Since late last Spring I've lost 23 pounds. Pretty impressive, huh?
And the dirty little secret was that it wasn't that hard.
I woke up one day and realized I had dropped a lot of weight.
How did I do it? Well, it started with a visit to my new doctor.
He did a complete physical, along with all the standard blood work.
I was basically fine, but he did say my blood sugar levels were way too high.
I told him that it was no surprise given what a bad sweet tooth I have.
Since I was laid off I had made it a practice to always have some sort of luscious dessert on hand...pies, cakes, cookies, breads, sweet rolls, etc...you name it, I baked it. And I ate it ALL. Not good. Not good for my sugar level and especially not good for my weight.
I had ballooned to 217 pounds. All my clothes fit me pretty tight too.
So I simply decided to cut way, WAY down on the sugar. I went cold turkey on no desserts. The last quick bread I made was at the end of May.
I also cut down on the amount of coffee I have in the mornings. Since I put sugar in my coffee, cutting down from 5 cups a morning to 3 has helped with the sugar intake.
I also cut out potatoes for breakfast.
All I have now are 3 scrambled eggs for protein on a bagel for a load of carbs to get me thru the day.
In the afternoon I have a piece of fruit, usually an apple. I used to have a chunk of the day's dessert--no more. I love apples because it's a good amount of food and they're easy to transport around if I'm out and about. I just throw one in my little backpack with a paper towel. Easy cleanup.
I cut out soda water a long time ago too. I only drink water, most often with a wedge of lemon.
I have a sensible dinner, usually a one pot meal that contains a protein, vegetables, and a little carbs.
Later at night I'd have another go at the sweet stuff; again, that's in the past. Now I usually have a few spoonfuls of peanut butter (Peter Pan if I can find it, my favorite brand since I was a kid).
That's my eating scenario. I can't say it would work for you, but it's done wonders for me.
This is all coupled with more daily exercise.
Since I've gotten older my knees are not what they used to be. Running on a treadmill or outside is not almost impossible. My legs can't take the pounding. So I switched to walking.
When I'm in the city I do what I call "urban hiking". I just walk wherever I go. I've taken a lot of jaunts thru Central Park. I take a small pony of water, an apple and I'm good to go.
The other thing that's helped is supplementing the exercise with two invaluable pieces of technology. I got a new iPod shuffle that holds a lot of songs and the battery lasts forever, much longer than if I used my phone for the same purpose. Having the tunes makes the time go by so much faster.
The second thing is I got a FitBit wristband.
It really helps me keep track of how far I've walked, daily and by the week. It sends me reminders, updates, and encouraging messages.
So all this has helped me drop a lot of weight. It's really nice when people notice. My friend Dean was very complimentary. My sister Kelley noticed the difference in my Instagram profile picture. I even got a comment from one of my doormen who I hadn't seen in a while.
Now the challenge is that I still want to lose an additional 10 to 15 pounds. I really want to look good in a Speedo by next summer. I know I can do it. The funny thing is that I don't really miss all the desserts all that much...that saying keeps rolling around in my head, "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." And that's SO TRUE.
My other mantra is "Conceive, Believe, Achieve"...red Speedo here I come!!
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