9 weeks til Christmas challenge starting 10/23

ellie117 wrote: »

@MelodiousMermaid thank you for your advice! I don't use another app other than MFP, but I might look into weightgrapher. I've been tracking weight daily on MFP since Sept/October, so I do see an overall trend downwards. I am sticking to tracking everything I eat, even the bad. I do very well sticking to my goals during the week (~1,200 plus some exercise cals), but tend to go over on the weekends (1800-2100) due to alcohol consumption. I rarely eat over 2,500 calories in one day though, let alone overeat by 3,500, so even if my weekend overloads are delaying my loss, I still don't think I should be gaining?

You're right, that as long as you have everything (intake/exercise) logged correctly, that if your intake is under your maintenance calories, or right about at them, that you should not generally be gaining fat, so long as your overall lifestyle is consistent (activity level and exercise/strength training). However, everyone, especially women, have water weight gains/retention due to various circumstances as we go along.

If you have an Apple smart phone, I've heard that a lot of people like to use an app on there called Happy Scale, which does something similar to weightgrapher. I've also heard of an app called Libra for Android. I haven't tried either of these programs myself, and I'm sure there are more yet out there. I chose weightgrapher due to its basic web interface, as it allows me to access it nearly anywhere.

Here's a link to a thread I found a while back that covers some of the things (the general tone of the message doesn't quite match your situation, but the post is a good overview/summary):
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear/p1

@ellie117 Congrats on your loss so far! Are you using a food scale? (I thought I might recall seeing a post from you on another thread saying you're not, but my apologies if I'm confusing you with someone else.) If you're not, it's probably worth considering as you get closer to your goal weight. The video below gives a good example of why. I know I personally was surprised how "off" my measuring cups are for a lot of things I eat regularly. If I didn't weigh things, it would be easy for a lot of calories to sneak into my diet over time. I also agree with @MelodiousMermaid that a weight trend app (or similar calculation in an Excel sheet) can be a sanity saver!

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale

Good luck!

Almost there!

Challenge starting weight- 182.4

10/23 – 182.4
10/30 – 180.2 (-2.2)
11/6 – 179.8 (-0.4 for the week, -2.6 so far)
11/13 – 179.6 (-0.2 for the week, -2.8 so far)
11/20 – 176.6 (-3.0 for the week, -5.8 so far)
11/27- 176.2 (-0.4 for the week, -6.2 so far)
12/4- - 178.6 (+2.4 for the week, -3.8 so far)
12/11 – 175.4 (-3.2 for the week, -7.0 so far)
12/18-
12/24-

Challenge End Weight Goal: 174.9
Total weight loss goal by Christmas: -7.5

Challenge starting weight: 131.6. Challenge goal weight 125.

Oct 23: 131.6
Oct 29: 131.0
Nov 5: 129.2
Nov 12: 131.4
Nov 19: 131.0
Nov 26: 131.8
Dec 2: 132.2
Dec 15: 132.2

No loss during this challenge but only a small gain. I broke my wrist on 10/20 with surgery on 10/24. 8 weeks of limited activity. I am a 🏃 runner so this has been frustrating for me. I'm grateful that I did not gain more. I've now gotten the clearance to run again. Yippee!!!!!!!

Challenge starting weight- 259

10/23- 258.7

10/30- 252.9 - I would assume that has to be some water weight drop because the weekend prior to the 23rd wasn't my greatest showing of self control around margaritas lol, probably realistically closer to 3lbs. My average has been 2-3lbs a week so that would make more sense. Total loss from challenge start to date - 5.8lbs

11/6- 248.6 - Moving along. Had a decent week with a ton of physical activity in construction projects, house work, etc so made a huge stride. Total loss from challenge start to date - 10.1lbs

11/13- 244.3 - Haven’t taken an off day from my workouts here lately, going to have to do that today. The newly added pull up negatives have my shoulders starting to feel it. Weight loss is still more than I expect per week but I haven’t really been eating into my burn off amount and sticking to staying under my baseline 2lb a week numbers. I’ve also been doing a lot of construction (building my wife a greenhouse) and starting to work my falconry bird. It’s clearly paying off. Thankfully I don’t see any muscle loss but that’s definitely due to the constant addition of strength training exercises. Total loss from challenge start to date - 14.4lbs

11/20- 239.3 - ENTERED MY TOTAL CHALLENGE GOAL RANGE NOTABLY EARLY!!! Wow, unsuspecting chain of weeks for me. I’ve even been doing more and more strength training and seeing small gains (which any gain is good in this kind of deficit to me). The burn rate combined with increased strength is abstract to me. Already hit my challenge goal, time to keep plugging away towards my total end goal. It’s actually possible to hit my goal weight by the end of the year even if my burn rate slows down from where it has been last few weeks. 5 more weeks to go and 15lbs to go so 3lbs a week. Total loss from challenge start to date - 19.4lbs.

11/27- 237 - Slowed down. I had seen a spike of what I can only assume is water weight across Fri/Sat to 243-244 so I was a little worried but it tapered back to normal and by Monday I was down to 237.8 and today 237 so it seems I did manage to stay on track regardless of the spike. This little setback does make it a little tougher to possibly hit my goal of 225 by end of challenge, but there’s an extra week between that and the end of the year so I’m still gunning for 225! Total loss from challenge start to date - 21.7lbs.

12/4 - 233.4 - WOW! NOW BELOW MY TOTAL CHALLENGE GOAL WEIGHT! Holiday weekend proved trying for me but I seemed to overcome it. My wife, daughters and I went to my wife’s grandmothers place at the beach for the weekend. Managed to stay within calorie counts all but one day. I splurged on some unhealthy options but kept portions under control. I mean, who can go to Ocean City, MD and not get Fisher’s Caramel Popcorn on the boardwalk? I don’t care if it is November/December!!! LOL! I panicked and thought I missed something when tracking or my apple watch grossly overestimated steps or something because when I got home and hit the scale Sunday night at around 241!!! Thankfully it was water weight from the weird change in diet and probably also not being able to do my workouts. Thankfully we did get lots of walking in between shopping, visiting the boardwalk, and doing an escape room. By Tuesday I had settled back in at 234.6 and this morning 233.4. Total loss from challenge start to date - 25.3lbs.

12/11 - 231.4 - Had two parties over the weekend and had another bad spike day(s) Saturday through Monday but it settled in at a solid 2lb drop by weigh in! 6.4lbs to go to hit 225 by end of year…. gunna be close! - Total loss from challenge start to date - 27.3lbs.

12/18- 227.5 - Nice! The trend is definitely a water weight spike after the weekend and then settling down from Monday to weigh in now that I’m in normal weight range. Made a nice jump this week but had a chance to get some good exercising in between roller skating with the kids, a few nights of mostly mellow house where I could work out a little harder. Definitely within shooting distance of the ultimate yearly goal. 2 weeks to drop 2.5lbs. Gotta stay buckled down! Total loss from challenge start to date - 31.2lbs


12/25-

12/31 - END OF YEAR WRAP

Done - Challenge End Weight Goal- 235-240, my total end goal weight is 225 so if I manage to overshoot I certainly won’t complain! lol!
DONE - Total weight loss goal by Christmas- 19-24 lbs.

GOAL UPDATE - Pushing for 225 for year end. Would be amazing to be able to start my new year with the goal of exercise and physical ability progress and migrate to a -1lb a week or so calculation for continued slimming but have the calories available to make some real strength progress!

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION - Slow down weight loss to 1.5ish lbs a week for remaining 15-25lbs for a end weight of 200-210. Not sure where I want to end up, getting close to a good base to put some mass back on, but with a weight loss of 125lbs in 12months I need to cut a little tight to clean up all the problems first. 210lbs and one more pant size drop would put me at a rough body fat around 17% From last year being in the mid to high 30% range!

I had several days last week where I ate at or above maintenance, so I'm very happy with today's number. I hope it sticks. I would love to break into the 150's by the end of the year.

Challenge starting weight- 167.9

10/23- 167.9
10/30- 166.7
11/6- 164.7
11/13- 163.2
11/20- 164.4
11/27- 163.6
12/4- 162.6
12/11- 161.9
12/18- 160.9
12/25-

Challenge End Weigh Goal- 154.6
Total weight loss goal by Christmas- 13.3

I am still down 4.1 lbs since Thanksgiving so I count that as a victory. one week left and I think 5 or 6 pounds lost would be great. Lets do it!

Challenge starting weight- 272.6

10/23- 272.6
10/30- 270.2
11/6- 270.7
11/13- 271.7
11/20- 267.7
11/27- 266.4
12/4- 269.9 This just motivates me more.
12/11- 268.5
12/18- 268.5 wow I'm stuck
12/25-

Up a smidge going into the home stretch, a big family birthday week with lots of festive gatherings. We’re also doing a baking day on Friday. I’m not giving up on my goal yet, but I honestly won’t be too disappointed if I don’t quite make it. Just having a goal has kept me accountable through the last eight weeks. Moved my final weigh-in up to the 24th, since that’s the start of my holiday.

Challenge starting weight- 182.4

10/23 – 182.4
10/30 – 180.2 (-2.2)
11/6 – 179.8 (-0.4 for the week, -2.6 so far)
11/13 – 179.6 (-0.2 for the week, -2.8 so far)
11/20 – 176.6 (-3.0 for the week, -5.8 so far)
11/27- 176.2 (-0.4 for the week, -6.2 so far)
12/4- - 178.6 (+2.4 for the week, -3.8 so far)
12/11 – 175.4 (-3.2 for the week, -7.0 so far)
12/18- - 175.6 (+0.2 for the week, -6.8 so far)
12/24-

Challenge End Weight Goal: 174.9
Total weight loss goal by Christmas: -7.5

KarenE58 wrote: »

I did not post for the last two weeks because I was disgusted with myself. Ate badly did not work out and paid for it. Scared myself and got back on track. I posted my two weeks that I missed along with this week. My goal has changed to 160lbs which I will do. We can all get there, we just have to stay strong.

Nice job pulling yourself back on track. Progress and persistence are what matters, not perfection. Four pounds in eight weeks is very solid progress, so congrats to you!

One week to go! Last weekend was a food/drink fest so I'm not surprised by the gain. Hoping to finish strong!

Challenge starting weight-216.2


10/23-
10/30-216.2
11/6-215.4 (-.8 pnd)
11/13-212.0 (-3.4 pnds)
11/20-213.0 (+1.0 pnd)
11/27-208.9 (-4.1 pnds)
12/4-206.9 (-2.0 pnds)
12/11-204.8 (-2.1 pnds)
12/18-205.5 (+0.7 pnd)
12/25-


Challenge End Weigh Goal- Onederland!

Challenge starting weight- 259

10/23- 258.7

10/30- 252.9 - I would assume that has to be some water weight drop because the weekend prior to the 23rd wasn't my greatest showing of self control around margaritas lol, probably realistically closer to 3lbs. My average has been 2-3lbs a week so that would make more sense. Total loss from challenge start to date - 5.8lbs

11/6- 248.6 - Moving along. Had a decent week with a ton of physical activity in construction projects, house work, etc so made a huge stride. Total loss from challenge start to date - 10.1lbs

11/13- 244.3 - Haven’t taken an off day from my workouts here lately, going to have to do that today. The newly added pull up negatives have my shoulders starting to feel it. Weight loss is still more than I expect per week but I haven’t really been eating into my burn off amount and sticking to staying under my baseline 2lb a week numbers. I’ve also been doing a lot of construction (building my wife a greenhouse) and starting to work my falconry bird. It’s clearly paying off. Thankfully I don’t see any muscle loss but that’s definitely due to the constant addition of strength training exercises. Total loss from challenge start to date - 14.4lbs

11/20- 239.3 - ENTERED MY TOTAL CHALLENGE GOAL RANGE NOTABLY EARLY!!! Wow, unsuspecting chain of weeks for me. I’ve even been doing more and more strength training and seeing small gains (which any gain is good in this kind of deficit to me). The burn rate combined with increased strength is abstract to me. Already hit my challenge goal, time to keep plugging away towards my total end goal. It’s actually possible to hit my goal weight by the end of the year even if my burn rate slows down from where it has been last few weeks. 5 more weeks to go and 15lbs to go so 3lbs a week. Total loss from challenge start to date - 19.4lbs.

11/27- 237 - Slowed down. I had seen a spike of what I can only assume is water weight across Fri/Sat to 243-244 so I was a little worried but it tapered back to normal and by Monday I was down to 237.8 and today 237 so it seems I did manage to stay on track regardless of the spike. This little setback does make it a little tougher to possibly hit my goal of 225 by end of challenge, but there’s an extra week between that and the end of the year so I’m still gunning for 225! Total loss from challenge start to date - 21.7lbs.

12/4 - 233.4 - WOW! NOW BELOW MY TOTAL CHALLENGE GOAL WEIGHT! Holiday weekend proved trying for me but I seemed to overcome it. My wife, daughters and I went to my wife’s grandmothers place at the beach for the weekend. Managed to stay within calorie counts all but one day. I splurged on some unhealthy options but kept portions under control. I mean, who can go to Ocean City, MD and not get Fisher’s Caramel Popcorn on the boardwalk? I don’t care if it is November/December!!! LOL! I panicked and thought I missed something when tracking or my apple watch grossly overestimated steps or something because when I got home and hit the scale Sunday night at around 241!!! Thankfully it was water weight from the weird change in diet and probably also not being able to do my workouts. Thankfully we did get lots of walking in between shopping, visiting the boardwalk, and doing an escape room. By Tuesday I had settled back in at 234.6 and this morning 233.4. Total loss from challenge start to date - 25.3lbs.

12/11 - 231.4 - Had two parties over the weekend and had another bad spike day(s) Saturday through Monday but it settled in at a solid 2lb drop by weigh in! 6.4lbs to go to hit 225 by end of year…. gunna be close! - Total loss from challenge start to date - 27.3lbs.

12/18- 227.5 - Nice! The trend is definitely a water weight spike after the weekend and then settling down from Monday to weigh in now that I’m in normal weight range. Made a nice jump this week but had a chance to get some good exercising in between roller skating with the kids, a few nights of mostly mellow house where I could work out a little harder. Definitely within shooting distance of the ultimate yearly goal. 2 weeks to drop 2.5lbs. Gotta stay buckled down! Total loss from challenge start to date - 31.2lbs


12/25- 224.4 - And there it is. I actually tapped as low as 223.2 during the week but this was my measured Wednesday weigh in number. A total loss of 125.4lbs for the year with a spare week to put buffer on my above and beyond goal that I just hit. Total loss from challenge to start date - 34.3lbs. Gunna push till end of year to make sure i’m safely under 225 and then continue the 2020 start goal! Merry Christmas everyone!

12/31 - END OF YEAR WRAP

Challenge End Weight Goal- 235-240, my total end goal weight is 225 so if I manage to overshoot I certainly won’t complain! lol!
Total weight loss goal by Christmas- 19-24 lbs.
GOAL UPDATE - Pushing for 225 for year end. Would be amazing to be able to start my new year with the goal of exercise and physical ability progress and migrate to a -1lb a week or so calculation for continued slimming but have the calories available to make some real strength progress!

I am in! I am almost at my goal weight, but am getting frustrated with how slow the last couple of pounds are going. I just turned 40 years old a couple of weeks ago and am a mother of 5 (20 years old to 11 years old). I work full time and am married, so my time is very limited. I mostly rely on eating clean and healthy. I started about 18 months ago at almost 180 pounds and will never be that heavy again. I am hoping to be in maintenance before the end off the year, but I guess we will see what happens.

Challenge starting weight- 144.6


10/24- 144.6
10/31- 140.7
11/7- 140.7
11/14- 139.7

11/20- 140.6 Well I am just getting no where the last couple of weeks. I have been fighting shingles the last 2 weeks and was on antibiotics and now anti-virals so I don't know if this affecting things or what. Hoping to get somewhere before Thanksgiving, but I have 5 days left of the pills so it may be rough. So close, but yet so far, lol!

11/27- 139.6 I was lower yesterday morning, but ate out twice and then did all the prepping for Thanksgiving. So I expected a bump up from sodium.

12/4- 139. 4 I guess it is my lowest Thursday so I will take that. I was lower right before Thanksgiving, but spiked up and have been working on getting rid of my 5 day holiday water weight gain. Maybe next week I will finally be able to post that I am back into maintenance. Still 1 pound to high

12/11- 136.8 this is probably due to a little dehydration because of alcohol last night, but hopefully it sticks around. I was due for a whoosh at some point

12/18- 138.9 We had 2 Christmas parties and a 3 day weekend. This month has been hard.

12/25- no weigh in on Christmas Day. We will see where I end on 12/31

12/31 -


Challenge End Weigh Goal- 135 (maintenance will be 135-139)
Total weight loss goal by Christmas- 9.6 pounds

I'd be in for another 8-12 weeks. Maybe a countdown to spring?

Either way, gotta keep chipping away...