May 24-31, 2023

SarahMaxx

LW: 131.4
TW: 131.6

So I'm staying about the same and I don't have being sick to blame anymore, as I think I'm finally back to normal or at least close to normal. My energy level is still a little off and there's some very minor chest congestion, but nothing significant. Because I'm data driven, I looked at my total and net kcals, steps, and macros for the past 90 days to see if anything is trending up or down, and everything looked pretty much the same. I also looked to see which weigh-in week this year was my lowest weight and that was 130.0 on April 5. So I looked more closely at the week leading up to that, but everything is in the same ballpark. So I guess I just need to figure out how to get out of that ballpark!

Here are my 7-day averages for last week:
Steps = 10,553
Kcals burned = 1,719
Stairs = 16 floors

I did reasonably well on my goals last week by decreasing butter used to season and reducing sodium a bit. I stayed about the same with protein, though. I think my goals for this week should be continuing to focus on increasing protein and decreasing fat and salt, but I'm also going to try my best to increase my 7-day average for kcals burned. I'm not going to state a number, I just want it to be more than 1,719.

Sheesh, how nice that so many family members will be onhand to celebrate your hubby's milesone birthday. I know you will have a ball!

Back later, and I wonder if Lois is also posting right now? LOL

Lastchancelj

LW - 234
TW - 233.3

So, I WILL TAKE IT!! I'm doing my best to stay on this plan. So we will see. I had my annual yesterday. Doc isn't too stoked about the program, he would prefer me make and eat healthy meals/portions and then I asked if he or his wife would be willing to cook for me..hahaha. This program is slowly getting me getting me to meal plan and prep. I'm really hoping that in the next few weeks I am able to plan and prepare healthy meals. The fake sugars that are in the foods I'm eating is messing with my tummy and hoping not causing any longer term challenges. I'm down almost 12lbs in a month, but I'm sure that will skyrocket back once I begin eating normal foods. We are heading out of town for a quick trip to San Diego and because many of the products contain nuts and Rhea is allergic to nuts, I won't be taking anything with me (maybe a couple of shakes, but no guarantee so it will be an opportunity for me to start with the healthier choices. Plus I'll be in a car for 6 hrs each direction in a 2.5 day period. We will be home Sunday so we can recuperate on Monday before going back to work on Tuesday. So next week will be interesting for sure.

Sarah - too funny about posting at the same time. No, I had to go into Scottsdale for meetings today so unable to jump on until now. And I failed to eat while I was at the office. Well, I did grab some nuts and cheese, but got some disturbing news for my sales team members that turned my tummy and I couldn't eat or drink anything. Some internal shifting and it's not all in a good way and certainly not perceived as positive by a couple of my coworkers. Then I got called back in after leaving to meet on another policy change. Well that meeting didn't go as positively as the presenter thought it would. Got caught by my COO as I was attempting to leave again and teased about my new office being almost ready. One of the owners was nearby and she said for me to pick any office - so I stated my home address and said that is the best office in the company...haha. My COO didn't find it funny. In the past couple of years I've been asked to vacate my nice office at least 3 times and put into cubbie offices because we were hiring this person or that person. Well, after so many shuffles, my work life balance says to stay home where I actually get tons of work done without interruption AND I get to see my hubby for a little bit each day. Something I can't do when I'm in Scottsdale all day and exhausted and asleep when he comes home. I better watch it or retirement may come sooner than I'm ready but today was just a crappy day with crappy info in my meetings.

Anyhow, now I have a headache from not eating...and it's 5pm. So I'll log back in tomorrow and get today's work done.

Sarah - back to you and done with my rant. Anyhow, I really believe that once you begin adding more muscle and strength training, you'll see a slight gain, but then reductions. Muscle will burn more calories while resting, where cardio only burns the available glycogen and you'd be completely exhausted before cardio gets into muscle burns. And as you lean out, you will also need to burn more because your body is becoming acclimated to the workouts. It's a vicious cycle. But honestly I believe I burned more sitting calories when I was working out with my trainer and had lots of muscle.

Sheesh - happy birthday to your hubby and son in law!!! So happy the family can be together.

GaGasheesh

LW: 133.4
TW: 133.2

Sorry to have missed posting this yesterday, but Wednesdays are my busiest day. Trainer today (soon, so I'll be quick here) and hubby playing golf with his group, so a little quieter. I'll definitely take that small reduction now that I can see that I'm losing fat and not any lean mass (in fact a small gain) it makes me feel better about small, slow moving reductions.

Lois, congrats on your reduction. 12 pounds in one month! Try to maintain over the trip to Cali, but enjoy yourself with your family and friends. I'm hearing from family and friends pretty often about similar work day changes and pressure to get back into the office to work. It seems to be a transition since Covid, and most are saying what you said about getting more done from home. I'm not sure how I feel about employers putting this pressure on employees. It seems like they'd be losing not only productivity (at least in some jobs) but also happy, less stressed workers. Not to mention all the additional autos jammed onto freeways and roads, putting pollution into the air. Why not have some work-from-home employees if it's possible? I know I wish that had been an option for me.

Sarah, it's really difficult to get calorie burn above 1,700 for me. I do know that (according to my Apple Watch) weight training burns a lot more than walking or cardio classes. HIIT is another good burner. But, I've noticed the higher the burn, the hungrier I am, The best solution I've found for that problem is to know exactly what I'm going to eat and that it's balanced and low calorie, and maybe prepared already if possible.

You guys, I was soooo upset about the death of Tina Turner yesterday! I cried quite a lot. I really loved her music, and it's on all my playlists. And her life was so inspiring to me! I'm still emotional today. I'm not the kind of person to get emotional about celebrities, but this really got me. I wonder what's going on with me? Maybe thinking about my own mortality?