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.

Happy April My friends. Completely forgot to start this yesterday. But it's up now.

Started out the month at 250.8. Hoping to see a steady downward spiral this month. Going to try my best to eat as healthy as I can and get in more activity instead of being such a chair potato ( I don't own a couch, LOL!).

Hope everyone has a good month and reaches whatever goals you've set for yourself.

Hi! I'm starting April up a little at 196.9 but yesterday was Easter dinner with friends.  Today I start Jardiance. There's no food-centered holidays coming up, thank goodness.  Today I'll haul in some wood because we might get MORE snow mid week.

My cold took a turn for the worse. I canceled my volunteer shift today. Still deciding about going to work. I left work a little early on Saturday, leaving a few short tasks undone, because someone overcooked an entree in the microwave and set off the fire alarm. So I thought I would go early today to get those stray tasks done, but this cold is getting to me.

i still haven't found enough energy to go to Planet Fitness. At this point I think I'll just wait till tax season is over.

Margaret, that's really tough to have a cold right now! I hope you recover quickly. Everything understandably gets pushed to the side during a cold and then you have to play catch up.

I pushed myself and filled my inside wood racks. The weather is about to get nasty again. Then I threw together a soup that will feed me all week. I sometimes lose a little weight when I eat it.  Leftover roast chicken, onion, chicken stock, frozen mixed veggies,  canned navy beans, leftover buttercup squash, canned green beans. This will fill 4 quart jars. I fill the jsrs while the soup is super hot then the jars seal as it cools. It will keep in the frig for a month. But I will finish it long before then!

Margaret, I hope your cold gets better. That soup sounds good.

Teri, I'm sure you'll get any Easter excess off within a day or 2.

I've actually stayed the exact same weight the last 3 days. Guess that's good but I do hope to start seeing it going down more. I'd love to be down a few more pounds before I see the doctor on the 12th.

I shouldn't have bragged yesterday. My weight went up a little for todays weigh in ( 251.6). My goal for this week will be to get back into the 240's. Planning to get in as much walking as my back will allow.

I'm here :)

Teri, I hope your new medication does what it's supposed to do without any problems!

Margaret, your cold sounds like it just won't quit. Do you think prescription from a doc would kick it?

As for me, I'm just chugging along. I woke up with a big ache in my bag from sleeping in a weird position. It hurts, and won't go away, lol! I'm going to give it another hour, and if it's not worked itself out by then, I might need to skip the gym.

Heather, I hope the ache goes away. There's a place on my left middle part of back that will seem to "catch" if I sleep wrong and nothing but time takes the ache away. Take it easy today so hopefully yours won't get any worse.

I'm 250.8 again this morning, which is what I started April as. Hope to keep it heading down now.

Winter has returned today in the form of SNOW!  Inside day today!

Teri, April is usually a snowy month for us here too, but this year we're just not seeing it. Enjoy your snow day!

My back is still very painful. It's the middle part, and I feel it most when I tilt my head to look down. I think you're right, Vicki, it will just take time. And that's ok. I'll just wait it out. Hopefully it subsides.

Teri, hope the snow wasn't too bad.

Heather, I hope your back eases up soon.

Tonight/early morning, as its5:20am now, I woke early, around 4:30, and am having trouble going back to sleep. May just go ahead and get up and maybe take a nap later on.

I'm going to try to ease back into exercising today. I have no idea what I did to my back. It's like a tight, sharp soreness under my left shoulder blade. Today it is a bit less, but still very noticable when I bend my head to look down. I'll just try to avoid doing that.

Today ends....wait for it...my fourth week of using the Heathi app. I really needed help guiding my eating so that I wasn't over-doing or under-doing it. I am very happy to have found out about that app here in this group - although I haven't seen Jackie here in a few weeks. I'm glad she bopped in long enough just to tell us about the app :)

I am down 7.1 lbs since January.

I am down 4.6 lbs since starting the Healthi app four weeks ago.

Onward...

I'm glad that app. works for you Heather.  WTG on the weight loss. Hope whatever is going on with your back will ease up.

Hope Jacci posts again soon. Also Scott.

Third morning in a row that the scale says 250.8, same as it was on April 1st. I had one day this month when it went up a pound, but then went back down. I had hoped to be under 250 by in the morning and who knows, I might be under that number in the morning. Even if it's only 1 oz below, it'll make me happy.

Had a bad evening last night, emotionally. Not sure what triggered it, but I had a crying spell like I haven't seen in over a year. I know Bob's and my anniversary is coming up ( April 14th) and we would have been married 28 years. But I thought I had gotten past the crying stage. Apparently I haven't.

I'm ok this morning, but I really hope I don't see another trigger like last night  anytime in the near or distant future.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Vicki, I understand the impact that anniversaries or other significant dates can have.  April 26 is approaching fast. That's the day 6 years ago that my wife died. Last year I ate my way through April, not really paying attention.  I gained 10 pounds.  This year, I'm going to handle it better.  I really don't think I'm going to eat my way through but I did put my wedding ring back on for April. I am hoping the visual connectiom of the ring on my finger will help me. So far, all is well

I started Jardiance on the 1st.  I am hoping its total coincidence but since then I've had 2 ocular migraines.....one on the 3rd and the other on the 5th.  I Googled it and everything I read says there's absolutely no connection between Jardiance and ocular events. So I'm not panicking. I'm still taking it. I'll just wait and see if there are more. I feel fine. I'm down a couple pounds.

Oh, Vicki. I hope things looked better in the light of dawn. I myself have also had moments like that, especially also at night. Get some good food and water into your system, and take it easy today.

I'm back!  :)  I've had some pretty overwhelming issues going on in my life.  Personally and health wise.  I just got lost myself for a bit if that makes sense.  

Vicki and Teri, I'm thinking of you both and hoping things look a little brighter today.  Margaret, hope your cold is better.  Heather, thank you for the sweet shout out.  I'm so glad Healthi is working for you!  I started back on it today.  Hope Scott posts soon too.  

I am having a major setback on my leg issue that took me months to achieve.   It's been hard.  My consult with a surgeon may be sooner than expected now.  Worried about that one as my weight needs to be a lot less than it is now for eligibility.  Also, nervous of what surgery is possible.  

Doing lots of soul searching, journaling and positive self talk.  I signed up for Better Me.  I'm going to do the 28 day walking challenge.   It could help my legs and balance a lot.  I watched one of the workouts and it looks like I can do it.  I also weighed this morning to track on Healthi.  

This computer is playing with my head today. I posted a long message in here yesterday, answering all the posts yesterday that are above, and my message is gone this morning. Just know I'm thinking of you all and hope this is a better week for us all. I'll add more later.

Forgot to "watch" the topic.

I finally think I have conquered the cold! Energy is back, and coughing is almost gone.

But now, it's sneezing and runny nose time... my allergies are back due to the spring pollen starting up. 
 

I went a little over the 239 pound barrier that I had said I was never going back over. But I'm excusing it due to the cold. 
 

This week I'm just in survival mode... last week of tax season.

Glad to hear you're feeling better Margaret. Hope you'll be able to take a break once tax season is over.

I think I've been stress eating the last few days. I get the results back on my ultrasound and biopsy on Friday, and although I'm pretty sure everything will show up ok, there's still that little worry it won't be good news. So if you're a prayer, please keep me in your thoughts the next few days. I'll let you all know what I find out on Friday.

I got some raking in  today. I uncovered the spring flowers coming up out front...hyacinths, tulips, daffodil, crocus, columbine.  Meggie and I ran the garbage today. I'm pleased I drove right on by the fish fry wagon! I will go later in the spring but only if it seem the right time.

In a way I miss raking leaves. When Bob & I had the house I'd get outside and cut grass and rake leaves. Here in the apt. complex, they have lawn care people. In fact they're here this morning. Woke up to weed whackers.

My weight is down slightly this morning, which is crazy to me since I did some serious damage to a bag of potato chips last night. But other than that, all I ate yesterday was some Gorden's fish filets. I may do pretty much the same thing today as I'm going to be paying bills, etc. this morning and once back home will be too tired to cook. I may stop at Subway and use the last of my Christmas gift card and get a 12" meatball with provalone and black olives, to have for my lunch and supper. I usually have 1/2 for lunch and the rest for supper when I do subway.

Have a good day all.

Teri, we are big gardeners too. I love cleaning out the debris and finding the new growth. We're reaching that point here soon. Weather in CO is always iffy, but this spring has been very mild and dry - which is no good. I wish we had had a few more snows.

Vicki, I hope your test results are good news. The wait is almost over!

Margaret, I am glad your cold is almost over. It sounds like it was a bad one. Only a few days left in tax season. When I was in college (20 years ago), I took the H&R Block tax class when I was a sophomore just for fun. I loved it and was very good at it. I ended getting offered a job, and for my junior and senior years of college that was my job. It was my first professional job. My undergrad is economics and then I went on to get my MBA, so that kind of thing is right up my alley. After college, I moved to Georgia with my husband at the time. He was an officer in the Army. He was stationed at Ft. Stewart. I ended up taking a job as a manager of an H&R Block nearby while I got settled in the area, etc. I remember how frantic things can be in April. I hope things are manageable for you!

Jacci, good to see you back in the group! How is the Healthi app working for you? After some initial testing out of all the different plans, I ended up choosing the sugar smart plan. Turns out watching my food is so much more to the equation than exercising. Exercising is to keep my body strong, but it is not the ticket to weight loss. I hope Healthi is able to get you where you want to be to qualify for surgery. What I've realized is that it is slow and takes time, and I need to take it pretty seriously. Sure I have some days when I go a lot over my allotment, but I am taking it very seriously for the most part, and seeing slow but steady results. This shows me that "little things" here and there are not going to make a difference. I need to be committed to bigger changes.

As for me, again I am just chugging along. My back has recovered. I go to a chiropractor each Monday, and he knew just what was wrong. He fixed it. Today is actually the first day I am going to ease back into exercise. I was not able to go all last week. As for my progress, today is my lowest weight of the year. I am 1.5lbs away from my goal of losing 10lbs since January. It will still take more time, but hopefully by the end of the month. I'll just keep doing what I am doing because it seems to be working.

Heather, it sounds like you're going in the right direction.

Back years ago when I lost a huge amount of weight (105 lbs) my main exercise was walking. I didn't own a car then so I walked everywhere. And my best friend lived clear across town so to go to see her meant about a 5 miles walk each way. Some days I made the trip over there 2-3 times a day. I didn't have a phone either so if I needed to let her know something, I had to walk there to tell her. And my son was too small to walk all that way so most times I'd be carrying him the whole way there and back. So I built up a good bit of muscle in my legs and endurance. But when I first started the exercise program I was only walking in my apt. I'd walk from one room to the other and up and down the 12 steps leading upstairs to the bedrooms and bathroom. I'd go back and forth until I had walked 30-45 minutes. And I had the Canadian Air Force Exerise book that I'd do floor exercises by. Back then I could get on the floor and get back up without any problem. These days if I get down on the floor, I'd better have something I can grab on to to help get me back up, like a sturdy chair.

But I knew my eating back then had to change drastically, if I truly wanted the weight off. I was doing low carb back then but didn't know what I was doing had a name at that time. I lost 105 lbs. in 13 months, but along the way I also developed an eating disorder ( bulimia) and that stayed with me for many, many years. Even now, when I'm trying to push myself to lose weight, my mind goes to those practises, and that's not a good thing. So I have to take things really slow and accept that for me to lose the weight this time around is going to be a long process and a much healthier way. And there are going to be times I slip up and I can't beat myself up over it. There are going to be days when I eat way too much and of the wrong foods, but that's ok too.

I may never be thin again and I'm ok with that. My goal is only to get below 200 lbs and then stay there. That will be a lot better for my over all health than where I'm at now at 254.4. But I have to do it one day at a time, not make any real long term plans because to do that is a map for failure. I just do my best each day and hope I make the best choices I can for each day.