I did the Couch to 5k program also in the beginning of the year. I loved it. (I then had vein surgery on my legs and had to stop for a few months). Cool Running is a great site, but it was just taken over by Active.com. There was mention that the free running programs, like Couch to 5k, would cost after the switch over, but I haven’t been back to see if they are still free or not. If you stay in the Newbie section of the forums, most people are pretty helpful and will answer all of your questions.
I’d like to join this group too, although I don’t have much weight to lose. It would be more for fitness and health reasons. I also have some UFO’s and a lot of stash I could be knitting up. My goals, which I started 2 weeks ago, are to get back into the running and finish a 5k in the spring. (My BIL has run a half marathon and is now training for his first marathon). I’m also trying to increase my water intake and am adding in some fruit and veggies each day. I usually lack on those two.
Great job to all of us that have started working toward being healthier! Happy New Year to everyone!
To all of you who have posted awesome weight losses already - you inspire me to do this. Your hard work and dedication will be such an inspiration to those of us just getting started. It’s really nice that we’ll have such a diverse group of people - all at different points in their weight loss and at different fitness levels. It will keep us newbies motivated and on our toes!
Here are my personal goals (1st set of goals): Goal Deadline April 1st
1.) Lose 10% - 18#
2.) Drink water instead of other high cal beverages. Drink at least 1 glass of water for each caffeinated beverage I consume.
3.) Exercise 15 minutes a day, 3 times a week
4.) Cut out the crap from my diet: limit sweets and processed foods to a minimum and only occassionally! This means more fresh produce and ACTUAL cooking on my part!
5.) Don’t think of it as a diet. Diets fail. Reprogram my brain to think of it as a lifestyle change.
6.) Don’t make changes to my lifestyle that I cannot keep up forever. No more crash diets. No eliminating foods. It never works in the end. Limit the crapola, but don’t eliminate it. Everyone needs a piece of chocolate cake every great once in a while.
7.) Get my family involved in a healthier lifestyle. Even though I am the only one overweight, I want my family to develop healthy eating and exercising habits. If I am surrounded by people who are all doing the same thing, it won’t be so hard.
8.) When I feel the urge to nibble (usually out of boredom, habit, or anxiety), pull out the knitting and do something [B][U]constructive[/U][/B], not [B][U]destructive[/U][/B].
9.) Meet with my knitting group at LEAST once a month. I need other adult interaction. I need some [I]me[/I] time. Without it, I start to get bored and resentful and then I EAT!
10.) Remember that EVERYONE slips up. It’s not the end of the world. Get back on the wagon and try again. Don’t throw in the towel over a brownie.
11.) Don’t forget the NON-SCALE victories. There will be weeks when the scale is not favorable. Remember to celebrate my healthier lifestyle, my renewed commitment to knitting (my passion), and my commitment to enjoying and more importantly, LIVING life.
12.) WEIGH IN once a week (and no more than that) and be accountable - no matter WHAT the scale says. Lying to myself or hiding isn’t going to make the pounds go away.
13.) Thank God every day that He gave me this life and that I should do my best to continue living it fully.
Here’s another link for anyone interested in beginning walking/running for exercise. It’s from the Runner’s World web site.
I’m going to try this one and see how it goes. 
#6:
you can still do things like eat out. When we go to Mc Donald’s i get a side salad and a grilled snack wrap, then don’t eat the tortilla. Also check online to see which places you like to frequent have the nutritional information up so you can make your choice BEFORE you get there and binge on high calorie and high carb foods 
#7:
you’ll find the kids will adapt to it easier than the spouse… I’ll go and post a site that i use frequently for low carb recipies
#11:
remember that muscle weighs more than fat. In addition to using a scale don’t forget about a tape measure. So even on the weeks when the scale doesn’t move, you still have inches to measure and see results in.
#12:
They’ve actually done studies that show weighing in daily is more beneficial… it allows for an immediate correction if the numbers start going up as opposed to waiting after a week and having to work even harder the following week.
Oh noes, this is so sad :verysad: I haven’t been back to the site in ages so I didn’t know. I prolly shoulda done that before recommending it, sorry!
I just went and looked and it’s still free!:cheering: :cheering:
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml
Lilhuskiesfootballmom:
I don’t give up eating out. I belong to WW. It’s just that I want to live healthier - Processed foods are just as bad for you whether they are low-cal, low-carb or full-fat. I want to eat whole foods for the most part. Like I said, I won’t eliminate any foods. I’m just going to limit them. Portion control and whole foods are the way to go (for me).
When I was working in a cardiologists’ office and giving patients dietary instruction, I always found that they would eliminate foods and then eventually binge. The cardiologists wanted them to eat more simply: whole foods, limit portions, and limit processed and junk foods. The patients who followed that advice had the most success. They never felt deprived and found they could enjoy a meal at any time at any location. I hope to emulate that. 
Also, I HAVE to limit my weigh ins. I tend to get obsessive otherwise. I want to know if I’m making progress, but I don’t want the scale to be my whole focus.
I would love any recipes you send! Thanks!!
I had a nice chat with my dh and asked him how long he wants me to live… 2yrs, 5, 15, 30? And explained that I need his help as much as I need exercise and good foods. He does most of the cooking (he’s a cook and he does such a great job of it) but sometimes he thinks he’s being kind by making up my plate with potatoes and bread but I explained it isn’t helpful to me and my health. I think he finally understands the consequences of being so overweight. My biological mother was diabetic so there is a very good chance of me becoming diabetic with all the extra weight.
I am very happy with this challenge and all the encouragement from y’all.
I have had two very good days with exercise and food. My first goal is 12 lbs. by Feb 1. Any pound lost is free to stay lost forever!:lol:
Mary
Everyone is so inspiring already 
LHFmom-thanks so much for posting more about your weightloss so far-I’m glad to hear you aren’t starving yourself anymore!! And more power to you on your goal to run a marathon (that will be an amazing acheivement!!).
KPGurl, I feel like I could have written the list you wrote myself :teehee:
I agree with all your goals. I feel the same way about not eliminating food groups or any thing, rather, chose whole foods-unprocessed, real food, including lots more veggies and fruits,the vast majority of the time but allowing for that piece of cake or soda at the movies-but let those be the exceptions, not the rule! You put everything so well. I think I’m going to print out your list and read it for inspiration! :mrgreen:
Well, I did well today-met my goals, except my veggies I was planning with supper had an accident on the way to the plates-I dropped the WHOLE pan of them in the sink accidentally :doh: Unbelieveable! Oh well. I also managed to get my cardio in this morning; I did an hour on my stationary bike, and I am getting up now to do my shortish weight training “circuit”. Takes about 30 -40 min depending on how energetic I feel, lol.
SO here I go!! :passedout: (me at the end of my workout, :teehee:)
Thanks everybody for the great ideas and websites to help along with all this! Just wanted to post a little progress report for myself. I spoiled myself yesterday in the post holiday sales and bought some
little snack plates that are covered in pictures of bon-bons and chocolates. I figured if I can’t eat those things anymore I can still
have them “on my plate” :roflhard: hehe… Another thing I discovered is that when learning a new knitting technique I must be burning extra calories because I am forcing myself to learn stranded colorwork using
both hands (I’ve always knit continental so the english style is alot of
work) and by the time I was finsihed with my knitting session last night I was sweating bullets! hahaha…good thing is I’m just use practice yarn as I know the fo is nothing more than a giant swatch so not like I will be gifting someone a sweaty knitted gift! hehehe…
Anyway, my goals are as follows:
-
Lose 20 pounds for this first round hopefully at a rate of 2 pounds a week. (seems slow but that is what I did last year and even after I completely stopped being careful and just went wild again I never gained a single pound back so seems to work for me!)
-
Get in some exercise! I need help with ideas for this one because I can’t afford a gym and while I usually get out and walk everywhere with my dd (don’t have a car) the weather this time of year here makes it hard for me to get out with her and stay for very long. Any ideas??
-
Learn stranded colorwork even if it kills me!! <—I already told dh that means putting a fair isle motif on my tombstone
-
Knit an adult sized garment for myself…I’ve only ever knit toddler sized clothes.
I’m sure some more goals will pop up as I go along! I’ll do my first weigh in on this coming Monday and post it to the group because once it’s in black and white and in front of witnesses there is no going back!! hehe…
Libbie
Ok, I know there will be a lot of redundant posts in the beginning but I’m holding myself responsible here!
I’ve set up my SparkPeople goals:
- Eat At Least One Salad a day
- Drink at least 8-10 glasses of water a day
- Walk the dog every day
- Do yoga every day (even if it’s just 15 minutes of an evening relaxer)
- Eat a high fiber breakfast at least 3 times a week.
That’s how I’m starting, realistic. And I’m focusing on my goals beinig things that are added to my life rather than taking things away. I figure if I’m reaching my water drinking goal, then I won’t be thirsty for the soda…and if I’m reaching or surpassing my salad goals then I won’t be hungry for extra bread, snacks, etc. So my hope is that by fulfilling my added goals I’ll naturally be “restricting” myself in other ways but I won’t feel…I dunno, penalized or like I’m “dieting.” Let’s see how that psychology works!
Ok so anyway, I’ve met all 5 goals for the past 2 days. Yay!:cheering: Regularly walking the dog is showcasing one of the more annoying traits of American infrastructure. We are not, for the most part, set up for pedestrians and it drives me nuts. Between snow, lack of sidewalks and lack of streetlights in my area I’m going to end up having to DRIVE somewhere to go take a WALK and that makes me insane! :!!!: grrr, what a waste of time and gas. And I live in a well populated Boston suburb too; it’s not like I’m out in the boondocks.
Anyway, that’s my rant for the morning. I still plan on getting out for the walks though! And this morning I’ve already had a high fiber breakfast and 2 glasses of water.
Hamalee, sounds like a great list of goals, and extremely reasonable too. It’s much easier to get started, I think, when the goals start small and you can feel some sense of accomplishment.
So, Day 1…no knitting yesterday, but I did drink 60 oz. of water, and went to Jazzercise for an hour (phew, that kicked my butt after two weeks of skipping it!!!) and had my dinner on a small cake plate rather than a large dinner plate. Still had one cookie, but ONLY one!
Weigh in…
Weight: [COLOR=Red]-1 lb[/COLOR]
Project/Progress: [COLOR=Red]finished my first pair of socks![/COLOR]
Non-Scale Victories This Week:[COLOR=red] Managed to get a resonable amount of exercise in.
[COLOR=Black]I’m so surprised and pleased that I lost a lb! I have had a couple of big meals this week and more puddings than I normally would allow myself due to it being new years. My goal was only to make sure I didn’t put on any!
[/COLOR][/COLOR]
I’m starting off good. I have gotten back into drinking at least 48oz of water a day. I want to soon up that to 64oz.
I haven’t started walking too much yet. I just can’t seem to get motivated. Maybe I should see a hypnotist. LOL:shock:
I have been good at eating smaller portions and also I haven’t eaten out this past week. :woot: I also have been using the smaller plates to make it seem like more food. Seems to work.
I did finish a baby blanket I was crocheting. I only need to tuck in the ends. 
I have started a pair of socks for DH. Between knitting and reading several different “how to make socks” books, I have not had a craving for “bad” snacks. My DH actually has to pull me off the needles and force a handful of baby carrots at me.
I guess I’d better be careful and not unintentionally starve myself…yeah right…like that’s going to happen!!!:chair:
I’ve hit all my goals this week, woo! And I’ve made some knitting time each day a priority…my Lucy Bag is trucking right along.
I think I’m probably still eating too many calories, but right now I just want to focus on making them useful calories and NO FAST FOOD! I’ve been tracking my food on SparkPeople, but I’m having trouble coming up with a good calorie estimate of my lunchtime salad. Hmmm…it’s tough cuz it’s a salad bar.
Just a few days back into regular exercise and I’m soooo much happier (but tired!). I’ve gotta say it’s disheartening to realize just how out of shape I am when I try to get into yoga positions. I’m nowhere NEAR where I used to be. It’ll come back though.
I’ve also inadvertantly gone vegetarian, only because vegetables are easier to cook than meat! I still get plenty of protein, but I may need to keep an eye on iron consumption.
I’m trying to change my shopping/cooking habits too. I’m trying to buy food for only 2 dinners at a time and go shopping almost every day…breakfast/snack foods I can still buy more than a week’s worth (bulk oat groats, cheese sticks, nuts, etc) but I have this bad habit of loading up on veggies and then letting them rot :sad:
So here’s what I’ve done the past day or two and I hope to continue: I get home from work and walk the dog and maybe have a small snack. Then I go out to the grocery store for dinner. I stay in the produce section and just look around for a few vegetables that seem like they’d hit the spot…something to roast or stir-fry, for example. And I buy just one (or two) of each. On top of that I make sure I have a head of romaine in the house and a cucumber, a pepper, a tomato. So then I get home and cut up the veggies to start them roasting or whatever, get my grain on the stove, and then I sit down to have a nice big bowl of romaine lettuce/cuke/pepper. Then dinner’s ready and I end up with leftovers…so on lazy days or weekends when I don’t want to shop I’ve still got good cooked meals at home.
It’s working well so far and I’m sort of learning to cook! Last night I roasted up some butternut squash and asparagus in a little extra virgin olive oil and I ate that with some green lentils cooked in spices. The bulk food section of my supermarket is great–I got nuts, oat groats, lentils, etc that will last a long time for cheap. I’m building up my staples slowly.
Knitpurlgirl-Format looks good to me. To the rest of you who don’t know how to post pics- I DON’T KNOW HOW EITHER!!! HAhahaha. Maybe we can figure it out together. That’ll take our mind of eating.
HamaLee - can you share some ideas on what and how you cook some of those bulk grains? (i.e. what kind of spices, etc…). I’ve tried quinoa, and really like that, but I’ve never really cooked many other grains/beans.
Not such a great day yesterday. Had a headache when I left work to go get my hair done, then DH and I went to get dinner at an Italian restaurant. I DID order chicken instead of pasta and ate just the salad and half the chicken, but had one yummy roll too. :shifty: Came home and crashed on the couch, watched some football and went to bed. So no knitting either!
But, I am on a quest to find a great baby hat to make for my friend’s little girl (6-8 mos) since her original baby hat I made doesn’t fit anymore! Hope to cast on tonight.
To be honest, I don’t really know what I’m doing! I’ve never tried quinoa but it’s on my list. I looked in the cabinet and pretty much tossed whatever seemed like a good idea into the pot of lentils…I think I ended up with some garlic powder, onion salt, and then chili powder (I’ll put chili powder into ANYTHING!). I would have added cumin or maybe some Indian spices if we had any. I’m not so good with spices and they’re so expensive…something to learn though.
There’s gotta be some good online resources for cooking up these bulk grains, but I haven’t found 'em yet.
here’s that website i’ve been using the low carb recipes from…