There Is A Lot Less Of Me To Love...

Since my husband's recent hospital adventure, and discovering that he has seriously high blood pressure and is diabetic, we have BOTH been watching our diets and exercising more.  It is finally easier for me to stick to a diet without SOMEBODY sabotaging me.  For him it is a matter of life and death, for me, a matter of pride.  I want to be as thin as I was when he married me.  I want to look as good as I can, and be as healthy as I can. 
My goal is to weigh 125 pound again, like I did in this picture.

His goal is to get back to the weight HE was in this picture, and to get his medications decreased because of the weight loss. 
Neither of us will be as smooth of skin as we are in this picture, this picture was made in 1990.  A lot of time and experiences have passed since then.  I also have a LOT less hair, because I cut it all off a few years ago because I was just plain tired of messing with it.
I have about 27 pounds to go.  I've lost 16 pounds since January, more than 8 of it in the last month. I can wear clothes now that haven't fit me for MONTHS.  I am very glad I kept them.  Some of my favorites among my newer jeans now require a belt, and some may be just plain too big now.  I got into a pair of size 10 jeans yesterday that I haven't been able to wear since the last Star Trek movie came out.  (That's the last time I remember wearing them before this.)  I have an absolutely beautiful green dress with a velvet bodice and a chiffon skirt that I want to fit once again.  When I can wear it again, I will proudly post a photo.  (I hope to get a good portrait of me in it, without my glasses, because they reflect the flash too much.)  It has literally been years since I have been able to wear the dress, and I love it. 
To accomplish our goals, we have changed the way we eat, including more fresh fruits and vegetables, and using sugar substitutes in some things simply because Matt shouldn't have the sugar.  (I have to watch it, though, my digestion rebels at too much Splenda.)  I also have gone back to the way I learned to cook, when I had to cook for my Pop, who had to limit his salt intake.  I use Lite Salt, or Mrs. Dash instead of regular salt.  In some things, I still use Sea Salt, or Kosher Salt, because of the flavor profile, but I use less. 
We are also having a bit of a competition about the number of steps we take each day.  So far, I am beating the pants off him, because I take two walks most days, and I walk a LOT in my job.  Circulation is not sedentary.  We are constantly on the move, emptying book drops, moving full carts around, sometimes shelving books or roaming the stacks doing reports, and going back and forth from the desk to the copiers and the self checkouts, and the automated book drop.  I also stand to check in, and I have developed my own little "checkin dance" that I do moving between the bin, the checkin antenna, and the carts we sort the books on.  There is usually music playing in the work area, so this makes it easy for me to get LOTS of steps in. 
I also spend a lot of time walking from one end of this house to the other, doing whatever chores are ongoing on any particular day.   
We both wear a FitBit tracker that tracks our steps, and monitors the number of times we wake at night.  He does better at sleeping than I do, but then again, I AM a "woman of a certain age", and I do have a tropical heat wave of my very own that seeks me out at inopportune moments.  (Like when I'm trying to sleep.)
We are both also using LoseIt!  a free app that we have on our cell phones.  Makes it easy to log our exercise and our food.  You can even scan barcodes on the packages of what you eat, and it will enter the nutritional information in the app for you.
So far, Matt has probably dropped more weight than I have, but he had more to lose, and he has been eating a LOT less than he used to.  Strangely enough, he finds what he does eat very satisfying, and the difference in how he feels is even more satisfying.  (Personally, I am glad to be able to get closer to him than I have been able to lately.  ;-> )
I have a lot less trouble from my various arthritic joints now that my weight is down.  This will get even better as I approach my goal weight.  My recent checkup revealed that my cholesterol is lower now than it has ever been, and everything else looks really good,too.  (Now, if the follow up mammogram next week show that the suspicious cyst has gone away or gotten smaller, things will be perfect.) My blood pressure is also going down as my weight does.
We are very glad we had not gotten rid of our old clothes before we started this adventure.  I had cleaned out the closet, and had the clothes in the car ready to go to the veteran's charity collection point, but pulled out the barely-worn stuff in the smaller sizes once we started losing weight.  Good thing I did, or Matt would have NO pants that fit at all.
This is working very well so far, I hope we can continue on to our goals and then maintain them long term.  That is the hard part.  Once you get to your goal weight, it is entirely too easy to slack off and gain everything back and then some.  I've done it more than once in my life.
I'll check back in here on my progress after I lose a bit more.  I also promised myself that soon I will order a pair of Boot Campaign boots as a reward for losing and keeping off the first 10 pounds.  Should happen soon.  (I hope.)