Ok, well I've been a SLACKER! And I need to get back on track and focus! I'd like to lose 10lbs for christmas possibly more..who knows depends on if I can get my butt motivated. I've been soo bummed lately and I have no motivation. It sucks none of my friends want to go to the gym, and I like working out with people. My fiance got a membership at a seperate one that is closer to the house which is what I should've done! Cause the drive sucks to my gym.

Anyways back to the subject anyone in for a 10lb christmas loss??? I need some people to keep me motivated like honestly send me emails telling me to get my lazy butt on the tred mill! lol

Anyways I believe there is like 38 days till christmas..LETS DO THIS LADIES!!!!!....TOGETHER!

Talk to yas later
Love
Melanie


I'm at 119

I'm definitely in. I did the Halloween Challenge, and started the Thanksgiving Challenge before I had a big back slide. I am back on track now and REALLY want to meet my next challenge.

I am with you on not having people to work out with. It is so much easier to get my butt in gear when I know someone is counting on me, but because of my schedule I end up working out alone a lot. Maybe we can set up some sort of buddy system and when one of us skips a work out the other one has to do 10 min extra cardio, sit-ups, something. I think knowing I was going to cause someone else to work would at least guilt me into working out.

Either way, I'm willing to kick some butt and and take it too if that is what I need to stay motivated. Its going to be a tough challenge because we will need to lose about 2 lbs per week, straight through the Holidays. So I think we should be specific about what we are going to do.

Today I am going to run/walk 2 miles (Hopefully it stops raining)
Try and eat a healthy lunch (Work is taking everyone out to Andiamo's and I have a tough time with Italian) and
No alcohol after dinner.

Where in MI are you? I am in the Detroit metro area.

SJ

I'm sitting here reading you guys....and I am in the same place. I was thinking dang, if I would have kept on track I could be at my goal weight right now...what is making these challenges so unattainable for me? I feel like If I could answer that I could maybe benefit and conquer thiese last 10lbs....

I with you on the Christmas challenge, I'm still going to try and kick butt on this T-giving challenge. I'm not going to weigh myself until that day, until then, I'm just going to work my butt off.

Sounds great to me, I'll run 30 minutes on the tred mill when I get back from class I gotta leave in 15 minutes. I've already done 150 crunches and 30 pushups. I had a greek salad for lunch no feta, with vinegar!

ANDIAMOS...place is soo good! I'm leaving for Chicago this weekend and all i want to do is go to the cheesecake factory, i'm going to have to keep myself in check all weekend! I live in Eastpointe, where abouts are you from? I noticed it said Detroit, Michigan I was wondering about that!

Beans-I had a wake up call this morning, I'm just so upset with myself because I haven't kept up and I know I'm better than that! So from here on out lets all of use keep in touch and motivate each other, we'll work our butts off together..
If u guys need anything and can't get me here my email address is [email protected]

we can do this!

Love
Melanie

I am new here but count me in as well! I've been looking for something like this. My husband is a graduate assistant coach for a Division 1 football program and we'll be going to a bowl game in January (in a warm locale!) so I'd really like to lose at least 10 lbs by then!

I just moved here and I really don't know many people. I certainly don't have anyone to work out with so I think this will really do the trick!

I have been on a weight loss/gain roller coaster for the past few years. My senior year of college, I did the Body for Life program and I got down to 106 lbs and felt better than ever! A month later, I was in a serious car accident and gained over 20 lbs. Since then, I've lost some and gained some and now I'm at an all-time high of 130. I can't believe it. I feel terrible, I can't wear my clothes, and I'm ready for a permanent change.

My workout and healthy eating schedule is particularly difficult because I have to travel pretty often for my job. I don't know if any of you travel for work but it is SO HARD to maintain a weight loss program when food is constantly being shoved in your face and there isn't a lot of time to work out. The good news is that I always have access to the Internet so I'm counting on you girls to help me out!

I look forward to talking to you on here and if you'd like to email me, my address is: [email protected].

I'm on my way to the gym!
Jocelyn

Ok back from the lunch that wouldn't end. I only ate one piece of bread and none of the appetizers (They were all fried) and I had a chicken breast, side of pasta, soup. Not too bad except for the wine.

Melanie- You have inspired me to add some cruches to my workout tonight. This will also make up for the wine at lunch (None after dinner though). FYI-I live in Royal Oak. Hopeflly when you are in Chicago you can get a lot of walking in to help out your decadent weekend!

Spill- I'm with you I was just looking at my former plan and thinking, if only I had stuck to it! I would be halfway done! Better here then where I was though.

Fitchick- Welcome. I think it is especially hard to lose weight away from home, because it makes following a plan harder. Have you got any ideas for how to stay on track while you are away from home?

I love it ~ great challenge idea Mel! 10 lbs. by Xmas would be a HUGE accomplishment for me, but, hey, I'm always up for a challenge! I'm at 172.5 as of this morning (love that TOM gain, don't you?) So 162.5 is my -10 challenge. WOW!

Well I'm excited everyones getting into it. I did so good tonight at work, when it's not busy it seems like most of us girls just sit at the break table and talk and munch! I tried doing some studying while we were slow and had a small salad around 4, drank 3 32oz of water i was running to the bathroom every 5 minutes

Fitchick-I could only imagine the eating differences, when I'm on the go I know how it gets it's like oh lets stop there i'm hungry or you stop to get gas in ur car and u see munchies! What is the Body for life program?? 106 I would LOVE to be there! lol..

skinny-yea crunches are my favorite I would rather do them do anything else. But what I need to focus on is my butt and thighs...I WAS CURSED!

jen-oh the good ol time of the month...I'm right around the corner, you know when you can just feel it coming on, your stomach seems bigger and bloated your uncomfortable in your clothes and the next week...ur like OH THANK YOU GOD, for the extra pounds this month! lol

I just really need to get back into my groove, I loved when I lost 20lbs and i got compliments and I was wearing little baby tees and felt comfortable and now I feel like things are hanging over my jeans! I NEED to stay away from my carbs my breads that's whats getting me down! But when I tried doing the whole no carb thing I got soooo cranky, my finance was ready to shove tacos and bread down my throat! I was thinking about getting one of those Carb Curver Pills.

well I have a major headache tonight, so i'm going to lay down with my puppy dogs and relax dont want to get sick before my big chicago trip.

I'll check tomorrow morning and write in to let you know how my exercising went!

Goodnight~

Hi again everyone!

skinnyjeans - I do have a few healthy living tactics for traveling but I rarely use them unfortunately! I always take at least a couple pairs of workout clothes and I try to get up early and go work out because it won't happen if I wait until later in the day... The eating thing is especially hard because we have banquets most of the time and you are stuck with what you've got or no dinner at all!

mellbell - The Body for Life program is incredible. It's a book written by Bill Phillips. Millions of people have done the program. It can be a lifestyle if you work at it enough. The part that was hardest for me was the eating because there wasn't a cookbook at the time. He has since written Eating for Life so I would like to start it again after the new year.

I'm going to start a new post now because I have an idea...

So I was thinking that since we're going to be buddies for a while, we should know some basics about one another. I would also like to post my daily eating and exercise habits on here for all to see. I'm hoping it will inspire me to do what I'm supposed to do! I hope everyone else will do the same.

Here is the personal info. Feel free to copy and paste and fill it in for yourself!

Real Name: Jocelyn
Age: 24 (almost 25...)
Location: West Virginia (but I'm from Kentucky)
Occupation (or Major): Marketing Manager
Starting Weight: 132
Current Weight: 132
Goal Weight: 115
Biggest Food Temptation(s): Chips and salsa, any dessert
Favorite Workout: Step aerobics
Why I want to lose weight: I want to fit into my clothes and feel good about myself

Ok, here's my eating and workout info for today!

Food Choices:
Meal 1: Slim Fast Low Carb Breakfast Bar and water
Meal 2: Bowl of homemade turkey chili and Diet Dr. Pepper
Meal 3: Low carb Slim Fast (strawberry) and fresh pineapple, water
Meal 4: Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad from Chick Fil A, Diet Dr. Pepper
Snack: Chocolate pudding cup (no sugar added), water

I had a busy day today so I probably didn't eat enough "real food". I also had too many Diet Dr. Peppers..... Overall, a pretty good day.

Workout:

30 minutes on Treadmill (walking and jogging intervals) - 2 miles
25 minutes - Lower body DVD

Today was a light workout day because I volunteer on Monday and Wednesday nights.

Have a great day everyone! Work hard!
Jocelyn

I'm definitely in!!
Let me introduce myself first lol!
I'm 20 years old, student, and I'm looking to lose a lot of weight (240--> 140), I'm somewhat a lurker on these forums, and i love them because they seem totally positive.. and I don't feel like I'm a 20 year old amongst 40 year olds and all that.. which is definitely nice!!

What else... hmm.. well I tend to eat fairly healthily (if that's a word.. ahh well u get the gist), i dont really eat out much and when i do, its healthy. I think I definitely need to get a grasp on my portion controls though. AND I need to exercise (more). I get about 30 - 40 minutes daily walk on weekdays (i walk to school). however, im starting to think when snow falls i may be much more inclined to take the bus than brave the snow banks, so I'd really like to get myself into a gym routine. I'm contemplating how long to give it, because I'd really like to build up my muscle strength and cardio endurance (I naturally walk at a brisk pace.. so it prolly has an effect).. before I hit the gym, so that way I'm not feeling like a novice AGAIN (i've been there so many times.. then stopped, then returned, etc.).. and the whole thing will feel much omre enjoyable than me just forcing myself to work out, because i know from past experience, that just doesn't work for me. I need to enjoy what im doing, in some sort of way or another - and if I don't, there needs to be some logic to it - like building up endurance so i feel better when i do go. I figure during exam time is prolly when ill show my face around, because I'll need to get off my butt from the studying, and actually do something physical...

whew! long post!
Okay... ill see u guys around and say hi again
good luck and take good care of yourselves!!

Kia Ora! I am new to this forum, but would love to join in. I am currently trying to make up for 5 years of university and general lazy living (food and exercise wise).... I have been doing well so far this year, not as fast as I would like but have lost about 13lbs just with increasing exercise and eating a little bit better.. although having a BF with a sweet tooth as big as mine is a bit of a problem. he he... I think I have probably also put on about ~5lbs of muscle as my weights at the gym have gotten pretty big! Anyway it would be cool to try and get down to 157 for christmas when my mum turns up.. I have a holiday planned for next week which involves a beach, but it's overseas and I figure no one knows me there right?

Anyway great to read all your experiences, and I agree with the dorcia, it's nice to find a place where you know you aren't at least 20 yrs younger than everyone else..
Did a 30 min cardio (walk with hills) and a pump class yesterday... nothing today

Day 1 of the 10 lb. X-Mas Challenge:

Food breakdown:
1,563 calories
27% fat/61% carb/11% protein (obviously not on a low-carb diet! I'm a vegetarian so it's a challenge to get protein into my diet)
22 g. fiber
3 L. water

Workout breakdown:
25 min. walk
30 min. bike (8.85 mis.)
35 min. weight training

OK here is my info

Age: 27
Location: Detroit, MI
Occupation: Intellectual Property Attorney (At least I will be after I take the Bar exam in February and pass it!)
Biggest food temptation: Pizza
Favorite workout: Running, kickboxing
Reason to Lose: To look better and feel more comfortable with my body. OK feeling sexy woulnd't hurt either.

Food: Yesterday
Meal 1: Two pieces of toast, coffee
Meal 2: Bread, soup, chicken w/side of pasta, wine
Meal 3: Large salad, 4 chicken wings, a beer

Today
Meal 1: String cheese, slim fast

My food yesterday was not very good at all, but since we were having a celebration at work I was definitely off my usual schedule. My problem is usually eating on the weekends, not during the week.

Workout
Monday: Run/walk 2 miles
Tuesday 20 min elliptical, crunches
Wednesday: Run 2 miles, crunches
Hmm...I think I need to get some toning in here. Today is the day that I have trouble working out because I am busy, so I am going to make today's goal fairly easy. Some kind of excercise for at least 30 minutes.

Dorcia: Sounds like you have a good plan. Its better to not burn yourself out and have fun rather than work hard for only a week.

Fitchick: Good job on the workouts! Your light day is still pretty active

NBK: Sounds like we have similar weight loss goals. I am 5'9" and started out at 180 also. Your a little bit ahead of me on wieght loss though. I am excited about breaking into the 160's I haven't been there in a while.

NBK - I've been there before... I know how hard it is to get into a routine after college. I actually did better in college because I was constantly surrounded by lots of beautiful girls so I wanted to work hard to keep up. Since I graduated in 2001, it's been a roller coaster. I'm determined to keep it up this time!

I agree with you guys that it is refreshing to be involved in a group of people around the same age! I'm often afraid to post on some weight loss boards. I get flamed because I don't have much to lose. I feel like everyone should be supported, whether you need to lose 1 lb. or 100 lbs. I've been really excited about our little group. I told my husband about it.

Maybe we should have a team name. How about the Christmas Countdown Crew?

Have a great day everyone!
Jocelyn