All of you 40-Somethings who are looking for the next challenge - here it is! We are looking to challenge ourselves to lose as much weight and get as fit and healthy as we can by Saturday, March 31st 2012!

Everyone who wants to participate should post their goals for what they want to accomplish over the next month and a half. I am pretty loose about the kinds of things people should post to take part in a challenge going forward. If you want to post your daily/weekly weigh-ins, great! If you want to post your menu/food diary for the day, great! If you want to post about your exercise progress, great! If you want to post about the emotional challenges and daily hurdles you are facing, great! However you want to approach this challenge thread is up to you.

Here are my goals -

- Drink at least 6 glasses of water per day.
- Maintain a higher protein and lower carb diet (including lots of green leafy vegetables!).
- No snacking between meals.
- Get in at least 30 minutes of exercise per day.
- Post on 3FC at least once per day - and on this thread at least once per day.
- Lose at least 5lbs (that would put me at 158lbs).

Anyone care to join in? Let's make March the most successful month we have all had yet in 2012!

I'm in!! I love March Madness. I'm a College Basketball fan so it fits right in.

Goals for March:

Lose 12 pounds. This should put me low to mid 220's. Hoping this will put me at 25% BF or less.
Eat 6 times a day.
Control my calories. Stay within my limits unless planned otherwise.
Exercise 6 days per week. Run 3, lift 3.
Support others.
Drink more water.

Thanks for starting this Guacamole

Andrew - those sound like great goals! I love your energy and determination - it really does inspire me to keep going.

I have a "Holy Gaucamole!" moment to share - today I stepped on the scale to find that I have lost a total of 50lbs today! I have been waiting for this milestone for awhile, so I am excited to finally have made it. My next big milestone will be to get to 149lbs, when I will officially be in a normal BMI range. I am thinking that I might get there sometime in April or May.

Now to stay on track today! Have a great on-plan day, Andrew!

Congrats Guac. 50lbs is HUGE!! You Rock lady.

Count me in for March Madness:
NO SMOKING
Maintain my weight loss
Exercise 7 hours a week
Complete 4 week boot camp that starts Feb. 27
Would love to lose 5 more lbs but I need to keep a positive outlook even if it does not happen!!

I couldn't stay away, so I'm joining yet another challenge. Andrew & Guac, you were both so encouraging & supportive. I loved how you updated almost every day. That showed real dedication & motivated me.

Well as of yesterday my weight was 184.2, since I averaged about 1.3 pounds per week, I'm going to set my goal for the end of February at 176, which is 1.3 pounds per week. I also want to try to take my vitamin every day & maintain a calorie deficit every day.

NEMom, I quit smoking in October, well I cheated once or twice a month since then except I have been totally tobacco free all of this year. It's hard & I still get the urges, but I'm getting them way less often than I used to. I wish you all the success in the world on that!

Let's all meet our March goals!

NEMom - Thanks! It actually means a lot to hear praise from someone who has been there done that. You know how challenging this weight loss process is and how much each little milestone counts in encouraging further success.

kandd416 - Glad that you are joining in! I think it will be really helpful to both you and NEMom to have each other for support in your non-smoking efforts too! You can kill two birds with one stone!

Just thought of an upcoming challenge for me...my kids have a long weekend home from school this week (starting tomorrow), and that usually spells disaster for my diet! So, I am going to try to hang on to my current weight with all my might over the next few days.

Here's hoping that we all have a successful day!

Good morning, folks! Doing well and staying on track. Had a higher carb dinner and breakfast this morning, but still well within my calorie range as long as I stick to plan today. A total of 2 lb weight loss this week, which for me is great! So, my goal for next week is to up my exercise and stay to my eating plan. This next few days with my kids home will be challenging, but hopefully, I won't do too much damage. I know I will have to be forgiving with myself for going a bit off plan, though.

Good luck, everyone!

Not sure how well I'll do, since I've already started off by not losing any weight this past week, but here goes.

March Challenge

1. Drink 6 glasses of water a day
2. Exercise 35 minutes a day
3. Keep my calories under 1350
4. Eat healthier
5. Continue to only snack occasionally and on healthy snacks
6. Lose 5 pounds

Welcome, kandyrews! Great goals! I went 5 weeks in January/February without losing a single pound! It was awful! However, after staying persistent in my efforts, finally my body let the pounds go and I lost 5 pounds in 1 week! Just keep doing what you are doing...there is no set timetable for weight loss. Everyone loses weight at different rates during the course of their journey. It will happen if you stay the course!

kandyrews, nice to see you again. It's frustrating not seeing the scale move when you know you're doing what you should be. But it will eventually move.

I've discovered that I'm getting pretty compulsive about logging everything that I eat. My husband sometimes gets a little annoyed when I have to jump on the computer in the middle of something, but I want my numbers to be spot on.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

guacamole Thanks, yes I'm not ready to give up yet. I did lose 5 pounds from January to February, it's just February that's dragging, but I'm gonna keep on going & hope that the weight comes off one day.

kandd416 My husband gets annoyed with me too logging all my calories too. He can't believe how serious I take it. lol

Hello, everyone. Today is my off plan day, and I didn't do too badly. I definitely don't have that feeling of accomplishment I have at the end of an on-plan day. Feeling kind of blah. Three annoying things happened that are bothering me.

1. My lower back is killing me - it has been hurting for the past 3 days. Sciatica is rearing its ugly head again and I'm not sure why. Lesson learned - still trying to figure it out - it might have been hauling at least 10 laundry bags up and down the stairs throughout the week. However, that's not unusual.

2. On Thursday night I mentioned to my husband that I had a craving for ice cream. By Friday morning, the craving was gone and I was looking forward to moving past it. However, on Friday afternoon he bought me a pint of the ice cream I'd mentioned. Now it is calling my name from the freezer. I ate about 1/4 cup, but the rest is still there. No one else in my family likes this flavor, so unless I throw it away, it's all mine. I know my husband meant well, but for some reason, it's really upsetting me to have that temptation about to derail me. I don't want to hurt his feelings by throwing it away now, but if I can hold off eating it until he goes back to work on Monday, maybe I will toss it then. Lesson learned - never voice aloud my cravings in front of other people - especially my husband.

3. My mother-in-law had yet another talk with my husband about her concern over his weight, and my husband yet again blamed me for not making healthy foods for his lunches or dinners. He says he does fine until he comes home and then overeats on all the "junk" and unhealthy dinners I make. He did this a few months ago and I saw red and started screaming at him. This time, I stayed calm, told him he needed to take responsibility for himself, and told him I was not to blame. I'm still highly annoyed and disgusted. Lesson learned - people will deflect in any way they can to blame their lack of success on someone else. It's easier than having to confront their own failures.

Hope you all had a better day.

Hi all, count me in please.

My goals:

1. To lose 5 kilos (11 pounds)
2. To eat breakfast EVERYDAY
3. To drink 6 glasses of water a day
4. To incorporate more exercise into each day
5. To continue to make the healthy choice with food

Best of luck everyone

Welcome, Tkkoz! Sounds like you have a plan! Glad to have you join in!

These challenges keep me focused, so I'm in!

My goals aren't ambitious when you consider I've had a 2-month hiatus (thankfully with no gains) from my rigid diet & exercise program.

Getting back to it has already produced some positive results.

By March 31st:

Lose 5 kgs
Take a class at the gym once a week as opposed to solitary work on machines
Get my yogurt intake back to an occasional treat, instead of a daily snack

The latter two will challenge me greatly, so this is enough for the end of March!

Much strength to everyone!