Women 200lb+, Let's Be Mighty this May!!!
RavenStCloud
Posts: 352 Member
🏵️Hello, ladies! Happy May! 🏵️
🏵️ We finally made it through April! Hopefully, everyone is continuing to stay safe wherever you are in the world. While situations continue to change somehow both rapidly and slowly all at once, our commitment to bettering our health has remained the same.
🏵️ This May, let's be strong. Let's be mighty. Let's be resilient. We can bend, but we will not break. What things, mental or physical, have helped to get you through these tough times? And have your goals, long or short term, changed for this month?
🟠 If you've never been here before, please know you are welcome to join at any point in the month. All you have to do is post something, and then BAM!, you're one of us.
🟠 In this group, we post our weekly and monthly goals and provide support and motivation to each other as we share our triumphs and our struggles. This group is all about accountability.
🟠All are welcome and, if you think you belong here, you do! No matter how much you currently weigh or how you measure (or don't measure) your weight, we'd love to hear from you.
🟠 Victories, both scale and non-scale, are great to hear about, but, conversely, we know that weight loss isn't all sunshine and roses. If you're going through a rough patch, please feel free to be honest and vent your heart out. The struggle is real and we're all here to support each other!
🧡Remember you are a force to be reckoned with! Have a mighty good May! 🧡
🏵️ We finally made it through April! Hopefully, everyone is continuing to stay safe wherever you are in the world. While situations continue to change somehow both rapidly and slowly all at once, our commitment to bettering our health has remained the same.
🏵️ This May, let's be strong. Let's be mighty. Let's be resilient. We can bend, but we will not break. What things, mental or physical, have helped to get you through these tough times? And have your goals, long or short term, changed for this month?
🟠 If you've never been here before, please know you are welcome to join at any point in the month. All you have to do is post something, and then BAM!, you're one of us.
🟠 In this group, we post our weekly and monthly goals and provide support and motivation to each other as we share our triumphs and our struggles. This group is all about accountability.
🟠All are welcome and, if you think you belong here, you do! No matter how much you currently weigh or how you measure (or don't measure) your weight, we'd love to hear from you.
🟠 Victories, both scale and non-scale, are great to hear about, but, conversely, we know that weight loss isn't all sunshine and roses. If you're going through a rough patch, please feel free to be honest and vent your heart out. The struggle is real and we're all here to support each other!
🧡Remember you are a force to be reckoned with! Have a mighty good May! 🧡
28
Replies
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Thank you so much, Raven.
May! Here we are!
This month, I'm going to try to make smarter goals, a la @speyerj , to monitor my progress. I allowed myself space in April, it's time to re-dedicate in May.
31 years old
5'4"
SW: 207
CW: 191
March goal weight: 186
UGW: 145
GOALS (I'm stealing your little flower icons again, Raven, they're so cute) :
🏵️ Lose 5 lbs. It's a little lofty, going to have to work at it. But I think it's totally doable.
🏵️ Log everything in grams. This worked for me in February, I fell off in March and April. In order for me to make my weight goal this month, I need to log every.thing. And that'll keep me from snacking too much. Everything in grams, every day.
🏵️ No more than 20% calories from treats every day.
🏵️ Move every day. Keep my running training schedule (set for speed increase instead of distance increase!), and on days off, do strength work. No excuses. Either running or strength work. I've got a calendar in my bullet journal where I highlight days I work out- I want every day to have a color on it.
🏵️ Drink more water. Make one of my milk jugs into one of those cutesy drink-throughout-the-day jugs with little sayings next to times. Drink an entire jug every day. Drinking more water might even head off some snacking.
🏵️ Be kind to myself. I'm not sure yet what that'll look like with these goals, but we'll say that it will look like this: every loss is good loss. Stalling is fine, as long as I'm happy with what I've done daily. Treats are part of life, and if they're logged in grams, then I've done fine. If I don't meet my weight goal, I'll still have done my best, and I'm still doing good work. Kindness.
🏵️ Treat myself in other ways than food. Skincare, nice baths, painting nails, knitting time, painting canvases, whatever.
Time for the return of the kick-butt mentality. I plan to be very mighty this May. Thanks again, Raven, this thread is so, so helpful for me.16 -
So here is how I'm trying to be mighty in May:
🏵️1st: I am trying a No Meat May challenge. I just bought tofu for the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE and I'm researching ways to prepare it. If anyone, has any tips and tricks to help me along this month, I would greatly appreciate it! I have never had any compulsion to be vegetarian, but lately cooking raw meat/poultry has been really off-putting. So I figured, hey, let's give this no meat thing a shot for 30 days.
🏵️2nd: Barring any Covid flare-ups in my area, I will start back up at the gym for the first time since January (was sick the first two months of the year, then corona hit). And I will be going BEFORE work, at around 6:30am. I am, by nature, a night owl, but quarantine threw off my schedule and I've been waking up super early lately, so I might as well take advantage.
🏵️3rd: It looks like I have a three month mini-goal of getting back in shape for the beginning of August. Some work friends are planning a week long vacation (once again Covid-permitting) to a place that has at least one steep hike and lots of outdoor activities. And right now I get winded going up a flight of stairs. So that should help me stay focused.
I will be posting detailed weekly stats on Monday, but I wanted to talk about my big monthly plans first. Happy May, everyone! 💜17 -
Hello, I’m Rhonda in North Carolina and I am working hard to get the weight off. Been at the obesity range for 10 years. Here’s a little about me:
51 years old
5’9.5" inches tall
SW 241.5
CW 203.4
Mid-May GW 199
End May GW 195
UGW 180
I started Jan 30 and I’m down 37 lbs. Quarantine has been the perfect opportunity for me to focus on weight loss. I don’t have the excuse of “vacationing messed up my diet” nor do I have the excuse of “meeting friends for dinner and drinks”. Since I have to fix my food everyday, I can control what I eat.
I’ve created an analogy for the quarantine. I call it the “cocoon” period. During quarantine I’m like a caterpillar and this is my “transformation” period. When quarantine is lifted I hope to emerge like a butterfly and shock ALL my friends because I have not shared my weight loss with them!32 -
RavenStCloud wrote: »🏵️Hello, ladies! Happy May! 🏵️
🏵️ We finally made it through April! Hopefully, everyone is continuing to stay safe wherever you are in the world. While situations continue to change somehow both rapidly and slowly all at once, our commitment to bettering our health has remained the same.
🏵️ This May, let's be strong. Let's be mighty. Let's be resilient. We can bend, but we will not break. What things, mental or physical, have helped to get you through these tough times? And have your goals, long or short term, changed for this month?
🟠 If you've never been here before, please know you are welcome to join at any point in the month. All you have to do is post something, and then BAM!, you're one of us.
🟠 In this group, we post our weekly and monthly goals and provide support and motivation to each other as we share our triumphs and our struggles. This group is all about accountability.
🟠All are welcome and, if you think you belong here, you do! No matter how much you currently weigh or how you measure (or don't measure) your weight, we'd love to hear from you.
🟠 Victories, both scale and non-scale, are great to hear about, but, conversely, we know that weight loss isn't all sunshine and roses. If you're going through a rough patch, please feel free to be honest and vent your heart out. The struggle is real and we're all here to support each other!
🧡Remember you are a force to be reckoned with! Have a mighty good May! 🧡
How do we join again? I forgot.3 -
Thank you for your continued encouragement!6
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@finngirl61 Hi and welcome! You simply post your goals for the month. Feel free to check back in as often as you'd like to update us on your progress or comment on someone else's post. 💜
4 -
finngirl61 wrote: »RavenStCloud wrote: »🏵️Hello, ladies! Happy May! 🏵️
🏵️ We finally made it through April! Hopefully, everyone is continuing to stay safe wherever you are in the world. While situations continue to change somehow both rapidly and slowly all at once, our commitment to bettering our health has remained the same.
🏵️ This May, let's be strong. Let's be mighty. Let's be resilient. We can bend, but we will not break. What things, mental or physical, have helped to get you through these tough times? And have your goals, long or short term, changed for this month?
🟠 If you've never been here before, please know you are welcome to join at any point in the month. All you have to do is post something, and then BAM!, you're one of us.
🟠 In this group, we post our weekly and monthly goals and provide support and motivation to each other as we share our triumphs and our struggles. This group is all about accountability.
🟠All are welcome and, if you think you belong here, you do! No matter how much you currently weigh or how you measure (or don't measure) your weight, we'd love to hear from you.
🟠 Victories, both scale and non-scale, are great to hear about, but, conversely, we know that weight loss isn't all sunshine and roses. If you're going through a rough patch, please feel free to be honest and vent your heart out. The struggle is real and we're all here to support each other!
🧡Remember you are a force to be reckoned with! Have a mighty good May! 🧡
How do we join again? I forgot.
However you'd like. Some people post goals and update weekly, others do not use that structure. Whatever and however works best for you is what you should do. You're here, you've joined us.
2 -
RavenStCloud wrote: »So here is how I'm trying to be mighty in May:
🏵️1st: I am trying a No Meat May challenge. I just bought tofu for the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE and I'm researching ways to prepare it. If anyone, has any tips and tricks to help me along this month, I would greatly appreciate it! I have never had any compulsion to be vegetarian, but lately cooking raw meat/poultry has been really off-putting. So I figured, hey, let's give this no meat thing a shot for 30 days.
🏵️2nd: Barring any Covid flare-ups in my area, I will start back up at the gym for the first time since January (was sick the first two months of the year, then corona hit). And I will be going BEFORE work, at around 6:30am. I am, by nature, a night owl, but quarantine threw off my schedule and I've been waking up super early lately, so I might as well take advantage.
🏵️3rd: It looks like I have a three month mini-goal of getting back in shape for the beginning of August. Some work friends are planning a week long vacation (once again Covid-permitting) to a place that has at least one steep hike and lots of outdoor activities. And right now I get winded going up a flight of stairs. So that should help me stay focused.
I will be posting detailed weekly stats on Monday, but I wanted to talk about my big monthly plans first. Happy May, everyone! 💜
I've done tofu a few times, and when I don't want soft tofu texture, find the key is to make sure I dry it as much as possible before marinating it/cooking it- so I usually put the block between paper towels and put a heavy pan on top of it to squeeze the moisture out. For things like tofu scramble, I don't do that, because I want that softer texture.5 -
Hello May!
Highest weight: 435 (11/1/18)--lost 50 lbs. by the end of 2018 but got off track and gained back almost 31 lbs.
SW: 415.8 (4/17/19)
4/30: 252.4
5/6:
5/13:
5/20:
5/27:
5/31:
May GW: 244.4
GW: 160 (then reevaluate)
Weekly exercise goals:
- exercise bike 5 times per week
- short walking videos or treadmill twice a day 5 times per week
- strength training 2 times per week
- chair yoga 3 times per week
- choose 2 or 3 core specific exercises and start doing them 3 times per week
Thank you @RavenStCloud for continuing to set up the new monthly threads. These threads are so helpful!14 -
Can’t believe that tomorrow is May 1st!
It’s hard to keep track of days in quarantine.
Age: 50
Height: 5’8 1/2”
SW April 13, 2020: 229.8
First GW 199
Second GW 185
April 30th: 227.9
My May goals are to kick being in a funk on grey or rainy days. Keep moving at least 5 if not 6 days a week. Be in the yard in the sun as much as possible.
Here’s to a marvelous May! 🌸
Jill9 -
Hello everyone! I've been so overwhelmed with life that I didn't end up posting much at all in April but I'm back for May, probably. I am definitely losing track of days and time. I feel quite disoriented.
Weight loss is going pretty well overall, though next week is my visit from Aunt Flo so I'm up all this water weight and PMSing like crazy.
F, 5'6"
SW: 272
CW: 183.8
GW (May): 179
GW (End): 150
I've officially dropped the obese label. So that's cool. I'm also coming up on 100 lbs lost, which is intense. I used to measure my weight loss in numbers of small cats (my cat being around 12 lbs), and now I've lost almost one quarter of a panda.22 -
Hello everyone,I'm new here.Just diving right in i'm having an extremely hard time losing. I just bought a scale for the first time in a few years and even though i thought i was losing i ended up being 15 lbs heavier than i originally thought.
My big goal is to lose about 84 lbs.My small goal is to lose anything at this point.
My workouts are 7 days a week and weight training is 3 days a week.Monday,wednesday,friday kickboxing.Tuesday and Saturday is power zumba,Thursday is barre and sunday is cardio dance and yoga.
My eating has stayed within my caloric requirements but i would like to goal to use a food scale and to not eat after 9 o clock at night.ALso going hand in hand with that to not go to bed at 4 am anymore and get a good nights sleep.
Oh and tofu can be really fantastic.Get the extra firm and dry out as much as possible>Then it can get nice and crispy on the stove.You can use in stir fry with veg in peanut or coconut curry sauce.You can also use it on salads with ginger.You can use it to thicken smoothies so they are velvety. Because it's so bland it can take on whatever flavor profile you'd like.13 -
Thank you @RavenStCoud. These threads have really helped me turn around a regain (Fall), Start to slowly lose ( starting mid-December through February) and to finally in the last 2 months deal with Stay At Home in a healthy way so that I am losing weight and have found a way to exercise at home despite not having a pool to do Aquafit. I have arthritis in my knees so I have to be careful with gravity and exercise. I have made checking in here part of my daily routine which is important now for me since I am on a temporary furlough from the job I love.
Name: Keri
67 years old, Height: 5'6"
SW: 266 lbs
2/1: 263.6
3/1: 261.8 lbs
4/1: 258
Lowest April weight: 253.8
May SW: 254
GW: Onderland 1st, maintain for a few weeks to reset weight. then 150 lbs.Then maintain and reset weight then re-evaluate my ideal weight.
May Goal weight: 249
My May Goals are:
1. Get enough sleep and improve water intake
2. Log weight, food and exercise and stay under calorie goal
3. Get some exercise 6 days a week and up NEAT clean. Try to exceed 150 minutes of exercise a week.
4. Get into the 240s this means my highs and lows get and stay below 255
5. Make healthy meals at home.
6. Keep up my bullet journal. Each week do a SKS feedback (Stop, Keep, Start) on what is working and what isn’t. look into what food journaling might look like.
Beyond May. I think we will continue to have a Stay at Home in my State. I think my employer may start a staged back to work plan after that. So I think May will be a continuance of what most of March and April was. I am thinking June will be a big adjustment again. I do not think things will be the same as they were before.7 -
@RavenStCloud You asked a question or 2 in your intro that I am taking seriously. I think since I have had time and needed to confront just this.
What things have helped get you through these tough times?
I have been listening to Corinne Crabtree’s Phit n Phat podcasts Usually while on my Gazelle and find a few things helpful although I am not that much of an emotional eater.
She emphasizes being kind to yourself and having helpful internal dialog. I agree with this but it isn’t that much of my issue since I had to learn to do this much earlier in life. Instead of getting down on ourselves when we don't meet goals evaluate non-judgmentally what adjustments to make.
She emphasizes making changes that you will do for the rest of your life. Don’t wait to live until after you lose weight. Start living healthy now for the rest of your life. This is something I believe too when I have lost weight.
She also emphasizes something that I did the 1st time I wanted to lose weight after Grad school. I read about how skinny people eat. Don’t eat unless you are hungry and stop eating when you are satisfied (not really full). One other thing that she doesn’t mention so far is if you do eat until you are full or beyond it is okay. Just wait until you are hungry again to eat again. Chances are it will take a while to be hungry again and then just eat until you are satisfied from then on. Also eat food you like. Don’t deprive yourself. Learn how to eat them more sensibly. Yes there are those food we decide are just not worth it. Or we just can’t have in the house. I do not know why I didn’t really focus on this the last time I lost weight. It is really working for me now.
She doesn’t believe in counting calories. I believe that having information on what is working and what isn’t is helpful so I log. I have a spreadsheet as well as using MFP and I have a weight APP on my phone to help me deal with weight variations. I used to have a Fitbit Versa but it was irritating my skin. The watch face is too big. I guess I need to just go back to a simple fitbit.
She says that exercise can be a distraction from losing weight. Do it only if you want to for your own reasons other than losing weight. I think she has a point. However as an older woman exercise helps my slowing metabolism and exercise is part of being healthy and that is why I am losing weight. I want to be healthier and frankly I want to be stronger. So I will continue to work on this. She is right though if it is getting in the way don’t focus on exercise right away.
She emphasizes routine or daily routines. She says our brains need this. I think she has another point. This is a big issue for us Stay At Home and temporarily furloughed people not to mention those who have been laid off in general due to COVID-19. She offers the idea of starting with a very short to do list and then prioritize 1 or 2 things to do that day to get started. There were a few days I need(ed) this idea. However I used bullet journaling to help me with this issue. I use One Note on my computer. I used to do bullet journaling before it was a thing. When I was a studio artist I had a sketch book in my purse. Every day I would journal and sketch and organize using this. I had weekly schedules, monthly schedules, to do lists, shopping lists mixed in with my sketching. If I met someone I handed them my sketchbook so they could give me contact info in it.
Another thing that helped me was my experience during the last big economic downturn in 2009ish. I got laid off and my field was hit in 4-5 ways. It was impossible to find work. I had just started to exercise and lose weight when that happened. So I started to exercise every day. I did C25K and ended up doing interval walk/runs, continued aquafit, started weight training. I lost 40 pounds. I gained it back when I started working/commuting again. But I am using lessons from this time. I was told I should change careers unless I had stellar credentials. I did and when the economy picked up employers called me. However this is a different time than then. Gyms are not open and I can’t even take junk to Goodwill. I have to find ways of getting healthy foods to my home in a safe way. I do not have the same body. I was in my 50s then and didn’t have any health issues or injuries. I now have really only arthritis to deal with but it is a limitation. I am lucky if I am careful I don’t have flare ups. I miss aquafit but I needed some other exercise to supplement it so this has been good. Once a week I do a weight training, exercise and stretching plan and otherwise walk or use my Gazelle which I can set up in the living room now that no one comes over.
What changes to goals for the month?
Well since I lost some weight I lowered my weight goal down . The other change was I added a goal related to evaluating my progress each week. I also wanted to up the amount of exercise. I read an article on MFP about exercise and obesity and am using 150 minutes a week as my goal to exceed. 150 minutes was found in studies to avoid obesity. However maybe I should just do what I want to do for the rest of my life. Maybe I should just do 150 minutes.
I have read a book about instead of aging we can actually kick in things in our bodies to not maybe live longer but to live younger. It was called Younger Next Year. It suggested we needed over 45 minutes ever day or at least 6 days a week to kick in these mechanisms in our body that help our cells to rejuvenate. It was written by a Doctor that wanted to help his aging patients live healthier lives. Unfortunately it was rather male centrist. So I used to use this as my exercise goal but for now I think I will start with the 150 minutes. As I remember he also emphasized healthy fats.
7 -
RavenStCloud wrote: »So here is how I'm trying to be mighty in May:
🏵️1st: I am trying a No Meat May challenge. I just bought tofu for the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE and I'm researching ways to prepare it. If anyone, has any tips and tricks to help me along this month, I would greatly appreciate it! I have never had any compulsion to be vegetarian, but lately cooking raw meat/poultry has been really off-putting. So I figured, hey, let's give this no meat thing a shot for 30 days.
There is an Indonesian dish I love. It is called Tahu Goreng. It is fried tofu with peanut butter sauce. You dip the tofu in beaten egg and pan fry. Then make an Indonesian peanut sauce (garlic, soy sauce a little water). You parboil some bean sprouts to put on top of the fried tofu. It gives you that protein satisfaction you get from eating a steak.2 -
Can’t believe that tomorrow is May 1st!
My May goals are to kick being in a funk on grey or rainy days. Keep moving at least 5 if not 6 days a week. Be in the yard in the sun as much as possible.
Jill
I seem to have a funk day once a week. It used to be Mondays but this week Monday was good but yesterday was my funk day.4 -
I've officially dropped the obese label. So that's cool. I'm also coming up on 100 lbs lost, which is intense. I used to measure my weight loss in numbers of small cats (my cat being around 12 lbs), and now I've lost almost one quarter of a panda.
Wow! this is so cool! Congratulations!6 -
daniels8186 wrote: »Hello everyone,I'm new here.Just diving right in i'm having an extremely hard time losing. I just bought a scale for the first time in a few years and even though i thought i was losing i ended up being 15 lbs heavier than i originally thought.
My big goal is to lose about 84 lbs.My small goal is to lose anything at this point.
My workouts are 7 days a week and weight training is 3 days a week.Monday,wednesday,friday kickboxing.Tuesday and Saturday is power zumba,Thursday is barre and sunday is cardio dance and yoga.
My eating has stayed within my caloric requirements but i would like to goal to use a food scale and to not eat after 9 o clock at night.ALso going hand in hand with that to not go to bed at 4 am anymore and get a good nights sleep.
You have really got the exercise and eating down! The basics of health are though are water and sleep. I struggle with these but find if they aren't there the other doesn't work as well.
3 -
@RavenStCloud -
This was the first recipe I ever made with Tofu that I really liked.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/4305-red-cooked-tofu
This is one I made recently that is delicious, easy and healthy:
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1012494-spinach-tofu-and-sesame-stir-fry
This one was also really good:
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020530-baked-tofu-with-peanut-sauce-and-coconut-lime-rice
My daughter is vegan, so I practice making meatless dishes a lot. Hit me up if you want more recipes.
3 -
Name: Jane
Age: 54
SW: 286.5 (6/3/19)
GW: 180
4/30: 185.3
5/2:
5/9:
5/16:
5/23:
5/30:
Goals for May:
1) Reach my goal weight!! Then I'll decide if I want to push for 170 or maintain
2) Keep logging
3) Get 10000 steps/day
4) Finish a 9 mile run
5) Stay well
In answer to your questions "What things, mental or physical, have helped to get you through these tough times?"
Appreciating my good fortune - that I remain healthy and have a job that is not at risk nor puts me at risk. That makes me especially privileged in these times. I know it isn't that way for others, so remembering that helps me manage the stress from this global calamity.
"And have your goals, long or short term, changed for this month?" - for those of you who've been on this thread a long time, you know that I used to set a lot of really specific goals and then measure my adherence to them weekly. I'm not doing that so much anymore and goals I've set are more relaxed. But it's still working for me. I still try to drink lots and lots of water, but I'm not stressing if I don't hit my goal. And I still strive to eat under 100 grams of carbs, but I also allow myself to have a good old carb fest here and there so long as I stay within my deficit range. I've relaxed a bit, which I think is important for my mental health, but also to prepare me for maintenance.
Want to call a shout out to @Terytha for being Overweight! Congratulations!
9
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