Healthy for the Holidays Challenge - 9/06 - 11/22

haha.. i'm the excuse queen this week ready? I went down to get on my treadmill last night and it was SURROUNDED by boxes. :huh: I have no idea why my husband put them all there... but it unmotivated me to get on the treadmill. I did get the 30DS in last night however... figured if I wasn't going to run 3-5 then I had to do SOMETHING... its why I the 30DS... 25 minutes and its done and a decent calorie burn (though nowhere near what I ate i'm sure.. I really need to start logging again).

I also have new found motivation. My work is sending me to St. Louis in December, and 1/2 of these people I met back in January of 2010 when I was a good 40lbs heavier than I am now... and I've only seen a couple of them recently.. so it'll push me to get back on track.. first impressions and all.

true. I definitely knew it could have been worse.

a little bit of a weight loss this week
10/18~304
10/25~304
11/1~ 301

Have not been active much on here the last few weeks lifes been busy for me .. I miss all of you and see that everyone is doing fantastic !!!!! Bring on the holidays and keep up the good work !

I'm going to skip posting my weight this week. Had a lot of stress lately and my food habits are terrible! Starting to get more exercise and have some new incentives so I hope to see good results next week! Great job, everyone! Thank you for keeping me going!

I am literally craving kale. Seriously, craving kale, I mean s#!t's gotta be desperate to miss that!:noway:

lol! seriously, that is awesome. I feel like that sometimes too, like oh man I really need a salad! Great job on turning down the pie too! That is something I've really been struggling with recently, sweets! I don't know what it is because I am not normally a sweets eater so of course I used looked it up online and guess what can be a cause of sweets (and alcohol) cravings? Stress. Of course. Something about some gland not functioning well enough after awhile and making your body crave the quick burst of carb energy, blah, blah, blah. Yet another weight loss struggle to blame on my job. :grumble: Well, it is what it is. Just have to keep telling myself-I will not eat birthday cupcakes at work today, I will not eat birthday cupcakes at work today....

Olivia, I think you meant to give those tips to Ellen but thank you for using my name!! It made me sit up and take notice! I've been in the sinking boat with her for long enough now! Going to use your advice and I WILL feel EMPOWERED when I skip sweets instead of feeling left out!!!!:flowerforyou:

hey all,

I'm so excited to have been able to join you guys on this challenge. We have 3 more weeks to go for this challenge, and then holidays are nearby with Thanksgiving as close one. Let's kill it these next 3 weeks and work hard and make our goals possible. And if we don't make our goal...well...I'm sure we'll get very close, and we went through it with a fight.

Let's do this by planning our meals and workouts and looking at the end goal.

Have an awesome day!

Okay this is not about weight loss, but I need advice.

I'm thinking about getting a dog. Then I wonder why I'm thinking this because my life is crazy busy as it is. My kids want a dog, and I found a rescue Bernese Mtn dog whose owner said he would even pay for a year's worth of dog food. My only hesitation besides my busy schedule is his age. He is already six years old. These are big dogs that generally do not live over 8 or 9. Would this be a stupid decision? They typically have arthritis in their hips too. All other factors are a go, house-trained, well-behaved, etc... I just don't know, but time is ticking and I have to make a decision...

Just posted this on my page too, sorry for the redudancy friends, but it just feels so good I have to shout it from the rooftops. My boss sees me about 4 days a week. She popped into my office today while I was cleaning (so I was standing) and mid sentance she stops and goes "Wow, you've gotten skinny!" Me? Skinny? I will take the compliment. I'm going to use it to fuel me into the weekend and power me to keep it up

I'm here, I'm here!!! :laugh:
Doing chores and burning cals! My week was RIDICULOUSLY busy and stressful (work-wise, I mean)
So now I'm playing catchup with the house :grumble: But at least it's sunny & and I can open the windows!

I've been around, too, working in the yard, weekly shopping, cooking for the freezer. I bought a pair of size 8 jeans that FIT! Took a walk with the dog (DD2's Border collie) this afternoon, and managed to misplace my glasses when I took them out of my coat pocket. They're in the house, just don't know where..

I'm still here too! I've had to do A LOT of re-focusing this week. October was crazy busy, and I ended up eating way too much (stress-eater here) and never exercising, only to put on a few pounds. :sad: We had a couple recent challenges about sharing weight loss journeys, which helped me take some time to REALLY think about why I gained weight and why I'm trying to lose it. Here's what I learned about myself.

I'm a junk food addict and have been one for 25 years. I started making money when I was 12 (paper route, baby-sitting, part-time jobs later in high school), so I could always buy the candy/cookies/donuts I wanted. I pretty much had cookies for lunch every day for six years during junior high and high school. However, I was always skinny because my mom was an awful cook. Cold cereal in the morning, junk food for lunch, maybe an apple for dinner, and that was it. I went to college and had to fend for myself when it came to cooking, and that usually was fast food and more junk food. But once again, I was skinny because I didn't have a car and had to walk EVERYWHERE. I really started putting on weight when I got married at 24 because I had a car and a desk job. I didn't walk anywhere, I didn't exercise, I still ate junk food and fast food, and I gained 25 pounds. I also put on weight with my 2 pregnancies. I lost all of the pregnancy weight from my 2nd baby, but I never managed to lose those excess pounds from the first pregnancy or the first 3 years of marriage.

In the meantime, I learned to LOVE exercise. I love how it makes me feel. I love my increased endurance, strength, and flexibility, and I love doing it. Exercising has never been a chore. However, I never did give up my junk food, and it's SO HARD to lose weight when I'm eating so many extra calories a day.

I started a new job at the end of September. It's been a BIG challenge to figure out how to balance personal and work life, and I really miss all the free time I had. I've got the same crappy eating habits at work, and I've come to realize how badly I finally need to change my daily diet. I've had awful cholesterol and triglyceride levels since my teen years, but that has never made me want to change what I eat. But now, having a sedentary desk job and counting myself LUCKY if I can squeeze in a 20-min DVD at night, I have finally realized that I can't have 1000+ calories/day of junk food because I'll burn it off later. It really, truly is SO SAD that I would eat that much junk a day. Sure, I could burn it off later, but what kind of damage am I doing to my body? And even then, I never even burned it all off, which is why I usually only lose 10 lbs a year. My poor eating habits completely sabotage my weight loss efforts.

Now, after 25 years, I'm learning to JUST SAY NO. I'm bringing healthy meals and snacks to work, and I'm avoiding the treat bowls. Some days are better than others, so it's still a learning process. I'm recognizing that I'm on the wagon here, and I can never fall off the wagon and eat like I did as a teenager/young adult. I've been so lucky that my poor eating habits haven't given me any other ailments besides high cholesterol and triglycerides, but I'm getting older and it will catch up to me if I don't nip it in the bud now. I relapse SO EASILY (thank you, October, not to mention the 30 pounds I put on last year when I was finishing my college degree). I guess I'm growing up and finally learning to take care of myself.

November's a new month! Work stress is way lower, so I have the mental energy to change bad habits into better ones. Instead of stressing about these goshdarn 30 lbs that I'm still trying to lose, I've given myself a monthly goal of 5 lbs. 5 lbs a month for the next 6 months, and I should hit my goal weight at the end of Spring! Sounds reasonable, and as long as I can manage my diet, it sounds doable.

Thanks Olivia! Sorry I hardly ever have time to get online anymore! I should be doing homework now instead of procrastinating.

Anyway, I decided not to get Brody. The owner texted me today and said he found him a home. I'm kind of thankful for that. I was way too indecisive about the situation. I am going to look for another rescue, but a small dog that is not as old. The right one will come into our hands if its God's will.

Anyway, was able to get some exercise in this week! Yay! Hopefully, I can keep it up now that the girls' soccer is over, and basketball doesn't start until after Thanksgiving hopefully.

Have a great week. See ya Tuesday for weigh-in!

I've been a little MIA over this weekend and like a lot of others I'm struggling to stay on track right now. I had two events this weekend and overate terribly at both of them on top of eating a huge amount of various cakes that kept showing up at work this past week. I hopped on the scale this morning and the number is way up. Going to do my best to flush out all that bad stuff with lots of water and veggies today, but its not looking good for tomorrow's weigh in.

I believe it is my week for the challenges and I will be back this evening to post. Hope everyone is having a great start to their week!