Need to Lose 100 LBS -Robins Thread !

Saturday check-in
(Better late than never?)

Well, my trend line is slowing to a crawl, and my 7-day rolling average has, for the first time since starting to track in September, stalled and even gone up. My weekly weigh-in has me up a total of 0.7 pounds, so considering the sheer volume of food, combined with the re-introduction of a fair amount of carbs (I've been over 200 grams all but one day), I'd say that's pretty decent. It should be a pretty good drop over the next week or so as I get back into things.


This maintenance trial has not been what I anticipated. Starting with the refeed. I've learned that if I want my muscles to really bounce back in the future, I'm going to have to overfeed carbs, probably in the neighborhood of 3-6 grams per lean mass pound. It was a bit of a trial getting through everything I'd planned the way it was, so a bit frustrating to not get the relief/strength I was expecting. There is, of course, the chance that the depression is causing some or all of the out-of-gas feeling too (after refeeding), which unfortunately is not something I can solve with food (and all the more frustrating because of it). I've also been sleeping more poorly and struggling with wakefulness during the day, even as I've been in maintenance this week, so that probably doesn't help.

Due to various family events, I had to make major estimates nearly every day of the refeed. My anxiety was through the roof. If my estimates are correct, I also failed to keep it close to maintenance, and erased the deficit (about 2,000 calories) I created on Monday by the end of yesterday, which was in itself an overage of 1,200 calories.

All told, though, it was not devastatingly terrible. Again, pending my estimates are correct, it would have been a "net zero" week, which I guess is maintenance at its heart.

The other side of the coin of disappointment with this trial was my trouble complying with what I'd wanted myself to do for exercise for the week. I just did not have the "get up and go" to do much of anything. Strength training did happen, as I do not want to lose the gains I've made in that department, but other than that, the only reason I met gold #3 was because I did the time on Monday. I took a fail on baseline #2, which was not planned. I just couldn't force myself to get it done since A: I wasn't leaving the house to do stuff (usually take the kiddo to school, but she's on break), and B: even though I do think I'll pursue indoor rowing when I get to the point where I'm training and fueling for just fitness/recomp, right now it just doesn't feel like it's worth it if I'm not getting a deficit.


I honestly have really mixed feelings about how to proceed with both exercise and intake. I've been at a pretty high level of apathy about pretty well everything lately (intake, exercise, other... everything). It's kind of like being "late cycle" all the time. It's been simpler to deal with when in deficit, though, because at least that is more defined. Thus, returning to a deficit is a certainty. What I have been waffling over for the last few days is what it's going to look like. Part of me just wants to go super strict on intake and say screw the exercise/training, beyond the very basics of what's required to retain lean mass. Then I think about how LONG this is going to drag out if I don't do more to increase the deficit. I'm not enjoying things either way, so what I think I will be doing will be similar to what I did before this break, since the lower intensity exercise gave me enough white noise in my mind to keep moving. But it will need to change so I don't go off the deep end in the other way (literally spending all day doing exercises of one variety or another).

My current plan: I have pre-logged my intake through Friday based on the new foundational macros I'd mentioned in the past. The primary difference between what I'm doing going forward and what I did before this break will be a daily deficit limit. For instance, there was one day before break where I had a daily deficit of over 3,500. I'm going to start with a cap of 2,900. The biggest difference for me in this is that if I exercise enough to go over, I am now going to commit to eating any overages. I honestly find that to be a pain when I'm in loss mode, so that should keep me from getting too crazy about exercise.

I'm going to apply the same principle with rest days. If I meet my intake baseline, practice an instrument and walk two miles or less, that would leave me with around 1,000-1,100 kcal deficit (based on current weight). By capping my deficit on those days, I will be much less inclined to do more, and thus give my body some rest.


I'm looking at each day as having all maintenance calories available for use, but plan (and most of the time adhere) close to a foundational level, where essential nutrients are obtained, so that anything beyond is extra. My primary focus is to retain my lean mass and maximize fat loss (where possible, bearing in mind that I know I'll be losing some lean mass where it supports my fat stores, and I of course also hope to lose excess skin to some extent eventually). I implement this through foundational intake planning, complemented by strength training and LISS (low intensity steady state cardio).

Also, for those interested, I am currently using Leangains (modified to lower carb levels) to plan macros. This is a targeted ketogenic diet. After considering different ways of eating, this is the structure I believe will allow me the best chance of continued/long-term success when I get to a maintenance/recomp stage at the "end" of the primary fat loss focus.

I will be adjusting all deficit/calorie-based goals each week based on my progress in weight, with major changes occurring around the shifts from being a category 3 dieter to category 2 and again at the shift to category 1.

My revamped plan:

Current "foundational macros":

Protein:
All days: >=130 grams/day

Carbs:
Rest days: 40-50 grams/day
Training: >=150 grams/day (will be timed around/during training for the most part)

Fat:
Rest days: >=45 grams/day
Training: 15-25 grams/day (will be mostly EFA (essential fatty acid) supplementation)

Commitments:

1) Intake: >1,105 calories/day
2) Exercise: >=30 minutes, 6 days/week
3) Deficit: <2,900 kcal/day
4) Rest day(s): >=1/week (<1,000 kcal deficit)

Goals:

1) Strength training: 2-3 days/week
2) Indoor rowing (**with good form**): >=30 min, 3 days/week
3) Musical instrument practice: >=30 min, 6 days/week

My Stats:

5'1" Female
Restarting weight: 252
MFP restart weight: 242.7
Original goal: 140 pounds
Current goal: 21.5% body fat (currently estimated at 140 lbs).

2019/09/14: 240.7
2019/09/21: 238.8
2019/09/28: 234.6
2019/10/05: 230.8
2019/10/12: 231.0
2019/10/19: 226.9
2019/10/26: 223.8
2019/11/01: 219.6
2019/11/09: 215.6
2019/11/16: 212.7
2019/11/23: 209.2
2019/11/30: 203.9
2019/12/07: 201.3
2019/12/17: 199.7
2019/12/21: 196.7
2019/12/28: 197.3

@sweeetypie1 : Thank you. I finally am *feeling* like I'm making decent progress (I know I've been making good progress, but something about getting that "1" in front adds some sort of weird psychological validation).

Edited to remove unintentional smiley.

@mnwalkingqueen I have done a fair bit of crockpot cooking, but have not cooked fish with one as of yet. If you try it/find advice elsewhere, could you check back in here? I'd be curious to see how it goes.

Do you like skipjack (canned "light tuna") or plain, fat-free Greek yogurt (on its own or as an alternative for sour cream and such)? Those appear in my menu with some regularity. I also usually have lean/very lean red meat a couple times a week. I used to focus on egg whites as a regular source, but honestly have given up the ghost on that, as I have come to very much dislike them. I did find this week, though, that I can sneak a whole egg in here or there with no issue on my new macros, and even had a blend of two whole eggs and two egg whites in a scramble the other night which wasn't too bad.

I also plan to start playing around with beans in the near future, for training days. A bit too much carb to have in anything more than an accent quantity on a tighter carb budget.

---

2020. I'm hoping this year will see me to my goal bodyfat percentage. I should get pretty darn close, even if I don't make it.

The year isn't starting off as well as I'd like. Sleep remains a terrible struggle, with the biggest troublemaker lately being pain/discomfort/numbness in my hands (especially ring fingers). I'm troubleshooting this by trying different sleep positions and reducing rowing, as those are the two major things I can think of.

The sleep trouble, combining with whatever else (probably a depression flare up), is creating a proverbial wall for me. I've had to dial back from before and from my plan I'd ironed out last weekend. It's hard, because I know I could just throw more slow walking in, but I'm all but certain that will exacerbate the foot stuff again, so I'm sticking with up to three miles at a time. I've increased my instrument practicing, in hopes that the MFP estimates are close to right, and at least I'd be getting something.

On days where I'm doing significant activity, but not strength training, I am making up a bit of the difference by going "in between" macro sets on fat/carbs, keeping the majority of carb intake around whatever activity I do. I am keeping to eating above the minimum floor I set though. I will admit it is nice to get more flavors and variety with the higher level that I'm trying to adhere to.

Not all is lost, though. I did planning for each day through Friday and meal prep for two meals/day up through Friday last Sunday, and that has proven to be incredibly helpful in keeping going on the intake front. This is enabling me to stay on the deficit train and have less anxiety about my days during the week (time management). So there is that.

We'll see how things progress. Perhaps part of it is hormonal timing. Perhaps not. I guess it's good for me to learn how to deal with it either way, so I can manage going forward. It'd be good to not have to deal with another major upswing in the future.

@mnwalkingqueen Fat-free plain Greek yogurt is the thing that's made this whole thing work for me, if I'm honest. I use it to make dips/sauces/salad dressing, add "sour cream" flavor effect, as a base with frozen wild blueberries for a light meal, as a base for chicken/tuna salads, with my curry-inspired chicken, to make "protein bomb" pudding-like yogurt with my shake protein, I think it's in the protein pancake recipe too... so many uses.

I wish someone would've introduced me to this a LONG, long time ago. What's made it even more doable is getting it at Aldi's, as they are more reasonable for this than the other local grocery stores. Well, I didn't check Walmart/Target, but I do my best to avoid places like those...

Anyway, I recommend giving it a try in a few different ways. It is a bit on the tart end for use on its own, and even with the blueberries it's still pretty tart, but I've found I've adjusted to it well enough. I'd probably add a small bit of brown sugar or maybe a small touch of honey if I was having fresh strawberries with it.

OK, off the yogurt podium... Yes, 96/4 or 97/3 is where I was at for ground beef, though you do lose a bit of flavor by going that lean. I've backed off to 93/7 now on my new macros. If I'm eating out, I try to generally go with a leaner cut of beef (I like sirloin tips/steak), but it also depends on how they cook it. At one of the restaurants my extended family likes, it's flame grilled without anything added, so no worries there, but another one adds butter usually, so I need to make a special request on that order. I do have to say a good herbed butter and garlic really adds to the meat, but that's something I plan to leave for maintenance. For now, I make due with a bit of peppercorn (freshly ground where possible) and garlic (garlic salt if I'm out with the family).

Seafood with a good bit of those healthy fats are a great way to get flavor. Lots of options there. Somewhere in the wilds of MFP there's a protein spreadsheet that shows food macros based on 100g for a bunch of common, whole foods. I'll see if I can track it down by my post on Saturday. It was helpful to me back when I was originally starting, seeing what I might like for the different food groups. Might have to poke at it again to see what I can change up in my menu to keep things interesting.

Kudos to you on not going out to eat today. It is such a terribly hard habit to break. Shoot, I can't even say I've broken the habit -- I'd need a few solid maintenance/recomp months in to evaluate where I'm really at with that. I will say that I find macros much easier to hit at home.

Saturday Check-in

Well, this first week back in deficit did not go to plan, but it has been reasonably OK, all things considered.

I ended up missing my exercise commitment. There were two days in the last week where I only practiced. However, I did meet all other commitments and goals. I am giving myself today and tomorrow off for exercise (due to below issues), but intend for this to be an exception, rather than a change to the baseline.

I'm giving myself a new goal going forward. Caloric deficit at least 6 days a week. I probably won't have an issue meeting this, but feel I need it for accountability due to the worsening of the mental swamp. I'm taking today as a (likely) maintenance day, for instance, so if there is either a caloric surplus, or if I'm less than 50 calories under MFP's total daily calculation, that would not qualify for a deficit day by my intent. I think this will be a good way to think of this in the long-run anyway, as I will need to get my deficits pretty small when I get closer to goal.

The sleep issues have not improved, and that combined with hormones and mental issues have recreated that "out of gas" feeling, even when I'm fueling at the right macros to be doing training. I've gotten through the week, but only just. The crave monster is much stronger again this month as well. It's amazing how much difference sleep makes.

The scale has slowly declined over the week as I've transitioned back into deficit, with a larger drop this morning. It's now almost at the lowest weight recorded on this current WLJ, which was 194.0 on 12/23. I did estimate that to be a high weigh-in considering workouts I'd been doing, but I'm trying to reframe my thinking to accept this as "the" number, because what I'd been doing before did not allow me to have glycogen stores in my muscles/liver (effective-keto-level macros + heavy strength training = depletion). I'm not sure if I can make it work, but I want to try to allow the muscles to have some fuel stores as I move forward. Rolling 7-day average finally peaked on Thursday and started back downward yesterday. The trend line never completely stalled, but it was pretty slow until this last couple of days, where it picked up the pace again.

I'm going to continue tweaking macros and timing to see if I can find an "optimal deficit setup" for myself. On strength training days, I plan to time my intake of most of the carbs to be a 5-hour refeed. This will be at a low-ish level, considering that I am only aiming for 1.5 grams/LBM lb for now.

I'd been doing more carb-y stuff around other exercise this last week to see if it'd make much difference, but it wasn't. Based on these results, I'm going to revert to more of a rest-day structure for non-strength training days, attempting to focus primarily on higher fats and protein if I feel I need to eat more than foundational level.

I am also going to try a stronger refeed this coming Wednesday to see how it affects how I'm feeling/operating (>=3 grams/LBM lb). I really don't want to go that high yet if I can manage, but if it makes a major positive difference for me, I will consider bringing it in 1-2x/week, possibly as a permanent bump to training day carb macros. I am honestly hoping to hold off on that level until I reach category 2 dieting, estimated to being around 170 lbs, as the kcal budget for keeping my protein levels as well as going that high for carbs puts me above sedentary maintenance for intake (though might still be a small deficit depending on what else I do those days).


[TL/DR]

Long story short, I'm still having issues, and will need to keep learning about how to function within my limitations and training program. It'll be a bit of an experiment, and I will need to get used to the possibility of more weight swings.

In other news, I joined the 52 pounds in 52 weeks challenge this week. I think it's a reasonable/realistic goal based on where I was at on 1/1 (197.1). Of course, my real hope is to lose more on the front end, then adjust to slow deficit phase at category 1 (currently thinking 1/2 pound/week), then figure out a maintenance/recomp routine by the year's end. Probably doable.

Ideally:
3+ lb/wk current to 35% BF = <=9 weeks
2+ lb/wk 35% to 25% BF = <=12.5 weeks
0.5 lb/wk 25% to 21.5% BF = 10 weeks

31.5 weeks to maintenance/recomp focus (August 8th)

Easier:
2 lb/wk current to 35% BF = <= 13.5 weeks
1 lb/wk 35% to 25% BF = <= 25 weeks
0.5 lb/wk 25% to 21.5% BF = 10 weeks

48.5 weeks to maintenance/recomp focus (December 5th)

I'm guessing it will likely land in between. We'll see how it goes. It'd be nice to phase to maintenance/recomp focus before Thanksgiving.


My plan:

Current "foundational macros":

Protein:
All days: >=130 grams/day

Carbs:
Rest days: 40-50 grams/day
Training: >=150 grams/day (will be timed around/during training for the most part)

Fat:
Rest days: >=45 grams/day
Training: 15-25 grams/day (will be mostly EFA (essential fatty acid) supplementation)

Commitments:

1) Intake: >1,105 kcal/day
2) Exercise: >=30 minutes, 6 days/week (for this coming week (through 1/10) only, I will call 5 days a success)
3) Deficit: <2,900 kcal/day
4) Rest day(s): >=1/week (<1,100 kcal deficit)

Goals:

1) Strength training: 2-3 days/week
2) Indoor rowing (**with good form**): >=30 min, 3 days/week
3) Musical instrument practice: >=30 min, 6 days/week
4) Caloric deficit: >=6 days/week

My Stats:

5'1" Female
Restarting weight: 252
MFP restart weight: 242.7
Original goal: 140 lbs
Current goal: 21.5% body fat (currently estimated at 140 lbs). Aiming to be at this point by 2020/12/05.

2019/09/14: 240.7
2019/09/21: 238.8
2019/09/28: 234.6
2019/10/05: 230.8
2019/10/12: 231.0
2019/10/19: 226.9
2019/10/26: 223.8
2019/11/01: 219.6
2019/11/09: 215.6
2019/11/16: 212.7
2019/11/23: 209.2
2019/11/30: 203.9
2019/12/07: 201.3
2019/12/17: 199.7
2019/12/21: 196.7
2019/12/28: 197.3 (Planned maintenance break)
2020/01/04: 194.7

@ MelodiousMermaid- Thanks for the greek yogurt tip. I don’t use a lot of dip or sauces but good to know that info. You always have great plan and goals in place impressed. Hope your sleep issue gets better.
@Sweeetypie1- hope you feel better soon.
@Karen- big change to come super exciting.

Tuesday Goals:
I am eating at home more and starting to do meal planning to make sure it stays that way. Still haven’t been to the gym but planning to get there this week. I am learning to make a few new receipes this week started with banana choc chip muffin.

mnwalkingqueen wrote: »

Happy Friday!! I am looking up healthy receipes to try. I bought lots of veggies, fish, yogurt and eggs this week. I cooked at home all 3 meals 4 days so far which big accomplishment. I walked outside 2 times this week for 45 mins each.

Great job! Way to stick to your plan.

Good morning. This is my first post. It's hard to find others like myself who need to lose a significant amount of weight that actually want to talk about it. I am 41 and weigh 287 according to the scale this morning. I'm finding it difficult to make the right food decisions when I'm in the moment. I'd love to hear some of your success stories to help me believe in myself again.

@holly--great job with the healthy cooking at home! I also haven't been to the gym since before Christmas.

AFM--I am doing okay with food, but unfortunately, it is due, in part, to a dental issue. I had a crown put on in September that has become infected. Pain started Wed. evening and my dentist is only in on Wed. and Sat. I tried his emergency number Thursday morning to no avail. Fortunately, I have a friend who is also a dentist (not in my insurance network) who called in a script for antibiotics which I started Thurs. afternoon. They helped decrease the pain, but eating is still uncomfortable.

I left a message for my dentist, and he never returned my call on Sat. I suspect he may have canceled his appts. for the day due to severe weather in the area, but I would think he would still check his messages. Anyway, I already happened to have a regular check up scheduled for this Wed, so I'm anxiously awaiting that appt.

Due to my body fighting off the infection, I was feeling pretty run down over the weekend. Didn't get much done in the house, but I did get a few boxes packed up. Our realtor is supposed to be coming this Saturday, so we will see what she has to say then.

I decided to start my weight tracking fresh here for the new year.

Name: Karen
Age: 50
Height: 5’7"
Highest Weight: 247
Current Weight: 196 (1/4/20)

1/4/20 = 196
1/11/20 = 193

@Karen- hope infection goes away fast and dentist calls soon. Good luck on Saturday.

Wensday Wish:
I wish it could stop getting dark at 4pm permanently. Also wish had enough money to rebuild garage before it falls down.

Hi. I have been gone for awhile. Two months ago I was diagnosed with diabetes, so I started tracking here again. . I am only slightly out of range, a1c is 6.7 and 6.5 is top of the range. We are working with diet to bring my a1c down, as I am so close to normal.
My weight is way up since the last time I was here, but I have lost 15 pounds in the last two months.

I also had a pulmonary embolism two months ago. Technically, I probably still do, but I am much better.

I am sorry I dropped out.