Old 'Newbie'

vlw80

Hi everyone!
I am not new to MFP per se...I had been on Calorie Count until they changed and moved over here. When I was on there, I made a bunch of friends and we all kept tabs on each other. I have never really done that on MFP.

I took a huge break from fitness and gained a LOT of weight in the process. I went from eating very clean and working out 5 or 6 days a week to...well, nothing!

Anyway, I was hoping to make some friends on here to help keep me focused and vice versa. I am 42, live in Wisconsin, female (but lift like a guy hahahaha), hoping to drop about 15 - 20 lbs and then actually maintain that weight.

I have a daughter that just turned 21 and I am fairly recently divorced (not my daughter's father) and so now I live alone and struggle with making nice hearty and healthy meals that don't go to waste. I have been on Pinterest and other sites looking for ideas for good meals for one! Or for a few...I just hate having more than one or two servings of leftovers because I eventually get sick of whatever it is.

My fitness level is fairly active. I suffered a stroke about a year ago and left the hospital using a walker and after time and PT I got down to a cane and now do not use anything. I run on the treadmill, use an elliptical, and walk my dog. I lift weights 3 - 4 times a week. Everything I do is at home - I used to be a gym rat but can no longer afford it and plus the whole COVID thing came in to play, so all of my workouts are adapted to be done at home.

What about you? Who are you, what are your goals, what part of fitness are you passionate about? Any awesome healthy recipe or fun type of workout to recommend?

aCountryVegan

I am 64. male, and live on the east coast. Ten years ago I was 305lbs, 6'1". Then because of my amazing adult daughter, I tried switching to a whole foods, plant based diet and started walking. Tried it for a month and never looked back. Ten years later, I have lost over 100lbs and try to run 30 miles a week. One of the reasons I use MFP is because when I first started walking/running I was actually eating too few calories and was making myself calorie deficient, leading to fatigue and general ill feeling. Once I hooked up my Polar sports watch to MFP I realized how calorie deficient I really was. Now I happily eat 2500-3500 calories a day and maintain my weight and calories with no issues.

I too, am a single person and live by myself. Best thing I ever purchased was the Instant Pot pressure cooker. I know you said you do not like leftovers, but perhaps this will help. I have a cooking day, when I cook at least one or two pots of something, chili, stews, soups, casseroles and I make a normal or double batch. Then using Rubbermaid containers I package it all up into meal size portions, label, and put in the freezer. As I make other meals I intersperse them in the freezer so I am always grabbing a different one. That way you are not eating the same leftovers multiple days in a row.

My goals are to further tone my body, I have a lot of extra skin from when I was overweight. Would like to permanently get down to 180lbs and get my running up to 40 miles a week. Then I want to train for my first full marathon. Best workouts I have found for running, besides good mobility dynamic stretches, before running are plyometrics. Look it up, seems so simple and yet it will make your muscles burn with nothing, but your own body weight.

vlw80

Haha! Thanks for the comments!
I have a love/hate relationship with plyometrics. I know that they are an effective and easy way to work out, but it is hard to find a sports bra that will keep the 'girls' in place enough so that they don't hurt! Being a guy, that might be hard for you to understand.

And please, give me tips/tricks to the Instant Pot! I stayed with my dad and stepmom when I was recovering from the stroke and my dad uses his all of the time and makes it look easy. When they brought me home, I came home with one because I had mentioned how cool it seemed. I have used it once...I will be honest; I am a little scared of it. I don't know why. I do so much with my crock pot, how different can it be???

My crock pot is small, so I can make small portions of everything, but I like the deal of meal prepping and freezing and being able to pick and choose. I used to meal prep quite a bit for my ex-husband and myself and I was used to spending Sunday afternoons cooking different meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and then when we had our kids, I would make fresh stuff, but everything was still eaten within the same week.

Congrats on the great strides in your health! 100 lbs is NO small feat!! You must be proud! And yes, many people unknowingly under eat calories, especially if they are trying to lose weight. Sometimes, that can make the body think it is starving and saves every calorie possible, which is counterproductive.