aaah I usually don't weigh in until Fridays, but I just checked tonight and I was at 149.4...what the heck! I know I ate a lot this weekend, more than usual, and it was chinese takeout food so i'm sure the sodium is making me hold water but really! UP 2.2 lbs since last friday? and my goal is 145...geez that's discouraging! but keep plugging away and hopefully the scale will go down soon!

Started walking about a month ago and continued to add time/distance with each week. Now up to 5 miles (fast walk) 2-3 times per week and 2.5 miles on the other days taking one day a week off. The day before yesterday my husband and I figured we had eased into it well enough to add short intervals of jogging. The first 4 mini jogs were fine but by the 5th one we were on a slight incline and wouldn't you know it...chest pain. So we slowed down and after about a minute or two it passed so we just kept walking and skipped the jogging for the day. Well since I had to have a pacemaker implanted for sick sinus syndrome I have to have a little machine next to my bed which alerts me to call doc whenever it sends him a distress message. So I call and go in and sure enough heart rate was off the charts and now more meds and no jogging for me. What I am worried about is that walking won't be enough. Sure I can do strength training as well but nothing that raises my heart rate too much. How do you lose weight when you can't raise your heart rate? I mean of course I will stick to my eating plan no matter what but I'm sure I need more than that. Sorry to vent...it's just so frustrating. I do plan to keep up my walking though...I love it for one thing and I do understand that it is helping the pounds to come off. I'm not really worried about the present time but when I have lost more weight and the loss starts to really slow I know I will need something more and since I have the heart condition even if I lost more weight and got into better shape I still may not be able to do anything more than walk...ugh...:mad:

Still hoping to meet my April goal but we will see by the end of the month if I have to shrink my mini goals from now on.

hey minoja, wow i'm really sorry to hear that news :[ that must be so frustrating and scary at the same time. stay true to your eating plan and be meticulous about the calories and in combination with ANY activity that doesn't get your heart rate too up, i'm SURE you can still reach your goals. there are lots of people on 3fc that i've read posting about how they ONLY modify their diets and do not exercise regularly. your situation is special, so treat it special and make it work for you. i completely believe in you that you can still achieve your goals through diet modification! heck they say diet is 80% and exercise only 20%. that just means your journey may be a bit slower, but your eating habits are gonna be a heck of a lot better than the rest of us! sending hugs and positive vibes your way...stay strong :)

chickadee32, include me, pls!

I'm late but I'd like to join in. I didn't quite make my March goal but was happy to lose even a few pounds, given my crazy work schedule and the unending food at the office.

So, I'm hoping to get to 144 by the end of the month, which will get me halfway to my goal of being under 140 by my birthday in early June.

Good luck, all!

chickadee Thank for the reminder! I forgot I was sick haha.

ailisapearl chug chug chug water! I am sure you can bump that down in a couple of days as long as you eat clean and drink water.

minoja That sounds a bit scary. Sorry you have to take all those meds now. I am sure you can lose weight even without jogging. I know some women who have lost tons of weight with just walking. Its all about calories in versus calories out so as long as you care walking fast and long enough you should be fine.

steph You can do it!

So I went and worked out hard today and it felt great! I watched my calories and feel so nice and strong. We moved into a new house and unpacking is alot of work but its so nice to see it shaping up! Hope you all did well today!

ItsMyTurn: I don't think I realized that you have RA! One of my co-workers does too, and I know the challenges she sometimes faces with it. She is a marathon runner though, so there is still lots of potential. :D (Not that I'm suggesting you run a marathon; despite the fact that I run now I still think those people are slightly crazy, even though I am totally awed by them!) Anyway, your stubbornness is a very admirable quality, and it's going to win!!!

JayTee: I read your reminder about making the day a good one several times today, and I swear it's what made me do my strength exercises tonight even though I've felt totally beat all day today. I just couldn't let the day pass by and tomorrow be regretting not getting the exercise in, you know? Thanks for the nice comment on the photos. :)

viklane: Really happy to hear about the drop! :)

AilsaPearl: Sodium, water, who knows, but you didn't gain that much fat in two days, certainly! I am a daily weigher and so I know how those jumps can impact mood... but you know you kind of asked for it by getting on the scale when you normally wouldn't, right? :lol: It's like when I get on the scale at night after I've eaten a big dinner a few hours earlier - of course it's going to be up!! :) Btw, I hope you know I'm just trying to make you laugh this off, and not worry about this temporary jump - it really doesn't mean anything, as it doesn't accurately reflect any small fat gain that might have come from the takeout. Fear not, and don't get discouraged - things will be back down soon. :)

minoja: I'm SO sorry for that terrible scare, and I'm sorry for all the frustration you must be feeling right now. But you CAN and WILL still lose weight even without getting your heart rate up the way you would with jogging or other more strenuous aerobic activities. Food is a HUGE part of the weight loss equation, and you have a good handle on that; and both the walking and strength exercises will do a lot of good from a health/fitness perspective even without the higher calorie burn of more strenuous cardio exercise. My cardio exercise was almost exclusively walking for the first ~7 months of my weight loss, and I think it worked great for me. Remember too that as you continue to slowly increase your cardiovascular capacity with the walking, your heart rate will be lower at the same level of exertion... so you should actually be able to increase what you're doing in time. :hug:

Princess Sophia: Oops, sorry, I missed you when I was working on that long post at the same time you posted! I added you below - good luck this month! :)

Steph: I think you did awesome last month considering the challenges at work! I am looking forward for you to having things slow down soon. :)

sun: Glad you're feeling so good!! Reading about all the work you're doing with the move, I can't help but think about all those extra calories you're burning with all the added activity. :D It's official: my thought process has been forever altered (warped? :lol:) by this whole weight loss experience!


Updated April Weight Loss Goal List

minoja75: Get to 229 lbs
InControl2Day: Get and stay below 125 lbs
aniela26: Get under 205 lbs
philana: Get to 135 lbs
PaintedButterfly: Lose 4 lbs
viklane: Get to 222.1 lbs
nicolae: Get to 174 lbs
dcapulet: Lose 8 lbs
Aunrio: Lose 1 lb per week
KymmLynn: Lose 8-10 lbs
Jester: Lose 5 lbs
JayTee: Lose 10 lbs
hbr777: Lose 3 lbs
AilsaPearl: Get to and stay below 145 lbs
ItsMyTurn: Get to 187 lbs
ashori602: Get to 166.6 lbs
Marniadec: Lose 4.6 lbs
amanda1230: Lose 5 lbs
delyn: Get to 150 lbs
gardenerjoy: Be under 75.1 kgs for 14 days or more
LeeciesLosingIt: Lose 10 lbs or more
chickadee32: Get below 140 lbs
KaylaxoLynn: Get to 244 lbs
sun: Get to 168 lbs
PrincessSophia: Get to 135 lbs
Steph7409: Get to 144 lbs

Btw, the Athenos whole wheat baked pita chips I bought recently are killing me. They aren't that terrible for you other than being a bunch of unnecessary carbs, and I've only consumed about half of the 9 serving bag in a week and a half, but those ~500-600 calories that I probably didn't need over the past week and a half are still going to add up. I can't stop eating them though! I lay in bed at night and think about them, and every time I open the pantry I just have to grab a few. The sodium content isn't that high but they taste really salty to me, and my body must be craving salt or something because d*mn that saltiness tastes soooo good. I'm not going to be able to buy them again; I just can't trust myself with them. :(

Taking my own advice today ... ONE freaking day at a time! HATE that I regained 15-20 of what I lost, but I WILL drag my sorry, ever expanding a** to the gym and spend an additional 10 minutes on the stairmaster to make up for the salty chips I put in my mouth last night! Like Chick, the voices of saltiness keep me company. Like unwelcome house guests, I must tell them to leave!

You can do it today, Sarge!!


This morning, out of nowhere, 2.2 lbs whooshed off. What?? I haven't seen a whoosh like that in ages. All water I was holding on to, I'm sure, but woohoo!!

Thank you AlisaPearl, sun and chickadee...I am going to try to focus on my eating and just walk as often as possible. I really love this site because heart condition or not there are so many on here that understand what I am going through and who have had similar obstacles in their way. The ability to vent to others who know a little about what I am dealing with is the biggest support system in the world. I am thankful for all the positive feedback, I think if I didn't come here I would probably find myself sitting in bed with a tub of ice cream feeling sorry for myself...instead I feel motivated to keep moving forward!

Good luck to you all as well and chickadee I hope those pita chips will soon release their hold on you! I know about salt cravings...sometimes I will add some tomato slices to my salad just to salt them up and get my fix...the only thing it doesn't provide is the crispyness of the usual deliciously salty snack.

chickadee: thanks for setting up the thread and keeping a nice list, that helps! I know what you mean about salty-ness. It's my biggest craving - though strangely enough I am able to not touch them and instead am grabbing sweet stuff left and right just because my mom bought it. Sweet stuff is so not my craving. So why? UHG.

JayTee: You can do it! You lost them once before, so why not again? ;) Just doing it twice to make sure you are doin it right! hihi

sun: goodluck with the unpacking, that usually takes me forever. I always htrow out one or 2 boxes during the next move becaue they never got unpacked so I figured I don't need the stuff that's in them. lol

---
I am going only slightly nuts. I've been exercising so much the past 3,5 weeks, I've been eating on plan for atleast 3 weeks of those 3,5. And for the past week and a half for sure. But my weight is at 141/142 for about 2 weeks now. UHG! I know I need to be patient, but my scale can show incremental changes and it's not showing me any movement. That is sort of annoying. I don't need to drop pounds and pounds, but atleast half a pound would be nice. lol.

I'll be fine. I feel a bit icky today so I don't know what to eat. I just had a peanutbutter jelly sandwich. Hope it helps. I somehow always think it helps settle my stomach but so far no effect.

I'm on day 3 of the 14 days to weigh below 75.1 in April. Yay!

AlisaPearl: Yep, it happens. I "gained" 5 pounds in 24 hours with a Japanese lunch one memorable day. It was all gone 3 days later. Hang tough!

minoja75: I don't run. I tried when I first started this journey but I come up lame every time with Ilio Tibial Band Syndrome. It is possible to get in great shape without running. I really think I see better scale results with long slow workouts than with short intense ones. If you can manage to work up to an hour's walk each day and throw in some strength training, you'll see dramatic results! And, even if you don't manage quite that much, you'll get there eventually.

philana: it's not uncommon to get a stall after you've lost a significant amount as you have -- it's just your body adjusting to its new dimensions. If you get bored with it, change up something. Eat some nuts when you would ordinarily have something more starchy or eat a fruit instead of whatever sweet thing your mom's been bringing in. Sometimes a small change like that will make a difference (or at least keep you entertained).

10lbs down or to 160 strong, but I doubt it ...will work for food!

3/31 -1640.
4/1 - ?
4/2 - 170.2
4/3 - 168.2
4/4 - 164.4 (it's obvious that I currently have some H2O issues)

The thing is, I lost the first 22lbs last summer, then I went on a maintenance break, when I got back at the end of Jan I could not really find my groove but I did lose another 3 lbs. But ever since then I've been around the same weight. I've been offplan for 3 weeks in that time so I lost 4lbs of gained waterweight 3 weeks ago. But other than that the past 2 months have been about the same.

I have no set eating pattern. One day I'll be into beans and salad, the next day my mom cooks something nice with meat the other day I'll have a mix of everything. I eat few carbs but sometimes I eat a bunch. (140g is a lot for me!).

Oh well! Haha. I will be fine eventually. The reason I'm frustrated is because I know how weightloss works and what can cause the stalls but none seem to apply to me. I am either overlooking something or my body is holding onto water like it has never done before.

Well here I am again. If the scale doesn't move down in April I am taking a sledgehammer to it, fer shure.

SW: 156
GW: for the damn scale to move down, I will take anything at this point

@loose seal....i'm right there with you! if the darned scale doesn't move down soon it has somethin else coming.... good luck!

Not my official weigh in day but couldn't keep myself from the scale this morning! Lost 3 more pounds! Definitely helps put me in a better frame of mind no matter what new obstacles were thrown in front of me.

Good luck everyone!

I'm thinking sledgehammer, explosives or hurling it off of the roof! :lol:

Good luck to you too! I just keep telling myself "it has to move, it has to move" . . . doesn't it? :dizzy:

I'm a few days late, but I'm ready to jump in!

My goal for April is 7lbs lost.

Hi everyone! Weighing in today at 235.5 (-2.3) - so on my way to 229!

I'm having a good month so far, down to 146.6 - normal BMI, woot!

No weight loss this week to report but I know I'm retaining water, yuck. So next week I should see a decent drop.

To jump start my weight loss I joined a boot camp class in my area. I start tommorrow. I'm super excited for a couple reasons:
1. I'll have to go otherwise I'll have wasted money and I'm way too cheap for that.
2. The class is at 6 am. I'm a early bird and I function better if I get moving early. I have to break out of the lazy spell I've gotten into.

I wish I could bottle this excitement to last me all month, lol

Steph7409: Yay for normal BMI! That's a great achievement!

I've had 5 days below 75.1kg (of the 14 days in April that's my goal). Today I hit a new low!

Really sorry I'm so far behind, all. Passover begins tonight, and I've been cooking up a storm! Working right now on try #2 of one of my three desserts for tomorrow night; adapting desserts for passover is tough enough, plus there's the added challenge of one person who can't have any dairy and one person who is allergic to sugar. Oy. (Argh, and the plum kuchen is not looking right in the oven!!! I can't freaking figure out how to modify it to make it work. Will have to try out another variation again tonight, grrrrrr.)

minoja: I looove tomatoes with salt too, mmmm, especially some nice large sea salt crystals. I usually want olive oil on them too though, lol. Congrats on the 3 lbs!!

philana: I totally understand the on the stuff your mom has. Seriously, my biggest problem with eating is that I will STILL eat, or want to eat, just about anything that's in front of me, whether I really want that food or not, and whether I'm hungry or not. Sitting at a dinner table that still has food on it feels like torture.

SBD Sass and MonteCristo: Welcome! I've added you both to the goal list below. :)

loose seal: I'm glad you're back with us again. :) I know how frustrating it can be... I'm just keeping my fingers crossed for you that this d*mn plateau is over soon!

dcapulet: Woohoo, nice loss!

Steph: Congratulations on the normal BMI!!! SO huge!! :carrot:

KymmLynn: Have fun with those early mornings!! I am SO not a morning person, lol - a class that early would kill me!

gardenerjoy: YAY on the new low!!! That's fantastic!


OK, I'm going to try try try not to way overeat tonight. It's already been a not so good day (I had intended to eat SUPER lightly before tonight, but I'm probably at 600 cals already), and the holiday meal is going to be rough, but I'm going to do my best to keep it within reason - well, reason plus a little bit of wine. :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!! If I don't check in tomorrow (so much baking to do) I will be back on Sunday.


Updated April Weight Loss Goal List

minoja75: Get to 229 lbs
InControl2Day: Get and stay below 125 lbs
aniela26: Get under 205 lbs
philana: Get to 135 lbs
PaintedButterfly: Lose 4 lbs
viklane: Get to 222.1 lbs
nicolae: Get to 174 lbs
dcapulet: Lose 8 lbs
Aunrio: Lose 1 lb per week
KymmLynn: Lose 8-10 lbs
Jester: Lose 5 lbs
JayTee: Lose 10 lbs
hbr777: Lose 3 lbs
AilsaPearl: Get to and stay below 145 lbs
ItsMyTurn: Get to 187 lbs
ashori602: Get to 166.6 lbs
Marniadec: Lose 4.6 lbs
amanda1230: Lose 5 lbs
delyn: Get to 150 lbs
gardenerjoy: Be under 75.1 kgs for 14 days or more
LeeciesLosingIt: Lose 10 lbs or more
chickadee32: Get below 140 lbs
KaylaxoLynn: Get to 244 lbs
sun: Get to 168 lbs
PrincessSophia: Get to 135 lbs
Steph7409: Get to 144 lbs
SBD Sass: Lose 10 lbs or get to 160 lbs
loose seal: Seeing the scale go down!
MonteCristo: Lose 7 lbs

Down 1.5 lbs at this morning's weigh in for a new low of 206.5 - well on my way to my April goal of <205!

Good luck to everyone trying to stay on track this weekend!!

chickadee -- thanks for adding me!

I am having a really bad time this weekend! I have been on the verge of binging since thursday and I am just trying really hard not to! I have overeaten the past two days, Friday, and even though its only 12 PM saturday i've already eaten all my daily calories and then some. Hmph, no wonder the scale isn't moving down. being alone at college when my friends are celebrating easter with their families at home has really just made me want to do nothing but eat. but I will not let these 2 bad days turn into more than that. tomorrow I will be back on plan, actually right now I will be back on plan, and I will forget about this overeating frenzy. grr

AlisaPearl: yes, this: actually right now I will be back on plan. Although, I suggest a light supper, because you don't want to put yourself in a position late tonight of being too hungry.
It sucks being alone when you're friends are all off for a holiday. Is there any way to turn that to a good thing? Something that you enjoy doing alone or that none of your friends enjoy? Some possibilities: a long walk, a trip to a botanical garden or a park or a museum, hours on Pinterest or some other cool website, a good book, knitting or some other handcraft while watching a marathon of movies or old TV shows.

Thank you so much for the response gardenerjoy, I just worked on some homework and ended up alright. Tomorrow is a new day and I am going to work on taking it one day, one meal at a time! sometimes it's stressful and exhausting thinking i have __ amount of lbs left to lose, so i'm going to tackle each day and celebrate the small(er) non scale successes! :) thanks so much

OMG I am so freakin behind! I have been socializing soo much lately! Its unreal. Which means I was not eating well. aRGH~ I am almost afraid to weigh myself on Monday! Well aleast spring break is over and things will go back to normal next week. Sorry everyone for not catching up on the personals. Will check in tomorrow.

Arghhhhhhh! Not gonna lie, only dropped .5 this week. TIME TO GET SERIOUS and return to journaling consumption. Like Allison Sweeny said in a recent article, "if you nibble it, scribble it" Oh well, 9.5 to go this month...git r' done!

Finally gave up my stone age scale and bought a new one and wouldn't you know it my old one was almost 10 pounds off...and of course not 10 pounds heavier but 10 pounds lighter so I really have had almost 10 more pounds on this body since the start. Had to change all my goals, ticker and attitude. I won't give up because of this no matter how negative I feel right now. :(

Just to be sure of it's accuracy, I weighed myself on a few other scales which I haven't done before or else I would have known a for a while that it was wrong.

Just keep swimming just keep swimming... ... ... ...

The only other thing that is really keeping me going is my inch loss...that is awesome!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Chickadee - I totally understand working around food restrictions with cooking. Youngest DD and I can't do dairy (lactose)...and my DH can't have anything creamy due to a preservative in it that he is deathly allergic to (so no mayo, cream cheese, or even a ranch dressing, etc). It does make things challenging - but impressed you are doing so much for your Easter :)

I had also made a goal for myself to do 60 miles this month and am totally on track after doing 4.2 miles yesterday added towards it. However, get on scale today and up 2 lbs??? You would think as busy as I stay, that I would be a rail by now, :lol: It's cool though, there is something holding me back and it's not my fitness. My body is obviously still reshaping - over 7" just off waist since my plateau started...and yesterday my DH actually referred to me as skinny. Just about peed myself laughing, but love that his "old eyes" see things in that way, :rofl: Here is hoping some more tweaking will make the numbers fall a bit next week though :)

minoja75, the same thing had happened to me. I thought that I weighed 165 lbs and then I got a new scale and it said 197.6. I know exactly how you feel. I managed to get in a dress I had tailored for me when I weighed ~165 and it fit very well, even though I was already wearing clothes underneath. I almost cried, but I will feel bad over it forever. Please, don't be as stupid as I am. What matters is that you lost 34 lbs and that you're still going.

Despite 2 bad days, I'm at 189.2 today. Well ~189, because my scale is broken and I'm using my parents' scale which isn't digital, but it is accurate. I double-checked.:p So, I'm about 1 lb less than my goal. I hope the s**t I ate today doesn't catch up by tomorrow...

Happy Easter to all those celebrating it!! :easter3:

aniela26: Nice job in the first week of the month! It seems like you're well on your way!

Alisa: :hug: I'm glad you made it through last night ok. How are things going today?

sun: All the social events and meals around holidays can be HARD. Just get right back on the wagon this week and you'll be fine!

JayTee: You lost something and that's a start; better than going in the other direction, right? Any interest in posting your food log here for extra accountability? I was thinking about doing it to keep myself honest during Passover (when the only convenience foods I can eat are high-calorie crap with no nutritional value, and I DON'T want to eat that stuff!!), if others here wouldn't mind.

minoja: Ugh, I can imagine that was really disheartening with the scale, but the inch lost shows that you've been losing and you're going in the right direction! KEEP GOING, no matter what - you will get to where you want to be if only you don't give up. :hug:

ItsMyTurn: 7 inches, WOW!! That's fantastic! No wonder your husband is calling you skinny. :) All that activity is doing you well, clearly! The scale sometimes jumps up for me when I up my weekly mileage, so don't get discouraged... probably just a bit of extra water and it'll go back down when your body adjusts.

Marniadec: It's great that your ahead of your goal for this week!! And if you're worried about what you ate today, just skip the scale for a few days. Easier said than done, I know, but if you have a tiny true gain from today chances are it will be gone within another few days.


I ate SO much better during the day yesterday and at last night's seder than I did on Friday, so I'm really happy about that. Also got in close to 12 miles running and walking this weekend, so that extra calorie burn should help too. I'm going home to visit family and friends next weekend (makeup trip from last weekend) and I really want to look nice... my friends haven't seen me since August when I was ~50 lbs heavier, and a few extended family members haven't seen me since before I began losing weight! Given that my weight hasn't been this low since I was 13 years old (and a few inches shorter at the time), none of them have ever seen me at a "normal" weight, and so I'm looking forward to surprising people. :)

chickadee, I hear ya about surprising people. This is the time of year when I meet with clients and it's been nice to hear their compliments, since most of them have only seen me heavy.

I'm hanging in around 147, which is good considering how much snacking I've been doing. One more week of crazy work hours and then I can get back to my more controlled eating. I'm pretty proud of myself for actually having lost weight during busy season but I don't want to get complacent.

Wishing everyone success this week!

I am trying so hard not to let it get to me but 10 pounds is a lot! Sorry about your luck with the scale too. Wish you luck on your next weigh in!

Thank you chickadee for the pep talk it is greatly needed and appreciated! I am sure your family is going to be so happy to see your great progress.

chicadee, right, I will try to not weigh myself every time I see the scale, I'm good at that.:p I know that I'll make up for it this week as I'll be fasting, so I'm not really beating myself over it. I met people I haven't seen in years yesterday. I was wearing a dress that was just above the knee and they were all going on and on about how I'm showing my legs, it was awesome! I also have an aunt who is always competing with my mom over who the best parent is. The one thing my mom had failed at, was raising a thin daughter. And now she's about to get herself one. I quite enjoyed the way she was staring at me. Not to mention the way my mom was bragging.:p


minoja, 10 lbs is less than 24. Trust me, don't let it get to you. What matters is that you do put in the work and you do see results. Good luck on your next weigh in, too!