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While life is good, there are a few things I have to work on.
Let’s begin with the number 36. No, Chrissy isn’t trading me in for a couple 36 year old studs, 36 is the waist size I reached early in 2025. I was not happy with that. Now, sadly, some of my 36 inch pants are whispering into my ear; 38,38,38. It’s like an evil form of tinnitus that speaks instead of rings. It’s not that I don’t exercise, I’m at the gym 3 times per week using resistance and stair step machines, as well as lifting dumbbells at home. I’ve gained weight because of my lazy eating habits.
On the very last day of 2025, I reached another milestone. It was the first time in my life that I broke 200 pounds on the bathroom scale.
My lousy diet began about 30 months ago after prostatectomy surgery. I had been maintaining my weight at a healthy 170 prior to surgery. After my operation, I lost ten pounds, and felt skinny. Wanting to regain the weight, I totally blew my diet discipline.
I’d been practicing ½ of the KETO diet. You know, the part where you eat all the fat you want, while ignoring the half of the diet that actually makes you lose weight. My budget for new pants is totally busted.
I have implemented my plan by cutting out sweets and snacks, and only eating until I am full. A couple pieces of pizza can sate me, yet I can easily keep eating until the pie is gone. Now I ask for a dogie bag/box before I even begin eating, and get half the order out of my sight.
I’ve lost ten pounds so far, if I run into a brick wall, I will go full KETO until I reach my goal, then revert to a better balanced diet.
What good is it being financially fit in retirement, if we eat ourselves into poor health?
Just some related material. Read an an article recently titled something to the effect of “Why you can’t exercise your way to weight loss”. Cited 3 things. One, exercise is an appetite stimulant, ie., you’ll want to eat more. Second, people overestimate the calories burned during their exercise routines. Third, people underestimate the calories in the “rewards” they give themselves for having exercised. They think they just burned 1000 calories walking or running and reward themselves with three cookies that they estimate at 300 calories when actually the inverse is true. The article went on to say that they absolutely do not recommend this approach due to the many other benefits of exercise such as cardiovascular, mood, sleep, etc. but that if weight loss was one’s sole motivation, they’d prob have more success foregoing exercise and concentrating 100% on diet. Other authors have noted that your outward appearance is probably 80% diet and 20% exercise. I’m no expert but based on my unscientific analysis of friends and family, I’d say this is accurate. It’s overwhelmingly about the quantity and quality of input into one’s pie hole and not gym time. That’s why all these “successful” exercise programs that are sold to consumers always have the caveat “when combined with a sensible diet”. It’s the diet that predominantly drives the results not the exercise.
Mark, thanks for posting, and I agree with you. I go to the gym to maintain muscle and balance. I have also fallen prey to rewarding myself afterwards, but no more. I agree with George Counihan’s wife, “You go to the gym to get in shape. You lose weight in the kitchen”.
It’s definitely easy to let the pounds creep up with age. I was 12 pounds heavier than I wanted to be at the end of 2024. I started tracking every calorie I ate and ended up losing one pound a month throughout 2025. I make sure to walk at least 12,000 steps a day (about five miles) but most days I come closer to 16,000-18,000 steps. About half of my walking is with our dogs and in our (very flat) neighborhood and half is on a treadmill at a 4 mph pace and a 4% incline. That seems to rev up my metabolism quite a bit.
I have noticed that my appetite isn’t nearly what it used to be a decade or more ago. I try to really pay attention to whether I’m really hungry or not before I eat something.
My husband and I both do low-carb, no-sugar diets. He’s more strict than I am but I usually don’t eat more than 50 or 60 grams of carbs a day. I’m convinced processed foods are the devil.
I do indulge in Diet Coke and a couple of other carbonated, sugar-free caffeinated beverages every morning. I feel like I need it, especially on days when I train all of our dogs and then go out and teach four hours of dog obedience classes in our community.
Kristine. I think your discipline is remarkable. I think that 50 carbs and steady exercise are the keys, keeping in mind the difference between good and bad carbs. Of course, there aren’t any good arguments for carbonated soft drinks, still, I think it’s okay to allow ourselves a little guilty pleasure. I try to limit myself to 24 ounces per day, though it’s hard if eating out, when the server keeps topping off my glass.
Thanks for posting, it’s good to hear from you.