Jenai

The only thing I might add is how is your Water intake? If that is really good too, keep doing what you are and you will be rewarded. If water intake needs to be improved, up that a bit and see where that takes you.

I do this too. Except I do it online. It's kind of fun to record your miles. This is the website I use:

Gmaps Pedometer

It is a fun idea.

Well, my miles for September are 47, well short of goal. I am matron of honor in a wedding on Sunday and this month has just not been my own to do with. I am really looking forward to the wedding being over with and getting back to normal next month.

I have a dr appt next Friday for another fill. I'm currently at 5.5 and am going to have a 1/2 cc put in.

I do think it's great we are all dealing with our crazy busy life and still fitting exercise in. It's not as much as we want, but we are not giving up and trying to find a healthy balance and yet giving ourselves permission to not push it when we are sick. In the past I would have still gone to the gym when I am dead on my feet from hosting bridal showers and trying to make sure all the wedding plans are coming together. But I gave myself permission to miss a few gym times knowing it is only this month and life can go back to normal next month.

Also this month another round of layoffs went down at work. My two best friends were laid off in April. This round had my number. I've wanted it for awhile. The severance package is pretty good. This will allow me to take the next year off of work and go back to school. I'm looking forward to being a college student again, going to classes at the gym during the day that I've wanted to take for a long time but never could as I had to work. I currently work in insurance and am going to do a complete career change. I would never be able to do this without a generous severance package to carry me over the next year. I am really looking forward to it. My last day is November 12. 6 weeks to go. I will laze through the holidays and start school in January.

I participated in a marketing clinical trial telephone interview tonight on the Realize Band. That was pretty cool to do and they paid me $100 for my opinion.

Jenai

Miles this week total 15.75.

This has been a good week. I seem to have finally found a good combination of amount of exercise calories burned, amount of calories consumed. I also have been consistently hitting 80 grams of Protein every day. I use an app on my iPhone to track my nutrition values and I like it. It really helps to keep me on track. I have dropped 8 pounds since coming back from vacation last week.

Whoo-hoo.

I hope you had a wonderful time...just reading about it made me happy. I tried to imagine what you were experiencing. I love the river/lake - water/nature experience. It definitely is a relaxing place. We go to southern Missouri (Branson) area and play on Tablerock Lake - we're a boating family.

This week:

Walked 17.8 miles Total 25.8 Miles to goal 28.2

Bike 5.6 miles Total 11.6 Miles to goal 9.4

Okay, I was a little worried that I was getting a little lax on my exercise...I missed a couple days but then I picked up a couple of miles two of the other days...so I feel I'm in about the place I need to be.

I have to let you know that I'm out the door when it's dark now (not liking the daylight getting shorter). But this week I picked up a walking companion....(scared me at first put I'm enjoying it's company now, wait I'm getting ahead of myself.)

The other morning starting my walk in the dark down my .2 mile driveway out of the woods and onto the road jumped a red fox. He stands about 18 inches high, long skinny legs, and long tail. Well I talked in a calm voice and he just cocked his head several times looking at me...I slowly started backing away and he following me. I gently tried to shu him away and he jumped off the road and began walking right beside me off the road. I'd slow up -he'd slow up - I'd speed up = he'd speed up. Then he moved faster and jumped on the road in front of me....he'd run ahead of me, turn around and sit and watch me walk until I got quite close then he'd run farther ahead sit and watch me. He was really quite cute....The next day my husband asked if I saw him ...no ...He said I thought not because he was on our patio and playing in the flowers about 1/2 hour after I left. Last night coming home about dusk he was again on my patio...I sat down and he played around and several times got within about 2 feet of me....He's also curious about my husband but not really afraid of us....He plays around like a energetic puppy. We live in the woods and always have deer, wild turkey and hummingbirds around....an occassional night raccoon or skunk. But this is a new addition to our animals.

My kindergarters were learning the letter Ff and sound this last week so, of course, the Friendly Fox with red fur that runs fast, follows me, and lives in the forrest was a favorite story of theirs. Some thought I made it up so I am going to attempt to get a picture for them. Anyway it did spice up my walking this week...that's why I'm not exactly happy that before to long I may have to do exercises in gym or on bike at home. Oh well, maybe I'll find some interesting 2 legged people to occupy my mind at the gym.

Hope you enjoyed my fox tale! Deb

Thanks for sharing the Fox story with us! I think I would have been frightened at first. Any concern over the fox becoming "tame" by the human interaction? I must admit I would love to see a fox in real life. Super cool.

The river trip was awesome. I love the river too. The first 20 miles of the jetboat trip there are roads on the left or right of the river. After that the next 32 miles there are no roads. There are 2 or 3 lodges where material was brought in by boats to build them. People on the river that are rafting or fishing will stop at the lodges at night for dinner and to sleep. My husband and I did that 2 years ago. We did a 50 mile fishing trip. It was 4 nights, 3 days, we fished for salmon and steelhead and the fishing guide manuevered the fishing boat over rapids up to a class five. We fished all day and slept in the lodges at night. That was a lot of fun. Saw a lot of eagles, osprey, deer. Didn't see any bear this year. Can't wait to go back next year. It's a 6 hour trip each way down there, but so worth it. I'm hoping to get my 2 sisters to come up to Oregon next summer and do a girls road trip. They would love it. One sister lives in Alabama and one lives in Louisiana. We also stopped at my favorite lighthouse. It is called Cape Blanco and is the second westernmost point in the contiguous United States. It is surrounded with high cliffs and beautiful ocean views. I like to fly my huge american flag kite way out over the ocean. I get it out 500 feet. It has this long American flag tail and looks awesome way out in the ocean over the Water. It was a great week. Sigh. Back to work tomorrow.

9 miles completed this week,

18 miles completed this month,

57 miles to go.

:tongue2:

Well my husband and I are off for a drive down the Oregon coastline and then to my favorite river, the Rogue River. It is one of eight wild and protected rivers in the U.S. Only reachable by jet boat for the first 52 miles from the ocean and then by fishing boats and rafts the rest of the way up to Crater Lake. It is so beautiful there. It is my happy place. With school back in session, the river should be very quiet. Fall time on the river is so peaceful and relaxing.

I am bringing my workout gear and hope to get some dedicated walking and exercise in.

Talk to you on the weekend.

Jenai

Miles are 9 for this partial week;

66 miles to go.

Music. I have to have music. I have so many favorites. I have over 100 on my "aerobic playlist". Let's see here are a few.

1.Sweet Escape (i can cover alot of ground with this one)

2.Big Girls Don't Cry...Fergie

3.Can't stop this thing we started...Bryan Adams

4.Twist n Shout...Beatles

5.Crash and Burn...Savage Garden

6.Everything is Fine....Josh Turner

7.I'm yours....Jason Mraz

8.Party, my house, be there...MxPx

9.Rock n' Roll and Pensacola...Joshua Stevens

10.This is my now....Jordon Sparks

Also a few spiritual ones:

1.Lamb of God...Twila Paris

2.Don't be overcome.....AVB

3.Center of your will....Twila Paris

4.Days of Elijah....Twila Paris

5.Here I am to worship.....Tim Hughes

I listen to my radio at my desk at work. I keep a list going on my iPhone of great songs to download to add to my workout list.

I have this thing called a Radio Shark that records in excellent quality songs from the radio and then I can cut and turn into mp3 to add to my iPod.

Great question Willow.

Miles achieved in August 2009 by challenge participants:

Participant.................Method......................Miles Total

Willowcat....................Exercise Bike...........180

Openag............................................................100.4

Jenai..............................Elliptical...................100

Sparkles62...................Running......................90.4

DebbieGail...................Walking,Biking.........75.55

2911 Plans...................Exercise Bike.............71

Snereb27............................................................60

MrsNeener....................Elliptical....................42.3

Melinda_205...............Treadmill,Bike...........15.2

Jujuvee..........................Walking.......................15

LastOptionAtty...................................................10

..............................................................................759.85 Total Miles!!

Miles Achieved in August 2009 by Challenge Participants

Participant..................Method....................Miles Total

Willowcat....................Exercise Bike...........180

Openag............................................................100.4

Jenai..............................Elliptical...................100

Sparkles62...................Running......................90.4

DebbieGail...................Walking,Biking.........75.55

2911 Plans...................Exercise Bike.............71

Snereb27............................................................60

MrsNeener....................Elliptical....................42.3

Melinda_205...............Treadmill,Bike...........15.2

Jujuvee..........................Walking.......................15

LastOptionAtty...................................................10

..............................................................................759.85 Total Miles!!

I'll wait a couple of days to give everyone a chance to post their August totals and then post the total miles achieved for august spreadsheet.

Jenai

I'm just home from the gym and finished up 100 miles for the month. Whew. It was a good effort that was ONLY accomplished by the encouragement of my online buddies here in this challenge.

Thank you for spurring me on!:biggrin:

I will add more Protein to my diet and see if I am just as successful. My doctor pushes protein first at every meal. I'm in the habit of eating carbs first then protein. Old habits are hard to break. From now on my plate will have protein only for a while.

What Protein Drinks have you tried? I've tried several, but find it hard to stick to.

I like the slimfast low carb vanilla cream. I like the taste, it is 4 carbs, and has 20 protein grams. The calorie count per can is 180 calories. Some people like to find a lower calorie Protein Drink. But then you need to find one that you can tolerate the taste.

Jenai we are so thankful that you are keeping up with the miles for us. Will it be too much trouble to post it to both threads? I think posting it to September's thread will have the most impact if you can't post to both.

Updating our miles on Saturday is a good idea.

BTW, how is your arm?

No problem on posting to both threads.

My arm is doing great. It's 100% extending straight up over my head. I still need to work on range of motion extending out to my side and back. That range is still a bit limited.

Thanks for asking

Jenai, did the Protein drinks replace your regular meals?

I added the protein in addition to my meals. The number of calories I'm burning on the elliptical range from 800-1000. I wasn't eating enough calories, so my body was under stress from not enough calories in relationship to the number I was burning. The extra calories and extra protein seemed to do the trick.

I was reading a book this week that talked about our bodies are continually breaking down and building up our muscles and it needs protein to do that. When we add exercise to the situation it increases the breakdown and build up of the muscles ten fold. The author suggested we have a Protein Drink as soon after our workout as possible.

Each of us will be different in our protein needs and will need to tweak it depending on our results. I too was losing lots of inches the past two months, but truly believe it was a lack of protein with all the exercising I have been doing that made my body hold on to whatever calories I was giving it. Once I added the extra protein, it released the weight immediately. Like I was finally giving it what it needed and the stress it was feeling whooshed away.

We have had 2 very successful months with our Mile challenge. We have set, met and exceeded goals with the encouragement of our members.

Come and join us on this wonderful journey! If you need some encouragement, check out the July and August 2009 Mile Challenge threads.

Hope you cross the finish line with us.

Will we still update our miles on Saturday? Would that be easier to do on a weekend as most of us are probably Monday thru Friday work schedules?

Would you prefer to see the miles achieved spreadsheet on the August thread or posted here on the September thread to encourage all current and newcomers?

Thanks for the advice. Starting today, not a MOnday like many failed attempts of starting "this Monday" I have made in my life. No time like the present. It is very nice day here in Ohio for a walk. Not too hot. Taking my little chunky Shitzu with me. :wub:

Come join our mile exercise challenge. The September challenge will start on Tuesday. Everyone determines their own goal for the month. It can be 5 miles to achieve during the entire month or 200 miles. It's a personal challenge. The other posters on the board encourage each other to exercise and meet our goals.

We are a fun group!

Jenai:party:

Week 4, 30 miles this week

90 miles for this month

10 miles to go:hurray:

My miles for this week was 15.3 miles walked and 8.2 miles biked. It was harder for me this week -- I've messed up my Achilles heel...I'm going Tuesday to the Family Doctor hopefully it is just strained...but since I'm limping I wanted to get it checked out. I biked instead of walked yesterday and layed off today...but I really feel guilty and amazingly I'm missing it. I can't believe my attitude toward exercising has changed so much. I went through my closet trying on clothes and had to get rid of quit a few clothes - I've had a hard time getting rid of them though....but today I felt ready and bundled them up and tomorrow they are out the door. I'm feeling strong today that I will never return to that weight to need them...It took me a while to get there but I was reay today! Just one more step in my new way of thinking. Well enough of my rambling. One more day of August hope all are feeling good about their goals. Are my early birds still seeing the sun rise? I'm having to adjust my bedtime but am still committed to the early morning!

I'm thinking about my Septmeber goal....would like to hold off on setting my goal until I talk with Doc Tuesday...

By the way Sept. 2 is my 37th Anniversary...my present to my husband this year was going over a 100 lb loss. Well really that's my present...his is getting a much more energetic and happy wife back! He has been so supportive.

Thanks for all of your support alwo. This has been a great month working toward our common goal together.

Deb

Deb, I'm so sorry to hear about your ankle. Sounds like a good idea to get it checked out. I can so relate to missing the exercise and feeling guilty for not doing it although you were really doing the best thing for your body to give your ankle a bit of a rest today.

It is very encouraging to me to see how my attitude toward exercise has changed as we go along. Tonight (and in another life I would have definately thought I was crazy) I started sprinting on the elliptical and I just loved it. Funny,huh.

Take care and do let us know how the dr appt turns out.

Jenai

I want to give us all a reminder that when we make our final post for miles completed in the month of August, we put in the text the actual miles achieved. Last month it was difficult to find the totals for some of the participants as it wasn't specifically listed in their post. It was in their exercise ticker, and when we updated our tickers for the next month, the previous month's numbers of course disappeared.

I will post a graph with everyone's totals to see how many miles as a group we completed during the month of August.

Thanks,

Jenai

Jenai I am happy to read about your 3lbs weight loss this week. That is just what I needed to get myself in the right frame of mind for setting another goal for the month of September. My weight loss stalled 3 weeks after surgery. Albeit, I have lost lots of inches, I want it all. Inch loss and weight loss.

Tell me what you all think about setting our usual miles goal and maybe shooting for a weight loss goal too.

I would set a weight loss goal of 8lbs for the month.

I am hesitant to set a specific weight loss goal as if I don't meet it through no fault of my own, I would feel discouraged. I could eat perfectly, get all my Protein in, get all my exercise in, and if my body is stressed it still may not let go of the weight.

I like the idea of setting the miles goal and maybe also setting a protein goal.(Willow suggested the protein goal). Because I can do specific actions to meet both of those goals, with the weight loss it is going to come off when my body is ready to release it.

I am not opposed to setting a weight loss goal, it just has the propensity to provide discouragement to me when I have followed all the rules.

I'm game for whatever everyone else would like to do though.

Maybe we could do all three. Then as we lose weight we can see the protein impact and the success we all had and learn from each other.

Some exercise miles seem longer than others. Tonight the miles just seemed to drag on forever!

I have experimented with my Protein intake this week. I have aimed for 80 a day. I added two Protein Drinks (20 grams each). I have dropped 3 pounds this week.

Mmmm....I think there is something to this protein thing.

I'm going to keep at this to see if this loss continues. :frown:

Willowcat, where can I find the Slow Users Unite board? I would like to read more about the Protein.< /div>

Hey Sparkles, this is Jenai, I was interested in that thread too. I did a search on slow users unite and it brought it up.

Hope that helps.

Jenai

2911, Your ticker indicates that you have just 39 lbs. to lose. Perhaps that's the reason you're struggling with slow weight loss? Everyone says the closer you get to goal, the slower the weight-loss goes.

I started my band journey with 150 lbs to lose, and yet I wasn't seeing much movement on the scale. I found a post on the Slow Losers Unite board about increasing protien (I think the thread is called, "A Few Weight Loss Tips From a Slow Loser--Now at Goal). She said that once she started adding Protein to everything she ate, that the weight just started melting away.

After reading that thread, I increased my protein like she suggested. I did start seeing the scale really begin to move after that. Don't really know why it works for me, I'm just glad it does. Also, my band is pretty tight right now and I am hardly eating much of anything. I don't think I would be a good example of a daily menu (if this continues for another week, I'll probably get my .5 cc taken out--I think I might be too tight). Good luck. I know inches lost are nice but pounds lost are somehow even nicer.

Willow, I was wondering how much protein you aim for each day?

Jenai

I don't know about silly, but I think it is certainly fun! :thumbdown: I tried to start my own virtual miles actually. I had trouble using the program and never could get it to work. I think I'm going to "ride" my bike to New York City (I live in Colorado)! I'll try again at gmap-pedometer.com tonight to see if I can get it to work for me. Any hints? Now, though, it's time to get ready for work. Thanks for sharing this fun idea! The internet is so cool. Willow

Let me know how the program works out for you or if you run into any snags! I love it. It's inspiring to add my miles on my virtual trip after I do them for real.