I didn't weight this morning-- my schedule is off and I just forgot. I have been holding pretty steady but with no additional losses this week (after a big loss last week).

I am finally able to eat salads and vegetables again so looking forward to a healthy week of eating. Ive been craving fresh vegetables!

I am heading out to hang out with my sister-- the day will include cocktails and snacks. I haven't been out socially with friends or family since Feb so really looking forward to it. I will be mindful of what I eat but not going to stress a few drinks.

Hope you all enjoy the holiday and long weekend!

I'll start with "challenges." I hit my goal of getting under 145, which is the limit for my weight and age to still be in the "not overweight" category, but I seem to be stuck losing and gaining the same two pounds between 140 and 142. This happened to me before ten or more years ago. Whenever I would try to get below 140, I would remain stuck and just keep bouncing around in the low 140's. It's not an extreme low weight for me, I weighed 110 when I was in college and didn't look skinny, and was 115 for almost two decades. So my goal of around 135 seems more than reasonable . . .

On the success end, I have gotten out most of my summer clothes and I am having NO trouble fitting into my size 12 clothes that I still kept, and the size 14's are loose. So I will happily not have to buy all new clothes in a larger size. I like the way I look, not like I am stuffed into my clothes or all baggy trying to hide the flab. I don't really want to look like Twiggy, just someone healthy and not way out of shape.

I am finding out more and more that salt is very much my enemy as far as maintaining a consistent weight. I have pared down my salt intake but when I eat out or "splurge" on commercially prepared food, I take a big salt hit. Last week's splurge on some Chinese takeout didn't put me over my calorie count but I think it was off the charts in salt content and that may have caused such dramatic fluctuation in my weight last week.

Chinese takeout always makes me bloaty -- thai and vietnamese not so much. Something I have been eating has caused some inflammation/bloating so I am going to keep track of what I am eating for a few days. Not calories or quantities-- just what.

I managed the day pretty well .,. just hung by the pool with my sister and mother. I had a number of cocktails but didn't go out of bounds with food. I had some watermelon and a hot dog. Im good with that-- it was a fun time and a great visit and worth the extra cocktail calories.

Funky I am really watching my sodium intake and that makes more difference in my day to day weight than calories.

Doing well with calories and we have had our grandson for two days by himself so my activity level has been high. I am taking most of the eggplant parm i made to my daughter when we return Andrew today.

Weight coming off appropriately, i am staying at 1200 cal for at least a few more months. My maintenance is between 1500 and 1600 averaged over a week.

I agree about salt. When given a choice I prefer salty to sweet. Restaurants always seem to use excess salt. It takes me a day to get rid of the salt weight.

Important to be diligent with my water.

I also prefer salt to sweet-- keeping those salty indulgences out of the house for now.

KSWL, I too try to stay between 1000 and 1200 calories. It has been fairly easy when I plan and properly stock the fridge. I shoot for 1000 but commit to under 1200. I am no longer tracking but I do check calories on a new recipe or on individual items.

I had the realization a few days ago (when the fridge was pretty bare) that I do better when I have a plan-- I rarely meal plan since it is only me but this is going to be a busy work/life week so I gave it a go this morning. It actually reduced the total on my grocery order and I am looking forward to my meals.

I am on a blackberry sage iced tea kick and that's helped me keep my water intake up. I also ordered some pineapple and mint to infuse in my water.

Looking forward to a healthy week!

DH will be out of town for a few days this week, which usually results in me doing one of two things: eating too much junk bc there are no witnesses, or eating light because I don’t want to cook (cereal for dinner, anyone?). My plan, of course, is to do the latter. Once I polish off the cookies that DD made before she left.

I was a little worried about the blue dress that I posted in another thread, hoping some of my recent indulgences didn’t mean the waist would be too small. I just tried it on, figuring if it was snug, I could catch myself in time to reverse the damage, but it still fits great! So maybe I haven’t been as ”bad” as I thought I was.

Sueb, just know that your weight now is perfect for the dress.

Clothing doesn't lie.

Side story: Many years back when I first started WW, I lost more weight than expected. Of course that was temporary. But....I kept a pair of Anne Klein pants and every now and again I try on. Not that plan on being that weight, but its just a comparison.

Everyone seems to be doing great. The blackberry tea sounds delicious.

My last week and a half on vacation was a mix I walked a lot, lots of hills too and I ate fish every day, I love fish but my husband is not as much a fan. On the other hand, I indulged in dessert most days, sometimes more than once and some terrific martinis. The number on my scale reflects the goodies that I enjoyed. Overall I feel good about the week, lots of good family time in a beautiful area. Good for my soul.

Back to improving my diet this week.

No loss again but staying on track with eating low carb. For some reason I really wanted some tuna casserole (go figure) on July 4th. Made a small casserole and calculated total carbs to be only 50 grams. Above my normal max of 20 but not too many. No increase in weight next day. Took care of cravings and I didn't go overboard.

@Sueb20 -- hope the week is going to way you hoped and glad your dress fits perfectly! Like Eld said, "clothes don't lie".

@jill302 Glad you had such a great vacation! I was thinking of you when I saw the cruise ship that hit an ice cap and had to send all their passengers home. So glad that wasn't your ship! You'll get back on track quickly!

@JustDoIt -- I never had tuna noodle casserole but I do have my own cravings. Glad you could give yourself a little indulgence and still not go completely off track!

I am managing -- staying steady. My meal planning isn't going as I'd hoped but only because I was overly ambitious about the kinds of solid food I could eat. I need to adjust my menus. I also need to adjust my attitude. The world has made me so sad.. and I am just generally down. I haven't felt like doing much of anything. I cobble together stupid and unsatisfying meals -- they're in the right calorie range but unsatisdying meals aren't going to help me in the long run. I could do better.. I will do better.

Funky, I'm so glad you're able to eat fresh vegetables again! That's fantastic. And the perfect time of year with all of the wonderful summer produce available.

Pink, congratulations on fitting into your size 12s! To me that's really the best measure: which clothes fit. I too am struggling with hitting a weight threshold that my body just doesn't seem to want to get under. At the same time, I feel like the fact that my smaller clothes fit is far more important than the number on the scale. Maybe you've put on muscle if you're exercising more and your body composition is better even if the number on the scale isn't dropping as low as you'd like.

Sue, that blue dress looks so pretty. I bet you look fabulous in it! I am envious that you have some fun occasions to wear pretty dresses coming up. It feels like I live in athliesure items at home and only go out somewhere fancy enough to wear nice jeans and a blouse. I need to find some excuse to wear a cute dress somewhere.

This week I am being sort of lax between the holiday and my husband briefly being home on a break in the middle of several months long training in another state for a new company. I am still exercising every morning, but haven't been trying very hard to get in weight lifting. And I'm having some relaxing meals and cocktails together a few nights. Still doing my 2x 24hr fasting days with only 400cal dinner, though I haven't tried to push myself to any full 36hr fasts this week. This week my weight is either steady or down 1lb. It's always a little hard to tell. I ordered some new jeans in two sizes and looked at the smaller size and thought "no way that will fit", but it did. I am really happy with my size, though I do feel like another 4-5lbs might be nice. If I'm lucky maybe losing that would drop the remnant fat on a couple stubborn spots.

A fitting in the smaller size jeans is such a win, @pricklypearcactus! Also glad you can enjoy some relaxing meals with cocktails! I am craving these kinds of things to battle my general disgust with the world in general.

Sadly, I was a bit aggressive in thinking I could eat fresh vegetables-- well, I can, I just need to cook them further than I like. Salad is not working out well for me. It's ok-- I will get there-- it just has me a little down. More so because there will be a short delay in my progress as my Dr will be OOO for 2 weeks for her own surgery. I'll get there soon enough. In the meantime, I just submitted a new grocery order with fish and veggies I can cook to a soft enough texture. I am really looking forward to fish!

Funkyart, I've been on a diet from the news this week, and it's done wonders for my attitude. Not sticking my head in the sand, but trying not to dwell too much.

I'm happy to report that I have been increasing weight training these past few weeks. I do a 25-minute circuit while watching a Hulu show that I'm embarrassed to admit I find entertaining. But it gets me to my home gym.

I've also started doing some squats and gentle stretching as soon as I wake up, and it's a great way to begin the day.

My diet has been mostly good, with the exception of over-indulging on the 4th. But a few days, and I'm back on track. I'm mostly excited about muscle tone again, which just helps with my overall functioning.

I could do better.. I will do better.

This is my update.

Wishing everyone who needs a little extra motivation well.

So happy for those celebrating victories.

Onward.

I second your strategy of surrounding yourself with good info, Legomom. When I do this, it keeps my mind focused on the health and functionality of my body, rather than its appearance.

@Feathers11, I stretch in the morning when I first wake up-- but I am going to add some squats too! Thank you for the idea. I spend so much of my day sitting at the computer the squats and stretches should help before I go into a static position.

I too am on a news diet-- and cutting way back on social media too. The news is horrific enough but the negativity was rubbing off on me. I was ready to pounce at anything that came my way for a few days. I am still sad and down-- but much less reactive and negative.

@Zalco/bring back Sophie! - thank you so much for the encouragement. It does wonders for me and I am sure everyone else on the thread!

@legomom23 i suspect most of us have times of body shaming. Ironically I received many compliments over the weekend from family members who haven't seen me in a few months but something about the compliments made me focus on how much more I have to improve. It is silly but so easy to slip into those self destructive behaviors.

And PS.. you are doing great if you can return from a vacation with a loss!! It means you really have made a lifestyle change.. that's so important. Congratulations!!

I was supposed to talk to the Wellness Coach from my insurance this week, but she had an emergency and had to cancel. I looked at my last blood work values to prep for the call and they are from September, so I really need to get these done again. Looks like my primary care doc is out of town, so I have it for the following week vs. next week. I should probably also have soemthing done post-Covid if there are any changes, even though I had a super mild case.

@legomom23, I may also work with an RD to help me meet my goals. But I really need the bloodwork done so we can address cholesterol on top of weight.

Still doing Zumba, but I’ve been great with the TRX and other bodyweight training, abs/core, and stretching. Weight is not good. I’ll leave it at that.

I have already shared that I do my own weights plus mat exercises 3 times a week, 10,000 steps everyday.

I also do 20 squats a day. i have to put in my Restasis eye drops twice a day. I have to keep my eyes closed for a minute. I realized rather than just standing there for a minute, why not squat? I was surprised that I don't have issues doing them with my eyes closed.

For the other time, I do a series of leg raises while holding on to the vanity.

Just a thought, that you can incorporate small amounts of exercise in times that you have to be waithing around for something anyway.