Where there’s a will, there’s a way…

I did it!
I created a spreadsheet for us to track our daily activity level.
The spreadsheet itself was somewhat challenging;
that’s typically not a part of my brain I utilize.
The bigger challenge was figuring out how to make it interactive for you guys and then get it onto the blog.
I am thrilled to report my success!

Look along the Sidebars on the right side of the blog and scroll down until you find “Daily Activity Chart”. Click on “Update yours here”. If you are already a member of this blog, your name should be there. If I missed you somehow, shoot me off an email and I’ll make it right.

A (very) quick tutorial: Click on the cell you want to highlight. Then bring your cursor up to the box that looks like a Rubik’s cube. Left click on it; left click on the hot pink box, voila’! If you mark a box in error, just follow the same steps but click on the white box instead of the pink.

This tool, just like everything we do with STF is voluntary. If you are like me and need help with “accountability”… use it. If it does not pertain to you or at least not yet… no worries, just ignore it.

Now that I’ve figured out how to do it, we can add other spreadsheets. Some of you for instance wanted a way for us to track weight loss. My only thought on that is “Be careful what you wish for”… ha ha! These are things we can discuss at our next STF meeting.

Which is a nice segue to that information.
When: Thurs. 1/29 @ 6:30 (note this is 30 mins earlier than last time.)
Where: Chris’ house.
Who: Hopefully all of you and feel free to bring a friend.

To meet our goal of supporting and motivating each other, I ask you always come to the meetings prepared with at least 2 things.
1) How can we help you this week, what are you struggling with?
2) What tidbit of success or knowledge can you share with the group to help us meet our goals?

I have already heard from several of you so I don’t think this will be an issue this time, but going forward… my thought is if we don’t have at least 4 participants for the meeting we should re-schedule it for a time more convenient for the masses. Again, we can discuss that on Thursday.

Treats. Robin was nice enough to pick up a veggie tray and bring it along to our last meeting. As late as it went, coupled with the fact most of you came straight from work, I think we really appreciated having that! Can I have a volunteer this week to bring some sort of healthy snack?

Also, think about what tricks you have that get you through the day when you are “oh-so-close” to hitting that vending machine for a candy bar. My new “go-to-snack” is the Kashi TLC crunchy granola bars. 4 g Fiber, 6 g Protein, 180 calories for BOTH bars, though I typically eat just one. For you chocolate lovers I shared my love of “Hershey’s All Natural Extra Dark Pure Dark Chocolate”, (yes… that’s really the name on the bag!) at the last meeting. A couple of those and an afternoon cup of Joe; I am one happy fatty! What gets you through your day?

And one final enticement for you to come to the meeting Thursday…
There will be a “Guest Speaker”.
One who will remain a secret!

Please use the comments section below this post to RSVP for Thursday.

Another Way to Lose It

Hey all,

I found a surefire way to loose a few pounds....get the flu! Not quite what I would suggest, but ended up being my weekend. After I took care of some "in-law" details Saturday morning/afternoon, I came home with cramps and that is all she wrote. I actually took today off work to just rest...still pretty weak. Saturday morning I did walk 2.5 miles on the treadmill, did 3 sets of weights, and a Pi-Yo class. I am trying!

Hope all is well,

Shelee

Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway…

I wish I could take credit for such brilliant advice, but the truth is that’s the title of the best selling book by Susan Jeffers.
Even though I know the content and fully understand her message, I still have to pull that book out from time to time to help me over my current (and usually irrational) fear.

Fear is not necessarily a “scary, boo” kind of fear; I find it’s more of a paralysis led by negative thinking (Susan calls this your “inner nag”).
My current fear/paralysis has been exercise.
I know I have to start back up, I have a daily intention to start back up, and I’ve even blogged to the entire blogosphere that I’m going to start back up.
But at the end of each day, it’s just been a new day with the same old failed goal.

When in a cycle like this, be it needing to look for work, going back to school, making an unpleasant phone call… doesn’t matter what the issue is; by failing to face it, it seems to take on a much bigger and detrimental role in our lives. It’s the pink elephant it the other room, always there weighing us down.

But if you feel it, face it and then do it, guess what?
It’s liberating; almost anti-climactic.
You may even feel a bit of a fool to have let “it” become such a negative force in your daily life.

This morning I faced it straight on.
Kim, Kathy, Judy and I went to Zumba class.
As my mother would say, “Zumba ain’t for pussies”; it kicked our collective asses!

We moved our bodies for 60 uninterrupted minutes.
Our skinny Zumba-leader would occasionally sprint across the floor to switch the music. Only then could we all reach for our knees and gasp for air. I found myself willing her to trip on these dashes just to buy us a few more moments of rest!

When we were done, (and it was clear we could walk out of they gym under our own faculties), we felt terrific.
I finally faced that fear.
My honest expectation going forward is that I can once again meet my weekly exercise goal.

So feel your fear today, turn off your “inner nag”, think positive and do it anyway.

Hey, I guess I did it girls! I am sooooo proud of myself!
I agree with the Girl Scouts....I always forget how many times I say YES to all of my little darlings that ask me to buy cookies. Luckily I have a 17 year old boy that seems to make them disappear quickly! I have not had one yet!

Ladies, I am giving you the website to check out my daughter's workout. She is the one in the CC blue rowing shirt. WOW! Any takers?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NIE73eWvIQ&feature=channel_page

S.O.S.

Our doorbell just rang.
It wasn't the Avon lady!
Much worse...
it was our Girl Scout Cookie delivery!

Who does their scheduling?
Is the whole country this way?
Everyone, even skinny people ratchet down their eating in January.
Why do the cookies come not only in January, but "mid" January when our resolve is being tested for the first (of many) times?
This I don't understand.

I think we must unite.
We must protest.
Deliver the cookies during the holidays; hell we eat everything else then, what's a few more thousand calories to regret later.

4 boxes is all the Baker household ordered this year; that is actually good news.
The bad?
One entire sleeve of thin mints was eaten in a family feeding frenzy that took less than 5 minutes.
One half box of Caramel deLites has also been consumed.
If I wasn't concerned with the resulting wrath, I'd pull a move right out of an old Sex and the City episode.

Miranda was trying to diet so she threw an entire chocolate cake into the trashcan to keep from picking away at it.
In a move that I can totally relate to, she went back in after it being careful to only eat pieces off the top which have not come into contact with the "real trash".
Determined to win out over her weakness for cake, she finally opened the trashcan back up and squirted dish detergent all over what little remained of it.
There... she showed that cake!

I don't think I'm brave enough to destroy the Girl Scout cookies.
Or deal with the resulting consequences.
But maybe I'm onto something about that protest!

If you have any viable suggestions that won't totally piss off my family, please "comment" my way.
I'm in for a long and tempting night!

Hey I'm finally trying this out

Hi Girls,

Sorry, I'm going to need some support with this blogging thing. I'm not the best at keeping up with pc correspondance. I did sign up at g-mail. It's a start. Now I'm blogging, I think.
Anyway, have had a good week and hopefully will continue till we meet again. I think it was a good first meeting and am looking forward to more. Hope all is well with the rest of the sisterhood.

lovisimo,
Judy

Put your money where your ass is…

We’ve “talked” about it.
But will we actually do it?
It’s time to walk the walk… or dance the dance!

We made a goal at the STF meeting last week that every other weekend we would try to find an activity that we can all do together. This would help our accountability, introduce us to new activities, promote our new friendships and definitely supply us with plenty of laughs.

This Saturday morning, (1/24) there is a Zumba class being offered at the Matt Ross Community Center in downtown O.P. (Click on Fitness Schedule:MRCC)

A mixture of sculpting movements and easy-to-follow dance steps, Zumba combines high energy and motivational music with unique dance moves that allow participants to dance away their worries. Zumba is a fusion of Latin and international music and the workout is fun and easy to do. Zumba is great for the body, and also great for the mind.

Classes are just $5 each or check out their link for membership. Passes are good at both O.P. locations so peruse their calendar for classes that interest you. Then make your pitch to drag us along!

On another more technical note… it’s time to take the next step in blogging for you newcomers. I think we should all learn to use the “Comments” option; all you need is a “free” Gmail account to do so. At the bottom of each post, along side who wrote it, is the word “comments”. Hover your cursor over it and click. If you already have a Gmail acct, put your user name and password in the boxes. Next I would choose Name/URL and type just your first name in there. Once the initial set-up is done, comments are a breeze. If you don’t yet have a Gmail acct, there is a simple prompt on this page for easy set-up.

Let’s use the Comments option as an RSVP for Zumba this Saturday. This is a very handy way for all of us to get involved with our blog without having to post something yourself… for you “less wordy” types. Give it a try now!

Helpful Blogger Tip:
When you are reading a post and all of a sudden there is a font color change to red, that means those words, are actually a link to something relative to the subject. “Hover” your curser over those words and click. In this post’s instance, the Matt Ross CC info will magically appear!