For me

I turned 59 yesterday. 60 is next. I'm overweight. I'm actually obese. (Ick) I just lately got back from a trip to Paris and Germany, where I walked a lot and took trains. I did better than I had hoped, but not as well as I could have. I wanted to be thinner. I also saw a few pictures of myself from that trip and then one from this summer and they did not make me happy. A few days before my birthday, it occurred to me that I had a nice opportunity here. I could take a full year and get myself in better shape for turning 60. Now, the problem with a full year project is that, well, there are 365 days in that year, which translates as a lot of time to lose your way, also to procrastinate. So I'm starting this blog, just for me, if I can figure out how to make it private, so that I can keep myself on track. My sort of goal is to lose 100 lbs, which would be 2 a week. Hmmmmm....not sure that can really happen, but I'd be happy with less. Losing less. So what are my strategies? I believe that everyone knows how to lose weight and they basically don't feel like doing it. Sort of....I'm also really not sure I believe the people who say they exercise all the time and eat right and still never lose weight. I'll try to be fair and say that's not MY experience. That when I'm honest with myself, and I eat well, and I move, I lose weight. I proved it in Europe. I walked a LOT, and since most cities are not perfectly flat, I walked up and down hills. (That's the thing with a treadmill. You can set an incline, but it's still not walking DOWN a hill. And I took breaks when I walked--sometimes as little as 30 seconds--which you also can't do in a gym....but I moved a lot more than if I was thinking I couldn't do a 60 minutes uphill slog on a treadmill at some incredibly fast pace). I drank a LOT of water. I also ate quite a bit. I ate 3 good meals a day. I also ate nearly no sweets...and I didn't eat anything of substance after dinner, but dinner was also later than what is normal here. I guess my point here is that I'm going to try somewhat to reproduce that. That I will eat better meals--less processed. More F&V, as they say over at WW, which I'm strenuously avoiding. A splurge day once a week. A little chocolate every day. Move more. (Hard part, especially since today, the first day, it's pouring). I weighed myself this morning and my scale says 265. This doesn't make me happy, but it is what it is. I've decided I'm only going to weigh myself once a month. Otherwise, I'll go by my clothes. How well I can climb the stairs. Stuff like that. I'm starting the blog so I can look back and say, this is why I'm doing this. So why am I doing this? Because I hate being out of breath. I don't like feeling like a bull in a china shop in small spaces, which Europe is full of and I'd like to go back there. Because I want to look at pictures and not be sad, or repulsed, or many other things. Because I fought my way back to high heel wearing after a hip replacement, and I want to keep wearing them. Because I need a knee replaced, too, and that would probably be easier with less weight. (For the record, it was my left hip and my right knee. The right hip and the left knee are just fine, thank you, so I honestly don't think this has anything to do with my weight). I look young for my age and I bet with less weight I'd look even younger, once I got past that part where your face looks all drawn before the fat redistributes. Because sex is more fun when you're thinner. For me it is. Sorry. I know....I know....and I'm all for fat people having sex, but you also can't transcend the laws of physics. So I need to look back at these things. Oh, and because I really, really, really love clothes. LOVE CLOTHES!! And I'm getting past the point where I can look good in them. In my opinion. So it's off to find something greenish for lunch, in a house full of cheese.