Changes I have made

I stopped drinking alcohol. I was having a tall beer for dinner about 4 days a week. No alcohol for the last six weeks. I stopped eating most white foods like white rice, bread and pasta. No more almond crossaints at the cafe. No more sushi. No more huge bowls of pasta with Rao sauce for dinner.I also stopped eating cheerios. I never drank sugary drinks and I don't have smoothies so no change there, just reinforcement of a good habit. I don't eat anything with high fructose corn syrup. I stopped eating bagged salads because of the bad oils in the dressings. I started buying bags of green beans and brussels sprouts and cooking them right away so they don't spoil. Also spinach. Now going to drink lemon water every morning. On day two of walking when I wake up. Hope to increase the time soon. Continuing to eat beans on a regular basis. Eating avocados for the good fats. Only cooking with olive oil when oil is needed, like roasting brussels sprouts. Eating sardines and herring every other day. Cottage cheese and berries, not cheaping out at the price of berries. Blackberries and raspberries, with the occasional strawberry box. Steel-cut oatmeal. Non-fat Greek yogurt with berries. Spoonfuls of ground flax seed on my yogurt or cottage cheese. Responding to the urge to snack by making tea instead of eating something. Green tea mostly.

Lemon water

So one of the videos I saw on YouTube said that drinking lemon juice in a big glass of water can have a beneficial effedt on fatty liver if done first thing in the morning. So I got some lemons on one of my walks and chugged down a glass of water with half a lemon's juice last night and this morning. One thing to watch out for is a bad interaction with tooth enamel so I ordered some biodegradable straws to avoid that. This morning I got out of bed late but I got dressed and left the house immediately to walk to the cafe and have my coffee while reading one of the many New Yorkers I have cluttering up my table. It felt good to walk and I didn't get tired. I'm going to try to do this every day for a week and then think about extending the walk to twenty minutes each way.One small step at a time. The idea is to stimulate the body with walking before breakfast. I would like to get up earlier but I'm allowing myself to wake up naturally because a good night's sleep is also high on the list of healthy habits. Quest is on spring break so I don't have anywhere to go later in the day. Tomorrow I will got to Rosemary's new apartment to see it and have dinner with her and Arun in their new neighborhood. The are right next to a subway stop on the M line so it will be easier to get tottheir place now.

exercise block

This morning I set my alarm for 8 am and planned to get up and walk 20 minutes before having my coffee and breakfast. I ended up staying in bed until 9:30 and then took a ten-minute walk to the Covert Cafe and had black coffee. On the way back I stopped at the big grocery store that I never go to and checked for cans of calamares, which they had. Everything else is about a dollar more expensive than my little grocery store--tomatoes, raspberries, broccoli, Rao's tomato sauce. I got a huge pack of TP and carried it home. So I didn't walk for 20 minutes but I did walk for 10 each way. I'm going to keep on tryng to get up and get dressed and walk on the days when i don't have another activity planned. Now I need to do some at-home strength training with YouTube videos. Some squats and knees up. The session on Tuesday will be about exercise. The point of walking before breakfast is that I watched a video saying that the liver is primed to release visceral fat after sleep and before food sends the blood sugar up, so a 20 minute walk will be optimum for burning visceral fat. Today I did 20 minutes but not consecutive so I don't know if it will have worked. But I did get up and get out the door, so there's that. Tomorrow maybe I'll walk to Cup of Brooklyn which is 20 minutes away.

Taxes done!

Overcame my procrastination and did my taxes. I use a service that I used to get for free when my income was lower. Now I pay for the state filing but not the federal. I'll get a total refund of $849. That plus some unexpected refunds from my health insurance mean I'm banking some extra money this month. I need to get to the credit union to deposit the checks. I have lost theh checkbook from my Brooklyn Coop FCU and I'm out of deposit slips for BluPeak FCU. I need to dig around in my drawers to see if I stashed the checkbooks somewhere. Next on the list of things to do!.

yahoo~

Milestone! I went below 180 for the first time! I was getting discouraged at bouncing around 181-184 but this morning I came in at 179-177. We'll see if that's where I am tomorrow but it's movementn in the right direction!

Showing Up

I went to the first day of my diabetes prevention program today. I got there ten minutes early and made myself a cup of coffee. Each week we will be weighed and as expected my weight was 4 lbs more than it was at home this morning. Some of that is clothes and shoes and some of it is just fuck you weight. We each got a binder with two sets of handouts: ones that will stay in the binder and ones that will come home. There are logs for food and exercise and a goal-setting sheet. My weight loss goal is to lose 7% of my body weight or 13 lbs in the next six months. That should be doable. The walk to and from the subway is significant enough to be logged as my cardiovascular exercise of the day. My left ankle is twinging.Could be the osteopenia flaring up. I've been very faithful with my My Fitness App. I use it eevery day and log all of my food and drink. Next on my list of steps to implement is to drink water. I've been watching YouTube videos about liver cleansing and one recommendation is to have lemon water when you wake up and to delay breakfast until after you've gotten some exercise and sunshine. I need to set an alarm and get out of bed by 8AM. No more lying around until noon! i've been saving exercise videos on YouTube so tomorrow I will get out of bed and drink water and do the one that has three exercises for seniors: sit-to-stand squats getting out of a chair, wall push-ups, marching in place with arm swings. Those feel approachable. I have a stretchy band that has been hanging on my bathroom doorknob for months now. That will be my next exercise goal: to add some upper body workouts with the band. The room was full for our session. Everyone there said they wanted to beat their diagnosis of type-2 diabetes. A few people were returning or had been working with our coach Andrea one-on-one. There is this one guy Carlos who talked compulsively. I hope he drops out. Andrea dealt with him well, affirming the positive things he was saying. If I leave the house at 9 I can get the J before they shut down for their midday track replacement work at 9:15. It's not a long ride. The walk from Delancy-Essex takes me by some blooming forsythia and dafffodils.

steel cut oatmeal

It's a commitment. It is one of the healthiest things I can eat now becuase of its soluble fiber. Research shows that eating them is beneficial for type-2 diabetes and high cholesterol. But you have to spend 30 minutes cooking them stirring every five minutes or so and then scrub the pot. If I cook 1 cup at a time I have leftovers that I can eat for 3-4 days. So right now I have a timer on and I'm going to eat them with blackberries and ground flax seed.

Diabetes prevention program

I saw my primary care physician and brought her up to date on the results of my blood work.She had some more done so we could get information about my cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Not good. Of the two liver enzymes, one has returned to the normal range, yay! There's a score that indicates what the average blood sugar has been over three months. Mine is in the pre-diabetic range, 5.9. Today's session at the Manhattan location of my clinic was an introduction. The course starts next week and goes on for a year. It meets once a week for six months and twice a month for the next six months. It's a real commitment to making changes and has shown results. And it's free! It will involve food and eating habits, exercise, sleep and stress, access to resources and making a cohort community. I need to treat it like my job. The challenge is going to be the exercise. I need to start doing home exercise with youtube videos.

Reversing fatty liver

I have been very successful in changing my diet over the last six weeks, even if the weight loss has been slow. I think I've lost about ten pounds but I seem to have stalled out. But according to My Fitness Pal I'm coming in at or under my daily calorie limits so I just need to keep at it. More important are the changes I've made. No alcohol. I don't really miss it. No bread, croissants or bagels. I don't buy those for home consumption but it means changing my cafe orders. No added sugar (no ice cream); not really a change as I don't have sugary drinks or juice or candy except for my Halloween mini snickers binge. No white carbs---no white rice or pasta. I was eating a lot of pasta so I need to stop that. The rice I have in the cupboard is brown but I haven't had any since I started the diet. No fast sugar fruits like mango or pineapple, watermelon or grapes. I will miss the mango but I can have citrus, apples and avocado. No fried foods so no more Korean fried chicken or french fries, no cheeseburger with bacon so no more trips to my favorite sports bar. Portion control is also key. I should phase out the Cheerios--I got some Irish steel cut oatmeal and ground flax seed for breakfast. I've added more eggs, sardines, nonfat yogurt and low fat cottage cheese with berries (raspberries and blackberries). I'm still eating beans but I'm trying to keep the portion size down. I've stepped up the cruciferous veggies and baby carrots with hummus. I was eating a lot of nuts but they are highly caloric so just a handful as a snack can push me over my daily calorie limit. I had finished all the nuts and dried fruits I got from Sahedi so no more snacky snacks. I'm going to stop eating the bagged salads because the dressings have bad oils in them. According to the liver news, I can reverse fatty liver in some months to a couple of years if I stick to these dietary changes. I'm hoping to get a confirmation of the April 1 diabetes management session. I should call or text them since they sent me an email saying they'd pass on my request. I'm going to see my primary care physician tomorrow so I'll ask her about blood work to check my sugar levels and also talk to her about the medications I'm taking. I have an appointment with a liver specialist at the end of April. I wonder if either of them will prescribe Metformin.

Covert Cafe

Today it was warm enough to leave the house in a sweater instead of a down jacket. A daffodil has bloomed in my back yard. I went to the library and returned books and picked up two books I had on hold: The Hours by Michael Cunningham and a book about language called Rebel With a Clause. The author had done a presentation for Quest last week and I decided to get it out of the library instead of buying a copy after her talk. Saving money! I stopped by Covert cafe and had my favorite, a BLT with avocado.

Motivation

Today I had Rancho Gordo lima beans that I cooked yesterday, and steamed veggies for dinner. I also had sardines and yogurt with berries. I went to the store and got more berries and a bunch of greens that were on sale: arugula, spinach and mixed baby lettuce. I will need to restock my olive oil. I did get coffee filters. Also restocked baby carrots and brussel sprouts. My appointment with the nutritionist got pushed back a few weeks but that's OK. I am doing OK with my diet motivation. My poor liver!

pan-roasted brussel sprouts

I can eat as many as I want. A good source of fiber. Just spread them on a cookie sheet and toss with olive oil and kosher salt. Roast in a hot over (450) for 25 minutes. I didn't even bother to stir them up and they cooked just fine. Nno need for bacon or glaze.

wieght loss timeline

If I lose a pound a week, the timeline will look like this. I hope to get to a hard 180 this week 

one 

April 1 *180 

    2 179 

    3 178 

    4 177 

two 

    May 5 176 

    6 *175 

    7 174 

    8 173 

three 

    June 9 172 

    10 171 

    11 *170 

    12 169 

four 

    July 13 168 

    14 167 

    15 166 

    16 *165 

five 

    August 17 164 

    18 163 

    19 162 

    20 161 

six 

    September 21 *160      

    22 159    

    23 158 

    24 157 

seven 

    October 25 156      

    25 *155 

    26 154 

    27 153      

eight 

November 28 152      

    29 151 

    30 *150 

It will take eight months to reach my first goal weight of 150 lbs. That brings me to my birthday. So that is a reasonable timeline if I stick with the diet I'm working with now. So far I've done a really good job of sticking to it and I've. brought my weight down to 180-183. The scale bounces around but I can see a decline. A few years ago I made a similar timeline and built in a series of rewards: buying new clothes, travel. I'm going to think about how I can do that again but I'm not ready now. Maybe I'll build in some restaurant outings every five pounds or so. I went to a pizza joint with Rosemary the other day and managed to choose things that kept me in my diet range: beets tartare and 3 meatballs with tomato sauce and bread. The beets were delicious, worth the outing.

daily report

"If every day were like today... You'd weigh 174.9 lbs in 5 weeks." It's going to take some months for me to meet my goal.

Quest French presentation

Yesterday I gave a 50 minute presentation in French on Henri Matisse for the conversation

club at lunchtime. It went fairly well althought there were technical problems with the interface between Powerpoint and the YouTube videos I had linked to. I asked the group to tell me what they saw in the images I shared and people spoke up so i consider it a success. I learned so much from preparing that I was able to talk my way through it without reading a script. Next on the Matisse agenda will be a trip to the MOMA to see the Matisses in the collection. I was so nervous about doing the presentation that I didn't sleep at all the nighth before. The next night I overslept and missed the Hamlet class. Then last night no more sleep again. I have to talk to my doctor about this because my sleep has been irregular for the past few months.

Milestone

I have been weighing myself every morning and trying to accept that sometimes the scale will go up a few pounds as well as down, what with water weight and all. But today I broke a barrier when the scale read below 180 for the first time. I have lost ten pounds! still so much more to lose but I am delighted that it's going down consistently. I made myself roasted brussel sprouts for lunch. I'm oooking Rancho Gordo scarlet runner beans with goat meat in the slow cooker. I used to be able to eat scarlet runner beans from plants in my back yard in Berkeley. Nobody else in the building wanted them so i would just go out and chow down. When I go down another ten I will allow myself a restaurant splurge.

check-in time

I have been weighing my self all week and I have lost some weight. I don't know exactly how much because my starting weight fluctuated so much but I'll just say 5 lbs. I found myself lying in bed chanting "I will lose weight!" I'm so frightened about my blood sugar levels and my liver diagnosis. The good news is that if I can lose a significant amount of weight it may reverse some of the liver damage and control the blood sugar levels. I am doing a reasonably good job of staying within my calorie limit of 1330 per day. I need to snack on something other than nuts. It's going to be a long slog but if I can stick with this kind of diet for a couple of months I'll see real results. I have been lying in bed until noon listening to podcasts. I'm going to go easy on myself because I'm scared.

Slogging through another round of medical appointments.

If it's not one thing....I had some routine bloodwork done ordered by my oncologist. The results came back that my blood sugar is over the limit for pre-diabetes and my liver enzymes are also high, in the abnormal range. This is most likely due to the olanzapine. Dr Li ordered an abdomen MRI to check my liver and it came back that I have a Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver. She gave me a referral for a liver specialist so I have an appointment for that in a month or so. I'll be seeing Dr Clinton at the end of this month and I am signed up for a Diabetes management course through Betances clinic. I also went to the dentist to get a cleaning and check-up and a screening for zometa, a med that is supposed to treat my osteopenia that was revealed to be worse with my bone density scan. I need to find a way to fax the form back to Dr. Li. The treatment for diabetes and the fatty liver is the same: lose weight and reduce the visceral fat. I have started on a diet using the My Fitness Pal app. It allows me to track my calories, carbs, fat and protein as well as my weight and excercise. I have lost a few pounds already. I got new batteries for my scale. I don't like weighing myself every day because it's so dispiriting when it goes up. I have also tried to adopt a diet that includes more raw veggies, fruit, nuts and beans. The nuts add a lot of calories but they're good protein. I've been having cheerios and milk or a 3-egg omelette for breakfast, and 2 cups of red beans for lunch or dinner since I made a big batch. Next Ranch Gordo thing I'll make is lentils. I treated myself to lunch at the Delancy-Essex market after the dentist and had kale with salmon, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, garbanzos, dates and walnuts with a little red onion. It was delicious and filling and almost my entire calorie allowance for the day due to the dates and walnuts. The My Fitness Pal gives a daily report that says "if every day were like today you would weigh X amount in five weeks." It allows you to have a weight loss goal that's reasonable and precise. I started at 190 (my god) and i"m down to 184. Five weeks target is around 175. My long term goal is 150. If I lose more than that I'll be happy but I'm trying to set an achievable goal for the next few months. Today I had nonfat yogurt for breakfast, an apple, almonds and cherry tomatoes for dinner and red beans for lunch. I went to the store and got eggs, milk and cereal, tomatoes and almonds, cottage cheese and bagged salads. I have some veggies in the fridge that i have to eat tomorrow: a red pepper, some green beans and carrots to eat with hummus. So I'm good for the next three days. I have sardines and tuna for protein. All that has had me feeling anxious but there is some good news: Rosemary and Arun were able to find a good apartment that will be less money for both of them. Arun got a part time job and continues to apply for everything in sight. He was so discouraged yesterday according to Rosemary. She's in Spain for another ten days, seeing all the friends and relatives. She got to celebrate Loren's and yaya's birthdays. Yaya is 96 and still able to walk and be lucid. A Spanish doctor says that Loren's walking difficulties are most likely due to the stenosis that the surgery corrected, rather than the CS fluid build-up. I hope he can get some more physical therapy for that. I also just got my quarterly IRA transfer and I have plenty of money. I haven't been spending much lately so I allowed myself to buy expensive raspberries at the store. I'm taking care of the cat who has been much less rambunctious and destructive than last time. I stuck stuff in drawers and covered the trays of stuff on the tables to prevent him from throwing things on the floor. He like to sit on top of the tall dresser and look out the front window. I wonder what the attraction in. People walking by infrequently? He also looks out the back window but showed no interest the one time I saw one of the feral cats sitting outside. The weathr has been lightly rainy and not so cold. I went to my Quest classes on Tuesday. I need to finish the powerpoint by Sunday for my presentation on Matisse. I also need to write out a script. I'm about 2/3 done with it. I'll finish it tomorrow. I also have to find a place to send the dental screening form by fax to Dr. Li.

leave the house every day.

New Year's intention setting: I will leave the house every day, even if it's just to go to the store. Today was New Year's Day and I walked in the freezing wind on the icy sidewalk to the closed library. The cafe was closed as well. I returned my books and trudged back home. Yesterday I walked to a restaurant to have brunch with Rosemary and Arun. It was a mile each way. It was not quite as cold as today but it was a strenuous hike. Tomorrow is Friday so I need to put out my recycling--containers in the entry way are full. I also need to break down the boxes on the table so I can start the new year with a clean surface.

Quest CCNY Lifelong Learning Community

 Inspired by my mother's experiences with lifelong learning at the Fromm Institute I searched "lifelong learning" and "continuing education" and stumbled across the Quest Lifelong Learning Community in the Bowery of Manhattan. I contacted them and they invited me to observe a class and then to come in for an interview. I found that I could take the J subway from Chauncey station to the end of the line at Broad Street and then just walk a few blocks to the Cunard Building on 25 Broadway.On the seventh floor there is a little cluster of classrooms, an auditorium, a lunchroom and some administrative rooms. My intake interview was very thorough and friendly. All the classes are taught by volunteers from the community of about 700 members. i've been to a couple of classes and some guest lectures by people from PBS and a Broadway critics show.  There was also a new members lunch with Q an A by committee chairs about how the organization works. You can drop in on any class, no need to register for the entire term. From discussion participation by the members it's clear that the folks are all very interesting. There is a Spanish conversation time at lunch and a French one as well. I have to keep my expectations low so I'm not disappointed but it's the most interaction I've had with people in years.