A New Day

It's been several months and no post from me. Why? Well, it's because I simply didn't have anything to say. Weight loss has been secondary on my mind lately. Lost of thing going on in my life at the moment that I really don't want to discuss here.

Now that I've got my mojo back, I'm going to lose this twelve pounds I've gained in the past several months. The ticker says 224 - I hit that for a couple days but now I'm right back up to 238. This will never do. So, tomorrow it's back to structured exercise.

I'm excited and I'll take this weight off in no time.

New Gym Equipment - Well Sorta

Got me a dandy Body Sculpture stair climber/stepper today at the car boot sale for only £8! Hardly a nick on it. The lady said she was selling it because she has four floors of stairs to climb at home. Yeah, right. We all know it's not the same thing....but anyway. Got the thing sitting in front of my exercise bike so when I'm done biking I whip around and do some climbing while holding onto the handle bars of the bike.

I'm all enthused now about getting back to the basics of reducing. Been weighing and measuring food, cutting a lot of fats from my meals, choosing all my meals and snacks wisely. Just like last year. Going to dig out all my exercise stuff and make up a daily routine.

Well, I'm off for my afternoon coffee and biscuit.

Toodles.

Almost There

250/234/225

Only nine pounds to second goal. Hurrah!

Life Is Good

I'm sitting here with my favourite magazines, Grazia and Cosmo, and drinking a cup of hot lemon tea. And before you ask, the answer is no, I'm not on some wacky lemon diet. I just happen to like lemon tea. My mother made it for me when I was a child and I've loved it ever since. I find it very refreshing and relaxing. One freshly squeezed lemon in my favourite china teapot and sweetened with plain old refined white sugar. GASP! Yeah, I know, but artificial sweeteners hurt my stomach so I have to go easy with them.

Hubs fetched some of my shoes down from the loft that I've not worn for a while. Shoes that actually fit me now because my feet aren't as chubby and don't tend to swell anymore. Strange how little things like that can make me feel good about myself.

I made some very good soup the other day. All I did was pile a load of fresh vegetables (carrots, spring onions, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, a potato and some peas) into a pot with some chicken stock, boiled till tender, then processed with a hand blender. The result was a thick soup that I had with a dollop of plain yogurt and some saltines. Quick, easy, yummy and extremely healthy. None of that processed tinned crap for me. Tonight will be hamburgers made in the George Foreman grill with homemade BBQ sauce. Tomorrow, roast chicken with sage dressing and steamed veg.

Went to the grocery store today and spotted some millet seed. I've never eaten millet seeds before so I read the instructions which said it can replace rice or cous cous. I'm going to try it. Who knows, it might be good. Millet seed? I thought that was budgie food! Budgies are sweet little creatures.

Next Friday is our sixth wedding anniversary and I plan to treat myself to homemade lasagna and homemade chocolate cake with gooey chocolate frosting. YeeHaw!

OK, I'm out.

Time For A Change

It's been a month since my whinge-fest. My post of September 18 was nothing but moaning about how my weight-loss had reached a plateau and how I was going to change my goals etc., etc., etc. So, I went back and analysed my logs in FitDay and even though I'm losing more slowly, I am actually still losing. I've lost 7 pounds in four weeks which averages out to 1.58 pounds lost per week. That's really not bad at all. What more do I want? So what if I'm not losing two pounds per week like back in July? I'm still losing and that's what counts. If I stay on this course over the next few weeks - and I see no reason why I shouldn't - I'll have reached my 225 goal by the end of the year - which is what I had originally projected. I'll stay with my original projection.

I have to say, this new lifestyle is getting easier. There's some foods I no longer consider as part of my diet and I don't miss them. It doesn't bother me at all when everyone else around me is eating sugary and fatty foods. It's kind of like quitting smoking. When I first stopped smoking years ago, I didn't particularly like being around smokers because of the temptation. But as time went on I found I was no longer tempted to light up when socialising with smokers. I'm actually looking forward to the Holidays because, for the first time in years, I'll not be tempted to over-eat.

Hubs is off to Japan on business sometime in December and I may go with him. Not sure though as it depends on my health (and my mother's health) at the time. This last arthritis flare-up has left me with some stiffness in my legs and back and I really don't look forward to spending 11.5 hours on a plane. We'll see.

More later......

Success

Went to see the diabetic nurse yesterday and she is very pleased with my progress. I’ve lost 15.5 pounds since my visit with her back in July. My HbA1c (amount of glucose that has stuck to the red cells in the blood) has gone from 9.7 (poor control) to 7.0 (good control). Any lowering of HbA1c towards 7% will reduce complication risks. Blood pressure is way down as well. She and my doctor are very happy that I’ve taken control of my diabetes and that I am working toward good health.

I discussed with her about how my weight loss is slowing and she said that is nothing to be concerned about because it happens. However, I want to lose at least 50 more pounds so as to be below the 200 pound mark. Currently my weight is 243/244 and a 50 pound loss would put me at 193/194 and then if I lose any more, well, that will just be icing on the cake. Got my flu jab and next week will get my pneumonia jab, so then I’ll be all set for winter.

So, I’ve readjusted my goals. Originally I had projected to be around 225 pounds by the end of the year. That is no longer realistic so I’m now projecting to be at 225 by the first of March 2008. I think that is more realistic and I feel better about my new goal

Owwww

Weight has hit a serious plateau so I’m holding at 244/245. I’m not surprised considering how much I’ve lost so far. Actually, I’ve upped my calories by about 200 per day as I suspect my body is thinking there’s a famine going on and is trying to save all the fat it can. Hopefully it will now think that all is well and after a bit of adjustment will start to burn fat again. I’m in no hurry to lose because I know that I’ll lose it eventually, forever. The good news is, I can now wear everything in my wardrobe, which is remarkable considering this time last year I was down to two or three outfits that I could wear comfortably.

Thank goodness for ibuprofen. Arthritis is flaring up and I’m in a lot of pain these days so needless to say not doing much exercise at the moment. I sure hope I’m better next week because hubs is on holiday and I need to help him replace some fence panels.

Other than the arthritis I’m OK. Diabetes is in check, blood pressure is almost normal as well. A bit of friendly advice to anyone out there who might be reading this. Exercise and lose your weight now, while you’re young and while it is still easy to do. Don’t wait until you get older because it is a lot more difficult once arthritis, diabetes or some other illness sets in.