Summary of our 2nd STF Meeting

We had a fantastic second STF meeting last night; there were 7 of us in attendance and all contributed greatly to its success. I had planned somewhat of a meeting agenda which we followed quite nicely with some twists and turns along the way. In the end, we covered everything we intended to plus a whole lot more.

Julie for instance shared with us her incredible experience of attending the Presidential inauguration last week with her girls. We were riveted by her stories… which included staying on the same floor of the hotel as the entire ABC news crew. (I love me some George Stephanopoulos, did you know he’s married to a comedienne?) She did meet Robin Roberts face to face and says she is as lovely and beautiful in person as she is on our family room TV’s each weekday morning! Of course the best stories were about the people, the inclusiveness, the balls, the Obama’s and the hope! Thanks Julie, that was a real treat.

We discussed the meeting schedule and decided for now to stay the course and meet every other week. Our next meeting will be on Thursday 2/12 at my house again.

Activity… yes, we discussed that nasty little word again! Our thought was to choose a class at either Matt Ross or Tomahawk CC the morning of Super bowl Sunday. That way we can pig out later with a little less guilt! But I just got off the site(s) and personally none of the morning classes appeal to me, (Bootcamp, Cycling). There is a Pilate’s class this evening, short notice I know, at 5:30 (MRCC), I’d be willing to start my weekend off right by going to it. Call or email me ASAP if you want to come.

A quick blogging lesson was included last night as well. Everyone was shown how easy it is to post and I also tried to really encourage all of you to use the “comments” section beneath each post. Participation is essential for this group to have long-term success. You’ve all got to be tired of just seeing my ramblings on here… this is “our” blog… so blog already! Or at least comment on those who do.

Something else we incorporated into our meeting was a “Show and Tell”. This proved to be a great way to share with each other products that work for us. We had Steel Cut Oats, 3 different kinds of protein/fiber bars; Robin shared a product by Kellogg’s called “Special K20 Protein Water Mix” which she adds to her water bottle. It helps to get her water in for the day and has 5 grams of protein too. And of course I shared the infamous “Milled Flax Seed” with everyone! If you have something you’re using that helps you get through the day, bring it along to the next meeting to share.

Another idea we came up with was to each set one goal to work on until we meet again. They ran the gamut; mine in retrospect was pretty lame… read more of Bob Green’s book. Beth’s was very aggressive; she plans to work out 5 times a week. Go Beth, go! These set goals fit nicely with our attitude that incorporating change into our daily lives will not overwhelm us, but in fact be the catalysts of a healthier and therefore thinner version of ourselves.

Judy shared a real eye opener with us last night as well. She’s the one you might recall who first told us about Fitday.com I added it to the sidebar under “Links we Love” after the first meeting but quite frankly never really checked it out too thoroughly. Judy says that she never really considered herself an over-eater. But when she took the time to utilize the Fitday.com tools, she quickly realized it wasn’t how much she ate but what she ate. Fitday.com is big on Pie Charts… when you plug in what you ate all day and hit the enter button, there is no denying the pie chart. It clearly shows that out of the total calories you consumed that day, where it is they came from. In Judy’s case it was heavily weighted in carbs. Her fruits and veggies were nominal at best. She has since made a conscious effort to eat less carbs, more fibrous fruits and veggies, and the good news is she’s not depriving herself of food, just making smarter choices. Check out the site, you have to join (it’s free), so you have yet another user I.D. and password to remember. But like most things worth doing, it’s going to take a little initial work to get started. Judy says push through it and give it a shot… it’s a great tool.

One of the more animated discussions we had last night was to add a “Social Calendar” to our group. Get your calendars out girls because we are going to Fleetwood Mac at the Sprint Center on Friday, May 8th! This will be a little tricky getting organized, it sounds like it will be a big group… feel free to include some friends, even your skinny ones!

Another night out we are considering is a “Martini-Madness” at the Culinary Center of Kansas City in March. You know what they say… “One martini is all right. Two are too many and three are not enough!” I will be challenging myself to figure out how to create an interactive calendar to put on this site so we can plan these social outings.

And the last order of business last night was our surprise Guest Speaker, drum roll please…. My main man Mikey! Mike being an engineer, understands the fine workings of “things”, be it a power plant or the complex human body. He has read the Dr. Oz book “You on a Diet” and although most of that stuff goes right over my head, it doesn’t Mike’s. We learned about the Hypothalamus which is a tiny portion of the brain which controls among other things, hunger and thirst. (Ok… sex drive too!) This is where I will now stubbornly explain to you the benefits of coming to the meetings; I am not going to even begin to explain here what we learned last night from Mikey, but suffice it to say you should stock up on almonds!

That’s it… you still with me? That was a lot to cover, I’m mentally exhausted now! Let me know if anyone is game for Pilate’s tonight, I’m sure it will take someone stepping up to the plate for me to actually commit to it myself on a Friday evening. Tomorrow is out for me, Sunday we already discussed; this is probably my only option for a “group” activity.

Oh… dang. You know I never end it when I say I’m going to end it. One more tidbit of info; I am going to create another (interactive) spreadsheet for us to track our weight loss on. It’s clear from the meeting that everyone wants us to have a way to track our success, pitfalls, and accountability. It will be very simple, once a week you weigh and report the results. We don’t need your actual weight, just the results. So watch for that, it will be on the sidebar as well.

Ok, I’m really done now!

Except for this footnote: Kathy and I will definitely be at Pilate's tonight; 5:30 at the MRCC. The cost is 5 buckaroos and the laughs are priceless. Please join us if you can!