Find Your Own "Directive" - the February Weight Loss / Life Style Change Challenge

[pjlla]

It's not a Kate Spade as I had hoped - Ms. Spade only makes dresses for women who are flat chested. So women like me that are gifted in that area sadly cannot wear her dresses.

I ended up finding two dresses - one for the graduation/dinner (Maggy London - below) and a black dress for Victoria and Albert's when we go to WDW the following week. Total cost for both dresses was 1/2 the cost of a Kate Spade so I am ahead

Love it and bet it is SUPER flattering!! Can't wait to see it ON YOU!...............P

 

[courtneybeth]

Question of the Day: February 3

It's woohoo Wednesday!
Wall-e and Eve are having a great day. You should be too!
In keeping with tradition, we will share good news on Wednesday.
Nothing too big or too small - all events welcome.

What are you celebrating today?
​

 

[flvy]

Amen. I feel you there. I find that some Anthropologie dresses are flattering to us larger chested ladies. I bet that dress will be very flattering with the side panels! Nice choice.

Anthropologie This store is my weakness. So much of my apartment decorations and kitchen stuff comes from there.

I am also quite often thankful I don't have too much going on up top. I can basically wear any dress/top I want which is useful seeing as I live in dresses when the weather is right. That said... all my junk is in the trunk and funky things happen with my pants.

I'll be back with a celebration later. I just have to do it first.

 

[pjlla]

Question of the Day: February 3

It's woohoo Wednesday!
Wall-e and Eve are having a great day. You should be too!
In keeping with tradition, we will share good news on Wednesday.
Nothing too big or too small - all events welcome.

What are you celebrating today?
​

Hmmm...... gotta think about this. How about this...... I haven't had to shovel snow ONCE yet this winter! I hate snow passionately, so this is definitely worth celebrating! Off to work.... TTYL.........P

 

[Flossbolna]

@pjlla You asked about fitness trackers. I can only report on the fitbit one as this is the one that I chose for myself. And I am very happy with it!

I would never wear a fitness tracker in a place where others can see it, so anything that is a bracelet was definitely a no-go for me. The advantage of the fitbit one is that I can wear it on my bra (just as @courtneybeth does). It goes on the middle bit in the front (between the two cups) and it does not bother me all day. I only need to remember to transfer it to my sports bra for exercise, but otherwise it goes on in the morning and then stays there the whole day and I can forget about it. When I am hanging around the house in my pajamas on a weekend morning, I just clip it to my pajama pants. And when I go swimming in the summer and wear my swimsuit under some clothes, then I never clip it on the swim suit to prevent me from forgetting to take it off before I go in the water. Then it might go into a pocket. I also find that for myself I can better belief that it is tracking correctly when it is worn directly on my body as compared to on my arm as I would always think that it is tracking arm movement as steps.

I also like that the fitbit one can track flights of stairs and I make good use of the sleep monitoring function. Somehow, knowing that the fitbit will show me wether I managed to acchieve my 7 hour goal of sleep actually helps me to make sure that I get my sleep. It also has a vibration alarm that I use a lot. I have one alarm set for 10:30pm to tell me that it is time to start getting ready for bed. And I use it to wake me up in the morning. I find that of all the different types of alarms I have tried, the vibration on my wrist (during the night you can wear it with a sleeve on your left wrist) is the best alarm I ever had. But of course that is a very personal feeling, others might hate it! The only negative about the alarm was that one night when teh 10:30pm alarm went off, the little button on my fitbit stopped functioning. So, I could not switch it off. And that was while I was seeing a movie with friends. It was a bit awkward to fish in my shirt to get the fitbit detached from the bra because it kept vibrating every 9 minutes!!

I use the fitbit app on my iphone to keep track of where I stand during the day. As I have mentioned, I am using this app for meal tracking as well. So, if I do some exercise that is not really steps, I usually just track it manually in the app as well to see what effect it has on my calories. I have found the calorie estimates it gives me for exercise to be quite accurate. At least my weight loss kind of reflects the number of calories that I was in deficit over the course of a month. I also noticed that it recognizes how "active" you are. For example, a normal day for me with 11.000 steps that has me sitting mainly at the desk, but then has three longer walks in the day has less calories than on the day before Christmas when I ended up not hitting my 10.000 steps, but when I was rushing around the house cooking, cleaning etc. all day long and felt totally exhausted in the end. So, the good thing is that it is not just a linear thing, but also takes into account of little movement during the day that still burns calories.

As @courtneybeth has mentioned, there is a fun function of having challenges with your friends. My sister and I often do weekend challenges - and those always end up weekends where we are on the move constantly!!


QOTD: My woohoo is a simple one: I am seeing movement on the scale!! I am so happy that there is something happening!! Yesterday with my mother's birthday could have ended up very badly, but we just had a very light dinner (oven rosted veggies and a beef broth), so that saved lots of calories!!

 

[dsnyfn1022]

When I track, I pre-track for the day, too. Or I at least log it before I eat. It seems so backwards to me to do it any other way. What do you do if you eat and then track and oh, that was double what you thought it'd be? You can always remove/add from your plate. Lots harder to remove from your body!!

I agree completely! She actually has a problem where she ends up indulging in things and then goes way over on calories. Then feels like she has to exercise to make up for it. Not my preferred way of eating!

 

[dsnyfn1022]

Question of the Day: February 3

It's woohoo Wednesday!
Wall-e and Eve are having a great day. You should be too!
In keeping with tradition, we will share good news on Wednesday.
Nothing too big or too small - all events welcome.

What are you celebrating today?
​

I have two! Weight loss related woohoo is that I can really see/feel a difference in my face. Which I love. I carry weight in my face for sure which I hated. Because you can hide your body parts in baggy clothes but you can't hide your face. So I don't have to search to find a "good" picture/selfie angle anymore. That makes me very happy.

Non-weight related woohoo: My DH got a new job!! He's been in a crappy job for a little over a year (feels like a lifetime when your job sucks). He was working 10-7 M-F and then every other Saturday working 10-6. It just super sucked for us being in a new marriage and basically not getting a ton of quality time together during the week. Plus, he was an assistant branch manager at a bank and he just really didn't like the work. At all. But now, he's moving to a different bank! Working in IT so it'll be M-F 8-5 just like me!! Plus, there was a pay bump which is always a bonus

 

[LindseyJo22]

Hi again everyone! I'm a little late to this challenge, but I'm excited because even after a weekend at Disney, I ended January at 142.0 lb - which is pretty awesome, and still lower than when I started. Since February is a pretty chill month, I'm really wanting to buckle down and get more serious about weight loss. I'm really bad about just "winging it" and hoping everything works out -which means that if I do lose, it's super slow and definitely not as efficient.

General about me - I'm 25, currently a part time instructor at a university, and hoping to eventually be a librarian. I live in Georgia with my husband, adore Disney World and try to visit as often as possible, and also love to read and knit. I'm a newish runner and have been working on completing the Couch to 5K program with the Jeff Galloway app. It's working pretty well so far! I'm hoping that my doctor's checkup next year will show improvement from this year's, and I'm committed to having a healthy lifestyle - though I know there will be ups and downs, I want the overall picture to be better than before.

Now to catch up on questions:

What is your goal for the month? How will you achieve your goal?
Are there items that could interfere with your goal? How will you rise above this challenge?

My goal for this month is 3 lb. Which scares me a little bit, considering the lack of success in the past few months (or at least very slow success). What I'm going to do to achieve my goal - focus more on calories. I'm really bad about actually tracking my food, and I know it slows me down. Focus on eating healthy meals - and stuff we make at home can be modified to be more healthy! Things that could interfere include Valentine's Day (though this is likely to only be one meal) and just my husband in general. I find it hard to eat more healthily a lot of the time because we both love to grocery shop, meal plan, and cook together. So it's not like I can make an executive decision about our meal plan like a lot of women seem to do. Also, though he mentions losing weight semi often, he doesn't really ever seem to want to take practical steps to make that happen. So I'm trying to focus on smaller portions of our more unhealthy recipes for me and finding healthier versions of foods we like to help balance our different ideas about food. I refuse to buy separate groceries for the two of us, so some kind of balance needs to happen.

My other goal this month is to keep up with a 28 day workout challenge I found on Instagram. It's simple bodyweight exercises, but as strength training is really missing in my routine right now, I need to start somewhere!

How do you hold yourself accountable? Is this accomplished through:
Apps? Mobile Devices? Reward/Punishment systems? Something else?

I love my Fitbit Charge HR that I got for Christmas! It tracks steps, but also my heart rate - which makes me feel that the calorie burn estimate is a lot better. I also am using the Loseit app to track my calories. When I was searching out apps, it seemed like this one had a more realistic calorie goal for me than MFP (which also didn't sync well to my Fitbit).

I am trying a new workout routine which has a very active Instagram community, so I'm hoping participating in that will keep me committed In addition, I have this group and a virtual running club on Facebook that help keep me on track with various goals. However, I have to remember and take the time to check in with them! In the end, I try to keep myself intrinsically motivated as well - because without that, all the helpful tools in the world don't go very far. I keep remembering why I want to take this journey and why it is worth it.

I read somewhere that I shouldn't try to drop my bad habits. It's far more effective to just introduce good habits. Cement the good habits in your life and commit to them, and the bad habits will fall away.

This is a really interesting idea - and I've had some success the past week with it I'm trying to drink more water - but I have a ridiculous diet soda habit that I find very hard to kick. So I haven't been worrying about it, but have included big Yeti cups of water in my day as well. Right now, the soda amount hasn't really decreased, but I'm still getting tons more water in!

 

[pjlla]

@pjlla You asked about fitness trackers. I can only report on the fitbit one as this is the one that I chose for myself. And I am very happy with it!

I would never wear a fitness tracker in a place where others can see it, so anything that is a bracelet was definitely a no-go for me. The advantage of the fitbit one is that I can wear it on my bra (just as @courtneybeth does). It goes on the middle bit in the front (between the two cups) and it does not bother me all day. I only need to remember to transfer it to my sports bra for exercise, but otherwise it goes on in the morning and then stays there the whole day and I can forget about it. When I am hanging around the house in my pajamas on a weekend morning, I just clip it to my pajama pants. And when I go swimming in the summer and wear my swimsuit under some clothes, then I never clip it on the swim suit to prevent me from forgetting to take it off before I go in the water. Then it might go into a pocket. I also find that for myself I can better belief that it is tracking correctly when it is worn directly on my body as compared to on my arm as I would always think that it is tracking arm movement as steps.

I also like that the fitbit one can track flights of stairs and I make good use of the sleep monitoring function. Somehow, knowing that the fitbit will show me wether I managed to acchieve my 7 hour goal of sleep actually helps me to make sure that I get my sleep. It also has a vibration alarm that I use a lot. I have one alarm set for 10:30pm to tell me that it is time to start getting ready for bed. And I use it to wake me up in the morning. I find that of all the different types of alarms I have tried, the vibration on my wrist (during the night you can wear it with a sleeve on your left wrist) is the best alarm I ever had. But of course that is a very personal feeling, others might hate it! The only negative about the alarm was that one night when teh 10:30pm alarm went off, the little button on my fitbit stopped functioning. So, I could not switch it off. And that was while I was seeing a movie with friends. It was a bit awkward to fish in my shirt to get the fitbit detached from the bra because it kept vibrating every 9 minutes!!

I use the fitbit app on my iphone to keep track of where I stand during the day. As I have mentioned, I am using this app for meal tracking as well. So, if I do some exercise that is not really steps, I usually just track it manually in the app as well to see what effect it has on my calories. I have found the calorie estimates it gives me for exercise to be quite accurate. At least my weight loss kind of reflects the number of calories that I was in deficit over the course of a month. I also noticed that it recognizes how "active" you are. For example, a normal day for me with 11.000 steps that has me sitting mainly at the desk, but then has three longer walks in the day has less calories than on the day before Christmas when I ended up not hitting my 10.000 steps, but when I was rushing around the house cooking, cleaning etc. all day long and felt totally exhausted in the end. So, the good thing is that it is not just a linear thing, but also takes into account of little movement during the day that still burns calories.

As @courtneybeth has mentioned, there is a fun function of having challenges with your friends. My sister and I often do weekend challenges - and those always end up weekends where we are on the move constantly!!


QOTD: My woohoo is a simple one: I am seeing movement on the scale!! I am so happy that there is something happening!! Yesterday with my mother's birthday could have ended up very badly, but we just had a very light dinner (oven rosted veggies and a beef broth), so that saved lots of calories!!

Thank you SO MUCH for all that info about the Fitbit!! I am definitely weighing all the options now that I have more info!

And woohoo that the scale is moving!

I have two! Weight loss related woohoo is that I can really see/feel a difference in my face. Which I love. I carry weight in my face for sure which I hated. Because you can hide your body parts in baggy clothes but you can't hide your face. So I don't have to search to find a "good" picture/selfie angle anymore. That makes me very happy.

Non-weight related woohoo: My DH got a new job!! He's been in a crappy job for a little over a year (feels like a lifetime when your job sucks). He was working 10-7 M-F and then every other Saturday working 10-6. It just super sucked for us being in a new marriage and basically not getting a ton of quality time together during the week. Plus, he was an assistant branch manager at a bank and he just really didn't like the work. At all. But now, he's moving to a different bank! Working in IT so it'll be M-F 8-5 just like me!! Plus, there was a pay bump which is always a bonus

Great that your face is showing the loss! And you are young enough not to worry about the weight loss from your face causing wrinkles!!

I can TOTALLY understand about your DH's job situation! We were married in late May (many moons ago) and I was unemployed at first (moved states for DH's job a few months before we got married). In August, just when I found the perfect 9-5 M-F job, DH's company transferred him to a weird 6 pm - 3am Tues-Fri and 9-5 Saturday shift... it was AWFUL. Because he had to work a night on Friday and then a day shift on Saturday, by his day off on Sunday he was useless and exhausted! Then I went back to work on Monday for his second day off. This lasted nearly 2 years and that was tough since we were newlyweds recently moved away from family. I was bored and lonely. Glad your DH was able to score a NEW job with a pay raise to boot!

********************************

Hi friends! Teaching 1st grade today.... class has been pretty good so far, so no complaints! Pouring rain here today, so my recess duty will be inside.... which is okay with me.

Home tonight and I am not planning to go to robotics because they are asking me to be the "adult-in-charge" on Friday night and possibly Sunday. So I'll use tonight to catch up on laundry and finish up the last few things I need to do in order to sign up for my first WW 24/7 Chat shift!

Off to sip my tea!.......................P

 

[chasingthtdream08]

Question of the Day: February 3

It's woohoo Wednesday!
Wall-e and Eve are having a great day. You should be too!
In keeping with tradition, we will share good news on Wednesday.
Nothing too big or too small - all events welcome.

What are you celebrating today?
​

I am celebrating not even a weight loss but the fact that I ate TERRIBLY on Monday, I mean cheese curds, beer cheese dip, soft pretzels & brats (Wisconsin classics), ooh and lots of beer! BUT! I got back on the wagon. And my biggest failures in the past had been when I did have one "cheat" meal I would just never go back to the healthy eating. So proud of myself for not giving up!

 

[SarahDisney]

It's woohoo Wednesday!
Wall-e and Eve are having a great day. You should be too!
In keeping with tradition, we will share good news on Wednesday.
Nothing too big or too small - all events welcome.

What are you celebrating today?

I forgot that today was WooHoo Wednesday, but I was coming to share these two WooHoos anyway.

1 - I did not have anything to eat after dinner on Monday or yesterday. That's two days in a row! I've always been a post-dinner snacker, so this is a huge one for me.
2 - I decided to forgo my beloved vanilla latte for a plain coffee at Starbucks today. The latte is yummy, but it's a lot of sugar, and I just don't need that sugar right now, especially when I also love plain coffee. I still love my lattes, but I'm trying to save them for special occasions.

My non-woohoo is that the Starbucks WiFi sucks, especially in the corner where I like to sit, so everything is loading slowly and my "day at the office" may end up being a bust. Oh well, I can always take my coffee and go home (the 25 minute walk here was at least half the reason I came, and I did get that), but I was really hoping that a few hours out of the house would be good for me today.

 

[mamattorney]

Question of the Day: February 3

It's woohoo Wednesday!
Wall-e and Eve are having a great day. You should be too!
In keeping with tradition, we will share good news on Wednesday.
Nothing too big or too small - all events welcome.

What are you celebrating today?
​

I am celebrating that I bought three new workout T's last night at TJMaxx and they were . . . . a regular size XL! I have worn plus size clothes almost exclusively since @2009. It's a great morning over here!

 

[Dr Gunnie]

Question of the Day: February 3

It's woohoo Wednesday!
Wall-e and Eve are having a great day. You should be too!
In keeping with tradition, we will share good news on Wednesday.
Nothing too big or too small - all events welcome.

What are you celebrating today?
​

Weight loss related: Tuesday night dinners are hard at my house. My wife takes my daughter to dance class and I take my son to his drum lessons. Our routine is to always grab something to eat on the way home. Yesterday, he wanted Burger King. I ended up getting two of their Flame Grilled Chicken Burgers with no mayo and I took off the bun. They were only 200 calories each and they weren't bad. I didn't even sneak one of his fries from the bottom of the bag.

Non weight loss related: After 43 days of emails, calls, and online chats, I finally got a refund for a hoverboard that I bought my son for Christmas that didn't show up on time. This was the biggest headache I've ever had returning something. So glad it's finally over and that I got my full refund (after two other part-refunds).

 

[courtneybeth]

You guys are all awesome- reading about your woohoo's for today puts a huge smile on my face because we're making so many great improvements to ourselves

I am also quite often thankful I don't have too much going on up top. I can basically wear any dress/top I want which is useful seeing as I live in dresses when the weather is right.

Don't mind me... just a little green over here. I laugh because the way you are with tops is how I am with bottoms. Everything goes on and looks great - but I hate wearing pants. I love skirts and dresses - so it's tough when you're gifted up top.

I haven't had to shovel snow ONCE yet this winter! I hate snow passionately, so this is definitely worth celebrating!

Crossing fingers that you don't have to this year! The groundhog says that Spring is coming early - you may luck out.

QOTD: My woohoo is a simple one: I am seeing movement on the scale!! I am so happy that there is something happening!! Yesterday with my mother's birthday could have ended up very badly, but we just had a very light dinner (oven rosted veggies and a beef broth), so that saved lots of calories!!

Big celebration for you - that's awesome. Hope to see BIG numbers for you when you report in this weekend.

I got back on the wagon.

The start of good habits - yeah! It's tough to remember that we can have both bad and good days. You've done the hardest thing: getting back on track and not giving up.

I did not have anything to eat after dinner on Monday or yesterday. That's two days in a row! I've always been a post-dinner snacker, so this is a huge one for me.

Post-dinner snacking is a tough habit to break. I am still working on this one - so... share with me your methods/tactics.

a regular size XL! I have worn plus size clothes almost exclusively since @2009. It's a great morning over here!

Yesssssssss. Great job and isn't it amazing to see the clothes get smaller? What's fun about that is when you travel, smaller size clothes take up less space --- leaving you plenty of room for souvenirs.

 

[bigsis1970]

Question of the Day: February 3

It's woohoo Wednesday!
Wall-e and Eve are having a great day. You should be too!
In keeping with tradition, we will share good news on Wednesday.
Nothing too big or too small - all events welcome.

What are you celebrating today?
​

Today I filed my federal return and for the first time in 3 years we are getting $$ back.. Not much but enough to pay the state and have some left to help iron out the wrinkle we are running into with first time homebuyers.. In order for my hubs to get the loan in just his name (as I don't have enough open lines of credit after my bankruptcy -6yrs old- I have 2 lines of credit and they want 3 so suggested I take out a loan for 18 months then reapply WHAT anyway) we must pay off his two CC's .. so with taxes, my bonus next month and borrowing some $$ from my parents we will have those paid off by the end of March then we'll re-apply and god willing we will get this beautiful new double wide mobile home (our current home is a 1972 12x60 single wide) so my Woo Hoo is I feel there is hope..

 

[DVCFan1994]

Hello all!

I've never participated in anything like this, but I'd like to give it a shot. I think sharing and hearing other stories will be helpful. My quick background is I played sports throughout high school and played football in college. Once I was done playing, my weight went up and up and I never did anything about it. Now I'm 40 and ready to change.

I started in January - I bought a fitbit, a treadmill, and changed my eating habits. Things have been going great and I lost 17 lbs in January. I've been averaging about 15,000 steps a day and my calorie intake is around 1500 a day.

My goal for Feb is to lose another 15. My ultimate goal is to lose 100 lbs. I already told my wife when I hit 100, we are going to Disney for a week with the kids to celebrate! I'm excited to come across these message boards.

Welcome!

Thanks for all the support everyone - you are so kind! I think I'm going to like this challenge!

QOTD: How do I hold myself accountable?

I wear a fitbit to track my steps everyday. Since July of last year, I have been vigilant about getting 10,000 steps a day (or more!). Sometimes it's 10,001 but I haven't missed a day in over 6 months. That's a streak that I just can't rationalize breaking at this piont!

Also, like many others, use My Fitness Pal.

As an aside, someone mentioned that people from here are friends on MFP. I've never done that before, but am game. My user name is wagnerpe123 if anyone would like to friend me.

I log all my foods, which is pretty easy most of the time because I've been logging for awhile and so most of what I eat is already in there. For family meals, I'm the cook, so it's easy for me to put recipes into MFP.

My 13 year old daughter has Type 1 diabetes (juvenile diabetes), which means that we are constantly counting carbs in our house so she can dose her insulin correctly. Since weighing and measuring are a mandatory thing for my daughter, there's no real stigma for me to do it, too. I avoided it for years because my attitude was "I HAVE to track hers and there's only so much room in my brain for things like that, so I won't do it for myself." BAD idea!

But, my tip to make mealtimes easier and to keep portions in mind is to use actual measuring cups for serving utensils (maybe everyone does this, I don't know). So, for example, we had corn as our veggie last night with dinner. I make a family size batch of corn, put it on the table in a serving dish, but instead of a spoon, I out a 1/2 cup measuring scoop in there. I can ask my daughter - how many scoops did you take (she's not limited like I am!) knowing that each scoop is 13 carbs for her insulin. That way I'm not out there with the food scale, but yet I know that I only took ONE serving of corn. I do the same with basically anything that can be scooped.

I also "pre-log" So today I know we are having turkey chili for dinner (it's already in the crock pot). I already logged all of my dinner so I have a better idea of what I can eat throughout the day and still stay on track.

Finally, I weigh myself almost daily (but not multiple times a day, that's over the top). I have an aria scale that auto syncs to my fitbit dashboard so there's no fudging the numbers. I think that's what holds me most accountable. I know that's not a good idea for everyone, but it seems to be working for me.

Looking forward to hearing everyone else's tips and stories! Have a great day 2!

I like your measuring cup serving tip. I always measure mine at the counter, but not everyone else. But, I have ben working on getting my kids to understand they need more servings of veggies. This could work to help them see it better. And it might help my DH who insists he wants to drop a few pounds, but takes probably 3 cups of pasta (unmeasured just my estimate) every time we have it.

I also pre-log like you and others have said. I find it gives me a plan for a day, and if I know I am having a higher calorie dinner or its the weekend and I'm planning on a glass of wine or two, I can add them early and adjust my day accordingly.

Hello again. Got distracted before going to the gym.

So I'm obviously new to the DIS boards... I'll just jump in and tell you about myself.

I'm 29, i'm a freelancer, I live in LA and have been really struggling with my weight over the past few years. Like a lot of you, it's been a life-long battle for me, but I was in a really bad relationship* about 2 years ago that devastated my self esteem and i spiraled into an unhealthy weight (5'4" at 190). Trying really hard to get back to myself again, but the weight doesn't seem to budge. Did well with Atkins for a while but the holidays ruined that, and I can't seem to stick to zero carbs 100%.

My (current) BF is unbelievably supportive, so when I heard about the Star Wars Dark Side Half and asked if he wanted to fly to WDW and do it with me, he immediately said yes. He's not a runner and I don't think he even likes running at all, but I know he's doing it so I will be excited about getting more fit. Plus, my birthday is a few days after the race so I get to spend my 30th birthday in WDW!

Ok lets get to it...

DIRECTIVE: to be able to comfortably run 10k without stopping. I can do 5k at 18min/mile now pretty easily, so i'm just hoping to continue that and build my endurance. I know its a short time frame, but I know I can do it. Losing weight will also make the running so much easier. I guess i'll monitor it by how far past 5k I can run comfortably. So right now I'm at 5k, which is 0%. if I can do 6k, that will be 20%. 10k will be 100% Make sense?

CURRENT PROGRESS: I've been running 4-5 days/week and have a 5k race coming up this sunday.

DOWNFALL: Keeping my nutrition balanced has been hard. My BF eats very healthy and loves to cook, so that's a huge plus, but I find that eating low-carb (while hard on its own) is especially hard when I'm exercising so much. I can't get through a run on pure protein, so doing this atkins-style is pretty impossible. I just don't have the energy. But then I feel guilty for eating carbs (even stuff like cereal and granola) because I know it's just jacking up my blood sugar and I never stay in ketosis. I've been trying to read about fitness nutrition (especially for runners) but the middle between "already an athlete running a 5min mile" nutrition" and "total n00b don't eat candy" nutrition is kind of hard to find as of yet. Can someone write a book called "Losing weight and running fast - a book written for Ali" and toss it up on Amazon so I can Prime it to my apartment asap?

ACCOUNTABILITY: The thing that motivates me most is getting my mind right. For me, that means reading about running (or about Disney! lol) before I go to the gym. It's the same idea as when you learn something new (lets say you come across an arts and crafts tutorial on Pintrest) and you want to run out and try it (so you shoot on over to JoAnn fabrics and go totally ape-sh** on your credit card). When I read about running or technique or inspiring stories, it makes me want to run, instead of forcing myself to. Born to Run is a great book about ultra-marathon runners that was super interesting to read, and also made me think about running in a different way... almost like proud to be a runner and excited to get out there and run my *** off. I also love seeing the little rings on my apple watch full after I work out. I used to use the app Lose It! a lot when i was strictly monitoring what I was eating (I should probably get back to that!)... I've also been logging my runs in the app Gipis, which is just for running and gives you a training plan all the way up until your race day. I like that I can see my pace slowly lowering over each workout... even by a few seconds. it's rewarding to see the progress even over a few days.

I read somewhere that I shouldn't try to drop my bad habits. It's far more effective to just introduce good habits. Cement the good habits in your life and commit to them, and the bad habits will fall away.

I'm sure there are exceptions to this, but I've found that the mentality of it has helped me greatly. I know I need to lose weight, but when that was all I was focused on, I never went to the gym and I ate like crap. Signing up for the SWDS Half has forced (no pun intended) me to exercise almost every day. When I feel really good after a workout, I'm less likely to eat junk food. Over time, I believe those positive additions will add up and hopefully I won't have room for the bad habits anymore

Okay that's all for now. Sorry for the long post. I'm going to MOTIVATE now and get myself out the door before I get lost shopping for cute stuff to wear to the race on etsy again!

Cheers!

ali

*Bad relationship anecdote: This is by far one of the kinder stories I could tell because this relationship was truly traumatic, but I thought you guys would appreciate it more than most other people... Sometimes when my depression becomes overwhelming I like to watch a lot of Disney movies. They just make me feel better and warm and fuzzy and loved (obv!). Instead of supporting me (or even just leaving me alone!) my ex would go on this big all-knowing genius rant about how I shouldn't retreat into Disney stuff because it's not realistic and keeps me from growing as a person. I get what he's saying, but I'm a very well-grounded, responsible, practical person. Even my therapist thought it was ridiculous. I remember looking at him and in my head being like, "Yeah okay buddy i'm done."

Welcome! A few things you said really sound familiar to me. One, I find it much easier to introduce good habits than take away bad ones. I find the bad ones disappear on their own. For instance, I keep stuff that can make a quick healthy dinner on hand. No more fast food. There was a weekend last fall where I was out of my normal back-up and my husband was away for work. I had to get my kids 18 places at once (at least thats what it felt like) and spent a lot of time in the car. Desperate, at one point we went to McDonalds for a drive thru lunch and I literally could not eat my chicken sandwich. I used to love them. But, after going so long without, I realized that it just tasted like over salted rubber to me. So, I never said I'm not eating fast food anymore, but it sort of happened because of other positive changes I made.

Nutrition for runners trying to lose weight is sooo hard. I too find I lose weight quickly and almost easily on a high protein diet like South Beach or Atkins. But I am just not fueled well for runs. What I have done is I eat complex carbs at breakfast, and as part of my post workout refueling. But, I don't eat starches like bread or pasta from lunch time on. I eat beans, quinoa, whole grain rice, sweet potatoes and tons of veggies. But the starchy carbs are generally only within an hour either before or after my run. I have My Fitness Pal set so I eat 45% carbs, 30% protein and 25% fat. And this works fairly well, WHEN I actually use it Thats where I fall short. All the great plans in the world. Not always the best follow through. But this time last year I lost 5 pounds in a month this way.

View attachment 149056

Proud of you for being dedicated and taking the steps that YOU need to take for YOU to get to where YOU want/need to be! You're gonna go far, kid. Keep it up!​

When I track, I pre-track for the day, too. Or I at least log it before I eat. It seems so backwards to me to do it any other way. What do you do if you eat and then track and oh, that was double what you thought it'd be? You can always remove/add from your plate. Lots harder to remove from your body!!

I love that image! It is so true. Its easy to give up when the feedback isn't immediate, but so important to remember real change takes time!

No WooHoos from me right now. I will be back later with that

 

[JacknSally]

No woohoos here, yet. I'm loving reading all of yours, though! Woohoo Wednesdays are my favorite days!

 

[LindseyJo22]

It's woohoo Wednesday!
Wall-e and Eve are having a great day. You should be too!
In keeping with tradition, we will share good news on Wednesday.
Nothing too big or too small - all events welcome.

What are you celebrating today?

I'm celebrating a day off tomorrow! My class was like pulling teeth today, so I need some time to figure out how I'm going to make it better Friday.

In fitness news, I did my run this morning - and I'm almost to my step goal! Plus, my scale said 142.0 this morning even after some water - so I'm hoping for a bit of movement later this week. Just have to keep my portions in check

 

[MochaDrinker]

My woohoo is that it's my day off from exercise (I try to take a day off a week). And my other woohoo is that I didn't eat that strussel cake because it would have taken me over my calories for the day.

 

[flvy]

Getting back on it today. There is too much awesomeness in here to not celebrate! So here is my massive reply. I also love the beginning of the month when everyone is still super chatty.

Hmmm...... gotta think about this. How about this...... I haven't had to shovel snow ONCE yet this winter! I hate snow passionately, so this is definitely worth celebrating! Off to work.... TTYL.........P

As I look at my Time Hop app that shows me what I was rambling on about on this day in previous years I am exceedingly thankful for no snow. I'm reading the start of my really severe bronchitis (I cracked a rib coughing) that I got last year and all the snow storms have started to roll in. Time Hop normally makes me thankful, reminding me of how awful last winter was it's making me even more thankful.

I have two! Weight loss related woohoo is that I can really see/feel a difference in my face. Which I love. I carry weight in my face for sure which I hated. Because you can hide your body parts in baggy clothes but you can't hide your face. So I don't have to search to find a "good" picture/selfie angle anymore. That makes me very happy.

Non-weight related woohoo: My DH got a new job!! He's been in a crappy job for a little over a year (feels like a lifetime when your job sucks). He was working 10-7 M-F and then every other Saturday working 10-6. It just super sucked for us being in a new marriage and basically not getting a ton of quality time together during the week. Plus, he was an assistant branch manager at a bank and he just really didn't like the work. At all. But now, he's moving to a different bank! Working in IT so it'll be M-F 8-5 just like me!! Plus, there was a pay bump which is always a bonus

Yes for skinny face!!! I know that feeling. I'm waiting to see that in my own. Also huge YAY for the DH! 10-7 is just about the worst shift in the universe. I have to work it at my job sometimes. It kills your ability to have a personal life. I'm super happy you'll have the same schedule and some extra $$ around!!

I am celebrating not even a weight loss but the fact that I ate TERRIBLY on Monday, I mean cheese curds, beer cheese dip, soft pretzels & brats (Wisconsin classics), ooh and lots of beer! BUT! I got back on the wagon. And my biggest failures in the past had been when I did have one "cheat" meal I would just never go back to the healthy eating. So proud of myself for not giving up!

This used to be me. I'd fly off the wagon and run next to it for weeks before getting back on. Keep it up! One cheat here and there won't be the end of the world, you just always have to pull yourself back up!

Don't mind me... just a little green over here. I laugh because the way you are with tops is how I am with bottoms. Everything goes on and looks great - but I hate wearing pants. I love skirts and dresses - so it's tough when you're gifted up top.

I learned to be thankful for this in High School I had a friend that ended up having a reduction and she was always upset about feeling fat and buying big shirts because of her chest. Skirts and dresses are the best and easiest way to look put together. Also is it April 1st yet? I want to register.

No woohoos here, yet. I'm loving reading all of yours, though! Woohoo Wednesdays are my favorite days!

It's my favorite day too. I love getting excited for everyone!

@DVCFan1994 I feel like you should know that I think about something you said almost every single time I run now. You talked one day about motivation for you to get out and run was having the race at Disney that you wanted to without worry of balloon ladies. It was so true and really stuck with me. Disney races are the ultimate fun runs, and you can't keep them fun if you're not putting the right work in. So thank you!