New Year, New Start - January WISH Challenge

[Oneanne]

I am celebrating working out 3 days this week. I have eaten good this week except last night. We had Pizza. But back on track today.

 

[Flossbolna]

Hello everyone!! I am finally back on the DIS and jumping right in here. As to today's question: I guess I am celebrating that I am back here and that I tracked all my food today!

It looks like this thread is full of old friends, but I thought a short introduction is never wrong. My name is Magdalene, I am German and live in Germany (hence sometimes odd posting times) with my American husband who is splitting his time between here and Florida. No kids, no pets. I have a long history of struggling with my weight and the last couple of years have been full of stress and therefore not good for my weight.

I haven't weighed myself since September because I am scared of the number. I wanted to this morning, but then the batteries in the scale had died. They are now replaced and tomorrow will be my new starting weight... I have promised myself to make this year a year that moves me in the right direction. Last year I signed up to a new gym and I have been quite good at going there regularly, I lapsed a few times due to vacation and illness, but I enjoy the workout, I can see progress and it is convenient. I definitely did see some success last summer, so I need to reconnect to that. The first of my friends will turn 50 this year and at the end of next year, it is my turn (shortly after WDW). I am very motivated to look really great on my 50th birthday!

I should have had the motivation to look great for our Hawaiian wedding last fall, but there were lots of factors that did not work to my advantage. We still had an amazing celebration (we got married in late 2017 in Germany and wanted to celebrate with American family and friends in the US as well) and a fantastic time in Hawaii and California (where we stopped for stopovers both ways), including a visit to Disneyland. I got back mid November and got in the middle of the pre-Christmas running around as well as trying to catch up at work after nearly 5 weeks off!! Then Christmas and a couple of nasty colds happened and suddenly it is the middle of January and I am afraid that I might have the highest weight I ever had in my life. It is frustrating as my whole wardrobe is full of nice clothes that don't fit. I also am starting to feel that the weight is bothering me physically. I really need to get it off again! I am not feeling comfortable!

So, my plan is to track food, focus on getting enough protein (which I find difficult as I would like to eat less meat), go to the gym twice a week and run twice a week. I also need to get back into biking to work if the weather is ok, but that might be a February project as I don't want to overdo it. But the advantage of biking is that it is also the quickest way for me to get to work, so it is a time saver!

I am looking forward to chatting with you all again!

 

[Oneanne]

Hello everyone!! I am finally back on the DIS and jumping right in here. As to today's question: I guess I am celebrating that I am back here and that I tracked all my food today!

It looks like this thread is full of old friends, but I thought a short introduction is never wrong. My name is Magdalene, I am German and live in Germany (hence sometimes odd posting times) with my American husband who is splitting his time between here and Florida. No kids, no pets. I have a long history of struggling with my weight and the last couple of years have been full of stress and therefore not good for my weight.

I haven't weighed myself since September because I am scared of the number. I wanted to this morning, but then the batteries in the scale had died. They are now replaced and tomorrow will be my new starting weight... I have promised myself to make this year a year that moves me in the right direction. Last year I signed up to a new gym and I have been quite good at going there regularly, I lapsed a few times due to vacation and illness, but I enjoy the workout, I can see progress and it is convenient. I definitely did see some success last summer, so I need to reconnect to that. The first of my friends will turn 50 this year and at the end of next year, it is my turn (shortly after WDW). I am very motivated to look really great on my 50th birthday!

I should have had the motivation to look great for our Hawaiian wedding last fall, but there were lots of factors that did not work to my advantage. We still had an amazing celebration (we got married in late 2017 in Germany and wanted to celebrate with American family and friends in the US as well) and a fantastic time in Hawaii and California (where we stopped for stopovers both ways), including a visit to Disneyland. I got back mid November and got in the middle of the pre-Christmas running around as well as trying to catch up at work after nearly 5 weeks off!! Then Christmas and a couple of nasty colds happened and suddenly it is the middle of January and I am afraid that I might have the highest weight I ever had in my life. It is frustrating as my whole wardrobe is full of nice clothes that don't fit. I also am starting to feel that the weight is bothering me physically. I really need to get it off again! I am not feeling comfortable!

So, my plan is to track food, focus on getting enough protein (which I find difficult as I would like to eat less meat), go to the gym twice a week and run twice a week. I also need to get back into biking to work if the weather is ok, but that might be a February project as I don't want to overdo it. But the advantage of biking is that it is also the quickest way for me to get to work, so it is a time saver!

I am looking forward to chatting with you all again!

Hello there! And...

For checking in!

 

[piglet1979]

I am German and live in Germany

Welcome Back! I know I have mentioned before (maybe a few years ago though) about my sons love of Germany. He can't wait to go sometime. This year he started taking German and loves it. He is getting an A. We were watching the Madalonian last night when the credits come one he read some stuff in German to us. It was cool. He plans to take it all 4 years. DH told him that he will take him to Germany if he takes all 4 years.

 

[Flossbolna]

Welcome Back! I know I have mentioned before (maybe a few years ago though) about my sons love of Germany. He can't wait to go sometime. This year he started taking German and loves it. He is getting an A. We were watching the Madalonian last night when the credits come one he read some stuff in German to us. It was cool. He plans to take it all 4 years. DH told him that he will take him to Germany if he takes all 4 years.

There is actually a great program for scholarships for high school students to come to Germany for a year. It has run for a long time. I did a one year exchange to Denmark and it was an amazing experience for me. If he is that much interested in Germany, he might find it interesting. I know, a year is long, but it let's you really get settled into your host family and school and you experience every season. More info is here: https://www.usagermanyscholarship.org As far as I know it really varies how competitive it is (some areas might have 20 applicants for one spot, others only two), so don't be discouraged by it sounding like you had to be some kind of super student to get a spot. I have been a volunteer for one of the organizations that are dealing with the program for a long time and have met many American students who came to Germany that way, that's how I know about the program.

 

[sjrec]

Welcome back, Flossbolna! It was good to “catch up” with you!

One thing I will celebrate this week is that even though I tend to avoid driving at night these days, I got out of my comfort level and got together with friends Tuesday evening. I know my limitations-I won’t drive 95 or the PA turnpike, but I can certainly drive in my familiar surroundings.

 

[Oneanne]

Welcome back, Flossbolna! It was good to “catch up” with you!

One thing I will celebrate this week is that even though I tend to avoid driving at night these days, I got out of my comfort level and got together with friends Tuesday evening. I know my limitations-I won’t drive 95 or the PA turnpike, but I can certainly drive in my familiar surroundings.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I am celebrating working out 3 days this week. I have eaten good this week except last night. We had Pizza. But back on track today.

We had pizza last night as well. Evening plans were up in the air when I left in the morning, so I hadn't taken anything out, and I had "a day" (payback for the good day Thursday, I think) and needed comfort food.

But I had a side salad while waiting for the pizza to arrive, then ate two pieces and put my other two in the fridge, so I don't feel too bad.

 

[MickeyMom76]

My husband and daughter were away for an indoor hockey tournament last night and today. So I was enjoying the one-on-one time with my son (which has always been treasured time, I guess partly because they are twins...but I’m sure in any family it’s always nice to spend time focused on one kid at a time). But he wanted to go to the Chinese buffet for dinner after his basketball game (which they lost AGAIN and he’s hit a frustration point with that). So of course I said yes and enjoyed a little too much of the buffet. But he also wanted me to play ping ping with his last night and today. Plus I did my cardio workout today followed by a yoga workout. And I plan to double up workouts again tomorrow. The way I’m doing this new program, I’m doing 10 workouts a week. It’s challenging, but I’m enjoying it. I’ll also celebrating that I’ve been using. MyFitnessPal to track my food, even when I don’t eat well. By tracking even the bad days, it motivates me to want to do better the next day.

 

[sjrec]

We had pizza last night as well. Evening plans were up in the air when I left in the morning, so I hadn't taken anything out, and I had "a day" (payback for the good day Thursday, I think) and needed comfort food.

But I had a side salad while waiting for the pizza to arrive, then ate two pieces and put my other two in the fridge, so I don't feel too bad.

I can’t imagine a food plan that doesn’t include pizza!

Snow and sleet today and I have been pretty lazy. If I can’t get out for a walk tomorrow I will follow my indoor emergency plan. I am really impressed by everyone’s motivation this past week!

 

[Flossbolna]

Two days of tracking done! Quite a few calories saved! Friends asked me to join them for dinner yesterday and I thought that this would throw out my day, but it was fine. I tracked everything and did not go over my calories! Scale was down 0.1 kg today. Which might easily just be a fluctuation, but I will take it as a sign!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I need to do some serious cleaning here. Not the most exciting Sunday plans...

 

[PollyannaMom]

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I need to do some serious cleaning here. Not the most exciting Sunday plans...

Me too.

My husband and daughter were away for an indoor hockey tournament last night and today. So I was enjoying the one-on-one time with my son (which has always been treasured time, I guess partly because they are twins...but I’m sure in any family it’s always nice to spend time focused on one kid at a time)...

It's so true! The two I help take of are four years old, and were recently sick - one after the other, for almost a week each. They got really used to the one-on-one time (when the sick one was napping, or the well one was at preschool) so they've struggled a bit with transitioning back to more sharing and cooperating - but I think that's just because it started to seem normal rather than special. In general, I think it's great for kids to have some time focused just on them, and actually helps them be more patient when they do need to "share you". (And I must say, I enjoy the one-on-one moments myself as well. - It's reminds me of when DS was that age. )

 

[Flossbolna]

Happy Monday evryone!! I hope you all had a good weekend. I did not get nearly as much done this weekend as I had planned, but that's ok! I did manage to eat healthy though and the scale was friendly to me. I am down 0.4 kg over the last couple of days, that's nearly one pound (which sounds far better than 0.4 kg).

I am all packed and ready to go to the gym after work. I am a bit scared about how it will go as I haven't been there again for two weeks (one week vacation and then one week being sick). But I am determined to make the gym a new habit in 2020!

I realized today that the sunrise will soon be before 8 am again! I am so happy that the days are starting to get longer again! I am thinking that with a 8 am sunrise, it ought to be light enough outside to go for a run at 7:30 am - before work! I also checked my bike over the weekend, so biking to work ought to resume some time this week as well. Not today as I had such a late start that I wanted to bring my coffee with me to drink on my way to work. I got this really nice re-useable mug and have gotten into the habit of enjoying my home made coffee while commuting. Coffee might not be the healthiest drink, but it is comforting and gives me a good start into the day, especially since I am back to intermittend fasting (i.e. skipping breakfast and evening Snacks).

Please excuse any random capitalization. This weired browser at work does it as a wrong autocorrect (I guess it thinks it is German where all nouns are capatalized).

 

[sjrec]

Happy Monday, everyone! I’m thinking some of you have today off because of Martin Luther King Day?

Put my notebook on the counter so I track everything. I’m struggling a little with snacking, so just seeing the notebook is a good reminder to stay on track.

 

[sjrec]

 

[HappyGrape]

Happy to hear back form you @Flossbolna. i have been through some stressful time too lately but lets look ahead and work for better tomorrow!

 

[HappyGrape]

Motivation Monday
What old habits you need to work on this week?​

 

[sweetpeama]

Checking in for January and a quick update. I gained a little over the holidays but am close to being back to my pre holiday weight. Considering how bad my feet were swelling I think a lot of it was fluid retention.
I am finally getting help on getting the house done thanks to my mother in law deciding to walk in the house a little after a week ago when we did not obviously get to the door fast enough a week ago and her seeing the mess the house is in. While she has not said much to me knowing that right now physically I can't do much I would not be surprised if she hasn't said something to my husband about helping out more and getting the girls to help out more. DH and I are still sneaking food ok just the items that we don't want 12 year old to waste including boxed mac and cheese (she takes and eats the packet of cheese) and cereal (she dumped the entire box of raisin bran crunch we bought on Saturday before bedtime that night all over the kitchen. This was after the week before her crumbling up 12 of the 18 buscuits of shreaded wheat. Notice she does not do this to the honey nut cherios or the kix which she likes but to the cereals that mom likes. I rarely eat cereal though and most of the time when I do it's a hot cereal like Oatmeal or Cream of the West which is a wheat cereal that is made right here in Montana. https://creamofthewest.com/ Of course when I was growing up they just had their original cereal but since you can buy individual boxes here in the local stores I have tried the 7 grain as well and can say that it is good as well though I don't care for it as much as the original wheat that I grew up enjoying especially on cold mornings when we would come in from taking care of the animals.
I am drinking mainly water with occasionally having something else. Having to make sure that I have either someone to hold a drink for me or making sure that I get one of those cup holders from a place means I am not stopping that much for coffee drinks at the drive thru. I use a small water bottle in the car that can be sealed in case it tips. Coffee drinks do not have that.

 

[MickeyMom76]

For my trip, I think the thing I'm most woohoo-y about is staying at The Poly

Motivation Monday
What old habits you need to work on this week?

I need to work on walking past the snacks that aren’t good for me (cookies, chips, etc) and having better snacks more accessible (apples, carrots, etc). I did make chocolate peanut butter protein oatmeal cups today. It’s a new recipe and I haven’t tried them yet, so we’ll have to wait and see. But I put them in the corner of the kitchen where we usually leave any baked goods. And I put the cookies in baggies in the pantry on the kids shelf, so I’ll be less tempted. Here’s the link to the new recipe. But like I said, I haven’t actually tried them yet, so I’ll have to get back to you with my review...

https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/choco...-oatmeal-cups-recipe/?printthis=1&printsect=1

 

[sjrec]

Snacking has been a problem for me lately-I need to not purchase the high/empty calorie items and substitute something else. I bought some packages of hot chocolate and tonight had a cup of tea with a little honey to satisfy my sweet cravings.