Yes x 3

June 6, 2019

Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes? 3 mile run outside and 7 minutes of arm strength this morning, and a 2 mile walk this evening.

Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? Yes and under

Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? Yep!

To answer your question, @craigo3154, I started on MFP in late December because Weight Watchers was no longer working for me. I had successfully lost 60 lbs on the program, but as I started working out more -- both distance running and strength training -- the program wasn't allowing me to eat enough to fuel my workouts. A sought the advice of a dietician, who was also a distance runner, and she gave me a specific calorie amount and macro breakdown to follow, and suggested I use MFP to log my food and stay motivated. I'm so happy she suggested it because MFP has been wonderful the last few months. I've met some great like-minded people, and challenges like this have been so amazing. I plan to stick with MFP for a very long time!

6/6
Exercise- Yes, water aerobics
Cals- yes, 55 under
Tracked- yes, 135💦 and 25g fiber

Great topic @craigo3154! You should show us some of your ice skating pics, that would be awesome to see!! ⛸ I’ll be back in the am to post why I’m here and all that good stuff!😊

Thanks, everyone, for sharing your stories! It's so interesting to read how everyone got here.

The summer after finishing university, having been overweight/obese pretty much my whole life, I "suddenly" decided that enough was enough. (I assume it had been brewing subconsciously for a while, but the decision was very light-switch-flip with no big overt deciding factor.) I didn't know about MFP yet (did it exist at that point? Not sure.) so I tracked via Excel, manually calculating calories consumed and subtracting calories burned (calculated as best I could via a METS table I found online). It was labour intensive, and as I slowly learned more about nutrition, I started adding in basic macros, but I wasn't tracking much there. Looking back, I was definitely under-eating. I made it for about six months, lost about 50 pounds, and then Christmas happened, totally derailing me, and I slowly put the weight back on.

Fast forward to 2011. I was my highest weight ever, and I saw one of those public postings for a study about the effects of walking on sedentary women. I ended up not doing the study, but it was the motivation I needed to start losing weight and getting healthier on my own. I had zero interest in joining a program that made me pay to lose weight. My previous success told me I could do it on my own, I just wanted more tools. I had a smartphone at that point, and I discovered MFP. (I think I just Googled to find a free online tool?) It was so much easier to track so many more things. I read a lot more about nutrition and healthy weight loss. I lurked on MFP a lot, didn't have any MFP friends yet, but I read the success stories and information on the forums and lost almost 80 pounds in a year. Then I had what turned out to be gallstones and had to have my gallbladder removed, which not only side-lined me from most physical activity, it made it nearly impossible to eat at first--and then far too grateful that I could eat anything afterwards. I stayed on MFP, but I wasn't eating properly or working out much.

Since then, I've always kept tracking and logging into MFP, but my progress has been a little more "yo-yo" than I'd like. I got near to goal in 2014, then started gaining again. Got down again in 2015 (discovered the Hogwarts Weight Loss Challenge group on MFP and did amazing those first few terms), then gained again, got back to nearly goal, then gained (you get the idea), until here we are in 2019, and I'm approaching goal once more.

Each time, I've thought I'd worked it out so that I was doing something sustainable in the long-term, but each time it's not quite worked. However, I've never gained all the weight back, and I do genuinely feel like I learn so many useful things. I'm really happy with Hogwarts and the UAC, and this time around, I can see the differences in my approach towards sustainability. I've got more room for relaxing and my other hobbies as well as time for exercise and easy ways to keep the nutrition going, I'm still eating foods that I love, etc. (in a better way than I was before). Although the app is buggier than I like sometimes, having a log at my fingertips is really essential for me right now. I don't do well if I "wing it", though I am hoping that I'll get better as time progresses and the habits become even more ingrained.

Definitely planning to stay on MFP for a long time to come, and so glad that I found the UAC!

@hickchic67, hope your back feels better asap!

June 6th, 2019 - Daily Check In

Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes? Yes
Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? Yes I was under budget especially on carbs. Woohoo!!!
Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? Yes I did.

Why did I join MFP?

Well several years ago, 2009ish, I had My Running Pal. It helped me so much with planning routes, sharing routes with a running group I had formed. It was great. I got down to 154. 14 pounds from my goal weight. Then life happened and I quit running. Plus I gained all of my weight back.

Then in August of 2016 I had been released from drs care after surgery to began exercising plus Pokemon Go came out. So then I downloaded My Walking Pal. Again it helped me with seeing how far I walked. I also got a Fitbit. During this attempt to lose weight I didn't really track everything I ate. I also joined Planet Fitness. I also had a job change within the company Inworked for. They eliminated my position. So I took on a more active roll of collecting the money out of coin-op laundry equipment. It was 4 10 hours day of walking, weightlifting of the money. I was in a consistent state of fat burning. Then I get sent to Ioaw to collect up there. So week after week I would leave on Monday and come home Thursday. But the big difference was there was.more driving and a lot let walking. Also being out of town It was hard to be motivated to get to Planet Fitness and Injust found it hard to to eat right on the road. The hotel fridges would always freeze my food. So there would go my carrots, cucumbers etc...
Then when I would come home my husband would complain that all I wanted to do was go to the gym. I asked him to come with me. And if I went without him oh man would I pay for it. Or if he went he would find some way to sabotage the workout. Act like a baby, throw a fit, and stomp off. So eventually I quit going. I got down to 172. So as the cycle goes I gained it back.

2017 I was hit with some pretty medical news. I was diagnosed with RA. My father had it and I know how this disease goes. I feel is to a serious depression. I am still coming out of it. My husband had no real concern until I told him that this disease will take 10 to 20 years off my life. I explained to him a 2 day cold for the girls will take me 3 weeks to recover from. The meds that I will end up being on are going to really mess with me. Alot of these meds started out as cancer drugs. So they almost always give nausea and are just hard on the body. So then about a year and half ago we had another membership with a local community center. I loved it. But I wasn't losing. So I started doing some research on macros. And started counting those. I tried to get my husband to do it with me but he wanted me to imput all of his food. He did not want to truly commit. He did not want to push himself. So I got tired of doing it. I am not able to work and he would get mad when I would go to the gym. I was trying to follow drs orders. Water aerobics are so good for those of us with RA. So eventually he got vindictive and canceled the membership.

Well here we are I have premium mfp. I finally found the right combo of macros and I am losing. I got to my first goal of getting to 200. I haven't been here since 2017. I celebrated by buying a can of polyurethane to finish up my tank stand. At this point I dont care if my husband joins me or not. He has been told by the drs if he doesn't lose weight he will not be here in 10 years. And that was 3 years ago. I can not do it for him. I now really see what he eats in a different light. And when I splurge and eat bad food I pay for it the next day. And it tells me I am doing something right when I am eating right.

I hope he comes around but I need to be in my best health so that if and when something should happen to my husband I can handle the stress and be there for my daughters.

So that is me and that is why I am here and why I have mfp.

@jodilynnreeves, wow! What a story. I hope for his sake your hubby sees the light, but you are right, we can't do it for anyone but ourselves. Your profile picture says it all. You radiate joy now. I have RA too and agree with everything you've said regarding that. Hugs to you, friend!

Also, today I had my six-month checkup with my primary care doctor. I saw him for the first time Dec. 10th. He saw my weight change and said, "Wow! I'm impressed!" BP was good, too. Felt so good. And, another NSV, back in the day I used to stop for ice cream or a donut after I left the doctor (ridiculous mind game sabotage) and today I just wanted to get home so I could eat healthy food.

@craigo3154 Thanks for that discussion question,"Why did you join MFP?"

My weight journey started roughly 10 years ago when I decided that enough of the "head knowledge" time to put the knowledge into action. I know the danger of excess weight, unhealthy life style, etc., etc., everyone around me in the family have this issue some more than others. We can't just keep talking about losing weight, etc.

I did my research, I did not want to be stuck with yo-yo diet, I have seen friends, family members start, stop, and put back everything and more. I was determined to not be like that I read a lot about food, subscribed to health magazines. Kept a log, etc., etc.

One of my research led me to Weight watchers. I joined and I was successful, learn a lot about food. Lose all the weight(roughly 60 lbs) in roughly 18 months. Became a life member (still a life member - maintaining). I have been maintaining for 9+ yrs.

Some relatives wanted to learn from me but no WW close to them. Researched and found MFP. I joined and introduce them to MFP. They lose and maintained.

Searched for challenges to help a friend and found UAC, joined with my friend.... here I am maintaining and still learning a lot about myself.

It is a life style. There is no going back. It is about my health. The only journey that nobody can do for me.

These are some of the truth I tell myself every week and sometimes everyday, especially on weekends or parties.

1. It is about my health. This is one thing in this life that nobody can do for me .
2. Nobody can exercise on my behalf.
3. Nobody can keep track of what I eat, bite, lick, drink, etc., on my behalf
4. Nobody can stay within my calorie/micro budget on my behalf
5. Food is my body fuel. Food is made for my body not my body for food. Gasoline is made for cars not cars for gasoline.
6. My body is too precious and too expensive to put any type of fuel. Just like you will put the premium fuel in BMW, Mercedes, etc.
7. Nobody over fuel their expensive cars. Therefore, no overeating and getting sick, guilty etc., the next day for me. (truth I always tell myself on weekends)
8. My goal in life is not to make pharmaceutical companies/ or big food merchants rich at my expense.

Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes? Yes.
Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? No, 259 over so this is Pass Day 1
Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? Yes, but not in real time which is where I get tripped up.

1/3 pass days