I’ve been gritching to my sister-in-law about the scales not being impressed with my efforts to lose my lard.
She made what I think might be a good suggestion – she said maybe a change of focus, to measuring tape, rather than scales, would help keep me on track.
I had already planned to measure at the end of the month, so I’ll focus on that as I do my daily yoga practice and my three days a week exercises with weights. I’ll continue with my present eating, watching my portions and continuing with my 3 bottles of water a day and see what happens.
I’m being a very good girl. I’m eating my raw veggies with a bit of dressing as my mid afternoon snack after taking my husband a bagel loaded with French Onion cream cheese and Chives.
I did my two sessions of exercises with weights yesterday and yoga, and will do my longer session of just yoga today. As I type, I’m drinking my second bottle of water. Since my eyeballs are floating with all the water, maybe I am just retaining water, though I’m definitely moving more, running to the bathroom particularly after the second bottle…
I’m much more motivated when the scales are looking impressed, but that hasn’t happened in several days. I’m determined to build good habits here, though, so I keep on keepin’ on.
I FINALLY got back to the 30-pounds-off-since-my-heaviest mark this morning! HOORAY!! Thanks again to Maria, who suggested in her blog – FlowingWatersArt.wordpress.com that big goals should be broken down into more doable chunks. I haven’t met my “doable chunk” goals for the three weeks I’ve been trying, but my motivation is high, and that’s the more important thing right now.
I’m building good habits – watching my portions, eating healthy snacks, drinking THREE to FOUR 17.9 oz bottles of water each day (my eyeballs are floating as I run to the bathroom), exercising, etc.
I’m doing yoga stretches and abdominal exercises every day.
This week I started exercising with 5-pound weights- Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I do a pretty short session – enough so my arms are definitely feeling it, but I’m not incapacitated on doing my normal activities. Monday and Wednesday I did two short sessions with the weights during the day plus my yoga.
Yesterday I found a 3-minute video on the net. The lady was using 3-pound weights, so I switched to those and exercised along with her. She was doing different things than I was doing with the 5-pound weights. My arms felt pretty ‘used’ when I finished, but this is a good addition to what I’ve started to do. I plan to do a session with the 5-pound weights and another with the 3-pound weights with the nice lady MWF next week.
I feel good that I’m taking one day at a time, making short-term goals that seem more achievable, am moving and exercising more.
Short term goals are –
Work to try to lose 2 lbs in the coming week
Check off my exercises each day (giving myself gold stars :o) )
Drink 3 to 4 bottles of water daily
Work toward the idea of earning “Bear with ’40’ on his chest” in the near future.
Realize that I’m working to lose the lard and get stronger – that ANY progress toward that goal is a victory and should be celebrated.
I found more motivation for my efforts to lose my lard and get stronger from an unlikely source: Eve Dallas (NYC murder cop in the future) speaking to a young musician who had turned the corner on trying to stay straight from his drug and alcohol addiction – Dark in Death – J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts).
She said, “You know, it’s a long street after that corner’s turned. I hope you stay on it.” And the musician answered, “One step, every day, the rest of my life. I like street. I like who I am when I’m walking it.”
I’m feeling that way right now.
The weight is still clinging, down a bit one day, up a bit another, but I’m trying to concentrate on eating healthy, portion control, healthy snacks, drinking lots more water (up to THREE 17 oz bottles a day now) and exercising daily. I’m doing half an hour to 45 minutes of yoga stretches with abdominal exercises every day and then working with dumbbells (5 lbs) three times a week. Since my arms get tired pretty fast, I made it through my sets yesterday, then did some other things, then came back and did another session.. That seemed to work well. I can tell I worked my arms yesterday, but I’m not SORE.
I’m pleased that I’m TRYING to get stronger each day, that I’m trying to control my eating.
“One step, every day, the rest of my life. I like street. I like who I am when I’m walking it.”
This was a classic book when I was a child. It’s all about striving – trying to reach a goal. The little engine kept striving, all the while saying, “I THINK I can, I THINK I can…” finally reaching the top of the hill due to never giving up and his fierce determination.
I’m ‘thinking I can’ now, on DAY 5 of my new regimen of eating right, raw veggies and a bit of dip for an afternoon snack, a bottle of water, and yoga each afternoon in an effort to lose my lard. I lost a bit yesterday, so that’s encouraging.
I also FEEL a bit better due to the yoga. Some of the positions are getting a bit easier. I’m able to slowly stretch a bit more. Some things will take some time. WHEN I make it to Monday of next week – with my daily yoga practice – I’m planning to add some work with dumbbells to my yoga practice Mon, Wed, and Fri.
Today is DAY 4 of my new motivation to lose my lard and increase my flexibility and stamina.
I’m feeling good about things, even though I didn’t shed any weight yesterday. I will ‘keep on keepin’ on,’ one day at a time, looking at each one as a day to maybe lose a bit and work on getting stronger.
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I’m doing my yoga-snack-water thing each afternoon. I have some sore stomach muscles in particular, a sign that my body recognizes a change. That’s GOOD. I’m finding it easier to get out of my chair, get my yoga mat and get started. Once I finish, I get my husband his bagel with cream cheese, chives, and onion, and I get MY snack of some raw veggies and a bit of dip, plus a bottle of water.
My husband, of course, isn’t even trying to lose weight at this point, or exercise, but is ahead of me on weight loss. I’m trying to be adult enough to realize that each person is different, that men seem to lose weight more easily than woman, and hitting him in the mouth won’t solve my problems. :0)
I have my desk calendar set up to get my stars for doing what I should today, and it makes me smile when I earn them.
I am feeling more in control of my habits and I’m pleased I’m doing some good things for my health.
I accomplished my goal of losing 2 lbs. last week. I am almost to my goal of reaching the 30-pounds-off-from-my-heaviest weight landmark. I am happy that I’m making some progress toward my goal of losing my lard and getting as strong and flexible as I can.
I did my second yoga practice yesterday. My husband was encouraging, though he has no appreciation for how stiff, sore, and inflexible this old lady can get. He asked me if I were having an easier time of it. I had to tell him that SOME of the positions were a bit better, but some were more difficult, because I hadn’t been practicing as I should – that it would probably be at least Sunday of THIS week before I felt much difference. He is encouraging me – as HE stretches out for a nap in his chair – :0) – and that is good motivation, too.
I feel calm, happy that I am now on the way to being healthier, am practicing good eating habits and exercising. One day at a time. Baby steps – in the right direction.
Thanks to a post by Maria of FlowingWatersArtBlog I’m feeling some new motivation on my weight loss goal. (Her good advice applies to any difficult goal, but I took it to heart since I’ve been having such mixed results.
I’ve set a goal for myself as to how much I would like to lose. I have an appointment with our primary doctor for a checkup in November, and I would like to be seeing some significant results by then. I have broken the goal up now into weeks, and it looks doable, even if I run into a plateau or two. I have used my desk calendar to remind myself what I’m trying to do and to hold myself accountable.
In the past, I had the amount of lard I wanted to shed, but no specific time frame, and no real plan for accountability. It was too easy to slide – one of my greatest skills. Breaking the goal up, I can SEE my plan is actually DOABLE, so I’ve planned things out on a weekly basis.
To this end, I made some changes that I initiated yesterday –
I’m drinking a bottle of water every afternoon to make sure I’m staying hydrated.
I’ve changed my afternoon snack to some raw veggies with a bit of dip. (If I start curling my lip at that, I’m not ‘hungry’, just looking for trouble)
I did a session of yoga yesterday afternoon. I was stiff, but I went though my routine slowly, doing the best I could. This will improve as I practice, and then I have some other poses I would like to add.
After doing yoga each day for the next week, I will add some other exercises, such as ones with some weights, aiming for twice a week to start.
Since I have never grown up, I’m still motivated by gold stars. Each day I will record my weight on my desk calendar, then give myself a star for a) doing my yoga, b) drinking my bottle of water, and c) eating my healthy snack.
Now that I’ve started and have a doable plan with guideposts and a deadline, I’m newly motivated. Thanks, Maria.
Maria wrote me recently to encourage me about my efforts to lose my lard, suggesting that I read her blog post the next day.
When I read it, I was re-motivated to follow her suggestions of handling goals, making the goals reality. You might find it interesting and motivational, too. FlowingWatersArtBlog
My husband, who paid no attention whatsoever to what he ate – including a bagel slathered with French Onion and Chives Cream Cheese – lost a full pound. Arrgh!
I finally had a bit of success on losing the lard. I’m almost back to 30 pounds down since my heaviest now – hoping to hit that officially in the next day or so. I’m learning once again how much easier it is to put it ON, rather than taking it OFF.
Yesterday I was moving most of the day. I was in the shop working on the refurb of our Box Turtle Yard art piece. It was hot in there, but I had a fan. I was up and down, pulling and hauling. After resting a bit, I weed whacked, doing two sessions that I had to stop when the weed eater started to smoke! My husband will look at that today to see if it is salvageable. Anyhow, it was a lot of work out in the hot, so I guess that helped finally shed a bit more of the lard.
Today I’m going to put the refurbed box turtle back where he lives in the yard, take pics to show you, start work on another piece, use the leaf blower to clean up the two sidewalks and garage pad, and then cut up lots of veggies for the “kielbasa and veggies” cookout for tonight.
My trying to lose the lard is sometimes like trying to swim though peanut butter – excruciatingly slow and a LOT of work.
I was really good yesterday, eating only HALF of the chicken ‘thingers’ is ordered at Lunch Bunch. I brought the other half home for another meal. I drank lots of water, kept moving a lot of the day, ate some raw veggies with a small amount of dip as a snack to tide me over until dinner.
The end result is .2 lb down. hooray. It’s definitely better than when the scale shows I’m hanging onto weight or even gaining, but no confetti is being tossed.
I’m going to just keep on keepin’ on, keeping all appendages crossed.
We stopped the orgy of strawberries and ice cream, but wanted to celebrate our 52nd anniversary by sharing a seafood platter at one of our favorite local restaurants, The Dari, last night. Today I’m up a pound. UGH.
I can TELL myself that I’ll only celebrate a 52nd wedding anniversary once, but THEN I find myself celebrating the end of Daylight Savings Time, and Belly Laugh Day and, and……
Weight loss comes from your mind. Your conscious decision to control what goes into your mouth EACH time, EVERY time. That doesn’t mean I’ve decided not to celebrate important milestones anymore, but it DOES mean I’m going to TRY not to use holidays and special occasions as an excuse to start another binge.
I am practicing a number of things, trying to get the lard off.
For several years now I have tried to get taller. I figure that if I grew several inches, I wouldn’t have to be so concerned about my weight. As it is, even though my wonderful massage therapist has TRIED to help once a month by pulling on my appendages and head, it isn’t working. So the concern remains.
I fast between dinner the night before and lunch the next day
I eat very careful lunches and dinners. My husband and I fix the meals together so we can ‘watch’ each other and encourage each other. We eat a lot of healthy individual frozen food dinners from Real Food and Stu’s Clean Cookin’ in Greenwood.
I’m trying to move more and – if I eat between meals at all – I try to snack carefully.
My biggest problem times are about 4 in the afternoon and in the middle of the night if I’m having trouble sleeping.
We eat lunch at noon. We eat dinner around 7pm. Around 4 I am hungry. I’m really trying to have healthy snacks on hand and eat one of them carefully. In the middle of the night, all bets are off.
So, overall I’m losing some of the lard, albeit V-E-R-Y slowly. I yoyo a bit because of any extra eating I do. As long as the general trend is downward, I’m trying not to beat myself up too much about lapses.
Actually, I am feeling pretty good today. I’m teed off, though because my husband was nice enough to suggest that we have lunch out before we came home from our errands yesterday. We had a nice lunch with fun conversation and great food – and the result was I GAINED ALMOST A FULL POUND. :0(
Ever since I have gained “full maturity” (read I’m older than dirt) I not only have to WATCH everything I eat, it’s like I’m throwing LEAD into my body. I wish I had inherited my dad’s metabolism. He was 6’2″ tall and ate everything in sight. He would eat a huge mound of spaghetti with garlic toast on the side, for example, and still lose weight. The most he ever weighed was 165.
I’m really trying to eat less and move more. With a sloth’s metabolism, however, it’s more and more of a challenge.
My husband said he was really hungry for food from the grill and wanted to cook steak, hamburger, and kielbasa dinners. Friday night we grilled 3 steaks.
Since I’m really trying hard to lose some of my lard, we agreed to cut one of the steaks in half for our meal Friday. I also ate half a baked potato. Last night after working in the yard most of the day, we simply heated up one of the steaks and the remaining baked potato. We cut each in half. I’m cutting the third in half and freezing it for another dinner later.
Tonight we’re grilling hamburgers. I’ll eat a hamburger with a bun. I know I shouldn’t eat the bread, but I’m really looking forward to biting into a real burger, and will enjoy every bite. I will eat lighter for lunch and won’t have any snacks in-between.
I was a bit worried about a long weekend holiday killing my diet progress, but so far, halfway into the holiday, I’m still doing okay. Since Monday, May 17th I have lost 5-1/2 pounds. I’m still re-losing weight, but I’m down 28 lbs since my heaviest at this point. No pats on the head yet, but I’m going in the right direction.
I am FINALLY making a bit of progress on my efforts to lose the lard. My new goal is to try to lose 2.5 lbs each week. That should be doable. I am concentrating on eating controlled portions and not snacking in-between, drinking lots of water and staying active, moving as much as possible.
I was working a lot outside, trying to get my veggie garden going, so I haven’t been ‘exercising’ as I should. I will try now to get back into my yoga practice.
I’ll plan to bring you a ‘progress’ report or two. Fingers crossed.
This morning my husband and I ate breakfast at one of our favorite restaurants in Greenwood, The Dari. We did this (1) to celebrate a stellar report from the dental hygienist for both of us, and (2) we always have breakfast out when we have to get blood tests at the clinic for a doctor appointment.
So my diet is pretty much blown for the day. We are having a portion controlled frozen dinner of tortilla crusted fish this evening, so maybe that will make up for the truly delicious, rare breakfast with all the fixings. I have to say that my emotions are like a yo-yo lately. I go from being really serious and sticking to my diet, to thinking I’m getting older and the world seems to be going to Hell in a hand basket so I might as well enjoy one of my last meals. Until I can get my ‘yo-yo-ness’ under control, I foresee very slow, if any, weight loss for me. :0(
I’m trying to get into the mood to get and plant some flowers in our deck planters. We will probably go to the local nursery tomorrow after Lunch Bunch to see if we can find some wave petunias and periwinkles. We’ve checked a couple of other places, but can’t find them. I hope our luck is better at the nursery.
We are about to start more monsoon weather. It’s a lovely, sunny day today, and we’re supposed to have another nice day tomorrow. I couldn’t believe the weather website, though. Starting Saturday, we’re supposed to have rain EVERY day from then, through the following Saturday, AND through the following Thursday. (Saturday, the 17th through Thursday, May 27th.) REALLY. I need to get out tomorrow and harvest more veggies.
My appetite won’t quit. I’m an emotional eater, and the stress level has remained pretty high around here, so I guess I can use that as an excuse.
I also have another excuse (see how creative I am?) – my husband has been working in our shop several afternoons lately, and I somehow convince myself that eating doesn’t count if he is not here to see it. Yeah. I know. Pathetic.
I have talked to myself – quite a lot during the pandemic – and I am TRYING to get back on track in my efforts to lose the lard.
One day at a time. I will eat lunch around noon and then take one green tea extract capsule. I will start drinking the bottles of water I’m supposed to be drinking – rather than coffee – and I will try to stay busy during the afternoon (when I’m most apt to indulge).
So far, so good on my garden veggies. We are due for rain this evening-into THURSDAY, with some possibly severe, so fingers are crossed again.
This is the whole garden, except for the two brick planters of tomato plants on the other side of the house and yard.
As you can see here, the zucchini and yellow crookneck squash didn’t like the recent freezes. I’m hoping that the main plants are healthy and that they will put on more leaves now that we have supposedly passed the danger of freezes and frosts.
The spinach is happy.
Buttercrunch LettuceThis is cabbage. I’ve never grown it before so I have no clue what I’m doing. I’m like a little kid watching a magic show. Nook TomatoesAs you can see, these tomatoes need to be weeded.
All appendages are crossed that all my sweet veggies make it through until Thursday afternoon, when the rains are supposed to be over for a bit.
All this activity of going through everything in our office and living room, moving things off the floor and out of furniture and taking it elsewhere for the laying of new carpet and flooring soon has increased my hunger. I feel I could eat the wall, giving a bit of cheese on it or some honey mustard.
I ordered some green tea extract and received it today. I’m supposed to take one capsule a day. I read a lot of reviews and decided that I would try it, hoping for some increased ability to NOT snack between meals, or to be able to choose HEALTHY snacks that will coordinate with my efforts to eat less.
This is me in a nutshell and my basic attitude toward the world.
I particularly felt this way this morning, when my scales greeted me with a big raspberry because SOMEHOW I gaine 1-1/2 lbs yesterday. I wasn’t aware that I ate lead, but apparently that is the case.
I have decided to ignore it, since I ate a normal lunch and will eat a normal dinner. I’m HOPING that I’m just retaining water and find it gone tomorrow….
A. A. Milne – E.H. Shepard – Winnie the Pooh – DreamsQuote
Last night I gave into our desire for comfort food, since our weather has been gray, cool, and rainy lately and made hamburger patties and macaroni and cheese. It hit just the right note with my husband, and he declared the meal ‘delicious’ several times.
Mostly we are trying to watch what we eat in an effort to lose our lard, get as healthy as we can, and be able to continue doing most of what we would like to do. We have found two places locally who are offering REAL FOOD and STU’S CLEAN COOKIN’ – individual frozen dinners with few ingredients – all of which you can pronounce and understand – with measured portions that are GOOD for us. We feel as it we have found a treasure trove.
Particularly when the weather is good, I like to spend a lot of time outside – working in our veggie garden, gathering harvests of lettuce, spinach, radishes, yellow squash, zucchini, broccoli, onions, and tomatoes each time I can for us to enjoy right from the garden. Much of the time I am helping with the lawn or weeding my flower beds, so it’s nice to have veggies from the garden and a good-for-us delicious dinner that only has to be nuked to be ready to eat.
As soon as I finish here, I’m planning to go out and take pics to share with you, hopefully harvest my first gathering of veggies, plus get things ready to cover the plants for some possible freezes this week.
I hope that you are well and happy this morning, and that your Sunday is a nice one.
I got up this morning, as ready for the day as I ever am, and found that I gained a pound.
My head tells me that it’s probably retained water, but the REST of me is down.
I’m trying really hard to eat less and move more. I’ve been working in the yard each day and doing LOTS more than I sometimes do. If I eat a snack, I try to make it a healthy one, like cottage cheese, raw veggies and dip, etc. I DO eat a no-sugar-added low calorie ice cream bar by Sweet Freedom at night.
It SEEMS that if I’m eating carefully and moving MORE, the scale should be showing some improvement.
I have been really active (for an old lady) lately. This has resulted in a combination of exhaustion, aching back, and hunger. I’m trying to slowly drink a full bottle of water and then wait awhile, hoping the hunger will pass until the proper time. If that doesn’t work, I’m trying to eat a combination of raw veggies and dip.
If I keep this up, hopefully, I can build a new habit. “If wishes were fishes….”
Since I’m not having much success with not eating between meals, I’m trying to gather some things that will be better to snack on than others.
I cut up celery and radishes yesterday. I have baby carrots and some cherry tomatoes. I can make a pretty, colorful, healthy snack for myself now to enjoy with a bit of dip.
My husband and I usually have something before bed. I know we shouldn’t do that, but I feel really deprived if he is eating and I’m not. I got some Sweet Freedom No-Sugar-Added Ice Cream Bars that are doing the trick.
My eyeballs are floating from all the water I’m drinking each day, and I’m adding to that since I’m working outside now.
I’m hoping that I can report some progress soon. :0)
creativeartworksblog 