Or maybe bouncing? Remember pogo sticks? I had one when I was 10 or 11. Loved it. Bounced until I nearly drove my mother ’round the bend, I did. Now this guy looks like he’s taking his to work, doesn’t he? I wonder if back then, they were considered a new means of transportation or something? Anyway, when I thought of “spring”, “bounce” came to mind, and bounce led to pogo stick. It’s decidedly NOT spring-like here. In fact, we visited with some friends last night - about 30 miles north of Worcester (which is where we live) and they had snow. It was snowing. Can anybody say “sick of snow“?? As in, okay, had enough, now????????

Well despite the way Spring is taking it’s time about getting here, my mind has, of course, turned to summer and what I want to be doing, where I want to be going, and perhaps most importantly, how I want to be looking. Needless to say, I want this last twenty pounds gone and GONE. I took a good, solid and objective look at myself in the full length mirror on the door of the guest bedroom and didn’t like what I saw one little bit. Now, one might ask, why is it important for a sixty-year-old woman to stay in shape and look her best? I mean, the poor old thing is already wrinkled up like a prune - what difference could it possibly make if she’s a few (TWENTY!!!) pounds overweight??? It’s not like she’s going to climb into a skinny little bikini and lay herself out on a beach somewhere, after all. Nah. I’m not looking to compete with the younger crowd. I have to admit that there are times when age “weighs heavily” on me, so to speak, and I look back on the passage of years with a bit of confusion - how did I get THIS OLD? It’s a little scary, if you want the truth. Time goes by so quickly, and mostly, you just don’t realize it. First your kids are growing up, finding boy/girlfriends, choosing colleges - or whatever they’re choosing - getting married, starting their own families, and then the grandchildren come along and they’re growing up - my eldest granddaughter is 17 now and off to college this fall! And, when it all boils down, you’re left with - you. STILL trying to figure out who YOU are and where YOU’RE going in whatever time you have left. Naturally, when we’re young, sixty sounds pretty ancient - getting right up to retirement age and all - and maybe fifty years ago (maybe even less than that) sixty actually WAS pretty old. People were winding down, wearing out, settling into old age. Now, it’s a little different. At least for me - and I know for a lot of other people - it’s not a whole lot different from fifty, except I’ve got to say that I DO have a few more aches and pains than I used to. That bursitis thing in my hip socket that makes my whole leg ache at times, can be a little annoying, but I guess that compared to some folks who have had serious health problems, I’ve been lucky. So, it’s onward, but hopefully not upward - at least so far as my weight is concerned - and if I’ve gotten to this point and seem to still be in decent working order (sometimes I think of myself as a household appliance with an extended warranty) than I suppose I really ought to try to stay in decent working order….something that seems increasingly do-able, (barring any unexpected nasties) as time goes on. And, staying in working order probably means working until I’m at least 67, and possibly beyond that, even. Which brings me back, of course, to the need to shed this pesky twenty pounds because all the clothes I’ve been grabbing up and throwing into my respective shopping carts are size 12’s and size 12 needs to be loose and comfortable on me. I don’t like tight things. Fitted, I will concede to, but not tight. I can wear SOME 12’s now, but not many. I like my 14’s. There’s a nice comfy couple of inches of spare room around the waists of my 14’s that let me breathe comfortably, even while sitting (LOL). But as I started to say, I looked at myself in the mirror yesterday morning, I think it was, and wasn’t very happy with what I saw. Especially from the rear. <sigh>

I’ve been quite vigilant about my eating for the past - oh, maybe week and a half, now - and I think it’s beginning to pay off. Things are feeling a little roomier. But after the mirror experience, I made up my mind to get serious about getting this weight off, and I’ve gone back to counting calories, since that’s worked the best for me over the past year or so. I made myself up (at work - I didn’t really have any “downtime” but I took some anyway) a little daily diet chart where I can list everything I eat and total up the calories. Yesterday’s were 1200, which is a little low - I think I’m better off staying around 1400 - but supper got cut short because we were running late, and then it was late when we got home, so I didn’t want to eat heavy food before crawling into bed. I ate a Weight Watcher’s chocolate ice cream sandwich. Those are just 140 calories and soooo delish…makes me feel quite self-indulgent, even.

Anyway, I am seriously recommitted. My son is coming home for a visit the week of May 5th, and I want to be able to do some bike riding with him. When we last went, he got tired before I did! Shocked him, I did! I think he thought he was indulging his elderly mother a bit and we’d just ride around the block and come home, but it turned into an hour-long adventure, and I just LOVED it! And I am SO out of shape after this long, cold and snowy winter. I haven’t done any indoor exercise at all, and I can feel my bones creaking as a result. I really need to get moving, now, get rid of this excess weight and get myself feeling more alive than I have during these winter months. AND, I’ve finally reached that point, I think, where, when an impulse to eat something sweet and gooey or calorie-intensive strikes, I can step back and ask myself if it’s worth it to me, or if I’d rather get into decent shape. So far, the decent shape carrot has been working. Can’t say it’s always going to, and fully expect to be tempted horribly in the days and weeks ahead, but I am committed, and for me, that’s a huge step.

So, it’s off to the grocery market to stock up on healthy stuff, and then supper with my two local daughters & spouses and grandson and granddaughter…possibly a movie.

DH is driving me downright crazy, but more about that later.

Hugs to all you wonderful women, you!

Z