Accountability buddy
Replies
-
@inshapeCK - Welcome! Good idea to bookmark the page because many of the threads have a similar name and, you’ll want to return to this ‘Accountability buddy’ thread for updates and good advice! By the way, what are your goals for this week?
Usually, we post our goals for the week and check in to report our progress and support one another.
Sometimes people send direct friend requests to people with similar goals or circumstances so that’s fine, too. You can decide what works best for you. I find the opportunity to reflect on what worked well - and get ideas from others when I need to make adjustments after things don’t go as planned - makes a positive difference for me. Thanks for sharing the strategy that works for you, @angelexperiment. I’m always glad to hear what works for other people in the group when it comes to satisfying cravings...without going overboard on calories.
@kmccrom - I’m so glad to see you back to posting weekly goals. You’ve done so well with MFP so we all want to see you continue making progress! How is your mindfulness practice going?
I think everyone agrees on the need to improve our ability to pay attention and make sure our eating is mindful! I also love @beshamama’s goal: “Don’t get down on myself”. I definitely learn and benefit so much from the goals you all post!
@highmaintnance - I hope @beshamama’s goal resonated with you, too ... because I really want you to be kinder to yourself! I also found myself eating extra sweets this weekend and got down on myself. I cheated myself a little bit by adding the brownie I ate yesterday (on Sunday) to my diary tracking today (Monday) and another sweet that I ate yesterday (chocolate caramel square) to tomorrow’s login (Tuesday this week). So, my plan is to average out my transgressions by eating better over the next few days after ‘pre-logging’ the items I ate beyond my daily calorie allotment for Sunday.
I was thinking that it takes about 3,500 calories to gain a pound so one bad day doesn’t have to derail all the good progress I’ve made this year. It’s a slow process to lose these last 10-15 pounds for me; so, I’m hoping a few bad days will only slow my progress a little bit, without setting me back. No gain is sometimes a win, right?
Besides, that apple pie sounds delicious! If you’re going to eat a snack, I hope you can enjoy it and reflect mindfully on how special it was! ❤️ I’m sorry if that wasn’t a helpful comment but I feel as though we can’t deny ourselves every pleasure. So, I want to figure out how to find the right balance. I guess a good goal for me this week seems to be ... only eat something over my calorie goal that really feels worth it! Best wishes, everyone! Have a great week and go get those goals!!
0 -
Hi everyone, a good day today and I want to wish everyone a good week. Still working on my goals which are... jogging everything, eating mindfully, and avoiding late night snacking. Today I used the laptop version of mfp and it gave me this cool little pie chart. But my snacks were as much as any of the meals! Is that good or bad? I had hot chocolate because it felt indulgent and good but I was still under my calorie goal. Not sure what to think but I know that I will just keep experimenting. And yes, I kept the eating mindful. Feeling good early in my journey back.2
-
Hi everyone, a good day today and I want to wish everyone a good week. Still working on my goals which are... jogging everything, eating mindfully, and avoiding late night snacking. Today I used the laptop version of mfp and it gave me this cool little pie chart. But my snacks were as much as any of the meals! Is that good or bad? I had hot chocolate because it felt indulgent and good but I was still under my calorie goal. Not sure what to think but I know that I will just keep experimenting. And yes, I kept the eating mindful. Feeling good early in my journey back.
I think if you fit it in your calories goals then it works! Sometimes a cocoa is in place of a meal for me if I make it super fat! Keeps me full a long while too and gets that chocolate velvety mouth feel thing! Lol I make it with heavy cream butter and salt and unsweetened cocoa with a sweetener, and some snacks can be as much as meals but as you said you were still under I think it’s fine I mentally tell myself if it’s a snack I manage to keep to around 200 unless I’m way under and I can spend more calories!0 -
Hi guys so like I’ve had a bit of too much snacking last week. I’m trying not to carry that through this week! I did have a snack after work but I didn’t go too crazy. But I surely do not want to keep that going. Not hungry snacking either just I have some trouble with empty time lol. I’m adjusting by choosing teas or drink water but it’s a weird adjustment to me. I’ve always spent so much time eating and now I have some free time and maybe I need to take up coloring or something lol0
-
Hello everyone. I'm looking for like minded people. Motivated to become better inside and out. I've been here off and on... off lately I had to clean house so to speak... step back take inventory of what I want.... time to reengage and get back at it.
I started off pretty good dropping 10 lbs, then sadly gained 5 back during the last 2 months. I'd LOVE to get those 5 lbs back off before the first of the year! Looking for people that will help me.... and in return I'll do my best to help you as well.0 -
angelexperiment wrote: »Hi guys so like I’ve had a bit of too much snacking last week. I’m trying not to carry that through this week! I did have a snack after work but I didn’t go too crazy. But I surely do not want to keep that going. Not hungry snacking either just I have some trouble with empty time lol. I’m adjusting by choosing teas or drink water but it’s a weird adjustment to me. I’ve always spent so much time eating and now I have some free time and maybe I need to take up coloring or something lol
I know exactly how you feel. I notice that when I have just a few minutes between project A and B I find myself wandering into the kitchen to grab a handful or almonds or a spoonful of cool whip or peanut butter. Those are my sticking points because even when I track everything I eat, I don't always track those and those add up QUICK. I have really been trying to notice those times and curb it before I reach for something. Just keeping busy and finding other things to do to fill those small times. I am trying to grab my phone or tablet and jump on here to scroll for those few minutes and that really helps because seeing what others are eating or their successes makes me want to really succeed myself so the thought of a handful of anything goes right out the window.0 -
I'm looking for accountability buddies, as put a stone over lockdown. Add me if you like. Thanks1
-
@BenCHarrison1981 I hear ya brother. I put on 10lbs (A stone is 12 or 14 lbs I can't remember) I need to get my head back in the game. Sent you a friend request.0
-
@kmccrom - I agree with @angelexperiment that hot chocolate is fine as long as you stay within your calorie range. I feel the same way about snacks. As long as I stay within my daily calorie allotment, which is easier if the snacks are healthy, I don’t think it really matters if you eat a snacks at this point. Of course, there are lots of MFP threads for people with specific goals who choose very specific fitness and meal plans. So, I guess it just depends on your goals. I find that snacks can be a good way to balance out my macros if I’ve had a lot of carbs and need some extra protein to sustain my energy through the afternoon, for example, but that’s just my personal perspective (i.e., I don’t really have the expertise to comment so you should ignore any advice from me on snacking! 😂)
@angelexperiment - I like your idea of replacing higher calorie snacks with water and tea. Is that working well for you? Most nights, I have a cup of tea to relax and unwind but I’d also like to drink more water throughout the day. Let us know if you find success with coloring ... or another good way to reenergize without extra calories. Good idea to check in here at the MFP Accountability buddies thread for positive reinforcement and refocusing, @KMC55 ... love it! 💕👍🏼💕
@RandJ6280 and @BenCHarrison1981 - Glad you’re here ... Welcome! I have about a stone to lose, too! Someone posted an idea earlier this month - @driheataz maybe? - to break down our larger goals into smaller increments and reward ourselves with some type of non-food celebration. I’m hoping to get to 135 on the scale by December 6th and I’ve still got a couple pounds to lose so we’ll see ... I’m confident I’ll be close but may not quite make it at my current rate of .5 per week. Slow and steady!!
@RandJ6280 - When you ‘cleaned house’ and stepped back to ‘take inventory’ on what you want to achieve (or focus on improving), did you settle on a particular goal? If not, no worries, but I’m just wondering if there is anything you want us to encourage you on ... or ask about from an ‘Accountability buddy’ perspective... We’re all working toward different goals while sharing the journey ... and encouraging one another along the path.
As for my goals ... Tomorrow, I have a personal trainer appointment (within covid parameters) as I try to build a new exercise habit for the winter when I can no longer row outside on the river. Friday’s weather is expected to be warmer so we moved our usual Thursday row to Friday instead. I’m glad I could make the switch around my work schedule for that day! I’m so glad to enjoy another day outside because I find it more difficult to motivate myself for exercise in the darker winter months ... I want to hibernate! So, I’m glad to have this group to stay accountable to ... Please make sure I don’t hibernate 😴 Thank you to all!!2 -
Hello everyone,
started T25 programm this week, anyone ever tried it? Looks good & looks kinda hard lol How do you overcome days where you just dont feel like doing any exercise?0 -
@Andrew45678 - Welcome! ... and congratulations on signing up for the T25 workouts. I often say, ‘putting on my sneakers is the hardest part of exercising for me’ so I can relate to needing some motivation to get started. Once I begin, I get into a rhythm and really enjoy both the workout and the feeling of satisfaction after finishing. Sometimes I’ll reflect on that feeling of accomplishment and give myself a time limit for procrastinating, reminding myself that I could often have finished my fitness activity in the time I spent avoiding it (without anything to show for the time wasted). Other times, I just start with a smaller commitment to just burn 100 calories or workout for even 15 minutes. I might even break it down even further on a really bad day and spend a little time in the sauna at the local YMCA (pre-covid) to build the habit of going. A relaxing stretch on a mat could help you feel a more positive connection to time spent on health and wellness. I think you made a good start by picking T25 sessions because, although I’ve never participated in the program, I’ve heard it’s quick and intense ... Is that right? If it doesn’t take much time to complete, it seems easier to convince myself that it will be an efficient and effective use of time, which could cut down on excuses not to ‘just do it.’ I worked out with a personal trainer today and couldn’t believe how quickly the time passed. It gave me energy to keep going so I spent a little extra time on the treadmill before I needed to get back to work. Anyway, it was a good nudge since I didn’t have rowing practice today and need to build a new exercise habit to get me through the ‘winter conditioning’ season.
Please check in and let know how it’s going for you. I’m sure others will be interested in hearing about your experience.0 -
Do it anyway! Your head will tell you anything, just trick yourself and say I’ll do it for five minutes bc I can do anything for 5 minutes and then I’m already doing it and I just finish strong and in the end you are tired but feel good!Andrew45678 wrote: »Hello everyone,
started T25 programm this week, anyone ever tried it? Looks good & looks kinda hard lol How do you overcome days where you just dont feel like doing any exercise?
0 -
@PatriceFitnessPal Thanks for the comment and tips
Regarding the T25 - its has 3 main parts / blocks, alpha, beta, gamma, each of them for a few weeks. Alpha is about foundation, beta a lot about core and muscle building, did not check gamma yet but I guess thats for the best
Obviously starting with alpha now, it has 5 different workouts + stretch. It is indeed intense, both the workouts but also the schedule, 5 days a week + one stretch. Friday is scheduled as double day but thats mission impossible for me yet, haha. So far did 4 workouts, Lower Focus yet to be done but looks like leg hell lol. All of the workouts are for 25 mins but thats is just on paper for me:
Speed 1.0 - I would say the easiest one as you get stretching rests for most of the workout so thats bearable. A lot of jumping, high intensity & high heart rate (well thats the point of the whole concept, so hardly surprising). I almost made it in full w/o stops.
Cardio - harder one, no rests, combination of jumps & some leg excercise. I had to stop several times to recover, took me roughly 35 mins to get done.
Total Body Circuit - hard one, strength stuff combined w/ high intensity cardio, barely made it. Took me >50 mins, was dying towards the end, a lot of pushups etc when already tired is not easy at all. But I could see the pain on Shaun crew as well so this wasnt fun even for them.
Ab Intervals - starting with core exercises is never easy so no surprise it was a survival fight as well. I dont think it was that complicated but more about me not being fit enough for this and will have to work though to make it easier. Spent some 35 mins on it, HR was way lower than in other exercises, its the core that couldnt keep it going.
Lower Focus - TBD but looking at the vid it looks like something that kills you for next several days
Some random thoughts:
- took the attitude to rather stop, breathe, recover and do it properly in full, rather than modify
- even after those few days, some exercises already improved - Im kind of a muscle & fat guy so there is something to "wake up" as I dont need to build muscles but to lose the fat (191 cm, some 115 kg, wide shoulders etc)
- managed to do push ups, cardio is improving fast but core & leg exercises are tough. Core too weak/tired fast and legs not ready to do so many lunges w/ this weight.
- some core exercises are harder than they would have been because of shortened tendons etc (like holding a sitting V) - stretching will be very important too
- the high intensity of trainings is ofc something that pushes you to dig deep but the reward is really fast; you can feel those small improvements almost daily
I have been starting over and over some workout schedules many times (eternal starter lol) but this time I feel really motivated & dont press too much. Meaning I have burned myself with going hard on the begining with 1-2 hours of training and then faded away from it... this 25-50 mins style looks really good to avoid this fail.1 -
Hello to all the newcomers!
I feel like every week I post “this is it! This time I’m gonna do better!” And then I don’t 🤦♀️ But this week when I went grocery shopping I purposely didn’t buy chips or candy. I did buy a fruit cake cause it’s the season and I made a deal with myself to only buy one every other time I go shopping instead of every time like last year 🤣 Seriously these little fruit cakes are delicious!
My new goals are going to be super simple this time.
*Get back to logging food (don’t even bother about sticking to calorie budget just log!)
*Exercise (which I’ve been good about but haven’t been recording it)4 -
Hi everyone, I appreciated the comments about snacking. Paying more attention to what I eat is helping me be aware of whether or not I’m eating out of boredom or hunger. I logged every day this week and was under my calorie goal, so I am off to a good start. I’ll keep trying. Wishing everyone the best with their goals !1
-
The last 2 weeks I have not been able to keep to my calorie target and have been eating loads of junk. I am definitely finding the transition to Winter and trying to stay committed to MFP a struggle. I have gained a 1lb or so but considering how badly I have eaten I think I am riding my luck at the moment. I think I need to just focus on a few goals this next week, log everything I eat, increase by calorie goal to 1400 a day (no way I can stick to 1200 during Winter), keep exercising.2
-
Finished my 1st week of T25 - Alpha with Lower Focus - as expected, it was a hard workout as except of first 5 mins its being in leg pain in different positions lol Took me 40 mins to get through but that was expected for first time, I thought it could have been worse as even Shaun's crew had hard time.
Reading here about how some struggle w/ calories and seems to me that those numbers are too low actually. Find out your basal metabolism and dont really go under it, or very little. Its not recommended as the body will start to slow down the metabolism and think you are in some kind of food crisis. And save everything it has. Also, eating properly and healthy is usually almost feeling like eating too much - check if you do not overeat in carbs (esp. sugar) and undereat protein. That is a usual wrong combination for I would say huge part of people trying to lose some weight. Especially not eating enough protein. It will keep you feeling fed for way longer and its really not many calories. And watch out for "diet", "low fat" products are they are usually just full of carbs which is bad. I would recommend the first thing to do anyone who is trying to lose weight is to drop all these products.2 -
@angelexperiment and @Andrew45678 - Thanks for sharing your thoughts on how to approach exercise when we aren’t feeling motivated and setting calorie goals that are sustainable. I think many of us are using our weekly commitments and goal-setting to experiment with what works for us, such as challenging ourselves enough during our workout to make progress but not feel so worn out or sore that we drop it after a short period of time.
Finding the right calorie goal is a bit of a ‘work in progress’ for me. MFP has been extremely helpful for me in terms of understanding portion sizes that are right for me. I’ve learned to make small swaps like eating one egg for breakfast instead of two, and pairing the egg with toast instead of a bagel. I might eat one bagel per week now, when I’m felling hungrier than usual - or seek the extra flavor of the ‘everything bagel’ seasoning - but now I see the incremental change translates to one pound lost instead of gained over the course of a month. I recognize that I’ll need to sustain these habits for a lifetime, rather than a certain ‘diet’ period, so I’m trying to really reflect on what works and doesn’t (for me) so I’m able to adopt new behaviors for the long term.
Some people would say I’ve set my daily calorie level too low at 1,200. I’m open to that possibility, and willing to adjust it, but it seems to be working for a few reasons right now: (1) I’m relatively short at 5’4” and working from home has reduced my activity level because I don’t take the metro (public transportation) or walk all the way to the office anymore; (2) Even though my daily calorie count is set to 1,200, sometimes I’ll eat 1,400 or more and the lower goal allows me to be a little more flexible in logging (since most people under-estimate the number of calories they’ve eaten); and (3) When I workout, I ‘eat back’ the calories burned so I eat more calories on the days my body needs more energy. Once I hit my goal weight of 126 pounds, I’ll likely sustain my weight by eating about 1,400 calories per day, which means I won’t stress if that ends up closer to 1,600 because I still only estimate the calorie count most days. I think the recommendation for a 5’4” woman aged 54 is 1600-2200 calories so I expect to be in the right range as long as I continue to eat more on days I workout. My plan is to track and weigh more strictly - and possibly set new fitness and calorie goals - if I find myself struggling to lose the last 10 pounds.
I’m really happy that I moved from the ‘overweight’ BMI to ‘normal’ so I’m trying to be patient with the last 10 pounds, knowing that my metabolism has slowed with age 👵🏻 and a 200 calorie daily deficit takes about three weeks to add up to a pound lost at the rate I’m going. I’m not sure this will work, and I know I’ve simplified some complex topics in the way macros and body composition affect overall results, so we’ll see. I’m going to keep tweaking things to get it right but that’s my looong reflection for today! 😂🤣😂 If you’re still with me, thanks for indulging another ramble ... Best wishes in meeting your goals!!1 -
I don’t know how to embed a quote but I agree with your approach to this @beshamama:
“My new goals are going to be super simple this time. *Get back to logging food (don’t even bother about sticking to calorie budget just log!)”
Building the habit is key and I think focusing on building your awareness about any food, timing or underlying emotions will help you understand any extra steps you might need to incorporate.
Do you have a plan for when you log things?
I know some people plan ahead and pre-log their food or choose a particular time of day but I’m not very consistent. Most days, I enter the food as I’m preparing or eating each meal. I’m curious what works for others since I haven’t paid much attention to my own behavior related to tracking food or exercise. Usually, I report exercise just after finishing (e.g. when I get in the car after a row) but I sometimes enter a planned workout to justify a bigger breakfast or snack. 😀0 -
Hi! I am new here and need to lose a whopping 150lbs and would love to have a motivation/support buddy. Please add me if you willing to help and I can help you too. TIA1
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.3K Introduce Yourself
- 43.4K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 387 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.4K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 901 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.2K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions