Hi everyone!
I knew when I had a .8 drop in one day that it wouldn't drop again so I debated if I should weigh in or not. I did and it was up .4 but I sort of expected it. Even keeping the calories in control, weight can go up and down with your fluid levels, etc...I am not upset about it, I probably should have waited another day or so if that makes sense. Again I want to lose as much for my BP and health as much as "vanity" so I am sticking with it. Martine Thanks for the encouragement! I have to say I am impressed with your exercising. You are an exercise queen. LOL
gzgrl22 Thanks for your encouragement as well! I like the massage idea myself. You can always paint your own nails if you wanted to. Why waste the money on that? I am impressed with your weight loss. You have almost my stats with the starting weight and height. I can see it is possible. I have been up and down (mostly up) my whole life. Even as a teen I wore a large or 16 and felt huge next to my size small, shorter friends. I have weighed more than I do now but this seems to be where I am most of the time. I got pregnant twice, almost ten years apart and both times got pregnant starting at 250! My true goal in my head is really to not be obese honestly (just under 200). That would be a mini miracle for me, let alone an ideal weight of 160.
I hope everyone has a good weekend. I actually have tomorrow off, so a full weekend off is rare for me!
Thanks for the sounding board everyone. It helps in a way, sort of like therapy I guess.
Logansand livsmom - When I don't invest fully---no cheats no bending rules, I seesaw a lot. One of the things that changed this year is that I committed to 6 months with no cheating, no "just this once" and it worked. My losses are coming slower and it is partly because I have less to lose, and partly because there have been days where I have eased up on the rules. WHen I stick to the rules the losses still come. It's just re ally hard to stay 100% mentally "in this" over a long period. Honestly dieting is 99% in your own head. Our weight stories are really similar--- I was a size 13/14 at age 12 and I don't think I have ever not been overweight since I was about 5 years old. I went from weighing monthly or weekly to weighing daily to desensitize myself from the scale. If I happened to do my weigh in for the week on a day when I was retaining water, it gutted me and I fumed over it all day. By weighing daily I started to see the up and down patterns. It was really hard at first, and there are a lot of days when the scale is "up" and you don't know why, but over time the patterns of your loss become clearer and a bad day on the scale doesn't mean "a bad day all day" for me any more. Now, I can pretty much predict a scale jump before it happens. The mystery is just how long it takes to come back down.
I made a chicken breast zucchini lasagna (for lack of a better description) last night. (Sub the shredded chicken and zucchini for noodles and ground beef) Been thinking about it all week as the weather has gotten chilly. It was good but the dairy and sodium popped the scale a half a pound this morning. Totally expected. I actually am surprised it isn't more. Plan to take a good three mile walk today. and do lower body tonight. Tonight will revert to my secret weapon dinner to counter last night---- a simple fry up of lean ground beef, green beans, red pepper and onion with salt and pepper. Simple, filling and clean food.
gzgrl22: You're spot on with your "all in" commitment comment. Any time I've been successful with weight loss is because I've been laser focused. While it's been years, I can pinpoint exactly how and when I fell off the rails. I was completely on plan for well over a year and decided to one day treat myself to a chocolate milkshake. I love ice cream and it had been so long. I drank it, enjoyed it, and nothing happened on the scale. Silly me thought I could repeat that habit every few days. My weight crept up. Sure it was slow but that one decision led to more cut corners and exactly where I'm at today.
Your ground beef fry up sounds delicious. I think it would make a great lettuce wrap!
Martine: Enjoy your long weekend. Any plans for Canadian Thanksgiving? Is the holiday food centric as it is here in the states?
loganandlivsmom: I appreciate the level of introspection you have about your personal history, where you've been, and the goals you want to achieve. Age and maturity can be powerful assets as we progress to our goals! For me, getting under 200 is my initial goal. You got this! Enjoy your real weekend!
****
I hope everyone is having a great start to their weekend. I'm off in a few minutes for a hair appointment. When everything shut down the first time in early March I was two days away from a scheduled hair appointment. California attempted to open up in June and I managed to slip one in at that time. Our cases started to climb again in late July which led to another shut down. Again, I was days away from another scheduled appointment. I think I'm good for today. Aside from this, not much else planned.
Happy Sunday all. New low today. I hit 193. It seem like I have lost a lot lately but really the scale had jumped up from 194 for a week or so , so I was not really losing, just getting back to where I was but today is a new low at 193.0 A really clean eating day (i.e. no dairy, no nuts, under 1500, all unprocessed and under 40 gr carbs) and good solid exercise did the trick.
curvy - thank you and you are so right. Even in the last three months I knew I was loosening up after I got to One-derland and the wedding was postponed (so, no rush, right?) And the weight seesawed and the losses slowed down to about 1/2 pound a week overall from more than double that before. Its tough because to do this and succeed you really do need that laser focus. I am certain that COVID helped my efforts because I wasn't distracted by the many things I am usually doing in "life". The lack of outside interests gave me the time to focus on this journey, but fighting to stay focused is the problem. And cutting one corner leading to cutting others? Yes 100%! I know I am in trouble when even one piece of the routine is off. It can be carbs, exercise, water intake, forgetting about vitamins I take----whatever. Once one brick works loose the others fall quicker.
Martine - Hoping you and David have a lovely Thanksgiving. We always had Canadian Thanksgiving off in China because it usually lined up with Chinese Golden Week holiday. American Thanksgiving was a work day so we would have it on Saturday and invite our American and Canadian friends (and everyone else -- one year we had 100 people!!!)
logansandlivsmom - You have a great mindset going. I know you can do it and you have the understanding needed to weather the storms and get there.
I'm sitting here struggling with whether to finish the rest of the lunch I cooked, or eat something else like a piece of fruit.
I'm finding out that just fasting regularly is not enough. I also have to control the amount of food I am eating when I am eating. I remember the chants I used to do when I was in WW: "portion control, portion control, remember portion control". Not particularly original but appropriate. But boy, it is still hard.
I went for the apple.
I want to be better about posting everyday. I tend to splurge on the weekends and make bad food choices. Cheetos for lunch is not a good food choice. But now that I have had them, I know I will not crave them again for months.
OA wants you to identify trigger foods and eliminate them from your life. I really struggle with the concept.
Question for the group: Do you have trigger foods that you have successfully cut out of your life for a long time? (Can't say forever because we are still here....)
Hi everyone! I keep trying to post and make sure I am logged in. I type this longish comment and it says you aren't logged in? Ugg so frustrating! I hope this one actually works. If it does I will properly comment again tonight hopefully when I am off work. I had a busy, productive weekend. I have been on plan with my calories and activity and still the scale keeps going up. It's frustrating, but I am hanging in there!
Happy Thanksgiving ~ Bonne Action de Grâce to everyone in Canada!
We don’t celebrate in my family. In fact, Thanksgiving is not much celebrated in French Canada, but we enjoy the extra day off from work. And in any case, because of COVID-19 restrictions in our area, we cannot visit family or friends at the moment anyway.
loganandlivsmom glad you had a good weekend. Focus on all the positives and the scale will follow soon.
madamwu good job on following that WW mantra. Portion control is a major part of weight loss. I can say that potato chips are no longer a trigger food for me. I don’t purchase them often but if David brings a bag home, a handful will do.
curvynotlumpy your mention of your appointment at the hairdresser’s reminded me that I need to get my hair done as well. To answer your questions, Thanksgiving in Canada is a bigger deal in anglophone areas/provinces and yes, food is a big deal.
gzgrl22 I totally understand how you feel about having to stay 100% on plan to be successful and constant with your weight loss. Very demanding but if that’s what works for you, then it’s what’s best, And I totally relate to focusing more on the process than a deadline. When I gave myself a deadline to lose x amount of weight, if I didn’t make that goal, I would stop trying altogether. An old “all or nothing” mentality that I have fought hard to overcome.
So Friday and Saturday were not good days for me (and Sunday to a lesser extent), as I overate at suppertime and went way past my calories for the day. And I didn’t exercise at all, and I was disappointed in myself. By late afternoon, I had no interest or energy to do anything but eat. So time to take back control today, before I undo all my hard work. So far on my day off I've done some meal prep and housecleaning, feeling much more productive and on track than this weekend.
I’ll be doing a total body workout later today, and I’ll try a walk as well, and see how my hips fare. The one good news on that front is that I heard back from my work health insurance today and they cover part of physiotherapy, even if I don’t have a referral from a doctor. I had never thought to ask them before, a lot of time wasted there. I hope that getting assessed by a professional will bring lasting relief.
Stay well and a great start to the week everyone!
1: 40 minutes upper body strength trainng + 14 minutes flexibility workout /WATER GOAL: done
2: 24 minutes lower body toning workout + 10 minutes cardio /WATER GOAL: done
3: 34 minutes upper body strength training /WATER GOAL: done WEEK 1:
4: 3.2km walk /WATER GOAL: done
5: rest day /WATER GOAL: done
6: 32 minutes core workout /WATER GOAL: done
7: 34 minutes upper body strength training and cardio intervals /WATER GOAL: done
8: 42 minutes low-impact cardio workout /WATER GOAL: done
9: rest day. /WATER GOAL: done
10: rest day /WATER GOAL: not reached WEEK 2:
11: rest day /WATER GOAL: not reached
12: 52 minutes total body strength training /WATER GOAL: done
OK trying this again! gzgrl22 Congrats on the new low of 193! How exciting!! I appreciate your advice on the ups and downs of the scales and weighing in. I agree it is a mental game for sure. You have to stay "on" and be focused to keep on losing weight.
curvynotlumpy Did you get the hair appointment? I really can go to any Hair Cuttery type place since I have really thick, coarse hair. It mostly stays in a bun. I have to flatiron it to make it look normal. LOL And with making it to 200 I haven't been there in over 20 years. It truly would be a mini miracle to see that again!
madamwu To answer your question....my trigger food is ice cream. I make sure when trying to lose weight to buy a small size that is portion controlled. They have lower calorie dairy free ice creams that are much lower in calories too.
Martine Happy Thanksgiving to you! It's a good thing you don't celebrate it. It's a diet killer for sure! I bet my daughter would love where you live. She is all about speaking French. She is in high school and loves her French class and her teacher is from Africa and French is her native language.
madamwu: Thanks for the portion control reminder. I often revert back to this when I am frustrated about when and where to begin. It's not always fun or easy, but it is straightforward. As for trigger foods, I successfully managed my sugar intake for well over a year before succumbing to knee-jerk choices. I'm speaking of non naturally occurring sugars. Great question!
Martine: I'm glad you're feeling better and more productive today. I've always appreciated how you allow your body to get the rest it needs without losing focus. It's been a long time since you haven't returned to the healthy habits you've established after a couple of "down" days.
I highly recommend a hair appointment!
grzgrl22: There's something empowering and reassuring when one can return to their previous weight. It reveals how much of the process is in our hands. Well done!
livandlogansmom: Yes, hang in there! The scale is only one data point. Remember that it sometimes take more time than we'd like for consistency and hard work to show up as a loss.
*********
I don't know what it is about Monday but I feel like they are terribly unproductive despite what I get done. Once I get to Tuesday, my groove returns. My ideal schedule would be a 4/10 with Monday off. Hey, a girl can dream, right?!
On our HR meeting call this morning there was a lot of interest in the voluntary separation program that the university is offering. This is a program that allows approved staff to voluntarily leave and get bought out of their position. It's a cost saving program. The amount of the buyout is based on year,s and the departments that approve have to leave the position unfilled for a minimum of 18 months. The staff who leaves cannot return to any of the 10 University of California universities for at least three years or will have to pay back the money. Apparently HR has had over 100 applications. It will be interesting to see which colleagues I won't be seeing come mid-January 2021.
I go by Moo. I'm new to this thread, and this whole website in general. Like everyone else here ( I assume), I'm looking for motivation and support throughout my weight loss journey. I lost my father about 5 months ago now, and I gained about 30 pounds throughout the whole grieving process. It's safe to say I still have my good days and bad days, but I'm ready to get my life back on track again, and I want to feel like the person that I once did. It would be nice to share my struggles with people that understand what I'm going through, and understand the lifestyle changes that I'm trying to make.
Hoping there is room in this thread for one more person
Welcome Moo31 My suggestion is small steps -- start with the easiest change you can make for your health and build on those as they get comfortable for you. So sorry about your loss. Losing our folks is hard, and I had a similar gain when my dad passed (and then some). One of the things I like about this thread is hearing tidbits from others' journeys. We all are approaching things on an individual level but the support for each other is here.
MadameWu - Yup that is one of the biggest caveats with the IF. I know I tend to want to eat more the night before, and the morning after, a fast day.
Martine - I have been having those days when I rebel or just don't have the drive to follow my plan. Good for you for getting back on track so fast. I tend to fall for a week or more and that's always dicey as to whether I will get back where I need to be. So far, I have been able to pull it off, but being aware helps. In your case, maybe your body just needed a break. You work it pretty hard.
And I wish I could let up a little, but if I am not at 100% compliancy, the scale doesnt budge, so it is necessity if I want results. :/
Curvy - hoping the new hairdo is making you feel terrific. It's always nice to walk out of the salon with a good hair toss cuz you know you are looking terrific. Just makes the whole day more positive livandlogansmom - before menopause, hormones meant my scale results were always wacky and I would literally only lose one week a month. Hang in there
Missing a few faces the past few days...hope it's just because you all had a nice weekend.
Scale at the same weight today. That's pretty normal for me. Will not be online tonight or tomorrow much--off to a quilt date with a gal pal.
LOL I ate what I wanted. I did not follow anything. Not even getting on the scale. I hope you all are doing well. I am taking some corrective messures today to combat the culinary shennanagins that I participated in this Thanksgiving.
I'll follow up when there is something weightloss related to post. Cuz I'm pretty sure this weekend was weight gain related.
I’m not going to be tricked by this system again—I’m writing it first in WORD then if it gets erased I can easily copy and paste.
Thank you all for your responses, I’m really bad with names so I hope it is okay I just address you all instead of individually. I’m at work right now and don’t have a lot of time.
I’m trying to work on not beating myself up all the time. But where is the line between making excuses and self-care? Only I can fix this so who/what else can be responsible? I try to remind myself that I am under stress because of the whole Covid situation, but then again, so is everyone else. I shouldn’t wait to some unknown future date to get healthy. I need to do this NOW.
Today is my fast day. I am using the method of a very small lunch (less than 500 calories). It would be nice if I could eat nothing, but when working I cannot allow myself to get so hungry that is all I think about instead of doing my job. I catalog books for an academic library and burn a lot of brain glucose figuring out how to process the books. Each one can be a different subject matter which requires a lot of thought and attention.
So I am writing this as a way to finish my lunchtime without eating something more.
Gzgrl22- Thank you for the kind advice. It's definitely hard to get perspective sometimes when you live it every day. Thank you for reminding me to not be so hard on myself, and not try to rush the process. I believe it's easier to achieve a goal when you focus on it step by step, and not on everything that needs to be done at once. Hope the quilt date is fun, I'm working on crocheting a blanket myself right now.
Madamwu- Everyone is their own worst critic, it can be really hard not to beat yourself up sometimes. Whenever I feel really down on myself, I always try to gain perspective and be thankful for the things that I DO have or that I DO like about myself, instead of focusing on the ways I feel not good enough, or the things that I think I need to be. Like Gzgrl22 said, It's a marathon, not a sprint. Try to do what you can every day to achieve your goal. You're already 2 pounds down, that's a huge accomplishment! Be proud of yourself for what you have achieved, and keep at it.
And try not to starve yourself. It makes it even harder to lose weight because you can't focus on anything else (like you said) and you end up overcompensating at a meal later! You're doing the right thing.
As for me, I was supposed to go on a hike this morning with a girlfriend, but postponed to Thursday because I'm getting over a cold. Thought it best not to collapse on the side of a mountain while having a coughing fit.
Again I want to lose as much for my BP and health as much as "vanity" so I am sticking with it. 
Now, I can pretty much predict a scale jump before it happens. The mystery is just how long it takes to come back down.
My weight crept up. Sure it was slow but that one decision led to more cut corners and exactly where I'm at today.
as it is here in the states?
I'm speaking of non naturally occurring sugars. Great question!
It's been a long time since you haven't returned to the healthy habits you've established after a couple of "down" days.
It reveals how much of the process is in our hands. Well done!
My ideal schedule would be a 4/10 with Monday off. Hey, a girl can dream, right?! 
