10/8/2019 Weigh In

225.75, down 1.25 lb. from yesterday's 227.0.

YES!! 1.25 lb lost yesterday ... I'll take it.

And I woke up this morning not hungry. Yes, I can easily eat, but I'm certainly not ravenously hungry. I rather like the two cheats I had yesterday (an extra piece of fruit and 1/2 C plain nonfat Greek yogurt with almond extract, Stevia and cocoa powder); they seem to satisfy the hunger. I shall keep them for the moment.

I am working on exorcising the demon that has kept me fat for all these years. I've always been heavy, and that has sat badly with a demon whose voice has been with me forever. The driving force behind that demon ... a fat-shaming close family member ... has been dead and gone for nearly five years now, and it's time to get that voice out of my head. I deserve to be fit and healthy ... even though, yes, I'm now in my 60s and have arthritis in one hip and extraordinarily tight hip flexors in both hips, so I now walk with a gimp and can't run at all. I walk, actually, like my grandmother walked ... grabbing onto solid objects as I pass them for support. That pisses me off. I never liked that grandmother much.

This is the shape I need to get out of before I go on my Grand Tour of (some of) the western National Parks next summer. Weight loss, NordicTrack, and personal trainer to the rescue!

Goals. Time to set goals. I will weigh 210 lb by Thanksgiving. That's a goal. It's achievable; not easy, but achievable. I have 1.5 months to lose 15.75 lb. It's an important goal; I'm off to England for a week right after Thanksgiving! First time in decades I will have visited London!

Long-term, 145 remains the pie-in-the-sky dream, but that is totally invisible to me at this moment. I'll do this in shorter chunks.

So. Today's Plan:

Pre-Breakfast: glass of lemon juice, vitamins
Breakfast: bran pancake made with cinnamon and stevia, water
10 a.m.: orange, water
Lunch: salad, chicken, water
2 p.m.: Wasa, water
4 p.m.: 1/2 C Greek yogurt with cocoa powder & almond extract, water
Dinner: salad, chicken, Wasa, water
7:30 p.m.: apple, water
9:30 p.m.: 1 C strawberries, water

The yogurt and the strawberries are cheats on the strict diet. I figure that if I plan the cheats, I won't cheat the Plan.

UPDATE at 10:26 pm:

I stuck to the Plan ... except for some of the times. I exchanged the timing of the Greek yogurt and the strawberries (1 cup of strawberries is less than I wanted it to be...), and I had the Greek yogurt at 8:15, not at 9:30. I am now going to bed comfortably full.

Tomorrow will be challenging since I'll be in my office all day with clients. I'll likely do the same Plan tomorrow, except I'll substitute salmon for chicken for lunch.

Weighing In 9/9/2018

210.5, down from yesterday's 211.

Fat is now coming off (well, water too). I'm feeling well, since the Diet Center diet provides for eating really good food; chicken 'n' fish...chicken 'n' fish...chicken 'n' fish..., lots of veggies, fresh fruit, and my ever-present bran muffin that keeps my eyes bright, my tail bushy and my bowels moving.

Also, it's FINALLY cooled down outside. This encourages long walks by the river (I'll take one today) as well as coming home to curl up by the fire with a cuppa tea. Not hot chocolate this year (😢), but I have a tea that tastes like minted hot chocolate, which will substitute well. Keeping body heat going in cool weather also takes a bit more energy ... calories ... just to maintain, which helps!

The holidays are fast approaching, too. Halloween is easy: just don't buy the candy, or buy candy with coconut that I will NEVER eat. Thanksgiving. Hmmm. Maybe I'll treat myself to my former gentleman caller's maple-marinated salmon. One day of maple won't kill me. And Tess and Kraig are coming for Christmas; perhaps rock cornish game hens, salad, broccoli (which Tess loves and Kraig hates 😈) and tofu apple dessert for Christmas dinner? I'll figure it out.

Damn ... I didn't post measurements as promised. Well, here they are, as of today, compared to the last set of measurements I took, in July 2017. As you see, I haven't changed much. They'll be up on the first of each month from now on.

	9/9/18	7/1/17	Difference	Total Difference
Weight	210.5	221.25	-10.75	-10.75
Bust	45	45	0	0
Waist	45	45	0	0
Hips	43	43.5	-0.5	-0.5
Upper Arm L	13	12.75	0.25	0.25
Upper Arm R	13.125	13	0.125	0.125
Mid-Thigh L	20	20.5	-0.5	-0.5
Mid-Thigh R	20.5	21.5	-1	-1
Calf L	15.125	15	0.125	0.125
Calf R	15	15	0	0
Inches Lost	1.5	0	1.5	1.5

Weighing In 9/1/2018

It's been a year and two days since I last posted here. I've done a decent job of maintaining my weight for that year; I'm at 218 pounds this morning, having pigged out on sushi yesterday (thanks to my brother who came to hang out for a couple of hours and took me to lunch) and pizza and ice cream for the last two days (my brother had nothing to do with those). Last time I posted, on 8/30/2017, I was at 212.75, and I will be there again very soon.

I'm still going to the gym at least once per week, and the same personal trainer is still kicking my butt. I think that's how I am maintaining my weight, quite frankly.

It's time. I'm done maintaining. Today I restart the old Diet Center weight loss routine, and I become answerable to this blog again. It's called "accountability."

The goal is to lose 50 pounds (putting me at 168 lb) by the time I go to Egypt in February. It's the healthy thing to do. Eventually, I'll go down another 20, and that will be my final goal weight. Imagine my weighing less than 150 ... haven't been there in decades.

I'll post measurements as I start the Reducing Diet on the day after tomorrow, then again on the first day of each month.