Women 200lb+, Let's Amaze Ourselves This April!!!

Never consistent overtime with MyFitnessPal before. Want to start to be. I'll weigh myself tomorrow morning and the check in again.

I am new here and am only on day 2. My starting weight is 289.2 and I’m 5’2. I’ve always been overweight but have felt much worse since having my first child 10 months ago. I feel like I can’t wear anything but leggings and dresses to work. I want to be healthier so I can have more energy to spend time with my daughter! I’m already feeling discouraged so any advice or encouragement would be great!!

@VickyEltonGreen I don’t do the Lean (because my scale is too smart for me) but I do exhale all the air in my lungs before stepping on the scale 😂 I figure as long as I consistently do the same thing every day, my progress is still progress?

@jbutle5 Oh, man! I feel you there. I'm so sorry about the rough day at work. Is there a certain plan you're following that requires meal prep?

I've tried all sorts of plans over the last decade to lose the pregnancy weight from my youngest (gaining it all back and then some each time), and I've gone into this time with a mindset of (1) losing weight and getting healthy is not a race - it's going to take as long as it will take - and (2) I'm going to do what is sustainable for me for life. (Because what it takes to get there will be pretty much what it takes to stay there.) For me, that's ruled out things like meal prep, eating on a strict regimen, cutting out food groups, or super low calorie. I'm also discovering that as much as I like exercise, I can't go back to spending 2-4 hours in the gym 6 days a week like I was doing before I had my youngest. (Tried it for a couple of weeks, and it just killed me both mentally and physically!)

I'm also actively combating the all-or-nothing mentality that has been undercutting me over the years - the idea that if I don't do things perfectly, I'll fail and all of my previous effort was wasted. I legit took last week off from both exercise and logging food because I hit a wall mentally. Even with my flexible plan, it's still a dramatic change from how I've been living before. It's going to take time to master this new lifestyle. I'm going to have days when it feels like it's too much. It's like learning anything - learning to walk, learning a foreign language, etc. - and I'm going to stumble through it. Eventually, it'll become less and less hard until it no longer feels like I'm battling up Mt. Everest. But again, it's going to take time. I remind myself that so long as I get back up and keep trying, I haven't failed.

One of my new favorite quotes is: "Be patient when becoming someone you haven't been before." (Tanya Markul)

I don't know if any of this helps! But you're definitely among friends here. We've all been there! *hugs*

@misplacedmama what a great attitude! I lost 50 lbs using MFP a few years ago and was really gung ho into it. Then life got in the way and I gained back 70 lbs. I went from an all to nothing attitude. It will be nice to get to a place where “this is just my life”. 🙂

April weight

Name: Jessica
Age: 38
Height: 5' 6"
SW: 238.4 (5/10/16)
GW: 190
April GW: 226

Weight tracking:
Start Apr 1: 235.8
WK 1 Apr 5: 234.9 (-0.9)
WK 2 Apr 12: 231.4 (-3.5)
WK 3 Apr 19:
WK 4 Apr 27:
Finish Apr 30:


April goals:
WK 1 & 2:
- drink 100oz of water a day
- stick to a 16:8 IF schedule (during the weekdays)
- Take two 10 min breaks during work to stretch/yoga

First full week back on MFP. I had a good week, but it was also easier with the kids being at their grandparents (fully vaccinated) for the week. This week is going to be harder. I've decided to stick with the same goals as last week. The worked well for me and since I'm adding the kids back in and now cooking more kids friendly food I figure that is enough of a challenge

In a strange way I missed MFP when on Noom. They don't have groups like this. The community that is here just isn't there. The old chat thred that used to be really active when I lost the weight the first time had gone dead. So Thanks everyone for being here. I feel like I have a new great support group.

Totally thinking of this as a whole lifestyle transformation, educating myself on how to eat and exercise but also trying to believe in myself. You see I wasn't always fat, but I believed I was and my dad always told me I was fat so obviously you believe that but in reality I didn't get fat until after the birth of my 4th child when my whole life virtually changed overnight and I had to give up my job. I then got very depressed and the comfort eating went to new levels, every time I was stressed or upset I would eat and because I believed I had always been fat I didn't think the eating could possibly make things worse. I've spent the last few years cutting the toxic people out of my life and I rarely speak to my dad now because he's never happier than when he's putting someone down to make himself feel better. I'm in a much better mindset and I'm learning to control food instead of letting it control me. I'm ready to be the old me again and this time I'm surrounded by positivity and people who lift me up instead of dragging me down. So this is definitely the year of transformation for me where I try to have a positive mental attitude and not to sweat the small stuff. It's taken me a long time to speak up for myself because I've always tried to please other people but now it's time to focus on me for a change and I can't wait to see what this next chapter brings.

@goal06082021 @kelMee2 Oh, wow! Reading your posts was so powerful. Thank you both so much for sharing!

Even though I used to be "fit" before I had my youngest, I'm still working on becoming someone I've never been before. Like @kelMee2 I wasn't fat growing up, but I thought I was. Between growing up in the 80's and 90's where rail-thin super models were worshiped as the ideal all females should attain and my mother and sister being effortlessly very slender, I looked at my naturally athletic build as "fat." After having a few kids, athletic looks started gaining more traction, and I decided that was attainable for me. But here's the thing: my goals were purely aesthically based. I had no concept that these super fit ladies I aspired to be like spent years building their physiques. I had no concept that they did these photoshoots right after a bikini/figure show or that they dieted down for it - that they didn't look that level of "cut" all the time. I tried to follow the strict nutrition of body building gurus like Bill Phillips. (Oh, but I got to have one "cheat" meal a week, so it was totally "flexible"!)

So, I spent hours in the gym (2 to 4, six days a week - because exercise was the super easy, doable part for me) and kept "falling off the wagon" with food. It didn't matter that I was a healthy weight with a healthy body fat percentage (it just wasn't as low as the fitness models). It didn't matter that I could do full push-ups, I could run a 5k, and do a bazillion other things with my healthy body. It didn't matter that I looked nice, had a flat stomach - even after having four kids, then five kids - or that clothes looked great on me. I still wasn't good enough. I have "before" photos from that time for some 12 week challenge I was doing, and you can see how angry I was at myself for still being in such "bad" shape. Yeah, I was "softer" than the super fit ladies in Oxygen magazine, but I looked great! And yet, the horrible things I would say to myself for not meeting this impossible ideal in my head! I even flirted with anorexia on purpose for a time in desperation to drop more "fat." I even once tried to make myself throw-up after eating something "bad." I wept in frustration when it didn't work. (I'm so grateful for the moment, when looking at my daughters, I realized that I couldn't model such toxic behavior. I loved them too much to teach them by example to hate themselves.) I dialed back the craziest stuff, but I still suffered from an all-or-nothing mentality. And, I'm learning now, I definitely still suffered from compulsive exercise and body dysmorphia.

And so, while I have been "fit" physically before, I've never been fit emotionally or mentally when it comes to my body. I'm learning to love myself no matter what size or shape I am. I'm learning to have a healthy relationship with both food and exercise. Yes, I want to lose weight (being 44 and 90 lbs overweight puts me at higher risk for for health issues I don't want). Yes, I want to be able to do things like full push-ups again. But I want to reach my goals and actually be happy. I think that means learning to be happy now.

Sorry this post got so long!

Arralethe wrote: »

For me, intuitive eating is never going to work. I am *always* going to have to meal plan and watch my portion sizes. I just have to work on accepting that, but also practising maintenance phases without a deficit, so that I know it's not an all or nothing game!

Right there with you. I wish i could eat intuitively, but doing that got me to 250+ lbs (i suspect my highest weight was around 265 or so), so clearly my intuition is off somehow. Maybe someday I'll have retrained my brain and my gut to eat intuitively, but that can't be the goal because i can't depend on that happening. I'll still be on this app and tracking maintenance in 2023, I'll never be "done" counting calories and meal prepping and all of it.

I have been struggling last month or Soto point even stopped logging my meals.
Work is not a fun place anymore since new ownership took over, and I am really struggling to stay.
We had our newly engaged daughter and her fiancé out for almost a week over Easter and that was fantastic.
Now it's time for me to start working on me. I need to get in better health and shape!
I weighed in January 1st at 265lbs and as of today I am 247lbs. I know in 3 1/2 months that isn't a lot, but at least it is a loss. I now need to start an exercise program to help enhance my weight loss.
I am going to be more consistent in this group to,so I can keep myself accountable.

@angief05 GURL. That's over a pound per week. You're doing AMAZING right now, that is EXCELLENT progress and you should be proud of yourself.

Today was hard, because I had a disappointment. And I did comfort eat. But it was a lot less calories than I used to comfort eat, and I am also proud of the fact that I was able to shed tears and say I was sad and mad and hurt, but mostly sad. I'm never going to access emotions with the ease of neurotypical people, but being able to recognize and verbalize them and then say, "It's okay if you want to eat a banana muffin because you feel sad about today," was actually much much healthier than some of my previous patterns have been. So I'm proud of that.

April Challenge Weigh In Day

Age 44
Height 5'4"
SW 249 3/2020
CW 226
GW for Apr 223
UGW 145

4/1: 226 lbs
4/8: 226 lbs
4/15: 226 lbs – bunch of things, slacking on my water for sure
4/22:
4/29:
Total month loss:

Weekly goals:
-Continue logging on MFP
-Work out 5x per week – 3 cardio & 2 strength
-64 oz of water each day

This weight seems to be mental for me. Many things have been messing with me this week. My husband wanted to do dinner last night. Went to Applebee's as Baker's Square was closed. Did okay. No dessert as I already had that in the afternoon. I have a hard time turning husband down when he offers up getting the spinach dip. He didn't push dessert but probably would have had it if he did; but I easily let him have most of it. He at least knows I'll have about 2 bites maybe 4 and then leave the rest. But without having dessert I ended up grabbing something at home to push me over; so maybe should have had dessert. I had expected the scale to be higher this morning but grateful it wasn’t. It’s .2 down from last week and yesterday actually. Good news on that.

I keep reminding myself it's a lifetime for working on the weight. I just have to keep up with what I'm doing. I had the same reminder once I got my annual physical's results back too. Just have to keep doing what I'm doing.

@misplacedmama I really like the quote. My first time of weight loss getting down to what’s my current goal was a struggle. I had never been thin since I was like 5. So I didn’t know how to be at that weight and hated how everyone was around me – pushing food, not understanding my needs, fitting time to exercise & dating at the time, etc. It’s definitely no wonder I just stopped and slowly gained all back. Now I’ve at least been to that weight, just a different age and circumstances so it’ll still be different than before.

@speryj Yes the self-love I’ve been trying to work on myself more. Dog food/weight – That’s a good reminder. I still can’t imagine that I had the 20 lbs when in comparison.