Day 3 (100 Days of 100 Grams) - Social Distancing On the Trail

Flat Top Tower Trail - Moses Cone Memorial Park

Blowing Rock, North Carolina

July, 2020

My favorite part of visiting this area each summer is the opportunity to walk the carriage roads at Moses Cone Memorial Park.  Moses Cone was a textile entrepreneur, conservationist and philanthropist who built a summer home in the mountains outside Blowing Rock for his wife, Bertha, in 1901. The 20 room mansion currently houses The Southern Highland Craft Guild featuring local crafts and a branch of the National Park Service (neither of which are open to the public right now). To accommodate afternoon carriage rides over their property, Cone also built 25 miles of carriage roads which remain open to the public for walking and horseback riding.  They are wide gravel roads that are gently graded and winding through dense forests and along beautiful wide open spaces.  My goal each summer is to walk all 25 miles of the carriage roads at least once while I am here. They are perfect for unusual summers like this one as they are at least ten feet wide and social distancing is easy.  One can take a short walk around the lake of less than a mile or combine several of the trails for a hike of most any length.  

My favorite round-trip walk is the trek to Flat Top Tower which is a six-mile round trip leading to an old fire tower that is still accessible and provides a 360 degree view of the surrounding area including downtown Boone.  I walk 3-4 miles most days of the week and this morning's trek took me 1 1/2 miles up the Flat Top Tower trail.  Moses and Bertha Cone are buried in a beautiful spot overlooking the mountains just off the carriage road.  That was my turnaround point today although I will make the complete trip to the fire tower at least once while I'm here. This is such a beautiful area and I am so grateful to be able to spend time here each summer.

Yesterday (Day 2) was a solid low-carb day which, again, wasn't extremely difficult although I can tell my carb intake has been cut significantly.  I wouldn't call it "carb flu" which really is a thing, but my body is telling me something is different.  I've been down this road before and will adjust in a few days.  The hunger pangs will go away and so will the cravings.  

Day 2 Report:

Total Carbs: 50

Total Steps: 11836  

Day 2 (100 Days of 100 Grams) - Social Distancing In the Mountains

Blowing Rock, North Carolina - July, 2020

With daytime highs hovering in the mid-90's where I live in Eastern Tennessee, I have escaped to the mountains of Western North Carolina where I am fortunate to be able to spend a few weeks each summer.  I found the cabin online a few years ago and have become friends with the owner so it feels like home coming back to the same place again and again.  My dates were set in January and like everyone else trying to make summer plans, I wondered whether or not I'd be able to come.  North Carolina has opened up more slowly than Tennessee plus the cabin is in a much smaller county with significantly fewer cases of COVID-19.  From the beginning, I have taken this virus very seriously as I am considered high-risk in a couple of ways, so moving from one state to another really had no impact as I had self-isolated anyway.  Unless something goes wrong, I will have no need to enter any public place of business during the time I am here. I see that as protecting myself, but even more importantly, protecting the health of others.  I spend my days quietly and other than a long walk or hike every day, am content to sit on my deck reading or writing.  It is peaceful and always a highlight of my summer.  So many of my 100 Day Challenge posts will be coming to you from high atop the mountains where the temps are averaging a blissful 72-75!

Day 1 passed easily and I was able to keep my carb intake near, but just slightly over 100 grams.  I promise to be honest and report the days as they happen both the good and the bad.  The article that inspired me to do this (link here) took that approach and I believe that is what drew me in.  I also am keeping it simple (as he did) and reporting total carbs rather than net carbs.  I have been using My Fitness Pal for years to log food and exercise so will continue to do that.  I am trying hard to concentrate on carbs and pay no attention to calories, but as someone who has been conscious of calorie intake all my adult life, it's really hard not to! Curiosity will win as I truly do want to see what happens if I monitor carbs only for 100 days. 

DAY 1 REPORT:

Total Carbs: 116

Total Steps:  10740 (as recorded on my pedometer)

Day 1 - 100 Days of 100 Grams

Bass Lake - Blowing Rock, North Carolina

July 6, 2020

I suppose I always knew that it would be something simple that would bring me back to the blog I created in 2010.  I'm not sure I ever considered that what would bring me back to writing would be the same thing that drove me to it in the first place.  My health and my ongoing challenge with my weight.  If interested, the details of all that and the early years of consistently writing about life in general can be found here. 

For two reasons, I stopped writing soon after my husband passed away in 2015.  The first was that I simply didn't have the drive or dedication that it took.  Working my way through deep grief took all the energy I could muster and although, I continued private journaling, I just couldn't find the motivation to blog.  The second reason is that I truly believe blogging is a two-way street.  If I wanted people to read and respond to what I wrote, I needed to spend time reading and offering feedback to their blogs.  Again, I just didn't have the energy to do that and needed the face-to-face communication that could provide hugs and handle my grief.  

But it's funny how the circle comes right back around.  When I created a new challenge for myself with respect to my health, I knew accountability would be huge.  The first thing that crossed my mind was to blog about it.  It worked ten years ago as I LOST a significant amount of weight and in the process, GAINED a community of blog friends some of whom I maintain contact with even now ten years later!  Choosing the title for my blog, Gains & Losses: Life Through Sharon's Eyes, seemed fitting at the time.  Little did I know exactly how perfect it would turn out to be.  I have lost so much, but I've gained even more.  Believe me, we are not just talking about losing and gaining weight!

So my challenge.............It took years of failures and successes for me to really comprehend the fact that my body is VERY sensitive to carbs.  The three times in the last thirty years that I've been successful in losing weight and, more importantly, KEEPING IT OFF, have been on some form of low carb eating plan.  However, it wasn't until 2011-2012 when I lost a LOT of weight that I recognized it as such likely because this was during the period when the low carb craze really became a "thing."   I kept that weight off until Bill became ill in 2013 but during the 18 months of his illness, I gained much of it back.  I don't berate myself for that as those 18 months were both the most precious and most difficult time of my life!  I do regret that, five years later, that weight plus more is still a constant source of frustration.  

At my age and current lifestyle, I refuse to "diet" or participate in any plan that eliminates entire food groups or makes eating an ordeal, but I do know that for me to have lasting change, lower carb is the only thing that will work for me.  Randomly, I "googled," a question about losing weight eating 100 carbs a day and came up with this post, 100 Carbs For 100 Days, and was hooked.  I don't know this gentlemen, but he inspired me.  I knew I could do this.  What really drew me in was his ease with the process and absence of rigid "rules."  

Thus, the idea was born and the excitement began.  I can accomplish two goals:  1) lose some weight, and 2) get back in the habit of blogging. 

I'm not quite sure how this will play out, but I will post SOMETHING each day for 100 days and hopefully, see some results, make some new friends, and blogging will become easy again like it once was!

So, Who Am I NOW?

Walking...........

Maggie Valley, NC - August, 2019

People often ask me if have “changed” since my husband passed away 4 ½ years ago.  The sarcastic Sharon is tempted to reply, “you tell me,” but the real Sharon loves pondering the question.  The truth is, of course, I have changed.  And I hope you have as well.  If not, we’d all be very boring!  The deeper truth, as you might have guessed, is quite different.  Naming specific ways that I have changed would be verbalizing specific characteristics that would reflect growth or so I’d hope!  As for who I am now as opposed to who I was before, that hasn’t, nor will it, change! 

For an online class I am in, we were asked to post a 100-word introduction of ourselves.  Just to put it in perspective, the first paragraph of this post was 111 words, so already over the limit.  Try introducing yourself to a group in 100 words or less!  After I’d written and posted that 100-word introduction, I got to thinking about self-introductions I’d written in the past and what words they all share.  What I realized is that I am exactly who I have been since I was that free-spirited four-year old throwing rocks in the river that I mentioned in the last post.  What I sincerely hope is that age, maturity and life experience have molded me into a grown-up version of that same free spirit exhibiting the grown-up characteristics that never stop maturing and changing. 

Reflecting...............

Maggie Valley, NC - August, 2019

I will always be an off the charts introvert (do not equate introversion with shyness - I am NOT shy) who loves solitude and is happiest when walking, reading or setting out on a new adventure.  I dislike noise and crowds.  I need sunshine and wide-open spaces.  The list of things I love goes on forever, but probably starts with quiet conversations in a rocking chair on a porch with a cup of coffee!

   

Front Porch Rocking!

Maggie Valley, NC - August, 2019

So, who am I now?  Exactly who I’ve always been!  Have I changed?  You bet!  But that’s a tale for another post!

I am in my last few days of what has been a spectacular “retreat” in the mountains of western North Carolina.  Although I am more than ready to see my friends and family, I’d be lying if I said I was ready to return to 90+ temperatures.  We’ll see how that goes!

Moving Forward, But Not On!

 

Sunset - Maggie Valley, North Carolina

August, 2019 

Have you ever stopped to consider what fills your soul with peace no matter what might be happening in your life?  Peace doesn’t necessarily mean all is well or everything is in order as it should be, but it does carry with it a sense of calm even if only momentarily.  I believe everyone has that “place,” but are often so wrapped up in the immediate that we never stop long enough to find it.  We convince ourselves it isn’t there.  Life is just too crazy and there is no relief. 

For me, that “place” of peace is the mountains.  Any mountains will do, but particularly my beloved Great Smoky Mountains.  Sometimes, I feel that if I can just SEE them, I’ll be o.k.! Thankfully, seeing them isn’t difficult from most any area within 50 miles of my home!  But being in them is even better, a gift that only one who knows their peace is found here can truly understand.  I am currently in my second week of a “retreat” in a cabin at 4300 feet elevation on the North Carolina side of the Smokies!  I couldn’t be more content and at peace. 

 

My cabin porch - Maggie Valley, North Carolina

August, 2019

 

You might say I’ve come full circle since March 18, 2015 and you’d be partially right.  You might say I’m no longer in deep grief and you’d be partially right.  You might say I seem normal and you’d be partially right.  You might say I am back to my “old self” and you’d be partially right.  You would be 100% correct in saying that I’ve moved forward, but don’t ever make the mistake of saying I’ve moved on! 

You don’t move on from a life you loved that lasted 40 of your 64 years.  It is so incredibly hard, but you learn to take the fragments of what was into what is.  Moving on implies that you leave something behind.  Moving forward invites you to take it with you and celebrate what was, what is and new things that are to come! 

 Sunrise from my cabin porch

Maggie Valley, North Carolina

August, 2019

There is nothing more symbolic to me of my own personal growth than these mountains.  This past fall, I helped my 91 year old mother move into an independent living facility and part of that journey was cleaning out the home she and my dad built when I was 10 years old.  I found drawers full of pictures I’d never seen before.  Pictures of me at all ages.  Picture after picture of a laughing and happy Sharon playing freely in these mountains.  Throwing rocks and sticks in the river, running up a trail holding my daddy’s hand, roasting marshmallows in a campground, reading a book on a rock by the river, etc.  Looking back over a lifetime of pictures finds not only these Tennessee/North Carolina mountains, but mountains all over the world in so many of them. 

Intuitively, I’ve always known that mountains spoke to my soul in a way nothing else could.  I guess it’s just in the last few years that I’ve come to really understand the significance of that.  I had to be still and I had to listen. It’s all part of moving forward. 

 

 

Lake Junaluska, North Carolina

August, 2019

Have you found your place of peace?  It’s a place worth finding and a journey worth taking?

 Maggie Valley, North Carolina

August, 2019