145.4 Fit to Feel Better

I lost 1.8 pounds yesterday and am fully recovered from my planned cheat on my diet for Easter. I walked for about an hour total and did 10 minutes on our Lifestyler stair step exercise machine. Here is all I ate yesterday:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk
Half a pound of hamburger fried into patties
2 tablespoons BBQ sauce on the hamburger
Steamed broccoli
Handful of raw carrot sticks

I ate all this except the carrot sticks an hour before my afternoon walk. I meant to eat a salmon patty with the carrot sticks for dinner, but I was still full from all that hamburger at lunch. I just drank cinnamon tea all evening and only ate those carrot sticks.

OK, so now I am a skinny size 8. (My husband says so, even if I look average to you.)

Skinny isn't really healthy all on its own, though, is it? Fit is really "where it's at." Times in my life when I have been getting regular exercise have been the most comfortable times in my life. My muscles didn't ache. I didn't feel like I needed a massage, heating pad, or hot bath all the time. Oh sure, my muscles were sore if I exercised hard, but it was a good kind of sore, not the constant ache I get when my muscles are crying out for me not to let them atrophy.

I am almost 50 years old. I have no delusions about looking like a teenager ever again. I feel much better when I walk every day, though. At this point in my life, fitness is about feeling better. This lifestyle change is all for me and my health. It's not about what I look like to others. This is the most motivational reason, and that is why this time I have been successful at losing weight. I wish it had been about me and my health when I was young and for my whole life. All I have is the future, though. No sense dwelling on the past.

***Edited later to add these links to other days when I lost a lot of weight on my diet:

• lost a pound (12)
• lost 1.2 pounds (2)
• lost 1.3 pounds (1)
• lost 1.4 pounds (10)
• Lost 1.6 pounds (9)
• lost 1.8 pounds (2)
• lost 2 pounds (2)
• lost 2.2 pounds (1) 

147.2 "New" Easter Dress

I indulged in Easter chocolate, cupcakes, donuts, and apple pie. I am not sorry! No regrets! Those were part of a planned cheat on my diet, and I loved every bit of them. The two pounds I gained will come off by Friday.

This is how Scott and I dressed for Resurrection Day service at Valley View Baptist Church Spokane yesterday. Now that I have a nice figure again, I wear my (costume) jewelry again. Look Mom, I finally found a dress that this dragonfly pin looks right at home on!

I bought this "new" Easter dress about a month ago at the Salvation Army Thrift Store. It cost me about $4. I love it! I decided to try and sell my old size 18 silk Easter dress at our first garage sale this summer. These darker colors look better on me than those pastels did.

We were going to walk the dogs more than three miles round trip to Lowe's yesterday, but we both got sleepy. We took an Easter nap instead. That is allowed only on holidays. Here is everything I ate yesterday:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk
Mini Hershey Mr Goodbar
Maple bar
A dozen homemade mini chocolate cupcakes with lemon-raspberry icing
Leftover baked chicken, Brussels sprouts and broccoli
6 oz ham steak with steamed Brussels sprouts and carrots
Hostess Apple Fruit Pie

156.8 Valentine Banquet Picture with Scott

There were 27 of us at the Valentine's Banquet and we all had a great time. It was a buffet. I stuck pretty closely to the keep trim eating rules, but I did have dessert. After dinner we had a sermon, a song and a numbered gift exchange. Someone was nice enough to take this picture of Scott and me together.

The numbered gift exchange was a fun addition to this Valentine's Day party. We did not do a white elephant where you can steal each other's gifts. We just each brought a gift that got numbered as we set it down. There were numbers at our places that determined which gifts we brought.

The only wrench in those works was some gifts were meant for a certain sex. The giver would call out if the host was about to give a boy gift to a girl or a girl gift to a boy. The host would set that gift aside and get back to that person once a sex appropriate gift had been set aside. The host brought two extra gifts just in case.

We were at Walmart again yesterday a few hours before the party, buying those gifts. I bought a potted mini rose plant in a cute ladybug pot. Scott bought a water proof box. There was a limit of $6 on each gift. I received a gift card for a local coffee house. Scott received a pocket knife.

We did not get to our walk in the park with the dogs yesterday. We were going to and then we remembered we had to shop for those gifts. Here is all I ate yesterday and only gained .4 pounds, even without walking:

(I slept through breakfast.)
Healthy Choice Golden Roasted Turkey Breast frozen dinner (280 calories, 500 mg sodium)
1/4 plate medium grilled steak
1/4 plate cucumber salad pre-dressed with oil and vinegar
1/2 plate cooked broccoli, cauliflower and carrots
6 breaded fried ochra
Dessert bowl full of shortcake and cherry pie filling
From Scott's plate:
bite of mashed potatoes and gravy
bite of brownie
bite of fudge

157.8 GAINED 2.2 Pounds Yesterday

I took a day off for a planned cheat on my diet yesterday for the ladies' Valentine's Banquet. Here is all I ate and GAINED 2.2 pounds, even though I walked 3+ miles:

Small bowl of Special K, blueberries and soy milk
7 Hershey's Drops

Salad plate full of cantaloupe, red grapes, and fresh pineapple
Tuna salad sandwich on thick wheat bread
Small chocolate heart

1 Costco combo slice of pizza

I was just trying to maintain, but I am amazed I gained two plus pounds. What an eye opener. I took it easy on the chocolate, but the fruit, bread and pizza crust snuck up on me. The fruit was by far the most enjoyable thing I ate yesterday.

Today will be a diet day, and half of tomorrow. Tomorrow evening we have a couples' Valentine's Banquet to attend. I guess I can only have one "normal" meal per day, if I want to keep my new trim figure.

Mom, I used the money you paid me for doing your resume to buy the outfit in this picture yesterday. The sweater set is size medium Spring Mercer and the pants are size 10 Gloria Vanderbilt. I got it all at Costco. I also got some Levi's, but although they did fit, they were way too young for me. I will return them.

170.0 Merry Christmas!

My keep-trim goal is 171.4 and today I weigh 170.0. I am 1.4 pounds heavier than yesterday. I did not walk the dogs yesterday, and that is probably most of why I gained weight.

Yesterday afternoon I came down with a cold from being out in the 20 degree weather all day Friday on that theater assignment. My nose is runny and I am sneezing. I had to cancel my Christmas singing at both churches. This morning I awoke with a scratchy throat. I am drinking hot coffee and that feels great on my throat.

All our Christmas cookies are gone, and the Almond Roca Butter Crunch Cookie Bars, yay! They were fun while they lasted and I am really happy and amazed that I could incorporate them into my diet and not blow it! A planned cheat on my diet rules. No guilt.

We received some Christmas money in the mail Thursday, so yesterday we went shopping at Best Buy! We got an eInk eReader: the Amazon Kindle Keyboard 3G with special offers. Here it is in this picture with a special offer for that Tattoo movie in my theater assignment. I downloaded all my favorite Jane Austen novels on it for free. They are so old they are out of copyright. We also got a Sony Tablet.

It had started snowing when we went out to the car, and it was a little slippery driving home. I was driving and I got a nice shot of adrenaline. We figure if we had stayed in the store 5 more minutes we would not have made it home. Only Scott knows how to put the chains on the tires, and he can't right now with his injured arm. All this happened before I started sniffling and sneezing yesterday.

Here is what I ate yesterday:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk, black unsweetened coffee

the last chocolate from my Advent calendar

Half a dinner plate of combo pizza from Costco, Diet Coke

1 brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tart, caffeine-free tea

Baked chicken, onions and carrots, caffeine-free tea

Another brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tart

169.0 Lost 1.4 Pounds in One Day Eating Cookies

I lost 1.4 pounds yesterday and now weigh 169.0! I cheated a bunch, too: I lost count at 12 decorated sugar Christmas cookies. Well, I also walked two miles yesterday and did about 5 minutes on the stair step exercise machine, if you take them all together.

No, I did not expect to lose weight by eating more than 12 cookies. It was a planned cheat on my diet during keep trim eating. I was indulging.

But now that I see this result, I remember that lately, on low-carbohydrate message boards, I have heard people say they lose more when they eat more, after a long period of eating less.

I don't pretend to understand the science of it. I only know I ate more than a dozen sugar cookies made with butter and decorated with more sugar yesterday -- and lost 1.4 pounds.

I did not eat anything in the time period that started two hours before I went to bed. I walked a mile before lunch and then another mile an hour after lunch. I have read various theories on how this timing matters or doesn't matter. I am just adding this data to my record in case it might be significant.

Here is all I ate yesterday, and lost 1.4 pounds on keep trim eating:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk, black unsweetened coffee

December 20 chocolate from my Advent calendar

1 slice of Christmas bread

5 decorated Christmas sugar cookies

(1 mile walk)

2 cups steamed broccoli with 1/3 cup grated Mexican Blend cheese melted over it in the microwave,
Diet Coke

5 decorated sugar Christmas cookies

(1 mile walk)

Baked chicken, onion and carrots, caffeine-free tea

At least 2 more decorated sugar Christmas cookies

Comfy Size 14

I still weigh less than 180! Holding steady today at 179.2. I feel so much better than I did a year ago: my ankles don't hurt at all, I don't get tired standing up all day when I sub, no more headaches! I did walk my mile yesterday, with both dogs. Scott's arm is not well enough yet to help me walk them.

I don't think I could have stuck with the diet so long without these keep trim eating weeks. They are a great break when they come, and they are something to look forward to during the diet weeks. I enjoyed candy at Halloween and pumpkin pie / stuffing / mashed potatoes / gravy at Thanksgiving without the guilt associated with cheating on a diet. Each bit of it was a planned cheat on my diet, so it was guilt-free.

Here is a picture Scott took of me just now, wearing my new MEDIUM shirt and some size 14 pants from Good Will. This is the smallest shirt I am going to get, so I got it new, but I am hoping to get into size 10 pants eventually. There still is some fat around my face, but nothing like there used to be. I can see my ankle bones again, the swelling has gone down so much.

Here is what I ate yesterday and only gained .2 pounds (which I will slough off today!):

1 cup Special K, 1 cup soy milk, 1 cup strawberries, black unsweetened coffee
1 Banquet frozen dinner: sweet and sour chicken, Diet Dr Pepper
Baked chicken, onion and carrots, caffeine-free diet soda
Half a Hostess apple fruit pie

180.2 Keep Trim Day 8 of 14

I gained that pound back yesterday, but it is coming right off again today. It was a planned cheat on my diet for Thanksgiving, so I feel no guilt and I relished each and every bite. I did walk my mile yesterday. It was a great Thanksgiving Day.

I woke up and had my usual breakfast of Special K, strawberries, soy milk and black unsweetened coffee. I took both dogs for a mile-long walk in the park. Scott is still staying home to nurse his right hand, but says it is feeling better than it was. He is starting to notice the sprains in his fingers, which he couldn't feel before because of the pain of his jammed elbow. He is afraid to go out because even a light touch on his arm or hand is painful. He likes to keep ice on it through the compression bandage, to help control the swelling, so padding his arm inside the sling won't work.

We had our Marie Callender's turkey TV dinners for lunch with a few Pillsbury crescent rolls. I had Diet Dr Pepper. The TV dinners were only 320 calories, but they had 1180 mg of sodium! Yikes! I had a piece of pumpkin pie for dessert with a pot of decaffeinated Good Earth tea.

We were all set to have another TV dinner for dinner, when our friends came earlier than I had hoped and brought us each a huge plate from the Thanksgiving dinner we were supposed to attend. I had given them a big pumpkin pie and some ice cream that I had bought to bring to the dinner. I was hoping for a plate for the dinner, but I didn't dare expect it, and not in time to have for dinner! That was such a nice surprise!

So, we pigged out on really moist home-cooked turkey, mashed potatoes, great gravy, stuffing, yams, green beans, rolls, and two pieces each of my pumpkin pie!

I am having no extras today, so I am hoping that pound will come right back off and tomorrow I will once again weigh 179.2. I still have 6 keep trim days left in which to accomplish that, if it doesn't happen by tomorrow, so I don't feel bad at all about enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving feast brought by a couple Christmas angels!

181.2 Day 6 of 14 Diet Days

I weigh 181.2 now, so yesterday I lost .6 pounds. I am still sick and it is below freezing outside, so I did not walk my mile yesterday. Again I put in a few minutes here and there on our stair step exercise machine. I feel much better today, so I think tomorrow I will go outside once more.

The food holidays are coming up. For each holiday I have a planned cheat on my diet:

Thanksgiving we have plans to go to our new friend's mom's for dinner. That is good because we won't have any leftovers at our house to tempt me. I will be on keep trim eating, so my plan is just to have one dinner plate of food and then stop eating. I may leave a little empty space on my dinner plate if they have pumpkin or apple pie for dessert!

It's not Christmas for me without sugar cookies. Scott loves them as well and even enjoys making them. I will be on keep-trim eating and not on the weight-loss diet plan December 16 through December 29. My plan is to make cookies December 16 and limit myself to three a day, as desserts to diet meals. I will attend all the church potlucks and just stick to one dinner plate of food. My goal during this time is not to lose weight, but just to maintain, to not gain.

Here is what I ate yesterday and still managed to lose .6 pounds:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee
Diet Ham Salad, Diet Coke
2 hamburger patties, 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce, 2 cups steamed broccoli, caffeine-free diet soda

Day After Halloween

I am back to 186.4 today, a .6 gain on Halloween. This is OK with me, as this was a planned cheat on my diet during a keep trim eating period that started with me weighing 186.4. I have managed to keep off all the 50 pounds that I lost earlier in the year over one of the most challenging holidays, Halloween! We gave out all the candy last night over at a friend's house. I don't have any more at home to tempt me. Another friend posted on Facebook that she used the strategy of giving out candy she hates (so that it doesn't tempt her). Why didn't I think of that!

Halloween is just one tempting holiday based on food, though. I still have to keep this weight off over Thanksgiving, plus whatever weight I lose in the next dieting period from November 4 to November 17. It wouldn't be so tough if our holidays encompassed just one day. They encompass the entire month, though, typically, so far as all the tempting things people put out for foodies like me to eat.

I did not walk my mile yesterday. Here is all I ate and only gained .6 of a pound:

1 cup Special K, 1 cup soy milk, black unsweetened coffee (strawberries are on the shopping list)

1 cup carrots, 1/2 cup garlic / parmesan / spinach dip, Diet Coke

1 dinner plate of pizza, caffeine-free diet soda

6 fun size Halloween candy bars: 3 Twix, 2 Almond Joy and 1 Snickers

Happy Halloween

My weight today is 185.8, a .4 pound gain from yesterday. This is fine, though, as this is a keep trim eating period that started with me weighing 186.4. I walked my mile yesterday.

Now that I have lost more than 50 pounds, I have noticed lately that my ankles are no longer swollen. They swelled up about 10 years ago after I went jogging in bad shoes. The doctor said I had sprained both ankles and to take it easy on them. We moved soon after that and there was no way to take it easy on my ankles. They had been swollen until just recently, for 10 years. When I say I feel better and I am losing this weight for my health, not my looks, I really mean it.

I had lots of candy last evening while Scott and I watched "Pretty Woman" and "The Ugly Truth" on Lifetime: 4 fun size Twix and 1 .6 ounce Almond Joy. This was a planned cheat, so I feel no guilt. I enjoyed every bite.

Here is all else I ate yesterday. I ate mostly as if on the diet, to compensate for the Halloween candy I knew I would be eating that evening:

I had two breakfasts of 1 cup Special K and 1 cup soy milk, both with black unsweetened coffee. I ate a small snickerdoodle cookie at church coffee hour.

Lunch was a cup of raw carrot sticks dipped in half a cup of garlic / parmesan / spinach dip along with Diet Coke.

Dinner was half a dinner plate of pizza and a cup of steamed Brussels sprouts and broccoli along with caffeine-free diet soda.