Women 200lb+, Let's Stay Fired Up This February!!!

I just started (again) Jan 2, 2020. I had gained close to 50 lbs after the birth of my last (third) child in 2015. I have lost and gained back the same 25ish lbs three or four times. 255 is the heaviest I have ever been. I normally stayed around 200-210 and was happy with that even though for my height it's about 20-25lbs overweight. My goal weight of 180 is to be within a normal BMI.

5'9"
SW: 255
CW: 238
GW: 180

February Goal -10lbs

Good luck everyone!

@CupcakeCrusoe Thanks for the suggestions!! I hadn't realized @mmdeveau had posted when I posted my comment, but also a great idea. I finished doing 30 min. of Zumba. Although I did start out half-assed effort, I did get into it and was able to at least get my heart pumping. That should be better than nothing at all, right?

That's kinda sneaky though... thinking about getting hot chocolate afterwards... but actually ending up thirsty and wanting only water instead!! :laugh:

I went to university for a meeting, where there was free pizza and then a bake sale fundraising for my organization. So of course I bought sweets and got snacks. I will not be surprised if tomorrow I am up over 200 again, but I do know it's only fluctuations. I am still hoping I will be under officially in a week's time. I got 2.6 miles in according to MFP. I also got more of a deficit than I did yesterday.

@CupcakeCrusoe Thank you! We'll see if it sticks tomorrow xD I had quite a sugar-heavy day that I couldn't totally track. I did get ~2.6 mile of walking in because I went to my school. And yeah, it's something I've dealt with since I was a teen (probably around the time I started gaining weight, tbh), but more and more, and differently as the years progress. I'm okay with the pain, it's when the pain starts limited my mobility and flexibility that it starts affecting me mentally.

@shorepine I've also tried writing down what I eat. For the most part, if it's a raw food, a simple recipe, or something I've encountered a lot otherwise, then it works because I can semi-accurately guesstimate the calories and therefore guesstimate my total calories. But it's when I eat more complex foods that I start to falter, if I don't track it on here. And even then! Today I ate more complex foods (not healthy, just complex recipes) that I have no way of knowing the calories or macros to. Pretty much guessing those, but still logging them as I think they are. Will try to stick to foods I know tomorrow. I'm with you on the exercise. I grew up on endorphins from swim teams. Yes, plural. I was averaging 10-15 hours in the pool per week at one point in my life between the teams. It is likely where I got my love of eating so much!
Good luck to working out midday! I've heard from others on here that if you take your gym clothes to work, you are more likely to feel that you might as well hit the gym.

@Lasmartchika If you workout hard enough, you'll warm yourself up!!

There's a sign at my gym that says, "You're here! You already did the hardest part!" I like it a whole lot.

Let's Do this for February!
SW 228
CW 202.6
GW#1 - 180

1/31 - 206.1
2/7 - 202.6

It's been a really good week.

TOM made a surprise comeback this week so I spent most of the time dealing with that but I've been noticing the difference in how my clothes fit. My pants easily button and while I'm not ready to go down a pant size yet, I don't have a muffin top so that's awesome! I'm also noticing a difference in my upper body which is great as the MOH dress I'm wearing in June will show a lot of my shoulders and arms.

Eating wise has been going pretty good except for yesterday as on Wednesday, I found out that I passed all of my exams. Passing is good but finding out you passed while having ONE drink at your local pub turns into A LOT of drinks. So yesterday, I pretty much spent the entire day on the couch trying to survive the day. I had my meal prepped lunch but for dinner, I legit just could not be bothered to cook so when I was running the pup out, we went out and got a baguette and a candy bar. So I'm not sure if I went over my calories (didn't log them) but I definitely even remotely meet my macros.

I'm back at it today and am headed to a statistical seminar series so I need to get my butt in gear so I can ensure that I get all of my steps today. Hope everyone is having a great Friday and rock out this weekend!!

Savannah80 wrote: »

Friday weigh in day for me!

5'7"
SW:208lb
CW:193.5lb
TW:147lb

31/12/2019: 208lb
06/01/2020: 207.2lb
13/01/2020: 196.9lb
20/01/2020: 197.2lb
27/01/2020: 196.6lb
31/01/2020: 194lb
07/02/2020: 193.5lb

A rather dissapointing 0.5lb loss this week. I tried changing things up a bit and upping my calorie intake a bit and it seems this approach hasn't worked. So I'll probably go back to the 1200kcal intake a day or as near as I can get.
Still drinking 3 litres of water a day. I had hoped this would up my body water percentage, but it's not really made much difference. My scales tell me that ideally body water % should be between 45% and 60%, the highest I've managed to record this year is 43.7%. I don't know how else I can up that number, if I drink any more I'll be like a walking water balloon slooshing about. Ideas?

My skeletal muscle % has gone up slightly since the beginning of January from 36.5% to 36.9% otherwise everything else my scales measures seems to have stayed the same. My metabolic age is still 7 years more than I actually am. My visceral fat is still higher than it should be. My BMI is still over 30. Ho-hum.

Loosing weight is difficult and soul destroying. I'm trying really hard and seeing very little return for my efforts.

I don't know how you get the skeletal fat %, the water %, etc, but I do know that at-home scales that claim to do that can be wildly off.

I also know that you've been struggling with what number of calories to eat. I fell into the 1200 calorie trap a while ago, and like you, I stalled for a while and threw up my hands and said, "what else can I DO?"

What I could do is log more precisely. Weigh everything that went into my mouth. I was estimating some of those 1200 cals, and it was putting me in actuality way over 1200, all the while I was thinking I was in a good deficit and my body was being crazy.

Water helps for health and life, but not really for weight loss unless you eat a lot of salt. And if you drink water when you're thirsty, you're getting enough water.

I am at 204 right now, 5'4" and running 30 minutes 4x a week. I'm at 1600calories a day and losing more than half a pound per week. Please evaluate your logging to be sure you need to go down to 1200. It is so, so demoralizing. I've been where you are, I know.

@BorutoTeam I saw you went for a walk! You bested me, I went home and right to sleep, lol. But today's running day and I can't wait to go hit the pavement!

Lots of posts; just a few minutes to comment!!

@savannah80 when I was reading your post, my first reaction was wow, I think she is at the top of the group for progress made since the beginning of the year! I know it's hard to see the scale stall. Weight loss is not a straight line down and it sucks when you are working so hard. But based on your big drop and then smaller drops, I would give yourself body time to adjust to what you are doing (1400-1500) and for your next whoosh. Focus on not making yourself miserable in the process but on adjustments to your diet and routine you can live with. And take your body measurements and progress pics too because often you will see progress there even without the scale.

@orangequilt and @speyerj I also loved the checkbook analogy for food logging! So true!!

@kali31337 congrats on your exams and hope you feel better!

@lilann1961 sounds like you have a solid plan!!

@VictorSmashes congrats one making into ONEderland!! Even if you bounce, it's still a great feeling!! Hope you are feeling better too.

@jackiem1231 welcome! Solid start!! You are going to rock that bathing suit.

@TuesdayLucero hope you feel better! So much going around right now.

@terytha we want pics from the run - it sounds epic!!

@speyerj your scale pattern is fascinating!! I don't weigh daily because of the fluctuations but I love that you can see through the number noise.

@Aerohead21 hope your doctor's appointment goes well. And thanks for the info about exercise and glucose. I know exercise is supposed to improve all those health problems but I have never seen it explained why so clearly! It's awesome that you can control those conditions with diet and exercise.

@BorutoTeam I have the same problem with exercise. Still trying to figure it out. I always feel wonderful afterward but it's especially hard if I am trying to get started after putting my son to bed.

Jeans day at the office! I was able to squeeze into my new size 14W Lucky jeans that I got on sale. Not the most comfortable and I am wearing a big sweater to hide my muffin top but I was too excited to leave them at home!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Give yourself a high-five for taking ownership of your health. It doesn't have to be perfect!!

Good morning fellow healthy warriors!

I am very excited because I have had a slight whoosh! Not crazy but I like it! I have been under calories all week by a couple hundred and that could be it. But I am not ready to reduce my calories just yet unless MFP calls for it with the weight lost. I like having the extra calories there!

I don’t have a lot of time to post replies to everyone…but you all are doing amazing!

@Savannah80 girl be happy with a loss…it’s going down. It’s a marathon not a sprint! I would recommend setting a reasonable calorie goal and stick with that for a couple weeks so you can see how it works(one week is not enough time to see if it is working – our bodies take time to adjust)…1200 might be too restrictive and you won’t stick with it.

OW - 276 (Jan 2019)
CW - 247 - start of February
February goal - 241.0 (6 lbs.)
2/7-goal-245.5 – 243.6
2/14-goal - 244.0
2/21 - goal -242.5
2/28 - goal -241.0

-Move more (attempt to get to gym ad walk/hike on weekends) – I cancelled my gym membership – but have gotten equipment for home!
-Limit alcohol intake – Done! Only 1 day with a couple of cocktails!
-Continue to log and drink water – Done!

I am looking forward to setting up my home gym! Found some used equipment and very excited! After much thought and contemplation I decided to quit the gym. I wasn't going and to be honest I didn't like going. We all have to find what works for us...and enjoy what we are doing to be successful. I am cool with losing slow but learning new habits and new things about me that will help me continue a healthy lifestyle and be here for my future grandkids!

Everyone have a fabulous weekend!

My jeans are too big.
The next size down is too small.

I need a belt.

I hate belts! The buckles always bruise my stomach.

But I also am not liking the ever growing risk of my pants just falling off in public. My workplace is pretty casual/forgiving but maybe not THAT much.

I wish I could just wear skirts. Unfortunately, I wrote the rule that forbids them.