Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Reality does not Bite

I am currently blogging  about my recovery and life after my gastric sleeve surgery at www.realitydoesnotbite.blogspot.com Please stop by and see me there!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

In The Garden


When I initially started this blog back in 2008 it was named The Suburban Farmer because we were living in an older neighborhood on a half acre lot. Through some very sound reasoning on my dear sons part we adopted a total of 10 chickens and started our first garden. Now that we're living on 200 acres we haven't taken the time to build a coop, but we do have a small (25X50 foot) garden. Since we no longer live in the suburbs and I like rant about GMO's, systemic pesticides, and recycling I changed the name of my blog and deleted those early post. I am, however, proud to say that we are getting two, four week old, chicks tomorrow from a friend of a friend that made a impulse buy. The garden is another story altogether.


I hate to admit that I let my garden run a muck over the winter months (not that we actually had a winter here in the deep south), but alas it was a hot, hot mess when I last laid eyes upon it. I could have raised Fall veggies all winter long or at least maintained some sort of order, but I did not. I threw my hands up in the air, walked into my air conditioned house in mid-August, closed the door and read a bunch of really good books when I wasn't catching up on my Netflix queue.



You see, last summer we had an organic garden. A garden where we homeschoolers marveled at the aphids and ants symbiotic relationship (I even included a YouTube video I found so you could enjoy watching someones hard work get destroyed by those destructive pest). This is the garden where the deer, that my husband didn't kill, ate my watermelons and pumpkin vines. A garden where the lawn mowers and weed eaters all broke in protest. In other words, a garden where the bugs and the weeds flourished.



By August the temps were near 100 (not to mention the 70% humidity) so I surrendered, and now I'm having to play catch up and get the wilderness under control. If I am to be completely honestly, and I do believe in full disclosure, I've only put in 5 to 6 hours of weeding, tilling, and shopping in on this disastrous endeavor. I'm also sporting a nice bun on my leg from an afternoon of organic weed control (IE., burning the little devils), several bruises, and a nasty blister on my thumb.


With a great deal of my husbands help lighting the torch and manhandling the tiller, our garden is almost ready to embark on another season of growing corn, tomatoes, okra, beans, watermelon, squash, cucumbers, and whatever else we can think of to plant. However, I will not make any promises to having a *100% organic garden this year. Beware Ants, Aphids, earwigs, mealy bugs, slugs, and any other pest that dare eat MY vegetables, I will keeeeeelllllllll you!


*I will not use any unnecessary or systemic pesticides.





Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Fitness Journey Update


MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter



As an up date on my fitness journey I wanted to post that I lost 7 pounds in 4 weeks. I think that MyFitnessPal has been a huge help. If you are trying to take off a few pounds it's a great site and they even have a mobile app. It might take a week or so to get used to writing it down, but having friends that encourage and support you makes it all worth while. Well, that and stepping on the scales and seeing a loss.
To those who think I'm taking the easier and softer way, I just want you to know that this whole weight issue has been a struggle for me for the past 15 years. I have tried dieting and have had some success, but I've never lost all the weight I need to and I have yo-yo to the point that I now have more weight to lose. About nine years ago I looked into the gastric bypass and knew that it was very unsafe. Then four years ago I considered the lap-band option and knew it wasn't the safest way to go either. I have explored the options and I believe that the gastric sleeve is the safest, most effective way for me to lose the weight and keep it off.
Thank you for the kind words of encouragement and join me at MyFitnessPal. My screen name is Runn53.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

My Fitness Journey

This is the post I said I'd never write. This is the one I don't want anyone to read. So, why am I posting in now, when I know that it will be read by a hundred other bloggers is beyond me. 


I don't know why I am so full of false pride, but I am, and I have a huge amount of anxiety, so writing this is extremely difficult for me. Admitting what I am about to say is causing my heart to race to the point I feel like closing my laptop and forgetting the whole thing. I've gone over this post in my head again and again, and now that I've waited until the last hour to post this entry I have no idea what I am going to say.


I've posted in the past that I wanted to run a 5K, but I never told you why I have yet to run. It's because I can't. I tried. I was walking 4-5 days a week, 3 miles each time, and at a good pace, but I couldn't run. I can't run. I can't because I'm too fat. I'm not 20 or 30 pounds over weight; I am obese. I haven't always been over weight. In fact, I was a size 6 in my mid-twenties which is, honestly, too thin for my body type. I don't know why I've gained so much weight. It may be because I was a two pack a day smoker and quit several years ago. It might be because I'm genetically predestined to be obese (my paternal grandmother, who I take after, was obese). It could even be because I gained too much weight with my first pregnancy and never lost that weight. The why no longer matters. What does matter is that I am still fat.


Almost two years ago I drastically changed my eating habits and started exercising. However, over the past 3 months I've made some really bad choices and started eating high fat foods. I'd like to say it's because I busted my ass and only lost 20 pounds, but honestly, I just gave up. I'm not walking as much as I was and I know I need to; I still plan on running that 5K.


The one really positive thing I have done is fall in love with yoga. I have been practicing for just over a year now. I started out going once a week, then twice, and now I try and attend three classes a week. I'm able to hold side plank (not with my foot extended) whereas a year ago I couldn't even get into that position. So, I love yoga. Being the weight that I am makes some of the positions difficult, and I know that I could do more if I was thinner and yes, healthier. It's one of those catch 22 situations. I'd walk more if I wasn't so fat, but if I walked more I wouldn't be so fat.


So, if you're still reading I'm sure you are asking yourself, what are you going to do about it Marye? I've decided to have gastric surgery. No, not the by-pass; it’s too dangerous. I don't want the band either; there are too many complications like slippage, and the port flipping. So, after researching every possibility, I've decide I want the gastric sleeve. The surgeon would go in, staple my stomach and remove a section of it. Below is a brief video describing the procedure:







 
My insurance requires that I participate in a 6 month managed weight loss program before I have the surgery. I am just in my first month, but I am committed to following through with this since I feel like it is the only option I have left.
I would love for you to stay tuned as I report on my progress, surgery and recovery. In the mean time, if you are interested in weight loss or at least eating consciously, I’d like to invite you to join MyFitnessPal.com. Its a diet and fitness community that you can join and participate in completely free of charge. You can enter your daily food diary from your computer or an app on your phone. If you want to friend me, my screen name is Runn53. I look forward to having you join me on my journey.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Not just a conscientious bystander

I am a Christian, but find myself ashamed to admit it because of many evangelical groups that don't show the nonjudgmental, love of Jesus Christ. Recently a Christian pastor called for the boycott of Starbucks because of the support the coffee house gave to gay and lesbian marriages in Washington state. Even Rick Santorum goes around saying that gay relationships don't benefit society. It just so happens that he's wrong. I have gay and lesbian friends that are professors, nurses, authors and friends who have adopted children that no one else would. They are also registered voters. I am outraged each and every time I hear of another hate group bullying the underdog in the name of Christian values. I wish I could be more like Ellen DeGeneres and show grace under these difficult situations. Now, to all of those haters out there, Ellen has the same values I wish to pass along to my children, not your judgemental ideals and intimidating behavior. So, because of JCPenny standing up to One Million Moms' bullying tactics, I too will show my support by shopping at Penny's Department store and Nike, Google, Microsoft,Starbucks and any other company that shows true Christian values. I hope you will show your support too. Here's a clip from Ellen's show talking about JCPenny and the One Million Moms. video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” mahatma gandhi