7/31/2020 Weighing In With Measurements

213.75 today, for the fourth day in a row. Nothing like a plateau to encourage continuing on the quest for health.

Anyway, today is the day for measurements.

	7/2/2020 Baseline	7/24/2020 Last Week	7/31/2020 Today	Weekly Difference	TOTAL Difference	Week % Lost	Total % Lost
Weight	227.75	216.5	213.75	2.75	14	1.27%	6.15%
Neck	16.75	16	16	0	0.75	0.00%	4.48%
Bust	47	44.5	44.5	0	2.5	0.00%	5.32%
Waist	48	45.5	45.5	0	2.5	0.00%	5.21%
Hips	47.125	45.75	44.5	1.25	2.625	2.73%	5.57%
Upper Arm L	14	13	12.75	0.25	1.25	1.92%	8.93%
Upper Arm R	14.75	13.5	13.5	0	1.25	0.00%	8.47%
Mid-Thigh L	21.5	19.75	20	-0.25	1.5	-1.27%	6.98%
Mid-Thigh R	22.5	20.5	21	-0.5	1.5	-2.44%	6.67%
Calf L	15.25	14.5	14.75	-0.25	0.5	-1.72%	3.28%
Calf R	15	14.75	14.75	0	0.25	0.00%	1.67%
Total Body Inches	245.125	231.75	231.25	0.5	13.875	0.22%	5.66%
Inches Lost	0	13.375	0.5		-13.875
BMI	34	32	31.6	0.4	2.4

Not as encouraging as the last few weeks, but that's ok. The general drift is downward, and I didn't measure myself in the same clothing or at the same time of day as I've been doing for the last few weeks.

And 14 pounds gone in a month ain't half bad!!!!

7/27/2020 Weighing In

Yesterday was 215 even; today I'm at 214.25!!

I LOVE it when weight just peels off like this!!

I'm doing well. Yesterday, I avoided the midday munchies by going OUT from 2-4 ... gardening, Walmart (I needed locks for my backyard gates 😒). I had two soft serve meals, which were REALLY GOOD; I didn't need the BBQ crunchers, but I think I'll have crunchers tonight; I ended up eating a sirloin tip tartare last night.

I'll go out again today, at least into the garden. Maybe I'll go for a a walk by the river.

The one thing I really have to deal with is the sciatica. It's a real ouch much of the time. It interferes with moving around. Not moving had it feeling better; now that I'm moving again, it's irritated and hurting again. I'll give the chiropractor a call.

7/26/2020 Weighing In

Yesterday was 215.5; today is 215 even. That's half a pound, which is great! I'm down well over 10 pounds since 2 July!!

I get hungry in the afternoons, so my Optavia Coach and I came up with the tactic to distract myself. Do something other than sit starting at 2:30 pm and going on until I either (a) am no longer hungry and/or (b) have to eat again according to schedule (that would be 4 pm). It works ... to a point. The "something other" has to be active ... pulling weeds is one option. Going for a walk is another. Exercise on the NordicTrack or the TRX straps is a third. Gardening is the best option. Today I will weed-whack my overgrown yard and maybe start to dig the hole for my patio!

But winter will come ... sooner than I want it to ... and then I'll have to find distractors inside. Putting the pennies on the steps is one; that needs to be done, as does putting tiles on the ceiling in the entryway. Before I lay the pennies, I need to paint the spindles and bannister. I'm tired ... TIRED ... of Guinevere's colors!! And then I need to patch and paint the walls in the living room and the entryway.  I have selected a lovely shade of gray that will set off the reds and blues in the living room; that gray can easily carry over to the walls in the hallway.

But, meanwhile, I'm happy with the weight loss. And I feel good, too.

7/25/2020 Weighing In

215.5! Down a whole pound from yesterday! Yay!!

I love watching weight peel off. That is the fun part of the journey to health.

I'm finally at the point where I need to incorporate exercise into my daily routine. I'll start with half an hour on the NordicTrack in 5 minute increments and a few TRX squats.

7/24/2020 Weighing In - With Measurements

I start the fourth week of my journey at 216.5. That's down from 7/22's 217.0 by half a pound. Little bit by little bit ....

Measurements today.

	7/2/2020 Baseline	7/17/2020 Last Week	7/24/2020 Today	Weekly Difference	TOTAL Difference	Week % Lost	Total % Lost
Weight	227.75	218.75	216.5	2.25	11.25	1.03%	4.94%
Neck	16.75	16.5	16	0.5	0.75	3.03%	4.48%
Bust	47	44.5	44.5	0	2.5	0.00%	5.32%
Waist	48	46	45.5	0.5	2.5	1.09%	5.21%
Hips	47.125	44.5	45.75	-1.25	1.375	-2.81%	2.92%
Upper Arm L	14	13.5	13	0.5	1	3.70%	7.14%
Upper Arm R	14.75	13.75	13.5	0.25	1.25	1.82%	8.47%
Mid-Thigh L	21.5	20.125	19.75	0.375	1.75	1.86%	8.14%
Mid-Thigh R	22.5	21	20.5	0.5	2	2.38%	8.89%
Calf L	15.25	15	14.5	0.5	0.75	3.33%	4.92%
Calf R	15	15	14.75	0.25	0.25	1.67%	1.67%
Total Body Inches	245.125	233.375	231.75	1.625	13.375	0.70%	5.46%
Inches Lost	0	11.75	1.625		-13.375
BMI	34	32.3	32	1.7	2

I LOVE that my BMI is down by 2 full points in three weeks! I LOVE that the inches are peeling off! I LOVE that I'm 11.25 lb lighter now than I was three weeks ago! And I LOVE that my sciatica hurts less (though it hurts like billy-oh this morning)! This is working as it should.

So. My new mini-goal is to get down below 210 by this time next month. Should be entirely doable. Then on to breaking that pesky 200-lb mark in September. Breaking the 200-lb mark will definitely deserve a non-food reward! A pedicure would be lovely...if the COVIDIOTS haven't shut down the spas again by then.

Onward!

7/22/2020 Weighing In

217.0 this morning. Down half a pound. Okay; I'll take it. Less is good.

7/20/2020 Weighing In

217.5 again today. Well, that's fine; I ate an extra fueling (110 cal) yesterday, plus three celery sticks, on top of the required intake. Perhaps I should not have eaten the extra fueling. But today is another day and another chance to Do Good.

You know what I'm looking forward to? I'm looking forward to going to see my doctor for my annual physical next year and weighing 145-155. How's that for a goal? It'll be July before I get in to see him, so I have a whole year to lose the weight. Stick with Optavia's low-calorie diet for that long ... the weight will come off.

7/19/2020 Weighing In

217.5 today. No change from yesterday.

That's no surprise; I ate well yesterday. A friend took me out to eat; that was the first time I've eaten anywhere but home since the COVID19 lockdown started on 12 March. The lunch was DELICIOUS; I had a chicken salad (5 ox breast meat and salad greens) with this scrumptious house dressing ... pesto, lemon juice, olive oil. Gotta try that one since I can have salad dressings with Optavia.

That was midday. I generally have my lean&green in the evening. It did not work well to have it at midday; I was hungry and ended up eating an extra fueling. And that was after stopping, challenging and choosing. So I will today have my lean&green at 6:30 pm like I'm supposed to do.

7/18/2020 Weighing In

Yesterday was 218.75 ... today is 217.5! Down 1.25 pounds! Yeah!

Oh ... and I've now lost 10 pounds in just over two weeks! That's a milestone! Yeah!

7/17/2020 Weighing In - With Measurements

I didn't get the chance to even get near my blog yesterday or the day before. The day before ... enh ... I weighed in yet again at 219.75. But yesterday ... yesterday the scales tipped at 218.75. As they did today. 218.75 today, too.

I started this weight loss two weeks ago today at 227.75. In two weeks, I'm down 9 pounds! That rate is not likely to continue, since ... ahem ... several of those 9 pounds I lost in the first couple of days while detoxing. But it's encouraging to see the tonnage falling off.

I like this system. Optavia is apparently associated with MediFast (the same people who designed MediFast also designed Optavia). Optavia borders on being a very low calorie diet, or VLCD ... one eats 800-1000 calories per day ... at the weight-loss stage. I did a VLCD years ago, in the late 1990s, that pulled a ton of weight off of me. But then I started law school full time at FPLC with easy access to Brian-the-Chef's scrumptious soups every day and yoyo'd right back up. So I know I can get it off. My challenge is ... has always been ... keeping it off.

But I'm not there yet. I'm still getting it off. One step at a time.

I have this new weight app on my phone that will easily track my weight daily (yay!). Then it will show me graphs and analyses and all that stuff. This weight app tells me that my ideal weight is 144.5. So okay; that's my new goal weight. 144.5, here I come. I ate my way over that weight when I was in junior high school, so this will be good.

Measurements.

	7/2/2020 Baseline	7/12/2020 Last Week	7/17/2020 Today	Difference	TOTAL Difference	Week % Lost	Total % Lost
Weight	227.75	220.25	218.75	1.5	9	0.68%	3.95%
Neck	16.75	16	16.5	-0.5	0.25	-3.13%	1.49%
Bust	47	45	44.5	0.5	2.5	1.11%	5.32%
Waist	48	46	46	0	2	0.00%	4.17%
Hips	47.125	45.5	44.5	1	2.625	2.20%	5.57%
Upper Arm L	14	13.5	13.5	0	0.5	0.00%	3.57%
Upper Arm R	14.75	14	13.75	0.25	1	1.79%	6.78%
Mid-Thigh L	21.5	19.75	20.125	-0.375	1.375	-1.90%	6.40%
Mid-Thigh R	22.5	21.75	21	0.75	1.5	3.45%	6.67%
Calf L	15.25	15	15	0	0.25	0.00%	1.64%
Calf R	15	15	15	0	0	0.00%	0.00%
Total Body Inches	245.125	235.5	233.375	2.125	11.75	0.90%	4.79%
Inches Lost	0	-9.625	-11.75	-2.125	11.75
BMI	34	33	32.3

Yeah. I'm a happy camper. I lost an overall 2.125 inches this week (11.75 inches overall!!), and I'm down a total of 3.95 of my weight and 4.79% of my body measurements! And I LOVE that downward drift of my BMI ....

7/14/2020 Weighing In

219.75. That's a familiar number; I weighed 219.75 yesterday, too. Sigh. Well, I'll stick with it; it's SOO WORTH IT! I feel better, my sciatica is reduced (yes, I'm still on the NSAIDS, but it's reduced), and my energy is up.

It's Bastille Day in France today. That's the French version of the Americans' Fourth of July. Today, in 1789, the prisoners in the Bastille Prison stormed the prison. It was the start of the French Revolution, which caused the downfall of Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette. Happy Bastille Day!

Usually, national holidays are celebrated with parades, fireworks and crowds. Not so this year; COVID19 has cast its pall over the entire planet, stilling human celebration as we duck and cover, hiding from the virus. This has been hard on the humans, but the planet has had a respite ... in the short time we've been hunkered, pollution is down, air quality is improved, water quality is improved because the humans are staying put and not buzzing around in our fossil-fueled vehicles.

I see hope in the lockdown. Actually, I'm loving the lockdown, and I would that it would continue, but it won't; we have the COVIDIOT-in-Charge, aka the Toddler-in-Charge, who cannot listen to anyone and must reopen the country because of money money money. Newsflash: the virus does not give one flying fuck about money. It is simply looking ... always looking ... for a new host in which it can replicate and shed off to spread to other new hosts. That's the life of a virus; however, this virus' life cycle does not mesh well with human life. If we'd stay hunkered down, we might stand a chance; since we're not going to do that, we're doomed. It's 1918 again, folks.

Weighing In 7/13/2020

The weight is dropping down again ... yesterday was 220.75, today is 219.75! A full pound! And I'm at less than 220! YES!!!!

I celebrated breaking 220 lb yesterday with a brand-new pair of comfy-but-cheap pajamas. One must celebrate the mini-goals.

Today is Monday; I have my coaching call with my Optavia coach this morning. I texted her on Saturday, whining about the plateau. Well, today there is Progress to report 😎

I had my two-egg-yolk spinach omelette last night (best meal in the world, a spinach omelette); tonight I shall have chicken and cooked spinach for my Lean and Green meal. I've got the water thing down, I think; 20 oz of flavored water in my Glimmerglass jug with lid and straw 5x/day seems to do the trick.

Weighing in 7/12/2020 - With Measurements

Well. It's about time. I spent nearly a week at 222.25; today I weigh 220.75. That's 1.5 pounds!!

This is the oddest weight-loss program. I eat about 1000 calories per day (that's not the odd part), but exercise for the first three weeks is entirely discouraged (that's the odd part). So I'm not moving much right now. This, of course, dovetails nicely with my usual inertia; I'm not fond of exercise. But even yard work ... my yard is seeing the neglect right now, so I'm eager for the next two weeks to go by so I can go out and trim the verge.

I've been drinking AT LEAST 100 oz of water per day, which has me visiting the bathroom often. And I've been following the meal plan. I did cheat yesterday with 10 raspberries I harvested yesterday.

The program also asks for measurements one week in. I didn't measure on Friday, but I did today. And I've lost 9.625 inches in 10 days!! That's exciting!! Who knew??

	07/02/20	07/12/20
Weight	227.75	220.25
Neck	16.75	16
Bust	47	45
Waist	48	46
Hips	47.125	45.5
Upper Arm L	14	13.5
Upper Arm R	14.75	14
Mid-Thigh L	21.5	19.75
Mid-Thigh R	22.5	21.75
Calf L	15.25	15
Calf R	15	15
Total Body Inches	245.125	235.5
Inches Lost	0	-9.625

And my BMI went from 34 to 33 ... in one week!