This is a continuation of the 2023 thread. All are welcome to join in. No rules. Just chose your goal and state how you plan to achieve it. We help each other as we go!

I'll start. I did not reach my weight goal for 2023, not even close. I had a good drop to 165 after my heart procedure but have regained to 177 as of this morning. I still haven't started back exercising as I'm still feeling fatigued but am becoming more active gradually. I'm going to aim for 140 which would make me happy and healthier. I don't plan on following any particular weight loss plan except to avoid eating when not hungry, snacking because its available. I normally avoid sweets because of my diabetes and any weight loss will be a welcome improvement. I see both doctors in June and hope to show an improvement by then!

Lets go!

Wannabehealthy Thank you for starting the new year's thread! If I were to give you any advice, it would be to write down what you eat and the calories. That is what I have done every day for over 3 years now. It keeps me "honest." I can forget (for example) an extra coffee with creamer I had earlier. Those extra little calories add up way too fast unfortunately. -


I saw that when I went to the beginning of last years thread that I was 161.6 and had a goal of 155. Today I was 145.2 so I made that goal! Believe me when I say nobody is more amazed than I am. My goal for 2024 is to keep doing what I am doing and weight loss wise I will say 140 is the goal. I really am happy with where I am, but of course a few more pounds will be even better. KStrong Please check in with us, I hope all is well.

L&Lsmom I do record my food on My Fitness Pal and it keeps track of my calories, carbs, fat, protein ,sodium. It is not exact, really just an estimate because you can enter a food and get 3 or 4 items with different calorie counts. And its hard to enter home made foods because of the varied ingredients. But I'm ok with an estimate. I eat between 1200-1500 calories per day. MFP keeps track of your days streak and I've done this for over 1500 days straight. I like being able to go back and see what I ate on days like Thanksgiving for example. I started this years ago. I have a couple notebooks where I entered each day my vitals, weight, blood sugar, blood pressure. Then I entered my food and calories which I had to look up online and what exercise I did and for how long. I was anal about it!! And when I got bloodwork done I entered my results. I could see how my diet and exercise affected my blood work readings. I was on another weight loss forum and there were several of us doing this. Then that forum closed and I lost track of those people. I also lost my committment, or might I say my obsession. I think I was a lot healthier when I did that, or maybe that was before I learned about my health issues, most of which are hereditary.

I found my old account and read my 2014-2016 posts for motivation.

MY goal is about 40 pounds this year. I am a chronic binger and have gained about 25 pounds in the last year.

Would love to post regularly.

mollyw Welcome aboard! Please do post regularly! It really seems to help me, almost like therapy...getting your thoughts out, posting goals and meeting them, etc...


Wannabehealthy I know what you mean about making home made food and recording the calories. I do a lot of that myself. I will jot down all the calories in a food when making it and then divide by the number of servings as best I can to get a decent estimate of the calories in a given meal. I also know what you mean about being anal about it. Same here! Writing this down really does keep me honest and I see why WW gives people those little paper journals to record their intake. I wish I truly got this concept decades ago.


Today I weighed 146.6. It's a constant up or down a pound or two sometimes in a single day. I am still happy honestly though. I could never have imagined me being in the 190's years ago let alone the 140's!!

I was locked out of the forum for 2 days and I don't know why. I am not sure how I got back in.

Welcome Molly! I look forward to learning more about you and your weight loss journey.

My weight has been 173 for 4 days in a row. Thats unusual for me.

I hope Kstrong is ok and will come back to post with us.

My weight bounced up to 176 overnight!! Grrrr. I'm hoping its just fluid weight and is gone tomorrow! This is NOT helping me get to goal!!

Wannabehealthy Ugg I am sorry it bounced back up! I can see it go up sometimes 2 or 3 pounds in a day but I figure it's a day I had too much sodium so it's water retention or of course too many carbs which also leads to water weight. I also hope KStrong is OK and comes back soon!

My weight gradually went back down to 173 but I want to continue down. I feel like I'm getting more energy so I will try exercising today. I have a bit of pain in my left side. Can't be appendix cuz that's already gone! I googled and appendix is right side. Several other things are left side. I'll have to watch and see.

Wannabehealthy I am glad to see the scale is going down for you! I was going to say maybe you can get down to 170 by the end of January but now I realize this month is flying by and it's already the 23rd! Maybe you can by Valentines Day? It's always good to have a mini goal to focus on along the way.


I am down to 145.8 today. Of course it varies somewhat. Yesterday it was 145.6. It has been as low as 145.0 in September but that was literally a day that it stayed that low. I do realize I will have to either start exercising or lower the calories a bit if I want to actually get to 140. Honestly though, I am happy that it's below 150. It's surreal sometimes.


Please check in mollyw and KStrong!

L&Lsmom, I understand what you are,saying about setting mini goals. I've had a problem with goals in the past. I rarely reach them and that causes extreme mental stress for me. I can be really hard on myself about things. I have the best success when I just have a goal to weigh less than I do today.

My weight is still up. Im running around 174 the past few days. Its not a gain where people would look at me and say I gained weight,but a couple pounds here and a couple pounds there adds up to more than a couple pounds over time. I do need to get this under control. A lot of this comes from the way my husband eats. He eats often but small amounts. I have a habit of eating when I eat plus when he eats. Sometimes it is ok but sometimes not. I have to keep reminding myself I'm down from 217 and have not been near that for years but the number does bounce a lot. I seem to just accept that that's me and how its going to be. I guess if the end result is down its ok.

I really hope Kstrong is ok. Maybe she has just chosen not to continue here and that's ok.

Happy February!

I see it's been just over a week since I've posted and ironically I am the same exact weight as I was on January 23rd. If I posted daily it would be a snooze fest. Up a pound, down .6, up .4, down a pound...LOL My sister told me tonight that she and her husband are doing intermittent fasting and low carbs to lose weight and so far are successful. It's funny because I felt like a diet coach..."do you think you can do this long term to keep it off?" I think part of their problem is they eat out so much and travel a lot, etc..If you aren't making most of your meals or you don't plan ahead it's a calorie-carbs land mine out there. Now they will be more aware of what they are eating and maybe eating at home more they will save a lot of money too.


Wannabehealthy Don't be so hard on yourself with your goals...you know you've got this and will be at 45 pounds down. It's amazing that being only 100 calories a day less than needed to maintain your weight could mean being down two to three pounds in a month. Of course the opposite is unfortunately true. We can eat 100 calories MORE than needed and be up a few pounds in the same month. Oh well, we will persevere and keep trying!

I hope KStrong is OK too, KStrong if you see this...we sure do miss you girl!


Here is a video link of what five pounds of fat looks like. This might inspire us all to lose or keep losing some fat.

That 5 lbs of fat is on my belly right now!!

My weight is still bouncing up and down the same few pounds. Today I'm 174 but was 177 yesterday. If I post daily it will be like a see saw. Its fluid I'm sure, but I need to change something.

After our discussion about goals, I've been thinking I need short term goals. Although they haven't worked for me in the past I need to change my mindset to make them work now. Working toward a goal 10 months away doesn't work for me either. I think I will make a goal to lose 4 lbs a month. I just need to change my strategy. So I'm aiming for 170 by Feb 29. I think this is a leap year. .

I ordered a new exercise machine. It is a Teeter Free Step. I used something similar in cardiac rehab and I loved it. I would zone out and ended up going over my 15 minute time. It will be here on Tuesday. We have to be sure we are home and meet them in the driveway so they don't bring it up the steps to the front door. DH will bring it thru the garage to my exercise room in the basement. Then the fun job of assembly. Hopefully we just need to add the handles and foot pedals. I feel I need something new to get my exercise enthusiasm back. DH said he will use it too.

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hello!

Wannabehealthy did you get your Teeter and get it assembled? It's great you found something you'd like to use and it will encourage you to exercise and strengthen your heart! I am the same with the weight loss see saw...today I was 147.4. I have learned I can be "good" with my calories but my weight will still go up do to fluid retention, etc...like you said. I am trying to keep my calories more in line right now since I know next week is Superbowl and Valentine's Day. Both are excuses in my family to have some junk food and treats. I am better now with having some treats and not LOTS of them so the uptick will be just temporary.