a good week!!!
 

OK, it's Monday morning here and I am reporting in on last week's accomplishments....

GOAL REVIEW for LAST WEEK

1) Get to the gym AND train 4 times through Sunday.

Got there 3x, but also had a day with a long walk scheduled just for the exercise. Also rode twice.

2) Stay away from all deep-fried foods!

Ok here except for one transgression and not a huge one.

3) Go easy or totally abstain from cheese on my veggie stews and curries etc.

Yes, this was good!

4) Clean an area in my room for an exercise bike,

No, no time as usual...not upset about this in light of the other successes!

5) Take my measurements, record and post them here!

Done and am happy to report a 9-cm loss total over 8 measurements! How is that?!! I knew I had lost but if I hadn't taken them and written them down I would have nothing to gloat over! :dizzy: ALSO, my weight is down 1 kg to 72.6 kgs. I have a drinking date with a buddy at the gym that says when I break through 70 kgs we're drinking at the Irish pub! :cb:

6) Stay on track with my 21-day challenges

Yes, all days notched, NO pause days!! :spin:

7) Try to do little bits of movement during the day.

Well, this is hard to judge. I'd have to say I had only one somewhat slothful day and even then I did try to get out and walk around more than I normally would at lunch. So, OK!

********

AWARE, CALM and COLLECTED were my words...how did I do?

Got this one too....in fact, one night out in the pub I would have perhaps stayed on, but NO, thinking of my words, I did a steely (perhaps slightly wobbly) walk to the station and got the next-to-the-last train home! Yowzah!!! Also, during the week, instead of getting down about all the work ahead of me, I simply said, deep breaths, calm, collected!! AND, I stayed very aware of what was going in my mouth. The journaling from my 21-day challenge helped there a lot!!

Missed You - Missed Me!
 

Sorry ladies for being MIA - I didn't get a chance to post I was going out of town for the weekend and would have no internet access! Thank you to all of you for keeping things going. I love you :hug: Will post big and catch up with you tomorrow.

mscat

Hey ladies :)

Monday again... brrrr, it was so FREEZING in our room this morning... As I blabbled on another thread, my boyfriend's family has a strange (to me) habit of having the heating on during the day but off at night... and not having heating in the washrooms at all. Even if someone is up before me (hasn't been happening the past few days), our room still takes a while to get warm. Red, that reminds me, I forgot to answer on 21-day challenge - we do have a heater, but it's not smart or sophisticated enough to know to turn itself on half an hour before I wake up - and it's too backwards technologically to have an option like that built-in.

I think I didn't try hard enough with my water last week - there were a few days when I came close to meeting my goal of 3 x 600 mL but didn't push to actually meet the goal. And days when I drank very little water and didn't quite try to drink more.
So I'm continuing that challenge for this week, and I'm happy to say that Monday is a success - I'm well into my 4th bottle at the moment! :)
I'm also thinking of two more things - making an effort to get to bed earlier (this has improved a lot recently, but I'm far from satisfied) and having no treats/sweets/desserts other than fruit, vegetables and maybe nuts. I'm doing a "no chocolate" 21-day challenge and that's going great, but I there have been other occassional threats, and I'm interested in seeing whether forgoing those will make the scale go down. I'm very eager to get down to 58 kg/129 lb and claim my reward! :lol: Not sure if I mentioned this, but I decided to put a reward system in place, hoping that this will provide the boost and extra motivation which I've been struggling with over the last few months.
I'm even more eager to get down to 55 kg and get my second reward - my heart is set on getting it before I leave in Australia, and that's just 9 weeks away, so I better get cracking! And I better get moving, doing some real exercise real lots and real soon. Yesterday I found out, to my desmay, that my wonderful yoga classes won't be held for the next 2 weeks... :( It's school holidays here, and numbers always go down during holidays, and they won't be able to even break even. Sucks. Sucks, sucks, sucks. What sucks even more is that it's so HARD to do anything right now - it gets dark by 5:30-6 pm, doesn't get bright until 7:30 am, so I can't run outside at all (I have a new temp job, so daytime is out). All I have left is the awful stationary bike... Well, and the skipping rope... ;)

Red, well done with your goals last week! :cheer: I forgot to tell you that since we're almost a full day ahead, I do my weigh-in on "thread Mondays", not on actual Mondays - so on Tuesdays for me and you, when it's still Monday for everyone else, and this way it's the same day. That's what I do, but of course you're free to do your own thing. :)

Bonnie, don't leave us! I've had weeks, many of them, when I felt the way you're feeling right now - that there is no point participating in the thread if you can't do what you promise. Well, maybe it's time to scale back a bit, and declare some small, achievable challenge - something not too daunting, just to get yourself started again. :) Give it a go! :)

Trying, good luck with the personal trainer! :) I'm in Australia right now, have been since last September, but I'm going back to Can-land soon.

Mscat, come back! :)

I'm back!
 

Ughhhh! It was torture not being able to post with my BB buddies :grouphug: The weekend course was phenomenal and I got breakthroughs that have already had an impact in my life. I didn't keep my promises while I was away - no excuses. I let go of being UNSTOPPABLE which would have kept me in the game. So I am declaring getting my BB out of the stands and getting on the court! Taking on being UNSTOPPABLE and POWERFUL - keeping in mind at all times that no one can do it for me - I AM THE ONE!

Sushi - I applaud you :cp: and stand with you - I am working on my first bottle now and will complete my second by beore 1! You love yoga - so take on doing what you love as much as possible on your own. I read on my treadmill - try that with your bike.

Red :bravo: on making a signficant dent in meeting your goals and congrats on the measurement! The study report had me rollin :lol:

Diana :carrot: great start to the day - We are pulling for you make your birthday goals.

Tryin' - :thanks: for your kinds words and especially for being a part of our group. AWESOME words for who you are this week.

Bonnie - we love you :grouphug: and we are here for you whether things are going well or going tough.

carla - where are you now???? Don't let the hockey results keep you away from us!!!! stop drowning in your beer and get back here! :drill:

mscat

Between girls night out on Saturday and Fathers day yesterday - food was not good this weekend - minor setback, but only temporary! This week I'll continue downing the water everyday and go workout at least 4 times. This week my goal is Maintaining Focus!

I hope everyone has a great week moving forward!

No joy in Mudville.... the mighty Oilers have struck out. :( Actually, I haven't watched a hockey game since my prince turned back into a toad, so I can't comment on the present state of violence in the game. But it was never something I admired. So, Bonnie, I agree with you that fights on the ice are stupid. But boys will be boys, I guess...

Last week I was semi-successful in my goals. My DETERMINATION slipped a little as the week wore on, and there was again little exercise done. But the no wine rule was a breeze, and the only chocolate was a free sample at Costco. (Okay. Two free samples.) :o And speaking of Costco, I'm not too proud of the many samples I inhaled. At least here in Canada there are not very many sample stations, and the portions are minute. When I was in a Costco in San Fran last year I was blown away by the quantity and variety of free goodies.

On weight, a few ups and downs: I was feeling quite euphoric last week to weigh in at 193.4 one morning. But I must have dreamt it, because the next day I was up 3 lbs from that! A very funny joke from the scale fairies... But in spite of Costco I'm at 194.2 this morning. Not much chance of hitting 189.9 by July 1, but on the right track. It was a little discouraging to look back and realize I had hit that number back in January, only to swell back up and get stuck.

So this week is once again no chocolate, and I'm adding in better veg consumption. There's a BBQ tomorrow night with free wine, so I'll try to keep the consumption to that one night. And the word for the week is planning - planning for a future with no ghosts, healthy eating, and (drum roll here) some exercise.

It's off to work for me now - on the verge of being late. Good luck to all the BBB's. Keep on trucking! ;)

Happy Tuesday!
 

Hi Ladies! I got in a 20 minute :tread: workout this a.m. and just completed a 20 minute walk for lunch :cb: Sushi - I am completing my first bottle of water (24oz) and I have 2 more to go. I am promising to complete the 2nd bottle by 3 and my 3rd by 7:30. I am picking up on carla's word - PLANNING and accentuating PLANNING with ACTION

So each morning I am going to PLAN my WORK and WORK my PLAN by scheduling in my planner what actions I am going to take and by when.

Have a great and ACTION packed day Sushi, Carla, Tryin', Diana, Bonnie, Donna (missing you!) and Red :wave:
mscat

Hump Day!
 

No exercise for me this a.m. but I am down with my first bottle of water and I am starting on my second :cp:

I am eating great - snacking on mini carrots, yogurt for breakfast, and getting ready to share a greek salad with my buddy. Hope everyone is having a great day!

mscat

Good Morning!

My first weigh-in shows me 2 pounds DOWN for the first week of my Birthday Challenge. I'll take it!:D

Still out here. I've been down with pneumonia for a couple days. It comes on in a heartbeat because of my asthma...No exercise and not watching closely what I eat, but NO CHANGE in my weight, thank Heaven!

Today I'm going back to work--there are only today and tomorrow left and then I start a new job at a new hospital on Monday. Maybe closing on our new house next week too. I am at least able to think about my eating today and will go back to matching those portions. I'll pick up the exercise again when the lungs clear out.


The rest of y'all keep up the good work--I'm cheering from the sidelines!

Diana

Hey Ladies

It's Friday evening here, weekend at last. I'm so looking forward to the weekend. I haven't been around because I got a temp job, one that included good 3 hours/day on public transit, and in the evenings I was just too tired to look in here. I think I tried once, but the forum was down or something... The job is over, and I don't yet know whether I'll have anything next week. We'll see. I still don't feel like working (though I do admit that once you start, it goes), but I'm still broke. So while on the other hand a few days of doing my own thing would be nice (sleep, sleep, sleep!!!), more money would be nice too...

Challenges have been going good - I've been doing great with the water all week - for some reason working always helps me with that, but it's a lot harder to get all this water in when I'm home! I haven't been having any snacks, only some nuts on Monday and again on Thursday.

But I'm so frustrated and annoyed with the scale! :tantrum:
Remember how not too long ago it went up to 62 kgs for no reason, and then went back down to 61 and then even to 60 kg and then slightly UNDER 60? I had hoped to see it close to 59 kg this week... Instead, it slowly crept back up over the weekend, and I was back at 61 on our weigh-in day. And it hasn't budged from there. I don't understand, and I'm sick of it... I haven't been sleeping enough and I'm tired, and I haven't been exercising at all, simply because there weren't enough hours in the day, BUT I've been watching my food and not eating bad stuff... so why a gain???
It makes me so upset because I had though I was getting close to my mini-goal (58 kg), but now it seems like I will never get there... Add to that the fact that I was hoping to hit 55 kg eight weeks from now... that's 13 lbs to get rid of in 8 weeks, and that's not happening... I don't understand why, but my body seems to just plain refuse to shed the fat. This has been going for months... I set goals, I work towards them, but nothing happens on the scale. I was hoping that setting up a reward system would provide the kick I needed, but it's not I that need a kick, it's the stupid fat. It probably needs a whack, but I have no idea how to whack it effectively.

Okay, I'll stop the rant now... zzzzzzZZZZZZZzzzzzzZZZZZzzzzz

I have the hardest time on the weekends or days off with water too. At work it's on my desk, running around or working at home it's out of sight, out of mind. I'm going to have to keep water bottles strategically placed throughout the house!

Exercise is good - walking a mile or two during the day and working out with cardio and weights five days a week. I'm starting to see/feel what I can only imagine is muscle in my legs - Ive NEVER followed any excercise plan in my entire life, so I'm not quite sure!
Last night storms kept the whole city up,so we're all walking zombies today! Glad it's my day off from the gym! Looking forward to Monday morning weigh-in, prepared to not see much on the scale; but I know it's working. Starting to see the difference in how may clothes fit! My goal for July is to Shop my closet!
mscat, sushi, red, diana, carla and everyone else enjoy the weekend! Drink! Drink! Drink! Though I plan on replacing a water or two tonight with a cold draft....or two! :)

Tgif!
 

Mornin' - I was MIA yesterday - Totally did not keep my promises AND I didn't have the courage or the integrity to say so. I am on the job now and promise to keep my integrity in - by doing what I said I would do and communicating with you when I am not keeping my promise!

Tryin' - you go girl! :cheer: You have inspired me to have the clothes I am wearing now fit better and take action to get into the clothes I have outgrown recently. I am going to get off my BB (big butt) and get moving.

Sushi - Take heart :hug: There is something missing in what you are doing or not doing and you can be real honest with yourself about what it is. It's great that you are working consistently on eating right but if you are like me, I know I have to do more than eat consistently to make a significant difference. I have to be CONSISTENT with a couple of other things like getting adequate sleep consistently, exercising consistently, drinking water consistently, not eating too late in the evening consistently.

Today I am inspired about a new direction I would like to take the thread when we change on the 4th. There are lots of Top 10 lists out there for healthy weight loss. I chose to practice 4 items from my favorite tips today.

I will . . .
1. Eat 5 small meals today (3 balanced meals and 2 healthy snacks)

2. Complete my last meal by 8 p.m.

3. Move for a minimum of 20 minutes (the tip is do move 30 min. 4 times a week- working up to this!)

4. Drink a minimum of 48 oz H2O (the tip is 64 oz min. or use a weight/water ratio calculator - working up to this too!

The other tips on my list are 5. Get adequate sleep, 6. Plan your meals each day 7. Keep a food journal 8. Cut portions in half or eat smaller portions (especially for special occasions and eating out 9. Get 3 veggies and 3 fruits in a day and 10. Plan one cheat meal or snack once a week (staves off cravings)

I invite each of you to share your favorite top 10 list here - We'll pick the 10 most common items for the thread and challenge ourselves between the 4th and Labor Day to chose 2 - 4 items from that list to work consistently on each week. Can you imagine the difference it would make in our weight loss goals if we could be consistent for a whole week with 2 or more actions that have been proven to make a difference for weight loss? Who will take that challenge on?

:goodluck: on your goals today!

mscat

YAY! For FRIDAY!:carrot:

Well,

Still really sick. Today is my last day at the current job and I'm going to drag myself in. Haven't been able to exercise, but haven't gained anything as I checked this am and feeling like it'll be easy to watch it today too.

mscat, I can add my Ten Tips:

1. drink water
2. 30 min daily exercise 6 days/week
3. No eating after 8pm
4. Post daily
5. Have a small treat daily [ie ONE chocolate kiss]
6. Limit grain product to 5 servings or less
7. Serve true portions
8. Keep safe "emergency snacks" in the car
9. Don't have binge foods in the house
10. Have a daily little planning/pep rally

Today, I can still do most of those, despite being sick.

And I want to post during the weekend too!

Onward!
Diana

Jump Right In!
 

Great list Diana! I love # 6 Limit grains and # 8 Keep safe emergency snacks in the car. Don't over do with that pneumonia - ease back into things - your health is #1.

mscat

Hello everyone. Sorry I have been AWOL. Things have not been good for me this week, starting Monday when I heard my uncle had died....a lot of other things going on, but I plan to get back on track for next week's challenge. I like seeing those inches come off and want to do more of that! You all take care and I'll be back! :wave: