This August I will...
MadisonMolly2017
Posts: 11,157 Member
Hi Folks!
Getting us started... Denise- of course feel free to replace/delete...
It's a brand new month! What's your favorite part of August?
What healthy habit would you like to work on this month? Is it something new or a continuation of your July focus? Whatever it is, let's dive in and make it happen!
If you are new to our group, welcome! Please let us know what you will be working on and how we can help! Just a suggestion: set a reminder to check-in periodically with us. Check-in daily, weekly, or as often as works for you, but let us know how you are progressing! We're here to support and encourage you, but if you don't post, we can't cheer you on!
You might frame your goal along these lines:
1. My goal for this month (This August I will...")
2. The small actions I’ll be taking to accomplish this goal
3. The trigger or cue to remember to do my habit
4. How often will you do your new habit (daily is best if possible)
5. What reward will you immediately give yourself for doing your habit? (Small positive feedbacks reinforce the habit you are trying to build.)
6. What help do you need from us?
7. What does success look like to you at the end of August?
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I tried to edit to place cropped photo, but not able to edit anymore in MFP?!
This photo is from a park in Nara, Japan that is usually crowded with visitors. Now the deer 🦌 have some Peace!
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I have realized that in 22 months of maintenance, I have not bought clothes. I’ve been wearing the smallest of my previous & shirts mostly from my son’s that he didn’t want anymore &
Also too big.
Time to own my lower weight.
Once I hate clothes shopping 🛍 , this wI’ll be a tough challenge for me.
1. This August I will purchase a new article of clothing each week.
2. The small actions I’ll be taking to accomplish this goal:
August 1 I will take my measurements & write them in my phone.
August 2-8 I will find & order one new bra.
August 9-15 I will return bra if it doesn’t fit & locate and purchase a pretty top - pink? With short sleeves.
August 16-22 Return & replace any that don’t fit & locate/0purchase long sleeved blouse - feminine
August 23-29 Return & replace earlier items & locate & purchase a nightgown or PJ’s that fit & are feminine & or snuggly.
3. The trigger or cue to remember to do my habit... not sure yet
4. How often will you do your new habit (daily is best if possible) I will spend 15 mins a day on this until item us ordered-purchased
5. What reward will you immediately give yourself for doing your habit? (Small positive feedbacks reinforce the habit you are trying to build.) “You look great in this!! Well done on a tough task! Embrace your new you!”
6. What help do you need from us? Encouragement/acknowledgement & recommendations of online stores you like!!!
7. What does success look like to you at the end of August? I have things I love to wear that for PERFECTLY & are flattering. And I’ve figured out my sizes and am on my way to building me new wardrobe!!!
Thanks
Maddie5 -
I have been in maintenance since late 2017 so my goals are a little different than most. Background helps for July I had decided there were 2 things I would do.
#1 GET OFF THE ROLLERCOASTER
what this means is that I need to quit always worrying about did I gain a pound or two and lately I have found that I am tending instead of eating at a nice steady pace I am either binging or restricting more and more. It's a no win zero sum game so my plan is to just eat to my TDEE and log consistantly. So following on this trend which I really really like and is emotionally freeing to me for some reason. For August I am going to set my TDEE goal at 1900 cals per day and continue to stay off the rollercoaster while working to implement a little more variety in my daily meals . This is a little bit of a stretch but I would love to see if my energy levels continue to improve and my running feels stronger. Worst case if my TDEE is slightly below I would gain less than 1/2 a pound for the month.
#2 800 active calories per day (Apple watch) goal.
This should NOT be difficult and I hope for it to energize me. My avg since I got my watch in late Dec last year is 817 per day and my average in June was 791 but May was 866 so I have felt like my activity trend is going the wrong direction. For August we shall see what my watch tells me is the monthly award. Sometimes I can do them and they are inspiring and sometimes they are just so far out of reach they just get *kitten* canned early on. LOL. Anyway for August there WILL be some sort of activity goal just not quite sure what it will be.
Maddie, I have some suggestions as to bras and nightwear but I will leave that up to you if you would like them or not. I am a small 5'2" gal so things that work for me might not for you.
(I think the longer I am WFH 20 weeks now and counting the more I resemble my cat)
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What a fun way to start the month!!! The deer picture is awesome! And the kitty picture is hilarious! I did break down and make a hair appointment yesterday and my new hairdresser gasped (literally) when I told her I hadn't had anything done to my hair since the end of January, except what I did myself with my kitchen scissors. It's a new day
I have noticed that sometimes I can edit, sometimes not. Who knows what determines that!? Thanks for getting this started, Maddie!1 -
1. My goal for this month: This August I will create more structure in my day.
2. The small actions I’ll be taking to accomplish this goal: I will schedule/plan activities to be done daily and weekly and keep my plan calendar in a visible place to help remind me.
3. The trigger or cue to remember to do my habit: seeing my planner, filling in my daily plan sheets.
4. How often will you do your new habit: daily
5. What reward will you immediately give yourself for doing your habit? check off tasks completed and having a visible sign that I'm doing what I said I would.
6. What help do you need from us? I would like more discussions during the month. I like knowing you're all out there working toward your goals. I want to hearing about your successes and about the things you're still trying to figure out.
7. What does success look like to you at the end of August? My days will be more structured and I will be accomplishing more on a regular basis.
My August chart will focus on morning water and steps, journal several times a week, posture work, regular exercise, and logging my food 5Xs/week. I will move my vitamins from the kitchen cupboard that I never look in to my bathroom and put them in my daily care product box next to the toothpaste. I will establish days to do certain activities, such as every Thursday do laundry, every Friday work on my unfinished sewing projects, every Saturday clean a particular room, etc. I need to establish a regular routine because I think it will help me be more productive. I guess the bottom line is I need to become more disciplined.
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@MadisonMolly2017, thank you so much for getting the August challenge started! I really appreciate it! I swapped out the first image for the second as I think you had intended, but that's the only change I made. What a beautiful picture and a good reminder that this terrible pandemic has a few bright spots.
This August, I want to return to something I started in January and had wanted to become skilled at in 2020, but didn't happen. Becoming proficient at Garage Band so that I can use it to record some of my guitar songs. If you are new to our group and wondering what this has to do with health, there are at least two connections. Learning new skills and pursuing creative outlets have brain benefits. Plus, happiness boosts our health and this will definitely make me happier. So:
1. This August I will spend 15 minutes each day using Garage Band
2. The small actions I’ll be taking to accomplish this goal: I will spend 15 minutes each day using Garage Band
3. The trigger or cue to remember to do my habit: I'm setting a reminder on my phone at 8pm so that I don't forget.
4. How often will you do your new habit: Daily
5. What reward will you immediately give yourself for doing your habit? "High Five, Denise!"
6. What help do you need from us?: If anyone else uses Garage Band and has tips or resources, I'm all ears!
7. What does success look like to you at the end of August? I will have at least one song recorded in GB.3 -
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Ok I’m changing my challenge for a number of reasons...
In August I will purchase a bra & a sports bra on-line that fit.
I’m very happy with how other habits are continuing...I will continue to walk/hike, read, create, spiff up our space, and practice gratefulness & self-kindness as I monitor the quality & quantity of my food, weigh daily & continue to use our bedroom only at night. (We’ve moved my office desk & Computer our as well as any art stuff. And it’s helped my sleep greatly!)1 -
@MadisonMolly2017 , I just loved the picture that you chose. So beautiful and peaceful. Thank you for starting us off with the August I Will challenge. I've always loved the pictures that Denise would use for them. I was so happy to see that you could do it also!
What great I Wills you have chosen! I have also been in maintenance for several years, nevertheless buying under or outerwear clothing remains difficult for me too. I have done it but never with joy.
Your new clothing decision and also continuing your past I Wills seems like a good plan. Nice choice!
@themedalist, you did a great job with the cropping! Thanks. Perhaps when the time is right I will learn to post pictures, cropped of course 😁. I use the desktop to be on MFP so I know there has to be a way. But that is for later. I will continue to enjoy everyone's pictures in the meantime.
It is really great that you are revisiting your past Garage Band I Will, and as a result you are doing a creative "happiness" I Will for this month!
Good for you, especially with all the current stress in your life. What you wrote about happiness and creativity have helped me finally make a final choice for August. Thank you!
@SummerSkier, what good insight you have into your eating habits as well as your TDEE numbers/ activities and how everything affects your general health and well being overall while on maintenance! You made me LOL 🤣 with your 'kitty and you' pictures!
@nebslp, whenever I finally go back, my hairdresser will certainly gasp also. I was on the brink of deciding to get my hair cut again when my county and State's numbers skyrocketed and have continued to do so. I had just got past the awful feeling of my hair being waaaay past my regular routine appointment that I figured that if I went back (I trust her to be meticulous in her standards as I have known her for many years) and then things started to lock down again, then I'd be on my own and back to square one... again. So I 'invested' in a few things to hold my hair back off my face. And used my tiny little scissors to trim my bangs.
creating more structure in your day is a fabulous I Will for August. I am interested in how you will make it happen over time because I have lost all sense of routine/ structure over the last several months with everything going on around me and also with me.
I have loved yours and the other charts that have been made. They are all so colorful and lovely.
Mary
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Actually, I didn't have to crop the photo. @MadisonMolly2017 had done that already...I just swapped out an earlier image she posted.
My Garage Band time went well beyond 15 minutes today but that's OK. Much of the time was spent learning how to download an earlier version since the latest version of GB runs on iOS 13 and my old iPad has maxed out at 12. Good to know there's a "back door" in the App Store for downloading earlier versions of software. Once installed, I played around a bit and was pleased that I have retained some things. Back at it tomorrow.
I'm getting my hair cut on Tuesday. First time in 2020! New Hampshire's numbers are pretty low and I want to get it cut before the college students return later this month. Opting not to color this time so I can be in and out.1 -
@MadisonMolly2017 (Maddie) thank you again for inviting me to this group. It seems active and engaged. I hope I can keep up with everyone. I agree with you that if you feel like you already have many good habits ingrained just adding the small challenge (and it is NOT that small honestly) of find a good workout bra and bra on line is more than enough. Esp if you are still decluttering. The ONLY way I found the bras I like was by happenstance and the workout bra, I ended up going to Kohls and trying on a zillion different ones. Sizing seems to have changed whereas before when I was in shape a SMALL was the right size apparently now you are a boy if you wear a small. Best of luck in your endeavor. Waiting for the funny stories to start coming in.
@the medalist (Denise) the garage band habit sounds perfect. I too have an older IPAD from maybe 2012 or older and it's FULL and it hasn't updated to latest software in literally years. But I use it to review the photos I have taken during the day and play stupid games on so it functions for all I need to to.
@texasgardnr (Marie) gosh I love your moniker. So happy to meet you and I cannot even imagine the frustration the OA in your ankles is causing you. <hugs> Are you doing any I wills for August or just continuing on with your July ones?
@nebslp nice to meet you as well. It sounds like you are working on more structure to your day and life which it something I honestly have to work on the opposite. I am much TOO disciplined and tend to freak out when I have to go off plan. Isn't it funny how we all have our challenges?
As far as my I will for August. It's off to a bit of a rocky start mainly because I ended July badly. I do understand the trigger so I will avoid that in the future and am dedicated to meeting my August challenge to myself to increase my calories but stay off any type of rollercoaster effect. Today is grocery day so I have decided in light of increasing variety that I will get a roast chicken to carve up for meal servings this week and either some fresh blueberries or strawberries to add to my breakfast. Just small changes.
One habit which I have done for 2020 is that I like to review my day in photos (I take a lot!) and think of the one thing which was a small surprise and made me smile. Yesterday it came out of left field. I was sitting in the front room with my cat in the evening (my purple martins are gone for the season now) and I have a hummingbird feeder up on my desert willow tree. Normally I see the hummers all over the tree but last night for the first time EVER I saw a hummingbird at the feeder inbibing. And that feeder has been up for a few years now. I was mesmerized. No pictures.
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And mission accomplished. Even saw some other variety things which I procured. Have now broken up the roast chicken into 5 portions. 2 in the freezer for later on and 3 for this week. Also decided that instead of my normal snacks on the way to the barn I might try a protein bar a couple times a week to increase my energy. The cookies are for my horse Bandit. LOL. He is old and he is getting better and better at spitting out his daily pill I give him when I hide it in a carrot. Funny how those big teeth and tongue can sort out the little pill from the food and spit it out. A friend recommended the newtons since they are soft and easier to eat. We shall see. He is picky. If he doesn't like either flavor I will give them to the barn owner. I have no control over things like that in my house. sadly. I know myself. A few new dressing brands to try on my veggies. And some pickles! I forgot how much I love them. And of course the promised blueberries to add variety to my breakfast sometimes. I am even thinking ahead to next week when I might get some salmon to cook up for the week vs the chicken... This is sort of fun. Altho I do have to be careful with it. Wish I did not and could just keep a house load of things but I am NOT a moderator. I want more variety but I want to make it EASY!
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August is the month I return to work, and I’m a bit concerned that since I won’t have any scheduled time for class preparations, I might start to procrastinate. So this month I plan to spend 2 hours 4 days per week on school work. My theme is Aesop’s fable of The Grasshopper and the Ants as well as the chapter about the crickets in Charlotte’s Web. An ant 🐜 represents school work. 😊
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@77tes that is beautiful. Seeing all the habit wheels inspired me to create my own excel spread sheet with habits on them. I wanted to get a beautiful circle like the ones folks have posted here but one of my challenges this month is to not do frivolous buys on Amazon when I can make do with something maybe less pretty but effective. So excel spreadsheet it is. Already filling it up as I think of the things I do.
And at 61 I learned something new! So happy.
Yesterday's most fantastical picture was this thundercloud. It was interesting as we had a surprise rainstorm that blew up out of nowhere (hello Tx!) and afterwards I was taking a walk and just snapping picture after picture of wondrous clouds. But I was only see parts and pieces of them until I happened to go a slightly different route and WOW!!! All of a sudden I saw the entire thing. My jaw dropped.
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@SummerSkier What a beautiful cloud rainbow! What I love about photography is the way it opens our eyes and minds to see things differently😍 Thanks for sharing!2
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SummerSkier wrote: »@77tes that is beautiful. Seeing all the habit wheels inspired me to create my own excel spread sheet with habits on them. I wanted to get a beautiful circle like the ones folks have posted here but one of my challenges this month is to not do frivolous buys on Amazon when I can make do with something maybe less pretty but effective. So excel spreadsheet it is. Already filling it up as I think of the things I do.
And at 61 I learned something new! So happy.
Yesterday's most fantastical picture was this thundercloud. It was interesting as we had a surprise rainstorm that blew up out of nowhere (hello Tx!) and afterwards I was taking a walk and just snapping picture after picture of wondrous clouds. But I was only see parts and pieces of them until I happened to go a slightly different route and WOW!!! All of a sudden I saw the entire thing. My jaw dropped.
So great to meet a fellow cloud lover!
Fantastic photo!
I actually made up a song to an old Beatles tune 🎶 and would joyfully sing “I am a Cloud Hunter!!” on my fall walks! I worried my walks weren’t aerobic ‘cause I took so many pics. Haha!
PS Clouds mostly gone in the summer here, but I’m looking forward to Fall!!2 -
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Ok, still can’t edit My posts. Please ignore all non-tracker pics (most of all sons garden pic with gross bowl !)
I began making tons of art & had a part time job May on - still 1 day per week - and stopped the artistic trackers. Funny enough my weight edged up a little & I made far less art (partly due to work) but I also think the tracker coloring/painting warmed me up for other artistic play!
So, I’m off to make a teacher for August. Glad I inspired some of you guys & doubly thankful that you re-inspired me!
@SummerSkier
I, too, am questioning all purchases. Nothing purchased since 5/14/20 that wasn’t food/home goods/needed replacement clothing (except one excellent book recently.)
Cheers,
Maddie1 -
@themedalist
Could you please remove the non tracker photos or delete the post, as one of those images, posted accidentally, is not mine!!0 -
Maddie, those are beautiful. You are SO very artistic. I am giggling a little at the stray photos popping in.
Update on August I will: so one bene I am finding from adding a few more cals and more variety is that my protein % was up to 20% yesterday!!! That has been my set goal for a long time as I don't tend to eat enough of it naturally. I first noticed in 2011 when I started logging and was shocked and the make up of my meals. I even use protein powder in one of my meals. Anyway, apparently you CAN eat too many veggies and not enough other stuff because that is where I think I have found myself recently. Adding these other things is not only fun but enlightening to some extent. Of course it makes logging meals a little more tedious but I can get thru that without breaking a finger nail.
We took a 20% pay cut for 6 months (including no raises and no bonuses this year so in reality even more of a pay cut) which is supposed to end with Oct. I am sure our corporation did not suffer and totally reaped the benes of taking our miniscul 20%. (ok that was bitter but it I know financials drive the world in most cases).
@nebslp - so true about photography. Sometimes I catch things I did not even know when I am looking thru the day's crop. Today's favorite I think is this gulf fritillary butterfly hanging around my rose bush with wild morning gloried attracting it. Hpe yall don't mind the photos. They really brighten my day up and I might tend to overshare.
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@SummerSkier
Love your posts & your photos! Keep them coming!
I have the opposite issue - I watch my protein grams carefully as kidney transplant team does not want me to eat more than 1.3g/kg of body weight. Max 1.4g
Ideally probably 1.0g but I read older folks should eat 1.2-1.4g2 -
I welcome pictures any time...related or random is fine with me🙂2
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I made my tracker & it’s already helped me. Will post it soon!!
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Yup - great reminders so glad that yall posted about those trackers. I can't wait to start getting fancier with them.
Maddie - I don't remember if we have had this conversation before but the granddaughter of the Barn where I keep Bandit was born with Wilms disease. As a baby she underwent multiple operations and had BOTH kidneys removed. So for almost 5 years she had to have daily dialysis. Last August, her Dad was finally approved to donate a Kidney and it happened. As you can imagine the road has been very rocky for the family. And the poor kiddo has continued to have off and on issues because well frankly she did not ever really use all her plumbing and I think it is not used to working correctly. sigh. Anyway, if you facebook you can look her up as Avalee's Avengers to see some of her story. I never did know about the protein but it makes sense as when I have a lot of it I can "smell" it in my pee so it must be filtered in the kidneys also. Or some part of it anyway.
@nebslp thank you for the welcome!
Well another day and off to run soon. Managed 20% protein again and still working on variety and inching those cals up to 1900. That's a bit of a leap for me so I decided to just do it gradually and not try to jump into the deep end too fast. I promise I will get there.
Have a wonderful Tuesday gals.1 -
@SummerSkier
I hope you run was
Amazing!
Yep, don’t wanna make the kidneys do more work than needed!!
In fact, why would we want our bodies to have more fuel (food) than they need? This was a huge Ah-ha for me.1 -
Maddie,MadisonMolly2017 wrote: »@SummerSkier
In fact, why would we want our bodies to have more fuel (food) than they need? This was a huge Ah-ha for me.
that's an interesting perspective for sure. I don't think we want MORE than we need (Ie I think a lot of supplements and vitamins are possibly ineffective and just marketing hype - not all but a lot) but in my case I am always looking to improve my energy. Esp now WFH I find that my motivation is less without other activity/people to bounce off of. So in my case I want to be that runner you see galloping down the road effortlessly eating up the miles. Right now I am the turtle scratching my way down the asphalt barely picking up it's feet. LOL. So, mixing up what I eat seems my next course.
As far as the habit wheel, it dawned on me today that there are a lot of "things" I require of myself on a daily or weekly basis. So for August altho I started one in an excel spreadsheet with a list, mostly I am just adding more as I see what I do so it's really more of an eye opener this first time (except the few items which I am working on ) as far as what are all the things I do and are they necessary? Can I remove some and remove some stress and add more variety and FUN and EASY into my life.
And this spring I have learned that sometimes if you wait and don't WEED everything all the time, there are most wonderful surprises. Like these volunteer petunias which I normally might have weeded from the bed before they had a chance to show me what they were.
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SummerSkier wrote: »
Maddie,MadisonMolly2017 wrote: »@SummerSkier
In fact, why would we want our bodies to have more fuel (food) than they need? This was a huge Ah-ha for me.
that's an interesting perspective for sure. I don't think we want MORE than we need (Ie I think a lot of supplements and vitamins are possibly ineffective and just marketing hype - not all but a lot) but in my case I am always looking to improve my energy. Esp now WFH I find that my motivation is less without other activity/people to bounce off of. So in my case I want to be that runner you see galloping down the road effortlessly eating up the miles. Right now I am the turtle scratching my way down the asphalt barely picking up it's feet. LOL. So, mixing up what I eat seems my next course.
As far as the habit wheel, it dawned on me today that there are a lot of "things" I require of myself on a daily or weekly basis. So for August altho I started one in an excel spreadsheet with a list, mostly I am just adding more as I see what I do so it's really more of an eye opener this first time (except the few items which I am working on ) as far as what are all the things I do and are they necessary? Can I remove some and remove some stress and add more variety and FUN and EASY into my life.
And this spring I have learned that sometimes if you wait and don't WEED everything all the time, there are most wonderful surprises. Like these volunteer petunias which I normally might have weeded from the bed before they had a chance to show me what they were.
My Ah-ha for maintenance came about 17 months in..
How might I make maintenance easy?
Brainstormed a bunch of things. Tried them.
Made adjustments.
One thing I did was Really Think about the minimum number of things I can track/do to maintain.1 -
@themedalist, Sounds like you are doing well with Garage Band work!
I'm right there with you that it is always a good thing when we get back to some project or activity from the past that we are trying to learn about or do, and we find that we actually remember things even though its been awhile! Good for you!
@SummerSkier, Thanks for the reminder... I really should post my August 'I Will' before I get too far behind 🤣 .
I like that you do a "my day in photos" !! I love our hummingbirds also. The photo of the thundercloud was truly amazing! I like clouds too! I sometimes go outside just to look at the clouds. I often step outside just to see what the moon is 'doing' tonight and the rest of our night sky. We can miss so much beauty if we are not intentional about looking for it.
I also liked the butterfly enjoying your rose bush. And your volunteer petunias!
You are doing great with your protein intake. Well done!
@MadisonMolly2017, I really enjoyed looking at all of your habit trackers. They are so beautiful and creative. I especially liked the picture of the big tree that slipped in! And also what looks like plant roots! Beautiful!
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Thanks @texasgardnr
I am an extreme tree lover & the Ive been photographing roots on banks a lot since discovering Van Gogh’s painting of them (now thought to be the painting he was working on just before he died.)2 -
Here is my tracker for August! I made a copy of a doodly sketch I did while on the phone LOL. Then copied some graph paper over it.
Tracking & Goals:
Protein - up to 105g ok, dr. prefers 85-93g
Fiber <33 per dr.
Sat Fat - just tracking at this point
Calorie deficit: > 0
AW: challenge point pts. Shooting for 110 unless/until I feel it’s harming my ankle.
Ex bike mins: new exercise for me, just tracking minutes currently
Steps > 10K
BMI < 24
Wt < 160
When scale started going up - I switched my “I will” to having a calorie deficit.
Hopefully, I’ll still buy the bras! 🤣3
