Davyerit

Well, so far things are going so-so. I've been doing pretty well on terms of the soda and veggies. Not so hot on exercising. (The one time I've exercised so far - a trip to the grocery store - left me in fairly bad shape.) However, I've made some adjustments to meds and come up with some ideas with Daedelus to hopefully help on the exercise front. We'll see. Theoretically I'm down a pound, weight-wise, but I don't trust the scale - or my body - to behave logically, lol. We'll see how it goes. Thanks for the encouragement!

You've got this, babe. You can do it - I know it. Love you!

So, this is my first 6-week challenge. Main Quest: To lose weight and/or slim down. (See below for why I'm being so vague on this, heh.) Mission 1: Exercise twice a week. This can really be any kind of physical activity. Mission 2: Cut sodas down to 1 a week. Mission 3: Make sure to have a vegetable in each dinner. Motivation (to steal from my husband, Daedelus): I have a husband I love and want to be healthy for, and a life with him that I want to live well. I also want to be stronger and better able to handle the up and down days I have. Brief backstory: I'm 30 years old and have had severe rheumatoid arthritis since I was 18 months old. Although I'm better off due to several joint replacements and pretty good meds routines, I've only recently gotten my meds back in order after about 2 months of being off all but one of my major meds (not a fun couple months, lol). Although I'm not tremendously overweight or anything, I weigh about 15 pounds more than I'm comfortable with. It's not muscle, heh, and although some weight may go away as my meds even out (a side effect of one of them), some is definitely not meds-related. Because of the RA, I have issues with both strength and stamina - my muscles are not very strong, and I tire easily. Hence both the vagueness of my Main Quest and the general nature of Mission 1: at least right now, any sustained physical activity - even a long trip to the grocery store - can leave me in rough shape. So one of my biggest challenges is to make sure I don't overdo it when I do feel all right, thus leaving me in worse shape than before. I'm also not sure what my level of exercise will do, with regard to muscle development or weight gain, so though I'm taking weekly measurements, I'm going to have to be quite subjective with this one. So... I guess that's it. Here goes nothing!

Thanks for the encouragement! No real difference yet, but seeing as it's a new one, I don't really know how long before I would see any changes. I did get to go back onto one of my meds that's made a difference before, so hopefully before long I'll see *something* different, lol. We're trying to do better with our diet, but admittedly everything going pear-shaped has made things a little tough. We'll jump back on track, though. Trying to find the right balance of "doing *something*" with "not screwing myself up so much I can't move the next day" is always the trick. Heck, sometimes a long grocery run is my limit for the day. But I'll definitely be going for doing at least something. Starting out slow is absolutely a good idea. Hopefully it won't be too long before I can move beyond planning.

Well, started my new major med today, and I'll hopefully be back one of my "old faithful" ones in the next few days. I'm not sure yet how or when I'll know if things are working, but I'm praying it's soon! Once I have things going a little better, I'll get started on my new routine! I'll update when I get going...

I know you can get your days back on track. I mean, if we're honest, it's been a one of the strangest weeks we've had in a LONG time... and it's only Wednesday! Things will even back out, and you'll hit your stride again. You rock, babe! I love you!

You got this, Daedelus.

Thanks! I'll definitely post when I actually start things - hopefully not long!

Rock on! I'm just getting started too, and the support around here is awesome. The site is fantastic and has done more to motivate me to get in shape than every other "fitness" or exercise-related thing out there. You can do it!

Greetings. I'm new on here - well, new to posting, anyway. I've been reading the site for a while now, and trying to figure out how to get going on this whole getting healthy thing. See below for the reason I haven't jumped in yet. My background: I've had rheumatoid arthritis since I was 18 months old. I'm 30 now, and have had multiple joint replacements, years of physical therapy, and countless meds varieties as part of my life since then. Because of the long years, I have very limited mobility and very major joint damage. I've never really been "fit", but I've also never had any issue with being overweight - or overweight for my 4'8" extremely petite frame - until recently. However, I'm also literally between major medications right now, leading to some very rough times, physically-speaking. That's why I haven't signed up for the current 6-week challenge (though my husband just signed up - hey, Daedelus!). I can do some exercises, though limited joint mobility puts some serious restrictions on what I can do. Not to mention the pain resulting from said activities. That's probably the biggest challenge: not overdoing it when I do feel good, thus making myself too sore to move the next day, heh. My plan... I think: My husband and I both have the Rebel Fitness Training guides, and I plan to modify the basic exercises to make up some routine that I can do without putting myself into a bad spot. I plan to alternate the routines, and have something like Wii Fit as a "backup" for days I can't do the actual exercises. That way I'll still have some physical activity. I'm probably only going to be able to do 5-6 days a week of activity (if that). I'm currently at the point where even moderate activity results in a cardio workout, so I plan to do a basic workout, extended to make sure I get about 20 min of actual cardio. Not 100% sure what that's going to entail just yet. My goals: I'm 4'8", as I said, and currently I weigh around 105-110. Not muscle. Needless to say, my joints don't like the extra weight, heh. My main goal is to get healthier, and to lose some weight (somewhere around 10 pounds, not exactly sure yet), and get stronger in general. I especially need to work on my heart health/strength. Unfortunately my exact timeline for all this is a little up in the air. I hope to start my new meds within the next few weeks, and if they make the difference I hope they will, I should be able to get into this routine before long. I will be trying to do some kind of activity (even if it's not my full "routine") each day. Some days this will be a long grocery store trip, some days it will be exercise. Working up to exercising. Here goes nothing!