June 30 Day 1

catladyksa

OK, I will start this post...from work!

Karen...90%% that is an awesome job...especially when you have been under the weather (physically and actual Maine weather too!! ).

I did 50 minutes on the treadmill and got the speed up for a while. And so far, food today is going well. Trying to eat fruit more. I can not get myself to faithfully log in my food and know I should do that! (but that is not one of my goals this challenge anyway!! lol)

So here is hoping everyone gets off to a great start for the next 10 days!! And Karen I expect to hear from you about another water balloon fight you have with the kids!! Zac, keep up with those sports activities...great job!! Cari....Vegas here you go!!! How fun!! And Lise...great job on the C25K!!! KnitorMiss (sorry, don't have your real name).....good luck on whatever your challenge goals are!!!

10 days flies by!!!!

xoxo
N

KarenZen

Good morning/evening! Nancy, thanks for getting us started!

My goals for this 10 days are:
1. Log all food.
2. Swim 60+ minutes every day.
3. Do one "maintenance" activity every day.

The first two are self-explanatory; the third is really about my letting so many things slide because I'm not feeling well, I'm in pain, and/or I'm not good at asking for help. Maintenance activities could be about self (shave legs so you don't look like bigfoot, use new and exciting anti-aging skin products), work (edits on novel, work on BIGFOOT erotica), home (ummm... file taxes for 2012, 2013?, clean some clutter!). I'm tempted to not assign a time value here, but let's start with 30 minutes minimum each day.

Last night I decided enough is enough with the amitriptyline, so I dropped down to a much lower dose and dropped the muscle relaxer. It is SO nice to feel my brain working again! I don't know whether or not my back will be working (still in bed here). Hopefully not too bad as I am out of pain meds other than over the counter stuff.

Yes, Nancy, you're right--today the yard will be full of shrieking children and water balloons! My sister arrived from Kentucky on Sunday night, with her friend T and her two boys. The younger one immediately began speaking "Pokemon" with Skippy (NO idea what all that means!); the older one spent SIX hours kayaking! (his first time in a kayak). They are here for 2 weeks--I am thrilled!

I hope everyone has a fabulous day/evening. Jump right in to the challenge as our treadmilling leader has cracked the whip and said NO DAY OF REST!

K.

maoribadger

Afternoon all

My.goals this tine around are
A) Make inroads to my protein goal. Ideally hitting 120-140 g most days
Carry on mindful eating
C) Start eating cleaner
D) Joining you.on those maintenance activities. Sounds like a really good idea
E) Get through week two of C25K

So for today I have hit my protein goal of 142g. I have eaten home made stuff with minimal processing unless you count the cheese or beans. I am going to eat my dinner tonight mindfully after tiredly and mindlessly ploughing through lunch. Maintenance today is hard it's swimming club day but.I think I will take kids to soft play for an hour after school and just wander through the forums at my leisure. Tonight I'm too tired to run so am just boxing and lifting. It's a start

ronercat

My goals for the next ten days include:

1. Logging my food everyday
2. 300 minutes of exercise (not including walking)
3. Get in bed and have my book put away at a reasonable hour

This week so far (all 1 day of it) has been pretty good. I was able to spend some time last night making lunches for the week and I made a creamy sriracha chicken that ended up pretty darn tasty. I didn't have the stuff I needed for the recipe I was going for so I just kind of threw some things together and I got lucky that it ended up decent haha. I am looking forward to basketball tonight, but we might have to be a little less rough this week since my buddy ended up having a tooth knocked loose.

Nancy, great job on the treadmill activities! Karen, enjoy the time with the kids, I am sure it will be a blast. Lise, good luck on the goals and on mindfully eating your dinner.

catladyksa

I feel a GREAT 10 day challenge result ahead of us!! Looks like we are full steam ahead!!! Well I am reposting my goals below. I made my first 5...and the 6th one is just a general one that I can do anytime in these 10 days. I am googling recipes!! I even managed 50 minutes on my treadmill plus walking at work, so got well over my 10,000 steps in today! Yeah!

1. Do not eat after 6 pm
2. Treadmill minimum 9 days out of the 10 and up the speed, stick to 45 minutes.
3. Try to eat as 'clean' as I can with fresh foods.
4. Decrease the amount of 'processed' foods I eat.
5. Make a fresh salad dressing that is not full of processed stuff!

Lise...great job on the C25K. Zac, hope the basketball was fun!! Karen...yeah...glad to hear you are feeling a bit more awake....your family needs you these two weeks!!! The kids need their 'leader'!!! I managed to eat a chicken breast for dinner with some spices on it...not sure if that is 'clean' or not...but at least I did not smother it in mushroom soup or add any potatoes or rice...just the chicken breast. AND no food after 6 pm!!!

Guys...we are in it to win it!! So I am signing off...bedtime for me...will crack that whip tomorrow and am expecting the same fantastic reports that you have done today...for tomorrow!!!

On a personal 'scary' note...tomorrow is the day I submit my intention...not to re-contract!! Hoping to be out of here around November 18!! Very scary to go 'home' after being here for 30+ years...but heh...got to do it some time. My dad is not really very well and I want to go home and help my mom out. Need to find a job to...but that can wait til January!

Have a great evening folks!!!! Off to bed I go!!

Cheers,
N

melissasue0317

My goals:
1. to hit 190lbs!! I am sooo close. This was my mid-sept goal weight. THE goal weight. My new goal is 175 by the first of the year though.
2. Get back in the gym, I have been slacking way to frequently
3. Try not to look at the weekends as my "cheat" days.

Side note: I just agreed to go kayaking with a friend at the end of July. I am terrified and excited. I have been limited by my weight for so many years that this was always something "skinny" people did. I hope I can do it. I hope I don't drown I hope this will be something that shows myself that I can do whatever I want to

KarenZen

Just popping in for a sec to say Woohooo! I just fed the troops homemade chili. Time for me to suit up and swim. I am definitely more alert today without that ridiculous amitriptyline in my system, but the trade-off is more back pain. Can't wait to shoot that sucker full of cortisone next week!

Nancy, when I get a chance, I'll post the recipe for Jim's garlic dressing. Very good, very light.

Everyone's goals look great!

Melissa, I kayaked every day in summer at 350 pounds. You'll be FINE!

K.

KnitOrMiss

Thanks for the greeting, all. For those who don't remember me, my real name is Carly.

My Goals:
1. Continue to stay off the scale. Made a commitment to BFF to stay off until 7/13 (my birthday). Last day on the scale was 6/18/15 (at 244.2 including some water weight).
2. Get a minimum of 80 oz of water/liquid per day. My true goal is 120 oz daily, but I suffer on weekends due to sleeping in, so 80 oz minimum should be a solid goal I can hit every single day, without fail.
3. Stay on my Ketogenic diet (LCHFMP - low carbs, high fats, moderate proteins; goal is 25-50 grams carbs - lower is better; so far, have not gone over 50 grams net since 1/15/15.).
4. Take some progress pictures. Looking back at my pictures from last March, even though I regained and lost pounds, my body recomposition is SO MUCH. I really need new pics.
5. Mental health time - take two sessions in the next ten days to blog, journal, meditate, walk, or anything soothing.

I think that is more than enough for now. I committed to being challenge free for this year, but I don't see these things as challenges (which tend - for me - to be short term goals with intense obsession opportunities), but rather plans.

1. I've succeeded in staying off the scale for 12 days so far. My mood lift and focus shift is noticeable.
2. I've almost hit this today at roughly 69 oz so far. I do the majority of my fluid consumption before lunch.
3. I've been below 50 grams net since 1/15/15; been below 25 grams total since 2/18/15 at 95% compliance.
4. I've measured, but I need updated pics in the same poses as my progress pics. I have others, just not posed.
5. I've been very lax about this, but since I've playing hide and go seek from the scale, I've been more prolific.

Looking forward to however this "challenge" goes, as it isn't the same type of challenge I've been avoiding! Here's to our mental health! When it's in line, the physical falls into place easier.

KarenZen

Hey Carly---glad you are joining us!

We'll still do a hard-core, boot-camp type challenge now and then, but most of us are intent on healthy skill and habit building. And Zac has us all working on broader life goals. I know that for me, stress and anxiety are eating triggers, so it makes sense to address some of the life issues that cause my stress and anxiety (thus my "maintenance" category this round... in 10 days I'll have completed 10 things that are "should do" and that I'm always stressing out or beating myself up over not getting done). In fact, I think before doing the supper dishes, I may just work on my goals!

K.

catladyksa

You goals are great Carly....and like Karen put it, we are working on 'healthy skills and habit building' thus the 10 day 'challenge'....don't even have to call it a challenge.....but we are taking baby steps , 10 days at time to try and accomplish something either/or / both personally and move towards a healthier us! Zac started us on our 'life goals'...could be putting a budget together (one of mine), career, etc. Guess we are trying to become more 'mindful' of what we are doing or heading towards!

Karen...so very proud of you getting out there with the kiddos and swimming!!!!!!

Meliissa.....try to think of the weekends as a 'regular' day....to avoid those cheat days....be mindful that we have to take each day...one day at a time, getting healthier and fitter! You are doing great!!!

Well...I am starting my day...off to the treadmill! Will post on Day 1 !!

Have a great evening folks (Lise...good morning to you!)

N

KarenZen

I had a good challenge Day 1---all food logged, lots of swimming time (easy to do with a 15 year old, 11 year old, and 7 year old full of boundless energy).

My decision to drop to a low dose amitriptyline (spell check keeps trying to change that word to "pantyliner" bwahahahaha) was good--I could actually focus on things again, hold conversations, keep the drool INSIDE my mouth, you know... that sort of thing, hahahaa! And after all the bull, I was able to pick up a new script for vicodin today. Such a pain in the butt... after ten years of a disease with chronic pain, you would think my doctor would understand that I know my own body. I'm definitely a weirdo when it comes to meds. I have a crazy powerful immune system, and when I go off my immunosuppressants, I can kick strep throat or pneumonia in two days. I have such a high tolerance for pain that I've actually passed kidney and gallstones just by deep breathing and doing some yoga. So yes, I need to manage this nerve pain until that ruptured disc either retracts and heals or until I give up on it and get surgery, and my personal cocktail that seems to work best is a combo of a very low dose of a muscle relaxant, a very low dose of amitriptyline, and a low of vicodin. That dulls the pain enough for me to function, get a workout in the water, and get a good night's sleep. Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

The women in here over 40 will appreciate my "maintenance goal" today... I had to wait at the pharmacy for 40 minutes, so I parked in the corner of the parking lot in full sun, whipped the tweezers and magnifying mirror out of my purse, and plucked the stray hairs out of my eyebrows and various other parts of my face (where the frig do these hairs come from??? like the one growing out of my frigging EARLOBE? really???). Natural light is just awesome for this kind of maintenance!

I'm actually geared up for a second maintenance round tonight as I have my goals list here with me and may start a goals thread and make it sticky if I can figure that out again.

On the "not so good" part of the day, there was a lot of junk food in the house today, and I ate a few things I would like to go back in time and take out of my mouth. I did record everything, and calorie-wise, I did okay because of the swimming, but boy is it tough to think that I've got my food compulsions under control and then find that I don't completely. I will, however, give myself some credit. Compared to what I would have done in the past, today's little excusion off plan was NOTHING. So gold star for that. And gold star for this morning when I went to pick up my grocery order (I place the order online then drive to the store to pick it up--awesome system!!!) and asked the grocery clerk to re-shelve the two quarts of ice cream I'd ordered on impulse because god knows if you have company over, you need ice cream, right?

Okay, other than starting Day 2's thread with a quick note and trying to post a goals thread, I think that's enough babbling for today. Nice to see so many participants in this round with some great goals. I haven't seen too many posts about awards, though. For the last challenge I awarded myself some awesome skin care products from Dermalogica. (Their anti-aging kit.) Very excited to try the mask tomorrow as a maintenance goal. I'm not sure about this challenge. I may just put $20 into a jar and start a challenge reward fund for myself!

What are you all going to do?
K.

maoribadger

For my last challenge I got my running shoes. This time around its gonna have to be smaller as I cant afford that every ten days LOL. I dont want it to be food based. Thinking maybe some nice hair product as I usually end up with cheap stuff and it feels so much nicer when I use nice stuff.

carimiller7391

Good day everyone!!! I could have sworn I posted goals somewhere, but where did they go (George?????). Hahaha. Not sure what I posted either which is really bad, but these, I have written down.

1. Maintain at 75g of net carbs a day. Last week was harder then expected, so I am giving this another week.
2. 80-120oz water min a day, with 40oz of water with lemon or lime instead of mix-ins.
3. Enjoy my food and company instead of plowing through the food as quick as possible.

I love everyone's goals. They look awesome.

maoribadger

Good goals cari.

KnitOrMiss

My reward is just going to be "be kind to yourself." My birthday will be right after the wrap of this "challenge," but payday is further off, so not likely to be celebrating soon... So, being loving, kind, and forgiving for myself, right now, that's my reward.