[Jasmine31]

So this is my second time around. But this time I am going to keep the weight off!

Anyhow, just kind of thinking out loud and reflecting on the past few months.

Its been up and down these past few months, working hard towards getting back in the swing of things. I really wanted to lose 9 or 10 pounds a month, but I knew it would be hard cracking the code to get the over eating to stop.
I am usually way more disciplined when it comes to walking then eating.

I did tell myself to shoot for 10 lbs a month, and if I hit only 5 lbs a month. Then thats better then nothing! Imagine that. If I shoot for 10 a month and fail every month at 5 lbs, if you x that by 12 months, that is still 60 pounds lighter! I would still win!

January: I did walk 5 days in January but was just getting my feet wet again. Officially weighing myself and trying to be more on plan its been about 67 days. I started weighing again Feb 7th.

February: 19 days of walking in Feb, about 60 - 70 minutes each time. 17 days I watched my food, or attempted fitday at least. (Sometimes I will start the day and then quit writing stuff down. So I THINK I was on plan 17 days, could of been a little less.)

March: 25 days of walking in March, about 70 - 80 minutes each time. 22 days I watched my food, or attempted fitday at least. (Sometimes I will start the day and then quit writing stuff down. So I THINK my food was on plan 22 days, could of been less.)

April: 14 out of 17 days so far of walking in March, about 80 -90 minutes each time. 10 out of 17 so far, days I watched my food. (The first part of the month got off to a rocky start especially with the food. Today and the 6 days preceeding this have been perfect. Then a few days toward the beginning.)

SO I combed thru my fitday about a week ago, I noticed the previous 4 weeks were about 6 or 7 NO walking days. That doesnt work for me. And 12 bad food days! Thats almost half the month! No wonder I only lost 5.5 pounds during those 4 weeks!

I am really proud of my walking. I am up to 90 minutes most days! A few days are 60. A few days fall at 80. I know that is going pretty great regardless but I want to make it a goal to not miss any days. I know things have come up that were out of my control where I had to miss. But still.

So what I am trying to do now is go for my walks early in the day. That way no matter what happens later, the walk is done!

What I am kind of disappointed with myself is the food. I have told myself I can have one, ONE, bad day a week. But somehow that 4 bad days a month turned into 12! That combined with missing about 7 walking days meant I only lost 5.5 pounds, even though I worked so hard the rest of the time!

This is just unacceptable! I am down 13.5 lbs on the scale since I started. I have built alot of muscle again on my legs and I am watching the inches go down. There were a few pairs of new jeans I had got that were too small to wear when I started, and I can wear them now and my old ones are feeling too loose to be comfy any more.

But summer is coming real quick! I don't want to just be down another 10 pounds by mid June! I want to be down an additional 20! There is alot of fun stuff I want to do this summer with my hubby and kids, and seeing friends and family and I refuse to be dragging come june. I know I can do this. I just have to get more focused.

So I have rededicated myself.

I have decided every day has to be a walking day, minimum of 80 minutes, and I can only have ONE bad food day a week!!!

So who would like to join me? Who else is dedicated and focused to lose some serious pounds in the next 2 months? Anyone and everyone is welcome!

[authentic]

I am in! I used to live in nyc and was a very active walker, but now I live in the midwest and don't walk nearly as much.

I can't walk for 80 minutes every day, but I can handle 30 mins walking plus some stretching/yoga at a different time in the day. (total 45-60 mins a day of something, with one or two days off a week)

I hope to lose 10 pounds a month or so. I am following a combination of modified South Beach and Weight Watchers online.

[Jasmine31]

Hello Authentic. Nice to have you join me! Your exercise plan sounds great!

What state are you in? I am in Mt now but am originally from Cali. I know that is why it has been so hard getting back on track these past 2 years too.

I am used to almost year round sunshine.

If it was warm on my walk I would still go and would just go earlier the next day.

I got out here and tryed to fight the good fight but it got SO cold!

I can deal when its 30 degrees out but when it got colder.....uugghhh lol

So i told myself this is the year I lose it all again.

And when it gets real cold again I will figure out a plan then.

But for now I am going to lose!

So your originally from New York? Cool. Yeah lost of oppurtunitys for walking there. I remember watching something about Liv Tylers sister, Mia, years ago She said she used to live in NYC, but when she moved to the suburbs she gained 50 lbs!

I tell hubby we need to move to New york cause I love clothes! LOL

Your food plan sounds good!

[authentic]

I live in Michigan now and I am walking MUCH less than I did when I lived in nyc. I live in a university town though, so there are ample opportunities for me to walk here. It is still really cold here though. Today its in the 30's!

I am hoping by the time it gets cold again, I will be in a regular fitness routine and will be fit and small enough to take zumba classes at the ymca here. I love to dance so I am looking forward to being fit enough to do that. That is a mini goal for me.

I love clothes too, and can't wait until I can get into regular sizes again. That is another one of my mini goals.

[BluChik]

I'm game... Having people on a fast track for weight loss is the support I need. My motive may not be to have that hot summer body but I still want/need the weight off NOW!!!
Exercise is a challenge for me right now even just walking, but I just bought a house with a community pool and starting today I plan on taking full advantage of that. My daily exercise will be done in water for now. (I'm sure my kids will love that) My food plan is being worked on.

I look forward to be here and cheerleading for you all.

[Jasmine31]

Authentic:
Are you by the Great Lakes? Hubby says they are really neat! Yes I hate when its cold! Zumba classes sound like a great idea.

I want to start doing my pilates at home again soon or something.

Yes clothes, I just hate buying stuff when I am big! I cant wait to lose again and be able to fit into cute clothes again!

BluChik: So glad to have you join us! Yes same here, it won't happen overnight but if we can lose 20 lbs by mid June it will be alot better then where we are now!

Swimming sounds great!

Okay gals i walked for my 90 minutes today. It was windy so that was a bear. I have really been building up more muscle in my legs recently and my left calf was burning!

Great news is I went to scratch it last night and noticed how much leaner it is! Hooray!

[authentic]

I am not really that close to the lakes, about a 5-6 hour drive or so. (I am at the bottom of the state, and the lakes are at the top of the state).

I did my yoga and weight training today. I don't do cardio and weight training on the same day, so cardio is tomorrow. I do yoga every day for 30-40 mins or so. I do 45-60 mins of weight training 2-3 times a week.

I am looking forward to being more limber so I can really get into the yoga positions the way they are meant to be done. I am doing all modified stuff now until I am a bit more fit.

[Lizz]

Hello Ladies,

Another re-starter happy to join in.

I am just getting back in the swing myself. I started with fitday food monitoring and a 1500 kcal diet and healthy foods in early Dec and some irregular exercise and lost roughly 20 pounds by end of Jan. Feb and March I was mostly off plan though tried to eat healthy and managed to maintain most of my loss apart from the last 4 pounds or so. Now with April I am trying to get back on plan again but I would like to do this without obsessing about calories and make exercising a more regular habit so I would be happy to join in on a 2-3 months goal for June. Since I will be completing school at the end of June, my goal would be to continue losing weight in the stressful weeks that are ahead until graduation and it would be great to be part of a smaller group where mutual support and some degree of accountability would be present.

So, lets get fit for summer time!

[lottie63]

I'm in! I've been doing well with exercise since feb, but last week I had migraines all week and went to bed really early and only exercised twice.

boooo!

I'm finally starting to feel better, I want to bike 6 days this coming week and I want to do a tiny bit of weights, once I'm done with pt after this coming week I'll start alternating strength training days with cardio, I just can't be sore while getting myofascial release done, I'd just cry. haha.

[Dumplin]

Hello everyone ! I would like to join also. I want to be 199 so bad I can taste it. Getting ready to go to the gym today. I need to work on my calories intake more. I know what to do, I just need to keep focus !!!!

[Jasmine31]

Glad to see all 3 new ladies here!!


Hi Lizz!

That sounds like a great plan. Yeah I get tired of counting cals and try to just eat sensibly and it dont work for me. lol

Hi lottie63

I have seen you around before. Great job on losing so much! WTG! sounds like a good plan!

Are you counting cals? How many are you doing?

I remember last time I got down to about 220 I started biking 1 or 2 days a week with the family(in Cali) it was fun.

Right now I can't do it! arrgghhh...

I'd like to start doing some strength training soon. Just not sure how to go about it.

Hi Dumplin

You look like you are close to it! Keep it up! How many cals are you doing? What do you do at the gym?

[Jasmine31]

I am so jazzed this am ladies!!

Last week is a wrap! 4-11 thru 4-17. I ate all days at an average of 1700 cals or less! and 80-90 minutes each day of walking! Yeah! I feel great and am feeling a big difference in my body.

I am usually not a fan of weighing every day. Cause it drives me insane when I retain water and show a gain or no loss, etc. But I am trying to keep in mind the big picture of steady losses over time. I noticed that these past few months I only weighed once every 2 weeks and then would weigh and would do it every day.

I would lose focus on food more often when I did weigh almost every day. So this past week I have been weighing in alot more. Maybe it helped?

Weights for last week:

4-13-11: 259.90
4-14-11: 257.30
4-15-11: 255.70
4-16-11: 256.80
4-17-11: 255.20

Thats showing a loss of 4.7 lbs but I think some was water retention. Cause look at 4-13 to 4-14. Anyhow that shows a for sure loss of at least 2 lbs. I didnt weigh in at the beginning of 4-11-11 so I probably did lose 3 pounds last week.

Yeah!

I think the scale said 256 this am. I really dont believe it so wasnt in a hurry to write it down! LOL

So i think I will start the week saying:

4-18-11: 256

[Jasmine31]

Something else that stopped me from being able to do this again sooner was my energy level. I use to get zipfizz from costco in Cali but the formula is changed out here. This one was making my heart beat erratic!

Hubby who is 5'11 and 150 lbs said the same thing!

So i stopped taking it and voila! NO energy!

But I now found Spring valley Super B complex. It is awesome!

Its really helping me to be able to walk and have energy for that.

[Jasmine31]

Anyhow I had planned to have one care free no food tracking day last week but since I had already had so many bad days i didnt. I DID eat taco bell yesterday, but I stayed within my calories. I wish all food places had nutrition counts online.

Yesterday I finished at 1600 cals.

[rachel2writer]

I'm in! I like the goal of 10 pounds in a month, but accepting less as still a loss. I lost 7 pounds over the first 4 weeks on plan, so I hope to keep that moving.
I'm also working on my splurging/bad days. One per week is OK, but it started to creep up. I only showed a pound loss this week, where it was 3 last week. I need to tighten the reigns!
I'm primarily a stationary biker so far. Being very out of shape and having alot of aches and pains, I started slowly with 20 minutes 3 days a week. I'm up to 25 minutes 4 days a week, and met my exercise goals the past 3 weeks in a row!