Slept so well in my own bed. The stye came to another head but this time most of the buildup must be gone, because it doesn't hurt, I can just see it in the mirror. 
 

moment of truth: scale said 240.4. OK, time to get serious! But we'll, I ate lunch with one aunt on Thursday and another aunt on Friday, and both insisted on giving me pie. Yum. Raspberry custard pie and peanutbutter pie. And I ate French fries on the way home! So way too much salt. Scale not as bad as I thought it would be. I tried to walk a lot while gone, and my step counts are good, but often I went too late so I brought home a bunvpch of welts from mosquito bites.

Now for the unpacking!

The new blood pressure monitor came from Amazon while I was gone, so I will start using it today.

Today's goals:

• eat oatmeal
• take blood pressure
• do breathing exercises
• do my knee exercises
• Walk at least 4000 steps (yikes, I just looked at the hourly forecast. I need to walk outside NOW or walk in the mall, because it is going to be too hot outside soon and then stay that way till past dark.)
• declutter something ( I've noticed that decluttering my space seems to spark losing weight as well, sort of a mindset to letting go.)

I discovered that my scales got moved a little. This alters the measurement. My bathroom floor is uneven so I have to place the scales just so and keep it there to get the best readings. So that explains part of why my weights lately have stayed higher, despite changes in diet. Eating more veggies.

I'm 248.6 for the 3rd day in a row but down 4.6 lbs. since last Sunday. But since Jan. 1st, I'm only down 0.04, so that's not saying much. Really hope to see a better weight between now and my birthday (Aug. 20th). I'm going to really push myself to be 240 or less by then.

Vicki, my birthday is Aug 31!

Do we all have August birthdays?? Mine is August 4!

Hi everyone. Just wanted to remind you all that I'm available to help if you need it. Finally reached my goal weight (down 55 lbs) so I do have the experience!

My birthday is not in August... but my half birthday is! When I was in high school, my boyfriend's birthday was August 16. Since mine is February 16, we decided that we each had our birthday on the other's half birthday.

Scott, thanks for offering! I'm about to start some free weight management coaching that comes from my health insurance. I signed up while I was home for the six days between my trips, but I told them I couldn't start till July 30 due to travel.

yesterday's goals:

• eat oatmeal - did not happen
• take blood pressure - I did this, higher than it should be
• do breathing exercises - did not happen
• do my knee exercises - did not happen
• Walk at least 4000 steps (yikes, I just looked at the hourly forecast. I need to walk outside NOW or walk in the mall, because it is going to be too hot outside soon and then stay that way till past dark.) - I did this at the mall, a great feeling I went from one end to the other and then back, without stopping, and the last time I walked in the mall I could not go from one end to the other without stopping, so though I sometimes feel I am making no progress with stamina, I clearly am!
• declutter something ( I've noticed that decluttering my space seems to spark losing weight as well, sort of a mindset to letting go.) - I sorted two big (think 13 gal trash bags) bags of fabric and batting that I was given while I was out of town, and put about half of it in a box for donation.

Great job, Scott! I have found what works for me :) 

Thanks for the offer though.

WTG Scott. Congrats on the weight loss. I'm sure everyone appreciates the offer of help but just a reminder we all have to find what works for us. No one diet plan works for everyone. If you want to share what worked for you, great.

Teri and Margaret, keep doing what you're doing. You'll get there. Heather, I'm glad you've found something that works for you and I know you're very close to reaching your goal. Good work.

I'm doing a lot of yo-yo-ing and not really getting anywhere. But I'm learning what my trigger foods are and know I need to keep them out of the apartment. It's going to be hard letting go of certain ones because they've been staples for many years but they aren't going to be here anymore. And I know I still eat way too much of the high sodium foods and that's going to stop as well, starting the 14th. I have to eat what's in the apt. now, but next shopping day I'll be making some big changes to my food choices. I do know what works for me as long as I follow it. I just have to do it.

Jacci, hope to see you posting again soon.

We can all reach our goals. We just have to want it bad enough to do the work to get us there. I know we can do it.

Summertime makes weight loss more challenging for me, between the sweet corn, melons, and cook outs. But like any other time of the year, I think portion control has always been key to my success or failure.  I am determined to not only keep off the 50 pounds I've already lost but progress, one pound at a time, to my eventual goal of another 50 pounds. I appreciate the encouragement you all offer me! 

Teri, I know you can do it. To be completely honest, I need to lose 100 lbs myself to get into what's considered a healthy weight for someone that's 5'- 6.1/2" tall. I would be thrilled to manage that, but for me it's most likely not going to happen. I feel if I can get down to 198 lbs. then I can determine if I have it in me to lose even more. If I can get down to 198 lbs., that will be a total of 74 lbs lost since 2016. I've been lower than that (got down to 212 lbs. right after Bob died), but that was under extreme grief where I stopped eating completely. Once I started back eating I quickly regained the weight plus added back more. I think if I can actually manage to get down to the 198 lbs by changing my eating habits and sticking with it, then I'll have reason to be proud of myself. And as long as I don't go back over the 200 lbs. I'll be really pleased with myself. I'm setting the goal for anywhere between 180-198 lbs.

Oddly, after Sue passed in 2018, I put ON weight, almost 30 pound's in a year's time, from seeking comfort in food, reaching my top weight of 250. It took me 3 years to lose 50 pounds. I know this doesn't work for everyone, but food journaling with CarbManager.com has kept me from losing sight of how much I've eaten in a day as well as helping me plan ahead. Plus I step on the scales every morning, which I remember does not work for everyone here.    

I'm only 5'2".

Another change I've made in my life, especially since I retired in 2019, is avoiding fast food and/or buying snacks while out and about in town. Every time I go to town, I take note of every place I used to stop and buy a snack. No wonder I gained weight. Going to town is like navigating a mine field!!

Teri, grief hits each person differently. I'm sorry you've had that kind of personal loss.

I rarely get fast food anymore. When I do it's usually a subway tuna sub or else an Arby's Reuben or beef n cheddar. But lately I haven't been able to afford those.

Monday.  I got some bad news today. I accessed my last blood test results, and instead of improved kidney function, it has decreased. I'm still stage 3 but not far from stage 4! So it means no more screwing around thinking I can eat things like bacon, cookies, salt, and so on. Yes I did drink more water but I can see how I've been deluding myself. I am going to try the DASH diet, which was actually suggested by my nephrologist months ago. Just because I lost 50 pounds doesn't mean I have all the answers. This was a wake up call. Really, I knew that I shouldn't be eating as much bacon as I have been but I just stuck my head in the sand and hoped everything would be okay. Its not! The DASH diet contains many foods I previously cut out because of carbs but I think the key will be portion control. Anyone here ever tried the DASH diet?

Tuesday. I took about 10 packages of bacon out of the upstairs freezer and put them in the basement chest freezer.  I removed packages of cookies and Lindt truffles from the basement freezer and threw them in the trash. An expensive lesson. I got out of control and its easy to see why my kidney function declined. I'm going shopping after my haircut today for healthier dietary choices.

Teri, I'm so sorry to hear about your test results. I hope by changing your diet more it'll help. The DASH diet is a good one. I've read up on it but haven't actually done it. Keep me updated on how you're doing.

Thanks, Vicki. Today while shopping it hit me that I had been buying chips, cookies, regular soda, deli olives because I consciously walked past these things. I think I'll do better now that I'm aware.

The other major change I'm making is cutting down meat portions. The diet information I found says a meat portion should be 3-4 ounces. I always ate twice that. I bought several packages of ground turkey that I will break up into 3 ounce portions before I freeze it.

You can do it Teri.

Teri, I'm very proud of you for making the necessary changes. That is a hard first step.

For me, I find the first week or so is always very hard because the body is physically adapting to the new way and it fights back while it's getting used to the fewer calories and the new foods. The body has been trained to *think* it needs the usual foods and calorie amount, but in time the body adapts. The first week that I was making dietary changes I woke up at like 2:00am one night and ate a piece of pizza. I think I remember in week three there was a late night bowl of cereal once. But, then my body stopped panicking and adapted. Since then, my body has accepted it's ok to be hungry in the middle of the night. 

One thing I've been fascinated by in these past few months is how much food the body does not need, especially in middle age. I used to eat so much unnecessary amounts of food.

Tracking my food in app, like you mentioned, was also immensely helpful to determine what foods are better choices and how much. It was truly eye opening, for me.

Heather, you are right that we don't need as much food the older we get.  Its a truth that is hard to "swallow" because food tastes so good! So maybe this is where I cultivate quality over quantity.

My grocery store sells a kind of cherry tomato that is out of this world and the price reflects it. These are Sugar Bomb Cherry Tomatoes and Just like the name suggests they are sweet. They are $5 each small package. My rationalization for this purchase is that I eat every one, none are lost to spoilage. Often cherry tomatoes are too astringent for me. These Sugar Bombs are "the bomb"!

I bought some lean sweet italian turkey sausage links in an effort to get away from ground beef or steak. I save time by grilling all of these links at one shot. I pack one link per baggie and freeze in a big container. I just pull out one link at a time! This is handy in case I can't cook that night.

Teri, I am sorry you had that kind of wake up call, but you are responding well! I may need to try some of your strategies, for the lower salt.

i am focusing on blood pressure now, not weight.

it was too high in the doctor's office, and so she is having me come in again 8/22.

in the meantime, I got a new blood pressure reader that is supposed to be a new improved thing. At first I was kind of hoping it was not calibrated correctly!

The first reading was 7/27, 148/84, plugged in. But I had to use my daughter's phone cord, which was not ideal. Seemed odd, because for me it is usually the diastolic that is more out of whack. 
The next time I used it with batteries and got 160/83 on July 29, and I knew I had had too much salt the day before.

But July 30 with batteries I got 163/89, and this was concerning to have a reading like this twice in a row, so not just a fluke. Note that I had stopped taking beet pills around 7/25 because I ran out. So I went out and bought some and had some and used my RespErate machine and upped my dose of lisinopril from 20 mg to 30 mg based on doctor directions since I turned in those readings to MyChart,.

Today I used my new extension cord because the batteries were used up already and I got 146/74, and who knows which of the measures I took were effective or whether it was simply the switch from batteries to plugged in! 
 

Or.. the two lower ratings were early afternoon and the higher ones were in the mid morning.

So it's all a big mystery and I'll try to have healthier habits. It's so hard to fix this symptomless problem. I can tell when I gain weight, but I have no idea when my BP goes high, unless I make the effort to get the reading, which takes time to do correctly since you have to sit still for several minutes before starting the machine. And do it not too soon after eating, or exercising, etc.

Vicki, you are correct in stating that the same diet plan will not work for everyone. Each needs to be tailored to the individuals needs. However, a calorifc deficit will work for everyone. It's something I learned early on in school (BS in dietetics) that has worked for every one of my clients (and myself).

Scott I agree you need to eat less calories and move more, but not everyone needs the same amount of calories and those that are unable to do a lot of exercising then doesn't need as many calories as someone that works out regularly. Most of us in here are seniors and have health issues that limit the exercising we do so we have to cut back on calories to compensate or else we just get fatter.

Please join me in the August chat room. The July room is closed.