BL Summer Challenge 2009

[lisah0711]

Originally Posted by FLAngie

Hello all. Is there room for one more? I just found this board and am looking for some motivation. I have about 20 lbs. to lose and have been thinking about trying to lose it for, oh about 3 years.

FLAngie! There is always room for another! Please PM your starting weight to LuvBaloo. We do our weigh ins on Friday. Also, you may want to check out the COW (challenge of the week) -- it is a great way to build on the healthy habits that we all need! Good luck!

Originally Posted by disney1990

QOTD - This may have been ask before but I can't remember. Something I've been thinking about. Is it harder for you to stay on track with your plan over the weekend? Is there anything you can do to help you survive the weekend on plan?

Yes, it is definitely harder for me to stay on track over the weekend. We usually spend more time away from the house. Often times, when we do this, I don't make the best food choices. I really need, when we eat out, to remember what my goal is and not to give into just eating what looks good.

I have the same problem with week-ends -- it is just so easy to get to the fridge or pantry. Last week-end I stocked up on a bunch of fruits and veggies so I had good things to munch on. It worked pretty well so will try again this week-end.

Originally Posted by bobnjenn0828

I would really miss the Tomorrowland Transit Authority - I know that is probably strange! We love riding that ride, everyone can ride and it is nice and long and cool. . .
Hope everyone has a great weekend!! I have 4 nights in a row to work off 2 nights then work 2 more and then we are going to Fort Wilderness for the 4th! We aren't going to the parks, but we are going to go to Typhoon Lagoon! I can't wait!

I would miss TTA, too, especially because it's companion is already gone at DL.

Have fun at Typhoon Lagoon! I can't imagine going to WDW and skipping the parks so I will be interested in hearing how your trip is -- I only get there once every 2 years.

Originally Posted by LuvBaloo

My answer for QOTD:
Yes, weekends are harder, and I plan to use a bunch of my flexpoints over the weekend. Weekdays tend to be more structured, but if I don't bring enough food in my lunch, then I get into trouble hitting the vending machine. So I can mess up anytime.

Flexpoints, activity points, they all get used on the week-end. For those of you doing the COW don't forget your steps count as activity points. Even just 5000 steps a day is 2 points for me -- even housework counts!

Originally Posted by TiggersPal

Has anyone ever had an overnight loss of more than 7 pounds? I've had a loss of 4 pounds (water?) - but never more and yesterday I weighed in at Medifast - this morning I weighed in at home (difference in scales is about .5 pound) and I was 10 pounds lighter.... I am of course going to check this out again tomorrow morning but it would explain my "lack of loss" for the past 2 weeks even though I kicked up my work-outs... and no it's not muscle changes because I've been working out since November.

Wow, Peggy Jo! That is amazing! Maybe it is a combination of Medifast and lack of loss. I will be interested to hear if it sticks. It is sounding like you and your hubby will be wearing matching outfits soon!

Don't forget to send your weigh in and COW info to LuvBaloo and donac tomorrow. Good luck to all!

[estherhead]

Hi everyone! I'm going to be your coach for a week starting tomorrow. I'm going to have my own little format. I'm going to start each day by posting a positive article to encourage us and then I'll have a second post with the question of the day and my answer to it.

I'm so excited. I've taken a month sabatical from weight loss & have been working hard to maintain where I am to see if I want to lose more and am thrilled to weigh the same after three weeks and do think I'm going to go ahead and lose three more pounds so I'm very excited & ready to spread that happiness to all my fellow WISHers.

[TiggersPal]

Originally Posted by LuvBaloo

Peggy Jo - that's a huge loss, and the only thing I can think off is water weight and constipation I have frequently seen overnight changes of 5-8lbs, which is why I don't weigh in when I feel bloated/yucky.

I knew a great deal was water because I had a visit from my "friend" and with the flying less than 36 hours previously I wouldn't be surprised... I will let you know when I weigh in again on Wednesday - but I think I'll weigh-in Friday's for this site... so we shall see tomorrow morning. I'm eating very clean tonight to make sure it does stick!!!

Originally Posted by estherhead

Hi everyone! I'm going to be your coach for a week starting tomorrow. I'm going to have my own little format. I'm going to start each day by posting a positive article to encourage us and then I'll have a second post with the question of the day and my answer to it.

I'm so excited. I've taken a month sabatical from weight loss & have been working hard to maintain where I am to see if I want to lose more and am thrilled to weigh the same after three weeks and do think I'm going to go ahead and lose three more pounds so I'm very excited & ready to spread that happiness to all my fellow WISHers.

Thanks -

[FLAngie]

[QUOTE=LuvBaloo;32438119] FLAngie!
There's always room for one more. Our WeighIn day is Fridays, so just PM me (LuvBaloo) your weight tomorrow and you'll officially be entered.

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by lisah0711

FLAngie! There is always room for another! Please PM your starting weight to LuvBaloo. We do our weigh ins on Friday. Also, you may want to check out the COW (challenge of the week) -- it is a great way to build on the healthy habits that we all need! Good luck!


Don't forget to send your weigh in and COW info to LuvBaloo and donac tomorrow. Good luck to all!

Thanks for the welcome! What is the COW (challenge of the week) and where do I find info for it. I looked through a lot of the post but didn't see anything about it, so I decided that I would be lazy and just ask!

[lisah0711]

Originally Posted by estherhead

Hi everyone! I'm going to be your coach for a week starting tomorrow. I'm going to have my own little format. I'm going to start each day by posting a positive article to encourage us and then I'll have a second post with the question of the day and my answer to it.

I'm so excited. I've taken a month sabatical from weight loss & have been working hard to maintain where I am to see if I want to lose more and am thrilled to weigh the same after three weeks and do think I'm going to go ahead and lose three more pounds so I'm very excited & ready to spread that happiness to all my fellow WISHers.

Thanks, estherhead for being our coach this week and a big, big thank you to TammyNC for coaching this week, in spite of computer problems. I am looking forward to seeing the inspirational quotes -- I really enjoy the Sparkpeople ones. We are excited to see what you do and appreciate all of the time and effort our coaches put into getting and keeping us motivated!

[QUOTE=FLAngie;32439674][QUOTE=LuvBaloo;32438119] FLAngie!
There's always room for one more. Our WeighIn day is Fridays, so just PM me (LuvBaloo) your weight tomorrow and you'll officially be entered.

Thanks for the welcome! What is the COW (challenge of the week) and where do I find info for it. I looked through a lot of the post but didn't see anything about it, so I decided that I would be lazy and just ask!

The COW is a way to slowly develop good habits. We are in COW 5 now, the details about the COW are on p 48, post 714. You get points for doing healthy things like drinking water, using your pedometer, doing something nice for yourself. It is a good way to see some success besides the numbers on the scale. You can do as much or as little as you want but you should give it a try for at least a week. I love it! It is one of my favorite things about these challenges. Hey, I even took up the piano at age 49 this week because I was inspired by the challenge of learning something new!

Originally Posted by TiggersPal

I knew a great deal was water because I had a visit from my "friend" and with the flying less than 36 hours previously I wouldn't be surprised... I will let you know when I weigh in again on Wednesday - but I think I'll weigh-in Friday's for this site... so we shall see tomorrow morning. I'm eating very clean tonight to make sure it does stick!!!

Thanks -

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that it sticks. If it works, you will have to share your secret in detail because a quick 10 lb weight loss right now would really be a great motivator! I'm hoping it sticks and we see your name as the biggest loser next week -- you go, girl!

Drink lots of water before you go to bed tonight to help with weigh in tomorrow!

[princessbride6205]

I've been out of town for work this week - not exactly on plan, but I've done pretty well on portion control and drank lots of water.

QOTD: Ride I'd Miss?
Tough question - not sure I can single one out. Jungle Cruise is an all time fave, so even though it's an extremely unlikely attraction for Disney to cut, it's my pick.

QOTD: On plan weekends?
Weekends are difficult - more because DH always wants to go out to eat on the weekends. Most of the time I can limit the dining out and get in some good exercise, though.

Good luck with your surgery, Dona!

[estherhead]

Let me tell you about my friend Shonda. She is my healthy eating hero. She’s 42 and fit and fabulous. Shonda LOVES to eat healthy. Her soups always contain barley. And when we swing through McDonald’s to buy french fries for my 2 year old she never says, “I’ll just have a few fries too.” When she wants to lose weight there is no need to tweak her diet. She simply gets up a half hour earlier for a few weeks and adds two extra miles to her daily run (with her dogs in the woods because “trails are more challenging” according to her.) When she is craving something sweet, she has a bit of organic, dark chocolate with dried raspberries in it. She never feels guilty when she has a beer. It’s simply a part of who she is.

Now let me tell you about me. I shop at Aldi’s not Trader Joes. I LOVE food. I LOVE FOOD. Eating it, cooking it, talking about it, reading about it, watching it on T.V. I love junk food. When I’m craving something sweet I eat an entire bag of Oreos. A highlight of my life, after my wedding & kids and all, was getting deluxe dining at Disney and eating at all the fancy-schmancy places. Three courses and the accompanying wine. I bake wedding cakes for a living and the scraps & frosting are everywhere all the time.

And I say, “I’ll start again tomorrow.” I say it all the time.

Shonda never says, “I’ll start again tomorrow,” because she is never quitting anything. She simply is who she is, healthy.

But here is the reality. I don’t need to be Shonda to live a long, healthy, happy life. I just need to not say, “Tomorrow.” Because what we are really saying when we say that is that the choices we make for the rest of today don’t matter.

“This cookie doesn’t matter.”

But it does. What is the difference between the cookie you eat right now and the cookie you eat tomorrow? Absolutely nothing. You can make a good choice at any point in the day. You can have a donut for breakfast. And then have a salad for lunch and brown rice with salmon for dinner. My friend Shonda is in no way a freak. I’ve seen her have Doritos, for example. She eats 5 or 6 and then quits. And she doesn’t feel guilty about eating them and she doesn’t not eat dinner because she ate them. She just has a few. And says, “Yum,” and moves on. She doesn’t have a mental breakdown and say, “Well, I’ve blown the whole day so I might as well eat an entire batch of chocolate chip cookie dough and start again tomorrow.”

When the box of ding-dongs is taunting you and you desperately want to say, “I’ll start again tomorrow,” and eat them all, ask yourself this… “What is the difference between today and tomorrow?” Then take a walk, drink some water and clear your head. Come back and you’ll be prepared to make the right decision. And if the right decision is to eat a ding-dong, then eat one. Or eat half a one & trash the rest. But no guilt. Because eating a ding-dong can be part of a healthy, balanced diet. But eating an entire box of ding-dongs under the guise of not having started yet is… a lie. We all started at birth. And continued. Breathing, living, eating. Meal by meal, choice by choice. Don't start, be.

[estherhead]

QOTD: What is one healthy habit that IS you, that you no longer work at?

Eating fruit. When they talk about eating the rainbow I struggle to eat the rainbow in veggies. Sometimes it's a lot of work to do that. But it's never any work at all for me to eat bananas & blueberries & strawberries & pineapple. Everyday, no matter where I am, I have 1-2 servings of fruit.

[pjlla]

QOTD: What is one healthy habit that IS you, that you no longer work at?

I would have to say journaling my food. Pretty much every bite. Even if it is over my points or off program, I usually journal everything I eat.

Well.... good Friday morning to you all. I am happy to report that I lost last week's gain and the gain from the week before, so I am back where I was three weeks ago. Sort of frustrating, but good to be back to that lower number. That puts me (again) at officially 7.6 pounds away from goal. It would be great if this would be the week to see a "3" in the tens column (which would mean a 2.8 pound loss or greater), but I'm not holding my breath. I am STRUGGLING with these last ten pounds. But I'm going to keep plugging away. And we ate out at Olive Garden last night to celebrate DD's 8th grade graduation, so I suppose I should be happy to see any loss!

Fourth of July next week will definitely be a food struggle. It is one of my DH's family's "Eat-a-thon" celebrations. Three plus days of eating... dips, wings, steaks, pizza, s'mores, cookies, you name it!! I am DETERMINED not to get carried away, but it is SO hard. I will definitely be bringing along some healthy salads and fruits to share, so that there is something to eat if I am desperate. I will also be sure to bring my sneakers and to get in a daily run in the morning to counteract all that food. It is fun to run away from home because it is a different track and there is more to see.

Anyhow.... I've got to run. DD's graduation party with her friends is tonight. I have SO much to do that I don't know where to begin. Talk to you all later.................P

[lisah0711]

Thanks, estherhead, for being our coach this week. I like your format!

QOTD: What is one healthy habit that IS you, that you no longer work at?

I would have to say drinking lots of water is my healthy habit that I no longer work at. I just love my water, especially with a lemon slice or as selzter with a slice of orange -- it's so refreshing!

I like this work, work, work and if you slip up just make sure the next choice is a good one philosophy. I've been working on that in other areas of my life, instead of saying "someday" I am going to do something, I say "today is someday" and do something, even if it a baby step to the long term goal. If you just keep moving in the right direction, you will eventually get to your destination!

Have a great day losers and don't forget to PM your weigh-in to LuvBaloo and your COW results to donac.

Donac, sending good thoughts your way today!

[FLAngie]

Thank you Lisah0711 for pointing me in the right direction for the COW. The funny thing is that I thought I read that page....I must have been really tired last night

I am really looking forward to starting this. Especially since I leave for vacation next week and tend to overeat then. This will give me some accountability that someone else will know if I eat the entire bag of chips I even played with the idea of starting my healthy eating/weight loss goal when I returned home.

Which brings your inspirational post really relevant to me at this time estherhead!

QOTD: What is one healthy habit that IS you, that you no longer work at?

I do not drink soda. I have switched to tea and water. I don't even want soda anymore.

Donac- good luck with your surgery today.

[SpaceMtnFan]

Hi folks I am please to tell all of you that I have lost 3 pounds this past week. I have been busy with work and dealing with this Hot weather until last night when it Rained and Stormed like crazy which shortend my workout last night. I will be walking tomorrow morning before I retreat to the Library in the A/C The Temps will be nearly 90 degrees tomorrow. Have a great weekend

[MelanieC]

Hey everyone - We'll we've been back since 4am on Wednesday morning, but because we got back I've been dragging since then. Getting up Wednesday after 3 hours of bed sleep was rough, and yesterday and today weren't much better. The past 3 days have basically been a blur. But - I've been doing good food wise (not counting calories though -but I've been eating mostly fruits, veggies, nuts, etc.). I was up over 3 pounds Wednesday morning and I'm back down those 3 plus .4 more!! Yeah!

We had a great time in Missouri and Kansas. We left Thursday after work and drove to the beginning of Ohio and were hoping to find a hotel room to sleep that night. We started looking in Pennsylvania, then West Virginia and also in the beginning of Ohio and we couldn't find anything. We ended up sleeping in our car at a rest stop. We felt horrible the next day, but got up at 7am and drove the rest of the way. We got there around 5pm. We got upgraded to a King Suit with a pull-out sofa. It was a really huge room with super high ceilings and very nice. It's a newer Hampton Inn and it was really nice. The King bed was super comfy, but I don't think we would ever go with a pull out sofa. DH slept on it twice, but I wouldn't - lol! That evening we went to check out the University and eat dinner in the downtown area. The downtown area starts where the college ends. Very nice area. Eating wasnt' bad on this day - ended up around 1500 calories - but that didn't count the cookie they had at the hotel. Luckily this was the only day we were at the hotel at "cookie time".

Saturday, we went back downtown for lunch, shopping and to explore the campus. We also went to the mall and then went back to the room for swimming. Calories were good - but didn't track them. Breakfast - two bananas, lunch was 500 calories at Chipolte (eat that meal often so I know, lol) and dinner was 3 slices of vegetarian pizza at a local pizza shop. This place was crowded and right across the street from the campus. If it's this crowded in the summer, I can only imagine during the school year. There were a lot of people in town though. Some type of Missouri Youth acedmic thing and then there was summer welcome for the incoming Freshman.

Sunday I got up at 6 and we left by 7:15am to drive to the middle of Kansas (286 miles away) to visit my dad for Father's day. We got there about 11:45am and we drove about 20 more miles to visit my 2 great Aunts and have lunch with one of them. This lunch was not good - he took us to a ponderosa buffet. The salad bar was all mayo salads and the iceburg lettuce and veggies looked limp and slimy. I ate too much this night. For breafast I had 2 bananas, lunch - don't ask, and I had a cookie for dinner - it was only 140 calories. We got back around 11:30pm, we had left my dad's at about 7pm. It was hard to leave - I felt bad only getting to see him for such a short time.

Monday was our school tour. No bananas so I had 2 small banana muffins. My pants I wore this day were loser than they ever have been - go figure since my horrible lunch the day before. We did so much walking this day and it was around 97 degrees. I think I lost weight just from all the walking and sweating, lol. We had an information/question session, a walking tour that ended at the cafeteria where we got to try one of the cafeterias for free using passes they provided. I was really impressed with the food these kids have access to. They have meal plans you can choose, that provide them with 7, 10, 14, 17, or 21 meals per week. All meals in the dining halls are all you can eat with salad bars, several stations, including a grill, sandwich area, italian area, a bar that changes daily (this day it was a taco bar), desserts, tons of drink options (iced tea was great). This was only one of the halls. They can also choose to use the dollar value of those meals at the other places on campus that are not the dining halls ( I think there were 6 dining halls) and there are also McDonald's, Sushi bars, sandwich shops, coffee shops, etc. Then the downtown area is full of choices, including some healthy ones too. There was a little organic natural restaurant that was really cool. We also toured the Journalism school and then we drove over to the TV station they own that is run by the school. It's an NBC affiliate station and we got to watch them do the 5pm news. That was really cool. My DD17 loved the college, and we were all so impressed with the area, friendliness of everyone in the area, the school, the Journalism school and just everything about it. The Journalism school is great because everything is hands on and they have their own TV staions, radio stations, local in town newspaper, magazines and much more where the students work at and get hands on experience and leave college with an actual resume. Food this day was decent, although we ended up TGI Friday's and I had the Pecan crusted chicken salad. With the dressing, cheese, nuts and crust on the chicken I'm sure it was way too many calories. It was so hot, and I was starved that I didn't care. It tasted so good. I also had a starbucks iced coffee too.

Tuesday we drove home and I tried to eat the best I could. No bananas at the hotel again, so I had 2 small banana muffins. Taco bell for lunch, they had a KFC buffet, so I was good by not having that. What I ate wasn't too bad. For dinner we had Chik-fil-a, and unfortunately this wasn't low cal because I got the fried chicken sandwich and french fries. Bad I know - but I was tired and worn out. No one wanted to eat Chipolte which was across the street, but me. I should have told them to drop me off and pick me back up when they were done. Also had some candied pecans on the way home and some Peanut brittle from the St. Louis Arch (oh yeah we stopped and saw that and went up into it - that was great- I haven't seen the arch since I was a kid and the kids nor DH have ever seen it).

So - I'm back and back on track at least until my BIL's wedding next weekend. I have a feeling we will be up there several days -uggh!

[sahbushka]

I had a loss this week! I have been op for 6 weeks now and feel good about what I have accomplished. .4 more and I will get a 20 pound clippie! I have been waiting for that benchmark to put one up. Went to the gym last night and am going again tonight with the whole family...possibly even my mom and grandma! My ds loves the child care at the gym and keeps wanting to go and gets mad when I come to pick him up! Talk about good incentive to go!


What is one thing I don't have to think about any more? Journaling. I enjoy having the written representation of my choices.

Have a great op day and don't forget to drink your water....a reminder I need today!

Sarah

[ohMom]

here I am --- apologize for not posting/reading up to date, which always means i'm not following my plan like I hope too. i'm really struggling with the food and sugar --- the only thing saving me i think is Jillian's Making the Cut workouts, they are still rough!

esterhead -- what a powerful story --- for sharing it!

prayers to Dona and her surgery today

cyber high 5 to all who can claim a lose this week!