Weight Loss After & Before, Plus Final Thoughts

Weight Loss After & Before, Plus Final Thoughts

 

An After and Before photo comparison, which was a bit more difficult than I'd realized. Not until I scrolled back through my phone photos did I realize how few full body photos there were of me, because I had spent some years unconsciously hiding from the camera. So I had to back five years to find these, which I think were taken when I was in the mid 130's, about 20-25 pounds heavier than I weigh now.

In hindsight, do I think the last six months were worth the effort? Yes, absolutely I do. More than how I might now look to others, is how I feel. I have carried around a load of body self consciousness since I was 17 years old, weighing about 120 pounds, and my dad offered to buy me a new outfit if I lost 10 pounds.

And thus the seeds of a lifetime of self loathing about my physical shape began. I've gone in and out of dieting pretty much my entire adult life. At this point, I am finished dieting for the most part, but maintenance will not exactly be a walk in the park. I still need to make a daily calorie plan, and I still need to make sure my head is in the game. However, if my head is aligned, staying with my daily plan is decently easy at this point. My brain appears to have become accustomed to consuming less calories over the course of the day. It's only if I walk into a food venue or event without a plan that I struggle, so I make it a point to not let that happen. I now always have a game plan, plus I always carry a small packet of almonds in the event I deplete unexpectedly.

So here is what I hope to be the final record of my completed weight loss journey.

AFTER

BEFORE

Thank you for bearing with me while I documented my journey here. The public sharing of my weight loss efforts helped tremendously - I really wanted to earn a 'Gold star' each week by posting a lower number than the week before!

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Questions about my weight loss journey? Feel free to ask me anything!

Five New Goals - August

Five New Goals - August

There are areas in my life where I can tell that either I've become stuck, or have allowed poor habits to develop. So, similar to my recent efforts to quit sugar and lose 15 pounds, I'm now setting some new goals to try and move my personal needle in a more positive direction.

Here are the five goals I've set for August, with the intention that the first two become regular habits by month end:

1.  Thirty minutes of nonfiction reading in the morning, as I drink my wake up coffee. I read lots of fiction, but other than memoirs, I avoid non fiction for the most part. And yet, I've accumulated a number of interesting nonfiction books (all free) that I have yet to read, which has been tugging at me. Morning is a good time for me to focus on what are often detail-dense reads. So my nonfiction reading goal for this month is The Pioneers by historian David McCullough.

2.  Incorporate walking with stops into the gym to do weight training. Our new gym membership has two locations, one of which is just down the road from our home. And yet, I've continued to struggle to utilize the weight room in spite of finding it very welcoming, because I love moving outdoors so much more than indoors. However, I simply have to get in and do weight training and stop my excuses. What I came up with is a compromise - I'll continue to do the bulk of my cardio outdoors, however I will stop in two times weekly, while still out on foot, as part of my return route back to the house. By incorporating the gym stop into my walking route, I avoid the excuse/permission I give myself upon reaching the house, that I'm now too tired to go out again and do weights. 

3.  Grill and eat dinner outside here at home at least one night each week. Our warmer evening weather has finally arrived, and I don't want to waste the opportunity to enjoy grilling and dining outdoors here at the house while we can.

4.  Make Happy Hour dates with two couples - one new to us, and one that just returned from a multi-month trip. This is one of the ways we've developed our current circle of friends. I do a mental scan of who we haven't seen for a bit, or who we've recently met and want to continue to build a friendship with, and make a point to reach out via text or phone with a Happy Hour invite. Both August couple 'dates' will include invites for dessert and card playing back at our place afterwards, which is an easy way to entertain at this point in our lives, and that we find others appear to appreciate as well. We seem to have all gotten increasingly food-fussy in our aging years, so meeting for Happy Hour at a restaurant allows everyone to easily and affordably have exactly what they want to eat. The entertaining afterward at our place is likewise easy - I love to bake, and I love to entertain, plus we have a well stocked wine fridge.

5.  Purchase a new summer sun dress. I'm not sure why I haven't done this yet, in that I was actually looking forward to going shopping, post recent weight loss.

For those of you from other parts of the country, it might seem like I'm late out the gate with this, however, our warmer weather really did just arrive, and should now be with us into October.

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How about you? Any new goals to share for August you care to share?

Weekend Wrap Up - The Perfect Pace

Weekend Wrap Up - The Perfect Pace

We did a good job this weekend in pacing out our activities, so I'm feeling refreshed this morning, rather than exhausted, which is a nice change of pace. I don't expect it to last, but it is a nice feeling for now.

Friday - This was housecleaning morning, and in that I'm on the early schedule, with my wonderful husband-wife team arriving at 7AM, we got a likewise early start to our day by heading down to the harbor as soon as they arrived. We sat in our car for the first hour, while we sipped coffee and read our iPhones. Once sufficiently awake, we enjoyed a five mile walk. And really, I mean it - we very much enjoyed it. The air was cool, there was a nice breeze, and tons and tons of dogs were being walked by their owners. While I don't have any plans to get a dog in the foreseeable future, I do so enjoy seeing, petting, and crooning to any that might cross our path.

 

We returned home from our walk in time for lunch at the house, and then I read until it was time to head up to shower and get ready for our easy evening out. This was really the first warm-ish evening we've had so far this summer, and our summer tradition if we don't already have plans, is to take our dinner, including Happy Hour fixings, over to the harbor point to enjoy being outdoors while watching the boaters, paddlers, jet skiers, and assorted marine life. It was just a lovely, lovely evening, and as simple as our outing was, I think we both came home feeling really relaxed and yet refreshed.

And I slept like a log.

Saturday - Did a seven and 1/2 mile walk to and along the beach from the house, as I continue to add mileage in preparation for the upcoming hiking trip I'm doing with a girlfriend in just about four weeks. I felt much, much stronger at the conclusion of today's walk compared to just a week ago, so I'm very pleased about that. Our longest hike on the trip is eight miles, so I'm really not that stressed, but still, I want to go in feeling very strong and capable.

I did some light chores at home, plus a good amount of reading, then went into the kitchen to prepare an easy dinner of curry vegetable pot pie (still working through my Pop Pie Co stash), green beans and watermelon. We had tickets to an early evening performance of Bye Bye Birdie, which we then headed off to.

So, Bye Bye Birdie, sigh. The performers were a delight, and a lot of the music was familiar, which was nice in that I'd never seen either the play previously, nor the box office movie starring Ann-Margret. But I was a taken aback by the number of sexist and racist bits of dialogue that were in the play. I mean, sure, I get that it was an earlier time, but JFC, does that mean that all sensitivity was out the window then as well?  So definitely a one-and-done for us.

(I looked up the play's current reviews once we got home, and yep, critiques about the play's sexism and racism, along with ageism, abound.)

Sunday - On Repeat again - I was up bright and early to reserve our park concert spot by laying out blankets and chairs, plus extra blankets for two additional couples that would be joining us. 

Later, after attending our Sunday services, we had lunch back home and then walked to the concert, which we much enjoy in that its a relatively flat walk, and temps were in the 70's. We could tell by the number of cars parked along the road as we walked, that it was going to be a packed concert. Which, per the photo below it was!  

The dancing area, which is in front of the seating area,
was likewise packed!

I don't want to go overboard here, but the concert, two separate bands, was awesome. People danced, beach balls abounded, bubble machines blew, and yes, marijuana wafted in the air, but the energy was absolutely fantastic. All those concerts I missed attending in my youth because I married young, and then raised my family, I am making up for now. My fellow dancing and singing attendees are the attendees of my youth I never got to enjoy, just with gray hair. 😄

It was soooo great. Afterward, we went to a brewery for dinner and beer with our friends. We had so much fun together. All the efforts I put out when we first moved here eight years ago have paid off in spades. Our lives are rich with friends, and I am more thankful than I can express. 

Today, Monday - 

Woke up early to put dinner in the crock pot (Tarragon Chicken with Mushrooms), then I'm leaving shortly for a 10 mile walk/hike (bits of both terrain) in Newport Coast with the girlfriend I'm doing my Canada hike and kayak trip with. We'll be enjoying some Ruby's Shake Shack (if you know, you know 🙂 ) when we finish, and I'm looking forward to that as well. Afterward I'm sure I'll need a good nap!

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Inquiring minds want to know - how was your weekend???

Weekend Wrap Up - I'm Tired!

Weekend Wrap Up - I'm Tired!

I sometimes wonder if there will come a time in my life when I'm comfortable just 'being' and not 'doing,' which is not something I do well currently. Once upon a time my dad said to me, "You and I have a hard time just being still." This, from a man who still goes on multi-state motorcycle rides and overnight kayaking trips at close to 90 years of age. 

Yeah, pretty sure there's no hope for either of us, so here we go again . . . 

Friday - Enjoyed an on-my-own 8 mile fast paced walk as I now start to implement a training schedule for my upcoming organized hiking and kayaking trip in the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Focusing on increasing mileage for now, with hills added once I'm comfortably at 10 miles of walking and hiking distance. 

Once back home from the walk I showered and took a nap (I was wiped!). Read this book for a bit, checked out from the library of course, which I'm thoroughly enjoying  (this is my first Anthony Horowitz read) -

- then my spouse and I got a little dressed up and headed to our membership winery for complimentary glasses of wine plus a flatbread pizza to share. We do this twice a month, generally on Friday nights, at a cost to us of about $25 a visit, since the wine is gratis per our membership. 

I did the math on this once, and the cost of our annual fees divided by the number of bottles we take home and the complimentary glasses of wine we receive at the winery comes to about $5 a glass. The wine is excellent (award winning, actually), so we are very good with the current annual membership cost. And the setting alongside water is so enjoyable, plus cozy and friendly - lots of spontaneous talking ensues. It definitely feels like 'our place,' which is really nice.

Saturday - Met my beach walking group in the AM for a 6.5 mile walk. So enjoy this weekly date on my calendar, today electing to walk to the starting point from my home in order to add a little extra mileage.

Home for a quick cleanup and lunch, then my spouse and I left to attend a matinee live theater performance of The Sound Of Music, which exceeded all of our expectations. Having only seen the movie previously, but multiple times, I wasn't sure how 'exciting' seeing it as a live musical production would be - but the theater company knocked it out of the park - it was amazing! I don't know where the director located his talented cast from, but they were absolutely outstanding, each and every one. And the set direction was likewise clever and extremely well done. My spouse and I kept turning to each other and saying, "This is sooo good!!!"

So, so good. 

We'd originally planned to go out to dinner afterward, but I switched around our dinner plans when I realized I'd forgotten we were also going out to eat two times next (now this) week due to already scheduled midweek commitments, so instead I started a halved half rack of pork ribs (so a 1/4 rack) in the slow cooker in the AM, which along with a baked sweet potato and green beans, is what we had for dinner.

Sunday - On Repeat for now - I was up bright and early to reserve our park concert spot by laying out blankets and chairs. Afterward I did some yard work, and got dinner started in the slow cooker, a new-to-us Pork Chile Verde recipe that smelled good even before I started it on Low cook setting, yeah.

We walked to the concert, always enjoyable, and the concert, a country music band, was outstanding. I loved that so many of the attendees this weekend came in cowboy and cowgirl gear, and wished I'd thought to do so as well! The event started with a short line dancing lesson - so fun! - and then the concert kicked off. The band had a female fiddler, and she was fab-u-lous! (She's on the far right in the photo below.)

Today, Monday - 

I'm leaving shortly for a six mile walk, then home to do some light chores before getting dressed up for our annual attendance at Laguna Beach's Pageant of the Masters. This year we're taking my mom for her first time, starting with dinner at an Asian-fusion place we love, where she'll also be trying sushi for the first time. In that the restaurant's sushi is delicious, and we have second row seats at the Pageant, currently entering its 93rd year, I think she's going to have a wonderful evening out, as are we. It wouldn't feel like summer here without attending this event, which is how we used to feel about the Hollywood Bowl summer fireworks shows when we lived on the other side of L.A. from where we do now. The Hollywood Bowl is much to hard to get to from where we live now, so the Pageant has taken its place as our annual summer tradition.

A quick note: The intention of this blog is primarily to keep me focused on living as big as possible for whatever time and energy I/we have left. It's meant to incentivize me to keep on keeping on. Plus, I do deeply love a good value, so there's that here as well!

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Inquiring minds want to know - how was your weekend???

Weekly Weigh In & Movement - I Did It!

Weekly Weigh In & Movement - I Did It!

Goal Weight:  115  112

July 25 Weigh In:  112.8

Weight Lost Last Week:  2.4 pounds

Weight Left To Lose:  Done!

I am now done with this effort, and yes, it was an effort and then some. At 112 and change, I'm now actually back to my Junior High School weight, which I find crazy, and which I promise, was not my goal! My goal was based on the BMI calculator I used, where I decided to aim for the lower end of the Healthy BMI weight range for my height. I wanted to see how I might look and feel if I could get there. Plot spoiler - I like both how it looks and feels a whole lot!

Weekly Mileage/Movement

• Fri- 4 mile walk
• Sat- 6 mile walk
• Sun-   2 mile walk + Lots of dancing!
• Mon - 7 mile kayak
• Tue- None
• Wed- 7 miles
• Thur - 5 miles
• TOTAL FOR WEEK: 31 miles
• TOTAL TO DATE FOR JULY:  75 miles

Some of the views I enjoyed this week as I walked, hiked, and kayaked:

No Sugar and Less Food Efforts

The No Sugar effort has been dealt with for now. I've avoided sweets for over five months, and as long as I remember to keep saying 'No' I should be fine. I do have the occasional desire to enjoy a sweet treat, but so far have been able to stop myself by remembering how hard it was to initially quit them - I really don't want to go through that again.  Those first few weeks were awful! So continuing to skip the sweets at this point is easy compared to getting off of them in the first place.

Plus, I have to imagine that getting off sweets had a lot to do with me finally being able to shed some 15 pounds after years of trying and failing. Even on days when I over-indulge, it's still significantly less calories overall than when I'd over-indulge, but still reach for the sweets in the evening hours.

This recent effort to lose weight was HARD, HARD, HARD. At this stage of my life, the Mayo Clinic website gives someone my age, height, weight, and gender, only 1400 daily calories for maintenance, meaning just 900 for weight loss if I wished to lose an average of a pound a week (3500 calories, equal to a pound of weight, divided by seven days, equals 500 less calories a day). So, it took me time to get used to those lower calorie amounts, and time to figure out how to best arrange them over the course of my day. 

I will say, one thing that helped me a lot was knowing that if I avoided eating in the evening, and went to bed somewhat hungry, the scale would likely reward me in the morning. And a lower number on the scale in the morning, even if only slight, was enough incentive to get me through another day of mild starvation. LOL, OK, I jest  . . . but, not really!!!

I'm highly active, mileage wise, because I genuinely love it, and because it makes me feel so wonderful, both during and afterward. I'll keep on keeping on with my activities because they give me so much joy, and because I feel so calm and serene afterward. Going forward, instead of helping me to lose weight a little more quickly, the 'banked' activity calories should instead allow me to go equally above my 1400 maintenance amount without gaining weight, which will be nice. Particularly on the weekends, when the majority of our dining out occurs.

So that is the reality. My journey to thinner-ness was hard, and will continue to be hard. The upside is that I feel uber-comfortable in my skin for the first time in my life, I very much enjoy putting on my clothes, including my myriad pairs of yoga pants (ubiquitous here in OC), and I get almost daily affirmations from other women my age, which feels wonderful. So wonderful that I am now making a significant effort to do the same for other women that I encounter.

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Guys, I laughed along with the rest of America when I saw this clip many years ago. But you know what? I'm not laughing anymore!

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Questions about my weight loss journey? Feel free to ask me anything!

Weekend Wrap Up - Just Us Again

Weekend Wrap Up - Just Us Again

It was nice to step back into our retired grown up lives this past weekend, after two weekends in a row of high energy activities with our young granddaughters. I'm sure I'll be missing them madly in a very short time, but for the moment I am enjoying the slightly slower pace! 

Speaking of which - we've already floated the idea of taking everyone on an Alaskan cruise next summer. We so enjoy spending time with the girls, but boy is it helpful when the activities are being run by someone other than the Bana and the Nana - our energy just can't keep up with theirs! - and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines does a wonderful job with this. We took everyone on a family cruise two years ago, and I do think that every one of us had a really terrific time.

Friday - Did the usual circuit of four markets in the AM; Aldi, Trader Joe's, and then two supermarkets solely to take advantage of some of their advertised loss leader items:

• Whole seedless watermelon for 49 cents a pound
• Kind Bars for 88 cents each (I bought 20)
• Top Round Steak marked down to $6.37 for 1 & 1/2 pounds, which I cut up into three 1/2 pound sections for future stir fry meals. (I use tons of vegetables, and just small quantities of beef.)
• Large container of fresh blueberries for $5.
• A pound of fresh deli ham, half smoked, half honey baked, for $5.

Reheated leftovers for a combined breakfast/lunch. Did a four mile walk, then home to clean up for a short visit with my cancer stricken girlfriend and her husband, the first time she'd felt up to company since January, so it was really wonderful to be able to see her and spend a little time together. After leaving the two of them, we drove over to our membership winery.  Our two glasses of wine were complimentary, which we enjoyed with a shared flatbread pizza. All in, we spent less than $20, enjoying this view while we sipped and ate-

Saturday - Met my beach walking group in the AM, followed by a group coffee chat. I love starting my Saturday's this way when we're not traveling!

Home to do some laundry and remake beds before getting cleaned up for a Murder Mystery Dinner event being held in one of our adjacent towns. It was a lot of fun, but considerably more work than I'd expected. We had to work in groups to try and identify the murderer - I thought we'd just eat and enjoy watching the faux-murder performance play out, including the eventual identification of the murderer!

Sunday - I was up bright and early to again reserve our park concert spot by laying out blankets and chairs. I left my car parked nice and close to the event, and walked home instead of driving since we live so close to concert area, and it's a really pleasant walk.

Left for spiritual services after returning home, then home for lunch before we left on foot for the concert, where we'd also saved space for some friends we'd bumped into on Friday night at our membership winery. It was fun to hang out together in the dance area (our friends favorite spot), and in front of the stage near the band (my favorite spot). Actually, the concert, primarily 70's and early 80's music, was an insane blast. There were lots of people socializing and dancing, and a large group of young 20-somethings happily singing, dancing, drinking, and rolling & smoking joints, which completely cracked me up. It was like seeing myself in a time tunnel back in the 1970's. 

Personally, I drank only water, and did my best to avoid the considerable second hand joint smoke. But I very much enjoyed watching a new generation discover the music of my youth.

Home afterwards for an easy dinner of chili that I had pulled earlier from the freezer. We ate it while watching 60 Minutes live, the first TV we've watched in two weeks - we were simply to distracted to do so while our family was visiting.

Today, Monday - 

I'm leaving shortly to meet my girlfriend for our once-a-month kayaking date. We pack lunches and pull out halfway to eat on the sand, then walk to get coffee, which we enjoy in our kayaks on the return trip - the covered coffee cups hold nicely as we paddle. 

I started dinner in the crock pot already, so it should be an easy evening once I return home. 

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Inquiring minds want to know - how was your weekend???

Weekly Weigh In & Movement (July 18)

 Weekly Weigh In & Movement (July 18)

Goal Weight:  115  112  (Revised slightly downward)

July 18 Weigh In:  115.2

Weight Lost Last Week:  2.4 pounds 

Weight Left To Lose:  3.2 pounds

I was off of my normal schedule this week, due to the granddaughters being here, and then my husband and I flying them home and visiting there for a couple of days before returning home yesterday.

I worked hard to stay on my plan this week, modifying where I needed to at my daughter's. If they cooked a big meal, I skipped meals pre and post, and same the one night we ate out, so my calorie count looked good on paper. But, still, I wasn't sure until I got back home and weighed myself.

While we were in Tennessee, we visited with the wonderful Laura of The Occasional Nomads, and her charming husband Brett. This is our second meet up with them in Tennessee, and I feel so fortunate to have had an opportunity to meet her in real life not once, but two times. We talked nonstop, just like the first time we got together.

Weekly Mileage/Movement

• Fri- 6 mile walk
• Sat- 2 mile walk
• Sun- 3 mile walk
• Mon - None (Airport day)
• Tue- 5 miles
• Wed- 2 miles
• Thur - None (Airport day)
• TOTAL FOR WEEK: 18 miles
• TOTAL FOR JULY:  44 miles

No Sugar and Less Food Efforts

Not much to report this week due to so many family distractions. I did stick with my plan, I did avoid sugar, I did get in as many miles as I could.

I look forward to achieving my goal in the next few weeks. I'm ready to add a few more calories back into my day. Although I've become accustomed to eating less, I am very much looking forward to upping my daily calories by some 400-500, which should be the sweet spot for maintaining my new weight, vs continuing to lose more.

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If you are likewise on a quest to improve some aspect of your dietary or fitness life, please feel free to share here. The more we can work to support and encourage each other the better!