Username: Jactop
Weigh-in week: Week 2
Weigh-in day: Mon
Previous Weight: 195.0
Today's Weight: 194.6

Username: anido1
Weigh In Day: Monday
PW: 151
CW: 151

Didn’t exercise as much last week and tried to stay at my calorie goal. Of course, my weekend eating was off track as always. Glad I didn’t gain any but motivated to get back on track this week so I can continue losing. Have some weekend plans that include lots of eating so I have 5 days to make sure I watch it😬

@Katmary71 Sending huge hugs your way. That sounds absolutely awful!

@AustinRuadhain What an awesome weigh-in result! Go you!

@trooworld Thanks so much! I have sent you a PM with my email address.

@Jactop I know we're all different, but I usually find that I feel more "snacky" in the evenings on the days where I haven't really eaten enough earlier in the day. Especially enough protein. I have tried the IF thing, but the days where I skip breakfast I'm a snack monster in the afternoon/evening, so it just doesn't work for me. I'm not sure what you eat or when, but it might be worth playing around with meal timings etc. to see if it helps. I also have a cup of herbal tea in the evenings where I want to keep eating - it seems to help. I use a sleepytime blend so it has the added bonus of helping me off to sleep!

@buniphuphu You are such an inspiration - I love seeing the results of all your hard work paying off! Congrats on 25 lbs gone - that's amazing!

@vegan4lyfe2012 That sounds really painful! I'm glad you went and got it checked out though. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery!

My day yesterday didn't go as planned. I let hubby serve dinner & dessert and the portions were...large. So I well overate. But it's only one day, and I'm back at it today with some healthier choices and a renewed determination!

People who get up and exercise early in the mornings, what is your secret to success? I have tried and tried but I am really not a morning person so when that alarm goes off, I just can't drag myself out of bed! I have tried putting out my workout clothes the night before, disabling the snooze function on my alarm (which just resulted in me going back to sleep and ending up late for work), planning a fun workout that I actually want to do...what can I do to convince myself to get up and do it?!

100 DAY CHALLENGE GOALS
Day 27: Monday 19 October
1. Log calories eaten: Yes - 15/27
2. 20 mins exercise: No - 14/27
3. Record a calorie deficit: No - 12/27

@TwistedSassette I've been skipping breakfast fairly consistantly. I'll try eating more in the morning and see if that helps. Thanks for the tip.

I'm a fan of the snooze button too so morning exercise is a habit I need to ease into. I start by forcing myself to get up 5 min earlier and do something (usually my stationary bike while still in my pjs) then keep increasing the time. At some point I start to regret that I didnt get up earlier so I'd have more time for a longer workout. The biggest hurdle is getting started.

vegan4lyfe2012 wrote: »

@TwistedSassette Why do you have to work out so early in the morning? I'm a night owl and I just can't do mornings. Nothing says we HAVE to get our exercise in so early. As long as we are doing it...it doesn't matter when. My favorite time to get exercise in is around 2pm to 3pm. No matter what time, it still nets you a non-zero day

That is true, I don't have to work out in the mornings, but I have a tendency to not do it in the evenings either. My problem is that I work 7am-4pm. My son goes to bed at 8pm. So the only time I have with him is ~4:30-8pm (and weekends), which includes his bathtime and dinner. If the weather is ok for a swim or a walk, I can take him with me so I get some exercise in that way. But lately it's been stormy & awful so that's just not really an option. After he goes to bed, I find that I'm just exhausted, or haven't had dinner yet, or have to pay bills/clean the house/other chores and before I know it, it's bed time or I'm late to bed again and haven't done any exercise! I really think that morning exercise would suit my schedule better. Then if I get to swim or walk after work that's just a bonus. The really stupid thing is that because I have my alarm set so early in the morning and keep snoozing it, I'm not really getting any extra sleep that way! I really want my exercise done in the mornings so it's out of the way and sets the tone for my day. I just can't seem to convince my sleepy brain/body to get out of bed and just DO it!

I am convinced that part of my problem is that I don't get enough sleep, so I always just want 5 more minutes even though I really know that's not going to help. It's a vicious kind of cycle - get up late, late for work, late leaving work, less time after work, still try to get things done, late to bed, not enough sleep, and so on around and around. Tonight, I will aim to get to bed on time and see if a good night's sleep can actually get me to get out of bed and do something!

PW 226 pounds
CW 224 pounds
Ltd 4pounds
Weigh in Tuesday’s

Monday Check-in
🟢Food on plan weighed & logged
🟢/🟡 Calories in the "Green" (I think this was actually green, but my fitness gadget was not registering. On reflection, I think I believe the sweat over the gadget!)
🟢Workout: 45 min+/6 days-wk (over an hour of platform stepping)
🟢Over 10K steps
🟢Only the one planned snack, no trigger foods
🟢In bed by 12
Today's plan -- more of this!

@trooworld
Since you are loving Celestial Seasonings teas, I will chime in and say I love all of their fruity teas, especially Apple Spice.
Hurray for checking in and owning up that you didn't hit all your goals yesterday, and yeah, chocolate happens sometimes. I know you are back on it today!


I think @trooworld 's question/suggestion is BRILLIANT:

Or, can you allow yourself to do something if you work out, like for me, sometimes I will only listen to a certain podcast if I ride the spin bike. It's my "reward" for riding.

Who else does this? How do you build in extra fun to your workouts?

Building in something that makes exercise extra rewarding can be so effective, at least for me! I have had long periods when I allowed myself to listen to an audiobook I love only while working out. Suddenly, I can't wait to get out walking! Currently my rewards for evening walks are conversations with my husband and seeing the outdoors at night. And I can burble at you about how much I have fallen in love with evening walks with my husband. Every night we see the one or two geckoes that now visit the ceiling of our front porch (I now leave the light in the early evening on to attract bugs that the geckoes eat!). Night before last, I saw a meteor, a really bright one, in our slightly cloudy urban sky. I came home and checked, and it was a leftover bit of Halley's Comet! A few days before, I spotted a five point buck running across the street. All little things, but all unexpected joys that I watch for and only get if I for for that hourlong walk each evening!

Hmm. I have also sometimes used workouts to listen to audiobooks and podcasts about health and fitness, as a way to keep myself excited about, interested in, learning about nutrition and fitness.

@miriammuhindi
Brilliant weigh-in! Congratulations!

@TwistedSassette
With a little one, I think exercises are a huge challenge. I hope that getting to bed early helps shift that rhythm or you!
Like you, I find that doing exercise in the morning is helpful. Currently where I am on that is doing just a bit -- 10 minutes or so, to at least get that mental boost (yay! I did something this morning!).

@Jactop @TwistedSassette @vegan4lyfe2012 @gwamajtw91 and, and almost everybody?!
What a great conversation about late-night eating.
I'll bet I could pay more attention to sleep, as per Jactop's comment!
Everyone has to figure this one out for themselves, for sure. For me, one key is eating enough fiber. So for me, dinner usually includes a huge salad.
And I have to have eaten enough, overall, that I am not crazy hungry at bedtime.
And then I have a "no eating after the dishwasher has started" rule for myself. I turn out the light and walk out of the room and say "done for the day" to myself.
And I also have to get trigger-y foods like candy out of the pantry. When I started losing weight. I sat down my husband and son and talked about how scared I was about the direction my health was going, and then explained that they could help me tackle this if they would be willing to go without ice cream in the freezer for a while.

@buniphuphu
Drop the label if you don't like it? I just love that you keep working at it and tweaking and figuring out what works for you. Your consistency and determination inspire me, week after week!

Oh, and thank you for this: "Two-riffic Town!" I was wracking my brains for what a term was for that, and couldn't think of it.

@Firefly743
Since buniphuphu reminded me, I will say CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN for making it to Two-riffic Town! That is a huge accomplishment! Yee hah!

@TwistedSassette
I love that you owned what's so and analyzed where things went wrong! And a big yes to the power of keeping extra food off the plate as an easier route to staying on track!

My day yesterday didn't go as planned. I let hubby serve dinner & dessert and the portions were...large. So I well overate. But it's only one day, and I'm back at it today with some healthier choices and a renewed determination!

@anido1
Hurray for staying even last week!
If the weekend is going to be a challenge, is there a way to make slightly better choices, food-wise or exercise-wise, to have it be a victory in some way? Weekends can be so tough, when there are big social/food events.

@Jactop
Thank you for the congratulations! And yeah, it wasn't just avoiding pie, but I was super sure that if I started eating pie, I could totally toast the work I had been doing.

TeresaW1020 wrote: »

@AustinRuadhain Girl that is a fantastic weight loss!! Did you try to lose that much in one week?

Hey there! No, I did not set out to lose a crazy amount of weight in 1 week. I am sure it will be back to normal next week. I just went from slacking food-wise to back-on-track eating and added some extra exercise. So I think it was the bump you sometimes get from making a bi change, and I think I ate a salty dinner the night before the previous weigh-in (bad planning!).

The big change was cutting back on sweets. I gotta say, it's annoying that I can't eat more sweets, but I truly cannot do that. I had been indulging in extra fruits, including dried fruits. All that seems" like it should not be so bad, but I can't get away with it without consequences. My weight went up and some of my inflammation issues flared up. So I am back to eating mostly veggies and limited fruit, almost none of it dried. I had a dietician tell me I was the most carb-sensitive person he worked with, and I keep wishing it weren't true, as I love sweets. I just love being healthy more.

Your train ride looks gorgeous, by the way!
My son was a big fan of railroads for a couple of years, and we did trips on some trains. The Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railroad was the prettiest, if you ever make it that far west:
https://www.esnarailway.com/
The Illinois Railway Museum is amazing, too: https://www.irm.org/
This reminds me that I should take a look at our stack of train books. I need to declutter...!

@AustinRuadhain Oooh Apple Spice sounds lovely for fall! I am back on track, thanks! How magical, your evening walks sound.

@TeresaW1020 Yay for a fun trip and beautiful pictures!

@TwistedSassette You are most welcome! WTG with going to bed on time and getting up and working out!!! 15+10=25 minutes which is pretty darned good!!!

@GretchenReine I'm sorry you are struggling. I've had days when I've wanted to throw that scale out the window lol. There are plenty of free rewards you can set yourself up with. Some ideas: paint your nails/toes, a nap, take a vacation day, listen to a new podcast... there are more ideas here (although on this list, there are a lot of ideas that cost money): https://www.macymichelle.com/non-food-rewards-for-weight-loss/

Hi all. Well, yesterday was much better. I was able to fit in some exercise and ate well. I did a pretty good job of self-care. Now, to repeat today!

Tuesday:
Calories: over/under: over
Water: over/under: over
Exercise: rode spin bike, walked
- rate my hunger on a scale of 1-10 before I eat - not accomplished
- track 90% of food intake - 100% accomplished
- get at least 7 hours of sleep every night - 100% accomplished
- drink 2 (26 oz) bottles of water a day - 100% accomplished
- meditate for at least 15 minutes a day - 100% accomplished
- put my utensil down between bites - 50% accomplished
- ask myself if I'm really hungry before eating anything - not accomplished
- leave at least 3 bites of food on my plate at each meal - not accomplished
_____________________________________________
Goals or Improvements for tomorrow:
- ride the spin bike
- rate my hunger on a scale of 1-10 before I eat
- track 90% of food intake
- get at least 7 hours of sleep every night
- drink 2 (26 oz) bottles of water a day
- meditate for at least 15 minutes a day
- put my utensil down between bites
- ask myself if I'm really hungry before eating anything
- leave at least 3 bites of food on my plate at each meal

Tuesday Check-in
🟢Food on plan weighed & logged
🟢Calories in the "Green"
🟢Workout: 45 min+/6 days-wk (80 min outdoor walk)
🟢Over 10K steps
🟢Only the one planned snack, no trigger foods
🟢In bed by 12
Wednesday plan -- more of this!

🍲 Kitchen win: I made this super healthy vegetable stew, and my son and husband both love it. I skipped the butter and oil, and used a mix of root veggies that are currently available at my grocery (lots of beets, turnips, carrots; just 2 smallish potatoes; plus celery & onion). I added a little chicken bouillon powder to the water, as they both love that flavor.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/russian-root-vegetable-stew-recipe-1137531

@Katmary71
💙 How are you today? I am thinking of you and hope all is well!

@TwistedSassette
👍🏾 Wow! What a great day! It sounds like you made a bunch of small decisions that added up to a fabulous day! And how awesome to notice that you made up for the off-plan day already. Rock and roll!

⌛ Your planning to eat dessert later and then passing on it reminds me that I sometimes get around eating something unhelpful by just... putting it off. My whole journey with losing weight started by deciding to put off eating a candy bar one morning. It was too much to think I would go without candy all day, but I could see my way to saying "later."

@TeresaW1020
💗I hope you are doing well today. I don't know if this would be helpful, but you might (if you have not already), for your shoulder, look at the sling-with-a-bolster/pillow, as a way to hold it in place at night? (something like this?) The pillow allows you to take all the weight of the arm off the shoulder, and the sling holds it there. I know someone with a shoulder injury who is using one.

@GretchenReine

You ever just look at the scale and sigh? Yeah, that was me this morning. This week has been treacherous but getting into a routine since just getting back is a struggle. I'm trying to work on a reward system of some sort but when you're struggling financially it's really hard to even come up with the simplest of things.

👐🏾 Boy, I do get the sigh.

If the routine is a struggle, maybe break it up into smaller pieces?

🤔 Another idea - try celebrations?
One of my favorite ever resources is a book called Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg. He's a human behavior scientist, and people have come out of his classes and done things like *design Instagram* (which if you think about it, is an amazing example of rewiring habits in a lot of people). Anyway, he wrote a book to try to put that info in the hands of people, and one of the big things I got out of it was the idea of using celebrations (as opposed to rewards). Celebrations are a free, in-the-moment behavior (so not a budget challenge):
https://www.tinyhabits.com/rewire << stuff about celebrations
https://www.tinyhabits.com/welcome << free mini-course \on his website

Full disclosure - it took me months to come around to trying celebrations. My first thoughts included "this looks dumb" and "I feel silly." But now I do them when I am trying to build a new habit, as they are super effective for me.

The library might have the book, if you want to learn more, but he puts LOTS of stuff up on his website.

@trooworld
🎉 Hurray for that great day and for all the self care!

@emj90210

I have fell off the wagon and gained 3lb in 7 days 😭

👐🏾 Aww, we know that's not the number you wanted! Can we support you in any way? Are there some small changes you could make this week, to start heading in the direction you want? Not like "totally on the wagon and getting it all perfect," but little steps?

@GabiV125
🥳 Hurray to that great weigh-in! And to the green checkmarks on your goals!

It’s finally fall and the start of my favorite foods type weather: soups and stews. What I’m doing different this time around , is to have a second helping, with minimal bread on the side and cut the empty calories [ ok, mostly sweet(s) ] at night - because I am truly full.

Oooh, yes! Soups and stews can be such an awesome, healthy and filling choice! I made a Russian root vegetable stew and got rave reviews at our house.

@GretchenReine It does take time to get back into a routine when you have been out of it awhile. Are you tracking your foods? Do you have a specific eating plan that you are trying to stick to? Going to the gym is great! Just hang in there and don’t let yourself get down. One day at a time is all we can do.

@Jactop Thanks for the link! I will check it out.

@emj90210 We all fall off the wagon. The secret is to get back on board and keep moving.

@AustinRuadhain That sling looks very interesting! I’m actually doing pretty well with not sleeping on my right side but still in pain so I’m not sure if I’m helping or not. I will tell you that I am NOT happy to have this shoulder and back pain still lingering in my life. I might actually be tempted to go see a doctor, but don’t tell my husband I said that. I’m still just thinking about it. That veggie stew looks really good!!

@buniphuphu Ohhhh dear that is not good to be that stressed out. You have been doing so great that I think you should go back to doing what you know works for you. Stressing will only hinder your weight loss progress.


Hi everyone! I skipped workout this morning and did a bunch of housework which of course hurt my back. I am still on the fence if it’s sciatica or what. All I know is that it’s getting really old to have this pain almost every day. I went to get my hair done today but my stylist never showed up and I still haven’t heard from her. One of the other ladies said that her sister was in the hospital, so I’m praying that all is well. Tomorrow, I have my staff all-day meeting that we do at this time of the year. We will do our best to plan 2021 without really knowing what we can expect these next months. In any event, it’s always fun to hang out with these five people. I heard that we will be eating pizza for lunch!

100-Day Challenge Goals: Day 29
1. Fast clean for 19+ hours, with 2 days at 23+ hours. Fasted 19.5 hours
2. Workout six days a week (either BOD program, treadmill, or deep cleaning). 2 hours of housework
3. Eat at least 90% on plan, which means mostly low carb with one or two days of high-carbs. Right on plan with super low carbs today.
4. Have quiet time with God through prayer and reading. No, I ended up running around this afternoon with hubby doing errands. I do have children’s church tonight!

buniphuphu wrote: »

I have been really stressed out over my doctor's schedule to try to lose that 23 pounds. Yesterday, I vomited after I ate lunch I was so stressed out. Today, I decided I'm going to go back to what was working for me: swimming an hour a day, eating a calorie-appropriate diet, focusing on fruits and veggies, healthy proteins, and minimizing starches.

The weight will come off as it comes off, and I won't feel stressed. Surgery will happen when it happens. It's not an emergency. He'll have to have patience.

I think this is a great way to look at it. Yeah, it would be great to get the surgery behind you but if you're losing super fast you'll be weaker for surgery recovery. It's your body and your life, do it your way!