kick starting a buffalo

Okay, so I have not updated much, life, as usual, has been busy.

I have continued to walk every weekday (minus this past Tuesday which was pouring rain, I really need to get a rain coat and an extra pair of shoes so that I can do that), and have gotten in at least 2 miles a day (sometimes as many as 4 miles!).  And let me tell you, there are days that I had to drag myself to the pond against great internal opposition (when I feel sad, I don't like to do anything, and I have had a couple of days that I felt exceptionally emotionally heavy this week).  BUT I made myself go, made myself honor the decision and commitment I made to myself to walk at least 2 miles every day--even if it a plodding, unhappy two miles!!  And you know, walking helps me feel better most of the time.  Out of the 13 days since I started walking (when School started 2 weeks ago), I have had only one weekday that I did not walk, and only one drag-myself-there-and-make-myself-honor-my-commitment-to-myself day that walking did not make me feel markedly better (it did make me feel somewhat better, but sometimes that nagging dark cloud still hands around even when you have walked and gotten your blood flowing).  So I am proud of myself that I have been true to my decision, to stand firm in my decision to walk each day.

As for food tracking, I did well, and then I piddled out some.  I will continue to try to make it a daily habit.  It is more time consuming, and this week, I have been using most of my library hours actually writing articles for pay (which I should be doing right now as I have three assignments that need to be done by tomorrow!), and so have not taken the time to fill out my spark people food tracker or even the exercise tracker.  That I will do today, and will write my articles tonight after the kids are in bed.  I definitely eat more  consciously when tracking food than I do when I have not tracked it in a couple of days.  Conscious eating is important.

This week has been busy.  Monday after school the boys and I picked up chicken feed and took it to my chickens over at my father's house (they were slated to move to my house as soon as the coop is done, which I had planned for this weekend).  However when we went to the coop, a horrible sight met us.  A predator or predators had gotten into the coop and killed almost all of the chickens (we have had a little trouble with predators (weasels, chicken hawks, dogs, etc...) through the spring and summer, but each time it was only 1 or 2 chickens and we were able to find where the problem was and take action.  But no, this time the predator(s) (we suspect bobcats for a variety of reasons) took out BOTH roosters, four of my big hens, and 16 of the young pullets and cockerels (2-3 month old chickens that hatched this spring).  That left one one little pullet and two of the older hens, all quite traumatized.    So Monday evening saw me building a secure makeshift chicken pen at my house and moving the chickens there, and I will definitely be completing the secure, permanent coop this weekend.

So finally, last by not least, I have not had a lot of success in making the scale go down, even with better eating and walking.  So in talking to a variety of people, I decided I do need to do something to maybe kick-start the weight loss process.  I am not into fad diets and such, I have tried a number of them over the years, but without a permanent change in lifestyle.  now that I am making a permanent change in lifestyle though, I am feel discouraged that in nearly 3 weeks, the scale has barely moved.  For a person with so much excess weight, I should be losing easily to begin with.  It is probably an issue related to insulin production, metabolic process, emotional stress (which makes you hold on to weight), and other factors.  One of my sisters said that she and her husband had a wonderful experience with the 17 Day Diet.  It was very cleansing and after the first 5 days, she felt a million times better,and lost that last 5 pounds that had been nagging her, and her husband lost over 25 pounds.  So, as this buffalo of my weight seems to be just content and grazing slowly around the prairie, I have decided to give it a try.  I borrowed the book The 17 Day Diet from the library and as of today, have started on the first leg of the journey.  Hopefully if I can kickstart this buffalo, it will stampede away the blocks that have been limiting my ability to get the scale to come down, and then the healthy changes i am making will have a better chance to take hold.  So, yup trying a short diet to get the ball rolling.  I'll let you know how it goes...