May Ends; June Begins

Because it's the end of the month and because I had a good midweek weight check, I stepped on the scale again this morning. If I hold weight with a good day today, I'll hit my Monday morning weigh in at my first interim goal two weeks early! I'm a little bit stoked!

Yesterday I got some work done around the house, but no walk. 7,361 on the step count. I really need to work on that for June.

Today I'll reroute the cables on the weight machine so they are correct and I'll be ready to start using it tomorrow. There is still plenty of yard work, gardening, and other active work to do, so I'm going to have to figure out activity priorities for days when doing it all seems too much.

It's going to be a beautiful day in the Ozarks.

Be well!

John 

It's Getting Easier

It was another day when I worked in the yard and flower beds without a lot of steps. Only 6,171 for the day, but I got some sun and spent the afternoon relaxing.

Diet wise it seems to be getting easier to stay within my daily calorie goals. Lately I've been checking to see how many cookies I can have for a late night snack! I suppose I could skip the cookies and lose weight more quickly, but I do love cookies and milk!

Grilled Italian sausages are on the menu for today. That's some high fat, high calorie stuff so I'll have to be careful with the snacking. Yesterday's baked salmon and fresh green beans was a much healthier dinner. I try to keep a balance -- not too much of the unhealthy choices, but still not depriving myself of some of the foods I like. So far it seems to be working.

John

Just Another Day

Nothing real notable about yesterday. I had a short walk that was cut even shorter as I stopped to safely chat with a couple of our new neighbors. I ended the day with 8,928 steps.
I did spend time doing work around the house and was active enough for a retired guy.

I did mix my own muesli type breakfast cereal yesterday morning -- oats, dried berries, nuts, and chia seeds. I mixed enough for a week or so, depending on how often I eat it.
I also had my highest calorie meal midday instead of evening. I think I like that better, but it isn't always best for our schedule.
I ended the day well on the calorie count and a midweek scale check looked good this morning. I just need to hold it through the weekend.

Be well,
John

Late Report

It's already Wednesday evening and it is about to start raining. I've only logged 4100 steps so far and I'm sure not to make 10K today. Doing okay diet wise and with chef's salad on the menu for dinner, I should end well.

Yesterday's step count showed over 10,000 steps, but I knew that wasn't right. I need to remember to suspend my step counter when I'm on the riding lawnmower. Diet was a good day. I needed that to counter Monday's indulgences.

Be well,

John

I Took a Pass

Passing on yesterday.
I had just over 5000 steps and ate way too much.
I'm not sure how many calories way too much is.
I decided not to count.

John

Monday Morning

I did take yesterday off and did very little in the way of activity -- 5,309 steps and no work of any kind.

Logging foods has become a bit of a habit, so that continued. Yesterday was the first day in five weeks that I missed my daily calorie target -- I was half a cookie over!

My Monday morning weigh-in was good at 244 pounds. That's minus 14 pounds in five weeks. It's a good start. I'm still firmly in the obese range by weight or BMI (33.1) and need to reach 220 pounds to fall below a BMI of 30 which is still considered overweight but not obese. To reach a "normal" weight (BMI of 18 - 24.9) I'd have to reach 180 pounds.

Sacrebleu!

Personally, I don't think that's a realistic goal for me and believe that I will feel happy and healthy at anything < 200 pounds. Figuring that the rate of weight loss will slow as I lose more weight, my initial intermediate goals were 240 by my birthday (2 1/2 more weeks), 220 by September 5, and 200 by 2021.

If I get there more quickly, that's cool, but I'm more interested in a sustainable lifestyle than in a quick weight loss.

Day by day.

Be well,

John

Holiday Weekend

It is a holiday weekend here in the USA. That really doesn't mean anything since I'm a retired, anti-social curmudgeon anyway. But it does feel like I should be able to use it as an excuse to forgo diet and exercise for a few days.

I did a small amount of work around the house yesterday and managed a mere 5,767 steps.

I decided that I wasn't going to log my food, but added it all up in the evening to see if I could justify a small bowl of ice cream. With the ice cream I came in just under my daily target.

Today and tomorrow will probably be more of the same -- no real exercise, casually watch the diet.

John

A Different Kind of Workout

Moving has been a slow steady process. Yesterday we rearranged furniture -- several times. Fortunately, we only moved the piano once! The sofa, love seat, oak end tables, coffee table and area rug -- well, we moved those several times trying to figure out the best place for them.
It wasn't a lot of steps (3,003), but it was plenty of work.

I need to watch my calorie consumption by time of day a bit. Yesterday was heavily weighted towards late in the day. I really didn't need so many calories late. I ended up with over half of my daily intake after 7pm. I was still well below my target, but need to spread them out to earlier in the day.

May is almost over and I don't feel like I've accomplished much on the health front. I've lost a few pounds, but still need to figure out an exercise or activity routine. I have a week to be thinking about June goals.
Hmmm...

Be well,
John

Step Count Blunder

Unrelated to health and fitness -- my new lawn tractor arrived yesterday and I spent some time playing on it. I only mention it here because I know my step counter added around 4000 steps for the time I was on the mower. I'll have to remember to suspend my step count on mowing days.

Light activity working around the house yesterday. If I subtract 4000 steps from my total I'm at just over 8000 for the day. It looks like a rainy day today, so maybe I'll spend some time on the exercise cycle. It's actually supposed rain for the next several days.

I've been keeping on track in the diet department, but need to add more vegetables to the mix. I'm getting better at the whole moderation thing by keeping portions smaller, no seconds, just a couple of cookies vs. eating a whole sleeve, etc. This current method won't win any contests when it comes to dropping weight quickly, but I'm much more interested in finding a healthy and sustainable diet.

Be well,
John

And ... Not so active fit

Yesterday wasn't a bad activity day, just not enough stepping. I only managed 8,159 steps, but I did get the flower bed ready for Chris. She planted about half of the flowers and will finish today. I'll spread the mulch and that'll be one outdoor project finished.
I will say that I'm feeling the effects of the past couple of days.

Another good day on the food intake prompted me to a midweek scale check and the needle appears to be moving again after an idle week.

Now for Thursday
Be well,

John