Impress Yourself First!

Positive Thinking!

If I lose the ability to impress myself sometimes, feel free to slap me! But I’m safe from that right now, I have just done 1,880 extra steps this morning, briskly striding all around the inside of our house, and for many of those steps I had hand weights, making it an even better workout.

So I am mightily impressed, so impressed with myself that it doesn’t even matter if nobody else is impressed! Our dog Missy has done her walk this morning too, with my husband Graham, and I’m certainly impressed with them and their commitment to keeping fit and well!

This is Missy on her favourite resting spot!

Missy watches me sometimes with I’m doing my extra steps all around the house, here and there, back and forth, and she looks like she thinks I’m crazy, but that’s fine, when I see some of the things Missy eats in the yard, I think she’s crazy!

But back to me – My weight in this morning was slightly unimpressive, with an extra 100 grams over my weight yesterday morning, but that small amount isn’t a worry, as long as the weight doesn’t steadily go up … exercise and avoid healthy diet with vegetables, fruit and seeds, a little meat, and dairy, with some grains, yummy – good stuff!

Healthy Diet!

For the past couple of months, Graham and I have been weighing ourselves regularly, in the effort to be healthier, and lose our excess fat, which is definitely not healthy to have. Being as fit as possible, and eating a varied diet with lots of different nutrients is a good plan for everyone, but especially those of us with Chronic Illness, as I have. Multiple Sclerosis has an unknown cause and no known cure at the moment, but keeping as healthy as possible has to help, I’d say!

I have the goal of going on being as fit and healthy as I can, despite current health things … (MS and skin cancers). Nature is smiling, and I’m smiling too!

Having Purpose

At the moment, I have a novel I’m about a third of the way through, and I have a new poetry collection I’m working on as well. I’m also the President of a writing group with several things happening, or being planned at the moment. I have also recently begun being the Writer-In-Residence as a local cafe in a lovely small town, not too far from where I live. I’m there (Gallery 14 Light Street Hamley Bridge South Australia) every Monday except public holidays. I’ve done only two days so far, but I’m enjoying it, and can see it going on for quite a long time, if it goes on feeling this good.

My life is a good one, doing good things and being a good person. The 1,880 steps I walked this morning was almost one kilometre, and I remember a time when I could barely walk fifty metres. With a good life, and a medication that is working well for me, my Chronic Illness has slowed me down a bit, but not taken me down!

My Health, My Responsibility!

Yes, I have a chronic illness, Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and it is an illness that doesn’t have a cure still, because the experts in such things aren’t sure what causes this illness. But they do know ways that may assist those of us suffereing from and with the various things having MS brings – muscle weakness, and fatigue are my main two symptoms. There are others for other people.

So I have MS, I’ve known that since I was diagnosed by a neurologist in 2010, and when he suggested I try a medication to assist, I was keen to stop myself suffering even more than I was at the time. So I began using one of the medications then available, Avonex, which was in the form of self-injection once a week. I don’t know really, what Avonex did, but it seemed to help, but those weekly injections were horrid.

When a new nedicaion came along, a capsule to swallow once a day, I happily changed my MS medication. I’ve been on this new med, Gilenya, since 2012, and I’m loving it! Sure there are a few after effects, and things my GP and I are keeping an eye on, but overall, this medication has been great for me.

But there are other things I can do, to keep well, too, and because I’m keen to keep mobile, and not needing a wheelchair, I do these other things, at least sometimes. One of the things my Neurologist told me right from the start, was that I should keep on walking, I can’t remember for sure if he actually gave me a distance to walk, but it may have been at least 500 metres, every day. So I do that, if not every day, then lots of days.

I’ve recently begun counting my steps and recording the number of steps taken, using the pedometer on my phone, and that’s working well. I measured the lengeh of my step, and every step is half a metre, so if I walk 1000 steps, I’ve walked 500 metres. I’ve written a bit about this, this morning, this is what I wrote:
– 1200 steps done, now having a bit of a rest … Missy was looking at me as if I was crazy, briskly walking all around inside, one end of the house, to the other, and back again, but she doesn’t face the truth of the bathroom scales every morning. I do, and even though I know why I got today’s result, I want a lower number tomorrow morning.
And walking more means I can go on walking, and I  definitely want to retain my mobility. I don’t need to go to any expensive gym, walking briskly inside and outside my home is enough, and I may add in some hand weight lifting later on today too, coupled with paying attention to what I eat, and reaching my ideal weight will be my birthday present to myself!
Two months to go, I can do this!

So that was this morning, and I will indeed lift those hand weights a little bit later today, and I will eat a healthy and light lunch, with vegetables and a little bit of fruit, as well as nuts, seeds and wholegrains, as is my usual lunch at home. I’ve been weighing in almost every day for the past couple of months, and I have a target weight in mind. I’m already within the healthy weight range, but at the top of the range, and I want to be in the middle of the range instead.

I’ll never be tall and slim, like my son’s greyhound, Sharon, but short and slimmer than I currently am, that’s my aim!

So if I am going to give myself the birthday present of reaching my goal weight, I have to get off my bum, and get moving around more, and keep on eating the best and most nutritious foods I can, and probably giving up the daily, small amount of chocolate would be a good idea. Perhaps once a week for the chocolate, as a reward if I’ve lost a bit of weight, would be a good way to go. Or as a reward for a certain number of extra steps walked might be an idea, as long as my weight was at least not much above, but preferably below, the previous weekly weigh in result.

If I eat well, exercise more, and maintain a positive attitude to life, who knows the ongoing benefits I’ll achieve! So far, apart from some skin cancer issues, which my GP and I are dealing with, my health is remarkably good. My heart rate is good – steady and slow, cholesterol fine, and my attitude to life is strongly Positive Polly, not Moaning Myrtle! I have family and friends who love me, I’m financially well enough off, and have little to worry about, apart from these skin cancers, but as I said, that’s more or less under control

I’ll be getting these stitches out next week, and finding out whether or not the offecnding lump was cancer … It’s gone anyway though, so if cancer, it isn’t a problem anymore.

So that’s my MS life at the moment – Do my best to be my best, and loving the life I’m currently having, apart from those yucky spider leg stitches on my hand! I’m keeping out of the sun a lot more these days, but there was so much damage done out in the sunshine as a kid, all those fun and free, sunshiney days …