Boy, do I have a lot of catching up to do! I wasn’t feeling well at last weekend and it rolled into the beginning of the week…missed some work and did a lot of sleeping. A friend and I walked a little more than a 5K today on a new trail, which was really good, as I did nothing at all for four days and was chained to my desk for two more. Yesterday was a little better and I'm hoping tomorrow will be even better...Then I was playing catch up the rest of the week and trying to help my husband who is dealing with family drama. What a week! It has been pretty quiet on here this last few days, so I’d guess everyone has been busy/worn out/otherwise occupied.

I was going to congratulate all our losers individually but the list got so long that…well, I am super proud of all our awesome losers! 😊 And several of you have maintained, which is terrific, too.

As several others have, I got my second covid vaccine. Unlike most, I am apparently in the minority and experienced absolutely no side effects/symptoms other than the sore shoulder—the day after I got mine, I hiked five miles. My sympathies to those of you who had a tough couple of days after.
As I mentioned a couple weeks ago…I’m enrolled in a program for weight loss through my insurance to earn points for a discount next year. I just finished the second week of ten. Sigh. I’m trying to be positive (I’m positive I don’t like it). The last time I did this program was 2017 and it was about six months after the first time I had really committed to losing weight. I’d already been losing consistently and steadily (I know how, I just have to do it), so it was irritating and contradicted what was working. They were pretty insistent that no one really needs to eat breakfast (I’d like them to say that to my face when it is 9 am and I have not had breakfast…I’m not nice at that point and that’s when my eyes go a bit crazy and the fangs start dripping…my coworkers are like, hey, did you miss breakfast?). The main presenter was really irritating. Some of their program was based on ‘science’ that is not available anywhere but their website (like drinking 7:1 orange juice : water all day long or their ‘hunger savers’).

So…here are some pluses: This time around they acknowledge that not everyone is the same and some people do better if they get some breakfast (like me…and diabetics). The presenter I don’t like is gone. They have expanded the list of ‘hunger savers’ and have said anything at or under 100 calories can probably be a ‘hunger saver’ (of course…you’re still not supposed to count calories, so how would you know?). They no longer beat the juice water drum as hard and emphasize hydration instead.

Does this mean I like it? Well, honestly, no. But here are some things they encourage that I can get behind: chewing slowly and taking time to fully enjoy your meal rather than inhaling it; stopping when you’re full (not necessarily when the food is gone); do exercise you enjoy and identify why you do it (not because you have to—kinda like Ashley, who clearly loves her spin bike). I’m cool with that. I tend to focus on portions and not going overboard. I don’t do exercise I don’t like.

I have an appointment for balance (I think…it might be ballast—I’ve got that too) on Monday and we hope they’ll figure out the hearing loss and vertigo issues. I’m not holding my breath…but I’m hopeful.

I was talking to someone a week ago who is struggling with getting back on track at the same time as dealing with loss of a close family member and I realized this is true for many of us…and I think a lot of it is grief management. Even those of us who haven’t lost family or friends to covid or something else the past year are grieving. We’re grieving for the enormous number of people our communities have lost. We’re grieving for our lost feeling of safety and well-being (even those people who don’t believe in covid). We’re grieving for a lost year and opportunities. We’re grieving for a way of life that will forever be changed, even when we go back to ‘normal’, we won’t. We will look at the world differently. We cannot unsee the past year. So…take care of yourselves. Take care of the people you love. Offer kindness where ever you can. And hang in there!

As seen on the wall of my office (not posted by me, just amusing):