Motivation in memory of my grandmother

reedandmalloy
reedandmalloy Posts: 43
in Motivation and Support
I have been reading so much about how the obesity rate jumped during the 20th century that I've decided to motivate myself with an experiment. Also, I'm doing it in honor of my Grandmother who was born in 1903 and lived with my family from the 50's till she died in 1987. She was always busy, had tons of energy, and was always thin. I've been wondering what she did that was so different than what I do...

She grew up on a farm in Western Ky and was very, very, VERY poor. She picked cotton for extra money and took in washing for others after her husband was killed and left her with 3 small children. She gardened for extra food. In other words, she worked off every single calorie that came anywhere near her, because she HAD to to survive.

So like I said, as an experiment, and in honor of her, I am going to spend the two weeks doing things the way she had to do them and see exactly what it does for weight loss. (If it doesn't kill me first!) I don't have a dryer so hanging out clothes is something I already have to do, but I am going to use the washtub I have for washing them . (It's must my hubby and I) I'm also going to only eat the meals she would have had available to her and her children...only whole foods. I live exactly one mile from the only grocery store in town, and I'm going to walk there if I need anything. My grandmother never had a drivers license in her life and lived to be 82 and did just fine. I'm also going to clean the way she did. Real mops and getting down and scrubbing floors. I'll put my electric Shark to rest for a few weeks. If I want to visit someone, I'll walk to see them. My sister only lives 7 blocks from me and I usually drive to her house...which is really silly in beautiful fall weather.

By the way, I'm drawing the line at outhouses and hauling water for the bath. :) I've had to do both in my life and don't wanna go back to that at the moment.

Just want to see for myself what this does for losing extra weight. I really think my (lazy) lifestyle is a big part of why I gained so much. So....I'll be posting what living "in the old days" does to help obesity. :)

Replies

  • Buff2022
    Buff2022 Posts: 373 Member
    That is awesome. I will be looking forward to your results
  • robbienjill
    robbienjill Posts: 456 Member
    Yes, keep us updated! Good luck!
  • sanndandi
    sanndandi Posts: 300 Member
    that does sound interesting, keep us posted!
  • Pollux
    Pollux Posts: 42
    I hope you post about your experiences.
  • FitToBeKim
    FitToBeKim Posts: 85 Member
    How very interesting ! What an amazing feat to take on !
    I think it is great and can't want to read about your awesome journey !
  • angelamary61
    angelamary61 Posts: 97 Member
    That sounds like an interesting theory, makes sense doesnt it. Keep us posted.
    I'd draw the line at an outhouse to :ohwell:
  • reedandmalloy
    reedandmalloy Posts: 43
    My first day of doing things like she did was really interesting! (Even though it did about kill me!) I sat up the washtub, heated some water in pans and filled the tub pan by pan. The actual washing of the clothes wasn't bad, we don't have anything that gets what you would call filthy, just the every day wearing around the house. My hubby's work uniforms I did let soak (more to give my back a rest) and then finished everything up. The rinsing was much harder. I had to use 5 gallon buckets because I didn't have another tub, and wanted to get them rinsed and out on the line while I was doing the other loads. Anyway, between the heating the water, washing the clothes, rinsing the clothes, wringing them out and hanging them on the line, that took several hours. It would have been faster if I was younger, lol.

    I also decided to wash the sheets on our bed since hubby had the day off and could help me wring them out. We took them outside in a bucket and he took one end, I took the other and we twisted them until they were pretty much drip free. :)

    The rest of the day was spent cooking, cleaning and mowing the yard. (with a push mower) I started to stop several times to check facebook but then I would remember that she would have never stopped before she had things finished. So I made myself keep going. I made it 9 hours before I called it quits and took a shower. (Except for the time it would take to eat breakfast and lunch I didn't sit down)

    Oh! I also got all of the laundry that had been sitting around in baskets for DAYS folded and put up. I have a horrible habit of putting that off. I actually times myself on that one...TWO HOURS to fold and put up the clean laundry that I had been totally neglecting. That did include re-arranging my dresser drawers to make everything fit.

    In other words, I just kept busy. My son came over and he hung up one towel for me, lol. He said it was the first time he had ever hung something on the line and when I said "Really?" he was like, "Uh, yeah. I was born in the 80's Mom...the NINETEEN eighties." :)

    Going to do more today. Scrub the kitchen floor, more laundry, wash the car, etc. I'm only on my 2nd day...I have no idea how she did this, lol. I felt like I had been hit by a truck last night!
  • mygrl4meee
    mygrl4meee Posts: 943 Member
    Very neat way to honor your grandmother. Keep posting your day and your results.
  • reedandmalloy
    reedandmalloy Posts: 43
    Well, I definitely know why my grandmother was so thin. She basically had to be just too tired to eat! I was exhausted yesterday but did make myself wash some whites that needed to be done, and get them hung out. At least they were small, and easy to wring out! :)

    I forgot to tell you about the emptying the wash tub. I had to dip the water out pail by pail and pour it into the bath tub to get it down low enough to be able to lift the washtub and pour the rest out. Then had to scrub the tub before I could take a shower. My grandmother just kept it outside, but not sure what the neighbors would think about me scrubbing clothes out in the yard, lol.

    I also learned that dogs like to help to laundry. Especially when your down on their level. I have a pit/border collie mix that kept sticking his big ol' pitty head right in my face while I was washing the clothes. My other dogs were standing by supervising. It finally dawned on me to put them outside, where they stood by the patio door and barked continuously.

    After all that fun, I decided to wash my car. We had a stray dog come up the night before and has been hanging around ever since. He's about a six month old shepherd/golden retriever mix . He wanted to help wash the car. But I got it done, scrubbed and cleaned. The dog (We are calling him Harvey) ran off a couple of times with the sponge, and wanted to play with the garden hose, but I finally got the job finished. I was soaked with sweat and ready to fall over by this point.

    I still had breakfast dishes to do, so I hand washed those, dried them and put them away. (My grandmother would NEVER leave dishes on the counter!) Then I had all the sweeping to do, plus scrubbed the kitchen floor on my hands and knees.

    At around midnight last night I was still up...and had eaten less than 600 calories the entire day. I honestly was just too tired to care about eating. And too hot...I have a/c but since I'm overweight (and have hot flashes on top of it) I was totally drenched most of the day.

    Somewhere in the middle of all of that I watered the garden and picked more tomatoes and spent time on the treadmill.

    Today has also been non-stop. It's raining so I have to get some things done inside. Cleaning out my kitchen cabinets and doing the inside windows. I'll write more about that tomorrow--if I have the energy to type. :)
  • reedandmalloy
    reedandmalloy Posts: 43
    More laundry scrubbed today since it's so beautiful out! I love having empty laundry baskets! I have to admit that I'm keeping up with the laundry much better because I don't want it to get piled up and have to do so much at once. So in a way it's been easier.

    Also picked more tomatoes again today. I planted Early Girl and they are supposed to produce until the first frost. Two of the plants are huge and still have a lot of green tomatoes, plus many more that are just starting to ripen.

    Walked with my hubby to work this morning. He only works about 1/2 mile from the house, so all in all in was about a mile walk. We only have one car, and I usually drive him to work...how silly is that to drive just a half of a mile? Especially when it's in the 70's and sunny outside.

    As for cooking the foods my g'ma used to cook...I'm making homemade from scratch tomato soup for supper tonight. I've never tried this before, so we'll see how it turns out. I'm using the tomatoes fresh from my garden, so it should be good. :)

    I did get the cabinets cleaned out and scrubbed. Ick on the one under the sink. That was a workout to haul everything out of it, scrub the bottom and sides, then get it all back in. I'm still too fat to be crawling around on the floor!! :)

    Going to weed around the house tonight....by hand, not going to use the weed eater. I also need to do along the fence. Also going to go through the garage and get things ready for a yard sale next weekend. That's a huge chore in itself.

    I do feel better today, so maybe I'm kind of adjusting to being busy instead of doing a little bit and then hanging out on facebook. I also made myself eat more yesterday...I think I had right at 1,200 calories for the day.

    Oh! Here's the tomato soup recipe that I'm making tonight. I plugged it into SparkPeople and it came out to 68 Calories and 214 mg sodium per serving. It's supposed to make 6 servings.



    4 cups chopped fresh tomatoes

    1 slice onion

    4 whole cloves

    2 cups chicken broth

    2 tablespoons butter

    2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

    1 teaspoon salt

    2 teaspoons white sugar, or to taste


    Directions

    In a stockpot, over medium heat, combine the tomatoes, onion, cloves and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, and gently boil for about 20 minutes to blend all of the flavors. Remove from heat and run the mixture through a food mill into a large bowl, or pan. Discard any stuff left over in the food mill.
    In the now empty stockpot, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour to make a roux, cooking until the roux is a medium brown. Gradually whisk in a bit of the tomato mixture, so that no lumps form, then stir in the rest. Season with sugar and salt, and adjust to taste.
  • reedandmalloy
    reedandmalloy Posts: 43
    I forgot to add that I'm also making more laundry soap tonight. I've been making my own since Feb. 2008 and it works REALLY great.
    Here's a link to the site for the soap I make. It's really easy to do and saves a ton of money.

    http://www.mrshappyhomemaker.com/2012/09/homemade-liquid-laundry-detergent-plus-a-free-printable-label/
  • reedandmalloy
    reedandmalloy Posts: 43
    Last night was rough. After spending the day cleaning, scrubbing, pulling weeds, hanging out clothes, and doing my daily exercising I was beat.

    But at 8:30 pm I noticed we were down to 1 roll of toilet paper. (no, I wasn't going to use the Sears Catalog!)
    I decided to stick to it and I walked to the store instead of driving. It was 2 miles round trip. I have to admit that the last few blocks nearly got the best of me. My back, neck, shoulders, legs, and feet were screaming in pain. I made it home and collapsed on the couch for about 20 minutes, then had to get up and take care of my dogs and put the supper dishes away.

    I was actually in bed last night before midnight, and slept till 9 this morning.

    This morning I noticed that somewhere along the way I either got stung or bit by something. It's on my thigh and looks pretty nasty. Probably while pulling weeds. :(

    Didn't quite make it to 1,000 calories yesterday so I'm planning better today. Still scrubbing the clothes (did the only load this morning, they are hanging on the line) still worked in the garden this morning and pulling weeds, still using the hoe to break up an area for compost, and still going to use the rake tonight instead of the leaf blower. But I did take time out for lunch today (didn't have breakfast) and made myself eat two fish filets and a baked potato. Supper will be mixed vegetables and chicken breast with the left over tomato soup from yesterday. (Which turned out PERFECT!) :)

    I can't believe my g'ma did all of this while raising her kids, taking in laundry, and doing a huge garden in the summer. Not to mention keeping coal in the coal stove she had. Plus, when she was left a widow she had to do every single thing by herself. She never dated...not once after her husband her was killed. THEN she moved in with my mom years before I was born and helped raise my brother and I.

    She never even went to a doctor till she was 80. (she had a stroke and my mom made her go) She had all of her kids at home...lost one to whopping cough at age 3 and another died in infancy.

    HOW did people do it back then??
  • zzk0485
    zzk0485 Posts: 51 Member
    Really enjoying reading your posts!! Sounds like you are doing great. Sometimes I wish I lived before all this technology. Thats all people knew how to get by, they didn't take anything for granted and new what hard work was. People these days do not. Keep it up and keep posting!

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