Walking. On Day 1.

~ Live & Learn

60° F. Cove Island Park.  Morning walk. 452 consecutive days. Like in a row.

But before we roll on to today, let’s talk about yesterday.

Yesterday was Day 1: Refined sugar elimination.

And you might ask, why? Why change now? It’s all been workin’ right? 4-5 hours sleep on average. Walking around groaning, in a fog, a sort of seeing — hearing Quasimodo.

Susan shares a story in “Eating Well” magazine. Sciatica inflammation ‘may’ be due to my diet. Refined sugars. Processed foods. White bread. Pastas. May be contributors.

Day before —  a sugar rampage. 2 Klondike bars. 4 packages of Welch’s Fruit snacks. 1 almond chocolate bar, downed in 2 sittings because even I need to pace myself. 2 diet Lemon Snapples. Peanut butter on white bread, layered with 1/2″ of sour cherry preserves. 2 giant bagels, with cream cheese, and orange marmalade. I’m going to stop here. But, it does go on.

And I can feel what you are thinking right now —  “Have you no shame DK?” And I would say, either this: “Dance with the one that brun you here” or I would fire back: “Don’t you think the things people are most ashamed of are things they can’t help?” (C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces)

So, after another sleepless night, we’re going Cold Turkey. No baby steps here. ‘Definition of insanity…doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results..‘ Quote source: Not Einstein as many believe but Narcotics Anonymous. N-a-r-c-o-t-i-c-s.

Breakfast: Wheat Toast. Buttered. Scrambled eggs. Handful of nuts. Handful of cherries. Two glasses of water.  Pancake mix in pantry. Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Nuggets in cupboard. Giant chocolate chip cookies on the island in the Kitchen. Man walking, tiptoeing around landmines. 

I glare at Susan — “Eating Well? Is it any wonder I have all these fr*akin’ problems!?” I stop there, because after 35 years you know what’s coming: “you wanna do the grocery shopping?”

For Lunch: Ham & Cheese Omelette. Handful of almonds. Handful of raisins. Bowl of cut watermelon. One glass of water.  Klondike mini ice cream sandwiches in freezer. Peanut Butter and Mixed Berry Jelly in pantry. Frito Lay Barbecue potato chips in cupboard above the fridge. I smile. Restrain. I’m so much bigger than all this. I am. Really, I am.

For Dinner: Albacore White Tuna salad, red peppers, onions, celery. Pita bread. Two glasses of ice water.  Two mini fruit pies in back fridge. Blueberry pie with crumble topping.  Peach pie with graham cracker crust.  Reddi-wip sits their chillin’. I abstain. I walk away. Big Man Keeps Walkin’.

I head for bed.

With such awesome restraint, everything will start falling into place.

This sciatica inflammation will flame out.

My head will hit the pillow, and 6-7 hours later, I will wake, wow, fully rested. This is what it feels like.

1:35 a.m. Sciatica rippling thunder and lightening up and down my left side.

4:00 a.m. weigh in. + 1.7 lbs.  I step off the scale, pause, inhale, wipe the sleep out of my eyes, and step on again.

+ 1.7 lbs.

This is a Bullsh*t plan.

DK @ Daybreak this morning. 6:10 am. 60° F. Cove Island Park.

100 thoughts on “Walking. On Day 1.”

  1. Omg I so get this. I’m mostly off of all those things as well except on days I choose not to be as I’m not a nun! Maybe give it more than one day? Ps: I’m pretty much an all or nothing person when starting something new and always feel I need to bulk up one last time before the big day, like a marathon runner )

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  2. You are not alone in this! So many of us care. And, I’ll bet we’re not judgmental…. We can empathise. I learned early on that my job was not to control my children (and others in my life). Here’s to the pain going away!

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  4. Ummm… Does Susan eat all that shit that’s in your cupboards and freezer? Or your kids? Coz honestly, that is a LOT of temptation. And what the hell are you doing weighing yourself after day one… NEVER do that!
    Don’t give up. They say refined sugar is as addictive as heroin… You can’t just quit and not suffer – it will take a good while to get out of your system. The positive, is that the less you eat of the stuff, the less you crave it. And, lemme know if this is true or bullsh*t coz I really need to do the same 🙂

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      2. So glad you chimed in, Susan. I am not surprised you don’t eat them – even though I don’t know you! I am zero surprised that they go on the list by “someone” in the first place… ‘Course, you could cross ’em out but then you’d have to deal with his pouting, amIright?

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  5. I would be glad if this didn’t get put in the reply section. Congratulations…whatever the scale says. Keeping you alive is the goal here. I’m 72 and have been on a diet for most of my life. They are all hard. Some give quick results and then you gain it all back. Weight Watchers…you can just do online to avoid meetings…you can write to me any time to figure something out or rant…Weight Watchers is the only style of eating that works. Notice…style…not diet. I had ice cream last night and it didn’t count against me. I lost 35 lbs before Covid and kept it off in isolation. Gained 6 lbs after breaking my knee on Easter and being planted on the couch for 6 weeks. Working on getting rid of that but know it will come off.

    The sugar will be tough to stop and you have to accept that you will have withdrawal for a week or so. It gets easier after that. Drink a lot of water. I can work up a list of foods to have ready when you are starving. You don’t want to eat a jar of peanut butter at one sitting. Please let me know if I can help you.

    Sciatica is well resolved by working with Physical Therapy. Seeing a Podiatrist would be a very good idea to help you walking if you have not had this checked. You may need an orthotic in your shoe which will or could make a huge difference. If you do get one, then I would send you to a chiropractor to get straightened out. It is a multi-modal approach which helps but not overnight.

    No magic bullet here but maybe these ideas might help. ✅

    Mary Ann

    >

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  6. Ah, David. Nothing in moderation. 🙂 Make it impossible and keep the snacks around or make it fiercely difficult but doable and get rid of those puppies. Your Life. Your choice. Rooting for you!

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  8. Just like the DK I know!!!!!! 🙂 You have to go slow and don’t believe everything you read. YES!!!! You go grocery shopping !!!!!!! That’s how oyu learn better or you ask Susan to please help you wean off all the sugary snacks and goodies you eat. Cheeries are good for helping you sleep at night I read, again I read and forgot to eat mine last night. They have the same thing as turkey does. 🙂

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    1. That thing with ‘you’ll do the grocery shopping’ wouldn’t work in our couple. Even when I prepare delicious sandies for HH, plus fruits, a yoghurt or a sugary dessert (sometimes a slice of cake, a choc bar or so), and even if I tell him: PLEASE do control yourself and don’t go overboard, I find – at the end of the month when the credit card invoice arrives (payments which I make for us), I always find up to FOUR amounts from their self-serve-sale outlet at work AND another amount of the little shop at the train station, adding approx 50mio calories to the balanced lunch…. I’m at a point where I say to him, sighying over the monthly bill: OK go ahead, kill yourself and see how I will be the Merry Widow!
      Having said that, I’ll be seeing a nutritionist next week – in my case I’ve gained an unholy amount of weight just entering the critical years of every woman…. For years and years it didn’t worry me – I had other battles to fight and all on my family’s side have/had exactly the same problem – but now that I hope to have had enough stuff (was going to write s.i.) to deal with, I hope to be able to do something for me, just for a change. This is written after having baked a huge apple pie for my mum’s mid-afternoon-coffee&cake-invite, after having (thanks go to HH for driving) picked her up (40′), all three driving together to cemetery where my little sister lies, walk and talk [HH got himself -lost- and waited on a bench], driving to our place (25′), serving coffee and said cake (apart from a small slice ALL of it was eaten!), more talk, and HH driving her back to her home (another 40′) and back…. Yesterday I invited a friend for lunch, including a dessert of course; his wife is – for the time being – in hospital…. It’s not easy, is it?!
      I have great hope in this nutritionist, and very little faith in myself. I’m not eating much, I’ve a healthy kitchen, it’s the nibbling and night-snuffing-the-stocks, the hand fulls of pistazios, nuts… BUT we shall overcome the inner pig, eventually, shan’t we!!!!?!

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          3. I need to lose 10-20 more in my mind but not owrking on it. Tthis past year bought all new jeans and that’s quite an investment to go and lose weight again. I haven’t been skinny since and teen and then when I was very sick but I like ot be a healthy weight. I beleive I’m still outside of the ideal but who’s to say! 🙂

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          3. I don’t doubt, I’ve known him for years on WP and he’s very smart and high charging which can aslo be fun to be marreid to. I was one of those execs in the past. Now a cool cucumber and retired. My h is the exec. 🙂

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          4. Melinda, now you have lost me completely…. Are you talking about Dave?
            I’m telling about HH (= Hero Husband). He most certainly is on no social media, he even still refuses WhatsApp, Threema, Signal and others.
            So I guess it MUST be Dave 😉

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          6. It was Dave! HAHAHA I don’t know HH. I lost it completely and thought you were his wife!!!!!! I haven’t slept in days. I live in Texas where it’s triple digits and our upstairs A/C went out. Sleeping is near impossible. Take care. 🙂

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          7. 🤣🤪🥵 you poor woman !!! You must take a sleeping bag to the basement …😴
            I don’t think Dave wd be overly happy with me as his wife, much rather an annoying but well loved mother-in-law…. 🤔
            I hope for some cooler weather 😎 in TX and some restoring 💤 sleep.
            Apart from that; It did make for a very good story, didn’t it?

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  9. I love my husband deeply…. but…. he loves cookies and ice cream and all those things in your cupboard and on your counter… and…. (this is where the but comes in) he NEVER GAINS A POUND! Never!!! (and yes I yelled that)
    Drives me crazy because I know that when ‘those things’ are around, I hover around them like an ant to its hill. There ain’t no mountain high enough to keep me away from all that sugary badness!
    But…. As I read your story I was admiring your determination and cheering you on and thinking — I’m not alone in this ‘affliction’ (ok Dale – addiction). If DK can do it. I can do it.
    And then you concluded with, “This is a Bullsh*t Plan” and I burst out laughing.

    “Bullsh*t Plan” or not, it’s nice to know I’m not alone! So…. I’m joining you in Day 1 of however many it takes for The Great Refined Sugar Elimination Capers. But… would you mind telling my husband I’m throwing out all the sugary badness please? I’m not brave enough to face that mountain of resistance alone! 🙂

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    1. Louise, I have a sister in law like that and a daughter in law too. They eat quantities we call ‘eating like a horse’ and they don’t ever gain a pound…. it’s so unfair!
      You won’t get your hubby to go without his sugar – he has no problem with it. You must face this mountain alone, but now you know you have DK, Dale, me and a few others in your (our) support group. I’m sure Susan will join us too, just for good measure! And Susan, you could decide NOT to read or see what ‘someone’ is writing on your shopping list…. 😉

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  10. Dave, all my outpourings above are basically for YOU – you know that, don’t you?! I must hurry in direction of my kitchen – HH will want to have a light supper (a glass of wine, some bread, lovely Swiss cheese, a tomato salad and some slices of ‘charcuterie’ ((cold cuts))…. 🙂

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  13. LOL, I was about to reply to Kiki’s question about what being “pumped” means here, but then daughter asked me via text (from the airport) what veggies I got to go with the roast chicken and pilaf for tonight. (She eats very healthily.) Aw, you’d certainly be welcomed to join us, DK! And Susan. And all your readers!

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    2. Hi ‘under the mask’ – can I come too? That could have been me – I always have about 29 tabs open, some research too (as I was reading the book review of Dave’s offering of today) and then replying on the wrong blog post…..

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  14. But look at the wondrous things it’s done for your mood!🥴. I have a feeling there are a lot of us reading this and nodding enthusiastically…guess we’re all gonna keep dancin’ with ya pal (and kudos to Susan for 35 years of anticipating your appreciation for her efforts to keep you around for a hundred more years)

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        1. Mimi – and does it work? The re-negotiation?
          When I married HH in my 2nd try at marriage, I gave us +/- two years…. that was more than 23yrs ago…. I know one person who isn’t counting though – and funnily that person also has not a sweet tooth but 32 of them (or whatever number of them you are supposed to have in your biters’ collection).

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  15. Ha, I so get this. Me and sugar have a love-hate thing. Yesterday, one of my clients was complaining he was losing weight without even trying. My 6’1”/180 1lbs intern looked at me and quipped, « Sorta the opposite of you. » I started out 5 weeks ago, weighing myself everyday and at the one month mark, was down by 5 lbs with 20 to go. The next day I weighed in 1.2 lbs up, undeservedly so. Rather than give up my investment in healthy eating, I told myself I would give up daily weigh-ins and try once a week instead. A way better strategy for me. My motivation? I don’t want type 2 diabetes and all the other associated complications of that lifestyle disease. Two 70% Lindt dark chocolate balls every evening after dinner save me. It’s hard to binge on that stuff and yet weirdly, it does satisfy the sweet craving. You need a week or two to purge the sugar out of your system, DK. Then it gets better. If I can do it, you can. I’m rooting for you. 🙂

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    1. Appreciate the background Sharon. Gotta love the candor of our interns! And those two Lindt Dark chocolate balls after dinner, I can taste that SWEET! We’re going after this….will keep you posted! 🙂

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  16. Your honesty is honourable DK! And if you are looking for a quick fix…you’ll be soooooo disappointed. 3 months is the benchmark before you body clicks over into an established habit. You just did 450 walking days in a row. ….. you got this!!! 🙌

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  21. Inspiration: candidate for mayor of New York City, Eric Adams spoke on the Bill Maher show about his life: he was a young man going blind and in overall dreadful physical condition. Then, he learned how to eat healthfully, and regained his eyesight, his mental clarity, and healthy energy. He mentioned how most diets lead people to illness, and that even the food served in hospitals is not good for patients’ health. Since he will become Mayor of the city where your work is centered, find out if this once poor black man with rotten health can include you in his renovating energy field…

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  22. Started reading this post with utter delight…’Finally, DK is grabbin’ the bull by the horns, putting all that sugary crap aside, gonna use one of those powders I put him on to to quell the cravings, getting on the road to redemption…feeling better, sleeping better, looking better, the whole enchilada!’ Then I continued to read and watched the wheels comin’ off the bus….

    Pal, ya *got* to give it more than one day and you’ve *really* got to get all those tempting treats outta the house. You have more willpower than 10 men, I know you do. Just look at how many days in a row you’ve hoisted your bum out of that bed *before sunrise* to hit the park and take all those wonderful photos. You. Can. Do. This.

    And the sacrifice will be worth it, I’m certain of it. Screw your courage to the sticking post, man. You got this.

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  23. Oh, so, so many sides to this man…there’s the walk for 100’s of days on end, day after day, capturing such amazing beauty with such “stick-with-it-ness” man…and then there’s the completely hilarious “describe our weakness and curse the fridge/freezer/pantry/cupboards” man. Thanks David… lololololololol!!!!!!!

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