Thanksgiving to Christmas 2016

[dancefoxtrot]

Our Challenge this time has 31 days so we can set realistic goals for 4 weeks of weight loss or maintenance. Come and share your stories, successes, struggles and what you are learning on your journey to a healthier life.

OSW= 153 Feb 2015

CSW= 149.3 Today

GW =  145 12/25

UGW= 135 and maintain it

OSW= Original starting weight when began with Fitbit

CSW= Current starting weight

GW= Goal weight for this challenge ending on 12/25

UGW=Ultimate goal weight.

Okay we going together toward healthier bodies and minds. Sadly holidays have been commercialized to focus on consumption including lots of sugar, empty carbs and calories.  We can make much healthier choices since we are not mindless puppets of the greedy manufacturers. 

Let's give ourselves and others the gift of healthier food and attitudes.

All the very best on this Thanksgiving Day.

Anyone want to share a few things that they are thankful for to inspire us?

I'm thankful for my home to keep me sheltered from the storms.

I'm grateful for my work teaching exercise and health to older adults and it

helps me, too.

I'm grateful for still being able to dance.

I'm thankful for my son and his kids just 1 hour away.

I'm grateful for my sister and brother across the country that I can call.

I'm grateful for my garden with some organic veggies and fruit.

I'm thankful for the good nutrition that my late momma taught me to eat.

I'm thankful for my Fitbit friends that are so kind and supportive.

We are doing this one day at a time and we can reach our healthy goals!

Hugs to all our fierce challengers,

Barbara G

[dancefoxtrot]

Hi @HeartBiller

Well I'm glad that you are focusing on going forward. If you have to lower your goal to a more reasonable one and that is ok too.  It seems that we need to stay mindfully each and every meal and snack or the eat everything in sight monster takes over.

I agree that you may be storing water but it is possible to gain quickly unfortunately. On Thurs. you will see if some of that weight.  I gained too after Thanksgiving just yesterday I saw 151 looking up at me but today 149.9 was there. The truth is I had only 1 slice of pumpkin pie  and no candy or other dessert but managed to gain about 3 lbs. over 2-3 days. 

So onward we go. 

All the best,

Barbara G

[HeartBiller]

@dancefoxtrotI am trying to stay positive...lol. I am also trying to flush out some weight with water. yesterday and today I have had 150 ounces of water... So I guess it will flush something out or make me realize I just ate way to much...lol.

I will stay positive though. I have come a long way, even if I still have a long way to go.

Here is to making the best of it and moving forward!

[debb21]

@almost_where  The jelly and peanut butter is a good idea.  I like aunt mIllie's low calorie bread.  It is only 70 calories for 2 slices. 

[_Lilac_]

Good morning all! I'm disappointed to report that shovelling snow isn't a recognized activity in the fitbit activity tracker! I opened my back door to find almost a foot of snow on my deck. I made a good path for the dogs, cleared the steps and all the way to the gate. My neighbour is awesome and does my driveway and front step with his powerful snow blower. I've got a downed tree branch stretching from a utility line to the ground so I had to call the power company to come deal with it. I don't want my pooches to get zapped. There are about 14,000 people in the city without power but we are ok. The neighbourhood is bustling with snow removal equipment and people walking around. I'm sure schools are cancelled. We are quite efficient at getting this dealt with though, so everything will be back to normal by this afternoon. 

It's a good day to stay in and drink hot tea, do some exercise videos, housecleaning and laundry. I have healthy food in the house and it sure looks Christmassy out there!

[Glenda]

Lilac, Maybe everyone else already knows, but I wish you had said the name of your city where so many people have no power so I would know where you are. I hope you have power. Also I don't know what kind of Fitbit you have but my rather old Fitbit one measures things as steps better if you put it on the part of the body that is moving. If you are shoveling snow maybe if you put your fitbit on your wrist you would get steps??? The new ones are much more sensitive but old Ones needed to be at the waist for hula hoops and on the foot for bikes. Maybe not even remotely possible if you have something already on your wrist. Just a thought. Glenda

[_Lilac_]

@Glenda  Oh, yeah, about the fitbit...I have the Blaze, which measures the steps and heartrate and everything. What I meant was that when I want to manually put in an activity on the site/app, snow shovelling isn't an option. I didn't get many steps shovelling because it's not really a 'foot moving-walking-running' activity...but my heart rate sure revved up. I was really just kinda having fun by mentioning the lack of having that activity in the tracker. 

I'm way over on the Atlantic Coast of Canada, in New Brunswick (northeast of Maine). I don't know what the running total is of snowfall right now but I'd say about 8-10 inches or more. My neighbour damaged his snowblower on a big rock buried in the snow. We always get a lot of snow, so it's nothing new. But usually this amount comes in mid to late December. Though.....45 years ago there was a big blizzard the day my sister was born, Nov 29. My mom had to walk a few blocks to the hospital, 9 months pregnant and in labor. They were bringing nurses and docs in to the hospital on snowmobiles because they couldn't get cars through. Ok, off to do laundry!

[Glenda]

                                    We are one extreme to the other.  I'm in subtropical Houston Texas area, and am amazed by your ability to cope with that weather.   Glad you don't take chances with electricity lines down.  We have that sometimes with storms.   Not good to be without power when it is very cold ,hot  or dark, so I hope all those people are not without for long.  I'm NEVER prepared enough, when the power goes out.  Thank goodness for a completely charged up Kindle Paperwhite (lighted) eReader when you need it.  It helps do without lights, computer, and TV.

     I admire all of you who enter things manually.  Or for that matter use all those calorie conting things.    Thanks for telling me where you are.  Very interesting up there.

[A_Lurker]

@_Lilac_- we got that amount of snow about the middle of Nov last year, but it melted just a couple of days later.  So far this year we've been back and forth.  10C today and rain this afternoon then below zero and snow this Sunday.  I'm already sick of winter.  

[_Lilac_]

@Glenda Two summers ago my old deck was torn down and a new one was installed. The old decking was untreated wood. My brother in law came and cut it up for me so I have a big pile of wood in my basement if I ever need to crank up the wood stove if the power goes out. It's not too typical for people to have them here but my house came with it from the previous owner. Usually, if the power goes out in winter and you have no heat, you hunker down with everyone in the same room, candles and lots of blankets. Or you go to a family member's house who has power. Last year we lost power when my husband was on oxygen. We had a battery powered pump, thank goodness. AND we were on a special list the power company keeps of people who need electricity restored quickly. It still took hours to get it going. Someone seems to drive into the big pole nearby quite often.

[_Lilac_]

@A_Lurker  It's already melting a bit. It's 2C and the roads are clear after a pass by the plow. But we have another severe weather alert. Another system hitting us overnight. Snow to the north of us and rain to the south of us but we could get another 15cm overnight. Fun fun.

So, I messed up today. I did laundry, took the dogs out, cleaned cages, put out garbage bags, moved the furniture around, etc etc....with my fitbit on the charger!!! Gah. Oh well. I'm going to make lunch and just chalk one up to forgetfullness. 

[A_Lurker]

@_Lilac_- omg, you know it doesn't count when it's on the charger. 

[HeartBiller]

I was reading about your all's snow... Shew I hate that white stuff..lol. We got much needed rain today. Not a fan of driving in it, But it was much needed. I can completely do with out snow. If all my family wasn't here, I would move somewhere it never snows.... But I really can't complain. We here in Kentucky do not get nothing like some of you get.

@GlendaMany Many years ago, I lived in an outskirt of Houston.. That was in my childhood days. One day I would like to go back and check it all out again. We went from the fast paced life of Houston to the calm relaxed life in Kentucky. I like it here though so will probably be here til we die...lol. I have one of them ol' country boys, who would never make it in the city..lol.

[MsDena]

 I hit a wall and just not motivated anymore. Read your challenge and it sparked a little motivation.

WE GOTTA THIS!!!!!!

OSW=286{1/12/2016}

CSW=243{11/26/2016}

GW=233

UGW=200

MsDena

[Glenda]

Boy! Don't you hate realizing you have done lots with your fitbit off. !!! Horrible. 2c is just about freezing, looks like on my thermometer. Here in Galveston right now we have a small building size freezer with ice sculptures inside carved by Chinese people who did all the outdoor sculptures in China. It was VERY interesting to visit for us just to experience the cold which was between 7 and 18 degrees F which would be about minus 10 c I think. We knew they would give us parkas but being inexperienced we didn't think about the fact that sandals and Bermuda shorts were not the best idea to go with the parkas. ho ho Here they let you slide down the slippery slide for no additional charge, but in Toledo Ohio where they have an outdoor similar place, Ron H who lives there and is in my Fitbit group said they charge extra. My son-in-law managed to slide down with only the bottoms of his shoes and butt on the ice avoiding his bare legs. They let you take pictures inside (unlike the museum) but warned you that the cold might harm your camera. Ben's camera DID sweat when we got back into the normal 80 degree temperatures outside. Can you guys take pictures up there much?

[Glenda]

I'm completely sure you have better weather in Kentucky. I've lived lots of places and this is the WORST weather. I even lived in Baton Rouge and didn't sweat as much when playing golf. My daughter says that isn't true and that gardening is hotter than golfing. My makeup sweats off and my hair gets all wet. However I have the best LOCATION of my life. Everything I could wish for is within 2 miles of my house. However while you have snow I have flowers blooming all across the front of my house right now. Gardening doesn't get so many steps....

[Glenda]

Maybe you could talk them into planting some steel posts in cement around the bottom of the post people run into. In my neighborhood they did that just to keep trucks from cutting a corner and driving on the grass. The trucks NEED 2 lanes to turn corners like that that there is only one lane. I don't know what they do now. I guess they have to turn the other direction and just go away. So glad you could still manage for your husband. !!!

[A_Lurker]

@Glenda- like most electronics you just need to be careful when you bring them inside that you let them warm up naturally.  You might find the same thing if you were outside on a very hot and humid day and then brought a camera into a heavily air conditioned environment.

It's not the deepest snow I've seen at once, but I have an old picture from my last place where we got caught with an earlier than expected heavy snow.  I'd given up and covered up the table but we were still getting some fall flowers and some tomatoes (the sad container on the left).  For those tender souls from snow belts I've hidden it in a spolier.  

Spoiler

[_Lilac_]

Hang onto your hats. This photo was taken up the street after a big dumping two years ago. 

[_Lilac_]

@A_Lurker  How do I spoiler a photo?

[A_Lurker]

@_Lilac_- insert it into your post, then highlight it (I did the line before and the entire photo) and then click on the triangle with the ! in it.

When I first moved to the town I'm in the snow was very heavy that winter.  I couldn't see around the corner of our street when going to work.  This wasn't too bad as long as it was dark (well as long as people were using their headlights).  I've seen snow that high only before in large cities when they were plowing more than one lane.