You Better Start Believing in Success Stories, You're in One! Nov. W.I.S.H Challenge

[4Mickeys]

Hi friends,

Sorry I have been MIA - I have been reading posts and liking them when I have a chance Things have been pretty busy with work, and kids and I to honest I have just been struggling a bit feeling sick with a cold of some kind - yesterday I had a killer headache that wouldn't go away and by last night it bought me to tears and just hohum in general about my health and the lack of progress made this year. I have tried a couple of times to post but my computer didn't cooperate each time and it just got too hard I also kind of took this as a sign as I have been struggling a bit to come up with my goal for the month. So I will jump back in where we are now.

Goals for the month

1. To continue with trying to minimise the really junky take-out foods - so that's 48 times left in the month I need to make good choices.
2. To restart some activity 2 times per week - hopefully this will look like 1 day walking and 1 day paddling.

Are you still searching for the answer to a healthier you? For those of you that have found it what was your final piece of Aztec gold? Any advice that you would give to others that are still looking?

I think this question sums up much of what I already said - I am still searching for the answer to a healthier me ... Some days I just feel as far away from it as ever and that is scary - I went to buy some shirts for work today and its just heart crushing - I bought a size 20 top and an XL top and that's Aussie sizing - I just looked up a size conversion between here and the US and apparently that is equivalent to a US size 16 . I feel like I have been making a half a step forward and 3 backwards all year. The trouble is I know the secret is mainly down to ME and my choices and effort - so no matter how much I say I want it I clearly haven't really wanted it bad enough yet to have made enough of a change to see results.

Thanks for listening

Oh and I just wanted to say to @HappyGrape - if that is the new 'Park' dress you bought - its soooo cute love it and love that pic - thanks for sharing [/USER]

 

[JacknSally]

QOTD - well, I haven't found the magic yet, so I guess I'm still searching! This week has been both ends of the spectrum, food wise. TTotM really throws a wrench in my plans. Plus DH's schedule doesn't help. We did great toward the beginning of the week, but once we started running out of the healthy prepared meals toward the end of the week, our eating got way off. Too much fast food. Ugh. Have to find a way to keep costs low but get enough food for the both of us to make it through at least a whole week, if not two. I'm not sure what to do there. :-( it's really discouraging how much money we spent at the grocery store last weekend and how far it got us (not even a full week)...

I ordered my dapper day dress today so I can use it as a visual. Disneylands dapper day is this weekend and my Instagram feed has been full of amazing costumes, and I'm so so jealous. Also, the weather here is getting much better, so I was able to wear a cute new sweatshirt this morning finally. I took this photo in it, which I love because it makes me look NOT-220 pounds, but I also hate it because I know it's a lie, haha.

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

I feel like @ski_mom described it best I have it for a little bit and then I lose it. Everytime I have it I'm like it's going to stick this time and then somehow I get off course. I lost 60lbs in 2007 and was really happy with myself. The answer that time was portion control. For some reason I just do not have the same self control as I did then.

I'm on my way to the finishline of the Wine and Dine half so I will respond to everyone later today

 

[HappyGrape]

quick hi, I will return to read all questions & answers later

Back from Orlando. I estimated a lot and sometimes I just choose a number I felt is fair but according to mfp and fitbit average burn 2740 calories, average intake 2546 so in theory I should not gain much weight. Avoiding the scale until the jetlag bloat goes away but I feel I did ok. We walked a lot! I am sooo tired.

According to fitbit reports over all balance is - 2820 but honestly in my eyes is either even or slightly above burn (calorie intake). First week being in negative, second in positive - as we got very tried (overtired) we kept craving more calorific food I guess.

 

[HappyGrape]

I have to say we did quick stop to publix and I am shocked by the prices of produce
bag of apples (about 6) 6 to 7 usd
pound of grapes 5.5 usd
small bag of mandarins about 4.5
small box of strawberries - 5 usd

They were no better than what we get here and we pay so much less! How do big families feed their kids healthy? Processed food is cheap but fresh produce was so expensive. We buy so much produce as we all eat a lot of it, my weekly bill will be double or more in US. Clothing, petrol, eating out, processed food is cheaper or same priced.

 

[JacknSally]

I have to say we did quick stop to publix and I am shocked by the prices of produce
bag of apples (about 6) 6 to 7 usd
pound of grapes 5.5 usd
small bag of mandarins about 4.5
small box of strawberries - 5 usd

They were no better than what we get here and we pay so much less! How do big families feed their kids healthy? Processed food is cheap but fresh produce was so expensive. We buy so much produce as we all eat a lot of it, my weekly bill will be double or more in US. Clothing, petrol, eating out, processed food is cheaper or same priced.

This is the problem my DH and I run into. Do we eat healthy, or do we keep it affordable? Especially with our diets being more protein-heavy, we spend $100+ a week on groceries - usually closer to $150. We can't afford it. We skipped grapes today at the grocery store because the smallest bag of non-organic grapes were $7.50, and that's just so much for GRAPES. Our grocery stores are SO expensive, and coupons only cover the cheap processed junk food. It's not like we shop at Whole Foods, either - I'm talking Kroger here, y'all. We unfortunately don't live somewhere that we could grow our own produce to help alleviate that cost, and because of that, and because of the fact that the majority of people here are on food stamps and just care about eating, not really eating healthy, our grocery stores jack up the prices of everything even remotely not-junky. It is so, so hard to do here.

 

[LindseyJo22]

Hi everyone!

I've been away from the WISH boards for a while, but over the past year I've been pretty successful with weight loss. I'm hovering around the 120s right now, and those last 10 pounds are just frustrating. I feel like after a year I've kind of hit a place where I don't want to worry about stuff, but at the same time I'm so close to getting to my goal that it seems crazy to stop. Exercise is great, but food is where I tend to fall down. With holidays and everything coming, it seems harder than usual to keep up with food tracking and such.

Plus, the grocery budget thing has also been a struggle for us - I'm working on trimming ours, but it is sometimes hard to keep everything fairly healthy and still in a range we can afford.

For this challenge, I'm hoping to hit some goals:

1. Keep to my training plan for the Princess Half! I have been guilty of cutting off a few miles lately, and that won't help me keep in shape or prepared for my next race!
2. Hit my step goal 5/7 days every week for the rest of the month.

Mini-goal for the next week: track my breakfast in some kind of app to get back into the habit.

Anyone have healthy and filling breakfast ideas? I eat pretty early since I run in the mornings, but I don't get to eat lunch until I'm done teaching class at 12, so I need something that will last for a while! Or maybe I need to bring a small pre-class snack to tide me over...

Glad to be back, and I'll try to be semi-regular about checking in

 

[piglet1979]

I have to say we did quick stop to publix and I am shocked by the prices of produce
bag of apples (about 6) 6 to 7 usd
pound of grapes 5.5 usd
small bag of mandarins about 4.5
small box of strawberries - 5 usd

They were no better than what we get here and we pay so much less! How do big families feed their kids healthy? Processed food is cheap but fresh produce was so expensive. We buy so much produce as we all eat a lot of it, my weekly bill will be double or more in US. Clothing, petrol, eating out, processed food is cheaper or same priced.

This is the problem here. We do buy the fruit and veggies but we sometimes go to the market (locals selling there produce) and it will be cheaper.

 

[piglet1979]

Question from this weekend. I am still searching. I have times that I do really good and times I don't. Right now I am pretty upset with myself. I worked so hard to lose the 10 pounds and I am starting to gain it back. I gained 2 pounds over the last week. That puts my goal and -100%. This week things around our house have slowed down. I am going to go to the rec 4 days this week. I can't go on Wednesday (I have conferences for my daughter) but I will go the other day. I am going to go straight from work. I know this works better for me. Once I get home it is hard to get the motivation to go back out especially during the winter when it is freezing cold here. This is what I was doing last school year when I lost the weight. I am also going to start logging my food again. I am also going to try and cut out pop. I have been drinking way too much. The worst thing with this is I can't swallow pills unless I take them with pop. So I always have pop around. I either need to use self control and only drink it when I need to or get out of my own head and learn to swallow pills with water.

 

[Dr Gunnie]

Are you still searching for the answer to a healthier you? For those of you that have found it what was your final piece of Aztec gold? Any advice that you would give to others that are still looking?

Still searching.

The main goal has been completed, but now it's fine tuning and figuring out how to live life without losing/gaining - more maintaining.

This past week was an experiment for me as I wanted to see how my weight would do with 3 to 4 days of 30 min of exercise (running), eating my normal 1300 calories Monday through Thursday, and "letting lose" Friday night and Saturday/Sunday. I started last Monday at 194.5 lbs and the weekdays went a little better than I thought. I was down to 192 by Friday morning which I was very happy with. This morning I weighed in at 195.5. This weekend I ate pretty close to what I would have before losing weight - had a whole medium pizza Saturday night, popcorn at the movies Saturday, had 2 McDonald's cheeseburgers and fries Sunday... throw in some Halloween candy in there too. Had three fajitas last night instead of two which would have been plenty. Just bad stuff to see is if the 4 1/2 days good, 2 1/2 days bad would have me break even or gain. Ended up gaining a pound from last week - 3.5 lbs just over the weekend. That included 30+ min runs on Sat/Sun. Now I have a better idea of what I need to do and not do to get down to that 185/190 lbs range where I want to live the rest of my life.

I guess my point is it's all experimental... trying things here and there to see what you can live happy with. I can be happy without all the junk I ate this weekend, but I needed to see what would happen (and eating pizza again was pretty fun). Ideally, I think allowing myself two "cheat" meals a week is where I need to be to keep steady as long as my weekdays are in that 1300 calorie range and I'm getting 3 to 4 runs in a week.

I don't think anyone is ever "done" when it comes down to losing weight. I'm always learning new things.

 

[pjlla]

OH NO! You all managed to chat your way to SIX page before I even managed to get here (of course, that could be because November is already a WEEK old! ). But I FINALLY have my laptop back!! Sure it's old and slow and clunky..... but tougher where there's none! I'll try to catch up a bit here today (I'm technically subbing maintenance, but since I'm not busy at the moment I'm helping in the office) and then will get fully caught up later this week a little at a time. But regardless, I see an "empty seat" here so I'm going to get seated and participate this month!!...............P

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

Sorry I have been MIA - I have been reading posts and liking them when I have a chance Things have been pretty busy with work, and kids and I to honest I have just been struggling a bit feeling sick with a cold of some kind - yesterday I had a killer headache that wouldn't go away and by last night it bought me to tears and just hohum in general about my health and the lack of progress made this year. I have tried a couple of times to post but my computer didn't cooperate each time and it just got too hard I also kind of took this as a sign as I have been struggling a bit to come up with my goal for the month. So I will jump back in where we are now.

No worries, Welcome aboard!

I need to get my eating in check now. I did the math and over the past 7 days I have eaten 2,000 calories more than what was needed to lose 1 pound. I honestly tracked my week and particularly Friday and today were upsetting to say the least. So I'm going to need to do some evaluating because I really want to start losing!

I hope you had a better weekend! Try not to be Don't be too hard on yourself.

I ordered my dapper day dress today so I can use it as a visual.

Love that plan! I'm sure having something tangible will help keep you motivated.

They were no better than what we get here and we pay so much less! How do big families feed their kids healthy?

I find myself making less healthy choice because of how expensive it is. It is ridiculous how much cheaper junk food is and then they wonder why we have so many health problems. I love Publix but I don't shop there as much as I use to because they are more expensive. I go mainly to Target now and sometimes Walmart. The selection isn't as good but produce is much cheaper.

Glad to be back, and I'll try to be semi-regular about checking in

Glad to have you back! And Your breakfast question I would suggest healthy snacks after your run. Maybe even a protein shake if you can.

either need to use self control and only drink it when I need to or get out of my own head and learn to swallow pills with water.

I know self control can be so hard. I am facing that with halloween candy right now. Could you find something else to use to swallow your pills? Like maybe carbonated flavored water or apple sauce?

I don't think anyone is ever "done" when it comes down to losing weight. I'm always learning new things.

That is so true, I feel like someone with an addiction I am going to always have to be on my toes. If I let my guard down I am going to gain weight. And what may work for one time in my life may not always work for another.

OH NO! You all managed to chat your way to SIX page before I even managed to get here (of course, that could be because November is already a WEEK old! ). But I FINALLY have my laptop back!! Sure it's old and slow and clunky..... but tougher where there's none! I'll try to catch up a bit here today (I'm technically subbing maintenance, but since I'm not busy at the moment I'm helping in the office) and then will get fully caught up later this week a little at a time. But regardless, I see an "empty seat" here so I'm going to get seated and participate this month!!...............P

Happy to have you along for this journey!

 

[donac]

Hi. I need to come back. I know that the next few weeks will be crazy(I will talk about it in future posts) but I need a place to think about my weight loss plan.

 

[Oneanne]

Question from the weekend: I'm still searching for the part of me that feels long term good health is more important than instant gratification and the part of me that has the discipline to stick to a plan.

I'm going to give myself 25% for last week... not that I attained 25% of my monthly goal, but that last week I realistically put forth 25% of the effort necessary to get myself to the end goal. This week will be better.

I had a lovely slow weekend... nothing planned/no commitments. I ran around and did some errands and did a few household chores and a lot of sitting and knitting. Saturday was super wet, I think there was almost 2 inches of rain. Sunday it all burned off in to a beautiful day. This week I start the deep cleaning for the holidays and have been thinking about decorations. The past 5 years my tree has looked basically the same, and I'd really like to change it up some how this year. The past three years I've done the outside lights in the same way and want to do them differently as well. I'd love to get them up this week, but that means starting with cleaning up the planters on the front porch, something that very well could have happened yesterday during the lovely sunshine, but didn't, so now it will take place in the dark, as with the time change sunset is now around 5pm. I've decided I'm going to go out to the place where I get my poinsettias on Saturday after Thanksgiving and will also pick up my tree from them but will leave it outside on the front porch for a week... that'll give me a nice head start on Christmas.

All the cleaning and organizing in the house will help me to clean up and organize my healthy habits, its kind of a bonus .

 

[HappyGrape]

Good to know there is cheaper option. Everything else was cheaper. Gas is like half of what we pay! Clothing is cheaper or same too. And I loved athleta! I wish we had them here, I bought few workout pants and tops & hoodies.

Changing my monthly goal to just going back to normal eating, more regular tracking of calories, less walking but back to the gym. Went to yoga today, lovely class. Off work for few days so I will go for yoga and walk daily.

No jetlag this time, for first time ever!

 

[HappyGrape]

While we wait to weigh anchor please take a moment to introduce yourself and let us know what you would like to discover on this voyage.

I would like to discover that I am stronger person, and different person then I was when my weight was going up and down pre and post holidays

It's this month I get to put this on test

 

[HappyGrape]

This sea shanty has become one of the world's most famous pirate songs. It's colorful lyrics
Today's Question: How do you use music in your day? Do you find listening to music motivating? Or maybe relaxing?

And one for fun: Do you have a guilty pleasure song that you like to play when no one is around? Care to share what it is?


​

​

Love music. Guilty pleasure - my favorite band is Imagine Dragons. When I bought tickets for them many friends were buying tickets for their kids! I am 38 and my favorite band is also favorite to many teens but who cares - they are awesome

 

[HappyGrape]

Are you a dreamer, ruler follower or free spirit? Maybe you are a little of all three? How does this affect your journey to a healthier you?

​

Probably between dreamer and rule follower. I had to set up rules to allow me to stay on track but are flexible and easy! Dreams - dreaming of healthy life helps me stay on track when things are little harder.

 

[HappyGrape]

Are you still searching for the answer to a healthier you? For those of you that have found it what was your final piece of Aztec gold? Any advice that you would give to others that are still looking? ​

So many great questions!

Find the healthiest lifestyle you can enjoy, as if you aren't enjoying it - you won't sustain it. If you enjoy how you live, and it is as healthy as you can live that's all that you can do

Live happy & healthy and let the chips fall where they may

It made massive change. Even coming back today - I don't feel like weight lifting or pump so I did yoga and walk. I loved my breakfast and my lunch. It doesn't feel like I need to get back on track, it feels like just getting back to living the way I live home and doing things, and eating food that is both healthy (or healthish as desired) and happy.

Compared to 2014 when I got back from Orlando I felt blue that I need to eat specific way and I need to workout 3 times weekly lifting as heavy as I can, and I can't be having meals out. And it didn't work.

I think not having post holiday blues is due to the fact that I changed the way I eat and exercise and put happy as focus during weight loss.

 

[Purplestorm]

What JackNSally said about loving the picture and hating it at the same time - WOW!!!! I said almost the exact same thing last week when I was having a breakdown and a friend - trying to cheer me up, sent me a "great picture"... It was crushing!

A mini-lesson (that is incredibly obvious) learned.... this thread is really motivating... MUST REMEMBER TO READ IT BEFORE I raid the Halloween candy