[Sandrab]

Just a reminder that i wont be able to start posting wieghts for the competition until i return from our trip - so it may not work out all the well for me. but i was hoping it would be a way to ensure i got right back on track. I leave on the 8th and am not back home until the 23rd as we are going directly to move our son back home from university. So if that is too much time to be away from it, i understand.....So Jordanna, my weights will not be updated for awhile. Have a good few weeks everyone!

[Vicjul]

I hope it is not too late to join the challenge. I weigh in every Thursday and my start weight would be 200.5, what I weighed in at last Thursday !!

[jordanna]

Hiya ladies - first week of the challenge and I'm down 3.8 lbs

[jordanna]

hey Vicjul & Beyourbest, I've added you to the challenge - good luck

[Vicjul]

Many thanks Jordana !!!

[stacerp]

Can I be in the challenge too, please? I weigh in on Thursday's

[jordanna]

Originally Posted by stacerp

Can I be in the challenge too, please? I weigh in on Thursday's

got it!

Man - I'm going to have to be on my toes keeping track of all this. I think if it gets any bigger we'll have to make a separate challenge thread

[Lilita175]

Originally Posted by jordanna

got it!

Man - I'm going to have to be on my toes keeping track of all this. I think if it gets any bigger we'll have to make a separate challenge thread

And the group total at the bottom of the chart keeps growing. It gave me a chuckle to see the our total weight is over a ton! (2000 pounds = 1 ton.)

If we have to start a thread just for the challenge is there a way the chart could appear at the bottom of your posts as part of your signature?

I used to avoid challenges when I did Weight Watchers (too much pressure) but I am really enjoying this one because I know that IP works. Thank you again so much for your computer skills and the time and effort it takes to keep track of the challenge. You are a star on this forum! And you look fabulous in that black dress!

[Lilita175]

Jordanna, I read your blogs. I love the Rolling with Rosie one. It has the most awesome pictures. And your little guy is sooooo cute.

I'm still laughing about the total on the challenge chart. A ton of fun with a ton of friends.

Today I walked for an hour on the treadmill. Exercise is so much easier in a lighter body. And I took a nap for over an hour. Delicious!

I had a long talk with my sister Evita about "emotional weight" (a term I made up.) I am wondering if the 220's are your emotional weight?

Let me explain from my perspective and then you can decide if it makes sense.

The 180's (specifically 185) is the number I have gotten stuck at and given up at on my previous wt. loss attempts.

Well, the other day I did a 30 minute meditation in which I reviewed all the different weights I can remember being since age 15 when I reached my full height.

And I "remembered" that 185 is the weight I went up to when my first marriage was falling apart. I had been married for almost 20 years and my then husband decided he was "tired" of being married. Well, it turned out he had been cheating on me for years, probably the whole time we were married and even before we were married! He confessed everything to me. I ballooned up from 165 to 185 in a short time.

I realized that I used that extra weight not as a protection but in order to feel more solid (as opposed to my marriage which obviously wasn't solid.)

And the extra weight represents anger! Not protection, but pure ANGER.

And it is time (for me) to let go of that anger. When I go below 180, it will be an emotional release of that anger. Anger that I've been carrying for over 15 years now. Not to mention my 2nd brief "rebound" marriage in which the charming man I married turned out to be cheater also!

Then I had an inappropriate boyfriend that had wandering ways also!

I stayed single for 3 years and was very careful when I picked my current boyfriend. He is someone that I've known since we were 6 years old. I "remet" him at our High School Reunion. He is still friends with his previous 2 girlfriends since he never cheated on them. I met his last girlfriend and she would take him back in a hot second. So far so good with this one.
I met him when I weighed 195 and I quickly gained 10 pounds of "dating" weight: romantic dinners equals pounds gained.

Along came IP and I am down 30 pounds and STUCK in the 180's, my "angry" weight, even though I feel happy in my present circumstances, my past is still affecting me on a deeper level.

Gee, sorry to go and on about my love life but my point is that the different weights that we find ourselves "stuck" in are related to our emotional feelings sometime in the past.

[EmmasMommy]

I agree with Lilita on avoiding challenges! I usually did too, to avoid the let down of failure. But I love this challenge! Just knowing that there are a handful of women out there (if there are men too, I apologize!) who are attempting the same goal as me, and NOT cheating, helps me to stay on track! Jordanna, you are a huge motivation for me. You appear to have iron willpower! I'm envious! The challenge is working well for me so far - I don't weigh in until Friday and I'm already down 4 pounds! I'm a scale hopper, it's an addiction! I look forward to seeing all of our successes after Week 1 is over!

[jordanna]

Originally Posted by Lilita175

Jordanna, I read your blogs. I love the Rolling with Rosie one. It has the most awesome pictures. And your little guy is sooooo cute.

I'm still laughing about the total on the challenge chart. A ton of fun with a ton of friends.

I had a long talk with my sister Evita about "emotional weight" (a term I made up.) I am wondering if the 220's are your emotional weight?

Thanks for the compliments on my blog Lilita! They help me get out some of my creative energy. I went to school for 10 years to become a psychologist, and I was miserable the whole time. It wasn't until I was finished school and became a photographer and a very unpolished unaccomplished writer that I became happy with myself! I guess the lesson learned is listen to your heart and not your parents when it comes to making decisions about your career

I also had to laugh at our growing weight total as more of us keep joining the challenge. I started telling my husband our totals and when he came down this morning he said "so how much do you guys weigh now?!" lol.

Regarding the separate forum, it would definitely help me keep track of everyone's #'s now that there are so many of us, and I could probably shrink down the charts file size and post it on the thread every other day or something. It's up to you guys really, I don't mind doing it either way

Regarding my emotional weight - you might have something there....

-cue dramatic music-

When I was in my late teens, early 20's I met and fell in love with a guy off the internet. I weighed about 180 lbs then I think, I was athletic (played hockey), but a bigger girl...anyway we talked for like 2 years on the computer and phone and I was madly and tragically in love.

He came to visit and I thought it was love, when he left I didn't hear from him for a few weeks and I was devastated....when I finally got up the nerve to call him he told me he was dating someone and that was that...I gained 40ish lbs in the process of healing my heart...(today we are amazing friends who have known each other for more than 12 years but at the time it was tragic and devastating for me - I was young, he was the first guy I fell in love with...blah blah blah)

After some random wrecks of relationships I started dating my very best friend who is now my husband, and life was wonderful! I lost a bunch of weight and things were going great until we got pregnant (we were excited and happy about it) and then had a miscarriage at 14 weeks...I gained some weight while dealing with that, and then we decided to try and
get pregnant again...for a long time....until we gave up on having kids....during that time I gained a bunch more weight and ended up in the 220s again...from there it went on for about 5 years and got worse and worse until I yo-yo dieted my way in to the 270's....

That's the weight I was at when we adopted Hudson, that's when I realized I was going to die from morbid obesity if I didn't change my life, and so here I am

So maybe you're right, maybe I get hung up in the 220's because I carry a lot of emotional weight here.

[beyourbestinidaho]

Originally Posted by jordanna

hey Vicjul & Beyourbest, I've added you to the challenge - good luck

Thanks Jordanna!! I am excited about this opportunity--having been at this for two plus months this is like extra motivation at a perfect time.

[Lilita175]

Jordanna, thanks for creating the new thread for the wt. loss challenge. It will be much easier to keep track of.

I have "slow" computer skills (my 12 y.o grandson hovers over me sometimes when I'm on the computer and says "let me do that for you" re: whatever I'm doing. LOL)

So, again, I really appreciate it and in the end (June 1st) we will look back and be glad we did the challenge.

[jordanna]

no prob Lilita, I don't mind doing it & it makes it much easier for me to have a separate thread, especially with all the people participating

[Mirazon]

Wow!! I'm glad I found you all. Had a mini panic attack when I couldn't find any recent posts on the other thread

I'm still here and doing more of a consistent Phase 2. However plan to re-commit yet again to Phase 1 to pick up the rate of wt loss.

All of you are doing so AWESOME. Keep up the good work! Jordanna absolutely love your blog. Lilita thanks for coming up with the challenge. I'll be watching and will hopefully lose the 20 lbs along with the rest of you.

I promise to do better about checking in a supporting all of you. It was truly inspirational to catch up on all the posts.

Have a Great Rest of the Week!