What has helped me and I know it is not for everyone but since mid-November I have been intermittent fasting and making sure I walk 8,00 - 10,000 steps a day (giving myself two days off to rest but I still try to hit 5,000-6,000 steps on those days and still fast). I had wrist surgery the first week of December so I have not been able to work out at all and as I mentioned previously I hit 15lbs lost last weekend. Biggest thing I found is I would eat often when I was just bored or when I really was not that hungry but I thought I should be eating. Example I would eat a decent size lunch because it was lunch time but a lot of times I really was not that hungry. If I truly am hungry, than I will eat something healthy for lunch. For me counting every calorie does not work. I did Noom in the past as was successful for a bit but the logging every meal, just did not work for me personally. I still use some of the things I learned in the readings though.
Like @Thans3 mentioned having small goals has been big for me. First goal was to get down to 226 (15lbs down from my start). Current goal is to get down to 220. My goal after that will be to reach 215. Another goal is that if I lose 20 pounds and keep it off, I am going to reward myself with a new 3 or 4 Wood.
Keeping my motivation going and will probably post tomorrow as well. I’m fortunate where I have 2 younger brothers who love exercise and are very knowledgeable when it comes to lifting. I also count it unfortunate because I did a workout tonight crafted by my super duper health conscious brother and it WHOOPED MY ASS!
He wants me to focus on back, chest, trunk, and quads. My response was, “Is that all?”
If anyone wants the workout I can send it to you cause honestly it was really good.
Just a side note: I find myself afraid to weigh myself. Need to improve my overall diet despite cutting out fast food and soda. I don’t want to be discouraged if I haven’t lost anything.
Today was a test. Terrible night sleep, super sore from yesterday evening, and stepped on the scale for a more accurate weight. Very demoralizing to see 263 (yikes). Grinded through it. Not as hard as yesterday but did my best. Gotta keep going.
Don’t let the scale get you down. I faced this in the past where I would have anxiety about having to weigh myself. You are making healthy changes and that is the most important thing!
That’s what I’m trying to tell myself. I’m debating between avoiding the scale, even though avoidance isn’t necessarily good for mental health, and weighing every day.
Scale I have I try to look at the other numbers. Water, muscle, fat, etc. as long as those are either going in the direction I want or staying in a good place, the actual number doesn’t matter in terms of weight. Those come with the healthy changes.
RENPHO Smart Scale for Body Weight, Digital Bathroom Scale BMI Weighing Bluetooth Body Fat Scale, Body Composition Monitor Health Analyzer with Smartphone App, 400 lbs - Black Elis 1 https://a.co/d/84272qd
It’s good, not great, but gets me the metrics I wanted on my weight loss/health journey. Now, I need to get back on that train after covid hit me and I got lazy near the end of last year, but it was great when maintaining for the stuff like water, various fat values, muscle, etc.
When I did a two year stretch of daily calorie counting and tracking weight, I would only log my weight on Fridays. My reasoning was that I would do my best eating during the week and then back slightly off on the weekends so it would take a few days usually to see any of the water weight drop off.
That’s where having a scale that tells me all that shit has been great. I ignore the weight number, but focus more on those kinds of numbers in the 1 or 2 other times of the week I pop on the scale to check in. The weight will fluctuate, but as somebody who tends to not drink enough water on a fairly regular basis it’s been helpful to be sure that number is high enough.
You’re doing well. Keep it up. Be kind to yourself, give yourself rest days and start tinkering with your diet. Think about healthier options, ask yourself every time you’re about to eat whether you are in fact hungry.
I’m trying to not beat myself up too much. My focus has been to eat slightly healthier and drink less soda, but really to make working out a new habit. To choose that over laziness and hopefully it sticks.
Last time I did one of these things at the gym it said my metabolic age was 59 … most of my limbs were red too. Pretty chuffed. (Also taken with a grain of salt.)
Coming out of something similar myself - I can empathize. Calorie tracking is the one thing that - when I do it consistently - positively correlates to weight loss and healthy choices.
I’m far from where I want to be, but that was the first thing I added back in come New Year.
I like the idea of a monthly check in here for some light accountability.
I’m down 7lbs since Jan 1, eating is under control.
Focusing on getting in the gym regularly this month (I’m a one change at a time guy). There’s some sniffles sweeping through our house right now so we’re having a delayed start in February, but we’re getting through it.
