BL Summer Challenge 2009

[princessbride6205]

I've been out of town for work this week - not exactly on plan, but I've done pretty well on portion control and drank lots of water.

QOTD: Ride I'd Miss?
Tough question - not sure I can single one out. Jungle Cruise is an all time fave, so even though it's an extremely unlikely attraction for Disney to cut, it's my pick.

QOTD: On plan weekends?
Weekends are difficult - more because DH always wants to go out to eat on the weekends. Most of the time I can limit the dining out and get in some good exercise, though.

Good luck with your surgery, Dona!

 

[estherhead]

Let me tell you about my friend Shonda. She is my healthy eating hero. She’s 42 and fit and fabulous. Shonda LOVES to eat healthy. Her soups always contain barley. And when we swing through McDonald’s to buy french fries for my 2 year old she never says, “I’ll just have a few fries too.” When she wants to lose weight there is no need to tweak her diet. She simply gets up a half hour earlier for a few weeks and adds two extra miles to her daily run (with her dogs in the woods because “trails are more challenging” according to her.) When she is craving something sweet, she has a bit of organic, dark chocolate with dried raspberries in it. She never feels guilty when she has a beer. It’s simply a part of who she is.

Now let me tell you about me. I shop at Aldi’s not Trader Joes. I LOVE food. I LOVE FOOD. Eating it, cooking it, talking about it, reading about it, watching it on T.V. I love junk food. When I’m craving something sweet I eat an entire bag of Oreos. A highlight of my life, after my wedding & kids and all, was getting deluxe dining at Disney and eating at all the fancy-schmancy places. Three courses and the accompanying wine. I bake wedding cakes for a living and the scraps & frosting are everywhere all the time.

And I say, “I’ll start again tomorrow.” I say it all the time.

Shonda never says, “I’ll start again tomorrow,” because she is never quitting anything. She simply is who she is, healthy.

But here is the reality. I don’t need to be Shonda to live a long, healthy, happy life. I just need to not say, “Tomorrow.” Because what we are really saying when we say that is that the choices we make for the rest of today don’t matter.

“This cookie doesn’t matter.”

But it does. What is the difference between the cookie you eat right now and the cookie you eat tomorrow? Absolutely nothing. You can make a good choice at any point in the day. You can have a donut for breakfast. And then have a salad for lunch and brown rice with salmon for dinner. My friend Shonda is in no way a freak. I’ve seen her have Doritos, for example. She eats 5 or 6 and then quits. And she doesn’t feel guilty about eating them and she doesn’t not eat dinner because she ate them. She just has a few. And says, “Yum,” and moves on. She doesn’t have a mental breakdown and say, “Well, I’ve blown the whole day so I might as well eat an entire batch of chocolate chip cookie dough and start again tomorrow.”

When the box of ding-dongs is taunting you and you desperately want to say, “I’ll start again tomorrow,” and eat them all, ask yourself this… “What is the difference between today and tomorrow?” Then take a walk, drink some water and clear your head. Come back and you’ll be prepared to make the right decision. And if the right decision is to eat a ding-dong, then eat one. Or eat half a one & trash the rest. But no guilt. Because eating a ding-dong can be part of a healthy, balanced diet. But eating an entire box of ding-dongs under the guise of not having started yet is… a lie. We all started at birth. And continued. Breathing, living, eating. Meal by meal, choice by choice. Don't start, be.

 

[estherhead]

QOTD: What is one healthy habit that IS you, that you no longer work at?

Eating fruit. When they talk about eating the rainbow I struggle to eat the rainbow in veggies. Sometimes it's a lot of work to do that. But it's never any work at all for me to eat bananas & blueberries & strawberries & pineapple. Everyday, no matter where I am, I have 1-2 servings of fruit.

 

[pjlla]

QOTD: What is one healthy habit that IS you, that you no longer work at?

I would have to say journaling my food. Pretty much every bite. Even if it is over my points or off program, I usually journal everything I eat.

Well.... good Friday morning to you all. I am happy to report that I lost last week's gain and the gain from the week before, so I am back where I was three weeks ago. Sort of frustrating, but good to be back to that lower number. That puts me (again) at officially 7.6 pounds away from goal. It would be great if this would be the week to see a "3" in the tens column (which would mean a 2.8 pound loss or greater), but I'm not holding my breath. I am STRUGGLING with these last ten pounds. But I'm going to keep plugging away. And we ate out at Olive Garden last night to celebrate DD's 8th grade graduation, so I suppose I should be happy to see any loss!

Fourth of July next week will definitely be a food struggle. It is one of my DH's family's "Eat-a-thon" celebrations. Three plus days of eating... dips, wings, steaks, pizza, s'mores, cookies, you name it!! I am DETERMINED not to get carried away, but it is SO hard. I will definitely be bringing along some healthy salads and fruits to share, so that there is something to eat if I am desperate. I will also be sure to bring my sneakers and to get in a daily run in the morning to counteract all that food. It is fun to run away from home because it is a different track and there is more to see.

Anyhow.... I've got to run. DD's graduation party with her friends is tonight. I have SO much to do that I don't know where to begin. Talk to you all later.................P

 

[lisah0711]

Thanks, estherhead, for being our coach this week. I like your format!

QOTD: What is one healthy habit that IS you, that you no longer work at?

I would have to say drinking lots of water is my healthy habit that I no longer work at. I just love my water, especially with a lemon slice or as selzter with a slice of orange -- it's so refreshing!

I like this work, work, work and if you slip up just make sure the next choice is a good one philosophy. I've been working on that in other areas of my life, instead of saying "someday" I am going to do something, I say "today is someday" and do something, even if it a baby step to the long term goal. If you just keep moving in the right direction, you will eventually get to your destination!

Have a great day losers and don't forget to PM your weigh-in to LuvBaloo and your COW results to donac.

Donac, sending good thoughts your way today!

 

[FLAngie]

Thank you Lisah0711 for pointing me in the right direction for the COW. The funny thing is that I thought I read that page....I must have been really tired last night

I am really looking forward to starting this. Especially since I leave for vacation next week and tend to overeat then. This will give me some accountability that someone else will know if I eat the entire bag of chips I even played with the idea of starting my healthy eating/weight loss goal when I returned home.

Which brings your inspirational post really relevant to me at this time estherhead!

QOTD: What is one healthy habit that IS you, that you no longer work at?

I do not drink soda. I have switched to tea and water. I don't even want soda anymore.

Donac- good luck with your surgery today.

 

[SpaceMtnFan]

Hi folks I am please to tell all of you that I have lost 3 pounds this past week. I have been busy with work and dealing with this Hot weather until last night when it Rained and Stormed like crazy which shortend my workout last night. I will be walking tomorrow morning before I retreat to the Library in the A/C The Temps will be nearly 90 degrees tomorrow. Have a great weekend

 

[MelanieC]

Hey everyone - We'll we've been back since 4am on Wednesday morning, but because we got back I've been dragging since then. Getting up Wednesday after 3 hours of bed sleep was rough, and yesterday and today weren't much better. The past 3 days have basically been a blur. But - I've been doing good food wise (not counting calories though -but I've been eating mostly fruits, veggies, nuts, etc.). I was up over 3 pounds Wednesday morning and I'm back down those 3 plus .4 more!! Yeah!

We had a great time in Missouri and Kansas. We left Thursday after work and drove to the beginning of Ohio and were hoping to find a hotel room to sleep that night. We started looking in Pennsylvania, then West Virginia and also in the beginning of Ohio and we couldn't find anything. We ended up sleeping in our car at a rest stop. We felt horrible the next day, but got up at 7am and drove the rest of the way. We got there around 5pm. We got upgraded to a King Suit with a pull-out sofa. It was a really huge room with super high ceilings and very nice. It's a newer Hampton Inn and it was really nice. The King bed was super comfy, but I don't think we would ever go with a pull out sofa. DH slept on it twice, but I wouldn't - lol! That evening we went to check out the University and eat dinner in the downtown area. The downtown area starts where the college ends. Very nice area. Eating wasnt' bad on this day - ended up around 1500 calories - but that didn't count the cookie they had at the hotel. Luckily this was the only day we were at the hotel at "cookie time".

Saturday, we went back downtown for lunch, shopping and to explore the campus. We also went to the mall and then went back to the room for swimming. Calories were good - but didn't track them. Breakfast - two bananas, lunch was 500 calories at Chipolte (eat that meal often so I know, lol) and dinner was 3 slices of vegetarian pizza at a local pizza shop. This place was crowded and right across the street from the campus. If it's this crowded in the summer, I can only imagine during the school year. There were a lot of people in town though. Some type of Missouri Youth acedmic thing and then there was summer welcome for the incoming Freshman.

Sunday I got up at 6 and we left by 7:15am to drive to the middle of Kansas (286 miles away) to visit my dad for Father's day. We got there about 11:45am and we drove about 20 more miles to visit my 2 great Aunts and have lunch with one of them. This lunch was not good - he took us to a ponderosa buffet. The salad bar was all mayo salads and the iceburg lettuce and veggies looked limp and slimy. I ate too much this night. For breafast I had 2 bananas, lunch - don't ask, and I had a cookie for dinner - it was only 140 calories. We got back around 11:30pm, we had left my dad's at about 7pm. It was hard to leave - I felt bad only getting to see him for such a short time.

Monday was our school tour. No bananas so I had 2 small banana muffins. My pants I wore this day were loser than they ever have been - go figure since my horrible lunch the day before. We did so much walking this day and it was around 97 degrees. I think I lost weight just from all the walking and sweating, lol. We had an information/question session, a walking tour that ended at the cafeteria where we got to try one of the cafeterias for free using passes they provided. I was really impressed with the food these kids have access to. They have meal plans you can choose, that provide them with 7, 10, 14, 17, or 21 meals per week. All meals in the dining halls are all you can eat with salad bars, several stations, including a grill, sandwich area, italian area, a bar that changes daily (this day it was a taco bar), desserts, tons of drink options (iced tea was great). This was only one of the halls. They can also choose to use the dollar value of those meals at the other places on campus that are not the dining halls ( I think there were 6 dining halls) and there are also McDonald's, Sushi bars, sandwich shops, coffee shops, etc. Then the downtown area is full of choices, including some healthy ones too. There was a little organic natural restaurant that was really cool. We also toured the Journalism school and then we drove over to the TV station they own that is run by the school. It's an NBC affiliate station and we got to watch them do the 5pm news. That was really cool. My DD17 loved the college, and we were all so impressed with the area, friendliness of everyone in the area, the school, the Journalism school and just everything about it. The Journalism school is great because everything is hands on and they have their own TV staions, radio stations, local in town newspaper, magazines and much more where the students work at and get hands on experience and leave college with an actual resume. Food this day was decent, although we ended up TGI Friday's and I had the Pecan crusted chicken salad. With the dressing, cheese, nuts and crust on the chicken I'm sure it was way too many calories. It was so hot, and I was starved that I didn't care. It tasted so good. I also had a starbucks iced coffee too.

Tuesday we drove home and I tried to eat the best I could. No bananas at the hotel again, so I had 2 small banana muffins. Taco bell for lunch, they had a KFC buffet, so I was good by not having that. What I ate wasn't too bad. For dinner we had Chik-fil-a, and unfortunately this wasn't low cal because I got the fried chicken sandwich and french fries. Bad I know - but I was tired and worn out. No one wanted to eat Chipolte which was across the street, but me. I should have told them to drop me off and pick me back up when they were done. Also had some candied pecans on the way home and some Peanut brittle from the St. Louis Arch (oh yeah we stopped and saw that and went up into it - that was great- I haven't seen the arch since I was a kid and the kids nor DH have ever seen it).

So - I'm back and back on track at least until my BIL's wedding next weekend. I have a feeling we will be up there several days -uggh!

 

[sahbushka]

I had a loss this week! I have been op for 6 weeks now and feel good about what I have accomplished. .4 more and I will get a 20 pound clippie! I have been waiting for that benchmark to put one up. Went to the gym last night and am going again tonight with the whole family...possibly even my mom and grandma! My ds loves the child care at the gym and keeps wanting to go and gets mad when I come to pick him up! Talk about good incentive to go!


What is one thing I don't have to think about any more? Journaling. I enjoy having the written representation of my choices.

Have a great op day and don't forget to drink your water....a reminder I need today!

Sarah

 

[ohMom]

here I am --- apologize for not posting/reading up to date, which always means i'm not following my plan like I hope too. i'm really struggling with the food and sugar --- the only thing saving me i think is Jillian's Making the Cut workouts, they are still rough!

esterhead -- what a powerful story --- for sharing it!

prayers to Dona and her surgery today

cyber high 5 to all who can claim a lose this week!

 

[disney1990]

Estherhead - what a great story. And, something I am very guilty of. Oh well, I ate 10 cookies, I just as well eat the other 10. "I'll start tomorrow." I am going to try to follow your friends eating habits more closely.

QOTD: What is one healthy habit that IS you, that you no longer work at?

As far as the QOTD, I never drink sodas with sugar. I figured a lot time ago, that I just didn't need the empty calories. Before I got laid off in February, I was, however, drinking several diet sodas a day. Now, I have cut back to no more than one a day, and lots of days, I don't drink any.

 

[bobnjenn0828]

I am happy to say i lost almost a pound this week!! I would like more, but am happy it is a loss.

QOTD - My healthy habit that is not difficult anymore is exercise. Well, Ok, sometimes the actual exercise is difficult , but not the routine of doing exercise. I made sure when I started this time that we went everyday - and we did for a month. In the past few months I can only remember a handful of times that we didn't walk or jog and we usually were gone all day walking around a lot or outside working in the yard. I am about to go out and do week 3 day 2 of c25k before work. Those are the hardest days - when I have worked the night before and have to work the next night. I hate to give up sleep but I have to.

The eating I still have to force myself to eat better. I love veggies , but I really don't like fruit except for a few like bananas and pineapple.

Dona - best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Jennifer

 

[LuvBaloo]

Thanks to TammyNC for coaching last week! And thanks to this week's coach estherhead! That was a great inspirational story!

QOTD: What is one healthy habit that IS you, that you no longer work at?
QUOTE]

The only thing I really don't think about is brushing my teeth Unfortunately, when it comes to food, I'll always have to work at it. I do like vegetables, so I do good with them most of the time.

I managed to get up early enough to do my weigh in today. Unfortunately its a gain of 0.9lbs. So in the 6 weeks of this challenge, I've only lost 0.1lbs. I need to keep my focus and find the time and energy to exercise. Last night I meant to exercise and do laundry; instead DH and I were playing Bejewelled Blitz on different computers, comparing scores. I did have the best score for the longest time, but he finally got a great one and got to be the leader.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I'm going to do a post and run. Still in the middle of moving and AT&T screwed up my phone and internet so I am internetless at my home at the moment. I thought for sure I would have a big weight loss this week but I stayed the same. I have long suspected that the scales at my normal location weigh low (they are always at least a pound lower than my home scale). Hopefully I'll post a loss this week, but at least I only stayed the same, not gained!

 

[estherhead]

Estherhead - what a great story. And, something I am very guilty of. Oh well, I ate 10 cookies, I just as well eat the other 10. "I'll start tomorrow." I am going to try to follow your friends eating habits more closely.

QOTD: What is one healthy habit that IS you, that you no longer work at?

As far as the QOTD, I never drink sodas with sugar. I figured a lot time ago, that I just didn't need the empty calories. Before I got laid off in February, I was, however, drinking several diet sodas a day. Now, I have cut back to no more than one a day, and lots of days, I don't drink any.

I only drink diet too but I wish I drank only 0-1 a day. I'm probably at 1-2 a day. Today I drank only 1 and then had water (working outside & didn't want to be dehydrated.) It was great and I wish I did that more often.

 

[corinnak]

I'm just posting to show off my shiny new 30 pound clippie! I will probably never be a weekly biggest loser - I'm more of a turtle in weight loss, in running and in life, but I do eventually get there, even if the process looks non-dramatic.

I posted a loss of .6 this week, about which I am not complaining, but I have to admit I was hoping for a little more, given how well I've been eating and how much activity I've gotten. It will show up eventually, I know.

I took my dog to the beach today and he had a great time bounding through the water, chasing his toy that I threw for him repeatedly. Talk about taking joy in movement - that dog knows. He was loving the day, the water, the leaping, bounding and swimming, the company of other dogs, the sand - all of it. I'd like to find some activities that are that much fun for ME!

 

[estherhead]

When I was in labor with my first baby I was very clear with the doctors and nurses that I didn’t want any drugs. No pitocin, no epidural, no drugs. Not because I love pain but because I wanted to take as little risk as possible and after research I had decided that the healthiest way to have a baby was to have little to no interventions, unless absolutely needed.

Things were going fine and I was managing the pain quite well and was happy. But this one nurse came in every 15-30 minutes to see if I was doing all right and if I was ready to quit being a hero and have some drugs. She was respectful and I liked her so I just kept saying no. Even though she was like some crazy drug pusher.

Well, anyone who has been in labor knows that as it gets closer to pushing the contractions get a lot more intense. And I have to say it would be a rare woman who could continue to say, “No,” to the question, “Would you like us to take the pain away?” Uh, yeah I’d LOVE to have you take the pain away. So eventually I said yes & they gave me Nubain. That Nubain was the absolute devil. It did NOT help with the pain and it put me in this crazy bubble and I couldn’t deal with the pain. And I never would have had it without the "pusher."

So with baby number two I made a sign that said, “Please do not ask me if I want help with my pain, I will ask you for medicine if I need it.” I made photo copies & handed it out to every hospital person I saw & posted it in my room. I’m sure the staff was thrilled with crazy laboring mother in room 11 but I simply didn’t care. My body, my rules, my opinion on what I put in it.

No one offered me drugs and I had a delightful, Nubain & other drug free birth. The best choice for me.

Food pushers are exactly like those pain-drug pushers at the maternity wing. They are just trying to be so helpful. With their little bowl of chocolates on their desk at work or their yummy apple pie they made especially for us or their last slice of pizza they are just too full to eat and don’t want to throw away. They mean well.

But just like I had to take drastic, assertive measures for my second birth to avoid drugs sometimes we have to take a very assertive, drastic stand for our healthy eating habits. Because sometimes food pushers are very pushy and generally we really want what they are trying to push, despite our research to the contrary. It’s a tricky situation.

The best thing to do is to have a pre-pushing plan.

So instead of a second post I’m posting my QOTD here:

QOTD: What drastic measures have you taken to take control of food pushing situations? How do you plan for parties/picnics/holidays where the food & food pushers is/are plentiful?

 

[donac]

Good Saturday morning everyone. I made it through surgery just fine. I woke up in the surgery room and was wide awake from there. I was in pain and got some pain meds that made my head swim when it went. I do have some pain meds but even on the pain meds if I move the wrong way it hurts. If I sit quietly it is not too bad so I don't think I am moving off the couch any time soon. I am also less than 24 hours from the surgery. It will get better in a couple of days.

My girl friend brought me dinner last night. Dh brought me a bowl of cereal this morning and ds brought me some watermelon, water and my antibiotics a little while ago. Sleep was horrible I couldn't get comfortable. I was also on the couch since my bedroom is upstairs. I think I will be in the family room as long as I am on crutches. The room has a bathroom so I don't have to go too far. I don't know what dinner is going to be. I put some frozen health food meals in the freezer last week so I can have something for lunches.

Thanks everyone for the kinds words the last couple of days. If you were working on COW 5 keep working I am going to count it as a 2 week COW because I didn't want to think about it on Thursday.

 

[lisah0711]

I managed to get up early enough to do my weigh in today. Unfortunately its a gain of 0.9lbs. So in the 6 weeks of this challenge, I've only lost 0.1lbs. I need to keep my focus and find the time and energy to exercise. Last night I meant to exercise and do laundry; instead DH and I were playing Bejewelled Blitz on different computers, comparing scores. I did have the best score for the longest time, but he finally got a great one and got to be the leader.

to you, Shannon, at least you haven't gained. I was a samer the entire time during the last challenge so I know exactly how you feel. I was a samer for the first time this week, too. It is just a matter of pressing forward and it sounds like you have a good plan. I keep thinking to myself even if I don't lose as much as I would like this summer, I will still be ahead of where I would be if I had taken the summer off.

I am happy to say i lost almost a pound this week!! I would like more, but am happy it is a loss.

QOTD - My healthy habit that is not difficult anymore is exercise. Well, Ok, sometimes the actual exercise is difficult , but not the routine of doing exercise. I made sure when I started this time that we went everyday - and we did for a month. In the past few months I can only remember a handful of times that we didn't walk or jog and we usually were gone all day walking around a lot or outside working in the yard. I am about to go out and do week 3 day 2 of c25k before work. Those are the hardest days - when I have worked the night before and have to work the next night. I hate to give up sleep but I have to.

Way to go, Jennifer! I need to be where you are now on the whole exercise thing. I really didn't want to do the Shred when I got up this morning. "It's a Saturday, I'll do plenty of steps." "I'm tired!" "My foot will start hurting." And, my inner brat, "I don't wannnnaaaa!" But, I shut up and did it anyway. I am doing a whole month -- last time I tried it I got sick and had to stop -- which takes me to my vacation. I'm even taking the DVD with me so I keep going. Now I just have to apply my plan! We can do this!

I'm going to do a post and run. Still in the middle of moving and AT&T screwed up my phone and internet so I am internetless at my home at the moment. I thought for sure I would have a big weight loss this week but I stayed the same. I have long suspected that the scales at my normal location weigh low (they are always at least a pound lower than my home scale). Hopefully I'll post a loss this week, but at least I only stayed the same, not gained!

In this stressful time in your life just maintaining is an accomplishment, Jessi.

I only drink diet too but I wish I drank only 0-1 a day. I'm probably at 1-2 a day. Today I drank only 1 and then had water (working outside & didn't want to be dehydrated.) It was great and I wish I did that more often.

I could do better on less diet soda consumption, too, but I really like the bubbles.

I'm just posting to show off my shiny new 30 pound clippie! I will probably never be a weekly biggest loser - I'm more of a turtle in weight loss, in running and in life, but I do eventually get there, even if the process looks non-dramatic.

That new clippie looks great on you, corinnak! Great job!

QOTD: What drastic measures have you taken to take control of food pushing situations? How do you plan for parties/picnics/holidays where the food & food pushers is/are plentiful?

This is a great question because we encounter so many people who mean well in all areas of our lives but just aren't doing what we need. I just say "no" politely, over and over. If someone really pushes, or I don't want to hurt their feelings, I just take what is offered and discreetly toss it. I am not afraid to waste food. It is better to waste food that to eat it and have to work it off.

donac, I am thinking of you and hoping that you are feeling better and hanging out working on your needlework today.

I am off to the grocery store for my healthy food and later we are taking our boat out for awhile. It is going to be 85 here today!

Have a great OP day, losers!

 

[lisah0711]

Good Saturday morning everyone. I made it through surgery just fine. I woke up in the surgery room and was wide awake from there. I was in pain and got some pain meds that made my head swim when it went. I do have some pain meds but even on the pain meds if I move the wrong way it hurts. If I sit quietly it is not too bad so I don't think I am moving off the couch any time soon. I am also less than 24 hours from the surgery. It will get better in a couple of days.

My girl friend brought me dinner last night. Dh brought me a bowl of cereal this morning and ds brought me some watermelon, water and my antibiotics a little while ago. Sleep was horrible I couldn't get comfortable. I was also on the couch since my bedroom is upstairs. I think I will be in the family room as long as I am on crutches. The room has a bathroom so I don't have to go too far. I don't know what dinner is going to be. I put some frozen health food meals in the freezer last week so I can have something for lunches.

Thanks everyone for the kinds words the last couple of days. If you were working on COW 5 keep working I am going to count it as a 2 week COW because I didn't want to think about it on Thursday.

donac, you were posting while I was typing so I didn't see your post. I am glad to hear that things went well for you yesterday. Sorry about the pain. I hope that it goes away soon. I am sure that they told you that it is easier to keep ahead of it than let it get away and try to rein it back in. Sounds like you have lots of people who are doing a good job taking care of you. You deserve it. You'll be out there directing those mowers with your crutches in no time!