Round

As several of you know, I’ve moved my blog to : Low Stress Weight Loss (http://lowstressweightloss.com).  You can bookmark it, or sign up to receive the posts via email or in a reader.

I will eventually shut down this 3FC blog but want very much to keep in touch with you.

A lot of you have the default settings on your 3FC blog that means you cannot receive comments EXCEPT from other 3FC bloggers.

I’ve taken two screenshots to show how to make the changes to allow non-3FC bloggers to comment (your 3FC friends will see no difference at all).

Step 1 :

In your “admin” panel go to the far right & click on “Settings”

Don’t forget to “Save” (you don’t see it on my screenshot, it’s on the bottom left!

Step 2

Same story with the “save” button in the bottom left
Stop over to my new blog to let me know if you did this so I can come by & comment!

Thanks

I’ve made a survey to capture your feedback on Spring Focus

• What worked
• What didn’t
• What we should change
• If we should do FOCUS like activities in the future (and which ones)

I’d really appreciate it if you would stop by to give your feedback, it shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes.

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/324291/3d9a56b1644e

Thanks!

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I’ve moved my blog! Find me now at http://LowStressWeightLoss.com

I’ve been blogging about my weight at 3 Fat Chicks community blogs as “Round” for about 3 years now, and have finally taken the plunge & set up my own blog.

I’ve written a lot about “Low Stress” weight loss over the years, and when I saw that the name was available a few months back, I grabbed it.  It’s been pretty much the central theme of my weight loss blog over the past few years, and my commitment to a low-stress way to manage my weight is certainly not decreasing, so I’m excited to have a platform that fits with what I want this blog to be about (and I’m also happy to leave the 3FC-placed ads on my blog behind).

I’m hoping over the next few months to make this new blog look a lot better, and I’ll be trying to add some of the features you suggested and I’d love your feedback and suggestions as I work through that.

I’m particularly interested to know if leaving comments is difficult for you, since there aren’t a lot of choices in setting up for commenters on this platform, and it’s something a number of people said could be a problem.

If you have me bookmarked or read in a reader, please change those to :

http://lowstressweightloss.com/blog

Thanks!

PS : to keep things simple I’ve closed comments over here as I’ve opened  them at the new location - please head there to comment!

I’m working on moving this blog (as I mentioned here) so no new posts & hopefully you’ll find only one location is open for comments.

I mentioned the other day that I’m going to move my blog, probably this weekend.

I wanted to find out what kinds of things you like & dislike on the blogs you read (and write!).

I have some diverse interests in the blog world, so I come across a number of different things, but the diet blogs are generally pretty similar.

I am going to go ahead and move now and design it into something I like later, because I’ve already spent 2 months of intertia paralyzed by of the number of things I’d like to do (versus the limited time, knowledge and money I have to spend on it).  I think I’ll have a lot more incentive to get the things done once I’m in the new location (like moving into a house with a bathroom you hate - every minute you spend there reminds you to get it fixed up!).

Feel free to comment with anything you want - but here are some ideas to spark your thoughts on what you love & hate about blogs you read :

• Colors
• Mascots or other illustrations
• Organization - how many pages
• Ads & ad networks
• Blogrolls
• Featured posts
• Recent comments
• Dates on posts (necessary or not)
• Categories & tag clouds

And anything else you can think of - all input good, all opinions matter, but ultimately the blog I will produce has to serve ME first and foremost!  Although I love the community aspect of blogging, fundamentally I blog for myself most of all…

Spring Focus is advancing - some people have had great results, some have had decent results, and a few have not really been with the program (so it’s like normal life, right?).  This was the lightest percentage of check-ins since we started - maybe next week I’ll organize myself to give you another day to check in, but this week with my schedule that wasn’t possible.

Meeting our goals together

Yet again, most people who are participating in Spring Focus are benefiting from the group accountability to motivate them to help meet their goals at least partially : 72% are meeting their goals this week

Weight loss for the week

Weekly weight loss for those reporting in was 14 pounds, but averaged between those reporting in it’s -1.25 pounds per person (and there are a few people who report in on goals who don’t report weight, so that actually drags numbers down in that kind of analysis).   Anything that can get to a steady consistent weight loss is great in my book, and so that -1.25 pound average is exactly what I’d love to see in my own weight loss over time.

Cumulative weight loss in 6 weeks has topped 100 pounds!

Again, some of the folks haven’t even checked in, so it’s a great result: 101 pounds in 6 weeks for the 11 participants who reported in by midnight Monday!  Woo-hoo!  Three of those are from people who’ve each lost more than 15 pounds (one more than 20!).

It’s focus time, people!

There are still two weeks left. Even if you haven’t done much to move the numbers to date, two weeks is a solid time to do so, and it’s a smart time to start - imagine how happy you’ll be to be at the 4th of July BBQ a few pounds lighter or just knowing your eating is under control & that you’ve been exercising recently.  If you think you’d be helped by joining for the last two week, just leave a comment and see how accountability helps you.

Survey to Spring Focus participants hopefully will go out end of the week or this weekend - and will also be available to others reading the blog.

So another week done - only 3 left to go in Spring Focus.

I’ve been trying to catch up with the posts.  The whole group is 24 people, although there are some who have kind of dropped out (and one who officially did).

I think we’re kind of in two camps : Group One : On Track Success

Those who are glad to be on track right now & are going into the summer with good habits now in place but no dramatic losses (I’m in this group, and it’s frankly the personal outcome I was hoping for)

Siobhan is like me - playing with the same pounds (actually the SAME pounds, we’re both struggling to get out of the 190s right now) but is making some great progress in hiking.

I think we’re kind of in two camps : Group Two : Phenomenal Success

And there are those who used Spring Focus to buckle down & get some serious movement going on the scale.

There are actually several great stories in this group (always more dramatic than the real life keep on keeping on of those of us in Group 1)

Audri’s weekly weigh in post was amazing.  She reported zero loss for the week but look at what she’s doing - wearing pants she hasn’t worn in years, zipping up size 16s, getting below a milestone number that’s been taunting her for a long, long time.

Emma has been making great progress on all of her goals. I’m most impressed with her running 3 miles (her goal was 2!)

Did you know that some people are really  making great progress?

There are three people who’ve lost over 10 pounds (one of those is actually over 18!) and several in the 6-9 pound range too.

There are those of us who are really on-track again & making progress despite challenges & life’s ups & downs & even though the scale isn’t showing too much momentum really feel we’re on a roll (ok, I confess, this applies to me, but there are others who this applies too as well!)

Another good week for the group

85% are making some or substantial progress on their goals

Weekly weight loss reported was almost 17 pounds, but we’re missing several people’s report-ins who have been consistent losers and they also affect the group total weight loss to date (currently at 82 pounds, which is only one more pound than last week, largely because we have fewer people reporting in).  Next week I’ll calculate an average per report-in or something .

How are you feeling about Spring Focus?

In the next week or so I’ll make a quick survey to capture how people feel about it, what they’d like to see in future Focus editions, and test your appetite for future Focus endeavors.  Of course, you can also leave thoughts in the comments.

Wow!

We are doing great as a Spring Focus group!

I’m proud to be a part of the group, thrilled to be gently pushed towards my goals, and a little in was of all that the group has accomplished.

95% are made progress on some or all of their goals this past week!

Since I threw down the PROGRESS, not Perfection challenge last week, all but one person said they had either fully or partially met their behavioral goals - the highest percentage yet (and with one odd NO to remind us that imperfect is quite okay).

Perfect weigh ins!

Nobody gained! Everyone either lost nor stayed the same (I don’t consider 0.2 pounds a gain, I consider it within the range of inaccuracy of a scale, so the one person who is pretty tough with herself and reported +0.2 got that converted to 0 by me!)

Group weight loss to date? 81 whopping pounds!!!

I counted it up several times because I was (am still) so impressed! I wish I was adding more than 2 measly pounds to that number, but the truth is that EVERYONE is helping, even those onus with very small numbers, those with none, and those who aren’t weighing in. We’re committed to two months of focus and two months of support and frankly that’s helping all of us move towards our goals no matter what the scale says.

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Spring Focus

There are still several weeks left in Spring Focus - we started May 4th and are ending July 5th, and it’s a great way to be in good shape with healthy habits (and lose a few pounds) by summer. You can still join, someone else did last week.

Bravo to everyone for all the great work (and support) to date!

Well, no one expected it to be all good news, right?

Once again the majority of Spring Focus participants had a really good week. But of course, the devil is in the details, and those who faltered (including myself) didn’t help the group numbers at all.

62% Making some or all of their goals

This week we had the highest number of people not making their goals since we started. Of course with a holiday weekend that’s not a huge surprise.

Progress, Not Perfection

Guess who pushed us into the positive as a group? Those who were being SOMEWHAT successful in their goals. Those who did great were canceled out one to one by those who missed their goals by a wide margin (sorry for that!) and it allowed the room in the middle to be the shining stars!

I’m a big believer in Incremental Improvements in life in general (and weight loss in particular) so this was great to see.

I issue a challenge to all Spring Focus Participants (and everyone else too)

Let’s ALL get at least PARTLY to meeting our goals this week.

• One meal on plan.
• One day of exercise.
• One day with enough water.
• One day of recording your calories.
• Whatever YOU make for your behavioral goals, let’s meet at least a part of them.

Most of us will fall short of Perfection, but all of us can make PROGRESS, right?

PROGRESS, not Perfection has been my motto for many, many years - here’s a chance for all of us to put it to the test!

My hope is that ALL of us can report in for this week either “YES” or “Partly Yes” for meeting our behavioral goals this week!

There are still 5 weeks left in Spring Focus - that’s a good chunk of time to make progress & make sure you’re set up with good habits for a good summer - so join in by commenting here!

I’ve been emotionally a bit rocky this week, which of course I expected due to the heartbreak of the miscarriage.

Thank you all for the outpouring of support.  It helps.

For the most part I’ve been doing well on diet & exercise - as some of you have seen, over the years I have learned to react to great stress in life by showing I can control something - my weight loss behaviors.   It’s also what leads me to “low stress weight loss” by the way - there is so much in life that stresses us out, some of it we choose, a lot of it we don’t.  Making choices while losing weight that ADD to those life stresses is just not part of what I consider possible these days.

Of course, I’m still pretty fragile (as is my husband) so last night when he ordered dessert - but not the one I would have picked - he ordered the one I had suggested for me to have (I ate 2/3).

Frankly, that’s almost the worst I can report for the past few days in terms of bad weight-loss behavior.  There have been other instances like that, but nothing like throwing myself into a vat of wine or a pile of cookies, so I’m putting myself firmly in the ‘handling this well’ category.

Work & travel have been very busy (which will continue for the next month) which at times like this can be a blessing because it keeps me occupied and keeps me distracted from some of the “poor me” thoughts.  Still, I have my moments and yesterday afternoon was particularly hard because both my husband & I hit “down” feelings at the same time.

I will report in tomorrow on my week, and will close the Spring Focus reporting-in at midnight on Tuesday (to allow you Memorial Day celebrators to participate). Spring Focus results are planned for posting on Wednesday.