Hi everyone,

 

Well I am still fighting this crud 12 days later.  Went to the doctor yesterday and found out my upper respiratory stuff has turned into bronchitis and started on antibiotics.  Feeling better today already and grateful for that.  Sleep has been a distant dream as of late with all the continual hacking going on.  Hoping to get some good sleep in the next couple of days.  Tomorrow is weigh in and I am hoping to atleast stay even this week after being so ill.

 

Hope you all are sticking with your goals and accomplishing them one small step at a time.

 

Take care all,

Mary

hey all,

 

i've been off the blog and really just generally trying to get through the past week or so and stay on track. mary wrote about us losing our little molly and i also lost my aunt. each are very sad for different reasons and just coming to grips with that has kept me kind of quiet for a little while.

 

things otherwise are good. working out has kept me going, really. even though mary has been really sick she has been encouraging me and supportive of me going to the gym as much as possible. all of this would be much much harder otherwise.

 

i feel really good about where i'm headed with all of this, and putting one foot in front of the other i plan to keep going.

all the way.

 

good luck to all of us million pounders out there!

kristen

Do’s and Don’ts of Good Goal Setting

Key Pieces to the Puzzle
  — By Mike Kramer, Staff Writer

Goal achievement, especially when it comes to health and fitness, can be a mystery. Most of us have no trouble with Step 1 (Setting the Goal). Setting a goal is the easy part, it’s those other steps that can be a puzzle. But you CAN turn achieving your goals into a science with the right strategies. Here are a few of our favorites:

DO create a plan. DON’T wait for “someday” to roll around.
Setting the goal is just the first step. Know where you’re going, what resources you’ll need, who can help and – most importantly – what Plan B is when life throws a monkey wrench into Plan A.

DO start small. DON’T focus on too many things at once.
Try focusing on one goal at a time. Use a small goal that you know you can do each day for the next two weeks, like getting up without the snooze or drinking 8 cups of water. Build that first habit to boost your confidence and pick up speed.

DO write it down. DON’T forget to give yourself a deadline.
Deadlines turn wishes into goals. The act of writing down your goal is powerful enough to keep you committed and focused. Better yet, find a visual that represents your goal or how your life will be different. Seeing it makes it seem more possible.

DO be specific. DON’T deal in absolutes.
Avoid the words ‘some’ and ‘more’, as in “I will get SOME exercise” or “I will eat MORE veggies.” It leaves too much wiggle-out room. Deal in measurable things that you have control over. And never say ‘never’ or ‘always.’ All or nothing is a common attitude that leads people back to bad habits.

DO leave room for failure. DON’T expect perfection.
Persistence is key. Accept the fact that you might not make it on the first try. In a recent study, only 40% of people who successfully followed New Year’s resolutions did it on the first try; 17% of resolution achievers took 6 or more tries before they got it right – but they did get it right.

DO track your progress. DON’T fool yourself into failure.
Memory can be pretty selective. It conveniently forgets that extra brownie while remembering activity that never happened. The only way to know for sure is to track goals regularly with a checklist or journal.

DO reward your success. DON’T beat yourself up over failure.
This is the step that trips up most people. Negative reinforcement is all around us, telling us every day what we’re doing wrong. This is not the approach to take to succeed with your goals. Why not focus on what you’re doing right instead? If you take a step back, learn from it and take two steps forward.

DO find a support system. DON’T try to do it alone.
A goal buddy can make all the difference this time. People that can help are all around you – on the SparkPeople support message boards, at work, even in your own family. Just add one person to your support group, and you double your motivation, double your energy, double your commitment – and double your FUN.

DO make a commitment. DON’T ever forget that you can do it.

Hi all,

 

Sorry we have not written much lately.  The last couple of weeks have been really hard...but we have pushed on regardless.  The car went a couple of weeks ago and then this past weekend we lost little Molly our pet dog to death and we also lost one of Kristen's aunts.  Unfortunately, right before the weekend I also came down with a upper respiratory virus which has been kicking my butt.  No cardio for me right now but I have been doing lots of crunches and taking care of myself by getting plenty of water and rest.

 

If we can continue to do this with these obstacles so can you.  Keep on keeping on and reap the rewards of your hard work!!!

 

Take care,

Mary

Hi everyone,

 

We buried another 5.5 lbs and are rockin' the scale.  Keep doing what you are doing to get the rewards of your efforts, push a little harder and see what happens then.

 

Take care,
Mary

Hi everyone,

 

It is funny but before today I would have been really worried about Valentines Day and chocolate, but am glad to have other options today.  Plus it helps I will not need to go out today except the gym and face the temptation head on.  Flowers seem like a much better option today with a much smaller amount of calories , also if we go out to eat I look up the calories before I go so I know exactly what I am getting myself into.  Do what you can to stay on track today, althoug it will be hard remember you are strong and we are all worth it!   Deprivatuion is no more the answer than over indulgance.

 

Have a wonderful day and show someone some love, hugs, or a helping hand!!

Mary

Good morning everyone,

 

How are you all doing out there?  Or as Bob says "Are you doing it?"  I hope everyone is still doing great and feeling the benefits of this new life style change.  I am very excited because yesterday I got back up on my feet with some balance and stability help from Barr.  This is HUGE!!!!  What a amazing gift to be up on my feet.  Just wanted to let you guys know.  Have a fabulous Monday and keep rockin' the scale!!

 

Take care,

Mary

Hi,

 

If you came to check our progress yesterday you saw we weren't here.  It was a hard weigh in for both of us.  Kristen was up .5 lb and I lost one.  One pound loss was good, but I did 7.5 hours of cardio this week and 1,650 crunches which was huge for me.  I stayed within my calories all week and got my water in.  My jeans are still fitting the same although everyone says my face looks much smaller.  To bad I didn't measure my head when we started all this...hahaha.  The scale is a funny thing and only one of the tools we now have in this new toolbox and I need to remember that.  The results will show more next week.

 

Hope you all are still out there rockin' and rollin'.

 

take care,

Mary

Hi Everyone,

 

I was so excited for the black team last night.  It just proves in weight loss there are no under dogs.  Brittany was amamzing with double digits and Bernie they must have been busting their butts along with the rest of the black team.  It was good to hear how important having enough calories was again last night, it just reinterates everything we are all striving for.  Thje food they made looked SOOOO DEELICCOOUUSS!!

 

Having a good morning have gotten in a half hour of cardio and two hundred crunches.  Feeling better woke up kind of punky, but doing better now.

 

Keep doing all you are doing to acheive all your goals.  Our weigh in is in two days and I think we will be below 40 lbs as a team.

 

Take care all,

Mary

Hi Everyone,

 

How are you all doing? I hope great and still kickin' it up!  I am doing well.  Been focusing on water, calories, cardio, and strengthening intensly this week.  I have really up'ed my workouts and am having some hunger pains and believe this may be why.  Yet, we have lost a combined total of 37 lbs.....who'd of thought.

 

I am looking forward to the biggest loser tonight for inspiration.  I hear there may be a food challenge which I would love to see.  I would love to see more of the BL food stuff since it is such an intregal part of this process for all of us.

 

I don't have alot to say, but wanted to touch base and check on you all as well.  Keep doing what you're doing if it is working and if not change it up a little and watch the results.

 

Take care all,

mary

hey all!

 

it's kristen - sorry about the lag between posts there, we were briefly out of town and just crazy busy. has this interfered with my food plan? well YES, but i'm still paying attention and working to keep it under control. one things mary mentioned was that it might be important to have a back up plan. that wasn't in place and it did result ina bit of calorie overload - i do not have an easy time looking at a menu with restraint in mind.

 

still, after that we hit the gym really hard and i had a killer workout which made me feel great. i hope i learned something from this morning. i try really hard not to do guilt because i did guilt my whole life and all it did was make me fat. so i just sort of consider the circumstances and try to improve matters. i continue to be really excited about working out and the effect it's having on me. so overall, a bump in the road, but pretty darn happy about the state of things in general.

 

hope all of you are having a truly good start to the week. i'm going to try to take this cheerfulness with me to work tomorrow morning - it will throw everybody off ;-)

 

have a great day,

kristen

Hi everyone,

 

We weighed in this morning and it is more greatnews.  Seven more pounds for our team.  WE ROCK!!  I am so happy to be under 240lbs.  Kristen just amazes me it has been a couple years since her weight has been this low.  All I can say is WAY TO GO US!!

 

Hope everyone out there is still hanging in there and seeing the results of their hard work.

 

Take care all,

Mary