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By Roz Rogoff

About this blog: In January 2002 I started writing my own online "newspaper" titled "The San Ramon Observer." I reported on City Council meetings and other happenings in San Ramon. I tried to be objective in my coverage of meetings and events, and...  (More)

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New Year's Resolutions?

Uploaded: Jan 2, 2014
Do any of you make New Year's Resolutions? You know, those "I'm going to lose 20 lbs by this summer to fit into my bikini," or "I'm going to get a promotion and a raise this year." Did you make resolutions last year and keep them, or are you just recycling old ones that you've never followed through on?

I've failed to accomplish too many prior resolutions to bother with making them anymore, but I would like to drop the 18 lbs I gained over the holidays. I weighed 232.5 this morning, and I'm not comfortable in my Steelcase Amia office chair when I'm over 230 lbs.

That much over 200 lbs probably sounds very fat to most of you, but I weighed up to 280 five years ago. I feel better keeping my weight under the level of "morbid" obesity. Obesity is OK for me. I've been obese most of my adult life, but the "morbid" part is scary.

I've never had any serious medical problems from being obese or even "morbidly" obese, but 25 years ago when I weighed 300 lbs I fell off a curb and injured my knee. I was walking around with a cane and finally decided I had to drop some weight or I could wind up in a wheelchair.

I lost 150 lbs over a two year period and kept it off for five years. I gradually gained most of it back, but I never went all the up to 300 lbs again. I stopped just under 280.

In 2008 I signed up with Fitness 19 in the Marketplace. They were having one of their $12 a month specials. It was cheap and convenient and offered a lot of exercise options. There were other fat people and old people there and no one gave me dirty looks like I got at a gym I joined 30 years earlier where everyone looked like a supermodel and anyone who didn't wasn't fit to be fit.

I surprised myself by going the Fitness 19 twice a week for three months. I even had a trainer who coached me on low impact exercises. But even with all that exercising I wasn't losing weight. So I got bored with it and stopped going.

I wrote a blog about my Progresso Soup diet in 2010. I kept a spreadsheet of everything I ate each day and the calorie count. I tried to maintain an average of 1600 calories a day. If I ate 2400 calories one day, I'd eat 800 the next to average out to 1600. I kept a monthly average, so I didn't have to stick to a daily caloric level. "Feast and fast" is now considered the best way to maintain weight.

I don't eat as much as I used to and I haven't eaten junk food in over 20 years. I don't crave burgers and fries or milk shakes made with mystery mix. Instead I take two tablespoons of Ovaltine Malt in a large glass of 1% milk.

I still eat a lot, but I've switched my "a lot" from meat, potatoes, and desserts to fruits and vegetables. Last night I ate a tray full of roasted vegetables. It was a lot, and there were some small potatoes in the batch, but mostly carrots, onions, zucchini, and bell peppers. I've always liked vegetables, but I don't like all the pealing and chopping involved in making them. Now supermarkets sell them already chopped up so it's just a matter of putting them in a pan or tray with olive oil and seasoning. Easy!

For breakfast I usually make a sausage-egg-and-cheese muffin or biscuit. It's like what McDonalds and Carl's Jr. advertise, but I prefer to make my own. I was eating two of those in the morning and that's probably why I gained weight, but I'm going to cut that down to one or even omit the biscuit. Today I had two slices of bacon and a very large egg and two cups of coffee. I could lose weight on that.

I'm not giving diet advice to anyone else. I do my own thing my own way. Nobody is the same. For me keeping under 230 is good. If I can do that I will try to drop under 220 and maybe even under 200, but at this point I'm not making any resolutions that are too difficult for me to keep.

My mother keeps her weight between 140 and 180. She's yo-yo'd those 40 lbs up and down for the last 50 years. It's worked for her. She'll be 98 next week.
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Comments

Posted by Cholo Pololo Mololo, a resident of Livermore,
on Jan 2, 2014 at 2:57 pm

Roz...maybe if you send in a $50 check to the Democratic National Committee every time you break a resolution, you can reach your goal(s).

Should you reach your goal(s) but start to muff it again and again and again, then you consider turning all your money over to me or somebody that you know and trust.

I would be waaaaaay tempted to try to out slick you and just give you a few coins every now 'n then.

Is it a deal?


Posted by Cholo PM, a resident of Livermore,
on Jan 2, 2014 at 3:03 pm

Correction: Should you reach your goal(s) but start to muff it again and again and again, they I strongly advise you to turn over all of your money too me.

I promise that I would not try to out slick you and that I would give you a few coins monthly so that you can enjoy spending again! Is it a deal?

I've always done my best to be a reasonable adult.


Posted by Roz Rogoff, the San Ramon Observer,
on Jan 2, 2014 at 3:27 pm

Roz Rogoff is a registered user.

Cholo,

I've done dumber things with my money than that and I'm still fat. By the way speaking of dumb things with money, here's one that's not so dumb. Fitness 19 is offering $7 a month memberships. I'm almost tempted to join again, but I know I won't go, but it is certainly worth it for someone who will use it.


Posted by Cholo, a resident of Livermore,
on Jan 2, 2014 at 4:04 pm

An individual can be fit and healthy: Web Link

It always a good time to exercise. Join!


Posted by Cholo, a resident of Livermore,
on Jan 5, 2014 at 2:06 pm

Teshuvah and Weight Loss, read all about it! However, if you want to read all about it, I won't make it easy. look it up...i rest my case...


Posted by Roz Rogoff, the San Ramon Observer,
on Jan 6, 2014 at 2:20 am

Roz Rogoff is a registered user.

Thank you for the advice, Cholo. I decided it is worth $7 a month to join Fitness 19 again, so I did. This bargain plan is limited to three days a week, which is as much as I'll probably use it. I picked Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.

I had not heard of Teshuvah and Weight Loss, so I Googled it. My best self tends to be on the intellectual side, but I need to limber up just to get around these days. My new New Year's resolution is to get into better shape than I am now.


Posted by Cholo, a resident of Livermore,
on Jan 7, 2014 at 10:21 am

GEZUNT!!

Web Link

duh...


Posted by San Ramon Observer, a resident of San Ramon,
on Jan 7, 2014 at 10:57 am

San Ramon Observer is a registered user.

"duh" is right, Cholo. Everything she's saying is what I already know or common sense. That article might be helpful to someone younger than I without all of my "dieting" history and advanced age. Eating patterns change as we age, and I just don't eat as much or crave high calorie foods as I used to.

Roz


Posted by Cholo Pololo Mololo, a resident of Livermore,
on Jan 7, 2014 at 11:54 am

YOU CAN EAT AT McDonald's everyday for the next 30 days and loose weight. As long as you walk/exercise daily.

If you're lazy, forget it because nothing with help.


Posted by San Ramon Observer, a resident of San Ramon,
on Jan 7, 2014 at 1:00 pm

San Ramon Observer is a registered user.

I don't like McDonalds and I'm lazy. So I won't eat at McDonalds and then I won't have to exercise daily.

It helps to know yourself and what you are willing to do or give up. I'm willing to give up something I don't use, want, or need. I'm not willing to do something I don't use or want, but possibly need.

So I am looking for ways to exercise that I'm willing to do. I am starting at Fitness 19 tomorrow morning and I'll see how much I'm willing to continue doing it. I won't do it daily because my membership is only 3 days a week, but it would be quite an accomplishment for me if I actually go 3 days a week.

Roz


Posted by Cholo, a resident of Livermore,
on Jan 7, 2014 at 2:54 pm

If that's your latest excuse, then I suggest giving into porkchops and raisins.

Mix in onions, bok choy, no sugar, no salt, over steamed white rice. Add steamed green beans, and sesame. yum yum plenty!

have you consider asking the public for low calories food/salads/fruit?

Otherwise, others are gonna start to believe that you live in the land of a thousand excuses.


Posted by Elise, a resident of San Ramon,
on Jan 9, 2014 at 9:20 pm

Wow! Roz asked if you had made any resolutions. I guess "not spending time harassing people online" was not one of them. Good for you to have your opinion but one response is good enough.

Roz I will exercise with you anytime. I didn't make a resolution about my weight. I didn't make any clear resolutions but I do have some goals:

1) Stop trying to make everyone else happy, I don't really have any control over their happiness and it's really up to each individual to work on being happy.

2) Stop feeling guilt over things I can't control. Guilt does me no good.

3) Find true value in what I do, even the small things. Appreciate myself for who I am and what I can do.

These will all take more than a calendar year. They are life goals but they are new for me. As for this year. I guess the only real resolution is "Stop saying we'll go play in the snow next year and do it this year". Now if it would only snow.....


Posted by Roz Rogoff, the San Ramon Observer,
on Jan 10, 2014 at 12:25 am

Roz Rogoff is a registered user.

Elise,

Your #2 should be my #1's. I don't feel guilty so much, but I tend to recriminate over past mistakes -- I shouldn't have done . . . , or I should have done it differently, as if I could go back and change the past by wishing it so.

Roz


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