2 years, 5 months weight maintenance update

I'm over due for my July 2014 weight maintenance update.

For you Paleo-sphere people who just don't like this sort of thing.. move along and skip this post. I weigh in monthly with an update. Daily weighing works great for me.

Highest Weight: 187.4
Current weight : 118.2
Weight Range: 113-118
Years in Maintenance: 2 years, 5 months
Height: 5'1"
Age 48
Menopause: two full years this month.

Weight: I think I've settled in at the 117 to 118 range long term.

Strength training: I've been increasing free weights and the weight on the machines (row, chest, shoulders). I'm the strongest I've ever been in my upper body.  I can move file boxes at work around like a BOSS!

I pick up those 5 gallon water cooler bottle and scare the be-jeebers out of everyone at work. It's both funny (and a little sad) that people expect you to NOT be able to do every day sorts of strength things. "We'll have to call someone to move those boxes!"  "Oh wait til _____ (name of a man) arrives to refill the water cooler".  "Don't hurt yourself".

I get it. I don't want a back injury, and I'm cautious myself.  I do want to be able to do the majority of regular day-to-day tasks until my last days. I need to lift heavy to keep my bone strength.

I have a family history of osteoarthritis, lumbar stenosis, and many of my relatives being physically disabled due to metabolic bone diseases in the second half of life. I've decided that I don't have to follow this pathway and that strength training in my upper body, a diet that allows good absorption of the right vitamins and minerals- calcium, K2, D3, magnesium, etc.

It's all about absorption, in my opinion. My relatives were all champion milk drinkers. From what I can assume, that calcium wasn't absorbed. Absorption, strength training, low inflammation. I'll be asking for a baseline dexa scan from my doc later this fall.

Bone broth: YES! I've been making a batch of chicken broth and adding to the bones in my freezer. I have a cup at lunch and a cup while I make dinner. I try to off set my thyroid meds in the morning so I stopped drinking bone broth in the morning. I'll do a separate post on that later...

My Fitness Pal food tracking: Switched up one vegetable serving at lunch and I'm less hungry through out the day. One serving of bell peppers!  I'll do a separate post on that, too. I have been tracking my food for carb range data. 

Emotional eating and binge eating: No big urges to do that. Probably the longest I've gone. I attribute it to long term remission, abstaining of trigger foods, eating almost no processed foods, cooking 98% of all my meals at home.  Best choice ever to transition from weight loss to weight maintenance by "opting out" of grains and processed sugar.

My 2 cents: No grains, no processed sugars- underused in the world of weight maintainers who would do well on low inflammatory diets for long term health. Yes, I know it's not for everyone. That's okay.  Glad I experimented with an n=1 for myself this time around.

#NSNG... No sugars No grains... Just saying..

What's working now:
1. Strength training 2X per week
2. Bone broth 2X per day
3. Daily weighing
4. Abstaining from grains and processed sugars

What did not work in the past:
1. Not doing upper body strength training
2. Drinking skim milk thinking I was protecting myself from bone disease.
3. Avoiding the scale and expecting great outcomes
4. Moderating all foods so I could line myself up with the majority of popular diet opinion and not binge eat. (Ha, Ha... gotta laugh, otherwise I will cry on this one... )

Hope you are all well and enjoying your summer ( for my Kiwi and Down Under Friends- your Winter)