Those 70ish Girls

I just had a good phone conversation with my dearest cousin. We were both complaining about how tough it is to lose weight especially in our 70’s. She said she used to lose 5 pounds easily when younger, just eating cottage cheese and fruit three times a day for a while. It worked. It was a snap. Now it’s not working that way, plus we’re both on meds that can add on the weight without even trying. We have excuses, too many to count.

I commented on how slim, young and darling she looked last summer when we visited Murdo. She absolutely did. She said she and her husband did a diet program that really worked and she was about 20 pounds lighter last summer, then gained back. At least we have a couple years before the next Murdo Reunion until we need to diet, for real.

We both said we just aren’t motivated nor disciplined right now in dieting. I gained a lot during the pandemic, being at home a lot and stuck inside. I was mindlessly eating. You know how young kids go away to college and gain weight being in the dorms and sadly eat junk food? My daughter called it the “freshmen 9” because students typically gain that much being away from home. I feel like I gained the “pandemic 20”. I just wore the same two pair of stretchy pants and same tops over and over. I should want to look good and get back to being thin. I do exercise a lot and eat sensibly, and after going to a nutritionist, she really helped me lose 4 pounds, but there’s a lot more to go. My cousin and I both agreed, we need a fire lit under us and not a cook stove one, but something that will jumpstart our desire to lose. We don’t seem to care.

What we both said is that 1-we need motivation and the desire to curb our eating and 2- we both need to seriously watch what we eat. That’s a big part of our problem. Plus just having the snacks or treats around the house doesn’t help nor lead us down the right path. I’m buying more vegetables and fruits, using the blender to make smoothies and eating rice crackers as a snack. I’m being good about cutting down on carbs, although bread talks to us both and it says,”Just one piece can’t hurt.” Celery works well as a snack also, but it doesn’t seem to talk the way bread does.

She mentioned that her downfall now is night eating. She wakes up in the wee hours and eats cookies dunked in milk or some other delicious snack. That’s easily what has added on the pounds because my cousin eats super responsibly all day. It’s in the dark late at night when she wakes up and no one is around, she eats, so if you cannot see your food and no one is around, do the calories count?

All in all, my cousin and I did have a good time laughing and joking around about our lives, our family members, and writing for the blog. We always have fun together. My cousin is the cutest and the all time best. She is also intelligent, kind and generous. After a thoroughly enjoyable conversation mostly about our weight, she had to go, so we said our loving goodbyes. Her husband was waiting. She had to get ready. She was going out to eat.