Need to Lose 100 LBS -Robins Thread !

Consistently made my step count of over 7500+ each day this week, except yesterday because of the thunderstorms (even the dogs refused to go out, but got half of my goal at least) The weekend will be easy for that as I work on a farm then...never have to worry about exercise when you are caring for 10,000 chickens

Need to find time amidst working to prep a couple meals for me and also prepare something healthy for everyone  for Sunday's party. Thankfully my sis volunteered to do the dessert, so I won't be tempted to sample and lick out bowls and such as of right now though....nothing inspiring to make springs to mind.

@Nikion901 - question: how do you know that you're in a-fib? I really can't tell unless I'm in the hospital and they do an ekg. If there are signs ahead of time, then I think I don't know how to read them. What are you experiencing that lets you know when you're in a-fib? Thanks!

birgitkwood wrote: »

@Nikion901 - question: how do you know that you're in a-fib? I really can't tell unless I'm in the hospital and they do an ekg. If there are signs ahead of time, then I think I don't know how to read them. What are you experiencing that lets you know when you're in a-fib? Thanks!

My heart skips a beat and starts pounding very rapidly. The heart beats become dangerously rapid ... so much that I don't get enough oxygen rich blood to my brain and I start to feel light headed. But before that happens I get an achy feeling in my jaw area ... like in my gums and sometimes I break out in a cold sweat. It feels like I'm having a heart attack, but I'm not ... my heart is just beating too rapidly to be doing it's job as a ciruculating pump very well. It's very frightening. For me, when the event ends, it's usually another skipped beat and then the rhythm returns to normal, and I feel better within a seconds, just extremely tired for hours after. The event can last a couple of minutes to a couple of hours. The longer it lasts, the worse I feel. I have found .. when I first sense a skipped beat that if I stop whatever I'm doing and practice slow, steady deep breaths that it appears to help. The hardest thing, for me, to have learned was not to have a panic attack on top of it. I promised my doctor if it lasted longer than 10 minutes of beats over 150 that I would call 911. (PS. ... I have noticed that I don't get the jaw achiness until the beats get about 160)

How is it for you?

PS again ... I think it feels different for different people. I know the type I get is not like the type my friend gets because mine is short lived and hers lingers. My heart beat gets to the point that I feel faint. I'm not certain that my friend's gets that high. Her daughter has something similar happen where her heart gets over 200 beats a minute and she's ended up in the hospita a lot with it. Fortunately for the daughter, there is a shot that works for her to return the beats to normal ... she's been known to awaken in the middle of the night with it. Her husband usually takes her to the hospital because of where they live ... it would take a long time to get any emergeny responders to their home. Compared to my friend and her child, I have it easy.

Thanks Everyone for your well wishes. I really do appreciate it! I had a good night's sleep, which is pretty miraculous given that I'm in a hospital. I'm feeling fine this morning, but my heart is still on afib. Less rapid, but still not "normal."

@Nikion901 - that's the thing, I DON'T KNOW! Both times that this happened I was feeling dizzy and extremely tired. That's what brought me to the hospital, where they hooked me up to an ekg to find I was in afib. And they keep asking me if I'm regularly in afib. I have no way of knowing! Apparently people can walk around in that condition and lead a normal life. Right now, for example, I'm still in afib but feel perfectly normal. I can't feel my heart racing, altho I'm told it's still fast (in the 70s and 80s now, vs 150s yesterday, so progress is being made). It's a little worrisome to me that I might walk around, going thru life, with an abnormally fast heart rate and don't know it. And I'm not even sure if it's something I need to know - if you know what I mean. Maybe, as long as I take my meds, I don't really need to fret about it. You'd think I could ask my cardiologist, but he just says "everyone is different" and is not the "let's talk about it" type. It's confusing and aggravating!

Thank you for telling me your situation, and those of your friends. Sounds terrifying! Wishing you, and them, well! Sending hugs, B.

My success of the week was sticking to my meal plans every meal this week. (Except the day I was at the hospital and wasn't allowed to eat - as soon as I was allowed I ate....but it wasn't my planned food cause I was still at the hospital)

So I am proud of that!

Name: Holly
Age: 68
Height: 5'3"

Start Weight (April 22): 264
Goal Weight (July 1): 254
(I have two vacations and two holidays in this time frame. If I meet the first goal prior to the end, I will rechallenge myself then)

Weigh in week of:
1. April 26 - 259
2. May 3 -260.2
3. May 10 -
4. May 17 -
5. May 24 -
6. May 31 -
7. June 7 -
8. June 14 -
9. June 21 -
10. June 28 -
Final weight: Saturday, July 1 -

Weight -/+ this week: +1.2
Weight -/+ total: -3.8

I added 100 cal./day this week because I was struggling with fatigue and light headedness. I decided that since I had upped my daily steps a great deal, that the problem was not enough calories and guess what, it worked (!!YAY!!) for how I feel, but it will just take a while for my body to adjust and sort things out. I'm encouraged because over the past two weeks I've seen a major change in the way my body looks and feels.
There was a family emergency yesterday and when I arrived at the hospital one family member was shocked at how much weight I've lost, and this cousin sees me often since she is a neighbor! My housemate also confirmed that I look so much thinner over the past few days. My clothes feel like I'm shrinking up inside them. That says NSV to me in a big way!
Due to the trip to the hospital, I didn't get in my last glass of water, it wasn't even crossing my mind to go get a bottle of water from the snack area, and by the time I got home it was past midnight. I did get three out of four stars yesterday, so I feel pretty good about that! I plan to work at having a whole week of 4 star days this week. The something extra exercise is going well. I asked my trainer to design a program for me to start in addition to my steps goal for the week. I asked her to make it a very light cardio/strength routine that I can build on, once I'm accustomed to the added work, because of my fibromyalgia. Exercise helps me with pain control and sleep, but if I try to do too much it backfires, so it has to be small changes for me!

Name: N2Ville
Age: 45
Height: 5'6

Start Weight (week of April 19): 306 lbs
Goal Weight (week of June 28): 286 lbs

Weigh in week of:
(Weeks are listed by Wednesdays)
1. April 26 -303 lbs
2. May 3 - 302 lbs
3. May 10 -
4. May 17 -
5. May 24 -
6. May 31 -
7. June 7 -
8. June 14 -
9. June 21 -
10. June 28 -
Final weight: Saturday, July 1 -

Weight -/+ this week: 1lb
Weight -/+ total: -4lbs

I've been reading from the sideline fore a while and have decided to jump in...

New to MFP and just learning to navigate the "Community" portion.

I waited 2 months to get on the scale...316lbs (03-31-17). Tracking helps me stay accountable. Last week, I worked out more than I have since I started. Unfortunately, 2 pepsis, 4 cups of rice and 2 bags of chips later, I learned even though I stayed under my calorie allotment I should have made better choices.

This week: I plan to keep the exercise, lose the soda/chips and get more water down.

Let's hope for a great week!

Nikion901 wrote: »

birgitkwood wrote: »

@Nikion901 - question: how do you know that you're in a-fib? I really can't tell unless I'm in the hospital and they do an ekg. If there are signs ahead of time, then I think I don't know how to read them. What are you experiencing that lets you know when you're in a-fib? Thanks!

My heart skips a beat and starts pounding very rapidly. The heart beats become dangerously rapid ... so much that I don't get enough oxygen rich blood to my brain and I start to feel light headed. But before that happens I get an achy feeling in my jaw area ... like in my gums and sometimes I break out in a cold sweat. It feels like I'm having a heart attack, but I'm not ... my heart is just beating too rapidly to be doing it's job as a ciruculating pump very well. It's very frightening. For me, when the event ends, it's usually another skipped beat and then the rhythm returns to normal, and I feel better within a seconds, just extremely tired for hours after. The event can last a couple of minutes to a couple of hours. The longer it lasts, the worse I feel. I have found .. when I first sense a skipped beat that if I stop whatever I'm doing and practice slow, steady deep breaths that it appears to help. The hardest thing, for me, to have learned was not to have a panic attack on top of it. I promised my doctor if it lasted longer than 10 minutes of beats over 150 that I would call 911. (PS. ... I have noticed that I don't get the jaw achiness until the beats get about 160)

How is it for you?

PS again ... I think it feels different for different people. I know the type I get is not like the type my friend gets because mine is short lived and hers lingers. My heart beat gets to the point that I feel faint. I'm not certain that my friend's gets that high. Her daughter has something similar happen where her heart gets over 200 beats a minute and she's ended up in the hospita a lot with it. Fortunately for the daughter, there is a shot that works for her to return the beats to normal ... she's been known to awaken in the middle of the night with it. Her husband usually takes her to the hospital because of where they live ... it would take a long time to get any emergeny responders to their home. Compared to my friend and her child, I have it easy.

My son had tachycardia for 18 years. He was born with it. They couldn't, for the longest time, find out what was causing it. As an infant, I would have to give him an oral dosage that had to be measured precisely. He got better with age, but as he entered puberty, it came back full force. His father would not believe me about it. Finally, he had a bad episode at school. Ambulance was called and his heart rate had been officially clocked at 262 bpm. At 265, the heart is known to explode. Thankfully, a specialist was down from Dallas at the time, and he knew what it was. A week or so later, he was in surgery (not open heart) and the issue was resolved. He had an extra electrical nerve in his heart, measuring 4 inches long. They did an ablation and deadened all the nerve endings. He's not had a problem sense. Doc said he had a very strong heart to handle that kind of heart rate.

Anyway, just wanted to say, the heart isn't something to mess with. I understand your fear. I hope you do alright.
BTW, the extra electrical nerve in the heart was termed "Wilkes Parkinson White Syndrome".

sand86802 wrote: »

FourLynne62 wrote: »

I am still not understanding the Summer Challenge? Am I required to join up or how does it work? How does one become part of the Summer Challenge group? Is it a closed group?

You are not required to enter the challenge. If you do want to just copy the entry template and post your weigh-in once a week. The dates on the templates are wednesdays but you can post once a week on any days.

This is an open group. Feel free to share or comment any time

Thank you, Sand86802! I had started a similar template, but was using Sundays. I can convert it to your template, no biggie. Just got thrown off by the response to it. Thanks for helping me.

Just going through the last couple days of postig and OMG @birgitkwood I am so glad that you are alright. Please rest and get better! @JeanieWww that must have been incredibly scary for both you and your son. I am so glad he is okay. That heart rate is incredibly high. I am very happy it is resolved for him!

The last few days have been pretty busy for me. Last week was bad for me, being exhausted makes me eat more. A bite here, a bite there... I mean it doesnt count right? Except obviously it does because I am not loosing as I should be losing. Sleep is better now so I am comitting to starting this week fresh and try to stop this nasty habit of "sampling" food. I fear this will be the biggest challenge for me.


P.S Welcome to all new posters and challenge participants! I will be posting an update either tomorrow or tuesday (tomorrow may still be pretty busy for me but it should be good by tuesday)