Accessible Gardening: #20 Practical Matters for Physically Challenged Gardeners, 2 by Agavegirl1

Agavegirl1 wrote:
Hi gang, :D

Jim: Lilies and Japanese meanings, as far as I can find, are associated with death, mortality and resurrection. Not sure why. Still searching on an answer for that.

If you want to lose weight eat Paleo!!

In CA when I was 24-32 I used to weigh between 117-122. Muscle weighs more than fat, I was younger and I was running 8.5 miles a day at 7:10-6:40 a mile! I'd eat 5 pieces of pizza and not gain an ounce. Size wise I was smaller than now. I was wearing 2/4! Nothing "moved" on me unless I made it!

I used to be 156, not fat, but quite chunky for a 5'3" small boned frame and hit just hit the entry level number for obese based on BMI. Depression and former Epilepsy weight meds blew me up. (Did you know food loves you and is your friend and chocolate or a quart of Breyer's Butter Pecan ice cream solves all your problems? Yeah)

Did HCG. Sheer Hell and brutal to stick to but it got me down to 134. (A lot of the pictures you see of me with the Century Plants I weigh between 134 and 127. The one of me sitting on the ottoman doing Yoga pose I weigh 112 which is present as I go between 112-107, sometimes 105 IF I'm working hard physically in the yard, drinking tons of water or just "forgetting" to eat !) HCG was the most miserable experience I ever had. It was calorie restrictive (800-850 a day. It is the HCG that never made you feel hungry even though you were starving).BUT if someone told me eating dirt and licking rocks would make me lose weight I would do it and I am incredibly iron willed.

After HCG I just lost weight through watching what I ate and got down to 118. Well, we all know what happens after diets...we go back to eating how we did and gain all the weight back plus more. I shot back up to 143 pounds!! I managed to get it back down to 127-122 pounds. I also changed meds! Old ones weren't working anyway. Also found out I was B12 deficient which was adding to the problem!

Lost weight again and got back down to 127 but still couldn't control my cravings for anything white, sugary, or dairy/creamy! My husband, always a bean pole at 189-192 shot up to 202 pounds! He got a little gut. He had a conniption!

So...sick of this we discovered Paleo! Cruised a variety of web sites on this and made a little notebook on how to do it and followed it.

Now I'm not going to lie. The first 5 days I WANTED TO KILLLLL SOMEONE. I wanted to go into the grocery store and graze in the junk food aisle and wallow in the cake. I wanted to hijack the Hostess truck. But then a miraculous thing happened. I was losing between 1/2 to 1.5 pounds a day eating more, not restricting meals, not depriving my self, and eating all I wanted.

I was also feeling better. Uhm...I was also going potty regularly and not being backed up, bloated or constipated. Women in general seem to have a problem with this to begin with (hence all the probiotic commercials directed at us.) I was no longer having an issue. We ate our own food, didn't buy anything out of the ordinary, didn't take any "drugs", etc. We just changed what we bought and ate and how we prepared it a little. Not hard.

The mindless "grazing" stopped. I had NO cravings for sweet, sugary, starchy, things. I had no cravings period. I was not tired after eating a big meal nor was I hungry 2 hours later. I wasn't moody or depressed. I didn't even think of food. I missed none of the stuff I used to eat and despite all that I was eating I was losing and/or maintaining weight. I looked and felt great and so did my husband. He got down to 184 and was back in a size 32-34 jean. His 36s were getting tight!

To celebrate we went to KFC and got some fried chicken, mashed potatoes, biscuits, buttered corn on the cob..you know the standard box meal. We literally got sick! I mean sick. Sat in the stomach like lead. Gained 2 pounds after 1 meal, had a headache felt nauseous. All we could think was "Why did we eat this and WHY were we eating this before?" It just confirmed my theory that the food industry wants to keep you fat, sick and unhealthy.

Back to Paleo. We are fine. That has been years now. Now, that isn't to say we don't eat cake, fried chicken, or have pasta, or have a candy bar or eat things we shouldn't. We do BUT they are "treats" and not the main stuff of our diet. Cake instead of being devoured in 3 days now sits around until it has to be thrown out due to mold starting to grow on it. A bag of Doritos lasts a week...not a day! (Yes, a handful is satisfactory and satisfying.)

If our weight/cravings start to go up then we get in the more rigid mode with our Paleo eating and the weight comes off very, very quickly and stays off. Presently because our bodies are "set" at our permanent weight we allow ourselves 1 or 2 days a week of "junk/junky food type" of eating. We are satisfied, don't go into craving mode or feel like we are living a deprived, unhappy, Spartan life and missing out on so called normal things.

The important thing with Paleo is weighing your self every day and if you gain more than 2 pounds, get rigid and slam yourself back into hyper vigilant Paleo eating mode. The concept is to always keep your body set at a specific weight so that is what it is used to being at, staying at and metabolizing at. (Were all adults, so for obvious reasons, women get a little lee way of 2-4 pounds due to monthly cycle weight gain and/or water retention BUT that disappears immediately afterwards at the end of our cycle.) You'll be amazed you can indulge a whole day and not gain weight or only gain 1 pound. Don't take that for granted though. It doesn't mean you can do that every day now. 1 or 2 pounds quickly morph into 3 then 5 then 8. It is so much easier to lose 2 pounds in 2 days than 8 pounds in 2 weeks or more while fighting old eating habits that crept back!

I got rid of all my fat clothes. This too forces me to stay at my present weight and mind my eating manners! I can't afford literally to gain weight and buy all new clothes again because it is just too expensive. I have no "fat" clothes in the closet thus if my current clothes get tight I'm S.O.L.! Being vain I revel in the compliments I get from people that at age 47 I am as thin as I am, and have the figure of a teen ager or better since they've all gotten so damn fat now. My husband is more flattered than I am when guys "check me out". People say, "You eat so much how do you stay so thin?" It is because I eat the way human beings should and were truly made to eat since the beginning of time.

I suggest you look into it and give it a try. It works! If you want info from my notebook/Bible that I still keep I'll send it to you. Even for those who don't need to lose weight the change in eating does a world of good in terms of how you feel. I know people who threw their diabetes, and high cholesterol drugs in the garbage, and are starting to put the weight loss industry out of business!

Hi Carrie :D
Ahhh Mexico! I enjoy the place. Speak good Spanglish at about a 60% level and can read and write. Thank you L.A. I may sound like a high functioning chimp but if you dropped me off I'd survive just fine and get around with ease. Can you speak Spanish? No matter the tourist areas all speak English. I truly envy you. I haven't had a vacation in so long and DH and I haven't gotten away in what feels like eons. Enjoy some extra for us! :D

Can you can get a flight with a layover in Tucson (always cheaper than flying into Phoenix)? That's about an hour away from us and we go there for fun as well as to see my Neurologist. If you can do that Dave and I will meet you and Ray at the airport with bells on and we can grab something to eat or what not. It would be so nice to meet you guys! Maybe not practical, comfortable or efficient for you but hey...just a thought.

Your education to us in regards to MS was informative. I knew a little of MS but not a lot. I'm sure you don't like pity but all I can do is express my sympathy in regards to your condition and say how unfair and unkind life can be to us at times.

Yes, Zoe is indeed my special friend. I have always felt a closer affinity with animals than I do with most people but perhaps that is because they embody the best traits humans could ever hope to possess in this life and exhibit very little to none of the worse. I often wish I could be the person my dog thinks I am (anonymous quote), also the dog and her house keeping staff live here! What a life right!

I think she's entitled to it after 5 years on a race track. Although she did what she loved and was made to do she never benefitted from it. Her owners did. I feel it is only fair now she reap the rewards of all her hard work and sacrifice and enjoy her retirement. She is also well compensated and appreciated, valued and loved for her services and easy work here.

If I had 3 wishes one of them would be for her to live as long as I. But that would be selfish. Wise Cactus says, I have to learn to accept (o.k. forced my self to accept) that we all on Earth deserve a final physical, spiritual and mental rest including him at some point.

Enjoy your vacation!

Peace. Out.
TTC

Song of the day: Two Tickets to Paradise by Eddie Money


First one pic of me at 127-134
Second one pic of me presently between 107-112