Welcome to the CAROUSEL of PROGRESS challenge for December 2015!!

[pjlla]

I am in for this month.I lost 7 pounds last month. So this month my goal is to get rid of 7 pounds. Good luck to everyone and I hope we all meet our goals this month.

Congrats on the 7 pounds gone and WOHOOO on such an ambitious goal for December!!

@pjlla - I. LOVE. THIS. THEME!!! OH my goodness. You are so clever! Kudos to you and your DD! I am so disappointed that DH and I didn't make it to Carousel on our trip. It's one of my favorites!

Full credit to DD on this! I love Disney history and facts and trivia, but I couldn't figure out how to link it to a particular theme..... but since COP is all about HISTORY, it seemed like a perfect fit. PLUS we are all about PROGRESS here, right??!!

Hi, everyone! I'm Megan. I joined these challenges earlier this year in preparation for my October wedding and Disney trip, and now that that's behind us, I'm turning my weight-loss focus onto healthier and happier living in general. I've been heavy my whole life and it's always been a constant struggle for me. I'm tired of not being able to find clothes I feel comfortable in and not being happy with how I look in pictures.

My primary goals and focus for December are not weight related, so I won't be weighing in or tracking my progress. Since it's a constant focus, though, I'd still like to hang around and participate in the thread and conversations. Just because I'm not tracking doesn't mean I won't be trying to progress! And for that I'll need all the help I can get.

I'm spending December preparing listings so that I can - hopefully - go live with an Etsy shop in January. I've said for years that my dream job would be someone paying me to stay home and craft... So I'm going to try and make it happen. I'm pretty much terrified. Ha.

That endeavor is going to be pretty time consuming and I'll be putting a lot of pressure on myself to make it happen, so I'm going to take the pressure off of my scale-watching. Hopefully that won't backfire miserably.

Glad to hear that you are going to hang around and chat, even if you DON"T have a specific goal! I agree with the "constant focus" comment.... and, for good or bad, when you are trying to lose weight and maintain a loss, it kind of NEEDS to be a constant focus!! Once you lose that focus (just like in a game), you risk defeat!

OOohhh.... an Etsy shop! Tell me more!

Hello everyone! My name is Megan, I am 26 years old, and live in the very cold state of Wisconsin. This is my third challenge on the DisBoards, and I am returning to my goal from my first challenge, with this being a big holiday month.

My Goal: To maintain my current weight, not gain any, and anything lost will be considered a bonus!

My Methods:

• Monitor what I'm eating, skipping fast food for something healthier
• Decreasing portions as often as possible. With the holidays coming up, this becomes more difficult, but not impossible.
• Increasing the amount of water I drink
• Increasing my activity, which is difficult for me right now since it is cold and snowy outside

Fun Facts:

• Darling boyfriend and I are considering moving to the Orlando area once our lease is up here next summer!
• I am a Disney Travel Agent with Academy Travel
• I love to crochet and craft, and love to make Disney-themed things

So envious of the TA status and the possible move to Orlando!!

I second what Flossbolna said about finding some exercise DVDs or Youtube videos. It is amazing what you can do with a video, a pair of yoga pants, and a little bit of floor space!

Hi All! I'm in for this month too! Last month my goal was 5 lbs and I only managed 2.5, but that's ok being that I was a little too optimistic with the holidays!

My goal this month is going to be 5lbs again! Plan: Really monitor and stay on track during the week. Just about every weekend is full of parties, dinners, or Disney. I want to enjoy those things, so I will be working hard during the week and adding more exercise so that I can still have some minor indulgences at these parties and such. BIG obstacles this month.... Hanukkah with some of the family (LATKES and SOUR CREAM!!! -- serious weakness for me), Disney the next weekend (my moms first visit so quite a few indulgences already planned), Christmas and New Years. The food doesn't get me at Christmas and NY as much as the drinks.... DH's family is Irish and know how to throw a good hooley!

Which brings me to my fun fact-- DH is half Irish and when looking for a place to get married, we couldn't agree on anything (all that is down here in South Florida is beach weddings or in a hotel... not my thang!). One night as we were looking at our Ireland vacation photos, I said jokingly that we should just abandon the whole idea of finding somewhere in America altogether and go get married in Ireland... and so we did! Just the two of us, two photographers, and a Celtic priest on the Cliffs of Moher. Some people say we are crazy (and we are!), but it was great fun, gorgeous, and just what we wanted!

Good luck with the holiday food and drinks! And what exactly is a "hooley"?

I love your elopement story! We had a nephew who eloped this past summer to Portugal and honestly, I can't blame them one bit! It was sweet and romantic and OBVIOUSLY about THEM and not about making it a huge blow-out event! Care to share pictures????

Hi, my fellow WISHers! Thanks so much for hosting during this very busy month, pjilla!

You are very welcome!!

I just took a wee break from packing and prepping for our first December WDW trip. We leave tomorrow at the crack of dawn. I worked the night shift last night and have been busy all day - hoping to be finished in time to get a good night's sleep.

I have a modest goal of losing 1.3 lbs this month. Currently, I'm 151.2 and I would love to start the new year under 150. My biggest obstacle is baking - I love to bake and sample goodies this time of year. The Disney trip is another obstacle, but I have most of my meals planned, will be walking miles, and feel strong!

I'll be MIA for the first week or so but I'm really looking forward to participating fully upon my return.

You are officially "on the list" so we are holding your spot for whenever you make it back here! But I noticed you said you were leaving on your "first" December WDW trip.... does that mean that there is a SECOND December WDW trip on the calendar? SUPER JEALOUS HERE!!

I'm in for December! My goal is to lose 5 pounds this month. After all the eating at Disney....I've learned that there are so many healthy foods I can eat at home that I like even better than a lot of the junk I ate there. Not that I didn't enjoy the junk...but my body did not like it. They say to listen to your body, so this month I am listening. I'm going to fuel with healthy foods this month. I've been sick since I came back, some kind of head cold, sore throat thing. I have gone for my first PT for my back and got the okay to go back to the gym. So...as soon as I recover...I'm giving myself the week off...I'll be joining the gym again. I LOVE THE CAROUSEL OF PROGRESS! It makes me feel happy. The song feels like an old friend...it reminds me of watching Disney on Sunday nights with my family when I was a kid. Watching the times change and the world change is somehow magical...even though it may make you feel a bit sad that time marches on, and your kids grow up and have families of their own...yet you are in the most magical place on earth where everyone can be kids again. Just look at all the adults wearing mouse ears! Disney feels timeless. There are no worries there, except getting to your fast pass on time. Something about me that I haven't mentioned....I got my motorcycle license when I was 58 years old. You are never too old to try new things! I will be 62 in January! I have 10 pounds to get to my goal weight!

You are officially a bad*ss in my book!! Pink hair AND a motorcycle license??? WOW! And just 10 pounds away from goal!!?? WOOHOO!

I love what you said about COP.... I feel that same way about it.... it just makes me HAPPY!

Ohhh...sewing gives you a very short fuse box in the temper department. I have been known to throw my work across the room from time to time. You're not alone there! And it starts out with simple things.

.

I agree.... I was a Home Ec major in college and I learned pattern drafting and all kinds of advanced sewing techniques.... and I still want to throw the bobbin across the room at times!

The one time we tried to medicate her (for our recent move), it was awful. She was sick everywhere! We took her to Disney's boarding place for our honeymoon because it was cheaper than our local place, and she was a breeze in the car! We let her have free reign of the trunk and she just slept the whole time I hope she doesn't have any issues with a longer drive, but I think that 5 hours each way to Disney was a pretty good test. Plus, my mom has consented to have her stay with us at Christmas (amazing), so I'll still get to see her most of the time we're traveling So much better than boarding her for two weeks!

I understand wanting to have her along rather than boarding her.... plus I imagine boarding can get expensive!

So cool! This is a job I would be interested in, but it seems really hard to get in with a legitimate company. Plus, it seems like it's a job with a lot of start-up work and not much immediate cash flow. I'm seriously considering looking into it if the next move we do doesn't come with a job for me like this one did! I got super lucky with how awesome the University people are here, but I'm not holding my breath for the same luck when my husband gets another position.

Glad you have an awesome job! It would be hard to leave if you weren't sure what you would get next!

Hey guys! I'm back! After taking November off to focus on other some running-related stuff, I'm back for December. My goal for the month is 3 lbs, which will get me to an end of year weight of 140!

WOOHOO!! Glad you are back!

I like that we've got an instagram list! I'm slkworks on Instagram ... I'll start adding people once I figure out where I put my phone (I'm guessing its still in the kitchen from when I made my afternoon snack).

Also ... I've never done Carousel of Progress. Not particularly planning to do it on my next trip either. It's just not super high on my priority list and there are so many things to see that I never get to it. Can I still participate?

Of course.... but you could probably watch it on YouTube if you were really interested! Honestly, I have grown to love it, but we used to ride it when the kids were smaller just to take a break! It is cool and dark and usually there is NO WAIT... so it was always perfect for a short cat nap! I'll add you to the Instagram list!

Okay, onto today's QOTD...

Hi, I'm Sarah! I've been doing these challenges on and off for the past year plus (in fact, I think I hosted the December 2014 thread), but I'm still going to tell you guys a little bit about me
I'm 29 years old and live with my parents (and siblings) in good old NYC. I'm currently (mostly) unemployed, but I'm hopeful that a great opportunity will come around soon. I've always been a little overweight, but about 5 years ago I made it to within 10 lbs of my goal weight. Then my dormant depression decided to reappear, I was under a lot of stress and not doing well, and I ended up dropping out of grad school and putting on 25 pounds. I've lost some of that, but not enough of it. Right now I'm either in the low end of overweight or the high end of normal on the BMI scale, but my goal is to make it to the middle of the normal range.
My plan is to be more mindful of what I eat, track my meals and snacks whenever I can (so far I'm on track for today!), and continue exercising 6 days per week.
I'm Kosher-observant, which does limit what I can eat - I can't have pork or shellfish, I can't eat meat and dairy together (so thankfully I've never been tempted by cheeseburgers ... just veggie cheeseburgers, which are a little less bad), and I can only eat foods that are kosher-certified, which excludes some pre-packaged foods (although a lot of foods are kosher-certified, which is pretty cool). Sometimes it's hard to see products that I think I'd enjoy but aren't kosher-certified (like the veggie burritos I keep seeing at Target), but mostly it doesn't limit my eating as much as you think. Oh, and kosher eating at Disney is interesting ... almost every TS restaurant can provide pre-packaged kosher food with advance notice (personally, we love BOG), and some QS restaurants have pre-packaged kosher meals available on demand.
My favorite exercises are walking and running (but I do other assorted exercise too), and I love runDisney races. I actually did my first non-Disney race last week ... here's a picture of me running:
View attachment 138237

What a great HAPPY picture!!

My biggest obstacle is me. I always find excuses. Whether its blaming stress or my family or just life ... I will look for any excuse that isn't just "I made a mistake." I need to remember that there is no "mistake" from which I cannot recover ... so I need to acknowledge the mistakes, learn from them, and move on.

And of course, that is how we make PROGRESS.... by acknowledging and learning from our mistakes!!

Also ... the festival of fried food next week (Chanukah) is going to be a fun one.


Mmmmmm... latkes and kugel and lots of yummies!

Okay, I think that about covers everything you need to know about me.

Oh man, we're out of apples! (And even before we were out of apples, all we had were golden delicious ... I'm not wild about red apples)
I really need to put apples on the shopping list!

No apples in my house almost equals a crisis situation!! They are my fruit of choice and I eat one (or more) every single day! I'm not normally a fan of golden delicious, but our grafted tree produced some this year and they were fantastic!

Okay, that's all I got for today. I'm hoping to be an active participant this month, and I look forward to chatting with everyone!

So glad to have you here!

I have made some Disney themed kids' hats, and a few Mickey dishcloths. I am planning a Disney-themed blanket, but have put that on hold until after the holidays. I don't have any patterns, I just made them up as I went, but I could write them up if you want them!

Share pictures???

It was difficult to find places that didn't seem like scams. However, with the company I am with right now, I am considered an independent contractor, but they supply all trainings and media-related things. The cash flow does take a while to start, as you need to build a client base, book their trips, and then get paid a month after their trip, but the up-front costs can be very low if you decide you want them to be!

Sounds interesting!!

I'm here! I love the Carousel of Progress and I love, love, love this theme!!

Awwww.... I'm glad you do!!

My name is Maggie, I'm 42, and have been on a quest to lose somewhere between 60-80 pounds since mid-June. I've been loving this group since I started participating in July and am excited to start. New month! I started out with my dog, my Fitbit, and MFP as my weight loss tools and joined WW after the first 15 pounds. I lost 5 more pounds, moved to the just plain overweight BMI club, and then just sort of ran out of steam. Instead of GETTING IT DONE, I spent most of October and November gaining and losing the same two pounds, dipping in an out of Onederland. Definitely not a fault of the program - I simply haven't been executing.

Plan for this month is back to basics since I've got a lot going on and I need to take good care of myself so that I've got the energy to keep going. I've got 10 more days of work at my current job (yikes) and then will be taking a few weeks off to study study study before starting my new job in January and sitting for the bar exam in February. I'm hoping the big secret impending changes to WW that will be announced next week will be the golden ticket! I weighed in this morning at 201 on the dot, had an ON PLAN day. Made time for meditation, 11,829 steps (mostly in the rain) , ate all of my daily points + only 1 weekly, and met every one of the good health guidelines.

String 30 more days like that together (with an exception or two for holiday festivities) and I'll have my best month ever! I'm trying to be realistic, however, and after taking a serious look at the calendar I'm aiming for a 4 pound loss this month. That will put me firmly in Onederland and will also be slightly more than 10% off my original starting weight. Not a bad way to end the year!

Wowza... it does sound like you are on track for a FABULOUSLY successful December!! Glad you sound excited about the new WW changes that are on the horizon! My group actually sounded a bit leary.

I'm here! I'm a little late but I'm here! Put me down for 10 lbs! I'm sticking with a nice healthy goal that will still make me push myself. I hope I crush it and form some healthy habits along the way. I have quite a few pounds to lose and am still at the start of my weight loss journey. I'll be training for my first half (I'm still salty about W&D) in February which may or may not be a ridiculous choice seeing as I live in the Northeast of the US and that's where the race is. Um.. about me, I have two bunnies that are spoiled beyond words. Like they have their own bedroom not a cage level of spoiled. I'm also not as alt as the Alice in my avatar, but I am a tattooed Disney fan.

So...

Goal: Lose 10lbs

Plan: Calorie monitoring with MFP (I refuse to call it counting), and more cross training on off running days. That stationary bike will be my best friend come the first of January.

Obstacle: Oddly enough the holidays shouldn't be a factor for me as I'm not really celebrating like a lot of people do. My issue is me, and my excuses. Last month was full of them! Some valid, some not.

Love the idea of calorie "MONITORING"!! Setting yourself up for a great December!

Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope you are all still feeling that new month motivation!

I seem to be truly getting over my cold. Yesterday I finally got a decent number of steps again. I even went for a walk in the evening, because I could not resist snacking after dinner. So those cheese calories needed to be burned. I missed my daily goal, but still got a decent deficit. So, I am quite happy with myself. Then this morning I stepped on the scale and I am down over 2 pounds from yesterday. I am undecided as to what to do with my monthly goal. Do I take today's weight as my start weight or do I adjust my goal. I guess yesterday was just one of those days with the mystery pounds... I am leaning towards to just going for a goal of 5 pounds instead of 3 pounds, mainly because that will already put me at 40% towards my goal and that is a nice motivation boost.

I had my share of apples yesterday. Not really any totally red one. I had two Belle de Boskoop (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_de_Boskoop), a very sour apple that often is used as a cooking apple here, and one Elstar (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elstar). Elstar are the most common apples in Germany and I love them because they are sweet and sour at the same time and very juicy.

Those apples sound delicious! Especially the Elstar!

I love the idea of boosting your motivation with a new goal.... but you don't want to psych yourself out either. Think on it and decide what is best for you!

********************
Phew.... caught up to here! And the participants list is up to date as well! Adding one more name to the Instagram list and I should be able to consider everything caught up! Off to teach!.........P

 

[pjlla]

Yup. I've got that skirt, which I bought (and is amazing), plus a skirt I made out of stretchy fabric, plus two other old skirts that are a lot more comfortable than the denim skirt. My running wardrobe has increased by a lot over the past year.

Love an excuse to pad the wardrobe a bit more!!

It's one of those things that not everyone knows. The story Chanukah has oil as a big component, so there's a lot of frying foods in oil - latkes (potato pancakes), donuts, and pretty much anything else that you can fry in oil. It's delicious, but a little fattening.

But SO YUMMMMYYYY!

This x1000!! Every month is a new opportunity for success!

Yes, yes, yes!

I kinda did this yesterday, but just to write it out more simply:
GOAL: Lose 3 lbs
PLAN:

• Be a more mindful eater
• Track my meals and snacks whenever possible
• Exercise 6x per week (including running 3x/week)

---

Happy Wednesday, friends!
I had a pretty good day yesterday - mostly stuck to my plan (skipped one snack and had to modify my other planned snack because we didn't have celery), and got in some good exercise, including almost 4 miles of running!

Today may be a little harder than yesterday - the plan is to do some shopping with my sister, and somehow when I go shopping with my sister, I end up eating like my sister (aka more junk food than I would usually eat). I definitely have to put some effort into sticking with my planned meals, bringing a healthy snack with me, and planning what I will get at Starbucks so that I don't end up with a sugary latte. We were also planning to walk to the store (it's about 25-30 minutes), but with rain in the forecast, that may not happen, so I'll have to find another way to get in some exercise.

So ... that's what's on my agenda for today. How's everyone else's Wednesday looking - anything exciting going on?

Be a good FOOD example for your sister (if she tends to eat more unhealthy)... don't talk about it much.... just lead by example! It will do good for both of you!

Have fun with the shopping... hope the rain holds off!

I am intending to head out for a bit of shopping after school today myself. I'm feeling a bit behind schedule and while I normally wouldn't go out after school, with DD coming home this weekend it may be my last chance to shop ALONE! .............P

 

[acbshada]

I have made some Disney themed kids' hats, and a few Mickey dishcloths. I am planning a Disney-themed blanket, but have put that on hold until after the holidays. I don't have any patterns, I just made them up as I went, but I could write them up if you want them!

Thank you for the offer, but I definitely wouldn't want you to have to take up time to write them up. I'm curious about your idea for the blanket, though. Planning on different Disney-themed squares and seaming them together?

Today may be a little harder than yesterday - the plan is to do some shopping with my sister, and somehow when I go shopping with my sister, I end up eating like my sister (aka more junk food than I would usually eat). I definitely have to put some effort into sticking with my planned meals, bringing a healthy snack with me, and planning what I will get at Starbucks so that I don't end up with a sugary latte. We were also planning to walk to the store (it's about 25-30 minutes), but with rain in the forecast, that may not happen, so I'll have to find another way to get in some exercise.

So ... that's what's on my agenda for today. How's everyone else's Wednesday looking - anything exciting going on?

Sarah - I hope you have fun shopping with your sister and that your food-plan goes well for today! Looks like anticipated all of the potential pit-falls, and you've got a plan for each one. So that's a great start! But no matter what, just have a good day with family. That's what really matters.

Exciting? Nope. I had plans to go to the community center tonight and run with the DH, but alas, illness has plagued me. (How's that for drama?) Seriously, what I kept trying to convince myself was allergies is really a cold/virus thing. I'm horribly exhausted and I only came into work today so I could work on two "rush" projects...which aren't being "rushed" to me at all. *sigh* So no work out tonight, I think.

As usual, our first week will involve getting to know more about each other and ourselves! Tell us about your GOAL for this month and your PLAN to make PROGRESS on that goal! ( I noticed many of you did this yesterday when you introduced yourself.... that's great... you're ahead of schedule!) Also tell us how you came up with the username that you use here on the Dis!!!

I mentioned my goal and plan yesterday, but I'll state it again. Why not?

Goal: Continue with prep-training and start the real training schedule on December 16th for my first ever runDisney event (and my first 10K in the history of ever).

Goal Measures:
1. Complete at least 3 days at the community center gym/track each week.
2. Track times and progress of each training session.
3. Record each visit and times in my Darth Vader journal.

How I Came Up With My Username:
This has been my username since the dawn of the interwebs, basically. lol It took the first, middle, and last initial of my maiden name and combined it with a nickname that was given to me in highschool: Shada. Shada came from a character in the Star Wars expanded universe books - Shada D'ukal. She was created by one of my favorite authors, Timothy Zahn. At that time, the new group of “geeky” highschool friends I fell into accidentally all had Star Wars nicknames. Only a few of ours stuck, and mine just happened to be one of the “sticky” ones. It’s true that I’ll answer to both “Shada” and my real name just as easily. lol

 

[acbshada]

I agree.... I was a Home Ec major in college and I learned pattern drafting and all kinds of advanced sewing techniques.... and I still want to throw the bobbin across the room at times!

I missed this one while I was writing up my reply! But oh my gosh, I am so impressed!! And I'm serious about that! I would love to learn stuff like that – it’s just so interesting but so daunting to take it on by yourself.

 

[DVCFan1994]

Dec 2

As usual, our first week will involve getting to know more about each other and ourselves! Tell us about your GOAL for this month and your PLAN to make PROGRESS on that goal! ( I noticed many of you did this yesterday when you introduced yourself.... that's great... you're ahead of schedule!) Also tell us how you came up with the username that you use here on the Dis!!!



And to know a bit more about Disney.....

IN 1935:

Marc Davis begins working as an apprentice animator at the Walt Disney Studio. He would go on to become one of Walt's "Nine Old Men" and create such memorable Disney characters as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Tinker Bell and Cruella de Vil! He also had a hand in helping to design all four of Disney's 1964 New York World's Fair attractions - Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, The Carousel of Progress, Magic Skyways and "it's a small world".

My goal for this month will be the same as last month, lose 4 pounds. That is a bit less than a pound a week, giving myself breathing room for the busy schedule that will impact my workout routine.

My plan is to exercise daily, even if it is a walk, I want to get in 45 minutes every day. I joined the Runners World Run Streak, which means running a minimum of one mile everyday. I am 7 days in, on days where I only run one mile, I will cross train to make up the difference. I am also working on really tweaking my nutrition. I was doing a great for a while, but I am sort of in a rut right now, and I need to stop grabbing a handful of this or that too often during the day. Each little grab is not bad, but the add up to very counter productive to my plan.

My username is pretty simple. I am a DVC fan. My parents joined in 1994, and we've been enjoying it since. I love the extra room and having a full kitchen on vacation. I was added as a member in 2011, as I use their points and it was easier for my parents to just add me and my siblings.

My husband is out of town for the week, keeping me busier than ever, so I may be less chatty this week, but I will be following along and hope to get more involved next week.

 

[Flossbolna]

QOTD:

Goal:

• lose 5 pounds by the end of the year and therefore
  
• end the year with a weight that is in the normal range!

Plan:

• track all my food with my fitbit app
• walk to and from work every day (2 miles one way)
• Plan A: run for at least 30 minutes three times a week
• Plan B: if runs cannot happen due to winter weather: use Jillian Michael's DVDs for 30 minutes of exercise (ideally I would like to try to get all my runs and do the DVDs in addition, but I am not sure I will have the time, so I don't want to make unrealistic plans)

Username:

Floß is the village I grew up in (ß is a special German letter that can be transcribed as "ss") and Bolna was our family dog. She was a keeshond and all around lovely and fluffy (and a little overweight... our fault though, not hers). This is a picture of a keeshond, which actually looks very similar to the real Bolna:

So, in case you thought I was very big about flossing my teeth and that's where my username came from, you are wrong!!! It never occured to me that Floss could have a meaning as a word in the English language when I picked that username...

 

[Lady Marie]

I'm spending December preparing listings so that I can - hopefully - go live with an Etsy shop in January. I've said for years that my dream job would be someone paying me to stay home and craft... So I'm going to try and make it happen. I'm pretty much terrified. Ha.

That sounds awesome! I hope you share a link when it's finished!

Dec 2

As usual, our first week will involve getting to know more about each other and ourselves! Tell us about your GOAL for this month and your PLAN to make PROGRESS on that goal! ( I noticed many of you did this yesterday when you introduced yourself.... that's great... you're ahead of schedule!) Also tell us how you came up with the username that you use here on the Dis!!!



And to know a bit more about Disney.....

IN 1935:

Marc Davis begins working as an apprentice animator at the Walt Disney Studio. He would go on to become one of Walt's "Nine Old Men" and create such memorable Disney characters as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Tinker Bell and Cruella de Vil! He also had a hand in helping to design all four of Disney's 1964 New York World's Fair attractions - Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, The Carousel of Progress, Magic Skyways and "it's a small world".

I touched on the first part yesterday, but as for my username, I just LOVE Marie.... 'cause she's a lady, that's why! LOL!

Good luck with the holiday food and drinks! And what exactly is a "hooley"?

I love your elopement story! We had a nephew who eloped this past summer to Portugal and honestly, I can't blame them one bit! It was sweet and romantic and OBVIOUSLY about THEM and not about making it a huge blow-out event! Care to share pictures????

A hooley is a party--- and with DHs family, it involves a lot of gin and tonics Maybe I'll bring my own diet tonic... doesn't have quiet the same flavor but my goodness, the sugar in tonic is crazy!!!

And I LOVE sharing our wedding pictures. We were on the photographers blog earlier this year so that's the easiest place to see. Here is the link: http://westcoastweddingsireland.com/an-irish-west-coast-wedding/

It was actually kinda fun to look through those today. I liked that weight. Could stand to loose a little more after that, but it was a comfortable place for me. Inspiration for today!

 

[courtneybeth]

Dec 2

Also tell us how you came up with the username that you use here on the Dis!!!

My name is Courtney Beth

 

[pjlla]

A hooley is a party--- and with DHs family, it involves a lot of gin and tonics Maybe I'll bring my own diet tonic... doesn't have quiet the same flavor but my goodness, the sugar in tonic is crazy!!!

And I LOVE sharing our wedding pictures. We were on the photographers blog earlier this year so that's the easiest place to see. Here is the link: http://westcoastweddingsireland.com/an-irish-west-coast-wedding/

It was actually kinda fun to look through those today. I liked that weight. Could stand to loose a little more after that, but it was a comfortable place for me. Inspiration for today!

Um..... OMGOSH!!!! Amazing wedding pictures! TOTALLY outstanding!! I can see why you choose that spot! You (and DH) look amazing!! Thank you for sharing!!.........P

 

[meghammy]

Oh, yes! I am in the same boat here! Have you tried checking out some fitness DVDs? I really like the Jillian Michael exercises and a lot of her videos are actually on youtube as well.

I would never want to live in Florida, summers are far too hot in my opinion! But I hope you will be able to make it work for you!

So envious of the TA status and the possible move to Orlando!!

I second what Flossbolna said about finding some exercise DVDs or Youtube videos. It is amazing what you can do with a video, a pair of yoga pants, and a little bit of floor space!

I have tried the at-home videos. My first attempt out, my lovely neighbor below me started screaming up the hallway stairs that I was being too loud. So no more in-home Jillian for me.

We had discussed the heat, but we are so very sick of the cold northern winters, and all of our Florida vacations have been in August with 100+ degree days, so we figure we'll try it out for a year and see what happens from there!

So far, I love being a TA!

Thank you for the offer, but I definitely wouldn't want you to have to take up time to write them up. I'm curious about your idea for the blanket, though. Planning on different Disney-themed squares and seaming them together?

As of right now, that's the plan. Either color blocks that represent the characters or geometric interpretations inside the squares. I could also do graph squares of whichever characters I choose, but that usually takes a LOT of time, and I'm not sure how much time I'll have/want to spend on this after Christmas!

As far as pictures for @pjlla, here you go:

Dec 2

As usual, our first week will involve getting to know more about each other and ourselves! Tell us about your GOAL for this month and your PLAN to make PROGRESS on that goal! ( I noticed many of you did this yesterday when you introduced yourself.... that's great... you're ahead of schedule!) Also tell us how you came up with the username that you use here on the Dis!!!

Well, I posted my goals and plan yesterday, so I'll post them again today
My Goal: To maintain my current weight, not gain any, and anything lost will be considered a bonus!

My Methods:

• Monitor what I'm eating, skipping fast food for something healthier
• Decreasing portions as often as possible. With the holidays coming up, this becomes more difficult, but not impossible.
• Increasing the amount of water I drink
• Increasing my activity, which is difficult for me right now since it is cold and snowy outside

How I got my Dis name:
It's essentially a shortened version of my name that I've used since I got my first username back in the late 1990s. My first name is Megan, and I went by Meg for a LONG time, and Hammy is a nickname for my dad's side of the family, so that kind of stuck. I wasn't very creative when I came up with it, but now it has stuck and I kinda like it lol

 

[LindseyJo22]

Posted my goals, but I'll join in for today too!

My Goal: To maintain my current weight for the month of December - anything lost will be an extra bonus, but the month is so crazy I'm not stressing myself out with a number to lose!

My Methods:

• Calorie counting with the Loseit app
• Walking with my fitbit - aiming for 60 minutes in the morning when I'm home, and going for a walk or some kind of exercise for 20-30 minutes when I'm with family. My in-laws just got a treadmill they said we could use, so I'm super happy about that! And my mom's neighborhood has plenty of sidewalks for walking
• Finding decent options for fast food or quick food when we're on the road this month
• Decreasing portions for unhealthy food (or home-cooked food I just don't know anything about)

How I got my Dis name:
It's basically a mashup of my first and middle name - most places I use Lissi as a weird nickname that has evolved with a friend of mine, but it was taken or something when I signed up for the Dis. 22 is a number that I used to have all the time when I was in elementary school and they would give us numbers so we could keep up with our paperwork and such, so I tend to use it in usernames because it's easy to remember Nothing super interesting.

Lots of other places (Ravelry, Instagram, etc.) I'm snarkypirate. That grew out of a short obsession with the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and the fact that I can be very sarcastic when I want to be (but snarky sounds cooler). I still love it, and it doesn't come up as taken very often, which is also a plus! Don't know why I didn't go with that for this forum

 

[courtneybeth]

Having a difficult day at work today and taking a mental break to plan out my races for 2016.

So far it looks like i'm running:

• 2/7 - Superbowl Sunday 5K
• 3/6 - Coaster Run 5K at Knotts Berry Farm
• 3/12 - FroYo Run 5K
• 5/7 - Tinkerbell 10 <- My first 10K and what I'm training for!

Races in the back-half of the year haven't been scheduled. These are just all training in prep of doing Couch to 10K for that Tinkerbell race at Disneyland.

 

[meghammy]

Lots of other places (Ravelry, Instagram, etc.) I'm snarkypirate. That grew out of a short obsession with the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and the fact that I can be very sarcastic when I want to be (but snarky sounds cooler). I still love it, and it doesn't come up as taken very often, which is also a plus! Don't know why I didn't go with that for this forum

I just added you as a friend on Ravelry, my name there is also meghammy! I love finding new crafty friends

 

[pjlla]

As of right now, that's the plan. Either color blocks that represent the characters or geometric interpretations inside the squares. I could also do graph squares of whichever characters I choose, but that usually takes a LOT of time, and I'm not sure how much time I'll have/want to spend on this after Christmas!

As far as pictures for @pjlla, here you go: View attachment 138309 View attachment 138310 View attachment 138311 View attachment 138312 View attachment 138313 View attachment 138314 View attachment 138315 View attachment 138316

Those are great! I had to see them on the bigger screen at home to figure out what I was looking at. I want one of EACH!

Well, I posted my goals and plan yesterday, so I'll post them again today
My Goal: To maintain my current weight, not gain any, and anything lost will be considered a bonus!

My Methods:

• Monitor what I'm eating, skipping fast food for something healthier
• Decreasing portions as often as possible. With the holidays coming up, this becomes more difficult, but not impossible.
• Increasing the amount of water I drink
• Increasing my activity, which is difficult for me right now since it is cold and snowy outside

How I got my Dis name:
It's essentially a shortened version of my name that I've used since I got my first username back in the late 1990s. My first name is Megan, and I went by Meg for a LONG time, and Hammy is a nickname for my dad's side of the family, so that kind of stuck. I wasn't very creative when I came up with it, but now it has stuck and I kinda like it lol

Love your user name!

Posted my goals, but I'll join in for today too!

My Goal: To maintain my current weight for the month of December - anything lost will be an extra bonus, but the month is so crazy I'm not stressing myself out with a number to lose!

My Methods:

• Calorie counting with the Loseit app
• Walking with my fitbit - aiming for 60 minutes in the morning when I'm home, and going for a walk or some kind of exercise for 20-30 minutes when I'm with family. My in-laws just got a treadmill they said we could use, so I'm super happy about that! And my mom's neighborhood has plenty of sidewalks for walking
• Finding decent options for fast food or quick food when we're on the road this month
• Decreasing portions for unhealthy food (or home-cooked food I just don't know anything about)

How I got my Dis name:
It's basically a mashup of my first and middle name - most places I use Lissi as a weird nickname that has evolved with a friend of mine, but it was taken or something when I signed up for the Dis. 22 is a number that I used to have all the time when I was in elementary school and they would give us numbers so we could keep up with our paperwork and such, so I tend to use it in usernames because it's easy to remember Nothing super interesting.

Lots of other places (Ravelry, Instagram, etc.) I'm snarkypirate. That grew out of a short obsession with the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and the fact that I can be very sarcastic when I want to be (but snarky sounds cooler). I still love it, and it doesn't come up as taken very often, which is also a plus! Don't know why I didn't go with that for this forum

At least your user name sounds like a real name!

Having a difficult day at work today and taking a mental break to plan out my races for 2016.

So far it looks like i'm running:

• 2/7 - Superbowl Sunday 5K
• 3/6 - Coaster Run 5K at Knotts Berry Farm
• 3/12 - FroYo Run 5K
• 5/7 - Tinkerbell 10 <- My first 10K and what I'm training for!

Races in the back-half of the year haven't been scheduled. These are just all training in prep of doing Couch to 10K for that Tinkerbell race at Disneyland.

Wowza.... that's a lot on your schedule!

**************************

Home and dinner is about ready. I was "gifted" the turkey carcass on Friday, so I made a batch of turkey broth and tonight we are having turkey vegetable soup! YUM!

BB in the a.m. to chat!........................P

 

[SarahDisney]

Be a good FOOD example for your sister (if she tends to eat more unhealthy)... don't talk about it much.... just lead by example! It will do good for both of you!

I try ... she's actually pretty good about liking healthy foods (she loves having salad for lunch), but then she also wants the unhealthy foods too. Last time we went to the mall we had to get our free chocolate at Godiva, and we almost got hot chocolate too (which is delicious but fattening sometimes). So it's more a matter of convincing her that she can have the junk food if she wants, but I'm not having any.

Exciting? Nope. I had plans to go to the community center tonight and run with the DH, but alas, illness has plagued me. (How's that for drama?) Seriously, what I kept trying to convince myself was allergies is really a cold/virus thing. I'm horribly exhausted and I only came into work today so I could work on two "rush" projects...which aren't being "rushed" to me at all. *sigh* So no work out tonight, I think.

Sorry to hear you've been sick ... I hope that now that you're acknowledging that it's a cold/virus, it starts to get better and you can be back to your regular workout schedule soon!

Goal: Continue with prep-training and start the real training schedule on December 16th for my first ever runDisney event (and my first 10K in the history of ever).

runDisney events are awesome! I'm doing my first 10K in January, and from what I hear people seem to really love the Disney 10Ks. Plus, with proper training, hopefully you can get to a good pace where you can stop for lots of characters and pictures!

So, in case you thought I was very big about flossing my teeth and that's where my username came from, you are wrong!!! It never occured to me that Floss could have a meaning as a word in the English language when I picked that username...

That's pretty funny ... it's always interesting to see when words or names we know well have a meaning in a different language.

And I LOVE sharing our wedding pictures. We were on the photographers blog earlier this year so that's the easiest place to see. Here is the link: http://westcoastweddingsireland.com/an-irish-west-coast-wedding/

Those pictures are amazing! You guys look incredible and so happy, and the setting is so beautiful.

Having a difficult day at work today and taking a mental break to plan out my races for 2016.

That's a nice way to take a break. I hope your day got better!
I haven't even started on my 2016 race schedule (minus runDisney). I should probably think about it eventually...

---

Since I didn't cover it earlier ... my username was really hard to come up with. My name is Sarah, and since this is a Disney forum, I attached "Disney" to the end. Really complicated, I know, but it was all I could think of when I signed up.

Shopping today was fun ... but because of the rain, we took the bus there instead of walking. I'll probably do a Leslie Sansone WATP video later tonight to make up for the missed exercise time. I managed to mostly stay on plan, and the one off snack plan I had wasn't too bad. So overall ... not a bad day.

 

[DisPup75]

Dec 2

As usual, our first week will involve getting to know more about each other and ourselves! Tell us about your GOAL for this month and your PLAN to make PROGRESS on that goal! ( I noticed many of you did this yesterday when you introduced yourself.... that's great... you're ahead of schedule!) Also tell us how you came up with the username that you use here on the Dis!!!



And to know a bit more about Disney.....

IN 1935:

Marc Davis begins working as an apprentice animator at the Walt Disney Studio. He would go on to become one of Walt's "Nine Old Men" and create such memorable Disney characters as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Tinker Bell and Cruella de Vil! He also had a hand in helping to design all four of Disney's 1964 New York World's Fair attractions - Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, The Carousel of Progress, Magic Skyways and "it's a small world".

My goal this month is to lose 4 pounds!

My plan is to:

1. Actually follow my plan.
2. Stick to my WW points, including activity points or weekly points (or whatever they turn into on Sunday). I finally stopped double tracking on MFP and WW and the new WW app changes are driving my batty. I'm hoping some of the bugs get ironed out quickly because I really like some of the rumored changes I've heard about but my tracking problems are not making me happy.
3. Walk 310,000 steps (per my Fitbit).
4. Meditate for at least 10 minutes every day.

My user name: my old user name involved my feline overlord but I'm unfortunately locked out of the account and don't have access to the email I used to create it and so can't reset. Since the cat got the old name, I decided the dog should get the glory this time around. It's worked out since I've been spending most of my Dis time on is thread and Lexi is my weight loss super companion. The Dis part is of course a nod to our overarching theme and the 75 is in honor of my DH.

 

[DisPup75]

I've got lots of things I want to say in response to today's posts (I always love this group) but just have time for one so I'm going to make it count!

@Lady Marie - OMG those photos are gorgeous! I love everything about the elopement, the site, the photos.... And I never use OMG!

 

[flvy]

Dec 2

As usual, our first week will involve getting to know more about each other and ourselves! Tell us about your GOAL for this month and your PLAN to make PROGRESS on that goal! ( I noticed many of you did this yesterday when you introduced yourself.... that's great... you're ahead of schedule!) Also tell us how you came up with the username that you use here on the Dis!!!

My goal is still the 10lbs. I have enough extra weight that this is a pretty accessible and realistic goal. My plan entails not falling when I stumble. As in today I ate more than I wanted to for dinner, but that doesn't mean I all out binged on a dessert. I adjusted to no dessert and moved on. I'm also refusing to let work stress get to me this month. When I walk out of work, work is done.

As for my username. I was on a site years ago where russian spam bots took over. All the usernames were these cool looking things with no vowels. I played around with letters and landed on Flvy. How do you say it? No idea! Mentally I normally say Fly-v.

 

[courtneybeth]

Croque Glace

Expect pic spam of FOUR Croque Glaces. All of us will order them and I'll make sure to have their sammiches pose for a picture.
(Croque Glace is the evil villain to our weight loss story, for real!)

I'm spending December preparing listings so that I can - hopefully - go live with an Etsy shop in January

I will buy something from you to help support your business.

I haven't even started on my 2016 race schedule (minus runDisney). I should probably think about it eventually...

That's what I did! I have my races planned for Disney - Doing the 10K for Tink and Avengers, but doing the 5K for Disneyland because my dad wants to run the race with me and I promised that as his 65th birthday gift that I'd help him cross that item off his bucket list.

The Knotts race is still up in the air. I'm worried about parking lot woes. Also, Boysenberry pie.

 

[pjlla]

TODAY IN DISNEY HISTORY............

Dec 3, 2010:

Filming for Disney's Christmas Day Parade takes place at Walt Disney World with host Ryan Seacrest and singer Mariah Carey.


(Were any of you there for that???) I don't know about you, but I am kind of lukewarm on the Disney Christmas Day parades. Sometimes I love them, sometimes I don't. That being said, the Mariah Carey version of “All I Want for Christmas” sung in the MK is a favorite of mine! It makes me want to get up and dance!

What are you going to do today to get UP AND MOVE!?? Do you have a walk/run/exercise class scheduled? Maybe you'll grab your favorite pooch and take a good long hike? Share today's exercise plan!