Down again to 202.2! Woohoo! 

 

The Great Great Dane Weight Loss Challenge Day 5

 

I am apparently doing something right because I am down to 202.6! I am super happy about that! I could be down to the 190's real soon! But I am not getting too excited and will take it one day at a time. I know all too well that the scale can be tough sometimes! Right now my body is letting the weight go. Hopefully it will continue to cooperate! I am hoping for at least a half a pound a day at this point, but heck, as long as I go down and not up, no matter how small the loss is, I'll take it!! 

The Great Great Dane Weight Loss Challenge Day 4

 Well, I was down again this morning to 203.4!! I'm so excited to have my weight respond so well to my diet this week! I haven't been perfect. Been trying to stay around 50 carbs a day and 1200 calories. I've been a little high a couple of days this week with carbs. Honestly, I think it's most likely related to hormones. So I will stick to it and work hard to drop while my body is ok with it! Fingers crossed that these larger drops last a few more days! 

The Great Great Dane Weight Loss Challenge Day 3

 Did well yesterday and stayed on track for the most part. Down to 204.2 this morning. Not sure what my magic trick is with dropping this weight, but I'm not complaining and glad it's happening! 

Going to keep working hard to stay on track and hopefully be in the 190's soon! Fingers crossed the weight continues to keep dropping!!

The Great Great Dane Weight Loss Challenge Day 2

 

Day 2 ~

Yesterday I did very well once again. It was my day off and we ran some errands yesterday which included picking up Bella's remains. 😢I did well with eating and was very mindful about my carbs and calories. 

I weighed in at 205.6. I weighed 205.2 before I left for my scrapbook retreat, so I am really happy with the drop I have had already! I am down 4.2 pounds so far! If I can keep up with this momentum, perhaps I can get down to the 190's by December! I basically need to lose about 10 pounds a month if I want to get to 172. To stay on track, I need to be at 202 by the end of this month, but if I can get a little ahead of the game, that will help me going forward. Fingers crossed! 

I do have a good plan for Thanksgiving, so things should go fairly well that day. Most of what we eat is pretty healthy so I am feeling positive about it! 

The Great Great Dane Weight Loss Challenge Day 1

 Ok, I know this sounds weird, but this is a weight loss challenge for me! I have still struggled. With my birthday, then anniversary, then Halloween and finally my scrapbook retreat I was back up to 209.8 Monday morning! I also lost my Bella dog a couple of weeks ago as well. 😔

Although we do miss our Bella, we know she had a good life and spent 10 wonderful years with us and passed at age 12. But we have something exciting to look forward to after a long challenging year. I just got the ok from my husband for us to adopt a great dane puppy in early spring!!! So I am wicked excited!

They are huge dogs so I want to be healthier so I can care for my new puppy and get out and give it proper excercise! I have wanted a great day for almost 50 years! I have met a few when I was a kid and absolutely love the breed! 

But they are big, so the costs are higher to own one and having a bigger space is a plus, even though they do well in an apartment, a large house is more ideal. I am finally at a place in my life I can adopt one! I started my challenge on Monday. I am down to 207 this morning! Woohoo!

I wanted to get as close to 172 pounds as I can by time we pick up our new pup, which should be March or later depending on when our future puppy is born and ready to be picked up! Here is to a great incentive to maybe help me finally move forward and get this weight off!

Disappointed In Myself

 I am really feeling down this morning. I am disappointed in myself. I know I could have done better this past week and now my weight has shot back up to 209.2. That is a 7.4 pound weight gain. I did well over my anniversary and only gained 2.4 pounds when I weighed myself on Wednesday. But then my birthday hit the next day and I just ate too much. Still did better then I usually do but the real problem is I have been having a hard time getting back on track. That is what too many carbs does to me. I really really need to figure this out. I'm tired of not feeling good. 

Today is a new day though. I am hopeful for a quick drop but I'm not counting on it. I have found my body does not drop the weight as quickly as it used to when I have returned from a vacation when eating lots of goodies. But all I can do is get back on track and try again. If I fall, I just need to get back up. 

I am going to try to stay positve today and get my head out of this negative place right now. I enjoyed my birthday and anniversary week. Typically hard weeks for me when it comes to eating. I enjoy by enjoying some of my favorite foods. Should I not do that? I am torn by what the anser should be. Because I should be allowed to enjoy the things I love to eat, just like I enjoy my hobbies. But I need to really figure out this moderation things. Although I don't think I really did all that bad, clearly my body thinks otherwise. It's trying to find that balance that works for my body. Nobody else, but me. Everyone is different. 

Ok, time to pick myself up and soldier on. I CAN do better and WILL do better. Onward....

Feeling Good!

 Today is my 22nd Wedding Anniversary and I am feeling great! I have noticed my pain levels have gone down some. So that is great news! I feel better all and all. My mood is better! I do think half of that is I don't have the guilt I carry when I just can't seem to get things together and the other half is just feeling better with eating better! 

Things are getting a bit easier now. My cravings have gone down a lot for carbs which is great news! I have been staying pretty low aside from my pasta night I had a few nights ago. Yesterday my carbs were at 28 which is great! Thursday I had 39 and Wednesday 12! With each day the cravings get better and better! I am at the point where I am in a good place and it's getting easier to stick with the diet. 

My weight progress is going great. I was at 201.8 this morning!! My progress the first few weeks has been great. I do believe when I started Keto the last time my calories were on the high end so my weight loss was slower at first. So this time, I am trying to stay around 1200 calories as well as keeping the carbs low so I can make good progress and good progress is happening! 

I have a wedding to go to today and then I will be going away for my Anniversary on Sunday afternoon and will be gone until Tuesday night. I am determined to do well and at least not gain much weight, if any, while I'm gone on our trip!

I would really like to see me get down to the 190's soon! I have a doctore appointment on November 25th and would really like to see myself get back to the 180's. Fingers crossed! I will do my best!

 

Couldn't Be Happier!

I could not be happier with my results so far this week! I am down to 202.8! I have dropped down a pound from yesterday alone! I have 8 days until my birthday and I'm really starting to think I can make my goal of getting to the 190's by then! 

I was a little worried about my weigh in this morning. I had a soda from McDonalds yesterday morning and was worried it was regular coke and not diet and was worried about the calories that would add if it was regular coke. I ended up dumping some of it as I wasn't sure. Then I made the decision to have my daughters left over fettucini alfredo last night. But I had very low carbs all day, I figured I would try it and see. I still was only at 53 carbs yesterday! So I did well!! And clearly, what I ate was ok, because here I am down a pound from yesterday! But let's just say I won't be eating pasta regularuly. It will be a once and awhile thing! When I go to Olive Garden I always get the chicken alfredo over broccoli instead of pasta and I love it!

I have another trip coming up. I am going away with my husband from Sunday after work through Tuesday. We are going away for our anniversary and I am determined to do well! If I can keep up this motivation, I know I will work hard to do well while I'm gone. If I can get down enough before I leave, I will do what I did when I went on my trip last time and with that, I should do great and still be able to enjoy some small treats! So now I just need to stick with it and stay on track before we go!

Having A Great Week So Far

This week is going great! This is the best I have done in a long time. I know I just started on October 1st, but I really feel good about this, this time around! I have been managing my carbs well and have been staying under 40 carbs a day the last couple of days! I am finding already that the carb cravings are beginning to decrease.Maybe for now under 40 will work for me. I will keep going with it and if I find the cravings are still an issue I will lower it more. 

I am dropping weight at a decent rate right now. I was at 204.4 this morning. My motivation is high and my determination is the best it has been in awhile. All in all, I feel good about my progress and how I am doing. Maybe that goal to get to the 190's by my birthday is not out of the question. We shall see! 

Reviewing The Last 18 Months In Hopes Of Doing Better This Year!

 I haven't really gotten into much detail of how things have been for me over the last 18 months. Most of my weight gain occured in the earlier months during this time. I really think the fact that I was pretty much heading in to post menopause by mid last year is what really has caused much of my sadness, depression and emotional eating. But I also had a lot going on and being in the emotional state I was due to menopause, that did not help. First, my daughter graduated high school in June of 2024. Don't get me wrong, I was so very proud and excited for her. But at the same time, I knew in just a few months she would be going away to college. So I found my self very emotional for a good month thinking about it. By time she went to college I was feeling better. But it was still hard watching my first born leave the nest. On top of that, my employee's husband and our handy man & friend was diagnosed with cancer in December of 2023. He was doing better but in August 2024 his cancer came back and the prognosis was not good. It was stressful for everyone at the business watching my employee and her husband go through everything they did and covering when she needed to be out. 

I had been thinking of some ideas on how to eventually stop doing the motel in a few years and creating a different business at our location down the road. While visiting a friend of mine in South Carolina in September 2024, she gave me the idea to consider looking into escape room.  In October my husband, son and I went to Lanscaster, PA for my birthday to get new bows and go to this awesome Archery Shop in Lancaster. It was a great trip, but while there we did an escape room. Well, I thought it was great! My husband and son loved it, too! So when I got home I began the planning. For 3 months straight I worked 15 hour days researching, planning and developing my business. Mind you, I have a bit of an obsessive personality. So when I get my mind set on something, sometimes it's hard for me to focus on much else. I think doing this was also a good distraction from my daughter being away from home. I opened my first escape room in mid December which was a temporary holiday themed escape room called The Great Christmas Candy Caper. By February I had my first long term room done, and by April I had all 3 of our permanet rooms up and running. Although the first 3 months were my longest days of working, at the end of December my employees husband passed away. She struggled so much and still does with his passing. So she missed a lot of work in the beginning of the year which meant it took awhile for me to get her trained on escape rooms and I was the only one running rooms for awhile. I understood what she was going through was extremely difficult, but I was getting pretty burnt out. 

The fall and winter was very stressful and I was extremely busy. Because I was working so much I did not eat the greatest at all! I also was stress eating! I continued to have to work a lot as I had to be around to help run escape rooms to ensure we were getting the income when we could. But things finally started to calm down by September of this year. Don't get me wrong, it has been worth it. I got a lot done in a short period of time and I do believe I am building something great and am determined to make it a success. My employee is finally at a place where she can cope better and really enjoys being a game master and wants to see the business succeed, too! We had a really good talk at the end of summer and things have been better ever since.  

I have tried getting back on track with my eating off and on for the last year. There has just been so much going on. I have had some physical issues that have made things hard over the last 18 months as well. I started having issues with a lot more joint paint as of last fall. I had bursitis in my knee in September 2024. My joint pain got worse then my hips really started bothering me this year. I just recently found out I have bursitis in both my hips. Most likely arthritis as well. My hips have been bothering me for months now. In July I ended up with a severe case of vertigo. The vertigo lasted for 3 days and I had awful vomitting the first day. I didn't fully recover for about a week. My heart PVC's have returned earlier this year due to stress. And I had a period after 14 months and had to have a couple of tests to make sure it was nothing serious. Cancer was a small possability and luckily I found out recently that it was not cancer and nothing serious.  It has just been a lot over the last 18 months and I am hopeful things are finally calming down so I can move forward and try to finally get back on track and lose the 40 pounds I gained over my lowest weight! 

A Good Week!

 I was surprised to see that I had not posted since last Thursday! Well, things have gone fairly well! I went toa music festival with my daughter and was traveling for 3 days. But with that I am at 206.6 which is still down! So I am happy with that! I would have been down more but I did have few extra calories and carbs over the weekend. But I kept track of everything I ate so I wouldn't have a 5 to 10 pound weight gain! I left Saturday morning with a weight loss of 206.2 and came back at 207.4. Which is a 1.2 pound weight gain. That is excellent for me when going away!! I am almost back to 206.2 and hope to be there tomorrow, then I can focus on continuing to drop! 

I still have not found a lot of time to go over my posts from when I first started Keto. I have done a little bit of reviewing but hope to do more today and tomorrow! 

A Good Start

 10/2/25 - I had a good start to my new journey I began yesterday! I am down to 209.4 from 211.8 so that makes me feel better! I just have to keep up the momentum now! I took the time to create a calender to help us plan our dinners all month. My husband really liked that idea! I found out this morning he was up to 284 yesterday but dropped to 280 this morning. He has gained more then I realized so I am glad to have him starting with me. 

My carbs were a bit high yesterday. I had 132 grams of carbs but 51 grams of that was fiber! I am trying to stay under 75 carbs right now so a net of 81 is on the high side. I will try to get that down. One thing I do enjoy having is Fiber One Cereal which is what gives me most of those carbs. Once I get through my first week I will try to limit my consumption of Fiber one to no more then once or twice a week. 

I'm going to go through my old posts and figure out what I've done for lunch and breakfast most days so I can have some better choices here at work. I think ultimately I would like to get back to under 50 grams of carbs, but if I still have cravings with that I will then consider going under 20 grams of carbs like I did to initially lose the weight. Lots to think about and see what is going to work while trying to keep my diet a little more normal and less stringent on just meats and vegetables. But we will see. I will do what I have to at this point! 

Partners In Crime

 My husband and I do not help each other with eating. We are both bad influences on our diet as we both suffer from food addiction. But I made a pact with him yesterday that we are going to start a new on October 1st! So here we are, day 1 of our commitment together. 

I for one am going to do my best to finally focus and get this weight down. Work is calming down, life is not quite as hectic so this is a good time to try to lose weight and not just maintain which I have been doing over the summer. My weight this morning was 211.8 as my husband and I had a cheat day yesterday, so I'm not surprised! But today is the first day of the rest of my life! I can do this. I just need to get back down and maintain like I have all summer long. I am getting better at maintaing my weight. Last fall I had a lot going on and that is where the largest part of my weight gain occured. I have a doctors appointment in 2 months so I am determined to get to the 180's by then. But these are only words. I need to prove it in my actions!

Wish me luck!

Time To Buckle Down

What a year it has been! I have had such a hard time getting focused over the last year. Not sure what is going on with me but I can't help but think it is hormonal! I'm not blaming the weight gain on hormones but my emotions from the hormones that is driving me to eat. I just need to be stronger then my emotional roller coaster I have been on.

This week I haven't managed to get my shit together yet. But today is a new day. I need to remind myself that my clothes are getting too, I hurt with this extra weight on me and not getting this weight off is making me somewhat depressed!

I have two months until I go back and see my doctor and I would really like to be in the 180's by then! I was 208.4 this morning. I just need to do my best and start focusing on me instead of everything else in my life right now!

Clean Slate!

 Ok, I know it's been a tough year for me. I have just had such a difficult time focusing and it's getting to be rediculous. But I've had a lot going on and I do understand why it's been difficult, but I am hopefull it can and will get better. 

My weight on 9/17 was 208.4 and I've been fluctuating up and down since. Today I am making a better effort by bringing some food options in for me to work to try out. I am still convinced that I can have healthy carbs and do this. I am still trying to work out the best method and I think I am getting there! 

I don't have a lot of time to journal today, but I will be back soon to journal about the last few months in more detail. I weighed in around 207.4 this morning. I didn't take the time to record it, but that is close enough. Now to work my way back to the 190's and go from there! 

Journal Day 12-14

Had a busy couple of days!  I had a couple of high calorie days. Gave in to some cravings I am having. I did notice some really light bleeding yesterday. I have had tiny signs of my period still about every other day since I started almost 2 weeks ago. It doesn't seem to want to go away. I think a lot of my cravings may be hormonal. I shot up to 198.4 I believe on 6/23 but I didn't record it. I had a fun day out with 2 of my employees yesterday and ended up eating a bunch of junk when I got home. I did pretty well while out with them. But I am happy to report my weight is still 198.4 this morning. It didn't shoot up more after yesterday! It may still pop up tomorrow, so we shall see. Either way, I got to get back on track today. I would like to at least try to get back to 196 before the end of the month and work on getting more weight actually off! I am doing pretty well for the summer months considering. Normally I gain! 

06/23/25 Journal Day 12

6/22/25 Calories:  2235

6/22/25 Carbs: 171 (Chips & Chocolate)

6/22/25 Fiber: 13

Weight This Morning: 

SD: Moderate

Pain: Light to Moderate: 

Speech: None

Mood: Good

Sleep: Slept good 

06/24/25 Journal Day 13

6/23/25 Calories:  1353

6/23/25 Carbs: 85 (Pizza)

6/23/25 Fiber: 9

Weight This Morning: 198.4

SD: Moderate

Pain: Light to Moderate

Speech: None

Mood: Good

Sleep: Slept good 

06/25/25 Journal Day 14

Yesterday Calories:  2582

Yesterday Carbs: 292 (Lots of stuff I shouldn't eat)

Yesterday Fiber: 9

Weight This Morning: 198.4

SD: Mild 

Pain: Pain not too bad yesterday. 

Speech: None

Mood: Good

Sleep: Slept good 

Journal Day 11

My calories were a bit high yesterday. Ended up making homemade grilled cheese for Marcus and I after cleaning the entrance room. Then decided to have breakfast for dinner and couldn't resist sourdough toast to go with my eggs! But all in all, a good day. Jumped up a little in weight this morning, but not bad! 

06/22/25 Journal Day 11

Yesterday Calories:  1886

Yesterday Carbs: 117 (Sourdough for lunch & dinner)

Yesterday Fiber: 9

Weight This Morning: 197

SD: Mild 

Pain: Light to Moderate: mild leg & shin pain last night when I first went to bed. Worked on cleaning my entrance room. Hips aren't too bad today!

Speech: None

Mood: Good

Sleep: Slept good 

Journal Day 10

Woke up to a great weigh in this morning! I'm at 196.6! Woohoo! I did have almost 1900 calories today. But I'll get into that more tomorrow! Hopefully it won't cause me to jump on the scale!

06/21/25 Journal Day 10

Yesterday Calories:  1607

Yesterday Carbs: 81 (Had Chocolate)

Yesterday Fiber: 7

Weight This Morning: 196.6

SD: Mild 

Pain: Light to Moderate: Had some shin pain and leg pain again last night, but not for long. I did work on getting my soft top on my Jeep, so on my fee a lot again yesterday! 

Speech: None

Mood: Good

Sleep: Slept good 

Journal Day 9

Had a busy day yesterday making a 100 pound chocolate bar for a promotional display at my shop. Did over 10K steps! Ate well considering! Went up a little bit today but not bad. I am chalking it up to a normal fluctuation.   

Had some leg pain last night while on my side, but again, the standing all day probably didn't help! 

06/20/25 Journal Day 9

Yesterday Calories:  1334

Yesterday Carbs: 59 (2 Pieces Of Chocolate)

Yesterday Fiber: 5

Weight This Morning: 197.4

SD: Mild 

Pain: Light to Moderate: Had some shin pain and leg pain last night, but I also was on my feet most of the day yesterday. 

Speech: None

Mood: Good

Sleep: Slept good