While eating healthier and more organic foods is a wonderful
thing, you might need to remind yourself how much of it to eat. Just because the pork is more flavorful and
raised “better” than store bought, doesn’t mean you should eat twice as
much!! Oh, and by the way – when I say
you I mean me!! I am writing this blog
during another one of my self-imposed Facebook boycotts and this also happens
to coincide with my new diet plan. I use
diet loosely as there is no real diet foods included this time, however there
IS a plan. I have started increasing the
amount of exercise I’m getting as well as exercising significant portion
control. I have to face the fact that
I’ve always been a big eater. I love 2nd’s
(and 3rd’s are great too if we are having spaghetti or homemade wet
burritos). Until I quit smoking (and
somewhere along the lines started getting OLD) this really wasn’t a
problem. My weight had remained quite
constant at just about 10 - 15# over my high school weight. I enjoyed implementing part of my plan for the first time yesterday,
beginning with a brisk two mile walk/jog with Reign (the Pyrenees) and ending
with another brisk two mile walk/ride with Monte (the pony formally known as
Monkey). I did not however enjoy the
implementation of the other half of my plan – the portion control!! It did work out okay though, I just need some
low calorie/high fill snacks to add in to alleviate the in between meal munchies. I will be off to the store today to pick up
baby carrots and some celery (next year’s garden MUST include more carrots and
perhaps some celery). I have at least
30# to loose, but 50# would be my ideal.
(But 50# is more of a pipedream as that would put me back at my high
school weight.) We have all the workout
equipment (Total Gym, Bike, Treadmill, weights, Wii) in our spacious basement, so although winter
is approaching there will be NO EXCUSES.
Besides if my 80 year old neighbor can ride his bike daily all winter
long (and rollerblade until the snow begins to fly), I certainly should be able
to get my 40ish butt out to walk daily.
You may ask yourselves why I am airing this fairly private bit of information,
after all women don’t generally say much about their weight or diet plans in public. I’ll admit, I hesitated a bit but then
thought it might be a bit like quitting smoking. The more people you tell, the more
embarrassing it will be if you give up!!
If people ask how is the quitting (smoking or eating LOL) is going it’s
a much better feeling to say “It’s going good” than to have to say “I gave
up”. So to any of you actually reading
this…..feel free to ask me how it’s going from time to time, just to keep me on
my toes.
Portion control isn’t just for diets either. If you ask my husband he’ll tell you, I need
to learn better portion control when it comes to owning animals. Our totals are currently at the
following: 3 horses, 1 pony, 13 doe
goats, 3 buck goats, 1 wether goat, 2 Pyrenees guard dogs, 2 breeding pigs, 2
freezer pigs, 2 guinea fowl, 2 bantam roosters, 1 bantam hen, 1 New Hampshire
Red rooster, 8 assorted laying hens, 22
eggs incubating, 2 rabbits, 2 barn cats, 3 house cats and 2 house dogs!! I think my plate is quite full, however I
have allotted space to add 3 more goats, a honey bee hive, a litter of rabbits
destined for the freezer/canner, a box of baby chickens to eventually be stew
meat or flock replacements and I’d like our actual laying flock to stay around
15-20 birds. However keep in mind my
original goat limit I had set was 7 and rabbits were never even on the original
list! Exercising control is so
HARD. I still would like a cow someday
(maybe) and a smaller pony and a llama or alpaca just for kicks…….
Another area of my life lacking in portion control? Facebook.
Geez is that stuff addicting. It
is so easy to join more groups, add more “friends” and play more games. I could literally spend a day just catching
up on the games, reading new posts on my home page and reading posts in all the
groups I belong to. Here is what I have
decided: NO MORE shall I be part of
these mindless masses. I may need to
pare down my friends list and most certainly will remove many game apps. I will continue to use FB in the future, but
if I’m not looking for horses, tack, livestock, pets, etc. I will STAY OFF those groups, just because
somebody posts something doesn’t mean I have to read it….why bother - I’m NOT going to purchase anything!! So basically don’t peruse the for sale groups
unless there is something I need. This my friends, is my Final Answer…..
Here’s an area where I have reverse portion control issues -
housework. My barns might be organized
and (sometimes) spotless – but my house usually has dishes to be done, laundry
to be put away and more hay on the floor than my barn has!! With all the time I cut out of FB I should
have plenty of time to increase the housework portions of my day. Or not…..I’d hate to be biting off more than
I can chew.
Until next time……
