Problems, hardships, and issues.
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Perhaps I'm in the same boat, Okiludy, though I know I haven't stayed under too well this week.
I've sometimes look at this site
http://calorielab.com/burned/
but I don't know how accurate it actually is, so I usually prefer not to count back any of my exercise calories. Oh well - tomorrows another day, right?0 -
So I've been continually eating wayyyy too much sodium this week. It was my mom's birthday on Friday, and she left for the weekend to celebrate. Unfortunately, I am a full time college student with no job (yet), so I am still completely financially dependent on her in terms of food. She asked me for a list of things to buy, I prepared one for one meal to split for two dinners, and she bought prepackaged microwave mashed potatoes and steak tips instead. Throughout the week in general I have been forced to depend more on prepackaged meals high in sodium for other reasons, and have not seen a drop in weight for a while now.
To top it off, I had my first binge today. Excess amounts of pasta, and I've been craving sugar all week. Normally I can resist sweets that just sit there, but I tasted the icing on my mom's leftover birthday cake and it was downhill from there. I made up the difference in steps so that it was still technically under my goal, but it's been a long time since I've eaten over 1800 calories in a day, and most of it was garbage food. That, and I don't fully trust fitbit's calorie estimate. I feel terrible both physically and mentally.
*AND* I just finished a chapter in my online class about eating disorders! The binge eating section made me feel particularly terrible about today despite the fact that I no longer do it on a regular basis.
And the only way I'm getting a decent pair of pants to run in anytime soon is if I go to the store and buy them with my mom's card. (My savings are depleted. Buying birthday gifts suck when you have no income and have to spend your graduation money from last year lol.) I have her permission, but a friend of mine just recently had an incident where the police were called on her for using her dad's card. I don't even share a last name with my mom, so I would look even more suspicious!
I don't know. I feel like I'm back where I started. Today was a typical day for the person I was 4 months ago, and it's the first time I've had a day like this since starting MFP. I have life stresses that are tempting me to eat as well. The birthday, trying to figure out this college program I'm trying to get into, random thoughts about people in the past who I'm not on good terms with (also no way to contact them even if I wanted to), how slooooowly everything is going with weight loss, multiple exams coming up and lots of school work. Missing an important class due to the weather. I feel like I'm failing because I haven't started running yet, but I'm way too nervous to go buy the clothes I need to do so.
Right now I feel physically bloated and unwell. People said these days were coming, though. Hoping I feel better next week after exams and after hopefully returning to healthier eating habits. Sorry for the long post!0 -
I've been struggling for the past month. Not eating horribly but have fallen off the wagon for daily tracking. When I replaced my phone I forgot to consider that they no longer supported the MFP app on Windows phones.0
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I have been struggling for the past month as well. My progress over May was lost and I am trying to catch up
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I'm having a hell of a time passing up food. I brought and ate a lovely healthy lunch to work today, then went downstairs to go out to take my walk. And they were selling hot dogs. Really good big beautiful ones with all kinds of toppings.
Sooooo on top of my already-eaten lunch I had a big ol' hot dog, and, because it came with chips, I also had a little bag of chips. Super.
It was great, don't get me wrong, and I still have a few hundred calories for dinner, but good grief. I gotta get these compulsive snacks under control.2 -
Hardship and resolution:)
I was at a stall for little over a week. I was hovering at around 126.6kg and couldn't seem to lose more. I was eating at or below my goal and exercising like mad. I was basically doing 2 cardio sessions every other day for 30-60 minutes. I also was only eating back like 50% of cals from those exercises.
The over that last 2 days I have basically dropped 1.6kg (3.5lbs). I have not done much different. The food amounts and macros are basically the same. I did start lifting weights (stronglifts 5x5 program) and phasing 1 cardio session out. The biggest thing is I gave myself 2 rest days instead of 1. Thats when the "whoosh" happened. Look it up. I guess it's a real thing dealing with water and weight loss.
So to all that hit a stall and are worried or feel like changing or get discouraged. I can say staying strong and not changing can work. Likely not the only way it's just our bodies can decide to do weird things during loss.0 -
I'm seeing that too, Oki, though I'm not exercising nearly to your level. I don't have a regular exercise program, but I've been doing some hard work around the house. I've noticed that I'll stall or slow way down for as much as a week after a weekend of heavy yard work and house chores. From what I can tell from the little I've looked into it, it looks like the stall or even extra pound that might creep on is because of muscle recovery and the body repairing itself. So I'll come on here and complain about a stall, and then the next week, I'll have a woosh! Just goes to teach me that I need to quit stressing over the weekly loss and focus more on inches lost and the over all trend
I had a pretty bad day yesterday. I had brought my lunch to work, but then someone invited me down for pizza and a salad. Granted, I had only 1 slice, but it was thick crust and slathered in cheese. I also had a mini muffin and danish. I was still within my calorie range with a small supper, but the urge to snack was incredibly strong yesterday, and I found myself with a handful of peanuts, a couple of handfuls of sugar free chocolate chips, and even a handful of dates! Then I ended up with another coffee (which i cannot stand black so much have milk and sweetener) because I was dragging yesterday afternoon, and a small snack bag at the movies. Now I did purchase something outside that was healthier and snuck it into the theater, but it still put me way over my calorie limits for the day. *sigh* Oh well. Yesterday was yesterday and is in the past; today is a new day, and I plan on getting some chores done this evening, so that should help even things out.2 -
*cringes* Today was bad. really bad. I headed home for the day, which is a 3 hour journey one way, but had to come back this evening. I did decently for breakfast, but on the way, I stopped at a Pilot, and the darn cinnabon stand was too much for me. The last 2 days my willpower has been steadily going downhill, and today was the worst so far. I finally compromised with myself and bought a fourpack of minis, and actually managed to only eat one, giving the rest to my parents when I got to their home. So that was a sort of victory as it was only 100 calories for 1.
I'm going to be moving down in that area soon, once the renters move out of the place I'm buying from my grandfather, so I loaded my truck down with stuff from my basement - camping gear and Christmas stuff - and took it down to be stored in my dad's garage until I can get into the new place. After unloading the truck, I took my parents to a little local place for lunch to celebrate father's day. I had a grilled turkey with swiss on rye, holding the bacon, and only ate half the sandwich - victory. I had a large salad with fat free light ranch dressing - victory. I also put almost a cup of cottage cheese on that salad along with about 1/4 cup of macaroni salad, some pepperoni, and a good 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds - failure because that made that salad very calorie dense. The sandwich came with french fries, and I ate them all - failure.
My dad wanted to stop at Tractor Supply, and on the way through the checkout, I bought him a small bag of Jelly Bellies. He opened them on the way home, and he, mom, and I wiped the bag out, which was at least 2 servings of the things - big failure. Mom had biscuits on the table left over from breakfast, and I had one in my mouth before I even realized what I had done - failure. And then my aunt comes down and fixes a big dinner for my grandfather and insisted I come and eat before heading home. She fixed homemade lasagna *cringes* I had a lot of green beans, a tiny dab of mashed potatoes (barely 2 Tbsp), about 2 Tbps of the cole slaw, a few chunks of watermelon, and only half of hte slice of lasagna she scooped on my plate. The other half I wrapped in tin foil and brought home, and was able to resist my aunt's urging that I take more with me. I love lasagna, but know that the calorie content of my aunt's version is incredibly bad. I'll take that as a sort of victory. But I couldn't resist the big dinner roll, as bread is a great love of mine, so there was another epic failure.
And then I had to stop for more coffee on the way home, and since I can't stand it black, I had probably another cup of milk. I resisted stopping at the exxon station on the way home, even though I needed a restroom at that point, because there was a dunkin donuts in that store, and that little glutton inside of me was going "ooooh - donuts! You've already blown it today; 1 donut isn't going to hurt! Oh please, get me a donut!" But I remembered the cinnabon roll earlier in the day, so I didn't even turn into the store and just continued on home.
Over all affect? About 600 calories over my limit today *huge wince* it was ugly - very ugly - but I made myself come in and record it. Oh, and I forgot the bottle of apply juice - add another 200 calories to that......
*sigh* and the last 2 days haven't been much better, and next week is going to be worse, since I'm going to be out of town. All I can do is hold on, and take my punishment when I step on the scale next. In any case, a week of bad days at most should only set me back a pound or two, right? So once I get back from teh conference next week, I'm just going to have to double down even harder. *sigh again* why do we do this to ourselves? I am so very easily influenced by bad influences......0 -
@bmeadows380 - Don't be so hard on yourself!! We all have days like this, even multiples in a row. What's important is that you recognize that you're over, and you know you can do better.
Think back to before you started using MFP and joining this community. Would you have stopped yourself from getting the donut at Exxon? Would you have held the bacon? Would it even have bothered you that you ate that many fries, and would you only have eaten half of the sandwich?
You're not failing in any way, shape, or form. 600 Calories isn't going to be the end of the world - tomorrow is another chance to get it right. You can do this!5 -
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And the only way I'm getting a decent pair of pants to run in anytime soon is if I go to the store and buy them with my mom's card. (My savings are depleted. Buying birthday gifts suck when you have no income and have to spend your graduation money from last year lol.) I have her permission, but a friend of mine just recently had an incident where the police were called on her for using her dad's card. I don't even share a last name with my mom, so I would look even more suspicious!...
What about going to a physical store to try the pants on, then go order them online? That's what I've had my twins do, while they've been in college and needed to use my card for something.
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I was home this weekend for family reunion in a family of very good cooks, but while I know I went over on calories, I did cut back from what I could have had and tried to make healthier decisions. I also got me a decent pedometer which has proven to be WAY more accurate than my smart phone - and much easier to carry! I just clip it to my bra strap and forget its there half the time.
The hardship, however, is looming on the horizon with a bit of a preview yesterday. My parents are both diabetic and my dad has really packed on the weight since he broke his back 6 years ago. He gets out of breath so easily, has heart trouble, and had to replace both his hips. He seriously needs to lose weight. Mom has a serious sweet tooth problem and won't lay off the sugar.
Yesterday after church, mom and I went to the grocery store to pick up some items for a salad to go with dinner, and I asked her if she would let me show her how to portion control when I get moved down there. I told her we could combine groceries and we could work out a menu and work on getting some weight off dad and maybe get her A1C down. I'm going to be living across the road from them, so it wouldn't be a hardship to just combine our groceries. Mom wasn't adverse to the idea, though I think she was a little skeptical, but she acknowledged Dad really does need to lose weight and learn to portion control.
I picked up a pint of halo top ice cream for dessert. One pint has 4 servings; there were 4 of us (my sister lives with them). When we get home, Dad gets his Thousand Island dressing (120 calories per serving; 2 Tbsp per serving) and proceeds to drown his salad - he had at least 3 servings of dressing on that salad. When I portioned out the ice cream, he was upset that all he got was 1/2 cup and said that it was ridiculous, and that I was getting as bad as the rest of his family. Now to put that into context, my dad's parents and older sister are very, very weight conscious and are very critical of other people's weight. I've lived under that stigma from them for years - it didn't matter how much I achieved in life, how successful I was in other areas, I was a shame and a failure in their eyes because I was obese. So telling me that trying to watch my calorie intake and portion control was making me as bad as them is really a slap in the face.
It didn't really bother me, though; when he said it, I just said I didn't care and that was all he was getting, to eat it slowly and enjoy it. In Dad's case, he doesn't do any cooking at all, so if Mom gets on board with the portion control thing, he's going to be coming along whether he likes it or not. Mom didn't comment, but my concern is that she might like to portion control but hates conflict and usually gives in to my dad, so even if she wants to try to learn to watch her portion sizes, if Dad puts up a huge fuss, she may just give in to make him happy and avoid conflict.
What makes this difficult for me, however, is that it's a preview of what life is going to be like when I get moved down there. It means I don't have the support of my family in this effort to lose weight. I know I will be living across the road from them so I can control my own meals, but being that close I know that our lives are going to intertwine quite a bit, and if I can't get Mom to help me, then its going to be more difficult for me to stick to a calorie limit and stay away from things that I have a weakness for because mom keeps those things in her house. AND I'm going to have to anger my sister right off the bat because my sister refuses to watch what she eats, and she brings all kinds of sugar-loaded, high calorie snacks home. She thinks that she's going to come live with me when I get moved down there, but I have news for her - I am banning those kinds of snacks from my house. She's going to get very mad, but I don't care - it's my house and I can't have that stuff there; I know my limits on my willpower, and I'm determined to do this with or without their support.
*sigh* The parents are coming up today and will be leaving Wednesday or Thursday. All times before, I bought snacks and kept things for them to much on that weren't friendly to my diet, plus I took them out to eat, and each time, I've always found myself slipping up and getting into the snacks myself and eating too much in the restaurants. That's not going to happen this time; they are getting the same portions I am and we're not going out, and while I did buy some healthy snacks, I took the time to portion them out yesterday. So if dad wants cheetos with his lunch, he's getting baked ones and a single serving size, and I don't care how much he complains - its my house; my rules! lol0 -
@bmeadows380 you're 100% right - your house, your rules... and that goes for when you move across the street from your parents. I am struggling with how to deal with similar things in my own life, and I don't have any magic answers for this stuff, but I wanted you to know you have support and understanding. Stay strong!0
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Thank you, KDub! This group really has been wonderfully understanding and supportive, and you guys don't know how much I really do appreciate it! You all are great! (especially for putting up with my long, whiny rants lol)
The parents' trip up earlier this week went well. Mom actually showed some interest in staying within a decent calorie range, and we managed to keep dad under 2,000 calories without him even noticing lol
I know my family roll their eyes when I talk about weight loss, and worse still, I don't think they believe I'll succeed - at least, that the comment I overheard my mom make to my brother about me back in the spring (she didn't realize she was talking loud enough for me to hear her through the wall). My brother understands, though, and I can talk to him about diet and nutrition and all this weight loss effort that the rest of the family tire of, because he's been trying hard himself. That means I do have his support, at least, and that helps greatly!
But no matter - I'm determined to do this and to keep it off this time!1 -
@bmeadows380 now that you are going to be close, introduce them to healthy cooking ... you can still get nice portions, but with less calories, fat, etc ... its just about taking the time to get to know what to include in your meals. Maybe next time bring for your dad one of those yoghurt dressings that have like 45cals per serving (2tbsp) .... he can drown the salad, but with 1/3 of the calories Also, if they are not used to eating healthy and love huge portions, they need to scale down but needs to be gradually, maybe every day/week something healthy can be introduced to them so there is less resistance to change. Not everyone, can do the change so cut and dry.
And I agree, your house ... your rules. When I moved by myself, my mom wanted to smoke I opened the door, took her like half block from my house and told her "this is where you smoke ... its up to you; in my house, no way ... my house, my rules" and she couldn't complaint because when I was growing up that is what she used to tell me LOL
Don't stress and don't let anyone say you can't succeed; just focus and picture your final goal!
Stay strong!!0 -
Be careful when pulling calories from online. Most of the time it's total calories and not active calories. If you log them as such then you are getting double credit for the passive calories already built into your budget. Each of these activities probably contain an hours worth of passive calories which would be different for every person depending on weight.http://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/calorie-burners#1
Shoveling snow: 400-600 calories per hour
Heavy yard work (landscaping, moving rocks, hauling dirt): 400-600 calories per hour
Raking and bagging leaves: 350-450 calories per hour
Gardening: pulling weeds, planting flowers, etc.: 200-400 calories per hour
Mowing the lawn: 250-350 calories per hour1 -
Starting to go crazy and this is the best place to rant - (this post is half rant, half self reassurances)
I feel like the first 30lbs were a cakewalk, then it slowed waaaaay down. I've only lost 4-5lbs over the last two+ months. Now granted, last summer I put on 10+lbs in the same time frame, so in comparison, I'm doing amazing. And loss is a loss, I'm not maintaining, even if it feels like it. I weight 18lbs less than this time last year, which is even better. (These are all the things I'm trying to remind myself of to help the frustration)
The good things: I'm still working out 4-5x a week. I've increased my cardio and I'm running M/W/F about 2 miles for C25k. I'm going to the gym almost every workday for weight lifting and occasionally additional cardio. I'm tracking my food, I'm trying to count calories even when I'm eating out and make good decisions.
The bad things: I should probably try and watch my macros better. I am definitely not drinking enough water. I am also definitely not getting enough sleep. I eat out a lot because of my schedule, so I wish I could be better about meal prepping for when I'm out and about.
I think I'm going to set new goals to monitor macros (esp. carbs since I'm insulin resistant) and drink more water, see how that goes. We're also switching up my medication and that might kickstart some things.0 -
I feel your pain, gazelle! I know it was going to slow down, that I wouldn't continue the pace I started with, and I know that plateaus come, but boy is it ever frustrating! And you think you've got it down pat, only to find that if you let your vigilance slide, you slip right back into old habits way too easily.
But you've got a good plan going, and you are so very right to be focusing on the positives and in being forgiving of yourself. With that determination, you'll succeed! Great job!1 -
My whole life is a problem, hardship, and issue right now!
...Okay, that's an exaggeration, I really have it very good, all things considered. But I'm discouraged and weigh just what I did a month ago. All this smart and careful meal planning and food prep doesn't do any good if I eat 600 calories worth of candy, or 300 calories worth of chips. And that's what I've been doing!
I think that snacking is a stress response, so, as I mentioned in a post on my wall today, I'm going to knock myself back to W1D1 of my running program. The increased difficulty of the running has been causing stress, making me not want to go to the gym, and making me avoid other kinds of cardio to preserve my leg strength. No bueno.
Maybe this change will do me good. I haven't come this far just to give up halfway.2 -
yep - discouragement is a horrible enemy! I too find myself just wanting to eat when I'm depressed, stressed, or discouraged - which is a lot of the time since I have a melancholic temperament....And it's not a factor as to whether or not I'm actually hungry; I'm starting to wonder if my body even knows how to understand its own hunger signals as I find myself still craving food even when I know I've had a healthy portion. I know a huge part of that is mental, but the mental battle is the toughest part of the war!
And its even tougher if you are trying to force yourself to do things that you don't enjoy. I've learned that the hard way and wasted a couple hundred bucks on a gym membership that I wasn't using because I detest regular exercise like that. I found it's much easier for me to keep myself active if I have solitude and when it doesn't feel like exercise. The hard part is finding activities that I can trick myself with lol
Anyway, like I said on your post, I think the change you have planned is quite sensible and realistic. I know my willpower flags when I'm constantly fighting myself, and I've found in the last 7 months of working on my weight that the key to success was compromising with myself, which is exactly what your doing.
and who knows? perhaps by dropping back on the stuff that you detest, you will now have more time to explore other activities that you find you like much better and that also give you a good workout. Have you given thoughts to maybe taking up karate or something similar if its available in your area? Or some other sport or activity that you might find fun?
We're all pulling for you, though - you've made it this far and you've definitely got the discipline to succeed! You'll make it!1 -
Thanks for your support.
Before running took over my life I was doing a lot of hiking, which I really miss. I'm already feeling relief about this decision, tbh.2
