Trying to lose 10 lbs. forever club

I am interested in finding others who have been struggling for a long time with losing the "last 10 lbs". .  I've been battling to lose 10 lbs for many years.  Actually, I've lost 10 in the last year but I needed to lose 20 a year ago (not just 10). 

I run, bike and swim now and have been participating in running 5k's and triathlons.  I have firmed up but would like to wear a size 8 comfortably.  I may want to go on to a size 6 next.


I think that if I had some friends with the same goals, then I would stay motivated.  Maybe we can share ideas and recipes. 

Let me know if you are out there and interested.

Good morning everyone!

     I weighed in today and I am up one pound; which means I am only down 3 pounds.  I am not going to get discouraged, I think I am just going to make a few changes.

     Today I already biked 12 hilly miles and I did two loads of laundry.  I want to clean the basement since it is very cool in there and my daughter has a doctor appointment this afternoon and they usually take 3-4 hours.  If I have time I want to do a BodyPump class this evening.  I am going to try to add in more strength training and force myself to drink more water.  That is the plan, so I will just have to see if anything interferes with it today.  As a mom, you just have to be flexible!

Mburns, I am so grateful to have the summer off!  I usually teach summer school, but decided this year not to do so because I stressed my self out with the school year.  I feel very relaxed, my house is clean, and I am very fit.  I am pretty sure I will be ready to go back in 4 weeks, but this is great.

Tonia, Good job with eating out!  It is such a challenge when someone else is doing the cooking.  My daughter and I have been experimenting with different kinds of salad for dinner because it is so hot here.  We are using spinach, tuna, salmon, spring greens, cucumbers, and different kinds of tomatoes.  It is rather fun.

Well, I have to go check on my next load of laundry.

Di

Hello ladies!

I apologize for my lack of posting. I have been really busy this summer!

I just got a gym membership at my work so I have been going at lunch. That solves my problem of never wanting to work out when I get home! I have also cut down on my portions and don't really eat junk except for the occasional slip! I haven't weighed myself in a while but I feel good in my clothes, which counts a lot!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Marie

Today's weigh-in: 140.8; Exactly the same as last week.  Down 4.2 from the beginning.  It's amazing how much TTOM makes a difference and salt consumption.  I was up 6 lbs. from the weekend on Monday and was able to take it off in three days. 

Dievans, I loved your attitude about the weigh-in... and your summer sounds like it is going great.  Like you, I plan to make adjustments to get to the next level.  I like the idea of calorie-cycling that Kiwistarfruit suggested.  The weekends seem to be my downfall. 

Ohio45: Is green tea suppose to help with weight-loss? 

MCPchants:  You sound like you are doing awesome.  I missed you but glad to hear from you.  That's fantastic about the gym membership and it's great that your not getting hung up on the scale.  The scale keeps me in line but I think it  is great when you know you are doing the right things and don't have to worry as much about it.  If I can get myself to the point of not grabbing junk or eating out, then I will probably stop looking at it everyday.

CNpaterson: I think it's great that you want to eat properly.  It sounds like you just need to frim up a little and those clothes should start fitting better.  I think we all want to eat right also; we need it to fuel all of that exercise we are doing.   Congratulations on the 20 lbs.  Maybe you can tell us how you did it and how you've managed to keep it off.  Did you have a challenge on the weekends; if so, how did you overcome that?

Yesterday: stayed within goals.  I wrote everything down but didn't total all my calories yet.  I plan to do that today so I won't have to do a consequence. 

Today: Started  master's swin lessons today.  It was an amazing workout.  There were too many laps to count but it was an hour workout.  Then went for a 12 mile bike ride. 

Eating:  stay within 1400 calories. 

Consequence: weed three yard beds.

Reward for decreasing weight by next weigh-in: Book a Facial at the Spa.

Have a great day!!

P.S.  What is everyone's best weight-loss gadget?  One of mine is my Salter Nutritional Scale to weigh food on.  It has a setting that you can enter the special number for the food you put on it and it will calculate the calories, fat, salt, protein etc in that particular food.  It also weighs grams.  And, you can put your plate on the scale and reset it to zero before you put the next item on the scale.  It also keeps a running log of calories. 

I am still working out 6x a week. Went for a really long walk today and sweated my butt off. I am in PA and I agree with the previous poster who said it was humid here.

I am still struggling to get down to 1400 calories. But working at it. I also am struggling with not eating after dinnertime. I just got done with dinner and it is 6pm. My calories are at 1070 for the day so far. I can easily rack another 500 if I let myself go. I am going to try to save some calories for evening snacks if I get really hungry, that seems to be the only way I can get close to my goals.

I know eating at night is bad and I probably stay at the same weight because of this fact.

I am gonna keep trying.

 

CC1170- You should try brushing your teeth right after you finish eating at night.  That helps me sometimes.  Makes you feel guilty if you eat, because you just brushed!  And if you have to eat at night make it something like an apple or a banana.  That way there is only one and it's gone, but it takes a while to eat.  And it's good for you!

Tonia-  That sounds like some machine!!!  Where did you find that??  I don't have any weight loss gadgets.... which might be my problem!

Had a good workout at the gym yesterday.  Didn't do any weights, but I ran 1 mile, walked 1 mile, did the elptical for 20 minutes and the bike for 20 minutes.  Feel SO sore today, but it's worth it!

Biggest challenge for today- going out for two of my friend's birthdays.  I've told myself I'm allowed one drink and that's it.  Helps that I have to leave early (or else my ride home will go without me!).

Have a great day everyone!

Mburns18: I got the scale from William Sonoma ( i like their money back guarantee on their products).  You can go to Salter Nutritional online and look at it and maybe order it there. 

Ohio45: Great consequence! I have one like that but won't post here just in case she ever reads this post :-), but it is one of my favorite consequence to call her and "chat".  I am trying the green tea.

Mburns: Great workout!  Makes me want to go lift some weights. 

Would anyone like to post a "under 1400 calorie" day for CC1170, such as:

July 30:

1 Banana 105

1 C. watermelon  46

1/2 peach 20

2 oz Ezekial Toast 160

1 T. Peanut butter 96

1 T. Honey 64

Salad with six almonds, 2 oz imt. crab meat, Flax oil dressing, Vegis      &nbs p; 200

Vegetable snack carrots & celery 30

Lamb 3.5 oz  202

Ez Bread 90

Rice with oil 130

Brussel Sprouts 65

Mint jelly 50

1/3 Mango  35

Total calories: 1293

I feel like I ate very well that day.  Hope this helps.

Can someone explain "net calories" to me.  Let's say that 1293 was my total consumption of calories  but I burned 900 on my bike ride and swim; is net 1293-900=393?  If so, is this dangerous?  Yesterday, after lunch I had only consumed 700 calories but burnt 900 in exercise.

Yesterday: Met all eating and exercising goals

Today: Step areobics class & Lower body workout if there isn't any target exercises at the gym. 

Eating: Consume 1400 calories.

Greatest challenge: I don't forsee any today.

Consequence: Call "that person" to chat.

Toniahayes: I have been wanting to buy a food scale for such a long time! After reading your post, now I really want one!

I caved this morning and weighed myself. I am down 5lbs! I am now at 120lbs. This made my day!

Have a good day everyone! Hang in there!

Way to go on the 5 pounds, Marie!  I weighed myself this morning and did not lose but I am optimistic since it is my TOTM and last month I lost a pound the week after.  So fingers crossed.

Report for Tuesday and Wednesday:  Stayed within my goals, do not have to vacuum under all the furniture.

Goals for today:  1200 calories, 2 workouts, pushups.  Same consequence.

Biggest challenge:  Not eating all the Kit Kats in the house due to TOTM. :-P
 

My favorite weight loss gadget:  I have a stability disc that I sit on whenever I'm on the computer.  It reminds me to keep good posture and to do little leg lifts while I'm typing.  

Tonia-  You have the concept of net calories down.  And you do need to burn more calories in a day then you take in.  But don't forget to account for the calories that your body naturally needs to do its thing.  If you don't take in enough calories to handle that as well it could get dangerous.  Obviously, I don't know the specifics on this, but if your concerned you should definitely ask your doctor.  I know that it isn't good to burn too many more than you take in, because rather then burning fat your body could start burning muscle as well.  You should figure out how many calories your body burns in a normal day (without exercise) and go from there.  I think the "normal" person burns something like 1600 a day just being alive (but I could be totally wrong on that).  Which means that with your numbers you were negative 1207, which I'm pretty sure isn't good for you if you do it every day.

But again, don't take my word for it because I'm definitely NOT an expert.  I'm sure there's research out there though.

Marie- Great job on the 5 pounds!

That being said, I just had a ridiculously good turkey sandwich for lunch.  Unfortunatly it had mounds of swiss cheese on it.  But I had a salad instead of fries!

Just found this tidbit of information:

"Keep in mind that one of the basic rules of thumb for healthy weight loss is to lose only 1-2 pounds per week. To lose one pound per week, you will do activities each day that burn an additional 500 calories per day, totaling to 3500 over 7 days. Another approach is to split the calories between exercise and food - eating 250 less and burning 250 more calories each day."

Thanks for the input on my struggles with night eating. I will keep them in mind as I venture into another night.

The calories burned from exercise has me confused too. I am taking in an average of 1500 a day, I also exercise 6x a week. Doesn't this balance out. How many calories can I eat when I work out that much. I am probably burning on average 300 w exercise a day, maybe a little more.

My weight was down a little bit today and I was thrilled. I lost a lb during this week. I am hoping to keep it that way.

My goal: to be good this weekend as I am going to visit in-laws. I am staying at a hotel and his family cooks very well. I am in trouble! To keep this pound off after this weekend will be hard. It is near TTOM and it will be a challenge.

Marie: I am super happy for you! Keep up the great work!

So my one drink last night turned into 5.....  does it make it better that I drank light beer?...... Probably not.  Did my calorie intake just now and I was at just under 2000. 

Starting off my day with a nice mixed berry breakfast though!  I get out of the office at 1:00 and am going to hit the gym before driving to NJ to see my folks. (My cousin had a baby boy!)  That will be a challenge for me because NJ makes the best pizza and the best bagels (neither of which are good in MA) so I'm going to have to try really hard not to eat it all.

Ohio-  Don't say "only 1 3/4 inches"- that's great!  That's 1 3/4 inches less then you were before, and you're that much closer to your goal.  Keep up the good work, and be strong this weekend!

CC-  I think you're about where you want to be with the calories. 

Basically (I think) the way it works is you want to burn 500 calories a day more than you take in.  If you did that every day, you would lose a pound a week.  Healthy weight loss is 1 to 2 pounds a week.  So if you're burning too many calories more than you eat then you could be damaging your body.  Your metabolism will also slow down because it won't have the calories it needs to work.  And that will slow down the actual weight loss.

But if you're taking in 1500, burning 1600 with "normal" stuff, and 300 with exercise you're at -400 calories for the day.  So that's right where you want to be.  Obviously you would have to figure out what you're "normal" calorie burnoff is for a day to really figure out how much you should be taking in.  I think this site has a place to do that, but I can't remember where.

Obviously I'm not an expert on this, but from everything I've read, that's what I understand of the whole process.

Edit-  Go to "Tools" "Allowance".  It has a form to fill out and it will estimate how many calories you need to take in each day based on your level of activity and your goal date.  And "Expenditure" will calculate how many calories you burn just during your average day.

I think 125 is a healthy weight for your height.  Have you thought about maybe just toning?

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the replies about  daily calorie needs.  I've done a little research and following is what I came up with:

 According to the calculators at the "expenditure" section of this site, I fall into the light activity catagory if I don't exercise.  So that means that my daily expenditure without exercise is about 1800 calories.  If I don't do any exercise over my normal activity,  and eat 1800 calories a day I will stay at this weight.

In order to lose 1 lb per week, I need to create a deficit of 500 calories per day.  That means I need to consume 1300 calories per day. This is without exercise. 

I went to another place to calculate calories burned through activity.  I can also calculate this at the "activites" section of this site.   So, if I burn 500 extra calories per day during exercise I will lose an additional 1 lb. per week.   I feel fulfilled eating 1400 calories per day. If I base my activities on burning 600 calories per day during exercise, I will be able to lose 2 lbs. per week.

1800 calories to maintain weight -minus 400 calories=1400 calories consumed.  Which is comfortable eating for me.   -minus 600 calories burned during exercise= 1000 calories deficit.  Which is equal to 2 lbs per week weight loss.

My goal for the coming week will be to consume 1400 calories and spend 600 calories daily exercising. 

Following is a calculator for calories burned for 30 minutes of  exercise :

Walking 3.5 mph=  1.33 calories per lb. of body weight (multiply 1.33 X body weight for 30 minutes of this activity)

Running 10 min per mile = 2.43 calories per lb. of body weight

Cycling 10 mph= 1.36 calories per lb. of body weight

Swimming= moderate crawl 2.12 calories per lb of body weight

Weigh training= 1.15 calories per lb. of body weightTh

This really helps because I now know if I use more calories per day during exercise (like this morning I used 800 -900 calories swimming) I can bank those calories for the weekend.  I am going to try to bank exercise calories for my higher weekend calories consumption.

Hope this is not too confusing and helps someone. 

Have a great evening!

T

down to 247 total lost 14lbs since end of jun'07