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)

Jane3001

JCR

Shrinking_Caro

Newsjunkie1

Juicer17

Safina1

Tamarbee

Karenie

Kreitter

Kaydeefalls

Thin27

Jburgin

Vicki8seekers

FantasyFlight

Tally-Ho

Got2getthin

New:

Hopeful31

 

Jan, Thanks so much for the encouragement. I just feel I don't want to do it anymore. I don't know why.

Hey guys! good to see everyone's posting! hoooraaaah!

I've been doing ok (thanks for asking Sara).....I basically am still on the wagon. I've had some 'iffy' days, but not BAD days.....I have been getting in my workouts, just need better eating! haah

ok, here's my first real check-in post/letting everyone know my story...

with the wagon metaphor...i guess i'm supposed to be in the wagon?  lol.  so i guess mostly i've been trotting alongside it.  or meandering near the creek.  i keep saying i'm going to lose weight, and i actually did it in 2004, lost 47 pounds.  but all but 10 or 15 came back.  at my highest weight i was probably about 235, and i want to get down to about 143.  i'm 5'5" and currently weigh 200 lbs.  (this is after a week or so of being REALLY strict with myself) 

one of my huge problems is of this being an all or nothing thing.  either i'll be doing great and feel wonderful, or mess up a little and say, never mind, screw the diet.  i just have to KEEP this on project status, and not let myself even miss a day of good diet/exercise, because i'll use that as an excuse and not do it anymore.  or i'll be so good all week, and then completely blow it on the weekend.  booze, fried foods, pizza, and no exercise. 

anyway.  i'm just looking for some accountability here...someone to check in with and maybe challenge me for how much weight i lose each week.   also, i could use confirmation of if i'm doing enough/the right thing.  i am keeping to between 1300-1600 calories each day and doing 500 calories worth of exercise (DDR, and in the summer i hope to add weight-lifting) every day, setting my activity level to sedentary and then logging the exercise.  with that it says i burn 2460 each day.  i am looking at that as a 1000 calorie deficit most days.  is this good/right/normal/healthy?

thanks so much guys!

Happy Friday everyone!  I've had a really good week (week 2 of my renewed commitment to the wagon), and I'm hoping I can follow it up with a good (or at least not so bad) weekend.  I definitely understand igrratu when you say that you have trouble making it "all or nothing".  We all know that's not a good or helpful attitude to have, but sometimes our minds just won't obey! 

I have lots of trouble on the weekends as well.  I usually eat out a lot, drink a lot, and exercise a little.  I have found, though, that the longer I keep it up during the week, the easier it starts to be on the weekends.  I don't ever expect myself to be as strict on the weekends as I am during the week, but I just make an effort to make healthier choices, such as a light beer instead of a margarita or steamed veggies with my wrap instead of fries.  After all, it's all of those little things that really count, right?

I hope all of y'all have a great weekend!  I will be back on Monday!!

I need a leg transplant..... do they do that? How about those mechanical legs? They look nice and strong and not hurting. I swear my legs are hurting so much I've got the wobbly thing going on that I'm just waiting to be going downstairs my muscles will no longer support the legs and my knees are going to flail out sideways and I'll be a crumpled mess at the bottom of the stairs....

Has anyone else seen Run Fat Bot Run (same guy who did Shaun of the Dead)? There's a scene in that movie where he's been competing with this super fit guy for a girl, and they go to a spinning class, he's dying during the class and they go to walk down the stairs out of the gym.... My gym has that long flight of stairs down... I was soooo sure I was just going to do a header down them.

In any case, I've done my 4 for 4 this week at the gym and I've got two days to get blindingly drunk so that I can tolerate the in-laws on day 3 of our long weekend, maybe the vast pools of alcohol will make my legs feel better. Nothing wrong with getting all my calories from beer and vodka right? OK, I promise just half my calories from beer & vodka. 

Hopeful31 - Like a few people have already said here it does sound like you are quite busy. I think a lot of us who are prone to jumping on and off the wagon are very all or nothing people, so when life gets busy and we can't fit some of our scheduled activities in we beat ourselves up about it and use it as a reason to let everything go. The key to staying on the wagon, I think, is not going to be if you did everything you wanted to do every day each day, but if you manage to figure out what you can regularly do for yourself on an going basis. This is mostly about setting reasonable and achievable goals. Maybe think of it as a high medium and low activity setting. What can you do when you have a high level of free time therefore a do a high level of personal activity, then same for medium levels of free time and low levels of free time.

Writestuff That's a tough one, did you typically do the cooking for him before or, did you each do your own cooking? I think my partner is allergic to tupperware. Seriously. He'll eat left overs if I put them on a plate in the micro or leave them stove top but as soon as I package it up in a tupperware container it will stay there until it goes bad. Or, maybe if he also needs to loose weight it's just too sudden of a change. It may feel like you are taking all the control of his eating and he may not feel like he has a choice in the matter anymore. If he is suddenly realizing how little 700 calories looks compared to what he thinks he usually eats this could all be a bit too much and a bit too sudden for him.

Maybe discuss doing it with one dish a week at first for him, and then working him up to it so that he can slowly get used to the idea instead of coming home one day and finding the fridge "empty" and all his meals portioned out. 

Kreitter So, whatcha reading? I just finished off Virgin Suicides and am almost done Thank You for Smoking they're our book club reads. I started scheduling my "reading time" so that I have to read a certain amount each day (or to put it another way so that I don't get lost in a book until 3 am and then do nothing the next day). I know exactly what you mean about how using junk food as a reward is a way to completely sabotage our plans. One of the reasons I'm taking my calories down slowly is so that I don't have to feel like I am "eating healthy" all the way right away. Not that I ate too much junk to begin with, but I do go out of control with pasta and portion control. So, knowing that I am just reducing by 100 cal each week allows me to have the "treats" and not feel like they've vanished, while slowly adjusting to other treats, non food rewards, and remembering that I actually do like healthy food. Somehow ditching the mentality that I have to eat 100% healthy all the time has made it easier to eat healthy most of the time.

Safina1 Thank you for posting. I am sure that all of us have been exactly where you have many times. I am so familiar with that anger. It is paralyzing, it is frustrating it is scary. I feel like I have no control so I take revenge on myself by punishing myself with foods, by not caring about myself, by being mean to myself. 

You posted, that's a great first step back. You stood up and said you are in a bad place, you don't know how to get back, you are tired, frustrated and angry. That's okay, it's part of the journey. If you do nothing else at all for the next week but give yourself permission to be angry, vent and keep posting. Keep in touch with the community so that you have something to pull on when you are ready to take the next step then do that. Find tiny things that are manageable like just reading past posts, reading your old motivations or old threads. 

You can do this, we can help, don't give up. 

JCR So how is day 2 of clean eating going?

Juicer17 I am so coming to you for advice when I get a new job. That is one of the hardest times for me to stay on plan. I completely agree that being on the wagon is this sense is not about 100% compliance but about staying the course long term and not letting the 1 or 2 (or more) bad days derail you (or continue to derail you). Keep going!

Got2getthin Interesting approach. I think I'm trying to adopt some of the same philosophy. I have to admit that I do not have trouble loosing weight through diet & exercise. My difficulty is sticking with it long term. So my slight adaption of that philosophy is that I am using the journey as the goal. Instead of thinking I want to be 135 lbs by X date. I'm thinking I want to be on a healthy eating & exercise plan that I have consistently maintained for 34 weeks (then set a new goal). Hopefully the weight loss will be a by-product of me sticking with my healthy eating and exercise plan, instead of me getting frustrated with my healthy eating and exercise plan because it is not producing results fast enough.

Jane Glad to hear you are relatively unscathed from the flooding. I completely agree with you on the at least trying to catch up to the wagon being good motivation in itself. I'm generally happy if I don't jump off the wagon as it passes the Pizza store and then just sit there scarfing pizza's until the next wagon happens along (and they can be few and far between).

Caro race you to the bottom of the beer mug! Uh, wait that's not the kind of motivation we're looking for. Okay race to see who drinks the least been on this hyper social weekend (I'm assuming you folks in the UK also have the Victoria aka May 24 weekend). 

Igrratu I think the all or nothing attitude can be really common among wagon jumpers, maybe we'll explore that in more detail next week. I think in some ways we use it as an excuse to set up failure. Somewhere knowing that we cannot be 100% all the time we then plan to be and punish ourselves when we fail. I think 1,000 calorie deficit is about the most that you are supposed to go for a diet range. Your calorie range sounds healthy (not supposed to be below 1200). I probably personally will not focus on how much weight you lost each week. I can't do that for myself, but instead how well you feel you met your health goals each week. Do you feel your plan is realistic and achievable... that sort of stuff. 

Healthfirst and a HAPPY FRIDAY to you too.... this week can not be over soon enough for me.

Thanks everyone for being here. I really think knowing that I'm trying to be accountable this week to everyone made me come here and step up on a week that I otherwise very likely would have been a miserable SOB and just let things slide too much. 

 

Can I please join?

This is perhaps my 4th or 5th time being back on the wagon in my life. For the past 6 weeks, I have been driving the wagon, in that I've been very, very, very good, but I recognize the need to stay on for the long haul this time, even if there's a period where I'm grasping onto the back of the box!

Supersized, I'd like to reiterate that you are not crazy for starting this thread.

Everyone else, my experience echoes many of your struggles!

> I have been working in an intense job (80-90 hours/week, on Wall Street) for the past 6 years.

> I gained a grand total of 60 pounds during that period, although I did lose (and gain back plus) about 30 at one point (I got in shape for my wedding--thanks in part to Calorie Count!).

> In addition to the weight gain, my right knee has been hurting me for about 9 months. I've been "too busy" to go to the doctor about it, though. This has reduced my desire to exercise, which has only exacerbated the condition and made me gain more weight.

> Due to the credit market conditions, I was laid off 6 weeks ago. The day after I received notice, I signed on with a personal trainer and went to the doctor for the knee (damaged meniscus). I started a route of physical therapy and have been working out with the trainer at least 3 times a week.

> Because of my formerly crazy hours, my husband would do all of the cooking. He has much higher calorie requirements than I do (esp. in my sedentary lifestyle!), he loves using the Internet to find exotic (i.e., high calorie) recipes, and he doesn't believe in portion control. I love food, and went along eating his cooking and his portion sizes. Since being laid off, I have taken over the cooking role, and I have been using my "light and healthy" cookbook, and trying to use recipes that have an "A" rating on CC. I'm trying to generate at least a 750 daily calorie deficit for myself. We are eating vegetarian meals at least 3x a week.

> Since April 2nd, I have lost 7 pounds, and 10 inches (including 2 on the upper thigh, yeah!). And, my husband has even lost a couple of pounds (he could drop maybe 5).

> My first mini goal is to get to 190 pounds by the end of August. Only 13 more to go. This should be easy, and if I keep at my current pace, I hope to revise that number further downward.

> I'm very afraid of hitting a plateau. I find them so frustrating and I become so discouraged. When I lost the 30 pounds before my wedding, I was on a 6 week plateau at about 175. I couldn't break through it, despite my best efforts (calorie cycling, continuing to exercise with increasing weights). About a month before the wedding, I stopped tracking calories. I stopped exercising. I ate like a fiend. And then I got bronchitis that turned into pleurisy and I became even more sedentary than normal. And I gained 10 pounds. Then another 10. Then, finally, another 15.

I need accountability

I need to do this

I need to stick with a program that will enable me to get healthy again

I hate being fat

I hate not being able to wear cute summer dresses with strappy sandals

I hate being 5'3" and weighing more than my 6'1" husband

I hate feeling miserable about myself

I cannot let my job take control of my life again

I can stick to an exercise schedule

I had developed and maintained a running program at 20 miles a week

I had developed and maintained a daily yoga practice that was fulfilling

I have biked 100 miles in one day

I can do this all again, right?

Oh, and on finding a new job: I'm not even seriously looking right now, but I have an interview on Wednesday. I have no idea what I'm going to say. I need to plan a bit for that so I don't sound like some blathering idiot!

Yikes, I hope this post isn't too obnoxiously long...

Okay so it hasn't been a great week...ate a lot of junk...a lot...but I think a lot of it was because of the stress of starting my summer job, so I should be doing better next week, just have to remind myself to bring my own meals and snacks so I don't have to buy food.

Well looks like it's official I think everyone who signed on has checked in! I  know some people feel like they are hanging on by the skin of their teeth at the moment. I think that's okay, we'll all feel like that at some points. I'm hoping that the simple act of coming here and saying - I had a bad week, but I still have goals - will help everyone to if not be on the wagon in the moment to still keep the goals in sight. 

Defrog3 Welcome to the Group! Sounds like you have been through quite an ordeal in the past few months. Congratulations on your progress to date! And I hope we can help you stay committed to your goals.

Fantasyflight Good to hear from you. Sounds like a good plan for next week. Don't let this week throw you under. 

I overate yesterday, but that's okay since I've been under-eating for a few days. The best thing I ever did for myself was to start averaging my calories across a week. Generally this week I'd like to be sticking to 2400 cal / day. But, I've been eating around 1700 cal / day on most weekdays so hitting 2600 yesterday won't even put my weekly average in danger. This is really helping me focus on not getting derailed by a bad day. Something that I was very likely to do with my all or nothing personality. 

Wow! I just read through all your posts. Thanks for checking in, guys! It really does help to know that we're all in this together. I keep reading that the key to success is long-term effort, ie. if we fall off the wagon, the sooner we can hop back on the better. Or grab the next wagon. Like everyone else, I'm very capable falling off, letting the wagon go on by, dusting myself off and saying "Who needs a dumb wagon anyway!"

Anyway, weekends are hard for all of us. Why do we assume that getting through a work week gives us permission to "treat" ourselves and sabotage our results for two days? I'm trying hard to change that mind set. It's not easy.

This is day three of clean eating. I have a little contest going with myself to see how many days in a row I can do this. I have a high/low range of calories in mind and as long as I don't exceed my high range, I'll count the day as successful. (However, I won't let myself go for more than two days at high range, the following two days must be low to count.

I'm hoping this plan will dilute the "all or nothing" mindset. That mindset is what lands me on my butt beside the wagon every time

Thread Closed Please go to the new weekly thread, do not post here

New Weekly Thread:

Wagon Jumpers - May 18 - 24, 2008