Wagon Jumpers - March 15 - 21st, 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 a waiting list of 5 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. 

Wagon Jumpers Participants

Week 45 Riders:

Supersized (myself)

Week 41 Riders:

Msmeg1984

Defrog3

Week 36 Riders - Congratulations on 9 Months!:

Wenchie58

Week 35 Riders:

Raven21

Tiegurl

Week 31 Riders:

The_Vitamin_Dominatrix

Week 30 Riders:

Kyashiis

Unlimitedana

Week 25 Riders:

Nannygabber

Week 21 Riders:

Lam7

Week 19 Riders:

Maureenz - Holiday to March 23rd, 2009

Week 17 Riders:

Cawilder

Week 16 Riders - Congratulations on 4 Months!:

Carryonandon

Figurethefat

Week 15 Riders:

Pelkeyjm

Week 14 Riders:

Constanza

Week 13 Riders:

Germaica

Week 12 Riders - Congratulations on 3 Months!:

Jessicaanne2001

Missing In Action:

Missing In Action - 1 Week:

Missing In Action - 2 Weeks:

Letsgetitstarted

Current Membership: 20

Current Waiting List: 5

Outstanding Wait List Invites: 0

12 Week CONSISTENCY GOALS

(as set w/o January 11th, 2009)

By April 4th, I will be...

Letsgetitstarted - consuming an average of 1,500 cal/day and 3 times a week for a minimum 30 minutes. 

Jessicaanne2001 - exercising 5 days a week for at least 30 minutes, and logging my food daily. 

Supersized - logging all of my daily calories and eating in a calorie range of no more than 2,000 cal/day and no less than 1,500 cal/day (calculated by weekly averages). 

Figurethefat - exercising a minimum of 1,500 minutes each month, and I will restrict using the scale to two weigh-ins per week on Monday and Friday. 

Unlimitedana - eating between 1,500 - 1,600 cal/day and exercising three time a week. 

Cawilder - maintaining a 500 - 1,000 calorie deficit on a daily basis measured by my food log and, working out 5 to 6X per week combo of cardio and lifting. 

Carryonandon - maintaining 300 - 500 calorie deficit daily and, exercising 3x per week. 

Raven21 - drinking a minimum of 4 bottles (2L) of water daily and, exercising a minimum of 3X per week. 

Nannygabber - doing the NROLFW program 3 times per week, and I will establish a 40/30/30 (Carb/Fat/Protein) macronutrient pattern on a weekly average for a minimum of 5 weeks of the next 12. 

Germaica - exercising 3 times a week and logging my food for at least 4 days per week. 

Pelkeyjm - logging my food daily and exercising at least 3x per week for at least 30 minutes. 

The_Vitamin_Dominatrix - logging my caloric intake on calorie count at least six days every week and, exercising in the gym at least 3 days each week. 

Tiegurl - eating 1,500 - 2,000 calories and exercising 5x a week. 

Kyashiis - running 20 kilometers a week and making progress on the number of repetitions in my calisthenic exercises (starting at: 20 push ups, 30 sit ups, 0 chin ups, 2x 30 sec plank, 20-30 jump rope)

Lam7 - Logging all daily calories at least 6 times a week and, exercising minimum 40 minutes 3x per week. 

Msmeg1984 - Following the 40-30-30 diet guidelines in NROLFW and working out 3 a week NROLFW plan. 

Constanza - using the CC food log every day and, exercising an average of 4 times per week across the 12 weeks. 

Defrog3 - eating with improved nutritional quality of food, specifically ensuring that I am getting enough daily protein and carbs and, walking six miles a week weather permitting. 

Wenchie58 - keeping my calorie intake between 1,400 - 1,500 a day and, drinking at least 2 liters of water daily. 

Previous Threads:

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

Wagon Jumpers - November 9 - 15th, 2008

Wagon Jumpers - November 2 - 8th, 2008

Wagon Jumpers - October 26 - November 1st, 2008

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

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: GOAL CHECK IN 3/4

January 11th, 2009 seems like an eternity ago to me right now. We are now 3/4 of the way through our 12-week goals with 3 weeks left to go until we report and set new goals. How are you doing on your goal? If you are not on track is 3 weeks time enough time to get on track? If not, what will you do differently next time to make sure that your goal is achievable? If you are on track, how will you make sure to stick it out for the last three weeks?

New Members 

Way back in December when we were 30, a few members dropping out said that they felt the group was too large, I took a survey and most group members wanted to reduce the size. We are now officially 20 members. I will not be reducing the group size any further from this point forward. There are many groups on CC that cater to 'small an intimate' of 10 people or less. At this point I feel the group size is more than manageable and I'm concerned that less people will mean a less active thread where people have limited content to come to for motivation.

It's always sad to loose members, but life happens, and as time goes on this may not be the right place for right now. Members who drop out (I've never had to ban anyone) are always welcome to come back, they will need to come back through the waiting list, if there is one. Going forward any member who drops out will be replaced by someone from the waiting list or the general membership. Please welcome our new members as they arrive. 

I'm predicting a 50/50 on my goal for this time. I've taken a break from NROLFW to get myself focusing on eating right again and getting into a schedule. I hope to start NROLFW up again, but i just have some things i need to get together first. 

My eating is going well and im pretty close to gettin 40-30-30 in the overall picture.  I've dropped my calories down to 1600 to kickstart m weightloss again, and in the process i've lost almost 2lbs this week.

Setting mini goals for myself is working wonders. I am so motivated to work toward my reward that I am making much smarter choices, exercising harder and warding off the snack attacks!

Thats all I have time for right now. I'll check in later this week!

I totally get what your saying about setting mini goals for yourself.  For years and even most of my time on wagon jumpers I have been focussing more on the end goal.  I was constantly thinking about how great I would feel if just got down to X pounds.   Ya, its great to think about the end product and for some thats all the motivation they need but for me it just wasnt working.  Like I mentioned on last weeks thread I have been eating healthy for breakfast and lunch and felt much better about myself for doing so.  This week I worked out 3  times  using the couch to 5k program and have been logging almost everyday.  I am back on track and am already seeing results.  I weighed myself on the gym scale and it had me down 6 pounds from the last time  I weighed myself there(over a month ago).  I then checked the results on my scale and at the doctors office and sure enough I've lost 5!  Yippie!  These kind of small min-goals are what I personnally need to keep on being successful.  My mini-goal for this week is to stay on track.  It will be a test of my new found success because I am on spring vacation(I am a teacher) with more time to eat and will also be going to the beach for a girls trip(lots of eating out and alchohol).  I know I can do it and if I do slip up a bit I plan on getting right back on track!

A big Thank you to everyone here!  I'm glad that even when I lost my motivation there were people out there to help me!  Yippie 3 months!

Sara  - thanks for the 4 month note! I am excited to still be here after that long. Just checking in with the group helped me develop a better discipline about logging my calories, etc., which led to not falling off the wagon during a down period (discussed a bit further below).

Well, I'm at about 75% of my goal as I've been logging calories pretty well and am more active at getting my goal of exercising 3x a week built into my schedule. I've generally been pretty good at logging (with minor lapses), but I've never been very good at keeping exercising a part of my life.

Right now, the exercise thing is partly being driven by the fact that the weather is nicer. My husband and I are about to go for a walk, for instance! Also, we've signed up for a nearby gym that we can walk to.

Based on my interpretation of good goal setting, I've done a great job! I respond best to goals that seem difficult to reach but not impossible to reach. Also, I'm more likely to at least get partway to my goal if it's higher. If it's too low, I might not do it at all. (Management research tends to support this view in terms of motivation for most people, though).

I had a bit of a setback in mid-Jan after coming back from vacation where I was eating whatever I wanted but still losing weight because of all the walking we were doing. Coming back to the deep freeze and less healthy food alternatives was hard to dig myself out of for the first part of our 12-week goal setting. However, I'm back to better eating habits again! I'm not much of a gym person, but as long as this is the lifestyle culture I live in, I guess it's a necessity.

OK - gotta run. Hope everyone has a great week!

-Carrie

I am also 50/50 on my goals. I've been making it a point to go to the gym and have been doing a lot of cardio lately. This week however we are moving apartments and didn't go at all, but lifting and all that stuff has been quite a workout itself.

Despite my good effort in the workout department, my eating habits have been so so. Like I mention we're moving and convenience food became more accessible than good home cooked meals so my caloric intake has been through the roof. I plan to resume my gymtastic schedule at the end of this week. I just have to keep on keepin' on and focus on my improvements, especially in exercise.

I hope everyone has a super awesome week!!!!

Jen.

Hi, 

Well almost back to not sick but not quite.  What is with a nagging fever? A low grade one but still it keeps hanging on. 

So, on the food thing - I was GREAT this week as I did not eat anything. Go figure with stomach flu - it really does knock any notions of food out of ya!! After a week I am just starting to have an appetite for anything other than toast and ginger ale. 

Exercise - NOPE - not no way no how this week. So, big ZERO on that one. 

Overall, I would say that I am at about 75% but the weight has not changed. I do feel more in control though - I just don't know really where to start playing with my diet or exercise. I have decided that I am going to start to move more to replacing some carb calories with protein calories and see what happens.  I do want to get back to NROLFW but I think I will start back at stage 1 again and build up. 

I am hoping to get back to running in the woods - since the time changed the light is out until 6PM now so I can squeeze a late run in if my husband is home to watch my daughter.  I miss the woods. 

On the personal front, things are getting much better now that my husband is back to work and traveling. I love him dearly but we both need our space and our "alone" time. I think this has lowered my stress level.  I am a stress / emotional eater - I try to be conscious but it just kinda takes over sometimes and then the chips are gone!! , etc. 

It sounds like most of us do know what are our weak points in our strategy. I just wonder how we can be more proactive to get over / around / under them for success. I have not figured out the golden rule yet! 

weekly check in:

I've been okay this week, exercise has been great because weather has been good as well.

This week's topic:

I believe I will accomplish 75% of my goal. I moved recently so that shook up my routine and took me a while to get completely back on track. Hopefully I will be able to reach my goal  completely the next time-

Well I am pleased to say I am on track to 100% completion of my goal! I had set a goal of working out at least 3 days a week and most weeks I worked out 5-6 days (due mostly to the fact that the gym at my work opened and also having a work out buddy, unfortunately she is gone now ). I have also succeeded in drinking at least 2L of water daily if not more. I am very excited to be on track for my goals and although I haven't noticed any real change as far as weightloss I do feel fitter. I am already thinking ahead to the next 12 wk goal and now that I have the exercise and water part down it's time to focus on my diet. I have already started mini steps by trying to cut out processed foods and refined sugars/carbs.

Congrats to everyone for making strides on your goals even with all the challenges that life throws at us. Thanks to everyone in this group for sharing your challenges and triumphs, they help keep me motivated and let me know I'm not the only one

Well I must get cracking on work, lots to do, many changes in the company and it's increased my workload a lot, makes me wonder if stress in impacting my weightloss??? Not much I can do about it at the moment, just keep on trucking.

Happy Monday everyone!

Raven

Weekly checkin:

I thought I would have a good week and get my mini goal of 12 kilometers run for the week which I am building up to 20K a week.  I did get a 5-6K run in.  I got into a frenzy of calisthenics at the beginning of the week and did really well except all the jumping around led to my ankles swelling and aching a bit.  I learned something though about how much stress I put on my ankles.  I have been being more careful.  ; (

On where I am at in reaching my goals:

I'm at 50 percent, but it doesn't make me happy because I want to increase my running time, and that isn't happening. 

My goal is 50% related to running and 50% related to increasing my calisthenic exercise time....  The calisthenics program is well ahead of schedule.  I've increased all my repititions more than I ever expected and need to set the bar higher for my year-long goals.  I guess I should be happy about that. 

LOL, I could grab the bar and "hang" for a chin up the other day.  I couldn't even hang from the bar in December, so that is real progress.  All those planks and push ups are helping me make progress there.

MsMeg You already know I'm a big believer in the mini-goal. I just can't keep my eye on the ball so to speak when the goal is a long way off. I'm glad you've found something to help pull you back towards your larger goals.

Jesica I'm trying to push myself to eat breakfast regularly, it's always interested me how much these seemingly small things can really impact energy levels and the overall ability to meet the larger goals.

Carrie I think part of goal setting is recognizing what works for us as individuals. For me personally while in my academic and career life I do need to set high goals that I may not achieve, but will have a sense of accomplishment for getting part or most of the way there, I've figured out that in my personal life I need to actually achieve the goal. The simpler the goal sounds the more achievable I need to be. In this context if I don't manage to get a campaign I'm working on through to legislation but I do raise awareness by 60% then I'm feeling pretty good. On the other hand if I was supposed to get to the gym 3x/week and I only went 2x/week I beat myself up. Long story short keep focused on what motivates you to do the work. 

Jen I'm sure you'll get back to the healthy eating when you have a nice clutter free kitchen to try out. I've never successfully eaten well when I'm moving. Not sure it's possible.

Carol I'm glad things seem to be calming down for you on the health and home fronts. I'm also enjoying the extended day and finding much of my energy is returning now that I don't want to crawl back into bed at 4pm. I think you're on the right track with increasing the protein, Julie has had some pretty good success with the complexes for fat loss program. 

Ana Don't sneeze at 75% it's still working towards the goal. Doing nothing is actually going backwards, so as long as there is effort. 

Raven Sorry you lost your work out buddy! Great job on making so much progress on your goal!

Kyashiis Great job on bringing the calisthenics up, you were quite worried about that one last check in. How is the weather over there now? Better for running? Spectacular on the 'hang' I remember when I first looked at a calisthenics workout program I had no idea how to go about it, I couldn't do (still can't) a chin up or a push up at the time, now I can do the push up but I'm still working on the chin up by slowly trying to lower myself from the bar. I really need a calisthenics for beginners, which was somewhat provided in NROLFW to work my way up to the full exercises. 

Cheers,

Sara.

Weekly Check-In

This week was less than spectacular. I felt like I was moving through jello or honey or something all week. I never seemed to manage to get my ducks in a row so to speak and I missed my calorie goal and a lot of personal goals.

Missing the food goal saw my weight go up above my 3lb cycle mark so I'm looking to see if it will come back down this week and hopefully within my regular cycle.  

Nothing to do but pick myself up and get back to it.

Goal Check In

Despite the slip up my goals are still achievable I'm aiming for 2,200 cal/day this week, which will get me to 2,000 cal/day by the goal date. I have been diligent about logging all food. I will likely drop that goal next round and start to work on calorie maintenance and adding exercise. 

Sara.

Weekly Check-in:  Well so far so good.  I have been eating well, and yes, I am back to logging my food.  I have been increasing the exercise thing, I guess because I am so excited about joining a walking club in the new town we moved to.  It is March break for us and the kids, and so we my youngest, his friend and I just came back from a wonderful 1 hour walk.  The boys passed a ball with sticks as we walked, and I admired the new neighbourhood, listening to the birds, and taking in yes...some of that spring smell of "manure".  LOL!

Goal Check-in:  Despite the fact that I know about eating proper foods, and had been so active - really non-stop on my feet, caring for my parents and settling them in, along with house renovations, I must be honest and say, I believe I have been unsuccessful this round.  I say this because I have nothing that is measurable to really know if I did well or not.  In fact, I believe my exercise may of surpassed my calorie intake, therefore resulting in a probable negative affect on my body.  Would I maintain the same goals next round, not exactly.  I believe I must log my calories and exercise diligently, and consistently to ensure that I achieve the desired results, which is weight loss.  Without the data, I am getting nowhere.  I have also learned that exercise need not be in a gym.  When I look back at the long hours over the last two weeks, of which I had been constantly on my feet, and indulged in the renovations (yes, I actually loved taking down door trim, drywall and baseboards, etc; and the great feeling I sensed in the morning (muscle pain), I realised how important it is to nourish your body accordingly to avoid the thought of it going into starvation mode.  I was truly burning more than I was taking in, and that was not good.  Therefore, I believe I need to work to reword my goals as to maintain enough proper deficiency between calorie intake and exercise so that overall progress report for next round is positive.

I have also learned that the added exercise I have been doing is really influencing my confidence and commitment.  I just love that feeling!!!!!  This feeling is one I wish to hold on to.

Thanks for listening, and I wish you all a great remainder of the week!

Lee-Anne

Eek!  I'm back!  I'm back!  Scrambling back onto the wagon after too much time away from home and schedule, more later!

First off, I can't believe I've been in this group for 4 months already!  If only I'd got back on track straight away I'd probably be at my goal weight by now, but I didn't really start concentrating until the end of December! 

I'm kicking ass on my goals, been doing 1,750 minutes a month rather than the original 1,500 I set for a goal.  It was a slog in February because of the shorter month, but I'm easily on track this month so woot!

As for the other goal, I have been weighing only on Friday and Monday but once I had to weigh in on a different day because I wasn't home.  I have to use "my" scale, of course, on "my" bathroom floor, in the morning, on the weigh in day.  So not 100% on that, but may 95% :)

I'm looking forward to setting some new goals in 3 weeks.  Thanks for the heads up on that Sara.  It takes a while for me to formulate, and as you said before, I want to go for something manageable, yet still a challenge.

On Sunday night I went out for Mexican.  I can usually eat out a few times during the week with no damage done, but because it was right before the weigh-in on Monday I was up 1/2 a pound.  I tried on some pants though for inspiration and was able to fit into another pair, so it's all good.  I'm looking to be out of the 120s come April.  

Great group, nice to be accountable every week and do the check-in, and have the goals on top of that.  Thanks for reading and stick with your plans everyone!!

Off track. Can't believe its three weeks left. It's definitely time to get back on track. I'm on and I'm off butI recently enlisted my sister on my journey. I have been bad with exercise and she is now my exercise partner. I haven't been eating good but its the time of the month and I have been foinf at everything. I'm getting back on track. I can make it in the three weeks.

Hi all!

First things first: this week's topic

Well, I'm definitely behind on my target :(  the vacation was a bit of a setback, though not much.  I kept a log of everything I ate (although I'm definitely behind on entering it all into my online record) and managed to get some exercise, if not enough.  But then I got back stateside, got sick, and it all went haywire.  Groan.  Still, despite the setbacks I managed to maintain my weight (probly because of the illness rather than stellar portion control!) so I'm glad I didn't lose ground on progress.  It'll be an interesting exercise to rethink the goals for next round, in light of what I learned.  I'm -12 on exercise days (so if I exercised every single day from here on I'd still be down three at the end) and I may be able to make up the log for the days after I got back, but I'm not quite sure.  

Weekly check-in:

I'm fiiinally back in my own house after a whole month away, and I'm more than a little excited to be in control of things again.  It's always a struggle for me to get back into a routine.  After we got to the in-law's from our overseas trip I got the nastiest stomach bug, lived on jello and chicken broth for a couple days and got completely thrown from my plan.  Naturally (!), I put the health/calorie count catching up at the bottom of the list, so it's taken me a while to get back here! I think what I'm going to do is try to get back to the weekly plan, rather than try to make it all up in the next three weeks.  I'll do extra days if I can, but I'm thinking it'll be an easier transition if I don't beat myself up to make the numbers.  In the next 12-week goal I'm going to try to build in some wiggle room for illness and the like. 

Hi Everyone,

I am a bit delayed on checking in this week, it is "Spring Break" for my kids, and they are here visiting all week long.

The good news is, I am taking this opportunity to educate my youngest daughter (who weighs more than me) on eating healthy, and getting in her exercise. We have been swimming every day so far, and tonight will do a Zumba class! She is loving it all, and is very receptive.

I have to do some figuring to see how close I am to reaching my goals, but will have to do that later on. Maybe late tonight.

Just wanted to say HEY!

Be back soon, have a healthgain day!
~Julie

Lee-Anne Sounds like you had a moment where the penny dropped. So many of us catch the message about low calorie and never figure out that we do in fact need to feed our bodies to have the energy to exercise and build the muscle and structure that we want to support a healthy, strong, fit body. 

Laura Great job exceeding your goals! Doesn't it feel nice to be ready to say that you have achieved your goals!

Tiegurl Sorry you are off track, at least you are trying to get back to it. I've found having a live person motivate me has really made a big difference on if I get my butt to the gym or not.

Contanza Sorry you got sick. I find that it's these curves that life throws us, the little bits outside of the routine that makes habit forming very difficult. We almost 'reset' to what we think was normal. I keep reminding myself that if I do manage to set up a new normal then my reset will be to that. In the past year logging and counting has become an easy reset, now I need control and exercise to come. 

Julie Have a great march break with your kids, and if your daughter is having fun I'm sure it has the potential to form good habits for a lifetime.

Cheers,

Sara.

I don't usually do product promotions, especially unsolicited ones, but I have to give credit to Mac and more specifically Mac service. I switched to a mac about a year ago. I was really worried at first, especially the ability of mac to simulate windows and for my boss who is a PC fanatic not to know the difference with the mac documents. Well that worked out very well, and in the year I've had the macbook I haven't had a freeze, or any crashes... I use computers easily 8 - 10 hours a day, they travel with me and I'm rough on them. For background I typically ended up buying a new PC every 18 months, because they got so corrupted, overheated and slow that they were cheaper to replace than fix. 

So, when mac crashed on Monday I was almost ready to eat my words about how good mac was, it wasn't 'worse' than PC but it had crashed...

Then I called mac service, while I had backed up my work files, I had not backed up my personal files well. I called mac phone tech support and they walked me through the file recovery... okay... files safe, but computer still sick... then they set me up with an in-person tech support within 2 hours... I went and they fixed EVERYTHING in 40 minutes. 

I have every e-mail, every address book entry, all of my calendar appointments and of course all documents. Not a single iity bity thing was lost! 

If I wasn't cult of mac before I am now...

And to relate this to my diet, my daily goals which are a note function of my mail are in tact, I didn't loose a single day of entering in my food log, and all of my body measurements are in tact as part of my documents. Happy Day!

Sara.

Sara- That makes me sooooooooo super excited. I'm about to buy my first mac within a few weeks because I'm a graphic design student and NEED to get acquainted with one asap. I was a little nervous since my boyfriend is a programmer/analyst at the local university and said that they were expensive to fix blah blah blah don't get one. Now I feel much better knowing that it was that easy to fix it on your own. I've had my troubles with my pc laptop and definitely back up my files religiously.

P.S. Moving is almost done and I'm starting to get back on track. Instead of a quarter pounder with cheese from McD's last night, I opted for the salad. Better choices is all I need.

Jen