It's been a while...

I had to take a break and really, through trial and error - sometimes a lot more error! - figure out what was going to work for me.

To lose weight, you have to do what works for you.  That is my mantra and has been for many years.  Putting it into practice is a lot harder than saying it.  That's what makes the authors of diet books rich.  So many choices.  The grapefruit diet will work for some people.  The Atkins diet will work for some people, too.  And every diet in between.  But a person who can do Atkins every day for the rest of their lives is a very different person from the one who can do grapefruit!  Some people love to exercise (at least I've heard these people exist...)  They can eat more as long as they exercise more, but look out if they are injured.  That weight sneaks up fast!

Figuring out what works for you is the tricky part.  You can lose weight on most diets.  But it has to be a way of eating that you can commit to and stick with for a really long time - as in forever.  That's how you gained the weight, right?  You committed to eating badly and stuck with it for a long time.

What I ran into was once I hit 50 and the dreaded menopause, I couldn't lose weight any more.  At least not the way I had been doing for the past 10 years.  I was slowly gaining and I didn't know how to stop it.  10 lbs in 18 months would turn into 20 lbs in 3 years, and just keep going from there.

What is working for me now is keeping my numbers a lot more steady.  In the old days, I could fluctuate wildly from day to day.  1000 calories today, 3000 calories tomorrow, 1200 the next day.  It all averages out, right?  Well, it did when I was younger.  Nowadays, I am finding it better to hover between 1400-2000 calories, and get a little exercise every day, too.  As you get older, you have to cut out a lot of the extremes.  I just hadn't applied that thought to dieting before.

So, I'm back on track with this and seeing where this takes me.

188.2/185/165

Eating less and exercising really does work!

I am happy to announce that even though it's been nearly three weeks since I last posted, I am still eating pretty well.  I am drinking a little bit of water.

I am doing 30-60 minutes of aerobics most days.  I went to my first Zumba class on Wednesday.  I have never been to an exercise class in my life.  And you know what?  It was a lot of fun!

I am eating more veggies, although I do still manage to eat a little chocolate every day.

And yes, my weight is going down.  Sometimes I think, "At this rate, it will take me years to reach my goal".  But my next thought is, "So what?  What if it really take me three years to reach my goal?"  Does it matter?  Nope.  It's a journey, and it always will be.  It's more about taking care of myself than getting to a certain number on the scale.

188.2/184.8/165

Setting goals - or not

An email from a friend got me thinking about goals.  Why are long term goals so much harder to meet than short term?  I don't pretend to know the whole answer, but part of it is procrastination.  If something is in the very distant future, we tell ourselves we have plenty of time to reach that goal.  Saving money for college...for retirement?  So far off, we will worry about it later.  


Losing weight seems to work the same way - for me anyway.  If there is an event a month away, I can stay pretty focused on it and force myself to behave - for a month.  But if I just set a goal of losing 20 lbs.  just because I want to and I need to.  Well, that's pretty ambiguous.  I have plenty of time to lose it.  Then an event happens along, and here I am.  Still with the same 20 lbs to lose.  Annoyed at myself because if I had known about the event, I could have lost the weight.  but we have the ability to go ahead and lose the weight at any time.  What is stopping us?  Hmmm.  That's the part I don't quite understand.  It's tied in with the first paragraph.  Plenty of time to reach that goal.  Worry about it later.  


My eating has been up and down lately, as you can see by my numbers.  I was complaining the other day that I have only lost 6/10 of a lb since last Christmas.  My daughter pointed out to me that I could have gained that much plus a whole lot more.  She's right.  I need to be happy I am maintaining and not gaining.  I have traded some (not all) of my cookies for low fat granola bars, and some (not all) of my Diet Coke for water.  I have also traded my 10 min of treadmill time for 30 min of aerobics most (not all) days.  So we will see where we go from here.


188.2/187.6/165

About exercise...

I was talking to my daughter today.  I said something like, "I exercise every day, I walk on the treadmill, I lift weights, I don't understand why I have no endurance.  I am wiped out after just a few minutes of anything." She paused for a moment and asked, "How long are you doing each activity?"

D'oh.  Hmmm.  Maybe 10 minutes...  10 min on a treadmill, 10 min lifting weights and 10 min on exercise bike still equals 30 min of exercise.  It still burns calories, but it is not going to build any kind of endurance.

You can scroll down to the post about how I hate to exercise.  But since I am '49 and holding', I'm going to have to get serious about the endurance part of it, or I will be on one of those scooter chairs before long!

188.2/184/165

Do ya think?

My husband is coming to the realization that his favorite way of eating is making him fat. Da ya think? For the past 27 years his favorite way of eating plumps him past 200 lbs. When he does eat his favorite way, the pounds magically melt off. When they melt off to a certain point 188 pounds, he goes back on his favorite way of eating to help him lose weight. Well, his "weight loss" pounds to come, goes in the wrong direction every time. I know he wants to believe his way works but it doesn't.

I don't remember once my father giving my mom the word about her cooking. My dad cooked on weekends. Of the two, he was the better cook. He was part Italian and believe in using spices to improve the taste of food. My mom on the hand loved bland food. The blander the better.

My husband looks at a salad and says he can't eat this everyday.. but yet he can eat TV dinners everyday. He eats turkey dinners morning, noon and night. Sometimes he will a different dinner but his main squeeze of TV dinners is Turkey.

I just don't get it.

My husband...

He had a thought yesterday.... That he might be the problem of me losing my weight because of the food he throws in the cart. He also came up with another brilliant idea.. No snack foods in the house we wouldn't be snacking at night?

Da ya think?

Observations on Exercise

I don't like to exercise.  I do it nearly every day in some form or fashion.  I walk on a treadmill, I go to the gym.  But I don't enjoy it, and many days, I have to talk myself into exercising at all.  I could reward myself with food, but that would defeat the purpose, now wouldn't it?  lol

It has occurred to me that exercise should burn calories in proportion to how much we enjoy it.  If you have a terrible cold, but you go to the gym anyway - the calories burned should be double the normal calories burned!  If you hate painting, but you paint a room anyway - double calories for you.  If it worked that way in real life, we would lose a lot more weight, because we would be a little more eager to do the exercise we really don't enjoy.

188.2/184.6/165

Monday, April 16

I have been into serious binge mode the past few days and haven't counted calories or exercised. I've been really stressed. In the moment you are eating the food, all of the stress and worries melt away. Mmmmm. But it's just for that moment. Then you eat more, then your clothes don't fit, then you feel worse, then you eat more...then you are REALLY stressed about the original stressor and the fact that your clothes don't fit!

This is where my routines come in handy. They take the emotions out of it, and that's what I need. Just gotta get back on board with them.

No idea where my weight is right now. Over 185, I'm guessing. It's good that I lost some weight after Christmas, otherwise, I'd be even bigger!

Beginning again - again!

I had an awesome vacation. Nothing like time at the beach.

Now that I'm back, I'm still adjusting to 'normal life' again. I am a very structured person, and I have a lot of changes going on at work right now. This leads me right back to old eating patterns. The changes are going on for at least the next month. Hopefully, I can just hang on for now.

I gained 3.8 lbs on vacation. I've done worse!

188.2/183.6/165

Week Twelve

Boy, when I said this was an up and down journey, I didn't know what I was in for! My weight this week - after a very good week with eating and exercise - was UP 1.4 lbs. 179.8!

This is especially difficult for me to deal with, because it is right before my vacation (where I'm pretty much guaranteed to gain weight) and my weight is teetering on the edge of 180, which I have worked so hard to get past.

I'm a little sad, but not defeated. I have a lovely vacation coming up, and I will have fun. I'll be back online in two weeks.

188.2/179.8/165

Week Eleven

This is surely an up and down weight loss journey. 178.4, down 1.2 lb this week, but still haven't hit that elusive 10 lb mark.

Losing weight is very different after age 50/menopause. It's a much slower process. But I keep telling myself that I need to eat this way and exercise even if I wasn't trying to lose weight. So I just keep going. Doing what I should be doing anyway. If it takes me a year to lose 20 lbs, it was a year well spent.

188.2/178.4/165

Week Ten

I need to come up with a catchier title for my posts!

My weight this week was down just a bit. 179.6 (4/10 of a pound). Total of 8.6 lost in ten weeks. Nothing to cheer about, but it's better than gaining. The further I get below 180, the happier I will be. I ran into a bag of jelly beans over the weekend, and it wasn't pretty. Plus, my back started hurting again, and I used that as an excuse to stop exercising.

So, beginning again. Again. Been eating right the past two days. Got on my treadmill this morning. Planning to go to the gym tonight.

188.2/179.6/165

Serving sizes

I read an excellent article on serving sizes. If you've been dieting for any length of time, you are on the lookout for this, but the extent of it is amazing!

http://fitbie.msn.com/eat-right/tips/1-food-scam-makes-you-fat

Week Nine

My weight popped back up to 180 this week. I've had a head cold, so my eating and exercise haven't been as strict as usual. I'm taking a beach vacation in three weeks, and really want to hit 175 before I go. (Just so I can be back at 180 again when I get home!)

BTW, I also noticed I was a little over optimistic with my weight loss last week. My starting weight was 188.2 NOT 188.8, so I was actually at 9.8 lbs lost, NOT 10.4...Okay, so next week, I'm REALLY going to hit that 10 lb mark. Really! Seriously...

188.2/180/165

Week Eight

I finally broke through the 180 lb mark. 178.4 this week. This put me past the 10 lbs lost, too! I'm officially down 10.4 lbs since Christmas. Less than 14 lbs to go!

I took my granddaughters to 'Mickey D's' yesterday. They have re-engineered their kids meals. They offer a 1 oz fry plus apples with them now. So, if you are dieting, go for the kids meal. With a hamburger, the total calories are 365.

188.8/178.4/165

Yeah, Yeah.. I know I'm behind on posting this blog...

It was one of those days where I woke up and found myself slamming my head against the bed. My husband idea on how for me to lose weight is contrary to my body reality. He doesn't get it.

He has taken up sprinkling cinnamon on everything. I have to admit his blood sugar tests are way better than they were so I'lll give him an atta boy. He is so proud his weight just fell off. It apparently landed on me.

So I was discourage. I started eating hamburgers. The way this fast food used to make them when I was young. I crept to the scales this morning.. The pounds fell off. Maybe they are back on my husband. You better believe I'm buying more chilli, hamburger, lettuce, tomato, pickles and onions

Week Seven

You know, I was hesitant to post this week, because my weight is up to 182.8, my calories and exercise were not bad, but I really think I am inadvertently sabotaging myself whenever I get close to 180. Hopefully, this will be the week to break through that wall. I'm still out here.

Evil is:

Seeing that 20 inch waistline news story on my monitor... Go away all ready.

Week Six

I did well this past week. I lost 1.2 lbs. I am down to 180.6. Unfortunately, I am also getting tired of dieting and working out. Kind of pathetic, only six weeks in.

Over the weekend, I caved in to pizza. You will notice in my previous posts, I talk about all the yummy foods I can eat and still lose weight. Waffles, chocolate, even fried chicken. But I never mentioned pizza.

Pizza is evil. One slice of pizza can have 400 or more calories. (and who eats one slice of pizza?!) In fact, if I am eating pizza, I really want breadsticks with it, too, and garlic butter with the breadsticks... It's a lucky thing I don't happen to like beer, or I'd be drinking that with the pizza and breadsticks!

So, I fell off the dieting wagon. But I am back up on it today, now that the pizza is gone. I'm hitting the 'reset' button and going for another six weeks!

188.2/180.6/165

Yesterday's follies..

I was so happy seeing a re-lost of the same pounds I lose over and over again. Fat deposit insanity is losing the same pounds over and over again.

My husband had a bad day learning about food on his own. I'll give him an A for effort. Yesterday on the radio, this "expert" was talking about people who drink coffee are less likely to be diabetic. My husband isn't too fond of coffee. Gosh, I can't remember a time when I didn't drink coffee. My mum started me drinking coffee before I went to school. My husband looked at me and said this is the saddest information I have ever learned.

So my husband progressed to learning about his beloved cheese addiction. I keep complaining that cheese packs on the pounds. He is watching this internet video. I knew he was hoping to see on this video that cheese is slenderizing. What does he get? This photo of a huge "cheese belly".

My son is in town. He wanted us to go to Bollywood. The owner of the restaurant owns several local doughnut shops in addition to his Asian cuisine. The singer was fabulous. It's January. The mega dieting to lose holiday weight is on. The owner brought in his left over donuts. Donuts lined the wall at that the all you can eat buffet. Of course, we succumbed to doughnuts siren call. This morning between doughnuts siren call and MSG water retention we are bloated.

Week Five

Last week I said there would be setbacks and plateaus. Maybe I jinxed myself! This is where dieting becomes more difficult.

I stuck to my plan this week, averaged 1565 calories per day, and I still gained 1.2 lbs. There was a time when I would have said, "What's the point?", and given up. But in reality, all that leads to is gaining the weight back. So, I keep going. See what happens next week. I lost very consistently for four weeks in a row. This is just a blip on the screen.

188.2/181.8/165

In Search of Raul..........................I found him.....

This was one of the many meat servers at the restaurant we ate at. I told my husband, I'm going to marry the cook. My husband rolled his eyes at me. When my husband tasted his flan, he said to me, "Can you get the dessert chef for a husband too".

The salad filled me up.... but I stuffed in the lamb and steaks. I wasn't going to let those super tender meats go to waste. Maybe in 2 days I will feel hungry.

Week Four

This week's weight is 180.6. Down another 2.6 lbs. I've lost 7.6 lbs so far. Another 15.5 to get to the top of my goal range. I'm just hoping to get there before summer. My weight is coming down at a pretty good rate right now, but I know that won't last. There will be setbacks and plateaus.

I'm enjoying my success so far, and continuing to take this one day at a time. Counting my calories - trying to average between 1600-1700 per day. Nothing drastic. Doing a little walking for exercise. My back and hip pain have improved dramatically. I am taking about 1/4 of the OTC meds I was taking before. I have read that every pound you lose puts 7 fewer pounds on your joints.

188.2/180.6/165

Veggie Burgers...

They need some meat added to them. I'm not getting them any more. 4 lbs weight gain. There is a reason why horses and cows poop alot.

Random thoughts

I wish I could say something that would motivate everyone equally. I know, it doesn't work that way. It just seems like the past few days, several of my dieting buddies are getting discouraged and falling off the wagon.

Some of them are people who still think dieting is a temporary thing. They don't understand that whole 'lifestyle change' and what it really means. But others are friends who know that things have to change for the long term.

It is one thing to know it, but the doing of it is still the tough part. Day after day, week after week, month after month. Not only that, but not every diet is right for every person. It's a cliche for a reason. "You have to do what works for you."

To my friends, I just want to say: When you're ready, you will pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and begin again. I know you will; and I know you'll be there for me when I lose my motivation, too!

Week Three

This weeks weight - 183.2. Down 1.6. Total lost - 5 lbs! And yes, during this past week, I have eaten waffles, candy bars, cookies, pretzels, and fried chicken. I can lose this weight without giving up the foods I love.

One thing I want to mention is that my lower back has stopped hurting. As we get older, I suspect the motivation to lose weight becomes feeling better more than looking better. I was taking Tylenol and Motrin every day. Now, it's been a week since I've taken any at all.

I think I will appreciate my own progress more once I get below 180. Probably another two or three weeks. Years ago, we used to write it this way: Starting weight/current weight/goal weight

188.2/183.2/165

How is it going?

Today, I went to BK and got myself two BK juniors and took off the buns. Oh, that soft white bread was begging to be sampled but I stayed strong. Tonight I made a small steak, green onions and mushrooms.

My husband and I went grocery shopping. He bought his TV dinners. He is slipping back into his old ways.

I checked out what is cheap eats at the grocery store. This week it is pork and chicken. I bought a few vegetables. The oranges are still looking good.


I'm down to 205.

A funny thing happened...

Last night, I was doing my usual negative diet speak - something along the lines of, "I don't even know why I bother, I'm never going to lose this weight." I had to laugh at myself, because I've been doing this too long - the negative talk doesn't work any more. I already know it's an excuse, and if I stick with my plan I will lose the weight.

I decided to buy a snack cake while I was out, today. (Yes, I was going to count the calories!) I got home and when I stepped out of the car, I dropped the snack cake right out of the package on the garage floor. Uh...

Yesterday's Follies.....

My husband announced he has lost 6 lbs. He said it was due to his not snacking. He later confessed he got up in the middle of the night and ate green beans because there was nothing in the house to snack on and he was so hungry.  I'm proud of him but I am slamming head on the desk on how men can lose weight faster.

Yesterday, I suggested to go to all you can eat pizza buffet to give my husband a reprieve of healthier eating. About 10 minutes being in the pizza place, my husband starts sneezing. A minute later, I started sneezing. I told my husband we are allergic to the place. He said, "NO WAY".  The pizza place has a nice salad buffet.

Week two

Here are my results at the end of the second week. Down 2.2 lbs. Yay! 184.8

I wanted to talk a little about my diet. It's not a particularly healthy diet. I literally count only calories. Not fat, not sodium... It means that if I want chocolate and ice cream one day, I can have it without cheating on my plan. Actually, I have chocolate and ice cream a lot on my plan! But before I lost 100 lbs, I would look at the thin people around me and trying to figure out why they could eat chocolate and I had to eat carrots.

That's when I discovered the numbers. Keep your calories under control, and your weight will come down. The biggest thing it did for me was take away the diet guilt. 'OMG, I ate a doughnut. I am a bad person. I will never lose weight' - talk about a self fulfilling prophecy! Now, it's 'I ate a doughnut, I'd better skip lunch'. Period. You know what else? When you do that, you get pretty hungry by suppertime, and you learn not to do it again!

I've named my Belgian waffle maker 'Leopold'.

I feel funny...

Oh wait, no I don't. Part of my problem with blogging. I really want to be funny, so I sit here telling myself, "Quick, think of something funny to blog about!" ...crickets...

I am getting back in the groove with my diet. I cut back gradually after I've been so far off track. I am already feeling better. You know how crummy people often feel on Mondays? It isn't all about the workweek starting up again. Some of it is going through 'food withdrawal' after eating bad all weekend. Eat better over the weekend, feel a whole lot better when Monday rolls around.

I got a belgian waffle maker for Christmas - now that's funny!

The Chicken Sisters....

The last time I saw a full variety of peeps at the grocery store is when I was kid.

Tonight I made roast chicken, German potato salad, roasted peppers, and salad. My son called during dinner. My husband kept my German potato salad lowest carb for me. He saved a couple of bites. The reason why I made German potato salad was for the bacon. I didn't have celery salt on hand so I used Mrs. Dash hot spicy. It contained celery seeds. Supposed I could call the dish "Tex-German" Salad.

The scale blessed me with another pound loss. O

I guess it's about time!

Happy new Year!

I am the mysterious co-blogger. Soupy has already told you how we met. I lost 100 lbs, and managed to keep a lot of it off - it will be 10 years this month. But, since I hit 50, my weight has been creeping up steadily. I am not planning to get down to my original goal weight of 150, but I do want to get down to 160-165. Started last week at 188.2. Current weight 187. I kept telling myself I 'only' needed to lose 20-25 lbs. Then Soupy pointed out that I was nudging closer and closer to that 200 lb mark. It's time to get serious. Soupy is a low-carb dieter. I am a calorie counter.

I have a theory about turning 50. I think the reason it's harder to lose weight and to keep it off is a combination of two things. First of all, everything hurts. (No one ever mentions that.) Just getting out of bed is exercise! Secondly, you don't really care any more. No matter how skinny I get now, I'm not going to be wearing a bikini!

So there you have it, my first official blog.

The Self Appointed Physical Trainer....

Our dog is taking this physical training seriously. She had us out the door way too early this morning. She showed no mercy as she dragged my husband down the street. We get back from PT and my husband said to me, "I hate dieting and getting in shape".

I took 2 aspirins in hopes my sciatic nerve pain will go away.

The scale felt kind and subtracted 1 lb. Yeah!

Last night, I made sauteed veggies, salad, mustard vinaigrette, potatoes Anna, and sauteed steak with sherry sauce.

Plates and Mates....

Let me talk about plates.  The dinner plate quite often comes with some sort of border or rim. This plate has a nice decorative blue border. The white area is about the size salad plate.  The white area is where the chefs make their pretty food presentation. Personally, I don't like using small plates to lose weight. My husband might one day think white area is approximately the size of salad plate and point out the truth that all I had to do was keep the food off of the blue area.  No thanks.

Here's my lunch. The other part of the sour orange is on my plate. Green leafy lettuce and fresh tomato with a homemade vinaigrette. The shrimp was sauteed in butter, red pepper and celery.

How did the walk go? My dog is a good southern old dog. She wanted to ride in the car.

Weight: 210

In My Best Klingon Voice: It's A Good Day To Diet!

Right now, I am waiting for my egg to hard boiled. I ate part of a sour orange. I will count making strange twisting face as yoga exercising. This is really a little note to remind myself that there is an egg boiling on the stove so I will avoid the burning the pan and hearing an egg exploding. Self-launched egg missiles scares my husband and my dog. They aren't in the back room bunker safely keyboarding away. I have done several egg missiles in the last 11 years. I am happy to report, only once I had to throw away a pan. I'm am really gourmet cook... except for breakfast. I am not fond of the concept of breakfast. I need several cups of coffee to make important decision of which breakfast food I detest that I am going to eat.

My partner in crime of wicked diet humor is unsure of herself on what she can blog about.  Trust me, once she gets into posting blogs she will have plenty to write about.


Suppose a little history about us is in order. My co-blogger and I met on a 100 lbs or more weight loss forum for back in 2000. We were in our 40's. Losing weight was easier back then until super fat glue hormones emerged into our bodies. Yeah, we lost our weight. My co-blogger managed to keep quite a bit of her weight off. I am proud of her. I, on the other hand, after gaining mysterious pounds without eating more went full bore ahead with going off my slimming plan that had kept the weight off for nearly 10 years. The last pounds were a lot more fun to gain than mysterious arriving pounds.

My humor I believe comes from having only older brothers. I didn't have sisters to patrol my plate with an eagle eye laser precision to give "the look" of me pigging out. If I didn't grab enough food, it would be gone. My brothers ate fast. My eldest brother when he became older pronounced his corpulence figure was not fat but an investment. He pointed out he paid a fortune to get his stomach to over hang his belt. He ended up marrying a girl with all sisters and no brothers. I enjoyed every time she gave him "the look" of pigging out. Ohhh.. you should have seen how fast he dropped his fork after her killer look. His wife, slimmed down his corpulence figure.

It is time to eat my hard boiled egg. I will jump up and down on the scale furiously to get my January 1, 2012 start weight. I will head out for a walk. It will take awhile to walk. My dog is old and needs plenty rest stops. I just hope I don't have to carry her 65 lbs over my shoulders back home.