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 1st everyone! Hope it's the start of a good month for you and you will reach your fitness goals. My last weigh in I was 245.8, just before I put the scale away for the time being.

This month is going to be all about trusting myself to eat in a healthier manner and making what chnges I need to make to be healthier and feel better over all. It's not going to be about a number on the scale and whether it "ALLOWS" me to have a good day based on my weight. I've allowed that for too many years in the past, and it's not a great weight to live. I've "ALLOWED" the scale to determine what I'd eat for the day, or else get so frustrated I'd eat everything not nailed down, then moan for days over the weight gain. Or beat myself up for the weight gain and go to very unhealthy ways to drop the weight fast, and then start over. Never ending cycle of abuse to my body and self-esteem. At 68 years old, I should be past all that, but old habits are like a well loved pair of shoes. You know it's time to let them go, but because they're so comfortable, you hang on to them. But for me, that time has finally come and although it's proving to not be easy mind wise, I don't regret putting the scale away. I don't know when I'll check my weight again here at home. I may just go with the doctor's scale when I go for appointments. That's at least 2 times a year, and I know their scale weighs within .2 of what my scale would show so I'd be getting pretty much the same number here. I'm hoping by the time I do weigh in at the doctors office there will be a nice surprise, or at least no added weight. I'm hoping to get to the point where I won't even look at the number when I step on the doctor's scale. As long as my lab numbers stay as good as they are now, I know I'm doing something right.

Food wise; I still need to make healthier choices and will put that into plan at next grocery run. In the meantime I'm working on eating as healthy as I can.

Have ya'll tried the Jenni-O turkey burgers? I bought some yesterday cause they were buy 1 get 1 free (6 to a box). They have next to no excess fat and really pretty good. I had 2 for lunch yesterday and it was filling enough that I didn't eat anything else the rest of the day. Just didn't get hungry. I know 2 bugers are a lot for 1 meal but since I didn't eat anything else all day it wasn't a lot over all.

Exercise wise; I got in a little extra walking yesterday between going to the store, then a little later walking to mailbox and back, which round trip is about 2 blocks. My knee is doing a little better but I don't want to push it too hard and it start buckling again.

What are your April goals and are there any long term goals you're just now putting into effect?

Happy April. The sun is out following a rough, icy weekend. I lost 3 trees in my yard but my house and car were spared. At 204 today. Coming down a littke, which may be from getting away from bread.

Glad there wasn't more damage done Teri.

Have yall tried turkey burgers? I got some to try and really like them. A lot leaner than ground beef and almost zero fat. But high in protein. The brand name is Jenni-O's. I got the seasoned ones but they have plain or with green onion too. It's another option when I want a burger. And very filling. It's 6 patties to a box and each patty is vacuumed sealed so no having to pull them apart.

I've tried pre-made turkey burgers before. Might have been  store brand. I liked the plain ones better than the Mediterranean spiced ones but only because garlic upsets my stomach. They are very convenient and I buy them once in awhile. Good find, Vicki.

I think I'm at 147? I have been bouncing around between 145 and 150, but I'm ignoring that till April 20. 
 

I finally got a call from Social Security! All processed, and first check this month, on 4/16. What a relief! Now maybe I can pay off the credit cards I ran up a bit to make ends meet while trying to get to 62. So at least my financial health is better.

Also my results are back from mammogram Tuesday, all fine, come back in 2 years. 
 

well, my focus should probably be on getting sleep!

Glad the tests came back good Margaret. And your SS# are now all set up and you'll be getting it soon.

I think you had a typo on the weight though. You and I seem to stay close to the same. Didn't you mean 247, not 147? I know we both wish it were the 147.

Yes, 247! I can't even imagine 147! I haven't been there since I was 28, and that was 34 years ago, before any kids.

It's been 18 years since I was that small myself.

Hi, friends,

Long time, no see. I'm doing well. I've had a weird eating week and want to share my findings.

A few days this week I wasn't feeling very hungry at lunch, so I ate very light lunches, barely anything, thinking I could get by until dinner. Turns out, for me, that is a bad idea. I found I was super hungry by dinner. It was causing me to eat a pre-dinner snack, then dinner, then still feeling hungry later and would eat some toast. I've seen upticks on the scale these past few days as a result. I'm still in my weight comfort zone, just barely, but with each little uptick, it's right on the upwards edge of the comfort zone.

I also found that this weird eating schedule was causing me to think about food more...like being so hungry I needed a pre-dinner snack, or feeling bad for eating again after dinner. I used to feel that way a lot before I lost weight...I would feel bad about eating or over-analyze what I was eating. This week's weird eating was a blessing because it showed how much I DON'T think about food when I just stick to my plan. 

So, I told myself today I was going to stop skipping/eating very little lunch. I was going to eat the same lunch I've been eating for months and months. And I did. I ate my normal breakfast that I've been eating for months and months. My normal lunch that I've been eating for months and months. And sure enough, I did not want a pre-dinner snack. I then ate our family dinner. And sure enough, I did not want to eat after dinner.

This is eye opening to me to see just how important it is that I eat enough food on schedule as to avoid snacking later bc I skipped lunch. I don't know why I was doing that for a few days, but Never doing that again. 

Also, added bonus, when I ate on time and ate enough, I didn't spend the day thinking about what to eat or when. My mental health today around food was much improved compared to the last few days. 

I'm happy to just go back to my eating plan, stick to the plan, and not have food as something I think about and dwell on.

Heather, I agree with you about eating at least a little bit on a regular basis. I tend to eat big breakfasts. If I try to go all day on that, skipping any snack midday, I get antsy about 2 pm and think about food all afternoon.  I snack on pretzel rods or something else until supper just trying to feel calm. My dog's supper time is 4pm and I tend to prepare my supper then too.  Anyway, if I eat 1/2 cup of my homemade greek yogurt with some buckwheat honey on top at midday, I do not snack during the afternoon. Miss Meggie gets a little dish with a tablespoon of yogurt on it too. She loves my yogurt!

Hi Heather, It's good to hear from you.

Sometimes we have to test ourselves, whether we mean to or not. Glad you found out what was causing your problem and was able to get back on track.

Teri, yes indeed, pretzels were my pre-dinner snack. 

The good news is that the incremental upticks I've been seeing the past few days have chilled out. Today I'm the same weight as yesterday. I'm getting back on my normal eating routine and going to drink water and tea today. I need to reverse the damage from my haphazard eating this week.

I wish I could eat 3 meals a day but usually if I eat breakfast I then tend to feel hungry all day. Or constantly think about food. I find I do better if I wait til at least 11am before having my first meal of the day. Then eat supper between 5-6 pm. There have been times though that I find myself wanting to snack on something late at night if I can't sleep. And I know that's the worse thing I should be doing.

How did you all do last week? What goals do you have for this week?

It felt weird not getting on the scale every day but freeing as well. I tried to eat more like a non dieter would and I think over all I did ok, Wednesday is my grocery day and I'll be buying a few things I'm running short of, like eggs and canned tuna. But I think I'm going to continue in the same way as I did last week and see how it goes.

Tomorrow I go to the DMV at the court house and get my friend Phyllis's name taken off of the title and car registration. She had co-signed for me when I first got my car because at the time I didn't have much credit ( I have good credit now). But we both want it just in my name now that the car is paid off so I called and made an appointment to get it done tomorrow. Phyllis and he son will go as well even though they don't need to. They just want to see it get done too. Phyllis is in her late 80's and they were concerned she might pass and at the time we thought it might be a hassle getting it all put into just my name. Found out thats not the case but they still want to go with me. So that's what we're doing in the morning. Then the car is finally all mine, free and clear. Phyllis actually paid off my car loan for me and I'm paying her back monthly, but at a little less than what the finance company was getting. It'll take me a few extra months to get it paid off but we have it set up as a personal loan, not a car loan. The car is totally mine, free and clear. I'm just paying her back a personal loan now. I never imagined she would do something like that but she wanted me to have my car paid off so I didn't have that bill hanging over me. With the personal loan being less monthly, it gives me a little more money in my pocket. It does help. As I said, she's a good friend. We've been friends since 2002. She's lived with her son and dil since her husband passed about 7 years ago. Bob and her husband were good friends as well. Phyllis and her family are the only real friends I have here in town and they say I'm "family", which means a lot.

Hope ya'll have a good week.

The upticks on the scale have reversed. I'm down 1.5 lbs from my high last week, and back in the low end of my comfort zone. I learned a valuable lesson to make an eating plan that I know works and stick to it. No need to play guessing games when I just stick to the plan.

That's great Heather. Keep it up.

I decided yesterday to bring my scale back out. If it's in the apt. I'm going to use it. So no more hiding it away. I actually didn't do badly the 2 weeks I didn't weigh. I had put it up weighing 245.8. This morning I'm 242.4, so it is going down a little. I am going to try to limit weighing to just a couple times a week though instead of daily, but no promises.

Weight is still coming down. It's 240.2 this morning. Today is bill pay and grocery day so I'll get in some extra walking.

I'm still having trouble coming up with food items to buy. I remake my grocery list a dozen times before I finally head to the store, and even then I'll end up making changes while there. But I'll get it done.

Down a pound. 203 today. Every pound both a battle and a victory.

Good for you Teri. I've been walking more the past couple of days. As much as my knee will allow.

Not a good weigh in today (243.6). Hopefully next time I weigh it'll be better.

It looks like this month is going to be bad for me weight wise. The number is still climbing. It's 244.6 this morning. Today would have been mine & Bob's 29th wedding anniversary, and I guess I've been more depressed than I thought I'd be. I know I've been eating more than I normally do and although what I've eaten hasn't been really bad for me, I've eaten more than I should of it. So I've got to figure out how to flip that switch and get back into control of my eating so the numbers start coming back down. I know I should cut myself some slack considering it all, but I know how long it takes me to relose pounds gained so I've got to get my head on straight and start eating as I know I should instead of eating my emotions.

Just do the best you can, Vicki.