20 pounds to lose challenge April 1-July 31

My name is Donna and I am 61 in May. I live in the Midwest of the USA. 5' 5" tall. My starting weight was 253. I have relapsed in the past year and need to get back on track. I am type 2 diabetic and in remission for breast cancer. Health is my #1 priority.

My goal in this challenge is to lose pounds and land firmly in Onederland.
I would love to join! Here are my weights so far:


Start Weight: 207.6
Goal Weight: 187.6


Ultimate Goal Weight: 145-155 (I’ll know it when I get there!)


Apr 01: 207.6
Apr 05: 206.6
Apr 12: 207.4
Apr 19: 206.0
Apr 26: 204.0
Apr 30: 206.2

May 01: 206.6
May 03: 207.4
May 10: My Birthday! 208.8 I am celebrating this upcoming Sunday with family. This new higher weight is from travel and bad choices. The buck stops here!
May 17: 206.8 I’m happy with this after multiple day celebrations. I chose better than I thought or it is going to catch up with me. We shall see which.
May 24: 210.8 Wow. 4 pounds in one week! Can you tell that my daughter and DGS moved back in? This is going to be difficult!
May 31: 206.4 Better than last week. I worked hard for it. Praying for continued success.

Jun 01: 205.6 A nice way to start the month.
Jun 07: 204.2 Clearly I’ll never make the 20 pound loss but a girl can dream, right?.....Onward for any progress this old girl can get. Good health is the overall goal and continued weight loss is a huge part of that plan.
Jun 15: 201.8 This has been a good week for me. I am down quite a bit overnight due to a very low calorie day yesterday. Today I will increase them but with all thoughtfulness to my plan.
Jun 21: 199.0 Onderland by a thread. I don’t want to drop this ball. I will focus in the short-term on getting it a little further away from the 200 mark.
Jun 28: 197.6 I had to cancel trip today. I was so sick yesterday evening and all night. A little better today but not 100% Possible gall bladder or diverticulitis attack, probably from too many almonds day before yesterday. Horrid pain. This is a big overnight drop on the scale. Probably from such little eating yesterday (it hurt too bad) and from dehydration. We’ll see what the next few days bring as this is probably a little lower than my weight realistically is.

Jun 30: 196.4 Back in the saddle and doing good. Feeling much better. Wow, the tummy pain was horrendous! I have no idea what was wrong, but I won’t be eating handfuls of nuts again as a snack! Weight has been going great. I probably lost the extra pound due to the 24 hour illness I had so we’ll see how it keeps panning out. In the meantime, I continue with good clean eating habits and try to stay away from sugery snacks! I am down 11.2 pounds since the start of this challenge. Pleased as punch!


Jul 01: 197.6 Scale shows an uptick after the low recorded weight following the tummy illness. I suspected that would happen. This weight is likely where I am really at. Now, time to get moving! I don’t envision myself making original goal but I can see myself making more progress. Time to make my vision a reality!
Jul 05: 198.0 Up a little bit after some travel. To make up for that, I didn’t let the holiday steer me off course. Working it back down and doing well with that. Today I will make another day count. Many very severe stresses this week. I can’t let that pull me down or swallow up my progress. Staying the course!
Jul 12: 195.8 It was a very rough and emotionally stressful past week and I do have a tendency to eat my emotions. I am so glad I reigned it back in and stayed diligent over the weekend too. I am kicking that Covid-19 shut-in weight to the curb. My mini-goal was to reach Onederland and I have firmly done that. My extended goal for this challenge was to reach 187.6 and I know that won’t happen. However, I’m proud of my progress. Today I feel strong. I really really feel that I am on my way to better health. I am thankful for this challenge.
Jul 19:
Jul 26:
Jul 31: Final Weigh in:

RubyRed427 wrote: »

@deepwoodslady Donna- you are doing a fabulous job of dropping weight steadily. Congrats on your progress!

@RubyRed427 Thanks so much for the shout-out. Not everyday is perfect but when I am at home or in my own neighborhood (which is 90% of the time), I am really really trying to make some lifestyle changes coupled with reduced calories and carbs to promote the weight loss. The support during the process is invaluable. Thanks a bunch!

It's my birthday today. In the last year I've lost 25 pounds, consistently walked 10000 steps a day and recently added swimming 3x a week. Best present I could have given myself.

frankwbrown wrote: »

Hello all,
I was just released from the hospital. I've had a hiatal hernia for some 35 years, and finally had it repaired this past Thursday. I had it repaired because lately I started having a serious side effect from it. The side effect put me in the hospital three times in the last 3 months. Ironically, it's quite likely that my weight loss, coupled with the hiatal hernia, is what allowed the side effect to begin happening. That should be in the past now that the hernia has been repaired.
Some of you may know that last July 10th, I started on a journey to lose 100 pounds in a year. Today is the end of that year. Although I didn't quite make it, primarily due to the medical issue, I did pretty well. And I intend to keep going. I had scheduled a DEXA body scan for yesterday, but cancelled it. The idea was, see what my body fat percentage was at the end of that year.
There's a website, futureme.org, that let's you write letters to your future self and specify a delivery date. I had forgotten, but I was inspired to do just that last January. Today, I was surprised to get this email from myself--written on January 22nd. Here it is:
"Dear FutureMe,
What a struggle this has been. I am currently heavily tempted to enjoy some sweets. I hope you have reached our goal. If so, please have a dessert for me (but only if it's within our calorie limit).
If you haven't reached 230 pounds yet, don't give up. Keep going. I haven't sacrificed these past 7 months just to give up at the end.
Are you going to start maintaining at 230? Or is it possible to keep going? I guess that all depends on what the body scan shows.
Good luck!
- Your PastMe"

I think that's a pretty cool idea, I recommend it to everyone. Send your future self a letter. Let him or her know that you're "in this together".

@frankwbrown;c-46098629;

Frank, you are amazing...love the FutureMe, and very happy to know they were able to repair your hiatal hernia. I actually have one as well, and I'm seeing my Dr. today...with my weight loss or just old age, I've been feeling nauseous these days.

Sir, please take a moment to enjoy and relish in your accomplishment. The dedication you put in to achieving your goal, is just outstanding...

I wanted to throw that box of Oreo's on sale right into my shopping cart this morning but then I thought about it a few more seconds and went to the fruit aisle instead. Baby steps.

frankwbrown wrote: »

Hello all,
I was just released from the hospital. I've had a hiatal hernia for some 35 years, and finally had it repaired this past Thursday. I had it repaired because lately I started having a serious side effect from it. The side effect put me in the hospital three times in the last 3 months. Ironically, it's quite likely that my weight loss, coupled with the hiatal hernia, is what allowed the side effect to begin happening. That should be in the past now that the hernia has been repaired.
Some of you may know that last July 10th, I started on a journey to lose 100 pounds in a year. Today is the end of that year. Although I didn't quite make it, primarily due to the medical issue, I did pretty well. And I intend to keep going. I had scheduled a DEXA body scan for yesterday, but cancelled it. The idea was, see what my body fat percentage was at the end of that year.
There's a website, futureme.org, that let's you write letters to your future self and specify a delivery date. I had forgotten, but I was inspired to do just that last January. Today, I was surprised to get this email from myself--written on January 22nd. Here it is:
"Dear FutureMe,
What a struggle this has been. I am currently heavily tempted to enjoy some sweets. I hope you have reached our goal. If so, please have a dessert for me (but only if it's within our calorie limit).
If you haven't reached 230 pounds yet, don't give up. Keep going. I haven't sacrificed these past 7 months just to give up at the end.
Are you going to start maintaining at 230? Or is it possible to keep going? I guess that all depends on what the body scan shows.
Good luck!
- Your PastMe"

I think that's a pretty cool idea, I recommend it to everyone. Send your future self a letter. Let him or her know that you're "in this together".

I wish you a speedy recovery!!! You have done amazing...it's a lifestyle, not a diet!

Thank you all for the well wishes. I am recovering day by day, but of course not as fast as I wish I would. Eating soft foods for a while. One benefit is my appetite is somewhat suppressed.
I had a laparoscopic procedure, so I only have five small incisions in my abdomen (w/ 2-4 staples in each). Unfortunately, that means no immersion in water (let alone swimming) for a number of weeks. That hurts as much as my abdomen, because swimming is my best and favorite exercise.
I've been reflecting on my experience this past year and want to share my thoughts at some point (once they've gelled a bit more).
Meanwhile, congratulations on the progress I see happening, and hang in there if you're not seeing progress. The struggle can be difficult but it's worth it.

How is it already the middle of July, crazy. Only a couple more weeks of this challenge, I know that I'll be able to achieve the 20lbs down from April as I only have 1 more pound to go. But I would like to see 140lbs on July 31st, which is a stretch but I can dream right!

Original starting weight - 250.4 (3/01/2021)
Ultimate goal - One-derland!

April
1st - 237.8
8th - 236.4
15th - 234
22nd - 230.2
28th - 228.6

May
1st - 228.8
8th - 226.2
15th - 225.6
22nd - 224.2
28th - 222.4
31st - 222

Jun 01: 223.8
Jun 07: 219.6
Jun 15: 218
Jun 22: 217.6
Jun 29: 217
Jun 30: 216.8

Jul 01: 217
Jul 08: 215.8
Jul 15: 212.8
Jul 22:
Jul 29:
Jul 31: