Just Give Me 10 Days - Round 218

I'm really behind on reading everyone's posts and haven't posted myself for most of this round as I've been travelling. I'll do my best to catch up on the over 350 posts that I've missed!


F42, 5'4
Heaviest: 180.8 (5th July '21)
RGW: 150.2 lbs
UGW: 140lbs (trend)
UUGW: 122.4lbs

Past Rounds
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: 150.2 (-1.4)
R218 SW:150.2 GW:150.2 EW:
***************************************

3/21 150.2 (trend 150.6)
3/22 DNW
-
3/23 DNW travelling. Only 2hrs sleep as we had to leave the house at 2.30am to catch a flight, so it was a long, tiring day. Went grocery shopping so I can do lots of cooking at the apartment and hopefully stay in control of food a bit. We went for a walk as the sun was setting and then stopped at a pizza place. I was hoping for a salad but they didn't do them so we had a couple of beers then got a pizza to take back to the apartment which we shared with salad and wine.
Managed to keep calories low for the most part, but wine and pizza got the better of me in the evening.

3/24 DNW Made salted cod and chickpea salad with boiled egg for lunch, my favourite portuguese dish! Went for a long bike ride to the beach to watch the sunset then along the marina. Stopped at a tapas bar where we had some bites to eat and a glass of wine. So delicious but so much olive oil and butter. Evenings are proving difficult to stay on track. Totm is due today or tomorrow, I'll be glad when it comes and my mood can settle down a bit. I get a lot of anxiety and body dysmorphia in the days leading up to it.

3/25 DNW Workout at the apartment using resistance bands in the morning. Cycle into town to get an allen key to fix the bike. Went out for a bit in touristy Albufeira but decided it wasn't for us so took a cycle ride to the marina, had a burger and a few beers and listened to some live music.

3/26 DNW Went kayaking around sea caves in the morning, then explored Sagres, the south-westernmost point of Europe and on to Lagos for lots of walking. Got sunburnt, ouch! Cycled to town in the evening and shared a seafood cataplana (Portuguese soup with prawns, clams and monkfish)

3/27 DNW Spent the day laying on the beach, then went for cocktails and had pizza again. Lazy day!

3/28 DNW Cooked a chicken and brown rice casserole type thing which we had for lunch with a big salad then took a drive in the countryside and watched the sun set on the beach with a bottle of wine.

3/29 DNW travelling home day yesterday, so packing, cleaning and lots of sitting. Still managed to get my steps in almost just by walking around the airports. Ate too many snacks on the plane and my feet swelled up like big fat sausages from the cabin pressure. Not weighing until tomorrow, going to try and fast for most of today.

3/30
3/31
4/1

Thank you, @quiltingjaine !
72 year old female...5'5" ...I used to be 5'7" but arthritis hit and I lost two inches, so now that two inches is squished around my waist like the billows of a big accordion...
...Oh, well. I'll just keep working on it.
Heaviest: 192.2
Round GW: 152.0
UGW: 132.2
03/21 - 156.0 at 6:45 a.m. ...Grandson Duty then ...zero
03/22 - 155.1 at 5:45 a.m. ...Grandson Duty then 60 min workout w/my trainer
Day/Weight/Comment
03/23 - 157.2 at 6:15 a.m. ...Grandson duty in the morning then 6.16 miles in 119 mins
03/24 - 156.8 at 5:45 a.m. ...Grandson Duty then 60 min workout w/my trainer
03/25 - 156.2 at 8:50 a.m. ...7.45 miles in 141 mins
03/26 - 157.0 at 7:00 a.m. ...rest day
03/27 - 159.8 at 5:20 a.m. ...Grandson Duty then 60 min workout w/my trainer
03/28 - 156.5 at 5:20 a.m. ...Grandson Duty then...zero...rain here in no. California
03/29 -
03/30 -
03/31 -
04/01 -
Chris

SW (12/27/22): 150.2lb
Round 215: 138.6
Round 216: 138.4
Round 217： 135.8

Round 218 goal: 134.3
3/23
3/24 134.6
3/25 134.8
3/26
3/27 134
3/28 134.2
3/29 133.4
3/30
3/31
4/1

Looking forward to joining this challenge. My goals for the challenge are to log consistently and to avoid snacking after dinner.

SW RND 218 152.4 lbs

3/23 152.4 lbs
3/24 151.6 lbs
3/25 150.4 lbs
3/26 150.6 lbs
3/27 150.6 lbs
3/28 149.4 lbs
3/29 149.0 lbs
3/30
3/31
4/1

Highest weight: 206
Goal weight: 146

Round 212 end weight: 200.7
Round 213 end weight: 198.7
Round 214 end weight: 196.9
Round 215 end weight: 191.9
Round 216 end weight: 190.0
Round 217 end weight: 187.5

3/23 188.5
3/24 187.9
3/25 188.2
3/26 188.5
3/27 187.0
3/28 186.2
3/29 186.6
3/30 187.0
3/31
4/1

Christine from Burlington, Ontario, Canada 😊
My 8th Round
Age 53, 5’5”
June 2005: 345 lbs (Highest known weight before WLS Aug 2005)
June 2017: 241.8 lbs
January 2022: 220 lbs
January 2023: 157.6 lbs (When I Started “Just Give Me 10 Days”)
Weight Beginning this Round: 144.2 lbs
Goal Weight: 135 lbs

This round's daily goals:
1. 1500 calories 10/10 days – ☹☹☹☹☹☹☹
2. 15K steps 10/10 days - ☹😊😊😊😊😊☹
3. Attend work 5.5/5.5 days – 😊😊😊😊
4. 8 cups fluids 10/10 days – ☹☹☹☹☹☹☹
5. 8:00 P.M. bed time 10/10 days - 😊😊😊😊😊☹😊
6. 4:00 A.M. wake time 10/10 days – ☹☹☹☹😊😊😊😊

3/23 – 144.2 lbs -
3/24 – 143.8 lbs – Well, looks like I didn’t have much to say yesterday! I haven’t been doing very well in terms of eating the past two days. Figures, after I wrote about “not bingeing” in my last entry in the last round! The day after I wrote about that I started feeling an extreme hunger, especially for carbs!! I seem compelled to keep eating, all day long! I am not “bingeing” per se, but close to it, if that makes sense to anyone else on here who has binge eating disorder. I think (hope) that I am just premenstrual… Work has been super busy but I am feeling really good about the work I’ve been able to crank out over the last two weeks. I haven’t missed any days out of the last 10 working days (since I recovered from gastro) and I was able to provide my boss with documentation from my doctor proving that I am under her care etc. with regards to all the absences I had over the past few months (depression). I have had a bit of positive feedback from my boss, and I think the only reason she hasn’t been able to provide more constructive feedback is that she is swamped (and I feel for her). So anyway, hopefully I can finish the week off strong, today! I have 1.5 days vacation booked next week, which I am looking forward to. On Tuesday it is hubby’s 41st birthday (yes, he is 12 years younger – all my cougars in the house!!) and we have a few fun things planned. We are going to get mani-pedis, we are going to take the dog to a “sniff spot” to play (which btw, if you are a dog owner, I really recommend this app!! You can “rent” out places for an hour or two to let your dog play off-leash, which is amazing for owners of reactive dogs!), then we are meeting my niece and her fiancé for dinner. I also want to buy him a gift but I have no idea what to get him. He will be buying a new “trucking specific” GPS, but that is really a work thing, not a birthday present. If anyone has any suggestions for gifts for a super-hot 41-year-old guy, holla. 😉 Okay, uh, why am I going on about this, in a weight-loss related forum? I am 100% not sure. LOL. I guess I have a lot on my mind and I think when that happens, I tend to lose focus on my eating/exercise, which I bet some folks on here can relate to. It’s almost as if I have to be obsessive in my thinking in order to keep it front of mind to achieve any success. I bought another week’s worth of Jenny Craig yesterday. I am finding it helpful to have around, just because I have zero interest in cooking, this past while, so this allows for some sort of “nutrition”, and I use the word loosely. Lol. Better than living off of cheese strings and Diet Pepsi! So when I went on their website to order my Jenny food, it asked me to state a goal weight. So… I put in 135 lbs. Like a crazy maniac. LOL!! I am not sure what possessed me to put that in there!! But it is less than 10 lbs away, so… potentially achievable?? If I can stop eating the whole damn house… I will try to dial it in a bit today. I have recently bumped my step goal up to 15K/day, which I was doing good with last week but haven’t achieved in the last two days. I work from home today so I should be able to get those steps in. And I really need to get some fluids in – the last few days have been terrible (as in, all I drank was a coffee in the morning… that’s it…). Wish me luck. And if you have read this far, thanks for listening.
3/25 – 141.8 lbs – OMG! OMG! OMG! I can’t believe it. How is this even possible? How? How is my body doing this? Maybe I’m terminally ill? I have no concept of my weight being this low! I mean I know it will bounce back up and I will need to be okay with that and just be patient. But still!! Here I am!! Yesterday I did not meet my calories or fluids goal, but I came darn close (1599/1500 cals and 7/8 cups fluids). I also walked 29,943 steps, however, which I am super proud of. So I guess that is how my weight is down today. Now, to keep it down. Lol. That is the hard part, for me!! Btw, if anyone is asking me for “tips” the best advice I can give is to stop setting goals about losing a specific amount of weight in a specific time-frame. I know it seems counter intuitive, but for me, it has been very freeing. Instead of constantly being disappointed that my body isn’t doing what I am demanding it to do, I instead have given up that careful “math” and instead just weigh myself every day and consider it “data ONLY to monitor trends over time”. I try to not get upset if the weight goes up. Instead I just think “it will go down eventually”. So yes, the weight loss is a lot slower than I would like! IE, I would prefer that every day I step on the scale it would be lower! LIKE COME ON BODY!! LOL. Instead, I just see things like “Oh, I am down 1 lb since 16 days ago, yay me!” It is completely the opposite of what I have been doing since I started dieting when I was 11 (and my mother put me on caffeine pills and my hair started falling out... we didn't play, in the 80s!!)…. For my entire life I have been pressuring myself to lose faster and faster! And I was always so annoyed/depressed/impatient when my body didn’t do what I wanted it to! I find that this way, if I attach less pressure to my weight, and I just force myself to be more patient, eventually, over time, it does trend downwards. It just takes longer than I have always expected, and I have learned to be okay with that. And I am a lot less crazy about it. LOL. I dunno, does that even make sense? Isn’t it just CICO? Aren’t we supposed to set SMART goals? I have no idea. All I know is that I have learned to accept that weight loss is just not as fast (for me!) as I have always thought it should be. And I have stopped labelling myself "a failure" when the number on the scale doesn't do what I wish it would. On July 30th of last year, I was 182 lbs. So it has taken me 8 months to lose 40-ish pounds. I think most people would be totally annoyed by how slow that has been. But shockingly, I am not! I am happy with that progress!! 😊 And that is my tip of the day! LOL! Have a great day, everyone!!
3/26 – 142.2 lbs – Yup, there is the bounce-back that I mentioned that I should expect, yesterday. I am TRYING not to let it bother me, but on some level it does. I do feel a bit like a failure because yesterday my calories topped out at 2574… and I only had 4 cups of fluid. ☹ According to MFP I was still “under” because of the 22K steps I did, but I know the exercise burn is inflated. So, I’m annoyed with myself. I’m trying to take my own advice, though, and not get mad at my body for not doing what I want it to. I started scrolling through my weights over the years in my MFP progress chart, and I remembered that in 2017 I was 241.8 lbs. So to cheer myself up I am changing my starting weight to 241.8 lbs in all my apps. Lol. Also, if I want to get into the Way Back Time Machine, I was 345 lbs when I was weighed before weight-loss surgery in 2005 (and I am sure my weight went even higher that that, but I was not weighing myself in those days). So… if I think of it in those terms… I am pretty successful and my body kicks butt. Honestly, when I think of it in those terms, how can I feel “annoyed with myself” and like “a failure”? The truth is that I have been doing the best I can, all these years. I absolutely have been doing the best I could with the skills that I had. And bingeing eating was a coping skill that I developed very early on after being sexually abused by an older babysitter from 3-6 years old and physically assaulted in my home on a regular basis from 10-18 years old and emotionally abused all my life by both parents in addition to having my mother hate me from the day I was born (which she made sure to tell me on the regular: “I wish you were never born”, “You’re so lazy the only job you will ever be able to have will be a prostitute”, etc.). When you consider all of that, it is actually a wonder that I am even STILL HERE, let alone dealing with disordered eating behaviours (as well as a personality disorder, an anxiety disorder, PTSD and substance abuse disorder). My body has gotten me through all of that. My body has helped me survive everything. Even with that abysmal start in life, I have somehow gotten myself though university, worked in non-profits helping adults improve their literacy skills for 20+ years, secured a great government job working on the provincial adult literacy file, developed a beautiful relationship with an absolute angel of a man (my knight in shining armour), made myself a lovely home in a spacious 15th floor apartment with a view of beautiful Lake Ontario… and here I am complaining that I ate too much yesterday (which is likely because of hormones due to my stupid TOM taking forever to show up). I really need to check myself. I really, really do. So, I am gonna instead say: My body is strong enough to walk for several hours a day, with no problem; my body lets me jog for a couple of minutes at a time; my body lets me lift weights in the gym; my brain is super creative and helps me problem-solve; and my heart is HUGE, and even though I have been hurt in very terrible ways, I still have the ability to love so much (animals, friends, my sister, my niece, my husband, and my students I helped all through my non-profit days). I have a lot to be grateful for. So I am going to try to focus on that today – being thankful for what I have and what I have been able to achieve in life, thus far, and being thankful for having the opportunity to keep going, and keep learning and working on improving my skills. I mean, I’m still here, aren’t I? That is enough. I AM ENOUGH. And so are you.
3/27 – 141.8 lbs – So yesterday’s post was a bit dramatic. LOL. It reminds me of a meme I saw: “You can still be mysterious after over-sharing because everyone will be thinking ‘Why would she say that?’” Haha! Anyway. So I ate 2500+ calories again yesterday, but my weight is back down to where it was a couple of days ago. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: BODIES ARE WEIRD. I took a look back and my calories have been kind of out control (with 2 days of not logging at all!) since March 18th. I’m not sure why, since, before that I was solidly eating around 1600ish for a long time. And my TOM still has yet to make an appearance. So don’t ask me. Meanwhile, I took a selfie yesterday to send to my hubby as I thought it was funny that I was doing my cleaning with just pants and a sports bra on. When I sent him the pic I was like: “HOLY HELL, I’M SKINNY.” It’s weird how you can’t really see your weight loss in a mirror but in photos you really can. Well, it’s like that for me, anyway. I did get 24K steps yesterday, and I think all my walking is the only thing that is saving me, at this point. I got all my cleaning done over the weekend which for me is really mentally satisfying (I’ve written in here before how I have a hard time logging in to work if my apartment is messy) so I’m really happy about that. I was looking back over my entries here (I have them all saved to a Word doc) and I see that in the past I have pre-logged my day as a way to help during the times I’ve been struggling so I guess I will go ahead and do that today. I think I should also try to get my snacking in check – I have been eating cheese strings and turkey “pepperonis” like they are going out of style, not to mention the dark chocolate I have bragged about in here before: “Ooh, look at me, I’m so amazing, I am able to eat only 1-2 squares per day!” … um, well, so much for that. And lastly, I think if I could increase my fluids intake that would help with my hunger as well. So those will be my goals for today. Let’s do this!!! 😊
3/28 – 141.6 lbs – Uh, I am not sure how that is possible, as I ate pizza and “mini cinnabons” last night… well, I am sure it will show up on the scale tomorrow! Things went so sideways yesterday that I gave up on trying to track what I was eating and just deleted the day. (There is that perfectionism kicking in that is not helpful at all!!) Anyway, I have decided that I am not going to track calories today or tomorrow. It is my hubby’s birthday today and I am going to make it about him. He LOVES eating and I am going to let him choose where we go and what we eat (we already have plans for a pub for dinner tonight, so I’m sure it will burgers or fish n chips, etc.). Side note: He has often told me over the 9 years we’ve been together that one of things he loves about me is that I love to eat and he loves eating with me! HAHAH! Of course, he has never struggled with his weight at all (thanks to several years of competitive sprint canoeing as a young man he is PACKED with muscle and can eat whatever he wants) and does not have an eating disorder so he doesn’t understand how my brain works. But you know what, it is not going to kill me to not track for a few days. He leaves on Thursday morning (he is a trucker and will be off to San Diego) so I know I will get back on track then and deal with any damage at that point. I am happy that I can see a sort of “middle ground” on this. Not black and white thinking, you know? I feel like black and white thinking is what got me into this cycle of losing and gaining in the first place… but now I am confident that taking a break from compulsively tracking everything that goes into my mouth is okay, and that I can start it up again on Thursday, and that of course my weight will bounce up a little, and that will be okay, too, and I can inch it back down a little over time without starving myself etc. I am really making progress with this, guys. I am super proud of myself. 😊 One good thing is that the dog isn’t going anywhere so I will still likely get 15-20K steps today and tomorrow. Lol! Speaking of dogs, it’s LATE!! ACK!! I better go walk him!! (I got 8 hours of sleep last night. I always sleep better when hubby is home.) Have a great day everyone.
3/29 – 141.6 lbs – Hmpf.
3/30 – 140.8 lbs – Hmpf!! I am not sure how this is happening… I haven’t tracked my calories for the last three days. As promised above, I am back to tracking today. I suspect my weight will bounce up tomorrow, as it typically does after a couple days of “slacking” on my diet/exercise game. But that’s okay, I am prepared for it, mentally. So we had a GREAT time on my hubby’s birthday! It was lots of fun! First we brought the dog to a “rented dog park for 1” where my 78 lb dog decided he’d like to try the agility equipment… HAH! Then we went to the mall where hubby decided that his birthday gift would be to get his ears pierced! He chose these big flashy cubic zirconia studs and he looks amazing in them!! (He said, “These make me look like a bada$$!” Which is hilarious because he definitely is not!) Then I bought him a new pair of running shoes (which he showed me in the mall that they can go really fast). Then we went out for a very casual dinner with my niece and her fiancé and we had so much fun. We laughed our heads off! Super fun day. 😊 And I don’t think I worried about my weight or calories or anything for the whole day – which is really important to me and I feel is a sign of progress with my mental health/eating disorder. Plus the fact that I am ready to “get back on the wagon” today – IE, it isn’t turning into a 6 month free-for-all binge. I would have to guess that I have eaten at least 2000 calories per day every day since March 18th, and my tracking has been shoddy, and my exercise so-so. So, that is 12 days. I honestly am not sure how my weight hasn’t increased over that time frame, and in fact has decreased by 1.8 lbs. That is really odd, to me. I am considering this information as both “data” and “a lucky fluke” and I will ponder it as I try to determine a daily calorie goal for maintenance. FYI, my TOM never showed up even though I had a day where I felt inexplicably tired and I wanted to murder my husband which typically signals that the next day I’d get my period, but I never did. Hopefully I don’t keep feeling so hungry all the time, because that would probably spell disaster to my weight-loss, at some point...
3/31
4/1