I'm sure readers are sick of the 45-Day Challenge. I have good news, it is over and I will not write abut it again. I lost 32.5 pounds. I consumed no alcohol.
I learnt early on to stay clear of bread, pasta and store made salads. After one week I was discouraged because I had only lost 3 pounds. I want to thank M for steering me towards sushi and making my own salad dressing. The best item I bought, towards the end of the challenge, was a salad mixing bowl.
Final Grades from 3-areas I concentrated on:
1. Alcohol: A+; no alcohol consumed
2. Food Choices: A; I learnt that the occasional slip up is good, opened my eyes to new food choices and started making my own dishes, not just salads, but curries etc.
3 Exercise A+; walked/ some running over 340 miles. my modest goal was 250. I lifted weights to ensure my weight loss was fat, not muscle. I have returned to the routine of weight training, where I enjoy it and want to increase the frequency of my workouts. I got over my worry about working out in the condo gym with other people.
I will start consuming alcohol on a moderate basis tomorrow, will continue the food choices forever, will continue working out and increasing the frequency I run and lift weights. A lot of people are convinced I will put the weight back on. I know that I will continue to lose weight and keep it off. I've only reached the halfway point.
I had my annual physical today. My doctor was very pleased with my weight loss and lectured me on why I believe I will continue on the right track. She also reminded me of the evils of binge drinking. I have to return next week for blood test results and to see if a reduction in medication is warranted.
I heard PM Stephen Harper defend the expenses of Senator Pamela Wallin, another washed up journalistic hack appointed to the Senate with a brazen sense of entitlement. It appears that Wallin's $400,000 in travel expenses are in line with MP's that live in Saskatchewan. Her trips included frequent stopovers in Toronto, where she has lived for the past several decades.
We have over 100 Senators appointed at the whim of the sitting Prime Minister, unelected, unaccountable, with jobs that few Canadians could describe, or understand. They frequently abuse the system, display a shocking sense of entitlement, are never up for election, have a job until they are 75 years-old, followed by a generous taxpayer funded pension for life. It is money pit of patronage, a reward for unquestioned servitude, bag carrying, shoe shining of their political betters. Harper appoints his Senators with an agreement that they will abide by term limits, only to have them taste the entitled perks of office and question the need to limit their days at the trough.
The Senate is a sleepy, unaccountable house of sober second thought. What one piece of legislation did they kill this year? The Bill to allow betting on individual sports events, rather than multiple combination of games. The ability to bet on a single game. This was attached to an omnibus Bill passed by the House of Commons. The creaky, rightwing, moralists in the Senate killed the Bill. The only Bill that the Conservatives passed, that had my approval.
The fact that Pamela Wallin can run up $400,000 in travel expenses to basically campaign for Harper, paid in full by the taxpayers is a disgrace. A pox on our system of government. All attempts to make the expenses of Senators open to public scrutiny have been quashed.
Something is seriously wrong with this system of government,
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