Determined day 19 is all done for us! 😺 It was an ok day, but tooo cooold out to do anything outside! We don't much like winter. 😾❄️

1) Carbs < 30g - ✅
2) 1000 < Calories < 1500 - ✅
3) Log Everything! - ✅
4) Hit our activity goal every day - ✅
5) At least 5 workouts/week - ◼️◼️◼️◼️◻️

We hope everyone else is having a good day! 😸

@baconslave Thx! You're right. It takes time. I'm in for the long haul, 4sure.
I never looked into dry brushing. I've read it in the past but never did it on myself.

This surface bumpy, lumpy is what I want to smooth out. No matter how much I workout, I can't seem to even it out.

@tcunbeliever - As a 47yo I get self conscious wearing bikinis. I wear them only when kids are not around (teenage son and his boys are over to use the pool) lol! Which beach are you going? I'm headed to AZ, the mountains. Enjoy your vacation!

Trying to get the body fat lower to see if that makes a difference. Got it under 20% but haven't been moving past 19.7%. Would like to see 19-18%. Maybe my hormones are starting to play...I'll take any advice!!

Sounds like everyone is doing well this week. My NEAT has been up all week but I’ll have to make it a focus for the remainder of the year as I’m off work and won’t be as busy. Water intake could be better over the last few days. I’ve done well on staying low carb this week except for a hiccup last night but IF’d a bit longer today and will continue through the weekend. Now to stay away from the goodies and overeating!

Dec 19 check in.
1. Lose 5 lbs before 12/31/19 [the scale has been very good to me this week]
2. Stay under carb goal (< 35) and under calorie goal (<1,500) every day [26 carbs and 1002 calories]
3. Exercise every day at least 30 minutes, walking on treadmill or outside if weather permits [Able to do 2 miles in 41 minutes]
4. Plan ahead every day which is challenging with so many potluck opportunities and I love to socialize. [A friend of mine has gifted us with a big Tupperware of fudge and I'm trying to keep my fingers out of it]

I also think whatever body you take to the beach is beach body worthy. I am 54 so don't plan to be taking mine to the beach any time soon, but in the future that's what I'm gonna do!

Vicki

Sorry I’ve not checked in for a few days. Things have been crazy busy! Thursday I had the Star Wars movie right after work. Yesterday I had to Christmas shop with my family. Today I had to work. I’ve stuck to my goals though so all good.

Tomorrow is a Christmas dinner with the in-laws.

Sunday is my official weigh-in so checking in with my goals:

1) Mini binge on Sunday, but stuck to planned foods easily for the rest of the week
2) Tracked every bite every day
3) Completed 18.25 out of 25 hours of exercise
4) Tried 3 new lunches and 1 new dinner this week
5) I found a pair of goal jeans in my closet!
*bonus goal, I am far more balanced

Introducing more carbs into my diet was so helpful and I wished I had tried it sooner. The heavy restrictions served their purpose for a period of time but now I would like to get off the rollercoaster of eating *perfectly* and ruining my progress with junk foods. It's not the most enjoyable way to maintain. I'm not even eating significantly more carbs than I was before, it's just the idea that I am allowed certain foods now that makes it easier to make a plan and stick to it.

The first two-thirds of December I have been pretty good at staying on track with my eating, fasting, exercise, and sleep. Have lost 2.9kgs (6.4 lbs) in 3 weeks, which exceeded my goal.

However, the second part of my plan (for the period staying with family for the festive season) has been mixed. I have consistently kept 4 of the daily goals (eating LCHF wholefood, exercise, getting up early, not drinking much alcohol) but haven't worked out my fasting schedule yet (there is still time; is not a daily goal) and failed completely on the "walk away from stressful conversations" goal - less than two days in and have already had a big argument and am finding my family dynamics very stressful. Today I am isolating myself in the bedroom to keep away from it. I have done my gratitude journal and am working to interrupt negative mind loops and distract myself from the stress.

What I didn't predict: sleep is much harder here. Unfamiliar bed, lots more people in the house so more noise, plus stress. Also, here in Australia we have an unprecedented level of bushfires, are now living with bushfire smoke on a daily basis, frequently at "hazardous" air pollution levels - this means I can't go jogging as often and I can feel the smoke affecting my body.

At this point I am really not worried about being able to stay on track with my way of eating and exercise (while I might put on a little weight in the final week due to Christmas celebrations, my goal for the month is simply weight-neutrality: to stay in the healthy weight range, to not increase my weight from the beginning of the month, and I think that is fairly safe)...

But I am worried about the stress and tension of this period. Every year I wonder why we do this. And the answer is always the same: we do it for our child, who loves Christmas with the extended family. So I endure this for her, but I find it really stressful and unpleasant. I am going to have to work hard to meet that last goal, of avoiding stress with my family.

weatherking2019 wrote: »

I've lost the fat I wanted to rid of. But now I am stuck with a flabby, uneven skin that is not flattering. I plan on finding a way to smoothing, tightening up!
Maybe try those collagen stuff?? Let me know if any of you take it with good results.

I agree that it takes time. I had one of those "ahah" epiphany moments when putting on a jumper that used to be too small and is now baggy on me, when I thought: if our skin wasn't tightening up, then it would be as saggy and baggy as the oversized clothing we no longer wear. It's actually pretty amazing how much our skin has shrunk and tightened up during our weight loss!

I still have a bit more fat to lose, so ideas I am passing are what I have heard rather than know 100% from experience (i.e. I do both these things, but until I have lost all the excess fat and maintained and seen what happens with my skin, I don't really know):

• Bone broth is a great natural source of collagen. It has high bioavailability as it is a whole food, and also includes a bunch of other vitamins and minerals. I make it in my pressure cooker (speeds up the process) and it is pretty easy once you get the swing of it. Where I used to use stock cubes to add flavour to sauces and soups (which added nothing nutritionally) I now use bone broth and know I am beefing up the nutrition significantly. N.B. Bone broth is different from ordinary stock or broth - it involves cooking bones for long enough (or under high pressure) for the cartilege, marrow, bone, etc to break down and release vitamins, minerals, proteins etc into the liquid.
  
• Fasting for autophagy benefits. This is still fairly new science and there's a lot we don't fully know, but our body has a process called 'autophagy' where the body breaks down cells that aren't needed any more or don't work properly, and recycles the components of those cells to make new healthy cells. It seems to be the case that our body ramps up autophagy when it isn't busy doing other things like digesting food, so fasting increases autophagy. In theory this can speed up how fast it takes for the body to break down excess skin cells.

12/22/19

1.Under 75 carbs tops (I'm usually under 50 but leeway for holiday events) DONE....even though I had a kid's meal burrito bowl for dinner and some custard. After 10 years my inlaws still have pretty serious misunderstandings about gluten and anyhow Christmas dinner was unsafe even including the turkey this year. lol

2. Work on adding at least 1 or 2 days of some sort of exercise each week. I know that sounds lame but I have literally done NO exercise, not even taking walks in many months due to a huge long lasting RA flare.

Had to keep up with 2 infants and a 6 year old all day so NEAT if nothing else.

3. Try a new low carb recipe each week to motivate me and my husband who is kind of sorting following the plan.

No cooking...Christmas dinner at my mother in law's.

@baconslave best wishes for speedy recoveries and a healthy happy holiday!!!!

Dec 20, 21, and 22 check in. I'm falling behind with all the busyness.

1. Lose 5 lbs before 12/31/19 [the scale is cooperating well and hope to record a good loss]
2. Stay under carb goal (< 35) and under calorie goal (<1,500) every day [12/20 and 12/22 not so good with carbs but under 60 both days, calories well under all 3 days]
3. Exercise every day at least 30 minutes, walking on treadmill or outside if weather permits [2 miles on treadmill all 3 days then on weekend I'm up to 4 minutes on elliptical and 20 minutes on bicycle]
4. Plan ahead every day which is challenging with so many potluck opportunities and I love to socialize. [I did plan ahead but that darn fudge sitting on the counter is giving me a hard time, then Sunday was a church function with date balls staring at me, surprising how only 5 small balls can add up to so many carbs]

I'll be back at it 12/23 and through Christmas Eve so then on Christmas Day I'm planning to go over carbs and have some Christmas cookies. I am looking forward to after the holidays actually.

I hope everyone is able to be successful. I do agree with the above post and being so tired of reduced carbs, I haven't had much trouble with reduced calories. I'm not anywhere close to maintenance so I'm going to be determined to keep going strong.

Vicki