My goal for March is to lose a pound a week. My plan to meet my goal is to get 10,000 steps a day, do my back exercises (works the core muscles) and some leg/but exercises to hopefully help thin down my thighs. I have a few obstacles. I am a busy mom of two kids. My daughter is 8 and my son will be turning 10 soon. They are both involved in sports so I will be running around with them. Basketball just ended so that will be one less activity until baseball starts. I also work full time at a desk job and I am involved the PTA at the kids school. My plan will be to take 30 minutes of my lunch and walk. I will also do my exercises at home after the kids go to bed. If I have a PTA meeting I will work them in either before or after the meeting. For some long term changes I have do is to take a step back from the PTA. This year was rough and overwhelming. I have been feeling like I have been at meetings constitutionally I have decided not to be on the board next year and just help out I can. That won't help too much now but as for going forward into the summer and next year it will free up a lot of time.
Wow, it definitely sounds like you're very busy - I can't imagine how hectic your days must be! I think it's amazing that you realized that you need to take a step back from the PTA, and hopefully that will help you have more time to focus on you and being healthy!
Last month, this thread really helped me stay focused on my goal and I exceeded it. So, because this is a goal and something to STRIVE for, I'm going to set my goal at 10 lbs. I may not make it, but at least I'll be reaching and striving all through the month.
I love that you're setting an ambitious goal! One of my favorite sayings is: “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.” If you set ambitious goals, even if you fall a little short, you'll still make amazing progress.
How I will get there. I do want to eat breakfast every day. I did much better last month on this mini-goal. I did "cheat" a little last month and bought a few lean cuisine breakfasts each week to make it easier. I know they are full of processed garbage, but baby steps. I think I will do that again this month. Maybe next month will involve all homemade breakfasts.
Breakfast is so important! It's definitely better to make your own breakfasts, but it's totally understandable that you don't always have time. Have you tried making some easily freezable breakfasts in advance and then defrosting them when you need something fast? That's even better than the lean cuisine breakfasts, and it can be fast and easy when you're running behind schedule.
BRING ON MARCH, let's all have a great month!
YES!!
I can't believe it's already March!
I'm joining in again - this will be my first full month (I joined in the middle of last month). As a bit of an introduction - I'm 45 and am from Illinois (in the St. Louis metro area though) and have been married for 23 years. We have 3 kids - 19, 17 and 13, so they keep me busy! Our oldest started college this past fall so now lives a little over 3 hours away
, but she is coming home this Friday for her spring break!! She hasn't been home since MLK weekend, so it'll be great to have some time with her again! Middle DD is a senior this year, so we'll be adjusting to one less at home again next fall. Our DS is in the 8th grade and keeps us busy with his sports (which I love to watch)!
I've got a LOT to lose and have been on a roller coaster most of my adult life. I haven't really seriously "dieted" for a few years. I keep telling myself that I would, but never said it out loud and never made any real changes. We love to travel and every time we'd plan a trip, I'd tell myself that I was going to lose xx number of pounds before the trip, but I'd start after this or that and just never really started. Well, this time I'm hoping that it's different!
My goal this month is to lose 2 pounds a week, so looking at the calendar, I'm thinking that I'll count that as 10 pounds total since my weigh-in day is on Wednesday. My second official weigh-in is tomorrow. I lost 5 pounds in my first week, but am hoping that I can get 2 pounds this week. I've stayed within my calorie range each day according to MFP, but on my peeks on the scale, it just hasn't seemed to move much. We'll see though. Each weekend I'll report what I lost when I weighed on Wednesday (if that' ok). I've been using MFP to track my eating and I'm also planning on upping my exercise a bit. I've been on my new lifestyle for just 2 weeks now and haven't really added that part in yet. I'm planning on doing that this month - mostly with walking for now.
Let's all have a great March!
Welcome back - I'm so glad you're joining us again this month!!
I think walking is the perfect way to add in exercise. It's something that doesn't seem hard at all but can still be a great workout. I hope it helps you reach your goal!
(And of course it's okay to use your Wednesday weigh-in for your weekend report!)
Hi, I'm Savannah and I'm new here. I'm almost 30, and work in medical records. I have lost 54 pounds since November 1, and am hoping to lose 5 more in March! I have fought with my weight on and off most of life, but battled some health issues in 2014 and 2015 and gained almost 70 pounds in those two years. I'm happily married with a miniature schnauzer and we'll be adopting a second dog soon.
I had been a runner before I got sick, but my big goal for March is to continue to train for the half marathon I'm planning on walking in June!
I plan on continuing to track my calories every day, get my steps in on my fitbit, and work out 6 days a week. My biggest obstacle will be a small surgery I'm having on March 14th, because the scope and recovery time from it are unknown until the procedure gets started.
Welcome, Savannah! I'm so glad you're joining us this month!
I hope your surgery goes okay and doesn't interfere too much with your ability to work towards a healthier life!
I just gotta say-- I love the whole pun of marching in March!
Thank you! I'm glad someone enjoys my sense of humor!
GOAL: I lost 3.5lbs last month by just tracking and moderately working out. I am going to up that oh-so-slightly to a goal of 4 lbs for the month.
PLAN: Tracking, tracking, tracking in MFP! Also, it takes time and ticks off DH, but anytime we are deciding to go grab something to eat when we are out, I won't make a decision until I check MFP for what's going to be the better option and plan ahead what to order. So basically, it's a plan to plan!
OBSTACLES: The only two obstacles I foresee this month are St. Patty's Day and Easter. DH's Irish family do a big thing on St. Pats with yummy food and lots of drinks..... and Easter candy has already entered the house (DH loves Dove dark chocolate bunnies....). I just have to keep this in check!
Great goal - and I think that tracking consistently will really help get you there!
Funny freak-snow story. 7 years ago today, three of my girlfriends and I drove to Memphis (the weekend before spring break) from Jackson, TN to visit my family and shop. If you're not familiar with west TN, Jackson and Memphis are about an hour apart on Interstate 40. Usually 45 minutes when I'm the driver - LOL - but roughly an hour. There was no inclement weather forecast so we didn't think anything of it. We get to the mall and hear reports of snow possibly moving in, but of course we figure 1) it's March 2) this came out of nowhere 3) it NEVER snows when they say it's going to - so we go about our day, shop, grab lunch, and go to my parents' house to have dinner. We leave my parents' house and it's starting to flurry, but still we didn't think anything of it, especially because we only had an hour drive before we were back at school. So we stop for ice cream on our way out! Fast forward 20 minutes, and we're only about 20 miles outside of Memphis, when we get stuck. I mean STUCK. The snow had picked up drastically, and a few miles up ahead of us, unbeknownst to us, an 18-wheeler jack-knifed on the interstate, and there was no going anywhere. We were stuck in a miles-long line of cars, both ahead and behind us. Did I mention we only had a half tank of gas because we only had to drive an hour? What should've taken an hour to get back to school took us 10 hours. Because there was absolutely no moving, we had to turn the car off after a little while, so we were all freezing, and this was before everyone had iPhones (WOW do I feel old... This was only 2009!!) so we had no way of knowing what was going on or how long we'd be on the interstate. It was such a long, crazy night, but it's our FAVORITE story now, haha.
That is insanity! I would have freaked out like nobody's business if that happened to me. But at least you got a fun story out of it!
My main obstacle is that my day is SO sedentary because I spend all of my time at a craft table and behind the computer. I'm putting my shop in vacation mode tonight, though, in order to catch up on some bulk orders I've received and to work on some new items for my shop, and I'm hoping that allowing myself this slight break will help me refocus and reschedule. I've got to figure out a way to really separate my work-at-home life from my home-at-home life. HOPEFULLY this weekend we'll be knocking out the final details on my office/studio/craft room which means I can finally have my living room back, and I'm hoping that being able to remove work from the primary room of the house will also allow me to definitely step away (STEP being the active term here!) and give me more distinct boundaries. We'll see!
I have a similar problem because I "work" from home ... it's definitely tough. I think that having the craft room will help a lot.
If at all possible, it may also help you to set "work hours" - for example, only work on orders between 10 AM and 6 PM, or do 10-2 and 4-8 with a 2-hour break in the middle. That way you're forcing yourself to step away from the orders and take some time to focus on you.
I need to get my schedule back under control. I legitimately do not want to be up until 2 or 3 every night and sleep until noon the next day. I don't know how to break that cycle, though, as I have ALWAYS been a night owl. Also, I love sleep. But then I feel like I'm wasting my day, no matter how much I get done after that. And I feel a lot of pressure to get stuff done quickly because I got up so late.
My sister has something similar right now (she has afternoon classes, so she'll sleep until 10-11 because she doesn't have to leave the house until after 12:30). She's found that it's easier for her to get up if she has something that she needs to do in the morning. Can you try making yourself an "appointment" to do something in the morning? Even if it's just saying that you want to always take the dog out for a walk at 8:30 AM, maybe that'll help you get up earlier, and once you're getting up earlier, you'll want to go to sleep earlier to get more sleep.
Some more background info on me, Lizanne:
I'm 59, and will hit the big 6-0 in June... yikes, internally I still feel like I'm 23 and I'm sure I act like it sometimes. Never been married and don't have any (human) kids, both of which help to perpetuate the still-23-years-old myth. I've struggled with my weight all my life: I managed to get down to the 160's about 5 years ago but the past 3+ years I've been hovering around 210 and last fall/winter managed to eat myself up to 220, which was my starting point when I joined WW at the beginning of this year. I've known I am a sugar addict for many years... it is my drug of choice. Last year I was eating my stress (a quart of ice cream for dinner each evening) and the rock bottom turning point came with a succession of three nasty colds that I couldn't shake, and that sent me to the doctor where we found out I had high blood pressure, low thyroid function and was pre-diabetic. Time to stop messing around and get serious. To date I've dropped 20 pounds and already feel much, much better.
GOALS for March:
-5 pounds, which will put me at 194
walk 125 miles
PLAN:
125 miles means maintaining 10,000 steps per day, which is totally do-able, since my goal is actually to be up around 15,000. I frequently have FitBit step challenges going with friends to help make this more fun. If anyone would like to link up and do a March To It step challenge, in FitBit I am
Popperfisk@gmail.com.
I will stick to the WW plan, tracking all my food. I recently got a food scale, which I love, to help make sure I am on track. I am loving the program, primarily because you can have whatever you want, which really helps to stave off cravings and feeling deprived.
Mid-month I will also start Pilates... I've lost enough girth around my waist that I can now be more flexible and get more out of the program.
OBSTACLES:
The past two days I've had this weird guilty feeling like I'm eating too much, even though I'm eating to plan and not even using my weeklies. I think this might be related to not spreading my eating out across the day and eating too much in a single sitting, so I am going to change this and make sure I've got better balance.
The other challenge is that I have vacation coming up the end of the month... I'll be doing a week and a half road trip thru central Texas. So I feel like I need to be pretty much at goal before I leave Easter weekend, so that cuts out some time, but -5 pounds in 4 weeks still seems like a realistic goal.
I think you have a great goal and a great plan to get you there!
Goal: 5 Workouts Per Week
My race calendar is full this month - during the next three weekends I will be running: one local 5K, one half marathon in Washington DC, and one 5K and one half marathon the same weekend in Dallas. Suffice to say, there needs to be an endurance build to expedite recovery time as I do more of these races. (total count: 2 5K and 2 Half Marathons during the first 20 days in March).
Just reading about your race schedule exhausts me! I think you will be running more in races alone than I will be the entire month!
Plan to Meet Goal:
- Continuing to work with my personal trainer twice per week will allow me to reach 40% of my goal per week.
- Leveraging the calendar created by my personal trainer and checking off that day's activity (ie: go to trainer, do the long run, etc.) Stick to the program. See benefits and rewards.
Your plan sounds basic, but really awesome! I think that if you can stick with your personal trainer and the program created for you, you'll have an awesome month!
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I'm almost all caught up, but the laptop battery is going to die soon, so I'll have to stop here. I will finish catching up in a few hours. From all the responses we got to today's QOTD, it looks like it's going to be an awesome month, and I'm really excited!
to all the newcomers!! It is always great to see new people joining this wonderfully supportive group! 
I know, it sounds crazy to have a long distance relationship across the Atlantic, but somehow it works for us. While it was wonderful to have him here, this also caused me to not be around on this thread so much for the last two months. And with Christmas, travel, getting sick and dealing with thyroid problems, I hate how much of the wonderful progress I did at the end of last year has been destroyed... But better to get back on track now instead of in another two months. 
Of course, boyfriend lost 15 pounds while staying with me, eating my lovely low calorie meals... 
Argg!! No running today. I hope that this is the last cold of the season as being sick always throws me off my plans. And the only way to tackle it is hoping to get better soon and then get back on track immediately! As many others have said, my biggest obstacles is myself and my lack of self control when it comes to eating. I feel that I am doing better. I am planning on trying to a lot of cooking for the freezer to have easy meals readily available for when I come home from work to help with that. I also need to work on a better snacking plan as I often eat a very early lunch (noon) and then won't be home for dinner until 6:30pm. I still haven't found the perfect afternoon snack. So far most things have no effect so ever on my evening hunger level.
). But oh my, my..... how I LOVE to be there!
