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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I'm ending out November at 234.4, so lost just under 5 lbs. ( 4.8 lbs.) for the month. I'll post in the morning my Dec.1st starting weight. My goal for December is to lose 5lbs., to start 2025 in the 220's.

Today starts a new month and new or renewing goals. What are your December goals?

I'm starting December at 234.4, so down 4.8 lbs for November and 18.8 lbs down for the year from my highest weight back in June.

My goals for December are:

To be below 230 lbs. by Jan. 1st.

To eat in as healthy a manner as I can.

To get in more movement daily. To de-clutter more and get rid of things I never use anymore or just don't need.

Happy December, friends

Teri, I am praying for your peace and strength. Stay strong.

Vicki, great progress this month! I hope you are able to meet your year-end goal.

Margaret, I hope you are feeling better from the headaches...and that your chili was good :)

Today I am down 1.1 lbs from November 1. My goal was to maintain throughout this holiday season, and so far so good. I am still right at 140.0 today. I have been hovering in the range of 139.5-141.5 for the past weeks, and that is a good maintenance zone for me. It gives me some daily fluctuation wiggle room but still in my comfort zone where all my clothes fit well.

Yesterday I added running back into my life. I was reading the book Where the Forest Meets the River by Shannon Bowring not too long ago, and there is is a line in it that motivated me to get to moving again: "The heart is a muscle that needs to be trained. If he keeps lying in bed watching TV all day, he risks permanent damage. Without movement, the heart grows thick and the blood festers, pooling to form clots that could travel to his lungs of brain." Well, that line resonated with me and convinced me I need to be moving more again.

I have not had a good run in the last month. I had done a few yoga sessions in November to keep my body from tightening up, but no running. I was nervous to get back into it, but I am happy to say yesterday's run was a good one. I did 3 miles, jogging/running mix with a one minute walk after each mile.

I also need to incorporate strength training back in. My semester ends this week (that flew right by!), so after this week I want to establish a good exercise routine for the winter break. The week after (December 9-13) I have the employee holiday party, a few wrap-up meetings and final grading, but no classes, so I will be able to fit in my exercise. 

I have about six weeks of break before classes start again on January 21st. My goal for each of these weeks is to meet the CDC guidelines for weekly exercise for adults. For me, this would be 75 minutes of jogging (not including any walking time), and 2 days a week of strength training. Plus my yoga to keep my balance strong and to help with my flexibility. I'll have to start thinking about what a good weekly routine will be for all of this. Once I figure out a good routine, I should be able to just stick to it and be good.

Also, I decided to start tracking in the Healthi app again. I have not been doing this during my maintenance phase. I mostly eat the same breakfast and lunch everyday with variety at dinner - but the snacking pretzels were definitely getting to be a little more here, and little more there. Yesterday I was curious, so I decided to start tracking. Things had definitely gotten very loosey-goosey with my favorite pretzels in the past few weeks, so now with the tracking I will get the pretzels back under control and maybe start losing again in the new year.

Good luck with your goals this month Heather. I'm sure you'll do great.

Todays weight: 232.6

Well, I was going to do so well in December, but you know what happens to plans.

I don't remember whether I said in last month's forum, but on Friday, 11/29, my elderly cat was straining but no poop, and wasn't eating but was guzzling water, way more than she usually drinks, so we took her to the vet. $400 and lots of lab tests later, she has an infection in her liver, and is now on antibiotics and steroids. I got her to take the pills for two days, but now she refuses. Strenuously. She is clearly feeling much better, as eating habits and litter box habits are back to normal.

Saturday, 11/30, I went to work and the plan was to go to Mom's after that and see my sister and her family who were here from Indy. They were here with the big group but I focused on the ones who were leaving earlier and though Saturday would be my time with them. While at work I got a text from them that their elderly dog had fallen and couldn't get up and was headed to urgent care. So they went home to possibly say goodbye. The dog is still with them, no sure about prognosis. But I went and ate way too much by myself in self pity.

Sunday, 12/1. Scale said 239.6! WAY too close to going over 240 and I've sworn not to do that again! I decided that December should be a month of working on habits that I do most days and make a table to really be sure I'm not skipping too many days. I headed to church, thinking of what to put in my chart... but after church I stayed to work in the church library. About 5:30 I left to go get food at Panda Express, carefully choosing to stay under my sodium limit, but I did have a sweet treat. Back to church to work on remaining piles. Welp, I left at 10, and I still have quite a few items in progress. So no good habit table.

i decided to tackle adding one item to table each day and start easy. So yesterday I took my BP meds. I hardly ever miss but I need easy wins. Today I took my thyroid meds. I missed yesterday which is rare and I'll make up on Wednesday and Saturday when I usually take half doses, but I'll do full doses to make up for missing dose yesterday.

Oh, one more thing... I did weigh this morning, 238, so the high yesterday was a temporary thing, probably too much salt the day before.
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table formatting went wonky, so changing to streaks:

BP meds: 12/1 ... 12/24

Thyroid pill: 12/1 ... 12/25

light box: 12/9 ... 12/24

oatmeal: 12/24 

down at least one flight of stairs: 12/20 12/21 12/22 12/23 12/24

up at least one flight of stairs: 12/24

RespErate: small streak so far: 12/20 X 12/22 12/23 X 

and many more planned for 2025!

You have a lot going on Margaret. But you can do it.

Still holding at 232.6

Well, which habit should I add to the chart today? I guess I will do the light box. I missed it on Sunday because I didn't get up in time but I did do it yesterday.

Today my weight is up just slightly at 233.4. Hopefully tomorrow it'll be back down. I really want to be under 230 by the end of December, to start the new year off right.

I'm at 199.5. Still comforting myself with food but I did toss out the sugar cookies! Even through my grief I know enough to get rid of the sugar cookies! They are really bad for me. I enjoyed enough of them.

Take care of yourself Teri.

I've been tracking in Healthi for four days now (Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues). Just like when I started the app back in March, it is eye-opening. I can already see where I will need to make cuts if my goal is to lose more weight rather than just maintain. This is good to be back to tracking to have the accountability and the getting back into right mindset. I am seeing how "a little here, and a little there" totally adds up.

This week I will very likely be over on my Healthi app "Bites" allotment, but this week is a rough draft for information gathering and getting back into the right frame of mind. I will just keep tracking and getting used to being back on the app again. I want to be ready in January to be serious to lose five more pounds which will be hard for me as I don't ever remember being that low, ever.

I have a mammogram on January 8th. I would like to maintain in the "Healthy" BMI range when they weigh me.  I just double checked my records, and at my last doctor appointment in July I was still in the Overweight BMI category. I was still 3.7 lbs high. Now I am 5 lbs under the threshold for Healthy BMI, and I want to to have this show when they take my vitals in January. To have a "Healthy" BMI show up on my medical records would be such an achievement for me. My current medical records go back to 2012 when I moved to Colorado. I have never had a "Healthy" BMI weight show on any of my records since 2012.

ETA: This will be my first mammogram. I just looked up if they even take your vitals prior to the x-ray. It seems not. Darn. I will have to wait until my next official wellness check to have my record show a Healthy BMI. If they don't take my vitals in January, I will just have to wait.

Heather, I think if you ask your doctor to take the vital info for you, he/she will.

You should be really proud at how far you've come.

I'm going to have to figure out an eating plan where I can eat more of the good foods without putting back on some of the hard earned weight I've lost. I've been eating really small amounts the last couple of weeks and where as the weight is coming down, I'm a little concerned over my lower than normal blood pressure plus extreme tiredness/shortness of breath. Even though I've doubled up on my multi vitamins, I am out of the B-12 I've been taking as well as the vitamin C, so I'll pick up some of that tomorrow. If it gets any worse, I'll make an appointment with the doctor before my scheduled appt.

My table so far, after I added the eat oatmeal or an oat bar to the list today.

(nty = not tracked yet)

oatmeal is an easy one, but I know I miss it some days, so I hope tracking keeps me more consistent.

Also the blank spot for BP meds for today is because I didn't take them yet. They are at the end of the day.

Today I passed another certification test at work, so now I can spend a little less time studying. But it is too windy to take a walk!

238.4 this morning, but right now I just care about staying under 240 while I work on other things.

Heather, it is so motivating to see your success!

Vicki, please do check with Dr. if low BP continues.

Teri, hang in there, I don't think the cookies were so bad since you knew when it was enough and stopped! 

You're doing good Margaret. I take my BP med in the mornings and check BP around 3pm each day. I'll keep watching it and discuss it with the doctor when I see him next month. Today my weight is up a little. It's 234 today.

Margaret, I like your chart. It's helpful to visually see when something is getting skipped too often. And it's rewarding to see when you're on top of it all!

Vicki, I hope you feel more like yourself soon and that it's nothing serious. I hope it passes.

Teri, I hope you're feeling okay. This is a once/twice in a lifetime experience of seeing a parent decline. Stay strong for yourself.

ETA: thanks for advice, Vicki, about asking my nurse to take my vitals anyway. I will do that.

And I need to add a habit for 12/5 yet... it will have to be an easy one I have already done, so I'm going with going down a flight of stairs. Last year at this time I could not do that and I don't want to lose that ability! And i eventually want to speed up, but for now I just want to track to be sure I am not missing days.

im not really adding any habits this month, just tweaking a little and actually tracking because I think some are getting skipped mor often than they should be!

230 on scale this morning.

WTG Margaret. You're doing great! That's 6 lbs. lost in 2 days. You must have had a lot of excess fluid.

I'm actually up the 1.6 lbs. since the 1st of Dec. It's my own fault though as I've been eating a little more the past couple of days and it's been higher sodium than usual. But I'm cutting way back today on the sodium and drinking a lot of water and hopefully by Sunday I'll have it back down.

I'm 234 today. Hoping to be a little less in the morning for my Sunday weigh in. I'm being very careful with my eating today.

199.5 this morning. I have to go to a Christmas party today. Enough said. This will be it for Christmas parties.

I have started receiving the boxes my sister has mailed as she packs up Dad's house. So far I have opened boxes full of photo albums, journals, quilt patterns, crewel work done by Dad, and some other stuff.  There's more boxes on the way with wall hangings and quilts Dad made BY HAND. I forget what else. An amazing collection of memorabilia of a wonderful man's life and family history. We had to leave behind the family silverware and mom's cedar hope chest. No help for it. But we got the important stuff, donated his clothes and canned goods. Gifted the dulcimer he made to the pastor. My sister is going home today and is she ready!

I didn't lose all that weight, Vicki! It was a typo. I meant to type 238.

Wow, Teri, your sister got a lot done in a short time. I'm glad you got some of the stuff he made. I took some of the doilies my grandmother had made and had them framed to put on my walls. I haven't put them back up since I moved, but I think that would be a good idea.

so yesterday I procrastinated on my table, so today I'm just going to say that the habit to tweak/start tracking yesterday was steps, since I can still write that down. I don't have a set goal for steps, but I'd like to start writing down what I am doing just to know.

Then for today, I'm adding a "hard" one. I have a machine, RespErate, to do breathing exercises with, and it really helps my blood pressure when I do them but I so often put it off till later and then fall asleep before I actually do it, and without tracking it is too easy to say, "no problem, I'll just do it tomorrow." So it comes up on my chore list app every day, but that doesn't track how often I've skipped, so that is going on my table for today!

Teri, I'm glad your sister was able to send you so much of what was your dad's and you can cherish the memories. And I know you're happy about the number on the scale. Hope you enjoyed the Christmas party.

Margaret, I know you wish that number hadn't been a typo, but you'll get there. Just keep doing what you're doing and you'll get there.

I'm 233.2 today.

Well, it wasn't unexpected, but, I didn't do much from the table yesterday.

so now I have skipped the RespErate twice. What I meant to add yesterday was to go up 1 flight of stairs. I don't always do that, but I want to start that every day. My step counts are really low but that's partially because I don't always have my phone with me.

and... scale said 239.6 today. I did make a big pot of chili and put too many crackers and cheese in with my servings. I left the salt out of the chili itself, but some of the beans were salted, using up the last of those cans.

Those things happen Margaret. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Well, my weight is up today (235). Pretty sure it's excess fluid. I'm doing the 2 lb. yo-yo-ing it seems right now but not going to let ot worry me. Ninety-nine % of the time I'm doing ok.

Decided I'm not going to weigh the rest of December. Hopefully I won't regret it but if I weigh daily then the yo-yo-ing is going to really bug me and I won't be able to enjoy this holiday month and will be too stressed to be able to enjoy any holiday goodies I never enjoy the rest of the year. So I'm going to do my best to practise mindful eating and pray my numbers don't shock me Dec. 31st.