Women 200lb+, Let's Double Down This December!!!

bdbjswbrb

I have two food scales. A smaller, lighter one for quickly measuring sauces and small things, and a bigger one that can hold a full dinner plate or a small pot. I have no sense of measurement so my 'about a cup' of something ends up being 2 or 3 servings. It's really annoying sometimes, but I have to weigh stuff.

nebslp

@torihudson6 You look great and that's a really pretty dress. I hope you get to go to some awesome parties!!

All this talk about food scales made me remember that my battery died over a week ago and I need to put it on my shopping list. Sometimes I'm surprised at how much more of something I can have based on the scale rather than just eyeballing a food. I always underestimate meats weights.

@pamiede Wow! You are having a great week. Yay!!!

@speyerj I am inspired by your commitment and weight loss since June.

@orangequilt I love your profile pic!

@HurleyHurley Great weight loss! I like your tracking format. I might try that to help keep me focused and for accountability.

@gelatinouscube Your name and profile pic made me laugh out loud! Very cute! I have a digital scale that is so much better than the mechanical one I used to have. Definitely a step up in the world.

There are so many others I'd like to reply to but have limited time. I'm reading all the posts and enjoying this group very much.

Candyn617

I hope everyone is having a good December so far!
Sw 288
Cw 225
Gw 144?
12/1: 225
12/8: 219.7
12/15:
12/22
12/31
After standing pretty still the last couple of weeks in November the scale finally moved!

bluffgirl67

Hi to all the new posters

@heavenlee3031 Just try a little farther every day and you will make to the top of those stairs.

@Aerohead21 Enjoy your new dumbbells. I love my little 3lb ones (heaviest I can use).

@torihudson6 Looking fab in your holiday dress!! Your confidence is shining with that smile. I think the scale is helping me learn what portion sizes look like. I eat quite a bit of peanut butter and now get 16g serving gram very close almost every time. In the future when I get to goal and have been able to maintain awhile I hope I can be good enough at eyeballing thanks to my scale experience.

@Christine4695 Sorry to hear about your dad. Right now just focus on taking care of yourself and spending time with him. Hugs

@lindaporter2018 Great job working out while on vacation. Enjoy your trip!

@aliciap0116 "You can't outrun your fork" love this!! I totally agree with the 80/20 thoughts. Food intake either helps me lose or packs on the pounds. Exercise is more about my heart getting healthier and my body used to doing more activity. I want to be able to do things outdoors without getting out of breath and tiring easily.

@Speyerj Great work on meeting weekly goals. Your dedication is inspiring.

@HurleyHurley Sometimes we gotta work a little harder for the yummies. I bet the bread was delish.

@gelatinouscube Glad you now have a reliable scale. Having one that is consistent will help so much.

Weekend has been busy. I got all my Christmas food/present shopping done except for lottery scratch offs for stocking stuffers. Hubby and I ate at the local Mexican place last night. It was so good and not over my daily calories even with a soft serve vanilla cone. Today is my cousin's 50th wedding anniversary party so need to plan for cake. Next week will be a rough one. Momma has another bladder biopsy in Nashville Tue 7am which means we need to leave home at 4am. I got a hotel room so we can stay overnight because she also two dr appts there Wed morning. No way was driving home and back again going to be a good thing.

It was great reading about all the week's losses and goals met. Everyone is doing wonderful. Reading here helps me stay on track so much better than on my own. Thanks for keeping it real.

aliciap0116

Tori you look gorgeous, Candy and Pam terrific losses this week!

I bought a food scale but need to use it more often. I usually measure by volume and I know I go over.

Two questions for the group related to sodium and water retention (always an issue when I eat out or processed foods, especially on the weekend):

1. So water flushes our your system and helps you let go of water weight. When you have a low weight and it goes up 2lbs the next day even though you were well below maintenance calories, do you all feel like the lower weight is the true weight and you just have to wait for it to come back? I am reporting “as is” but it is so frustrating waiting for that weight to come back down when you know you are ok calorie wise
2. Water is amazing for your body I know. But does it actually help you lose weight? Or is it just that it helps you accomplish #1 above?

Instead of obsessing over this I should just eat clean and drink more water but curious for others thoughts!

mmdeveau

I have to echo everyone else’s comment of how this thread has grown! I wish I’d been able to participate more this week but work got in the way.

For those new to MFP or those who are figuring things out, one of my favorite posts ever is the first post in this thread: community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1. The initial post is followed by 55 pages of “Bump” posts to keep it at the top of the message board. It’s an old post so the links in the post don’t work, but it has enough information to stand on its own. I still go back to it periodically to read it for inspiration or a reality check.

I’m glad so many enjoyed the post about self-care. I tend to have been a caregiver for most of my life, if not having been explicitly asked to put aside my needs, I’ve been guilted into putting aside living my life to the fullest in order help care for other people. Things really came to a head for me in this respect in the last year or so, and once a crisis had been averted earlier this year I vowed not to neglect myself any longer.

@Christine4695 – take care of yourself to the best of your ability. I speak from experience. Earlier this year I took a bit over a month’s leave from work to help get my dad through a catastrophic illness. I had to leave my home and live in a different area, splitting my time between the hospital and my dad’s place. I always wished I’d started back to walking during that month, as stress relief and to take time for myself. I began walking again within the week of getting home, and thankfully my dad is mostly intact. I’m sorry your father is doing poorly and I hope if he cannot get better he is at least comfortable.

@torihudson6 – You look beautiful and happy! So glad you were able to relax and have a good time!

@Terytha – I’m sorry you’ve been having a stressful time at work. A friend of mine once recommended reading about impostor syndrome and it helped a bit. On another note, I was reading the NSV thread and I came across one of your posts about a 500-squat challenge – and how when you were half-way through you got a second wind and were able to finish. Are you kidding me? That is AMAZING! I wish I could do a set of eight. You’ve come too far now to go back!

@aliciap0116 – “You can’t outrun your fork.” I’ve heard similar along the way as well: “You can’t out-exercise a bad diet” and “Abs are made in the kitchen” are a couple of others that stand out for me. Changing eating habits is hard work but it will sustain when you can’t work out. I do think I learned something from when I lost so much a few years back, because it took a while to gain the amount that I did, and I did not go all the way back up to my highest starting point.

Height: 5'6"
SW (09/08/2019): 239.2 lbs
December SW (12/1): 210.0 lbs
12/8/19: 206.8
December GW: 202.0 lbs
GW: 150 lbs (then reconsider)

My goals for December are:

- 100 consecutive days logging in MFP - Woot, woot! Done!
- Cardio for 45-60 min, 5-6 times a week, 3 of the sessions Couch-to-5K workouts – Check. Actually worked out 7 days this past week, I explain why in detail below.
- Advance in the Couch-to-5K plan to week 2 workouts – This coming week will be the last week I stick with the week 1 workout.
- Core exercises at least 3 times a week – Check.
- Pants are still hanging in there!
- Take better care of my skin in hopes it will start to regain its shape. – did better this week, at least I was able to moisturize every day.

Happy with the progress I made this week, though I expect a bit of an uptick tomorrow at least. I was not expecting to see the number I saw on the scale this morning. Believe it or not, nearly every day this week my weight was higher than my weigh-in last week. I did not reflect a loss until yesterday, and because of how my day went yesterday I was expecting to be down this morning – but not this much.

This week was, and this whole month will be, a challenge for me because I am working off-site every other week this month to cover for someone else while they are out on leave. It’s mostly a commute problem – trading a 40 minute train commute into town for a 50-minute car commute to a place closer to me. The car commute is stressful, and frankly the work environment at the off-site location is far from ideal. My solution which addresses most of my issues is to work out in the morning, at the gym. I pack my gym stuff, along with all of my work stuff (four bags to carry out to my car), and get to the gym between 6 AM – 6:30 AM. I don’t really beat traffic, but my drive is 20 minutes shorter. The commitment to the AM workouts is why I worked out 7 days this past week. I did not want to fall out of the AM workout habit. Normally I skip Fridays, and this past Friday I just did a relatively light workout instead. I think the AM workouts are still definitely the better way to go this week and next week.

I am grateful I have the gym option, for this situation and as a plan to deal with bad weather. I don’t feel like I get a great workout on the treadmill compared to my workouts on the trails. However I do think that my outdoor workouts improve as a result of the treadmill work. There is something about walking/running on the treadmill to keep up with a prescribed pace which ultimately seems to serve me when it comes to the outdoor workouts.

My big challenge this week, other than the AM workout schedule, will be my work Christmas party on Thursday night.

I hope everyone has a great week this week!

BrownSugar174

@bluffgirl67 I just now saw your post as I’m 10:41 minutes from finishing my 60 minute elliptical...I’m gonna push for 90 minutes! The gym is empty so no one is waiting for the machine!! I’m going for it!!

speyerj

@aliciap0116, regarding water: Being well hydrated prevents water retention which increases your weight temporarily and makes you look and feel bloated. Muscle is 70% water - being well hydrated is essential for building and retaining muscle. Water is also needed to help your body burn fat. Finally, when you are well hydrated, cravings decrease. Sometimes our brains mistake thirst for hunger. Here's a article from a reliable journal which addresses these things: https://medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322296.php#six-reasons-why-drinking-water-may-help-you-lose-weight

BrownSugar174

@bluffgirl67 Thank you so much for the inspiration!

torih941

@lindaporter2018 go you! That is amazing, I hit 20 minutes on the elliptical and I am ready to get off, I can't imagine doing 90.

@Christine4695, I hope you are doing well, I know how hard it is to have a loved one be sick, make sure to take care of yourself, too.

@mmdeveau, congrats on 100 days! That is awesome. I also admire your commitment to AM workouts, I always tell myself to get up early and do it, but I just have not been able to make that happen yet. I also hope your Christmas Party goes well and you are able to enjoy yourself, I was also pretty stressed about mine this last Thursday but I really enjoyed myself. Thank you for the compliment as well

@HurleyHurley, I hope you were able to enjoy your workout when you got there! I find one the days that I really do not want to workout, I feel the best afterwards, so kudos to you for getting it done.

@speyerj, wow, you killed your goals this week! I am going to use that as motivation for me this upcoming week. I have finals approaching (finishing up my first semester of Grad school), so I am trying not to let myself get derailed.

Thank you for everyone's advice on the food scale, it seems to be something I definitely need to invest in if I don't get it for Christmas. Portion sizes is something I need to work on, I have always been someone who takes more than I need and since it is on the plate, I end up eating it. I am trying to take a smaller first portion, eat slower, and then wait at least 5-10 minutes before getting seconds to make sure I am really still hungry.

Also, thank you to everyone who has said something kind about my photo, it's made me smile.

Basana0909

Hey ladies , I’m new to MFP and soooo excited about my weight loss journey and getting healthy !! The support here makes such a difference for me in my journey !! ❤️❤️❤️

SW 235
CW 235
Goal 170 !!!! 💪💪💪

Good luck to all of u beautiful strong women !!!
One day at a time ❤️❤️❤️💪💪💪

lindamtuck2018

@speyerj thanks for the article. If I have a high sodium meal it takes several days for the water weight to disappear. I am definitely going to increase my water intake.

BrownSugar174

How many of you use MFP Premium? What do you like/dislike about it?

gelatinouscube

@lindaporter2018 I used the premium version with the free trial before actually properly starting to log everything, but the difference for my purposes is negligible.

So my 2nd weigh-in! Adjusting those previous numbers because new scale
26/11: 108kg - > 106kg
2/12: 106kg - > 104kg
9/12: 101.7kg
I've been logging everyday and staying under target... Except the days where I have dinner out. Still logged but man does that throw off my plans.

BrownSugar174

@gelatinouscube thank you for the MFP information. I really like the regular but didn’t know if I was missing something.

Eating out for me really slowed my weight loss in the beginning. When my hubby and I first retired we’d eat out 3-5 times a week. While I was working out I was loosing weight sloooooowwwwwllllyyy. Living in the south means food that is high in salt and sugar. We decided to eat out 1-2 times a month. From 2/1/18 to 3/18/19 I lost about 15 pounds. From 3/18/19 to 12/3/19 after we stopped eating out I lost 31 pounds. I could not believe the difference.

BrownSugar174

@torihudson6 When I started doing the elliptical I started with 10 minutes and worked my way up. I got an invaluable tip from a trainer. She told me that it is not about speed. It is about reaching my heart rate zone for as long as possible. I realized that raising my incline and resistance was the key to reaching/staying within my HRZ. I don’t use the elliptical machine with the arm handles moving back and forth. That movement takes to much energy. I also don’t lean on the machine because that makes me so tired. I try to maintain the same pace no matter how high my incline/resistance is. I also don’t towel off because it takes energy. The most important part, for me, is FitRadio! This app is awesome! They have so many playlists, DJ’s, coaches and the ability to set intervals. It is awesome.

Christine4695

So yesterday when I was driving to stay with my dad, I started to feel very poorly. Severe heartburn, sweating, and nausea. Stopped to get some Pepto but just felt horrible. Thought I might be having a heart attack as I looked up the symptoms for women. So I called myself an ambulance. Spent the rest of the day in the er.

Turns out I have gall stones and (yes there's an and) an ovarian cyst! Yay! Luckily neither one needed emergency surgery. Got a referral to a surgeon and told to see my OBGYN.

So on top of my father on his deathbed, I will probably have to have surgery! Great way to finish the year!

I can say I am feeling better today just have almost no appetite. Taking it easy.

nebslp

@Christine4695 I’m sorry you are going through so much right now. I hope you are feeling better and are able to spend some time with your dad. Taking it easy sounds like a good plan right now.

@mmdeveau You’re killing your December goals!! 100 consecutive days of logging is something I haven’t yet committed to, but I know it’s possible. Changes in routine are tough for me. It sounds like you’ve figured out how to handle your work schedule changes and you’ll be fine.

@gelatinouscube Great logging and congrats on staying under your goal most days.

@bluffgirl67 I hope your mom gets a good report from the biopsy. It’s hard dealing with loved ones who are suffering from illness of any kind. I’m sure she appreciates your support.

@lindaporter2018 I’m going to check into the FitRadio app. I don’t have easy access to a gym so work out at home and I could use a boost. Thanks.

@gamimafaf I’m not new to MFP but am new to this group. It definitely has an amazing support system!

I’ve been resisting working out for a long time now. Not sure why because I love the way working out makes me feel so much better. Maybe I’m anxious about Christmas coming and the plans that go with it. Mostly I am just being lazy, I think. Tomorrow I will report back with what I did to change that😌 This group is so inspiring!

spepper50

I'm in too even though I'm getting a late start.
I'm 5'2, 69 years old.
I started December at 266 and am currently at 261. My goal is to reach 256 by Dec. 31.
I will track intake every day and stay away from sweets.

stefsc1

I logged a weight gain today. Usually I just skip it until it's a lower number, so any brief plateaus look like what they are, but this doesn't feel like a brief plateau anymore. I'm exactly where I was a month ago, and it sucks. I briefly caught sight of a '304' here and there last month and did log it when it happened, but the consistent trend over the last 4 weeks has been '308'. So that's what I logged this morning.

I started November with 8 weeks to lose the last 13 pounds to my 100-pound goal for the year and thought there was no way I wouldn't achieve it. Now I have 11 pounds to lose in 3 weeks and there's no way I CAN achieve it. I never felt like I was getting very far off track, and so not seeing results week after week after week has been so frustrating. Now in a childish tantrum with my own body, I HAVE been overeating for the past several days. "If my body isn't going to be doing what it's supposed to while I AM, why should I keep restricting myself?"

*sigh* I wake up every morning hoping it's the day I feel re-inspired to stick to my calorie goals, and by 2pm every day I have no calories left and just get upset all over again. I'm not giving up, just going through a rough patch. I do also know that in the grand scheme, having 1 'off' month when I had 7 good ones before it and will have many more good ones after, really isn't that much time. But when you're in a daily struggle with yourself, every hour trying to fight off having snacks you don't need, it really freaking drags on.