WISH Away the Pounds -- Spectacular September Challenge!

[Ellie Badge]

I'm in, a few days late because of the holiday where I indulged way too much and need this board to focus in before our EF&WF trip in just a few weeks! Finding this board is great for motivation and tracking my progress is really helping. Just a little bit at a time, and a little bit of patience,....

 

[pjlla]

Hey all! Just wanted let you know I've been out of whack with a stomach bug for a few days (after a busy holiday weekend and all) and that is why I haven't had a chance to pop on here and reserve my seat. But please save space for me! Hoping to feel better and up to chatting soon! I'll try to be on tomorrow........P

 

[Tasha228]

WATP Musings Motivational Monday, September 1, 2014: Please introduce yourself and share your goals for the challenge and how you plan to reach your goals. Remember as always you don't have to share your weight.

I just joined this challenge. I am Tasha, 33, single mother of 2. Currently going thru divorce and have come to find I'm better and happier without him. I have already lost 25 lbs since he left but still have a little ways to go.

My goal for the month is 4 lbs. I walk (and run a little) usually 5 nights a week. I take my kids with me and we've made it a family get healthy type of project. I don't eat a ton of junk or fast food anymore and I've cut down on the amount I eat. I don't believe in dieting so I may indulge in a small treat on occasion, though not often as I know my limitations. It is clearly working and I feel better than I have in a long time and have a ton more energy and my clothes fit so much better! I plan to just keep doing what I'm doing for now.

 

[lisah0711]

Hello!
I'm Andrea.

Goal: Lose at least 5 lbs in September
Method: Cardio (running) with some toning thrown in (squats and kettlebells); Less snacking, better drink choices

Background: Overweight as long as I can remember. I'd had some losses in college but it was unhealthy and I gained it all back plus some. I maxed out at 299 lbs a few years ago but let myself get very close to that again at the end of 2012. I made the decision last year to have weight loss surgery after being diagnosed with hypertension at the ripe age of 32 and having a dream/nightmare than my hemoglobin a1c was 10+. I worked in the cardiac cath lab as a nurse so I was well aware of the risks that my obesity caused and knew heart disease was well known in my family.

I had a sleeve gastrectomy in December 2013. My "honeymoon" period is over- weight doesn't fall off like it did in the beginning. I can easily cheat and eat the wrong foods. I don't cheat often but there is always that fear that I'll screw this up and gain it all back. My doctors called it the honeymoon period and said this is the point where stalls occur. Weight loss can still occur but now the effort has to be put in (not that there wasn't effort before- it's one of the hardest things I've ever done and I want to throat punch anyone who calls it the "easy way out").

I've registered for a half marathon in Cocoa Beach on November 30th. We cruise on the Dream December 1st and then we'll have a stay at AKL after the cruise. My plan is to do a better job of watching what I eat, especially since it's time for all of the good Halloween candy to come out! I've done a few 5k's but have never ran the entire length and cannot run an entire mile yet but I've come so far from where I was. I've registered for several 5k's throughout the fall and a 10k in early November.

My long term goal is to be in "Onederland" by my one year surgery mark (12/19). I'm nervous about this because this will be one week after we return from WDW. I'd love to be at 100 lbs down but I think that might be stretching it into unrealistic time frames or an incredibly strict diet. I'll start with my "at least five" and go from there- at least 5/month will put me in Onderland by my surgeryversary!

ETA- And of course since I've decided to really amp up my training and cardio my body sucker punched me and I have a URI.

Andrea! What an exciting year you've had! Kudos to you for taking charge of your healthy lifestyle. Good luck!

I'd like to hear more about the races you are doing. I've been running for four years and I've yet to run a mile without walking -- I'm slow but I have fabulous endurance! Sounds like you have some good races coming up!

hello fellow LOSERS! great to read everyone's intro!

got my big WO in, my regular Wed WO which is 30 mins elliptical and then a strength class. I'm dragging this week and almost didn't go so I'm here to give myself a shout out!

looks like everyone has realistic goals this month and I'm determined to make it happen!! you with me???!!!

Shout out to you, Molli, for working out even when you didn't feel like it! Let's do this!

I'm in, a few days late because of the holiday where I indulged way too much and need this board to focus in before our EF&WF trip in just a few weeks! Finding this board is great for motivation and tracking my progress is really helping. Just a little bit at a time, and a little bit of patience,....

Ellie! Good luck!

Hey all! Just wanted let you know I've been out of whack with a stomach bug for a few days (after a busy holiday weekend and all) and that is why I haven't had a chance to pop on here and reserve my seat. But please save space for me! Hoping to feel better and up to chatting soon! I'll try to be on tomorrow........P

So sorry that you have the bug, Pamela! for speedy healing!

I just joined this challenge. I am Tasha, 33, single mother of 2. Currently going thru divorce and have come to find I'm better and happier without him. I have already lost 25 lbs since he left but still have a little ways to go.

My goal for the month is 4 lbs. I walk (and run a little) usually 5 nights a week. I take my kids with me and we've made it a family get healthy type of project. I don't eat a ton of junk or fast food anymore and I've cut down on the amount I eat. I don't believe in dieting so I may indulge in a small treat on occasion, though not often as I know my limitations. It is clearly working and I feel better than I have in a long time and have a ton more energy and my clothes fit so much better! I plan to just keep doing what I'm doing for now.

Tasha! Sounds like you are making lots of exciting changes in your life! Good luck!

P.S. Neener, neener poof fairy!

 

[lisah0711]

Good morning all!

We are off to a great start on our shiny new September challenge!

A friendly reminder that tomorrow is weigh in day. It helps me to quickly update your percentages to have your subject line read "W/I 9/5 XXX.X (your weight number) when you send your PM.

Here is the schedule for the month. Please volunteer for ONE day or more to pose the Musing.

Monday 9/1 lisah0711
Friday 9/5 Flossbolna
Monday 9/8 SarahDisney
Friday 9/12 pjlla
Monday 9/15 SarahDisney
Friday 9/19 YOUR NAME HERE
Monday 9/22 Flossbolna
Friday 9/26 YOUR NAME HERE
Monday 9/29 lisah0711

I still need two brave souls to volunteer to post a Musings question later this month -- they are both Well Being Week-end question slots. It is fun when we have several different people doing questions. Any volunteers? Send me a PM if you are interested.

Good luck to everyone on their weigh in tomorrow and I will leave you with this Thought for Thursday:

image www.lifefitter.com

 

[pjlla]

Morning all! While I am not feeling 100% wonderful, I am back to work today (at school) and ready to hop back on with you all!!

After a busy week last week with DD going back on Monday and a full day of fun with DS on Wednesday and then his first day of Junior year on Thursday, I hopped back in the car Friday morning to go back to pick up DD for the long weekend. Normally she might have stayed on campus, but since she was literally home all summer for just 4 days, she wanted another few days here !! Plus my parents came up to visit for a day and of course there was the usual groceries, yard work, etc, etc. Monday I drove DD back to school but we were both feeling a little punk. I slept very poorly Monday night due to headache, neck pain, and off-and-on nausea. I woke up Tuesday morning feeling like a limp dishrag with ongoing waves of nausea and no appetite. I managed to drag myself to work at my WW meeting that night, but it was a true struggle. And I laid low yesterday.... but I thought/hoped I would be well today when they called me to work. I am better, but stomach is still feeling touchy and I'm treating it with kid gloves.

I am ready to get back to "real" life with the school and work schedule and of COURSE, that means committing time here DAILY to help keep me on track!

Off to read and reply what I've missed so far this month!.............P

 

[ohMom]

Tasha! I love your attitude and strategy!!

Pam I'm glad you are feeling better!

OT -- I'm doing some preliminary looking for a short stay at WDW in March, has anyone gone to the flower and garden festival on the first day? do you think everything will be displayed when it opens? I've never been and would be so disappointed if I got there and realized not everything was up, that would be very un-Disney like but just thought I'd throw it out there

winding down the week with the day pre-WI and I'm hoping for a little loss but I'm not counting on it. just doesn't feel like it's been enough days yet back on the wagon to see results

 

[pjlla]

I am totally in for September!!

I will PM you tomorrow.

WOOOHOO Friend! So glad to have you back!

Good morning all!

Welcome to our Spectacular September 2014 Challenge!

I am Lisa and I will be your hostess this month. I've been an active member of WISH since 2009. And every year since then I've started the new year weighing less than I did before. Although it seems to be taking me forever to reach my goal weight, I see the end in sight. I've made lifelong friends thanks to WISH and done things I never realized I could do because WISH gave me the courage to start!

You are my HERO.... my lead example of the "never give up" attitude that is so important with this type of life change!! You owe it to yourself to hang out with these wonderful folks and take charge of your healthy life once and for all!

WATP Musings Motivational Monday, September 1, 2014: Please introduce yourself and share your goals for the challenge and how you plan to reach your goals. Remember as always you don't have to share your weight.

I am a Mom (DS 16.5 y/o and DD 19), wife (married 22 years this past May), occasional substitute teacher (K-12 but mostly K-4.... and often more full time than part time), WW leader (14 months now). I re-started this weight loss journey for what seemed like the BILLIONTH time on 01/02/2008. We were taking another family trip to WDW and I was determined to not go back fatter than I had been on our previous trip (I had lost 40 pounds during the year prior to the previous trip, but regained 20 of it). I put myself to work and managed to lost over 30 pounds in the 14-ish weeks I had before our mid-April trip. But what clicked after that was that I DIDN'T give up.... as soon as that vacation was over I got RIGHT BACK ON TRACK! I got back to my healthy eating, tracking my foods, weighing my portions and got back to the gym.... and I kept losing.... all the way to goal!!

Since the big "M" hit sometime in the last 12 months, I have been struggling to get back to what I consider the bottom of my maintenance range and I am currently just a hair over my WW goal weight (which keeps things interesting, since I am required to weigh-in for work monthly). But I have NOT given up and I am trying to NOT beat myself up for carrying around these few extra pounds for the past few months (I lost some in the spring before my birthday, but still didn't get to the number I really wanted to see again). I am trying to decide if it is too many splurges combined with not enough exercise, or if truly my hormonal state is playing a role.

Anyhow..... too much rambling! My goal for September is just a mere 2-3 pounds. I know myself, I know my body, and I know that even THIS will be a victory!

Lisa, thank you for hosting this month!! And I like your new set up for the musings, looks great to me. You can sign me up for one Monday and one Friday wherever you need me.

MM:

Hi, I am Magdalene. I am in my early 40s, no kids. But a boyfriend who lives an ocean away.

When I was waiting for my DD to arrive back from Ireland a few weeks ago, I had the chance to observe some very passionate reunions at the International arrivals gate. I imagined you and your BF there. It must be quite the kiss!!

I have always struggled with my weight as a kid and a teenager. I managed to lose a lot during my 20s and following this had a lot of ups and downs. I was always able to hit the breaks before I got to what would be considered obese, but far too often I hover around a BMI of 25/26 while I would like to go down a further 15-20 pounds. I seem to be losing the same pounds over and over again as I go from losing weight to not watching what I eat and putting a few pounds back on to losing it again.

I am going to visit my boyfriend over thanksgiving in the US, so my goal is to make sure to lose a nice amount until then.

Where/when will you be here? It would be great to meet you!

I have recently finished a huge work project that was horribly stressful for the last two years and life should be easier now. I am back into a routine of regular running, still lacking the stamina for longer runs though. But my plan is to keep up running 30 minutes three times a week and hopefully also get a little bit of cross training into it. I also do a lot of walking in my daily life as I am lucky enough to live in a compact European city and I don't own a car.

My goal for this month is to lose 6 pounds. For me this would be quite a big achievement. But I feel I need to challenge myself to stay focussed on my weight loss!

Big goal, but I have confidence in you!!

Good morning all!

We are off to a great start on our shiny new September challenge!

A friendly reminder that tomorrow is weigh in day. It helps me to quickly update your percentages to have your subject line read "W/I 9/5 XXX.X (your weight number) when you send your PM.



I still need two brave souls to volunteer to post a Musings question later this month -- they are both Well Being Week-end question slots. It is fun when we have several different people doing questions. Any volunteers? Send me a PM if you are interested.

Good luck to everyone on their weigh in tomorrow and I will leave you with this Thought for Thursday:

image www.lifefitter.com

Feel free to throw me into another spot if you don't have enough volunteers. I did see your PM earlier, but didn't have a chance to respond yet.

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

Well, that was a quick catch-up!! Welcome back to all of my returning friends and a HUGE WELCOME to any newbies who are joining us!!

Stomach handled my breakfast smoothie okay.... almond milk, 1/2 banana, 1/4 avocado, kale, ginger. It sounded soothing (especially the creamy banana and avocado and the healing ginger), and went down okay. I brought some cold iced tea to sip during the morning (seltzer just didn't sound good) and a greek yogurt with berries for lunch (although I'm not sure I will have any appetite). I have no idea what the scale will look like tomorrow. I over-indulged over the weekend (and I initially thought that was the cause of my stomach distress, but that wouldn't have lasted this long) and I ate virtually nothing on Tuesday (mostly ice water and a bit of watermelon) and yesterday's meals were tiny (toast with PB2 for lunch, a small serving of instant oatmeal for dinner). Not worrying too much about this week's number, as it isn't a true reflection with all of this going on. I will consider my weigh-in from last Friday my starting number for the month and take it from there.

Off to grab my kiddos from art!..............P

 

[SarahDisney]

Hi all! Just checking in to say hi and let you know not to expect to see anything from me over the next few days. I'm taking a bit of an internet break for a few days (except for coming on tomorrow morning to send my weigh-in to Lisa), but I'll be back in time to post Monday's musing. I'll check in and see how everyone's doing then.

Have a great rest of the week and weekend!

 

[happysummer]

Hi everyone
I am hoping to lose 10 pounds this month.

 

[lisah0711]

Morning all! While I am not feeling 100% wonderful, I am back to work today (at school) and ready to hop back on with you all!!

Glad that you are feeling better, Pamela!

A lot of us seem to have managed to catch the first bugs of the school year. Maybe we should congratulate ourselves on getting that out of the way so quickly?

OT -- I'm doing some preliminary looking for a short stay at WDW in March, has anyone gone to the flower and garden festival on the first day? do you think everything will be displayed when it opens? I've never been and would be so disappointed if I got there and realized not everything was up, that would be very un-Disney like but just thought I'd throw it out there

winding down the week with the day pre-WI and I'm hoping for a little loss but I'm not counting on it. just doesn't feel like it's been enough days yet back on the wagon to see results

Molli, I've never been to WDW for F&G -- it's on the list! But I will say that when I've been at WDW for the Princess it is always fun to see the F&G stuff that is already up so I'm guessing by the official day it would all be in place. That would be a great trip!

We are going to WDW for Thanksgiving this year and I can't wait to see all the Christmas decorations again.

Since the big "M" hit sometime in the last 12 months, I have been struggling to get back to what I consider the bottom of my maintenance range and I am currently just a hair over my WW goal weight (which keeps things interesting, since I am required to weigh-in for work monthly). But I have NOT given up and I am trying to NOT beat myself up for carrying around these few extra pounds for the past few months (I lost some in the spring before my birthday, but still didn't get to the number I really wanted to see again). I am trying to decide if it is too many splurges combined with not enough exercise, or if truly my hormonal state is playing a role.

Figuring out what that real goal number should be is always a conundrum for sure. I would suggest hanging out at your WW goal weight for a couple of months and see how that works for you. It may be that the "magic number" in your mind isn't the same number as your body thinks it is. Remember that you are very successful and have maintained at this level for years now.

Hi all! Just checking in to say hi and let you know not to expect to see anything from me over the next few days. I'm taking a bit of an internet break for a few days (except for coming on tomorrow morning to send my weigh-in to Lisa), but I'll be back in time to post Monday's musing. I'll check in and see how everyone's doing then.

Have a great rest of the week and weekend!

Enjoy your tech break, Sarah! See you on Monday!

Hi everyone
I am hoping to lose 10 pounds this month.

happysummer! Good luck!

Remember to PM those numbers to me today so I can update our colors. We already have some changes happening. Add your name to the list!

 

[knewton64]

........you are out and about having fun jogging on a sidewalk and you see out of the corner of your eye what looks to be like a hhuuggee spider......just handing out in mid air!!


So Goofy me, doing my best to be respectful of it but still wanting to get close to it, went a jogging to the far right hand of the side walk........

But little did I know that Mr Spider had spun his web clear across the freakin' sidewalk .....literally from tree to tree!!


YUP!! Ya guessed it!!
So here I am, "apologizing to the Spider for wrecking all its hard work while laughing at the same time trying to get all that spider web 'stuff' OFF MY HEAVILY SWEATING FACE!!


EEEWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!


All in good stride though even thought Ladybug (my 3-yr old Blue Tick Beagle) thought I had suddenly turned weird on her as she looked up and saw me flailing away at my face trying to get that web off of me......



- I was part of your group up until a few months ago. Doing ok.




T.T.F.N.
&
CHEERS Y'ALL

 

[Flossbolna]

Wellbeing Weekend 9/5

First, sorry for the delay in posting this question. I started having an aching tooth yesterday and that totally threw me off as my first priority was to see the dentist today as I was afraid it would get worse over the weekend! But it turned out to be less of an issue, so here is the wellbeing weekend musing for this week:

Topic of the Day: Sleep

As an intro into the topic, there is a excerpt from an article on sparkpeople (taking a clue from Lisa here), the full article can be found here.

How Sleep Loss Affects Weight Loss

1. Hormone function affects the way fat cells respond to the food we eat. Cortisol is a hormone that is commonly released in response to physical or emotional stress. When we are deprived of sleep, cortisol is released at an increased level and makes us feel hungry even if we are full. As a result, people who continue to lose sleep on a regular basis will tend to experience hunger even when they have had an adequate amount of food.
2. Sleep loss results in less deep sleep, the kind that restores our energy levels. Losing deep sleep hours decreases growth hormone levels. Growth hormone is a protein that helps regulate the body’s proportions of fat and muscle in adults. With less growth hormone, we reduce the ability to lose fat and grow muscle.
3. With a loss of sleep, your body may not be able to metabolize carbohydrates as well, which leads to an increased storage of fats and higher levels of blood sugar. Excess blood sugar can lead to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance means that the body has trouble disposing of glucose in the liver and other tissues. It is a trigger for serious health problems such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type II diabetes.
4. A lack of sleep goes hand in hand with a lack of energy – not a new concept, but perhaps you’ve grown used to your daily levels of energy and don’t notice that you could gain more. Not only do we accomplish less with less sleep, we also don’t burn as many calories. The body’s reaction is to hoard calories as fat, making our weight loss goals more difficult than they need to be.

Sleep is starting to sound pretty important now, isn’t it?

Have you ever watched how much and how well you sleep as part of your weight loss strategy? Do you think you get enough sleep? Do you think there is anything you can improve to ensure to get more/better sleep?

 

[Zoesmama03]

Forgot to weigh in this morning so guess tomorrow it will be.

 

[ohMom]

How Sleep Loss Affects Weight Loss

Hormone function affects the way fat cells respond to the food we eat. Cortisol is a hormone that is commonly released in response to physical or emotional stress. .... Growth hormone is a protein that helps regulate the body’s proportions of fat and muscle in adults. With less growth hormone, we reduce the ability to lose fat and grow muscle.
.... Excess blood sugar can lead to insulin resistance.....


Have you ever watched how much and how well you sleep as part of your weight loss strategy? Do you think you get enough sleep? Do you think there is anything you can improve to ensure to get more/better sleep?

oh ladies....this is on my front door step. I had an overproduction of cortisol due to a pituitary tumor....surgery led to Growth Hormone deficiency which I now replace daily...and having an overproduction of cortisol for about 5 years led to my being insulin resistant which I take meds for. Since pituitary surgery failed, I have my adrenal glands removed and now make zero cortisol and replace with steroids (4 times a day) to try to mimic how the body produces cortisol normally. Let me tell you these hormones are NO JOKE!! my body shape changed dramatically...

after having severe insomnia for 4 years, I am so thankful to sleep that I am very good about getting enough sleep. I usually get between 7-9 hours a night. I use the sleep mode on my fitbit to track my 'restless' periods during the night to see if I'm getting good solid sleep during the night. If not, I adjust either my nighttime habits (tv/comp time to reading, no alcohol after dinner, winding down time, etc). I have been seeing a sleep medicine doctors for about 4 yrs to get sleep! SLEEP IS SOOOO VERY IMPORTANT!!! deep sleep is when our muscles heal, very important for all us active WISHers. I could go on and on...I'll stop now

 

[Flossbolna]

.
- I was part of your group up until a few months ago. Doing ok.
T.T.F.N.
&
CHEERS Y'ALL

Hi there! Nice to see you pop in! I remember that you were really successful in losing a lot of weight - and your story seems to tell us that you are still up with the exercise! Great to hear that you are doing well!

Forgot to weigh in this morning so guess tomorrow it will be.

I often forget to weigh in on Fridays, I just seem to be in a mind to get the last day before the weekend started as quickly in order to get to the weekend as quickly as possible!

oh ladies....this is on my front door step. I had an overproduction of cortisol due to a pituitary tumor....surgery led to Growth Hormone deficiency which I now replace daily...and having an overproduction of cortisol for about 5 years led to my being insulin resistant which I take meds for. Since pituitary surgery failed, I have my adrenal glands removed and now make zero cortisol and replace with steroids (4 times a day) to try to mimic how the body produces cortisol normally. Let me tell you these hormones are NO JOKE!! my body shape changed dramatically...

after having severe insomnia for 4 years, I am so thankful to sleep that I am very good about getting enough sleep. I usually get between 7-9 hours a night. I use the sleep mode on my fitbit to track my 'restless' periods during the night to see if I'm getting good solid sleep during the night. If not, I adjust either my nighttime habits (tv/comp time to reading, no alcohol after dinner, winding down time, etc). I have been seeing a sleep medicine doctors for about 4 yrs to get sleep! SLEEP IS SOOOO VERY IMPORTANT!!! deep sleep is when our muscles heal, very important for all us active WISHers. I could go on and on...I'll stop now

Oh, it seems that I picked a topic that was something for you... Thanks for your explanation. I know you mentioned it a few times before, but I think I now have a better understanding of your problems. I admire you for being so resilient and not let all those health issues just take over!

---

Happy Saturday everyone! I haven't been around much last week, but I have to say thanks to the thread once again for keeping me on my toes! On Thursday checking in here and reading your conversation inspired me to go for a 5km run even though I was feeling tired after work and yesterday I actually did one of those Sparkpeople videos we talked about last month. I did a 15 minute core workout and felt that it was a nice little program. I am trying to add at least little things like that into my days when I am not running. Today is a running day again!

My sister and my BIL got titbits yesterday and now we are "friends" on there. I can already tell that this will motivate me even more to be active if someone else sees how active/inactive I am!

And my answer to my own question:

I read about how sleep affects your weight loss about 1.5 years ago and to me it was quite a revelation. I find that on days when I sleep less than 6.5 hours, I am just constantly hungry. I have put far more effort into getting more sleep (luckily I nearly never have problem with sleep quality) as it is really just me and not any outside reasons that prevent me from going to bed earlier. And when I do, I do notice that my general well-being is so much better. I can function very well with little sleep and do get through my day well enough. But having a constant 7-8 hours of sleep really brings such an improvement!

 

[lisah0711]

Good morning all! :

Our results are updated through all the PMs I've received so far so be sure and check out our pretty colors!

- I was part of your group up until a few months ago. Doing ok.

Hello Kris! Nice to see you! Don't be a stranger and let us know how you are doing.

Sleep is starting to sound pretty important now, isn’t it?

Have you ever watched how much and how well you sleep as part of your weight loss strategy? Do you think you get enough sleep? Do you think there is anything you can improve to ensure to get more/better sleep?

Hope that your tooth is feeling better now, Magdalene!

I think sleep is very important for weight loss and overall health. I used to be able to sleep anytime but as I've grown older I've had some sleeping issues. One those days when I am tired my willpower is nonexistent. I stop eating and drinking after a certain time of day and power down the brightness on the Kindle an hour before going to bed. I sleep with a fan for white noise. One of the best things that you can do for yourself is to make sure your body gets the change to really rest and recharge every single day. Great question!

Forgot to weigh in this morning so guess tomorrow it will be.

No worries! Just send it in when you can.

oh ladies....this is on my front door step. I had an overproduction of cortisol due to a pituitary tumor....surgery led to Growth Hormone deficiency which I now replace daily...and having an overproduction of cortisol for about 5 years led to my being insulin resistant which I take meds for. Since pituitary surgery failed, I have my adrenal glands removed and now make zero cortisol and replace with steroids (4 times a day) to try to mimic how the body produces cortisol normally. Let me tell you these hormones are NO JOKE!! my body shape changed dramatically...

after having severe insomnia for 4 years, I am so thankful to sleep that I am very good about getting enough sleep. I usually get between 7-9 hours a night. I use the sleep mode on my fitbit to track my 'restless' periods during the night to see if I'm getting good solid sleep during the night. If not, I adjust either my nighttime habits (tv/comp time to reading, no alcohol after dinner, winding down time, etc). I have been seeing a sleep medicine doctors for about 4 yrs to get sleep! SLEEP IS SOOOO VERY IMPORTANT!!! deep sleep is when our muscles heal, very important for all us active WISHers. I could go on and on...I'll stop now

Aww, Molli, what a time you have had. Thank goodness that you are doing so much better now.

It is terrible how quickly hormones can get out of balance and how dang long it takes for them to get back. You are living the example of the WISH philosophy and never, ever give up!

And you've rocked your weight loss this week, too!

Off to run 6 miles with the running group this morning -- two weeks until my race!

 

[Andrea464]

Andrea! What an exciting year you've had! Kudos to you for taking charge of your healthy lifestyle. Good luck!

I'd like to hear more about the races you are doing. I've been running for four years and I've yet to run a mile without walking -- I'm slow but I have fabulous endurance! Sounds like you have some good races coming up!

Thanks!
All of my races have been 5k's so far. Most of them I find through local running groups but active.com has some posted too. I have one coming up on 9/28 that supports a local program that supports childhood cancer. I'll have some more in October and in November I am doing a 6 mile race (supports one of the local university programs) and am doing the Space Coast half marathon on Nov 30th before our cruise!

 

[Zoesmama03]

My weigh in was okay but boy do I not believe it. My scale is totally screwy. I really need a new one. It showed me down 4.8 since my last weigh in in August. I didn't weigh in on 1st. And that last weigh in was a little up from water weight but I still think my scale is going out. I'm gonna try new batteries but I just haven't been "all in" on my plans.

 

[Flossbolna]

Good morning all! :

Off to run 6 miles with the running group this morning -- two weeks until my race!

Hope you had a great run! 6 miles is quite a distance!

I was supposed to go for a run yesterday, but it was surprisingly warm and now the sun sets much earlier, so not a lot of cooler evening. So, instead I went for a 1 hour walk through the city (including treating myself to a nice Jasmin Orange tea at Starbucks) in the evening. It was so nice! Going running today!

Thanks!
All of my races have been 5k's so far. Most of them I find through local running groups but active.com has some posted too. I have one coming up on 9/28 that supports a local program that supports childhood cancer. I'll have some more in October and in November I am doing a 6 mile race (supports one of the local university programs) and am doing the Space Coast half marathon on Nov 30th before our cruise!

I think 5ks are great fun! Helen, who used to be part of this group last year, has this amazing weekly 5k that is being organised in a local park. I would love to have something like that! The next race here in the area is on October 3 and it has a 6k, a 10k and a half marathon. I think I am going to run the 6k this year, in years past I did the 10k twice, but I think I am not nearly fit enough for a 10k at the moment...

I know someone who has done the Space Coast run a few times and really loved it. It should be great fun! And treating yourself to a cruise afterwards is a great way to celebrate your achievement!

My weigh in was okay but boy do I not believe it. My scale is totally screwy. I really need a new one. It showed me down 4.8 since my last weigh in in August. I didn't weigh in on 1st. And that last weigh in was a little up from water weight but I still think my scale is going out. I'm gonna try new batteries but I just haven't been "all in" on my plans.

First of all: Congratulations to the loss!! Even if you are suspicious about it. If the batteries don't help, maybe getting a new scale is the right thing to do. While there are really expensive scales, there are also plenty that don't cost a fortune. Before I bought mine I browsed the reviews on amazon for different scales and picked the one where people complained the least about changing results.

But maybe you are indeed fluctuating in weight quite a bit? I never have a constant weight and I found out that weighing myself daily and keeping track of my weight I can at least see trends even though I do have weird spikes. I find that I can easily fluctuate 2% up from my body weight...

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I hope everyone has a great Sunday! I had a horrible night - talking about good sleep. People were shouting outside my window at 4:30 am and seemed to never stop. And then I had weird nightmares. I guess it is nearly a full moon, so that might be the reason.

Had a nice breakfast - treated myself to some multi-grain toast (I just love the smell of toast, maybe because that's what I always got at my grandparents as a kid while my parents seemingly never had it) and a boiled egg and a peach. I think I am going to get myself a cup of coffee now and then start an active Sunday!!