Hello, Im in the Challenge too!

Hi from Minnesota!!!
Hi, Im very happy to begin this Weight loss Challenge for a better health, I have 3 kids 8,6,3 years old, and I gain some weight after my pregnancies, like 30lbs , I lose 10 lbs on my own, but even I try to eat health, I m not very good at snacks, and like Mery sugest I will try the trail Mix, somebody have a recepie to share?.

I enjoy the outdoor, gardening, love to read , cooking and music, my native language is spanish, Im Peruvian, I married a North American farmer who love to travel like me, and thats how we met and I end up here in Minnesota, my family its all around the globe, Spain, Brazil, and United
States, travel its a must for me, I do it once a year minimum, one of my goals is to take right decisions when I eat and prepare myself for the unexpected when I travel or Im in home or wherever, I want to look great in a swiming suit again!!!:) , If someone can help me with recepies, I will love your info , specially for healthy snacks!.

Glad to be in this group, Talk to you later !

Hi Marla,

I am also 38 years old with 2 children. I am looking forward to the 90 day challenge. I think checking in will keep me motivated and on course. I have lots of support from my husband, family and friends as well.

Here's my story so far...

Up to 3 years ago I was always able to maintain a healthy weight and had never been through the process of weight loss. After my second child life got kind of crazy. I went from working full time to staying at home. Which in itself was a lot bigger transition then I expected. We went through some stressful times with moving, remodeling and running a family business. During this time I lost balance in my life. I spent time taking care of every one and every thing else. Putting my own health on hold. During 2005 I put on about 25 to 30 pounds (and I tend to gain the unhealthy abdominal fat). I spent 2006 preparing my self for the process of weight loss. Although at the time I didn't realize that I would have to prepare for this process. Initially, I thought I would just start working out again and my body would naturally correct back to it's starting weight. I was wrong. Poor planning for the process easily distracted me and I would allow the every day stresses to set in and then I was off track. I was so concerned with the extra weight that I didn't take enough time to see how and why I had gained weight. I started off 2006 by going to a Naturopathic Doctor. Her interventions did help me feel like I gained back control of my life and slowly the feeling of chaos disappeared. I focused on getting more sleep, decreasing my caffeine intake, making small dietary changes, getting back to a regular exercise schedule, and finding ways to relax. When I finally realized that the weight wasn't going to fall off, I turned my focus to my diet. After taking a long (year long) honest look at my eating habits, I realized I was sabotaging my self with poor planning. That resulted in larger portions, between meal grazing, and night time snacking. When I had a heart to heart with the calorie count I realized that I was probably eating about 500 -800 calories a day in mindless snacking. The other good news is that I got the weight gain under control and stopped gaining in 2006.

Now in 2007 I feel ready for the next step. I took a while to mentally get there but I feel like I just want to do this. I have been logging my daily intake and tracking my diet and after about 4 weeks I am down about 5 pounds. The two main things I have done is cut out grazing and night time snacking. I've also been committed to at least 5 days a week of exercise. I feel like I'm off to a good start. I haven't had to make huge changes to see results. I'm not looking for instant results. A pound a week would be great but it won't always happen. I just want to get control over some of these bad habits and slowly move toward a healthier weight. The bonus will also be reducing my risks for Diabetes which runs in my family.

Marla's Intro

Hi,

My name is Marla and I am really looking forward to this journey. I am 38 years old, married to a wonderfully supportive husband and have twin 13 year old girls. I live in Spokane, Washinton and am really looking forward to Spring walking weather.

I have been struggling with a yo-yo weight issue since college. I have had a challenge staying at a comfortable weight. Lately, just even getting there is very difficult...I might say almost impossible. I also have a cholesterol problem that I need to keep in check.

I have successfully reduced my cholesterol and have kept it down to a good level. However, I am pushing to get it a little lower!

My challenges have been eating when I am bored or upset or simply needing an outlet of danger!!! I quit drinking alcohol 5 1/2 years ago and just recently have seen an interesting connection in my weight gain and the time that I quit. I had issues with controlling the amount of alcohol and now I believe that I have replaced that with Nilla wafers. My husband has the same issues and we are abusing the cookies together. It seems that is date night. Sounds pathetic, but don't underestimate the power of the cookie binge!

I have a 20 year reunion coming up and would love to be in my old size for the occasion. My family is very active and we love the outdoors. I gave myself a big challenge of gettting in shape to take a very difficult backpacking trip and we just never got around to it in the Fall. I would love to get myself in the condition to take this on this summer and having the extra 15 pounds off would make a huge difference on my joints.

So in short, I am looking and have been for a while to make a big life change. I believe that I have made some great progression, but some of my hangups have prevented me from really getting to the place that I would like to be.

I have a very supportive family and I am looking forward to leading them to a healthy lifestyle by example. I can't wait to get started and I am really excited about doing this with a group for support!

90 Day Challenge III

Welcome to the 90 Day Challenge! Real Living Nutrition provides this challenge a couple times a year for 2-3 individuals who want to work on their health and weight goals. Each person has their own invidividual goals they are working on but in a supportive team environment. They will share their stories along the way in our blog.

Welcome to Veronica, Marla, and Payton! I am looking forward to a great challenge!

Meri Raffetto

http://www.reallivingnutrition.com

Hello Alison, Diane & Susan,

I've finally worked through some technical glitches on my end, and am happy to join all of you on our blog! Thanks for your patience and for the encouraging postings I've been reading from you during the past few weeks.

I decided to take this journey after several weeks of focusing on my workout routines, without much focus on the nutritional side of the program. My progress has been slow because of it, realizing now the importance of a 360 approach - strength training, cardio and nutrition - and commiting to a program with other people.

I've also learned that I'm much more successful when I attempt to make these kinds of changes in a group or community environment.

I've always struggled with bad eating habits, mostly stress and emotion-based eating. Sweets and caffeine are my big downfall, coupled with a dislike for a lot of vegetables. This of course leads to big swings in energy levels throughout the day.

Thank you Meri for this opportunity, and the new resources and information you been providing to us. And thank you Susan for introducing me to Meri, Alison and Diane. I'll look forward to talking with all of you during our next teleclass.

Pam

Hi again,

It's been a while since I've checked in with everyone. I do love reading the posts from all in the group - reminds me that I'm not in this balanced program alone!

I've been struggling a bit with my self-control. I attribute it mostly to lifestyle right now. I am very harried with my little ones and all their activities they are involved in. I find I have so much less time to concentrate on the discipline I need to keep me on track. I've realized just how many bad habits I've assumed through the years! But...I do love all the information I've been receiving in the program. There is so much to absorb! And that's what I'm particularly excited about - I will have this information for many years to come. I am committed to this program - I like the fact that this covers so many facets of one's life - exercise, food choices, psychological responses to eating, etc.

I will keep plugging along and hope my partners do the same. Small steps are better than none. My vision is still intact - I will walk away with so much more knowledge to continue to make the changes I desire for a healthier body.

Thanks Meri for your continued patience and guidance! Diane, Pam and Sue - hope you're all doing well!

Hi all,
What a shame that I can't find my original post. In a nutshell I decided to do the 90 day challenge because I wanted a healthy foundation nutritionally to take me into my 50's and above. Figuring it'll take about 5 years to become comfortable with all the information I would receive during the challenge I thought I'd better start now.

OK it was mainly because I've put on a bit of weight this last year or so and I've been very uncomfortable with myself. I know I should be exercising more but I don't. I know I should be staying away from my beloved carbs but I don't always. I know I shouldn't snack at night but if my husband is eating (and he is) I eat too.

And then there really is the question of "just exactly what is healthy eating, anyway?" Should I eat this? Would that be better? Is there another option? I don't know! I have a lot to learn and am looking forward to it.

We all make choices. We choose to sit on the couch or go for a walk, to eat what we want and when we want to. Sometimes we don't even realize that we have other choices. I want to make good choices and am happy to have the opportunity to get the information I will need to make the good choices in my (and my family's) future.

Diane

Stress, PMS and those darn cravings

It seems that as a team we have gotten off to a slow start. Thank you Meri for being patient with us! I plan to use this weekend to review my goals and reconnect with my vision. I do believe in this program-- even more than ever now that a week has passed and I have experienced first hand the pain of change.

My recent two weeks have included some life stress and that cyclical friend of ours PMS which have both sent me back to old habits of emotional eating and inconsistent food preparation (which I need for a good outcome to the day). I did not grocery shop last weekend so the food selections at home became increasingly inhospitable to the healthy eater. In fact, if a healthetarin were a species, she go extinct in the environs of my home in about 5 days.

I had mixed success with some of my promises to myself - for example drinking water and going for a short walk before eating in the evening. Two days it worked and three days it did not. I felt that PAIN of change and gave in to the comfort of old habits.

So, looking forward, I'm planning to do some healthy grocery shopping for next week, prepare some healthy foods to have for packing my lunch and continuing with my exercise regime.

I encourage you to post your blog -- this has been helpful in itself - just getting my mind back into the program. Good luck!

Intro

Hello my new friends! This is Susan E and I'm pleased to begin this journey with you. My reasons for participating in this program are threefold:
1. I have committed to a more active lifestyle and would like to balance my fitness and exercise with an equally healthy approach to nutrition.
2. For most of my life I have engaged in emotional/stress related eating habits. Now that I am in my forties, it is affecting me more significantly and I would like to finally move beyond a mindset of always worrying about food or using it for reasons other than nutrition/enjoyment.
3. I am joined by a dear friend on this 90 day challenge and we have promised each other that we will shop for, buy and enjoy a fabulous New Year's Eve dress to help celebrate both our success on this program and 2007.

I look forward to learning and sharing with all of you in the coming weeks!