Full Plate Living

A couple things going on. The first is a scary one for me. My left knee is a mess. I can have a total knee replacement any time I want, but it would be better if I can hang on for as long as possible so the replacement has the best chance of outliving me. SO! The thing that has me wigged out is that I should be avoiding all weight bearing exercises such as WALKING. UMMMM---NO! Walking is the one exercise I really do a lot of. I credit walking for the fact that I don't weigh 300 pounds. I don't dare give it up. Besides, I really enjoy doing it. Instead of walking, I should do things like the elipitical or swimming. I hate swimming. But---there is an aqua aerobics class here right after work on Tues and Thur. I can at least get started by going on Thurs--except that I haven't been visiting teaching forever, and we can go tomorrow. Sigh. Campus also has elipticals. I'm just having problems getting there. The excuses are---I had a massive late night last night and genuinely needed a nap during wellness time today. On Friday, I have an appointment with a CPA that I absolutely need to get done. I will be riding the bike at home at least I guess. And I will keep walking to work and back as much as I can. I plan to walk all over Poland, and I won't be able to do that if I just waste away before hand. I can eliminate all jumpy types of exercise and not try to run, but I think that's as far as I want to compromise here. If I need surgery, I need surgery. And then I can get back to doing whatever I want.

Food-wise is discouraging. I don't seem to have the energy to carry on with my plan. BUT I have found the full-plate website. Their big thing is fiber. But what I like is that they are very concrete and gave many examples of meals before and after. The calories are greatly reduced. So a plate that looks like something I would eat has two pieces of lasagne, a green salad and two small pieces of garlic toast. The improved version has 1 piece of lasagne, a big squash and tomato salad and some other big fiber thing. The total was about 1/2 the calories. They also suggest eating an apple before every meal. I don't think I can keep that up forever, but it's helped. I've done well today and have been both full and satisfied.