Alcohol Free Is What We Want to Be! Monday, October 28

HOCUS POCUS, WE NEED TO FOCUS!

September 3 - October 31

The focus of this challenge is to become a healthier, happier, Boo-ti-ful person for Halloween and it won’t be a costume.

As always we are working towards/maintaining being AF! We need to take a look at what is our witching hour and how do we prevent it. What can you replace your brew with? One suggestion is make a list of treats that you will be able to have if you don’t give into the brew. Give yourself a face mask (facial) or maybe make mummy jalapeño poppers.

For this challenge to work you have to commit and take it seriously in spite of the puns. Respect the importance of the challenge. RESPECT YOURSELF by focusing on your health and taking care of yourself.

This isn't easy, no one said it would be. Are you in an emotional war when it comes to alcohol? Declare a moratorium and determine that it isn't helping you, in fact it may be causing you problems. Can you decide to be alcohol free for the challenge? Can you determine your detours, not necessarily to take them but to plan so it isn't a free fall into AIE? Don't give yourself an excuse that oh my day has been a fright so I will have a drink or I'm bored so I will drink to get through the evening. During the challenge the primary goal is to abstain from alcohol. We understand there may be special occasions for which you may plan for an AIM detour. However please remember if AIM becomes a relapse....we still want you back! Don't berate yourself. Come back to the board, 'fess up and get back on track. We are here to be supportive of each other in reaching our goals.

So what are you going to be for Halloween and beyond? A much healthier, happier person sounds great! RIP alcohol and junk food. AND you will be going into the final two months of the year in great shape!

Have a healthy, happy Halloween!

THE EIGHT GOOD HEALTH GUIDELINES
1. Eat at least five servings of vegetables and fruits each day.
2. Choose whole-grain foods, such as brown rice and oats, whenever possible.
3. Include two servings of milk products – low fat (1%) or fat-free – each day.
4. Have some healthy oil (olive oil, canola, sunflower, safflower or flaxseed each day.
5. Ensure that you are getting enough protein by choosing at least a serving or two of meat, poultry, fish, eggs or dried beans each day. Many dairy products are also good sources of protein.
6. Limit added sugar and alcohol.
7. Drink at least 6 8-ounce glasses of water a day.
8. Take a multiple vitamin-mineral supplement each day.

NUTRITION ACCOUNTABILITY
Drink more water: 96/75 oz goal
One or more fruit daily: Y
One or more vegetable daily: Y
Dairy: Y
Healthy Oils: Y

AF: (mostly alcohol free since August 16, 2006): 6647
AIM: 0
ANIM: 1 (021221)
Fitbit Goal/burned: 2170/1825

HABIT ACCOUNTABILITY

Journal: Y
Move Accountability: 3, 11,100+ steps, 250 steps 7/8 hours, walked the neighborhood, Turbo Jam, laps in the basement, counter PU, wall stretches
Sleep Accountability: 2, trouble falling asleep, 5.5+ hours, Fitbit score 82, stress management 84
Nutrition Accountability: 3, fruit, yogurt, egg wrap, protein bar, roast beef sandwich, cucumber salad, ice cream cone, protein shake
MacrosFirst: Protein: 108/137 (30%), Carbs: 132/100 (37%), Fiber: 26gm, Net Carbs: 106, Fat: 57/45 (32%), Calories: 1353/1353, gold star, good macros, no banana muffin
Happiness Accountability: 3, enjoyed the day, watched Sunday news shows, SNL, movies, stitched, read before bed
Habit Accountability: 3, more water than Diet Coke
Check in Daily Accountability: 3, I'm here!
Time Management Accountability: 3, inventoried plastic canvas stuff, went through mail stack, walking, couch time, stitched
What did you do for yourself today? reading, time outside, stitched

Please post a NSV (non-scale victory), LSP (little sign of progress), PA (positive affirmation) or motivational quote: “Nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know.” ―Pema Chodron

Start weight September 3: 154.6
September 10: 154.4
September 17: 153.6
September 24: 153.4
October 1: 152.6
October 8: 152.2
October 15: 151.4
October 22: 150.4
October 28: 149.6

Happy Halloween! Final weigh in:

2024 Goals:
11,000 steps each day: 285/301
At least 7 hours sleep: 146/301
Lift weights twice/week: Wk 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13:only once, 14, 15, 16, 17:only once, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43
Starting weight: 179.8
Get to the 160's: March 10, 2024
150s: June 24, 2024
140s: October 26, 2024
130s:

DH & I took the golf cart to the top of the hill yesterday morning to walk. It was overcast, but nice walking weather. When we got back we walked around the yard looking at stuff, picked a few cherry tomatoes and a couple of green beans. There are a couple of cucumbers that are ready to pick, but I'm leaving them until we finish the ones in the fridge. The clematis vine is still really pretty and full of purple blooms and a couple of the mums are full and lush. After that I puttered, finally finishing the inventory of my plastic canvas projects and going through the giant stack of mostly junk mail. I had a lot of couch time in the afternoon but didn't nap. We had sandwiches with deli roast beef and "au jus" that was really just a small amount of my French onion soup recipe. After dinner I watched a Hallmark movie and 60 Minutes, finished the stitching on my Halloween tissue box cover, I still need to stitch it together.

It's gloomy again this morning, almost 60 degrees. We didn't get any rain yesterday and probably won't get any today. We've had no rain since sometime in September, so we could use some.


Jan- WTG steps, PU, AP, blue dot, AF, trifecta, making to-do list. The high school mascot key chains should sell well. Yay for Finn doing quality control on your cat kicker toy. Annie is 16, we got her the day Obama was elected for his first term. Hopefully you are correct about the 130's by 2025. My MacrosFirst app makes predictions about your weight in 30 days, based on trends. It says I'll lose about 3 pounds next month. I've written it down in my calendar to see if it's correct.

Carole- WTG cutting your Hydrox time. Once a year is plenty for Fright Fest, but Cory wants to get in another day of roller coasters before it gets cold.

Waving "Hi!" to Cindy, Liz, Murphy, GG, Cathy!

M-W Word of the Day

disbursement 
noun | diss-BERSS-munt

What It Means
A disbursement is a payout of money from a fund that has been created for a special purpose. Disbursement can also refer to the money that is paid out.

// The company has made large disbursements for research.

I look to 2024 with a renewed commitment to Progress”
“Out the Door in 2024”

NUTRITION ACCOUNTABILITY
Drink more water: daily goal 70: 80 oz
One or more fruit daily: 2
One or more vegetable daily: 3
AF: 257
October: 14
Fitbit Goal/burned: 2,000/2,391

JUST JOURNAL!

HABIT ACCOUNTABILITY
Move Accountability: Step goal 8,500: 8,718 steps, 11/11 hours, 105 PU, 10 floors, walked at the stores, AP
Sleep Accountability: 8 hours, 81 sleep, 80 stress, resting HR 74
Nutrition Accountability: 41/23 -13 weeklies. eggs, squash, beans, toast, PB, puppy chow, mms, LO squash lasagne, garlic bread, wine ANIM
Fitbit Macros: calorie goal @1500/1,916 62% carb 188, 23% fat 50g, 15% protein 71g fiber 31g, 275 over
Happiness Accountability: 4 feeling happy
Habit Accountability: 4 Journal, stretch, FB meditation, PU
Check in Daily Accountability: 5. I'm here!!
Time Management Accountability: 4 Walmart run, Joannes, made puppy chow and bagged up, knit, worked in craft room, TV, read papers,
What did you do for yourself today? 4 read, knit, shopped, crafted
Please post a NSV (non-scale victory), LSP (little sign of progress), PA (positive affirmation) or quote: “Don’t be afraid to start all over again, you may like your new story better.

If you are waiting on weight loss to love and accept your body, I hate to break it to you...but true love and acceptance should be unconditional. Your body doesn't need to look like or do anything specifically to be loved, accepted, appreciated or deemed worthy. (Some words from a Connect Post.)

HOCUS POCUS, WE NEED TO FOCUS!

Start weight September 3: 195 cabin
September 10: 193
September 17: ?
September24: 194
October 1: 195.2 Went to WI today
October 8: 196 at home. 195.4 at home this morning.
October 15: 196.4. 195.4 at home today
October 22: 195.4
October 28

Happy Halloween! Final weigh in:

Good morning all. Haven't had a drinking detour like that in awhile. I think I started with the junk food and then just kept going. Also think my giant to do list really stressed me out and this morning I decided I need to weed through and let a lot of things go. I can't get everything done by the weekend and the more I try to do I feel overwhelmed. This also comes with Sis deciding that she is going to have to have her horse put down tomorrow, just hasn't been doing well, not eating much, has Cushings disease but it's been managed until lately. I know this is going to affect her a lot and she has no motivation to do anything else for the craft fair but show up. I can't take on everything else without making bad decisions about my own health. Blocking out the "chores" doesn't make them go away. Anyway, up and back at it today but with a more realistic mindset. My problem, (one of them ) is I'm all or nothing. The meditation has actually been helping me calm down and center, but by late evening I go right back to the bad habit if I'm not 100% aware and strong. That's the addiction part, the voice that says it will make it all better. Ugggh. Moving on. Tomorrow I will go to my WW meeting. This morning we took the van over for the service and stopped at the grocery to get a few things. I do have Chex mix in the oven and made more puppy chow, mostly because I'd already committed to it and wanted to use up the extra cereal, MM'S and chocolate chips so they are now out of my cupboard. Going up to work on my key chains when this is done and get one more thing completed. Thanks for putting up with all my antics, I know with out being accountable here I would just go down the rabbit hole and say who cares! Perhaps if the end of the year still see me so wishy washy I will look into some counseling for myself too. Can't hurt. Have a great day all. Jan

Amy. Yay for seeing a new number and I bet you do better than 3# next month, altho we all know the holidays can be a bit tricky. How long will you be up in Indiana? Glad you got your inventory done, are there certain things that you need to replace a lot of? We haven't had rain either. I have at least watered 2ce in the front but should do some in the back too. They are saying Wed or Thursday so fingers crossed. I need to redo my me360 this weekend for the new month.

GG. Glad Jack got his deer and hope the other boys can too. Sounds like a beautiful day in your neck of the woods. The neighbor's tree is almost done dropping all it's leaves in our driveway . Most of our other trees are still hanging on. Church service yesterday sounded lovely. Enjoy your Zoom meeting.

Carole. That's awesome on your Hydrox time. When is the event? How are Lex and the new BF doing?

Waving hi to all.

Hi Everyone!

Tired of myself. Nothing to report. This started 3 weeks ago. At 2:00 AM woke up and by 4:00AM lost anything I had eaten. I'm still tired and have dizzy spells. Tomorrow I do a follow up with my doctor. I've had a variety of tests. Though sick at 4 AM, today has been the first day that I haven't used an inhaler and can walk more than 10 feet without huffing and puffing. One thing that struck me at 4 AM is that I have developed an aversion to cheese....what was my mainstay of eating. I've been living on crackers and ginger ale. Not going to start guessing but hopefully I have turned a corner even if I don't have answers. I'm finally able to keep down my RX daily pills.

Will check back tomorrow. Hope everyone is doing well!

Hugs, Cindy