Here is the first chart for the challenge! Congrats to the top 20 for this week!

http://i349.photobucket.com/albums/q...psca81911c.jpg

I managed a bit of weight loss, however small! More so I am proud to say that the end of this week will mark my 4th week of exercising at least 5 days a week, though it's mostly been 6 days. I think I had 1 week where I did 5 days.

Something that has helped me, maybe not much, but I admit to enjoying it...is that I went out and bought one of those small 6" by 3" pocket calendar type things. Then I bought a sheet of tiny star stickers in rainbow colors. Every day that I complete my exercise I put a star on the day. Silly as it sounds I am quite pleased with myself when I crack it open and see the rainbow there. It feels like a tangible bit of proof that I am doing good for myself. I finally found a bit of exercise I can do, and not hate. Yay!

MauiKai, that is an awesome idea! Good for you. Stickers can be surprisingly rewarding, even for adults lol

Good job everyone! Look at that awesome progress!

I looked at some swimsuits today as motivation...of course, by the time this challenge is over it will be end of summer and probably silly to buy a new one, but it's nice to look. :)

Despite being the most despised day of the week, I always feel like Monday has some sort of a rejuvenation vibe to it. There's always the "I'll start on Monday" quote that I'm sure most of us have said on many a chaotic weekend.

I started my week right by going on a run today. I had to psyche myself up big time to do it, I wanted nothing more than to just be lazy. But I did it! And holy wow, my pace went from 10:16 min/mi to 9:31 min/mi today. I think it was thanks to the intensive strength training I did Saturday! I did feel like there was a spring in my step!

MauiKai - That's a great idea! I'm all for visual motivators, keeping track of progress is so important when losing weight. It's why I do these challenges!

noname - Why not buy one?! I think it's important to dress for your size and feel awesome in what you're wearing! I checked out your Tumblr, it's great! What's the 5:2 diet you mentioned?

I feel a little silly with my rainbow stickers, but hey, it's motivating for me, and apparently I like it. So, why not!? Haha


Noname, buy one anyway! I've done that. There are indoor pools at your local gym/YMCA year round... ;)

Riestrella, you're right about Mondays. I definitely have that same feeling of a new start. Also, that's an amazing improvement in pace!

The swimsuits I have now fit great (much better than last year...lol), but at this rate of loss yeah I might HAVE to buy one at the end of this summer - my parents have a hot tub so it would be good to have a swimsuit even for the fall/winter months :)

The quick and dirty on 5:2 is it's a form of intermittent fasting - 5 days eating "normally" (around 2000 cals) and 2 days eating up to 500 calories. Thanks for checking out my tumblr. I need to update!

So glad this challenge is still around! Just entered my details. Let's do this ladies!

Just a quick update..
I just got over being sick and only managed to go to the gym once last week. On top of it being PMS-week, I've been craving carbs like craazzyyy. Now to top it all off - I'm getting all 4 of my wisdom teeth taken out on Wednesday. And stupid me is telling myself "I'm not gonna be able to eat anything for at least 3 days (aside from babyfood which I stocked up on!), so I'm just gonna enjoy as much food as I can NOW." Now this stupid thinking got me to eat tons of chocolate and cakes and whatnot...why oh why am I doing this? Also, I'm telling myself that I'm gonna be losing weight anyways since I'm gonna be in so much pain that I'm not gonna be able to eat or workout or do anything for that matter. And that leads me to eat even more now.

So, no weigh-in for me this week. I went to the gym today and will go back tomorrow and then on Wednesday at 2pm I'm getting my teeth ripped out of my jaw, gah that's gonna be fun.

Congrats to those who had a loss! And here's some :dust: for those who have been struggling!

Very excited this challenge is still open! Just entered my stats. Looking forward to getting body confident with you ladies.
I just got back from my local gym, where I froze my membership for 6 months. It's expensive and I never go because I am still trying to get over a fear of working out in front of really fit people (90% of people in my manhattan gym), and I want working out be enjoyable so that I can stay consistent with it. I decided since I live pretty close to the park, I am going to walk the entire loop 5 days a week. Hopefully eventually I will be able to run it, but for now it's the best I can do. :-)

Quick update. Had a rough weekend eating wise, I always notice that whenever I have a concert my eating goes downhill. I think I just get nervous and eat everything in sight….but at least I played really well!

Back on plan today! Know this past weekend was a fluke and I won't let it derail me!

Have a great healthy week everyone :D

noname - Well sounds like you'll be buying a nice new bikini for hot tub fun times! You'll have to show us what you buy =) Do you think that the method works? I'm a bit skeptical of those types of methods purely because it's something I couldn't keep up forever!

Hoopty - Oh no!! Well, I certainly don't blame you for cramming in all the good stuff before you resort to baby food >_<. You will most definitely lose some pounds if you're on a liquid diet!

Coffee - Don't be put off! Everyone has to start somewhere, all those super fit people could have had backgrounds of being overweight too. So don't let them put you off, I think you'll find people will be very supportive of you. I ran a small, competitive 10K once. I was seriously the only "fun runner" there just doing it for the pride. I came second to last, but all the fit people who had crossed the finish line 30 minutes ago applauded me and cheered me over the finish line. It was one of the proudest moments of my life and reminded me that people do support one another!

Had a rough weekend with TOM and staying with my parents but I'm happy to have made the top 20 at all. We have our first wedding on Saturday (we have 10 invitations on our dresser; I wish our friends would go to Vegas..) and I'm going dress shopping today. Can't wait for this day of fun-filled excitement…. NOT!

I've been doing this since August and honestly could see myself doing this for the rest of my life! Once I get to maintenance (ha, that's so far off...) I will switch to 6:1, which seems even more sustainable. I'd be happy to talk more about 5:2 with you if you're interested. There's also a IF Support thread on 3FC.

I am going to try taking a full two week break from it while I'm on vacation and the week after (marked it on the spreadsheet). Someone posted on 3FC some info about how taking a break from dieting in general can be really helpful...something to look forward to and kind of reset the metabolism. It's not until June but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited for it (in addition to vacation).

MrsDeenz - oh, try to have fun! I know wedding season is a little crazy and overwhelming, but hopefully you can still have a good time. As long as your wallet doesn't protest haha! Good luck dress shopping! I hope you find something beautiful.

Oh too bad that today isn't weigh in day! I had a good SV today, finally made it over the 10lbs lost mark! Woo!

So I haven't had a great few days eating wise. I made a load of bread so much bread and butter and then I've been out a lot so just eating way more. Even though I showed a loss this week I've been bouncing up and down over the same 4lbs so I think I'm just gaining and loosing water weight. I think I might try and be stricter this week and work out all my calories to see if there are some obvious things I can cut out. And drink more water.

Also does anyone have any tips about eating out. I don't have loads of money so whenever I'm paying for food or drink I basically chose what I want as I tell myself that there is no point spending all that money on something when I'd rather have something else. However, because I'm on holiday from uni I'm meeting up with people more and it tends to be for food centred activities. So I should maybe rethink that view...