We didn't manage to finish the closet built-ins until August 2013 and then I slowly worked my way through unpacking my boxes. Since I had gained weight by then, I only unpacked the largest sizes. Even then, I don't recall having a lot of options of clothes that fit me. I'm not going to get into a long discussion of my various health problems, but my closet fell into disuse. There were clothes in there, but by last year, virtually all of them were too small. I tended to avoid going in there because it just made me feel bad. I kept telling myself I should just get rid of the clothes that no longer fit but I suppose I had always hoped I could lose the weight.
On my birthday a few weeks ago I was looking for something to wear and in desperation, I went into my closet and grabbed out some clothes. They fit!
Then yesterday, when I found myself surfing around online looking at clothes to buy, I finally prodded myself back into my closet. It was time to do a proper sift.
I was ecstatic when I realized virtually all of the shirts and dresses fit. I still have a way to go on my weight goals so I may yet have to buy some clothing. But not yet.
The one thing I had managed to do in the intervening years was to get rid of the boxes of smaller clothes I had never unpacked. Now I wish I hadn't. But when I finally reach my goal, I guess my reward will be to do some clothing shopping.
Among the items I hadn't gotten around to doing was getting rid of a couple of tuxes Jeff inherited when he was in high school. They had been altered to fit him at the time so he could wear them to dances/proms. They fit too!
Last April, Jeff and I found ourselves at our highest weights ever. We had spent years sitting around playing video games and eating terrible food. I was struggling to get around and with knee troubles, having a hard time getting up and down the stairs. That is, in part, what prompted us to start looking for a one-story house in Prineville.
Jeff does all the food shopping and I asked him to please stop bringing home cookies and sodas. Back then, I had very little willpower to avoid them even when I should. He was also uneasy about his weight, having just gone for a visit where family members told him he looked fat and having gotten exhausted on a hike with a friend.
Together we decided we were ready to tackle a new project: Our health.
That day Jeff joined Noom. He really benefitted from the lessons and constant reminders throughout the day to log his food. He learned a lot about nutrition, and though I never paid the subscription, much of what he learned rubbed off on me. I decided one subscription in the house was enough, but I eventually installed the free app to track my food and weight.
I will admit the beginning was difficult; I had severe sugar withdrawal. I had dizzy spells and struggled with sugar cravings. And, having so many problems physically, I struggled to exercise. We bought a stationary bike and the first day I rode it for 30 minutes. The ride strained my knee and I could barely get up the stairs for the next few days. So, I throttled back and focused on my eating and doing chair exercises.
Jeff zipped through losing 60 pounds. He lost about 3 pounds a week. He walked everywhere and exercised relentlessly. He reached his goal weight last fall and is now in maintenance. (He's written a bunch of blog posts about his journey if anyone is interested.)
Mostly, Jeff prepared all the food we ate. He did an amazing job. We eat a ton of fruit and vegetables now. It’s nice on Noom that nothing is off limits, but you learn about serving size. For dessert, we might have a big bowl of fruit with a tablespoon of ice cream. Ultimately, we cut out lots of food we used to eat because the calories just aren't worth it. And we've discovered lots of healthy alternatives that fulfill our cravings.
Sometime last fall I tried tasting a Coke, my former addiction. It tasted gross; like chemicals. We poured it out and recently I gave away all the coke we had squirreled away in the pantry.
On average, I have lost about 1.3 pounds a week for a total of more than 50 pounds and it has made a huge difference in my ability to exercise. Stairs are no longer a chore. I ride the exercise bike for 30 minutes daily, as well as walking around the neighborhood when the weather is nice. I spend a lot more time cleaning.
I am still hoping to lose another 50 pounds, but I am feeling proud of what we’ve accomplished in the last year.
We'd decided we should spend November writing, but we were way too distracted to stay focused for very long. It didn't help that I was still in quilt mode at the beginning of the month and I never really managed to set that obsession aside. So, while we did spend several days in November writing, we fell far short of our goal.
We did finish cleaning up the yard and we're hoping the plants survive the severe winter that's been forecasted.
We spent some time working on the interior of the garden shed. Hopefully, we'll find the motivation sometime this winter to continue the work, but I don't expect to really resume work outdoors until next spring.
We've continued to focus on our health. Jeff spends a lot of time cooking throughout the week. He lost 60 pounds this year and is currently maintaining his weight. I'm on a much longer trek, but I've lost more than 40 pounds and as my health improves, I've been able to add more walking and other exercises.
I made plans for 4 more quilts so hopefully, I'll return to sewing soon.
We've lost our way. We had planned to prepare our house for sale and put it on the market this summer, but after a strong start in January our motivation eventually sputtered out. We've had a few spurts of energy where we worked on some difficult projects—like the day I managed to mostly finish sifting through the boxes in my closet—but invariably we crash back down to our comfy recliners.
It hasn't helped our motivation to read reports that house sales and prices are down in Portland and houses are taking longer to sell, especially given that our house will be near the top of the market price-wise. The thought that we could spend months dealing with real estate agents and potential buyers and still end up pulling the house off the market at the end of the season pretty much erased my motivation. And honestly, once the Prineville house was rented out, it took off quite a bit of financial pressure.
At this point, I think there's a good chance we'll end up staying in this house for another couple of years.
There are worse ways to spend a late-spring afternoon
On the bright side, Jeff has gotten really preoccupied with our diet. We'd gotten pretty bad about eating junk food and we'd both gained too much weight. In April, Jeff joined a nutrition website that has really helped keep him (and therefore us, because he does the cooking) on track. It's been over a month since I've had a soda and my weight is very slowly trending down. Exercise would speed my progress but I've been having some knee problems. Right now, I'm trying to do the best I can with just limiting my intake.
I've also been trying to get back into writing. I thought I'd try and write a cozy mystery, but after a couple of false starts, I decided I should first spend a month reading some mysteries (both cozies and other light mysteries) to get a feel for how they work. After only a week, where I started 14 mystery novels and finished only 9 (I ditched the worst of them) I realized I don't enjoy most of the stories with amateur sleuths. They require too much suspension of disbelief. The books I did manage to finish invariably had a detective or other investigator as the protagonist. So, now I'm exploring some other options. I'm still spending quite a lot of time reading. I subscribed to Kindle Unlimited in March and I'm trying to read as much as I can before I cancel it later this month.
We continue with our efforts to change our lifestyle in an attempt to be healthier and lose weight. I continue to track all of my eating and exercise at the SparkPeople website. I make an effort to get out every day and go for a walk with Shasta. Though, with the weather this week, it was a challenge.
When I can't get outside, I have started doing exercise videos; my current favorite is the Leslie Sansone Walk off the Pounds series. My current goal is to do 45-minutes a day of cardio six days a week (I give myself Sundays to rest). I also do about 30-minutes of beginning strength training 5-days a week.
As far as food, we've slowly been using up our pantry and slowly restocking with healthier foods. Nowadays, we mostly buy only wholegrain pasta and flours and other whole grains. We've gradually added more and more beans and vegetables to our diet. I've found some really wonderful recipes using winter squash. We have gathered quite the collection of grains in recent months!
I'm on the lookout for a good bean cookbook, but while I continue to search, I am building up recipes I have collected from the internet. In fact, I have decided one of my goals for 2010 is to learn how to cook beans and to make them a larger part of our diet. I'm striving to add a bean dish to our menu at least once a week.
We're also eating more veges and fruit. I try to eat five servings a day, but at this point I often fail. I have added carrots and celery to snacks, as well as an apple or other seasonal fruit. This year, I'll definitely enjoy the variety of fruit available starting in late spring. I pretty much only buy fruit that's been grown in the United States; I don't want to buy fruit that's been flown in from out of the country. I would buy only local--buy I love apples and they're mostly grown in Washington!
We're spending quite a lot more on food these days as we shop almost entirely at Whole Foods, but we've decided our health is worth it. I'm sure we'll save money in the long run as we'll hopefully need less medical care as we grow older.
Well, Jeff and I are trying to lose weight again. To accomplish that goal, we have been trying to spend less time sitting and more time moving. We also joined a new website, SparkPeople. It's basically a free alternative to Weight Watchers (thanks Karen for the url!) where you can track your nutrition and fitness activities. It looks pretty neat. Jeff and I both set up pages. (Jeff's) (Sharon's)
I've been spending a lot of time entering goals as well as tracking my food intake. I'd really like to be successful this time. If I decide I need more help, then I'll go ahead and join Weight Watchers when we get home from Oregon in January. But SparkPeople seems to be really neat. And I've already gotten a lot of encouragement from folks on there.
I've already taken Shasta for a walk this morning. It's so much easier to be good about walking when it's nice and cool outside. =)
Tonight we're going to my Dad's place for another Thanksgiving dinner. I'm going to try and be good again. I find it works better if I load up on carrots and celery before dinner, then I simply don't have room to overeat as much of the high calorie food.
I have a couple of friends who joined Weight Watchers and had great success at losing weight and I'm thinking about giving it a try. Though, I don't know if it was really Weight Watchers, or if they were just ready and motivated to work at losing weight.
I know I'm getting ready. I'm tired of being overweight and my weight is just getting worse. And the heavier I get, the harder it is to work out. I clearly need to do something about my food intake. =)
I'm thinking about trying the Weight Watchers Online program. Does anybody have any information about it, or ever tried it before? Either with success or failure. Kaiser Members can get a discount.
I'm also looking for virtual WW/weight loss buddies. I don't know exactly how it would work, but I just confirmed we could start a private blog here on Google and we could share our weight/motivational comments with each other. Actually, we don't all have to sign up for Weight Watchers to join the blog; just having buddies to help encourage weight loss is a good thing.
Anyone interested in trying to lose weight with me?
