Wagon Jumpers - July 19 - 25th, 2009 (Closed)

Welcome 

(I keep the waiting list capped at 4 people as it can be a 16 week wait with that length, please check back later.)

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 finding its optimum level is between 20 and 25 participants. 

A medium sized group means that we have an active thread that produces between 30 - 45 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

Year 1 - Week 11 Riders:

Supersized  (myself)

Year 1 - Week 7 Riders:

Msmeg1984

Defrog3

Year 1 - Week 3 Riders:

Wenchie58

Year 1 - Week 1 Riders:

Raven21 

Week 49 Riders:

Kyashiis

Week 43 Riders:

Nannygabber

Week 39 Riders:

Lam7

Week 35 Riders:

Cawilder

Week 33 Riders:

Carryonandon

Figurethefat

Week 31 Riders:

Germaica

Constanza

Week 27 Riders:

Jessicaanne2001

Week 10 Riders:

Dovelette - vacation July 30 - Aug 11

Week 8 Riders - Congratulations on 2 Months!:

Jnielsen006 - vacation July 10 - 25

Week 7 Riders:

Merimeriqcontrary

New:

The_Vitamin_Dominatrix 

Laura42

Peera

Missing In Action:

Missing In Action - 1 Week:

Pelkeyjm

Declanphenias

Missing In Action - 2 Weeks:

Current Membership: 22

Current Waiting List: 4

Outstanding Wait List Invites: 0

12 Week CONSISTENCY GOALS

(as set w/o June 28th, 2009)

By September 19th, I will be...

Msmeg1984 - NEW: eating a weekly average of 2,000 cal/day and, MAINTENANCE: exercising 3x/week for at least 9 of the 12 weeks.

Dovelette - NEW: NROLFW 3x week for 9 out of 12 weeks.

Merimeriqcontrary - NEW: 3 times/week exercise for at least 9 out of the 12 weeks.

Wenchie58 - NEW: Logging my food intake of <1500 cals per day at least 5 days per week.

Figurethefat - NEW: to run/walk a minimum of six 5ks per month. MAINTENANCE:to continue doing a minimum of 1,500 exercise minutes per month.

Kyashiis - NEW: Run a minimum of 3 kilos 12 times over the 12-week period. MAINTENANCE:I will zig-zag on my food intake consistently throughout each week and end up with an average daily calorie count of 1,100 cals.

Raven21 - NEW: Eat all my yummy, healthy meals (3) and snacks (2) before 9pm for 12 weeks, with no more than 12 days missed. MAINTENANCE:Exercise at least 3 times a week

Supersized - NEW: Go to gym 3x/week for 6 of 12 weeks. MAINTENANCE: Log all food for 9 of 12 weeks.

Cawilder - NEW: Log my food 85% of the time. MAINTENANCE: Running at least 5 hrs/week and lifting 2x/week.

Lam7 - NEW: Consistently log all calories 5 of 7 days a week. MAINTENANCE: Exercise at least once a week.

Nannygabber - MAINTENANCE: Strength training 3x/week for 9 of 12 weeks. Macronutrient ratio of 40/30/30 (carb/fat/protein) for 9 of 12 weeks.

Germaica - NEW: Exercise at least 3x/week for at least 30 min for 9 of 12 weeks. MAINTENANCE: Continue to eat 1 portion of high iron food at least 4 times per week.

Jessicaanne2001 - NEW: Keep calories under 2,000 checking by logging food 4x/week. MAINTENANCE: workout at the gym 4x/week

Carryonandon - NEW: Exercise 3x weekly MAINTENANCE: 300-500 calorie deficit daily.

Tiegurl - NEW: Work out 6x/week (weights & cardio) MAINENANCE: Log 1700 cal/day.

Pelkeyjm - NEW: Lift weights 3x/week MAINTENANCE: Cardio 3x/week for at least 30 minutes.

Constanza - NEW: For the next 12 weeks, less twelve days I will follow this meal plan: 3 meals, 1 snack and 1 dessert per day, no more than 7 alcoholic drinks per week. MAINTENANCE: exercise an average of 2x/week.

Declanphenias - NEW: Exercise 4x/week for 9 of 12 weeks.

Jnielsen006 - NEW: exercise at least 2 days a week for 45 minutes at least 9 of 12 weeks.

Previous Threads:

Wagon Jumpers - July 12 - 18th, 2009

Wagon Jumpers - July 5 - 11th, 2009

Wagon Jumpers - June 28 - July 4, 2009

Wagon Jumpers - June 21 - 27th, 2009

Wagon Jumper - June 14 - 20th, 2009

Wagon Jumpers - June 7 - 13th, 2009

Wagon Jumpers May 31 - June 6th, 2009

Wagon Jumpers May 24 - 30th, 2009

Wagon Jumpers - May 17 - 23rd, 2009

Wagon Jumpers - May 10 - 16th, 2009

Wagon Jumpers - May 3 - 9th, 2009

Wagon Jumpers - April 26 - May 2nd, 2009

Wagon Jumpers - April 19 - 25th, 2009

Wagon Jumpers - April 12 - 18th, 2009

Wagon Jumpers - April 5 - April 11th, 2009

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

As always all members are encouraged to tag this thread so that it is easy to find.

Weekly Topic: Goal Check In 1/4

That's right, one quarter of the 12 week goal has been completed already! How are you doing? What do you need to do to achieve your goal? What are you doing right? What do you need to correct?

Motivational Guru

Don't forget the person at the end of the week who has the most mentions of movtivation gets a prize.

Vacation?

If you need a little time off from the group, don't forget to send me an e-mail with the dates you will be away from and to. Please make sure there are actual dates not a rough approximation of the month.

Oooh boy, really?  Already 3 weeks have passed? 

Well I was on track the first and third week...but not the second.  That's when my puppy died and then we went to the next island over...I refused to leave his side on Monday, and Wednesday I really wasn't even getting out of bed, then hubby kidnapped me to go to Mindelo. 

Last week I did great with both working out and eating, and I'm happy to say that not only did I lose any weight that I gained on my week long wagon tumble, BUT I'm down to 162.2, my lowest weight since starting in January.  I've really learned a lot about myself in these past few months, especially about huger. 

What do I need to do to achieve my goal?  Flex my biceps ;)  No kidding (sort of, my arms look HAWT).  I need to keep focused on the "prize."  I need to remind myself of my longer term goals and why THIS goal is necessary to meet them.

What am I doing right?  Setting my alarm for 5am every morning.  Making this "normal" in my life.  Working with hubby for motivation and encouragement (BTW I will admit that a big motivator is seeing HIM build muscle.  He already has really low body fat and is thin, but OMG watching his arms get bigger and his lean stomach forming a 6 pack?  WOW)

What do I need to correct?  Well...when Gus died, I fell into an emotional rut.  I give myself permission to do this, I don't feel guilty and I'm not going to dwell on it.  BUT...I need to make that U-Turn faster.  The NEXT meal after I'm off track, I need to make "on plan."  I need to not use grief as an excuse for an 8 day off plan "binge." I need to get back on that wagon faster...I've been down that road where one meal turns into 1 day turns into 1 week turns into 1 month turns into 1 year.  No.  One meal stays one meal, and that's ok.  But that's where it ends.  Also...eating does not make the sadness go away.  Emotional eating will not help me in the long run, in fact it will only hurt me.

ETA: WOW sorry that I didn't mention this, but THANK YOU Sara for your July 6th congrats on my 2 months with the group!  Thank you all for your support and motivation - i really look forward every week to hearing how everyone is doing and getting ideas on how to improve my life!

Hi everyone,

Weekly check in: I did great last week and hit my 2 goals. Hubby has been so helpful. Just last night we went for our walk/run and I ran 4 minutes in a row. I've changed the way I run, slower to get my knees adjusted. I have also changed programs, I think C25K was too much for me. This one is 29 walk + 1 run, then you add 1 minutes every time you do it and take 1 minute off the walking, until you get to 30 minutes of running. It' been better for me. And with his encouragement I was able to do it. Plus I had more stamina and was less tired than last time. It's easier with him, I don't feel like people are looking or judging me for running so slow. He's there with me doing the same thing. Of course this is probably all in my head. Lol!

1/4 of the way in, unbelievable. I'm feeling great and I'm happy to say I'm doing great too. I've only used 1 of my 3 slack weeks. So I'm ready to take on the rest.

Good for you Dove, for getting back on track after a difficult emotional time. It's the hardest thing for all of us. Congrats for the weight loss!

I've just finished reading "The Best Life Diet" by Bob Greene. I really liked it. It's good for beginners and intermediates who don't know where to start and it's very organic. What I mean by that is that it's done in three stages to help you get accustomed to the changes and it's meant for the rest of your life. Not a get on get off thing. There is even built in space for treats. You let go of some bad stuff and add good stuff. The suggestions he makes are common sense, but explained in a great way and back up with scientific studies. I will be starting Stage One this week.

Gotta go, going to an amusement park today! Have a great one all!

Happy Sunday Everyone!

Well this past week has been challenging and I ended up being short 1 day of proper food logging.  I had reported such success in the early part of the week, with a 3 lb weight loss to date, but then totally blew it Friday.  I am assuming it is because I am close to that "TOM" ...yes that is my excuse.

I know that I will not ace this round of goals, but what I do know is that I am back on track with my food logging (not like last round ~ did not even do it at all because I was focussing on my exercise), and that alone combined with proper exercise will generate better results in the long run.  I do feel better already, and know that it is the right thing to do.  If I fall off the wagon for a day or two, well that is better than falling off the wagon completely.  I am back on track for this week, and look so forward to the next update.

Have a great remainder of the week, and talk to you soon,

Lee-Anne

Good morning,

Thanks to everyone for the kind words about Sylvester-kitty last week.  He was a good cat.  I miss him!  :(  But on the positive side, at least he's no longer in any pain, and we won't have to worry about how he'll adjust to the baby (that was a big concern). 

I have 39 days until my due date.  Feeling overall pretty good, but I'm anxious for this to just be done with, already!

I've been doing well with my eating goals--I'm eating very well (my co-workers are impressed!), actually.  Lots of fresh produce is coming in to the area now, which is helpful!  I'm actually snacking on a locally-grown muskmelon (a bigger, sweeter version of a canteloupe) right now; the kid is kicking with delight (all from the sugar, I'm sure)!

And, surprisingly, I've been doing well with exercise, too.  Since the weather has been warm enough, I've been going to the town pool after work and walking across the shallow end (I'm not a good swimmer!) for 30 minutes or so.  It feels great to do!

Another neat thing--I saw one of my friends this weekend (after a long time of not seeing her).  She said that, aside from the obvious baby-belly, I look THINNER than I did before getting pregnant.  I had been thinking that I've lost fat in my face and my legs, but it was nice to have someone else mention it! :D

Happy healthgain to everyone this week!

Denise

Hi All,

I've been doing Ok for the first quarter with my goals.  My calories were kinda sketchy over the past week, but im back on track.  I hit the gym yesterday while Harley was at the groomers and today since the weather was so nice, took her to the park and we walked 3.7 miles around the lake.  I took it nice and easy since I was very sore from yesterdays NROLFW session, but still burned 544 calories and the dog is happy and worn out.

Glad to see everyone is doing well so far! I hope to keep it up also... I really have missed the gym. It felt good to be back there again :)

I'm trying to make more time to stop by this thread, because its such a good motivator for me.  So, hopefully you all will see me participating a lot more starting this week!

:)

Megs

Hey there,

For my goals, I'm probably at 75% success right now. For the most part, I've been eating well and getting my exercise in, but this past week I had a few blowout days. I have very little self control when it comes to eating out unless I plan ahead, and I have to say that planning ahead wasn't always possible this time around (didn't know the menu, for instance.)

As far as other parts of life are balancing out, we're almost done with packing for the move, we've settled all the logistics (hotels, rental truck, rental car), and I've been logging a good amount of hours at my part time job. Also, I've been squeezing in visits with friends and family before we leave the area. Funny how get-togethers suddenly materialize when someone's moving away :-) Actually, we're usually pretty good at getting together and I'm looking forward to having a steady stream of visitors once we're settled in. So excited!

Hi.  I'm new to the group.  I just got my invite today!  I am hoping this group will help me stay on track. 

I am a 43 year old female and I have been working on body recomposition since Sept 08 using NROLFW and NROL.  I would like to reduce body fat by about 5% so I can follow that with a bulk to add some muscle.  I should have reached my goal 5 times over by now, but I sabotage myself every weekend.  I lift weights, walk, bike  and eat fairly cleanly all week,  then go off the deep end every weekend. 

This weekend was no exception.  I cannot participate in a social function and eat normally.  The result of this is that I make no progress.  I don't gain weight because I do well all week, but I have no success at fat loss either and I remain stuck.  So I would say that my number one goal is to learn how to stick to my plan in social situations and at restaurants.  My second goal is to get more water into me.  I shoot for 2 - 3 liters a day and fall short most days.  Today I got almost none. 

I am excited to be a part of this group.  It seems we have some animal lovers among us, which is nice.  I am a veterinarian so animals are a very big part of my life.  Dovelette and Defrog3, I am very sorry for your losses.  Be kind to yourselves during this sad time!  And Defrog, how exciting about your baby!  What a wonderful time of life for you.  Is this your first?

I'm not sure how everything works here, so I will be watching and figure it out as I go along.  Hopefully the accountability will give me the motivation I need to achieve my goals.

-Laura

Hi Laura, my name's Laura too, but I usually go by FTF.  

Gee, I thought I'd never get to this thread, getting sidetracked posting on other stuff on my way here :)

I'm totally on track.  Rocking the exercise minutes and even though I was away for 8 days, I've managed to knock off 3 5ks this month so far.  With 11 days left I should have no trouble fitting in the next 3 to hit my mark.

While I was away from the internet, I carried a little notebook and red pen.  Every time I did some exercise I would write it down, and kept a running total of my minutes.  This really helped to keep me on track and acted as a reminder that in spite of being "on holiday" I still needed to get my 1500 minutes for the month (maintenance goal).

My initial plan was to knock off 2 runs before the trip and 4 after, but I procrastinated and only got 1 in.  As a result I've had to cram 5 into the 2nd half of the month.  At first I was regretting even setting the 5k goal, but then decided to just do it.  And it's working.  

Everybody:  keep up the commitment to your goals!  It's a great feeling :)

Good Monday Morning All!

It's  dreary Monday here, so all the better for just feeling blah. LOL! I am a little down because last week was a total flop. I am usually so much better at this!

I made it to the gym on Monday and Tuesday, then my daughter came over Tuesday evening and kept me up til 3 am. Wednesday was a bust because I was so tired, and Thursday I had to drive to Pittsburg. Well, basically that is when my weekend started and I just got in last night.

Needless to say, I am feeling bad because I have now used up two of my 3 slack weeks, and I have only one more left, saving for vacation the first week of Sept. Which means I have to be SPOT ON the remainder of the weeks, or I fail. Ugh.

I have to tell you guys, I am not feeling real motivated. I miss my BF, my job has been really slow - which correlates directly with my income... I have found myself just wanting to stay in bed and sleep.

I am not eating badly, I just have not logged and that brings me down because I really need to, so I can see my macronutrients! ... and not making it to the gym... I am hating myself for letting life interfere.

I got on the scale this morning. Again no changes. Which is good and depressing at the same time. I haven't over-done it to cause gain, but I am stagnating... Been here about 3 weeks now. Grrrr... LOL!

Anyway, venting is not always positive, so I do apologize. I really have to think about the assignment this week, and figure out what I need to adjust!! ... hmmm... LIFE.  LOL!

Sorry Lee-Anne! for misspelling your name! ( I knew a little girl back in VA who was in one of my classes, she spelled it the other way... old habits... old dogs... yep... I'd qualify for both I'd guess.)

And Laura!!! Welcome my fellow NROLFW chick! (I am working on Stage 6, where are you with yours?)

ANYWAY, more later. Just needed to get the Monday's out of me!

~Julie

Dove I find that it the surprising thing about these challenges they do go by surprisingly quick. Congratulations on reaching your lowest weight since January! That must feel great! I know what you mean about needing to figure out that turn around faster. You do need the time to take care of greiving (or vacation, or family or illness, or whatever sidelines us) but making sure we don't use it to completely derail is a learned skill. Hopefully we can learn it together.

Germaica It's great you have the running support, also great to hear of another running program. I've been wondering if the C25k would be a bit too much for me as well.

Lee-Anne It's often hard to get the new goal right away. See if you can maintain the exercise and get at least above a 50% with the new goal. The key is not to go backwards.

DeFrog I'm jealous that you have melon already we're a few weeks out for that. And, what a great compliment from your friend. Take care of you and baby.

MsMeg Good job on getting back to the gym. I remember this time last year you had a lot of challenges coming back after your July 4th, sounds like your turn around has really improved.

Carry I find it's truly difficult to even maintain a goal that is supposed to be an everyday goal. I use weekly averages for this reason. It may be something to consider so that you maintain motivation when you have a blow out day it doesn't mean you have blow the week or the chance of succeeding completely at your goal.

Don't forget to let me know if you need some time off around your move.

Laura (new) WELCOME TO THE GROUP!!! I just realized (based on Laura FTF's post) that I will have to differentiate between our Laura's... we also have two Carrie's (Carryonandon who I usually write Carry and Carrie Raven).

We have quite an experienced bunch with NROLFW, Julie is a great person to ask on this.

I think the first question if you are sabotaging yourself on the weekends is how and why? I find a lot of people here on calorie count will sabotage either because they are eating too few calories, or because they have denied themselves many foods as 'off limits'. Although this may not be the case if you are reading NROLFW. The other sabotage is simply a 'bingefest' where you dive off into the deep end of junk food. I started using weekly average calorie runs.... I am going to eat an average of ____ per week. And I measure these Sunday - Saturday. This means on Sunday morning I need to get up and look at what my weekly average was for the past week. This often curbes the double day of bingeing for me (but not always).

Hopefully the group has some thoughts no this as well.

There is not too much to how the group 'works', post once a week (or more) you'll get to know us, and if you miss a week we'll send you e-mails.

If you need some time off e-mail me with the dates.

The person who is mentioned the most gets a motivational guru prize (which I need to get on top of mailing!!!)

Laura Sounds like you are doing fantastic! Great job on staying on track while you were away and afterwards! True inspiration!

Julie Oh no it's the blah's! I hate them. They are what derail me every time. I have to remind myself (although I never want to hear it when I'm blah) that if I go make myself some healthy food and then go work out I will have a better perspective about what to do with the job/money/family situations. One small step at a time, make the nice breakfast, just convince yourself to go to the gym (or wherever you work out) one foot in front of the other until you see the other side of this. If anyone can do this you can!

Sara.

Check In

Results are confusing me this week. I didn't do too badly on the calories I'm still hovering slightly over 2,000 cal/day on average. This week I lost a couple of pounds, which was great because I was upset about gaining those couple of pounds last week. Unfortunately I gained back the 5cm that I lost last week so I'm now upset that I'm lighter but bigger, which I'm not sure is any better than heavier but smaller. Grrr can BOTH numbers please go down?

Goals

I'm doing well on my goals and still within range of begin able to achieve them. I need to make it to the gym at least 6 of the 12 weeks (for 3 sessions). I've completed 2 weeks (4 to go). Last week I went twice, this week I don't anticipate being able to go as we are moving on Saturday. But all the packing, and the six flights up to the new place will give some definite exercise.

On the food logging I'm doing well, I think I have only missed one week so far.

Supersized, thanks for the tip about weekly averages.  I will give that a try.  I don't think I am going too low during the week.  It's just that I see a giant buffet full of gorgeous food and I have no will power. 

I won't have a problem posting once a week as I peruse the site all the time anyway.   I think I just little guidance with goal setting because I see that people have new goals and maintenance goals and they have stated where they would like to be by September. Should I organize my goals in that way? 

Julie - good to catch up with you.  I am currently doing hypertrophy II in NROL.  I just did my firt workout in that stage this morning.  It was challenging and fun.  I finished Stage 6 in NROLFW on Thurs last week.  I skipped that stage when I initially did NROLFW so I went back and completed it.  I made some good progress with the chinups.  I am hoping this group will help me stop sabotaging myself because I think I can make some serious improvements if I can get my nutrition under control while doing Hyp II.  I am sorry you have the blah's.  Keep your chin up. 

Laura42 Don't worry too much about how to set up your goals right now, we'll be discussing this round for the next 9 weeks, and by then you'll be an old pro at how we talk about them.

The New and Maintenance is me being an autocratic moderator. I tend to find that wagon jumpers are great planners with little follow through. We like to develop complex plans with great schemes for what we need to do and great measurements, and then we don't do it and get right to planning the next set of goals that we won't follow through on. So be preapred when you set them for me to ask for priorities, first time goal setters are encouraged to set one new goal only when they get to the first round.

Hello everyone!  I have returned!  I ended up leaving WJ in May when things got out of hand for me after the move and then some sleezebag broke into the place where I'm staying and stole, amoung other things, my laptop, leaving me with no way to post.

I'm coming out of a slump and losing weight again.  I had been maintaining (more or less) for the last month and 1/2.  At this point I'll have to have my wedding dress taken in anyway, so I maight as well get as thin as possible before I have to get it altered.

I'm excited to be back! 

Hello, everyone happy Tuesday!

I've just been reading all the posts and you all reminded me how good it is to pick yourself up and grind it down! (the fat and flab).

About my goal. First week kinda sucked, because graduation and the tiredness got to me but I did work out three times (even if it was mostly to Jillian Michaels and Turbo Jam, so not exactly what I would qualify as intense.

Next week was a flop. I have no idea how that happened. I guess I was having a hard time adjusting to a normal sleeping/working schedule again.

Third week was a charm. I did work out the planned three times, plus I went to a great birthday party where we spontaneously played a game of soccer with a lot of running and had a very fun waterfight. (And I shall count that as a workout. I was sweating terribly and I felt my heartrate go up etc.

This week started quite well. I hope I can keep it up.

I hope I can keep this up, because my eating habit are less than I want them to be, I don't have much spare time until I go on vacation and I need to do something about my bread intake and shop more myself. (argh!)

Dove Congrats on the wonderful habits! I'm so glad at least that's what floats your boat now. I'm really terribly sorry about your puppy and I hope you stay strong through all the grief and terrible pain.

Germaica Happy running! I'm trying to get my boyfriend to join me in morning runs even if we don't live so close by as well. But it does sound like fun!

Lee-Anne No one's perfect. Cut yourself some slack and grind on. I think just attempting a goal and not falling off the wagon after the first week is great.

(But maybe I'm cutting myself too much slack and that's why I'm so meaty and fat-filled).

Denise Way to go to with the new baby! Maybe if you exercise in utero you turn this into a lifetime activity. (That would be so cool!).

Muskmelons rule, too bad we don't get them here at all.

Carry Last time I moved proved to be such a hellish experience and I was only moving across town (only 2 km from where I currently live). It took us 2 years or more to fully unpack and even now our sheds are full of stuff in boxes that we don't use anymore. Your move looks so organized and nice! Congrats!

Laura Welcome to the group! I hope you have a great time here because this is a bunch of pretty lovely ladies who know how to do their business and are very comitted to ploughing on. Who am I kidding? I know you're gonna have a great time! Come in!

The goal thing is like an ongoing game, it's not mandatory and those who don't want to set a goal simply cheer everyone else (because that's what we're here to do.

Figure You never cease to amaze me with your dedication. You're great at counteracting laziness.

Nanny Just hang in there, it'll pass... :)

Sara As usual you're great at goalkeeping. Keep up the good work.

Welcome to (the new) Laura!

Sara - Thanks for the advice on setting a weekly goal. Too bad CC doesn't have an option for figuring that! I suppose there's always excel :-) One of my strengths that can also be a weakness is that I'm pretty self-forgiving concerning eating. haha. 

As for time off near the move, I haven't decided if I'll need it yet or not. I'll send you a PM if I do.

Julie - Sorry to hear you're down this week! I tend to have to fight bad feelings a lot, too. Last summer, my husband and I were living long distance because of a summer job, and it was really difficult to be apart (so I can relate with that). Right now, I'm the trailing spouse and am searching for a job in/near our new area. It's really easy to let economics (and pride - I *hate* job searching) get in the way of being content and motivated. What I'm trying to say is that you're not alone! 

Actually, I came by the thread today because I'm dealing with my normal pre-period weepy feelings. I'm very sensitive and it's hard not to take things too personally during this time. So far, turning to comfort food hasn't been an issue, but I am wondering if there are natural tweaks to my diet that I can make to prevent some of this hormonal mood changing. 

Meri - :-) Thanks for your comments on my organization. It's easy when you don't own much stuff - haha. We haven't had the opportunity to accumulate yet.

The Vitamin Dominatrix Welcome back to the group. You are our first official returning member! Yay! I'm glad the group is a place people want to come back to. I've also just sent out an invitation to Peera, and BigBitty may be coming back as well.

Great job on picking up and putting your priorities back together after the move and the break in.

Meri Looks like you are doing well, you have three quarters to go and in only one of them will you need to hit all three weeks perfectly.

Carry I use my ical I just drop in the number that cc has at the end of the day, then at the end of the week (or sometimes mid week if I want to check) I add them all up and just divide.

Hello all! I was in this group last year at the beginning, and then I got pregnant and just couldn't keep up. So here I am again, this time with a 4.5 month old son running me ragged, and 15 pounds over when I left. My eating right now is really erratic and I'm trying to stabilize it without much luck. I'll eat 3000 calories one day and 700 the next- depends how much time & inclination I have during naptime! I'm setting what I hope is a reasonable goal for myself of 60 pounds by my son's second birthday (March 4th, 2011). I'm not in a hurry, I want to do things right this time! I'm trying to make a point of walking as much as possible, and using my Wii fit & active on the days I don't manage to fit in the walk.I really wish I had someone to work out with though, I hate doing things alone! I'm thinking about joining a pilates class at the local YMCA to see if I can't meet someone around my age who's looking for someone to help keep her motivated too.

Good luck with the baby Defrog! It's so great that you've managed to tone up while pregnant, I was simply miserable the whole time and hardly managed to get out of bed most days.

Welcome to our new members! 

I'm doing ok on food this week and have done well at the gym. I'll be glad when the soreness from NROLFW wears off, but at least I know its doing some good!

Gotta get to work, but just wanted to check in!