Steady as she goes

A month ago I blogged about my first year of maintenance, and I'm now a month on from that. Here are some numbers...

Weight that I decided to maintain at: 85.0kg (13st 5)

Average weight since getting to my target: 83.3kg (13st 2)

Average weight in the last month: 82.2kg (12st 13)

Average steps in the last month 10,050

So the big picture is that it's going fine! Of course it wobbles around, as anyone who weighs daily has to accept, but I seem to be getting good at bringing my weight down quite quickly, when I need to. In fact a few months ago I decided that when I knew I was going to be eating away, that I would try to lose the weight in advance of going, rather than after I got back, and I've had some success with that trick.

My eating habits are virtually unchanged, but I have added something else. I still usually have my huge lunchtime salad, but now I sometimes use our soup-maker to have a hot lunch - errrr...salad soup! I chuck in all the normal salad ingredients with a stock cube, some chilli and water, then switch on. Twenty minutes later I have the same veg portions, the same ginormous bowlful, but it's also hot and warming. Ann tells me that it's often a strange green colour but, being colour-blind, that doesn't bother me in the slightest. Mmm!

I am also thinking of varying my exercise habits, and doing some swimming. I am not a good swimmer - I didn't learn until I was 20, and I have never really taken to it - but I might go with Ann to the local pool. I even bought some swimming shorts, which I had to do because the last time I swam was 15 years ago, and that pair is about 15 inches too big around the waist. Which reminds me...

After losing all my weight, and with a BMI of only about 24, I still have a bigger waist (38.5 inches) than the recommended maximum for a man (37 inches). I think that a lot of the reason is that I have quite a lot of loose skin, mainly around my abdomen. I was assured that after 40 years of obesity, and at my advanced age (63), this flappy skin would never go. Not that I'm bothered, to be honest. But Ann has been saying recently that she thought there was less flapping than before, and when I tried my swimming shorts on, I could see her point. So I dug out the tape measure, and found my waist was 37 inches! I was surprised and pleased.

Anyway, back to my weight. When, a few weeks ago, I blogged about our imminent cruise, I said that people who go on cruises seem to want to eat as many calories as they possibly can (they've paid for it in the fixed price), and the cruise lines seem to want to help them. Well the cruise is next week! So although I have lost some weight in advance (see above) it may not be enough. I'll report back on our return!