Share your Numbers
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@rockconner I did something similar when I started this quest for better health. However, my list was more than 3 items. lol I included everything I thought weight loss and better fitness would improve in my life from being able to walk more than 100 feet or so without feeling like I was going to die to fitting in an airplane seat to being able to ride a bike again. I have about 25 or 30 things on my list. Reading that list helps me focus on why I really want to improve my health and fitness.
Another thing I've been doing is every 3 months I write down how my health, fitness, and life in general have improved over the past quarter. It's hard to see progress day to day. I mean, really, are you going to see a change after a day or 2 or even a week or 2? But writing down the improvements after 3 months demonstrates how much the cumulative efforts day after day really impact your life for the better. I've been on this journey for almost 17 months now. Going back to read the improvements in my life helps me reinforce the changes I've made and reminds me that I don't want to go back to the way things were before. Some of the things I wrote after the first 3 months I barely remember so it's good to have that list to see how bad things were health and fitness-wise and how much better things are currently. I still have 50 to 70 pounds to go (I've lost over 200 pounds so far & I don't really know what my "goal" weight should be), but the improvements to my life thus far have been greater than I ever allowed myself to dream might be possible.
Thank you for your comment. I have been thinking about keeping a diary of my weight loss-just a few notes. Haven't started it yet so your comments have encouraged me to start. I think it would be interesting and motivating to see those NSV in writing.
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@deafenbaugh The notes I make every 3 months are helpful for me and don't really take too much time. I know this might not be helpful for everyone. Try it for a little bit on whatever schedule makes sense for you and and see if it helps you to have that info to refer back to. If it doesn't do anything for you, at least then you'll know that and you haven't really invested anything but a bit of time.
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@deafenbaugh The notes I make every 3 months are helpful for me and don't really take too much time. I know this might not be helpful for everyone. Try it for a little bit on whatever schedule makes sense for you and and see if it helps you to have that info to refer back to. If it doesn't do anything for you, at least then you'll know that and you haven't really invested anything but a bit of time.
This is such a smart idea! I haven't done this, and kind of regret forgetting some of the many NSVs along the way in the last year. While I can see how far I've come, there were so many improvements along the way that I've forgotten many of them. I have to think back to remember many of them: feeling that I had a waist for the first time, walking down the stairs without my knee hurting, realizing my knees now painfully knock together when I sleep on my side, recognizing my face again in the mirror. And who knows how many I've forgotten!3 -
Age 45 Height 5’1
Weight:
Beginning 307.8 lbs
Today 304
Long term goal 125
Total loss needed 182
I can’t think about the 182. I need to focus on one day at a time. If I look at the total loss needed too long I will get overwhelmed and give up.
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_inHisGrace wrote: »Age 45 Height 5’1
Weight:
Beginning 307.8 lbs
Today 304
Long term goal 125
Total loss needed 182
I can’t think about the 182. I need to focus on one day at a time. If I look at the total loss needed too long I will get overwhelmed and give up.
@_inHisGrace - I also don't think about the end goal (I honestly don't even know what my goal weight will be yet). I had over 100 to lose, and would have given up long ago if I only thought about that goal.
Numbers-wise, I give myself lots of small milestones. Every 5 lbs lost, every 10 lbs lost, and every time I hit a weight ending in a 0 or 5. It is silly but it works well for me. I also really focus on non-scale victories: Clothing is looser, feeling new muscle, finding a bone I didn't know was there, finding surprise clothes in the closet that actually fit, running faster/farther, doing another push up. This way I pretty much hit a milestone every week!
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_inHisGrace wrote: »Age 45 Height 5’1
Weight:
Beginning 307.8 lbs
Today 304
Long term goal 125
Total loss needed 182
I can’t think about the 182. I need to focus on one day at a time. If I look at the total loss needed too long I will get overwhelmed and give up.
That is absolutely correct. Ignore the total. There is nothing you can do about all of it. There is something you can do about a little of it today. IMO, today is the best goal. Be as happy as you can be today so that tomorrow when you wake up you don't dread doing a repeat. If you string together enough happy days when the inevitable bad day pops up you will remember that not every day is this way.
At one point I characterized myself as keeping my head down and doing my process and allowing the weight loss to happen over the top of me. I also liked to think of weight loss as the bonus prize of eating a healthy number of calories for myself each day. Ultimately the main goal is learning how to eat the correct number of calories. Weight loss will happen for a portion of time but then after that it will just be maintaining for, hopefully, the rest of our lives.
I started with 300ish to lose. I am down to 20ish. I will tell you that even now it seems impossible that I have lost so much and I lived with myself the entire time I did it. It was definitely impossible when I started. It has been impossible the entire time it has been happening. The best thing I did was to absolutely ignore weight loss as much as I could and just make each day as good as possible. Time has flown by and the weight has fallen off.
Fun fact - About 80 percent of the fat weight you will lose - you exhale. Once the fat is used for energy the two byproducts remaining are carbon dioxide and water. So ask me how impossible it seems that I have lost about 50 percent of my total mass BY BREATHING IT OUT. lol. Well I used it first then exhaled it but you know what I mean.2 -
@_inHisGrace @eliezalot
Same here - I set 220 lbs as my goal weight back when I set up my MFP profile, but I was starting at 375 lbs and that was so far down the road that I really didn't see it as being possible. I kept other smaller milestones in mind - 350 lbs, 325 lbs, 300 lbs, etc. I'd have small ones and larger ones - the 25 lb markers were the larger ones I'd celebrate - like getting to 325 lbs and finally light enough that I could find a bike that would support me without having to pay a hefty price to have it reinforced. I don't ride often but its nice to have it!
I didn't really celebrate the last 2 milestones, though, and I suppose it was because of the summer activity and that they came and went - 265 lbs and then 250 lbs. It came as a rather big shock to me when I changed my milestone weight in my accountability thread in another group and realized that the milestone goal was now the goal weight itself, and I'm within 8 lbs of achieving that dreamed 220 lbs that way back in 2017 when I started I didn't really believe was possible!
Now I've got 180 lbs in my mind and that's what I'll be changing that goal to when I get to the 220. If I had not truly believed I could get to 220 but thought it would be nice, 180 lbs is a huge pipe dream, but now I'm thinking that if I can get to 220, perhaps the 180 isn't so far fetched after all! 180 would still be overweight for me, but not obese and not obese by a pretty good BMI margin. I'd like to push to 175 lbs and get to the magic "200 lbs" lost, but we'll see what the next few years bring and whether I can have the discipline for that.
I know for some people, looking at the end goal and milestones don't mean much, and for others, the focus on the scale ends up making them anxious and not helping them, but the milestones for me were the pointers that I was succeeding and was actually losing weight. Which is why I struggle with plateaus and the stupid summer-time humidity water weight merry-go-round I'm on right now. I know @NovusDies keeps trying to break me of that mentality and get me to focus more on the NSV's, but what can I say? My head is like granite and sometimes even I need a jackhammer or three to get something past that outer layer and to penetrate it into my psyche, even when I know that what advice I"m being given is sound and would be helpful if I could implement it. I need to find some diamond tips for those jackhammers lol4 -
Thanks for reading and commenting. It’s inspiring!1
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It may be my fault then because my style of assistance is definitely not jackhammer-eque. I believe in nudging people and/or giving them ideas to try.1
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rockconner wrote: »Rashel_kitten wrote: »Hi Rashel here im not new to MFP but im new to this group and i really need some accountability so i dont fall off the waggon or just quit when i hit that dreaded plateau i know is coming eventually. I started back on MFP on August 11th at my all time highest weight of 290.0 pounds. As of today (September 5th) I'm at 276.4 and I know im at the point where it will and should begin to slow down and im so scared it will stop and ill completely loose my motivation and i dont want that ! I want to be back under 200lbs not at 300 !
My weight loss slowed from the amazing first few weeks but remained at a pace to keep me encouraged. You can do this!
I wrote down my 3 biggest motivations for losing weight & refer to them when I get discouraged. Maybe that would help you, too.
I love that idea im going to add this to my planner tonight ! And as far as it staying steady but slow thats all im asking ! I just remember the last time i did this i hit a plateau for 6 weeks ! I gave up and im just now coming back and it's been years ! I dont want a repeat ! So i love your idea for motivation and i will definitely add it to my planner !1 -
Guys, I'm so excited! I weighed myself this morning cuz I was curious (I'm kinda bad at doing it every day even though I said I wanted to
I tend to forget!) And I'm finally below 350! As of this morning, I'm at 348.6! And my BMI is getting so close to going below 50, eee! I mean, I still have a ways to go, it's at about 51.5. but, considering it was 58.5 at the beginning of June, I'll take it 10 -
Way to go!!!rieraclaelin wrote: »Guys, I'm so excited! I weighed myself this morning cuz I was curious (I'm kinda bad at doing it every day even though I said I wanted to I tend to forget!) And I'm finally below 350! As of this morning, I'm at 348.6! And my BMI is getting so close to going below 50, eee! I mean, I still have a ways to go, it's at about 51.5. but, considering it was 58.5 at the beginning of June, I'll take it
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Good for you!! You have every reason to be excited, and us for you. Keep up the good work.rieraclaelin wrote: »Guys, I'm so excited! I weighed myself this morning ...I'm finally below 350! As of this morning, I'm at 348.6! And my BMI is getting so close to going below 50, eee!
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Weighed in this morning at 223.1 lbs and my moving average is now sitting at 225.6 lbs. 223.1 lbs is 1 lb above my lowest weight 2 Fridays ago but is the exact weight I was on Tuesday morning, the day I started the camping trip. With the way I was eating last week and the lack of activity, 1 lb may be actual weight gain.
I was 223.1 lbs on the day of the start of the camping trip. For 6 days, I was over limit and likely over maintenance with not enough activity on at least 4 of those days to counter the extra calories. Essentially a diet break + surplus. Extra food in my system, different type of food = rapid water weight gain. Within that week, my weight started going up and by Monday, 9/7 the day I started back to logging and getting back to my deficit + exercise calories, I topped out at 229.6 lbs. That was 6 1/2 lbs up from Tuesday's weight in 6 days. Four days later of logging accurately and sticking close to calorie limit + exercise (not perfectly under but at least still in deficit) and the water weight has rapidly fallen to pre-camping trip weight; maybe not the lowest all time weight, but back to where I was the day the camping trip started.
So in 4 days my body got rid of the extra food and water. I started a diet break the first of August which covered another camping trip. It took the rest of the month to drop the water and get back to where I was pre-diet break - nearly 2 weeks!
Diet break at height of summer for my area = 2 weeks to get back to pre-diet break weight. What was essentially a smaller diet break a month later when autumn weather is starting to arrive = 4 days to get back to pre-diet break weight.
All this is leading credence to my theory that I slow down drastically in summer because of heat and humidity. The first of August was very hot and humid here; last week a cold front ushered in much cooler weather and cut the humidity and its been that way all week - it has felt like early fall for the last several days (and I'm loving it!).
Anyway, I'm just noting this phenomena for my own self. Past attempts at losing weight always began well in winter for me and I'd lose at a good clip all through spring. But when summer hit, I'd start slowing down and by this time of year, I'd be plateaued. Couple the scale stalls (or what looks like scale stalls) with mental diet fatigue, and I'd end up on a long time plateau. This happened in 2012 when I lost 90 lbs, and it happened again in 2017 when I had lost 100 lbs (including 85 lbs I had regained from the earlier attempt). Even though we pinpointed last year that thyroid levels make a huge impact on my ability to control hunger brain and lose weight, it seems environmental pressures have a huge impact on me as well.
I just note all this as something I hope I can remember to talk to my doctor about. The good news is that I have slowed down drastically as summer came on, but I haven't plateaued yet and maybe having figured some of this information out, I can stop myself from plateauing or at the very least stop myself from the slow regain that occurred during previous weight loss attempts!
(and this is probably of no interest to anyone but me but this IS the share your numbers thread lol)
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On 28th of July I got a fright from the scales, and weighed in at 308.4lbs
Today I am 287.4lbs.
I go to the gym at least 4 times per week, keep my calories at an average of around 1700 per day. Lots of resistance training, a bit of cardio, and badminton.
So I've lost 21lbs in 46 days at an average of 3.05lbs per week.5 -
I am disappointed that I am going into my next break (start tomorrow) still on the north side of 200 even though my numbers say I could be under. I am way overdue for this break and I REALLY feel it this time. Sometimes it seems like a unwanted interruption and sometimes it feels like a necessity. I have been holding out to take it because we are going away. I am starting to realize that trying to force the breaks to coincide with life events is not a great idea.
Since we are travelling my vacation rules will kick in. So I will be:
1) Making sure that I eat something lower calorie like fruits and vegetables before eating something caloric.
2) Making sure that all calories are worth it.
3) Move more as much as possible.
4) Enjoying myself.7 -
I am disappointed that I am going into my next break (start tomorrow) still on the north side of 200 even though my numbers say I could be under. I am way overdue for this break and I REALLY feel it this time. Sometimes it seems like a unwanted interruption and sometimes it feels like a necessity. I have been holding out to take it because we are going away. I am starting to realize that trying to force the breaks to coincide with life events is not a great idea.
Since we are travelling my vacation rules will kick in. So I will be:
1) Making sure that I eat something lower calorie like fruits and vegetables before eating something caloric.
2) Making sure that all calories are worth it.
3) Move more as much as possible.
4) Enjoying myself.
You are still amazing!...enjoy your break....we will all be here, hopefully thinner!...when you return and tell us all of your adventures!2 -
I am disappointed that I am going into my next break (start tomorrow) still on the north side of 200 even though my numbers say I could be under. I am way overdue for this break and I REALLY feel it this time. Sometimes it seems like a unwanted interruption and sometimes it feels like a necessity. I have been holding out to take it because we are going away. I am starting to realize that trying to force the breaks to coincide with life events is not a great idea.
Since we are travelling my vacation rules will kick in. So I will be:
1) Making sure that I eat something lower calorie like fruits and vegetables before eating something caloric.
2) Making sure that all calories are worth it.
3) Move more as much as possible.
4) Enjoying myself.
Enjoy your trip, enjoy the food, and enjoy the activities! I hope you get to relax and disconnect.
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SW: 307.8 lbs_inHisGrace wrote: »Age 45 Height 5’1
Weight:
Beginning 307.8 lbs
Today 304
Long term goal 125
Total loss needed 182
I can’t think about the 182. I need to focus on one day at a time. If I look at the total loss needed too long I will get overwhelmed and give up.
CW: 300.4
GW: 125
I’m weighing every two days but plan to only updated here on Mondays.
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@_inHisGrace
You've made great progress! the 200's are almost there; that's a great feeling when that first number changes from a 3 to a 2.
I must be a terrible judge of age; I'd have never guessed you were 45 from your picture - I would have thought much younger! And I would never have guessed @conniewilkins56 was her age, either - I would have sworn she was at least 10 years younger
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Age 50
Height 6'1"
Beginning 336
Current 323.8
Goal 250
Medium Goal - Get under 300
This weeks goal - close in on 320
I weight every day and track my food 9/10
Currently walking 2 miles in the morning, 2 miles at lunch and eith another 2 in the evening or 5 miles on the bike
I'm and all or nothing dieter.......lol
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bmeadows380 wrote: »@_inHisGrace
You've made great progress! the 200's are almost there; that's a great feeling when that first number changes from a 3 to a 2.
I must be a terrible judge of age; I'd have never guessed you were 45 from your picture - I would have thought much younger! And I would never have guessed @conniewilkins56 was her age, either - I would have sworn she was at least 10 years younger
Oh my gosh, thank you! I really appreciate the compliment. That pic was taken last year when I was 220.0 -
bmeadows380 wrote: »@_inHisGrace
You've made great progress! the 200's are almost there; that's a great feeling when that first number changes from a 3 to a 2.
I must be a terrible judge of age; I'd have never guessed you were 45 from your picture - I would have thought much younger! And I would never have guessed @conniewilkins56 was her age, either - I would have sworn she was at least 10 years younger
I am not good with guessing ages either...I would have said InHisGrace was early 30s and you look younger than your age too, Bridget!...now as for myself, my daughter told someone she couldn’t remember how old I am because I lie so much about it!...lol...some days I feel 80 but others I feel like I am still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up!...4 -
Weigh-in Day...
Age:52
Height: 5'10"
Starting weight 9/1/20: 324.1
Goal weight - under 200 (-125 lbs)
Weight as of today 9/15/20: 316.4
Sept 1-8: 320.3 (3.8 lbs)
Sept 9-15 316.4 (3.9 lbs)
Total Weight Loss: 7.7 lbs
@_inHisGrace I'm not far behind you, we'll get there together!
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Yes @ZhivagosGirl we've got this! Great job!1
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Age: 51
Height : 5'11"
Starting weight : 07/28/2020 : 308.4lbs
Current weight : 286.2 lbs
Goal Weight : 200lbs ish
Total weight loss up to today : 22.2 lbs
Average loss of 3.04lbs per week
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--if you end up feeling hungrier than expected when you start eating more normally: DO NOT DESPAIR. even if it leads to slow regain. This is where the fight will have to happen and where you will have to fight both psychology and physiology. It is common for hunger to increase substantially after weight loss. Disproportionately. And when eating at maintenance it will quite probably hit you. This is NORMAL. It is not a failing. You may be looking at more than a year of having to battle this even with a small level of regain depending on how low in terms of fat levels you've ended up at your current 158 lbs. BUT THERE IS HOPE! Maintaining for 2+ years is the biggest indication bar none in terms of successfully continuing to maintain. (obviously if none of this happens to you YEAH, bob's your uncle and you're home free---but having extra hormonally induced hunger levels at the end of weight loss is not exactly unheard off)
PAV8888 - Thank you! I needed to hear this. I've been struggling with changing the mindset to maintenance too. Fighting increased hunger despite increased calories and learning that its a victory when the scale doesn't go lower. I'm so used to dieting. I'm so used to leaving calories on the table in my diary. Maintenance is definitely a mind shift.
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--if you end up feeling hungrier than expected when you start eating more normally: DO NOT DESPAIR. even if it leads to slow regain. This is where the fight will have to happen and where you will have to fight both psychology and physiology. It is common for hunger to increase substantially after weight loss. Disproportionately. And when eating at maintenance it will quite probably hit you. This is NORMAL. It is not a failing. You may be looking at more than a year of having to battle this even with a small level of regain depending on how low in terms of fat levels you've ended up at your current 158 lbs. BUT THERE IS HOPE! Maintaining for 2+ years is the biggest indication bar none in terms of successfully continuing to maintain. (obviously if none of this happens to you YEAH, bob's your uncle and you're home free---but having extra hormonally induced hunger levels at the end of weight loss is not exactly unheard off)
PAV8888 - Thank you! I needed to hear this. I've been struggling with changing the mindset to maintenance too. Fighting increased hunger despite increased calories and learning that its a victory when the scale doesn't go lower. I'm so used to dieting. I'm so used to leaving calories on the table in my diary. Maintenance is definitely a mind shift.
@PAV8888
Just out of curiosity: would that disproportionate hunger hit while still in deficit if you've lost a lot of weight and been at it for several months to 1 year+? I just wonder if that could be a part of past plateaus/stalls - if in addition to diet fatigue, the large amount of weight loss also triggers that hunger brain I'm always complaining about to be even more aggressive than normal?1 -
Yup! 😘
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27804272/
The "easy version" of the above (converted to actionable advice) sounds remarkably CLOSE to what I advocate: it's the **long term sustainable process** that should eventually lead to the results that we actually want that we want to try and nail---not fixate on the results directly!
It can be found near the end of this "interview": https://www.nutritionaction.com/daily/diet-and-weight-loss/a-leading-researcher-explains-the-obesity-epidemic/
On the good news side, the anecdotal evidence is that as long as things have not been too extreme after a long enough time at maintenance things tend to normalize.
I was definitely way more hungry and fixated on food at the tail end of faster weight loss 5 years ago, and had I not been pushing for continued slow loss over the next year I would have been much more likely to have rebounded. It took 2+ years post faster weight loss for things to start feeling easier.... Easier enough that I stopped looking at my data on a monthly basis (or even at all) unless I wanted to write a post about something!!! 😹
Btw, I am NOT confirming the calories per lb he discusses. In my experience the effect was, I would argue, smaller. It could, of course, be luck of the draw, but in general, I've proven quite... average!!!2
