If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It! - WISH October Lifestyle/Weight Challenge

Hi everyone! Sorry I’ve been MIA this weekend- it’s been a crazy one.

Thanks @4Mickeys for checking in with goal progress. If everyone else wants to do that today or tomorrow I’ll update the first post to help keep track!

I’ll be back tomorrow with another discussion question. Have a great rest of your weekend!
 
I'm Colleen, 38yo mom to three very busy children, ages 19, 16, and 9. We live in a small town in southeast Michigan, where I do the usual routine of spending way too much time in the car getting kids to and from various activities. I'm also a recent college grad, though I haven't seriously started job hunting in my field out of concern for how it will shift the time balance in our household. My husband works long hours and I also have my mother leaning on me a lot since my brother passed away in May, so "me time" (both career and health) too often gets pushed to the back burner while I deal with everyone else's needs.

Welcome!!! You sound a lot like me right now. I have a 10 and 11 year old and I think I spend more time in my car then anything else.

QOTD: Imagineer Fred Joerger once said, “Walt would always spontaneously drop into your room to chat and see who you were doing. By the time he left, you were fired up with excitement about whatever it was you were working on.” Who do you have in your life that encourages you? What does your support system look like?

Bonus QOTD: Do you have a favorite quote or story that you've heard about Walt?

My husband is really good when it comes to eating better. But it can be bad too. If we are both off we will eat bad. If we are both on eating is really good. SO we just can't be off at the same time.

+++++++++++

Sorry I have been MIA. Friday we had a huge event/fundraiser at work. It was a big lunch in where everyone get to bid on new or like new hand bags. All designer too. We had about 500 hand bags. It is crazy. We make like $10,000 or more.

On top of this I was dealing with my daughter and her school. She stepped in divit/hole running around a grassy area Thursday night. She was really complaining about it. We got a call twice from school so my husband picked her up and I took her to the dr when I got home. They think it is just bruised. So she is in an air cast for the time being. If it still hurts in a week or 2 we need to go back and they will do x-rays. I think she will be fine as I have seen her put full weight on it when she is not paying attention to it.

This weekend we have do some cleaning, had cheer and today just being lazy and watching football. We have cut up everything for salads and made a big one for lunch tomorrow. I talked with my husband and I am now going to go to the rec straight from work. We are both determined to get this weight off.
 
Check in
Week 1
Total steps - 112797, average daily 16113
Calories in daily average - 2231
Calories out daily average - 2508
Deficit of 1940 calories. Scale down 1 lbs
I feel I did my steps, I remained in calorie balance over the week even with the one day over, I remained looking at how are things going - I am giving myself 25% achieved.

I would prefer if my daily average is under 2000 cal this week, as I don't want to rely on such high step count. Have a super healthy and happy week all!
 
Welcome!!! You sound a lot like me right now. I have a 10 and 11 year old and I think I spend more time in my car then anything else.



My husband is really good when it comes to eating better. But it can be bad too. If we are both off we will eat bad. If we are both on eating is really good. SO we just can't be off at the same time.

+++++++++++

Sorry I have been MIA. Friday we had a huge event/fundraiser at work. It was a big lunch in where everyone get to bid on new or like new hand bags. All designer too. We had about 500 hand bags. It is crazy. We make like $10,000 or more.

On top of this I was dealing with my daughter and her school. She stepped in divit/hole running around a grassy area Thursday night. She was really complaining about it. We got a call twice from school so my husband picked her up and I took her to the dr when I got home. They think it is just bruised. So she is in an air cast for the time being. If it still hurts in a week or 2 we need to go back and they will do x-rays. I think she will be fine as I have seen her put full weight on it when she is not paying attention to it.

This weekend we have do some cleaning, had cheer and today just being lazy and watching football. We have cut up everything for salads and made a big one for lunch tomorrow. I talked with my husband and I am now going to go to the rec straight from work. We are both determined to get this weight off.

Sounds like super successful fundraiser! Hope the cast works well for your daughter. It's great your dh is on same page - you can support each other. Mine is injured (knee) and can't play tennis and is really cranky. I hope he goes to our doctor today as he needs to sort it out
 


Few notes on vizualisation

1) The day I went over my calories with 800, was the amount of 100 g if chocolate and slightly bigger dinner as I was hungrier than usual. There wasn't burger and fries for 1600 calories and milkshake for 2000 or tub of ice cream! If I do this once weekly for the year I will be over 41600 calories. In weight this is modest 5.4 kg per year. 10 years, the nearly 50 year old me will be 54 kg more or 114 lbs on top of my current weight. Was this chocolate worth it? What would being 114 lbs more feel like? It makes saying no thanks much easier thinking about the cumulative impact of my choices

2) What does a healthy slim and athletic 50/60/70 year old do? They make healthy choice, consistently, and seem to find it easy to manage energy balance and choose healthier options. They find it easy to say no to over indulging. Instead of imagining myself at goal weight and how I want to look I imagine living a life that leads to healthy and fit body. Confidently ordering super food salad at social gathering and being fully happy with my choice. Instead of glamorizing banana bread pudding at Ohana, glamorize feeling fantastic and being able to say no with ease


I think it is easy to forget to be grateful to feeling healthy and energetic and fail to appreciate that we get this way by fueling properly and practicing moderation, awareness. Loving healthy eating is harder than loving ice cream cookie sandwiches but I feel it's worth reminding and reinforcing the gratitude towards food that makes us feel energetic and healthy.

And last comment before my end of day update - it doesn't matter if I say yes or I say no to a chocolate, at time of the day I know it will impact my full day or I say no and do few sun salutations instead. Year from now, I can be 12 pound more just by repeating this day once weekly, or be closer to the way I want be. And it's today that shapes up what that me one year from now looks. Without visualization, saying no to the chocolate feels like loss. Keeping the positive visualization in mind, me waking up full of energy, me being able to travel and enjoy myself and so on - eating too much feels like a loss as it could take what I really want from me.

Regardless of what method a person chooses for weight loss or health journey we all know the rules of the game. We know what it takes to be fit and healthy. We also know what it takes to stay were we are, or what it takes to be overweight.

Consciously linking pleasure to feeling healthy and fit and making choices to support this and linking pain to overeating, eating when not hungry, eating food that doesn't make me feel good is what makes the difference between diet and lifestyle change. If willing to change, for me I have to be willing to stop thinking I will diet for Disney and pig out at Disney as it's my last chance to eat.

And that can be hard. Giving up something that lead to quick pleasure, even if it's very short live can be hard at times.
 
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@HappyGrape thanks for that very inspirational post. I am currently sitting at my doctors office with my aching foot. I have not gotten a lot is steps over the last few days and am quite frustrated. But I have still been trying my very best to not go over my calories. I am not hitting my 500 kcal deficit target, but considering the situation I am happy with 300 kcal deficit. And I am impressed by myself that I am not using this as an excuse to eat whatever since I can't make a big effort to lose weight right now and that's frustrating. I am determined that my upcoming trip to Florida I will eat as healthy as possible and hopefully manage to track everything! I just hope the foot improves by then!!!
 
Today is the day I get back on track. I have toast for breakfast and a big chicken salad for lunch. I did bring my workout clothes with me and will go straight to the rec after work. Dinner tonight is going to be taco's. We don't use ground beef because of how much fat is in it. We use ground turkey instead. After dinner our plan is going to the store to get Halloween costumes for the kids. I did forget my fitbit on the charger this morning and I am really bummed about it. With going to the rec though I will know that I at least get 10,000 steps.

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary. As you can tell from above we are not doing really anything for it. It was a big win this morning that we remembered before we left the house. 10 years ago was my first day back to work from having my daughter and neither one of us remembered until like 4 that afternoon. I have a plan though to be at Disney for our 10 year anniversary though so we celebrate some of them. But right now life seems to busy with 2 very active kids. below is a picture from my wedding. It is not the best picture as it is a picture of the picture but this is the weight I would love to get back to. I was 116 pounds at my wedding. I am 140 now. My goal is to get to 120 by August and then if i happen to get down to 116 I will be really happy but I am good with the 120.

Wedding Pic.jpg
 


Hello and happy Monday everyone! Don't forget to post your progress for the first week of the month. I'm at 21% when I combine my three goals into one!

QOTD: A challenge in designing Disneyland Paris was trying to find a way to make the castle new and exciting in a country where fairy tale castles seem to be everywhere. The Imagineers had to dig deep for inspiration, designing a castle unlike any of the other parks.
Sometimes methods that have worked well for others don’t work for us. Have you ever tried a weight loss method or lifestyle change that someone else has raved about that just didn’t work for you? What did you do to get back on track?

Bonus QOTD: Which of the Disney parks castles is your favorite?
 
Today is the day I get back on track. I have toast for breakfast and a big chicken salad for lunch. I did bring my workout clothes with me and will go straight to the rec after work. Dinner tonight is going to be taco's. We don't use ground beef because of how much fat is in it. We use ground turkey instead. After dinner our plan is going to the store to get Halloween costumes for the kids. I did forget my fitbit on the charger this morning and I am really bummed about it. With going to the rec though I will know that I at least get 10,000 steps.

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary. As you can tell from above we are not doing really anything for it. It was a big win this morning that we remembered before we left the house. 10 years ago was my first day back to work from having my daughter and neither one of us remembered until like 4 that afternoon. I have a plan though to be at Disney for our 10 year anniversary though so we celebrate some of them. But right now life seems to busy with 2 very active kids. below is a picture from my wedding. It is not the best picture as it is a picture of the picture but this is the weight I would love to get back to. I was 116 pounds at my wedding. I am 140 now. My goal is to get to 120 by August and then if i happen to get down to 116 I will be really happy but I am good with the 120.

View attachment 275646
First of all, happy anniversary :banana:
Second of all, way to go for making a plan and keeping yourself accountable! Today is a new day and you're going to do great!
 
Happy Anniversary @piglet1979 !! I love the picture of you on your wedding day, you look like such a happy couple!

In other news I can report that I got an injection from my doctor, he thinks there is some inflamation in my foot that caused the problems. I hope that this will help. I am also getting new inserts as the old ones were quite walked through. He was impressed how much I have worn them. Well, I thought the point was to wear them daily. And if I average 15.000 steps a day they do get a lot of use. I guess most people with foot problems tend to walk less...

QOTD:
First the bonus: I love the DLP castle, it is by far the best one in my opinion, but I am European and it was designed for Europeans. The idea was that because there are so many real castles around, the one at DLP needs to look more like out of a storybook while the ones in California and Florida are more inspired by real castles (in Europe). The same is also true for Fantasyland at DLP.
The one thing I tried for a long time, at first with success, then without much succes, was Weight Watchers. I still believe it is a good programme and I learned a lot through it (portion control, which foods are better etc.), but in the end the simplification of the point system has loop holes and the longer I did it, the better I became at exploiting those loop holes. And then the system stopped working for me. I had to re-evaluate what I really wanted and decided to just change over to basic calorie counting. The funny thing is that it was the fitbit that I bought through Weight Watchers that gave me the confidence to change over. With this I had a way of measuring my activity and come up with a sensible number of calories per day.
 
Today is the day I get back on track. I have toast for breakfast and a big chicken salad for lunch. I did bring my workout clothes with me and will go straight to the rec after work. Dinner tonight is going to be taco's. We don't use ground beef because of how much fat is in it. We use ground turkey instead. After dinner our plan is going to the store to get Halloween costumes for the kids. I did forget my fitbit on the charger this morning and I am really bummed about it. With going to the rec though I will know that I at least get 10,000 steps.

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary. As you can tell from above we are not doing really anything for it. It was a big win this morning that we remembered before we left the house. 10 years ago was my first day back to work from having my daughter and neither one of us remembered until like 4 that afternoon. I have a plan though to be at Disney for our 10 year anniversary though so we celebrate some of them. But right now life seems to busy with 2 very active kids. below is a picture from my wedding. It is not the best picture as it is a picture of the picture but this is the weight I would love to get back to. I was 116 pounds at my wedding. I am 140 now. My goal is to get to 120 by August and then if i happen to get down to 116 I will be really happy but I am good with the 120.

View attachment 275646

Lovely picture, happy anniversary! You were beautiful bride
 
Tried
Fruit only diet (lol) for 4 days.
Slimfast - half day
Weight Watchers. Twice.
Atkins. 3 days - felt sick as a dog. Wouldn't consider going low carb ever again - it does not suit me at all
Eating only after 5 pm every day. I don't know how I came up with that at all!

I gave up smoking 2003 and gained weight, and I tried the above for about month and half until I found a big book with a lot of info on calories, glycemic index written as questions and answer. It clicked straight away. Calorie counting worked for me before MFP. I continued to do it until 2007 when I had baby. I had healthy pregnancy and returned to calorie counting to 2011 and remained stable weight. I had some issues between 2011 and 2015 and that's the only time I really struggled with weight loss and weight regain. I joined my fitness pal and have been tracking successfully since. I am lucky that the things that didn't suit me, it was very clear very quick and I found something that suits me

I plan to count long term

I didn't like Disney Paris and I don't know why. I loved California but the castle is tiny. It has to be MK for me
 
@HappyGrape thanks for that very inspirational post. I am currently sitting at my doctors office with my aching foot. I have not gotten a lot is steps over the last few days and am quite frustrated. But I have still been trying my very best to not go over my calories. I am not hitting my 500 kcal deficit target, but considering the situation I am happy with 300 kcal deficit. And I am impressed by myself that I am not using this as an excuse to eat whatever since I can't make a big effort to lose weight right now and that's frustrating. I am determined that my upcoming trip to Florida I will eat as healthy as possible and hopefully manage to track everything! I just hope the foot improves by then!!!
hope your foot gets better soon
 
QOTD- I tried Atkins, Phen-phen,Diet pills from a dr, the diet pills from the dr worked well but of course it all came back and I felt like garbage while on it. WW is working well for me but it is work, I am having to change yrs of bad eating habits. I feel so much better, healthier now.

Bonus- I love the MK castle because of all the memories there. I think the others may be prettier or better but after so many trips and meals there, it will always be my favorite.
 
1) Did I do my steps (15000 goal) yes
2) Were my calories in balance Yes
3) Did I do my 3 weekly workouts without overdoing it (only M, W and F) yes
4) What did I do great today, what worked well
My meals worked well, 3 meals no snacks with good balance of protein carbs and fat with plenty of fruit and veggies. I did my steps. Last 2 000 I really didn't feel like!
5) What can I do better
My workout was not that great. I did it when I put dinner in the oven and my mind was on 100 other places and things
 
QOTD: I've tried a lot of diets that just didn't work for me, some of them faddy, some more sensible - Atkins/low-carb, strict calorie counting, weight watchers, etc. I lose weight on many of them, but inevitably end up deciding it isn't worth it to be slimmer at the expense of enjoying my life. That's why I'm focusing on the exercise and health angles now, rather than on dieting. Because I enjoy working out, I enjoy swimming and walking/running, and I don't resent adding more of that to my life. I absolutely end up resenting giving up potatoes and not being able to relax and enjoy a dinner out without worrying about my menu choices or feeling guilty if we share a dessert. This is something I believe I can stick to, and if it naturally leads to better eating choices (and I find it does), that's an added bonus rather than a conscious and deliberate sacrifice.

Bonus question: I suppose the Orlando castle is probably my favorite just because it is the only one I've seen in person, but from photos I think the castle in Shanghai looks stunning.

I've been doing pretty well with my new exercise habit. If there's something to be said for spending money on a gym membership it is this: It certainly helps with the motivation to actually use it! I started on Wednesday and got 4 days in last week, going on Saturday to make up for the late start to the week even though it was a crazy-busy weekend (4H meeting, corn maze, town pumpkin festival, taking DD to her best friend's homecoming, parish harvest dinner, and school open house). I did take Sunday off, though, mostly because of the school & church activities but it was probably needed anyway because I was fairly sore and I'm feeling a lot better today. I haven't gotten there yet today because I've got my 9yo home sick, but I'll go when one of the teenagers or DH get home to hang out with her.
 
I have stuck with my basic plan yesterday and today. I didn't have any real goal shared here other than getting back on track with my choices to be strict with myself. (As mentioned befor trying to be more of a moderator tends to not work for me.)

I suppose I can also share with y'all now that I have been hoping and planning to lose 67 lbs over 7 months. And I did start right around the first of October. So if I look at that as 10 lbs for October since it works in the long run if it averages 10 (or even slightly less) per month, then that feels pretty great today to say that I'm 50% of the way toward a 10lb loss for this month. I could learn to like breaking it down to monthly goals and seeing that percentage change!

Of course, it would also be good if it's more than 10 by the end of the month since then I'm better prepared in advance for the nearly inevitable plateau times! But for now just being able to say 50% is a *feel good* that I'll take!

From the time I was 18 till I finally began to learn better for myself in my mid 30s none of the conventional or popularly believed diet advice was ever good for me. Calorie counting, less fat, less animal products, more fiber....yikes. it's like a bad dream looking back to how I just kept getting heavier and less healthy over all those years no matter how hard I tried and no matter what variations I tried of popular ideals. It's like an entire culture was out to kill me slowly. Even a raw juice fast I finally tried, definitely bad for me in the long run despite having some clear upside along the way.

But now I usually tend more towards WAPF nutrition and health philosophies and I'm gradually shrinking and improving in health.

The original Florida Magic Kingdom castle is the only Disney castle that I have ever seen in person. I'd love to see the others... *big cheesy grin*
 
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Thank you for the Anniversary wishes. We have never gotten each gifts so it was a complete surprise when he had flowers delivered to my work.

Well today went down hill. I did eat my toast for breakfast and that was where my plan stopped. I got a call from the school that my daughter was in a lot of pain from her ankle. We decided to take her to the orthopedic to get checked. So I missed lunch all together. I did leave it at work for tomorrow though. While at the doctors office I got a candy bar from the vending machine. I just needed something to eat since it was almost 2 and I had only had 2 slices of toast at 9. Good news is her ankle is not broke just sprained. They do not think that it will be like the last break because of where her pain is. However she is now in a walking boot until it does not hurt any longer.

We have a party set up for her on Friday for a belated birthday party with her friends but it is a trampoline park so we have to cancel it. We are are trying to get bowling set up instead. I worked on this until our son got home from school. Then we decided to got get the kids their Halloween costumes and then went out to dinner. We all had fried bologna sandwiches.

At some point while we were out I got a really bad sore throat and a bad headache. I came home took some advil and took a short nap. So i did not work out. I hate that life just took over my perfectly planned day.

1) Did I do my steps (10,000 goal) - no
2) Were my calories in balance - no
3) Did I track my food - I started but trying to figure out dinner got to be too much to figure out.
4) What did I do great today, what worked well -- I had a good breakfast
5) What can I do better -- Try harder to stick to my plan
 

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