Call it a New Year's resolution or a new way of life or continuing the progress made in 2011 - here's a self challenge for a healthy way of life. This is a place to share successes, difficulties, frustrations and always "atta chicks" from fellow challengers. You can post your calories, points, carbs, fat grams, whatever you use to track your way of life. Or you can just stop an say hello. We hope you join us and check in often!
Happy New Year to everyone, whether or not you'd like to join the challenge.
Mary, I really understand what you were saying about challenges and feeling like quitting would work. That makes more sense than what I had read into it. I hope that you stick with us because I LOVE chatting with you. You're back on track and just to know you're in good company, I too was over yesterday by 211 calories. Back on track today and have a two meal plan today instead of three. DH and I had a bigger breakfast pretty late so we're going to do with linner. I like when DH is on board with the eating. He's returning to his LoseIt! today.
Rie, great job on your eating yesterday. Your poor mouth sounds so sore. The Zumba was fun yesterday. I have a bad knee and it didn't aggravate it. I admit it was really hard to follow but I had a lot of fun. And I don't have a clue how the points or "game" part works. I just wanted to move and have fun. So it was a success. I will let you know in a week if I figure the competition side of it.
As said, my cals were 211 above yesterday. I got into the yummy, salty tortilla chips. How many cals of those did I eat? About 200. So doing the math, we can see where the problem is. I plan to play with the Zumba again and we walked the doggies this morning. If, and this is a big if, it is warm enough this afternoon, we'll try to go for a tandem bike ride.
Happy New Years Day! I had a fun day but not so good for the waistline. I am guessing my total calories were near 2380. It was such a nice, relaxing day though so I am not complaining. Tomorrow I am aiming for 2000 plus some kind of exercise even if it is just a walk around the neighborhood.
Marie-Thank you for starting the new thread. I have some experience with Zumba at the Y. It's a lot of fun and great exercise.
I will give it another try. Thanks for the nice comments. I went over by about 77 calories today I think. I'm actually surprised it was not more because I had pretty high calorie food but I only ate small amounts of most of it. I also went one over on carb servings. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get back to the gym.
Breakfast: 1/2 unsweetened almond breeze, 2 tb flax seed
Lunch: One hardboiled egg, dannon light and fit yogurt with 2tbs skim riccotta +1/2 tsp coffee + 2tbs sf syrup
Supper: small serving lean beef stew (lean beef in broth with a little potato and green beans
Evening Snack: almond breeze with flax seed, yogurt snack
825 calories, 77 carbs, 17 fiber. 48 oz water. I am forcing myself to eat meals because I am seriously not hungry.
Thanks for the new thread, Marie.
Mary, glad to have you with us.
Terapet, what a lovely day. We should all have them sometimes...
Finally got back to the gym...15 min on bike, 15 min on treadmill. I didn't do the weight machines because by the time I was done with the treadmill my back was starting to hurt. Joe was hungry for Chinese so we stopped at Panda Express and shared a two entree meal. I didn't like the chicken with green beans so I ate most of the beans and he ate the chicken. but I did share the orange chicken and about 1/3 c. steamed rice. Was ok with calories and carbs except I was still hungry..that's trouble with that kind of restaurant.
Meals so far:
breakfast - slim-fast shake
am snack - 1/4 large apple
lunch - 1/2 entree orange chicken, green beans, 1/3 c steamed rice and fortune cookie
pm snack - My PB mocha
Mary, don't you hate when you leave a meal still hungry? I was that way after lunch today. I seriously considered taking a nap so the time to my afternoon mocha would pass faster.
Rie, your appetite will return once your jaw isn't in pain. For now, not being hungry would be one of the few decent side effects of your surgery.
Tera, I'm glad you had a good holiday yesterday. You have a much better handle on your guilt than I when going over. I wish I were like you and say I enjoyed the day. I think I have an overload on calorie guilt. It would be so much better to shrug it off and get back on track.
I'm struggling today. It's days like these I hate the most in a diet mindset. If my brain tells me "I don't care" one more time, I might have to whack myself on the side of the head. So far I can be within calories but it will take effort. And as my stomach is growling, I'm thinking it will be willpower win if a win is to be had. Rie, can I have your remaining cals???
Exercise was much better than on Saturday. I think I wrote on our holiday thread that I was having a horrible time getting my legs to move on the elliptical. Today was a much more normal workout and I made my minimum distance in the allotted time with a little extra distance. So that was good. I know the TOM is around the corner and I figure that's what is playing with my mind, but I don't have to like it. Nor what it did to the scale this morning.
Marie
Sorry to hear you are struggling Marie. I do not like to be hungry either. When I am doing things right for me, I eat three meals a day with a nice serving of protein at each meal. I find soup to helpful also. At least your guilt is keeping you on the right track.
maryea-Good for you getting back to the gym. Sounds like a good workout. I am hoping to make myself go to the Y tomorrow. I have not been there since before Christmas. I find eating out to be very difficult. It is just easier for me to eat at home. I have become so accustomed to it at this point I actually prefer to eat at home. That said I admit I can easily be lead astray for the social experience. I used to just go along and not eat anything but I have not been much good at that lately.
Rie-I hope you feel better soon.
Today my calories were way over again at 2435. I would have been okay if I could have stayed away from the crackers and cheese my husband got out for the football game. I need to find my willpower! The good news is I walked outside for 45 minutes today and I logged all my calories for the second day in a row. Tomorrow I am aiming for 2000 calories and weight training at the Y after work.
Are any of you setting any goals for the new year? I am hoping to lessen my dependence on caffiene and television and of course I need to lose and keep off ten pounds.
Hi Tera, yes my guilt kept me in line. I was under 1500 cals yesterday but the scale decided to show a gain this morning. I admit I middle finger saluted it several times. One would think that 30 minutes of intense elliptical, walking 1.66 hillly miles and 20 minutes of zumba with 1500 cals taken in wouldn't make the scale madder. I "know" in my head it's not a real gain but it sure can do damage to the psyche. If I don't weigh every day, I don't stay the course so it has to stay the way it is.
Today is better munchie wise. Since I'm only snacky in the mornings, I figure I should be ok. And tomorrow DH goes back to work on swing shift. That makes my life so much easier not having to think about a real dinner if I munch during the morning.
Rie and Mary, I hope that your wagon has you both securely on board.
Marie
I am so proud of myself. I was good today. My total calories for the day added up to 1750 and I went to the Y for the weight training class. Plus I completed my food log for the day and I came here. (I really appreciate your support and encouragement.) One successful day down. Now on to the next. Tomorrow I am planning to stay under 1800 calories. I will leave it up in the air whether I will exercise or not. I will see how the day goes.
Marie-The scale just does not know what it is talking about. It has simply not caught up with your good behavior. Keep up the good work and the pounds will shed off soon enough.
It is nice to have the holidays out of the way. So much busyness and tempting food and drinks. Now it is just good old routine for awhile. I would love to see some success for a change. I am tired of these extra pounds! I am dreaming of smaller clothes sizes. I had to give my skinny jeans to my daughter. Sigh. She looks really cute in them though. She hates to shop and will wear the same pair of jeans forever if I don't shop for her!
Breakfast: light and fit yogurt with a sprinkle of fiber one cereal
Lunch: 8.5 oz very vanilla soy milk
Supper: small battered fish portion, baked fries, some fresh cucumber
Evening Snack: 1/2c almond breeze, whole flax seed, yogurt snack
I forgot to log yesterday but a similar menu, but lighter in calories at supper. I also had a glass of wine at pool.
867 calories, 123 carbs, 22 fiber. 40 oz water.
I think I will plan a protein shake for pool tomorrow night. I can't chew anything with my partial in and I can't come home for supper before league tomorrow.
Marie, of course you can have my calories. Work out for me right now, ok? I don't have the energy and getting the blood pumping starts throbbing that is very unpleasant.
Mary, good day on plan. Nice to have you here.
Therapet. I really like your attitude! Baby steps with the food, darlin, baby steps.
Yesterday I went quite a bit over but I still dropped down a tiny bit prob because of the exercise. Unfortunately it started my back to act up again so guess I'm going to have to go more slowly with workouts. Today I didn't exercise but I've done well with calories. One over on carbs tho and bs has been slightly high.
Tera, great job getting the eating under control. Without a doubt you can do it.
Mary, I'm sorry your back is acting up again. It did seem like you did a little much on your "easy" workout after so many days of back spasms.
Rie, The protein shake sounds like a good idea. How long until the partial becomes permanent? Very cool on sharing our calories ingested and expended. I like this arrangement.
I ended yesterday at 1550 and for that I'm happy. The M&Ms got the best of me in the morning and so I had to be very careful in the evening. I brought the M&Ms home (out of my desk drawer) and put them in my portion controlled gum ball machine. Much better.
I kicked butt on the morning munchies today. I dawned on me that I'm not hungry in the morning. For breakfast or for the munchies I eat. So I decided to wait breakfast until I was hungry. I brought it to work with me. I finally had it at 10:30. Of course, that woke up my munchies but I can persevere till lunch. I'm going to try this tomorrow. It worked well.
Marie
I couldn't go to work today because I just couldn't get the partial in right this morning. Swelling from wearing it too much yesterdayOn the bright side, I worked at home. I am here taking a little break. I have done really well with eating today, in that I am managing a lot of nutrients on very few calories. I did manage to eat most of a small apple with PB2 powder for lunch by chopping it up in small pieces and chewing slowly.
Marie, you have a "portion controlled gumball machine? and it can dispense m&m's? Too funny!
Mary, sorry that your workout started up the back again. Taking it slowly will work. Feel better.
Terapet, Congrats on the great day! I was just looking at your stats.... you are positively svelt!
I think it was the stationery bike that caused my back to flare up, but most anything can do it. Today we looked at some tile at Lowes and I was picking up the sample tiles and placing them together to compare and that did it. Still not as bad as it was though so I just have to be careful not to aggravate it so it can heal I guess. On my eating..I'm a little high for mid-day so will have to be careful tonight.
Meals so far:
breakfast - oatmeal, 11 raisins, 1 t. Splenda brown sugar blend and 1 T NF milk
am snack - 1/2 apple and MF chocolate crunch bar
lunch - fast food: small hamburger and shared small fries
pm snack - my pb mocha (shouldn't have done this on a day I had fast food as this particular mocha is 260 cal!)
Rie - You're doing well to eat an apple! It'll be wonderful when your mouth's all well.
Marie - LOL about your portion controlled gumball machine! I'd probably break the darn thing trying to get more! I'm like you in the mornings though...I never skip breakfast but I can wait a long time for it, just not so hungry then. My hungers grows as the day goes on and about every other day I notice I'm really hungry.
I'll try and get back later to update my intake but you know me...I might not.
2012 Challenge
The Zumba was fun yesterday. I have a bad knee and it didn't aggravate it. I admit it was really hard to follow but I had a lot of fun. And I don't have a clue how the points or "game" part works. I just wanted to move and have fun. So it was a success. I will let you know in a week if I figure the competition side of it. 
On the bright side, I worked at home. I am here taking a little break. I have done really well with eating today, in that I am managing a lot of nutrients on very few calories. I did manage to eat most of a small apple with PB2 powder for lunch by chopping it up in small pieces and chewing slowly.
I'm like you in the mornings though...I never skip breakfast but I can wait a long time for it, just not so hungry then. My hungers grows as the day goes on and about every other day I notice I'm really hungry. 
