@morenin - I'm coming at this from the prospective of a maintainer. I used to fret about trying to determine my exact calorie requirement. There are just too many variables and you can't control them all. What I did when I was trying to lose weight was decide how much I would consume. I ate that amount for a month, and checked my progress daily on the scale. If the scale was trending down (aiming for a 5 pound loss per month), then I would stick with that calorie range. If I wasn't seeing progress, I would first add more exercise. If that didn't work, then I would tick it down 100 calories. I get on the scale daily. Although my weight can fluctuate dramatically from day to day, it's all about spotting trends.
As far as having a kitchen scale, it's a useful item especially if you BAKE. Weighing flour is so much more accurate than measuring with a cup. Baking is chemistry, and having exact quantities will definitely make your baking better. But for the body, you don't have to be that exact. When I was losing weight, I was logging my food in a notebook and ball parking the calories. Not tracking macros on anything else. And it worked. The main thing for me was to make peace with fruits and vegetables. When I weighed 220, I think the only veggies that I ate were potatoes, or random veggies on pizza, and the only fruit I ate was baked into a pie or muffin. When I started on my weight loss journey, I made a point of eating 2 fruits and 3 veggies a day, and "unlimited" raw veggies in salad, and if I was hungry, and extra serving of cooked veggies.
Move forward with confidence, because you can definitely do it.
-Mica

@morenin - remember, you don't have to add 5 servings of produce all at once. One of the things that I noticed was that adding veggies makes me feel better - not eventually, but right away. Feeling better the very next day. And if I have a day when I don't eat as much produce, I also definitely FEEL that on the following day. It's like the produce helps my charge my body battery.

@19shmoo69 Good, thanks for letting me know. LOL there you go with your coffee! I love your "pets" lol.

@morenin I have heard it suggested not to eat back the calories that you earn as they can be greatly inflated. To find out how many calories you need to eat, I would suggest going to this site and figuring out your base and then look at the calculation for "cutting" macros under "Macronutrients" about halfway down the page. https://tdeecalculator.net/ Then, adjust your MFP to match those numbers. You may not be eating enough, 1,000 is definitely not enough and even 1,400 is probably not enough depending on your weight and how much you are exercising. You could check with your doctor to see what they suggest as far as a daily goal as well. Hang in there, you'll get there!

@txcritter69 DIESEL!!! I love that dog, he's so handsome. That's cool that you still have vinyl! My officemate gave me a bracelet made out of a vinyl record, a Pat Benatar record. It was purchased many years ago at the Hard Rock Cafe. It's pretty cool. I am also doing a no-spend month. Can you snack on fruit and veggies when the night munchies strike?

@vegan4lyfe2012 I usually air fry my baked potatoes but maybe I'll try steaming them next time. Yum! "I eat as nature intended me to!" How's that for a little catchphrase? Something along those lines. I totally forgot I DO get MLK Jr day off, yay!!!

@micaroo4 Earl is so handsome and regal-looking! Thanks for sharing.

@TeresaW2024 LOL you know what I mean then. I'm glad you were able to bite your tongue! How's your legs today? Great job! I like that name, what a great name.

@865jessica Dinner sounds yummy! Great job with the treadmill.

@sleepygirl79 Who's this handsome fella or lady? So pretty and happy!

@Katmary71 That sounds like a great addition. I'll let you know about the strawberry mint. I hope to plant it soon! I actually realized thanks to Jennifer that I do have MLK Jr day off on Jan 15th, so yay!!! Happy 5 year anniversary! Have a great day!

@JadeGypsyxo Girl, you are speaking my language...I always write my post in Notepad because of the deletion thing. It's so frustrating, I'm sorry that happened!

@19shmoo69 Is that your shyness talking or do you really think you don't want to do it? It's okay either way. We still love ya!

Hi all. I am at what I call a "crisis weight" as of yesterday's doctor's visit: the funky stuff stops now and I get on the ball. I am pre-tracked for the day thanks to the new MFP Premium program that is about small steps. I will also work on water today. My husband has a cold and it's only a matter of days before I get it, too. Have a great day!

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My phrase for the year: "New year, new me!"

19shmoo69 wrote: »

I don't know about this motivator thing. It seems everything I write to help is really blunt and I'm not wanting to offend anyone. Smh.

You are good love your posts.

Trying to decide which Wednesday it is…which one is yours? Lol 😂



OR

Jactop wrote: »

Weigh in day: Monday
CW: 203.2
Highest ever☹️:225

Hi Slims. It’s been a crazy year but I’m back. And pretty much where I left off

I’m Jackie, turned 60 in Oct and live in Ontario with my husband of 34 years and a Shepard named Jolene. Our daughter got married last year and my son and his fiancé are expecting their first baby next month. Can’t wait to be a gramma!

Looking forward to catching up on all the posts and hearing what everyone has been up to

Welcome back 💗

@19shmoo69 You're doing great don't let anxiety get to you. If you aren't sure if being blunt with someone could be hurtful either soften it up or don't say it. One of your gifts is your sense of humor and I'm sure the friendly banter makes people more likely to speak up.

@morenin Having calories off for exercise is smart. Interesting I can understand that about the scale, it helps as far as knowing if you're logging things but it can lead to disordered eating too. I was seeing a therapist for awhile and she said her clients with eating disorders were all on here so I've kept that in mind. I think as long as you're losing well with your exercise calories off see how that goes. It is pretty eye-opening and I've found it very useful for things like baking and making recipes too however after 5 years I only do it for some things and not others. I did have to do it pretty religiously when I was close to goal though since there's less wiggle room. Yay for feeling less trapped and irritable!

@JadeGypsyxo Yes glad you were able to post! Haha you're definitely with a group who gets the frustration of losing posts! It's funny there's a whole new realm of things only MFPers know that gets pretty large over time. I actually haven't seen House of 1000 Corpses I'll keep an eye out. Grr I hate when I go somewhere and forget to get my main item.

@micaroo4 The month trials to see what happens is a great idea. I think one of my biggest losing then maintenance things was realizing there's not 1 way to eat and exercise even just for myself since so much can change activity and health-wise. It's interesting you feel better right away from produce, I tend to feel better right away from cutting the carbs and sugar when I'm not doing as well. I came across cookies in my car today after I'd done a treatment at the holistic center and while they looked great I didn't want to have that but a healthy meal to help the treatment settle in.

@trooworld Oh thank goodness you have a day off, I hope you do something special that day (or stay in bed in your pjs all day reading). Thank you! OK we need to get you out of the crisis category pronto! Great job pre-tracking! Oh shoot up that Vitamin C and Immunity tea! I've been getting Trader Joe's Echinacea tea for when I'm exposed to colds and it seems to help some. I hope your hubby is feeling better soon! I'm never had so many people around me sick at once.

@morenin What a gorgeous kitty! How sweet of her to help you type!

@Veta2018 I love your goals! Elephants are beautiful, I'm curious to see the one on the wall.

@vegan4lyfe2012 Haha that interpretation is actually close to a popular meme going around when I joined here, it was along the lines of the time is going to pass no matter what so you may as well do something toward a goal. You can swap around how you think by coming up with positive versions too even if your first instinct is negative. Both Hunter and Kismet are beautiful, they're giving off such peaceful vibes together.

@gemwolf110 I think I'm the first Wednesday until right after my workout when I was the second one for a bit, I'm back to the first! One of my friends on MFP does “Crazy Sock Wednesday” where we wear crazy socks and she posts a collage of them on her feed at the end of the day. It cheers me up more than I would've thought plus the fun socks make me smile.

@sleepygirl79 Hm what is your good food diet? Are you low on protein when you do this? If I eat just fruit and veggies especially when I'm lifting weights I have to up protein or I'm extremely exhausted. I've had issues cutting fat too far back too. Could be tweaking the macro balance would help. I have had that with the scale, if I get on and off I tend to lose weight so I'd weigh then let it turn off and weigh again. Is there anywhere else you can put it or put a piece of wood under it? I wouldn't worry about a pound but a couple or five difference would bug me too.

@Jactop Welcome back Jactop, so happy to see you! You AND Teresa in the same month, yay! I need to go post on @AustinRuadhain 's wall that she's missing out! Congratulations on the grandchild around the corner!

@TeresaW2024 I use my air fryer a lot though the Instant Pot gets the most action in winter. Did you post the chicken chili recipe? I usually make skinnytaste's chicken taco chili but would be game to try a new one. My neighbor just came home from the hospital and I'd like to take her some food and had been thinking of the chicken taco chili. Great job on the full-body workout, woot woot! Great news on Joe not needing a shot!

@FushiaKat I'm curious what has you thinking going lower would be worthwhile? It might be worth going down a pound at a time and seeing what you think plus if you change your mind having it open to stay or go more may take the stress of being 5 pounds down off you if that makes sense. Glad you're happy with your monitor, it sounds awesome! Wow your Christmas room is awesome, I bet you place high!

Hi everyone! Love seeing all the great conversation and having old friends back and making new ones, good stuff! I got my workout in then went to the holistic clinic and used a machine on my legs and feet, I don't currently have much feeling to the touch and didn't feel a lot from the Terahertz machine at least in the legs and feet but the last couple times I used it, it helped the freezing nerve pain for a couple weeks. I tried another machine to calm me down afterward so I'll see how it goes. Did Walmart pickup for all my bath stuff and cat food then went to the library to talk about classes I'm going to take for the charity on grant writing. I came across cookies in my car when I was real hungry and didn't eat them, yay!

No Zero Days- cleaning, workout, and eating healthy plus hopefully things that will help pain in the long run. I still need to toss 10 things.

Okay this is stupid but can someone explain to me what PW and SW is. I know CW is current weight right?

Last time I weight myself I was 159 (last weigh in, last week)

Now I'm 155.8

@morenin OH what a pretty kitty! Those eyes are incredible! What's their name? Oh sodium...I use way too much. I feel your struggle! Congrats on the drop!

@Veta2018 Oh good! And you are welcome! Oh Benny, what a sweet face and what a great pic! Valeta is a beautiful name. Great goals.

@vegan4lyfe2012 Yay! 9 days is a great streak. That's good you ordered healthy groceries. Oh what a great pic of Hunter and Kismet. Kismet is beautiful and looks so soft.

@gemwolf110 Thankfully, it's Thursday now but I think my Weds was like the first one lol.

@sleepygirl79 Great job tracking! What about if you pretrack your meals and pretrack those snacks that you enjoy? Oh gosh, I wonder if getting a different scale would help? That must be frustrating. Cute names for Scout!

@Jactop Welcome back! I'm glad you are here. Congrats on the upcoming grandbaby!

@TeresaW2024 Oh man, you really are in for it with total body cardio lol...great job with your workouts! I hope you aren't too sore after that. Yes, we will turn it around, most of us know what to do we just need to do it! Myself included. So far, I am just experiencing normal allergies. Oh dear, I just read you are sore from the full-body workout. Do you take Epsom salt baths? They seem to help me. I'm glad Joe is doing okay. Yay for a good month for him!

@FushiaKat I'm glad you got your new monitor and you like it. Cool Christmas room, good luck in the contest!

@19shmoo69 YAY!!! I'm glad, Darren. I think once you get used to it, you'll be great. Really.

@Katmary71 Yeah I'm looking forward to it now that I know it's happening lol. I think I'm on my way with the pretracking and eating healthy snacks. My meals are always pretty good (for the most part). It's the snacks that get me. You remind me, I've got a bunch of Emergen-C I can take! He's feeling better, I think he'll go to work today. I hope the machine helps. Wow, great job not eating the cookies!

Hi all. I did much better yesterday: pretracked all but snacks (and snacks were healthy and intended), drank double the water that I did the day before. Today, I pretracked it all. We'll see how it goes.

No Zero Days: water was good, pretracked

Please fill out our survey by 1/7/2024: https://forms.gle/hrtVY35g64TVPEz39

Want to keep track of your steps with the team? Add a tab to the Google Sheet! https://tinyurl.com/Slimpossibles

Get the Kik app and chat with us in real-time! Just download the app, create a profile, and message me (username: trooworld) and I'll add you to the private group chat! https://kik.com/

My phrase for the year: "New year, new me!"

@FushiaKat Wow, what an inspiration you are in reaching your goal weight and going into maintenance! I can’t wait until I can get into a medium (or even a large! ) I have a curved monitor at work and like it. This makes me think that now that I do most of my work at home, maybe I should switch it out for my home monitor. Hmm? I’m going to think about that! Love your Christmas village. So cool! 🙂

@Katmary71 I used a recipe from Skinny Dish
https://theskinnyishdish.com/instant-pot-white-chicken-chili/#recipe I changed it up a little and used Bush’s white chicken chili Great Nothern beans that are already seasoned so I adjusted my seasoning to taste. I also used a can of Mexi corn just because that is what I had on hand. It was so good! I see you are still doing everything to take care of your body. I hope the machines help!

@trooworld, no I haven’t taken an Epsom salt bath but I do pop my sister’s muscle relaxers.
Good job pre-tracking. That is what I’m working on too. I have a spreadsheet and can adjust as needed but I’m really trying to stick to what I plan before I eat it.



Good morning! I had a good night's sleep and feel like I can tackle day four of Dig Deeper. Today is upper body which I like much better than leg days. I’m having a pain in my right ear that woke me up a couple of times. I better not be getting an ear infection!! I don’t plan to do much today other than some housework. I’m working on a 3000-piece puzzle and will probably work on it later while binging some Love is Blind. I think I love this show because hubby and I met online and then moved in together before ever meeting face to face. Fortunately, we had wayyy less drama than some of these people have on the show.
Word for 2024 - Strive