October 31, Day 40

Looking at the title today, it's easy to see my 100 day countdown to 2022 is off by a day.
Hmmm...?

I did step on the scale this morning and was at 248, so I managed to drop a whole two pounds this month. On the bright side, since it all came in the past few days I'm happy to be back on track. Logging foods and keeping total daily calories down has been a big help.

I have changed my diet in the past week. I'm eating more fruits and vegetables and really restricting anything processed. To be fair--I have had a little rice (white rice is pretty processed), a little bread, some pasta, and some cheeses. I've also had some sweets but not many as I'm watching the refined sugars, as well. I still want to enjoy good food. I do want to be cautious about over doing it. Fruits, veggies, nuts, and whole grains are a good way to "fill up" without piling on the calories.
(Wow. Rereading what I just wrote. In the past six days I've had rice, bread, pasta, cheeses, and sweets. If I've been restrictive this week, my regular diet really sucks!)
 
Overall, I have felt more full and satiated while keeping the daily calories relatively low. Whole grains, nuts, fruits and veggies are the main things. I've also limited dairy and meats. I think my body and brain are still trying to figure out what's going on, but the initial effects are good. I'll keep you posted as I work through another week.

While diet has been good this week, activity has sucked. It's been low level on the best days. Gotta fix that this week.
New month tomorrow.

Be well, 
John

October 29, Day 38

Writing at the end of the day rather than the beginning. Today has been a bust. I've been dealing with the same negative reaction to my COVID booster that I did with the 2nd shot. Ugh!
On the bright side, I think I'm turning the corner on the diet/weightloss thing. I've gone from just over 250 to just under 250 this week.
For the past few days I've been trying to eat more real whole food like fruits, veggies, and whole grains, and fewer processed foods and less meat. Shifting away from the typical American diet that has most of us obese or overweight isn't going to be easy. I think the biggest change has to be in the mindset of deciding not to eat crap (says the guy that just ate some crackers and processed cheese). 
I'm pretty sure that I won't be eliminating all processed foods from my diet. I do need to cut them back quite a bit. I think I also need to cut back on the dairy products a little. I typically don't have much dairy in a day--a little (lactose free) milk with cereal in the morning is pretty much it unless there's ice cream in the house. Cheese is also a regular habit and I like it a lot, so that may be tough.

I've been doing well at the food logging this week and plan on keeping it up. It really helps to see what I'm eating and how much of it. It is surprising how satisfying and filling raw fruits and veggies can be. I'm looking forward to a Monday, November 1st weigh-in. I have a feeling November will be a good month.

John

October 28, Day 37

Yesterday had no exercise. I was pretty active for several hours while volunteering at a local food pantry, but nothing in the way of purposeful exercise.

I managed the first part of the IF day and didn't eat until 3:30. I failed at the shut off point since we were at friends and I was snacking later than I should have been. I skipped the food logging/calorie count since it can be difficult when eating at someone else's home. Overall, not a bad day.
No IF today, but need to log food. I want it to be the habit.

John

October 27, Day 36

Yesterday was a good day on the calorie count. It wasn't a sustainable kind of day, but for the present I'm just getting jump started in the big 50 pound weightloss journey. I broke my IF around 3:30 with a banana, ate dinner about 5:30 and finished the day with a bowl of mixed fruit at 8:30. The total count was fewer than 1000 calories. 
Like I said, it's not sustainable. I do want to make regular intermittent fasting a part of my lifestyle, perhaps once or twice per week. 

Yesterday was okay on activity, but other than some purposeful stretching was void of exercise. That's just the way it went yesterday. My step counter has come in between 5100 and 5600 all week, so not too much in the grand scheme of things, but okay for a guy that rarely leaves his home.
Today should be more.

John                                                            

October 26, Day 35

Another short morning walk to get the blood flowing early, followed by some stretching. Honestly thought about adding in some jump rope even though I remembered what a tough workout that can be. Damn, that's a lot of added stress on the already overstressed knees and ankles. I'm going to have to go easy on that until some of this weight comes off.

The food logging is going okay. I've ended the past two days below the calories calculated for a steady 2 pound per week weightloss. I pretty much know the calorie dense foods to avoid and am looking to be more aware of the nutrient dense foods to be desired.
I've incorporated a little intermittent fasting (IF) the past two days and will continue to do that a few days per week. IF provides some additional healthy benefits that are worth reading about and really just shifts (and sometimes condenses) your eating hours. Considering my normal waking hours, I need to shift my eating hours to later in the day with my final mealtime (or snack time) being around 8 or 9 PM. Normal bedtime is midnight to 1 AM, and wake up time is usually between 7:30 and 8.

I do feel like there has been a bit of a mindset shift that will be beneficial. That's the thing I've really needed. So much of our poor diet and eating has been around food as culture, making food the focal point of gatherings, etc., that we no longer eat to live. We now live to eat. And most of the food that we've developed to fit our busy lifestyles isn't very good for us. We sacrifice nutrition for quick calories and move on. 
Even as the pace of life has greatly slowed in retirement, the lifelong bad habit of relying on processed foods and calorie dense food has clung to our daily diets. I need to change those habits. I believe that we can eat to live and still enjoy good tasting food. It's about finding the balance.

John

October 25, Day 34

A new beginning.
(How many times have I written/said that?)

Yesterday was good.
I took a short walk and stretched. It was the best muscle stretching I've done in a while.

Diet wise:
My new beginning was an intermittent fasting day which went well until I started eating. Actually, it wasn't a bad day. I did eat more than I expected to eat. I held off until 5:30 in the evening and basically ate just the one meal for the day. The meal did include dessert followed by an evening of visiting. By the time it was all said and done I had a coupe of more helpings of dessert, but I was still considerably below my daily caloric allowance. (Yes, I logged my food.)
Eating time was 5:30 to 11PM.

I think I'm going to find and reread The Abs Diet (or something like that). I read it and found it to be helpful in my last 60 pound loss adventure. It wasn't gimmicky, but had some good dieting (and exercise) stuff in it. I also added a book, Eat to Live, to my Kindle library. I'll let you know what I think of it.
All-in-all, yesterday was a good reset day--both for the mind and spirit as well as for the body.

John

October 24, Day 33

It's 1/3 the way through the final 100 days of 2021 and I'm pretty much right where I started. I'm going to make a push this final week of October and see if I can't get on track and drop a couple of pounds before the calendar page changes to November. That would give me some momentum to keep going.
I need to step up the activity. Honestly, it hasn't been much.

And diet--F#*K! I'm going to have to log foods. 
Apparently it's the only way I'm going to really pay attention to the crap I keep shoving in my pie hole.
Anyway you look at it, I'm going into 2022 as a fat boy. Hopefully it will be a little less of a fat boy than I am today.

John

October 22, Day 31

I was supposed to weigh-in this morning, but didn't think about it when I first woke up. I'll get it tomorrow. but I'm not looking forward to the results.
I did manage another walk yesterday, but not much else. I've not been feeling very motivated lately.
Need to fix that.

John

October 21, Day 30

Missed another day's diary post.
My exercise has been pretty light. Walked yesterday, but there is something going on with my left ankle. It's probably finally giving out from carrying my fat ass around. I've been stretching daily, but need to do more.
I was really feeling hungry last night. Not sure what that was about, but I ate more than I needed. Gotta get on top of this. I've pretty much wasted another month.
Sacrebleu.

John

October 19, Day 28

Light work with a little cardio and weights. Need to add more, but not feeling very motivated on the exercise front. Still operating on the something is better than nothing perspective.. At nearly a month into the 100 days I should be doing more.

Neither am I very motivated on the diet front. After dropping that July weight gain I've been pretty steady at 250. Although I am eating better, I'm not losing any weight so I'm just eating too much.
I'm either going to have to accept being a semi-healthy fat guy, or get serious and do something different..
Sacrebleu!

John

October 18, Day 27

Day off--not because I deserved one, because I just took one.
I'm no longer doing the squat/pushup/plank challenge. My knees are thanking me. I'm using a fitness machine we have that will exercise my quads but be less taxing on the knees. I'll take a pic of it if I think about it when I'm downstairs. I'm also making use of the weight machine in place of the pushups for now and also for some other stuff. Dumbbells are good for arm work.

Diet was good yesterday.

Be well,
John

October 17, Day 26

As expected, not much activity yesterday. I did manage a little bit of walking while visiting with my nephew on the SLU campus. A brief walk around campus and a walk to Pappy's BBQ was maybe 1.5 miles total. I did a little stretching in the evening after arriving home.

Stopping at Ted Drewe's pretty much guaranteed that I was over calories for the day, but it is what it is.
Today's a new day.

John

October 16, Day 25

Just a quick note before hitting the road today. I'll be in the car for the majority of today so I may not get any exercise in. Yesterday I managed some time on the weight machine and used some dumbbells and one of the cardio machines we have. Not too strenuous, but it felt good.

Diet was okay. Today will be a dietary challenge.

Be well,
John

October 15, Day 24

Oops! I missed a day.
Not a big deal. I've been trying to spend less time on the internet and was reading yesterday morning instead of scrolling social media.
Exercise has remained light due my back not feeling quite right yet. Long day of driving tomorrow and I'm hoping the back isn't going to be a problem.

Weigh-in this morning was still a solid 250.
Although a big part of good health is getting to a healthy weight (and I'm not progressing in that), I do feel better even though the weight hasn't been coming off. Movement is good.

Something that I haven't mentioned (but is big on the overall health front) is that I have been sleeping more. I'm getting an extra sleep cycle from what was once my normal 4 cycles, and I'm pretty much sleeping through the night. I sometimes wake up at the end of the first cycle and then sleep until morning. That puts my nightly rest at a little over 7.5 hours (my cycles run a little over 90 minutes each). I rarely nap, but do get in an occasional 17 minute power nap if needed.

John

October 13, Day 22

Yesterday I intentionally used yardwork as my exercise. In addition to the time spent in spring garden prep, I decided to push mow the yard part of the property. That was around five miles of walking. I figured that walking didn't seem to bother my low back, so that was my exercise. I ended up with over 14,000 steps for the day. My low back still seems aggravated this morning, so I'll have to figure something out for today.

Yesterday's diet was a little high in fat and I probably should have skipped dessert -- basically the same kind of crap that got me here at 50+ pounds overweight. 
Sacrebleu!

John

October 12, day 21

Hmmm...
Well yesterday was a bit of a bust. My back was back to feeling sore (same spot) so I took an unscheduled rest day. I'm hoping it will be better today. Back issues haven't typically been a thing with me. I have had occasional spasms in the past, but seldom have pulled muscles or soreness that lasts. This is a little frustrating.

Diet wise:
Big breakfast, no lunch, good dinner, healthy dessert.

John

October 11, Day 20

Lazy day yesterday. I did my 30 day challenge stuff, but nothing more.
Diet was okay. It helps that we don't have any junk food in the house.

I'm thinking of not posting every day, but posting is an accountability aid. I'll probably post for me and only share it to my Twitter account, maybe just weekly on Facebook. Not many read it anyway and it isn't for pats on the back or anything. Just trying to keep it moving.

John

October 10, Day 19

I felt good yesterday. Honestly, it was the first time I felt good about exercising in a long time.
It's been nearly three weeks since this 100 Day Fitness Challenge began and I really haven't been doing much other than purposefully doing something. For some reason, yesterday felt different. Hopefully, that will continue.

Diet wasn't bad. Still not logging calories.

Be well,
John

October 9, Day 18

I ended up taking it pretty easy yesterday. Apparently I pulled a little muscle or something in my back while lifting and twisting those bags of compost on Thursday. Nothing too serious, but I opted for some gentle stretching and resting rather than aggravating it more. Minor muscle injuries are nothing to mess with when you're old, fat, and out of shape.
I'm going to see how it feels doing some yardwork today.

I did okay on the meal diet, but did have a couple of high calorie snacks--gotta watch that more closely.

John

October 8, Day 17

It turns out that I did make yesterday a rest day. Although I didn't do any "exercise," I wasn't completely inactive. I did load (40 lb. bags), unload, and spread 600 lbs. of compost in my raised garden beds.
Today I'm back at it.
A little Tai Chi this morning, but I still need to complete my squat/pushup/plank challenge.

Damn, no progress on the weight yet. I guess I'm going to have to go back to logging calories. I really hate that and am going to have set my attitude to get that done. I've been resisting doing that even though I know (from experience) it works.
Sacrebleu! 

Be well,
John

October 7, Day 16

I'm glad that today is a rest day on the 30 Day squat/pushup/plank challenge. My knees need the day off.
Yesterday I did a little Tai Chi. I need to do that more often. It's pretty easy movement, but it is movement. I was thinking of taking a complete day off, but honestly haven't been doing anything strenuous enough to justify it. I think maybe I'll hit the exercise cycle today.
I was thinking yesterday that one of the challenges to doing planks and pushups is just getting down into position and getting back up off the floor! Maybe I need to add a dozen reps of going to hands and knees and back up to standing. When did the floor get so far away?

Yesterday was a good food day. I feel like I really needed it. The previous days haven't been bad, but I'm trying to realize it's the average not bad days that have got me to this place of being 50 pounds overweight. I sort of doubt that tomorrow's weekly weigh-in will show any loss. It's time to start moving that needle again.

Be well,
John

October 6, Day 15

Day 5 was just another day.
I didn't do much in the way of exercise in addition to the few minutes of the 30 day challenge. I need to get a little yardwork in before the rain today. Tomorrow is a rest day on the squat/pushup/plank challenge, so I'll be doing something else--probably some time on the exercise cycle. 
I will say the 61+ year old version of me is having a more difficult time getting back to exercising than I expected.

Food wise was okay. We had dinner out with friends, but I limited myself to a sandwich and a small bag of chips. I don't know if Friday's weigh in will show any weightloss, but for now I am feeling better.

John

October 5, Day 14

Pretty much more of the same.
I did over do it a bit on the food consumption with some of Chris's birthday dessert and treats from a friend. That's not an everyday kind of thing, so I'm not too worried about it.

On the overall health and wellness front I am way past due for a visit to the doctor for a wellness physical. I may have been once since I retired nearly seven years ago. I don't get the annual once over that I got when I was working. Although the typical FAA flight physical wasn't much as complete physicals go, since the doctor we used was also my personal primary care doc, he typically did more for my annual visit and saved me the additional out-of-pocket office visit charge. He retired the same time I did.

I did find a new primary care doc, but I haven't seen her in at least 5 years. It's hard to get motivated to see a doctor when my only real health issues are sleep apnea (I have a pulmonologist for that) and being obese. I already know what too do about that.
I use OTC stuff for seasonal allergies and don't have any regular medication that I take. I'm mostly just a 61+ year old, overweight, out of shape, semi-healthy guy. I'm working on the overweight, out of shape part.

Be well,
John

October 4, Day 13

I added some stretching yesterday and am feeling it today. It was somewhere between yoga and stretching for a pre or post workout session, but still pretty light. I need to do more of this or a full 30 minutes of yoga on a regular basis. The week is setting up to be full of outside gardening/yardwork stuff, so I shoild be pretty active on the physical side.
It looks like the end of the week will have weather suitable for another day of paddling. I'm looking forward to it. 

The weekend was okay diet wise. As I mentioned yesterday, I need to watch portion size. I'll be eating out twice today, and that goes double for dining out portions. Overall, I'm feeling pretty good. I'm keeping things in perspective so it doesn't become a chore. I want good health to be an enjoyable lifestyle, not a life sucking daily task. 100 days should provide a decent base to build on--even if it's the last 100 days of the year.

Be well,
John

October 3, Day 12

 A good day yesterday.
I'm trying to add some simple exercises to the 30 Day squat/pushup/plank challenge and I'm monitoring the squat effects on my knee. So far there is no real pain, but I don't think that's going to last for long. I'm just going to have to take it on a day by day basis. I may have to substitute something else in the place of squats.

I could have eaten less. Large portions are typical problem for me. I need to stop when I know I've had enough since my full-o-meter has long ago stopped functioning. I think I get tired of eating before I get full. 
I had my third beer in the past two weeks. Part of cutting back is just not adding the calories. Another part is knowing the negative effects a little alcohol (beer in particular) has on fat burning and weightloss.

Be well,
John

October 2, Day 11

Good diet day. I feel like I'm back in the right frame of mind for healthy eating. I'll ride this wave for as long as it lasts and hope to get a good long run out of it.

I'm still going to need to find an exercise rhythm, or maybe just getting it done without a rhythm is okay.
It's day 2 on the 30 day challenge, still light and not an issue.

John

October 1, Day 10

Yesterday was a couple of hours of yard work. Today begins my 30 day pushup/squat/plank challenge.
I've actually already done today's part. I know that my knees (actually just my right knee) will be something to watch as I progress in the squats. Hopefully the pushup strength will come back quickly before I get too far along. Since the early days don't take very long, I should probably add some walking, cycling, or something else.

The last couple of days have been good food days and I am able to begin October at 250 lbs. rather than slightly over. I think 225 by the end of the year is a realistic goal, even with the year end holidays.

Be well,
John