It has been about 10-12 days since I decided to take control of my weight issues and actually do something about it. I didn't make any huge vows to start big and drop my calories to a certain level. I didn't make any great plans to exercise for such and such length of time. I didn't even promise to drink a specified amount of water. I simply said that I was going to work to track my food and come what may.
That is what I did. I tracked my food. Period. The end. I did nothing else to further my weight loss. I was just bluntly honest with my tracking (including the cough drops that I inhaled like candy due to this never ending cough). I simply tracked my food. Now historically speaking, I do tend to tighten the belt with my calorie intake when I am tracking. That is due to a combination of being cognizant of what I am eating but also the feeling of not wanting to have to admit what I really ate. I am sure that happened this last week. And I will say that I dropped 2.1 pounds. A victory because any loss is a victory.
My weekend was only so so in terms of my eating.....but I tracked it. With that said, I know that it is time to tighten the belt so to speak. It is time to roll into phase two of making small changes in my habits to enact a change within my body. So what change will it be this week? Water consumption? Exercise? What shall it be!
I would love it to be exercise, however I am still battling this crud that started about a week and a half ago. The dry hacking cough is now a wet loose cough that produces nothing and just rattles my chest. (Yeah, so much fun....note the sarcasm!) During this weekend I was outside doing a few things in the yard such as carting lawn furniture to the shed, pulling tomato cages and trellis' from the garden and dragging in hoses.......basically winterizing the yard. I noticed that while I felt fine (other than the cough) when I started doing the work, after a bit of anything more than a simple walk (anything strenuous) that my chest would tighten up and hurt. (Which is honestly no wonder with all this coughing and hacking that I am doing). So exercise is not really in the cards for me right now. I will continue my daily walks with the dog....and maybe even throw in one on my lunch break here and there (which I do on occasion.), But exercise, not a focus at the moment.
Water? Should it be water? Nope, I am letting that one evolve on it's own.
Instead of those things, my next focus will be on lowering my calories. Like before I am not vowing to eat at a certain level of calories. I am not promising to never have cake. I will not be attesting to eating a certain amount of fruits and veggies or upping my protein into the stratosphere. I am not promising anything. I am just saying that it may be time to make an effort to reduce my calorie consumption and to eat as nutritiously as possible.
Yes, I know that my plan is extremely loosey goosey. I know it's crazy and unorganized. I know that it's not scientific. But I know that it's what I need at the moment. I have been writing this blog for almost 20 years. I have made the vows and the promises over and over for years upon years. And it hasn't worked. I have studied and practiced the art form of weight loss for those same years (longer really, because I was working on weight loss before I started this blog)......so I know what needs to be done. I have written scads of words about it. I have even posted videos for years on youtube about my weight loss efforts. Yet I have struggled for so many of those years. (I have also had victorious years and posts thank heavens.) But the promises. The challenges. The goals. The plans. They haven't worked in recent years, so it's time to do something totally different. It's time to throw out the guide and do something totally different. And here we are...it's time to be loosey goosey.
I have been utterly lax with taking pictures of my days and life, so there is no picture to accompany my loosey goosey post. So I will leave you with a pictures of my Goofy Gus, otherwise known as Zoey, our dog!
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| 9/19/2025 Her 3rd birthday |
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| Lazy bum sleeping on the couch |
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| Staring me down |