Women 200lb+, Let's Be Extra Awesome This August!!!

Thanks so much, Raven!

It's August tomorrow! This year is flying. I'm excited though, I have some fun lined up. Horizon Zero Dawn comes out (a game where you fight robot dinosaurs with bow and arrow!), I've got a mystery knit-along, and hopefully the weather gets cooler. It is hurricane season, so not all great news, but we'll deal with that as it comes.

What made me happiest this summer was my baby. She's got CFC syndrome, and so she's developmentally delayed. But she's been adding a lot of skills to her repertoire this summer, like brushing her teeth, eating better, pointing to what she wants, crawling up the stairs, and getting up to her walker on her own to walk. She's 2, and she's the happiest little kid ever.

As per usual, I'm stealing your icons, Raven. I love sunflowers. 🌻 (BTW: I've learned recently that icons mess with screen readers, so feel free to tell me to lay off the emojis if they mess with anyone's MFP/thread reading experience. I don't mind at all. But if we're all good, then it's emoji time.)

August goals!

Christina
31 years old
5'4''
SW: 207
CW (7/31): 184.0
8/7:
8/14:
8/21:
8/28:
GW for August: 181
UGW: 145

Daily 5 to Thrive:
🌻 30 minutes for me
🌻 30 minutes of exercise
🌻 90 oz water
🌻 Sugar treats less than 10% of calories
🌻 Write 10 things I'm grateful for

I've decided the countdown wasn't helpful. We'll go again for 181, as it seems I'm unhappy trying to go for a whole pound a week if I'm not doing heavy cardio to allow me to eat more. Which is fine. Lifting is great.

Here's to a successful August! We've got this, everyone.

Pregnancy discussed. I hope I'm not a trigger for anyone. If I am, someone teach me how to do the spoiler thing.



I may not post as much due to pregnancy, but dammit if I don't support you ladies and want to follow everyone's progress. I also want some accountability and there's literally zero active pregnancy discussions in here and The Bump is full of drama queens.

July Starting Weight 257
August Starting weight 260
July goals - continue healthy eating, adding small weights to my arm exercises and more walking. Increasing water intake and following my nutritionist's pregnancy guidelines from my previous attempt.
August goals - samesies. Water got to averaging 80 oz toward the end of the month and I want to get to 90 oz. My weight is up a bit, but that's mostly blood volume. It had gone up quite a bit at first but then I increased my food intake and it came back down. Baby wants more food and my body agrees. I track mainly for my protein recommendations and to remind myself that junk food is not a good option. Focus is on lean protein and fresh veggies this week. Been craving red meat and salads the past 2 weeks.

Good morning everyone! And thank you @RavenStCloud for setting up the new thread.

I really let things slip the past few months but am committed to taking control of my health this month:

49 years old; 5'6"
SW: 236.4 (9/8/19)
7/31: 191.6

Sorry for the long post but I need to get this out.

I am not setting a weight-loss goal for this month but I would like to get back into the 180s. I need to re-establish good habits and that should lead to weight loss but I am in a high state of anxiety right now and so I don't want to add numeric expectations to my plate.

I was on a solid track and lost 50 lbs over 6 months before mid-March. I felt confident about my progress and decisions, was committed to intermittent fasting (which helped me bookend my meals and avoid evening snacks) and had established some exercise. Then came the coronavirus stress, adding our college daughter back home who is vegetarian (requiring two meals in some cases), home schooling our kindergartner, and working full time. I held steady, weight-wise for a while. Over the summer our daughter helped watch our son and another child in his class, and things "normalized" a bit - the ability to get certain foods, take out, ice cream, etc. led to me to celebrate a bit and go back to prior habits. I am up 7 lbs from my low of 185 and need to get this under control.

Our daughter is now with her mom and about to return to college. She will live off campus, and have some classes in person and some online. She is very responsible but also doesn't see the virus as a huge risk despite our many, many conversations. She will go virtual after Thanksgiving and it is not clear whether she will finish her semester there, with us, or with her mom. That is stressing me out but thankfully she is young and strong.

What is mostly stressing me out right now is that my son is returning to first grade, for in-person classes five days a week. We are in Washington, DC where the numbers are pretty steady. Generally speaking, I am happy the school is trying and the school is incorporating the recommendations put out by various sources. He will have 10 kids in his class and 3 teachers that rotate through. We had decided to partner with another family and have a sitter that would manage school for the two kids and help with childcare if they go remote, but we were just told we can't guarantee that the children will be in the same class and our sitter just told us she will be moving at the end of September. So planning is very challenging because I don't know what to plan for and need to plan for at least three scenarios. Part of me wishes that they were only doing online school so I only had to plan for one option! I don't know if it is smart to send him to in-person school given the risks to our son, and also my husband and myself. The stress is palpable, I can't focus on anything, and I feel like I may have a panic attack.

So, my focus this month will be on stress management

• I have set up an in-person session tomorrow to learn about meditation. I have been thinking about this for a while and really wished I had this skill back in March.
• I will start walking in the mornings, for at least 30 minutes.
• I will be in bed by 10 pm, so I can settle down and get decent sleep (and eliminate excuses for the morning walking).
• I will journal in some form to let go of the day and identify what I can and cannot control.
• I will start intermittent fasting again. By closing my eating window I will avoid a lot of evening treats by definition. I am on sugar overload right now and it is not helping my energy levels.

Hope everyone stays healthy and well this month! I am cheering you on!!!

Hi! I've been back on MFP for about a month after a hiatus, and now I'm ready to get rid of these lbs again. I found your July thread towards the end of the month and loved how active and supportive you ladies are. So it's a new month and I decided to join in for the accountability.

I'm down about 11 lbs since restarting.

CW: 210.9
August GW: 199 (I know that's ambitious, and I won't be too sad if I miss it. But too hard to resist reaching ONEderland when it's so close!)

GOALS:

• Walk at least 14k steps a day - at least until my Peloton bike arrives. Once it arrives I'm planning to switch to that in the morning versus my current morning walk. Without the morning walk it'll be doubtful I make 14k steps.
• Try to incorporate yoga at least once a week
• Meal prep/planning

Happy Friday ladies!

Jen

@aliciap0116 - It's great to hear from you. I'm so sorry life is so stressful. Being a parent of elementary school aged children has got to be incredibly stressful - so much uncertainty and conflicting feelings about what is the right thing to do. I think focusing on handling that stress is probably the most productive thing you can do to help with your fitness goals. Mismanaging my stress was the root cause of every one of my past weight gains.

@sweetirish - I'm so glad that the pregnancy is progressing well. Yes, please do check in with us - we also want to know how things are going with you!

@BubblyFaceBruh - Welcome to this thread. I'm curious about this 24 hour water fast? Do you mean that you plan to only have water for 24 hours? I hope that goes well for you. I can only speak for my own experience - everyone has a different approach - but if you have a pattern of great early success followed by relapses/regains, you might consider the slow and steady approach. Start with developing one or two sustainable habits you know you can sustain and slowly add in new habits as those ones become routine. To lose weight and sustain it, you will need to be practicing these habits for the rest of your life. Sometimes when we have a target date in mind, we work our hardest to get to our target goal as fast as possible. But ultimately we will have more success in the long term and be happier right now if we try to make weight loss easier, not harder.

Keri
67 years old, Height: 5'6"
SW: 266 lbs (Dec 2019)
2/1: 263.6
3/1: 261.8
4/1: 258
5/1:254
Lowest May weight: 251.4
6/1:254
6/30 251.6
July 1 SW:250.4
CW: 249 (7/29)
8/1: TBD

1st GW: Onderland 1st, maintain for a few weeks then
2nd GW: 150 lbs. Then evaluate what weight is best for me. I just want to get to a healthy weight for me.

Aug Goal weight: 244

My Aug Goals are:
1. Continue to log, get enough sleep and water intake and stay under calorie goal with healthy meals at home.
2. Get some exercise 5-6 days a week and up NEAT. Try to exceed 150 min. of exercise/week. Now that I have my Zip I will see what steps I am getting and then set a goal each week to up it.
3. I want to get well in the mid to low 240s and not see any weight in the 250s again. I am close to 20 lbs loss.
4. My goal is to declutter my house starting with my art room. This should help with goal #2.
August will be a time of reevaluating and transitioning. My plans to work until 70 have been given a significant hit with being laid off. I will do a job search but it will be for a safe rewarding job and I am not going to let this waylay my efforts to lose weight and get fit and healthy.

I am reading all the posts but not responding unless there is a question or other reason.
@MuttiNM I did a diet deficit break the last time I lost a total of 40 lbs. After about 10% loss 20-26 lbs lost I slowly upped my calories to what a calculator said was my maintenance weight (TDEE). I actually lost more for a while. I only did it for 2 weeks which is the minimum time needed to give your body a break and reset your current weight. I kept exercise the same. After that I went up slowly for a smaller deficit and lost better than before. I plan to do this when I have lost 26 lbs unless I am losing really steadily then.
@aliciap0116 Thanks for letting us know what is going on with you. I do not get stressed easily but what is hard for me is the constant change in the situation and constantly adjusting to those changes. I actually like some change in my life but this is too much. I would be really anxious too if I had a child going to in person school now. I think you are wise not to put weight loss on the table.
@RavenStCloud Thank you!!!! 🌻

August seems a nice time to get back to it. I wouldn't say I've taken July off, exactly, but I've stayed up late and had an extra unlogged 350 calories at midnight because I hadn't eaten for six hours and could not go to sleep hungry, and ate dessert companionably with my boyfriend instead of looking to see whether I had the calories for it. Of course, I've also been unpacking the house after the move, and that's not exactly sedentary.

I'm going to get a membership at a local gym tomorrow so I can start shoving weights around again, and I will start being more strict with myself about getting up on time, going to bed on time, and logging all my food and giving weigh-in updates every week. Now that we're settled in the new house I've got no excuses.

Starting weight: 296 (1/2/20)
Current weight: 258 (7/31/20)
Goal Weight: 160

Some other friends say I'm awesome because I'm managing weight loss on what I can eat. I want to be awesome because I'm losing like a boss, and despite the mental and physical health challenges, I still have plans to be considerably smaller at Christmas. (My sister is going to be so kittened off.....(grin))

Linda
56 years old
5’4”
SW 262.8
CW 201
GW 140 but realistically I think it will be around 150

I have participated in this group before but have been just reading the posts lately. I hit onderland at the end of June but I have struggled for the month of July. I have binge eating disorder and I have been struggling with this lately. I count calories and do intermittent fasting for my weight loss. Last weekend I took a mini break from logging and counting. I have been doing this for 1.5 years and that was my first real break. My weigh in days are Friday’s.

August goals
1. get back to onderland
2. Walk 30 minutes a day
3. 10,000 steps daily expect Saturday
4. Drink 72 oz water daily
5. Bed by 11 pm

Hey everyone, happy August!
I'm going to be working a bunch this month, because I'll be taking almost three weeks off in September. Gotta grind a little bit this month. But that's ok, it keeps me focused.
I also think my eating habits are better when I'm working more- less time to be bored snacking in my house. It is harder to get workouts in when I'm working 5 to 6 12-hour days a week though.

I'm 28 years old and 5'8"

Start weight 4/23 - 252 lbs
5/28 - 236 lbs (down 16)
6/25 - 227.9 lbs (down 8)
7/31 - 220.8 (down 7.1)
Current amount lost - 31.2
End of August goal weight - 212 lbs
ultimate goal weight - 160ish? this one's kinda up in the air. I've never been a "healthy" weight as an adult, so I honestly have no idea what I'll look/feel like once I get around this size.

My non-scale July goals were:
- run a 5k without a walk break DONE
- work out or run 5 times a week (more like 3 days a week, gotta start somewhere)
- walk the dog at least 20 min every day he doesn't go to doggy daycare DONE
- start on my 10k training DONE
- eat meat only 15 days out of the entire month. (11 days, not 15)
- eat completely vegan 5 days out of the entire month. Turns out I didn't eat vegan even ONE day in July- it's trickier than I anticipated! I also only had 4 successfully vegetarian days. I eat a whole lot of fish, which is where most of my issues occurred.
- only buy pre-made/takeout/delivery food 8 times in the month. DONE

Non-scale August goals
- do a 5 mile run with an average pace of 12min/mile
- do a 15 mile bike ride
- bike or run 5 times a week
- walk dog at least 20 min every day he doesn't go to daycare
- have 15 days this month be meat (not counting fish) free
- eat vegan at least 5 days
- eat takeout/pre-made/restaurant food 5 times max
- finish 2 books
- no soda!
- don't let laundry or dishes pile up
- try 5 new recipes

Hello Everyone! My name is Theresa, my birthday is today, August 1st. I am 45 years young and wanting today to be the start of a new routine consisting of a healthy diet, workout, and weight loss. After starting college a few years ago, I packed on about 40 pounds. I had gained about 40 pounds throughout the years before that, bringing my total weight gain to 80 pounds. I am really excited to start this journey and looking forward to chatting with all of you.

Age: 44
Weight: 216
Goal weight 150
Total goal loss: 66 pounds

August goals:
-60 mins per day of moderate level workout/activity, 6 days per week
-morning walk (45-60 mins) 6 days per week
-Healthy eating (low calorie, plenty of fruits and veggies, and avoid sugary items and junk food.
-Drink 90-105 ounces of water daily

I'll check in with everyone at least a couple of times per week.

Hello holdthefries,

Your post really resonates with me, I too worry about the excess weight now that I am getting older. I also want to see changes with my overall health and have a desire to feel more active and lose the sluggishness and aches and pains that come along with weight gain. I'm really glad your here, good luck to you!

Hi! I have been following this group for awhile now so I feel as though I know some of you already. It seems to be the most supportive, active group I've found and am excited to be part of it in August. Thank you to the leader and to all of the members who are so open and willing to share with the group.

Rita
69 years old
5'2"
Highest weight was in 2010 when I weighed 249 pounds. Then I lost some of that and joined MFP in Jan. 2013 weighing in at 232 so I'll call that my start weight. I have lost and gained the same 10 pounds for the past 7 years!

SW: 232
CW: 228
End of August GW: 223
UGW: 160 Just want to get to overweight BMI first, then we'll see.

August goals: - get to BMI of 40
- fill out my daily/weekly planner every day
- use planner daily and check off activities when finished
- take vitamins every day
- exercise 30 minutes 5/7 days
- journal 3/7 days
- turn off iPad by 11:15 PM

I'm curious as to how you all keep track of your progress. Do you create a monthly calendar or chart with goals and then check them off daily or ??? I use a planner but it looks at one day at a time. I need to develop a good system for measuring progess and could use some ideas. Thanks!

@lovinlilly: Happy Birthday 🥳

I’m going to be sure to log my weight whether it’s an increase or decrease. Those “fluff pounds” will go away quick enough. “You can’t gain 10 lbs if you never game 5!”

Height: 5’4”
SW: 4/2019 307
CW: 7/31 183.8
8/1 184.0 (+0.2)

Have a great weekend❣️