I'm in too. 5'2" female. Currently at my heaviest ever, 153 lbs (up 20 lbs from 1 year ago wtf?!) and just realizing that I'm old and weight doesn't just fall off and I can't just eat whatever I want to anymore.
By far my biggest issue is nighttime snacking and 'rewarding' myself for a hard day of work by eating a bunch of junk.
My goal for the year is to get down to where I was a year ago, about 135 will be satisfactory...anything less than that a bonus. More importantly, I need to get healthy, and not be so easily winded running up a flight of stairs or jogging to my car in the rain.
I'm pretty sure its psychological, because my food intake hasn't changed that much so far this morning compared to recent mornings, but I feel like I could eat an entire pie! Just the fact that I know I'm trying to eat less makes the hunger worse, even in the mornings when I'm usually not hungry to begin with.
Annoying. I remember last time I was at this stage and the first 3 days of carb cravings were the hardest by far. 2.5 days to go, then it'll get easier. Right?
I'm in - I'm 5'1 wearing a size 14
Right now I bulge out of size 14 and it ain't pretty. Eating too much for supper and eating sweets at night is my problem, caramel, chocolate you name it, in fact I started eating cookies and other sweets during the day for the past three months and even drinking beer at night. Who the hell does that and thinks it will not show up on their belly and hips?
I am so disgusted with myself right now I could spit nails.
My plan:
Reduce amount of food at supper time
No food past supper - usually 6pm
Eat more raw foods - apples and spinach and carrots and raspberries
Drink herb tea instead of alcohol at night - I do like mint and chamomile tea. I will start drinking raspberry leaf tea - a recommendation from the diet doc to help lose weight for the pear shapes:)
Make a big pot of cabbage soup - I have a favorite recipe from an old diet book, that tastes good and does help lose weight.
Add sauerkraut and yoghurt to my diet and fix all that lettuce and chard growing in the garden now.
Have a look at exercise classes in my area - sign up for two of them
Dig up my pilates CD and start doing a workout every day
It finally got cold here - 65 degrees - perfect for bike riding and walking. Getting out my camera and visiting all the local parks and beaches within reach.
Get a step counter so I know how much I really walk - maybe there is an app for that??
Drag the scale out of the closet and weigh myself once a week
Since I am going through all of this trouble anyway I will shoot for fitting into a size 12 again, but for now I want to feel comfortable in a size 14. May or may not set a weight goal, if I weigh more than 165 I will shoot myself.
Get a step counter so I know how much I really walk - maybe there is an app for that??
I'm also on the track of trying to lose weight and feel better. I've realized that it's the long term that counts and even though the body is a complex system, I basically concluded that for me, now:
- Weight depends largely on what I eat. Exercise don't really matter
- Feeling good, energetic and productive is largely dependant on that I exercise and meditate.
Given my job and life situation, I'm working with some habit hacking to get my exercise done and to not fall off the wagon and eat junk.
My two biggest problems when it comes to food is that I too often frequent resturants with a great social atmosphere but three beers and all those french fries to the food really make a mark on my body and also that I've got a bit of a sweet tooth. Breaking the social cycle which leads to bad eating is hard.
I'm on my way though, I've lost 4 kilos (9 pounds) since august, and it keeps going in the right direction. The plan is 10 kilos (22 pounds) more during 2016. No quick fixes - long term change.
What habit hacking have you been doing? Right now, I am trying to reach for healthy snacks instead of the junk. Also, keeping a giant water bottle next to me and drinking when I feel hungry/munchy.
Has anyone set up a challenge that involves consequences if they don't meet a stated goal?That sounds like a very motivating idea.
I have an acquaintance at work who supports the opposite political party. I just made a pact with dates and weights I have to meet. If I don't, I have to give her $200 to contribute to a candidate who makes my skin crawl. We did this last year and it worked very well. Anytime I felt tempted I remembered who I would be supporting if I didn't meet my goals. I gained some weight over the holidays, so now we're doing it again. I have set very reasonable goals that I should be able to exceed.
If you have strong political opinions, this can really be motivational! No way will "that candidate" get my money!
Has anyone set up a challenge that involves consequences if they don't meet a stated goal?
I have an acquaintance at work who supports the opposite political party. I just made a pact with dates and weights I have to meet. If I don't, I have to give her $200 to contribute to a candidate who makes my skin crawl. We did this last year and it worked very well. Anytime I felt tempted I remembered who I would be supporting if I didn't meet my goals. I gained some weight over the holidays, so now we're doing it again. I have set very reasonable goals that I should be able to exceed.
If you have strong political opinions, this can really be motivational! No way will "that candidate" get my money!
Has anyone set up a challenge that involves consequences if they don't meet a stated goal?
I have an acquaintance at work who supports the opposite political party. I just made a pact with dates and weights I have to meet. If I don't, I have to give her $200 to contribute to a candidate who makes my skin crawl. We did this last year and it worked very well. Anytime I felt tempted I remembered who I would be supporting if I didn't meet my goals. I gained some weight over the holidays, so now we're doing it again. I have set very reasonable goals that I should be able to exceed.
If you have strong political opinions, this can really be motivational! No way will "that candidate" get my money!
Mine is FIRE. We have agreed that I will be able to FIRE once I achieve a healthy weight. So every pound I lose will take me a step closer to FIRE. The faster I do this, the faster I can FIRE. Since I am highly motivated to FIRE, we are hoping this will give me the push I need. (plus i'll be able to do all the active stuff I want to be able to do in FIRE - hiking, cycling, canoeing, etc etc).
@elaine: oranges > popcorn ☺
Joining! Already working on cutting back or eliminating soda, plus jogging. The plan is to keep developing the plan as I go.
Like others here, I'm at or near my highest weight ever and am fed* up with myself. Too embarrassed to admit the number in public. Y'all are brave! I will say that I am sure I have surpassed my lifetime quota of fast food meals. It's my albatross.
I'm pretty sure its psychological, because my food intake hasn't changed that much so far this morning compared to recent mornings, but I feel like I could eat an entire pie! Just the fact that I know I'm trying to eat less makes the hunger worse, even in the mornings when I'm usually not hungry to begin with.
Annoying. I remember last time I was at this stage and the first 3 days of carb cravings were the hardest by far. 2.5 days to go, then it'll get easier. Right?
I feel your pain! I've been thinking of food aaaaaallll day - and this is only the first day!
@Cookie Seriously. I felt my stomach grumbling this morning and I literally said to myself out loud, "Get used to it, this is what it's going to be like from now on!" It at least made me feel like I was doing something right!
I think my main problems are
1. Eating when not hungry (seconds at meals because it tastes good). Ugh!
2. Filling plate to match amount 6'2" husband eats.
For anyone looking for a plan to follow, there's a great thread on The Whole 30 (http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/whole-30-starting-sept-8th-want-to-join-us/) which has lots of success stories by fellow Mustachians as well as links to the official Whole 30 program online (which is free, by the way).
I'm delighted to report that I am down 25 lb (October to December 2015) with another 50 or so to go in 2016 so I'm joining here as well!
I've decided to try some habit hacking. Every time I feel hungry/snacky/munchy, I am going to drink water or herbal tea. If I'm still hungry after that, I'll get fruit/nuts/healthy snack. To help with this, I am going to plan to eat something every 2hrs or so. Rather than letting myself get too hungry between meals and going on a big binge. I have a horrible habit now of just putting off my meals/snacks. e.g. breakfast at 9am and then lunch at 2/3pm (even though I started getting hungry at 11).
For anyone looking for a plan to follow, there's a great thread on The Whole 30 (http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/whole-30-starting-sept-8th-want-to-join-us/) which has lots of success stories by fellow Mustachians as well as links to the official Whole 30 program online (which is free, by the way).
I'm delighted to report that I am down 25 lb (October to December 2015) with another 50 or so to go in 2016 so I'm joining here as well!
1967mama, thanks for mentioning that & posting the link. I have seen the thread numerous times, but have been scared to delve in...isn't that silly? Anyway I read the program & it sounds like it's for people who cook ("stricter paleo"). That's a skill I'm still developing, so I think I'll pass for the now. However, I'm glad you helped me get over that fear.
oneday - You're welcome! I do like to cook and eliminating grains, dairy, sweeteners of all types and legumes for 30 days seemed quite doable for me. I had nothing to lose (except the weight! haha) by giving it a go for 30 days. It really was the first thing that has ever worked for me:-) I'm on Day 4 of my 3rd Whole 30 (since October 2015) and I have to say, I feel great. It has helped me with so much more than just weight loss. Stop by for motivation anytime:D
Wow I failed today. Someone brought chocolate to work this morning, then timbits this afternoon. I bet I had nearly 1000 calories in sugar today. But healthy and small breakfast, lunch, and dinner and also I AM SKIPPING POPCORN tonight. I posted it here, so now it has to be true.
As much as I was hoping to avoid it, I may have to start tracking food intake with myfitnesspal again. Just the knowledge that I have to be accountable to myself and track everything I eat on the app helped me limit the junk I ate tremendously last time I was losing weight. Hopefully it does the same this time.
Wow I failed today. Someone brought chocolate to work this morning, then timbits this afternoon. I bet I had nearly 1000 calories in sugar today. But healthy and small breakfast, lunch, and dinner and also I AM SKIPPING POPCORN tonight. I posted it here, so now it has to be true.
As much as I was hoping to avoid it, I may have to start tracking food intake with myfitnesspal again. Just the knowledge that I have to be accountable to myself and track everything I eat on the app helped me limit the junk I ate tremendously last time I was losing weight. Hopefully it does the same this time.
How did you do last night?
As for me - I'm pleased. Yesterday was Day 4. I followed my plan and snacked during the day on oranges. I did end up eating a slightly bigger portion size than I should have (I made homemade meatballs for the first time in years and it was GOOD!) but not too bad so I'll count that as a win. After, I only snacked on fruit (we had a pomelo that was incredibly sweet and delish - all of us were fighting over it!). I also did a 30 min workout video. Didn't do as well on the sleep front - finally going to sleep at 12:30am after DH nagged me for a bit (but still, I didn't go on a midnight binge - yay). Unfortunately, my dog has a restless night, waking up 3 times needing water/potty/more water. When the dog finally slept soundly, my DD came in sobbing after a bad dream where Daddy shot the dog. (UGH - our world revolved around the dog last night)
Next up - work up the courage to get on a scale. I've refused to weigh myself for 2-3 years now and my scale is packed away (my excuse is that the needle is broken lol). I did measure myself on Day 3 and will measure every 2-4 weeks to see progress. A scale will likely track the smaller successes so I'm wondering if I should just get it over and see how bad it is. I guess I'm at about 150lb although it could well be more than that *sigh*
Is anyone here, besides me, following Weight Watchers and wants to talk about program and points?
Is anyone here, besides me, following Weight Watchers and wants to talk about program and points?
I'm on the fence with WW. Do you like it so far?
Is anyone here, besides me, following Weight Watchers and wants to talk about program and points?
Is anyone here, besides me, following Weight Watchers and wants to talk about program and points?
I am about to rejoin. How do you like the new program?
I did it! It was hard though. I had a thermos of herbal tea, took the dog for a walk and was on skype for a bit to distract myself. While I was waiting for my skype date the devil on my shoulder was trying to convince me that just half a bowl of popcorn would be ok. Ha.
This morning I fired up myfitnesspal again and entered in my breakfast. Went for a run even though it's -19C. Going to the grocery store later today to pick up some healthy foods. I have LOTS of frozen meat and veggies, but nothing that is good for quick healthy low-carb snacks.
Is anyone here, besides me, following Weight Watchers and wants to talk about program and points?
I am about to rejoin. How do you like the new program?
I'm still getting used to it. Started last week after 2 year break. I do not like the new website though. Can't find things there and all good old forums are gone now.
But it tasted great and I enjoyed it....so I'm okay with it. Rock on 2016.
I'm doing really well at reducing the sugar. I did have a biscuit today - but stopped at one. (I never normally stop at one!). I did make really nice cornbread for dinner, which in hindsight is more carb-y than I should have had. But it tasted great and I enjoyed it....so I'm okay with it. Rock on 2016.
1/4 - 152
1/11 - 149
Can't complain about overall results though. Didn't use the scale all week which was a little unnerving for me, but I want to stay focused on eating patters rather than daily weight.
I'm doing really well at reducing the sugar. I did have a biscuit today - but stopped at one. (I never normally stop at one!). I did make really nice cornbread for dinner, which in hindsight is more carb-y than I should have had. But it tasted great and I enjoyed it....so I'm okay with it. Rock on 2016.
I'm 6'0" and 246.8 lb.
... track calories using MyFitnessPal....
Excited! Lost 3 lbs this week with intermittent fasting. 3 down, 27 to go!
Week 1: 3lbs
FrugalWad - What an inspiring story! Thanks for posting! I'm on a journey to drop 75 lbs to get back to my ideal weight and one that I am very comfortable at -- I have 50lb to go. I lost 25lb from Oct to Dec 2015 doing a program called The Whole 30. (http://whole30.com/whole30-program-rules/) I totally agree with you on the $$ saving through buying just healthy foods (and less food) and cutting out restaurants (in my case, mostly fast food).
I cannot have chocolate in my house, even if I buy it for my kids. Will need to keep that in mind and buy in small quantities that I can give to kids as one time treat and be done with it. Not buy with the thought of keeping it for treats later on. The result is there are no more treats for later on because I ate them last night.
Figuring It Out - I hear you on having foods in the house "for the kids!"
For me, its potato chips "for the kids,"
baked goods "for the kids,"
chocolate "for the kids,"
pop "for the kids."
Hello, my name is 1967mama and I'm a recovering sugar addict. I have to be pretty much cold turkey. I was just finished my 2nd Whole 30 (did 2, straight through) when Christmas arrived and I totally fell off the wagon. Brutal!
Well, so far what I am doing is not working so it looks like I have to take it a bit more serious. I was really just trying to balance things out, so if I had a bad day then I would try and have a good day but really I stop caring and just eat if I want to. LOL. So, today, I am going to make a real effort on curbing most things, at least for a while.
I stepped on the scale and it did not budge so now I am getting annoyed at myself. I really don't want to buy new pants and skirts so I need to be a bit more focused. I am not giving up.
@alleykat what are your meal plans for today? Even if you take it one meal at a time, you're still getting the benefits of planning ahead. Thinking about reporting the choices I have made back in here has actually been helping me a lot.
I really need to control my sugar cravings, both for my health and my roommates' sanity. We all split food, so sugary things show up even if I avoid them at the store. When I get into a slump, I'm like the ant problem we had earlier this year: sneaking my way into everything sweet.
Please stop taking your dog on your walks elaine amj !
On Saturday, I took my dog out for a walk. We really haven't walked a whole lot lately although we do a normal pace walk about every 2 weeks or so (he . At about that time, my son started noticing that the dog seemed a little injured. For the rest of the day, he screamed (and yes, I never knew dogs could scream lol) when we touched or moved him and was all in all, a really pitiful looking creature. I reminded my worried kids that our little mini poodle is a wuss - the dog would even scream at night when I brushed past his fur! quote]
So, I had a really good week last week, managing to keep to two meals and a snack most days (keeping in mind that my snack might look like a meal to some here.) Then I went skiing for the weekend, and I bought a lot of convenience food to make sure I could keep going all weekend, plus rice pudding because it's my favorite and I figured I was working out for many hours each of those days.. Unfortunately, some of that came home. So the start of this week was not so good. I've just gotten back down to where I ended last week.
Today, though, I had a meal replacement bar in the morning (trying to control calories for now), 2 cups of coffee, and just had an apple. Lunch will be soup and salad and, if not, something healthy and light, and dinner I am planning on steaming some potstickers and making some mixed vegetables to go with it. Then I will stick to have an orange or two for a snack. Today, I am determined to finish the day on a good note.
Thank you for the support, Elaine. I think you are right, reporting here and being accountable will help a lot.
Please stop taking your dog on your walks elaine amj !
I'm joining in on this challenge, as well. I am a 4'11" lady (a rather subjective use of that term, in my case), weighing 133 pounds, which is considered overweight.
I do have a plan in place, it's just going to be a matter of actually doing the things I say I am going to do.
- Track food intake on MyFitnessPal (I'm on a 3 day streak!)
- Start 30 Day Shred this Saturday and do at least two rounds before moving on to another, sustainable physical activity
- Eat more vegetables and less fast food. Like, a lot less.
After how good I felt this afternoon - this evening was a struggle. Kids were eating pizza and their leftover crusts looked soooo good!! I had one tiny sliver of DH's spinach pizza...and when I calculated it in MyFitnessPal later - that alone was 110cals. I battled cravings the rest of the evening. This time though, I did something different. I admitted my cravings to DH. (Usually, I keep my diet triumphs and struggles from him - to make it easier to secretly binge eat, I think). He encouraged me to reach for fruit. I ended up eating some fruit and half an avocado.
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The biggest changes I made were to cut out sugar and limit my alcohol to 2 drinks/week. I started following the clean eating principles and have been having great success. I haven't even been having sugar cravings, which was a major issue last time I started eating this way.
My task for today, figure out what the right portion of nuts is when I snack. Most likely 1 oz?
1 oz of almonds is 163 kcal
1 oz of walnuts is 185 kcal
These are the two varieties I eat quite often. I have a scale so I will weigh them today!
I did pretty good yesterday, although,mi did have a few things I could have avoided. My only sweet was a small lollipop. I consider yesterday a win. I never keep logs or write things down but yesterday I started too. I think it will make me really see what I have throughout the day and I can make changes from there. It was hard later that evening but I held out.
The biggest changes I made were to cut out sugar and limit my alcohol to 2 drinks/week. I started following the clean eating principles and have been having great success. I haven't even been having sugar cravings, which was a major issue last time I started eating this way.
That's awesome that you haven't been having sugar cravings! It's nice that you're seeing some great positive movement.
Maybe I need to start another habit hack and go work out if I get a craving at night or something? I still get my late night cravings, but so far, it's been too much of a hassle to get out of bed to go eat. Plus been sleeping a touch earlier 12/12:30am, which has been helping. Hoping to inch that to going to sleep at 11/11:30pm - which again will help since I binge the most when nobody is around to see.
@oneday at home, I keep apple cider vinegar in a squirt bottle and add a squirt to each glass of water. It's really good and replaces any cravings for juice. Plus it's healthy. We also often squeeze a fresh lemon into our water. My fave though is sparkling water - but it's a big treat for me since I refuse to pay for it. I loved it when I was traveling in England and it was priced just the same as regular bottled water!
In. So, so in. 5'10" and in 2011 I weighed over 300 pounds! Now in November, for the first time in almost a decade, I'm back under 200.
My task for today, figure out what the right portion of nuts is when I snack. Most likely 1 oz?
1 oz of almonds is 163 kcal
1 oz of walnuts is 185 kcal
These are the two varieties I eat quite often. I have a scale so I will weigh them today!
I'm curious as i have never taken the time to weigh stuff - but on average, how many nuts is in 1oz?
Elaine,
1oz of almonds = 28 almonds (roasted no salt from Aldi)
1 oz of walnuts = 12 halves (fresh, 2015 crop from my parents' walnut tree)
Then today when I was home alone, I binged again on my snacks. I didn't try my water hack or my other usual techniques.
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Been struggling so far this weekend *sigh* Had friends over on Friday night and although I tried really hard - still managed to eat about 300 cals more than I should. Although I should acknowledge that I had just ONE pan fried dumpling and ONE slice of veggie pizza. Enough to put me over the edge though:(
Then today when I was home alone, I binged again on my snacks. I didn't try my water hack or my other usual techniques.
I also currently have a bottle of champagne in the fridge with one glass left in it. Struggling with not wanting to waste it. Ugh. I am already well over my calorie limits today. Plus, just baked mini cheesecakes with my DD today so I will be having one tomorrow. And I didn't work out yesterday (other than my 12 min XBX strength training) and it's already 11pm so I don't want to do my cardio today either.
Going to have to pick myself up and do better tomorrow. I will NOT let a couple of bad days turn into more years of bad decisions.
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Been struggling so far this weekend *sigh* Had friends over on Friday night and although I tried really hard - still managed to eat about 300 cals more than I should. Although I should acknowledge that I had just ONE pan fried dumpling and ONE slice of veggie pizza. Enough to put me over the edge though:(
Then today when I was home alone, I binged again on my snacks. I didn't try my water hack or my other usual techniques.
I also currently have a bottle of champagne in the fridge with one glass left in it. Struggling with not wanting to waste it. Ugh. I am already well over my calorie limits today. Plus, just baked mini cheesecakes with my DD today so I will be having one tomorrow. And I didn't work out yesterday (other than my 12 min XBX strength training) and it's already 11pm so I don't want to do my cardio today either.
Going to have to pick myself up and do better tomorrow. I will NOT let a couple of bad days turn into more years of bad decisions.
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I haven't done too well over the last few days either. I did avoid buying or eating sugary things, but all in all I ate way too much...
We had lunch out at work on Friday - a rare treat for me since I don't eat out as a rule. I ended up eating way too much. On Saturday, I was finishing up some leftover chili and ended up eating more than I really needed to. And yesterday I baked bread and cooked a large batch of lamb stew. Both were really delicious and I ended up eating more than necessary...
So next step in my plan: PORTION CONTROL!!!
I started this year off crappy in all respects after losing my beloved cat on January 3rd, a day before my birthday. Expenses and comfort eating abound. But I feel ready to do some good for myself and my wallet. All about the personal progress this year.
On the positive, after my weekly weigh in on Sunday morning I am back on the plan and so far been doing really well with my breakfasts and lunches pre-planned for the rest of the week and decent dinner options at home.
As for food I've been doing ok since I started tracking calories, except for this Saturday! I went to a party and there was soooo much delicious junk food. I was way over my calorie limit, but I kept tracking it anyway.
I just read this comment in the myFitnessPal forum and it really resonated: Most importantly, I started eating the way I imagined the thinner me would eat with regards to portions and types of food. 80% healthy and 20% indulgence.
1/2: 246.8
1/9: 243.8
1/16: 243.2
As you can see, I had a quick drop the first week, then not much the second. I assume that a bunch of that was water weight and the substantive fat loss was less, but I'm still on my 1.5 lb/week target. It may just mean I have to work a little harder this next week. I had a lot of stressful stuff going on this last week, so I'm hoping I can keep to it better this coming one. However, it could also be hard because I'm traveling for school. That means 5 days of hotel breakfast and eating out. Also, I won't have my scale with me (although maybe I actually should take it; it'd be a shame to derail now.)
I used to do a lot of traveling for work, too - about 1 week every month! I would struggle because I was 'dining out' and I never paid any attention to what I ordered - why would I? It didn't count! I finally had to change my mindset from "I'm traveling/on vacation" to "I'm temporarily living elsewhere." One thing that helped was to make sure I had a refrigerator and a microwave in my room. I would then go shopping for yogurt, fruit, oatmeal, and soups that I could prepare in my room. Not only was it fewer calories, but it was less temptation and allowed me to bank my daily food allowance. HTH!
Erg. It helps to see other people are struggling. I was doing great. Down 4 pounds the first two weeks. Then the anxiety really amped up and the whole thing went down the tubes. I eat junk (sweet processed carbs) when I'm stressed.
I swear gluten/wheat causes me to have nearly uncontrollable anxiety attacks (which of course result in eating sweet processed carbs..vicious cycle...). My oldest child has celiac so I could be sensitive (or celiac myself since I also get GI issues when I eat processed foods). I've never been tested and don't have good insurance/money to do so at this point. Due to needing gluten free for the little one, I had been off gluten for a couple of years. I started eating it again when money got tight. I already have a cow dairy allergy (had good insurance at that point).
I keep toying with the idea of going back to gluten free but the expense makes me reluctant. Ugh!
Since then I have experimenting with lots of gluten-free things, and you know if you are not buying prepared gluten-free breads and products (that come with their own issues) it isn't really more expensive.
Here is the thread for some of us MMM'ers who are doing it, check it out if you are interested we are a hugely supportive bunch :) http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/whole-30-starting-sept-8th-want-to-join-us/ (http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/whole-30-starting-sept-8th-want-to-join-us/)
Wishing you all success no matter what system you find works for you!
I used to do a lot of traveling for work, too - about 1 week every month! I would struggle because I was 'dining out' and I never paid any attention to what I ordered - why would I? It didn't count! I finally had to change my mindset from "I'm traveling/on vacation" to "I'm temporarily living elsewhere." One thing that helped was to make sure I had a refrigerator and a microwave in my room. I would then go shopping for yogurt, fruit, oatmeal, and soups that I could prepare in my room. Not only was it fewer calories, but it was less temptation and allowed me to bank my daily food allowance. HTH!
I like the "temporarily living elsewhere" mentality. Our family travels...a LOT (often once a month). I love it. But when we travel, we eat out and I pig out a lot on really bad foods. And I also travel for work - and free food = massive temptation.
I have been looking at myself and wondering how on earth I let it come to this. I have always had a few extra pounds, even as a teen. Throughout my teen years, I was always the fat girl (I was about 120lb with an ideal weight of about 100-110lb) since 80% of my friends were all skinny. Or at least - I looked at them as skinny (they always felt about 5lbs or so over ideal). Just before college, I got more serious and dropped about 5 lbs so I felt pretty good through my college years. Then, I got married, got pregnant and the babies came. Eventually, I said that I felt fine at about 130lb and told myself I'd be OK at this weight for the rest of my life. However, every year or two, the weight would creep up. 130lb became 140lb. And now, at only 36, I hit 153.6lb and was officially obese!
How can I be OBESE? I can cycle for 5 hours, I can make it through an 8hr adventure race, I can canoe for 3 hours at a time, I can go for 5 hour hikes. How is this even possible? I'm realizing that the reality is - I am staring at this impossibility whenever I look in the mirror.
I HAVE to make this change and I have to make it last. This is not the life I want for myself. I want to go on long bike rides, I want to be outdoors. I want to FIRE and live my dreams, I want to grow old and be the wacky grandma still cycling, hiking, and living life to the fullest. I want so much for my life and I cannot keep lying to myself that what I eat has no effect on what I want for my life.
If you're using BMI to calculate normal weight, overweight, and obese, then stop. Especially since you are able to do all of those things!
BMI is a misguided measurement. Body fat % would be a better metric. I get so stuck on BMI too since my health insurance premium is tied to my BMI, and it hovers between normal and overweight despite my activity level and clothes size.
On another note, I'd love to hear more about that adventure race!
"Diets" Counting Calories and all the other crazy things we do to ourselves rarely make you go face to face with the emotional, physiological, phycological and addictive issues that arise from our food choices. If you don't sort those out, no matter what you do, you will keep living through the same vicious cycle. I have spent more time in it then I would like to think about. I have lost so much of my life.
Ain't that the truth! I followed WW for about 6 months back in 2005-2006. I lost about 35 lbs, but I always felt deprived and I never addressed my stress eating. I was obsessed with what I ate, whether it was 'in points,' etc. As soon as I stopped following WW, the weight crept back on.
This time around, I am not counting calories at all, but focusing on eating whole foods, controlling my portion sizes, and my mental health. Interestingly enough, I focused on my mental health first (dealing with some serious anxiety), and the eating took care of itself. I'm also not putting any food on the 'restricted' list. I haven't wanted refined sugars or carbs, so I just haven't eaten them. But if I want cheese or a fatty cut of beef (or alcohol), I'll eat it in normal portions. I'm also trying to not beat myself up if I 'slip up.' But since nothing is off-limits, I haven't really felt like I've slipped up.
The biggest challenge is to not give up! It seems like most of you are keeping on with keeping on, which is great!
Weight down to 143.8 despite my attempts to sabotage it by binge eating Nutella (my bane) all day. I don't understand why I feel the urge to choose sweet stuff when I know I shouldn't be doing it. Any ideas? :(
Hoping I have a better day today with regard to eating. I want to eat as clean as possible. I don't follow any diet or count calories but try to reduce sugar from diet because of the spike and how ravenous it makes me feel after eating. Here's to a reduced sugar day!!
@rightflyer you're almost there! It must feel amazing to know you are so close.
- I ordered a digital kitchen scale last night to start weighing my food. My DH was vehemently against my spending the $10 for something like that - I am eyeballing and estimating - and just don't feel like I am accurate. I don't intend to count calories forever - but I really need to get a clear understanding of what normal should look like.
I honestly haven't felt deprived or hungry at all. I just don't feel stuffed all the time.
- I ordered a digital kitchen scale last night to start weighing my food. My DH was vehemently against my spending the $10 for something like that - I am eyeballing and estimating - and just don't feel like I am accurate. I don't intend to count calories forever - but I really need to get a clear understanding of what normal should look like.
I'm already learning about better choices. Yesterday the family had frozen sweet potato fries. I thought of steaming a fresh sweet potato in the Instant Pot but then decided it would take too long. Instead, I carefully counted out a portion of fries and ate it with some portioned out mayo. It fit within my calorie counts - but by night, I went to bed hungry. If I had the same calories worth of plain sweet potatoes (which I love), I would not have been hungry later. I am not beating myself up about my choice - but I am acknowledging how it affects me.
I love the idea of the picture perfect book! Going to have to keep an eye out for it :)
Well, after feeling so good for 2 weeks, I crashed earlier this evening. I have no idea what went wrong (although I did stay up way an extra hour last night...). Anyway, I did everything right - had a filling afternoon snack (1/2 cup of plain chickpeas). But when I got home after work, I suddenly felt completely out of sorts. In the terrible mood I was in, I knew I wouldn't be able to feel satisfied with my planned dinner (a small portion of spaghetti with 3 meatballs and 1/2 an eggplant). I scrambled around trying to figure out what to do - I was STARVING. Thankfully, I saw a black bean veggie burger in the freezer and had that with a burger bun and followed it up with an entire avocado. I was glad I did as this filled me up for almost the same calories.
But I was still out of sorts. I decided to just do my XBX strength stuff and skip my cardio workout. Then I got a text. A friend found out about a local group who rented a gym to play badminton two days a week. Asked us if we wanted to check it out - tonight.
This was absolutely perfect. I love badminton - I have forgotten how much (even though I'm not good at it lol). We ended up playing for 90mins and I only took one 10 min break. I had a blast the whole time and it was fabulous cardio.
We're definitely going to chip in on this. It's $70pp for 2 nights a week from Sept - June. Best of all, it is at my DD's school - 2 blocks away :)
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Well, all I can really say is this is going to be a bitch, but I am not giving up. It is just a goal for the year and not necessarily just for the month of January. This is most definitely harder than I thought it would be.
I need to reduce my carbs for sure. I just love carbs and in the winter my craving for them is worse. So, I need to scale it back.
I had an ok weigh in today. 1.4 lbs lost, which I'll take given that I broke my 2-drink/week limit while visiting with a friend. My 3 week total is 10.8 pounds. I've got all sorts of yummy food lined up for this record-breaking snowstorm headed our way, and I'm looking forward to burning some calories doing some major sledding runs. Bring it on!
So, exercise. How do you guys do it?
1/4 - 152
1/11 - 149
1/4 - 152
1/11 - 149
1/23 - 148
Have been hesitant to get on the scale. I don't know if it's colder weather affecting me or focus on eating, but I have had massive cravings for carbs. Bread, popcorn, rice, bagels! More!
Next few days will be tough since we are in the middle of big east coast snowstorm. Nothing to do but shovel and eat popcorn while watching movies. I'm trying to remember winter life before Netflix. Should not complain. We're warm, dry, and the house has the lovely yeasty smell of hot bread. Off to make some apple bread while we still have power.
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Well, I have not been doing so good still. I realize I need to break the habit of eating. 5 or 6 small meals a day is not working because it keeps me in the eating mode and it makes it tough. Yesterday, I have started intermittent fasting. You eat lunch and dinner within 8 hours of each other and the rest of the time you can have water, black coffee and herbal teas. I do have coffee in the morning with cream so I am not doing it perfectly, however, if I can skip breakfast and start eating at lunchtime, I think that will be good. Yesterday, I did eat a good lunch and dinner. It has only been one day so we will see but good so far.
I ate lunch around 11:30 and dinner around 5:30, however, I want to start eating dinner at 6:30 but that will take a minute since I am so use to eating early. I am looking forward to seeing how this works out. I like it already. I did bring a piece of fruit with me yesterday morning just in case but I didn't need it.
I read about intermittent fasting on leangains.com, but I first came across it from The Minimalists website.
Well, I have not been doing so good still. I realize I need to break the habit of eating. 5 or 6 small meals a day is not working because it keeps me in the eating mode and it makes it tough. Yesterday, I have started intermittent fasting. You eat lunch and dinner within 8 hours of each other and the rest of the time you can have water, black coffee and herbal teas. I do have coffee in the morning with cream so I am not doing it perfectly, however, if I can skip breakfast and start eating at lunchtime, I think that will be good. Yesterday, I did eat a good lunch and dinner. It has only been one day so we will see but good so far.
I ate lunch around 11:30 and dinner around 5:30, however, I want to start eating dinner at 6:30 but that will take a minute since I am so use to eating early. I am looking forward to seeing how this works out. I like it already. I did bring a piece of fruit with me yesterday morning just in case but I didn't need it.
I read about intermittent fasting on leangains.com, but I first came across it from The Minimalists website.
@alleykat there are lots of different ways to lose weight and lots of things that work. I would suggest you find something that works for you (i.e. doesn't leave you feeling deprived/starving all the time) and stick with it. Just like passive investing and compound interest, it's going to take time and patience and a trust in the process you have chosen. I know some people who do intermittent fasting and it works really well for them and their lifestyles. The thing is - is this something you are going to do for the rest of your life? (some people do) If not, what then? What happens after you lose the weight and return to your normal eating habits?
For me, counting calories is something I can see myself doing for the rest of my life. I may not always count meticulously, but then again, if i need that external reinforcement, I might stick with it. It's still very early days yet for me to know - but so far, this feels right for me. And logging daily is getting easier over time. My main goal is to learn proper portion sizes.
I have an incredible win to report! Today, my boss treated the office to pizza for lunch. I decided to pre-log it to figure out what I could eat. I ended up eating just one slice of Hawaiian pizza (delish!), 3 cups of caesar salad and a diet coke. I figured the salad would fill me up a bit more than the pizza even though calorie-wise, it's rather a wash. I was shocked I managed to stick to my plans! What helped was to eat VERY slowly, drinking many sips along the way so I finished at the same time as everyone else.Congrats, Elaine! That's a huge success! Planning goes a long way toward reaching goals.
The one thing I didn't like - after the meal, our VP started talking about how piggish she felt because she had eaten 4 slices. She started asking everyone else how many they ate (in a joking way). I stayed quiet but she asked me directly and everyone was shocked when i admitted I only ate one. They teased me a bit and then asked if I was still hungry. Actually, at that point, I felt completely satisfied and said so - pointing out that I did eat a fair bit of salad. I'm not entirely happy as I really didn't want to make a big deal about my weight loss plans until some more time has passed so I can feel confident that it's sticking and that it's not just a phase.
Is it weird? I haven't even told my closest friends yet. All have successfully lost a lot of weight and kept it off (for years). I'm kind of the last man standing. I feel awkward about it and not quite ready to admit it, even though I know they would completely support me and cheer me on. I'm going out with my two closest girlfriends next week and trying to figure out how to tell them what I'm doing. I'm feeling unaccountably shy about the whole thing. Thank goodness I have this forum as an outlet!
I had an ok weigh in today. 1.4 lbs lost, which I'll take given that I broke my 2-drink/week limit while visiting with a friend. My 3 week total is 10.8 pounds. I've got all sorts of yummy food lined up for this record-breaking snowstorm headed our way, and I'm looking forward to burning some calories doing some major sledding runs. Bring it on!
The weight is dropping fast :) Is that too fast or is it primarily water weight at this point? I do like the idea of upping the exercise to "afford" more food.
Had another staff lunch today - this time, fish and chips. I was surprised to find that each piece is only around 300 cals. I asked for a baked potato instead of fries (which I am not crazy about anyway). Worked it into my calorie plans and still ended up only a tiny bit above my 1200 calorie limit - taken care of when I worked out at night. Very happy I can still manage social eating.Be careful of this! I felt the same way in the beginning then it became self-destructive to me. I have so many Friends/Family that make comments to me that at times I lose my cool or tend to eat more in front of them.
And yes, the whole office knows now and the VP teases me good-naturedly a lot (she works hard on her diet too). It's actually working out ok since now I would be hopelessly embarrassed to quit. It's kinda cool to be "the healthy one".
The scale has gone up and down this week - been feeling bloated many days. So compared to last Wednesday, I am down only 0.2lbs. BUT - TrendWeight says I am down 1.5lbs. I like TW's numbers better and am glad it is helping me not to panic.
@Geostache The paella sounds delish! I like the 10 day average ....so much better than getting frustrated with yourself. After all, this has to be sustainable, right? Keeping your portion sizes in check is an awesome win!
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Had another staff lunch today - this time, fish and chips. I was surprised to find that each piece is only around 300 cals. I asked for a baked potato instead of fries (which I am not crazy about anyway). Worked it into my calorie plans and still ended up only a tiny bit above my 1200 calorie limit - taken care of when I worked out at night. Very happy I can still manage social eating.Be careful of this! I felt the same way in the beginning then it became self-destructive to me. I have so many Friends/Family that make comments to me that at times I lose my cool or tend to eat more in front of them.
And yes, the whole office knows now and the VP teases me good-naturedly a lot (she works hard on her diet too). It's actually working out ok since now I would be hopelessly embarrassed to quit. It's kinda cool to be "the healthy one".
The scale has gone up and down this week - been feeling bloated many days. So compared to last Wednesday, I am down only 0.2lbs. BUT - TrendWeight says I am down 1.5lbs. I like TW's numbers better and am glad it is helping me not to panic.
@Geostache The paella sounds delish! I like the 10 day average ....so much better than getting frustrated with yourself. After all, this has to be sustainable, right? Keeping your portion sizes in check is an awesome win!
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I've already signed up to the Strength and Fitness 2016 challenge, but weight loss is a big part of my goals so I might as well sign up here. I'm 5'8, was 150 in high school, got up to 180 in college, bought a suit for job interviews, then after several months I was about 210-215 and I couldn't fit into it anymore. I really didn't like the way I looked and realized I needed to make changes. I started working out, cut out snacks and drank more water and in six months got down to 175 and can fit into the suit again (pants are a bit tight though). I still have a slight gut and I'm still not entirely happy with myself, so I got a vivofit2, a couple fitness apps, and I'm planning to get down to 145.
Gang, I haven't made any progress. PMS and sugar manage to derail me every time :-(
On the suggestion from another Mustachian, swick, I am going to do Whole30 for the month of February. I need to reset my sugar /carb cravings.
I am weighing myself every morning but only recording on Monday mornings on MFP and only once a month here. I had to order a bridesmaids dress this week for a wedding in April. I was between two sizes, and I went with the smaller size, so I HAVE to step it up!
January 4: 153.0
February 1: 147.2
I used to weigh 260lbs 2 years ago, and my original goal was 180lbs. I now weigh 190lbs and have stopped actively losing weight because I feel comfortable in my body now. Right now my goal is to maintain a healthy body.
Some things I learned along the way:
Calorie budgets are the *only* way to lose weight. Just like making more money than you spend is the only way to save money, burning more calories than you consume is the only way to lose fat.
Don't fall for those "low-carb", "low-fat", paleo, or any other restriction diets.
Eating less is a *lot* easier than burning more. If exercise is your thing, then power to you, but it's way easier for me to not eat a hamburger than it is to run 2 miles. Saves time too.
Eat food you like - in realistic portions. Don't try to eat nothing but soybeans and rice or starve yourself. You'll go nuts and binge.
Packaged food is designed to be addictive. Try to cook your own meals. It's also cheaper. I'm terrible at this lol.
Use "filler" foods. Lettuce and most veggies will fill you up, but have virtually no calories. Same goes for unsugared liquids, so make sure to drink enough.
Only eat when you're hungry. And don't force yourself to eat breakfast if you aren't hungry in the morning.
Celebrate every 5-10lbs - but not with food (maybe a little is ok...)
Don't snack when you're bored.
Count. Every. Calorie. After a while you can accurately guess, but I know when I started I had an unrealistic perception of how much I was actually eating!
Good luck!
Today's win: swapped out high sugar break fast for oatmeal. I like oatmeal but end up picking up higher calorie breakfast food because it was easier (I have to make oatmeal myself). Yesterday I took sometime at home to figure out exactly how long I need to make it and found a whole container of healthy flavorings that I can put on it. Today, skipped high calorie one and made oatmeal at work and it took just five minutes.All of my life when I made oatmeal I always used something sweet (Sugar, honey, or flavored quick oats). Then changed to mostly fruits or protein powder but would only eat it once or twice a week. Then someone introduced me to "Savory Oatmeal"...now I eat that stuff everyday!!! Look up some recipes and give it a whirl.
I also bought the flavor topping in a glass jar to work. I have a deadline now to finish that jar in a month or to throw it out. Now I'm even more motivated to make my oatmeal. Yay!!
Today's loss: had a piece of chocolate chip banana bread at work for dessert. Need to stop looking at dessert, period!
@Cookie78 Don't shortchange yourself 4.8 lbs in 4 weeks is fantastic! I personally feel 1lb/week is ideal. Less worry about loose skin, and more sustainable in the long term. Slow and steady wins the race!
Today I just about threw a fit. I had put together a decent plan but completely forgot it was my coworkers birthday. Oh well, roll with the punches, right. I adjusted my plans a little and figured I would just go over by a bit and make it up tomorrow. Thought cake would be 300-500 calories. Turns out he brought in a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake.
Today I just about threw a fit. I had put together a decent plan but completely forgot it was my coworkers birthday. Oh well, roll with the punches, right. I adjusted my plans a little and figured I would just go over by a bit and make it up tomorrow. Thought cake would be 300-500 calories. Turns out he brought in a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake.
I don't work in an office, but sometimes I stumble into a client site having their monthly birthday party. Well, the last one I was at had a veggie tray and cupcakes because there have been enough requests for healthier food. That vegetable tray was gone before a cupcake was even taken. It was pretty cool.
Most of my clients have too many birthdays that they have a monthly birthday/anniversary/special awards party instead of celebrating everyone individually. Is your office/department big enough for that?
1/4 - 152
1/11 - 149
1/23 - 148
1/4 - 152
1/11 - 149
1/23 - 148
2/9 - 150
I have been completely consumed with carb cravings. Fell into the popcorn bowl during the big snow 2 (!!!) weeks ago and just can't seem to climb back out. And then the whole super bowl weekend thing! I know this is where intermittent fasting shines, but but intellect and action are not meeting up right now.
OK: today's plan is to fast until tomorrow evening. Will check back in tomorrow to report.
Current: 5'4" female, 172 pounds. Would love to get down to 130 but would be happy with 150 or less.
Hi - I'm late to the game seeing it's already the 21st of January - but I figured better late than never. I've always been a big girl, but I currently weigh about the same as when I was 9 months pregnant with my 13 year old son, and more than with my 10 year old daughter. I am wearing larger pants than ever before, and I'm slightly horrified when I realize the chunky face in the mirror or pictures is my own. About 5-6 years ago I had great success with WW and when I turned 40 (I'm not 46) it was literally like a switch was turned off and I started gaining like clock work regardless of how little I ate. What I really need to do is exercise - but I'm really not a fan of it - at all... Anyway - I find the posts here very inspiring and helpful - and I'm doing what I can to get back on track. I know that tracking what I eat and weighing food has worked in the past and I'm starting to do that again these days. I also got a fit-bit for Christmas and seeing how little I walk (about 8,000 steps per day only) and how little good sleep I get has been interesting. I'm using the app to track food as opposed to MyFitnessPal only because they're linked. From January 2015 to January 2016 I had an overall loss of ~6 pounds. I would really like to lose ~30 in 2016 - that will still keep me in an unhealthy weight range - but if by chance I lose more - all the better. I have a big problem finishing off the kids plates, polishing off the leftovers nobody else wants (hate to waste food), and making healthy choices [oh, there's a handful of cheetos left in the bag - I'll just finish them; and don't toss your pizza crust - I'll have that too - with ranch dressing on it]. It's also affecting my 10 yr old who is larger than she should be - I need to help her learn better habits than mine - so I'm invested in this!
Ok - now the hard parts - ha ha! I'm a 5'9" female (slowly shrinking in height). Weight on 1/3/16 = 208.3, weight today on 1/21/16 = 206.8 - it's not much - but it's something, and in the downward direction! Thanks for the add - I'm going to aim for the recommended 10,000 steps per day, and make better choices - hoping this will keep me accountable!
I used to weigh 260lbs 2 years ago, and my original goal was 180lbs. I now weigh 190lbs and have stopped actively losing weight because I feel comfortable in my body now. Right now my goal is to maintain a healthy body.
Some things I learned along the way:
Calorie budgets are the *only* way to lose weight. Just like making more money than you spend is the only way to save money, burning more calories than you consume is the only way to lose fat.
Don't fall for those "low-carb", "low-fat", paleo, or any other restriction diets.
Eating less is a *lot* easier than burning more. If exercise is your thing, then power to you, but it's way easier for me to not eat a hamburger than it is to run 2 miles. Saves time too.
Eat food you like - in realistic portions. Don't try to eat nothing but soybeans and rice or starve yourself. You'll go nuts and binge.
Packaged food is designed to be addictive. Try to cook your own meals. It's also cheaper. I'm terrible at this lol.
Use "filler" foods. Lettuce and most veggies will fill you up, but have virtually no calories. Same goes for unsugared liquids, so make sure to drink enough.
Only eat when you're hungry. And don't force yourself to eat breakfast if you aren't hungry in the morning.
Celebrate every 5-10lbs - but not with food (maybe a little is ok...)
Don't snack when you're bored.
Count. Every. Calorie. After a while you can accurately guess, but I know when I started I had an unrealistic perception of how much I was actually eating!
Good luck!
@Cookie78 An accountability check is a great thing! If your overall calories are OK, I wouldn't worry about it...at the end of the day, it's the math, right? I hear ya about restricting the treats at work. It's hard - and yes, I had a half a paczki on Tuesday LOL! I did manage to skip today's birthday cake since I left early (sick).
In September and October, I lost 2 pounds each month.
In November, I decided to try something different - I stuck to the same plan. I changed my carbs. I was eating two 1/2 cup servings of "high carb" foods per day - whole wheat bread, corn, peas, beans, oatmeal, pasta, rice. Treats also fell into this category, so a glass of wine could be subbed occasionally, or a little bit of dark chocolate, or some raisins/ dried fruit.
For November I eliminated sugar, wheat and alcohol. I had the same # of carbohydrate calories and servings per day. But they were *only* beans, corn, peas, oats, rice, corn tortillas, potatoes. No treats whatsoever. I lost SEVEN pounds that month.
A calorie is not necessarily a calorie. And when it comes to finding what works, you may find that what works when you are 20 doesn't work when you are 30, or 40. I've certainly had to make tweaks over the years.
Luckily I lost all the baby weight by end of last year, and at 46, no more babies here. Now it's about maintenance.
I'm in!
I am ~170 currently, maybe 168. I am apparently almost obese at 5'8". Ouch! I am in a 12 pants. Goal is probably 160. Pre-kids I was 148-150 in size 8. That is probably not realistic with perfection in eating, and I don't want to live like that! 160 is much more realistic to maintain and should be a solid size 10.
What am I doing:
-Tracking food on MFP
-Fitbit purchased with xmas gift money, working on tracking steps and use it to determine my overall caloric burn
-Walk every day, do stretches and core work in front of telly every night
-3 times a week do some weights
I've lost ~5 lbs since October. Hard to tell at the moment as I seem to have gained a bit over xmas, oops.
@geostache You have been dropping that weight FAST! The 10% will be here before u know it.
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@geostache I am in love with skinnytaste.com. I havent spent much time on budgetbytes but heard it is good.
Goal - 137
01/04 - 152
01/11 - 149
01/23 - 148
02/09 - 150
02/09 - 148
At least I am realizing that yes, I can have treats...but I can't have all of them.
At least I am realizing that yes, I can have treats...but I can't have all of them.
Yes!! This is just what MMM is all about to me. I can have (afford) anything I want, just not everything I want!
Great job everyone - love this group!
I just watched a super documentary tonight (from the library, of course!) called "That Sugar Movie" and I can't say enough about it! I learned sooooo much.
I see that its avalable to rent/buy on itunes. There is a blog as welll, by the same name.
Worth a watch, if you struggle with the Sugar Dragon like I do:-D
@elaine, I cook at home a lot and love trying new recipes, so I sometimes get caught up in that excitement and don't pay attention to nutrition as much.
I have a hard time being confident in my calorie counting. I use MFP and am diligent about recording, but with a lot of made-from-scratch food it's frustrating to record exact measurements of every ingredient, especially because it can add to the time it takes me to get dinner ready, not to mention the extra space a scale and measuring utensils take up on our square foot (yes, that's singular) of counter. Has anybody come up with good shortcuts or estimates for calorie counting home-cooked meals?
@elaine, I cook at home a lot and love trying new recipes, so I sometimes get caught up in that excitement and don't pay attention to nutrition as much.
I have a hard time being confident in my calorie counting. I use MFP and am diligent about recording, but with a lot of made-from-scratch food it's frustrating to record exact measurements of every ingredient, especially because it can add to the time it takes me to get dinner ready, not to mention the extra space a scale and measuring utensils take up on our square foot (yes, that's singular) of counter. Has anybody come up with good shortcuts or estimates for calorie counting home-cooked meals?
Haven't checked in for a while - sorry about that! Been kind of busy, but I am happy to say that I seem to be on track. Being 4'11" and 30-something and post-baby seems to make things go really slowly, but I am trying really hard to recognize that progress is progress, no matter how small. I suppose 5 pounds in 6 weeks is quite normal and healthy - but I would love for things to happen overnight, like most humans. :-)
I've got about twenty more pounds to go, and I would really like to drop 5 this month, so I am getting serious about the exercise part. I am really happy with myself about what I've been eating, but more impressed that I am getting a grip on portions. I'm not filling up the plate anymore or going back for seconds or having a treat just because. I'm tracking my calories during the week, but have been managing not to gorge on the weekends - I loosen up a little bit but I haven't gone overboard.
It looks like everyone else is doing great, too - thank you all for posting here and keeping me motivated!
Weight Progress:
- 1/10: 133 pounds
- 1/18: 131.8 pounds
- 1/21: 130.8 pounds
- 2/22: 128 pounds
Jan 4 - 154 lbs
Jan 11 - 153.2 lbs
Jan 18 - 149.2lbs
Jan 25 - 149.2lbs
Feb 1 - 146.6lbs
Feb 8 - 144.8lbs
Feb 15 - 143lbs
Feb 22 - 141.2lbs
Feb 29 - 143 lbs
GOAL WEIGHT - 130lbs
Total: 11 lbs
Then, today happened. I have been a miserable grouch all day. Ate 200 cals of ice cream at work but was too busy to go for my lunchtime walk. Got home and was grouchy all night. Ate without weighing (I guesstimate it was about 500 cals so not horrible) and refused to workout, holing up in bed with a book. Thankfully, I didn't take a snack with me like I used to do. I was so grumpy, I infected my DH too. Finally, I decided to do my best to shake out of it and I did my 12 min strength workout. It helped a little - at least I wasn't a total sloth.
I am a little worried about tomorrow. I spent a fair bit of time plotting to get my favourite chicken wing lunch tomorrow. And I usually eat 15 of them in one sitting. Eeeek. I have a sweet potato shepherd's pie in the freezer I should eat instead....
On a positive note, my veggie intake went pretty well last week. We ate a ton of veggie meals with lots of new recipes - Spaghetti Squash with Meat Ragu and Zoodles Lo Mein stood out. I was surprised at how good they were. I also reached for fruits for snacking instead of too much junk (although I still allowed some junk). I made a Vegetarian Curry from scratch last night (for the first time) and it turned out great! Hubs is happy as he wants to limit meat. On the plus side, veggie meals are way more filling for way less calories.
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@Cookie78 U know, exercise is great and everything...but REALLY not necessary for weightloss. That said, I have found some awesome YouTube videos. Free ...and u can do them at home. I like not having to go to the gym. Less time suck.
@geostache while I am sure it was disappointing to see the weight gain, I like your attitude. It was highly likely that it will happen at some point, and u already had an understanding based on your habits the past week. Rather than giving up and throwing in the towel, u can now use this knowledge to turn things around for the better.
@rockstache awwww...thanks :) I am totally rooting for u. It's not easy for us shorties - very envious of the extra calories tall folks get away with!
@ruthiegirl That is awesome that u are building up your fitness level! I started doing a lot more about 6-7 years ago and was able to have sooo much more fun. That said, u are right - weight needs to be dealt with in the kitchen. I used to think fit ppl couldn't be fat. I have learned otherwise.
@rightflyer Wooooohoooooooooooo!!! That is an amazing accomplishment to hit goal :) Now u need to share your secrets - what worked, what didn't work?
@RonMcCord It is coming off - and pretty quickly too!
@jim555 almost there :) those Cokes sure pack in a lot of calories, don't they?
@Tyn Meal planning helps so much- I'm sure it will feel great once now that u are able to get things more organized again.
@Cookie78 U know, exercise is great and everything...but REALLY not necessary for weightloss. That said, I have found some awesome YouTube videos. Free ...and u can do them at home. I like not having to go to the gym. Less time suck.
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@elle WELCOME!!! I was horrified at myself too...which is why I finally decided to join this thread. Something clicked and I am going strong.
I have to admit that this week I am struggling. I felt awesome all weekend but then got into a horrible mood Starting Sunday night (It's getting close to that time of the month sigh). Yesterday I did cave and got chicken wings. Ugh! Then followed it up with cookies. Double ugh. On top of that, I have been super tired and have not worked out since Sunday.
Managed to stick to plan today. But still thinking of more wings. I am going on vacation in 1.5 weeks and eating tons of food. So I really want to keep myself eating less until then - preferably at my calorie goal or slightly under calorie.
Of course, this is about the 2 month mark for me and like @geostache, the initial rapid loss is starting to stall. I have just returned to the same weight I clocked in 2 weeks ago after some yo-yoing. I am NOT going to panic yet though - TrendWeight still shows a steady decline.
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@Microspice: Tracking calories has been enlightening. When I don't indulge in junk food, I'm having a hard time hitting a 1,200 calorie minimum. When I do, well, I think we know how that ends. It's easy to go way overboard on processed and fatty foods. Your weight loss progress looks great!
@Elaine: I know weight loss slows down as you approach your ideal weight, but I figured I was still far enough away from the ideal weight that it's shouldn't slow to a screeching halt!
@Rockstache: Congrats on getting close to your initial goal! Your weight loss stats look great!
The one thing I haven't yet done is convince myself that I don't deserve/need an after dinner snack. I have been keeping them small and low-cal, so it hasn't really been a problem for losing weight...I just don't like my mindset about it being a 'requirement.'
Hmmm...just found out that my iPhone6 has a pedometer already built in and counts all steps anyway. This is perfect!!
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A little late to the game, but count me in. My wife and our roommate have been working on getting healthier and losing weight over the past 5 weeks. So far, our roommate has lost 20 pounds. Though he was morbidly obese and eating Taco Bell and McDonald's almost every day, so just eating better and getting any kind of exercise in was a positive change for him.
I am 5' 10" and my current weight is 226. My initial goal weight is 180. The ideal scenario would be to hit that goal by September 24th when I will be the best man at a friend's wedding. But overall, I just want to be healthier and look better. I will need to lose around 1.77 pounds per week in order to hit that goal. I will achieve this by working out 5 times per week for at least 30 minutes each time.
Best of luck, folks!
FINALLY! I broke the plateau, somehow! I'm down 2.8 pounds.
@RedmondStash: Welcome to the thread. Sugar is a beast. I found that my energy levels were more stable when I cut refined sugars out of my diet completely. Of course, I don't have the fatigue issues you're struggling with. :(
I just had to come and share with y'all the feedback I have been receiving at work.
1. Several colleagues pick up on my refrigerator oatmeal habit. I think it's awesome to share healthy snack ideas with folks. :-)
2. Today, another colleague suddenly became intrigued at my sugar free lifestyle. This colleague said, "I really commend you on taking charge of your life," and then proceed to say that they wanted to learn more about my new habits. The thought that I don't eat sugar as part of my diet seemed really foreign to them. I told them that I do, in fact, indulge every once in awhile. But as a rule, added sugars just aren't part of my food vocabulary anymore. I was also asked how I feel, and I explained that I have never felt better! Getting rid of sugar in my diet is perhaps one of the best things that I have done for myself.
Of course, several other people in the room proceeded to give complainy-pants reasons why they could never cut sugar out of their life. Meh. To each their own. I'm happy to share my plan with those that are genuinely interested. Otherwise, I try not to get too preachy about sugar. People get really weird about the sweet stuff. My neighbor also recently said to me, "Good for you for sticking with it this long," as if it was a fad that was just going to pass...
Friday weigh in day. I'm down 1.6 this week. I overindulged last weekend. That seems to be a pattern for me. Time to figure out why I'm so lax on the weekends and make some other, small changes. I'm now near the weight I was back in 2009, which feels good! How is everyone else doing?
1/01/2016: 182.8
1/08/2016: 176
1/15/2016: 173.4
1/22/2016: 172
1/29/2016: 168
2/05/2016: 167.2
2/12/2016: 165
2/19/2016: 162.6
2/26/2016: 163.0 (+0.4)
3/4/2016: 163.6 (+0.6)
3/11/2016: 163
3/18/2016: 160.2
3/25/2016: 158.6
Total loss: 24.2
Goal weight: 140
Stretch goal: 135
@brett2k07: Sorry to hear you're having GI issues. I hope you get them straightened out soon. :-(
@RedmondStash: Way to go in resisting the cookies. I've read that will power is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets!
@alleykat: Welcome back!
Today's weigh in is a little bittersweet. I am down 3 pounds this week, but the catch is that I've been ill for most of the week. I've been having severe stomach pains mixed with nausea all week, so I haven't really eaten much all week. I went to the doctor yesterday who thinks it's a GI issue and so I'm on a clear liquid diet yesterday and today. So I'm going to see some weight loss, but it's not in the healthy way. Hopefully once this clears I can keep it off, but I'm expecting my weight to jump a little bit once all of this is over.
Friday weigh in day. I'm down 1.6 this week. I overindulged last weekend. That seems to be a pattern for me. Time to figure out why I'm so lax on the weekends and make some other, small changes. I'm now near the weight I was back in 2009, which feels good! How is everyone else doing?
P.S. I'm now officially in the healthy BMI range for my height!
Today, I resisted the siren song of the cookies at work. It was a close thing.
@Geostache I was struggling with that a little while ago. Someone on MyFitnessPal said this to me that really helped:
I spent awhile looking carefully at the best known guidelines on macro and micronutrient intake. What I figured out was that once we meet our non-energy nutritional needs, we still have a fair number of calories (regardless of weight) that are mostly "free". So if you choose to pick a certain amount of nutritional heavy-hitters, you basically have more freedom to pick things based on taste and personal preferences. There's no real need for guilt about this.
I think we've got a highly puritanical, dare I say ascetic approach in most western cultures that's really bled into thinking about matters of health. Nutrition is not all-or-nothing. Nor is the level of adherence to "eat only highly nutritious foods" a moral issue. Enjoy your favorite foods. You're taking care of yourself, and that includes allowing yourself to enjoy food.
I was able to loosen up a lot after reading that. I'm still careful and watch my calories and all that - but I don't feel horrifically guilty when I eat a cake or ice cream or whatnot. I did stop myself from having ice cream EVERY DAY and made a pact with myself to reach more often for fruit when I had calories to spare. I still don't eat a lot of nuts (because of the calories) so I will be trying to increase that a little.
I do think we have to watch out for being too strict with our diets. I've seen way too many of my friends regain the weight (usually with a few extra) after getting off a strict diet. Whatever we choose has to become a way of life.
Now comes the crazy part. I made myself a yummy chicken curry salad for lunch today. But all of a sudden, I am having an irrational cravings for chicken wings - namely 2-for-1 chicken wings (so FOURTEEN deep fried, loaded with honey garlic sauce wings) at my local wing joint. It costs about $18ish all in (incl. tip) with slow service. But it is SO GOOD!! Wings are my downfall food *sigh* I had better say no - its an $$ lunch PLUS I indulged like crazy already on vacation 2 weeks ago. So - I am going to walk over to the kitchen, get my salad, and EAT IT. That way lunch is done and over and no more wrestling with eating out.
Now comes the crazy part. I made myself a yummy chicken curry salad for lunch today. But all of a sudden, I am having an irrational cravings for chicken wings - namely 2-for-1 chicken wings (so FOURTEEN deep fried, loaded with honey garlic sauce wings) at my local wing joint. It costs about $18ish all in (incl. tip) with slow service. But it is SO GOOD!! Wings are my downfall food *sigh* I had better say no - its an $$ lunch PLUS I indulged like crazy already on vacation 2 weeks ago. So - I am going to walk over to the kitchen, get my salad, and EAT IT. That way lunch is done and over and no more wrestling with eating out.
Warning: Complainypants rant below
I've been struggling with the cooking lately as well. The kids will either eat or not, depending on how hungry they are at dinner time. I worry less about them eating what I'm making. However, we don't get home from work until late these days, and even though I have been meal planning, we have been eating out several times a week (yikes). I think our dining out line item is going to be bigger than our grocery line item this month. Between getting home late, and the whole micro-decision-making, my brain just isn't functioning optimally. So, I opt for going out to eat. And now that the weather is getting nicer, we've been spending more time outside on the weekends, which means I'm less likely to do batch cooking.
I know, I know. Lots of excuse making!
@Geostache - Honestly, I don't see that as an excuse, but as an opportunity for strategizing, because I deal with the same thing. :) (And BTW, it sucks.)
Good luck to you -- this stuff is really hard.
Lots of leftover chocolate at work today and I'm not even interested, much less tempted!! That's a first.
Since I decided last week to watch my processed carb intake (a truly bad decision to make a couple of days after I had already done my weekly grocery shopping) I realized that all of my daily snacks are carb based!: Tortilla chips and salsa, toast with avocado, crackers with a piece of fruit, etc.
All I have to my scale this morning is 'um, what?'
I was 148.something the day before, and I didn't eat very much at all yesterday. Pretty sure it's just a monthly cycle glitch, unless all the indulgences of the past 2 weeks caught up with me at once. Oh well.
I have found that standard predictive mathematics do not apply to weight loss any more than they do to the short-term stock market. :) It balances out over time, but not over a span of days or weeks. Because bodies are weird.
This is an interesting point. So: What snacks do you folks find work well for you? I tend toward cheese, yogurt, nuts, baby carrots, sometimes chips (yeah, I know), or occasionally a combo like egg on toast. For me, high-water-content snacks (like cottage cheese & yogurt) work better than more concentrated ones (like gouda cheese or nuts), but their flavor is blander and thus less satisfying.
Or do you folks avoid snacks altogether?
Stressful day at the cubicle. 'Somebody' ate a bag of pretzels. And there was cheescake after dinner. Damn.
And i look bloated and disgusting. I am blaming the pretzels and the very healthy bean salad i had for lunch.
In other news, i lasted for 40 minutes in the gym on sunday and i ran into my former pt who corrected some of my movements to avoid future injury.
@RedmondStash Have you tried analyzing what is happening on days when you feel more hungry/snacky? Is it the type of meals you are eating (some keep you fuller than others), things you are doing, old habits that are dying hard? Keeping some low cal snacks (that you like) on hand could be a big help.
I have, Elaine, and it varies. Often, it's about the type of snack: eating nuts, chips, or sweets makes me want to eat lots more, but I can eat a little cheese and then stop. Sometimes, it's about soothing life stressors with food. What I'm learning is that I have to make friends with being hungry; it's a lesson I used to understand but forgot along the way somewhere. I can be hungry for a while without eating and without suffering any ill effects. That's how I'm going to get where I want to go.
Counterintuitively, when I eat a larger, more protein-focused breakfast (like eggs on whole-grain toast), I get hungry faster than when I eat a bowl of oatmeal, which, I know, is mostly carbs. Go figure.
I can also get into a good binge pretty easily. Let's just say we have substantially less whipped cream (to go with berries) than we had yesterday. :)
Glad the MFP is working for you. Best of luck.
And I agree, it's good to learn that it is OK to be hungry occasionally. After binging for a week, I am having to return to my old habit hacks to stave off my hunger. Mints, hot teas, etc etc. I'm still tempted but I know from past experience that eventually I'll adapt and stop being so hungry/munchy.
Speaking of binges.. the struggle is real, y'all!
I just ate a bag of microwave popcorn and a pack of ho-hos from the vending machine. I have no idea what is going on today, or why I just lost control. I was tired all morning and then starving after eating my lunch. *Sigh* I'm tracking it... Aaaand, I have 3 calories left for today.
Of course, this morning the scale showed its lowest weight (155.8) so far. Oof. It's a good thing that weigh in day isn't until Friday! I haven't binged like that since I started this journey back in January. Small miracles?
So, that happened.
So, the scale went up a bit, as a result of my laissez faire attitude. But I'm still under 125, which is a mental win for me. I'm just going to keep on going, instead of beating myself up and throwing in the towel like I normally do. I have to trust the process!
Speaking of binges.. the struggle is real, y'all!
I just ate a bag of microwave popcorn and a pack of ho-hos from the vending machine. I have no idea what is going on today, or why I just lost control. I was tired all morning and then starving after eating my lunch. *Sigh* I'm tracking it... Aaaand, I have 3 calories left for today.
Of course, this morning the scale showed its lowest weight (155.8) so far. Oof. It's a good thing that weigh in day isn't until Friday! I haven't binged like that since I started this journey back in January. Small miracles?
Yes, the struggle is certainly real. I had a binge day yesterday and I only started curbing it back a few days ago. And I think it is because I had pasta for dinner. it was a big plate too but for some reason it makes me want to eat all night. This happens too when I have a high fat content day. So weird. But today is a new day.
I hesitate to say I am down 2 lbs because it is such a temporary thing sometimes in the beginning, but, I need to state it to keep me motivated.
Have been weighing in for a month or two now, just whenever I remember to (always mornings). I've seen the scale fluctuate a lot from day to day, anywhere from 1-3#. This morning's weight was down 5# from the highest number I've seen in that time. Gonna give it another couple days before I declare any weight officially lost...stay tuned!
I also bought a rutabaga that I have to cook this week (no clue how to cook it lol!)
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I am in Month 4 of this journey - and like you all said, the struggle with binging is SO real! It's so helpful to hear all your stories. The good and the bad. Having a place where we can all be honest AND accountable has made a huge difference in my journey, and I hope in all yours too.
It's a little frustrating that my new eating style is still not ingrained in me - I'm on Month 4. But when the opportunity presented itself, I went right back to my old ways of binging. That's what happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I tried not logging consistently and weighing everything and quickly slipped back into overeating. I do like a lot of the healthy food I am eating.
And perhaps, it's a mental thing and I need it to be OK. Realistically speaking, we are not going to give up eating out at our favourite Chinese restaurants. Judging from the last few months, we probably go about 1x a month. I need to learn to work it in to my life and not feel guilty about it. This whole relationship with food thing is a hard one to learn to navigate!
@Elaine: Look at it this way: Your eating habits became engrained over years, and you've made huge strides in the past couple of months! It's going to take awhile for the old triggers, either food or otherwise, to change. Be patient with yourself and know that you're already leaps and bounds ahead of where you were when you started. Have your Chinese food - enjoy it, and know that because you're paying attention, it's not going to impact you in the long run!
@alleykat: When I eat refined carbs, I have found that it really messes with my blood sugar. White bread, pasta, and even white rice wreaks havoc on my blood sugar. I try to just avoid it at all costs. YMMV, but try cutting it way back and see what happens. And being down two pounds is nothing to sneeze at! I have been using my weight trend to help me see past the daily fluctuations. It helps to know that even if it appears that I magically gained 5 pounds overnight, the trend is going in the right direction!
Ugh. Due to recent stressful life events, I've been binging like crazy.
Time to get back on the wagon. I threw away all of sweets left at home and only have healthy food left. My biggest challenge now will probably be at work, as there's always lots of great food around.
Sigh.
Keep up everybody!
Ate only 1 bag of pretzels this week :) the emergency carrots helped. It is the crunch factor i need. Plus the saltiness, but that has to go. Actually, i realize now that this pretzel habit is a replacement of the chips habit i used to have. At least a bit lower in fat but still bad. I tried popcorn, but didn't react well to it. I might try to pop some in a brown bag in the office microwawe, but i think i'll have to establish a carrot habit instead. eating-wise wednesday was the best so far this week.
I still hate myself for getting this fat.
Stressful times are coming at work, so i have to plan for that. I Always eat when stressed. At least the kids finally sleep through the night and are less annoying on a daily basis, so there is no stress factor at home.
Today, with various stressors and availability of junk food, I fell face-first into a pile of chocolate-covered peanut butter cups and then a pile of chocolate cake. BUT -- with my new reduced snacking and eating habits, and a slightly increased ability to rein myself in and not overdo on the delicious treats, I still stayed within my calorie goal for the day. So I'm feeling pretty good about that.
Of course, tomorrow is another day. The peanut butter cups are still there.
At least I've managed to avoid the chips bin for weeks now. I've gotten into the habit of a midmorning snack of plain yogurt sweetened with stevia and vanilla powder.
Habits really work, yo.
That's AWESOME that you still stayed within your calories. Maybe next time, just fit a couple of them into your calories and then add some fresh fruit or veggies as snacks. It helped when I was consciously trying to increase my fruits and veggies (rather than decrease treats). Mindset was different.
That said, I am STILL trying to get my brain the accept that fruits are SO GOOD and should be considered wonderful, decadent treats. They really are - so it's terrible that I can only accept treats to be stuff like ice cream, cookies, and cake. Maybe I need to get a Japanese attitude....look how expensive beautiful fruit are!
I need to get my head out of the sand and join you folks. You are making progress and are so helping each other. It is time to stop pretending that my volume is not increasing.
I just got off the scale. I weighed 138 pounds. I am 5'-5. I don`t look particularly fat but I weigh 24 pounds more than I did six months after my second child. She turned 12 today and I am feeling like I got to get this under control. If I continue to gain 2 pounds a year for the rest of my life, my hips and knees won`t be able to carry me. I don`t think I was a healthy weight when I got married (104lbs) or even after my first born (107lbs). Too skinny. But now - I have tummy flap. I am more muscular from doing some physical work. I think I would be healthy and strong at 120 pounds.
I am celiac and when I finally got diagnosed at 25 I weighed 98 lbs and could barely function. I got colds all the time.
I don`t get sick as often now and I can do real work that makes me feel great. I think I feel that because there is so much I can`t eat, I eat lots of what I can. I cut out soft drinks after Christmas and haven`t seen much of a change in shape but I have been too afraid to get on the scale for two years now.
My body shape is affecting my life. Time to do something about it. Reading the thread has given me the courage to join in. Thank you
I need to get my head out of the sand and join you folks. You are making progress and are so helping each other. It is time to stop pretending that my volume is not increasing.
I just got off the scale. I weighed 138 pounds. I am 5'-5. I don`t look particularly fat but I weigh 24 pounds more than I did six months after my second child. She turned 12 today and I am feeling like I got to get this under control. If I continue to gain 2 pounds a year for the rest of my life, my hips and knees won`t be able to carry me. I don`t think I was a healthy weight when I got married (104lbs) or even after my first born (107lbs). Too skinny. But now - I have tummy flap. I am more muscular from doing some physical work. I think I would be healthy and strong at 120 pounds.
I am celiac and when I finally got diagnosed at 25 I weighed 98 lbs and could barely function. I got colds all the time.
I don`t get sick as often now and I can do real work that makes me feel great. I think I feel that because there is so much I can`t eat, I eat lots of what I can. I cut out soft drinks after Christmas and haven`t seen much of a change in shape but I have been too afraid to get on the scale for two years now.
My body shape is affecting my life. Time to do something about it. Reading the thread has given me the courage to join in. Thank you
I am also working on breaking the cycle of self-flagellation when it comes to 'messing up.' In the past, I would go on a downward spiral of guilt and shame. Now, I'm focusing on refraining from judgment and taking it how it is. That is going to be monumental for me!
You are not alone, Geostache. I do allow myself to have a piece of chocolate at night, just a piece, or something else but yesterday, I allowed myself to overdo it with dessert at work and the whole night was messed up. I finally "get" it goes straight to my hips quote now. I thought it was just a saying, but now I know it is real. I never ever had this problem. Now, my few lbs lost are now found. That is okay though, I am not giving up. As long as I keep at it, it will eventually come off. I just need to keep in mind, I didn't gain it overnight and allow myself the time and patience to lose it. Easier said then done, I know.
And you are still in the "positive.' Wow, 26 lb loss is pretty good. Keep up the good work. I am starting at the same weight 156 and my goal is also 140.
That is huge, Geostache. I honestly believe that's half the battle. Because if you stress-eat, and then you feel shame and guilt, well, that's more stress, and then you just want to eat more to take the edge off those feelings. I try to be really forgiving of myself when I make a choice I don't like, and I try to own it: "Yep, I damn well did that, I chose it, I chose the consequences, and that's okay. It doesn't dictate the rest of my life. Tomorrow is another day."
Best of luck, and I'm sorry you've been struggling.
That is huge, Geostache. I honestly believe that's half the battle. Because if you stress-eat, and then you feel shame and guilt, well, that's more stress, and then you just want to eat more to take the edge off those feelings. I try to be really forgiving of myself when I make a choice I don't like, and I try to own it: "Yep, I damn well did that, I chose it, I chose the consequences, and that's okay. It doesn't dictate the rest of my life. Tomorrow is another day."
Best of luck, and I'm sorry you've been struggling.
I am going to try and write down everything I eat. Hiding it from my family so that I can be totally honest without worrying about their judgement. A couple of years ago I tried to loose some weight and was using the journal and my kids were monitoring it. My husband had made a comment about a skirt not fitting and the kids heard and then everyone got on my case.
Thanks, @Redmondstash. I'm kind of hoping that some of it was hormonal (TMI, sorry!). The rest I really have to own. I didn't have to give into the emotional urges to stuff my face with crap, I chose to.
How often do you folks hop on the scales? I would like to shift to eating well as opposed to dieting and I am not sure if scale watching will help or hinder that.
My week started off quite good, then crashed pretty hard. I've been focusing on other important things lately and not tracking calories. I even convinced myself I could buy some potato chips and crackers and just eat a few eat day. Nope. I'm not sure how I ever convinced myself it was possible! I'm still continuing the upward trend this week, but I've only gained back 3 pounds and I know that once life settles down in the next week or two I can lose them again pretty quickly.
My week started off quite good, then crashed pretty hard. I've been focusing on other important things lately and not tracking calories. I even convinced myself I could buy some potato chips and crackers and just eat a few eat day. Nope. I'm not sure how I ever convinced myself it was possible! I'm still continuing the upward trend this week, but I've only gained back 3 pounds and I know that once life settles down in the next week or two I can lose them again pretty quickly.
It's amazing the way your brain tries to trick you, isn't it? Like a wheedling toddler. Sometimes you're so exhausted from fighting that you just give in.
Jan 4 - 154 lbs
Jan 11 - 153.2 lbs
Jan 18 - 149.2lbs
Jan 25 - 149.2lbs
Feb 1 - 146.6lbs
Feb 8 - 144.8lbs
Feb 15 - 143lbs
Feb 22 - 141.2lbs
Feb 29 - 143 lbs
Mar 7 - 138.2 lbs
Mar 14 - VACATION
Mar 21 - 140.2 lbs
Mar 28 - 137.8 lbs
April 4 - 138.4 lbs
April 11 - 137.4 lbs
April 18 136.2 lbs
GOAL WEIGHT - 130lbs
Total: 17.8 lbs
Last week went reasonably well. Ended the week with an extra 390 uneaten calories AFTER I baked a bread pudding...and ate it. So I promptly went out for a gigantic honey garlic chicken wings lunch today. Still have leftovers in the fridge for tomorrow. A bit scary so I better be really good otherwise to make up for it. I did try...this morning I cut myself back to a tiny breakfast of 3 clementines. Will have to do the same tomorrow.
I'm getting impatient to see the scale go down. Need to go back to the whole slow and steady thing and remember that for my body, it's normal to hover around the same weight for a week and then drop.
Was talking to my friend yesterday who is on one of those 45-day diets that are medically supervised. She said they are told that if the scale doesn't budge for 3 days, they are on a "plateau" and have to drop to just 500-600 cals for a day. Dinner is a 3oz steak and a side (can't remember what side). CRAZY! (but she didn't ask my opinion so I kept my mouth shut). She has done this before, lost a bunch of weight, and gained 2/3 of it back. She's back on it again and says she will likely do 2 rounds of it this time.
I'm glad I chose the MFP route. I'm losing weight a little slower, but it's coming off. And its definitely easier to handle the day to day stuff. I can't even imagine the discipline it's taking for her to do this for 45 days. It's super strict and very regimented.
I think half the battle is believing that the battle can be won.
I think half the battle is believing that the battle can be won.
+1 So much of it is really just a mind game.
omg so many things are calling for me up in the kitchen. I just checking in to get strength to go and get some caffeine and nothing else. I work from home and have a project that I am having trouble getting back into. It was on hold for 11 months and now it is back and I would rather eat potato chips than sit here and figure out how to revive some of the things that I was pretty excited about that have gotten value-engineered out. Or maybe some chocolate would help...Man I would be sunk if I didn't have this forum to distract me...
Scale has not moved a micron...but only been six days.
total mind game.
Can you keep healthy snacks around that, while maybe a little less satisfying, will at least get you through? I use berries, carrot sticks, and plain yogurt sweetened with stevia; so far, it's worked well. I also try not to keep really tempting stuff in the house, so I have to make a special trip to get it.Had an orange and a monster cup of tea. Next time I go upstairs - more tea and carrots. I have a plan and the craving has mostly passed.
Can you keep healthy snacks around that, while maybe a little less satisfying, will at least get you through? I use berries, carrot sticks, and plain yogurt sweetened with stevia; so far, it's worked well. I also try not to keep really tempting stuff in the house, so I have to make a special trip to get it.Had an orange and a monster cup of tea. Next time I go upstairs - more tea and carrots. I have a plan and the craving has mostly passed.
Thanks for the support - this forum is really helping even though I haven't actually lost any weight yet. I have been changing my eating pattern and fully changed my mindset. I feel this in itself is an achievement.
Hang in there TealBlue - stick to your plan.
I think half the battle is believing that the battle can be won.
+1 So much of it is really just a mind game.
So, so true. It is so easy to rationalize. Sometimes, I just can't see it, especially since I fall into my bad habits way too easily.
Elaine - you are doing so good. Keep up the good work.
I am fighting my own donut fight today at work.
We are having a retirement party for a coworker and getting it catered by a Mexican restaurant and getting pastries from a bakery! My plan is to make a salad with the taco goodies and skip the pastries. That's the plan, if I write it down I have to stick to it, right? Tomorrow is my weekly weigh in. I do feel like I'm making progress and I won't let this lunch ruin it!
I think I will have to remember that when it hits me next. I plan to try being kind to myself, maybe eating at maintenance for a few days, and not go in a downward spiral just because I ate too much in one meal.I feel the same way! Y'all have been an inspiration to me and have helped tremendously!
On a more mushy note, I am so thankful for this group. Hearing everyone's individual stories, struggles, and successes is incredibly helpful. And u guys also motivate me to claw out of downward spirals...I'm always excited to post wins here. And yet, it is also a safe place to post when I fall.
have to go to a meeting in the city today and put on the good clothes - EVERYTHING IS LOOSER
gotta run....
I think I will have to remember that when it hits me next. I plan to try being kind to myself, maybe eating at maintenance for a few days, and not go in a downward spiral just because I ate too much in one meal.I feel the same way! Y'all have been an inspiration to me and have helped tremendously!
On a more mushy note, I am so thankful for this group. Hearing everyone's individual stories, struggles, and successes is incredibly helpful. And u guys also motivate me to claw out of downward spirals...I'm always excited to post wins here. And yet, it is also a safe place to post when I fall.
+1 me tooI think I will have to remember that when it hits me next. I plan to try being kind to myself, maybe eating at maintenance for a few days, and not go in a downward spiral just because I ate too much in one meal.I feel the same way! Y'all have been an inspiration to me and have helped tremendously!
On a more mushy note, I am so thankful for this group. Hearing everyone's individual stories, struggles, and successes is incredibly helpful. And u guys also motivate me to claw out of downward spirals...I'm always excited to post wins here. And yet, it is also a safe place to post when I fall.
+1
@Frugal Lizard I'm learning to be at peace with occasionally being hungry. It really is OK to be hungry sometimes.
@RedmondStash I forget - do u weigh your food? What about activity levels? Is it different between then and now?
Do u weigh daily or just the weekly weigh in? Might be worth trying a daily weigh in.
Hang in there- u can beat this!
Emergency carrots, people!
@Frugal Lizard I'm learning to be at peace with occasionally being hungry. It really is OK to be hungry sometimes.
+1
For me, cravings are harder to deal with than plain hunger.
@rockstache Last time I went off track, it took me 1-2 weeks of being hungry to get back to "Normal" again. Helped to Re,mind myself that I went through it in my first 1-2 weeks and survived. Lots of habit hacking :)
@geostache I'm so impressed with your work trip discipline! I am currently in a hotel room on a short work trip and did terribly. Dinner ended up being over 2000 calories!! AND I treated myself to a bag of cheese puffs and ate way too much. Will I survive a free hotel breakfast tomorrow? I am such a sucker for free food. To make matters worse, I have a staff party tomorrow night and will be surrounded by a free flow of munchies all night.
On the good side, I dragged myself to the hotel gym at 10:30pm and spent an hour on the bike. Burned 400 cals. Would like to go back tomorrow but doubt I will have time.
I am estimating it will take an entire week of being strict to make up for today and just don't know if I have the willpower to be that strict. I over ate by over 1600 calories today!! (3321 total less 1230 allotment and 420 exercise). I'll be keeping u guys updated!
Just got home after work party. Let's just say it didn't go so well and I am uncomfortably full. Couldn't stop after 6 meatballs. Then 12 meatballs. Finally stopped after 15 meatballs. And only because I was so very stuffed. Along with munchies and candy, I hit a 1500+ cal meal easily today. UGH. I'll be lucky to stay at maintenance this week :(
Tomorrow is another day, right? Time to focus on small wins and one meal at a time again.
Camping weekend went well. The tracks were so rough that i didn't feel like eating at all. :)
Minimal cheese has been eaten, no pretzels, yay. I added sliced apples and pears to the cheese platter and it Worked well. Alternated wine with sparkling water (drank 1 bottle in 3 days by the campfire).
All in all, glad i didn't pig out. It was great to prepare mentally for the eating scenarios and have a strategy to avoid overeating in social situations.
Emergency carrots, people!
@geostache- the sugar cravings are tough, huh? Let me know if you find something that works besides just going cold turkey. I have told myself that I'll just quit sugar so many times, but am always back to eating something sweet a couple of days afterwards.
What do you folks think about making rules around your eating? I am not counting calories because I know I won't. I am too lazy. So I have made some rules around the circumstances that I eat that I have chosen because a) I will stick to the rules b) there is scientific evidence that it helps reduce the amount I eat and c) I don't feel deprived.
I have to write down everything that I put in my mouth. (so that I really know exactly what I am putting in my mouth)
I have to eat off a dish sitting down. (so I eat slower and can measure with my eyes how much I put in my mouth)
No juice (don't want to drink my calories)
It must be very high quality food (no cheap rubber cheese - if I am going to eat it is is going to be the most delicious cheese a craft cheesemaker can make)
I may have to re-evaluate if I don't start to loose weight because I want to be a different shape again. But this is what I am trying in the early stages of this process.
In a way I have some built in restrictions because I am celiac, I can't eat most buffet food. But I work from home and there is too much food available and I can snack continuously. I have three emergency carrots left in the stash....must go grocery shopping.
I think I read or heard that high fructose corn syrup interrupts our bodies natural ability to know when we are full. Has anybody heard about that?
Right now, making mostly good choices on most days has been working well. But there are times when all the rules go out the window and I eat like a helpless idiot for a while. I've had to learn to let those times run their course and then get back on track.
Right now, making mostly good choices on most days has been working well. But there are times when all the rules go out the window and I eat like a helpless idiot for a while. I've had to learn to let those times run their course and then get back on track.
@RedmondStash - I think this is a good strategy. You are not judging yourself for failing, you are being compassionate towards yourself when you do go off track and trying to stick to the program as best you can most of the time. I like that approach and will try to emulate it.
Right now, making mostly good choices on most days has been working well. But there are times when all the rules go out the window and I eat like a helpless idiot for a while. I've had to learn to let those times run their course and then get back on track.
@RedmondStash - I think this is a good strategy. You are not judging yourself for failing, you are being compassionate towards yourself when you do go off track and trying to stick to the program as best you can most of the time. I like that approach and will try to emulate it.
@RuntoFIRE -- Exactly. I view my poor eating choices as some weird combination of brain chemistry, sugar addiction, emotional roller coasters, and free will. I know it's always a choice, but there are days when my eating seems to be on autopilot to such an extent that I watch from the outside and marvel at the fact that I'm stuffing yet another doughnut into my face.
Basically, there are days when it's easy to eat well, days when it's harder, and days (or even just moments) when it's nearly impossible. I don't punish myself for the nearly impossible days, and I try to reproduce the situations that led to the easy days, so I can have more of them. My life is my laboratory. :)
Good luck to you!
Basically, there are days when it's easy to eat well, days when it's harder, and days (or even just moments) when it's nearly impossible. I don't punish myself for the nearly impossible days, and I try to reproduce the situations that led to the easy days, so I can have more of them. My life is my laboratory. :)
Right now, making mostly good choices on most days has been working well. But there are times when all the rules go out the window and I eat like a helpless idiot for a while. I've had to learn to let those times run their course and then get back on track.
@RedmondStash - I think this is a good strategy. You are not judging yourself for failing, you are being compassionate towards yourself when you do go off track and trying to stick to the program as best you can most of the time. I like that approach and will try to emulate it.
@RuntoFIRE -- Exactly. I view my poor eating choices as some weird combination of brain chemistry, sugar addiction, emotional roller coasters, and free will. I know it's always a choice, but there are days when my eating seems to be on autopilot to such an extent that I watch from the outside and marvel at the fact that I'm stuffing yet another doughnut into my face.
Basically, there are days when it's easy to eat well, days when it's harder, and days (or even just moments) when it's nearly impossible. I don't punish myself for the nearly impossible days, and I try to reproduce the situations that led to the easy days, so I can have more of them. My life is my laboratory. :)
Good luck to you!
RedmondStash - I could of written this myself.
I'm just going to move forward and stay on my usual eating routine for the rest of the week. Normally I like to end the week with average net calories of 1230/day. I'm now planning to end it overeating by about 1200 calories. So what? It means my loss is slowed by less than half a lb. Really not a big deal.
On the good side, I spent the last 2 hours arguing with myself over the cookies in the office kitchen. I even input one cookie into MFP to see how bad a hit it would be. Then I walked there, fully intending to return to my office with a cookie. My boss happened to be there and again brought up my awesome weight loss. I told her I was dying for a cookie and she convinced me I could do without it. Made myself a giant cup of black coffee and went back to my office...cookie-less.
What does everyone think about doing a May challenge? Something like sticking to your plan (whatever shape that may take) for the month May? The reason I ask is because we're nearing the end of the month, and it seems like we've all been hitting a proverbial wall in one sense or another. I could use a good swift kick in the pants, and having you all keep me honest will be a big help.
Can I ask about your plan to eat 1230 net calories a day? That sounds pretty low to me. I am not judging - just want to understand how you came to that number. Is that something you can sustain over the long term?
Gosh, I posted yesterday and it looks like it didn't save :(
Anyway, I am down another 1/2 lb this week so I think that's my thing. Elaine- Thanks for the myfitnesspal tip! I am going to try it and see what I think. I hope it's not too high maintenance. I have a feeling it's going to show me that I am on track, then I blow a bunch of calories on a couple glasses of wine or something lame. I too am short, 5'1 and it gave me a goal of 1200 calories/day.
Goes to show an occasional binge doesn't mean I have failed. What I do the other 95% of the time makes more of a difference.
RedmondStash
Looking good. Re fatigue: Are you making sure you are keeping your iron levels up? I fight iron deficiency because of being celiac and fatigue or dull headaches is the sign I am low in iron and B12. Maybe you are cutting too much of a certain type of food. Or maybe a sugar, caffeine withdrawal sympton? I know when I am tired I crave coke. Have to keep telling myself - almost a 1/4 cup of sugar and half a day of splitting wood - and I don't have any wood needing splitting....
What does everyone think about doing a May challenge? Something like sticking to your plan (whatever shape that may take) for the month May? The reason I ask is because we're nearing the end of the month, and it seems like we've all been hitting a proverbial wall in one sense or another. I could use a good swift kick in the pants, and having you all keep me honest will be a big help.
Also- question time: How do you deal with eating healthy grown up food while also having toddlers? Prekids we ate a lot more fish and veggie meals (like several times a week). I can't get my two and four year olds to eat that sort of food regularly and not fuss at the table. I'm a big believer in only cooking one meal and not offering alternatives so I've noticed our weekly menu has a lot more compromise food than it used to. For instance, I generally have at least one pasta meal a week and also usually some night where we also have some sort of sandwich. Do I just suck it up and prepare two meals? FWIW I can only deal with dinner complaining three nights a week at the most :)
Also- question time: How do you deal with eating healthy grown up food while also having toddlers? Prekids we ate a lot more fish and veggie meals (like several times a week). I can't get my two and four year olds to eat that sort of food regularly and not fuss at the table. I'm a big believer in only cooking one meal and not offering alternatives so I've noticed our weekly menu has a lot more compromise food than it used to. For instance, I generally have at least one pasta meal a week and also usually some night where we also have some sort of sandwich. Do I just suck it up and prepare two meals? FWIW I can only deal with dinner complaining three nights a week at the most :)
@elaine amj - I will be anxious to see how you manage trying to cook less. I am starting a new job in 2 weeks that will drastically change my hours. I currently work 7-3 so I get home and have plenty of time to make delicious, healthy meals. I will be working until 5 or 6 at the new job and am nervous about how our evenings will look. Since we are getting into summer and generally are out of town on weekends, I can't really spend a weekend day preparing food. I think I will choose 2 things each week that are just super easy and we have them every single week. Like fried rice, or veggie curry with rice, something easy. Then at least I will have a go to meal for a couple of my days that can be ready in 15 min or less. I really try and completely stay away from processed so that makes things difficult.
Geostache, I'm in too. I think this is just what the doctor ordered. My plan is to stick to no soda & daily weigh ins. That's been working well. For the challenge I'll add tracking all food, and make it a point to report in here more frequently.
@DesireeD: Welcome to the thread! You'll find lots of support here.
Yesterday wasn't bad at all. I tracked everything and came in under my estimated burn. I hooked my UP app to my Health app and it now catches my movement, which is nice. I didn't have soda, but I did have a 1.75 beers while I was working from home on the couch. That couch is going to be my downfall! At least it was still within my calorie allotment!
I've inadvertently slipped into weight maintenance mode, I think. The medicine I started taking a few weeks ago has helped me mentally, but it's also made me very complacent. I'm happy for the first time in awhile, and I don't feel compelled to do anything differently. I guess I'm saying that my main motivation I had at the beginning of the year has all but disappeared. I'm open to suggestions for new motivators!
I'm new to the forum and would love to join! I've been lurking the past few weeks and this thread has been really inspiring and helpful for keeping me on track with my own weight loss goals.
About me:
Female, late 20's
starting weight as of mid-March: 175
current weight: 158
total lost: 17 (!)
goal weight: 145
I'm new to the forum and would love to join! I've been lurking the past few weeks and this thread has been really inspiring and helpful for keeping me on track with my own weight loss goals.
About me:
Female, late 20's
starting weight as of mid-March: 175
current weight: 158
total lost: 17 (!)
goal weight: 145
Wow, you are doing great so far. Keep up the good work.
....and Welcome.
I'm in! Major surgery that put me inactive for 6 weeks in September, then my mom passing away in December has made me the fattest and least fit that I've ever been.
I just went to Mexico and wanted to swim in the ocean, but didn't due to fear that I didn't have the stamina to swim back to shore though the large waves. Just paddled around in the pool drinking and eating instead. Sad little fat girl here.
While I'm not brave enough to admit my weight today, I am tracking it daily and keeping a food journal. It was finally facing up to how far things had slid with my health that led me to open this challenge and read it. You all have inspired me in a big way!
I'm not brave enough to admit my weight, but it seems everyone else around here is. It's nice to have some company!
I hesitate to post this because I don't want to demotivate anyone, but it's an interesting article about how your body fights weight loss. For me, it's sobering and actually inspiring, because it recognizes the reality of the struggle.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html?_r=0
I hesitate to post this because I don't want to demotivate anyone, but it's an interesting article about how your body fights weight loss. For me, it's sobering and actually inspiring, because it recognizes the reality of the struggle.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html?_r=0
I use trendweight - it syncs with fitbit :) Since I don;t have a fitbit or a synced scale, I manually input into fitbit every day.
I'm not brave enough to admit my weight, but it seems everyone else around here is. It's nice to have some company!
Hey, you say or don't say whatever is comfortable for you, Oneday. No pressure.
Oneday: you can post your weight when you are ready but just know that everyone on this thread is over six feet tall ;)
Geostache, I'm in too. I think this is just what the doctor ordered. My plan is to stick to no soda & daily weigh ins. That's been working well. For the challenge I'll add tracking all food, and make it a point to report in here more frequently.
Checking in. 2 1/2 days into the challenge & I have tracked every bite.
Weight had jumped up about 4 pounds due to just eating poorly, slipping back into old bad habits. I've turned the boat around once again. It's embarrassing to write down some of the things I eat. So tracking is having the intended effect of keeping me on track with eating. So far so good!
Edit to say that I've seen about 2 pounds drop off again; it was probably water weight from high-sodium restaurant meals. It would be nice if the other 2 do the same over the next couple days.
Edit #2: soda count - 1
Checking in again. I am beginning to feel like a European explorer in the African interior in the 1800's: Day 6: The rain continues. Our native guide refuses to enter the jungle in these conditions. The men are occupied with gathering what water and supplies they can while we await a change in weather conditions. Beasley has been instigating gambling sessions in their leisure time, and I fear if we don't see the rain stop soon, Hollingsworth, and quite possibly Smith as well, will owe him their entire profits from this venture.
@redmondstash you are moving forward - thats what counts! :)
I am not eating any desserts until I lose about 10 pounds, under 180, then I'll eat a single thing of ice cream (maybe).
I didn't do too well this weekend. Saturday we had pizza (mother in law's choice), and I ate FOUR slices (what??)! The only positive there was that it was a combined lunch/dinner, so I didn't really eat anything else that day except breakfast. Sunday was a birthday party/mother's day party and I snacked too much on the cheese plate besides having a slightly too large lunch and small dinner (sounds good, except it was pasta). Sigh. Anything out of my routine seems to really just throw me off. Oh well...new week, new choices.
Believing it is possible to get there is incredibly important and hard for me.
Believing it is possible to get there is incredibly important and hard for me.
Yeah, for me too. I was discouraged for a long time, but in recent months, I've seen my own ability to cut back on caloric intake without feeling deprived, and I'm optimistic once more.
Ugh, agreed on the pizza, thanks for the commiseration. I think it might have only been my second or third time eating pizza since January, and that is why I avoid it. Can't stop, WONT STOP!
Ok, yes I will stop, but it is probably my favorite food. It doesn't even have to be particularly good - I'll still stuff my face. I'll have to learn moderation somehow or keep combining meals!
Pizza is super hard to stop for me even if I am full, I want to keep eating it. Just crazy. Lately though, if we are having pizza, I will have salad first and keep the slices to two.
Go figure - making healthy foods at home makes a difference!
checking in. 2 1/2 days into the challenge & I have tracked every bite.
Weight had jumped up about 4 pounds due to just eating poorly, slipping back into old bad habits. I've turned the boat around once again. It's embarrassing to write down some of the things I eat. So tracking is having the intended effect of keeping me on track with eating. So far so good!
Edit to say that I've seen about 2 pounds drop off again; it was probably water weight from high-sodium restaurant meals. It would be nice if the other 2 do the same over the next couple days.
Edit #2: soda count - 1
............
Checking in again...Continuing to do well with tracking & weighing every day. A few more ounces have dropped off the scale; I hope I've seen the last of the water weight for a while. I think this plan is keeping me accountable. I've also started walking 1 1/2 miles with the group from the office at lunch time. Made it out twice this week.
soda count - 2
I think I've turned down dessert at least once every two days since I decided I was going to lose weight before eating it.
Now that I'm aware of it, apparently I have lots of opportunity to eat (and overeat...) dessert!
Redmond Stache: Foodist is a book by the person behind Summer Tomato. I think I posted the subtitle back a bit. It is about losing weight without dieting per say. totally worth the read.
I also found Thin by Design good. Foodist author mentions Brian Wansink's research several times.
I'm a little annoyed. I've kept my calories in balance all week. It took until yesterday to drop back to last Friday's weight. And today, I bounced up an entire pound. I know its just normal fluctuations, but I did expect to end the week with a loss from last week instead of a 1 lb gain. To top it off, trendweight is showing just a 0.5 lb loss a week - much slower than I like.
I jogged to my parents' house on Friday to use their scale.. was pleasantly surprised to see my weight at 188.. breaking the 190 mark for the first time in a long time. How much of that weight loss was due to water weight lost, I'm not really sure.
Spring sports start for me this week, so hopefully that will help continue towards my goal - going to try to jog to my sports events wherever it is feasible as well.
I love watching sports, especially this time of year - baseball, NHL playoffs, NBA playoffs, so rather than sitting on my butt for 4 hours, I've started trying to stand for the majority of the game, and do some movement as well - doing dances for goals, pushups during breaks, etc. It kind of makes the games more exciting!
Congrats to everyone on their continued success - keep pushing!
I really liked the Hacker's Diet. http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/ Trendweight was created based on it. It felt very sensible, no wild theories. The guy is a computer programmer and is encouraging, real, positive, and doesn't let u dwell in a complainypants mode. I also liked his sense of humor. The book is free and I read it online bouncing around between chapters (I started reading it to understand trendweight and eventually read just about the whole thing). I also liked that he spent a chunk of time discussing a successful maintenance phase.
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Not sure how I didn't find this thread before. I've tried Whole30 before and that did wonder to my weight. Went from about 175 lbs to 160 lbs but I've gained a bit since then. Lately I've been just been following this - eat until I'm 70% full. I've been able to lose about 5 lbs in 3 months without changing any of my exercise routines.
Apparently, I'm doing something right, but I'm not sure what it is. The scale went down a little bit more this morning, and I continue to inch toward my goal. :-) My Fitbit has made me painfully aware of how little I move while at work, so I have a new habit I'm forming - a lap around the building after every bathroom trip. Which, since I drink a metric butt-ton of water each day, is approximately once per hour. It's an improvement, albeit a small one.
Trendweight is showing that I am losing .2 lbs/wk. I will take that!
As for me, I have been doing pretty good. This morning's weigh in was 134.8, only about a pound more than my low of 133.6, so I am clawing my way back on track.
Today was a long weekend for us Canadians - we spent a chunk of the day shopping. Scored Kobe steaks for $1/lb!!! We also hit the Chinese buffet. Didnt track what I ate but I feel I stayed within reason. Logged it at 1200 calories.
I didn't post over the weekend because i was bummed about my weigh-in. I was around 149 on the gym scale. I have cut way back on my simple carb intake since march and I've been drinking my green smoothies several times a week and working out four days a week for the last month. I hate when it feels like effort isn't making a difference.
I did have a wonderful anniversary dinner (champagne, muscles, beef wellington,split a chocolate mousse) with my husband the night before I weighed in so I'll attribute it to that. It was a delicious meal and we only go out without the kids a few nights a year so it was worth it.
Hey everyone! I hope you all had decently healthy weekends. I am proud to report that although I didn't do my second day of C25K on Friday as planned, I did get up and do it on Saturday. I have my third day today, and will go out after the kiddo is in bed. I have too many meetings at work today to squeeze it in here. But I'm glad that I haven't just given up on this front, like I normally do.
@oneday - I like C25K so far. I have started and stopped a few times before, too, but I'm hellbent on getting it done this time.
Congrats on jogging the whole 5K!
On a good note, I met up with my girlfriends last night about our impending trip to Mexico, and they are totally on board to do C25K with me while we're there! They're great friends (obviously), so I know they'll keep me on track and support me on that front.
... so now that I ate ALL OF THEM this week ...
But I realized that the only things in my house I had any interest in bingeing were the only processed carbs I keep aroundI find that if I don't feel well, especially a stomach ache or upset stomach, I crave the carbiest of carbs. It's the only thing that doesn't hurt.
...so so so close I can taste it..NO! I will not taste it! That's what got me in this trouble in the first place.
@alsoknownasDean We use metric over here - but not for stuff like body weight. We bow to the pressure from the Americans and use pounds for that :) Heck - I even think of temperature in BOTH Celcius and Fahrenheit. Only way to survive :) It's funny at the grocery store though. Meat is advertised at $xx/lb but when you read the packaging, they list the weight in kg and the price in kg. Makes it more complicated to price compare.
Last week I was speaking to a group of high school kids and they looked at some copywriting I did and asked why I used miles in some descriptive text. I explained that while the metric system is all things fabulous, "miles of roads" sounds way more poetic than "many more kilometres to go" LOL!
It would be rather nice though if America joined the rest of the world and used the metric system. My husband and kids are dual American and Canadian citizens and I tease them all the time about how Americanized they are.
Alsoknownasdean:
I use and think in metric for temperature, speed and distance, the price of gas and weight of meat. I use imperial when I cook, weigh myself and track my kids height. I buy a pound of butter (454 grams is on the package), a two by four (not a 38x79 mm) and a pound of meat will feed the crew. Just recently milk started to be sold three liters to the bag. (I think that is another Canadian thing - milk in bags) Before milk came in three -one quart bags in another bag. Forever they just changed the label on the package to convert the volume of milk to liters. Then all of a sudden the bag would slide into the plastic jug really easily. - looked on the label and there was just 3 liters but the price hadn't really changed. hmmmm...
I'm in. I was hoping someone would start this thread too... Glad to see so many also interested!
Current: 5'4" female, 172 pounds. Would love to get down to 130 but would be happy with 150 or less. I tend towards more muscle mass, especially when working out so 120 is pretty underweight for me (body fat gets too low)
I would love to switch to paleo but we have a cash flow problem and the inexpensive paleo sites I've found are for well over my budget. Is anyone has a link to a blog/thread etc on eating paleo for around $2.50 per day per person, it would be much appreciated. Trying to increase budget so this is no longer a problem.
I'm working on eating reasonable portions with no seconds and am hungry in the evenings. Anyone have a general idea how long it takes for your body to adjust to less food consumption?
Weird weekend and weigh in. We took the kids to see my folks this weekend so weighed in on my mom's scale. Was 145 but I know it was simply the matter of a different scale- I know I didn't lose 4 pounds last week.
My mother is my best friend but she has food and body issues with herself and me and this weekend brought up all sort of old bad eating (or non-eating) habits for me.
Every five years or so my mom loses 60-70 pounds and when she is at the bottom of the Yo Yo she generally weighs the same or less than me and it creates all sorts of weird control issues. She spent the whole weekend commenting (not critiquing) on my food choices and after the kids went to bed encouraging me to "Get outside and burn some calories" - we spent 3 days outside running around with the kids which honestly was plenty of activity. We took the kids to the zoo and she volunteered to pack lunch - she packed a single banana for the two of us to split. She made breakfast for the whole family and while she dished up scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, pastries etc for everyone else she put a small cup of fruit salad and a half a piece of turkey bacon in front of me (After the banana lunch I should have just insisted I make breakfast). I kept my mouth shut the whole weekend because it is easier on a short trip to just deal with it, but it is churning up old food attitudes in me and I'm having a hard time eating today.
I never had an eating disorder when I was a teenager but I definitely developed weird food and exercise stuff in my late teens and early 20s. I messed up my hips and knees from too much running but even this weekend my mom was saying "oh, a little jog won't hurt you." Ugh- whatever , my mom is actually the best mom but this one thing about her drives me crazy. Now that I'm an adult I know these are her issues and they don't need to be mine.
I need to make myself go eat a nice, decently sized, healthy lunch and not worry about the unattainable 130 pounds that I have never been able to achieve in my adult life.
otherwise:
@geostache - you are in my thoughts whenever I check this thread. Depression is a b*tch and I hope you continue to heal from that awful week. Please keep self-care a priority in the coming weeks and be gentle with yourself.
Good to see all the regulars (and new folks) having successes.
@StarBright My DH has never had issues maintaining weight but has definitely pulled stunts like your mother did to "help me". I didn't ever manage to lose until he finally quit "helping"!
@RedmondStache and @RonMcCord Some thoughts of just staying where I am now have occurred to me. This is the weight I sort of maintained for years until I piled on an extra 20 lbs in a few years.
I am definitely struggling to get the scale moving downward consistently again. I thought I got my head on straight in the last few days....then I got emotional today. DH has been cranky and took it out on me starting from this morning. As an emotional eater, I was starving when I sat down to breakfast so I served myself a larger portion. Could barely wait until lunchtime when I chowed down. Fought with myself not to eat more/go out to eat/get dessert. Shortly afterwards I was wrestling with a stupid work problem and just couldn't figure it out. I raided my desk for chocolate and the last of my cheesies. UGH!! I did manage to resist going out for ice cream.
Then I came home, cooked a low cal noodle soup in a lot of broth. I was still emotional and I think DH said something that set me off. I scooped up a serving of the sausage penne I made for the kids. I don't even want to think how many calories were in there!!
I'm hoping I can get a grip by tomorrow. I did talk with DH about his crankiness and how it was affecting me and could see him make a conscious effort to control himself.
I quit logging today when things got bad - but I am going to backtrack and log it all. Annoyed because I am finally starting to feel thinner and then just keep sabotaging myself. Grrr.
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Those of u who have been here since January - what do u think of this 3-4 month diet fatigue theory?
Date Weight (lbs)
7/26/2015 145
11/6/2015 134
1/14/2016 128
4/11/2016 128
5/29/2016 124
Those of u who have been here since January - what do u think of this 3-4 month diet fatigue theory?
@elaine amj -- I don't know about the 3-4 month thing, but I can totally buy the idea of diet fatigue on a number of different levels. Many years back I set a goal to lose 30 pounds. I lost 15 pounds over about 6 months and then hit a plateau, which I was actually okay with, because I was feeling patient. I kept it off for about 4-5 years. But then most of that 15 pounds crept back on in the past year and a half, and I felt totally helpless to stop it.
Recently, as you said, something clicked, and I started doing well. But I don't feel that "click" anymore. I feel driven by cravings. What used to feel easy -- being hungry and making smart food choices -- now seems almost intolerable. I can barely bring myself to log my food, though at least I am sticking to that. I know that for me, that's the first important step, so I figure if I cling to that, eventually I'll get my feet back under me again.
That's why I keep talking about what a hard road this is, what a steep climb. I don't mean to discourage anyone; quite the opposite, I mean to encourage us all by reminding us that we are doing difficult work, so when we sometimes don't meet our short-term goals, it's not a failure or lack of character, but just exhaustion or occasionally losing a hard-fought battle. It's so easy to get down on yourself when you can see yourself stuff your face with something while another part of your mind thinks in despair, "Why am I doing this?"
But our bodies want to hold onto that fat. It's stored energy, and they see it as treasure. When we take it away from them, they want it back, and they mount more and more desperate campaigns to regain what they lost. So we have to be devious and clever and careful as we try to take away more of that treasure, and as we try not to give in to the cravings that will lead to it coming back.
My 2 cents.
On the other hand, I've hit the point where I've lost enough weight that strangers in the building where I work have started commenting on it, and I hate it. It's one thing for a friend to say "wow I can really see a difference!" and another thing entirely for some random person who's name I don't even know to say"you've really lost a lot of weight, all that walking must be helping." I'm sorry, who are you? And why are you looking at me? And especially, why are you talking?! I can't imagine ever making a comment like that to someone unless I knew them and they had *told* me they were trying to lose weight. Otherwise, mind your own business. Does anyone else struggle with that?
On the other hand, I've hit the point where I've lost enough weight that strangers in the building where I work have started commenting on it, and I hate it. It's one thing for a friend to say "wow I can really see a difference!" and another thing entirely for some random person who's name I don't even know to say"you've really lost a lot of weight, all that walking must be helping." I'm sorry, who are you? And why are you looking at me? And especially, why are you talking?! I can't imagine ever making a comment like that to someone unless I knew them and they had *told* me they were trying to lose weight. Otherwise, mind your own business. Does anyone else struggle with that?
4/2: 236Good luck on the half marathon.
4/11: 233 (interpolated) (-3,-3)
4/18: 230 (-3,-6)
4/25: 227.5 (-2.5,-8.5)
5/2: 224.5 (-3, -11.5)
5/6: 221 (-3.5, -15)
5/9: 221 (0,-15)
5/16: 221 (0,-15)
5/20: 221 (0,-15)
5/23: 218.5 (-2.5,-17.5)
5/27: 215 (-3.5, -21)
5/31: 213 (-2, -23)
6/3: 213 (0,-23)
This week I backed off a bit on the workouts pre half marathon for tomorrow. Feeling good that there is no gain even with the switch to more carbs and less working out.
I need to make myself go eat a nice, decently sized, healthy lunch and not worry about the unattainable 130 pounds that I have never been able to achieve in my adult life.
Ugh! I don't have any strangers in my building, but I have dealt with it from acquaintances. Not this time (of losing weight), but last time a guy came up to me from our warehouse and congratulated me on losing the weight. I don't like a scene, so I just mumbled a thanks. He followed it up with, "Maybe nobody says anything to you but don't worry, we notice," (speaking about the other guys in the warehouse I assume!!). I was so squicked out after that. STOP LOOKING AT ME! STOP TALKING ABOUT ME! Yuck. I was in the military, so I know how -some- guys talk when they think no one is listening. Do you really have to tell me to my face that I am under scrutiny??
This week I backed off a bit on the workouts pre half marathon for tomorrow. Feeling good that there is no gain even with the switch to more carbs and less working out.
Should start tracking this here. Started in the 187-188 range a few weeks ago but didn't really keep track.
5/21 - 186.2
Slowly making my way lower...
elaineamj and dogboyslim -- That is so awesome. I envy your dedication, perseverance and motivation. I frequently dream that I will complete a marathon or bike 50 miles but never take that first step. I salute both of you.
This week I backed off a bit on the workouts pre half marathon for tomorrow. Feeling good that there is no gain even with the switch to more carbs and less working out.
Tomorrow is gonna be a great day! I'm doing a 100km bike ride. Hoping for some great weather!!!
Don't know how much it will help me weight-wise. I carbed up tonight and have a lot of snacks planned to fuel me tomorrow. Oh well - I am mostly interested in completing the entire 100km :)
I want to jump in because I need some accountability. I lost 110 pounds several years again and have been maintaining. The last year has been rough (new FT sedentary job, moved to a fixer upper, was in a car accident that limited my exercise, etc.), and I have gained about 13 pounds. I want to reverse the trend because I don't ever want to be overweight again. I would like to get back down to 140. Today, I weighed in at 150.0.
@rpr Thanks :) 7 years ago I was a 30yr old couch potato who had never done anything particularly strenuous EVER. Not even as a kid (I was a sedentary bookworm). A 30 min ride was doable, but considered a long way. To top it off, I was a nervous cyclist, only feeling safe on sidewalks and trails.
Then I got hired to organize this bike ride. The committee was awesome and so passionate and fun. I joined them for "meet and greet" short, slow rides. I was so inspired I pushed myself to ride 25km on my Walmart special. It took me 2 hours and I almost didn't make it. I felt amazing when I did it.
The next year, a friend lost a ton of weight through WW. I convinced him to ride 200km over 2 days. He finally agreed if I promised to give it a shot. So we started training and when I found I was serious, I bought a used beginner road bike for $600. After that, my husband realized I was actually taking it super seriously. He bought himself a road bike and joined us in training. When the big day came, there were organizational complications so I chose to work one day while my husband rode and he was "voluntold" the next day while I rode. And I finished an ENTIRE 100km!!!!! I never dreamed I could do such a thing. The next year, I upgraded to a $1500 road bike and rode the full 200km.
Since then, I have shocked myself and learned that I am not who I thought I was. I am now the type of person who can handle a 5hr hike. I can canoe for 3 hrs straight. I can do an 8hr adventure race. I can play tennis! Its been mindblowing and rather life changing.
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alsoknownasdean - what strategies are you going to adopt to increase mindfulness before putting something in your mouth. I think this is the key.
Inexplicably, the scale showed a drop of 1.6 pounds this morning. I don't usually see fluctuations that big. I'm taking this as a sign that my body wants to release some weight; all I have to do now is eat like *I* want to do the same. So far so good!
Today's lunch is kind of a mish-mash since I didn't prep last night: sardines in lemon juice and olive oil, a cherry lime sparkling water, and a mango quinoa salad cup. Lots of protein and lots of yumminess.
@Elaine AMJ: Keep reminding yourself of that loss, and how far you have come on this journey. I'm glad that switching to maintenance is giving you a mental break. I started reading Foodist too, and one of the things noted in that book is the idea of willpower, and how it alone is not enough to keep going in the long run. You have made so many awesome changes to your lifestyle, and are excited about eating real food. That is an amazing accomplishment!
@rockstache: Agreed that work travel is a challenge. Re: the spiralizer. I recently bought this one:
http://smile.amazon.com/Spiralizer-Tri-Blade-Vegetable-Strongest-Heaviest-Gluten-Free/dp/B00GRIR87M?ie=UTF8&keywords=spiralizer&qid=1465491046&ref_=sr_1_1&s=kitchen&sr=1-1
I highly recommend it. So easy to use that my 3 year olds can do it (with some help from me), and the results are amazing! Two medium size potatoes spiralized were more than enough to feed my family of 4 with leftovers.
@Elaine AMJ @rockstache, and @Frugal Lizard, I wanted to mention a word of caution. Be on the lookout for body dysmorphia. We live in these bodies, and it's often hard to recognize changes in ourselves. Especially if they are gradual.
The reason I mention it is because I am (and have in the past) suffering from it. Post-loss, I have needed to get new clothing. I go to the store and find my current size, and am finding it hard to believe that I'm wearing that size. Yet, when I put the clothes on, they fit. My co-workers and others have also congratulated me on my loss and tell me how good I look (those who know my struggles and my journey), and while I smile politely and thank them, somewhere in my brain, I don't believe them. I've been the 'fat girl' for most of my adult life, and all I can really see in the mirror when I look at myself is that image of myself at a much larger size. I'm not trying to share to sound like I'm bragging. I wanted to make sure that you genuinely try to see the changes that you have made in your life and how it has affected your body. The other thing that keeps me in that mind set is that my body shape is exactly the same. I see the same flaws in my body now (I'm sensitive about my arms and stomach) that I did when I was much heavier. Losing weight hasn't made me a supermodel (I know!), just a smaller version of myself. I think the dysmorphia plays into that as well.
The other thing that keeps me in that mind set is that my body shape is exactly the same. I see the same flaws in my body now (I'm sensitive about my arms and stomach) that I did when I was much heavier. Losing weight hasn't made me a supermodel (I know!), just a smaller version of myself. I think the dysmorphia plays into that as well.
Thanks for the spiralizer rec!
@elaine amj - Do not downplay your accomplishments. You are incredibly active, make incredible fresh meals for your family nearly every night, and you have lost TWENTY pounds! Sometimes we need a break. I am considering my vacation last week as the break I needed, and weirdly enough, I am feeling recommitted to this weight loss thing. So give yourself some time, and if you still feel the need to lose some pounds, you can go at it again then. You inspire me every time I read one of your posts.
@Elaine AMJ: Keep reminding yourself of that loss, and how far you have come on this journey. I'm glad that switching to maintenance is giving you a mental break. I started reading Foodist too, and one of the things noted in that book is the idea of willpower, and how it alone is not enough to keep going in the long run. You have made so many awesome changes to your lifestyle, and are excited about eating real food. That is an amazing accomplishment!
The reason I mention it is because I am (and have in the past) suffering from it. Post-loss, I have needed to get new clothing. I go to the store and find my current size, and am finding it hard to believe that I'm wearing that size. Yet, when I put the clothes on, they fit. My co-workers and others have also congratulated me on my loss and tell me how good I look (those who know my struggles and my journey), and while I smile politely and thank them, somewhere in my brain, I don't believe them. I've been the 'fat girl' for most of my adult life, and all I can really see in the mirror when I look at myself is that image of myself at a much larger size. I'm not trying to share to sound like I'm bragging. I wanted to make sure that you genuinely try to see the changes that you have made in your life and how it has affected your body. The other thing that keeps me in that mind set is that my body shape is exactly the same. I see the same flaws in my body now (I'm sensitive about my arms and stomach) that I did when I was much heavier. Losing weight hasn't made me a supermodel (I know!), just a smaller version of myself. I think the dysmorphia plays into that as well.
work trip this week, which means I will have to be diligent in walking a bunch as well as not overeating on "free meals" - those translate to "big meals of unhealthy stuff" normally...
@Cookie78 It's been quiet on your front for a little bit - glad to see your check-in! Sounds like you're developing a healthy relationship with your scale :)
@Cookie78: You have the right attitude. A few pounds up is only a minor setback in the big picture. Welcome back to the thread!
There's so much positivity on this thread after the weekend! Glad to see it.
So much for work travel! There is a ton of food at this meeting. I fell down the rabbit hole with these delicious pecan-pie pastry things. At least lunch was yogurt, guac and whole grain chips, and vegetables from the grocery store. But geez! I followed that up with a chocolate chip cookie immediately after lunch. The sugar dragon rears its ugly head!
I WILL do better tomorrow (and the rest of today).
Long story short...I am shocked at how many of my clothes no longer look good. Even the ones I had been saving "for when I lose weight" look awful now. I really should prune my closet, do a count, and see what basics I need to add.
DH says I shouldn't shop until I lose the last 10 pounds...but I'm so frustrated. Maybe if I gave myself a tiny $20 budget?
Long story short...I am shocked at how many of my clothes no longer look good. Even the ones I had been saving "for when I lose weight" look awful now. I really should prune my closet, do a count, and see what basics I need to add.
DH says I shouldn't shop until I lose the last 10 pounds...but I'm so frustrated. Maybe if I gave myself a tiny $20 budget?
Long story short...I am shocked at how many of my clothes no longer look good. Even the ones I had been saving "for when I lose weight" look awful now. I really should prune my closet, do a count, and see what basics I need to add.
DH says I shouldn't shop until I lose the last 10 pounds...but I'm so frustrated. Maybe if I gave myself a tiny $20 budget?
I don't know what the right answer is here, but just chiming in to say I feel you. I still want to get down another 8-10 lbs but I need work clothes. My pants are hanging off me and look like pajamas. My husband laughs about it, and tells me it is a nice problem to have (and it is), but I still need to wear something that isn't jeans and t-shirts. I broke down and bought a shirt and 2 pairs of pants. I'm not really ready to get rid of all of my larger items, because life is unpredictable and I might need them at some point. And I don't really want to use shopping as a 'reward' for losing weight either. So I am trying to just buy what I desperately need as I go along.
Today is weigh in day for me.
4/15 - 138
4/22 - 137.5
4/29 - 137
5/5 - 136
5/12 – 135
5/19 – 135
5/26 – 134
6/02 – 132
6/9 – 130.5
9/16 – 129.5
Goal : 120 lbs.
@Frugal Lizard That's so awesome!! I love that it doesn't feel like too much effort. Your new healthstyle is just becoming a part of who you are!
The last couple of days have been weird for me. Last night, I posted some pics of my date night with DH on FB. One was a full length photo of me. For the first time in the past 6 months of photos (incl other full length ones), my FB friends commented that I must have lost a lot of weight. This was followed up by today. My company hosted an industry event and I wore a pencil skirt. I'm a short hourglass so this highlighted my curves rather than hiding behind the golf shirts that have practically become my uniform. I saw a lot of people in my industry who I only see a few times a year. Just like FB, this is the first event in the past 6 months where I received multiple comments about my weight loss. Out of my 20 lb loss, I've only lost 5 lbs since March. It's so weird that it is only NOW - 3 months later that people are starting to comment. Did I cross some weird threshold or something?
@geostache Did you say fro-yo? My latest, most favorite obsession?! Mmmmmm...I just discovered them last week. Never bothered to try it before because I like hand-scooped and am not a big fan of softserve. I'm lucky there are no froyo places near where I work (only the most delicious handcrafted small batch creamy ice cream ever).
@Cookie78 - Lots of meds can cause an increase in appetite. Not sure what to suggest, other than drink LOTS of water and eat LOTS of fresh veggies to help curb the hunger. And if all else fails, sleep. :-)
@RuntoFIRE: Any suggestions for summer cooking? I usually love cooking, but am finding with the hot weather and the late sunsets, I'm more interested in playing outside with the kiddos. The idea of spending 45 minutes to an hour in the kitchen at night isn't as appealing as it is in the winter. And unfortunately, by the time the kids fall asleep, it's 9:30 pm, and I don't want to start cooking then, either!
@Geostache - I was super proud of what I made for dinner yesterday- basically a salad with tomatoes and olives, with black beans added in and a fried egg on top. On the side, I cut up a sweet potato, drizzled it with olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary from the garden, and grilled it in the microwave to make "french fries." It was delicious and I just may make the same thing tonight.
Happy to report that in the past week, I have had one one slip up with sweets- that day on the boat - otherwise, have been staying sweets free!
Oh, and my scale went back up after Sunday's crazy effort, but I was expecting it to :( Slow and steady does it, I guess.
I love clothes and have a closet full of lovely items that are starting to fit a bit better. I did some buying a couple of years ago when my business started to improve and I was going to more meetings and more frequently so I couldn't keep wearing the same blazer. Now I shop the sales at a store at our mall that has a reputation for older ladies wear. They carry a lot of Canadian made clothing and in among things my mother would wear there are some really well made funky things that suit my style. Best yet is that many of the older ladies don't like them so they are greatly reduced when I buy them.
@Geostache Is your problem too much snacking, too large portions, or too many meals out? Perhaps figuring out and then habit hacking to targer the main issues will help. I know for me, it is my snacking. If I can keep that to a reasonable level, then I can keep the weight down. So I am pushing myself to gravitate towards fruits as snacks and reducing the number and amount of snacks - keeping busy helps with that!
My cobb salads are typically 400-500 calories...so yes, a very high cal meal for me (I usually keep my lunches around 300-350 cals). I know its because of the stuff I like to put in it. My fave "toppings" alone add up to 350+ calories. Half an avocado, 60g of chicken/pork, a hard boiled egg, and my fave poppy seed dressing. Throw in another 100+ cals of fresh greens and its a lot. I just tend to consider it a high cal way for me to enjoy my greens! I know I can cut back on the cals (just bought a mango balsamic vinegar, and can replace the chicken with a couple of thin slices of deli meat to keep my carnivore happy). But I figure I enjoy it, it helps me to LOVE eating salad, and I'm getting lots of fresh raw veggies into me. So its mostly worth the cals.
Weighed in at 130.8 this morning!!!!!!! HAPPY DANCE!!!!!! Was 131.2 yesterday and now I have hit the magic 130!
Of course this isn't going to last. Hitting a sodium-filled Chinese buffet for lunch today. My son is going for a full day shopping trip with me to a slew of thrift stores and grocery stores. Hopefully we will have a nice day together :)
Last night I hit a local thrift store - found I am between a sz 4-6 now. Sz M tennis skirts were falling off me and the small FIT! Insanity.
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Oy. Well, I was down 0.4 pounds at weigh in on Friday. But after a weekend of cookouts and high-sodium foods, I'm up quite a bit this morning. I am clearly not capable of maintaining without tracking, so it's back to tracking for me! I brought lots of veggies and fruits for my food today, and I am committed to staying away from the microwave popcorn that has been my go-to snack as of late. Time to get this weight loss train going again! I'm also giving up the diet soda, as it wreaks havoc with my hunger signals.
I'm glad to see everyone's progress. Y'all are kicking butt and taking names!
@Cookie78 Could last week have been that time of the month? I find I get hit with hunger pangs and feel bloated about 1-2 weeks before. Apparently, it's pretty common.and realized my weight always spikes up a couple pounds the day before time of month. Thanks for the reminder. It could certainly help explain the hunger issues too.
@RedmondStash @ crispy Congrats - its been a successful week for both of you!
@ender You can do this!!! When I stopped bike riding, I correspondingly stopped eating as much food. (I eat a lot when I bike) For me, that actually helped with the weight loss. Are u still eating the same quantities as what u ate while u were biking?
My latest irregular report: Have continued to weigh daily and write down what I eat. I still struggle with making good choices, but for now l'm still seeing losses, since my weight is still pretty high. As time goes on, I'll have to be more strict (make better choices more often).
I think the quick exercise routine three times a week is helping too. I was SO tired yesterday, but exercised anyway, in the hopes that I'd get enough energy to finish the projects I was working on. I didn't finish the projects, and I didn't get a lot more energy, but I was sure proud of myself for exercising. Score one for motivation and momentum.
Not having cookies in the house helps. It's a lot easier to use willpower to avoid cookies when you have to actually make them first.
@rockstache Our numbers have been relatively similar since the beginning so I know what you mean as you debate if you want to stop. Remember back in the beginning you said your goal weight was 135? You reached that ages ago. Still, it's not always easy to decide if reaching goal weight is good enough. I know I still feel so lumpy! Then again, last night I was wearing a t-shirt that fit perfect last year and was marveling at how much it sagged on me. Man, we sure have come a long, long way!!!
Cookie and everyone else...
A quick tip from Slim by Design - wrap those snacks and sweets in an opaque wrapper. Ice cream covered in tin foil gets eaten way slower than in the naked state with it's appealing images calling for you every time you open the freezer. get those healthy items in clear containers at eye level and get all those unhealthy snacks hidden in the crisper.
I am trying this - chunks of watermelon are flying out of the fridge.
I've had continual loss and am now down 65 lbs this year. I'm committed not to yo-yo again and finally donated and tossed a whole bunch of my "fat clothes" over the last couple weeks.
The key for me is avoiding temptation - no sugar and very minimal starches (controlled portions). I love summer because the veggies are fresh and cheap!
As for me, I'm proud to report that I have started biking to work!!
@alsoknownasDean - Maybe consider switching your end-of-day snack to something with some more protein or fat. Cheese, hard boiled eggs, crackers with hummus; those all might satisfy you a bit more than the fruit.
@Geostache - Finding motivation is perhaps my biggest problem. Probably the problem for most people. I think it's really more about creating sustainable habits, because habits are our default. Pick one thing at a time - drinking more water, going for an evening walk, meal planning, whatever - and focus on that one thing until you've got it down. Then move on to the next. Admittedly, this process yields slower results than going full-tilt on calorie restriction and exercise, but it's also more sustainable.
@Geostache - Finding motivation is perhaps my biggest problem. Probably the problem for most people. I think it's really more about creating sustainable habits, because habits are our default. Pick one thing at a time - drinking more water, going for an evening walk, meal planning, whatever - and focus on that one thing until you've got it down. Then move on to the next. Admittedly, this process yields slower results than going full-tilt on calorie restriction and exercise, but it's also more sustainable.
You're absolutely right about that. I had replaced several habits with better ones, and I thought they would stick. It was just too easy to slip back into old, not-so-good-for-me habits. Easier that I'd care to admit! Vigilance is going be key, I think!
I should check my weight tomorrow. It's not going to be pretty, I don't think.
I've been plateauing a bit for the last week but now down 67 pounds. 50 more to go.
@JoJo Thanks for sharing what you do. Does that mean you are under 1000 calories during the week and at about 1000 calories on the weekend? That is definitely a strict diet!
I was on a 1200 calorie diet (5ft tall woman so that's a typical recommendation) and while it was doable and I did fine on it for months (losing my target 1 lb a week), eventually I needed a break so I switched to maintenance for the summer. 1600-1700 calories a day is so much more relaxing. 1200 cals was doable, but I had to be very vigilant.
In other news, DH and I made a new financial priority list, and I'm feeling much more confident about our future [we are nowhere close to FIRE, but in more of a hair-on-fire situation]. He FINALLY watched a YNAB webinar with me, and he's started to actually use the app, so that is a HUGE step in the right direction for us. One day, one day ...
@Cookie78 So glad this month has been going well for you :) Was missing you around here!
I looked up this thread again after posting early in the year and making no progress. Some of you are doing AMAZING and are super inspirational.
I got fed up and joined Weight Watchers yesterday, and went to my first meeting. I'm hoping that weekly weigh ins will help me with accountability. I'm also going to refer to WW as "sugar rehab" because, let's be honest, it's basically AA for food addiction. Hello, my name is Lanthiriel, and I am a sugar addict.
I looked up this thread again after posting early in the year and making no progress. Some of you are doing AMAZING and are super inspirational.
I got fed up and joined Weight Watchers yesterday, and went to my first meeting. I'm hoping that weekly weigh ins will help me with accountability. I'm also going to refer to WW as "sugar rehab" because, let's be honest, it's basically AA for food addiction. Hello, my name is Lanthiriel, and I am a sugar addict.
Cookie78, I am dealing with the same issues right now. I am putting the weight loss on hold while I sort through a couple things. It's enough (for me) to yoyo, as you say, in a 3-4 pound range. I consider this holding steady, since the body likes to hold on to or release water weight on it's own schedule. Just so long as it does not go up more than that! And that I see the lower numbers occasionally too (I weigh daily).
I feel like I am at the point now where I can have a bad week/weekend/few days and just get over it. It's a mindset change, and it feels really good.
@Cookie78 Concentrate on making sure you burn plenty of calories paddling and that should offset any extra eating you do. Usually on trips like that, I just make sure I do plenty of physical activity (squeezing some extra in whenever possible) and I'm just fine. As it is, I was on the lazier side with last weekend's camping trip as usually I manage about 3 hours of physical activity. (Helps that I LOVE hiking, canoeing, swimming, etc and happily do it for hours). Do tell us more about your canoe trip - are you canoe camping too? I keep thinking of doing something like that but really, really hate portaging (and so do all my canoe companions) and just don't have the right lightweight gear.
I've continued to lose an average of 1/2 pound a day and as of this morning show 74 lbs lost! Sometimes I plateau for 2-3 days but then I'll lose 1-2 lbs in the couple days after. Did a 10 mile hike last Saturday and felt great. Hoping to do 2 hikes this coming weekend.
Yesterday I pulled a dress out of the closet that still had tags on it and it fit great so I wore it to work! Also trying to lose a couple more lbs before I meet an old friend on Aug 14th on an upcoming business trip.
@cookie78 That's so awesome!!! As for recipes, I've fallen in love with roasting veggies over the fire. Just cut up a bunch of veggies (I usually do carrots, zucchini, peppers, eggplant, and mushrooms) and put them into a ziploc bag. Then add olive oil, herbs, and maybe worcestershire sauce or salt (I used liquid aminos). It will keep for a few days in a cooler. Wrap in tin foil and toss in the fire for about 20 mins.
I also love roasted sweet potatoes - if u leave then for hours, they caramelize into deliciousness.
I jogged to my parents' house on Friday to use their scale.. was pleasantly surprised to see my weight at 188.. breaking the 190 mark for the first time in a long time. How much of that weight loss was due to water weight lost, I'm not really sure.
Spring sports start for me this week, so hopefully that will help continue towards my goal - going to try to jog to my sports events wherever it is feasible as well.
I love watching sports, especially this time of year - baseball, NHL playoffs, NBA playoffs, so rather than sitting on my butt for 4 hours, I've started trying to stand for the majority of the game, and do some movement as well - doing dances for goals, pushups during breaks, etc. It kind of makes the games more exciting!
Congrats to everyone on their continued success - keep pushing!
Weighed in at 183.6 this morning from a starting weight of 208ish on March 6th or so.
So I guess that's the 25 lb. milestone!
I should say that some of that drop may just be water-weight. I put in about 20km or so combined of running, walking, jogging, so I was sweating pretty hard. We'll see if I can maintain it through a weekend that will start with Chicken Korma and beer..
I was shocked to see a photo of myself at a wedding yesterday - I look a lot different with 48 pounds gone (took a year). Still a ways to go, but happy and surprised by my progress...its definitely a journey, not a race.
If there is one thing you could change - consider cutting out the granola. It's so high in sugar and sugar can cause you to crave other things. If you really want cereal, Cheerios is better as the sugar is very low.
Cool, syracusefan!!! :)
Start of 2016: 240.1
Current weight: 209.5
Goal weight: 200
I'm a 6'2 male.
I, too, feel about 1000% better and I think that even if I didn't lose a pound, I really ought to keep eating this way. No more brain fog, no more lying around on the couch, lots of energy from morning to night to deal with the kiddoes, etc.
I've decided to do another Whole30 starting September 1st. I'm so excited because I felt SO good on this plan and lost a bunch of weight last year. I've kinda been stalling lately so I think this will be the jump start I need! Anyone else a Whole30'er?
Purolator dude: "You look awesome, congratulations!"
Purolator Dude: Holds out his fist for a fist bump
...then stopped and turned and did a double take and said, "1967mama???"
2.2 seems like a tiny amount, but it certainly has effects. It helps me to look at or imagine two butter blocks of a pound each, and then I feel proud of my result.
...106/64 so maybe it is about right! This is about the best it's ever been in my lifetime.
I've dropped down 2 whole sizes! And I'm thiiiiiiis close to my decent weight jeans. I can zip them up but they're a bit too tight for comfort. Since I chucked the scale, these little triumphs keep me going on my slow and steady approach.
Also, I'm aware of not just pounds lost but pounds not gained in the same period. That's a big deal, too, so to me it's like I'm "down" more like 8 pounds, for the difference in what I am vs the me in the alternate universe is. (Does that makes sense to anyone??)
So, instead of eating crap to cope with life, I've been taking myself out to read at a coffee shop. I didn't used to, and it's a gorgeous treat that's really helping me. Simple, cheap, beautiful, nurturing.
I am now hovering around 7 pounds lost, and I have seen the number for 8 pounds lost on the scale twice within the last three days. I feel safe to say that the first 6 pounds are gone for good, and if things keep going like this, then probably another one is ready to drop too. Not the fastest, but I think it will stick.
I've stopped writing down my food, just recording weight (almost) daily. It's remained a pretty good motivator. I am of course still making careful, healthy choices as much as possible, though not all the time.
. Veggie Egg Scramble[/b] - Start making scrambled eggs, throw in a bunch of pre-chopped veggies (stir fry mix, whatever).
Fell off the wagon a month back (health scare issues) and gained 10 pounds (ugh!) Recommitting myself to lose those ten pounds in two month since I have a conference that I'm attending and I want to be fit for that.
oneday, I feel like mine are all super easy. Here are my three main meals these days:
1. Veggie Egg Scramble - Start making scrambled eggs, throw in a bunch of pre-chopped veggies (stir fry mix, whatever).
2. Tostada - On a flat wrap, put salsa, then veggies (as above), then previously-cooked chicken or beef or tuna, then 1/3 cup low-fat cheese. Melt in oven 10 mins.
3. Frozen fruit meld - Frozen banana chunks, dark sweet cherries, any other frozen fruit, whole raw ginger, salt. Add an egg for protein, or don't. Add a tbsp peanut butter, or don't. Add vanilla, or don't. Add cocoa powder, or don't.
I usually eat these every day, plus other fruit and veggies, peanut butter on toast with banana, etc.
No hunger, much happiness.
Though not necessarily being the cheapest option, buying the store's pre-chopped veggies and rotisserie chicken is making this change doable for me.
Oneday:
I have struggled with...cooking...two are very picky
My quick go to meals are:
Beans and eggs. (deep browned beans in tomato sauce from a can)
Nachos - and I load mine up with veggies and use the cheese, sour cream ultra sparingly.
Sandwiches - To reduce the calories, I have open faced sandwiches. Must have greens.
Stir fries with very little sauce. Non-picky eaters add sauce to their own dishes. Fried smashed potatoes with cheese - little bit like potato cakes but they don't stick together. Sometimes the protein is a poached egg or tinned fish.
The past two weekends I have bbq'd all the ingredients I could so that we are eating leftovers most of the week nights. This has helped immensely with the quick part. It took about an hour and a half on Sunday to prep and cook everything. The meat was cooked to rare so that it doesn't get over cooked with reheating. I roasted two pounds of potatoes, a tray of different veggies and two onions and a great quantity of polenta. I think eating at home from scratch cooking is going to be better than anything else.
On the frozen fruit meld. When you put in an egg, is that raw? Then do you just blend it?
On the frozen fruit meld. When you put in an egg, is that raw? Then do you just blend it?
Yes and yes.
I know not everyone is comfy with raw eggs, so any which way is good. I will only use free range, organic eggs raw.
Six days straight of really clean eating ... feel terrific! Why don't I eat like this all the time?
Has anyone eaten rice and still lost weight?
Six days straight of really clean eating ... feel terrific! Why don't I eat like this all the time?
I've been eating rice the whole time, but a typical dinner for me is a very small piece of chicken, huge helping of veggies, and about 1/2 a cup of rice. I'll put a drop or two of soy sauce on it or nothing. The rice is there but it's the smallest portion of my plate.
I've been canning and freezing food like a mad man. The jams and jellies are so delicious! But I was stunned at how much sugar needs to go in each recipe. I'd love to cut the sugar, but it's important for preserving properly and you aren't supposed to mess with it. Anyone have any solutions for that? I do have some freezer jam that is better, but only so much freezer space! This year I've already had to turn on the third freezer (The first two being the top of the fridge and the small kitchen freezer)
...I'm guessing this is the lowest I've been since high school.
We walk a bit, but that is all. Even that, I can only do for short periods because of chronic pain.
I love this community.
I made these (http://paleogrubs.com/turkey-burger-recipe) awesome paleo turkey burgers for dinner tonight. Everyone just loves them. Be sure to make extra for snacks ... they're that good!
I'm a week and a half back into great eating and I can't believe how much better I feel ... why don't I eat like this all the time????!!! I'm sleeping like a log, getting tons done every day and generally just being a much more pleasant and happy wife and mother.
On the frozen fruit meld. When you put in an egg, is that raw? Then do you just blend it?
I know not everyone is comfy with raw eggs, so any which way is good. I will only use free range, organic eggs raw.
@rockstache Loving your new numbers! You are rocking it!
I've been MIA for a few weeks now - feels so weird! I hope to get back into checking here again regularly. Been busy lately with a lot of vacations to plan for. On top of my usual busy summer plans, a month ago, my mother tells me she is coming to visit me in November. We decided to add on a trip to DC and NYC for the both of us. A short while later, my childhood bestie (who lives on the other side of the globe) messages me saying she plans to visit me - she's hoping to come in 2 weeks! Then she asked to go to Disney World, so after some back and forth, I'm planning a weekend girls trip to WDW. To top off the craziness, DH and I had a few Southwest points left and just offered to take my FIL for a weekend in Atlanta this October. I feel like I am juggling so many balls in the air, its amazing I can keep them all up (I'm a super detailed researcher and planner - and yes, I do it all to myself lol!).
Back to weightloss - I went back into full weightloss mode 2 weeks ago when my bestie confirmed her trip. Was too lazy to calorie count though so decided to try just eyeballing things and being sensible. Plus I added back my 30 mins daily lunchtime walks.
I've gone up and down a little since then...but this morning, I'm a wee bit frustrated because in general, the scale is STILL NOT GOING DOWN! I've started starving myself a little in desperation - fruit for breakfast, a thin miso broth soup for lunch, and a veggie-based dinner. I'm sure there's still sneaky calories finding its way into me at various times UGH. I should go back to strict logging since it worked for me before - but now I only have a week before she arrives so there's not much point.
My plan is to keep my meals light for the next week, keep up with lunch walks every day, and see where I am next week. I'm not worrying about food after she gets here though. Good thing she's only here for about 12 days! I think I'll go back to counting cals and logging with My Fitness Pal after she leaves.
On the good side, I'm still about the same weight and I am happy that maintenance has been EASY. I've been in maintenance since June and it has gone really, really well. Also, I started biking to work (just a short 20+ mins each way) in July and 2 months later, I'm STILL riding daily. its such a short ride that I really don't lose many cals doing it though. Worth it to save gas and wear & tear though!
After about 12 days of no sugar, I broke today ... had a cookie. I baked cookies for my freshman son's university dorm and they smelled so good. REALLY regretted it ... it didn't really taste all that great.
On the positive side, went to an event tonite and ate zero sweets, even though there were cookies and a few types of bars and squares.
Aunt Flo came to visit tonight, so maybe that's why I was overcome by the desire to eat crap?! Harumph!
Back in the saddle! Had some leftover baked salmon and a small handful of fresh raspberries for a snack tonight. Former me would NEVER have made those choices, so there's that.
I would love to see that in scrubbyfish's butter image
Does anyone else (the public??) have access to WeightWatchers Connect? Absolutely inspiring snippets all day long. I love watching those beautiful people get so healthy and comfy! I'm blown away, am coming to understand what pounds really look like, and am really motivated by these folks' journeys.
Two days ago on Connect, someone shared that a Wendy's small chilli is 5 'smartpoints'. I had a long day in town, had swum, stuff was going wrong, I was getting hungry, and had more to do. So I grabbed that. $1.89! In Canada! That'll be a new go-to.
I bought a scale, the tiny Taylor one. This allows me to stay on track even while skipping the meeting as needed, reducing my travel by kilometers, time, and money.
Swimming yesterday was incredible. Had the entire lengths pool to myself! Then time in the hot tub, steam room, and spacious shower. With the pass, works out to about $1.80.
Start of 2016: 240.1
Current weight: 209.5
Goal weight: 200
I'm a 6'2 male.
Well done Syracuse. Would you share details of your regime?
Started doing Weight Watchers at the start of 2016. It taught me the importance of portion control through point counting. I eventually got sick of paying $44 per month for WW (non-mustachian) and now use iTrackBites which cost $3.99 in the App Store. You plug in your height, weight, goal weight, etc and it provides a daily point total for you. It is incredibly helpful. You just scan the barcode of practically any food and it will provide the point totals for all portion sizes.
(So glad we can talk the finances of weight change!)
I am now hovering around 7 pounds lost, and I have seen the number for 8 pounds lost on the scale twice within the last three days.
Well I am fluctuating between 7 and 9 pounds lost. Most of the time between 8 and 9. I saw 10 when I was sick, but that was just temporary because I'd lost my appetite.
Ah well, at least I'm still posting my embarrassing updates and keeping myself accountable.
Please with this progress, even though it's so slow. I am not feeling deprived & notice an increase in healthy eating
Scrubbyfish, I still have not tried the frozen fruit meld, but I think today's the day!
Just fit into the next size down in pants. Good news since last week was very stressful and hard [...] able to handle the stress and tiredness by taking lots of naps instead of eating junk food.
And on Friday, I went for a run for the first time in over a year!
I've decided to do another Whole30 ... successfully lost 48 pounds last year (took a full 12 months) and have been stumbling around the same 5-8 lbs up/down/up/down since the spring. I have about another 30 to get back to a healthy weight for me and this is truly the only thing that has ever worked for me. Day 1 completed :-)
I still seem to be steadily losing 1/2 pound a day with a few plateaus here and there so now am down 3 more since last week's update. So, the grand total lost in 2016 is 93 lbs! I've ratcheted up my intensity of workouts so that's helping to keep momentum.
I still seem to be steadily losing 1/2 pound a day with a few plateaus here and there so now am down 3 more since last week's update. So, the grand total lost in 2016 is 93 lbs! I've ratcheted up my intensity of workouts so that's helping to keep momentum.
I just have to say, that is damned impressive.
I hereby declare (for accountability):
I am making zero effort for weight loss currently.
I dropped 8 lbs, and then started to feel very hungry.
This has remained true for four days, so I am just going to eat to not-hungry and weigh daily.
I still seem to be steadily losing 1/2 pound a day with a few plateaus here and there so now am down 3 more since last week's update. So, the grand total lost in 2016 is 93 lbs! I've ratcheted up my intensity of workouts so that's helping to keep momentum.
I just have to say, that is damned impressive.
I second that - truly impressive
I hereby declare (for accountability):
I am making zero effort for weight loss currently.
I dropped 8 lbs, and then started to feel very hungry.
This has remained true for four days, so I am just going to eat to not-hungry and weigh daily.
...therefore, after five days at precisely the same weight, I suddenly dropped 1.4 and have reached 10 pounds released! A surprise.
I like eating a lot. As in, volume. I'm really glad I did what my body needed.
Started eating healthy this week but I realize my downfall is snacking (and late night snacking) in particular. I eat when I'm in the kitchen. Since I prep food for all, I'm there most of the time and end up eating something or the other :( I need to find a way to break this habit.Ok... I've avoided rice like plague and the scale has moved.... 1 pound. Trying to up my exercise quotient but it's super hard with a toddler at home and full time work. Trying this week to see if I can do my workout at the office before work so I can really concentrate on it. At this point, I'm still only walking but started to add some light jogging in.
On a good note, I competed with a friend on one of the Fitbit challenges and walked like crazy (for me). Usually I'm happy with 5k steps a day but she pushed me to walk atleast 10k steps a day and sometimes more. Going to keep this momentum going since I realized this makes my toddler tired too and she sleeps earlier. And I get to spend more quality time with her.
Sounds like win-win-win.
A big part of my culture is rice but all diets ask me to avoid rice. Has anyone eaten rice and still lost weight?
So, the good news is I didn't binge this weekend even though I was tempted to. Thank goodness the weather was great and I had planned 2 hikes with friends for both days.
The scale this morning was so discouraging. I'm done 1/2 pound since last monday morning. In that week not only did I eat extremely healthy, I also: lifted weights (2x50 min), did ellipical for 65 minutes, went for 2 city walks (about 60 min), hiked 8 miles with 1800 ft gain, and hiked another 8 miles with 2000 ft gain. Ugh!
Anyways, I'm going to try to stop beating up on myself when the scale doesn't show it. I do think my legs are looking much toner this morning so maybe it is just muscle building up now.
I also want to congratulate you on achieving maintenance status!!! Whoo-hoo!!!!! :) Good for you!
It is definitely getting a lot colder and I have a tendency to eat for a layer of insulation.
There are very cool hours here now, and no warm pool, no hot tub, so I want to use food to get warm and cozy!
When I couldn't find this thread, I figured it was about time someone started it!Try intermittent fasting. Its worked wonders for me.
What are your goals, methods, motivations, and deadlines?
There's some great stuff in the 2015 thread especially in the final page's posts (Dollarbill!!): http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/losing-weight-in-2015/msg910056/#msg910056 (http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/losing-weight-in-2015/msg910056/#msg910056)
Someone linked an article that appeals to me in the end of the 2015 article, suggesting daily weighing and moving average calculations. Here's the article https://medium.com/technology-liberal-arts/the-data-diet-how-i-lost-60-pounds-using-a-google-docs-spreadsheet-80adce62cf5c#.pij41yzhj (https://medium.com/technology-liberal-arts/the-data-diet-how-i-lost-60-pounds-using-a-google-docs-spreadsheet-80adce62cf5c#.pij41yzhj) and here's the spreadsheet: https://drive.google.com/previewtemplate?id=0AiqPelI3OIXCdGhieGI3UGxNaVM4MWh4VnliUGd3TkE&mode=public?id=0AiqPelI3OIXCdGhieGI3UGxNaVM4MWh4VnliUGd3TkE&mode=public (https://drive.google.com/previewtemplate?id=0AiqPelI3OIXCdGhieGI3UGxNaVM4MWh4VnliUGd3TkE&mode=public?id=0AiqPelI3OIXCdGhieGI3UGxNaVM4MWh4VnliUGd3TkE&mode=public). Changing the first date to 2016 should effect the same change in the whole page (and I changed the tab name to 2016 for myself.)
I met a friend for lunch today, and I realized how easy it is to gain weight while eating "healthy." This restaurant is not known for health food, but I looked at the menu and nutrition beforehand and chose a meal that was fairly healthy and whose calories fit into may daily intake (around 500 calories for the meal plus a diet coke). My friend has also really struggled with her weight and she was telling me how she ate healthy and didn't know why she was gaining. After we left, I looked up the salad she ordered, and it had over 1500 calories plus she had two regular cokes. It is a reminder about why I rarely eat out. Holy cow!
In the meantime, I am so happy to be where I am at. I was moaning about the last 10 lbs to my (always-been-skinny) friend and she said "You look normal again right now". And she's right - I'm no skinny minnie...but I am now a size 4-8 (depending on brand haha!) and I look NORMAL. It is an amazing feeling to love taking photos again and stop looking for people/things to hide my body behind.
M.Darcy & elaine - I totally relate on the healthy eating. It's amazing the impact of eating sugar and how it makes you feel afterwards. And for me the risk of it setting off a binge too. It's been so hard lately. People are coming back from Hawaii with chocolates, candy corn in the breakroom (I love that stuff), donuts at least once a week.
I finally have dropped a pound after plateauing for over a week and hit the 95 pound lost milestone but 'm now feeling more worried about excess skin. I've definitely been noticing more lose skin with the last 6 pounds or so lost. I might have to change my goal weight to a bit higher to avoid being a bag of skin. While I'm still technically "overweight" in the BMI category, a few people have told me that I look to be at my ideal weight so we'll see. I might just work on lowering my body fat percentage as the goal for the next month.
I bought a Champion one which clasps normally on the back and has an underwire. Really like the support
I guess gaining just one kilogram over the last two and a half months isn't too bad considering.
FOOD CALORIES PER POUND
Vegetables 65 to 195
Fresh Fruits 135 to 420
Potatoes, pastas, brown rice, sweet potatoes, corn, hot cereals 280 to 650
Legumes: peas and beans, such as pinto, garbanzo, black, and lentil beans 400 to 750
Nonfat dairy foods 180 to 450
Seafood, lean poultry, lean red meat 400 to 870
Dried fruit, jams, fat-free muffins and breads, including sourdough rolls, bagels, pita breads, and baguettes 1,200 to 1,400
Dried cereal, pretzels, fat-free cookies, fat-free potato chips 1,600 to 1,750
Regular salad dressing 1,800 to 2,000
Chocolate bars, croissants, doughnuts 2,200 to 2,500
Nuts and regular potato chips 2,500 to 3,000
Butter, margarine 3,200
Olive oil, corn oil, lard 4,010
Been struggling this last few days :( In a slump and feel like I'll be fat forever (even though I hit my first goal weight and I am at my lowest weight ever). Just got to make it through and the sun will shine again.
Been struggling this last few days :( In a slump and feel like I'll be fat forever (even though I hit my first goal weight and I am at my lowest weight ever). Just got to make it through and the sun will shine again.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Appreciating the great conversation here!
Just a quick update:
Eating optimally.
Did purchase three of the spiciest David Tea teas today.
Tried hard to find a sports bra so I can start the jogging I feel like, but no luck. All so tiny and tight! Recommendations?
Chain restaurants - no way, not worth it. Even I make better at home, and I am NOT a very good cook. Great job - financial win too!
Back in my soccer playing days, I had to wear 2 bras to have enough support
...there's something to be said for getting out of our regular routine and taking the focus away from should's/should not's. Mondays are the most difficult for me, so maybe a weekly outing for breakfast would take the edge off. I usually enjoy journaling on my breakfast dates and often get some interesting insights. This is something to seriously consider.
Although I feel really healthy and am starting to think I'm looking pretty good at this weight (and comments from others that they think I'm at a good wt), there are so many online & government tools that say I should be much lower.
...I want to be the healthiest I can be to start my nomadic life!
M.Darcy, did you just add the doggie photo in your avatar?!?!?! It is SO CUTE it is hurting inside me!!!!
I've always been envious of tall women because there's so much more space for extra weight to spread out! Mine has nowhere to go. :/ And all of it clumps up in my midsection so you really notice it.
I'm only 5'4, but I feel like such a giant, "wide load", old growth tree next to women who are way more petite than me. Hate that
I feel like a big walrus amongst tiny sleek dolphins.
t also drives home the excellent point that "ideal weight" is specific to each body. Some folks here, like you, need to maintain or pursue a much lower weight than others, due to height, natural muscleness, etc. At the same time, "low weight" as an arbitrary measure is nothing to aspire to, as for many of us it's only an indication of illness.
About 50 wheelbarrow loads hauled around the back will be a fantastic work out. This kind of thing suits my temperament better than a gym work out.
Frugal Lizard - I like how you've broken out all the different areas you're working on. I might have to steal that idea!
Frugal Lizard - I like how you've broken out all the different areas you're working on. I might have to steal that idea!
Please do - it is helping me with the willpower aspects. It is dang impossible to have willpower 100% of the time.
Good luck JoJo! Willpower is not my forte and I do best when I can control what comes into our house. Free food at work would be hard.
As for me, I usually do weight checks on Mondays but we are leaving to visit the in-laws for several days, so I am posting for accountability and motivation. I'm currently at 138.5, just 3.5 lbs from my goal weight and feeling pretty darn good about it! But, I always gain weight when I'm at my in-laws. My goal is to try to maintain this weight while we are away. I plan to: eat my regular breakfast of unsweetened oats and fruit (no muffins!), eat a light lunch, and go for lots of walks. I will eat dessert and drink alcohol in moderation, and will not eat/drink anything with calories after dinner. Hopefully that's enough! Especially since it is Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend.
@scrubbyfish - what is it in particular that makes you gain so much weight at your mum's? If you identify the problem area you might be able to find a way to at least keep the damage to a minimum.
@scrubbyfish - what is it in particular that makes you gain so much weight at your mum's? If you identify the problem area you might be able to find a way to at least keep the damage to a minimum.
It's multifold, largely sensory:
1. The house has no internet, so I go to a coffee shop to be cozy and get online. I like to get something there. I do now know what I can order at coffee shops that has less effect, so there's that!
2. I feel bored, frustrated, sad there, so I turn to food for a lift.
3. The house is chock full of candy-foods. I find I can ignore them for about three days, but not longer.
4. Every meal is a candy-meal.
5. The kitchen is very crowded and messy. I like working in a simple, clean space. I clean it over and over, but within a half hour it's very messy again. This puts me off preparing stuff. I do it anyway, but find I seek re-engergizing, comfort, etc, in the candy-foods after each few rounds of that.
As I type, I'm realizing I could keep it simple and get my own place while there! That'd run at least $720, but maybe that's worth it??
It would definitely be worth it to me. The bolded section tells me that being there has a very negative effect on your emotional well-being. If you can afford it, I say go for it! Why be miserable for 2 weeks if you can avoid it?
Anyway, thank you for listening.
I've had a wild ride the last month with weight and eating and not really in a good way. First, I got sick and lost weight because I was on speed (cold meds) basically, for a week and ate less than 1K calories daily. Then I started using MyFitnessPal, which was going fine, until I hit some extreme work stress and then returned to eating less than 1K calories a day i.e. restricting my eating and started to feel a little out of control which is how I felt in college the first year when I ended up in counseling. So I lost 6.5 pounds in a month which is like 70% of my goal, but I'm not very happy about it. Now I'm trying to focus on getting enough calories and eating healthy. I just splurged and bough the Tone It Up meal plan, and I'm gonna make all kinds of healthy snacks and meals this weekend. I still want to lose like 5 more pounds, but I want to do it over the next 2-3 months, not in a matter of weeks. Anyway, thank you for listening. I felt sort of scared this week remembering the way I used to feel and feeling like that again. I don't really feel like I can talk to anyone about it in real life. If I feel like that again, I think I'll go back to my therapist. I'm not going to take a chance.
+1 this is a safe place to record how it is. Please do ask for what you need. We want you to find it.Anyway, thank you for listening.
You're welcome :)
We're really here for you... and a bunch of us are big supporters of therapy as needed, too!
No change to the diet, apart from cutting out the crap. Said no to Celebrations and Toblerone today. That was...difficult!
I'm off to the gym for some time on the treadmill. Will report back in a couple of hours.
Ok. Time for me to own up to a bit of a fail.
Since April(?) 6 months ago I was 75kg. I'm now up to 80kg. And it's not the good muscle type weight :(
Too many sugary snacks at work, too many sweet desserts and too many packets of chips.
Time to reverse this trend. Posting here to have sort sort of accountability.
Putting on weight sucks :(
I was doing well, but I'm kinda back to where I started now... Le sigh
I was doing well, but I'm kinda back to where I started now... Le sigh
It is so uncomfortable when family is not totally supportive. Good for you for standing up to the scoffing. You will be happy with yourself, which is most important.
Thank you, rockstache! This eve I was out, even doing movement, and imagined ahead to my mum's mocking, and felt how sad I would feel. Then your words (which I'd read much earlier) came back to me and I felt happy and strong instead, and knew I could feel that way there too :)
For myself, I'm 6'0" and 246.8 lb. I'm at a pretty bad place with my fitness; running more than about 2.5 miles makes my lower back quite tight, and I'm sure I'm not going any faster than about 8.5 minutes per mile. But my weight is where I want to focus. My goal is to lose 1.5 lb per week until I reach 185. Most importantly is keeping that target pace through the middle of September, which is the time of my wedding. That would put me at 190-195 by September; I've looked good weighing as much as 210, but that was when spending 2-2.5 hours working out daily. I've done calorie counting before, but for me it makes my whole process less fault-tolerant, so I'm more likely to derail. This time, I'll be skipping that. My calorie deficit should be 750 daily for 1.5lb/week, so a good guess for ideal intake is 1500-1600. My consistency will be sticking to my egg breakfast sandwiches (2 eggs, 1 slice bacon, half piece cheese, english muffin) which runs about 350 calories, and shooting for 500 in each of lunch and dinner, with the remainder being a beer or glass of wine while I work in the evening. My lunches are a piece of fruit, some carrots, and one of several stews that I make in large quantities for leftovers. I always want breakfast, but lunch and dinner sometimes don't happen. Outside of breakfast I avoid anything as processed as, or more processed than, bread. My general rule is that my tea and canned goods should be the only colorful packaging I buy.
I had been doing twice-daily weigh-ins for the same goal of reducing noise in my measurements, but for the sake of the trend I appreciate that once daily achieves the same thing; that's what I'll be doing in the future.
A friend made us a gorgeous cake—from scratch, with several hundred icing rosettes topping it. We all had some together, then Friend asked us to take the rest home. Friend couldn't eat more of it, as it would hurt Friend's belly.
I took it home, ate more over three days, and today threw the rest out. I couldn't think of anyone else to gift with slices because: Halloween. No one can take anymore sugar!
I felt very sad to have to throw any of it out. And I felt very proud that I managed to. The cake was amazing, the rosettes incredible, the love so awesome. And, just as Friend gets to love Friend's belly by sending the rest away, I get to love my body and brain by sending the rest-rest away. I will miss you, Beautiful Cake! Thank you, dear Friend! You're welcome, dear body!
Today, we have birthday cake at work (all these staff birthdays really add up!). I worked it into my plans and should be OK though.
However...I just had breakfast an hour ago (my usual) and I AM HUNGRY AGAIN. I am already over my calories for today by a little - so I am going to do my best to tough it out for another hour until lunchtime. Normally, my usual yogurt/granola breakfast fills me up adequately so its rather annoying to feel hungry already. Oh well. bodies are strange things. And feeling hungry for an hour or two is not the end of the world.
Those cakes at work are bad. We used to have those as well in the past -- one day a month we would celebrate all those who had birthdays that month. Sadly, the wonderful admin assistants who used to arrange these gatherings have retired. Now we have some newer staff who will probably take time to mesh in. The cakes are gone. Bad for office camaraderie and morale but I suppose good for the waistline.
For me that seems to happen with dinner. I feel like I eat a good sized portion at dinner but 3 hours later, if awake, I feel really hungry. The key seems to be able to go to sleep at a good time before the hunger pangs hit.
I think today is just a hungry day *sigh*. I JUST sat back down after eating a largish slice of strawberry shortcake. I'm still hungry and it is another hour to dinnertime at least.
Stay strong. Rooting for you!
I am just eating lunch here. A big veggie salad with mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, black beans, walnuts and a dressing made with mustard and vegan mayo. Hopefully that should last me till the evening. Have a tangerine on hand for an afternoon snack.
I somehow managed to hang in there yesterday. I stayed hungry all day unfortunately (was SUPER hungry after dinner), but somehow managed not to eat anything more although I kept digging through the fridge/cupboards. My husband even ended up passing me several different types of "healthy" crackers. But I was in a weird mood where most things were not appealing, so I didn't end up eating anything...even though it was right in front of me!
I was rewarded this morning...another small drop. If I keep going like this, I should hopefully wrap up this week with about a 1 lb loss.
I'll put it all back on next week though - I'll be in DC/NYC for a week! With my mom...who I haven't seen in nearly 2 years. So excited :) Especially since after the trip, she comes back home with me to stay with my until after the New Year. Anyway, that's why I've been trying to be so disciplined this week, want to minimize the damage.
Ok. Time for me to own up to a bit of a fail.
Since April(?) 6 months ago I was 75kg. I'm now up to 80kg. And it's not the good muscle type weight :(
Too many sugary snacks at work, too many sweet desserts and too many packets of chips.
Time to reverse this trend. Posting here to have sort sort of accountability.
Putting on weight sucks :(
1 week since the above and I've lost 2kg. Down to 78.
Now to lose the next 3kg
Scales on Saturday said 78.5... after I had drunk 4 litres of water in the afternoon and evening while out playing sport.
On Sunday it said 77.... so I think I'm at least holding steady from the posts above.
I've also re-started using a pedometer to track my steps. Got pretty lazy-couch-potatoish over August-October... time to get back out there again. 21,000 steps on Saturday, only 4,000 on Sunday, but today isn't over and I've already got 12,280.
Weight loss does such weird things to body perception. This evening I tried on most of my clothes with my boyfriend to help me figure out what fits and what doesn't. I am really having trouble seeing it and according to him I am wearing everything a couple sizes too big.
It's such a strange thing.
Doing ok. My goal for 12/31 is to check in at or under 123.0 to cap off 2016 with a 30 lb loss. That will likely be the only good thing about 2016.
This is the final month of the year! I love all the awesome success stories that have been reported. At the end of the year, it will be awesome if everyone posts a recap on their year, what worked, what didn't work...and their plans for an amazing 2017...
This is not the me I want to be. Treats (even chocolate and chicken wings!) are fine in moderation - but of course, the last few weeks did NOT involve moderation and any form of control *sigh*.
Anyway, onwards and upwards! Today is a new day. I had a simple spinach omelette this morning, frozen spinach cakes for a quick lunch, and a reasonable beef & broccoli dinner planned for tonight. I also packed some delicious cherries for an afternoon treat and plan to resume my lunchtime walk today :)
Sporadic update...the scale was slowly creeping up..Then a strange thing happened today. A drop of of 3.5 pounds! I don't believe it will last, but it was nice to see.
**I have lost about 10 pounds this year, if you average out the daily fluctuations.
We celebrate EACH birthday - just had cake last week too! Oh well, got to make the diet fit with regular life.
We celebrate EACH birthday - just had cake last week too! Oh well, got to make the diet fit with regular life.
Can you decline the cake *sometimes*? Like, if you just had some last week? You might start a trend at your office!
wintertell, welcome & good luck! I hear that the skills leaned while paying off debt do apply to weight loss, and intellectually it seems to be true, but I have no debt other than mortgage but struggle to lose weight. So there is overlap, but there is definitely something else, too. Don't give up if it's not as easy as you first thought it would be.
@wintertell 1 lb a week is great. I actually started there but dropped a little more rapidly so I upped my calories to slow it down to 1 lb a week. Too fast left me hungry and cranky. And my husband and boss both started nagging me about how tired I looked. Plus I figure that I am learning skills for a lifetime - I did NOT want to yoyo and heard deprivation can lead to that.
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*sigh* I got used to seeing myself a few lbs lighter. The larger belly, the rounder cheeks - I am just way too aware of them.
I'm determined to get back on weight loss mode in January!
Lost 32 lbs since August 2016. My goal is to lose another 16 lbs in 2017. Best wishes, Ap.
I hope that thread is as supportive as this one has been but I have my doubts already.
Yes, you only live once. Which is why I should take care of body by losing weight and NOT eat these fries.
Original weight: 116.3kg
Last weigh-in's weight: 117.9kg
Current weight: 117.9kg
Goal weight: 90kg
Whilst I've been more active lately as the weather warms up and my ankle is almost fully healed, I haven't really changed my eating habits enough. Soon it'll be the silly season, uh oh.
I need to focus on not eating so damn much :)
@financiallypossible I LOVE your story. Thank you.
@financiallypossible I LOVE your story. Thank you.
+1 amazing
I hadbigreasonable goals this week and hit exactly none of them. Weight remains the same at 150.
Workouts completed: 1/3
Smoothies for lunch: 2/5
no carbs for snacks: 0/5
The good news was that dinners were healthy and on point. Winter and darkness suck.
I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting in a year yesterday. I found out that I am 10-11 lbs away from the heaviest I've ever been. Also, that I've gained 23.4 lbs in the last year. Sigh. Since I got home from the meeting, however, I have tracked every bite of food that went into my mouth, which for me is awesome. I hate writing down what I eat, but I'm going to try to convince my mind that it's just like a budget but for food. I love my YNAB, so maybe I can convince myself that food tracking is just like YNAB. We'll see how it goes. This week is going to be a challenge because I'm traveling across the country, so I'll get stuck with airport food for two days, and then I'll be at a conference for the other two days, which may have questionable food offerings. Fingers crossed.
I have a big splurgy day planned for tomorrow as I am working at a Food & Wine Festival. So I have been "saving" calories. I will also skip breakfast on Saturday and start my noshing about 1pm. I plan to focus more on lighter veggie/seafood based options but we will see. Doubt I will have time to work out on Saturday (working from 12pm to 11:30pm) but plan to go on a good 2 hour hike on Sunday.
I still hope to end the week eating an average of 1200 calories a day (net).
I have tracked every single thing I've eaten all week. Tomorrow is my weekly weigh in, so we'll see if it paid off. Fingers crossed.
I have tracked every single thing I've eaten all week. Tomorrow is my weekly weigh in, so we'll see if it paid off. Fingers crossed.
Apparently, it paid off. Down 4 lbs in one week. W00t!
I have tracked every single thing I've eaten all week. Tomorrow is my weekly weigh in, so we'll see if it paid off. Fingers crossed.
Apparently, it paid off. Down 4 lbs in one week. W00t!
Weight Log
12/6/16 ~265
1/7/17 256.4
1/22/17 252.8
Total: 12.2
I have tracked every single thing I've eaten all week. Tomorrow is my weekly weigh in, so we'll see if it paid off. Fingers crossed.
Apparently, it paid off. Down 4 lbs in one week. W00t!
The first two days were brutal - I was so hungry that I could not focus. I don't know who the magical people are that feel no hunger when they do these things. I'm not even doing it 100%. I've eaten v. small portions of solid foods for the last two nights at dinner.
But I've reached a turning point this morning - I'm not as hungry. Hopefully this means that my appetite is coming in check. Hopefully my carb cravings start to trail off as well.
I'm definitely struggling this year. Last year, it was all rather...easy. And the pounds kept dropping steadily each week. Its now almost the end of the month and I am only about 1 pound down. Then again, I look at what I'm eating and its obvious why. I was much stricter with myself last year and said no to a lot of things I say yes to now.
Ugh...can't get too down on myself. Beating myself up never helps me. Today is a new day! Plus, I am DOWN 1 pound since the beginning of the year...and NOT up, so I'll count that as a WIN! My new goal - log in here regularly reporting my wins, being honest about my downs and figure out some solutions. e.g. for yesterday, I should have put the treat aside for today and fit it into one of my meals.
I'm definitely struggling this year. Last year, it was all rather...easy. And the pounds kept dropping steadily each week. Its now almost the end of the month and I am only about 1 pound down. Then again, I look at what I'm eating and its obvious why. I was much stricter with myself last year and said no to a lot of things I say yes to now.
Ugh...can't get too down on myself. Beating myself up never helps me. Today is a new day! Plus, I am DOWN 1 pound since the beginning of the year...and NOT up, so I'll count that as a WIN! My new goal - log in here regularly reporting my wins, being honest about my downs and figure out some solutions. e.g. for yesterday, I should have put the treat aside for today and fit it into one of my meals.
How close are you to your target weight? If you're already quite close, then this is normal. It's much more difficult to lose weight when there is less excess than more. It's great that you're still losing this year. Weightlifting is really excellent for increasing metabolism -- it's like that dividend stock that just keeps on paying.
@financiallypossible I'm now reading about VLCDs - very interesting! Good for you, I don't know if I'd be able to stick to it.
@financiallypossible - impressive achievement!
I am at 133 today, aiming for 120. In the past year I have been up and down between 120 and 130. I don't look like i need to lose the weight, but I feel like I need to. I feel my best at 120. I realized that last year my problem was focusing too much on losing the weight, getting discouraged when failing to lose it fast enough. So this year I am focusing on getting physically more fit and exercising more and the weight will follow. Hoping that joining this thread will keep me accountable.
@Starbright did u completely stick to your detox plan or were u off a bit? I'm curious as I have also been very sceptical about detoxes, etc although my husband and my mother are firm believers.
. . . . . . .
I think it is also my picture of myself. Last year I was the person who turned down office cookies, who would nibble slowly on a couple of slices of pizza and call it enough, the person who carefully weighed out my food portions, who planned my treat days instead of going on a binge because I was upset.
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Hmm reading back over the last several posts it looks like there are a lots of us that are fighting winter/holiday weight creep. I really liked @begoods post upthread about getting through winter. I'm going to try some of that stuff and see if it helps me stay focused with eating and movement. I've been looking at a "happy light" and I'm thinking of pulling the trigger.
I would like to join you. I have yo-yoed all my adult life, and I have a lot of weight to lose. I am trying to solve my emotional eating so that this will be the final time I have to lose weight.
Weigh-in was today. I had a pleasant surprise on the scale, an actually lost half a pound. Since all week my home scale was not showing a loss, I'll take the small victory.
I have been completing my MFP entries every day for over a week now! I am starting to work on focusing on what I eat more--for the first half of the week I was more thoughtful about packing healthy snacks to bring to work but then office parties and leftover Valentine's Day treats weakened my resolve...
Also trying to up my exercise level. My office has a treadmill desk on each floor that you can reserve. I really enjoy using them but work had gotten very busy and I fell out of the habit. Now I'm going to try and use it at least a half hour each day.
Starting weight 2/4: 142.6
2/15: 142.4
Yeah, I'm tracking everything that I'm eating and it appears to be working for me. Ironically, I'm mentally comparing it to budgeting (using YNAB). Ever since starting YNAB I have more money in the bank than every before, because I know where every penny comes and goes. I'm just using the same logic for food.
As for me, I am still battling snacking and chocolate cravings and crawling my way back on the logging bandwagon. ..... Also, I have been eating back all my exercise calories and things are moving much slower than I like. I'm going to switch to 50-75% of my exercise calories. And LOGGING.
You guys almost have me convinced to log my food (something I've always avoided because of the time commitment).
How long do you guys think you spend on it daily when you are doing it correctly?
You guys almost have me convinced to log my food (something I've always avoided because of the time commitment). How long do you guys think you spend on it daily when you are doing it correctly?
I'll chime in to say that logging my food is the only thing that's really worked for me.
On most days, I don't think it takes more than 5 minutes, or even 10 minutes on days with new recipes, etc.
Here are the things that tend to trip me up when trying to log consistently:
1. Restaurant meals that are complicated and hard to log.
2. Parties or other situations where I have a lot of small amounts of different things that are a pain to log.
3. Days where I know I'm going over so I log breakfast and lunch and give up for the rest of the day.
I've found when I can push past these issues and really stay consistent, I'm most successful with my weight loss. A big part of the success is using the logging as meal planning. Mid-day I'll log my breakfast and lunch and then use that to plan what to eat for dinner to stay under my calorie amount and keep things well-balanced. It's also key for keeping portion sizes reasonable.
One thing about logging for restaurants or parties .... I just take a photo of my meal and log it later, if I'm around folks where it would be awkward and conspicuous to log it. I also will look at the menu for a restaurant, choose what I want to eat and then pre-log it in my tracker. That method has the bonus of choosing whether you stay within your calorie range or not before you leave the house.
Logging doesn't bother me, so I do it. I like the data on my behavior and would miss being able to look back and see trends without it. Like I said before, this comes from my habit of logging purchases in YNAB. I know it has been super useful for me in the past, and I expect this data will hold the same benefits. I'm telling myself to get used to it, because if I want to keep the weight off, I will have to do it for the rest of my life to stay mindful. And that's not depressing, because I'm planning on keeping the weight off : )
Lol elaine amj, I do #3 also. I have an entry in MFP that's just titled "bad" for 1600 calories.
The top about USDA is a good one. I basically search for either "ingredient raw USDA" or "ingredient cooked USDA" when I am logging.
Oftentimes I will take pictures of the rated food scale as I cooking. This means I don't burn anything, plus I can estimate how much of the meal I ate when logging.
So if I cooked 225 g of spaghetti squash but ate half, I would search "spaghetti squash USDA cooked g" and then log 125 g (after dinner, from the picture on my phone). Then when I eat the leftovers I copy the previous meal over - even easiser. Makes the whole process really quick!
elaine emj, I SO hear you on the wolfing-down-the-chocolate-in-secret thing. I was doing that a lot before. I encourage you to include the chocolate in your daily count, and then savor every bite right in front of your husband! If he asks if you've "fallen off the wagon," just say, "Nope, I planned for it, and wow is it delicious!"
I'm convinced that the reason for this particular stretch of steady weight loss/successes is because I've kept eating the thing I really do care about: dark chocolate. I can pretty easily decide not to have dessert because I know I've got dark chocolate waiting for me.
And I completely let go of the shame, which had snuck up on me and was messing with my head in a variety of unhelpful ways. I'm here. I'm working on being a healthier version of me. It's going to take a while, so my job is to be kind to myself as I go. I try to talk to myself the way I would talk to a friend in need.
I had a pretty annoying day at work today, and just felt drained when I came home. I knew I was going to want some treats, so I made sure to work them in on plan. I ate a really healthy dinner (changing what I would have eaten otherwise), in order to allow me to indulge in a small amount of ice cream and a cider. It was still very yummy. I can do this.
elaine emj, the nutritionist I go to once a month suggested not including any "extra" calories from exercise in my daily count. My first reaction was, "WTF? I need those extra calories! I earned them! WTF?!?" But over time, I've come to separate out physical fitness from healthier eating. They work together like yin and yang, but I'm doing one to be stronger, more flexible, with better balance and stamina, and the other to lose weight by choosing to eat in a healthier way overall.
And I look forward to the dark chocolate, saying "yes" to things that I really want, and the occasional shot of reposado tequila. ;)
elaine emj, the nutritionist I go to once a month suggested not including any "extra" calories from exercise in my daily count. My first reaction was, "WTF? I need those extra calories! I earned them! WTF?!?" But over time, I've come to separate out physical fitness from healthier eating. They work together like yin and yang, but I'm doing one to be stronger, more flexible, with better balance and stamina, and the other to lose weight by choosing to eat in a healthier way overall.
And I look forward to the dark chocolate, saying "yes" to things that I really want, and the occasional shot of reposado tequila. ;)
I do worry that if I don't eat back ANY of my exercise calories, that I will be undereating by quite a bit. I'm only 5ft tall so I only get 1200 calories a day when trying to lose weight - and that's very little by any calculator. I have a 50 min round trip bike ride to work each day plus I go on a 30-45 min lunchtime walk. Last year, I ate half my exercise calories and after a month or two, hit a point where I was fatigued and had trouble concentrating to the point that my DH and my coworkers kept commenting on it. I had to bump it up to eating all my exercise calories. This time around, I have a strong feeling that MFP is giving me way too many calories for biking so I think going with half my exercise calories will work out well.
All that said - I agree that exercise is not a big part of weight loss. The times I exercised the most (riding 2hrs/day, 3-5 times a week) was typically when I gained weight. I find I eat a lot more to fuel me on intense exercise days, pretty much negating the calories lost.
I'm 5'8" and Lose It currently gives me 1491 calories a day. I had to work through that psychologically too - it seems brutally unfair that the more weight I lose, the less I get to eat in a day. HATE THAT so much. The nutritionist (she totally has my number) said I should shoot for between 1200 and 1500 calories a day from this point on. I like having a range instead of a particular number. We eat dinner in a boarding school dining hall, so I don't have the luxury of weighing grams and measuring units. I just eyeball it and shoot for lots of protein and veggies/fruit and not so much carbs. *shrug* So far, so good.
begood - mfp is also giving me 1490 for calories (to lose .5 a week) but I'm a solid two inches shorter than you! This is one of the reasons that I'm weird about on-line trackers?! What is correct?!
begood - mfp is also giving me 1490 for calories (to lose .5 a week) but I'm a solid two inches shorter than you! This is one of the reasons that I'm weird about on-line trackers?! What is correct?!
StarBright, I don't know! I started at a higher weight than you - 189 lbs - and am now at 172 lbs. So with each drop in weight, I get fewer calories per day. I'm trying to lose 1 lb a week. I started at 1700, if I recall correctly.
I feel kind of silly jumping in at the end of this long thread, but didn't want to put it off any longer. I'll jump over to a new thread for 2017 if one gets started! I've only read the current page and first page, but I may skim through to get ideas of what is working for other people.
Current Stats:
I'm 5'3" and currently weigh 160 pounds, two years after having a baby. When I got pregnant, I weighed 140 which is at the very top of the healthy BMI for my height. While pregnant, I gained 33 pounds, so was up to 173 on the day I went into labor. At one point after the baby was born, I was down to 150, but then climbed back up to 160. (Hello, stress eating!)
Goal:
Having a second child is under consideration and I'd like to at least be back down to my former pre-pregnancy weight before that happens. So my minimum goal is to lose 20 lbs, stretch goal is 30, extra stretch goal is 35. I'd like to lose the weight by June 2017. So if my goal is 30 pounds in 6 months, that's 5 pounds a month or just a little more than 1 pound a week. Seems within the realm of possibility. I procrastinated too long. June 2017 is less than 20 weeks away so I would need to lose more than 1 pound a week to hit my minimum goal. I'm still aiming for 1 pound a week and will take what I can get at this point!
Challenges:
I'm not sure what my biggest challenge is. Not exercising at all is a big one. Too much stress eating is another one. I did not exercise during my pregnancy and I really regret it now. I also have exercised very little since having a baby. It look about 15 months to even have the energy to seriously think about exercising and another few months to start trying. And I'm not doing a great job of it now. I am not athletic and have never really enjoyed exercise. I'm a bookworm who would rather be curled up on a couch with a good book! So that is a major hurdle to overcome. I'm working on trying to find some kind of activity that I'll enjoy so as to make it sustainable.
Action Items:
-Set up treadmill desk - I scored a free treadmill sight unseen and didn't discover that the arms point down instead of out until it was in my garage. So it won't work for a treadmill desk. Also it's still sitting in my garage, not in my house. :/ Current goal is to clear space to get it in the house and start walking on it even if I can't work and walk.
-Start tracking what I eat - Finally started 2/20! I'm weighing most of my food to keep myself honest and maximize every one of those 1220 calories! I'm finding it less annoying this time, not sure why.
-Eat more veggies, fewer refined carbs - Not sure I've been eating more veggies but I have been eating fewer refined carbs.
-Add weightlifting once I establish a walking routine - I just bought a book on weightlifting at home and will start putting it into practice. Haven't been walking or weightlifting but my dad gave me a fitness book that has some really basic exercise programs (3 "programs before the program" for people starting from zero.) I've been doing the easiest level of "program before the program." It's 10 minutes a day of a few stretches and then alternating days of 5 minutes weight lifting (just using your body) or 5 minutes of walking/movement. It's such a small amount it's easy to work into my day, so I've actually been keeping it up and am hoping it will build into a more robust exercise habit.
Challenges:
I'm not sure what my biggest challenge is. Not exercising at all is a big one. Too much stress eating is another one. I did not exercise during my pregnancy and I really regret it now. I also have exercised very little since having a baby. It look about 15 months to even have the energy to seriously think about exercising and another few months to start trying. And I'm not doing a great job of it now. I am not athletic and have never really enjoyed exercise. I'm a bookworm who would rather be curled up on a couch with a good book! So that is a major hurdle to overcome. I'm working on trying to find some kind of activity that I'll enjoy so as to make it sustainable.
Challenges:
I'm not sure what my biggest challenge is. Not exercising at all is a big one. Too much stress eating is another one. I did not exercise during my pregnancy and I really regret it now. I also have exercised very little since having a baby. It look about 15 months to even have the energy to seriously think about exercising and another few months to start trying. And I'm not doing a great job of it now. I am not athletic and have never really enjoyed exercise. I'm a bookworm who would rather be curled up on a couch with a good book! So that is a major hurdle to overcome. I'm working on trying to find some kind of activity that I'll enjoy so as to make it sustainable.
Welcome! These are also my 2 biggest challenges. If it makes you feel any better, we're the same height and I'm starting at a substantially higher weight than you. 160 is about my stretch goal weight right now, lol. Anyhow, sounds like you're taking some great steps towards working exercise into your routine. I'm working with a physical therapist for a knee issue right now, but am looking forward to starting up Jazzercise again when that's resolved. So far, it's the only type of exercise that's left me excited to keep doing it. The food tracking is also really helping with my stress/indulgence type eating.
Guys- My Fitness Pal is working well - so well that I'm dubious and worried that I'm doing something wrong :)
I've been at it for a week and a half, have been eating within 50 calories of my goal (set to lose half a pound a week), but have dropped almost 4 pounds (this is after two months of stagnant weight). Do I need to go in and adjust things? give it another week to see how it shakes out and if it slows down? I just don't want to lose too fast (that sounds ridiculous right?).
MFP is definitely helping me stay on top of my macros better than I usually do. Perhaps that is what is making the difference? I aim to hit around 40-30-30 but am not ever strict about it. I never hit the protein goal and usually inch over the fat goal but not by too much so I don't worry about. MFP is keeping me on top of my carbs though.
rockstache - your steady and consistent weight loss is a total inspiration!
use2betrix - hi! welcome.
elaine amj - I am in awe of you biking to work - I'm terrified of biking with traffic!
elaine amj, thanks for the welcome back! Thanks also for pointing out that only the foods in MFP with a green check mark have had their numbers verified. I had no idea, and am now looking for green check marks whenever I can!
Today I had a really frustrating afternoon, the sort of day where I end up stress eating. I've been resisting so far and trying other ways to relax - deep breathing and reminding myself that I won't feel this way forever, this is just a temporary mood. It's helped, but I still really want dessert.
Does anyone have tips on what works for them to avoid stress eating?
I concur with drinking something, be it broth, coffee with splenda, or hot cocoa.
That said, I feel great when I binge, and usually I'm still under my maintenance calories. I like to make lists of food I really want, and only eat off that list. In other words, no binging on mediocre junk, but get that croissant or five guys burger and fries, or the best pizza. Well, sometimes I have to wait for the best foods, and by then I'm not as stressed. Or giving myself permission means I'm okay with half a burger and no fries.
elaine amj, thanks for the welcome back! Thanks also for pointing out that only the foods in MFP with a green check mark have had their numbers verified. I had no idea, and am now looking for green check marks whenever I can!
Today I had a really frustrating afternoon, the sort of day where I end up stress eating. I've been resisting so far and trying other ways to relax - deep breathing and reminding myself that I won't feel this way forever, this is just a temporary mood. It's helped, but I still really want dessert.
Does anyone have tips on what works for them to avoid stress eating?
I struggled last week because I was sick with a cold. I don't understand how being sick kills my appetite, and yet somehow I end up eating more because I'm feeling sorry for myself! Ah well.
I like that idea to identify the texture that you're craving (crunchy) and then find a healthy food that fulfills the craving.
When I stress eat, I'm mostly looking for a dopamine rush (is that the right chemical?) ie a mood lift.
I've been trying to counteract those feelings with food, but it would be nice to try something else.
Weight Log
12/6/16 ~265
1/7/17 256.4
2/3/17 251.6
3/10/17 242.2
3/17/17 239.8 (-2.4)
Total: 25.2
Solid progress this week! Not all of that loss this week is from body fat - I watched my salt intake closely this week, so I expect some of that is water weight loss from lower sodium.
Down another 1.4 today for a total of 18.6 lost since January 14. I'll take it!
My local grocery is supposed to start carrying Siggi's and Noosa soon but I haven't seen them yet.
I was so spoiled in NC and didn't even know it. I lived in a small town there but never had any problem getting local, organic, "whole" foods. Ohio seems to have a very different food culture.
For instance my grocery doesn't seem to carry much full fat yogurt at all! It all seems to be mostly fat free (which feels very ten years ago).
Well, I lost 4.2 lbs this week, though I would recommend the method to anyone. (I was extremely ill this week and missed 3 days of work.) However, those 4.2 lbs helped me bypass two goals. I'm now down more than 10% of my starting weight and also more than 20 lbs since I started on January 14th.
The last few months have been a struggle weight-wise. Frustrating that after starting serious weight loss in January...all I've managed to do is GAIN weight, adding on 3-5 more pounds! It's been one step forward, two steps back.
Something finally clicked about 1-2 weeks ago though and I've finally started losing consistently again. This morning, I clocked in at about what I started with in January. So back to having 10 pounds to lose.
It's not yet easy. Most nights I fight intense cravings and often think I will give in. Thankfully, more often than not, I have been able to not give in.
...So even though I believe in Calories In, Calories Out...
Anyway, that's just a pattern I think I am seeing after over a year of almost daily weigh-ins. Anyone else see the same patterns?
Lost another 1.6 lbs last week for a total of 24.4 gone. Loving the progress!
Week1: -3Week5: -9
Week2: -5
Week3: -6
Week4: -7
Also, a weight that is attainable isn't always the same as a weight that is maintainable. And what you want to settle in and maintain, right? Try settling in for a couple of months and then see if there are things you want to do that you can't as a result of the weight you are maintaining. If yes, then sure, keep on losing 😁
All week I was expecting not to lose weight this week, since every time I stepped on the scale (which I do daily) It showed me staying the same. Randomly however, when I actually went to weigh in for real on Saturday, I lost a pound. I'll take it. 25.4 lbs total lost!
Well, last night, in my quest to add junk food to my life, I ate a handful of Munchies snack mix. My DH was horrified and I told him why I was doing it. He's not a fan, but made no further comment. Afterwards, I was still full after dinner and contemplated taking out my frozen mangoes (my usual after dinner snack). Amazingly, I didn't feel any strong cravings for it (OR for anything else!) and I ended up skipping any further after-dinner snacks.
I'm really hoping this strategy will work - it's nice not to feel guilty about treats.
Well, last night, in my quest to add junk food to my life, I ate a handful of Munchies snack mix. My DH was horrified and I told him why I was doing it. He's not a fan, but made no further comment. Afterwards, I was still full after dinner and contemplated taking out my frozen mangoes (my usual after dinner snack). Amazingly, I didn't feel any strong cravings for it (OR for anything else!) and I ended up skipping any further after-dinner snacks.
I'm really hoping this strategy will work - it's nice not to feel guilty about treats.
Sounds like the concept of "buffer foods" might work for you. Or maybe this is your buffer food?
A friend of mine purposefully builds in treats throughout the day, like Werther's Hard Candy, so that it replaces other junk food that would be a poorer choice. Then, it never feels like you are deprived and you can stay on plan. For me, it was Greek yogurt with the sweet toppings for a couple of months. For others, it is that Halo Top ice cream that has all of the protein in it so you stay full longer. Or individually wrapped chocolate?
The suggestions below are really healthy ones, but I have seen people do it with treats, in the example above. They normally reserve some calories just for this so they stay on plan long term.
https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/tip-add-a-buffer-food-to-your-diet
http://vitals.lifehacker.com/buffer-foods-help-curb-cravings-and-keep-your-diet-on-1788415798?utm_content=buffer44d0c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
One 80 calorie section lasts me a whole afternoon because a wee bit goes a very long way. It has the texture and taste of chocolate but it's bitter. It has 0 grams of sugar, so I'm giving it a try this week. *shrug* I can always go back to Dove dark, but for now it's working.
I think this month is going to be a challenge as we have a lot of events coming up - Easter this weekend, a fancy gala thing for my husband's work the following weekend, and an overnight trip for my birthday the weekend after that. I'm working on keeping my calories down during the week, but we've done some eating out in the last two weeks so it's time for me to be more disciplined again! I'm finding that tracking with MFP really helps me avoid all the empty calories though!
Week1: -3
Week2: -5
Week3: -6
Week4: -7
Week5: -9
Week6: -11
Starbright, Izybat, Runrooster, and elaine amj, sounds like you are all making great progress!
Weigh-in:
2/20: 159.5
2/26: 158.5
3/4: 155
3/7: 154.5
3/12: 153.5
3/19: 153.5
3/26: 154
3/27: 152.5
3/31: 150.5
4/3: 154.5
4/10: 152
4/15: 151.5
Things are moving in the right direction so overall I'm happy with my progress. And I finally got my treadmill moved into my house! I don't love walking on it compared to walking outside - 10 min on the treadmill kind of feels like torture, 10 min or even more outside feels like no big deal. BUT there are enough days where I just can't get outside because the weather's nasty or I just got too busy, so this is a nice backup plan. Spring is finally here (mostly) and that makes it easier to just get outside. I went on a long walk with my son yesterday and it's been SOOO long since we were able to do that because the weather's been so bad this winter. He loves being outside, so getting some extra exercise in should get easier as the weather gets nicer.
I learned while doing some quick Amazon browsing that some scales, if you're within .6 lb of your last reading, will just display that previous reading.
Week1: -3
Week2: -5
Week3: -6
Week4: -7
Week5: -9
Week6: -11
Week7:-12
week8:-13
I learned while doing some quick Amazon browsing that some scales, if you're within .6 lb of your last reading, will just display that previous reading.
Whoaa- I didn't know that but it explains so much! I'll weigh the same for days upon days and all of the sudden lose or gain a pound. Thanks for sharing this.
I'm basically just checking in midweek because I am STARVING and I'm trying to stop myself from eating anything else or I won't have any calories left for dinner. I'm in a plateau and I'm hungry and typing keeps me from eating :)
Hope everyone is having a good week!
I'm basically just checking in midweek because I am STARVING and I'm trying to stop myself from eating anything else or I won't have any calories left for dinner. I'm in a plateau and I'm hungry and typing keeps me from eating :)
Weight Log
12/6/16 ~265
1/7/17 256.4
2/3/17 251.6
3/10/17 242.2
4/7/17 235.8
4/19/17 232.8
5/4/17 230.0 (2.8)
Total Loss: 35 lbs
Total Percent: 13.2%
Another drop today! I expect it to go up a bit since it was bigger drop, but hopefully down towards the 220s soon!
It's just a bit tough because late night is "me" time.
SO! I know I'm REALLY late to this party (over a year!!) ha. But, I really like the community on this thread better than on the one for 2017, so if you all don't mind I would love to join you. You guys are all making fabulous progress, it's seriously inspiring!
I am 29, mama to 3 kiddos (5,3 and 6 months) and my weight has slowly been creeping up since I got married in 2010. About 2 weeks ago, I started a whole food diet. No processed foods, no added sugar (except trace amounts) and no bread. Before I started my diet was pretty bad. I have a serious sweet tooth and I love my bread. I'm being pretty strict with this diet, but to be honest after the first 3 days my cravings have seriously subsided, so hopefully it can stick.
My goal weight is 140 lbs with a stretch goal of 135, starting 2 weeks ago (Monday after Easter), I was at 165. I am 5'6''
Weigh ins:
4/17: 165 lbs
4/24: 158 lbs
5/1: 156 lbs
I plan on weighing in weekly and posting my progress!
@izybat I bet it won't be that much. I did Disney and Universal last March and ate a ridiculous amount of food. I put on maybe 2 pounds, which fell off quickly.
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Plus 2 lbs could just be water weight. In my case after a three week trip, the scale showed a 5 lb increase. Its been a month since I got back and have lost about 2 of those. Another three more to go.@izybat I bet it won't be that much. I did Disney and Universal last March and ate a ridiculous amount of food. I put on maybe 2 pounds, which fell off quickly.
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Well, you hit the nail on the head. I gained exactly 2 lbs. Not bad overall. Now it's just a matter of getting back on track.
Well, you hit the nail on the head. I gained exactly 2 lbs. Not bad overall. Now it's just a matter of getting back on track.
Week1: -3
Week2: -5
Week3: -6
Week4: -7
Week5: -9
Week6: -11
Week7:-12
week8:-13
week9:-14
week10: -15
My goal weight is 140 lbs with a stretch goal of 135, starting 2 weeks ago (Monday after Easter), I was at 165. I am 5'6''
Weigh ins:
4/17: 165 lbs
4/24: 158 lbs
5/1: 156 lbs
I plan on weighing in weekly and posting my progress!
I've been struggling lately, but am finally back on track. I was a bit too restrictive with my diet. Plus I had been making a ton of changes even when life was getting crazy, which caused me to burn out. To recover, first I worked on getting out of my mental funk and then I took a maintenance break for a week, two separate times. The second maintenance break went much better than the first and was a true mental break because I went on a work trip and left the scale at home.
I've been struggling lately, but am finally back on track. I was a bit too restrictive with my diet. Plus I had been making a ton of changes even when life was getting crazy, which caused me to burn out. To recover, first I worked on getting out of my mental funk and then I took a maintenance break for a week, two separate times. The second maintenance break went much better than the first and was a true mental break because I went on a work trip and left the scale at home.
I might need to take a page out of your book. I've been struggling a lot lately, not just with my diet, but with life in general. I have been eating and drinking things I shouldn't, not exercising, not doing my usual hobbies, etc. I've been really frustrated with life and since I'm an emotional eater, I just stop caring about being healthy and eat whatever I want to. I keep trying to get back on track, and then something will set me off again (usually just my brain thinking stupid thoughts).
I have to figure out something to snap me out of this funk or it could be much worse in the long run.
I think it's any step in the right direction of changing your lifestyle and being more healthy is awesome. Little changes yield huge results over the long haul. It's a marathon not a sprint!
I think everyone is doing fantastic and I find this thread to be so inspiring!
Now for my update, a little late
Starting weight on 4/17: 165
5/15: 151
5/22: 149
6/5: 147
6/13: 145 lbs
My initial goal is 140 and my stretch goal is 135. We'll see how hard it is to lose the last 5-10!
Weight Log
12/6/16 ~265
1/7/17 256.4
2/3/17 251.6
3/10/17 242.2
4/7/17 235.8
4/19/17 232.8
5/4/17 230.0 (-2.8)
6/12/17 227.2 (-2.8)
6/19/17 224.6 (-2.6)
Total Loss: 40.4 lbs
Total Percent: 15.2%
An update -- I'm finally, finally back on track and am seeing results. I've been counting calories, cooking at home, avoided eating out and going on frequent walks. Nothing fancy, just the basics.
I'm still eating paleo-ish -- maybe 75-80% paleo. I still have occasional treats that involve sugar. I also am experimenting with beans and whole, unprocessed grains such as quinoa and farro, to see if I can handle those. Right now, it seems they make me feel fuller for longer, but also are causing my digestion to seriously slow down. I've cut out most diary except for cream in my coffee in the morning.
I cleaned out my closet this weekend. I'm finally down a full size, to a size 20. Previously I was just about to bump out of a size 22 into a 24. This is the size I was in college, so I haven't needed to buy anything yet.
What was driving my funk was unhappiness about not making progress on finding a new job. So, I am working on switching up my routine to make time every day for job searching. It just took a while to figure out how to do that while also making time for health stuff. Both are now important to me.
Nice job with the weight loss wintertell! Congrats elaine amj on the race!
I ate absolutely horribly all weekend. Today I am paying for it, and last night my stomach was hurting from all the rich food. I need to get back to my routine asap! I clocked in on the scale this morning at 131.8 (posting that for accountability even though it's not an official weigh day), and that is NOT ok by me. So. Here I am, and here I will stay.
I've been struggling to find the time to exercise when it feels like there are not enough hours in the day. Work, parenting two littles, and trying to find time in the evening after they go to bed to run a side gig means that unfortunately fitness has been pushed to the backburner for over a year.
I FINALLY realized that the answer lies in getting up early. I usually go on my phone before bed for at least half an hour. Last night I cut that out, and woke up an hour earlier than usual (5:30 gulp). Then went for a run/walk. My goal is now to do that 2-3 times a week in good weather. Make it a habit. Then at the end of the day I don't have to dread finding time and energy to exercise.
Any other early morning exercisers? I should add that I am NOT a morning person, and I LOVE sleep. My husband didn't think I would do it, that bugger. I dragged my butt out of bed at least 50% out of spite.
I've been struggling to find the time to exercise when it feels like there are not enough hours in the day. Work, parenting two littles, and trying to find time in the evening after they go to bed to run a side gig means that unfortunately fitness has been pushed to the backburner for over a year.
I FINALLY realized that the answer lies in getting up early. I usually go on my phone before bed for at least half an hour. Last night I cut that out, and woke up an hour earlier than usual (5:30 gulp). Then went for a run/walk. My goal is now to do that 2-3 times a week in good weather. Make it a habit. Then at the end of the day I don't have to dread finding time and energy to exercise.
Any other early morning exercisers? I should add that I am NOT a morning person, and I LOVE sleep. My husband didn't think I would do it, that bugger. I dragged my butt out of bed at least 50% out of spite.
I think it's any step in the right direction of changing your lifestyle and being more healthy is awesome. Little changes yield huge results over the long haul. It's a marathon not a sprint!
I think everyone is doing fantastic and I find this thread to be so inspiring!
Now for my update, a little late
Starting weight on 4/17: 165
5/15: 151
5/22: 149
6/5: 147
6/13: 145 lbs
My initial goal is 140 and my stretch goal is 135. We'll see how hard it is to lose the last 5-10!
Damn you lost 20 pounds in 2 months? That's lightning fast!!
Nice job with the weight loss wintertell! Congrats elaine amj on the race!
I ate absolutely horribly all weekend. Today I am paying for it, and last night my stomach was hurting from all the rich food. I need to get back to my routine asap! I clocked in on the scale this morning at 131.8 (posting that for accountability even though it's not an official weigh day), and that is NOT ok by me. So. Here I am, and here I will stay.
You just put on some weight to make me feel better :)
We'll get rid of it together!
Week1: -3
Week2: -5
Week3: -6
Week4: -7
Week5: -9
Week6: -11
Week7:-12
week8:-13
week9:-14
week10: -15
Week11:-16
Week12:-18
Nice job with the weight loss wintertell! Congrats elaine amj on the race!
I ate absolutely horribly all weekend. Today I am paying for it, and last night my stomach was hurting from all the rich food. I need to get back to my routine asap! I clocked in on the scale this morning at 131.8 (posting that for accountability even though it's not an official weigh day), and that is NOT ok by me. So. Here I am, and here I will stay.
You just put on some weight to make me feel better :)
We'll get rid of it together!
Haha elaine amj, yes that was it exactly. :)
I have found that I do better in short increments. Like if I say I'm going to eat healthy/lose weight/exercise or whatever, I have to put an end date on it. Then when I get there, I start over with a new date in the future. Currently, my sister is pregnant and due in August, at which time I will travel to where they live and visit. That is my short term goal (1/2 to 1 lb per week until then). Once I get there, I will probably bump it out to CMC or Christmas, or whatever next event it is. For me, they can only be a few months in advance, and usually have to involve seeing/meeting people I don't see all the time (something I want to look good for). YMMV but I thought I would share what seems to work best for me.
I ate like a crazy person all weekend. Sigh.
I hear people say they eat more in the winter when they want comfort food and their bodies want to bulk up, but I think I have more trouble in the summer when ice cream, cold drinks, and bbq are looking me in the face. Oh well, at least it was only two days of badness. Hopefully I can shake it off.
I'll add a vote that one day rarely has a huge effect. Maybe ups your weight for 3 days max.
Onwards and Downwards (ha!)
Now for my weekly progress update:
6/5: 147
6/13: 145 lbs
6/19: 143 lbs
6/26: 141 lbs
Only 1 lb away from my goal! Buttttt this week's going to be rough as we have a whole bunch of get togethers where I'm pretty sure I won't stick to the 95% healthy eating I've been doing. So, my goal is to hold steady through til next Monday and then keep the downward trend.
Cheers to a fun summer week!
I'm in the last 2-3 pounds of my 130 lb goal myself and have been getting excited. And then of course, last night (a 12:45am no less), I picked up some old college photos of myself when I hovered around 120 lbs. Then started dreaming of how cool it would be to get down to that weight again. Hard to ever be satisfied, isn't it? Oh well - my first goal is 130 lbs and with all your help, I. WILL. DO. IT!!!
I've been in a horrible mindset for the last month or so. I can't 100% place what's going wrong in my brain, which is making it that much harder to get over it and get back on track. I seem to have no mental capacity to stick to my healthy eating regime and I'd been doing so well! I've now regained about 10 pounds of the 35 that I had lost. Sigh. I hate to have to re-lose the same weight, but at this point I'd settle for being able to stop the upward progression.
I too put half of what I lost back on. Between winter and too many self improvement goals. I am not back to where I want to be by any means but I am ok hanging out here for a while. I am consolidating a few habits - not drinking pop, increasing the fruits and veg intake and having a solid breakfast with protein. I like to think that I am working on the whole self. And even just halting the pound or four year over year increase is no small success.I've been in a horrible mindset for the last month or so. I can't 100% place what's going wrong in my brain, which is making it that much harder to get over it and get back on track. I seem to have no mental capacity to stick to my healthy eating regime and I'd been doing so well! I've now regained about 10 pounds of the 35 that I had lost. Sigh. I hate to have to re-lose the same weight, but at this point I'd settle for being able to stop the upward progression.
Izybat - I was in your shoes just a short time ago. In December I piled on nearly 10 lbs of the 25lbs I worked so hard to lose last year. Then Jan - March struggled to lose it but got nowhere. And then something clicked. Not sure what. And I've been losing steadily (slowly though)since.
I don't really know what changed - but I'd start with not beating yourself up. Liking myself makes losing weight much easier. When I am hard on myself - I just binge eat for comfort.
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Sounds like everyone's going a bit off the rails so I'm in good company here. I ate a ridiculous amount yesterday and the weekend is not over, and I have two enormous cupcakes on the counter that I will definitely not be letting go to waste. Sigh. My weight is creeping up, and even when I don't weigh myself I can feel it on my body. I'm going to have to double down in June.
Start weight: 139.6 lbs
Weight lost: 8.8 lbs
Goal weight: 130 lbs
(current trendweight: 132.6 lbs)
Soooo close I can taste it!!! Been holding steady in the 130s for the past 3 days!! Going to be rather relaxed about food through the weekend and then back to work next week! Hopefully I'll get rid of that final pound next week!
Plus, my theory is right. For some reason, around 131 lbs, my body shape shifts and all of a sudden, it's looks like I dropped a size compared to 133 lbs. It's so odd that is such a noticeable (to me) difference - but the same thing happened last year.
February 28: 256.5
May 9: 236.4
May 23: 233.0
May 28: 236.0
June 5: 235.4
Week1: -3
Week2: -5
Week3: -6
Week4: -7
Week5: -9
Week6: -11
Week7:-12
week8:-13
week9:-14
week10: -15
Week11:-16
Week12:-18
Week13-15:-19
Week16:-21
Week17:-22
Friday weigh-in:
Jan 1: 139.6 lbs...Jan 6: 137.8 lbs....Jan 13: 139.2 lbs...Jan 20: 138 lbs.....Jan 27: 139.2 lbs
Feb 3: 138.6 lbs...Feb 10: 142 lbs.....Feb 17: 141.2 lbs...Feb 23: 140.4 lbs
Mar 3: 140.2 lbs...Mar 13: 144.6 lbs..Mar 16: 143.8 lbs...Mar 23: 140.8 lbs..Mar 30: 141.2 lbs
Apr 7: 139.2 lbs...Apr 14: 139.2 lbs..Apr 21: 138.4 lbs...Apr 28: 139.6 lbs
May 5: 136.6 lbs..May 12: 135 lbs....May 19: 135.7 lbs...May 26: 135.8 lbs
Jun 2: 135.4 lbs...June 9: 134 lbs.....Jun 16: 131.8 lbs...June 23: 132 lbs.....June 30: 130.8 lbs
July 7: 130.8 lbs...July 12: 129.2 lbs...July 22: 129.6 lbs
Start weight: 139.6 lbs
Weight lost: 10 lbs
Goal weight: 130 lbs
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Fear not! I'm not eating less than is necessary for survival. I was just noting that mfp can't adjust down and doesn't tell you it's pegged. If I were super inactive, there is no way I'd be losing a lb a week and mfp doesn't tell me that. I can see how that would lead to some people being disappointed in their progress.
Well, getting food poisoning/stomach flu wasn't a recommended way to lose weight.
Weight Log
12/6/16 ~265
1/7/17 256.4
2/3/17 251.6
3/10/17 242.2
4/7/17 235.8
4/19/17 232.8
5/4/17 230.0 (-2.8)
6/12/17 227.2 (-2.8)
6/19/17 224.6 (-2.6)
6/24/17 222.4 (-2.2)
6/30/17 220 (-2.4)
7/8/17 219.6 (-.4)
8/7/17 215.2 (-4.4)
Total Loss: 49.8 lbs
Total Percent: 18.8%
I'm so, so close to 50lbs lost! I should hit 215 tomorrow morning or the day after if I stay on track! I had a slower month due to a wedding and a work trip, but I"m still really happy with 1lb/week loss in July.
My plan is another two weeks of weight loss and then a two week maintenance break. I'm taking a two week break every 12 weeks. Depending on how far from that 50lbs loss I can get in the next week I might start it a bit early - I'd like to see a least a lb of padding before I go into maintenance for those two weeks.
This is amazing work wintertell! You should also expect your weight loss rate to decelerate as you get closer to your final goal (unless you introduce extremely high levels of exercise). What is your final goal?
Week1: -3Week21:-27
Week2: -5
Week3: -6
Week4: -7
Week5: -9
Week6: -11
Week7:-12
week8:-13
week9:-14
week10: -15
Week11:-16
Week12:-18
Week13-15:-19
Week16:-21
Week17:-22
Week18:-24
Week19:-26
Week20:-28
Week1: -3
Week2: -5
Week3: -6
Week4: -7
Week5: -9
Week6: -11
Week7:-12
week8:-13
week9:-14
week10: -15
Week11:-16
Week12:-18
Week13-15:-19
Week16:-21
Week17:-22
Week18:-24
Week19:-26
Week20:-28
Week21:-27
Week22:-30
Week23:-31
Week24:-32
It feels like ages since I have checked in. Been crazy busy for the past little while and still running off my feet. I go on my amazing 2 week Disney extravaganza in just 2 more sleeps!!!
I'll try to post a weigh in tomorrow. In the meantime, I am happy to report that despite some bouncing around due to water weight and bloating, I have hit a new low of 128.8 lbs this morning. Looks like I am firmly in the 129/130 range! Very happy to finally hit my goal weight. Finally feeling good in what I wear and when taking photos (although some angles of me still look horrible!)
I think I want to continue dropping (I really need to drop another 5 lbs to finally have a "normal" BMI again) but I will reassess after I come back from vacation. We will be eating a LOT (I have had my meals planned out for months!!) but hope with all the walking, the damage won't be more than an extra couple of pounds. I plan to fit in as much extra walking as possible! My norm is usually 20,000 steps/day.
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I remember when I started posting on this thread in 2016 that I said 145 is my body's happy weight and it is just where my body wants to be - After putting real effort into losing I'm worried that this is indeed my weight floor. My Doctor has always said I should aim for 135 but I've just never been able to get and stay there. grrr- what an exercise in frustration!
In any case - I'm going to keep trying to get to 140 because at least it will keep me from creeping up. I'm also definitely feeling hungrier this week so I know that my calorie reduction is real. I essentially took a break for the last two months so I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that I'll at least bottom out at 140 and maybe stabilize at 142?
I am thinking that I have hit my realistic weight at 131 for this part of my life. I was only briefly down to 125. My current thinking is that 128 would be my ideal weight. I would fit into my clothes comfortably and like the look of my arms and thighs and face. This morning when I got on the scales - it was almost 130 but a couple of times last week it was 132. I think that I am going to have to be super vigilant not to have the fall spread like last summer.
I just keep thinking about how I don't like myself at all when I am above 135. And it was so damn easy to get to that place.
Starting weight:170Week29:-38
Week1: -3
Week2: -5
Week3: -6
Week4: -7
Week5: -9
Week6: -11
Week7:-12
week8:-13
week9:-14
week10: -15
Week11:-16
Week12:-18
Week13-15:-19
Week16:-21
Week17:-22
Week18:-24
Week19:-26
Week20:-28
Week21:-27
Week22:-30
Week23:-31
Week24:-32
Week25:-32
Week26:-34
Week27:-36
Week28:-37
Total Loss: 56.2 lbsThat's amazing! Well done!
Total Percent: 21.2%
I remembered that I had an old My Fitness Pal account that I never did anything with. Just entered my breakfast, lunch, and snacks. I'm already 72 calories over my limit for the day. So, I guess, no dinner then? :(IMO, the calories counting is not very precise. There may be individual variations of 20% or even more in each item. In addition there are differences in metabolism as you know. While I would not trust the absolute numbers, what matters is just keeping a journal of what you are eating. Just this alone will increase your awareness of food. Make slow and sustainable changes.
I haven't even eaten anything bad for me! No flour, little sugar (I put a spoonful of homemade jam in my oatmeal). I guess it was the nuts I snacked on, that killed me. I thought we were supposed to be eating healthy fats now? Argh. This is very frustrating.
I guess it was the nuts I snacked on, that killed me. I thought we were supposed to be eating healthy fats now? Argh. This is very frustrating.
rockstache, I think you are right. I have been adding nuts lately because I was thinking of doing Whole 30 (decided against it because I am vegetarian and the ban on legumes made it feel not-doable for me) and they are all about eating high-fat snacks to stay full and have energy. I cannot possibly stop at just a few nuts when I am starving. Best just to kill them entirely, I guess. Time to look for a new snack that I can keep in my desk at work that does not require refrigeration and that doesn't have any flour or sugar in it.
Am I the only one for whom fruits and veg just do not fill me up? I like eating them but I'm always still starving afterward. Except apples. Maybe I should eat more apples. Is there something wrong with those too?!
MFP sometimes gives a very low number. I had to manually adjust mine up to a more reasonable amount. There are calculators online that seem to do a better job of helping you find a reasonable number to shoot for. I can track down some links if you're interested.
MFP sometimes gives a very low number. I had to manually adjust mine up to a more reasonable amount. There are calculators online that seem to do a better job of helping you find a reasonable number to shoot for. I can track down some links if you're interested.
Oh +1 to this for me too. They wanted me to eat 1200 calories per day (which is as low as MFP goes), and that was too low for my body. On my best days I could only get to 1300 unless I was fasting, but I didn't let it bother me much and mostly used it as a tracker once I knew what my goal was. I still lost weight pretty quickly just by being conscious. Also be careful not to make up for what you eat by exercising. If you do high intensity exercise of course you will eat more on those days, but MFP will erase the calories, therefore giving you more to eat and I found that to be a little too free for me and ended up eating more. It was better when I planned what I would eat before exercising and just added that to my daily total instead of a certain calorie amount. YMMV
I don't know how tall you are but 1200 is probably very low. Google TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) calculators. This will take your weight (estimated is fine), height and activity level into account and calculate an estimate of how many calories you burn in a typical day. Many of them also have an extra part for how much you should eat if you want to lose. I've done a lot of these and they've all been pretty consistent. It gives me 1800cals/day for weight loss at 5'9" and a sedentary office job.
I don't know how tall you are but 1200 is probably very low. Google TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) calculators. This will take your weight (estimated is fine), height and activity level into account and calculate an estimate of how many calories you burn in a typical day. Many of them also have an extra part for how much you should eat if you want to lose. I've done a lot of these and they've all been pretty consistent. It gives me 1800cals/day for weight loss at 5'9" and a sedentary office job.
Seriously? I'm 5'10". And I put in "sedentary" for activity level because I don't formally work out, though I am generally active outside of work, walk a lot, garden, etc. And it gave me 1,200.
Huh. OK, I'll google some of those.
I don't know how tall you are but 1200 is probably very low. Google TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) calculators. This will take your weight (estimated is fine), height and activity level into account and calculate an estimate of how many calories you burn in a typical day. Many of them also have an extra part for how much you should eat if you want to lose. I've done a lot of these and they've all been pretty consistent. It gives me 1800cals/day for weight loss at 5'9" and a sedentary office job.
Seriously? I'm 5'10". And I put in "sedentary" for activity level because I don't formally work out, though I am generally active outside of work, walk a lot, garden, etc. And it gave me 1,200.
Huh. OK, I'll google some of those.
How big of a deficit are you taking? That seems way low to me, especially for 5'10". I'd recommend no more than a 10% deficit.
As you get lower in weight, folks tend to not be able to take as big of a deficit. Folks in my online support group who are less than 180 tend to take a daily deficit of 250-300 calories. The only person I knew who was taking a deficit down to 1300 was 130 lbs.
I would suggest figuring out how many calories you are actually eating on average over the course of two weeks. Then start to cut it back a little at a time over each week. You don't want to go into a starvation mode and then have your body become over efficient. I figured I put on the weight by eating an extra 2-300 calories a day over five years. My new approach is to take it off over the same length of time so I don't feel like I am dieting.
Hold on. I just kinda skipped forward...so maybe someone already said something...
5'10" and 135-140 is a totally healthy weight at the low range of normal. Under 130 is under weight off your height.
I get wanting to have comfy pants, but just consider that if you lose more than a couple pounds you are drifting into unhealthy territory.
I could use some suggestions for portable breakfast options that I can take to work that will actually keep me full. I've been doing overnight oats with about a tablespoon of homemade jam (I do home canning) and unsweetened almond milk. Since I've started tracking my food intake I now know that this has a TON of calories that I didn't realize. Also: always still hungry afterward.
I don't eat meat. I do eat eggs, though I really don't like them hard boiled. I may need to learn to start choking them down though, if that's my only option.
I thought of greek yogurt with fruit, but it's so cold in my office all the time that I try to eat hot things whenever possible.
I don't know how tall you are but 1200 is probably very low. Google TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) calculators. This will take your weight (estimated is fine), height and activity level into account and calculate an estimate of how many calories you burn in a typical day. Many of them also have an extra part for how much you should eat if you want to lose. I've done a lot of these and they've all been pretty consistent. It gives me 1800cals/day for weight loss at 5'9" and a sedentary office job.
Seriously? I'm 5'10". And I put in "sedentary" for activity level because I don't formally work out, though I am generally active outside of work, walk a lot, garden, etc. And it gave me 1,200.
Huh. OK, I'll google some of those.
How big of a deficit are you taking? That seems way low to me, especially for 5'10". I'd recommend no more than a 10% deficit.
As you get lower in weight, folks tend to not be able to take as big of a deficit. Folks in my online support group who are less than 180 tend to take a daily deficit of 250-300 calories. The only person I knew who was taking a deficit down to 1300 was 130 lbs.
I have no idea; I put in my weight (estimate) and a goal weight and that's the number MFP spat out. I weigh around 135-140. I think, so maybe that is why they gave me such a low number?
At any rate, I'm starting to think that MFP might be good for tracking what I eat, but maybe not so good for determining my calorie limit?
My breakfast is pretty much the same every day. I have 1 egg plus 1 egg white scrambled, and 1/2 cup of fruit smoothie, just to get some fruit in me but keep the calories down. That's it. I think of breakfast as a utility meal (ie. not for filling me up), to jump start my metabolism. If I didn't believe it did that (for me it really does), I would just skip it and eat lunch.
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Rockstache - I know it frustrating when we bounce back up - but you've lost/kept off most of the weight for almost two years - that is awesome!
@rpr You're right. And weight loss is always so much easier when I am not beating myself up.
@frugal lizard I do have a lot on my plate. Just so annoying that's this part of my life is also suffering for it. Ugh. Will take your advice to go slowly though. This week's project is to increase my vegetable intake.
On the good side, I woke up yesterday morning feeling really rested for the first time in a long time. It was truly wonderful to feel really awake and not groggy and sleepy. I have been making an effort to catch up on sleep and it's paying off. And of course, yesterday was planned as a fun day (and it sure was!) so that must have helped too lol.
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I am still holding steady - even though I keep having the desire to snack ALL THE TIME - this morning I was at 134.
I am hoping if I can keep hovering around this weight until the beginning of January, then I will have avoided the winter padding that got me last year.
March 1st I was 245. Just hit my goal today of 170. I feel amazing.
I'm grumpy because after a week of saying no to literally every holiday treat that was shoved into my face, saying no to booze, even saying no to eating until I'm satisfied - four ounces up. I know it's not a lot but I am really pissed off that I was starving all the time for the entire week and still gained.
I plan to bake over the holiday weekend, though. And have some wine. I will just have to undo the damage later. I am so sick of being hungry all the time that I could just scream. Also getting very sick of herbal tea, which is what I have in the evenings when I am starving. I bought a couple new flavors last night though so maybe that will help with the boredom.
Tris - I'm sipping peppermint tea right at this moment and hating it :) All I want is something warm and cheesy.
Starting weight:170
Week1: -3
Week2: -5
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Starting weight:170
Week1: -3
Week2: -5
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Week5: -9
Week6: -11
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That's an end weight of 122. I know there's a new thread but I wanted to finish 2017 here for completeness. I probably will just be maintaining in 2018, though I wouldn't mind losing a few more pounds. Just because I survived the holidays doesn't mean I'm out of the woods. I gained one pound and am having a hard time with the unusual cold. I'm being more sedentary even though exercise warms me up, and eating too much. So maybe in three months I'll be needing to lose the winter blubber.