7 Day Motivational Thread starting 12 December
 

Hello, everyone! Thought I’d open up this week.

Maybe some of you remember little old me from the beginning of this year? I was plowing through the kilos, fell pregnant, was determined to stay fit and healthy, then kind of slacked off, went MIA, then had my beautiful baby girl on the 11/11/11. Fourth child, first girl, last one! I think we’re done procreating, even if we are peopling our severely under-populated planet with ridiculously good-looking children. :D

I was so well-behaved in the beginning of my pregnancy. Around July, the water in our tanks became contaminated and we all got violently ill and were sick for weeks before we realized what was making us sick. During those weeks, I didn’t do any exercise which meant it was very difficult to start back up again. I went easy for the first week or two, intending to do more in the following weeks, but sort of never got around to it. At the end, I lost all control and got stuck into greasy takeaway. In all, I didn’t gain that much weight, but as of now, four weeks after birth, I have roughly 8kgs or 17lbs to lose to get back to where I was pre-pregnancy, then I can continue on the journey to a healthy weight that I abandoned all those months ago.

So, I must take it relatively easy on my abdominals for a couple more weeks as I get diastasis through pregnancy (separation of abdominal muscles) and if I go too hard trying to get them back in shape in the early weeks, I can do damage and be set back for weeks or months (past experience talking). I want all that energy I had before I left here back – no, scrap that; I need all that energy back! :D

Okay, I haven’t read through all the posts from last week, but I’ve scanned a few pages, so sorry if I’ve missed important happenings:

April – Holy Jeez Louise! Well done, woman! You’ve lost almost 60lbs since I ‘saw’ you last! What an accomplishment! Sorry for all the exclamation marks – I’m just so excited for you!

Rose – Last I heard, Chico was sick. I’m so glad things are going well. And you’re almost halfway to your goal weight, too. Wow and well done!

Mike – I’m hoping this week sees you feeling much better. 

Mern – You’ve shed 25lbs already! Good on you. *round of applause*

Almeeker – You’ve only got 37lbs to go! Woot!

Quinn – How’s your indoor pool coming along? :P

A big, cheerful howdy to the ‘new’ people I haven’t met yet.

My goals for this week are few and simple:

Fitness:
30 minutes of cardio exercise 5 days
Keep calorie count between 1200 and 1500

Personal:
Play a board/console game with my 9yo every day to prove I haven’t forgotten my oldest baby.
Be more calm – my sleeplessness shouldn’t be anyone else’s problem but my own.

Hope everyone's getting their Christmas shopping done!

Congrats on the new baby. Was she born at 11:11?

Hehe, Mike and thanks! No, but close - she was born at 12 to 12 (11.48pm). So it's still kinda catchy, right?

wow, you should have push a little harder! Still catchy though ;)

The midwife tried to get the doctor to change the official time of birth to 11.11, but apparently that's not allowed. :rolleyes:

You feeling better this week, Mike?

Thanks for asking, I think so but really won't know until later tonight.

hmm... wondering if i should pop bac in here , i know i've been gone for awhile, and at this point mostly just need motivation to not be lazy ha ha!.

currently set up on a weight-loos program that helps with my eating and such been working pretty good, but i feel i'll need to get off my lazy bum soon, with x-mas around the corner as well

Morning, everyone :)

I'm climbing back on the wagon today after being sick for more than a week...unfortunately not the kind of sick where I didn't have an appetite, the kind of sick where I just felt like lying around and eating whatever I felt like :(. Coupled with the lack of energy to exercise and some holiday functions, it did not result in a good set of situations, so I need to get cracking here! About the only thing I did right (though, being sick, it probably created a relapse) was to run my 5K Saturday a week ago. So, all that being said, here are some goals; back to my basics that I know work:

1. 1200 calories or fewer.
2. Follow what works for my pie chart.
3. Log absolutely everything.
4. Drink 3 sports bottles of water daily.
5. Take vitamins and calcium.
6. Exercise 7 times.
7. Do shoulder exercises.
8. Get in bed by midnight, 1 AM Friday and Saturday.
9. Post daily.
10. Focus on something wonderful that happened during the day (thx Quinn).

Behaze, glad to see you again, and congrats on your beautiful bundle of joy! Four kids under age 10...kudos to you!

Yunalee, congrats on your success so far; glad to have you here as well.

Mike, I see we have avatars again...what's up with the hammer love??

Okay, time to get cracking on reports. I'm on top of things at work and want to stay that way...things on the home front are another matter :o. Wishing you all a great week!

heres a short list for me of things i'd like to get done this week.

Packing, pack a few things everyday this week(my room is a huge mess haha):
finish home work by friday:
try do do something fit wise this week (walking or swiming, wii fit, anything i've been pretty inactive lately):

i can't think of anything else to add atm

My goals for this week:

Averages:
Calories 1600 (I weigh over 215, so that leaves me quite a nice deficit)
Cholesterol 300mg
Carbs less fiber 25g
Fiber 30g

Veggies 5 servings
Sugar Free Chocolate miniatures limit 2 per day
Fish oil and vitamin D, green tea capsules for help with water retention

Exercise 5 days
Water: aiming for over 48 ounces

Something wonderful that happened: a piece of corn. This past Saturday a 13 year old friend of my family had emergency surgery for what they thought was a appendicitis. After removing the appendix, they were ready to close the incision when the surgeon spotted a piece of corn--which "sounded the alarm" that there was a hole in her large intestine somewhere. They found the hole AND a massive infection. Had to remove part of her large intestine and a piece of her colon. The surgeon told her mother that piece of corn literally saved her life. She may be facing more surgery--may know more today. Prayers appreciated from those of you so inclined. :) Thanks.

Cassie, we surely did miss you. Glad you're back with us! So sorry to learn you were sick! I really do think when we're sick and our bodies want food, it's GOOD to give in and satisfy the hunger or cravings. Kudos on running the 5k, but really sorry it attributed to your being sick longer--makes sense that it would. Best wishes with staying on top of things both at work and at home.

Behaze, welcome back and major congrats on that beautiful baby girl. OMG that separation of the abdominal muscles--is that painful or debilitating? Sounds awful. Wishing you ease in getting your muscles back up to par and then moving on to shed the 17 lbs. of extra baby weight. Thanks for your encouragement on my loss so far. Yes, 11/11/11 at 12 to 12 IS catchy. LOL

Oh, Mike, I burst out laughing when you said bhaze should have pushed a little harder to get her baby out at 11:11 instead of 12 to 12. :D

Yunalee, welcome back to you, too! Congrats on losing those 10.8 pounds so quickly. Best wishes on your list of goals this week.

Mike, I'm at 215.5 right now and would like to eventually get down to 150 and then see how I feel. At 65 I'm not looking to return to the body of a 20 year old, but rather to feel better about my appearance, be healthier, and more fit.

Tori, I soooo admire you for logging your food even if you know it's over your target in calories. But, as I told Cassie, I believe when we're sick our bodies may benefit from the extra calories if we're hungry, extra Mt. Dew (LOL) or whatever and DESPITE that, you still lost 2 lbs. Way to go! Give yourself credit for each and every good accomplishment last week when you were sick. Hope you're fully recuperated soon.

Pam, you are so right. Age IS just a number. :) I also agree this is a fun group. Good place to get a daily chuckle.

Darlene, congrats on getting compliments on how you looked in your little black dress. :) And kudos on all that exercise you got without even going to the gym! Your report for last week is fabulous! Keep up the good work!

Mern, keep pushing, you'll get down to 150!

I'm feeling much better today and actually got some sleep last night. I'm back at work today and have a lot of catching up to do. I probably won't be on much today.

My weight is back up to 182.2

This Week:
Health & Fitness
1) Lose 3 pounds
2) 4 servings of fruit/veggies
3) Gallon of water
4) 3000 calories deficient
5) 1 cheat meal
6) Gym x 3
7) No Bread
8) Net Carbs less than 65g/day (not including cheat)
9) No disturbing the ghost during the night (in other words, no getting up to eat after I lay down for bed)
10) Daily:
a) Fish Oil
b) Vitamin
c) Glucosamine
d) Fluoride rise

Non Health & Fitness
11) Write 4 policies (have to turn up the heat on this one)

Health / Fitness Goals ...
1. 100oz water daily
2. Limit one diet soda daily
3. Walk on lunch
4. Exercise 4 times W-Sun
5. Weight and post weight M: 271.2,Results this week: .....lbs so far

Life Goals ...
1. Make a Christmas Card List

Starting this week 1.6lbs down from last Monday. :) That included TOTM and some serious stress (that I still have). I call that a WIN for last week!! My hubby is still trying to recover from being sick. His lungs just aren't cooperating. At least he is off work until Wednesday. The bad thing is that he is okay pretty much all day and then can't breathe and coughs all night long. Poor Guy. Tomorrow makes a week that he has been on antibiotics too. Starting yesterday, I have a touch of sinus pressure and sore throat. I went to bed early last night and seem to feel better today for the most part. Just tired and achy neck & shoulders. I hope that a few nights of extra rest fixes me up. I don't get sick easily and usually just need to sleep to fix it.

Oh and.....my weight today makes exactly 60lbs that I have lost in just under 10 months! Oh yeah!! :D

behaze ... Thank you for noticing my loss. Congrats on your new little baby! Had to keep trying for that girl, huh? LOL ... Go easy getting back into it. You don't want to have a set back.

Yunalee ... Welcome Back! You are doing great with your losses lately!

Cassie ... Glad you are feeling better! How was your 5K?

Mern ... Wow! That is pretty amazing that they saw one kernel of corn in there! She is a very lucky girl! Keep us posted on her if you can.

Mike ... You seem to have the same as my hubby. Pretty decent all day and then hack and no sleep at night. Feel better soon!

I'm in. Instead of trying to overload my goals over the holidays, I think that I'm going to keep them very simple. My "all or nothing" thinking might cause me to have a massive slip over Christmas unless I keep it very manageable. A Christmas party Saturday night probably put me in the 3000 calorie range for that day... ugh. If I can hold it together during the week, and just slide on weekends, I'll be happy. My evening schedule is packed with meetings, concerts, etc. for the next 3 weeks so eating healthy food is going to be a challenge. I'll just have to do the best that I can with the options that I'm given. :)

So, for this week:

* Calories under 1200
* Take vitamins and supplements
* Drink minimum of 60-80 oz. a day
* Take care of the recycling!!!

Welcome back, Cassie. Glad to hear that you're on the mend. Husband can't seem to get back on his feet, although he made it to work today. I sure hope that I can dodge the bullet!

WOW, I've been busy. I haven't had a chance to get lunch yet. I got to the office late since I finally slept in, I decided to stay in bed. I did already write 3 policies. This could end up being my best week (as far as policy count)! Well back to work I go, I hope I can eat at some point today.

I'm back looking for motivation. My journaling gets a D for December and my Exercise is an E minus! I've got to get back into the journalling. I should start entering my mood as that has been the issue this month. Maybe the 2 cats I'm cat sitting will purr me out of the blues.

Goals for this week

Journal everything
Get back into sauna and yoga

I'm keeping it simple as even that has been a challange these past weeks. Writting the food down has a natural calorie reducing effect,

Mary

Thanks for all the baby congrats! :D

Cassie – hey! I was wondering where your name was in last week’s posts. Climbing back on the wagon is totally counted as exercise! :D

Mern – wow. What a fortunate story! My thoughts are with your friend’s daughter and a good job that surgeon had his/her eyes open. So was it appendicitis as well, or did they just think it was because of the infection?

Diastasis isn’t painful at all. I didn’t even know I had it until a midwife pointed it out at a routine appointment when I was pregnant with my 9yo (and then it’s been pointed out every time since). It’s kinda ugly, though. If I do a crunch now, you can see the muscle on either side, but a big mountainous ridge running right down the middle of my belly so I have to concentrate to pull them in and make the ridge more hilly than mountainous :D. Some people get it really badly that they have to have surgery to stitch the muscles back together. So far, I’ve been able to correct it (enough not to look ugly) each time with exercise, so it’ll all be good in a couple of months!

Mike – it’s great to hear you got some solid sleep last night and you’re feeling well enough to begin tackling this week. Nice job on the policy-writing!

April – I hope you hubby gets better soon. Being sick at night sucks. Something about coughing into the midnight silence makes it all feel worse. I hope you can get away with just the trimmings of this thing that’s going around over there and your good sleep helps. Oh, and 60lbs! Happy dance!

For me, owww! If my body wasn’t connected to me, I’m sure it would walk out on me. Thighs, hammies, derriere and back are stiff’n’sore today! As for being calm, yesterday was a rather enjoyable day. My 9yo is on school holidays until February. I had fun playing with him yesterday. For calorie intake - I guess today I need to make sure I actually eat enough.

Fitness:
30 minutes of cardio exercise 5 days: Y
Keep calorie count between 1200 and 1500 N, 978

Personal:
Play a board/console game with my 9yo every day to prove I haven’t forgotten my oldest baby. Y
Be more calm – my sleeplessness shouldn’t be anyone else’s problem but my own. Y

Had a pretty quiet day today due to an unexpected snow storm, and that was just fine with me. After last week's craziness, it was just what I needed to catch my breath. Just wanted to post my numbers before Monday night football. :)

Mike,
Congrats on the policies! Sounds like you can still pour on the charm, even when you're sick! ;) (Just don't breathe on them... lol)

* Calories under 1200 1261
* Take vitamins and supplements Yes
* Drink minimum of 60-80 oz. a day Yes
* Take care of the recycling!!! No, blizzard.

Quinn, I don't think it's charm ;). Maybe a bit of luck but thanks :). Nice avatar snoopy is cool, he makes a great Red Baron. :D

It was either Snoopy or Garfield stomping on a bathroom scale... I thought I'd be nice, being Christmas and all. lol (I'll save that one for AFTER Christmas! ;) I got sick of looking at myself...

I still have you on the tree. :)

All right, I'm in. I'm feeling better, so I should be able to stick to my goals a little better this week. And they are as follows......


Health/Fitness

1-1300 calories....hoping for better numbers than last week
2-48 oz water daily...64 was just not manageable for me
3-1 Dt Dew daily....I'm sticking with this one until I nail it
4-Exercise 5 times...should have no excuses this week, I'm perfectly healthy
5-45% or less carbs....40% was really tough, I usually kept under 45 though
6-log log log....a no brainer, but it's easy green!:p
7-shooting for 2 more lbs

Life/Work

1-clean the cat's bathroom....it's not as bad as last week, but still needs to be done completely
2-all laundry....I haven't figured out why the pile keeps growing???:)
3-make all 4 blankets for the kids'
4-finalize all Christmas shopping
5-start wrapping presents
6-try not to kill anyone at work
7-stay on top of all paperwork, no more getting behind

That should do it for this week. Will check in tomorrow

NIGHT ALL!!

@April
I've decided that you're now my Yoda when it comes to limiting my diet soda. I seriously have to get it under control, and you seem to have it whipped!

Tori, welcome back. :)

Has anyone heard from Cassie?

Yes. I have.

Oops I see that Cassie was on page 2. Liking the hammer love?

:p I need you to out up an avatar for our Christmas tree!

What tree?? Any avatar? I don't think I have any affectionate tools ;). I'll work on it tomorrow; if I do it tonight, I'll blow goal #8, so catching up with y'all will have to wait till tomorrow, too.

Seems like everyone was sick! Hope all of you and your spouses are feeling better! Stoopid contagious interwebs!

Today's report

1. 1200 calories or fewer. 871-still recovering from too many weekend party goodies :(
2. Follow what works for my pie chart. Yes
3. Log absolutely everything. Yes, even cough drops and vitamin C
4. Drink 3 sports bottles of water daily. Yes
5. Take vitamins and calcium. Yes
6. Exercise 7 times. Stationary bike
7. Do shoulder exercises. Yes
8. Get in bed by midnight, 1 AM Friday and Saturday. Yes
9. Post daily. Yes
10. Focus on something wonderful that happened during the day (thx Quinn). Went through and downloaded some beautiful classic Christmas songs onto my iPod; they brought back wonderful memories of growing up and hearing my mom play them on the record player ;)

Behaze Hi and congrats on the new baby.

Yunalee Glad to hear herbal magic is working for you, a friend of mine lost just over 50lbs on the program.

Cassie You have been missed. I am glad you are back and feeling better.:)

Mern My prayers are with your young friend and her family what a blessing the dr seen the corn, wow, I how she heals quickly and completely. Thanks for the kind words maybe you and my scale could have a talk it seems to disagree that I am doing enough it hasn’t moved in 3 weeks.:rolleyes:

Mike Glad to hear you are feeling a little better today don’t push yourself to much bronchitis is pretty serious you don’t want to make yourself sicker.

April Wow 60lbs you rock, congratulations,:D I hope you are doing the happy dance every time you walk past a mirror. I hope your hubby gets well soon and that you can avoid the germs he’s spreading around your house.

Quinn I love your avatar!

Mary Hi.

Tori Glad you are feeling better. Lol on your laundry dilemma I think mine breeds at night in the darkness of the laundry room.

Brrrr it’s chilly outside we are getting ready for our first snow according to the weather man. I took an extra-long hike today in case it’s the only one I get this week, oh well the weather may help the ongoing gym failure I have been experiencing since I started hiking. I bagged up 23 Christmas cookie gift bags today and will get out early tomorrow to deliver them in case it really does snow I need to get them out of the house the temptation is getting to be overwhelming. I hope you all have a great night and a fun filled Tuesday.:)

Peace on earth will come to stay,
When we live Christmas every day.
~ Helen Steiner Rice

Goals:
Walk 25k: M=8.2k
Gym 2 days: 0
Exercise 5 days: M=Hike
Squats 5 days: M=Y
Ab work 5 days: M=Y
Calories less than 1400: M= 1226
Calorie deficit of 5000 for week: M=-818
Christmas prep or participation everyday: M=Christmas cookie gifts packaged and ready for delivery.

Hi everyone,

Back from the trip, feeling better than last week, just a small cough left. But the goals are still going to be simple.

1. Log everything. Yes
2. Drink water. 2L.
3. Exercise 4 times. No.
4. Sleep before midnight. Close but no.


Behaze, congratulations on your baby girl and on getting back here! Hope you have a great week.

Yunalee, good loss so far, hope you nail all your goals.

Cassie, sorry to hear you were sick, hope this week is better for you.

Mern, hope your friend recovers soon, it is great they were able to catch it by a piece of corn.

Mike, glad you are feeling better but don't push it with bronchitis, but congrats on the policies today.

April, congrats on the 60 pounds!

Quinn, hope the xmas party was great and that you rocked your dress.

Mary, nice to read you. Simple is good for these days.

Tori, glad you are doing better, that quite a list you have, congrats on your loss last week.

Darlene, hope you had fun at the party and looked great on the dress. Hopefully you get to go hiking later in the week as well.

Not off to a terrific start, but I'll make up for it. Almost didn't exercise yesterday because I couldn't fit it in earlier, but I did it anyway at 7PM--ugh!

Going for Averages:
Calorie limit 1600 1569
Cholesterol limit 300mg 192mg
Carbs less fiber limit 25g 27.7g
Saturated fat limit 12% of total calories 17%
Fiber 30g 20g
Veggies 5 servings 4

Sugar Free Chocolate miniatures limit 2 per day 5
Fish oil and vitamin D, green tea capsules for help with water retention forgot green tea

Exercise 5 days YES
Water: aiming for over 48 ounces Sucked big time

Monday report

Journalled everything, curling for exercise. I realized I need to add water consumption to my list. Another basic I have let slip.

Today -- 90 oz of water shall be consumed.

Enjoying reading up on you all. Mary

Very busy day today but I wanted to check in to keep my head in the game. I have things scheduled until after 9pm tonight, so it's going to be a long day!

April,
60 lbs.! That's amazing! I bet you feel and look incredible. I hope you bought some great new clothes!

Mary,
Glad you're back! Sitting for 2 cats? There's nothing more relaxing than a purring cat laying next to you. It's like a warm, little, purring heating pad guaranteed to put you to sleep. If you're feeling down, adopt a little kitten... You can't help but smile at how brainless they are! ;) In fact, you can have mine... if he "hunts" in my Christmas tree one more time... UGHHHH!!!

Tori,
Glad you're feeling better. Four blankets? What kind of blankets do you make? Sounds interesting. :)

Cassie,
I'm with Mike... Time to hang your "ornament" on the tree! Mike's been working on a great looking tree for us for Christmas, but he won't put his own picture on it... hmmmmm.... I still think that he should put up a picture of himself wearing a Santa hat for the tree topper. lol I'm with you on the amorous tools. I used to have a pair of crescent wrenches that were a bit chummy, but I had to separate them. I had to laugh at your record player reference. I remember being totally scarred when I was 15 and came home after school to my mother blasting Eddie Arnold, full blast, on my record player! My parents were really into Big Band and Arthur Fiedler and so that's how I remember Christmas music. My husband's family has/had 4-5 bands (country, blue grass, rock, etc.) and so they are always jamming over the holidays. (They carry their instruments where ever they go.) If one of them brings in a guitar, God help you, because 10 more will follow suit within 20 minutes. But, it is a lot of fun. Lots of Italian wine, lots of music.

Main,
The dress went over really well... I actually didn't try everything on until an hour before the party and found out then, that it was short! (I mean really short!) Although I was a little uncomfortable, I had some nice compliments. Two years ago, I never would have attempted wearing anything like that. My husband said that I looked like a sixties stewardess with my boots... apparently he likes 60's stewardess'? LOL Who knew??

Mern,
You definitely get the BIDIA award for the day! Good for you on the late exercise! This time of year, by late evening, I just want to crash on the couch. That took a lot of determination... good for you!

Off to the recycling center... another thing crossed off of my "To Do" list. :)

Enjoy your day, all!

quinn

This Week:
Health & Fitness
1) Lose 3 pounds (starting @ 182.2)
2) 4 servings of fruit/veggies yes
3) Gallon of water yes
4) 3000 calories deficient -1060
5) 1 cheat meal clean
6) Gym x 3 day off
7) No Bread none
8) Net Carbs less than 65g/day (not including cheat) 73.6g
9) No disturbing the ghost during the night (in other words, no getting up to eat after I lay down for bed) got up
10) Daily:
a) Fish Oil yes
b) Vitamin yes
c) Glucosamine yes
d) Fluoride rise yes

Non Health & Fitness
11) Write 4 policies (have to turn up the heat on this one) 3

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...atarscopy4.jpg

Why wouldn't he, I think every (straight) guy has something for either a stewardess uniform, or a naughty catholic school girl uniform with the short skirt, knee high socks and pig tails.:cool:

Kinda like how women have it out for the UPS man or a man in military uniform.

Thanks Quinn Trying to teach one of the cats to scratch an old chair leg instead of the bannister was worth a laugh this morning. I may also need to get some cat grass before they kill themselves on my poinsettas. Mary

update on my breakup... with my workout partner. I think it's probably the best for the both both of us. I talked to him the other day and he said that he went at 10:30pm, and that he likes going very late instead of "early" at 9-9:30pm :) I was glad to hear that. So it looks like our 9-9:30 times wasn't working for either of us.

Fed Ex was just here and SHE was kind of disgusting.... LOL!!!! :D

nah nah nah, I said UPS silly. Trust me I used to work for the USPS and never got looks, if I would have got to sport the brown UPS shorts I would have had to fight the women off... maybe. ;)

Maybe it's a regional thing, but we have a lot of big, manly women delivering things around here. Now, if it was a fashionably dressed, GQ type bad boy, all bets would be off.... lol.

Why do women just love a bad boy? That reminds me, I need to get a bike. Gee thanks, I was trying to be good and not think about a bike too much.;)

Oh I saw you trying to heckle me for not having my mug shot up... no comment now?