New 7-Day Motivational Thread 10/17/2010
 

The first 7 day challenge really helped me kick start a healthy eating program. Thank you all that posted!

Stating my goals at the beginning of each week, and then posting each day whether I made it or not seems to really help me keep the focus. But the greatest part is sharing the journey. When I see you striving to meet your goals, overcoming obstacles, it helps me too! So come join me, focusing on our fitness goals one week at a time.

My goals for the week:
Eat less than 1400 calories/drink at least 80 ounces of water
Exercise at least 45 minutes
Try to cook two new low calorie meals at least 2 times this week (Learning how to cook low fat/low calorie meals will help me permanently change my fitness lifestyle)
Clean out the hallway storage closet – ack! (Starting to addressing small stress factors will help keep me out of the kitchen cabinets! :)

Ahhh Susie, you're just beautiful... Okay I'm in, but I don't know if I can face the hall closet this week, you go first and be my inspiration, okay? I have a very stressful week coming up. DH is having a procedure on Wednesday and if all that is okay he's having heart surgery on Thursday. On top of that his parents are coming to stay for a few days, supposedly to "help" out. And while I get along with my in-laws well enough, it's always stressful to have them visit. Also FIL is having terrible back pain, and has to lay down most of the time, so I don't really know that having him here will "help".

Goals for Monday:

1. Keep calories to 1,500.
2. Exercise, 60 min elliptical, 15 stretching, 15 shoulder rehab.
3. Drink 96 oz of water.
4. Finish up a couple of Halloween costumes for the kids
5. Clean the kitchen
6. Plan and pack some foods to take to the hospital so I don't end up eating junk from the vending machines.
7. Plan some crock pot meals and some casseroles to leave for the kids and in-laws to eat.

Wow, that is a huge amount of life events to handle while trying to keep to a set of goals. It just goes to show that your new fitness focus is/has become a lifestyle choice for you, that you see yourself being healthy no matter what you face. I wish the very best for your DH and that your ILs are helpful. I read one of your posts in another thread about how you had been overweight much of your life and when I see that and see your 90 lb loss and how near your goal you are, I think 'I can do this too'. Thank you.

Yay! New thread, new goals, new week to conquer!!!! :D

Today was my rest day, so no exercising for me. I didn't drink all my water. :( It's hard to get that water down on the weekends, especially when I didn't work out in the morning. I'll do better tomorrow when I have more structure.

My calories are at 1,193 today and I only had 50 carbs. I'm going to start cycling my carbs and my hubby and I are hitting the weights at the gym tomorrow. Hope I can do it!!! :confused:

This weeks goals are to exercise daily, drink a gallon of water, be in bed by 9:30 and keep calories at 1200 while cycling my carbs:
Sunday: 50
Monday: 150
Tuesday: 125
Wednesday: 50
Thursday: 100
Friday: 150
Saturday: 100

Hi Committ,
What does cycling carbs mean. Does 50 mean 50 g of carbs? Does cycling carbs help weight loss?
Looking forward to sharing the week's efforts.

New Week!
 

Yeah, here we go again!

Goals for this week:
Calories under 1200 each day
Weights or run each day
96 oz. of water
Stretch for 10 min. while meditating
Deep clean a different room of my house each day

Oops
 

Sorry....don't know why I stuttered on my last post.:o

Happy Monday ladies. No not really but I am so trying to be motivational!! I am very tired this morning. I did not want to get up and work out, BIDIA!

Almeeker-My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. I hope the surgery goes well with your DH. Keep us posted if you can. Great idea on taking food with you to the hospital. I love hearing your ideas because I see your weight loss accomplishment and I am pretty close to where you were a year ago. I just keep thinking it can be done!!

Susan-Thank you for the new thread. Yes 1.4lbs is good in a week. I really like this 7 day thread. It keeps us on our toes a little more. If you get your hall closet cleaned out this week, I will do one of mine next week. My DH and I have cleaned out most of our rooms and the two hall closets are left. Ugh, I dread them! Please share with us your two new low cal recipes. I am still struggling with the dinner piece. My DH is such a picky eater and son is following him. DD is willing to try anything and likes most of the healthy stuff I do. So I need some good dinner ideas.

Commit-I am really interested in hearing about the carb cycling also. Is this similar to the calorie zig zagging? I wish I could get my DH up to workout with me!

Here are my goals for this week.

Calories-1600
Water-100 oz
Exercise-45 minutes
Get caught up with laundry-OMG it is so behind!!

I'm going to try and post something to motivate us daily on this thread. Here's is today's effort. Today I challenge all of you to drink your water early, and then try to get in 1-2 extra glasses. Baseline of 64oz, + 8oz for every 10lbs you want to lose. For me that's about 96 oz, I'm at 44oz for the morning and will try and get the remaining 52oz before dinner. Then for dinner I'm going to make myself a big glass of sweet tea and sip on it until bed time. On your mark, get set, GO!!!

I love the "deep clean" idea, although I'm going to have to do most of that tomorrow rather than spread it out over the whole week.

Wow-Thats 128 oz for me. Good thing I just completed 60. I can do this!!!

Hey, good morning everyone!
The scale is up on me again today. I know its because of salty food. I have been so good in regard to calories and exercise, so I'm not going to be discouraged and just keep the focus!

Darlean - I'm glad you are joining us again. Stretching is something I dont do at all and yesterday I was as stiff as a board from my cold walks outside. So I'm moving my walks indoor, but I'm also adding stretching to my goals. Good idea.

Gmantych - Okay, you're on. It was really iffy that I would get to that closet today, but I'm going to do it. I will do the dishes and then pull everything out and start sorting today... Its a very large closet under the stairs to the second floor.. long and full of boxes and who knows what. But I can do this. Going to be a busy day!

Almeeker - Thank you for finding time to post motivational stuff while you are going through a tough week! Wow on the water. I have about 90 pounds to lose, so thats about (susan gets out her calculator..hehe) 136 ounces! I'll be like a swimming pool inside! I'm laughing but I'm going to do it. I want to lose these 90 lbs and I'm hoping that next year I will be here telling someone else... now what you need to do is drink 64 ounces + 8 ounces for every 10 pounds and they will see I lost 90 lbs too! :D

Ready, set, GO!
-Susan

Ok goals for the week:

- To run outside at least one 6 mile run, the other two 4-5 miles
- Then hit the gym at least two other days during the week, with 20 mins of cardio and then weights/strength training
- No sugar all week!

WOW ! this is so great ! a new thread for each week :) feels like i m starting over again.

i did not lose or gain a pound last week.... so i m gonna make a better attempt this week... aiming to lose 3 lbs this week

So here is my regime for today...

1. Drink 2 litres of water
2. should not eat after 8 pm
3. do 1 hour of cardio workout
4. Cut down the 3 C's - Chocolate, Chips n Cookies
5. Have my bowl of fruit salad
6. Meditate and Appreciate myself for what i am doing

Starting weight for this week : 137 lbs

@ almeeker i m really inspired by ur dedication to the weight loss regime.... i m proud tat u dint make this stressful week as an excuse to getaway fm the regime..... yes , i agree wid susanbfit..... this s beginning to b a part of ur lifestyle .... which is healthy n gud ! Kudos to u :)

Ok, I am about to leave for work. Not sure if I can make it all the way home without using the bathoom!

But I did it. I have finished the 128 oz of water for today. No soft drinks at all and I am feeling a little bloated. But I am not hungry!!!

Thanks almeeker for the challenge!

Hey Guys

Last week I just sort of monitored this 7 day motivational challenge but I think this week I want to participate. I feel that I will be much more accountable for my actions if I have to meet a certain set of goals in 7 days.

Plus I have had a major hurdle thrown in my exercise routine. My daughter, who is 21 months old, just moved from her crib to a big bed and though this is very exciting while doing this she has also decided to give up her 2 hour afternoon nap which is when I exercised ( her brother is in school) and had time for myself but alas that glorious time is gone.

She also has decided that now that she is in a big bed she no longer wants to ride in her stroller anymore aswell which now eliminates out long walks that we usually take. Thus I need to try and figure out a new exercise routine that works around these scheduling changes.


Goals this week:
Drink 100 oz of water each day
Keep calories under 1500 each day
Try and keep carbs to a minimum
Figure out a recipe to use the shrimp I bought on sale today but have no idea what to do with...lol
Do 45 minutes of cardio at least 4 nights when kids are in bed
Do 45 minutes of weight training for at least 4 nights when kids are in bed


Andrea

Update, I got all my water in by 2:00pm, and have managed to add an additional 44 oz for the day. Not too shabby. I'm so proud of you guys for taking up the challenge, and for sticking to it through the day, even if you did have to pee all the time.

xarinn, I'm of the "pre-schoolers need naps club", so I personally would keep trying to make that happen, even if I had to wake her up earlier in the morning to tire her out more. However some kids just flat out refuse to do it after they change beds, so you might try a workout she can do with you, believe it or not some of the Wiggles DVD's are really quite good cardio workouts. On the stroller issue, do you have a wagon? My 4 year old won't get in the stroller either, but she would ride in that wagon from here to the Pacific ocean if someone offered to pull her that far. You might also look for a tricycle with a handle on the back that you can push. A couple of my friends have those and they are fantastic. Or how about a jog stroller? Another thing you might look into is one of those "baby packers". We have one and let me tell you, it's a workout. You wouldn't need to go far to feel your muscles burning with a 21 month old child strapped to your back.

Xarinn, Pottersirus and Hunny24, thanks for joining us. Good wishes for success on your goals this week.

I only need to finish one more 17 ounce bottle of water and I'll have made my 136 ounces. woohoo. That ought to get rid of some sodium if the number of times to the bathroom is any indication.. amazingly I never did feel like I was swimming though and it definitely curb my appetite :)

I'm going to go ahead and post my progress for yesterday and today, because I probably wont be back on tonight. Have a good night everyone.

My goals for this week:
Eat less than 1400 calories/drink at least 80 ounces of water: 1646/80, Changing my water goal to 136 ounces this week :) 1363/136
Exercise at least 45 minutes: 60, 30 (not a very big exercise day but I did a ton of housework)
ry to cook two new low calorie meals at least 2 times this week (Learning how to cook low fat/low calorie meals will help me permanently change my fitness lifestyle) Not yet
Clean out the hallway storage closet – ack! (Starting to address small stress factors will help keep me out of the kitchen cabinets!) I did it :) The hall closet is clean.

Hi guys! Carb cycling is just changing the amount of carbs you eat so you keep your body guessing. Yes, just like zig-zaging. I usually see it reflect on the scale so hopefully it will work for me! My weight is still at 159.8 which makes me a little discouraged because I feel like I've worked really hard...but I just persevere!! It will eventually work! :o Low carb days are really tough though!!! Luckily that's only twice a week for me. I don't have kids yet but I do teach 2nd grade so it's vital I keep it together emotionally and mentally for them. My patience starts to go out the window when I'm feeling depleted so I need to monitor my energy levels. Carb cycling shouldn't be done long term, but I want to get over this weight loss hump at the moment.

I drank 149 oz today.
1,227 calories total
140 carbs
Weight lifted for about 45 minutes (chest) and sweated my guts out on the step mill for 30 minutes.

Just came home from my masters class tonight and my lunch is made and ready for tomorrow! I find if I plan my food log the night before, it helps me stay on target. And...I resisted all cake and goodies for my hubby's birthday today! "What would Jillian do?" kept me strong!! :p

Tomorrow is a high carb day as well, so I need to kill it at the gym tomorrow. Hopefully the scale will be nice to me this weeeeeek!!! WE CAN DO THIS!!!!!! Goodnight!

1. Drink 2 litres of water . another 20 oz left ..will drink b4 sleeping
2. should not eat after 8 pm done !
3. do 1 hour of cardio workout tried a new CD workout on Samba... was fun !
4. Cut down the 3 C's - Chocolate, Chips n Cookies done ! yeah !
5. Have my bowl of fruit salad had it wid a scoop of fat free whipping cream :)
6. Meditate and Appreciate myself for what i am doing missed tat :(

good night everyone !

Goals for Monday:

1. Keep calories to 1,500. 1,850 oy!
2. Exercise, 60 min elliptical, 15 stretching, 15 shoulder rehab. yes-yes-yes
3. Drink 96 oz of water. yes + 44
4. Finish up a couple of Halloween costumes for the kids. Still working on them
5. Clean the kitchen Nope
6. Plan and pack some foods to take to the hospital so I don't end up eating junk from the vending machines. Did some, will do more today
7. Plan some crock pot meals and some casseroles to leave for the kids and in-laws to eat. Not yet, still working on it

Today's challenge: Resist a temptation. Could be any sort of temptation, a second cup of coffee, a piece of cake, sitting down when you should be up moving, just practice resisting temptations. That's it. Tomorrow's challenge will be to add an extra 10 minutes to your exercise routine.

Everyone looks like they are really rolling this week on the challenge. I like the "resist some kind of challenge" goal, almeeker. Sounds like a good idea. Keep up the good work, everyone!

Wanted to do my long 6 mile run last night but was not feeling well and only did 4 miles. But I will be hitting the gym tonight to do weights and other strenght training and will do the 6 mile run on Wednesday. The only thing with sugar in it, which was very minimal, was my fat free pudding cup...so I can live with that. Had Special K with skim milk and strawberried and am having cottage cheese for a morning snack so off to a good start today

Thanks Almeeker :)
Learning to resist is a good goal for me. I'm going restate my goals with the extra challenges at the end. It makes me smile because I feel good that I'm bumping it up a notch each day. Thats probably revealing of how lazy I can be, but good just the same :) I also added the stretching because I said I would and then didnt.

My goals for this week:
Eat less than 1400 calories/drink 80 ounces of water: 1646/80, 1363/80
Exercise at least 45 minutes: 60, 30
Try to cook two new low calorie meals at least 2 times this week Not yet
Clean out the hallway storage closet – Yes

Extra challenges
Begin Monday: Add an extra 56 ounces of water - 56
Begin Tuesday: Resist one thing each day Begin Tuesday: Stretch for 10 minutes
Begin Wednesday: Add an extra 10 minutes exercise

I was going to make today's challenge "add in 10 minutes of extra exercise" today, but on Tuesdays I work out in the morning and then walk the oldest DD to soccer practice, so I'm already getting in an extra 10 and then some. So to make it a real challenge for me I booted it to Wednesday. And now I'm going to resist the temptation to chat with all of you and log off so I can clean my house (IL's coming tomorrow - YIKES!). Bye for now...

Hi All, I missed jumping in yesterday because of a crazy day I had, but here are my goals for the rest of the week. Kinda glad I missed almeekers water challenge:D

1. 64 oz water each day
2. Exercise 5 days this week-did Mon/Tues
3. No eating after 8 p.m.
4. No processed foods this week-did Mon.

Have a great rest of the day!

Hey Guys

Had to quote my goals because I couldn't remember all of them...lol
Monday:

Drink 100 oz water- check
Calories under 1500-check
Carbs to a minimum- check
do something with the shrimp- not yet ( don't worry it's frozen :) )
no weight training or cardio but I did rake leaves for over an hour so that has to count for something !!

Good evening ladies. I made all of my goals yesterday plus almeekers water challenge. I have not made any of my goals today though. I stayed home from work sick so I was in the bed until around 2pm. I finally got up and feel a little better. I will be back up in the morning ready to continue on! I missed todays challenge but will accept the challenge for an extra 10 minutes of exercise tomorrow!

Great job ladies. This thread is awesome!

Happy Tuesday ladies!!!

I ate 1,239 carbs.
128 carbs
Lifted at the gym (back) for 45 minutes and ran my 3 miles on the treadmill.
Drank my gallon!

I'm down to 50 carbs tomorrow. Ugh! I can do it!!!! Discipline is my middle name. ;)

I'm off to plan tomorrow's calories!!!!

Whoops! I mean 1,239 calories! :o

Good evening all. Just posting my days progress.

Did great on calories, not so good on exercise. I did resist eating donuts all day at work (someone had brought in a box full of bakery ones and everytime I walked past the breakroom (which is often on my way to the other side of the building I could see them in there). I ate grapefruit instead. Yeah me. heh. I still have to stretch, but I'm off to do that for 10 minutes as soon as I get done typing this. Didnt get in all my 'extra' water, but I'm still way up there.

Having a hard time finding time to post, but it looks like everyone has had good successes today. Lifestyle changes, one day at a time!

My goals for this week:
Eat less than 1400 calories/drink 80 ounces of water: 1646/80, 1363/80, 1077/80
Exercise at least 45 minutes: 60, 30, 30
Try to cook two new low calorie meals at least 2 times this week Not yet
Clean out the hallway storage closet – Yes

Extra challenges
Begin Monday: Add an extra 56 ounces of water - 56, 30
Begin Tuesday: Resist one thing each day - check
Begin Tuesday: Stretch for 10 minutes: 10
Begin Wednesday: Add an extra 10 minutes exercise

You're awesome.
 

You are all doing so well. I am so inspired. How can I not join right along and be a success myself? This is so much help. Thank you so much!
susanbfit, work temptations can be so very hard. You should be proud and give yourself a big hug for staying away from the snacks there.
Here's to a super successful tomorrow as well.

1. Drink 2 litres of water . 2 litres + 0.5 litre
2. should not eat after 8 pm . i had my dinner at 8.15 ... missed it :(
3. do 1 hour of cardio workout . tried out tahitian dance workout today for 30 mins ....was gr8 fun..... another 20 mins of biking .... the rains r spoiling my gym workout :mad:
4. Cut down the 3 C's - Chocolate, Chips n Cookies.... 5 multi grain tortilla chips... felt like ving it wid my soup..... tats btr than breadsticks , is'nt it ?
5. Have my bowl of fruit salad .... check !
6. Meditate and Appreciate myself for what i am doing .... still appreciating but not meditating:p

i ve been feeling light lately.... looks like the water thing is really working out for me.... thanks almeeker :)

That's alot of water-96 oz level as well. Time to start keeping better track, pretty sure I'm not hitting that number. Thanks for the challenge:)

What are you? Chicken?

gmantych, so sorry to hear you're under the weather, hope you feel better today.

Great job on resisting the donuts!!! Is the person who brought them in also skinny? I used to hate that most of all. When I worked full time in cooperate America, it seemed like we had donuts every other day in the break room, brought in by a skinny junk-food-aholic.

I'm loving that you're doing my silly challenges everyday, I only meant for them to be a day of practicing it, but more power to you sister. I'm going to struggle with today's challenge, because little DD got me up at 3:55am with a bed wetting incident. Okay, the bed was beyond "wet" and well into "flooded", but still I'm up and if I go back to sleep now, I won't get my workout done this morning, let alone an extra 10 minutes.

Goals for Wednesday:

1. Keep calories to 1,500. 1,850 oy!, 1,675
2. Exercise, 60 min elliptical, 15 stretching, 15 shoulder rehab. yes-yes-yes, yes-yes-no
3. Drink 96 oz of water. yes + 44, yes +16
4. Finish up a couple of Halloween costumes for the kids. Still working on them, no
5. Clean the kitchen Nope, 1/2 way
6. Plan and pack some foods to take to the hospital so I don't end up eating junk from the vending machines. Did some, will do more today, done
7. Plan some crock pot meals and some casseroles to leave for the kids and in-laws to eat. Not yet, still working on it, I'll be whipping up beef stew tomorrow morning

Today's challenge: add an extra 10 minutes to your exercise routine. It could be anything, and you don't have to do it at the end of your exercise, just when you can fit it in. I may or may not be on-line the next 2-3 days, DH is having surgery, so here are some challenges for Th & F.

Thursday: Put a new exercise in your workout, maybe one you've never tried before. I'm thinking side planks with a hand weight, 10 on each side for me.

Friday: Plan a low cal dinner and stick with it (even if you go out to eat, no make that especially if you go out to eat), which for most of us means "NO DRINKING"!!! This is going to be really hard for me, cause my MIL is coming tonight and will possibly still be at our house Friday night and I'm pretty certain that I'll be craving a little (or a lot) of alcohol.

Good morning! I got up this morning and worked out but I really wasn't in to it. I still feel like the dirt beneath my feet! But I had to come to work because my DH's uncle passed away yesterday and I will be going to the funeral so I dont like missing so much work.

I am glad of almeekers exercise challenge today. It will make me go home and workout again tonight.

Almeeker-I am not sure you will see this anytime soon. But I am thinking of you and wishing your DH a speedy recovery! Stay calm and stress free even with your IL's in town!

Does anyone watch the Biggest Loser? I do and wonder how these people loose so much weight in a week. Is it for real and how can that be healthy? My DH said he could design an exercise program for me to work out several hours a day. All I could do was laugh at him, because the only exercise he gets other than at work is hand to mouth!!!

Here are my goals today!

Calories-1600
Water-128 oz
Exercise-45 minutes+10
Get caught up with laundry-OMG it is so behind!!(almost there)

Susan-I was thinking this morning about how I HAD to clean my closet next week!!! ugh

Almeeker,
Sending good thoughts your way for your husbands doctor's visit and surgery. Thank you for thinking of us and helping us challenge ourselves to something more :)

I'm so thankful to have found this site and forum. I just started on my weightloss journey (again) this week. Every time I have tried to loose in the past I had slowly fell off the wagon and get back on bad eating habits and no exercise. I'm so tired of it. I'm tired of the heavy breathing when I walk, all my bulges sticking out through my shirts and just not feeling good about myself. Especially since I have Type2 Diabetes and high blood pressure.
Each new year I vow to loose the weight but I don't. So now I have been praying and made the decision that I've got to do this for me and for me to live to see my grand children.
I am 44 years old, 4'11 and 182lbs. Since I'm so short that is way to much weight to carry. I'm starting my goals out slow. Since Tuesday, when I wake my youngest daughter up for school, I exercise on the Elliptical, do some free weights and situps until she has showered and gotten dressed. It may take about 15-20 mins for her to be done but least I have done some type of exercise. This is a milestone for me since I hardly ever done any exercising so I'm really proud of myself :D. This site is so inspirational to me and it gives me hope that I will do it this time.

Goals for this week: Exercise least 15mins a day.
Eat smaller portions.
Eat 3 small meals a day.
Watch my calories

I'm chuckling about the closet... it was a mess.. I just pulled everything out and started from scratch. I ended up with four boxes of stuff that needed sorting and that was the worse part. One box was old pictures and such and I just put it back. I figure its sorted in its own way..hehe. Good luck with yours!

As far as the Biggest Loser I have read that its because they eat very high protein, very low calorie AND low sodium. If you ate less than 1000 calories a day, made all your food from scratch (no premade food) and added absolutely no salt, and exercised 4 hours a day, I guarantee you will lose at least 10 pounds. I have done it on the six week body make over, which calls for much of the same (minus the four hour workout). Actually I largely attribute the 90 lbs I lost in 2006/7 to a years worth of 6wbmo, but I couldnt stick with the eating plan. I have found counting calories, eating more of what I li ke, and trying to stay high protein, to be more long term lifestyle changing. But I think we all have to find what works for us. My biggest issue - getting my head around focusing what I really want in life. Which really isnt about food - To 'Live what you believe.' That is what I keep telling myself anyway. :)

Congrts on exercising even when you didnt want too... BIDIA. :)

Thank you darlene,
You are awesome too and you can do it. Its about knowing what we want and not losing focus. Change is never easy but I think being healthy must be worth it. Have a great day!
Susan