Healthy Living around the World Showcase ~ June 2016 WISH Challenge!

[ski_mom]

Such a fun theme! You guys are so creative!

My name is Becky and I've been participating (mostly reading) in these challenges since the middle of February when I found you all. This month is going to be a crazy month as far as weight loss, so I think I've decided to try an activity goal like some of you do for tracking my progress this month. Not that I still don't want to lose, but this month will be harder to track that and even though my weight loss has been steady (although somewhat slow), I haven't paid really any attention to exercise. So, this month I'm going to try to be accountable for that as well.

When we woke up this morning, DH said, we have 3 days to work this week, 3 days next week and 3 days the following week and they we'll be off work until July. I hadn't thought about it that way, but honestly, it makes me very excited and very overwhelmed at the same time. I have so much to do before we leave.

Saturday night is middle DDs graduation party. Sunday we leave for Mississippi for her orientation into Ole Miss for her freshman year. It takes place on Monday and Tuesday, so that's why we will only work 3 days next week. Then we leave for Hawaii on June 16th, so will work Mon, Tues and Wed that week and then that's it until July! The problem is, I have a lot to do to finish getting ready for vacation and also just for work. Somehow, it always gets in the way of live lol!

Sorry for the rambling - my goal for this month is to get at least 7,500 steps every day. I know to a lot of you, that seems like a low goal - and honestly it does to me too. I know I've always heard you should aim for at least 10,000 steps per day, but this month especially that will be hard. I am an accountant (so have a desk job) and without extra effort, usually get about 3,000 steps. It doesn't take a huge amount of time to get the extras, but this month I'm going to be short on time. I'll be working into the evenings some to get myself ready to leave. I guess I'll count each day I get the 7,500 steps as 1/30th of my goal if that makes sense. The other good things about using steps as my goal, is that I can also track that while I'm on vacation. I'm thinking I won't have a problem meeting it on those days, but who know - especially the travel days.

Well, good luck to everyone, it should be a fun and exciting month!

 

[MochaDrinker]

My goal for June is to eat something between the hours of ten and two every day....aka eating lunch. Even if its more like a snack, though, I need to get in the habit of eating in the middle of the day.

 

[DisPup75]

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[dsnyfn1022]

I'm in this month! Yay!

Instagram: paigevader

I'm Paige. I'm 23 and live in Kansas City. I have an adorable cat named Nancy and if you follow me on instagram that's about all you'll see pictures of! I've managed to lose about 55 pounds. I'm 8 pounds from my initial goal weight. I'm really struggling to get to that point but I'm so motivated this month!

GOAL: I'm going to take myself back to a weight loss goal. I weighed in this morning at 183 which is up 5 pounds from where I was on Saturday (rough rough weekend). So I'm going to make my goal a large one because I think I can get rid of those 5 pounds pretty easily. My goal for the month is to lose 8 pounds. That would put me at 60 pounds total lost!

PLAN: Run run run. I signed up for a back-to-back half marathon challenge in October. I'll run a half marathon on Saturday in KC and then drive to Des Moines and run a half marathon on Sunday. So mid-month I'm really going to be kicking my exercise up to the next level. I also plan on going back to 1 cheat meal on the weekends, not cheat days (or cheat weekends like this past one). Because I feel happiest and proudest of myself when I live that way.

OBSTACLES: The weekend. Personal struggles. But that's life and I need to do a better job of navigating it!

 

[DVCFan1994]

I am in again for June. Thanks for hosting @Flossbolna!

I am struggling to decide on my goal this month. I said I was getting away from scale goals, because I am at a healthy weight. But I do want to get more to the middle of the healthy range for my height (107-141) vs. toward the top (currently 134). The scale did finally move a bit last month, so I feel some sense of hope, but I also don't want to set myself up for failure. I am training for my first full marathon, and realistically, it is not a great time for slashing calories. But, I can not decide what to make my goal if not pounds loss. I'll keep thinking about it and decide by the end of the week.

Has anyone ever maintained as a goal? How did you track it?

Quick bio: I joined these challenges back in the fall for the first time. I was a skinny kid who slowly started gaining weight in my mid 20s. Dealt with infertility for a few years by eating lots of ice cream and junk. Gained a bit more rapidly. Finally got pregnant and gained WAY too much,because we moved and I stopped working and sat around my parents house (we stayed there while relocating) with my mom feeding all kinds of goodies Finally about 18 months after second was born, I decided to get serious about weight loss. I lost about 40 pounds in 6 months. I did gym classes and cardio and cleaned up my diet. But I never ruled anything out. The key for me has been eating what I want in reasonable amounts, vs restricting any specific foods. I'd end up bingeing if I did that. I maintained that weight loss with a pound or two for 6 years. Then last spring I had a surgery that required me to sit on my butt for 6 weeks and I piled on 10 pounds quick, it put me back within a pound of being overweight again. I can't seem to get all those pounds back off, but I am at my lowest point in a while now. I'd like to lose 4 more, would be thrilled to lose 9 more. I started running in order to do the Glass Slipper Challenge at Disney in 2014. Since then I have done it 2 more times, as well as the Infinity Gauntlet Challenge once. I never thought I would be a runner. I grew up severely asthmatic and never could participate in sports. But, I have learned to love it and now feel so much more energetic and look forward to running.

I'll be back when I figure out my goal and associated plan.

 

[sjrec]

I'm Sandy ☺
I'm 62 and just retired from working in a high school library.
I lost 70lbs almost 15 years ago and have been able to keep it off. I am a WW member and was thrilled to find a WW leader on this thread!
My job was fairly active-i rarely sat down except for lunch. My biggest issue is exercise. I need to become more active on a regular basis.
My goal is 30 minutes 4x a week to start the month. I"ll begin with walking-we have a park near our house.
My woo hoo (I love reading these!) is that even after enjoying several retirement events, I did not gain weight.

 

[ski_mom]

I'm Sandy ☺
I'm 62 and just retired from working in a high school library.
I lost 70lbs almost 15 years ago and have been able to keep it off. I am a WW member and was thrilled to find a WW leader on this thread!
My job was fairly active-i rarely sat down except for lunch. My biggest issue is exercise. I need to become more active on a regular basis.
My goal is 30 minutes 4x a week to start the month. I"ll begin with walking-we have a park near our house.
My woo hoo (I love reading these!) is that even after enjoying several retirement events, I did not gain weight.

Welcome! I love reading success stories like yours! It shows that there is hope for people like me!

 

[Dr Gunnie]

Just did my June 1st weigh-in and I'm at 243 lbs. My goal for June will be to lose 14 lbs. and be at 229 or below by June 30th.

For those who are new, my name is Josh and I'm a 41 year old teacher living in central Illinois. I'm married and have two children, a boy who's 11 and a daughter who's 6. I found these message boards because I love going with my family to Disney.

I started my weight loss journey in January weighing in at 320 lbs. My goal was to lose 100 lbs in a year. I started by walking mostly and have slowly ramped up the exercise. This past month was my "running month" as I did my first official 5k back on May 7th and also ran my first 10k last weekend. I look forward to continuing the running. I would love to be able to run a half marathon - I don't have any plans yet for that, but somewhere in the future I would love to give it a shot.

This month will be interesting because it's my first full month being home for summer break. I don't nearly get as many steps at home as I did at work. It does give me more time to exercise. Also, I coach high school football and our summer workout program starts next week. I'm still a bit fearful of what will happen once the season starts - I will have a lot less time for exercise and a lot more temptations for eating bad/fast food. I'll deal with all that when the time comes.

Since it's Wednesday, my woohoo will be my first 10k run that I completed last Saturday. I couldn't have dreamed of running a 10k 5 months ago (much like I can't imagine doing a half right now). It has taught me to never say never.

This past week I also joined a gym and did an 18 mile bike ride, so those too get some woohoos!

 

[sjrec]

Welcome! I love reading success stories like yours! It shows that there is hope for people like me!

Well, the good (!) thing about having to lose that amount of weight is that you really do change the way you eat. I eat much better now than when I first joined WW.

 

[Oneanne]

My goals for June:

Be at -30 pounds when I go in to see my Doctor on 6.10, which means -3 pounds in the next week and a half. Then -2 more pounds after that, for a total of -5 for the month.

Average 10,000 steps per day.

 

[courtneybeth]

Disneyland Paris is scheduled as part of a larger trip to France in 2018 (maybe next year but I think we want to avoid the anniversary celebrations).

If you're there for at least two days, the annual pass makes much more sense than buying a two day ticket. You'll get two hours of early admission per day versus a standard ticket and 20% off the merchandise and food. We stayed off property at the adorable little Disney village in the Hôtel l’Elysée Val d’Europe. It was across from this amazing shopping mall and included a free breakfast every morning and a 10 minute ride via bus to the parks.

PLAN: Run run run. I signed up for a back-to-back half marathon challenge in October. I'll run a half marathon on Saturday in KC and then drive to Des Moines and run a half marathon on Sunday. So mid-month I'm really going to be kicking my exercise up to the next level. I also plan on going back to 1 cheat meal on the weekends, not cheat days (or cheat weekends like this past one). Because I feel happiest and proudest of myself when I live that way.

You're prime for half fantatics with that - you already a member or going to use that as your means to join? That's inspiring - I don't think I could do that (yet!).

Has anyone ever maintained as a goal? How did you track it?

I did for the month of January on the challenge while I tested out my initial goal weight of 150. I gave myself a range that I would be at 100% of goal if I could be between the range of 149-151. If I went outside of the range I was at 0%.

This month will be interesting because it's my first full month being home for summer break. I don't nearly get as many steps at home as I did at work.

Have you thought about how you'll be conquering the toughest hurdle to date: unlimited access to the fridge and pantry? That is my biggest fear and why I could never work from home. I'd be munching and crunching all day on food.

 

[courtneybeth]

Hello lovelies! Welcome to June - I love the first day of a month because it sets up unlimited possibility and is a clean slate to begin again.

About Me (abridged):
June 2014 marked the start of my crazy journey of losing 75 pounds (!!!) after seeing photos of myself at a wedding and not recognizing the woman in the photos. Yikes. At around 215 pounds I knew I had to make some changes and 18 months later I reached my initial goal weight of 150 pounds. Now six months later I've lost another 9 pounds through training/exercise and am starting the month at 141 pounds. I also decided in January 2016 that I wanted to start running half marathons (because why not, really?) and am completing numbers 7 and 8 of the year during this month. I hope to complete 15 half marathons this year through Rock n Roll and have signed up for the Dumbo Double Dare with Disneyland and the Avengers 10K. Next year will be Pixie Dust Challenge, Glass Slipper Challenge, Dumbo Double Dare and the Avengers 10K through Disney and a slew of local races on weekends.

Goal:
I want to make sure that I continue to exercise at least 30 minutes per day. Therefore, each day completed counts towards 1/30th of my goal and I will be at 100% of my goal at the end of the month.

Plan:
I will utilize my breaks at work, Disneyland, and planned races to meet this daily goal.

Obstacles:
June 6 and June 19 may be the toughest days for me to get out there and move since they'll be the first days post-race weekends and I'll be walking like a baby giraffe. I need to hold myself accountable and make the 7500 steps for each day this month.

 

[PrncessA]

Hi Everyone, I am joining in for the first time!

Instagram: dis_mom_ I am pretty active, and I hope to track my journey on there.

Short bio: Sara, 33, from the Chicago Suburbs and mom to two (11 & 9). I am currently in college getting my A.A.S. Meeting and Event Planning degree, followed by my BS in Hospitality Management. My ultimate goal is to work for Disney. I also work full time as a secretary (for now) and have a full time family, a husband, a dog and two guinea pigs. Life is a bit busy to say the least.

Weight history: I was never super skinny as a teen, but I was comfortable at a size 8-10. I had my first child at 22 and gained about 40 pounds. I was able to loose about half of it, when I found out DD was coming. I put on quite a bit more weight with her putting me at 220lbs. I have had a hard time loosing it, yo-yoing up to 230 and down to 190 and now back up to 258! I was shocked when I weighed myself on Monday, I was almost 20lbs heavier than I thought.

Goal: My ultimate goal is 160lb, but I know it will take me some time to get there. My goal for this month is 15lbs, which I know is a lot, but I know I will loose quite a bit at the beginning with water weight and the shock to my system. Then it will ease off. My health goal is to be able, and enjoy, running again. A Disney Run is my motivation.


June Motivation: My husband and I are taking our first adult only trip to WDW on July 11. My motivation is to get my body prepared for Disney in July. Disney in November was hard on my body, but the heat of July is going to be a killer.

Plan - I am not a huge sweets eater, but my downfall is bad carbs. Bread, pasta, fries, breading on chicken. I started WW Online, Monday night. I like the focus of the Smart Points. I also bought a FitBit and my goal for June is to at least get 60,000steps a week, I am very competitive with my husband, so this will help. I want to start the Slim in Six DVD series that I bought a year ago, but I have to find the time.

I am new to the community, but I look forward to working with everyone!!

 

[Flossbolna]

Question of the Day – June 1st

Hello explorers! A new month and a new adventure has started! We have so much to explore in Epcot’s World Showcase and I thought we start with a little history.

When Walt Disney started purchasing land in Florida, his idea was not to build many theme parks there. He had far more ambitious goals. He wanted to build the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow: E.P.C.O.T. It was supposed to be place where the newest inventions would be showcased by American industry, where people would live in a way that was made possible by all the inventions and in a model community. If you want to hear more about this, listen to Walt Disney explaining everything about the Florida Project himself:

​

Well, as Walt says in this film, things changed, they changed a lot. And at some point it was decided that instead of building E.P.C.O.T., they would start with building E.P.C.O.T. Center as a showcase of innoventions and the World. This is how the concept of a theme park with two elements: Futureworld and World Showcase was born and then opened on October 1st, 1982. World Showcase is often also dubbed as a permanent “World’s Fair” – showcasing the culture of different countries around the world.

​

World Showcase opened in 1982 with nine pavilions: Canada, United Kingdom, France, Japan, USA, Italy, Germany, China, and Mexico. Two years later, the Morocco pavilion opened and in 1988, Norway joined the showcase. There are seven spaces for expansions remaining and expansions had been envisioned from the beginning.

So, with this we have introduced our adventure for the month, now it is your turn to introduce yourself before we start travelling around the World Showcase! Tell us a little bit about yourself. What is your motivation for joining the challenge? Which goals are you tracking? We are looking forward to getting to know everyone!

And as a fun question: Which is your favourite country around the World Showcase, or if you haven’t been there yet, which country would you be most interested in to explore?

 

[MochaDrinker]

I haven't been to Disney yet (going next year hopefully) but I want to explore Germany the most, and by "Germany" I mean "Karamel Kuche"

 

[DVCFan1994]

Question of the Day – June 1st


And as a fun question: Which is your favourite country around the World Showcase, or if you haven’t been there yet, which country would you be most interested in to explore?

I introduced myself above, so I will focus on my favorite place in all the lands World Showcase! I love world showcase. I love eating my way around the world, but sharing with others, don't worry I honestly do not think I can pick a favorite country. I love many for different reasons. Mexico has Margaritas, my favorite adult beverage. I loved the older version of the ride at Mexico (Rio del Tempo I believe), it was a bit cheesy but classic in my opinion. The Donald version is fine, but I'm always nostalgic for the originals. I love the movie at the American Pavillion, Via Napoli is my favorite between race meal place. They have a salad there that is light, but full of protein for recovery and I always have lunch there after Saturday 10ks to refuel for the halves. I haven't been to the Bakery in France in years because my son is allergic to milk and eggs. So as you can imagine, nothing for him there. Maybe someday Iwill return, it used to be my favorite to grab a dessert there around 8:30 to eat right before illuminations, because we usually stand in France to exit the International Gateway. Canada also has the fantastic LeCellier and I like just walking around there as well.

 

[Flossbolna]

I"m here, I'm here! Did you save me a seat?? Happy JUNE everyone!! I am 99 days away from my trip to California (San Diego and Disneyland) and I am feeling VERY positive about fitting into my best Disney clothes!!

And wow, you are in the double digits for your trip!!

I read what you posted over on the other thread about how you realize if you want to see the results that you want, you need to get moving. Hopefully you will find something that you do enjoy and can stick with!

My MFP name is stephanier32.

I am starting this month off down a surprising 2.4 pounds. The stress for today seems to be less. I still need to train my 2 new employees and one that hasn't been with us for a summer yet. The one employee that has been here since November is the one that is giving me the most stress. I need to get her comfortable with the summer process before I leave. However it seems to take her weeks to learn a very simple process even with a very detailed step by step list of instructions printed out. She won't be in until mid day today so I don't have much time to train her. Hopefully I can get her to understand it.

Congratulations on the surprise weight loss! Sorry for all the stress with those new people. What kind of place do you work at that you have a specific summer progress?

When we woke up this morning, DH said, we have 3 days to work this week, 3 days next week and 3 days the following week and they we'll be off work until July. I hadn't thought about it that way, but honestly, it makes me very excited and very overwhelmed at the same time. I have so much to do before we leave.

And that sounds totally amazing! Only 9 days of work for the month of June!

Sorry for the rambling - my goal for this month is to get at least 7,500 steps every day. I know to a lot of you, that seems like a low goal - and honestly it does to me too. I know I've always heard you should aim for at least 10,000 steps per day, but this month especially that will be hard. I am an accountant (so have a desk job) and without extra effort, usually get about 3,000 steps. It doesn't take a huge amount of time to get the extras, but this month I'm going to be short on time. I'll be working into the evenings some to get myself ready to leave. I guess I'll count each day I get the 7,500 steps as 1/30th of my goal if that makes sense. The other good things about using steps as my goal, is that I can also track that while I'm on vacation. I'm thinking I won't have a problem meeting it on those days, but who know - especially the travel days.

I think it always makes sense to set a realistic goal. If you find that you are moving more, be happy about it and maybe even adjust your goal. But I think it is a great goal to build a habit of moving more. And on those travel days: I have used wait time at the airport to walk up and down those long hallways to get my steps in!

My goal for June is to eat something between the hours of ten and two every day....aka eating lunch. Even if its more like a snack, though, I need to get in the habit of eating in the middle of the day.

Great idea!! I once had the goal to eat breakfast every day and ever since then I have breakfast at home nearly every day. If there is a week where I just get a snack on my way to work twice, I am starting to become unhappy and am determined to get my breakfast in the next day!

Short bio: Maggie, 43, California girl who has spent the last 25 years in Washington, DC, lawyer, wife, mom to insane border collie mix, servant to elderly cat.

and to the cat servant!!

Goal: I weighed in at 207.6 this morning. Sad face. 8 pounds should be my goal as that would get me back to Onederland, an overweight BMI, and 10% lost but I don't do well when I aim big. So I'm going back to the 4 pound goal.

I think it makes sense to aim for what is achievable for you. And if you exceed your goal, it will give you an additional boost of motivation for the next month!

Community - you all, although I will probably be mostly silent other than check-ins. I'm in trial next week and I know that I don't have enough hours in the day. On the other hand, I can feel myself falling into the stress and despair pit. The Hi/bye dashes keep me going.

Feel free to dash as much or as little as you want! We are happy to see you, however briefly it might be!

Disney - disenchanted with the World but still in love with Disneyland. Taking a year or so off from Disney related travel (well, a day trip or two to the Land will probably slip in). Disneyland Paris is scheduled as part of a larger trip to France in 2018 (maybe next year but I think we want to avoid the anniversary celebrations).

Why would you want to miss the 25th anniversary celebration? I fully expect it to be amazing! And if you don't come in April for the exact day, it should not be too crazy crowd wise. Especially if you can go in May or September. If you want tips about France, Paris and DLP, let me know, I have been there multiple times (and to different regions in France as well).

 

[JacknSally]

I'm in for June - don't know my goal yet but I get an extra sneaky day to think about it (its already the morning of the first here!)

MFP: 4Mickeys (not that I have been very good at using it lately).

If no-one else wants to do it - I will host August.

I volunteered to host August during @pjlla 's month, but I guess that didn't stick.

Love the theme for June, @Flossbolna! World Showcase is

I guess I'll be mainly lurking again this month, but I'm excited to see where you take the theme.

This month marks 1 year of WISH participation for me!

Instagram: @craftiest_place_on_earth & @megan.s.legett, but I barely use the latter anymore, except for selfies and puppy photos.

June Goal/Plan: Lose any amount of weight. Drink more water, eat more protein, eat fewer carbs, get more active. I'm mapping out an exercise schedule that I will hopefully start and stick to. I've also got to do my 3 runDisney V5K's this month and next.

Motivation: Definitely going to Disney in October, and would like to be back to at least the same weight as when we went last year.

 

[Flossbolna]

I'm in this month! Yay!

I'm Paige. I'm 23 and live in Kansas City. I have an adorable cat named Nancy and if you follow me on instagram that's about all you'll see pictures of! I've managed to lose about 55 pounds. I'm 8 pounds from my initial goal weight. I'm really struggling to get to that point but I'm so motivated this month!

GOAL: I'm going to take myself back to a weight loss goal. I weighed in this morning at 183 which is up 5 pounds from where I was on Saturday (rough rough weekend). So I'm going to make my goal a large one because I think I can get rid of those 5 pounds pretty easily. My goal for the month is to lose 8 pounds. That would put me at 60 pounds total lost!

PLAN: Run run run. I signed up for a back-to-back half marathon challenge in October. I'll run a half marathon on Saturday in KC and then drive to Des Moines and run a half marathon on Sunday. So mid-month I'm really going to be kicking my exercise up to the next level. I also plan on going back to 1 cheat meal on the weekends, not cheat days (or cheat weekends like this past one). Because I feel happiest and proudest of myself when I live that way.

OBSTACLES: The weekend. Personal struggles. But that's life and I need to do a better job of navigating it!

Losing 55 pounds is a great success! And you are so close to your initial goal!

Sorry for the struggles you have to deal with currently! Sending you a big hug and lots of energy for reaching your goals this month.

I am in again for June. Thanks for hosting @Flossbolna!

I am struggling to decide on my goal this month. I said I was getting away from scale goals, because I am at a healthy weight. But I do want to get more to the middle of the healthy range for my height (107-141) vs. toward the top (currently 134). The scale did finally move a bit last month, so I feel some sense of hope, but I also don't want to set myself up for failure. I am training for my first full marathon, and realistically, it is not a great time for slashing calories. But, I can not decide what to make my goal if not pounds loss. I'll keep thinking about it and decide by the end of the week.

Has anyone ever maintained as a goal? How did you track it?

Wow, training for a full marathon takes a lot of dedication! I am impressed!

Way back when we used to be more a pure weight loss focussed challenge where the hostess would do the percentage math, there was the option of maintaining. It was defined that you would set your maintenance weight to a certain number and report your actual weight every week and as long as you were within 2 pounds of it, this week counted 25% towards your goal. So, 4 weeks of maintaining are 100%, but if you maintained the first week, then the second week put on 3 pounds, but then lost them again, so weeks three and four were again back at maintenance weight, you would have 75% at the end of the month.

Quick bio: I joined these challenges back in the fall for the first time. I was a skinny kid who slowly started gaining weight in my mid 20s. Dealt with infertility for a few years by eating lots of ice cream and junk. Gained a bit more rapidly. Finally got pregnant and gained WAY too much,because we moved and I stopped working and sat around my parents house (we stayed there while relocating) with my mom feeding all kinds of goodies Finally about 18 months after second was born, I decided to get serious about weight loss. I lost about 40 pounds in 6 months. I did gym classes and cardio and cleaned up my diet. But I never ruled anything out. The key for me has been eating what I want in reasonable amounts, vs restricting any specific foods. I'd end up bingeing if I did that. I maintained that weight loss with a pound or two for 6 years. Then last spring I had a surgery that required me to sit on my butt for 6 weeks and I piled on 10 pounds quick, it put me back within a pound of being overweight again. I can't seem to get all those pounds back off, but I am at my lowest point in a while now. I'd like to lose 4 more, would be thrilled to lose 9 more. I started running in order to do the Glass Slipper Challenge at Disney in 2014. Since then I have done it 2 more times, as well as the Infinity Gauntlet Challenge once. I never thought I would be a runner. I grew up severely asthmatic and never could participate in sports. But, I have learned to love it and now feel so much more energetic and look forward to running.

I know that you have shared your story before, but I love reading it again and again. Even though you struggle for yourself right now, I still think you are an amazing success story on how to live a healthy life without punishing yourself!

I'm Sandy ☺
I'm 62 and just retired from working in a high school library.
I lost 70lbs almost 15 years ago and have been able to keep it off. I am a WW member and was thrilled to find a WW leader on this thread!
My job was fairly active-i rarely sat down except for lunch. My biggest issue is exercise. I need to become more active on a regular basis.
My goal is 30 minutes 4x a week to start the month. I"ll begin with walking-we have a park near our house.
My woo hoo (I love reading these!) is that even after enjoying several retirement events, I did not gain weight.

Hi Sandy! And congratulations on your retirement! I hope you will find plenty of things to occupy you and to keep you moving. There are so many things to try out with regard to exercise!

I started my weight loss journey in January weighing in at 320 lbs. My goal was to lose 100 lbs in a year. I started by walking mostly and have slowly ramped up the exercise. This past month was my "running month" as I did my first official 5k back on May 7th and also ran my first 10k last weekend. I look forward to continuing the running. I would love to be able to run a half marathon - I don't have any plans yet for that, but somewhere in the future I would love to give it a shot.

This month will be interesting because it's my first full month being home for summer break. I don't nearly get as many steps at home as I did at work. It does give me more time to exercise. Also, I coach high school football and our summer workout program starts next week. I'm still a bit fearful of what will happen once the season starts - I will have a lot less time for exercise and a lot more temptations for eating bad/fast food. I'll deal with all that when the time comes.

You are starting to get close to your 100 pound goal now!! This is so impressive!

I hope you will be able to adjust to the new challenges! Any chance you can take the family to the pool for example? Swimming is a great cross training for running!

 

[piglet1979]

Question of the Day – June 1st

Hello explorers! A new month and a new adventure has started! We have so much to explore in Epcot’s World Showcase and I thought we start with a little history.

When Walt Disney started purchasing land in Florida, his idea was not to build many theme parks there. He had far more ambitious goals. He wanted to build the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow: E.P.C.O.T. It was supposed to be place where the newest inventions would be showcased by American industry, where people would live in a way that was made possible by all the inventions and in a model community. If you want to hear more about this, listen to Walt Disney explaining everything about the Florida Project himself:

​

Well, as Walt says in this film, things changed, they changed a lot. And at some point it was decided that instead of building E.P.C.O.T., they would start with building E.P.C.O.T. Center as a showcase of innoventions and the World. This is how the concept of a theme park with two elements: Futureworld and World Showcase was born and then opened on October 1st, 1982. World Showcase is often also dubbed as a permanent “World’s Fair” – showcasing the culture of different countries around the world.

​

World Showcase opened in 1982 with nine pavilions: Canada, United Kingdom, France, Japan, USA, Italy, Germany, China, and Mexico. Two years later, the Morocco pavilion opened and in 1988, Norway joined the showcase. There are seven spaces for expansions remaining and expansions had been envisioned from the beginning.

So, with this we have introduced our adventure for the month, now it is your turn to introduce yourself before we start travelling around the World Showcase! Tell us a little bit about yourself. What is your motivation for joining the challenge? Which goals are you tracking? We are looking forward to getting to know everyone!

And as a fun question: Which is your favourite country around the World Showcase, or if you haven’t been there yet, which country would you be most interested in to explore?

I have about 5 minutes to tell you a little about me then back to training.

My name is Stephanie and I will be 37 next month. I am short. Like really short. I am still hoping that one day I will reach 5 foot but I am about 3 inches shy of that. I was always skinny growing up. I never had to watch what I ate and never exercised other than playing soccer and being a normal active kid.

I have 2 kids (almost 9 and 10). I would love to say I just need to lose baby weight but I only gained 8 pounds with my second and quickly lost that plus more with in the first year. At that time I weighed less then I did when I got pregnant with my first. When my daughter (almost 9) was 6 months I left my job at a daycare and got the dreaded desk job. I love my job but the desk is making me lazy. Over the 8 years of being at this job I have gained close to 40 pounds. I have been up and down with my weight but only losing about 10 pounds and then gaining it back plus some.

I started back up in April and have lost a little over 8 pounds so far. I didn't meet my goal of 135 by our Disney trip that we leave for on Friday. I was doing really good until the put me on the pill and it has taken my body time to adjust. I got super frustrated with that for awhile and I have not been doing what I need to. I am ready to start back up this month.

As for EPCOT I will most likely have a very unpopular answer. I do not like EPCOT. I never really have. If it was up to me we would skip it every time. However my husband and kids love it so I go. This will be our 4th trip I have gone on with my husband. Somehow we never make it passed the American Pavilion. We always start at Mexico. This trip I told my husband that we are starting on the other side. Up until now I would say Norway was my favorite. Mainly because I have very fond memories of the one time I went when I was kid and riding Maelstorm. I loved that ride. I am very bummed that we are going to miss Frozen by like 2 weeks. On the trip when I was a kid my sister and I rode it over and over while waiting on the Lazer light Show. We meet a family from Whales that we rode with.