Milestones (Amy's diary)

LaMaria said:
Prosecco breakfast on Sunday?
Click to expand...
If not breakfast, lunch, for sure! I'm pondering the menu - moussaka, maybe? (Vego version! ;) )

Thanks, Rob! It's a major milestone for me, though I'm still rather barrelesque in shape. :)
 
Thanks, Petal! :) I really do feel it as a milestone - and it really is! After decades of being clinically obese, I am
:hurray: Overweight At Last! :hurray:​

So it's Prosecco all round - I'm shouting the bar! (It's a bottomless bottle.)
Tomorrow, I'll begin to reflect on this new maintenance stage - how to handle a "pause point" - and on fitness goals rather than more weight loss. But today, I'll just rip that bottle out of the fridge and enjoy myself. Thank you all very much indeed for your support, and for putting up with my pretty repetitive posts. You're all champions! :)
 
Oh Amy, that´s wonderful! :party::party::party:
Enjoy your well-earned prosecco and enjoy maintenance. Maintaining (especially below obesity) is so much healthier than yo-yo-ing and if you´ve been obese for a long time I could see maintenance itself to be something your body needs to get used to. But you can do it and I´m glad you´re joining me in the maintenance club!
 
Thanks, everyone! Thanks for the good wishes and balloons and for having a drink along with me! :) I did indeed enjoy the prosecco, and even more, the feeling of having got to where I wanted to be.

Thanks for the welcome to the maintenance club, LaMa! I'm looking around and admiring how well-organised everyone else seems to be here, in planning for maintenance and for their health goals in general - so I guess it's time I sorted mine out, too! Here goes!
  • Firstly, I want to pause for the foreseeable future, and maintain at this weight, under (though just barely ) twelve and half stone, which is still heavy for my height, but under that BMI 30 line which is supposed to mark the difference between "overweight" and "obese". (It may be arbitrary, but it's a marker that I'm happy enough to use pro tem.)
  • Secondly, I want to try to increase my fitness, including better balance (I still wobble in the parts of tai chi which are on one leg). I'd also like to increase core strength, and (if this is even possible) achieve a flatter, less doughy middle.
And how to achieve the goals?
About the weight - I know my weakness for butter, as well as for cheese, R*****'s D******y C******s, and bread. Of them all, I'm most wary of the cheese, and I think I'll just have to not have any too-tempting cheese in the house. :( I will still have bread with breakfast, but probably not otherwise, and I'll be putting aside a weekly maximum four-ounce "ration" of butter - generous, I know, but as Petal says, the idea isn't to deprive oneself, it's to have an eating style that can last a lifetime. As part of that, just trying to eat consciously and moderately.
About the fitness - Continuing with the undemanding morning exercise group, including tai chi. Continuing with the balance exercises, and working on Tru's core-strengthening exercises. Maybe try those for the rest of the month, and then re-assess. Definitely walking for half an hour at least each day.

Oh, and continuing with self-care and kindness to myself (thanks, Cate!). Have I posted there today? I don't think so - so I'd better go and do it now! :)
 
Last edited:
aiminglow said:
I'll be putting aside a weekly maximum four-ounce "ration" of butter - generous, I know, but as Petal says, the idea isn't to deprive oneself, it's to have an eating style that can last a lifetime.
Click to expand...
Yay, maintenance company!
Those sound like some decent plans. I'm not sure about the less-soft midsection: women tend to wear their belly fat over their abs instead of underneath them like most men. Makes for a softer surface which muscles can't change much (ie sucking in your gut is usually more effective for men than for women) but it also means less visceral fat, meaning less health risk. More strength is of course very much a possibility.
I think we talked about it but I'm not sure: you're still doing the balance exercises from that video? If so: make sure you do them with distracted or closed eyes.
 
LaMaria said:
Yay, maintenance company!
Click to expand...
:hurray: And Petal is in Maintenance, too, I think - along the same lines as me, and I think as you? i.e. having reached a point which feels good, and deciding to stop there for a time, and maintain at that weight, while not ruling out future reorganisation of plans or goals.

Petal001 said:
Well done on your achievements Amy and also in defining where you want to be for now .
Click to expand...
Thanks, Petal! :) Have I got it right about your status, in that paragraph above?

Yes, we did talk about the balance exercises before, LaMa, but I don’t think you said (or I didn’t take in) about the eyes being closed or distracted. Which will up the difficulty considerably. :(

But as for maintenance - tactics at the moment:
- I’m sticking with the breakfast of piece of fruit, egg and bread. The egg is usually an omelette with fresh herbs, lettuce and chutney, but sometimes a boiled egg, with the yolk still a bit runny. That’s the only predictable meal. I’m sticking with the butter ration.
- I want to get to the stage where this new way of eating is absolutely ingrained, but until then (which might never be) I’m going to keep up the scales-checking. I really, really don’t want to regain. On the other hand, I'm resisting the siren call of the numbers. I've lost 9.6 kg since February this year, and I'm refusing to try for the even ten.
I’m beginning a wardrobe overhaul – including getting things taken in.

Oh, by the way – just in case anyone’s read my motto about “This is a great body…” and thinks I’m Elle Macpherson – no, I’m not. What I mean is it’s a good honest body, which can carry me through the whole day, and can do magic things like regrow new skin when I’ve accidentally skinned a knee or whatever, and can digest almost anything (yes, well, that great digestion’s where half the trouble started) and at a pinch can run for a bus. So I’m lucky to have it, and I’m going to treat it right!
 
aiminglow said:
Oh, by the way – just in case anyone’s read my motto about “This is a great body…” and thinks I’m Elle Macpherson – no, I’m not. What I mean is it’s a good honest body, which can carry me through the whole day, and can do magic things like regrow new skin when I’ve accidentally skinned a knee or whatever, and can digest almost anything (yes, well, that great digestion’s where half the trouble started) and at a pinch can run for a bus. So I’m lucky to have it, and I’m going to treat it right!
Click to expand...
Love, love, love that.
 
Thanks Amy no I am not near maintenance yet just my body thinks it is haha . I want to get down another 5 lb ( morning weight ) to be near where you are now and then I will reassess .
I was hoping I would have done that for Xmas but I don’t think it will happen but we shall see .
 
I am so sorry I am late to the prosecco party post! Is it too late to join you for a glass?

An overweight congratulations to you Amy, you deserve it hon, and have done amazing work since February. I like that you are taking a little breather now, easing the pressure just a little bit, and then maybe in January look to inching that BMI number down. Fantastic achievement though.
 
Not too late at all, Em! Here... glug, glug, glug... Cheers! :D

I think I'll be trying to stop at this weight a bit longer than that, though - I'll be focussing on those other goals, about fitness and so on.
Oh, by the way, LaMa - thank you for the tip about women's belly fat vs men's belly fat! I can see that makes a considerable difference, and will adjust my thinking about goals accordingly.
(It's so great here to have so many knowledgeable people - and helpful and willing to share their knowledge - I'm very grateful, all of you!)
Petal001 said:
...we shall see .
Click to expand...
We shall see, indeed, Petal! :) Five pounds by Christmas sounds really achieveable, I think? (I'm not counting the glass-of-water extra from last night!) Best wishes for you to get there by then, anyway!
 
Amy I like your plan . You sound very happy and content too that's wonderful. Thsnk you for you supportive words earlier.
 
aiminglow said:
a high from getting low
Click to expand...
I like it, nothing wrong there at all. Enjoy the high, you deserve it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top