As I posted elsewhere on this site today, last week was a less than stellar
week for me.  I did not log regularly and my eating, while always starting
out well, three times deteriorated around dinner.  Not with big meals, just
little nibbles.  I have had this darned cough for at least two weeks and it
is really getting me down.  It has settled deeply into my chest, keeps me up
a lot at night, yet it really doesn't seem a big enough deal to go get an
antibiotic over.  I think I will if come Friday I still feel short of breath
at odd times.  In any event, I did very little cardio last week because the
training sessions just wore me out...the main result being I only lost .5
lbs.

However, the point of the post is that today I was running (or should I say
walking) some errands and I saw one thing and experienced another which
convinced me I should stay the course.  First, I saw a woman about my age
painfully walking out of a store.  I could tell her knees were killing her
because she was walking like I used to before I lost my first 80 lbs.  She
was very, very large. I distinctly remember Tom, during one of his tough
love sessions, seriously telling me that his whole goal was not to get me to
be a better olympic weight lifter, but to get me to drop the weight.  He
told me that if I didn't, I would be in a walker by 65, that my knees just
couldn't take it anymore.  He told me I was doing the hard part...I was
going to the gym daily and exercising.  That is was time for me to tackle
the nutrition part.  I had to do both.

Then, later today, I took off my shoes after a day of painting (yes, we are
still at it), cleaning, doing laundry and shopping.  I thought I could cook
dinner in stocking feet.  Well, hello, I was wrong.   I guess I really do
need the support of those things because I pronate so badly, that is one of
the things that affects my knees. I was in so much pain by dinner I put them
back on and iced my knees.  Much better.  but I realized that I didn't want
to be that woman slowly making her way through a parking lot, in such
obvious pain.  I don't want to be in a walker in 15 years (ok, 13).  I will
do the necessary thing and will stay the course, as hard as it is sometimes.

One final note:  I made the acorn squash stuffed with ground turkey tonight
for dinner.  It was wonderful!  What a good idea and thank you to whomever
posted that idea.  I never had any idea acorn squash was so sweet on its own
since the only way my mom every served it was drenched in butter and brown
sugar .

Elise.