Only a few days left of 2021...How'd you do?

glassyo

So what goals did you have? Did you hit them? Did you hit them so hard because you DIDN'T hit them?

I actually gained .4 lbs. (Yeah, you saw that right and NO I'm not freaking out. ) It's just funny and weird because I mostly maintained between 102-104 for the year but it steadily climbed during December. I blame it on the Sees Candy that basically no one but me ate.

Sooooooooo started the year off at 105 and ended it (pre next Saturday weigh in) at 105.4.

No, wait. The 31st is Friday and I log my weight on Saturdays so...105.4 it is!

Otherwise, I still have a job (just waiting for that shoe to drop) and haven't gotten hit by a car so that's good!

metaphysicalstudio

I gained a lot of weight this year but I don't mind -- I know I can get to a more comfortable place with my body as I deal with the emotional aspects that this year brought. I am glad I have a stronger community around me at the end of 2021. 2022 looks like it's full of supportive people in my life...finally. I have to say, I am looking forward to the new year and curious about what it brings!

nossmf

I entered the year with three main goals/resolutions:

Hit the gym 120+ times
Take my wife on 15 dates (1/mo plus birthday, Valentine's, anniversary)
Finish edits to my second book

I easily passed the first goal, logging almost 140 trips to the gym, and along the way losing 3-4 pounds without really trying. (I'd been maintaining the same weight for about a decade going into the year, so losing weight was not a priority nor expected.)

My second goal I almost reached, going on 14 date nights with my wife. We also had a large number of lunches together without the kids, which could be considered additional dates.

I didn't quite feel I completed the third goal (edits to my book), but I did get most of the way through, and early reviews from family members who've been asked to proofread have been highly positive.

ythannah

My sort of vague goals in 2021 would have been the usual gain muscle, get fitter variety but it all fell apart and I ended up losing a lot of ground.

Jan 1st my appendix ruptured, although it took doctors 18 days to actually figure that out. I was sick and in pain and miserable, couldn't eat properly, and dropped a lot of weight. Needless to say I wasn't doing any workouts either, it took all my energy to put in a day at work. Once I got a diagnosis they were able to give me antibiotics so things started improving... slowly.

Mar 22nd I woke up in agony and got my sorry *kitten* to the ER, had emergency surgery about 12 hours later. What had happened (sorry if TMI) after the appendix blew up is that my body started wrapping the thing in scar tissue but my bowel had twisted and eventually the scar tissue caused a complete obstruction. In the surgeon's words, it was "a mess in there". So they cleaned it all up and of course I had activity restrictions following surgery so workouts remained on hold.

My digestive system still hasn't returned to normal and I seem to be left with a stomach that can't accommodate my usual quantity of food, so haven't been able to regain weight. I am slowly going through various tests to try and determine what the issue is. But, hey, at least I'm back to working out again.

HoneyBadger302

Going into 2021 my world had been turned on its proverbial head - besides what everyone was going through, I had just been laid off for the first time in my life, there were no good prospects on the horizon, but had an interview for at least "at job" although not a career job - just "a" job - with a very significant pay cut (lost over half of my income).

I was in closing on a house, but getting laid off the loan company backed out at the last minute. This meant having to continue to pay the outrageous rental rates....my mortgage payments would have been less than local rent rates

I was also in the middle of the 75 Hard challenge.

I had no idea what the next year would bring.

There were no specific goals outside of "survive" and finish 75 hard, and keep pushing career-wise.
~~~~~~~
So, here we are......going into 2022.

I completed 75 Hard.

I couldn't buy, so still renting, had to bring in a roommate, first was a disaster, second one seems to be working out.

Got the first job offer, worked there until mid-June when I had an offer for something at least career-related (but still no improvement in pay) - but at least got my resume current for what I had been looking (and interviewing) for pre-covid.

Still at that job, growing, but the financial crunch is draining me. Working a part time job as well to make ends meet, which gives me a little spending money with the roommate, but I still have to really tighten the purse strings here the next few months if I'm going to do what I wanted to this summer.

I'm up in weight - lost during 75, slowly gained over the summer as stressors built and continued, lost a little after a emotionally-bad breakup, then started gaining again with winter approaching. Pretty heavy right now, beyond my normal "max" by a couple pounds, but tracking again started yesterday after seeing "that" number on the scale.

Dating a nice guy, will see where it goes.
~~~~~~
For 2022, there are a few on-going and renewed goals that have already kicked off/been in progress, but the push continues:

- Renewed fitness plan (have a coach in my sport already putting it together) - making the time for this with two jobs is going to be tough, but it's something I need to be doing. I swear I can feel my health declining by the day...the part time job is physical, but the day job is NOT
- Started tracking my food again this week, need to get the weight down
- Just passed a major exam I need to move my career forward, so pushing for an internal promotion and raise, and in the meantime/if that doesn't manifest, am applying with the updated credentials to get some job offers on the table more in line with my value
- Along with ^^^ still trying to show "extreme ownership" in my newest job and improve it - some days are tough, especially with the financial situation I'm in, but trying not to let myself wallow in that
- Save a nest egg, keep the bills I have paid up, save up enough to race a full season in 2022
- Keep building and developing my local friendships and circles in this area - the cross country moves (1 in 2019, another in 2020) have made that hard, but a circle is forming here, so don't lose what has been planted and sprouted...

To simplify the above - get the raise; get back into shape; lose some weight; race and maybe even get some trophies finally

JenKindo

I don't really do resolutions. I have no timelines, these (plus a couple other things) are ALWAYS works in progress. This is a good time to think about how it's all going though!

Get a job
I was laid off in 2020. That coupled with some other terrible 2020 things left me depressed and having anxiety attacks. I was breaking even on unemployment, so didn't have the motivation or energy to look for a new job. A friend got me hired on at their workplace in April. Pays more than my last job, better benefits, less stress and I work from home so it gives me a lot of time to work out and keeps me away from unhealthy lunches out with co-workers. It's not my ideal job; I miss having a team to work with, but it works for now.

Health: Lose weight, eat better, exercise
Dr's appointment in August. My weight shocked me. I was 239. While I was waiting for the blood draw, I looked into intermittent fasting, bought a fitbit and a scale. I've been going at it hard since - only 3 major blips on the scale:

• Going out to eat without preplanning my meal.
• Beginning of December I stalled out, I think because I wasn't eating enough. Upped my calories 100 - 200 a day and broke through that.
• Christmas, which only lasted 2 days and I am back down to pre-xmas weight.

Lessons learned! It's a bumpy process, but as long as I don't give up, I'm gold. The bumps just make me more determined to reach my goal. No reason to freak out, I know what to do and it will go back down. The overall trend is the thing.

I'm eating better foods - lean protein and veggies primarily and I've lost my taste for processed crap. I'll still eat it on occasion, but it's not as good as I remember and end up eating way less of it. The amount of veggies I have to eat to get my calories in limits how much of the extras I can stuff in. I also don't drink as much. Not really worth the calories for me.

I started lifting and REALLY enjoy it. I get antsy if I don't hit the gym for more that a day or 2. I'm down to 196 this morning and plan to keep it going in 2022 and learn to maintain.

One other thing I didn't expect - I have been more active in the MFP boards. I can talk to people about my weight successes and frustrations and know I'll get support without boring them or sounding like I'm preaching like my IRL friends and family. So grateful for these boards!

LaurenMargott

2021 was the worst year of my life. Started well. Was achieving my goals, only 3kg off my goal weight and close to regularly running a 5k. I was feeling good.

Then one devastating, unexpected bereavement later I stopped eating. Then something else awful happened and I started eating and stopped exercising and sleeping. I'm now back to almost where I started, exercising more again but still struggling sometimes with 15kg to go and nowhere near doing a decent run.

Need some motivation buddies to start my momentum again.

scarlett_k

My goal was to lose another 10 kg and I've hit that and reached my initial goal weight so I'm happy. Just bonus weight to lose next year.

ReenieHJ

Can't get to the end of 2021 fast enough. I gained 20-ish # so look forward to getting back(or better yet!) finding a new routine to feel healthier and more engaged with life again. Lots of sad stressful things happened and I will put those behind me, start anew and be grateful for all the good I have in my life. Plus my downfall(looking back) was night time eating. If I absolutely find I need something at night, out of habit, it'll be a piece of fruit, not 300-400 calories worth of yogurt and peanut butter.

I need to find a spark to grab me out of my all-too-comfortable comfort zone and just do it. DD and I went snow-shoeing while she was here for Christmas and I realized how beautiful a winter wonderland can be. Almost magical and peaceful....something I need to lose myself in more, instead of wrapping myself into a cocoon of isolation in my home, bored, thinking negatively, etc., etc.

I'm waiting for someone to engage in my life with me and I'm got to stop depending on others for that.

Ch ch ch changes.......

JenKindo

ReenieHJ wrote: »

Can't get to the end of 2021 fast enough. I gained 20-ish # so look forward to getting back(or better yet!) finding a new routine to feel healthier and more engaged with life again. Lots of sad stressful things happened and I will put those behind me, start anew and be grateful for all the good I have in my life. Plus my downfall(looking back) was night time eating. If I absolutely find I need something at night, out of habit, it'll be a piece of fruit, not 300-400 calories worth of yogurt and peanut butter.

I need to find a spark to grab me out of my all-too-comfortable comfort zone and just do it. DD and I went snow-shoeing while she was here for Christmas and I realized how beautiful a winter wonderland can be. Almost magical and peaceful....something I need to lose myself in more, instead of wrapping myself into a cocoon of isolation in my home, bored, thinking negatively, etc., etc.

I'm waiting for someone to engage in my life with me and I'm got to stop depending on others for that.

Ch ch ch changes.......

I felt that in my core. I've got to start making that effort too.

ahoy_m8

Best wishes and hope for better things in 2022 to everyone who went through such hard times and grief this year. Tough times. Tougher for some than others.

On the wellness front, I did better in 2020 than 2021. Normally I have a few prolonged spikes in intake here and there (with corresponding weight bumps), but I'm able to compensate and average out to maintenance. Sometimes it seems like more effort than it should be (ALWAYS worth the effort though). With so much of 2020 locked down with no eating out or travel, it was easier to avoid the normal splurges and keep it all steadier than my norm. That is my long term goal: to lean into those habits and attitudes that make it feel like I'm treading a little lighter, working a little less and living a little more.

Best wishes for health and happiness in 2022, in whatever wrapping has meaning for you.

AnnPT77

What is this "goals" thing of which y'all speak? I don't really do goals, and a vehemently don't do New Years resolutions**.

So, I'm in maintenance, have been for 6+ years. In October 2019, I started a process of (re-) losing a few vanity pounds within the healthy BMI range, because my jeans were getting a little snug (with my long john bottoms on, and we need those here). I decided to be super slow, because a substantial deficit sounded grim. That process extended into 2020 and early 2021.

Here's a thing I find hilarious: On December 28, 2020, Libra says I weighed 125.6 pounds. When I looked it up yesterday, December 28, 2021, I weighed 125.6 pounds. (Why hilarious? Because my weight meanders up and down a few pounds, like 2-3 routinely, sometimes up to 5 pounds, just within any given week, when I'm on average weight stable. Over the year, it's been everything in the zone between 122 and 130.2, randomly. Same exact weight one year ago to the day? Hilarious.)

Other than that:

* I did lots of fun activities, and a few less fun but good-for-me ones. Garmin says I have 94,951 calories from intentional exercise since this time last year. That includes 358 miles of on-water rowing (very fun), 385 miles of cycling (fun), 401 miles of intentional walks for exercise/health (moderately fun), 40 hours of machine rowing (not all that fun), 33 hours of indoor cycling (ditto), 25 hours of strength training/floor exercises (emphatically not fun, but good for me).

* I did not do well with my ongoing efforts to learn to play bluegrass banjo. I broke a string, got frustrated trying to tune from scratch without help from my musician buddy (my ear, even with a tuner app, s*cks), set it aside.

* I had a bunch of vision problems, a couple of eye surgeries/procedures, and didn't accomplish much on the crafts or arts-play front (mostly because of discouragement about the vision, or because unmotivated, not because I strictly couldn't).

* My house is untidier and more cluttered than ever, because I live alone and don't care.

* I propagated and/or divided a bunch of house plants, gave some away, need to find homes for other baby ones or toss them. An ivy and a hoya became window treatments, and I'm fine with that. Several orchids bloomed, including one that never bloomed before.

* I cooked a lot of stuff, some of it good, and tried some new veggies and fruits. To support that, I grew some annual herbs in addition to the perennial ones that live out in my garden.

* I did most of the other things I needed to do for adequate adulting. (For someone nearly devoid of motivation or discipline for doing tedious things, that's a victory.) Since I'm retired, that didn't include paid employment.

That's it, that I can think of, for 2021.

** (I tend to make life changes when they feel ripe, not at a particular calendar point - works better for me. I'm not saying others should feel this way at all, but for me New Years resolutions feels like getting on a slope in a surging crowd of people, a few of whom will successfully run up a slope ahead and hit a new peak, while the majority get jostled by the crowd, run like crazy, and crash off a cliff onto the rocks along about the end of January to mid-February, if not sooner. I can catch that "just taking a little break" or "I deserve a treat" impulse that underlies that as a bit of social contagion, and it doesn't help me. Willpower, discipline, etc., are not my long suit.

Lietchi

I didn't really have any goals for 2021 except continuing to lose weight and reach a normal BMI. I was only 5lbs away from that at the start of 2021, so I reached that goal and decided to keep on going, since I still felt too 'flabby'.
I ended up losing 17.5lbs this year which actually surprises me to see that now: it felt like super slow losses that in my mind didn't really add up to much.

A very vague goal I had was to improve my running. I ended up burning nearly 45000 calories this year, 755km. I increased my mileage and speed considerably the past months, using Runalyze, and was finally able to run a full hour at 8kph (which in my mind was the threshold to make me a 'real' runner).

Not an explicit goal, but it was a very active year for me: aside from the running, 310km of hiking (20000kcal) and 105hrs (18000 calories) of strength training and indoor rowing, and a daily average of 14500 steps per day. That is night and day compared to my activity level pre weight loss.

Other accomplishments:
- I found a new job and needed only three job interviews to do it (last time it took me two YEARS, my weight and lack of confidence back then may have had something to do with it...)
- a general sense of being (physically) normal (not attracting attention in a crowd by being larger than average), worthwhile and having accomplished something

Potential for improvement:
- more regular strength training and a better routine
- being more tidy, both physically (clutter, laundry,...) and with my electronic files and devices
- getting back to jewelry making - my workshop is disorganized and has been sitting idle for years.
- getting back to writing, or at the very least reading books again
- related to the previous points: doing other things with my spare time than working out and watching TV

xrj22

I wasn't really in fitness mode or making resolutions last Jan -- I was in a fairly good place health and nutrition wise at that time, but I have let it slide through the year. So, now I AM hitting the new year with resolutions. Just got my cholesterol checked and it is up. So number 1 goal is healthier eating and exercise to keep that down and stay off statins. And committing to checking every 3 months to keep me accountable. Also am 30 lbs over my ideal. My goal is to loose the weight in the next 4 - 5 months, and KEEP IT OFF till next year so that I am not making the same resolution a year from now.

sbelletti

I'm within 1 pound of my 2021 goal weight and on target to hit my final goal in March. I feel soooo much better!

matt9712

My goals were to hit 200 BW and squat 455. I'm at 204-205 BW and have hit 435... So didn't hit exactly what I wanted but that just means gotta go after 2022 strong now 💪

makinlifehappen

I didn't have goals until the end of July. Coming off a bad couple years.
Once I found a gym routine that I was able to be consistent with and started seeing results I gave it a few months and decided I don't want to be muscular/fat.

So long as the scale keeps going down I don't have any real complaints

mrmota70

On the 21st it was the 2 year anniversary of my week long stay at club med. On 1/16 it will be 2 year anniversary when I started the new lifestyle. It is going pretty good. I managed to loose another 45 lbs this year. Will hopefully be in maintenance and looking at adding a few lbs of muscle in 2022. I do consider myself a full time jogger now and may start considering myself a runner over this coming year. So didn’t have a goal per say, but just to keep going what I started is what it has come down to. You all have a great new year.

monrl

Down 15 overall - I lost 25, but slowly gained 10 back since September. I learned a lot about what works for me - looking forward to getting back on track!

ruqayyahsmum

2021 was a mixed bag for me
Started ok, still losing slowly from 2020
Hiking in summer I had an accident. Slipped landing hard on rock so had to scale back exercise
My relationship turned more and more abusive and I slipped back into eating my feelings and hardly left the house

I've ended the year 5lb up from January 1st but that's because I hopped back on 27th December and am down 8lb of water weight

2022 I need to get out and hike more, my mental health is much better when I do and I'm hoping to drop some more weight along the way

I have an appointment with rheumatology next week, hopefully they can help with the joint pain and swelling I've been dealing with for a decade, always brushed off with the "your fat, lose weight" but after bloods end of October I ended up with an urgent referral....... No ones told me why yet but so long as I can get some help and get back to longer hikes I don't care