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

12/12/2019 Weigh In

210.5, down 1.5 lb from yesterday's 212.0. Another 1.5 lb and I'll be owing myself a reward for losing another 10 lb!

I'm definitely back on the straight and narrow!

The TRX exercise system has not yet arrived; it's stuck in limbo in the UPS system because I want my UPS boxes delivered to a safe address. Well, it will get here eventually.

Today's Plan:

Pre-breakfast: Lemon juice, vitamins
Breakfast: Bran pancake, strawberries, water
10:30 am: 5 minutes on NordicTrack, water
Lunch: Chicken/Fish, salad, water
2 pm: Wasa, water
4 pm: Wasa, water
5 pm: 5 minutes on NordicTrack, water
Dinner: Bran pancake, strawberries, water
7 pm: 5 minutes on NordicTrack, water
7:30 pm: Apple, water
9:30 pm: Yogurt

10/27/2019 Weigh In

219! Down 0.25 from yesterday! Ten pounds gone from the start of this phase of losing the tonnage, three weeks ago! HUGE win!! Time for a REWARD!! Mama needs a new pair of yoga pants!

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

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 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 7/26/2017

215.5, down 0.75 from yesterday's 216.25.

And down 40.5 pounds from March 15.

Reward time!! 40 pounds is HUGE. I've lost the equivalent of a five-year-old child. I'm going to the opera with my gentleman caller on 4 August, and he's coming here before then, so I'm getting the furniture rearranged and the upstairs cleaned up. But that's preplanned, so that's not my reward. My reward will be ... hmmm.

I think I'd like to join Vent Fitness. They have swimming and rock-climbing, and I can use the Wellness debit card to join up. And they have a facility right on the way to work!! Getting good exercise. That's my reward.

Weighing In 7/3/2017

219.5, down from yesterday's 220.

I broke another tens digit today! I bought the CD of the new Alan Alda book on communication as my reward (also an oversized pair of sweat pants to go with my oversized hoodie that I'll take up to the lake when my gentleman caller returns from Down Under). It's coming off!!!!

Weighing In 5/15/2017

229.25, down 0.75 lb from yesterday.

I broke the 10's digit today! That's a magic number, and it entails a reward! My trip to Northampton is coming up!

I have a trip to Olana coming up this Friday, but that's business; it's the IEEE group that I want to network with, so that's not actually a "reward." It will be a lovely trip, though.

Just gotta keep on trucking here ... little bit by little bit, I'm losing all there is of it. 140 lb is within my sights. It's a long way off, and there will be many mini-goals and nice rewards between now and then, but that's the ultimate destination.

Weighing In 4/24/2017

236, down from yesterday's 236.75.

That's 20 pounds gone!!!!!!!!!! I've ordered new hiking boots (not cross-trainers) as my reward because my gentleman caller and I are talking about doing some hiking this summer.

We had some excitement in the 'hood last night. My friend and fellow crazy-cat-lady Moira's next-door neighbor's house burned to the ground. Fire in my neighborhood is a very scary thing; we all live in wood-frame houses of the 100-year-plus vintage, so when one goes up we worry about a neighborhood-wide conflagration. Lucky for us, so does the local fire department, which acted quickly to limit the destruction. Moira's house is reasonably intact; no one (including the fire department) quite understands how that is true.

At least one person died in that fire. I didn't know that person, but am sorry she had such a horrific death. No one deserves death by fire.

I have my friend's cats until the damage to her back door is repaired. The cops kicked the door in to make sure she got out in time, which she and the cats all did (one of these kitties owes his life to the firemen and policemen who corralled and . My cats are NOT happy about this; neither are hers, but hers are at least safe and able to express their Extreme Displeasure.

Weighing In 4/11/2017

239.75, down from yesterday's 241.25.

YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!! All that recent plateauing has fallen off the cliff!!!!!!!

And I'm below 240!! It's time for my mani/pedi, and I've donated today to my husband's memorial fund at the American Lung Association!!

From the start, I've lost 16.5 lb, and in one week I'm down 3 lb. I'm doing well. Just gotta keep it up!

Actually, losing the weight isn't the hard part; it's keeping it off where things get really challenging. It's so easy to slide right back into the old habits. So I have a strategy for that. I'll give myself a 10-lb buffer zone; if I get above that 10-lb limit, I will go right back on the reducing diet and take it right off. In other words, this is the last time I'll work to lose 100+ lb at a stretch.

My goal is 139 lb. I started at 258 lb. That will be a total loss of 119 lb. I can obviously do that. If I ever get above 150 again, I'm back on the reducing diet. That's it.

And  y'know ... this blog keeps me accountable. That's what is missing in the book-based diets out there: accountability. Everyone is so sensitive about their weight. We just need to plough through and go public and state the weight and fix it then keep it fixed. It's not that hard, and we food addicts, on the Diet Center program, can stay food addicts; we just change the tenor of the addiction.

Hit a Magic Number on 10/21/2015

YES!!!!!!

I met my first goal yesterday morning when the scales tipped at less than my first weight goal point.

I've been eating mostly right as reflected in this morning's fasting glucose of 97. Yay me!!

That first 20 pounds came off steadily and slowly. The remaining tonnage will do the same. Next year at this time, I'll be a whole different woman ... just wait and see!