To help each other reach and maintain a healthy lifestyle

Happy New Year to You! Happy New Year to Me!
The year of the New You/Me for our mind, body, eating, and weight.
Working on all these areas will help us reach that healthy lifestyle we desire.

• Focusing and learning about the positive aspects about our self, and the goals that each of us can and will achieve will help us to keep a healthy mind.

• Varying our daily exercises and the time spent on them will help us to acquire a toned healthy body.

• Reviewing the variety of food choices that we make daily (such as why we chose a type of food, the amount, and nutritional values) and making modifications as needed will help us to obtain healthy eating.

• Striving to see weight drop from our body weekly while a new slim body emerges will help us to obtain a healthy weight.

All of these habits developed in 2017 will help us reach that healthier lifestyle we desire.

Happy New Year to You! Happy New Year to Me!

[Renee-This is my New Year pep talk and goals. I hope yours is something similar. I look forward to working with you on this effort.]

Happy New Year!!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Exercise: 30 minute walk

Meals:
Breakfast- small slice of zuchinni bread
Lunch- salad (mixed lettuce, red onion, carrots, cucumber, almonds, clementines), black beans
Snack- banana, slice of cheese, small slice of zuchinni bread
Dinner- eggplant parmasean

Comments: My weight is now at the highest it has been in about 31 years. I have lots of work to do in order to get it down to a normal range by this summer. I am planning on losing about 5 lbs a month to reach that goal.

Not too much done today. Went to church, did some grocery shopping. Played with dog for about 30 minutes. Had a massive nauseating headache this afternoon. Took some pills and now will relax and sleep for rest of evening.

Hope your New Year's Day was great.

Today starts my new year. I hosted a party yesterday and figured I'd start today. You did very well on your first day. I did get a bit of exercise, but now I can really buckle down and get busy. I'm taking down the tree and putting the decorations away. We're getting some rain today and tomorrow so the outside decorations will wait a few more days.

Exercise:
1 hour morning walk
30 minutes morning stretching exercises
30 minute evening walk
30 minute evening stretching exercises

Meals:
Breakfast- banana, blueberry juice, vitamin
Lunch- Salad (mixed lettuce, carrots, cucumber, green pepper, red onion, tomato, mushroom, walnuts)
Snack- Clementine
Dinner- Black bean enchiladas, beans & rice

Glad to see you here too Renee! Hope your party turned out well. Another rainy day. Headache gone this morning finally. However, I believe it is returning again tonight. I think I will keep track of how often I get them here too just so I can see if a pattern exists.

Today's Tip from Fitness RX June 2009:
The U.S. Dept of Health & Human Services recommends that people exercise at a moderate intensity for at least 150 minutes per week. A pedometer is a good motivational tool for increasing the number of steps you take every day. However, pedometers only tell you how far you walk, not how fast. Exercise intensity is an important factor in determining the health benefits of physical activity. As a rule of thumb, walking 100 steps per minute is a good pace for maximizing the health benefits of exercise and promoting weight control.

Exercise
1 1/2 hrs. morning barn chores
1/2 hr. evening barn chores

Meals
oatmeal with blueberries
banana
leftover stirfry
graham crackers
taco casserole, rice

Raining here again. Got most of the decorations put away. Doing laundry and will finish taking the tree down.

Have an awesome Tuesday!

Exercise:
45 minute walk in morning
11 flights of stairs
30 minute walk in afternoon
5 flights of stairs

Meals:
Breakfast- blueberry juice, vitamin
Lunch- Cooked spinach and garlic, tomatoes with parmesan
Dinner- peanut power bar

Comments:
Another rainy day.
Headache slightly this morning but gone by afternoon.
Not too much exercise today since I got caught in traffic coming home for 3 1/2 hours.
I wasn't happy about that. Thankfully I had a power bar (emergency food) in my purse.
I am trying not to eat after 6 pm.

Hey Renee, lets try to keep up to date with our weight ticker this time around. I will check later to see if I can figure out one that posts our weight progress changes as well. It will help us be more accountable.

Today's Tip from Fitness RX June 2009: Yogurt for Fat loss
The buzz in the gym is that dairy foods promote weight loss.
Women who consume greater amounts of calcium, dairy foods, and vitamin D tend to be leaner than other women.
Yogurt appears to be the perfect post-workout dairy food. It's high in protein, calcium, and vitamin D.
It tastes good; it's handy and convenient.
Women who ate three servings of yogurt per day during an eight-week weight-training program lost
the same amount of fat as women who weight-trained but consumed a low dairy diet.
However, the yogurt group ate more calories per day, yet lost the same amount of weight.

Exercise
1 1/2 hrs. morning barn chores
1/2 hr. evening barn chores

Meals
oatmeal with blueberries
banana
roast beef sandwich
ravioli, stringbeans

Will be taking down the outside decorations today.

I started doing exercises while I was waiting for my horse water buckets to fill up. Usually I just stand there, but I figured I could do some stretches and other exercises to pass the time.

I fixed my weight ticker so it's up to date...very embarrassed to see where it is......

Exercise:
30 minute fast paced walk in morning
11 flights of stairs in morning

Meals:
Br: Oatmeal (with chia, cinnamon, maple syrup, walnuts, rice milk)
Lu: Bean burrito
Sn: Banana, clementine
Di: Small Veggie patty

Misty/foggy in morning. Sunny in afternoon.
No headache today.

Renee- I am impressed! Good job at taking advantage of static time and multi-tasking. That's great. I will have to use that great idea while filling up my dog's bucket too.
Now that our tickers are fixed, we will be able to actually see how much progress we make. It will help keep us on track too. I'm holding you to it. You can do it!!!

Today's Tip from Fitness RX June 2009: Raisins Cut Appetite and Improve Blood Fats
Eat a cup of raisins every day if you want to decrease appetite and improve your blood cholesterol profile. A study showed that eating raisins decreased LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol), increased fiber intake, and altered hormones regulating hunger and satiety (feeling of fullness) in men and women aged 50-70 years of age.

Exercise
1 1/2 hrs. morning barn chores
12 flights stairs
1/2 evening barn chores

Meals
oatmeal with blueberries
peanut butter and jelly sandwich, carrots
banana
shrimp, broccoli, jello

Put away all the outside decorations yesterday and I'm glad I did. Very windy and cold today. Did 12 flights of stairs taking the inside decorations up to the attic. Today is grocery shopping day. I'm going early as it's supposed to snow tonight and the store will be busy with people getting their bread and milk

Have a great day!

Exercise
10 flights of stairs in morning
1 hour 15 minute walk in evening

Meals
Berry Drink
Fried brown rice with broccoli, cabbage, onions, carrots, peas, egg (2 servings)
Banana

Renee, good exercise climbing those stairs.
I still have my Christmas decorations up. I like keeping them up till the end of January.
Helps keep January from feeling too gloomy.
I don't think we will get much snow, but I will find out tomorrow.
Hope the traffic doesn't get bogged down again.
Hope you have a fabulous Friday!

Today's Tip from Fitness RX June 2009: Post-Exercise Snacks Cancel Weight-Loss Benefit
Nutritionists tell athletes to consume meals high in proteins and carbohydrates shortly after exercise to promote muscle growth and speed recovery. This may note be a good practice for people trying to lose weight. It was found that walking on a treadmill one hour a day improved blood sugar regulation by 40 percent. This effect was wiped out completely when people consumed carbohydrate supplements immediately after exercise. Exercise helps create a caloric deficit that is diminished greatly by post-exercise feeding. Skip the carb supplement after exercise if you are trying to lose body fat and are not overly concerned about peak performance.

1 1/2 hrs. morning barn chores
1/2 hr. evening barn chores

Meals
oatmeal with blueberries
chicken soup
banana
leftover pork and kraut, corn, applesauce

Had a little bit of snow overnight. Not sure what I'm doing today.
I hope the scale smiles at me tomorrow. I was short 1 day as I didn't start till Monday....
I'm sure you did good. Your food choices were excellent.

Exercise:
11 flights of stairs in morning
45 minute walk in afternoon

Meals:
Oatmeal (with chia, walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg maple syrup)
Grilled tomatoes with parmesan, potato wedges, asparagus, and eggplant
Banana, clementine
Taco salad (spinach base, veggie crumble, tomato, onion, green pepper, avocado),
handful of multi-grain chips, and tea

Yes, tomorrow is weigh-in. I hope to see some loss.
I think you will show some loss too since your food choices were also good.
There is still a chance of snow this weekend. I hope to get a few good walks in.
We got a new cord for our elliptical machine, so if the weather is bad, I can use it.

Today's Tip from Fitness RX June 2009: Green Tea Catechins Promote Ab Fat Loss
Abdominal fat kills and it looks bad. High ab fat levels increase the risk of heart attack, diabetes, high blood pressure, and premature death, even in people with normal weight for height. Gut fat turns over quickly, which increase blood triglycerides (blood fat) and impairs blood sugar regulation. Studies have shown that green tea with high levels of catechins (625mg) and caffeine (39 mg) promoted abdominal fat loss better than a drink containing caffeine alone. Other studies have shown that green tea caused greater decreases in total fat and blood triglycerides. Green tea is a popular weight-loss supplement that also improves blood sugar and regulation. Green tea is an effective fat fighter that decreases fat cell size and number.

Exercise
1 1/2 hrs. morning barn chores
1/2 hr. evening barn chores
unloaded a truck load of baled shavings

Meals
oatmeal with blueberries
vegetable soup, hardboiled egg
banana
chicken,fried cabbage and noodles

Down 2.7 lbs.

I have you to thank for the weight loss. I read the book you sent and it really made sense. I was more thoughtful about my food choices and really was "in the moment" as I ate instead of mindlessly eating.

I hope you have good results too.......