Accountability....Diary.....Random thoughts...

raenright

Not sure what I'm looking for with this post, just a few thoughts circling my mind and I'm hoping writing them out will help me thinking them through.

I've never been very overweight but I've also never been comfortable and confident with my weight. Even when I was 2 stone lighter than I am now I joined weight watchers. I would never wear short sleeves in case someone would see my arms wobble. I wear baggy clothes to make sure there are no rolls visible. And I see other people bigger than me in tighter, smaller clothes and wonder how are they comfortable wearing that?? So much of my weight loss journey is mental image and confidence rather than numbers on a scale. I would love to be as skinny as I was when I thought I was fat 😁

The biggest boost to my health in recent years wasn't losing some weight, it was quitting smoking. I smoked cigarettes for 15 years and an ecigarette for 8 years and finally gave up the lot last June. And I've never felt better, I'm running regularly. I always thought ecigs weren't good but at least not as bad as cigs but quitting fully has made the world of difference. I finally did the thing I knew I needed to do and quit and stayed quit.

So why can't I do that with weightloss???? I know all the good info....maintain an honest food diary, balance macros (low carb/keto just works for me, more than losing water weight, I'm less bloated, less uncomfortable, energy balanced better throughout the day and month). So why did I have burger and chips for lunch yesterday??? Because I had gone for a long walk and decided I deserved a treat. What's life with no treats?? Misery. What's happened since? Woke up this morning feeling bloated and uncomfortable and the scales have jumped 2lbs since yesterday!!

Anyway now that's all out of my head I'm off for a walk with the dog 🐶🐶🐶

raenright

So looking at my progress graph for the last month, weighing in every day. Lots and lots of up and down but no actual loss between March 11th and April 11th. And honestly, at this point, I'm blaming carbs! Every time I'm on a downward trend it's when I'm doing low carb/keto but then I have carbs and it spikes back up again. More than just water weight, there's a change in my digestion. Bread, chips, pasta just seem to get stuck on the way through and I feel way more bloated, constipated, sluggish to a point that I've become much more aware of since I've done some keto time.

So what have I learned?? I should stick with low carb/keto for long enough (longest I've done so far, no cheating, is 3 weeks) to get the numbers on the scale down to where I want them to be and then gradually re-introduce carbs to see which work ok for me and which make me uncomfortable. Will I do this? Nope, not for the next week as my parents are visiting and there will be birthday meals out.....

tulips_and_tea

raenright wrote: »

So looking at my progress graph for the last month, weighing in every day. Lots and lots of up and down but no actual loss between March 11th and April 11th. And honestly, at this point, I'm blaming carbs! Every time I'm on a downward trend it's when I'm doing low carb/keto but then I have carbs and it spikes back up again. More than just water weight, there's a change in my digestion. Bread, chips, pasta just seem to get stuck on the way through and I feel way more bloated, constipated, sluggish to a point that I've become much more aware of since I've done some keto time.

So what have I learned?? I should stick with low carb/keto for long enough (longest I've done so far, no cheating, is 3 weeks) to get the numbers on the scale down to where I want them to be and then gradually re-introduce carbs to see which work ok for me and which make me uncomfortable. Will I do this? Nope, not for the next week as my parents are visiting and there will be birthday meals out.....

The bold is me too, for sure. I don't to low carb for weight loss. I do it to feel better.

However, the "all or nothing" mindset can cause trouble, so for example, when you had a burger and chips, maybe get rid of the bun and have a few chips. Or, have half the bun and no chips. Or a combination of whatever works for you. A LITTLE bit here and there is okay for me, so just throwing a thought out there for you.

raenright

I've really fallen off the wagon lately and slipped out of the habit of logging my food diary and meal prepping. Here's to getting back on track!!

I was working away from home for 6 weeks so between being out of my normal routine, out of my normal kitchen, lots of different restaurants to try and family visiting, I just didn't want to restrict myself and have calorie numbers in my face for every meal.

I get what you're saying above @BHAZ10, I def have an issue with all or nothing thinking, like even this morning I was telling myself that I didn't start again yesterday on Monday so this week is a write off!

I went to a talk on nutrition advice before and they talked about how we know all the healthy eating info we need but that it's really hard to sustain major changes if you feel restricted and instead to focus on just upping the nutritional content of each meal as it comes, add some veggies to burger and chips, switch to sweet potato fries, have a glass of juice instead of coke. I get that but it feels never ending....I want the crash course diet that works and then I never have to diet again 🥳

Anyway that's enough rambling for today, back to it!! 🥳

raenright

April Start Weight was 11st 8
May 26th Weight is 11st 8
So no change but lots of jumps up to 11st 13 when I stop tracking/being mindful of food choices and back down again when I turn the focus back on. Which is a lesson in how consistency is key 🔑

My Goal Weight is between 10st 0 to 10st 7 so I need to keep the focus on until I get there rather than letting things slip as soon as I'm 1-2 pounds down.

raenright

So I'm back in the swing of logging my food diary, making mindful food choices and the scales have already come down a pound.........but this evening is dinner out for my mother's birthday so the will be wine and lots of food and if I don't join in I'm going to be grilled on why not........trying not to fall off the wagon again before I reach my goals

AnnPT77

raenright wrote: »

So I'm back in the swing of logging my food diary, making mindful food choices and the scales have already come down a pound.........but this evening is dinner out for my mother's birthday so the will be wine and lots of food and if I don't join in I'm going to be grilled on why not........trying not to fall off the wagon again before I reach my goals

There's no wagon, so you can't fall off.

First, if people grill you, just brush it off: "Had a big lunch", "not hungry", "focused on celebrating mom, not eating food" . . . whatever. Don't make a big deal of it. Eat what you want.

But it is an actual special occasion, right? You'll need to learn how to handle those long term, if you want to reach and stay permanently at a healthy weight. You can.

If it happens, recognize that one rare day of higher eating is not the end of the world. One day is a drop in the ocean of life. The majority of our days determines the majority of our results. At most, the rare day delays goal a tiny bit - hours to a day or two, at most. Sometimes that's worth it. Sometimes it's not.

If - in retrospect - it wasn't worth it, spend at most 10 minutes thinking about how to avoid a repeat: How you'd handle a similar trigger situation in future. Rehearse that new plan in your head vividly, like a mini-movie, so it sticks and kicks in automagically next time similar circumstances arise. (If the new plan doesn't work next time, repeat that until you find a plan that does work. Something will.) Guilt is optional, doesn't burn extra calories, so don't do it. No need to "make up for it". Food isn't a sin that requires expiation.

If there's a high calorie day, just get back on your regular healthy plan again immediately afterward. It'll be fine.

Signed,

Year 7+ Maintaining a Healthy Weight After Previous Decades of Overweight/Obesity

P.S. Happy Birthday to mom!

raenright

So I had a lovely weekend, we went out for dinner and I had mussels in cream sauce to start then a really good burger and cajun fries and a couple glasses of wine and a cocktail. It was a great evening out and we all really enjoyed it. On Sunday there was a mix of little cakes for dessert. In all, if I really went to the max on estimating calories, I'd say I was 3000 calories over my normal budget.........and yet the scales tells me I was 11st7 on Sat morning and I'm 11st12 this morning!!! A 5lb increase in two days is madness!! I should need to eat 15000 extra calories to gain 5lbs.

I know weight fluctuates and there's water weight to consider but it really seems impossible to handle when one celebration puts me up 5lbs!

chris_in_cal

raenright wrote: »

So I had a lovely weekend...

I'm so happy and thrilled about you stopping cigarettes. You are a flat out winner.

Please join us in the weekly weigh-in group. I'd love to have you as part of my accountability.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/118368-weekly-weigh-in-group

AnnPT77

raenright wrote: »

So I had a lovely weekend, we went out for dinner and I had mussels in cream sauce to start then a really good burger and cajun fries and a couple glasses of wine and a cocktail. It was a great evening out and we all really enjoyed it. On Sunday there was a mix of little cakes for dessert. In all, if I really went to the max on estimating calories, I'd say I was 3000 calories over my normal budget.........and yet the scales tells me I was 11st7 on Sat morning and I'm 11st12 this morning!!! A 5lb increase in two days is madness!! I should need to eat 15000 extra calories to gain 5lbs.

I know weight fluctuates and there's water weight to consider but it really seems impossible to handle when one celebration puts me up 5lbs!

It's mostly water retention increase, from extra salt/sodium or extra carbohydrates or a combination. Even if it was a reasonable amount of either of those, consuming more than your typical amount of those will add water weight temporarily - sometimes surprisingly large amounts. There may also be a little extra food residue in your digestive tract (compared to your usual average) on its way to becoming waste. To the extent it's that (so mostly) it's not fat gain so not worth worrying about.

You're right: You'd need 17,500 calories above maintenance, roughly, to gain 5 pounds of fat . . . so it's not all fat, not even mostly fat.

Give it anything from a couple of days to a couple of weeks, and it'll likely drop off without you doing anything special. Every once in a while, it can take a little longer for an adult woman who's not yet in menopause, if the unusual-food-related water retention overlaps with hormonal water retention in any annoying way.

If you haven't read it, this thread (and especially the article linked in the first post) would be a good read:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations/p1

Don't stress about it: High odds everything will be fine with just the passage of some time.

raenright

chris_in_cal wrote: »

raenright wrote: »

So I had a lovely weekend...

I'm so happy and thrilled about you stopping cigarettes. You are a flat out winner.

Please join us in the weekly weigh-in group. I'd love to have you as part of my accountability.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/118368-weekly-weigh-in-group

Thanks! Quitting smoking fully (not even an ecig) has def been a great boost to my health. I can really feel it in my lungs when I running or even just going upstairs now. Thanks for the invite to the weigh in group! I've joined, good to have the accountability check in

raenright

Thanks @AnnPT77

It's difficult to know what's real and what not with such a wide range of weight fluctuations. I was on Noom before which recommends daily weigh ins to get used to the fluctuations and lose the fear of the scales. I find daily weigh in really good for catching spikes. What has happened me before is my weight has gone up and I haven't noticed until it was up about 1-1.5st which is a lot to try and come back down from.

But the downsides of daily weigh ins is not seeing the bigger picture! When I look day by day my weight can be up or down 3-5lbs and when its down I think I'm doing great. However, when I look at a wider range, what was I this month compared to this date last month and its the same.

Wider range again and I am heading the right direction just reeeeaaaaaaalllllllllyyyyyyyy really slowly. I started taking weight loss seriously last Sept when I realised I'd somehow (magically I sure) hit 12st 10 when I like to think I bounce around 10st 7. I'm now bouncing around 11st8-11st11 so I am about 1st down in 9 months.

Antiopelle

On top of what you are already doing (great job by the way), I would suggest to use a weight trend app like Happy Scale on iOs. You can record your weight daily, but it also gives you a moving average to flat out those spiky fluctuations.

AnnPT77

Antiopelle wrote: »

On top of what you are already doing (great job by the way), I would suggest to use a weight trend app like Happy Scale on iOs. You can record your weight daily, but it also gives you a moving average to flat out those spiky fluctuations.

Yes, this: It's just a statistical estimate of probable weight trend based on recent multi-day history, not a magic crystal ball that "knows" . . . but it does provide more of a "big picture" view.

If you don't have an Apple device to use Happy Scale, there's Libra for Android, Trendweight (requires a free Fitbit account but doesn't require a Fitbit device), Weightgrapher, and probably others. There are decent free options.

You plug in your weigh-ins (ideally daily under consistent conditions), and it does the statistics to project a trend.

Lietchi

I second the weight trending app suggestion, it helps!

raenright

Thanks for the tips on the weight trending app!! I've android and a fitbit so going to give trendweight a go 🥳

raenright

OK so I've set up Libra and (via Google fit) it should be synced to MFP so I only have to log my weight once in MFP and it syncs across. I will have to keep an eye on it tocheck it's syncing OK.

I like this idea of a weight trend line. Noom had a similar feature where you logged weight daily and it projected out a line to the date when you should hit your goal.

So how am I doing today?
Starting Weight: 12st10 Aug 2022
Last Saturday: 11st 7
Last Monday: 11st12 (major spike from a dinner out with some lovely food, wine and cocktails, so more of a water retention spike)
Current Weight: 11st10
Goal Weight: 10st 7

So slow slow sloooowwwwww progress but I do find it is stable progress. I have not bumped up over 12st in a good few months now. It might take me a while but I'll get there 🥳🥳🥳

raenright

So it has taken me a week but I'm finally back to the weight I was at last Saturday 🤣🤣🤣

Starting Weight: 12st10 Aug 2022
Last Saturday: 11st 7
Last Monday: 11st12 (major spike from a dinner out with some lovely food, wine and cocktails, so more of a water retention spike)
This morning: 11st7
Goal Weight: 10st 7

What is interesting is that I was out with friends last night and I don't have a spike in weight after it!! It was just drinks, no food, so I had my own dinner before going out and I was on non-alcoholic beer as I've things to be doing today and wanted a clear head. Still wrecked tired from the late night but it was great to catch up with people 🥳🥳🥳

So next step is to start losing from 11st7 and start making my way down to my goal!

raenright

So it's been a couple busy weeks for June. Healthy eating plans has taken a backseat to some medical items that are now completely done with. So back to healthy eating and weight loss as my primary goal!

New mantra: Make Good Choices!!

I definitely have good success on the low carb/keto food plan and I find low carb easy to stick to.

I am commiting to making mindful decisions on every food choice, logging my food diary every day and staying within 10% of my daily calorie goal 🥳

snowflake954

raenright wrote: »

I've really fallen off the wagon lately and slipped out of the habit of logging my food diary and meal prepping. Here's to getting back on track!!

I was working away from home for 6 weeks so between being out of my normal routine, out of my normal kitchen, lots of different restaurants to try and family visiting, I just didn't want to restrict myself and have calorie numbers in my face for every meal.

I get what you're saying above @BHAZ10, I def have an issue with all or nothing thinking, like even this morning I was telling myself that I didn't start again yesterday on Monday so this week is a write off!

I went to a talk on nutrition advice before and they talked about how we know all the healthy eating info we need but that it's really hard to sustain major changes if you feel restricted and instead to focus on just upping the nutritional content of each meal as it comes, add some veggies to burger and chips, switch to sweet potato fries, have a glass of juice instead of coke. I get that but it feels never ending....I want the crash course diet that works and then I never have to diet again 🥳

Anyway that's enough rambling for today, back to it!! 🥳

Here's your problem--"I want the crash course diet that works and then I never have to diet again". This is the mindset that'll trip you up. It's better to set up good eating habits and know your portion sizes for the rest of your life. Otherwise you're set up to yo-yo. It's trial and error. Going out with friends and family and not being pushed to overindulge takes tact. You should enjoy yourself without going overboard. Try different strategies to find what'll work for you. Do not explain yourself--it's not their business and people love to argue with you.

Lastly, slow weight loss is not a bad thing.

chris_in_cal

raenright wrote: »

So back to healthy eating and weight loss as my primary goal!

New mantra: Make Good Choices!!

Hey @raenright I see you joined the weekly weigh-in group. Jump in! It's a lovely accountability check. Let me know if you have any questions.

raenright

Thanks @chris_in_cal yes I will!! I'm away with family this weekend and the scales is not coming so I'll be tracking again from Monday 🥳

chris_in_cal

raenright wrote: »

I'll be tracking again from Monday 🥳

Cool. Enjoy the weekend away. I usually post my weekly on Monday too. See you then.

raenright

Today is food planning day ready for food shop tomorrow and I'm thinking of going back to low carb. Its been a carb heavy week and I can feel it weighing me down.

Goal for the week: log everything & drink more water

raenright

Oh the motivation is slipping........

I really do just want the magic pill that I take and then boom I'm at my ideal weight and never gain weight again

The actual work to lose weight is sooooooo ugh!!

And I know all the tips and tricks, start small, log meals, drink water, meal plan and prep, it's a lifestyle not a diet, one good choice at a time......but it goes on so long and I just want it to be easy!!

That's my rant for today 😎

Antiopelle

Regarding the slipping motivation, if I may I want to share what I do : it's flashcards. It might sound silly, but I have a small series of cards. One is with my reasons why, one with all the excuses I'm not going to give into, one with what to do when going off board, one that cheers me on, and one with what I need to do to reach my goal every day. I have this bundle in an app that reminds me every morning to read them. It's actually from Beck's Diet Solution. And this is - for me at least, I can imagine it's not for everyone - the main reason why I stay on track. Because you might have the motivation fresh and ready to go on Monday morning, but not so on Friday evening However, if you are reminded every morning, it is easier to keep on going.

raenright

Thanks @Antiopelle I'll give that a try 😎

raenright

Food diary complete for today which is one of the things I know I need to do to stay on track so very happy with myself today 😎😎

raenright

Meal plan set for the next week!! Nice mix of low carb meals I know I like and a nice sounding slow cooker pot roast to try out 😎😎😎

Starting Weight: 12st10
Current Weight: 11st12
Lots and lots of fluctuations between 11st7 and 12st0
Goal Weight: 10st7

raenright

Starting Weight: 12st10
Current Weight: 11st10
Lots and lots of fluctuations between 11st7 and 12st0
Goal Weight: 10st7

Sticking with my meal plan and tracking in the food diary. Technically I'm down a couple lbs in the last few days but really it's just water weight since I've gone back low carb. I'm definitely better to stick with low carb, much more comfortable and balanced energy levels than more common carbs levels and while keto is manageable its a little too restrictive when I'm not fully prepped for all meals and snacks. So low is what suits me 😎

chris_in_cal

@raenright

Come post on our weekly group. I need the social structure of us doing it together.

community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10893897/2023-weigh-ins-week-commencing-mon-10th-july