I was going to weigh myself before starting the diet, but I didn't have a scale at home (too depressing!) so I logged my starting weight as what I weighed last September when I was visiting my daughter. Based on how my clothes fit then and now, I'm comfortable starting with that number. I also thought I might just check my measurements and use those numbers but found that in my house I only have rulers and a 26 inch tape measure. Nothing on me has been 26 inches since high school!

I'm about 3 weeks into the diet and exercise routine (I started in a mid week, so it's more like 2 1/2 weeks).

After checking out a lot of options for dieting, and seeing what methods of losing weight others were embarking on - New Year's resolutions in full swing around here - I decided to watch calories, use a touch of food combining whenever possible, and to increase my activity slowly.

My entire department at work has begun similar regimes, with each of us trying different diets. The only thing in common is that we all have added about 3 hours of slow walking to our day (the fact that all of a sudden our jobs are requiring this extra activity was the fortunate catalyst for that!).  We are helping each other to be accountable and we have one "diet nazi" who shrieks whenever she sees one of us partaking in an unhealthy foodstuff. It provides comic relief and allows us to restate our diet goals, how we are justifying the intake and, sometimes, we re-evaluate the snake or meal.

One of our techie co-workers found a great free app called Lose It! that is available on Android and iPhone. A few of us (including me) are using this app and others have bought small calorie pocket calculators, pedometers, and calorie count books.  It is interesting seeing who is using what tools and why.

I'm loving the Lose It! app. It is handy and keeps me accountable. It set a reasonable goal of 1 1/2 pounds per week (I tried to set it for a two pound per week weight loss but it gave me a lecture). Of course, since I'm trying to lose more than 1 1/2 pounds per week, all I have to do is watch the goals and cut the intake a little further. I'm not watching carbs as part of the diet but I have noticed that in my decision making to keep my calorie count low, I'm naturally giving up carbs in favor of being able to eat more and still stay under my calorie goal. 

A really nice feature of the app is that it allows me to look at the week as well as daily goals and reports my weekly calorie over/under stats.  It will also track nutrition, although I don't really use it for that, I have also noticed that as I decrease my carbs (again only so I can consume more calories with additional food) I am also decreasing my sodium intake and fats.  Wow.

I haven't done a weigh in yet but plan to this weekend. My slacks feel a little looser, but besides that, I have no real noticeable changes yet. I am having fun though which a change from the old days of dieting when I just felt hungry all of the time.