At Goal & Successfully Maintaining. So Why Am I Doing This All Over Again?

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  • Sparkuvu
    Sparkuvu Posts: 2,698 Member
    @Springlering62 so, you & BL both use Apple Watch, I think. Wondering if you use just what is available on it or if you've had to download outside apps to get good use out of it? Not very tech here, but finally impulse purchased the series 7. Trying to figure out what to do with it now, lol. I am having trouble seeing my rings even, wondering if it's because I thought the Mickey face was cute and put it on there. Any must do suggestions, or make it easier suggestions for the watch? I have been working my way to fitness and weight loss VERY slowly since late 2018. Was with Sparkpeople until they shut us down, then moved here. Still WANT to think I can change without changing, causing the slow movement and sometimes close to as many backward steps as I have forward. It is important to me to do it this way, though, because I'm a quitter if I fail, and this way, I DONT FAIL. Although I've had literally countless attempts at one diet or another over my years, this is, by far, the longest I have ever stuck to a program. I liked to say about that first year, this is the first time, ever, that I am still doing in Dec what I vowed to do in Jan. I do recognize, that at some point, I will have to make more changes to maintain moving forward. I've come a really long way, but such a short way also, if that makes sense.
  • Sparkuvu
    Sparkuvu Posts: 2,698 Member
    edited March 2022
    "The lovely thing about counting calories is being in control and having the power to make choices, instead of being controlled by food."

    By the way, what you said above, really had an impact, is exactly how I want my brain to think--it doesn't always cooperate regarding, but we're working on that lol
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,662 Member
    Sparkuvu wrote: »
    @Springlering62 so, you & BL both use Apple Watch, I think. Wondering if you use just what is available on it or if you've had to download outside apps to get good use out of it? Not very tech here, but finally impulse purchased the series 7. Trying to figure out what to do with it now, lol. I am having trouble seeing my rings even, wondering if it's because I thought the Mickey face was cute and put it on there. Any must do suggestions, or make it easier suggestions for the watch? I have been working my way to fitness and weight loss VERY slowly since late 2018. Was with Sparkpeople until they shut us down, then moved here. Still WANT to think I can change without changing, causing the slow movement and sometimes close to as many backward steps as I have forward. It is important to me to do it this way, though, because I'm a quitter if I fail, and this way, I DONT FAIL. Although I've had literally countless attempts at one diet or another over my years, this is, by far, the longest I have ever stuck to a program. I liked to say about that first year, this is the first time, ever, that I am still doing in Dec what I vowed to do in Jan. I do recognize, that at some point, I will have to make more changes to maintain moving forward. I've come a really long way, but such a short way also, if that makes sense.

    BL has the same issue.

    You have to sit down and play with the watch faces. There’s several that will give you choices of what you want emphasized on your watch face, so you can see them at a glance.

    I reshuffled a lot til I found a setup I liked.

    This is my watch face:

    3ek7h3sc2dc0.png

    I’ve put the rings front and center, which also makes rings easier to drill down in to see how many calories needed to complete a ring, how long that walk was, or how much you burned during that class.

    The little green guy being right there on your home scree. makes it easier to start/finish exercises. (Apple will recognize which workouts you do most and begin to organize them by frequency so you can find them immediately.)

    Weather is always important because I walk nearly everywhere I go, including gym and studio. So for me, convenient to know if I need to grab umbrella and wellies on the way out the door.

    Calendar items are large and visible because, well, I’m old. BL’s doctor says he can drop BP meds with 4-6 weeks if good readings, so I’ve set a daily reminder for him to check. When I sign up for classes via an app like MindBody, the app adds those classes to my calendar and also sends me a reminder an hour before.

    If your calendar is on your Home Screen, you can also still down and flip through a week of calendar items.

    The green logo on top left is for Spotify, so I can start and pause podcasts easily.

    So calorie/move status, start/stop exercise, old grey headed possum reminders for me, but you can choose any setup you like with this type of watch face.

    BL, bless his heart, will not sit down and do this. He relies on the default watch face and is always asking me stuff. And he has to push the stem and do acrobatics to get a workout to start. It. Drives. Me. Nuts. It’s not like he’s not technically savvy. This is a guy who turned our gutter system into a whole-house ham radio antenna, after getting his license in less than a month, by blowing through online classes. If it interest him, he’s all over it.

    It’s kind of like me and the TV remote. It takes three to operate our tv. I’ve got one setup to turn on to HGTV with the minimum number of buttons. God help me if the lights go out and it needs a reset. I went for almost a year without watching any TV at all, rather than ask for help.

    I also didn’t like the “cloud” of apps (clumsy fingers) so I changed to a list view:
    6wbixiuax2x2.png

    I’ve got Apple Pay on my watch, too, which is great when it works, but I’m the rare righty who likes to wear their watch on the right hand, and I have to contort to get it up to the reader.

    There’s even an MFP app for the watch, but it was worse than useless so I deleted it. (Great if you record water, though.)

    The absolute best use for the watch, though, is “hey Siri, remind me….” And “hey Siri set a timer for X minutes”. Those functions alone are worth the price of admission, lol.

    If you respond well to challenges, check out the Apple Challenges function. You can either choose solo challenges or team (4people) challenges either with a team of friends or randomly assigned. It’s all anonymous, so if you fall flat on your face, no problem. And if you do well, you can screenshot and hold close to your electronic heart, like I do.

    Apple challenges can be too much for the OCD along us, though, because they don’t include any rest days. I’m giving them an extended break for the second time.
  • Sparkuvu
    Sparkuvu Posts: 2,698 Member
    Thanks so much! Sounds as if you use mostly watch apps. I switched to list first thing I did, I think. Yep, wish it would just recognize when you are working out. I was well into my walk today when I remembered I didn't start it---grrrr. It could be worse, like me, can't do remotes OR my fancy watch, hehheh. I'll play with the faces, see if I can find something I like. It would help to have those rings front and center.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,662 Member
    @Sparkuvu My watch will sometimes recognize a walk and ask me if I meant to start an exercise.

    @ridiculous59 i think there may be an issue developing with Apple and MFP. I’ve tried to tinker with settings, including negative calorie adjustments, over the past four or five months, and I don’t think things are being recorded properly now. Even though I’m actually eating a little less right now and have added daily workouts to an already full schedule, it has me in the red most days.

    It’s also not recording all my steps, usually only 60-75% of them.

    I deleted and reinstalled the app, and it worked well for about a week, but reverted back to misreporting.

    I’ve got friends reporting issues with other devices.

    I wonder if all this has got to do with all the other site issues lately, like photos not showing, or my profile pic suddenly being of a dude with a golf cart.

  • Sparkuvu
    Sparkuvu Posts: 2,698 Member
    Thank you for the encouraging comments, @EliseTK1 sometimes it's really a lift to hear hope!!!!
  • Sparkuvu
    Sparkuvu Posts: 2,698 Member
    I haven't hooked my watch to MFP yet. Read quite a few 'problems' so just thought I'd continue hand entering after the watch keeps it for me. So far, have discovered I walk at a third faster pace then I was counting, (which is good for me, but not so great for my contributions to my team on the challenge I'm on, as minutes convert to miles there, haha)
  • Sparkuvu
    Sparkuvu Posts: 2,698 Member
    Just in case anyone who follows this thread is eyeballing the Ninja creamey, I saw a post today that there's a couple stackable coupons you can use on the sale price of $199 at Kohls, that reduces it to $140--still pretty pricey, but apparently cheaper than black friday according to the post.
  • Sparkuvu
    Sparkuvu Posts: 2,698 Member
    That's you???!! Wow!
  • EliseTK1
    EliseTK1 Posts: 483 Member
    BL was dogging me out about my giant salad for lunch. I make it in a large mixing bowl, and it takes a long, satisfying time to eat.

    50juh05bczit.jpeg


    ‘Scuse me! Talk to the hand, mister.

    How many calories in that lunch you have almost every single day? Two sad little slices of bread, pimiento cheese spread, and some chips?

    300-350, depending on the type of chips.

    My salad is 360, which puts it in the same range as your favorite lunch.

    bx5l5xr8s6h7.png


    He’d rather have his quick sandwich and chips. I’d rather linger lovingly over my protein-filled salad. We both spend roughly the same amount of calories.

    You should do what works for you, and ignore the chatter.

    Yasss!! I do love a large bowl of veggies with protein. How is the Walden Farms dressing? I am loving their chocolate, caramel, and strawberry syrups. I use them in my Creami recipes. I have been really hesitant to try any of their savory stuff.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,662 Member
    edited April 2022
    @EliseTK1

    Their honey mustard, balsamic vinaigrettes, sundries tomato, and Asian dressings are terrific. The ranch is OK, makes a nice dip for vegetables.

    Their mayo is tasteless but gives the “mouthfeel” of mayo which is fine. I find the other brands low cal mayo are pretty tasteless too. I used some in a chicken salad and it was nice and moist and didn’t class with the other seasonings.

    Their cocktail sauce is one of the most noxious things I’ve ever tasted.

    Love the chocolate and caramel, and husband really likes their pancake syrup. The strawberry got less good the more we had it and was relieved to see it used up.

    We threw out the blueberry jam and zero cal peanut butter. 🤦🏻‍♀️

    Walmart by far the cheapest, but poor selection. Vitacost website (Kroger subsidiary) is next cheapest, and has sales pretty frequently. They pack for nuclear holocaust. I always feel awful throwing that much out, but, hey, glass bottles and they do try to use recyclable packing.
  • Sparkuvu
    Sparkuvu Posts: 2,698 Member
    Does anyone else get excited when they see a new post is in this thread, lol
    Yum, sounds really good. Bet they were very impressed. What is the whey subbing for?
    I have a food scale, but mostly yet to use it. Bought it 2nd hand without directions, and find it a little difficult. I bet I would get plenty of eye opening.
    So, the impulse fancy new watch tells me today that I had over16000 steps, 7.17 miles, that I burnt 2,155 calories, all apparently in my 43 min active it says I have. grrrrrrrrrr! Injured my back somehow a couple weeks back, have not been able to do much of anything. Reality: Today was the first day outside to walk, and it was a short loop in the woods followed by the loop around my two driveways, and once around the house. Inside I saw I didn't quite get 30 min so I walked around inside until I did. I'm pretty sure my little belt loop tracker did a better job.
  • Janatki
    Janatki Posts: 730 Member
    Thank you for this @springlering62… will meander down the baking aisle to find these… well th online aisle!
    I love your posts as a serial restarter, or so it feels your & your BL’s experiences resonate and give me that Ah ha moments!
    Convinced the OH re the Creami, I think🤔
  • coblujay
    coblujay Posts: 688 Member
    I love all your posts too. They always seem to come at the right time, when I need a little encouragement or a good laugh. I don't spend a lot of time cooking, so it feels a little tough to do all the steps you list. I think I just need to take a day, play and see what happens. Sometimes what I think is going to take forever is actually easy once I have the right tools and know how to do it. Ice cream?? That's one I really would love to figure out.
  • coblujay
    coblujay Posts: 688 Member
    @sparkuvu We are completely on the same track.

    I bought an Instapot, because that was the thing. I used it about ten times and realized I can use my crockpot and get the same result. The Instapot hasn't been used for months. I thought about an air fryer, but I'd use it even less. I did look at the Creami, too, but have held off. My priority is exercising and trying to keep that in the schedule. While I do try to create meals in advance, it's not one of my favorite things to do. Luckily, I have a meal service which is local, so they are helpful in sending me healthy foods.
  • MaggieGirl135
    MaggieGirl135 Posts: 1,033 Member
    It’s funny how different people utilize different small appliances in different ways, especially in regards to favoring one over another. I could not live without my instant pot (ok, a little melodramatic); I use it every other day for sure. My husband wanted a air fryer and we have yet to figure out how to use it because it just seems to take forever to cook anything. I do wipe it off occasionally, so it’s not collecting dust, lol!