Weighty Wednesday -- Always an Excuse

I had weigh-in yesterday, and to tell you the truth, I knew my weight would be up.

And it was.

This time of the year is so hard, especially when the weather isn't co-operating. So much of the country is in the deep freeze, including my little pocket of paradise.

We haven't had much snow or ice, but when we do get it, it sticks around because the temperatures plummet into the teens or lower. Normally, I have no problem walking in cold, wet or even snowy temps.

Heck, I even have a selfie from last year when I walked in the snow, but I do have a problem with the wind.

2012 picture

The wind chill will drive cold weather into the bitter cold, potential frostbite range.

Two days ago I tried walking, but even with all my layers, the wind bit into my old bones. I walked past the elementary school and turned into the neighborhood. I figured the houses would block the wind as I walked the long way back to my house, only 1.5 miles compared to my normal 4.25 miles.

With the way my fingers felt when I got home, I think I had the beginning of a little frost bite.

So take care if you exercise outside. Don't be stupid, and stay safe.

Another problem with winter and losing weight is that I want to eat comfort food. Something warm, filled with high-carbs, eaten out of a bowl.

I'm not a fan of root vegetables, and though we do have summer fruit and veggies courtesy of South American farmers, I'm not usually in the mood to eat 'healthy'.

Along with this problem is the fact that most of us tend to get dehydrated in the winter. We simply don't drink enough water. Who wants to drink water when you're freezing your tail feathers off?

I don't. But I force myself to do so. If you have to add flavoring to the water, do it, but try warming up a mug of water. I used to drink tons of coffee, not so much for the coffee, but to hold a hot mug in my hands to warm them up. So instead of coffee, or even tea, try warming up a mug of water and adding a little lemon juice. It will help you keep hydrated and give you the warmth you need.

And when I go on my walk, I use the hottest tap water I can to fill my water bottle, It stays warm for about 3 miles.

If you are stuck inside because the weather is frightful, then every time you open the fridge or pantry, make yourself walk up and down the stairs ten times, or put in your kid's Dance Dance Wii video game and dance like a crazy person.

My key words to surviving this winter are:

keep hydrated, keep moving, and keep out of the comfort food!

Off to follow my own advice. I will get my walk in this morning since it's only 20 degrees and virtually no wind. Yay!

Later, Peeps!

Weighty Wednesday -- Housecleaning or Gardening?

I missed my Weight Watcher's meeting yesterday as my hubs needed to take my car instead of his sportier version to a tank farm with all the gravel and dust . . . and yet, he complains that I don't wash my car enough . . . hmmm. . .

While on my regular four-mile walk yesterday, I realized I could have WALKED to my meeting as it's two miles away. The only problem with walking is the first mile a is two-lane road with no shoulder, no foot path and a steep decline into a drainage ditch. The second mile is along a sidewalk next to a busy six-lane road, which does double duty as a state highway.
Walking in this area is not on my list of things to do, though it is doable.

That said, I'm going to take a tangent about housecleaning. Trust me, I will make a full circle back to the topic of walking, also known as exercise. 

Last week, I interviewed Merry Maids for my mom. She's finally admitting that she can't keep her house as clean as she would like, or like she used to. Remember, the woman is 91 years old. Her spinal stenosis was causing some leg issues and she'd received a epidural cortisone shot a few months ago--which is working nicely--plus she was recently told that she is legally blind in one eye due to years of macular degeneration.

Age happens.

Not too surprising she can't see enough to keep the house clean.

Besides cleaning house isn't something a 90+ year old should have to worry about. And no, I'm not cleaning her house, I have my own house to clean, thank you very much.

Merry Maids is a bit on the pricy side, but this will be a busy year for her as many of my brothers and one of my sisters will be visiting, so we signed them up for an every other week cleaning. The nice thing about Merry Maids is that there is no contract, cancel at any time. And Mom can do the spot cleaning the rest of the time.

As I chatted with my bro about this, he wondered if we could change the every other week cleaning (yes, we can). But then we got into a discussion of how often we clean, and he admitted that they only cleaned their house three days prior to Thanksgiving when the family converges on their house.

Really? I never realized this as we've stopped by to drop something off and found their house was tidy, but I didn't do the white glove treatment to verify.

Which brings me back to how often we clean--EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK. And we clean the house the day before we go on vacation, so we have a clean house to come home to .. . plus we have a dog. The house will be dusty and dog-furry even if we didn't clean prior to vacation! We clean the house top to bottom, plus we sometimes get sidetracked. . . this week I dusted the downstairs window blinds. Man, those things were filthy! Now, I need to clean the windows, too!

As I'm writing this the sun is coming through the window and onto my formal dining table--which has a layer of dust on it--I just cleaned this table FOUR DAYS AGO! Can you imagine how much dust would accumulate in a month?? *shuddering at the thought*

Though my bro said they only clean once a year, I bet you money they spot clean all the time.

And then on my writer's loop, the topic came up here. One writer friend said it had been years since they did a top to bottom clean. And another friend commented the same thing--that some rooms hadn't been touched in a year.

Wow. I never thought I'd be one of the weird ones who cleans house weekly.

And now, we travel to the backyard. If you've seen my pictures (sorry, can't find any current ones), you notice how neat and tidy our yard looks. The last couple of days, the hubs and I have been trimming, weeding and turning the mulch in the garden beds, resulting in two huge bags of green waste (no, I don't have or want a mulch pile), and the yard is only half done. This process needs to be done a couple times a year to keep the perennials under control.

So why am I telling you to clean your house and work in your garden?

Because you can earn Weight Watcher's ACTIVITY POINTS!

Look, you don't have to go to the gym, walk on a treadmill, or attend a Pilates class to get some exercise. Keep moving. Do a little cleaning. Weed the garden. Trim the plants. Pick up the dog poo. Every little bit DOES count!

Get moving, people!

Later, Peeps!