kdbulger Member

Mental health is my first and foremost reason, but also staying strong/healthy, and accomplishing things that are new to me as someone who wasn't athletically inclined.

More and more, as time goes on, I find this is what I'm doing.

#1 for me is mental health. It keeps my anxiety levels down and when they flare up, a good workout can be a total reversal. Other favourite benefits include the general mood boost, the ability to do more things in my day to day life that require strength, agility, or endurance without worrying about it. I also really like…

Usually shopping (alone, not with the kids). I'll go buy a few new tops at a thrift store every 10-15lbs - this helps keep my wardrobe from getting overly baggy and I've gotten some excellent pieces recently.

I think everyone has times when they struggle to maintain their focus. Nobody's journey is linear. Some things that help me significantly when I struggle (which is most often with food more so than exercise), is to focus on the non-scale benefits of my new lifestyle, as well as the reasons why I started. Fact of the matter…

Getting under 200 feels so good! My CW is the same as yours :)

I wore a pair of running shoes strictly through athletic activity, with no casual wear. It took about 7 months, and it's a lifetime first for me!

We're in the same place! Today I did week 5 run 1. I'm in disbelief that next run will be 8 minute increment, and the one after TWENTY continuous minutes. But, I feel like it's going to happen!

In my Couch to 5K program, I have one run left before I'm supposed to run 20 straight minutes. I've never been able to run anything like that. I'm excited for the feeling of accomplishment.

I bought some tops in size medium and they fit! I genuinely thought I might never see the day since having children. I started in August as an XL (but let's be real, XXL).

It's math and patience. If you eat a calorie deficit consistently, you'll lose weight. It isn't linear, though. Patience and persistence will get you there.

It's so great when other people notice, genuinely and without knowing :) Congrats on your efforts and your NSV.

Honestly? When I couldn't see my groin to do my personal grooming anymore. I needed a mirror or to go in blind. Soon after I realized it was a struggle to pain my own toe nails. I'm down 30 lbs since then and all those issues due to my physical size are gone, but I'm not done improving.

My new mini-goal (since I met my last one today) is to reach 183lbs (6 lbs from today's weight) so that I can say it's the smallest I've been since I had kids.

I was able to put the level of the elliptical much higher than where I started, and not reach peak heart rate zone. I love when I can quantitatively prove I've gotten more fit.

My used hand towel didn't make it into the garbage bin, but I didn't pick it back up.

Put on an outfit that fit perfectly a few weeks ago. Is now noticeably too large.

Put on my pants this am - can pull them off my body 3 inches or more. They are suddenly too big.

That when I craved junk food it would be so unfulfilling - too sweet, too rich, not flavourful in the right ways. And then I would feel so crappy after because my body got used to *gasp* nutrition.

This is a tiny goal - but I want to lose the 0.8 lbs I gained over the past two weeks -by Saturday morning. It should be mostly water so with prudent nutrition and water, it should be long gone by then.

I love quinoa with yogurt and berries. Oatmeal + berries and turkey bacon on the side Protein shake/smoothie with toast and butter Bagel with cream cheese and fruit on the side Etc. I vary it and keep it fresh. Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day.

puffy/tired/sluggish

I follow a program that is basically clean eating + appropriate portions. A bunch of things recently have led me to not follow it as closely as I did in the fall and I'm struggling as a result. With the program, I felt energetic, not hungry at all, and was making fantastic fitness gains. Currently I'm still hitting my…

Very encouraging!! Thank you for sharing!

I'm all about the strength training! A huge part of my motivation is to create a healthy, sustainable future for myself. I can't imagine falling into frailty. Our modern-day lives (especially those of us with office/sedentary jobs) are not going to equip us for our futures in the same way as our grandparents and…

Me too!

Oh absolutely! But my post is really aimed at people who are content with/actually aiming for that slower loss, whatever that means for them and however it pans out. It's the mindset I'm interested in.

Yes! I think this is a fantastic and rational approach, though I may be biased since I share those goals. But I figured, why set myself up for failure as I have in the past? In this way, I can absolutely be consistent.

I'm sorry for your loss. Do you feel that depression might still be a factor? If so, a visit to your doctor might be a good place to start. Many people find it hard to get started when they have the weight of depression holding them down. What if you just started small? Like, super tiny steps? What I did was just commit to…

That's fantastic! Long term success is so inspiring to me. Did you have to make many tweaks to your overall approach along the way?