Pixies Power
 

I have seen this sort of thing done elsewhere and wondered if it could truly work here.

I'd like to create a small corner here for those of us who need support in our efforts to change our lifestyle meaning things like habits (such as smoking or even financial spending), dietary changes, or exercise. I'm envisioning a place to brag about accomplishments (no matter how small) or bitch about failures, to cheer eachother on to making better choices, to offer eachother insight and encouragment. I think it would be a great place to report or keep a running record of daily, weekly, monthly, goals and what good choices you are making.

I found this site www.tickerfactory.com that has tickers to keep track of your goals and achievements. I'm sure there are other places too with behavior modification tools.

This would also be the place to discuss tactics you have found useful to help you to make those choices, as well as feelings about how thechoices you are making are impacting your life. Feel free to blog here, record keep, celebrate or whine.

I put this in Advice because it's mainly a support/advice thread and also because this forum gets less riff-raff and it's a seriously personal type subject.

This is a great idea Lil. Seeing as how I am going to try to loose about 25-35 more pounds, this would be a great way for me to force myself to stick to it. Just in case the food journal doesn't work like it did last time I know I will always have you guys. (((((( hugs))))))

Thanks for the motivation! I will do my sit-ups & push-ups asap!

Excellent dreamgurl!!! 25-35 is do-able! Think of what you have already done!!!

One time, a very long time, ago I lost 70 pounds so I know I can make changes and stick to them.

Here's my long term weight goal ticker!

I am going to drink 6 bottles of water a day. I also plan to adhere to a low processed flours/sugars eating plan. More veggies, more fruit, more nuts, more lean meats. I plan to avoid white flour, bad fats, and high fructose corn syrup at all costs.

How many? Are you trying to build up to a certain # or just starting off maxed?

Thank you Lil .... I've set goals for this year to lose weight and get more mobile ... working at the increased mobility several times a week ... but now working a lot harder at the weight issues as well ... I plan to go with a low carb (not non-existant, but low) and lower fat eating plan, increase my veggie intake ... I don't like most fruits, but I'm get more of them into my eating plan as well.

And still working to increase my savings, etc. on a financial level.

Do we get personal spankings from Lilith if we don't make achievements??




I'd probably try to GAIN weight if that was the case.... :P
CasperTG

Great fzzy! Maybe you could keep us posted on what new fruits you are eating. I am adding them in many forms including dried.

CasperTG~ no but you will get spanks and licks for supporting those of us working atmaking changes. Got anything you'd like to change???

I'm working on weight issues - I've been fortunate to date that my weight has not caused me any health issues. I know that I am capable of weight loss it's just a matter of convincing myself that I need to do it and stick to it.

And while weight has not had an impact on my physical health (or at least not any impacts that have been detected yet) - it has had huge impacts on my mental and emotional health. I have finally realized this!

I mentioned in another thread that I am doing WW Online and hope to experience success. I'm making healthier choices in my eating... planning my meals and trying new things. I've historically been a picky eater which meant minimal fruits and vegetables.

I have debated doing WW online. Are you finding it helpful?

I just signed up yesterday and am starting the plan today. I find the recipes helpful. I'm learning to be more adventurous in my cooking rather than cooking the 5 things my mom made that I liked. It appears to require quite a bit of discipline to stay on track of journaling your food intake. Give me a month and I might have a better opinion about it being helpful or not...

Speaking of journaling your food intake....there's a site that I use ( www.fitday.com ) where you can log food intake by item, manage your fat/fiber/vitamin intake, and also track the number of times you work out weekly.

I've been using it for 2 years, and it's made me SOOO much more aware of what I put into my body. :) One of the things I love are the "reporting" tabs where you can track whether you've reached your RDA of vitamins for the day/week, the report where you find out on average how many calories you burn a day, and the report where you track how much fat your diet contains.

The program is free and worth its weight in gold IMHO.

My specific goals this year:
1. Become healthier
-- Lose at least 15 lbs, preferably 20
-- Lessen my daily fat intake to less than 30% (taregt 25%)
-- Work out a minimum of 4 days/week (I've been averaging 3)
-- Target 1900 calories/day (I've been averaging 2050)

2. Find a better job
-- Send out one resume per day, with a well-researched cover letter...5 days a week
-- Conduct follow up on all call backs
-- Become more active with Career Services at school, and join the Marketing Club

3. Find a hobby
-- Research if there are inexpensive dancing clubs, or places where you can learn either salsa or ball room dance
-- Investigate if there is some form of martial arts (NOT T'ai Chi) that I can do with my arthritis
-- Research good bike routes near home

I will look into that link.

I know this may sound nuts but in my town the best dancehalls/lessons are at the Senior Center.

Osuche can you bike with the arthritis?

depends on what type of biking...I'm not taking on the Berkeley Hills (aka STEEP) anytime soon. my body likes recumbents, but I can do normal biking for a couple of hours a day.

Senior Center dancing? hmmm.....interesting notion. Will check. ty

Here's is my ticker ( thanks Lil) to finalize it. Ticker

cute ticker!!!


I just did the fitday thing and I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks osuche!

I tried that too :rolleyes:

no comment :rolleyes:

That fitday software does look very interesting - thanks osuche!

I have been playing with the fitday. I wish the water goal only measured water. It seems to measure all "moisture".

I actually don't track my water online (too lazy). :) But after playing around with it, I think you're right. You can add it as a food item, but then I think you can't track your progress. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. Glad you took a look at the site, though...it really has been a big help for me.

It's really great, I'm definitely using it!

We are going to order the CD so Cobalt can use it too. He has the opposite problem - skinny and wants to gain/build muscle. It looks like you can plug a weight lifting regiment into it. It appeared that you can use the program like that as well. I was wondering about the water too. Near as I can tell without the program installed, is that I would have to add it to my daily food log and check it from there.

I may be becoming addicted to the software :p

I am setting gradually stepping goals using it. It's very cool to see not only how much you eat that you shouldn't but also how much the good food choices affect your overall nutrition.

Well I'm reporting in for my day (at least to this point) .... been a very good girl today and not much hope of not being one through the end of the day since I've made it into my place and once here ... I'm ensconsed for the night ...and I don't have any goodies kind of food left in the place ... so I'm planning on a lean cuisine entree and adding some asparagus and mushrooms to the mix. My plan is to get some of the initial water weight off before I get into pushing the activity level much beyond where I'm at currently. Hope everyone else is having a spectacular day .... and my current mantra ...


Nothing tastes as good as thin feels! :)

LOL @ somehow I managed to be slightly bad and still be good. I was tempted into eating out today and I decided I can't neglect myself of that once in awhile and I just needed to make really good choices.

Way to go Maddy ..... we have to live in the real world, which means that there are times when eating out is what you need to do (or should do - or just doing something else that feels good) (being social that is) ... and it's great when you can enjoy that and still make reasonably good choices in the process!!

I had a you're-sick0and -nothing-sounds-good day. 1400 calories, and 400 if it was beer. :D Not extensible, I know.

I went to bed to avoid pigging out after a severely stressful day. I'm being honest with myself and that is helping.

fzzy~ my nutritionist always said to add a lowfat calcium/dairy and a fruit/veggie to any of the micro meals. Your mantra is great!

this is a terrific idea lil.
i am here to support you all!!!! :)

sending you (((hugs))) and will power.

I went out with my college girlfriend tonight. Made really bad choices but will jump back on track tomorrow. I did manage to not break down and have a soda.

I did good today .... no time not to .... wanted to snack sooooo bad though .... have managed to make it through without snacking today ....

Lil ... even early on in lifestyle changes, sometimes the occassion calls for being a bit bad ... and congrats on the no soda decision tonight!

bah humbug, the holidays gave me some more of me around me middle, a present i didn't want. looks like i need to start walking to the return line a mile east of here, but i think that i head west and keeeeeeeeeeep ona a goooooooooing round the world and that should do it!

seriously, i NEED, WANT, DESIRE, et cetera, to loose weight before the wedding, and build some muscles and stamina (I wanna REALLY consummate our marriage very throughly :D:D:D )

my goal is to start eating less in portion size, and chew each bite, enjoy and savour my food rather than gobble it up. do a 20 minute round of my yoga 2 times and lose one pound this week

i will start off slow, and hope to work it out that i am eventually up to yoga 3-4 times a week, diet change to healthier foods, and not to punish myself for eating a sweet but eating all the rest of the bowl of sweets, and to lose about 3-5 pounds a week by April. oh and water water water water, or tea with only splenda and skim milk in it if i want tea.

hopefully i can make this attainable, and start seeing myself as sexy and beautiful like Mayhem sees me (Gawd i just love that man so much i could cry!)

Already over half way through the week and I'm down almost 2 pounds! This is cause for a nakey happy dance!!!!!!!

I managed to make it home safe (without stopping at a fast food place) again tonight .... very proud of myself .... I'm doing well again today with my eating plan, even did my grocery shopping (on-line) and didn't order anything that doesn't fit in with my eating plan for the next couple of weeks/months .... figure somewhere along the line I'll expand it out to include a bit more, just right now trying to be very structured and safe with my choices ... it's always been way to easy for me to slip back into the bad habits of the past, so want to stay away from that as LONG as possible.

Way to go Lizz ... slow and steady wins the race!!

YEAH Dreamgurl ... congrats on the weight loss ... marvelous!!!!

*pats fzzy's back....side!* Good job!

busy day today...didn't get to yoga, but for the many times i was driving in my van, i 'car danced ' ( and hoped that VH1 wasn't taping me for Motormouth) and at every stoplight that i had to stop at, i either tensed my stomach muscles or my butt.......I read somewhere that tensing your stomach muscles for 5 seconds is like doing 1 sit up. I thought i better be doing something, because that burns more calories than doing nothing.

Yesterday I suffered a momentary lapse of sanity and scarfed M & Ms:D But I added them to the fitday stuff. Overall there has definitely been some weightloss this week but the main thing is that I am able to see how little of my diet has been protein, even when I think I'm eating a lot of it. So now I can work towards changing that.

Try the Peanut M&Ms :D I hear they help with protein. :p

Seriously...I find that just *admitting* what you're eating, tracking and logging everything, goes a LONG way to a healthier diet. There are days I crave certain foods and I'll not have them because I don't want to have to add them to the log (guilt). :) Also, it's hard to convince yourself you haven't had any candy lately -- when you can go back the last 5 days and SEE you had something sweet every day.

So much for rationalization. :p

You just need to find a subsitute for food you can stick in your mouth when the urge for something sweet strikes. :D

I think I could help you with that. ;)

Guess who's lost 7 lbs since Christmas??? :D yipee!