Day 67 - I Can't Wait for Turkey Day AND Breaking (the) BAD!

I cannot WAIT for Thanksgiving!!

Not for the OBVIOUS reasons - it's my FAVORITE holiday (memories of mom's turkey dinner), not ALL to do with food but OMG, could my mom (in heaven) cook?!!! Yes, she could. YUM!

But THIS year I'm almost (somewhat, sorta, yah...for sure) more excited about Turkey Day for another reason.

There's cash involved. If you remember, I mentioned a challenge I'd entered about a month ago. We all had to choose the amount of weight we could lose by the day before Thanksgiving; we all put in $100 give or take, and if we lost our goal weight, the winner would be determined by weight loss percentage.

Yep. So how's it going?

Good. With 6 of us in it to win it, the competition is fierce. There is a good mix of people too. 2 guys, 4 girls, 3 old(er) and 3 young.

My bestie, Deb, is in the lead right now with a whopping 6.28% weight loss. WOWZA! She's doing AWEsome but had better stay on her toes. Her significant other is creepin' up on her and so am I. The "kids" are rockin' it too but...

Have any of them lost their drive???

Only time will tell. And with almost $600 on the line, it's still very much anyone's game. Good luck to all!

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NOW, let's talk about Barb's Friday Fitness Tip, because Oh EM Gee, it fits right in today. I am rounding up (next Tuesday) week 10 and weekends are always a bit tough for me. I've also been slipping a bit lately and had to have a good long talk with myself, last night. More about THAT after we see this FAB new tip:


Barb's FAB FITNESS TIP #7: Breaking Bad Habits Once and For All

Breaking a bad habit can be frustrating.  How many times have you been determined to lose weight, only to find yourself slipping back into a bad habit?  For instance, when you're having a super stressful day and nothing seems to be going right, does it cause you to make a trip or two to the vending machine?  When you have an argument with your spouse, do you turn to comfort food?  These habits, or behaviors, that you revert (back) to when life gets challenging, are most likely behaviors that you learned long ago.  These ingrained behaviors just become an automatic response. 

Can these repetitive behaviors ever be broken?  Yes!  It takes work, but it can be done and the outcome will be so worth it!  It's a matter of teaching your brain to trigger a different behavioral response to situations.  Here are some steps to help you out.

Step #1.  Recognize triggers.  Identify the situations that cause you to want to eat unhealthy food or to avoid exercising.

Step #2.  Tell yourself you have options. The next time a trigger occurs, remind yourself that you have options.  For example, if having to do a lot of paperwork at your job causes you to eat a candy bar and down a cola, then tell yourself you have other options, such as: getting a drink of water, taking a short walk, or doing a few stretches.

Step #3.  Choose one of the options.  Follow through with one of your healthy options. Keep replacing the bad habit with a healthy option, and your brain will eventually automatically think of the new behavior (healthy option) instead of the bad habit!  You'll then be free of the bad habit!

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What Barb states above is absolutely true. We get into routines (bad ones) that seem hard to break and that's probably the number one reason (at least for me) that failing to lose weight happens. We do well for a certain amount of time but then we start to slip. Slipping turns into returning to what was comfortable and easy, and before we know it, we are right back to where we were before we decided to...

CHANGE OUR LIFE!

Guess what?

It only takes the body (and mind) about 3 days to begin reprogramming itself. After 3 weeks, with good behavior, your body (and mind) should be plenty used to the NEW habits, meaning you are less likely to slip and/or return to the crappy ones.

BUT...

...if you continue to play the odds - one week I'm good, the next there's a few slips but I manage to pull it out, the next could be good but the NEXT, major fail...

You have NOT broken those habits. You are gambling and as you know, the house (97% of the time) always wins.

True confessions time: I've been gambling for the last two weeks. Struggling to stay on top of this. Losing focus for stupid reasons and forgetting what for and why I'm doing this. Enough is enough...

Let's ALL do as Barb says: recognize triggers. Find healthy options. Break the bad and continue doing good.

It's for you. Your body, your mind, your spirit.

And you darn well deserve it!

Till next time!

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Starting Weight: 306.4

Goal Weight: 150

Today's Weight: 273.4

Total Lost to Date: 33

33 Pounds DOWN! Time to step it UP!

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Our Virtual Trip(s)

Michele: 5.75 miles 

Anna: 108 miles 

Sandi: 66.36 miles

Debbie: 37 miles 

Kathy: 67.84 miles 

Stephanie: 86.75 miles 

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Day 66 - These Boots Were NOT Made for Walking!

Where are the walking girls NOW?

Well, I'll tell you.

But first, we need to talk about your shoes.

Oh, those SHOES!

What shoes are you wearing?

Here's the thing...you have to have good shoes if you plan to walk a lot. Walking is considered one of the best ways to get into shape. And we walk a whole lot more than we think we do.

I can personally attest to this, simply because even when I'm being a lazy girl, I end up walking an average of 2-3 miles in a day. That's with no workin' out (lazy girl, I said - like the last two days, anyway...).

I've also noticed that when I'm meandering around that if I'm wearing my good shoes, the made for walkin' shoes, my feet LOVE me.

On the other hand, if I spend most of the day (in) bare feet (which are my favorite "shoes") or in flip flops, my feet do NOT like me...at all.

Now, I'm not telling you WHAT shoes to buy; Nike, Reebok, New Balance, WHATever. All I'm sayin' is you've got to find the right and comfy shoes to fit your feet.

You do want HAPPY feet, don't you?

Of course.

Okay, so let's get to where the walking girls are...

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Our Virtual Trip(s)

Michele: 5.75 miles - Michele is doing fabulously, working her way up to going 1 mile per day. This is smart, as she doesn't want to go crazy walking some 80 miles one day, which might knock her out for a whole week or so. Congrats, to you, Michele, for sticking with this challenge. I can't wait to see you at the Mouse House!

Anna: 97 miles - Anna is heading to Italy and going by way of her new stationary bike. Anna injured herself last month and had to come up with an alternative to walking. She did it and continues to do it by biking her butt off - 97 miles to Italy so far. How exciting! 

Sandi: 63.19 miles - Sandi is (that's me, in case you forgot) heading to Disney too and by now is just on the other side of Stratham, NH. With less than 1400 miles to go, I am well on my way to see the Mouse. Massachusetts, here I come...

Debbie: 37 miles - Debbie is also heading to visit Mickey and friends. She is well on her way, still in PA but that's okay, it's a big state and she is making GREAT strides. Can't wait to see her and Michele in Florida. 

Kathy: 67.84 miles - Kathy is doing wonderfully on her way to Oregon to see her sister.  She is also still in the great state of Pennsylvania but with almost 70 miles under her belt, she will be to see her sister in no time. 

Stephanie: 80.30 miles - Steph has the shortest way to go but she is also quite a bit along her way to the Biggest Loser ranch in Niagara, NY. I simply love her competitive spirit and the way she MOVES. Walking more than 80 miles in 19 days is nothing to shake a stick at. 

WOW, girls, let's do some math:

Our combined miles toward our destinations are: 10,763 

We've walked (in just 19 days): 351.08 miles

Anna has averaged: 5.10 miles per day riding her bike

Steph has averaged: 4.22 miles per day on her feet

We have together almost made it to BL, Niagara, if we were starting from Steph's house. 

AND we are ROCKIN' our virtual trip(s)!

I do promise to get a bit better with the map thing - working on having an idea of exactly where we are each week would be AWEsome; that's a G thing and he's been BZZZY, but we'll get there...

I'm just darn proud of all of us for accepting this challenge and getting our butts moving. 

Cheers!

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Till next time!

...it's a Friday Barb Tip AND I'm going to share a bit about the Thanksgiving Challenge, YAY!

Week 9, You Were Testing Me, Right?

Oh, Dear Diary...this week has been a teeny bit rough on me. Ya see...LAST week I lost an AWEsome 7.2 pounds. That was HALF of what I lost for the whole second month. So I had a tiny feeling that this week might not see a big loss. And I was really okay with that. I am not a machine and I am certainly always a work in progress. But then??

There was food. Two glorious nights of food. Oh Em GEE!

And I tried to be good. I did. I know me. I know that I am addicted to food and that I have to stay focused and true to my goals.

I tried.

Sunday night I sucked eggs big time. I went in knowing that I had to pace myself. Only to not feel like I was going to explode after dinner.

(This is serious, folks)

So I did. Pace myself. BUT...

I also STILL took a bit of everything (because EVERYTHING is SO GOOD) and that's where I messed up.

I don't eat like that anymore. And I know that.

So Monday night I was determined to (going in, anyway) stay low-carb. With plenty to choose from, it shouldn't have been too hard.

Pfft.

I still ate a ridiculous amount of food. And I didn't stay low-carb. It was just a smorgasbord of yummy good eats and I couldn't put down the darn fork.

I DID, however...take only half of what I would normally take (unlike Sunday night) and I do think that helped some.

I mean, SERIOUSLY. YOU try to only eat half a peanut butter cookie and the BEST gluten-free Blondie you will EVER wrap your lips around - I did that, Monday...ugh.

Now, what is the point of all this?

Consider it a confession of sorts. I am a food addict and the truth must be shared for me to move forward, as well, to help others who may be in a similar situation.

Food is not my friend. Food sustains me, keeps me healthy. That's it. I'm not going to run away with it, or make it beneficiary to my vast fortune when I die (I'm amassing THAT as we speak, yay).

ANYway, the bottom line here is that I have come to hate food. I think.

I mean I think I hate it. I certainly don't like what I've done to myself with food.

I don't even like the word hate. Maybe strongly dislike.

Acck. I'm rambling.

Chalk that up to dead tired after two solid days of gorging and I'm pretty sure I haven't awakened from my food coma.

Okay...

FINE.

Let's see some numbers...

The RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME (and totally, by now) FAMOUS Weekly RECAP:

Day 57: 275.8 - Feelin' pretty good about getting HERE.

Day 58: NO scale 'n' toes today. Just a trumped up excuse or what? Honestly? Maybe.

Day 60: 276.4 - I was up .8 from Tuesday's weigh in but not feeling panicky about it. I was down 30 pounds exactly at this point and feeling good about losing half a pound a day for a 60 whole days!

Day 63: Yah, uh, NO. I did not weigh in YESTERDAY, yikes.

Day 64: 276.2 - Down from Friday but a TOUGH weekend and the bottom line is that I gained from last week. Most people wouldn't concern themselves with .4, but I simply have to stay on top of this. My whole life depends upon it.

You will notice that I am not blogging daily anymore - lucky YOU. I just have so much on my plate that rather than let everything go, half-ass, I simply scaled back. I can't tell for sure if it's affecting my "need to get on the scale every day" or not. We'll re-visit that next week and go from there.

But I AM weighing in 3 times a week for various challenges and so forth. You would THINK that would keep me focused...still not sure...moving on, now...

So there you have it. Week 9 is OUTTA here. Good. Bring on Week 10 - let's DO this!

Till next time!

...it'll be a walking girls update. Let's just see how far we've come, stay tuned...

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Starting Weight: 306.4

Goal Weight: 150

Today's Weight: 276.2

Total Lost to Date: 30.2

30.2 Pounds Down to Date - YAY!

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Week 10 Goals:

Walk 30 miles.

Stay focused about WHAT I'm putting in my mouth. 

No Excuses. (this one is HUGE, yikes)

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Our Virtual Trip(s)

Michele: 5 miles

Anna: 97 miles

Sandi: 57.16 miles 

Debbie: 31 miles 

Kathy: 64.84 miles 

Stephanie: 77.80 miles 

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