Margotogo's Journal, 29 Mar 21

I never really looked at the numbers for daily healthy eating, but I'd like to find out how to determine which proportions I'm shooting for. I used to just go for 3 veggies, 2 fruits, and 2 proteins that would fit the inside my cupped hands each day coupled with lots of fresh water. And of course, I became fit because I worked out every day, but I had no idea what I was doing. I quit eating healthfully when I met Phil. That was 14 years ago. I weighed 125 or so lbs. We started adding butter, cheese, and all the trimmings to our meals. We each gained under 50 lbs over the past 14 years. That's about 3.5 lbs per year. Dec 7th 2021, we decided to quit drinking because we were just getting smashed at night and then eating a 2nd dinner. We also quit smoking that day. I was happy to give up alcohol and tobacco for Ben & Jerry's. In fact, I gained the last of my 20 lbs from December 2020 to March 2021. I began a new commitment to eating healthfully because frankly, I don't feel well when I'm indulging my taste-buds and I hate the way my clothes feel and can't wait to jump into my lounging clothes when I get home. So I have this commitment to health and another commitment to getting myself to look at my scales each week to watch the progress. My plan is to stretch and weight lift light reps for the first month in small increments and increasing the number of sets and weights as I go. It's been 14 years, so this is the beginning.  

Welcome Margotogo!!!🌺👍 So it may be a slow journey, but stick to it and it will happen! I started in August and I’m almost there where I want to be, but it’s being dedicated to the site for it makes you look at your numbers every day and recording your food calories really helps. What just floors me is everybody’s so supportive here, nice and even amusing. I feel blessed! So start your journey and don’t get discouraged - sounds like you’re already doing well.🌸🌸🌸 

Shrewdness is right. Seriously, if you concentrate on nutrition, what to eat rather than how much, and you stay active, you should get to where you want to be and be more fit than ever before. Eat only foods that are good for your body and avoid things like processed foods, fast foods and anything with a lot of added sugar. If you must have sugar plan ahead for it, do not entertain impulses. Congratulations on quitting smoking! I quit over 40 years ago (after smoking off and on for 8 years), back when they were 60 cents a pack. If the price had never changed I would have saved over $44,000 by now. But the price did change and went up drastically; I've actually saved likely well over $100,000 in those 40 years, not to mention all the health costs I would have incurred. Well done on quitting! That's seriously like winning the lottery!! You've saved yourself a bundle! With the money you're going to save each week you can afford a lot of healthy foods! With the money you're going to save from not drinking you can afford some quality sparking waters and fresh fruit for making healthy homemade sugar free Spritzers. With the money you're going to save from not buying ice cream you can afford an ice cream maker to make your own healthy versions using whole cream, almond or coconut milk, and honey or stevia. Or a yogurt maker for making homemade Greek style yogurt. Maybe a smoothie maker for making healthy smoothie shakes. Or a quality juicer for making healthy juice. With the money you're saving you can also afford to buy some quality organic fresh foods rather than off the shelf processed foods. You will also be able to afford some great books on nutrition. It's so awesome that you already have a partner to do all this with. Y'all sound very compatible so you should be able to do this together. Best wishes!