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

[SarahDisney]

Good morning, all! Kind of a crazy day for me today (which is why the QOTD was a bit later than usual), so I don't know how much time I'll have to stop in and chat.
I know you're all annoyed that I used a Frozen reference for today's QOTD ... but I love Frozen, so it was going to happen eventually.

I'll answer the QOTD later, and I can't wait to see what everyone else has to say!

 

[dsnyfn1022]

- Dinner should be roughly 380 calories

I'm SO bad at this! I can't even imagine having a dinner that's only 380 calories! I'm not sure how many calories mine are but I know they're at least double that, if not more. And that doesn't count the dessert I eat afterwards! Yikes. Thanks for sharing those insights!

Have you fallen into any unhealthy patterns that you feel are never-ending? What can you do to stop these patterns?
What healthy patterns have you introduced that you hope become never-ending patterns?

This is an awesome question! A never-ending unhealthy pattern for me is binge eating on the weekends. I feel like I'm good all week and therefore have a license to eat whatever I want alllll weekend long! I honestly don't know how to stop it. Other than, of course, to stop eating like calories don't count. A healthy pattern for me though is my running! I hope that becomes a never-ending pattern, or at least the exercising in general.

 

[5xdisneyfans]

Question of the Day – Thursday, March 24th:

Much of the Paint the Night Parade at Disneyland is inspired by the original Paint the Night Parade in Hong Kong, but the Disneyland parade has one new unit that does not appear in Hong Kong ...

We all know the line from "Let It Go" - "My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around." But do you know what a fractal is?
Simply put, a fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are very common in nature, and include branching patterns on trees, blood vessel networks, hurricanes, and many other things.

So many of us fall into patterns in our lives of doing things in a particular way. This can be helpful when the patterns we are creating are healthy ones (going to the gym, eating fruits and vegetables, etc), but can be harmful when they are unhealthy habits (smoking, eating in front of the TV, sticking to certain unhealthy meals, etc). Sometimes it feels like the unhealthy habits are so ingrained in you that you will never be able to stop - it feels like they have become a never-ending pattern (much like a fractal).

Have you fallen into any unhealthy patterns that you feel are never-ending? What can you do to stop these patterns?
What healthy patterns have you introduced that you hope become never-ending patterns?​

I slowly have been eating more carbs and have to get a grip on that. I have been very good at measuring out portions especially for higher calories items. Hoping I stick with that since it is a real awakening on how much you actually should have. I also have been using MFP every day which you need to enter your potion size so you want to make sure it is right or defeats the purpose.

 

[DVCFan1994]

Hi folks! I have been totally MIA and I am going to call it a short month for me. I am fine, but have been super busy, DH was out of town, myDD had a 3 day celebration of her birthday I had to coordinate and then the kids had snow day. Additionally, after speaking with my physical therapist and a running coach, I am working on reevaluating my goals. Turns out all my fighting with the scale may have more to do with all the weight training and less with other causes. I had thought of this possibility a few times, but had convinced myself it was just and excuse. But the frustration with the scale just kept sending me to the pantry So I am going to back off the scale checking for a while and work on other things. I need time to figure out what makes the most sense to focus on. I hope to be back with April, but likely with goals that are more mini-goals than actual weight goals for now. Seems like there are some great numbers here this month! Great job everyone and hope you are able to finish strong.

 

[Oneanne]

Question of the Day – Thursday, March 24th:

Much of the Paint the Night Parade at Disneyland is inspired by the original Paint the Night Parade in Hong Kong, but the Disneyland parade has one new unit that does not appear in Hong Kong ...

We all know the line from "Let It Go" - "My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around." But do you know what a fractal is?
Simply put, a fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are very common in nature, and include branching patterns on trees, blood vessel networks, hurricanes, and many other things.

So many of us fall into patterns in our lives of doing things in a particular way. This can be helpful when the patterns we are creating are healthy ones (going to the gym, eating fruits and vegetables, etc), but can be harmful when they are unhealthy habits (smoking, eating in front of the TV, sticking to certain unhealthy meals, etc). Sometimes it feels like the unhealthy habits are so ingrained in you that you will never be able to stop - it feels like they have become a never-ending pattern (much like a fractal).

Have you fallen into any unhealthy patterns that you feel are never-ending? What can you do to stop these patterns?
What healthy patterns have you introduced that you hope become never-ending patterns?​

I also continue to be carb heavy, including sugar, even though I am staying on program point wise. This week in particular has been unbalanced nutritionally but on point wise and I continue to see weight come off on the scale. Tuesday I had a bagel for breakfast and a roll with lunch... way too much bread for one day. Yesterday I barely had time for lunch but did find some salmon on the salad bar and added a few noodles, then went out for drinks after work and munched on popcorn and tater tots (no alcohol though), then had a breakfast bar for dinner... under points for the day but no actual nutritional value. My typical breakfast during the week is a tall nonfat Chai and a banana... 8 points but full of sugar. I've been thinking a lot about how to eat while I'm doing my road trip: I plan on having bananas, water and protein bars with me in the car so I don't get stuck and desperate. And I'll be Yelping a lot to pick the right places to eat. I want to use the change in routine to break the Starbucks habit.

Patterns that need to become never-ending... portion control and re-defining what a "meal" looks like, as in some nights an apple and some cheese is a perfectly OK meal.

 

[JacknSally]

I'm SO bad at this! I can't even imagine having a dinner that's only 380 calories! I'm not sure how many calories mine are but I know they're at least double that, if not more. And that doesn't count the dessert I eat afterwards! Yikes. Thanks for sharing those insights!

I'm so bad at it, too! I've been using dinner as one final way to get my numbers in for the day, and growing up, dinner was ALWAYS the biggest meal of the day. But logically it totally makes sense. You eat to fuel your body. So why eat the least in the morning, when you have to power through an entire day of who-knows-what, and then eat the most right before you sit on the couch for a couple of hours or go to bed?


Off to run a couple of errands. Be back for the QOTD later!

 

[bigsis1970]

I love the Paint the Night pictures!! I have never been a parade person. The only parade that I really ever loved was the Boo to You parade at MNSSHP. I actually truly hated the Main Street Electrical Parade, the music drove me crazy. And it kept following me around. I planned a trip to a different park and what is going on there. MSEP... I was very not excited about PtN before our trip, but my boyfriend loves parades. So, we watched it. And then watched it a second time and a third time and then decided to not go over to DCA for World of Color, but instead see the parade a fourth time - and the spectacular fireworks...

As to the QOTD:

The previous replies have already covered a lot of things that I totally agree with, but the one thing that was kind of a revelation to me that I learned from this thread is meal planning. I remember how I thought the other people on this thread were a bit over the top when I first heard that some were actually drawing up weekly meal plans. But @pjlla kept talking about what a great tool it is to actually plan out your meals. And then last year I finally gave it a try. And it is so fantastic! It eliminates so much stress from my daily life because I know what I am going to eat, that it is on plan, that I don't have to go shopping before I get home trying to figure out what to buy (while I am hungry...). I often can't really buy everything for the whole week, but I try to come by with one big shopping excursion on Saturday. However, one needs to be disciplined and take the time to draw up the plan... Last weekend in Berlin I found something that hopefully will help me with this:

View attachment 157682

It is a notepad for meal planning!! The title says: This week on the table and then there are the different days of the week. The package had a little sticker saying: It can't be cake for dinner every day! I am very excited about my meal planning stationary! I hope having something cute will help my motivation. As well as the thought that I specifically bought this for a reason.

I also keep all my old meal plans and use them as inspiration for what to make in the next week. I find that often there are recipes that I make a lot for a while and then forget about them. So, looking at old meal plans helps.

On to some replies:

I love meal planning! I started long ago as a single mom of two very busy kids - to keep my sanity and make sure we were eating good stuff.. now that my kids are grown and I have a Hubby I still do it because I enjoy it.. This is mine.. it really is a family schedule pad .. I just write my own stuff in like what weeks my son is home with me , if we have appoinments or what my son's schedule is for school & work.. gives me some order and it helps me use what I have to not be spending $$ on stuff that is in my freezer or pantry.. I made this on for 7 weeks used all the stuff in my small chest freezer & pantry so it's almost time to do a restock trip! I love that almost as much as the planning! haa my kids know that on grocery day i'll be out for at least 3 hrs and maybe up to 5 depending on what stores have what items on sale.. they are all close so it's no big deal to hit 4 or 5 to save money..

 

[piglet1979]

Having a rough day so far. I think my kids,are sick of seeing each other, plus I let them sleep in each others rooms last night. They are crabby, whiny, and fighting game with each other all morning. I am trying to not stress eat. After lunch I will go work out and hopefully get rid of some stress. Thankfully my husband gets home sometime between 3 and 4. Only a few more hours to go.

 

[courtneybeth]

Have you fallen into any unhealthy patterns that you feel are never-ending? What can you do to stop these patterns?
What healthy patterns have you introduced that you hope become never-ending patterns?

Sleep has become a big problem for me -- I feel like I'm not getting enough of it and I'm exhausted all the time. Not sure what is causing this because I'm going to bed early - perhaps I'm not getting enough restful sleep.

but I love Frozen, so it was going to happen eventually.

I have a love/hate with Frozen. I love love love love the movie and could watch it as much as Beauty and the Beast.

I'm just tired of seeing it at Disney parks and having amazing attractions (i.e., Maelstrom, Aladdin Musical, the little fantasyland theatre shows at Disneyland) replaced with Frozen-themed attractions.

 

[tortilla24]

Question of the Day – Thursday, March 24th:

Much of the Paint the Night Parade at Disneyland is inspired by the original Paint the Night Parade in Hong Kong, but the Disneyland parade has one new unit that does not appear in Hong Kong ...

We all know the line from "Let It Go" - "My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around." But do you know what a fractal is?
Simply put, a fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are very common in nature, and include branching patterns on trees, blood vessel networks, hurricanes, and many other things.

So many of us fall into patterns in our lives of doing things in a particular way. This can be helpful when the patterns we are creating are healthy ones (going to the gym, eating fruits and vegetables, etc), but can be harmful when they are unhealthy habits (smoking, eating in front of the TV, sticking to certain unhealthy meals, etc). Sometimes it feels like the unhealthy habits are so ingrained in you that you will never be able to stop - it feels like they have become a never-ending pattern (much like a fractal).

Have you fallen into any unhealthy patterns that you feel are never-ending? What can you do to stop these patterns?
What healthy patterns have you introduced that you hope become never-ending patterns?​

Happy Thursday! Well my belated woohoo is that I had company in town and even though I worked full-time, it was great spending time with them!

Now for the QOTD... Yes I get into patterns of just not working out, ALL THE TIME. I'm less so a yo-yo dieter than I am a yo-yo exerciser. It's crazy. I'll work out 4 days in a row one week and then nothing the next 2. I really need a way to be consistent about it. Maybe I need to come up with a reward system for myself that's not food-driven (not hating on those who do, but I don't really want to have a relationship like that with food. For me food makes me happy but it's not a reward... if that makes sense. I know parents use candy and treats all.the.time. as rewards but I'm not crazy about the system. Just my 2 cents). I'd LOVE to be able to work out in the morning but I don't get enough sleep as it is and need to be in the office by 8am -_____-

My healthy patterns is that I really love vegetables - all of them. I pretty much always have and I'm pretty good about eating veggies when I'm at home.

 

[tortilla24]

Sleep has become a big problem for me -- I feel like I'm not getting enough of it and I'm exhausted all the time. Not sure what is causing this because I'm going to bed early - perhaps I'm not getting enough restful sleep.

YES this too! I'm struggling to feel rested when I wake up. I'm considering a no electronics rule after 8pm type concept but I know that'll damn near impossible for me to do!

 

[courtneybeth]

So.... husband and I signed up for the runDisney Dumbo Double Dare challenge this morning.

I'm.... not sure what I just did.

 

[Flossbolna]

Hi everyone!

I need to catch up on two QOTD, so I better get started.

Wednesday:
My woohoo for the day was that I was forced to wear a pair of jeans that I thought was too tight for me to be comfortable in (the other pair finally gave up on me and died). But the smaller jeans fit! A little bit more of a muffin top than I would have liked, but I wore them all day and never felt uncomfortable! The second woohoo was that I finally managed to go for a morning run again!! So, if I get my run in tomorrow, I have one week of all scheduled runs. Finally! It feels so good to be active again.

Thursday:
Hmmm, I feel that I have more or less managed to tackle my unhealthy patterns at least to the degree that I don't fee that they are never ending. Yes, I fall back into old patterns in all the different aspects now and then. But I have learned that I can get back out of them as I have managed several times. So, in a way I am starting to view my unhealthy patterns as just a disruption of my healthy patterns. Yes, maybe I am seeing myself too positive. After all I still haven't managed to lose weight down to where I want to be. But then I remembered today that the last time I out on a lot of weight was in 2008. I lost about 30 pounds in 2009 and since then I have been able to more or less maintain 25 pounds of weight loss. Yes, I would like to be at a BMI of 22 instead of 25-26. But actually thinking back, it really gave me some confidence! Now I just need to channel that into motivation for losing those further 20 pounds!!

 

[dsnyfn1022]

I'm so bad at it, too! I've been using dinner as one final way to get my numbers in for the day, and growing up, dinner was ALWAYS the biggest meal of the day. But logically it totally makes sense. You eat to fuel your body. So why eat the least in the morning, when you have to power through an entire day of who-knows-what, and then eat the most right before you sit on the couch for a couple of hours or go to bed?


Off to run a couple of errands. Be back for the QOTD later!

Same here! Dinner was always the meal I looked forward to the most because it was always the tastiest meal. Even now when I could be eating bigger, yummy lunches I don't so that I can have a big yummy dinner and it's only because that's how it was growing up. Interesting. I might have to try to switch things up for a while...

 

[JacknSally]

So.... husband and I signed up for the runDisney Dumbo Double Dare challenge this morning.

I'm.... not sure what I just did.

You are seriously going to run your legs off.

ALSO DUMBO AND TIMOTHY SHIRTS

 

[Lady Marie]

I've been crazy busy and so off track-- not an excuse, but certainly the reason my scale is not happy with me. Also, I'm sitting at my desk on a forever hold so I have time to catch up a little haha!

So the nutritionist meeting went well. She was so nice! A lot of what she said was stuff DH and I read about last summer but it was definitely nice to have someone licensed back it up. She said a lot of eye opening things though!

- It takes roughly 51 days for fast food to leave your system 100%
- Dinner should be roughly 380 calories
- Your portion size should be 1 cup veggies, 1/2 cup fruit, 1/4 carbs (pull out a 1/4 cup and just see how much pasta you should be eating. My Italian hubby is having a hard time coping)
- Women can only process 2-4oz of protein at a time. Men can handle 6oz at a time.
- Eating the right things together at the right times plays a huge part in everything. If you eat fruit before you eat your meal, the acid in the fruit works with your stomach to help process and digest the food you eat next. If you eat fruit after the meal, as a dessert or whatever, then the fruit doesn't have anything to do, so it just sits there.
- A medium-to-large sweet potato is 6-8 servings. Idk about you, but I would definitely eat half of one with my meal. I mean... It's a veggie, right?

I'm excited to head to the grocery store and get started on this plan. No calorie or macro counting - if I follow the chart she gave us and eat one thing from each column and eat throughout the day rather than waiting for dinner, then I'll not only be energizing my body throughout the day which will keep me burning, but I'll be under 1800 calories anyway.

Fingers crossed!

WOW!!!!! This is so interesting!

I have a love/hate with Frozen. I love love love love the movie and could watch it as much as Beauty and the Beast.

I'm just tired of seeing it at Disney parks and having amazing attractions (i.e., Maelstrom, Aladdin Musical, the little fantasyland theatre shows at Disneyland) replaced with Frozen-themed attractions.

I wholeheartedly agree -- I am sooooo sad I will be missing Aladdin

 

[SarahDisney]

Have you fallen into any unhealthy patterns that you feel are never-ending? What can you do to stop these patterns?

I have a lot of patterns that are pretty bad. Like, so many that I can't even think of all of them. But here are a few that I can remember:
- Grabbing a cookie or handful of jelly beans every time I'm in the kitchen
- Ignoring meal plans (I make them, I just don't care about them ... especially with my snacks)
- Letting other people dictate what I do or eat (I eat whatever is put in front of me, even if it's a bad idea, and I always do what other people want me to do, even

I really do need to work on making meal plans that work for me (whether that means giving myself more options or tracking in advance to "force" myself to stick to the plan). I also need to work on "standing up for myself" - whether that's saying no to someone who wants me to go somewhere with them or telling my mom that while I appreciate her cooking for me, I want something else for dinner, so I'll make my own dinner. It's easy to say ... but hard for me to stick with.

What healthy patterns have you introduced that you hope become never-ending patterns?​

Definitely the running. If I can continue to run three times a week for a long time, that would be awesome.

This is an awesome question! A never-ending unhealthy pattern for me is binge eating on the weekends. I feel like I'm good all week and therefore have a license to eat whatever I want alllll weekend long! I honestly don't know how to stop it. Other than, of course, to stop eating like calories don't count. A healthy pattern for me though is my running! I hope that becomes a never-ending pattern, or at least the exercising in general.

Weekends are definitely hard. I think it's important to try to treat the weekend like a regular weekday as much as you can - your schedule may be different, but your eating shouldn't be!
And running/exercise is definitely something good to have as a never-ending pattern!

I slowly have been eating more carbs and have to get a grip on that. I have been very good at measuring out portions especially for higher calories items. Hoping I stick with that since it is a real awakening on how much you actually should have. I also have been using MFP every day which you need to enter your potion size so you want to make sure it is right or defeats the purpose.

Measuring portions is an awesome pattern!

Hi folks! I have been totally MIA and I am going to call it a short month for me. I am fine, but have been super busy, DH was out of town, myDD had a 3 day celebration of her birthday I had to coordinate and then the kids had snow day. Additionally, after speaking with my physical therapist and a running coach, I am working on reevaluating my goals. Turns out all my fighting with the scale may have more to do with all the weight training and less with other causes. I had thought of this possibility a few times, but had convinced myself it was just and excuse. But the frustration with the scale just kept sending me to the pantry So I am going to back off the scale checking for a while and work on other things. I need time to figure out what makes the most sense to focus on. I hope to be back with April, but likely with goals that are more mini-goals than actual weight goals for now. Seems like there are some great numbers here this month! Great job everyone and hope you are able to finish strong.

Sorry to hear that you've been frustrated, but I think it's great that you're trying to focus on other things and do what's best for you!

I also continue to be carb heavy, including sugar, even though I am staying on program point wise. This week in particular has been unbalanced nutritionally but on point wise and I continue to see weight come off on the scale. Tuesday I had a bagel for breakfast and a roll with lunch... way too much bread for one day. Yesterday I barely had time for lunch but did find some salmon on the salad bar and added a few noodles, then went out for drinks after work and munched on popcorn and tater tots (no alcohol though), then had a breakfast bar for dinner... under points for the day but no actual nutritional value. My typical breakfast during the week is a tall nonfat Chai and a banana... 8 points but full of sugar. I've been thinking a lot about how to eat while I'm doing my road trip: I plan on having bananas, water and protein bars with me in the car so I don't get stuck and desperate. And I'll be Yelping a lot to pick the right places to eat. I want to use the change in routine to break the Starbucks habit.

It's definitely difficult when you feel like what you're eating isn't right (or isn't balanced) but the numbers don't show that ... it's hard to form good habits when the "bad" habits don't cause huge amounts of damage all the time.

Patterns that need to become never-ending... portion control and re-defining what a "meal" looks like, as in some nights an apple and some cheese is a perfectly OK meal.

Definitely important patterns/habits to create!

I'm so bad at it, too! I've been using dinner as one final way to get my numbers in for the day, and growing up, dinner was ALWAYS the biggest meal of the day. But logically it totally makes sense. You eat to fuel your body. So why eat the least in the morning, when you have to power through an entire day of who-knows-what, and then eat the most right before you sit on the couch for a couple of hours or go to bed?

That makes a lot of sense.
It definitely feels weird for me to eat more in the morning ... but that's when you need the energy!

---

Okay, that's all the replies I have time for now, I'll be back later to finish!

 

[donac]

Question of the Day – Thursday, March 24th:

Much of the Paint the Night Parade at Disneyland is inspired by the original Paint the Night Parade in Hong Kong, but the Disneyland parade has one new unit that does not appear in Hong Kong ...

We all know the line from "Let It Go" - "My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around." But do you know what a fractal is?
Simply put, a fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are very common in nature, and include branching patterns on trees, blood vessel networks, hurricanes, and many other things.

So many of us fall into patterns in our lives of doing things in a particular way. This can be helpful when the patterns we are creating are healthy ones (going to the gym, eating fruits and vegetables, etc), but can be harmful when they are unhealthy habits (smoking, eating in front of the TV, sticking to certain unhealthy meals, etc). Sometimes it feels like the unhealthy habits are so ingrained in you that you will never be able to stop - it feels like they have become a never-ending pattern (much like a fractal).

Have you fallen into any unhealthy patterns that you feel are never-ending? What can you do to stop these patterns?
What healthy patterns have you introduced that you hope become never-ending patterns?​

I may be one of the few people in this group who did not need an explanation about Fractals but then again I taught math, especially geometry, for 38 years. There are some beautiful pictures made only with fractals. If you get a chance you look them up.

MY unhealthy pattern is that I don't work out as much as I used to. This is something I will be working on for the next challenge.

I hope that the almost 2 months of tracking food is one pattern that I hope will be a never-ending pattern. I have been pretty consistent about that the last 2 months.

Have a happy and healthy evening

 

[mamattorney]

Question of the Day – Thursday, March 24th:​

Have you fallen into any unhealthy patterns that you feel are never-ending? What can you do to stop these patterns?
What healthy patterns have you introduced that you hope become never-ending patterns?​

One healthy pattern I'd like to see continue is being at least somewhat active. Or maybe I should call myself "not sedentary". It feels good to not concern myself with how much walking a day might entail.

An unhealthy pattern I can't seem to stop is screen time. I really love to read, but I feel like I don't read enough and spend too much time on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, TV and internet time. I may have to institute limits on myself, like a child who can't control herself.

 

[SarahDisney]

I love meal planning! I started long ago as a single mom of two very busy kids - to keep my sanity and make sure we were eating good stuff.. now that my kids are grown and I have a Hubby I still do it because I enjoy it.. This is mine.. it really is a family schedule pad .. I just write my own stuff in like what weeks my son is home with me , if we have appoinments or what my son's schedule is for school & work.. gives me some order and it helps me use what I have to not be spending $$ on stuff that is in my freezer or pantry.. I made this on for 7 weeks used all the stuff in my small chest freezer & pantry so it's almost time to do a restock trip! I love that almost as much as the planning! haa my kids know that on grocery day i'll be out for at least 3 hrs and maybe up to 5 depending on what stores have what items on sale.. they are all close so it's no big deal to hit 4 or 5 to save money..
View attachment 157965

I love this!!

Having a rough day so far. I think my kids,are sick of seeing each other, plus I let them sleep in each others rooms last night. They are crabby, whiny, and fighting game with each other all morning. I am trying to not stress eat. After lunch I will go work out and hopefully get rid of some stress. Thankfully my husband gets home sometime between 3 and 4. Only a few more hours to go.

I'm sorry to hear that you're having a rough day ... I hope it got better!

Sleep has become a big problem for me -- I feel like I'm not getting enough of it and I'm exhausted all the time. Not sure what is causing this because I'm going to bed early - perhaps I'm not getting enough restful sleep.

Definitely sounds like it could be a quality of sleep issue. Is there anything you're doing differently now (in terms of sleep) than you used to? Sleep is pretty important, so I hope you can figure out what's going on.

I have a love/hate with Frozen. I love love love love the movie and could watch it as much as Beauty and the Beast.

I'm just tired of seeing it at Disney parks and having amazing attractions (i.e., Maelstrom, Aladdin Musical, the little fantasyland theatre shows at Disneyland) replaced with Frozen-themed attractions.

I hated Maelstrom, so I really wasn't sad to see it go. I'm actually really glad that Frozen is coming to the parks, but I understand why people are upset.

Happy Thursday! Well my belated woohoo is that I had company in town and even though I worked full-time, it was great spending time with them!

WooHoo! It's always nice to spend time with people that you don't get to see so often!

Now for the QOTD... Yes I get into patterns of just not working out, ALL THE TIME. I'm less so a yo-yo dieter than I am a yo-yo exerciser. It's crazy. I'll work out 4 days in a row one week and then nothing the next 2. I really need a way to be consistent about it. Maybe I need to come up with a reward system for myself that's not food-driven (not hating on those who do, but I don't really want to have a relationship like that with food. For me food makes me happy but it's not a reward... if that makes sense. I know parents use candy and treats all.the.time. as rewards but I'm not crazy about the system. Just my 2 cents). I'd LOVE to be able to work out in the morning but I don't get enough sleep as it is and need to be in the office by 8am -_____-

I think a non-food reward system is a great idea! It definitely may help you stay consistent with the exercising.

My healthy patterns is that I really love vegetables - all of them. I pretty much always have and I'm pretty good about eating veggies when I'm at home.

Veggies are definitely awesome

So.... husband and I signed up for the runDisney Dumbo Double Dare challenge this morning.

I'm.... not sure what I just did.

OMG YAY!!!!!!!!
I'm so excited for you! Hopefully this will be a really awesome amazing experience!

My woohoo for the day was that I was forced to wear a pair of jeans that I thought was too tight for me to be comfortable in (the other pair finally gave up on me and died). But the smaller jeans fit! A little bit more of a muffin top than I would have liked, but I wore them all day and never felt uncomfortable! The second woohoo was that I finally managed to go for a morning run again!! So, if I get my run in tomorrow, I have one week of all scheduled runs. Finally! It feels so good to be active again.

Double WooHoo - awesome!!

Hmmm, I feel that I have more or less managed to tackle my unhealthy patterns at least to the degree that I don't fee that they are never ending. Yes, I fall back into old patterns in all the different aspects now and then. But I have learned that I can get back out of them as I have managed several times. So, in a way I am starting to view my unhealthy patterns as just a disruption of my healthy patterns. Yes, maybe I am seeing myself too positive. After all I still haven't managed to lose weight down to where I want to be. But then I remembered today that the last time I out on a lot of weight was in 2008. I lost about 30 pounds in 2009 and since then I have been able to more or less maintain 25 pounds of weight loss. Yes, I would like to be at a BMI of 22 instead of 25-26. But actually thinking back, it really gave me some confidence! Now I just need to channel that into motivation for losing those further 20 pounds!!

I think it's awesome that you've gotten your unhealthy patterns under control.
Even if you're not exactly where you want to be right now, you definitely have the tools to get there, and if you keep working hard, I know you can do it!!

I may be one of the few people in this group who did not need an explanation about Fractals but then again I taught math, especially geometry, for 38 years. There are some beautiful pictures made only with fractals. If you get a chance you look them up.

It's good to know that someone else was already familiar with fractals! I actually learned fractals from art ... we talked about them in one of my art classes in college. There really are some amazing things made with fractals.

MY unhealthy pattern is that I don't work out as much as I used to. This is something I will be working on for the next challenge.

This is definitely an awesome thing to work on - consistency with exercise is a big help!

I hope that the almost 2 months of tracking food is one pattern that I hope will be a never-ending pattern. I have been pretty consistent about that the last 2 months.

That's an awesome pattern!

One healthy pattern I'd like to see continue is being at least somewhat active. Or maybe I should call myself "not sedentary". It feels good to not concern myself with how much walking a day might entail.

Being "not sedentary" is so important - staying active really makes a huge difference in your daily life!

An unhealthy pattern I can't seem to stop is screen time. I really love to read, but I feel like I don't read enough and spend too much time on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, TV and internet time. I may have to institute limits on myself, like a child who can't control herself.

Screen time ... it's definitely something hard to limit. But it's a good idea - I hope it works out for you!