Women 200lb+, Let's Jump For Joy This July!!!

@FoolishJoy glad you saw the scale move. Good job adjusting with the situation. Nice progress pictures.
@CupcakeCrusoe so nice seeing you hit all you goals. We watched Hamilton on Sunday. Also saw Togo. I can just tell the good attitude coming from your posts.
@Tarzan37 I like the idea of 20 lbs loss from my high. I am so ready to get beyond 16 lbs loss.
@darksunapril you can put your weight in whichever way means the most to you. Also it is harder to lose when you are older.
@speyerj Congrats on completing the half marathon. As to my fitbit it isn’t the strap but the back of the face which is big on the Versa but then my Charge HR sometimes did this. Someone on line found taping up the sensors helped.
@Terytha hope your neck feels better. I don’t even have an excuse at all for going over on the 5th.
@k1975lr I think it is wise to stay vigilante. I worried since my son is in a hotspot but he is being very careful. Great start!
@svm569 I am amazed you have made it back. And I thought our twin kittens were a challenge. When my daughter was in the dorm she took her dishes back to the cafeteria and put them in a bin with dishwater. Her phone was tucked under her arm. She didn’t realize it had fallen in there with her dirty dishes. If she had fished it out right away she might have saved it and she wouldn’t have spent time looking for it. This was the last week of the quarter.
@RavenStCloud hope it was a great birthday! Glad you found a better source for exercise videos.
@cesse47 I mopped the bathroom and kitchen too recently but then I didn’t weed whack.
@mmdeveau what good progress already! I agree with all you said about exercise and weight loss.

Good morning all!
@mmdeveau I completely agree with you. It's 80% about food. I wish it wasn't that way, because I love to exercise and find it so much easier to work out more than to eat less, but it's true. I do find that when I work out I'm less inclined to eat crappy stuff because I'm proud of myself and I get that exercise high. Except when I swim...lol. I'm SO HUNGRY after swimming that I want to eat everything!

@KeriA What a wonderful event to see your mom after all this time! I find the lack of family / friends connection to be the absolute hardest thing about this pandemic. Well, besides waking up with an all-consuming feeling of dread and anxiety every day HA HA HA. I haven't hugged my mom since early March and I miss her so much! I love that you can now expand your circle to small groups.

As for me, I'm now in the same boat as @terytha and am trying to get in to see a doctor for some severe neck pain. I kept hoping it would go away but it's become untenable. And unfortunately I just moved to a new state and so I don't have health insurance coverage here, so it's turning into quite a saga. I won't rant now about the health care system in this country except to say that I think it is so broken and not sustainable. I'm a sole proprietor / individual and literally cannot get coverage anywhere in TX except for an HMO, but no local doctors take HMOs. It's a hideous Catch-22.

Anyway! One thing that's been motivating me lately is a hashtag that was trending last week on Twitter -- #januarytojune. People were sharing all their accomplishments from the first six months of the year and it was super inspiring! Especially people who managed to lose weight during the pandemic by starting new habits. I got a little annoyed at myself that I didn't have something to post, but it got me thinking about July to December and how I want to feel at the end of this year.

And I'll end with one thing I'm grateful for: there was the cutest bumblebee in my garden yesterday and he was so in love with this tiny flower. He was hugging it so hard he fell over, and then he wore it like a hat

Finished with our mulching project this morning after spreading the last 45 bags (for a grand total of 83 bags).


A lawn care company truck drove by a few times and finally stopped in front of our house. Guy gets out and says “We just want to give you our business card if you ever need any help”. I said “you guys work for free because we’ve not had to pay anyone yet so...yeah...free would be great😂😂😂”. Hubby and I were cracking up laughing...them...not so much😂😂😂!

Wednesday weigh in

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)

6/30: 235.6
7/1: 234.8
7/8: 231.2
7/15:
7/22:
7/29:

July GW: 228.1
GW: 160 (then reevaluate)

Weekly exercise goals:
- exercise bike 5 times per week - 5/5
- short walking videos or treadmill twice three times a day 5 times per week - 5/5
- strength training (including core specific exercises) 2 times per week - 2/2
- chair yoga 4 times per week - 4/4

This week I had a bigger than projected loss. I don't know why but I guess I'll take it. I'll just be prepared for a smaller than projected loss next week.

I bumped up my exercise bike time from 30 min. to 40 min. each session. I had been at a minimum of 40 min. for about 5 months when I had some weird pain in my right leg and I had to stop for a few weeks. I then gradually went back to it until I was at 30 min. I stayed there for a couple months as I focused on adding exercises to my strength training and yoga routines. Now I thought I might add a few more minutes to the exercise bike. I also added one more session of a walking video. My normal life is pretty sedentary so it seems like a good idea to get up and get moving a bit more throughout the day. I think I'll leave things like this for a few weeks and see how it feels.

I also got an aerobic step platform about a month ago. One of the things that's been hard for me is going up and down steps. I don't really have to worry about that at my condo but my parents have a few steps into their house and their washer and dryer is in the basement. Doing better on steps will make helping them a bit easier. The step platform is adjustable: either 4", 6", or 8". I started at 4" and increased it to 6" after a couple weeks. Still working on 6". It 's amazing how much more difficult another 2" is! A few times a day I'll just go up and down on the step, doing 10 or so reps starting with my right leg, then starting with my left leg. Getting better at steps should help on those hiking trails that have steps built onto hillsides, especially since those don't usually have handrails!

Speaking of trails and steps, my son and I went on a trail at a state park early Sunday morning before the heat was in full force. It was supposedly an "easy" trail. For me, it was the hardest I've done so far and some of the others were rated "moderate". It started out downhill, then continued downhill, then more downhill... I started wondering if we should keep going because downhill means later there will be uphill and, with as much downhill as we had been doing, I wasn't sure I would be able to do the uphill. Eventually the trail leveled out and was a nice walk for a while. Then the dreaded uphill started. It wasn't too bad at first. It even leveled out again for a short while. Then the uphill got much steeper. Finally it got very steep and they had built steps up the hill. A. LOT. OF. STEPS! I should have counted them but I was too tired. There were a couple curves in these steps so you couldn't see to the top of the hill. Probably was a good thing because I might have decided to just stay on the trail and not try to get back to the car. And of course there was no handrail for these "millions" of steps. I guess I did make it to the top eventually and set a new record for walking without a rest stop of 61 minutes. I know that's not much for many of you but it's a big change for me from a year ago. Once the stairs ended and the trail leveled out again, there was a bench at a beautiful scenic overlook. That bench could not have come at a better time and the scenery made it all the more enjoyable!

Hope you are all doing well. Have a great day!

Name: Joy
Age: 39
Ht: 5'7"
July starting weight: 205lbs
July goal: 200lbs

Week 1:
7/3: 201 lbs
        42.8% body fat
        31.5% BMI

Week 2:
7/8: 204 lbs
         30.6% body fat
         31.1% BMI

After a few days of high-protein/low-carb, I noticed that my mood and energy level tanked, I was super irritable, and my sugar cravings came roaring back, causing me to indulge quite a bit over the weekend in soda and sweets. I also realized that I don't like the taste and texture of meat anymore, and I really missed my starchy veggies like sweet potatoes and butternut squash.

So I've decided to go back to my plant-based eating: the point of this whole lifestyle change isn't to drop as much weight as I can as fast as possible, but to instill healthy habits into me and my daughter's life.

Since switching back to my normal eating style on Monday, my mood has completely turned around, and I'm handling my toddler's teething storm with more grace than before. I also realized that many of the foods I lowered my intake of were magnesium-rich foods, which could explain why I suddenly felt anxious and irritable.

Looking forward to grocery shopping today to pick up some of my favorite veggies and more beans!

Kale is back in the mix with brussel sprouts, sweet peppers, mushrooms and medley tomatoes😊

@wanderinglight I am only seeing my Mom with masks outside and social distancing except for the fact that someone has to take her to the Drs. Mostly her Retirement Community does but this was too big an appointment. She needs hel p walking. We wore masks in the car and I kept the outside air with fan going. I wanted to open the windows butt not good for her COPD. We air hugged when I dropped her off. As to the boyfriend we kept those 2 apart for more than 3 months. I felt that since he has a very small family (1 uncle) and they are being careful we would risk it. However I think in general it doesn’t make sense to see extended family or friends except for outside with masks and social distancing. That is the last people you want to get ill. So sorry about your neck and insurance. July to December is good. Cute bee.
@speyerj I love the phrase.
@Terytha glad the neck is getting better and the scale too.
@MuttiNM going downhill is really hard on my knees. I used to be fine with stairs at work but hate the ones at home. I can walk uphill if it isn’t steep. You are really making progress in so many ways.
@FoolishJoy I am glad you are not sticking with something that doesn’t work for you. We want to make sustainable changes.
@SquidVonBob nice to see that enthusiasm.

I do not fast except sometimes since I am not working and have prioritized sleep if I get up and don’t like my weight for the day I go back to bed and either get more sleep or check news or facebook before getting up and having breakfast especially if I am not particularly hungry. Today I did that even though I was a few 10ths of a lb down from yesterday but since I was up a few lbs due to the weekend I just didn’t feel like accepting it. I weighed later when I got up and was down almost 2 lbs. and at my low again. I knew the small gain was temporary but I didn’t want to wait all week for it to go. Now I hope to make some progress. I really am tired of being in the 250s. I am just a few tenths of a pound away from the 240s.

Yesterday I didn’t feel that well and needed to get some things done, so I only did a little bit of exercise on my Gazelle in the evening when I felt better. I did my strength training/stretching routine today. I feel like I am back to my normal routine diet and exercise-wise.

I need to do some meal planning. I have done so much cooking/planning over the holiday weekend. With my husband’s help we extended the leftovers by buying a roast chicken and having chicken Caesar with the left over Caesar salad. Then I made chicken salad sandwiches and he made dinner yesterday with some of the things we had on hand but now is time to go shopping again and I don’t feel like it. I got more than half of the way planning through the week but ran out of steam. I did plan the food for our trip to the beach in 2 weeks - much more fun. I want the food to be easy, fun and tasty on that one break. I want to cook in the condo and stay safe and not go out except to the beach with social distancing.

So I'm trying to learn intuitive eating as part of BED recovery. I'm sloooowly learning to listen to my body when it says "no more, stop."

But you guys, intuitive eating is hard as heck.

I ate half my dinner tonight and then had to sit with my friggin' feelings for ten or fifteen minutes and consider if I was actually hungry or confusing hunger with desire to taste yummy things or maybe stress and then if I was hungry maybe I just needed a bun instead of all the other half of my meal and dinner just takes... *forever* to get through like this.

I did not, in fact, need the rest of my dinner. I had the calories for it, and it would have been fine from that perspective to eat it. But I'd suffer terribly from the pain of being overfull if I did. Calories are most of the story but not the whole story.

Anyways, I just wanted to say its worth doing but it's hard and it hurts when I think I can't just eat like a normal person without second guessing my entire existence.

@terytha and @speyerj thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm after many years still searching for that middle path between listening and not listening to my body and mind around food.

@speyerj I've accepted I'll need to count calories forever, which is fine. But I still have to be careful about eating past fullness, because more than anything that makes me miserable. So it's a combination really.

@sweetirish I'd have nothing to write. You have to be able to identify a feeling to journal it and I still can't do that.

But I do write! Mostly terrible trashy romance. Its cathartic. But not work appropriate.

I hit a weird milestone today: 178 lbs.

That's what I weighed in at the day I started Weight Watchers in 2005.

Not that I'm proud of having been a big kid, but its interesting to me, since I thought I was so fat then but now I'm just happy to be that far along.

I don't hold it as nicely as teen me either.

@Wanderlinglight - yet I don't think weight loss surgery is the answer either. I used to think so but now I am so grateful that due to a change in insurance, that option was not longer available to me. The people I know who had bariatric surgery struggle every day with food because you have to be very careful what you eat, how much you eat and in what order you eat certain foods or you get terrible digestive pain. And they also struggle with weight loss, despite being on really calorie restrictive diets. Has anyone on this thread had bariatric surgery? Did you find that it was worth it?

Micwrites (Michele)
Age: 60 5’ 9”
SW 262
CW 238
GW 175
I still can’t get used to writing 60. In my heart I am 17 (ok maybe 45) ... I am thankful for this group!! I love reading your stories and sharing. I feel close to you. And accountable. I want to do this. To get in my best shape and be healthy. I’m grateful I have a job and can pay my bills!

I had a big victory and finally found the strength to jettison the man I’ve been seeing who has been subtly devaluing me (Wow! Look at all that! ( my body ) If you didn’t have those hips I wouldn’t be interested ... You really put on some bulk since your surgery ... I always thought your daughter was the b#%^* but it’s really you! ... and on and on in a narcissistic frenzy. Are you kidding me? ... I found myself emotionally eating and backpedaling on all my progress and then I thought there is no way that this man who brings nothing to the table is going to sabotage me .. so I have cleaned house, I’m back on track, I killed myself at PT tonight and I’m playing tennis Saturday for the first time in a year since my injury. I’m scared but excited ... and I’ll focus my energy on my kids and myself, on the graduate degree I’m working on, on supporting other women and the people I love and the things I love to do .. and someday if a good man comes along and crosses my path .. well, I’ll think about it then.

For now, good healthy food, exercise, half my weight in water and checking in here every day. 💜

shorepine wrote: »

Hey everyone. I'm just stopping in to say hello. I have actually been following this thread so far this month! Usually it starts getting too busy for me and I can't keep up. But I find it so inspiring and helpful, so I've been enjoying just reading.

@Terytha and @speyerj I've tried intuitive eating too. For a while I thought it was my answer. In fact, it probably would be, if it weren't for the fact that my intuition seems to tell me it's totally what I need to eat an entire bag of chocolate chips. I felt like a failure for a long time, but I finally came to terms with the idea that either I'm nowhere near ready for it, or it just isn't going to work for me. @Terytha I like what you said about it being a combination. I think that is an idea that could work for me.

@sweetirish I am an emotional eater, too! I accept that is going to happen from time to time and I just try not to beat myself up over it.

@mmdeveau thanks for your insightful and inspiring post about exercise. I love exercise too but yeah, I tend to eat more because of it. The times I have successfully lost weight I always focused heavy on my nutrition at first and tried not to worry about exercise. Then once I got a handle on my diet, I would add in the exercise.

I'm in a weird place right now where I haven't been losing. Lost almost 10 pounds this winter, but then gained it back during the most stressful quarantine months. Been back on here doing my thing for a month now, but nothing new has come off. Being around my kitchen more hasn't helped me. I have done more than my fair share of mindless snacking. I also am teleworking and taking care of two young kids. They eat all the time and I'm always preparing food for them, which results in me mindlessly eating.

My diet is what I need to focus on. I am really good at exercising and have also done a good job reducing my alcohol intake. I used to be almost a daily wine drinker. Now, I've got that down to only a few days a week.

This month, I've made changes by introducing more strength training and trying to pay better attention to my macros to make sure I'm getting more protein.

I'd like to get a Fitbit again, I had one for years but took it off to experiment with not being so obsessive. I'm one of those people who gets really annoying with it, like I'm marching in place at 11:30 PM trying to make it to 10000 steps. Hahahaha. However, I've been concerned lately that I have become more sedentary working from home. I know when I had to get everyone out of the house and myself to my office, I just moved around a lot and would usually arrive at work in the morning with a few thousand steps. Now, I am sure I barely get any! Maybe I should charge it back up and see how it goes.

Anyone who mentions eating a whole bag of chocolate chips should have been my best friend in high school! 😘 .. but we won’t do it now. Let’s help each other!!