Thank you for the welcome! I want to say that I have something to be proud of today. My DH brought home McDonald's breakfast sandwiches for the family and I haven't touched any of them. I stuck to coffee. I plan on having a huge salad for lunch.

Hello folks. Good to see everyone. Welcome back, shishkeberry.

Here is a question for those of you who have talked about slow weight loss: Just so we have our terminology on the same page, what do you mean by slow?

There are certainly folks on 3FC who lose an average of a pound or two a month - that is what I mean when I say "slow loss" - say, less than three pounds a month on average.

Lots of people have skewed expectations about how fast weight loss "should" be - I have seen folks on 3FC refer to averaging a pound a week as "slow" losses, though they are quickly assured by others that a pound a week is a very nice rate of loss.

I often put it this way: If you gained 50 pounds in a year, wouldn't you be horrified at putting on so much weight so quickly? Well, losing 50 pounds in a year isn't any less remarkable.

That's just my thought for the day. :dizzy:

My expectations of weightloss are different depending where I'm at in my process. I know my body... at this weight, taking off 20 pounds is absolutely nothing... the smaller I get the harder it is. Right now I'm just starting, so 2 or 3 pounds a week is average for me. But I know that once I get into Onederland it's going to be waaaay slower... 5 pounds a month or so would be phenomenal.

For me, 'slow' means down two, up one, down one, up half, down one, up two, for an average of around 3 pounds down a month.

I agree, slow weight loss is 3 or less pounds a month. I'm ok with slow weight loss at this point. It's tons better than the slow gaining I've been doing. I just started again this week so I know I'm going to see a quick loss just from the water weight. I've already lost 3.

That's an interesting thought. Unfortunately, when you are in the regaining process, you are probably not keeping track of your weight. It would be interesting to know how slowly you gain weight. Unless you are just really overeating and absolutely no activity, I would think it might take some time. And, if you're not keeping track, you aren't as anxious to see movement on the scale, so you're not obsessed with how slowly it is happening. If that makes sense....

Makes me wish I would have weighed anyway, even though I was not on track. I would hope that had I made myself face the weight gain, I would have reacted more quickly and got back on track faster.

Sigh. That was more depressing than I wanted it to be.

I've lost only about a pound in the last month. Pretty slow. When I was at 215, it was easy to get to 205, but 204 is just sitting there. Realistically, I think I can only get down to maybe 195 in 5 weeks. Then again, maybe this plateau will mean that a pretty epic drop is coming my way. The only place I really want to see the weight loss is in my face. My dad's 50th birthday and 1st wedding anniversary are going to happen in 5 weeks (yeah, they're the same day) and I would really like to be in the pictures.

Good morning folks. :coffee:

triptriptrip, I hope you will be in the pictures even if your face isn't exactly where you want it to be. Being different from your ideal doesn't negate you as a person or erase your presence at milestone events. Wouldn't your dad want you in the pictures?

You do remind me, though, my brother is getting married in April and I need to figure out what I am wearing. Even though I have been at this weight or lower for two and a half years, I am still not completely sure how to dress myself. :crazy:

Good to hear everyone's thoughts on slow weight loss - I think we are all on the same page. Good luck and good patience to everyone who struggles with it. For most of my process I averaged about 5 pounds a month - in fits and starts, though, not in a nice straight line. Then the last 20 - the ones I am trying to relose now - were a lot slower. And I had to start working harder - shaving even more calories from my regular plan, working out harder.

Anyway, I'm coming into two weeks at home all by myself, which is always challenging for staying on plan. Nobody in my household is the food police, and yet there is a measure of embarrassment or pride that helps keep me on track when I'm not alone.

TripTripTrip, I agree with Carter. Make sure that you don't hold back on the pictures, even if you aren't where you want to be!

Not much going on with me. Just glad to have it be Friday!

I got the CUTEST dress from ASOS today. I think I will wear it for my dad's party which is in exactly 4 weeks. It lets out around the lower tummy area and is so flattering. It's amazing how confident a good piece of clothing can make you.

Good morning checking in...
 

Having trouble committing and sticking to my commitment. I did so well until I picked up another part-time job. The job only took a week, but it completely threw me off.

Tracking food starting today. I hate it, but I will do it. And totally back in the gym as well.

Hello! I have been slacking on posting this weekend. I also tried an experiment, since my weight has been staying put for awhile, to see if adding some grains (no wheat) and eating a little higher calorie would make a difference. Alas, I am up four pounds this morning.

So it's back to super strict, hungry all the time, no grains at all dieting for me. Most of the time I don't really mind, but some days it gets hard. Oh well, nothing to do but keep moving forward. I know some of this four pounds is water retention from adding more carbs to my diet, but history tells me it won't all come off quickly. Less learned!

Triptriptrip: Glad you have a great dress! When you feel good in something, it makes all the difference!

Goal4agirl: Sorry to hear you were so sick! It sounds like you have a great mindset for losing weight though. That's a great thing!

LaurieDawn: You can do it! Just do one day at a time and before too long, you'll be back on track.

thistoo: You know, it was worth a try. I understand why you took the chance. I hope you can rebound quickly. I hate having to learn lessons!!! Why can't this just be easy?

As for me, I lost .4 lbs. I shouldn't be unhappy about that, but jeez! When you work out as much as I have and have tracked all of your calories, it should fall off. I have to remember that my weight loss has never been linear, and I need to keep going with it. Maybe by next week, the weight loss will catch up with my effort!! It just irks me that it isn't lower. I can't see where I might have slipped up with food and I know I went to the gym 5 days. Oh well. I have to take my own advice and take it one day at a time, and keep moving foward. There aren't any other options.

Diane, I totally understand your frustration. .4 *is* a victory, but when you're working so hard, it's hard to make it feel like one.

I'm down 2 pounds this morning, so the water weight is going. Of course TOM is looming, which will further stall things. I'm trying to be patient, but that's never been my strength. Still, I learned the hard way what happens when I don't stick with my plan, and I have no wish to go back up to my highest weight ever again, so I'll stick with it.

LaurieDawn Hey! Glad to see you on here again. Glad to be back myself, actually. I totally understand about life throwing circumstance after circumstance that seems to suck the will to lose weight right out of you. I'm right there with you on that.

I apparently decided to take another week to fully decide that I was ready to get back into this. I restarted Paleo yesterday at 236.8 (gasp, I passed my *You Shall Not Pass* weight) but I'm down to 235.6 again this morning, so it's all good.

I'm feeling the 'Carb Flu' today after only a day of not going nuts with carbs, sugar, and processed crap. Oh and no coffee. That hasn't been fun. Everyone at work is keeping a mile radius away from me, for sure. But I will persevere...mainly because summer is just around the corner and it gets HOT down here. Can't keep wearing my leggings, sweaters, and boots that hide everything.

Hope everyone is doing well today. Hang in there!

Not much going on with me today. Just checking in.

thistoo: Nice loss!!! Good for you!

LebenAlles: Congrats on surviving the first couple of days of recommitment. How you can go without coffee is beyond me. Good for you! I drink it black, so I justify being able to keep it as a part of my life! :)

Day 1 a success! Undertaking Day 2. In November, December, and January, I took a no-scale, not-completely-strict approach. It worked, and I lost ten pounds. But a few not-plan weeks equaled a ten-pound regain. And I am telling myself that I am just relieved that I didn't spend Nov., Dec., and Jan. eating that way or I would be back up to my starting weight. ;-)

thistoo - I so get that. It's so good to shake things up and try new things. The gain won't last, but the knowledge will. And this is something that you have to figure out for life. So - yay you!

Slashnl - Thanks for the support. That's why I need 3FC.

LebenAlles - Carb flu - YUCK. Glad it's temporary, and you have enough experience to recognize it's temporary. Just get through it, and then you're on the other side of it, right?

Deep breath. I'm ready to make this next month one of determined weight loss. I don't have to do it the following month. I know a more relaxed approach can work. But for now - this is it. I really want to be back down into the 2-teens.

Hi folks. :coffee:

It's been a rough couple of days, plan-wise. I have managed to avoid veering widely off-plan - no enormous planned binges of the kind I've been struggling against over the past year or so - but, I have been eating more than I'd like to and my weight has bounced back up into the high 170s. I keep thinking my period is coming which would explain a whole lot of things that don't feel right just now. So, any day now. :dizzy:

LaurieDawn, I understand about wanting to buckle down for a little while. For a long chunk of my weight loss process - maybe between 275 and 180 or so, I did not strictly calorie count every day. I did a couple of days every month as a sort of sanity check, and the rest of the time just tried to stick to sensible decisions and portion sizes. It worked pretty well until I got to a low enough weight where the margin for error was very slim.

LebenAlles and slashnl - another black coffee drinker here. :coffee2: I was not for a long, long time. When I first started my weight loss process I thought that whole milk in my coffee was one of those non-negotiables. As I got to lower and lower weights, though, I had to look for places where I could cut calories out of my day, and ditching the milk to save 150 or so was too obvious not to try. It took me a week or two but not longer than that - I came to like the taste of black coffee. It is important, however, that it be quality coffee. Crappy coffee still needs milk to take out the bitterness.

Better day today for me. Yesterday I didn't go to the gym because I just lost so much sleep overnight. I am having a few struggles with my 19 year old daughter. She isn't completely out of control or doing horrible things, but she is having trouble getting back home at a reasonable time. Since she is in college now, she thinks that she doesn't need any restrictions, so we battle. The thing is that I have given her more freedom, but it is still my house, and I need my sleep, so her staying out late does not help me. If I wake up overnight, I have trouble getting back to sleep. I so wish she were in an apartment, but she can't afford it. So, I suffer.

Anyway, I went to Spin class today and had a full night's sleep last night. I might live now. :)

LaurieDawn: You can do this! One day at a time! You have a good attitude, so keep it up!

Carter: Hang in there. It gets tough some days, doesn't it? But you can do it!! Stay strong!

Hey All,

Day 3 of the wretched carbflu and absence of caffeine. My partner and I are doing this together which is good for the commiseration but also bad because we're both a sad sight, dragging ourselves through our daily business. She was a little more caffeine dependent than I, so that part has had more of a toll on her. I'm busy fighting the sugar monsters in my head. We went to bed at 8:45 last night, completely willingly, and while it helped, I'm still exhausted today. I can't (but can) believe that the things I was consuming had such an effect on my body! It's like I'm coming off of drugs..and that's not downplaying that struggle at all, as I know that ultimately drug addiction is far worse...but it's even been proven in studies that rats addicted to cocaine will switch to sugar water when given the choice between the two. Sugar should be a controlled substance...seriously.

I didn't lose anything this morning but I'm trying to remind myself that it's not going to just all fall off at once. Just gotta keep on keepin on.

Anywho, carter and slashnl, I'm mainly stopping the caffeine because of a recent development of kidney stones. Caffeine is supposed to be a major factor in such things, supposedly. That and I'm trying to train my body to use fat for fuel instead of the 'fake fuels' like caffeine, sugar, and crappy carbs. Bleh. No fun.

Carter I know that my TOM always has me wanting to binge and has me gain either way, so I feel ya on that. Oh the joys of womanhood, aye?

LaurieDawn I'm with you on needing to be strict and committed for at least a month. I know that cheat days can be good but I need some good old fashioned discipline for awhile, for sure. Cheat days turn into weeks for me and I just get that much more behind.

Stay strong and carry on, everyone!

Hey guys, I hope youre all doing well.
I got some full nights of sleep and ate some more protein and higher calories for a few days and my body started to finally let go of some weight. :carrot: I'm down 11 pounds since 1/20 when I started.
I decided that I'm just going to keep going with this and not get discouraged by my daily ups and downs.

All you can do is to do well today.

AllisonM: Good job on the loss! I think that sometimes you just need to shake things up a little bit. We don't want our bodies to get too comfortable with what we're doing.

I got on the scale this morning for a quick look to see how the week is going. I hope it holds out, because it looked like a good loss to record on Monday's official weigh in. Just have to keep going and stay focused.

I've been really trying hard to keep track of calories with MyFitnessPal, especially during this weight loss challenge I'm in. I don't know if I have a good chance at winning the challenge. There are some women involved who started up their weight loss plan at the same time as the challenge started. So, they've had some good losses, even if it is just the initial burst. I don't know if I can lose enough to have a greater percentage loss than they do. Some are smaller, so their loss doesn't have to be as much for the same percentage. But, it has been a good competition because I am remaining focused.

Overthinking it much? Yep!

Another day. Another day in the books as adhering to the plan. It's such a blessing. And with spring coming, it will get easier.

I keep Miracle noodles around for days when I am just desperate. I don't particularly enjoy them, but zero calories and that full feeling? Sometimes I just need it. I have eaten them two days in a row. This is tough sometimes.

Slashnl - I was invited to do a weight loss challenge, but I would have to wait a week to start. I almost waited because that initial burst would have been so helpful. But I decided that I wanted to strike while the iron was hot. I agree so much - it's not about winning the challenge, but using the challenge as a tool.

Allison - 11 pounds in a month. That's phenomenal! Good work.

LebenAlles - I hear you on the fighting through it. Your physical symptoms sound worse than mine, but by yesterday evening, I was ready to chew my leg off to make that hungry feeling go away. I can't imagine trying to keep it up for life if it doesn't get better. But it always does when we persist, doesn't it? =)

Carter - TOM. Such a mixed blessing. Every month, it's a rush of thoughts. 1 - So glad I'm not pregnant. (Even though it's not biologically possible, given my activities right now.) 2- The absolute starving days are going away. 3 - Looking forward to a loss on the scale (when I weigh daily). 4 - Not to be blasphemous, but is this constant bleeding for days thing really the best design here? Hope yours comes soon.

Terra - Welcome! It's definitely a long-term journey!

Hello fellow regainers/relosers!!! Guess what?!! I just lost my first ten pounds. Whoop whoop!!!

Next ten coming up...

Same here. I'm Paleo too, and while I enjoy coffee much more with half-and-half, if the choice is no coffee or black coffee, I'll drink it black and be glad about it!

I keep forgetting to check in here, but I've actually managed to stick with it anyway. TOM started today, so I won't see any loss for about a week, but hopefully I'll see a loss once it's over.

The down side, of course, is how much hungrier I am during TOM. Oh well. I'll get through it. Hunger's not going to kill me, after all.

Welcome, Terra! Weight loss is a long journey, but the slow weight loss is more sustainable and less likely to leave you with excess skin. One of my close friend was about 300 and is now 180 with a lot of loose skin because he lost almost all of it in about a year.

LaurieDawn, Why don't you just try some buckwheat noodles. They have calories, but tons of fiber and will keep you feeling fuller a lot longer.

Slashnl, I totally avoided the scale for a few days and saw a great number today. I hope it sticks for both of us!!

Congrats alisonm! that's a pretty amazing loss. Ups and downs are totally normal and I know that I was up about 2 pounds the other day and just went down 3. Every day is so different.

Hello everyone :coffee:

I'm heading into a weekend visiting my folks so it's going to be some travel, a few meals out, and probably a few martinis (I need help to stay magnanimous with my mom :dizzy:).

LaurieDawn: When it comes to periods, your no.1 is high on the list of reasons I am so glad to be gay. ;) I am with you on 2-4 in every way. I just have to hang on through the nibbles, the poor sleep, and the weepiness, and with any luck I'll be rewarded with a bit of a whoosh after it's all over.

Terra - Hello there and welcome :) I like your attitude about patience. So many people let themselves be held back by the perception that weight loss will take too long. My feeling is the time is going to pass one way or other other. So may as well spend the time losing. It took me about 2 years to lose my first 100 pounds. Best 2 years I ever spent.

thistoo - Good job sticking with it. I sometimes find that if I am genuinely hungry, I'll make a conscious choice to go over my calories by a bit as long as it's protein-dense, nutrient-dense food. Eating an extra 200 calories on a day my body really seems to need it isn't going to slow me down in the long run.

LilMissBee and allisonm - GREAT job on the losses. Stick to it.

slashnl - Good luck with the challenge. Do you have a competitive streak that makes you stubborn about doing well in that kind of thing? I hope the loss holds up for you.

LebenAlles - How is the carb-flu and caffeine withdrawal going? I hope you and your partner feel a little better going into the weekend.

I've been thinking about some regainer/reloser-focused questions to throw out so we can have some discussions on the topic. If you've got any ideas, toss them in!

triptriptrip ~ Does that happen to all people that start at 300? I've always been afraid and worried about having excess skin when I finally lose my weight.

carter ~ Im glad to hear you like my attitude about patience.

I walked last night and Im gonna do my best to walk this morning and then walk again later on tonight before bed, I would walk at 2:30 pm today but we have to go somewhere at that time so I wont be getting my 3 walks in today but at least I'll get 2 in.
__________________

carter - I feel like the carb flu/caffeine thing is getting better, though last nights sleep was interrupted by a wicked electric storm that kept us awake for a good hour, along with the cat :). I think getting good rest this weekend will make a world of difference, for sure.

LaurieDawn - It might be that my work schedule has gone to extended schedules and I'm too tired to care, but I've actually been doing well with the cravings. I think the biggest thing that ticks me off is that I'm so addicted to food that causes such crappy withdrawals. WTF.

Congrats to everyone's losses this week! I lost another .6 this morning so I'm happy with that. Creep creepin along...

How about this for a focus topic: I feel like stress is (obviously) one of the leading reasons that people end up regaining. Situational Stress, Health Issues, or even the pressure of continuing to lose. What are some ways that you are planning on avoiding stress related binges this time around?

good luck with your mom, carter! i did that last weekend ;)

Good morning...
 

Hi all! Active thread today!!

Went to Spin this morning. It seemed really hard. I don't know if it is just because it is the end of the week, or if it is because I missed Body Pump the day before. Anyway, on to the weekend. I'm hoping that I can get a good weights workout in tomorrow, and then nothing on Sunday. Then, I'll be ready for the Monday weigh in. I hope!

All of this talk of TOM... now I'm facing it, too. I'm at a little different stage of life. It usually is no big deal for me. But I'm 50 and getting to the inconsistent TOM. It normally is very easy and there seems to be more and more time in between.

Carter: Hope you have a good weekend! Enjoy! Gotta have a little indulgence! As for my competitive side, yep... that's what is helping right now. I am up against some younger women (and some older ones, too), but I am not giving up. I hope to be at the top, so it keeps me on track.

LebenAlles: I don't think stress causes me to binge. I'm sure it does for some, but stress sometimes makes me very apathetic about working out and staying on plan. I hope to use working out as a stress reliever. And hopefully, the bad times from before won't come back!

Terra: 2 walks is better than none!!!

Triptriptrip: Hope you see a good loss! Will you be moving into onederland??

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I'm looking forward to the nice weather we are supposed to have here!

233.2 this morning :) First weekend back in the groove and I'm feelin' good. J and I are getting ready to do our week 'cookup' where we cut up and prepare veggies, meats, spices and such for the week. Makes it so much easier with a long work schedule.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday!

Diane ~ Yeah thats true, 2 is better the none

Im getting ready to walk before bed and then I'll have tomorrow off, I always take Sunday's off to just relax, I hope everyone has a great night.

Hi all. Just checking in. Having a tough day with my "I'm starving" feeling today. I'm trying to just stay busy and on track.

Hello folks.

I survived the weekend, overate a little but nothing thoroughly out of control, bought something to wear to my brother's wedding and managed to let my mother's "joking" complaints about me not being girly enough go in one ear and out the other. :rolleyes: I'm nearly 42 years old; I wish she would learn that it is really not intended to be a personal affront to her that I am not comfortable wearing a dress, or pumps, or makeup.

This is a very good topic. My entire regain was due to binging that became more and more frequent - my mealtime eating remained fairly well on plan, and my exercise was nearly on track was well.

I wouldn't describe my binge trigger as stress, but it's a related feeling. It's a desire to numb myself, to allow myself to be mindless for a while, when so many aspects of my life seem to require control and focus and discipline.

I mentioned upthread (um, probably more than once) that a woman I was seeing and really, really liked broke up with me in January. For many people (and I would have expected to count myself among them) that would have been a binge trigger. But I had an almost defiant need NOT to let it be a binge trigger. I might have cried every day for a month, but damned if I was going to be that woman who cries into a pint of ice cream! :dizzy: So amazingly, getting dumped seems to have mostly ended the binge behaviors I was struggling with, rather than triggering more.

To be honest I'd rather still have the relationship. ;) But I suppose getting my regain back under control is a reasonable consolation prize.

Part of my regain was definitely stress-related. I had a really bad health scare in 2012 and from there things snowballed until I found myself right back at nearly my highest weight ever. I think there's a lot of validity in the way stress affects how our bodies react.

Speaking of weird things our bodies do, something strange happened to me on Friday. I've been off wheat for quite some time, but on Friday I made the conscious decision to get a wrap for lunch. For the rest of the day and then most of Saturday my mouth itched like crazy. I don't know if it was a reaction to the wheat, but that was the only thing I'd done differently, so I'm guessing it was.

That's never happened before, but it definitely convinced me that staying away from wheat is for the best.

Hi all. Had a great weigh in this morning, so I'm pretty happy today. I just want to give every effort I have to this weight loss challenge at work. I only have until 4/1, so I'm really trying to bring it all! I went to Spin this morning. It was good, but why do people go to a class if they want to chat? Shut the heck up!!! I'm trying to concentrate and listen to the instructor!!!

Carter: Glad you survived the weekend!!

thistoo: Sounds like you better avoid the wheat! At least you know now to avoid it. Funny how allergies work!

Have a great day everyone!