Three Years On

To begin, some maintainer's statistics...

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

Average weight since getting to my target: 83.2kg (13st 1)

Average weight in the last month: 82.1kg (12st 13)

Away Eating days in the last month: 7

Average daily steps in the last month: 12,641

The last month included a holiday, and a very special one for me, because it was a walking holiday. We used to have walking holidays when we were a lot younger, but they have been impossible for the last thirty years, because of my increasing weight. So it was a real pleasure to do one again. OK, it was not the Pennine Way, but we walked a total of 80 miles (about a quarter of a million steps), in great weather and in gorgeous scenery.

Just by coincidence, the holiday was the same week that I hit my third anniversary of starting to lose weight for (I hope) the last time. Since my start date it was 20 months to get to my target weight, and then 16 months of maintenance. Maintenance has been a bumpy ride - up a bit, down a bit and repeat and repeat! But I seem to have figured out a routine that suits me well - when at home it is Home Eating (roughly what I did when I was losing weight), but when we are away for work or leisure it is Away Eating (eating some more calorific things I never touch at home). The result is, on average, a stable weight.

In fact, my weight trend recently is very slightly down. That's possibly the result of my increased steps and also my reduction in alcohol consumption, which I blogged about last time. I am trying out no-alcohol beer as part of Home Eating, and anything I fancy as part of Away Eating and - miraculously - it is working! In the last month I have had 21 days with zero alcohol, and 7 with some alcohol, averaging at 12 units a week. It's probably not ideal, because I would guess that it is better to have just a little alcohol every day, but for now I will settle for fantastic rather than ideal!

You might think that no-alcohol beer is pretty awful, but I have tested a lot, and found that a couple are OK. So I am now trying the same trick that I used with food - if something is a good thing to get to like, I am consuming it a lot. The theory (and not just my theory) is that if you stick at something for long enough, in the end a habit is established, and you get to like it. I am definitely enjoying Bavaria 0.0% a lot more than I did - so things are very promising.