CHECK-IN - APRIL 6TH

LAST CHECK-IN

March 26th.....

Weight 95.5

Daily steps - not counted but better than previous general movement.

Daily Exercise -zip

Goal for March 26 - April 5th

Weight - less than 94.5 kg

Daily Steps - 1000 plus deliberate walking

Daily Exercycle - 10 min.

HOW I DID - APRIL 6TH

Weight:- 94.6

Daily Steps - 0

Daily Exercycle - 0

WHERE I'M HEADING

Nothing can be achieved unless I have some kind of goal in sight. 

I'm not putting a time line on this.

My reason is important.... I need to enjoy being more active. 

There are too many things I want to do.

I cannot allow myself to vegetate.

Weight - less than 85 kg
Daily Steps - 3000 plus
Daily Exercycle - 30 min.

USE IT OR LOSE IT

CHECK - IN

Goal for March 15 - 22

Weight - less than 96 kg
Daily Steps - 500 plus
Daily Exercycle - 10 min.

March 26th.....

Weight 95.5
Daily steps - not counted but better than previous general movement.
Daily Exercise -zip

Goal for March 26 - April 5th

Weight - less than 94,5 kg
Daily Steps - 1000 plus deliberate walking
Daily Exercycle - 10 min.

WHERE I'M HEADING

Nothing can be achieved unless I have some kind of goal in sight. 

I'm not putting a time line on this.

My reason is important.... I need to enjoy being more active. 

There are too many things I want to do.

I cannot allow myself to vegetate.

Weight - less than 85 kg
Daily Steps - 3000 plus
Daily Exercycle - 30 min.

USE IT OR LOSE IT

6 YEARS ON

STILL CONCERNED ABOUT HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS

My weight has crept up over the years. My eating has been abysmal at times and my physical strength and fitness is non existent. I've made an effort from time to time but somehow have lost ground and incentive.

 My 80th birthday is weeks away and there have been too many major changes and a few devastating events over the last few years. I feel as though I completely lost the plot when it came to caring for me. Losing John last year, 10 months ago, has been a huge adjustment.

I decided right from the start to treat this change as an adventure. Easier said than done.

Slowly I'm beginning to find my own feet and learning to live as a single person. I knew that it wouldn't be easy and my age would probably complicate the energy, (mental, emotional and physical), left to put into this new phase.

Recently I've been eating better. I've stopped drinking Nestle Cappuccinos. They are evil and actually make me quite unwell but so tempting. I often crave one but there are none in the house and I've resisted buying anymore this month. I have also stopped buying bread. I thought I could get away with some but the reality is I also crave it and can eat many slices a day. I just love a sandwich made with Vogel sunflower seed bread slathered generously with butter and filled with thick ham, loads of crunchy iceberg lettuce and mayo. Very satisfying but it also kept feeding my addiction and the offshoot symptoms I get from eating too much wheat.

I guess it's back to a ketogenic diet for me. That's when I felt at my best but it's not all that easy to stay true. I've ordered a new blood testing kit with strips. It should arrive in the next few days. In the meantime I'm back on a morning routine of Keto coffee with cream and coconut oil.  Brunch is a mainly nuts mixture with plain Greek yoghurt. I play a bit fast and loose with the nut mixture. I toast a mix of nuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Then I add in a little dried fruit, maybe cranberry or apricots and sometimes a pkt of Hubbards  granola... just as the mood takes me. We usually have dinner together, meaning Amanda, Wayne, and Ava. We take turns at cooking and are all trying to make our dinner healthier and cut out takeaway. We have fallen into some very bad habits. Last year was quite difficult in some ways. We missed John in so many ways. It's only as we look back that we realise how much his death affected us and far more than we could have imagined. Grief proved to be a strange thing.

Wayne and Amanda's property business suddenly took of with a bang. They were well prepared but it's still been a huge learning curve. Ava-Jane is growing up. She's now 4 years and 4 months. Today I had charge for most of the day and we did some sewing. I gave her needle and thread and showed her how to make stitches. She wanted to make a shoe.for one of her dolls. It turned out to be a very strange thing but then I had no idea how to achieve her goal either. Next time I'll help her make something that actually works.

I have Noooo energy. It's a real nuisance. Generally I think my health is OK. I take medication for high blood pressure and sometimes indigestion but that's about it. All I'm really good for is a little pottering and I mean little, and sitting and sewing, watching TV and playing solitaire or doing on line sudoku. I talk about walking but even going to the gate for mail feels like too much effort. How ridiculous is that.

Because this frightens me I am setting up a plan. I don't know how I'm going to follow through and make it work. I don't know where I'm going to get the will to make the effort required but I know that age is not an excuse to do nothing, I've tried that but I know it's a lie and doesn't sit well with me.

Current weight - around 97 kg.
Current number of daily steps - less than 500
Exercycle - 0

Goal for March 15 - 22

Weight - less than 96 kg
Daily Steps - 500 plus
Daily Exercycle - 10 min.

Lets see if this attempt to get my life together takes or is nothing more than I flash in the pan.

Lowest recorded weight since I decided to be mainly wheat free and even nutritional ketosis appears to be:-

 81 kg in September 2013 

Obviously I did not maintain the lifestyle necessary to maintain this change. On the positive side I have rarely gone over 100 kg over this 5.5 year period. 

REVISED GOALS FOR 2013 AND ON

'Where do you want to be in 5, 10, 15 years.' I dismissed the longer periods because in 15 years I will be 87 years old and realistically it's hard to plan for that age. 


I can plan for 5 years. 77 is not so daunting to me. To weigh an acceptable and healthy weight at 77 years old is now my goal. That means I need to lose about 50 kg/110 lbs. I aim to lose 50 pounds this year, around 30 pounds in 2013, 15 pounds in 2014 and the remainder in 2015. Job done! I can't believe it's that simple to plan a strategy to reach my healthy goal weight and time to spare at that. So easy to say. Not nearly as easy to be that consistent.

Cutting out wheat lead to significant weight loss in the first half of 2012. 

It became clear that I need to do more so I began some experimenting with different ratios of macronutrients, proteins, carbohydrates and fats. To do this I chose a calorie limit because it was the simplest way to work out percentages.

I followed Jimmy Moore's n=1 experiment with nutritional ketosis and have decided it will probably work for me.

It would be good to weigh 59 kg/130 lbs once more.

To reach that magic number I need to lose 28 kg/62 lbs

My goal is to lose between 14 and 20 kg, (31 - 44 pounds), this year. I'm not sure how easy or hard this will be because I've not lost much weight for the last 4 months.

I intend to be successful by being in nutritional ketosis most of the time. I have ordered a ketone meter and strips. That will be interesting.

One thing I need to watch out for is muscle depletion and loss of strength and balance. There is no point losing weight if I do not gain energy and increase my stamina for general activity.

To this end I want to commit to walking or similar daily and once a week 'Smart Exercise'which I need to learn a lot more about.

One thing I know. I will never again be as fat as I was at the beginning of 2012.

MACRO-NUTRIENT GOAL

135g fat (79%)

54g protein (14%)

27g carbs (7%)

NEW YEAR'S EVE CHALLENGE

I am laying it out here for the record. 

Starting weight ... August 25th = 88 kg/194 lbs.

December 31st Goal = 65 kg/144 lbs

March 30th 2013, Ultimate Goal = 58-60 kg or 128 - 132 lbs.

I have 29 weeks to reach my Ultimate Goal and I still feel reasonably confident that this is achievable. It depends to a large extent on how much difference being dairy free makes to my general health. I have not factored in my age so that could mean the weight might come off more slowly than The Plan. Again if my goals are not met I will still be slimmer and that makes me a winner.

I am currently experimenting with being dairy free.

I am also drawing a line through all grains and potato just as I did with wheat at the beginning of the year.

TIME CAPSULE TO OPEN ON DECEMBER 31ST 2012

Dear Me,

You have made the first 6 months of 2012 count in your efforts to improve your health.

I hope you have continued to aim high. At the time I'm writing to you you've lost about 25 kg this year although not all of that shows in your records. I think if you had weighed yourself on January 1st or even December 31st 2011, you would have been shocked. You had some signs of serious health problems which I'm pleased to say have reversed somewhat but you are not home free.

I wonder if your blood pressure readings have dropped enough for Dr. Jeanie to reduce your medication. 

You wrote some exercise goals on a monthly basis. I'm hoping that you continued to challenge yourself.

It would be good to see that you are using the cross-trainer or walking on the beach for about one hour per day at least 5 days per week. I'm hoping you are doing stretch exercises 4 or 5 days a week with some resistance exercises two or three times a week. I know it all takes time and some days it doesn't work out but you wrote a good plan and it should be working for you by now.

I presume that you have remained grain free and plan to continue to do so. I applaud you for this.

The last time you wrote a Time Capsule you mentioned your spiritual walk, being more creative and finishing some of the things which you began long ago.

I'm not going to mention them this time because I think you have your work cut out managing your life as it is.

There have been some major changes with Mum's death in January and David being in prison for a possible 6 years.

You are about to become a grandmother. This will change your priorities somewhat.

There will be other lifestyle changes and you have many dreams. I do hope that some of those dreams are beginning to look possible when you open this.

If not, remember to Live Life As It Is.

Dreaming is useful but to get lost in your dreams is not.

Dreaming is so you can set goals and plan toward them.

Living is enjoying the moment or at least rejoicing that you are experiencing it. Sometimes the moment is too painful to enjoy but at least you can rejoice in the Lord your God through the painful parts.

2012 has been a big year for you. I believe you have lived it well.

2013 will have as many challenges again. Go forward and do not lose sight of the value of maintaining optimal health so you can live the best possible life.

Live Life, Live to the Full. 

A prayer for Me

For this reason I kneel before the Father, 

from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you 

with power through his Spirit in your inner being,  

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. 

And I pray that you, 

being rooted and established in love,  

may have power, 

together with all the Lord’s holy people, 

to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 

 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – 

that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

 Now to him who is able to do 

immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, 

according to his power that is at work within us, 

to him be glory in the church 

and in Christ Jesus

throughout all generation,

for ever and ever!

Amen. 

Ephesians 14-21