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I've been hovering at 184 for about a month now. I KNOW it's because I've been stressed out and not sticking to my deficit, I KNOW it's because I've been dealing with leg and foot issues that have been hampering my exercise, but darnit why couldn't I get stuck at 180 instead? Then at least I would be crossed over into the Overweight category. It's driving me crazy to be just a few pounds away and feel like life is conspiring against me to keep me from reaching it. My rational brain says "4 pounds is nothing, if you just followed your plan you'd have that knocked out in 3 weeks" but my irrational brain says "you will not make it through the day without 900 calories of chocolate."8
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Good progress this week.
Age: 40
Height: 167cm - 5'6''
SW: 177.8 kg - 392 lb - 63,8 ΒΜΙ (May 2020)
GW: 69 kg - 153 lb - 24,9 ΒΜΙ
LW: 112.1 kg - 247.1 lb - 40,2 ΒΜΙ
CW: 111.4 kg - 245.6 lb - 39,9 ΒΜΙ
Variance: -0.7 kg / -1.5 lb / -0.62% TBW
OL: 66.4 kg - 146.4 lb - 23.8 BMI
Weight remaining for:
Obese class II: Reached - 21.05.2021 - 400 days.
Obese class I: 14.0 kg - 30.8 lb
Overweight: 27.9 kg - 61.5 lb
Normal: 41.8 kg - 92.3 lb
And a major milestone reached. Took me 400 days on the button, but I finally managed to move away from high-risk class III obesity. Onwards!9 -
Congratulations @Dante_80 you are an inspiration3
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... but my irrational brain says "you will not make it through the day without 900 calories of chocolate."
What a dispiriting place to be.
I've been in this space for the past few months--jumped up from the top edge of "normal" (169 for me, I was 168 for a few weeks) to the low 180s. And have been sort of stuck there for almost 2 months. For a whole variety of reasons - any of which I could have changed but didn't.
Things seem to be improving a bit lately - one of the reasons it might be getting better for me is the low fat no sugar god only knows what it is made of Jell-O Refrigerated Pudding Snacks, Rich Milk Chocolate flavour to be precise. It seems to be weaning me off my sugary, highfat chocolate cravings. Only 50 calories each - if I eat all 4 in a pack my sugar craving eases (I actually feel a bit gluttenous, but have only consumed 200 calories) and I seem to be craving chocolate less after a few weeks. I'm not sure how this is working or if it is even related to the puddingesque treats, but I think may they are satisfying to my tongue and conscious brain - but not quite satisfying enough on the dopamine level to trigger cravings. For me they are working like a chocolate methadone treatment. And I'm just ignoring all the weird stuff that must be in them - don't even read the ingredients.
Hope you get back on a happy weight loss path soon.5 -
@PAV8888 - I've just set up TrendWeight. And can instantly see how it will help. I love that the most prominent scale number I see is average - rather than today or yesterdays radically changing weight. It will be so much easier on my poor brain.
It imports my weight from Fitbit - which imported my input weights from MFP. On Trendweight it only went back 4 days (since the day I connected Fitbit and MFP) but you can manually enter earlier weights. I entered a few - going back about 2 weeks and will settle for that. I'm certain that everything has been logged accurately and *fully* during that period. Before then it all grows fuzzy in my memory.
But - thank you, thank you, thank you.
I think this will be a great addition to my weight loss arsenal. Which involves so much more than calories in calories out. CICO just doesn't account for all the brain energy you need to control CICO and to maintain a deficit! day after day without losing your mind or motivation or inspiration or discipline.
The thrill of a "big drop" is pretty addicting too....I'm hoping Trendweight will wean me off that "high" and I will grow to be satisfied with a gentle downward curve.
@conniewilkins56 - check it out! Trendweight might be useful for you too. You can weigh yourself everyday - but it looks/feels like it will take away the crazy highs and lows that come with a scale that bounces all over the place.4 -
Hi fellow mfp members
I’m 45 years old, 5ft 6
I started this app 4 days ago and my current loss is 3lbs. I am committed to a lifestyle change of healthy eating and being a lot more active than I have been for the past year.2 -
joryrheanne wrote: »Hi fellow mfp members
I’m 45 years old, 5ft 6
I started this app 4 days ago and my current loss is 3lbs. I am committed to a lifestyle change of healthy eating and being a lot more active than I have been for the past year.
Hi @joryrheanne - those are some fine numbers you are sharing - Congratulations! That initial weight loss is such a great feeling! Thank goodness for them, or we'd probably never get past that first couple of weeks. Keep them coming!3 -
Thank again, @PAV8888 for the Trendweight suggestion. This morning I can really feel these numbers sinking in. Everyday Trendweight is showing me a clear, slow, drop in pounds that is making it through the white noise in my head that has been buzzing like mad because of weight gain in March and April.
Theoretically I understand the get over it and move forward concept. But I was having a hard time seeing the "trend" when everytime I looked at the scale the number was so much higher than my lowest recent weight. And that scale number bouncing all over the place - 3 or 4 pounds up or down on any random day
- didn't help much either. I was feeling really really rattled by it all, and discouraged.
Trendweight is helping a lot. Almost as much as those puddings
and having added the Fitbit dashboard to my computer (to facilitate Trendweight since I don't have a technologically advanced scale) has helped too. Now that the changes have slowed down to the rate that I was actually aiming at (ironically enough) it takes a bit more effort to see them clearly. And those two programs are helping a lot. Trendweight especially is acting like a macroscope (? if that is indeed a word) by taking me out of the irregular erratic minutiae of each day and showing me the big picture. 2 -
Now, @lauriekallis , if you want to be a "pro" (and I note that I am NOT since it would require double entry and my variations and hamsters don't need the reassurance at this time); but, if you wanted to be a "pro", you could also use Libra for Android that allows you to CHANGE THE SMOOTHING!!!
Trendweight takes into account your last 10 days and this tends to show a fairly good picture, I think. There IS some LAG, so if you start losing or gaining it won't show up for two or three measurements, but it then catches on and accurately reflects the inflection points. This is as designed to alleviate concern about transient changes but show longer term changes.
Libra also allows for changes to the time period. Either shorter term (more emphasis on change) or longer term (taking an even longer view). Gals with major hormonal weight gain may be able to set a longer delay. Of course this means that Libra configured in that way may fail to reflect a true change for a longer time period!
Please keep in mind that the jello puddings we both enjoy have a major doggie incompatibility warning due to Xylitol! 3 -
Thank you @PAV8888. Once I get bored (which will no doubt come) I now have something to look forward to with Libra!
You have no idea how much I love those puddings. Poor pup doesn't have a chance to get a lick in. Now I have a good reason other than selfishness. Thank you for the warning. Hopefully when the stores open again tomorrow they will have some chocolate in stock....2 -
So I started this post in reply to @lauriekallis (thank you Laurie
) comment in the intro thread about having a mind-set of considering and evaluating whether a treat is worth the calories we invest in it! And the joy of planning for a treat instead of randomly consuming it just because it's there.
Well this is something that I've been majorly slacking on / lacking lately and it has shown/added up in my results column. And that together without our discussions about trendweight has led me to re-examine my weight trend!
I am sure that degrees differ between individuals, but I do believe that to a lesser or greater degree we are all using brain hamsters to circumvent habits, coping mechanisms, and hormonal imperatives (or as I like to call it "hormonal subterfuge" since by definition we are not aware of our subconscious!)
The beauty of it is that we never get a clear cut announcement about what is driving what! And the detective and supervisory brain hamsters have to put in the work to figure things out!
When I was frequently experimenting with new desserts while eating at a deficit (and for a good year plus post major weight loss), was my kitchen inventiveness a degree of food ideation caused by the hormonal and neurotransmitter changes generated by eating at a deficit?
IF NOT, how come then when I am eating at maintenance I don't spend as much time thinking on how to make purple yam brownies and how to bake applesauce based cookies, but just go on to grab a full sized 100g malteser chocolate bar (540 Cal) and call it a day instead? Or how come I grab a protein or cliff bar (or two or three) instead of eating some "real" food which I know will satiate me more for the same calories?
And as a result of these choices end up with relatively expensive (calories wise) days which, with their various associated friends, have ended up costing me just about 6lbs of weight trend during the past 12 months?
Now here's an interesting point.
While COVID and family "opportunities" definitely have been playing a role in my life lately not leaving good enough alone and deliberately dropping my weight trend from 155.1 to 150.6 between march and june 2020 (in my case the drop was to BMI 23.1 or SBMI 34/70... so we're talking a measly 4.5lbs here and NOT even to a low BMI!)... sort of set me up to have to deal with the ensuing "coincidence" of the family "opportunities" coming to the forefront during what I consider the hormonal minefield of the initial post weight loss time period!
And before anyone indignantly protests that 4.5lbs is a water weight variation and not weight loss (for *kitten's sake, PAV, this is Larger Losers!), please take into account that I am talking weight trend, not daily weight. And that, as I've discovered since I started posting this, it is pretty clear from my graph that the 4.5lbs were a sharper change compared to anything else that had taken place since I settled into "maintenance" mid august 2016.
I furthermore fully acknowledge that what I am discussing, while more recent and immediate in my mind, was MAGNITUDES less intense than the, somewhat faded, intensity of the nine months between Aug 2016 and May 2017 which immediately followed my initial ~125lbs drop, and which I managed to control by "trying" (and "failing") to continue to lose *extremely* slowly (my soft landing attempt)!
All this to say that I failed to heed my own advice about striving to flatten perturbations, as well as my other advice, that sometimes you're better off leaving good enough alone!
Sure, maybe without the extra stress I might have been more likely to "white knuckle" things between September and January; but, speaking to the hormonal aspect, there is little doubt in my mind that the degree of "wanting all the treats" was way higher during September/October/November before I got back up to and surpassed the average weight I was at before I started "losing" in March 2020.
And that now things are slowly feeling like they're settling down... albeit at a higher than what I would have desired average weight, with a weight trend that looks to be in the mid 156's (where I was back in 2016-2017, BMI ~24+, SBMI 35/70) instead of the 154's where I spent most of the time period between 2017 and 2020.
So I should listen to me now and aim for a bit more calm instead of knee jerk reactions and perhaps avoid trying to implement deficits that I may or may not have the mind space and emotional resilience reserves to deal with!
Please please please do NOT underestimate the effort you may have to put in during your first year or two of eating at maintenance. Habits, tricks, tips, eating, movement, exercise, everything you've learned during weight loss. Onionned layers of in depth defenses making sure you can ride out a storm!
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Thank YOU @PAV8888
I always learn so much from your posts. I'm not sure if you understand just how inspirational - and educational this post is. I feel it is going to make more of a difference in my life over the next few years than I can even imagine, because something really hit home as I read it.
I am so appreciative of the effort you put in to helping us all.2 -
Something @PAV8888 is talking about is something I am trying to put into words. There is this bit of obstinance or rebellion that seems to creep up from time to time. We know the decisions we should be making but inexplicably and in defiance to our new CHOSEN habits we revert to the kid in the candy store. I go through brief episodes of this.
Maybe it is best explained by a parent child analogy. When we are early in the process of taming the kid inside us and making mature choices it is hard at first but then it gets easier. Sort of like a high-spirited child moving from 2-5 years of age to 6-10. We get to where we understand that we can't always have the candy at checkout so there is not much point in making a fuss over it anymore.
Then the pre-teen to teenage years hit and our maturity is all over the place. We want to break free of the rules to exert our independence. We have the money we have earned from doing chores, odd jobs, and part-time employment and suddenly we just start buying the candy bar without asking permission, after all, we earned that money!
I haven't really figured it out yet. I run into the same stupid crap though and it often revolves around protein bars which is funny. I keep them in the house for specific scenarios. Volunteer work for instance can leave little to no time for eating, I usually take some on vacations, and always a few for hiking or fishing. Beyond they serve as meal replacements but intended only for times when cooking can't be done for time or because I need to eat something very early in the morning and I want to make as little noise as possible. But always before I am about to leave the house.
ANY day I eat protein bars outside of my stated "rules of use" ends up being a day that is harder for me to stay in my calorie budget. The reason for it is pretty easy. If I eat one by the rules it means I am too busy to worry about food. If I eat one on a quiet day I am still hungry which means I either eat more or I have to use willpower. If I eat more then my budget is compromised. I KNOW THIS BUT I OCCASIONALLY STILL DO IT! The guidelines I have are not frivolous. They are based on trial and error experience and they are meant to make me behave more wisely. They are meant to make it easier on me. After all, it is always foolish to have a map of the minefield in front of you and decide to just march forward without it.3 -
Also the above is one of the reasons I keep warning people about marrying your system. The reality is before my surgery and early in my weight loss I only experienced decreasing calorie numbers. Aside from planned treats that were usually the product of banked calories and highly moderated treats I practiced avoiding calorie dense food.
After a significant amount of loss and my surgery my activity shot up, way up. I initially struggled to eat enough calories because I was not in a mindset yet of needing certain amounts of calorie dense items on busy days. Since protein was my go to my consumption went through the roof (from 1:1 to 2.5:1). I was adding more cheese and oil but not enough. My system did adapt finally but it was a rocky period for a short time (also gas from too much protein is NO JOKE).
However this means I have to be adaptive from one day to the next. I have to still avoid calorie dense items some of the time and fully embrace them on others. My calorie needs usually do not swing more than about 400 from one day to the next but it has been triple that at times. Even eating an extra 400 calories one day and not the next can be a bit of a mind screw at times.4 -
Not sure if this helps but I cut my ONE protein bars in half and put them in zip lock bags....I eat one half only after a swim or other vigorous activity...l never eat them as a treat or as a meal replacement....this has made not eating more of them easier....they still give me a boost of protein and it is something I have control over without much trouble...
And I think I am still in the “ pre teen “ stage of dieting development....I know some foods I should avoid but as an adult and if I want something I should be allowed to do as I want...even though I know the consequences of unwise decisions!3 -
My calorie needs usually do not swing more than about 400 from one day to the next but it has been triple that at times. Even eating an extra 400 calories one day and not the next can be a bit of a mind screw at times.
That is definitely an issue depending on whether I manage to head out for walkies or not (which also means that the calories are near or past midnight). I didn't have to look too far back to find a >1600 Cal day difference within the same week! Not common. But 1000 Cal variations are.
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I don't think i even qualify to the lofty sane-ness of a willful and entitled teen! That would require a hamster upgrade! I'm closer to a golden retriever with food within smelling distance! 😱😹2
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My calorie needs usually do not swing more than about 400 from one day to the next but it has been triple that at times. Even eating an extra 400 calories one day and not the next can be a bit of a mind screw at times.
That is definitely an issue depending on whether I manage to head out for walkies or not (which also means that the calories are near or past midnight). I didn't have to look too far back to find a >1600 Cal day difference within the same week! Not common. But 1000 Cal variations are.
Last year at this time I was able to keep my activity level pretty high almost every day but with my knees aching more and more I am managing more than thriving at the moment. I can still get those really high days but they are often followed by pretty minimal days. Right now it is high active chores with minimal exercise or the reverse. Last year it could be both.
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