Society and Maintenance

I LOVE music, but I don't watch the Grammy's. The next day I look at all of the photos of the outfits and if someone gets a lot of attention for an amazing performance, I will go back and watch that as well (I'm looking at you this year, Bruno.) But I get no enjoyment from schadenfreude. If someone has a bad performance or they fell down or whatever, I don't want to see that.

This morning I checked Facebook and the big topic was Adele vs. Beyonce. Now, from what I can tell, those two lovely talented women like and support each other. I've seen no evidence that either has done anything to tear down or malign the other. So why is it that we feel compelled to pick sides? The things I have read coming from my actual friends (not just anonymous comments) are just plain ugly. We are constantly griping that society is deteriorating, but don't want to take steps to change how we approach things. And I don't want to make these comments on FB, because then doesn't that just add to the dischord?

We want our leaders to be better. We want our athletes, musicians and actors to be better. All of that starts with us being better. I don't think anyone (Obama, Trump, etc.) made us decisive. We are doing that all on our own.

*ahem* Now back to our not-so-regularly scheduled blog posting.

I have been suffering from acid reflux since my revision surgery and it has been particularly bad in the last week. I had been taking OTC omeprazole and it just didn't seem to be working. My doctor prescribed Rx pantoprazole and it didn't do much differently. They tried to switch the Rx to Nexium, but my insurance won't cover it. They then tried to switch to Dexilant but both the potential side effects and the price gave me pause.

I decided to take a long hard look at my eating/drinking habits and see if I can figure this out on my own. I have suffered from acid reflux since my 20s, but 100 pounds down, it feels like there should be something I could do regardless of my genetics.

Goals:

• Continue to eliminate soda and carbonation.
• Cut back on caffeine. Limit to one caffeinated cup of coffee each morning. Decaf only after.
• Drink more water. (This one just needs to happen anyway.)
• Eliminate fried foods completely. 
• The biggie: cut down on portion size. 

I have gotten in the habit of eating three meals instead of 5 small ones. It is just more convenient. But I think that maybe it has irritated my little banana belly. I think I'm eating the right amount of daily calories, my consistent pound a week loss since the beginning of the year tells me that. But I have to be smarter about how/when I consume. Fingers crossed anyway. We shall see.

My workouts are going great. Since they closed my CrossFit box, I decided to do more yoga. I'm inconsistent, but when I go, I love it. I think it does great things for my body and it forces me to slow down a bit. I also still go to Jazzercise on the weekends which is fun. And I supplement all that with walking/running/elliptical at lunch.

I know that maintenance is the long, boring part. This is the "never-ending" stuff. But I need to focus on it. Maybe I could even lose a few more pounds in the process.

Hugs!