Women 200lb+, Let's Be Mighty this May!!!

Saturday weight: 180.8

Well on my way to that 179 goal for May. I feel like I lose weight faster when I don't go to the gym. But I do miss the muscle gains.

Threw out my back really badly so today I'm spending quality time with my magic bag. Of all the things I "stole" when I left home at 17, this one has been most used and useful. Its almost older than me and has a rather powerful smell of stale buttered popcorn but nothing works like it.

So many great posts this week - would like to comment on so many but just have a minute before running to work.

Checking In:
SW - 213 (Jan 2020)
May 1st: 187.6
May 8th: 185
May 15: 182.6

Monthly Goals:
1. Get into the 170s - trying my best!
2. Do 120 flights of stairs weekly - With a couple great hikes with big hills and a couple cardio stair-climbing sessions this week (on actual stairs, not a step climber), I did 252 flights of stairs this week. (My new fitbit gives me a lot more flights than my old device, but either way greater than 120)
3. Be better with pre-logging and minimizing snacking: For the most part I have been doing a good job... some room for improvement
4. Strength train 2-3x per week: Got in 2 good sessions this week. Need to do an upper body session tomorrow I think

Just trying to stay positive and focused and work toward improvements in my physical fitness. Scale numbers look surprisingly nice in this post, but the 187.6 was a high for me, and the 182.6 is a low that will bounce up a pound for sure.

I did the first day of C25K this morning. I used to run a lot, and I loved running. I haven't run in over 2.5 years now. When I first started trying to get back in shape in January, I knew that I couldn't just jump back into running because I didn't have the strength or the cardiovascular fitness to be able to do it. So I have really focused on my walking program and getting in my step count (Today is Day 90 in a row where I've reached my 11,500 step count!), working on my strength training especially for core and lower body, and trying to improve my cardiovascular fitness through stair climbing. I am happy to say that this work over the last 4 months made today's run really fun and manageable. Not panting or out of breath. No pain or soreness in my legs. Just followed the Day 1 instructions and enjoyed the exercise and a beautiful day with a good foam rolling session after. If I had done that back in January, I think I would have just been so out of breath and uncomfortable that I would have quit. So even though it's just Day 1, I feel really proud of myself. I'm not trying to be the runner I was before - I don't see myself running 10 miles on the weekends or anything - but I would like to run enough to get my heart rate up for my health. And I would like to be a good enough runner that I don't look totally out of shape whenever I'm running to catch the bus.

Hope everyone has a great week!

@wholebygrace - 2 pound loss! Thanks great!
@smithmns414 - I know you are working so hard! This is a tough time because for medical reasons you are kind of white knuckling your weight loss - losing a faster pace than is probably comfortable for your body, but you have a really good reason to keep you motivated. I know it will get easier for you as time goes on. Just know we support you and are cheering you on.
@Tiffanylynn1024 - Welcome. Restarting for the 100th time is a common thread here. I can tell you one thing I learned from my many regains is that I will never be able to "eat just how I want". I used to think I could get to a goal weight and just "live my life". It was a revelation when I was talking to a long time maintainer (4 years) who told me she still logs. And that the people in her life who have been thin their whole lives also can't "just eat whatever". Even if they don't log, they mentally keep track of what they eat to make sure they don't eat too much. You can do this, but find a way to make losing weight sustainable for you, because you'll be on this journey for the rest of your life.
@Terytha - new bras are such a game changer! After losing 80 pounds I finally got new bras. I can't believe it took me that long. But so much more comfortable and it makes a huge difference in my appearance. Hope yours back spasm calms down.
@procolorer - Woah! Huge loss! Congratulations on the great test results too!
@supersparklyk - losing a pound a week is great and totally expected after dropping quickly in the weeks prior. As you progress down this journey you'll start to expect weeks like that. It's not a reflection of how well you did in sticking to plan, its more that sometimes it can take two weeks for fat loss to show up on the scale.
@Rosie3579 - Great loss! You have the perspective of a long time veteran - you understand the how the scale bounces all over the place. But enjoy the new low number!. Welcome back to running! I restarted in November last year and am training for my first half marathon. If you haven't seen Brittany Runs a Marathon on Amazon yet, I recommend it for both entertainment and inspiration!

@cupcakecrusoe I think all the gree checks after be kind to myself shows it was a win this week. Great job analyzing what went on this past week in a non-judgemental way. Glad Saturday is seeing results.

@mmccloy12 It takes a while for one to get used to having days without going to work. You are right to focus on one thing each day. You can make a daily list. Then Identify 2-4 priorities then make sure you get one done. You have a lot of May goals and are doing so well with most of them.

@wholebygrace when my kids were out for the summer I still had them do some math because it is something that if you don’t use it you lose it. I would get a work book and tell them to do every 3 problems on a page on the weekdays. I didn’t get anything too hard but didn’t want it to be boring either. It didn’t take any time at all but when they went back to school they were ahead of everyone else who had forgotten everything from the year before. Also reading is good otherwise they got to play. However that is hard when you are working at home. I hope it goes well. My daughter bought a book for me to read this week on my kindle (using my account so I paid). It was good and she was happy I followed up on her recommended reading. I am back to my series I was on.

@Tiffanylynn1024 How much are you drinking water. I think you are probably losing inches. Also make sure you are getting enough sleep. Those 2 things are the base of everything else. Even if you are counting calories also pay attention to eating when you are hungry and stopping when you are satisfied. It will happen.

@Terytha sounds like happy problems to me - glad you had fun shopping. Sorry your back hurts.

@procolorer I had to look up enlightened ice cream. I was wondering how you were losing so well. But substituting water for Dr Pepper (even Diet) would do it. Great! I do not think it is the caffeine. There is a health benefit to caffeine 2-3 cups of coffee for women and 3-4 for men. I use to have one double tall latte and 1 cup of tea a day when I went to work. Now I have one black coffee. Should probably have tea but I am too busy drinking water.

@cesse47 I was worried when I saw I had 22 new posts to reply to then saw that many were you quoting and sweetly replying to others. Phew!

@Rosie3579 Best with starting C25K

@speyerj Hope it was a wonderful birthday. I wonder whether it would be good for you to maintain at 180 for a couple of weeks before deciding what to do. That resets your weight. Your body wants to go back to a weight it thinks you should be from before you lost weight. It is usually a weight you maintained for a while. If you can maintain at a certain weight it convinces your body that is your new weight. Then it is easier to lose another 5 – 10 pounds. After 10% weight loss your body will fight you harder. Maintaining is as important a skill. However you have done so well at losing that it would be tempting to lose another 10.

@pamiede so inspiring one victory after another.

So today I just want to get my water intake up again and keep my calories down. If I feel like exercising fine, but if not, fine. It has been a stressful week and we still do not know when we will get the refrigerator we bought. I am tired of my husband going out so much to buy things because we don’t have enough room or we need ice. Now we need different pans to cook on this range! The bright side is my house is cleaner. We had a zoom family party last night since my sister turned 70. We only celebrate birthdays together for the big ones. Like 40 or 55. Not 33. There are just too many of us. It was fun. We used the shared white board to play Pictionary.

My focus for the weekend is to get prepared to have a productive week getting in shape, learning my updated software doing exercise each day. Right now I do not want to even think about food planning since it just means yet another trip to a grocery store. I don’t want to do that until we have the fridge. I want the cooler out of my living room! Fortunately I have a few meals I planned for last week that we didn’t get a chance to make.

Hope all have a great weekend.