Blogs > Lighten Up with Margaret

55-year-old Margaret Pizzi of Mentor hopes to battle back from years of physical problems to a healthier life. She's cut out processed foods and diet soda, which is a first step.

Friday, April 27, 2012

weekend fun

Well the next weigh-in is tomorrow but unfortunately I won't get to see my fellow contestants :-(.

My 7yo grandson is competing at an out of town ATA regional karate tournament tomorrow morning.  It's his first tournament as a "Karate Kid", previously being a "Tiny Tiger".  He's a Brown belt as of last weekend and all excited.  He's working hard on his form to try to place so my daughter and I decided to stay at the nearby water park this weekend as a treat.

I am soooo looking forward to the water park because I haven't been able to do any "play" with the kids or workouts in the water since my eye surgery (Dr's orders because of the risk of infection).  Tomorrow will be 4 weeks out of water so I'll probably be as excited as the kids at the park!  Hopefully I won't add any pounds though because I've been to these places before and they are extremely diet UN-friendly!  I don't want to be a "buzz kill" either so if they want to buy a pizza I'll just have to force (chuckle chuckle) myself to eat a piece. Guess I'll see on Monday how I managed.

I hope everyone managed to lose weight this month. I know it's been a struggle for many of us especially myself.  I ended up gaining at the beginning of the month but lost those pounds and then a few more.  I've turned things around and that's what counts.  We're half way there and I'm still on track to my personal goal!

Good Luck everyone!

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on" ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

I'm still going!

I know it's been while since I've blogged but I'm still here!  Last week I was really working at getting back on track and I've done so!  I felt tired and run down but I kept with the plan and I'm so proud of myself. 

I decided that even though I may feel like at times I have no control over my life I CERTAINLY have control over how I take care of my health.  I'm in the drivers seat.  I'm the one that puts the food in my mouth good or bad.  I'm the one that decides whether to sit on the couch and watch TV or go for a walk or make it to that Zumba class.

Despite having my back flair up I went to Zumba at Tripoint on Monday and Zumba at Pulse Group Fitness on Wednesday and Saturday.  THREE classes of Zumba. Yeah, you've heard it before but I LOVE ZUMBA.  It's so much fun to dance off the calories rather than go on a machine and mindlessly sweat. 

It's so funny, I'm so uncoordinated and frequently still sometimes go left when I'm supposed to go right or mess up the footwork but it doesn't matter with Zumba. It's so forgiving.  I can't do high impact so I do low impact moves. On Saturday I was having a really hard day with low back pain and so i was a little slower, maybe made the moves a little less enthusiastically but I felt better when it was done.  Thank you Donna for starting a regular Wednesday 8pm Zumba class in addition to your Saturday class!

So anyway I kept to my diet since last Monday and Zumba'd off the extra pounds I gained being "bad" and then some.  It makes me feel so good to finally be under 200 pounds.  Since Zumba is such good core work my husband even commented that I "don't look pregnant anymore"....I had mixed feelings about THAT comment since my youngest child is 28yo LOL.

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


Monday, April 16, 2012

"You feel like a candle in a hurricane..."

Yeah, things have been very rough this month and I've been careening out of control.  More backwards than forwards.  I've been so tired and unmotivated.  Not eating right. Falling back into bad habits. Not getting sleep. Been letting big disappointments and life challenges get me down.  On top of it I've been struggling with bronchitis most of the month AGAIN which has been just too much.

Mike (last years winner), sent us all a motivating email today which really helped.  Also I'm taking my motivation from one of my favorite Rascal Flatts songs called "Stand", it's awesome!  I haven't played it for a while but I should because it alwayslifts me up.

You feel like a candle in a hurricane  
Just like a picture with a broken frame  
Alone and helpless like you've lost your fight  
But you'll be alright, you'll be alright  

CHORUS:  
'Cause when push comes to shove  
You taste what you're made of  
You might bend, till you break  
Cause its all you can take  
On your knees you look up  
Decide you've had enough  
You get mad you get strong  
Wipe your hands shake it off  
Then you Stand, then you stand 

Life's like a novel w
ith the end ripped out  
The edge of a canyon with only one way down  
Take what you're given before its gone  
And start holding on, keep holding on 

see CHORUS

Every time you get up  
And get back in the race  
One more small piece of you  
Starts to fall into place, yeah 

see CHORUS

So I'm brushing myself off and I'm STANDING and getting back in this race!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Crash Diet

I'm not on a crash diet, my diet CrAsHeD. AND burned. BIG time. (fanning smoke out of my eyes)

I'm really sick with bronchitis that's progressed from my sinus and allergies and just didn't care about eating right again this weekend.  Saturday we took my grandson to Chick-fil-a after karate and I had some waffle fries with cheese dipping sauce. Had a big Mac without the bun and a small fry at McDonalds after I ran to the grocery store yesterday.

Easter dinner really did me in. I adore bread.  I had TWO large rolls (egg twist w poppy seeds and a pumpernickel).  I also love potatoes and had some cheesy potato casserole too. Add some starchy corn on the cob. By the end of the day I'd added a piece of apple pie and 2 pieces of key lime pie (my absolute fav).  I drank a whole lot of diet coke.

Today I feel TERRIBLE. Achy, no energy, feeling fat and bloated.  Eating all those "bad" foods & carbs made me feel worse instead of better.  It wasn't worth it.  I have to remind myself that this is how I felt every day before I started eating healthy.  I have to remind myself how much energy I had eating healthy and exercising. I don't like this feeling.

Last night I cooked several days worth of healthy meals so we'd only have to warm something up. Today I brought a lot of healthy food to work. I can start exercising again today and I'm going to an exercise class tonight even though these allergies/bronchitis have made me sick.  I'm going to take a walk at lunch. It won't be 100% effort but I'll just do the best I can. It's better than nothing.

It makes me sad that I missed so many days getting off track.  But I guess it's kind of like falling off the wagon. I just have to get back on.  That's the mistake I've made in the past.  I fell down and didn't get back up.  I'd wallow in my failure. Today I'm brushing myself off (all those crumbs!) and climbing back on.


You always pass failure on your way to success.  ~Mickey Rooney
Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.  ~Henry Ford
There is no failure except in no longer trying.  ~Elbert Hubbard

Friday, April 6, 2012

a week of slumps, been "down in the dumps"

Just call me Melancholy Margaret/Maggie/Peggy.

Today I'm working on getting out of my slump. It's been a tough week.  I haven't blogged much and I've found that doing so usually helps keep me on task so that probably hasn't helped matters.

I had a cheat meal after weigh-in that then resulted in a whole cheat DAY.  Of course then it's Sunday so "I may as well get started again on Monday".  Monday was OK, but we went out to eat after surgery and I slept a good part of the day after that so certainly didn't burn off any calories.  Tuesday was a disaster because of some intense family drama that resulted in emotional eating.  Wednesday I'd kept the calories down to maintenance but not healthy food (McDonald's bacon, egg & cheese biscuit was 420 calories!). Better yesterday but I'm still having trouble getting out of the fast food rut.  I had 2 breakfast burritos for breakfast (600 calories) and for dinner I had a Big Mac without the bun (330 calories but 26gm fat).  At least I ate a healthy lunch!

Today I'm determined to get back on the right track.  Drove a different way to work so I avoided McDonald's.  Ate a healthy breakfast and when I'm done here I'm going to get some green tea. I already drank a diet Coke :-(.

The "no lifting, bending, etc, no exercise for the week" has really gotten to me.  I think the "diet" went out the window with the exercise because not doing so has really affected my mood.  I'm surprised at how much my regular exercise routine meant to me.  I didn't really notice, it's just something I did certain days without much thinking. Some simple stretching hasn't really helped at all. I'm aching all over, headaches, can't sleep.  I can go for a walk but it's cold outside and I'm always cold lately so I haven't felt motivated to do so.

Still depressed about not being able to swim for a month.  I know the pool water is treated but my eye doctor thinks that there's still a risk of infection if I swim.  It really helped my aches and pains (lots of neck and back problems) especially since I'd go to the whirlpool afterwards to further try to work out the kinks.  I'll give it a week then I think I'll at least do water exercises in the pool without putting my face in the water wearing goggles to prevent getting splashed in the eye.  I don't think it would be smart to swim even with goggles on in case they leak.

Well, today it's fairly nice outside so maybe I'll take a walk at lunch and maybe it will raise my spirits... "Sunshine on My Shoulders Make Me Happy...." 

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

I'm SUNK! no swimming :-(

Haven't blogged because I had my eye surgery yesterday morning and it was hard to see with my eye shield.  My surgery went well but they couldn't get one corner of my cataract out.  It's a little difficult to get used to this new lens!  It's a little bit smaller than a natural lens so I can see the edge out of the corner of my eye but it doesn't affect my vision.  It's also so bright, like someone put in a 100 watt bright white light bulb in the surgical eye and there's a 75watt bulb in the other.  It's going to take some getting used to for the next 3 weeks I guess for the brain/eye adjustment.  Had some eye strain in my left eye too because of the suddenness of the loss of vision in the right eye already. The headaches have probably gotten a little worse but we'll see now that the eye shield is off.

Bad news is the no exercising, bending, lifting etc for the next week. No ZUMBA this week . NO SWIMMING FOR A MONTH!!!  That is definitely bad news.  We'll see what the doctor thinks when she checks things out again in a few weeks.  Til then I guess I'd better get my walking shoes on! 

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Great end to the month

I did the weigh-in yesterday and lost 10 pounds for the month! That brings me up to 24.8 pounds but I'm saying 25 pounds since it's sounds better!  Congrats to my fellow contestants on their progress for the month!

I celebrated my progress with fellow contestant Lisa and her daughter at a Chinese buffet! It was a nice end to the month!  Had breakfast for dinner at Bob Evans because I really missed having biscuits and fried mush but today it's back to no starches, AFTER treating myself to a single small pancake.

I hope to learn from the mistakes from last month such as not eating enough calories. I also plan to get in more exercise, maybe trying out some light weights.  I have to be careful what I do because of my neck/shoulder and back issues. My knee issue has been much better since I've lost weight. I even managed to do a short run on the treadmill yesterday. I can't remember the last time I actually ran, LOL.