Finishing Strong in 2010

Finally finally finally things are beginning to turn around for me.  I hope so much to at least end 2010 where I started...204.  I had been so sure that I would be at my goal long before this so it's been a difficult year.  But this week my faithfulness is beginning to pay off.  I'm doing one week without sugary treats.  Saturday I have two (yes, two) Christmas Teas to attend.  This will test my integrity and will power to the nth.

Time to change the title

This has been a disappointing year in my weight loss journey....up, down, up, down, maintain, up, up, up, down...etc.

I am in a challenge that will start on November 29, 2010 to lose 10 lbs. in 10 weeks. I have such doubts because I haven't even been able to lose 10 pounds in 48 weeks. And it isn't for lack of trying. I've exercised 5-6 days per week for most of the year. Vacation times were a bit of a problem. I'm not sure what else I can add to my program to get my body to release some weight. I'm still considered obese and that is not good.

Here's to getting past the holidays and start losing again.

I am tired of being a....

person who talks too much. Yep, that is what I was told. I talk too much and about unimportant things. I don't like silence. In the car I want talk radio on. At home I want the TV on or the radio. When in a group of people I'm very uncomfortable if no one is talking so I talk. I don't feel like it is a bad thing, but evidently I say stupid things...things that don't need to be said. I don't even know what I said that is wrong. To me it is just making conversation, but to others it is overbearing, and embarrassing. How do I change myself? I'm 62 and so I think it just might be too late for me.

fat person. I've regained 10 pounds and I wonder if it is worth the effort to lose it again, and again, and again, and again. It's too much and right now I cannot deal with it. I CANNOT DEAL WITH IT!

person with only a few friends. I miss having lots of friends. But maybe I didn't really have friends. Maybe I just thought I did.

person whose nephews hate me. What did I do to them besides speak? I'm so hurt by being hated when I have so much love in me. I guess what I said in the first paragraph applies here.

person who everyone thinks is happy.

A New Goal

The thought of having to lose another 30 pounds to get to 170 has been overwhelming. Considering that it has taken me almost 7 months to get about 5 pounds off...I'd be working to get to the goal for about 5 years! So my goal as of now is to get to 185. At that point (which will probably be in 2011) I can decide if I can or want to go lower.

Getting thin has been good and bad. Sometimes I'm very depressed over my weight and I don't really like feeling that way. So onward to continued calorie counting and exercise.

Holding the course

Why did the weight come off so quickly when I started this journey in Oct. 2008? Although I didn't make my goal for 2009 of losing 52 pounds I still had a fairly steady weight loss over the year. But 2010 has been different. On January 1 I weighed 204.4 but the days after my mother passed away I zoomed back up to 211.4. Fortunately in one week I had shed 4.8 pounds of that.

Now it is the middle of July almost and I weighed 201.6 this morning. Good grief! That is only 2.8 pounds in 6.5 months. I have become an exercise maniac, generally doing 1 to 1.5 hours. I generally log my food eaten on calorieking.com although I'm not perfect on that front. I wanted to be 195 by Dec. 31, 2009. Didn't happen! Now I had hoped to be 190 by the time we go on our cruise August 13 and I'm seeing that dream slip, slip, slip away. I at least have not gained any weight back so I'm thankful for that. I'm eating right most of the time. I exercise 5-6 times per week (unless traveling). I honestly don't know what else to do. I'm 62 and maybe that is part of the problem.

Finally losing again

Six months later than hoped I have finally gone under 200. This morning I was 198.2. In January I joined Club 24, a local gym in Hermiston, OR. Since then I have faithfully worked out, both on the treadmill and cycle as well as using a guided program on the weight machines.

Since joining the weight did not fall off immediately but I have gained muscle and muscle burns calories. By sticking to my calorie counting and the exercise results are now beginning to show.

Now this doesn't mean that I won't every get discouraged again, but I know without a doubt that I can lose this weight. Only about 20 pounds to go.

TWO HUNDRED

For some people weighing 200 would be catastrophic! But for me...it is wonderful. In 2009 I hoped to lose 52 lbs. in 52 weeks but I fell short of that goal. I am thankful for the amount of weight I did lose.

On January 1st I weighed 204.4. On January 2 my mother passed away. On January 4 and the days following family members began arriving. There were more meals eaten in restaurants. After the funeral dinner the relatives brought several pizzas into the house. I was not strong enough to "just say no." On January 2 I weighed 206 and on January 11 I had zoomed up to 211. It took me a couple of weeks to recover from the gain and the I hovered in the 204s for weeks.

I had high hopes of weighing 195 by December 31, 2009 and now almost 4 months later I have finally reached 200.

Losing weight is a full-time job. I count calories. I exercise AT LEAST 6 days a week at a gym, or walking, or with an exercise DVD.

So today is a milestone. I hope by April 30 to weigh 199.8.

February 1, 2010

One month into the new year and I have not done so well. On January 2 my mother passed away and although that was mildly stressful I was holding my own diet wise until all the family arrived and I fixed big meals, and the kids brought in pizza, etc. We ate out for Mexican food twice. I did not make good choices.

I started the year at 204.4, spiked up to 211.4 on January 11, and ended the month at 204.6. So I show a net gain of .2 pounds for the month.

The past few days have had some frustration in my life with issues here at home and I have handled it with food, unfortunately. So I am starting February at 205.8. I desperately want to be 200 by the end of this short month.

I have joined a gym where I am working out 6 days out of the week and so when I blow it by eating wrong things (like french fries yesterday) I get very frustrated with myself for basically wasting a week's worth of working out. So today I am back on track with logging my food on www.calorieking.com and I'll soon be leaving the house to head to the gym.

One year ago today I weighed 244.4 so today I weigh 38.6 pounds less than I did a year ago and 55.2 pounds less than when I started on calorieking.

January 1, 2010

Here I am with the size 22 jeans I could easily wear just over a year ago.
January 1, 2010

Size 20 shorts--going into the trash today.

Today I weigh 43 pounds less than a year ago.

January 1, 2009

This is my "Biggest Loser" pose. The size 22 jeans, then me in my size 16 pants.