Nonameslob how do you make your own?

Skittlesfirehawk - Well done on loosing that 1lb :D

levoguette - Thats really interesting that you notice such a big change in the scales after eating certain foods. I'm just starting out, so maybe I will start to write down my weight and food. Although I have never been great at keeping a food diary. Thanks for the rec of taralyn's blog, it looks really good. Also, I adore pinterest. I'm quite a crafty person, so I'm always pinning things I want to make. I do have a recipe board but its kind of a miss mash of everything (ie. unhealthy) .....Actually...oooh....I might start a bikini challenge pinterest board.

I'm not sure I quite have it in me to take bikini photos (scratch that, I've never owned a bikini in my life, I definitely don't have it in me) but I might just take some normal pics.

I had a pretty unhealthy day today. Very healthy salad based lunch and then I went to a bring and share dinner at my local church tonight - bread and cheese and cake, yummy but not what the doctor ordered! Ah well, I'm planning to make a batch of soup tomorrow.

WOW! So great to see so many of you signing up for this challenge! Huge shout out to amandie for being a super star and helping me with the spreadsheet this year. She be an excel wizard I tell ye!

So a little bit about me and where I'm at right now. Please feel free to introduce yourselves and tell us your goals for this challenge!

• I'm 24 years old, but I'll be 25 in a few weeks. I really don't want to spend the rest of my twenties overweight and unhappy.
• I live in Japan and have been an English teacher for the past year and a half. I was suddenly fired for complete BS reasons at the end of January. I left at the end of February with my head held high knowing I was a great teacher, loved by kids, parents and staff. Currently I'm not looking for other work, I intended on leaving Japan regardless in September so I'm spending the time finding out what makes me happy.
• I'm currently 165 lbs (ish, haven't weighed in a while!). However before I came to Japan I managed to reach 149 lbs (the lightest I've ever been in adult life). Having gained back all that weight has been the source of great disappointment that I've worked hard to overcome. I still get twangs of annoyance at myself, but ultimately I'm working hard to recapture the routine I was in when I got to 149 lbs and head straight to my goal weight of 130 lbs. Slowly but surely!
• I'm not a big dieter and I struggle when I'm eating out/snacking here and there with other people. So I need to learn to slow down when I eat out and not just go crazy just because I'm out with friends!
• Exercise wise I'm getting back into running, one of my passions! I've done 3 10K races, one in December 2013 that I actually did surprisingly well in considering I didn't train very hard. I'm going back to basics and doing a 5K training program just to ease myself back into the game and gain my confidence.
• For this challenge I want to lose 15 lbs for the 15 weeks this challenge runs. I like losing weight slowly so 1 lb a week is a challenging goal. I've never actually reached my goal in any of my challenges (despite running them!) so I want to make sure this year I can get into the top 5!
• I want to lose weight to feel confident in my body, to feel like I can put on jeans and a t-shirt and still feel sexy. I've never been thin, I've always been overweight (got a tiny taste of being a normal BMI at 149 lbs but that went away!) so I want to stop making excuses and wasting time being unhappy with my body and make the change to be healthier and happier!

That's it from me! Looking forward to sharing this journey with you all!

I follow this method: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/201...the-crock-pot/

I roast a chicken in my crock pot, and then throw all the bones back into the pot with the remaining liquid, add scraps of onions, carrots, whatever other veggies I like (I keep my scraps in a bag in the freezer) and let the crock pot go overnight. There's tons of different methods for making broth and stock, but I like this because it's essentially free :) Strain the broth when done, refrigerate it and then scoop out the fat on top. Done!

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I forgot to take my pictures last night! Hopefully tonight I can do it. I think it will be awesome to see the change over time, and hopefully by July I will need a new swimsuit :) - in fact, if I meet my goal, that will be my way to congratulate myself.

I am aiming for 15 pounds as well, about one pound a week. If I make this challenge, I'll only have 13 pounds left to lose by the end of the year to meet my annual goal! It's just a drop in the bucket of my total weight left to lose, but I am looking forward to having this challenge to encourage me.

If I get to my goal weight for this challenge, I'll be at my lowest weight in...gosh, at LEAST 6+ years!

Also, this summer we have a trip to Colorado planned and we'll be doing a lot of hiking in the Rockies. So weight loss + fitness are really important over the next few months for me, so that I'll be in optimal shape for this trip.

Thanks for this thread! Looking forward to putting my first week's weigh-in in the spreadsheet!!!

angelicus thank you very much im happy to say this morning im at 168 so im now offically back to where i started.
nonameslob thank you.Im excited to cook i got a kitchen aid mixer for xmas and a food processor.

Oh my goodness, a bikini challenge pin board would be so much fun! Actually what could make it even more fun was if we could make a group bikini challenge board that we could pin recipes and exercises to! Not sure how that would totally work out, since I know a lot of people prefer to stay semi-anonymous on this site (me included - that's why I have a separate pinterest account made for weight loss things aside from the one all my facebook friends and relatives can see :D....) and not sure if there's a limit to the amount of pinners we can add to one board, but it's still a fun thought!

Daily weighing helped me figure out those sort of foods that completely stall or make me gain despite staying on budget calorie-wise. My body just holds onto wheat carbs like crazy! On days I go gluten free I see a drop. Everyone is different! It's just a matter of experimenting and see what works best for you. I didn't figure it out until about maybe 3-4 months into my weight loss.

I'm so excited for this challenge and feel so motivated again for the first time in months, that I even made a ticker to keep track of my bikini challenge progress! :woohoo:

Hi everyone! I'm so excited to join in with this challenge. I was doing so well with my weight loss in January and February but March has just gone so off track - I'm hoping this will help keep me accountable. I'm aiming for a 14 lb loss to get me down to 120lbs, I think a pound a week should be easily achievable for me if I behave!

I think thats such a good idea. I did create a bikini thing on my own pinterest (although I did have a mini, damn all my friends can see this now moment) but I think the privacy thing is a good point, so I made a new pinterest just for this here (Okay, apparently I need one more post to put in a link, I will put the link in a post below) If people are happy just give me your pinterest names and I can add you so that everyone can edit the board. Either way, I think it will definitely help to keep me motivated.

I made another soup today for lunch, carrot, lentils and potatoes - a very yummy thick soup, although kind of winter-y feeling. I'm loving being able to cook. That is one thing about me - I'm a a first year uni student in the UK and I'm living in catered halls. I'm back home for five weeks so I can be a lot more choose-y about what I eat. However, come the beginning of May I will be back in halls - so I will have to get all of your advice and become a bit inventive with staying on track. I'm just starting out on a diet (although I feel like I've been on and off dieting throughout my teens) and I want to lose 20lbs by the end of this challenge. I also think I might set myself mini challenges every week to keep myself trying different things.

And now here is the pinterest link: http://gb.pinterest.com/hannahmpeat/...ini-diet-2014/ Just send me your pinterest names (if you want) and I can add you :)

Question - I'm using my Friday weigh-ins since that is my typical weigh-in rather than Mondays...would it be okay if I put my numbers in for 3/31 (technically today)? I'm being impatient because I'm really excited about my loss this week I guess lol!

And I finally took my "before" swimsuit pictures! Can't wait to get to the after :D

Sorry, just wait a little while longer! Weigh ins for the week should be between 31st - 6th for week 1. Feel free to change your starting weight though.

I used my 3/21 weigh in as my starting weight. I guess I'll just bump everything behind a week then.

I put my name in. not sure how well i will do but its all about what i lose so as long as i lose something i'll be ok. hopefully this will keep me motivated.

No way I'll be in a bikini but perhaps I'll lose a bit anyway!

Well there is no way I am going to be bikini ready anytime soon (probably never) but I joined anyway because we're taking a trip to San Diego for my brother-in-law's wedding and I plan on spending a few days on the beaches. Right now, I feel super gross in my current suit that I used to feel pretty damn good in back when I was 230ish. So that's my goal. And I wouldn't mind getting one of those super cute vintage looking one pieces!