Weekly Post 29.8 - 2.9.2017

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Meghan509
Meghan509 Posts: 1,964 Member
Getting us started this week!
Back in a moment with a post. :)
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  • Meghan509
    Meghan509 Posts: 1,964 Member
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    Good morning everybody!

    Hope you all had a nice weekend. I was not online in here, sorry about that. Not sure where the time went! :o
    Friday night we went out to dinner with an old friend of mine. That was really nice. This is an old friend from my home town who I had not seen in a million years!

    Saturday we got a bunch of errands done. Sunday most of the same. Weather was beautiful! Supposed to be like this for the whole week! We are off on Monday for Labor Day on Monday, September 4. I am taking this Friday off to make it an even longer weekend. Got to enjoy the nice summer weather while we can darn it!

    Hoping to get up to the Factory Outlets soon (maybe this weekend) to do a little shopping. They have the Nike, Under Urmour, Adidas, Puma, etc. up there. All kinds of good deals. My guy and I could both use some new sneakers for the gym as well as some new stuff for the fall. I try and buy sneakers once a year each fall. Longer sleeves and pants will be needed in a few more months. Boo! My guy's old gym pants are all too big now. His shorts are loose too. Weight loss problems. LOL

    Light Day is going on today. I am changing this up and basically upping my calories a little going forward. I have decided I am not going to drink vanilla Cashew Milk in my coffee anymore in the AM. I am going to stick with 2% milk. By doing that my calories will be higher but hey, it is what it is. I just can't stand the taste of Cashew Milk in coffee and the thought of it is making me ill. Time to change up!

    Hoping everybody has a good week - fasting or not fasting. But, tracking those calories right?! Saw the post about what happened last week. We've all been there... You got this! :)

    Have a good one all. Check in with you soon.
  • Marmitegeoff
    Marmitegeoff Posts: 373 Member
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    I really need to get back to this. Some of you may remember the bloke who cycled long distances. He got Atrial Flutter and has had 2 cardioversion's. I am now up to have a pacemaker fitted in three weeks time. It is 30 months since I have done a decent bike ride, the drugs I am on have limited my efforts in this field. This has put me into a very dark place. I am hoping that the pacemaker will enable me to drop some of the pills and get back to the recreation that I enjoy.

    I have almost kept up with the 5:2 system but with a bit of grazing in between. This now has to stop. I will now check in most days.

    Geoff
  • Meghan509
    Meghan509 Posts: 1,964 Member
    edited August 2017
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    Hi Geoff,

    Sorry to hear about your health issues. :( Ugh, that is no fun.
    Maybe as far as exercise goes, you can get back on track with a little light walking and take it from there?

    I hear you about grazing. I have been there. We are all here to help one another. Let me tell you about my journey. I started at my highest weight of 240 pounds, back in February of 2012. I am a five foot four inch female, so that is a lot for my medium sized frame. I was just shy of 40 years old and my MD was tired of giving me the riot act each time he saw me for my yearly physical. I started eating healthy and going to the gym. Basically just eating less, counting calories, dabbling in a little Weight Watchers and by the summer of 2014 I was down in the upper 170's and feeling better and getting all kinds of compliments. Great.
    Fast forward to spring of 2015 when I get told about a health scare of my own. Just shy of age 42 by then. Weight starts going up. Slacking off ensues. Surgery scheduled for May of 2015. I get the all clear that I will be okay. Phew. Have to figure out a new and healthier diet now that I have had this surgery and I am now a cancer survivor. Weight continues to rise, slacking continues. For the most part over eating eating healthy food and not counting any calories. Over eating other stuff as well with large portions (pasta, desserts, etc. etc.) All adds up. Also was not consistently going to the gym.
    March of 2017 I read about 5:2. By then my weight had crept up to 218. Almost 45 years old. I got this. Time to get serious! I start and get rolling... Added in Intermittent Fasting eating windows on my non light days 12pm - 8pm or 1pm to 9pm depending on what's going on. Get back to the gym six days a week. Get my guy on board with me. I am down 36 pounds since late March. He is down just shy of 50. Total loss for me since 2012 - 56 pounds. Still have more to go, but I am on my way. Slow and steady wins the race. B)
    Phew!
  • ckmama
    ckmama Posts: 1,668 Member
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    @Marmitegeoff so sorry to hear what is going on. I hope the surgery will put you back to cycling again. My brother in law does 100 mile bike rides he loves them.

  • ckmama
    ckmama Posts: 1,668 Member
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    Well I had to make an adjustment today. We are watching and waiting on Harvey here in LA. After flooding last year almost exactly it has brought back so much anxiety and stress. So I opted to make today a regular day 2000 calories and move my fasting to Thursday and Saturday this week. I like how it is flexible. No point in amping my stress level when I don't have too.

    I am also hoping fasting will help a health issue I am having but I know it will take longer than 3 weeks to see that.
  • Marmitegeoff
    Marmitegeoff Posts: 373 Member
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    ckmama wrote: »
    @Marmitegeoff so sorry to hear what is going on. I hope the surgery will put you back to cycling again. My brother in law does 100 mile bike rides he loves them.
    100 mile bike rides are horrendously addictive. I have been addicted for about 17 years, and then to have to quite cold turkey is no fun at all.

    I have also ditched the fitbit, I have had several and all of them come up with connection problems, or charging issues. I am trying one from Garmin. it is not the latest offering as I do not need all the latest features. just a pedometer and tracker. And it had lots of good reviews.

    Re walking I am trying to do at least 10k steps a day. as well as a weights session most days.

    Now off for an early morning walk. I will log in later, but it is a fast day today so should only need to log this evenings meal.

    Geoff

  • Meghan509
    Meghan509 Posts: 1,964 Member
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    Hi guys,

    Thinking of everbody down in Texas, Louisiana, and in the south. Even my family in FL are having heavy rains and flooding. :(

    We are good for a hurricane or a Nor'Easter as they are known up in these parts once in a while, here along the east coast. The last bad one we had was Hurricane Sandy. We were very lucky in my part of town that we hardly even lost power and we didn't have the flooding or the tide surges that they were expecting. People were out of electricity for a long time. Not good at all... :(

    I had a similiar experience with Fitbit Geoff. Not impressed. It crapped out on my after less than a year. They offered me a discount on a new one but I didn't jump on it because I saw the writing on the wall - new one would eventually crap out too. Friends at work have had similiar issues with their's crapping out too. Some on the rather new side. So I figured who really cares if I walk 10,000 steps or not LOL. If I go to the gym I know I am good for that many steps. If I don't go then I don't walk that many. Just saved myself $100 USD. LOL But, I am still tempted to check out the other types because now that we are going to the gym six days a week it is kinda nice and fun to have an idea how you are doing. Let me know how it works out with the Garmin. :)

    My Light Day went well yesterday. I was able to skip my afternoon fruit snack, which was good. Trying to keep my calories low as I can, now that I added 2% milk in my coffee in the AM... Sometimes I am a little hungry in the afternoon. Yesterday I wasn't. Next Light Day is Thursday. Regular days today and tomorrow. Hopefully the scale is friendly on Friday AM. Going to the gym tonight but probably not tomorrow. Going out tomorrow for a coworker to send her off. Planning on only have two light beers and no appetizers to keep calories low. Will eat healthy dinner at home. Ugh. Hard to be healthy and social during the week! I try to save fun for weekends only. Sigh.

    Hope everybody has a nice day. I will check in with you guys soon.
  • flossyruby1
    flossyruby1 Posts: 337 Member
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    GEOFF!!! So good to 'see' you! I'm so sorry...2 cardioversions and now a PM? Bummer. But the PM will help regulate your heart rate and will (hopefully) make you feel normal. Atrial flutter can cause you to feel weird, although many people are asymptomatic. But if you are symptomatic, the PM will help. It's a fairly minor procedure and will probably help to decrease/eliminate meds. The drugs that are available to help tame the heart rate can really do a number. Unfortunately, in order to keep the HR in control, it means dampening the HR response to exercise, which feels really abnormal. You'll be back to your centuries in no time!
  • Marmitegeoff
    Marmitegeoff Posts: 373 Member
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    Thanks Flossy, at first I was very apprehensive, not about the insertion, but the effects, but doing a bit of reading, has allied some of the fears, and it can always be reprogrammed to suite my needs, I think.

    Fast day turned into a light day, but there is always Thursday. The exercise routines are now beginning to bed in. I am seconded to Jury Duty next week so I will have to change my timings a bit, I am thinking of spinning first thing, then weights in the evening. There will not be enough time for a walk, and we are not allowed out midday, so no walk then. Oh well only 2 weeks.

    Geoff
  • jknight001
    jknight001 Posts: 745 Member
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    Last week (my first week back) went well, fasts and all. Didn't lose any weight to speak of but did notice changes in inches. Hoping I will see the scale budge at least a little bit this week. If not, I will have to reassess my non-fast calorie level. :disappointed:

    @Marmitegeoff - Welcome back! I remember you from my first go around. Glad you are taking steps all the way around toward health. I actually have heard that the PMs can make people feel more energetic because the heart is beating regularly again. So cool how the technology has changed. With my mom's PM, she can dial into the doctors office and they have equipment that can connect to the PM over the phone and make adjustments. Wishing you well on your upcoming PM surgery.

    @Meghan509 - have you tried almond milk in your coffee. Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla is only 30cals per cup. I put 1/3 cup in my coffee and love the flavor it adds. Or perhaps nut milks are just not your thing? On the FitBit - I think is is so funny that when companies offer a discount on the same model that just broke. Talk about throwing good money after bad! :wink: I have been using the MapMyWalk app. You can put is on your phone or tablet (for FREE), start a "workout" (basically a walk) and it will automatically log all of your steps during the day. Since it uses GPS it should not incur data charges.
  • hannahbananna80
    hannahbananna80 Posts: 21 Member
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    Hi, first week back after a couple of years. Quick question, I have tried to log today's fasting day but i got a message on mfp saying it won't generate a news feed or predict future weight loss. It used to still log it tho but i can only go back to the diary page. Is it still logged ok?
  • Marmitegeoff
    Marmitegeoff Posts: 373 Member
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    Hi, first week back after a couple of years. Quick question, I have tried to log today's fasting day but i got a message on mfp saying it won't generate a news feed or predict future weight loss. It used to still log it tho but i can only go back to the diary page. Is it still logged ok?

    My dirty fix is to log a day as it happens, then quick add calories to just under the remainder, then complete the day, then remove the quick add calories, it keeps the totals correct.

  • Meghan509
    Meghan509 Posts: 1,964 Member
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    jknight001 wrote: »

    @Meghan509 - have you tried almond milk in your coffee. Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla is only 30cals per cup. I put 1/3 cup in my coffee and love the flavor it adds. Or perhaps nut milks are just not your thing? On the FitBit - I think is is so funny that when companies offer a discount on the same model that just broke. Talk about throwing good money after bad! :wink: I have been using the MapMyWalk app. You can put is on your phone or tablet (for FREE), start a "workout" (basically a walk) and it will automatically log all of your steps during the day. Since it uses GPS it should not incur data charges.

    Thanks for this! Yes, I have tried almond in the past, but honestly it was a while ago. Hmmmm... You got me thinking. I had gone to cashew because it is a little creamier. But, I think you said it - nut milks in coffee are just not my thing. In cereal and in smoothies I LOVE THEM. But coffee no good for me. I just don't like the taste and the consistency. I think my issue is that I have had coffee with milk for SO LONG. This is going back to my childhood when my parents would give me what is referred to here in New England as "coffee milk". Milk with a little bit of coffee at the bottom. We start them out drinking coffee young here! LOL So black unfortunately is out too. I have also come along way with the sugar. Used to dump two artificial sweetners in mine. Now I use one spoonfull of coconut palm sugar. Highly recommend this stuff if you want a nice natural sweetner with not a lot of calories. :) I get mine at Trader Joe's.
    Yes - agree with you on the FitBit. LOL You are the second person who has recommended MapMyWalk! My guy uses that. He uses it in conjuction with Samsung Health. We have Samsung phones (Android) so the two apps talk to each other and provide a cool report out each week of how much you walk and how you did. If the app senses you are walking it will record it. He likes that a lot. Lately I have been using my tablet instead of my phone at the gym on the treadmill. Been using my Bluetooth headphones and watching Netflix. :p

    Hope everybody is good. Sending positive vibes to @ckmama in Louisiana. I see there is a lot of rain there today, due to the Harvey. Please stay safe and let us know how you are doing when you can.

    Today is a regular day for me. Trimming a few calories from my lunch since we are going out after work for a coworker. Need to work in a light beer or two. Planning on heading home after that for a healthy dinner. No gym for me tonight. Really want to see a loss on the scale this week, so trying to keep it low key. *sigh*

    Light Day tomorrow. Have a good one all. Chat with you soon.
  • hannahbananna80
    hannahbananna80 Posts: 21 Member
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    Thanks @Marmitegeoff that is really helpful. It never used to do that though you would get the warning message. Never mind at least there is a cheat!
  • ckmama
    ckmama Posts: 1,668 Member
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    @Meghan509 Thanks for the thoughts my part of Louisiana is doing very well. We were super lucky to get in a "dry air" pocket on the east of the storm. We've had off and on rain and lots of wind these last 3 days but that is nothing this area cannot handle. I know other parts of west LA that isn't so. Sad to say we are now watching another Low pressure system to possibly develop over the next couple of days in the gulf and may bring more rain to the Texas LA area early Next week, plus many areas that haven't been directly affected may now see flooding as Harvey heads north and rivers drain south. It is all just beginning to be too much. I've lived here my entire life and have been through every devastating hurricane but last year flooding has put me over the edge of just being DONE with it all.

    We also call it "Coffee Milk" here as well. I don't like nut milks in my coffee either. I found fat free half and half works for me. I"ve been using my husbands sand (powdered creamer) as well, LOL.


    Today is my first fast day this week, like I said earlier I think myself and everyone here has been stress eating no need to put more pressure on myself.

    Very excited to say I found a dance/fitness class to go to this week. I love to dance and workout but I have always been bad about putting everyone else first and just never had time. Well this girl left the gym I used to go to and now teaches in the back of an office building on MWF for an hour. It is fun there are lots of women that "look" like me, plus size, small size, medium size and we all just have a good time. I'm not checking my phone, worrying about my kids, just there having fun.

    It is nice when you start seeing exercise as something that is good for you rather than a means to lose weight. My entire mindset has changed.
  • Meghan509
    Meghan509 Posts: 1,964 Member
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    So glad to see you are okay @ckmama
    I am wishing you continued good luck over the next few days. Ugh. Stressful for sure. I can be a stress eater too. Healthy eating can easily go out the window if I have too much going on that is taking up my time. :(

    Coffee Milk! Got to love it. I read up on it, sounds like the term originated in Rhode Island. Who knew! Fat free half and half is a good idea, probably has a decent calorie count too for Light Day. I can look in to that. Sand LOL! We have that at work. :smiley:

    Good luck with your Light Day. Doing one here too. Got my Green Tea and my water on my desk waiting for me after I finish this post. Need to get better with the water. Been slacking this week.

    Dance class sounds fun! Good for you.

    Very good point you made there. I think I started to see exercise as something that is good for me this time around and that has helped me with my journey. I am also lucky that my guy comes with me to the gym and we are doing this together. We both needed to get healthy and lose weight since we both have a sedentary life style. Sitting at a desk all day is not good for us.

    Last night I went out after work and managed to have only one light beer and no appetizers, which I was happy about. I wasn't trying to be anti social. Just trying to keep positive momentum going and saving my fun for the weekend. I do miss the gym when I don't go on a night I typically do. That is different. Used to look for an excuse not to go! Now I miss it. :open_mouth:

    I am taking a vacation day tomorrow. I will be in touch though. I tend to be more sporadic on days off and on the weekends. Will probably check in later as well as over the weekend. Monday is a holiday here.

    Have a good one!
  • jknight001
    jknight001 Posts: 745 Member
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    Meghan509 wrote: »
    Now I use one spoonfull of coconut palm sugar. Highly recommend this stuff if you want a nice natural sweetner with not a lot of calories. :) I get mine at Trader Joe's.

    Yes, I use the Coconut Sugar as well hoping it is more healthy and nutritional than Aspartame or Splenda. But I didn't know Trader Joe's has coconut sugar. I will have to look for it there. I also am interested in stevia. I think it is getting better. When it first came out I found it very bitter. I read that the sweetness depends on the stevia plant that is used. Now a lot of coffee shops, i.e. Starbucks, carry it and I like it in my coffee. I think the stevia production has progressed so it actually tastes consistently good. So I will look into whether coconut sugar or stevia is better and make the switch if I find stevia is better. I know TJ's carries stevia too.

    Be interested in anyone's thoughts on the topic.

    Fast day for me today. Hoping to keep my moods better in check today than on my Monday fast day. :naughty:
  • Meghan509
    Meghan509 Posts: 1,964 Member
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    Hi @jknight001 that is good to know about the stevia. When I first tried it a few years back I thought it tasted like crap! LOL. But, if they have improved the taste I am willing to try it again!
    Yes, TJ has a good price on the coconut sugar too. I will say less than $4 USD. Look for a green bag. ;)
    Hope your mood is okay today. I know the feeling. Been there! Hang in there. B)
  • hannahbananna80
    hannahbananna80 Posts: 21 Member
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    Morning all!
    Hope you are all well today :)
    Fasting day for me today... did short 25min run when I got up with the dog and 10 minute kettlebell core routine after that. Hope that goes some way to help!
    Have a good day everyone! :-D
  • ckmama
    ckmama Posts: 1,668 Member
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    August weight loss -7.2 lbs yay