Need to Lose 100 LBS -Robins Thread !

@Robin~No, no symptoms here--I think everyone was at the tail-end of their illnesses. I actually haven't been sick since I got the pneumonia vaccine about 8 years ago--knock on wood!

@Karen~You are really making a dent in that grading, I'm glad you'll have company for grading today. Hooray for shaving off some time from your running pace!

@lleecc (Laura)~I had a Diet Pepsi addiction about 15 years ago, gave it up cold turkey. I seldom drink any soda now. I think soda both regular and diet definitely add to that sugar addiction, so good for you for giving it up.

@Hansea (Amanda)~Yikes, on the mouse infestation at work! I haven't checked my traps in the attic in a while, guess I'll have to by default since I need to put an empty box in the attic.

@Joyce~Good for you for tackling your fears, it will get easier and easier each time you get in the pool.

AFM~After working out with my trainer yesterday morning, I spent the afternoon with my family. Both of my nephews are really into airplanes so we took them to an aviation museum--they got to sit in an F-16 cockpit simulator, very cool for them. My dad is a retired aerospace engineer that worked in aviation on government contracts, so its a cool thing they share--he is an encyclopedia when it comes to aviation!

I think today I'm going to do some re-organizing around here--I splurged on a new KitchenAid stand mixer, need to make room for it in the appliance cabinet so need to re-organize some others. I've wanted this mixer for a while but just haven't been able to justify the expense, but Amazon had one for under $300 and it came with a rebate!

My December goals are to continue with staying within 100 calories of my daily goal and to stick to my weekly exercise schedule--lots of parties, etc. in December, my plan for those is to enjoy but not overdo. I do need to be a little more diligent the rest of the days though and watch my macros more closely.

Exercise goals this week:

Sunday~Projects around the house
Monday~Trainer
Tuesday~Cardio
Wednesday~Trainer
Thursday~None (MRI in afternoon)
Friday~None (chiro)
Saturday~Cardio

I had a great week and accomplished a few things so I am sad to see it end. Back to work on Monday with the kiddies. I teach 8th grade science, so yes, I have the crazy students who are prone to mood swings. After 3.5 years of doing this I love exercising and trying new things which has improved my confidence.

Today, was spent cleaning up the yard- yes raking leaves for the 4th time, pulling ivy-not poison and raking out the flower beds. Then I went to the gym this afternoon for a nice workout that included a 30 minute spin bike ride for 14 miles. I set a new goal for myself this month in preparation for an indoor triathlon on January 4. I will make it to the gym as much as possible not only to train but to relieve stress from work and home. This will also mean that I will swim a little more often during the week. Not sure how I will do this but will make the time.

Hope everyone has a great week and may it be productive.

Hi guys! Had an okay day considering most of it was spent grading. Didn't get as much done as I would've liked, but finished what I absolutely needed to for tomorrow.

@barbara--5 lbs for the month is great!

@laurie--I'm also sad that I have to go back to school tomorrow. I could've really used another day or 2 to completely catch up. At least Winter Break is only 3 weeks away.

@laura--I like your plan to take December 1 week at a time.

@kelley--yes, I was happy to shave some time off my pace, but I'm paying for it today. Boy are my quads sore! Glad you got to spend some quality time with your nephews at the museum.

@lori-- awesome November challenge results!

@robin--I would really like to get away from the huge cable bill, so am seriously considering chromecast. The fee for netflix or hulu is minuscule compared to my monthly cable bill. I think I would still need to keep basic cable though, so have to look into that cost--or if there are other options.

Sunday Share:
For the newlings, I am karen--HS English teacher from Chicago. In addition to my normal teaching responsibilities, I'm also a building rep for my union. That isn't that much more work (2 meetings/month); however, I've been asked to be a part of our union's bargaining team as we negotiate our next contract. So over the next couple of months I have about 15 additional meetings for that. Hopefully, things will go smoothly and we'll be done by Spring Break if not sooner.

Still have to get 64 papers graded by Thursday plus all of the journals. Tomorrow I had planned to go to the gym, but I may need to focus on grading instead. We'll see how much I get done during my prep periods and lunch tomorrow, but it's not looking good.

I will post my December All In challenge goals tomorrow. Good night!

November All-In:
Under calorie goal: 25/30 days (goal is 27/30 days)
Workout: 8/30 (goal is as much as possible)
8k on Thanksgiving Day in 57 minutes DONE in 56:49!

Grading Goals:
1. 60/60 M1948 in-class essays DONE!
2. 2/66 AP essays
3. 60/60 SL vocab analyses DONE!
4. 15/15 paper revisions DONE!
5. 5/66 AP Journals

Exercise Goals:
Sun--rest day
Mon--walk gunner + gym
Tues--rest day (meeting)
Wed--rest day (meeting)
Thurs--walk gunner + gym
Fri--rest day
Sat--walk gunner + gym

Welcome December 2014 ... the last 31 days of 2014 began today. For those who follow it, Advent began yesterday, but for my granddaughter, I think it started on July 1st because that's when her thoughts turned to Christmas.

Results for November challenge:
Calories at/under limit 13/30 ...
Attendance sheet 46.4% ...
Weight loss for the month 2 pounds
My weight this morning has not been at this point since 6/18/09

December goals:
Calories at/under limit are set to 1830 ... that's a 10% cut from the average calories I maintained during November.
All-in Challenge .... for the month of December my challenge is HOUSEWORK. This house will be well cleaned, well organized, well maintained, uncluttered, and company ready by Christmas. That's my motto for the month.

I will still be keeping up my Attendance Sheet and will continue to report my ongoing monthly average, however my focus is on housework. I can get a maximum of 185 checkmarks during December.

Christmas Eve, our family get-together, is excused.
Niki

Good morning everyone.

Happy Cyber Monday
Cyber Monday is a marketing term for the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. The term "Cyber Monday" was created by marketing companies to persuade people to shop online. The term made its debut on November 28, 2005, in a Shop.org press release entitled "'Cyber Monday Quickly Becoming One of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year".[2]. Similar stories resurface year upon year at this time, portraying what is essentially a marketing tool as news.
According to the Shop.org/Bizrate Research 2005 eHoliday Mood Study, "77 percent of online retailers said that their sales increased substantially on the Monday after Thanksgiving, a trend that is driving serious online discounts and promotions on Cyber Monday this year (2005)".
In 2013, Cyber Monday online sales grew by 20.6% over the previous year, hitting a record $2.29 billion, with an average order value of $128.[3]
The deals on Cyber Monday are online-only and generally offered by smaller retailers that cannot compete with the big retailers. Black Friday generally offers better deals on technology, with nearly 85% more data storage deals than Cyber Monday. The past Black Fridays saw far more deals for small appliances, cutlery, and kitchen gadgets on average than Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday is larger for fashion retail. On the past two Cyber Mondays, there were an average of 45% more clothing deals than on Black Friday. There were also 50% more shoe deals on Cyber Monday than on Black Friday.[4]
Cyber Monday has become an international marketing term used by online retailers in Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Uganda, Japan, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

“It’s not that some people have willpower and some don’t. It’s that some people are ready to change and others are not.” ~James Gordon

Tom

Good morning everyone. Well the whole last week was super hectic and fun. We had a nice time with my daughter and then spent last week getting ready for thanksgiving and hubby coming home. Thanksgiving was nice with the family. We all went over to my brothers and sil house. I did most of the planning and organizing for it and I admit I gave myself the easier foods since I was still pretty tired from all the cooking the weekend before. Now for the really great news. My hubby got home last night. They tried to surprise me with my kids leaving and saying they were going to hang out with their friends but I had a feeling they were going to have their dad with them when they got home. So sure I had a pot of coffee waiting for him, lol. I am so happy to have him home. He is going to be here for a long glorious month and half. Hopefully this next yeat wont be so hectic. As for the challenge I am going to give it a good go with one slight modification. I wont be worrying about food on christmas eve or christmas and I am going to stay aware of what I eat but if I go over once a week because we go out to dinner alot more when hubbys home I am not going to beat myself up over it. Well everyone have a great day and for all our wonderful teachers remember its just a short time and you get a nice long winter break

Getting back on track today -- the past couple of weeks have been tough due to the death of a close family friend. We're definitely missing him, but it's also serving as a reminder to me that I need to take better care of myself. Started with cardio at the gym this morning. Have a blessed day!!!

Welcome Healthystarts and maryphipps, you have a great group of people. You joined by posting.

Today, was a good day but oh boy, I am exhausted and ready for bed. Hopefully, I will sleep well tonight. Had a good session with my trainer tonight since we set a base for an upcoming indoor triathlon. This means that we will be working on strength training for the new couple of week in order to build up my muscles and endurance. The indoor triathlon is scheduled for January 4 at Lifetime Fitness. For those of you interested, they are doing multiple indoor triathlons across the country. The indoor triathlon involves a 10 min swim, 30 min spin bike, 20 run on treadmill. They do have transition times between event so you can safely move to each location.



Next goal, I need to find a way to increase my swim time during the week. Of course, TOM started tonight so that will mess with my ability to swim this week.
Have a great night and a good week.

@Laurie~I belong to Lifetime Fitness, awesome gym— I think they offer that tri once or twice a year and also sponsor the Commitment Day 5k held on January 1st every year. I was really tired yesterday too—except for rolling over on toys Zoe dragged into my bed in the middle of the night (silly cat ), I slept well so feel better so far today.

@Tammy~Hooray for an early arrival from DH, enjoy his time home!

@Amanda~Awesome goals for December, I tend to eat a huge salad every day for lunch—I’m trying to break up that monotony this month though. I will still work in plenty of raw veggies, maybe have a small salad at dinner instead.

@L2T~I’m sorry for the fridge issue. $1k to repair? Seems a new fridge would be cheaper. I just paid $250 to get a new motor for my ice maker, ridiculous how much appliances can cost to repair.

AFM~As exhausted as I felt yesterday, managed to get through a session with my trainer—I’d like to call it a “leg” session as it sure felt that way! As I mentioned to Amanda above, I feel like I’m in a rut so I’m changing things up a bit for December--my menu tends to be monotonous, so trying to break that up this month. Instead of salads every day for lunch I’m breaking it up with sandwiches—yesterday I had salad but today I brought a roast beef/cheddar sandwich with some carrots. Hopefully it’s the change both me and my body need.

December “ALL-IN Challenge:

Calories: 1/1
Exercise: 1/1

Exercise Goals:

Sunday~Projects at house in lieu of cardio DONE!
Monday~Trainer DONE!
Tuesday~Cardio
Wednesday~Trainer
Thursday~None (MRI in afternoon )
Friday~None (Chiro)
Saturday~Cardio

Good morning everyone.

HAPPY SPECIAL EDUCATION DAY!
Special Education Day is December 2!
Celebrate and consider reform for the future!
We mark the anniversary of the nation's first federal special education law--December 2, 1975, as a day to reflect and reform.

Special Education Day, the national holiday listed in Chase's Calendar of events, began in 2005. That year marked the 30th anniversary of the IDEA--the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

2014 is the 10th anniversary of Special Education Day!
We hope you will celebrate it!

Where were we when President Gerald Ford signed the ground-breaking legislation? And, where are we now? We have come a long way and now provide access to education for all children, including children with disabilities. For a story about President Ford's signing statement, please click here.

And, where do we need to be tomorrow? We created the day to honor progress and celebrate students with disabilities--and their teacher, parents, and schools. And, we dialogue and plan for the future for all students in our schools and for appropriate reforms.

One reform that was launched through Special Education Day is SpedEx. It's an innovative, successful child-focused dispute resolution model that is free for schools and parents--and works to create trust between the parties. For information about SpedEx, please visit www.spedexresolution.com.

The Special Education Day Committee (SPEDCO) plans to celebrate Special Education Day in 2014.

We also urge you to sponsor and event to celebrate the 10th Annual Special Education Day in your community in your own ways.

If you plan to host a celebration (large or small) in your school district or community, we are happy to provide encouragement and assistance. Please contact us at info@specialeducationday.com.

May our reforms move special education forward--to improve the teaching and learning for all students--general and special education.

“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.” ~William James

Tom

Hi just checking in to try to get back on track. Gosh, why can't I stay focussed on this????

I had a rough month...I hurt my thumb and it was painful anytime my thumb flexed backwards or out. I went to the chiropractor thinking it was out of place...it was. When he fixed it he told me I wasn't going to like him for about a week and he was right! I wasn't able to lift weights, do a push up, pull up...anything. But after another adjustment, he's not sure that's the problem and had me schedule an appointment with a medical doctor. We'll see...I've requested an appointment on Monday.

I hosted Thanksgiving this year with my husband's family. I then did something very stupid and left town the weekend before. It was a wonderful trip to Minneapolis to surprise my sister for her 40th birthday and watch my cousin's singing group give a concert, but put me on too much work, too little sleep the week of Thanksgiving.

I did get back to logging my food yesterday (not pretty but truthful). I also made it to the gym and was able to lift. I got in 6 glasses of water. I guess I just need to do my baby steps.

@MNWalking...I think you start small and ignore the big conversations. Go to lunch. Have a day out shopping. Start by building up your relationship with small talk and just actually seeing each other. After you've rebuilt your relationship on that level, it will be "safe" to talk about bigger issues.

I left out a huge piece of information on my sister situation. She lives in KY and I live in MN email or text is about the only way to communicate because she rarely talks on the phone.

Holly- I agree with the small steps but since you are in different states maybe you could try a comprise. For example- would she have a conversation with you on the phone while you both drink a cup of tea or coffee etc. That way you will have a set time limit to talk about the little things. Hope she can handle a 5 min. conversation on the phone once a week. Otherwise, you could write her a little about what has been happening in your life just keep it low key.

Kah-that is cool your gym is Lifetime, it is a beautiful gym. Last year, the closest LT gym to me only had 1 indoor triathlon but the year before they had 2. I am not sure what this year will hold in terms of numbers of indoor triathlon. It will be interesting in that they have combine with IRONMAN organization so I wonder how that will impact the event.

Tracy- hope your thumb is nothing serious.

I am still feeling tired so I hope to go to bed earlier tonight but doubt that will happen. Tomorrow, I will either go to the gym or the pool. I should go swimming but it will truly depend on how I feel. I have that swim meet on Saturday but I am totally undecided if I want to compete. At this point, I am tempted to skip it since I have not been swimming as much as I want to. I still need to figure out how to get in an extra day of swimming during the week so I can work on increasing my speed and endurance.

Thursday- 5K DONE
Friday- Climbing DONE
Saturday- Pool DONE
Sunday- Gym DONE
Monday -Trainer DONE
Tuesday- Rest day DONE
Wednesday- Gym or pool
Thursday- gym
Friday- Rest day or climbing depends on Saturday
Saturday- swim meet or gym or rest day
Sunday- gym or pool depends on Saturday.

The gym is easier since I can go right after work and the pool is packed until 8pm. I don't like swimming that late since it tends to make me hyper and I can't sleep.
Goal- Find time to hit the pool 1 additional time this week.

Hi guys!

Just some quick personals from memory:

@holly--I agree with the advice to keep things light for now. Once you build up some regular interaction about your lives in the present, you can delve into issues from the past.

@tracy--oh, so sorry to hear about your thumb! Hope it's nothing serious.

@laurie--one of the reasons I never used the pool at my old gym is that the "open swim" times were really inconvenient. Plus, it seems like a more time-consuming form of exercise. Not sure if that's really the case or just my perception. Hope you manage to fit in more pool time.

@kaye--December is a new month and at least you managed to hold tight and not gain anything while you were injured.

@L2T--Yes, I'm well aware that not all teachers have the wonderful students I get to teach. Even in my school, I have colleagues who sometimes have an off year where they have very few gracious students. Even so, I bet most teachers have at least a few kids each year who make it worthwhile. I've found that the key is to make it mutual. As much as I might have to lecture my students when they are irresponsible, or show some "tough love" when they don't put forth effort, I also make sure they know how great they are. For example, these current essays I'm grading are the best all year. I actually gave them more time than usual to work on their final drafts, and the results are wonderful. I will let them know how much I appreciate that most of them really took advantage of that time by giving them more time again for this next essay.

Tuesday Goals:
My goal today was to finish the second class of AP essays which I did. Plus, I even got a few of my 3rd class's finished. I need to finish 11 more tomorrow. Of course, I didn't make it to the gym today with all of the grading, but I'm not going to stress about it.

My grading list grew a bit, but I'm judging another speech competition on Friday and there will be a lot of down time between rounds, so I will have plenty of time to grade.

Tomorrow is our first bargaining meeting for our contract, so it will be a late night. Wish me luck!

December All-In:
Under calorie goal: 2/2 days (goal is 28/31 days)
Workout: 0/2 (goal is as much as possible)
8k over Winter Break (not sure what day) in 56 minutes (Thanksgiving 8k was 56:49)

Grading Goals:
1. 44/66 AP essays
2. 5/66 AP Journals
3. x/50 SL vocab
4. x/60 SL Tests

Exercise Goals:
Sun--rest day
Mon--walk gunner NOT DONE + gym NOT DONE
Tues--(short meeting) may do something--depends upon grading
Wed--rest day (late meeting)
Thurs--walk gunner + gym
Fri--rest day
Sat--walk gunner + gym