Ohh, that's a good idea. I keep telling myself I'm gunna go blonde again at some point but I keep forgetting to do it when I say I want to do it (Summer).

WAAAHOOOO!!!!! I MADE THE CHARTS!!! **Happy Dance*** :carrot::carrot::carrot: I have been so down in the dumps lately, so this made me feel amazing!

Okay...sooo...I don't know how the heck I missed everything that was going on here, but holy schnikes. Rie, you have done an amazing job with this challenge, and since I have joined 3FC, you have been one of my biggest inspirations. You ALWAYS have a positive, upbeat attitude, and I think that is what a lot of us need around here. When so many of us have experienced negativity due to our weight in our own personal lives, I cannot even fathom why we would want to bring that onto each other here. To all of the ladies on this board: I am so proud of all of you! Everyone's stories, struggles, triumphs, words of advice and words of encouragement have truly been inspirational. Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it. Stay classy, stay dignified, and kick this fat's a** right off of us!! (So perhaps that wasn't the classiest thing to say, but hey! We have work to do here ;) ) Let's keep truckin, ladies. We all can do this, no matter how fast or slow it happens...we WILL get HEALTHY!!! :hug:

It's going to be this!!! :D
http://www.realbeauty.com/cm/realbea...n-64228817.jpg

I'm also going to get highlights when I get it done. I'm a dishwater blonde, so probably a copper-blonde and a lighter blonde for the highlights. I've already talked to the salon I want to get it done at and I think they'll do a really good job. It's important to me that it looks natural, you know? Like, not too different from the color my hair is. I don't want to have people look at me and go "WHOA. You got your hair colored...". My hair is the kind that changes shade depending on how much sun I get, haha, so I want it to kind of look like that.

Hi Riestrella

I was gone for a week and now i see some stuff happened while i was gone. im so sorry to hear that. I want you to know that you help so many stay motivated dont let anyone bring you down.

Also, I cant find the spreadsheet? Is there a special place to go now??:?:

Hi everyone! I certainly picked a busy week to be all depressed and ashamed about my eating habits and not log in to read the discussion. I'm glad it seems to have cleared up, and I'm excited to keep participating. Personally I don't care about the challenge aspect (I'm operating under the assumption that if I simply ignore it, maybe it will cease to exist), and I enjoy the support and encouragement I get from you all.

I had a weird week last week. My eating habits sucked, and I know it. I felt sick by the end of the weekend from eating so much crap. (And, okay, that cupcake was really good.) BUT I'm proud of myself because my exercise never suffered. I think I'm finally on an exercise plan that I can sustain.

I'm also excited because I just weighed in for the week and I lost 1.8 lbs! (This is huge for me at this point in my weight loss.) I'm not sure how to reconcile this with the above paragraph. It could be the extra hard exercise from the week before catching up with me, it could be that that extra food over the weekend hasn't caught up to me yet, or it could be that I haven't been eating enough calories and the increased intake actually knocked some sense into my body.

Have a good week everyone!

That cut is gorgeous...You HAVE to post a pic when its done =D..My hair is the same way. Natural dirty blonde, and in the summer it lightens up considerately.

jessica2231- You have to drop Riestrella a pm and she'll give you the link. :)

noelle8310- That was such an inspirational message ^_^ Great job on making the charts

Paja- Sorry about your wierd week but if it helped you lose that 1.8 pounds then *dances*

Please look at the first post of the thread and follow the link for an explanation =)

hey girlies.................diet goin great...just burned 100 cals! im soo tired. hope evryone doin n feelin great. love ya. byyyeee!

Hi ladies! I don't post much on here anymore but I'm going to try to get back into it because it helps me stay motivated.

On Sunday i ran my third half marathon and finished in 1:58, which I'm really really stoked about. I'm so sore now that i can hardly even move, lol. I'm hoping i can get back into the routine by next week. I've been maintaining and not really losing because I was getting ready for that race. I'd like to see the scale go down this week!! I lost about 20 pounds on the last spreadsheet, and I would love to do that again by the summer :)

i absolutely admire people who are able to run half marathons! and you've had three already - WOW :D right now I'm preparing myself for my first competetive run - a 10 k :) so all your stories about the long runs only motivate me to believe that i can do it to :)

Jazzang, that's incredible! Congrats! I just started training for my first half marathon that I plan on running around May. Any tips?

OMG! ITS ON, I'm in :dizzy:

Morning everyone...(afternoon???) frustrated today...TOM and not so great eating has made the scale jump to 194 from 189 -.- *shakes fist* grrrrr.

Hope everyone has a good day

This isn't a bikini photo, but I'm posting a picture of me in a dress that I would like to look good in for my trip to Vegas (!) in July. I look pretty good in it, now, which is surprising since it's a size M. But, my tummy leaves a lot to be desired. Hope to get rid of some of that blubber in the next five months. So, here is my official "bikini" photo for this challenge.

I gained 5 lbs.... I'm so ashamed. Now I'm trying to kick my own butt into gear but I have zero motivation and I hate it.ugh ugh ugh.

Musical astronaut: my best advice is to listen to your body, an be careful of running too much leadin it up to your race. I'm a huge fan of cross training. I exercise 7 days out of the week, but I mix it up so much that I don't burn out. While training for this half I probably only ran 2-3 times a week on average. Other days I was dancing or kickboxing or doing strength or elliptical or you name it. That said, it is very important to get your long runs in as you train. Increase your long run by about a mile every week until you can go up to 11 or 12. That should be no closer than 2 weeks before your race. The week before your "long run" is more like 5 miles :)

That's good to know. I'm afraid of burning out, definitely.

Today I went running for the first time in almost 2 weeks. I'm glad I got back out there. Stupid guys.

hmm. im afraid to go weig guys.......................uugh. after almost three weeks of strict dieting..........yesterday i ate a double whopper with bacon...............fries..............22 oz soda...........i fried chicken thigh.......fries and another soda..that was throughout the course of the day.! ughhh. now i gotta do all fruits today. i dnt wanna gain bk the weight. but i had such an intense craving for the darn food i had to have it. hope u all are doing better than me. bye. i got work!

I'm so excited that I made the chart, but as you can see I was up over a pound this last week :/. I should probably get negative points for the gain :(.

Well I am definietly going to make this next week better. I have successfully counted all my calories, but this last week was not so successful at staying at my calorie goal. Well one good change is I am consistently tracking everything that passes my lips for two weeks now. Now I need to work on actually eating less food that I am burning! Oh well, I cant change this last week but I can definitley make this next one much more successful!

Looks like lots of you ladies are doing really well on here!

Another big thing. I have decided to change my goal weight up from 139. I did the wrist test and apparently I am small boned. But I found an ideal weight calulator and it said my "ideal"is between 144-148. So since I was already hoping for 146 for this challenge, and its smack dab in the middle of that ideal weight calculator reading, I think its meant to be my goal weight!

Hi!! I'm totally down for this challenge! I'm a new member, so can I get an invite please? Thank you!

Ughhh I just ate so much food! Definetly having an off week. I really need to keep my eye on the prize. I just got the new bikini that I ordered today... whenever I feel like I want to give up I'll just look at that little red bikini!

princessgina00- Big fan of dresses and that one is cute. Best of luck reaching your goal in 5 months :)
darlingbrit- hang it there :) How much time did it take for you to go up to that number? If its a few days then its most definitely water weight. My scale jumped from 189 to 194 overnight. Granted, i've been eating at maintaince the past week but most likely water from TOM and to much salt...it already went back down a pound today so hopefully its the same in your case too :)

kimmyskelter- at least you satified your craving for that food xDDDD and I doubt you'll want any of it for awhile. You got this...once slipup isn't horrible. Keep up the amazing work. Burgers are one of my "OMG I must have foods" xDD so I know its hard

ma26- Hehe a few pounds closer to your goal...kinda but you know what I mean xDDD Good luck this next staying on plan :)

Energizer Jamie- Welcome. :)

Samantha Daisy- What brand and style is the bikini? I want to look up what it looks like :) Still trying to figure out the style I want :)

I had a good day today. TOM weight is finally going back down...Thank Freakin God. Had a good workout after a few days off, and am actually way below my calorie intake for the day since I wasen't very hungry...Oh and spent the day at an aquariam snaping pics =D good day

So, I ran 1 mile today on the treadmill at 6.5mph. I hate the treadmill, but it was raining. And I only did 1 mile because I HATE the treadmill. Ugh. On the plus side though, this morning I weighed 181.0 again! *happy dance* I was afraid that weight was a fluke but to see it again after a couple of days is really exciting. I will be so psyched to get into the 170s.

I have a follow-up interview in the morning (I know, I should go to sleep now) for a job I really want. I'm nervous though. :/ I know I would do a great job at it, and it's a job I would really enjoy, not just one that I want for the sake of having a job. So hopefully I can do really well at the interview.

Lastly, I talked to my (ex)bf last Tuesday and we agreed to meet up 3 weeks from then and not talk in between. Well 2 days ago I decided that 1. I was going crazy because 2. Not talking was what got us into this mess. So I emailed him and asked if we could talk over email, and he said yes. First I sent a really long one about church, and he replied about 24 hours later. I want to talk about the things we discussed when we met up. If we can't see if we can work out our problems, I would like to get closure. I didn't say either of those things, but I know him very well (2 years), and I suspect he is thinking the same thing. He's probably more closure. He said he could see us getting back together in like a year, starting from scratch. Don't judge me if I'd like to accelerate the process. :P But yeah, so just talking these things over with him makes me feel better. I am being careful though, because I don't want to get hurt even more.

So all in all, it's been a good week. Things could get a lot better in the next couple of weeks...keep your fingers crossed for me.

Baker23, which aquarium were you at? I volunteer at the GA Aquarium. I love aquariums. :)

This soundsso much like my ex to me. i don't mean to be judgemental, but some buys like having zheir ego fed being the one whom someone wants. we broke up and then HE called me wanting to talk, wanting a break, wanting to get back together after a while ... just did things to interrupt me in my grief and overcoming. please, MusicalAstronaut, have the courage and pride to get over him and find a bf who is worthy of your love, time and effort and who won't do any of these sick games of breaking up and getting together.
i'm not saying that getting back together is a bad thing in general, because some couples do get back together and are happy, but that happens after they realise they can move on (!) but don't want to be without the person they love. most people use this to play with the feelings of the one the once were together and go filling their low self esteem or tiny ego.
i wish you a very succesfull overcoming and remember, you are worthy of a person who is able to return love to you in the same extent you are giving! ;)
159 today agin, btw!

He did do all of those things. I do feel like I'm getting over him a little bit though. I wanted us to talk between now and when we agreed to meet up because last time we saw each other, he was a complete wreck and I think he regret his decision. But, there were lots of things in the relationship that I think need to be addressed before we think about getting back together. So us talking now is a chance for me to try to address those things. And when we meet up I'm going to ask him if we're working towards getting back together, or if he sees this as us just talking. If he says it's anything other than us working towards something, I'm going to (try to be very very brave and) tell him we can't talk or see each other again.

When he broke up with me he wouldn't really give me any reasons, and said he didn't want me to try to fix it. When we saw each other for the first time after 3 he seemed really unsure. So this is me giving him one chance to fix this. I know it might be unwise, but I keep telling myself we get ONE chance and that's it.

/end hopeless patheticness

182.2 today. Ughhhhh I keep going back and forth between that and 181 this week. I want to see the 170s!

tell me about it, I'm between 161 and 159 for weeks. I did fix my eating habits 2 weeks ago and started going down a bit (0.1 by 0.1), so i'm pretty happy it's starting to go in the right direction. i started my running workout this week (for my 10k) and i hope the weight will go down now that i'm focusing more on cardiovascular taining than weightlifting.

MA, i really hope you can think about what happened during the relationship clearly. think of yourself, ask yourself what you want, what will make you happy, whan you want to happen ... take a break from all this e-mailing and talking, go to the park, breathe fresh air, go to the mall and have some fun. i guarantee you can have a great time on your own. and being independent is super-sexy to all men and super-attractive to everyone (including your girl-friends). people tend to fantasise about changing, but in reality, after some time passes by, nearly everyone sees nothing has really changed. it's really hard to change people and basically, i think that in a realtionship, you don't have to change anyone. it it's someone you get along well,there's no problem, but if you really hate some habits or try to ignore things that are wrong, or even compensate them with sex, gifts, name it, you will end up being miserable, because all this fades away with time and what's left is wether you get along well with someone or not (plus, for good or for worse!).:hug:

1/16-201.5
1/17-201.5
1/18-198.0
1/19-199.5
1/20-197.5
1/21-196.5
1/22-?
1/23-197.5
1/24-197.5
1/25-197.0
1/26-198.0
1/27-197.0
I want to fit back into this red two-piece hanging in my closet so badly.

I'm definitely making sure that I take time for myself. :) And yeah, it's been a month so I've definitely thinking hard about what I want. I don't know if I want us to get back together. It's hard to miss someone so much, though.

When's your 10K? I did that same thing to boost my weightloss. I was sticking to 30 minute runs and I got stuck around 190-192 for the longest time. So, I signed myself up for a 10K and had to double my running. It worked like a charm. :) Now I'm (very slowly) working my way up to a half-marathon, and my weight is slowly creeping down. Yay!

Baker23- Here is me in the bikini I ordered- it's from everythingbutwater.com, they have some really cute swimwear! It's a bandeu style top which I like a lot.

Samantha Daisy, that is the cutest bikini ever!!! And it fits perfectly already! Damn girl, you're going to kill it when you reach your goal!!!

Samantha Daisy- OMG I love that bikini. Its so cute =D...You already look great in it. Model body =O

MusicalAstronaut- Can't really add to what others have said. Just hope everything works out for you :) Sounds like you have everything under control and are really thinking about whats best for you. Breakups suck...period...Can't even imagine how much so after 2 years.

Musical Astronaut- I am going through the same thing you are after a 3 year relationship. We've been broken up for 7 months now, and I've lost about.... 65-70 lbs since then and we both think its good for us to be single and learn to be independent from each other. Now that we're off and on talking we've decided to be serious about being friends and as much as I don't like he's seeing another girl, It's none of my business. I guess just knowing that I'm the best he's ever going to get helps too (He's told me he feels that way and that he's still in love with me, which is fine)

But ultimately, you can care about someone but not be in love with them. some separation is good, I'd recommend that if you miss him a ton, see him every two weeks or so just to play catch up. and no negativity. you both dont need it!

That stinks that someone had to ruin it for all of us newbies on the site :( but i will still do it and post my updates here each week! well for the first week i lost 5 lbs went from 237 to 232! i hope everyone reaches their weight loss goals and good luck!

I'll probably be opening up the public URL on Monday as a trial run. I know now how to restore old versions of the spreadsheet should anything go wrong. So hold tight, you might be able to join sooner than you think!

I am so proud of myself I actually went to the gym today even though all I wanted to do was home after work I went there for an hour. I ran on the treadmill for a while and did some ab work and body weight exercises. I also spent awhile stretching which just felt wonderful.

I am hoping that tomorrow morning I see a really great number on the scale!

Hi all :)
Just moved flat yesterday, I swear I mustv'e burned about 10,000 cals straight. I was cleaning for hours straight, no break lol Thing I love about this journey is seeing all physical exertion as a good thing.

Seeing good things on the scale this morning, going to try my upmost to see it again tommorrow :crossed:

my 10k is on may 19th, so i have plenty of time to improve my speed :) right now i make 6,5k in 45 mins and i would love to make 10k in 50 mins ... but this will require a lot of hard work - cant wait!!! :D

BTW, I've just had a wild off-plan day ... had normal breakfastand lunch, but the dinner just killed it - had a yoghurt that was planned but what followed was: 1 piece of pie and 2 pieces of chocolate. i feel so uncomfortably stuffed right now :(

I weighed in today and I had lost the two pounds I gained last week. I really think that this was most likely water weight from TOM but still it is always nice to see the scales go down.

Now I just need to make sure I stay focused! I have a gym date with one of my friends from work tomorrow. She lives in a really nice condo with a great gym so we are going there. We are planing on making this a regular thing which would be great because I am rarely motivated to work-out on the weekends.

Also starting on Wednesday and going to March 14th I am going to be working at least 2 extra hours a day with a student who failed one of my courses so that he can recover the credit (it's a condensed study program and he didn't take it seriously). Since these tutoring session are taking place 4-6 everyday and that's when I normally go to the gym I am going to have to be extra hard on myself to get there at least 3 times from 6-8.

I think February is going to be a difficult month for me but I don't want any excuses to get in my way. I just need to commit to this and everything will work out.