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... in the process of either retiring or taking a sabbatical because I finally decided my work was interfering with my health and I had to get past the anxiety about early retirement and take the plunge in order to have the energy I need to really start taking care of myself again...
Susan, this is exactly what prompted me to implement early retirement, exacerbated by COVID-19....It reminds me of what someone (I think John Gabriel? said) if you are not in the right mindset someone could tell you raising your pinky three times each morning will make you lose weight, but somehow you will decide it´s ¨too hard.¨...
Had to laugh at this quote - too true! Especially if feeling at all depressed.
Like you, I have been up and down in weight for years - unlike you I regain with horrifying swiftness when "giving up" whatever regime I had talked myself into.
But I know that willpower is not my problem, as I have stuck with some pretty restrictive options and lost significant amounts of weight in the past - this time I need to:
1) never "give up", instead commit to finding a new way of life
2) master maintenance vs regain at any point where it gets "too hard".
Glad to share this journey with you all!1 -
I'm afraid to get weighed this weekend, even though I've been under my calories since I started this plan. I lost 2 lbs at first, then I gained them back. I just hope I can lose again. I'm on a very high calorie goal because of my weight and lack of movement. I've set it to lose 1lb a week. If I don't lose this week I might set it to losing 1.5 lbs a week/lower calorie goal. What do you think? Just jumping ahead so I have a plan and don't panic.
I started my calorie goal high (1920 per day) just to try to start with baby steps, knowing that if I was able to succeed in my goal of getting back in the habit of consistently logging everything I ate, that I could get myself back on track. Last week I lowered the goal to 1500 because my weight loss was so tiny and I finally felt like I was enough ¨back on track¨ and wouldn´t let the first bit of frustration make me quit trying again. 10 years ago, I could lose 1-1.5 pounds a week eating 2000-2500 calories using a program called Dietpower that calculated what your metabolism was doing if you tracked all your food and exercise. I focused on keeping my metabolism revving and could get by with the strategy that some call ¨binge and run¨ which I don´t foresee happening again in my lifetime. I also have arthritis problems now too, although probably not a severe as yours since you mention yours is disabling. The pain in my foot is too great to walk more than 1/2 mile (at least at my current weight.) I am trying to swim 6 days a week and have started adding weight lifting to my lifestyle again (which is great for metabolism).
IMO the important thing about your calorie goal is to make it something you feel is doable, get yourself some really good habits going, and then adjust your calorie goal. Do you think the basic habits you need are in place? Do you think setting a lower calorie goal and sometimes missing it is going to motivate you to work harder on the habits or make you more likely to stop being mindful and stop tracking and drift back to prior habits? Basically, behaviorally, you need to be able to hit your goal often enough that it reinforces your success, as well as have the weight loss reinforce your success.
If your sugars are getting high I believe that means you (like me now) have insulin resistance, a metabolic problem that makes losing weight harder. Although ¨binge and run¨ isn´t the best strategy, (and probably is not possible for you with your arthritis) I think taking steps to help your metabolism can be as important for weight loss as the calorie intake. Why do you think you gained the 2 pounds? Water? (for me 2 lbs is not significant, I can do up and down 3-4 pounds daily just due to water retention) Eating off plan? Or you followed the plan and your metabolism says ¨no that´s not going to work, you are trying to starve me so I need to go into efficient fat storage mode?¨ It sounds like Sharon eats nutrient dense foods and somehow is avoiding her metabolism drop too much. I am just now in the process of learning about ¨metabolic inflexibility¨ and am just now being able to again go without night eating, which has been a growing problem for me over the past years. Sharon, do you think you had insulin resistance or metabolic inflexibity before your current eating plan?
thank you for your thoughts. I'm not sure if I have insulin resistance or was just eating too much. Although I followed the plan. It may have been water as I lost 3 lbs the next week. I may have mixed you up but my name is Jem (Jane). good luck with your journey!!1 -
hey all, I appreciate reading all your posts. I can't type a lot in return I'm afraid but I enjoy your responses!
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Finally found my invite! I'm fairly computer/Social site illiterate!0
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Finally found my invite! I'm fairly computer/Social site illiterate!
Glad you found us. I also feel really clumsy at this. Today I finally realized that there is a Groups tab when I have clicked on Community. For a while there I thought-- Oh no, I lost it. I will never find this group again! But I know that it will get to be an easy habit.1 -
I'm 64, full time working RN. Mother of 4 boys, 36, 34, 32 and 25. I have 3 grandchildren under 3 yo. My name is Mary. My 4 boys were all competitive swimmers, hence the swimmom. Kind of like a "Soccer Mom." I live in Pennsylvania. I have been on many, many diets since I've been 20. My highest weight, twice now, is 255 lbs. In late 2009 I got down to 122 lbs, mainly from a stressful situation, calorie restriction about 1000 and about 8 hours of exercise 5 days/week. The exercise was to maintain my sanity. Took about a year to loose the 133 lbs. Kept it off for about 5 years and got lazy, but I also went back to work in 2010.
Started a new job in 9/20 and lost 15 lbs without really trying. (My new manager was not a micro manager as the previous one became.) Then had Gallbladder surgery and didn't want to gain, as some do, and read up on Keto while I was recovering. Seems to be the diet for me. It is fairly easy for me and I can't say I've been hungry at all.
I try to stay about 15 Net Carbs/ day. Some days maybe +/- 3. I don't worry about it. Also stay at or under 1200 calories. I weigh every morning. Keeps my head straight for the day. Don't fret slight upticks. Seems to happen to me before a weight drop.I eat 3 meals on work days. 2 on off days. On my 3 off days, I started a few weeks ago, to give up my 3 mile/70 minute neighborhood walks, and started using my Elliptical again. I do 99 minutes, that amounts to 8+ miles. Right at my present weight it amounts to 1300+ calorie burn. I'm watching Downton Abbey episodes while doing it. Otherwise I would be bored.
9/14/20-255 lbs
5/3/21-240.5 lbs surgery day
5/14/21-232.2 lbs started MFP
6/1/21-228.8 lbs
7/1/21-222.2 lbs
8/1/21-212 lbs
9/1/21-200 lbs
9/18/21-194 lbs
I thought my weight loss would slow down by now!
Due to a Tibial Plateau fracture in 2015, I had to relearn how to walk after 15 weeks of No weight bearing on my left leg. I was off work for 7 months. The RN in me thought I could learn to walk again in 1 month. Took me 3 months. I've been going upstairs 1 step and meeting that foot with the other. About 3 weeks ago I can now alternate steps! What a NSV!
I love the encouragement and affirmation I get here! To know we aren't the only one.1 -
Thank you @Sharon7986 for starting this thread!0
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On my 3 off days, I started a few weeks ago, to give up my 3 mile/70 minute neighborhood walks, and started using my Elliptical again. I do 99 minutes, that amounts to 8+ miles. Right at my present weight it amounts to 1300+ calorie burn. I'm watching Downton Abbey episodes while doing it. Otherwise I would be bored.
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That is impressive. In my best of times, the closest I ever got to that was a 90 minute tennis drill with some serious players--- I thought that workout that burned 900 calories was great. Probably it is the exercise keeping your weight loss from slowing down, don´t you think?
With your story of your fracture and how far you have come back from it you are giving me hope! In the winter of in October of 2018 I hurt my knee stepping wrong off a step. I waited months thinking it might be getting a little better but finally had surgery the following May realizing that the lack of exercise was a real problem. . I lost so much of my fitness at that time. Not long after I finished my physical therapy, before I really was working out very well, I started having pain in that foot. Foot doctor says it is just arthritis, but it makes me not want to walk. Maybe I could do the elliptical though. I hadnt thought of trying that. I was just starting to work out again when the pandemic hit. It his only been the past month or so that I am getting back into the routine of exercising. I am not at all ¨fit¨ now.
Today I went to the gym, determined to get myself back into the habit of weightlifting that I had done from 2001 to 2016. Up until now I havent been able to get myself to do the weight machines regularly enough to remember my settings and weights from one time until the next. Today I did 10 out of the 13 machines that I plan to do and wrote down all the settings to keep that from being an obstacle. I also swam for 45 minutes.
For years I took a 2 hour lunch in order to work out. That was the only time of the day that I was ever able to stick to it-- it helped because getting out of the office felt like a treat to me. Now that I work from home and am almost retired, I know it is really important to get a routine going. Probably it is going to be early afternoon for me.
Susan (obviously I still haven´t figured this forum out well-- this was in response to the quote from swimmom above)
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So week one went great for me but I seem to be stumbling during my second week back on MFP. I'm not having any issues with staying under my calories for the day but I seem to be gaining and not losing. My activity & exercise level is increasing daily so it's kind of a bummer. I know weight fluctuates and I probably just lost water weight the first week and now I'm stabilizing. I weigh daily as this is how I've lost weight in the past and previously been able to maintain. So the last 3 days I gained .5lb the the first 2 days and 1.2lbs the third. I know this happens but it can be discouraging so I just needed to vent about it.
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@ideas2
The main thing is to keep moving. The elliptical is great because it doesn't have the pounding like walking, on the joints. I was surprised I had no problem starting back on it. Everything I read says that its what runners do when they have an injury. The calorie burn calculations are from MFP with your most recent weight. Not sure how accurate it is but the weight is still going down.
Thank you for the encouragement. I hope you are motivated by my success too!1 -
@jaded989
I weigh daily also. I always seem to have a gain, can be a few tenths to 2 lbs (can last for a few days) then I have a decent drop. Maybe will be the same for you.
Thanks swimmon, although I know this can happen it is nice to hear it directly from someone who has experienced the same thing1 -
I try to weigh daily, but only if I slept at home and can weigh in first thing in the morning! Since retirement I am in the habit of sleeping over at my daughters 1-3 nights a week.
My pattern is to stay the same for like 5 days in a row (or worse, a small gain) and then a modest drop. I set my calories for 1 lb a week loss, but am losing a bit slower than that so far which at my weight is rather depressing however I am not active + not ready to lower my calories so will keep everything as is for at least until after Thanksgiving (Oct 11 in Canada) - meanwhile I am flying to a wedding later this week, going to a memorial out of town the following week, and then have a wedding reception the same weekend as Thanksgiving - so really, any loss over the next 3 weeks will be gladly accepted 😀2 -
Hello all - I'm 60, this past summer had a hip replacement and a stent and my dh also had 2 stents placed. Prior to covid I was in the gym daily and eating healthy. Now we're trying to really clean up the intake. Weight is 208, up and down but keeps edging up. Hoping for retirement in 3 years and would like to be able to enjoy life.0
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Hi Cory! So glad you can join our very new group. Covid really has done a number on many of us. I was starting to get back into working out after having had knee surgery when we went into lock down.
@swimmom_1 I did get to the gym today, worked out on weights and also tried the elliptical-- inspired by you. I only lasted 6 minutes on the elliptical before my heartrate was up near 140. I decided that was good for the first time. But it did not bother my arthritis in my foot. Then I went back to swimming. I plan to try to go 2 minutes longer each day. I think maybe my ultimate plan will be alternate my workouts each day, day 1 weights and elliptical, day 2 swimming.1 -
Feeling more hopeful today and motivated to stick with it. Even left home a bit earlier this am for the gym. 1
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Happy to have finally had a drop in my weight again, after a week long stall and slight uptick!
And I made it into a new "decade" so celebrated by recalculating my calorie goal!
Besides managing food and hunger/cravings, my emotions make this so difficult, and my fear of failure. Managing my expectations is exhausting!
@jaded989 - glad scale moved again for you too!
Tomorrow I fly to Ontario and will be eating out for the next week. I will be checking menus online and make deliberate choices to keep my goals in mind. I will be more active too, so that will help - just not looking forward to being on a plane for 5-6 hours...
@cory17 - good for you going early to the gym! Hope your having a great day.
Everyone - thanks for sharing your journeys and strategies and perspectives, really helps not going it alone.2 -
@ideas2
Glad you did the 6 minutes. I think you have a good plan to increase in segments. You may need to check to see if the Elliptical has different levels. It may have been on a higher level. Also I alternate between using the arm poles and holding the stationary handles. I'm surprised your heart rate got up that high that soon. Mine goes up to 120-140 also but not till near the end.
Today I met a friend for lunch and could only get 60 minutes in. But I came back and did another 60 minutes today. Since I've been doing 99 straight the 60 seemed much easier even though I did it twice.0 -
@swimmom_1 I am not surprised I could only do 6 minutes. I have 100 pounds yet to lose. For quite awhile I was obese and still relatively fit, but since the knee surgery and pandemic I have become morbidly obese and definitely not fit. Anything out of the water is still affected by that number of extra pounds.
Today we did not try to go to the gym. Today was what I plan to be my ¨off¨day in terms of exercise. We did, however, go to the botanical gardens in the city closest to us and walked around 45 minutes or so, until my arthritis said ¨no more.¨
To all: Oftentimes my husband has not been supportive or even sabotaged my plans for weight loss. This time around though, he is more supportive. To the point where two days ago he said he also wants to do some of the plant based meals that I am doing. He is also getting more concerned about his health and we are planning more together. He has always been that ¨meat and potatoes¨ kind of guy who makes fun of vegatarians, so I was shocked last night when he suggested we take a meal of beans and rice for a picnic when we visit the botanical gardens. I thought ¨Who are you and what have you done with my husband?¨ He even prepared the new recipe for us this afternoon while I napped. Did I mention my new Paprika Recipe Manager 3 here in this group? It has been so fantastic for us, planning and try new healthy recipes together. My husband likes to do things together so now we are cooking things for my diet and even he is getting on board with eating some of it in a way I have never experienced before.1
