Just Give Me 10 Days -Round 217

thank you for saying, I really appreciate that.

Christine from Burlington, Ontario, Canada 😊
7th Round
Age 53, 5’5”
Heaviest Weight: 345+ lbs (my highest known weight prior to gastric bypass in Aug 2005)
Weight When I Started “Just Give Me 10 Days” - 157.6 lbs – January 13th, 2023
Weight Beginning this Round: 147.8 lbs
Goal Weight: 140 lbs

This round's daily goals:
1. 1345 calories 10/10 days – ☹☹☹☹☹☹
2. 14K steps 10/10 days - ☹😊😊😊😊😊
3. Attend work 8/8 days – 😊😊😊😊😊
4. 10 cups fluids 10/10 days – ☹☹☹☹☹☹
5. Regular bed time 10/10 days - 😊😊😊😊😊☹
6. Regular wake time 10/10 days - 😊😊☹😊😊☹☹

3/13 – 147.8 lbs – Okay… that is quite an uptick since yesterday. I am assuming it is carb-bloat, because for the past few days, I have been eating basically anything that seems appealing as I have been feeling very weak and still like I’m recovering from the gastroenteritis from last week. Yesterday I was so exhausted, I could barely do anything. I had planned on starting back to counting calories etc. yesterday but as I was feeling so tired and dizzy I thought I’d better just try to give my body some fuel and see if that helped. I am feeling better this morning, so far. I am off to a late start, however, which is anxiety-causing, because I don’t want to be late for work. I actually don’t even want to work (surprise, surprise) but I really need to because my boss already thinks I’m an idiot and totally useless. You know what, I am just going to do my best today. That is all I can do. Nothing is going to be perfect today, and that is okay. I actually just started a new Word doc and typed that out a few times. NOTHING IS GOING TO BE PERFECT TODAY, AND THAT IS OKAY. I guess I finally did some “affirmations”… Anyhoo, so for this round, I have lowered my goal weight to 140 lbs. At nobody’s advice. Just as a lark. I’m not really invested in reaching that particular goal weight, to be honest. I am curious. But I won’t be destroyed if I never make it. If I can hover around 145 lbs and eventually get some more skin-removal surgeries happening, that is actually still pretty frickin amazing. But let’s put it to 140 lbs and see what happens. According to MFP, to get to that weight I need to eat 1345 cals per day. So I set that as a goal above, as well. I’m going to keep my step goal to 14K, and I will try to add in my jogging spurts when I am feeling a bit more recovered from being sick and when the side-walks are cleared of ice and snow. (Friggin snow.) I want and need to attend all 8 out of the next 8 work days. It is an imperative. I have been tasked with leading a project and being sick put me at risk of failing to meet my timelines/objectives. I have upped my fluids to 10 cups a day which is HUGE for me. However, when I was at the hospital and had a CT scan they informed me that I was hugely uh… full of … uh… you know. The old system is pretty backed up, to say the least. They actually prescribed a laxative, but when I got home from the hospital a huge bout of TMI started and lasted for about 30 hours or so. But I know I rarely drink enough and I’m sure that is part of the problem (along with the iron and calcium supplements and high percentage of protein that I eat). So I lowered my protein goal for now and I will try to get some more fluids in. But 10 is a lot. And I don’t just count water, I count any fluid which I know on this site is controversial. LOL. Finally, my last goal for this round is to try to regulate my sleep cycle. I have always struggled with sleep and I really need to clean up my sleep hygiene. So I will start with baby steps and try to go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time every day. Alright, I need to eat something and go walk my damn dog. Have a good day people. But be kind to yourselves and remember: NOTHING IS GOING TO BE PERFECT TODAY, AND THAT IS OKAY!
3/14 – 146.4 lbs – Today was the first day that I have actually felt better since I was sick last week.
3/15 – 146.2 lbs – I didn’t write much yesterday and I didn’t even post! Oops. It was a busy day. But here I am, getting ready for the day (I had insomnia again. Damn you, PTSD). I am reviewing my goals above and I see that I have been doing great with my work attendance (and I have been killin’ it at work, too!) but I see that I have not yet stuck to my calorie goal nor reached my fluids goal. So there are my areas of focus today. I have to go into the city on the train for work today, so I likely won’t reach my steps goal as I won’t be walking my dog today. (The dog walker will do it – maybe I should give him my Fitbit! 😉) I want to try to reach my fluids goal, because it is super dry in my office and I always end up feeling so gross by the end of the day, and I wonder if it is because I am dehydrated. It’s just that carrying my laptop AND a bunch of water to work is really heavy! I’ll have to get into the habit of buying some water when I get off the train to take to the office with me. Luckily, I only have to go in one day this week. So yesterday my hubby did some progress pics for me. My starting weight was 220 lbs in January 2022 (I struggled for several months to get going and bounced up and down until I started to have some success in March 2022). So with a sides-by-side comparison I can really see my progress. It is actually quite mind blowing. I honestly didn’t realize how fat I was in my starting pic. I was size 2x or 18-20. Now I am Medium in tops and around size 8 in pants, depending on the store. Anyway, I found it pretty helpful to see the progress. I see that I (a) need to start saving for a circumferential body lift, and (b) still could stand to lose a few more pounds. So I am happy that I have recently lowered my goal weight to 140 lbs. Hubby also took all my measurements and I put them in MFP. I had never done that before. I am now not so much interested in seeing if the numbers go down with weight loss, but rather, I am interested to keep track because I intend to get back into the gym 2-3 times a week and I am curious to see if I actually increase any of those numbers, with muscle. Yesterday after work I went to the pharmacist for my monthly B12 shot and when she gave me the shot in the arm, she scolded me, “You are losing your muscle! I don’t think the needle hit muscle.” YIKES! (It is supposed to be an intramuscular injection.) So tomorrow morning I am scheduling myself back to the gym. Even if I can only do 2 days a week for now, that is better than no days per week. It would be a start, and at least a way to get back into a habit. Well, that is probably more than enough rambling for one day! I will end by saying that hubby is supportive of my plastic surgery plan, which is if I can maintain being under 150 lbs for one year that I can start planning my circumferential body lift. I have been maintaining ~150 since February 1st, with the help of this challenge, to be quite honest. So, let’s see if I can maintain for a year. I have NEVER done that before. NEVER….
3/16 – 144.0 lbs – Well, I am happy with that number on the scale. I can’t complain, especially since yesterday I kind of came to the conclusion that “under 150” or “around 150” was a good place to try to maintain for a year. Here’s a little update on my goals for this round: So I have yet to eat 1345 calories. I am sitting around 1550/day over the last three days, which honestly, is not that bad. Steps are solidly over 14K for the last three days, which I am proud of. I am not sure how that is possible for yesterday, however, as I had to go in to the office and didn’t walk the dog. My fear is that my Fitbit is counting “typing” as steps. Oops. Hope not. Work is good! 3/3 days so far! Let me see if I can keep the trend going! And I am able to concentrate/focus on tasks for a lot of the day! I seem to crash around 3 pm, but at least before that I do quite well! Fluids, well, I am not able to make it to 10 cups of fluids per day, yet. Yesterday I kind of lost track but I made an effort to constantly be sipping on something. I think I came in at 9/10 cups, which for me is fantastic progress. Lastly, my bed and wake times are doing pretty good. It is good to be working to some kind sleep schedule. As I said, baby steps. Lol. Well, I am off to walk my dog. Have a great day, everyone!! 😊
3/17 – 143.0 lbs – Wow! I am killin it!! Not much time to write/reflect, today, because I had messed up sleep last night and “slept in” till 4:20 AM. Ah, the life of a dog-reactive dog momma!
3/18 – 142.6 lbs – Well, I am not hitting all my goals this round, but I am doing very well with a couple of them and dammit, I am going to focus on the positives! Besides, my weight is going down even though I am not restricting calories very much and I am not over-exercising! I wonder where my body will land!! I am eating around 1550 cals per day, but I also walk my dog quite a bit (almost 25K steps yesterday). I know I set my calorie goal for 1345 this round, as recommended by MFP, but I refuse to go to bed hungry. I eat when I am hungry and I try to remember to stop eating when I am full. (Thanks, Intuitive Eating.) I try to watch a bit in terms of getting in fluids, protein, fibre, nutrients and sufficient carbs (my brain works better when I provide it with enough carbs). But overall, I just look in the fridge and say “what does my body want and need right now?” It seems to work? Also, I am so proud of myself for logging in/going to work every day this past week!! On Monday I logged in even though I wasn’t feeling well and my apartment was a disaster (having my apartment messy gives me a lot of anxiety). I just did it. And did my best. That was HUGE for me. And that turned out to be WAY better than not logging in at all! I have really come a long way with my attitude. And I got quite a bit done this week, and received some positive feedback from my Team Lead! I just can’t get over how some counselling and hard work on my part has paid off in terms of breaking some bad habits – in particular, the terrible habit of perfectionism. I am working so hard at turning off that critical voice inside my head (my father’s voice) that tells me that I am stupid, fat, ugly, no good at anything and just plain disgusting. Eff that and eff him. I am 53 years old and I don’t need to give a crap about that voice anymore. I’m done letting him hurt and control me. I have really come a long way. I’m proud of myself. 😊 Tell me something that YOU are proud of?
3/19 – 142.2 lbs – I have soooo much cleaning to do today. I have asked my dog walker to do Goliath’s second walk, because I don’t think I am going to have enough energy to do all the cleaning plus 2 x 60-90 min walks. Yesterday it felt like all I did was walk the damn dog. Lol. I just know that I only have so much energy in a day. Maybe it is because I have chronic insomnia. Maybe it is my fibromyalgia. Who knows. But anyways, as I pointed out in a previous post, starting my work week with a messy apartment just drives me crazy. I think it is probably related to the critical voice in my head/perfectionist tendencies that I wrote about yesterday. It just gives me a lot of anxiety, and makes it hard for me to concentrate, especially when working from home. I have taken many sick days over the course of my life because “I had to clean the house”. Not exactly healthy behaviour, for sure. This was even prior to Covid and working from home. I just have this weird thing about needing my cleaning done. Some of you may recall that my hubby, Matt, is a trucker. When he comes home, I always say that “Hurricane Matty blew through”. He is not bothered in the slightest by a messy apartment. He sees no problem with leaving dirty dishes on the table or throwing his coat on the sofa instead of hanging it up. He wears his boots into the apartment, and just generally leaves a trail of destruction behind him. Lol. The first few years together this drove me crazy and I would constantly nag at him to clean up after himself and also call his mother and snark at her for not training him better. LOL! But over time I realized that it honestly just doesn’t bother him, and the only one that was unhappy was me, and all my nagging was (a) getting me nowhere and (b) negatively impacting our relationship. I came to the conclusion that it bothers ME, not him. Therefore, since I am the one with the perfectionist issues, I should pick up anything that bothers me. If he lived on his own, he would not have a problem with his coat lying on the sofa. And after all, this is his home too, not just mine. So I shut my mouth and pick up anything that bothers me. I think that would bother a lot of people and make them think that I am not a feminist and enabling his bad habits. That might be true. But he does a LOT of other different things around the apartment and for me and he has a tonne of other strengths and brings a LOT to the relationship that I appreciate very much and never want to be without. And I know I also do things that irritate him and he puts up with. So, I pick up after him. It doesn’t bother me anymore. I am learning that love is give and take, not “my way or the highway”, which was my attitude in all of my relationships prior to Matt. And that did not work out well for me. LOL. Nobody has ever loved me the way Matt does. To him I am the prettiest, the smartest, the funniest, and the most capable. To have someone believe in me like that… is worth throwing some McDonalds wrappers in the garbage. 😊 Not sure why I am going on about that in a weightloss forum. Lol. Probably related in some way to me feeling like I may be at a point in my life where I could possibly maintain this weight loss (because I am happier than I have ever been and I have the unending support of my partner). I’m open to feedback on this, folks!! 😊 Anyway. I am up drinking coffee right now but I am definitely going to have to go back to bed at some point. My sleep is totally messed up (again). Why did I drink coffee last night at 6 PM? Well, let’s just say that was not the best decision I could have made… One positive is that my weight is down a bit. I am back down to where I was when I had gastroenteritis last week, but this time without barfing and pooping my guts out and not eating for 3 days. I thought I would see an uptick on the scale as I ate 2000 calories yesterday. But I also went to the gym to do my weights as well as walked just over 28K steps. I always eat more on the days I do weights, so I just don’t beat myself up about it. I find I am always a bit hungrier, which I read is somewhat common. According to MFP (which is connected to my Fitbit) I burned 1672 calories yesterday, which I know is likely way higher than the actual. But that is still a lot more than MFP usually indicates, for me. I’ll just roll with it. My right arm is aching, after doing weights, where I had the IV in my arm when I went to the ER. That strikes me as weird, as that was 11 days ago. I do still have a huge bruise there on my arm, so that may be why. Well, we have 4 days left of this challenge. Let’s see what we can do to end on a good note. Maybe I can get below 142? Let me try!! Have a great and successful day today, everyone. 😊
3/20
3/21
3/22

**thoughts for next challenge: journalling, meditation, affirmations, Grow With Jo videos on cold days, X pages of reading, neck stretches, no devices for 60 mins before bed

GirlOnTheRebound wrote: »

39flavours wrote: »

F42, 5'4
Heaviest: 180.8 (5th July '21)
RGW: 150.6lbs
UGW: 140lbs (trend)
UUGW: 122.4lbs

Past Rounds

R160 SW:162.8 GW:164.0 EW:DNW
R161 SW:162.0 GW:159.5 EW:158.2 (-3.8)
R162 SW:160.2 GW:156.5 EW:154.6 (-5.6)
R163 SW:154.4 GW:152.4 EW:152.4 (-2.0)
R164 SW:151.8 GW:151.0 EW:150.2 (-1.6)
R165 SW:149.0 GW:148.4 EW:149.0 (-0.0)
R166 SW:148.4 GW:147.0 EW:147.0 (-1.4)
R167 SW:148.2 GW:146.5 EW:146.6 (-1.6)
R168 SW:146.6 GW:144.0 EW:146.2 (-0.4)
R169 SW:143.6 GW:143.0 EW:142.0 (-1.6)
R170 SW:143.0 GW:140.0 EW:140.6 (-2.4)
R171 SW:140.0 GW:139.6 EW:138.6 (-1.4)
R172 SW:141.4 GW:138.6 EW:145.0 (+3.6)
R173 SW:145.2 GW:142.8 EW:141.0 (-4.2)
R174 SW:141.0 GW:139.6 EW:142.2 (+1.2)
R175 SW:141.6 GW:139.6 EW:140.0 (-1.6)
R176 SW:139.6 GW:139.0 EW:138.4 (-1.2)

R177-R210 DNW regained 26.6lbs 😵 Never again!
R211 SW:165.0 GW:163.0 EW:160.8 (-4.2)
R212 SW:161.4 GW:159.0 EW:157.6 (-3.2)
R213 SW:158.0 GW: 156.0 EW: 156.8 (-1.2)
R214 SW:154.4 GW:153.4 EW:154.4 (0.0)
R215 SW:153.4 GW:152.4 EW: 151.6 (-1.8)
R216 SW:150.8 GW:149.8 EW: 151.6 (+0.8)
R217 SW:151.6 GW:150.6 EW:
***************************************

3/11 150.2 (trend 151.9)
3/12 151.6 (trend 151.8)

3/13 151.6 (trend 151.8) Had a poor night's sleep, OH chose to sleep in a different room after not speaking to me all day, he's so stubborn sometimes. Woke at 4am and knew I wasn't going to get back to sleep as I was fretting about an early appointment at the doctors for a cervical screening, yuck. So got up, weighed and made a coffee. Not sure I'm going to make it to the gym today as I'm really tired. My weight is really resisting my efforts, but I refuse to drop below 1200 calories or increase my exercise any further as I will make myself ill. Better just to keep doing what I'm doing, at least I'm lighter than I was at the start of the year and much fitter.
2hrs strength training, 1hr walking yesterday, and I forgot to have dinner, so under calories, oops. Craving carbs today, I need the energy. Round goal weight is set for basically the same weight I was at the start of last round, so should be doable. I am leaving for a week in Portugal on the last day of this round so I want to give this round my 100%... except not today!

3/14 150.6 (trend 151.6) I didn't do any exercise yesterday. I had a busy morning with a Dr appointment, then decided to go and use a sunbed to get a bit of base colour on my skin. Not something I've done for many years, and I've only done 3 or 4 times ever, but I'd forgotten how warm and relaxing it is, even if it is so bad for you! Once in a while can't matter that much, can it?
My weight is down today but I think it's just dehydration as my eyes felt really puffy when I woke up. I went over calories by a few hundred, I just felt like taking it easy. Had my first hot cross bun of the year, soooo good!
I haven't planked for a few days, need to get back on it.

3/15 147.2 (trend 151.0) What the heck? I couldn't believe my eyes, 3.4lbs gone over night! I am late posting today as I couldn't really process the number. I think some will come back tomorrow as I've been very thirsty so think I'm still dehydrated. Hopefully not all of it will come back though...

3/16 150.8 (trend 151.0) As expected, back up again, sigh. Definitely just water weight, but what I don't know is if I'm retaining water or just normally hydrated. I thought about taking water pills but think it's a bad idea, if my body is retaining water then there must be a good reason for it. At this point I can't see myself getting solidly into the 140s ever, gah, never mind the almost 30lbs I want to lose to get to my goal weight of 122.4!

3/17 151.4 (trend 151.0) Argh, so infuriating! Met all my targets yesterday, strength training for 1hr, over 10,000 steps, calories within range, lots of water. Sigh. Well, the positives are I'm progressing well with weights, it was legs day and I made improvements on all my sets. Planking is getting better, I can do 3 x 1 minutes with 90 seconds rest between, before I was spreading it out during the day. I have ordered some resistance bands to take to Portugal next week as I will have a lot of time free because OH will be working so I will be able to keep up with the workouts. I'm determined not to come back with a gain.
My DD's granddad's funeral will be on the 4th April so I'm relieved that I will be back by then. No news from her father though, I think he has cut contact from all his family, he's really taking it badly. He's currently on a boat somewhere in the English channel, I hope he's OK. Not really fair to be worrying everyone at a time such as this.

3/18 150.8 (trend 151.0) I had a bit of a crappy start to the day yesterday. I was really down about my weight going back up and feeling like I'm getting nowhere. I was angry, confused and resentful that I felt like I would have to restrict for the rest of my life just to stay where I'm at. OH gave me some home truths from his perspective. He said that he's tired of always hearing about how unhappy I am and that I have become obsessed with weightloss and it's vain and boring. That I used to have hobbies and be more fun, but now I'm just hyper focused and am not contributing anything positive towards our home or life together. He has a point, but one of my main reasons for me wanting to lose weight and become fitter is because of the many many times in the past when I've avoided doing something fun or adventurous because I was too self-conscious and ashamed of how I look. So this is my way of trying to ensure I don't ruin any more holidays or days/nights out due to feeling so uncomfortable and embarrassed. I'm trying to fix something that makes me unhappy, but in the process I'm making others unhappy. Anyway, I went to the gym after that but tried to have the mentality of doing it because it feels good and gives me a dopamine release, and to be proud of my body and what it can achieve.
I really could have just done with him giving me a hug and saying he understands, but hey ho, he can't help the way he feels and neither can I.

3/19
3/20
3/21
3/22

Someone mentioned on here recently, sorry I forget who, that they relish this forum as they can vent and rant instead of over burdening family and friends. I agree. I went through a stage of resenting my husband's constant nattering of his job. I decided every time he prattled on I would follow up, in great detail, on how I cleaned the toilets. Yes, childish. Yes, ineffective. And now I find myself over sharing about my steps and macros and insights from the forums here. Meh- give and take I guess lol. I too fear adventures due to my weight. My worst is the unknown event. Unscheduled party or a death with nothing appropriate to wear. Bumping into what's her face from highschool....we need to be proud of who we are and who we are becoming. Sometimes I want to wear a chat bubble over my head saying "yes I am a big girl but not as big as six months ago"
Let me just instead say to you " I understand and hug"

Thank you for this. Yes, the unexpected event fills me with dread too, not only with worrying people will judge me for 'letting myself go', but also I'm really quite a scruff bag and have no idea how to dress smartly or glam. I also find it impossible to do 'feminine' or 'sexy', it's just not something I've ever learnt how to do so I feel like I'm dressed in drag when I try!
I totally relate to the 'constant details about husband's job' fatigue. My OH is a programmer and works in data analytics and 99.9% of what he tells me goes right over my head. I have to do my best to smile, nod, and make the right noises, whilst hoping he doesn't notice that I've glazed over and am losing the battle to stay focused on what he's saying. I try not to tell him anything about my fitness and weightloss efforts unless he directly asks me. The problem comes when he asks me what the matter is, when he sees me looking down, then gets angry at my answer. Dude, if you don't want to hear about it, don't ask about it.
Thank you for the hug, sending one right back to you (((hug)))

SW: 148.2 / GW: 145

Hi All - Robyn yo-yo here! I'm in for another round. I lost around four pounds during round 215 only to gain it back during 216, so I'm a bit frustrated with myself but not giving up. My goal is to stop fooling around and to lose 10-14 pounds over the next 6 rounds (by May).

Day/Weight/Comment
Mon 3/13: 146.8
Tue 3/14: 146.2
Wed 3/15: 146.8
Thu 3/16: 146.8
Fri 3/17: 147.2
Sat 3/18: 147.4
3/19: DNW - I forgot to weigh this morning because DH is running in a half marathon and we got up early to get him to the starting point. I partially tracked food yesterday. I'm sure I went over calorie budget.
Mon 3/20:
Tue 3/21:
Wed 3/22:

begin2023 wrote: »

Round 217
Hey, I am new here. Starting out at 186 (march 13). Thanks for sharing your progress, everyone
3/14:186
3/15:
3/16:
3/17:. .
3/18: 183. Lost a pet this week after 15 years, she has been a part of my family from the time she was a 5 week old scrap of a kitten Proud of staying on track, even though I am not as attentive to the recording as I can be. Something in me is resistant to sharing progress. It is safer to win and lose in private. And I want to be proud of my self because, for the first time in my life, I am doing this for myself, not to make up to other people’s expectations. Maybe learning to be in community is part of the growth here.
3/19:
3/20:
3/21:
3/22

@begin2023 I am so very sorry to hear about the loss of your pet. I am sending out prayers and {{{hugs}}} to you.

In regards to your sharing progress feelings. Being anonymous here is what is so great. There are no expectations here. Everyone just shares their journey for self inspection and reflection. It is also our hope that what we experience or learn can help others. No judgements here. You are in a safe place!