@thewindandthework We seem to be on the same track, hah. I'm also still struggling, and I did the same thing! I made my diary private last week. It seems to be helping, although the long weekend definitely did not. The desire to stress/control eat is horrifically strong and you're exactly right - I can't just pick up where I left off.

I have to change again to get back to where I was.

We can do this!

Having a hard time staying at or below my calorie goal when I swim. Over the last 2 weeks I have started swimming for 30-60min. When I get done I am a bit hungry so I eat something light but with a decent amount of fat. The fat helps fill me up for the ride home from pool.

The problem is when I get home I am ravenous. Yesterday I ate around 1500 calories just during lunch! Now I nearly went over with calorie eat back for the whole day. I only like to eat back 60-80%. I do this to make up for errors in my reporting to many calories burned. The food I ate yesterday was mainly nigiri rolls and sashimi so I easily kept my macros right.

I just feel bad cause it happens a lot after swimming, but I love swimming for cardio more than anything else. My body is tired and muscles are sore everywhere. Still it's a good sore not sharp like I get from walking over 3k. Anyone got an idea to keep post workout hunger down?

Have you tried a protein shake after exercising? My trainer recommended Labrada Lean Pro 8 (I buy it on Amazon) and it's amazing. I work out in the morning and I rarely eat anything before going to the gym because it's so early and I'm not hungry. So you would think that I would be starving by the time I get to work a few hours later but I'm not! I have a shake after every workout, my trainer said it's important to drink it within 30mins of exercising, and all you need is a shaker bottle and some water, nothing fancy. Bonus points for this shake is that it has some kind of slow release formula that helps prevent your muscles from getting sore, and I can definitely vouch for that. I've had VERY few sore muscles considering how out of shape I am/was. I've tried all the flavors except vanilla and they are all delicious but my favorite is the strawberry ice cream. I think they all range between 200-220 calories per serving, my diary is open if you want to check the macros and they're also in the MFP database.

It's kind of expensive but the 3lb size lasts about 6 weeks with me and my husband each having a serving just about every day. We usually order two 3lb containers at a time for variety's sake and my new favorite thing to do is to mix half a scoop of the chocolate with half a scoop of the strawberry. I know this sounds lame, but's decadent right after a hard core work out.
https://smile.amazon.com/Labrada-Nutrition-Premium-Protein-Chocolate/dp/B0051SU542/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1496778453&sr=8-1&keywords=labrada+lean+pro+8

@mebelfanti Started using protein in morning after my workouts as breakfast. Getting round 50g now right after. Going to keep it up for couple of weeks to see how it goes.

I thought my fitness had activities like that in their exercise database. I remember several years ago before I got a fitbitb logging individual activities just like those! Also, I couldn't be happier with my fitbit. It's extremely accurate and syncs up with mfp. Also, like you said, a loss is a loss and this is a learning experience. And you are learning!! Congrats!

Perhaps I'm in the same boat, Okiludy, though I know I haven't stayed under too well this week.

I've sometimes look at this site

http://calorielab.com/burned/

but I don't know how accurate it actually is, so I usually prefer not to count back any of my exercise calories. Oh well - tomorrows another day, right?

I've been struggling for the past month. Not eating horribly but have fallen off the wagon for daily tracking. When I replaced my phone I forgot to consider that they no longer supported the MFP app on Windows phones.

I'm having a hell of a time passing up food. I brought and ate a lovely healthy lunch to work today, then went downstairs to go out to take my walk. And they were selling hot dogs. Really good big beautiful ones with all kinds of toppings.

Sooooo on top of my already-eaten lunch I had a big ol' hot dog, and, because it came with chips, I also had a little bag of chips. Super.

It was great, don't get me wrong, and I still have a few hundred calories for dinner, but good grief. I gotta get these compulsive snacks under control.

I'm seeing that too, Oki, though I'm not exercising nearly to your level. I don't have a regular exercise program, but I've been doing some hard work around the house. I've noticed that I'll stall or slow way down for as much as a week after a weekend of heavy yard work and house chores. From what I can tell from the little I've looked into it, it looks like the stall or even extra pound that might creep on is because of muscle recovery and the body repairing itself. So I'll come on here and complain about a stall, and then the next week, I'll have a woosh! Just goes to teach me that I need to quit stressing over the weekly loss and focus more on inches lost and the over all trend

I had a pretty bad day yesterday. I had brought my lunch to work, but then someone invited me down for pizza and a salad. Granted, I had only 1 slice, but it was thick crust and slathered in cheese. I also had a mini muffin and danish. I was still within my calorie range with a small supper, but the urge to snack was incredibly strong yesterday, and I found myself with a handful of peanuts, a couple of handfuls of sugar free chocolate chips, and even a handful of dates! Then I ended up with another coffee (which i cannot stand black so much have milk and sweetener) because I was dragging yesterday afternoon, and a small snack bag at the movies. Now I did purchase something outside that was healthier and snuck it into the theater, but it still put me way over my calorie limits for the day. *sigh* Oh well. Yesterday was yesterday and is in the past; today is a new day, and I plan on getting some chores done this evening, so that should help even things out.

I was home this weekend for family reunion in a family of very good cooks, but while I know I went over on calories, I did cut back from what I could have had and tried to make healthier decisions. I also got me a decent pedometer which has proven to be WAY more accurate than my smart phone - and much easier to carry! I just clip it to my bra strap and forget its there half the time.

The hardship, however, is looming on the horizon with a bit of a preview yesterday. My parents are both diabetic and my dad has really packed on the weight since he broke his back 6 years ago. He gets out of breath so easily, has heart trouble, and had to replace both his hips. He seriously needs to lose weight. Mom has a serious sweet tooth problem and won't lay off the sugar.

Yesterday after church, mom and I went to the grocery store to pick up some items for a salad to go with dinner, and I asked her if she would let me show her how to portion control when I get moved down there. I told her we could combine groceries and we could work out a menu and work on getting some weight off dad and maybe get her A1C down. I'm going to be living across the road from them, so it wouldn't be a hardship to just combine our groceries. Mom wasn't adverse to the idea, though I think she was a little skeptical, but she acknowledged Dad really does need to lose weight and learn to portion control.

I picked up a pint of halo top ice cream for dessert. One pint has 4 servings; there were 4 of us (my sister lives with them). When we get home, Dad gets his Thousand Island dressing (120 calories per serving; 2 Tbsp per serving) and proceeds to drown his salad - he had at least 3 servings of dressing on that salad. When I portioned out the ice cream, he was upset that all he got was 1/2 cup and said that it was ridiculous, and that I was getting as bad as the rest of his family. Now to put that into context, my dad's parents and older sister are very, very weight conscious and are very critical of other people's weight. I've lived under that stigma from them for years - it didn't matter how much I achieved in life, how successful I was in other areas, I was a shame and a failure in their eyes because I was obese. So telling me that trying to watch my calorie intake and portion control was making me as bad as them is really a slap in the face.

It didn't really bother me, though; when he said it, I just said I didn't care and that was all he was getting, to eat it slowly and enjoy it. In Dad's case, he doesn't do any cooking at all, so if Mom gets on board with the portion control thing, he's going to be coming along whether he likes it or not. Mom didn't comment, but my concern is that she might like to portion control but hates conflict and usually gives in to my dad, so even if she wants to try to learn to watch her portion sizes, if Dad puts up a huge fuss, she may just give in to make him happy and avoid conflict.

What makes this difficult for me, however, is that it's a preview of what life is going to be like when I get moved down there. It means I don't have the support of my family in this effort to lose weight. I know I will be living across the road from them so I can control my own meals, but being that close I know that our lives are going to intertwine quite a bit, and if I can't get Mom to help me, then its going to be more difficult for me to stick to a calorie limit and stay away from things that I have a weakness for because mom keeps those things in her house. AND I'm going to have to anger my sister right off the bat because my sister refuses to watch what she eats, and she brings all kinds of sugar-loaded, high calorie snacks home. She thinks that she's going to come live with me when I get moved down there, but I have news for her - I am banning those kinds of snacks from my house. She's going to get very mad, but I don't care - it's my house and I can't have that stuff there; I know my limits on my willpower, and I'm determined to do this with or without their support.

*sigh* The parents are coming up today and will be leaving Wednesday or Thursday. All times before, I bought snacks and kept things for them to much on that weren't friendly to my diet, plus I took them out to eat, and each time, I've always found myself slipping up and getting into the snacks myself and eating too much in the restaurants. That's not going to happen this time; they are getting the same portions I am and we're not going out, and while I did buy some healthy snacks, I took the time to portion them out yesterday. So if dad wants cheetos with his lunch, he's getting baked ones and a single serving size, and I don't care how much he complains - its my house; my rules! lol

Thank you, KDub! This group really has been wonderfully understanding and supportive, and you guys don't know how much I really do appreciate it! You all are great! (especially for putting up with my long, whiny rants lol)

The parents' trip up earlier this week went well. Mom actually showed some interest in staying within a decent calorie range, and we managed to keep dad under 2,000 calories without him even noticing lol

I know my family roll their eyes when I talk about weight loss, and worse still, I don't think they believe I'll succeed - at least, that the comment I overheard my mom make to my brother about me back in the spring (she didn't realize she was talking loud enough for me to hear her through the wall). My brother understands, though, and I can talk to him about diet and nutrition and all this weight loss effort that the rest of the family tire of, because he's been trying hard himself. That means I do have his support, at least, and that helps greatly!

But no matter - I'm determined to do this and to keep it off this time!

Okiludy wrote: »

http://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/calorie-burners#1

Shoveling snow: 400-600 calories per hour
Heavy yard work (landscaping, moving rocks, hauling dirt): 400-600 calories per hour
Raking and bagging leaves: 350-450 calories per hour
Gardening: pulling weeds, planting flowers, etc.: 200-400 calories per hour
Mowing the lawn: 250-350 calories per hour

Be careful when pulling calories from online. Most of the time it's total calories and not active calories. If you log them as such then you are getting double credit for the passive calories already built into your budget. Each of these activities probably contain an hours worth of passive calories which would be different for every person depending on weight.

I feel your pain, gazelle! I know it was going to slow down, that I wouldn't continue the pace I started with, and I know that plateaus come, but boy is it ever frustrating! And you think you've got it down pat, only to find that if you let your vigilance slide, you slip right back into old habits way too easily.

But you've got a good plan going, and you are so very right to be focusing on the positives and in being forgiving of yourself. With that determination, you'll succeed! Great job!

yep - discouragement is a horrible enemy! I too find myself just wanting to eat when I'm depressed, stressed, or discouraged - which is a lot of the time since I have a melancholic temperament....And it's not a factor as to whether or not I'm actually hungry; I'm starting to wonder if my body even knows how to understand its own hunger signals as I find myself still craving food even when I know I've had a healthy portion. I know a huge part of that is mental, but the mental battle is the toughest part of the war!

And its even tougher if you are trying to force yourself to do things that you don't enjoy. I've learned that the hard way and wasted a couple hundred bucks on a gym membership that I wasn't using because I detest regular exercise like that. I found it's much easier for me to keep myself active if I have solitude and when it doesn't feel like exercise. The hard part is finding activities that I can trick myself with lol

Anyway, like I said on your post, I think the change you have planned is quite sensible and realistic. I know my willpower flags when I'm constantly fighting myself, and I've found in the last 7 months of working on my weight that the key to success was compromising with myself, which is exactly what your doing.

and who knows? perhaps by dropping back on the stuff that you detest, you will now have more time to explore other activities that you find you like much better and that also give you a good workout. Have you given thoughts to maybe taking up karate or something similar if its available in your area? Or some other sport or activity that you might find fun?

We're all pulling for you, though - you've made it this far and you've definitely got the discipline to succeed! You'll make it!