Milesaway-I actually don't know why they got banned. No one seems to know BUT I did complain and they put the thread back up
Anyways I'm glad you were able to read about my trip and see the pics. Haha I'm not a big fan of poles. My dad will use them though sometimes. One time he was doing a hike during the winter and ran into extra snow and actually used them as a make shift ice axe lol
You should try a nice nature walk, I find that people who like walking usually really like hiking as well
Great job with the healthy snacks!
Love your positive attitude and your healthy mindset towards weight. You're doing great!
Beautiful pic, I've always wanted to go to London.
I naturally eat small amounts every 2-3 hours. That's like, my default setting. But it has stopped helping with weight loss I am simply too hungry and have issues limiting my calories so I needed to find a tool to consume less calories and so far IF is really helping!

Rie-Hope you're enjoying Spain! Super jelous

Nutrition-The first two days of IF were a living h*ll. I felt awful and was dizzy, lightheaded, lethargic etc and I wasn't able to reduce my calories enough during my calorie window BUT, by day 3 it all became awesome! Each day my appetite has decreased a little and I've eaten less and less. Also, the hunger is pretty much gone, or its at least super manageable. I really like it now and am not missing breakfast like I did. Also, the first couple days I was so starving I wasn't eating more normal, healthy food but now I'm back to eating my normal food too
I'm hoping by using IF as a tool to reduce my calories I should finally start losing again. I'm really enjoying the decreased appetite. This week I've been doing 16:8(16 hours fasting, 8 hour eating window) and I'm thinking about trying 18:6 this next week or the week after. I eventually want to try 5:2 where you fast(eat 500 calories) 2 days out of the week and eat maintenance the other 5. Seems to work well for a lot of people on here.

Exercise-I'm not going to be able to get back to my exercise schedule till August :/ Still do things for fun but I'm starting to miss my intense workouts and training for something. Might have to be done with training till next summer though bc of all the stuff I have for piano coming up.....

Weight-The scale is evil No drop in weight. I know though that as long as I stick to eating less than 1500 calories per day, I WILL lose weight. Its physically impossible that I won't. So remaining calm....for now Oh, weirdly enough though I seem to be losing inches. This is so weird bc I'm not doing any "real" exercise right now! I definitely look smaller though. I seem to be losing in my waist which is nice. So at least I have that.

I know I'm SUPER late to the game, but I just wanted to say that I entered in my phase 1 goals and am starting this challenge today. I was looking for a good challenge to get me started, and I love ones like this with incremental increases! Thank you so much for creating it, Rie!

Looks like you all are catching up on a lot, so I hope I'm not interrupting!

chelainabear- Anyone can join this challenge at any time! Feel free to jump in and post whenever and whatever you like How are your first goals working out for you so far?

milesaway-How's it going?

Hey guys, busy week with piano camp T_T Its lots of drama and work, but luckily its half way over! Tonight I have the community picnic and concert that I organized. I got dressed up for the occasion and think my hair, makeup, and outfit are nice so I'll share a few pics I always feel SOOOO self conscious in this dress The only reason I wear it is bc its very modest and people always compliment it, but for some reason I always feel weird in it....

Anyways, I'm super excited for camp to be done and to go to Long Beach to see my fiance! We're going to go to Knott's Berry Farm on Sunday and I'm so freakin excited! I haven't been there in 6 years. Its a compromise bc my fiance now only lives 20min from Disney and Knott's and I've been begging him to take me to Disney since I love everything Disney and love going to Disneyland and being so busy with school means its been 2 years since I last went! But he hates Disney so Knott's it is lol

Friday night I'm driving out there after the final camp concert and clean up. I will really need a drink once I get there! lol Then Sat I'm thinking beach and walking. Maybe go to the pool as well.

I'm having a "fat day". I've just felt HUGE lately. Trying to not focus on that and stay positive.

Nutrition-Intermittent fasting is going well! This has been the most stable calorie week I've had in a really long time. I've gotten used to fasting till the early afternoon now too. I rarely have any ill effects now. Its been 9 days. I'm going to stick to 16:8 for 5 more days to make it two weeks and then am thinking I might switch to 5:2 OR do some kind of highbred with 16:8 OR just switch to 18:6. Not sure yet, going to see how the next few days go. I've noticed my hunger has decreased and that's been my favorite part. Also, I've just gained a lot more control over my eating. Like I've stayed away from the dark chocolate covered almonds late at night. I've stopped myself from pretty much all snacking really. I'm not going to Starbucks anymore like I used to. This week has been totally on plan and its awesome! Just 4 more weeks of totally on plan and I'll complete my last phase.

I figured out my average calories for the past 9 days are around 1500 so doing pretty good. Also staying under 2000 on the weekends!

Exercise-Met my exercise goal last week. I'm officially done with that part of the challenge. But I want to keep it up somehow so I stay accountable so I think I might join one of the August exercise challenges. Or maybe just redo this phase. Not sure. Exercise is kind of on hold till piano camp if over.

Weight-Lets just take all the scales and burn them shall we? I don't know what's going on After the trip my weight jumped up from water retention, dropped down a bit. But never came back down to my low weight. I've been at 140 for 2 or 3 weeks now. Its driving me nuts. With IF though, my weight isn't jumping around like it used to. Its just stuck here and won't budge! Its depressing bc if it doesn't drop soon it means my TDEE on normal non exercise days is 1500. Which is really, really sad. And I took that maintenance break to try and raise my metabolism bc that's what everyone was saying to do...but so far no loss That's why I want to do 5:2...that way I could lose .5lbs per week. Otherwise I would have to keep my calories at 1200 EVERY DAY to get the same result and I would rather eat maintenance 5 days and fast 2 days. Especially bc with IF I'm thinking I can definitely handle it. Idk. I really really hope the scale changes by Friday(won't have my scale for the weekend) bc by Monday I'll have been at 16:8 for 2 weeks and if I haven't seen a loss after 2 weeks....then I know for sure my maintenance calories without exercise are 1500 and I need to do something more intense since I'm done with the intense exercise training till next Spring.

Dottington- Thank you!

My goals have been going well, and I met them both at least for the first day.
My exercise goal was to do at least 30 minutes of cardio or running once per week. I did 30 minutes of a Just Dance circuit yesterday before work, and it was great! I love Just Dance, and I picked songs that I like that have high 'sweat drop' ratings, so I could really get my blood pumping.

Though I'm not sure yesterday was the best day for it, because I worked 8 hours that night, and I was on my feet the entire time. I was in full limp noodle mode when I got home last night.

As far as nutrition, I'm focusing on my water intake this week. My goal is to drink at least 80 oz of water each day, though yesterday I got up to 100! I have never really made drinking water a habit, and I think it's time to start. Plus, I have a serious soda addiction, and the more water I drink, the less soda (and food) I have room for

Btw, that dress really does look great! And congrats on finishing your exercise goals, and your success with your nutrition

Amazing challenge! I'm all in
Here are my goals:

Nutritional goals

Drink 8 glasses of water a day (1)
Eat one portion of everything I'm eating (2)
Eat more vegetables than fruit (3)
No refined sugar (4)
No refined carbs and cut carbs from one meal (5)
Coffee only two times a week (6)
Incorporate inflammation-reducing foods in my diet (7)
Eat only homemade meals (8)

Exercise goals:

Run once a week (1)
Get off one bus stop earlier (2)
Run twice a week (3)
Reach 10 000 steps per day (4)
(5)
Run 3 times a week (6)
Run every weekend (7)
Train for a 5k (8)

Yay, good luck everyone!!

Great goals, muguet!

I didn't do so well with my water today, I only got to about 60 oz. But I drank almost 100 yesterday, so I'm going to call it a wash and keep on trying tomorrow. This is a hard habit for me (even though it's my 'easiest' in the challenge) and it's gonna take a while for it to become second nature.

Thank you Chelainabear!!

I've done the water thing before and the only thing that worked was to carry a bottle around with me, even if I'm at home. Thanks for the support and hope things are going well for you!

muguet: I do have a designated "water cup" at home that is a tumbler with a straw, because I drink more when there's a straw involved My only problem is filling it back up when it's empty, I forget and too much time passes before I remember.

Nutrition: Already 20 oz. in for the day, and I woke up late this morning. I have found that when I slow down drinking water, I consume more food, so I'm trying to keep it at a steady rate throughout the day.

Exercise: I'm gonna try and do more cardio again today (even though I already met that goal) because once a week doesn't feel like much this week. I start my second job on Saturday and I'm going to be working between 45 and 60 hours a week, so I'd like to fit in some more exercise before it gets harder to find the energy.

Weight: As of this morning, I've lost 5 lbs! I'm at 261 and the 250's are just on the horizon.

things are going well for you!!

I'm adjusting to drinking more water now, had my first successful day yesterday! I'll be drinking more tea as well.

muguet: Nice job! Glad to hear things are going well for you. I love tea, good choice

I got up to 100 oz again yesterday! It felt really good. Today I'm on track, halfway to my goal at 3 PM.

I'm worried about tomorrow, though, I start a new job and I don't know how much water I can drink while I work. I work 8-5 at one job, and 7-midnight at the other, so we'll see. Good news is, I am going to sleep VERY well.

[Edit]

I TOTALLY forgot to post all of my goals, so here they are:

Nutrition:
1. 80 oz. of water per day
2. Keep a food journal
3. Have a serving of fruits or vegetables with every meal
4. No regular soda, only diet
5. No fast food
6. No soda at all

Exercise:
1. 30 min. run/cardio once per week
2. 30 min. strength train once per week
3. 30 min. run/cardio twice per week
4. 30 min. strength train twice per week
5. Train for 5K (c25K program)
6. Never go 2 days in a row without a workout

Hey everyone!

I'm back! Spain was good, though I soon realised not my kinda holiday. I really need to do more than just sit by the pool/beach on holiday, I need to be walking around and seeing the sights! My nephew, who's 2, was a complete nightmare at times. My sister spoils him so if he doesn't get what he wants all he has to do is whine and throw a tantrum and they give in to him. It was so hard at times knowing that they were making big mistakes! I ate a lot of food, I didn't do much swimming since the pool was always so crowded with annoying kids, but I did go on 3 runs. I know...not really a lot in the space of 11 days, but these runs were along a road that was SO hilly! Beautiful scenery though, so it made it all worth it. My min/mi times went from about 10:00 min/mi up to 12 min/mi because of the hills, but hoping that the short amount of hill training I did would have improved my performance for the flat routes!

Now I'm back I feel really nervous about the next step in life. I have so much to do, a lot of it completely has to be self motivated and has no sort of real life deadline so it's quite intimidating to get back and think "right...well, time to start living life the way I want" when I still need to find some sort of job. I get anxious in new situations quite easily, so I think for a while this transition will prove to be a bit difficult for me.

I have yet to weigh myself, but before I went away my weight had shot up to 166 lbs. Let's get this out of the way...holy crap on a stick...168.4 lbs!! That's awful! Well, I can't say I am completely shocked. While I did run I wasn't eating as well as I hoped. Well, no time like the present. I need to get back on track and back on track with my goals. I have to treat this as a fresh start and because of my weight I need to jump in the deep end and get going. Going to drink lots of water today, count my calories, go on a 4 mile run and generally try and shift this holiday weight asap!

I'll come back and reply to all your posts, but welcome to the new members!

Rie: Glad to hear you enjoyed your holiday! It's irritating when parents spoil their kids like that, because they're only making things worse for them. And 3 runs in 11 days isn't terrible for a vacation, especially hilly ones! I have faith that you can get back on the track you choose

I finished Phase 1 of my challenge today, and am moving on to Phase 2!!

For the next 2 weeks, I will be doing 30 min. of both cardio and strength training, once a week. I'll be maintaining my 80 oz. of water/day, and I will start keeping a food journal

Rie-YAY! You're back! I really missed you Sorry Spain didn't turn out being your kind of vacay. But that's great you got 3 runs in! I'm sure you made the best of it, too bad your nephew is so spoiled :/ You can totally handle this life transformation! You are super adaptable, look at how you moved to a totally different country like Japan and adapted there! You can create the life you want, just take small steps. And now that you're back in England things will be so much easier for you. Plus you have your family to support you. This is a complete and total fresh start for you! Treat this as an opportunity to start living your life exactly how you want it and loving yourself enough to take the necessary steps to achieve your goals
Also....are you going to start a Halloween Challenge?!

Chelainabear-Great job finishing phase 1! Your list of goals seems very good and manageable. Just think, by the end of this challenge you will be a new person! That's what's been the craziest for me now that I'm almost done with this. I can't believe how much I've changed

muguet- Get that water in girl!

Well I am so happy to be done with piano camp Although the director owes me money(...awkward). I've been celebrating the end of it with my fiance. Saturday we relaxed a lot, went to some garage sales, and did a bunch of cooking. At the garage sales we got two beautiful paintings for $20! I looked them up and the one is worth $250 and the other $150 and is from a numbered series and has its certificate of authenticity. I freakin love good finds! And I love buying art Its like looking for treasure haha
I planned out our meals for while I'm here. I have to make lots of leftovers so Mike has food to eat throughout the week otherwise he will eat very sad frozen dinners. We ended up cooking together Sat and it was so much fun. We had gf/df pizza, gf vegetarian Wardoff salad, gf/df garlic bread, and gf/df/sugar free/vegan blueberry cobbler. Mike made all the dough and did a great job with it. It all was super healthy and delicious! You can see pics here: https://www.facebook.com/dorothy.rob...1240052&type=3
I decided to start sharing all my cooking on fb bc people would find out about my dietary issues and ask questions like, "But what do you eat?! How do you live?!" And when I'd tell them they'd be like, "There's no way you can make that taste good". I've showed them hehe
Sunday was really fun. We went to Knott's Berry Farm! My fiance only lives 20min from Disney and Knotts so I've been begging him to take me and he gave in lol Its been so long since I've been to an amusement park. I used love roller coasters and the scarier the ride the better. But I was actually scared yesterday! Skipped the biggest and scariest rides(like X-celerator, Silver Bulltet, and Supreme Scream) but still had so much fun. It was super funny, on the train ride they have these robbers come on and its really hokey and I remembered the robbers bit, but when they came on they totally surprised me and I jumped and screamed! haha they then had a great time teasing me about it
I just love theme parks. I'm now trying to convince him to take me to Disneyland. I'll post some pics from yesterday.

Nutrition-Finished doing IF for two weeks and last week my weight finally dropped Now that I eased myself in, I'm starting 5:2 today. I'm really excited about it! I enjoy IF too though and think I'll continue with it on my normal eating days once I get used to it. I really like the way IF makes me feel honestly. Yesterday was the only day I was off, but it was a planned off since we were going to Knott's and it simply was not going to work out. I'm fine with it though bc this was the best two weeks I've had in a long time. I've been managing so well and my weekends have been so much better! Yesterday was a special occasion(haven't been there in 7 years!) and taking breaks to live life is important if I want to keep at this for an extended period of time.
I've been away from my scale at my fiance's. Tomorrow I'll weigh in and see the damage from Sunday. I'm hoping making today one of my fast days will help alleviate some of the damage

Exercise-Good! Keeping active. Did 6 miles of walking yesterday at the park. Mainly lots of walking. Planning on getting back up the mountain to hike on Thursday and Friday. 7 hours per week is what I'd call "maintenance" exercise for me. Any more and I'm training for something and any less doesn't seem to be enough for me to feel well. I joined the August exercise challenge since I finished all my phases here to help me stay accountable.

Weight-Weight finally dropped last Thursday to 138 after being 140 for two weeks. 140 is seriously my body's number. It looks like that's what I went back to during my maintenance break. So I'm kind of starting over again with weight loss after that break with 140 as my starting number and doing IF. That break was really good for me mentally and I'm glad I took it. IF has made my weight stabilize and I don't have those 5+lb jumps and falls each day anymore which is nice. I'm really hoping to see 137 this week after my 2nd fast day which I'm planning for being Wed. My goal is to get to 135 by Sept.

Dott: Sounds like you've been having an amazing time! The pictures look fun, and you look great! Very excited to hear how the 5:2 goes for you, its something I've been considering.

I got my cardio done yesterday, and journaled. I had to finish some of it when I woke up this morning, but it still got written down. Though, I think yesterday was a bad day to start, I had a terrible food day.

I'm going to this festival style concert on Saturday, and my hope is to be down in the 250s by then, which only means I need to lose 2 lbs. At my size, that's such a small percentage of my weight that I think it's doable, I just have to stay on top of things.

I also bought a new dress for it that will hopefully be cute AND comfortable for the whole day, but I'm nervous about wearing it. It's always like that with new clothes, so we'll see.

Chelainabear The festival sounds like an awesome occasion to enjoy yourself! Don't let the dress get in the way, I'm sure you'll look great!