Wagon Jumpers - June 7 - 13th, 2009 (Closed, Waiting List Available)

Welcome 

(If you are interested in being on the waiting list, please read below and e-mail me. We currently have 1 person on the waiting list.)

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 5 Riders:

Supersized  (myself)

Year 1 - Week 1 Riders:

Msmeg1984

Defrog3

Week 49 Riders:

Wenchie58 - extended sick leave

Week 47 Riders:

Raven21 

Week 46 Riders:

Tiegurl

Week 43 Riders:

Kyashiis

Week 38 Riders:

Unlimitedana

Week 37 Riders:

Nannygabber

Week 33 Riders:

Lam7

Week 29 Riders:

Cawilder

Week 28 Riders - Congratulations on 7 Months!:

Figurethefat

Week 27 Riders:

Carryonandon

Week 26 Riders:

Constanza

Week 25 Riders:

Germaica

Week 22 Riders:

Pelkeyjm

Week 21 Riders:

Jessicaanne2001

Week 4 Riders - Congratulations on 1 Month!:

Dovelette

Week 2 Riders:

Jnielsen006

Week 1 Riders:

Merimeriqcontrary

Missing In Action:

Missing In Action - 1 Week:

Missing In Action - 2 Weeks:

Thesilverstar121

Current Membership: 21

Current Waiting List: 1

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.

Previous Threads:

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

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

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

Weekly Topic: 3/4 Goal Check in

For those of you who are participating in the 12-week challenge we are now 3/4 of the way through our goals. How are you doing? Is success imminent? Do you need to re-think your ambition next round? We are in the last three week stretch, almost done!

Goals Next Steps

Reporting on goal outcomes will happen between June 21 - 27th, 2009. The next round of goal setting will be June 28 - July 4th, 2009. Duirng hte goal reporing week (June 21 - 27th, 2009) you can ask questions about your goal setting, however, any goal which is not posted between June 28 - July 4th, 2009 will not be on the thread. You can still link to it yourself if you missed the week.

Motivational Guru

Reminder: MsMeg is our two-time winner for Motivational Guru for April and May. Glad to see some new names popping up for June. To win a prize (recipe book, itunes card, or random stuff I get donated to me as a PR person) make sure you send encouraging messages to members who are late posting on the thread, or who end up on the MIA list. Members who have recieved encouragement are asked to nominate a motivational person.

I wasn't around to participate in the last goal round...but keep up the good work folks who are still rocking!  One of the great things I've loved about this group is the way goals work.  Other places I'm a member of, people come in halfway through a challenge and say Okay never mind I'm changing my goal.  It's OK if we don't meet a goal, IMO, but being able to state it, to follow up on it, to examine it instead of to just change it...it seems to make so much more sense than me.

Anyway keep it up, 3 weeks to go and then I can join you all next time! 

Good luck to all who are doing the 12 week challenge. I realize now how motivational it is to have a finish line. Without one I feel a little lost and like I don't have any outward accountability. I must therefore develop inward accountability that will really last. I was watching an Oprah rerun with her trainer Bob Green, they where discussing how when you break a promise to yourself (I will exercise today lets say), that you are really telling your unconscious that you are not worth the time or the effort. Over time this message becomes the truth for you. I believe this has some truth to it. Like Nannygabber says consistency over time creates results. This may be the same for the unconscious mind, the more good choices I make over time, the easier it will get to will re-program my mind set.

So today I started the C25K program. I found a great free podcast (Podcast for runners) that tells me when to run and when to walk and has some great dance music too. I did week one today! I was out of breath and I ran sort of slow, but I did.

Have a great week everyone!

I've been MIA for a bit. I had an intense 8 day summer class that was an upper credit class condensed with TONS of homework. But that's behind me now thank goodness. I have 5 weeks off to really spend taking care of me and spending time with my family.

12 Week Goal Check In 3/4: So I've been running. I feel really good. My boyfriend and I have started eating healthy together and really putting a conscious effort into it. However, I haven't been logging my food at all on Calorie count. That was a huge part of my goal last time and I haven't been doing it at all. I am proud of myself for keeping up with exercising and also for thinking about food differently. Food is less of a way to make me feel good but more of a way to nurture my body and make it the best machine it possibly can be.

So the class I took was Foundations of Personal Health. I am an art major but took this class on purpose to learn about health and see if I could extract anything from the class that could help in my every day life. I've started taking vitamins and Fish oil with Omega-3's and eating much better. The text book for the class was YOU The Owner's Manual. This book was really easy to read and I learned so much about my body. Anyone who is serious about getting healthy should have a basic knowledge about how their different systems work. The book gives pointers on how to live a healthy life and how to incorporate good habits into every day life. I recommend it for sure. I'm going to let my friends borrow it. In the back there is a diet plan and exercise program that I don't think I'm going to follow because it's one of those diets where you have to be a gourmet chef to be able to follow it but I read the suggestions and am applying the ones that make sense to me into my life. I definitely benefited from taking that class. I am sorry for falling off the wagon and not posting but the information I learned was sooo great for improving my well being and creating a healthier me.

Jen

I'm doing really well with my exercise goal. I'm on track 100%. However my eating is at about 50%.

Goal setting week is the week we are setting up for the festival. I hope i'll be around to set a goal... but other than that, you all probably won't hear from me until after the festival is over.

I also haven't had time to help motivate this month. Sorry about that, but its also time for someone else to win!

I promise i'll be back in full swing after July 4th!

I'm checking in early before my work week starts.  I almost missed it last time as I was the final post for the week.  I am mostly on track with my two goals of exercising 20 minutes a day for five days out of the week.  I am 100% on target for the zigzagging although the new guidelines for losing and maintenance are disheartening but entirely valid I think.  My maintenance level is 1,400 cals and I should eat at least 1,200 cals a day.  At that rate it will take me two years to lose the excess weight I have.  But, I continue to zig and zag.

It's hard to believe we are mostly through another goal period.  I think 12-week goal setting time periods are just right.  About this time of the period, I usually go into a little slump, but I'm catching on to my own weaknesses, so this time, I should be able to finish strong.

I was dreading the thread this week because I just knew we were going to have something about the 12 week goal :/  I've been 100% on the exercise, 1500 minutes a month is doable for me and I usually shoot for 1,750, however on the water issue I've been slack.  I do drink more water than before but I'm estimating that I'm only about 75% on drinking 1.5 litres a day.  To be honest I'm getting to the point in my weight gain/loss cycle where I'm sick of counting:  calories, minutes, litres, etc.  

On a more positive note I'm only jumping on the scale one time a week, on Friday a.m.  My previous 12 week goal was to keep the weighing to just 2 days a week, so I feel like I've made some great progress there.  I hate resorting to the scale to check my progress.  

I'm not sure if the I'm up for the next round of goal setting -- but it is a great time to think about it.  On closer reflection it might be just what I need.  

My goal isn't officially on the thread, but I've been trying for a 300-500 daily calorie deficit with exercise 3x weekly. Where I usually have a problem is in th exercise part, but i've been getting that in recently. Instead, I'm eating like crazy... If the two can come together - yay! I'll try to motivate myself with some sort of non-food prize like a new book or a new phone (my contract is almost up).

In other news, we're narrowing down the search for a new place in a couple months. We're moving from a city with very little crime to a larger city with more burglaries and robberies (according to the police website). Prior to that I've mostly lived in small towns. What do those of you who live in larger cities do for security? How did you pick your neighborhood?

Wow, lot of moves going on.  Lots of stress...good for everyone for even keeping PART of your goals! 

Dove It took me some time to get here with the goals, but I arrived at the same conclusion, what good is accountability if you aren't held accountable with it? The flip side of that is that it is okay to fail, we all do, it shows us where our challenges are, gives us learning opportunities, and makes the success that much more rewarding.

Germaica I agree 100%, many of us - all of us women - have the tendancy to put others before ourselves, I'm guessing in most cases if you asked our families, friends, coworkers and bosses we are reliable and often give a lot to others. The problem is we have a much easier time breaking promises to ourselves. Learning to prioritize myself is an ongoing journey and by no means an eay one, it is however helping to build a different kind of self confidence. One I did not know that I lacked, but that I'm finding truly empowering.

Jen Welcome Back! It's great that you took a health course, I hope you'll give us some insights as we move along. Also great that you have your boyfriend pitching in on the healthy eating.

MsMeg Do what you need to do to get through that busy time, we'll look forward to your return after the 4th, but we'll still chase you for weekly checkins.

Kathy I'm glad the time period works out, I picked it because 3 months tends to be a breaking point for me, personally, so it's a little autocratic indulgence on my part. I hope others find it useful as well.

Laura I know the counting exhausion can kill the best laid plans, if I'm not mistaken you are now on maintenance, yes? You may consider setting goals that start to get you off the counting. For example deciding you will write down your food in a paper journal and then log 2 of 7 days as a way to measure if you are keeping your calories at maintenance range without the constant logging.

Carry I'm a city girl. I love cities. They always get a bad wrap for crime, but that is simply a population issue, usually if you breakdown the statistics per capita most suburbs and small towns have higher crime rates than cities... In any case, what do I love about it? I love always having people around, this makes me feel much safer than walking home alone on a dark street at night as so often happened when we lived in the suburbs, I love the taxi's to anywhere, quickly and cheeply, decent transit, always having a zillion entertainment options, local independant art scenes, a huge variety of ethnic foods, different cultures and different perspectives.

For choosing a neighbourhood, the best way is to visit. Read up on your city, there are always a few neighbourhoods that maybe you would rather not be. For instance Jane & Finch in Toronto... not great. Walk around the neighbourhood, think about where you can find groceries, is there a park, do the retaurants look like places you would like to go for brunch / lunch / dinner, how transit accessible is it? Don't worry too much about the noise, I never thought I'd get used to it either, now I live on three 24-hour transit lines, and sleep through every siren there is.

Hello all!

Well, today I took the LSAT.  It was h-a-r-d.  But now I'm done!  And I can't do anything about it until the end of June, which is when I get my results.  Sorry for being MIA last week.  I literally did nothing but study all day every day.  

Moving on to this week's topic!  I'm pretty ready to move on with my goals, I think.  Three months is a good stopping point, Sara ;)  I'm still doing super on the exercise - my goal was twice a week on average.  I haven't checked recently, but I've been averaging three to four times a week, and have just decided to start a running program, which should help even more.    I've never been into running, but I think I might have the makings of a good runner - I like being outside, even/especially by myself, I like getting into a rhythm because it helps me unwind, think, relax, etc..   Will let you know how it goes.  To stay motivated on that, I also joined a new runners' forum, which will hopefully help me keep myself accountable.  On the food goal (1700 calorie average), not so much.  I've totally been slacking on logging, entering food at the end of the day or days after the fact, and I haven't put values into my spreadsheet for a while, which means that I don't know what my average is, and I'm afraid to find out.  I suspect it's at maintenance.  Which is good for maintaining, but not for losing.  So I'm thinking about how to adjust my goals for next round so I can affect that.

I agree with you, Germaica and Sara, about learning to prioritize yourself, and also with Kyashiis about getting easily derailed by my partner (throwback to last week's thread).  I'm figuring out that he's got terrible habits regarding food and exercise, and if I prioritize his choices, or use waiting for him as an excuse for not getting my butt out the door, I'm not going to make it.  So I've been trying to take initiative for myself, and am also hoping some of it will spread :)

And finally, on last week's topic, I think my biggest flag for flagging motivation (hehe) is when I stop reporting - logging, writing down, keeping track of where I am.  I still haven't quite pinpointed why I stop, so I'm going to try to pay more attention the next time around and hopefully find the trigger(s), and something I can do to work around it.

That's it for now.  Hope everyone's week is starting well!

Hi, all,

I'm doing pretty well...  My eating has been VERY GOOD in the last two weeks, especially, b/c vegetables are no longer poison (there were a few weeks there where even lettuce tasted like it was going to kill me if I ate it!).  Thankfully that phase has moved on, for the most part (aside from broccoli--formerly one of my favorite foods--now I can't touch it!!).

Exercise, well, that's been OK.  Three days a week sounds like its not a lot to commit to, but I've been so dang tired, often when I have a choice between taking a walk and taking a nap, well, the nap's been winning out.

At the end of the day, I've been good with my weight, though, which is the primary thing.  I've gained 20 pounds so far, which isn't IDEAL, but its not the end of the world, either.  And frankly, I'm feeling great--terrific, in fact!  So I can't complain...

I've been a member of WJ now for a full year.  This weekly reminder to keep my health goals top of mind has been fabulous for me.  I've enjoyed getting to know everyone in the group, and to hear your ideas, too.  I hope that during the coming year, my participation here will help me to healthfully lose the baby weight and to remember that this is all a journey!

Wishing a good week to everyone,
Denise

Good morning everyone!  I am so pumped!  Sara, I have to say this is because of your continuous support.  I have been exceeding my exercise goals and am proud to admit that I continue to introduce new options every week.  As mentioned previously, my last interval class was last week, so I have now substituted that with an AquaFit class on Mondays.  We as a family have also decided to invest in a Wii Fit!  We purchased it on Saturday evening, and to date, I have been on it for a minimum of 30 minutes each day.  I wish to continue regularly in the hope that I will see some weight loss.  Any fellow members been using this system?

Now with regards to new upcoming goals...the time has come to re-introduce proper calorie counting, because I know that it is important to understand my calorie intake, especially now that I have increased my exercise. 

I am so excited about this new found passion and pray to the Lord above that I not lose the drive to continue.

Happy LAM7!!!

Sara, thanks for the thoughts on city life. I am totally looking forward to some of the benefits you mentioned - though, the city we're moving to is still not as large as Toronto! :-) It seems like there's more crime in the new place, but there is also a lot more to do. I'll just have to be a little more careful about locking all the doors, securing valuables and whatnot. We will be closer to the ocean, though, so that will make finding seafood a little easier than it is now.

I'm a little nervous about the neighborhoods simply because it can be so easy to make a mistake, but since we're going to check places out in person in a couple weeks - it should be fine. Once, a friend of mine almost signed a lease on an apartment sight unseen, but went to check it out at the last minute and discovered the neighbors had been using it to raise ferrets...

I am not making that up. :-)

What's really stressing me out more than crime is thinking about leaving all my family and friends behind. However, this isn't the first time I've moved away, and really this is an opportunity to meet some new folks and see where life will lead! I'm looking forward to finding someone to teach me Modern Greek, to cooking in my own kitchen and to finding a new job. It's all an adventure, right?

This is all so off-topic! Thanks for reading.

Hi,

My exercise is on track. I have not been logging and have been eating terribly so that is totally off track. I have been working on getting my habits better under control - eat more slowly, sit down, etc.

I have not weighed myself since the 10lbs that I saw on there. I think I have lost weight but we will see when I get up my gumption.

On finding a good section of the city -- go look at the ratings for the schools in that city and the higher the school ratings then the better the section, generally.  

-Carol

Constanza Congratulations on writing the LSAT, that is quite an accomplishment in itself, I'm sure you did brilliantly. Let us know how the running shapes up.

Denise It's interesting to hear your changes in dietary likes and dislikes, hope the baby doesn't have an aversion to veggies. 

Lee-Anne Great to hear you so positive and successful on the exercise, and feel free to ask any questions of the group about food tracking.

Carry I'm of the opinion (and I say this holding an MA in political science security studies) that in so far as cities and crime... it is simply an issue of over reporting. In small cities local media outlets are so dependent on the success and brand of the community they are actively discouraged from writing anything that could paint the community as anything other than a picturesque community. Cities don't typically have this issue, people go to cities for work, education, culture and tourism generally regardless of the news (a few slight exceptions - are you moving to downtown Detroit?). I'm living in what is described as a 'transient' neighbourhood and one that was featured a few times in the 'summer of the gun' in Toronto. I have never witnessed a crime in my area, I have never been the victim of a crime (in this city). Carol has a good suggestion about looking at the school ratings, also, find the local city paper (NOW magazine in Toronto EYE weekly and a few others) if you read through some issues you'll get a good feel for the lay of the land. 

Check In

Well I did not do well at all on the food goal, although now that I'm working my days are tending to hover between 1800 - 2200 cal, which may make my 2,000 cal/day average a reality next round. 

On the gym, I'm on my hot list, I have 2 weeks of 4 done, I need to make it 2 more weeks, this being one of them... so my gym bag is packed and waiting for me. I know I can make it today and tomorrow. Thursday and Friday I have evening meetings, I'm going to have to hope that I can make it Thursday after my meeting.... Saturday I have rowing, but I have not been counting that as a gym day.... I suppose if I don't make it Thursday evening I could see what I am able to handle on a Friday morning, but I'm not hopeful. Maybe with a taxi it's doable? Can't do that often. 

CHECKIN:

Since I had only one goal set this phase, it is quite possibly easier for me to meet goal than those of you who had more demanding self-requirements. I am on track to stay at 100%. Yes, I moved during this session. Yes, it was hard. Yes, I even took a trip last weekend. But why do I still feel guilty?

HERE, I think is maybe one of my self-sabotage indicators. The guilty feeling of succeeding. I have to be careful here that I do not allow this to be a de-motivator.

I am heading out to the gym in a little while. First time this week, due to my little birthday mini-vacation, which was absolutely fabulous! I'll post a pic or two to show ya! Thanks to everyone for the well-wishes on that.

Hope everyone is well, and having healthgain thoughts.... I like what Germaica said about self-worth. This really applies to me here. I have to keep reminding myself that even though my goal was not "full-force" I had so much else going on! Next time, I'll ramp it up a little more so I can feel the challenge. It's almost as if I feel I made it too easy on myself, and my "value" is diminished because I know I can do more. And congrats Germaica! ...on starting your C25K. Keep in mind it doesn't matter how fast you go, or how far you go... just that you GO! I'm so happy for you! Another important thought is that you take manageable segments... Please don't over do it, I want you to remain encouraged!

Idea for next goal setting: I am hoping to involve my daughter (age 12, needs to lose about 50 lbs) in tracking her foods along with me. This will definitely keep me accountable. LOL!

Have a great evening!
~Julie

EDIT: Pics are up!

Hello everyone and happy Tuesday.

My goal check in....I was doing really well for awhile and was super pumped about loosing inches and a few pounds.  Then it seemed I lost my motivation.  I was extremely tired all the time and just thought it had to do with it being the end of the school year and me having to pack up everything because I'm moving to a new school.  Well after a couple of weeks of this feeling and coughing and post nasal drip I finally went to the dr.  Well, he told me I had a virus(this was last week) and prescribed me drops of the flu shot that I placed under my tongue that were supposed to jump start my immune system to fight this thing. Well now its been a week and I hated those drops.  they made my symptoms worse and tasted like metal. Now he says I have bronchitis(and a fever)and I have been prescribed antibiotics.  Since I've been dealing with this for weeks now I  feel "fine" because I've become accustomed to it.  I went to see my trainer who I only see 2x a month and she wouldn't even let me work out till Friday.  It is so hard not to beat myself up over this!  I know I need to rest but I also want to workout.  On a positive note I will jump back on the wagon though whenever I finally get better and the good thing is that in two weeks I will be work free for about 6 weeks and will have lots of time to catch up!

Hello all,

I'm not on this challenge, so I'll just give it out to everyone who's doing it, I am so amazed at your dedication and the way people fall off the wagon less than others in other groups. I wish I could be like you guys! I really do. I'll make this a long term goal.

Anyway my goal is this: 1200 calories/day when I'm not exercising (and actually logging it all). And 1400/day (on days when I exercise for a full hour). (At least 5 days of exercising per week)

Man, this week has been/still is one tough cookie. I've only got until Monday to finish writing the first draft of my graduation thesis/diploma paper, and I've never been more depressed. (told you about the study panics)

On top of it all my area was plagued with terrible storms this week and I've been getting the most terrible headaches. But these are all excuses. I've been exercising, although, not as much as I wanted to (due to all the rain, my most favourite activity was more or less stunted.) - on account of space I can't do my tapes right. (we're redecorating) - 4xweek but still not my favourites -Winsor Pilates [check], TaeBo [uncheck], 30 Days Shred [check]

Stress eating? Does it ever end? I haven't really gone over my maintenance calories, but I binge on the lamest things: apples, hummus, cherries (bowlfuls of cherries).

Again, I'm in love with this group,

Meri