Z waists away

And so today, I measured myself.  And I see where those pounds have gone from - my waist.  So that's good.

I did so because my skirt keeps swivelling round so I thought a bit might have gone, and it so happens that I measured my waist only about a fortnight ago.  Then, it was an okay but slightly depressing 29".

I think that's considered pretty normal nowadays, but when I was young, it was 24" that was the norm, and that was more or less what I had.  In those days, I had a smaller bust - probably I varied from 33"-34", 24" waist, hips 35" to 38" depending on my weight at the time.

So today ... 36" up top, 27.5" waist,  38" hips.  Which is in proportion, anyway.  Can I keep the top and lose a bit more down below?  Hmmm.

Of course, my shape is nothing like it used to be.  Generous love handles, for a start (when waistlines all sit firmly on the waist so it's all contained within cloth, no one will be happier) and an alarming amount of flab.  And shall we not mention upper arms?

The diet continues, darlings.  But it includes cheese and chocolate.

Nearly 130, but not quite

I weighed myself this morning.  9 stone 3 pounds.  My initial aim is to be below 9 stone, so this is well on the way.

I managed it by a week of hardly eating, however, which isn't really a sensible way ahead, and wasn't planned.  It was a bit of a worry thing.  I didn't drink much, even.

In my younger (but fully adult) days, my lowest weight was 7 1/2 stone.  I didn't diet down to that, I was breastfeeding Al.  I always lost a lot of weight when feeding my babies, I ate like a horse and couldn't keep the weight on, but got thinnest of all with Al.  I've looked up my BMI and 7 1/2 stone is the lowest weight categorised as 'normal' - under that would be underweight.  Sad to say, it's the only time in my adult life that I actually felt slender - that is, I've got a pretty healthy body image now and I've never been one for self-loathing or anything like that, but I always felt fat.  I don't now, actually, despite rather a lot of wobbly bits.

My normal fit weight was about 8 stone 4 lbs and as long as I was under 8 1/2, I reckoned that was okay, if not slim.  It would be on the thin side now, I think that a few extra pounds are not a bad thing - they help to hide the wrinkles a bit for one thing when you're my age and the subcutaneous fat diminishes.  But 120 lbs is a nice round number.  8 stone anything will suit me just fine though.  No timescale, I'm not setting myself up for failure.

Though it's just occurred to me, I weigh 131 lbs.  So it seems I have my first target right in front of me.  One more pound.  

Not wisely but rather well

Well, that wasn't the best example of determination.  I got back from Corfu a week ago, having made a snap decision to go there with friends.  For the first day I was careful what I ate and then I started to feel like such a party pooper that I gave up watching.

It wasn't the meals that were the problem mind you, nor was it breakfast, where I ate yoghurt and dry toast as I might at home (Greek yoghurt, of course, in this case), but the snacks.  Pam produced crisps, nuts and so on with drinks and often we finished the evening with halva or chocolate.  When I arrived home and weighed myself, I'd put on four pounds.

I weighed myself again this morning and I've lost two of them and that's without trying very hard.  Once you get used to grazing, you don't want to stop.  But if I have had any nibbles, they have been olives or cheese - and that's interesting, because they're high in fat and so are crisps.  But I gained weight on crisps and lost it on cheese (not that I was eating it daily).  And I've been unable to resist my Indian Soan Papdi.

A couple more weeks at most and I hope that I'll be back on track again.  

Less of Z to love

I've been aware of my hip a few times recently.  This is spurring me into increased action, or at any rate determination, and I'm going to get shot of the excess once and for all.  I'm going down, under 9 1/2 stone now, but it's not good enough.  I am in the 'normal' range all right, a size 10 too, but I need to be 8 stone something to feel right and to slow down the deterioration in my hip joint.

It's quite a difficult thing to face and I've been managing to keep it out of my mind until now, but the thought of the gradual lameness and increase in pain isn't easy.  I shouldn't fuss I know, I'm being self-indulgent (comes with blogging territory though, surely) when there are so many people in a much worse situation, but if I say it here I won't feel the need to whinge in the real world.

Anyway.  I don't feel like eating at all today, so that'll kick start the weight loss.

Going down...

This non-diet diet seems to be working so far, although it's a very slow way to lose weight.  Still, if it's for the long-term, that's all right.

I am now nearly back to 9 1/2 stone, which is just putting me back to the situation I was in at the time I had my new hip, so is nothing to be proud of - except that I stopped and reversed the gain, which isn't all that easy to do, so does indicate a degree of determination.  And I haven't done it by dieting.  I still eat cheese, I occasionally butter my bread, I have not cut anything out of my diet at all.  I'm just trying to be aware of how much I eat, and stop when I've had enough, even if I could eat more.

That's the theory at any rate, in fact it depends on how delicious the food is.  But it is evidently the key for me.

As I said a few weeks ago on my other blog, I spent a fortnight in India eating like a horse - though again, it was not a greedy horse.  Still, I enjoyed the food far too much to leave much of it.  Looking back though, it was all healthy apart from those delicious snacks, such as home-made, newly-fried potato crisps and so on, which were irresistible, although I tried (so hard, darlings, and didn't always succeed) to limit the quantity.  That I only put on half a kilo was quite a relief.  Since I got home, that and a couple more pounds have come off and my jeans not only fit again but are quite roomy.  I only wear jeans if I'm a size 10.

Since this way of eating is the way forward, I don't have a target weight to aim for.  I'd love to be below 9 stone, which I haven't been for about 15 years, but I'm not going to worry about it.

Cheese

And the thing is, I'm not going to 'go on a diet' - that is, alter what I eat.  It's bound to fail in the long run.  You can lose the weight all right, but it's sure to go on again sooner or later.  Not if your weakness is for several packets of crisps and a couple of Mars bars every day, the thing to do there is just stop eating them.  But if you've got a healthy and sensible diet, there's very little to give up.

So I'm going to eat anything I want, but a lot less of it.  Small portions, never clear my plate unless I'm the one who's chosen the amount of food in the first place.  And if I'm still a bit hungry, that's no bad thing.  Think of being hungry as the body using fat.

I'm not giving up cheese again.  Life without cheese isn't worth living.

Z's back

I haven't weighed myself for months.  Too lowering to the morale, and I wasn't about to do anything about it, so better not to know.  However, yesterday I pulled myself together and clambered awkwardly on to the bathroom scales.

I rarely use these in any case, actually.  I normally put my contact lens in (and take it out) downstairs, so I don't find it that easy to read the dial.  And we've got these fabulous balance scales which we keep in the porch, where you stand on a platform and then add the weights and slide a bar until the balance tips.  But I just wanted an indication yesterday, so bathroom it was.

I'm pretty sure I've lost a pound or two in the past week, because I haven't been eating all that much.  But I was gratified, all the same.  I'd only put on 5 pounds.  Sadly, not all my clothes fit any longer, but if I get going again, I should lose that in a few months.  Yes, when I was young and keen I might have said a few weeks too, but it takes me ages and I hate becoming discouraged through over-optimism.

So it seems that I'll be posting again here.  And this time, I'm not stopping until I weigh under 9 stone.  Not the least likelihood of ever getting to my old (when young) weight of 8 stone 4 pounds, but that's all right.  Under 9 will be fine.