March 1

February was a pretty non-eventful month for health and weight loss. I ended about where I began (actually down a couple of pounds) and the best I can say about it is that I managed not to gain any weight.

My exercise was pretty non-existent once I returned home from Mexico and I'm going to have to get back to doing something on a regular (if not daily) basis. There are 15 weeks until my 65th birthday. If I can manage a consistent loss of just over 2 lbs (1 kg) per week, I can be at 230 lbs by then. That's still obese on the BMI charts, but way better than the current 264 lbs of today.

sigh
The struggle is real.

John

Feb 16

It's halfway through February (a bit more) and I have been back home for five days. In those five days I have done absolutely nothing in the way of walking or exercising. It is just too dang cold to go outside most of the time and I haven't yet found the motivation to use my indoor stuff. That needs to change.

Diet has been okay. It is more challenging since there are more food options here at home than there were while staying with the kids. They had the option of walking to a store or a restaurant or having food delivered to them. We have a full refrigerator and pantry. There really isn't much in the way of junk food, but there is always something to eat. 
My weight has been steady at 265 for a couple of days. I need to get it moving downward again.

Maybe I'll get some treadmill or stationary cycle time in today.

John

Feb 12

Back home.
I don't know if it's the different scale, a heavy day, or a poor final week in Puerto Vallarta, but I was a little disappointed with today's weigh-in. 266 isn't bad, but neither is it good. The lack of progress needs to change and I'm concerned that being back in the cold will impede my daily exercise. I'm going to have to find a way to work through it.

John

Feb 6

Yesterday was a nothing burger when it came to the implant surgery. Other than not eating anything solid and taking care of my mouth it was pretty much like any other day. I walked both to and from the dentist's office and then walked to the pharmacy, so I managed to get 11,000 steps for the day.

Today will be another take it easy kind of day. I may take a beach walk. I'll be eating more yogurt, soup, and soft foods. That will continue for several days. 
Mostly I expect to spend my last few days just relaxing in the warm, tropical climate of PV.

John

Feb 4 (end of day)

I was slow getting started today, but wanted to have a good step day since I am not expecting to do much walking tomorrow. I have dental surgery scheduled for 9am and expect to be taking it easy for the rest of the day. I've got over 47,000 steps for the first 4 days of February and have a nine day streak of hitting my 7000 daily step goal. I may feel like taking an afternoon walk, but I'm not counting on it.

Also I may be on a liquid or soft food diet for a couple of days. That should be beneficial for weight loss.

Be well,
John

 

Feb 3

So I did a lot of walking yesterday.
I began with a short walk for coffee on my way to the Romantic Zone for brunch. I took the long way along the malecon so that I could enjoy the bay and perhaps see some whales. No whales yesterday, but it was a beautiful day. After lunch I had planned to Uber to the Costco that is less than a mile from the kids' place and then walk back from there after picking up a few things.
High season, Sunday afternoon, and high demand had pushed the Uber cost to much more than I wanted to pay, so I decided to walk back. With that and some additional afternoon/evening walking I found myself at 19,475 steps and 8.9 miles by around 10PM. So I went out to get the extra steps to push me over the 20K steps and 9 miles distance.

With weight, there are some days when you just weigh a little heavy. Such must have been the case when I first stepped on the scale at the kids' place. The last couple of days have been less and put me at close to -20 pounds for the two months since the beginning of December. It's not great, but it is also not bad. I'd like to step it up a little bit. The current pace will get me below the BMI obesity number by my 65th birthday in June, but it would be nice to be a little closer to 200 pounds and also be off the high BP meds by then.

I know that only a handful of people see this "daily diary" kind of post as I haven't been sharing it on my social media platforms. I also haven't been posting daily, but usually manage 4 or 5 times per week. I will probably continue to post this way with just a monthly update on social media platforms.

Be well,
John

Feb 1

Using the scale the kids have shows that I haven't lost any weight since being here in PV over the past two and a half weeks. Bummer.
Even so, I feel pretty good and have been much more active than I would have been at home. Overall, my eating habits have been better, but I have had more beer than I usually drink and I know that losing weight while drinking beer is difficult for me. 
I will pay more attention to the weight loss in the coming eleven days and hope to be down a few pounds before going home.

John

Jan 30

I haven't been keeping up with my daily diary as much as I should. Truthfully, I think keeping up daily will be more important when I get home than it is currently. Here, in Puerto Vallarta, it is easy to stay active and walk every day. It will take more of an effort when I get home.
I have managed more than my targeted steps for the past several days and I am getting started a little earlier in the day for the most part. Again, that will be more difficult back home and with colder mornings.

The diet part has also been easier. Here, I eat out for nearly all meals and there isn't much in the way of snack food (or food at all) at the kids' place. At home, there is always something to eat, even if it's just toast and peanut butter. I am going to need to be more disciplined.

Overall, I am pleased with how I have done this first month of the year. I have been regularly active and I have been much more aware of what I am consuming and doing a better job of eating healthy and eating less. I did find out that the kids have a bathroom scale in their room, so I may see what my weight is tomorrow morning. Obviously, there may be a slight difference in calibration from our home scale, but it should give me some idea of how things are going weight-wise. 

John 

Jan 27

Uh-oh
Two consecutive days of missing my daily step goal.
Okay, I'm not making a big deal of it and I probably should be. A change in our schedule meant I didn't get an expected walk in. I'll have to do better at making alternate plans. I got a little bit of an early walk this morning and am more hopeful of completing my goal for today.
 
My diet remains good and I am hopeful of seeing good numbers on the scale when I get back home. I think not snacking throughout the day or just day grazing is a good thing. I might need to do more about not having snacks or easy to grab foods readily available in the house when I get back. 
I have a doctor's appointment the day after I get back as a follow up visit to my blood pressure meds. I really hope to be off of them by summer. For now it's just a daily necessity.

John

Jan 25

Not only did I make my daily step goal yesterday, but I'm giving myself extra credit since most of the steps were in Guadalajara and at a mile high!

I did okay on the dieting and have been doing well today. 
I don't have all of my steps in for today, but I think I'll get them walking to and from Jenny's softball game this evening.

Life is good.
Be well,

John