Lucky 2013 Group Members

MarlaStuck

I'm seeing some folks still hanging strong with us and some not so much. I just want to say to those that are still with us and strong, thank you for making this successful. You are encouraging me to make my goals and I so thank you for that. For those that are not following any longer please re consider...this is about you and only you.

Together with support changes happen easier and last. There are 6 elements to making change successful.

Personal Motivation Personal Ability
Social Motivation Social Ability
Structural Motivation Structural Ability

In this group we function as eachothers Social level of change...motivation and ability. The banner of your success acts in the structural area with visual celebrations of your success. Don't give up on us yet...come on back and give it a whirl. Life happens so just flex a little in your planning. :flowerforyou: and for those of us still going take a bow...well done..we are in our third week that is awesome! It takes 30 days of a change to make it stick...well done!!!

Marla

jeme3

I'm staying stong!

Down another pound today!

Personal motivation for me is getting healthy and feeling better (looking better sure helps, too!).

Personal ability we all have, but the tool that really helped it all snap in to place for me was MFP. Being able to calculate how many calories I should eat, then being able to track those calories, has made all the difference for me.

Social motivation is not as important to me. I love having people here I can discuss things with, and learn from, but this is my personal project and lifestyle change. Actually, it kinda pisses me off that people IRL treat me differently when I weigh less than when I am heavy. I am the same person, no matter what my shape.

Social ability to me means the ability to continue making good choices in a social situation. And almost always, I can do that now. We did go over to friends for a football game recently, and the food they had was complete and utter garbage- NOTHING was a good choice. So, I learned form that, too. Don't go someplace hungry without having an idea of what will be served. And maybe keep some nuts or something I feel good about eating on hand. (nachos with that fake cheese stuff just don't go with an eating clean plan).

Dropping a size in all my clothes has been great structural motivation. And looking at the graph that is created by MFP for the pounds lost is also very motivating. Just this morning I was looking at it, and feeling like FINALLY I lost another pound. When I look at the graph, I see that I am right on track- 5 pounds in the last month. Wow! That's great! But if I hadn't seen the graph, I might be beating myself up over how long it took for that pound to come off.

Structural ability includes shopping and meal planning in my mind. This has actually been a contentious issues in my house. My husband has done nearly all the cooking and shopping for many years. My lifestyle change has pushed some buttons for him, but we have worked through it. I do more shopping than I used to, I make a big salad every night, he is more conscious of not using tons of added fat in his cooking, and he communicates better to me about what he is planning for dinner so I can plan my day.

Maybe these aren't exactly how you would define the categories, but these are my initial reactions.