LSB Weight Loss Daily Goals and Accomplishments

[JaneQSmythe]

Dude ordered bikes for me an SLeW so we can go for a ride at lunchtime at work. He and I (and my friend, SLL) are going to Burning Man this year, so the plan is bikes to get around and then donate them to the free fleet. Haven't been on a bike since college, so I am hoping to exercise muscles I have forgotten and get my thighs toned up!

 

[GirlFromTexlahoma]

Well, darn. Still no budging on the scale.

Same here. I'm starting to feel like body defies the laws of nature I ordered new jeans a few weeks ago, and they were waaay too small. Yesterday I gave them another try on before I headed out to return them - and they fit. I'm losing inches for sure. But not pounds. It's frustrating.

 

[AlwaysGrowing]

DH and I are getting ready to move within a mile of where I work. So, I will be walking there and back 4 days a week! While either wearing a baby or pushing a stroller! Woot! (I actually am excited about that - more weight/resistance = more calories burned)

My weight as of this morning is 187 lbs. I gave birth 3 months ago at 225. I feel good about this. I felt like my weight loss had slowed down in the last month (which, I mean, it has) but I still lost 7 lbs!

I have done better on cutting out the remaining processed food from my diet, which I think has helped. We don't have the money to eat out, which is a diet saver for sure. My average caloric intake is 2000 a day, which seems about right for feeding two babies (I pump milk for a friend's baby, too) and exercising. I used to have to stay at 1200 calories to lose weight while not exercising, 1500-1700 or so when exercising (depending on how much cardio). I'm also tracking my water intake and averaging between 85-95oz a day. I'd like to get that up to 100oz a day.

During the day, I also added in some arm/ab exercises twice a week using the baby as the weight. She loves it, and my arms feel like jello after soooo success! I can't wait to see results in my stomach! I've been fat for a long time but I've never been this SOFT!

Next time Boy is around, I'm going to make him get my bike ride-ready. Then I'm going to find a bike rack on Craigslist and make him buy it so we can ride together this summer. His idea, I just have to do the foot work!

37 lbs to go to my goal weight. I can do this!

 

[Reverie]

I've stuck with the bike commute all week. It is getting easier and—dare I say?—even almost kind of fun. Pilates again tonight, so I will see what the scale has to say. I have a class tonight and then one next Thursday, and then my cheap trial is over and I have to commit. I've already decided that I am going to, and have worked it into my super-tight budget.

I've still been well-behaved on food, and relatively so on booze. It's mostly the weekends that kill me there. Seems like there should be some progress popping up any time now. Tick-tock!

 

[SchrodingersCat]

Just found this, guess I'll jump in.

I was doing well eating healthy and exercising (commute 3km to school, walking in the winter & cycling in the summer). But then my research hit a lull and I started staying home more. Staying home not only robs me of my exercise, but leads to me eating constantly out of habit.

My biggest challenge is the junk food addiction. I'm thinking I need to quit it all together. I just can't do moderation. I try, I mean well, but one small bag of chips turns into a big bag and just makes me crave it more and more. I'm never satisfied. When I go without it completely, my whole body feels better.

I went vegan in February and I've lost like 20 lbs since then. Together with the 20 I lost between summer and Christmas, I'm doing much better than I have been the past few years. That being said, 25 of those pounds were added over last summer, so I'm really only 15 down from where I started before the roller coaster. When I cook, it's really healthy, no added oil, lots of healthy beans and lentils, tons of veg. I made my own guacamole for the first time last week, it was amazing!

Now I just gotta get off the junk food addiction. For me, it helps to think of it as akin to drugs or alcoholism. No one tells an alcoholic that "a little bit is ok in moderation." I bought a box of microwave popcorn at Costco a week ago and I'm already most of the way through the top row. That's an obscene amount of palm oil and salt! I have no control. My fridge and pantry are full of healthy foods but I go right past them for the junk. So! The junk has to go!

I also have to make more of an effort to go in to the office (school). When I'm here, food doesn't even occur to me until I'm starving. I don't munch. And I exercise both ways. Plus it helps with my mood too, I'm not bored and lonely all the time when I'm around my peeps.

For people who are already eating healthy and exercising and don't have any calories or time to spare, I highly recommend reducing animal products. They're loaded with cholesterol and fat, and completely deficient in phytonutrients. I've read anecdotes of people just cutting that out and eating more calories, and still losing tens of pounds with no other changes. My own experience reflects this -- when I don't eat junk food, I can eat as much as I want, even getting "stuffed" on a regular basis, and I still lose weight. It's the popcorn and chips that do me in.

 

[Reverie]

Got on the scale at pilates. I guess ONE pound lost is at least positive change. I'm down to 131 and I know I'll be making real progress when I see a "2" in there somewhere again. And I don't mean 132.

My "happy range" is 118–123, so I still have a ways to go. I gave it my all tonight, though. Shaking like a leaf. Between that class once per week and biking 50 miles per week, it's more physical activity than I've gotten for most of my life.

I'm going to try to do a food accountability thing here where I post what I eat each day, so sorry if that bores anyone, LOL. Maybe I can get some pointers on ways to improve.

Today:

- 2 cups of coffee with soy creamer
- Handful of baby carrots dipped in "natural" (i.e., no added sugar) peanut butter.
- Homemade refried bean and corn burrito (flour tortilla) with spinach, cheese, onion, red bell pepper, mushroom, and scallions. 2 tbps of sour cream.
- 2 bottles of water

And I will probably go on to have a glass of wine now that pilates is over.

I went vegan in February and I've lost like 20 lbs since then. Together with the 20 I lost between summer and Christmas, I'm doing much better than I have been the past few years.

Wow! That's an incredible loss! Congrats!

For people who are already eating healthy and exercising and don't have any calories or time to spare, I highly recommend reducing animal products.

I have been mostly vegetarian for over ten years (occasional seafood—maybe once per week) and I often say I could be totally vegan if it weren't for cheese and having crab when I visit my family, as it's a beloved tradition. There are totally acceptable vegan substitutes for all the other dairy yums, but the only satisfying "cheese" I've ever found was my chef friend's homemade cashew cheese that she confessed was exorbitantly expensive to make. Sigh. I've heard they're still experimenting, though, and I intend to occasionally dive back in and try new ones as they come out.

Luckily, Rider just went mostly veg with me about two months ago, so it's now in both of our interest to buy and try weird veg products. He's definitely been losing some weight since cutting the meaty things out; his previous diet strategy was like the menu at The Heart Attack Café (like, he was that person that all his friends posted things like donut-bun bacon cheeseburgers on his Facebook wall), so he was bound to slim down a bit after cutting that stuff out!

 

[PinkPig]

I haven't been posting because I'm not doing so great :/ My weight is actually up almost 2 #s. Am at 129 and my goal is 125. I am exercising regularly, I just need to increase the amount of time. Going into work early and working long hours make it hard to get in enough exercise....I am exercising every morning but it's a shorter routine. And, the longer hours make me less likely to eat healthy as I'm too tired or constrained on time to take the time to cook healthy. It's easier to just eat out :/

Since it's the weekend, my goal is to be active this weekend and limit my coffee and sugar intake since that's where most of my calories come from.

Blue's gone back to no meat. I don't think I can do that but I'm considering a pescatarian diet. See if that helps. Sugar is by far my biggest weakness.

 

[breathemusic]

I don't really plan on posting here regularly because I'm in maintenance mode, but as someone who used to weigh 289lbs at my highest weight and now maintains right around 160 (which is actually a healthy weight for my height/frame/shape) I figured I could at least cheer you guys on and also offer up the insights from my own experience. I promise my intent isn't preachy, but just figured I'd share what worked for me!

Anyway, mainly I just think that it's important for each person to find a strategy that works for them! Sounds like quite a few of you are finding that cutting meat and animal products does good things for you. That's fantastic! For me, it's less about meat and more about being high protein/low carb. I don't eat much in the way of carbs (minus my ongoing ice cream addiction struggles. lol) and I eat quite a bit of meat, but that's just because it happens to work for my body. Carbs, for some reason, just seem to go straight to the scale for me, even if I'm eating the right number of calories.

In full disclosure, I got weight loss surgery, so that helped me a ton with losing weight because it forced me to control portions, but making the move from just counting calories to actually focus on my protein vs. carb intake is what actually allowed me to get to my end goal (weight loss surgery for most people will only get rid of around 65% of their extra weight, the rest you gotta do on your own).

I'll also be honest and say that I don't work out. Period. I love going hiking or doing other fun activities that involve exercise, but I just don't have the free time, or the will to commit to an ongoing gym routine. I hate it, so it takes very little to derail me. And on top of that all the studies show that your weight is 80-90% what you put in your mouth and only 10-20% exercise, and that seems to at least be true for me. So if you're just looking to get stronger or tone, sure, workout. But changing your diet is usually what you really have to do to lose weight (again, I'm sure results may vary from person to person!! And the gym can also have that "I'm losing inches but not pounds" impact so if you're less concerned about the scale and more about some clothes getting tight, it still can be a great thing). But what all of that meant for me personally is that I had to find a food routine that worked for me and didn't require hitting the gym in order to maintain. I didn't want to risk getting to a point where if I was happy with my weight I was going to risk gaining a bunch back if I ever fell off the wagon with going to the gym.

BUT, for all of you who are able to just incorporate more exercise into your daily routines, like the work commute, etc. that's freaking amazing!! Seems like a pretty solid way to burn some calories but is actually also functional vs just cutting time out of a schedule to go lift weights or run on a treadmill!! I wish I had the ability to do that (I don't like the idea of biking in the city and the weather here 3/4 of the year is either really cold or hot and super humid, bleh).

Anyway, my only real point is that it's great that each of you is trying different things to see what works for your own body, because what works for one, doesn't work for all. I hope you all find success and hit your goals!

I'd say my only 1 real recommendation is that when you do hit goal, PLEASE don't stop weighing yourself, or measuring, or using whatever tool it is that you use to measure being at goal. I have another message board that I read regularly that is weight loss related and soooo many people come there and post about how "I gained back 20/30/40 pounds after hitting my goal. How do I get back on track?!" And the only thing that I can think is that they must have stopped weighing themselves for a long time if they were suddenly surprised to see that they had gained that much. I think it's not healthy to obsess about the scale and kick yourself every time your weight changes a few ounces, but weighing yourself regularly will at least let you know what is going on with your body and you'll never be shocked by the number because you will have seen it slowly start to creep up and can catch things after only a few pounds. (Note, this is basically how I maintain, I have a 5 pound range and if I creep to the top of that range I get my rear in gear and take a hard look at what I've been eating lately and cut the crap that I've likely let creep back into my diet).


Ok, long rant over. Like I said, I don't intend to really do a ton of posting here, but I've been following the thread and just think it's awesome that you all are taking charge and working to meet your goals! You can all do it!!

 

[JaneQSmythe]

Down 4.5# so far. Walked at lunch on the trail 3 days this week (2+ miles each time). Switched from craft beer to rum+diet caffeine free coke. Less boredom/procrastination munching at the office.

 

[Cleo]

I'm going to try to do a food accountability thing here where I post what I eat each day, so sorry if that bores anyone, LOL. Maybe I can get some pointers on ways to improve.

Today:

- 2 cups of coffee with soy creamer
- Handful of baby carrots dipped in "natural" (i.e., no added sugar) peanut butter.
- Homemade refried bean and corn burrito (flour tortilla) with spinach, cheese, onion, red bell pepper, mushroom, and scallions. 2 tbps of sour cream.
- 2 bottles of water

Just a thought, but if that is ALL you ate that day, it doesn't really seem like enough to me, especially if you went to a strenuous Pilates class...

as for me:
after one month of no alcohol and a very healthy diet I lost a couple of pounds and felt really fit and healthy, then went on a 3 week solo trip to a country that has incredibly good and cheap food and wine, and because I was solo and the meals were basically my entertainment of the day... I ate and drank a LOT. Time to get back on the wagon!

 

[AutumnLeaves]

Back up around 190. That's actually less than I'd expect to gain following a death in the family (historically speaking). I'm proud of myself that I didn't drink excessively. And for food, I refused to buy junk food. I still did my grief baking, oh did I, but since that meant I had to cook everything before going on mad eating binges it kept things at a certain level.

Meanwhile, I made granola the other day with sunflower, flax, and chia seeds. It's amazingly filling and since I didn't put extra sugar in it, not very sweet. I like it and think it may turn into a regular thing.

 

[Reverie]

Week 3 of the bike commute going strong. Canceled my spot in my normal pilates class for Thursday because there was no other day band practice will work, but I think I'm going to go in on Saturday afternoon instead. This week's big change: switching from coffee with soy creamer to plain green tea, since I've heard it helps burn fat, and anyway missing the creamer is missing some calories, at least.

I ate kind of a lot this weekend, including a super delicious (read: greasy) Thai noodle dish. But I got a LOT of exercise: dancing with Oona Saturday night and walking up and down the beach a lot with Rider Sunday. Also, I kept to only two beers at a party I went to Sunday night. So hopefully it balances out...

 

[Reverie]

I was "bad" last night and had dessert: a bowl of Snickers ice cream.

But I was good for most of the day:

Green tea
Carrots with peanut butter for lunch
3 hard tacos with beans, lettuce, avocado, and shredded cheese for dinner
Half a can of beer
1 oz of rum

I am a creature of habit, and so I usually just bring a drink and carrots and peanut butter to work for lunch every day, though once in a while I deviate and bring a frozen tamale or leftover spaghetti or something that I eat in addition to the carrots.

Speaking of spaghetti, tonight I am planning on making my spaghetti and tempeh "meatballs." It's actually better with spaghetti SQUASH, but I've been having a hard time finding it recently, so real pasta, it is. Harrumph.

I measured my waist this morning, clocking in at 28ish inches. That's smaller than before, but definitely still above my happy range, so I shall keep on with what I've been doing. Maybe minus the Snickers ice cream. It's going to be hard because I'm heading into that hormonal time where I want to eat everything in sight. But the photos I saw of myself from this weekend still cry out for improvement, so I will do my best.

ETA:

Meanwhile, I made granola the other day with sunflower, flax, and chia seeds. It's amazingly filling and since I didn't put extra sugar in it, not very sweet. I like it and think it may turn into a regular thing.

That sounds utterly amazing!

 

[AutumnLeaves]

It was something like 6 cups rolled oats, 1 and 1/2 cups slivered almonds, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, 1/4 cup chia seeds, 1/4 cup flax seeds, and mixed in 1 cup of honey. I pressed the honey until everything was coated and then baked at 250 for 1.5 hours. I might have added more sunflower and chia seeds until it looked delicious, and a little more honey. Next time I think I'll add raisins or some other dried fruit after it cools.

Meanwhile, I'm back down around 185, so most of the weight was salt from poor eating.

 

[GirlFromTexlahoma]

Reverie, how are you not hangry all day? (Hungry/angry ) I think next to your food diary, mine reads like the confessions of a binge eater

Granola with berries and nonfat vanilla yogurt
2 Cliff bars
3 oranges
1 banana
1 apple
Homemade soup (tomato base, veggies, beans)
2 pieces multigrain toast with hummus
Endless coffee (but no sugar and skim milk)

On the other hand...

30 minute walk with the dogs
30 minute cardio video
10 minute abs video

I wish I could come up with something besides cliff bars and fruit to eat at work, but I'm limited to stuff I can scarf down in a 15 minute break. And a lot of times, due to staff/kid ratios, I can't leave the main building for some of those breaks, so it's effectively also limited to stuff I can eat in a shared staff office. But damn I get SO HUNGRY crawling around with the kids (and smelling their yummy greasy lunches) that I have to eat every few hours. Work is where I learned the word hangry

 

[Reverie]

Reverie, how are you not hangry all day?

I get hangry if I eat carbs early in the day, hence the carrots and peanut butter. For some reason, sweetened Greek yogurt is the worst offender. I love it, but I had to stop eating it because if I ate it in the morning, no matter HOW MUCH other stuff I ate in the afternoon, I would be hate-filled and feeling literally about to pass out by the time I left work. So weird!

But if I eat something with fiber and protein around mid-day, then I'm usually decent until I get home. Once in a while I'll add in an extra spoon of peanut butter or a cheese tamale if my belly starts to get super growly shortly before leaving, because I have no desire to feel weak on a five-mile uphill bike ride.

And then I am indeed famished when I get home, but getting home is dinnertime! So I eat dinner and have a couple of drinks, and maybe a snack later—in-shell sunflower seeds or kettle chips with lowfat cottage cheese as dip are favorites, or if I'm feeling especially healthy it'll be a kale caesar—and I'm good till morning.

I try to ascribe to the "eat when you're hungry and not when you're not" thing. And it works during the week.

My problem is that I totally blow it out on the weekends. I confess to binge-drinking at least one out of two weekend nights, and then eating greasy Asian noodles or egg-and-cheese biscuits to feed the hangover, or eating a huge bowl of buttered popcorn while drunk-watching TV. I usually don't SUPER overdo it on the food end, but I'm lazy and eat out more often on the weekends.

Seeing as how I know that I do this, I have developed my during-the-week routine, and I am pretty thankful that it works for me without my feeling hungry or deprived. I just wish it were working better in terms of loss. :/

 

[AutumnLeaves]

Know the question wasn't directed at me but... sugar is the worst offender for me getting hangry as well, if that helps any. The grumpy seems to come around when my blood sugar crashes.

Anything high in protein or fiber helps me out. Berries are very sweet, but they have so much fiber that they don't seem to hit my blood running and then crash me. The same with my granola, which is high in complex carbs, but also protein and fiber.

 

[GirlFromTexlahoma]

I'm pretty good about fiber, but I know my diet is too much carbs and not enough protein or fat I just have such a sweet tooth! I can trade candy for fruit, but I have such a hard time giving up sweet stuff altogether.

The granola does keep me going a little longer than the energy bars, which is weird as it actually has less protein and fat, so I may start taking some of that to work. Or some carrots and hummus (peanut allergy ) Or I could always do what my co-workers do, and eat kid lunch of tater tots and pizza, lol.

 

[Reverie]

I've been feeling pretty down about the way I look recently. I know it's in part hormonal, because it's pretty cyclical that it starts to happen about a week before I get my period.

But I just...my self has been creeping myself out lately. The way the weight doesn't really want to budge despite my making a lot of changes. The way I can see the "ripples" of fat under my skin in the mirror, especially if I twist, and it's only been the past few months that I've ever gotten to that point. The way I get chipmunk cheeks as part of weight gain, which I feel makes me look "hobbity" and makes my smile lines more apparent because there's more for them to push into. I touch my face there and it feels almost swollen—soft, squishy, you have to push a bit to get to the firm part.

I was looking at some pics from when Rider and I first got together, in my "on this day" thing on Facebook from two years ago, and I had so much more cheekbone definition, and I looked so much...prettier.

Right now, I just feel like a puffy ball of dough. Which I know is ridiculous, since I am still considered relatively "thin." But I know what I am capable of, and it's a lot better looking than this. Or, at least, I used to be capable of it. Who knows anymore. I haven't been in spitting distance of my "happy weight" since the beginning of last fall.

It used to be I would just "move more and eat less" and things would change rapidly. I could lose five or even ten pounds over the course of 4–6 weeks. Now I move more than I ever have, and I still can't get rid of ye olde Chipmunk Cheeks. I fear they may become permanent.

Historically I have never been someone who has felt insecure about my looks. I knew people found me attractive, and I wasn't a dick about it or anything, but I could accept compliments with a softly glowing pleasure and joy. Now when people compliment me, I can think only of how far I have to go, or I feel like they are appeasing me. It makes me feel kinda bad instead of good. I *know* Rider still thinks I'm the most beautiful girl—he tells me constantly—but still when he tells me, I think of how much prettier I could be if I could "crack the code" to getting back to where I was. I feel like I pulled a bait and switch on him.

I've been trying to stare long and hard at myself in the mirror and conjure up acceptance and self-love, thinking up mantras: I have always been "more than just a pretty face," so to lose the pretty face doesn't mean I am "nothing." There is beauty in everyone. Etc.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. I just figured this was the thread where something like this belonged, and that probably at least a few people on here struggle in the same way sometimes. What works for you when you feel like this?

 

[GirlFromTexlahoma]

It used to be I would just "move more and eat less" and things would change rapidly. I could lose five or even ten pounds over the course of 4–6 weeks. Now I move more than I ever have, and I still can't get rid of ye olde Chipmunk Cheeks. I fear they may become permanent.

Historically I have never been someone who has felt insecure about my looks. I knew people found me attractive, and I wasn't a dick about it or anything, but I could accept compliments with a softly glowing pleasure and joy. Now when people compliment me, I can think only of how far I have to go, or I feel like they are appeasing me. It makes me feel kinda bad instead of good. I *know* Rider still thinks I'm the most beautiful girl—he tells me constantly—but still when he tells me, I think of how much prettier I could be if I could "crack the code" to getting back to where I was. I feel like I pulled a bait and switch on him.

Substitute "tummy" for "chipmunk cheeks" (and "Dag" for "Rider" )and I could have written this...

I used to roll my eyes when people said metabolism changes at 35, assuming it was just because that was when they had a baby/quit smoking/got a desk job/whatever. But now I am starting to think there's something to it, because my ability to move more, eat less, and drop pounds seems to have vanished

(Or it's because I went back on the pill at 35 )

But whatever it is, I feel you. For the first time in my life I'm struggling with weight. And while I do know that I'm still technically a healthy weight - I don't like it.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. I just figured this was the thread where something like this belonged, and that probably at least a few people on here struggle in the same way sometimes. What works for you when you feel like this?

The only thing that helps me is to focus on what my body can do, not what it looks like. Strong is the new sexy and all of those t-shirt slogans. (Actually, today I wore a shirt that says "Forget the glass slipper - this princess wears running shoes", and all the little girls I work with loved it!) I try not to think size 4 vs size 6, but running 4 miles vs running 6 miles.

I'm not losing pounds the way I'd like too - only down 2 since this thread started - but I'm running farther, I'm using 5 lb weights with my cardio, my flexibility is better than it has ever been.

(Also when my face is chubbier I look younger, I got carded buying beer the other day, so there's that )