Hey gang

Still struggling with calories. At this point I'm trying to minimize the negative impact on me mentally more than anything else.

-so not weighing every day, just my 2 regular checkins
-I was trying to calculate every day how much I was over my weekly allowance and how to fit things in and it just drives me crazy and makes me feel frustrated. So I know I am over this week, I'm just going to take it day by day and stop doing that.

I'm going out with friends tomorrow and part of me is like just don't drink, and then I'm like I will resent that and then overdo it another night. So I'm going to try limiting myself to one (was going to be 2, but one is fine).

@AustinRuadhain that's a great checkin! What kind of breathing exercises do you do?

@kayla7303 that's a great checkin.

@Katmary71 good luck with the fitbit. I thought about getting one, but I'm not sure if/how it would help me. But I know a lot of people love them

Hi to everyone else, will try to come back later....I am generally gloomy today, I think it's hormones, did I mention I hate being a woman lol? Someone said menopause is worse but I'm ready for it any day now.

its_cleo wrote: »

Hey gang

Still struggling with calories. At this point I'm trying to minimize the negative impact on me mentally more than anything else.

-so not weighing every day, just my 2 regular checkins
-I was trying to calculate every day how much I was over my weekly allowance and how to fit things in and it just drives me crazy and makes me feel frustrated. So I know I am over this week, I'm just going to take it day by day and stop doing that.

I'm going out with friends tomorrow and part of me is like just don't drink, and then I'm like I will resent that and then overdo it another night. So I'm going to try limiting myself to one (was going to be 2, but one is fine).

@AustinRuadhain that's a great checkin! What kind of breathing exercises do you do?

@kayla7303 that's a great checkin.

@Katmary71 good luck with the fitbit. I thought about getting one, but I'm not sure if/how it would help me. But I know a lot of people love them

Hi to everyone else, will try to come back later....I am generally gloomy today, I think it's hormones, did I mention I hate being a woman lol? Someone said menopause is worse but I'm ready for it any day now.

@its_cleo hey, if it's any peek into the future, I'm digging menopause - minus the fact that I have little to no libido anymore, it's actually kinda nice. I mostly went gently into the good night of menopause - peri for a few years and then it was generally mild except for a couple years of super irritability and some minor hot flashes at night. Sad about the libido because I was totally the opposite but everything else is pretty good (at least for me).

Also - you may have stated this and I missed it but I am hearing a lot of continued frustration over the calories. but I don't recall why you are counting now when you didn't before? Are you reigning in a gain or it just seems you should be or....? Feel free to tell me nunya (bidness). I just know from experience for myself that when I try to force feed something, it rarely goes well and I'll resist my own efforts. Is there a way to ease into it more, rather than a quick dive in? This change may feel better if it were more gradual or you still allowed for (something you dearly miss, food wise with calorie counting). It strikes me that you feel some resentfulness for the calorie counting. Again - no worries if this is a nunya. =>

raleighgirl09
Thursday weigh in week 2 (13Feb2020)
Previous weight: 185.2
Current weight: 183.4
Steps 12Feb2020 8,880 (Do I need to add this anymore....? I'm on FitRockr - seems yesterday and today are not caught up, though)

Very happy with the weigh in - no doubt. I am in a bit of a quandary, though, and want to avoid a pattern I have seen emerge on many occasions.

I have weekend plans to drive to the coast which means a 3 hour drive on Friday night and a 3 hour drive back on Monday evening. Meals planned include a Zaxby's salad tomorrow and I always get the Buffalo Bleu with bread and one dressing, for a cool 870 calories and 2680 mgs of sodium (already 380 more than the recommended daily amount of 2300 mgs) - that on top of a long drive is an assured swelling and retention of fluid which may or may not be down by Monday when I do it again to get back. Calorie wise tomorrow - add in coffee, gin and a modest breakfast tomorrow with lunch skipped has me at over 1300 calories for the day (omg, what if I am hungry for lunch??) - I pre-logged it to get a look at it and examine what that feels like. Saturday is a planned evening at an oyster bar and some drinks at a very cool whiskey bar. Sunday modest fare at home, same type modest fare Monday and we drive home that evening after working remotely at the coast for the day. Home late. Back to the quandary - I very often follow a really great streak with a very bad one, and here is one example if how that happens. I guess the answer is to avoid the usual at Zaxby's which is just irritating, but it may help avoid some of this? I wonder if I can do it and just know the result and be ok with it....? But - I feel some deflated by that, too - I don't want to slide backward. But I don't want to feel deprived. I guess I'll keep thinking about it and figure it out and be happy with whatever the decision is. I do appreciate size 12 pants more than Zaxby's, I have to be honest.

Did I mention that we are going to Florida and camping with family the first week of March? This imperfection is going to last awhile.

On to new thoughts - I feel much better this evening, not nearly as tired - I did get some solid rest last night, made myself go to bed at 10 when all I really wanted to do was veg out at the computer and be a zombie for another hour. But I did the responsible thing and I must say, I didn't regret it today. =>

Planned and Prelog 3 meals? yes, all three but some switches happened....all on plan
Times? B 11, L 4p, D 7p
Non-planned eating and thoughts?
Hunger? who can even tell when you are driving from one person in need to the next in white knuckle downpouring rain, surrounded by *kitten*? I guess not enough to register, must have been a low hunger day
Exercise? nadda =<
Sleep? 10p-645a [log the morning after]
Assessed the previous day / week / month?

raleighgirl09 wrote: »

raleighgirl09
Thursday weigh in week 2 (13Feb2020)
Previous weight: 185.2
Current weight: 183.4
Steps 12Feb2020 8,880 (Do I need to add this anymore....? I'm on FitRockr - seems yesterday and today are not caught up, though)

Very happy with the weigh in - no doubt. I am in a bit of a quandary, though, and want to avoid a pattern I have seen emerge on many occasions.

I have weekend plans to drive to the coast which means a 3 hour drive on Friday night and a 3 hour drive back on Monday evening. Meals planned include a Zaxby's salad tomorrow and I always get the Buffalo Bleu with bread and one dressing, for a cool 870 calories and 2680 mgs of sodium (already 380 more than the recommended daily amount of 2300 mgs) - that on top of a long drive is an assured swelling and retention of fluid which may or may not be down by Monday when I do it again to get back. Calorie wise tomorrow - add in coffee, gin and a modest breakfast tomorrow with lunch skipped has me at over 1300 calories for the day (omg, what if I am hungry for lunch??) - I pre-logged it to get a look at it and examine what that feels like. Saturday is a planned evening at an oyster bar and some drinks at a very cool whiskey bar. Sunday modest fare at home, same type modest fare Monday and we drive home that evening after working remotely at the coast for the day. Home late. Back to the quandary - I very often follow a really great streak with a very bad one, and here is one example if how that happens. I guess the answer is to avoid the usual at Zaxby's which is just irritating, but it may help avoid some of this? I wonder if I can do it and just know the result and be ok with it....? But - I feel some deflated by that, too - I don't want to slide backward. But I don't want to feel deprived. I guess I'll keep thinking about it and figure it out and be happy with whatever the decision is. I do appreciate size 12 pants more than Zaxby's, I have to be honest.

Did I mention that we are going to Florida and camping with family the first week of March? This imperfection is going to last awhile.

On to new thoughts - I feel much better this evening, not nearly as tired - I did get some solid rest last night, made myself go to bed at 10 when all I really wanted to do was veg out at the computer and be a zombie for another hour. But I did the responsible thing and I must say, I didn't regret it today. =>

Planned and Prelog 3 meals? yes, all three but some switches happened....all on plan
Times? B 11, L 4p, D 7p
Non-planned eating and thoughts?
Hunger? who can even tell when you are driving from one person in need to the next in white knuckle downpouring rain, surrounded by *kitten*? I guess not enough to register, must have been a low hunger day
Exercise? nadda =<
Sleep? 10p-645a [log the morning after]
Assessed the previous day / week / month?

Step Challenge Note
Per Teresa, we won't migrate the entire Slimpossibles Step Challenge until March, to give people time to get onboard, and also to make sure all works well. So keep posting numbers for the spreadsheet if you are in the current challenge!

As far as yesterday and today not being caught up -- I checked, and as of right now, FitRockr says the last time you synced up with FiBit was Feb 12 14:51. So maybe try syncing up with FitBit? Hopefully it's just you needing to sync, as I can see this working for another Fitbit user....

If I go to Analytics and look at Personal Stats > Steps, I can see my Steps number is correct and current in the graph at the top of that page. I took some additional steps, synced up again, and can see that the number updates properly and immediately. BUT if I look in the little summary box relating to steps below that graph, I see the step number for today (Feb 13) listed as the Step Number for Yesterday. So if you were looking at that highlight box, it may be misbehaving.

Oh, and go, @bethanie0825 , go! You are now set up on FitRockr and in the lead of the people set up so far!

@leonadixon good luck with the ultrasound, I hope it's not a gallbladder issue.

@its_cleo I'm sorry you're feeling gloomy. I hope taking things day by day works better for you. As for the Fitbit there's things I really like and things I'm frustrated with. I really like seeing my heartrate- especially resting and when working out.Steps is mixed because my workouts aren't steps plus I'm getting more steps in a rocking chair! I did pace the house to "earn" an official 10,000 after working out. Like a lot of the other features.

@raleighgirl09 Sounds like you have a wonderful weekend planned, have a great time! Camping sounds fun too, I love camping. I recently read of wrapping potatoes/sweet potatoes in foil and cooking under coals in a campfire, that could be something healthy to try depending on what you put on it! Hiking when camping is awesome, I know last time I did I definitely burned off my peanut butter and jelly and half bag of pretzels!

@AustinRuadhain can you manually enter steps into Fitrockr? Right now I'm subtracting steps from the rocking chair so I still get the calorie count, I'm wondering if I need to remove it so it's fair when sitting. Such a dumb problem but I'm not sure how else to make syncing fair.

Official weigh in

Username: mrmcgrath
Weigh in week: Week 3
Weigh in day: Friday
Weight: 196.3
Todays Weight 194.1💥

Good morning team!! Happy Valentines Day to all of your!! Sorry that I didn't check in yesterday. I was in an all-day staff planning meeting and by the time I got home I just wanted to eat dinner and stare at the TV. It's weird how exhausting just sitting at a table and talking all day can be. But the six of us who make up the staff made what we feel are great decisions for our little church and we are very excited to see what this year will do!

I was shocked that I lost weight this morning because Pastor brought donuts for breakfast and yes I had one and a half! Then we went out to lunch and I had a grilled chicken and bacon sandwich with fries. I think I lost weight mostly because I did zero exercises and all the water flushed out of me from the intense workouts I had done this past week.

Tonight hubby is taking me out to dinner to our favorite Italian restaurant so I'm sure my calorie count will be blown but it's all for love, so those calories don't count right?

I am super excited about the new step challenge that will start on March 1st and I really hope you all will join up!! I think this is going to be a great addition to our team as a whole and super easy to maintain. You won't have to post your steps and the captains won't have to work to keep track of the steps. It's a win-win for us all so PLEASE sign up today and let's get to stepping!!!

I will keep track of your steps for this month so like @AustinRuadhain said in her post, keep posting them here!! See below on how you can sign up. It's VERY easy and we are here if you have any questions!

AustinRuadhain wrote: »

The Slimpossibles Step Challenge Is Going High(er) Tech! We are going to try migrating the weekly Steps Challenge to a new platform that we think will make it easier to participate and easier to manage starting in March. Yay!

Steppers, Get Set up Now for the March Challenge!
If you might be interested in the weekly Slimpossibles Step Challenges in March, please go ahead and get set up.

The spreadsheet is still how step challengers are tracking steps through the end of February.

To Figure This Out As You Go, see this link:
https://www.fitrockr.com:443/#!/join/league/5e42db924dbe5b0001973d73/c81a3fad-1c5a-450d-aef7-6dc1a64a3e7d
Follow directions to set up a FitRockr profile, connect your fitness tracker and then join the Slimpossibles Weekly Step Challenge.

For Step-by-Step Help:
FIRST, SET UP A PROFILE ON FITROCKR
GO to https://www.fitrockr.com/
SELECT Sign Up
- You'll be asked for your email address (optional newsletter) and you'll need to choose a password.
- Your next step will be to connect your tracking device to the FitRockr platform. Supported devices include Apple Watch, Fitbit, Garmin, Google Fit, Nokia/Withings, and Android/Apple Phone.
COMPLETE your Profile Data. You can set your First Name and Last Name to be something close to your MFP name if you like.
NOTE: FitRockr asks for your Gender, Year of Birth, Height and Weight in order to calculate fitness-related Points. You need not enter correct data if this makes you uncomfortable, but know that they don't share that data with other people. Only your profile picture, first and last name are shared with other FitRockr users. All other data is private and is only visible to you.

NEXT, JOIN THE SLIMPOSSIBLES CHALLENGE ON FITROCKR
JOIN the Slimpossibles Weekly Step Challenge by going here (you'll need to log in or be logged in to FitRockr):
https://www.fitrockr.com:443/#!/join/league/5e42db924dbe5b0001973d73/c81a3fad-1c5a-450d-aef7-6dc1a64a3e7d
If all went well, you will see the message "Congrats! You just joined the following league: Slimpossibles Weekly Step Challenge"
SELECT Enter to see your ranking in this week's challenge.

Once You Are Set Up
Going forward, you can view the Slimpossibles Step Challenge league at any time using this link:
https://www.fitrockr.com/#!/challenge/5e42dbe44dbe5b000197407b

Your steps will be tracked automatically when you sync your fitness tracker.
You will not need to do anything to be entered in the next week's Slimpossibles Step Challenge.
Easy peasy!

Happy Valentine's Day, Slimpossibles!

@TeresaW1020 -
💚 Hurray for losing weight today! And hurray for that productive meeting yesterday! An all-day meeting would exhaust me, too!
👍🏽 I think that you may have been still paying attention to seating reasonably, since you are one and a half donuts.
💝 Enjoy that Valentine's Day dinner tonight!
👐 And while we are at it, thanks for all you do to keep Slimpossibles going strong! This is such a great group, so helpful for supporting people in reaching health goals.

@mrmcgrath - 🎈 Fabulous weigh-in! 💚 Congratulations on being in the green!

@KatMary71 - 👍🏽 Yippee to 10,000 steps and being under calories! What a great day!
👐 I am sorry you weren't happy with the doctor's appointment. That can be so frustrating.
✅ I am right there with you on the love of check marks! And you are SO SMART to know that about yourself and use it as a force for good! ✅

@raleighgirl09 -

I do appreciate size 12 pants more than Zaxby's, I have to be honest.

Did I mention that we are going to Florida and camping with family the first week of March? This imperfection is going to last awhile.

On to new thoughts - I feel much better this evening, not nearly as tired - I did get some solid rest last night, made myself go to bed at 10 when all I really wanted to do was veg out at the computer and be a zombie for another hour. But I did the responsible thing and I must say, I didn't regret it today. =>

🤣 Thanks for making me laugh about the size 12 pants. It does make it easier to not be grumpy about choices if we are clear we are making a choice for ourselves. Whatever you do, I love all your forethought and planning.

👍🏽 Imperfection -- well, yeah. But part of what you want this healthier body for is so you can go camping with your family, so YAY for getting fit and mobile and able to do that. The plan will be there when you get back from the trip!

@prowell57 - 👍🏽 Great work yesterday!

@gwamajtw91

A little disappointed that I still haven't dropped below 170, but persevering!!

❤️ I love your attitude! 👍🏽 Keep working your plan!

@its_cleo
😃 Hey, I am so thrilled you asked about breathing exercises!
One of my favorite breathing exercises is Dr. Weil's 4-7-8 breathing technique (#2 on this page, and there's a nice 3 min video).

Breathing is one of those things I always thought I knew how to do. I'm not dead yet! And yet, it turns out that I had things I could learn. I have found breathing work super helpful, though not in a magic pill, big immediate bang kind of way. I now look for ways to fit in a little breathing exercise here and there throughout my day.

🤞REMINDER TO STEPPERS:🤞 We are not changing how we manage the Steps Challenge this month, so keep reporting steps here until end of February.

Kpaige428
Friday Weigh In
Week 2
Previous Weight: 158.4lbs
Current Weight: 155.6lbs


Steps:
2/7: 9,181
2/8: 8,337
2/9: 2,604
2/10: 12,120
2/11: 13,082
2/12: 7,098
2/13: 10,665

This was a better week for me. Finally feeling better and seeing progress! I hope everyone has a great weekend and Happy Valentine's Day!!

@raleigh_girl always ok to ask that’s why we’re here….I started out tracking calories last January. I tried different things- following MFP etc. I could never do it, although I have cut back a lot on junk food, eating out etc. So partway through last year, maybe last summer, I was tracking regularly but couldn’t stick to any goal.

So last fall I thought set an easy goal, try to stick to it for 3 months and then adjust downward. So the last three-6 months my goal was an average of 1900 calories a day per week. So I pretty much met it. So now I started a new 3 month challenge and adjusted it down to 1800 calories per day, and hoping my weekly average would be under 1800.
I’m 3 weeks in. I had success week 1 and week 2, and now week 3 I won’t make the goal I don’t think. So I think I’ll just keep on with my plan and do the best I can for the 3 months. My last 3 month “challenge”- I was over 1800 5x. So even if I can bring that down this time it’s some success.

I find setting a flat rate works better for me than using the MFP calories/exercise calories, but I do track everything consistently on MFP.

Hopefully that makes sense! My weight is okayish- I fluctuate around 155-160 at 5’2”. I would like to drop 20 lbs but my body may just not be okay with that lol. I have checked the fat to muscle ration, and there is definitely fat that could be lost theoretically.

I feel a little better about it today.

@katmary71 yeah I think the fitbit- I would like the heart rate thing too. If I ever got good at running, to the point where I was really tracking pace and distance, I would probably get something like that.

@AustinRuadhain- thanks re: the breathing exercises. I will check it out. I’m a shallow breather and I know breathing exercises are very helpful I just haven’t done it in a while. It’s one of those things I forget about.

@TeresaW1020 have a great Valentine’s Day!

@kpaige428 congrats on the loss.

Well I’m supposed to walk 11 km with my hiking club tonight but it’s between -10c and -15c so I’m looking forward to going out but not so much the temperature. We walk to a pub and will have a drink or maybe two. Here's hoping I'm not a popsicle by the time I get there!

Happy Valentine;s day all!