August 2010 Weight Loss

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Holy cow we’re late!

Last week’s update
Starting Weight - June 23 218
Initial Goal by Dec 31 163
Last Week 204
This Week 203.5

This week’s update
Starting Weight - June 23 218
Initial Goal by Dec 31 163
Last Week 203.5
This Week 201.5
Had a bit of a slow week 2 weeks ago due to anniversary celebrations. We went out for dinner and a couple of photo trips over the weekend and decided that a few treats were acceptable. It worked out okay though, getting back into the swing of things last week was pretty easy. I was surprised by this weeks weigh in as I’ve been pretty ill and my usual reaction to eating nothing is to gain weight. Not sure how I do it but this time I didn’t so yay!

2

Last week went well for me. I’m now finally at normal BMI! My goal is to lose another 10 pounds or so. However I afraid that I’ll bounce back up somewhat this week since that usually happens after an unprecedented loss. I’m planning to go on a long run Friday evening so maybe that will keep it at bay.

3

Start: June 1 at 103.5 kg (BMI 30)
16 July: 93.4 kg (BMI 27)
30 July: 90.8 kg (BMI 26.2) (previous post)
Now: 88.8 kg (BMI 25.7)
Original goal for 1 September: 83.5 kg (BMI 24)
Revised goal for 1 September: 86 kg (BMI 24.9)

Sticking to Subway diet but weight loss is slowing - probably because I have been slacking off swimming, having got calf cramp twice. Now I take supplemental magnesium and I hope I’ll be able to step up swimming again. I had to revise my 1 September goal upwards, to just below officially overweight by BMI.

Running works well - I have now joined the official training event for our local race, and run 8.5 km Tuesdays and Thursdays. In 49:51 yesterday - the first time I ran faster than 50 min! (last year it was 53-56 minutes)

4

Start: 398 pounds
August 12: 306 pounds
Loss: 92 pounds

Can’t wait for the weather to cool off. I do miss walking outside in the middle of the day. Also, 8 more pounds and I can really celebrate: that will be 100 gone.

5

Stuck!

6

I think I have to abandon any kind of calorie counting - it makes me insane, I feel anxious and overworked, I obsess about food all day, and then I wind up yo-yo-ing up beyond my original weight!

The only time I’ve lost weight and kept it off for years was (weirdly enough) during my last pregnancy. Claire was big and I guess stretched out, so she was pushing up on my stomach. I call her my “lap band baby.” After giving birth, I wound up about 20 pounds lighter than my pre-pregnancy weight.

So I’m trying to capture that method with a Fullbar kind of idea. I’m having a high-fiber, low calorie snack and a glass of water 30 minutes before lunch and dinner. I’m also going to get some 9 inch plates to limit portions while making it look generous. I tried this yesterday with peanut noodles served on a dessert plate (even smaller!). Normally peanut noodles are something I can’t be trusted around, but I wound up not even finishing what I had on my tiny plate!

I’m also not going to keep junk food in the house, even though I’m “allowed” to eat it. If I have to go out to get it, it’s just not worth it, without me feeling deprived and rebellious because I’m telling myself I shouldn’t eat ice cream or whatnot.

I’m feeling incredibly frustrated with my ankle. I’m trying to be patient, but even keeping up with physical therapy, the pain (and new types of pain) continue to crop up. I’m very limited in what I can do for exercise, and I feel like I spend all my exercise time just doing my necessary PT for my ankle, back, and neck. I actually fantasize about being able to run someday. I would be so grateful for that, motivation to work out would be no problem.

7

Starting weight around January 2010 : 158.73 pounds
Weight as of 15th August: 139.99 pounds
Target Weight by 31st Dec: 132.27 pounds

I am not sure if I am too pessimistic about my target, but I am only losing 2 pounds per month (not per week). My BMI is still in the overweight range so even if I get to 132 pounds, I’ll still need to hit 119 pounds to be in the healthy range. That’s a long way to go. :frowning:

8

Still plateauing, though the last two weeks my weight has stayed at 155 instead of bouncing up and down. I don’t know if my added exercises are the cause of this stabiity, but I’m going to pretend they are. They’ve definitely added muscle definition to my legs, so I’m going to keep them up anyway.

I’ve had about 3 indulgent meals these last couple weeks, mostly because my SO and friends took me out for my birthday. I haven’t gone too far overboard, and I’ve always compensated by eating lightly the day after and exercising, so I don’t anticipate this will affect me much.

9

Yay - I’ve lost some actual weight so now I can start posting the weight loss threads. Had a couple false starts but really on the way now. I told myself that if I lost 15 lbs I could actually say I am losing weight.

Starting weight - 204 mid July
Current weight - 189
Goal weight - 135 by this time next year.

So far doing it with portion control, lots more veg, and increase in exercise. Got the consistancy going, now need to start gradually ramping it up. Started my husband on it and he’s feeling a few pounds lighter and more motivated as well. Both of us aiming for our long-ago wedding weights before taking our 20th anniversay trip early next fall.

10

I’m still hovering around 50kg. November is coming up faster than I’d like, so I’m going to start getting serious about dropping these last 2 kilos. I notice that pull-ups (as well as chin-ups and parallel grip pull-ups) get harder if I gain weight, and noticeably easier if I lose even 500g, so that’s an added incentive.

The weather has warmed up a bit now, so I’m no longer compelled to bake and I’m starting to think forward to beach weather. The past few days my diet has been:

Breakfast: yoghurt or steel cut oats with peanut butter
Morning snack: piece of fruit
Lunch: sirachia, cheese, a fried egg and baby spinach bundled together in a couple of tortillas and pan-fried, and a silverbeet (swiss chard), chickpea and tomato salad with a couple of hard-boiled eggs.
Afternoon snack: some yoghurt or a piece of fruit
Dinner: varies hugely. Usually 30% meat, 70% vegetables, unless I’ve just come back from exercise, and then I’ll usually have extra carbs.

My current favourite side dish is a handful of slivered almonds pan fried with a couple of grated zucchinis. I’m hoping that now I’m not eating a slice of cake and a few cookies every day, that my weight loss will get back on track!

11

Lessee…Started about 3 months ago.
First 4 weeks dropped 8 lbs. (purist mode)
Next 4 weeks dropped 4 lbs. (operating in try to be good mode)
Next 4 weeks dropped 5 lbs. (operating in “this is easy” mode)
Next 10 days gained 2 lbs. (bought 4 lbs. of Beer Nuts with M&Ms that they were closing out at the grocer… I have a weakness for bargains.)

Overall I’ve gone from 229 to about 213, but need to get focused again, and avoid keeping kryptonite in the kitchen.

The technique continues to be: 8 to 10 mini-meals/snacks a day, ranging from 25 -250 calories (which I don’t actively track.) The meals are usually frozen vegetables with deli ham, browned and seasoned on the stovetop. The snacks are slices of corned beef, lo-cal coffee concoctions, and puffed cereal with lo-cal chocolate soy milk.

12

Starting weight - 25 Jul 2010: 166.5
Current weight - 22 Aug 2010: 156.7 (-9.8)
Goal weight - 1 Nov 2010: 135 (21.7 to go)

Almost 10 lbs. this month. I’ve decided to move my goal to 100 days exactly and drop it another 4 lbs. I think I can do it, but if I don’t I’ll still be happy with my initial goal of 139. The rate is 2.1 lbs/wk, so I think this is quite doable. So far, I’m ahead of my projected loss by about 1 lb. I’m sure this may change when I experience plateaus, but so far I’m on track.

As far as the Dukan diet goes, I’m in consolidation phase but I haven’t been quite as strict as I should be. Still, I haven’t had bread, rice or pasta and very little fruit. Eating lots of broccoli and salads on veggie days and I am pretty sick of chicken, but I’m hanging in there. Trying to avoid deli meat, for the most part, because of the nitrites. Also, watching my fish intake due to the mercury. Sad, really. I try to buy hormone and antibiotic free meat, but it’s expensive. I eat quite a bit of egg whites, non-fat cottage cheese, and non-fat yogurt as well as a spare amount of reduced fat cheese.

I’ve found it relatively easy to deal with our few trips to restaurants. I considered it a victory last weekend when we went to Fatz (I despise that name!) to eat because I was jonesing for a big, juicy burger. We declined the delicious rolls and I avoided eating the chips that came with the artichoke dip spousal unit and daughter ordered. I removed the beautiful bun that my burger came on and ate the lettuce, onions and tomatoes with the meat patty. Instead of having the fries with that, I ordered grilled veggie kebobs which were delicious. The meal was a higher in fat than I normally eat, but I treated that dinner as a special treat. I did have a few bites of peach cobbler with ice cream, though, which is a hyooge no-no on this diet, but I live in the South and um, peaches are in season. It’s required. Anyways, the three of us shared the cobbler.

On the exercise front, I haven’t been doing WiiFit as much as I should. I need to make time in the morning. I keep saying I’m going to set my alarm for 6am…hahaha! But I just started Wk 3 of C25K and I have to say I’m loving running. I could just go and go. Odd, because I never liked it before. I even run a little bit on my recovery days, but I think I’m going to stop doing to that because I may be overtraining a bit. Instead, I plan to walk with the dog on recovery days. He misses going running with me but he’s the reason I sprained my ankle last year and I’m not taking any chances this year. My balance has improved a great deal and I can feel my core is stronger. I was delighted when I discovered that I can put my socks on standing up on one foot…even my toe socks! :smiley:

Physically, it’s starting to become noticeable. My face has thinned out and all my pants are lose, including the shorts that were pretty snug on me. I have been able to put on shorts I haven’t worn for two years, but they’re still pretty tight at the waist.

13

By the way, I’m so inspired by Ann Ominous (WTG!) and everyone else who keeps plugging away. I’ve never officially dieted before, so this is a really different mindset for me, but truly my ultimate goal is not weight loss, but overall health and wellness. I’m looking to make a lifestyle change here. I believe at this stage of my life, the only way to stay healthy is to become the type of person who is always active, maybe even the athlete I never was.

I started this because my 40th birthday is just around the corner (November) and I realized this was not what I wanted to be at 40. Previously, I was dreading this birthday despairing that my life is half over. But now I feel empowered. I feel like I’ve got a life ahead of me that I can shape into whatever I want to. I could run a marathon. I could master yoga. I can enjoy a peach cobbler once in awhile without feeling the least bit guilty about it because I know I can sustain my health over the long term. I value myself so much more.

14

This week’s update
Starting Weight - June 23 218
Initial Goal by Dec 31 163
Last Week 201.5
This Week 201

Down just half a pound but work has been nuts so eating right or even regularly has been hit and miss. I’m stuck traveling this week so lots of restaurant temptation combined with long working days. We’ll see though. Determined to finally drop below 200.

15

Start: 163
Now: 145
Goal: 135

Things are going ok, I’ve been in the 145-146 range for about two weeks now, but I’ve been cheating some due to a couple of quite stressful weeks at work, which makes me think that once I get down to 130-135ish, I’ll be able to keep it around that range with only moderate work.

I’m running into quite a problem, though - my mom bought me two pairs of shorts and a pair of capris just before I started my diet, since I met her for a day hike in 85* weather wearing a pair of jeans because I didn’t have any shorts that fit. She felt bad for me not being able to afford new clothes, and wanted me to be comfortable. I’m incredibly grateful, since this has been a very hot summer, but now the shorts don’t fit - I can barely keep them up, even with a belt (Although, my poor belts are almost dead, too, which is only contributing). I told my mom, and she’s in a tough spot - she’s kind of mad that I didn’t really get my money’s worth out of the shorts, but can’t say she didn’t expect me to actually lose weight! I’m going to try washing them and putting them in the dryer (I never put my pants in the dryer) and see if that shrinks them enough to help.

I’m feeling pretty well on my way to my goal of being able to wear my “hot” pants soon (It’s petty, I know, but my weight loss goal is to be able to fit into a certain pair of pants that make me feel like a smokin’ hottie).

16

I’m jumping on the bandwagon again.

Start (8/17): 192
Current: 186
Goal: ideal weight is 146; goal right now is 160 - I looked sick last time I was under 150, but I want to see what I look like at 160, then re-evaluate

I was feeling incredibly lathargic for a long time, but it got really, really bad a week or two ago, to the point where I felt kinda nauseated and dizzy some of the time. So, I had my fasting blood sugar checked - I figured I’d fallen off the wagon for a bit, and that was the only thing that had changed, so maybe it was a tad high. It was way, way higher than I thought it would be - pretty much in the pre-diabetic range.

It’s funny - numbers on a scale don’t really motivate me to lose weight. But when it’s obvious I’m damaging myself (my last big weight loss was when I found out my cholesterol was high - at that point I weighed almost 220 pounds), I do something and stick with it. So I’m really, really glad I checked my blood sugar because my doctor says that my problem is reversible now, but if I let it go, it’ll be permanent. So, I’m off to a pretty good start (even if a lot of my loss is water weight).

[hijack]I was first introduced to SparkPeople on the SD - I just want to thank the person/people who made that suggestion. I was on Weight Watchers online last time I lost a lot of weight, but I find that, for my needs, SparkPeople is actually better. And as a bonus, it’s free and it has an Android app, which is also free![/hijack]

17

Oh, I almost forgot the best part, my blood pressure!

My work was having a health fair last week and I got my BMI and Blood Pressure measured.

My BMI was 24.5 - just into normal! - and my blood pressure was 110/70 - the lowest it’s been in over 10 years. I am SO THRILLED.

18

I finally got my 75-pound WW award yesterday!

April 7, 2009: 220.6 lb
August 24, 2010: 143.2 lb

I’d been below the 75-pound mark before, but never on a weigh-in day or when I could get to a meeting. But now it’s official! :smiley:

That’s the last of my WW awards now, except for the annual Lifetime charms. I hit goal on May 25 and Lifetime 6 weeks after that. I just needed to drop another 5 to make 75.

I also finally wore my mother down and got her to join WW with me! Oh, I wasn’t nagging her, just telling her about my successes and how east it was, and she finally decided to try WW (again) after years of struggling with her weight on her own. She’s currently staying with me while she recovers from her second knee replacement. So yesterday she gimped into my meeting with her walker and signed up! (She lives elsewhere and will be attending WW meetings there once we’re done with all this surgery business.) She has a head start because she’s already lost 10 pounds while she’s been here with me, just from having a light appetite during her recovery.

19

Congratulations, Scarlett!

As for me, the scale is back up to 159, so I’m switching to a tape measure. It’ll take longer to do, but I’ll trust the numbers more.

20

Start: June 1 at 103.5 kg (BMI 30)
16 July: 93.4 kg (BMI 27)
30 July: 90.8 kg (BMI 26.2)
13 August: 88.8 kg (BMI 25.7)
Today: 86.2 kg (BMI 24.9)
Original goal for 1 September: 83.5 kg (BMI 24)
Revised goal for 1 September: 86 kg (BMI 24.9)

Sticking to Subway diet but taking some more low-fat milk after exercise and as a snack to avoid protein deficiency. It’s a bit hard to swim at least two times a week as two 8.2 km runs per week do task my body’s regenerative capacity. Resting heart rate at 50-53 (used to be 90-100 a few years ago).

I am now officially in the ‘normal’ weight range (BMI 18.5 to 25) - for the first time since the 1980s :slight_smile:

Only problem: wrinkly belly. Otherwise I feel fine. I totally don’t mind going to bed hungry anymore.

Still a few more days to reduce weight until 1 September, then I need to return to eating enough in training for a run. I foresee having to diet a bit after that, and my concern then is getting over the winter.