Two years ago next month, I started a serious weight loss journey. My goal was to lose 60 pounds by my 60th birthday. I lost 70 pounds in six months and achieved my goal. I thought once I lost the weight, all my weight loss problems would magically go away because I was thinner.

Boy that was naive, wasn't it?

I did pretty well, up to and after our big bicycle tour in Europe this past May (which you can read about on my blog here titled: "When Your Spouse Drags You on Bicycle Tours.")   We had been home from that trip for maybe two weeks before we left to make our way up to our summer camp in the northeastern US.  We visited my daughter on the way up to our camp, and I got to experience my first adventure park where I was tethered and climbing all kinds of obstacles a million feet off the ground... or so it seemed to my 'fear of heights' brain. I was still in great shape at that point and really felt like I was in the best shape of my life, which I probably was after cycling for three weeks riding over 500 miles. 

While we were at our summer camp, I ate what I wanted. I drank more beer than I usually did and decided that snacking in the afternoon on peanut butter pretzel knobs and trail mix wasn't a bad thing and did that regularly without any conscious thought. I didn't get on the scale or weigh or measure any food. I didn't go for almost daily walks like I did the summer I lost all that weight. We did not go on one bicycle ride all summer. In fact, to this day, the last bicycle ride my husband and I have taken was in Hungary back in May of 2024!  We spent the summer clearing brush off our land and trying to improve our view of the Vermont mountains.  Our time at camp ended with my husband having to jump 12 feet off a falling ladder and breaking his heel. The injury required surgery from which he is still recuperating.

It was early October when we returned to Texas, where the focus was his injury and upcoming surgery on his heel.  I was under a lot of stress as my husband was non-weight bearing on that foot for several weeks.  This meant I had more jobs now. Every job. Dieting wasn't even on my radar. I stress-ate through the fall, through the holidays and ate and drank whatever the hell I wanted.  This turned out to be a less than healthy choice.  I went to the gym a few times that fall but my heart wasn't in it. I had no routine.  I kept telling myself I'd get back to it in 2025.

Fast forward to January 6, 2025. I knew I had gained weight. I was thinking 15 or 20 pounds. Uh... nope. I stepped on the scale and figured out why some of my clothes didn't fit. I'd gained 30 pounds. Yup. And I'd done it rather easily and without letting myself notice it.  At least I hadn't gained back the entire 70 pounds I lost. 

This was the day that the sad reality of being me hit. I am always going to have to watch what I eat and keep track of it, even after I've reached my goal weight and even when I'm supposedly eating healthy food. If I fail to do this, chances are I will gain it back. I really did eat pretty healthy during the summer. I just added more high calorie foods to the mix, which I can't do if I'm not going to work hard to burn off the excess calories. 

Round two of dieting has started this week. I'm so angry at myself because I DID THIS TO MYSELF. I have no one else to blame but little old me. However, I approach this repeat diet with confidence because if I can lose 70 pounds, I can lose 30.  

I went back to the My Fitness Pal app for weighing, measuring and logging food. It's a pain but it's almost automatic, now.  I did see something in the app that I am going to use once I've lost the weight. I can set a goal in My Fitness Pal app to 'maintenance" once I've lost the weight and I think that is what I will have to do, and I will have to keep logging food to hold myself accountable.

If this is round two of dieting for you, I guess you can feel better because you are not alone!

Here are some new food-related ideas I've adopted this past week:

I was eating dry, diet bread toast during my last diet. I've now added Polaner Sugar Free Raspberry Preserves with Fiber to my breakfast.  One tablespoon is only about 10 calories.  Great substitute for other high calorie choices like butter or peanut butter.  If you don't want to eat that because it is a processed food, then take 10 fresh raspberries, place them on a small plate and heat them up in the microwave for maybe 15 seconds. When they are done, mush them with a fork afterwards. Now you have Instant preserves that you can spread on toast. 

If you eat scrambled eggs, you can add three tablespoons of egg substitute to the scramble mix, for only 25 calories which will give you a little more protein for fewer calories.  This means you can eat two large eggs with a one-egg equivalent of egg substitute added for less than 200 calories.  The substitute will contribute to that feeling of fullness. If you think eggs are bland, I normally add a tablespoon of salsa to my eggs to give them a little flavor. That is also a very low-calorie addition to give you some extra taste. 

I tried a new product this week. I bought a bag of low-calorie keto bagels. I researched online and found the Sola brand of bagels at our grocery store. The blueberry bagels were the only ones our store had. They were pricey, but at 110 calories per bagel, I thought they'd be a nice change from my 45 calorie per slice multigrain diet bread. They were a pretty decent size, too. Normally I see that companies reduce the size of bagels to get fewer calories. These were not like that. I was surprised that they tasted so good, and I did use the sugar free preserves on top, which helped them from being too dry. I think they were a nice change from boring diet toast. 

We are having some pretty cold weather for Texas today, too. It's barely above freezing, which we are not used to. I had some left-over vegetable broth in the refrigerator, so I decided to dump that in a pan and add some veggies to it to make a quick vegetable soup to eat with my chicken breast lunch wrap.  Believe me I am no great chef. I just throw things together and hope they work and choke them down when they don't. Here is my created recipe which I input into My Fitness Pal so I would know how many calories (96 for the whole pot) I was eating:

(Note:  I just grabbed vegetables, weighed them, chopped them up and threw them in the pot with the broth.  There is no reason I used a particular amount of any vegetable, I just used what veggies I had that I normally use for salad, and what amount I thought would be ample for the amount of liquid in the soup.)

1 cup of vegetable broth

1 cup of water with 3/4 tsp of Knorr Chicken Bouillon mixed in

25 grams of chopped sweet mini peppers (I used one red and one orange one)

16 grams of chopped up spinach (basically grabbed a small handful)

85 grams of chopped fresh broccoli (finely chopped)

40 grams of chopped celery hearts (a couple of stalks)

5 small baby carrots chopped

To give it some flavor, I added the following and adjusted the salt to taste:

salt, pepper, onion powder, and a sprinkle of dried rosemary

I simmered it on the stove until the carrots were soft. 

This soup was really good, and I will be making it again. I liked that it was so filling because it was a lot of liquid. I don't think I would try to eat only this for lunch because I'm big on needing protein to feel full. However, if I wanted to just eat this soup, I would consider adding maybe some canned black beans and some chicken breast to it. The soup as I made it is a great alternative for when you are sick of eating salad all the time, or it is cold outside. 

Next time I might add a bit of onion, some garlic powder, and maybe use my immersion blender to liquify the whole pot. 

I guess I need to address the exercise elephant in the room. I'm going to tell you I'm avoiding the gym. The main reason being that I did something to my wrist on Thanksgiving and I have not been able to use it properly since then. I think I tried to hold the turkey pan with just that hand it and I strained or fractured a small bone. Thus, I didn't want to try weightlifting with it until it got better. I've been wearing a wrist brace to bed to immobilize it and that, plus some Ibuprofen, has helped. 

I did, however, start going to yoga two days a week. Okay, let me say this. I didn't think I was a yoga type of gal, but I have to tell you I really like it. I feel like it's healthy and good for me. I started back in November when my sister-in-law dragged me to the class she goes to when she's here in town.  She nagged me that I was under a lot of stress and that it would be good for me. She was right!  It was like a giant pressure valve got released on all my stress during that class and I actually became emotional at the end.  I was really surprised at how much of a workout it is, but yet doesn't seem like a workout. It's not just a bunch of stretching and contorting your body like a pretzel (which is a myth). I went yesterday and today my arms and legs are sore from the stretches and poses we did. The instructor knows about my injured wrist and gives me modifications that work. There are modifications for every single yoga move so you cannot say "my body won't do that" because there are adaptations that you can do for everything. I know, I'm doing a lot of them because I'm just beginning to work on my flexibility and my knees have arthritis, so it hurts to kneel on them without padding underneath. 

My daughter has planned a day of skiing for us in February so I'm very eager to get more flexible. It's really embarrassing when you try to stand from the chair lift, and the seat is so close to the ground that you can't stand up and fall on your butt. I've skied once in the last 35 years, and that was last year when she dragged me to the slopes that time. I'm trying to get more limber and flexible so I don't break my neck or my hip when we go skiing.

I am also trying to walk every day (weather permitting) after breakfast. Not too far, maybe 1.25 miles, but just enough to get the metabolism going.  I've walked every day the weather permitted. I even walked to the yoga class this week. We had one day where it was 33 F degrees and raining so I didn't walk that day.

I need to get back to the gym and I am going to see how my wrist feels next week and maybe start doing two days of strength training there. 

I'm hoping once the weather warms up my husband will be able to ride his bike, and we can go for some rides. I don't ride here alone. We live way out in the country, and I don't feel comfortable doing long rides on my own.  

Thus ends my diet update for the week. I'll be checking in next week to see how it's going with you all. 

Comments about your weight loss journey, or healthier eating journey are always welcomed, and I encourage you to share in the comment section below. 

PS: Don't get on the scale more than once a week. You'll get pissed off and discouraged (Yes, I didn't take my own advice on Tuesday or on Wednesday and got frustrated).

(photo courtesy of Shvets Production)