have a full plate even though you are eating smaller portions by using a luncheon or dessert plate rather than a dinner plate.....

Your plate will look full even though it is smaller and your mind will think you are eating a lot of food....

Don't drink your calories...

Do you realize the amount of calories that are in drinks....

The average glass of wine is about 140 calories....

An average glass of soda is about the same and if it is not Diet Soda, think of all that sugar!!!

I stopped drinking Diet Soda about 2 years ago and my GI issues have greatly improved because of it!!

Also, Eat you fruit, don't drink it!!

EXAMPLE: "If you drink apple juice, portion control is essential.

A 1-cup (240-ml) serving has 114 calories, while a medium-size apple has 95 calories .

The juice can be consumed faster than a whole apple, which can cause you to take in a large number of calories over a short period of time"

Okay, so those are the tricks that I use.....

So now let's look at what I eat....

Because I can not eat fruits or vegetables and for some reason, carbs and fried foods are one of the few foods that I tolerate well without kicking in my IBS issues, I decided to go with that....

I still eat only one meal a day but try to limit the amount of calories I take in daily to around 1000 - 1200 calories...

With this, I started to lose weight.....

Until I hit the dreaded plateau in September after Labor Day.....

I then came across a Blog Post by Jean, over at Delightful Repast, about Intermittent Fasting.....

Now I have heard of other bloggers and people I know doing this with good results so again being true to my nature, I started to research Intermittent Fasting.....

Of course, I went to medical sites to look at benefits and precautions....

Click HERE for a great article from the Mayo Clinic.....

And HERE for an article from John Hopkins....

I quickly realized that by eating only one meal a day, I was pretty much doing this along with not eating after 7 pm at night....

There are different plans you can do....

I do a 16/8 plan which is 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours when you can eat....

So I do not eat anything, only drinking water and my 2 cups of morning coffee from 7pm til around 11 am the next morning....

I eat between 11 am to 7 pm....

During that time, I stop and think about what I will eat for the day, depending on what my weight was that morning, trying to stay within the 1000 to 1200 calorie restriction....

I started to lose weight again and got over my plateau once I went with this.....

You can read Jean's, from Delightful Repast, post HERE

So I eat pizza, cheeseburgers, pasta and fried foods....

All the things that you are told not to eat if you want to lose weight and yet, I have lost 31 pounds in 5 months which averages out to 6 pounds a month.....

My Monthly Goal is to lose 5 pounds a month....

Some months I lost more, especially in the beginning but others I lost less....

BUT the most important thing is that...

I kept losing so I did not allow myself to get discouraged....

Now, am I tempted to "cheat" and eat things that I should not eat.....

Like the supply of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups that Joe keeps in the refrigerator.....

Or the chocolate chip cookies that he keeps on buying.....

Along with bags of chips.....

Yes, I am tempted but I did a visualization trick I learned a long time ago when I was in Nursing School taking Psych classes.....

My weakness is chocolate candy and baked goods with chocolate in them like cookies so every time I would look at these, I would think about becoming nauseated and vomiting!!

AND IT WORKED!!!

I have no desire whatsoever to eat these!!

I would rather have pain than be sick to my stomach so the thought of eating them and becoming sick was all I need to stay away from the things that are always under my nose!!!!

If I want a snack, I have a granola bar that is only 90 calories......

Or a yogurt that is only 70 calories.....

I realized that how I look at food had to change.....

So I left several food groups I belonged to on face book as I thought constantly seeing different foods popping up in my Feed was detrimental to my conviction to watch my calories and only eat within certain hours....

Out of sight, out of mind....

But this time, it was a good thing.....

So that is how I am dealing with food....

Now how am I losing inches.....

Exercise......

Even though I do 5 miles in 20 minutes on a stationary bike to maintain the functionality of my knee replacement joint and my other knee, I had not walked any distance in over a decade because of the pain from having one knee be called "bone on bone"....

I recently began walking much more since my son and his wife got Azumi, their second pup, because Joe could not manage walking both dogs....

Slowly, I was able to walk further and further so I started walking for exercise along with walking the pups in the mornings....

I walk for about a half hour a day up and down our road and in my court and the court behind us....

Since I am walking up and down hills, I think that is how I am losing inches...

Click HERE to read a great article about 30 things that happen when you walk every day.....

I also continue to do 5 miles in 20 minutes on my stationary bike at least 4 times a week .....

I do several arm exercises using 2 pound weights and 50 chair sit ups a day.....

I can move so much better now that I am more active....

And I feel better both physically and emotionally

So let's recap....

This was before......

And now, weighing 31 pounds less and having lost a bunch of inches.....

This is me now......

And look at the difference in my face!!!

I am thrilled to be able to wear clothes now that I have not been able to wear in years....

I now enjoy going out and being able to wear different outfits....

My Goal is to lose at least 20 more pounds....

Realistically, I know that December is going to be a challenge with the Holidays and both of my son's Birthdays....

So my goal for December is to not gain any weight as I usually gain at least 10 pounds over Holidays.....

We will see how I do....

So that is where I stand now on my Journey toward a Healthier Life....

I never thought that I would be able to accomplish what I already have....

In the beginning of the year, I chose Thrive as my One Little Word for 2022......

I am so glad that I have challenged myself to THRIVE and not merely survive!!!

And I hope that maybe my story might help inspire you to take control of your life and make the changes that you need to make so you too can thrive!!!

I know on Face Book that several friends and family have started their own journey toward a healthier life....

Rex has lost almost 40 pounds....

Debby just started and lost 5 pounds....

I am so thrilled that I have others who are joining me as I continue my Journey....

WE CAN DO THIS TOGETHER!!!!

On THURSDAY, I will begin posting on my Christmas Blog, A Debbie-Dabble Christmas, so I hope you will stop by to visit again on when I begin my annual Christmas Home Tour for 2022.........

Stay safe, healthy and most of all, HAPPY!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment. If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......