This morning was a typical summer morning on the farm. I head out on the tractor to run the brush hog over the pasture to keep the crop of weeds from getting too high, and my husband Doug heads out to build fence. (This is the fence that never ends)
My mind wanders back to before my weight loss surgery and how uncomfortable I was in the heat and especially on the tractors. A tractor generates a lot of heat and ours has a glass cab on it that holds that heat in. Even with the air conditioner (ours doesn’t work right now) it stays very warm and blows directly into the drivers face so is really miserable for long hours on the machine. I really don’t know how my Dad a farmer of 65 years stood the heat but he loved it and was always out in it. ME not so much! I do some of the mowing just because I enjoy it but when the temp rises….I head for the barn!!
Losing a huge amount of weight has made a definite change in not only my size but my mind set. I think in lighter thoughts…..how so? I feel lighter because I can climb on the equipment without my knees screaming!!! I can work longer because I don’t melt as fast!! and most of all my attitude is I can do it a little every day and bounce around and I’m not as beat up as I was at 285 pounds!!
Now I don’t suggest that you go out and get a big tractor or even a little one to bounce around on, but since I have one, I use what I got!! I don’t walk on the days I have to wrestle with the steering wheel on the big tractor, I definitely get a workout. And I can ride it for 3-4 hours for the same workout I would do on a normal day. 1 hour walking…..vs 3-4 on a piece of big equipment….I call it cross training!!
Exercise doesn’t have to be going to the gym, or breaking a sweat doing some mind numbing exercise, it can be riding a tractor or pushing a mower or digging in the flower bed. It just has to be movement that your body is not accustomed to doing...does that make sense. May be for a change instead of moping with a mop, just get down on all fours and mop with your hand….different movement to surprise your muscles.
Thinking lighter about food is a way to keep my mind from going back to old habits. It is summer, summer veg abound, I can’t eat much but I can chose to partake of the bounty of the fresh vegetables and fruit in every bite I can take. I love salads, sliced fresh tomatoes, squash baked till tender and fresh green beans or black eyed peas…..we think low carb and fresh vegetables are the best place to get the best punch for the fresh carbs we do eat. And eating fresh fruit and vegetables seems to cut the craving for the bread, chips, potatoes and rice.
As I come back to the house after a morning on the tractor or in the garden I realize that 2 years ago I would have been miserable. The heat, the physical discomfort and dealing with health problems like the hiatal hernia I would have crashed for the afternoon, got up cooked supper then crashed again. Now, I don’t do that as often and I look forward to having a new adventure everyday. The afternoon adventure is to ride with my husband to feed our cows!! Yippy Ki Yea!!!
*Suzette*
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