Everybody Wants to be a WISH Cat (or dog, or goose, etc...) - October 2016 WISH Challenge

[Lady Marie]

Hello Everyone!

to this month's WISH thread! I'm Patricia and I'll be your not-so-ghost host this October.

This month is going to be a celebration of Disney Animals! We will have a lot of visits from the Aristocats community, but also some other visitors outside of France to help us challenge ourselves this month. Don't worry, non-cat lovers -- we have a whole menagerie waiting in the wings!

​

So let's get started!!!

Everyone is welcome to participate, and you can join us at any time and begin the first step of your journey to a better you!

It's up to YOU to set your goal for the month. This can be pounds lost, exercise tracked, any thing you want to work on this month. Then every week calculate your progress as a percentage and report it either on here or in a PM anytime Friday-Monday. I will post results on Monday.

Results will be reported in percentages here but no specific numbers (pounds or miles or whatever) will be reported unless you choose to do so.

1% -10%​

11% - 20%​

21% - 30%​

31% - 40%
41% - 50%​

51% - 60%​

61% - 70%​

71% - 80%​

81% - 90%​

91% - 99%​

100% OR MORE!​

REPORTING SCHEDULE:
10/3 (Starting numbers/goals)
10/10
10/17
10/24
10/31 (FINAL RESULTS)

You can check in as little or as much as you'd like. But the more you put into this - the more you will get out of it.

I will post daily questions during the week and a weekend question. We also chat about all things health related from My Fitness Pal, Weight Watchers, all types of exercise, and Disney, OF COURSE!

So let's get ready to CHARGE ahead!

​

 

[Lady Marie]

Participants:

I'll add your name here to list. Feel free to share other ways you would like to connect (Instagram, My Fitness Pal, FitBit, any Snapchat-er's out there?!) I'll post that here as well if you would like.

@courtneybeth
@piglet1979
@HappyGrape
@Flossbolna
@JacknSally
@4Mickeys
@Zim
@MommaoffherRocker
@Dr Gunnie
@TimonTracy
@dsnyfn1022
@MochaDrinker
@ski_mom
@kirstie101
@robinb

Future Hosts:

November: @MommaoffherRocker
December: @verleniahall
January: ???

 

[Lady Marie]

I'll post our first question on October 1. This topic will talk about your goals for the month and your plan to get there so just be marinating on that for now.

Until then.....

Say how do you do and shake hands, shake hands, shake hands!

Claim your spot, Introduce yourself, and get ready for a fun furry month!

 

[courtneybeth]

Yesssssssssssss. Great theme. I am in!

 

[piglet1979]

I am in

 

[HappyGrape]

Yas! I am in! I will participate until 22nd but will make bigger effort considering the reduced time!

Great theme, thanks for hosting

 

[Flossbolna]

Oh, I love the Aristocats! It was one of my first movies that I saw on the big screen...

I am signing up for October! @Lady Marie thank you for hosting this month!

 

[JacknSally]

I'm in!

(But I hate cats... LOL. Sorry! It doesn't help that I'm allergic and they make my eyes swell shut.)

It's been a minute since I've been truly active in these threads, so I'll reintroduce myself for anyone who doesn't know/remember me!


I'm Megan, I'm 27, and I'm a dogmom. I started doing these threads in May 2015 as I prepared for my October 2015 wedding. I managed to lose 30lbs and weigh in at 199 on my wedding day. We honeymooned in Disney and when I got home I was fighting some pretty heavy depression. The wedding was stressful, I had just quit my awful job (literally my last day was 3 days before my wedding), we were worried about money, and we were now back in Memphis not in Disney. I spent the winter sleeping, hibernating on the couch, and eating my anxiety. I started my own small business at the beginning of January, and while it gave me something to do, it didn't really help with the money worries or getting active again. DH picked up a second job which helps but ends still don't meet, and now I hardly see him, and now our meals consist of fast food at 11pm when he gets home and then going right to bed because he has to get up and go back to work at 6am.

In May, I started with a local bakery, and for the most part loved my job. Finally there was some additional income, there were people outside of my home, and there was some activity in my day. Light at the end of the tunnel! Finally we had a little wiggle room, we had a little "fun" money, and we were starting to make dents in credit cards and other debts that are keeping us from starting a family, buying a house, moving out of Memphis, sending DH back to school. I finally felt a little more like myself, even though I was exhausted all the time because I was juggling the 60-70hr a week home business plus the 30hr a week "part time" job (it was only supposed to be 20-25hrs but that never actually happened).... Unfortunately, a couple of weeks ago I lost the bakery job, so now the same anxieties and depressions are back, and I'm struggling to fend them off. We're going to Disney for our first anniversary at the end of October, but I'm very worried that I won't be able to enjoy it because of all of the outside factors - largely the money. We've decided to still go because of the amount of money we've already put into it at this point that we can't get back, but it's really difficult to have been SO excited for this trip that now just feels like a big black cloud. Disney shouldn't feel that way! I was planning to do the Princess 5K in February and have already bought my spot, but we cancelled the hotel room and are planning to reallocate what little money we've saved toward that to use now, either toward bills or toward October Disney. I've started the job hunt - again - but

We're still spending too much money eating out and eating at 11pm because of DH's jobs, and because I'm too busy/tired to actually cook anything during the day. I'm tired of it and we just can't afford it - physically or financially. I need and I'm ready for a change. I wanted to at least be back to wedding weight before this trip, and I'm heartbroken that I won't be. DH put on even more weight than I did... While I'm only 30lbs heavier than this time a year ago, he is probably 40-50lbs heavier. Trying to pack is awful because nothing fits and we don't have the money to get things that do fit. We were so excited to go and take photos everywhere we could again and now I don't want to be in any of them. I don't want things to be like this and I never want to find us in this position again. I've missed you all terribly and I am really excited to rejoin what seems like an amazing, interactive group based on what I read from the September thread. Here's to amazing things for all of us this month!

 

[Lady Marie]

Oh, I love the Aristocats! It was one of my first movies that I saw on the big screen...

Oh man! Jealous! It's one of my favorites too, and I would have loved to have seen it on the big screen!

I've missed you all terribly and I am really excited to rejoin what seems like an amazing, interactive group based on what I read from the September thread. Here's to amazing things for all of us this month!

Wow! What a whirlwind of events these past few months. So sorry to hear about all you two have been going through, but I am so happy you are back. We are here for you to help inspire you in any way we can. You can do it!!! Sending pixie dust your way!

 

[HappyGrape]

I'm in!

( We honeymooned in Disney and when I got home I was fighting some pretty heavy depression.

A lot of people say how you eat on vacations don't matter, but after few don't matter vacations and weight gains post vacation - they appear to matter very much to me. If you eat healthy for a while, go for week or two at WDW and eat cupcakes and icecream cookie sandwiches fit to be shred by 4 and sold as single serving and you don't gain weight during the vacation - Disney magic, heat & walk. You have done hours of planning before the trip and it all worked perfectly!

You come back and you need to work, clean the house, look after you family, exercise, eat healthy, in our case the weather could be rubbish too, your finances are stretch and you have the hours you spend planning as form of entertainment to wonder how to fill it with fun that you have money for and life just feels empty unless you plan another vacation.

Eating high sugar foods, leads to sugar withdraw and makes it so hard to go back to apples as snack!

It hit me bad (post Disney blues) the two previous vacations, but I plan to eat somewhat healthy the end of this month and to come up with other projects I am interested in locally. In fact I can say the cause for my weight gain was that I thought how I eat on vacation won't count. You are not the only one. It's very hard downer to manage!

And it sounds like you have been busy, busy happy and busy stressful too! I hope we can help you with your journey. I found the support very helpful

 

[HappyGrape]

I am 1.7kg away from my goal weight. About 4 lbs

I am owed 1 kg by the scale for calorie deficit I earned in September, so I am just waiting for it to show on the scale as it does, in it's own time but soon

Goal 1 the 21 days to my holiday 11550 calorie deficit, or 550 every day. Last few kg are very hard to loose and I feel behavior goal would keep me motivated better.

Goal 2 - make sure I keep it happy, eat food I love, not too little, do workouts I like, but not too much and focus on my long term goals - of living healthy life and not on and off diets

I apologize for writing the goals ahead of 1st, but it's easier to spend time to think & formulate it during the week and we have a lot on tomorrow

 

[4Mickeys]

I'm in - loving this months theme @Lady Marie

@JacknSally so glad to see you back - sorry to hear you are struggling with lots of life's stresses - hope we help you feel a little better this month with our chatter. I kind of know what you mean about feeling bad about a Disney trip you can't really afford - I did that in 2014 and put myself into debt - pretty big time - I did have savings to put in but a lot went on credit - I was budgeted so tightly to make it happen - but once there I let it all go and just absorbed the Disney Magic - By doing that I found it very restorative actually (meaning it pulled me out of a very bad depression) - you know what? I am probably still paying some of it off now - but I wouldn't change it for anything I just have to look at the photos and hear my kids talk about it to know it was the best debt I ever went into. I hope you can set your troubles aside for a few days whilst there and just celebrate your wonderful anniversary and enjoy your time at Disney.

 

[Zim]

I'm definitely in again... I lost 8 pounds last month and am setting my goal this month for 6.2. Why the extra .2? Well, I'm at 186.2 right now and would LOVE to be on the cusp of 170s by the end of this month. But I know I won't be completely nuts this month, what with being in Disney and Universal next weekend and Halloween around the corner - so another 8 pound loss I realize is out of the question. I started this latest health track at the end of July at 201.8 - so I've managed to shed around 15 pounds so far. Initially the goal was to ensure I could fit on those snug Harry Potter rides! Now I'm looking down the road to a Turkey Week cruise with my aunts (2 of my mom's 3 sisters). I lost my mom to cancer when she was 55 about ten years ago. Now her youngest sister is 56 and has the same cancer - the immunotherapy drugs have come a long way - but it's still 4th stage lung cancer so this is a bucket list item for her. Don't smoke folks, and if you do, quit!

In addition to chiming in here when I have time, I'm on MFP doing their Harry Potter challenges, which are much more activity intensive. Also signed up with my SILs trainer and she just changed my program at the gym and it's a killer (whoever came up with inverted leg press is a sick person!)

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

I'm in for October!

 

[Lady Marie]

I kind of know what you mean about feeling bad about a Disney trip you can't really afford - I did that in 2014 and put myself into debt - pretty big time - I did have savings to put in but a lot went on credit - I was budgeted so tightly to make it happen - but once there I let it all go and just absorbed the Disney Magic - By doing that I found it very restorative actually (meaning it pulled me out of a very bad depression) - you know what? I am probably still paying some of it off now - but I wouldn't change it for anything I just have to look at the photos and hear my kids talk about it to know it was the best debt I ever went into. I hope you can set your troubles aside for a few days whilst there and just celebrate your wonderful anniversary and enjoy your time at Disney.

Yes, to all of this. Sometimes you have to take the time and spend the money to "sharpen the saw" so that you can take on life's challenges with renewed energy and positivism.

In addition to chiming in here when I have time, I'm on MFP doing their Harry Potter challenges, which are much more activity intensive.

*gasp!* What is this Harry Potter MFP challenges that you speak of? I've been slacking with MFP but I may have just found renewed inspiration!

 

[Zim]

*gasp!* What is this Harry Potter MFP challenges that you speak of? I've been slacking with MFP but I may have just found renewed inspiration!

I know, I let MFP drop a long time ago and then I went back recently and in the Community section under Challenges they have all these monthly challenges. Right now there is an Ilvmorny one, which is people divided into the four American houses of Harry Potter world. There are weekly challenges and tasks and the houses "compete" against one another. I'm in Slytherin for the Hogwarts one, which is in it's 5th week I think (I get them all confused). But it's really entertaining. You MIGHT still be able to join the Ilvmorny one as this is the 'welcome' week or at least get on the wait list if people drop. They haven't assigned houses yet. It's really entertaining and I'm a competitive sort so it really works where a lot of other stuff doesn't.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/116143-ilvermorny-castle-term-1

 

[Dr Gunnie]

I'm in for October - I'll be back this weekend for intros. Excited to keep the ball rolling!

 

[piglet1979]

I know, I let MFP drop a long time ago and then I went back recently and in the Community section under Challenges they have all these monthly challenges. Right now there is an Ilvmorny one, which is people divided into the four American houses of Harry Potter world. There are weekly challenges and tasks and the houses "compete" against one another. I'm in Slytherin for the Hogwarts one, which is in it's 5th week I think (I get them all confused). But it's really entertaining. You MIGHT still be able to join the Ilvmorny one as this is the 'welcome' week or at least get on the wait list if people drop. They haven't assigned houses yet. It's really entertaining and I'm a competitive sort so it really works where a lot of other stuff doesn't.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/116143-ilvermorny-castle-term-1

I might have to try this. I know nothing about Harry Potter. I have never read the books or watched the movies but I love a good competition.

 

[JacknSally]

Wow! What a whirlwind of events these past few months. So sorry to hear about all you two have been going through, but I am so happy you are back. We are here for you to help inspire you in any way we can. You can do it!!! Sending pixie dust your way!

Thank you, sweet friend! I'm happy to be back, too!

A lot of people say how you eat on vacations don't matter, but after few don't matter vacations and weight gains post vacation - they appear to matter very much to me. If you eat healthy for a while, go for week or two at WDW and eat cupcakes and icecream cookie sandwiches fit to be shred by 4 and sold as single serving and you don't gain weight during the vacation - Disney magic, heat & walk. You have done hours of planning before the trip and it all worked perfectly!

You come back and you need to work, clean the house, look after you family, exercise, eat healthy, in our case the weather could be rubbish too, your finances are stretch and you have the hours you spend planning as form of entertainment to wonder how to fill it with fun that you have money for and life just feels empty unless you plan another vacation.

Eating high sugar foods, leads to sugar withdraw and makes it so hard to go back to apples as snack!

It hit me bad (post Disney blues) the two previous vacations, but I plan to eat somewhat healthy the end of this month and to come up with other projects I am interested in locally. In fact I can say the cause for my weight gain was that I thought how I eat on vacation won't count. You are not the only one. It's very hard downer to manage!

And it sounds like you have been busy, busy happy and busy stressful too! I hope we can help you with your journey. I found the support very helpful

Well, how I ate on vacation definitely didn't have anything to do with the depression afterward as we stopped focusing on eating healthy a month or two before due to time and stress, and the honeymoon was not the cause of my weight gain. The 6 months of comfort food and carbs and no activity all day every day led to that. My depression was and is due to real, substantial factors and not just because we were no longer in Disney.

That's exactly why people hate discussing real mental issues they struggle with - everyone thinks they, too, have OCD or anxiety or depression so the response is always along the lines of "Oh, I totally know what you mean about depression, I always get so sad when it's time to leave and go back home to work." There's much more to it than that. For me, it stemmed from all of the issues with the wedding and the money and the people involved with it, the lack of money to pay bills, not having any direction as to an occupation that I could tolerate but not be wasting the whole paycheck just on gas to get to work, not having anything to look forward to after the wedding and honeymoon because we have no clue when or if we'll ever be able to buy our own home or start a family, not having DH around because he needed to work two jobs because I no longer had one... The vacation had very little to do with it, and now that we find ourselves in pretty much the exact same spot (minus wedding planning, thank goodness) it's hard to keep from getting back to that place.

@JacknSally so glad to see you back - sorry to hear you are struggling with lots of life's stresses - hope we help you feel a little better this month with our chatter. I kind of know what you mean about feeling bad about a Disney trip you can't really afford - I did that in 2014 and put myself into debt - pretty big time - I did have savings to put in but a lot went on credit - I was budgeted so tightly to make it happen - but once there I let it all go and just absorbed the Disney Magic - By doing that I found it very restorative actually (meaning it pulled me out of a very bad depression) - you know what? I am probably still paying some of it off now - but I wouldn't change it for anything I just have to look at the photos and hear my kids talk about it to know it was the best debt I ever went into. I hope you can set your troubles aside for a few days whilst there and just celebrate your wonderful anniversary and enjoy your time at Disney.

Yes, to all of this. Sometimes you have to take the time and spend the money to "sharpen the saw" so that you can take on life's challenges with renewed energy and positivism.

I think that's what we're leaning toward doing right now. Not going crazy, necessarily, but using what little room we have left on one of our credit cards just so we aren't literally counting pennies the few days we're there. It's a very short trip this time so it's not like we'd be putting $20,000 on the credit cards to stay deluxe for two weeks or anything, haha. I just want to not worry about things for a few days.

I'm definitely in again... I lost 8 pounds last month and am setting my goal this month for 6.2. Why the extra .2? Well, I'm at 186.2 right now and would LOVE to be on the cusp of 170s by the end of this month. But I know I won't be completely nuts this month, what with being in Disney and Universal next weekend and Halloween around the corner - so another 8 pound loss I realize is out of the question. I started this latest health track at the end of July at 201.8 - so I've managed to shed around 15 pounds so far. Initially the goal was to ensure I could fit on those snug Harry Potter rides! Now I'm looking down the road to a Turkey Week cruise with my aunts (2 of my mom's 3 sisters). I lost my mom to cancer when she was 55 about ten years ago. Now her youngest sister is 56 and has the same cancer - the immunotherapy drugs have come a long way - but it's still 4th stage lung cancer so this is a bucket list item for her. Don't smoke folks, and if you do, quit!

Congratulations on your 8lb loss last month! So sorry to hear about your aunt. DH stopped smoking last year and hasn't touched a cigarette since but he smoked for a long time before that so I'm always terrified that it will catch up with him. Enjoy every second of your cruise!

 

[Zim]

Congratulations on your 8lb loss last month! So sorry to hear about your aunt. DH stopped smoking last year and hasn't touched a cigarette since but he smoked for a long time before that so I'm always terrified that it will catch up with him. Enjoy every second of your cruise!

Don't stress too much on his previous smoking habit. I think a lot of it is genes. my mom was a genealogist - we had no real history of smoking causing cancer until now. I also have a friend who is 90 and she smokes like a chimney and no worse for the wear. All three of my mother's sisters smoked - one quit way before I even came along, one quit after my mom got sick and the other didn't stop. So far both who quit have been fine and have passed that 55 year marker. Not that I don't worry about all the secondhand smoke from growing up - but nothing I can do about that now!