@PlaneMonkey Hi, I'm Courtney, 41 living in Val-des-Monts Quebec Canada with my husband and 2 cats. I've been overweight since going off to university as I stopped all competitive sports but kept eating the same portions as when I was exercising for hours daily. Add in college level drinking on the weekends and I was a typical Freshman 15 and beyond. I've managed to come to my senses a couple of times and lost the weight back at least twice in my adult life, but usually when I was single with no one else's needs or priorities to get in the way of my motivation and goals. I had a wake-up call when I saw a photo of myself from an unflattering angle in August 2020 just after my 40th birthday, bought a Garmin and joined MFP. I credit my 50lb weight loss and the maintenance of that loss for nearly a year to the support of this group. My inner voice is now your voices urging me to make better choices.

I used to fix airplanes for a living (hence the username) and now I write policy for the government on the rules and regulations for people who fix airplanes. Not as much of an exciting day-to-day job, but with the desk and computer comes the work from home and flexible schedule, which I love. It has freed up 1.5 hours a day of commuting time into personal time for chores, errands, home reno's and hopefully this month a re-commitment to intentional exercise. I have a workout plan of 15 minutes of intense HIIT style weightlifting followed buy a short abs or pilates session that gets the cardio up and makes me feel amazing. Over the winter with the limited after-work daylight hours, I allowed myself to be persuaded by my spouse to prioritize other activities over my 3pm workout time but as the clocks are changing soon, I will get this time back for me! I'm a slug after dinner when it's dark out so can never seem to motivate myself to exercise in the evening, and especially then it actually energizes me so I can't get to sleep. I sleep 9-10 hours a day on average so getting up early to exercise rarely works either. The snooze button wins every time.

The last 3-4 months have been challenging emotionally and physically as I keep getting sick (currently positive with covid), I have lingering hip and knee injuries, and the death of my father in January after a rapid decline in hospital threw me and especially my mother into a bit of a tailspin. I keep hoping the start of a new month with be my 'start-over' date and a new hurdle keeps popping up. I have to remind myself that this is a marathon and not a sprint. pressure can be your enemy as well as your friend if you allow it to push you to negative, defeatist thoughts.

I like the idea of the group challenge for this week and I'm going to use an actual computer instead of my cell phone to access and use the habit tracker along with my printed wall calendar to commit to my goals in march. Beach season is around the corner and I have a goal to fit into a dress I haven't worn in over a decade.

Have a great month everyone!

My three numbers for the week:

-7.5 hours of sleep
I got 7 hours and 28 minutes last night, so I was SO close! Trying to do better tonight. Last month I aimed for 7 but my average was slightly better so I'm trying to stretch it again

-64 oz of water
Got 80 oz in

-1694 net calories (this number will change slightly Thursday based on my method of allocating calories but I'll update accordingly)
Ate 2845 and burned 1152 through exercise so I was at 1693
This was a high day of exercise for me - 93 minutes of snowshoeing, 41 minute walk in Banff, 60 minutes of Peloton cycling, and a 5 minute stretch

Night all! Loving catching up on everyone's re-introduction.

Friendly reminder for anyone wanting to report outstanding steps/exercise for the last week of Feb (Feb 20-26)... report to follow in the next day or two!