Motivation, Success and Frustration Sharing!

SusanDSME

I'm sore, and my hip hurts, so my trainer/friend said I needed to rest today. I really hate to hear that... I feel so much better when I'm out there running. That said, my usual course is getting to me. There are a lot of hills. Only one or two are actually big, but a long, slow hill can take as much out of me as a shorter, steeper one.

I didn't even dare try the hip stretches she told me to look up- once the kids are in bed, I'll have my massage therapist husband help me through them. I really, really hope I am feeling better and ready to run tomorrow- even though what she wants me to do is sprints (not my favorite).

I won't even make my step goal for today! Pooh.

norhannasser

Hey guys. .
My name is nourhan , i am 21 years old, I am in th 4th year in the university and I am from Egypt . This is really very good idea to make a focus group and encourage each other to achieve our goals . I reached to 57 km and I returned to 65 km and now I feel that my will has decreased alot and can't complete just one day with diet and in this way i will gain all the weight I lost before and I am really afraid about that.. so my goal is to reach again to 57 in one month and half and I hope to achieve that with you guys and every one of us achieve his dream and reach to his perfect weight ))

Rachel0778

Welcome @norhannasser!

@SusanDSME I hope you had a good rest day!

My weekend was exhausting. After two back to back parties I ended up bingeing my feelings on Sunday, ugh. Too many people, too little sleep, too much forced extroversion was a recipe for disaster. I'm officially on cut down mode. Enough is enough. If I'm going to make it through the holidays something has to give.

gymprincess1234

Hey babes!

I've got nothing new to report really. Still on my kcal tracking break, tomorrow is last gym day of the year, measurements the same as always. Mentally I feel better, because this feels not like I'm stuck in a 6months long plateau, but I'm taking a conscious decision to give myself a rest till the end of the year and then in 2018 I will have at least 4months to have weight loss as the main focus in life.

Rachel0778

Happy Tuesday everyone! I had a great time at belly dance class last night. It felt good to stomp and shake it out. Today I'm going to pole dancing class, it's a very dance oriented week. I found out yesterday that the doctorate program I'm considering only opens it's cohort every 2 years so if I don't apply this year I'll have to wait quite awhile. I guess I'm biting the bullet and potentially going back to school *sigh*. Thank goodness it's only a 3 year program?

SusanDSME

@Rachel0778 The rest helped. Thanks! My hip feels much better. I'm sorry the parties are bringing you down. I don't do well in those conditions, either. Good luck putting your needs first and cutting down on socializing you don't enjoy. And good luck with grad school! Also... I used to bellydance, and I loved it! Sadly, there's noone to dance with here in Downeast Maine.

I can't run today... snow followed by rain, and for some reason school is cancelled as of 11:45. Do we really need a rain day?

I weighed myself this morning and decided there's something wrong with my scale. I don't really think I gained a pound in the last 4 days of eating at a deficit and exercising. I've decided to ignore it and try again in a few days. I really have to stop weighing myself more than once a week.

gymprincess1234

@Rachel0778 would you like to work in research later or teach yourself? Can't imagine what the tuition fees must be in USA!

Evamutt

I haven't posted for a little while, been busy taking care of my grand dtr-the other grand parents who have her 4 days/wk went to their house in Mexico for Christmas but yesterday was the last day I have her till Jan since her mom, whose a teacher is off till Jan 9th. Found out my heart rhythm is not dangerous but I did stop exercising all this time so I'm going back to it. As with anything else, it's hard to start up something you got out of the habit of doing. I haven't gained wt but my abs were getting firm & now their not. Been eating more wintery foods lately, but have kept withing my deficit most of the time. I'm 148-150 most mornings which I'm happy about but still not up to decreasing my calories so don't know when/if I'll lose the 10 more lbs. My TDEE is just over 1700 & I eat around 1500-1600/cal/day. It's so much easier to eat less calories during the hot weather, anyone else relate?

SusanDSME

@Evamutt Yes, I eat more fresh vegetables and fewer 'comfort foods' in the summer. I am struggling right now... after a great start (averaging a pound a week), I just had a week of losing .2 lb- and I'm not sure why. I'm guessing it's because I haven't been running, and riding the stationary bike just isn't cutting it. I'm feeling a little discouraged.
Glad your heart is ok. I've had episodes of arrythmia in the past, and they're very scary.

Rachel0778

Good Morning everyone! Sorry I was out yesterday, I had a Leadership Training that took me away from the office. I was very proud of myself, I woke up at 5:15am to make sure I got my workout in beforehand. This morning I also woke up early to get one in since I have volunteering at the animal shelter after work

@SusanDSME I'm glad to hear your hip is feeling better! Sorry to hear there isn't a bellydance group near you.

@gymprincess1234 I'm looking at higher ed. administration so possibly teaching courses here and there but I'd primarily be getting the degree to advance my career at a college. I'm very fortunate my work covers the cost of my classes, or else it would be staggering. I paid off my student loans 3 years ago and I have no desire to add more!

@Evamutt I'm glad your heart issue wasn't serious and you're able to get back into exercising. That is so scary!

Evamutt

Rachel0778, I'm so glad you're volunteering. What do you do there? is it no kill?

Rachel0778

@Evamutt It's a minimal kill shelter. The only time they end a pup's life is due to health issues or aggression issues. I'm primarily a dog walker. Since I'm a pit bull Mom, I usually take out the pitbull pups that other walkers are more hesitant on.

Happy Friday everyone!!!! I had a counseling appointment today and it felt really good to be able to talk out all the holiday stress that is coming up. I was really proud of myself yesterday. We had a cookie swap at work and I didn't eat any of the cookies while I was at work and only made a small plateful when I got home to indulge in before portioning the rest out to give to family and friends Hope you all have wonderful weekends ahead!

Rachel0778

Evamutt

Rachel0778, I love your pup, looks a bit like my shirley-pit mix, she's going to be 13 in January, she's the best. April, my little one like sitting by her. Everyone loves her. I started going back to the gym, now that my heart issue seems to have cleared up. I saw my former trainer, who does the hiit classes & talked to her so starting Monday, I'm going back to class & just really modify it for myself & maybe just do half the class

SusanDSME

@Rachel0778 Awesome willpower with the cookie swap!
I may have hurt my host's feelings last night (we went to a Hanukkah party), but I was not going to eat a giant jelly donut and torpedo my calorie count. I ate about a quarter of one and handed it off to my husband.

It's still bitter cold here. It may warm up next week, but for now I'm on the exercise bike or running indoors- either of which is pretty boring, but at least it's exercise.

gymprincess1234

Hello!

I've made myself a financial budget for the next 7 months, planned all my trips, my weekly workout schedule, now only food left to plan.
Really indecisive how to go about losing weight food wise. The thought of going back to tracking makes me slightly anxious, but then again - it's only 7kg. Have to make some sort of sacrifice and accept that it won't be as comfortable and easy as the first 23kg.
I'll be home in 1 week and exams will be over, will get the food scale out and track again.
It's the first time in 14months when I go home and will step on my scale and the weight will be the same, which is not a nice feeling. Need to get my *kitten* together.

Evamutt

gymprincess, sorry but i forgot where your home is?

gymprincess1234

@Evamutt Riga, Latvia!

Think I didn't make myself clear, I've been home several times in the past year, but every time I went home, I had lost weight. Now it's been 3,5 months and look the same.

Evamutt

Do you have family at home gymprincess? I traveled to europe when I was young & I got so homesick. I think you're brave. Today was our annual open house at our animal rescue. I ate before I left & even tho I wasn't hungry at all & don't have much of a sweet tooth, I ate some goodies. I had about 6 pieces of various desserts. They're about one inch square. I have no clue of the calorie content so I just put down calories for my carrot cake I took. I fell in love with this one dog. They call her a lab mix, but she has longer hair. Reminds me of one of my dogs. She's all black, very sweet & submissive. I so wanted to bring her home to foster or visit, but we already have 6 dogs & hubby would not have liked that. But I'm sure he'd want to keep her after he met her.6 is all I want to handle

gymprincess1234

Yes,I go home often though, this year the least, but before 4-5months altogether during the year. This year feels proper living away.


Good morning!

It's finals week! 4 days and I'll be off for the year! Measured myself today -still at my smallest, WITHOUT tracking! guess I know my maintenance by feeling full now, so happy about that maybe will be able to do deficit like that too starting Jan

Rachel0778

@Evamutt It is so hard not to take all the pups home! I hope she finds a wonderful home. And Shirley is so cute!!! What a sweetheart!

@SusanDSME Winter is always tough with outdoor runs, great job sticking with it! It'd be a shame if your hostess was upset about you not eating the entire doughnut and sharing instead!

Happy Monday everyone! I'm so glad it's a three day week and I took Thursday off. I still have to get through my union's holiday party on Tuesday and then travelling to my Grandma's on Thursday. I just realized my Uncle will likely also bring his three massively misbehaved tiny yappy dogs (Chance doesn't do well with small dogs since he doesn't know his size- he never hurts them, but it's just not a good mix). I'm already anxious about the trip and this just made it a million times worse I just keep reminding myself I need to get through the next week and it's smooth sailing after that!

SusanDSME

@Rachel0778 I saw our friend with the donuts a couple of days ago... she certainly didn't seem offended.
I hope your travel goes well...it's always difficult mixing dogs who don't know each other!

I got to run in an old gym again today- boring compared to being out on a trail, but it's 22 degrees here and my lungs just don't like that. If it gets up into the mid-30s, I'll be back out there, but for now, I'm running laps. The good news is- no hills! So my average pace was 12:01 (I'm usually more like 13 and change)

Trying so hard not to measure myself more than once a week. It just never goes well.

@gymprincess1234 Good luck with finals!

@Evamutt It's so hard to estimate calories at a party- we went to a friend's house Saturday night and my husband found an entry for "Holiday Party" worth 1,000 calories, and just logged that!

Cookies, cookies, so many cookies... and then my husband brought home two loaves of something like stollen... oy.

Rachel0778

@SusanDSME I'm glad to hear she wasn't offended! It sounds like you're doing great on your pacing, although running indoors is never as fun.

Happy Tuesday! I did make it to the gym this morning since we have the holiday party after work. It's always rough getting up at 5:20am but it's worth it.

I've got so much to do to prepare for the holidays still. All of the gifts are now purchased but I still need to wrap everything, pack for both Iowa and North Dakota, finish the laundry, and get the extra bedding washed for when my Dad visits. With holiday plans the next two nights I literally don't have time and I'm exhausted just thinking about it. It'll likely happen Thursday morning right before I leave *sigh*

Oh and to add anxiety to the trip on Thursday apparently there's also going to be a big snow/ice storm coming through. Ugh...

gymprincess1234

Thank you! Tomorrow will be half way done! Dec has been a blessing! Busy, but very productive, things are falling into place, holidays around the corner, so I will be able to focus on getting in shape again right after



@Rachel0778 that's dedication! I'm a night owl so 5:20 sounds like mission impossible! When I used to get up at 6:00 for work I often just felt dizzy and sick from getting up so early, plus no appetite at that time, so the whole body felt like in a shock! You're a monster!

Rachel0778

@gymprincess1234 I'm thankfully a morning person or there's no way I'd be able to pull that off! I'm glad to hear your December is going well!

Happy Wednesday! My holiday craziness starts tomorrow so I'll likely be MIA until the New Year but I wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season

SusanDSME

I'm saving every snack calorie for cookies for dessert. Consequently, by the time 4:30 rolls around, I'm hungry and cranky.
Tomorrow, we're going to a party at my husband's work. There will be bottomless guacamole. Pray for me.

Rachel0778

Happy New Year! It looks like everyone took the same break I did! How did the holidays go? Do you have any resolutions?

JenHul

Happy New Years Everyone! Sorry I was gone for so long, Crazy busy at work, and I let myself slack off in the tracking and being accountable thing No more excuses, time to drink plenty of water, log what I eat, and reach my exercise goals! Good luck to everyone!

Rachel0778

Welcome back @JenHul! It's hard to stay on track during the holidays!

It feels good to get back into the groove, although I am now walking my mile to work in negative degree temperatures *brrr!!!*

One thing I miss is that it is too cold to walk the fur-baby outside since it's so cold. What do you ladies do for low intensity activity when it's so cold you can't feel your face?

JenHul

Yes way too cold for fur babies! We just finished having a cold snap where we had -50 with windchill, cars were not starting ect. In between shoveling a ton of snow, I was walking in place in front of TV to get steps in lol. We are doing basement reno's so my treadmill is in storage, boo