Like most adults in their mature years, maintaining health has been a priority. I take my medicines daily, though I am not shy about suspending one that may not be needed or is suspected of symptomatic adverse effects. Missed treadmill sessions nearly alway have a valid justification. I measure my weight, waist circumference and BP, recording them weekly. Treadmill goals are set and usually met. More recently I've incorporated some semblance of sleep hygiene. All these efforts have shown benefits. For the first time my cholesterol is on target with the LDLC declining from 188 untreated to 68 with faithfulness to rosuvastatin each evening. By systolic BP has declined from 155 to about 130 once amlodipine was introduced as a supplement to lisinopril. Only the weight has been refractory to my best efforts, yet at the last two measurements it has declined by a kg and my waistline by about an inch. Moreover, I no longer feel the need to be voracious.
What brought this about is uncertain. I made a small modification to my eating, putting myself largely NPO or at least calorie free from 8PM to 6AM. Have done this before with minimal effect, though this time I've been doing it long enough to become more habitual. I've not had the munchies in a while. Perhaps more significantly, as the grocery shopper, I've changed the purchases.
Manufacturers and retailers know where the big production efficiencies and consumer preferences lie. TJ big bag of crunchy, oily ridged potato chips are a best buy, SR house brand chips are a bargain at the regular price, and my very favorite since childhood, Wise Potato Chips goes on sale every few weeks at just the price I am willing to pay. I last put a bag of any of these in my shopping cart a month ago. Cookies have to be cleared out. TJ buckets of Cat Crackers or Cinnamon Letters last a long time, though I've stopped buying them. Nabisco and Keebler have to be cleared off the SR shelves with too good to resist sales, and sometimes they make you buy two to receive the discount. A package lasts only a few days. While kept on the kitchen table, they are not a destination in themselves but I am at the kitchen table enough for other reasons that I will help myself to 2-3 at a time several times a day. Not bought these in a month. Tastykakes have been my weakness as have the more nationally distributed Drakes Cakes for most of my adult life. They go on sale. Drakes was easy to discontinue; the size of the Yankee Doodles or Yodels just got too small. Tastykake is a whole other matter, especially for $1.99 a box. Two boxes of bargain have become one box of bargain with no more than one serving a day. And to my benefit they seem to be going on sale less.
Bread remains my biggest challenge, since I don't really have the option of not buying any. I have shifted away from sliced bread to bagels which are never part of binges. As commercial mass market sliced bread has gone up in price, I am now more willing to pay extra at TJ for their pumpernickel and other healthier options, though soft sliced bread has been something of a challenge not to overeat as my last comfort food.
The scale gives me good news, though. I probably did the right thing.
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