Okay... Well um, to get back to the point of this whole thing... I totally kicked butt today. Drank all my water, ate not only within my calories limits but. had super nutritional meals, and I worked my not so little behind off on some cardio. I just had to share, because I'm so happy with myself and excited for this weeks weigh in. :D

Ok, I'm going to clarify that I specifically stated that all of our bodies are different and never made the assumption that yours worked like mine. No one is arguing with you but merely trying to explain why this challenge isn't "Shady" as your originally stated. We are all here to lose and support each other in doing so

Im also going to say that someone who is heavier burns more calories doing the exact same thing as someone who isn't as heavy, since they have the extra weight to lug around. Its easier for most people lose faster when they first start out simply because of this It doesn't mean one or the other isn't working as hard. Its just the way it is.

Alot of us have adjusted our diet the more we have lost :) Otherwise, like you stated, we would have slowed down. I have no idea why(and maybe I should look this up now) xD, but many of us do struggle with getting off the last few pounds. Even though we are allowing ourselfs a decent deficit, exercising extensively, and working our butts off. If you are not one of these people, then more power to you. I am still in the overweight category. And yet, my body doesn't want to let go of this freakin fat.

Song of Surly- Congrats on the great day :) What kind of cardio exercises do you do? I need to start mixing mine up more os

Honestly, I joined this Challenge to see how far I would go.
The standings do not matter unless you want to compare yourself to a group of people that you may never meet in person in your life, which at the end of the day it's all about kicking your own @$$ and being happy with YOURSELF.

I am constantly Challenging myself because let's face it, as of right now I have 120 lbs still left to lose. and It is difficult. If it wasn't hard, it wouldn't be called work, but you cannot say your struggle is any harder than another persons' because you have not walked in their steps.

Hows everyone's week been so far?

Have any of you decided to drink more water and at your next workout session end up sweating profusely?

seriously, guys?! :(
i think the whole point of this thread is to make a support group that helps you with being on plan because of the weekly weigh-ins. the point thing is just for fun, to add a bit of a challenge fever - don't take it too serious, tho! :)
relax, breathe, ... :D

Hey guys!

I'm starting to struggle a bit in the last couple of days. Just not been exercising and eating too much. Sometimes I hate how my friends want to meet around food, it's so hard to say no to tasty options! Usually I'm fine, but when I'm not working out I know it's just adding up! So today I'm going to hit it hard with Insanity and get my a$$ into gear again. Only 21 days left until my trip to America now!

~~~

Exeption - I think you're going far being the original point here, Exeption, you should take a step back and realise that we're all trying to tell you that it's easier for bigger people to lose more pounds. Surely having multiple people say basically "hey, I think you're mistaken" might get you to reconsider what you're saying. Sometimes you might post up something about your weight loss plan on this board and people will say "I don't think that's going to work." Are you going to ignore the advice of others then?
This is a 25 week long challenge, in 25 weeks it's more than likely the bigger people are going to continue to lose more weight than the smaller people as the smaller people are likely going to start hitting their goals and start maintaining. Whereas the bigger people simply have more to lose hence why they keep on going. So in the long run percentage of weight loss is fair here.

I think it's quite stubborn to keep on going when all we're trying to do is make you realise why 113 people here don't have any problem with the format of this challenge. At the end of the day I'm not changing the format of this challenge, I'm not splitting people up into groups and I'm starting to think you just want me to do so so you have some sort of chance of winning some challenge that's meant to be about staying accountable and support. I'm hoping that isn't the case, so choose your battles wisely and be careful with how you're coming across to others; as I said before it's quite insulting to have someone strut in and try and shake things up when no one else has had a problem. If there were blatant flaws in this challenge people would have voiced them when this challenge was posted in December. There was plenty of time for discussion but everyone seemed cool and here we are.

Song of - Great! I love it when you stay on track and feel like shouting from the rooftops! Good luck this week =)

darlingBrit - I don't find any sort of correlation between the water I drink and the amount I sweat to be honest. I think I sweat a lot less now as I'm losing more weight, that I have noticed!

Wait....there isn't a huge cash prize?! Riestrella?? No huge cash prize?
That's it. I quit the challenge. ;) ;) ;)

Only kidding. :D

song of Congrats!! Great job.

darlingbrit If I drink too much water when I work out, it just sloshes around in my stomach and I feel a little green. So I have to watch how much water I drink.

My week has been okay. Good food wise, not good exercise wise. The weekend that I was super-super-SUPER excited about didn't go as planned at all, so I'm feeling a little down about it.

I'm glad it's nearly the weekend so I can curl up with some lifetime movies and have a good cry. If it doesn't rain (it's supposed to on Saturday, 90% chance I think) I'll get out for a nice long walk...try to clear my head.
Could use some good vibes.

Oh, didn't I tell you all? YOU WIN A MILLION DOLLARS IF YOU WIN THIS CHALLENGE! In Monopoly money.

I've been bad food wise and exercise wise! Aww, sorry you didn't have a good weekend, what was wrong with it? Hope you're ok! If you want to cry, watch Pixar. You'll be happy AND you'll cry!

So, I'm doing this new thing where after breakfast I wait untill I get hungry before I go for lunch. And it took my till now, which is 2pm. I noticed the other day already that I was full from only 1000 calories. I ate super healthy and had a big green smoothie. Maybe that has to do with it. Just saying.

Hey didn't have the greatest day yesterday as I baked some weight watchers cookies what a mistake! Even those where too yummy to resist so hit it hard today and managed to do my first 10k run! Just shows what a little bit of determination can do for you :D
Hope everybodys week is going great :D x

Yes, let's move on!

Philana- I just watched a movie on Netflix where a guy had nothing but fruit and vegetable smoothies for 60 DAYS! After day 4 or 5 they became filling. Apparently it's the unprocessed nutrients (well according to the video)

Well it's actually not what I'd ideally like to do. When I lost my thirty or so pounds over a year ago, I had a treadmill, and I looooved couch 2 5k. I've moved away from my treadmill, (and have gained back that weight), so I'm mainly doing a circuit mix of cardio, free weight and body weight exercises at home, or the elliptical at the gym.

Last night was the elliptical. I upped the resistance and still made it thirty minutes, so I felt pretty proud of myself. :)

Nothing all that interesting to help change up your routine, though.

Riestrella:
OMIGOD. I could buy St. James Place!
Ladies, move ovah, you've got some competition in the house....

Philana:
You... waited until you were hungry... before you ate?



.....................I don't understand.

Surly:
Good job! I hate when I'm on the elliptical and the guy beside me is going twice as fast as I am and barely breaking a sweat. Always makes me feel better to look over and see that my resistance is like twice what his is! ;)

Good job at going for the full thirty minutes!!!

Me:
I set another random goal for myself last night. On top of my 30+ laps 3 times a week in the pool, I'd also climb the stairs of my apartment (25 flights) twice a week.

Oh. Man. I live on the 12th, so I hopped merrily down to the basement, then turned to start my ascent. 3 flights in, my legs started screaming. And I mean... screaming. I continued the same speed with muscles crying and protesting in agony until the 11th flight, where I actually had to sit down. I hadn't realized that my heart was pounding like a drum on my ribcage, and I could feel the blood pulsing in my ears. I was panting so hard it was echoing up and down the (thankfully abandoned) stairwell, and I got a good wave of nausea.

I may have overkilled a little. And I may be a bit out of shape.

So then I climbed to the 25th by going one flight, then pacing back and forth on each landing three times before taking the next. But I made it!!!! And then sat down at the top again and put my head between my knees for a minute.

Went back to my apartment, feeling a bit sick to my stomach and like my legs were filled with a no-name brand of Jell-O (like real Jell-O but sh!ttier) but extremely proud of myself. :D

And this morning, I was down a full pound from yesterday...! 172.8 to 171.8. Clearly just a water-weight loss, but I'm happy anyhow. :)

Bahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!

My weight loss has been slow the last couple of weeks, but I have a great feeling for next week's weigh in! :)

Philana - I definitely feel more full after eating a bunch of healthy fruits and veggies. It takes a few days though to get used to it, but it definitely works and it makes you feel so good about yourself. :)

OMG Jelbb - R.E.S.P.E.C.T. - that sounds like such torture. Awesome feeling though? And yeh.. only eating when hungry is kinda a new concept to me too ;). So far it works. I just have to make sure I don't eat too little.

So - I just went on another c25k run (I've restarted it after quitting in week 5 the last time) and it went great. I take our dog, a german shepherd and she takes up all my attention trying to get her to not pull me over and basically just teaching her what I expect of her when we run together that time flies by so before I know it the lady in my earphones is telling me I can walk again. Yay for the dog! She is gonna stay my running buddy till the bitter end.

I was content with just cutting calories and excersising only a little but realizing how LONG it's gonna take to get at goal that way I am looking into more excersise. The new gym I am a just really isn't working for me. I moved recently and the gym where I used to live was great, went there 5 days a week. But htis one has old machines and it's small and no real guidance. So I think I am gonna do-it-myself.

Am gonna buy a twiststepper for at home, we have dumbbells so I am trying to figure out how to do that properly and I'll go swimming twice a week. That should do it. I ride my bike to work 4 times a week and it's about 3 miles so that helps. What I REALLY want is a racingbike so I can go long distances for hours. I just love that. But need to save up for that.

Ah, I am rambling! lol.
Lat0r!

OMG :D i've just realised i misspelled eliptical as EPILEPTICAL :D:D:D:D:D LOL!!! (as my excuse, english is not my mothertounge :o )

Been super on plan the last few days. Excercise and yummy healthy food choices. Feeling great and looking forward to next weeks weigh in!

Question: What day is my weigh-in deadline in US, since Riestrella is in UK (right?)? I usually weigh-in on Sundays & post on Mondays (that would be 3 days from now), but should I post tomorrow instead so I don't get a missed W.I.?

Nice reading how everyone's doing. I take 6 Zumba classes a week (I'm an instructor & we team-teach) and I've also been doing 1 ballet workout & 1 belly dance class a week. Haven't seen any major weight changes in this month yet, but I know its food-related.. I've cut down on the fast food & chocolate candy this week, so hopefully that will have helped somewhat.. my friend's aunt sold tamales this week, so I bought a dozen (who turns down homemade tamles?) and I've been trying to limit myself to 2 per sitting, but I've had a couple munch-out binges this week too.. I should get more nuts & fruit for healthy snacks next week :)

:hug: to everyone and wish you luck.. Keep it up.. I need to shift into a higher gear ;)

Riestrella Haha about the Monopoly money.
Not sure I want to divulge details about the weekend. Thank you for asking though. Might give a summary over the next day or two. It involves a guy.
Maybe I will tune into a Pixar movie.

philana where do you go for your smoothie recipes?
Is there a "song" you can download for the C25k program? where it tells you when to walk/run? It's getting pretty chilly, but maybe I could do it on the treadmill. I'd rather have someone just boss me around and tell me when to do what vs keeping track of time on my own. :)

lilypad kudos on the 10k! I was thinking about doing a 1k beer walk this weekend...same benefits, right? ;) (it's something in my area. You walk around indoor shops sampling cheeses and beers. haha)

Jelbb you make me laugh so much! :rofl:
...and you made my jaw DROP reading about all of those stairs! Maybe I'll work on going up and down the stairs at my apt building (of course, mine only goes up to the 4th floor).

Lol!! It's like you tried to squish together "epileptic" and "eliptical." I'm not so sure about the image that conjures up. :D

And I mispell stuff in english all the time, and I'm not only a native speaker, but an english major, so I think that's a pretty good excuse.

:lol: That was prob one of the funniest things i've read in awhile...

I saw a drop today on the scale...back down to 188 after hovering around 191 for a bit. Still think I was retaining water due to weight training. Next week is usually when I have a few pound drop in weight(thank you body patterns) so looking forward to it =D

I'm having a crappy workout week in addition to it being TOM. Hopefully things change next week. I can't get too far behind, I am on a schedule with the whole half marathon training. On the other hand, I had a job interview for a microbiology position! I'm super excited because it's exactly the sort of job I want at the kind of company I'd like to work for.

P.s. I think the reason I'm having a crappy workout week is that the weather changed and now it's cold out. I hate the cold.

Exception,
Here is a link to a website that agrees with what several people have tried to explain. I also copied a little bit of information direction from the website.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/40...weight-faster/

-Overweight people have greater mass, so they have biophysics in their favor when they exercise. The more someone weighs, the more calories he burns in activity. They have greater mass to propel, so it requires more energy to move that mass. A 150-lb. person burns about 236 calories walking at 3 mph for 60 minutes; it would take him more than two weeks of daily hour-long walks to burn off 1 lb. A 250-lb. person burns 393 calories in 60 minutes of walking at 3 mph, so he would burn off 1.7 lbs in the same time period. Of course, he would have worked harder at it, because he had more weight to move around.

-Bigger bodies have higher maintenance costs. The more you weigh the more calories you burn, even when you do nothing. A 5-foot, 8-inch tall, 40-year-old female who weighs 150 lbs. has a BMR of 1,439 calories, estimates BMI-Calculator.net. Her 250-lb. counterpart has a BMR of 1,874 calories, a 435 calorie difference. If they were both placed on the same calorie-restricted diet, the heavier woman would have a greater calorie deficit between what she ate and what she needed to maintain her weight. The heavier woman could lose as much as 1 lb. more every eight days because of her greater metabolism.

Hi everyone!

i've been quite quiet and figured i'd give a big hello to everyone! great job on keeping up with the weigh ins! i feel like accountability is the first step before diet and exercise, so great job everyone!

for me, i'm getting bored of calorie counting, even though it's been successful for me. in 115, which is almost 4 months, i've lost about 25 lbs. This brings my total weight loss from the way beginning to 76 lbs.

The last 40 lbs have always been the problem. The first 60 just sort of fell off, sometimes at a rate of a lb a day. Now, the last 40 have been sort of lopping off slowly. the first 25 came off at a rate of about 1.5 a week, but now i'm slowing to 1.2 lbs a week. :(. i decided to drop my calories from 1428 to 1323 to see if it makes a difference and reflect the lost weight..

I agree, let's keep it fun and not say stuff like "shady" "that woman" and whatnot. Most of us are having a good time on these boards. Let's keep it that way!

I'm just gunna say *cheers* to this woman, Riestrella for all of her hard work and dedication to US in this FUN challenge. We appreciate what you're doing. Don't doubt that for a second.

*cheers* to all of us who are participating and being sweet and encouraging their fellow participants with praise, motivation, and positive vibes.

There's no room for bitter, nasty people who refuse to heed the excellent advice in this thread.

Smart idea! I'm in too!

Like some otherson here, i'm probably not going to be in a bikini by summer.. but hey, maybe a sexy tankini :D

Sexy tankini! I think I'll make that my goal too. I don't think I've worn one since I was 12. Well, it wasn't sexy back then, but that was the last time I could pull a two piece off with any short of confidence.

**** yeah to the tankini I think they are sexier anyways! :D welcome to the challenge! :D x

Sorry should have been ooooh yeah haha

"Blind leading the blind" is incredibly offensive to me. We're all grown women here, not sheep. We're all capable of using common sense and of taking care of ourselves. We're here by choice - we're looking for a place to record our struggles and our triumphs and to offer support and advice to our peers.
Any and all competition is just there for people who are motivated in that way. I, personally, just LOVE spreadsheets like nothing else :D and that motivates ME. It's all about individual successes, and celebrating everyone's losses no matter how small.
But there really is no room for calling people liars, or saying we can't think for ourselves.

On a lighter note, happy Friday! My week went really well, my goal for January was to stay away from the drive-thru and I can say it was tough to stick with it. Through the month of December I averaged three or four fast-food meals per week but this month NOTHING! It may be TMI but I feel less bloated and gassy overall, more regular and I feel like I have more energy from picking foods that aren't greasy and sodium-heavy.
I'm thinking I'll add a goal to this one for the month of February.

Lots of people are doing really great. I keep seeing the scale fall and am pretty excited about it. Hopefully it keeps on marching down.

I can do this, I can actually feel really good in a bikini this year.......

LOL yay :) And tell me about it, i usually wear a two piece halter-top bathing suit, but i'm not very confident in it! Glad we are sharing a similar goal :) GL to both of us

"oooh" yeah right back at you! lmao. and thanks!

What is a tankini exactly? I thought it was with the skirt-thingy but the pics I see on google are only with like a larger shirt-top.

I never really liked the skirt-things attached to a bathing suit or underwear. I mean, it's nog gonna hide that you are big and it's only gonna scream "I DONT WANT YOU LOOKING AT MY BIG Behind". Hihi. This whole bikini/bathing suit stress is the silliest thing in the world to me. Mostly because when you are at the beach and look around you, you are gonna see plenty of people that look worse than you could ever look. Mainly because they don't care or don't know how to take care of their hair and skin.

P.S. I say "thingy" when I don't know the right words, English is not my native tongue. Hihi.

Ana - I absolutely love spreadsheets too! Haha I have a spreadsheet with 6 or 7 different sheets all for my weight loss! I love seeing the changes visually with graphs and different equations. I can get a tad obsessive sometimes though because I like to predict my weight in the future.. oh well. Haha

I don't know if I'll ever feel comfortable in a bikini even at my goal weight, so I will probably be getting a tankini too. :)

Tankinis generally look like tank tops with a bikini bottom - they cover more of the midriff for those who are concerned about showing a lot of tummy. Skirts are for those who feel uncomfortable showing a lot of booty. For me, a regular bikini bottom cuts across both my butt cheeks so I opt for boy shorts or a skirt for more coverage.
It certainly won't camouflage a whole lot or give the illusion of a smaller backside, but it gives me a lot more confidence and THAT makes me feel more attractive.
Just personal preference.

Reba- Unfortunately I lost almost all my graphs when me old laptop decided it hated me last fall. I still have the small one on my iPod though! It's fun to look back and say, hey, if I did ALL THAT by myself, I can certainly keep going (or get back on track, or take it a bit further, etc.) :)

In the name of ignoring the silliness of the drama, I'm going to ignore it now that I've said my piece. NEXT. :D

sgregg: Good luck for next week! I love that, "I have a good feeling about the upcoming weigh-in..." feeling, where you can just TELL you've lost weight! :D

Philana: Lol, thanks, and yes, SUCH a great feeling. Mostly when I was done and sitting down again. ;) But it was a great big "check" on my weekly list of accomplishments!

What's a twiststepper?? Also, kudos on the c25k! I started that, but it turns out my illiotibial band was a bit of a whiner, and I wound up screwing the pooch and now have to avoid consistent amounts of walking/running that might aggravate the injury. (Gah!) I'm mad jealous!

Ferretgirl: Whoa, lady! You've got activity fever. Those are all things that I think would be really cool to try. Hmmm. Perhaps you've inspired me to try zumba. Maybe not belly dancing yet. No one needs to see this baby bared. ;)

ma26: Woo! Wishin' ya luck! Or rather, wishing you get the results on the scale that you've clearly been putting in all week! :D

QuietBallerina:
Hey, that's what my last place went up to! It had one set on either side, and I'd climb to the fourth, walk along the fourth floor to the other set, and go back down to the first. Repeat. :D
Honestly, I think stairs are a BRUTAL... and exceptionally great workout, try it!!

baker23: CONGRATS!!! What an awesome drop! Must feel amazing to finally see some good results on the scale after hovering for a bit!

Exception:
Bye. :)

MusicalAstronaut:
Ahhh, we all have those weeks. I'm having one of those nights where I feel bloated and bleh. Once TOM ends, you'll probably feel much better... and are probably more on track than you know! Just keep chuggin' awayyyy. (Stupid TOM.)

Lambie: Amen.

JAY! JAYOHWHY!!! Sorry, I get excited when I see familiar faces. :D :hug: And hey, don't get so down on yourself lady! Of course the weight will come off more slowly now (hear that, exception!?!?! *coughs*), but just remember that every single 1.2 lbs will be more noticeable and more dramatically altering to your shape, form and appearance than every pound before it. I bet you look fab. ;) Slow and steady my darlin girlie.

Naffy: Amen to the tankini. ;) That's what I'm wearing to swim in every day at the moment, and I'm terribly unfond of the tiiiiny little bulge over my bathing suit bottoms that sticks out under the tankini. :D I'll be rockin the tankini with confidence by the summer at least!!

Kailpea: Tankinis it is! ;)

Ana: Oh man. You and me both. The drive thru is AWFUL. And soooo easy to get suckered into. Half the time, all I want is a Diet Coke that I'm too lazy to get out of my car for, and the next thing I know, I have a cheeseburger. (How the **** did that happen!?!?!)
Good job on avoiding it tho, I've managed to as well!!! I only went to Wendy's once, and I got a plain baked potato and a small chili. (500 calories, baby.)

Me:
Okay, now I'm too tired to talk me. :D
I'm going to the States for the weekend (shopping in Buffalo, y'all, where the Canadians invade the US weekly...), so wish me luck with the extremely not-on-plan girl friend I'm going with!!! (*worried*)