thewindandthework wrote: »

Maybe it's time to move my MFP goal from 2 lbs a week to 1 lb a week. I've been SO HUNGRY. I've already blown past my calorie goal for the day and I'll still need dinner tonight.

I think I'm going to wait until the end of this week before doing it; maybe once my stress level goes down I won't feel the need to eat so much.

Was it on an off workout day? I ask because the day after I do a long cardio session I am pretty hungry lately. Day of the long cardio I seem to be ok even less hungry than on normal cardio days.

Personally I would move my goal to slightly lower if I felt like I was getting close to breaking it regularly. It's better to slow down than to get discouraged and quit or lose my gains.

We are ready to kick off the start of summer with Memorial Day Weekend (here in the States). Does anyone have any advise for warding off those inevitable splurges at parties/picnics? I am stressing a little about my upcoming Monday weigh-in. Plus I am off on Fri so my holiday starts a day earlier.

Rangerharms wrote: »

[quote=


I read that if you drink lots and lots of water, it can help with the wrinkles. My problem is getting the water down. Ha

That's good to know. I drink 90-120ozwater/day.

kimbermak wrote: »

We are ready to kick off the start of summer with Memorial Day Weekend (here in the States). Does anyone have any advise for warding off those inevitable splurges at parties/picnics? I am stressing a little about my upcoming Monday weigh-in. Plus I am off on Fri so my holiday starts a day earlier.

For me the biggie is sodium intake.

Be careful of your alcohol intake, too-- not only are there 100-250 calories/beer, it can cause overeating by lowering inhibitions.

I can definitely relate to that. I reached the 60 lb threshold this week. If I step outside myself, its an incredible amount, and I know my doctor is going to be absolutely thrilled. But do I see it as an accomplishment? In all honesty, no. I look in a mirror and I don't really see any difference in the face staring back at me. I've lost 4" off my waist, but I don't really see a difference in my profile. Yeah, my old clothes fit looser, but not so much that I've done any clothes shopping - I can't really afford to right now. Yes, I can get into my sister's size 26W jeans now, but I've been there before. In truth, in the back of my mind, there's that little voice that says "you've only come 1/4 of the way where you need to be. You're going to fail, you know you will - you always do. You failed last time, and the time before that. You know this won't be any different. You're going to plateau before you even reach your 1st major goal, and then it's going to come back on, just like it did before. Even statistics are against you - didn't you just read that only 1 or 2% of people lose the weight and keep it off?"

I think that's most of my problem. I'm naturally self-negative - badly so - and that little sarcastic, overly critical, self-bashing voice in the back of my mind never goes away, and never lets me truly accept a victory or a success. And all I can see if where I've tried before and failed. I kept all my big clothes from before because I knew I was going to be back into, and like a self-fulfilling prophecy, sure enough, I had to dig them back out. I lost 90 lbs before, but instead of being happy with myself, I was upset that I didn't go further, because I needed to go so much further. In all honesty, I needed to loose over 200 lbs, and that would put me in the lower overweight range. In all truth, I doubt I'll ever make it that far, and I know I'll never be in what is considered the healthy BMI range. I try to remind myself that I have a big frame, I'm a big woman, that newer research is showing that the BMI is too generic of a tool to force a whole population into, that I'm healthy and even 10% off is a great success, but it doesn't work.

I can be very considerate of others; I can be encouraging, sympathetic, and understanding. When others don't quite meet their goals, I can be very supportive, congratulating them on what they have achieved, trying to pull their focus to what they have done and how far they have come, and not to the little bit beyond. I can encourage people to be self-forgiving, to be realistic, to realize that just because they don't reach their set goal, that coming close is just as much as victory, that many times we set our expectations to high and set ourselves up for failure. I can do all that for others, but I can't seem to do it for myself.

Perhaps its partly how I was raised. I lose weight, and family says "oh, I didn't notice". Or they won't comment at all. Or I'll mention what I have lost, hating myself as I do it because I know deep down, I'm seeking affirmation, and all I get is "oh, that's nice. did you know how much your brother lost?" I visit my grandmother, and she always makes a comment on weight loss. When I was losing before, every time I came in, she'd ask "are you still losing weight?" It was so humiliating to admit the plateau last time.

I'm not an optimistic person. I say I'm a realist, but I fall over into pessimism all too often, and every week, I expect and dread "the plateau". I hope and even dream about one day being back down under 300 lbs - and even, on rare nights, day dream about being back under 200 lbs - but that hope is a fragile spark that is assaulted constantly by the icy rains of my fears and the sharp blasts of windy self- criticism.

I find myself needing affirmation and encouragement, needing others to remind me that I'm doing well, that I have been successful, that even when I stumble and fall that it's okay, even as I hate myself for needing it - which is such a paradox, because I don't judge others who need that, instead acknowledging that the need for others, the need for help and encouragement, is part of the human experience and nothing to be ashamed of, so why do I have such a high and completely unrealistic standard for myself?

Sorry for highjacking your post Wind - does any of this seem familiar to you? Perhaps its something we can both work on!

He does, but they are like night and day and I wouldn't wish him on anyone!!!! LOL! I didn't meet him until I was in my 40's and we married when I was 47 and he was 52 (my 2nd, his first) There's someone out there - be patient!!

Not doing so great, tbh. The scale is actually a little higher than it was this time last week, despite being under on kcal every day except one. I've read that sometimes water weight from sodium can be delayed, and I had a ton of sodium earlier in the week, so maybe that's all it is. But I'm feeling discouraged.

So the scale isn't moving, but I did end up retiring two of my favorite pieces of clothing this week because I put them on and they were way too big. My everyday wardrobe is down to two pairs of pants, two shirts, and one sweater. And one of those pairs of pants really needs to go, but I really can't deal with just one. No money to buy clothes because I'm still dealing with money issues from the car wreck.

If my running wasn't going so well I don't know what I would do. But it is, and I don't want to lose momentum there. So I'm just going to keep trucking along under the assumption that things will pick up.

Thanks, I'm more proud of the running than I am the weight loss for some reason. Because it's harder, I guess.

There are some Goodwill and other thrift shops around, but I'm still unable to find anything that fits me. I'm just not there yet, but it'll happen.

Also, and this is totally unrelated to weight loss and clothes and everything--I am just super annoyed by everything today. I think I need a nap.

haha, no problem. I can take a mean selfie and I know my angles.

If I wore clothes like most people I could probably find pants easier, but unlike most big guys I always wear my pants at my actual waist instead of under my stomach. This means I wear a much bigger clothing size than most people the same weight and build as me.

It also, frustratingly, means that pant legs are always crazy baggy on me, because manufacturers seem to have given in and started assuming even big guys are wearing pants at their hips.

I wear my pants low. I think it is a mental trick to make me feel like I was not as fat as I am. I am starting to wear my pants higher but even belted they tend to slip to that hip spot anyway.

Not to worried about it as I lose weight I'll just move the spot up a bit to save some cash. The length thankfully isn't too bad even if I have them at my true waist. Oh and I did buy a pair of nice smaller pants to shoot for as a goal. Shirt size is getting smaller pretty quick but pant size isn't moving very fast. Stupid body not losing faster in places I want it to

Don't get me started on the "bat wings" I had shoulder surgery last year and wasn't able to do anything with my right arm for 8 weeks (by the way I'm right handed). Because of that my right arm is one inch bigger than my left. Nothing seems to work to 1 get them even or 2 loose the juggles.

bmeadows380 wrote: »

*sigh* On my way to church this morning, my car was accosted by a deer.....needless to say, I didn't make it to morning services!

Of course, now I want comfort food.....

I'm glad you've okay. That really does shake you up. Hang in there!!

Pittsburgh Penguins win Stanley Cup. Bigger news is I didn't give in to my go-to game day goodies. I feeling extremely happy!!

I'm back from the conference last week, so its time to get back on that wagon and glue my blue jeans to the wagon seat! I knew it was going to be bad - I'd been struggling with cheating and staying under goal for a couple of weeks now anyway, and I knew going to this conference with its buffet lunches was going to be a failure because I simply do not have enough will-power to tell myself no. I mean, I did do a lot of compromising last week, and compared to what my sister ate, I found I was getting better at keeping to decent portion sizes, but I went over every day. I also made myself do a lot of walking, and the campus we were at is on a hill side, so that helped, but it wasn't enough to offset the damage. I stepped on the scale today for the first time in a week, and it wasn't pretty by a long shot. I've back-tracked, which I knew would happen.

I'll have to wait until Thursday, though, to see what true damage was done, because we were out to eat yesterday, and higher sodium intake always ups my weight the next day. And I'm almost always up on a Monday morning anyway.

I knew this was coming - I start strong, stay vigilant, strongly stand against myself and say no, but over time, that strength ebbs away, and the part of me that wants the sugar, that wants the extra helping, that is just plain hungry, even after I've eaten my calorie limit, chips away at that strength, slowly but surely, and the next thing I know, I'm giving in. Some folks will say "oh, it doesn't hurt to fudge a little; one piece won't hurt you; you can treat yourself once in a while". What they don't understand is I have very little will power, and if I give just a little, that other part of me takes a mile and that little turns into a daily thing and the next thing I know, I'm over my limit by 200 or 300 or more calories, or slipping and intaking more and more added sugar and carbs.

I've got to get back to the mindset I was in back in January when I started all this, but figuring out how to get back up that rocky slope is a challenge!