15 pounds to lose challenge August-October 31, 2021

RubyRed427 wrote: »

I plan on continuing this challenge for the next three months. This challenge ends October 31st. Thanks for participating! It is so motivating and inspiring to read your posts. We are all on the same journey- improve our health in mind and body. I'll post a new link this weekend if you want to join again.

I'll definitely be joining the next challenge. The holidays especially these next ones are going to be hard, and the extra group motivation is greatly needed and appreciated.

Oct 25 Weigh In😃
(F, 54, 5'5")
SW 162lb Jan 11/21
GW 150lb Oct 31/21
LW153.6lb Oct 18/21
TW 152.2lb Oct 25/21
Loss 1.4lbs
Moving in the right direction. Slowly.... but I think we need to appreciate any progress towards our goal, right!
Everyone is doing great!
Not sure if I will make that goal of 150lbs in 5 days, especially with Hallowe'en candy all over!!
Have a great week everyone!
Thanks @RubyRed427 for starting this group and continuing👍😁

My name is Donna and I am 61 years old. 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.
I would love to join! Here are my weights so far:

Start Weight: 192.4 (Weight on July 31st)
Goal Weight: 177.4
End Weight: xxxxx

Short term goal: To lose about 5 pounds per month.
Ultimate Goal Weight: 145-155 (I’ll know it when I get there!)

Every healthy habit brings me closer to scratching each of these off to NEVER see them again!
250’s; 240’s; 230’s; 220's; 210's; 200's; 190's; 180’s; 170's; 160's; 150’s



July 31: 192.4…..(trend weight 194.9)
Aug 01: 191.4…..(trend weight 194.6) A nice way to start but it may not stick. Very little food yesterday due to an emergency with my well. No water again today. This is horrid!
Aug 03: 190.4…..(trend weight 193.7) A little topsy-turvy and moving all around. I am hopeful that August will be a good month. July was good to me.
Aug 10: 189.6 (trend weight 192.0) Progress. I hope the long travel day which will include at least one restaurant will not derail me too much.
Aug 17: 189.8 (trend weight 190.4) An overnight bump up but still trending down nicely. Today I will work on having a very good day even though, emotionally, things just couldn’t be worse. Biopsy results are still not in. Still no water. Well company is not responding to messages since yesterday. Plumber has stopped coming because prime on the well doesn’t last anyway for any serious length of time. I’ve lost my joy. My energy is zapped. Hugs are welcome! Prayers and good vibes are requested.
Aug 24: 187.4 (trend weight 188.6) Progress on the scale and with the other things I spoke of last week. The biopsy turned out non-cancerous although they did say that it could be a pre-cursor to a metastasized breast cancer to the skin in the future. That would be a nasty and very aggressive cancer with an extremely low survival rate. But I am focusing on the negative cancer (for now) results! Also, my water has been working for 4 days straight now. I am still very nervous about it because it is acting differently than before, but keeping the Faith…..! My exercise has slowed down a bit and my food choices have mainly remained within calorie but the choices are not always ideal. I must remember, it is not just about hitting my macros. It’s about overall health. I love all the stories and ideas that you all are sharing. It is so much more helpful than you think! Please don’t take for granted those little tidbits that are obvious to you. Sometimes it’s new to me or something I’ve forgotten. I appreciate your generous sharing! I’m getting ready to order a book someone mentioned on another challenge. It’s called “The Beck Diet Solution: Train your brain to think like a thin person” by Judith S. Beck. It was recommended by several people. I’ll let you all know how I like it,

Aug 31: 186.8 (trend weight 188.3) Up & Down all week with lots of travel but I ended with a 0.6 lb loss over last week so I’ll take it! Received my book but I haven’t started it yet. CT scans on liver and lungs are scheduled for Sept 9. University Hospital Cancer Center appointment for the skin on the breast area is Sept 16. I will see a breast surgeon and I have no idea what to expect. I am going to try hard not to eat my emotions and to stick to plan. Health is the #1 priority right now and losing weight will be a big part of that! Weight lost in August: 5.6 lbs.

Sept 01: 182.8 (trend weight 187.8) I find this weight hard to believe today. 4 pound loss overnight??? (After a 2.4 loss the day before???) My scale is reliable and I stepped on it 3 times but I don’t trust this and consider it a fluctuation. I did everything right. I had TM. I finally slept over 4 and ½ hours which is good for me> But that is a bit much. Traveling today and tomorrow. Plenty of sitting and restaurant food. I’ll be home each night and will keep up with the posts. Friday morning my scale reading will not be pretty but that is how I roll.
BTW I typed my August weight loss wrong yesterday on the entry above so I’ve corrected it today. I guess I’ll have to start using my calculator! Good luck to everyone in September!
Sept 07: 187.2 (trend weight 187.9) I knew that last week’s weight was a fluke. I could not have lost 6.4 pounds in just two days! Today I am at an inflated weight which is likely very real fat. I had a couple of days of travel, some medical worries, well problems with lack of water on many days and then a serious and horrific death in my extended family. Oh, and then there was the holiday. All excuses aside, I could have and should have done better anyway and I do know that eating my emotions only adds to my problems. Yesterday I pulled up my boot-straps and shook it up with a 1002 calorie day (I usually aim for 1400). I added in some extra exercise and I made pretty darn good choices in what I ate. It payed off on the scale. I’m hoping to do well this week and get back down even further. I think my last real weight was in the 185 range and I am up from that, even if I’m down overnight.
Sept 14: 187.6 (trend weight 188.9) My weight shot up this week but I am working it back down. I have been burning a ton of calories on window washing projects on this 3 story house. Keeping my diet in check is proving more difficult but yesterday was an “easy” day for no particular reason. It doesn’t always make sense why one day I am starving and can’t seem to fill up and the next day I don’t even need snacks. (And that is eating the same dinner with my leftovers). I won’t question it too badly and just be grateful I guess!
Sept 21: 185.8 (trend weight 187.1) More improvement this week. My fitness has leveled off due to rain and many reno projects still going on involving lots of people in my home. However, I’ve been working hard on sticking to my guns in regards to diet, and especially snacks. It’s paying off.
Sept 28: 188.4…..My trend weight went askew when I had to reset my fitbit that was tied to my trendweight app. It will be a little bit before the trend weight is trending accurate again. July and August were good months for me. September has been horrid. Since I have had such cancer scare medical issues and upcoming surgery, I have required so many tests, appointments, and long travel. I’ve got to pull my emotions together and make a better plan for all the travel. I am still down from challenge starting weight, but if I don’t watch my p’s and q’s, I could rocket up very quickly. October will be challenging for all the reasons I mentioned above, but I’ve got to make the moments count, every chance I get!
Sept 30: 186.2….. So far I have lost 6 pounds this challenge. Most of that has been in August. September has not been a good month. I will try to improve in October. However, October will have lots of travel especially for medical appointments and surgery. I’ll do my best.


************************************************************


Oct 01: 187.0 Starting October with a gain is disappointing. I will make today count and will try to avoid bingeing!

Oct 05: 186.8 My goal was 177.0 for this challenge and I don’t even see me reaching that by Christmas! However, I am still down from the start of the challenge and I have a few more weeks to make more progress, so, folks, I’m going for it!

Oct 12: 185.6 (trend weight 187.9) It’s been a rocky week. I did well for most of it but saw an uptick mid-way through. I am still down from last week. That helps my spirit. I clearly won’t make my original goal, but I’m still down from my start weight. So happy the 190’s are a memory.

Oct 19: 186.6 (trend weight 186.9) Scale up but weight trending down. I am preparing for surgery on Friday so I’m probably nervously grazing food a bit too much. I’ll work on that today. Surgery is breast cancer related. I care about you all. I hope you will all schedule your mammograms.

Oct 26: 188.0 (trend weight 187.0) Surgery had a few problems, mainly due to my diabetes. However, I’ve come out on the other side of it healing slowly but well. I am awaiting pathology results but feel hopeful about that. New big worry, pre-op EKG showed what may be a blockage on the left side of my heart which may have been caused by my original Chemo during breast cancer treatment. Now they are requesting I see a cardiologist and an endocrinologist for the T2D. Of course, there are none within an hour (or two) from me. I’ll have to do some research before talking to my PCP in early November. Thanks everyone for the well wishes!

Oct 31: Final Weigh In: xxxxx (trend weight xxxxx)

Starting challenge weight: 182 lb
Oct 31st goal weight: 173
Weigh in on Tuesdays

182 lb on August 3
181 on August 10
182 on August 17
179 on August 24
180 on August 31
179.5 on September 7
176.5 on September 14
178 on September 21
? on September 29
? on October 5
179 on October 12
177 on October 19
177.5 on October 26
176 this morning (Oct. 27)

It doesn’t look like I’m going to reach my goal weight and I don’t want to make excuses (although excuses abound, such as a close family member death since the start of this challenge, and stressful work environment where two coworkers cried yesterday for different reasons and I was asked to take on more responsibilities).

Focusing on the excuses (even though they are 100 percent legitimate) is not going to carry on the progress I have had thus far. I’m choosing to look at the fact that I’VE LOST 6 POUNDS SINCE AUGUST even with all the stressors in my life. That loss is still something I should CELEBRATE, because with stressors like this before, I would have been GAINING weight. Now is the time to reflect and celebrate the progress rather than giving up and going back to bad habits (and no doubt, it HAS been a fight to keep from resuming old bad eating habits when stressed).

So, yay for me and for all of us who are persevering with this challenge. Celebrate the small steps, because those consistent small steps are what are going to turn our lives around for the better. Keep up the commitment. You are doing this and hanging in there. You are worth it.

swimmom_1 wrote: »

SW 9/14/20-255 lbs (Heaviest wt second time, Started new job, less stress, not having a micromanager anymore!)
UGW-122 lbs ( lowest wt 2009, kept off about 5 years, got lazy and then had a bad fx and had to learn to walk again)
Surgery 5/3/21-240.5 lbs (gallbladder)
MFP SW 5/14/21-232.2 lbs
CGW-190 lbs

CW start
8/1/21-212.0 lbs
8/8/21-209.2 lbs
8/15/21-207.8 lbs
8/22/21-204.4 lbs
8/29/21-203.0 lbs. Doing well. Keeping on track. I'm not sure if I'll meet my goal of under 200 lbs by 9/1/21 AM weigh in but I can't complain about 9 lb loss! I'm doing a procedure prep today for Monday, of Clear liquids + so that may help me reach it! The good part of the prep! Routine test for a bad family history of 3 generations and praying for a clean bill of health! Started using my Elliptical last Sunday, instead of walking, as it was raining all day. Hadn't used it since pre 10/15. It burns a lot more calories and gets my heart rate up exponentially.

9/1/21- 200 lbs. Well missed my goal by 0.1 lbs! But who can be upset with 12 lbs in a month loss? Without being hungry or exhausted. I also have a recent NSV. I had a Tibial Plateau Fracture in 10/15 and since have had to take 1 stair at a time and meet it with the other leg going up. (Coming down I can alternate most times.) I can now alternate steps going up. Losing 55 lbs has accomplished this! Oh well, ONWARD AND UPWARD. MAYBE IT SHOULD BE ONWARD AND DOWNWARD!
ML-12 lbs
MLGW-199.9 lbs

9/1/21-200.0 lbs
9/5/21-200.4 lbs- So my 9/1 weight showed the clear liquid prep I had to do obviously. So not surprised by the slight uptick in weight today. I did stay true to my calorie, carb restrictions and exercise routine though. Keeping my 195 lb goal for October1 and 190 lb for November1.
I did 97 minutes/8 miles on my Elliptical this AM. I
Longest time/mileage so far. I got my heart rate up to 140-150.
9/12/21-198 lbs- I've been doing 99 minutes/8 miles, on my Elliptical on my 3 days off. Stayed true to my Net Carbs and calories this past week.

9/19/21-194 lbs!!!! OMG! I can't believe this. I expected my weight loss to slow down by now. I may need to amend my End Goal! Still staying true to my Net Carbs, Calories and doing my Elliptical 99 minutes/8+ miles, 3 days/week on my days off.
9/26/21-192.8 lbs Doing well, staying on track. Still doing Elliptical on my off work days.
10/1/21-191.4 lbs
ML-8.6 lbs- Under my month goal!!
MLGW-195 lbs

10/1/21-191.4 lbs
10/3/21-189.8 lbs Met my goal but don't intend to back off. Maybe I'll get below 180!? Bumped up my Elliptical from 98 minutes today to a full 2 hours. Started as a 6 minute cool down and then did the extra 15 more. Felt great afterwards!
10/10/21-188.8 lbs- down 23.2 lbs of challenge goal of 22 lbs! Upped my Elliptical to 130 min a few days ago.

10/17/21-186.2 one-time 68.8.lbs. Upped my Elliptical this week to 140 minutes and did 151 minutes today because I wanted the 12 miles! I'm more than halfway through my 133 lbs loss goal.

10/24/21-182.6 lbs, doing well, staying on track with calories, carbs, water and still doing Elliptical minimum 150 minutes 3x/week on my off days. Quite happy about my loss. Maybe I'll get under 180 lbs for 11/1/21. 72.4 lbs down so far! Got to keep on keeping on!

Down 29.4 lbs of my 22 lb Aug-Oct challenge goal!

10/27/21-180.8 lbs today, OMG!!!! So first goal was 190 lbs for 11/1, then second goal was 185 lbs, then third was 182.2 lbs. Now I'm thinking 180 lbs or maybe 179.9 lbs?

Also got into size 12 jeans today easily! And a pretty leather belt I bought in Bermuda in 1992 fits again! Last hole but it works!

10/31/21-
11/1/21-
ML-
MLGW-Fourth New Goal?

CGWL-22lbs
CWL-

Original SW (1/28/21) - 293

August SW - 225
End of Oct GW - 203

08/01 - 225
08/05 - 222.4
08/12 - 221.6
08/19 - 217.8
08/26 - 217.4
09/02 - 214.8
09/09 - 211.8
09/16 - 208.4
09/23 - 210.4
09/30 - 206.4
10/07 - 207
10/14 - 205
10/21 - 202
10/28 - 199

Couple more days left in the month to make additional progress! This was a great three month challenge.