Accountability buddy

I’m focusing on making healthier food choices and toning. I have been bouncing between 140-150lb for ever and am fine with that. By eating less junk and more real foods I hope to look and feel healthier.

Hi @Sunshinfit I bounce around those same 10lbs, it's frustrating but Im motivated for my surf holiday (covid allowing) over Xmas so I WILL get there!!!!

Welcome @reemalaz we are here to be your accountability friends! what's your workout schedule at the moment? Emotional eating is , is there a hobby you can try to replace it with??

@PatriceFitnessPal you've done so well in hitting your weight goal!!! Maintenance is the bit that's always been my stumbling block.
.so we are here for you while you work on it this coming year!!! Xx

My son is feeling pretty rubbish with covid. I feel awful for him as the rest of us (except my 6 year old) have been given the vaccine, but it hasn't got to his age group yet... so he's really suffering it means my days aren't going to plan at the moment, but it also means all our original plans have been scrapped and we have empty days this weekend, so time to refocus and replan! X

Welcome @reemalaz! You seem to have a good sense of what works for you. What were the strategies or behaviors that led to your success in the past? How is everyone doing this weekend? Best wishes, Accountability buddies!

Weekends are more difficult for me, too, @Sunshinfit. I exercise more but also tend to exceed my calorie goals. My husband likes to go out and have a couple of beers, or wine with dinner, and it can throw off my nutrition balance. Generally, it evens out over the week, so I review my weekly progress and make adjustments based on what I learn from that information.

On Saturday, we invited a friend’s daughter and her roommates to attend a local festival with us. She recently moved to the area so we call whenever there’s something interesting happening. We walked a good distance during the festival on Saturday and I didn’t indulge in any of the delicious international food. Instead, we ate at my favorite local Indian food restaurant in the evening. Sunday was also a good day, with plenty of exercise. I rowed early in the morning, then volunteered with the juniors program to help them practice. I also had a soccer game in the evening but only played as a sub for about 30 minutes so the better players could compete against the best team in the league.

Our team manager is really easygoing, but he seemed to want to win this particular game. He was carefully assigning the best four women to play and one of them scored. There are not many women in the league so I’m happy whenever the female opponents do well, too — Yeah, girl power! - and I think she is the leading goal scorer for our team! It was funny because the other team didn’t have enough players so our team manager ended up playing for the other team … and scored a goal against us! The final score was 2-2 and their other goal was a penalty kick.

The penalty kick seemed unnecessary to us because the ball just hit one of our team members in the arm, and didn’t seem to interfere with the play at all, but I’m not competitive in this type of ‘old people’ league so the end result was fine for me. It was one women’s birthday and she joked that she’d only play if we promised to win the game so there was lots of joking that the manager would have to buy her dinner or a round of drinks to make up for scoring a goal to tie the score.

After a healthy weekend, yesterday was a tough day for me. I ate about 400 extra calories. The left over Indian food was delicious and reasonably healthy but I ate too many snacks. I had planned to take a yoga class but felt really tired, so I skipped it. At the end of the day, I managed to drag myself to the gym for a Pilates class for 45 minutes. The class wasn’t great (e.g., boring music, uninspiring teacher who directed but didn’t model the exercises) but it moved me out of my funk. I finally started reading a book by a colleague that I’ve had next to my bed for a couple of weeks. The subject matter is heavy because it’s about the death of her son (but it’s intended to be uplifting) and it felt good to read instead of wasting time on my phone. I went to sleep by about 10pm, which is good for me). Maybe I was just tired because I stayed up very late on Sunday night (12:40?) … Anyway, my outlook is better this morning!

How are things going for you, Accountability buddies?

Welcome @hildie58!

Congratulations on sticking with your efforts to improve your health. You’ve already faced that first weigh in, and you made the decision to join an Accountability buddy group for support. So, good for you. I hope you can look forward and leave your disappointment in the past. My father always said guilt is a wasted emotion; it takes our attention away from learning and making adjustments to improve. Think about the sense of accomplishment you will feel when you look back on your recent scale number and compare that to a future number that shows a downward slope toward your goal.

As long as you have more days of healthy choices, you’ll get to that ultimate goal eventually. Tracking your calories - or journaling - is a wonderful step to help reflect on what’s going well or needs to change. I’ve found it useful to set weekly goals and reflect on my progress here. Are you aiming to journal a certain number of days per week or everyday?

You can do it!

I’m 55 and it took me a year and a half to reach my goal. I’ve lost about 40-45 pounds and just recently started focusing on maintenance. I still need to build better nutrition habits and want to build muscle strength, cardio endurance, and flexibility.

My diet is also far from perfect. I’d like to reduce my sugar intake except for natural sugar from fruit. I don’t think I can eliminate all processed foods but I’d like to reduce as many as possible. We all set different goals for ourselves but, little-by-little - with incremental changes - we’re able to build better habits.

@drollings2019 - When it comes to maintain a healthier lifestyle, I really benefit from a routine, too. So, I definitely relate to the difficulties you face because of all the changes you are dealing with these days — injury, work staffing shortages, and the varying schedules related to school and other children’s activities, especially through the unpredictable adjustments needed due to COVID!

I’m glad to hear you are focusing on making time for your walks because it sounds as though that activity helps physically and mentally. With the extra work you have been doing, I hope you can protect certain times of the day for walking. I also need to increase my water intake so I’ll be thinking of you as I try to improve in this area @drollings2019!

I’m maintaining my goal weight between 125-130 these days. My weigh in day is Thursday (123.9) and today I’m at 124.5. My daily goals for this week are:

-Sleep 7-8 hours
-Drink at least 65 ounces of water
-Complete 30 minutes of cardio, 10 minutes of abdominal exercise and at least 5 pull ups to strengthen my back
-Stay within nutrition target and review macro balance

I’m trying to improve my awareness of foods with refined sugar. Eventually, I’d like to eliminate added sugar. For example, I often snack on fruit, which is fine, but I’d like to gradually reduce the amount of bread I eat. My goal is to reduce my intake of processed food, artificial ingredients and refined sugar. However, right now I’m just reading labels and increasing my awareness. This week, I’m trying to add more protein by including more beans and vegetables with high-protein content in my meals while I become more conscious of added sugar. Best wishes for the coming week, Accountability buddies!

I think this ‘Accountability buddies’ support thread has lost its active core of participants, but I want to let you all know how much I appreciate the insights and encouragement you shared!

I started posting weekly goals and reporting my progress in April 2020. Over that 18 month period, I learned a lot from all of you; and, this space provided me with an opportunity to reflect on what was working or needed adjustment. Here are my stats:

55 year old female, 5 feet 3 and 3/4 inches tall (~162cm)
Starting weight = 168
Current weight = 123
Total weight loss = 45 pounds
Summery: Moved from an overweight BMI to ‘normal’ with healthy cholesterol, blood pressure, etc.

In September 2021, I reached my goal weight and I’m now concentrating on maintenance, while taking a couple of months to plan new goals. My doctor referred my for a bone density scan so I’ll also learn baseline information about my body fat content and muscle mass. Once I receive that data, I’ll set my strength building goals for 2022.

During the coming year, I plan to add yoga classes to my daily routine so I can also increase my flexibility. My outdoor rowing season ends in early November so I’ll have more time to build the habit of attending yoga. My rowing group members are putting together a plan for winter conditioning. Once that plan is in place, I’ll have a better sense of what I need to incorporate for weight training that will complement the off-season program.

If anyone is interested in continuing this thread, let me know and I can post an update about my goals for the new year. If the thread has ‘run its course’ - and there is no interest in continuing - no worries!

Thanks to the MFP community for helping me achieve my goals! Best wishes to all my Accountability buddies. Go get those goals!!

Awww I'm sorry, I am still here @PatriceFitnessPal !

I lost a bit of motivation because our Xmas family holiday just got cancelled for the second year running due to covid I've turned into a bit of a negative ninny and I didn't want to put that on people... but I will pick myself up and get back on it!

Hi All, & Good morning,

I hope the thread is still live!!

It's but rough times. I fell off because of crazy times and not taking care of myself really, but I'm back and I feel good about it. I feel like while I was away, I went through bit of depression even though I'm not clinically diagnose but it was just a low I've never felt before. It's hard to explain. I remember that when I was actually trying to do well with my health and fitness I did feel better, not always 100% but better. (but who really feels 100% all of the time, right?)

Anyways, I used to make these unrealistic goals like I want to lose 10lbs in a month or go on an all juice diet or just something extreme but this time I'm trying a new a approach... something more sustainable.

I'm looking to lose .5 - 1lb a week. I plan to measure myself and hop on the scale every Thursday. I forgot to record my measurements last week but I did get on the scale and I've lost 1.5lbs. So, I'm really happy with these result today ...YAY!

The goal is to be out of the 140's by the end of November.

Happy Thursday to all :)

@PatriceFitnessPal Congratulations on hitting your goal! you are so inspiring!!! Thank you. I'm also in the Fit2Fat group now, the weight no more group. which group are you in?

~Ashley

I’d also love more accountability friends. Add me!