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.

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.

Weigh-in Week 103: Slowly Back on Track

Well good news! I weighed in yesterday was was down 1.0lb. For a new weight of 168.2lbs and a total loss of 83.4lbs. How exciting! I am feeling back on track and I have confidence that I can lose this temporary gain.

I also wanted to say (as I think I wasn’t clear in my last post) that I gained 11.4lbs over 2 months, not in one week! That was my total gain. Oops!!

Well things went well this week, but perhaps I was not as focussed as I could have been. But that’s okay. I still feel I ate better than I had in previous weeks and I no longer feel out of control with my eating. I still nibbled and snacked quite a bit, but I think I made some better choices.

My exercise is also coming along – I ran 3 times and got back to the gym and did weight training twice. That makes for 5 out of 7 days of activity and I felt great. It’s the most active I have been able to be since I took on the contract. My running still isn’t back to where it was at the beginning of February, but it’s coming along. I still have about a week and a half to get myself back. I am, however, worried that I may need new shoes. My feet are starting to tingle near the end of my runs and this goes away once I do my cool-down walk. I thought it was because I was tying them too tight, and that does help a bit, but I’ve also noticed that the heals of my shoes have worn signifincantly. I’m going to go by the running store I frequent – Boutique Courir – I find them to be very knowledgable and they sell the New Balance shoes I love. I’ve also been advised that I may need shoes with better arch support. We shall see.  I’ll keep you all updated.

Hope everyone is having a good week and getting back on track. It seems to be the time when we are starting to struggle.

Here’s my unsolicited advice that I plan to take myself this weekend: With the warm weather coming get out and go for a walk.  The benefits are enormous and it’s cheap, easy, and accessible. I’m missing all the walking I used to do (I’ve had to have a car for this job) so I’m looking forward to walking everywhere again next week. Sneaky ways to get more walking into your day:

• If you drive to work or going to the store, park a bit further away and walk.
• Right after work, change your clothes and go for a quick 20 minute walk to clear your mind.
• Take a walk after dinner with your partner, family, friends, or alone .
• Take a walk after lunch – don’t spend your time in front of the computer some more, get out and get some fresh air and a short walk. It’ll make for a more pleasant afternoon.

Have a great week everyone and let me know how you get more activity into your day – do you walk?