Healthy Living from the INSIDE OUT - May 2016 WISH Challenge

[Zoesmama03]

Just stumbled in the door and realized it is officially the 1st of May! So I'm going to post our first question of the day, collapse into bed, and sleep until noon.

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QOTD - May 1st​

We are going to start out the month with an easy one! If you haven't already, introduce yourself! What is your goal this month? Weight loss? Exercise accomplished? General sense of well being found? Let's talk about any and all of your goals! What to do you to be able to say "I did that" about 31 days from now? What is your plan to make those goals happen? Specifics welcome! How are you going to track your percentage of goal complete each week? Finally, what can we do to help you achieve your goals?

Bonus QOTD - What is your earliest Disney memory?

Okay a little intro for any new folks or people that don't remember because I'm in and out of these challenges for so long. I'm Melissa 36 divorced(well one of the years I'll get if finalized/legalized but have been apart for about 10 years now) with a soon to be teenage girl, Zoe. I like photography, music, and knitting/crocheting. I am down about 22 lbs from my highest weight. Really starting to enjoy my gym time. My friend and I are going together 5 days a week at least. I've been pretty consistent with my tracking for over a week now. Saw 2.6 loss on the scale yesterday. My starting weight for the month is 309.8(was still at the same weight as yesterday morning) and my goal is 8 lbs in May. I'm so excited to see it dropping again and its very motivating. My friend has seen a 4 lb loss so far she walks in morning with another friend of ours that lives by her(I'm about 20 miles away). So we are both doing great. I'm following a reduced carb meal plan, mostly gluten free(working on 100% due to IBS symptoms). I only drink water or protein shakes(made with just water) pretty much. If I swim in heat I will drink sports drinks(Grape or white cherry Powerade) sometimes. I'm aiming for 100 grams of protein a day, my carbs are set to 40% of my daily calories and I may lower that further depending on if I keep consistent at 1 1/2-2 lbs a week.

My gym workouts are pretty fun with the friend. We do 30-45 minutes of treadmill(sometimes add some biking) and I alternate arms and leg circuits. Eventually I'd like to start trying out the Strong Lifts 5x5 program. I lift pretty heavy on the circuit machines too and am doing 5 sets of 5. If I get the pool key replaced for the new one I may start using our community pool to do some swimming too.

Everyone already does everything they can. I have my real life accountability too which will help a lot as well.

BONUS: My earliest trip was at age 10. I didn't remember too much of Magic Kingdom. Strangely enough I remember more of the car ride down(From Illinois) and the old Boardwalk and Baseball park. I do have a faint memory of the dumbo ride though I think my next trip was at 14 or so and I was hooked.

 

[DVCFan1994]

My goal this month is going to be all about nutrition. I am a stress eater, and ever since my dad's health crisis in December, I have continued to have cycles where I recognize the problem, work to fix it, then some new major stress starts (setbacks with my dad, health problems with my father in law, cancer diagnosis for my mother in law) and I lose control again. I am certain this is why the scale won't move. I definitely exercise enough, so it's all about my nutrition. I tend to get caught up in the deprivation aspect of eating well, versus thinking about what I can eat. So, I am going to focus this month on eating the things I know I need, as well as tracking my food. I am not going to focus on calorie goals, because then a) I don't track some days because I know I'll miss my goal, or b) when I know I'm going over, I'll eat even more because, hey why not? So I'm going to try to use this month to track honestly, and see where my real problems are.

So, goal 1 is to track my food everyday. This is what I will report on. There's 31 days in May, so each day tracked will count as it 3.23% toward the month. Don't worry I'll do the math.

Goal 2 is to focus on getting more healthy foods into my diet, hopefully enough so that I will not be hungry and craving junk. I'm going to try to get three servings of fruit per day, 7 servings of veggies, protein at every meal and snack, healthy fats at lunch (like avocado) to help keep me full for the afternoon, and three servings of dairy per day. Although I won't track this goal for the challenge, I will talk about it

QOTD: Earliest Disney memory - 1986. This one will date me a bit. It was October, weeks before my 11th birthday and my family took our first trip to WDW. We stayed at the Contemporary with a Castle view. My brother and I were early risers. As an early birthday gift I had gotten a purple "Le Disc" (anyone remember those?) camera and we were out on the balcony taking pictures of the castle as the sun came up.

 

[pjlla]

Sorry to be joining you all so late! Hope you saved a seat for me!! I'll be back tomorrow to chat!............P

 

[4Mickeys]

Take at least 15 minutes every day to focus on myself - whether that's exercise time, reading, watching TV, or just lying in bed thinking about nothing. After last month, I need to start focusing on taking time for myself and not letting other people dictate my schedule

Love this part of your plan Sarah - I know I definitely don't do enough of this either.

We are going to start out the month with an easy one! If you haven't already, introduce yourself! What is your goal this month? Weight loss? Exercise accomplished? General sense of well being found? Let's talk about any and all of your goals! What to do you to be able to say "I did that" about 31 days from now? What is your plan to make those goals happen? Specifics welcome! How are you going to track your percentage of goal complete each week? Finally, what can we do to help you achieve your goals?

Hi everyone,

I'm Samantha and I'm from the land Down Under - yes I join you guys from Australia for those that don't know me yet. I am 43 and a solo mum to 3 kids a 15 year old boy and 12 year old twins (boy and girl) - I love my boys but can I just say I am soooo glad I ended up with a girl to enjoy all of the Disney Princesses with me lol. Ok a little summary I love food always have, especially the bad food, as a kid, teen and in my early 20s I was skinny and could eat whatever I wanted pretty much. After having kids I had some trouble losing the baby weight, then went through a relationship breakdown that I didn't want and found myself raising my 3 kids all alone. I started eating yummy things to feel better and the weight just piled on. Over the last 10 years I have gone up and down - sometimes stress works for me and I lose but mostly I think combined with getting older now I just seem to keep piling it on. I am unhappy with my size, how it makes me look and how I have to fight my way into clothes. I have no energy and some days just doing anything can be hard work.

I just weighed in this morning I am at 91.2 kg or about 201 pounds - this puts me just over and into the obese category on the BMI. Obese never a word I thought would be used to describe me . I have having trouble trying to decide on a goal for the month. But I think I am going to focus on my eating. So I think that means by goal needs to be around calorie intake. I will aim to stay within the MFP calculated calorie goal of 1700 for 5 days per week - this was for an initial weight loss goal of .5Kg per week which is about 1.1 pounds. Now I really haven't had much luck with losing much of anything yet in the 4 months I have been joining you - I lost a tiny bit but it went back on. This is despite the fact that I am moving more than I have in a really long time - so obviously what I am inputting needs improvement.

You guys already help so much from the inspiration of those further along in the journey to just being able to share with like minded friends who are understanding, encouraging and non-judgemental when we slip.

On the positive side there are no family birthdays or big celebrations this month to derail me.

On the challenging side:

I got sick on Saturday - my daughter bought it home from school camp - sore throat, sore sinuses, headaches, feeling blaaah.
Keeping moving - it is starting to get colder here as we head into winter - mind you our winters are mild compared to some of yours but this may mean my paddling will get put on hold at some point.
Time management and planning - I struggle with this.

My plan:
To get better with meal planning.
I have a new little weekly whiteboard to keep in the kitchen so we all know that the dinner/breakfast options are for each day.
Doing some weekend pre-cooking where possible - to help with the time management.
Track, track, track my eating using MFP and Supertracker.

Bonus QOTD - What is your earliest Disney memory?

The music, Tinkerbelle and the Castle from Sunday night movie credits as a kid. I new Disneyland was out there and I knew about the Mickey Mouse Club - my parents had watched that when they were younger my Dad was an Annette Funicello fan I Always remember as a kid saying I wanted to do to Disneyland - this was impossible from my parents point of view back then. Wasn't affordable for them and my Mum hates flying. It was always still my goal though. I went to Disneyland for the first time in 1997 when in my early 20s and wow just wow. Then so many years later took my kids on a much needed break and it really worked its magic on me and the kids me especially I underwent a lot of healing emotionally on that 3 week trip to so SoCal. We just wish we were closer or could afford to visit more often

And I am happy to report that I am nearly 10 pounds lighter now than I was when this picture was taken!

This is a great pic of you and your Aunty! I think you look good in this pic but great work for losing another 10 pounds since then

I was a super skinny kid, teenager, and 20-something

Me too - I know we all struggle with our weight journeys no matter if we started out skinny or overweight - but for me I just didn't build any skills around managing this better because I didn't have to

I am Stephanie. I am 36. After I started my current job 8 years ago I started gaining weight. I went from working in a daycare to a desk job. I am hoping to get back down to 120 pounds.

Desk jobs always take a toll!

am happy to report that my scheduled long run for today worked out wonderfully! Last week I was running through a snow storm, today the weather was perfect for running. 60 degrees and overcast. Wonderful!

So glad to hear you had a great run

My name is Marie, I'm 27. I need to lose weight, but I think I'm gonna base my goal on the amount of exercise I do versus the amount of pounds I lose, because I feel like my biggest challenge is to stick to a routine, which I always have a hard time doing. I don't think I can count the amount of times I've signed up for a gym and stopped going after two months, even with them taking the money out of my account for the whole 12 months still.

Sticking to routine is part of my problem too - I have given up on joining gyms.

But even though I've been walking a lot more than I used to since we moved here, it hasn't affected my weight at all.

This is so frustrating isn't it? Since moving more in the last few months I also haven't seen any effect on the scales.

 

[verleniahall]

Starting weight - 293.00

Goal Weight - 280.00

Goal to Loose - 13 LBS

 

[pjlla]

Good morning all! Wow.... May is more than 24 hours old now! YIKES!

Anyhow.... I'll do my mandatory QOTD intro and then be off to work! BBL tonight to chat!

I'm Pamela (the "P" in my user name) and I am the Mom of two adults children.... DD is a Jr in college and DS is about to graduate high school and head off to college too!

I have been an on-again-off-again Weight Watcher from my teen years.... but it finally STUCK in 2008 and I hit my goal weight in 2009, losing nearly 90 pounds from my all-time high. I've been a part of these WISH challenge without a break since they started (2009??).

I hit a LOW of 129 for ONE day in 2011 and haven't seen it since, but am reasonably happy maintaining the the low/mid 130's.... unfortunately I haven't seen that range in MONTHS! I have been struggling for the past 3 years to stay in the 130's (haven't topped 140, but it has been a struggle) and haven't seen 135 or less in months. But I will NEVER give up.

I've been married for 24 years this month and currently work full-time as a substitute teacher, part-time as a WW leader, and part-time as an online 24/7 expert chat coach with WW. I don't mind eating well and healthy and track my foods well.... but I've fallen off the "exercise wagon" in a HUGE way and need to be dragged, kicking and screaming, back on board!

Anyhow..... happy to just be a PARTICIPANT this month! I feel badly that I couldn't give the April challenge everything it needed, but it was a busy, busy month for me..... I realized yesterday that I wasn't home for a SINGLE weekend (robotics competition, two college visits, and this past weekend with DD at her school).

Off to work.... first day back after vacation week.... could be a sh*t show.... wish me luck!.....P

 

[HappyGrape]

For all calorie counting Epcot cava del tequila fans - guilt free Epcot inspired drink

Melon (I used galia but any will work), juice of one lime, little pink rock salt optional and some ice. 30 seconds in my fruit ninja. Mine came at 70 calories and packs SOOOO much freshness and flavour. It feels like margarita little. Just you feel better after drinking it!

If you have the extra calories add some avocado!


edited to add - please add some fresh chilli to the recipe, I missed it!

 

[DisPup75]

QOTD - May 2


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Good morning! Welcome to your first "Mood Monday!" Let's talk about JOY today.

Is joy one of your ruling emotions? Are there things you do or would like to do to make your life more joyful? How does joy factor into your diet and exercise routines? Are you a celebratory eater? How do you handle special events, holidays, and other joyful eating opportunities?

 

[piglet1979]

QOTD - May 2

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Good morning! Welcome to your first "Mood Monday!" Let's talk about JOY today.

Is joy one of your ruling emotions? Are there things you do or would like to do to make your life more joyful? How does joy factor into your diet and exercise routines? Are you a celebratory eater? How do you handle special events, holidays, and other joyful eating opportunities?

Joy is the ruler of me. I am a the glass is half full kind of person and happy I would say about 90 percent of the time. Sad has taken over a little but lately with my son turning 10 last month and getting ready to move to a new school next year. In out district 5th grade in an intermediate school and is set up like middle or high school. How can he really be old enough for that. Also, last week I had issues with my weight. I gained 2 pounds from what felt like no where. I ate good and I exercised and got at least 10,000 steps a day. So I would say anger and sadness ruled my Friday and part of Saturday. But i am back to myself and joy is ruling today.

I let my eating go a little bit at the holidays. I just eat 1 piece of cake or pie and tray to eat more fruits or veggies, if they are available. This weekend we had a wedding shower for my husbands cousin. I ate a ton of veggies and left out the dip. I figured I didn't the extra calories from the dip. I also ate fruit salad. I have a piece of cake and lunch was chicken salad on a croissant. I had water instead of pop to save some calories there too. Sunday I had a since visit with my grandparents also my Aunt was in town from Mich. I haven't seen her in years so it was a nice day. Of coarse Grandma had cake, pie, cookies, chips and pop. I did have a can of pop but then water after that. The only other bad things were the chips. I just kept eating them. I am not worried about it though because today I will be back on track. I have strawberries, a banana, a peach and cucumbers to eat today for breakfast and snacks.

 

[ski_mom]

QOTD - May 1st​

We are going to start out the month with an easy one! If you haven't already, introduce yourself! What is your goal this month? Weight loss? Exercise accomplished? General sense of well being found? Let's talk about any and all of your goals! What to do you to be able to say "I did that" about 31 days from now? What is your plan to make those goals happen? Specifics welcome! How are you going to track your percentage of goal complete each week? Finally, what can we do to help you achieve your goals?

Bonus QOTD - What is your earliest Disney memory?

I'll play catch-up today and answer yesterday's QOTD now and then come back in a bit to answer today's question.

I'm Becky and I've been participating in these WISH threads since the middle of February when I decided enough was enough (again). Typically when I decide I'm going to improve my lifestyle, I join WW, but this time I decided I was going to try MFP and see how that works. I'm a relatively private person and in my small town, it always seems like there is someone at my WW meetings that makes it awkward for me. One time it was my general manager's wife (who probably had about 10 pounds to lose vs me with 80 or so) and the next time my boss' wife was actually the WW employee who weighed you in. I know it shouldn't bother me, but it's just not comfortable for me. Anyway, that's why I decided to do it on my own with MFP. So far, so good. Since the middle of February, I'm down 20 pounds - I know it could be more, but I'm pretty happy with it.

I have been married for 23 years and have 3 children (their initials are S,K and I) hence my user name. My oldest is finishing up her freshman year of college, middle is graduating from high school this year and youngest is in the 8th grade. Where has time gone!

My goal for the month is to lose 10 pounds. It's more than I've lost most months, but I usually slack during the last week for some reason, so I'm going to try my hardest not to do that this month! I'm also recommitting to tracking EVERY DAY - I did so good with that at the beginning, but now I find I'm "tracking in my head" way too many days. That needs to stop. If for no other reason, I think it can help remind you of things that are good for snacks or meals. For instance, in the beginning, I was having a half cup of cottage cheese as an afternoon snack - I loved it and it filled me up until dinner. I completely forgot about it though until I was reading through what I ate when I started tracking. Guess what I bought at the store this weekend!

I'm really looking forward to this month's theme - I loved this movie. I might even see if I can find it somewhere to watch again!

 

[mamattorney]

QOTD - May 2

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Good morning! Welcome to your first "Mood Monday!" Let's talk about JOY today.

Is joy one of your ruling emotions? Are there things you do or would like to do to make your life more joyful? How does joy factor into your diet and exercise routines? Are you a celebratory eater? How do you handle special events, holidays, and other joyful eating opportunities?

I'd like to think Joy is one of my ruling emotions. I am a generally happy person, but I can have a short fuse at home (and in my head with myself) I would love to be more patient with my kids; I think it would make me more joyful. I think I will be more patient as this month moves forward because they will be outside more (one of the things that drives me nuts is when my foyer gets turned into a basketball court or a hockey rink -- it's SO LOUD! I feel like the Grinch from Dr. Suess sometimes complaining about the "Noise, Noise, Noise, Noise!")

How does joy factor into my diet and exercise routine? I try to eat things I like and exercise in a way that makes me happy. I rarely eat things I don't like the taste of because "it's good for me" (I'm looking at you Greek Yogurt); there's enough things out there that I enjoy and are healthy! For exercise, other than walking, I don't do much. But when I walk, I do my best to do it in a way that makes me happy -- mostly by myself (gets me away from the Noise!), sometimes in the forest perserve, always with my headphones and music I love. I could walk for hours; I really enjoy it. Someday soon, I'll add other exercise to my routine and I'll have to find some things that also make me happy.

Am I a celebratory eater? YES! I think it's part of my (American?) culture to celebrate with food. No matter my diet, I always have birthday cake. For some reason, refusing birthday cake really gets to me. My husband was on a strict diet for a long time and he used to refuse birthday cake and it always bothered me. I am also one of those parents who gets so irritated at our school's healthy holiday party rules. We can now only serve Rold Gold Pretzels (they are gluten free), whole fruit and water at class parties. No chocolate at Valentines Day parties, no candy at Halloween and no cookies or hot chocolate at Christmas. Something about looking at the fruit and pretzels gets me every time. I feel like my kids are missing out. Other parents say - they get enough junk throughout the holiday season, I'm thrilled that they are keeping the parties healthy. Not me . . . it just seems . . . wrong. It's a party - celebrate!

How do I handle joyful eating opportunities?
Well, I have a few rules for celebratory eating parties. (1) As I said, I NEVER refuse birthday cake. NEVER. (2) I will always have champagne if it is passed around for a toast. (3) I will always eat what is served (if we are eating a sit down meal), doing my best to eat more of the healthier options. However, if it's munchies, appetizers and desserts, then sometimes I eat nothing, sometimes I try to pick the healthier options. If it's a situation where I really don't want to eat any of it, and no one will notice if I eat or not, then I don't eat. I guess I don't want the host to feel bad should he or she have made food that doesn't make my diet "joyful". I think joyful eating situations are exceptions to a diet - not "it's Friday -- let's eat", but true celebrations. As a result, i refuse to feel anything but joyful when I consume those calories. Sometimes a few extra calories are worth it!

 

[SarahDisney]

*We interrupt this thread for an important Sarah announcement*

Guys, I'm declaring today "Major WooHoo Monday" for me. Here's why:

WooHoo #1: I'm eating a balanced breakfast! Cottage cheese (lowfat) with berries, whole wheat toast with butter, and coffee.
WooHoo #2: I measured almost everything in said breakfast. The only thing I didn't measure was the butter, and that's just because I can't figure out how to measure tablespoons of something I'm spreading with a knife.
WooHoo #3: I stepped on the scale for the first time in about 2 weeks and saw my lowest weight since February! Apparently the Passover diet (eating everything in the house for a week while cleaning it followed by eating very little because we only eat certain foods on Passover) works for me.

Overall, not a bad start to the week. Anyone else starting their week with a victory?

I'll be back later to answer the QOTD and chat ... I just needed to share my morning victories!

 

[Dr Gunnie]

Just stumbled in the door and realized it is officially the 1st of May! So I'm going to post our first question of the day, collapse into bed, and sleep until noon.

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QOTD - May 1st​

We are going to start out the month with an easy one! If you haven't already, introduce yourself! What is your goal this month? Weight loss? Exercise accomplished? General sense of well being found? Let's talk about any and all of your goals! What to do you to be able to say "I did that" about 31 days from now? What is your plan to make those goals happen? Specifics welcome! How are you going to track your percentage of goal complete each week? Finally, what can we do to help you achieve your goals?

Bonus QOTD - What is your earliest Disney memory?

For those who are new - My name is Josh, and I'm 41 years old. I'm married with two children and I'm a special education teacher and a high school football coach.

I started my weight loss in January as a new year's resolution. We did a Christmas trip to Disney World and when I hit the scale New Year's Day I was at an all time high of 320 lbs.

February was my first month that I participated with the WISH Challenge. From Jan 1 to April 30th, I've lost 61 lbs. My goal when I started was to lose 100 lbs. I've recently started running and I have my first 5K this Saturday. I've also signed up for all the Disney Virtual 5K's, so I'm open to doing some sort of "group run" with anyone else on here that signed up.

I'm sticking with a weight loss goal for this month. If it isn't broke...

Going with 14 lbs again for the third month in a row.

QOTD - May 2

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Good morning! Welcome to your first "Mood Monday!" Let's talk about JOY today.

Is joy one of your ruling emotions? Are there things you do or would like to do to make your life more joyful? How does joy factor into your diet and exercise routines? Are you a celebratory eater? How do you handle special events, holidays, and other joyful eating opportunities?

I'm pretty well balanced when it comes to my emotions. I think Joy has been coming out more and more with the weight I've lost and the closer I get to summer break! Special events and eating has always been my biggest hurdle, but I've gotten better. We will have a couple of these events during May (Kentucky Derby party this weekend, daughter's birthday in two weeks), so I'm hoping I can stay strong.

 

[Lady Marie]

QOTD - May 1st​

We are going to start out the month with an easy one! If you haven't already, introduce yourself! What is your goal this month? Weight loss? Exercise accomplished? General sense of well being found? Let's talk about any and all of your goals! What to do you to be able to say "I did that" about 31 days from now? What is your plan to make those goals happen? Specifics welcome! How are you going to track your percentage of goal complete each week? Finally, what can we do to help you achieve your goals?

Bonus QOTD - What is your earliest Disney memory?

Playing catch up over here-- I'm Patricia, and I am 27, married, and living in south Florida. I mention the Florida thing because I don't think it agrees with me. It's tooooo hot! I used to be more active when I lived in north Georgia and would actually go outside sometimes. At any rate, before I got married I was always hanging out around 155/160, but I got married and slowly put on about 30 more pounds. As of April 14th, I had lost around 14 lbs total since October when I started getting serious, but since we got back from Tokyo, it looks like I put on 3-4 lbs--I haven't weighed in a few days so I don't know exactly how accurate that is. I am hoping it was post-vacation bloat and water weight (I never feel right for a few days after a long haul flight). Also, my mother is still staying at our house which is A) throwing off my eating and B) throwing off my routines so I'm in an overall funk. She leaves tomorrow and so I am hoping to get things back on track tomorrow.

All that to say, I am going to set my goal for 4 lbs this month. I've been doing slow and steady and it's working since I am able to keep enjoying "sometimes" foods in small doses. I have noticed I do GREAT when I am having small dinners and large lunches, so I am going to keep trying to adjust "big meal" to earlier in the day on days we don't have Blue Apron (which we also stopped with my mom here and am SO excited to start up again this weekend!). I have a few bumps along the road in path that I can see already (company golf tournament w/good food and open bar, our wedding anniversary, and a long Disney weekend for Memorial Day). So I just need to keep balance so I can enjoy those bumps in the road with out derailing the whole thing!

Oh, and my insta is p.ryan55 for my cat, travel, and Disney pics haha!

Good morning! Welcome to your first "Mood Monday!" Let's talk about JOY today.

Is joy one of your ruling emotions? Are there things you do or would like to do to make your life more joyful? How does joy factor into your diet and exercise routines? Are you a celebratory eater? How do you handle special events, holidays, and other joyful eating opportunities?

I forget to say before-- I LOVE THE THEME! This is one of my favorite Pixars so far. Love it!!! Mood Monday-- so cute!

Yes, joy is definitely one of my ruling emotions. But I could have more in my life. I'm an artsy person, and haven't found my outlet down here. Up in GA I was very involved in the theater scene, but I have no connections to it now so that "brain/personality trait island" (or whatever it was in the movie) is suffering. I am thinking of learning our DSLR and maybe getting into photography. I don't know, but I think more creativity in my life could definitely bring me more joy and as a result help me be more active! As for food--- Mamaattorney said it perfectly below--- this... all this exactly! Only problem is-- I have a large, close family which lends itself to a lot of joyful eating situations!

Well, I have a few rules for celebratory eating parties. (1) As I said, I NEVER refuse birthday cake. NEVER. (2) I will always have champagne if it is passed around for a toast. (3) I will always eat what is served (if we are eating a sit down meal), doing my best to eat more of the healthier options. However, if it's munchies, appetizers and desserts, then sometimes I eat nothing, sometimes I try to pick the healthier options. If it's a situation where I really don't want to eat any of it, and no one will notice if I eat or not, then I don't eat. I guess I don't want the host to feel bad should he or she have made food that doesn't make my diet "joyful". I think joyful eating situations are exceptions to a diet - not "it's Friday -- let's eat", but true celebrations. As a result, i refuse to feel anything but joyful when I consume those calories. Sometimes a few extra calories are worth it!

 

[Oneanne]

QOTD - May 2

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Good morning! Welcome to your first "Mood Monday!" Let's talk about JOY today.

Is joy one of your ruling emotions? Are there things you do or would like to do to make your life more joyful? How does joy factor into your diet and exercise routines? Are you a celebratory eater? How do you handle special events, holidays, and other joyful eating opportunities?

Ha ha... I wouldn't normally consider myself a celebratory eater but yesterday I went to a birthday dinner for my Sister. We ended sitting on the bar for an hour waiting for a table, and you know you can't sit in a bar for free so I ordered a martini and we got an appetizer, then for dinner I had salmon and then just a couple bites of the ice cream and brownie dessert. I ended up burning thru most of my weeklies, even tho I had managed to save 20 of my dailies for dinner. The scale didn't look too bad this morning, so I've got my fingers crossed that not a lot of damage was done.

Although I think most people would say I'm a happy person, outright Joy is an emotion I actually struggle with. I have had a lifelong fear of something bad happening if something too good happens... I believe this is from growing up in an alcoholic household. So I'm fearful that if I open up into complete joy, I'll get karmically kicked in the gut. I think it's also why I love WDW so much, as once I get in to the Disney bubble I feel safe and can be happy, and sometimes even joyful. This upcoming trip I plan on getting up early and walking around Hourglass Lake, partly to get my steps in but also as a morning meditation to really set the day up right and fully embrace where I sm and how fortunate I am to be there.

 

[dsnyfn1022]

Is joy one of your ruling emotions? Are there things you do or would like to do to make your life more joyful? How does joy factor into your diet and exercise routines? Are you a celebratory eater? How do you handle special events, holidays, and other joyful eating opportunities?

I am honestly a pretty moody person and can cycl through lots of different "ruling emotions". However, joyous occasions plus food go together for me all the time and it's very frustrating. And it's not always my choice. Sometimes I just get stuck with it. And I don't have enough will power to resist.

Guys, I'm declaring today "Major WooHoo Monday" for me.

Congrats on your awesome start to the week! Things can only get better from here!

 

[SarahDisney]

For all calorie counting Epcot cava del tequila fans - guilt free Epcot inspired drink

Melon (I used galia but any will work), juice of one lime, little pink rock salt optional and some ice. 30 seconds in my fruit ninja. Mine came at 70 calories and packs SOOOO much freshness and flavour. It feels like margarita little. Just you feel better after drinking it!

If you have the extra calories add some avocado!

Thanks for sharing this recipe! Sounds like the perfect way to have a cool treat on a warm day and think of Epcot!

Is joy one of your ruling emotions? Are there things you do or would like to do to make your life more joyful? How does joy factor into your diet and exercise routines? Are you a celebratory eater? How do you handle special events, holidays, and other joyful eating opportunities?

This is going to sound really terrible, but I'm going to say it anyway:
Joy does not exist in my life. I'm not saying that because I want people to feel bad for me or anything ... that's just how it is. Sometimes there's a little bit of temporary joy, but it doesn't last very long. That's just how my brain is wired, and I've learned to live with it.
Since joy isn't a prevalent emotion in my life, I don't really need to worry about being a joy eater, which I guess is a good thing. I'm an emotional eater in general, so I'm guessing that if I was someone who was really into celebrating things, I'd be really into eating my celebrations.
In terms of special occasions ... if I'm eating out somewhere (wedding, birthday dinner, fancy event), I try my best to start with the vegetables on my plate and then move on to the starches and meat. That way I'm more likely to eat the good stuff and fill up without eating as much of the not-as-good stuff.
I'm pretty terrible at special occasions that we host in the house, though. We had a family &friends get-together in March (we do this every year in memory of my grandmother) and I ate too much. I don't eat as much during the event because I'm helping with set up and serving, but once everyone leaves and the food is waiting to be put away, I start eating it all. That's something I definitely need to work on.

I'm a relatively private person and in my small town, it always seems like there is someone at my WW meetings that makes it awkward for me. One time it was my general manager's wife (who probably had about 10 pounds to lose vs me with 80 or so) and the next time my boss' wife was actually the WW employee who weighed you in. I know it shouldn't bother me, but it's just not comfortable for me. Anyway, that's why I decided to do it on my own with MFP. So far, so good. Since the middle of February, I'm down 20 pounds - I know it could be more, but I'm pretty happy with it.

Thank you for sharing this!
I think that's one of the things I love most about these threads. I'm nervous about sharing certain things with people around me because I just don't think that everyone in my life needs to know everything about me. But here I can share my journey and my progress with people who I know care but I don't really feel like it violates my privacy because there's enough about me that you guys don't know that I never feel like you know too much.
That probably doesn't make any sense, but ... yeah, I totally get what you're saying here!

Although I think most people would say I'm a happy person, outright Joy is an emotion I actually struggle with. I have had a lifelong fear of something bad happening if something too good happens... I believe this is from growing up in an alcoholic household. So I'm fearful that if I open up into complete joy, I'll get karmically kicked in the gut. I think it's also why I love WDW so much, as once I get in to the Disney bubble I feel safe and can be happy, and sometimes even joyful. This upcoming trip I plan on getting up early and walking around Hourglass Lake, partly to get my steps in but also as a morning meditation to really set the day up right and fully embrace where I sm and how fortunate I am to be there.

I definitely understand this. I've also often felt that if something too good happens, that means something bad is going to happen soon. But it's good to have a place where you can relax and forget about that and just be happy and appreciate life. One of the many amazing things about WDW.

 

[iheartdisney44]

I'm in for the month! I'll be back a little later to catch up and introduce myself.

 

[DVCFan1994]

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Good morning! Welcome to your first "Mood Monday!" Let's talk about JOY today.

Is joy one of your ruling emotions? Are there things you do or would like to do to make your life more joyful? How does joy factor into your diet and exercise routines? Are you a celebratory eater? How do you handle special events, holidays, and other joyful eating opportunities?

Yes! I am Joy I think that does not come through here all the time, because this is more about my struggle with my weight, but honestly, even that is not that joy depleting for me. I am at a healthy weight, just not a number that makes me happy. But, it doesn't make me sad, either its are a combo of anger and disgust (but at the scale, not myself). I think it is fine to celebrate with food, but not to overdo it, and not celebrate everything with food. I handle special events by enjoying the foods available within reason, but making sure my meals before and after are healthy choices and lighter.

As for things to make my life more joyful, this was probably the biggest switch for me, and the reason I finally found success 6.5 years ago when I first lost all my excess weight. Exercise makes me happy. I definitely get the runners high But I love all different kinds of exercise. When I am feeling down or stressed, I try to get in extra exercise instead of eating away my negative emotions, which I do a lot more lately unfortunately. It all goes back to the shift I had made way back when, but seem to have lost in the last year or so. To me food needs to be a fuel source, not a bandaid for sadness or stress. I need to think of the positive of food, not the negatives. So, I need to think that all the fruits and veggies I eat keep me healthy and energetic, and not think that I miss having a pint of ice cream every day. That wouldn't fuel me. I am trying to focus on the good, not dwell on the stuff I miss. When I was more successful than I have been lately, I did not deprive myself of things I love, I just tried to eat limited portions occasionally of those things, and it was enough. I had a 1/2 cup of ice cream most nights. I still got my beloved ice cream, just not a carton at a time

 

[Ellie Badge]

Hi! I don't post much but I've joined these challenges in the past and found the accountability and the support SO helpful! They've ALWAYS really worked for me and I'm back in to get back on track!

I started working from home a couple of months ago and with that change the pounds started to creep on. I'm around all the food in the house all the time and I'm more stationary (don't have to walk to catch the train, etc.) All of a sudden our May Disney trip is just days away and ack!!! My cute mickey shirts and bottoms don't really fit so cute anymore! So it's a wakeup call to get organized and reverse course. I've started exercising regularly again and filled the house with healthy things and if I get started now, maybe by the next trip my tummy won't poke out so much in my favorite Disney shirts!!

I want to lose 5 pounds this month. Can't wait to join everyone!!