[Riestrella]

Welcome to Haunting for Halloween Challenge 2017

It's our 5th year!

For those of you who know me, welcome back, I’m glad you’re here! For those of you who are thinking, “who is this crazy person?” allow me to introduce myself! I’ve been doing these spread sheet challenges for a good few years now and I’ve seen so many amazing people lose weight.

Here’s the aim of the game…lose the most percentage of body weight by Halloween and roll up to your fancy dress party (or your couch with the lights off because you hate kids) and feel sexier than ever. I don’t want to hear any “oh…I won’t be sexy by Halloween” because I’m here to tell you YOU ARE A FREAKIN’ SEXY CANDY PANDA! SHAKE IT LIKE YOU’RE AT A NAKED DANCE PARTY! This is just a way to encourage a healthy bit of competition into your routine.

Let's Keep This Simple! Please Read These Rules!

• Sign ups are open until Week 8 of the challenge!
• ~~>Click Here to view the Spreadsheet!<~~
• Enter your Username, Starting Weight (at the weight you are at NOW) and scroll to the right and enter your Goal Weight.
• Week by week enter your weight on any day you want between Monday and Sunday.
• Be sure to have your weekly weigh in on the spreadsheet by Sunday, because I make the charts on Monday. In the spreadsheet when the column is labelled "WK 1 8/31", that means the week BEGINS on the 31st August NOT the particular day you have to weigh in!
• Check back in to the thread and I'll publish a weekly chart to show who's kicking butt and taking names.
• If you want to take a break from weighing in then right click the cell for that week and select "Insert Note" (definitely not a "comment" because these won't move with your username if new members join the spreadsheet!) and add your reason for not weighing in.
• If you don't weigh in for more than 2 weeks without a noted reason you will be moved to Standby. Come to the thread and opt back in if you want to re-enter the challenge.

Optional before and after measurements challenge! Read below:

• Want to track your measurements? Measure yourself at the beginning of the challenge and at the end to see how much you shrink! -->Access this optional sheet here!<--

That's it!* A huge part of this challenge is the community support, so please use this thread to talk to each other and update us on your progress. It’s less about just saying “today I weigh ___” and more about actually communicating with fellow sexy candy panda’s and talking about your life and all its ups and downs. Think of this thread more like a chat thread rather than just a place to post weights.

*FAQ

• Can I change my Goal Weight once the challenge has begun? ~ Yes!
• There's a - mark in my cell for a week, but I know what I weighed! Can I change it? ~ Yes! The more information you can put in the better.
• My weight changed during the week but I already entered my weight, can I change it? ~ OF COURSE! I always like to use my average weight of the week. It's perfectly acceptable to change a weight as the week progresses.

[Riestrella]

Hey guys!

Wow, I am really not used to seeing this thread EMPTY at the beginning of a challenge! It's kinda sad actually . I'm still gonna post in here in case anyone feels like jumping in at a later date though!

I'm leading up to a big vacation to Japan so I've been working hard on tying up all loose ends for the projects I'm working on. I had such an awful week of eating last week! Our friends treated us to a meal because we're looking after their dog for a while, plus the video game my boyfriend has been working on for the past couple of years was released last week too, so while it was a wonderful meal it was very fattening. I only ate half of it, but that just meant that I had it again the next day >_>. Oof! Delicious though. On the 9th it was my 8 year anniversary with my boyfriend, we're both super busy so we didn't do much unfortunately. We did get a pizza, however, and he bought me loads of junk food as a present too. All in all, a terrible week for nutrition!

I was weighing in at 176 lbs last week, so I started to get a little panicky, but this morning I was VERY relieved to see 174.4 lbs. Phew! I've been eating my usual amount of food and drinking lots of water so glad to see the weight begin to drop. On the 18th I will be gone for 2 weeks since I'll be on vacation in Japan! So unfortunately I won't be able to do the charts in that time, I'm sorry! When I get back I'll resume as normal.

I'm actually hoping that I'll lose some weight in Japan, I know, what a crazy thing to say right? Losing weight on vacation, what IS that?! However I'm going to be walking around every single day, which is so much more than what I do at home. Plus I've got some amazing hiking adventures that I've planned, so that'll be a nice workout while I'm gone too. Japanese food is less greasy than the type of food I would treat myself to in America, so I'm hoping that might have some impact in weight loss too. BUT, I'm not going to EXPECT my weight to drop and just have fun! We've been saving for this trip for 2 years, and even though we're struggling with money right now (living pay check to pay check) it's going to be so nice to not worry about money and just live for a change. We barely go out any more because we don't want to spend, so I think we both really need this vacation.

I'M SO EXCITED! Plus, I get to see my good friend get married . Woop woop!

When I get back I've got some big plans for myself! I'm going to run my second 5K race in December, it is decided! I've found one that will be happening on December 16th so I'm going to do Hal Higdon's 5K Novice training and sort out my workout routine again. I've been a big fan of the C25K format, however, I think I need a swift kick up the butt so I want to get the distances in instead of the time. I'll still probably do a run/walk method, but I'll be sure to push myself. I think I can do it! After that I'm aiming to run another 10K next year and then hopefully lay the foundation down over next summer by doing T25 (for realsies!) then start Half Marathon training Autumn 2018. It might sound crazy to think SO far in the future, but when it comes to weight loss I find having races to look forward to/train for really helps me. So fingers crossed this time next year I'll be beginning a Half Marathon adventure. WE'LL SEE, RIE, WE'LL SEE.

Week 1 Chart everyone!

[charbreaker]

jumping into this challenge super late! I know Thanksgiving/Christmas challenge will be around the corner, so I'm planning on jumping in for that.

Haven't been on active on 3FC forever it feels like! Life just gets away from you. My weight has yo-yo'ed like crazy, and it's totally set me off to be weighed, so I've avoided it! I've mostly focused on measuring in inches. I will weigh myself tomorrow though for this challenge!

My fitness routine has fluctuated too! I've done months of mostly heavy lifting and some cardio, went to BBG and completed it, then was in nothing-land where I didn't really do much of anything! I recently started running, which has been great. I do not want to lose muscle mass though, so I'm still trying to lift or do BBG workouts too. It's mostly been my eating that's been giving me trouble. I have such a hard time with stress eating, and once I make an unhealthy choice, I kind of just go, "F*** it!" and engorge, which turns into a cycle of self-hate and disappointment, doomed to repeat.

So I figure coming back to 3FC can always give me some encouragement. And these challenges always help keep me accountable!

I've recently (within the last five months) have started taking an anti-depressant for both depression and anxiety. It's been an interesting journey as someone who's struggled with mental illness for the majority of their life, to only have recently started taking it. I think it's been good overall, but finding the right medication/dosage is a long, arduous process! I'm terrified of gaining a lot of weight back; part of me thinks I already have, but then the other part thinks it's just muscle...honestly, I'm losing it a little bit.

So here goes! Sorry for the word vomit. I've missed you guys.

[sweetgirl121]

Hi! Also jumping into this challenge super late. I haven't been under 200 lbs for 4 years so hoping this challenge will help me reach this small goal. Thanks so much for setting this up.

[BigBoss23]

That's an interesting challenge. I'd love to take part in it.