Tag Archives: Progress Report

A Little Progress

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I’ve told you that we have changed our eating habits, trying to make sure we control our portions while actually enjoying our food while trying to lose the lard.

I also told you that my husband has essentially reached his weight goal. We are still watching his sugar like hawks, since he is Type II diabetic and I am trying to encourage him to exercise – something for which he just gives me a long, long look.

I just weighed and measured this morning, hoping for some progress. I’m delighted to report that both the scales and the tape measure were only smirking, rather than laughing at me! :0)

I am now down 42.4 pounds from my lardiest, and there are 42.95 inches less of me. I would like to lose another 30+- pounds.

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I haven’t just picked a number from a hat. It would be the middle of the BMI healthy range for my height. I also read an article that said, although the BMI charts may be ‘obsolete,’ your waist circumference is a good indication of your overall health. I would like to lose 3 more inches from my waist. (I’ve lost 9 so far).

My yard work, elliptical trainer, and yoga stretches are helping me get more flexible and improve my balance. I’m hoping to be able to report more progress at the end of the month.

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Progress Report 9-30-2020

“Caught Red-Pawed” – Audrius P. – Bored Panda

I have been trying to get as healthy as I can so that I can continue to do what I love for as long as possible. This means losing as much of my lard as I can and trying to move more.

Since my lardiest, I have lost 40 pounds and there is 34.7 inches less of me than there was at one time. My goal is to lose another 30 lbs. and to continue exercising. As we age, we tend to move more hesitantly. That might not be the best descriptive word, but it’s the one that comes to mind. The feet start to shuffle, the movements become more tentative, as if we’re testing the waters before diving in. I am hoping that my efforts on the elliptical trainer and my yoga stretches will delay that for several more years.

My husband and I are very happy with our new eating plan.  We ate “Pork, Black Beans, Brown Rice, and BBQ Sauce” from Stu’s Clean Cookin’ last night and it was YUMMY! Otherwise, I ate tuna fish salad and  green olives for lunch and some cottage cheese as a snack.  I’m drinking enough water to float a boat. (or at least it SEEMS that much…)

This seems to be working for us. My husband looks forward to his meals again (we were cringing for awhile with the prepared plans we were on). He is basically at his goal weight and is mainly trying to hold the line on sugar and hold the new weight. I can’t get him to exercise, but I will continue to ‘try to set a good example’ and hope he’ll want to do it, too. I can’t really talk very loudly since he was never as overweight as I and can still outlast me on stamina when we’re working on a project together.

I have set my goals for the next month, hoping to be able to report more progress to you at the end of October. In the meantime, I have finished a cup of coffee, so it’s time to replace my cup with a bottle of water…

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Poofy

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This poofy lady has lost pound # 8 via South Beach – (37 pounds via various methods since my heaviest). I still have more to lose before I hit ‘new territory’ on my weight loss efforts, but I feel that I am on a roll now. I don’t care how long it takes for me to lose it. I feel good that my scale numbers are going in the right direction now.

My measuring tape is showing positive signs, too, as there is less of me now – 40 inches less – than when I was at my lardiest.

 

 

 

 

 

I am going for gold stars # 13 and 14 today for the week – for my elliptical exercising and my yoga practice. I am feeling less like a fool that I ‘exercise for stars’ as if I were a little kid. There are lots of ways I haven’t really grown up, and if this works – RUN IT! :0)

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We are on Month #2 of South Beach. I will figure out on which days I will fix DIY dinners, lunches, breakfasts, and snacks (morning and afternoon) – 2 of each during the week.

Fingers crossed the progress continues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Can You Say, “P L A T E A U?”

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We have been on the Keto eating plan for about two weeks or so now.  I’m trying to stay at 20 carbs or below daily, not worrying as much about calorie counts now (though I still do aim at below 1200 calories per day. Due to our lightning hit and the loss of so many of our things, I’ve been spending most of my time trying to call for repairs, help my husband repair things, or ordering replacements, rather than doing my exercise plan.  I still was hoping for a bit of lost weight.

I am again on the plateau from Hell. I have my former sedentary lifestyle (though I still wouldn’t describe myself as ‘active’), and my age – 72 – against me, so I’m not expecting miracles. I am also trying a LOT of new recipes – all delicious – and tracking my eating and drinking on MyFitnessPal.com.  The website thinks that I ‘may not be eating enough,’ but the Keto book – Simply Keto by Suzanne Ryan – says ‘if you’re not hungry, don’t eat.’  If I DO get hungry, I’m trying to grab something low carb, or I’m eating raw veggies and dip, a hard-boiled egg, or pecans.

To date – since I got serious about trying to lose the lard – I’ve lost 43 pounds and 48.2 inches. 

That’s a good start, but I’m trying to lose another 30 to 35 pounds. This is to get into the healthy range on the BMI charts. (I could also get taller by about 5 inches, but that doesn’t seem to be happening, either.)

My husband has essentially given up sugar. We’re trying hard to keep his Type II diabetes under good control and forestall any further damage.  We both have also given up added salt (other than that called for in recipes), white flour, potatoes, rice, and pasta. My husband still eats ice cream, but we get the no sugar added variety.

We are enjoying the new recipes from the Simply Keto book immensely. I’m actually taking an interest in cooking (though I’ll never really ENJOY cooking) because each of the 4 recipes I’ve tried so far have been winners. No weird ingredients. No half-the-day laborious directions. I’m also enjoying using my spiralizer to make spaghetti from yellow squash and zucchini and sauteing them in olive oil. My husband even says he won’t balk at my substitution of one of these for spaghetti the next time we want spaghetti with meatballs!  Woo HOO! (Cauli-rice is still not a go with him, though spaghetti squash might be.)

My goal is to get us – and keep us – as healthy as we can be for our ages. Toting around extra lard strains your whole system. We really don’t need that. My husband won’t exercise, but he is moving around trying to fix things, working in the yard, etc. If we can get our electronics repaired or replaced and things calm down around here – I’ll try to get back to my new three-days-per-week program of yoga one day, the elliptical trainer one day, and either walking or dance video the third. I also want to add some work with weights two other days.

I’m HOPING that if I ‘hold-my-mouth-right’, and ‘keep on keepin’ on.’ the scale will start to give me more pleasing numbers and the measuring tape will smile at me one day.

I’ll report again at the end of next month – OR if I start doing really well – whichever comes first.

 

 

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Getting the Lard Off Results – as of March 2019

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I have a whole list of excuses, but – bottom line – I didn’t make much progress this month – except on finding some good, healthy recipes that we can eat on a regular basis.

To date – since my lardiest – I’ve lost 43 pounds and 44.2 inches. 

My goal is to lose another 30 pounds or so to get to the place where I can quit trying to get taller and my BMI chart is singing ‘hallelujah,’ – or at least, ‘you’ve come a long way, baby.’ Whatever inches that go with that will be much appreciated. I would love to get to the point where I don’t have to worry about ‘getting into’ clothes. I don’t really care what size it is. I would just like to be able to walk into a regular department or other clothes store and be confident that I can find my size and that the garment has a reasonable chance of fitting.

The biggest goal, though, is health. I’m newly determined – since the death of my brother this month – to do everything I can to improve my health as much as possible. That means a healthy weight and lots and lots of moving.

I’ve used lots of excuses re getting off my duff, too. I’m TRYING to do something different each day to keep getting my body’s attention. I’m already more active than usual, getting my veggie garden started and general working in the yard stuff.  But I use THAT as an excuse to forego my scheduled exercise. (I know, it’s pathetic, but there it is.)

I’m going to try to get started with getting on the elliptical trainer in the garage today. I’ll just worry about today for now.

Hopefully, when I report to you again at the end of April, I can say I’ve made some real progress.

All appendages crossed!

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Progress Report – Getting the Lard Off 11-15-2018

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Before I started NutriSystem, I lost 12.4 pounds trying to follow a low carb diet plan. Since I’ve been on NutriSystem, I’ve lost another 30.6 pounds. Total = 43 pounds.

 

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I’ve lost a total of 45.45 inches so far.

There are two big differences –

THING ONE –

At my last doctor appointment, my blood test showed significant improvement in my lipid profile. I was down in ALL the sections, where I had been way higher than desirable before.  I have had to go for blood tests and monitoring quarterly for as long as I can remember. She said to return in 6 MONTHS.

THING TWO –

My exercising is finally yielding ‘feel good’ results. I’ve finally settled on yoga and exercises one day and elliptical trainer the next. I’m giving myself a gold star on my desk calendar as I finish each day’s exercise. :0)   I was doing yoga yesterday. My husband apparently came in and sat down in his chair, watching me. When I finished, he told me how impressed he was with my efforts, particularly in increased flexibility and in my exercises for the abdominal area. To say that a compliment is rare is a vast understatement. It just doesn’t occur to him to say anything. I was grinning from ear to ear!

PLUS – Since I outdid him on sit-ups, and also did a bicycle type thing and some leg lifts, I think I may have spurred HIM on in HIS efforts!!!!

 

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I’m Making Progress

Progress Report:

  • Down 20.6 pounds
  • Down 20.4 inches

I made it through the 1st mile on the Annoying Leslie walking video today. My hips were talking to me, but not as badly as yesterday, and I didn’t have to walk in place a couple of times while the people on the video did the more challenging (kicks and knee lifts). I’m still having to force myself through it, holding my hips at times, but I’m getting there!

I won’t win any prizes for speed of weight loss, either, but I received my purple bear with “20” on it in the mailbox recently, and that’s 20 lbs gone so far, plus a happy, tangible reminder every day that I’m taking better care of myself.

My husband is 5 or 6 pounds from his weight goal now. If I weren’t addicted to him, I would slug him for making weight loss look so easy, while NOT drinking the water he’s supposed to be, NOT exercising, and just waiting for me to bring him his meals and snacks each day, along with making pulled pork for him, since Nutrisystem discontinued the item and teed him off.

We’re both still delighted that our blood test results were SO much better. There is a chance that my husband’s blood sugar number (A1C) will be NORMAL next time, and the doctor says he might be able to completely stop the blood sugar medicine in time. My lipid profile was the thing most improved this time, with each part dropping 60 to 90 points. My husband goes back in 3 months and I go back in 6 months. Here’s hoping our results will be even better!

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NutriSystem – 1st Month’s Progress Report

Today we have officially finished the 1st month of Nutrisystem.

I’m particularly pleased by my husband’s progress. He is disappointed that he hasn’t lost that much weight, but he doesn’t have NEAR as much to lose as I do. He’s lost about 4 lbs, but I can SEE a difference in his tummy (though he won’t let me measure or do it himself.) The biggest thing that makes me happy is the lowering of his blood sugar number. It was 117 this morning, the lowest since we’ve been monitoring. (I saw a ‘353’ in my records). Lower than 100 is considered normal, and he actually might achieve that!

He is particularly pleased by getting to eat a piece of fruit daily. We had both given that up entirely before and it’s really a treat to welcome fruit back into our diet. There are some really nice big oranges right now at Walmart and we share one each day. We also have some apples in the fridge, in case the oranges aren’t available, plus some blackberries for fruit on his flex breakfast for the week. He has found several of the cookie snacks really good, and he likes their oatmeal. He thinks the frozen orange dream type bars better than the ones we were eating before the diet!

My Nutrisystem progress to date is 9.2 lbs and 11.8 inches gone. (My total weight loss efforts since my ‘lardiest’ are 21.4 lbs and 26.2 inches.)

Lifestyle changes other than the Nutrisystem eating plan:

  1. I gave up added salt and am buying low sodium canned veggies now.
  2. Neither my husband nor I add any sugar or alternatives to anything.
  3. I am doing more real exercise –
    • elliptical trainer – at least 15 minutes,
    • yoga 30 minutes,
    • over-the-door shoulder pulley – 5 minutes,
    • weight exercise to stretch out shoulder muscles – 5 minutes.
  4.  I’m more aware of what a ‘serving’ is – basically not enough to stick in your eye. That said, I realize that my husband and I have each eaten for 8 to 10 at each meal and that hasn’t done our health any favors.
  5. We are both consciously eating more veggies (we usually have carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes and radishes with some salad dressing with our lunch and then a tossed salad (with lettuces and spinach from our own garden!) with our dinner.
  6. I’m getting more used to drinking the 64 oz of water each day. I drink a 16 oz bottle of water with each meal and sip at the last during the day. My body seems to be adjusting to it, too. I’m not having to run to the bathroom quite so much.

We were both really happy to finally eat our way through Order #1. We were both down to things we really didn’t care for, and so cheered when we finished the last of the first order and could dive into Order #2. It was funny, though, because our first lunch we each had “White Bean Chicken Chili.” We are wusses when it comes to hot, spicy stuff, and this was almost too hot for us to eat! I read the ingredients and found they had put jalapenos in it. We could get it down by having a veggie in our mouth and then adding a bit of the chili in there, too. The flavor was nice, other than the hot, but I went to the website and took that particular choice off of Order #3 for both of us… :0)

We feel that our first month on Nutrisystem has been successful. I enjoy planning the flex dinner we’ll eat each week. (We’ll have salmon and steamed broccoli this week.) My husband is learning to put his glasses on so that he can SEE the color coded choices in his bins in the pantry and the freezer. He is also learning to actually read the directions for nuking his food, rather than just winging it. I’m still spoiling him by bringing his snacks to him (like his 1/2 peeled orange and 2 oz of nuts mid-morning) but he’s learning to be a bit independent, otherwise.

On with Month # 2!

 

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