Having procured a position as Chief Diet Faerie in Charge of the Christmas Diet Challenge in Diet Village, East Dietshire, Faerie Athletea hath left the Diet Manse in favor of urban life in the village. She's taken a small diet cottage in the village and is busy organizing (TA-DA) the village's Christmas Diet Challenge, whereby all villagers (being a very, er, diet minded folk) enter Christmas weight goals on the Sunday Following Thanksgiving and THEN they, uh, try to reach 'em.

Being busy (now that she has this diet challenge job), Athletea pledges an end to the endless meanderings in these chronicles and will henceforth just report in on her own challenge BRIEFLY and with no wandering fantasy elfs or such stoppin' by!

You bet.

Athletea's Christmas Challenge In A Nutshell:

Goal ~ 148 by December 26
Diet Plan ~ Eat in the 1400-1600 range
Exercise Plan ~ Exercise as much as possible
GWLB (Good Weight Loss Behavior) Plan ~ Try different things, drink water, have fun
Caveat ~ The management reserves the right to have a CCS (Controlled Calorie Splurge) now and then that could place DFA (Diet Faerie Athletea) in the position of having to go above and beyond the upper calorie range listed in this plan. When that happens, CFA has agreed in writing that she will NOT say: 'Oh, I've broken this DIET, so I guess I'll just have to eat a house and gain back all my weight! Oh, woe is me ... this diet doesn't work!!! Oh, woe, oh woe, oh woe, poor me!!!
Journal ~ CFA agrees to report her progress each day in these pages.

The Official Christmas Challenge Anthem: Diets work if ya work 'em, yes they do! Diets work if ya work 'em, yes they do! ... etc.

That about covers it! This is Christmas Diet Day 1! This is fun! (Really, it's fun, honest, it's ...)

Sounds like a great plan, Athletea! Especially the part where you get right back on track after a controlled splurge---alas, I never learned the trick to that one, so it's best if I just don't start. I even chirp that little song to myself "Just don't start, just don't start." Clever, no?

So how has Day One been for you? You can do this--I know you can! :)

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, Eydie's come to say: 'Hi and how's your day?'"

Well, :queen: E, the song lacks eight syllables, but I appreciate the visit and hope you are having as good a day as I am.

Alack, Athletea hath started the controlled splurge caveatness a bit early on in the diet. Today's cals: 2295! Most of this is Body For Life's new nutrition shakes. Unfortunately, BFL seems to be going downhill because these shakes are very high in sugar.

Anyhow, I consider the controlled splurges part of the diet plan. Otherwise, I'd be giving up right now and going out for dulce de leche instead of drinking water.

During my recent "research" and review of diets, I considered giving myself an upper limit of 1600 cals daily and an extra 1750 a week to use as I please, the equivalent of Weight Watcher's 35 flexpoints. But I was never able to stop at 35 points, which is why I started to gain weight on that plan.

So I consider getting back in control after the CS's is a major victory and am calling this a successful DAY 1 kickoff of Athletea's Christmas Diet Challenge.

Exercise: Rest day! Hooray!

It is 70 degrees in my house ... I consider this very cold. I am going to take a nap! Will update if I eat anything else!

Great effort and interesting idea with the "Flex calories." I was just checking the WW online program. I doubt I would stick to it if I just did it online. I find calorie counting gives me more options. Hope you have a successful week. Thank you for the journal visit. I like stopping in to check out your new journals. You have a creative mind!!

Thanks, Susan!!! :wave: I couldn't deal with the online WW either ... I've also tried some sites that have similar software only with cals, but they are too cumbersome ... a paper journal and pen is low tech but works for me! :)

Athletea is up early preparing for a breakfast meeting to which she's invited folkettes from Diet Village to discuss the Christmas Diet Challenge. Having had a HIGH CAL diet day yestere'en (is that a word?), she's setting some specific goals for DIET DAY TWO (which this is, woo-hoo):

Day 2 Calorie Goal: 1500s
Day 2 Exercise Goal: One hour total (she's already done a 20-min walk 'cause she couldn't sleep)
Day 2 Challenge: Do not let going back to work cause a stress binge!!!! :c( :pass: Remain committed.
Day 2 Quote o' the Day Meditation Goal: 'When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change!' ~ Wayne Dyer

Will report tonight on the success of these goals!

I like your Day 2 Challenge - "......... Remain committed." It is not always that easy to do.

My regards to all the Faeries.

Hi, JoJo!!!! :wave: I'm always so glad to see thee, ol' Christmas Lite buddy (Jimmy Stewart voice ... my favorite movie line: 'Well, mother, old building and loan pal' ... don't ask why, I just like that line ... but I digress) ... hmmm ... actually my day 2 challenge was only half met cals were 1875 ... getting better, though. I WILL WORK THIS DIET!!!

Howsomever, the exercise part happened. I did 20 min early early a.m. walk, 20 min weights at gym and then two 10-min walks in the evening between deadline stories.

Athletea will be back in the village with the Christmas faeries in the a.m. ... the challenge is the same as today, only in the 1700-cal range ... think I gotta inch down a bit after several high cal days ... hark, I hear singing ... wahoo, wahoo ...

'Jingle bells, this diet's swell, let's lose some weight today, in a one-horse diet shay ...'

Ok, I'm tired. Bye now ... :deer: :pass:

Bears repeating: When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change!' ~ Wayne Dyer

1530! :pass: 40 min a.m. jogwalk/20 min total walking through day! We're away ... the game's afoot, Watson! :deer:

DIET VILLAGE, EAST DIETSHIRE~Chief Diet Faerie Athletea today announced that she would attend tonight's meeting of the Village Diet Planning Commission to present a plan for the Winter Diet Carnival 1500-1700s Relay Event, in conjunction with the Christmas Diet Challenge.

"In a nutshell," she said, "this event consists of a relay race each day through three EATING ZONE areas: THE BREAKFAST ZONE (midnight to noon), THE LUNCH ZONE (noon to 6 p.m.), and THE DINNER ZONE (6 p.m. to midnight). Each day, racers declare how many cals they wish to eat that day and how they will divide them in the three "zones." To win the race, participants simply stick to the plan declared that a.m. and receive a :ribbon: for each day's win. Losers receive a Christmas :deer: and may enter again the next day."

CDF A said the contest begins immediately and there's a sign-up sheet in Village Hall. "Have fun," she said. "Remember our Village Diet Anthem: [i]Diet's work if ya work 'em, one more time; diet's work if ya work 'em and ya can't afford to shirk 'em, diet's work if ya work 'em, one more time!!!"

Film at 11.

"Ok, CFD A, I will be the first to sign up for the Winter Diet Event!!! Here is my race entry for Wednesday:

Total calorie range to eat in: 1600s!!!! :pass:

Divided thusly: BREAKFAST ZONE: Approximately 500 (question: can any cals not eaten in one zone be carried into the next zone?)

LUNCH ZONE: Approximately 600!

DINNER ZONE: Approximately 550-599! ~ Signed, Diet Village Citizen Merrie Holiday Faerie, a Happy Diet Denizen

Yea, Merrie Faerie, all uneaten cals are transferable between zones so long's the total doth not exceed thy declared range!!! Thanks for askin'

Not a good day in Dietshire ... hmmm ... :pass: ... since I want to document instances of what I believe is cortisol induced overeating, I'm posting part of what I posted on another forum in a land far far away here ... it's really relevant to my dieting life:

Re previous comments (mine, actually) on noticing when that bad ol' cortisol causeth a desire to overeat, I just noticed that again tonight. Probably I should just journalize this and leave thee poor queens alone but ... anyhow, there's something to this cortisol/food connection ... and it doesn't even have to be anything big for the neurons to fire and the process to begin (e.g., the slide into junk food heck) ... ALL day I've been doing ok with food but noticed a lot of frustrations lurking around in my weak little psyche ... tonight all I wanted to do was play a game online ... latterly I've sort of gotten addicted to a certain game on a certain site (yet another bad habit I've acquired) ... it's a paid site but has problems ... sometimes you can't get into a game and when that happened tonight instead of doing something sane like painting, I swear I literally felt this cortisol surge and ... the rest is history.

NOTICE: By order of CDF (Chief Diet Faerie) Athleta, the Winter meal patterning event is being called off due to abysmal lack of interest among the Diet Village folkettes (there was only one contestant, Merrie Faerie, and she not only lost the contest BUT enticed CDF A to go off on a cortisol induced eating binge with her ... it was shocking, really, shocking, the two of them were seen in dulce de leche and donut places all over the shire!) ...

:deer:

Hmmm ... I was reading something in another part of the forum about how participation is down and urging folk to post more and offer more support, maybe go to chat or post a challenge in the challenge section of the forum. I personally haven't noticed support being down but think participation is good and THEREBY and WHEREAS, I'm going to post a challenge addressing dieters and nondieters alike in the challenge area and see if anybody joins me!!! :deer:

Ok, I posted this challenge and would love company! :pass:

"Well, noticing that it's December 3 and almost Christmas, soon to be followed by the year 2005 (in which I, for one, intend to FINALLY reach my weight and fitness goals), I'm wondering if anyone (dieters, nondieters, fitness/nonfitness folk, etc., would like to join me in my GET IT IN GEAR ('cause it's later than we think) last-ditch challenge to run from today to January 3!!!!

I'm challenging myself and anyone else to state a plan ... any plan ... relating to weight management and/or fitness (or anything else, for that matter, 'cause it's all related ... as in the hip bone's connected to thy thigh bone, the thigh bone's connected to the ... hmmm, digressing ...) and WORK ON IT EVERY DAY for this holiday period of 30 days, coming back here to report in as often as possible as to whether the days were successful or, well, not.

There are no prizes for the goal of having 30 successful days, but winners get braggin' rights.

So, whadda think?

Join me?"

I am still working on my christmas challenge, walking 70 miles by then... I have 23 down, 47 to go. Can I hang out with you on this challenge? If I do this much walking it will surpass in toto all the exercise I did in 2004 BEFORE the challenge...

Wow, Antigone!!!! That's fantastic!!! You bet you can hang out with me ... come on over ... it's on the challenge section of the forum ...

Yo! Chief Diet Faerie went on vacation. She'll be back. Sure would like support in the challenge ... dinna worry, CDF isn't fantasizing there ... it's just a straight holiday challenge where everyone does their own thing and I'm just really me ... of course, I'm not always sure who or whom the real me is, but that's another problem! :deer: Ho, ho and ho!

The challenge is really inspiring me!

Hey girl. I am finally back - house is done - and will be on DT about everyday for the entire month of December and beyond. Glad to see you are still pumped and raring to go. My goal is so similiar to yours - 149 by Christmas Eve. I am sure we can make it.

I will go check out your challange forum and join that too.

As for this guye - :deer: I think he's the cutest, lol.

Hi Cutie! Sorry for being MIA on the support front, but you're doing great and you always inspire me with your optomism! Talk to you soon.
Melinda :D