Losing Weight - Frugal Phone App

I have been trying to keep my weight down ever since I became a full time homemaker.  It was a struggle before when I was working full time but working outside of the home meant that I couldn’t snack.  I never had time to snack because I was very busy working.  Now that I am home I am surrounded by my kitchen most of the time.  Another factor is that I am 3 years older (53 years old) and I have reached the point in many a woman’s life when you know weight control is going to be an uphill battle. 

Let’s face the facts; it all comes down to calories in and calories out.  Also I can be too hard on myself many times and I need to relax.  My weight is 145 lbs. and I am 5’ 5”.  I weighed 125 lbs. when I got married some 32 years ago, but that is history and I’ll never see that again unless I starve myself and continue to starve myself to keep it off.  So it comes down to this – 145 lbs. isn’t so bad and I need to accept it. 

I remember in the Tightwad Gazette books that Amy Dacyczyn talked about losing weight and how she did it.  She counted calories.  Sometimes it’s the simplest things that work the best.  My weight started to creep up on me a couple of weeks ago and I hit 148 lbs.  I knew it was a sign that I needed to be more careful about what I was putting in my mouth and just as important how I was burning those calories, namely exercising.

I was delighted to come across a great app for my phone – My Fitness Pal.  It is a free app.  This app helps me keep track of what I eat.  It has thousands upon thousands of foods and their calories, including restaurant foods.  So far there hasn’t been one thing that I eat that hasn’t been in their food calorie log.  Then there is the fitness app.  There is just about every work out plan possible in this app and you simply have to input how much time you spent in the exercise and the app determines how many calories were burned.  It has my Curves Circuit workout calculated which led me to realize that I needed to do something else so I am now walking a few miles a day.

This app is super simple.  I just had to input some basic information, along with my weight loss goal.  It calculated the amount of calories I was allowed per day.  Then when I exercised it added those exercise calories burned into my food calories.  The more I exercised the more calories I could take in, if I wanted to.  At the end of each day I simply log off the day and the app tells me that if I continue what I did that day what the results will be in 5 weeks.  Namely it has predicted that I will be down to 142 lbs. 

It is a fun app that keeps me accountable.  Also it is so easy to input the information no matter where I am at.  Best of all it is free.  I like free. 

Losing Weight - Update

Since the beginning of December I have lost 12 lbs.  I am down to 139 lbs. and my goal was 135 lbs.  I'm not sure I can get to 135 lbs. or that I even want to.  Right now I can fit into a lot of clothes that I couldn't fit into before and I am satisfied. 

How did I do it?  Weight Watchers, exercise and just being careful not to over eat.  I have also been eating a lot more fresh fruit.  When I'm hungry I reach for a banana or a clementine orange.  My new goal is maintaining and beefing up the exercise (beefing up is a poor choice of words). 

It was a hard journey.  The first week I gained 1 lb. and then I began to lose 1 lb. or 1 and 1/2 lbs. a week.  I have also lost quite a bit in inches. 

Losing weight is not my favorite thing to do so I will work just as hard to not gain it back.  The best decision I made was to start my weight loss journey before Christmas.  That decision kept me from overeating during the holidays. 

Being at Peace with My Weight

In previous posts I have talked about the need to lose weight and how some clothes do not fit anymore.  Well, last week I had to sit myself down and have a reality check.  I am not overweight.  I actually do not need to lose weight. 

Some clothes in my closet do not fit.  The question is do I want to wear crop pants (or for that matter anything in my closet) that I purchased over 5 or 6 years ago?  I lost a lot of weight too quickly 3 years ago and I knew that I would end up gaining it back as it was just a fact.  You lose weight very, very fast and it will not stay off forever.

Instead I have made a lifestyle change by including exercise in my daily life.  I have changed my routine somewhat in that when I work out on my Bowflex Tread Climber I go strong for 10 minutes, then I go slow for 5 minutes, then faster for 10 minutes, then slower for 5 minutes and finally I really go as fast I possibly can for 10 minutes and end with a 5 minute cool down.  I used to workout on the treadclimber for 45 minutes straight.

My new workout is better for me in so many ways.  I can handle 10 minute increments with a 5 minute slower pace so much better than 45 minutes of a straight workout.  Also, it has tricked my metabolism.  I have been doing this for 4 weeks now and I can honestly say that it has made a big difference in toning. 

Tweaking my workout has helped tremendously.  I am also at peace with my weight and how I look.  Just because some of my "old" clothes do not fit me, does not mean that I am overweight.  I am 51 years old and I am accepting of my "middle age" body.  For 51 I look great and that is good enough for me. 

Spending my day obsessing and beating myself up because I was unable to get into a pair of capris that I wore back in 2004, does not do me any service nor does it lift me up. 

I know people that would love to be my size.  There are people that truly struggle with weight and have a difficult time losing.

Three years ago I weighed 133 lbs. after I lost 12 lbs. very, very quickly.  Now I weigh 142 lbs.  BTW - I am 5' 5".  I am healthier now by far than I was 3 years ago.  I exercise and I eat healthier and I feel better too.  Whole grains are a big part of my diet now as is a nice big (and I mean big) salad for lunch everyday.  Then at supper I eat whatever I am fixing for everyone else, in moderation, and then that is it.  Yes, I have cookies - 1 or 2 - and not 4 or 5.  And for snacks, I love clementines, apples and I snack on a whole grain granola bar or whole grain cereal. 

Women have a number in their mind of what they feel is a good weight for them.  For me that number has been 135 lbs.   Now I don't have a number.  I just want to fit in clothes and look good and be healthy.  I am not out to look like I did when I was first married - thirty years and three children later - well it isn't going to happen.

In getting older I must accept changes in my body.  As we age we can gain weight and it is okay.  Dressing to look good is what I am more interested in.  I am a good person and I refuse to let my unhealthy body image define who I am and hold be back from what I want to become. 

I purchased some new crop pants from JC Penney this week.  They have had quite a sale so I ordered 2 pairs on line.  I ordered size 12.  I have been a size 10 for 15 years.  The pants arrived yesterday and I tried them on.  One pair is white.  Okay, white crop pants can be a mistake, but I have always wanted a pair of white pants. When I looked in the mirror I was very pleased with my appearance.  The fit was perfect - they weren't too tight and they weren't baggy. 

This is a big deal for many women to move up a size.  Do you know what I learned?  Moving up a size is a good thing.  Having clothes that fit without being tight is a self esteem booster.  Hanging on to clothes that don't fit, opening the closet door and seeing them there is just plain draining on a person's soul. 

Time to move on.

Today I will take all the clothing items out of my closet that do not fit me anymore.   I refuse to hang on to the past and I'm moving on.  And I am going to order two more pairs of size 12 crop pants.

Ramblings on Weight Issues

Women understand what it is like to gain a few pounds and then have your favorite jeans be kind of snug.  I am there right now.  What follows are my rambling thoughts about this problem.

Frustrated and disappointed is the best way I can describe how I feel today.  I weigh myself every morning and this morning I weighed 144 lbs.  (I am 5' 5" tall.)  For me that is on the high end.  I prefer to be at 138 lbs.  I have been working out a lot and some of the added weight is probably some muscle.  But it all isn't.

I almost hesitate to give the numbers as I know there are women out there that want to lose weight and would give anything for it to be only 5 lbs.  They are facing a bigger challenge than I am facing.  However if I don't get a handle on this now, it will be 10 or 15 lbs. by the end of the year. I would rather face losing 5 lbs. then a larger number.

Those 5 lbs. are on my hips and tummy and because of that weight gain jeans, pants and capris are tight and for that matter so are some tops. 

When I hit 50 I knew that I would be facing what a lot of middle age women face:  weight gain.  Gone are the years of being able to eat whatever I want to eat and not have to exercise.  Well, those days were gone in my late 20's. 

Bottom line, I am not happy with my weight.  I can do two things:  buy bigger clothes or do something about it.   I'm choosing to do something about it. 

I've been to Weight Watchers in the past but am choosing not to go that route.  It doesn't fit my budget.  Instead I am cutting out all sweets and then I am cutting my portions in half and will be drinking a lot of water (flavored with lime juice the way I like it).  In the past I have had one dress or pair of jeans that I hang up on the outside of my closet door for me to see.  It is my motivation to lose weight so I can get back into that outfit. 

My DH says that I am obsessive and too hard on myself when it comes to weight.  He is right.  I always criticize how I look in certain clothes and that is not healthy.  I am not looking to be skinny and I am not trying to lose a lot of weight in a short amount of time.  Instead I need to look at this weight loss and subsequent maintenance of my weight as a lifestyle change.  I do not plan to buy any frozen low fat, low cal entrees to eat as I have done in the past but will eat smaller portions of whatever we are having.

Weight loss comes down to two things for me:  restraint and resolve.  If I can maintain restraint and not snack or eat a lot of unhealthy foods; if I can start to view food as fuel for my body and not as a quick satisfaction of hunger; and if I can be firm with this decision and resolve to follow this through and see that these changes are good for me, I will make it.

Sometimes I think that when hunger pangs hit, we automatically think we need to feed ourselves.  Having hunger pangs for me will be a good thing.  It means to me that my body is starting to use up some of the stored body fat and burning up those calories. 

I already know what my roadblocks will be.  I know that in the late afternoon and in the evening around 8:00 I want to snack.  It's a good thing that the weather has been pretty nice as I will be going for walks during those times of the day.

If all goes well, by the time the weather is really warm I will have lost those stupid pounds.  And what if I haven't?  Then I will tell myself that I gave it a good try, am healthier for it and will have to work hard at having a better body image.