Health Accountability & Encouragement #3 – Adding Diet to My Plan

Final Note – Friday, August 13, 2021

Yes, well…

I woke up in the middle of the night with a stomach ache – second night it’s occurred. I know what happened, too. I didn’t eat all day and ate all my calories at once… at night, for dinner. No colon should have to endure that!

My new lifestyle is a work in progress.

So, while awake, I thought about this post/ thread…

The reason this is a “Final Note” is that I’ve decided that these accountability posts are no longer serving anyone. My stats say very few – okay, usually nobody – is looking. As I mentioned yesterday (HERE) my check-in videos aren’t faring much better. My progress is slow, not fast, and I haven’t shared my weight and/or photos of me in my underwear (oh, so salacious, LOL!).

The walking one was GREAT because I was building a habit and needed to see the steps in action.

This one – the diet one – well, see… I’m already eating below the calorie count for the day and even doing okay on the carbs, protein and fat. My problem was never that I ate the wrong things… or even too much on an average day.

My problem was NOT MOVING and BINGE EATING.

Of course, I’m still on my “journey” and frankly, I also hated calling it that, even though it is a journey. It sounds insipid. Cloying.

Anyway…

I will – of course – be sharing as I go. Once I’ve gotten where I want to be, I’ll be sharing before and after pics and numbers. Until then… I’ll just be living my “journey”.

Thanks to all who have been encouraging me for the last two months while I built the walking habit!!

August 12

I didn’t do this on purpose.

Yes, there is such a thing as not eating enough. I don’t wanna try to make it up now because it’s too late at night to eat.

August 11

There was a heat advisory today and after feeling sick after yesterday’s walk in the heat, I didn’t go out today. I walked inside but not enough. I need to work on that as summer winds down!

August 10

This is all about relearning what is good and bad and in-between.

I ate less calories today but my fat content was still too high.

I’m trying to spread my food intake out so most of it’s all at night – dinner and afterwards.

Also, this cool app is adjusting (lowering) my daily quota of calories, carbs, protein, and fat as I go.

August 9

I will be adding my diet progress for the day after dinner. Stay tuned!

Okay, I’m back and obviously learning new things! Like, going over my allotted fat intake with that last cup of decaf coffee with cream! Yikes!

Also, 4000+ steps burns only 322 calories. Interesting!

Finally, i’m not eating enough for breakfast and lunch and eating too much for dinner!

August 8

Since June 7, I have been on a health journey that began with a simple task: WALK.

Understand, by JUST WALKING, not changing ANYTHING ELSE in my life, I have lost a solid 15 pounds in 8 weeks. I call that a WIN! To see how it went, feel free to check out these two threads with the daily steps, notes and photos.

Thread 1

Thread 2

However, during my weekly weigh-ins, I have noticed something icky… that stubborn bathroom scale has stopped at a certain weight and NOT BUDGED for two weeks.

UGH.

The time has come to ramp up my plan to include a better, more nutritious, and lower-calorie diet. I assure you, this is no starvation diet! I’m still not looking for quick weight loss… I just want to see a progressive, small weight loss as I go. Even a pound a week would be awesome, sometimes two, sometimes zero! It’s okay, as long as it’s going on a downward trajectory.

I will also be working on cutting out as much (hopefully, all) processed and “added” sugar as possible. We’ve already started to do this because of my husband’s Diabetes 2 diagnosis.

Sugar = Inflammation… and that’s a big, BIG problem for people with lipedema.

I WILL still be walking! I had hoped to average 5,000 steps daily but it occurred to me that maybe it’s an unrealistic goal *at my current weight* and with lipedema, which makes my legs feel so heavy (cuz, they are!). I can stay at 3,000-5,000 steps and lose as I go along to help my stamina and carry… well… less weight as I go. For reference, pick up a bag of potatoes… no, maybe 10 bags… and see how that feels to carry. Good Lord, how have I been doing this all these years? Yipes!

I picked out an app on my phone that wasn’t too expensive to take the calorie-counting to a new level. It’s called YAZIO. <<< Check it out! The app has been rated 4.7 stars out of 5 from over a million users. (Not that I need to say this but I am getting no compensation for sharing this recommendation).

I plugged in my details (height, weight, age, etc) and the program determined I need 1769 calories a day to lose 100 pounds in 14 months. That sounds logical and doable to me.

It links with my health app and transfers my steps to calculate calories eaten and burned.

It measures vitamins, minerals, fat, sugars, carbs, protein, etc etc etc.

And it comes with a handy, dandy health “coach” that bugs you that you need more water or a snack.

There are other things to do on the app, as well, including adding measurements — I’m POSITIVE I’ve lost inches, even if it hasn’t translated into weight loss – just from the walking.

Okay, enough about the diet portion.

Yes, I really *will* share my weight at some point but right now, it’s honestly just too embarrassing. Even I, the loud-mouthed Whisperer, draw the line somewhere.

I will say that I’m over 200 pounds… but my guess is that you already knew that.

I see those women who go on YouTube and show themselves in their underwear to prove the point that they’re obese. I won’t be doing that EVER. But I have been keeping track on my health app, so I know exactly where I began, where I am, and where I’m going.

About the only thing worse that sharing my weight or posing in my undies would be singing, which has nothing to do with weight loss and everything to do with it being something I love that feels (for some unknown reason) very intimate… and I can no longer carry even one note in a bucket and am insanely jealous of anyone who can. Phew! It’s SO NOT FAIR. But I digress.

To get back to the subject at hand…

My old friends meditation and tapping are coming back to the table, as well. I may have to buy an app for that, too. I have the freebies of both… but sometimes, you gotta bite the bullet and pay for what you need. We shall see.

Okay, this will be the first post, which will fall to the bottom as I add to it daily, sharing my end-of-day summary of the calories and/or anything else that may come up. I may still share steps. Just depends on my mood. LOL