After a great week of good eating, and consistency, I just ordered KFC delivery because the people I was supposed to go out with tonight cancelled on me last minute and yes, I felt sorry for myself. Emotional eating decisions are not the way to lose weight!
Sorry for that tiny rant, and my otherwise radio silence. I'm here, reading everyone's posts, and making very slow progress otherwise (currently to be thwarted by fried chicken).
Well, I am at the end of week 2 of my diet/exercise plan and I had a horrid week.. cried heaps, work was pretty awful, ended up deciding to run away from it all with my beautiful partner by going away for the weekend. For the most part, I ate fairly well, but I think my portions were too big.. Now I am dreading going back to work tomorrow AND getting weighed at my weekly weigh in.. sigh..
Well I had to get a new scale because my last one broke but the good news is it says I'm now at 143.2, down from 145! I checked my measurements to see how accurate it was and it seems I'm in my normal 143-145 range, so I'm going to take it. I've been counting my deficit calories and I should have lost 1 pound at least and my pants are fitting a bit better (I lose weight on my hips the most right now and I'm trying to fit into a few tight pants) so I'm happy I've been doing a LOT better and have been getting a ton of running done. In addition to 1 hour walking each day (to/from work), I've been running for an hour with another half hour of walking usually as well. I've been trying to step it up since next Fri-Sun I won't get in any exercise since I'll be too busy hanging out with out of town friends (it truly is nonstop, it's not an excuse). Food has been going pretty well for the most part as I've been mostly eating healthy meals within my calories although I need to bring in snacks for work because I had a bag of cookies yesterday (emotional eating, a friend of friends died and I was feeling sad) and I also need to get better at eating smaller portions which is why I bought a food scale so I can measure things. I definitely need to work on how to handle food when I emotionally feel bad because my first response is to snack and overeat but I've been trying to substitute with talking with friends and reading happy books. Also I've found running is a great way to process my feelings especially a lot of the up and down ones I've had recently (I'm crushing on someone hard and we're talking today on Valentine's Day).
Regarding exercise calories, this is what I think. For me, exercise is for many reasons from improving my health, giving me happy endorphins and speeding up the weight loss process. I hate counting calories too closely and I don't like to eat at 1200 calories because there's too much room for error and I don't want to undereat and mess up my metabolism (especially since I don't have a lot of weight to lose). So I try to eat in the 1300-1400 range and exercise gives me some additional wiggle room if I go a little above that since my daily activities (excluding extended walking/running) is around 1500cal or so (underestimate to be safe). If I didn't exercise, I'd have to be super careful with food and it would take forever and be discouraging to me. When I was around 160lb I had a heart rate monitor and using the measurements from that, I got that a 30 minute straight through run (6mph or so) was about 400cal and I would calculate an hour run with some walk breaks was about 600cal just to be safe. I think in general people overestimate their exercise calories so eating too much back is generally risky for continuing to lose weight at a quicker pace but that being said, I don't believe in starving yourself so if exercise causes you to need to eat a couple hundred calories more than nonexercise days, so be it. I wouldn't trust machines but look at estimates online and generally reduce those by a hundred or so to be safe. I do know that when I was tracking calories and exercise pretty carefully at 160lbs, I would do an hour run (with walk breaks) 5 times a week with ST 2x/week, eat from 1300-1500cal and I consistently lost 1.5lbs or so a week (at 21 years old) so exercise does help.
Penny105 Ugh busyness is terrible. I hope you find a way to make it work and maybe try prepping food ahead of time when you have some free time.
Riestrella I totally know what you mean about not being able to force yourself to do things. I have this rebellious side that wants to CHOOSE to do things and not be told what to do so it's a delicate balance in myself to see it more as choosing to eat well for ME and to make it fun as well as remembering all my reasons to lose weight when I start to struggle and rebel and want to lose myself in food. I totally understand that article too, I struggle with feeling like I'm falling behind as I'm kind of ambitious without the work ethic to match right now but I think it's a careful balance between accepting things happen on their own time (the important thing is to accept yourself and the world and not get down on yourself) and making consistent actions to make sure you don't let the things you CAN do slip away. Great job getting the film project done! My job definitely helps with the yummy, calorie controlled lunches and the other plus is seeing all our clients working hard to lose weight helps inspire me as I sometimes read emails where I hear about how they lose weight.
Fit4Lyfe Good job not letting the scale get you down! I check when I shouldn't too sometimes oops.
runthecontinent Thanks! And congrats on losing 4 pounds, that's amazing!!
rainbowstripe Yeah, emotional eating is the worst and my constant issue. But remember one bad day of eating doesn't ruin all the habits and progress you made over the week
caldawg89 Sorry for the bad week and I hope it gets better! Sometimes life gets in the way and you just have to do your best and keep trying in the future
As expected, this week was spent trying to undo the damage from the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras, but I think I was successful, since my weigh in today was lower than last week (even if only by 0.2 lbs!). Just hoping to be below 125 before I head off to the Bahamas on Wednesday- hopefully. My grandma is really in her final days (hours?) so there is a really good chance the funeral will be while I'm gone My decision right now is to go to her funeral if she dies and plans are made before I leave the country. But if she is still alive on Wednesday I think I'm still going to go (I would hate to miss my bahamas trip for nothing!) and just hope that my family will hold off a few days for me once she does die. My mom seems to think they will plan the funeral about 2 days after she dies regardless, which doesn't make sense to me because there are so many people who need to come into town. It's just annoying because I've been excited for this trip for so long, but now only 3 days beforehand I can't even look forward to it because I don't know if I'll be going
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Leah- Welcome! My name is Leah too! Now every time someone writes something to you I think they are talking to me, lol. Sorry about the sick fiance, but sounds like you guys got to spend some quality time together.
Curry- Wedding dresses, how exciting! Did you buy the one you like?
Zucena- Wow what a cool gig! I get free food at my job too, but unfortunately it doesn't come in low calorie portions so I have to control that part myself. There are a lot of healthy options but a lot of not so healthy ones too... like an entire dessert bar every day at lunch
Ries- Woo congrats on the 163's! I think I'm going to try to shift my mindset like yours to really focus on each individual pound that I am on, like right now I'm in the 125's (rather than just the 120's), I feel like you appreciate each little loss more that way. Good article, definitely some things I need to hear from time to time. I think the willpower myth is so pervasive and can be so damaging! Unexpected wave of nausea, huh? You sure you aren't pregnant just teasing! Isn't this weather amazing? I was on my way to the gym yesterday and driving by the park I was like what the heck am I doing?! and just pulled over and went for a little run.
Penny- Glad you are still able to swing by, despite how busy you are. I'm forgetting why things are so crazy at work right now, is it a new job?
Runthecontinent- Wow 4 lbs! Awesome work.
Rainbowstripe- Oooh I have definitely been there. A weekend night where I don't have plans to go out is always at risk for some binge eating for me :/
Caldawg- Sorry you have had such a bad week. Just struggling with weight loss or is there other stuff going on? Glad you were able to get away from it all though.
So I started up my blog again, here's a link if you're interested!. It's exactly like the last one, I actually took it down and deleted my account because I found out that someone I know had found it. I had followed his blog using that account a long time ago and didn't realise he was still using Blogger. I don't know why, it just really got me panicking, I mean - I put pictures of myself in a bra and shorts on there and I didn't realise he knew about it! It sounds crazy I suppose, I'm not embarrassed that I'm trying to lose weight or that I'm overweight, but I just wanted it completely away from my "normal" life if that makes sense. So I made a new email address for the blog and voila. Took me a while to get around to re-uploading the blog and all the pictures. I think I'm going to treat it more like a journal rather than just a place I post every now and then. I should think of it less about trying to get people to read it and more for me to vent and be able to look back on it and reflect!
I'm going through a very strange time of my life I think. I'm not sure how to articulate it. I've been trying to lose weight since 2011, after spending my teens and early adult life being overweight. Being overweight is all I've known. I did so incredibly well losing weight back in 2011, but now I'm struggling so much with it - it's like I never lost the weight in the first place. That almost feels like I different me, an alternate universe me. Some days I am so pumped to lose the weight, eat healthy and exercise and others I just want to sit on the couch and eat. I've been living in between both of those lives and it's caused me to stall since 2014. So I'm going through this period where I know for change to happen I have to change a LOT about myself. I need to feel ready for that to happen, like in the article I linked to the other day, I can't force it to happen. I'm very close to making it a reality, to welcoming a healthier me into the world. But I can't just guilt myself into it, the inspiration is not genuine that way. I'm lucky that I've stalled for so many years and not shot back up to 200 lbs, which, believe me could have happened if weight loss wasn't always in the back of my mind.
On a positive note I'm fitter now than what I was a year ago. I just got around to do the Insanity fit test after alternating between home workouts, running and fitness classes and I improved on all the exercises. So I feel really great about that. Plus, in the Delicious for Christmas challenge despite not losing much weight I lost 3.5 inches off my body. That's a great accomplishment! Even if I'm not losing pounds my body is changing slowly but surely.
I have to take time each day to praise myself for SOMETHING. Telling myself I'm fat and ugly is not going to get my anywhere. Telling myself I'm doing so poorly because I didn't lose weight this week isn't going to inspire me. Sorry for the venty self-reflective post!
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rainbow - Oh man, you got KFC?! At least get something good, haha! I'm a big anti-KFC person so forgive my bluntness! I'm a big proponent of a cheat meal once a week, so sounds to me like you just had a cheat meal . As long as it's not an all day thing and you get right back on track, don't worry too much about it! You're doing so well, slowly but surely is like my motto these days so I'm right there with you. We can do it!
caldawg - Hope you feel better after your weekend away!
Zucena - Wow, sounds like you're getting so much exercise in - no wonder you lost so much! Congrats. Sorry to hear your friend of a friend passed away, that is sad . Dealing with negative emotion is something I need to work on too, I should listen to music and watch a favourite film or something. "Ambitious without the work ethic" - that's so true to me as well! I have so many passions and hobbies that I just don't do because I don't have that go get 'em type personality. But I think I've spent so many years pressuring myself to do things that it's left me a bit of a wreck!
Tiny Tiger - *hug* hang in there. It's always so difficult when you have an elderly relative in that position where you're just waiting for the news. I remember my Nana was suffering from cancer and when she passed I felt so relieved but guilty at the same time. I hope you get to go on your trip since you've been so excited. Yeah, focusing on shifting just the pound has helped me. I'm sure it'll help you since you're smaller! Haha, I hope I'm not pregnant! I was just coming off a period so I doubt it. Oh yeah, I love that it's getting warmer! However we're right next to the mountains so we're getting some pretty savage wind right now. We just get a nice warm temperature but here comes the wind to ruin our day! That's so funny you just pulled over to run! What a wonderful thing.
Last edited by Riestrella; 02-14-2016 at 01:46 PM.
Hey rainbowstripe - I am an emotional eater too! Sorry your friends bailed on you like that. I always have some healthy-ish (relatively) food in the house for those moment so I can binge on those rather than the horrible stuff. I'm sure you've heard this tip before and believe me, I know it can be so hard. If the damage is done, don't beat yourself up about it though! One evening of fried chicken is NOT going to ruin your entire week of doing great. Just remember that and get back on the wagon the next day! You are doing great.
Tiny Tiger - I'm not sure if this will help, but do you have some sort of travel insurance? Maybe looking into the terms can be helpful. And if not, it could actually be worth getting some just for this trip, depending on how much insurance costs where you live. When my stepmother died of cancer (not at all unexpectedly, although I was convinced she would win the battle), I was in St Petersburg. I looked for a flight and called my insurance immediately, and they paid for me to fly home the next morning, super fast. So if anything like that is covered by your insurance, it might be worth risking even if the funeral does turn out to be soon. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that though.
Rie - Thanks for the link! It's pretty great that you are fitter now, and that's definitely something you have to take into account when you assess your own progress, rather than just weight loss.
Hi everyone, I have had a win with my week 1 weight loss; 1.8kg gone! Hoping for more this week Tiny Tiger, sorry to read about your loved one. I hope she improves soon xoxo
WAY TO GO!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by dayoneagain
Really excited to be making progress slowly but surely
For some reason I have been able to keep my focus and motivation over the last few months. My last dayoneagain was in September and at yesterday's weigh in I hit 25 pounds lost, which just feels a bit unreal. I'm just taking things one day at a time, not putting too much pressure on myself to be perfect, but exercising hard and eating well. Part of me is a bit scared I might jinx myself, but after being on (and off) a diet for more than half my life...the last fifteen years...(!) I am really starting to feel like I might have this sussed!
25 LBS, that is awesome! I cannot wait until I can say that and I love the idea of my "last day one" because that's what THIS is - my last day one was Monday, February 1st 2016. This was great to hear and extremely motivating, thank you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by rainbowstripe
After a great week of good eating, and consistency, I just ordered KFC delivery because the people I was supposed to go out with tonight cancelled on me last minute and yes, I felt sorry for myself. Emotional eating decisions are not the way to lose weight!
Sorry for that tiny rant, and my otherwise radio silence. I'm here, reading everyone's posts, and making very slow progress otherwise (currently to be thwarted by fried chicken).
It's ok to "rant" (more like share) and nice to meet you fellow emotional over-eater. I am definitely working on that every single day,so you're not alone! Let's make slow progress together
Quote:
Originally Posted by caldawg89
Well, I am at the end of week 2 of my diet/exercise plan and I had a horrid week.. cried heaps, work was pretty awful, ended up deciding to run away from it all with my beautiful partner by going away for the weekend. For the most part, I ate fairly well, but I think my portions were too big.. Now I am dreading going back to work tomorrow AND getting weighed at my weekly weigh in.. sigh..
I'm sorry work was so crummy sending good vibes for your weigh-in tomorrow
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zucena
Well I had to get a new scale because my last one broke but the good news is it says I'm now at 143.2, down from 145! I checked my measurements to see how accurate it was and it seems I'm in my normal 143-145 range, so I'm going to take it. I've been counting my deficit calories and I should have lost 1 pound at least and my pants are fitting a bit better (I lose weight on my hips the most right now and I'm trying to fit into a few tight pants) so I'm happy I've been doing a LOT better and have been getting a ton of running done. In addition to 1 hour walking each day (to/from work), I've been running for an hour with another half hour of walking usually as well. I've been trying to step it up since next Fri-Sun I won't get in any exercise since I'll be too busy hanging out with out of town friends (it truly is nonstop, it's not an excuse). Food has been going pretty well for the most part as I've been mostly eating healthy meals within my calories although I need to bring in snacks for work because I had a bag of cookies yesterday (emotional eating, a friend of friends died and I was feeling sad) and I also need to get better at eating smaller portions which is why I bought a food scale so I can measure things. I definitely need to work on how to handle food when I emotionally feel bad because my first response is to snack and overeat but I've been trying to substitute with talking with friends and reading happy books. Also I've found running is a great way to process my feelings especially a lot of the up and down ones I've had recently (I'm crushing on someone hard and we're talking today on Valentine's Day).
Regarding exercise calories, this is what I think. For me, exercise is for many reasons from improving my health, giving me happy endorphins and speeding up the weight loss process. I hate counting calories too closely and I don't like to eat at 1200 calories because there's too much room for error and I don't want to undereat and mess up my metabolism (especially since I don't have a lot of weight to lose). So I try to eat in the 1300-1400 range and exercise gives me some additional wiggle room if I go a little above that since my daily activities (excluding extended walking/running) is around 1500cal or so (underestimate to be safe). If I didn't exercise, I'd have to be super careful with food and it would take forever and be discouraging to me. When I was around 160lb I had a heart rate monitor and using the measurements from that, I got that a 30 minute straight through run (6mph or so) was about 400cal and I would calculate an hour run with some walk breaks was about 600cal just to be safe. I think in general people overestimate their exercise calories so eating too much back is generally risky for continuing to lose weight at a quicker pace but that being said, I don't believe in starving yourself so if exercise causes you to need to eat a couple hundred calories more than nonexercise days, so be it. I wouldn't trust machines but look at estimates online and generally reduce those by a hundred or so to be safe. I do know that when I was tracking calories and exercise pretty carefully at 160lbs, I would do an hour run (with walk breaks) 5 times a week with ST 2x/week, eat from 1300-1500cal and I consistently lost 1.5lbs or so a week (at 21 years old) so exercise does help.
Great philosophy on working out and exercise calories. I know people say diet is 80% weight loss, but I feel soooo much better when I work out and I lose more and just feel...better. This last week getting back in the gym was great and I am so ready to keep it going this week (and so on!).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiny Tiger
Hi guys. Happy Valentine's Day!
As expected, this week was spent trying to undo the damage from the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras, but I think I was successful, since my weigh in today was lower than last week (even if only by 0.2 lbs!). Just hoping to be below 125 before I head off to the Bahamas on Wednesday- hopefully. My grandma is really in her final days (hours?) so there is a really good chance the funeral will be while I'm gone My decision right now is to go to her funeral if she dies and plans are made before I leave the country. But if she is still alive on Wednesday I think I'm still going to go (I would hate to miss my bahamas trip for nothing!) and just hope that my family will hold off a few days for me once she does die. My mom seems to think they will plan the funeral about 2 days after she dies regardless, which doesn't make sense to me because there are so many people who need to come into town. It's just annoying because I've been excited for this trip for so long, but now only 3 days beforehand I can't even look forward to it because I don't know if I'll be going
I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother - I hope everything works out.
Well, after a long week of battling over-eating and being up 3-4 lbs. all week, I weighed in today and was down .4 lbs and you know? I'll take it. I know what I did "wrong" I overate my exercise calories back (I NEED to get another Polar watch, I gave mine to my mum), I ate too much sugar and was retaining water from exercising and salt.
I'm gong out of town for the week and I want to get my ducks in a row, which will be hard. I am shooting to be 260 or below next weigh-in. Happy Valentine's Day ladies!
For all those who like to weigh in a little early for the upcoming week. Week 6 weights are still open, see the link in my signature to submit your Week 6 weight! The charts for week 6 will be made tomorrow.
Just dropping by since I haven't logged in a while. I started Nutrisystem less than a week ago so I haven't bothered looking at the scale too much, as I feel like I just need to put it out of my mind and just do as I'm told. One less thing, ya know?
Will there be another challenge coming up after this one?
Charts are top 15 biggest losers! If you want to join the challenge, please go to the first post of the thread and read the rules before joining. If you were already in the challenge and your information is gone from the spreadsheet, it's because you haven't weighed in for more than 2 weeks so you've been moved to Standby. Simply tell me you want back in and I'll move you back into the spreadsheet.
Just dropping by since I haven't logged in a while. I started Nutrisystem less than a week ago so I haven't bothered looking at the scale too much, as I feel like I just need to put it out of my mind and just do as I'm told. One less thing, ya know?
Will there be another challenge coming up after this one?
The next challenge will be in April. I'm contemplating doing a chat/weigh in thread with the same spreadsheet format, but no charts and no challenge element to it for the month in between.
How was your Valentine's day? For us we've been together long enough to not care about going out to fancy meals or buying each other gifts/cards. We just hang out in our PJ's, eat junk food and play video games. It's the best! Yesterday was a cheat DAY, which is so unlike me since I'm usually pretty strict about being healthy most of the day. I had no breakfast, did a 30 minute insanity workout that I mentioned in my last post, then ate a Good Times burger. The whole meal is about 2000 calories, but so good for the soul! We didn't eat for the rest of the day but then got peckish so ate 3 slices of leftover pizza and some candy. Needless to say, it was not a good day, but I don't mind - we rarely do that sort of thing anymore and because of that I allowed myself to enjoy it.
My weight went up to 166 lbs today as a result, so today I'm trying to be more mindful of living healthily and see how it goes. I had a chai tea latte that the BF bought for me (it was unexpected and very sweet of him!) and a banana, then I did a 65 minute barre class. Holy cow, it was tough. The instructor was awesome, everything just made sense and my legs are killing me. I could barely walk when I got out of the car to get into the house! I just had a whole grain tortilla wrap with turkey, lettuce, cucumber, avocado and some hot sauce. I was naughty and had some chips with it, which I had told myself I shouldn't do, so I'm going to get back into that routine tomorrow.
I have 600 calories to play with until the end of the day and I'm going to do my best to count what I eat!
The next challenge will be in April. I'm contemplating doing a chat/weigh in thread with the same spreadsheet format, but no charts and no challenge element to it for the month in between.
That would be nice, it keeps us responsible and social about our goals.
I may drop back into the challenge later, but if not I'll be back in April!
Uuugh, my legs are still sore after yesterdays barre class!! It's my inner thighs, I think I've never worked them before in such an isolated way so they're really screaming at me. I think my core has had enough torture that the pain doesn't feel so bad. I went to a dance class today, I just couldn't get into it with my legs being so stiff! I still went and worked up a little sweat though. So better than nothing!
Yesterday I overate, plain and simple. 100 calories over my limit, no excuses, just felt hungry so I ate. I'm going to see the positive things that I do in the day. Yesterday I 1) Did a really hard workout, 2) Drank all the water I needed to and 3) Counted the calories despite going over. Today my weight is still at 166 lbs, which is expected down to the overeating. Today I hope to stay under my calorie limit and drink water.
Okay, so February has not been a whole lot calmer than January. More responsibility at work is eating up my time. I have still not found that elusive balance yet. Try, try again, right?
Rie: Thanks! I'm hanging in there! Still pretty much maintaining, but honestly, I'll take it right now.
I understand wanting to keep your weight loss away from your real life. I do too. If someone's being a troll online, you block them. If someone's being a troll in your real life, what can you do?
I agree that being positive and supportive of yourself is the way to go. I too respond very badly to negative 'motivation.' I get rebellious. You can absolutely make the changes you want in your life - I've seen people do it. I know you can do it - you're a very motivated and capable person.
Zucena: Can I ask how it is walking to/from work? I'd love to do that, but I often have to carry lots (LOTS) of papers to and from work, and get kind of windblown and not as put-together looking as I was when I left.
I agree - emotions are hard to manage without food a lot of the time. But better, more effective coping methods have to be out there, right?
I've been doing a LOT better and have been getting a ton of running done. In addition to 1 hour walking each day (to/from work), I've been running for an hour with another half hour of walking usually as well. I've been trying to step it up since next Fri-Sun I won't get in any exercise since I'll be too busy hanging out with out of town friends (it truly is nonstop, it's not an excuse). Food has been going pretty well for the most part as I've been mostly eating healthy meals within my calories although I need to bring in snacks for work because I had a bag of cookies yesterday (emotional eating, a friend of friends died and I was feeling sad) and I also need to get better at eating smaller portions which is why I bought a food scale so I can measure things. I definitely need to work on how to handle food when I emotionally feel bad because my first response is to snack and overeat but I've been trying to substitute with talking with friends and reading happy books. Also I've found running is a great way to process my feelings especially a lot of the up and down ones I've had recently (I'm crushing on someone hard and we're talking today on Valentine's Day
).
My decision right now is to go to her funeral if she dies and plans are made before I leave the country. But if she is still alive on Wednesday I think I'm still going to go (I would hate to miss my bahamas trip for nothing!) and just hope that my family will hold off a few days for me once she does die. My mom seems to think they will plan the funeral about 2 days after she dies regardless, which doesn't make sense to me because there are so many people who need to come into town. It's just annoying because I've been excited for this trip for so long, but now only 3 days beforehand I can't even look forward to it because I don't know if I'll be going 
just teasing! Isn't this weather amazing? I was on my way to the gym yesterday and driving by the park I was like what the heck am I doing?! and just pulled over and went for a little run. 
