Let's help motivate each other to reach our goals

[Pokeyonekenobie]

I totally get it.

I haven't been good about walking on the treadmill lately and I've been stress eating.  Long story short, my brother moved back home and convinced my parents to let his girlfriend move in as well so I had to give up the space that I was keeping extra stuff in AND the only space I had to do resin pouring in order to accommodate her.  So I won't be able to do that for the foreseeable future.  And because my brother is using the room where the treadmill is, I don't know when I'll be able to use that again, either.  He's supposed to start a new job tomorrow but given his history, he'll quit after about a month for some stupid reason that really boils down to he spent his money on drugs, got high and missed too many shifts so they fired him.

And in the meantime I'm supposed to clean up after his stupid girlfriend because she's a "guest."  She's not my guest.  And she's a downright slob.  I am not the live-in maid!

So I've been doing a lot of stress eating since I can't use the treadmill to exercise instead and I'm limited on what I can do artistically (especially since I have even less space to work in now) so I've played more video games lately than I usually do. 

[Beth3346]

i'm new to this thread so i'm still getting caught up. does anyone have any advice on losing weight without focusing too much on each individual pound and calorie? in the past when i've tried dieting it was hard for me to not get obsessive about it and it led to me obsessing over calories too much. i really just want to focus on feeling better about myself.

being in the house so much over the past few years i feel like i've really let myself go. i haven't been exercising, my diet hasn't been great, and i haven't even been getting proper haircuts. this year i'm turning 40 and i really need to start taking my health seriously. i want to look better but i also want to feel better.

[BlackCurtains]

The best thing is to weigh yourself weekly, or even monthly, instead of everyday. I don't think counting calories is a thing people do anymore, is it? I mean, you could eat 200 calories in veggies or 200 calories in a cookie, but the veggies are clearly better for you, you know. But that doesn't mean you can't treat yourself either. Have a cheat day each week where you can eat whatever you want and not feel bad about it.

I would suggest slowly changing your diet to start. Add more veggies and more variety of them. Like instead of iceberg lettuce try baby butter or instead of a beefsteak tomato try tomatoes on the vine. Be careful with fruit since it can have a lot of sugar. One thing the physical trainer told me was that if you have a choice between low fat or low sugar, go with the low sugar. Lentils and beans are great and good for you, and you can do all kinds of things with them. Add turmeric, ground flax seed and raw honey in things. Those are all very healthy and make you feel better. Bonus if you get local honey, it will help with allergies.

Drink a lot of water. Like, drink what you think you should and then drink some more. I recommend Polar Seltzer if you miss fizzy drinks. It's 0 everything and the taste is very refreshing. I like the raspberry lemonade.

Smoothies are a great way to add different veggies and fruits into your diet.

My therapist has helped me a lot to understand my relationship with food. Try to figure why you eat what you eat. Are you a bored eater? Emotional? Stress? Do you just really love cheese? Get to the bottom of it and adjust.

A great tip for exercising from that same physical trainer. Life weights first. Doing that will burn off the excess simple sugars you have. Do about 45 minutes of weights. Then you can do cardio and it will burn fat instead of burning the sugars, because those are gone from your system. You should do about 45 minutes of cardio too.

[Ponyfan]

Welcome, Beth. 


What worked for me was focusing more on portion/serving sizes and trying to replace high calorie/fattening foods with versions that have less.  I also started leaving a little food on my plate at each meal while I was adjusting to eating less.  I have a cheat day once a week where I don't have to worry about what I'm eating.  Nothing is forbidden on my diet, it's more about watching your portions.  So inside of eating an entire large bags of chips, if I'm being good I count out 1 or 2 servings and eat that. 

I do take a daily pill and weekly shot to help with weight loss, but I have still have to work at it.

I have to admit that I haven't been watching what I eat as closely as I should have been and have gained a little weight back.


Ponyfan

[Minty_Magic]

Welcome to the thread Beth!!

BC has already given a TON of super helpful advice, I don’t think I can expand on it! I’ll echo that lifting weights has been hugely beneficial for me before cardio. I never really saw results until I started doing that. Even if you don’t do the full 45 minutes working your muscles will burn actual fat rather than just making you lose weight. Since my scale measure my body fat % I can actually see the difference weights make! Replacing some meals with veggie/plant based foods has also been helpful for me. Veggies are actually much more filling than I ever thought and they keep me from being hungry again in just a few hours!

I do count calories and find it largely beneficial, but I understand that is not a healthy thing to do for everyone! For me I just genuinely have no clue how much I’m eating unless I weight out and portion my food! I can scarf down 3k calories a day easy if I don’t keep myself accountable

I’ve been slacking through the holiday season, but I’m trying not to beat myself up about it. I have been busy with other stuff, and this is the time of year to indulge in goodies! I don’t have as much as a sweet tooth as I used to, so I haven’t eaten quite as many sugary foods as I usually do. Even though I’ve had a lot of over budget days and haven’t been going to the gym I’ve really only gained about 2 pounds in the past two or three months, so I’m calling that a win!! I’ve lost some muscle but eh, I can work on that again once it’s warmer and I’m motivated to get to the gym again.

I think my new year goal is to lose another 10 pounds. I’m fairly happy with my weight, but I’m still at the very top end of a healthy BMI, so I’d like to shave off just a little more.

[Pokeyonekenobie]

Another tip for cutting back on what you eat:  If you're one of those people that feels guilty for leaving food on your plate, use a smaller plate.  Then you won't put as much on it in the first place.

I need to start adding weight lifting into my workouts.  I think that will be my goal this year. 

[Beth3346]

swapping a larger lunch and/or dinner with black beans has worked for me in the past. they're filling, cheap and it's easy to make large batches. beans are really the only diet food that ever worked for me. but it's hard to swap out meals for myself though when i have to make one meal for my husband and something different for myself. he's usually happy to diet with me but he can't really eat a lot of beans since it upsets his stomach. i need to be more disciplined in my eating.

we cut out soda, fruit juice and energy drinks a few years back. my husband lost weight but i didn't. my weight hasn't been what i want since i was a teenager. though back then i always thought i needed to lose weight back then because i had a lot of body image issues. i gained weight in college but then it stopped and my weight was pretty stable for years. i didn't really gain weight again until the last few years. being stuck in the house felt like a license to stop caring. also i'm pretty bad about stress eating. carbs are definitely an issue for me.

i definitely feel guilty for wasting food. using a smaller plate does help there. i typically eat smaller portions. i'm a really slow eater. but mindless, bored eating is a problem. or just eating while working, watching tv, browsing internet. there are bad habits i've picked up from having to eat lunch at the office for years. now i work from home and there's really no excuse for me to keep the bad habits.

i really have no excuse not to exercise more though. we have a treadmill and i could walk around the neighborhood. really i just hate working out. even though i feel so much better when i do. i just don't have as much energy lately. also having a job that ties me to my desk even when i'm working at home isn't great. i should walk around more when i'm on calls.

i think the weights would help. i know i'm out of shape. sometimes even cooking tasks like grating cheese hurts my arms. building up overall strength is something i definitely need.

[BlackCurtains]

Energy levels can be caused by a lot of things, but if you aren't adverse to taking supplements I recommend a vitamin B complex, red ginseng and vitamin D. The vit D will help your mood too. I have chromic fatigue syndrome and am tired all the time. I find the B complex and ginseng to really help.

[Ponyfan]

I tried really hard to get most of my active hours Fitbit dots Mon-Fri.  This week I was back down 3 pounds to my before Christmas weight.


Ponyfan

[Starflashbaby]

I'd also like to welcome Beth to this Topic!
We are happy to have you!
What I recommend is getting a smaller plate and learn how to portion size and no doubles... or just be mindful of what your eating. That's why I recommend myfitnesspal app not to count calories but to see what it is your eating in a day and know what you want to cut out. Have a cheat day... but I save those cheat days for holidays cause there are a lot of holidays.id also suggest weighing yourself every 1- 2 weeks not every day. You'll see more progress that way.
I'd like to inform you Beth if you have any other goals, your more than welcome to share them here to get support for them as well. 


As for me I am 290 now Yay!
I want very active on the mlparena this last month Dec but im back my grandpa was very ill since the 4th of Dec and he passed away on the 29th. So I was taking care of my family, I was more sick to my stomach cause of nerves and I had one plate full of food every day so I'm only eating once. Even during Christmas I had 2 plates but they were smaller plates. I stayed the same. So I think I eat something before I go to bed too so I will stop doing that now. Like I had ice cream last night and the night before and I was like what am I doing..... so that's a problem...
Or maybe during Dec I was eating too little so I put my body in hibernation mode again. Some odd reason I didn't lose the weight like I thought I should of.
 

[Beth3346]

thanks everyone i've been walking on the treadmill some. and watching what i eat a little more. we mostly cook so we'll be doing a lot more fish and salads. less pasta and sandwiches. i did somewhat reluctantly download myfitnesspal again. it does help me keep track of food and exercise. i have an apple watch and that also helps me track how active i am. i'm also doing more stretching. though the additional tummy fat doesn't help that

@Starflashbaby i'm sorry about your grandfather i've read that if you're eating way less than normal your body tries to hold on to whatever weight you have and goes into a starvation mode. it's a holdover from when food would be scarce for periods of times. but it can make it harder to lose weight.

right now my only other goal is kind of on hold until the market for tech jobs improves i might do more training soon but for now i just want to focus on getting healthier.

[Starflashbaby]

Thank you Beth
Yess i think your right I'm going into starvation mode... so I think I should eat a little more bit make it healthier choices like an apple instead of candy or a salad here and there. 

[Ponyfan]

I gained a pound this week.



Ponyfan

[Pokeyonekenobie]

My brother kicked his girlfriend out.  He told her if she went to 30 days of rehab he'd let her move back in and my parents told him flat out that they were never letting any of his girlfriends move in again.  I think they realized how unfair it was to me when it took me more than 3 hours to clean and disinfect the bathroom after she left.  (I think I mentioned she was a slob.)

So now I have my resin space back (yay!) and I can start to get back to my normal stuff.  My brother is still using the room with the treadmill but I don't feel weird about using it while he's at work.  So on days he doesn't work I might not be able to use it but I can do other things to exercise instead, like lift the little dumbbells that I have (they're only 5 lbs., but light weight with lots of reps is a good workout). 

The next big project is working on Pokemon coloring pages so I can have the next batch done by Pokemon Day in February.  I think I'll try to get my taxes done this weekend so I can focus on other things and not have to worry about that anymore this year.

[BlackCurtains]

Starting tomorrow I'm back on my smoothies. I've got groceries coming bright and early with lots of fresh veggies and fruits. I've been back to not eating anything until later in the day and then making too much of something and eating it too fast. This is not good for my gastroparesis. I also bought some nutritious cereals and some yogurt. I can have a smoothie in the morning, cereal in the afternoon and if I need a snack, I've got the yogurt, homemade popcorn or instant oatmeal.