The Daily Diary Thread

billdwyatt
billdwyatt Posts: 57 Member
edited November 16 in Getting Started
I notice the various threads here encourage posts on a weekly basis to mark progress. I understand the purpose of doing this. It's easy to get discouraged monitoring your day-to-day weight loss. For me, it's the opposite. If I check my progress once a week, my mindset is almost like only going to Church on Sunday and doing what you want to the rest of the week. Since I have to diet and exercise daily, I seem to only stay motivated if I mark my daily progress - even so it's two steps forward and one step backward. Anyone else like this? If so, join me in posting your daily journey through this Daily Diary thread... or as frequently as you monitor your journey. The more details the better!
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Replies

  • lovnlifeinkg
    lovnlifeinkg Posts: 3 Member
    So good to see that someone else has much the same feeling that I do. Funny that just this morning I commented "Two steps forward and 1 step back" because I gained back .8 lbs this morning; then I log into this thread and see the same saying in your comment billdwyatt. I also feel that I have to weigh in and log each day, for fear of slipping back into my old ways if not monitored closely. That means each morning is either really happy or really frustrated, but since I so far have more happy days that frustrated ones, I think I'll keep with it. Good luck to each of us on this journey!
  • billdwyatt
    billdwyatt Posts: 57 Member
    My calorie goal here at myfitnesspal is 1500 a day. Got off to a good start. I know how important everyone says to eat breakfast, but my past experience tells me I have better success if I have brunch instead. My main meal is in the evening and that's not going to change. I finished the day full and satisfied and my total came to a little over 1200. I had a roast beef sandwich for brunch and a Mardi Gras Shrimp Po 'Boy and homemade remoulade and romaine salad for dinner. Oh, and I drank water all day. As is typical when I first start I drop some easy weight when the sodium levels go down. This morning I weighed 216.8. No illusions, but it still felt good to be 4 lbs. away from that "record" than the 1 lb. I was a day earlier.
  • lovnlifeinkg
    lovnlifeinkg Posts: 3 Member
    Again, we have very similar experiences billdwyatt, although I'm way ahead of you on the age thing. This April I will be 68 years old, so my very active days are pretty far behind me. I also have Chronic Lupus and have for about 28 years. I have a fantastic Rheumatologist who has helped me maintain health as well as possible, but like you I have several medicines that don't help with weight control. The heaviest I've ever been was 245 several years ago. I am only 5'3' so definitely didn't carry that look off too well. I just started back this month when I climbed back up to 239 and was determined to never cross over that 240 mark again. Tomorrow makes 3 weeks and I'm down to 231.8 this morning. The main exercises I can handle for now include short and slow walks and riding my recumbent stationary bike. For now I set my long term goal at 150 and figure if I ever make it there I can re-assess any further weight loss goal. I do wish you luck and ask that you do the same for me. We can do this!
  • billdwyatt
    billdwyatt Posts: 57 Member
    I'm headed to bed and just logged my last food intake for the day. I had a tuna fish sandwich and a few chips and salsa for brunch and a progresso lite soup and grilled cheese for dinner. Everything together was just under 1,100 calories. When I hit the "complete for the day" I got the dreaded "Based on your total calories consumed for today, you are likely not eating enough." It's close to midnight and I'm not hungry. A little thirsty, but I'll take a bottle of water and set it on the nightstand. I'm good. Most days are not like today, but right now - I'm good.
  • Carol_
    Carol_ Posts: 469 Member
    I was not very motivated today at all. However I finished under my goal of 1200 calories a day. I also am going to bed with a water ( and my Kindle ) . My dog has been ready for some time. However I have been too busy reading message boards. lol Nite to all. ((hugs))
  • billdwyatt
    billdwyatt Posts: 57 Member
    I'm 215.6 this morning. Still losing water weight. Had the exact same brunch today as I had yesterday. Busy work day.
  • Carol_
    Carol_ Posts: 469 Member
    This morning I was up 3 pounds at #148. I am always up & down by 3 pounds. It is 8:45 PM ish now. I made Weight Watchers' Cabbage Soup at 75 calories a cup for Supper. Today was a dog sitting day at my daughter's house. Her house is filled with tempting snacks. However rather than eat any, I left her my unopened bag of Chedder Rice Cakes because I was starting to eat too many of them. I ate most of a bag already this week. Today was dark and rainy. Happy Tuesday!
  • billdwyatt
    billdwyatt Posts: 57 Member
    Well... I went 300 over my calorie goal yesterday. Finished with about 1800. Boneless fried chicken did it. Here's the surprise... this morning I weigh 211.8. That means I've lost between 8 and 9 pounds in 3 days. I always drop 2 or 3 pounds right away when I get back on the wagon, but I've never had that big of a drop. I'm not complaining, just surprised.
  • Nikion901
    Nikion901 Posts: 2,467 Member
    Isn't it weird the way our bodies react to nutritional intake changes? I've noticed on my own daily weigh-ins compared to the food I had the day before that they never coincide in movement. Then a read an article that said digestion of food takes upward of 30 hours .. so I started looking a couple days past and that seems to fit a bit better. it always surprised me how I can keep at a very low calorie intake for days on end and my weight just stays the same, then I'll have a day of more (not a gross amount of more, just more closer to my TDEE) and the weight just drops! OF course, when I do overeat by a lot, the weight progressively goes up just as readily!
  • GoCleanGoLean
    GoCleanGoLean Posts: 71 Member
    Last night I had a piece of cake ... a large piece of cake. With much more ice cream than I needed. I've always assumed these late-night mini-splurges would show up on the scale the next morning, but I've never weighed-in the morning after a "bad day" (actually, that cake was the only "bad thing" I ate yesterday so it was more of a "bad night") so I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was down another 0.6 pounds.

    After reading Nikion901's last post, it makes sense. I've been eating decently these past several days so it makes sense that the impact will be seen a few days later.

    Thanks for the knowledge @Nikion901
  • Nikion901
    Nikion901 Posts: 2,467 Member
    edited March 2017
    GoCleanGoLean wrote: »
    Last night I had a piece of cake ... a large piece of cake. With much more ice cream than I needed. I've always assumed these late-night mini-splurges would show up on the scale the next morning, but I've never weighed-in the morning after a "bad day" (actually, that cake was the only "bad thing" I ate yesterday so it was more of a "bad night") so I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was down another 0.6 pounds.

    After reading Nikion901's last post, it makes sense. I've been eating decently these past several days so it makes sense that the impact will be seen a few days later.

    Thanks for the knowledge @Nikion901

    Thanks @GoCleanGoLean ... it's just something I happened to notice because I do track every lick and morsel eaten and weigh in every morning at about the same time of day ... well, at least in the same bodily situation.

    I've frequently read posts on various community threads where people worried that the overeats of today would cause a sudden weight gain, or they were dissappointed because a day of hunger didn't yield any drop in weight ... and the explaination was invariably that weight loss/gain is not linear.

    The other comment I've often seen is that people wonder why the weight loss/gain does not reflect the amount of calories consumed ... and the explaination would be that it is more of a cummulative effect. Then the advice to just keep tracking/logging/weighing ing and eventually you should see a trend ... or that it takes several weeks for the body to actually show any true weight changes. ...

    For myself, I find that my weight changes are more reliable and that it can take as little as 100 calories a day difference, over a few days time to set the motion going. Also, that if I overeat by, say 500 calories for 2 or 3 days that I will have a half pound to a one pound gain. But, if I undereat by the same 500 calories, then my weight will go down about 4 ounces.
  • billdwyatt
    billdwyatt Posts: 57 Member
    Nikion901, that's me exactly. On all the diets I've failed (and that's every one) I stay the same weight or even gain on good days and lose on bad ones. I began to catch on that my scales are about three days behind my food intake. Thought it was me. Thanks for sharing!
  • billdwyatt
    billdwyatt Posts: 57 Member
    Okay, another one of those warnings from myfitnesspal that I'm not eating enough. The tunafish sandwich for lunch seems to be working so I repeated my lunch routine for the third day in a row. Wife was kind enough to fix a shrimp stir fry and mashed potatoes for dinner. My total intake for the day barely topped 1,000. Time for bed and I'm thirsty. Sodium in everything was too much. Going to drink water before bed, but I'll bet I'm up tomorrow. Sodium is not my friend.
  • billdwyatt
    billdwyatt Posts: 57 Member
    Still thirsty when I got up this morning so I drank 24 oz. of water for breakfast and then realized I hadn't weighed yet. Googled the weight of water and 16 oz. is 1.04 lbs. That's a guaranteed 1.56 lbs extra before I stepped on the scales. So, I tricked my routine... I didn't weight today! B)

    Tuna fish sandwich and potato chips for lunch today. 24 Kroger Classic chips are 160 calories. I'm at 390 calories now and promised the wife I would cook dinner tonight. We're having Sirloin Steak with Blue Cheese Compound butter with green beans and roasted fingerling potatoes - 613 calories. Nice glass of red wine to go with and should have a good calorie day. Still going to go over my sodium limit. Can't seem to conquer that little monster.
  • Nikion901
    Nikion901 Posts: 2,467 Member
    edited March 2017
    Today is 495 days of logging in MFP without a miss ... it's actually longer, but about day 330 last time I logged in after midnight one day. You would think, or at least I would, that after more than 2 1/4 years on MFP (had a different user ID before Sept 2015), that I would have already attained my weight goal and know all there is to know about my nutrition profile. Hah! Wish that were true. In actuallity, I have a pattern of losing for about 6 weeks and then going into a stall, then slowly regaining ... and then getting on the losing streak again.

    I'm beginning to suspect it's because when I do get ont he losing streak that I eat too little. For certain I lose weight for a time and feel great doing it. Don't feel hungry. Feel 'skinny' on the inside ... and that feels so good! ... But invariably I start to falter. I spent all of mid 2015-mid 2016 eating at maintenance instead of trying to lose weight ... I did end the year about 5-6 pounds lighter than I did at the start ... just because I was convinced my metabolism needed a 'reset'. By the first wigh-in of February I had lost 7.2 pounds from the beginning of January ... it stood there the next week and started to creep up the next 2 weeks so that I ended last week with just over a 2 pound gain-back. This week ... I'm gaining a pound a day and overeating each day.

    It's like I cannot fill myself up for more than 1-2 hours at a time and I must eat again. Plus, I have no energy to do what I need to do for activity. A double wammy! ... Trying and feeling fearful that the pendulum has swung.
  • Nikion901
    Nikion901 Posts: 2,467 Member
    This morning seems like I'm starting to move in the direction I want to go, once again. Weight was stable from yesterday, calories were within range. Going to meet up with people I used to work with before I retired ... haven't seem some of them for 15 years ... it's a happy hour get together so I'd better prepare with today's food to allow the extra calories I'll have at the gathering.
  • billdwyatt
    billdwyatt Posts: 57 Member
    Good luck Nikion901 with the gathering! Let the good fellowship fill you up! You and I are quite similar with our dieting habits. Although not similar at all with being consistent at MFP. When I fall off the wagon, I'm absent here. That's one of my resolutions this time... I'm going to stay consistent here and hopefully, it will help when I'm on the edge next. Have you tried doing a 3-day low carb deal when you get in a funk with no energy and staying hungry all the time? It always gives me a boost of energy early and curbs my appetite too... and it's very hard to go over your calorie limit when you are low carbing. I've tried the diet a few times and I always feel so lousy when I hit ketosis that I back off, but the first 3 days are great.
  • billdwyatt
    billdwyatt Posts: 57 Member
    Hit the scales this morning and I'm down another pound in 48 hours. lol. Sunday - when I started again - I was 219. This morning I'm 210. I might lose 10 lbs. in one week. The last time that happened I was in the hospital with ruptured appendix! I'm very aware when this initial thing ends it's going to be a slow go. Need to be prepared for those days when I'm up a pound or two. When I'm this heavy I can bounce up and down easily. But I'll take the loss of weight anyway I can! Dinner last night was fantastic. Finished the day at 1488 (12 calories under my daily goal). Just finished a 425 calorie brunch and headed back to work. No idea about dinner tonight.
  • billdwyatt
    billdwyatt Posts: 57 Member
    Curious to know if anyone has any opinions on this: http://vitals.lifehacker.com/most-people-burn-more-than-2-000-calories-1792935688
  • Nikion901
    Nikion901 Posts: 2,467 Member
    billdwyatt wrote: »
    Curious to know if anyone has any opinions on this: http://vitals.lifehacker.com/most-people-burn-more-than-2-000-calories-1792935688

    I have an opinion ... That the 2000 calorie a day diet is just an average that won't fit most people. It's a handy frame of reference but each individual's needs will be be different based on their own particulars for things like age, height, weight, activity level, metabolism, etc. So, I was not surprised by the article's conclusion.

    Since I keep records ... I know that my own needs are well below that 2000 average ... but then, I am 72 years old, just under 5'3" and extremely sedintery (always had a desk job and still sit at a desk for most of my waking day during standard business hours). Last year, my average calorie intake for the netire 365 ays was 1885 calories, the year before that it was 1954. I am certain, however, that when I was a young woman raising children and doing hard physical work for several hours a week that it was probably over that amount ... I didn't start to gain weight until I was in my mid-thirties. And i know, during the years around my mid thirties to my mid forties that I frequently overate, both by eating larger volumes of food than I do now, and by eating a lot of dessert or snack type foods on a daily basis, plus drinking soda pop and enjoying alcoholic beverages several times a week as well. But, I didn't track calories back then so I have no idea how much I was actually taking in.
  • billdwyatt
    billdwyatt Posts: 57 Member
    edited March 2017
    Completely agree. I have not analyzed my data as you have but I'm fairly certain over 3000 and I'm gaining. 2000 to 3000 and I can lose. Under 2000 and I can call it a diet. A friend of mine used to call me square. I was 30-30 ( 30 inseam, 30 waist) . Now I squeeze into a 38 waist and it's not pretty. One of my incentives for getting back on the wagon is my refusal to buy a pair of 40 pants. In all honesty, I have two closets full of clothes and only one pair of pants I can wear all day. I intend to wash and wear the same pants until they are too big and I can fit in my wardrobe again. Maybe not part of the normal narrative but it's a motivator for me. Over 1500 for the day but under 1600. Fixed salmon and vegetables for dinner.
  • Nikion901
    Nikion901 Posts: 2,467 Member
    edited March 2017
    That is so funny ... the refusal to buy 40 waist pants ... it reminds me of my dad; well, maybe more so my mom and dad. Dad had a 29 inch inseam. His 'normal' waist, as I recall was 36 ...at least that was the size belt I always bought him as a Christmas gift. After my dad retired, his waist began to creap and mom didn't complain until she had to buy 40 waist pants and then he needed the waist band let out. He got himself back down to a 38s but kept all the 40's anyway, he just wore them with suspenders to keep em up and sinched with an extra hole or two in his belt.
  • billdwyatt
    billdwyatt Posts: 57 Member
    My first week back on the wagon:
    0 219.4
    1 216.8
    2 215.6
    3 211.8
    4 didn't weigh
    5 210.8
    6 didn't weigh
    7 210.8

    That's officially a 1-week record for me, but as you can see almost all of it came in the first 3 days. I'm fully prepared for the snail's pace from here on out. I'm down a pound in the last 4 days.

    We had homemade potato soup and a grilled cheese for dinner last night. I had what was left over of the potato soup for lunch today and made half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to go with it.
  • billdwyatt
    billdwyatt Posts: 57 Member
    Weighed 209.8 this morning. I'm down another pound!
  • Nikion901
    Nikion901 Posts: 2,467 Member
    Recent gain I experienced 9 days ago has finally gone bye-bye. Now to keep the momentum going. Today was a checkpoint (weigh-in goal day) and I missed the mark because of that gain. I have 5 weeks before the next check-point and need to shed 5.2 pounds to be the mark. Don't want to cut calories further than I aim for so will need to increase both activity and dilligence in not going over my caloric intake goals.
  • billdwyatt
    billdwyatt Posts: 57 Member
    Well... reality began for me today. I was up 1.8 pounds at 211.0. Yesterday I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a few chips for lunch and a 2-egg omelet for dinner with a piece of toast. Finished almost 300 calories below my goal. This is the way it always goes for me - after that initial loss is over.
  • Nikion901
    Nikion901 Posts: 2,467 Member
    Yeah ... this morning I am up also, and by 3.6 pounds! ... I bounce around on my weight when I let carbs, or should I say certain carbs, comb back into my food plan. This always leads to an uptick in weight. And it also leads to craving fatty/salty food as well. Just need to remind myself that the best way to stay stable is to be consistent and to cook my meals instead of taking the easy way out.
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