2/26/2022 Weigh In

OK then. Hi there. It has been awhile.

In 2020, I began the Optavia program and I successfully got down to 168 pounds (yay! That's a "normal" BMI of 24.8 for me!).

I have lapsed again. Thank goodness, I've caught myself before I get back over 200 pounds, but today I'm at 190.25, which is a BMI that is "overweight," but not "obese" (the BMI number is 28.1 ... ugh). So today I start with my old friend the Diet Center's diet as described in my old Diet Center books. Diet Center has changed since I was there in the early 1980s, but the program they had then has always worked to peel the pounds off of me and it will work again ... as long as I remain accountable.

This is my accountability blog. And yes, I will share it with my therapist this time.

Weight gain is brought on by eating too many calories for my metabolism to handle. I know this. I get it. I understand that. I've known this for a lifetime. But oh, those extra calories taste sooooo GOOD going in. I love to eat. It's almost a sexual release I get from putting food down my gullet. I love to eat carbs. I love to have honey in my tea. I love cookies and buttery crackers and cakes and pies and pastries and chocolate. All that (except for cocoa powder, which has 5 calories/tbsp) has to go.

I can figure out how many calories something contains by reading the label. I know this. I get it. I understand that. I've known this since they started putting nutrition labels on food. I even know how to read a nutrition label.

I can add up the calories as compared with the nutrients each and every day. The goal is to maintain a 1000-1200 calorie per day intake of health-promoting foods. The Diet Center diet does that for me automatically and healthfully, which is why it works.

I can peel off the weight. I can avoid eating processed foods. I do not need to order pizza. I can eat protein and veggies. I can not put butter on bread. I can leave the honey jar in its place. I can make the Diet Center bran muffins (that recipe alone is worth all the money I paid to Diet Center back in the day). I can drink sufficient water. I can get a bit more active once my second hip replacement heals (until then I'm pretty much stuck with walking fairly slowly). I belong to the Y (thank goodness for Silver Sneakers), where I can swim and use the treadmill and lift weights to my heart's content. I can get my garden into shape this year (my hips will have healed enough for that by the time spring actually arrives in Upstate New York).

So. I can do all that. I can get myself down to 145 pounds (a BMI of 21.4); if I stick religiously to the program, the weight historically has come off at about 10 lb per month, which puts me at 145 in mid-July 2022. That's easy. Chicken 'n' fish, chicken 'n' fish, chicken 'n' fish. The challenge will, as ever, be maintaining the loss. Therein lies my lifelong downfall. So I need to fix that. That, of course, means I need to heal from all the emotional crap I live with and shedding the baggage. I need to get over the feeling that I'm worthless. I need to heal from the rape. I need to recover from all the bad relationships. I need to grow some self-worth. I can develop self-worth by looking at accomplishments rather than at failures (and yes, I have accomplished a lot over a lot of time, and I'm not done with that list). This year, I can develop self-worth by actually getting my private pilot's license (yes, I am learning to fly a plane ... and spending all my money in the process).

Sadly, some of my baggage can't be just dumped since the people who contributed to my emotional crap are, for the most part, dead or unreachable. But I can work to heal myself even without confronting them in person; I have a very active imagination and I can confront them and tell them of the damage they did and forgive them and release that damage in my own mind.

That's one place where my therapist and this blog can help.

Measurements. Let's get the starting point for this go-round.

	7/2/2020 Baseline	10/24/2020 Last Time	2/26/2022 Today	Difference	TOTAL Difference	Week % Lost	Total % Lost
Weight	227.75	193	190.25	3	37.75	-1.58%	15.26%
Neck	16.75	15.5	15.5	0	1.25	0.00%	7.46%
Bust	47	43	42	1	5	-2.38%	8.51%
Waist	48	42	40.5	1.5	7.5	-3.70%	12.50%
Hips	47.125	42.125	42.5	-0.375	4.625	0.88%	10.61%
Upper Arm L	14	12.125	12	0.125	2	-1.04%	13.39%
Upper Arm R	14.75	12.75	12.5	0.25	2.25	-2.00%	13.56%
Mid-Thigh L	21.5	19	18.5	0.5	3	-2.70%	11.63%
Mid-Thigh R	22.5	19.25	19	0.25	3.5	-1.32%	14.44%
Calf L	15.25	14	14	0	1.25	0.00%	8.20%
Calf R	15	14.25	14	0.25	1	-1.79%	5.00%
Total Body Inches	245.125	218.5	215	3.5	230.5	-1.63%	10.86%
Inches Lost	0	26.625	30.125	3.5	14.625	11.62%
BMI	34	28.5	28.1	0.4	5.9

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!

7/7/2020 Weighing In

Huh. I guess I didn't write in my blog yesterday. Well, yesterday I was at 223, down from Sunday's 224.25. Today I'm at 222.25. So ... water weight is gone (and my poor toilets have been flushed enough to prove that); I'm starting to show the slow fat burn now. Sigh.

 I drank my full quota of water yesterday; haven't had nearly as much difficulty with that as I expected to. Of course, the result of that is that I'm spending piles of time sitting on the throne. But that's ok; no one deserves a crown more than do I.

 I've discovered that if I'm sitting around doing nothing but watching TV, I am hungry; if I'm busy doing something productive, I'm not. The cause of hunger = boredom!! I shall use that.

 My first goal, of course, is to break 220. When I do that, I shall give myself a mini-reward. Perhaps a new audiobook....

7/4/2020 Weighing In

I love starting a weight-loss journey. The pounds roll off at the beginning, and that is what is happening. 226.75 today, down from 227.75 yesterday! The Optavia foods are actually pretty good, too. The crunches are quite filling! And all that water ... my kidneys are drowning! Sadly, it doesn't last. The weight does come off, but the rate slows and becomes erratic with time. But that's healthy and the way the body should work ... frustrating as it is.

11/2/2019 Weigh In

216.0. No change.

It's a gray day. We had a big windstorm a couple of nights ago that knocked most of the leaves down from the trees, so it's beginning to look a lot like winter. I already can't wait for the dead sticks that are the hibernating trees to come to life again ... in May. And Daylight Savings Time ends tomorrow. Darkness will reign. In 50 days, we'll have the winter solstice ... and then Christmas is upon us. And another year will be gone into the history books.

Winter is not my favorite season. Jim died in the winter (Dec 7). The days are short in the winter, and the nights long; I don't react well to that much darkness. It's always a sad season for me. But then spring comes and things look up again ... eventually.

At least there's no snow on the ground ... yet.

Meanwhile, we go through day by day. Just because winter is a sad season does not give me a reason to break my healthy eating. So ...

Today’s Plan:

Pre-breakfast: Lemon juice, vitamins
Breakfast: Bran pancake, strawberries, water
11 am: 5 minutes on NordicTrack, water
Lunch: Fish, salad, water
2 pm: Wasa, water
4 pm: Wasa, water
5 pm: 5 minutes on NordicTrack
Dinner: Chicken stir-fried with bok choy, water
7 pm: 5 minutes on NordicTrack
7:30 pm: Apple, water
9:30 pm: Yogurt

10/31/2019

216.0, down 1.75 lb from yesterday's 217.75!!!!!

WTF!!!!! HUGE WIN!!!!!!!!!

This won't continue, but WOW!!! I dropped 2.5 lb in 2 days (I was 218.5 on 10/29)!! It's drops like this that make plateaus worth tolerating. Clearly the Plan is working for me.

I'm not bored with the same. old. thing every day; the food is good, and I mix it up in the salads. Right now my salad has lettuce and three colors of peppers in it (red, yellow and orange). Tonight I'll have bok choy stir-fried with my chicken for dinner.

I've been combining pre-breakfast, breakfast and 10 a.m. fruit by starting the day with three glasses of water-with-lemon-juice and putting 1C strawberries on my bran pancake.

Today’s Plan:

Pre-breakfast: Lemon juice, vitamins
Breakfast: Bran pancake, strawberries, water
11 am: 5 minutes on NordicTrack, water
Lunch: Fish, salad, water
2 pm: Wasa, water
4 pm: Wasa, water
5 pm: 5 minutes on NordicTrack
Dinner: Chicken stir-fried with bok choy, water
7 pm: 5 minutes on NordicTrack
7:30 pm: Apple, water
9:30 pm: Yogurt

10/25/2019 Weigh In

219.25. No change.

It’s coming off, but in its usual fits and starts. Ugh. That’s the frustrating part of this journey.

Of course, yesterday did not go according to plan. I forgot when planning it that I had Toastmasters last night, which screwed with the planned times. Today will be better; I have no evening plans.

Here’s wishing for daily visible weight drop! But I know that’s pie in the sky. It comes off at its own rate. Little bit by little bit.

Today's Plan

Pre-breakfast: Lemon juice, vitamins
Breakfast: Bran pancake, water
10 am: Strawberries, water
Lunch: Chicken, salad, water
2 pm: Wasa, water
4 pm: Wasa, water
Dinner: Fish, salad, water
7:30 pm: Apple, water
9:30 pm: Yogurt

10/20/2019 Weigh In

220.0. No change. Again.

This is called a plateau. Frustration reigns since I've been following my Plan and am seeing no immediate results. As a member of the first TV generation, I'm used to instant gratification; I want it NOW. Well, I guess I'm paying for that one-pound precipitous drop a few days ago.

Nine pounds gone from Day 1 of this weight-loss session. That's a win.

Today’s Plan
Pre-breakfast: Lemon juice, vitamins
Breakfast: Bran pancake, water (1/4 C egg whites, 2 Tbsp unprocessed wheat bran, cinnamon, stevia)
10 a.m.: Apple, water
Lunch: Fish, salad, water
2 p.m.: Wasa, water
4 p.m.: Wasa, water
Dinner: Chicken, salad, water
7:30 p.m.: Strawberries, water
9:30 p.m.: Yogurt (with 1 Tbsp dark chocolate powder, 1 tsp stevia, a few drops almond extract ... yum)

10/18/2019 Weigh In

220.0, down one pound from yesterday’s 221.0!

I have lost 9 pounds in two weeks! WIN!!

I had a hard time sticking to my Plan yesterday due to scheduling; I wasn’t hungry at all, probably because I was so busy. So the fish salad I was supposed to have for dinner morphed into an egg-white-and-spinach scramble ... which was quick, easy, and quite tasty and filling (who knew!).

Today’s Plan
Pre-breakfast: Lemon juice, vitamins
Breakfast: Bran pancake, water
10 a.m.: Strawberries, water
Lunch: Fish, salad, water
2 p.m.: Wasa, water
4 p.m.: Wasa, water
Dinner: Chicken, salad, water
7:30 p.m.: Apple, water
9:30 p.m.: Yogurt

10/17/2019 Weigh In

221.0, down 0.75 from yesterday’s 221.75.

Okay then! It’s coming off!

I varied from yesterday’s plan only by subbing a bowl of strawberries for the Orange last night.  But this Plan is very, very easy to stick to. I don’t get hungry, cravings are in the background and quite manageable. I eat nine times per day, so feeding my need to eat something is satiated. Yeah, this plan works. And I feel good. I have more energy.

Today’s Plan
Pre-breakfast: Lemon juice, vitamins
Breakfast: Bran pancake, water
10 a.m.: Apple, water
Lunch: Chicken, salad, water
2 p.m.: Wasa, water
4 p.m.: Wasa, water
Dinner: Fish, salad, water
7:30 p.m.: Orange, water
9:30 p.m.: Yogurt

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 11/8/2018

201.5. No change.

Hmph. I did the egg-grapefruit day yesterday. Well, last time I did an egg-grapefruit day, it took a day to kick in. Let's see what tomorrow's scales say.

Weighing In 10/27/2018

202.5, down 1 lb from 10/23's 203.5.

I'm getting there. That change of the hundreds digit is in easy sight. That great day is closer than I think!!

On that day, I will have 55 pounds left to lose; the long-term goal is now set at 145.

Weighing In 10/22/2018

203.5, down 2 lb from yesterday's 205.5.

Gotta LOVE egg-grapefruit days!!

Breaking that hundreds digit is in full sight. I'm stoked!!

Weighing In 10/2/2018

208, down 1.25 from yesterday's 209.25.

Love those 1-2-pound drops in a day!! Don't I wish they could happen every day....But that is not sustainable.

I have a Darryl workout tonight, so no Callanetics today. Tomorrow, yes, but not today.

Weighing In 10/1/2018

209.25, down from 9/29's 210.

Since I started on 9/1/2018 at 218 lb, I've lost 8.75 lb. That's not too shabby. It's had its ups and downs, and I traveled some in September (always a Problem for weight loss), but I show a net loss, which I'm happy about.

The stuff I'm doing at the gym doesn't hurt. That challenge has me doing Callanetics four days this week (today will be the fourth) and has me feeling pretty good. I still can't do a squat-thrust, but I'll get there; it's a 10-week challenge with Darryl (my personal trainer, who is magnificent at kicking butt) and that can't help but get me closer to where I want to be!

Here are today's measurements. I didn't measure last month until 9/9, so it's only 21 days' worth of loss this month. That problem is remedied; today's the first of the month, and I measure on the first of the month.

Since starting on 3/14/2017, I have lost a total of 78.125 inches and 46.75 lb!! No wonder my clothes are falling off of me!! Percentage-wise, I've lost 18.06% of my body mass since 3/14/2017, and 3.78% of my body mass since 1 September (when I weighed in at 218). 

This past month, I lost a total of 3.875 inches, which also isn't too shabby. I've lost, percentage-wise, 15.18% (!!!) of my body measurement since 3/14/2017 and 4.0% of my body measurement since 9/9/2018.

I'm stoked!!

	3/14/17	9-Sep	1-Oct	Month's Difference	TOTAL Difference
Weight	256	210.5	209.25	-1.25	46.75
Bust	49.5	45	44	-1	5.5
Waist	51	45	45	0	6
Hips	48	43	43.5	0.5	4.5
Upper Arm L	15	13	13	0	2
Upper Arm R	15	13.125	13.125	0	1.875
Mid-Thigh L	23	20	19.5	-0.5	3.5
Mid-Thigh R	25	20.5	19.5	-1	5.5
Calf L	16	15.125	14.75	-0.375	1.25
Calf R	16	15	14.75	-0.25	1.25
Inches Lost	514.5	440.25	436.375	3.875	78.125

Weighing In 9/28/2018

211.0, up 3.5 lb from Wednesday's 207.5

That's the wrong direction. And that is frustrating. Time for an egg-grapefruit day. But I don't have any grapefruit. I will buy a bag and do an egg-grapefruit day tomorrow.

However, there is reason. I am exercising significantly more, so am building muscle. That's a good thing. But 211.0 ... no. Also, I went to Friendly's after Toastmasters last night for dinner. I did not go hog-wild, but I did have a Happy Ending™ sundae after my grilled cheese sandwich and tomato basil soup.

Well, back to the boards, as they say. No Darryl workout today, so today I do Callanetics. This is the first time I've done that routine in eons. That'll tighten up my gut in no time flat.

Weighing In 9/21/2018

209.0, down 0.5 from yesterday's 209.5.

That works!

That rate will, of course, slow down, but I'll take it for now.

Hey, one more pound and I will have lost 10 lb this month ... that's exactly what this Diet Center diet is supposed to do.

I started this journey on 3/14/2017 weighing 256 lb; in 3 more pounds, I will have lost 50 lb! I shall reward myself for that accomplishment with a new pair of cross-trainers.

The next 10-lb goal will take me down below 200 lb; that's a MILESTONE ... an absolutely magic number. I still need to figure out how to celebrate that one. I've already paid for the trip to Egypt, so that's not the reward. I'll figure it out.

Weighing In 9/18/2018

211.25, down 0.25 from yesterday.

That's ... frustrating. I did the egg-grapefruit day, too. Well, at least it didn't go the wrong way.