Maintainers Weekly Check In - May 2019

124

Replies

  • SummerSkier
    SummerSkier Posts: 5,136 Member
    fidangul wrote: »
    Hi everyone. I’m so glad the group is still going strong. I can recognise some people. I’m so happy for you successful maintainers. I had a baby so lost track of MFP just couldn’t keep up with the thread I’m pleased to see someone else has picked it up.

    Anyway my baby is 5 weeks old. And I’m losing to get back to my pre pregnancy weight. Hopefully I’ll be joining you guys at some point. I’ll be following the thread for motivation.

    Continue the hard work. You all are awesome!

    WELCOME BACK AND CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!
  • reversemigration
    reversemigration Posts: 168 Member
    Name: Ben
    Age: 51
    Height: 6'
    Total weight lost: ~55 lbs
    Time it took to lose: 9 months
    How long in maintenance: Since ~ December 2018
    Maintenance weight range: 166-171

    Average weight recorded for December:165.8
    Average weight recorded for January: 167.3
    Average weight recorded for February: 167.2
    Average weight recorded for March: 166.5
    Average weight recorded for April: 162.9

    Week of...
    May 4th: 162.5
    May 11th: 162.1
    May 18th: 160
    May 25th: 161.1

    Success(es)/struggle(s) of the week: Beautiful skies beget bountiful exercise. Lots of steps, lots of pavement pounding. I've been good about starting early in the day, because it's already starting to swelter in the afternoon and it's not even summer yet. Upped calories a little bit this week and will probably keep at that level until I'm close to the bottom of my range. I was happy to fit half a pizza into my birthday without going over (and not feeling as if doing so was a sacrifice or a restriction.) I'm hoping that no longer trending down will help with the resistance side of things, where I struggled a bit at the end of the week to finish reps.
  • Addictead
    Addictead Posts: 66 Member
    Addictead wrote: »
    Addictead wrote: »
    Name: Elle
    Age: 21
    Height: 5'2
    Total weight lost: 36 LBS
    Time it took to lose: 10 months
    How long in maintenance: 10 days +-, Been stopping and starting since the beginning of the year
    Maintenance weight range: 126-131
    Average weight recorded from 2018: N/A
    I'm not sure of my averages for the last few months either

    Week of...
    May 5: 127.0
    May 12:
    May 19:
    May 26:


    My struggle right now is mindless eating and nibbling of things throughout the day. I have 3 meals+snack everyday and I'm not hungry but whenever I'm making something, or putting up leftovers or just in the kitchen I'll pop things into my mouth without even thinking I'm adding 5-10-30 calories extra into my day without even accounting for it in my log. Tasting is fine, But I need to stop snacking on food as I'm cooking

    Week of...
    May 5: 127.0
    May 12: 127.7
    May 19:
    May 26:

    Struggle of the week: This week was rough, I underate the beginning of the week then had 3 days around 2500-3000. My average is up 0.7 pounds(my app says 0.4 gained) and I believe I gained something from that because I ended the week with about a 500 daily surplus averaging out, But I also started my period so that throws my weight up too.

    Sucess: I tracked everything even overages. I've never gained while tracking before usually I get frustrated and fall off but this time I DID gain but carried on and learned(I'm very sensitive to undereating). So I'm taking my 0.4/0.7 gain with pride to do better

    Week goals :smile: I'm trying to eat on the lower end of my maintaince calories to hopefully start tracking 125/126 week averages because I prefer being there even though my range goes up to 131.

    Week of...
    May 5: 127.0
    May 12: 127.7
    May 19: 128.0
    May 26:

    Mmh weight is still going up, I weighed 128-129 on the scale for most of the week and I really can't track down why just yet. I think it might just be fluctuations or a small increase somewhere...Possibly it could be as simple as I'm eating a meal later in the evenings so I still have more undigested food in the morning. Honestly at the moment I'm trying not to worry about it but if it starts getting to 130 I'll need to take action
  • missperfectpitch
    missperfectpitch Posts: 612 Member
    Name: missperfectpitch
    Height: 5'4"
    Total weight lost: About 43 pounds
    Time it took to lose: 1 year and 2 months
    How long in maintenance: I hit my goal weight in the beginning of January 2018, but officially started maintenance in mid-March 2018 after figuring out my calories for a couple of months.
    Maintenance weight range: 108-111.5
    Average weight recorded from 2018 (12 months): 109.8

    Average weight recorded from January: 111
    Average weight recorded from February: 110.8
    Average weight recorded from March: 110.6
    Average weight recorded from April: 110.0

    Week of...
    May 4: 109.4 (trend 109.6)
    May 11: 109.6 (trend 109.6)
    May 18: 110.4 (trend 110)
    May 25: 110.1 (trend 110)

    Success(es)/struggle(s) of the week: I had several large weight fluctuations this week that I think were due to eating a lot of meals out/water retention. This week was a planned surplus week for me as I had 6 meals out (which is a pretty high number of meals out in one week for me), and I definitely enjoyed the extra calories that I'd banked and didn't stress out about ordering what I wanted. I did try to eat a bit better on a couple of those days though - one was a nice buffet brunch, where I got a few high calorie items that I really wanted, but then also piled on a bunch of salad. Another was a happy hour, where it's easy for me to limit myself and I had a few sips of a drink and one specialty sushi roll.

    I also managed to walk ~20k steps two days in a row almost inadvertently. One day had a work issue that had me walking back and forth all over the building multiple times, and the other day had a middle of the night fire alarm that lasted 40 minutes, during which I decided to get some steps in so that I wouldn't go crazy.
  • pkweier
    pkweier Posts: 349 Member
    Name: Pam
    Age:60
    Height:5'5
    Total weight lost:200
    Time it took to lose:Started 1/12016
    How long in maintenance: Sept 2017
    Maintenance weight range:130-135
    Average weight recorded from 2018:

    Average weight recorded from January:131.75
    Average weight recorded from February:130.75
    Average weight recorded from March:132.1
    Average weight recorded from April:133.5


    Week of...
    May 5:132.4
    May 12:132.4
    May 19:133
    May 26:132.2

    Success(es)/struggle(s) of the week:I was surprised my weight was down this week as it was running high all week due to many days out. Hubby and I after our weekend away had a stay vacation the rest of the week. One of the highlands the bakery that made our wedding cake was still in busy so we went and got small cake like our wedding cake to celebrate our 25th. Did many days trips so eating out many days. I made good choice and brought things home although restaurant food has much salt in it. Today is my granddaughters graduation party. I can't wait for May to be over with. Thanks everyone for the good wishes on our anniversary. Have a great week.
  • sharondesfor935
    sharondesfor935 Posts: 89 Member
    ExistingFish wrote: »
    sharondesfor935 wrote: »
    lesdarts180 wrote: »
    sharondesfor935 wrote: »
    Name: Sharon


    Success(es)/struggle(s) of the week: Food. Either I've fallen off the wagon or I've had an entire binge week, I'm not sure which.

    First of all, that improved relationship with food that I thought I was developing? Not so much, it turns out. It was simply that I was doing all the grocery shopping for the past four months, and not bringing home stuff I couldn't eat. Well, my husband went Costco shopping about a week ago, and brought home a whole bunch of junk, but the kickers were fresh bakery cookies and some potato chips ("crisps" to everyone in the world except the US) that I swear are utter ambrosia. That did me in, guys. I think over the course of a week, I ate 5 or 6 of those cookies (at 200 calories each, that's an entire extra day of calories in one week!) and the entire bag of chips. An entire COSTCO bag. What is that, 16 pounds of chips and a billion calories?

    You did well, you should count it a success that you were able to just have one cookie each day - that's just a little treat - not a failure. I have no idea what size a Costco bag of crisps looks like but put it behind you and move on.

    You should feel proud of your restraint over the cookies. Fresh baked cookies are really difficult to deal with. I live on my own so I only buy treats when the grandchildren are visiting and that's difficult enough.

    Thanks for the uplift, Lesley. While cookies are certainly a weakness of mine, anything salty and fatty is far more so. The reason I was able to limit the cookies was only because I was bingeing on the crisps.

    I eventually had the courage to look up that bag of crisps online. It weighed 2 pounds, or 907 grams. The bag in its entirety contained 4800 calories, 288 grams of fat, and 3520 mg sodium. And I ate the whole thing in less than a week.

    That's bad enough in itself, but the worst part is that it really triggered an urge to eat more fats and salt. I have been desperately fighting a near-compulsion for salty, fatty foods ever since that first handful.

    I haven't won that fight yet, but I've had two good days since then, and the bad days are very slightly less bad.

    This really feels more like fighting an addiction than like a food issue. Though I guess you can have food addictions, so maybe that's it. Now that I've made that mental connection, I can try treating it like I treated quitting smoking?

    It is fine to eat the crisps and the cookies, you just have to adjust the rest of your food for it. Calories are calories. If you want a 200 calorie cookie to fit, you just have to leave off 200 calories of "other" from your day and it will fit. I am concerned that you consider the cookies and crisps to be "bad" foods. Certainly, they can be trigger foods for you, but they are calories like anything else.

    In my humble, non-expert opinion, you might have better long term success and a healthier relationship with food if you found a way to include some "naughty" (for lack of a better term) foods in your regular diet, like factoring in a serving of crisps or a cookie most days, so that it doesn't feel like a "bad" thing, just a normal part of eating balanced. You don't feel deprived, you can stay under your calorie goal and not feel you have to punish yourself for enjoying a treat.

    My diary is open. I eat chips, cookies, gummy bears, ice cream.....gee I sound like I eat a ton of junk....

    Let's set aside the cookies, because they're not a real problem for me. I overindulged, it was unfortunate, I've moved on. My problem was the potato chips.

    It's not that I have a poor relationship with food in general, it's that I have a poor relationship with prepackaged salty/fatty snack foods. They are definitely trigger foods for me, plus I feel bad after eating them: bloated and icky, and I often have diarrhea the next day. And yet I still can't stop eating them until the bag is finished. And then I want more.

    I'm happy to make my own potato chips, I can eat them in moderation(ish), and since I bake them rather than fry, I don't have the physical symptoms that give me intense regret afterward. So why do I have this unnatural compulsion to eat entire bags of things that make me feel awful both physically and mentally?

    That's really what makes me so judgemental about my "lost week." I know how I feel after eating prepackaged chips, I'm perfectly capable of making a healthier alternative, and STILL I ate the stupid things. And now I'm still fighting the cravings left from a week of bingeing.

    I need a strategy for the next time my DH brings home this kind of junk. Obviously, trying to ignore the bag was only successful until he opened it. I asked him to not bring junk food home, and that request will last a little while, but only until the next time he does impulse shopping and forgets.
  • sharondesfor935
    sharondesfor935 Posts: 89 Member
    Name: Sharon
    Age: 58
    Height: 5'2"
    Total weight lost: 33 lbs
    Time it took to lose: 4 months
    How long in maintenance: 8 weeks
    Maintenance weight range: 115-125
    Start weight December 2018:153.5.

    Average weight recorded January: 148.0
    Average weight recorded February: 138.8
    Average weight recorded March: 130.9
    Average weight recorded April: 123.7

    Week of...
    May 4: 120.8
    May 11: 120.2
    May 18: 120.6
    May 25: 120.4

    Success(es)/struggle(s) of the week: My HUGE success was the blood work that I posted a few days ago. What a massive improvement from the past few years! That right there is the real reason I decided to lose weight and overhaul my diet, and it worked. This is where I need to concentrate my maintenance, rather than weight.

    A smaller, but critical, success was more small improvements in eating healthier last week, trying to recover from my crazy binge the previous week. My weekly average macros during the binge week were 58% carb/31% fat/11% protein; last week was noticeably better at 64/24/12 (my goal is 70/15/15).

    For next week I'll challenge myself to get back down below 20% fat for my weekly average. I can do it. I WILL do it.
  • MadisonMolly2017
    MadisonMolly2017 Posts: 11,152 Member
    Name: Maddie
    Age: 63
    Height: 5'8.9”
    Total weight lost: 75.3 lbs🐢
    Time it took to lose: 3-1/3 years
    How long (officially) in maintenance: 1 month (since 4/25/19)
    Maintenance weight range: < 153, scream wt: 155

    Avg wt recorded from 2018: 168.4
    Avg wt recorded from 2017: 202.6
    Starting wt: 228.3

    Avg wt recorded from January:153
    Avg wt recorded from February: 151.75
    Avg wt recorded from March: 154.1
    April 25: Began maintenance 153.0

    Avg wt recorded from April: 153

    Week of...
    May 5 Avg 153.7
    May 12 Avg 154.5🐢
    May 19 Avg 154.3 Trend: 154.18🐢
    May 26 Avg 153.9 Trend: 154.15🐢

    Avg May so far: 154.19 Range 153.0-155.5
    Average in 2019 so far: 153.19
    <153? No

    Successes: (Same as last week.)
    Bottom Line: Easing into Maintenance well. I’m finding it easier than losing so far.
    * Reversed 4-week slight increases in weight with a decrease again this week.✅
    * Exercising harder✅
    * Adding overage adjustment calories when I eat out to cover hidden fats, so my tracking errs to overcounting, not undercounting.✅
    * Making small changes in foods & amounts to move closer to 153 by end of month.✅
    * Listening better to how my body feels & not overfeed it at a meal.✅
    * Update: no longer drinking caffeinated coffee!! 🎉✅

    Struggles:
    Nothing serious- just tinkering small habits to continue “insuring my success”

    * Practicing leaving food on my plate at each meal if I eat away from home. Update: I’m making a folded card to set on table to remind myself. I’ve left something most, but not all, meals out.
    * Eating more at home & increasing sleep will be my goals in July/August.

    Have an enjoyable week❣️
    Maddie
  • suzanne6094
    suzanne6094 Posts: 104 Member
    is this just for members trying to lose weight? I am trying to gain about 2 kg's and need a thread like this to help me and keep me accountable for logging my calories etc...

    Have a Blessed Monday
  • hippiesaur
    hippiesaur Posts: 137 Member
    Age: 25
    Height: 167.5 cm (5'6")
    Total weight lost: 18.6 kg (41 lbs)
    Time it took to lose: ~2.5 years total
    How long in maintenance: 4 months
    Maintenance weight range: 57-59 kg (125-130 lbs)
    Average weight recorded from 2018: 59.4 kg (131 lbs)

    Average weight recorded from January: 58.2 kg (128.3 lbs)
    Average weight recorded from February: 58 kg (128 lbs)
    Average weight recorded from March: 58.3 kg (128.5 lbs)
    Average weight recorded from April: 58 kg (128 lbs)

    Week of...
    May 5: 57.8 kg
    May 12: 57.9 kg
    May 19: 57.8 kg
    May 26: 58 kg

    Success(es)/struggle(s) of the week: I missed the check in last week, but I'm still on the right path :) I had some overeating days, but my weight is still stable. I'm more like under 58 kg most of the time now, so it feels like I'm losing a bit really slowly, despite I don't want to. My energy level is kinda low as well, and I had to skip a few workouts last week because of this.
  • sharondesfor935
    sharondesfor935 Posts: 89 Member
    suzanne6094 wrote: »
    is this just for members trying to lose weight? I am trying to gain about 2 kg's and need a thread like this to help me and keep me accountable for logging my calories etc...

    Have a Blessed Monday

    Hi, Suzanne,

    We're a group for maintaining your weight once you've arrived at your goal. You are close enough to your goal weight right now that you can join us here and be welcome!
    We're a good group and tend to be chatty and supportive of each other with the occasional advice thrown in.

    If you prefer, there are also MFP groups specifically for gainers...it's your choice.

    In your shoes, I'd probably join us here and also find a gainers group as well. Follow both for a while until you get a feel for which is the better match for you.
  • lesdarts180
    lesdarts180 Posts: 3,062 Member
    Name: Lesley
    Age: 68
    Height: 155 cm (5’ 1”)
    Total weight lost: 22.5 kg (approx. 50 lb)
    Time it took to lose: 9 months
    How long in maintenance: a few weeks
    Maintenance weight range: 49 – 51 kg (108 – 112 lbs)
    Average weight recorded from 2018: max 72.5 kg in July, 56 kg in Dec

    Average weight recorded from January: 54.7 kg
    Average weight recorded from February: 53.3 kg
    Average weight recorded from March: 51.7 kg
    Average weight recorded from April: 50.2 kg (110.7 lb)
    Week of...
    May 5: 49.1 kg (108 lb)
    May 13: 51.8 kg (114 lb)
    May 20: 49.6 kg (109 lb)
    May 27: 49.2 kg

    Success(es)/struggle(s) of the week: The motorhome break was good – we walked quite a bit, treated ourselves to ice cream. Ate in a nice pub in the local village on Wednesday evening. Returned home much the same weight as before. So, I’m happy that I think I can manage short holidays without gaining too much. However, I do have to be strict when I’m at home so that the calories average out OK over the weeks.
    I’m interested to see people tracking macros – I don’t worry to much about them. I have to watch my calcium intake as I am a little old lady in danger of developing osteoporosis. I also look at the protein measure, as I’m concerned about maintaining and increasing muscle strength and on a fairly restricted calorie diet protein can suffer as it is often associated with relatively high calories.
    Do you find it useful to track carbs%, fat% etc?
  • sharondesfor935
    sharondesfor935 Posts: 89 Member
    lesdarts180 wrote: »
    Name: Lesley
    Age: 68
    Height: 155 cm (5’ 1”)
    Total weight lost: 22.5 kg (approx. 50 lb)
    Time it took to lose: 9 months
    How long in maintenance: a few weeks
    Maintenance weight range: 49 – 51 kg (108 – 112 lbs)
    Average weight recorded from 2018: max 72.5 kg in July, 56 kg in Dec

    Average weight recorded from January: 54.7 kg
    Average weight recorded from February: 53.3 kg
    Average weight recorded from March: 51.7 kg
    Average weight recorded from April: 50.2 kg (110.7 lb)
    Week of...
    May 5: 49.1 kg (108 lb)
    May 13: 51.8 kg (114 lb)
    May 20: 49.6 kg (109 lb)
    May 27: 49.2 kg

    Success(es)/struggle(s) of the week: The motorhome break was good – we walked quite a bit, treated ourselves to ice cream. Ate in a nice pub in the local village on Wednesday evening. Returned home much the same weight as before. So, I’m happy that I think I can manage short holidays without gaining too much. However, I do have to be strict when I’m at home so that the calories average out OK over the weeks.
    I’m interested to see people tracking macros – I don’t worry to much about them. I have to watch my calcium intake as I am a little old lady in danger of developing osteoporosis. I also look at the protein measure, as I’m concerned about maintaining and increasing muscle strength and on a fairly restricted calorie diet protein can suffer as it is often associated with relatively high calories.
    Do you find it useful to track carbs%, fat% etc?

    Welcome home, Lesley! And congrats on maintaining so nicely while traveling.

    Yes, I do find it helpful to track my macros. My goal is 70% carbohydrates, 15% fat, 15% protein, and I'm on a net-1100 calorie average (which at my activity level generally means a gross of 1400-1500 calories...that will decrease in the winter when I'm more lethargic.) I'm just an inch taller than you, and while I'm not quite 60 yet I can see it when without my bifocals.

    At a 15% protein intake of gross 1400 calories, I'm covering all my amino acids daily, plus a little extra. Just had blood tests done, and my protein levels are well within the normal range. I rarely eat animal products anymore for health reasons, and legumes have plenty of protein without all the fat and cholesterol of meat.

    For calcium, I bumped the MFP goal up to 110%, I eat plenty of leafy greens and other calcium-rich plant foods, plus I take a daily calcium supplement, just to make sure.
  • suzanne6094
    suzanne6094 Posts: 104 Member
    sharondesfor935 wrote: »
    suzanne6094 wrote: »
    is this just for members trying to lose weight? I am trying to gain about 2 kg's and need a thread like this to help me and keep me accountable for logging my calories etc...

    Have a Blessed Monday

    Hi, Suzanne,

    We're a group for maintaining your weight once you've arrived at your goal. You are close enough to your goal weight right now that you can join us here and be welcome!
    We're a good group and tend to be chatty and supportive of each other with the occasional advice thrown in.

    If you prefer, there are also MFP groups specifically for gainers...it's your choice.

    In your shoes, I'd probably join us here and also find a gainers group as well. Follow both for a while until you get a feel for which is the better match for you.

    Thank you , appreciate the welcome, yes I am just a kg away from my goal weight now ! I will start from next week and join.

    Looking forward to sharing this journey with you all and for some advice.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,165 Member
    ExistingFish wrote: »
    sharondesfor935 wrote: »
    lesdarts180 wrote: »
    sharondesfor935 wrote: »
    Name: Sharon


    Success(es)/struggle(s) of the week: Food. Either I've fallen off the wagon or I've had an entire binge week, I'm not sure which.

    First of all, that improved relationship with food that I thought I was developing? Not so much, it turns out. It was simply that I was doing all the grocery shopping for the past four months, and not bringing home stuff I couldn't eat. Well, my husband went Costco shopping about a week ago, and brought home a whole bunch of junk, but the kickers were fresh bakery cookies and some potato chips ("crisps" to everyone in the world except the US) that I swear are utter ambrosia. That did me in, guys. I think over the course of a week, I ate 5 or 6 of those cookies (at 200 calories each, that's an entire extra day of calories in one week!) and the entire bag of chips. An entire COSTCO bag. What is that, 16 pounds of chips and a billion calories?

    You did well, you should count it a success that you were able to just have one cookie each day - that's just a little treat - not a failure. I have no idea what size a Costco bag of crisps looks like but put it behind you and move on.

    You should feel proud of your restraint over the cookies. Fresh baked cookies are really difficult to deal with. I live on my own so I only buy treats when the grandchildren are visiting and that's difficult enough.

    Thanks for the uplift, Lesley. While cookies are certainly a weakness of mine, anything salty and fatty is far more so. The reason I was able to limit the cookies was only because I was bingeing on the crisps.

    I eventually had the courage to look up that bag of crisps online. It weighed 2 pounds, or 907 grams. The bag in its entirety contained 4800 calories, 288 grams of fat, and 3520 mg sodium. And I ate the whole thing in less than a week.

    That's bad enough in itself, but the worst part is that it really triggered an urge to eat more fats and salt. I have been desperately fighting a near-compulsion for salty, fatty foods ever since that first handful.

    I haven't won that fight yet, but I've had two good days since then, and the bad days are very slightly less bad.

    This really feels more like fighting an addiction than like a food issue. Though I guess you can have food addictions, so maybe that's it. Now that I've made that mental connection, I can try treating it like I treated quitting smoking?

    It is fine to eat the crisps and the cookies, you just have to adjust the rest of your food for it. Calories are calories. If you want a 200 calorie cookie to fit, you just have to leave off 200 calories of "other" from your day and it will fit. I am concerned that you consider the cookies and crisps to be "bad" foods. Certainly, they can be trigger foods for you, but they are calories like anything else.

    In my humble, non-expert opinion, you might have better long term success and a healthier relationship with food if you found a way to include some "naughty" (for lack of a better term) foods in your regular diet, like factoring in a serving of crisps or a cookie most days, so that it doesn't feel like a "bad" thing, just a normal part of eating balanced. You don't feel deprived, you can stay under your calorie goal and not feel you have to punish yourself for enjoying a treat.

    My diary is open. I eat chips, cookies, gummy bears, ice cream.....gee I sound like I eat a ton of junk....

    I agree with what @ExistingFish says. I always leave room for at least a 200 calorie treat every day. I do understand the problem with trigger foods though. Perhaps your husband could just bring home small individual bags of chips instead of large family sized bags. That way you could eat the whole bag and it might not be a problem.
  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,565 Member
    lesdarts180 wrote: »
    Name: Lesley
    Age: 68
    Height: 155 cm (5’ 1”)
    Total weight lost: 22.5 kg (approx. 50 lb)
    Time it took to lose: 9 months
    How long in maintenance: a few weeks
    Maintenance weight range: 49 – 51 kg (108 – 112 lbs)
    Average weight recorded from 2018: max 72.5 kg in July, 56 kg in Dec

    Average weight recorded from January: 54.7 kg
    Average weight recorded from February: 53.3 kg
    Average weight recorded from March: 51.7 kg
    Average weight recorded from April: 50.2 kg (110.7 lb)
    Week of...
    May 5: 49.1 kg (108 lb)
    May 13: 51.8 kg (114 lb)
    May 20: 49.6 kg (109 lb)
    May 27: 49.2 kg

    Success(es)/struggle(s) of the week: The motorhome break was good – we walked quite a bit, treated ourselves to ice cream. Ate in a nice pub in the local village on Wednesday evening. Returned home much the same weight as before. So, I’m happy that I think I can manage short holidays without gaining too much. However, I do have to be strict when I’m at home so that the calories average out OK over the weeks.
    I’m interested to see people tracking macros – I don’t worry to much about them. I have to watch my calcium intake as I am a little old lady in danger of developing osteoporosis. I also look at the protein measure, as I’m concerned about maintaining and increasing muscle strength and on a fairly restricted calorie diet protein can suffer as it is often associated with relatively high calories.
    Do you find it useful to track carbs%, fat% etc?

    I track macros, but my goals are in grams rather than a % of my total calories. I shoot for a minimum of 80g protein, 30g fiber and 60g fat no matter what my total calories are for the day (it can vary by as much as 300-500 calories depending on my activity level). I prefer to fill in the rest with carbs, but really don't stress the numbers once I've hit my minimums :)
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,165 Member
    @fidangul Congratulations on the new baby! I'm so glad the reason you disappeared from the group for a while was a happy one!
  • ExistingFish
    ExistingFish Posts: 1,259 Member
    kgirlhart wrote: »
    ExistingFish wrote: »
    sharondesfor935 wrote: »
    lesdarts180 wrote: »
    sharondesfor935 wrote: »
    Name: Sharon


    Success(es)/struggle(s) of the week: Food. Either I've fallen off the wagon or I've had an entire binge week, I'm not sure which.

    First of all, that improved relationship with food that I thought I was developing? Not so much, it turns out. It was simply that I was doing all the grocery shopping for the past four months, and not bringing home stuff I couldn't eat. Well, my husband went Costco shopping about a week ago, and brought home a whole bunch of junk, but the kickers were fresh bakery cookies and some potato chips ("crisps" to everyone in the world except the US) that I swear are utter ambrosia. That did me in, guys. I think over the course of a week, I ate 5 or 6 of those cookies (at 200 calories each, that's an entire extra day of calories in one week!) and the entire bag of chips. An entire COSTCO bag. What is that, 16 pounds of chips and a billion calories?

    You did well, you should count it a success that you were able to just have one cookie each day - that's just a little treat - not a failure. I have no idea what size a Costco bag of crisps looks like but put it behind you and move on.

    You should feel proud of your restraint over the cookies. Fresh baked cookies are really difficult to deal with. I live on my own so I only buy treats when the grandchildren are visiting and that's difficult enough.

    Thanks for the uplift, Lesley. While cookies are certainly a weakness of mine, anything salty and fatty is far more so. The reason I was able to limit the cookies was only because I was bingeing on the crisps.

    I eventually had the courage to look up that bag of crisps online. It weighed 2 pounds, or 907 grams. The bag in its entirety contained 4800 calories, 288 grams of fat, and 3520 mg sodium. And I ate the whole thing in less than a week.

    That's bad enough in itself, but the worst part is that it really triggered an urge to eat more fats and salt. I have been desperately fighting a near-compulsion for salty, fatty foods ever since that first handful.

    I haven't won that fight yet, but I've had two good days since then, and the bad days are very slightly less bad.

    This really feels more like fighting an addiction than like a food issue. Though I guess you can have food addictions, so maybe that's it. Now that I've made that mental connection, I can try treating it like I treated quitting smoking?

    It is fine to eat the crisps and the cookies, you just have to adjust the rest of your food for it. Calories are calories. If you want a 200 calorie cookie to fit, you just have to leave off 200 calories of "other" from your day and it will fit. I am concerned that you consider the cookies and crisps to be "bad" foods. Certainly, they can be trigger foods for you, but they are calories like anything else.

    In my humble, non-expert opinion, you might have better long term success and a healthier relationship with food if you found a way to include some "naughty" (for lack of a better term) foods in your regular diet, like factoring in a serving of crisps or a cookie most days, so that it doesn't feel like a "bad" thing, just a normal part of eating balanced. You don't feel deprived, you can stay under your calorie goal and not feel you have to punish yourself for enjoying a treat.

    My diary is open. I eat chips, cookies, gummy bears, ice cream.....gee I sound like I eat a ton of junk....

    I agree with what @ExistingFish says. I always leave room for at least a 200 calorie treat every day. I do understand the problem with trigger foods though. Perhaps your husband could just bring home small individual bags of chips instead of large family sized bags. That way you could eat the whole bag and it might not be a problem.

    We switched to single serve chips (from Sam's usually) and it has worked wonders. I have no trouble measuring out a serving by weight, but DH will sit down and eat a half bag if he isn't careful. Yes it is more expensive, but getting a "good deal" to get more of a food you don't need an excess of may be good for your wallet but not your overall wellbeing.
  • JennJ323
    JennJ323 Posts: 646 Member
    After my bigger than usual jump in my weight last week I've been weighing daily, just to make sure nothing weird is going on.. must have been a high sodium meal I had, cuz I'm right back down. Relieved! I started a new medication and was freaking out for a second I was dealing with a side affect of weight gain from that.
  • allieeveryday
    allieeveryday Posts: 85 Member
    Name: Allie
    Age: 31
    Height: 5'3"
    Total weight lost: 16 lbs.
    Time it took to lose: 6 months
    How long in maintenance: Since May 13.
    Maintenance weight range: 117-123 lbs.

    Average weight recorded from January: 132.6
    Average weight recorded from February:126.3
    Average weight recorded from March: 124.2
    Average weight recorded from April: 121.6

    Week of...
    May 12: 120! Goal!
    May 19: 119.5
    May 26: 119.5

    Success(es)/struggle(s) of the week: Even with the Memorial Day cookout, I managed to stay under calorie goal! Haven't been doing great with cutting out sugar, but have been eating less of it I guess? (Pesca w/ Cardiometabolic diet on doc recommendation.) And doc says it's okay, that any diet has to be sustainable, so that tracks with everything I was already doing here, so just trying to keep making good choices when I can, not beating myself up over a serving of ice cream.
  • JennJ323
    JennJ323 Posts: 646 Member
    Name: Jenn
    Age: 34
    Height: 5’2”
    Total weight lost: 32lb
    Time it took to lose: approximately 18 months
    How long in maintenance: Officially about 2 months, but for the last year or so I bounced around the same range, just a little higher than I would prefer. I got down to this range and am happy here.
    Maintenance weight range: 123lb-126lb I’ve dropped my maintenance range by 1lb. I’m still well within my healthy weight range.. I’m still losing sloooooowly which is perfectly fine by me.

    Average weight recorded from 2018: ----

    Average weight recorded from March: 124.6
    Average weight recorded from April: 124.3
    Average weight recorded from May: 123.4


    Week of…
    April 28: 124.0
    May 5: 122.8
    May 12: 123.4
    May 19: 125.0
    May 26: 122.0


    Success(es)/struggle(s) of the week: Quite a big swing from last week! I think a couple sodium bomb meals last week caused me to retain some water, therefore the higher weigh-in. But I’m back down this week, and down pretty low. I’m having a very hard time with the mental game of maintenance… physically I know I can eat the extra calories to keep at maintenance, that’s not a problem (love my snacks!) but mentally after eating at 1200 calories for 2 years it’s hard to bump up to 1500-1600. With my husband being out of town for work I’m definitely eating less than when he’s home – typically we have some splurge nights out or enjoy some adult beverages that help keep my calories up, but with him gone I’ve pretty much just been staying home and being a boring homebody.

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