New Year, New Start - January WISH Challenge

First day of a regular work week in a long time, and I'm rather looking forward to being able to settle back in to a normal routine.

I accomplished most of the things I said I was going to do over the weekend... after taking my fake little tree down I love it even more, so easy. It was a good food weekend, I can't claim to have been Whole30 compliant, but I was the Whole30-like that my doctor wants... a good transition. Sunday morning my blood sugar number was down but I had an apple with dinner last night, so it was back up this morning. There is good food in the house that I don't want to toss, so it'll be a couple days before I'm 100% on the program.

I recently found a new food/cooking IG account, and had ordered her cookbook which came Friday. It is Whole30 'friendly' and there are several recipes in it that really look good. I'll try the first one later this week.

Motivation for this week is to get back in to the groove. Having been in-and-out so much lately, I'm feeling behind and scattered, so want to get that resolved asap.

@4Mickeys glad to hear you and your family are OK, praying for the other areas that are burning.
 
I am following along. I'm a bit behind with my New Year goals. I need to get my diabetes under control, I was working so hard, then I started working 2 jobs and while it isn't horrible I haven't been as focused as I need to be. I need to get moving more and start getting our Disney trip planned (the rest of the way.)
 
I am following along. I'm a bit behind with my New Year goals. I need to get my diabetes under control, I was working so hard, then I started working 2 jobs and while it isn't horrible I haven't been as focused as I need to be. I need to get moving more and start getting our Disney trip planned (the rest of the way.)
Welcome!
 
I am going to post my diary from my diet fix reset, including my notes from the audio book on Fridays.

It's LONG! but I like referring to old post I made on monthly discussions. My day 2 was actually 31st of December and I wrote the below few days ago


Day 2 Keeping Food Diary
End of Day Checklist (If anything’s missed, restart Day 2 again tomorrow, and don’t spend even a moment beating yourself up about it—life happens.)
☐ Your home-cooked foods were all weighed and measured
☐ Your food was completely diarized, nonjudgmentally, in real time—good, bad, and ugly, without artificial restrictions
☐ You read tomorrow’s daily plan and you’re ready for it

I tried to take few notes from the chapter but they aren't direct quotes.

Calorie counting/food diary
Comparing to budget, is it worth it? Can I afford it? It’s not that you can’t have high calorie foods. If your budget isn’t where it should be you can track where your spending are before making adjustments – that’s his suggestion for today for calorie counting too. It can’t be used for judgement; it should not be used to say how much you are allowed or are you good or bad. Guide for future decisions, not judge past decisions.

What to track
What and how much you ate, what time, how many calories, exercise, emotions/thoughts/concerns around food, triggers linked to dietary struggles and DDD score. Days degree of difficulties - rank 1 to 10 each day hunger & cravings.
Example – if you weren’t hungry all day or you found it easy to eat a treat in moderation – 1. If you were hungry all day, you had too much snacks in the evening – 10.

Time Once you get used to doing it, it will take you 3 to 5 minutes a day, initially more – 20 minutes.

Food Scape Most people eat same things over and over again. Up to 5 different breakfasts, 5 to 10 lunches and 10 to 20 dinners. It also helps to know the go to orders when eating out. It’s not about choosing the lowest calorie item on the menu, it’s about choosing the lowest you are actually happy with. Reducing the frequency of the higher calories, finding ways to lighten it etc.

Habit formation takes much longer than 21 days. It takes consciously reminding yourself, over and over again what is it you are trying to do. Food diary can be awareness tool, the few minutes you take to check in can be reminder of why is it you do what you do

Investigation tool What works for most folks may not work for you, having data to go back to you can identify and make adjustments

Completeness record as you go. Don’t leave it for the end of the day. You could write the foods down and find the calories later if you find time to lookup calories time consuming. Calories are not bad, and you shouldn’t think about calorie ceiling. Keep accurate record, be honest. Don’t stop recording if you go over your calories – life is dynamic, so are your calorie needs. Each day is different, you are aiming for the smallest amount of calories you are happy with not the smallest you can tolerate. Some days you just need more calories to be happy

Accuracy. Use scales to measure. They are not there to limit you, they are there to inform you. Studies show that most people, even dietitians underestimate calories/portions

Find the way to like it. Refuse to let the food diary to judge you, use it as information. Try to keep calories lower, while you still enjoy the food. Look for ways to adjust recipes, or cut food not worth the calories. Be consistent, not perfect. It’s best choices you an enjoy, not best choice there is. If you miss to track one meal pick up where you left, try to recall the meal missed. Don’t "start again tomorrow".
Perfectionism – you don’t like how your day went, you eat more than how many calories you planned, you don’t track it and you tell yourself you will start again tomorrow. All or nothing – ends up being nothing. Track it even if you don’t like how your day went.

Do you have to do it forever? So what if you did? It takes 3 minutes. Some people will need to, and no way to guess who will this be. Some don’t and find it easy to maintain after period of time. Ultimately if it takes 3 minutes a day and if you finding it hard to manage your weight and if keeping an eye on your weight is important


And my day 2 comments
Day 2 End of Day Checklist (If anything’s missed, restart Day 2 again tomorrow, and don’t spend even a moment beating yourself up about it—life happens.)
☐ Your home-cooked foods were all weighed and measured - done
☐ Your food was completely diarized, nonjudgmentally, in real time—good, bad, and ugly, without artificial restrictions (done, with estimations for meals out
☐ You read tomorrow’s daily plan and you’re ready for it - will do this morning on my walk

Tracking calories is not for everyone, there is no hope in hell this will work for DH. He will do much better with something like Slimming world with less tracking and focusing on getting his 1/3rd of his plate being fruit and veg.

Dr Yoni has obesity clinic in Canada and his book is based on experience with his patients

He offers adjustments/advise on many other plans - weight watchers, paleo, low carbs etc so he is not lobbying that one way suits all. There is a lot in the book, there is no way for me to give all info and is what I am taking form it. Lose it the way you want to live, figure out how to enjoy it is his thing. I find MFP easy so that's what I will do

It was good to listen to day two yesterday on my daily walk. Lately I have been doing the all or nothing. I am "good" all day and at 8 pm I would have few chocolates or cheese and crackers, I do not like the fact that I didn't stick to the plan and I opt for not track it and start again tomorrow. Because I go off until tomorrow, accountability is gone - it's messy so I may as well.. First it builds expectation that tomorrow something will be off limits as I will be good, second today feel like a very limited opportunity to indulge and feel that it won't count - nice fresh start tomorrow. It's the diet, on and off mentality. Writing when things don't go by plan is even more important. Tracking the good bad and ugly, estimating instead of skipping tracking meal out etc keeps the awareness there. I get to ask myself, do I want more? no fear that tomorrow I will have to be anything else, going over the calories is part of life - not every day is equal. Getting in the habit of being honest/aware, not expecting to be perfect was a game changer and I have forgotten about it.

I took few minutes to estimate my food yesterday. We had lunch out to our favourite restaurant, walk at the sea side and gelato after as we do every 31st of December. I was good 650 calories over my calorie needs, and that's with very brief estimates. I didn't want to leave it to 1st of January. It was a good day, I had plan to enjoy it and I did so. There will be more days like this ahead

I wish I could like your post 100x!
After catching up on everyone’s posts I am so motivated to get back on track-better food choices, exercise consistently and continue to clear out the closets and basement.

So glad to hear from you, @4Mickeys.

I will take the last week in January.
 


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TOPIC TUESDAY - Healthy Eating

Since many of us are focusing on eating healthy, I thought that would be a good topic for today. And that may look different for each of us. But whatever healthy eating plan you are choosing, I want you to think about the quote above. Diets generally don’t last. To keep the weight off, to stay healthy, to help your heart, or whatever your main reason is for trying to change your eating habits...make it a lifestyle change. So what steps are you taking to change your lifestyle?

I found this short article that gives some simple ideas for little changes to make that can get you started. For me, cooking has been a big help. I think it helped that I didn’t really cook much before. So I don’t have many go-to unhealthy recipes. I’ve mostly found healthy recipes when I started to cook. I also started to try new foods. In doing so, I’ve found flavors that I didn’t even know I liked. The one I need to work on is having more healthy food available and less junk food. I’m bad with temptations!

https://caitlinprudenpt.wordpress.com/2014/01/14/tasty-tuesday-healthy-eating-tips-for-the-new-year/
Again, what steps are you taking to gain a healthy lifestyle?

Bonus: Share a healthy recipe
 


I am following along. I'm a bit behind with my New Year goals. I need to get my diabetes under control, I was working so hard, then I started working 2 jobs and while it isn't horrible I haven't been as focused as I need to be. I need to get moving more and start getting our Disney trip planned (the rest of the way.)
:welcome:
A Disney trip is always a great motivator ;)
 
I am following along. I'm a bit behind with my New Year goals. I need to get my diabetes under control, I was working so hard, then I started working 2 jobs and while it isn't horrible I haven't been as focused as I need to be. I need to get moving more and start getting our Disney trip planned (the rest of the way.)

Welcome!!!!
 
Yesterday started out great I ate good while at work and got about 40-45 minutes of a workout in. Then the afternoon came. DH and I were exhausted. We both took naps when we got home and dinner was more of a free for all. I just ate a turkey sandwich then I was hungry later and the snacking started. I have gain 1 pound since Sunday. I did eat some chips so i am sure this is more water weight but I need to get it together. DH is working from home today and will get a good dinner in the crock pot. Today should be better but I may not get to work out as I have meetings most of today.
 
Topic Tuesday:

For me one small change is also to start cooking for myself. As mentioned yesterday, I just got the new cookbook which has some really good/simple looking dishes in it (the book and IG account are called The Defined Dish). Cooking always means multiple meals out of the same food, so I do need to find things I really, really like. I also need to figure out how to make my kitchen more usable... I have 2 feet of counter space to work with, and there's usually stuff on it. I'm thinking I'll move the kitchen table in to the living room, where I can use it as a desk (I have no dining room and I never eat at the table anyway), and get a kitchen island to put in its place, which will give me counter space and a couple shelves, which I also need.

Yesterday I got a lot of work done, more than in the past three weeks, but by the afternoon I was incredibly stressed and started reaching for the sugar, and then I crashed when I got home and barely moved... so it was not a successful day in the healthy living journey. Another small change I need to make is to get something going, like Pilates or Yoga, to help me better manage stress and mental health.

Edited to add: OK, I'm signed up for a Gentle Yoga class Thursday evening, at a place that is walking distance from my house. Well done me!
 
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Great article!

We rarely eat out-we have a lot of chain restaurants around here. I learned a while back we could eat filet mignon at home for less than getting dinner at Ruby Tuesday or Red Lobster. One of our favorite meals is getting a lb of steamed shrimp from the grocery store with a salad from the salad bar and a crusty roll. Good for nights when you’re too tired to cook.
Oneanne, because it’s just two of us, I also have leftovers. If it’s more than one dinner and lunch we get tired of it, so I freeze the rest.
I need to be better about planning healthy snacks. My husband is good about reaching for fruit while I tend to reach for something with carbs.
 
WhooHoo Wednesday I lost 1.5 kg the first week. Happy with that

One of the issues last year for me was that going through house hunting and selling - my use of kitchen and my time was impacted. Until September most weekends we went to view houses one of the days and with busy jobs - Sunday it's very hard to keep going, spend time with our son etc. Our place was being viewed - we went sale agreed twice and if failed so that's open viewings, you don't cook the day before to keep the kitchen clean and that could be twice a week. Eventually we moved to my in laws and we shared their kitchen and there simply wasn't enough space for us to buy full weeks shopping and we end up eating way too much takeaways. I really have never felt so unhealthy in my life, I am overweight and can't wait to get back to normal.

Cooking is a key, as well as time/stress management. Last year I was very busy in work and home and it's not sustainable for me long term
 
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It’s Woohoo Wednesday!
What’s everyone celebrating?

My woohoos:
-I’ve been sticking to my healthy eating so far this week
-I’ve been working out each morning
-My husband is getting on board with the healthy eating
-I’m only 35 days away from my husband and I going to Disney’s Vero Beach
-I just planned a 4 day Disney World trip for my son and me! (I took my daughter once with another mother/daughter. I went with my husband and another couple once for Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival. So my son has been reminding me occasionally for the last few years that I owe him a trip. I’m so excited to surprise him in April!)
:bounce:
 
My woohoo is that I booked my disney trip and we are staying in a deluxe. So excited. On the weight lose track I did really good yesterday. I am back to my weight on Sunday. I will have tome to work out today and I am sticking to my plan of eating better.
 
Woohoo...

Temps are getting much colder around here and the forecast the coming days has a slight chance of snowy type stuff falling in select areas. I remembered to go to the hardware store and get de-icer and a shovel, so 100% guaranteed it will not snow in my area.

I bought my cat Mike one of those donut style kitty beds, and he got right into it... with cats you never know. Just want the old guy to be as warm and comfy as possible.

I also ordered a kitchen island. It'll arrive next Tuesday, so this weekend I need to get the great shift going... it has to start in the craft room, making room to move the bookcase in there, so the table can go where the bookcase was and the kitchen island can go where the table was. Quite excited, as the island gives me more storage space as well as counter top space.

As mentioned yesterday, I signed up for a gentle yoga class Thursday evenings, this is something I've been needing to do and I'm also kind of excited about it. And that it is walking distance from the house, so I'll get a little walk in as well.

A better food day yesterday, but still have a ways to go.
 
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Good morning folks! My name is Jerry from Baton Rouge, LA. I'm 36, married with two great children ages 6 (Girl) and 2 (Boy). Not all that long ago I was a marathon runner with my last one being WDW in 2019. The downward trend was in full swing leading up to the race which resulted in personal worst. Somewhere along the way I went from fit to not so much gaining 35 lbs along the way.

My 2020 goal is to drop that weight and run either a half or full marathon in January 2021. To do so, I have started running early in the morning (4:30 AM) with our Brittany Spaniel who is even more excited than me lol. Not only will reaching these goals do wonders for the physical side of things, but mentally I am just a much happier person when I exercise regularly.

Since starting I am down 5lbs so far this year by not eating so much bad food and the start of running. I will continue to try to check in as often as I can for updates and to see how others are doing as well. If anyone is looking to get into running, feel free to visit the running thread 2020 version on the runDisney section of this forum. Good luck everyone and together we can all reach out goals!
 
Good morning folks! My name is Jerry from Baton Rouge, LA. I'm 36, married with two great children ages 6 (Girl) and 2 (Boy). Not all that long ago I was a marathon runner with my last one being WDW in 2019. The downward trend was in full swing leading up to the race which resulted in personal worst. Somewhere along the way I went from fit to not so much gaining 35 lbs along the way.

My 2020 goal is to drop that weight and run either a half or full marathon in January 2021. To do so, I have started running early in the morning (4:30 AM) with our Brittany Spaniel who is even more excited than me lol. Not only will reaching these goals do wonders for the physical side of things, but mentally I am just a much happier person when I exercise regularly.

Since starting I am down 5lbs so far this year by not eating so much bad food and the start of running. I will continue to try to check in as often as I can for updates and to see how others are doing as well. If anyone is looking to get into running, feel free to visit the running thread 2020 version on the runDisney section of this forum. Good luck everyone and together we can all reach out goals!
Welcome!
 
I think most of us have Disney trips planned this year! Our trip isn’t until August, so looking forward to your takes on new rides and attractions. @MickeyMom76, we love Vero Beach! Such a beautiful resort.

I’m getting back into better habits after the holidays-I had a WW leader that used to say it’s not what you do between Thanksgiving and Christmas that counts, but what you do between Christmas and Thanksgiving!
 

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