Women 200lb+, Let's Be Magnificent This March!!!
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@alymc2 - Good insight about being "good" vs. being "bad". Take away those value/judgement words and replace them with "on track" or "off track". If you are on track - yay - you are on your way to getting to goal. If you are off track, ask why and then develop a plan for how to get back on track. Think of yourself as a project manager. Your project is to lose weight. You set some milestones along the way - 25 pounds, for example. You break the milestones into smaller tasks that you can measure. You report back to yourself on how you are meeting those tasks. When you get off track, as the project manager, you don't beat yourself up, you find a way to get to green. You remove obstacles that might be preventing the project team ( which is you) from hitting their targets and you regroup later to make sure the plan you put in place is working. No judgement, just results.9
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@alymc2 I've tried to be very intentional about the words I choose to use - in all things, not just weight loss, but definitely in this arena. There are no "bad" foods, no one is "bad" for eating or not eating anything in particular. There are only choices that serve either our short-term goals, or our long-term goals. When I go buy a snack out of the vending machine at work because I'm peckish at 3 PM, that is a choice I'm making, with the full knowledge that this packet of M&Ms is 250 calories that I didn't plan for. The M&Ms didn't happen to me, I chose to buy and eat them because my short-term goal was to not be hungry. Maybe they'll fit into my longer-term goals, like staying under my calorie budget for the day or week, or fitting into a dress size whatever at a certain point in time. Maybe they won't. It's all about choices.2
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@alymc13
I like the idea of weighing daily then taking the average. I can see how it would take the pressure off.
@speyerj @goal06082021
You both have such good advice about the language we use and goals! I like the idea of saying "on track" and "off track", because when you say "off track" compared to being "bad" it almost makes you check in and be like whyyy am I off track. I don't know, it feels like a bigger pill to swallow when you are acknowledging that you not on the way to your goals, compared to just saying you're being bad. So thank you for that.
I just went for a walk in the woods and got lost! my 30min walk turned into an hour and only because I ran into my neighbour who kindly lead me out. Who knows how long I would be out there if I didn't run into her. I was freaking out. Definitely got a good workout in, though!
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@VickyEltonGreen - at some point I came to understand that it's okay if it takes forever to lose the weight, because we need to keep this up forever. If you can, try to stop thinking of weight loss as a narrative, with a beginning middle and end. It has a beginning, yes, but it has no end. If you want to sustain your weight loss you will never go back to eating as you did before. You will eat exactly as you are eating today, give or take a couple hundred calories, depending on your level of activity. That might seem discouraging. It's not meant to be. Instead, it's an invitation to think about structuring your eating in such a way that lets you live your life to the fullest right now. That doesn't deprive you. That takes into account that things like parties, celebrations, special occasions, dinners out, happy hour, dessert are going to happen (well, some of those things aren't happening right now, but they will return). The longer it takes, the longer you have to practice and get things right.
@speyerj - This is so good that I printed it out to reread as needed!7 -
Starting over (again). Hoping I can find the right group to help me stay motivated. I like what I read so far!
I'm Jane and I live in Louisiana (home of best worst food ever )
Age: 61
Height: 5'7"
SW: 230is (3/18/2021)
GW: #1 150ish
Motivations: Keep metabolic disorder and type 2 diabetes at bay. Relieve knee pain. Relieve plantar fasciitis pain. Travel with my family to cool places!
Fitness goal: Walking (while birding) daily and bike riding 5mi 3 x per week. I should also add a stretching routing.
Nutrition goal: ::sigh:: tracking food daily. I get so tired of doing this after a while, but I know it keeps one accountable. Shop the outside of the store; stay away from processed foods as much as possible.
Struggles:
Evening cocktail: I'm sure that the empty calories in alcohol have been a big contributor to my weight gain. Switching to tea!
Snacks: my jam is salty-crunchy snacks. I need to have something on hand that fits the bill or I know I'll eat stuff that I should not. I usually "need" one mid-afternoon. I might try protein chips (an exception to the processed food rule). Other suggestions welcome!
Travel: I travel a good bit and I know the key is to be prepared so I don't resort to fast food and fried crap. BE PREPARED
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@speyerj Great advice Jane, so spot on! I'm having to adjust from being extremely strict to allowing for parties and dinners and even alcohol. I'm trying to not be all or nothing! And I agree with you completely about this journey having no end, this is it for us! So its important to keep to a plan and structure. I'm loving the running and walking and am quite strict with myself about how much I run weekly. This week has been difficult because of a tumble last weekend and bruised ribs. Life is infinitely better for me now that I've lost most of my excess weight!5
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Friday weigh in!
Age: 30 (for two more days!)
Height: 5’6”
SW 222.1 (Feb 21)
March SW 212
March GW 201
UGW 170
Mar 5: 210
Mar 12: 207.9
Mar 19: 205.7
Mar 27:
Steady progress in the downward direction! The fact that I’m staying consistent at about 2lbs a week for the last 6 weeks or so is making me hopeful that I’m actually losing fat, not something else. I exercise 6 days a week, doing either HIIT, strength training or a long walk. As far as NSVs go, 2 weekends ago I went out to the park for a walk on my day off and walked 5 miles before getting tired. Last weekend, I went to the same park and had enough energy to walk 7 miles before I was tired! I’m hopeful that progress really means I’m building stamina and endurance. I know consistent exercise is going to be the only way for me to maintain for the long haul.
This weekend is my birthday so I’ll be having my first experimentation with “cheating”. I’m having dinner with friends one night and my family the next night - I plan to stick to my eating plan generally but add a small piece of cake both days. I definitely have the calories leftover from the week (because as a general rule, I stay under 1200/day and don’t eat back my exercise calories yet) so my goal is not to be discouraged next week if I make less progress because it’s worth it to celebrate! Once I get closer to GW, I’ll start eating more calories and more varieties of food (right now I’m pretty much no sugar, low carb - less than 25g/day) but I have both low thyroid and PCOS so it can be really hard to lose weight (but I’m actually ok at maintaining), so I wanted to try and jumpstart things a bit for the first 30-40lbs.
Love you beautiful ladies! Keep up the great work!6 -
Happy Friday! I am so inspired by you all. The positive thoughts and the sharing of success and struggle has opened my mind so much.
No longer ashamed of filling out my food log. Yep that is correct. I felt ashamed and would not log portions of my day or the entire day. Logging is just one tool in my toolbox to help me reach my health goal. No longer ashamed but driven.
What do you find to be the most helpful tool in your "getting healthy" toolbox?7 -
It's weigh-in day!
Age: 29
Height: 5'3"
Original SW: 252.8 lb as of 11/13/2020
Month SW: 239.8 lb as of 2/26/2021
Weigh-in Progress:
3/5: 239.2
3/12: 237.0
3/19: 237.8
3/26:
GW for March: 235 lb
GW for 2021: 196 lb
Womp womp. I'm pretty confident most of that is water, though, so there's that.
I see we've got some more new faces around, welcome!
@alymc2 Logging and keeping myself accountable that way is the most helpful weight-loss tool I've ever used, honestly. I've always been fat, and during the times in my life when I was less fat, I was consistently and honestly logging what I ate and staying below a given number of calories per day. I 100% get the shame-avoidance and not logging and skipping days - I have been exactly there. I think it was this thread I mentioned that around mid-late March is when I've historically fallen off the wagon and stopped logging consistently or honestly; I'm not doing that again this year. At least for me, in the past I didn't have a ton of control over what I ate - I wasn't in control of the grocery list or the daily menu due to my living situation. Now, that's no longer the case. I am solely responsible for what gets bought at the grocery store and what gets cooked in the kitchen, which is its own source of stress and mental load, but at least I know exactly what I'm eating for +/-95% of my meals.
Using my bullet-journal-style planner to, uh, plan my lunches and dinners in advance has also been a huge help this year, I think. I love data, IMO you can never have too much, so being able to see what I've been doing, what I'm planning to do, what tweaks I've made to the plan and how that has gone has been really helpful. I need to go in and tweak the lunch rotation sometime this weekend; I did DIY Lunchables for lunch this week and hubs hasn't been impressed, tbh I haven't either. I'm going to take that out of the rotation going forward, thinking about replacing it with DIY Chipotle bowls because he definitely needs something heartier at midday than cold cuts and cheese cubes, and my snacking this week suggests I do, too. See? Data!5 -
Happy Friday!!
SW (Jan 2021): 219.6
HT: 5'4
Age: Almost 48 (next week)
Friday Weigh-in
Mar 19: 197.4 - Down 3lbs
Thoughts: It was another good week. I'm appreciating the benefits of intentionally adding more veggies and including fruits into my diet. I exercised some this week, but I haven't focused on that like I want/need to. I'll challenge myself this upcoming week to really work on that since my eating/meal planning is under control.
NSV: I can see my collarbone again. Woohoo!!!5 -
Happy Friday! I am so inspired by you all. The positive thoughts and the sharing of success and struggle has opened my mind so much.
No longer ashamed of filling out my food log. Yep that is correct. I felt ashamed and would not log portions of my day or the entire day. Logging is just one tool in my toolbox to help me reach my health goal. No longer ashamed but driven.
What do you find to be the most helpful tool in your "getting healthy" toolbox?
I have a few so I'm listing them all. 😁
Tools for Healthy Toolbox:
1. The MFP app - The MFP community is wonderful.
2. My food scale - I weigh everything and can't eat without it.
3. My food diary - Glad you're no longer ashamed. It's the key to our success.
4. My air fryer - I just LOVE it and had to include it! 😆
You're going to do great!!!3 -
@girlinkaz You're on a roll!!!! Congrats!0
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@goal06082021
The lunchable idea gives me a possible plan. I get snacky mid afternoon and a lunchable type set up might help with a healthier snacky afternoon.
I might try the planner as a way of easing/validating needed adjustments to Healthy Me Project. LOL This might help when communicating with my wellness coach too...BONUS.
Goal for the next 7 days:
Log, honestly, everyday.
Workout--more than counting steps-- 4 days1 -
I love the DIY Lunchable in concept, but in practice it's really just not enough food for a lunch unless I load it up with high-fat/high-protein stuff like multiple hard boiled eggs, peanut butter and something to dip it in/spread it on, a frankly disturbing amount of cheese, etc. Also, pro-tip: nuts do not do well in the fridge, if you're going to include nuts in your Lunchable, pack them separately and store them at room temperature. I have a bunch of little 4-oz tupperwares I use for things like nuts, fruit/veggie snacks, cold toppings like salad dressing or salsa/sour cream, and homemade yogurt cups. I buy plain Greek yogurt in the big quart-size tubs and mix in my own flavoring, like honey or fruit (either fresh fruit diced small, storebought jam, or compote/syrup I made myself). It's cheaper and less wasteful than the prepackaged single-serve cups.2
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My good/bad is more of within calories or way off track/binge territory. I've been having these same discussions with my friend too. I stopped demonizing foods a long time ago, excluding my intolerances. If something fits in my calories I'll plan for it. If I'm over a bit but within a range that I'm comfortable on I feel good about that too. I'd rather be slightly over than under for me. I've been working on trying to break my friend's habit of saying her day was bad as she had 1 candy bar or whatever. I'll even answer her with - so? what's wrong with that? plan it within your day. If you'll end up having 5 if you don't have the 1, then eat the 1. It's not sinking in yet.
I've really liked the MFP communities just for that reason actually. In the past, a diet site had this one group that felt they needed to be as "clean" as possible for whatever that meant to them. I couldn't mention a treat, etc even if I had planned for it. I've really appreciated seeing those at goal that acknowledge how they're still eating whatever. For me that's sustainable
@alymc2 I'm still struggling logging on the really over days. I have no shame in the planned treats but if I'm getting into the really off track days I haven't gone back to include those yet. Logging is definitely the first step. I pretty much think of it as pre-planning so I can make sure what I'm thinking of having for the day is within range or gives me an opportunity to switch. That's my biggest tool right now - MFP diary (app or website). I guess my Apple watch would be too. I go back and check my avg energy so I can confirm what my TDEE is; just so I can confirm MFP numbers are in line.2 -
@Sarah122701
You are a great friend and support! The reality of an entire day is not bad over simple things is great! I have found myself in that trap MANY times.
I would cherish the ability to pre-plan the day but life gets in the way A LOT. My hubby is not in the greatest health. Many times we plan for him to help with playing taxi to the kids or doing the shopping and by the end of the day his body has changed the plan and I am on the total crazy train. These are the worst moments. I end up grabbing something from which ever fast food place has the shortest line and keep on going. I need to look into food ideas that are always car ready and healthier but no idea where to start.4 -
Height: 5'7"
Highest Weight: 254
End of January: 239.3
End of February: 235.6
3/5: 236.7 (+1.1) @#$!
3/12: 237 (+0.3)
3/19: 237.7 (+0.7)
March Goal: Don't gain anymore!
End of Year Goal: 190
UGW: 160-165
Well, I am now in the pms phase of the month and should be starting in a few days. March is a bust for me unfortunately but I did have my birthday a few days ago along with a giant snow storm here. Both caused me to go for comfort food. I did get some good cardio in shoveling 2 feet of snow and walking my pup in it! I also got the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on my birthday! I had some side effects which I wasn't expecting until after the second shot. Very tired, sore arm, some chills. Feeling much better today though!
Happy Friday, everyone!5 -
@Tarzan37
PMS sucks!!! The month is only half over and the struggle is so real. You can totally manage your goal of maintaining for the rest of the month. You may even surprise yourself once you are feeling better.
My grand-daughter says " You big and you can do it too!" Her reference when I tell her I am to old or round to do anything. Remember You big and You can do it!! lol5 -
Happy Friday! Weigh in day for me. I don't know how accurate it is because I just came off a night shift where I eat at midnight and drink water all night. I think I'll re-weigh myself after my set of shifts and see the difference. The last couple days have been really good! Staying under my calories and walking everyday. Hopefully I can stay on track over the weekend, because I definitely struggle.
SW: 221.6
Last week: 214.6
CW: 214.45 -
@alymc2 - since you know that your life as it is right now is going to include some fast food dinners, develop a fast food plan. When you aren't hungry, go to the websites of some of the fast food joints in your neighborhood an plan out a meal that fits with your macros and calorie goals for a dinner and a lunch. This way, you know exactly what to order every time and won't get sidetracked by the call of shakes or French fries when your brain is fried with low blood sugar and high stress. You can even save the pre-planned meal in MFP, so it's easy to log. And instead of feeling defeating when you pull out of the drive through, you will feel victorious and can relish your convenience food with gusto.8
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@Sarah122701
You are a great friend and support! The reality of an entire day is not bad over simple things is great! I have found myself in that trap MANY times.
I would cherish the ability to pre-plan the day but life gets in the way A LOT. My hubby is not in the greatest health. Many times we plan for him to help with playing taxi to the kids or doing the shopping and by the end of the day his body has changed the plan and I am on the total crazy train. These are the worst moments. I end up grabbing something from which ever fast food place has the shortest line and keep on going. I need to look into food ideas that are always car ready and healthier but no idea where to start.
An Egg McMuffin with bacon is actually not a terrible fast-food choice - it's under 300 calories, with a decent macro split (if you care about that). Sausage is a little heavier, closer to 400 cal, still likely not day-ruining if you're replacing a planned meal. Since you know that hitting the drive-thru on short notice is a thing that happens fairly often, it may be worth figuring out a standard go-to order for those places that you know is going to be X number of calories.
Take a look at the nutrition info for your local fast food places; they all make that info publicly available on their websites. Always pull directly from the restaurant's website to make sure you have the most up-to-date info, Google sometimes pulls super old documents that are still floating around the web. By the same token, double-check the MFP entry you use to make sure it is also up to date.3 -
Stepped on the scale and I was up 2 and a half pounds since Wednesday. I know I didnt eat that much it's probably from the salt from St. Patrick's Day food but it really hurt to see. I know that if I keep doing what I'm doing I'll see the number go back down. Ugh!!4
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@hap2go that sounds rough, its good you where their for the family and stayed mostly on track
@goal06082021 thanks for the encouragement ,1 -
@alymc2 As the others mentioned, when you have a moment check out the fast food menus online. They’re very helpful. Some even have builders so you can remove things as necessary. I’m always looking at them just for checking ingredients. When I’m traveling I know I’ll usually have my go to things. Long time ago I also made a list of the items that fell within a certain calorie range I wanted. Sure it may change but you’ll have some examples to stick to after a while. When my family goes out to restaurants for dinner we’ve kept to the same places that I can do the same thing. Or at the very least I know I have 600-700 etc calories for dinner as I’ve already logged breakfast & lunch. Many places seem to have the calories on the menu as a guide if they’re a chain. If they’re not, there’s usually a chain that is similar that MFP has. Many times it’s planning for the next visit to be more prepared of the likely options you would want to choose. Even on a regular week, I like to have some easy prepared meals that fit within my numbers. For me that’s breakfast cookies, chicken or tuna salad kits, and for a dinner starter – mac & cheese. Just finding things you like to see if they can be kept in the car so they’re ready if you really need to stay away from the fast food that day.
My husband informed me he needs to go to urgent care after work tonight. Something happened to his finger but he has no clue. Dinner is a bit up in the air but I’ll be using my guidelines. I’ve already logged one place so we’ll have to see if that’s reality or if we’ll go elsewhere.
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@Kaken21 I am up 1.5# since Sunday and frustrated too. Hopefully it is water weight and will come back off!
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@Spotteddingo I sure hope so! I definitely ate different the last few days but definitely not enough to gain weight especially multiple pounds! Let me know if yours comes back down in the next few days.0
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I have so much to catch up on. I haven’t really been on the past two weeks, March has most definitely not been my month. After losing my aunt to the COVID vaccine, I lost my only remaining grandmother last weekend. It’s just been blow after blow. My motivation has been at an all time low and I’ve just not been eating, sleeping or drinking right because of it all. I’ve gained weight over the last week and it’s due to all the takeaway I’ve been having (no mood to cook or anything) since my grandmothers death plus I’m quite dehydrated. I just haven’t been looking after myself the way I should be. I flew interstate to be with my mother and aunts and I guess the only positive all week was that everyone noticed my weight loss. I’m taking the rest of this month off to just grieve and try to refocus. I’m really hoping April is a better month and that my mindset will be in a better place to continue with my weight loss journey.
I’ll add my stats. I didn’t post them last week so this is stats since last two weeks til now.
Age 33
Height 167cm (5’5”)
SW 107.5kg (236.9lbs)
CW 99.2kg (218.6lbs))
GW for Mar 97.5kg (214.9lbs)
UGW 75kg (165lbs)
Loss for the week +0.7g (+1.5lbs)
I guess I haven’t done too badly if I’ve only gained 1.5lbs over the last two weeks. I wish all you ladies the best for the rest of this month and I’ll see you all in April.13 -
@mumof6sv
I am so sorry to hear about your losses. Be kind to yourself and take good care.1 -
@mumof6sv - sorry also for your losses. It's good to refocus for April and listen- overall, you're still 28 lbs down!! That's great. Don't be too hard on yourself. ❤1
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