I can't get myself to step on the scale. I know it's going to be bad. I don't really care about the number but I should have a starting point to get going on "fitting into my clothes again" mode.

Dagmar : or

Hmmm, Dagmar, I seem to be having a similar issue. I'll get on if you'll get on. How about we report on Friday?

OK. Friday it is.

Dagmar

I weigh 153 lbs. I've gained 15 or so lbs. in about a year and a half.

Back to weighing and measuring and tallying daily calories until I get back down to 133-136 lbs. range. My metabolism has probably slowed a bit due to ageing and I'm not walking for 5 hours per day so I'll have to adjust the daily cals to reflect that.

It's my birthday in a couple of months so I'm going to put my short term goal at getting under 150 lbs by then. Long term goal will be to get back to 133-136 lbs. range by the following birthday. :

I will weigh once a week from now on for the rest of my life. Losing weight in later life is too hard to keep doing it over and over again. It seems the scale helps keep me accountable way more than my clothes being tight does.

Dagmar

For me, the scale said 132. Could be worse, but I certainly haven't gotten any closer to my 125 goal since I began "trying". I seem to have two good days, one bad day, over and over. It helped to see the number on the scale. I'm feeling like I can do it. Onward and downward.

Dagmar, I'm sure the loss of the dog walking is the biggest factor in your weight gain. The most recent stuff I've read says our metabolism seems slower only because we are not doing as much. I know it's especially hard in winter, but if you increase your steps/other exercise on a daily basis, your appetite will finally get in sync with your calorie burn. I'm only saying that because I have a terribly hard time decreasing my calories. It makes me feel deprived and angry. But, my belly is flabby and there are certain clothes I avoid (the ones that show fat rolls).

Good luck to both of us!!

I find that walking Holly 2X per day for an hour is all the walking my legs want to do these days. So I ordered myself a kick sled and will take it to the lake and the trails for some additional exercise. I think it will improve my cardio if nothing else. This is what it looks like - and it's easy to set up, take down, fits in my vehicle, and weighs only 18 lbs. It is also more stable than a bike so I probably won't fall over when using it. LOL


Good luck to both of us!

Dagmar

Good luck to both of you, indeed!

That kicksled looks super, Dagmar. New to me. Had to have mother google show me pictures of it in action.

I stumbled on it while looking at winter things to do here. There is a company that rents the various models but I wasn't able to get in touch with them. I checked the You tube videos to see how easy was to assemble and it is only 3 steps. Same for disassembly and it folds almost flat for storage and fits in my vehicle. I bought the smaller "ice fishing" one and it's a bit slower than the sport models so that again is ideal for me.

It looked like everything I was looking for in a winter activity so I bought one. Our lake freezes over completely so I'm looking forward to taking it for a spin down there several times a week, as well as trying it on some of the groomed trails. I can take along my backpack and also do some nature photography while out and about.

Dagmar

Oh, that looks fun, Dagmar! I have a kickbike but haven't used it this season. Maybe I'll get it out. I was teaching big Emmett (GSD x Malinois) to pull me on it a couple of years ago. Maybe you could teach Holly to pull your kicksled!

Holly has a tendon that's crystallizing in her left shoulder and arthritis starting in her left hip so she's not a candidate for any sledding. Too bad since I think she would have done well. We'll stick to scent detection - which we started last week. I'm not going to trial her - just doing it for fun and some mental stimulation.

Dagmar

Managed to stay on track yesterday - the dreaded "day three" of dieting - despite having people over for brunch.

Right now I'm concentrating on logging all cals and staying under 2000 per day. I will weigh every Friday and see what the scale is doing.

Once I get used to monitoring my eating and being aware of portion size I'll see about cutting back gradually to about 1600 cals per day.

It's got to be a really slow loss - frustrating but it's doable.

Dagmar

On day 6 of the less than 2000 cals per day monitoring. That's a record for me. Usually I cave on day 3 or 4.

Dagmar

I caved last night. DH is probably going to lose/quit his job and will be miserable until he does. That, combined with all the negative extreme right stuff going on all over the world sent me into a very anxious state. I still comfort myself by eating apparently. Back on the diet horse today - weigh in is tomorrow morning.

Dagmar

I see there are new fires north of LA. Are you still safe Alice?

Dagmar

Sending supportive thoughts to your situation, Dagmar. Job instability, extreme politics, and the immediate polar vortex cold spell are a lot to happen at once.

Waving to all. It's been too cold around here to make walking fun. Gotta go get out anyway.