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Weekly weigh in: 235 lbs! Lost 3 lbs this last week. I need to do something a little more to eccelerate out of my plateaus or to help me not give in to the temptation of food. I'm thinking about shoving everything except $10 into my savings so I can't touch it and I have to be more cautious with my choices, because giving myself a 2 week allowance of $100(meaning, $100 between pay checks) is starting to seem excessive. What am I expecting myself to spend that money on? Chik-fil-A? Because that's what I spend it on. So, I'm going to try that to help myself stick to my prepared meal plan, rather than succumbing to the thought of "if I can walk there, I should reward myself with whatever I want from the menu...because walking." Besides that, I quit the Super 8 job, so now I'm not making as much and need to save even more.

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19 hours ago, a mustard seed said:

Weekly weigh in: 235 lbs! Lost 3 lbs this last week. I need to do something a little more to eccelerate out of my plateaus or to help me not give in to the temptation of food. I'm thinking about shoving everything except $10 into my savings so I can't touch it and I have to be more cautious with my choices, because giving myself a 2 week allowance of $100(meaning, $100 between pay checks) is starting to seem excessive. What am I expecting myself to spend that money on? Chik-fil-A? Because that's what I spend it on. So, I'm going to try that to help myself stick to my prepared meal plan, rather than succumbing to the thought of "if I can walk there, I should reward myself with whatever I want from the menu...because walking." Besides that, I quit the Super 8 job, so now I'm not making as much and need to save even more.

I wish there was a Wow reaction available!  You are doing absolutely fantastic!

I suggest building muscle to get out of plateaus.  Simple weight training with dumbbells following a youtube video like the one below would be a good start.  And, as you already probably know, not all Chik-Fil-A food are healthy options. 

In any case, I'm starting over in my tracking.  Today becomes the first day of getting back my healthy lifestyle.  I got 30 lbs to lose.  I got 6 months to get there.  Wish me luck!

 

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Well, I think, if I just stay away from the fast food and the chinese, I wouldn't get into these plateaus in the first place. Like this last week, I was able to lose some weight but the week before, when you didn't hear from me? I weighed myself last Sunday and hadn't lost a pound. I hadn't gained but I hadn't lost. Because for some reason, I think, "I fit into skinny jeans! I'm doing so good! That means I can eat 3 chicken sandwiches and a tub of lo mein, right?" The answer is "No." I can have one occasionally, meaning, once a week is alright. But the rest, I really need to be focused. I lost 8 lbs the entirety of last month when my average per month before that was 15. I'm just lazy and getting a little big for my britches(pun intended because seriously I will if I don't stick to the plan, lol).

I bought a cute little 6 week fit and health journal today because it was on clearance and I think it'll help me stay focused, in addition to only having $10 available each week.

I wish you luck in starting over! It's not easy when you've fallen off to get back on, but I'm rooting for you @anatess2! You can do this! 6 month? Piece of cake, girl! *thumbs up*

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For me, it's all about the planned cheat days.  I'm trying hard to internalize this philosophy: I don't cheat and then feel guilty, I earn a cheat and then relish the crap out of it.  I just came off a 3 jelly doughnut/McDonalds/cupcake/Taco Bell epic 5000+ calorie day of utter debauchery.   That was yesterday.  I get another one of those as soon as I'm one lb down to a new low.  Maybe in a week or so.

(This philosophy doesn't work with sin and virtue, but it seems to work with food and diet.)

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1 hour ago, NeuroTypical said:

For me, it's all about the planned cheat days.  I'm trying hard to internalize this philosophy: I don't cheat and then feel guilty, I earn a cheat and then relish the crap out of it.  I just came off a 3 jelly doughnut/McDonalds/cupcake/Taco Bell epic 5000+ calorie day of utter debauchery.   That was yesterday.  I get another one of those as soon as I'm one lb down to a new low.  Maybe in a week or so.

(This philosophy doesn't work with sin and virtue, but it seems to work with food and diet.)

My son is 16 years old.  Ever since he started jiujitsu 8 years ago he got it into his head that bad food doesn't taste good.  So, the only time he eats sweets is on his bday, and that's only because I bake a cake every bday and I would get upset if he doesn't at least eat a small slice just so he can say it tastes good.  So... candy - yuck!  Donuts - yuck!  Mcdonalds - yuck!  Etc. etc. etc.  I've been trying to live life like my 16 year old.  Except... my taste buds are not cooperating.  :)

 

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4 hours ago, a mustard seed said:

I lost 8 lbs the entirety of last month when my average per month before that was 15. I'm just lazy and getting a little big for my britches(pun intended because seriously I will if I don't stick to the plan, lol).

It sounds like you're doing things that are working for you and I commend your efforts. 

Before you write yourself off as lazy when your weight loss isn't what it was to start out, here are some things to keep in mind.

Weight loss is almost always easier in the beginning for a variety of reasons:

You have more weight to lose to begin with, so a greater amount can be lost as a percentage of the whole. Consider that when you started out around 275 pounds that a loss of 15 pounds represented around 5% of your total weight, but at 235 pounds the same 5% weight loss would be only shy of 12 pounds. Also assuming that you are losing more fat than muscle as you reduce your body composition will be changing leaving you with an even smaller pool of fat to work with than total weight. Consider the idea that you were 45% body fat at 275 pounds meaning that 123.75 pounds were body fat. In this case a 15 pound loss represents over 12% of your total body fat store - Fast forward to where you are now 235 pounds - let's assume that 75% of your weight loss has been fat mass, while the remaining 25% has been lean mass (just a rough estimate based on what you're doing) than of the forty pounds you've dropped, 30 of them would be fat leaving you with "only" 93.75 pounds of body fat left. So from your current situation another 15 pounds would represent over 15% of your body fat, more than 3% more than you started out averaging - it's just too much to expect that you can lose more weight now (as a percentage of your total body stores) than when you started. Based on this new estimate staying around 12% would be in line with a weight loss of 11 pounds, not 15.

You're more efficient - One wonderful thing that the body does in response to exercise is to become more efficient. This is great for performance and athletes depend on it, but it stinks for weight loss. What this means for weight loss is that your body actually requires less energy to do the same work you doing a couple months ago. So if walking a mile at 3 mph used to burn 200 calories, now it might only be burning 150 calories because of the combined effects of improved efficiency and weight loss which will also lower your workload and thereby you energy expenditure.

You have a better baseline - when you began your journey it is likely that almost any walking was an increase in activity that would result in changes, the same goes for what you were eating. Now you have plenty of improvement which has taken you to where you are, so to make further gains you need to invest more effort to overcome your new baseline. In other words if you are walking two hours a day and eating 500 calories less daily than you used to and this is what it takes to keep your body at 235 pounds than to drop more you need to either increase activity or eat less still. So although two hours of walking was great to get you to where are and should be great for helping you stay there, it will require more effort to continue to lose fat. Don't let this deter you, just keep in mind that the closer you get to your ideal weight (or the farther you get from your starting weight) the harder it is to make progress. The point is to not beat yourself up when the pounds don't come off the same as they used to, but to accept that if you're still moving the scale in the right direction each month, it really is a win.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, it was my cousin's wedding last weekend and my other aunt and grandma were here visiting from PA. We did not eat good at all, lol. I gained back the three lbs I lost last weekend, going back to 238. THIS weekend, my family having left on Tuesday, I weigh in at 234 lbs. I'm pleased but I realize the gaining and losing could be an issue I want to avoid. I've been trying to eat bigger, fuller breakfasts, medium lunches, and sparse evening meals, since I don't have access to kitchen nor shop from 2 until 8 or 8:30 at night and it's really not the time to be scarfing down a sandwich or a taco or whatever my aunt has cooked for dinner. So, I've been eating at the grocery store in the mornings, big platters of fruits and vegetables with either a bagel or some sort of protein. Then I usually eat a small lunch of vegetable platters and a grilled cheese sandwich from my favorite shop. And then in the evening as I walk home from work, I eat a protein bar or two. I've also been drinking a lot more water, trying to get the water into my system. It feels like some sort of torture where I'm trying to gulp down as much as I can when I remember it and running to the restroom about once every hour. :/ And yet still, I'm only able to finish about 2 one liter bottles each day.

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23 hours ago, a mustard seed said:

So, it was my cousin's wedding last weekend and my other aunt and grandma were here visiting from PA. We did not eat good at all, lol. I gained back the three lbs I lost last weekend, going back to 238. THIS weekend, my family having left on Tuesday, I weigh in at 234 lbs. I'm pleased but I realize the gaining and losing could be an issue I want to avoid. I've been trying to eat bigger, fuller breakfasts, medium lunches, and sparse evening meals, since I don't have access to kitchen nor shop from 2 until 8 or 8:30 at night and it's really not the time to be scarfing down a sandwich or a taco or whatever my aunt has cooked for dinner. So, I've been eating at the grocery store in the mornings, big platters of fruits and vegetables with either a bagel or some sort of protein. Then I usually eat a small lunch of vegetable platters and a grilled cheese sandwich from my favorite shop. And then in the evening as I walk home from work, I eat a protein bar or two. I've also been drinking a lot more water, trying to get the water into my system. It feels like some sort of torture where I'm trying to gulp down as much as I can when I remember it and running to the restroom about once every hour. :/ And yet still, I'm only able to finish about 2 one liter bottles each day.

2 liters is a great achievement!  That's 67.6 ounces!  I wish I could get that high.  I'm averaging 40 oz right now if I just do plain water which is terribly too low.  I can get to 67.6 ounces easy if I do half water, half fruit juice.  So, I'm trying to wean myself off of juice - right now I'm at half and half.  I'm going to work on slowly lowering the juice part.

I got good news though.  I'm down 10 lbs.  I'm purty pleased.

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3 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

2 liters is a great achievement!  That's 67.6 ounces!  I wish I could get that high.  I'm averaging 40 oz right now if I just do plain water which is terribly too low.  I can get to 67.6 ounces easy if I do half water, half fruit juice.  So, I'm trying to wean myself off of juice - right now I'm at half and half.  I'm going to work on slowly lowering the juice part.

I got good news though.  I'm down 10 lbs.  I'm purty pleased.

Congrats! That's exciting @anatess2! I know what its like to lose 10 lbs, so, it is great that you've done it! Keep it up, lady! You got this!

I've been drinking that sparkling water that you can get from Walmart for .50 for a liter bottle. I drink one of those and then fill it with water and those two things I drink every day. Trying, at least.

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I drink a lot of diet cola.  Probably 4-5 six packs a week.  That's ~50 oz a day.  I've done this for like a decade or more.

 My doc finally gave me the go-ahead to start doing my daily push-ups again, after 4 weeks of laying there like a slug, so I'm very glad to get back into that. I did well with my sluggyness and didn't eat out of boredom.  I hit a new low of 219, for the first time in 25 years, so I'm feeling pretty good about the whole thing.  Some of that had to be muscle loss from losing my exercise routine, but hey, it's the first time I've had a "1" as my weight middle digit in a quarter century, so it's a huge psychological boost.

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On 10/16/2017 at 11:15 AM, NeuroTypical said:

I drink a lot of diet cola.  Probably 4-5 six packs a week.  That's ~50 oz a day.  I've done this for like a decade or more.

 My doc finally gave me the go-ahead to start doing my daily push-ups again, after 4 weeks of laying there like a slug, so I'm very glad to get back into that. I did well with my sluggyness and didn't eat out of boredom.  I hit a new low of 219, for the first time in 25 years, so I'm feeling pretty good about the whole thing.  Some of that had to be muscle loss from losing my exercise routine, but hey, it's the first time I've had a "1" as my weight middle digit in a quarter century, so it's a huge psychological boost.

It must feel good to be allowed to do push-ups again. I imagine it's hard though to get going again when your numbers will no doubt have diminished. Are you thinking of starting another 30/30 challenge?  I've been trying to get up to 100 consecutive push-ups by the end of this year and it's been a process. So far my best this year has been in the mid-sixties... but that was a month ago and I've struggled to consistently break 50. I'll have new retest for my max in about a week and hope to see some improvement. I'm hoping my latest change in strategy works well, if it does I'll be happy to share it if any one's interested.

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On 10/1/2017 at 1:43 PM, a mustard seed said:

What am I expecting myself to spend that money on? Chik-fil-A? Because that's what I spend it on. So, I'm going to try that to help myself stick to my prepared meal plan, rather than succumbing to the thought of "if I can walk there, I should reward myself with whatever I want from the menu...because walking."

You're doing it wrong; run to the one in Ammon, then you can have whatever you want.

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6 hours ago, NightSG said:

You're doing it wrong; run to the one in Ammon, then you can have whatever you want.

So... I started this... and got injured.  Okay, I think I'll have to just sit myself down and accept the plain and undeniable fact that I am too old for this.

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9 hours ago, SpiritDragon said:

Are you thinking of starting another 30/30 challenge?  I've been trying to get up to 100 consecutive push-ups by the end of this year and it's been a process. So far my best this year has been in the mid-sixties... but that was a month ago and I've struggled to consistently break 50. 

Cool - another push-up enthusiast!  Yes, I'm trying to get back to 30 cheater pushups when I fall out of bed 5d, and 30 real pushups 2x/wk.  

Remember - do those push-ups until your hair falls out, then you'll be a superhero.

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22 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

Cool - another push-up enthusiast!  Yes, I'm trying to get back to 30 cheater pushups when I fall out of bed 5d, and 30 real pushups 2x/wk.  

Remember - do those push-ups until your hair falls out, then you'll be a superhero.

What is 5d? some sort of fifth dimensional pushup? I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the lingo.

 

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  • 3 months later...

I saw a friend of mine who lives on the other side of town (about 1.5 hours away).  While we have kept in touch over phone and internet, I haven't actually seen him in a couple years.  I almost didn't recognize him.  He had lost about 100 lbs.

Well, yesterday we met for business purposes and I thought I'd take that time to ask him how he did it.  Honestly, I thought he was ill or something.  Nope. He just lost it for his own self-esteem.

He did two things:

1) He lowered his caloric intake to 1200 cal/day.  He measured and counted everything to make sure he stayed down here.  Different people will have different needs.  But he kept lowering the calories until he realized that he was losing energy.  He went down to 1100 cal/day and found himself really low energy.  So, he went back up to 1200 and stayed there.

2) He had to fill his stomach with something because he felt the hunger pangs so much.  From a doctor that had lost over 100 lbs, he got the simple advice to just eat a LOT of vegetables.  They fill you up.  You're not hungry anymore.  And they have negative net calories.  So, he got very good at combining various vegetables into different dishes.  He figured out which ones he liked both raw and cooked (cooked in different ways).  So, he eats a lot of vegetables that he likes as snacks as well as meals.  And he really likes it.  He doesn't feel like he's missing out on anything.  He's eating foods he likes that just happen to be low on calories.

It took about 9 months and he lost 98 lbs.

So, now he's pretty slim.  His own ex-wife saw him at their son's house and was asking what this stranger is doing walking into their home.  Their son had to tell her,"That's Dad."

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On 7/9/2017 at 5:41 AM, Sunday21 said:

My sister's diabetic diet requires fats. She has to drink 'yak tea' which has coconut oil. The idea is that the more carbs you eat, the more fat you need to balance the carbs. It seems to be working for her! I think if you are losing weight, keep going with it!

The latest greatest docs agree fats are your best primary fuels. Dr. Mercola is one and Dr. Gundry who wrote The Plant Paradox is the other. I followed it and quickly discovered I’d been misdiagnosed with Barrett’s Esophagus; forgoing a few lectins, and presto no more acid reflux, without needing my prescription med. 

My Ollieroo is awesome too; it’s like a Power Plate at a small fraction of the price. It works slow, fast and super-fast twitch muscles so burns 100 times as many calories as walking or even running. Yesterday I worked my arms for 3 minutes and they’re still sore. Today I bent my spring with my arms while the Ollieroo worked my legs. Maybe it will work for Peak 8 where you go all out for 30 seconds at a time. Peak 8 has shown to increase HGH production by 800%, if done properly.

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Yet another person I came across who lost a bunch.  My mechanic.

He's been a bit tubby for a while.  But he just got a hefty haircut and shaved his bear.  With that, his shape became readily apparent.  He was a LOT thinner.  He said he had lost 70 lbs over the past year.

I asked how.

For him it was just the simple strategy of eating less.  He grazed.  He made sure to eat breakfast so the amount of food in his stomach was at a fairly consistent volume.  But always the total food was less than he had eaten in the past. 

So, just plain old discipline.

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