OK, chicks, so this past weekend was great, and let's just admit right now that it probably wasn't OP. And that's OK. The point now is to get back OP, ASAP.

My Challenge to you this month is to get focused. We all need to take a deep breath and focus on what we need to be doing. We all *know* what to do, we just have to put our plan into action to make it work.

For me, this month is about exercise. I have to focus on movement, because eating is usually decent. Pick a focus for yourself, tell us what it is, and then do something about it.

Let's get focused!

Hey, thanks for starting a new challenge!
Hmm.. I think my focus is going to be... well, weight loss. :
I would like to loss another 10lbs by the end of this month.
I want to get in at least 30 minutes of some sort of exercise everyday, no fast food , watch portion control, limit going out to eat to once a week and I already set a july miles challenge of 60 miles. (Which I got in 4.1 miles yesterday) I also want to start exploring new veggies and fruit.

Hello All!

Thank you for starting a new challenge.....and focusing is just what I need to do right now! For once, I am starting a month on an 'up'......water is good, but food and especially exercise are what I should be focusing on.

I went to the doctor a couple weeks ago.....just a checkup. I had a mammogram, which came back normal, and blood tests, all of which had 'excellent' results. This is all good, I know, but that does leave one challenge.....my weight. I am enjoying good health right now, but I feel that carrying around this extra weight could jeopardize my future health.....this has really hit home with me, so I am really motivated to get back on plan and lose lose lose!

Short term goal......I have been doing a 1-mile WATP, just to get back into exercising ....so now I have to bump it up to 2 miles......this week!

What about the rest of you? I know it is summer and there are eleventy-nine reasons not to play on the puter.....but you have to check in! We all need the support, the motivation, the tazer! No need to write an epistle every time....just check in, say hi, vent, shout Hallelujah!....it has become absolutely vital to have this lifeline!

Got to run.....and I mean that literally!

Morning chicks. (Those of you that are here, anyway!)

Today is a sad day, and I must admit that I am a little scared right now. But I'll go into that in my journal, and there's no reason to get all emotional more than once this morning.

I did well yesterday, after my weekend of doing bad. Calories came in around 1730, and I did 20 minutes on the elliptical and 15 minutes of weights. I didn't get nearly enough water though--for some reason the water at my house just tasted funny yesterday.

Anyway, lots of work to catch up on. Have a safe day, chicks.
~Elisha

Geez, where is everyone?

Well, I got in 1.90 miles yesterday, not as much as I wanted to, but better than nothing. I didn't do too bad with eating yesterday, until I got off work.. I ate cheese fries I can't stay away from them, they haunt me... I think about eating them all day, and then I give in!! NO MORE CHEESE FRIES!!! (at least for a week ) I made rice for lunch and added vegtables.. i ate the greenbeans too.. It's not that I don't like them, I just don't really care for them.. I usually just eat around them.. but I made myself eat them.. ((((GREENBREANS ARE GOOD FOR YOU - GREENBEANS ARE GOOD FOR YOU))))

Welp, I better go to work (if you live in NJ and have Comcast Cable, DO NOT CALL CUSTOMER SERVICE TODAY!!!!!! Thank you!)

Well, slow month for the Challenge chicks!

Anyway, hello hello!

Today I feel like crap. My tummy has been feeling a little icky all week, and today I have a full-fledged sore throat and cough, so I'm drinking hot tea at work instead of coffee or water.

I have so much to do and I don't feel like doing any of it. I don't even know how to do half of it. I got a bunch of projects dumped on me that I know very little about, but I guess I will have to learn.

I did pretty well at dinner last night: 1/2 steak salad (and it was still huge) with blue cheese dressing on the side, split an order of onion rings with Steve. Our realtor says that once we get the house under contract it should only take about 30 days to get closed on the house. I'm excited. I hope it doesn't take too long. 30 days would be perfect--that would put us in the house around the end of August (if it takes a week or two to get the contract, that is). Perfect barbeque weather!

Today is Pizza Hut day. My best friend got a promotion at work--she got my old job--so tomorrow we're going out to celebrate. Which reminds me, I need to find my other best friend a birthday present. Ugh. Today is payday and my money is already almost gone. It's getting a lot better though, and I do still have a bit of money to play with, so it's all good. I'm going to get us some salmon steaks for dinner--yum! I love salmon, it's my favorite!

And I am planning to exercise tonight--at least 20 minutes on the elliptical and/or stairclimber, but hopefully 30, and 15 minutes of weights. AT LEAST. I've got to exercise. I've GOT to.

Anyway, I need to get started on something. Have a great day, chicks.
~Elisha

Hi everyone.

I know I've been MIA lately, and probably won't be checking in much this month. I'm going to try to spend as much of my days this month moving about. and since I finally got my pedometer today ( I already logged 1 mile on it doing housework today) I can really get my butt in gear. I can now keep track of how much I actually move about. yay.

I said I was not going to post, but you all seem so PATHETIC!!! So I just had to...and I felt guilty about reading, but not posting, so here I am!

I have to fill you all in on my physical therapy anyway!!! I had the PT eval on Tuesday and then my first treatment yesterday. They gave me a bunch of home exercises to do to...strengthen my abs and gluts. Then yesterday, the PT did a bunch of manipulation to align my spine and pelvis...apparently this is the cause for much of my pain! Then she did some myofascia release on my left leg (very tight due to the plantar fascitis) and back. I was a little sore today in areas that she really did some deep tissue stuff. The place that I am going focuses on the energy fields of the body (interesting, huh?) and trying to release much of the negative energy and help heal the areas with pain! It's a concept I can live with and I really don't feel too bad today. My foot is still a problem and I asked them about treating that, but I need to call my Dr. first to have her phone in a referral (seems they could just do that for me...my doc will authorize anything!) and they may treat that somehow! It seems to be getting worse, which does not make me happy!

I'm still planning on going on my trip. My sister and I have been talking about it and I decided that we would just do it! If I can't hike, I will stay behind and she can hike or whatever! It will be fun to hang out with her, anyway...for a whole week! She made her flight reservations last night, so no backing out now...unless we just hang out here and not go hiking! Guess I had better at least try to do some hiking this weekend and start walking with Leslie and MsRD every morning, huh? I can get in a mile or two every morning when my foot doesn't hurt too bad! Maybe I can even get up to 3 miles by the time I go! That would be good since the smallest hike is 4 miles!!!!!!

As far as food goes, I am not really doing anything except making sure I drink plenty of water. I did have a really tasty salad last night with lettuce from my garden! YUMMY! But I went and got ice cream later...oh well!

Elisha, Mud, Jessica, & MsRD...sounds like you all need us to be here, so I will check in once in a while just to let you know my progress or lack of it!! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Hugs to all!

Happy Saturday!

Sorry for not posting......we have been inputting all the data entry for our physical inventory at work....a brainless tedious job....yuck! To balance that part of my day, I have spent the after hours time in the garden.....weeding, weeding, weeding.....it improves the look of the garden and also improves my mental outlook at the same time!

Jennifer....I know you are busy building your house, and this new hurricane probably isn't helping things. Please pop in and let us know you are safe, k?

Elisha.....I do hope you are feeling better. I hate summer colds....they seem to last forever. Got my fingers crossed on the house deal too.....it will be soooo nice to have a place of your own! And as for the salmon......you gonna have any extra? We could all stop by, bring a dish to pass and a lawn chair?

StarAngel.....I'm with you on the green beans! They are not my favorite either. My folks used to have a HUGE garden with rows and rows of green beans......we had fresh and canned enough for the winter and invited the neighborhood in to pick all they wanted. Seems like I spent my whole summer picking those dratted beans......I used to pray for an early frost, so the plants would all die

Mud.....great to hear from you, chickie! I think all of us are spending time away from the puter....this weather is just too good to stay inside! Please check in with us and update us with your mileage!

Julie.....HA! The 'pathetic' ploy worked! You are hooked for another month! So glad you had a good PT appointment.....sounds like you are on the right track! I think it is a good idea that you follow thru on the hiking trip. Even if you can't go the miles you had hoped for, at least it will be a vacation and a break from routine. (Maybe just the thing to get the mojo working?)

Joy......hope you are having a great day!

Mary......haven't heard from you recently! I know you are lurking, so stop in and say hi!

Today, there are errands to run and the house to tidy....and more weeds beckoning from the garden.

Just a quickie...

As for miles - I got 1.22 miles on Thursday and 3.1 miles Friday.
Eating - mmm.. lets just say.. i got my "Eating out once a week" in for the week
Exercise - I didn't do to well thursday.. if you couldn't tell.. and Friday was alright.

I havent been feeling to well the past couple of days.. so I've missed a little work.. so this week is going to be hectic.. I need to make up some hours.. so my paycheck isn't horrible and I can pay my bills.. Plus I need to focus on finding a new job, cuz the company I work for.. well, sucks. I was planning on starting Curves this week.. but I think, once again, I'm gonna hold off on it. Well, I g2g. I'll b back Monday. Bye chickies.

Just a quick note to let you know I love my pedometer. I first put it on at around 12;30 pm yesterday and by the time I went to bed I logged 15,011 steps traslating to around 6 miles and 1400 calories burned! I was so proud of myself.

The weather here is awful today. Its too hot to do anything outside. I will be so happy when we move next year to a cooler climate. yay.

Well, here I am. That's it.

I've gotta start getting back in the right direction cuz lately I've been on a full slide. So that is my challenge. Total turn-about.

It was easy to get off track when I wasn't posting. And without my message in the my email box to check in (because a new thread started) it was easy to think that everyone had stopped. No fears now... cuz I'll be once again watching the thread.

Joy

Yea me!

I thought I would try to start back out slow and did about 1.5 miles at the state park. There were a few small hills up and down...one quite steep hill which really took my breath away, so that tells me I am sooooooo not in shape for this hiking in a month. I'd better get cracking! It was enjoyable too except for the darned bees and mosquitos that wanted to attack me! I will make sure I remember to take some repellent next time! I am not going to have any time for hikes this week as I have VBS (vacation bible school) after work each day and it starts tomorrow. I'm going to try to get in 3-4 2 miles with Leslie this week before work though. Just gotta get myself up in the morning. It's also supposed to get up into the 90's with high humidity by Tuesday this week, so I know I will not be of any use for a hike outdoors!

Here's the problem...the foot really hurts in the morning first thing, even with the stretching I do...and the back and foot really hurts by the end of the day! So.....I need to figure something out because this chick has GOT to get going. I will take some suggestions from any of you who care to dole it out right now because I'm stumped! I am so not going to give up this time...no way, uh uh!!!

I have been really thinking about the whole weight loss thing lately. I can't seem to figure out what is "blocking" me from having the desire to really get motivated. I know the things I need to eat and most of the time I do eat fairly healthy, but it's the things that I so automatically don't think about (like ice cream, etc.) that just about kill me! I need to be more conscious of that kind of thing...but then sometimes...I just don't care! <sigh!>

Well, chickies...hope all are having a great weekend! Just letting you know how I am!

Hugs toa ll!

Morning chicks! And Happy Weekend! It's great to see all of you chicks here!

This weekend is going ok for me so far. Food/calories have been good, and the scale is slowly inching downward. 206.8 this morning, and I even had alcohol last night, which usually makes my weight go up for at least a day, so all is well. Water could be better, and there hasn't been any exercise to speak of, but both of those things are because I feel like crap--full fledged cold now. Bleh. Add that to not enough sleep and not enough fluids, and it's just crap. But I did buy lots of fruits and veggies, and I've been eating them. Had my salmon for dinner last night, and boy was it yummy! Tonight I'm making meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and broccoli (I think), but I'll try to make it healthy one way or another.

On a more positive note, we found my cat. She's been gone for almost 2 weeks and I honestly didn't think we'd ever see her again. We found her in the tool shed yesterday morning. Her cast, which was meant to come off Friday of last week, was all gross and stinky and rubbing her leg raw, so we took it off, and now her leg is gross. She's going to the vet tomorrow morning. Poor kitty! She doesn't seem to be in any pain though, and she's very glad to be home and acting all lovey (which is odd for this one). I'm just so glad she's safe!

Steve and I are staying home today, perhaps a bit of light cleaning, a dip in the pool, not much else. Maybe some exercise, if I get to the point where I can breathe well enough. Vegetables for lunch! And fruit!

OK, Elisha, enough rambling. I hope everyone is having a great weekend!
~Elisha

I've decided my focus for the rest of the month is to burn more calories than i consume daily.