November 22, 2010 Day 177 of Year long Journey

I weigh 213 pounds, body fat 47%. I am a bit depressed the last couple of days. I drank my calories mostly in wine this weekend. I was about to google on what will make me have energy and get out of bed. I did not get around to it. I did get around to buying my first good food processor. I make my first green smoothie last night with it, heart of romaine lettuce, cup of fresh pineapple, one fuji apple and a cup of fat free Greek yogurt. It was ok, but not cold like I want my drinks.

This morning, I made my green smoothie with frozen banana chunks instead of the apple. It was actually good. I need to buy straws to top off my green smoothies each day. I do feel I have more energy than the last few days.

My cooler has African stew and a skinless sautéed chicken breast.

I hope I have the willpower to stop at the gym I own and drive past each day after work.

I have twenty five and a half more weeks to lose the more fifty pounds I set as my goal. I am not ready to change it just yet. I can lose two pounds per week, cut 500 calories and exercise 500 calories must be doable.

I know I have not lost net weight since a month ago. I hope the green smoothies save me.

November 5, 2010 Day 160 of Year long Journey

My food cooler for the day has steel oatmeal, six half walnuts and 100 calories of organic raisins for sweetening. I have already had an 2 egg white, 2 egg omelet with one ounce of extra sharp cheddar cheese fried in one teaspoon of butter. I will have the oatmeal in about two hours from now. Lunch is a delicious spicy pinto beans with brown rice. Next time I will omit the rice. I do not care for it. I do love beans. Snacks in the cooler are yogurt, banana and small apple. Yesterday I went to the gym spent 25 minutes on treadmill, 22 minutes on elliptical for three miles. Today after work, I will take the body pump class and later yoga. Yoga is my favorite. I get so relaxed I have fallen asleep at the end. I have not weight myself in a few days. I feel I am at the same weight last posting two hundred and ten pounds. I am looking forward to starting my weight with a one. I realize vegetables can so much more flavor than meat. Feeling good!

October 29, 2010 Day 154 of Year long Journey

I lost three pounds since last posting. I weight two hundred and ten pounds. The young women engineers starting at work and have encouraged me to work out at the gym every day after work. Yesterday I did body pump and yoga. I am eating so healthy. I do not have time to cook like “You on a diet” suggests. I have only healthy food in the house, so I am encouraged to eat healthy. I have so much more energy. I look forward to losing the next forty nine pounds to get to my year long goal.

October 24, 2010 Day 149 of Year long Journey

It is a beautiful sunny seventy degrees here in Maryland with outstanding scenery for my daily thirty minute walk. I enjoy the hills and dips, unlike the flat land of Chicago. I do miss Chicago but for the people, not the weather. I did not weigh myself today. I know I have eaten only healthy food and merlot wine. I found a new recipe I like, whole wheat pita, 100 calories, with laughing cow cheese spread across the pita and reduced sodium turkey slices from the Martin’s deli. It was so good, I ate two for lunch. Not bad for 200 calories each! My dessert is a small apple. For breakfast I had oatmeal with raisins to sweeten it and a handful of walnuts. Of course I had my black coffee.

I look forward to weighing one hundred and fifty nine pounds. That would be, two hundred and thirteen minus one hundred and fifty nine pounds equals fifty four pounds to lose in thirty seven weeks. That is one and a half pounds a week. That is doable. I have to step up my game. Blog when I know I am not losing weight. I am beginning to love me more and want to live to become an old woman.

October 23, 2010 Day 148 of Year long Journey

I now weight two hundred and thirteen pounds. I have lost five pounds since my last posting. My body fat is the same forty seven percent. I walked thirty minutes this afternoon. I shopped for the "You on a diet" for the next week. I feel so much better when I eat healthy.

Yesterday I ordered a BBQ pulled pork sandwich with macaroni and cheese. It looked and tasted like leftovers, probably food from another person's plate. I look forward to making my healthy dishes. Tonight I will have baked salmon, African vegetable stew and baked asparagus. Healthy food is not inexpensive. I spent $178 for food. I am so worth it!

Day 35 of Year long Journey

I lost three pounds from my last posting, down to two hundred and eighteen pounds. My body fat is still forty six percent. I have lost seven pounds in thirty five days. I feel so much better eating healthy. I found Dr. Oz shopping list online:

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/anti-cancer-shopping-list

I have automated my breakfast and lunch. Dr. Oz had a great idea of making oatmeal for a week and storing it in the refrigerator. For breakfast I have micro waved steel oats with frozen wild blueberries, one-eight cup of slivered almonds or two tablespoons of flaxseed. Dr. Oz said to get rid of the honey, but I add a tablespoon to my oatmeal. This hearty breakfast easily takes me to lunch. Lunch is a chopped salad using my progressive Vivaldi onion chopper, I cut the grape tomatoes, peppers, salad onions and maybe olives. I cut the salad mixed greens or spinach with a knife and fork, add the vegetables, two tablespoons of shredded fancy Italian parmesan cheese. Depending on how bitter the greens are I add one to two tablespoons of poppy seed salad dressing. I add wild salmon cooked from frozen or grilled chicken strips from frozen. Costco loves my money. Dinner is usually hummus and organic whole grain crackers.

I increased my leg press machine weights to one hundred and seventy pounds. My body is much more useful to me. Look out one hundred and seventy pounds.

Day 31 of Year long Journey

I still weigh two hundred and twenty one pounds. I have lost four pounds in thirty one days, an average of one pound per week. When I was younger this would have been double the weight loss. My body is fighting against losing weight. I wish I could tell it, there is no famine, just me trying to lose weight.

I will not give up. My body fat is down four percent to forty six percent. This is obese. I am happy to say I have ate healthy the last week. I think I might have to give up alcohol too. It has too many calories in it. Right now, I just drink on the weekends like I have a job or something.

I am working on getting my money right so I can retire securely. I do not have to have a big screen tv, just access to a library, fairly safe neighborhood, and a place to work out nearby.

June 23, 2010 Day 26 of Year long Journey

I weight two hundred and twenty one pounds. I have lost four pounds in twenty six days, an average of one pound per week. I am following Dr. Oz’s book, “You on a diet” except I kept the honey he told me throw out. I eat so much healthier, exercise five days a week. Yesterday I walked a mile to the park and ran for one minute and walked back home. If my feet were not wet from running, I would have walked for three minutes and run another minute and repeat this. It was very humid yesterday.

Since I am not working, my priority is to get healthy weight wise and take the teacher’s certification tests for physics and math next month. I plan to attend the Society of Women engineer’s conference in November. I hope I get a job there.

June 16, 2010 Day 19 of Year long Journey

I am down to forty seven percent body fat from fifty percent body fat. I have increased my exercise to two hours a day. One hour a day was not allowing me to lose weight. Two women at the gym mentioned that I had lost weight. Why can’t I just accept the compliment and say thank you? I have to say, “I only lost five pounds….” Body fat is more important.

I am using my perseverance that helped me earn two electrical engineering degrees, raise two college graduate children as a single mother to get myself healthy. I want to get off of high blood pressure and statins. I believe they are both related to my obesity. Fortunately, my fasting blood sugar level is eighty. Years ago it was seventy.

I am using dietpower software to track my nutrition and calories. A spinach salad with tomatoes, feta cheese, (1 ounce, I measure), red onions, 2 olives and sometimes one tablespoon of poppy seed dressing, (75 calories), add 2 wild salmon patties from frozen and I get an A in dietpower. Unfortunately, when I drink 350 ml of white wine, it goes down to a C. Dietpower tells me I will make my end of June goal of two hundred and twenty pounds. My goal for July will be another ten pounds.

This will be the summer of my content!

June 12, 2010 Day 15 of Year long Journey

I lost a pound, down to two hundred and twenty four pounds and forty-eight percent body fat. I was on the leg press machine doing my usual one hundred and thirty five pounds when I realized it was too light. I came back to the leg press and increased the weight to one hundred and fifty. I was easily able to do one hundred and fifty pounds for two reps of twenty five. This is proof of muscle building. A young woman at the gym told me I inspired her. I relayed to her that he 80something women pumping iron inspire me.

When I did body pump for two years, I lost forty pounds. When I stopped for a year, I gained it all back. I know it is not the exercise or one thing that gets me off track off keeping myself healthy. I hope to continue body pump into my nineties, and yoga forever. I do enjoy body stretching and muscle building activities.

One pound loss in two weeks is discouraging. I worked out for two hours yesterday. I am increasing my exercise to at least ninety minutes a day. I learned I can enjoy salads without the salad dressing added. I switched coffeemate creamer to soy milk creamer with half the calories and no saturated fats. I am in it for life.

June 10, 2010 Day 13 of Year long Journey

Obviously, I have not written in about a week because I have not lost any weight. The scale says two twenty five pounds with forty eight percent body fat. I went up a pound but down one body fat percent. I have not lost a pound in all thirteen days. I will not quit. I will double my efforts. I will increase my workout for one hour and a half each day. Monday, Wednesday and Friday I will lift heavy weights for thirty minutes including warm up and stretches and one hour body pump class. On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I will do ninety minutes of light aerobics. Sunday I will walk a 5K. Yesterday I gave up hazelnut coffee cream for Silk soy milk in my coffee. That is one hundred and twenty calories I can eliminate from my daily diet.

I plan to post more positive news about my weight loss tomorrow.

June 4, 2010 Day 7 of Year long Journey

My food obsession has been alleviated over the last week. I have a process of waking up, turning the second computer on that hosts dietpower, make coffee and one or two of my usual breakfasts, whole grain toast with almond butter or steel oats with slivered almonds and brown sugar, turn the main computer on, go back to the first computer to log in what I plan to eat for the day in dietpower. I usually follow what I have logged. Sometimes I eat more or less. I write down the changes on sticky pad notes that I will log onto my dietpower later.

I have been sticking to less than 1300 calories, not including the 500 calories I burn exercising each day. If I exercise I will have 1800 calories. I eat better when I use dietpower. I usually get a B or C for the day. I take calcium, fish oil and vitamins to help this body.

I have lost about five pounds. This morning the scale read 224 pounds and 49% body fat. I will lift weights three times a week for over an hour to keep my muscle and hopefully only lose fat. My body pump workouts remind me of the biggest loser workouts. I am fighting for the added years on my life. I see myself at 150 pounds.

I will not miss donuts, cakes, pies and other foods that are bad for my health. At fifty three, I have had more than my share. I want to be the last golden girl alive like Betty White.

June 2, 2010 Day 5 of Year long Journey

Memorial Day was a reason to eat three thousand calories. I worked out at the gym for one hour yesterday and kept my calories to thirteen hundred calories. It was difficult getting back to the gym. My first mistake was announcing I am on a diet. That is my way to get people to say, ‘it is a holiday, eat, eat and drink’. I obliged them. Did them a favor.

I am honestly serious about this weight loss. I believe when I am sixty five pounds lighter I will look more attractive to employers. It is bad enough I am fifty something.

I went to a food support group meeting yesterday. Today I will stay around thirteen hundred calories and workout for ninety minutes today.

I am living my life like it is golden.

Not Diabetic - May 31, 2010 Day 3 of Year long Journey

I decided to not buy the cognac at Costco yesterday. I am working on what to replace my overeating with. I did bring home a box of skinny cow ice cream sandwiches. I have a morning high from it being morning and my coffee.

Yesterday I kept to my 1300 calories plus 140 calories because I walked three and a half miles which gives me an extra 350 calories to eat. Lately, I have not had the urge to eat processed, cheetos, hostess and other junk food. My precious beautiful daughter encouraged not to drink too much cognac with me being unemployed. I am keeping myself busy.

I will retake the Illinois Certified Teacher test for physics in July 2010. I am watching the greatest physics lectures on MIT’s open courseware site.

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-02-electricity-and-magnetism-spring-2002/

It is the best site I have found in years. The instructor is entertaining. Best of all, I don’t have to take the mid-term or final. MIT is the number one engineering school in the US. It is amazing that one can get an education online from MIT from that site.
I volunteered at a couple of sixth grade classrooms in Chicago for career day last Friday. I told them what it is like to be an automotive electrical engineer. I would like to see more young inner city kids choose physics as a college major.

I now weigh two hundred and twenty five pounds. I have sixty five pounds to lose in three hundred and sixty two days to make my goal. I weight myself each morning. I know the body may fluctuate between five pounds. I am happy with the weight going down instead of up.
I use dietpower software as a diabetic checks their body each day by checking their blood. I check what I have put or about to put into my body. Yesterday my nutritional score was a D. Before I ate the second skinny cow, it was a B. I cannot uneat it now. Perhaps I will put it in before I eat it and notice my nutritional score. This is how I plan to diet for life. I have to be honest with myself by keeping track of what I put in my mouth.



My brother-in-law told me “when you are fifty, I guarantee you will have diabetes”. I believe it has been my exercise and desiring whole grain foods that keeps my sugar well below the pre-diabetic sugar range. I know he meant good when he told me that while I was in my forties.


Thank you, for your time in reading this.

May 30, 2010 Day 2 of Year long Journey

I am so fortunate to have mostly good health, two college educated children and living on their own. This morning I do not have the urge to overeat. I ate half of the size of the spinach frittata I had for lunch yesterday, only 250 calories. I am satisfied. I remember when I felt I could not live unless I had a giant sweet roll from Dunkin Donuts that had me hungry two to three hours later. Now my weight is based on my plan to live longer. I look forward to not carrying these extra seventy pounds on my body. I love mornings. To see the sunrise, I am inspired that I am alive and I can do anything.

When it gets dark, it is time to get in bed and watch scary TV, like Law and Order. I took my teenage nieces to see “Nightmare on Elm Street”. I asked the girls later, “Why don’t those kids move off of Elm street?” My answer is, “kids would have to invent their own horror drama.” The great think of being 50-something, Mary J. Blidge said it perfectly, “no more drama in my life”.

I did great sticking to my 1300 calories and working out yesterday. Today I will do a three or four hour walk with my iphone. Now is the perfect time for me. It is 7:30 a.m. and perfect weather. The best time of the day.

Good thing I have been doing is exercising even though I was not losing weight. My body fat is 49%. If I keep up my strength training I should not lose muscle but only fat.

Thank you, for your time in reading this.

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Revelation In Eating Breakfast Today

Those that claim, ‘Diets do not work’ are fools or liars. Diets do work. That is how we get to the size we are. Calories in = calories out + fat/muscle. Diets are unique for everybody since bodies are unique. The many ‘diets" I have tried did not work in the long run, liquid protein diet, twelve hundred daily calorie diet because I could not stick to it. I did not work. The diet did. Sure the diets worked while I was on them. After the liquid protein diet with a weight loss of seventy pounds, I tasted popcorn and it was nirvana. I did not stop eating until I gained the seventy pounds I had lost, plus ten more pounds. I got sad and remained obese for many years.

Once my precious, beautiful, intelligent eleven year old told me I was having problems on the job because of the way I look. She had never said anything similar to that again and she is twenty-something now. Her honesty is another reason to lose the weight and go from obese to at least overweight and stretch goal to normal size.

My mission is to get my two hundred and twenty five pound body to a normal size in three hundred and sixty five days. For me, normal will be one hundred and fifty eight pounds. My stretch goal is to get my weight to one hundred and thirty five pounds in a year. I am using dietpower software to track my daily goal of 1300 calories with all the necessary nutrients. Usually a big salad with grilled chicken breast and two tablespoons of salad dressing gives me an A in nutrients. When I exercised three times a week, I did not lose a pound. Now I am exercising five times a week for ninety minutes. I plan to get up to one hundred and twenty minutes of exercise six days a week.

I did not get overweight until I was in high school, around the time puberty started for me. As many obese people, I was sexually abused. Fat helps protect the inside you. It took a lot to get from 120 pounds as a freshman to 160 pounds as a five month pregnant high school graduate.


Today, I lifted heavy leg weights for about 20 minutes:
Machine Weight Set 1 Set 2

Seated Leg Press 135 12 12
Seated Leg Curl 85 12 12
Leg Extension 85 12 11
Hip Abductor 145 12 12
Hip Adductor 160 12 12
Seated Row 55 12 12

Then I took a sixty minute Les Mills body pump class : http://www.lesmills.com/global/bodypump/bodypump-group-fitness-class.aspx


Before the gym I ate almond butter on a slice of 8 whole grains bread. I had a revelation when I had no desire to eat the second almond butter toast. I was no more hungry for lunch than wen I automatically ate two slices of almond butter toast for breakfast.

After class, had a spinach frittata , 500 calories with the cheeses.

I am on track. I have this desire to drink cognac for my dinner. I will not do that for the main reason, there is none in the house.

Have a happy holiday to those that celebrate Memorial Day.