Weighed in at 179.2 - it's been DECADES since I've been in the '70's, baby!
So let's CELEBRATE!!!
How to get out of a boring conversation!
1 week ago
Monday, July 6, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Hooray for summer!
Just a miniscule loss this week - from 180.2 last week to 180.0 this week. Still, a loss is a loss, right? I'm not complaining!
It's FINALLY summer here in the beautiful San Fernando Valley area of Southern California, and I'm jumpin' for joy! Yeah yeah, I know my hubby hates it - poor guy - because he works in a place with little/no air conditioning. So my sympathies, sweetie.
But see ... I'm a morning person. And there's just something tremendously wonderful about it being over 60 degrees already at 5 a.m.! This morning when I got up (primarily to look for our "lost" cat, Princess, who, from what little I can gather, spent most of the night in the neighbors' back yard, patiently waiting for THEIR cats to be fed so she could mooch some), the stars were still out (as was Princess, nyuk nyuk!).
There were just a few little clouds scattered throughout the dark blue sky. The sun was still below the horizon, but you could see that the light was on its way. As I pumped the pedals on my exercise bike, I heard first one, then two, then a whole flock of birds chattering away about the best places to find worms.
I saw a baby possum skittering through the ivy at the back fence, patiently looking for unguarded garbage to nosh.
And it's hard to explain, but I really understood the cliche about how "it's always darkest before the dawn." See, all night I'd lain awake, tossing and turning, from (a) my worry about Princess (which turned out, as usual, to be completely unfounded), and (b) an annoying headache which had been troubling me, off and on, for the past 24 hours.
But in this early morning light, with a whole new day about to be born, all my worries seemed to drift upwards towards the distant stars ... and stay there.
Happy Monday, everyone!
It's FINALLY summer here in the beautiful San Fernando Valley area of Southern California, and I'm jumpin' for joy! Yeah yeah, I know my hubby hates it - poor guy - because he works in a place with little/no air conditioning. So my sympathies, sweetie.
But see ... I'm a morning person. And there's just something tremendously wonderful about it being over 60 degrees already at 5 a.m.! This morning when I got up (primarily to look for our "lost" cat, Princess, who, from what little I can gather, spent most of the night in the neighbors' back yard, patiently waiting for THEIR cats to be fed so she could mooch some), the stars were still out (as was Princess, nyuk nyuk!).
There were just a few little clouds scattered throughout the dark blue sky. The sun was still below the horizon, but you could see that the light was on its way. As I pumped the pedals on my exercise bike, I heard first one, then two, then a whole flock of birds chattering away about the best places to find worms.
I saw a baby possum skittering through the ivy at the back fence, patiently looking for unguarded garbage to nosh.
And it's hard to explain, but I really understood the cliche about how "it's always darkest before the dawn." See, all night I'd lain awake, tossing and turning, from (a) my worry about Princess (which turned out, as usual, to be completely unfounded), and (b) an annoying headache which had been troubling me, off and on, for the past 24 hours.
But in this early morning light, with a whole new day about to be born, all my worries seemed to drift upwards towards the distant stars ... and stay there.
Happy Monday, everyone!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Back to the Back!
This has been an, ahem, interesting week. Thursday afternoon I suddenly had a horrendous muscle spasm in my lower back, causing me to seek relief in all sorts of interesting positions involving the floor, the couch, the coffee table, etc. None of them really worked for long, but if nothing else, I got a really good look at our living room carpet. (Um, I think it's time to replace it - or at least invest in a really good steam cleaning service!)
And the litter box odors that aren't that noticeable at 5 feet up are VERY noticeable at 5 inches!
Fortunately, after about 24 hours of unrelenting pain and torment, the spasm subsided and I was able to make my way, moaning and groaning, to my WW weigh-in, where I was pleased to find I'd lost a whopping 2.4 pounds! Pretty sweet, after such a long period of maintenance, to finally start droppin' the flab again.
Let's see if it lasts. And yeah, I'm hoping it wasn't just from the pain and loss of appetite. I don't think it is, as I weigh myself every day and had been seeing a slow but steady drop all week. But I won't be too upset if it goes up a little next week.
I must say, being from Missouri (both literally and figuratively!), I'm pleased to see such immediate results from my decision to "go Vegan". I've tried this in the past, with varying levels of success, but obviously didn't succeed for long, since I keep having to start over. Maybe this time it's working because (a) I'm more motivated and (b) I have a support system (hi, sweetie!).
Anyway, I'm back at work now, surrounded by incompetents but trying to keep it real (nyuk nyuk!). Hope your week was a little LESS interesting than mine!
And the litter box odors that aren't that noticeable at 5 feet up are VERY noticeable at 5 inches!
Fortunately, after about 24 hours of unrelenting pain and torment, the spasm subsided and I was able to make my way, moaning and groaning, to my WW weigh-in, where I was pleased to find I'd lost a whopping 2.4 pounds! Pretty sweet, after such a long period of maintenance, to finally start droppin' the flab again.
Let's see if it lasts. And yeah, I'm hoping it wasn't just from the pain and loss of appetite. I don't think it is, as I weigh myself every day and had been seeing a slow but steady drop all week. But I won't be too upset if it goes up a little next week.
I must say, being from Missouri (both literally and figuratively!), I'm pleased to see such immediate results from my decision to "go Vegan". I've tried this in the past, with varying levels of success, but obviously didn't succeed for long, since I keep having to start over. Maybe this time it's working because (a) I'm more motivated and (b) I have a support system (hi, sweetie!).
Anyway, I'm back at work now, surrounded by incompetents but trying to keep it real (nyuk nyuk!). Hope your week was a little LESS interesting than mine!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Hey, this Vegan stuff really works! and a fun hike through Chatsworth history
Wow, folks, after just one week of being a Vegan, I lost 1.8 pounds!!
My official current weight as of Saturday morning is 182.6, in case you're keeping track.
Not only do I feel great, but my husband and I did a moderately serious hike yesterday! Things did get a little hairy there for a while, as you can see in this video:
However, we got back on track and had a great time! Where we were was this neat old stagecoach trail in Chatsworth, California - all the way up to this sign:
Part of the trail is called the "Devil's Slide", and boy, is that ever accurate ... I kept thinking I was going to slide all the way down from the top!
But fortunately I had a sure-footed guide (my hubby) to lead the way (and catch me, just in case)!
All in all, it was a great weekend, and a great ending to my first full week of Goin' Vegan!
P.s. Steve confessed that he was afraid I was going to become one of those tree-huggin' hippie liberals. It's true - there does seem to be this, shall we say, interesting mental image that comes to mind when you think of "vegans":
As for me, every time I think "Vegan", I think of "Vulcan" - or worse yet, "V-ger" from the first, worst Star Trek movie. (I won't post a photo - that sorry piece of you-know-what doesn't deserve any more free publicity!)
So anyway, either I come up with a different name for "a person who tries to avoid consuming animal products" - like maybe CCV (for "conservative Catholic vegan) -
OR - we just shout it out loud: I'm a conservative Catholic vegan and proud!
Decisions ... decisions!
My official current weight as of Saturday morning is 182.6, in case you're keeping track.
Not only do I feel great, but my husband and I did a moderately serious hike yesterday! Things did get a little hairy there for a while, as you can see in this video:
However, we got back on track and had a great time! Where we were was this neat old stagecoach trail in Chatsworth, California - all the way up to this sign:
Part of the trail is called the "Devil's Slide", and boy, is that ever accurate ... I kept thinking I was going to slide all the way down from the top!
But fortunately I had a sure-footed guide (my hubby) to lead the way (and catch me, just in case)!
All in all, it was a great weekend, and a great ending to my first full week of Goin' Vegan!
P.s. Steve confessed that he was afraid I was going to become one of those tree-huggin' hippie liberals. It's true - there does seem to be this, shall we say, interesting mental image that comes to mind when you think of "vegans":
As for me, every time I think "Vegan", I think of "Vulcan" - or worse yet, "V-ger" from the first, worst Star Trek movie. (I won't post a photo - that sorry piece of you-know-what doesn't deserve any more free publicity!)
So anyway, either I come up with a different name for "a person who tries to avoid consuming animal products" - like maybe CCV (for "conservative Catholic vegan) -
OR - we just shout it out loud: I'm a conservative Catholic vegan and proud!
Decisions ... decisions!
Monday, June 8, 2009
The Curvy Catholic ... Vegan???
Yes, that's right, friends and neighbors (and husbands, lol!) - I, the infamous Curvy Catholic and Stooges Woman, made a major life decision over the weekend.
I'm goin' vegan!
It's one of those decisions that seems to happen in an instant, yet if you look back, it really was percolating under the surface for a while.
I broke the news to my husband and, while he's somewhat nonplused, is supportive. (The fact that I promised not to make HIM give up his Trader Joe's Mini Tacos and Turkey Meatballs helps, I think.)
Also, I promised him I wouldn't preach to him. And I won't!
However, I didn't promise I wouldn't write about it in my blog - nyuk nyuk!
So here, in a nutshell, are just a few reasons why I've made this decision, with links you can check out on your own, or not (because I'm not preaching!):
1. In spite of what our enthusiastic Weight Watchers leader keeps telling us, apparently dairy - particularly cow's milk - is not quite as good for you as the milk industry would want you to believe. Cow's milk is linked to all sorts of health problems in human beings - for example, chronic sinus and ear infections. (Link for you to check out, if you want to: http://www.all-creatures.org/aip/nl-15sep2003-milk.html)
2. Not only that, but the poor critters themselves don't seem to lead particularly happy lives. Now to be honest, I'm not 100% opposed, in principle, to eating meat or using animal products. If the animals in question are treated humanely and euthanized in a painless way, then I think it becomes more of a philosophical issue, rather than a humane one. The Compassionate Carnivore makes a good case for humanely raising meat.
3. But you know, even from a humane standpoint - which IMHO all Christians should have - it's hard to deny that animals kept in "factory farms" and killed in slaughterhouses are not being treated as humanely as they could be. And that, if there were less of a demand for meat products in general, then, naturally, ipso facto, ergo sum - fewer animals would suffer these abuses. Right? (Link to check out: http://farmsanctuary.org/issues/factoryfarming/)
4. I know there's a tendency to stereotype vegans and animal rights activists as "liberals", so I thought I'd see if there were any good conservative reasons for opposing factory farming - and I found one! Did you know that one of the biggest employers of illegal immigrants in the U.S. is - you guessed it - the meat industry! Particularly in slaughterhouses. (Link to check out: http://www.manataka.org/page1434.html)
It's a cliche to say that "illegal immigrants do jobs that Americans don't want to do", and with the economy tanking, I seriously doubt that's going to be true anymore, if it ever was. But boy, I don't know about you, but even if I weren't a vegan, I don't think I'd be too thrilled about having a job where I spent the whole day killing animals who didn't want to die. Even if you were killing them as humanely as possible - like in a vet's office or an animal shelter - there's gotta be some kind of toll on your spirit.
So even from a right-wing, humans-first viewpoint, there's a case to be made against killing animals for food - or at least, against the factory-farm-to-slaughterhouse routine.
Now I know that there's sometimes a disconnect between vegans, who tend to congregate on the "left", and pro-lifers, who tend to be on the "right". But you know what? I think there's common ground.
If we truly believe that all life is sacred, that all creatures are God's creatures, then we must treat EVERY life - human and animal - with as much respect and dignity as we possibly can.
That includes unborn human beings, floating peacefully in their mothers' wombs, blissfully unaware that they are about to be torn, limb from limb, and discarded as "medical waste".
That includes just-born baby male calves, blissfully unaware that they are about to be torn away from their mothers' sides and turned into veal, or thrown into a ditch and shot.
It includes disabled human beings whose relatives would just love to have them "humanely euthanized" so they can collect their inheritance.
It includes a holding pen full of pigs, each one just as bright and friendly as your favorite pet dog, waiting to be turned into pork chops.
It includes every chicken, every cow, every goat, every turkey and yes, every human being - no matter how unloveable they might be or how "convenient" their deaths would be for someone else.
That's it. That's my reasons. And if I come up with any more - or if you post any really good arguments to the contrary in the "comments" section - I promise to deal with them next week.
(P.S. - weight loss this week - 0.8 pounds! yay!! Also, some sad news - "It Figures", the Curves-alternative I joined a couple of months ago, went out of business. Their website is down, but I encouraged them to consider retooling it as an "online personal trainer" site; so I'll keep the link over there on the right, and if it reopens and/or changes, I'll let you know. Thanks, Kathy, Danielle & Tommi, for your help getting/keeping me fit!)
I'm goin' vegan!
It's one of those decisions that seems to happen in an instant, yet if you look back, it really was percolating under the surface for a while.
I broke the news to my husband and, while he's somewhat nonplused, is supportive. (The fact that I promised not to make HIM give up his Trader Joe's Mini Tacos and Turkey Meatballs helps, I think.)
Also, I promised him I wouldn't preach to him. And I won't!
However, I didn't promise I wouldn't write about it in my blog - nyuk nyuk!
So here, in a nutshell, are just a few reasons why I've made this decision, with links you can check out on your own, or not (because I'm not preaching!):
1. In spite of what our enthusiastic Weight Watchers leader keeps telling us, apparently dairy - particularly cow's milk - is not quite as good for you as the milk industry would want you to believe. Cow's milk is linked to all sorts of health problems in human beings - for example, chronic sinus and ear infections. (Link for you to check out, if you want to: http://www.all-creatures.org/aip/nl-15sep2003-milk.html)
2. Not only that, but the poor critters themselves don't seem to lead particularly happy lives. Now to be honest, I'm not 100% opposed, in principle, to eating meat or using animal products. If the animals in question are treated humanely and euthanized in a painless way, then I think it becomes more of a philosophical issue, rather than a humane one. The Compassionate Carnivore makes a good case for humanely raising meat.
3. But you know, even from a humane standpoint - which IMHO all Christians should have - it's hard to deny that animals kept in "factory farms" and killed in slaughterhouses are not being treated as humanely as they could be. And that, if there were less of a demand for meat products in general, then, naturally, ipso facto, ergo sum - fewer animals would suffer these abuses. Right? (Link to check out: http://farmsanctuary.org/issues/factoryfarming/)
4. I know there's a tendency to stereotype vegans and animal rights activists as "liberals", so I thought I'd see if there were any good conservative reasons for opposing factory farming - and I found one! Did you know that one of the biggest employers of illegal immigrants in the U.S. is - you guessed it - the meat industry! Particularly in slaughterhouses. (Link to check out: http://www.manataka.org/page1434.html)
It's a cliche to say that "illegal immigrants do jobs that Americans don't want to do", and with the economy tanking, I seriously doubt that's going to be true anymore, if it ever was. But boy, I don't know about you, but even if I weren't a vegan, I don't think I'd be too thrilled about having a job where I spent the whole day killing animals who didn't want to die. Even if you were killing them as humanely as possible - like in a vet's office or an animal shelter - there's gotta be some kind of toll on your spirit.
So even from a right-wing, humans-first viewpoint, there's a case to be made against killing animals for food - or at least, against the factory-farm-to-slaughterhouse routine.
Now I know that there's sometimes a disconnect between vegans, who tend to congregate on the "left", and pro-lifers, who tend to be on the "right". But you know what? I think there's common ground.
If we truly believe that all life is sacred, that all creatures are God's creatures, then we must treat EVERY life - human and animal - with as much respect and dignity as we possibly can.
That includes unborn human beings, floating peacefully in their mothers' wombs, blissfully unaware that they are about to be torn, limb from limb, and discarded as "medical waste".
That includes just-born baby male calves, blissfully unaware that they are about to be torn away from their mothers' sides and turned into veal, or thrown into a ditch and shot.
It includes disabled human beings whose relatives would just love to have them "humanely euthanized" so they can collect their inheritance.
It includes a holding pen full of pigs, each one just as bright and friendly as your favorite pet dog, waiting to be turned into pork chops.
It includes every chicken, every cow, every goat, every turkey and yes, every human being - no matter how unloveable they might be or how "convenient" their deaths would be for someone else.
That's it. That's my reasons. And if I come up with any more - or if you post any really good arguments to the contrary in the "comments" section - I promise to deal with them next week.
(P.S. - weight loss this week - 0.8 pounds! yay!! Also, some sad news - "It Figures", the Curves-alternative I joined a couple of months ago, went out of business. Their website is down, but I encouraged them to consider retooling it as an "online personal trainer" site; so I'll keep the link over there on the right, and if it reopens and/or changes, I'll let you know. Thanks, Kathy, Danielle & Tommi, for your help getting/keeping me fit!)
Monday, June 1, 2009
Up AGAIN, dagnab it!!
OK, you know what? I need to step away from all the other topics I've been focusing on lately (like my upcoming "Three Stoogettes" movie) and pay more attention to my continuing efforts to lose weight.
'Cause I have NOT been doing well, lately. It's been up one week (like 1.2 pounds up this week) and down the next (let's hope!), but overall I have not lost ONE pound since January of this year.
So I'm going to step up my efforts from now on, and really make a commitment.
I know exercise is the MAIN key to my fat-busting efforts - and I'm doing something, every day - but I also know that I've been slacking off a bit in my nutritional efforts.
Weight Watchers (like all other legit weight loss plans I've seen) recommends that you keep a food diary - write down everything that you eat (bit it write it, drink it ink it, chew it review it, etc. etc., as the Weight Watchers mantra goes).
Well, here's my problem - I HATE DOING THAT! I hate having to keep track of a piece of paper or a notebook or an electronic menu or anything else that distracts me from that
sweet, sweet candy ...
BUT - I should do it, I guess. I have kind of been thinking that since I bring basically the same food with me to work every day, I don't have to worry too much about counting the points, just assuming that they're adding up to 23 (my limit).
But you know what? I have a funny feeling maybe I'm going over by, oh, maybe one, two ... five ... twenty ... who knows?
Anyway, I have these teensy weensy little notebooks I got at the MOCA gift shop a couple of weeks ago. They fit right in my pocket and I also found one of those tiny little "golf pencils" (kind like
this one) which also fits in my pocket. So I'm gonna make a commitment.
I'm going to "Bite it? Write it! Drink it? Ink it! Chew it? Review it!" all week. JUST this week. And see if it makes any difference at my weigh-in next Saturday morning.
Hey - it sounds crazy, but it JUST MIGHT WORK!!!
'Cause I have NOT been doing well, lately. It's been up one week (like 1.2 pounds up this week) and down the next (let's hope!), but overall I have not lost ONE pound since January of this year.
So I'm going to step up my efforts from now on, and really make a commitment.
I know exercise is the MAIN key to my fat-busting efforts - and I'm doing something, every day - but I also know that I've been slacking off a bit in my nutritional efforts.
Weight Watchers (like all other legit weight loss plans I've seen) recommends that you keep a food diary - write down everything that you eat (bit it write it, drink it ink it, chew it review it, etc. etc., as the Weight Watchers mantra goes).
Well, here's my problem - I HATE DOING THAT! I hate having to keep track of a piece of paper or a notebook or an electronic menu or anything else that distracts me from that
sweet, sweet candy ...
BUT - I should do it, I guess. I have kind of been thinking that since I bring basically the same food with me to work every day, I don't have to worry too much about counting the points, just assuming that they're adding up to 23 (my limit).
But you know what? I have a funny feeling maybe I'm going over by, oh, maybe one, two ... five ... twenty ... who knows?
Anyway, I have these teensy weensy little notebooks I got at the MOCA gift shop a couple of weeks ago. They fit right in my pocket and I also found one of those tiny little "golf pencils" (kind like
this one) which also fits in my pocket. So I'm gonna make a commitment.
I'm going to "Bite it? Write it! Drink it? Ink it! Chew it? Review it!" all week. JUST this week. And see if it makes any difference at my weigh-in next Saturday morning.
Hey - it sounds crazy, but it JUST MIGHT WORK!!!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Memorial Day Quickie!
I'm going to keep this short because - hey, it's a holiday!
I'm home with my hubby, celebrating my 1-pound weight loss on Saturday (yay!), as well as honoring our brave men and women in the service. (Hardly on a par with me losing weight, I know! Sorry about that!)
Anyway, we're both puttering around the house, working in the yard. Would you believe I just spent a whole hour on my hands and knees (not to mention other parts of my anatomy, at various times, ouch!) clearing out weeds from an ugly little patch of ground by the driveway? I have big plans for that little patch this summer.
Not sure quite what, just yet - but frankly, anything will look better than what's there now!
I'll post pix as the work progresses. But not today - I'm too lazy to dig out the camera!
So - happy Memorial Day, y'all! See ya next week!
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