Weight loss and exercise #2

I am due a weigh in and a catch up with the diabetic nurse next wednesday.I haven't lost that much more weight.My waist is only down half an inch since last month.My blood sugars aren't as low as I wanted them to be by this check in.I will have to make better progress by next month.Get my blood sugar down to 144 on every reading and lose at least another stone, 14 pounds in weight.That is my goal for the next month.

I was 147 yesterday and I had one bad day and now I’m back to 150. It’s frustrating that it takes 2 days of hard work to lose 3 pounds but a couple bad meals can get you right back to where you started.

Your talking about fluctuations in water retention. To lose 3 pounds of fat requires a calories deficit of 10,500. So even fasting you would have to do enough exercise to burn around 4,000 extra calories each day to do it in 2 days. A marathon burns less than 3,000 calories.

What your weight is on a given day is really only useful in the context of several days to see the trend of highs and lows going up, down or staying about the same.

Went to the gym this morning and didn't weigh first. Only did about an hour at the gym, but nearly all cardio.

Avoided sugar and did low carbs again yesterday. I got to have an apple today - the re-introduction of sugar.

I know. It’s just frustrating to see that big of an increase on the scale.

The way I look at it, if you know you are eating below or around maintenance calories, the low swings are more accurate than the high ones. I have no idea how to decide what level of hydration to consider normal or how to know if you are at that level. Unless the dehydration is so bad it is giving me a headache and I gulp down more than a glass of water after weighing, I consider my weight reasonably correct at the lower end of swings.

I never have low swings. Never. It’s always high swings. That’s why I have to be very strict with my 1200 calories a day. A few months ago I gained 12 pounds in 10 days. I gain like crazy. I really have to watch it and weigh regularly.

And I never eat above 3000 or 3500 calories even on my bad days.

I did bad today.I ate fried chicken,chips,corn on the cob and drank a whole pitcher of cocktails with coke in it.I also ate a snickers bar and a bag of crisps a sandwich with cheese and tomato.All of that is over 2000 calories.So today is a write off and I definitely overate.I am going to start my diet again tomorrow and aim for 1300 calories.I am not going to feel bad,every now and then getting a day where I eat wrong is bound to happen.

Aloha!

I will have consumed about 2000 calories by the end of the day. My weight a couple mornings ago was about 173.

Aloha.

PS As everyone probably knows, this word is used both as a greeting, and when departing.

151 this morning - about the lowest I have been and about as low as I want to go. I may go a a few more just to see the 140s on the scale but ~150 is a good weight.

I totally overate last night. I’m not feeling the greatest today. I had an iced coffee and a couple waffles with syrup. For lunch I had a slice of pizza and fries. For dinner I had a cookie. I’m drinking unsweetened herbal tea now but I didn’t have a ton to drink to drink today. So I may be dehydrated. I’m not sure what the scale will read tomorrow.

I overate also. Not a big deal since I was 151 this morning; about as low as I need to go. That's a BMI of 23.0. A few sweets and carbs today, including pizza for dinner. 154 tomorrow would not be surprising. I hope to keep it in the low 150s now that I have *maybe* gotten there. "Maybe" is because it was after a few days of really low sugar and carbs that kind of shocked the system. I will do another really low sugar and carb day tomorrow the go to the gym tomorrow night, trying to take care of whatever damage I see on the scale in the morning.

Rounded up to 154 this morning. I hope to get to the gym tonight, but I may do a long walk (as in 5+ miles) today instead as it is supposed to get up to 60.

keeping my calories at 2000 and under but what I am eating are bad choices,fried chicken and chips,burgers,chips,pizza,ready diet meals,all are unhealthy,even if I count the calories I am not going to lose weight and get healthy eating such junk.I have got to eat lean protein and vegetables and no fried foods,chips,cheeses or crackers and lessen the carbs!

I was 149.8 today. I had half of a bakery cookie which I think was around 150 calories. Then I had a 25% bigger can of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup which was around 210 calories. Then I had a lean cuisine at 340. Dinner will be a mini lean cuisine pizza at 400. It will equal to around 1,120 or 1,150 calories. It depends on how many calories the cookie had. And soup. I didn’t feel like doing the math.

I had a lot of sodium today. That can of soup had 2,670. The the lean cuisine had almost 600. So I may gain a couple pounds in water weight.

If you count the calories correctly, yes, you will lose weight. Do some Googling; there is one guy who got most of his calories from Twinkies, another Snickers, another Big Macs and there are others that used other "junk" food. They were all proving the point that it doesn't matter as far as weight loss is concerned. Some ate other things or took supplements as a small part of the diet to get some vitamins and minerals and some didn't; they just ate better after the loss. You can mess up your relationship with food grouping things into good and bad. Just try to keep balance. A day here and a day there out of balance is okay. Depriving yourself completely of things you want often leads to a binge and/or abandoning the weight loss plan.

What I eat is mainly fast and processed food, and I’ve kept my weight off for 3 years. I just burn more then I eat. Calories in calories out is mainly what’s its about.

Went a little crazy late yesterday and bumped up a little. I rounded up to 155 this morning. The rounding is a nit that is important to me because I am trying to stay under 155 now that I have made it into the low 150s.

It's funny how I play these mental games with myself, but it does help. I am still considering the 150s as my maintenance range but I have 3 lines in the sand now. 155 is a warning and a call to action or to at least be alert about whether it is a reasonable exception or altered general day to day habits pushing me over. I will likely allow myself to cross it for holidays. 160 is my scream weight - red alert calling for extreme action to start trending down even if I am pretty sure it is a spike. I would consider going over 164, giving me a BMI of 25+, a major life event - failure to keep the weight off. Recovering at that point would mean a 10+ pound loss to get back in my preferred zone. I am committed to never let that happen. If I start shrinking and get shorter as I age, I will adjust according to stay below a BMI of 25, with a preferred range of 23 to 23.5.

I had alot of apple pie and ice cream around 10 last night. This morning I was 149.4. So maybe I do get low spikes or whatever they are.

Today I had a couple string cheeses for breakfast and then carry out from Denny’s for lunch. My calculator says 935 calories. I plan on just having soup for dinner. I’ve been having issues with hunger after taking my night medications at 6PM So I’m going to try taking my meds at 8PM and then immediately going to sleep.

It's not healthy though!Food has to be nutridense to be healthy it has to be nutritious,you can be thin and be unhealthy and have a heart attack and stoke from eating fast food and processed foods.Eating more vegetables is what is healthy not fast foods and processed!I don't just want to lose weight I want to stay cancer free,I had cancer before in 2016 and became cancer free from eating lots of vegetables and totally overhauling my diet,I want to get back to that.Only this time I am going vegan too.

Yeah, your probably right. I’m skinny but I’m getting sick every few weeks. I can’t tell if it’s my stress and anxiety or my diet. I eat zero fruit and hardly any vegetables. I had a small piece of a green pepper yesterday but that was the first actual vegetable I had in over a week. I do feel like crap most of the time. But healthy foods just don’t fill me up the way unhealthy stuff does.

I heard on the news about women getting heart attacks in their 30’s. It’s kind of scary.

I eat a lot of fresh fruit and veggies but also a fair amount of processed and some fast food. I think it can be part of a balance. I miss about a day of work a decade from illness, so my immune system is pretty strong.

155 this morning. Even though I kept to goal yesterday, all that calorie dense late snacking from Saturday probably averaged to maintenance of over. I will go to the gym tomorrow AM and weigh next on Wednesday.

You can be in your 20’s and be at a healthy weight but still be very unhealthy. You can still have a heart attack. It’s not just about losing weight..it’s about living a healthy lifestyle. Also, weight melted right off me too when I was in 20’s..not so much now that I’m 40. I also think my choices that I made when I was in my 20’s caught up to me now that I’m older. Well that mixed with some hormone issues. I do tend to eat some convenience foods but I tried to get in the habit of doing some meal preparation on Sundays so I have some healthier go to options especially during the week with work. What I learned especially for me on my journey towards better health is that no matter what diet you are following or what lifestyle changes you are making you have to eat at a calorie deficit to lose weight. Unfortunately for me that doesn’t include McDonald’s because I’m trying to instill healthier choices in myself. I’m not perfect and do give into cravings for the unhealthy stuff..but I go by progress not perfection. Yesterday I had 1/2 cup of ice cream at 9 but I tracked the calories and won’t eat it again this week. Moderation is key for me. I also have to pay attention to sodium. If I eat a can of soup for dinner or a lean cuisine -I’ll weigh 3 more pounds tomorrow morning. Everyone is different. Marilyn, you are doing good. Keep going. It’s not easy but our bodies are worth trying to save. I wrote an apology letter to my body for feeding it crap. It helped.

I think the takeaway is that there is a lot more to a healthy lifestyle than making the optimum choices at every meal. Eat less and move more - both are important. A well rounded diet does include some fat and some carbs. As far as sodium. water retention spikes only bug me a little as I set up my range to include them and I know weight bounces up and down. It's the trend I worry about.

Yes, it taken me awhile to learn my body but as time goes on I’m able to see what patterns work for my genetic makeup and which don’t. Some are easier to pinpoint than others. Like I know I can’t have more than cup of coffee a day and that artificial sweeteners mess with my body and mood. Also switching up my foods can help move the scale. Like I can eat the same thing for breakfast for a week, but then the following week I need to do something different. I can occasionally eat pasta but no more than once every 2 weeks. It’s interesting when you start noticing these patterns how you can almost predict the number on the scale and it was helpful (for me) to not weigh every day but every few days instead.