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.

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Just getting this set up to start using in the morning.

Happy Holidays My Friends. I hope this month will be a good one for you all.

I'm starting off December at 253.1, which I'm not happy about, but it is what it is. Starting Monday I'll be back driving for Uber and won't have as much time on my hands, to eat out of boredom. But knowing the month of December usually means a lot of added foods I normally wouldn't be eating,  I'll try to eat as I know I should but I'm not going to worry about all the calories, etc. and spoil the holiday. I'll see my new doctor on Dec. 11th for a meet & greet wellness check-up and he'll most likely order blood tests since none have been done since the 1st of the year. Last bloodwork was almost perfect, so hoping this next time will be as good.

I will be trying to get more exercise this month. Driving for Uber gets me out the door but it's not much in the exercise department, so I'm going to be doing as much walking as I can handle as well as doing a number of chair exercises so as not to aggrivate my slipped disk in my lower back. I did order a stretch exercise band with handles and will use that for my stretching exercises. And will be getting on my exercise bike more.

Hope everyone reaches their goal for this month.

I'm starting December at 197.8. I am up because injuring my knee really threw me off my stride. I was unable to cook anything for a couple of days, in a lot of pain. So I ate easy things like toast with peanut butter, tortilla chips with salsa. TV dinner.  I'm more mobile today although I still use the cane for balance. I was able to take Meggie outside for a short walk yesterday and today. Its not easy because the ground is uneven. She's such a good sport because she deserves es a longer walk. I didn't take her out for two days. I'll make it up to her.

I'd be so happy to be at your weight Teri. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever get below 200 lbs. That's the ultimate goal for me. I know the lower I get in weight, the less issues I'll have with my back & legs since there won't be as much fat pressing on them.  I'm finding I have a real issue with carbs, especially white carbs, and sodium. Next shopping day I'm going to mainly buy protein. A very low carb diet helped me so much when I lost a lot of weight before and I'm pretty sure it'll work again if I go that route. But it'll be January before I do any serious grocery shopping. Having to make do with what I have for now.

Vicki, do you journal what you eat? For myself, knowing exactly how much I've had of protein or carbs helps me plan and keep my focus.  I see that I usually have 80-100 grams of protein daily and no less than 30 carbs a day. I keep track throughout the day so I don't over eat or snack in the evening. There are lots of free apps that do this.  I am tbe kind of person who will eat impulsively unless I have a firm grasp of what I have had already and stick to that.  Forbreakfast I usually have eggs and bacon....28 grams of protein and 2 net carbs. I am usually not hungry at lunchtime but occasionally have some protein like boiled egg or cheese, or greek yogurt.  I save carb consumption for dinner.  This is what works for me. I gained weight this week after my injury thanks tortilla chips and PB toast! 

I got in the swimming pool yesterday and it felt so good! I went over to Mom's and used her pool. I am a bit sore in the glutes today.

Today I weighed in at 222.4.

Jan 1 I was 240, though later in the year I did hit 250 again. So my goal is to finish the year below 220. Next year I'll try for under 200.

Goals for December:

• oatmeal every day
• do all PT exercises
• walk every day, though for today it's only a ten minute goal.

I used to journal what I ate. But it kept me constantly thinking about food, what I could or couldn't  eat.

I rarely eat breakfast. I usually have my 1st meal around 11:30-12 noon, then supper between 6-7 pm. I try not to keep snacks on hand but I'm almost addicted to peanut butter and saltine crackers. That's my go to snack. But once I get started, I can easily eat a whole sleeve of crackers with peanut butter in a days time. Have done it many times. And that's just way too much.  So that's something I really need to keep away from. I can go a week or two without eating it but then I start craving it like I'll die if I don't have it. I can go thru 2 boxes of saltine crackers and a large jar of peanut butter in a week's time. That's way too much. I'm thinking of dropping the peanut butter crackers and go back to eating yogurt. At least that wouldn't have all the sodium.

Margaret, you've done great with your weightloss this year. I really wish I could say the same.

Good job, Margaret!

Vicki, its interesting how differently we operate. I must have breakfast or I feel awful. Low blood sugar. But I often don't want lunch.  Whatever works as long as we're reaching goals! 

196.6 this morning.

You're doing great Teri. I find if I eat breakfast then I want to graze all day long. The longer I can put off eating, the better I seem to do. I know back in the early 80's when I lost that huge amount of weight, I only ate 1 meal a day. I'd eat supper with my son, after he got home from school. During the day I lived off of coffee and diet pepsi. Not the smartest way to lose the weight, but it worked for me. I also walked everywhere since I didn't have a car at the time. Sometimes I'd walk up to 10 miles a day. A friend of mine lived across town from us and I'd walk over there 2-3 times a day. And when my son was under 6, a lot of times I'd carry him part of the way if I didn't use his stroller. Nowadays it's all I can do to walk to the mailboxes and back (10 minutes, round trip) without my back going into spasms.

Wow! Vicki! We're complete opposites!  Since I don't have any helpful tips, I'll bea cheerleader! Go! Vicki! Go!

I am in Vicki's camp! If I eat breakfast I tend to nibble all day long and end up eating too much. So I rarely eat breakfast. I love breakfast food, but just have it at other times. Today I really want to eat some eggs. But at this point that will need to wait till after PT.

i don't think I weighed yesterday and not sure what I ate the day before, but I was starving yesterday. Finally decided if I ate anything besides what I was craving I would still crave it. So I ordered out for pizza.i get the gluten free and that only comes in 10 inch. I got sausage and pineapple and I ate the whole thing. Expected a rise on the scale but it was down a pound from Saturday!

But I am not the least bit hungry today. And also, I didn't have any sweets yesterday, and sugar seems to be what makes me gain, though there was probably some in the pizza sauce.

i tried to do the set of PT exercises today early but ran out of time. Now I'm sitting in front of my Sun Square and when the timer rings I have to get dressed and head to PT. I'm going to go by myself today for the first time. I may not come home for sometime just to enjoy some time alone...

Margaret, you did good. I only ate once yesterday but it was a high sodium meal as I ate a sausage sandwich (homemade) around 11:30 am.

Later on I turned my ankle and the pain was so bad I had to wrap it in an ace bandage and keep the foot elevated. I took a couple strong OTC pain pills and after awhile the pain eased up, but for a while there I thought I was going to have to get my friend to come get me and take me to Urgent Care since it was my right ankle. Thankfully I didn't have to do that. Today I still have the ankle wrapped but there's barely any pain, so hopefully tomorrow I can get back into my regular routine. Just going to baby the ankle today.

Vicki, take care of the ankle!

Teri, I hope the knee is better. 
 

I really pigged out yesterday, but ok. Weight up today, but I think it will go back down fast. Just normal fluctuation. 
 

I finally got to 100 degrees of bend at PT yesterday, though I should be at 110 by now. Well, I will keep working.

Good Morning All. Having some tummy issues this morning so having to stick close to the bathroom. So no driving today. My ankle is fine today, thankfully. I got on the scale this morning and I'm back down to 249 llbs. I think one thing thats helped is that I got rid of the saltine crackers and peanut butter. But I also haven't felt much like eating so have mainly just been eating soup or a small can of beef stew.

At 248.9 this morning. Would love to be under 240 by the 1st of January, so that's what I'm pushing for.

Good job, everyone! Keep plugging away! Slow and steady wins the race.  I'm at 195.2.  I've laid off carbs again, which seems to make the difference for me. I'm preparing for a major shopping trip Sunday. I'm out of a lot of things, especially vegetables. I could go any time but I'm waiting for Sunday because it'll be warmer. I might be able to get everything to the house using the lawn mower and cart. The mower won't run when it's real cold. I do not want to hand carry all the groceries to the house!

My knee is still not completely stable so I'm using the cane as much as possible. I occasionally use the heating pad and pillow. This is going to take awhile.

Well, as I suspected, my knee, well, just isn't bending. So at the 6 week checkup this morning, the diagnosis is.. too much scar tissue in there. So on Dec. 20 I'm scheduled to have a manipulation under anesthesia, which basically means they put me out and then forcibly bend the knee to rip the scar tissue apart. Then I get to go to PT 5 days a week so it won't come back. Supposed to be quite sore after the procedure, but only for a couple of days. And then a big jump in range of motion. I knew this was probably going to be the outcome of this visit. At least it will still be this year since I already met deductible. Sigh.

Margaret, so sorry you're going to have to go thru that, but hopefully it'll help your knee in the long run. Hope it won't spoil your Christmas.

Teri, you be careful when you're shopping and bringing in those groceries. You don't want to rehurt yourself.

I'm up a little this morning (249.6), thanks to too much bread yesterday. I had sandwiches for lunch and supper plus a bowl of soup at supper and it was too much carbs. I think I'm going to either have to quit bread completely or buy the low carb brand which tends to cost more.

Weight steady at 222.0 for two days. Going to try to get to Planet Fitness today, where I can work on stamina on the one machine I can use with current amount of knee bending. 
 

the goals I made are not happening:

Goals for December:

• oatmeal every day I think I've done this twice
• do all PT exercises I get close most days, but often run out of time and don't complete the fourth set, which are mostly optional. Because of the upcoming procedure, my therapist is shifting to fewer bending exercises and more strengthening exercises.
• walk every day Not doing this at all. The knee is not bending enough to let me walk with proper technique, so they don't want me to reinforce bad habits, and in fact, if I walk very much, it hurts my compensating right hip. So I'm doing a machine like a Nustep instead, but only on days I have time to get to the fitness club. Obviously, I do walk around the house to do normal life activities, but I'm not walking for a set time to raise stamina.

Shopping was hard work but my knee did well. I was in luck because its 50 degrees so the lawn mower started. I loaded the cart with the groceries and got them all inside more easily.  I managed to take Meggie for her walk before  collapsing into my chair, feet up!  I had planned to shop tomorrow but there's a big storm forecast.

I'm down 1.6 lbs. since Dec. 1st. as of this morning, but as of right now I'm still UP  15.1 lbs. for the year. That's disappointing, yet I really haven't done a lot to lose the needed weight. I really wanted to be below last years end of year weight, by the end of this year, even if only by a pound, so I'm going to really push myself the rest of this month and see how close I can get to that goal. My last doctors appt. the doctor was wanting me to lose 17 lbs. I've managed 2 lbs. of the 15lbs. Hoping the new doctor doesn't call me on it.

 Margaret, maybe you can do your Dec. goals for the rest of the month. Don't give up on yourself. You're worth the effort!!

Teri, glad you were able to get the shopping done and Maggie for her walk. You did good. Hope the storm isn't too rough on you and your family.

Wow I only got about half of the PT exercises done yesterday. Hard to keep motivated when I have another procedure looming no matter what I do. But I did get to Planet Fitness for ten minutes on the Nustep thing and a session in the massage chair.

did have oatmeal one meal and scale went down a little this morning. 220.2. So I'm pretty sure to make my under 220 goal for the year. I started at 240, so I'm hoping to get under 200 by the end of 2024.

today I went through a fabric bin of pants that were rotated out. I rotate clothes a lot, and the bins are small, so not overwhelming. Only 4-5 pairs of pants fit in each bin. This bin had two pairs of jeans and two pairs of slacks. I put back the jeans without trying them on and added two pairs of jeans that were out. Jeans do not feel good on the incision! So that was some jeans out of my way and maybe next time I try them on some will fit better. I tried on the slacks that had been put in the bin because they were uncomfortably tight. Yay! The 18W fit great, so that's a start on the clothes I need to have lined up in January for my new job! The 18 was too small, but I set them aside. Tomorrow I'll go through another bin and put those in that one. Trying on pants is hard when your knee doesn't bend, so I did enough today. If I find more 18W that fit, I can retire some size 20W that are now too big. 

Margaret, that's awesome you have it set up to rotate the pants in bins. Kind of neat. And 20 lbs. lost this year is really good. You should be so proud of yourself.

I ended up going through all the bins. I don't know why there was a size twelve pair of jeans in there! It's in the donation box now. I found some sweatpants that fit, yay! Also several slacks that are size 16 so I just put them back in the bins. I kept out the size 18w, 18, and the ones with size tag torn out to try on later. If only the 18W fit then I need to buy more before January. I only found two pairs of those. But some brands might fit ok in size 18. 
 

it's just too much effort to try on pants with a knee that doesn't bend, so I won't try them all on in one session.

Todays weight, 249.3. Saw the doctor yesterday (6 month check-up, new doctor meet & greet), and he said my heart & lungs sounded strong and healthy. He ordered lab work for just before my next visit, which he wants in 3 months, plus he ordered a mammagram and he wants x-rays of my lower back and hips since I have that slipped disk. He prescribed meloxicam for the pain/spasms I get in my back when I do much walking. I'll pick that up today. I had hoped he'd prescribe tramidol since that's what my ortho doctor had prescribed for the bone spur in my shoulder, but with tramidol, there's the worry of issues with the liver. I guess that isn't as much of a worry with meloxicam.

 Found out last night my son & daughter in law will be here Dec. 23rd. We'll celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and they'll head back to S.C. on Christmas Day morning so they can spend part of Christmas with their friends as well. I'll take whatever time I can have with them. Haven't had Christmas with my son since 1996, and it'll be the first time seeing him in person since 2011, and it'll be the 1st time meeting my DIL. Just can't wait. This will truly be a happy Christmas for me.

Margaret, You're doing good with the pants, even if it's hard trying things on with your knee. I mainly wear capris and the sizes are all over the place. Some are listed as 2XL and some are listed as 18W. I was shocked to see I could wear a 18W at all. But 2 or 3 pair are listed as 18's.