Are you looking for support on your health and fitness journey? If you are, then this thread is for you.

There are no expectations in this forum. Post as often as you like. Post anything that you feel is relevant to your own personal health and fitness goal. Here are some ideas:

• Monthly health and fitness goal
• Daily health and fitness goal
• Progress (or setbacks) in reaching your goal
• Personal stories about why you are joining this topic
• Healthy recipes that you feel others will enjoy
• Links to articles or books that you feel others would find helpful
• Food Choices (healthy or unhealthy)

Remember, your health and fitness journey is your own. There is no one program, method, or philosophy that is right for everyone. This thread is for support only.

Just popping in here to declare my July "new habit."  This is going to seem weird, but it is kind of health related.

The new habit - 'brush my teeth every night.'

The bad habit - getting sleepy and then just getting in bed without going to brush my teeth.

The plan - brush my teeth right after I've eaten my last meal (if I eat dinner), or at the same time that I put PJs on and take make-up off. 

I usually get 'ready' for bed early in the evening (7 p.m. or so), but for some weird reason I don't brush my teeth then.  Maybe because I grew up in a household where brushing your teeth was the last thing you did before you got in the bed.  Since I've been living alone I've been really hit or miss and I think I'm getting worse as time goes on.

I think dental care figures into our overall health, so 'that's my new habit for July.'

Lisa- you won't believe this but one of my habits for July has to do with brushing teeth! (get back to a night time routine of wash my face & brush my teeth at night).

I need to spend some time writing down my goals & finalizing them all before I post all that I want to attack in July so will be back later with my list.

Most of the habits I've wanted to establish so far this year are in place enough that I don't feel I need to track them daily. (all except 1) So I'm keeping 1 on the list & adding 2 for July.

July goals:

Eat in 5/7 dinners at least (this is the one from last mo & I feel if I don't track it daily I'll lose the habit)

No sweets-allow only 1x/week. (Not a cheat day, just a cheat item once per week)

Night time routine-wash face & brush teeth every night (I'm TERRIBLE about doing this-basically non existent..I pretty much never do this yet know I should & truly want to..it's a laziness thing)

As for my weight. I seem to be yo-yo-ing from 127lbs to 125lbs. I want to get to 124lbs by the end of the mo & see that number be steady. I know I need to tighten up on the fast/eat windows. Hoping that & minimal sweets will get me there & keep me there.

I have my paper calendar all set to track these goals for the month. A visual helps keep me accountable.

Shayla, that is too funny.  I'm hoping i won't be tempted to snack anymore if I have already brushed my teeth even if I am still in my eating window.  More of the "just because I can eat doesn't mean I have to eat."

Like you, most of my habits are well ingrained now.  It keeps me accountable to post the gym, but I am pretty good about getting there 3x a week.

I'm tracking the eating out thing because it is too easy to lose track in my brain. 

Lisa- I'm hoping i won't be tempted to snack anymore if I have already brushed my teeth.  ME TOO! ME TOO!

Starting the month off at 127 lbs. Which is the top of the yo-yo-ing. Goal is consistently 124 by end of month. The only 1 sweet per week should help.

Good morning.  I should not have a problem with any goals today because I don't have very much going on.  I am going to quit listing these things every day as my goals because they are habits that are well ingrained now:

Eat according to my IF Schedule
Drink 80 oz. of plain water
10K steps 6/7 days - January New Habit
Gym 3x week
Starting the day with prayer - February New Habit
TV off by 9:00 - or limited to 3 hours after 6 p.m. - March New Habit
Read for a dedicated 30 minutes a day - April New Habit
Eat no more than 6 meals per week out - May New Habit
Write in my gratitude journal how I saw God each day - June New Habit

I'm thankful for this thread because 6 of these were monthly goals, or new habits, that I worked to establish.  The other 3 were habits related to health and fitness that I pretty much already had in place.  I have to remind myself that the thing with habits is not perfection, but a pattern.  The usual habit of life.  I can be rigid about things, and tend to be kind of an all or nothing person.

That all or nothing mindset messes me up with eating too because if I mess up early in the day, then instead of getting back on track at the very next meal I tend to just be off all day.  Trying to overcome that.  IF has been helpful with that.

Today's goals:  My new July habit to brush my teeth when I put my PJs on and take my M/U off.  This will ensure that it happens every night.

Wishing y'all a great day. 
 

Happy July Everyone. Hope it's a good month for all of us.

I only lost 2 lbs. in June as of my June 1st weigh in, but it's better than a gain, so I'm happy about that. My goal for this month is to double that and lose 4 lbs. I started working a part time job for Uber earlier this week and even though I can work the hours I want and take what jobs I want, I've found the deliveries really tire me out and it's not easy on my back, which I have issues with. So for the most part I'll be doing rides, I did one of those this morning and for 22 minutes I made almost as much as I did Wednesday when I did a delivery that took 5.5 hours. So it just makes more sense for me to do the rides. And I found out I enjoy it. So I can make enough in 1-3 rides a week that I can breathe a little easier money wise. And I get paid daily thru my bank debit card instead of direct deposit weekly to the bank. This suits me a lot better. And I'm meeting people and talking to them instead of being cooped up in the apt. all day. So this helps my mental health as well as my physical health.

 And because I am working I'm finding myself eating better and barely snacking at all. And I'm drinking a lot more water, especially now when it's so hot here.

I doubt I'll ever be a skinny-minny again like I was years ago but at least I am starting to be more active and doing more to help myself, to take care of myself. So I'm feeling pretty good about things right now.

 Hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July weekend and stay safe.

Vicki-glad to hear the job is working out & that you like it. And congrats on the 2 lb loss!

Today I tried something new...I played pickleball. I have wanted to try this for a while & I loved it. I can't say it's a lot of exercise per se...we played doubles, but I could see it being good exercise if you play singles b/c you'd run a bunch more. I can't wait to play again. I also got in a 2 mile walk today after dinner.

Vicki, your post is so encouraging.  I think the job is all positive for you.  And, congratulations on the 2# loss for June.  Any loss counts.  I think you will be able to do 4# in July, especially with the better eating and better mental outlook that the job gives you.

Shayla, I only played pickleball once or twice, many years ago, and it was doubles too.  It was fun.  It's movement, and all movement counts.

Wanted to share a healthy recipe we really like & are having tonight...If I've shared this one before please forgive me. It's from a Biggest Loser cookbook. We are eating it with roasted sweet potato bites & roasted green beans.

Pecan Crusted Chicken

1 lg egg white
2 Tbsp chopped pecans
1 tsp parsley
1/4 tsp salt
2 small chicken breasts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly mist a nonstick baking sheet w/ olive oil spray. In small shallow bowl beat egg white w/ a fork. In a small bowl combine pecans, parsley & salt. Spread mixture on waxed paper. Dip smooth side of chicken in egg. Place smooth side on nut mixture. Press to adhere. Place nut side up on prepared baking sheet. Repeat w/ other chicken. Bake 40 min.

I'm laughing about the teeth because I considered that for my monthly habit too. When my eating window is over, I should just brush then and not risk getting too sleepy to do it!

But I decided on a goal earlier and never got in here to post it yesterday. I stayed up quite late June 30 in order to finish moving out of my office. So yesterday I slept a lot. 
 

For my previous habits, I am doing mostly ok, and I agree that I don't need to keep writing down that I continue to take the new thyroid med and to eat in the IF windows. My Diet Coke avoidance is now a habit though it is not as absolute as it was. There have been a few times where I had one because I wanted a special treat. I really never did get the step count up to a daily habit but I did it enough to know where to set my step goal when im ready to make that a goal. But I decided that many possible goals will make more sense when I am no longer living in a hotel and routines can be set up.

July goals, where I'll work varying amounts on various days.

• Go through all of my belongings that are here in the hotel with me and continue to digitize as many as possible to cut the volume before moving to Iowa.
• Eat as much of the food that came from house/office as possible. Buy very few groceries, mostly things to go with what I have.

July daily goal:

• Take Blood  pressure reading!

I take my blood pressure medicine almost daily, but I am not keeping up the daily monitoring like I used to do. I need to get back to that as a motivator and so I know if there is a problem.

Yesterday I took it very late in the day and never posted here. It was 136/89 which is too high but I think it is because I didn't sleep enough th night before and because I had missed my pill the day before due to the busyness of moving out of my office. I didn't even want to post it, but I think the accountability is what I need! I haven't taken it yet today.

For this weekend I'm living in my daughter's hotel room because she went out of town. So I'm starting the sort and compile with the items that belong to me but were stuck in her room. I started with a box that was labeled as needing repacking. But it contained a bunch of dusty containers. So I washed the containers, sorted the contents, and much will be given away.(I'll be replying to some wishes in the ROAK wishes thread soon.), and am waiting to refill the containers with other things before I close that box. So then I looked at a box that was labeled for digitizing because I was going to put it up on the closet shelf to make a space for the boxes that are truly ready to go to Iowa. (My son is driving a carload up there for me on July 5.) But I made the mistake of looking inside and finding some things that could just be thrown out. So I ended up with 3 binders on the closet shelf for later sort through, some stuff in the box for goodwill, some stuff in a pile ready to have pictures taken, some stuff in a pile to be scanned, some stuff I don't want in a pile for my daughter to decide on, some stuff in the trash, some stuff in a pile to go to the free table in my former office building, and some stuff in a pile to go to my ex. This is progress on downsizing, but not toward the Iowa trip! I did put all the piles in boxes or lids so I can work on the next box.

Today I had rice and peas (rice from before, peas from yesterday's shopping trip). Later I had a sandwich using fixings from yesterday on bread I already had. Also I had a snack of food that came from my office stash that I now have in the hotel, so I feel good about the using up food goal.

Hit submit, but I meant to respond to other posts first.

I didn't weigh today, but yesterday appears to say I lost a few pounds in June. However, I switched scales because my old one broke and I bought a new one. So I'll do my official Sunday weight tomorrow and work from there.

Vicky, sounds positive! Hope the job stays great! 
 

Shayla, I really miss playing team sports and have been wanting to try pickle ball too! I plan to join a group once I move to Iowa.

The chicken sounds excellent, but I have no oven in the hotel, so I'll wait. I do have a stovetop and a microwave. Yesterday I bought a rotisserie chicken and I made small pieces with the leftovers because I have a lot of noodles to use up and I love noodles with butter with chicken or tuna stirred in.

Good Morning Ladies, Hope you all have a great 4th of July. Stay safe. They sent out a notice where I live that no fireworks could be shot of in the complex. If caught doing so would be cause for eviction. Some people will still do it thinking they'll not inforce the eviction but it's been a lot quietier this 4th weekend so far than the last couple years.

This week I won't actually start "work" until Wednesday. I'll spend the 4th with an elderly friend of mine that will be alone since her family have gone on vacation for 2 weeks and she'll be by herself. On Tuesday I'll be taking her to a doctors appt. and that will take all morning. We usually go out to eat afterwards . So I'll work Wed. hopefully if something becomes available. Thankfully I only have to take trips I want to and only work 1-3 days a week so it's the perfect job for me. It gives me a little extra income when money becomes too tight.

 I'm yo-yo-ing a bit this morning weight wise but I'm going to eat as low sodium as I can today and that should take care of that problem. But I won't weigh again til next Sunday. Really hope the scales will show a loss then.

Hope everyone reaches their weekly goals this week.

Hello! July 3rd Post and Catch-Up.

We arrived home yesterday around 3:00 PM. This morning I weighed 128.4 pounds~no gain and no loss while on vacation. That is a win!

Goal-Setting for This Month: Like most of you, there's no need for me to state the same daily goals that are basically habits for me. I want to continue to focus on eating a serving of fruit or vegetable with every meal. I want to develop some sort of plan to pare down/eliminate most processed foods from my diet. I would also like to cut down my alcohol consumption to just 2 glasses of wine per day/night. I tend to drink too much in the summertime~I like cocktails while sitting by the pool. David and I drank entirely too much while on vacation.

Regarding brushing teeth: I'm a chronic teeth-brusher~I brush too often and too hard according to my dentist. I wear Invisaligns, so I have to brush my teeth before I put them back in. They also keep me from snacking in-between meals. 

Fun Fact: Oral health was the number 1 killer of prehistoric man. He would break his teeth and then infection would set in.

I take a bath each night, so I wash my face then. I don't use soap or any cleanser as I don't wear makeup.

I'm also thankful for this thread as it helps me stay accountable. I feel embarrassed sometimes about my "failures" in the health department. I'm hoping that by posting my wine consumption, I can tone that down a bit.

The "all or nothing" mindset is normal~I feel better on the days when I stay on track and don't get derailed. 

Vicki~it sounds like things are really looking up for you. Please keep us posted. *I owe you a letter!

I've never even heard of pickleball.

Thank you for the recipe Shayla. I'm always on the lookout for new chicken recipes.

Margaret~I'm glad that you feel like you're making some progress. I know you will be so glad when this move is over. David and I also need to eat up what's in the house. We are going to try to be more judicious in our meal-planning.

The salt issue is the #1 reason why I want to get away from processed foods.

Okay Ladies: I'll read and post again tomorrow.

Hi friends.  Hope your weekend is going well.

Margaret, I think it's funny that 3 of us are thinking about teeth brushing as a habit to get back into.  Oddly, when my DH was alive I didn't ever get in PJs earlier in the evening, so all my getting ready for bed routine happened at the same time.  Maybe it's just being older and retired, or maybe it's living alone, but now I am usually 'ready for bed' hours before it's time to go to bed.

You are probably wise not to focus too much on new exercise goals while you are living in the extended stay.  Using up all the food you brought from your house and office seems like a good plan though, and it will mean more eating in which is always good for weight control.  Taking those blood pressure readings seems like a pretty important thing to focus on too.

Vicki, how nice that you can spend the holiday with your friend since her family is out of town.  Good for both of you I hope.

Welcome back Melissa.  I agree that no loss/no gain on vacation is a win.  Hoping I can have that same experience when I go on vacation in a couple weeks.  :)

I do think brushing my teeth either after that last meal, or at least when I get in to my PJs is going to help me be less inclined to snack on anything.  So far so good, but then it's only July 3.

It's Sunday so I don't have too much I'm trying to accomplish except that teeth brushing.  Hoping to get 30 minutes of reading in so I can be done with the first of 4 stories in a Novella I'm reading.  I got an audio book I've had on hold at the library, so I need to switch over to it.

Talk to y'all sometime tomorrow.

This morning I weighed 128.2. I've done okay with my food consumption today. I've had one cocktail today~tequila and lime. David had two while we ate lunch. I'm back to water now.

I cooked a pork butt this morning and made pickles.

We're going to eat a late supper as it's so hot here. We're under a weather advisory.

Good afternoon.  I came here to post about 20 minutes ago and then realized the time.  My fasting window was going to start at 4:00 and I knew I needed to eat lunch/dinner before then.  So, I got off so I could go eat. 

I thought at first that the gym was closed today, but then I decided to call because they advertise that they are open most holidays for at least part of the day.  Wouldn't you know, the trainer himself answered the phone and my name came up on the caller ID too.  I didn't know that until later, but I just told him on the phone that I wanted to be sure he was there and I'd probably be there around 10:30.  When I got there he said that he figured I was calling to tell him I wasn't going to come today.  To which I replied "I'd never do that and give you the opportunity to talk me out of it."  Truthfully, it wouldn't even cross my mind since we don't have any standing time or day.  I either sign up for a class or I don't.  It will be easier to get my 3x this week though since I went today.

I don't want to brush my teeth quite this early.  I'd feel like I still needed to do it before I went to bed.  But, later when I get in my PJs and take my M/U off, I'll be sure to do it.  That seems to work pretty good for me.  I might go put my toothbrush and toothpaste out on the counter so that I won't 'forget.'  I never forget to take my nighttime meds, so I'd be sure to see it all set out.  I can take the meds anytime after 8:00 p.m. so it usually is not the last thing I do before crawling in bed.  I guess "never forget" was kind of not true.  I have forgot because I let it go until I was already falling asleep and then I just went to bed.  But, I will usually remember when I get up to go to the bathroom, or a worse scenario, when my Restless Leg Syndrome starts bothering me.

I did laundry sort of inefficiently on purpose today to try to garner some steps.  Long days mostly at home can make that a bit tougher.  It's almost 100 degrees outside so I'm definitely not going outside to take a walk.

Guess I need to get off the computer and pace around while I watch the Astros game.  It's not going well, but it's early so I'm holding out hope that we might rally.  It's 5-0 in favor of the KC Royals and we are only in the 3rd inning.

Talk to y'all tomorrow.

I weighed 128.0 today.

Yesterday for breakfast we had a scrambled egg skillet~eggs, sausage, and cheese. I also made grits. I ate half portions of both.

For lunch I ate a tomato with lemon and a little salt. Afterwards, I ate a medium sized cucumber.

For supper, we had Cuban sandwiches that we made on the Blackstone using the pork that I'd cooked in the morning. I made a mojo mayonnaise sauce. The sandwich included the bun, sauce, mustard, pork, Black Forest ham slice, pickles, a tablespoon of shredded cheese. I ate half of one and ate about half a cup of cucumbers.

Right now, we have a bushel of cucumbers, a bushel of squash, a bushel of zuchini, and a bushel of assorted peppers. 

We're going to be eating lots of vegetables. 

I have my monthly Invisalign dental appointment this morning. Today, he's "shaving" my teeth. Doesn't that sound horrid?

I also do laundry (and other chores) inefficiently just to get the steps in.

Hello and happy Tuesday.  Hope your day is going well.  Mine has been kind of busy for a day that I'm just at home.

Busy in a good way though.  I got to spend an hour talking to a good friend who moved to Arkansas a few years ago.  We text frequently, but rarely take time for a real good catch up phone call.  Today was the day.

Then I spent some time cleaning up some tasks I needed to get done for a senior neighborhood group that I'm an officer for.

I did manage to sign up for a gym class, but it's not until 6 p.m.  I actually chose a core class.  I know that is what I need, but I absolutely hate the exercises.  If I'm the only one in the class, the trainer will split it for me and do like 15 minutes of core and 15 minutes of strength.

I'm liking the teeth brushing earlier in the evening and think it will become a successful new habit for me.

I've been eating in more and the scale seems to be happier with me.  I was 156.2 this morning and I haven't been there since early March.  Hope to break that 155 barrier before I go on vaction in 10 days.  Vacation will be a challenge, but it will be nice if I can start a few pounds down.

Hope everyone here is finding motivation to be successful at whatever your goal for the month or day is.  Sometimes a daily goal is more motivating to me than something like "accomplish "xyz" this month."  I need the accountability of short well defined goals.

Melissa, I can see why you and David don't eat out much.  I often think your meals sound really good, and the Cuban sandwiches fall into that category.  I applaude you for eating half servings too.  I rarely do that when I eat at home, but I find it a pretty good plan when I eat out.  If I eat out for lunch and whatever I order can make both lunch and dinner then it is almost like a one meal a day fasting plan.  :)

I don't do great with the one meal a day fasting plan.  I sort of need two, but I need one of those two to be a breakfast kind of meal (lower calorie) no matter what time of day I actually eat it.  Today I didn't eat until nearly Noon, but I ate frittatas (260 Calories) and yogurt w/nuts (200 Calories).  My dinner at 4:30 or so is one of my Factor meals (meal delivery service) and is 510 calories so this should be a good day for me - food wise.

I know all calories are not created equal, but I've always done best at controlling my weight when I just pay attention to the calories and don't try to be restrictive about what I eat.  One of the reasons IF works so well for me.  I'm going to Weight Watchers with my friend to help her stay motivated.  Years ago I became a lifetime member so I don't have to pay to attend meetings, or "workshops" as they call them now.  She's always asking me things about points, like how many points I think something is, and I'm always telling her, "you know I'm not doing all that logging of food and points so why are you asking me."  Lol

If I was going to log foods, I'd never want to eat anything that didn't have a barcode because that's the only way it's easy to me.  You scan the barcode and it tells you the corresponding points.

Don't get me wrong, tracking/logging whatever you eat can be very helpful and I am definitely a fan of 'mindful eating,' but I personally find IF to be an easier way for me to maintain or lose a few pounds.

Off to catch up on another thread here, so I'll wish y'all well and talk to you sometime tomorrow.

Hi everyone, hope you all are doing great. I will be reading all the post soon, as for me, i'm not in a good mood again, I have an appt tomorrow with the therapist of the weight and wellness clinic and i really don't want to go this in person appt. But i didn't do the video appt with her or the nutritionist. 

Hugs

Yesterday was definitely a cheat-ish day for me. I had pizza for dinner & my one sweet of the week..a brownie. We went with ease yesterday...no cookout just hang by the pool & ordered pizza & I made brownies. Now I need someone to eat up the leftover brownies so that I don't have to be tempted! 

Scale has been good this week so far since tightening up on my eating/fasting windows, being mindful of what I eat, & the no sweets. 

Nice job Shayla.  It's so easy for me to slip just a little here and a little there and it doesn't take much to see the negative effect.  Reining it in can start things moving again.

BostonBooks, I'm sorry things are hard.  You might want to think about if you are doing this for you or for someone else.  We can never do it for anyone else, but once we are really doing it for ourselves it gets easier.  I suppose we have to want to projected outcomes more than the current reality.  I hope the appointment is helpful for you.