Praise the Lord!....so happy to see you on here...so sorry you have been ill....I have missed your guidance and mentoring so much...I knew something seriously must have been wrong for you not to be here...welcome back!......huge hugs and get well wishes sent your way!

Missed you, glad you're able to post and will be cheering whatever recovery is needed is swift.
The group hasn't been working for me so I've moved on to a great group for 50+ pounds on my fitbit app (I've now lost 80 with under 40 to go so it seemed like a great fit for me). But for whatever reason I checked back in today. Very glad I did. I hope you see this as I'm unlikely to be back here. Though if you need anything you can connect with me and message me directly. Or find me in the fitbit group.

Welcome Back @NovusDies ! Sending you best wishes for a speedy recovery. We missed your voice and your inspirations.

As I said above I'd check in at the 100 pound mark and I've achieved that. I was under a pound to that by July 15th (156.6), the next week stayed even, and was out of town the week after that so today is my first weigh in since the 22nd and I clocked in at 151.7 for a total loss of 104.3 since I began my journey. What I enjoyed the most is that I've proven I can maintain this. No weird foods, no weird times to eat, no restrictions (literally ate what I wanted on my trip including cheese fries, crab cakes, all the pizza, ice cream, and tons of alcohol) and I fully enjoy my indulgences. Then get home and be more reasonable again, but never deprived or restricted. The biggest weight is the mental weight that I've lost, the games played around food. I can eat anywhere I want and just about anything I want, just not all the time. It's just that simple.
I am under 13 pounds to my goal, to be in the 130s. I have no clothes (literally 4 workout shirts, 3 workout pants, 6 t-shirts, 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of cargos, 1 pair of shorts, and a denim dress....nothing else). I haven't set a specific number for a bottom, maybe 135, probably not the 120s. But in general my plan as of now is to set the 130s as my forever high water mark. Keep logging, keep weighing and if I creep to the 139s then back off whatever it is I'm doing so I never get heavy again. It'll be hard, I am still losing so I don't know what my maintenance calories will be (which is why I may lose to 135 and so I have a few pounds to play with to figure that out without popping into the 140s again).
As always if anyone wants to friend me here and see my diary or message me, feel free or find me on myfitnesspal in the 50+ pounds to lose group. And yet again here are my full stats since the start.
Good luck to everyone.

Congratulations!

I haven't checked in here in a while, about 3 months. Since my last post of weighing 151.7 (loss of 104.3) I'm now down to 140.5 (loss of 115.5). I am just about at my goal range. I'll go to 137 so I have some flexibility...my goal is 'the 130s' so 135, 6, 7, 8 is all the same to me. But as I see the scale getting close to 140 I'll buckle down again. I'm still guessing on maintenance calories for the week (having 2 large calorie days, 5 moderate ones) so I will need some time for that.
My clothes are all over the place. I bought a hoodie and denim jacket at Kohls in Small, a winter coat at Sam's in Small, a dress at Target in Medium, and a new leather jacket in Large. Okay, not frustrating at all.
Jeans I found a stretch size 6 that looks okay but I need to find a nonstretch pair so they don't wear out in 6 months. That stretch is annoying. I am old enough to remember jeans that just 'were', no stretch to make us think we're smaller than we are and when they got tight they didn't expand with us...they dug into our waist so we knew we should do something asap. Any input is welcome - I thought good ol' Levis would be good but they are 100% not what they used to be...they are thin and very stretchy. I have a size 6 skirt from the early 1990s and it is NOT the same size 6 as the jeans - way smaller. So again we are all just kidding ourselves with these labels. So annoying.
Here is the big ol' spreadsheet. I expect to be in maintenance by Thanksgiving and I have a game I've made for that for me and my boyfriend (he's lost over 60 pounds) so we can celebrate staying in range and help each other if we pop out of range. I made the first leg of this a fun challenge, made the second leg to goal a little fun too, so maintenance needs to be a game too since there are no more WOW moments when you've gotten to size and everyone has seen you. It's weird.
As before, if you want to communicate more often I'm happy to, just DM me here and I'll help you find me on the Fitbit app. That is an awesome community and the 50+ pound group is great and I've found some separate closed groups too that rare wonderful.

Looking good! Remember to continue the sheet.... cause maintenance is just as intriguing!

FitByFifty1970 wrote: »

I got to the 130s today, 139.4 to be exact.

Congratulations!

Please come back and visit and let us know how maintenance is going. This past year, since I made my "3rd" goal, has been tough. It will be good to follow along with you as you go down this trail!

Me too, Yooly. I made a WORD table for the first bunch of months, but it does take a lot of time and energy. But I gave that up when I hit goal number three last year and hoped to somehow lighten things up as I slowly coasted (lol) down to my new "final" goal. Well that didn't work.

Your spreadsheet is inspiring, FitByFifty1970, it might be time for me to return to more "hands on" record keeping?

I am so horrible with numbers….I can add, subtract,multiply and divide….fractions and percentages and that is it….in our business you had to be good handling money,making change, profits and losses, etc….but after that I am lost….all of your charts and graphs amaze me!…give me some spelling,writing,languages or a book!

I like the BMI tracking, I didn't think to officially do that though I did check it now and then to see where I was on that scale. I don't fully agree with it though so I didn't want to get attached to it. I have some natural muscle under this melted skin so I am deceptive with my weight, I don't look 140s.
I thought I'd give an update since it's the holidays. Thanksgiving was when I hit my low. The week after I popped up a bit and frankly it should have been way way way more, I went from 139.4 to 140.0. The next week (last Thur) I showed the bigger gain and it bummed me out. I never gained 2 weeks in a row. Ever. Maybe even, but not two weeks of a gain. I figured the week prior was off and should have been way higher. I was up to 141.7. I still did my pizza and booze Saturday. I was worried because Tuesday was a dinner out for my anniversary and I didn't want a gain 3 weeks in a row. We ate at a very nice steakhouse and I polished off my entire 14 oz strip, the cheesy potatoes, the brussel sprouts, two martinis, the decadent chocolate dessert. Then home for another drink. Then out for a drink to where we had our first one. Then home for another drink. We also stopped for a pizza slice to have which are literally the size of 3 regular slices, so ate that too. And fudge. And brittle. About 4500 calories in 1 day I think? No regret. Loved it all. The next day took it easy, wasn't hungry anyway.
Today clocked in at 140.1 which may be false, I may not be showing the gain from Tues yet. But last night took it easy and will today too. Friday is Chinese and will eat all of that and then some. Sat is pizza/booze. Then take it easy Sun-Wed as normal. I am hopeful for a loss to get to 139.7 but will be happy with staying even too.
The holidays are filled with goodies and they should be enjoyed. I make fudge and brittle just 1 time a year. I have an anniversary just 1 time a year. I have no regrets. So for those of you that are christian, enjoy your indulgences, just do it that one or two days. For those of you that aren't, enjoy those treats that are out now just the 1 time a year. And for everyone - it's okay to say happy holidays. THere are MANY MANY holidays going on and not just the 1 christian one. So it's NOT an insult to say/hear happy holidays, in fact it's THE MOST respectful thing you can do.

pearcel3342 wrote: »

@FitBy_Fifty1970 Happy Holidays. I was curious what your starting weight was? I’m new to this forum of Larger Losers. Hearing how you allow yourself to ‘splurge’ seems like such a far off or never again kind of experience.

Hi, you can see from my huge spreadsheet in earlier posts my starting weight and my weekly progress. There were long stretches of no weigh ins as I wasn't tracking or weighing in. I would occasionally step on the scale and I'd track that though.

My breakthrough was January 2021. I told my boyfriend I was unhappy and wanted to get smaller and as the primary cook (and dinner being our primary meal) I asked him to cut back on oils and stuff where possible and to portion me less. He decided to also lose weight though he doesn't track. We made a game of it as I tend to do. But, more importantly, I am not interested in doing whatever I have to in the short term. I know it doesn't work. SO yes, Saturday was pizza and alcohol. We eat real dinners during the week but we made changes to them and do not suffer. I weigh in on Thursday so I can deal with any bloat from Saturday night by then. And I log everything. Actually I pre-log most everything. It all fits. Some days are higher, some smaller, but I take a weekly approach to my intake, not daily. I do some walking but not for calories so I don't count that towards my weight loss.

This approach accounts for all the loss from mid-Jan to now. If you cannot find the spreadsheet let me know. I'm mostly on fitbit now, not really here. I am also considering a book on what I've done and how it works and why. I hope to have that completed by the end of 2022 so I can have a year of maintenance under my belt and add that to the book as well.

Overall you have to learn to eat how you plan to live. If you want no carbs forever, fine. I can't and won't do that. And if you think that all of these gimmicks like that, and Intermittent Fasting, and all of those things are all the same - you eat less than you exert, you realize quickly nothing is off limits. You have to be mindful of the quantity and frequency and then you can really enjoy those indulgences fully. Hope this help?!

pearcel3342 wrote: »

@FitByFifty1970 thank you for sharing your information in this post. I don’t know how to find your spreadsheets. I’m new and hoping this is the best way to respond as it appears you can’t just reply to an individual within their post. Your approach to this all seems very reasonable and liveable! I wish you the very best!

Hi, I will post it below. Today was my weekly weigh in anyway and I'm back down to where I was the week after Thanksgiving. So basically maintaining from Halloween (141.3) through almost NYE (139.4) which is good. This weekend will be a tad over the top so that's okay; I know it and will enjoy it. If you want to 'friend' me here or whatever you can see my food diary. I don't post anything otherwise though, but you're welcome to peruse it. My 'snacks' seem like all at once but my daily routine of late is to sleep in, have lunch around noonish- very light though. Snack around 2ish. Snack around 5ish (or whenever I'm off the treadmill, I only do that for cardio, not calories but I do eat afterwards). Dinner is my main meal around 7pm. Chocolate immediately after (Dark is my favorite, the more bitter the better). Then maybe around 9 or 10 have something small (cracker jack box, hot chocolate, apple/caramel dip). SO it's all under 'snacks' but it's spread out.

I wish you the best as well. Just remember to pre log where you can, that is truly key. Doing it afterwards leads to guilt and shame and regret which has no place in life. Food is wonderful and fun and should be enjoyed. All these gimmicks are useless, they will always boil down to eating less than you exert. All the excuses for going off the rails are useless too. Just pick up and move on. Enjoy yourself.