Introduce Yourself

PAV8888

Yo Christina!

Chicken and eggs and country sounds like a great opportunity to become more active as you lose weight. Both—moderate activity in a substantial dosage AND weight reduction in a substantial dosage (as I did lose a good 45% of my original weight)—worked together to bring my bloodwork levels into mid normal territory from 6.3's and 6.4's.

And that's IN SPITE (cough cough) of eating an excessive 137g of sugar out of 331.5g of carbs a day based on the past 1 year — I hasten to add while at "maintenance" and consuming 2512 Cal in.

It is a fairly open secret that the past 10 years have not managed to cure my propensity to shop for candy bars on sale! That said, I do fluff them up with a goodly quantity of veggies and protein—so almost by accident I do occasionally eat something semi reasonable :-)

I don't have Yooly's wisdom! All I know is that I became quite deliberate in making (manageable but ongoing and cumulative) changes to my daily life and that this DID work out for me—to a substantial degree.

I look forward to hearing about your adventures! What, other than chickens, did you acquire with your country move? Something about gardening? Is that a full on production farm or a tiny flower garden? :-)

rms62003

I'm trying out this group, have been looking around for a group for support and encouragement. I've been on MFP again for a year now.

I have been obese 80% of my life (just over 50, and have only been in the normal weight range for about 10 yrs of my life.) I was an obese child and teenager - was 295 lbs when I graduated from High School. I lost the weight, and was a normal 160lbs in my 20's, but then life and issues made me regain.

My highest weight was 315, and last August when I decided I was fed up with this, I weighed in at 303 lbs (137.5kg), which for me, is a BMI of 44. Over the last year, I've gotten down to 221 lbs (yes, I can say I weigh less than when I graduated from high school 😁), and am aiming for about 170-180 lbs (BMI of 25-26). I'm hoping to see that by this time next year.

I'm much happier where I'm at today, and able to do so much more than a year ago. Stairs aren't an issue any longer, neither is getting on the ground.

I'm actually looking at doing an adventure vacation - deciding between hiking or biking - next Spring. I haven't done one in a couple of decades because I didn't know if I physically could!

Yoolypr

Welcome RMS! We’re all fighting the same battles at various stages. You’ve got a good head start and taking it slowly. Looking forward to celebrating with you when you get to goal.
I need to figure out how to lose the poundage I regained over the last six months. It’s 10-15 pounds but bothers me more than when I had 100 pounds to lose.
Anyway we’re all here to support each other.

yakkystuff

@rms62003 welcome back

Started at ny's with hubby and our RD had us start with food tracking logs here. Stumbled across this group, and found people sharing authentic various points of view from their personal experience - and a willingness to talk with all - which I appreciate. Look forward to hearing from you as you reach forward with your stuff.

PAV8888

Well, I graduated high school having already done one of the 22.5lbs down 30lbs up rebounds and convinced that I was fat fat fat. Objectively I was at the high end of normal weight. Continued growing bigger as the years went by. With the occasional 20-30lb pullback and regain plus the friends.

At about 48 I was already cutting down on activities because I didn't think that I was physically able to do them and I decided that I would probably not see retirement at the rate I was going. Subsequent health finding point out that I was probably quite correct in my self-evaluation ;-)

That was the start of 2014. between January of 2014 and November, I went from averaging well under 3000 steps a day (many days were less than 1,000) to no-days less than 5000 steps. And occasionally hitting the 10++K marks. and from an analogue scale that had circled beyond 0 before I had stopped using it to getting to MFP in November 2014 at 240.6lbs.

So my max weight is unknown cause that scale went up to 280. Then back to 0, then a bit past 0 ;-) And I no longer fit my largest pants—I had graduated to only using track pants since I couldn't find 50s (i believe that it was 50s I was looking for and walmart was maxing at 48?) at that time.

But I found MFP mainly because I was doing my classic squeeze from both ends till the zit pops and things become so unsustainable I will rage quit! Specifically I went looking for something that would help me to not give up and regain everything because I was at the cusp of "going back to my old ways because there is no way I can continue like this for the rest of my life".

Why so in the middle of successfully losing weight?

Because, of course, by November, I was trying to eat the least amount that I possibly could (and what I perceived to be diet foods only to boot—so think subway meatball subs and stop giggling now!) while doing as much exercise/activity as I could.

About the only real good thing that can be said is that I had already decided to concentrate on walking because that was the exercise with the least amount of impediments to starting and resuming. i.e. the one with the lowest barrier of entry that I could come up with.

Anyway. Started reading the forum stickies, counting calories, being more deliberate in what I was eating (and even more so how much of it!). Realizing that I was in charge of the various trade-offs. And also being much more deliberate as to how fast I was trying to lose (and specifically I started aiming for 1 or 2 lbs a week instead of the 1lb every day or two I was used to thinking was what I should be aiming for!)

During my first year on MFP I went from that 240.7 to 168. (just about exactly 1.5lbs a week). And during my second year on mfp from 168 to 157—incidentally exactly where I was at today (156.8).

During my third year on MFP I went from 157 to 154 — and that's where I was circling around between November 2017 and November 2019. before going up a bit over christmas as it seems to almost always be the case for me!

With Covid I took it down to the 149! by the summer of 2020… but rebounded with the re-opening and increased interactions with the parental! And then "lost" it with shutting down the house and dad's move nearby… and then some "discovered" health concerns and by late summer 2023 I was up to 170lbs!

But I did manage to pull it back a bit ;-) and by mid 2024 I hit 155 again! About 5lbs up over winter and then late down to the current 156-158 range. With the 153 to 155 range I hit in March being the desired range… OF COURSE! :)

NotebookLM assures me that my data from March 2025 through August 2025, suggests that I'm in a maintenance phase. While there are daily variations, there is no strong evidence of a sustained weight gain or continued significant loss in the most recent months. The weight appears to be oscillating within a stable, lower range after the substantial reduction from the 2023 peak. This indicates a period of weight stabilization rather than a clear upward or downward trend.

Oh well. Let's face it. I would rather be playing with 5lbs than 50lbs, am-i-right? So definitely first world problems here—at least when it comes to weight! ;-)

yakkystuff

Mastering the stabilization instead of a major rebound is a huge win (& encouragement!) Congrats Pav!