July 4th to September 7th 2020 Challenge

[Cele21]

Hello and welcome to the 5th challenge of 2020!

We are celebrating our scaled and non-scaled victories and progress. Any one is welcome to join at any time, just hit reply on the most recent post and let us know a bit about yourself.

Following are some acronyms typically used by those who post. Some of us also track body fat or measurements, etc. please add those as you wish.

USW - Ultimate start weight

SW - starting weight for this challenge

CW - current weight 

PW - previous week's weight/weigh-in

LW - last weight/weigh-in

GW - goal weight for the challenge

MGW - mini goal weight

UGW- ultimate goal weight

To join the challenge, please just hit 'reply' and post!

If you want to respond to or 'tag' a particular person with your response, type in @ and you will get a drop down box of recent users to choose from, this will alert them that someone has responded to something they posted and we will all see who you are talking to or about. For example: @_Lilac_  hope to see you here!

[_Lilac_]

So I decided to go downtown today for brunch with my daughter and then see a historic building for a guided tour. It was very hot and sunny but we walked and I practically staggered in the door. My fitbit finally synced and I had over 10000 steps / 5 miles. I burned 5000 calories. I know people will be "That can't be right. That number is so high." But you must consider that I'm 365lb and people that weight can burn a tremendous amount with moderate activity. I'm sore, tired, a bit sunburned, but proud of myself. Just two months ago I went half a block and thought my back would break. I had to sit on a stoop on the next street over as I was walking around the block. 

Doing well. Got to keep up my activity. I can eat like a skinny bird and not lose anything unless I move, and I'm not consistent with it. The heat is also killer!

Will check in again very soon.

[coquihalla]

Wow! Good for you - that's a lot of work, especially in the killer heat. 👏👏👏

[PCMagic]

USW - 260 (5/28)

SW - 241 (7/5)

CW - 235 (8/8)

GW - 228 (9/7)

Stretch goal - 221

UGW- 180

Another week, another report.  This week was definitely a better week for me.  The extra exercise is starting to pay off, or averaging it out at least.  Last time was one pound after 10 days, this time it's 3 pounds after 8 days.  I don't expect that to continue for sure, but it was a good week nonetheless.  My 7 day average steps was 12,000.  I'm averaging about 2 hours of fat burn activity per day which has been the biggest difference I think.  That is almost double what I was doing previously, which was about 2 hours every other day.  My diet continues to be manageable, while still not perfect.  It is sustainable as a lifetime diet, with a good selection of foods which is encouraging.

@coquihalla, good luck with your weight loss.  The low carb diet is pretty effective for weight loss.  Unfortunately for me, when I did start eating carbs again I put all the weight I lost back on in a pretty short amount of time.  I also did a Medifast diet, and again, incredibly effective for weight loss, but still put the weight back on, plus more.  I am determined to make a lifestyle change for my diet so hopefully when I lose the weight this time, I won't put it back on.  I have been working on reasonable quantities of everything, increasing fruits/vegetables, eating less pork/beef and more fish and chicken.  I still snack on chocolate, very occasionally chips, but I always put a small amount in a bowl, not take the entire package with me so I know how much I eat and control it that way.  Ideally I wouldn't even have it in the house, but with kids and grandkids, we have it around.  It sounds like you already went the low-carb route once and had a similar experience, so I would urge you at some point to look at a long term, sustainable diet.  Regardless, that's something you can work on when you get close to your goal if you don't start now, but the up/down bounce gets old.  I'm hoping this is my last time.

For everyone else out there, I'm still enjoying the posts and they continue to inspire.  Every pound lost is a pound in the right direction, whether it takes a day or a month.  Even maintenance of your current weight is good practice for when you reach your ultimate goal.  Just keep on working on it!

[Glenda]

@PCMagic  When you lost weight on the Medifast diet which was very low calories, did anyone tell you that after any reduced calorie diet you should add the calories back on just 200 at a time for a couple days to make sure your body was adjusted to that increase before you added more?   If a person goes from a consistent low number of calories to some normal amount suddenly , you WILL always gain all the weight back fast.

[coquihalla]

Yes that weight gain boomerang thing happens to a lot of people. It happened to me when I did Ideal Protein, so  I won't do that again, besides which I didn't really enjoy it. But I've found the low carb system works for me and I like it. I was lucky to be introduced to it in a medically supervised program in a small community I lived in where they were trying to help combat a high diabetes rate. I didn't have diabetes but everyone was welcome to participate and it was very successful and generated good health outcomes. To each her own though, I had a nice doctor who said she would never consider putting an Inuit patient on all fruit and vegetable diet anymore than she'd council a Polynesian to eat nothing but wild meat and blubber. The funny part is that 10,000 + steps a day I'm doing slows down the weight loss, but I'm too stubborn to stop. I want to be fit again, for so many reasons, including wanting to be as healthy as possible in the event that I have to deal with illness as so many people are.

[PCMagic]

@coquihalla, I'm glad to hear you are aware of it.  If you enjoy the diet and can keep doing it, as I said, it's pretty effective. My point was to try to work towards a way of eating that you can do for your life and you can keep a stable weight.  My other issue has been not addressing weight gain until it has gotten way, way out of control.  If I go up 7-10 pounds, I need to just take it back off immediately, not keep compounding the issue.

@Glenda, it took about 7 years to put the weight on, around 10 pounds per year.  I was doing fine until I got Lyme disease and couldn't do much of anything for about 5 months, and then never really got back to doing what I should have been, obviously.  I was running 4+ miles per day, and within 3 weeks I couldn't make it up a flight of stairs.  It would be nice to get back to that level of fitness again.

[Cele21]

Hi everyone! Nice to see new and returning "faces"!

I realized I didn't post last week so here we go:

USW - 218.0

Current starting weight - 208.0 (7/4/20)

LW - 207.4

CW - 206.4

GW - 200.0 (9/7/20)

Stretch goal weight - 198.0

Mini goal - 195.00

UGW - 150.0

Once again my knee is dictating my lack of movement but we are working on reaching a resolution with hubby's health issues before tackling mine (money is the overall issue with this). I have, however been much more mindful with my eating. Only 1 or 2 sodas per week, only one (sometimes 2) fast food meals per week. Continuing to stay away from extra sweets/desserts. 

I still need to up the water intake - having problems with this for some reason - and work on my sleep schedule which is way out of sync lately.

[G808]

Hi, 

USW - 250 | 05/01/2020

SW - 250 | 05/01/2020

CW - 219.4 | 08/12/2020

PW - 223.8 | 08/04/2020

LW - 219.4 | 08/12/2020

GW - 225 | 06/15/2020

MGW - 200 ?

UGW- 175 ?

Keep going no matter what!

[Dungeekin]

Hi everyone

I've been gaining weight for years, had a bit of a dip last year (dropped 20lbs), but have steadily got larger and larger since then. Some minor health worries, plus the realisation that I'll be turning 50 in July next year, made me realise I have to get hold of this once and for all right now - and here I am. 

USW - 262

Current starting weight - 262

GW - 236 (10% of current)

UGW - 200

Someone kindly put a link on here for the NIH.gov bodyweight planner, and I'm targeting their number of 2250 cals/day as my daily intake - cutting bread, pasta, butter, cookies etc, cooking everything myself, and weighing everything short of water by the gram. 🙂

I've also added a 35min brisk walk in the morning, and a 25min brisk walk with my wife in the afternoon, so am hitting around 14k steps per day and a reasonable exercise level.

Day 4 of the long journey is today... 🙂 

[Glenda]

@PCMagic @Cele21  I'm sorry for anyone suffering with knee problems, and so many people do !  I googled what the best exercise was, and it seems to be recumbent bikes which come in lots of varieties and every price !!  The one that appealed to me even had a "workstation" with at least a place for a laptop.  There is a website that reviews them all.    An elliptical was the other suggestion.  Either way you can probably buy one second hand and get something good very cheap.  My first spin bike was only $25.  Surprisingly rowing machines are NOT recommended even though you would be sitting!! They bend the knee too much.  Doesn't that seem odd?

[Cele21]

@Dungeekin and @G808 Welcome!

We are all doing our best and love to share our journeys, hints, tips, frustrations, etc.

@Glenda Rowing machines being bad does not surprise me at all. My range of motion has diminished so much over the years that I can no longer cross my leg over the opposite knee to put on a sock, I have to bend over while it is on the floor. Luckily, I am still able to touch my toes while standing so that helps with a lot of things. I can no longer kneel or put weight on it in that manner at all. If I can make it to sit on the floor getting up is a very interesting process, flip over, go into a push up position, straddle the legs out, work into a upside-down vee and then push up on the nearest sturdy item (couch, wall, chair, person, etc.). My parents both had bad knees (all knees replaced) and my older sister just had her knee done as well. I know I'm heading down that path quickly but have been delaying due to finances from my husband's cancer treatments. I also am not fond of my orthopedic doctor and want to find one I like before surgery.

[Glenda]

@Cele21  Google said on level group the force on knees is 11/2 times your body weight.  Add incline & the pressure is 2 to 3 times your body weight when you go up and down stairs.  "The accumulated reduction in knee load for a ONE POUMD LOSS IN WEIGHT would be 4,800 pounds per mile walked. (S. P. Messler PhD Wake Forest U.    ...........Cycling:  Your weight isn't multiplied at all on your joints.  However with any repetitive motion injuries are possible.    Cele, I think you and my daughter should lose one pound.  Heck!

     I have really made up my mind.  I'm going to lose 5 pounds.  I'm not buying any bread or other flour product or pastries, ice cream etc and I put all the cake mixes and nuts out of sight.  I almost threw out the dab of "light "  ice cream left.  I think I can resist it.  I've only had 170 nutritious  calories today and it is 1 PM.  

[Cele21]

Current starting weight - 208.0 (7/4/20)

LW - 206.4

CW - 205.4

GW - 200.0 (9/7/20)

Stretch goal weight - 198.0

Mini goal - 195.00

UGW - 150.0

Down another pound! Re-habbing my diet and hopefully keeping the downward trend going!

[Glenda]

July 31 weight 118.8

3 weeks later..

8/21/  today ....115.8

9/7  goal..........113      

[Cele21]

Current starting weight - 208.0 (7/4/20)

LW - 205.4

CW - 199.8

GW - 200.0 (9/7/20)

Stretch goal weight - 198.0

Mini goal - 195.00

UGW - 150.0

Found a 1200 calorie, 30 day meal plan that I'm trying - so far, so excellent!

[Glenda]

@Cele21  You seem to be doing very well with your diets!!  Good progress.  I'm impressed with all of you ladies on here.!!  It is a very slow process for me.  But I can brag about doing 10 squats 3 days and 5 lunges on each leg. LOL   I need to post a sign to remind me.  

[PCMagic]

@Glenda, you are getting very close!  Your program is working for you as you had been pretty stable for a while.

@Cele21, you are making great progress!  Not only hit your goal, but probably surpass your stretch goal which is great!

I went up a couple pounds the past couple of weeks.  Plenty of exercise, but too much eating!

Still two weeks for everyone to make some more progress before this challenge is over.

[Maggie]

Happy Monday.  Checking in

USW: 285

UGW: 120 (mid-range normal BMI) 

SW: 270 (7/4)

GW: 258

CW: 259.2 (8/24)  Getting close.  Exciting to see progress.

Non-scale achievement from this week - a friend complimented me about the work I've been doing.  She said she could really tell and that I've been making progress.  

[dancefoxtrot]

Hi all

Well was doing better but slipped back up a bit. I know that if I don't eat after 9 PM and wait til noon or 1 to eat brunch, I lose. I went down to 144.8 and bounce back up. Darn the late night munchies.

148.4 CW

Recommitting. Stay strong.

I'm in the Fire county in No. CA so no walking outside for me due to smokey air. 

My steps are down due to walking in circles in my studio has limits. 

Got some KN 95 masks today as current one is really dirty. Yea. 

[Cele21]

@dancefoxtrot  - Be safe!