🌼🌼 July Daily Weigh-in and Logging Challenge🌼🌼

June Reflection

June was a great month for weight loss, a slowdown in exercise!

I lost 4.6 pounds this month – even beat my stretch goal! Down 83 pounds from the start of my journey. Even with a trip to Hawaii during the month. I have five pounds to go to get my BMI to the ideal range, and 10 pounds to go to my goal. When I get there, we shall see what I do – I might just go a tiny bit further to say that I hit the 100-pound mark. That would be another 17 pounds from today.

I reached the 1,350-mile marker on my quest to walk 2,024 miles in 2024, logging 135 miles in June – my least number of miles since I started this journey in January 2023. My injury last month turned out to be a meniscus tear and have had to slow down. I got a cortisone shot and feel a little better – but decreased my step goal from 17,000 steps a day to 8,000. I’m thinking I can move up to 10,000 in July. Although I have slowed down, I am still in the purple (that means I will make it) range. So far have averaged 7.45 miles per day. This tracker is all miles walked – not just intentional. I am also tracking my intentional miles, just to see how I do. To date I have tracked 982.05 intentional miles. This puts me at 48% complete – just below the 50% mark.

I did an experiment with Nutrisystem food in June. I order two weeks of food. Here’s what I found out:

1. It works - I got over my plateau and continued to lose - lost almost 5 pounds in two weeks. 😁
2. It was super easy to follow 😁 but, had we had to cook two meals daily - one for me, one for Greg. ☹️
3. The food was edible - not fantastic, not gross 😐
4. I did not meet my protein goal most days ☹️, but met carb, fat, sodium and fiber goals almost every day 😁.
5. Most days the calories were about 1,350 - ranging from a little under 1,200 to 1,600. I wasn't hungry. 😁
6. I usually eat 5 fruits/veggies a day - but switched to 4 veggies one fruit on Nutrisystem. 😐
7. It's doable as a quick fix, I couldn't do it long term. 😐
8. Overall - I am extremely happy with the weight loss. So overall score! 😁
9. 👩‍🍳 I like to cook!
10.
We took a trip to Hawaii midway through the month. Overall, I am very happy with my dedication on the trip. We did not have access to the fitness center – so my exercise consisted of swimming and walking. I logged everything I ate and drank to the best of my ability. I was over my calorie goal and more importantly my sodium goal every day, but not by huge numbers. I ate breakfast every day, and many lunches as well. I limited my alcohol. Only one day of two drinks, and many with none. I ate only half of my dinner entre – boxing up the rest for breakfast or Greg’s snacks for the future. I gained weight, but within the week home lost it all.

Looking at my June goals, I did well – except never finished The Burning Page. I just couldn’t through it. Will try to find something fun to read for July!

My July Goals

• Lose 4 pounds (always my goal), but be happy with a 2% loss for the month
• Alternate days of Cardio and Strength Training
• Follow Doctor’s orders – go to Physical Therapy
• Average 10K Steps per day

By Before and After for June

July 1 144.3 😎 👣 📝 🥗 🫀 💦 🧂ME! Happy with the weight loss. I'm sick. Head stuff, ears clogged. Hoping it doesn't last long. I did manage to get my monthly budget completed yesterday. June was a disasterous month - have to curb our spending for the next few months to make up for our trip to Hawaii!

July 2 145.2 👣 📝 💪🧘‍♀️ 💦 🧂ME! Have to lower my step goal. Had doctor appointment yesterday - no walking for two weeks. Knee isn't healing like it should. Probably over did it in Hawaii. Looks like seated cardio - or get my butt to the lake for a swim instead of walking. But I just love my morning walks with Monty. Still feeling crummy - sore throat, stuffy ears. Also feeling sorry for myself - had little binge yesterday and was over my calorie limit - not by a lot - but over.

July 3 144.5 👣 📝 🥗 🫀 💦 🧂ME! Just a small cardio workout yesterday. Spent the day cleaning the house. We have been focusing on the outside and the garden that I neglected the inside. It felt great to get it done. I love a clean house. Going to the doctor today for this sinus thing I have. I can't hear at all out of one ear, and now I have pink eye in both eyes! Guess it's time for some meds.

July 4 144.3 👣 📝 🥗 💪🧘‍♀️ 🫀 💦 ME! Went to the doctor, it's not pink eye, just a reaction from the sinus and ear infection. On antibiotics. Hoping it clears soon. I found some good seated cardio workouts on Paul Eugene's youtube channel that were kind of fun and felt like I was still exercising. I was over my sodium limit yesterday - might see a jump tomorrow - it ususally shows up two days later.

July 5 144.8 👣 📝 🥗 🫀 💦 🧂ME! What I expected - I used every bit of my calories. Quiet 4th of July - Jill gave me the incentive to power wash - So got it out and did the front walkway. Fun! Got in two seated cardio workouts - counted one as my walk workout, the other as my cardio workout. Got my step goal completed - seated of course. Feeling a little better today - at least I could hear my hearing aid start up. To be honest, I was kind of scared that the ear infection will lead to more hearing loss. I am very hard of hearing already, it is really hard to live in a world and only hear half of what is said. The constant "what was that", is really frustrating for both me and others. People just don't get hearing loss - they roll their eyes like I am an annoyance when I ask them to repeat. Many times I just pretend I hear so I don't have to see it. The fact that I could hear the hearing aid start up to day was reassuring.

July 6: 143.9 👣 📝 🥗 💪🧘‍♀️ 🫀 💦 🧂ME! Got it all done yesterday. Finally got a good night sleep! Yesterday was a raining yucky day, so hubby couldn't work outside. I bought these rope lights for our screen porch eons ago - he finally got them put up. So happy with how they look. We are a little short, but they are ententable so have to order another small section to finish it. But my favorite relaxing spot is looking pretty good.

July 7: 144.3 📝 🥗 🫀 💦 🧂ME! My typical Sunday uptick. I weigh in for my team challenge on Saturday. Nine times out of ten I am up on Sunday. The weigh in, on top of a weekend, and I self sabatoge. I ate every bit of my exercise calories yesterday - leaving only 98 calories on the table. I know that this doesn't work for me. But I seem to do it every week. Why do I treat Saturday like a weekend? I'm retired every day is a weekend. Old habits die hard I guess. The good thing is that it is temporary. Baby steps!

July 8: 144.1 👣 📝 🥗 💪🧘‍♀️ 🫀 💦 🧂Happy Monday everyone. Got it all done. Feeling a little better. I was thinking I would have to miss another week of Bingo with Mom. Our vacation, on top of the illness, means I haven't seen her in three weeks. But I am planning on going tonight. I am finding quite a few good seated workouts on youtube, but I have to admit I am getting tired of walking in my chair. It took of the "Me"time from my goals - it is just a given. I actually should change it to less "me" time! LOL!

July 9: 144 👣 📝 🥗 🫀 💦 🧂 Didn't end up going to bingo with Mom, as the day progressed so did my feeling crummy. Another day of eating all my exercise calories - left just 30 calories on the table. Went to PT, another week of no walking (for now). A couple of new stretches to add to my routine.

July 10: 144.2 👣 📝 🥗 💪🫀 💦 Feeling a little better, but another day of eating all my calories and over my sodium goal. I need to get it together I know that it doesn't work for me.

July 11: 144.1 👣 📝 🥗 🦵 🫀 💦 🧂 A good day yesterday, feeling much better. Got everything done. Did a little cleaning of the house - relaxed. A nice day. Now that I am feeling better we are going to go out on the boat today. Should be fun, it's been a while.

July 12: 144.3 👣 📝 🥗 💪🫀 💦 Frustrating day yesterday. Got motivated in the afternoon to make a stir fry dinner with the leftover rotisserie chicken we had. Cut up these beautiful rainbow of veggies and set aside for later. When I went to cook, the range circuit board must have fried - none of the buttons worked. Researched how to fix, found a youtube video but after pulling out the stove (cleaning the fuzzy slimey gunk from underneath), and doing what they said - still no luck. By the time the repair man could come out, research what was wrong - and then possibly fix we thought it would just be better to get a new one. Researched where we could find a new range in stock - most said delivery in a week. I cannot be without a range for a week. We finally found one and will go pick it up today - but needless to say my takeout Subway (which I wasn't anticipating) dinner was loaded with sodium. On the bright side - dinner prep is done for tonight!

July 13: 144.4 👣 📝 🥗 🦵 🫀 💦 🧂 Probably still related to yesterday's salt issue. I had a good diet day. Frustrating experience with the range. But we finally got it and I used it last night to make my rainbow stir fry. I just took my last dose of antibiotics - I'm hoping that with a good day of eating today, and no more meds that I will see a swish tomorrow!

July 14: 144.4 👣 📝 🥗 💪🫀 💦 🧂Good day diet wise, under calories, used only half of exericise calories (that is what usually works for me) and sodium level was good. I expected a loss today - hopefully it will show up tomorrow. Going for our monthly visit to Greg's cousin for the day. Will be sitting most of the day, but will get a short workout in when I get home.

July 15: 144.2 👣 📝 🥗 🦵 🫀 💦 🧂 Very happy that I got in my steps and execise goals in as I was away all day, and on my bottom most of the day. Nice visit with Greg's cousin (she is 91). She loves our visits - I think it is more about Monty than us - but am happy to see her smile. A saltier day, but still under my range. Tonight is Bingo with mom, hope I can resist the junk food on the table!

July 16: 144.4 👣 📝 🥗 💪🦵 💦 🧂 My two weeks of rest are up - so got my first walk in! Woo Hoo. It was so wonderful to get out there. I'm starting out slow and small - a 1.5 mile walk at one of our favorites - Haddam Meadow State Park. I love it for many reasons, it's flat, beautiful scenary, Monty can be off leash, and it has bathroom facilities (LOL). It took me a long time to finish this 1.5 miles, - probably all the pictures and not me following doctors orders! I'll still continue with the non-weight bearing cardio routines, and no deep lunges or deep squats with the strength routines. I think I need to do a change in my diet, things are not moving and when they do it seems to be going in the wrong direction.


July 17: 144.4 👣 📝 🥗 🦵 🧘‍♀️ 💦 🧂 So far July has been a bit of a let down. Hoping to end the month stronger that the first half!

July 18: 144.2 👣 📝 🥗 🫀 💦 🧂 I have a follow-up appointment for my knee this morning - eager to see what will happen next. Still have some pain - the PT says it is related to the bursae. From what I read on the internet - just rest and pain relievers. I don't really want to take any more NSAIDs and I think the walks actually seem to help not hurt - so hope she doesn't put me back to no walks!

July 19: 144 👣 📝 🥗 💪🦵 🫀 💦 🧂 My follow-up appointment went well; go another cortizone shot - this time in the bursae area - feeling fabulous already. She gave the go ahead to resume all activities - so got them all done. I did feel a little twinge on certain twisting aerobic moves so I avoided those. Have PT this morning, and then today is supposed to be a beutiful day - going to hit the lake - go out on the boat and for a swim.

July 20: 144.2 👣 📝 🫀 💦 🧂Over my calories yesterday - first time in a long time. I was already close to my calorie goal when I went to bed, BUT got up in the middle of the night and ate - putting me over the top. Just 125 calories - but over.

July 21: DNW 👣 📝💪🦵 🏊‍♀️🫀 💦Did not weigh today, really didn't want to know. I was off the rails yesterday. Got all my exercise in, even added a swim. But snacking while watching a movie, over my calorie range, over my sodium goal, and another snack attack while I had my insomnia problem again last night and I just didn't want to see it. I'm thinking of not looking until Wednesday, that's how bad it was! I did log everything though!