I wanted to brag, and I didn’t want to do it alone. So this is the place for you to post your recent accomplishments. Drop on in for a pat on the back and an 'Attaboy or 'Attagirl!
Back on October 27, I went to the doctor and learned that, at just over 6’ tall and 192 pounds, I was officially overweight. I’d always been fairly thin, and while I realized I’d been gaining weight recently, seeing my BMI in the yellow zone on the wall chart was kind of upsetting.
And, today, I’m at 172 pounds! Full disclosure: I cheated a little. I was in the doctor’s office for depression, and he prescribed me duloxetine. One of the possible side effects of duloxetine is loss of appetite. And, boy did I experience that! For about two weeks while I adjusted to the medicine, my appetite was gone. That gave me a bit of a head start, and seeing the weight drop was good motivation to keep going. When my appetite did come back, I still stuck to a more sensible eating plan, and I continued to drop some weight. Now that my appetite is fully back to normal, it’s harder, but I’m still sticking to it. I want to drop three or four more pounds and stay between 165 and 170. I’m traveling to my in laws’ next week. My mother in law is a terrible cook, so I think my timing is good. Anyway, I was amazed by how much better I felt after losing the gut. Fingers crossed that I can keep it off…
I gotta brag on the lil’wrekker, her first year at university. She has done so well, (better than me). She gets along well with her dorm mates, she is doing her school work. Her grades prove that. She hasn’t been sick, which is amazing, she generally catches every virus around. So to say we are pleased is an understatement. Yay! Baby girl!!
Yay, Bayard! I am back at my all-time high (no, that’s nothing to brag about ) and am scheming on how to get back on track with planning eating and being more in control. It will save me money and make me feel better. I’m on borrowed time with no major health issues yet, but joint discomfort and heartburn/acid are getting worse.
Hooray, manson1972! We had our reviews recently and I got a few “exceptionals”. I guess my brag is that I took a training on being more engaged in the annual review and making it more interactive and taking time to reflect on your own strengths and weaknesses, so I dug deep and was able to come up with a few things I think I do pretty well. That’s progress for me – usually I just sit there feeling abashed by any praise from my boss.
Yeah, I’d tackle that victory while there is still time! Good no ya, though! That’s some serious rinding.
I don’t want to go into details, but I’m at the 2/3 point of my weight loss goal for the Jul - Jul year. I had to do this once before, when I was about 15 years younger, and it was way easier. Still, I’m feeling so much better already and I need to buy some smaller waisted jeans for myself for Christmas!
I went back to school when I was 29. I was a high school dropout and had never had a job earning much more than minimum wage. I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I knew I had to something. There was a recession on and unemployment in my little hick county was 18%. I had a wife and two kids to support. I started with one single night class, sure I was going to fail.
That was 6 years ago. I’m now halfway through my Masters program and have three undergrad degrees under my belt. Not bad for a high school dropout.
I used to read Torah a lot at my old synagogue, but since moving to Indianapolis, I have not been doing it. I finally chose a synagogue here in Indy to join last year, and started reading Torah again. After a few years of not doing it, it wasn’t quite like getting back on a bicycle, but I am going strong now. My Rosh Hashanah resolution was to read six times this year. I’ve done three so far.
Also, I finally lost my pregnancy weight. And it’s only been 11 years. Here’s the TL version: I take several medications for insomnia, and I did before I became pregnant. I went off all of them to have a baby (and yeah, my sleep was screwed up for a long time). I started back on them as soon as I could, which meant there were a couple I was back on when the boychik was still breastfeeding, because they apparently don’t get into breastmilk, but most of them, I still couldn’t take until he was done breastfeeding.
I gained a lot of weight when I was pregnant-- more than I “should” have, and never lost the last 15lbs. of it.
Anyway, one of my sleep meds has weight gain as a side effect. I never gained any weight on it before I was pregnant, but my doctor said “Let’s see what happens if we take you off of it.” I dropped 15 lbs really fast-- in like six weeks, with no purposeful dieting. My doctor subbed in an almost identical med that didn’t have weight gain as a side effect. No change in my sleeping.
I was totally responsible and grown-up (almost*) with the money I inherited from my mother. I set up a trust that will pretty much take care of my son’s college, assuming he doesn’t want to go to Yale or some other hugely expensive place. (If he does, he can always try for financial aid and scholarships). The trust will completely cover his tuition, and because we have no debt right now, we are continuing to save, so we will have another college fund for him to pay for a dorm and incidentals. He will have a whole life policy mature when he is 20, as well. I used the rest of the money to invest in the stock market, and have done really well-- I have gotten a 10% return on my investment so far, and it’s just been a few months. Then, I have a money market fund, from which I can make withdrawals for emergencies, and a savings account with $20,000 in it, which is our first line of defense for emergencies.
Also, for the last several years, I have had no debt.
*I did get the pinball machine.
Youngest graduated university, double major, STEM and Humanities. Also honors student so we attended three separate graduation ceremonies (each college has its own ceremony and honors has its own graduation too).
Eldest moved up to new, much higher corner office with a view. He’s now Captain on a regional jet. (He was flying a turboprop, the jet cruises at a higher altitude)
It’s been a great week, and I don’t have to write tuition checks any more.
Oh… almost forgot. The dealer finally met my price and I got a new truck last night. I have a brand new ride.
Someone down the road tore it out, dragged it down the street and dumped it in the desert. It still had a pretty good chunk of roots on it, and seeing as how they seem to grow pretty good out here (one of few things, other than Russian Olives and Ennui), I dragged it back down the road to my place.
Had the kid dig a big hole, had a neighbor help winch it into said hole and stood it up. Had a storm coming with very high winds, so I trussed it up like a Christmas Goose and hoped for the best. Did manage to fuck my hands up driving a Tee post to help stabilize it. :mad:
Still standing! Hoping the roots “take” and it continues to live. Damn thing is big, and looks pretty good out there. It amazes me what some people will discard. I know where this thing came from, and know its been growing there for over 20 years. So let’s tear it out and dump it in the desert. :rolleyes:
If it dies, I’ll have to drag it back to where I found it.
I once saw a test of upper body strength on the Internet.[ul]
[li]Bench press body weight 10 times[/li][li]15 dips[/li][li]15 pullups[/li][/ul]Tuesday I did the test. 10 reps with about 8 lbs. over body weight (205 at 197), 17 pullups, 17 dips.
I have recovered from the Thanksgiving layoff, just in time for Christmas.
) and am scheming on how to get back on track with planning eating and being more in control. It will save me money and make me feel better. I’m on borrowed time with no major health issues yet, but joint discomfort and heartburn/acid are getting worse.
