<p>Sorry I haven’t updated in a while. I found I was getting too obsessed about some things and I needed to focus more on long-term, healthy choices. In the meantime, I had a trip down to Texas to visit with two elderly aunts whose food choices are not exactly what I would have chosen. I did manage to get out for a three-mile brisk walk one day and ate up every minute of the sunshine and warmth.</p>
<p>I have not gotten back on the scale since my last upset of gaining some of my lost weight back, with no apparent reason. I have continued to do my 45 minutes of cardio at the gym (or home) a minimum of 4-5 times a week (add in a few days of shoveling heavy snow, too!) and make some more changes to my food choices.</p>
<p>I crossed two major hurdles in the last week. Last weekend, I ate fish three nights in a row, and tried salmon! Still not my first choice in a meal, but it was relatively satisfying. When I was in Texas, one of my cousins made fish chowder, and I guess they all sort of noticed the look on my face when she announced what was for lunch; I had to fess up to my growing appreciation to fish and said I’d be a sport and give it a try. I kept thinking of all the calories in that chowder and wishing I could have spent them on something I really wanted!</p>
<p>Hurdle two, I ran out of Frosted Mini Wheats, and when I went to Costco this week, did NOT buy anymore. I did buy some organic raisin bran and am now having that for breakfast in the mornings. I’m not sure that it’s that much healthier, but I think it is less refined sugar, which should help with my hypoglycemia. I actually had some brand of raisin bran at my aunt’s house which I liked better. The bran was much smaller and more dense; I’ll need to look around to see if I can find it somewhere else. </p>
<p>Eddieodessa - I nominate you for our group cheerleader! Your progress is amazing, especially given your herniated disks!</p>
<p>Speaking of cheerleading, missypie, you mentioned the national competition in Dallas a couple of days back. It’s been making the news in our area as one of the local groups was the victim of bags being stolen; then it seems as if their coach grossly overexaggerated the police department’s response (or lack of), and it made the newspapers. </p>
<p>I continue to find challenges in getting food when I’m out and about. I thought I’d found what seemed like a relatively healthy breakfast wrap at Einstein Bagels, then found out it had almost 700 calories, so I will be interested to see what the new Starbucks breakfast sandwich is about. I did find a sandwich at Corner Bakery that is relatively healthy, but I’m finding that I have to go to the websites of these places to get nutritional values before I go. </p>
<p>A question someone here might be able to answer… where do you get good pecans once they’re out of season? I’m finding it harder and harder to get them, the further away it gets from the fall harvesting. We really like keeping them around for snacking, and I often will take a small sandwich bag of them in the car with me. The pre-packaged ones in the baking area taste terrible!</p>