In the interest of all Royals, we hearby do declare a two-week sprint to Independence Day, the focus of which will be our recommitment to ourselves and our healthy lifestyle goals.
This short sprint is a motivation booster to any who has been feeling unmotivated, and even those who have not! Along with our regular social postings, let's focus on healthy habits for two weeks to gear up for the next challenge. Two weeks...pfffft...that's a cake walk! Er...bad choice of words...but can we handle 14 days? YOU BET WE CAN!
Feel free to post your focus for the two weeks, or not...this is a no-stress challenge. As long as it's healthy and fits into your goals, it's good!
Thanks for starting new thread, Wildfire. Have set two specific goals.
1. Get in that water - 8-10 glasses a day. May have to cut back on tea a bit to do it but do it I shall.
2. Hone my relaxation techniques to handle stress better. I've noticed that I've not been as able to relax during stressful times as I was previously so (even if it means bringing out the tapes again) I must regain this skill.
I'm going to need this the next two weeks as some stressful situations presenting themselves.
I'm also honing my eating habits a bit. Have gone to skim milk instead of 2%, cutting back on cheese and ice cream (only had it twice instead of 7 times this past week). Not giving these things (or anything) up totally, just honing. Won't be reporting on this specifically - just on 1 and 2 above.
Had a good day today, foodwise, waterwise and even exercise-wise.
Cerise, so sorry about your friend. It's tough and to have it happen so close to you too. Take care and check in when you can.
Hoorah, I'm signing up for the (ta-da) SPRINT TO INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!! My goal for this two-week challenge is a "poundage" one. I will do all in my power to reach 149.5 by the Fourth of July.
This day is rather pivotal to me and I want to have made the turnaround back into the 140s by that fateful Sunday a.m. ... it's a long story but either I'll be working that day or I will have been laid off ... won't bore anyone with the chesslike details of my crazy career; just want to be in control of weight by then and it'll all work better for me.
So I'm declaring my INDEPENDENCE from these four pounds by trying to eat in an average range of below 1700 and getting in 385 FORMAL exercise minutes per week (averages to 55 min a day, but I don't plan on doing that much every day ... will average) AND trying to get in more LIFESTYLE activity, which I won't be logging! Huzzah! I'll be checking in on the 21-day challenge thread and the food/exercise journal but otherwise will be focusing my sprint activities here. I will be logging my menus and exercise in my paper journal as it's just easier than the computer right now!
Basically, though I know a lot of people hate this word, I'M DECLARING THAT "I'M ON A DIET!"
Last edited by Amarantha2; 06-20-2004 at 10:21 PM.
Wanted to add another hello to Cerise in case you only get to this thread and don't have a chance to read the former one. So sorry about your friend. Om shanti, stay strong.
Cerise- So sorry to hear of your friend's death... How kind of you to want to offer to sing at the service!! You are so thoughtful!
Here's a (((((((((((HUG)))))))))))) to let you know how much I think of you!
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Yes, this new thread sprint is a great idea!
Empress-- I can only imagine the nonstop thoughts surrounding the job changes... Sending lots of positive energy so that your name appears on the "Keep" list as well as "WE MUST HAVE THE EMPRESS" list...
Spent the weekend either away from the house, sleeping ( 3 + hour nap on Sat) or watching the Star Wars trilogy w/ DH as neither of us had seen any of the 3 movies... hard to believe but true...
My commitment--
To continue to try to add another flight of stairs to my climbing
To journal in some fashion ( sticky notes worked the best so far)
and on another note---
GET ALL THE CLOTHES THAT DON"T FIT OUT OF MY ROOM!
its positively crazy ....
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Thought of the day :
"I shall pass this way but once."
--William Gannett
Question of the day :
"If you could find the personal diary of one person from history, with all the juicy details, whose would you want to find?"
---from 'If (2)..." Evelyn McFarlane & James Saywell
OK. Good idea Wildfire...I too am having trouble with focus. So.........
Walk road at least 10x before the 4th.
Drink at least 1 liter of H2O/day
No food after 7 during the week days
No wine except on special occasions (not more than 2x/week)
The portion and junk things seem to be OK...I will diligently work on the sugar thing...that is a head game for me...I just need distraction when I crave that...or maybe I'll drink water
I think I will redefine my 21 day goals...there are too many and when I fail at one, I feel I need to go back to Day 1 to keep my integrity intact.
Cerise, thou be in mine prayers, and also thy friend's family. What a tragic thing to happen to one so young. I hope you connect because I'm sure your presence would be a healing balm for them....nothing like good music and a good heart to ease the soul.
I want to recommit to ALL my healthy habits, I've simply felt 'off' lately and it's led to a 2-pound weight gain. Yikes! So I'm no longer at goal. I want to be more formal about this, to have a real plan, so I'm going to work on that and post it later.
Kaylets, love today's question! First person that sprang to mind for some reason was Oscar Wilde--now that'd most likely be juicy reading!
Sign me up! I'm recommitting myself to stay on South Beach (my new best friend) and go through my checklist every day.
One week into SB. I'll weigh in again on Friday (or before if I'm motivated by feeling like I've lost), and then again on the 31st when I report my month's loss to the diet group. Friday is actually that 5K race that I committed to. I was hoping to be running like a gazelle by now (and -- guess what? -- I'm not ), but I have hopes of being able to at least finish the 5k and I'll be happy with that.
Cerise, love to you and your former classmate's family. It's always so unfathomable when someone so young dies, and just seems wrong. I've never quite managed to get my head around the deaths of young friends and relatives. Hope you manage to make contact with his widow.
Anagram, me too, on the stress thing! The winter/spring has been extremely stressful for me, and I should have been focusing on stress reduction more than I have. I even found a great 10-minute guided meditation -- quick, and almost effortless -- but have I made myself do it? OK, I WILL today. Here it is, in case anyone's interested: http://www.beliefnet.com/story/3/story_385_1.html
Kaylets, I think I'd go for Emily Dickinson -- I just think her observations would be interesting! And then I almost said, yup, Oscar Wilde for sure when I saw Eydie's post. Incidentally, I just read yesterday that Lord Byron once embarked on a weight loss plan in which he ate a single meal a day and did strenuous exercise while wearing six waistcoats simultaneously. I think he lost about 30 pounds, but funny picture for Romantic poet, eh.
Eydie, I feel bound to say that 2 pounds from goal should be considered goal. Really, weight bounces around so much anyway, right?
Love to all, mentioned or unmentioned -- let's make this a good one! HUZZAH!!!
AAAH, my Sisters in Stress! It seems to be such a recurrent theme in our posts, there is no doubt that it is a large factor in fighting our battle to be healthy. I've been taking the time to try to relax but I'll be doing the tapes too and checking out that site, Wood Nymph, for sure.
Empress - sending good job vibes to thee as well. Inspired by Kaylet's situation and how all worked out and wishing the same in your direction. Also by Frogger's situational turnaround. The sun does so often shine after the stormy periods.
Have been having some technical difficulties lately. Addition of another medicine, the horrible humidity, etc. have added some more swelling which has my weight way up again. Am working hard to bring it down. I know it's the swelling (I've mentioned this is why I don't often weigh and why I report only new lows) but it still makes it hard to stay faithful when I'm feeling bloated, etc. However, seem to have adjusted to medicine, the D--- humidity has broken for the moment and I'm eschewing salt as much as possible again so I'm hoping at least to feel more motivated.
Portending stress involves dh and his medical situations but we've done this one before and we'll do it again (too many WWII news items lately - that motto is musically ringing in my head). But not a bad motto. Sorry for the age reference - may be the only one who knows it.
Speaking of age, kudos to your acquaintance, Cerise, for her bungee jumping. But I am the MOST chicken person so erase that picture of me doing same. Terribly afraid of heights.
No, Kaylets, I'm not done and it'll take ages to finish up all this shrub destruction I've planned. DH is sorry he bought the new lopper as I only chop, he picks up. Taught the elder princess a bit of this over the weekend and the part she seemed to enjoy was telling her grandfather she had made a lot of shrub piles for him to pick up. Technical difficulties got in the way but even so would not have been done as I only work under perfect weather conditions which does not include humidity at all.
Well, Monday's my "organizing" day when I plan a lot of things that never seem to happen as I think they should. But that doesn't deter me from trying to get it together so I'm off to do that.
Have a good week, s! We can bring a solidarity of commitment to the fore and make the sprint a real success so we're in fine shape to face the battles of late summer.
Hi,
I am always up for a sprint. I am mostly going to keep chugging along with the biking and the eating, but one added element is that I am going to clean my house. Thats right, I think that the best thing I can do for my emotional and physical wellbeing is to have a clean and organized home for at least a while rather than the usual chaos. Now do not get me wrong, I am not aiming for antiseptic neatness and I do not want to lose the charm of a million little projects cheering up the place, but I really need to be able to navigate without tripping over things. Plus a clean house makes me more likely to eat at home. So there.
Cerise - I was so sorry to hear about your friend. My greatest condolences.
Cerise, I'm so sorry to hear about your friend Luke. I saw his picture on the news and for some odd reason was drawn to him - my thought was "he looks like someone I'd be friends with". Now I know why I thought that... my thoughts are with you, and his family.
I myself had a wonderful/awful weekend.
Visit with dad and Stepmother was fun. We did a lot of walking around antique-ing and talking. They headed home Saturday morning. I really enjoyed their visit...
Saturday was horrible. My mom called me over once I got home from breakfast and seeing my dad off to tell me that one of our dear family friends had died while visiting family in CA. Apparently she had a staph infection that they diagnosed as "flu" and after 3 weeks her kidneys failed. She was older (late 60's, early 70's) and had been through chemo last year for bone cancer, so why on earth they let this go for 3 weeks I don't know... but I'll miss her tons - her threatening me bodily harm if I don't give her a hug before I left, her always looking for unique cow things for my collection (I have a hand painted shovel she had done for me) and how she loved my mom like a daughter.
That being said, weight wise I did so-so last week. I held my own eating out 3 days in a row with dad, but Saturday and Sunday I pretty much ate whatever sounded good...
Ok, phones are going nuts, must away and will be back later if I can - I'm alone in the office all week!
Ugh. My entire weekend was spent emailing furiously with my high school class about poor Luke. Since the memorial's going to be in more or less my neck of the woods, I'm the flower-bringer and class representative. If they ever tell me when the memorial's going to be . It's a bittersweet time for our class, of course, to be in such close communication with each other now, though the cause of it is especially upsetting since Luke was such a universally liked member. Anyway, thank you all for your sensitivity and generous, heartfelt comfort. My life would be much harder to navigate without you...
Punkin, you're right. Luke was one of the sweetest, finest people I've ever known. And now you and I share the sorrow of losing a friend. Poor darling - what a horrible thing, to lose such a hearty-sounding, generous friend. My thoughts are with you today. It's like a light goes out in your own personal firmament, isn't it? Keep close, love.
Zadie, I'm convinced that the quality of my life would be hugely improved if I kept an orderly, clean apartment and got our money budget in order. Ramon and I jump from one crisis to another in both aspects and then beat ourselves senseless afterwards and passionately resolve to do better. Then enjoy (if "enjoy" is the right word) several more weeks of laziness and over-spending.
To that purpose I have humbly crept back to Flylady and am hoping that this time I'll actually read the posts before deleting them and will take her suggestions to heart. Good luck to both of us, right? Gimme five!
Dearest Anagram, not only are you tackling your DH's medical issues, but you're doing it while grappling with your own technical difficulties! My hat's off and my heart's out to you, love. Sending my best energy and clarity vibes to you. And yet, you find the wherewithall to trim the hedges... you never cease to amaze me.
Arabella, thanks for that link to guided meditation. I'll be checking it out as soon as I sign off here. Hey, good for you for doing that 5K! Who cares if you're not sprinting like a gazelle yet, right? You know, you could be doing that 5K from the couch to the fridge, so pat yourself on the back. I excited to hear how South Beach does for you. I read about it a little and went "Huh. Another Adkin's. I'm outta here.", but I'm pretty sure it can't be that extreme.
Eydie, isn't a 5-6 pound fluctuation still considered being "at goal"? Geez, I wouldn't know. It's probably still alarming, though. I would think that I'd always be really freaked out by the smallest upswing on the scale, terrified that I was "losing it" and I'd wake up the next morning fat again. Hopefully I haven't now planted unnecessary fears in your head...sorry! Remember, your lifestyle has changed so much even in the year I've known you. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being "very likely" and 10 being "freakish anomaly unexplainable by modern medicine", your likelihood of gaining any significant amount of weight back is probably 9.5.
Ceara, your goals sound do-able and really great! Betcha you'll be feeling great by the 4th. I got a laugh thinking about your 21-day thing. I was thinking "Naw. She shouldn't have to go back to Day 1 for ALL her goals if she misses on ONE!" I was thinking you could have separate 21-day sequences for every goal, and was chuckling at the thought of you reporting in on Day 2, Day 11 and Day 15 or something on the same day! Why is no one else laughing...?
Kaylets, napping and Star Wars. I can't think of a better way to spend a weekend. So, did you like them?
QOD: Mother Theresa. I'd love to read an entry like this: "Met a horrid man who demanded a photo with me, stepped on a sick lady's foot during the whole fiasco and threw a fiver at me on his way out. Forgave him."
Amarantha, I'm sorry you have upcoming work issues that seem to me to have no other function but to stress you and out suck your creative energy into a nameless void. Wishing for you this summer that you'll have a clear, constant and steady knowledge of what you can do and what you're worth (which is an awful lot). You inspire me, as always.
My goals (which you've all been waiting for, no doubt):
1. East small portions of nourishing, valuable food (value in the nutritional sense). Take great pleasure in doing it.
2. I got an exercise ball from my sister. I want to learn a host of strength and flexibility exercises on it. My goal is to be doing at least 2 exercises on it regularly each day by the time the 4th rolls around.
3. Kick off my "30 by 30!!!" goal. I turn 30 at the end of next May. If I lose 3 sensible, sober pounds per month from now I'll have lost 30 pounds. Can I do that? God, I sure hope so.
That's it, ladies. Thanks for being here, ducks. I say this a lot, but my life's so much brighter for knowing you.
CCRRMM: Recommitment Sprint to Independence Day
who has been feeling unmotivated, and even those who have not! Along with our regular social postings, let's focus on healthy habits for two weeks to gear up for the next challenge. Two weeks...pfffft...that's a cake walk! Er...bad choice of words...but can we handle 14 days? YOU BET WE CAN! 
SPRINT TO INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!! 
), but I have hopes of being able to at least finish the 5k and I'll be happy with that. 
Monday morning
Why is no one else laughing...?
