Into the Home Stretch!

suejoker

Good Morning, Warrior Women!

We are at a critical juncture of our battle! We are 1 week away from the end of the month: 5/31/14. That is the day by which we should be done with our 24 hours of exercise! May I suggest that you take inventory of your hours from 5/16-5/23, so that you have an accurate number to work towards this week. It would be awesome if people wanted to check in at least once/day this week. It's exciting to see the numbers add up and we're here to support you.

I've been checking in twice/day--in the morning with my plan and at night with the results. As of this morning, I'm at 15:03. with 8 hours & 57 minutes remaining. Since this challenge motivated me to increase my exercise goal to 720 minutes/week, I will likely exceed 24 hours. For those of you who think you will exceed the 24 hours, let's see how high we can go without hurting ourselves! For those of you who think 24 hours is going to be a stretch, see how far you can safely challenge yourself! Remember, you can eat as many of those extra calories back as you want:) Last night, I had 2 different kinds of ice cream and still ended the day with negative net calories!

I'm going to stop creating new topics every day and just let this one roll until next week. If people want to keep our group going, we need a new challenge by 6/1, so think about what that could be...

Happy Saturday! I'll be off to the farmers market, as soon as I'm awake & caffeinated!

SusanL222

Sue, you are up bright and early! I like the idea of staying with this thread through the week! I sometimes forget to go back to a thread after I've posted and miss other's posts! I did just go back and read your post from yesterday evening......you rocked the city!! Way cool about the clothing haul! You must be so happy to have some new outfits!

And, yes, I think we all agree that you are the rock star of getting the most delicious, nutritious foods in your meals on a daily basis and staying under your goal! In fact I have been inspired to substitute my favorite lunch......you know, the one featuring jalapeno cheese puffs, cheddar cheese and chocolate(!).....for a concoction of cottage cheese and apples! Slightly better on the nutritious scale and maybe delicious, if I'm lucky!

As far as my "book" goes, the one that I wrote, but didn't get to post bc of wonky internet :ohwell: ....of course, it had a whole chapter on gardening and what I have planted so far! Btw, do like my new profile pic of me taking a break in my gardening boots? The tights are to protect my legs from blackflies....they will offer no protection when the mosquitos appear with their long proboscises, but for now are good!

Okay, back to topic (I'm waiting for the darn rain to stop)! As of yesterday, 5/23, I have accumulated 13 hours of exercise! Yay! Just over half way to goal!

Today, my plan was to continue mowing the lawn and around the raspberry patch; get more seeds into the garden; and maybe turn 2 of the 3 compost piles! I also have a community workday to go to this afternoon doing things such as repairing an old wooden bridge (small, I hope), redoing a blueberry patch, etc. Unfortunately, it's raining and most of these activities will depend on whether that stops or not!

Have a great day/weekend everyone!

culo97

So far in May I have over 13000 calories burned. Unfortunately it doesn't translate to minutes because MapMyRide and FitBit steps don't send that information over to MFP.

Maybe the June challenge can include a distance goal such as averaging 10 miles of walking per week?

I also vote for one WW post per week so we can get conversation & momentum going. Sue, you could add your daily posts from Sunday to Saturday to the same thread. Just put the day of the week at the beginning. My 2 cents.

lemurcat12

I haven't tried to figure out Fitbit (I'm estimating walking time based on specific walks I know I did, but maybe you could use one of the minute counts less other things you have counted separately?), but I've just been messing around with MapMyRide for the same purpose and if you go on on the computer, instead of the app, and look at the calendar page and then scroll over each entry, it will tell you time. This sounds more complicated than it is. Of course, I'm weird, because I just made a spreadsheet so I could count up each activity's minutes.

I'm doing pretty well, mostly because I had a big Sunday (plus lots of bike riding overall) and am planning another big Sunday, so with any luck I'll be set up well for the last few days. As Sue knows, I aggravated my knee issue (not yet willing to consider it an injury) today, so I'm a little worried that's going to make this more difficult in the second week. I'm also not sure in my head whether I'm counting my regular commuting walks to the el and back (a total of 1 mile round trip) or some other brief work-related walks (all of these together total about 90 mins). I am counting other walks to and from places, especially places I might otherwise choose to drive to, etc., or when I biked or walked from work, and not simply to the el. Not sure if my distinction holds up, hmm.

Anyway, without these additional walking minutes, I have 12 hours, 32 mins, and should pick up some more today and a lot more tomorrow, to put me in good shape for the home stretch.

suejoker

Happy Saturday afternoon, Warrior Women! I just had a lovely lunch and am coming up against a good problem. It now takes me a lot less time to walk distances, so I only walked 90 minutes on my grocery shopping adventure. That means, I still have another 30 to do. So, I'm trying to figure out what I'd like to do... Maybe, a little yoga, a little dance, a little house cleaning?

Susan, I'm so proud of you for considering a new lunch! Maybe, the chocolate & cheese puffs were just transitional objects on your journey to health! Maybe, one day you'll be able to take them or leave them. You are more than halfway to our goal, so I think you're going to crush it without effort!

Culo07, what is your first name? I'll feel badly, if I call you culo! I like the idea of a distance challenge next! I realized, while walking to the farmers market today that just a few short months ago, I would've looked at you crazy if you told me I'd walk there every week.

Stephanie, I love that you have a spreadsheet to track your exercise! I just enter my exercise into MFP, so it tracks all of that for me. I like looking at the bar graphs in the reports sections, sometimes. It's fun to see how much my exercise has increased over time. I hope your knee holds up. I think you should count all of your walks! Every one of them burns calories.

I'll be back, after I finish my next 30 minutes of exercise. I think I need to put some laundry in first;)

suejoker

Well, it looks like you all have lives! No worries. I'm not feeling sorry for myself. I've actually dialed back my social life on purpose, because I need more time to focus on my health & fitness. I finally talked myself into a 30 minute dance party to get my 120 minutes in. I find bribery works well, when I'm feeling tired. Tonight, I said I could have 2 mango mochi, if I just danced for 30 minutes. I'm so easy;) Numbers for the week (because I plan to just rest tomorrow): 759 minutes/4431 calories burned. I'm 17:03 into our 24 hours and have 6 hours & 57 minutes left to go!

Peacockbutterfly

Hello warrior women! Sorry I didn't check in yesterday I was having a bad night. I did not get nearly as many active minutes as I would have liked but life goes on. Yesterday I had 113 active minutes and today I am up to 149. That means with the 783 I was at I am not up to 1045 active minutes or 17.41 hours. I am doing really well but actually have been hoping to get to more like 30 active hours and maybe will be able to make that happened.

Just to update everyone, I do LOVE my new gym. Today was my first day with a trainer and he showed me a bunch of cool new things. I tried a lateral elliptical that I loved. It was a sinilar motion to skiing and that is by far my favorite sport. In fact, that reminds me that last winter I was way too overweight to consider skiing but this winter I am totally going!!! I also did a bunch of arm things and my arms, back and core are feeling the burn tonight.

I hope everyone is having a great and active night!

culo97

I haven't tried to figure out Fitbit (I'm estimating walking time based on specific walks I know I did, but maybe you could use one of the minute counts less other things you have counted separately?), but I've just been messing around with MapMyRide for the same purpose and if you go on on the computer, instead of the app, and look at the calendar page and then scroll over each entry, it will tell you time. This sounds more complicated than it is. Of course, I'm weird, because I just made a spreadsheet so I could count up each activity's minutes.

Thanks for the tip about looking on the MapMyFitness websites for the minute count information. The numbers are kinda wonky so I'd rather not use them. For instance, it counts my daily steps around 3 hours. Even though I'm up and moving around a minimum of 10 hours per day.

Culo07, what is your first name? I'll feel badly, if I call you culo! I like the idea of a distance challenge next! I realized, while walking to the farmers market today that just a few short months ago, I would've looked at you crazy if you told me I'd walk there every week.

I don't mind being called Culo. Culo was very important in my life. On some websites, I just like the freedom of being myself without having to stay in the box of being Me. I joined the Internet back in the day when everything was text. A primitive version of the Web was mostly only on college campuses and military bases. The only way women could avoid constant harassment and abuse was to be neutral or male online. I still think that way even after all these years.

If the name bothers you, I understand. I respect that you set up this group and may like things to be a certain way.

suejoker

Happy Sunday, Warrior Women!

I'm planning to have a pure rest day, today. I will be going out with my best friend from college, who has always been really active, so who knows? I'm a little bummed that I only lost .2lbs this week. I didn't even log it, because I'm so disappointed. I had 1 off day, due to being sick, but that sodium gain came and went days ago. I did all of my exercise minutes in 5 days. I don't get it. Of course, I've been blessed with steady progress for a long time, so I suppose I was due for a stall.

Rachael, you're doing so well! I have no doubt that you will get into the 30's with this challenge. You sit firmly at the top of my Fitbit friends list. I'm just hoping to get closer to you. I'm so glad you're enjoying your new gym. I'm also considering joining the fancy gym down the road. Mostly I want to use their pool and Zumba classes, but it would be cool to work with a trainer.

Culo, if you don't mind being called Culo, I won't mind doing it;) It's used as a derogatory name here, so I'm sort of unused to using it. You must have a very active job! Ten hours/day! I'm impressed when I have 2 or 3!

Well, I hope you all have a lovely Sunday. I got the most delicious night's sleep and now I deserve a peanut butter banana smoothie!

lemurcat12

I think it's a good idea to have this thread for the rest of the challenge. I've noticed some other groups are quieter than normal (and my neighborhood is), so I think part of the quietness right now might be Memorial Day weekend.

Sue, I hate it when the scale doesn't respond as you know it should, but that's one reason why I think it's so good to have these other goals, so you can overlook a short term stall or just a scale fluctuation or lag. I also don't think you can overestimate whatever weird affect just being sick earlier might have on stuff like retaining water or weightloss lags. I expect you will get a nice loss next week as your body catches up. My own weight ended up down, but has been fluctuating like mad this week 180-178-180-178. That's actually why I weigh every day (that and I'm trying to get over my own personal fear of the scale and emotions attached to it), since if I'd ended on 180 I would have thought no progress, whereas seeing the fluctuations I know there's still a loss from the prior week when it was more 181-180-181-180 even if it had been mean and fluctuated up on weigh-in day.

Rachael, I'm so excited that you are loving the new gym. That's such a huge help, IME, to have a place to go to workout where you feel comfortable. It's easier than trying to do the same stuff at home. I'm also happy to hear that you are going to ski. Is it cross country or downhill that you like? I've been interested in getting back into cross country--I was on the team back in junior high, but decided I wasn't good enough in high school and quit, and have gone only a few times as an adult, but my dad (who is in his 70s now) skis a ton and loves it, so I've been thinking it would be fun to learn again. I hate winter, mostly, so it would be good to find some winter sports I like. (I do like ice skating; not sure why I never go.)

My sport/hobby I'd like to get into as I get more into shape is camping/backpacking. In the meantime, I'm going to try and find some time to do some trail walking.

My knee did not pose a problem for my massive bike ride yesterday (3 hrs, 10 mins and 33 miles), but it is continuing to pose a problem for running (I'm staying off it until it's not painful and even then taking it easy), and a little for walking, although I did some walking yesterday and will more today. I was worried I'd really messed it up at first, but it was a little better yesterday and decidedly better today, so I'm cautiously optimistic that just staying off it and continuing to strengthen my leg otherwise will be the answer. I've noticed that moving other muscles in my leg helps some. I'm also trying to get more sleep--after my ride yesterday I crashed around 9 pm, which is unheard of for me, which helped, although my body was obviously confused about this since I woke up feeling like it was morning at about 3 am. Managed to get back to sleep for a little while at least.

suejoker

Warrior Women never give up! I'm so proud of myself for not freaking out and giving up, after my disappointing weigh-in. I did have a momentary twinge of the "F"-its, but it passed quickly and I had a lovely day, yesterday. I've decided not to change anything this week, although I may ease up a bit on the cardio. I've done 17:38 of my 24 hours, so I only have 6:22 to go.

Stephanie, your bike ride was phenomenal! I really miss my bike:( When I moved into this building I sold it, because there's no bike room, I was told I couldn't park it in the hallway, and I couldn't see myself carrying it up 3 double flights of stairs. I plan to move in August to a building with a bike room though, so I've only got a little while to go before I can ride again. Do you take any supplements for your knee? One of my MFP friends recommended a combo of glucosamine, chondroitin, and msm and it seems to be helping.

I love skiing, camping, hiking... There are so many sports that I look forward to again. It was just too hard at 220lbs to do any of them. Geeze, I could barely walk the 3 blocks to the train station... Enjoy the holiday!

amethyst70

Just popping in before I start on my cardio/lifting for the day.
Challenge ideas....
a step challenge, maybe 50,000 in 7 days or 200,000 in a month. Although ideally we would really want to achieve 240,000 steps in a month.
10,000x6days a week x 4weeks to make sure we take a rest day.

I like the exercise 24/2weeks, so maybe bump it to 25/2weeks?
Burn 3500 calories a week? or 7000 calories a week, but 7000 IS a hard challenge to hit sometimes.

What are you thinking Sue?

SusanL222

Morning!! I'm still here! And will be back when I have time to check in!

lemurcat12

Just peeking in to say that I think I figured out your fitbit problem, Sue. I commented on your post but I know it's easy for those to get lost once some time has gone by, so wanted to make sure you saw it. I think we were all thinking about the relationship between stride and mileage backwards, given how fitbit works.

suejoker

Happy Tuesday, Warrior Women!

Well, going into the home stretch, I've decided to tweak my plan in the hopes that my weight will drop again. It's been 10 days, since the scale's moved significantly and I'm getting impatient. I changed my activity level on MFP, which was long overdue and now my calorie goal's higher. Also, I've decided to do less cardio in high intensity interval training style. Let's see if this works.

As of this morning, I have done 20:33 of my 24 hours, so I'm in a pretty good position to do fewer hours of exercise. I jumped from 420 minutes/week to 720 minutes/week and I think my body was feeling bullied and stopped losing weight.

Stephanie, I think you were absolutely correct in your thinking about my fitbit problem. By the end of the day, we should know for sure. I changed my settings. Thanks so much for taking the time to think it through logically.

Tonya, I like all 3 of your ideas for our next challenge! You're kicking *kitten* on this challenge, by the way! Culo also had a mileage idea...

What do people think our next fitness challenge should be?

--Hitting a certain number of miles in June.
--Burning a certain number of calories in June.
--Taking a certain number of steps in June.
--Exercising a certain number of minutes in June.

Or, does someone else have another great option?!

culo97

Happy Tuesday, Warrior Women!

What do people think our next fitness challenge should be?

--Hitting a certain number of miles in June.
--Burning a certain number of calories in June.
--Taking a certain number of steps in June.

Or we can do a combination of a few things. Since our lifestyles, body types and fitness levels vary, we can set individual goals.

Calories burned is tricky. A 150 pound person would burn less than half the calories of a person over twice their size for the same activity for the amount of time.

Number of steps is too. If someone has a job that requires walking, such as being a waitress, they'll effortlessly rack up more miles than someone who sits in a cube 10 hours a day.

It's hard to think of 1 goal that would be equally challenging for everyone.

SusanL222

My Tuesday check-in: Saturday, Sunday and today were each 1.5 hours for a grand total of 17.5 hours! So far, so good!

As for the June challenge, since I am not hooked up to a device that measures steps or distance....or anything actually!.....those challenges would not be of interest. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't consider them. I could go back to the weekly 180 to 360 minute challenge where I got up to 500 minutes/week; and it worked well for me!

Hope everyone is having a lovely evening and has met their goal for the day! :flowerforyou:

Peacockbutterfly

Hello everyone! The last couple of days I've been both busy and not feeling great. I started swimming yesterday and am really happy I took the plunge (pun totally intended lol). It is a great low impact workout that I have been able to do despite feeling like I couldn't do any real cardio. Between the last two days I have 235 active minutes.

I had been having problems for the last few days with the scale myself. It has just been staying still and that's obnoxious of it. I have been trying to make sure my macros are perfect as I saw a pattern in me consuming more fat than my goal. I am hoping that this helps. I keep trying to get my net higher but I'm not really hungry enough to eat more since I have increased my protein. I do suspect though that I'm just gaining muscle from all my activity and I just need to go find some patience. If only I could buy patience I would have it already

Lemurecat12, I am a downhill skier! I love the rush of it all. Cross country skiing always bored me. My favorite two outdoor activities have always been downhill skiing and white water rafting. I love a good thrill. It makes me forget it's a workout.

Tomorrow I have my first gym class. It is this circuit training class. The wellness coach told me this class was perfect for me because it is like small group training but free. This way there will be someone there to watch my form and tell me what to do exactly. The only problem is that it's like 2 hours earlier than I would like. Why can't everyone start everything at noon? Oh well.

As far as a new challenge I am pretty open except that I do walk a ton already so I am not sure if a challenge like "let's walk 10 miles in a week" would work for me because I can and do walk that in a day. I am totally willing to modify my challenge to still play along if that's what you ladies would like to go with.

suejoker

Hey, Beautiful Warriors!

I had a pretty low key, administrative work kind of day. I've been watching Frasier reruns on Netflix to keep myself entertained. I forgot how funny that show was! I did manage to get 75 minutes of exercise in, so now I'm at 21:48.

Culo, I think you're right, I think that whatever we choose to do, we'll have to individualize it to make it challenging for everyone.

Susan, 17.5 HOURS DONE!!! You are so inspiring! I hope to be fit enough to work in the garden for hours in 20 years:)

Rachael, if you find some patience on sale, please buy me some! People always say that I'm super patient, but it's just with OTHER people. I am incredibly impatient with myself. Hmmm.... New topic for therapy. I'm glad you're feeling better. I'm also a downhill skier (not a great one, since I haven't been in years and could only afford to go once/year most years before that). I love a good thrill.

Stephanie, you WERE absolutely right about the Fitbit distance problem. It worked!

Maybe, we should plan an MFP friend ski trip this next Winter! Who wants to meet in Colorado or somewhere else fabulous?!

I think our next challenge should be to burn ____ calories in June. We could each declare a number of calories that will be challenging for each of us. I've noticed that I'm getting more and more efficient about burning calories, so I'd like to focus on that rather than minutes. We all seem to know how many calories we burn, right? What do people think?

LosingItWithGod

Well I'm not going to even come close to goal folks. I only have about 13.98 hours done and I dont see how I can get 10.02 hours in by friday I would have to workout 3 hours and 11 mins all 3 days. I can try but I dont think I will be able to do that

suejoker

Hey, Tammy!

Glad to see you're back! I just wanted to let you know that you have 4 days left, since May doesn't end until Saturday. That's 2.5 hours/day, if you still want to try for 24 hours. Remember, you don't have to do all high impact stuff. Yoga and mild stretching are wonderful ways to exercise and do not require a lot of energy. Also, if you don't make it, please don't beat yourself up. This is a lot of exercise for someone just starting out. Applaud yourself for whatever you do. In fact, I'm impressed that you have 14 hours and most of that you did last week!