From ZERO to HERO - The October 2015 W.I.S.H. Challenge

[JacknSally]

Hello, gods and goddesses, and to "From Zero to Hero" - The October 2015 Challenge!


I'm Megan, and I'll be one of your hosts (no, not hosts... MUSES!) this month.



​

YES! You heard me right! I said "one of". October is the month of tricking and treating, so for this challenge you will all be getting an extra SPECIAL treat... Two muses for the price of one! Our beloved Maggie, aka @DisPup75 , will be stepping in as host/muse toward the end of the month! Her brilliant leadership helped (and saved) quite a few of us during Sebastian's September challenge, and I KNOW she will do an amazing job this time around, too. She has graciously agreed to take over for me for the last 2 weeks of October. Speaking of the September thread...

"BLESS MY SOUL!" We were "on a roll" with some INCREDIBLE results last month! I just want to take a second to thank Maggie for all of her involvement, dedication, and incredibly hard work on some fantastic conversation and QOTD's last month! Not only that, but a HUGE round of applause to everyone who participated last month! I haven't been involved with these threads for very long, but that was easily the busiest, friendliest, and most exciting challenge of 2015 to date - and HOW ABOUT THOSE RESULTS! I hope that same energy finds its way over to October!​

Welcome to returning friends, newbies, and anyone/everyone who would like to chat about weight loss, weight maintenance, exercise, and anything related (and occasionally things that are not related)! If you're lurking, STOP! Get out of the shadows and join us! No rules here EXCEPT to be kind and supportive of each other! No negative energy allowed in our positive bubble of pixie dust!

We have had some wonderful threads this summer and I hope that we will continue to have some great discussions about weight loss, maintaining, diet, exercise, and healthy living! But as always, feel free to participate as much or as little as you would like.... just remember, the more you put in, the more you'll get out.

We talk about calories, Weight Watchers, low-carb, SparkPeople, MFP, Fitbits, Jawbones, marathon training, walking, recipes, vitamins, meal planning, smoothies, juicing, motivation, YOU NAME IT!! No positive/healthy talk is off limits!

Please consider inviting a friend (either a RL friend or a Disboard friend) to join us. They don't have to LOVE Disney like we do - they only need to want to make healthier lifestyle choices!

We will have regular Questions of the Day (QOTD) and Questions of the Weekend (QOTW) to help us spark discussion and thought about all kind of topics related to healthy living, and a few fun ones thrown in there as well. Like Disney questions - after all, this is a Disney discussion forum.

You might experience a little PAIN along the way, but don't PANIC!



There is an amazing support group within this thread that will help get you to the other side.​

SO! Do you think you have what it takes to "go the distance"? We're all going to go "from zero to hero - IN NO TIME FLAT!"

​

"And that's the gospel truth."​

 

[JacknSally]

This month we are CHALLENGING ourselves to make real PROGRESS on this journey to be slimmer and healthier. Participating is EASY! All you need to do is decide on your goal (5 pounds off, 10% down, 10K steps a day, etc) and devise a PLAN to reach that goal.

Share your progress with us along the way and watch the color of your name change throughout the month!

PERCENTAGE TOWARD GOAL

1% -10%
11% - 20%
21% - 30%
31% - 40%
41% - 50%
51% - 60%
61% - 70%
71% - 80%
81% - 90%
91% - 99%
100% OR MORE!​

It will be up to YOU to decide on your goal, your plan, and to report your progress either here on the thread or through a private message every weekend - I'll accept progress reports anytime Friday through Sunday, but will try to update the list of participants every Sunday evening.

If you have multiple goals for the month (example: "I plan to walk 30 minutes a day AND I plan to drink 64oz of water a day") please EITHER pick one goal to use for your progress reports OR average them both together when giving your report. It's just much easier for tracking this way. If you only use one of your goals for progress reports, that doesn't mean we don't want to hear how you're doing on your other goals!

 

[JacknSally]

Participants
- @JacknSally
- @ANforever1030
- @Trith
- @ilovevacation
- @DisPup75
- @Flossbolna
- @robndani
- @mickeyfanachey1999
- @pjlla
- @bigsis1970
- @courtneybeth
- @SwimminAtAKL
- @dsnyfn1022


Future Hosting Schedule
- November 2015 - @courtneybeth ("No One Loses Weight Like Gaston" Challenge)
- December 2015 - @pjlla


We are still in need of a host for December 2015, so we can finish out the year (and the holiday season!) with a BANG! Any volunteers? It can even be a group activity, if we have multiple volunteers!

 

[JacknSally]

Let's get started with just some introductions. As you claim your spot amongst the October participants, give us a little bit about you! We all get to be a kind of family here, and it's always nice to know who we're on this journey with.


I'll go first!


I'm Megan , I'm 26, and I'm trying to lose weight before my October 24th wedding and DISNEYMOON!

I've always struggled with being overweight. Even in middle school/high school, I was a lot bigger than all the other girls in my class, wearing size 11-13 pants/dresses and size M-L shirts. I thought I was HUGE at the time, but I'd sure give anything to be there again now, LOL.

After I graduated college in 2011, I was REALLY depressed for the first couple of months after I moved back home. I slept all day and barely ate, and i ended up losing a lot of weight that summer, going from a size 16/18 in May 2011 to a size 12 in August 2011. I was thrilled! I kept it off until March 2012, and over the last 3 years, I've slowly put all of that weight back on. In January 2015, my scale hit the highest number it's ever hit - 227lbs. Since then, I've been desperately and unsuccessfully trying to make that number go down. Since the only time I've ever really lost weight was the summer after college, and the only reason I lost it was because I was sleeping 12-16 hours a day and barely eating, I had NO idea how to try to shed all the new pounds. To be honest, I'm still trying to figure that out.

After a rough January-April, full of poor choices, excuses, "tomorrows", and busy schedules, I finally hit 222lbs in May, and then I found the WONDERFUL June challenge thread, and that thread was the #1 reason I was able to start out July at 212lbs. As of June 30, I was 116 days away from my wedding, and 22lbs away from my wedding-goal (but 52lbs away from my overall-life-goal... but baby steps!)...


As of October 1, I am now just 23 days away from my wedding, and [number - will update after September final weigh in!]-lbs away from my wedding-weight-goal. This is just a mile marker on my weight-loss/healthier-living journey. I've still got a long way to go, but with the help and support of these threads and the people in this forum, I know I can do it!



Who's next?!

 

[contempgal]

I’m Amanda and this is my very first WISH Challenge! Yippee!!! So, a bit about myself….let’s see….I’m 38 years old. I can’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t overweight. Sometimes that thought depresses me. Sometimes I wonder what it would feel like to be a normal size. I guess I’m lucky in the sense that my weight never seemed to make me any different from anyone else in high school and even in college. BUT THEN….I got married. It wasn’t a good marriage. Not in any sense of the word. And I think I used food to cope with it, which made this already big girl an even bigger one!

I was still wearing blinders then….UNTIL….one day I was walking down the street and some guys yell “Earthquake” at me. While extremely hurtful, that was the moment that FINALLY opened my eyes. I couldn’t believe what I had become. I was 310 pounds and miserable.

The next few years brought several changes. A divorce. An exercise regiment. Better eating habits. An establishment of self worth! It was, and still is, a roller coaster process.

By 2011, I was at 220 pounds. That’s huge to many but was awesome to me. I was sooooo looking forward to finally seeing a 1 at the beginning of my weight. BUT THEN….I got pregnant. TOTAL SURPRISE.

I didn’t really gain much weight during my pregnancy but started slowly packing the pounds back on after my little princess was born. By January of this year, I was up to 270 pounds and was miserable AGAIN. I started back to exercising, back to eating better but also found that rollercoaster again. Did I mention that I HATE rollercoasters!

So now, I’m around 240 pounds (will weigh in exactly to start this challenge). Better than I was. Not nearly where I want to be. I’m not getting any younger and have a small child. I want to be there for her as she grows older. And by “there,” I don’t just mean being with her, I mean doing things with her. I don’t want my weight to hold me back in any way. And as an added bonus, I’d also LOVE to be able to ride on an airplane without a seatbelt extender.

 

[JacknSally]

I’m Amanda and this is my very first WISH Challenge! Yippee!!! So, a bit about myself….let’s see….I’m 38 years old. I can’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t overweight. Sometimes that thought depresses me. Sometimes I wonder what it would feel like to be a normal size. I guess I’m lucky in the sense that my weight never seemed to make me any different from anyone else in high school and even in college. BUT THEN….I got married. It wasn’t a good marriage. Not in any sense of the word. And I think I used food to cope with it, which made this already big girl an even bigger one!

I was still wearing blinders then….UNTIL….one day I was walking down the street and some guys yell “Earthquake” at me. While extremely hurtful, that was the moment that FINALLY opened my eyes. I couldn’t believe what I had become. I was 310 pounds and miserable.

The next few years brought several changes. A divorce. An exercise regiment. Better eating habits. An establishment of self worth! It was, and still is, a roller coaster process.

By 2011, I was at 220 pounds. That’s huge to many but was awesome to me. I was sooooo looking forward to finally seeing a 1 at the beginning of my weight. BUT THEN….I got pregnant. TOTAL SURPRISE.

I didn’t really gain much weight during my pregnancy but started slowly packing the pounds back on after my little princess was born. By January of this year, I was up to 270 pounds and was miserable AGAIN. I started back to exercising, back to eating better but also found that rollercoaster again. Did I mention that I HATE rollercoasters!

So now, I’m around 240 pounds (will weigh in exactly to start this challenge). Better than I was. Not nearly where I want to be. I’m not getting any younger and have a small child. I want to be there for her as she grows older. And by “there,” I don’t just mean being with her, I mean doing things with her. I don’t want my weight to hold me back in any way. And as an added bonus, I’d also LOVE to be able to ride on an airplane without a seatbelt extender.

A wholehearted WELCOME to you, Amanda!! Thank you SO much for sharing your story with us! Can I just say, my mouth literally dropped just now when I read that they called you "earthquake". OH MY WORD. WHO DOES THAT!?! Oh, I would not have handled that well AT ALL. My temper would have flared up QUICK. But I digress... I'm so excited to have you joining us this month! You have already come SO far on your own, and I'm so excited to see how you progress from here out. Hopefully our group will be able to help you, or at the very least keep you company so you don't have to go it alone! What an admirable and touching goal - your princess is SO lucky to have you!

Be thinking about your October goal and your plan to get there - I will ask for everyone's plans on THURSDAY!!! Woo!

 

[ANforever1030]

Well, I'm in for another fantastic month!

I don't think I've actually fully introduced myself to the group yet.

Hello my name is Nathan. I am the N in ANforever1030. I do talk about my DW2B on here occasionally. We are getting married on October 30 and leaving November 3 for our Disneymoon! Similarly to @JacknSally I am using my upcoming nuptials as a goal for weight loss, but it is not the end goal.

I was athletically nerdy growing up. I was usually a little taller and athletics came naturally, but I was never truly muscular or faster than those my age. I stopped getting taller my senior year of high school/freshman year of college and that first semester of college put on the traditional freshman 15 (or in my case it was probably closer to freshman 25) as I was mostly eating pizza or whatever I could get from the on-campus store as I regularly missed meals. My second semester I enrolled in a racquetball course and began lifting weights. I dropped most of the weight and actually put on some muscle. This continued to repeat itself for the next couple years until I started working out with some friends who did amateur bodybuilding. I actually got interested when I was about five months away from visiting a cousin for her wedding in California and wanted to look good on the beach. I dropped about 30-40 lbs and looked good doing it. I even continued after the wedding and began training for my own first competition. Unfortunately, before I could get there I caught pneumonia, then tore a shoulder muscle within the same month. I kept eating the same way I did while I had been training though and put on about 30 lbs.

Over the years I kept getting into the pattern of gaining some, hitting a new high in weight, then dropping about half of what I'd gained, then falling back into the old habits. Late last year, I realized something needed to change. I was tired all the time. I had been diagnosed with sleep apnea. I had a chronic cough which I found out was due to my chronic acid reflux. I stepped on the scale and I was at 317 lbs. I may have a big build at 6' and enough muscle that I shouldn't drop below 205-215 lbs, but even so I couldn't believe I had gotten that big. I knew something needed to change and I needed to drive that change. So, my DW2B and I began exploring different options. We tried the GM cleanse -- that did not work AT ALL. We then began a nutrition program she got from Dr. Oz's website. It helped get the weight loss started. Following that I got into the gym. We planned a vacation to Mexico in April and I wanted to lose 50 lbs before then. I worked extremely hard, busted my tail and achieved the 50 lb. mark the day before we left.

Of course, while in Mexico I drank...A LOT. It was all-inclusive and I definitely took advantage of that. I also ate...A LOT. We were on Isla Mujeres and there were numerous local establishments with fantastic food. When I got home I found that I had gained about 15 lbs in six days. I should have gotten back to the gym and eating properly right away, but I didn't. As a result, in late July, after a summer of not working out and eating out way too frequently I found myself at 307 lbs. So, I began using StrongLifts 5x5 as a workout program and watching what I eat. I haven't gotten to the point where I track every calorie, although I have definitely considered it, but I do make sure I am in the gym three days a week and usually spend about 1.5 hours lifting, then stretching. I have dropped my weight down to 282, but more importantly I have seen my muscle mass increase and my fat percentage decrease. I have exponentially more energy today than I did ten months ago and I am excited about walking around Walt Disney World and no longer apprehensive about it.

I am only seven pounds away from my wedding goal of 275, although I will likely set 270 as my final wedding goal now that it seems within reach.

I can't wait to spend more time talking with everyone this month

 

[Trith]

Checking in! It's been a few months since I've done a challenge, and boy do I need it.

In a nutshell, I had lost sixty odd pounds since May 2014, was feeling great, and then started to slack May of this year. June rolled round, and over the course of a few weeks several horrible events happened in my life that really knocked me on my butt. My anxiety issues went through the roof and I started stress eating like crazy. I still went to the gym once or twice a week and kept up with my trainer but the determination I previously had was pretty much gone.

Once I fell into the habit of stress eating, that was pretty much it. Now it's twenty pounds later, and I'm starting to see what I've done to my body- my muscle definition is gone, tummy gained too much pudge and I've lost a lot of my previous strength, acid reflux is back. It's a tough pill to swallow but I'm trying not to beat myself up too much over it.

Anyways, now it's time to dig myself out of the hole I'm in. I've gotten back into tracking food via myfitnesspal to hold myself accountable (~15-1600 cal per day, minimum 90 g protein). I'm big on prepping meals on the weekend and freezing them to eat during the week. It's so helpful coming home from work and having something ready to grab from the freezer, it definitely cuts down on the too-lazy-to-cook-pizza ordering. As far as exercise, I do lifting at the gym- I'm not a cardio kind of girl (except skipping, love skipping). I've had to retrain a lot of my lifts as my form fell apart, but hoping muscle memory will kick in soon.

I'm down a couple of pounds already, but my goal for October will be to take four more pounds off. It may be a bit ambitious, and I'm more concerned about gaining muscle definition to be honest but that's much harder to quantify.

So, I began using StrongLifts 5x5 as a workout program and watching what I eat. I haven't gotten to the point where I track every calorie, although I have definitely considered it, but I do make sure I am in the gym three days a week and usually spend about 1.5 hours lifting, then stretching.

I literally just downloaded SL two days ago, but I'm a bit on the fence about using it. Currently doing a PPL type thing, and debating between sticking with that, SL or Strong Curves (the lady/more glute friendly version of SL). I'm afraid that on SL I wont' progress fast enough and be stuck on deloads all the time. How've you been doing on it?

 

[ANforever1030]

Checking in! It's been a few months since I've done a challenge, and boy do I need it.

In a nutshell, I had lost sixty odd pounds since May 2014, was feeling great, and then started to slack May of this year. June rolled round, and over the course of a few weeks several horrible events happened in my life that really knocked me on my butt. My anxiety issues went through the roof and I started stress eating like crazy. I still went to the gym once or twice a week and kept up with my trainer but the determination I previously had was pretty much gone.

Once I fell into the habit of stress eating, that was pretty much it. Now it's twenty pounds later, and I'm starting to see what I've done to my body- my muscle definition is gone, tummy gained too much pudge and I've lost a lot of my previous strength, acid reflux is back. It's a tough pill to swallow but I'm trying not to beat myself up too much over it.

Anyways, now it's time to dig myself out of the hole I'm in. I've gotten back into tracking food via myfitnesspal to hold myself accountable (~15-1600 cal per day, minimum 90 g protein). I'm big on prepping meals on the weekend and freezing them to eat during the week. It's so helpful coming home from work and having something ready to grab from the freezer, it definitely cuts down on the too-lazy-to-cook-pizza ordering. As far as exercise, I do lifting at the gym- I'm not a cardio kind of girl (except skipping, love skipping). I've had to retrain a lot of my lifts as my form fell apart, but hoping muscle memory will kick in soon.

I'm down a couple of pounds already, but my goal for October will be to take four more pounds off. It may be a bit ambitious, and I'm more concerned about gaining muscle definition to be honest but that's much harder to quantify.



I literally just downloaded SL two days ago, but I'm a bit on the fence about using it. Currently doing a PPL type thing, and debating between sticking with that, SL or Strong Curves (the lady/more glute friendly version of SL). I'm afraid that on SL I wont' progress fast enough and be stuck on deloads all the time. How've you been doing on it?

I've been doing well on it. The only exercise I've had to re-do at any point was the Overhead Press, but I found that was due to me not doing it properly. I was not doing it with my wrists bent back underneath the bar and as a result was not getting enough force under the bar for the lift. There have definitely been times that my hips and knees were beginning to hurt, nothing major just extreme tightness, but that was due to not stretching enough after workouts. Since I corrected those I've improved dramatically. Tomorrow will be Week 10 for me and I will have gone from squatting the bar (45 lbs) to squatting 180 lbs. My bench press has gone from 45 lbs to 110 and my deadlift has gone from 95 lbs to 225 lbs.

I feel it is a good starting point, or it has been for me anyway. My DW2B tried to start it when I was in week 4 or week 5, but had trouble doing all the squats (you squat 3x a week), and is working on a different program that she found on pinterest that focuses on upper-body. If you feel comfortable doing all the exercises I would say go for it. It may even be worth buying 1.25 lb barbell plates that you can take to the gym if they don't have any there (mine only has 2.5 lbs and higher). That way if you aren't sure you can increase the weight as rapidly then instead of going up 5 lbs/workout go up 2.5 lbs/workout instead. I'm not as familiar with PPL, but either SL or SC would be a good jumping off point.

 

[ilovevacation]

Hello everyone. I'm in for the first time. My name is Melissa and I'm from pittsburgh, the city that puts fries on everything. I am turning 33 next month and have been on a healthy lifestyle journey for the last 3 years. I was always average, never thin or overweight. I have migraines and hit a rough patch in my late 20s. The medicine that I was on, coupled with being depressed from feeling awful, I packed on some weight. I peaked at 150 which was a lot, I was usually around 120 and in 5`1. So, prior to my 30th I joined weight watchers. I got down to 115, but it was all diet and no regular exercise.
I kept the weight off until this spring. I gained a few pounds here and there, in actually dont know how much I weigh, last time I checked I was in the mid 120s. I ended up hating myself for letting myself go. I wasn't mentally ready for weight watchers. I loved it and know I can eat whatever I want in it, but I worried if I failed I would go down a path that would be hard to turn around.
I randomly bought a jaw bone in the beginning of august. I started running, until my ankle told me it didn't like to run. I walk, play golf (walk with my clubs) or do insanity 3 to 4 times a week.
I feel great, but in feel even better that I am not doing it for weugh loss, for an end (class reunion, etc...), or anyone other than myself .
My goal is to get my 10k steps everyday, but be ok with myself if i don't. I am gone 15 hours a day and there are days I can't exercise. I want my overall step average to be 10k.
I fear about putting my weight out there. I don't want to be judged for being a healthy weight. I just want to feel better on the inside.
I look forward to continue on my health journey with all of you!

 

[DisPup75]

Yay!!!! I love new months!! Fresh starts!! New goals!! To badly paraphrase Anne of Green Gables, a whole month full of new days in which you haven't made any mistakes yet!

I'm Maggie aka @DisPup75. First, I am BLUSHING at all of @JacknSally 's kind words about our September thread! I agree it is a great thread but all of the credit goes to the FABULOUS list of participants. If you haven't done so yet, head back over for your final check-in. We've got some great results brewing (and are also about to break through to over 600 posts). We had a great month and I'm looking forward to extending the party into October.

A little about me since I think I failed to introduce myself back when I started following the challenges back in July.... I'm 42 and (after being lucky enough to be a pin-thin kid and young adult) have been struggling with my weight since I was in my late 20s. I became severely hypothyroid when I was about 27 and packed on about 50 pounds in about two years. It took almost three years to normalize my thyroid levels but I was never successful at taking the weight back on. Instead I put on 5-10 pounds every couple of years and got more and more miserable and unhappy with myself. I joined WW seven or eight times but never even managed to follow the program for more than a few weeks straight. Needless to say, I was never very successful at it. I also tried every other diet under the sun for a day or two (or sometimes three) at a time. It wouldn't be fair to say that nothing worked. I just never committed.

Life in general took several sharp turns about five years ago and I started to cope by eating more and more. The scale went from hovering in the 190s to the 210s and this spring I started to occasionally see the 220s. I felt AWFUL. I got winded walking up a flight of steps or around the block. None of my clothes fit and I was embarrassed to buy new ones. My knees hurt. My back hurt. And then I finally made some time to download the photos from my 40th birthday trip to Disneyland. Rule number one in my life is NO PHOTOS. I made an exception for that trip because it was special for a lot of reasons beyond my birthday. It took me almost two years to download those photos because I was afraid of what I might see. I really didn't like what I did see. And that was without the ten pounds I'd added since that trip.

I'd had enough. I started joining my husband on walks with our rambunctious pup, slowly increasing my distance until I could do her favorite 3 mile loop without feeling like I was going to die. I lost a few pounds. On June 15, I bought a Fitbit and joined MyFitnessPal. I've tracked every single thing I've eaten and every step I've taken since that day. I broke my ankle two weeks later and still didn't give up, managing to fairly quickly and easily lose that first ten pounds. The walking boot came off in August and I just fell apart. I was still tracking but I was hungry and irritable and at a loss about what to do. I went up and down for several weeks and managed to maintain the loss. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite get it together enough to add more than a pound or two to that loss. So back to Weight Watchers I went. I'm sitting just a few pounds over the magical 199.9 and IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN IN OCTOBER.

Still thinking about other goals but I'm not letting another month go by without the big one. I look forward to chatting with everyone throughout the month. I love this board and consider it my #1 success tool!

 

[DisPup75]

Hello, gods and goddesses, and to "From Zero to Hero" - The October 2015 Challenge!


I'm Megan, and I'll be one of your hosts (no, not hosts... MUSES!) this month.


View attachment 126457
​

YES! You heard me right! I said "one of". October is the month of tricking and treating, so for this challenge you will all be getting an extra SPECIAL treat... Two muses for the price of one! Our beloved Maggie, aka @DisPup75 , will be stepping in as host/muse toward the end of the month! Her brilliant leadership helped (and saved) quite a few of us during Sebastian's September challenge, and I KNOW she will do an amazing job this time around, too. She has graciously agreed to take over for me for the last 2 weeks of October. Speaking of the September thread...

"BLESS MY SOUL!" We were "on a roll" with some INCREDIBLE results last month! I just want to take a second to thank Maggie for all of her involvement, dedication, and incredibly hard work on some fantastic conversation and QOTD's last month! Not only that, but a HUGE round of applause to everyone who participated last month! I haven't been involved with these threads for very long, but that was easily the busiest, friendliest, and most exciting challenge of 2015 to date - and HOW ABOUT THOSE RESULTS! I hope that same energy finds its way over to October!​

Welcome to returning friends, newbies, and anyone/everyone who would like to chat about weight loss, weight maintenance, exercise, and anything related (and occasionally things that are not related)! If you're lurking, STOP! Get out of the shadows and join us! No rules here EXCEPT to be kind and supportive of each other! No negative energy allowed in our positive bubble of pixie dust!

We have had some wonderful threads this summer and I hope that we will continue to have some great discussions about weight loss, maintaining, diet, exercise, and healthy living! But as always, feel free to participate as much or as little as you would like.... just remember, the more you put in, the more you'll get out.

We talk about calories, Weight Watchers, low-carb, SparkPeople, MFP, Fitbits, Jawbones, marathon training, walking, recipes, vitamins, meal planning, smoothies, juicing, motivation, YOU NAME IT!! No positive/healthy talk is off limits!

Please consider inviting a friend (either a RL friend or a Disboard friend) to join us. They don't have to LOVE Disney like we do - they only need to want to make healthier lifestyle choices!

We will have regular Questions of the Day (QOTD) and Questions of the Weekend (QOTW) to help us spark discussion and thought about all kind of topics related to healthy living, and a few fun ones thrown in there as well. Like Disney questions - after all, this is a Disney discussion forum.

You might experience a little PAIN along the way, but don't PANIC!

View attachment 126459

There is an amazing support group within this thread that will help get you to the other side.​

SO! Do you think you have what it takes to "go the distance"? We're all going to go "from zero to hero - IN NO TIME FLAT!"

View attachment 126458​

"And that's the gospel truth."​

The thread looks AMAZING! So looking forward to this!

 

[JacknSally]

Well, I'm in for another fantastic month!

I don't think I've actually fully introduced myself to the group yet.

Hello my name is Nathan. I am the N in ANforever1030. I do talk about my DW2B on here occasionally. We are getting married on October 30 and leaving November 3 for our Disneymoon! Similarly to @JacknSally I am using my upcoming nuptials as a goal for weight loss, but it is not the end goal.

I was athletically nerdy growing up. I was usually a little taller and athletics came naturally, but I was never truly muscular or faster than those my age. I stopped getting taller my senior year of high school/freshman year of college and that first semester of college put on the traditional freshman 15 (or in my case it was probably closer to freshman 25) as I was mostly eating pizza or whatever I could get from the on-campus store as I regularly missed meals. My second semester I enrolled in a racquetball course and began lifting weights. I dropped most of the weight and actually put on some muscle. This continued to repeat itself for the next couple years until I started working out with some friends who did amateur bodybuilding. I actually got interested when I was about five months away from visiting a cousin for her wedding in California and wanted to look good on the beach. I dropped about 30-40 lbs and looked good doing it. I even continued after the wedding and began training for my own first competition. Unfortunately, before I could get there I caught pneumonia, then tore a shoulder muscle within the same month. I kept eating the same way I did while I had been training though and put on about 30 lbs.

Over the years I kept getting into the pattern of gaining some, hitting a new high in weight, then dropping about half of what I'd gained, then falling back into the old habits. Late last year, I realized something needed to change. I was tired all the time. I had been diagnosed with sleep apnea. I had a chronic cough which I found out was due to my chronic acid reflux. I stepped on the scale and I was at 317 lbs. I may have a big build at 6' and enough muscle that I shouldn't drop below 205-215 lbs, but even so I couldn't believe I had gotten that big. I knew something needed to change and I needed to drive that change. So, my DW2B and I began exploring different options. We tried the GM cleanse -- that did not work AT ALL. We then began a nutrition program she got from Dr. Oz's website. It helped get the weight loss started. Following that I got into the gym. We planned a vacation to Mexico in April and I wanted to lose 50 lbs before then. I worked extremely hard, busted my tail and achieved the 50 lb. mark the day before we left.

Of course, while in Mexico I drank...A LOT. It was all-inclusive and I definitely took advantage of that. I also ate...A LOT. We were on Isla Mujeres and there were numerous local establishments with fantastic food. When I got home I found that I had gained about 15 lbs in six days. I should have gotten back to the gym and eating properly right away, but I didn't. As a result, in late July, after a summer of not working out and eating out way too frequently I found myself at 307 lbs. So, I began using StrongLifts 5x5 as a workout program and watching what I eat. I haven't gotten to the point where I track every calorie, although I have definitely considered it, but I do make sure I am in the gym three days a week and usually spend about 1.5 hours lifting, then stretching. I have dropped my weight down to 282, but more importantly I have seen my muscle mass increase and my fat percentage decrease. I have exponentially more energy today than I did ten months ago and I am excited about walking around Walt Disney World and no longer apprehensive about it.

I am only seven pounds away from my wedding goal of 275, although I will likely set 270 as my final wedding goal now that it seems within reach.

I can't wait to spend more time talking with everyone this month

Welcome, welcome back, Nathan! Congratulations on your huge weight loss to-date, and even moreso on your lifestyle change! Dropping the weight is easy, when all is said and done... It's really breaking those bad habits and leaving them in the dust that is so hard, so major kudos to you for getting past that point! I KNOW you'll hit your goal before your wedding!

Checking in! It's been a few months since I've done a challenge, and boy do I need it.

In a nutshell, I had lost sixty odd pounds since May 2014, was feeling great, and then started to slack May of this year. June rolled round, and over the course of a few weeks several horrible events happened in my life that really knocked me on my butt. My anxiety issues went through the roof and I started stress eating like crazy. I still went to the gym once or twice a week and kept up with my trainer but the determination I previously had was pretty much gone.

Once I fell into the habit of stress eating, that was pretty much it. Now it's twenty pounds later, and I'm starting to see what I've done to my body- my muscle definition is gone, tummy gained too much pudge and I've lost a lot of my previous strength, acid reflux is back. It's a tough pill to swallow but I'm trying not to beat myself up too much over it.

Anyways, now it's time to dig myself out of the hole I'm in. I've gotten back into tracking food via myfitnesspal to hold myself accountable (~15-1600 cal per day, minimum 90 g protein). I'm big on prepping meals on the weekend and freezing them to eat during the week. It's so helpful coming home from work and having something ready to grab from the freezer, it definitely cuts down on the too-lazy-to-cook-pizza ordering. As far as exercise, I do lifting at the gym- I'm not a cardio kind of girl (except skipping, love skipping). I've had to retrain a lot of my lifts as my form fell apart, but hoping muscle memory will kick in soon.

I'm down a couple of pounds already, but my goal for October will be to take four more pounds off. It may be a bit ambitious, and I'm more concerned about gaining muscle definition to be honest but that's much harder to quantify.

I literally just downloaded SL two days ago, but I'm a bit on the fence about using it. Currently doing a PPL type thing, and debating between sticking with that, SL or Strong Curves (the lady/more glute friendly version of SL). I'm afraid that on SL I wont' progress fast enough and be stuck on deloads all the time. How've you been doing on it?

Welcome to our group! SO sorry to hear you had a rough summer. I am SO glad,though, that you found (and decided to join!) our group! I can't wait to see the progress you make this month.

What are one or some of your favorite make ahead meals? I really want to get into this this month, but don't know where to start!

Hello everyone. I'm in for the first time. My name is Melissa and I'm from pittsburgh, the city that puts fries on everything. I am turning 33 next month and have been on a healthy lifestyle journey for the last 3 years. I was always average, never thin or overweight. I have migraines and hit a rough patch in my late 20s. The medicine that I was on, coupled with being depressed from feeling awful, I packed on some weight. I peaked at 150 which was a lot, I was usually around 120 and in 5`1. So, prior to my 30th I joined weight watchers. I got down to 115, but it was all diet and no regular exercise.
I kept the weight off until this spring. I gained a few pounds here and there, in actually dont know how much I weigh, last time I checked I was in the mid 120s. I ended up hating myself for letting myself go. I wasn't mentally ready for weight watchers. I loved it and know I can eat whatever I want in it, but I worried if I failed I would go down a path that would be hard to turn around.
I randomly bought a jaw bone in the beginning of august. I started running, until my ankle told me it didn't like to run. I walk, play golf (walk with my clubs) or do insanity 3 to 4 times a week.
I feel great, but in feel even better that I am not doing it for weugh loss, for an end (class reunion, etc...), or anyone other than myself .
My goal is to get my 10k steps everyday, but be ok with myself if i don't. I am gone 15 hours a day and there are days I can't exercise. I want my overall step average to be 10k.
I fear about putting my weight out there. I don't want to be judged for being a healthy weight. I just want to feel better on the inside.
I look forward to continue on my health journey with all of you!

A big welcome to you, Amanda! No judgment allowed here - what matters is how YOU feel. Being only 5'4" here, I know exactly what you mean - what sounds "healthy" to one person can be "huge" to another. You have definitely come to the right place, though! Can't wait to see your results and get to know you better this month! What day is your birthday?? We love birthdays here!

 

[JacknSally]

Yay!!!! I love new months!! Fresh starts!! New goals!! To badly paraphrase Anne of Green Gables, a whole month full of new days in which you haven't made any mistakes yet!

I'm Maggie aka @DisPup75. First, I am BLUSHING at all of @JacknSally 's kind words about our September thread! I agree it is a great thread but all of the credit goes to the FABULOUS list of participants. If you haven't done so yet, head back over for your final check-in. We've got some great results brewing (and are also about to break through to over 600 posts). We had a great month and I'm looking forward to extending the party into October.

A little about me since I think I failed to introduce myself back when I started following the challenges back in July.... I'm 42 and (after being lucky enough to be a pin-thin kid and young adult) have been struggling with my weight since I was in my late 20s. I became severely hypothyroid when I was about 27 and packed on about 50 pounds in about two years. It took almost three years to normalize my thyroid levels but I was never successful at taking the weight back on. Instead I put on 5-10 pounds every couple of years and got more and more miserable and unhappy with myself. I joined WW seven or eight times but never even managed to follow the program for more than a few weeks straight. Needless to say, I was never very successful at it. I also tried every other diet under the sun for a day or two (or sometimes three) at a time. It wouldn't be fair to say that nothing worked. I just never committed.

Life in general took several sharp turns about five years ago and I started to cope by eating more and more. The scale went from hovering in the 190s to the 210s and this spring I started to occasionally see the 220s. I felt AWFUL. I got winded walking up a flight of steps or around the block. None of my clothes fit and I was embarrassed to buy new ones. My knees hurt. My back hurt. And then I finally made some time to download the photos from my 40th birthday trip to Disneyland. Rule number one in my life is NO PHOTOS. I made an exception for that trip because it was special for a lot of reasons beyond my birthday. It took me almost two years to download those photos because I was afraid of what I might see. I really didn't like what I did see. And that was without the ten pounds I'd added since that trip.

I'd had enough. I started joining my husband on walks with our rambunctious pup, slowly increasing my distance until I could do her favorite 3 mile loop without feeling like I was going to die. I lost a few pounds. On June 15, I bought a Fitbit and joined MyFitnessPal. I've tracked every single thing I've eaten and every step I've taken since that day. I broke my ankle two weeks later and still didn't give up, managing to fairly quickly and easily lose that first ten pounds. The walking boot came off in August and I just fell apart. I was still tracking but I was hungry and irritable and at a loss about what to do. I went up and down for several weeks and managed to maintain the loss. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite get it together enough to add more than a pound or two to that loss. So back to Weight Watchers I went. I'm sitting just a few pounds over the magical 199.9 and IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN IN OCTOBER.

Still thinking about other goals but I'm not letting another month go by without the big one. I look forward to chatting with everyone throughout the month. I love this board and consider it my #1 success tool!

So glad to see you back for another month! Welcome, friend! Onederland is DEFINITELY going to happen this month, I KNOW it. SO proud of you for continuing your tracking every single day. I think that is HUGE, even if the scale doesn't reflect it just yet. Can't wait to celebrate 199 with you this October!

 

[Trith]

I've been doing well on it. The only exercise I've had to re-do at any point was the Overhead Press, but I found that was due to me not doing it properly. I was not doing it with my wrists bent back underneath the bar and as a result was not getting enough force under the bar for the lift. There have definitely been times that my hips and knees were beginning to hurt, nothing major just extreme tightness, but that was due to not stretching enough after workouts. Since I corrected those I've improved dramatically. Tomorrow will be Week 10 for me and I will have gone from squatting the bar (45 lbs) to squatting 180 lbs. My bench press has gone from 45 lbs to 110 and my deadlift has gone from 95 lbs to 225 lbs.

I feel it is a good starting point, or it has been for me anyway. My DW2B tried to start it when I was in week 4 or week 5, but had trouble doing all the squats (you squat 3x a week), and is working on a different program that she found on pinterest that focuses on upper-body. If you feel comfortable doing all the exercises I would say go for it. It may even be worth buying 1.25 lb barbell plates that you can take to the gym if they don't have any there (mine only has 2.5 lbs and higher). That way if you aren't sure you can increase the weight as rapidly then instead of going up 5 lbs/workout go up 2.5 lbs/workout instead. I'm not as familiar with PPL, but either SL or SC would be a good jumping off point.

Congrats on the numbers you're putting up now, they're pretty awesome! I hear you on OHP, my wrists took a beating when I started on that one (even though I still only use the baby bar and can maaaaaybe push 35lbs on a good day. Having worked on it for months. Noodle arms here). I think I may try SS because it's so straight forward with the app telling you everything to do- I might just wait a few months to sort out my lingering form issues first.

Hello everyone. I'm in for the first time. My name is Melissa and I'm from pittsburgh, the city that puts fries on everything. I am turning 33 next month and have been on a healthy lifestyle journey for the last 3 years. I was always average, never thin or overweight. I have migraines and hit a rough patch in my late 20s. The medicine that I was on, coupled with being depressed from feeling awful, I packed on some weight. I peaked at 150 which was a lot, I was usually around 120 and in 5`1. So, prior to my 30th I joined weight watchers. I got down to 115, but it was all diet and no regular exercise.
I kept the weight off until this spring. I gained a few pounds here and there, in actually dont know how much I weigh, last time I checked I was in the mid 120s. I ended up hating myself for letting myself go. I wasn't mentally ready for weight watchers. I loved it and know I can eat whatever I want in it, but I worried if I failed I would go down a path that would be hard to turn around.
I randomly bought a jaw bone in the beginning of august. I started running, until my ankle told me it didn't like to run. I walk, play golf (walk with my clubs) or do insanity 3 to 4 times a week.
I feel great, but in feel even better that I am not doing it for weugh loss, for an end (class reunion, etc...), or anyone other than myself .
My goal is to get my 10k steps everyday, but be ok with myself if i don't. I am gone 15 hours a day and there are days I can't exercise. I want my overall step average to be 10k.
I fear about putting my weight out there. I don't want to be judged for being a healthy weight. I just want to feel better on the inside.
I look forward to continue on my health journey with all of you!

Congrats on feeling healthier! I'm in the "normal" range myself (although currently on the heavier end), and at the risk of sounding lame it's a never-ending journey whatever weight or level of fitness you're at. I think it's especially tough losing/maintaining when you're short, since your BMR is obviously lower than taller people's.

Which Jawbone do you have and how do you like it? I've been kicking around the idea of that or a Fitbit Charge HR but it's just so expensive!

Yay!!!! I love new months!! Fresh starts!! New goals!! To badly paraphrase Anne of Green Gables, a whole month full of new days in which you haven't made any mistakes yet!

I'm Maggie aka @DisPup75. First, I am BLUSHING at all of @JacknSally 's kind words about our September thread! I agree it is a great thread but all of the credit goes to the FABULOUS list of participants. If you haven't done so yet, head back over for your final check-in. We've got some great results brewing (and are also about to break through to over 600 posts). We had a great month and I'm looking forward to extending the party into October.

A little about me since I think I failed to introduce myself back when I started following the challenges back in July.... I'm 42 and (after being lucky enough to be a pin-thin kid and young adult) have been struggling with my weight since I was in my late 20s. I became severely hypothyroid when I was about 27 and packed on about 50 pounds in about two years. It took almost three years to normalize my thyroid levels but I was never successful at taking the weight back on. Instead I put on 5-10 pounds every couple of years and got more and more miserable and unhappy with myself. I joined WW seven or eight times but never even managed to follow the program for more than a few weeks straight. Needless to say, I was never very successful at it. I also tried every other diet under the sun for a day or two (or sometimes three) at a time. It wouldn't be fair to say that nothing worked. I just never committed.

Life in general took several sharp turns about five years ago and I started to cope by eating more and more. The scale went from hovering in the 190s to the 210s and this spring I started to occasionally see the 220s. I felt AWFUL. I got winded walking up a flight of steps or around the block. None of my clothes fit and I was embarrassed to buy new ones. My knees hurt. My back hurt. And then I finally made some time to download the photos from my 40th birthday trip to Disneyland. Rule number one in my life is NO PHOTOS. I made an exception for that trip because it was special for a lot of reasons beyond my birthday. It took me almost two years to download those photos because I was afraid of what I might see. I really didn't like what I did see. And that was without the ten pounds I'd added since that trip.

I'd had enough. I started joining my husband on walks with our rambunctious pup, slowly increasing my distance until I could do her favorite 3 mile loop without feeling like I was going to die. I lost a few pounds. On June 15, I bought a Fitbit and joined MyFitnessPal. I've tracked every single thing I've eaten and every step I've taken since that day. I broke my ankle two weeks later and still didn't give up, managing to fairly quickly and easily lose that first ten pounds. The walking boot came off in August and I just fell apart. I was still tracking but I was hungry and irritable and at a loss about what to do. I went up and down for several weeks and managed to maintain the loss. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite get it together enough to add more than a pound or two to that loss. So back to Weight Watchers I went. I'm sitting just a few pounds over the magical 199.9 and IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN IN OCTOBER.

Still thinking about other goals but I'm not letting another month go by without the big one. I look forward to chatting with everyone throughout the month. I love this board and consider it my #1 success tool!

Good luck getting into the one's! I love how motivated you are, you'll totally make it this month!

Welcome, welcome back, Nathan! Congratulations on your huge weight loss to-date, and even moreso on your lifestyle change! Dropping the weight is easy, when all is said and done... It's really breaking those bad habits and leaving them in the dust that is so hard, so major kudos to you for getting past that point! I KNOW you'll hit your goal before your wedding!

Welcome to our group! SO sorry to hear you had a rough summer. I am SO glad,though, that you found (and decided to join!) our group! I can't wait to see the progress you make this month.

What are one or some of your favorite make ahead meals? I really want to get into this this month, but don't know where to start!

A big welcome to you, Amanda! No judgment allowed here - what matters is how YOU feel. Being only 5'4" here, I know exactly what you mean - what sounds "healthy" to one person can be "huge" to another. You have definitely come to the right place, though! Can't wait to see your results and get to know you better this month! What day is your birthday?? We love birthdays here!

Thank you for the welcome!

For freezer meals, I make all sorts of things. Currently, I have a big batch of tomato sauce, a couple double-serving sized lasagnas (and going to make a few more this weekend with the frozen tomato sauce), baked beans, burritos, wraps, black bean meatballs and pancakes in there. Casseroles, soups, chilis and individual sized pizzas freeze well too. The hardest part is figuring out what I want to eat the night before so I can pull it out to defrost. I have a plan for a big prep this weekend, I may post some pics if no one minds.

Also, I have to mention meal prep is fairly easy for me as I only live with DBF and we usually cook separate meals (I'm vegetarian, he's not).

 

[Flossbolna]

Hello everyone! I am signing up for October! I think I am going to try for a goal of losing 5 pounds this month.

My name is Magdalene, I live in Germany (and am from here) and am 43. I have been struggling with my weight already as a child. In the 70s I was a heavy child. Looking at today's kids, I would be one of the normal kids in class (unfortunately). But those few extra pounds always stuck with me all the way through puberty. For me college had a different effect than for most: I actually lost a lot of weight. Mainly because I ended up with three wonderful friends who were all naturally slim, but also very health conscious. They inspired me to work hard to lose the weight, eat healthier and have fun at exercising. I was so proud that when I finished university, I was at my lowest weight ever with a BMI of 21. The years after I slowly moved up until I ended up at a job which was very stressful (long hours) and in a city that I did not feel at home in. I put on a lot of weight. I changed job and city and then was able to finally get working on my weight again. I did not manage to get down to that BMI of 21 again, but I managed to get from nearly obese (interestingly my heighest weight ever has always been the same, I reached it 3 times, but never went over it and it puts me just below a BMI which would have counted as obese) to a healthy BMI. I continued to hover around a BMI of 25 for some time and then another change made things bad again and the whole process started new. Now, I am again in that area of around a BMI of 25, somtimes a little higher, sometimes a little lower. My goal is it to finally get well below my current weight range and close to where I was in college.

I have been taking part in these challenges for quite a while now. And while it seems that they are not working for me as I am still not at my goal, I do know that they prevented me from getting any worse! I also found out in the summer that I have a thyroid problem and this has been taken care of now, so things are starting to move again! Just like my friends in college who inspired me, I always get a lot of inspiration from these threads and am so happy that we have such an active group here again!

Hello everyone. I'm in for the first time. My name is Melissa and I'm from pittsburgh, the city that puts fries on everything. I am turning 33 next month and have been on a healthy lifestyle journey for the last 3 years. I was always average, never thin or overweight. I have migraines and hit a rough patch in my late 20s. The medicine that I was on, coupled with being depressed from feeling awful, I packed on some weight. I peaked at 150 which was a lot, I was usually around 120 and in 5`1. So, prior to my 30th I joined weight watchers. I got down to 115, but it was all diet and no regular exercise.
I kept the weight off until this spring. I gained a few pounds here and there, in actually dont know how much I weigh, last time I checked I was in the mid 120s. I ended up hating myself for letting myself go. I wasn't mentally ready for weight watchers. I loved it and know I can eat whatever I want in it, but I worried if I failed I would go down a path that would be hard to turn around.
I randomly bought a jaw bone in the beginning of august. I started running, until my ankle told me it didn't like to run. I walk, play golf (walk with my clubs) or do insanity 3 to 4 times a week.
I feel great, but in feel even better that I am not doing it for weugh loss, for an end (class reunion, etc...), or anyone other than myself .
My goal is to get my 10k steps everyday, but be ok with myself if i don't. I am gone 15 hours a day and there are days I can't exercise. I want my overall step average to be 10k.
I fear about putting my weight out there. I don't want to be judged for being a healthy weight. I just want to feel better on the inside.
I look forward to continue on my health journey with all of you!

Don't worry about signing up with a healtyh weight! We alway had people on these challenges whose goals it is to maintain and lead a healthy lifestyle. Ultimately weight loss is not only about losing weight, but also about keeping it off. And it sounds like you are taking some serious steps in that direction!!

For freezer meals, I make all sorts of things. Currently, I have a big batch of tomato sauce, a couple double-serving sized lasagnas (and going to make a few more this weekend with the frozen tomato sauce), baked beans, burritos, wraps, black bean meatballs and pancakes in there. Casseroles, soups, chilis and individual sized pizzas freeze well too. The hardest part is figuring out what I want to eat the night before so I can pull it out to defrost. I have a plan for a big prep this weekend, I may post some pics if no one minds.

I would love to see pictures!! I already have a question: Your lasagnas, do you freeze them cooked or uncooked? I have frozen vegetable lasagna in the past, but in the already cooked version and was wondering if they would not be better if I freeze them before they are cooked (or better: baked)??

 

[JacknSally]

I have a plan for a big prep this weekend, I may post some pics if no one minds.

YES, YES! Please feel free! I'd love to see what you do. I've got TONS of "make ahead meal tips" pinned on Pinterest, but most of the food they're prepping is stuff I don't eat, ESPECIALLY when I'm trying to stick to my low-carb/high-protein diet, so I'm at a loss. I've also got several crock-pot recipes pinned, but run into the same problem there... Plus they're all usually done cooking in about 8 hours, and DH2B and I are away from the house for at least 10 hours every day.

 

[JacknSally]

Hello everyone! I am signing up for October! I think I am going to try for a goal of losing 5 pounds this month.

My name is Magdalene, I live in Germany (and am from here) and am 43. I have been struggling with my weight already as a child. In the 70s I was a heavy child. Looking at today's kids, I would be one of the normal kids in class (unfortunately). But those few extra pounds always stuck with me all the way through puberty. For me college had a different effect than for most: I actually lost a lot of weight. Mainly because I ended up with three wonderful friends who were all naturally slim, but also very health conscious. They inspired me to work hard to lose the weight, eat healthier and have fun at exercising. I was so proud that when I finished university, I was at my lowest weight ever with a BMI of 21. The years after I slowly moved up until I ended up at a job which was very stressful (long hours) and in a city that I did not feel at home in. I put on a lot of weight. I changed job and city and then was able to finally get working on my weight again. I did not manage to get down to that BMI of 21 again, but I managed to get from nearly obese (interestingly my heighest weight ever has always been the same, I reached it 3 times, but never went over it and it puts me just below a BMI which would have counted as obese) to a healthy BMI. I continued to hover around a BMI of 25 for some time and then another change made things bad again and the whole process started new. Now, I am again in that area of around a BMI of 25, somtimes a little higher, sometimes a little lower. My goal is it to finally get well below my current weight range and close to where I was in college.

I have been taking part in these challenges for quite a while now. And while it seems that they are not working for me as I am still not at my goal, I do know that they prevented me from getting any worse! I also found out in the summer that I have a thyroid problem and this has been taken care of now, so things are starting to move again! Just like my friends in college who inspired me, I always get a lot of inspiration from these threads and am so happy that we have such an active group here again!

Welcome back, Magdalene!!! I'm so excited you're joining us again this month! I don't know how I missed it last month, but I had NO idea you are in Germany! That is SO COOL! My wanderlust is through the roof the last few years especially, so I'm really excited to know someone in Europe! Haha.

I'm thrilled that your diagnosis and treatment are making a difference - I researched thyroid issues pretty heavily this summer, and it's incredible what an impact even the slightest issue will have on your entire system. SO glad you and your doctor were able to get it under control and that it's actually working for you! I can't wait to see what you do this month!

 

[robndani]

I would love to join this challenge! I'm 37 and have 5 year old twins that just started Kindergarten. My daughter dances (my mom and I own a studio) and my son does karate. Everyone thinks because I've always been a dance teacher that I get plenty of exercise, but that's not really true. I spend more time correcting and explaining then doing (that ship has sailed - lol).

I don't really need to lose a lot of weight, but I'm not happy with how my body looks. I've always had a big butt and thighs, but I need to drop a few pounds and tone everything up! I easily slack off with both eating and exercise. Bread and cheese are my favorite things! If I don't watch what I eat and do some exercise I can quickly put weight.

Is it possible to set a number of minutes of exercise/activity per day? I did a different September challenge and that's how they did it. Even though I didn't reach my goal of 600 minutes for the month, it was an easy way for me to track my progress. If it's not okay, just let me know.

I'm going to Disney for week in October so I'm sure I'll reach my goal!

You seem like such a nice, positive group of people!!!! Good luck everyone!

 

[Flossbolna]

Is it possible to set a number of minutes of exercise/activity per day? I did a different September challenge and that's how they did it. Even though I didn't reach my goal of 600 minutes for the month, it was an easy way for me to track my progress. If it's not okay, just let me know.

Of course you are free to set whatever goal you want and we are happy to have everyone. I just wanted to let you know that there is a "pure" exercise challenge for October in this thread: October Colorful & Fantastic Fall Exercise Challenge!!! I don't mean to tell you to go over there, both monthly challenges exist next to each other. And quite a few people actually take part in both. This thread is usually more chatty and updates on progress are usually only once a week. On the exercise thread people post daily where they are standing, but it usually has less conversation. Just join in whereever you feel comfortable! I personally love this type of thread as I get a lot of motivation from the conversations that are going on here. And the more people take part, the more interesting it gets!