A month of weigh-ins!

Oops! I disappeared longer than I’d intended. Life got in the way of posting here and honestly nothing exciting happened in terms of my weight loss, but here’s where we’re at since we last spoke:

• Week of March 19 – Stayed the same

• Week of March 26 – Gained 1lb

• Week of Apr 2 – Lost that 1lb

• This week, Apr 9 – Lost another 1lb! So I’m at 219lbs

And that’s it that’s all. Life is still a bit busy between work and some family stuff so not much more to say. I’m staying the course for now and trying to get a better handle on some of my stress-snacking. That’s a big thing for me so trying to drink more water as I have found that since working from home my water consumption has dropped! Also with the better weather coming in, I’m going to try to take longer walks. That’s my plan for now.

Oh, and there was an eclipse yesterday! Did you see it? I’m in Southern Ontario so it was too cloudy, but I did manage to see a bit of it during the initial partial phase before the clouds moved. Be back next week – even if it’s for a quicky update! Have a great week all.

Weigh-in: Weeks 15 & 16 Redux²: 15lbs DOWN!

Oh hai friends.

Did you see what I did there? I tried to set up a routine for my weekly blog posts and weigh-ins and then promptly didn’t post again! Sorry! (that’s the Canadian in me 😂)

There is good news to be had – I didn’t post last week because I started a new contract and had to focus on that (yay!) but also I lost nothing. Stayed the same. Which isn’t great news, but it’s also not bad news.

Now you’re all caught up! That brings us to THIS week, and guess what?! I’m DOWN 2lbs again! Woohoo! New weight is 220lbs so that means I’ve officially lost 15lbs since I recommitted in early December. Yay!

I’m not sure why I seem to developing a pattern of not losing anything and then dropping a bigger amount the next week. It could be any number of things:

• It’s just my body and it’s a bit odd (leading contender!)
• When I don’t lose, I make a point to stay within points the following week, hence bigger weight loss
• I’m mis-reading the scale and the drop isn’t as dramatic as I think it is.
  • Hear me out on this one! I use an old school bathroom scale, no digitial digits for this lady. (do I even need to say that? digital digits…well you know what I mean)
  • I have to squint from my great big height of 5’4 to see the number on the scale and since it’s just a circular plate spinning around in there.

Or of course, it could be a bit of column A, a bit of column B and a bit of column C. This is what I’m thinking; but I’m not going to overthink it for now as it seems to be work.

In the meantime, even if I don’t post I do try to make sure I update my weekly weigh-ins page so if you’re interested, feel free to follow along HERE and I also update my main weight loss progress tracker in this handy dandy widget to the RIGHT.

Weight loss progress widget tracker tight over here and up ————–>

So that’s that for today. Hope you’ve had a good two weeks and this time I promise see you next week for an update and thanks for reading along! 🙂

Weigh-in: Week 14 Redux²

Hi! How goes?

It goes pretty good with me – I was down 2lbs this week! New weight is 222lbs with a total loss so far of 13lbs.

I’m pretty stoked about this because I was not expecting it at all! I went out to eat at restaurants and to bars a few times this week and even thought I was careful, I did treat myself because I was with friends I hadn’t seen in a while and also missed reaching my 6000 steps on Friday because I was travelling. When I got home, I made a point to re-set and get back on track. I also tracked while out celebrating with friends to the best of my ability – I didn’t stress too much, but tried to be as accurate as I could. I didn’t feel like I was restricting, nor did I feel like I was going overboard. Which is a nice place to be. My goal is to continue this – to be able to celebrate and have fun, not feel like I’m depriving myself, but still keep on track.

I’ve also decided to call this weight loss endeavour Redux² (redux squared) – mostly because it makes me giggle and also because I think I called my last attempt redux, so here we are again, again. I’m also going to use this to help title my blog posts to keep track of how many weeks I’ve been back at it. I’m pretty pleased with 13lbs down in 14 weeks. I’ll just keep trying my best and hopefully I can keep this going, I think it’s a very reasonable rate that sets me up for success in the future, and that’s the goal after all.

Have a great week and see you next time!

Another one down!

oh hai! Welcome back. So it’s been a good week.

Yesterday I weighed in and I’m down 1.0lb so now I’m at 224lbs with 11lbs lost. Yay!

This was also a great week for walking – I went out and did my walks every day still. So far I’ve walked a minimum of 6000 steps every day for the last 30 days! Woohoo!

My favourite part is that I almost averaged 7000 steps /day and over 5km (3 miles) per walk! I’m hoping that as the weather gets nicer, I’ll be able to get that number up!

Hope you’re all doing well as well, feel free to share how you stay active in the cold weather in the comments and have a great week ahead!

10lbs Lost!

I’m a couple days late on the post, but I did weigh myself on Tuesday morning and I’m down 2lbs again and now at 225lbs which means I’ve officially lost 10lbs total since I recommitted! Yippee!

This took me about 2.5 months (since the beginning of December.) I think long gone are the days where I would lose 10lbs in a month, and that’s ok. I’m happy that I’m seeing progress and that the changes I’m making are paying off. My changes are still slow and steady – I don’t want to burn out or put too much pressure on myself – so I expect my progress to be slower too.

And in case you were wondering, I’m still walking my minimum 6000 steps each day (haven’t missed a day!) and feeling great. I’m still following the old 2011/2012 Weight Watchers plan and points tracking on my makeshift excel spreadsheet. It’s also going well . I’ll write more about it another time and explain why I like it so much.

Otherwise, my plan right now is to continue doing what I’m doing – so far so good and I’ve started to think about how I can add back in some more exercise – specificially weights – but I’m not in a rush just yet, maybe by the end of the month? We’ll see and I’ll re-assess based on how it’s all going.

That’s where I’m at right now. Short and sweet.

Good Things

Hi all! Hope you’ve had a good week!

Well a couple of good things happened this week – I finally broke out of the 229-230 seesaw I’ve been on and I lost 2lbs so now I’m at 227lbs.

This is great and hopefully I can keep this up! I know I have to make sure I track accurately what I eat and stay in my food budget – I’m in my 40s, the weight like to hang on!

The second good thing is that I’ve been keeping up on my walks and getting my steps in. I’ve hit my target of 6000 steps every day since Jan 22. That’s 15 days in a row! Considering I work from home so don’t have a commute that automatically adds steps to my day, I’m feeling pretty good about that.

Sometimes it’s just so easy to not go out for a walk – because it’s too cold, too windy, too dark. Excuses are easy, but I always have to remind myself that I always feel better after a walk – and if it’s been cold out, I can come home and put on some comfy clothes for the rest of evening and enjoy.

So that’s where I’m at. Walking and tracking. So far so good.

Hope you’re doing well, and if you’re not, think of one little thing you can do differently that might help you feel better and then try to do it. Doesn’t have to be big at all, for me this week it was dusting off my dresser – I had too much stuff on it and I’ve been meaning to tidy it for MONTHS. I did it and I’m happy I did. But if you can’t do it this week, it’s ok, you can do it another time and you will. Take care and see you next week.

Walks & Podcasts

Oh hi! I haven’t written in a few weeks, as you may have noticed, but it’s because I was working a contract. I’m a freelancer so I have to get the work while its hot! But here’s what’s happened:

• Week of Jan 16: Gained a pound – back up to 230lbs
• Week of Jan 23: Stayed the same, no ups, no downs
• Week of Jan 30: Down a pound - back to 229lbs.

Overall for the month of January, I’ve lost a total of 1 lbs! Not at all what I was going for, but I understand why. When I looked over my excel tracking sheet I saw that I didn’t track a lot of days (I just assumed I knew what I ate and we know what happens when you assume!) and I wasn’t going out for my walks regularly. I’d miss a day here or there when the weather wasn’t great or I was feeling overwhelmed. Neither of which are really an excuse – I have the right clothing for the weather, in fact we’ve barely had any snow and very few days below 0C (32F) this year. It doesn’t even feel like a real winter. And secondly, I know when I’m feeling down or overwhelmed that’s EXACTLY when I should go for a walk because I always feel better afterwards.

Speaking of walks, let’s chat about them. I love walking. I really, really do.

I started walking when the pandemic really hit back in mid-March 2020 and everyone was sent to work from home. I live in Ontario and we had some the most strictest and longest stay-at-home orders in the country. I was recuperating from having broken my ankle in October 2019 and was slowly getting back into running over January, February, and March. I was still running on a treadmill and only 1-2 mins at time between walking breaks for about 20-30 mins. My ankle would still swell afterwards and I’d need to rest and ice it. Once we had to stay home, I wasn’t convinced my ankle was strong enough to run on concrete so I decided I’d walk instead to make sure I was still strengthening and exercising it.

This is also when I discovered podcasts. Sure, I was super late to the game, but that’s ok. I normally listen to music when I work out or run, but I didn’t want to while walking, something about the tempo was just off for me. And now, almost 4 years later I still walk and listen to podcasts (almost) daily.

I always walk a minimum of 6000 steps. For no good reason other than that’s what my phone health app’s default is (Samsung Health if you’re wondering). Most times I do more – sometimes 7000, sometimes 10,000, never a round number though. I was hitting 10,000 much more often in the summer and nicer weather. In general I walk about 4.5km – 6km per day (I know there’s a few American’s reading this, so that’s about 2.7 – 3.7 miles). I’ve definitely found that when I don’t walk, I tend not to lose weight and when I walk more, I lose more easily. For now, at least until I’m under 200lbs I think I’ll keep walking rather than try to run again. I don’t want to damage my knees or ankles from too much weight so for now this will do.

As anyone who is into podcasts does, I now have to share with you my favourites – and ask you to tell me what you’re listening too! Leave your faves in the comments below.

Here’s what I’m listening to:

First up: MAINTENANCE PHASE. I love this one. It’s all about debunking wellness and weightlost trends/flash-in-the-pan diets. I highly recommend. So much so, that I even subscribe to their Patreon account. Which is great because they’ve taken a break from their regular schedule, but still post to the Patreon one.

I found MP because I used to listen to Michael Hobbes’ other podcast, YOU’RE WRONG ABOUT, all about debunking past events and our collective memories of how they happened. When Michael left in 2021, I lost interest – his approach is really what sells for me. However, it’s still good, but I highly recommend listening to the back catalogue from 2018 – 2021.

And because I’ll follow Michael Hobbes all over the internet I listen to his new one IF BOOKS COULD KILL where he and his co-host debunk airport best-sellers.

Also, love me some Jameela Jamil (from The Good Place) and her podcast I WEIGH – not just, or even at all, about weight, it’s about challenging social norms and expectations. If you’re a woman, I highly recommend.

Because I like my celebrity gossip, but with a touch of the morbid, TMZ’s LAST DAYS which delves into the last days and deaths of famous celebs. This one just came out last year and it’s fun and easy as long as you don’t mind talk of death.

Love me a bit of pop culture and history and so I listen to HISTORY OF THE 90s. I especially like podcasts led by tv and radio journalists as the podcasts are so well put together and they always have great voices. This is a Canadian podcast, so it does at times come from a Canadian POV.

I also listen to THE ONGOING HISTORY OF NEW MUSIC with Alan Cross. If you’re into alt-rock, alternative, rock music etc. You will LOVE this. I’ve been listening to Alan Cross on the radio since I was a teen and he is so well spoken and so researched. Also Canadian.

And, of course there’s some true crime in there as well. From a Calgary news reporter I listen to CRIME BEAT. This might be a bit much for some folks, as it’s really crime news reports and not a serialized story, but they they do tell you who did it in almost each episode and what the judicial outcome was.

Speaking of news crime reports, I’m currently listening to 13 HOURS which delves into 2020 Nova Scotia Massacre – Canada’s worst shooting spree in modern history where 22 people were killed. I like this so far because the reporter is really questioning the information given and the moves made by the RCMP that night (with good reason).

This one I finished, but I really like, in the true crime world: THE NO GOOD, TERRIBLY KIND, WONDERFUL LIVES AND TRAGIC DEATHS OF BARRY AND HONEY SHERMAN. It’s a 10-part series by a reporter delving into the 2017 murder of Toronto billionaire couple Barry and Honey Sherman which to this day remains UNSOLVED despite millions of dollars of reward money up for grabs! I will read and listen to all things about this case because I find it so fascinating.

Here are some honourable mentions:

SCAMFLUENCERS: about scammers and influencers. Just started, not sure if I’ll stick with it, but so far ok.

WHY WON’T YOU DATE ME with Nicole Byer: It was fun at first, but got a bit one-note for me eventually, but she has great comedian guests on each episode

ARTICLES OF INTEREST: History of clothing and what we wear. I haven’t listened to this as often, but do like it. Should listen to it more.

FED UP – 7-part series podcast about the F-Factor diet and the instagram influencer feud/court case etc. I stumbled on this as I didn’t know anything about this beforehand. It was a fun listen. Seriously the only ads that work on me while listening to podcasts are ads for other podcasts. That’s how I got to this one.

Wow, so thanks for reading if you got all the way to the end! This is what I’m listening too. If you’re into some awesome podcast(s) let me know in the comments below, always on the look out for new ones to add to my collection! If they’re Canadian and into debunking, history, pop culture or true crime – I’m probably even more interested to hear about them!

Til next week! Thanks for reading.

To Weight Watchers or not to Weight Watchers

Happy 2024! Here’s to a new year, for some a sense of new beginnings and starting fresh, for others, just another day, month, year.

I’ve never really been one for new year’s resolutions, mostly because I believe that when we ascribe a resolution to a day like New Years, we end up putting undue pressure on ourselves. If we need to change our goals or adjust them we feel like failures, or worse, like cliches! I know they work for some folks, but not for me.

So how’s the weight loss going you ask? We’ll in the last 2 weeks I’ve lost approximately 1lb. Again, not great, but not nothing – especially considering it was Christmas and holiday time filled with lots of good food and desserts. I also say approximately because I’m weighing myself at home and I have one of those old scales, so I can’t tell I’ve lost 0.2 of a lb or not, it’s basically one or nothing. I’m doing this because I don’t want to get lost in the numbers and the decimal points. Been there, done that, trying something new.

On to the main thesis of this post: To WW or not to WW. If you’re one of the folks who’s read me before or you scoured my site to see what the backstory is, you’ll know that I did weight watchers for a very long time. I think about 10 years or so and a few times at that. The TLDR version is that the first time I lost 50lbs, went to grad school and regained it plus an extra 25. Then I lost 100lbs, but couldn’t maintain it. So here I find myself. I had been maintaining about a 60lb loss until the pandemic.

I quit WW in post-pandemic 2020. For a while they were offering a multitude of weekly Zoom meetings for members and then they just kept cutting them back and cutting them back. At that point I had been steadly gaining weight (even though I was following the current plan and was exercising 5 days a week which included running regularly). Then I had that very stressful contract where I ended up gaining a good 20ish pounds in a short amount of time. And I started to grow tired of WW and didn’t see a return on value for still spending the same amount of money. I didn’t see a path forward with WW where I would be able to lose this new 20ish lbs. I finally quit for good.

I hadn’t been happy with the plan for a long time. I’m just not a person for whom zero-point foods work. At least not for foods that aren’t veggies. Even the zero-point fruit didn’t work for me. Why? Because I’m not a person that doesn’t know how to eat healthfully or a person who hates veggies and only eats fast food. In fact, even before WW I was never a big fast food eater. What is difficult for me are portions. I just eat too much food. My brain doesn’t tell me when its full. Or if it does, it’s too full and way too late. I don’t know if something happened when I was a kid – if I taught myself this, or if I’m missing hormones/chemicals etc. (I’ve never bothered to get tested, I don’t even know if you can get tested for something like this) but my whole life I’ve never felt full after a “normal”-sized meal. I have this memory of making chili one time when I was in university for dinner and I ate a bowlful and I remember being SO excited that I felt full. It had never happened before.

So obviously zero-point foods don’t work for me. It didn’t even work for me when they only made fruit 0 – because honestly, I could eat a whole bag of grapes in one sitting, and I did! I wasn’t eating air. Those are real calories and real sugar I’m ingesting and whether natural or not, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. When other foods like chicken etc. became zero, I struggled even more. Look, I get it, the zero-point foods are there to help encourage folks to eat those foods instead of other nutritionally-deficient foods. But as I mentioned, that wasn’t my main issue. So I’m happy I quit. It wasn’t working for me.

I also really started to feel like they (WW) were getting desperate, just throwing spaghetti against the wall to see if it sticks (i.e. makes $$). Points and point values were changing annually, terminology was changing where (for me) it just became nonsense words. I’ve been through enough school to know when someone is trying to sound smart without saying anything at all.

The only time WW really worked for me was when I first started. I know, I know, you’re going to say it’s because it was the honeymoon phase and my mindset was different, I was younger, and my commitment was differerent, but hear me out. It’s because for me it was pretty straight-forward simplified calorie-counting. There were clear rules and that worked for me. Again, I know this doesn’t work for everyone so I’m just saying what worked for me.

When I was little I had to go to the doctor for stomach pains – why? Because it turns out I was eating 8 bananas a day. WHO DOES THAT?!? Me. I do that. So there was a rule created that I could only eat 1 banana a day. And you know what, to this day, I will never eat more than 1 banana a day. My mom also had to make a rule that at lunch, I couldn’t have more than 2 slices of bread, why? Because, of course, I would eat more than that in one sitting.

These rules work for me. I’m just that type of person and it actually takes a lot of stress off me. I don’t feel guilty when I go outside the rules, because I know how to get back on track. Does that make sense? I’m not sure if it does, but that’s me.

So what does all this mean for my current weight loss efforts? Well I’ve decided to go back to the only thing that really worked for me and that let me feel like I could actually eat anything I wanted in moderation, and that is the WW plan from early 2010. Don’t ask me what it’s called. I don’t know. There have been so many names and so many changes that I just can’t be bothered to keep track and devote that much brain power to it. The only thing I know is that it’s the one before PointsPlus became a thing. So pre-December 2010.

I’m using the original-to-me plan – the one where points were calculated by calories, fat, and fibre and that’s it. Where the only zero-point foods are non-starchy vegetables. Where you get a daily points target and 35 weekly points. Where you could, in a pinch, always estimate that approx. 50cals = 1 point-ish. I downloaded a free excel tracker and put it up on my G-drive with a shortcut on my phone so it’s my version of an app so I can track as I go and I pulled out my old booklets with the food point values and that’s what I’m using. I know this feels restrictive to some and I think the new WW might actually be closer to this than to the latest iterations of the program, but that doesn’t matter to me. So far, this works.

I can’t even tell you what a game-changer it has been for me mentally. It feels like I’m on a food budget (which is a good thing for me), but a manageable one that doesn’t make me feel bad for liking bread, eating potatoes or having a chocolate every now and then.

That’s where I’m at. Weight-watchers-ish. How are you?

Is this thing on?

Oh, hai!! <tap, tap, tap> is this thing still on?

Well, how are you? How’ve you been doing? No one said weight loss WASN’T a lifetime journey did they? I think they try to sell you that, but the truth is, it’s always a lifelong journey because it’s not something that we can fix one time – and by we I mean regular folks and scientists included – regardless of the current state of medications.

Am I going to start blogging again? I’m not sure. Maybe. Or maybe I’ve just popped my head in there to say hi and update the background and the font so it looks a bit more modern.

I will say that I am trying to actively lose weight again. It’s been a bit of a roller coaster so here’s the TLDR version (spoiler alert, there’s no long version, this is it):

2018-2019: feeling ugh, gained weight hovering near ~190-200lbs and exercising regularly, still running

Oct 2019 – Ran a 5K race again with my worst time ever: 36:31

Oct 2019 – one week later – Broke my ankle running in the rain and slipped on a wet leaf on streetcar tracks. UGH.

Early 2020 – finally healed, did a bunch of physio, and started gentle running on a treadmill

March 2020 – well you know. Convinced myself I could take a few weeks off from working out. Few weeks turned into months. Months into years. Started to walk about an hour a day outside instead.

Fall 2020 – Worked a tough contract. Ate. A Lot. Gained ~20lbs. Still walking about an hour a day.

March 2021 – WFH continues. Joined colleagues on a virtual “bootcamp”. Did it. Felt good. Didn’t continue. But did continue to walk about an hour a day.

2023 – Still haven’t gotten back into working out regularly. Weight keeps fluctuating ~10lbs or so because not committed to anything. Hoping wishing will work. Another spoiler alert – it doesn’t. Still walking though.

Dec 28, 2023 – here I am at 230lbs. Not working out regularly yet. But have been tracking my food because that’s what works for me and have lost 5lbs since the beginning of December. It’s not a lot but it’s also not nothing.

So now you’re all caught up. And now I’m going to go for a walk.

Well. Here we go again.

So. Here we find ourselves again. I know, I know. I wrote back at the beginning of the year that I had recommited back in January! But here I find myself, 8 months later and I’m at 201.5lbs. I’ve been playing the up and down game for the better part of this year. Le Sigh.

 

Well…what happened you ask? At first I had a bit of medical issue that I thought might be contributing to everything, and perhaps it was, but it has been mostly resolved. Nothing serious, but enough to be annoying.

 

I still go to WW meetings and I was speaking with my leader about what was different back when I was losing weight. Well, one of the things I was doing was blogging regularly so I’m here testing the waters again thinking about getting back into blogging regularly. I’m still not sure, but I thought I would put it out here in hopes that it helps me to recommit to blogging. I’m really tired of the constant up and down. I don’t yet know what I have to do to get my head back in the game, but I figure this might be a good first step. Baby steps and all 😉