Hi everyone! I'm just a sliver below 230 this morning (I have an old-fashioned mechanical scale), so I'm starting a "Getting out of the 220's" thread. The 230's went pretty fast for me, I'm so happy. I averaged 2 lbs. per week, so probably 5 weeks. I'm crossing my fingers that I will be in the 210's in October. I am taking a month-long trip which may (or may not) slow weight loss, but I'm going to stay the course and be calm with eating. That is my plan.

Please feel free to join me here on this journey!

I'm going on a month-long trip and tomorrow's the last day to get things done. I am stressed to the max! Wish me luck, everyone.


Calories: 1145
Exercise: Stretching and icing for my sciatica!
Intermittent Fasting: 6 hour eating, 18 hour fasting

I've been traveling for 3 weeks and just weighed myself at the doctor's office. I'm still 229! Even though I haven't lost any weight since I've been gone, I haven't gained any either. I'm going to call that a win!

I am with ya!! Just made it into the 220s...227 to be exact...woo hoo congratulations - it's an adventure

So far today I've done pretty well. I had been doing intermittent fasting and part of that has been breaking my fast around noon. But I've had sciatica for the past month and have been eating a small amount early in the morning before taking Advil as I know you're not supposed to take it on an empty stomach. That has screwed up my IF schedule, but my eating hasn't been too bad considering I'm not home and we've been eating out a lot. Today I felt a little better and postponed the first meal to 11 am, so I can probably do a 16/8 today.

Well, I am FINALLY back home after a 6-week long trip. I didn't gain any weight during the trip, and in fact lost 2 pounds! I really feel fortunate because I had lost 30 pounds pretty quickly (2 lbs a week is "quick" for me), and I thought it might not "stick" but so far so good.

Now that I'm home, it's time to get back to my eating and exercise schedule. I have been exceptionally hungry the last 2 days, so I'm going to eat an early dinner. My plan is that will be it for the day.

One of the things I've discovered in thinking about my eating is that I feel like I have to have a snack around 4:30 pm. It occurred to me that I could just eat dinner around that time (maybe hold out until 5:30 pm), otherwise I ended up eating twice ... once the snack at 4:30 then dinner a couple of hours later. This works great for me if DH is out of town, and I've been moving him to an earlier eating time lately. One of the benefits he has discovered is that his blood sugar has been way lower in the evening than it has historically been (he is diabetic but slim!). So, just by happenstance, it has turned out that he sees the benefit of eating earlier also.

My calories were high today, and I could eat even more right now but I won't. Tomorrow I'm seeing my personal trainer at the gym for the first time since I've been back from this long trip, so I'm hoping that goes well. It has just occurred to me I have literally nothing in the house to eat except canned soup and string cheese, so that will be my meal before I go to the gym. Bon appetit, haha.

Calories: 1846
Intermittent Fasting: 8 hour eating, 16 hour fasting

My appetite is still high since my long 2-month trip. In an effort to tame it, I ate very low carb today. We will see how I feel tomorrow, am hoping it tamps down my appetite.

Atkins bars were on a BOGO sale, and I put two boxes in my cart. I am proud to say I put them back. It's hard for me to stick to one bar AND they have roughtly 200 calories per bar. I figure I could eat an entire small filling meal for 200 calories. Or probably 400 calories since I would eat at least two of them. Yay me.

Calories: 1794
Exercise: Gym weight training with personal trainer
Intermittent Fasting: 10 hour eating, 14 hour fasting (eat breakfast on training day)

My eating time today was relatively compressed, 5 hours. I am still more hungry than I would like, so stuck with the low carb today. Hope that will make a difference in my hunger tomorrow.

Calories: 1812
Exercise: Stretching and rolling and icing my bad leg
Intermittent Fasting: 5 hour eating, 19 hour fasting

Weight down a bit, yay! Leg is really bothering me but I did some stretches and maybe it's better, not sure. Sitting in my recliner, as I'm doing now, makes the pain go away.

What I am doing today in regards to losing weight:
In about an hour, I'm going to water exercise.
I am having lunch around 11:30 or 12.
I am having dinner around 5:00 or 5:30.
I am keeping my calories at 1500 or less.

My eating these past 5 days has been great. Ate under calories for 4 days anyway, somehow I missed tracking a day. I'm down 5 lbs. in 2 1/2 weeks, which is about as fast as I can lose, so I'm very happy about that!!

I haven't been super hungry, and hunger plagued me for some days when I came back from this long trip I took. I have been keeping my carbs relatively low (well, under 100 grams) and I think that helps the hunger.

The still bad thing is I have been struggling with this sciatica or piriformis syndrome. It really kicked in on this trip I took, and I still haven't been able to get it under control. One day last week after the gym it went totally away for a day and I was so happy. But then it came roaring back. Went to the chiro yesterday and he said to go to my doctor and ask for an anti-inflammatory shot right into my piriformis. I already had an appt tomorrow so I shall bring this up then.

So I see the last time I posted on this thread is exactly one month ago. And exactly one month ago I was pretty much the same weight as I am today (arghghg!).

So I thought I would post my plan here to help me get on the fun slide down to a lower weight by the end of the year.

I sort of divide my plan into 4 parts: 1) a compressed eating window of 8 hours maximum, although that's been somewhat of a trial lately because I have leg/hip pain and have to eat before I take an anti-inflammatory so I don't ruin my stomach. 2) counting calories, aiming for 1500 or so. 3) thinking about the body and weight, planning or listening to podcasts or reading to help get the right mindset. 4) exercise. I have a personal trainer 2x per week at the gym and stretch every day. I try to figure out low impact stuff that would fire up the hip/leg pain. I could really plan more of the latter right now, I have been remiss.

To translate for today:
So today, if I eat anything in the morning it will be very small just to be able to take the anti-inflammatory.
Count calories and stay within the 1500 amount. I will write down what I'm going to eat before I eat it, or immediately afterward if I'm out.
Go at least for a short walk or - if I can manage it - water exercise in the pool.
I'm counting this as my thinking for the day as I have a sort of busy day.

I seem to do best when I have an imminent event coming up. I am visiting my brother Dec. 7, and I am so close to being out of the 220's, that I'm pretty sure I will be 219 or below by then. That would be great! I'm putting it out to the universe!