Weekly weigh-in

I did my weigh in on Saturday and recorded a 2.6 lb loss which is in a range I'm very pleased with. Now to put the scale away for another week.

In one way this is easy for me because I'm so big I can burn a lot of calories doing moderate exercise. Eventually that will change and I'll have to work harder to lose smaller amounts. In my mind that falls in with the worry some people have about loose skin. I don't care about that because it will be an issue I'll have by becoming healthier and taking care of myself. If I have to trade taking blood pressure pills and metformin for excess skin, I know which I'm choosing.

I went for a walk this afternoon. A bit brisk at just above freezing and my feet are complaining about the abnormal exercise, but I did it!

I have a slogan hanging up in my office: "A year from now you will wish you had started today."

More on getting healthy

Today I put the scale away. I tend to get obsessive about the numbers and that's really only one part of this. From now on I will weigh myself once on the weekends.

I finally figured out what motivated me to make some changes in my lifestyle; over the last few years I've lost 75 pounds. It was a very slow process but one of the defining factors was that I didn't regain during the times I wasn't losing...until the last couple months of 2016 when I put 5 pounds back on. The thought of going backwards and becoming even less healthy was enough to flip that mental switch and get busy.

I'm not following any special diet plan or program. I just track how much food I eat using a kitchen scale and keep it within a sensible calorie deficit while still getting the nutrients I need. Myfitnesspal.com is a convenient free site that makes the logging about as easy as possible. I'm not purposefully giving up sweets and junk food; they just don't fit into my calorie/nutrient budget well.

Because I'm aiming for all-around health, exercise is part of my day. Every morning I get up and ride my stationary bike; I'm up to 60 minutes now (that's enough time so I'm working on increasing my speed). Twice a week I do some strength training with dumbbells. That's the part I have to work on, because I don't enjoy it, but being strong enough to move chicken feed without a struggle is important, so I will keep on.

Never give up! Never surrender! :)

Thoughts

Gardening: I wanted to try saving kale seeds from last year's plants. The raised garden beds are not tall enough to be safe from rabbits and I had to fence in the plants they haven't already stripped.

Book 2 is coming along nicely. I'm not a fast writer so it won't be done anytime soon, but it feels good.

Weight loss: why can't it be linear? I would avoid so much frustration and discouragement if the weight came off at a steady pace instead of nothing, nothing, nothing, whoosh, nothing, nothing...

The chickens think it's spring already (apparently they don't see the snow) and are laying very well. Also eating loads.

Forward momentum!

Winter weather - the pretty kind

I hurried to take pictures of the frost and it stayed all day.

Birdbrain

We're in another cold snap here; the lows tonight are expected to be at least -6F. It was well after dark when I got home from work and when I went out to shut up the chicken coop I found a buff cochin hen sitting outside. She had got the idea to spend the night in the small, old coop and went into stubborn mode when she found the door shut. I scooped her up and put her on a roost with the other chickens so she's safely tucked in.

These are the type of dramas I like; where nobody gets hurt and the problems are easily solved.

Hello, Winter

Yesterday I dug up the gladiolas; the wind was chilly, but everything was still green.

Now they are hanging out in the basement with the plants I brought in before the first frost.

And today we have:

The footprints are from my venturing onto the deck to measure the snow depth on the table...11"!

The chickens haven't gone outside at all today. I can't really blame them; I had to change into dry pants every time I did.

Boarders

These are the hens I hatched out in my incubator last spring and that have been living on my parents' farm all summer. This week all nine of them moved into my big coop with my flock for the winter. So far they are keeping to themselves, but I expect them to integrate with the others eventually. At least there is plenty of space in my pen.

The cat stayed behind. :)