Losing weight means...

...that I'm cheering on a friend who has been doing it for 6 months.
And lost 41 pounds as of this week.

She wouldn't ask for friendly cheers until she'd passed the 6 month mark, of calorie counting and changing her activity program.

Losing is winning in this case!

I've seen her go through her weighing herself once a week, and steadily losing. She even went on vacation and thought she'd probably not lost that week, but she did!  I followed a much simpler goal during that time, to get my cholesterol number down low enough I wouldn't have to take a statin.  I achieved that in the 6 months.

So a week ago I started on a weight loss program.  I am not quite as ambitious as she is.  I just want to lose a manageable amount before the holidays.

But I found an ap for the iPhone which can measure my calories, without my having to look them up.
And apparently the phone itself will count my steps and deduct them if I walk to increase my activity level.  It's called My Plate, by Livestrong.com.

Sunday lunch...nicely low in calories with the crunch of chips and fresh pineapple

I also decided to join the elders who eat a prepared lunch (from a favorite local restaurant called Moose Cafe') sponsored by the Council on Aging, which is served at the Lakeview Center. The best surprise wasn't that the food is much nicer than it was several years ago when I quit that program, but the people are really much more interesting.  I was really afraid I'd be thrown in with nothing but frail people.  I guess that's my bias about the elderly.  That they wouldn't have a conversation because they couldn't hear or talk or think that clearly.  Not true this time.  And there are several classes that I want to take as well.  I'll let you know how that goes.  My first Spanish class was during lunch and I love it!

So having not done that much yet, I'll not toot my horn about my losses yet.  But just making major changes of one kind led to others of other kinds.

I'm now walking a half mile almost daily.
I'm making new friends.
...and eating the parts of the served lunches that I want to.  So far it's at least half, sometimes 2/3 of what is on the tray.
...and I've switched to decaf coffee where I used to have 2 cups of regular daily.  Now I feel no difference in having 2 cups that are decaf.
...and no more cokes, including I'm not replenishing the cokes in the refrigerator. That's some real withdrawal.
...but I still have my dark chocolate, so don't think I'm deprived completely!

So trying to lose just a few pounds has really turned my life around! Who would have known!