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

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  • KeriA
    KeriA Posts: 3,268 Member
    Well, I have been coming down from my higher weight last weekend. I exercised almost everyday or was very active the day I didn't. One day only a small walk at twilight enjoying the sunset but had some good walks. Still no weight training due to such sunny beautiful days and not wanting to reinjure my elbow. Thinking about trying today since it is cloudy and drizzly finally. Working hard at water and I get a lot of flights of stairs on the weekdays going up and down to my home office. I don't get as much sleep now that I am working but try to make up for it on the weekends.

    It looks like I will have a busy summer at work. My project will be coming in mid-June. I need to get some progress made losing weight before then. I took my youngest in to get their vaccine Monday and my husband is taking the day off in 3 weeks for her 2nd dose since it is a bit of a drive. Thinking of taking a weekend at the beach between that and mid June.

    I looked at the week before last when I gained and I looked at this week. I ate between my estimated TDEE and BMR during both weeks but I did eat more calories the week I gained but my exercise was more as well. I have just adjusted my TDEE down 100 and my estimated BMR down 50. Last week I had 3 higher calories days and this week only 2.The lower calorie days were lower too. So maybe this tweek will keep the weight coming down. Or I need to bring my work phone upstairs when I log in each day. As it is I usually take an exercise break and once in awhile I need to do some dinner prep so I don't want to take anymore time away from my office. Looking forward to seeing how your weeks went.
  • KeriA
    KeriA Posts: 3,268 Member
    Respectfully, I disagree with the blog post relating to the notion that slow metabolism and weight gain is "BS."
    That would mean that advice from a cardiologist, endocrinologist, GP, and 2 licenced nutritionists would all be wrong. Not to mention my own experience with how my body is responding to my caloric intake. Scientific data has shown that when calories are very limited, the body's metabolism slows down to compensate for that.

    @Spotteddingo I haven’t read the blog post in question but I do agree with you that if you eat too little your metabolism will slow. I lost 20 lbs eating below my BMR without knowing anything about BMR and then I hit a long plateau. I ate less, I exercised more, I changed my exercise, etc etc and my weight didn’t budge. I only had MFP set for a 1 pound a week loss. I had upped my exercise and so my TDEE and BMR had increased and I was eating too little. I started seeing posts on here about eating more to lose. I started to learn about BMR, TDEE and NEAT. I slowly upped my calories to what MFP said was maintenance. As I ate more I started to lose even when I went to MFP’s maintenance. I stayed there for 2 weeks then I lowered my weight to a more reasonable deficit. I lost another 20 by eating more. Unfortunately I went back to work and didn’t adjust and gained back my weight. Now sometimes I will eat less but I am really careful to watch out for upping exercise and eating too low. I just try to stay within my BMR and TDEE and make sure I have a few higher days if I have lower days. I am not getting so much exercise now to worry too much since I am working full time again. I have a spreadsheet to track it all. Unfortunately the TDEE/ BMR calculators are only estimates so I find that it is helpful to track things to ground truth them for me.
  • Spotteddingo
    Spotteddingo Posts: 95 Member
    @uyister
    You are amazing and thank you for sharing your progress and thoughts with us!

    @KeriA I agree... I think finding the sweet spot regarding how many calories we need in order to lose is key. I have been eating more and losing inches. I will weigh in the morning to see how my numbers look.
  • KeriA
    KeriA Posts: 3,268 Member
    @misplacedma I am glad you concentrated on food and that your trainer is starting at the beginning. It is important to build core strength and not risking injury.

    @AlexandraFindsHerself You are making progress and it may be much more important than what is on the scale. So congrats on all those NSV.

    @trinati2001 you are making such consistent progress losing weight. My son is trying to get me to do intermittent fasting (16:8) I am resisting but I see you are doing it only on the weekdays. That may be something to think about. I am trying to wait until I am hungry to eat breakfast and tracking when I eat it for now. Yes I miss some of the activity when I worked in an office and I am now trying to adjust to working at home. I do sometimes have to walk around the house while I am waiting for my oatmeal to cook etc. but I did that at the office too when I was waiting for food in the microwave. I use One Note in my office at home to track some things I can to help me up my activity and water etc.

    @goal06082021 I am glad you are enjoying your workout. Hope your trip goes well. I think you will find something to stay active on it. Although I am vaccinated my youngest isn’t yet fully vaccinate d so we are still being very careful since they live with us. We plan to get a haircut too after her 2nd dose. I have long mostly grey hair. When my hair turned grey it got wavy with soft curls. I had straight hair before. So I haven’t minded the long hair until recently.

    @uyister you have been working hard at so many fronts and the progress shows! Congrats on losing 100 lbs!

    @ladychr0nic I went up last week but I am bringing it down and you will too
    .
    @sarah12277 I liked you list of helpful things. I am fortunate that my husband agrees to limiting take out (we aren’t going to restaurants or bars yet) to 1 time a week. However unexpected things do get in the way.

    @VickeyEltonGreen thanks for asking for thoughts and for those who did like @speyerj

    @kelMee2 I am glad you are listening to your body.

    I am not through reading your wonderful posts but need to take a break and get back soon.
  • KeriA
    KeriA Posts: 3,268 Member
    @girlinkaz amazing planning. I love hearing about all those NSV

    @trinati2001 I remember those days of afterschool activities. Sometimes I would walk too but others I was tired from work and would just read. I also remember how hard it was on dinners too. Now working at home I can take a break and get dinner started before 5. I am not an empty nester but my youngest is an adult and sometimes they make the dinner!

    @jazzdesigns I think it is wise your Dr is having you check at home so that she can make sure it isn’t related to going to the DRs.


    Well tonight we are having not just pizza but deep dish pizza. My youngest loves it and we never get it. I have gotten so I like thinner crusts. So my weight may go up again. I haven’t had lunch but take out usually affects things.
  • KeriA
    KeriA Posts: 3,268 Member
    edited April 2021
    Okay I read the article that @speyerj posted the link for and I found it had some useful information and explained a lot of important terms that are helpful. I especially liked the part about NEAT because that is what I need to work on now. I actually copied that part to study for later. So yes it was helpful to me. However I had read it before and found some of it off putting. I didn't like the tone of some of it. I think it over simplifies and I don't think it mentioned the decrease in metabolism from calorie deficit but maybe I missed it. I do not think the science is in about the benefits and harm from calorie deficit. Obviously it is healthy to lose weight when you are obese. Here is just one article about the harm of restricting Calories https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/calorie-restriction-risks#:~:text=Regularly eating fewer calories than,8 , 9 , 10 ). I am not recommending it but offering it as an example of how we need to realize what works for you may not work for someone else. I am old. I raised 2 teenagers. I have a thick skin. I can read that article and get the benefit from all the great information in it and ignore its tone and know it doesn't explain it all. I can be grateful that it was posted because part of it was information I needed. I can also speak up when I think something needs to be said. I never did when I was young. It was a helpful article but eating at a calorie deficit has issues we need to be aware of.
  • justace0305
    justace0305 Posts: 33 Member
    Hi everyone,
    I started on MFP recently and I’ve lost a little over 10 pounds so far. My monthly goal for April is to lose 5 pounds. Nearing the end of this month, I’m 4.2 pounds toward my 5-pound goal. My goal this week will be to focus on eating meals. I tend to snack and graze on food when I’m not focused.
  • speyerj
    speyerj Posts: 1,369 Member
    @misplacedmama - Truth! You really have learned a lot. So proud of your physical progress, but even prouder of the insights you have learned.
  • trinati2001
    trinati2001 Posts: 262 Member
    @KeriA I find intermittent fasting really interesting, but I have a herd time getting behind some of it for a lifestyle. For me a 16:8 can be a lifestyle. I skip breakfast and start eating at 11 am. From what I've read you do not have to follow the same schedule every day so if that schedule doesn't work for you on the weekend eat normally. For me the biggest reason to do IF is because I was to feel FULL after a meal, otherwise I continue to eat. By saving the breakfast calories I can eat a larger lunch and dinner. So I've been trying to IF on weekends as well. So far I've made 3 weekends and it helps me stay within my calorie goal on those days. I love the ability to eat until I'm full and still lose weight. I'm also drinking 100oz of water a day which go a long way to keep me full.
  • trinati2001
    trinati2001 Posts: 262 Member
    @misplacedmama congratulations!! You have done amazing work this month. What has helped you gain a better relationship with food? You have made a ton of progress this year!!