Food, Exercise, or other Reports

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  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,982 Member
    today was an absolutely blah day - I didn't even get in 3,000 steps and have done nothing today except play piano, make dinner and an angel food cake, and take a long nap. I'm also over calorie goal by about 300 calories today, too, thanks to my brother coming over with his decidedly NOT diet friendly zucchini bread......

    And I'm still feeling tired and sluggish and just having difficulty motivating myself to do anything - activity of any type just sounds exhausting.

    Even on vacation I am still having problems sleeping. yesterday I was very sleepy by about 10 PM, so I got ready for bed, went to bed, turned out the lights - and was wide awake. My arms were aching and there wasn't any way I could lay to help. I took 2 ibuprofen PM's and did sleep, was only awake a couple of times, but when I did get up because I was too sore to lay in bed any longer, I didn't feel rested at all.

    Tomorrow is supposed to rain as well, so I'm going to try to get an elliptical session done in the morning, but may limit it to 30 minutes and then take another veg day and see if it can help. Monday starts back to work, so welcome back that stress (not that it was ever far away).

    My arms are still aching even now, and I'm not sure what I did that has caused this because I can't think of anything that I did that was out of the ordinary. I do have carpal tunnel and hiking carrying the hiking stick made my hands go numb, but the numbness when doing things like holding a hammer or the walking stick or trying to cross stitch has been the only symptom I ever had from carpal tunnel - I never had the aching before. And this ache is up into my biceps and not just my forearms. I could completely understand them aching back when I was moving 250 cinder blocks, but that was weeks ago!


    So I'm still struggling with fatigue, and eating more hasn't helped. But at the same time, my activity hasn't slowed down this week, either. However, I set my calories at maintenance this week and ate back 100% of the activity calories, so I think I was out of deficit completely.

    Is the activity, even at maintenance and into surplus, maybe hampering the good that eating at a surplus is supposed to do? I hate the thought of taking a completely sedentary week though, even at maintenance. Part of me at least is used to all the activity and the thoughts of doing absolutely nothing for several days in a row doesn't sit well with me. We'll see how tomorrow goes since the rain will make it another low active day.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    I am thankful I finally set aside Sunday as a weekly rest day. I really needed it this week. It makes a difference to get up hit the elliptical for 30 and then go back to bed until it is time to get up and walk the dog. Of course he keeps me from ever having a sub 10k step day. There is no peace when he is full energy so walking him less is too big of a price to pay. Unless I am injured I can't really justify making my wife take care of it all. She needs her rest too.

    I have had 3 days of maintenance because I had so much to do and other people were relying on me. I am not really happy about it. I am starting to realize the downside of my 193 or Nov 20th plan is that I have to resist the urge to push myself. It doesn't actually matter if I hit 193 or not but somehow there is a desire to do it anyway. Nov 20th gives me more time than I should need but somehow that still makes me want to push. I won't allow myself to be pushed for something so arbitrary but it, as always, a fun reminder of the irrationality of the process at times.
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,982 Member
    @NovusDies I hear a dog is a great way of making sure you get your activity in :) I don't have a dog, though, and with 5 cats, that might not be a good addition to my family at the moment lol


    I'm back to deficit eating today. I'm still carrying 8.6 lbs over my lowest weight recording, so it will be a while before I can establish how much is actual weight gain from the last week of maintenance/surplus and how much is just plain water weight. Its rather irksome, however: by putting in my water weight gains, its messed my trend up in HappyScale and put the moving average back above 230 lbs *groans* and I had just finally gotten that trend weight under 230 lbs!

    Saturday and Sunday ended up being complete rest days. I had under 3,000 steps in on Saturday and under 1500 on Sunday and slept a good part of both days. Unfortunately, my motivation is still tanked; the idea of coming back to work this morning was absolutely draining, and it took some effort to finally get myself to get my dishes washed last night. I started vacuuming, but the family arrived for dinner and I couldn't get the motivation to finish. I need to put away clothes, clean the bathroom, scrub cat litter pans, and dust, but just the thoughts of the work leave me exhausted.

    Meanwhile, I need to go out into the field for work today for a bit, and tonight is jiu-jitsu, which will be the only activity I get in today since I didn't fall asleep until closer to 2 AM this morning and thus let myself sleep until 7 to try to get some sleep in, which meant no walk and no elliptical session.

    The diet break hasn't helped my energy levels at all, and the vacation didn't seem to help, either. Even being able to sleep longer didn't help; I slept, but I'm not getting rest and seem to be awake off and on all night. I don't know what is giving me so much trouble sleeping unless its the weather; September 15th is around the time that the heat and humidity start to break and we start getting fall-like weather, and I can't wait and hope that will help my sleep problems, which in turn should hopefully help the energy problems. The depression problems aren't going to be solved until I figure out what to do about my job, and I've been trying to figure out that one for the last 8 years with no luck.
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,982 Member
    The water weight is dropping, thank heavens! I'm down to 230.8 today and thats even with pushing mowing a very rugged terrain for 90 minutes yesterday. There will still be a gain shown on the scale tomorrow compared to my weight 2 weeks ago (I didn't bother doing a weekly weigh in last week because of the severe water weight), but at least its going in the right direction.

    I don't think I'm going to get much exercise in today; a late bedtime last night had me staying in bed as long as I could this morning, giving me no time at all to get an elliptical session in. I really need to vacuum and mop the house (and that's manually mop and not a quick swiffer mop thanks to my cats and their uptick in hairballs and just general puking *sigh*) and I need to clean my bathroom, dust the whole house and then go and spray spider spray along the corners as there has been a big uptick in the number of those eyelash spiders lately. I know that sounds like a lot, but when ti comes to step count and effort, light to moderate housework doesn't get me much compared to a 5 mile walk lol

    This is my 8 hour day, though its also midweek church service, so I might be able to get an elliptical session in this afternoon while dinner is baking - there won't be time for a long walk because of church services and the increased chance of storms.

    still no improvement on the tired front; just thinking of a 20 minute elliptical session has me dragging, not to mention cardio. *sigh*

    Right now I need to get my breakfast in before my conference call in an hour!
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    @NovusDies I hear a dog is a great way of making sure you get your activity in :) I don't have a dog, though, and with 5 cats, that might not be a good addition to my family at the moment lol


    I'm back to deficit eating today. I'm still carrying 8.6 lbs over my lowest weight recording, so it will be a while before I can establish how much is actual weight gain from the last week of maintenance/surplus and how much is just plain water weight. Its rather irksome, however: by putting in my water weight gains, its messed my trend up in HappyScale and put the moving average back above 230 lbs *groans* and I had just finally gotten that trend weight under 230 lbs!

    Saturday and Sunday ended up being complete rest days. I had under 3,000 steps in on Saturday and under 1500 on Sunday and slept a good part of both days. Unfortunately, my motivation is still tanked; the idea of coming back to work this morning was absolutely draining, and it took some effort to finally get myself to get my dishes washed last night. I started vacuuming, but the family arrived for dinner and I couldn't get the motivation to finish. I need to put away clothes, clean the bathroom, scrub cat litter pans, and dust, but just the thoughts of the work leave me exhausted.

    Meanwhile, I need to go out into the field for work today for a bit, and tonight is jiu-jitsu, which will be the only activity I get in today since I didn't fall asleep until closer to 2 AM this morning and thus let myself sleep until 7 to try to get some sleep in, which meant no walk and no elliptical session.

    The diet break hasn't helped my energy levels at all, and the vacation didn't seem to help, either. Even being able to sleep longer didn't help; I slept, but I'm not getting rest and seem to be awake off and on all night. I don't know what is giving me so much trouble sleeping unless its the weather; September 15th is around the time that the heat and humidity start to break and we start getting fall-like weather, and I can't wait and hope that will help my sleep problems, which in turn should hopefully help the energy problems. The depression problems aren't going to be solved until I figure out what to do about my job, and I've been trying to figure out that one for the last 8 years with no luck.

    Have you been tested for sleep apnea?
  • alanmcj68
    alanmcj68 Posts: 68 Member
    So, 3 weeks ago I really started my new life. Been in a calorie deficit every day since, and been going to the gym at least 4 times a week. I've gone from 308lbs to 297lbs in that time, although on the scale, I've lost nothing for 6 days. Today, I played badminton for the first time in 18 months. Over the hour we played, I sometimes thought my lungs had shrunk...... the score.... 51 year old me 4, 22 year old fitness instructor 0.
    He was very gracious in defeat, even though he was mortified, and exhausted. It's what I need. I'm a competitive person,,,, I done more today than I could ever have done in the gym on my own, and I'm quite chuffed with myself!!!
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,982 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    @NovusDies I hear a dog is a great way of making sure you get your activity in :) I don't have a dog, though, and with 5 cats, that might not be a good addition to my family at the moment lol


    I'm back to deficit eating today. I'm still carrying 8.6 lbs over my lowest weight recording, so it will be a while before I can establish how much is actual weight gain from the last week of maintenance/surplus and how much is just plain water weight. Its rather irksome, however: by putting in my water weight gains, its messed my trend up in HappyScale and put the moving average back above 230 lbs *groans* and I had just finally gotten that trend weight under 230 lbs!

    Saturday and Sunday ended up being complete rest days. I had under 3,000 steps in on Saturday and under 1500 on Sunday and slept a good part of both days. Unfortunately, my motivation is still tanked; the idea of coming back to work this morning was absolutely draining, and it took some effort to finally get myself to get my dishes washed last night. I started vacuuming, but the family arrived for dinner and I couldn't get the motivation to finish. I need to put away clothes, clean the bathroom, scrub cat litter pans, and dust, but just the thoughts of the work leave me exhausted.

    Meanwhile, I need to go out into the field for work today for a bit, and tonight is jiu-jitsu, which will be the only activity I get in today since I didn't fall asleep until closer to 2 AM this morning and thus let myself sleep until 7 to try to get some sleep in, which meant no walk and no elliptical session.

    The diet break hasn't helped my energy levels at all, and the vacation didn't seem to help, either. Even being able to sleep longer didn't help; I slept, but I'm not getting rest and seem to be awake off and on all night. I don't know what is giving me so much trouble sleeping unless its the weather; September 15th is around the time that the heat and humidity start to break and we start getting fall-like weather, and I can't wait and hope that will help my sleep problems, which in turn should hopefully help the energy problems. The depression problems aren't going to be solved until I figure out what to do about my job, and I've been trying to figure out that one for the last 8 years with no luck.

    Have you been tested for sleep apnea?

    yep - twice; once when I was at my absolute heaviest before the first weight loss and again in 2015 when I was 145 lbs heavier than I am now. Both times I came back borderline; the first time, I consented to giving the machine a try for 3 months and could not get used to it at all; even at the lowest setting, the pressure was too much - I was getting even worse sleep with it than without it.

    The second time didn't result in the need for a machine.
  • I walked after dinner for the second time today and it went very well. I think I may be able to do this every day. That would be FABULOUS. We'll see. Tomorrow is the great shopping day, and I may use all my standing budget in the checkout line and not be able to walk in the evening. But when the weather is good, it is a pleasure to walk with my boyfriend down the amazingly rural-feeling road we live in in the middle of a big city and just enjoy being alive.

    Understand, 20 years ago I got told I would only ever walk enough to transfer between bed and bathroom and chair by the orthopedic surgeon who reconstructed my midfoot.
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,982 Member
    The water weight is still coming down slowly, but I did a check in this morning to get re-started, and it has me up 1.8 lbs from my last recorded weight, which was not my lowest all time weight - I'm still up 5.3 lbs from my all time lowest of 224.8 lbs. I was sedentary yesterday with less than 2,000 steps, but ended up eating about 250 calories over my sedentary limit anyway, but I'm not too upset on it because it was still a deficit; just 1 lb instead of 1.5 lbs. And the real victory in that was that while I was over by 250 calories, I didn't keep going over by more than that, which is what happens a lot of the time that I end up over - if my hunger brain sees that red, even if its 1 measly calorie, it wants to say "oh well, you're already over, so a little more won't hurt" and drive to me keep snacking until I'm over by 500 or 600 calories; keeping that monster in check to 250 calories was actually a win!
    I walked after dinner for the second time today and it went very well. I think I may be able to do this every day. That would be FABULOUS. We'll see. Tomorrow is the great shopping day, and I may use all my standing budget in the checkout line and not be able to walk in the evening. But when the weather is good, it is a pleasure to walk with my boyfriend down the amazingly rural-feeling road we live in in the middle of a big city and just enjoy being alive.

    Understand, 20 years ago I got told I would only ever walk enough to transfer between bed and bathroom and chair by the orthopedic surgeon who reconstructed my midfoot.

    I hear all kinds of stories like that, where the medical prediction is doom and gloom, but the people exceed the limits projected to a miraculous extent. I know that doctors want to be realistic and cautious, but sometimes I wonder if their pessimistic diagnoses do more harm than good. I'm so glad you were able to prove them wrong for your own sake!

    I had a friend I went to church with who was a train engineer and had been involved in a very bad train wreck that messed up his back. He was told he'd never walk again period, but he proved them wrong, the last I saw him, he got around just fine. Certainly wasn't going to be running marathons, but had no trouble getting from point A to point B without the use of a cane or other means. In fact, I wouldn't have guessed that he had anything wrong if he hadn't told me his testimony on that. I like these kinds of stories - they make a person feel good :smiley:
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,982 Member
    *sigh* I can tell TOM is on his way; in fact, by the way I felt yesterday and today, I could have sworn I'd be starting today....

    This weekend has been a bust. Despite earning 600 calories yesterday from mowing the lawn and mopping and cleaning house, I was still over deficit by 500 calories. That's still under maintenance since my deficit is 750 but still, that was a lot of over eating.

    And today was worse. Mom made fried chicken and macaroni salad and I made dinner rolls - bad idea. I ended up with two large servings of the macaroni salad and 5 of the rolls......I walked 8 1/2 miles today and I'm still going to be over my deficit today by around 400 calories by the time the day is over.

    I'm not sure where the snack drive is suddenly coming from; its been a few months since TOM drove to me eat like this. And I can't chalk it up to over activity because my activity levels have been way down this week - while 1 1/2 hour lawn mowing isn't a sedentary day, it isn't even close to what I was doing back in the spring.

    Good news is that at least the scale is back under 230 lbs again; or at least it was; tomorrow morning will probably be back up (thank you Time of hte Month water retention......)

    And I've learned that I can't keep dates or figs in the house; they are worse than prune for me in that I absolutely cannot stay out of them and they are even more calorie dense than the plums! I bought a pack of each for a breakfast I want to try, but once they are gone, there won't be any more brought in as I just want to snack on them constantly!
  • The urge to snack constantly just left, but now I feel very bloated and yes, I am due for TOM, which will probably show up late next week and put me on the couch with a heating pad when I'm trying to do precooking. (sigh) It always shows up at the worst times.
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,982 Member
    I'm over again today, but on purpose. I didn't start out intending this, but my plans changed for the day and I ended up spending 4 hours this morning running a chain saw and clearing out brush, then another hour splitting wood.

    Unfortunately, there isn't an entry in the database for all that. there is an entry for Yard Work in the database, but I can't use it - it won't show up when I search for entries I can charge to. So I used gardening 180 minutes to cover the first 4 hours of work, then chopping wood for 1 hour for the last. Normally, I'd only use 75% of that, but even 657 calories seemed low to me for splitting wood - I'm swinging a 10 lb minimum splitting maul onto hard, red oak wood, splitting knots, etc. Each piece had to be split at minimum 4 ways and some had to be split into 6 pieces.

    We had pizza for supper since none of us felt like cooking after all that work. Pizza Hut and I ended up with 4 slices (hormones are still raging at the moment so my will power is dead and my patience is non-existent; my poor cats..... lol) And 2 cookies from McDonald's and a sweet tea half cut.

    With all that extra work, however, in the sun no less, I'm going by @NovusDies example to let myself eat more to try to power all that extra activity and the strain my body is going to go through over the next few days recovering from all that extra activity as it isn't the kind of activity I'm used to - my arms are already aching and I know my sleep is going to be poor because of it, even after taking ibuprofen and a long shower!

    I'll be sore tomorrow from the saw and the splitting wood, but hopefully, TOM will finally make his appearance - at least, I really hope so, for my sanity's sake! (and my poor cats are hoping so too so I'll quit yelling at them lol)
  • I had a pretty good day but it was way too hot and sticky. I wound up sleeping for a couple hours in the middle of the day and then hanging out in the family room (which has an A/C unit) and just sort of futzing about on the internet and gaming. We went and picked up food at the local diner because even though I'd laid in air conditioning and drunk plenty of ice water I still was just too flat from the heat and humidity to cook. The nice thing about this diner is that everyone can get what they want. I had half a Philly steak sandwich, and marveled at the fact that I could eat the sandwich half and a small bag of chips and have to wait to drink now. A year ago I would have eaten the sandwich, eaten an order of fries, and probably been fine with having a slice of cake for dessert, and washed it down with at least 24 ounces of iced tea. I like the way things are now. (grin)

    Now it's 10:30 at night and I'm sitting here letting the floor in the library dry because I had to wait to clean that room til the sun went down and things cooled off. That room has no windows, so no a/c is possible. (It sits between the kitchen, the front room, the downstairs bathroom, the sunroom, and the pantry. Originally it opened onto the back patio, but then they put in the sunroom.)
  • conniewilkins56
    conniewilkins56 Posts: 3,391 Member
    I would die without central air conditioning....I don’t know how people survived in Florida without it!...I have been here 48 years and it is hotter every summer....I always have something to drink in my hand....
  • eliezalot
    eliezalot Posts: 620 Member
    I would die without central air conditioning....I don’t know how people survived in Florida without it!...I have been here 48 years and it is hotter every summer....I always have something to drink in my hand....

    I moved from MN to DC a few years ago and thought I was going to die (even with the central AC). My poor Minnesotan blood just could not handle the heat and humidity. Apparently I've gotten used to it over the last 5-6 years though, and I'm even to the point where my husband and I argue about the temp of the AC...He wants it cooler, I get cold now if it is below 76. That being said, I don't go outside much during July :lol:
  • emmyjaykay
    emmyjaykay Posts: 83 Member
    eliezalot wrote: »
    I moved from MN to DC a few years ago and thought I was going to die (even with the central AC). My poor Minnesotan blood just could not handle the heat and humidity.

    I'm a born and raised Minnesotan, too. I moved to Australia for a little over two years and my apartment didn't have central A/C or central heating. Most days I just wanted to take a cold shower and lay in bed all day. I don't know what was tougher, though—my first Australian summer or my first winter back in MN!
  • conniewilkins56
    conniewilkins56 Posts: 3,391 Member
    Yay!....I knew you would do it!....my scales are still at 260.4 my lowest but I would sure like them to say 259.9 !
  • eliezalot
    eliezalot Posts: 620 Member
    @bmeadows380 congrats!! That has to feel good. I think the heat and humidity has been affecting my loss too...looking forward to what the fall brings. I did a maintenance break from thanksgiving through new years last year (and didn't track on any of the actual holidays). It was great, and I'll probably do it again. I hope it goes well for you and you get to enjoy the extra holiday food!

    @conniewilkins56 congrats too! You'll hit the 250s so soon!

    Today, I went to the office for the first time since early March. They are moving my team to a new floor. This was of course supposed to happen pre-pandemic, but has gotten pushed back. Feels silly...we still aren't actually going back to work (I doubt we'll be back at all this year)

    Anyway I had to go in and pack today, so I biked to work! Now I biked to work and grad school every day for 4 years when I lived in DC. It was an easy 4 mile commute. But since we moved to the suburbs, I have been too intimidated and out of practice to really want to try. I did a partway commute a few times, but was so out of shape. I decided to try the full route today, made it there and back, only got a little lost, and it felt great to be out riding again! 8 miles each way, got to see my coworker friends (we went out for an outdoor restaurant week lunch), and feel great.

    Biking is so much fun. It always makes me feel like a kid again. And I find it so satisfying? empowering? to get places under my own power. I'll definitely start up my bike commute when we eventually go back in!

  • conniewilkins56
    conniewilkins56 Posts: 3,391 Member
    Great bike ride for you!...keep it going!

    I wanted to ride my granddaughters bike but she was convinced I would fall off and break my neck!...So I decided not to but I am going to sneak that bike out one of these days!

    It would scare me to death to take a two month break....I could gain 50 lbs in that length of time....you will have to keep us posted how it goes!