Wagon Jumpers - May 11 - 17, 2008
THIS THREAD IS ON HOLD UNTIL I FIND OUT IF WE MUST BE LOCATED IN THE GAMES FORUM OR WILL BE MOVED BACK TO THE MOTIVATION FORUM.
VOLUNTEERS TO TAKE OVER THE THREAD ON THE GAMES FORUM ARE APPRECIATED.
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.
Each member on this thread (listed below) has agreed to check into the thread at least once per week. If any member does not check in by the end of the week, we ask all members to politely and positively PM that member and encourage them to make a post and stay on track (or get back on track).
If you would like to be a member of this thread, either leave a note here and I will add you, or send me a PM.
Wagon Jumpers Participants
Week 1 Survivors:
Supersized (myself)
New:
Jburgin - Thank you so much for the encouragement and for posting such a thought out response, that's exactly what I needed to get on with this!
I love the question "What Is My Wagon", if we don't all answer that this week as well I may steal it for next week's question.
I agree the term "off day" can be poorly used, my challenge is that I'm very much an all or nothing person. I need to be going to the gym 5 days a week eating not 1 calorie more than 1500 to typically feel "on plan". So my "off day" is a permission to allow myself to be reasonable, however a better / alternate term is appreciated as it's not supposed to allow me to jump into the ice cream tub.
I'm glad to hear that you are building your wagon slowly (or that's who I read it) you have some very ambitious but I think achievable goals.
I really like the imagery of the wagon as the vehicle to a destination. That is what I am striving for the most as a weight loss philosophy that I need sound foundations and best practices to not only allow me to reach my goals but to sustain them once they are reached.
Cheers,
Sara.
Good morning Wagoneers! Another wonderful morning of calorie counting and water drinking has begun for most of us. I'm being sarcastic of course. Mornings are rough around here.
Anyhoo, dropping in to share this link I found on lifehacker.com, it's a link to a website that has a grocery list template filled with categories of healthy foods you could use next time you shop. I like the concept, but don't really think it's for me. It doesn't mean I won't share the love.
http://lifehacker.com/389604/eat-healthy-with -grocery-list-templates
enjoy and have a good day
Sara~ Awesome job on going to bat for our thread! I think I can safely say that we ALL appreciate it!
jburgin~ Thanks for the thread, I'll have to check it out....
I think for me, the wagon is MAINTAINING healthy life. I have NO problems starting it and doing it right....I just let the little excuses take over. I end up rewarding myself for a job well done....and the reward lasts for days! I need to get over my mentality of restriction vs reward.....that being healthy and dropping the weight WILL BE the reward itself! The feeling I get when I put on clothes and don't hate how I look is the reward, not the food I eat after saying no to it and working out all the time! Ugh! haha
So far i've been on my diet for a little over 2 weeks and i've been doing really good....exercising daily, drinking plenty of water and staying away from junk food. Hopefully i can keep it up!!!!
As for another term for "off day", I like to call it a "maintenance day". I can eat a little more than my "weight loss" calories, but not so much that I'd be going over my "maintenance" calories. Make sense? In general, though, I try to just let myself enjoy treats on occasion...if I think of a whole day as different from any other, I tend to go overboard, but that's just me.
I would love to be a part of this group. I NEED accountability, since I am beginning to feel that I just can't trust myself when it comes to binge eating anymore. I virtually starve myself all day, which is a feat since I work in a restaurant and serve delicious food all day long. I am able to resist it, but I wake up starving and then I eat non-stop.
I've been battling all kinds of eating disorders for years now, and I'm tired of feeling controlled by this. I hate the way I look. I hate buying clothes. I hate that everything on my life is being put on hold. I'm tired of saying "I'll do this and that when I'm thin". I want to feel positive and peaceful.
I hope it's not too late for me to join this group. This is such a great idea!
anyway the last two days have been pretty good. I mentally started opening the wagon door, but closed it both times before I actually did anything, so that was good.
I will write more later, hope you are all doing well,
Jane
I am OFF the wagon and currently underneath the front wheels. I conciously let myself get bounced right off the back. I am right back to eating to relieve stress and boredom. It's the end of the grocery week for me and I have no motivation to chop vegetables that are wilting or make that fabulous low-cal vinaigrette that got me through the first three weeks a CC.com.
Every day I wake up and plan to get back on the wagon, but by 1:00 p.m. I just jump.
I know I can do this, but I don't want to right now. Not today. Maybe tomorrow.
Anyway these are just my thoughts. I don't know if they are helpful today, but maybe another day they will help.
I am SO glad this thread is back up! Okay, so now for my responses to this week's topic:
Have you just got back on the wagon? Have you been on for awhile and your motivation is slipping? Are you barely hanging on? Picking yourself up after having been run over by the wagon? Or climbing back on board? Can you identify why you are currently in this phase, and do you have a plan to get back on / stay on and try to break the cycle?
I am currently brushing myself off and sheepishly climbing back on the wagon. I did really well from about June until December of last year. And then a running injury combined with the holidays and a new guy in my life derailed me (not that it was his fault--it was just so much nicer to stay in bed and cuddle than get up and go to the gym...well, that and dinners out...). Anyway, I put on about 10 lbs and now I'm ready to take it back off in a healthy manner. Support, however, may be necessary and is ALWAYS greatly appreciated! My plan is stick to my schedule (gym- and food-wise) as much as possible, but to allow myself to deviate a little more than in the past. It seems that the stricter I get with myself, the more likely I am to crash and burn...
Come to think of it maybe this was a good experience, we crashed the wagon, and now it is back up and running..... just stay with the positive Sara, stay with the positive (that's my Dad's voice lecturing me).
Cook like jburgin, I think I'm mostly a recipe shopper (I pull out the recipe and buy that) I think that comes from living in a large city and shopping or one (yes, I have a partner, yes he has to fend for himself - HAHA!).
Hopeful 31 - Welcome to the Group! We'll keep each other going!
Healthfirst - Welcome to the Group! Any insights into what stage of on, off, staring again, having a productive ride you are in?
Marlasing - Welcome to the Group! I know the hate, I'm tired of the hate as well. I'm trying to work on accepting myself and being kinder to my physical self regardless of it's shape, that would of course be easier if it's shape was a bit more pleasing, I'm working on convincing myself that kinder to my body means a healthy lifestyle which will mean a more pleased and pleasing body.
Tally-Ho - YOU CAN DO THIS! What is ONE thing, and ONE thing only that you will do tomorrow to start getting back on the wagon?
DC_Runner81 - Welcome to the Group! Ah, you and me similar pattern, I'm a long jumper I can go 3 - 6 months easy and then I let life derail me. I'm also the type to get really strict with myself as a perfect recipe for crash and burn! So keep us updated, and don't run away if you feel yourself slipping, we can do this!
Okay, my update: Did okay yesterday I ate under cal, got some stuff done around the house and caught up on a bit of reading. My bookkeeping and career planning remain non-existent.
Today is a bit better, I've made it to the gym YAY (for the first of 4 weekly work outs, 3 more to go - sigh) and I met my 2 hours at the gym today for the first time DOUBLE YAY without too much pain (uh, I may edit that last bit in the morning). I'm not too hopeful on getting the bookkeeping and career planning going today but I need to light a fire under them soon.
So, off the site, and time to go do stuff in the real world.
Cheers,
Sara.
I'm a wagon crasher, too! I think I fell off in front of a winter-long, all-you-can-eat buffet. <sigh>
Round 3: "Third time's a charm." Or "Strike 3, I'm out??" Hopefully not the latter . .
Honestly, I have the hardest time staying committed to what I know is a healthier lifestyle. I could come up with excuses--health issues, family issues, work stress, etc.--but it all boils down to me. I take responsibility. I have (again) slipped up and gained back some of the weight I lost the first year here. I feel worse physically, and am not as happy, and even though I know it is all for me to do . . . I NEED motivation and accountability.
SOOOOO, if you're all willing to have me join and don't mind kicking my B-hind every now and then (and, of course, positive reinforcement also helps), then I'm IN! :)
For those who don't know me, I started on CC almost two years ago at 284 and lost 75 pounds. Then, I slipped up for 4 months, stopped posting, and ate--pardon the expression--crap. I regained 30 pounds, got fed up (literally! :D), started posting daily again, and lost another 15 in 5 months. Then, just like a bad B-horror flick, the hunger beast possessed me again, and I fell off the wagon. Now, I've regained the 15 AND 10 more. So, now I'm officially down only 30 or so pounds (yep, back at 253).
If I can get going, make healthy eating and moderate exercise a habit, and post every week day or two, I am really motivated and good at this, so that's my pledge. To start, I am trying for 1500-1600 cals a day and 30-45 minutes of cardio plus weights twice a week. Eventually, I'll work in more exercise, but for now, I think that's a good place to start since I hyper-extended my knee this winter on the ice and have some ligaments still healing.
What do you think? Is there room for one more? If so, please add me to the list!
Please feel free to add me as a friend if any of this sounds familiar or you'd like to have me help keep you on track, too. I'm off to adjust my profile numbers upward. . . . hopefully, from here on out, all changes will be DOWN! :)
Writestuff - welcome to the Group! I was actually the team captain of the first Gut Busters challenge group on this forum I guess that would almost be a year and a half ago now.
Yup, we're all familiar with falling off the wagon here, so we're not as focused on the actual pound / inches lost (of course I think we all want to get that or maintain it) as focusing on how long we can stay on track.
It's only been 1.5 weeks so far but starting this thread has helped keep me on track. I hope it works of all of us long term.
Cheers,
Sara.
I need a swift kick in the pants. I want to do this. why do I keep sabotaging my diet?
love, Karen
Good morning everyone!
I need to go to the gym.
I need to stop looking at the computer.
I need to eat breakfast, then go to the gym.....
where am i on the wagon?? i am hanging on by the tag of my shirt and letting the wheel run over my big toes.
my biggest issue is time. i don't have time to exercise like i'd like to. i work full-time during the day, my husband works full-time at night, we share a car, and i have a three year old. we don't live in the suburbs, but more like....out in the boonies and on a main highway. i got a bike for mother's day with a trailer on the back to pull my little tiny binky baby in....but i've had a few mishaps since sunday.
sunday--the wind was blowing SO hard here that while i was going DOWNHILL i could hardly pedal. (the hill was steep enough that on a regular day, i wouldn't have had to pedal at all.) monday--i'm pumping the pedals as hard as i can and i notice that my handlebars are wobbling from side to side...but just a little, so i keep going. HA. they almost came all the way off...and they flipped downward and i had to get off and walk. tuesday--little tiny binky baby said she didn't want to go for a bike ride, but she wanted to go for a walk...so we ventured out onto the highway. traffic wasn't heavy, but people are just rude. i mean, here we are walking along the side of the road and these looney drivers won't even change lanes to get away from the outside lane...even when the other lane was completely empty. as if they were saying, "oh well if i hit your ass...you shouldn't be out here trying to walk on the highway." it's not an INTERSTATE. it's just a main road...but it wasn't busy. jerks.
i've been eating GREAT for the past year, but only because i LOVE healthy foods. i don't like junk food, fried food, grease...etc. so i'm good in this area.
my goal...is to exercise some EVERYDAY.
i did get to do 100 crunches last night, 100 front kicks on each leg, 100 donkey kicks on each leg, 20 side kicks on each leg, and leg lifts. i rode my bike a little up and down the "road" we live on, but it was only for about 10 minutes.
i'm running a marathon on saturday...so i really need to get a good run in before then. i have a softball game tonight, so i won't get to run. possibly tomorrow and friday.
please put your foot in my butt and give me ideas of how to make time to exercise. i already get up at 5:00 a.m. and work until 5:00 pm, my husband goes to work at 5:30 p.m. and i'm with my little tiny binky baby until morning with no car...out in the middle of nowhere....and i have no cable.
help, friends.
Hey guys!
Well, I did VERY bad eating yesterday....I did get a workout in, and some little extras....but my calories were WAY high and WAY fatty. Ugh. Today is hard to be on the wagon......
Well, I've been back "on the wagon" since the weekend, and until this morning had NO weight loss. That, my friends, has changed! This morning, when I was thinking guiltily about how I actually ate 80 calories above my "goal" for the day yesterday, I got on the scale and--lo and behold--I had lost 4 pounds. Whoo hoo! :D
I needed that. :)
Anyhow, eating seems to be getting back on track, but I'm still in the "hungry all the time" phase. Exercise still isn't really happening, but I did garden for 30 minutes and spend 3 hours doing dishes, cleaning/mopping the kitchen, and cleaning the bathroom yesterday and worked up a sweat, so maybe that's a start???
Hang in there, everybody! We can do this!!
Well, looks like slipping off the wagon is catching up to me at long last. I wondered how long it would take. So I've been pretty good since last Monday -- which for me means eating somewhere between my BMR and maintenance (1400-1800 cals, roughly), with one cheat meal Saturday that probably took me only slightly above maintenance, plus going to the gym three times per week and taking long walks (I really like walking) the other days. Yup, check, all accomplished. And today I'm two pounds heavier than a week ago.
I'm not freaking out about it -- eating poorly for the past couple of months was bound to catch up to me eventually. And it's only two pounds -- four pounds heavier than my lowest weight sometime in February. It's just been a struggle for every half pound lost along the way, and frustrating to gain when I'm finally back on track. I know I'm already a healthy BMI, and it's much harder to lose from here, but that's why being back up again is so irritating -- it's going to take me another two months to lose this again, because I'm losing so slowly. Which is fine -- I love food, I'm not going to restrict drastically and make myself miserable just to drop a couple more pounds, I'd much rather take half a year to lose ten pounds and be happy. But still. Argh.
I hope everyone else is doing well!
