Women 200lb+, Let's Remember to Nurture Ourselves This November!!!

Hello I’m Tina from Florida. I have been off and on MFP for years. I started at 285, got down to 189, then back up to 226. I also had PCOS, IF, and diabetes. I no more PCOS or IF. 2 kids and a hysterectomy took care of both. Diabetes is diet controlled now. Current weight is 210 with a goal of being under 200 by the end of the year. Im back in the gym and eating right. Staying on track this time. My health and my family are too important to ignore.

Kacy
51 years old
5'10"
SW 9/11/22: 253
10/1/22: 246
11/1/22: 241
Next goal: 234 (a 5% loss)
UGW: 165

Overriding Goal: Keep working the system and don't add too much too soon. Build a system that makes desired habits obvious, easy, attractive, and satisfying.
Overriding Question: Will this choice help me become the person I want to become?

October was good overall. Being sick the last two weeks really cut into my exercise routine and upset my sleep schedule, but it did not derail my overall goal to make healthy choices. It’s wise to skip going to the gym when you’re too congested to breathe! I continued to eat well and log my meals, which is the backbone of everything.

I’ve been avoiding sugar for so many months now that the Halloween chocolate bars did not tempt me in the least. Honestly, I look at stuff like that now just like I look at a cigarette. Would one sugary whatever be that harmful? No, of course not. If I really wanted something, I’d eat it and enjoy every darn mouthful. But I’ve found I DON’T enjoy it anymore because I think of it as toxic. No more allure, no more interest. That is a huge difference from last year. I think our family had already eaten two boxes’ worth of chocolate bars and had to buy another to give out on Halloween night.

Another October win was not stress eating when a very difficult blended family situation erupted. Instead, I chose walking (= exercise, sunshine, and music), and given that this situation is not going to disappear, I will need to draw on that for stress relief this month as well.

🍁What do you hope to accomplish this month or before the year is out?

Food Habits
• Daily logging on MFP; virtually no sugary or processed foods; limit alcohol
• Stay within an 8-hour eating window
• Start taking ACV at mealtimes
Exercise Habits
• Swimming biweekly
• Walking daily: keep the abs drawn in; work to increase speed to 3 mph on average
• Gym visits M-W-F. Go to establish the habit even if I don’t have it in me to work out—just do some stretching.
Sleep Habits
• Shift times earlier by one hour, to 9:30 pm–6:00 am.
Stress Reduction Habits
• Keep exercising! Huge positive effect on my mental well-being.
• Keep decluttering! Tidy spaces calm my brain to an amazing degree.
• Add meditation or deep breathing exercises: I said I would do this in October and still haven’t. Look into options and the best time of day to stack it on top of an existing habit.

🍁What are some tips and tricks you have for staying motivated and remembering to put yourself first?

Fact: NOBODY stays motivated, and our prefrontal cortexes are bad at remembering things. It is crazy for us to think otherwise. Motivation WILL wane, we WILL forget, and then we will blame ourselves for being weak and failing again. Let’s get off this crazy train once and for all. Set up your environment and your systems so that the healthy choice is the obvious choice. That’s why we hear advice such as have a water bottle beside you, clear the crap food out of the pantry, plan your meals, don’t shop when hungry, and put out your gym clothes the night before. Do those things! They work! Know thyself. Where do you tend to fall flat? What could you change to avoid or prevent that situation so that you don’t have to remember and you don’t need willpower? Where could you add friction to make a bad habit less desirable? Small changes add up to big differences. Pick one thing and start making those positive changes!

Here's to a great November, everyone. Let's go!!

Good morning. Today is day 3 in a row at the gym. I’m sore, but sticking with it. I will get below 200 by the end of the year. Pushing through and keeping on track while dealing with enablers (are you sure you don’t want any ice cream) and derailers (you don’t need to go the gym every day). Where are my encouragers 🙁?

Good morning, everyone!

175.0 today, which I still can't quite wrap my head around. I'm firmly in the 170's. It's a little surreal, even though I've been here for a while. I keep thinking I'm going to wake up in the 180s again.

This week has been busy, what with Halloween (the kids had a great time, I didn't eat too much candy), appointments, the gym, we had a cleaning service come (! it was amazing, to have people clean my house for me, an absolute privilege, joy, and a treat to have that time back), and I'm working on reducing the clutter in my house/setting up systems where the clutter doesn't get bad in the first place, since having a clean house brings me this much delight.

Goals for this month. I feel... pretty good about where I'm at, diet-wise. My high calorie days are only 1800-2000, which is not enough to slow my progress, as long as it's not every day, and my rate of loss is slow but steady with my normal days between 1400-1600 cal.

I'm back in the gym after the whole family got sick a few weeks ago, and it really makes a difference for my mood when I make a commitment to be there.

So anyway. I was very bloated on the first day of this month, so it looks like I've lost almost three pounds since then. It was just bloat, lol. But I have made progress. So given that I'm 175 right now, I feel comfortable setting a goal of 173 for the end of this month, and we'll see where I land. That would put me in the overweight instead of obese category, which would be incredible. I won't be heartbroken if I don't make it, as long as I don't end this month higher than I started, but we're going to try.

Christina
34 years old
5'4"

SW: 220ish
Re-SW: 200.4
UGW: 150

SW 11/1: 177.8
11/5: 175

🍁 November Goals! 🍁

🍂 November GW: 173

🤎Log everything in grams ✅
🤎Do at least three pole classes a week ✅
🤎More than 100g protein every day
🤎No doomscrolling after 7PM each night ✅
🤎At least 64oz of water a day ✅

Tag party time! Geez, lots of tags to catch up on.

@RavenStCloud Tricks for putting myself first- hm. I used to struggle with this, but I would always feel kind of resentment toward my family when they were relaxing while I was working hard, so when I feel that coming on, I stop everything and go sit down and do something for myself, tell my partner what I'm stressed about, and he'll either help right then or make a plan to help later, and that usually works for me. Unless something *must* be done, there's no point in stressing yourself or feeling bad about things that don't *have* to be done. My house is not always perfectly clean this way (lol, one reason I hired a service, lol), but I am a much happier person. And if we had family around, I would reach out for help for childcare or just to hang out while I cleaned instead. Help is great, it really does take a village, and this day and age, we don't have enough community support for everyone.

I love your chart! It's so pretty, I hope you've got some digital stickers or fun emojis to fill it! I'm participating in NaNo as well, although I only ever get motivated to write on my trash novel around ovulation time, so I'm riding that wave, lol.

@pamperedlinny your daughter's costume is so cute and I'm OBSESSED with her lip gloss. I love hearing about your various get-togethers, neighborhood book club sounds so fun.

lol your muffin story. Been there! And I hear you about when I sit and don't get movement for too long, I start to feel bad physically and mentally.

RE:Aldi: I loved the transylvanian cave cheddar! I think I've still got some, actually...

Good for you, trading mental demons for dumbbells! I love that, again, community stepped in to cheer you on.

I totally get you on having favorite instructors. I sure do, for my gym, and luckily it's set up where I can sign up just for their classes, lol.

@Mom2Cubs welcome! ten pounds by the end of the year around this time of year is lofty, but you very well might make it! Just remember that progress is progress, even if it's slower than expected!

I would say, just for fairness, that depending on your workout when you go to the gym, you might benefit from rest days. If you're doing cardio or walking, it's not as important, but if you're doing resistance training, rest is important for muscle repair. But you've got this!

@sandielewis2001 you've been doing such a great job at maintenance, I've loved reading what you share about it, gives me a lot of hope for maintenance time myself.

Wine tasting! Taste some for me, lol. I had a lovely italian pilsner last night.

@KacyCarpe I love this: Overriding Question: Will this choice help me become the person I want to become? it's a great stop-the-train-let's-think question.

@delillolauren welcome! I hear a lot of negative talk in your post "drag yourself to the meeting... chicken out..." I just want you to know that these past few years have been hard, and you should remember to give yourself some grace, too. We're all doing what we can given a much-less-than-ideal situation. I look forward to hearing more, and that you went to the interview!

@vbeez 30 miles! it's a lot, but doable, and it's beautiful weather for a run, where I am. Welcome! I love getting that music pumping and pounding the pavement, as I liked to say.

@holdthefries I love your talk of hobbies! It's so important to stay busy to prevent mindless snacking, for me. I love to knit, crochet, read, play video games, all kinds of things, and if I'm not feeling one thing, I can move to the next, so important.

@FLMOM22 welcome Cindy! I know you can do this, as you have before, so welcome to the best thread on the site!

I totally get eating your feelings, and I love that you log it with the feelings you were feeling at the time. You talk about how tired you are- is there anything you can do to give yourself a little room? You say you're married, can your partner help out with anything at home that might be stressing you out? I tend to be very open with my partner about my struggles, so when I say that "there's a lot of candy around and I'm stressed out, I need x to be clean," he'll get the girls and start doing it while I'm making dinner or something. That kind of thing?

@tahitig I'm so sorry to hear about all that, oh my gosh, that must have been so scary. I'm so glad you're still here with us, and that you're motivated to make the most of your one precious life after that. You've always got a community and a cheerleading squad here. Health is important, and remember that sometimes for recovery from illness, you might need to eat a little more, toward maintenance.

Whew! Caught up! Have a great, beautiful, wonderful day, everyone. As @tahitig said, let's celebrate the life we're given- just not always with food, lol.