Another drop on the scale for me today, to 277.2. So, still not my low, but within a pound. I don't know if it's my weight finally catching up to my plan, or if turning up the exercise was what I needed to get it to move. Either way, I'm happy to see it move, especially after my high sodium, higher calorie day yesterday. But yesterday I also got this little reward on my FitBit dashboard:
And I actually finished the day at 7.62 miles, with walking around the house before bed. Today, I'm going to add my heart rate monitor into the mix just to get an accurate calorie log for my workouts.
Radiojane - I intentionally scheduled our visit for near the end, so most of the foodstuffs would be gone, and most of the stuff I'd wanna buy would be sold! I ended up spending 29 dollars (5 dollars for 6 entries in a quilt raffle that a group from our church was doing - they made the 2 quilts) and then 24 dollars on a hand beaded necklace and earring set. Hubby spent a dollar on a soda.... and that was our $30 limit that we set, so we *couldn't* buy food without going over our budget.
Diane - These weekends in the holiday season are kinda crazy... that's why I decided to start the 5:2, because it's kinda like calorie cycling, so I could have higher calorie days on the weekends! It seems to be working well so far. And I hear you on the workouts. I assume there's some water retention going on for me from starting that... even though it's not that super intense of a workout, it's still enough to wear me out after 40 minutes!
MissLoud - Oh the picking at food sitting around. I've done that so much over the last month because of all the goodies given to my husband for pastor appreciation month. I think it's just one of those things that will require a lot of willpower with the holidays coming up!
To everyone else - I hope you're having a wonderful day!
jenniI totally get where you are coming from about the job. So stressful! DH and I have four kids, and it's just so expensive when you have so many household members. I've been right where you are and nothing is more stressful than worrying about money. I'm sure you'll find a job soon, and good for you for staying on track in spite of everything.
Mandy Frustrating about the scale!!!!!!!!! The scale just has its own logic and you really can't count on the scale moving reliably... it really does just stall sometimes for no reason. Please remember the awesome lesson that you taught me, which is that FOOD IS NOT THE ENEMY. If you change nothing and just keep plodding I promise the scale will move...it will because it has to. (Just realized I ninja'd you. Great work on the loss! and the 7.2 miles.)
RadioJane Stepping on the scale when you know you are facing a new, higher number is the ESSENCE of bravery. You can deal with what you know. Regain sucks, but you can't turn it around until you take the first step, and you've just done that! One thing that REALLY helps me is to remember my HIGH WEIGHT more than my previous low weight. You know how people say diets don't work... well, it's not quite true. Lots of us reach a high point, decide NO MORE, and then consistently maintain a weight that is not as high as our high weight, even if it's also not as low as our dream weight. That in and of itself is a triumph of major magnitude. You'll erase that regain before you know it and head into new territory!
Laurie As a big regainer, perhaps I'm not qualified to comment on maintenance, but I did maintain a 100 lb loss for more than 2 years before regaining. I found that it was not particularly hard, in that what I basically did was to keep doing exactly what I was doing, I just stopped losing. My maintenance weight chose me instead of me choosing it. After that, I just went along, still trying to lose, but not actually losing. During my maintenance time, I actually gained as much as 10-15 pounds and then shed it again...you would think that after 3 straight years of successfully losing or maintaining that I would have been all set, but unfortunately, the deep down issues of using food to manage stress were still lying latent. If I have one regret, it's that I didn't hie myself to a therapist the first time I went to the grocery store, picked up a quarter sheet cake and plowed my way through it. Live and learn.
Diane I hear you!!!! I have felt exactly like that so many times. At least from my own perspective, it is really really hard to maintain a certain level of intensity for a really long time without needing a little break from time to time. You are in the 220s and super fit and I'm sure you look and feel amazing! I really do encourage you to let yourself appreciate the moment. If you never lost another pound, you would still be 110% better off than you were when you started out, so taking a little break on pushing yourself, and focusing on maintaining rather than losing, could really give you the energy to keep pushing. I was reviewing my weight log from 2009-2010 (yes, I really am that anal) and I noticed that I went up a few pounds between mid-November and December, then really took off again in January. In retrospect, I had completely forgotten about this.
So, as for me, I'm realizing that I've developed a little bit of a bad pattern.
Here's what happened to me:
Friday, I had a good day, but Friday evening I had to take my mom to a party. It was dinner time and there was food. I hadn't really planned for it, because I thought she wanted me just to drop her off, but she's visually impaired so she wanted me to stay. So, I really don't like to eat party food. I have this weird thing that I always feel like if I eat standing up and not paying a lot of attention, it's like I didn't eat. So that's what i did, and it was probably enough calories for dinner, but I just didn't feel like I had eaten. So when I came home and there was leftover pizza I ate a slice. The problem was that this weird eating pattern triggered me to start bingeing-- after dinner and pizza, I ate two slices of buttered toast, a bag of popcorn, and a bowl of cereal. Right? Craziness.
Saturday, I am back on plan, everything is okay until I scarf down a bag of the snack popcorn from my kid's soccer game. Now, mind you the bad only had 110 calories, so not really a problem, but in my mind I'm back into the "you're off plan so now it's a free-for-all mode..." So at dinner time, I eat two servings of a pasta dish that I was only planning to eat one serving of... and now I'm up to 1700 calories.
So, the good news is that I had prepared some strategies ahead of time to cope with my urge to binge late at night (which is what got me up to 285 last winter). I thought about how it would be more calming to drink a cup of tea and listen to music than to hole up and eat food after everyone else has gone to bed.
This morning, I wake up, look daggers at the scale, and decide that I'm going to walk past it without weighing in. Then I think about my friends here, and it seems kind of vague and I'm about to think of something else, but then I started hearing your voices talking to me, so I weighed in and I'm still where I was before-- 2 lbs above my low weight.
So, the bad news is, I can't seem to cobble together more than a few days without going off plan, and I'm at a place where I'm not really FEELING the dire necessity... I mean, 248 sucks, but it's lower than I've been at any time since THE BIG REGAIN. All my clothes are loose (because all of my 18s, 14s and 12s are still packed away in boxes.)
But, the good news is that last night I DID manage to put the brakes on, use my mental techniques to distance myself from my urge to eat, and manage a maintenance type day (1700 calories) instead of a big ole regain type day.
And, I've identified that not eating a normal meal is a huge trigger for me: the last two times I've really gone into a binge were related to missing my normal meal-- the first time was when I ate a baggie of crackers instead of lunch, and the next time was eating party food for dinner. So, knowing that, I'm going to make a hard and fast plan NEVER to skip a scheduled planned meal.
Have still not joined the gym-- it's purely a money issue and I know now isn't a good time-- but boy do I want to! In the meantime, going for a walk today!
Urg I swear my scales know its a monday, weighed in at 248 the highest I've been all week! So I'm taking a leaf out of Mandys book and staying on plan for 7 days. I have no excuses this week I have nothing on socially so will knuckle down and go for goal over the next couple of weeks! I will do it
Oh on another note we are fostering a 4 month old puppy with thoughts if adopting him hes pretty full on and its raining so haven't been able to take him out and about yet so we shall see! We've named him Hank oh dear we've named him you know what that means lol
Kelly - Yup. Sounds like you've gotten yourself a dog! Congratulations! And I, too, am following Mandy's lead on the 7 days. I'm finding that it's really helping.
Uber - I know exactly what you mean about those little mind tricks. It reminds me of my cupcake incident from a few weeks ago. I kept eating to feed a mental hunger, even though I didn't really want it. Glad you've identified the trigger that meal skipping is for you. And I still think that you've tapped into the key for long-term weight loss. When you have a less-than-ideal day, evaluate why it was less than ideal, and check in for the fight again the next day.
Mandy - YAY! I should have known that you were adjusting calories downward as you lost weight. You are far more meticulous about these things than I am. And I am so glad the scale finally cooperated!
Diane - I love that you've made a conscious decision to be more relaxed during the holidays. This weight consciousness thing is hard, and losing is really hard. Maintaining your incredible loss during the holidays would be a fantastic accomplishment, and hopefully, one that won't make you crazy and allow you to enjoy the holidays more than if you were in losing mode.
Radiojane - Stepping on that scale for the first time after a regain. As Uber said, that is the essence of bravery. I also agree with her on focusing on the biggest number rather than the lowest. In my mind, I even add 20 or 30 pounds to my biggest number, since I tend to gain weight when I'm not losing it. When I finally got control of my regain in July, I had gained about 35 pounds from my lowest recent weight. But I was still down almost 40 from my highest, and I hadn't gained the likely 20 or 30 extra. It made me feel better, anyway. =) You've taken the hardest steps (at least in my mind), and you know how to do this. It's exciting to have you with us.
Jenni - Hope you have finally kicked whatever bug was dragging you down. Can't wait to hear about your trip to Disneyland and get the good news when you find the perfect job.
193.0 this morning. Officially a low weight for me, but only by 0.2 pounds since 10/1. I am coming to accept that this will just be fairly slow for me from now on. I put my size 14 black pants on this morning for work, though, and they are getting loose. Slow progress is still progress, and it's not gaining. I was incredibly hungry this morning, though, so I did something that I don't typically do -- eat breakfast. And I'm feeling like it was a good choice for me, at least so far. Hope it doesn't open the hunger floodgates like it has in the past. Regardless, I'm trying to honor my real, deep-bone hunger and be patient with the munchiness, I-could-eat hunger. I keep hoping that learning to differentiate between the two might make a difference in my ability to succeed long-term.
Hey my people, how goes the going? I've disappeared for a few days but I've been more or less on plan even though the scale continues to crawl in the most obnoxious way possible. This weekend's weigh in showed a 0.5-lb loss. Again. Half a pound. And yes it's better than no pounds lost at all or gaining but still y'kno? I remember dem 1.5-lb-a-week days with boyband-fan nostalgia and smack myself for ever being all whiney about them being too slow. I didn't measure inches from my restart which I should have done but I think I'll do it when I get home now. My favourite pair of jeggings from American Eagle are getting back into definitely-needing-a-belt territory so that's encouraging if nothing else, I may at some point dare to bust out my Express ones in a lower size. I've been keeping up with my workout mojo but on Fitbit, my dad is my friend and last week, he beat my number of steps! Say what!!!! How dare he? This week is NOT going to go down like that. So I need to find extra opportunities to take walks and move around because Fitbit doesn't seem to be recording my normal workouts as steps.
Laurie: You give the best compliments. My posts to me are at times awkward and rambly like my toughts and to have you call them entertaining is awesome. THANK YOU! Yay being on track to top your challenges. Please let us know your final outcomes.
Mandy: Sorry about the scale frustrations! That's no fun. But you're proof if you keep plugging away, things will happen for you. Yay on getting some love from the scale finally! Shut the Front Door 7.62 MILES!!! I'm a Fitbit wearer and that is some hot-stepping, go you! I'm ecstatic a day I get 3 miles. That's amazing in every way! Go YOU!!!
Radiojane: Yay on getting on the scale again to see your starting. Boo the 40 lbs regained, but yay the opportunity to mark and celebrate your scale victories as you get to goal!
Slashni: I totally get the picking one's way to a pit of calories. That's me every Sunday and it's a mess really. But I also do think I need to have that one day for my sanity. It's hard to be perfect ALL the time, ALL year round, EVEN weekends. So I think maybe instead, we need to figure out ways to balance the bad days out. I think the saying goes if you're on plan for even 80% of the time, you'll succeed. Or maybe that's just MY saying, I dunno. But it sounds right. And I always had a free day Sunday and was successful before. So, maybe as long as it's planned and contained and balanced by working out hard and eating right during the week, the pecky weekends aren't that bad.
uber: Yay on reigning in a day of potential bingeing. I think it's awesome that you've identified triggers that derail you and are fixing them.
MissLoud: Sorry about the scale. I get no scale love either on Mondays... Mostly because my Sundays are usually pants but still... I always believe in #TeamStickWithIt for the win. Unfortunately, our sport is hard but oh well, we persevere. Congrats on the new dog!!
Today is a fast day. Which is good, because I always feel like I need a detox after the weekend. Which maybe isn't so good. Sigh. Anyway, so far so good. I missed my workout this morning but I'll do something when I get home tonight. I've missed being active and pushing myself so I'm glad I'm back in the saddle and I really think it's helping with the relosing, however slowly. Anyway, I'm so glad everyone seems to be feeling better. GirlyGirlSebas, please check in when you can and let us now how you're doing. You all have a rocking rest of the day!
Hello, Ladies!! I only have a minute cause I've got to run by the college I'm hoping to get into for the Winter 2015 quarter, but I wanted to just pop in and officially announce that I am back!
Got on the scale this morning and saw... 193! <3 Needless to say I got on and off and on and off and on and off and just kept grinning.
No movement on the scale for me today, but yesterday was one of my high calorie days, and with it came high sodium so I'm surprised there wasn't a bump up. Like Toasted, today is a fast day for me, too... and for the same reasons My weekends are generally my high days, bracketed by fast days, and the rest of the days are "normal" weight loss calorie days.
It doesn't bode well for the fast day when you wake up to feeling hungry. (I wonder if it's the working out?) I have a large, filling 600 calorie dinner planned (3 serv of egg whites + 1 whole egg omelet filled with cheese and lots of veggies, and some toast with peanut butter and jam), as well as my typical fiber bar + vitamin "breakfast" of sorts that happens around mid-day. I've also found that drinking hot beverages helps with the hunger so I'll enjoy the apple cinnamon herbal tea I've got upstairs until it's time to eat. Then I'll force myself to EAT SLOWLY and not inhale it, so I can feel myself getting full while I eat.
Today will be tough, no doubt. Hubby's gone all day, and that definitely triggers the "nobody's gonna see you eat ALL THE FOODS" urges that happen whenever I'm home by myself. I think it's good that I've identified my over-eating triggers, but it would be better if I could eliminate them.
1) Being home by myself where nobody will see me gorge myself, and thus avoiding the shame of someone watching me eat.
2) The urge to *stay* full once I get there, meaning once I eat a full meal, I continue to snack so I keep that fully satiated feeling.
3) Dealing with hard emotions or stress. Angry or sad or stressed and I look for the kitchen.
4) Straight up boredom. When I'm bored and need something to do with my hands, stuffing food in my face seems like the perfect solution.
I have no idea how to eliminate these issues. But I would like to redirect them in some way. I have no idea how to redirect the first two, but if I could convince myself that exercise is the best way to deal with stress, and cultivating a new hobby (I'm working on quilting and other sewing projects, and have books to get a start on gardening, and things to order for photography) is a good way to keep my hands busy. Even if I could redirect the boredom urge to something like gaming or reading (both things I enjoy) instead of eating, I'd probably be better off.
In other news, I think I'm seeing some positive changes in the last week as I've made a cardio workout a regular part of my routine. Sitting around makes me antsy like I need to be getting up and doing something. And it hasn't taken me long to go from doing 1 mile at a time, 5 spaced out through the day, to doing 3 in the early afternoon, and 3 in the evening (40+ minutes at a time). And looking at my heart rate monitor, my recovery time from those workouts is fairly quick. So I think I can claim more energy and somewhat decent and improving cardiovascular health. My fitness goal is to be able to do all 5 miles (including the "boosts" - where you jog instead of walk) consecutively, while keeping my heart rate in the "ideal" cardio workout range for my age of 123 - 161 bpm.
Hi all,
Went to spin today. Good workout. Tomorrow is body pump, and that will be good!
I wasn't very much on plan this weekend. It was ok, and I wasn't stressed out about it. I ended up having a .8 loss. Not huge, but I'm happy with it. I'll be ok, if it keeps up like that for now until the end of the year.
Mandy: I'm sure that you are hungrier from the working out. It sounds like you are doing well, gaining strength and endurance!!
Jessica: Nice loss!!! Congrats!
Toasted: Nope, you can't let your Dad win the fitbit war!!! ha!
Laurie: Great progress, having your pants feel looser!! That's always a good thing.
MissLoud: So, what kind of puppy is it? How fun!!!
Uber: Thanks for your thoughts! They really helped! Oh, and by the way, I also have weight records going back to 2005. I'll have to look back and see what kind of trends there were. Unfortunately, some years are awfully blank because I quit recording it.
I am almost done with my resume (big relief). This is the hardest thing I have done in years geez.....Laurie get ready I will be sending you a copy to proofread
I will read through the posts tonight I did see that some of you have new lows YAY!!!!!!
FeraFilia: I'm a secret eater too. If no one is around, I will eat more. Hidden camera shows would have a field day with me! #TheHorror Yay on the improved fitness! You're making such rapid gains that I think you'll be at your stated fitness goal in NO time!
Slashni: I got home late and exhausted so I couldn't make myself work out. My dad called me to ask how many steps I'd done today and gloat because he had twice that number. I'm glad this is making him do more and get fit because he's turning 61 next week and although he doesn't have a weight problem, his job is very sedentary BUT I refuse to be beaten by a man twice my age. So, I did one of those 7-minute high intensity challenge things and boosted my step and activity count a bit. I didn't catch him today but I will tomorrow which means I need to go to bed soon. Yay on your workout! You and Laurie are totally my workout inspirations.
Jenni: Yay on the almost-finished resume! Job applications are the pits! Well done!
Okay so I've already given my exercise sob story but I guess at least I did something if even only for 7 minutes which is always better than nothing. I need to go to bed soon though if I'm going to get up and be useful in the morning. Have a good night everyone!
Hey everyone. Just to do a quick check in. Fast day went wonderfully yesterday and I was on track calorie wise and even had room for a sweet, milky cup of green tea which is positively decadent for me with only 500 calories to play with and not a workout in sight. I woke up early and got a workout in today though. I meant to go running outside before sunrise (6.30ish) but I didn't get up before sunrise so that didn't happen. I tried out a new workout DVD called Train For Your Body Type from Women's Health. It wasn't bad. It wasn't heart-pumpingly difficult, but it was a nice moderate challenge for a 30-minute morning workout. I've been doing okay with eating so far today and I'm pretty much on track.
I'm having a Coke Zero and this freelance producer who's doing some work for us, walks in and in the rudest most judge-y voice ever says "you STILL drink Coke Zero"- subtext: "no longer you've regained weight." And I'm like what's wrong with drinking Coke Zero and she says "No, that's your problem, never mind." And she's one of THOSE people that must always comment on everything I eat and my weight, because in her mind, I think she thinks we're friends or frenemies or something. Sigh. And you'd think with her knowing so much about what I eat, she'd be a skinny mini but NO, she's not at all. She's obese and before I regained the weight she'd be like "how can I be as skinny as you" and now she's all "this is why you're fat." Oh well... I'm not so much bothered by what she says as I am by the fact that she says it. But ah well... People- it takes all kinds to make up the world. So, rant over.
I'll probably check in later with you guys. It's a slowish day at work so I'll finalize my christmas shopping/hang out here some more. Have a wonderful day, everyone!
Last edited by toastedsmoke; 11-11-2014 at 08:59 AM.
I just intended to skim and do a drive-by this morning, which I still intend to do, but my ire has been aroused.
Toasted - You are NOT fat. You just aren't. I try not to say it daily, because even compliments can get annoying if they're excessive, but man. I think about your maintaining all. of. the. time. when I start to worry if I'm doing all of this work for the reward of just a couple of months of not being morbidly obese. You maintained for a long time, as did Uber, and that gives me confidence it's not out of reach. And you are back on plan way before you are even close to your high weight. Please don't forget how inspiring you are! Even with that disgusting Coke Zero habit. ;-)
I have been doing well in advance of my weigh in today and tomorrow, but last night, I went off the rails. It didn't happen until 9 p.m. or so, so I only had a little time to go crazy, but I was literally stuffing handfuls of Frosted Flakes in my mouth. And I have the gross-feeling-in-my-stomach food hangover this morning.
But I'm still under 195! And so I'm considering it a victory. I'm back up to 193.6. Meeting with Trainer Boy this afternoon. Final weigh in for Biggest Loser Competition in the morning. I'm gonna try for a two-a-day on cardio, and keep calories low in the hope of a great weigh-in tomorrow morning. I just noticed that my official ticker weight has me at 23 pounds down for my trainer boy #2 challenge, and I lost 23 for my trainer boy #1 challenge. I kinda like symmetry.
Last edited by LaurieDawn; 11-11-2014 at 10:31 AM.
Guys, I will never again ruin my work karma by typing the words "slow day at work" whilst I'm actually still at work. My day has exploded not in a good way... in a "tearing-my-hair-out-wailing-like-a-member-of-Bob-Marley's-band" sort of way. Eeeeeee! So since it's you all I bragged about my slow day to, I'm here to take it back really quickly.
Laurie, you're such a dear! Thank you! I know I'm not fat. I'm fatter than I've been in recent times but I mean, I am wayyyyy beyond any dream weight I had prior to 2011. I've only been "not obese" for like maybe 4 years out of my 28 years of existence and 1 of those 4 years, I was under a year old and didn't eat real food yet so it doesn't really count. However, I also know that when I got to goal a couple of years ago, a lot of people and maybe I, myself, put me on an "if she can do it" pedestal and now I've regained some, my feet are all clay. #mixedmetaphors But for people like this girl who met me at my thinnest phase, I'm quite a lot bigger! And hey, that Coke Zero/Splenda will be pried out of my icy, cold, coke fingers, so there! LOL
Last edited by toastedsmoke; 11-11-2014 at 12:33 PM.
Toasted - I hate it when people feel like they have room to judge your food and drink choices! It's really none of their business. And honestly, I know lots of people that aren't trying to lose any weight that still drink diet sodas because the sweet stuff is too syrupy for them. My soda vice that I can't quite give up (but only drink like, 1 can a week) is Pepsi Max. It's got that extra kick of caffeine and 0 calories. Judge-y people can suck it. My grandfather tried to give me advice on how to lose weight, after commenting that I'd lost so much and obviously knew what I was doing. I told him "I'm glad that works for you, but I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing, because it's not broken" (of course, that's when I hit the wall... so maybe I jinxed myself) but he was trying to tell me I had to eat big in the morning and small at night and got mad when I didn't want to change. I still don't eat in the morning, and eat big at night. Ooh he got feisty. He was not happy that I didn't want to take his advice!
Laurie - Do you know what caused your frosted flakes freak out? Stress, boredom, legit hunger? Hard to stop and self asses in the moment, but maybe hindsight will help you figure that out and help you to redirect it to either a healthier food (if it's actual hunger) or a different activity option (if it's stress or boredom). Good for you for getting control of it. I often need to eat something before bed, simply because I can't sleep on an empty stomach.
So, this morning I got a new low on the scale. 275.6 (1.6 down from yesterday) which would put me at exactly 55 pounds down. Its been almost 2 weeks since I hit my previous low of 276.4 at the beginning of the month. I'm hesitant to embrace this new low since it came after a fast day, but I'm moving my ticker anyway because I've been going crazy over the last 10 or so days that it's been bouncing around, and with dinner out tonight, and lunch out tomorrow, it will probably go back up because of the sodium.
But for now, I'm going to take it, because my mental state needs to see that number change!
Hi all.
Body Pump this morning. It is the last week of this particular workout, so it will be changed up for next week. I kind of liked this one and I was getting to where I could do it all pretty well. And....that's when they change it. I guess that's good. It makes sense to change it up and make your body confused. There are a couple of parts that I'm not going to miss!!
I forgot to change my numbers yesterday on my signature, so I did that today. I was looking at my end of the year challenge. Yeah... that's not happening. I'll probably just leave it on there for now, but I don't think I can make that.
Mandy: Glad you changed the numbers. Sometimes you just need to see something move. I think it helps a lot!! And I definitely can understand how you feel with your grandfather. I appreciate when people try to help, but if I don't ask for help, don't push your agenda!!!! I got this.
Laurie: Good luck on your weigh in! I hope the extra workout helps you. When we had our office challenge in January-March, I added another workout the day before weigh in and it didn't help. I think it actually added some weight because of water retention. Made me crazy.
Toasted: Just like the others said, go ahead and enjoy your Coke Zero. People need to learn when to shut up!! You're doing great!!
hes pretty full on and its raining so haven't been able to take him out and about yet so we shall see! We've named him Hank 
My weekends are generally my high days, bracketed by fast days, and the rest of the days are "normal" weight loss calorie days.
