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

[Glenda]

                                    Bobbin,  Exercise is definitely extremely important for health.  It is important for our brains as well as the rest of our bodies.  And strength maintainance is critical too.  Age-related muscle atrophy begins when people reach their 40s and acceleates when they're in their 70s Muscle strength declines even more rapidly slipping about 15% per decade starting around age 50.  The solution is strength training exercises and good nutrition including adequate amounts of protein.  Which still doesn't say that exercise helps with weight loss.   If you eat 1200 calories a day you are likely to weigh 120 pounds.  I do not want to gain to 120 pounds.  The "little people" of the TV program of that name are MAYBE 4 feet tall. (they live near me) They would also be fat as a house if they eat 1200 calories a day.  You bigger people go ahead and eat all you want.  It is ok with me.

[_Lilac_]

@Bobbinyc  I'm not usually affected by caffeine much at all. I think it was truly just my brain running because I had so many things to do and my son was coming home the next day. I was drinking orange pekoe tea last night, so not high in caffeine, and my son finally arrived at 2am! I got into bed at 3am and slept hard. 

When my kids were teens I stopped doing their laundry and I worked from home on the phones all day long so they fended for themselves for a lot of meals too. I don't baby them so they've grown up able to care for themselves. 

Yawn...I think I need a nap before going out this evening though. 

[_Lilac_]

@Glenda My problem with calories is that I probably don't eat enough of them. That's why I count. I truly believe exercise helps with weight loss because unless I move my butt I can't lose. No matter what I eat or not. It also makes me feel good and motivates me to be healthy. 

I don't have a problem stating my weight..323. So if I multiply that by the conservative 10, it's 3230. My 1000 calorie deficit would be 2230 calorie intake per day. Fitbit tells me my basic calorie needs per day with a 1000 calorie deficit to lose weight is about 2000. If I do any activity it goes up. I hardly ever eat that much. I often finish the day at 1400 and have to have an extra snack so I'm not at too much of a deficit.

It's very rare for me to be in the "What's next" mode and if it happens I recognize and thwart it. I don't have the usual struggles of trying to cut the calories like smaller people do. If I'm hungry I eat and I measure and I make sure I'm as accurate as possible about the numbers. 

I dunno what's going on but I'll wait it out a bit in case I am just in a body-adjustment stage. My pants are falling off me. I need to take in a few at the waist. So I know something's happening. 

Yesterday I was shocked when a complete stranger told me (out of the blue) that I'm doing really well. She's a cashier at the grocery store in the mall. She told me she sees me walking all the time with Mom and I was doing great. I'd never met her! I was just at her cash buying a bottle of water!

I'm not going to panic yet. I have to remind myself that I'm doing everything right. It will come off. And I have so many non-scale successes to focus on.

[dancefoxtrot]

@Bobbinyc 

Hi  Met with the surgeon, a woman who is very sweet and willing to discuss options. I will have the procedure after the vacation on 1/19. She suggested that if she just removes the lesions and doesn't stitch it closed that it will heal from below. When I told my son that he wants me to talk to a plastic surgeon for a 2nd opinion. He thinks I'll end up with a big scar!  The area is smaller than a dime but I'm a little concerned now.  I found out that I can't raised my blood pressure for 3 weeks post surgery so much for teaching exercise! 

I guess I need to do more research.  I'm just running around buying xmas presents recently. More steps in those stores is the good part.  I got myself a charge 2 and will mail my Charge HR to my sister in TN tomorrow. 

Hope that you are doing well. 

Off to sleep as it is after 1:25am.

Hugs,

Barbara G

[Bobbinyc]

@dancefoxtrot

Barbara, I'm so glad you are on top of the skin issue.  I hadn't heard about keeping blood pressure down.  Enjoy your holiday shopping.  And congrats on treating yourself to the Charge 2.  I got the Charge HR when they went on sale, but haven't looked at the 2 at all.  Enjoy!  

[dancefoxtrot]

Hi @Bobbinyc

Charge 2 linked up. Wearing it on my ankle since I bought the large band for that purpose. I'm not going to miss any steps being counted when I'm pushing a cart or dancing in closed position. 

Hope that you are enjoying this holiday season in spite of traffic and crowds. Is your son visiting now?

Off I go to shop and dance with an master teacher and coach this evening. Very excited. 

We are almost to the 12/25 end of challenge and I hope that you are getting stronger and more in shape each week.  

I ate too many nuts I guess as I went back up .5 lb but I want to focus on moving well in my dance more than that frustrating scale.  I'll be gone for 10 days from Jan 7 -17 on a cruise ship so I will try to be careful not to add to my tummy pad.

Have a wonderful day. 

Warm hugs,

Barbara G

[dancefoxtrot]

                                     Hi all,

We are nearing the end of this challenge in 3 days.  Keep up your activity and ignore those nasty sugar and carb laden sweets.  Enjoy your last few days.  I gave myself a charge2 large size so it fits on my ankle! Now I will get credit for all my steps when pushing a cart or dancing in closed position with my arms not swinging. 

Wishing you the best of health and happiness during these last few days. 

We can do this strong health warriors,

Barbara G

[dancefoxtrot]

                                    @Bobbinyc and @_Lilac_

I have learned similar info. about not eating lots of sugar and carbs and eating low starch veggies and lean protein and healthy essential fatty acids from fish and nuts. Then it is all about burning it up before it gets stored in the fat cells.  Keeping active and upping our metabolism and raising our heart rate to fat burning zone and cardio zone gets our metabolism remaining higher for a few hours after working out aerobically.  We can make these changes at any age. There are other variables like thyroid and pituatary  function that add in mitigating factors for some folks. We only inhabit our own body so we may not know what will work for another hitting a plateau.   All in all moving and healthy eating both are needed to be healthy. So all that is to say I agree with you. 

Hugs,

Barbara G

Barbara G

[Bobbinyc]

@dancefoxtrot  You are right again.  I had a thyroid test and was told by the doc it was normal.  Then I got hold of the results and I don't think it's normal.  There is a wide range of "normal" and usually I'm on one end.  Now I'm on the other end so something has changed a lot.  It certainly fits with how I feel and not being able to lose a single pound.  So, I have another appointment scheduled with a different doc who isn't part of the same health system.

You are going on a wonderful trip, that you will always remember.  You are going to have a fantastic time.  You'll eat good, healthy food; see interesting things; be very active.  It might be a good time to forget the scale.  You can always get back on track when you return.  You have amazing focus, self-discipline, determination, and energy.  If you do gain at all, you'll be able to take it right back off. 

[Bogdel]

Hello, Everyone! Sorry I missed this challenge, and the extra pounds I have put on are a testimony of how important this group is. With Thanksgiving and some traveling, I gave myself permission to indulge in some pastries and other things that I do not normally eat. Needless to say, I did not exercise much lately, either.

I am now in Florida, visiting my in-laws for Christmas, and then go with my husband to the Bahamas and Ft Lauderdale for a few weeks vacation. I just wanted to check in and see how you guys are doing and to wish you all a very                                                                                                                                                                          Merry Christmas

                                                                      and a

                                                       Happy New Year!

Ellie 

[dancefoxtrot]

                                      @Bobbinyc

Thanks for your affirmation. I'm so glad that you are getting a second opinion for your thyroid function. You can feel the energetic difference and you need a doc that responds to you. 

Best

Barbara G

[_Lilac_]

I went shopping with my sister this morning (I know, crazy, right?) as she was preparing for hosting the family dinner. I got less steps than I thought I would. Then thisafternoon I realized I hadn't finished my shopping for gifts. I was missing one thing. So I took the bus and went out again. (I guess I was just bored and had too much energy to sit around). Traffic insanity. I got home to find I still didn't have any consistant steps at fat burning or aerobic level. *sigh*

I've been cooking stew that I promised to have ready for my daughter when she gets home from her shift at work. She seemed a little stressed and crabby today so I thought I'd do something nice for her. I'll make stew but I'm not making sweets or cookies or anything. 

I have the tree and window lights on, holiday music playing, dogs situated in my lap and I'm having a relaxing evening so far. I have gifts to wrap and label. When my kids were little, that was my favourite part...music, tree, wrapping presents with a glass of eggnog. Bring out the tape!

Family dinner tomorrow will be easy to manage. There is only one type of dessert and it's cookies. Yay...so easy to avoid. Mom usually makes a bunch of pies and I can't resist her pie! I have to do the treadmill in the morning or go for a nice long Christmas Eve walk. Then I can eat. 

I hope everyone is doing great and having lots of fun. We'll probably meet in the next challenge!! I want to see everyone there!

[A_Lurker]

---

@_Lilac_ wrote:

I got home to find I still didn't have any consistant steps at fat burning or aerobic level. *sigh*

Only highlighting this portion as some people don't always get that how you do the steps is sometimes more important than how many.  Since late November I've been averaging ~20,000 steps each day.  Most days I have to finish up the steps before going to bed so I'm usually just over (not by much).  My calories burned during this time frame has been between 3790 calories and 5100 calories burned.  I actually did about 900 steps more that day, but my highest step count was not the 5100 calorie day.  It was just a day where I was consistently busy.

That's actually going to be my focus for the new year - a certain amount of time in the cardio and/or peak zones for exercise.  I feel at the moment that most days I'm just pacing to increase my step count, but not truly working out.

[_Lilac_]

I'm trying to get my 10,000 per day but I make sure I get at least 30 minutes of good sweaty activity. Often I do more, sometimes two or three sessions of 30 min or more. The water aerobics is 50-60 min on it's own. Throw in another 40 min walk in the mall and I'm cruisin'! Today, although I went out three times...twice shopping and once with the dogs... each session wasn't long enough or intense enough to be considered 'exercise', but at least I was out and moving and not sitting at home watching tv. I did 7300 steps today but I wouldn't consider it an active day. 

The stew I made is sooo good. I had one bowl. I also made small biscuits. My calorie total for the day is only 1200. I guess I need a snack. 

[A_Lurker]

@_Lilac_- I figured that you knew but I decided to use your post to make a point. 

I'm considering pushing through my steps for the day (already at 10K) and then just vegging on the couch for the rest of the day.

[dancefoxtrot]

Hi all you wonderful challengers,

Happy Chanukah and Christmas Eve Day,

May the joy and of the true meaning of all the great paths fill all your cells. 

I made it back to 146.9 this morning and I started at 151 on the day after Thanksgiving so that is progress. 11.9 lbs to go. Tomorrow I'm going to have a slice of dessert for Christmas since it is fresh apple pie from my son's garden. There will be a salad so I'll eat lots of that. 

Okay I have news to share. I bought the Charge2 from Macy's in the large size so I can wear it on my ankle. I kept the ChargeHR on my wrist and compared step counts. The ankle count  always had higher step totals. In one instance my wrist Charge said 7860 and my ankle Charge2 11540. That is more than a mile of difference and very surprising. So maybe we are not getting credit for all our steps any time we are not swinging the arm with the device on it. 

Try it if you can attach your device to your ankle or shoe and see if you get more steps counted. Of course, it isn't counting your pulse rate if you are wearing it over your sock. I haven't checked the dashboard for that yet.

Happy Holidays,

Barbara 

[Bobbinyc]

@dancefoxtrot  Congrats on the weight loss!! Hooray!  

And best wishes to you too for a satisfying and meaningful holiday.

[Bobbinyc]

For everyone observing a holiday tonight, may you find it to be meaningful and fun too.

Whenever you get to it, if you wish to , post your last check-in for this challenge.

And we are off to a new one.

We have so many people in this group who are like "the little engine that could" - tons of determination, knocking obstacles out of the way, and always supportive of others.  This group is so fantastic.  I may not have lost that one pound I wanted, but, well, I know I'm healthier, stronger, and wiser.  Maybe next challenge...

See you all in the next Challenge.

And to all, a good night.

[A_Lurker]

@dancefoxtrot- that's why my focus going forward will likely be more on calories burned.  I wore the One with the Charge HR from time to time.  Oddly enough one would be higher than the other, but not always the same one.  In the end (if using one tracker) the importance is doing the same (or more) day to day.  I suspect that neither method is perfect - arm, clip, shoe - but if you're always using the same you'll know how you are doing day to day and week to week.

[Bobbinyc]

The new Challenge, Christmas 2016 to Valentine's Day 2017, has been posted and is ready for us to start.

I'm looking forward to all of us being together.  What an amazing group!  - a wonderful combination of supportive, and fierce.

So many have achieved their goals or made great progress.  And those of us whose weight got stuck, well, we learned a lot,  still had great accomplishments and  this next Challenge may be our time.

Have a wonderful holiday and see you soon!