Losing weight safely - news six months on

 It's been six months since I started this blog. It was created to help me, as much as anyone else, to lose weight and keep it off. Its been a battle I have been fighting for many years now but as I got older and less active the weight proved harder to shift. 

January - I am 65 years old and started the year at 167 pounds and through a mixture of exercise and change in eating I reached 163 pounds by the end of January. With a height of 5 foot 5 inches, my BMI was 27.2 which is above the healthy BMI reading of 25. To get there I would need to lose 18 pounds. Try it yourself with the link here

February - saw me hold that loss but not increase it. I was still eating my way through some the Christmas high-calorie treats that were still in the house. The meal portion sizes were still too large and I come from a family where food was precious and I still clear my plate at every sitting.

March - I visited my doctor and he wasn't pleased with my 5.2 high cholesterol level. I promised I'd eat more nuts and lose more weight. By the end of the month, I was 162 pounds, just down a pound.

April -  We are emerging from winter and Spring weather gets me outdoors more. I'm running 5k about twice a week and by month-end, I've dropped two more pounds and am I60 pounds.

May - is a very good month as I get my first vaccination - AZ and now walk the roads and the local beaches with our dog. I end the month on 159 pounds down one more pound.

June - the weather is great, I'm cutting grass and throwing it over the fence to the waiting herd of cows. I'm de-weeding the flower beds, I'm playing a little tennis and yes running. I reach the 30th of June and step on the scales. I'm 156 pounds 

July - the weight loss continues through a mixture of smaller portions, exercise and daily weighing. Right now I'm 155 pounds and flirting with 153 pounds. That's 12 pounds gone in six months

I hope this motivates you to change ways and lose weight safely by:

•  cutting down the number of treats, 
• eating smaller portions, 
• weighing in daily and 
• exercise more, walk, run or swim

Happy life - on we go!!

Step 4 Sit Down for meals

Sit down when you are eating.  Focus on the food as you eat. The more you have to chew your food the longer the benefit of eating lasts as it takes your body time to break down the food into its nutrients. Eating slowly enables you to digest the food properly and prolongs the act of eating so you can savour the taste and enjoy the food.

Remember, all food is made up of only three nutrients: carbohydrates, fats, and protein

Eating Out: If you have to eat while out why not prepare a small lunch box of good food before you go out? If you don't it's very likely you will make poor food choices or worse still someone you are meeting will make those choices for you!

Consider preparing before you leave and storing it in your bag some of the following items:

• Sliced apple or orange or an unpeeled banana
• Some nuts, brazil or walnut
• A small bag of soft pitted prunes, very good for the intestines
• A home-made sandwich made-up of low-calorie brown bread with low-calorie cheese triangle slices
• A home-made vegetable soup heated up and in a thermos flask

This is not a definitive list - add your own favourite good-for-you snack

It's never a good idea to eat on-the-move and by on the move I mean even when you are getting something out of the fridge, cooking the children’s tea or walking around a supermarket. 

All of these grazing moments add up — and not in a good way.

Alert!  RTE's Operation Transformation starts today. This program takes groups of ordinary people and helps them transform themselves through healthy eating and exercise. 

#OperationTransformation is back with a new series next Wednesday (6th Jan, 9.35pm @RTEOne

Follow it on https://twitter.com/OpTranRTE

Footnote - My Progress - This time it's personal!

Today I can report a drop of .6 of a pound so now at 165.00 pounds so 10 pounds to go. My success today was a continuation of showing strong willpower. 

There was a packet of chocolate biscuits delivered by Tesco yesterday and that joined a packet of digestive on the counter in the kitchen. I know I'm making it hard for myself as per Rule 1 - no temptation should be in the home. I do enjoy the odd "sin" or treat, normally but right now I can only look but not touch. I know if either packet is opened I will wolf them down in two's and three's. So my advice is don't have the temptation around while on this diet. I am living dangerously but look at it another way. Proof your a serious about this diet by having your "sin" sat close by and just say "No - I am not giving in. When I hit my target then I'll enjoy you. Treat it as a reward you will have earned when you get down to the weight you want."

My target is to lose 12 pounds and aiming for one pound per week.

#weightloss, #loseweightnow, #loseweight, #getfit, #weightlosstransformation , #weightlossdiet, #loseweightnaturally, #operationtransformation,

Step 3 Find a diet buddy and what about a food diary?

In the absence of being able to or wanting to join a slimming group why not find a friend or group of friends to join you in this year's weight loss venture? There are millions of people like you seeking to lose weight. Ask around. 

If you are living together all the better but if your diet buddy is a neighbour then met up in the garden or go for walks socially distanced. If they are further afield, remember Zoom offers free video conferencing for forty minutes and you can make video calls with most mobile phones.

We’re social creatures and tend to mimic others, so if your partner, friends or colleagues could do with getting fitter or losing weight why not invite them to join you?

By including another person in your weight loss bubble you have another reason to think twice before eating badly or giving up and you can offer each other support and motivation. You can trade diet tips, recipes or exercise together. 

If you can involve your partner then you can cook one meal for both of you rather than cooking separate meals. 

If you are even slightly competitive you can motivate yourself by trying to lose more weight than your diet buddy. 

Another tip some people find useful is the filling in of a Wellness Diary,  Just note, for even the first few days, what food and drink you consume. You may be surprised by the diaries contents as much of the food we eat is consumed while on auto-pilot. The biscuit or slice of cake that accompanies the coffee you have six times a day, the four slices of toast that you ate at breakfast, the sandwiches you grabbed on the run, the bar of chocolate you consumed sat in a traffic jam. Knowledge is power. Empower yourself. 

Alert!  RTE's Operation Transformation starts today. This program takes groups of ordinary people and helps them transform themselves through healthy eating and exercise. 

#OperationTransformation is back with a new series today (6th Jan, 9.35pm @RTEOne

Follow it on https://twitter.com/OpTranRTE

Footnote: My Progress for day 3

At last a day I can declare a weight loss!

Down one whole pound and what I did was cut out the large meal portion for tea replacing it with a medium portion of chicken casserole.  I also had no biscuits with my half a dozen coffees throughout the day. That evening I still allowed myself a good-sized glass of red wine while watching the brilliant Queens Gambit, a new six part series on Netflix. Its the first series that has really engaged me since the lockdown began. We follow the life of an orphan girl, born in the US in the 1950's and who is seriously talented at playing chess, a talent she stumbled upon while watching the janitor of the orphanage playing during his break times. 

You can lose weight and have a few sins along the way!