If the person asking can ensure coverage for a “dietician” with cred, I’d go for it!
I use bands; my gardening doesn’t include the kind of precise, timed resistance I need for my muscle building goals. OTOH I am way more consistent with the gardening!
FWIW I lost almost 30 + pounds and kept most off 5+ years, am a little overweight by BMI, but not by waist
ratios, normal A1c, lipids, bp, etc, but I am 33 percent fat by my scale and 44 percent at a lymphedema clinic! Husband says no way. 
I have been paying out of pocket for a dietician since January 2018. LOL
I found it obnoxious that this employee would think a 52 year old woman who is paying for the BodPod, who has been pre-diabetic for 10 years, would not have thought about seeing a dietician. This woman works for an executive health service, and I’ve been a client for 3 years, so she knows I’ve been receiving their emails and in person hard sales.
I do like my dietician a lot. That doesn’t mean I’ve been able to win the Battle of the Bulge!
In my experience that is actually quite important to build muscles. Working in the garden is good exercise but won’t build significant muscles. And at least for us, building those muscles was and is important to lose weight
(And I am a strong believer in intermittent fasting as one component)
I agree building muscles is important.
When I say gardening , it’s a little more invited than what most people mean by gardening. I’m digging potatoes and turning over soil with a shovel.
I am doing a type of intermittent fasting. I generally don’t eat for 12-14 hours between dinner and breakfast.
When someone wears a continuous glucose monitor, ideally, one doesn’t eat until the blood sugar is under 5.8 (although that number may depend on one’s own situation, whether one takes meds , whether one is in the US, Canada, UK or elsewhere). That means waiting to eat a bit longer, if I was to overindulge at the previous meal.
Well, I knew I’d gained weight, but I hadn’t actually stepped on a scale since my last doctor’s appointment in March or so. Up 16 pounds when I finally did on September 1. Fortunately, I had already been doing weights since July (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays). I’d added walking 5x/week back into my schedule in the last two weeks of August, so it was really just going back and beginning to aggressively log food and calories - which I know doesn’t work for everyone, but generally works for me. I put the recipes into the calorie estimator and then tweak for extra oils and salt. So, as of today, I’m back down 3lbs. The doctors will probably still be pretty stern with me on Monday, but it is what it is. Gotta say I’m enjoying the weights though! I have an adjustable set of dumbbells set to arrive in the next few weeks so I can start increasing the amount I’m lifting. Pretty excited!
good for you, getting on track!
My disappointment with the BodPod last week was offset by the fact I am down a size in dress pants.
Yesterday was the first time for me to buy size 44 pants since 2018. The last 4 pairs I had purchased, by the same German brand, between 2019 and 2024, had been size 46.
In ladies clothing, the German/ Swiss/ Austrian 44 is usually equivalent to a size 14 US, whereas French 44 is usually a US 12, and Italian / Spanish 44 is usually a US 10.
I’ve been loving my personal trainer (helps that she is getting her degree in kinesiology), and was thrilled to learn that I have 18 sessions left — they never paused our payments while we were in Berlin (even though we told them to), so I guess I’ll see her a few more weeks.
She’s sick today, but sent me an upper body workout (lats, shoulders, biceps) that we would’ve done today.
I liked that my recent body scan showed that I gained 1lb in muscle, and hope the trend continues (I’ve lost 8lbs of fat since I signed up in April).
That said, the weight loss is far less important to me RN than building muscle strength, stamina, better balance, etc.
I logged my food in Fitnesspal after we got back from Berlin, but I get sofa king bored with it I stopped a while ago. But I have a pretty good handle on what I eat, or rather — what I should and shouldn’t eat 
That’s great! Yeah, logging is not my favorite thing, but it keeps me honest (especially on weekends). I am fortunate that my metabolism still allows weight loss to more or less be about the math, so accurate tracking is helpful for now. My lifting program focuses on compound movements, although I can’t help throwing in some extra arm and ab work in the last 15 minutes.
I’m not interested in a gym or personal trainer at this point; it’s enough to get up at 4am and head downstairs and workout as it is! If the progress stalls, I may look into something.
I generally despise gyms, and have never really been into working out for the sake of working out (did walking for a hot minute in an attempt to lose weight and of course lost zilch), but this gym opened up a stone’s throw from our house, and they had an offer we couldn’t refuse ($9.99/month base pay is pretty good).
I appreciate the guidance in both weights, not to mention FORM my PT offers me, and my posture has improved a lot (it was a pretty low bar, tho), as has my overall strength.
And I’d never get up at the crack of dawn for a workout, that’s for sure 
I am 76 and not targeting any specific numbers. My knees were the victims of serious sports injuries nearly sixty years ago, so my exercising is chiefly stationary bikes and various weight machines for the upper body. The Y is reasonably close and not too crowded around 2 pm. As regards consumption, I take in much less white carbs, meat, and alcohol, but they all remain as part of my diet. I am settled from my high mark of 5’11 1/2" and weigh 165, but I am trying to drift downward, maybe a half a pound every now and then, and never go up.
Things are going well!
Excellent news! My BP is perfect now that I am on meds & spend far less time online dealing with idjits
Besides hydration, having your arms and abdomen be very warm just prior to the blood draw can help, because your body will pump extra blood to the periphery trying to shed the heat.
For really difficult patients, I’d wrap the arm in a warming blanket for about 10 minutes before the stick.
I guess I never updated this. After the August 2024, 4-week OMAD stint, it wasn’t “next Monday” but a couple of months before I got back to it. I stayed relatively low carb (no sugar, no starchy stuff, but lots cruciferous veggies and non-sweet fruits) and mainly ate lunch and dinner, but I didn’t regain any weight.
I did another 3 weeks in late October and lost another 18 pounds, so I’m down about 40. Took a break “for the holidays” that has extended up to today. I’m again mainly eating 2 meals a day and am a bit more relaxed on carbs. But I try to pre-cook stuff like potato/pasta/rice the day before and fridge it, so it can convert somewhat to resistant starch. And for pizza, I gave up trying to make low carb crusts that I like and went back to using Charlie’s biga crust recipe.
Need to get back on the wagon; ideally I could lose another 20 or 25, but it seems less urgent than when I was 60-70 pounds over.
More cardio, less salt?
More cardio, more strength training, keeping calories to ~1700, less alcohol (Sunday-Thursday). We were already doing a mostly pescatarian/plant forward diet (although I’ve added some chicken back in on week days currently and beef/pork occasionally happen on Saturdays). I’m not going overboard in my attempts to limit sodium (turns out I’m not sodium sensitive), but I’m not throwing fistfuls of salt into things either (except pasta water).
Noice! Keep up the good work!
Thank you!
thank you, @CCE
I have a great ‘outgoing’ vein in my left arm and a a few ‘incoming’ ones in the right. The hospital loves to wrap us in warm bankies before drawing or infusing. I’m okay with that because the rooms usually feel chilly to me.
