@MamaMaryPants Yup, I definitely get enough water in a day. I usually easily breeze by the 100 oz mark by the end of the day, especially in winter.

And in winter, I eat a lot of soups, too! Progresso makes these light soups that I take to work with me - usually between 80 and 120 calories per serving! And Bear Creek dried soups are really good, too. I weighed a whole bag and then took out enough for 1 or 2 servings, then put the rest in a zip lock bag for next time, since a bag makes 8 servings. That's the bad thing about being single - figuring out how to adapt recipes to a one or two person serving to keep from having a ton of left overs!

RunaMarti wrote: »

@bmeadows380 What’s the sodium percentage in those soups. My body bloats forever with higher levels of sodium. Been noticing that. I ate only from home for a week... and dropped almost 10 pounds. But I get lonely... there’s a place I go to where I get a tons of free meals because of their loyalty plan... before I get to my table, they have my special order in the oven... lots of the staff come by my table to ask about the latest book I am reading... it feels “homey” so I go... I have no relationships with friends and family... so I get desperate sometimes... 😥 Kind of pathetic, but it is what it is. I love soups, but the sodium level I usually see on the labels in so high!

@RunaMarti

As @MamaMaryPants said, some are better than others. I went to Progresso's website and did a quick review, and most of them are running between the mid 400's to the mid 600's per serving on sodium, which makes an entire can (2 servings per can) in the ballpark of the 900's to the 1300's total sodium. A few are little higher.

https://www.progresso.com/products/#4

So yeah, better than a regular can of cambel's, which usually run 900 for 1 serving or over 1800 for a can, but still not as good as you can get homemade soup down to. But for convenience food, the calories and sodium of the progresso's are better than others I've tried!

My Starting Weight: ~375 lbs (01/01/2017)
My goal: 260 lbs (this would put me below the 40 BMI mark for being morbidly obese or stage 3 obese)
Milestone: 260 lbs
Current Weight: 291.1 lbs 2/6/19
Total loss: -83.9 lbs


What's Working/What Needs Work: *sigh* and the downward slide continues.....a gain of 2 pounds in 2 weeks, but I'm not surprised by this - I actually expected worse. Last week, I was out of town for work, which included a lot of sitting while traveling and at meetings, and eating out for all three meals. And while I tried to behave, its more of trying to contain the damage with little chance of actually remaining within limits. Then last weekend was my sister's birthday, and she wanted lasagna. My mom makes wonderful lasagna, but its EXTREMELY calorie dense as she piles on the meat and cheese, so this weekend was a blowout completely

On a positive note, I've managed to stop my daily stop at Arby's for a turkey slide with no cheese that I had been finding myself doing a lot of, and I've been much more successful in making myself stick to unsweet tea instead of half cut like I had slipped back into doing. That turkey slider was only 160 calories, but I need to make myself hold those calories for something better for me.

I haven't completely given up, but I'm still greatly discouraged and disheartened. The drive to snack is horrible, and my ability to remain to a single portion is pretty non-existent. I can't have any kind of snack food or even something that can be used as a snack food, because I can't get myself to stay to a single portion. I don't care if its dried fruit, canned fruit, croutons, chocolate chips, rice cakes, lunch meat - I can be very creative when my mind has that desire to eat! And it's in my mind, I know it is. I'm also fighting a mental battle with myself when it comes to eating period - I eat a serving, and even when I'm full, I have a compelling drive to continue eating, even though I know I'm not really hungry.

I hope to talk to my doctor about this when I see her in 3 weeks. She has me on Welbutrin that is supposed to actually decrease appetite, but it's not working at all - for appetite or depression either one. I had agreed to try it when I was discussing with her the possibility of trying out contrave. I'll have to see if she has any ideas on curbing that mental drive because I don't have much willpower to defend against it, and its undercutting all my efforts and just feeding into my depression. Guilt is consuming me from many fronts, but especially because I'm regaining and even though one part of my mind is screaming at me to get it under control, I can't figure out how to actually do that. I'm apparently very weak-willed, which is no excuse, I know.

Meanwhile, I'm gearing up to try yet another idea next week to see if I can get myself back under control. I know the Daniel Fast, which is set up for 3 weeks without meat, caffeine, processed foods, animal products, or dairy, is really supposed to be a religious method of drawing closer to God, and while I certainly need that as well, I'm hoping that perhaps it can help me primarily with the diet. since its' only 3 weeks, I think I'll have an easier time keeping to it. We'll see, anyway!

My Starting Weight: ~375 lbs (01/01/2017)
My goal: 260 lbs (this would put me below the 40 BMI mark for being morbidly obese or stage 3 obese)
Milestone: 260 lbs
Current Weight: 285.9 lbs 2/14/19
Loss this Week: -5.2 lbs
Total loss: -89.1 lbs



What's Working/What Needs Work: Can you believe I actually have something positive to report? I couldn't believe the change from last week to this week, and stepped on that scale a second time just to make sure!

I decided last week to try the Daniel Fast for 3 weeks to see if that could get me going. I ended up modifying it, however, since I wasn't doing it for religious reasons. The original fast has no meat, no animal products like eggs, no dairy, no added sweeteners(including honey, maple syrup, agave, splenda, etc), no caffeine - you're supposed to drink pretty much just water. So the fast diet is pretty much beans, vegetables, some whole grains like steel cut oats, and fruit only.

I added back in meat after the first day, however, because I cringed at the extremely low protein and extremely high carbs and sugar (due to the fruit). And giving up all that at once felt a little excessive, so I compromised with myself and made it a little easier by just dropping leavened breads, added sweeteners, dairy, and heavily processed foods.

I've done pretty good at sticking to it this week, having started on Monday. I haven't been out to eat at all-including no stops at Arbys for turkey sliders, and I've snacked on fruit or the unleavened flat breads I made for myself. I couldn't get dried fruit because when you read the label, most have added sugar, but I could snack on dates and dried figs, and I picked up frozen fruit in addition to fresh. so except for some honey on the first day because of my sore throat, and one cookie on Tuesday because my mom brought a plate of them over for valentines (the rest went into the freezer), I've been sticking to it actually pretty well. My sister gave me a chocolate bar for Valentines, but I promptly put it into the freezer without touching any of it.

I also dropped all caffeinated drinks - so no black tea, no coffee, no diet Dr. Pepper - and have been drinking hibiscus and chamomile teas instead - both are herbal teas and have no caffeine (sorry, I just can't do plain water often). But I've been drinking them plain with no sweetener added.

And I've been watching that scale drop all week! I know its because of the tighter regulation - I know before I was giving in too often and letting things slip in: half cut teas, a small cookie here, etc. I was apparently letting more in than I realized, so this little regimented period is good for me. What I find really nice is that so far, I'm not having that insane drive to eat that I've been fighting against for the last several months and which kept sabotaging me. After the 3 weeks is up, I may introduce one item back at a time and see what the affect is. I'm suspecting that the mental drive is coming from the added sweeteners, though, including the splenda. Though the caffeine may also be playing a part in that. We'll see!

I realize a lot of that 5 lbs is water weight, especially as TOM is here this week, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that at least part of it was actual weight. We'll see next week; I'm being cautiously optimistic - if I can keep this eating style up, lets see if I have another loss next week. I'll believe its a trend when I can keep it going 3 weeks in a row!

My Starting Weight: ~375 lbs (01/01/2017)
My goal: 260 lbs (this would put me below the 40 BMI mark for being morbidly obese or stage 3 obese)
Milestone: 260 lbs
Current Weight: 284.1 lbs 2/21/19
Loss this Week: -1.8 lbs
Total loss: -90.9 lbs



What's Working/What Needs Work: I can't believe it - a loss 2 weeks in a row! And I suspect (dare I actually hope?) that this 2 lb loss is a genuine weight loss, as apposed to mostly water last week? I am finding that cutting out the added sweeteners and dairy is definitely helping. I may try adding back in some actual levened bread (I did last night a little tiny bit when I made a little bit of cornbread to go with my soup - and that was southern style cornbread with no sugar, so it was bread and not corn cake lol ) - but stick to homemade breads that I can make with my whole grain wheat and no sugar.

But despite the binge last Sunday which added water weight on, I actually managed to drop the water weight and some true weight as well. I hopeful this method of eating is actually working for me (at least, right now, until my brain figures out a loop hole.... lol sorry I'm a eeyore type )

This coming week is going to be difficult, however, so I may gain back some water weight and stall a little on weigh day next week. I'm going to be out of town 4 nights out of 5, which means eating out. Last weekend, I packed on water weight, but I don't know if that was because of the restaurant salad I ate last Saturday, or the addition of a little dairy Saturday and Sunday. I guess I'll have to wait until the week after next, when I can get my weight to settle back down, to do a little experimenting with the dairy.

Anyway, wish me luck for next week! (well, and this weekend too as I'm out of town this weekend as well)

My Starting Weight: ~375 lbs (01/01/2017)
My goal: 260 lbs (this would put me below the 40 BMI mark for being morbidly obese or stage 3 obese)
Milestone: 260 lbs
Current Weight: 291.2 lbs 2/21/19
Loss this Week: +7.1 lbs
Total loss: -83.8 lbs



What's Working/What Needs Work: *sigh* I knew this week had been bad, and that despite staying away from all the sweets and caffiene, even thought I avoided the pasta dinners, I still over ate, despite focusing mostly on salads. I was dispatching as part of my storm duty, and when that happens, I'm 10 - 14 hours sitting in front of a computer, and the company caters all 3 meals, which are rich and carb and calorie dense. I asked for a veggie tray to be brought in, but it didn't happen. I had dried fruit at my desk, but I'm going to have to stop buying the dried stuff because its calorie dense and I obviously can't limit myself to one serving.

So here's proof that even if you stick to the healthy stuff, you can still gain weight on mostly salad and veggies *double sigh*

I realize a chunk of that is water weight, but still, here I am AGAIN, two steps forward, sliding 7 steps back.....*sigh*

I saw my doctor on Monday, and she had noted the weight gain (~20lbs last year *triple sigh and cringe) and also noted the depression caused by my job situation. I told her that I did not experience any of the supposed appetite loss that was supposed to come with taking Welbutrin (the reason why its used as a diet drug of sorts and is part of Contrave) nor did it help my mood any, so she suggesting doubling it, since I was at the lowest dose. I started that today, so HOPEFULLY it will help because I'm at my wits end and ready to pull my hair out on this and why I can't get it back under control! I'm really at the point of tears now.

My Starting Weight: ~375 lbs (01/01/2017)
My goal: 260 lbs (this would put me below the 40 BMI mark for being morbidly obese or stage 3 obese)
Milestone: 260 lbs
Current Weight: 290.4 lbs 3/22/19
Loss this Week: +5 lbs
Total loss: -84.6 lbs



What's Working/What Needs Work:
*sigh* Why is it when I get active, my weight always goes up? Monday and Tuesday especially this week, I worked out in my yard, moving 17 lb patio tiles, putting up a clothes line, pounding fertilizer stakes into the ground for my fruit trees. Maybe its because whenever I get active, I get ravenous and it makes it even harder to control what I'm eating. Though I know most of this gain is water weight because I've been eating out way, way too much this week, mostly because I wanted to work outside and was working late at work, so I'd grab something to eat quick on the way home to not waste daylight or wait until 9 pm to get dinner in. So between out to eating too much and upped exercise and not being able to stay out of snacking, I'm up in water weight and probably true weight gain, too.

*double sigh* and after a month of experimenting with a different eating style, though that fell apart miserably this week, I am still exactly where I was when I started it, so nothing worked the entire time. I seriously don't know what to do. I cannot figure out what has changed or why I can't get that switch to come back on!

And some birthday present from my body, too...... lol

I'm looking at my budget right now. If I can swing the $45 a month fee and the $25-$50 per hour session charge with a trainer, I'm considering trying a gym. I've tried this before and it didn't work, but maybe something will be different this time. The problem is fitting it in time-wise and the fact that I'm going to be fighting a war with myself and my intense dislike of regulated exercise. I'm not a morning person and I'm already setting my alarm for 5:30 as it is to get into work, so doing it before work is out. I get off usually around 4 pm. It takes 45 minutes to get home most evenings because of traffic. Throw in another 45 minutes to an hour for dinner and cleanup, and now we're looking at 6 pm before I can get anything done. If I throw another hour in for a trip to the gym after work, it leaves me precious little time to do things around the house I need to do, not to mention spending another hour forcing myself to do something I hate after spending 9 hours at a job I dislike. And that leaves me precious little time as well to be able to relax and doing something I do enjoy, which in turn I know is bad for mental health, but I'm at wits end trying to figure out how to win this war with myself and my body over my weight!

What I'm looking at is seeing if I can get a free-weights program started up and see if that suits me better than aerobic style exercise or the weight machines, which is why I need to pay for a trainer for a while, anyway, to show me how to do it right without hurting myself. Otherwise, I don't know what to do. I do have an appointment with a new endocrinologist in April who is also a dietician, so we'll see what she has to say. Maybe she can come up with something, or at least be more receptive to ideas than my old endo. I had to have my PCP order the bloodwork to check my T4 and T3 levels back in the fall because my old endo insisted that the TSH was the gold standard. Low and behold, when the results came back, my T3 was too low. So she just upped my synthroid, stating that upping the synthroid and lowering the TSH a bit would bring the T3 levels up. Guess what? It didn't work, and I finally got her to agree to give me the generic T3 medication. Hopefully, the new endo won't be quite that old school!

My Starting Weight: ~375 lbs (01/01/2017)
My goal: 220 lbs (This would put me in the obesity stage 1 category)
Milestone: 260 lbs (this would put me below the 40 BMI mark for being morbidly obese or stage 3 obese)
Current Weight: 291.7 lbs 5/2/19
Loss this Week: -1.7 lbs
Total loss: -83.3 lbs



What's Working/What Needs Work: I admit I skipped last week's update because my weight was up, but I was also dealing with water retention, so I knew the scale reading wasn't accurate and didn't see the point in recording it. So here I go again, sliding down a little, then up a little, down a little, then up a little. I seem to be balancing around that 291 lb mark, and its extremely frustrating!

The next month isn't going to get any better as I'm going to be spending at least the next 2 weeks, maybe 3, working out of town, then I have vacation the 3rd weekend in May. The only saving grace I may find is that at least the work will mean being outside and doing a lot of standing and some walking, so my activity will be up and will hopefully help a little with the out-to-eating I'm going to be doing.

Another thing that I find so frustrating is that my activity levels have been up for the last 2 weeks due to trying to get my yard in shape and my garden boxes ready and helping a friend of mine move. The moving bit was 2 days of carrying boxes and furniture down 2 flights of stairs (then climbing those 2 flights of stairs for another load), packing them, then unloading them in the new apartment (thankfully only down 3 steps). Getting my garden boxes ready meant shoveling the top 6 inches off the boxes (due to the sheer number of sunflowers coming up thanks to messy birds - I knew I should have put tarps down back in the fall!), then manhandling 12 cubic feet of dirt in a tarp to mix it all up, then shoveling or dumping that dirt into the boxes and beds - and I did this twice this week! Not to mention the bags of regular soil and mulch I've carted around....

So I've been doing a ton of carrying, hauling, shoveling, racking, and even hand-tilling in the last few days - but all that activity actually becomes an INCREASE on the scale! Part has to be due to the fact that I find myself even hungrier when being active and I end up eating back those exercise calories though I try to short-change the activity levels reported because I know the exercise calories in MFP are notoriously off. I know another part is also due to increased water retention. And with all the activity going on, my sleep hours and quality have gone to crap. I've noticed that after nights where I have gotten less than 4 hours of sleep, my weight will be up the next morning.

Unfortunately, I've got a lot to do, I'm single so I have no one to share these chores with, and I have limited hours to do it in thanks to my job. And because I'm working from getting home around 5:30 pm to dark (9 pm) outside, that also usually ends up turning into a quick run through Arby's for dinner because I know I'm going to be so late getting done outside.

*sigh* I know I've got some really bad dietary habits that I need to break, but as usual, I know in theory what I need to do, but have no idea how to enforce the practice. I really am my own worst enemy!