Hi, I’m new:) Today I weigh 170.0 and my goal is to get back down to 148. I really enjoy working out but I am a busy mom to 4 young kids and have a husband who is in a very demanding grad school program so finding time/getting away for workouts can be challenging. I haven’t done much at all in many months. But I’m ready to make it a priority again. This month I want to take advantage of nicer weather and do biking and some run/walking. My weigh in days will be thursdays. I’m excited to be a part of this group! Anything else I’m supposed to do to or post?

Hi Melissa,

Calli1616 wrote: »

@rachelrjh - Will you share your general strategy for your amazing loss?

I’m happy to share! Thanks for getting me to think about the huge changes in diet and lifestyle that I’ve made since January. I’ve studied how to lose weight by reading fitness articles on the Internet over the years. When I make the effort to implement them, they work!

My weight loss habits in order from most important to least important

1. Tracking calories. I usually eat an average of 1800 calories and burn an average of 2400 daily.
2. Limiting carbs to 150 or less. Under 100 is a good day. Over 150 but under 200 is a bad day.
3. Intermittent fasting anywhere from 13 hours to 16 hours on a good day.
4. Exercising. I joined a gym and bought a Fitbit to track Zone Minutes. I strive for 60 zone minutes a day , five days a week.

Here is a list of my biggest dietary changes since I started dieting:

I quit eating white bread, white sugar, cereal, and sweets.
I keep a stash of Lindt 78% or 85% dark chocolate on hand. I eat 1 to 3 servings whenever my sugar cravings are unbearable. Usually this happens for two weeks toward the end of my Tom cycle.
I switched butter and vegetable oils with refined coconut oil.
I bought a popcorn maker and eat popcorn when I’m craving salty junk food.
I keep serving size bags of nuts on hand, as well as avocados and hard boiled eggs in the fridge at all times.
I eat a large container of spinach a week either as a salad with feta cheese, bacon bits, sunflower seeds, and Panera vinaigrette or I blend the spinach in a smoothie that I make with bananas and cream premier protein and OJ.
I keep Greek vanilla yogurt and frozen berries on hand.
I watch my meat portions.
I buy gluten free pancakes and muesli for breakfast items. When I want something a little more filling for breakfast these are my go to foods.
If I go off track and eat unhealthy foods, I track the calories and try to stay under my daily limit. I strive to remember to eat in moderation.

I hope this helps!

My story...

Name: Kristina Hahn
From: Coeur d’Alene, ID

F / 40 / 5’4” / SW: 202 / CW: 173.2 / GW: 120

Sep ‘07: My HEAVIEST weight...202 lbs. I was pregnant with my daughter &, apparently, my obgyn thought it would be OK to let me gain 40 lbs during pregnancy.

9-17-07: After 36 hrs of pre-labor, delivered daughter. Had recurring female issues starting at this point.

Dec ‘07: Got down to 180 lbs pretty quickly after my daughter was born in Sep.

Feb ‘09: Started working out around this time. Got down to 153 lbs. Lost A LOT of inches. Elliptical 3-4x per week for 45 min.

Sept ‘09: Stopped going to gym. Moved. Started eating poorly, again. Gained weight. I’m guessing 160 lbs by this point?

2011-2013: Went through a ROUGH patch. After 4 previous OBGYNs, ended up FINALLY finding one that took my issues seriously. Had a laparoscopy in Aug ‘11. Stage IV endometriosis was discovered & removed. Another surgery (vestibulectomy) in Dec ‘11. Final laparoscopy, due to symptoms of endometriosis after last one. Full hysterectomy. Stage IV endometriosis was found this time, as well. Bladder was severely damaged during removal. Still intact, thankfully.

Jan ‘14: 181 lbs. Started focusing on weight loss, again.

Oct ‘14: Got down to 138 lbs!!! I was MISERABLE. Basically, starved myself to get to this point.

Nov ‘16?: Tried to lose weight, again, after gaining approx 20 lbs. 160 lbs?

Feb ‘17: Started using the elliptical & rowing machine 3-4x per week. HIIT. Alternating.

Apr ‘17: 133 lbs!!! I was SO proud of myself! Still had a pooch tummy. Felt discouraged by that.

Jun ‘17: Had to move, suddenly. Gained 20 lbs by Fall.

Kept gaining after that point. Battled depression after moving to our last house in Nov ‘17. Haven’t been able to rebound, yet...but I have HOPE!!!🙏🏼💗

Good morning WNM! Welcome to all the new ladies!

I'm Melanie and I'm from Kansas. I’m the other team Co-captain.
I was always was skinny (no, not thin, skinny, all knees and elbows). At 18, I weighed between 110 and 120 at 5"6'. Maybe. My husband says when he met me (a couple years later), if I turned sideways I'd disappear and he always stayed close when there was wind, in case it tried to carry me off. This is a huge exaggeration on his part. But I was super thin. In retrospect, I’m sure I had an eating disorder, but not one of the named ones. I’d say it was more about control and less about food or weight, but that is true for all of them...Meeting my husband truly saved me.

Anyway, growing up, my mother obsessed about her weight. She was always ‘on a diet.’ When I think about it, at her heaviest, she was maybe an 80’s size 12 and more commonly ~10. But she was positive she was huge. She's much larger now. All this had tremendous impact on my thinking on weight...

Her obsessing made me a bit body conscious and when I did start gaining weight, I would temper my thinking...mom was always obsessed about weight...don't do that, a couple pounds isn't huge...I've got none of the reasonable reasons for gaining...no kiddos, just the husband. I got out of school (no more climbing those KU hills all the time), started working more sedentary jobs, started eating more, snacking, until about 4 years ago August, when I found myself weighing in about 230 and my six sixteens were too small. I bought a couple pairs of 18 pants from the thrift store and joined MFP.

I lost 70 pounds in about a year and was pretty pleased. But I wanted another 20 off...and it didn't move. And things got a bit crazy with my husband's family (we won’t talk about that—it always leads to crazy-pants ranting)...so I decided to maintain for a bit and then come back. What came back was most of the weight. So...now I'm here and working on losing 70 pounds (the 50 I 'found' and the 20 I never lost).

My special snowflake challenges
I'm fairly significantly asthmatic (on meds all the time), have terrible allergies and connective tissue issues (not enough collagen, too stretchy, lots of joint slippage). Last August, I acquired some vertigo problems (or, maybe they just got worse...)...the point behind saying this is a lot of exercise people promote is bad, and sometimes dangerous, for me. I think it is sinus related and many of those problems have now resolved, after switching ENT’s. Had some severe vertigo in March but it seems to have passed...I hope. They think it is labyrinthitis (not sure I'm spelling it right) and I've started some pt. But I try not to be too optimistic—optimism just makes what happens next that much worse.

So...mostly, I walk. It is spring, so I garden, which really means engaging in full scale warfare with tree roots. I have daylilies and might have some iris this year. I do it but I'm not good at it. Three and a half hours this weekend and I have a big pile of roots and weeds to show for it. And holes in my beds. Because I got pissed off at the the tree roots and brought out the shovel. My husband helped a lot!

I do a bit of yoga now and then (though it isn't recommended with the connective tissue thing or vertigo...but feels good. Love up and down dog...) and have Pilates vids I do sometimes. I should do these more and strength training (can be good for connective tissue issues) but I'm not there yet. A few times a year, I go all out at gardening...I keep thinking I will do some YouTube LesMills BodyFlow videos…I like those a lot. But haven’t done it.

My point in this is not hey, look at all my problems (ignore them) it is this: We all have struggles and challenges and barriers but we can overcome them. If we decide they don't matter, they won't. We just have to work with our struggles and not against them. I believe all of us can achieve the goals we set for ourselves, but it will be harder for some of us because we have to work around stupid kitten...

My 2021 Goal
My 2020 goal was Wonderland…but that was before the asthma insanity of the end of November and three rounds of Prednisone (third one still active). Did NOT Happen.
I have a closet full of size 10's that I want to wear.
Back to Wedding Weight (165) before the end of the year. Maybe lower...

Daily goals:
Walk at least 30 minutes a day or do an exercise video.
Get back to doing core exercises every day.
80 oz of water or non-alcoholic liquid a day, mostly water. (I don't drink much in the way of alcohol generally, but just clarifying...long, ugly family history of substance abuse makes me very cautious)
Cut down on sugar and junk food (reducing sugar is generally helping, I turn into the munch monster when I eat candy...see: cookie monster's blond sister...)

I’m enrolled in a program for weight loss through my insurance to earn points for a discount next year. I just finished the fourth week of ten. Sigh. I’m trying to be positive (I’m positive I don’t like it). In my effort to be positive...here are some pluses: This time around they acknowledge that not everyone is the same and some people do better if they get some breakfast (like me…and diabetics). The presenter I didn’t like last time is gone. I'm very mad at them right now for co-opting cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques...how dare they use reasonable, proven, actual science to back up their Woo?!? Clearly I need to work on positivity...

Does this mean I like it? Well, honestly, no. But here are some things they encourage that I can get behind: chewing slowly and taking time to fully enjoy your meal rather than inhaling it; stopping when you’re full (not necessarily when the food is gone); do exercise you enjoy and identify why you do it (not because you have to—kinda like Ashley, who clearly loves her spin bike). I’m cool with that. I tend to focus on portions and not going overboard. I don’t do exercise I don’t like.