Wagon Jumpers - April 5 - 11th, 2009 (Closed, Waiting List & Google Group Available)
Welcome
(If you are interested in being on the waiting list, please read below and e-mail me. We currently have a waiting list of 4 people.)
Welcome to the Wagon Jumpers weekly thread. We are a group of CC members who have identified that one of our main challenges with achieving our weight loss, maintenance or general health goals is consistency.
This thread is designed to encourage long term commitment to our goals by publicly declaring them and asking the other members of this thread to hold us accountable. The primary focus of wagon jumpers is not how much weight you have lost, or need to loose, but what you need to do on a daily basis to meet your long term goals.
There are two rules for Wagon Jumpers:
1. All members must post once per week between Sunday and Friday.
2. All members must check the thread for members who have not posted by Saturday (a short list is posted on Thursday) or are on the MIA list on Sunday and send them a polite and positive message to stay involved in the group and on track with their goals.
If you would like to be a member of this thread please see the guidelines below and send me a PM if you are still interested (there may be a waiting list).
Medium Size Group = Some Time Commitment
The original idea of Wagon Jumpers was to create a close community where participants could get to know each other and hopefully form virtual-life and perhaps even physical-life bonds to create a support network as they attempted long term weight loss.
We quickly discovered that this was impossible with an 'always open' group as there were too many people coming and going. For this reason the group is capped at 30 participants.
A medium sized group means that we have an active thread that produces between 40 - 60 posts per week. Members do not need to read / respond to every post every week. I do notice that those who respond regularly do tend to keep their goals top of mind, and have a better chance to achieve them. I estimate the average time spent by an active member on Wagon Jumpers to be between 1-2 hours per week.
If you are looking for an always open group on CC there are several that operate by different weight criteria, similar motivational patterns etc... There are also many small groups that cap their numbers between 4-10 people to keep the group more intimate, and easier for members to keep up with.
Interested in Joining?
General Guidelines for Joining
1. Are you a wagon jumper?
Do you know how to loose weight, you often have success but then you find yourself loosing interest in your plan, or sabotaging your plan. It's not the "how" to loose weight that is the problem, it's the "how" to stay motivated.
2. Do you have a long way to go?
This group is designed so that members can get to know each other and support each other. Ideally you are planning to be a CC member and part of this forum for at least 6 months or more to achieve your goals and hopefully stay in motivation for a further 6 months or more.
Yes. This is, a long term plan.
3. Do you have the time?
This is a medium sized group, the thread does move fairly quickly each week. If you do not have regular internet access this is likely not the group for you.
Still interested?
Send Supersized a PM. (Please do not reply on the thread)
An overview will be sent to you, you will have a chance to ask questions and an invitation will be sent to you once a spot is open.
Google Group
We have recently added a google group as an option for members, past members, and members on the waiting list. If you would like access to the google group (and are in one of the above categories) send a message to beaglesmuggler (at) roger.com with your username and e-mail address and I will add you to the google group.
Wagon Jumpers Participants
Week 48 Riders:
Supersized 
(myself)
Week 44 Riders - Congratulations on 11 Months!:
Week 40 Riders - Congratulations on 10 Months!:
Wenchie58 - away April 11th, 2009
Week 38 Riders:
Raven21 - Vacation April 17-28th, 2009
Week 37 Riders:
Week 33 Riders:
Unlimitedana - Vacation April 11 - 20th, 2009
Week 28 Riders - Congratulations on 7 Months!:
Week 24 Riders - Congratulations on 6 Months!:
Week 22 Riders:
Week 20 Riders - Congratulations on 5 Months!:
Week 19 Riders:
Week 18 Riders:
Week 17 Riders:
Week 16 Riders - Congratulations on 4 Months!:
Germaica - Getting Married! April 12 - 25th, 2009
Week 15 Riders:
Week 3 Riders:
Thesilverstar121 - Vacation April 9 - 19th, 2009
Missing In Action:
Missing In Action - 1 Week:
Missing In Action - 2 Weeks:
Current Membership: 20
Current Waiting List: 4
Outstanding Wait List Invites: 0
12 Week CONSISTENCY GOALS
(as set w/o April 5th, 2009)
By June 27th, I will be...
Msmeg1984 - Maintenance: I will continue to eat less than 1800 cals/day on average New: Exercise at least 3x a week at least 9 of the 12 weeks.
Defrog3 - To continue eating healthfully for me and my little fetus, which means I need to stick to 2,000 balanced calories/day. My NEW goal is to start exercising regularly, meaning moving my butt in some fashion for 30 minutes, 3 days a week.
Cawilder - NEW: Attain a 30 / 30 / 40 food combo 80% of the time. MAINTENANCE: Running @ least 5 hours / week and 2X weight lifting.
Unlimitedana - Maintenance goal: Eat 1550-1650 cals a day. New Goal Achieve the 40-40-20 at least two days per week.
Raven21 - 1. Exercise at least 3 x a week (maintenance) 2. Average daily calorie intake of 1450-1650 (new)
Figurethefat - For maintenance: I will continue to complete a minimum of 1,500 exercise minutes per month. New goal: I will drink at least 1.5 litres of water per day.
Supersized - MAINTENANCE: Continue to eat at or below 2,000 cal/day average for at least 6 of 12 weeks, and never over 2,500 cal/day average. NEW: start going to the gym (again), and achieve at least 4 weeks where I attend the gym 3x/week.
Lam7 - NEW GOAL: Participate in our Navan Walking Club 10 Week Program (Tuesdays) starting April 21-June 26; as well as attend 6 "Spring into Spring" Interval Classes which will run on Thursday evenings starting April 9th, 2009.
Constanza - (new) Eat an average of 1700 calories/day. (maintenance) Exercise at least twice weekly (calculated by average)
Thesilverstar121 - Excercising at least 3x a week.
Kyashiis - Maintenance goal:Exercise for a minimum of 20 minutes a day 5 days a week. New goal: I will zig-zag on my food intake consistently throughout the week and end up with an average daily calorie count of 1,200 cals.
Nannygabber - Maintenance goal of doing NROLFW 3x per week with an allowance of two weeks slack for this 12-week session.
Pelkeyjm - Maintenance: Exercise a minimum of 30 minutes at least 3x per week. New Goal: Log ALL food on calorie count.
The_Vitamin_Dominatrix - Maintenance goal - I will continue to eat 1400-1500 calories daily with a ratio of 15% fat, 25% protein, 60% carbohydrates. New goal - Gym or no gym, I will workout 3 to 4 times a week.
Previous Threads:
Wagon Jumpers - March 29 - April 4th, 2009
Wagon Jumpers - March 22 - 28th, 2009
Wagon Jumpers - March 15 - 21st, 2009
Wagon Jumpers - March 8 - 14th, 2009
Wagon Jumpers - March 1 - 7th, 2009
Wagon Jumpers - February 22 - 28th, 2009
Wagon Jumpers - February 15 - 21st, 2009
Wagon Jumpers - February 8 - 14th, 2009
Wagon Jumpers - February 1 - 7th, 2009
Wagon Jumpers - January 25 - 31st, 2009
Wagon Jumpers - January 18 - 24th, 2009
Wagon Jumpers - January 11 - 17th, 2009
Wagon Jumpers - January 4 - 10th, 2009
Wagon Jumpers - December 28 - January 3rd, 2009
Wagon Jumpers - December 21 - 27th, 2008
Wagon Jumpers - December 14 - 20th, 2008
Wagon Jumpers - December 7 - 13th, 2008
Wagon Jumpers - November 30 - December 6th, 2008
Wagon Jumpers - November 23 - 29th, 2008
Wagon Jumpers - November 15 - 22nd, 2008
As always all members are encouraged to tag this thread so that it is easy to find.
THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: GOAL SETTING WEEK
This is a 12-week goal setting week, most of us have been through this before, but as a quick reminder:
Like all weekly topics participation in goal setting is optional. The purpose of the goals is to focus on one or two areas that you are having trouble building good consistent health habits in and put those goals up for a public accountability on a pass / fail basis to be measured by yourself. Goals should be simple, measurable and motivational.
The Rules:
1. One New Goal + One Maintenance Goal (ONLY)
Maintenance goals must be something you have already achieved and are trying to keep in check while you bring a new goal into your routine. You must highlight which goal is maintenance and which is new. You can opt to set only a maintenance goal or only a new goal. Two new goals will not be accepted.
NOTE: For those of us who have difficulty with prioritization, remember that this does not preclude you setting other goals for yourself, you are only making one very public.
2. Measurable
Goals must have a measurement. Qualitative goals are much too difficult to measure success at the end of 12 weeks, for a goal to be included you need to tell us in numbers, what does success mean for this goal?
3. Consistency based
Goals must be based around something you can do, not something you will be. That is you can exercise and eat right which may lead to weight loss, but you cannot guarantee a specific weight loss. Goals must focus on activities that you control directly (i.e. amount/type of exercise, food, water, any other activity).
4. Keep it simple
Goals should be short, to the point and easily articulated with their measurement in one or two short sentences. If it needs and essay to explain it, you probably are making it too complicated to focus on for 12 weeks.
5. Goals must be posted this week
I will not be looking at last week's thread to update goals, I will not post goals that are posted next week.
Cheers,
Sara.
Here are my goals!
Maintenance: I will continue to eat less than 1800 cals/day on average
New: Exercise at least 3x a week at least 9 of the 12 weeks.
11 Months!
Wow. It really doesn't seem like I've been going at this for so long, but when i stop and think of it, I've been with calorie cout since Jan of 08. I've never stuck with anything this long!
I have to say that without this group, I would have given up long ago. I enjoy the weekly topics and the camraderie within the group. The support is so amazing. Thank you Sara for all the time you invest in this group.
Weekly Re-cap: I did pretty well last week, but was so frustrated with the scale. Perhaps it is time for me to hide it again... At the end of last week I ended up being back at where I was to meet my last mini goal - 154.6
Hope to see some improvements this week. I have not measured myself lately, but I probably should. I think I'll go do that now...
Have a great day everyone!
Hi all,
My goals for the next 12 weeks are:
To continue eating healthfully for me and my little fetus, which means I need to stick to 2,000 balanced calories/day.
My NEW goal is to start exercising regularly, meaning moving my butt in some fashion for 30 minutes, 3 days a week. I have basically taken off since December, when fatigue knocked me for a loop, and I haven't been able to get back yet. But I will over the next 12 weeks!
Thoughts on 11 months:
Wow, have I really been doing this for almost a year? I'm psyched. Sara, thanks for starting this, because I really don't think I would have been as consistent as I have been without this group! Even though I haven't been as involved in the past few months as I would have liked, I really enjoy being a part of this group and getting to know all of you!!
Hi,
My goals are:
NEW: Attain a 30 / 30 / 40 food combo 80% of the time.
There is a enough slack in it that I think I can make it. Also it gives me ramp time to explore higher protein options that would satisfy me more than my current selections -- Any ideas please let me know... Your help would be gratefully accepted!
MAINTENANCE: Running @ least 5 hours / week and 2X weight lifting.
I am re-reading NROLFW this week. I am also taking a bootcamp fitness group class - schedule for 2X / week but I really only get there 1X / week. It is funny because I do see women whipping around 2 or 5lb weights like they were air and I want to go up to them and say - you can do more - it is ok to not do all 16 of the teacher's reps but it really should hurt and be hard - go as high as you can go!! I don't, of course.
Katie, our new dog, runs really well on leash, but she can not be trusted off leash since she is so friendly she beelines it for the nearest living thing to say hi. I have been taking her to pretty remote trails where I know there is not much temptation.
Still getting back to normal after being sick. Golly getting remotivated is tough. I am trying hard.
Take care.
Hi!
Here are my goals:
Maintenance goal
Eat 1550-1650 cals a day(it used to be 1500-1600, but I'm more active now)
New Goal
Achieve the 40-40-20 at least two days per week (I'm new to this eating approach so that's why I'm aiming to do it on weekends only)
I think I achieved 75% on my past goal so I'll try to get 100 on these new ones.
Happy Monday Everyone!
So here are my goals for the next 12 week period:
1. Exercise at least 3 x a week (maintenance)
2. Average daily calorie intake of 1450-1650 (new)
I am also starting the NROLFW today and am pretty excited. I also checked and there is a gym at the resort we are staying at in the Dominican so I'm planning on keeping up with my exercise while I'm gone.
Not much else to report as of yet except that I'm also completing a cleanse this week (not the kind where you don't eat anything for a couple days, this one cuts out sugar, dairy, potatos and processed stuff, so really except for the dairy, what I should be eating on a regular basis anyway )
Well must get cracking on work as this is a short work week this week with Good Friday an all.
Cawilder - I had to laugh when you mentioned how Katie, your new dog runs really well on a leash by can't be trusted off the leash since she's beelines it for the nearest living thing to say hi, sounds sooooo much like my dog Dexter. He's much better now that he's a bit older (about 16 months) but he LOVES everyone and everything and thinks they also love him (which I can't see why they wouldn't but I'm biased of course).
Raven
Raven,
So, are you following an established "cleanse" regime or one that you feel is appropriate for you. I have always been intrigued by them.
I have heard that cutting out wheat, dairy, etc can make you feel better but I have never had the guts to do it. I have been substituting brown rice crackers and chips for wheat / flour based products but I don't feel any different..
Thanks for the info.
Carol
Here we go with another 12 weeks again! Hard to believe the previous 12 weeks was up on the 4th of April. For maintenance: I will continue to complete a minimum of 1,500 exercise minutes per month. New goal: I will drink at least 1.5 litres of water per day.
Weekly check-in: After 3 weeks of no progress I finally saw a tiny drop of 1/2 pound on the scale. I'm losing very slowly but I like it! After hopelessly failing on the maintaining front in 2008, I think I'm finally starting to get accustomed to incorporating healthy eating and consistent activity into my everyday life. For me, it's all about balance :)
MsMeg Good goals I have them posted. I know what you mean about the group keeping you going. I know that if I didn't have this group I definitely would have drifted away from something by now. I've had a few hard falls, but overall (although I don't have the scale proof yet, I do have the clothes proof) I've lost weight and gained strength over last year. And that is a lot. It's very motivational to know there's a bunch of people who would be somewhat bewildered if I didn't post a thread one week.
Denise I've got your goals posted, I'm sure you've consulted your doctor / mid-wife on what is and is not good exercise during pregnancy. Don't worry about not being as active, I'm glad you have stayed with the thread, I think it lends a very important voice to have someone carrying a child focusing on what healthy means in that context. Just like when Vicky (Wenchie) is posting we remember that there are many reasons besides weight loss that we need to care for our health. I really value the viewpoint you offer.
Carol For proteins although I shouldn't eat either of these things when I'm simply trying to up my protein and need something extra simple in the mornings, I go for cottage cheese or eggs. Lou is a good writer, and I have to admit to some of the sterotypes in the book. Although I never really lifted the barbie weights I will admit to thinking it was about picking a medium weight and lifting as many times as possible.
Ana Got your goals up, they sound achievable especially as you got 75% last time.
Carrie Like carol said, keep us updated on your cleanse, I've often wondered about doing a safe cleanse. Good goals, have them posted, great on the gym in the dominican. I'm actually more motivated to work out when I am somewhere, where it is beautiful.
Laura I'll post your goals in a minute. Great job on the slow loss, and even better perspective on the long picture. If you can get the healthy habits in check the rest will follow.
Weekly Check-In
This past week was one year since I began in earnest to try to loose weight and get healthy. I can't say that I achieved as much as I hoped starting in that first year. Like most start points for me I had very ambitious goals. If I did everything right then I could loose the 2 lbs per week that I was supposed to loose and I would loose the 70 (ish) pounds that I want to loose in one year... well that didn't happen.
To make matters a little more daunting when I finally decided to step on my scale I figured out that I was likely easily 50 lbs heavier than my heaviest. That is my previous heaviest was 205 lbs at a size 14, and I knew that I went up to a size 20, so when I weighed in at 215 lbs at a loose 16 tight 14 (or 15 because we do have odd sizes here) I had to face facts of what years of yo-yo dieting had produced.
This past 12 weeks has not been my most successful either, after 12-weeks of struggling to get my eating habits back on track after completely loosing it post-christmas. The net result is a 3 pound gain.
So, what is there to celebrate?
1. I am now a size 14, when I began as a size 20.
2. I have fallen off the wagon many times in the past year, but unlike other years, I got back up and got back on many times in the same year without waiting till new year's / birthday's to re-set.
3. I have learned a phenomenal amount health, fitness, dietary nutrition, macronutrients, muscle building, protein, and much much more.
4. I am entering this year with confidence that I will not loose the 70 lbs that I want to loose, but that I can probably loose another 20-30lbs and that will be a huge success.
5. I am entering this year knowing I will finish the year.
Goal Setting
It took me 3 rounds of goal setting to learn my own advice of keeping it simple to succeed. I successfully logged everything and stopped lying to myself about what I was and was not eating. And then I successfully got that under 2,000 calories, really only by a hair at the end, but it counts.
MAINTENANCE: Continue to eat at or below 2,000 cal/day average for at least 6 of 12 weeks, and never over 2,500 cal/day average.
Because I only managed to get a hair under in the past 12 weeks and I was expecting to cross the finish line with a great stride, I'm trying to be realistic here that I'm going to struggle with 2,000 cal/day averages. So I will consider 50% a success. Now that doesn't mean that I want to see myself back up at 3,000 - 3,500 calorie days on my off weeks and I know that I was fairly successful at keeping almost all of my weeks under 2,500 cal so I've put in a zero tolerance for weeks that average over 2,500 cal/day.
NEW: start going to the gym (again), and achieve at least 4 weeks where I attend the gym 3x/week.
Last 12 weeks I was supposed to slowly ease myself into the gym again so that I'd be ready to hit this 12 weeks running... well that didn't happen. Retrospectively, I'm glad I set the goal that I did, because if I had added this one as a pass/fail goal I definitely would not have made it. So again, trying to set the brass ring within grasp. I need to put the exercise on a pass/fail so that I will do it, but I need to be realistic about my chances of success. In that vein I only need to make it all 3x to the gym 4 of the 12 weeks. I am of course aiming for more with the idea that I will ramp up from 1x/week to 4x/week by the last 4 weeks in the challenge.
As always these goals seem ridiculously simple at the moment, but I've seen time and time again what happens when I am not realistic about my life and the curves it will throw at me.
Cheers,
Sara.
Carol- I completely understand what you are saying about Katie! Harley (my golden) is the same way. If she see's someone in the neighboring yards, so dashes right over to them to get some love from them! I started C25k over again this weekend and took Harley on the first run with me and she loved it! She really enjoys running over walking, but I think I wore her out!
As for the protein question - I eat a 2 egg omelette for breakfast each morning and a meat + veggie for dinner. I have yogurt with strawberries as a snack and my lunch is usually a left over piece of meat or a sandwich on one piece of bread or a wrap. If you need extra help - I suggest trying EAS protein powder. I have the vanilla and its great with 8oz of milk. I think each scoop is about 23g protein. Add the protein from the milk and you are looking pretty good for the day!
Raven- I am sure that you are going to LOVE NROLFW. It was such a liberating book for me. I really enjoyed it and it was nice to finally find a program that was exactly what I was looking for. I'm training for a 5k right now, so building muscle isn't part of my plan at the moment, but I hope to start that program later this spring!
Sara- I am finally starting to log everything I have ate instead of leaving little handfuls of stuff off. We can't act like those things don't count, because its not doing us any favors!
I am really looking forward to getting 100% on my goals this round.
Hello!
I am moving forward with a new goal for the next twelve weeks. I have been able to consistently log my foods since I have been a member of CC, but could not call it a maintenance goal since I have joined this forum, because I had not been consistent throughout the last 6 months. Wow, six months already!!!!
NEW GOAL: Participate in our Navan Walking Club 10 Week Program (Tuesdays) starting April 21-June 26; as well as attend 6 "Spring into Spring" Interval Classes which will run on Thursday evenings starting April 9th, 2009. This will be my goal towards consistent exercising for this new 12 week round!!!!!
Best of luck everyone!!!
Lee-Anne
ps - JULIE, thanks for sending me your file!!!!
Lee-Anne If I got that right it's the new goal that is the one on the pass/fail this 12 weeks, with no maintenance goal, correct?
Yes Sara, that is correct, only going with NEW GOAL this round.
Lee
Ballsy, you go girl!
Hello all!
Well, I think I might be excited about this round of goal setting. Here are mine:
- (new) eat an average of 1700 calories/day.
- (maintenance) exercise at least twice weekly (calculated by average)
The new goal is going to take some work, mostly because I get careless or busy and forget... For instance today I realized I hadn't logged for the last three days! I've been careful though so there wasn't any calorie-goal damage, but it's definitely gotten out of control in the past. I'm trying to schedule at least two activities per week - probably pilates and something else - to take the work out of my maintenance goal.
On the check-in front, my partner and I are moving house, which makes life a little hectic. However it actually makes my eating control easier, because I'm so busy I forget to snack. lol! I'll see if I can keep that up. I've also begun studying for the LSAT - the job market in southern california is so tight, especially for recent grads (even though I have an advanced degree), that I've decided to go to law school. The classes are intense, though! Still, I'm looking forward to getting into a routine, because that always helps me be a little more disciplined... I haven't exercised this last week, :( , but I *have* been hauling boxes and running mad errands, so I'm hoping that counts for something.
Hope everyone's week is off to a good start!
Carol - I am following an established "cleanse" regime called ReCleanse 7 Day Whole Body Detox (recleanse.com). The diet is very easy to follow which is great because I didn't want to have to cook 2 meals at supper time and this way my husband can cook as well!
I cut out wheat just before Christmas (although I do slip up every now and then, like when my mother in law brings home made brown bread over, yummy, oh but it hurts after), on the advice from my naturopathic doctor who said that might be causing issues with my sinuses and digestive system. Low and behold she was correct. I used to think I was lactose intolerant but apparently if you are gluten intolerant but continue to eat wheat it can cause you to have sensitivity to dairy as well, and if you cut out the wheat you can often re introduce the dairy (which has been my case) and it great because I love cheese and yogourt.
I have discovered the most amazing rice chips called Riceworks, they come in different flavors and kind of remind me of doritos but better (http://www.riceworks.ca/new_index_Canada.html ) they have a US site too.
For me it has definitely improved my health but everyone is different and you may find that you need the whole grains in the form of wheat.
Hope this provided some good information. Today is day 3 on the cleanse and I have to say I do feel leaner and lighter. I hope to continue the eating plan but incorporate dairy back in.
Carrie
I'm so sorry but again this is going to be a short post. Getting ready for my vacation has been a little more time consuming that I thought it would be and I apologize for not being as active as I should be. When I get back though I promise I will be better.
Sara: I would like my 12 week goal to be excercising at least 3x a week if not more. I already do pretty good at drinking my water so the excercise is what i need to work on.
Well that's all I have time for. Everyone stay on track and I'll see you in 10 days!!!
I'm feeling good about the goals I chose this week. I went out for lunch yesterday with my boss instead of running, but i had a cup of potato soup and a salad with fat free italian - so i felt good about that choice. Then, when i got home I took puppy for a run and did W1D2 of Couch 2 5k.
Yay!
way to go meg! I'm on the last week of C25K and it totally works. I know I probably should discontinue the running while doing the NROLFW but I want to try to do a 10K race in June and I really enjoy it so I'm doing it on my off days from NROLFW. Puppies rock!
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