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

7/2/2020 Weighing In - With Measurements

Well. It's been awhile. And, of course, I've gained weight in that while.

Today, which would have been Jim's and my 9th wedding anniversary, I weigh in at 227.75. My stats are (in inches and pounds):

	07/02/20
Weight	227.75
Neck	16.75
Bust	47
Waist	48
Hips	47.125
Upper Arm L	14
Upper Arm R	14.75
Mid-Thigh L	21.5
Mid-Thigh R	22.5
Calf L	15.25
Calf R	15

And that is my new starting point.

I'm trying something new: psych support and group support with a program called Optavia; it uses a regimented 800-1000 calorie-per-day food plan. Diet Center has worked for me for a long time, but I find I need the active support of others to keep me on the straight and narrow. So here we go again. Let's hope this is the last time. My 9th wedding anniversary seems like a good day to start this journey. Jim would want me to get and stay healthy.

At least I didn't yoyo back up to my 3/17/17 starting weight of 256!! But I was on the way; my clothes are starting to not fit well, and that will NOT do.

Oh ... goals. I need to lower my LDL and to get to 150 lb. Preferably within the next year.

1/5/2020 Weigh In

218.5, up 8 lb from 12/14/2019's 210.5.

I clearly relaxed the regimen during the holidays. The holidays are now OVER. It is time to restart the regimen. I shall tow the line.

Christmas is the death of the diet. It was last year, too. I didn't regain as much this year as I allowed myself to regain last year, but 8 lb in less than one month ... yeah, not good. I know what did it, of course. All that butter. All those biscuits and pie dough chunks. All that cream. Christmas is the Season of Fat.

Well, here we are, with those eight hard-lost pounds easily regained. It was not a problem at all to regain that weight. 

I was reading about a weight-loss theory that involves confusing one's metabolism. I am well aware that weight loss involves slowing down the metabolism; that's why losing the tonnage is so miserably difficult. But this idea sort of makes sense. Diet strictly for x days, then on Day y eat more fats. Then diet again strictly for x days and eat more fats on Day y. Then diet strictly for x days and eat more fat on the Day Y. Basically, don't let the metabolism reset itself into starvation mode.

But I'm not likely to try it. The Diet Center has served me well for all these years; I'll just keep going with that.

I got myself a set of TRX straps for Christmas and I've actually been using them. They help with my hip pain, and they're good for strengthening muscles.

Today's Plan

11:00 Vitamins, water

1:30 Friendly's for brunch (I'll have a grilled cheese and soup, which is actually not unfriendly to the Diet), water

3:30 Wasa, water

4:30 Apple, water

5:30 Wasa, water

6:30 Chicken, spinach salad, water

8:00 Fruit, water

9:30 Yogurt, water

10/6/2019 Weigh In

229.0. Grumble.

When last I weighed myself, 11 months ago, I was 200.75. Clearly, I've slipped. My excuse (and that is EXACTLY what this is): Christmas happened. With eggnog cheesecake. Then I didn't go back onto the Plan. While Christmas will happen again, eggnog cheesecake won't.

It's time to get it back in gear and get this show on the road.

I started the Diet Center conditioning diet yesterday, and have one more day to go with that. Then it's chicken-and-fish, chicken-and-fish, chicken-and-fish forevermore.

I have a goal. I have Big Plans for next summer: I'm going to camp my way through the western National Parks. I'll start at probably the southern end with Grand Canyon, then drive up through the Rockies, hitting national parks along the way. I've gotten lots of recommendations for which parks to see; the Big Four on my list are Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain and Glacier. To do this effectively, I need to be at least 50 lb ... preferably 70 lb ... lighter than I am right now by the time my birthday rolls around in late June.

I Can Do This.

MEASUREMENTS

Neck 16.5"
Chest 46.5"/43.25"
Waist 47"
Hips 46.5"
Upper L arm 13.25"
Upper R arm 14"
L thigh 22.5"
R thigh 23"
L calf 15"
R calf 15.5"

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.

Weighing In 8/28/2017

Well. It's been awhile, but I've pretty much taken August off. Today I'm 213.5, the same as yesterday's 213.5, and down all of 2 lb from 8/1/2017.

I've maintained my losses, and that is a victory.

Labor Day is this coming weekend. I'm visiting my gentleman caller and will restart the Diet Center plan after that ... which means Wednesday. Actually, it will probably be Thursday, since that's payday!

Starting Again 3/14/2017

Another start. I have regained about 15 of those 35 lbs I lost in 2015. I was depressed over Jim's passing in December 2014 and hit the highest point I've ever hit on the scale then. I'm still sad that Jim's gone, but I'm not going there again.

Today I start on the Diet Center's two-day conditioning diet. For a food addict like me, this is an easy diet to follow; I get to eat — A LOT — over these two days. And I will spend the next two days on the toilet; these two days squeeze water out of the tissues and into the urinary bladder. After the two days, the real work begins and the kidneys settle down somewhat.

I've done the Diet Center's diet before (I lost weight with them when I was in my 20s and I kept the three books that guide the diet) and I always feel good when I do it. It's good food — lots of fresh veggies, fewer fresh fruits (that's a pity; I like fruits better than veggies), good proteins, and it's a study in portion control. If I fill up a dinner plate, it's with raw green leafy veggies; those I can eat in unlimited quantities, but I have to be sparse with dressing.

I've generally lost about 10 lbs/month on this diet. I'm starting at 258 lb. So ... at 10 lbs/month, in a year I'll have lost about 100 lbs. That would be a healthy thing to do. And I need to do it. Not "want" this time; "need."

Current weight: 256 lb
Current bust: 49.5
Current waist: 51
Current hips: 48
Current upper arm: L: 15 R: 15
Current mid-thigh: L: 23.5 R:25
Current calf: L: 16 R: 16

Gah. I am a candied apple on two sticks. Goal shape: hourglass.

Goal weight: 150, but we'll do that in 10-lb chunks. I expect each chunk to take about a month. I'll celebrate the loss of each 10 pounds with a non-food-related kicking up of the heels.

First Mini-Goal Weight: Get the scale below 250. That'll be huge.

I can lose the weight; I've done it before and I can do it again. The trick is keeping it off. Aye, there's the rub. I did find an online version of Overeaters Anonymous for support. Maybe I just haven't given it a chance, but it hasn't yet worked for me. They all sound to me like they're whining and I don't like that.

Gotta go cook those two eggs and slice the grapefruit for breakfast!