Tips for losing weight and maintaining weight

Cleaning off the kitchen counter, I came across my list of weight loss tips. Like many papers on my counter, it had gotten buried. Here's what I wrote about four months ago...

*All meals and snacks at the table, proper place settings - no books, tv or computer
*Put fork, spoon, food down - and hands in lap - between bites
*Try to have 1-2 (Weight Watchers) points left at the end of day for a treat
*Wait 10 minutes when have urge to eat
*Brush teeth immediately after eating/drinking (except water)
*Salad every day (including 1 c. lettuce/greens)
*Take smaller bites

I stuck faithfully to this list for over a month, then forgot about it. That's okay. Once in a while, still, when I think I'm not eating right, I pull one of the tricks - I mean, tips - out of the hat to use for several days.

More notes from the countertop pile...

*The weight gain was gradual, so why shouldn't the weight loss be gradual?
*Keep my eye on small goals - 5# only.
*Think about Balance - don't swing back and forth from overeating to dieting and back again to overeating.
*I have tools at my fingertips (such as the list above), every minute of every day - use them until they don't work, then change it up. Ex. - Exercise - strengthening exercises, stationery bike, walk indoors or out, or on mini trampoline, swim @ YMCA (walking to and from the Y).

About mixing and matching my tools, particularly in the exercise arena, I still do all these (strengthen, bike, walk, mini tramp, and swim). I vary what I do in any given day. And I've added Senior Pilates to the mix. Sunday this week I rested.. No, I didn't... I'm kidding. I do usually rest on Sunday, but had a meeting to attend late afternoon. Decided to walk there. 2.65 miles according to Mapquest. So, I did it and enjoyed it. Felt good; more than I usually walk. Then I decided to walk home after the three hour meeting. Halfway home started wishing I had taken a ride or could stop and call my daughter, but I pushed myself and made it home. I expected aches and pains the next day, but no problem. Being fit really pays off.

So that was Sunday. Monday I completed sixty minutes of Pilates and forty minutes on my stationery bike. Yesterday I rode the bike thirty minutes in the morning and 30 minutes again in the evening. Oh shoot, I wanted to do the bike this AM, but forgot and have a meeting in a few minutes. Maybe after.