If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It! - WISH October Lifestyle/Weight Challenge

Oh forgot the QOTD. I have never tried anything other then working out and tracking calories. I have thought about some before like taking a pill but them my brain takes over and tells that it is not a smart idea and I don't do it.

For the castle I will just have to go with WDW. I have never seen any of the others.
 
I think I am an abstainer. It is far easier for me to just say no than it is to moderate what I'm putting in my mouth. Kinda of like the eating only one peanut thing.

I've never done any crazy weight loss plans. My girlfriend who lost all the weight has her "good" days and her "cheat" days. I think it is a 5 to 2 ratio. I always thought that was kind of silly, but it works for her. Eventually she learned that on her cheat days she couldn't eat like she used to or she'd be sick. So now even her cheat days aren't horrible. I think I'll just stick to logging my food, for better or worse. So far only two worse days this month!

I don't have a favorite castle; I love them all! Of course, I've only seen WDW and DLR. Won't be seeing any castles until DS2 finishes college. sigh Being a grown up is no fun sometimes!!
 
Re calorie tracking and eating out - I think for me it works to make up a number and move on. It could be completely incorrect but it makes me feel like I have owned my actions. I could add 2000 calories, and look completely over my daily burn but I still find adding the number and moving on somewhat accountable and aware that I have a choice, that the world didn't fall apart and there is always next meal I can try better. It's very personal, but every time I take counting break I end up gaining little and taking minute to add it helps my accountability.

Another thing about perfect plans and imperfect days I find I have them ALL THE TIME! I looked at options near my work - vending machine have protein bars but they are pure candy to me so I don't have them. There is small pack of popcorn for under 100 calories, but doesn't give me any satiety. There are also small nuts packs for about 200. If I have time I can go to nearby store and they have fuller for longer range - meals designed with high protein and from 250 (more of a snack) to about 550 calories. There is salad bar and freshii and freshii have options from 350 to about 700, and the salad bar 400 to 800 as long as I stay away from wraps. There is pizza place with lighter pizza, subway and burrito bowls all offering options under 650 calories. Breakfast bagel place offering egg tomato bagel for 320, or bacon cheese egg and others for 750. Ok, the egg bagel isn't the tastiest but it still feels satisfying for half the calories, and I don't feel left out. I can still go for team breakfast.

When I looked at last few weeks I found I snack too much so it was easy to figure out to try to get a salad instead of granola bar. Yes salad will be triple the calories, and perhaps it's not yet lunch time but at least I will be full after.

Often doing your best is just best of what is available right now and sometimes this could be choosing kitkat instead of snickers. When your only source of food available is vending machine, no point of trying to match lunch at home after wholefoods shopping! You can only do best with what is actually available as choice
 
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Wow so the conversation yesterday evening and this morning actually fits really well with what I had planned for the QOTD, so let's keep it going!

QOTD: “What do you mean we can’t get rid of those weeds in time? Then go over there and put some fancy signs with Latin names in front of them.” – Walt Disney

You may not know this, but opening day at Disneyland did not go very smoothly. There was wet paint, weeds in the flower beds, and women reportedly got their heels stuck in asphalt that hadn’t dried yet! However, Walt and his Imagineers did their very best and worked with what they had to provide a magical opening day experience.

What are some things in your life that may seem like they are getting in the way of reaching your goals? How are you working around them?

Bonus QOTD: If you had to choose one Disney park or experience (such as touring the Disney Studios in Burbank) that you haven't done yet but would love to, what would you pick to see or do next?
 


Re calorie tracking and eating out - I think for me it works to make up a number and move on. It could be completely incorrect but it makes me feel like I have owned my actions. I could add 2000 calories, and look completely over my daily burn but I still find adding the number and moving on somewhat accountable and aware that I have a choice, that the world didn't fall apart and there is always next meal I can try better. It's very personal, but every time I take counting break I end up gaining little and taking minute to add it helps my accountability.

Another thing about perfect plans and imperfect days I find I have them ALL THE TIME! I looked at options near my work - vending machine have protein bars but they are pure candy to me so I don't have them. There is small pack of popcorn for under 100 calories, but doesn't give me any satiety. There are also small nuts packs for about 200. If I have time I can go to nearby store and they have fuller for longer range - meals designed with high protein and from 250 (more of a snack) to about 550 calories. There is salad bar and freshii and freshii have options from 350 to about 700, and the salad bar 400 to 800 as long as I stay away from wraps. There is pizza place with lighter pizza, subway and burrito bowls all offering options under 650 calories. Breakfast bagel place offering egg tomato bagel for 320, or bacon cheese egg and others for 750. Ok, the egg bagel isn't the tastiest but it still feels satisfying for half the calories, and I don't feel left out. I can still go for team breakfast.

When I looked at last few weeks I found I snack too much so it was easy to figure out to try to get a salad instead of granola bar. Yes salad will be triple the calories, and perhaps it's not yet lunch time but at least I will be full after.

Often doing your best is just best of what is available right now and sometimes this could be choosing kitkat instead of snickers. When your only source of food available is vending machine, no point of trying to match lunch at home after wholefoods shopping! You can only do best with what is actually available as choice

This is awesome and really helps.
 
Wow so the conversation yesterday evening and this morning actually fits really well with what I had planned for the QOTD, so let's keep it going!

QOTD: “What do you mean we can’t get rid of those weeds in time? Then go over there and put some fancy signs with Latin names in front of them.” – Walt Disney

You may not know this, but opening day at Disneyland did not go very smoothly. There was wet paint, weeds in the flower beds, and women reportedly got their heels stuck in asphalt that hadn’t dried yet! However, Walt and his Imagineers did their very best and worked with what they had to provide a magical opening day experience.

What are some things in your life that may seem like they are getting in the way of reaching your goals? How are you working around them?

Bonus QOTD: If you had to choose one Disney park or experience (such as touring the Disney Studios in Burbank) that you haven't done yet but would love to, what would you pick to see or do next?

Life has really gotten in the way. I feel like I have been through several curve balls lately. I have not done a great job working around them yet. I have some learning to do here.

Bonus -- I want to do the tour at MK that takes you to the underground/back stage areas. I have wanted to do this for years but now have to wait until my kids are at least 16.
 
Well that sucked. Thursday morning on the way to the bus I tripped and fell, whacking my head on the sidewalk. I split open my left eye brow, and discovered I'm not queasy at the sight of blood... that's a good thing right? I stayed home to go to the doctor and everything is OK, no stitches or concussion. Then Friday I woke up with a wicked sore throat and ended up missing work again and stayed home again yesterday as well. So today is the first day back and I am cranky as all get out, I think mostly due to the over the counter cold meds I took... which I hate to do, but I was so congested I started to panic a little bit. I'm just going to put a sign up at my desk "Enter at your own risk" and call it good.

As far as my daily goals go, I haven't done very many steps at all: I did keep up with drinking my water: consumption of sugar, dairy and gluten was all lower because I really haven't eaten much of anything at all. As for gratitude, I am so grateful it wasn't worst. I can't claim that I've been very kind to myself though, as I always feel guilty staying home from work, like I'm cheating in some way.

I'll take some time to read thru the conversation that's been taking place, looks like there's some good stuff. I did see a couple of questions of the day, so I'll tackle those.

Have I tried any dieting methods that haven't worked? Well, yes, considering I'm currently so over weight I'd have to say none of them have worked. I think to succeed I need to fundamentally change who I am, which is a daunting task at my age... it took me a long time to get this way.

Is there something that's getting in my way? Yep, me.

Is there something at the parks that I haven't done yet? Every trip I make a point to try new things: this trip I really wanted to do the behind the scenes tour where you get to feed the giraffes, but the only day it is offered is the morning we're having breakfast at CRT so I'm stuck with feeding the princesses instead. I would also like to stay at a deluxe resort sometime, but every time I think about it I can't make up my mind whether I'd like to be in the EPCOT area or over at AKL, so I guess its a good thing I can't even afford it.
 
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Well that sucked. Thursday morning on the way to the bus I tripped and fell, whacking my head on the sidewalk. I split open my left eye brow, and discovered I'm not queasy at the sight of blood... that's a good thing right? I stayed home to go to the doctor and everything is OK, no stitches or concussion. Then Friday I woke up with a wicked sore throat and ended up missing work again and stayed home again yesterday as well. So today is the first day back and I am cranky as all get out, I think mostly due to the over the counter cold meds I took... which I hate to do, but I was so congested I started to panic a little bit. I'm just going to put a sign up at my desk "Enter at your own risk" and call it good.

Uh oh that sounds like such a rough few days. Hopefully you can pass the day alright and go home and get some more rest!

As far as my daily goals go, I haven't done very many steps at all: I did keep up with drinking my water: consumption of sugar, dairy and gluten was all lower because I really haven't eaten much of anything at all. As for gratitude, I am so grateful it wasn't worst. I can't claim that I've been very kind to myself though, as I always feel guilty staying home from work, like I'm cheating in some way.
Taking care of yourself is never cheating! It sounds like you did what you needed to in order to get better and there's nothing wrong with that :)

Is there something at the parks that I haven't done yet? Every trip I make a point to try new things: this trip I really wanted to do the behind the scenes tour where you get to feed the giraffes, but the only day it is offered is the morning we're having breakfast at CRT so I'm stuck with feed the princesses instead. I would also like to stay at a deluxe resort sometime, but every time I think about it I can't make up my mind whether I'd like to be in the EPCOT area or over at AKL, so I guess its a good thing I can't even afford it.
Haha "Feed the princesses"- I love that. I'm also with you on the Deluxe resort! We just never spend much time in our room while at WDW so it's hard to justify the cost but I would definitely like to stay in one eventually.
 
Wow so the conversation yesterday evening and this morning actually fits really well with what I had planned for the QOTD, so let's keep it going!

QOTD: “What do you mean we can’t get rid of those weeds in time? Then go over there and put some fancy signs with Latin names in front of them.” – Walt Disney

I love it, there is so much confidence in this quote! I think it's important to do best you can with what is possible in the specific situation.

What are some things in your life that may seem like they are getting in the way of reaching your goals? How are you working around them?

Honestly there are always challenges. From my ups and downs in weight between 2011 and 2015 I found out that even when you reach your goal, there will still be challenges and unless I learning to deal with them and remain in the right direction is more important than getting there.

I am still learning. Remaining aware of how are things working as something that worked for you in July may not work in January. Be prepared to make adjustment if needed. It will be needed, things change. And follow the moto little less perfect, little more consistent.

I have been interested in long term maintainers and what I find is they have the ability to adjust their plan with ease. They track calories, or they estimate if they can't they don't worry about perfection. They do low carb, but they don't make big deal of eating some chocolate once in awhile. They do weight watchers, but if they can't they go back to it when they can. It's people that go with the all or nothing in their mind struggle most.

Right now, things are good. I have maintenance range, and I want to go to the lower end of it before Christmas but there is nothing really that is stopping me. Christmas will be challenge, so I will have to come up with strategy to allow me to have fun but avoid weight gain near the the time
 
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1) Did I do my steps (15000 goal) yes
2) Were my calories in balance Yes
3) Did I do my 3 weekly workouts without overdoing it (only M, W and F) n/a
4) What did I do great today, what worked well
It was good day, I did about 17000 steps and my meals were tasty. I had some mango slices after dinner with tajine spice as they sell them in Disneyland (to sub the sourdough bread I was eating week ago!).
5) What can I do better
Nothing really. Perhaps I bought too much food again, and we will have a lot of waste again this week. I don't intend to eat it to avoid waste but still shame we have this situation again. I will definitely be making more specific list next week
 
Today is going good so far. I had my toast for breakfast and my salad for lunch. I am getting hungry now so I need to bring a snack with me tomorrow. Thankfully the guy at work that was selling my favorite chocolate bars has sold them all. So no candy bar. I am sitting right now with 706 calories to eat for the day to stay at 1200 calories. if I can stay with in this I should have a huge deficit today. Right now without working out I would have a deficit of 338 calories. I am still planning on going to the rec from work so I will get my steps in.
 
QotD:
My big load of unique health issues and how each effects the others can definitely get in the way pretty regularly. My huge work load and the many demands in my life get in the way. And I myself get in my own way. It is a journey to learn where you tend to self-sabotage, to work towards improvements, to gradually learn to more and more often reframe self-talk and attitude into wiser, more positive, or more beneficial ways of thinking and operating.

I've stuck to my plan today. I've avoided beating myself up so far this month over any frustrations or days of not seeing it in the scale or any other temptations towards negativity..at least none have gone truly sideways to drag me off coarse so far in October. I keep picking myself back up again when I feel down. What is else is positive that I can report here today? I'm down another pound this morning. I have not had much brain fog today. I love that. I enjoyed getting to spend time with my youngest daughter during the bits of time we could manage recently. I took my daughter-in-law out and gave her a driving lesson. And I am proud of myself that I handled it well even though there were some frustrations involved. I'm a good driving instructor. And I care about doing it well and about helping people.

BQ: I've never taken any of the special tours. I'd love to take the backstage magic tour someday!
 
QOTD: Like many others, my biggest challenge is just life getting in the way. I had a terrible day today - woke up to DD9 feeling better but DD16 sick and a migraine myself. It was all I could do to get DD9 to school, get DD16 settled on the couch with the remote control and a snack to settle her stomach, choke some chewable Tylenol down and crawl back into bed myself. Woke up again around noon, feeling a bit better but with the "hangover" that I always get after a migraine, and I didn't come anywhere near enough energy to head to the gym. What I need to learn to do is to treat every day as a fresh start and not let one off day drag on into two, three, etc. This is homecoming week for DD, DH has just been assigned an inventory that hasn't properly been done in years, and my mom is on me to take advantage of the unusually good weather to tackle some big yard projects at her house. It would be really easy to let one bad day become a whole bad week, but I'm determined not to let that happen.

The one Disney experience I haven't had yet but want most is just to visit Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea. We had planned to take DD16 as a graduation gift, but she's applying to study abroad next year and our budget can't send her to Japan one year and take the whole family the next, so it looks like maybe we'll make it a college graduation celebration instead. Or I'll just go on my own as a personal "no more tuition" celebration!
 
WhooHoo Wednesday!

I feel great, my appetite have really gone down since I cut the white bread and granola bars! I find it easy to stick to my calories and my energy levels are good. I am also really looking forward for seeing impractical jokers this weekend!
 
Sometimes methods that have worked well for others don’t work for us. Have you ever tried a weight loss method or lifestyle change that someone else has raved about that just didn’t work for you? What did you do to get back on track?

I have tried the soup diet (OMG so much soup!) and meal replacement shakes - I just gave up and reverted to my usual eating.

Bonus QOTD: Which of the Disney parks castles is your favorite?

Similarly to other I have only seen 1 in person and that is the original in DL!

I suppose I can also share with y'all now that I have been hoping and planning to lose 67 lbs over 7 months. And I did start right around the first of October. So if I look at that as 10 lbs for October since it works in the long run if it averages 10 (or even slightly less) per month, then that feels pretty great today to say that I'm 50% of the way toward a 10lb loss for this month. I could learn to like breaking it down to monthly goals and seeing that percentage change!

Impressive goal - it sounds like you have your mind made up and I am sure that will help you achieve it.

We have never gotten each gifts so it was a complete surprise when he had flowers delivered to my work.

Oh how sweet - there is nothing like a surprise flower delivery to brighten your day and make you feel special.

sigh Being a grown up is no fun sometimes!!

I second that thought!

What are some things in your life that may seem like they are getting in the way of reaching your goals? How are you working around them?

Some days it would be easier to say what isn't getting in the way - I like what @HappyGrape said that realistically there is always going to be challenges - some days we are better and dealing with them and working around them then others. I am trying to be flexible but still find ways to fit it in. Today I was too tired to do the morning walk - so after lunch at work I did a 10 minute walk - then on the way to pick up the kids from my parents this afternoon - I pulled up at the river just before I got to their place and did a 20 minute walk by the water.

Bonus QOTD: If you had to choose one Disney park or experience (such as touring the Disney Studios in Burbank) that you haven't done yet but would love to, what would you pick to see or do next?

Well seeing as you all love WDW so much - I guess I would like to visit that park one day - my fear is it won't live up to expectations or my DL experiences.

Well that sucked. Thursday morning on the way to the bus I tripped and fell, whacking my head on the sidewalk. I split open my left eye brow, and discovered I'm not queasy at the sight of blood... that's a good thing right? I stayed home to go to the doctor and everything is OK, no stitches or concussion. Then Friday I woke up with a wicked sore throat and ended up missing work again and stayed home again yesterday as well. So today is the first day back and I am cranky as all get out, I think mostly due to the over the counter cold meds I took... which I hate to do, but I was so congested I started to panic a little bit. I'm just going to put a sign up at my desk "Enter at your own risk" and call it good.

Oh how awful - glad to hear you are ok though. I have fallen a couple of times in the last few years but no injuries - that feeling when you start to fall and realise you can't stop it is horrible.

I think to succeed I need to fundamentally change who I am, which is a daunting task at my age... it took me a long time to get this way.

I also struggle with change. I went to a professional development lecture this week and the lecturer used a quote that spoke to me - it is from Back to The Future - which was one of my teen movies "Your future hasn't been written yet. No-one's has. Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one." - I found it on Google images and stuck it on my wall at work.

I keep picking myself back up again when I feel down.

:cheer2: way to go - that perseverance and self-reliance will help you get there.

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My Woohoo's for today are:

1. I have not had any junky takeout (I mean maccas, fries, burgers etc) in over a week.
2. On the day I didn't take my lunch to work this week - I made a smart choice and found a little café and had a warm chicken salad - it was YUMMY - it tasted really fresh and was very similar to the lunches I have been bringing from home.
3. When there have been challenges to meal plans - such as me not taking out the meat to defrost I have just switched things around and stayed on track - in the past I would have easily have grabbed takeout on those nights.
4. Today at work someone offered me chocolate and I said NO THANKYOU - I am saving my chocolate for tonight on the couch. Yes I still had some - but I also said no to some.
5. I am having tomorrow off work to look after myself and DD - Phyiso in the morning, Drs just after lunch for myself and DD.
6. I just bought tickets for a friend and I to see "Home Again" with Reece Witherspoon next week - we are having dinner before hand - looking forward to a mid week girls night out.
 
My results from yesterday
1) Did I do my steps (10,000 goal) - Yep
2) Were my calories in balance - Yep Maybe a little too low. I only had a little over 1000 calories
3) Did I track my food - Yep
4) What did I do great today, what worked well -- I stuck to my plan
5) What can I do better -- I think I need to get my calories closer to 1200. I think 1000 is just too low
 
My Woohoo's for today are:

1. I have not had any junky takeout (I mean maccas, fries, burgers etc) in over a week.
2. On the day I didn't take my lunch to work this week - I made a smart choice and found a little café and had a warm chicken salad - it was YUMMY - it tasted really fresh and was very similar to the lunches I have been bringing from home.
3. When there have been challenges to meal plans - such as me not taking out the meat to defrost I have just switched things around and stayed on track - in the past I would have easily have grabbed takeout on those nights.
4. Today at work someone offered me chocolate and I said NO THANKYOU - I am saving my chocolate for tonight on the couch. Yes I still had some - but I also said no to some.
5. I am having tomorrow off work to look after myself and DD - Phyiso in the morning, Drs just after lunch for myself and DD.
6. I just bought tickets for a friend and I to see "Home Again" with Reece Witherspoon next week - we are having dinner before hand - looking forward to a mid week girls night out.

That is an impressive number of Woohoos for today! Thanks for giving such awesome examples of how to celebrate all types of victories. :cheer2:
 
Well yesterday went pretty good until later in the afternoon. I cut my work out short (still got my 10,000 steps) to get my daughters birthday party figured out. We are now bowling. Then when I got home she was in tears because her foot hurt so bad and she can't make it through the day. I got her settled down and then we watched some tv. When it was bed time she started up again and this time she was balling and either I or my husband could calm her down. We were starting to think it was something with school and she was not telling us. I called my mom who is a teacher and is good with asking questions that aren't leading. Also the two of them have an awesome bond. They talked for awhile and it does really look like it is just her ankle. But my mom was able to get her to calm down.

I emailed the doctors assistant last night to see what we can do. So the craziness of today started very early. First my alarms did not go off and we got up late. I checked my email and the assistant had already gotten back to me. They decided to put my daughter on crutches and we need to alternate Motrin and Tylenol for the next couple of days. I had to drop my son off at school and get to the dr office by 8:30, stop at the store to pick up the meds and get her to school by 9. Well I didn't get her to school by 9 which made me late to a meeting that I was calling into. So now I am working from home for a half day. If I don't get the signed med form from the dr. by 11:30 I will need to run back up to the school to give my daughter her meds. I have already had a candy bar today as it was the the first thing I saw and I didn't have time to look around CVS for something healthier. I will eat a salad for lunch and a good dinner to off set it. Today is a day that I normally don't get to the rec but being home today I might be able to get there. I will still try to get my steps even if it is walking around the house since it is raining out today.
 

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