2018--Striving to Make This Year Our Best Possible
KonaKat
Posts: 3,411 Member
Happy New Year, everyone! As we enter this New Year, I know many of us have personal goals on which we are still striving to achieve, and possibly new goals. When I weighed myself this morning, I actually found myself 9 pounds under that of January 1, 2017, this despite not really being the best at following a healthy eating plan at times. My big success is not gaining weight during the holidays, as that is a time I usually eat and erase any losses.
I am not obcessing over a stated weight loss goal. I'll try to eat healthy but something I am really working on is exercise. When I looked at the calories permitted without exercise, MFP gives me a number slightly over 1200. I know from experience that I maintain at around 1600. That doesn't give me much leeway to lose. Now, that I've checked the calories permitted after an hour of exercise, I basically earn 450 to 500 calories more to eat.....or calories that, in theory, might help with weight loss if I don't eat them back.
Here's to a successful New Year for you!!
I am not obcessing over a stated weight loss goal. I'll try to eat healthy but something I am really working on is exercise. When I looked at the calories permitted without exercise, MFP gives me a number slightly over 1200. I know from experience that I maintain at around 1600. That doesn't give me much leeway to lose. Now, that I've checked the calories permitted after an hour of exercise, I basically earn 450 to 500 calories more to eat.....or calories that, in theory, might help with weight loss if I don't eat them back.
Here's to a successful New Year for you!!
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Happy New Year to everyone. I'm definitely not venturing out today. It was 7 below when I got up a 7am.
Gritting my teeth as I'm lazy right now, I'm switching to entertainment to start my daily exercise on the cycle.0 -
I’m not getting out today either. It was around 15 degrees here this morning and the high will be 28, so I plan to stay indoors until more moderate temps return.
Like Jean, I was able to maintain through this holiday season. I didn’t gain any weight and I’ll consider that a minor victory. Now it’s time for me to work on getting back to some kind of regular exercise routine. That has been a struggle for me ever since I broke my ankle two years ago, but it’s time to put that behind me and get back on the horse, so to speak. I think I will try to start going back to the Rec center in town and walk on the treadmill or use the elliptical machines and slowly start adding in weights.
My other goal for the year is to work on decluttering my home, starting with my closet. I have several piles of things on the floor that need to find a new home, as well as clothing hanging up that I never wear and in many cases couldn’t wear if I wanted to due to fit issues. They need to go! After the closet, maybe I’ll tackle some other areas in the house. I could probably get rid of some items in the kitchen and pantry as well.0 -
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Pam--Great goals; I need to focus on some decluttering also .
Maryane--You find the best graphics. Let's hope we have a better year than the one signaled by the Garfied one. Poor pandas!!
We are having a heat wave. The sun came out so it is now 11 degrees as we near Noon.0 -
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We drove down to the local beach last night (5 minute drive). A small group had a bonfire going on the beach. I don't know if that was legal but it looked very pretty. At midnight, a community on the mainland did a 10 minute fireworks display. It was surprisingly comfortable on the beach. I had a lightweight coat on and was warm enough. It was probably in the mid 50s. Like everyone else, I'm in about the same place as last January. I'm hoping that regular exercise will make the difference for me. As Jean pointed out, restricting calories alone doesn't have the desired effect. So we can encourage each other to keep working on the exercise component.
Happy 218 everyone.
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Maryanne--You have a real knack for summarizing our goals; as they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words."
Helene--It sounds as if you had a nice New Year's Eve experince. I think you are so correct that we need to continue to encourage each other on the exercise component.
Another night of near or below zero temperature is in store for us tonight. In one area of our state, they had the lowest temperature in almost 100 years.0 -
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Pam---That is a great pic. I also like to think that it is not how long the journey but what the journey entails....and having fun doing it is a great motivator.
http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1827342,00.html0 -
Pam - too funny!!!
Helene - being on the beach sounds fantastic!
Jean - interesting article!
Loved this line (I can so relate): The problem was that not enough of the women stuck with their assigned exercise categories for the researchers to gather enough meaningful data.
I'm 9 pounds down from last January 1 so I didn't give it all back. Not quite anyway. I hate New Year's resolutions but I think they started for a good reason. We all just lived through the holidays! I actually lost a pound and a half over the holidays. While I haven't been all that careful I also didn't buy all the "stuff" I often buy over the holidays.
Having a treadmill in my house gives me little excuse (but somehow I still find them).
I'm trying to keep up my spirits but knowing Jack's surgery is next week makes it hard. I hope for a good outcome - or I wouldn't be doing it - but anything can go wrong and even if everything goes right the recovery is most likely going to be nasty.
I just finished End Game by David Baldacci. It's a Will Robie book and I really enjoyed it! (Warning, though, fairly violent).
Picked up the latest Iris Johansen, Mind Game. Not so sure about these any more. It got great ratings but they've changed SO much since the focus was on Even Duncan solving crime using her artistic skills to take a skull and recreate a face. They've veered WAY off into the paranormal. Not my usual cup of tea. They always had a touch of paranormal (Eve's late daughter Bonnie sometimes appeared to her) but it was a tiny touch.
Still listening to the Andy Carpenter books in the van. And still enjoying them.0 -
Maryanne--You have done a fabulous job of not gaining what you loss despite the stresses of dealing with the cats, the shows, and the holidays.
I just ventured out to the detached garage to get a new box of kitty litter from the trunk of the car It was so cold that I was numb and really couldn't feel the cold. I think I can understand why people and animals caught out in the extreme cold get affected before they realize it; they no longer feel it as much and don't know they are in potential trouble.0 -
I hadn't done any serious exercise in a few years so I am definitely starting over. We were trying to go every other day but the center was closed for a few days for the holidays. DH was working on a DIY project with BIL so I made myself go alone. I did a mile on Saturday (treadmill) and was tempted to quit at half a mile today. I saw the time and distance building up on the display and told myself I could do a few more minutes. I ended up doing the mile and spending 24 minutes on the treadmill. I was proud of myself for sticking with it because I so wanted to quit early. So I count this as a good day for me. Consistency is something I need to work on because I start programs with good intentions and fall off the wagon weeks or months later. I'm determined not to do that this time so any and all encouragement is welcomed.
Maryanne, it's wonderful that you're starting the year lighter than 2017. Use your treadmill to build on that success. What's Jack's surgery for? I hope it comes out okay.
Jean. Be careful with those extreme temperatures. It's too easy to get frostbite or hypothermia quicker than you'd expect. Put a blanket and or warm clothes in your car. If heaven forbid, you broke down, you'd need them to bundle up in while waiting for help.
Pam, you had me going with that exercise graphic. I was expecting a recumbent bike. lol0 -
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They never let me do this !!!
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Helene--Fighting the temptation to quit when hitting a temporary bump on the exercise road is a challenge. Often when feeling the urge to quit, just saying one more minute and then another one minute, etc. will get you past that urge to quit.
Maryanne--The graphics are great I'll have to put a FitBit on Midnight and see how many steps to the bowl he gets in a day. I think it would be neat if one could stay with a pet overnight but it would be a rare experience.
I love these MFP projections. According to MFP, if everyday was like today then in 5 weeks I will have lost ten pounds.0 -
Helene, do you read or watch TV while you’re on the treadmill? I find that when I read the time goes by quickly for me. If you enjoy music, take your headphones or ear buds and listen to some up tempo music and that will help you keep moving as well. I usually set distance and/or calories burned goals for myself and find that motivating too. When I exercise with a friend we try to get machines that are next to each other so we can talk and the time flies by. We probably annoy everyone else in the gym, lol, but it works for us.
It’s still really cold here and will be until at least tomorrow afternoon. We may actually get above freezing then for a few hours. It will be nice to be able to turn off the dripping faucets and come out from under the blanket I’ve lived under for the past three days. I’m so not a fan of winter. I seriously don’t know how people in cold climates with long winters do it.0 -
It is 6 below right now but I will be heading to work after a two hour delay because of the temps.
Pam--I agree as I am not a fan of winter either. We usually don't have such long extended periods of this type of cold, so we could look forward to days of acceptable temps for winter; this is not acceptable. I also agree about the benefit of watching TV while exercising.
I'm debating just taking the day off from cycling and just count steps or add the cycling when I get home when I see what the FitBit says.0 -
When I did the treadmill at P/T I listened to books on tape. Now I watch TV or the programs I've saved to the Kindle Fire. For some reason, though, I still get bored. Doesn't make any logical sense at all. I could sit on the couch and watch those same programs for much longer without feeling bored.0
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The rec center has five TVs all set to different programs. The problem is the treadmills are right in front of the TV and it' not that comfortable to watch. It's like sitting in the front row at the movies. If I knew how to use some of the other equipment , They are far enough away that watching TV would be an option. The TV in front of my favorite treadmill is set to HGTV so I'd enjoy watching their show while working out. I glance up and down when I'm walking but I can only watch a minute or two because it's so close to me.
It's pretty cool here today (50s) but I'm sure Jean and Maryanne would love to change temps with me.0 -
I just HATE it that everywhere you go any more has a TV on!!! But at least on the treadmill you could use ear plugs. At a doctor's office type place you have to listen for people to call your name.
When did we become a people that had to have constant television noise?
Rhetorical question.
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I just HATE it that everywhere you go any more has a TV on!!! But at least on the treadmill you could use ear plugs. At a doctor's office type place you have to listen for people to call your name.
When did we become a people that had to have constant television noise?
Rhetorical question.
The sound is not on for their TVs. They have the captions running across the screen and the post the frequency number if you want to use earbuds and listen on your phone. Part of my problem is trying to read the captions from too close up.0 -
I subbed today with the temps still below zero when I went to work. To my amazement, I only had 3 students absent during the day. The building was nice and warm. We have another delay tomorrow because of cold temps again tonight.
I didn't do any active exercise before I went to work as I wanted to compare a day of work to that of using the cycle. I am very tired and it is tempting not to do any cycling later, but despite being tired and having a few thousand of steps in, I do not have any active minutes registered on the FitBit.
Active minute are those that last long enough at a sufficient intensity to benefit the cardiac and pulmonary system. As a result, the FitBit will not register me as exercising today. I can let it go or try to pedal my way into at least 30 active minutes tonight.0 -
Helene, what other cardio equipment do they have that would allow you to see the TV more comfortably? Perhaps you could ask someone to show you how to use them, or check out a YouTube video. It sounds like your Rec center needs to rearrange things!0
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Maryanne--I love it! An hour on the treadmill Perhaps I need to have a similar picture taken. How much snow, etc. did you get from the storm moving up to the Northeast?
We have severe wind chill warnings out effective 4pm through 1pm tomorrow. The projected wind chill can cause frostbite to exposed skin in 30 min
We have a delay of school again but I am off to work. I have a hunch tomorrow might be cancelled. That Arctic air just keeps on coming.
I did get in an hour of active minutes last night. I was fine once I started but it took some talking to myself to get started.
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