Share your Numbers

12829313334130

Replies

  • speyerj
    speyerj Posts: 1,369 Member
    I'm also wondering if I've been feeling more hunger the past two weeks because I can't exercise right now. I live in Portland, air quality has been hazardous since Labor Day - even indoor exercise is not advised. I'm not burning as much, so I'm not eating as much either.

    At any rate, as depressing as it is to live in smokeland, this is good practice for eating at maintenance without exercise. Because you know down the road, something like this is going to happen again. An injury, an illness will stop me from being able to exercise and I need to learn to adjust my calories accordingly. In the past, that was what always started a regain. I would be doing great - not really monitoring anything because I was burning so much and then boom - injury took me out of commission, but I kept eating like I was burning 2700 calories a day. Then when the injury healed, I'd gained weight and it was harder to get back to it so I threw in the towel.

    Lots of lessons there: "not monitoring anything", "harder to get back to it", "threw in the towel". These are pitfalls I need to watch for the rest of my life.
  • eliezalot
    eliezalot Posts: 620 Member
    Hooray, it is the one week of the month when my scale weight drops! I was down to 194.8 yesterday (195.2 today). I expect to see another pound or so drop this week, then back to the water weight game until next month. The slow scale progress has been annoying me, and also giving me an excuse to eat closer to maintenance (I won't see a drop on the scale this week anyway, so why not...), so I'm trying to re-focus on hitting my calorie goal as my measure of success, instead of the scale number. This worked for me all spring, when I didn't weigh for 3 months because I was out of scale batteries, so I know I can get back in that mindset.

    @speyerj - I have had that exact same issue, and I was really worried about adding in exercise when I finally started that this spring. Of course I did manage to injure myself (though the plantar fasciitis is finally improving!), and it was the first time I consciously matched my calories to my sudden decrease in activity. That being said, it was NOT easy! Good practice, but certainly not fun. Hope you are staying safe!
  • _inHisGrace
    _inHisGrace Posts: 183 Member
    Age: 45
    Height: 5’1
    SW: 307.8 lbs
    CW: 300.8
    GW: 125

    I have not eaten over my calorie daily limit so I’m hopeful that it’s water weight or hormonal issues that has my scale going in the wrong direction.

    It went up a pound mid week then down again. I’m going to try not to weigh again until next Monday.
  • ZhivagosGirl
    ZhivagosGirl Posts: 161 Member
    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)
    Sept 16-22 315.4 (1 lb)
    Total Weight Loss: 8.7 lbs

    Tough week of yoyo-ing. I got off to a great start and then the wheels really came off this week. "Just keep swimming..."
  • amart4224
    amart4224 Posts: 345 Member
    Today is the end of Week 9 since I started my ~lifestyle change~ and I'm pretty happy with the results I'm seeing. 16.4 pounds down and -2" on each of my bust, waist, and hip measurements.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    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!!!

    I have not had a persistent hunger issue (yet). I have had some minor spells and a few major spells. Volume eating serves me pretty well during the minor ones. A few extra maintenance days or a full break helps with the major ones.

    I am a big fan of compromise and controlling hunger through food but it is worth pointing out, again, that once enough calories are consumed hunger does not need to be satisfied at all. It is not an emergency and treating it that way is a slippery slope. I have a bad habit of eating too fast and trying to abate unnecessary hunger without restraint will often end with me overshooting the mark.

  • eliezalot
    eliezalot Posts: 620 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    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!!!

    I have not had a persistent hunger issue (yet). I have had some minor spells and a few major spells. Volume eating serves me pretty well during the minor ones. A few extra maintenance days or a full break helps with the major ones.

    I am a big fan of compromise and controlling hunger through food but it is worth pointing out, again, that once enough calories are consumed hunger does not need to be satisfied at all. It is not an emergency and treating it that way is a slippery slope. I have a bad habit of eating too fast and trying to abate unnecessary hunger without restraint will often end with me overshooting the mark.

    This really stood out to me (the whole last paragraph, actually). I definitely tend toward "hanger", but as I've gone through this weight loss process, I've started to figure some things out. I think I misunderstood hunger as anxiety for a long while. Hunger felt like an emergency - one to be fixed as soon as possible - and that emergency/panic type feeling is very anxiety-like. Since I fight with anxiety on a daily basis anyway, eating became an easy way to make that one specific anxious-type feeling go away. I also tend to eat too fast and too much and overdoing it.

    Through July and August my hunger was quite a bit higher than normal, and I started to feel anxious about being hungry again - like I had to eat right away to fix it. I've been adjusting my diet to get the hunger under control, but also trying consciously just sit with my hunger sometimes. I'm absolutely getting enough calories to function and be healthy, so I've tried doing almost some exposure therapy on myself. Sit with the hunger for 10 minutes, then I can eat. Then sit with it for 20, 30 minutes. I found pretty quickly that once I sit with it, the anxious feelings subside, and I'm left with just plain, normal hunger. Which, turns out, isn't an emergency after all! But it is such a hard habit to break. I had worked past it at one point already, so it definitely is something I'm going to have to remain vigilant about going forward.
  • _inHisGrace
    _inHisGrace Posts: 183 Member
    ]Age: 45
    Height: 5’1
    SW: 307.8 lbs
    CW: 300
    GW: 125

    I am very disappointed in these numbers. I weigh my food and stay under my goal all but one day. I am in that time of the month so hopefully I will see better results soon.

    I have to remember a lot bit down is better than a little bit up!

  • conniewilkins56
    conniewilkins56 Posts: 3,391 Member
    ]Age: 45
    Height: 5’1
    SW: 307.8 lbs
    CW: 300
    GW: 125

    I am very disappointed in these numbers. I weigh my food and stay under my goal all but one day. I am in that time of the month so hopefully I will see better results soon.

    I have to remember a lot bit down is better than a little bit up!

    Do you stay on track all but one day a week or did you go over one day?
  • eliezalot
    eliezalot Posts: 620 Member
    ]Age: 45
    Height: 5’1
    SW: 307.8 lbs
    CW: 300
    GW: 125

    I am very disappointed in these numbers. I weigh my food and stay under my goal all but one day. I am in that time of the month so hopefully I will see better results soon.

    I have to remember a lot bit down is better than a little bit up!

    As long as you are tracking accurately, that loss is coming! It might not show on the scale yet, but it is definitely happening. It will show up sooner or later! :smiley:

  • _inHisGrace
    _inHisGrace Posts: 183 Member
    ]Age: 45
    Height: 5’1
    SW: 307.8 lbs
    CW: 300
    GW: 125

    I am very disappointed in these numbers. I weigh my food and stay under my goal all but one day. I am in that time of the month so hopefully I will see better results soon.

    I have to remember a lot bit down is better than a little bit up!

    Do you stay on track all but one day a week or did you go over one day?

    I went over one day since August 24

  • _inHisGrace
    _inHisGrace Posts: 183 Member
    eliezalot wrote: »
    ]Age: 45
    Height: 5’1
    SW: 307.8 lbs
    CW: 300
    GW: 125

    I am very disappointed in these numbers. I weigh my food and stay under my goal all but one day. I am in that time of the month so hopefully I will see better results soon.

    I have to remember a lot bit down is better than a little bit up!

    As long as you are tracking accurately, that loss is coming! It might not show on the scale yet, but it is definitely happening. It will show up sooner or later! :smiley:
    I hope so! Thank you for the support!
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    eliezalot wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    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!!!

    I have not had a persistent hunger issue (yet). I have had some minor spells and a few major spells. Volume eating serves me pretty well during the minor ones. A few extra maintenance days or a full break helps with the major ones.

    I am a big fan of compromise and controlling hunger through food but it is worth pointing out, again, that once enough calories are consumed hunger does not need to be satisfied at all. It is not an emergency and treating it that way is a slippery slope. I have a bad habit of eating too fast and trying to abate unnecessary hunger without restraint will often end with me overshooting the mark.

    This really stood out to me (the whole last paragraph, actually). I definitely tend toward "hanger", but as I've gone through this weight loss process, I've started to figure some things out. I think I misunderstood hunger as anxiety for a long while. Hunger felt like an emergency - one to be fixed as soon as possible - and that emergency/panic type feeling is very anxiety-like. Since I fight with anxiety on a daily basis anyway, eating became an easy way to make that one specific anxious-type feeling go away. I also tend to eat too fast and too much and overdoing it.

    Through July and August my hunger was quite a bit higher than normal, and I started to feel anxious about being hungry again - like I had to eat right away to fix it. I've been adjusting my diet to get the hunger under control, but also trying consciously just sit with my hunger sometimes. I'm absolutely getting enough calories to function and be healthy, so I've tried doing almost some exposure therapy on myself. Sit with the hunger for 10 minutes, then I can eat. Then sit with it for 20, 30 minutes. I found pretty quickly that once I sit with it, the anxious feelings subside, and I'm left with just plain, normal hunger. Which, turns out, isn't an emergency after all! But it is such a hard habit to break. I had worked past it at one point already, so it definitely is something I'm going to have to remain vigilant about going forward.


    That last sentence could not be more true and I am willing to bet it is true for all of us. Maybe when it is has been years it won't be as much of an issue but those old habit grooves run deep and my new habits run shallow. It is easy to slip back into the old grooves because they are so stinking automatic. Logging daily without fail brings me back to a state of awareness even if it is too late for the day I do not often repeat less aware days anymore.
  • eliezalot
    eliezalot Posts: 620 Member
    Haha it doesn't feel fair. I already fixed this habit once, can't I just move on and do it forever now?

    Logging daily has been so helpful for me as well, especially the mindset around it. In previous weight loss attempts, I logged daily, but I only used it as a tracking tool, not a learning tool. When the goal was "hit your calories every day and your goal weight on schedule," I'd feel like I failed if I missed either (which I did frequently). But when the goal became "log your food, be close to your calories most of the time, and figure out how to make it easier," the only way to fail now is to quit. The fifteen months and 63 lbs of (relatively easy) success so far still shocks me.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    eliezalot wrote: »
    Haha it doesn't feel fair. I already fixed this habit once, can't I just move on and do it forever now?

    Logging daily has been so helpful for me as well, especially the mindset around it. In previous weight loss attempts, I logged daily, but I only used it as a tracking tool, not a learning tool. When the goal was "hit your calories every day and your goal weight on schedule," I'd feel like I failed if I missed either (which I did frequently). But when the goal became "log your food, be close to your calories most of the time, and figure out how to make it easier," the only way to fail now is to quit. The fifteen months and 63 lbs of (relatively easy) success so far still shocks me.

    Testify!!

    It is amazing how much easier it got when I decided to get out of my own way. There was still unpleasantness and bad days but there was a lot of just normal days. They were an adjusted normal but normal enough.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    Been a weird scale time for me over the last little bit. I have yet to see all the rest of my water weight go from vacation/maintenance. Very unusual and annoying since I still haven't seen onederland yet even though I have been projected there for over 2 weeks.