Well come one come all, and join us in the journey to rid us of our Bubble Wrapping (that is how I describe my weight, "I have an awesome body, it's just being stored in Bubble Wrap for now)

RavenToy and I are going to use this thread to discuss our days, food, recipes, food obsticles, etc. we welcome any of you ladies to join us.

My new goal started on Sept 1 and the final outcome will be a 10lb loss by Oct. 1 Xcrossing fingersX. Raven is going for a different challenge, but I will let her express her own desires.

A promise to myself and you all....I vow to report every day, each day (times may vary) to give proper daily updates on my acheviement..or um, er failures. Of course this is something I am doing to promote my own need for accountability, but maybe it will help someone else who reads this too. And no doubt encouragement can make the fat just melt away. I am personally, going to try and lose in blocks of 10. This way I have mini-goals and the final amount I want to lose does not feel so daunting.

I only ask one thing from anyone else that joins the challenge, that you try to report in as often as possible, let us know your success and failure and provide your current weight and goal, what diet you are on and what exercise routine you are doing.

So let me go start the thread with my entry. Best wishes and hugs to everyone!!!!

I love the bubble wrap title.

Ok, well I'm off to a rocky start. I didn't plan well today, and so... it was a snickers bar for lunch. *sigh*

I guess I better get my brain wrapped around this and focus. I really need to get my eating under control again. That is by far the biggest issue right now.

I'm traveling to Alaska in three weeks, so I'd really like to hit the 179 mark before I fly. Whether I maintain that weight or gain a few pounds while I'm up there is relatively inconsequential. It's a psychological thing. I know when I get back anything I put on will come back off again.

Towards that goal, and towards reshaping my body and strengthening my core muscles for riding, I am going to commit to doing pilates at least 3 times a week. I will also try very hard to keep my calories in the 1400 a day range, and try not to skip meals. My water is good, that's gotten to be kind of a no brainer for me.

I think this will help me get through the weeks ahead without obsessing about *why* I'm going up there, which is to visit my father, who has been officially diagnosed with Alzheimer's. He isn't doing terribly well on the mental front, and whether he'll recognize me or the kids is anybody's guess. Life seems a little surreal sometimes. So... focus, plan, and off I go!!

Thank you, Tray!

Start date: September 1
1st 10lb Challenge deadline: October 1.
Start weight: 229
Minigoal: 219
My chosen weigh in day is: Fridays

Diet: Following a slightly modified Zone diet.
Supplements: TakeOff fat burner (at workout) Multivitamin, chromium picolinate
Exercise: Home gym workout 4 days a week; time not fixed yet, still having some surgery recovery issues. Just doing the best I can right now.

Today I am eating OP, but I am not getting in the water. Actually I am not hungry and finding that I could easily skip a meal. Not a good thing and I know this. I will have to find a new strategy to make myself keep drinking and remembering meals.

Overall I am feeling pretty good today, though I am a bit stressed over some financial issues (surgery set back), but other than that, I am feeling great and ready to do this!!!!!

Way to get motivated Rubensmuse and Raven Toy!

I am currently involved in the Halloween Challenge but will pop in and see how you both are progressing

We have a sticky thread for recipes and one for tips and food finds- Ruben,I merged your previous food find thread with the tip thread just to make things easier - so if you want to post your recipes, finds and ideas on those threads that would be great but if you want to do your own thing that's great too

Good luck to you both

P.S. Sorry to hear about your dad Raventoy, that must be very difficult to deal with

Bubblewrap! That's excellent, Rubens!
I'm doing the Halloween challenge (well, I'm pretending to, anyhow), but I'll drop in every now and then if I may.
Good luck, girls!!

Oh... Raven... I missed that bit about your Dad. I'm so sorry, sweetie. I'll say prayers for you and your family. Hugs...

Hey Halloween is in October too so I consider you ladies in the challenge!!

I had a pretty good day today. I ate a protein bar for breakfast, tuna on a tortilla with a small salad for lunch, grilled chicken breast and blackeyed peas and pintos with Soyrizo <---- going to tell you all about that on the stickey!!!

As far as exercising, me and the Hub started on the Beginners Routine for the Home Gym (we bought a TotalGym system). Man, you really feel it. We researched long and hard before deciding on this one. I talked to the company and it has a guarantee, of course you have to follow the plan, which we are doing. They really helped with alot of questions, and they offered to purchase before/after endorsements if we stick it out and follow the plan exactly. We took before pics, so we shall see what develops over time.
The total beginners session lasts 20 minutes and at first you think...'i am not sweating enough or hurting enough'. Well after just 30 minutes of 'rest' time. My arms are shaky and my belly is aching. I am going to take it easy on the abs since I don't want to mess up any healing I did after the surgery.

So basically, so far so good. I am drinking some water now and getting ready to hit the shower and then a good nights rest. I want to start getting up earlier in the AM so I can do my workouts then. I am more of a morning person and think that I will see better results if I exercise when my energy levels are higher and my metabolism is more up.

Tomorrows goals: Get up earlier and drink more water. Did not drink no where near enough today.

Ok for the end of day 2.

Rubens-Sounds like you and hubby are doing GREAT!! Good for you!! My darling hubby is THIN, but he could benefit from the work outs. His stamina is almost worse than mine!!!

Raven-So sorry to hear about your Dad. Alzheimers is awful.

I'm doing the Halloween challenge too. Good to see you both posting again!! Missed you both!!!

Well poopie. The day did not go as planned, but I will not digress. I wanted to get up real early, but a 2am phone call..you know the kind that make you think an international incident has occured....bloody thing was a hang up. Well it woke me up and threw off the sleep pattern. Next thing I new I was waking up at 7:30. Blasted.

Anyway. I will try it again in the morning. why am i writing this now....beats me just wanted to. i will jump back on later to fill more in about my day.

HI!! Hate those calls in the middle of the night. i had a horrible night last night too, and am feeling WASTED this morning.

Hi, I will pop in too if I may - I'm doing the Halloween challenge as well.

Raven, so sorry about your dad - I am sending you a big hug, as my mom also had Alzheimer's (we think - not sure, but definitely dementia with Parkinsonian symptoms too) and I know how tough it is.

Lidian

Rubensmuse~ I also am in the halloween challenge but will drop in to cheer you all on and also report my progress.

Raven ~ So sorry about your Dad. DH's grandmother has it also. I know how hard it must be for you. Remember to keep a sense of humor...sometimes it's the only thing to do, to keep you from going mad.

I hate those middle of the night calls, I always think the worst.

Lidian~ Sorry about your Mom. That must have been very difficult for you.

No exercise for me yesterday but will do it today...I promise. So far I have done good with eating & water.

Hi to Den, Ellis, Mauvais and everyone else.....Big hugs for us all

Helloooooo ladies!!! Well I have had a good day. I ate well and just got finished working out the upper body on the gym. My arms are shaky but boy does that feel good!!!! Last night was lower body, so tomorrow will be lower body again. I was told to to take two days off, so I chose the weekends, since we are usually busy doing stuff then anyway. The people at the company where we bought this are wonderful for advise and workout schedules. They are starting us out on the Starter and Beginners Sessions for two weeks, then we graduate to the Intermediate. The Beginner is good enough for now for sure! I am using muscles I haven't felt in years. I feel like I need to do more regards cardio though, so I am looking into the pilates route. I talked about that before, but never found DVD versions I liked. Walking would be the best, but it is raining every evening now or it is sweltering hot. So for now I will stick with inside activities. If we had a nice place to ride, I would love to bike. hmmm.

Anyway...todays food was as follows:
B: Soyrizo and egg beaters in a tortilla.
L: Power Crunch bar and Soy Crisps
Snacks: Power Crunch Bar and Soy crisps.
D: Lower fat version of Picadillo with broccoli sprinkled with butter buds and seasoned salt.
I drank a good amount of water today and had 2 diet Sprites.
I do not plan on anything further to eat tonight since the Picadillo will sit pretty solid anyway.

Total workout time: 20 minutes.

It feels like I am going in the right direction, so I take that as a good thing.

Ok well 2 more days till weigh in...I am not looking forward to it really, so I might just skip it till next week. I have not made up my mind on that yet.

Hugs to all!!!!!

Way to go on the exercise RubensMuse!

Woo hooo, Rubens!!