Marching Our Way to a Healthy Lifestyle ~ March 2016 WISH Challenge

[4Mickeys]

Good morning!

Morning, have a great day - its goodnight from me I'm off to bed lol.

 

[DisPup75]

Question of the Day - Tuesday, March 1st:

Thank you for joining us this month as we MARCH our way to a healthier lifestyle.
This month we’ll be enjoying our favorite Disney parades as we march through the month discussing goals, exercise, healthy eating, general health and wellness, and many topics in between.

Each week we’ll feature a current Disney parade, with weekends featuring retired or special occasion parades. Please feel free to share any and all parade pictures you may have – we all know that you can never have too many Disney parade pictures!

Since I’m in charge, we’ll be starting off with my favorite Disney parade, the Main Street Electrical Parade:

The Main Street Electrical Parade, which started at Disneyland in1972 and debuted at Magic Kingdom in 1977, has been through several incarnations. The currently incarnation began at Magic Kingdom in June 2010, and it features floats and live performers covered in thousands of electronically controlled lights and a soundtrack featuring the song "Baroque Hoedown." The parade shows several nights per week (and every night during “busier” seasons), with some nights having multiple showings.

Just like that Tinkerbell float signals the start of the parade, so too a discussion of our goals for the month signals the start of a new monthly challenge. So let’s start this month off discussing a tried and true topic – what we want to accomplish in the month of March.

What is your goal for the month of March?
What is your plan to meet that goal?
What obstacles will stand in your way this month? How do you plan to overcome those obstacles?​

I am so in! And HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY to be back! The thread looks amazing!!

By way of quick introductions, I'm Maggie, I'm an early 40-something who works too much, eats out too much, has a few medical challenges, and likes to eat her feelings. As a result, I've spent the last 20 years accumulating weight. Last June, I decided that it was time to find a new home for about 60-80 extra pounds. I was closing in on 25 pounds with the help of this board, WW, MFP, my FitBit, and my lunatic dog, starting the New Year happily safe in Onderland.

Then I started a new job, which required I get licensed in a new state, and decided to take some time from concentrating on my weight to finish studying for the bar and get myself settled. I was doing a decent job maintaining in spite of study snacking, mainly bouncing between 199 and 201. DH and I spent this past weekend in New York (and may have indulged in a few too many bagels and slices) and then came home last night to a flooded house. Seriously, fish could live in my basement right now. I have since consumed half the hotel mini bar and 17 pounds of potato chips (quantities approximate). According to the scale in the hotel gym, I weighed in at 204.6. Wow. Just wow.

Anyway, the long and short of is is that I HAVE TO STOP MAKING EXCUSES! Life happens. Words that I'm not allowed to use on the DIS happens. I can be happy, I can be healthy. I can make decedent food decisions. Regardless of what life throws at me. More importantly, I leave for WDW in 56 more days. And I've got a gorgeous dress for Victoria and Albert's hanging in my closet that I currently can't zip. A month ago that dress both fit perfectly and I was convinced that it would be too big by the end of April.

So my goals for March:
1. Lose 8 pounds.

2. My plan to lose that 8 pounds is to stick with my WW points and primarily concentrate on lean protein, fruit, and non-starchy vegetables. I will also walk 70,000 steps per week, and practice yoga at least twice a week.

3. Other than not continuing to eat my feelings about the lake that is currently my house, I don't have a huge number of obstacles this month. No birthdays. No holidays. No big events looming on the calendar. There is always me. And I'm always a problem. I'm going to be working really hard on mindfulness and thinking before eat.

 

[MochaDrinker]

My goal is to lose five lbs. In order to achieve that goal I'm going to track every day, eat three meals a day, limit my snacks, and drink more water.

 

[Dr Gunnie]

My quick bio - I'm 40 years old (for the next 10 days anyway - I turn 41 on the 11th) and been married 14 years. My wife and I have a son who's 10 and a daughter who's 5. We live in Central Illinois, but I was born in Buffalo, NY and spent most of my life in Northern Virginia just outside the D.C. I'm a special education teacher and I also coach football. My weight got out of control once I stopped playing football in college. There were a few times I was able to lose some weight over the years, but I really dedicated myself this year with adding regular exercise along with the healthy diet. I started on January 4th (the first day back to work) and over the past two months have lost 31 lbs.

Question of the Day - Tuesday, March 1st:

Thank you for joining us this month as we MARCH our way to a healthier lifestyle.
This month we’ll be enjoying our favorite Disney parades as we march through the month discussing goals, exercise, healthy eating, general health and wellness, and many topics in between.

Each week we’ll feature a current Disney parade, with weekends featuring retired or special occasion parades. Please feel free to share any and all parade pictures you may have – we all know that you can never have too many Disney parade pictures!

Since I’m in charge, we’ll be starting off with my favorite Disney parade, the Main Street Electrical Parade:

The Main Street Electrical Parade, which started at Disneyland in1972 and debuted at Magic Kingdom in 1977, has been through several incarnations. The currently incarnation began at Magic Kingdom in June 2010, and it features floats and live performers covered in thousands of electronically controlled lights and a soundtrack featuring the song "Baroque Hoedown." The parade shows several nights per week (and every night during “busier” seasons), with some nights having multiple showings.

Just like that Tinkerbell float signals the start of the parade, so too a discussion of our goals for the month signals the start of a new monthly challenge. So let’s start this month off discussing a tried and true topic – what we want to accomplish in the month of March.

What is your goal for the month of March?
What is your plan to meet that goal?
What obstacles will stand in your way this month? How do you plan to overcome those obstacles?​

My goal for March is to lose 14 lbs. I will do this by meeting my step goals (13,000 a day), hitting the gym twice a week along with the treadmill at home, and I will start the couch to 5K plan this month. I will also track all the food I eat the day before, so I know exactly what I am able to eat the following day.

I have a couple obstacles this month - my birthday will be a challenge (got to limit the adult beverages and no birthday cake), Easter/Spring Break will be either a benefit or a curse as I'll be home all day, and I have another coaching clinic coming up at the end of the month.

Let’s do this!

 

[dsnyfn1022]

March came so quickly! Goodness gracious.

Quick intro - My name is Paige and I'm 23 years old. I'm married and have a cat baby that I absolutely love and adore. I live in Kansas City. My weight loss journey has been an ongoing roller coaster like lots of others. I first lost major weight as a freshman in high school, gained it back, lost it again as a senior, maintained that loss for the first year of college, and then gained it all back and then some until I was at an all-time high of 236.5 pounds. I hated taking pictures of myself or having my picture taken. I was miserable. Finally, I saw a picture of myself and realized that I didn't just look "chubby" but that I looked like a large woman. And that's when my latest journey began.

This time is definitely different! I'm not restricting myself or feeling guilty when I just need to eat 3 cupcakes (and yes, sometimes I have those days). I'm working out hard because I love meeting goals. And most importantly I'm doing this for me. I've lost a total of 48 pounds and I have another 20ish pounds to go before goal!

GOAL for March: Unfortunately, last week wasn't kind to my scale. The good news is that it was only 2.5 pounds. So I'm hoping that I can knock that off and go back to being the same I was last week. Then I'd like to only lose a pound per week. So I'd like to lose a total of 6.5 pounds.

PLAN: Follow WW and continue to workout. My 8K training plan started yesterday so back to working up to some long runs before my 4 miler in April!

OBSTACLES: As I mentioned, I have some personal and professional stressors in my life right now. So my obstacle is to not allow them to get in the way this month. There are no birthdays or anything "party" wise that can trip me up. This month it's all mental.

 

[piglet1979]

Question of the Day - Tuesday, March 1st:

Thank you for joining us this month as we MARCH our way to a healthier lifestyle.
This month we’ll be enjoying our favorite Disney parades as we march through the month discussing goals, exercise, healthy eating, general health and wellness, and many topics in between.

Each week we’ll feature a current Disney parade, with weekends featuring retired or special occasion parades. Please feel free to share any and all parade pictures you may have – we all know that you can never have too many Disney parade pictures!

Since I’m in charge, we’ll be starting off with my favorite Disney parade, the Main Street Electrical Parade:

The Main Street Electrical Parade, which started at Disneyland in1972 and debuted at Magic Kingdom in 1977, has been through several incarnations. The currently incarnation began at Magic Kingdom in June 2010, and it features floats and live performers covered in thousands of electronically controlled lights and a soundtrack featuring the song "Baroque Hoedown." The parade shows several nights per week (and every night during “busier” seasons), with some nights having multiple showings.

Just like that Tinkerbell float signals the start of the parade, so too a discussion of our goals for the month signals the start of a new monthly challenge. So let’s start this month off discussing a tried and true topic – what we want to accomplish in the month of March.

What is your goal for the month of March?
What is your plan to meet that goal?
What obstacles will stand in your way this month? How do you plan to overcome those obstacles?​

My goal for March is to lose a pound a week. My plan to meet my goal is to get 10,000 steps a day, do my back exercises (works the core muscles) and some leg/but exercises to hopefully help thin down my thighs. I have a few obstacles. I am a busy mom of two kids. My daughter is 8 and my son will be turning 10 soon. They are both involved in sports so I will be running around with them. Basketball just ended so that will be one less activity until baseball starts. I also work full time at a desk job and I am involved the PTA at the kids school. My plan will be to take 30 minutes of my lunch and walk. I will also do my exercises at home after the kids go to bed. If I have a PTA meeting I will work them in either before or after the meeting. For some long term changes I have do is to take a step back from the PTA. This year was rough and overwhelming. I have been feeling like I have been at meetings constitutionally I have decided not to be on the board next year and just help out I can. That won't help too much now but as for going forward into the summer and next year it will free up a lot of time.

 

[mamattorney]

Hi Everyone,

So excited for March! February is my least favorite month all year (even though this past one wasn't too bad weather-wise), and so March 1st always makes me happy! I think this theme is going to be great. I have to confess that the main street electrical parade is just about the only parade I've seen at Disney (also the Move it Shake it Celebrate it one), so I'll be learning as the month goes on.

As a brief intro - I'm 43, married with three kids (13, 10 and 6). I am self employed part time with a lot of flexibility, so I consider myself a stay at home parent mostly. I have been overweight almost my entire life (we're talking 3rd grade on), but things had gotten crazy and I got to a point to where I was not just obese, but morbidly obese. Slowly, I have gotten serious about things and I am losing weight. What changed? I don't know. Maybe it's because my youngest is in kindergarten (only half day, but still . . .), maybe it was almost getting turned away from Forbidden Journey at Universal last year. Regardless, I've been serious about losing weight since about July of last year. As of my last weigh in, I've lost 71 lbs. I still have a long way to go, but it's nice to climb the stairs at home without losing my breath!

Last month, this thread really helped me stay focused on my goal and I exceeded it. So, because this is a goal and something to STRIVE for, I'm going to set my goal at 10 lbs. I may not make it, but at least I'll be reaching and striving all through the month.

How I will get there. I do want to eat breakfast every day. I did much better last month on this mini-goal. I did "cheat" a little last month and bought a few lean cuisine breakfasts each week to make it easier. I know they are full of processed garbage, but baby steps. I think I will do that again this month. Maybe next month will involve all homemade breakfasts.

I will continue to track in MFP (@wagnerpe123 if anyone is looking for friends) and continue to weigh myself.

Lent continues through March 27th, so if I keep my Lenten promise, I will be active enough (15,000 steps a day). but I'd like to alter my "step getting" in a couple of ways. Some days I can get 15,000 steps just with life. Other days, I need to walk with purpose. In bad weather, if I need to walk with purpose, I'd like to get off the track at the gym and onto the treadmill more so that I can control my speed and incline. I have a tendency to "stroll" if my mind wanders. In nice weather, I'd like to get outside more and again, focus my mind on maintaining a decent speed.

This month's obstacles include a husband who will be traveling every week for the next 6 weeks. This shouldn't affect my eating, but without careful planning, it will affect my walking. It's hard to find an hour to take a walk when you've got three kids who need to be here there and everywhere from 4pm to 9pm every night. If I'm not careful, I will be spending my evenings walking the loop around my kitchen, living room and dining room. Walking inside my house is even worse than walking the track for getting me distracted (and slow).

Aside from Easter (which I'm hosting so have some control over the menu) and St. Patrick's Day parties, I have no major holidays or birthdays. We're not going anywhere for Spring Break, so eating-wise, this should be an easy month.

BRING ON MARCH, let's all have a great month!

 

[ski_mom]

I can't believe it's already March!

I'm joining in again - this will be my first full month (I joined in the middle of last month). As a bit of an introduction - I'm 45 and am from Illinois (in the St. Louis metro area though) and have been married for 23 years. We have 3 kids - 19, 17 and 13, so they keep me busy! Our oldest started college this past fall so now lives a little over 3 hours away , but she is coming home this Friday for her spring break!! She hasn't been home since MLK weekend, so it'll be great to have some time with her again! Middle DD is a senior this year, so we'll be adjusting to one less at home again next fall. Our DS is in the 8th grade and keeps us busy with his sports (which I love to watch)!

I've got a LOT to lose and have been on a roller coaster most of my adult life. I haven't really seriously "dieted" for a few years. I keep telling myself that I would, but never said it out loud and never made any real changes. We love to travel and every time we'd plan a trip, I'd tell myself that I was going to lose xx number of pounds before the trip, but I'd start after this or that and just never really started. Well, this time I'm hoping that it's different!

My goal this month is to lose 2 pounds a week, so looking at the calendar, I'm thinking that I'll count that as 10 pounds total since my weigh-in day is on Wednesday. My second official weigh-in is tomorrow. I lost 5 pounds in my first week, but am hoping that I can get 2 pounds this week. I've stayed within my calorie range each day according to MFP, but on my peeks on the scale, it just hasn't seemed to move much. We'll see though. Each weekend I'll report what I lost when I weighed on Wednesday (if that' ok). I've been using MFP to track my eating and I'm also planning on upping my exercise a bit. I've been on my new lifestyle for just 2 weeks now and haven't really added that part in yet. I'm planning on doing that this month - mostly with walking for now.

Let's all have a great March!

 

[runner_princess]

Hi, I'm Savannah and I'm new here. I'm almost 30, and work in medical records. I have lost 54 pounds since November 1, and am hoping to lose 5 more in March! I have fought with my weight on and off most of life, but battled some health issues in 2014 and 2015 and gained almost 70 pounds in those two years. I'm happily married with a miniature schnauzer and we'll be adopting a second dog soon.

I had been a runner before I got sick, but my big goal for March is to continue to train for the half marathon I'm planning on walking in June!

I plan on continuing to track my calories every day, get my steps in on my fitbit, and work out 6 days a week. My biggest obstacle will be a small surgery I'm having on March 14th, because the scope and recovery time from it are unknown until the procedure gets started.

 

[Lady Marie]

Brief intro for those who don't know me: I'm 27 and live with my DH and cat baby in New York's finest retirement village-- South Florida I've always loved Disney but converted DH when we moved in together so that we could have fun weekend trips to WDW. While I wouldn't call him a "fan," I may give him "fan-lite." At any rate, as far as my health and weight, I have never been "skinny" but could for the most part eat what I want and look and feel good. This all came to a crashing halt the minute I graduated college, got a desk job, and put on 30 lbs. There are myriad reasons for why this year is the year I am getting serious, but mainly I hated how I looked in photos, I was coming within pounds of hitting 200 and that scared me, and then DH said he would take me to stay at the Grand Floridian if I got back to the weight I was when we got married. I seriously thought the last one was going to be the biggest carrot for me, but surprisingly, I am now months in and I am my biggest carrot. I am liking the changes (albeit slow changes) in my life and am slowly changing my lifestyle. The pounds are not just falling off as I hoped, but I am getting better at making this a lifestyle adjustment which I think will help me better in the long run!

Question of the Day - Tuesday, March 1st:

Thank you for joining us this month as we MARCH our way to a healthier lifestyle.
This month we’ll be enjoying our favorite Disney parades as we march through the month discussing goals, exercise, healthy eating, general health and wellness, and many topics in between.

Each week we’ll feature a current Disney parade, with weekends featuring retired or special occasion parades. Please feel free to share any and all parade pictures you may have – we all know that you can never have too many Disney parade pictures!

Since I’m in charge, we’ll be starting off with my favorite Disney parade, the Main Street Electrical Parade:

The Main Street Electrical Parade, which started at Disneyland in1972 and debuted at Magic Kingdom in 1977, has been through several incarnations. The currently incarnation began at Magic Kingdom in June 2010, and it features floats and live performers covered in thousands of electronically controlled lights and a soundtrack featuring the song "Baroque Hoedown." The parade shows several nights per week (and every night during “busier” seasons), with some nights having multiple showings.

Just like that Tinkerbell float signals the start of the parade, so too a discussion of our goals for the month signals the start of a new monthly challenge. So let’s start this month off discussing a tried and true topic – what we want to accomplish in the month of March.

What is your goal for the month of March?
What is your plan to meet that goal?
What obstacles will stand in your way this month? How do you plan to overcome those obstacles?​

I just gotta say-- I love the whole pun of marching in March!

GOAL: I lost 3.5lbs last month by just tracking and moderately working out. I am going to up that oh-so-slightly to a goal of 4 lbs for the month.

PLAN: Tracking, tracking, tracking in MFP! Also, it takes time and ticks off DH, but anytime we are deciding to go grab something to eat when we are out, I won't make a decision until I check MFP for what's going to be the better option and plan ahead what to order. So basically, it's a plan to plan!

OBSTACLES: The only two obstacles I foresee this month are St. Patty's Day and Easter. DH's Irish family do a big thing on St. Pats with yummy food and lots of drinks..... and Easter candy has already entered the house (DH loves Dove dark chocolate bunnies....). I just have to keep this in check!

 

[JacknSally]

Good morning, and happy MARCH, everyone!!!! It's grey and rainy today and I don't even care because February is FINALLY OVER and it's still 61 out despite the rain and we're forecasted for mid-70's next week so as long as there's no freak snow this weekend (the past few years we've been getting pretty heavy snow the first weekend of March) then winter is officially over here and I could not be more thrilled!!

Funny freak-snow story. 7 years ago today, three of my girlfriends and I drove to Memphis (the weekend before spring break) from Jackson, TN to visit my family and shop. If you're not familiar with west TN, Jackson and Memphis are about an hour apart on Interstate 40. Usually 45 minutes when I'm the driver - LOL - but roughly an hour. There was no inclement weather forecast so we didn't think anything of it. We get to the mall and hear reports of snow possibly moving in, but of course we figure 1) it's March 2) this came out of nowhere 3) it NEVER snows when they say it's going to - so we go about our day, shop, grab lunch, and go to my parents' house to have dinner. We leave my parents' house and it's starting to flurry, but still we didn't think anything of it, especially because we only had an hour drive before we were back at school. So we stop for ice cream on our way out! Fast forward 20 minutes, and we're only about 20 miles outside of Memphis, when we get stuck. I mean STUCK. The snow had picked up drastically, and a few miles up ahead of us, unbeknownst to us, an 18-wheeler jack-knifed on the interstate, and there was no going anywhere. We were stuck in a miles-long line of cars, both ahead and behind us. Did I mention we only had a half tank of gas because we only had to drive an hour? What should've taken an hour to get back to school took us 10 hours. Because there was absolutely no moving, we had to turn the car off after a little while, so we were all freezing, and this was before everyone had iPhones (WOW do I feel old... This was only 2009!!) so we had no way of knowing what was going on or how long we'd be on the interstate. It was such a long, crazy night, but it's our FAVORITE story now, haha.

Question of the Day - Tuesday, March 1st:

What is your goal for the month of March?
What is your plan to meet that goal?
What obstacles will stand in your way this month? How do you plan to overcome those obstacles?​

My goal is to lose 6-lbs this month. That'll put me back under the 210 mark, and back on track for my end-of-the-year goal.

My main obstacle is that my day is SO sedentary because I spend all of my time at a craft table and behind the computer. I'm putting my shop in vacation mode tonight, though, in order to catch up on some bulk orders I've received and to work on some new items for my shop, and I'm hoping that allowing myself this slight break will help me refocus and reschedule. I've got to figure out a way to really separate my work-at-home life from my home-at-home life. HOPEFULLY this weekend we'll be knocking out the final details on my office/studio/craft room which means I can finally have my living room back, and I'm hoping that being able to remove work from the primary room of the house will also allow me to definitely step away (STEP being the active term here!) and give me more distinct boundaries. We'll see!

I need to get my schedule back under control. I legitimately do not want to be up until 2 or 3 every night and sleep until noon the next day. I don't know how to break that cycle, though, as I have ALWAYS been a night owl. Also, I love sleep. But then I feel like I'm wasting my day, no matter how much I get done after that. And I feel a lot of pressure to get stuff done quickly because I got up so late.

I've got my FitBit charging and am hoping to get back on track wearing it this month... Totally lame, but I couldn't find the charger so I haven't worn it since the first week I got it. LOL. @courtneybeth if you take pity on me and invite me to challenges again, I promise to do better this time around! Bahaha.

Does anyone have any recommendations (YouTube, whatever) for some basic yoga videos? I don't want to do anything too crazy, but I need to get some stretching and muscle movement into my day.

I also have to get way better about my eating - meaning I have to remember to do it, and to eat healthy things when I do remember to do it. I snack a lot so I need to find some really great grab-and-go healthy snacks to keep on hand. I need to re-up my water intake, too. When I had a "real" job, I was doing REALLY well getting in 48oz - 64oz a day. Now I might get in 8oz - 16oz a day. I just don't think about it, and I almost never feel thirsty. So I really have to force myself to consciously drink water now. DH will be starting a 2nd job soon, so I'm hoping that it will kind of force me to keep healthier foods in the house and actually eat them, because it will be a lot harder to have him stop somewhere on his way home from work to get dinner, since he'll be going from one job to another and then home.

Best wishes, pixie dust, and lots of Irish luck to everyone for hugely successful March's all around!!!

 

[chasingthtdream08]

I always forget to add: Feel free to add me on MFP, username is chasingthatdream08

 

[Oneanne]

Some more background info on me, Lizanne:

I'm 59, and will hit the big 6-0 in June... yikes, internally I still feel like I'm 23 and I'm sure I act like it sometimes. Never been married and don't have any (human) kids, both of which help to perpetuate the still-23-years-old myth. I've struggled with my weight all my life: I managed to get down to the 160's about 5 years ago but the past 3+ years I've been hovering around 210 and last fall/winter managed to eat myself up to 220, which was my starting point when I joined WW at the beginning of this year. I've known I am a sugar addict for many years... it is my drug of choice. Last year I was eating my stress (a quart of ice cream for dinner each evening) and the rock bottom turning point came with a succession of three nasty colds that I couldn't shake, and that sent me to the doctor where we found out I had high blood pressure, low thyroid function and was pre-diabetic. Time to stop messing around and get serious. To date I've dropped 20 pounds and already feel much, much better.

GOALS for March:
-5 pounds, which will put me at 194
walk 125 miles

PLAN:
125 miles means maintaining 10,000 steps per day, which is totally do-able, since my goal is actually to be up around 15,000. I frequently have FitBit step challenges going with friends to help make this more fun. If anyone would like to link up and do a March To It step challenge, in FitBit I am Popperfisk@gmail.com.

I will stick to the WW plan, tracking all my food. I recently got a food scale, which I love, to help make sure I am on track. I am loving the program, primarily because you can have whatever you want, which really helps to stave off cravings and feeling deprived.

Mid-month I will also start Pilates... I've lost enough girth around my waist that I can now be more flexible and get more out of the program.

OBSTACLES:
The past two days I've had this weird guilty feeling like I'm eating too much, even though I'm eating to plan and not even using my weeklies. I think this might be related to not spreading my eating out across the day and eating too much in a single sitting, so I am going to change this and make sure I've got better balance.

The other challenge is that I have vacation coming up the end of the month... I'll be doing a week and a half road trip thru central Texas. So I feel like I need to be pretty much at goal before I leave Easter weekend, so that cuts out some time, but -5 pounds in 4 weeks still seems like a realistic goal.

 

[courtneybeth]

Does anyone have any recommendations (YouTube, whatever) for some basic yoga videos? I don't want to do anything too crazy, but I need to get some stretching and muscle movement into my day.

I found a great YouTube channel by accident last week and it's amazing.

Link: http://bit.ly/1QqgRag

She's got various playlists - from beginner to a 30 day challenge. I'm going to start doing these at home during the week to stretch it out!

 

[courtneybeth]

What is your goal for the month of March?
What is your plan to meet that goal?
What obstacles will stand in your way this month? How do you plan to overcome those obstacles?​

I'm taking a different approach this month - I'm in maintenance mode but also in training mode. Talk about a challenge!


Goal: 5 Workouts Per Week
My race calendar is full this month - during the next three weekends I will be running: one local 5K, one half marathon in Washington DC, and one 5K and one half marathon the same weekend in Dallas. Suffice to say, there needs to be an endurance build to expedite recovery time as I do more of these races. (total count: 2 5K and 2 Half Marathons during the first 20 days in March).

Plan to Meet Goal:

• Continuing to work with my personal trainer twice per week will allow me to reach 40% of my goal per week.
• Leveraging the calendar created by my personal trainer and checking off that day's activity (ie: go to trainer, do the long run, etc.) Stick to the program. See benefits and rewards.

Obstacles in Way:

• Me. I get tired after work and will need to push myself to do the 'after work' long runs
• Travel days - sitting on a plane makes it difficult to exercise, but I will find "work arounds" (ie: for DC in two weeks, I'll walk most of the downtown area as my workout and as a warm up for the next day's half)

Side Notes:

• I'll be monitoring my weight to make sure I'm not "over eating" as I burn more calories, thanks to MyFitnessPal.
• I'll be monitoring my measurements with my trainer. There are two measurement dates - beginning of month and end of month.

 

[donac]

Question of the Day - Tuesday, March 1st:

Thank you for joining us this month as we MARCH our way to a healthier lifestyle.
This month we’ll be enjoying our favorite Disney parades as we march through the month discussing goals, exercise, healthy eating, general health and wellness, and many topics in between.

Each week we’ll feature a current Disney parade, with weekends featuring retired or special occasion parades. Please feel free to share any and all parade pictures you may have – we all know that you can never have too many Disney parade pictures!

Since I’m in charge, we’ll be starting off with my favorite Disney parade, the Main Street Electrical Parade:

The Main Street Electrical Parade, which started at Disneyland in1972 and debuted at Magic Kingdom in 1977, has been through several incarnations. The currently incarnation began at Magic Kingdom in June 2010, and it features floats and live performers covered in thousands of electronically controlled lights and a soundtrack featuring the song "Baroque Hoedown." The parade shows several nights per week (and every night during “busier” seasons), with some nights having multiple showings.

Just like that Tinkerbell float signals the start of the parade, so too a discussion of our goals for the month signals the start of a new monthly challenge. So let’s start this month off discussing a tried and true topic – what we want to accomplish in the month of March.

What is your goal for the month of March?
What is your plan to meet that goal?
What obstacles will stand in your way this month? How do you plan to overcome those obstacles?​

My goals for the month are to Keep coming here once a day and to log all my food into Sparkpeople. My biggest obstacle this month is the fact that we are 9 days away from final dress rehearsal for Music Man that I am helping to costume. We have a lot of work to do but it within reach. We will be running the first act tomorrow night with costumes so we can see if there are problems. My biggest concern is that one of the main characters have no fancy dress that she needs. NONE. There are three of us working on the costumes. We gave this person just this dress to work on. She doesn't even have to make the dress just add to it to make it pretty. And she also has to make the vests for the barber shop quartet. These are big items and they are not done. (Thanks for letting me vent)

Some more background info on me, Lizanne:

I'm 59, and will hit the big 6-0 in June... yikes, internally I still feel like I'm 23 and I'm sure I act like it sometimes. Never been married and don't have any (human) kids, both of which help to perpetuate the still-23-years-old myth. I've struggled with my weight all my life: I managed to get down to the 160's about 5 years ago but the past 3+ years I've been hovering around 210 and last fall/winter managed to eat myself up to 220, which was my starting point when I joined WW at the beginning of this year. I've known I am a sugar addict for many years... it is my drug of choice. Last year I was eating my stress (a quart of ice cream for dinner each evening) and the rock bottom turning point came with a succession of three nasty colds that I couldn't shake, and that sent me to the doctor where we found out I had high blood pressure, low thyroid function and was pre-diabetic. Time to stop messing around and get serious. To date I've dropped 20 pounds and already feel much, much better.

GOALS for March:
-5 pounds, which will put me at 194
walk 125 miles

PLAN:
125 miles means maintaining 10,000 steps per day, which is totally do-able, since my goal is actually to be up around 15,000. I frequently have FitBit step challenges going with friends to help make this more fun. If anyone would like to link up and do a March To It step challenge, in FitBit I am Popperfisk@gmail.com.

I will stick to the WW plan, tracking all my food. I recently got a food scale, which I love, to help make sure I am on track. I am loving the program, primarily because you can have whatever you want, which really helps to stave off cravings and feeling deprived.

Mid-month I will also start Pilates... I've lost enough girth around my waist that I can now be more flexible and get more out of the program.

OBSTACLES:
The past two days I've had this weird guilty feeling like I'm eating too much, even though I'm eating to plan and not even using my weeklies. I think this might be related to not spreading my eating out across the day and eating too much in a single sitting, so I am going to change this and make sure I've got better balance.

The other challenge is that I have vacation coming up the end of the month... I'll be doing a week and a half road trip thru central Texas. So I feel like I need to be pretty much at goal before I leave Easter weekend, so that cuts out some time, but -5 pounds in 4 weeks still seems like a realistic goal.

Welcome to the 60's. I hit it in May last year and dh hit in Oct. WE are both retired and working part time jobs. We haven't had a chance to travel much but I think this spring we will start exploring NJ.

Hi. A quick introductions I am Dona married for almost 38 years to my college sweetheart. We have two boys who are getting married in the next 14 months (One this Aug and one next April). We also have a nephew getting married in June in Wichita KS and a niece who may be getting married in Sept. I have to start looking for a dress for ds's wedding.

I retired from teaching math last June and am now teaching a couple of college classes in the local private college. I have a couple of days in and a couple of days out. It is great. I was used to having Friday to myself since dh went and stayed with his mom on Fridays but she passed away two weeks ago so now I have to get used to having dh home on Fridays.

Off to get some things done for Music Man

Have a happy and healthy day.

 

[dylans mommy]

What is your goal for the month of March? My goal for the month is to loose 6 lbs. I am currently 178 and I think 6 lbs is a good number to try to achieve.

What is your plan to meet that goal? I am planning on working on my eating by trying not to stress eat and not as much snacking. I am a huge snacker and I stress eat which is a very bad combination. I plan on finding new things that are tasty snacks but are healthy and filling this month. I also am working out daily to go along with the good eating.

What obstacles will stand in your way this month? There is 2 weeks I will not be able to get in my long walks in. My kids will be having their spring break at the end of this month. I will also be watching 2 kids the week before spring break. Because of being out of routine I am fearful that my diet will take a negative turn. But I am hopefully I can control it.

How do you plan to overcome those obstacles? I plan on making workouts more into family walks, doing a walking DVD and when my oldest is at soccer walking laps around the field. I plan on really watching what I am eating over those 2 weeks so I can keep up the weightless.

 

[SarahDisney]

What is your goal for the month of March?
What is your plan to meet that goal?
What obstacles will stand in your way this month? How do you plan to overcome those obstacles?

After last month's fiasco (gaining 5 lbs thanks to eating everything in the house and not exercising as much as I should have), I've decided to go back to basics and focus on one thing at a time. I've found that I can eat better when I'm more active (most of the time), so I'm starting with exercise. I'm doing okay with running three times a week, so I've decided to focus on non-running exercise.

Goal: 875 minutes of non-running exercise for the month

Plan:

• 10 Minutes Stretching/Flexibility Every Day
• 20 Minutes of Knee Exercises Every Other Day
• 40 Minutes Cross Training Each Week
• 20 Minutes Low-Intensity Exercise Each Week

This actually only gets me to 870 minutes, but hopefully I'll get an extra 5 minutes in somewhere, which will get me to my goal!

Obstacles:

• Laziness - I tend to say "I'll get to it later" and then I don't
• Scheduling Conflicts - Sometimes I make time for exercise, and then something happens that throws my entire schedule off track, and my exercise time is the first thing that gets dropped if I'm too busy.
• Solution to Both Obstacles: Exercise first thing in the morning whenever possible! It's easier to not get thrown off track if I get things done right away.

Good morning!

My goal for the month of March is to lose 5 lbs (so 213 down to 208), I mean it'd be fabulous if I could get to "One-Derland" but that might be a bit too much to chew off! Last month my goal was to lose 10 and that just did not happen, so I don't want the disappointment this month and I think 5lbs is not an outrageous goal at all! I will also plan on working out 5 days a week for at least a half hour. I have a stationary bike in my living room or I enjoy going to trampoline park fitness classes (which run an hour long and KICK MY BUTT!). My eating has been on point (pat on the back) pretty much since the beginning, so I hope to continue that trend through March with a few cheat meals thrown in there to keep my sanity!

I would say that next weekend when my sister comes to stay with me would be an obstacle (as we generally go out to eat a lot) but she is actually excited to come visit with me so I can show her how to cook healthy (her own words!). She's a vegetarian, so it'll be interesting for myself to find some delicious vegetarian recipes, but we can definitely learn together (I love me some meat)!

Have a good day all!

Trampoline park fitness classes ... that sounds awesome!
Kudos to you for eating healthy, and it's so awesome that you're going to teach your sister how to cook healthy!

Ok I think I have my goal - its a breakfast goal. On MFP in the last week there was an article for low calorie breakfast options, looking at my food logging while I am mostly making healthier food choices some of those are still high in calories I was surprised when I entered scrambled eggs the other day. So my goal is to have a low calorie/kj breakfast 5 mornings a week.

My plan to meet the goal is to plan ahead more and make sure I have shopped for ingredients. To use the MFP archives, google, recipe books and any ideas from you guys for sourcing breakfast ideas.

Obstacles will be if they are not satisfying/filling enough to keep me going through the morning without wanting something more. Getting disorganised as I often do and not have the food in the house resorting to quick options. Preparation time due to me now getting up to do some before work exercise. I will hopefully overcome by choosing recipes that look appealing but have filling ingredients, plan and shop, pre-prep the night before or a few days ahead where possible to help with time. Keep tracking my progress with MFP and sharing my ups and downs with you all.

Breakfast is the most important part of the day, and it's awesome that you're trying to start the day off right!

Anyone want to have some healthy, filling, low calorie breakfast recipies that they want to share?
Personally, I love scrambled eggs and omelets, but I like to add in some egg whites instead of using only whole eggs (I do a mixture). I also load them up with tons of veggies for extra flavor!
I'm also a big fan of peanut butter or cashew butter on toast, but I know that's not so filling for everyone.

I am so in! And HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY to be back! The thread looks amazing!!

Welcome back - it's so awesome to have you joining us this month!!

So my goals for March:
1. Lose 8 pounds.

2. My plan to lose that 8 pounds is to stick with my WW points and primarily concentrate on lean protein, fruit, and non-starchy vegetables. I will also walk 70,000 steps per week, and practice yoga at least twice a week.

3. Other than not continuing to eat my feelings about the lake that is currently my house, I don't have a huge number of obstacles this month. No birthdays. No holidays. No big events looming on the calendar. There is always me. And I'm always a problem. I'm going to be working really hard on mindfulness and thinking before eat.

It sounds like you've got a manageable goal and a good plan. The flooding definitely sounds stressful - feel free to come here and vent about it instead of eating your feelings. You can do this!!

My goal for March is to lose 14 lbs. I will do this by meeting my step goals (13,000 a day), hitting the gym twice a week along with the treadmill at home, and I will start the couch to 5K plan this month. I will also track all the food I eat the day before, so I know exactly what I am able to eat the following day.

I have a couple obstacles this month - my birthday will be a challenge (got to limit the adult beverages and no birthday cake), Easter/Spring Break will be either a benefit or a curse as I'll be home all day, and I have another coaching clinic coming up at the end of the month.

Let’s do this!

14 lbs is a big goal, but it sounds like you've got a great plan in place to get there! I think a few people on this thread may have used couch to 5K plans, so if you have any questions about that, ask away!

GOAL for March: Unfortunately, last week wasn't kind to my scale. The good news is that it was only 2.5 pounds. So I'm hoping that I can knock that off and go back to being the same I was last week. Then I'd like to only lose a pound per week. So I'd like to lose a total of 6.5 pounds.

PLAN: Follow WW and continue to workout. My 8K training plan started yesterday so back to working up to some long runs before my 4 miler in April!

OBSTACLES: As I mentioned, I have some personal and professional stressors in my life right now. So my obstacle is to not allow them to get in the way this month. There are no birthdays or anything "party" wise that can trip me up. This month it's all mental.

Sounds like you have a good plan for the month. Are you doing a 4-mile race in April? Is it something local or a travel race? Is there a fun theme.
We've got a few runners here, so feel free to talk about running or your race as much as you want!

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Okay, all the activity today is awesome, but it means it'll take me a while to finish catching up! I have to get back to my other life now, but hopefully I'll be back later to finish replies.
Also ... we bought 4/5ths of the supply of a particular type of ice cream at Target today. Oops? (It was the non-dairy Ben & Jerry's, and there were only 5 pints in the entire store ... we bought 4, but most of them are for my brother's friend who is allergic to dairy and hasn't been able to find this stuff anywhere. Some of it is for us, though ... but for me it'll just be a special treat)

 

[4Mickeys]

Finally, I saw a picture of myself and realized that I didn't just look "chubby" but that I looked like a large woman.

I totally relate to this - I saw photos from my twins primary school graduation dinner and could not believe it was me in the photos!

They are both involved in sports so I will be running around with them. Basketball just ended so that will be one less activity until baseball starts

I have started walking around the adjacent fields with my DD whilst my 2 boys are at Hockey training - this makes better use of my time than sitting there watching them have all the exercise lol

 

[courtneybeth]

Trainer has now put me on a -6 pounds before March 31 deadline. This won't affect my already established goal of doing the 5 workouts per week, but I'll be keeping myself accountable by doing that as well.

For those who want to play along at home:
Instagram: @courtneybeth83
MyFitnessPal: courtney_beth (courtneybeth at gmail)