January 2018 Weight Loss Challenge

[HappyGrape]

Host @sweetpeama


Welcome to the January support group. Please join us! Lets support each other in our pursuit for healthier/fitter/happier lifestyle

We struggled to find a host for this month, and I ask everyone to chip in with interesting topics, questions, things they read, lessons they learned, healthy meals they liked, motivational quotes and provide support to those that need it.

Please - join us, tell us about your goals for the year and for the month and yourself.

And I will also say, if you are just starting now, or you need a fresh restart - ignore the nay sayers! Every day is great for new start - but if you need a moment to set your mind on a fresh start, and you are ready - New Year is perfect! I gave up cigarettes on 1st of January 2004. Regardless of any new years resolution success rates - I did it and my life is better because I did it and that 12pm on 31st of December 2003 was my moment that I was ready, and I believed I can, and I did it! It doesn't matter if you tried 10, 20 or 100 times, and it didn't work or it didn't work long term - it's a new day, it's a new moment, you know better now, you are different know, something is different - past is not equal to the futre! Look ahead and give it your best shot!

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.
Oprah Winfrey
​

 

[jaelless]

Yay a sparkly new board to play on Thank you HappyGrape for putting it together.

So intro about me, I am a single mom, living just 10 miles from Disney World. My daughter and I try to get there at least weekly. She is my health coach She is 8 going on 16 LOL. We home school simply because we like the freedom of dashing off to the parks. I also am an RN, have been for 20 years. Plus I go to college part time to keep my mind active, it also gives me something in common with my 22 yr old son who is also in college. In December 2018 I will turn 50 years old, and that is not sitting to well with me. Since I am all that adorable 8 year old has, I need to be healthy in order to be around when she graduates college. So this year I am wanting to become as healthy as I can possibly be. I fall dreadfully behind in motivation though. I start off strong, then flounder and give up. I have goals of being more active, eating healthier, cutting back on sugar and going out to eat, plus being more adventurous. Finally taking a vacation at end of January to some place other than Disney LOL going to Washington DC for a week. I am back on the W.I.S.H. boards after being gone for a few years, I am hoping to find motivation and inspiration. I will do my best to keep up

 

[HappyGrape]

It must be great living so close to WDW @jaelless ! Great goals and motivation. I think @sweetpeama would be able to host the month, she will confirm. It will be awesome if she can

My goals for the year would be to continue be regular with my activity but my eating have gone in the wrong direction little bit too much for my liking last year. Way too many vacations and generally I need to pay little bit more attention

I have done amazing 5,463,558 steps last year! Average 14968 a day, which is more then enough and keeping this up is plenty of activities for me
My workouts have massive improvements from 2016, keeping up with 3 workouts a week + yoga and swim when I feel like it is good enough

My tracking isn't as regular and the scale is showing it. I am bit annoyed over it but I seem to learn that weight maintenance, for me is losing same 5/10 pounds again and again. Yuks.

The goal for the year is no snacking after 7 pm. I get up between 5 and 6 every morning and go to bed at 9:30, stopping snacking at 7 when I tend to eat without being hungry is great habit to adopt. Exception is when I am eating out

This month, I will eat in deficit and I hope to lose 2/3kg.

My accountability questions

Daily questions
track all my food on mfp and have at least 500 calories deficit?
I snack after 7 pm?
What did I do great today?
What can I do better tomorrow?

End of week questions
Did I do average of 15000 steps daily?
Did I do my 3 workouts?
What can I do better next week

 

[sweetpeama]

I was just coming on to start a thread for the month when I saw it was already started. Which is good because all I could come up with is I am freezing here and I really need a Disney Trip even if it's imaginary. One of the things I wanted but didn't get for the holidays was Disney Gift cards. Yes plan was to save those and when I had enough to pay for a low budget trip for the family start asking for air milage cards.
Anyways I am Tammy and am happily married to my DH and raising my 2 girls ( 13 later this month) and 10 ( she is my special needs little girl and has profound apraxia and is non verbal among other challenges). I am a consultant with Jamberry. We have been dealing with lots of snow dumped on us since last Wed night through Saturday now it's just some wind and cold tempatures. Officially at the National Weather Service we got 15 inches from this storm on top of the 6 inches we already had. If the Santa Ana winds hit before it melts it is going to be drift city around here. We had a road in another county shut down for blowing and drifting snow-they even put a gate across to prevent you from driving on it at either end. (If you go back and check the Aug 2017 one the pictures of the wind turbines were taken on this same road through what we call The Gap). The other road shut down is in the western part of the state and that was because of an avalanche. Thankfully no one was killed and there were only minor injuries and a few shaken up drivers. We mainly unschool and are heavily involved with the local 4-H program including having both girls doing cake decorating-13 year old as an actual project and 10 year old as part of the exploring 4-H project-she mainly plays with what we call modeling chocolate ( candy melts with corn syrup added to it) and even brings her little Minnie Mouse rolling pin and her cookie cutters. I do have a piece from time to time of the cakes from each month though DH eats the majority of it. He is one of those people who does not gain weight.
That's a fun challenge trying to keep your husband from going below a 19 BMI when dropping 4 lbs will do so and trying to loose weight yourself when you have reached a BMI of let's just say it is well over 50 and leave it at that for now. I am also dealing with having fibro and chronic fatigue and managed to have my knee joint go out the later part of October so I have been on restriction. Add in the fact that I have all the symptoms of low thryoid minus the ones obviously for males but because my labs are right on the line for being "normal" the medical establishment around here won't treat. I have been using an herbal tea blend that I was on before and had done really well with though I am not back on everything due to not having enough loose tea strainers-my good one got damaged and I had to toss it out. One of these is a natural thyroid herbal and since taking it over not even 2 weeks so many of my symptoms have either lessened or gone away. Obviously I know from doing a go off it challenge that even watching what I eat and getting in some light exercise at best I am going to keep my weight within 5 lbs of where I was when I went off it.

My goal this month is to loose 2 pounds. I know it is not a whole lot but for me it is a small step and a chance to see how things go the entire month on the tea though I should be able to be on the full brew by the end of the month with what I have on hand and what I can pick up at the tea shop later in the month. The book that I use to get a lot of my information is 20,000 secrets of tea by Victoria Zak. I plan to watch what I eat by keeping everything in moderation. No counting all that does is improve my math and frustrate me so fast I go screw this and quite before 30 days, trying to get in some light exercise while listening to my body that I don't overdue it. Right now I am thinking of starting out with 5-10 minutes of walking indoors 3-4 days a week. I also plan to make sure I get at least 64 oz of water each day in addition to my tea.

 

[sweetpeama]

The first thing that we need for this trip is where are we staying. If money was no object and your favorite resort was open where would you stay and why. Do you have a hard time deciding and just go I will pillow hop. What about when you allow yourself a treat but have a number of choices do you just sample all of them or not.

 

[MochaDrinker]

My name is Ashley, I am 36 and I live in iowa. I finally made it to Disney world for my first trip in November and I'm already scheming ways to go back.

I weigh 217lbs and I'd like to lose 2 lbs this month.

 

[jaelless]

I have all the symptoms of low thyroid minus the ones obviously for males but because my labs are right on the line for being "normal" the medical establishment around here won't treat. I have been using an herbal tea blend that I was on before and had done really well with though I am not back on everything due to not having enough loose tea strainers-my good one got damaged and I had to toss it out. One of these is a natural thyroid herbal and since taking it over not even 2 weeks so many of my symptoms have either lessened or gone away. Obviously I know from doing a go off it challenge that even watching what I eat and getting in some light exercise at best I am going to keep my weight within 5 lbs of where I was when I went off it.

Can you share what type of tea it is. My thyroid is lazy, but not enough for the doctors to notice. Perhaps I could wake it up with the tea

 

[HappyGrape]

The first thing that we need for this trip is where are we staying. If money was no object and your favorite resort was open where would you stay and why. Do you have a hard time deciding and just go I will pillow hop. What about when you allow yourself a treat but have a number of choices do you just sample all of them or not.

OK, I would love to stay at Polynasian, but if money are no issue I would head for San Diego and stay at Coronado Island, I won't head for Olrando. If we are talking WDW only it would be Poly.

I dont have hard time deciding, in UK & Ireland we get offers year ahead, and specific resorts come cheaper. The cheapest when you include the dinning plan is SSR (equal to OKW, but often cheaper than POFQ) and we go for SSR. If they don't have discounted packages, we wont stay onsite.

Treats - I try to eat a treat only if I am hungry, and dont go beyond comfortably full. Its not always so easy. I cook meals I enjoy, pasta, pizza - tasty meals. I make nice cream with bananas, yoghurt, lime.

I am unsure about dessert treats. I find it easier not to over eat when I avoid them. When I have them, I am often left wanting more, more than before I had any even! And yet, in small quantities, when out I feel they can be enjoyed and have a place in balanced eating.

We will see where this year leaves me, I am unsure about what suits me best long term

 

[glss1/2fll]

I'm very dull and boring and will just continue to log every bite and make my steps goal. I think I will bump it up to 6,000. Normally, that is super easy to achieve. It's just on the weekends that I am a total sloth and have to work at it. Sweetpeama, weren't you doing laps in your house once, or was that someone else? That inspired me to do laps in my house when I am short on steps!

Flossbolna: Magdalene, I'm so excited for your happily ever after. I was thinking of you this month (well, last month) but couldn't remember the day. Congratulations again!

So last night as DH and I were sitting around being dull on New Year's Eve, he read me something he found. It was four steps for improved health in the new year. He felt pretty smug because he already does most of them: floss every day, get out there and move every day, get enough sleep, eat mindfully. I do not floss every day (I am blessed with healthy teeth and so am lazy), my step goal keeps me moving, sleep is over-rated, and I need to work on eating better. So I am one for four! ha ha Hope you are better than I am!

QOTD: I don't know where I would stay! Probably somewhere on the monorail in a deluxe. We've never done that. Whether I eat all the desserts or just choose one good one depends on my frame of mind in that particular moment. Sometimes I'm good and pick one and most other times I sample all. Then feel gross and defeated. But only for a bit because the next moment is a new chance to improve!

 

[sweetpeama]

Can you share what type of tea it is. My thyroid is lazy, but not enough for the doctors to notice. Perhaps I could wake it up with the tea

I use Bladderwrack currently in my tea for my thyroid though I have had Oatstraw added to it in the past and did even better. That is one I either need to replace or the writing has rubbed off the bag. I use 1/2 a teaspoon of the bladderwrack though when starting out you want to go with 1/4 or even an 1/8 if you can find it slowly increasing until you find what works for you. I have not used Gotu Kola so can't say on that one.
Bladderwrack is a seaweed that is almost black in color ( could have fooled me into thinking it was black) and in the 18th century was used as a major source of iodine. It is also an antirheumatic and anti-inflamatory.
Oatstraw is considered a body tonic for vital energy and strengthens immunity and builds energy. I use this one more for my chronic fatigue though the thyroid benefits are a great side effect.

The bladderwrack is combined with Dandelion Root, Dandelion Leaf ( these are at a 1:2 ratio), Green Tea (I currently have Mandarine Orange), Fennel, Ginger, Calendula (marigold), Milk Thistle, Pau D Arco, and Oregon Grape Root currently. When I can I will be adding Cats Claw, Nettle, Plantain, Spearmint, Bilberry, Butcher's Broom, Cleavers, Papaya, Red Raspberry Leaf, and Oatstraw to my blend. I have also used Slippery Elm Bark in the past but for the texture ( it has almost a cough syrup-the really thick ones and I don't care for the texture. Since I have other teas that do some of the same things I use those instead.

I started using natural things like teas because I seem to react to just about everything that is chemically made. I actually will tell medical people how about I tell you what I am not allergic to as it is a shorter list. the owner and staff at .bostonharbormt.com have been great and I love going into visit with them both upstairs in the bulk tea room or on the street level for just enjoying a nice cup of tea.

 

[Zhoen]

Hello, Dearies, and Happy New Year!

Have you missed me?

I am *SO* ready for the holidays to be over... it just seems that in January people are less pushy with the sugar and stuff... not saying that they are actively SUPPORTIVE... we Americans are famous for setting monumental resolutions and failing... well, monumentally! So if people hear you are trying to eat better and exercise more, they mostly nod and smile smugly, but that's ok. I did well with weight loss for most of last year leading up to our "probably the last for a long, long while" Disney trip, and even got back on track afterward... but the eclipse did me in. We travelled south to see the totality and stayed with my in-laws who eat incredibly-processed foods... and bringing my own foods tends to start drama, so I didn't. After that I kept chasing the wagon, but never seemed to get back on it for long at all... so I decided to start anew after the holidays, and here we are! All told, I'm still below where I was this time last year, just higher-than-my-lowest-last-year...

My goal for this month is to get back on track (again.) Those are some seriously bouncy tracks, keep throwing me off! I'll need to go to my doctor for an annual refill/check-up next month, and I want that number to be down again for the second year in a row... I tend to use Sparkpeople to track my nutrition and walk for exercise using the mapmywalk app for tracking the distance and time. Bonus, those are both free! The kids go back to school tomorrow, and I go "back to school" around the 11th, but I'm not sure yet what that means... I'm going to be "supplemental instructing" at my college, which is just a really nice name for "group tutoring." I was super-excited when they asked me, because I love to teach, but I have to figure out in the next few days what hours I'm going to set up for my sessions and how I'm going to work in exercise and "real life" around that, as well as whether I'll be taking any classes as a student or not. And the house looks like an 80's movie house party morning-after... but hey, nothing new there! So those are the tracks I'll be trying to get back onto... Goal for the year is to get my BMI below 25 (and by that I mean 24.9 is fine!) Goal for this winter/spring is to rock the shorts I bought on clearance a few months ago... they are super-cute and I could fit them (barely) at the time (but probably not now) but the idea when I bought them was for motivation to work on toning up my legs, so that I can wear them confidently when summer comes around again... I'm ignoring the fact that I'm a bit too old for "super cute shorts." Motivation is motivation.

As for where I'd stay if I could have a money-no-issue trip? Floridian. Either one of the balcony rooms overlooking the lake/park or one of the "bungalows" that's legit bigger than my house. But I like the idea of "hopping," too... trying out all the different pools and hotels...

As for treats... I'd do a bite of each. I love, Love, *LOVE* the bar at Whole Foods Market because you can get a bite of this and a bite of that... but it's pay-by-the-pound and not cheap, so there's less temptation to grab too much like at an all you can eat place (plus the quality and variety are AWESOME!

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

Happy New Year all!!

Joining WISH! Just joined Weight Watchers (again ~ I've done it on and off over the years...when I follow the plan, it works.)

Hoping to plan an August 2018 trip, and hoping to lose a bunch of weight before then! I have 40 pounds to lose at a minimum, probably closer to 60+ pounds lose.

I will set a specific goal in the near future. I turn 50 in 14 months. I would like to be at my selected goal by then.

 

[jaelless]

HappyGrape it is fantastic living so close I love the ability to just wake up and feel like I need Disney, so I just go LOL. Last week daughter and I just went to Animal Kingdom spur of the moment and took the safari ride that was it. Too crowded so after ride we left. So nice having freedom to not have to worry about riding everything at once. We are currently looking forward to Epcot's Festival of the Arts starting this month. We had fun last year. They have a scavenger hunt with Figment that keeps us dashing about the world showcase. Those are our favorite activities. We also have fun doing the Agent P adventure and at Magic Kingdom doing Sorcerers of the Kingdom. That one is fantastic for burning off calories in a fun manner. Daughter likes seeing all the little cartoons. We generally get a small crowd around us watching along, always have to ask people to please step back so she can actually play her cards to win. If you have never done it, the game sends you to different areas of the Kingdom to watch a ongoing cartoon adventure where you are battling a Disney villain. There are around 6 different windows in Adventureland alone, and it will send you back and forth between them a few times until that segment is complete LOL. Easy peasy to get 8K-10K steps playing adventure. It is free and neverending it seems. We are currently at second level where adventures take longer to complete. EEPS I went on a tangent LOL yes it is fun living by parks


Sweetpeama thank you for info on teas not sure where I can find those, but I will look. There is a tea shop at Disney Springs, but I have never seen those type there LOL drats Disney is letting me down in that area.

QOTD is a fun one where would I stay. I actually like the value resorts LOL to me they are more Disney looking. I love all the oversized characters. I just got to hang out with friends at Art of Animation and it was so cool. They had life sized Lion king characters to play around, the Cars characters, and the swimming pool was Finding Nemo cuteness. My first trip to Disney World was back in 2006 and my son and I stayed at Pop Century. It was the most amazing trip, everything went perfect and then some. So Pop has a special place in my heart.

Hi Ashley (MochaDrinker) I like your goal, 2 lbs, that sounds do-able. Research says that if you want to succeed at big goal, you need to break it down into little chunks. I need to learn to do that.

Hi Zhoen I like the fairygodvillain moniker LOL. Good luck with the shorts.

Hi Glss1/2fll Laps indoors can get the job done. I used to just put on a TV show or movie I liked and just step in place or around the living room. During commercials I would travel all over place. It adds up and the show kept me distracted.

OK that is my first attempt at talking to everybody LOL if I missed you it was accidental.

 

[jaelless]

Happy New Year all!!

Joining WISH! Just joined Weight Watchers (again ~ I've done it on and off over the years...when I follow the plan, it works.)

Hoping to plan an August 2018 trip, and hoping to lose a bunch of weight before then! I have 40 pounds to lose at a minimum, probably closer to 60+ pounds lose.

I will set a specific goal in the near future. I turn 50 in 14 months. I would like to be at my selected goal by then.

Great name SnoWhiteRabbit I turn 50 in 12 months so I am working towards that time frame for being healthy. I have never tried Weight Watchers but I hear it is very good. I wish you the best of luck. I will look forward to your posts

 

[summermom2]

Happy New year everyone. My goal this month is to lose 12 pounds. My goal for the year is 60 pounds.

 

[jaelless]

I might have mentioned that I take college classes part time, and this last semester I took a Nutrition for Fitness class. It was just for fun, and there was one assignment I thought I would share with you guys. We had to do a nutrition analysis of ourselves. The professor directed us to a government website that did all the work for us, we just had to log in our food for 3 days, and hit a button. It broke it down into various reports, some by calories, some by food groups, it was very interesting. So I thought some might be interested in the website. I was actually surprised by how user friendly it turned out to be, and how much insight it gave me into me. The website address is https://www.choosemyplate.gov/tools-supertracker

 

[HappyGrape]

Daily accountability

track all my food on mfp and have at least 500 calories deficit? Yes
No snack after 7 pm? Yes
What did I do great yesterday? It was great day, but it will get harder form tomorrow when I am back in work. Few delicious meals that are high on veggies and protein!
What can I do better today? I will have to do some thinking ahead, working from home today but will be in office tomorrow.

Have a great day all!

 

[Lady Marie]

Happy New Year everyone!

Thank you @sweetpeama for volunteering to host! This month is nuts for me, however, I can host for February.

Back to work and reality today... I got on the scale this morning to see exactly how much damage was done this past month and it wasn't pretty, but manageable. If I focus, I can get this holiday weight off in no time. What I need to do is commit to WW for this month. I do have a quite few obstacles though. A company party, a Disney weekend (and Yachtsman for dinner, yum!) for my birthday, then we are having a big joint party for both mine & DH's birthdays on the 20th.... and then DH's actual birthday is the 22nd, so I am sure we will have some not so good foods and beverages then too. BUT that is only 6 days out of 31 that will be like that. I can still make the other 25 count!

So that's going to be my goal. I stink at tracking and holding myself accountable for what I am eating so that's what I am going to work on!

 

[Flossbolna]

I am here!!!

 

[JacknSally]

Hi, friends! Happy New Year!! I haven't been around these boards in a long, long time (goodness, probably a year!) but I'd love to come back if you'll have me again!

I'll post a better intro tonight while I'm at work but for now i wanted to pop in and save my spot. My January goal is 5lbs lost - taking things slow and steady this year but aiming to be down 50lbs before our trip this October!