Today, my sister and I did a 25 kilometer walk. It was to raise money for cancer research. 25km through downtown Toronto, we both signed up for this last November and neither were sure we'd actually be able to do it.

Not only did we finish it, we kept an average pace of a bit better than 5km/h. It took us 5 hours, 20 minutes and that included two rest stops.

Needless to say, despite the sore feet and aching muscles, I'm feeling pretty jazzed, considering I only started walking 13 months ago and couldn't even go a single km back then.

Blood sugars where they should be.

Wearing my running vest top this morning - I saw my shoulder blades!! Hello old friends, I've not seen you in quite some time

This is going to sound really small to most people but to me it means a lot. My boyfriend comes round to see me after work most evenings and brought two packs of small cake and biscuit treats on Monday. Usually we'll open one pack and eat the whole thing between us wth a cup of sugary tea. Monday I had just one and no sugar in my tea. I was so proud of myself. Then the big test, yesterday after a tiring day at work, surely I would cave in. No, again I had just one and no sugar in my tea and I was completely satisfied. If you knew my usual lack of self control around these things you would realise how huge this is for me. I'm positive that it's this way of eating that's helped me do this.

"Alex.... you're too skinny...."

"....For... what?" I replied, puzzled.

She just giggled.

(Thin Shaming is also 'a thing', it seems....)

This morning I participated in my first 5k race! It was a charity run to raise money for youth mental health. I wasn't able to run all 5k but I ran as much of it as I could and walked the rest.

I completed the 5k in about 44 minutes, which is 10 minutes faster than my previous best. I've been a bit giddy since then hehe, especially just comparing myself to where I was a year ago.

When I get bored I like going used car shopping and work to get them cleaned up and it good shape doing as much of the work as I can. To make it more fun I often like to break mental chains in the process by getting vehicle that I know nothing about. Nearly a month ago on a Saturday I went and looked at new Subaru cars in Clarksville TN the closest dealership to me but the prices of new cars cause me to lose interest quickly.

Since I left out at 7 am after dropping the wife off at work with the daughter to pick her up I decided to make a day of car shopping knowing the son was soon going to grow tired of his 14 MPG Dodge Ram driving to diesel college every day.

After pulling off in a parking lot after leaving the Subaru dealership I found some options on Craigslist and drove near the Franklin TN area to look at a 2010 Subaru Forester 2.5X with 105K miles that was less than 1/4 or the price of a new one that had just had a $2500 service that is common for that engine every 105K miles that included new head gaskets too. I made a down payment because I did not leave home planning to do more than look at new ones.

That was about a 14 hour day with all solo driving including city driving. I was slow on Sunday so I just took it eazy. Had a busy Monday morning and when the son got out of college after lunch we make a hard 3 hour drive to finish the deal and drive the Subaru back to KY. Tuesday was busy getting the car tagged and working on going over it checking it out and cleaning it some.

I wanted some better wheels and tires and found a set about 4 hours up into IN and the daughter and I were on the road most of Labor Day. Great day with the daughter as both of them are truning 20 next week. Anyway over this past weekend I have the car looking good with the new used wheels, tires plus a hand polish/wax job with the help of my son.

In two weeks I will start year Four of LCHF. At that time the kids were having to help me in and out of the car and with other daily chores. There was no way I could have been driving the miles that I have driven this past few weeks plus all the physical labor required for this project.

It is exciting what LCHF is permitting me to do at the age of 66 with great physical limitations. My pain level has stayed relative low through out this physical and mentally stressful fun task.

The Subaru Forester is my first 4 wheel drive vehicle (they have been full four wheel drive vehicles since 1973) and I am loving it. I was glad I was in it this morning when a PU pulling a heavy load of seed wheat ran the car off the road in front of me then forced me off the road as he was trying to regain control of the loaded trailer when he over corrected.

Getting on with life and spending quality time with the kids are great NSV's in my book. I am not sure I would even be out and about today had I not found this life saving WOE.

I had a doctor's appointment today, and my doctor has reduced my metformin dose from 1000 mg twice a day to 500 mg twice a day. I will keep checking my glucose to monitor things, and if they start getting high, I can always go back. I see this as some progress toward my goal of getting off the meds and controlling the glucose levels with diet. On the negative side of things my BP was 138/83 on meds, so my weight loss has not brought that down as much as I would have liked.

Before I lost the weight, I was a pretty reliable 130/80. Since staring the weight loss, I have been more on the 120/70 end of things, and my doctor was thinking of having me go off them to see how I responded. I was hoping this would be the appt to drop that one. It may have been an outlier.

The doctor gave me a new weight goal. I was hoping for a few high fives maybe.

I am very happy to be getting the glucose numbers in line. His nurse told me "no one" ever reduced diabetes meds. They just added a new one when metformin stopped doing the job. I am pleased to be an outlier there.

I've lost 37 pounds and the comforter covers me better on the bed lol. It's so funny what you notice. Since my bum and legs are slimmer, all my pants have become too long.

tcunbeliever wrote: »

tcunbeliever wrote: »

Today I put on a pair of jeans I haven't worn in a few weeks...I almost couldn't get them over my butt...however, once up, they buttoned with no issues and no spill over the top...NSV - apparently my glute routine is working and I'm getting a bigger booty...measurements are scheduled for tomorrow!!!

this past weekend I could get them on, but they fit terrible, my butt is too big and they don't pull all the way up like they should so they are way too low rider and just look awkward...my booty is rounding out nicely, I really like the shape it's getting, however I gotta say it's a bit of a bittersweet NSV to have to buy the exact same jeans in a bigger size...I'm still claiming it as a victory!!! And really, is anyone but me going to care if I'm in a 5 instead of a 3...nope...no one will even notice...my size 3 "curvy" still fit, but "boot cut", not so much...

I hear Sir Mix-a-Lot in my head right now for some reason.....

I mounted my horse from the ground this past Saturday. My girls 15 and 12 had never seen me do this. The 15y/o said, "You are always telling us how proud you are of us, well we are proud of you! You are doing so good."