As we edge ever nearer to Christmas we often think back over the year, and with today being the last weigh-in of the year, I wanted to take a look at my progress.
The year started following Weight Watchers (WW) which I had restarted with a swift boot up my arse back in February 2022, and at the end of that year was 28.5 lbs lighter, which was okay, it was like many other years, up and down I had got lower, but with Christmas and new year out of the way, 2 stone was a good starting block.
January was meh, down and back to where I started, but the difference came at the end of the month. I have told this story in another blog Take a pinch of this and a Pinch of Nom but the short version, a friend on the morning dog walk told me she was cooking Campfire Stew it sounded amazing, she said it a “Pinch of Nom” (PON) recipe. Not having much of a clue about what she was talking about, I looked it up online and it looked awesome, so made it. That was it! The kickstart my mojo needed, low calorie food, that look and tasted amazing! It got me on track to what has been an incredible year for cooking, food, exercise, but a terrible one for the family.
After that one meal, I found a couple of books being sold on Facebook, got them and I have not looked back. Assuming I get the new one for Christmas (which I better had, as I was banned from buying it at launch) I now own all 7 cookbooks and 3 of their journals. I have weeks where every meal is from a PON book/website, and some of the lunches, and some weeks I revert to old WW favourites. But I plan all our meals in advance as it keeps me on track and I can mix up meals and try not to repeat them too often.
I really got back to swimming which I love, but made a commitment to swim at least twice a week. My first swim of the year was 1,000 meters in 28 minutes, that is about 42 seconds per lap. My swim today was 1,250 meters in 30:02 minutes, this is 36 seconds per lap, so yes it’s easy maths, but 6 seconds a lap quicker. It doesn’t sound a lot 6 seconds, but it has made a lot of difference to me, as the weight has dropped the speed is increasing, and increasing the distance I swim each time is important, as I now need to do more to burn the same amount of calories I did before. The stats in the pool for 2023 are below:
Meters: 109,050
Miles: 67.75 miles
KCal: 80,000
Time: 54 hours 23 minutes
Next year, I have signed up for Swimathon with Jane, Emily and maybe Harry (if he agrees) to raise money for Cancer Research in honour of my Brother in-law Richard who we lost this year to cancer in April at very short notice and has ripped all our hearts open. You will see sponsor forms in the new year.
As my weight was dropping I decided to try the gym again to help tone up. That has been up and down I want to go but finding the time, when the pool is a priority has not been easy, but I have the intention to continue, if I don’t do more in the first few months of 2024, I will revert to just my pool membership. I don’t mind the gym after all it is music time, I just need to be aware of not putting too much strain on my back which is a worry after I did mess it up 20 years ago when I lost a lot before. However, more walking has been good, I don’t feel it ‘as much’ in my feet as I did and I’m serious considering giving ‘Couch 2 5K’ a go, in the hope I could do a 5K to raise more money in Richard’s name, which is a big family target for next year.
Before I give my exciting ‘weight’ news, another win I am very proud of this year is my Hba1c, (hemoglobin) which measures your average blood sugar levels over the past 3 months. My test at the end of 2022 showed it was elevated to 44, which is what is classed as pre diabetic. Type 2 kicks in when you reach 48. Anyway, weight loss helps to reduce this, so about September this year, I started to think what it will be like this year? I was not disappointed when the result came back, it had dropped 6 points to 38 meaning no more pre diabetic, which is a huge win for me and almost makes the whole weight loss worth it on it’s own.
Now to the numbers this year, which I guess anyone losing weight focuses on. I have been setting short, medium and long targets as this is a great way to focus and a big part of the last 11 months. Today at the scales I hit my current short term target, which was a medium one a couple of months back. In the last 47 weeks since PON entered my life, I have lost 112lbs or 8 stone, when I add that to 28 from the start of the year my WW loss, now totals 141lbs or little over 10 stone.
You can see in the above graph, I still have some aggressive target to hit, the next one is to get back to my weight when we went to Australia in 2003, and then the green line is to a level where I can change to the new style Anticoagulant medication. When I get to those, then I will create new ones. The next one to drop in there will be the next WW keyring bit at 150, only 9 lbs away.
Some people will ask why I write so openly about this stuff, well the reason is it is good for me to reflect. I do it in a journal every week about what was good last week and what could trip me up the next week (this week Christmas!) but I write these blogs in a hope that it will inspire other people to give it a go. I have been a WW member since 2002, I lost a load put it on again slowly, then more and more, dropped a bit put on a bit, and played at it. It is very, very hard to get your Mojo, but when you get it, you need to grab it with both hands and keep riding it. In WW they talk about “Surf the Urge” long story don’t ask, but I have taken PON as my surfboard and I’m riding all my urges. Is it hard? yes, is it easier when you feel in control? OH YES IT IS.
Remember, Christmas is only a roast turkey, it does not have to be bad. This year having got the BIG 10, I will be careful not to lose control, because in two weeks when I go back to them scales, I don’t want to have to reach 10 stone again!
It not pretty, but here is a visual of the progress.
Please leave me a comment or a like, it is nice to know people read it, even just the one person is enough.
Merry Christmas and see you in 2024.
Cooking by Matt 