Are you looking for support on your health and fitness journey? If you are, then this thread is for you.

There are no expectations in this forum. Post as often as you like. Post anything that you feel is relevant to your own personal health and fitness goal. Here are some ideas:

• Monthly health and fitness goal
• Daily health and fitness goal
• Progress (or setbacks) in reaching your goal
• Personal stories about why you are joining this topic
• Healthy recipes that you feel others will enjoy
• Links to articles or books that you feel others would find helpful
• Food Choices (healthy or unhealthy)

Remember, your health and fitness journey is your own. There is no one program, method, or philosophy that is right for everyone. This thread is for support only.

Good Morning all & Happy May. Hope this will be a productive month for us all.

I was afraid after yesterdays weigh in, today wouldn't be that great of a start, but overnight I dropped a lot of the excess fluid and am starting out the month at 250.4. My goal is to lose 5 lbs this month and keep it off. I really hoped to be down 25 lbs. by end of August, but I really don't see that happening unless something really changes with my metabolism, so I'm working to just lose what I can. I wanted to be able to go to SC the end of August for a long weekend with my son & daughter in law, but I don't think I'm going to be able to go this year. I just won't have the money needed for all the gas and other expenses that a long trip intails. Maybe next year I can manage it. But I do still want to lose as much as I can in the meantime. I know the more weight I can get off, the better I'll feel and the more energy I will have.

What are your goals for this month?

I'm tired of not meeting goals! I'm going to make easy ones!

Daily goals:

• Floss in the morning. (So often I am in a rush and only brush. But I just need to stop hitting the snooze button so much)
• 2500 steps
• all knee exercises.

2500 steps sounds so small! But in 2023 my average was 1651! Of course that included really low days after surgery.

And in 2024, so far, my average is 1661. Note, I'm getting all of these from my phone, so if I walk around the house without my phone in my pocket, those steps don't get counted.

My average for the past week is 2340, so I think 2500 is doable, but I only have 2160 so far today... see you in a bit after I walk the halls!

OK, 2700 now. :)

You'll get it done Margaret. I need to start wearing my pedometer to track how much I walk. I doubt I get in more steps than you since walking for long really aggrivates my back, but I know I need to try and get in more steps.

Hi, group! Happy May :)

I saw this posted by a coach on my weight loss app, and I thought it's be good to share here 

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WHEN THE SCALE LIES You've worked hard all week, stuck to your plan, drank your water, moved your body and are feeling confident come weigh in day.

You step on the scale......... WHAT?!? That can't be right!

You're right actually. Unexpected numbers on the scale can be caused by many factors - it's frustrating and disappointing for sure.

There are a bazillion things that influence that number though. The average person fluctuates 0.5-2lbs over the course of the day. If you want a better idea of what's actually going on try weighing daily - same time, same scale, same clothes and average it instead of having one number, which is just a snapshot of your body at that specific moment. You can record this in Healthi, in a journal or an app like Happy Scale.

It's all data... Just data... But it can help you see trends in if sodium, carbs or changes in exercise are affecting you.

Then there are still other things to consider:

• Fluid/Water Retention

Sodium Retention

Muscular Repair from increased exercise

Hormonal Changes

Amount of water you've had

• Amount of sleep you've had

• If you are sick or your body is fighting off illness

• Time of day

Clothes

Bathroom habits

How much coffee/caffeine you've had

How late you last ate

Reaction to meds

Reaction to foods

Inflammation from Artificial Sweeteners

Inflammation from medical issues/ autoimmune

Carbohydrate Sensitivity

Insulin Resistance

• Thyroid issues

PCOS issues

Allergies

Sometimes it's about going back to basics.

• The first thing to check is are you tracking everything you should, not by eye (portion distortion is real) but actually weighing and measuring?

• Are you eating enough calories? Eating too few can create a sluggish metabolism that holds onto everything....

Are you actually overeating calories through not tracking everything, drive by snacking, finishing your toddlers plate or not counting foods correctly?

• Are you getting enough water? Hydration is key to not only stopping hunger but keeping your body from holding all it can from the foods you're eating.

• Check in on your sodium levels. For sodium sensitive people you can gain 2-8lbs overnight from retention. And high sodium hides in many things as innocent as canned soups, frozen dinners, cottage cheese and when you eat out - it is very easy to exceed your daily recommended level. The average person shouldn't exceed 2200-2400mg/day and people needing to watch sodium, it's 1500.

A large Wendy's Chili for example = 1170mg.

McDonald's Grilled Chicken 1110mg. Applebee's Fiesta Lime Chicken 3970mg...

For most people it will take 1-2 days to flush through your system so be sure to watch this 3-4 days before weigh in to avoid a big surprise. The good news is - it isn't a real/fat gain and drinking plenty of water (without additives - you'd be surprised at the sodium in some diet drinks and products) will usually take care of it for you.

Artificial sweeteners can also cause retention in some people so if you are eating/drinking a lot of sugar free or fat free foods, you may be bloated or getting inflammation from that.

In the end, this is a long haul process - some weeks up, some down. Be patient with yourself... It will balance out. #justkeepswimming

All very good information Heather. Thanks for sharing. I'm definately sodium sensitive. I can easily gain 5 lbs overnight and I know this but still let the scale bother me when the numbers are high. This morning is a good example. I had a lot of sodium yesterday and I'm up 5 lbs. this morning. I know I didn't eat 5 lbs. in calories (only about 1800 calories in all but too many for me considering my activity level), but there was a whole lot of higher sodium food. I knew this when I fixed it but I ate it anyway. So the scale told on me this morning. So today I'll eat as low sodium as I can and hopefully over the next couple days the numbers will go back down.

I'm 251 lbs. this morning so numbers are startong to come down again thankfully.

I posted these daily goals on May 1:

• Floss in the morning. (So often I am in a rush and only brush. But I just need to stop hitting the snooze button so much)
• 2500 steps
• all knee exercises.

how did I do?

I flossed in the morning before leaving home 5 of the 7 days, so this habit still needs work.

i got over 2500 steps every day except Sunday, when I just had a lazy day, and I decided to just have one rest day and alter the goal to 6 days a week. I know 2500 steps is not much of a goal, but I still don't have much walking stamina after knee surgery followed by a sedentary job. My average steps per week were still 2479, even though I didn't record on Sunday because for walking around the house I did not have my phone in a pocket to record steps. I considered raising the goal for this week, but there were still several days where I had to take a few trips around the building after 11 pm to get in the steps. So I'll keep it there for now.

on the knee exercises, I still have not gotten that habit back from after the cold. I did the ones I do lying down every day and that was better, but I didn't always do the rest, so I'll try to do better this week I think I did more knowing I was going to report to this group, so thanks for the accountability!

Margaret, you're still doing great. You've set goals and trying hard to follow thru. Keep it up.

I need to change what I'm eating to things with less sodium but I'm stuck until I eat what I've got right now. In the past I've given away so much food because of unwise choices and couldn't see throwing the things away, so I'd donate them to the food bank, but now I'm no longer in a position where I can do that. I can't just get rid of the food and go to the store and replace it. I'm on a very tight budget since I no longer earn extra money thru Uber ( became way too dangerous), so what I buy I have to eat. So for now I'm eating foods in higher sodium than I'd really like ( like canned soups & stews). Once I've eaten most of that up then I'll do a trip to the store and try and pick up some healthier foods.

I'm up 1 lb. this morning (252).

Sorry, everyone. Forgot to watch the thread! Gotta catch up.

Glad to see you here. Was about to send you a message.

I've been busy weed whacking, mowing lawn.  I've been stressed by my van being in the shop.  I had to leave it but I'm getting it back tomorrow. It was the struts but covered by warranty.

There's so much work that needs to be done outside with the start of spring. I have to prioritize. The grass grows so fast now.

Had a great long walk yesterday. Very scenic. But a little sore today from the inclines.

You're both getting out and doing things. That's so good for you both, both physically as well as emotionally. I feel like a slug these days. Don't want to really do anything but read.

I'm 251.2 this morning so it's going down a little.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day weekend.

I had to call my fixit guy for the lawn mower. He's stopping by this afternoon. I was hoping to mow before the 3 days of rain hit. The grass grows so fast now. Just as well. My low back is sore from bouncing on the mower a day ago.

Hope your back eases up soon Teri.

I've found out I definitely can't eat peanut butter. I wasn't completely sure til today. After not eating it for over a month, I made a pnt. butter sandwich for supper and within 10 minutes my stomach was in cramps. So I know that is the end of my love affair with peanut butter. I took some baking soda water to help ease the cramping.

To make myself feel better I cut my hair. Due to the top and crown being so very thin I can't do much there but I cut the back and sides short. Then I washed and conditioned it. So hopefully it won't be too flyaway tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a lovely Mother's Day tomorrow. I'm looking forward to my son and daughter in law calling.

Have a good evening.

Hope everyone is having a good Mother's Day. I'll be hearing from Chris & Macy sometime today so that will make it special for me.

I'm down 3 lbs. for the week but of course the numbers are still up. Hope next week I'll be below 250 again. Today 252.4

My back recovered throughout the day with Tylenol and a heating pad. This morning, my back was again very painful though not as bad as yesterday.  Being in bed always makes my back sore but its not bad, usually,  unless I was over active the day before.  The king mattress lies on the wood floor, no springs, and was new in 2017. Oh well.  I do have a new queen bed in the guest room. I've been thinking about swapping them but I need to try it out first to be sure because I would need help to do it.   The queen bed is presently very high off the floor as it rests not only on its own box springs but the king box springs as well. I had to remove them from under the king so that Meggie could jump up and down. No steps. I had to put the springs somewhere so under the queen they went.  I will decide soon whether or not to switch because in the next couple weeks, I will have a couple of handymen here to do some work and I could ask them to manhandle the mattresses.  When I first got Meggie, the king bed was so high I had to pick her up and put her down. She was clearly not happy to be dependent like that.

Update: Today, Sunday, I undertook a rather strenuous venture. I removed the king box springs from under the queen bed and wrangled them under the king mattress. It took awhile but I had to go slow and take many small steps since I was working alone.  I removed rhe eggshell foam topper and changed the bedding .... Cotton summer sheets in place of flannel. My dad's handmade quilt in place of the heavy down comforter and a light ivory-colored blanket over the quilt to protect it from dog prints.   With the box springs and without the foam topper, the bed is about 4" higher. Meggie was able to get on the bed. It took her 2 tries but I expect that she will adjust to the difference and compensate. Time will tell.  Without the foam topper, the bed does feel firmer. I'll know more tomorrow.

Teri, You did get a workout. It wears me out just making the bed on my rollaway bed, which is about the same size as a twin. The rollaway bed mattress was way too thin so over the last 3 years I've bought 3- 2" toppers then my friend Phyllis's dil gave me a memory foam topper I had to cut down from queen size to make it fit. My bed is finally really comfortable but it is a work out to change the sheets. I almost need full size instead of twin-long, but of the layers of toppers. LOL!   Then I also have 5 pillows on the bed since I sleep elevated a little. But I love sleeping there now. For years, while Bob was still alive, we slept in recliners because he couldn't sleep in a bed. So having my own bed now feels good. But the rollaway was all I could afford at the time right after he passed, so I've made it work for me.

Hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day yesterday. My son & dil called and we did a video chat so we could see each other and they showed me all they'd done to the house they're now renting to own ( friends mother owns the house and when the morgage is paid off she's signing the house over to Chris and Macy). So they can truly put down roots there now. Makes me happy.

My back felt better on the bed without the eggshell foam topper but my hips didn't. I'll give it more time. Also its still too cool at night for just Dad's quilt. Meggie was scrunched up close behind me. I will put the down comforter back on the bed until the nights are warmer.  I can deal with the hip pain better than back pain. The hips always feel better once I'm up and moving; the back not so much.

At 194 today, which is an improvement. Amazing what cutting out cookies can accomplish! I still don't think Jardiance is having an effect. 

Its not going to rain until afternoon so I better get out on the mower!

I know what you mean about back vs hip pain, so hope yours is manageable.

I'm 252.2 today so it's gone down a pound. Whoopee!

This is the 3rd day in a row that I've been 252.2, so holding steady. But I may be up tomorrow as I indulged this evening and had a big plate of lasagna for supper. Haven't had that in over 7 months so I thoroughly enjoyed it.