Disney’s MARVELous Super Hero - New You - New Year Celebration – January 2017!!

[ski_mom]

I'll join again. I'm Becky, just turned 46 at the end of December. I've been married for 24 years and have 3 great kids. The oldest 2 are living away from home at college most of the year, so we've had adjustments over the past couple of years with that. I've been on and off these threads since the middle of February last year. When I joined, I was at my heaviest, although I've been overweight for years and it just kept creeping up a little each year until enough is enough. The first 4 months I lost 30 pounds exactly and then I went on a 2 week vacation to Hawaii with my mom, my sister and her family and my family. It was great and I actually only gained 2 pounds, but when we got back home, I never got back on track for some reason. Since then, I gained another 8 pounds, so I'm still down 20 from when I started last February.

I think I'm ready to tackle this again. My goal for this month is to lost 5 pounds. My main obstacle will be the cruise that DH and I are going on from January 19-29th. My plan is to get back on my healthy eating until we leave and then make good choices when we are on our trip. I know cruise ships offer lost of healthy choices and I need to focus more on them than I usually do on vacations. I also plan on being more active while we are on the ship. Typically when we cruise, we are pretty active when we are on post days, but pretty much lounge around by the pools on sea days. I plan to change that this year.

Here's to 2017 and everyone achieving their goals!

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

I always told myself I would never be one of those people who didn't stay up for New Years like my parents. Well I fell asleep at 8:30 last night lol. To be fair I was out late the night before dancing and drinking at my cousin's wedding.

I'm Melanie, a 33 year old stay at home mom from FL. My kids are 1, 3, 5, 6 & 10. There is never a dull moment in our house With being pregnant so many times my weight has yo-yo-ed for the past 10 years. In 2017 I'm hoping to lose 40lbs. I started running almost 2 years ago to lose baby weight (which I did + 23lbs) and am less than a week away from running the Dopey Challenge. For those of you that aren't familiar with runDisney that is a 5k, 10k, half & Full marathon on 4 consecutive days.

For this month I'm going to focus on losing 5lbs. This could be hard because after Dopey I am taking 2 weeks completely off from running. I've also gotten into some bad eating habits over the past 2 weeks.

 

[4Mickeys]

This month's goal is to walk 10 minutes a day consecutively. Villans deep snow and sub zero tempatures. Combating by doing laps in my front room and kitchen.

This sounds like a great achievable goal - and you plan to overcome the snow is awesome

I tolerated one pound, but as it added a friend I feel they both need to depart this month!

Counting calories - I will aim for 300/400 calories deficit daily, or 2800 calories deficit weekly allowing some flexibility
Steps - I will increase my minimum to 13000 daily for the month.
Exercise - at least 4 lifting sessions a week, as long as I am healthy. I have new workout program that seem to allow me to exercise more days without being as sore but I will adjust this if I feel it's getting too much

haha I hope that pound and its friend take the hint and leave willingly Sounds like you have a solid plan

I'll join again. I'm Becky, just turned 46 at the end of December. I've been married for 24 years and have 3 great kids. The oldest 2 are living away from home at college most of the year, so we've had adjustments over the past couple of years with that. I've been on and off these threads since the middle of February last year. When I joined, I was at my heaviest, although I've been overweight for years and it just kept creeping up a little each year until enough is enough. The first 4 months I lost 30 pounds exactly and then I went on a 2 week vacation to Hawaii with my mom, my sister and her family and my family. It was great and I actually only gained 2 pounds, but when we got back home, I never got back on track for some reason. Since then, I gained another 8 pounds, so I'm still down 20 from when I started last February.

I think I'm ready to tackle this again. My goal for this month is to lost 5 pounds. My main obstacle will be the cruise that DH and I are going on from January 19-29th. My plan is to get back on my healthy eating until we leave and then make good choices when we are on our trip. I know cruise ships offer lost of healthy choices and I need to focus more on them than I usually do on vacations. I also plan on being more active while we are on the ship. Typically when we cruise, we are pretty active when we are on post days, but pretty much lounge around by the pools on sea days. I plan to change that this year.

Welcome back Becky! Hope you enjoy that cruise - I like the plan to be a little more active whilst you are on your sea days - hope you can find a good balance with relaxing, as that is important for our overall health as well when we take a break from work.

I always told myself I would never be one of those people who didn't stay up for New Years like my parents. Well I fell asleep at 8:30 last night lol. To be fair I was out late the night before dancing and drinking at my cousin's wedding.

LOL that happens to the best of us at some stage

less than a week away from running the Dopey Challenge. For those of you that aren't familiar with runDisney that is a 5k, 10k, half & Full marathon on 4 consecutive days.

Good luck with your preparation and your runs at the Dopey Challenge .

 

[Flossbolna]

Hello old and new friends!

My name is Magdalene, I am 45, live in Germany (I also am German, not a transplant). I have an American boyfriend who lives in Florida, so we have an interesting long distance relationship (4 year anniversary coming up, so it seems to work for us). I am someone who has always struggled with weight, but over the last years I seem to have floated around a BMI of 25 and 26 most of the time. I lose some and then I regain it. You could say I am kind of maintaining even though I am aiming to lose more... I guess to a certain degree knowing that my weight is not totally unhealthy (especially considering recent research that shows that people with a BMI of around mine live the longest) has also caused me to not work as hard as I could. I always manage to get my act together before things get out of hand. But when I got to a certain weight, I always struggle to get below it. Now I am up again thanks to a long vacation in November/December and then horrible eating on my part over the holidays. As every January I am determined that this is the year when I break below the barrier and reach my goal weight! We will see how it works out. At the moment I am just hoping to lose what I gained over the last 6 weeks as quickly as possible.

I think I will set an exercise goal for the month with 20 workouts during January.

 

[princessbee]

Hi all! I'm coming to you live and very sleepy after a new year's eve spent at karaoke. An excellent time, but I'm not much of a night owl, so it's a tough recovery.

My name is Brittney, and I'm a 27-year-old special education teacher in Atlanta, GA. I have four wonderful pets (two dogs and two cats) and an even more wonderful wife. We're trying to have a baby this year, so better health and nutrition are high on the to-do list. I've been running on and off since summer, but I got a bad case of bronchitis and I kind of just... stopped. So I picked it back up again three weeks ago and I'm now on my second week of Couch 2 5K after repeating week one twice. (I tend to repeat a lot of weeks!) In 2017 I'm hoping to lose at least 50lbs, and my end goal is to lose 85ish pounds. I also want to try to run as many 5Ks as I can afford! So far I'm signed up for the Hot Chocolate 5K on Jan 22nd, and the Atlanta Women's 5K in March. I am actually signed up for the Princess 5K too but finances are keeping us from going to Disney that weekend.

I have two goals for this month: to get my running pace down to a 16 minute mile (I'm currently hovering around 16:40 - 17:00) and to lose 5 more pounds. I'm logging all my food on MyFitnessPal (I'm whineosaur there if anyone wants to add me--just leave me a message!) and I'm trying to stay below 1750 calories a day. I've also been hitting the gym 4-5 times a week, running, swimming, and strength training. I also go on a 3-5 mile hike every other weekend. SO I just plan on continuing all of that to meet my goal!

My villains: my sweet tooth! My abominable sweet tooth! I just cannot get it under control!

Good luck, everyone!

 

[courtneybeth]

I just got back from seeing Moana and am in love with the movie and soundtrack. What an empowering movie and so appropriate for starting a new journey. Anyway... lets get this party started.

Tell us as much or as little about yourself to introduce yourself as you like. Let us know your goal, your plan to achieve it, any villains or other barriers that you think may get in your way and of course any tools or plans to help you along the way. To set us off with positivity for the new year when you are thinking about setting your goal try to use a positive voice .... e.g. rather than no junk food ... think mostly homemade meals.

Greetings fellow Super Heroes, I'm Courtney -- 33 years old from Southern California. I've lost 81 pounds in about 2.5 years through exercise and eating healthy. (Hitting NORMAL BMI on the scale this week was pretty amazing - I cried). 2017 will be all about maintenance mode and training for some upcoming races. Like @MommaoffherRocker I'm going to do the Dopey CHallenge but wait until 2018. (Good luck Melanie, sending loads of pixie dust your way for a successful race weekend next weekend!)

In 2016 I ran 16 half marathons and made Hall of Fame status through Rock n Roll.... this year it's about achieving time goals of at least a 2:44:59 half marathon and prepping for Dopey. So this year it's all about accountability of hitting my workouts for the month. I spent six hours last night mapping out work outs and races to make sure I'm ready... taking it one day at a time.

Goal: Stick to rigorous workout schedule so all daily goals are met. Maintain my 133-135 pound weight range.

Plan: Each day is plotted on a Google calendar through December 28th when I take off for my annual Disney World trip. I will take each day, day by day, in hopes of not scaring myself because Dopey is a terrifying goal.

Villains: I've started a new job and with that comes travel, especially at the end of the month. I'm trying my best to make sure some sort of routine is kept and will work hard to make sure that I'm on target without gaining weight.


I''m heading out to do my first exercise of the year - a 3 mile walk to get myself back in shape. Time to make this happen and to stay accountable.

 

[piglet1979]

I am back again for this month. I am Stephanie. I am 37 married and mother of 2 (son is 10 and daughter is 9). I also work full time. I was always tiny growing up. When I graduated high school only weighed about 95 pounds. I am only 4 foot 9 so this was a good weight for me. As I got old and got a desk job the weight started to go up. This time last year I weighed 150, the heaviest I have ever been including being pregnant. I am starting this year down 10 pounds from last year. Not where I wanted to be but it is a lose and u maintained it. This year I hope to lose another 15 pounds to be at my pre-pregnancy weiget from my daughter.

This month I hope to lose a pound a week so a total of 5 pounds. I plan on going to work out at least 3 times a week if not 4 if I can fit it in. I will also get 10,000 steps each day. I also want to eat a salad each day, weather that is just a small side salad with dinner or a large chicken salad as my dinner. I am also only going to go out to eat a total of 2 times this month.

My villains this month will be my health. I have spent more time sick since mid November then I have been healthy. I am just getting over another cold so I am hoping it all stays away. Also, my son might be a challenge. He broke his pinky a few weeks ago. He shifted the bone just below the middle knuckle. Surgery was on the table at one point. We went with the cast. It comes off on the 10th. That is when we will really know what we are looking at. He might have to do pt. If that is the case it may limit my time to work out. The other villain will be the kids activities and working around them.

 

[sweetpeama]

Got my 10 minutes in today. Had a Lincoln Log set spread out obstical challenge in the front room and ignoring the sight word and letter group bingo sets spread out everywhere ( still missing one of the drawing cards-mama is not amused with a certain little girl).

 

[sweetpeama]

Got my 10 minutes in today. Had a Lincoln Log set spread out obstical challenge in the front room and ignoring the sight word and letter group bingo sets spread out everywhere ( still missing one of the drawing cards-mama is not amused with a certain little girl).

 

[5disneykids]

Hi! I'd like to join in
I'm a 34 y/o SAHM to 6 wonderful kiddos!
My youngest is barely 3 months old. I put on a lot of weight during pregnancy (as usual). I have to get it all off before our Disney trip December 1st 2017!!
I need to lose about 60 in all, but my goal for January is -10. I am going to do a long term, low carb way of life for the weight loss. No more kids for us, so the weight has got to stay off this time!
I really need to lose around 25-30 pounds before exercising (besides walking). I'm anxious to get back into running, but I started last week & developed bursitis - first time I've ever had any kind of knee pain. Apparently I dove in too soon & need to drop some weight (while letting my knee/s recover)

Goal for this week is - stay under 20 carbs a day! Today was a successful day 1. Villans - cravings, which are usually bad for the first week & DD's birthday on Sunday.

 

[MinnieLovesTigger]

Happy New Year friends!!!! I'm so excited for a fresh new year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!​

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Hope you all enjoyed the celebrations wherever you are - leading us into 2017. This is the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House lit up with fireworks to ring in the New Year.

Welcome to January everyone - The Marvel Universe joined the Disney family back in 2009 and when I volunteered to host this month for some reason I just kept being drawn back to the Superheroes when thinking of a theme.

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Our Superheroes are waiting to meet you and hear about your goal for the month...

Tell us as much or as little about yourself to introduce yourself as you like. Let us know your goal, your plan to achieve it, any villains or other barriers that you think may get in your way and of course any tools or plans to help you along the way. To set us off with positivity for the new year when you are thinking about setting your goal try to use a positive voice .... e.g. rather than no junk food ... think mostly homemade meals.

Woo hoo I am ready for 2017 - bring it on... and well with some gorgeous Superheroes to help us on our way who wouldn't be ... lets get started!!!

I'm Lily, 43, married, wrangler of 2 cats and a dog. Quick version of my weight story - I was always really thin until I graduated from college and law school and started working. I then added 5-10 pounds every few years and aside from a few half-hearted attempts to reform my diet and take up this thing called exercise, I've mostly just bumbled along eating cookies and bread and cheese and pretty much anything else I wanted. I always thought I'm tall, I can pull it off. The past year has been a wake up call. I'm about 15 pounds into obese territory. I'm 50 pounds from a healthy BMI. I'm 90 pounds over my (admittedly too thin) college graduation weight. I've got a few health problems that would benefit from a significantly healthier lifestyle. I've also got a shallow side - I hate the way I look and I hate my clothes. I want to find the me that is buried inside of continuing to be whatever this thing that ate her is.

So...

The big goal for the year is to achieve a healthy BMI. I need to lose 48.8 pounds to make that happen. I also want to run the 5K that happens in my neighborhood every November (sending me into a fit of depression over my sloth and general bulkiness).

Goal for the month: 5 pounds

The eating plan: I've charged my Fitbit and signed up for MyFitnessPal and will maintain an average 500 calorie/day deficit. I'm focusing on solid nutrition with a focus on lean protein, vegetables, and fruit.

The activity plan: I'm going to stop whining about winter and make sure that I get my 10,000 steps a day. Between the dog and public transportation, I don't usually have a problem getting my steps in but I was really lax after our trip last month and I need to "step" it up. I'm also setting a minimum goal of 10 minutes/day of strength or flexibility work at least six days a week. While the fitness goal for the year is that 5K, I know myself well enough to know that I will be far more likely to succeed if the first scheduled exercise sessions are in the safety and relative privacy of my own living room.

The villains: I work too much. I'll also be a first time adjunct professor this semester and that will be a source of added time pressure and stress. I've got some anxiety issues and I self-soothe with cookies. I like to eat. I hate exercise. Winter. Fear of failure. A husband who can eat anything he wants while staying thin and doesn't fully understand most of us don't work that way. The convenience of Uber. The rapid approach of Inauguration Day. Potential blizzards. I think those are all of the big ones but I'm sure there are more.

Plan for fighting off the villains:
1. Accountability - I will check in here daily.
2. Meditation - I started up again while with the in-laws last week and it helped. As my villains list demonstrates, I've got some issues with staying in the moment.
3. One Day, One Hour, One Minute at a time - Sort of related to staying in the moment and why I'm trying meditation. All I really have to do is stay focused on whatever it is that is immediately in front of me. I'm however short of a time period I need to make sure that. I can get through it. I'm pretty sure that I can get through one minute without panicking and throwing everything I want to achieve away for a cookie.

 

[50sjayne]

Hey. So I'm in So do we need to pm the host with starting weight? I guess I just will since it's Sunday night. I'd like to lose 6-7 pounds this month and get at least 2 good lifting workouts in a week. Villians--sugar, my nemesis since I quit drinking a year and a half ago and just a full schedule. I work 40 hours now and my job is very physical. I also have to be there at 7:30 am and don't always have 2 consecutive days off. Exhaustion really kills me when I actually do have time. I go to a lot of aa meetings at night so sometimes that cuts into my workout time as well. I'm through the holidays though so I don't think I'll have to go to as many. I really want to look good when I go to see Adam Ant at the start of Feb. I'm going to go see him in Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver BC. Mostly I just want to be able to zip up the new killer boots I just got lol. I lost quite a bit of weight 5-6 years ago then maintained around 140- for a few years. Then when I quit drinking my sugar cravings that were non existent when I drank came back full force. So I'm at 158 right now. I've been better but still can't believe how much crap I can eat on a daily basis... I'm still kind of getting over being sick for the last month. (still coughing ugh) but feeling up to the challenge. Oh-- vital stats--married 26 years, 2 kids, 2 grandkids, 23 cats that are driving me nuts right now with all the fur, puking, elimination games and general naughtiness being penned up inside because of the worlds crappiest weather. We have a cat fenced back yard but we got iced pretty bad in this region lately so the cat fence is pretty much down all over so they can't even go out in the back yard. the covered back porch is there but very not exciting lol. So I know you probly think I'm nuts for following my pop star around like that but really I have always been a big fan of his and this year has been hard on me, losing Bowie, Prince and-- the horror show that was our election. I want to look back on this and think of chasing around a rock star (something I've never regretted)--- not When the Idiot got elected. Truly it is a wonder I am still sober.

 

[4Mickeys]

Good morning Everyone!!
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Goals are something we set here every month but as it is the start of a new year it can be easy to put extra pressure on ourselves or have higher expectations around those New Year’s Resolutions. With this in mind I thought we could talk about habits and how hard it can be to make a new habit stick! We see our Superheroes struggle at times as well at times they are torn between what they want and a calling to help or save someone. They pretty much always choose to help or save us. This could be viewed as a habit that has formed over time. There are reportedly 3Rs to a habit ​

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1. Reminder – the trigger to get you to commence the behavior​
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2. Routine - the behavior itself​
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3. Reward – the payoff or good feeling for doing the behavior.​
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If we think of our superheroes the reminder can be hearing a call for help from someone in distress, the routine is saving them, and the reward is of course the thanks and adulation from that person and the wider community or that love interest .








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(I know this movie is pre-Disney Marvel but its my favourite Spiderman so far )
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Now some of the behaviours many of us are wanting to start no longer come naturally or easily to us and let’s face it don’t always make us feel good straight away … so the reward is not as immediate and I think that can be why it can be hard to make those changes and form those new habits. For example exercise may be hard, hurt, leave you feeling exhausted and you don't see the scale move straight away. ​

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Making a new habit is widely believed to take at least 21 days – for some reason I personally find I fall off the wagon around that 3 week mark! ​

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QOTD: For those who are further along in their journey what did you do that worked that helped you form those new habits? Did you have a reminder and reward?​

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For those of us who are struggling or new to making changes – what do you think you can do to help forming these habits? Do you have reminders and rewards built into your plan for your goal this month? ​

 

[4Mickeys]

I think I will set an exercise goal for the month with 20 workouts during January.

I know you can achieve this - great goal to get moving again after the holidays

I have two goals for this month: to get my running pace down to a 16 minute mile (I'm currently hovering around 16:40 - 17:00) and to lose 5 more pounds. I'm logging all my food on MyFitnessPal (I'm whineosaur there if anyone wants to add me--just leave me a message!) and I'm trying to stay below 1750 calories a day. I've also been hitting the gym 4-5 times a week, running, swimming, and strength training. I also go on a 3-5 mile hike every other weekend. SO I just plan on continuing all of that to meet my goal!

My villains: my sweet tooth! My abominable sweet tooth! I just cannot get it under control!

Another runner (I am not one) but there are quite a few friends on here who are and I admire them all! Sounds like you have a solid plan

I''m heading out to do my first exercise of the year - a 3 mile walk to get myself back in shape. Time to make this happen and to stay accountable.

Bundle of awesomeness that you are - great start to the month/year hitting the activity straight up. Good luck with work and sticking to plan when you travel

This month I hope to lose a pound a week so a total of 5 pounds. I plan on going to work out at least 3 times a week if not 4 if I can fit it in. I will also get 10,000 steps each day. I also want to eat a salad each day, weather that is just a small side salad with dinner or a large chicken salad as my dinner. I am also only going to go out to eat a total of 2 times this month.

Wow only 2 times eating out! Good luck I am sure you can do it. 5 pounds with a good plan you have got this

Hi! I'd like to join in
I'm a 34 y/o SAHM to 6 wonderful kiddos!
My youngest is barely 3 months old. I put on a lot of weight during pregnancy (as usual). I have to get it all off before our Disney trip December 1st 2017!!
I need to lose about 60 in all, but my goal for January is -10. I am going to do a long term, low carb way of life for the weight loss. No more kids for us, so the weight has got to stay off this time!
I really need to lose around 25-30 pounds before exercising (besides walking). I'm anxious to get back into running, but I started last week & developed bursitis - first time I've ever had any kind of knee pain. Apparently I dove in too soon & need to drop some weight (while letting my knee/s recover)

Goal for this week is - stay under 20 carbs a day! Today was a successful day 1. Villans - cravings, which are usually bad for the first week & DD's birthday on Sunday.

so glad you joined the Super Hero crew! I see you are breaking your monthly goal into weekly goals ... great way to break it into achievable chunks!

Goal for the month: 5 pounds

You seem to have a well thought out plan - you can definitely do this

I'd like to lose 6-7 pounds this month and get at least 2 good lifting workouts in a week.

Strength training is so important to a healthy body and weight loss - great goal and plan

So I know you probly think I'm nuts for following my pop star around like that but really I have always been a big fan of his and this year has been hard on me, losing Bowie, Prince and-- the horror show that was our election. I want to look back on this and think of chasing around a rock star (something I've never regretted)--- not When the Idiot got elected. Truly it is a wonder I am still sober.

Well.... this is definitely the boards to be in good company who are devoted to things/people they love lol! I say go for it - if you can afford it and enjoy it ... why not? As we kept being reminded in 2016 - life is short - make happy memories while you have the chance.

 

[sweetpeama]

I keep my walking shoes by my chair and I currently have a pair of socks right with them. Normally I slip on a pair of crocks for walking around the house ( fixing meals, going to the rest room, checking on the kids when they are in other rooms especially when the youngest is too quiet-sometimes that can be trouble like her drinking a gallon of milk in 2 days ( the rest of us combined used maybe 3 cups) that was not discovered till DH got home at 1 am ( guess who gets powdered tomorrow because no one is making a special trip to town to get some and I am not texting my mom for her and my dad to pick some up when they stop by the store to get a few things on their way back into town).
Right now I am trying to walk after DH goes to work usually at a time that my computer decides to be a putz and I need to clear the cache and temp files and do a restart ( I am doing a shut down and no turning it back on until my walk is done) but some days like Tuesday and Thursday where I will leave before he does in order to get the oldest to her activities ( he brings youngest to me right at the end of oldest's first activity-martial arts followed by 45 minutes for changing and getting to Bible Quiz, followed by 30 minutes to get to 4-H officer meeting ( Youngest and I will be going and walking around the local walmart because it's too cold to do anything outside) going from the larger community to the East of us to the smaller one from the West of us. At least the snow is not supposed to last past 6 pm our time tonight and than it's just supposed to be cold on Tuesday so they should have at least the main roads cleared). Currently conditions on the interestate are scattered snow and ice, blowing and drifting, and snowing but at least we don't have reduced visibility or black ice. Depending on when I get up ( if it is light enough to see without turning on a bunch of lights and I am up before everyone is up and I can't walk in peace or at least without tripping on anyone) I will either set a timer on my phone and walk in some of the back sections of the store (automotive ( no service center at this one), sporting goods, house hold repair, paint section, even the bathroom fixtures as those tend to be empty or almost empty so I should be able to keep going pushing the cart) if not I will walk once we are home and I have the little one in bed ( wait I just remembered I can walk while DH has youngest at her speech and occupational therapy plus he takes her to the library time-oldest rarely surfaces from her bedroom or shall I say hybernation).
Reward right now is hopefully it gets where 10 minutes is easy to do instead of 2-3 minutes in going how much longer until the last 2-3 minutes at which point I go ok I am almost done I can finish this. Weight loss enough to need a lot of the wardrobe replaced.
Due to our financial situation this can be a potential long term villian at least until I get down small enough that it's easy enough to find stuff in the thrift shops-over coming this by using what I have in some of the smaller sizes, having a good friend who is an excellent seamstress who is willing to help take stuff in for me, and my mom buying me clothes ( I pick them out and she pays for them but I get a budget on how much I can spend). A lot of my pants are elastic waist some with drawstring, tops I can wear a tank under for the ones that are larger ( If I bend over and it shows everything I wear a tank under it for modesty reasons) at least for a temporary time.

 

[Flossbolna]

QOTD: For those who are further along in their journey what did you do that worked that helped you form those new habits? Did you have a reminder and reward?
For those of us who are struggling or new to making changes – what do you think you can do to help forming these habits? Do you have reminders and rewards built into your plan for your goal this month? ​

Interesting question!!

I think for every habit it has to be a little different. One thing I have noticed is that I really struggle with the reminder part. Therefore I always do much better when I decide to do something every day. For example my dentist always used to be on to me that I need to floss more regularly. He said no need to do it every day, two or three times a week is enough. I always struggled to keep up with this until I decided that even though he said that it was not necessary every day, I would do it every day. It was so much easier to stick with it if I was just doing it every evening when brushing my teeth.

So, this also works with keeping a food diary. Every time you eat something, write it down (and that reminds me, my lunch still needs to be tracked...).

But there are other habits that you are not even supposed to do daily, for example for exercise you need rest days. There I have found that it helps me to have a schedule. I put all my planned runs into my iphone calendar with a reminder that pops up half an hour before run time. It also appears on my daily overview, so I see that today is a running day.

I am not sure what kind of rewards I have for my habits. I seem to do ok even without rewards. I think for me completing what I wanted to do is a reward in itself. And sometimes coming here to this thread to write about what I did (going out for that run even though it was rainy and cold and I felt tired) is a reward. I do not mean to gloat, but share my happiness about acchieving what I had planned to do.

 

[princessbee]

Honestly, my best reminder AND reward is my Fitbit. I'm super competitive so those workweek hustle challenges are a dream come true for me--the notifications tell me who I need to beat and the reward is any time I meet my goal or win a challenge! Part of the reason I became a runner is because I wanted to prove that I could. Every time I win one of those challenges, I'm doing exactly that!

Foodwise, MyFitnessPal has been great so far, but I've also been at home since coming back to it due to winter break. I think a potential villain for me will be returning back to work--you'd be surprised at how many invitations to my Abominable Sweet Tooth there are during a school day, even when we technically have a no-food-in-classrooms rule. I do really like logging it, and for me, I actually "plan" all of my meals the night before. I still let myself make changes as needed, but to have a general idea of how many calories I'm going to consume, or what kind of treat I might be looking forward to, really helps. So sitting down and doing that every night is helpful.

The last reminder I have is my bullet journal. If you've never heard of this, do yourself a favor and look it up! (http://bulletjournal.com/ is a good place to start!) I'm terrible, terrible at planners, but this journal has been the only thing I've stuck with for a long period of time. If I do go for a week or so without using it (like I did last October when I went to Disney--that trip threw me off so much, it was two and a half weeks before I used it regularly again) then I can just start on the next page, and write myself a little note about what happened. It's my reflection diary, planner, to-do list, and goal tracker all at once. So just using that is a great reminder of what I need to do.

 

[HappyGrape]

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1. Reminder – the trigger to get you to commence the behavior​
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2. Routine - the behavior itself​
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3. Reward – the payoff or good feeling for doing the behavior.​
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QOTD: For those who are further along in their journey what did you do that worked that helped you form those new habits? Did you have a reminder and reward?
For those of us who are struggling or new to making changes – what do you think you can do to help forming these habits? Do you have reminders and rewards built into your plan for your goal this month? ​

1. Reminder
I don't need one. I gained 2 pounds last month. If I gain 2 pounds every month this year, 24 by Next January. Multiply X 12 years. I don't want to have to imagine what the 50 year old me would look like with 288 lbs on top of my current weight. I don't even want to imagine gaining quarter of that. I don't even want to gain 2 each year.

2. Routine
My minimums are 2 weight lifting sessions weekly, at least 10 000 steps daily, tracking everything even if I go over. These are commitments I made to myself, like brushing my teeth. Last year, for the year my average was 15391 steps daily. I also swim, yoga and currently aim to lift 5 days weekly. But my minims are not negotiable, I do them even if I don't feel like it, unless I am really sick.

3. Reward
Does feeling good about myself count? You can't at all compare how I feel about myself right now, compared to 30 lbs ago. I feel rewarded.

I listened to this podcast on the treadmill today. Well worth a listen
http://www.halfsizeme.com/hsm256/

Sticking to my goals last two days, food under 1800calories, 15000 steps both days and workout today. Tomorrow is my last day off, back to work Wednesday but I feel ready for it!

 

[Flossbolna]

I am feeling very happy with myself now (reward for doing something towards a good habit!! )! One thing I struggle with is that I usually have an early lunch at work (with colleagues and somehow my workplace keeps to an early lunch hour and you just have to either roll with it or eat alone and I do love my lunches with my colleagues/friends). And then I usually get so hungry by the time I get home that I eat whatever. So, I need to bring a healthy afternoon snack. I used to bring apples until I figured out that they have too much sugar and just make me crash even worse later on. I need protein. So a few months ago, I had the idea of bringing hard boiled eggs. So, I got some eggs and boiled a bunch of them and also measured some cheese and prepared some carrots and my snack is already packed in a container in the fridge to just be thrown in my bag tomorrow morning! Need to keep this up this week!

 

[5disneykids]

Day 2 is pretty much in the books and I stayed the course!!!
I am already seeing the scale move, which is great (although I know the first part is water weight, it's still very gratifying).

My reminder is Disney! I am a planning fanatic so every time I work on our vacation, schedule, do our shirts or our Disney nights leading up to the trip, I am motivated to keep on!

My routine - low carb diet "Atkins style" to drop 30 pounds & Walking daily (while wearing a 15 pound infant, he's worn about 6 hrs a day I'd say!)

Reward - when I am down 15 pounds I am going to get a new hair cut/style that I've been wanting & when I'm down 20, I'll be getting my lash extensions