Just Give Me 10 Days - Round 218

SW RND 218 -

Diet goal: YES to: Whole foods and plant-based.............No to: Ultra-processed foods and added sugar, except for the really good desserts where it's worth it. Meat and animal products are out until the end of March to help me fast-track my progress on getting better at the whole foods, plant-based BASE that I want my diet to stay at long term.
Movement goal: Some gentle strength training and cardio every day. This round I'm counting house cleaning as cardio.
Weight goal: maintain between 120-125. I made it 123.4 lbs at the end of RND 217

3/23 DNW
3/24 DNW
3/25 DNW
3/26 DNW
3/27 DNW
3/28 DNW Road trip is finally over and I was able to stay whole foods plant-based. Victory! Having the pre set rule that all my food was packed in the cooler and eating mostly fruits the whole drive turned out to relieve the usual stress of temptation of fast food on road trips. I am glad I wasn't trying to log everything because I had as much as I wanted of berries, apples, bananas, clementines, and almonds and this morning I'm not bloated. Tomorrow I weigh in to see the result of not tracking plus vacation. I kept to one drink per day so hopefully there's not much gain. A friend recommended a diet book for me that gives tips and explanations about whole foods diets called, "How Not to Diet" by Michael Greger. I need the help since I'm still a newbie with whole foods cooking. I've changed so much from my early unhealthy approaches to weight loss and even though they worked it was unhealthy through and through and hard to maintain. This is the first time I truly feel good and satisfied and like I'm doing the right thing for my body. I'm excited about the book to come in. Edit, I split a piece of birthday cake that probably wasn't vegan but it was yummy but not the most delicious dessert I'd ever had. I rationalized that it fit into my diet because if I want this to be sustainable I can't make it too hard on myself and be too strict.
3/29 123.4 Yay! Yay! Yay! Whole foods plant-based road trips for the win!!! This is by far the most fun diet experiment I have ever done. My weight has stabilized here with my eating ad libitum and barely exercising?! I made sushi last night! It was easy and tasty (not fancy sushi restaurant quality but there's no place here in town anyway) and very filling with brown rice and avocado. A good simple first attempt. This is quite the adventure into cooking for me. I've extended my Daniel Fast to end at Easter so only 10 more days of strictly no animal products. I am starting to think about forming a game plan to help me not abandon all the good habits I've been working on. I do not want to go back to thinking that I must eat eggs and chicken for protein when I have learned that I can get all the protein I need from plants that automatically come with fiber. I want to view meat as more of a feast times delicacy that provides important micronutrients and not as my sole protein source, if that makes sense.
One idea I'm toying with is to be strictly whole foods plant-based Monday through Friday and then only consume high quality animal products like pasture raised eggs and meat from the farmer's market. We'll see.
3/30 Barely made my exercise goal yesterday and binge ticker is back to zero. It was potatoes and dried fruit and Lara Bars and this morning I'm feeling the fiber...ugh. But, I put the phone away when the sun went down and went to sleep at a reasonable time last night. So that's a success. Maybe not having my gadgets made my hands more wandering than usual. I'll try to remember to give them something to do while watching TV.

3/31 busy day yesterday on my feet all the day so no formal exercise but I'm confident I was within calories because I didn't have any sweets yesterday. Not even fruit. Maybe it's because I overdid it on fruit the day before. For dinner I was craving soup and poured two cans of sweet peas into the blender with tofu, vegetable broth, and some seasonings. Sauteed mushrooms went on top. Lazy dinner no doubt but it was absolutely delicious and far more filling than I anticipated when I filled my bowl. Edit, just logged the soup because I have leftovers for today and it's approximately 30 g protein, 50 g carbs, 17 g fiber, and 7 g fat. No wonder I struggled to finish the bowl.

4/1 126.8 lbs this morning. I'm back to serious strength training efforts. This 3 lbs of water weight gain sets me up for a great success in April since I'm starting high to end low I've noticed I've been calmer this round and feel safer with my diet and exercise, if that makes sense. I haven't been tracking every calorie or feeling guilty about my emotional eating. I don't feel comfortable calling them binges anymore because I no longer feel overcome or out of control or ashamed the next day. It feels like I was stressed or needed or wanted more food or both and that's okay. @clprieur , your posts are very helpful to me. I had a terrible day, two days in a row, but by looking at the grand scheme of things I can be proud of myself for what I've managed. Thanks.

Thank you @quiltingjaine for another round!

💪🏋️‍♀️🤸‍♀️🎵💃👗👨‍👩‍👧‍👦💗🌻🏖🙏

First G al: Hit the 160's (again)
179 / 178 / 177 / 176 / 175 / 174 / 173 / 172 / 171 / 170 👉 169

Stick to Plan:

• Calorie cycle for a weekly average of 1200 to 1500
• Exercise: Row, Walk, Bike, Weights, Pushups, Dance, Jazzercise
• Water: Shoot for 80oz per day
• Binge-Free & Sugar-Free for 100 days
• Lots of veggies and protein, some fruit (very little processed foods or simple carbs which I hardly have anyway)
• I need to figure out a way to get more fiber, especially from grains.

100-Day Weight Tracking
If I quit now, I will soon be back to where I started. And when I started I so desperately wanted to be where I am now.

Round 217 End Weight: 175.6
Round 218
3/23: 175.7 Row/Bike✔ Water✔ Calories Maintenance (1700). I just love the start of a new 10 days. I'm going to try my best to lose 2 pounds this round, but I will be happy with any loss. We shall see....
3/24: 174.9 Row/Bike✔ Water✔ Calories✔ I am happy to see a drop this morning. I optimistically crossed off the 175's from my first-goal tracking above. Right when things are starting to click is when I lose it many times. One thing that's helping, and hopefully will make this time different, is calorie cycling (average 1200 to 1500 calories) which I think fools my body from thinking I'm starving, but also allowing myself (AND tracking it) to eat at or a little below maintenance on those days where I feel a binge coming on. I'm slowly losing that all-or-nothing mentality of thinking every day has to be what I perceive as perfect or I failed. Patience, Patience, Patience - some of you who have made it to the promised land of your goal weight, and have maintained it, say this a lot. I appreciate you sharing your experiences so much. I think the more I stick to my plan and start seeing positive results more often, the more patience I will have. I just have to get to that point before giving up! I feel this is the time I will do it - now that I said that, I'm ready to prove it to myself!
3/25: DNW I wanted to enjoy the 174's and give it a day before I weighed again. Row/Bike✔ Water✔ Calories✔ NSV: I am seeing a noticeable change in my skin. I've had horrible eczema for 4 years, including on my face which is really hard to get rid of. My skin, everywhere, not just my face, is so much more clearer and softer. I've been drinking water religiously and have been off sugar and dairy for a while now. And I don't eat processed food. The main change of late is I've upped my exercise quite a bit, specifically rowing. I think it's all the above, but I guess my circulation/blood flow was pretty bad after not exercising for months after my surgery. The other NSV is I can't believe how much my stamina is increasing when it comes to my rowing. I'm just thrilled to see these results from replacing bad habits with good ones!
3/26: 174.7 Row/Bike✔ Water✔ Calories✔ Even thought I know it's normal to bounce around a little after a drop, I'm glad I chose not to see it yesterday. I think it kept me more motivated. Today, I not only didn't have to see the bump up, I'm now a little less than I was 2 days ago. Yay!
3/27: 174.3 Row/Bike✔ Water✔ Calories✔ I've been trying to build my stamina back up and I had the best day yet yesterday - 30 mins rowing and 30 mins bike. I'm 3 weeks binge-free and sugar-free - who is this person?!!!!
3/28: 173.8 Row✔ Water✔ Calories✔ I optimistically crossed off the 174's on my first-goal tracking above. We shall see if it holds tomorrow or I may decide to skip a day weighing and hopefully it will stick around for good. I'm starting a new challenge today. Pushups! My upper body is so weak. I've been rowing but I'm going to start back free weights and add pushups every morning to see how I progress. This morning I literally could not do one complete pushup and this was modified on my knees. My husband suggested that I start doing them on the wall first then once stronger go to the floor. Good idea! It worked. I did 10!
3/29: DNW Day off from exercise. Water✔ Calories✔ I chose not to weigh today because I want to stay motivated from my dropping to 173.x yesterday and did not want to see the inevitable (and normal) back and forth, and I had way too much salt on my air popped popcorn. I really need to learn to use herbs and spices more to replace the salt!
3/30: DNW
3/31: DNW

4/01: DNW Nothing counts since Wednesday, including my weight (I hardly ate anything the past 2 days). My husband (who is fine now!!), had to be transported by ambulance to the ER, he was eventually admitted while they ran every test imaginable. He was released yesteday afternoon. It was the scariest moment of my life. My husband doesn't remember anything. Again, he's good now!! Thank God!!🙏 I'll start the new round off with the last time I weighed.

Bingeing is why I'm where I am now. I want to see the results with 100 days of no bingeing. I'm not talking about going over calories from overeating a little, I'm talking full-out bingeing. And that's not just on bad foods, even when I'm eating well, I'll binge. This will be extremely challenging but if I stick to it (and stay off sugar and simple carbs to stop cravings), there is no way I'm not going to see consistent weight loss during these 100 days (not to mention the health benefits)! Part of this challenge, too, is if I do have a slip, that I don't revert back to old habits of bingeing for days/weeks/months. I will acknowledge the slip, celebrate that it didn't derail me, and just keep on keeping on.
I want to see what happens when I don't give up!

100-day Binge-free Challenge starting March 6…
*=1 successful day / ⭐=10 successful days / ^=1 oops Day
⭐⭐******

100-day Sugar-free Challenge starting March 6…
*=1 successful day / 💚=10 successful days / ^=1 oops Day
💚💚******

Pushups starting March 28…
*=1 wall pushup / 🔰=10 wall pushups / ✨=1 knee pushup / 💙=1 standard pushup
🔰******

Every healthy habit brings me closer to scratching each of these off to NEVER see them again!
180s / 170s / 160s / 150s / 140s / 130s

SW RND 218

3/23 169.6
3/24 168.2
3/25 DNW
3/26 166.6
3/27 167.2
3/28 166.8
3/29 165.8
3/30 166.4
3/31 166.6
4/1. 166.0

Loss this round: 3.6 I'll take it!

69 yo female; 5’5”
Thank you @quiltingjaine
SW 140.0#
GW 139.0#
Consistent strength training, plant based unprocessed food, increase hydration

3/23 140.2#
3/24 139.6#
3/25 138.6#
3/26 139.4#
3/27 139.2#
3/28 138.6#
3/29 138.4#
3/30 139.2#
3/31 138.8#
4/1 139.2# I’ll take it, a pound from 10 days ago. Onto the next round!

3/23 - 176.2
3/24 - 175.4 - YAY!! The scale is finally moving again! Also, jogged for 20 minutes straight tonight for the first time in probably 35 years! 1.58 miles! I’m stoked!
3/25 - 174.8 - didn’t sleep much at all bc I was stressed and guilting myself over eating some pizza for dinner. Need to remind myself to get all of my water in!
3/26 - 175.2 - thin mint blizzard for our anniversary. Doing well with water today. I forgot to take my meds for binge eating - feeling ok so far that I can control it, but we will see what this evening brings. That’s my hardest time.
3/27 - 175.8 - umm, my scale is going the wrong way. I didn’t get in enough water yesterday. I also skipped the gym and spent 3 hours giving the inside of my car a good clean. My gosh! All of the dog hair in the cracks and crevices. 🤣
3/28 - 174.6 - Got my h2o in yesterday and hit the gym after taking a few days off. Did my c25k app. I’m still in shock about being able to jog & run! It was a good productive day!
3/29 - 175.2 - Slacked on the water yesterday. Did the c25k app on the treadmill. Read somewhere to also do it outdoors bc there’s a difference. So I did the inside track at the gym and YES huge difference. The floor has no give like a treadmill and doesn’t make me keep my pace! LOL my knees weren’t liking it. It put me in my place and I’m not feeling as confident doing a 5k as I was before. But I will keep my goal of participating in one in June and keep training for it. Heading to the gym now.
3/30 - 175.2 - Good workout yesterday and did better with my water too. Picked up my grandson today to spend the night. No gym today, but may walk around the neighborhood.
3/31 - 175.0 - My grandson is here with me so I’ve been busy playing. Had lunch w a friend yesterday and stuck to veggie fajitas w no tortillas. It was delicious! Started my c25k app over from the beginning so I can do it outside vs on the treadmill. I made it! It was tougher, but I made the first round. That’s a win in my book!
4/1 - 173.5 - wow, big drop! I expect to see that go up a little tomorrow as I didn’t eat a lot yesterday. Plus, I ate on the run today and this evening was the birthday dinner for my husband.
Round 218
Sw: 176.2
Ew: 173.5
Total: -2.7
This was my first time in this challenge and I’m glad that I did it. It helps keep me accountable and the interaction with others is helpful as well.