Jburgin - Thank you so much for the encouragement and for posting such a thought out response, that's exactly what I needed to get on with this!

I love the question "What Is My Wagon", if we don't all answer that this week as well I may steal it for next week's question. 

I agree the term "off day" can be poorly used, my challenge is that I'm very much an all or nothing person. I need to be going to the gym 5 days a week eating not 1 calorie more than 1500 to typically feel "on plan". So my "off day" is a permission to allow myself to be reasonable, however a better / alternate term is appreciated as it's not supposed to allow me to jump into the ice cream tub. 

I'm glad to hear that you are building your wagon slowly (or that's who I read it) you have some very ambitious but I think achievable goals.

I really like the imagery of the wagon as the vehicle to a destination. That is what I am striving for the most as a weight loss philosophy that I need sound foundations and best practices to not only allow me to reach my goals but to sustain them once they are reached. 

Cheers,

Sara.

Good morning Wagoneers! Another wonderful morning of calorie counting and water drinking has begun for most of us. I'm being sarcastic of course. Mornings are rough around here.

Anyhoo, dropping in to share this link I found on lifehacker.com, it's a link to a website that has a grocery list template filled with categories of healthy foods you could use next time you shop. I like the concept, but don't really think it's for me. It doesn't mean I won't share the love.

http://lifehacker.com/389604/eat-healthy-with-grocery-list-t emplates

enjoy and have a good day

Sara~ Awesome job on going to bat for our thread! I think I can safely say that we ALL appreciate it!

jburgin~ Thanks for the thread, I'll have to check it out....

I think for me, the wagon is MAINTAINING healthy life. I have NO problems starting it and doing it right....I just let the little excuses take over. I end up rewarding myself for a job well done....and the reward lasts for days! I need to get over my mentality of restriction vs reward.....that being healthy and dropping the weight WILL BE the reward itself! The feeling I get when I put on clothes and don't hate how I look is the reward, not the food I eat after saying no to it and working out all the time! Ugh! haha

I am OFF the wagon and currently underneath the front wheels. I conciously let myself get bounced right off the back. I am right back to eating to relieve stress and boredom. It's the end of the grocery week for me and I have no motivation to chop vegetables that are wilting or make that fabulous low-cal vinaigrette that got me through the first three weeks a CC.com. 

Every day I wake up and plan to get back on the wagon, but by 1:00 p.m. I just jump.

I know I can do this, but I don't want to right now. Not today. Maybe tomorrow.

I am SO glad this thread is back up!  Okay, so now for my responses to this week's topic:

Have you just got back on the wagon? Have you been on for awhile and your motivation is slipping? Are you barely hanging on? Picking yourself up after having been run over by the wagon? Or climbing back on board? Can you identify why you are currently in this phase, and do you have a plan to get back on / stay on and try to break the cycle?

I am currently brushing myself off and sheepishly climbing back on the wagon.  I did really well from about June until December of last year.  And then a running injury combined with the holidays and a new guy in my life derailed me (not that it was his fault--it was just so much nicer to stay in bed and cuddle than get up and go to the gym...well, that and dinners out...).  Anyway, I put on about 10 lbs and now I'm ready to take it back off in a healthy manner.  Support, however, may be necessary and is ALWAYS greatly appreciated!  My plan is stick to my schedule (gym- and food-wise) as much as possible, but to allow myself to deviate a little more than in the past.  It seems that the stricter I get with myself, the more likely I am to crash and burn...

Come to think of it maybe this was a good experience, we crashed the wagon, and now it is back up and running..... just stay with the positive Sara, stay with the positive (that's my Dad's voice lecturing me).

Cook like jburgin, I think I'm mostly a recipe shopper (I pull out the recipe and buy that) I think that comes from living in a large city and shopping or one (yes, I have a partner, yes he has to fend for himself - HAHA!). 

Hopeful 31 - Welcome to the Group! We'll keep each other going!

Healthfirst - Welcome to the Group! Any insights into what stage of on, off, staring again, having a productive ride you are in?

Marlasing - Welcome to the Group! I know the hate, I'm tired of the hate as well. I'm trying to work on accepting myself and being kinder to my physical self regardless of it's shape, that would of course be easier if it's shape was a bit more pleasing, I'm working on convincing myself that kinder to my body means a healthy lifestyle which will mean a more pleased and pleasing body.

Tally-Ho - YOU CAN DO THIS! What is ONE thing, and ONE thing only that you will do tomorrow to start getting back on the wagon?

DC_Runner81 - Welcome to the Group! Ah, you and me similar pattern, I'm a long jumper I can go 3 - 6 months easy and then I let life derail me. I'm also the type to get really strict with myself as a perfect recipe for crash and burn! So keep us updated, and don't run away if you feel yourself slipping, we can do this!

Okay, my update: Did okay yesterday I ate under cal, got some stuff done around the house and caught up on a bit of reading. My bookkeeping and career planning remain non-existent.

Today is a bit better, I've made it to the gym YAY (for the first of 4 weekly work outs, 3 more to go - sigh) and I met my 2 hours at the gym today for the first time DOUBLE YAY without too much pain (uh, I may edit that last bit in the morning). I'm not too hopeful on getting the bookkeeping and career planning going today but I need to light a fire under them soon. 

So, off the site, and time to go do stuff in the real world.

Cheers,

Sara.

Writestuff - welcome to the Group! I was actually the team captain of the first Gut Busters challenge group on this forum I guess that would almost be a year and a half ago now. 

Yup, we're all familiar with falling off the wagon here, so we're not as focused on the actual pound / inches lost (of course I think we all want to get that or maintain it) as focusing on how long we can stay on track. 

It's only been 1.5 weeks so far but starting this thread has helped keep me on track. I hope it works of all of us long term.

Cheers,

Sara.

Good morning everyone!

I need to go to the gym.

I need to stop looking at the computer.

I need to eat breakfast, then go to the gym.....

where am i on the wagon??  i am hanging on by the tag of my shirt and letting the wheel run over my big toes. 

my biggest issue is time.  i don't have time to exercise like i'd like to.  i work full-time during the day, my husband works full-time at night, we share a car, and i have a three year old.  we don't live in the suburbs, but more like....out in the boonies and on a main highway.  i got a bike for mother's day with a trailer on the back to pull my little tiny binky baby in....but i've had a few mishaps since sunday. 

sunday--the wind was blowing SO hard here that while i was going DOWNHILL i could hardly pedal.  (the hill was steep enough that on a regular day, i wouldn't have had to pedal at all.)  monday--i'm pumping the pedals as hard as i can and i notice that my handlebars are wobbling from side to side...but just a little, so i keep going.  HA.  they almost came all the way off...and they flipped downward and i had to get off and walk.  tuesday--little tiny binky baby said she didn't want to go for a bike ride, but she wanted to go for a walk...so we ventured out onto the highway.  traffic wasn't heavy, but people are just rude.  i mean, here we are walking along the side of the road and these looney drivers won't even change lanes to get away from the outside lane...even when the other lane was completely empty.  as if they were saying, "oh well if i hit your ass...you shouldn't be out here trying to walk on the highway."  it's not an INTERSTATE.  it's just a main road...but it wasn't busy.  jerks.

i've been eating GREAT for the past year, but only because i LOVE healthy foods.  i don't like junk food, fried food, grease...etc.  so i'm good in this area.

my goal...is to exercise some EVERYDAY. 

i did get to do 100 crunches last night, 100 front kicks on each leg, 100 donkey kicks on each leg, 20 side kicks on each leg, and leg lifts.  i rode my bike a little up and down the "road" we live on, but it was only for about 10 minutes.

i'm running a marathon on saturday...so i really need to get a good run in before then.  i have a softball game tonight, so i won't get to run.  possibly tomorrow and friday. 

please put your foot in my butt and give me ideas of how to make time to exercise.  i already get up at 5:00 a.m. and work until 5:00 pm, my husband goes to work at 5:30 p.m. and i'm with my little tiny binky baby until morning with no car...out in the middle of nowhere....and i have no cable. 

help, friends.

Hey guys!

Well, I did VERY bad eating yesterday....I did get a workout in, and some little extras....but my calories were WAY high and WAY fatty. Ugh. Today is hard to be on the wagon......