The Step Diet - August
 

Hello ladies! Here is our August thread! Set your goals and get ready! :carrot:

Yeah! I'm up and ready for August! July went well, I hope this goes better. I based my steps on the Step Diet plan, so 403,000 it is. Seems to me that there isn't a whole lot of room for error.

Have fun!

I'm ready for another month of stepping.

We've been getting smoke from the Yosemite fire, but this morning was gloriously clear for my walk. What a wonderful break. Smoke still comes in from other California fires with a West wind, but conditions seem to be slowly improving.

Whew! I needed 12,000 steps today and I got 12,002 on my pedometer when I took it off!

Hey! This stepping is pay off. Weighed 132.6 this morning. :carrot: Sunday is my official weigh-in day, so I may be finally changing my ticker.

Sassy: Nailing your steps like that is funny. Well, now you have 2 steps to bank. :D

WHOOT! I can't wait to change my ticker either!

Morning all!
sorry I haven't been on, been swamped:)
but friday was my weigh in and I'm officially down .6 for the week which is better than nothing. I came up short yesterday on my steps so today I plan on doing some extras :) then tomorrow I get to add another 500 a day :)
Cat congrats on your weightloss!!!!! that is awesome!

WOOT! WOOT!

I have been stuck at 196 for 2.5 weeks! YUK! I was getting discouraged. Today, I got on the scale and it REALLY READ 194! OMG! OMG! OMG!

YEAH! I'm through the "stall". Can you tell I'm excited?! We are doing SO good!

:carrot::carrot::carrot::carrot::carrot:

My weight bounced up to 133.2 this morning, but I am down .8 pound since last Sunday. I am happy to have a new low with the 132.6, which means things are moving in the right direction. Maybe next Sunday will be ticker-changing time.

:cheer2: We all are doing good, that's for sure. :cheer3:

Hello ladies! :)
Sassy that is awesome you broke your stall! those are very discouraging for sure! And yes we are all doing so well OP! :)
Cat I would jusy clm the 132.6 and throw that other number out :) you probably just had too much salt or something anyway :) I can't wait to see 132!!! seems so far away!

well I went to the dr today (annual, yuk) and I must say I HATE hospital scales! you are fully clothed with shoes and it just depresses me! it was 5 lbs heavier than I normally am and that was awful to see, lol.. but I know what my true weight is so I'm just trying to focus on that :) Well I did 35 min on the treadmill and I'm already at goal for today for steps. I'm trying to get extra in each day so I can take it easier on the weekends. I don't seem to move as much on the weekends, do you? my husband is home on the weekends and it's usually grill time and movie nights so we don't move much. So anyway, this weekend I didn't hit my goal either day so I'm taking control of it this week by moving extra during the week so the weekends I can just hit my average daily steps and not stress about it :) Also, I found myself walking in place this morning while putting on my makeup and fixing my hair!!! nice way to squeeze in some extra steps (I did stand still for the application of mascara though, didn't want to take an eye out, lol!) what little ways do you sneak a few steps in?

I weighed 133 this morning, so changed my weight ticker. Why wait until next Sunday?

I work out Monday through Saturday as does DH. So it isn't that hard getting in my steps 6 days a week. I am going back to having Sunday as a rest day and will be making up the steps on the other days. I will see how this works. I think it would be hard for me to make up steps for 2 rest days.

Ultimately it will come down what works for you in terms of activity level and food intake for losing the weight and maintaining your goal weight without undue stress.

Right now, I'll take an extra walk after dinner if I need a few steps. It is really pretty here just before sunset. :)

5# more on the doctor's scale seems to be standard. I do drop my purse, but don't bother taking off my Birkenstocks anymore to get a lower weight. Nurses used to make comments about my weight and I weighed 3 or 4 pounds less than I do now. At least they don't do that now. I used to dread the weigh-in.

hey all! havent been on for a while been on vacation with family and before tht js been busy with getting ready for school, i havnt been doing my steping. i kno.. horrible but i am about to start again. so :) i promise i will do it haha.

Evening all! :) so I'm at 6088 steps right now, well over my goal and I'm feeling great!! this week is going smoothly :)
Welcome back Amy! Yep hook that pedometer back on and you'll be back in the groove in no time! :)
Cat, yeah I may still have to walk more on the weekends too but hopefully no more than 10-15 min a day extra :) But we'll see how this week goes :)

well gals I'm off to bed, got another early start tomorrow. Have a great evening!

:wave: Hi again Amyx. It was nice you could get some vacation time in before school starts.

Spryng--Now you have some extra steps to make up for your lazy weekend. :D

I'm feeling better too after July. I was getting flaky with my exercise because of the heavy smoke in our area from the California fires. Somehow, I managed to get the steps in. I would probably weigh 136 now had I not gotten back on track. This thread has been a big help. (My husband rarely misses a workout, so that helps too). The air has been clear for several days now thank goodness.

Hallarie - First off, WELCOME! We're glad you're here! :carrot:

About the step diet, the first week you shouldn't change anything. Just wear the pedometer and track your steps. This will give you a baseline at the end of the week. From that number, you'll be able to start at "your place".

I had someone leave a comment on my blog asking about it, so I'll just repost that. I completely encourage you to get the book. It's an easy read and has a ton of information.

The other ladies here can help a lot... they've helped me understand parts that I had gotten confused.

Anywho - Here's the post and feel free to ask anything! ;)

Hiedi

------------------------------------------------------

The premise of the diet is to move more and eat a bit less (when needed). It is broken into phases. A baseline phase that lasts 1-2 weeks. Losing phases last 12 weeks each, which is followed by a period (I chose 4 weeks) of maintenance before beginning another losing period.

For the first week, you track your normal steps and don’t change anything. This will help you find a baseline by averaging your steps for the week. I averaged about 7300 steps per day over the baseline week.

For weeks 2 and 3, you add 2000 steps to your baseline week and attempt to move more. I had to get 9300 steps, so I parked in the back of the lot and walked up the stairs and it worked out OK.

For the following 12 weeks, you add 500 steps to your weekly number. For me, I had 9300 so I added 500 to it for week 4. I rounded up to 10,000 to make it easier for me to remember. In week 5, I needed 10,500 steps. In week 6, 11,000 steps and so on. I am now needing 12,000 steps per day.

At the end of the 12th week, you begin a maintenance phase. You get to choose how long this lasts. I chose 4 weeks. You lower your steps to maintenance levels.

The book is great. It has a lot of information, as well as conversions to turn other exercises into steps. I haven’t converted anything yet because I am afraid I will goof it up.

I have not drastically altered my food intake and do not track calories. The book suggests eating 75% of whatever you want. I haven’t done too much of that yet, just occasionally.

This seems to be a life change that I can stick with. I can’t count calories. I become too frustrated and I end up failing. This, however, seems to be a lifelong thing. I started taking walks with friends and all kinds of cool things to get out and about. We even walk to the store now!

Enjoy, I hope this was helpful.

Hi There! I have ordered this book and it should be here in the next day or two! I'm excited to read it and get started. Thanks for doing such a great job of making this known to all of us!

Weclome Hillarie!!! :) So great to have another stepper! ok so for one week just do your normal routine and count your steps, at the end of a week you average those steps and then week 2 you will add 2000 steps to that average and you will be well on your way!! :) for the following 12 weeks you add 500 steps a week, it's pretty simple. I still recommend reading the book because it's full of good info but this will get you started for sure! also there really isn't a diet plan for this, just to eat 1/4 less of what you normally eat, and that doesn't mean to inflate your plates to 125%, lol! But please post daily with us and we'll definitely support you! :)

Cat it's so nice that your husband is working out as well to help motivate you to stay on track. I bought mine a pedometer and he let the kids break it the first night he had it. He's wanting another one but I don't know if he's serious or not. And yes, extra steps means less this weekend, woo hoo!

My day is going well it's 4:30 and I'm only 150 steps from goal so that won't be a problem and I peeked at the scale and I'm down another .6 of a lb! YAY!!!

oops! sorry sassy! I didn't see you had posted already, didn't see a page 2 at all, lol! it sounds much better than mine for sure, lol!! :)

WELCOME Karen31! :hug:

Glad you are here! The book is definatly worth reading. No doubt about that. Keep posting, this group is really supportive. I would have never thought that forums could be this good!

:carrot:

PS - I love the dancing carrot! LOL!

Man! There's a lot to catch up on here! :)

Spryng - It's okey-dokey! Were definatly being supportive! :hug:

Karen31 - Let us know when the book gets here and you start your baseline week. It's exciting!

Hillarie - Sorry it took so long to respond. If you feel like you know your baseline and need to start now, by all means go for it. I don't want you to get discouraged before you even start! I'll be honest and say that I worry that you will want to push hard, just remember to take it slow, it doesn't have to be fast to last forever. I had a hard time NOT doing extra the first week. I wanted to get started too, so I know what you mean! I must have done some extra, because I lost a pound the first week. :)

I can't remember what I have posted on here, but I hurt my knee on Tuesday. I decided (against friend's opinions) to take a Kickboxing class. I LOVED IT! I did, however, hurt my knee jump-roping. OUCH! It was sore and stiff all day yesterday and I worried about getting my steps. I really didn't think that I would pull it off, but tried all day anyway to get as many as I could. I was slow, but persistant. I got 12,656 and needed 12,500! WHOO-HOO! I did get on the treadmill for 20 minutes and SUPER SLOW speed... I went .72 miles in 20 minutes! OMG! I didn't realize how slow I was really moving!

Have fun stepping!

:wave: Welcome Hillarie and Karen. I am glad you found us. This is a fun, supportive thread.

Hillarie: Since you are already active, adding more steps now wouldn't be a problem. Just don't add so many that you become overwhelmed. All steps count towards your daily total. Life happens, so if you don't get in all your steps one day, you can try to pick up more in the coming days to make up. You can also "bank" steps---walk extra steps if you know there will be a day coming up when you won't be able to get as many in. So you don't have to think it is "cheating" if you come up short for a day or two or don't follow the rules perfectly.

Spryng: Good work on the .6 pound loss! :dance:

Sassy: Maybe the explanatory piece from your blog could be put in the first post of each month's thread. That is a good summary of the program. I always check out some of the new threads when they show up on the home page and probably a lot of other people do to.

We were writing our posts at the same time. :D I hope your knee gets back to normal soon.

New to Step Diet!
 

Hi everyone! I'm brand new to the Step Diet, but really excited! It makes perfect sense! (move more) I'm glad I'm not doing it alone, my best friend is doing it with me! I love competition.. HHEEHHEE I'm getting antsy though, I'm only on week one and not suppose to do more than I usually would.. but I have to admit, with the pedometer on.. I want to see how many I can get in! LOL. So far I have:

Monday: 2051
Tuesday: 3,335
Wednesday:2504

I have no idea if those are normal.. LOL.. But I'm excited for Monday! :exercise:

:wave: Hi Marmi. Welcome to this thread. I am glad you found us. This has been a fun and supportive group. I have lost 1 1/5 pounds since joining in July and feel great. It is wonderful having a friend to do this with. DH isn't doing the step diet, but he works out regularly and that helps keep me motivated to workout and stick with this program.

evening all! :)

Welcome Marmi! so you all know, I am the friend she is talking about! lol :) We both work from home for our company therefore we are pretty sedentry so this has been the perfect plan for both of us for sure! I finally talked her into joining our thread! the more the merrier!!! ;) Your numbers are like mine marmi, lol.. For me having 4 kids you would have thought my average daily steps would have been more but nope, I averaged around 3400 a day my first week.. but hey, I'm moving more now and that is what counts! :)

Sassy, so sorry you hurt your knee! kickboxing sounds exausting, lol.. I just vacuumed my house and I got 1500 steps in! LOL!! boy can't beat that! LOL!! You must have a very active lifestyle to only have to be on your treadmill for 20 min and get to 12500 steps.. I'm having to get on my treadmill for at least 35 min a day just to get to 5900 steps... I can't imagine the hrs I'll be on there when I'm at my final 11400 steps in the weeks to come, lol.. probably ALL Day! LOL!! But that is ok, the 500 extra steps a week makes it easy to adjust to.

well, I need to do some more cleaning. Yak with you all later! oh and btw today I had to go to walmart to get school supplies and I've been cleaning so I'm at 5100 steps WITHOUT my treadmill at all today! I may jump on for 5 min before bed to clock in a few extra :) so I'd call today a busy success! :)

Hi Marmi! WELCOME! I'm so glad you have Spryng! I look forward to the competition between you two (wink, wink)!

My BF says she "not keeping track", but I know that she is. She's just too competitive not to. So I'm officially doing the Step Diet, she probably has bought the book but won't admit to anything. HEHEHE!

My job is running or sitting... no in-between. I can't ever tell what kind of day that I am going to have. I had to get on the treadmill for 30 minutes tonight to make it!

Happy stepping all!

Afternoon all!:) so it's 3pm and I'm already at 5700 steps for today, just 200 more to hit goal! I might get back on my treadmill tonight and do another 20 min or so in preperation for this weekend, but we'll see, lol.. I'm just exausted from the week right now.
Thinking of taking the kids fishing the weekend. It's not suppose to be as hot and it would get me moving more for sure, lol..
well, gonna relax for a bit.

This is kinda a re-post (from a different thread), but I wanted to get your input. Hope you all are doing well. Today is my LAST SATURDAY that I have to work! :carrot: My hours change on Monday and will be Monday-Thursday. YIPPEE!

Anywho, here's the post... I think that I need your advice. :)
I made my steps the first 2 days after hurting my knee, though it's not so much my knee now as it is my calf muscle. It feels like I have had a Charlie-Horse for 2 days. My DH tried to get it out, though he was also trying to keep me from crying with the pain. OUCH! I only got 7100 steps yesterday, I just couldn't do it. ARGGGG... it is SO frustrating to me. I've been thinking and decided that there is no point in having an unrealistic goal. My goal for this week was 12,500 per day and there is NO WAY that I am going to get that everyday. So I've decided, in light of my current state, to change my goal for the rest of the week to 10,000 steps. I've got some making up to do from yesterday, but now at least I have hope. I adjusted next week to compensate me getting back to full speed and will be officially back on the same track as before on 8/20.

I had a hard time deciding to do it. It makes me mad that I had to, but I was afraid I would give up if I knew that they were flat out unrealistic for right now. Believe me, 10,000 steps is going to be a challenge. Worked hard yesterday on only got 7100!

I don't feel like I am taking it easy on myself, but have any of you ever changed your goals before?

Sassy I would say if you are injured taking it easier on yourself is the smart thing to do. If you push yourself you could further injure yourself and then you'd be in a bigger pickle for sure! So yeah, cut down your steps this week, maybe you can make up for it by doing some dumbbell lifting? I know you can substitute weight lifting for walking per the book :) so maybe cut down your actual steps and make up for it with some weights? what do you think?

this weekend is gonna be a breeze for me. I only need 4900 steps a day to hit my entire goal for the week, so I plan on still getting in my reg goal for today so I can be real lazy tomorrow! LOL!! Also even though my official weight loss for this week was .6 lbs again that is now 1.2 lbs for the past two weeks, at least it's consistant! :) but I think I'm losing some inches for sure because my stomach is visibly smaller!!!! yay! it's my biggest problem area :) So I'm sooo thrilled with this plan for sure!

Spryng - That's a great idea. I have some dumbbells at home. I'll look through the book and see what I can come up with. I wish I would've brought the dumbbells to work though I think that a coworker has some at her desk. Thank you so much! That's great that you are keeping up with your steps and seeing your tummy get smaller... that might be the coolest thing! I can't wait for my tummy to get smaller. DH says that it has, but I don't see it yet.

:carrot:

Hello everyone! I thought today was going to be a lazy day.. but I ended up taking my daughter out of town to buy her birthday party stuff. It's only 7:34 and I'm already at 6880 steps! WHOO HOO!! :running:

Sassy: I think it is sensible to adjust goals for injuries or sickness. It doesn't make sense to plan on making up steps later after down times. A person could risk re-injury or wear herself out after an illness when it can take a while for to regain energy. 7000 could be a reasonable goal (or even less if rest might be helpful in resolving your problem), but maybe give some thought about not pushing it to 10,000 for a while.

Spryng: :carrot: for your diminished tummy.

Misty: Shopping can be a surprisingly good way to get in a lot of steps. :D One of my highest step totals came on a day when I did a super WalMart and Costco on the same day.

Evening all!
ok so I'm about 1000 steps from goal.. just got back from walmart too but not at goal yet, lol..
Cat how is your weekend going?
Marmi, that is awesome! I bet you can't wait until monday and you add 2000 steps to your average! :)

well my sil offered to take the kids tomorrow so dh and I could go see a movie.. should be fun! we'll see if she goes through with it! LOL!!

I know! I'm antsy. I ended up averaging 4,000 a day (rounded up) I didn't realize working a desk job can have such an impact on my moving! Anyway, I averaged it out.. and each day I'm going to shoot for 4,286 a day as a MINIMUM goal. Yesterday I ended up getting in 7,277! :cp:
My 3 year old daughter loves it, if I can't get on my treadmill downstairs I just do some laps around the upstairs.. and I give her a piggy back ride for extra weight! LOL! So she's always telling me now "come on mom! Let's exercise!"

Spryng: :bravo: on the tummy loss! We're headed for bikinis next year for sure! :celebrate:

Morning all!

well I think I'll get in some good walking today. SIL is going back on her babysitting deal, she's good at that, so we decided to just take the family to home depot. Lots of walking in there for sure :) We are gonna do some home remodeling very soon so I'm gonna see what's out there and get an idea on prices. We are doing hardwood floors in the living and dining rooms, tile the kitchen floor.. maybe hardwood floors in the master bedroom. Right now we have a 1/2 bath in there so we are gonna make it a full fledged master bath too, I'm soooo excited! we are finishing a room downstairs to be a the boys big bedroom and the girls can go upstairs and have more space and room away from the boys :) just lots of fun projects ahead and I can't wait to start! :)
so anyway, I should get some good steps in for today for sure! How is everyone's weekend going?

marmi, so tomorrow you will be at 6000 steps or so (first week of adding in 2000 steps to your average) I can't wait! then we can take our breaks together to hit the treadmills!! did you get yours unfolded and ready to go?

Hi! I'm still around and waiting for my book to get here. I thought I would have had it yesterday---Hopefully tomorrow!

Spryng- Oh, am I suppose to add 2,000 each day? I thought it was 2,000 over the week average.
Absolutely! I'm working on that today. I cleaned all day (got 4117 steps in) Yay!

yep 2000 a day and then you'll add 500 a day for the following 12 weeks :) so if your average is 4000 this week, come tomorrow you'll be doing 6000 steps a day for a week, and then next monday you'll do 6500 steps for a week and so on :)

well my day was a succes! Didn't get one bite fishing but got in lots of steps. I'm over my goal for the entire week so yay!

Karen I hope your book is here tomorrow too! I know I really enjoyed reading it. When I ordered off of amazon it took about a 1 1/2 weeks to get it and that felt like a VERY long wait, lol..

Well, gonna have a late dinner, we just got home. Talk with you all tomorrow!

Well Spryng, I spent a lot of this weekend getting ready for a trip to Crater Lake tomorrow. We will be back Friday, so I won't be checking in until then. I will continue counting steps though. :D

Happy stepping everyone.