Non Scale Victories
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bmeadows380 wrote: »So, I over ate today. Why then am I calling this a NSV? Because I was able to recognize today that my body's hormones, stresses, whatever, are just demanding more food today than usual. So I consciously gave myself permission to eat at maintenance today. Not go hog-wild, not eat everything in sight, not sneak here and there and try to hide from myself, and most importantly, not trying to guilt trip myself over it. That's the NSV part - I'm not feeling guilty about allowing myself a maintenance day.
I am almost in tears over this!
@Novusdies I missed this reply earlier, but you gave me a chuckle regardless lol You've just been trying to pound that into me for how long now? Can't promise it'll be that way all the time, though!
Today's NSV, though I supposed technically it might not really count as an NSV: I'm dispatching for storm work at home. Unfortunately, that keeps me glued close to the computer and sitting for long stretches. What is good about this, however, is that since I'm doing it from home, I'm not around the tons of snack foods that usually get brought in or the calorie dense meals that are usually catered. I have complete control over what I eat. And since I have a strong control over what snack foods are in my house, I'm not sitting here mindlessly munching away while working on the computer. My setup is in the back bedroom away from the kitchen and I don't have much that is easily snacked on anyway.4 -
bmeadows380 wrote: »So, I over ate today. Why then am I calling this a NSV? Because I was able to recognize today that my body's hormones, stresses, whatever, are just demanding more food today than usual. So I consciously gave myself permission to eat at maintenance today. Not go hog-wild, not eat everything in sight, not sneak here and there and try to hide from myself, and most importantly, not trying to guilt trip myself over it. That's the NSV part - I'm not feeling guilty about allowing myself a maintenance day.
I am almost in tears over this!
I would love to see the expression on Novus face and the eye rolls when he reads some of our posts and comments!...when I go back and read my old posts over a year ago, I sounded so weak!...losing weight and feeling better has made me feel so much stronger and in control of my life!.....I can almost hear him saying, “ I told you so!”2 -
conniewilkins56 wrote: »bmeadows380 wrote: »So, I over ate today. Why then am I calling this a NSV? Because I was able to recognize today that my body's hormones, stresses, whatever, are just demanding more food today than usual. So I consciously gave myself permission to eat at maintenance today. Not go hog-wild, not eat everything in sight, not sneak here and there and try to hide from myself, and most importantly, not trying to guilt trip myself over it. That's the NSV part - I'm not feeling guilty about allowing myself a maintenance day.
I am almost in tears over this!
I would love to see the expression on Novus face and the eye rolls when he reads some of our posts and comments!...when I go back and read my old posts over a year ago, I sounded so weak!...losing weight and feeling better has made me feel so much stronger and in control of my life!.....I can almost hear him saying, “ I told you so!”
*laughs* yeah, but I bet we might a few from him that would protect us from some blackmail, at least!1 -
conniewilkins56 wrote: »bmeadows380 wrote: »So, I over ate today. Why then am I calling this a NSV? Because I was able to recognize today that my body's hormones, stresses, whatever, are just demanding more food today than usual. So I consciously gave myself permission to eat at maintenance today. Not go hog-wild, not eat everything in sight, not sneak here and there and try to hide from myself, and most importantly, not trying to guilt trip myself over it. That's the NSV part - I'm not feeling guilty about allowing myself a maintenance day.
I am almost in tears over this!
I would love to see the expression on Novus face and the eye rolls when he reads some of our posts and comments!...when I go back and read my old posts over a year ago, I sounded so weak!...losing weight and feeling better has made me feel so much stronger and in control of my life!.....I can almost hear him saying, “ I told you so!”
I am honestly never even close to an "I told you so" moment. I feel so grateful that you allow me to be a small part of your journey forward. I have no expectation that anyone should ever listen to me. My credentials are far from impressive considering I failed so much for 30 years. Some of those failures were exact carbon copies of failures that already failed before.2 -
conniewilkins56 wrote: »bmeadows380 wrote: »So, I over ate today. Why then am I calling this a NSV? Because I was able to recognize today that my body's hormones, stresses, whatever, are just demanding more food today than usual. So I consciously gave myself permission to eat at maintenance today. Not go hog-wild, not eat everything in sight, not sneak here and there and try to hide from myself, and most importantly, not trying to guilt trip myself over it. That's the NSV part - I'm not feeling guilty about allowing myself a maintenance day.
I am almost in tears over this!
I would love to see the expression on Novus face and the eye rolls when he reads some of our posts and comments!...when I go back and read my old posts over a year ago, I sounded so weak!...losing weight and feeling better has made me feel so much stronger and in control of my life!.....I can almost hear him saying, “ I told you so!”
I am honestly never even close to an "I told you so" moment. I feel so grateful that you allow me to be a small part of your journey forward. I have no expectation that anyone should ever listen to me. My credentials are far from impressive considering I failed so much for 30 years. Some of those failures were exact carbon copies of failures that already failed before.
And we are so grateful that you started this group!....you never say “ I told you so “ but you have to think some of us whine a lot lol....I don’t know if I would still be doing MFP if I hadn’t found this group and some of the members...( knock on wood ) I am in such a good place right now mentally and physically that I don’t want to jinx it!...this has really been an easy week for me and I am SO close to the scale hitting my lowest weight so far!2 -
conniewilkins56 wrote: »conniewilkins56 wrote: »bmeadows380 wrote: »So, I over ate today. Why then am I calling this a NSV? Because I was able to recognize today that my body's hormones, stresses, whatever, are just demanding more food today than usual. So I consciously gave myself permission to eat at maintenance today. Not go hog-wild, not eat everything in sight, not sneak here and there and try to hide from myself, and most importantly, not trying to guilt trip myself over it. That's the NSV part - I'm not feeling guilty about allowing myself a maintenance day.
I am almost in tears over this!
I would love to see the expression on Novus face and the eye rolls when he reads some of our posts and comments!...when I go back and read my old posts over a year ago, I sounded so weak!...losing weight and feeling better has made me feel so much stronger and in control of my life!.....I can almost hear him saying, “ I told you so!”
I am honestly never even close to an "I told you so" moment. I feel so grateful that you allow me to be a small part of your journey forward. I have no expectation that anyone should ever listen to me. My credentials are far from impressive considering I failed so much for 30 years. Some of those failures were exact carbon copies of failures that already failed before.
And we are so grateful that you started this group!....you never say “ I told you so “ but you have to think some of us whine a lot lol....I don’t know if I would still be doing MFP if I hadn’t found this group and some of the members...( knock on wood ) I am in such a good place right now mentally and physically that I don’t want to jinx it!...this has really been an easy week for me and I am SO close to the scale hitting my lowest weight so far!
I believe everyone whines an appropriate amount except me. I whine way too much.
I am pretty close to hitting my lowest weight so far too. I was in a whoosh yesterday. Not sure about today. It doesn't feel whooshy but experience has taught me that is not always easy to figure out. There have been times I was sure I was in a whoosh that I gained the next morning and times I was sure I wasn't when a big drop happened.1 -
This one won't seem like much to most of you but it is a big deal to me. I got up from my dining room chair without using my hands. This was one of the goals I set when I first started the journey to improve my health and fitness. It took me a long time to achieve this but it's made me unreasonably happy to finally be able to do it.
"Chair stands" are actually a warm up to a strength program I follow from an old book called "Strong Women Stay Young". I started out doing a modified version by using my hands to help get up & down. I then focused on slowly lowering myself without using my hands. A few weeks ago I tried to get up without using my hands. I was able to do it once and then couldn't do anymore. I was thinking I should try again, maybe next week. Then today I thought, heck, might as well try today during the 2nd set. And I actually did 6 of the 8 reps without my hands. It felt like a miracle!
That's awesome!
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I actually managed to go to bed last night truly under my deficit goal! I've been struggling with evening snacking again and would find myself grabbing something after I closed my diary more days than I care to admit, but last night I actually held out against that drive to snack and went to bed instead. Of course, it helped that I didn't have anything in the house that was quick to grab and snack on (thank heavens the figs and dates are gone!) but still, I can get pretty creative when the snack urge hits.
And yesterday was a completely sedentary day, too, with less than 2000 steps in thanks to my job, so that was sedentary calorie goal!5 -
When I started my new job last year (August) I ordered a hospital jacket. I am always cold so I felt like I needed one. I haven't worn it in quite a while. This morning was a little chilly so I grabbed it and threw it on. It is quite big on me. The sleeve are very long and the front is huge. Looks like I will have to order a new one. Sucks I only got a few months with this one.4
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Two today!
1. I was on my knees painting today, and to get up, I just hopped to my feet without thinking. HOPPED! I'm not sure I even could have done that last year, certainly not without a huge effort, much planning, and some loud stomping around.
2. I also tried on a down vest in the closet, not sure if it was mine or my husbands. It fit me well, just a sliiiight bit tight across the hips. Turns out it is his, a men's medium. Never been able to wear his clothes before, as he has always been smaller than me.5 -
I said NO to ice cream! Ice cream has always been one of the foods I can't resist; in the last two years especially, I had been in the habit of buying multiple pints of ice cream and eating two per day, then immediately going back to buy more. I'm 5 weeks in to my healthy eating and exercise routine and have been avoiding sweets because I know they are something I can't control myself with. Today, my mom came to visit, we went on a long walk, and due to the heat my mom really wanted to go out for ice cream. At first I was interested, and I was going to allow myself to have some as long as it was a single serving. BUT THEN my mom changed her mind, went to the store and bought a whole carton of ice cream, and left it in MY freezer. The old me would've waited for her to leave, then sat on the couch and eaten most, if not all, of that big container. The new me waited for her to leave and then...did nothing. I'm debating whether I should throw it away (but hate to do that because food waste) or just leave it in there for her to eat whenever she comes to visit again...5
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Awesome job, @amart4224 !!! Ice cream is something I generally still can't have in my house.
By the way, if at any point it becomes a temptation, then toss it and don't worry about wasting food. That's my opinion anyway. 4 -
My Marketting director invited me to a high fitness class (had to google it). I was quite worried about going. I haven’t done any organized exercise since COVID hit and the gyms closed. I loved Zumba when I did it but this is way more intense. I went this morning and worked my behind off!!! It was so so hard and there were parts I couldn’t do (burpees are a hell no). But I finished the whole class and signed up for 10 sessions!8
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Just saying that I love all the NSVs. They motivate me much more than the scale. Congrats to all. I hope to have one myself to share one day.4
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I don't have that big a calling for ice cream, but on the occasions I do I keep some of those little single serving vanilla cups in the freezer in the garage. That with a puddle of chocolate syrup is only 130 cals, so not unworkable. It's just that 90% of the time I'd rather spend the calories on something else. (shrug)
I am going to have to clear out all the old tops I had when I started this journey. They are just too big now. I was wearing them in the house for work clothes, but that's just unworkable now. So now everything I have on (except my socks and shoes; my feet haven't changed size) is a size I didn't fit in when I started this in January. That feels pretty big to me.
I'm also going to have to get more shirts, because I only have five, and I like to have about nine at a time. (Week plus 2) It would help if I lost about an inch around the hips and then I could get into the other two pairs of jeans I have in the drawer. I do not have a lot of clothing.4 -
NSV - two month update: (cross posted on my feed)
Well...Partial Scale victory I guess.
This year has been crazy for pretty much everyone. While at the beginning of it in March was all comfort food and day drinking; I recently decided to use this time I was given as a means to change. Not just eating and exercise. I quit tobacco cold turkey (well, a bit. Had some of that nicotine gum on hand for when I thought I'd falter). That was always on my to-do list but the stress of life always seemed more overwhelming than my need to quit. Not this time. Today is 2 months free. I did stumble a month or so ago but it left me feeling like garbage. I'm actually glad I did it since it pretty much solidified my resolve for walking this path. In July I essentially put a "pause" on weight loss. I knew quitting tobacco would cause my weight to jump and I was okay with that. The oral fixation and withdrawal could be swayed with some comfort food. To my surprise my weight stayed stagnant. Best case scenario for me in this situation.
Drinking had to be severely cut down as well. I was never an alcoholic, but the "social" part of drinking went away with social distancing and eventually drifted to "pass the time drinking" and "why the f*** not?" drinking; wasn't like I had anywhere to be. I do have some bourbon now and then. I don't plan to have 0, just with much more moderation. The advent of summer and outdoor get-togethers only increased the amount of alcohol consumption. I avoided beer and figured I'd drink "healthy" by pounding Hard Seltzer. Doesn't work that way when you need to drink 1500 calories worth of hard seltzer to get a buzz. I was already on my weight loss journey by then but was not seeing the results I wanted. When I logged it and found I needed to drink damn near the entire 12 pack to get a buzz...I realized a hard reset was exactly what my body needed.
Sleep. Get good sleep people. I used my vices as late night distractions and would sleep very poorly. Getting a full nights rest is one of your best weight loss tools. I thought I could handle my vices, poor sleep AND weight loss. False.
Today officially marks 27 lbs total weight lost since starting in Nov 2019. I'm still heavier than I've been most of my life.
But I've also never felt healthier.
Be safe, be strong and be blessed6 -
1. Two days of night-splint and ice massage has my heel feeling much better already! I went for two walks, without any pain/stiffness in the evening. I slept in today, so didn't have time for a pre-work walk. Depending on the weather, I might try another one this afternoon.
2. At the beginning of summer, I realized how big my arms must have gotten because I saw quit a lot of floppy skin pooling around my elbows. There was still plenty of fat stretching that skin out. But it disappointed me more than I had expected - elbows aren't something I'm particularly vain about! In the mirror this morning, I noticed that my elbows were less hidden in that floppy skin! There is still some excess of course (and more fat to lose), but the excess skin is so much less noticeable. It is kind of fascinating to see where and how my skin flops or tightens up as my weight drops.4 -
1. Two days of night-splint and ice massage has my heel feeling much better already! I went for two walks, without any pain/stiffness in the evening. I slept in today, so didn't have time for a pre-work walk. Depending on the weather, I might try another one this afternoon.
2. At the beginning of summer, I realized how big my arms must have gotten because I saw quit a lot of floppy skin pooling around my elbows. There was still plenty of fat stretching that skin out. But it disappointed me more than I had expected - elbows aren't something I'm particularly vain about! In the mirror this morning, I noticed that my elbows were less hidden in that floppy skin! There is still some excess of course (and more fat to lose), but the excess skin is so much less noticeable. It is kind of fascinating to see where and how my skin flops or tightens up as my weight drops.
I'm seeing something similar in my stomach. It matters less if I lose floppiness there, because the diastasis won't repair itself and I'll be having surgery for that anyway. But there's much less flop as it shrinks than I anticipated.2 -
I carry a lot of weight in my arms...swimming is certainly helping to tighten the skin up and I am building some muscle...I do not think I will opt to have any surgery for excess skin removal...I have had enough operations for two lifetimes!...and at my age, surgery is a big deal....I also know I will be having a cyst removed from the top of my foot this fall...( it’s the kind people used to hit with a Bible to remove!...I am not doing that )....I have been looking at skin sleeves to wear under your clothing...they come in all colors and designs, some even with tattoos on them lol... They look like they work to give your arms a nice appearance...2
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@DDino22 - Your NSV is a really big deal. Congratulations! You are really making a difference in your health. And I don't think you are alone in moving from being a social drinker to a "why the f*** not?" drinker during these times, but also kudos to you for seeing it and doing something about it. For those times when you do want to drink, instead of hard seltzer a low calorie option that I sometimes indulge in is flavored vodka and plain soda water. Better tasting than Hard Seltzer, 0 carbs (if you are counting those) and 80 calories for a 1 ounce pour.
@eliezalot - I'm glad the icing, splinting, resting routine is working! And I think you already know about my arm story - huge bat wings eventually shrunk as I lost more fat. The skin won't tighten until you lose the fat that is stretching it down, but if you keep going it can happen.
There is hope!3 -
I got out of the shower today and this is the first time my regular bath towel (not bath sheet! Not beach towel!) fit fully around my hips in years. I’m shocked. This wasn’t even on my radar as a possibility for another like 50 pounds.10
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conniewilkins56 wrote: »I also know I will be having a cyst removed from the top of my foot this fall...( it’s the kind people used to hit with a Bible to remove!...I am not doing that )
I had one of those removed from my wrist in my early twenties. It wasn't a big deal and I've never had any problem with it since.
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AlexandraFindsHerself1971 wrote: »conniewilkins56 wrote: »I also know I will be having a cyst removed from the top of my foot this fall...( it’s the kind people used to hit with a Bible to remove!...I am not doing that )
I had one of those removed from my wrist in my early twenties. It wasn't a big deal and I've never had any problem with it since.
Good to know....I have no idea how they will do the one on my foot!0 -
Not a NSV but a surprise I noticed today. My bike fits differently. My legs aren't as fully extended at the bottom of my pedal motion. My best guess is that the extra padding on my butt raised me up an extra inch or so, and now that I'm losing that, my body is simply closer to the pedals than before. I don't have to adjust the fit quite yet, but I'm keeping an eye on it!6
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Did you all know that we have BONES under the fat? I just realized that I can feel some of mine. I grabbed my forearm yesterday and was shocked to realize that when I squeezed, there was something hard under there! Today I massaged my shoulder, and realized that there are bones back there too! I feel like I'm so much more breakable without my thicker layers of padding!4
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Did you all know that we have BONES under the fat? I just realized that I can feel some of mine. I grabbed my forearm yesterday and was shocked to realize that when I squeezed, there was something hard under there! Today I massaged my shoulder, and realized that there are bones back there too! I feel like I'm so much more breakable without my thicker layers of padding!
@eliezalot
oh yes, I know that feeling! right now my wrists look tiny to me, and back in the summer, I was shocked to find out I had ribs; I was getting dressed one day and was standing in front of the mirror fixing my hair and noticed these bulges right above my tummy. I stopped, felt them and realized I was seeing my rib cage!3 -
Let me tell you about knowing you have ribs!...maybe if I had kept more padding on them,they would not hurt so bad!3
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conniewilkins56 wrote: »Let me tell you about knowing you have ribs!...maybe if I had kept more padding on them,they would not hurt so bad!
@conniewilkins56 I hope those are doing better for you! My mom has strained her ribs doing work above her head a month ago; the problem is, I can't get her slow down enough to let them heal. *sigh*
On the NSV front: I'm finding it amusing the random places my body decides to take the fat from. Even though I'm still carrying extra water weight right now, I still decided to go ahead and update my measurements. My actual waist has not changed in 4 months. My hips, however, have dropped 2 1/2 inches since June, my bust is down 2 inches, while my "high waist" or that muffin top above my actual waist, held steady for 3 months from May until August but is now 2 inches below that number as well.
I can understand why the bust, hips, and muffin top are losing fat faster, considering I have more fat packed onto those areas, and trust me losing some of the hips is great! Though really, I'm happy with the bust where it is now......
So measurements are at least showing some progress, even though the scale is being frustrating!
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bmeadows380 wrote: »conniewilkins56 wrote: »Let me tell you about knowing you have ribs!...maybe if I had kept more padding on them,they would not hurt so bad!
Though really, I'm happy with the bust where it is now......
If only we could tell the body which parts we want to be smaller! The only somewhat nice thing about gaining weight was that I actually had cleavage for once in my life! I know that when I get to my goal weight I'll have given up my overflowing C cup and be back to barely filling out a B cup 😒1 -
bmeadows380 wrote: »conniewilkins56 wrote: »Let me tell you about knowing you have ribs!...maybe if I had kept more padding on them,they would not hurt so bad!
Though really, I'm happy with the bust where it is now......
If only we could tell the body which parts we want to be smaller! The only somewhat nice thing about gaining weight was that I actually had cleavage for once in my life! I know that when I get to my goal weight I'll have given up my overflowing C cup and be back to barely filling out a B cup 😒
I was at a DD cup and have deflated down to a C cup (and deflated truly is the most apropos word for it lol) I'm very happy to have lost some there; the relief to my back has been wonderful, but I'm quite happy where I'm at right now - the bust and the high waist, at least, are proportional!2
