Let's Do this! - 2019 Challenge - Be the best you can be!

kimmie373

mynacha73 wrote: »

Hi Everyone,
So some goods and not-so-goods. I'm thrilled that despite not being able to walk for half the month, I still lost 9.3 pounds which is just under 3% of my body weight. I took a mental health day and skipped work today. I just went for a 3 mile walk - the first real walk in a month. It was great! On the not-so-good side, I'm sinking into another depression. I'm trying to do the things I need to do: exercise (back to it!), eat healthy (check), sleep (check), I'm working on getting out of a job situation that's really rough, I'm doing my weekly therapy, etc. But I'm sinking. I'm going to work on creating a morning checklist that focuses on my well-being goals. I think if I start the day thinking about my physical health, reaching out to 1-2 friends not connected to work, and do 1-2 job search things, I might feel a little more in control and positive. I'm also going to pretend to be a tourist for 1 day each weekend and go explore something in my neighborhood that I haven't seen before. I mean, seriously ... I've lived in the SF Bay Area for nearly 30 years and never been to Alcatraz....
Happy February - we got this!

Glad to see you are creating a plan to combat your depression. Good luck on the new job search.

kimmie373

Congrats to everyone who met there goals for January. I met the goal to start exercising. I need to keep this up for February but can see I really need to buckle down on my snacking. I still have my exercise goal of closing all my rings for a week. I should have but my watch did not calculate correctly. So in reality I will have exercised for 14 days in a row to get my 7 day award, lol. Another goal is to reach a full score of 600 for one day on my watch. Ok, so my eating goal is to not exceed the calorie goal for a whole week in February. That’s 3 goals for the month.

loonyhiker

mynacha73 wrote: »

Hi Everyone,
On the not-so-good side, I'm sinking into another depression.

My daughter suffers from bipolar disorder and whenever she gets depressed, her doctor recommends that she eats more chicken and also bananas along with pushing herself to exercise. There is some chemical in those foods that are a natural antidepressant that works for her.

I love your plan. I don't think many people play "tourist" enough in their home area. I hope you post pictures somewhere and share them with us!

msarobix

Good morning, I thought I would login early since I have a super busy day today. Here are my stats for January. I am very happy with my progress so far.

January Stats:

Lost 6.6 lbs
Lost 3.5”
Average Calorie Burn: 2568
Average Stand: 15
Average Steps: 12515
Average Flights: 9
Average Workout Minutes: 66
Average Workout Distance: 3.88
Average Resting Heart Rate: 65

I hope to improve all of these averages for February. After just one day, I am already behind in most, but not by much, so I am sure I can keep on it to make sure I beat my averages from January. Maybe I will see similar inches lost for February, but I am not expecting to lose as much weight in February. If I lose 3-4 pounds in February I will be super happy.

Here is my weight graph for January. It looks great at the beginning of the month and then went wonky, but I am very happy with the overall progress for the month. I hope to see a similar trend in February.

tiff0277

Hello everyone.... Sounds like you all have busy.

January is gone and good riddance to that one. I'm hoping that the rest of 2019 is better. Emotionally it's been a rough one. On the health side not a complete loss. This months success is logging if it isn't here in MFP it's in my journal. Small steps!

**New Goal for this month**
~ movement ~

msarobix

@kimmie373 - One day at a time. The way I look at it is if I am continuing to make improvements, even if it is slow, then I am moving in the right direction.

mynacha73

@kimmie373
@loonyhiker I've never heard that - I have some chicken I made with baharat and lemon in the freezer. I'll pull that out for the week. Thanks for the advice. I also love the idea of posting photos - good inspiration!
@tiff0277 have you seen the memes that January has been a long year? I feel ya

So far I'm off to a good start to the day. I woke to the cat giving me a back massage then sticking her paw in my face to get me out of bed. Went out for a healthy breakfast with a friend, followed by a good shop at a local Asian market (99 Ranch - best produce selection around) for the week's meals. I closed all the rings on my apple watch yesterday, and I'm planning to do the same today! I think I'll try the rowing machine at the fitness center this afternoon.
Have a great Saturday!

mynacha73

Update: just tried on clothes I haven't worn since 2015 ... and I now have a few more shirts and sweaters added back into the rotation!! Woot woot woot.
OK - now I'm off to the rowing machine.

msarobix

It is going to be another busy day for me, but it is already off to a more productive start. In an effort to try to get everything accomplished today I figured I needed to get my workout out of the way first thing. So that is exactly what I did. I never got to the grocery store yesterday so that along with a few hours of work are on the agenda for today. I also need to fit in a bit of tidying up as well as some laundry. I hope I can get everything done today. I feel like the weekends fly by way too quickly.

I hope everyone has had a nice weekend.

@mynacha73 - I find it more gratifying to be able to fit in clothes I haven’t been able to wear in awhile then I do to see the number drop on the scale. Congratulations on your victory this week.

mynacha73

No local tourism - it's pouring here. But I do have a picture of the rainbow that hung out for a bit this morning for all of us to enjoy. Have a great week, everyone!

loonyhiker

@mynacha73 This was beautiful! Thank you for putting a smile on my face!

BackInSoFL

Thanks for the rainbow! It was grey all day in FLA. I think the sun peaked out for 10 minutes.

My goals for February are to change up the exercise; adding NROL4Abs - working that program 3x per week, in addition to walking the other 3x. I did the NROL4W a couple of years ago, didn't finish after I had surgery. I have some equipment in the garage so I wont have to join a gym.

I am also going to change up eating. Since the workout programs goal is to build muscle, I am going to have to increase my calories, protein especially. I going to be changing the macros too. I am thinking a protein shake will do the trick, on the lifting days.

Good luck everyone with your goals for February.

KeriA

Happy February everyone! I have to vote today. Enjoyed reading all of your posts before posting myself. I am hoping the February isn't as intense as January. Last week was even worse. I also had issues with a co-worker who is intimidated and envious of me. My daughter's usual 2 days at school became 4 with meetings with professors and her adviser. One was really upsetting and she basically only got a bit of what she needed. However now she has a plan for next quarter and she knows how she stands.

I am going to post goals for February with progress notes. It is already going better than January if this weekend is any indication:

3 days of Aquafit and add walking on other days as can - did the Aquafit except for unavoidable conflicts, will have a night meeting on the 13th, also was able to fit in some walks
increase water intak -e did better with this but still room to improve
keep making more healthy meals at home - this is where I did the best. I planned and cooked more meals and we sometimes had choices on which leftover meals to eat
stick to calorie goal - generallyy do well with this but had days that I had trouble with snacking waiting for dinner after long days
keep up with my logging and spreadsheet - doing better but need to do some catch up on the weekends

I did well over the Holidays and started to get organized for the new year early with some help from this challenge. However this past month was more than I expected. I was so busy I gained then couldn't get rid of it until this weekend. I seem to be coming down to close to where I was this fall. One thing that is helping is logging a pound below my scale which I found out weighs heavy about a pound. I am down 3 pounds from my highest weight this month (not including the pound deducted from the scale reading).

@mynacha73 I hope you start feeling better soon. I think you have a good plan to address it. Enjoy being a tourist and San Francisco is a good place for that.

My daughter went from working hard to starting back to school and is showing signs of needing a vacation. She didn't go with my husband and I on the cruise our son sent us on in September. We don't have time now to take a weekend off. We are going to finally fix and remodel our bathroom. So we decided to go to high tea next weekend. It is also Chinese New Year next weekend so we will go out with family for Dim Sum or yum cha. So will have both an English and Chinese tea party next weekend.

Hope we all have a great week to start February right.

loonyhiker

Good morning everyone! I had a rough weekend because my treadmill died and my hubby was sick. I didn't eat healthy and I gained a pound. I did do more exercising and still got my 10000+ steps in though but it wasn't enough.

Today is a new day, a new week and a fresh start. I'm going to continue to do the exercises that I'm tracking in my bullet journal. Without my treadmill, I'm doing walking videos to help me get my steps in. The one I'm doing this week is: https://youtu.be/xA1WkBZaRSo.

13ecca4

Hi, bit late to the party but I hope I can join this!
I'd like to lose 80lbs this year!

msarobix

Super busy day today. Even though I left the office at 5 pm I had to go to the grocery store after work, because I never made it there this weekend, then I worked for several more hours at home. I will really love it when my staff has ramped up and can help with the closing.

@loonyhiker - Sorry to hear about your treadmill, that is the worst. At least you have found an alternative for the short term. Will you be able to get another treadmill soon. We just bought a new one because ours died in December.

@13ecca4 - Welcome!

mynacha73

@loonyhiker - that sounds like the no-good-miserable weekend. I'm sorry to hear about the treadmill, but it seems like you have a great plan AND you flexed with it immediately. Way to go!

@13ecca4 - hi! nice to e-meet you

I had a meeting in the city today, so I took advantage of the local tourist opportunity and walked over to the Ferry Building for a nice dinner in a San Francisco classic while overlooking Treasure Island. It was the perfect way to end the work day. I didn't have a chance to get to the gym, so I walked 2 or 3 BART stops before getting on the train to get my exercise. The Apple Watch cooperated today. I am happy to say I got to close all my circles. (Hallelujah!!) My food is good. I'm reaching out to people when I'm feeling anxious or depressed. The meeting today was about working with teenagers. One of the techniques that was suggested for working with students with anxiety is fantastic. To jostle them out of a rut, ask them to identify and name 7 different colors they see in their space. It totally works. Try it. Find seven colors in the space you're in, and it will totally change how you're thinking about the environment. So, even if you're not having anxiety, it can switch up how you interact with a creative challenge or solve a problem with a colleague. It was a really cool suggestion. And it's a little creepy just how much chartreuse there is in San Francisco. Just sayin'.

loonyhiker

I'm surprised how much these walk videos have helped me get my steps in. I got over 14,000 steps in! We had an entertaining day yesterday. They closed our road right past my house to do replace a utility pole (notice all the "supervisors" in the picture!). This took all day. We called AAA to come out and jump off our Tahoe which has been sitting for a few months so we had to move our Prius in front of our house. The house across the street is having work done on it and the trucks and trailers usually park in front of our house but couldn't because of our car so they parked on the other side of the street. Meanwhile, cars kept coming up to the "road closed" sign as if they didn't believe it was really closed and having to turn around. One 18-wheeler even came down the street and stopped in front of my house. He got out and threw a full-on tantrum where he stomped his feet, balled up his fists, and started screaming! Finally, he got back in his truck and had to back up all the way down the street. At one point, there were so many cars in front of my house that no one had room to turn around. It was hilarious all day long!



@msarobix My treadmill is under a service contract so everything is covered. The motor has been ordered and we are just waiting for it to come in. We don't usually buy a service contract but it has been worth it for my treadmills. Our last one had one and it had gotten so old that they couldn't find any parts for it so they bought me a new one.

@mynacha73 You picture is great! I loved that about the colors and I'm going to try that today.

@13ecca4 Glad you joined us on our journey!

BackInSoFL

Had a bad start on the NROL4Abs routine during the warm up, heard a pop in my back, then excruciating pain. Took a hot shower then the heated seat on the way to work. Took ibuprofen 2x yesterday. Better today, but not going back to the program for a couple of days. Not a good way to start the month. I was hoping to change up the exercise this month.

loonyhiker

Had a good day yesterday. Was able to get 11,353 steps in. Today we are going on a 6 mile hike with my hiking club.

@BackInSoFL Oh no! I hope you recover quickly.

loonyhiker

Motivational quote for today:

Only I Can Change My Life, No One Can Do It For Me

msarobix

Hi Everyone,
Sorry I didn’t check in yesterday. After work I decided to play Sims and did nothing else the rest of the night. It was glorious.

Was looking around in the Activity app yesterday and found this summary of the last few months. I knew I had made major changes to my movement, but I didn’t realize that I had pretty much doubled it from December to January. And even looking back at most of last year I barely did anything most months of the year. 2019 is going to be a completely different story and that is evident just in the first month. And the average so far in February is even higher.




@mynacha73 - it sounds like you had a really nice evening and even got in a bit of exercise outside of the gym

@loonyhiker - wow, that is some service contract. That encourages me to purchase one for treadmill.

@BackinSoFL - wow, that is not good. I hope whatever popped is feeling even better today.

loonyhiker

@msarobix I had one service guy tell me to call in once a year and claim a rattle and squeak (which it really did by the end of the year) so someone could come out and do maintenance on it, especially since I had a service contract. This guy that came out to check out my rattle and squeak is the one who found out that there was also a problem with the motor! Glad he noticed it. It has been well worth paying for this service contract every 3 years!

msarobix

Good Morning Everyone,

I muddled through my workout this morning. I wasn’t feeling up to a run today, but I pushed through to at least get through four 10 minute running segment. Usually during the first running segment I feel a little sluggish, but by the time I get halfway through the second I am feeling good. Today, I was very sluggish during the first one, but I pushed on hoping it would subside. It didn't. The second segment was the same and even thought I really wanted to stop at that point I didn't I continued on and finished a 60 minute workout. At least I can feel good about that even if I am dragging a bit today.

@loonyhiker thanks for the info on the service plan. I am going to look into getting one for my treadmill.

Have a great day everyone. I have an appointment tonight so I won't have time to check in again.

Blackbeautysue

I’m in!

I would love to lose some weight this year.

msarobix

@Blackbeautysue Welcome to the challenge.

loonyhiker

I had a really bad day yesterday. We went to a Chinese buffet (we haven't been to it in 3 months!) and there must have been a lot of msg in the food which usually makes me swell. Then we went out to dinner last night to a nice steak restaurant. I only ate a salad and half of my ribeye and no dessert. Sure enough, this morning I got on the scales and I'm up 2 lbs. in 1 day! I know that beef makes you retain water too so I'm hoping to flush my system this weekend with lots of water. Hopefully by Monday I will be back down to my real weight.

I continue to do the walk videos every day and I'm pleased that I can get my step goal in every day. In fact, it seems like I'm getting more than when I walk on the treadmill!

loonyhiker

Today I'm back down a pound (more like 1.5 lbs. but I'm rounding off until tomorrow). I'm flushing my body with liquids and I believe it is helping. I did a 3 mile workout with the video yesterday morning which helped too.

msarobix

Yesterday was supposed to be a running day, but after my running session on Thursday my left hip joint was bothering me a little bit. Nothing to terribly bad, but definitely noticeable. Friday, it seemed a bit better, but still a little tender. One of the major concerns about running is overuse injuries that could sideline training for weeks or months if an injury occurs and isn’t treated promptly. I have been reading a running book that includes a lot of information about common running injuries and how to treat them at home, and when it is necessary to see a doctor. It also talks about ways to prevent injury altogether, which is ideal. So, because I had a twinge of pain in my hip I decided to take an additional day of rest from running. Although I would have loved to have the higher calorie burn yesterday, I decided to just walk instead of run.

@loonyhiker - At least you were expecting the bloat. If you had gotten on the scale and seen the weight gain and didn’t have a reason for it you might have freaked out. Yes, just drink lots of water to flush it all out.

BackInSoFL

So it's been a week since I hurt my back, and I think I was very lucky. Not too much lingering pain, just some stiffness. I've been able to walk on treadmill all week but have definitely been taking it easy. I am taking it slow and want to add some stretching before I try the NROL4Abs again. It was a wake up call, back pain seems to cause so many chronic problems.

@loonyhiker I had a wedding anniversary last week and enjoyed a wonderful dinner with dessert! I try to limit the sodium the day before weigh in for just the reason you describe. bloating!

@msarobix I try to listen to my body and take heed. I admire runners (because I've never been one), I just have too much weight and it is too hard on my joints.

We'll be half way through Feb on Thursday and it's time for me to regroup if I am going to hit my goals. Injury is a PAIN and can really derail the program.