Motivation To Move | Community

reezer’s journey--a quest for keeping it simple

2007-04-29T21:18:46-05:00

Hi there,

I’ve just finished the 100 day exercise challenge and thought I would start sharing here. It seems right to me to look at the whole picture now rather than just the exercise. The 100 days was the perfect place to start.

Sooooo.... a little about me. I am 51 years old and have always had an issue with weight. I started out over 9 pounds at birth and my mom still blames me for that (since I was big I gave her a difficult time during labor).

About 9 years ago I was 195 and over the course of a few years I lost 50 pounds--40 in the first year and kept them off for several years. Two years ago I started gaining again—very slowly. At the time I thought it was due to stress, but now I think that midlife stuff was also a factor. So last Sept. I ended up weighing in at 170 and became horrified that maybe I could creep up even more. So now I weigh 152 and feel great. I exercise a lot. Partly thanks to MTM and generally I eat rather moderately, most of the time.

I know what I need to do to be healthy and mostly I do it. I do have trouble though with emotional eating, stress eating and sometimes jus tnot paying attentiom eating. I need a place to be accountable because if I don’t have that place I can start on a roller coaster of denial and sneak eating which always ends up badly for me.

I am determined to keep the weight off and continue a healthy lifestyle.

Another problem for me is that I can obsess about the best way to eat and lose weight. I check out lots of diet books, etc from the library and all the information can drive me crazy!! Thus, my quest for keeping it simple. Everything I need to know about losing weight and being healthy is already inside of me. I just need to listen to that voice.

Thank you too for listening.

Bree’s journey

2006-11-30T22:19:26-05:00

I’m starting this right in the middle of the Holidays to keep myself grounded. I have lost 40 pounds in the last 6 months and don’t plan on taking any of that back. I did gain 2 pounds during Thanksgiving, so I need to be more vigilant. It was the pie, lots of pie. Good pie, mmm ... pie. Anyway, I have a Christmas party to go to for my husbands company tomorrow. They always have a huge banquet with lots of yummy choices and a ton of pie, cheesecake and all the other imaginable temptations that I just get weak in the knees for. I have little willpower when it comes to dessert. And of course, it’s a 3 hour drive from here to the hotel/casino, so I’ll be famished. Did I mention the pie?

But here’s the good news (before was yummy news), I’ll be wearing a pair of pants that I bought 2 years ago for the same party that were too tight on me then. I have since quit smoking and gained 30 pounds in the process (lots of chocolate). Now I’m less than that by 10 pounds and the pants fit great! So I’ll be wearing my motivation. It also doesn’t help that most of those people haven’t seen me since I was at my biggest. So I’ll get all those wonderful compliments. That always motivates me.

Antonio’s Journal

2006-07-02T17:13:54-05:00

Sunday, July 2, 2006

Sunday, the designated day of rest. I’m going to use this day to reflect on the past week and how I feel. The highs of the week have been that I finally took my driving test, and almost passed it. Also, I got a job interview. Excellent.

On the health front however, I don’t think it has been so great. I really notice the difference in how I feel when I go back to my old eating and exercise habits. I feel icky, and somewhat dehydrated. I feel like I could drink five liters of water in one sitting. I’ve felt like that all week.

I can start drinking water today, and tomorrow, I’ll ask to go to the gym in the morning. I’ll have a breakfast of something other than two bacon egg and cheese burritos. I can take some of the frozen fruit in the refrigerator and mix it into my plain oatmeal. That way I can get the fruit without all the sugar that Quaker Oats adds to their oatmeal. Sometimes, I eat food on automatic pilot. I usually eat my worst stuff late at night. I have those sodas with the refined sugar, the ham and cheese sandwiches. And then, after staying up until 3 AM, I’ll fall asleep until noon the next day. I’m not getting enough sleep, and I’m not eating right. I have to decide to change my habits.

Tonight, I will eat dinner before 7:30, Turn off my television at 8 and read my book, learn some portuguese while I’m getting ready for bed. Then I’ll be in bed by ten. I won’t turn on the television no matter what. Then, I’ll repeat the same thing tomorrow.

I can’t wait to get my driver’s license. Then I can go to the gym earlier. I really enjoy starting my day with exercise. It gives me energy for the day, and I’m not intimidated by all the muscle bound football players who hog the free weights in the afternoon. It’s a real blessing that my college has a great gym too. With a license, I will have more self esteem, and a new sense of freedom. If anybody reads this, keep me in your thoughts and prayers on Tueday.

Goal for this week: Go to the gym consistently for five days and walk on the treadmill or track for at least 30 minutes.

Ann’s Journey…Journal…

2008-02-01T13:26:15-05:00

whatever the good one is, as my friend Greg says (from a Seinfeld episode.)

I seem to be basically journalling all over my 100 days thread, exercise, diet, whether I’ve flossed, etc. Maybe that’s because sometimes when I post I’ve just finished exercise, and I’m all hopped up on adrenaline. Who knows?

So, a basic check-in with me-starring-me: I started deciding I wanted to make changes in my life in July 2006. I didn’t start dieting, or counting calories properly, until late August. I took up exercising on New Year’s Eve 2006 by walking a treadmill in my apartment complex’s little fitness room. Told myself if I stuck it out for a month, I’d buy myself an iPod Shuffle, which I did and which has made walking, both outdoors and in, so much more enjoyable.

I didn’t own a scale so I was guesstimating my weight loss. In May 2007 I made a doctor’s appointment for a thorough checkup. Turns out I was in the ballpartk about how much weight I’d lost (at that point 55 pounds) but had been so in denial about how much I weighed to start with. I had thought about 200 pounds, but in Jan 06 at my previous appointment I weighed 230. Yikes!

This morning I was at 157.2. I was stuck at 170 for a long time last year, and then hovering at or above 160 for the past month and a half or so, but all this week I was only above 160 on the scale once, in the evening, and I tend to trend my morning weight. I’m so pleased to be under that mark consistently. It’s a struggle every day though. I was tempted yesterday to stop off for a bagel on the way to work. I was in the left turning lane, then changed my mind.

My goal is 135 pounds. At this point it’s a slow inch-forward, but I feel good. Little sore here and there, kinda between sizes right now as I hope to lose more weight before I buy a lot of new things.

I don’t watch the Super Bowl, so I intend to do what I did last year, which is get on the treadmill during much of the broadcast, as there will be no one else around in there. I just don’t care about football. I hope for good ratings, as I am the research director for two TV stations, one of which is airing the game. But I’d rather be moving myself forward!

Julie’s random ramblings

2007-05-20T19:12:29-05:00

Hi everyone,

I figure that I do so many “about me” posts in the “conversations of all kinds” forum, that I might as well start up a journal. Today’s thought:

Today I went clothes shopping, which I don’t do very much. I got a lot of nice stuff: three pairs of work-appropriate pants (two plain black, one black with pinstripes), one pair of jeans, one sleeveless red t-shirt, and one nice top that can either be worn over the t-shirt or by itself. A good set of spoils, all things considered.

One thing that took me completely aback, though, was the size of all these myriad clothes (and especially the pants):

Size 5.

When the heck did I become a size 5?

A year and a half ago, I was size 12. Last year, I was size 8. At some point in the intervening year, I became a size 5. I’m pleased and bewildered all at the same time, because I haven’t actually been doing much to actively lose weight. I’ve been maintaining, but not doing anything special other than karate, a lot of walking, and (mostly) eating properly. So I’m very pleased indeed. Yay!

Cheers,
Julie

Brandon’s Quest For Fire

2007-04-21T22:34:34-05:00

Well, I have finally gotten some time(and energy) to create this journal. It really is touching that people want to hear about my life.

In regards to what I mentioned in my exercise thread: Well, the short version of the story is that my mother fell in love with a man and married him two months after meeting. He never committed to loving her, but she wanted so bad for this to be something from above. So she decided that, although she wasn’t sure if he loved her or not, love would eventually grow(I personally would argue against that school of thought). Well, there was a brief scare at the very beginning and it was looking like we were going to leave. But they patched things up, and we stayed. And then last night my mother told me in the car(on our way to work) that during a talk she and him went over all the issues. He confessed that he still doesn’t know that he loves her, and that he still has feelings for his deceased wife(who died of old age a year beforehand, he’s 81 years old), and that crushed my heart. Because what it does is confirm what I’ve known and lived in fear of since the beginning(a year ago next month). I feel like he lied and decieved his way into getting someone to be around to take care of him(though he is quite tickled by the delusion that he somehow pulled a “widow and orphan” out of the pits of hell. When in fact, we were doing fine for ourselves. And apparently she layed that fact out on the line. That she doesn’t need him, especially since he’s too selfish about his own income to want to pay a fair share of the bills. Of course, it’s turned out that many times he’s been forced to, because life throws financial curveballs all the time. He doesn’t think rationally about money, because he is, as lightly as I can put it, mentally challenged. He’s an old man, what can you say? All of our issues couldn’t be described so well here, it’s painful, and apparently most of it won’t ever be resolved because you are dealing with a person who won’t change and is at the end of his life.

So basically, here I am, trying to pull myself out of the quicksand, seeing what’s been done to my mother, and just trying for the life of me to keep my head above water and see this through. I need to keep moving, but I can’t just depart from the whole situation. I’m too deeply involved. My mother tells me that I have to keep moving forward and focus on my own goals—and she can just deal with her problems. But I am so tired of him trying to make me feel bad for no reason, and blaming everything bad that happens on me(which he admitted to to my mother), making it hard for me to feel like I’m going to have consistency with my new lifestyle. The money thing can be summed up in one sentence, really: He doesn’t want or understand why his expenses have changed so dramatically since he took on two people as a family. That hurts, it hurts to feel blamed, rejected, the third wheel, the extra dollar signs.

I don’t want to tell a sob story, this isn’t meant as a “poor me” tale, an excuse to give up or something of that nature. No, I know now more than ever that I must persevere, I must keep moving. My mother has committed time and time again to supporting me in what ways she is capable. I once told her on a walk that she inspires me, and she was surprised. Yeah, we aren’t perfect, but our own ability to inspire others in various ways can be what makes us wonderful as human beings. She believes in me, and there’s very few people in my life who do.

I am at a point right now where my endurance and life energy will be put to the test. I have a lot of weight to lose, and a number of other big personal goals, and I cannot afford to stall again. I can’t go back there, and I won’t. Not now, not 6 months from now, not ever.

I will keep moving. And I won’t ever look back.

Nienke’s Journal

2008-04-10T20:21:25-05:00

Independence and how to get it

Here’s what bothers me every day and what often keeps me from moving:

I’m dependent. Here’s why: My boyfriend and I live an apartment an hour’s walk from the city centre, in quite a bad neighbourhood. I don’t have a car and there’s no public transport. I used to ride a bicycle but I got hit by a car 6 weeks ago and am scared now, so walking is my only option. The problem is that I won’t leave the house by myself unless I have class or an appointment. As soon as it’s dark it gets even worse. I just can’t bring myself to go out that door, and it really affects my life.

I’m trying to find ways to get around this, but none of my friends live anywhere near me. I’d love to go running in the mornings, but I need something or someone to push me. I listen to the MTM podcast every night and I know I need to take responsibility for myself and just do it. So on Tuesday I got up, took a step and went to my dance class, something I hadn’t done in weeks. Now I just need to keep it up - that’s the “Repeat” part. So far, it’s been “stand up, take a step, fall down”, but I’m really determined to stay standing now.

So my goals are:
- go running one morning a week
- go swimming one morning a week
- get back on my bicycle

That last one might have to be a longer term one though.

I’m back!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-08-09T10:04:05-05:00

Hi All!!
Long time no post! Between college and a trip around the world i’ve been pretty busy!

The good news: I passed my first semester in college with a credit average. Got a distinction in Sociology and even managed to pass Chinese which is quite a feat! I also made it round the world (23 days, 6 countries, 7 flights, 2000 miles driving) safely without getting sick or loosing anything (including my sanity) or anyone.

The bad news: A semester at college where the majority of food options are bad and pizza or barbecue are common event catering options, exercise tending to get pushed aside in favor of cramming and eating badly on the run overseas has done its damage. I think i was at about 84kg (185 pounds) when i started the semester which was already too high, i’m now at 91.5kg (202 pounds). Ouch!!

So it’s time to get back on track. I’m looking at my diet although its a challenge cause when i cook i’m only cooking for one and don’t have a freezer. Exercise wise, i’ve got some more equipment (small weights and a swiss ball) and am trying to get to the gym more. I’m also entered into the 5.5km (3.4 miles) race at the melbourne marathon. Not sure yet if i’ll jog or walk- i’ll see how the training goes.

nbbaron’s journey of a thousand steps!!!

2008-05-24T20:21:53-05:00

or is that pedal strokes?

Ok, I’m here to report.
I got my exercise in.
I ate reasonably today.
I am going to brush my teeth and head up to bed to ward off any evening munchies.
The “I deserve to eat” thoughts that go through my head.

I have not conquered the 12 hour diet yet. I have a crazy work schedule on 4 days of the week .... and I am trying to master any kind of normal eating on those days. I do have to concentrate on not eating a ton when I get home at 11 p.m. Something light should do the trick.

Can I do this without dieing????
Small baby steps.

Will check in tomorrow.
Cleda

Paula’s 9 Lives in Cat Years

2007-02-22T00:32:41-05:00

I’ve never had much luck with journals (I know, luck has nothing to do with it) but I’m finally going to start one here. It’s not so much a daily journal, that’s over on the 100 day exercise forum, but it will be a place for me to share ‘Ah ha’ Moments, thoughts, and times of confusion.

I had an Ah Ha moment today - It was a realization that the laws of attraction really work.

I rent half of a duplex in Lafayette California. I’ve really been grateful to live in a place that is convenient, light, and essentially perfect for me. Last December I was told that the property was for sale. There was no way I could afford to buy the property (real estate prices are out of sight here), so what do do? Of course I went through the spin cycle - what’s going to happen, where do I go - AAK!! I could be difficult, make it hard to show the property, but what would that accomplish. Probably more stress for me, certainly more stress for B_.

My choice was to help my land lady show and sell the property to a new owner who would continue to rent to me. It was inconvenient at times to have people walking through, but I was also selling myself as a tenant so why not. I cleaned and kept the place looking great, stayed positive, grateful for the view, my orchid corner and the time I had here. The real estate agent was amazed and said he never had as much cooperation from a tenant in a sale before. Today, I got the news, I have a new landlady - the property was sold and I will be able to stay. Was the outcome influenced by my attitude - I think it was. The laws of attraction, gratitude, positive attitude, and getting what you give at work.

B_ gave me a gift card for the Gratitude Cafe - yes there really is such a place, in Berkeley California - as a thank you for helping her with the sale. How fitting.

Here is a picture of my living room and orchid corner. Home