conniewilkins56 wrote: »

Glad to help you....I used to get less than 2000 steps a day and now a normal day is about 4500... I can’t walk long distances without a break...I think it is my hips but I am not going to get those replaced unless absolutely necessary!...it’s wonderful you get 10,000 steps....that is great exercise!...I didn’t have a very healthy eating plan Saturday but I got back on track again yesterday and went swimming, too....I try to swim five days a week for about 90 minutes.....I have a 6 month check up the end of this month...my doctor gets as excited as I do about my weight going down...I hope you have a great week!

To have come as far as you have is incredible. I would love to be able to use a pool but we don't have any pools close enough to make a habit of it. You are very committed to do 5 days a week but they say it is one of the best exercises because it doesn't stress your joints. I have always been a walker and despite the knee problems I have no trouble walking although I am much slower than I used to be. But better to be able to do it slowly than not at all. I have had a very successful first week. I lost 6.6 pounds. I know much of that is water weight but it was nice to see the scale go down anyway. Thank you for helping me to get started again. I kept telling myself if Connie can do it with all the obstacles she has faced then I can certainly get back with it. It must be so nice to go in for a check up knowing that you weigh less than you did last time. I know what you are saying about hips. Mine give a trouble every now and then. That's why I've got to get this weight off. My joints are all warning me that I'll have lots of issues in the future if I don't. I did just buy some resistance bands and I'm going to look into a strength training exercise video. I have been doing around 1200 to 1400 calories. What kind of calorie goals do you have? Have a great day!! Wishing everyone here a successful week.

It's good to see all the new people here! I'm 49 and have about 80 more pounds to lose; I've already lost 50, and discovered I can do it while eating what I want and I don't have to do the exercises I don't want to do.

conniewilkins56 wrote: »

My calories are at 1380 a day for a 1.5 lb loss a week but I only eat back 25% to 33% of my exercise calories....most days that gives me about 1500 calories to eat and that is usually enough....I think MFP gives me too much credit for my exercises so I don’t eat them all back....today I swam and did water aerobics,water jogged, shopped an hour and some household chores and MFP says I used over 1100 calories in exercise...that seems really high and if I ate 2400 calories I would not lose any weight!...

There is a lot of great information in this group if you read through older posts....

Your loss this week was terrific....who cares if some of it was water.....at least it’s gone!....keep up the great work!

Wow!! You had a busy day. Five days a week I do 30 minutes on the stationary bike and about 7 minutes right now on the elliptical. Then I do 10,000 steps every day. I have heard so many good things about water aerobics. I wish there was some place close that I could go for that. But I agree with you, I never count all the exercise calories. Those are the ones that help us to lose the pounds. I will go back and read some of the old posts as soon as I can. I need all the help I can get. I am determined to have another successful week.

Have a great day, Connie.

Try the Richard Simmons , Dancing to the Oldies…..I loathe that little man….he kicks my butt!….his videos are free on U Tube…..I love water aerobics but my toes are sore today!

Some of the videos are really hard!

The only place I jog is in the water and I wear padded water shoes….I took a rest day yesterday but I am going to swim later this evening….I have some of those bands somewhere but I can’t remember where they are at….we moved a few years ago to downsize and I still have boxes in the garage!….have a great evening!

@trishd25 Welcome! Just to say it took a lot of strength and commitment to get out of that relationship and to survive whatever else life threw at you. (And, in my probably unpopular opinion, if food helped you cope and get though difficult times, then it worked. Were there coping different options? Maybe? I don't know. But if it helped you survive, then it was needed and did its job. Now, it is not working for you anymore and you just need something different.)

Treat this as a learning process and be gentle with yourself. It takes trial and error to figure out what works and is sustainable for you and takes time to learn new coping mechanisms. Patience, commitment, and self-kindness will pay off.

Trish, I'm new here too but not to MFP. I have been successful in the past with MFP. So I'm back to get it together again and lose this weight that is keeping me from doing everything I want to do. I wish you the best. We're all here to improve our health and this is a very supportive group.
Elieza, I've never done water jogging either but I know anything done in the water is a good workout without the stress on your joints. I just wish I had a pool closer to me so I could give it a try.
Connie, I've heard many people say that there are boxes they never get to unpack once they move. I've only moved once in my 30's and I didn't have a lot of things then so that never happened. At 71 we think of moving when we can't handle the care of a large yard any more so we have been trying to down size. But I have to say you have no idea how much stuff you have until you do that. We have done a lot but I look around and see so much more to do. I'm just afraid when we finally decide we need to move we won't be capable of taking it on. It's just another reason to try and get healthier now.
My week is going well so far. I'm trying to do more exercise and eat healthy foods. With the calorie counter I can keep track of how much I have eaten so when it gets toward the end of the day and I'm tired I know how many more calories I have to reach my calorie goal. I hope everyone else is having a good week.

ThinnerQ, You will find lots of great supportive people here. I wish you the best in your weight loss journey. I have 80 pounds to lose. My knees bother me at this weight. So I need to get the weight off of these old joints. Take one day at a time. Tell us how you're doing.

I've had a tough weekend so far. I'm hoping with an ok day today and a good day tomorrow I will still lose something this week. I hope everyone is doing well.

I totally agree. If you have your head in the game you do alright but if you don't it falls apart. But each day, hour, minute is a new beginning and and a new chance for success. Have a great day everyone. We can all do it one hour at a time.

Welcome, @Halfpint0112 ! You can absolutely do this. I also have looked at all my goals in 10 lb increments, with other milestones thrown in (dropping to a lower obesity category, milestone pounds lost, etc...) Essentially there is always some sort of milestone approaching, which makes it feel much more doable. Slow and sustainable is the way to do it.

This is a great group with lots of solid experiences and advice - jump in wherever you'd like. We're glad you're here!

I've popped in here over the past few weeks and only left some "likes" because of time. Wanted to stop in and say a better hello to everyone who has come aboard recently!

Hello, @steph4niefontaine, @trishd25, @Timberlan127, @Halfpint0112 and @Project_onederland.

Glad you are here and hope to see you around the threads. This group has kept me sane and kept me trying for the past several months. After losing just over 100 lbs and getting close to the maintenance part of this journey I've discovered that this particular stretch is just as/perhaps even more tricky than what I've read posted as the "chainsaw" period of weight loss. (Love that term, but can't remember who used it now).

But, because of the people here and their support and amazing advice, I'm still working my (ever-changing) plan and I believe I will get where I want to be and will have learned how to stay there.

You will be in this spot of your journey soon enough...it always feels a million years away, but those years will pass anyway, and it is so much nicer to be getting lighter, stronger, fitter as the time passes.

@lauriekallis Thanks for the welcome. Congrats on your weightloss! Love that term too! Never heard it put that way before. You totally got this though!

Exactly, such a good attitude to have!

It certainly does feel like it's a lifetime away. But as you say, time will move regardless. Might as well better myself as opposed to just getting older and unhealthier.