Welcome to Riestrella's Sizzling for Summer 2016 Challenge!!

Hey you. Yeah, YOU! You’re awesome and beautiful. If you don't think so then I'm sorry, but you are totally wrong. Go listen to some sexy music and dance in the mirror like it’s 1999 and believe you are delicious! Otherwise we’re gonna have a problem here.

However, I know sometimes when you’re overweight you can feel a little pudgy and a bit like a sad panda. ESPECIALLY when the hot season is almost upon us (anyone else feel like saying “summer is coming” instead of “winter”?) Not to worry though! You can do something about it! Amazing right? You have the ability to change your future and morph yourself into a delicious candy panda. High fives all around.

To help you along the way is another of my spreadsheet challenges! Please read the rules below before joining.

1. You can join this challenge at any time up until the final 2 weeks of the challenge!!
2. -->Click here to access the spreadsheet used to document your weigh ins!<--
3. Enter your Username on 3FC, the forum you’re joining from (either 20-Somethings or Chicks up for a Challenge), your starting weight and goal weight for this challenge NOT your overall starting weight/goal weight.
4. Be sure to have your weekly weigh in on the spreadsheet by Sunday, because I make the charts on Monday. In the spreadsheet when the column is labelled "WK 1 8/31", that means the week BEGINS on the 31st August NOT the particular day you have to weigh in!
5. Check back in to the thread and I'll publish a weekly chart to show who's dominating over us all. Charts are Top 15 biggest losers only!
6. If you want to take a break from weighing in then right click the cell for that week and select "Insert Note" (definitely not a "comment" because these won't move with your username if new members join the spreadsheet!) and add your reason for not weighing in. If you have a week that you know you won't weigh in ahead of time - let me know and I'll insert the note for you.
7. If you don't weigh in for more than 2 weeks without a noted reason you will be moved to Standby. Come to the thread and opt back in if you want to re-enter the challenge!

Optional before and after measurements challenge! Read below:

• I've included a tab on the spreadsheet to enter your measurements! Measure yourself at the beginning of the challenge and at the end to see how much you shrink!
• -->Click here to access the measurements sheet!<--

That's it!* A huge part of this challenge is the community support, so please use this thread to talk to each other and update us on your progress. It’s less about just saying “today I weigh ___” and more about actually communicating with fellow sexy candy panda’s and talking about your life and all its ups and downs. Think of this thread more like a chat thread rather than just a place to post weights. We're here for you on your road to awesomeness!!

• Can I change my Goal Weight once the challenge has begun? ~ Yes!
• There's a - mark in my cell for a week, but I know what I weighed! Can I change it? ~ Yes! The more information you can put in the better. Let me know your missing weights and I'll input them myself.
• My weight changed during the week but I already entered my weight, can I change it? ~ OF COURSE! Just submit your weight again using the same form, no problems.
• The chat thread for my forum is dead...can I talk in a different thread? ~ Absolutely! The 20-something thread is the most active in these challenges, please feel free to drop by no matter how old you are. We honestly wouldn't know the difference even if you're not in your 20's!

Enter your starting weights now and the challenge begins April 18th 2016!!

[Personals continued over from chat thread]


Zucena - Sorry to hear that you've been uninspired to lose the weight. I understand what you mean about doing great one week and slipping up the next. I think having Ninja Warrior to train for and to be inspired by should really help, even in the face of new social situations! Have you thought about drawing up a plan for yourself to lead up to the next auditions? It might be something to help keep you in check. I have my 10K training at the moment and it's really helped. I've slipped up recently but I know I have to get back on track asap if I want to keep on running!

dayoneagain - Looking forward to seeing your progress in the challenge!

Vehuel - 1.5 lbs is nothing a bit of healthy eating and exercise can't get rid of! You'll have that gone in no time. Hope you had a wonderful birthday and see you in the challenge!

Penny - That is interesting. I was on the bus in my home town a couple of years ago and I was looking out the window and I couldn't believe how many overweight/obese people there were compared to 10-15 years ago. It used to be quite rare to be overweight but now it's like a cold going around! No wonder the average sizes are changing. My run was lovely, thanks, I even did the 4 miles faster than before! I also got a record for fastest 5K according to my Garmin .

Wow what perfect timing! I was just getting back on here after a long stint of being away and I'm excited to start going after this challenge! I'll be going on a vacation to Cancun in June with my boyfriend and I'd love to look stunning in a bikini. I look forward to chatting with everyone who also has the same goal of looking sizzling for summer.

Woohoo I'm in! Sorry I haven't been around in the chat thread, I guess it takes a challenge to get me motivated to come. How funny that I just happened to check the forum the day you started this.

Anyway, my weight is up a little since the end of the last challenge, but not back to where it was when the last one started, so hey, success! Starting weight 129, goal weight 115. Ambitious I know, but I always seem to make about halfway to my goal, so I figure to shoot low! This is perfectly timed because the weekend after the final weigh in I have a wedding that I'm going to in Estes, so I can make a sexy little dress something to aim for!

Hoo boy, I'm in, with a pretty steep goal if I'm looking back on previous progress in the challenges...but I'm also much more serious now and I am going to stop being complacent!!

Ah posting so I don't forget to join when I have some time later! Perfect timing. I think I am ready to lose again!

Edit: Ok, I have a little more time to update. Just this morning I was (almost) back to my low from the last challenge, after being up and down the last few weeks so that was nice! I've been SO much more active lately than I was over the winter, and I think my appetite is finally settling down. So, it is definitely time! During this challenge I know I won't have much of an issue with exercise. I have my 5K race on May 7th and then I'll start training for a 10K. I really need to focus on food! More focus on meal planning, being strict on my fast days (500 calories two days/week), and less beer. That last one will be hard with all the fun spring and summer activities ahead, but I will try! I set my goal to lose about 4 pounds, which isn't much compared to some of you but weight loss has been super slow going the last couple years for me and I don't want to set myself up for failure.

I am super excited to get back on the challenge wagon

My training plan for my half marathon started yesterday (muscles sore today!) so this is perfect timing; I often find it easier to eat clean and low calorie when I'm exercising regularly. I'm going to have a proper think about my goal before setting it, as I'm not sure whether to aim high or be more realistic...my temptation is to aim high and do my best, knowing my goal may be too challenging to reach in ten weeks. How do you decide what figure to put on these challenges?

I'm excited to start a new challenge...although I seem to have gained back what I lost during the last challenge

The last few months were really stressful in terms of work so I think I need to figure out strategies to eat right and work out even when life is stressful.

Hey everyone!

Great to see people sign up for the challenge! It's always addictive seeing the spreadsheet grow in numbers. I've decided to jump back in to the weighing in game and weigh myself once a week to keep in check. Unfortunately I'm a little heavier than I was at the end of the last challenge, but I'm going to brush it off and focus on my life goals. I'm moving to Atlanta soon and I'll be there next week to find an apartment. I'm already feeling the anxiety slip in since our real estate agent is not keeping us up to date on the viewings that he's supposedly booking. I would have done it all myself if I had known I was going to be kept in the dark like this! We only have a week to find a place so we're feeling more jittery than most people I'm sure. He has all the information and he's supposedly very good and came well recommended, so I should probably put more trust in him. *sigh* I'm a horrible control freak sometimes, I like to know things are being done.

My goal is to maintain weight during the moving process, then once we get to Atlanta I hope to start losing weight in a serious way. I'm going to be eating clean and not stock our kitchen with any temptations, which I'm sure will be a huge catalyst for weight loss for me. My biggest problem is caving to temptation extremely easily, so if I can live somewhere with nothing but healthy food then I'm sure with my tendency to exercise a lot I'll start to lose weight again. I hope I can be in the 150's by June, so my goal is 159, but I'd be happy to see anything less than 163 lbs!!

Today is my birthday so I'm going to chill out, play mini golf, eat sushi and have a nice relaxing day! I am contemplating on going on a run but I might not since it's my birthday . I'll definitely go on a 4.5 mile run tomorrow as part of 10K training and play catch up on the 3 mile run I should do today. We'll see! TMI alert, I drink a mug of green tea every morning and I can't go on a run until I've had a poop! Otherwise I fear I will end up being out on a run and needing the bathroom real bad, haha!

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redrose - What great inspiration for you! The thread was originally called bikini ready but I saw people being too hard on themselves so I changed the name. I'm sure you'll look stunning either way.

Tiny - Great timing! A wedding in Estes, I bet it'll be beautiful. And I'm sure you'll look incredible in a sexy dress

rainbow - You. Can. DO IT!! I'm rooting for you!

NNS - We're peas in a pod, all good to go with exercise but food is the big one! We can do it . I think if you tell yourself you can only have X amount of beer a week and be really strict with that you'll do fine. I need to do the same with soda and dessert!

dayoneagain - You can always change your goal weight at any point in the challenge if you feel it's discouraging! We're all pretty ambitious at the beginning, so it's fine to change it.

Nanu - Welcome back! I'm sure you can lose the regain in no time.

Hey y'all! Woke up to a nice surprise this morning, a new low weight! Only by 2/10ths of a pound, but man that's some good motivation! So far I've had a really good week. I ran a total of about 3.75 miles on Monday (3.5, then walked to the community garden to water my plants as a cool-down, then ran the .25 miles home because I felt like it!). It was rough and I was definitely sore yesterday, but I'm getting there. I do this thing where I tell myself "after X mile marker, I will reward myself with a walking break" and I have GOT to stop doing that and get better at running at a slower pace. Yesterday I did a total of about 25 miles of biking! Today I will probably do a short, fast run when I get home.

Food has been good so far this week. I ate a ton of protein yesterday for some reason (hard boiled egg, beef jerky, and some chicken all as snacks!) but did well as far as portions go and minimal beer at our weekly bike group. I don't know my plan yet for today because I have some volunteer work to do this evening after my run, but I'm going to try to just whip up something healthy at home first!

dayoneagain - Wow, a half! That's exciting. When is it? Between me training for a 5K, Rie and her 10K and you and your half...sounds like we'll have plenty of opportunity to talk running As for picking a goal weight, lately I've been aiming pretty low but I generally base it on whatever my rate of loss has been lately.

Nanu - Ugh, work stress! I struggle a lot with that, too. It's hard to convince yourself to go to the grocery store, meal plan, and cook when you come home from work completely exhausted. I've been trying to stock up on meals that are SUPER easy to make so that I don't have much of an excuse. I'm sure you can find something that works for you!

Rie - HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Wow, that's so exciting that you are looking at places in Atlanta! You must be so stoked. Not only for such a big life/career move but having some independence as far as food finally. I bet that will make such a difference for you! Enjoy your birthday

I'm so excited for a new challenge! Yay!

Also, Happy Birthday to Riestrella! Have an awesome day relaxing, playing mini golf and eating sushi!

Rie: Great job on your run and breaking your 5K record! And I agree with moving on ahead and not focusing on a few pounds gained (I'm up from the last challenge, too). I hope finding a new place goes smoother for you guys (that realtor sounds odd...).

NNS: Hooray for your new low weight! That always feels so awesome!

Happy Birthday Rie! I hope you had a really nice birthday!



Good luck finding an apartment in Atlanta. It sounds so exciting! I'm sure Atlanta will be really nice and it's spring so the weather will be nice too. I hope you really like it there.

Happy Birthday Rie!

Good luck on the challenge everyone!

I'm back after a couple years away, managed to gain back all the weight I lost and then some.. sigh. Updating my ticker was so freaking sad! Buuut oh well, just gives me the chance to show that I can lose some serious weight now! I have no excuse not to, except sheer laziness of course.. something I have perfected

Question for everyone - are you guys going with attainable goals you know you'll hit easily to bolster self confidence, or something much more difficult that you're going to have to work really hard for? (and can we change our goals later on?)

Good point, Rie, I can always reassess my goal, so ill start off thinking go big or go home!

Kay, I have decided to go super challenging, which for me is a consistent two pounds a week.

NNS, my half marathon is early September so I have enough time to train. I ran a hilly 5k on Tuesday night and found it pretty tough, so I've got a helluva way to go. Excited to swap training tips with you and Rie! I think the main thing is that the less I weigh the easier it will be to run, so I need to focus on my food intake which is a bit out of control at the moment

Hey everyone!

Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes! I had a great day but I've definitely indulged on cake and food these past couple of days. Just to let you all know I will be gone for 1 week starting tonight. I'm going to Atlanta tonight to look for an apartment, I'll be back on Saturday 23rd. Until then, if a seasoned challenge participant can answer any questions that would be great! Honestly all the rules are in the first post so you'd just have to look there . I was going to be leaving on Sunday but there's a big storm heading our way this weekend so when our airline was offering to change our flight for free we decided to take it. It's going to be a crazy day trying to finalize viewings for apartments and get everything ready to leave, but we can do it!

I'll be taking my laptop with me so I might still be able to post, so we'll see. If not, have a great week!