Just Give Me 10 Days - Round 218

SW: 146.4

Day/Weight/Comment
Thu 3/23: 145.8
Fri 3/24: 145.8
Sat 3/25: 146
Sun 3/26: 146.8
Mon 3/27: 147.4
Tue 3/28: DNW
Wed 3/29: 149.2
Thu 3/30: 148
Fri 3/31: 146.4 - Back where I started. If I keep doing this, my weight is just going to continue hovering in the mid/upper 140s.
Sat 4/1:

Hi, I'm Charissa - Round 217

Thank you, again, QuiltingJaine for hosting this challenge!

Just going to take it day by day.....again. Seemed to work in 217. I like the dates of this round and my goal is just to maintain. I will be on vacation for 4 days and it could go either way! The nice part is we usually eat at decent restaurants and technically, can't go back for seconds so there's the portion control. The challenge will be offerings of appetizers (guilty) desserts (it depends) and fancy drinks! BUT...there should be lots of walking so my goal is simply to maintain.

62 y/o female
OSW 2022-03 230.3
1SW 2023-01 221.8


Goals This Round per Day:
- Water: 64 ounces (minimum)

Round Goal - Maintain
Stats and Previous Rounds
SW: 217.4

3/23 218.1

3/24 - Vacation

3/25 - Vacation

3/26 - Vacation

3/27 - Vacation

3/28 - 220.8 - How much damage did I do on Vacation? Up 3.4 since the start of the round. Lots of food, lots of drink and lots of walking. It should be gone by the end of the challenge.

3/29 - 221.9 - It's still catching up with me.

3/30 - 220.5

3/31 - 220 - I am soooooo ready for the next round.

4/1 - Get Ready for Round 219

RND 218

HSW: 175
SW this round 169.6

3/23 169.6
This morning I played pickleball for 3 hours with my friends and had a fantastic time burning calories without even trying. I had a huge, delicious salad for lunch and then my day got out of control and at 9pm I was begging my husband to bring me some food to where we were visiting. He brought a little bit of peanut noodles and peppers, and a tiny bit of potato salad. So I ended up being way too far under my calories for the day, but wasn't hungry when I went to bed.

3/24 168.2
It's been a hectic day and I got no dedicated exercise, just steps from errands and life. I did great with water and food. Had a yummy turkey sandwich for lunch, a banana and protein shake for snack, and dinner was roasted sweet and russet potatoes, chicken apple sausage with onions, spinach and chickpeas, and mango and grapes. I feel satisfied. My family will be at my daughters' dance competition all day tomorrow so food is likely to be a struggle (takeout and snacks), stress level will be high, and no real exercise will happen. But lots of steps. We shall see!

3/25 No weigh in today as we left super early for dance competition. Spent 16 hours there and traveling. No dedicated exercise but lots of steps. We ordered sandwiches for lunch and mine came loaded with mayo on white bread even though I ordered wheat with no mayo. Ate it anyway, felt sick. Had pizza for dinner. Not the most balanced, but it was fine. Stayed under calories and missed my veggies.

3/26 166.6 Apparently the weird food choices yesterday didn't do too much damage. Got back on track today with a protein shake and awesome salad, but got nauseous halfway through the salad because I took my vitamin before eating it. Now I feel both queasy and hungry. About to head to a family dinner. It's always hard to track at these things. Not stressed though, I can do it. Any suggestions for a women's multivitamin that won't make me feel sick?

3/27 167.6 Family dinner last night was french bread pizza, garlic rolls, and chocolate chip cookies. I stayed within calories, but still feeling it today. Got up early and spent the morning at the gym. Back on track with food and water too.

3/28 166.8 Ate great yesterday but was super hungry, probably from the morning workout. I snacked a bit after dinner. Popcorn at first and then recognized it was real hunger, so I mixed greek yogurt and PB2 and thinned with a little almond milk. Tasted like melting peanut butter ice cream, and gave me a protein boost. Still felt hungry but knew I had eaten plenty and slept fine. Pretty much starving right now because I haven't been home all day and was unprepared.

3/29 165.8! I am so thrilled, I can't remember the last time I saw this number! Yesterday went pretty well with food. I felt satisfied with all my meals. It was sad because my pickleball game got cancelled, but I fit in a short walk instead. Not nearly as much exercise as pickleball or as fun, but I still moved. Today will not be a very active day...I woke up with a super sore throat and am trying to rest it away. Feeling really encouraged with the progress I am seeing and how not-too-hard it is feeling this go round.

3/30 166.4 Not sure what that increase is about, but whatever. I had a lovely morning playing pickleball and spent the afternoon chaperoning my son's field day, so tons of calories burned and hours spend outside in beautiful weather.

3/31 166.6 Today is not the best. I got only 4.5 hours of sleep. Spent the morning at book club, where I did a good job not completely diving into the snacks, but did have more than my usual. Then I tried to fo to the gym in the afternoon, but when I got there it was closed for plumbing repairs. I did a mile walk around the neighborhood lake but it was not nearly as much as I was planning. So now my calories left for dinner are not so great. But I am proud of myself for 1. Being intentional and controlled with the book club treats while still allowing myself to enjoy it, and 2. Going for that walk instead of giving up and going home. I want this to be a steady, easy to handle process so I am choosing to be happy with today.
4/1

3/23: 234.4 (-0.2), BF%=32.2 (0.0). Last night I got to snacking with some Trader Joe's frosted shredded wheat nonsense. I ate (relatively) slowly and mindfully, but I probably still overdid it. I'm almost going to stop being lazy with my posting. I'm a bit behind at work, but I'm trying to make being a part of this group a priority, at least as much as I can.

3/24: 233.6 (-0.8), BF%=32.0 (-0.2). Snacking was fine yesterday. I'm having a physical today for the first time in more than 3 years. I'm not going to freak out until I have a reason to.

3/25: 235.0 (+1.4), BF%=32.3 (+0.3).

3/26: 234.6 (-0.4), BF%=32.2 (-0.1).

3/27: 234.0 (-0.6), BF%=32.1 (-0.1). I had a bad reaction to the shingles vaccine on Friday. I'm feeling better, but it was REALLY bad. I'm actually pretty happy to stay pretty close to the weight I was at the beginning of the weekend. Today I'm clearing out my garage in preparation for a contractor coming out to repair my roof. Should be some decent exercise (need to bring everything to my back patio, which is up a flight of stairs).

3/28: 232.4 (-1.6), BF%=31.8 (-0.3). Lots of exercise yesterday (moving everything from my garage up a set of stairs), and something weird happened that I forgot about. I'm not that hungry when I'm active. The joy of exercise. It's a good reminder to keep my @$$ moving...

3/29: 232.4 (0.0), BF%=31.7 (-0.1). I'm not sure if anyone else has talked about this, but part of be thinks that tracking another behavior would be interesting regarding weight loss trends: 💩. I THINK my better days get better if it's happened since my last weigh-in, and I think it's a reason why I won't see a change on the scale sometimes, even when I'm eating and exercising in healthy ways. Today I have 💩 on the brain.

3/30: 232.0 (-0.4), BF%=31.7 (0.0).

3/31: 233.4 (+1.4), BF%=32.0 (+0.3). I was out last night at an impromptu meal at an AMAZING restaurant. I had 2 drinks or so at home, 2 drinks at the restaurant, and a bunch of fantastic food. There's a decent chance that the weight I gained last night will not be the last of it. The good news is that I'm going to walk with my sister-in-law in a few minutes; exercise has not been a part of my current MFP journey for the most part. At least not yet.

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
3/31 185.6
4/1 184.4

Loss this round: 3.1

Thanks everyone and see you tomorrow!

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 -141.6 lbs – Well, there is that bump up I was expecting. Hopefully I don’t get too crazy about it. I ate 2002 cals yesterday, which is more than I had wanted to, but at least I tracked everything, which is an improvement over the last few days! I had been “okay” after dinner (around 1600 cals, having walked 18.5k steps) so I was quite pleased with myself. However, just before bed I got hungry and ate some peanut butter toast and a yogurt. Oopsie. So that bumped me up to 2000 again. ☹ That being said, overall, my trending weight is down. My weight on the last day of the last challenge was 143.2, so I am currently down by 1.6 lbs from that time, which is nothing to sneeze at! I figure I should focus on the positive and keep moving forward. Luckily, on Sunday we get a whole new 10-day-challenge which provides the opportunity to start fresh all over again! 😊 Btw, I have reached out to a running coach, to see if she can help me learn to run safely and in such a way as to help protect my already compromised knees/hips etc. I’ll keep you posted on any tips and tricks! Have an awesome day, folks! (Oh, and sorry I was so grumpy yesterday!!)
4/1 – 142.0 lbs – So, the scale is up a bit from a few days ago, but I’m down 2.2 lbs since day one of this round. It’s funny, 2.2 lbs in 10 days is a significant drop, but somehow my mind is focusing on the fact that a few days ago I was 140.8 lbs. I just spent a few minutes trying to take a more positive train of thought about that, but I am struggling. (Disordered thinking, for sure.) I guess all I can do right now is congratulate myself for “trying” to be more positive (even though I was not successful), recognize that I am having some distorted thoughts which may be associated to a low mood, try to figure out what is bothering me, and make an action plan for what I can do today to make myself feel better. The truth is, I don’t have to think too hard to figure out what is bothering me – it is the fact that I ended up calling in sick to work yesterday. ☹ I was feeling so exhausted, I was overwhelmed with all the work I am behind on, I had zero concentration, no motivation, I was having body aches and I was filled with a murderous rage. I logged in at 9:00 and tried to work until 10:45, but I just couldn’t do it. I felt what I have heard termed as “low executive function”. So, I sent my boss an email that I was logging off and although I was very disappointed in myself I honestly felt like I had no other option. I was pretty annoyed because had I been able to successfully complete the day, that would have been 3 weeks in a row with no unplanned absences. It caused me to get an “unhappy face” here in my 10-day goals, and also to fail at one of the 3 weekly goals I had set with my counsellor that I talk to every Monday morning. So, since I am so pissed off at myself, I am having a low mood. I can identify that right now I am having black and white thinking, IE, “I called in sick yesterday, therefore I am a failure at my job and everyone there hates me.” What I need to do is to use my DBT skills. So, more like, “I am a hard worker AND sometimes I need to take a sick day”, “I am a good employee AND I can keep working to improve my attendance”, “I am a very organized and productive person AND sometimes I need a day of rest”. If you haven’t heard of DBT (Dialectical Behavioural Therapy) and you struggle with emotional dysregulation, (or have been given the label of “Borderline Personality Disorder” at some point, which is apparently a diagnosis that is going out of style), I highly recommend DBT! The skills are really hard to grasp and enormously challenging to integrate into day-to-day life. I have probably gone through about 4 DBT courses over the last 5 years, mostly not successfully completing them, and it has taken me a LONG time to get to the point where I can use some of the skills on a day-to-day basis. Maybe it is because I am old, so possibly a younger person may have more success at integrating the learning. Anyway, when I am able to remember to use the skills, they really help me to quiet feelings of self-hatred. For today, I think I can also do a bit of reframing around today’s scale reading: “The scale is up today AND I am successful at working towards my weight loss goals”. To try to feel better, there are a few things I can do today: (1) Go for a super long dog walk and try bursts of running if it is not icy out. (2) Set aside some time today to try get a few things done for work, so that I don’t start Monday morning feeling super overwhelmed. I typically do not condone working on evenings or weekends (boundaries!) but in this case I will make an exception as it will help protect my mental health for the coming week. (Thinking about Future Christine.) (3) Do 5 mins of self-affirmations. (4) Do a 10-min Calm guided meditation. (5) DRINK A LOT OF FLUIDS. (6) Do something nice for myself today. Maybe try to find a massage opening, or buy one of those sexy bathing suits I’ve been eyeing on Zaful, etc. Okay, I feel like I am going to feel better once I do all of those things. Wish me luck. WE GOT THIS!!! See ya tomorrow in the new round. 😊

got care free in maintenance and the scale went up one lb at a time. Now I’m turning it around one lb at a time.

2016- 245lbs
2019- 142lbs
9/12/22- 185lbs
R217 EW 189.2

3/23- 187
3/24- 186.8
3/25- 188.6
3/26- 186.6
3/27- 188.8
3/28- 188.2
3/29- 188.0
3/30- 188.0
3/31- 188.4
4/1- 188.0 It looks like I’m down but I know I’m up a bit in general. No worries. I’m feeling good. On to the next round.

Good morning!

I have set a weight loss goal of .35 per day. My niece is getting married on September 16 & I would like to be happy to look at pictures of myself in her wedding pictures. I know that life happens & 52 year old, heading to menopausal bodies, do not always cooperate. If I have not reached my daily goal 2 days in a row, I will fast until I reach the goal to keep me on track.

This is the first time that I have set daily goals but I hope that by breaking them down into tiny increments I will feel more motivated & remember to keep at it. I have tried everything to lose weight, played all the games, and joined all the challenges. I am not affected by the scale. I have weighed myself & logged it on a spreadsheet since 2017. The scale is just a tool for me & does not affect my mood. I know that my weight does not change who I am, it is just a number. I want to lose weight so that I can move easier & continue to do the things that I enjoy.

💕💕168 days until the wedding. 💕💕

3/23. 232.4
3/24. 232
3/25 232.2
3/26 goal 231.85/actual 231.8 ✅
3/27 goal 231.5/actual 231.8 ❌
3/28 goal 231.15/actual 232 ❌
3/29 goal 230.8/actual 230 ✅
3/30 goal 230.45/actual 230.6 ❌
3/31 goal 230.2/actual 230.2 ✅
4/1 Goal 229.8/actual 131 ❌ well, today I am remembering that the scale is a tool. It will go up & down & I cannot control what it says. I can, for the most part, control how I fuel my body. Yesterday was a long day. I woke up very early & I didn’t feel good. I had to work my first full day in a long time, got home at 7:30. My meal planning didn’t work because I wasn’t feeling well & I didn’t drink water. I was on my feet most of the day. Fortunately I feel a bit better today & while I still won’t have time to fix my bad planning & I have to work another full day, I know that I do have a plan in place to get myself back on track. It won’t happened until Monday. I am happy to be involved in this group & will continue to hold myself accountable.

GIVE ME 10 DAYS – ROUND 218

Round 218
March 23 – April 1, 2023

61 year old female, 5’5”. I am married, semi-nomadic (we live in three states, Mass, Maine, Florida).

Goal for round 218. So round 217, I reached an intermediate goal of getting down to below 135, which is back to where I was at last April (almost exactly a year) when my daughter, SIL, DGS came to visit us in the keys. Wearing a swimsuit in the pool with grandson is going to be more comfortable for me than it was going to be, and for that I am grateful. 218 is going to include a few challenges starting with traveling up to my MIL’s for two days to pick up DD and family, then we drive back down to our place and they stay with up til the end of round 218, April 1st. My goal is going to be to try and enjoy balance for the round. Maybe no loss, and hopefully no gain. I will exercise when and how I can, and I will track, and at a minimum be thoughtful, what I eat during the round. Fingers crossed!!

History:
Exercise & Supplements
SW: 134.0

Day/Weight/Comment
3/23 – 134.6 Not surprised in the least AND not concerned. Yesterday, I started with a faster pace solo walk that turned into a group walk around mile 4. Then, when I got home, hubby wanted to clean our screened balcony. I crawled all 500 sq ft of it, using a whisk broom to remove the dried dirt so his following with a mop was more effective. Not sure how the dirt develops, but it forms on the screens and when it rains it washed the dirt onto the tile floor. My knees were black and I wore the skin off my left knee. THEN, hubby wanted us to go do some landscaping on the condo property grounds, that we had talked about. Goal was to remove leaves, trash and debris behind a hedge, along a wall. Guess who got to be BEHIND the hedge. That somehow gave quite a workout to my right butt check and thigh. To finish the day off, we tried a local Japanese/Thai restaurant for dinner. Yum! Between likely fluid retention in my muscles, and likely from sodium in the dinner, I fully expected a gain. Calories were not over, so not concerned. Oh, yes, I did not neglect the cats, they got their evening walk once we got home from the restaurant.

3/24 – Starting my comment Thursday night, before weighing Friday morning and seeing the result I got into the chocolate chips……. :’( But I did count them, then I scanned the bag and entered them into my diary. Calories higher than most days, but actually reasonable while I am still walking so much each day.

134.8 Yup, an up. Annoying but not concerned. The beauty of tracking!!!

3/25 – 134.0 arrive @MIL/afternoon, w/ kids Last weighing until Tuesday, and that needs to be ok. We’ll see what exercise I manage to do, and will do my best to track the meals my MIL makes. She does know that I have packed my own breakfasts and possibly lunch, so it is down to controlling quantities of her cooking at dinner, and limiting snacks, as I have been doing at home. Fortunately, I can use Invisalign as an excuse during the “between meal” times. Skipping walking this morning, I need to make sure everything is in order.

3/26 – no scale, @MIL, w/ kids (no laptop, so no attempt to report in)

3/27 – no scale, @MIL w/ kids (no laptop, so no attempt to report in)

3/28 – DD, GS, SIL visiting 132.6 Shocked. I did make a best effort while at MIL’s home and on the road, and then even once getting everyone back to our place. I only walked once, and it was for 3.5 miles. But I did do my best to accurately track and/or evaluate what I was eating. Tracking says I exceeded my calories some, but I was crazy hungry most of the time. I had NO expectation of a loss. My ONLY theory is that with the lessened walking, I flushed fluid out of my muscles and that created my loss. I don’t really know.

This round is going to be super hard for me to catch up and read everyone’s posts. Will do my best!

3/29 – DD, GS, SIL visiting 134.0 Was fun while it lasted! :P Yesterday’s low seemed abnormal. The, to boot, last night I did go off the rails. Was alone and dealing with the disarray around the condo, and got into ice cream and cookies and chips that would normally not be around me, and I had managed to ignore for 2 days. If the upward motion does not continue, I will still be thrilled with getting through this round unscathed.

3/30 – DD, GS, SIL visiting 133.8 Managing to hold, which is great. Yesterday, by bedtime, I was exhausted. Lots to juggle when you have guests. Sometimes, I think it tops formal exercise. :P I did go over a bit more than my normal “losing weight” calories, but everything was tracked, and I made an active decision to “go over”. Did not seem to hurt.

3/31 – DD, GS, SIL visiting 134.8 Yup, makes total sense. Onion rings as my lunch, then smoked salmon BLT with fries for dinner, and evening Salted Caramel ice cream with the DGS. Today is more quiet but we are going out to dinner….. again (tomorrow too).

4/1 – DD, GS, SIL visiting 133.8 Yay! No April Fools. Or at least, not on my scale! I survived the round and even am ending with a -.2. Today is roaming Key West with the kids, but we have to get then to the KW airport by 3 pm. So I am not worried too much about any damage I might do today. On to round 219. Thanks all. Checking in here daily kept me in a good place!!

You don't have to be perfect, you just have to be better than you were before

31, 5'5"
OSW: 164.2 164.5 164.9 Dec 31, 2022 165.5 Jan 5, 2023
GW: 130-135

Previous Rounds:
Last weight
03/22 - 159.6

Round Goal: 158.x
Workout: 3x/week - M-W-F bodyweight and C25K training, regular walks with pups (weather permitting)
Nutrition: Log daily

Day, Weight, Comment
3/23 - 158.6
3/24 - 158.4
3/25 - 158.1
3/26 - DNW
3/27 - 159.9
3/28 - 159.1
3/29 - 158.7
3/30 - 158.3
3/31 - 159.4
4/01 - 159.0 - Still a loss from last round's end weight. Still bloated, but less so than yesterday, due to eating out. We ended up trying to free up a tiny bit of time from today's hectic schedule by running one of the errands today into town. Long story short, we hadn't pulled anything out to thaw for dinner and was on the road away from home from 12 noon until about 5pm. So we ended up taking the trailer and the motorcycle into town last night (he's hosting the kid's 4th bday, crawfish boil, and easter egg hunt so it helps him to get that stuff yesterday and out of the way instead of getting it in the middle of the party and no place to put it. Plus it's one less thing to do today for us). We stopped and got Chinese food for dinner so, despite my water intake being good, I'm still holding on to the sodium water weight. I'm not worried at all, though, because I only had eaten breakfast. I get motion sick so I was able to work while in the car and moving, I just had to take more breaks and it made me nauseous. Which, in turn, made me not hungry for lunch (in the end, it was "good", as we were pinched for time and couldn't stop for lunch AND I got all my crazy work tasks done by end of day, as promised! Again, today is super hectic and hopefully through it all, I can keep my head on straight and stay mindful of both movement and eating. I'm super sore today so I'm hoping fire department training after class isn't super leg-intensive. I'll be stretching whenever and however I can today haha See y'all next round!

Previous Day's Comments

74 years-old great-grandmother (5'2")
ON 8/29/2022: I was 134 LBS and had a 33” natural waist

MAINTENANCE 114-118
Lessons for maintenance: 1) exercise at least 30 minutes five {5} days a week 2) try to walk no less than 10,000 steps a day 3) If/when my weight creeps up (118.1-119 LBS) increase the incline on the treadmill and add a burst of running to routine 4) eat a low-calorie salad before eating dinner 5) limit fried & breaded foods 6) continue to add ice cubes to my 5 oz glass of wine 7) eat fish for dinner at least 2 times a week 8) eight to nine hours of sleep a day 9) Of the 60oz of water daily-drink 8oz of water a half hour before each meal 10) three (3) meals a day and 1-2 small snacks, nothing after dinner.

Round 217-ended 03/22-118.00
Round 218 RSW 117.7 waist: 27 ½”

03/23-117.7
03/24-118.4-WHOOPS
03/25-OUT OF TOWN
03/26-117.7
03/27-117.7
03/28-117.7
03/29-117.4
03/30-116.8
03/31-116.8
04/01-116.4

SW: 146.4

Day/Weight/Comment
Thu 3/23: 145.8
Fri 3/24: 145.8
Sat 3/25: 146
Sun 3/26: 146.8
Mon 3/27: 147.4
Tue 3/28: DNW
Wed 3/29: 149.2
Thu 3/30: 148
Fri 3/31: 146.4
Sat 4/1: 147.2 - Went on a walk-run on the boardwalk yesterday, then at a hamburger at a restaurant there.

0.8 lb. gain this round