Lose 40-45 pounds; get down to my ideal weight of about 120..

Okay, it’s 129.8, but still, I’m below 130 for the first time since 1997. There is an actual advantage to being marginally employed – I don’t have the money for restaurants, and I cook lighter at home. And not being in temple all the time means NO CAKE!

Between the last entry and this, I was in the hospital for a partially blocked bowel, and on prednisone for another asthma episode. I know from experience that there’s no point in weighing myself when I’m on prednisone, because I have edema, I’m jittery, I don’t sleep, and I’m hungry all the time. My elimination is back to normal (whew!), and I finally got the prednisone out of my system, so my weight is starting back down.

A couple of times every year, my progress is slowed or reversed for medical reasons, but by now I know what to do. I keep it going in my mind, so as soon as I’m well, I immediately get back to losing weight.

Roller Coasters ‘R’ (Not) Fun! I’ve been up and down since the last post – up over 136 and back down a few times. I did have quite a few social events recently with formal table service and way too much food, but I presume the overeating has been caused mostly by stress.

But – oh, happy day – I have gotten really busy with work, and when I’m feeling productive, I don’t feel stressed (one emotion at a time, I guess), and I don’t overeat.

So I seem to have control over that at the moment. I don’t know how long it will last, but I hope it might be long enough to change my eating habit. I’m down below 133 again. That means I’ve lost more than 30 pounds, and only have 15 to go.

I don’t have money, but I do have a flexible schedule. So I can’t afford to eat out, which means cooking for myself unless someone offers to feed me. When I cook, I shop for real food, rather than stuff from the freezer case, and make plenty of extra, so I always have something nourishing to eat in the fridge. I try to remember not to keep dessert-like things in the house, so if I want something, I have to go out and get it right then, which is usually (although not always) too much trouble.

So, if I can keep eating like this, I’ll be down to 130 by the end of the year. Maybe even below 130. That would really be worth celebrating!

And headed down!

I’ve been holding steady at 134 for about a month. Aiming at 130 by the end of the Summer. It should be easier when my job is over at the end of June. When I’m not commuting, I’ll have time to exercise, and I won’t have to eat as much restaurant food. Should be easier on my budget, too!

I did make it down to 135 by the end of the year. My goal weight is between 115 and 120, so I have only 15-20 pounds left! I am pretty sure I can make it to 130 by the end of June, then I’d like to make it to 125 by the end of 2012.

The second half of 2011 has been difficult for my weight loss project. I had a very stressful summer, which you can read about in my last posting of September 20. On Rosh Hashana, just after that last post, I had another bad asthma attack, and was on prednisone for six weeks. (This is the first time I’ve had two periods of asthma in one year. I hope that’s not a presage of my future health.) When I finally got off the prednisone, and got rid of the edema, I was back up to 144 lbs. As the asthma ended, I developed tendinitis in my left foot, so I haven’t been able to exercise as much.

But I’m feeling a little more hopeful now. I’ve been off the prednisone for six weeks, and the tendinitis is getting better. I’m back down to 138, and trying to lose a little more weight by the end of the year.

My latest discovery is that I save both calories and money if I cook complete meals at home instead of eating out. (Okay, I know everybody else figured this out years ago.) When I have to travel to Queens in the very early morning, I do allow myself to buy breakfast; when I’m out with a friend, it’s okay to eat a meal together. But I’m trying not to buy food out on the run, just because I forgot to bring food with me. Instead, I always carry a 200 calorie protein bar to tide me over until I get home. It would be nice if I could pack a real meal, but I’m always schlepping a heavy bag of books and teaching materials, and I can’t manage any more weight on my shoulder. Protein bars are a pretty good compromise.

Not buying food out also has been saving me about $20 a week (It would have been more, but I had already cut out most of my eating out for budgetary reasons.) That’s not a huge amount of money, but it will add up to about $80 a month, which is almost the cost of my business phone service.

It’s also a lesson in discipline, always a good thing.

August was a horrid month, even though, or perhaps especially because, I was officially on vacation. I won’t go into detail, but I unexpectedly renovated my bathroom, slept on my parents’ couch for a month, dealt with my mother’s life threatening illness, cleaned up from the renovation, and then worried through a hurricane. Finally I got three days off, which I mostly spent sleeping.

Today I’m back to work – the busiest time of the season – more tired than when I left for a desperately needed vacation. I need a vacation from the vacation!

Alas, I fell back into the “eating when I’m under stress” habit, so as of today, I’m back up to 138 lbs. I think it will come off pretty quickly, but I’m sad I fell back into my old habit, after working so hard to make a new habit.

After the asthma attack I was back up to 142. I lost that weight fairly quickly, and was back to 137 by the end of June. Now down to 133! Only 13 to go!

I got a really bad asthma attack at the beginning of March, and was on a very high dose of prednisone for three weeks. Unfortunately, when I’m on prednisone, I’m shaky, wakeful, edematous, moody … and famished – FAMISHED – all the time. I’ve been eating about double my regular diet. Now I’m tapering the prednisone, but having been on the high dose for so long, it’s going to be until the end of April at the earliest before it’s out of my system, when the side effects will go away. I don’t even want to think about how much I’ll weigh then, right before the beginning of my busy season, when I need to look good. I’m hoping not to have gained more than 10 pounds. I had lost 27 pounds, and was expecting to have lost a few more by the beginning of May, so I got rid of all my “fat clothes”, and I’ll probably have to buy a new outfit. Dammit! At least, knowing I already was able to lose the weight, I know I will be able to lose it again, and more, and I hope soon.