* * * July's challenge yourself team * * *

~reneew · Post by **~reneew** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 6:47 pm

This July we challenge ourselves!

This is for anybody who needs encouragement and accountability. After all, the world can see this. We will all keep tabs on eachother. Think of this as your own little cheering section.

- State your challenge to yourself at the top of your post and then update us as to how you're doing. It's O.K. to not post daily, but try to keep us updated.
- *Remember* to only post once at the top and edit that first post all month.
- Please re-read that last one, some people don't get it.

- after July 2nd we will continue posting at the bottom for encouragement and fun.
- This team is meant for all of us to give support, so lets try hard to do that.
- good luck and have fun with it!

~reneew · Post by **~reneew** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 6:48 pm

I'm in!

I seem to have gained control (even if temporarily) of my over-the-top S days by weighing in on Mondays instead of Fridays. So, I'm now going to work really hard on getting my green habit back. I remember feeling like my habitcal was boring because it was gren green green. Huh! I want that back! I want a prefect month. After reading the post about habit tracking with a big X on the year calendar, and it being like a big chain, I want to make a chain too. I'm getting a calendar and writing the X on it in green. We'll see how it goes. I think I have high expectations for Mid-summer and I may struggle to get a week of greens done, but that's the plan.

July 1-

July 2- this will be a tough one... company, drinks, munchies... Uh, oh!
July 3-

S day
July 4-

S day Happy independence day America!!!
July 5- We will still have company.

July 7-

Um, yea... I am returning from the land of whatever-goes-because-we-have-company-and-I'm-too-busy-to-care. Today will be very double good green!!!! Or yell at me!!! loud!!!!
July 8-

July 9-

I tried too much to be good and it backfired on me.
July 10-

S day Way over the top... see note below
July 11-

S day
July 12-

July 13-

We were hit by a nasty tornado last night. We are all alright, but our house and yard are a mess! I may be absent for a while...

I need to stay "good" because I might have a 25 year class reunion on the 24th.

On Saturday the 10th I went off the deep end. I occasionally have a real binge that I loose control over. This was one of them. I haven't done this in a while so I felt the need to post and be held accountable. One time when I "snitched" a ton and actually counted the calories afterward, I was so shocked that I had a real boost. I hope it will happen again because here goes the totals of my evening binge last night, and my mental struggle/justifications):

potato chips left in bowl from picnic (bag was gone, don't want it to get stale)
big dish of icecream (freezer is breaking so it was soft and went down fast) - 500 cal.
whole bag of microwave blast-o-butter popcorn - 450 cal.
freezie - 50 (see the sweet-salt-sweet trend going on here?)
more potato chips (almost gone, night as well) total chips 600 cal.
3 beers throughout the evening (maybe that spurred on the munchies...duh) 450 cal.
grand total - 2,050!!!!!!! Just for an evening of snacking!

I know the "don't snack" tricks, the "stop" tricks and the millions of things I should have done to not snack at all, I just needed to confess, feel bad, start anew and move on. Hopefully in a new direction.

Grammy G · Post by **Grammy G** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 7:35 pm

I'm in too! I've learned that having "floating" break days for exercise is a big help to me. IF I exercise on my S-days..I am much better at not eating everything in sight. I am going to keep that up.
I will be traveling most of July and think I will use this challenge to stick with three meals a day. There is no reason I can't do that. I will allow myself 2 bites of a sweet per day.. if I deem it necessary. I will keep track of those bites as

on my chart. The "sweet addition" will only show up while I am traveling. I will not be checking in daily once I am on the road but will post when I can.
WEEK 1:BLD : BLD: I am DONE for the month! Just realizing that I am leaving in a very few days! Won't be back until august. See you in the challenge then! Oh..this is hard to admit...I just went crazy when I decided that i was not going to post while on vacation.. that on my shoulder won and I just couldn't get myself back on track..so here I am going for it again..but, I am going to post every day..even when I am away.. I need a little help from my friends, that is for sure!!
WEEK 2 (new beginnings!)July 7-13 I CAN do this!!!
7th:

8th:

idontknow · Post by **idontknow** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 9:12 pm

I'm in - still chasing that month of elusive green days.... July will be difficult - lots of birthday events, the end of the school year, leaving my job.... Lots of occasions when I need to be strong. Hopefully this will help me keep my resolve!

Adding to my challenge - I'm going to post 2 smilies -

for green N days and

for exercise. On N days I'm going to get up earlier to do stretches, press ups, squats and planks (thanks to blue bunny for this idea

). Hopefully I'll be able to see progress with my strength - I'll use my check-in thread to track this.

Thank you Reneew!!

1 July

2 July

3 July
4 July
5 July

6 July

7 July

8 July

9 July

10 July
11 July
12 July

13 July

14 July

15 July

16 July

Doing well with no s but mini workout has disappeared. Will start again Monday!
17 July
18 July
19 July

20 July

21 July

22 July
23 July

24 July
25 July
26 July

27 July

28 July

29 July

30 July

31 July

A successful month for no-s

. Not so good for mini workout - couldn't really find a consistent time in the day to do this.

Scrybil · Post by **Scrybil** » Tue Jun 29, 2010 12:32 am

Me too! Me too! Thank you reneew for looking out for all of us - glad you're back & doing well....

I still need to master the NoS Days, but like Grammy, am finding that a floating calendar on exercise works best for me. So I'll do Vanilla NoS tracking here, and commit to 5 days/week of exercise.

1

Nice run after traveling most of day
2

Did well all day, but had evening nutfest
3 S:mrgreen:

Walked 3w/friends, my first truly moderate SDay since starting
4 S pretty good day
5 S Not so great w/food today, but nice long bike ride. Ready to get back on track - NOW
6

Nice to be back into routine of work - much as I dislike workLOL! But the structure helps me....walked to grocery store & library for my exercise tonite

RATS! Late night (couldn't sleep) problems! AUGH!
7

Whew! Got through the day succesfully- after TWO failure days in a row, was really starting to wonder if I could......
8

9

10S
11S Did ok this weekend - much better! Ate out Sat night at wonderful, local foods place - YUM!
12

13

Nachos for dinner - whoo-hoo!
14

Georgia peaches & cottage cheese for dinner, yummy!And nice long run in the humidity....
15

Walked tonite -more humidity. Shouldn't that count double?
16

Ran today, but humidity SO bad, not fun!
17S
18S
19

In New York
20

In New York
21

In New York -lots of walking all week!
22

Run this morning
23
24S
25S
26
27
28
29
30
31S

Cassie · Post by **Cassie** » Tue Jun 29, 2010 8:44 am

I'm in too this month. My goals are:

--a pure 'green' month, focusing on N days still
--14 mins a day any exercise (greens on HabitCal of that too)

1 July: Green
2 July: Green
3 July: Green (was saturday but exchanged this day with monday. Not sure this was a good idea though. Won't be exchanging again anytime soon)
4 July: Yellow (sunday. I overdid it I think but still better than S days a month ago)
5 July: Green (but was sick... vomited on & off all day

)

...on 21 July, glad to report all is going well so far. It's what they say no news=good news! However I have to say that my exercise regime is so so for the moment, I haven't really taken it that seriously, need to pay more attention. I have quite a few reds on my exercise habitcal but none on my NoS diet habit cal.

Laloopa · Post by **Laloopa** » Thu Jul 01, 2010 9:03 am

I'm new to the forum but I've been trying to stick to No S for a couple of weeks now, never managing to do more than one day in a row. I'm hoping a new month and posting here will help to motivate myself to succeed this time.

I'm challenging myself to a perfect month of green normal days.

1st July: SUCCESS

2nd July: SUCCESS

3rd July: S DAY
4th July: S DAY
5th July: SUCCESS

6th July: SUCCESS

7th July FAILURE I stuck to the three meals and no snacking part, but forgot and ended up having a sugary drink

, so a mini fail for today.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Thu Jul 01, 2010 4:17 pm

Not sure what I want to do beyond Vanilla No S. I feel like I'm back to compliant N days, so the big issue is still S days. However, I still don't know how to alter things so that it's likely I succeed, so I'm going to play it by ear until I come up with a plan. I had the numbers below arranged in two columns, but they don't come out as columns on the board.

July 1 Success July 2 Success
3 S-day 4 S-day
5 Success 6 Success
7 Success 8 Success
9 Success 10 S-day
11 S-day 12
13 14
15 16
17 S-day 18 S-day
19 20
21 22
23 24 S-day
25 S-day 26
27 28
29 30
31 S-day

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 5:08 pm

Thanks again for sponsoring these, ~reneew!

Repeating some from last month...

1) Maintain No-S habits (getting back on track after vacation)
2) Work on increasing walking with my pedometer - and tracking that this month
3) Mindful eating - at least a few mouthfuls each meal.

And I do a full check-in on my daily thread, so will just do a weekly recap here like I did last month. That worked well for me.

Weekly report for July 9
1) Was pleased to get back into No-S swing pretty easily.

2) Have three 10,000+ days this week, plus a yoga class. I've started tracking steps on a website, which lets me see them on a graph. May go back and put in any earlier numbers that I have, so I can see progress. It used to be that on a day I walked for exercise, I'd get maybe 8000 steps total, and a day I didn't, I'd get 2-3000. Now, if I walk, I can usually hit 10,000 for the day pretty easily, and when I don't walk, it's 3-5,000. I am pleased with that level of improvement.
3) Doing that more, and liking it. I enjoy food more when I pay attention to it. Still needs attention.

Weight today: 144. That's a loss of 2.5 from when I came back from vacation (last weighed Sunday July 4, right after we returned). Quite a drop for me, but I do tend to lose in "jumps" between which I hold steady for a long time - and of course, there may be normal fluctuation in that too. Still, this puts me back in my "normal" range after my "course correction" earlier this year, so I'm VERY pleased about that. (I'm 5' 7", so 144 is a BMI of 22.6).

July 23 checkin
See that I missed last week, so catching up for two weeks. They're less successful than before.
1) No-S - had two reds, both "minimal" but definite. One was "comfort eating" after a bad day, the other "it's the weekend!" on a Friday. Both things to watch. Some S-day dynamics that I also need to watch - what vmsurbat calls "but-I'm-entitled" eating at the end of Sunday. (Yes, but if I don't WANT it... get over it! My goal is to ENJOY my food, and stuffing is not enjoyable.)
2) Still working on the steps, but haven't been tracking as well. Have fallen into a pattern of three long walks per week (plus a yoga class and a weights class). Use the pedometer to make each walk be 6000 steps (about 3 miles).
3) Mindful eating - that's what allowed me to short-cut my comfort-eating red ("This is not what I need.") and notice the "but I'm entitled" eating on Sunday. Still working on it...

Weight is up a bit, as a result of the reds and S-day choices: 145.5. Not awful, but I do want to pay attention.

July 30
1) Doing generally better on habit, though mulling over the "Friday-night" issue. I really do want an S-event then, if only a small one. Will consider.
2) About the same as last time. There have been a couple of days when I've walked for exercise and STILL not made 10,000 steps, though - not liking that. To attend to.
3) Mindful eating... I've been good about it during a meal, and have been enjoying my food tremendously (summer produce helps!). However, I have noticed a couple of times when I've felt full and continued those last few bites to clean my plate. Just noticing... which is the goal right now.

Weight still at 145.5, and I want it to stay under 145. I think pizza (salt/calories) this week is part of that. If it stays at this level another week, will look for "painless changes" I can make for a bit. (Food choices, a bit more movement, etc. But only things that I consider "easy.")

loop · Post by **loop** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 7:28 pm

I'm a long time NoS-er, and forum reader, although I've only posted a few times.

I'm trying to get in good shape in preparation for surgery, and thought this challenge sounded like it would help me keep to my goals. Thanks ~reneew!

Minimum goals
- NoS
- water exercise 3 times a week
- cook dinner 2 times a week

Bonus goals
- 2 mins shovelglove in the morning (increasing this 1 min a week)
- short walk (~10 mins) before or after dinner
- longer walk or exercise bike (~20 mins) on days I don't go to the pool

1 - NoS, dinner
2 - NoS, pool, dinner
3 - S, exercise bike
4 - S, long walk, dinner
5 - S, SG, pool, dinner
6 - NoS, SG, short walk, 1/2 dinner credit
7 - NoS, SG, short walk, pool
8 - S, long walk
9 - Nos, SG, pool, dinner
10 - S
11 - S, SG
12 - NoS, pool
13 - NoS, SG, dinner
14 - NoS, SG, dinner (had to skip pool due to injury)
15 - NoS, SG
16 - NoS, SG, pool
17 - S
18 - S, SG, dinner
19 - NoS, SG, pool
20 - NoS, SG, dinner
21 - NoS, SG (pool unexpectedly closed, couldn't swim)
22 - NoS, SG
23 - NoS, pool
24 - S, SG
25 - S, pool
26 - NoS, SG, pool
27 - NoS, SG
28 - NoS, pool
29 - NoS, SG
30 - NoS, pool
31 - S

Summary:

Cooking: I started off strong, then just met my minimum, then last week work got crazy, and with long hours and physically demanding work, cooking went out the window. This is pretty unusual for my job though, so I may try this again sometime.

Water exercise: Kept to this well, and only missed one session due to injury.

Walks/exercise bike: this dropped off after the first week. I will probably focus on walking next month (but I may have to sacrifice cooking to free up time/energy to do so).

Shovelglove: I surprised myself by working up to 10 minutes of shugging per session. I had tried shugging before but never got into it on a regular basis. I think starting off with a very short session was the key to helping me do it regularly.

So, I'm pleased that I consistently swam, took up shovelgloving, cooked more than normal (if not as much as I had hoped) and managed to lose 2 lbs (weight loss doesn't come easily to me, so I'm very happy with that).

Strawberry Roan · Post by **Strawberry Roan** » Tue Jul 06, 2010 11:01 pm

I'm back!
I'm in for the challenge. I have always loved these.
I am going to do Vailla NoS all month and try to exercise at least 30 minutes a day.

Hope to lose two or three pounds by the end of the month.

July 6 -Today's weight is 158.
July 7 -Today's weight is 157, exercised on the glider 30 mins last night.
July 8- Today's weight is 156, exercised on the glider 30 mins last night
July 9- Today's weight is 155, exercised on the glider 30 mins last night.
July 10-Today's weight is 154, exercised 30 mins glider, 30 mins bike.
July 11-Today's weight is 154, yardwork 60 mins, glider 30, bike 30
July 12-Today's weight is 153, exercised 45 minutes on the bike
July 13-Today's weight is 154, exercised 30 mins bike, 15 mins glider
July 14-Today's weight is 153, exercised 15 mins bike, 15 mins glider
July 15-Today's weight is 153, exercised 30 mins bike, 15 mins glider
July 16-Today's weight is 152, exercised 30 mins bike, 15 mins glider
July 17-Today's weight is 151, exercised 45 mins bike, 15 mins glider
July 18-Today's weight is 152, exercised 60 mins bike, 30 mins glider
July 19-Today's weight is 151, exercised 15 mins bike, 30 mins glider
July 20-Today's weight is 151, exercised 15 mins bike, 45 mins glider
July 21-Today's weight is 152, exercised 30 mins bike, 15 mins glider
July 22-Today's weight is 151, exercised 30 mins bike, 30 mins glider
July 23-Today's weight is 150, exercised 30 mins bike, 15 mins glider
July 24-Today's weight is 149, exercised 45 mins bike, 30 mins glider
July 25-Today's weight is 149, exercised 30 mins bike, 30 mins glider
July 26-Today's weight is 150, exercised 20 mins bike, 20 mins glider
July 27-Today's weight is 151, walked 30 mins, bike 30 mins, glider 15
July 28,Today's weight is 149, 45 mins bike, 15 mins glider
July 29,Today's weight is 149, 30 mins bike, 15 mins glider
July 30,Today's weight is 149, 30 mins bike, 15 mins glider
July 31,Today's weight is 150, 30 mins bike, 15 mins glider

Weight loss since July 6, is 8 pounds, much more than hoped for

Grammy G · Post by **Grammy G** » Wed Jul 07, 2010 11:30 am

posters: I really need a bit of help here!

I just went a little crazy and am having trouble reining myself in... please keep tabs on me for a few days! thanks....

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 1:49 pm

Grammy, oolala53 checking in to keep tabs on you as requested.

Drop and give me 20, soldier! Oh, wait, that's not what you meant.

it's a new day and you can have a %100 compliant N day. Remember all the struggle-free N days you've had? Just have your scrumptious meals and say nyet to the rest. Just for today and tomorrow! Just because you're on vacation doesn't mean you have to have S events every day. There is so much other fun to have, right? And you know how good you feel with those lovely gaps between meals...

Grammy G · Post by **Grammy G** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 12:54 am

Thanks Oolala..just what I needed to hear! You are right, of course! I am going to do my best to ..well...do my best!

mrsj · Post by **mrsj** » Sun Jul 11, 2010 8:28 am

Hi, folks! It's too late in the month for me to join this month, but I'm rooting for all of us and am continuing to try to stay vanilla No S. I've had some red days, but not too many. I'll be lurking!

It's so nice to see all those GREENS.

Strawberryroan, is your fantastic weight reduction due to excersize alone? Fantastic! May those pounds stay away forevermore...

GrammyG, your craziness may have been due to the full moon... I know how motivated you are and how much you want to shrink. If one day at a time is too much, try one meal at a time. I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT! I have faith in you.

I have faith in everyone here. Even in myself...

God Bless all of you and I'll be checking in soon. Keep up the good work!

Strawberry Roan · Post by **Strawberry Roan** » Tue Jul 13, 2010 4:13 pm

Wishing everyone well and encouragement. For me, the knowledge that I have gotten some control again is very motivating (but then my husband says I am a control freak. Now do I look like one to you?

)

mrsj, Thank you for your kind words. I wish you much success as well.
Actually I have been eating very strict NO S (even on the weekend) so it is a combination I am sure. However, exercise always plays a big part in my success, and my well being. Luckily, I love to exercise.
Just four pounds but I feel so much "lighter". To your health,
(finished the month eight pounds donw, even "lighter".)

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Fri Jul 30, 2010 3:25 pm

How's everyone doing? Grammy, where are you??

Just bumping up. We're in the home stretch now, so let's finish strong!

~reneew, I really like this "set your own challenge and encourage each other format." Thanks again for organizing these!

~reneew · Post by **~reneew** » Fri Jul 30, 2010 9:41 pm

I'm so sorry I've been absent. The 4 kids sure keep me hopping.

Then when we got hit by the tornado... my whole life seemed to get messed up. This may take a while to clean. We have a crunched house with water everywhere, no hot water, and acres of trees down. Ho hum. My scale is shatterd too, so I guess with the lack of time and stuff, I'll be taking some time off here. I'll be back in September probably.

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Fri Jul 30, 2010 9:45 pm

~reneew wrote:I'm so sorry I've been absent. The 4 kids sure keep me hopping.

Then when we got hit by the tornado... my whole life seemed to get messed up. This may take a while to clean. We have a crunched house with water everywhere, no hot water, and acres of trees down. Ho hum. My scale is shatterd too, so I guess with the lack of time and stuff, I'll be taking some time off here. I'll be back in September probably.

~reneew, I am SO sorry that you're dealing with so much!! (I cannot imagine trying to cope with the aftermath of a tornado!)

We are glad to see you when we do... and if there's anything we can do for you, let us know.

Strawberry Roan · Post by **Strawberry Roan** » Fri Jul 30, 2010 10:22 pm

~reneew wrote:I'm so sorry I've been absent. The 4 kids sure keep me hopping.

Then when we got hit by the tornado... my whole life seemed to get messed up. This may take a while to clean. We have a crunched house with water everywhere, no hot water, and acres of trees down. Ho hum. My scale is shatterd too, so I guess with the lack of time and stuff, I'll be taking some time off here. I'll be back in September probably.

Gosh, I am so sorry. You just take care of what needs to be done, we'll be here waiting when you return. If you get a spare moment to check in, please do so.

Prayers for all,

loop · Post by **loop** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 6:17 pm

~reneew wrote: Then when we got hit by the tornado... my whole life seemed to get messed up. This may take a while to clean. We have a crunched house with water everywhere, no hot water, and acres of trees down. Ho hum.

Wow ~reneew, I can't even begin to imagine. Good luck dealing with all that, and getting your house back in shape.

mrsj · Post by **mrsj** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 6:08 pm

renew, I'm so sorry that you've been hit by a tornado. I'm sure that you'll pull through. Thank God that you and your family weren't injured.

~reneew · Post by **~reneew** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 2:18 pm

Hi guys. Thanks for all the good wishes. As I said on my daily thread, You'd think I'd be loosing weight fast with all of the tough work I'm doing all day, but I don't think I am. My scale shattered (4th one in a year and a half?). So, I'm going to begin anew with a new scale, a built-in exercise plan(hauling wood and branches from hundreds of trees), and I think I'll start recording here maybe when I have time when school starts again Aug. 30th.

Strawberry Roan · Post by **Strawberry Roan** » Thu Aug 05, 2010 1:43 pm

Good to hear from you reneew, just take care of yourself.

You are missed.