Weighty Issues

Vacations are fun but fattening.  Eating a meal a day in restaurants always puts weight on no matter how careful I am.  Also I walked less on most days and missed my gym workouts. I feel like I gained 5 lbs after 5 days in CA.   I will know on the first of Dec. My job of sitting at a computer doesn't exactly help with weight loss either, but I am going to go for a walk now before it gets too cold again.

Well, I guess I haven't been here for a while!   I am currently at a new low weight. I was working two jobs for so long that I had no time to do anything.   I retired in June from teaching and hope to have time.  However,  I spend 3 days at the gym and 1 hour walking on the rest of the days. I also have 2 part-time jobs. I stay away from refined flour, sugar and weigh and measure everything that I eat.  Coupled with moderate exercise, my weight loss is on target. Good Luck to everyone trying to manage weight issues.

I have been reading "The 4 Day Diet" by Ian K. Smith, MD and I really like his supportive approach. His meal plans are similar to what I have been doing, but with several variations to avoid boredom and break plateaus. I am hovering at a new low weight - but keep bouncing up a pound so I hope to focus on eating the right foods. I became aware of Dr. Smith from watching Celebrity Fit Club - something I wouldn't do on my own, but my husband loves to record reality shows and we quickly run through them. I was curious to see what his diet is and so far I like it and have cleaned up my act a little. Although, I did take a break already - after about two weeks! Nobody is perfect -- especially me. Working two jobs and trying to maintain several websites certainly keeps me a little too busy. Last week was my last day until fall for my teaching job at the community college. -- and 17 more days until summer vacation from teaching.

It is beautiful today! The school year is winding down and I am looking forward to summer. On Sunday, I became a grandmother and I am dying to go see my grandson, Brady. He lives far away in California. I'll be there in July. I found out that I haven't been exercising as much as I used to and my weight loss has stalled again. Hopefully this nice weather will inspire me to go out walking more.

Well my weight crept down a little this month. I've been working too much and exercising too little. I plan to walk this morning. I've been working on my website. Check out Celtics, Bruins and Blue Man Group tickets in Boston at http://ticketsproducer.com/ Take care!

I finished my latest course of PT and now am scheduling Tue/Thurs/Fri to be my gym/pool days. It feels great everytime I actually complete my exercises. My weight loss has stalled again. I probably have been eating too many meals in restaurants again. Although I try to be very careful and usually eat half in the restaurant and bring half home, it seems still to be too many calories and definitely too much sodium for me. Although it snowed yesterday, it is sunny now and should warm up a bit. I have a site to sell tickets for all Boston Area events. Check it out ! http://ticketsproducer.com/

I've been busy with two jobs this fall, but figured I should enter something before I get caught up with work again. My 6 month check-up with my doctor was great. I am down 5 lbs and the thinnest he has seen me. All my numbers are good! However, the weather hasn't been good for exercising, but I did make it to the pool and the gym a couple of times over Xmas vacation. I started some physical therapy for my knees and now I have some knee pain again! During the holidays it can be slightly more difficult to eat less, but luckily or unluckily we couldn't spend much time partying. I guess it is good for weight loss. Ciao from the white north!

It seems that I have been doing something right. I have lost about 4 pounds this month! That is the most I have lost in a long time. The only thing that I have been doing differently is that I have been doing pool-therapy twice a week for my arthritis. Unfortunately, now that I am back to work, I may only be able to go once a week. I will do my best to try to go twice a week. Of course, I still try to walk 2-3 miles 3 to 4 times a week. I will be working a second job part-time, so that will be challenging for my food plan and exercise plan. I have been trying to get organized, but I am not there yet. Hope to hear from you.

Today I feel great! My last pool therapy appointment is on Friday and the therapy seems to be doing wonders. I was able to walk today without any pain. My weight also seems to be down 2 pounds (although that has happened several times over the past couple of months only to go up 2 pounds afterwards.) However, just feeling better helps me want to continue losing weight. The challenge, as always, is to keep doing the exercises even when I go back to work. I have several websites to improve in addition to teaching. I also have created a website for my classes, but have no content yet. I guess I need to get a move on.

I haven't posted here for a while, but I did guest post on Broad in Buffalo's blog. Here it is: http://necessarymutilation.com/2009/08/11/bravo-to-the-broad/

Today, so far I have walked 2 1/2 miles, read my daily meditation, called my sponsor and made cranberry walnut oatmeal for breakfast and planned out my food for the day.(SERF) It is 79 degrees now, so I wanted to get my exercise in before it was too hot for me. I do hope to get a little housework done today.(We'll see!!) Yesterday was a pretty good day also, I walked 3.3 miles, went to Barnes and Nobles with hubby and went to my OA meeting. At night we watched two movies - "Get Out Your Handkerchief" and "Burn After Reading". The first was a French film which has totally different sensibilities -- although it did make me laugh. The second was a rather dark comedy - I am always on the fence about that type of comedy.

Yesterday we visited with long-lost stepdaughters. It was so great to see them and hope to keep in touch now. It is so wonderful to see them all grown and doing well after seeing them during some tough teenage years. We ate out which can be challenging, but I ordered grilled fish, rice and veggies and brought half of it home for supper. They grilled the fish without oil or butter and it was good. I did keep my calories under 1200, but will try to stay under 1000 today. I also walked 2 miles yesterday and 2 miles so far today. The weather has been beautiful for walking and I am taking full advantage of it.

I walked 3 miles so far today and I took another big step. I called a personal trainer that I know. I used to be in a boot camp class that she ran that was great. That class is no longer available to me, so I finally contacted her. She will set up something for me next week.  I know that strength training is very important and my inconsistent attempts are not helping enough. She is very good at motivating me and understands my limitations (osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis). Just making the phone call helps my motivation. I'm hoping by bumping up my activity and strength training that my weight will move a down a little more. Of course it also means that I can't overeat to compensate for extra activity!!!   Yesterday I really wanted to make some monkey bread, but I resisted the urge. The calories must be unbelievable! I know this is boring - but it's not like thousands of people are hanging on my every word - my food for today: Scrambled eggs (...

I am spending the morning somewhat frustrated. I read a question at ObesityHelp where the person was wondering why they were not losing weight faster. They had read about another person who was exercising excessively and eating about 400 calories per day which seemed to be dangerous. This person was walking every day. These questions don't seem to be any different than those I ask myself. I used to weight 280 lbs. When I first went on a lower calories/ healthier diet I lost about 50 lbs pretty quickly. Since then I have been slowly losing, with some bumps of regaining a little weight. The problem with people following other people is that the information just isn't accurate enough. We don't take into consideration age, activity level, medications, height, body type, etc. I know that I bristle every time someone tells me that I am eating more than I think I do, because I am pretty fastidious about weighing, measuring and keeping track of what I eat, but I am still not...

The sun has been shining for 3 days now. I have been out walking every day. It feels great. I have walked 2 1/2 miles and hope to walk another mile or so later. Nothing much else happening.

Well, Tuesday I returned to cool and rainy Massachusetts from hot and sunny Florida. It was tough to leave Fl -- not because of the weather -- I don't like it over 85 degrees, but because I miss my daughter. I hate the fact that I have to travel 1200 miles to see her. It was also tough to only see my son and his wife for 2 days and know that I will have to travel to California to see them. Now that I am old and decrepit traveling by plane isn't fun. I have too much stuff to carry and although the security checks are pretty quick now, it is still a pain. In fact, one security person chided me because I didn't realize that I hadn't pushed my bag fully on to the conveyor belt. Gimme a break! I also got a little confused when I picked up my rental car. I had to stop and talk to an attendant after getting in the car and I couldn't find the button to open the window. I looked at the door and everywhere on the dash -- but no button. Then I saw this funny looking b...

I definitely am excited about summer vacation. Today I start giving exams, so teaching is officially over! I also feel good about my weight loss. I seem to be down another pound, so I have lost about 77 lbs from my highest weight.  I walked 3 miles yesterday, but it is raining today so I probably will only walk about 2 miles. This morning when I put cinnamon in my oatmeal, I dumped about 1/2 the bottle of cinnamon into the oatmeal.   So my new breakfast is oatmeal flavored cinnamon -- I hope I like it! Every so often I re-read The Rice Diet Solution. This is really one of my favorite diet books. I found that doing a very low sodium diet does help with the weight-loss. So what if it is water weight-- it certainly is weight! I got up really early today, like a kid excited for Christmas, so I need to get to work.

Although I've talked about calories, I don't recall that I've mentioned the specifics of what I eat. A typical day starts out with 2 eggs or 4 egg whites, 1 oz of oatmeal (measured dry and cooked according to directions) and 6 oz of fruit(orange or banana or 1/2 cup of applesauce). (315 calories)  For lunch I have 3 oz of lean protein usually chicken or turkey, 8 oz of raw veggies such as carrots, celery, cucumber , radishes and lettuce, and another 6 oz of fruit. Usually an apple. (280 calories) Midafternoon I also have 8 oz of non-fat milk. (80 cal)   For supper I eat 3 oz of lean protein, (occasionally I have 1 oz of nuts), 6 oz of a cooked vegetable such as broccoli, green beans or carrots, and a 6 oz salad with a tablespoon of dressing that doesn't exceed 14 grams of fat. (300 calories) The only times I deviate from these measurements and probably fat content is when I eat at a restaurant. I try to eat out rarely, and usually eat half of the portions. Also, I...

I started a post the other day but never finished. So I'm here again. My weight is back down again. I think that the new dose of Byetta is actually having an effect. Because I have diabetes, weight loss is very difficult. When I was at my high weight of 276 lbs, I chose not to look into gastric bypass surgery, but instead started increasing my exercise and reducing my food intake. I was successful for several years. From 1998 to 2007 I lost 70 lbs and have been maintaining that weight loss for the past two years. I have been unable to lose significantly more weight on 1200 calories. Since I have been on the 10 mcg of Byetta, I have been able to stay close to 1000 calories per day and am down two more lbs. I am really hopeful, that now I will continue to lose more weight. I average walking two miles a day, and should increase it back up to 3 to 4 miles a day. This year the snow and ice combined with my klutzyness caused me to fall a couple of times and really hamper my ex...

As usual the vacation has flown by. I spent all week working with my husband on our bookmarkitunes site. It was fun. However, I didn't exercise much. So my weight is still the same. I am hoping for a change next week. Waiting for warmer weather to be able to get out and walk more. I think I walked twice last week. When I am at work I walk about 2 miles without trying.