Weight Loss Goal 50 to 100 Pounds

[Lisa1980]

Hi! 

I'm trying to lose 75 pounds, hopefully at a rate of 1.5 pounds per week. I started on my journey a week and a half ago and I'm currently down 3.6 pounds.  I'm looking forward to a healthier lifestyle and if you want friends for extra motivation feel free to add me.  🙂

[Kikai]

Congrats! That's an awesome achievement. 

My husband and I met with a personal trainer tonight and I think we are going to start working with him 1x weekly to change our routine up a bit and build muscle. I'm excited (and nervous)!

[Mermaid3011]

@Kikai

Ohhh that's exciting! I am very curious to hear what your experience is to work with a PT. I have never done that before and especially together with your husband - that's awesome!! 

Please do keep us updated!! 

Birgit

[JennyK0729]

Great idea!  This should be fun.

[Kikai]

@Mermaid3011

Birgit,

It was awesome! I have to admit, I was very intimidated intially, but this trainer is the most reassuring, down to earth person I have ever met. This is the only job he has ever had since college. He always worked out for himself, just to stay fit and in shape, and started helping his college friends. He said it was so rewarding to see people who were not active get active, and be healthy, that he decided to do it full time. He is in his 30s now. He was very understanding. He said if you don't like to get on the scale, then he won't make you. It's all about doing more than you did before, and if weighing yourself makes you cry, then don't do it. Just try and achieve more each time and it will come. 

Having said that, he put us through a short routine of 15 squats, 15 sets of arm pulls towards us and 15 sets of arm pushes on the standing weight machine. 4X. He kicked my butt. 😛 60 squats!! I don't think I've squatted 60x in my life, never mind in one afternoon. I loved it, and I can't wait to go back in 2 weeks. We are going to do 1 -1 hr session 1x a week to start. He will teach us a routine that we can use at our local gym, or do at home with what we have available. This will definitely tone us in different ways that just walking, that's for sure.

My husband also bought me a WiiFit. 🙂 I was too heavy for the exercize board before, but now I'm OK. I love video games, so this should be cool.I want to try yoga.

K

[EdinburghLass]

Today is a new day. Well I ended up binging again so I'm starting afresh today. I'm now at my heaviest ever and feel so sluggsh and fatigued. My dog passed away a month ago so I havent been getting out for my regular walks as it was upsetting bumping into other dog walkers and having to explain what had happened. Anyway, today I put in my headphones with some cheesy music and off I went for a 30 min walk with fitbit on. Felt sad not being with my dog but at least I made the effort to get out there and feel better for it. I'm gonna lose this weight and won't be defeated!!!!! I know that weekends are my "danger zone" where I'm likely to eat and drink more than I should. I need to incorporate this with doing additional exerciise though rather than abandoning the fitbit altogether!!!!!

I've made a star chart for my fridge. One sticky star for every pound lost. Hopefully that will remind me when I reach for food in the evenings. Why is this journey so bloody difficult???!!!

[iMike]

Try not to be to hard on yourself.  I lost one of my cats last year to feline leukemia and I was sad for months.  Last week I set some goals for myself - even posted them publicly on this form - but yesterday I binged homemade tacos (I had seven!).  When I do binge I don't even realize I'm doing until I'm most of the way through what's in front of me.  I felt bad for hours, thinking in one day I had obliterated six days of progress.  All you can do is get up, dust yourself off, and start over the next day.  I'm starting therapy tomorrow and one of my goals for therapy is to figure out my food triggers; as I said when I go on binges I don't even realize I'm binging (or that I'm eating something I shouldn't) until it's too late.  My hope is that if I can discover what my triggers are (beyond boredom, I think that's a pretty common answer for many of us) then I can develop some healthy techniques for dealing with them.

[EdinburghLass]

Thanks Mike, yeah I think people who aren't animal lovers don't really get it. I've lived alone with my dog since my divorce three years ago so he was my company and the one motivation for me to get out of the house and go for a walk. There's no personal trainer that could have got me up before work to go for a walk but when your dog is whining and wants to go out there's no ignoring it. I'm in therapy too. I seem to binge eat because it makes me feel numb and then I don't have to deal with my emotions anymore. I often don't even remember making the decision to do it and before I know it Ive been to the shop and demolished bags upon bags of food. I don't keep binge food in the house but the shop is only a few minutes away. it's so hard. I have 7 stone to lose and high cholesterol ples Addisons disease so I need to sort my weight/health around. If I could sort out the binging then it would be so much easier c

[Kikai]

That is an outstanding attitude to have, lMike. We are all human, and we all make mistakes, or binge, or eat/drink things we say we aren't going to. We need to forgive ourselves and keep going. Think about how we treat other people on this forum when they make a mistake and feel bad for themselves. We all rally around them and tell them it's OK, they can do it, and show love and compassion. We need to learn to do that for ourselves, too. Show yourself some love and compassion for being human, and continue on our journey. 🙂

[Mermaid3011]

@EdinburghLass

First of all: congratulations for getting out and walking! 

I am so so very sorry you lost your companion! I myself have a dog since 9 years and dont even want to think about what will happen if... 

Grieving about a pet is comparable to grieving about a friend or family member. And it's something that needs time. Dealing with people's questions is tough and I can understand that you withdrew and avoided those conversations! But you have made the first step to getting out and back on track! You should be really really proud of yourself! That's worth many many many sticky stars!!

This journey is bloody difficult because we have learned to comfort our sadness with food, celebrate our victories with food and it's something you just can't completely cut out, like cigarettes! You can't STOP eating... that's why it's so hard I find. 

And being sad, depressed, grieving, lonely or whatever it is that each person deals with makes it even harder! 

I find peer support the most important thing that keeps me going and has kept me going over the last 8 months. 55 lbs down and 45 lbs to go I decided I needed to gather likeminded people around me to make this second leg of the journey easier. 

That's why I created a FB group for support, motivation, coaching eachother and giving me accountability.

This is the link in case you are interested in joining: https://www.facebook.com/groups/436598776550364/

I personally believe that healthy living also includes self care, being good to ourselves, stopping the negative self talk and improving our mental health. Because one goes with the other... 

All the best

Birgit

[Mermaid3011]

@iMike @EdinburghLass

OMG me too - me too!! 

I have had depression for years and started to see a therapist again last December. She has helped me so much defining why I am overeating and what I can do instead. Being aware of the why and when and noticing triggers is so incredibly helpful! 

I dont think I would have been able to go through the last 8 months and lose 55 lbs without having learned those lessons for myself. My therapist also give me accountability because she sees my success, sometimes asks about my eating habits, makes sure that I go slow and steady... 

I personally believe that you can't "cure" being overweight without "curing" depression or an underlying eating disorder. Actually there is a lot of medical evidence that fat tissue is producing a hormone which again works in our brains and makes us more depressed, so we eat more, which adds to the fat tissue and it's a vicious cycle! 

This here is an article about it - at the bottom is the bio chemical explanation. really interesting!! Even for people without "clinical depression" or "mental illness": 

http://www.currentpsychiatry.com/home/article/how-to-manage-depression-in-overweight-or-obese-patien...

[EdinburghLass]

Thank you so much guys, your replies made me cry...in a good way 😉 It's been a tough few weeks and I miss my walking companion so much. He lived to 16 so he did well and was his springy self right to the end so I can't ask for much more than that. Mermaid a loss of 55lbs is amazing. So proud of you. It's great havung the support of people on here when you are low.

[GiaKat]

CONGRATS!!!

[EdinburghLass]

I conducted an experiment today (coz that's the kind of geek I am!) because I had stuck to my steps/cals for several weeks and not lost weight. This was partly what lead to my binge because I was so annoyed!! Anyway I found my old fitbit zip and wore it on my right hip at the same time as my fitbit flex on my right wrist (set to dominant hand). The flex is already nearly 2000 steps more than my zip. I'm now thinking this may be the cause of me not losing weight. Either way it's not very reassuring. I'm a music teacher so use my hands for playing piano/drums etc so perhaps doing that every working day means that a wrist based tracker isn't for me. Will test it tomorrow on the other wrist but I'm thinking with my occupation a clip on tracker might be more accurate.

ps. dont want to put others off using the flex. It just looks like with my job it's picking up too many extra steps to be relied upon. 

[hayleycan]

@EdinburghLass If I'm not mistaken, your to put your wrist fitbit on your NON-dominant hand.  That might work better.

---

---

[Mermaid3011]

@EdinburghLass

Oh first of all I apologize for making you cry!! 

And secondly: that's totally not geeky in my books! 🙂

I realized that I have to take off my flex when I am knitting - because the movement I make when I purl causes a step... LOL

So yes, with your occupation a clip on may be better! 🙂

Hugs

Birgit

[EdinburghLass]

Thanks Hayleycan, I just thought as there was a setting for the dominant hand then it would be ok and accurate on that hand when set to the dominant setting. I kind have to have it on that hand as I wear my watch on the left wrist and it feels sooooo weird with my watch on the other wrist! tried it but hated it.

Will try it tomorrow though without wearing a watch and see what the difference is...but yeah, maybe my occupation isn't the best with wrist based trackers!

[EdinburghLass]

Birgit I'm suprise it counts steps when knitting. I always thought knitting was quite a sedate activity!

[paperclip]

@EdinburghLass

I'm so sorry about your dog!  It's a devestation, I know.  I've had to say good-bye to one dog and two cats so far in my life.  Each one was like my child.  I now have a dog that 10-11 years old and I know I'll be saying good-bye to my kid again much too soon for my liking.

I really feel for you and hope the good memories can override the sadness you feel.  If not now, eventually...

V

[paperclip]

@EdinburghLass @Mermaid3011

LOL I always have to remove my Flex when cooking because when I'm "banging" my cooking spoon on the side of the pan to get the bits off it, it sets my Flex into sleep-mode LOL

[Mermaid3011]

HAHAHAHA That’s awesome!!!!!