Women 200lb+, Let's Seize the Day This September!!!

AlexandraFindsHerself1971 wrote: »

Weigh-in Wednesday!

Starting weight (1/1/20) 296
Goal weight: 180, then assess, probably 150-160.
Current weight: 250.

Still. (sigh)

I weigh every day to get over scale anxiety, and I've been bouncing between 252-250 for the last two weeks at least. I've been trying to be patient with this because I know it's slower due to the stress I'm under and there are things happening; I can squeeze into the 16 straight jeans (though plus is still more comfortable) and I have a waist beginning to show up. I also have a lot more energy and stamina. I suppose I'll drop all the water weight SOMETIME.

Scale anxiety here as well, so I weigh daily just like you. I was at the same point as you last week, but I'm only beginning to lose my weight. You've lost so much this year! Congratulations!!

The ladies here have great advice, so I am working on accepting that weight will go up, down and sideways for periods of time before the "whoosh". You're already doing what they told me to do, focusing on what you're doing right and how you feel.

For me, after allowing myself to feel a bit down, I decided to add some exercise (I had taken a break) and I dropped down a lb. So now I'm cycling between 248-250 when last week I was cycling between 249-251. Hopefully a couple weeks from now, I'll be cycling between 247-249

Keep at it and see how long it takes your body to "whoosh", perhaps you can identify your body's weight loss trend by monitoring the plateau/whoosh frequencies.

You have absolutely GOT THIS!

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)

8/26: 213.6
8/31: 211.2
9/2: 210.4
9/9: 209.6
9/16: 206.6
9/23: 205.0
9/30:

Sept. GW: 204.2
GW: 160 (then reevaluate)

Weekly exercise goals:
- bike ride or exercise bike 5 times per week - 3/5
- strength training (including core specific exercises) 2 times per week - 1/2
- chair yoga 4 times per week - 2/4
- steps onto aerobic step platform twice a day at least 3 times per week - 2/3
- bonus: 3 hikes with my daughter

Between taking my dad to the doctor one day and my trip to visit my daughter, I definitely did not get in my usual exercise this past week. We did go on three short hikes while I was at at her house so that was fun. I hope to get back to my normal routine this week. Sometimes in the past I had a hard time getting back into my routine. I already got my bike ride in this morning so hopefully history won't be repeating itself!

It's hard to believe there's just one more week in September. Hope we all can finish strong!

AmandaABW wrote: »

@lisa_newmum anything you’re doing for yourself with a 4 month old you should be proud of!!! My kids are 4 and 2...I realized I can’t blame my weight on my pregnancy any more when my youngest is 2.

Don't feel too bad, my youngest is 20 and is the one with the useless boyfriend above. The belly I got after he came out is still here, if smaller. I'll feel better when it's GONE.

@Riddikulus89, I love the "lessons learned" portion of your goals. We all have lessons to learn and ways to improve ourselves. I also notice if I don't eat as late the night before a weigh-in, I usually record lower. I am supposed to weigh-in tomorrow and I do not know how the results will be, but I am trying to be optimistic!

@AlexandraFindsHerself1971, I'm glad your experiencing that whoosh! You've been through a lot these last few months/weeks.

@xofarrah, this group can be quite motivational! I also struggle with keeping sweets in the house and trying to ration them out, it generally does not work for me. What I sometimes do as a sweet treat, I buy a bag of the mini size Twix or Milky Ways and I put them in my freezer. It is sweet enough and takes me long enough to eat since they're frozen, that I am satisfied. You're going to crush your goals!

@AmandaABW, some weeks are harder than others, but as long as you keep pushing through, you can do it. When I start to get really down on myself for a bad week or day, I just remind myself that in the grand scheme of me improving myself and my health a bad day or week is not going to break me. Everyone in this group is so supportive!

@lisa_newmum, I know the anxiety that can go along with losing weight, I can't give myself "deadlines" per se, because I will start to sabotage myself if I feel I am not going in the right direction with it. Just be kind to yourself throughout this journey, you're going to learn a lot more about what works best for you and what needs to be shifted. If you're having a hard day, this is a great group to come in and vent to, a lot of people can relate to the struggles.

@KeriA, this week flew by for me, but I definitely feel I did better this week than I did last week.

This week has been ROUGH emotionally, but I ate better than I did last week and I got some more exercise in, not as much as I wanted, but some days sleep won out and I know that was more beneficial for me. I am proud of not giving into my food cravings as I am an emotional eater, but I drank water and just reminded myself of how I'd feel afterwards. I am also working on stopping when I am full and taking smaller portions, I struggle hard with stopping when I'm full, but that definitely improved this week. I hope everyone has a good Thursday!

AlexandraFindsHerself1971 wrote: »

Riddikulus89 wrote: »

Scale anxiety here as well, so I weigh daily just like you. I was at the same point as you last week, but I'm only beginning to lose my weight. You've lost so much this year! Congratulations!!

The ladies here have great advice, so I am working on accepting that weight will go up, down and sideways for periods of time before the "whoosh". You're already doing what they told me to do, focusing on what you're doing right and how you feel.

For me, after allowing myself to feel a bit down, I decided to add some exercise (I had taken a break) and I dropped down a lb. So now I'm cycling between 248-250 when last week I was cycling between 249-251. Hopefully a couple weeks from now, I'll be cycling between 247-249

Keep at it and see how long it takes your body to "whoosh", perhaps you can identify your body's weight loss trend by monitoring the plateau/whoosh frequencies.

You have absolutely GOT THIS!

Thank you so much! (hugs and hugs!) I know that I seem to run about every four weeks for a whoosh, not necessarily tied to TOM, but the problem is that we've had, since I started losing....

Decision to sell house. COVID. Lost house we liked. Lost house we liked #2. Lost house we liked #3. Found house and bought it. Moved 3 people and two cats, with two people (not me) having meltdowns due to change. What about the sewer line? Lost job. Mother in law seriously disabled. Son dating a useless idiot and afraid to dump him. Mom having financial issues also COVID worries. Mother in law finally gets surgery for issue. Son dumps useless guy at last and stays here for a couple nights to avoid him. Boyfriend gets an AMAZING job offer. Girlfriend has a severe manic episode followed by a severe depressive/dissociative episode, has to be hospitalized. Something comes up that may nuke the amazing job offer.

Every time something happens, it stalls the whoosh for a varying number of days. I am hoping that things settle down soon; we have a lovely house now and are all moved in, Boyfriend should hear soon whether or not they want to hire him despite the problem that came up, and we can move on either way, Girlfriend's medicated now, and Son is busy at work and has put a three month moratorium on relationships so he can do better next time. If things settle soon, I'll probably go back to losing two pounds a month again; it's the stress that slows me down.

That's so much to handle! Remember to be kind to yourself, focus on your mental and emotional health, too. We're all here for each other

@AlexandraFindsHerself1971 It looks like things are settling down. I hope your BF gets the job but if not there are others that don’t have that issue. You need to take care of you first so you can help others.
@micwrites My husband and I have a group on zoom that meets on Sunday nights. We all were talking about how this smoke on top of everything else was just too much. The one thing people had with staying home/safe was walks/bike rides outside and that was taken away too. These normally positive resilient people were really complaining. I thought it was just me. Now Seattle, Portland and NYC are anarchist cities! We deal with fires and smoke and COVID 19 on our own and all we get is an attack. I was losing well this spring but the loss has really slowed this summer. Since I vary between my wooshes my net loss is usually 1 pound at most. PT is good. Hope you get all healed soon. Recently I listened to the personal fitness trainer Pahla B talk about how we ignore our need to develop our base/core strength and skip go right to higher level athletic activities (running etc) and get injured. The YOGA should be good for building that core strength. Take care.
@torihudson6 it sounds like a good week even though rough. Good job keepin’ on keepin’ on.
@motivatedsister nice job exceeding that weight goal early and a NSV too.
@iloveeggnog I gave up getting in a grove this week. Next week? The pool at our Y has opened for reservations for lanes. The problem is I don’t want to pay for our full membership just to maybe or maybe not get a reservation on a lane 1 or 2 times a week when what I really need is Aquafit at least 3 days a week for sure with my husband. I don’t need a teacher just the ability to do it regularly. When you don’t get anything else but an open pool and a chance to get a reservation you shouldn’t be paying the same as a full gym membership. We paid when I was on furlough for nothing to support them but now that I am laid off I can’t afford it. I miss a pool too. However it has been good for me to find things I can do at home.

I had my interview and there could be another interview with higher management or not. I am one of 2 and he told me to warn my references he would be calling. We were discussing pay and equipment provided etc. so all a good sign but then I do have competition still. It is a limited time job but pays well. Glad I got that done now I have a DRs appointment so really not planning much exercise.

I was really pleased with the red beans and rice I cooked yesterday. I had tried to make it before and didn’t like it. Not as good as Popeyes. This time we all liked it. I guess those Asian market red beans worked. They were creamy and tasty. Better than Popeyes in that they had Andouille sausage etc. If I have to ‘cook’ tonight it will be super nachos so we can use up the pico de gallo I made last week. I will not have any more energy than that anyway.

I did a little much yesterday and my entire back is varying degrees of sore, so I did not go work out today. The muscles all feel heavy. I am still at the same low point I was yesterday, so probably when the muscles heal and release their water I'll drop another pound or two.

Of course, today I have the lights to hang in the sunroom, and that will be a lot of overhead work.

Friday Weigh-In

SW (8/10): 208.6
Aug end: 205.6
9/4: 205.8
9/11: 206.4
9/18: 205.0
9/25:204.6
1st GW: 200!!
UGW: 140

Slowly but in the right direction!!

Weekly Goals:
I went over my calories for the weekend, but at least I stayed at maintenance. M-F is usually much easier. But I'm happy with myself that I logged those days anyways.

I am on track with doing my exercises everyday. I'm aiming for at least 5 days a week. Oh wait, I didn't do anything yesterday, gonna make sure I do something tomorrow.

Now that the days are starting to get cooler, I will now have to be mindful to drink at least 64 oz. It's like if I don't feel thirsty, I don't drink anything. When the days are hot, I can drink so much water!! LOL!! I'll drink while exercising, but then I forget. :drinker:

I've just done my last day on week 2 couch25k, I felt flat while doing it, think I'm still recovering from beach hike, but what a high once I'm done!! Lack of energy could be TOM which I started yesterday. I've read through everyone's posts, and one common thread is a lot of ladies on the group are caring for others, so girls be kind to yourselves, especially when the scale isn't compliant! It will come down eventually if you stick to your plans. Have NSV goals! Mine is to complete the couch25k and walking 45mins a day. I can't wait for our local Park run to re-open, that will be a Saturday morning goal! The last time I did it in January, I was one of the last one's to finish and I hobbled to the end, it took me about 2 weeks to recover because my heels were so sore.

orangequilt wrote: »

Does anyone know a very very entry level exercise for abdominals? Needs to be way more gentle than planks and sit ups, I will need to work my way up to them but right now I want to find a way of connecting my brain to the muscles, if that makes sense. Maybe even some kind of breathing exercise.
Any suggestions welcome.

I was so riddled with trigger points when I started doing yoga that a lot of the floor exercises I did lying on the bed.

I laid on the bed, put my legs straight up in the air, and lowered them without dropping them. It sounds like nothing, but it does begin to engage your abs. Eventually you can hold your legs up at a 45 degree angle, engage ALL your abs, and begin to see how long you can hold that before lowering your legs. If you can do it on the floor, more power to you, but it will work on the bed. I still do it every night before I roll over and go to sleep.

orangequilt wrote: »

Does anyone know a very very entry level exercise for abdominals? Needs to be way more gentle than planks and sit ups, I will need to work my way up to them but right now I want to find a way of connecting my brain to the muscles, if that makes sense. Maybe even some kind of breathing exercise.
Any suggestions welcome.

Maybe doing standing abs workouts, for example this one:
https://youtu.be/ZFyoVJxTNgE