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

Jan 24

It's been a good few days. Good walks and step totals and mostly good eating. 

Step totals may take a bit of a hit in the next couple of days as we head to Guadalajara to watch a baseball game. I may still get them in. I'll just have to see how it goes. 

I don't know if I'm losing any weight or not, but I feel good. I've been drinking more beer than I usually do and I know that tends to make weight loss more difficult for me. I guess I'll see when I get home in a couple of weeks.

John

Jan 20

Hmmm...
I don't know how I have missed posting for the past few days. I've been doing a good job of getting my steps in every day.  I don't know if it's going to happen today, but I'm okay with that. I picked up a package of mixed candy bars and M&Ms the other day. Definitely not the best idea for the diet part of healthy living. Other than the sweets, though, I've been doing fairly well.

I'll need to get back on the walking tomorrow.

John

Jan 17

A good day today.
I took a nice long walk and ate well. 

Maybe I'll do some beach sitting tomorrow. Maybe not.
I really did enjoy walking along the Malecon today and feeling the energy of the ocean. I think the water must be pretty cool. Nobody was getting in more than walking along the edge and letting the waves lap at their ankles. I'm sure the Pacific La Nina plays a part in that cold surface water.

It's only 8:30 and I'm a little short of 10,000 steps for the day, so I'll probably take a short stroll tonight to top that mark. Not much else to report.

John

Jan 16

It's a morning post today. Yesterday was a good day. I am going to need to be more purposeful about walking in the coming days. I got some good walking in, but could have (should have) done a little more. It is different walking here with the uneven road surfaces and irregular sidewalks. I do love the warmer temps, even with the humidity.

I am continuing to do well with the diet and hope that I will continue to drop pounds throughout my stay here in PV. Aaron will be here today, but will be leaving for the weekend in the morning.

Be well,
John

Jan 15

After a couple of crazy days I think I'm back to posting every day. I don't have a weigh-in today because I'm not at home and won't be for a few weeks. My Jan 14th weight was 268. That's -10 for the month and -17 since the beginning of December.
Yesterday was a good diet day and I managed to get my steps in even though I spent most of the day sitting in a cramped, crowded airplane.

Looking forward to a relaxing day today.

John 

Jan 11

Well I wouldn't put getting sick on the list of healthy weight loss solutions, but after three days of feeling crappy and not eating hardly anything I am down to 270 lbs this morning. That's -15 since December 1st and -8 since Jan 1st. I guess I need to eat like I'm sick when I'm not, or maybe add a little food to compensate for some activity and exercise.

No exercise for the 9th or 10th, probably not going to be any for today either. 

Jan 9

Sick day

Ugh

Jan 8

Damn. These two overnight shifts have kicked my butt. I know that it is partially due to trying to get back to my regular sleep schedule and having a couple of short sleep days, but I'm feeling pretty wiped out. I did manage to hit my daily step goal, but not much else.

On the weightless front -- I lost two pounds for week one. 
It's not much, but it is a start in the right direction.

John

Jan 7

Well it's almost the end of the day on Jan 7 and I haven't spent any time dedicated to exercise. 
My change in schedule made it more difficult to accomplish, although I am sure I could have if I were more committed to it.
However, my morning and evening time at the shelter provided me with more than enough steps to achieve my daily step goal, so I'm counting the day as a win. 
I will have to do better tomorrow, though. This shelter won't be open tomorrow night, so I will definitely need some indoor cycle or treadmill time.

John

Jan 6

I did get some treadmill time today, as well as a little dumbbell work.
Yay, me.
Keeping track of my diet will be weird since I'll be up all night at one of the crisis cold weather shelters.
On the plus side, I think an afternoon/evening coffee is in order.

Tomorrow will be a trickier day. I'll be day sleeping and will need to get my exercise before going in for another overnight. I'm a pretty slow starter when I get up. I like my coffee and quiet time before doing anything else. However it works out, I'm not going to sweat it -- it's only one day. 

John

Jan 5

I think I may start doing these in the evenings. We'll see if that holds true.
Yesterday, the 4th, I took the day off and didn't do anything. Counting the days I started in December, I was on a five day streak, so taking a day off really wasn't a big deal. 

However, after a couple of light days and a day off I needed to get on the cycle today. I did 35 minutes, so that's the longest so far this year. I'll keep building up. It's going to be pretty cold the rest of the week, so I'll be on the cycle or treadmill. I suppose I could walk outside,but I'm not that big of a cold weather guy anymore. It's been a few years since I was out walking no matter what the weather was. I'm okay not doing that if I have an alternative. 

I've also decided that I'm only sharing this to social media once a week or so, but I hope to keep it as a daily diary. I'll weigh in on the morning of the 8th.

John

Jan 4

Nothing special yesterday.
Short ride on the exercise cycle. I'm going to have to do a longer ride today. I might add a few dumbbell exercises, too. We are heading into some pretty cold days and I am going to have to get used to getting my exercise time in by doing something other than walking. That's probably not a bad thing.

I ate a late night snack that I could have done without, but overall I don't think my intake was too bad-- a couple of ham and cheese sandwiches for breakfast and lunch, stir fry chicken thighs and veggies for dinner. 

John

Jan 3

Short walk, with hills.
I need to do more walking before tackling hills.
Or maybe I just need to do more hills.
Ugh!

John

Jan 2

I increased my walk distance from 2 miles to 3 yesterday. It wasn't because I just wanted to walk more, it was because Chris wanted something at the Dollar General that is 1.5 miles from the house. Now I'm wondering if I need to maintain the 3 mile distance because going back to two miles seems like regression. 
For right now, I'm okay with continuing to get some daily exercise. The coming days will have sub-freezing high temperatures, so I'll either be on the exercise cycle, the treadmill, or some combination of the two.
I should be able to get an outdoor walk today.

Diet felt good yesterday. I'm not ready to go back to calorie counting yet, but I may in the future.

John

Jan 1, 2025

It's been awhile.
I haven't been doing much in the way of healthy living during 2024. 
I reached my heaviest weight ever and am now on meds for my elevated blood pressure.
Although the 278 pounds (126 kg) is the most to begin a year, it is 7 lbs less than where I was at the beginning of last month. 

Damn! 
That's a lot of weight I need to lose.

Last week I was looking ahead and considering some healthful resolutions for 2025 and I decided that I didn't really need to wait until today to get started. I realize that starting slowly with a huge task ahead of me may seem counter intuitive to some, but I know that it is what will work for me. Today will be Day 4 in a daily exercise streak -- two days of walking, and one day on the exercise cycle. With the coming cold weather, I may be spending more days on the exercise cycle and treadmill than walking outside, but that will have to do for now.
My walks will get longer (2 miles, 3.2 km) so far, as will my cycling time (30 min). I'll also add in other work using body weight, dumbbells, and our weight machine.
The goal is to be in better shape and get off the blood pressure meds.

Diet wise -- damn, I just need to eat less.
A lot less!
The goals are simple -- lose weight.
Short term -- 5 lbs (2.26 kg) per week for the first 5 weeks, then half that (recommended for long term)...
Long term -- until I weigh less than 200 lbs (90.7 kg)

I should be getting close by the time I hit my 65th birthday in June.
I'll post regular updates in hopes that posting will keep me moving forward.

Wish me well,
John
278 lbs, 37.7 BMI