New Year's Challenge
 

Okay since Halloween is almost up and we are now faced with Thanksgiving (for the U.S. chicks) and Christmas I thought I would start up a little different challenge.

We all know how hard it is to make it through the various social events that are bound to take place between Thanksgiving and New Years Eve and the endless stream of goodies that we are going to be faced with, not to mention holiday stress and eating on the run as we get ready for the holidays.

This time the focus will be on taking care of ourselves as a whole :)

So from Saturday November 1, 2003 to January 1, 2004
we have the following challenges:

1) Stay on plan.

2) Maintain an exercise program of at least 15 minutes to 1/2 an hour per day.

3) Plan healthy meals and stock our pantries with OP food and some healthy treats to give ourselves some alternatives to all the junk food that will be around.

4) Take time out for ourselves - with the whirlwind of the holidays we still need to get rest, enjoy some social activities and take some time for a favorite activity.

5) Make good food choices when we are out at the mall, having office parties, entertaining or attending parties and when we are rushed and have no time to cook(or don't feel like cooking:) .

6) Allow ourselves to indulge in a few holiday treats and don't torture ourselves over it - we are only human, after all :D

7) Try to focus on the good things you are going to get out of spending time with friends and family and enjoying the holiday season without getting stressed out over losing weight.

So with that in mind everyone can pick their own mini-goal whether it is to maintain between now and Jan 1 or to lose xxx # of lbs.

Good luck to everyone - together we can do it :cb:

My stats and mini goal for Jan 1 are:

Starting weight: 163 lbs
Mini goal: 5 lbs by January 1
Exercise: Pilates tape twice per week, toning tape twice per week
Other: keep a daily food journal

I am in, I will post stats later!!!! I love the commitments
rb

Mauvais, you darling. :grouphug: I will post my stats and goals tomorrow morning after weighing.

Thank you sweet Mauvais :D

Here is my stuff:
My stats and mini goal for Jan 1 are:

Starting weight: 220 lbs

Mini goal: Although I would love to be in Onederland by January 1
I think 10 pounds is more realistic.

Exercise: Something, anything 3 times per week, probably walking or WATP video.

Other: Keep the 7 tips from Mauvais in my minds eye :D

Well, I'm keeping my original goal I set back in September. Mainly to remind myself that I will lose slower than I thought at the beginning of this journey. Ironic, but helpful to me... I need a "real" mindset to keep me from being discouraged.

SW: 173.5
GW for NY: 155
Other goal: Vegan at least 3 days per week.

Well, since early September, I've been stress and emotional eating and blaming it on Harry's situation. Now it's time to get over it!

Starting weight: 205 this morning - aaarrrrggggghhhh
Goal: 10 pounds by January 1
Exercise: walking when possible or WATP tapes
Other: - keep track of food on fitday
- give up my pre-dinner drink except when entertaining
- sleepytime tea every night for a more solid rest
- take my vitamins every morning
- use that expensive Avon face cream every day

Great Idea!!~

Starting: 167
Goal: 15 lbs by New years
Exercise: go to gym twice a week, walk 2 miles twice week.

I'm In!! Starting tomorrow. Need to decide on goals since I tend to sabotage myself once I write tham down!!!

Well, my Halloween goal was a little high. I didn't have any idea how quickly (or slowly) I would lose weight, so all I could do was guess. Now that I have a better idea (it took 3 months to lose 20 lbs) I think a more reasonable goal would be to lose 10 lbs by New Year's. And I tried to do a challenge of working out 5 days a week instead of 3, but that didn't work, so I'll try for 4 in November and maybe work up to 5. Good luck to everyone! We can do this!

Okay...

November 1st
~~~~~~~~~~

current weight- 179 1/2
goal- 10 pounds by Jan 1st
exercise- at the very LEAST, twice weekly at the gym

Hi all,

A newbie here. I have lurked too long and cheered everyone on from afar and totally not jumped in myself so that I could make the commitment that I need to succeed. So, here I am ,ready to do what I need to do to make lasting weight loss work.
You chickies are the best. I love your kindess and fiestiness.

My new husbands' son and daughter-in-law are expecting a new
baby in January and I do not want to be forced to meet the evil
ex-wife heavy. ( this is a big motivater for me right now)
I need to join in to help and be helped because I know that I can not do it alone without some accountability.

Thanks in advance, you sweet chickies!

Welcome, Irish Tart! Good motivation, indeed! :lol:

HI IRISH TART!! I LOVE your name!!! The new challenge starts today (THANKS MAUVAIS!!), so jump in and we'll all help motivate each other!!!

Wow, I cant believe its November, the days and months are passing by so darn quickly...HAPPY NOVEMBER ALL!!! and lets all make this challenge a good one!~

as for me....after work, I am headed to the gym..YEAH!

Welcome Irish Tart - love your name! Glad you are joining us and that is quite the motivation you have :lol:

Irish Tart -- :lol: Ooo, now THAT's motivation. Heh heh.

Unless something animal-derived jumps down my throat before I go to bed, today will be one vegan day this week. Woo-hoo. :D

AR

New Years Challenge
 

New challenge...I am UP for it!!!!! :s:

Current weight: 171 (yipee!!!)
New Years goal:159-just did the 'lets be real chat with myself just as I was about to place this

REALISTIC NY goal:165 :crossed:

Plan on "carefully" and mindfully choosing the sweets and snacks. :moo:
Exercise at least 20 minutes 3 times a week. (can you see what an over-achiever I am.. :nose: )

Nothing animal-derived snuck its way into my gullet. So 1 out of 3 days done for this week.

AR

Royally sucked at the Halloween challenge, so I have to really work on this one.

Current weight - 178.2
Goal - 169
Exercise - get back to doing my yoga tape twice a week

Any other mini goals are in the other mini goal thread. :)

Thanks mauvaisroux! Ok. I'm ready for a new challenge. I joined the Halloween Challenge a little late and didn't give myself realistic goals. But I'm ready. I'm not sure of my current weight. I will weigh in tonight at the YMCA.

Weight goal: lose 7 pounds by Jan. 1 (though I would love more)
Exercise at the YMCA 3 days a week, walk 30 min every day
Eat more veggie! :p Eat healthy

Guess thats all for now. I'll have to find out my current weight. So, can we/are we going to discuss meals? My worst problem is breakfast. I always wake up late and I end up grabbing something high carb/high cal like granola bars or pop tarts. Any suggestions for fast breakfasts? You ladies are great. Good luck on this new challenge. Later! - Amy

Hi Amy!

I try to make my lunches the night before and set up the breakfast table, with bowls, cutlery, coffee cups, the box of cereal etc. everything except the milk - it cuts down on a lot of time in the morning - I'm not good at getting up on dark winter days :(

Maybe you could pack a baggie with one of those new low-fat yogurt drinks and a banana, apple or seedless grapes in the fridge so that you just grab it and go?

I sometimes bake low- fat bran muffins and freeze them then take out 5 at a time and pop them in the fridge so I have 1 per day.

Instead of a regular granola bar maybe you could substitute a slim fast bar or a low carb meal replacement bar?

Hope this helps :D

Amy, I always make sure I have a few hard boiled eggs on hand. Also V8 juice and some mozzarella sticks and LF ham slices. So I can grab a quick bite on my way out the door.

Cool! Thanks ladies! Great ideas! You know I used to be so good about setting things out the night before, like clothes or a lunch bag. I don't know what happened. Maybe that should be a new goal :) I think I'm going to try that with beverages too. I've done a lot better at cutting out my sodas but I'd like to have a variety. Is Crystal light ok? Thanks again! Have a good day! - Amy

P.S. WELCOME TO THE GROUP IRISH TART (too cute!)

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome! This time really is going to be different!
I will post my weight stats later on this evening!
Go Alternachicks!!!!!!

Crystal light is okay, in fact I find it more refreshing than diet soda because it is not fizzy. Rubbermade has some great drink containers that have a flip top which contains a built in straw. I fill a couple of them with v8 or Crystal light and they are ready to grab and go. You can also do the same thing with any leftover water bottles - I some times fill them 3/4 of the way with Crystal light and freeze them then take them on road trips with me or when I am running errands in the car. They thaw out slowly so your drink is cold for several hours. :)

Oh thats cool! I'll have to look for the rubbermaid bottles. Thanks! I did a little badly on my diet yesterday (chocolate called my name) but I did make it to step aerobics last night. But I was a complete and total dummy and did not drink water after 45 minutes of tough carbs. Woke up with the worst calf cramp I have had in my life! :censored: It hurt sooo bad! But I'm glad I went. It was an awesome class. And I was shocked when I stepped on the scale, I'm back down a pound! I don't get it but I'm not going to fight it. :s: So my start weight for the New Years Challenge is 198 and I'm going for 192. Thanks!

Okay Girls,

now I'm ready to join and commit to the challenge.
New Year's...hmmmm....let me think for a moment...:chin:

Okay,
I weighed in at 175 this morning.
We have about 8 weeks until New Year's,
I can't exercise vigorously for three more weeks,
So, I'll set a reasonable goal of reaching
169 by January 1st.
then I'll shoot for 159 by March 21st, my birthday...

so, current weight 175
short term goal 169
birthday goal 159
long term goal 135-145?

How?
over the next three weeks,
walk or do some lower body work 3 to 4 times per week.
then gradually begin adding upper body.
continue with yoga...schedule some appointments with my yoga teacher.
be mindful of what foods we bring into the house
do some meal planning with my partner.
use our meal plan as an outline for grocery shopping.
keep my "good" foods readily available
de-stress by keeping current with my work and not procrastinating as much!

Soozie

Okay, I need to jump in here and commit to this challenge.
I weigh 176. I'm going to shoot for 165 by New Year's.
I will continue to walk at least 2 miles with my sister every other day. Use one of my many exercise videos that I have purchased over the years and never used.:lol: Leave sugar and high
carbs out of my diet. Eat more veggies( I plan to visit those
vegan chickies and let them tell me how it is done.) I love veggies; I just can't figure out how to prepare them other than opening a can....so I need to be a little more creative and find some tasty
veggie recipes. That is my plan, please let me stick to it.

Feh, I am still at my starting weight and have not started my tapes yet :p I have got to stay OP on the weekend and start exercising more :drill:

Count me in! :dancer:

I'm 5 days on plan (started Monday, November 3,) and I'm thrilled to say that I'm doing really well so far. :smug: It goes without saying that some times are harder than others -- some moments are downright hellish -- but that's just it: they're moments.....that's all. I'm so proud of myself, I hope I can maintain this level of motivation and focus. I haven't weighed myself since Thursday, so my reported current weight should have changed (if there's a God, that is! :^: ) but here are my stats as I know them:

Start weight: 270
Current weight: 266
Goal weight: 135

Between now and January 1, I'm committed to sticking with my current plan:

• Walk or bike at least 30 minutes, at least 5 days per week
• Take steps to add steps to my daily activities, ie. parking far, walking long way around office, making multiple trips up and down stairs, etc.
• Log food, activities, and journal at fitday
• Consume, on a weekly average, no more than 1800 calories a day
• Drink at least 90 oz water daily
• Eat at least 5 times/day
• Never eat carbs without protein
• Consume 20% fat max, on weekly average
• Keep sodium below 2400 mg.
• Stick to complex carbs throughout week
• Allow option for one free, guilt-free meal per week
• Eat 1-2 pieces of fruit every day
• Keep daily fiber over 20 grams
• Cut out wine during the week
• Weigh myself only twice a week
• Continue to work on my relationship with food, being conscious of it's purpose as fuel and nothing else
• Get at least 7 hours sleep

As for weight loss goals, I'm hoping to reach my ultimate goal weight in 14 months. For the purposes of this challenge, I'm not sure what to reasonably expect. Let's say 20 pounds, since I'm at the beginning of this journey.

I'm hoping the support of this group will help to keep me on track (and my sweetheart, by proxy!) -- I'll be here for you guys too, I promise. :grouphug::smug:

Good for you, Sarah! :hat:

(am I in on this? I don't see my name down anywhere...)

Yes you are in on this Ellis :lol: I think you posted your stats on page 1 or 2!

Sarah- good goals for yourself! I am going to try to drink more water and exercise daily- gotta dust of my exercise tapes :)

lessofsarah,
you go girl!

you have some intense goals, so don't get discouraged,
if you can't do it all at once...just keep taking baby steps,
every single eighth of a pound down, is an eighth of a pound down,
As long as the scale moves in that direction I'm happy...and I've learned to tolerate the fact that it sometimes moves the other way.

Sometimes it's just one of those things, normal fluctuation, and sometimes, I've been eating like a little piggy wiggy...as is the case right now.

Don't know why, but I've had a major appetite. Maybe my body struggling to get my huge boobies back...and that ain't gonna happen. Oh, for Sarah and any other newbies, not that I haven't mentioned it a thousand times...I recently had a breast reduction.

I haven't been able to really exercise since October 15th. And I was recovering hanging about the house for two and a half weeks. Thankfully I started back to work last week. I was exhausted but, I couldn't eat as much. Don't like to be chomping and sucking the melted bits of chocolate off of my fingers while my clients are discussing their issues with me...just wouldn't seem respectful.

"um...I see, well, you feel that you have seasonal affective disorder, okay, well, could you hold that thought a minute?
our office manager brought in left over halloween candy and I need some chocolate...right now...
you know, chocolate can raise serotonin levels, would you like a piece?
what's that?
you're feeling suicidal?
oh, does that mean you'd don't want to wait while I go pick out a piece of candy?
well, okay, gee, some people are so egocentric."

so, you see what I mean...why I eat less at work...

I'll be needing lots of encouragement to stop the eating and start gentle exercise again. think that I'll call my yoga instructor today and my trainer at the gym tomorrow and make some appts to get started.

and lest you think that I'm Oprah and that I'll be discussing my personal chef next...

I really don't make that much money. In fact I just realized that my checking account is overdrawn and I have to borrow money from my sister to pay bills. It's just that for years I've been very conscious of spending money on things that matter...prioritizing things like therapy, education, and now...the gym and my yoga instruction. I figure without those things my life won't be worth much anyway, so, I drive a '92 Ford Taurus but, I take private yoga instruction at my house...

okay, no, I confess, it's really me, Oprah, just pretending to be a Jewish Lesbian Mother from New Jersey...
oh, wait, can't pass that off...Jen and Suzanne have met her personally.
oh well!
love you girls,
chin up,
and no more double chins,
Lil' Boobin' Soozan

Boobie Bonding
 

Hey, Soozie......congratulations on the reduction!! :high: I had one years ago, and it was such a positive experience for me! I couldn't keep my hands off my ribcage, and I found myself plopping on couches -- just because I could! Also, I showed them to anyone who would look, because I was so impressed with their initial conical shape. Do you feel lighter? I had six pounds removed, how about you? What about the shadow pains? -- I used to call them knives and daggers, to describe the different kinds of pain. I've never gotten to talk to anyone else who's had it done, so I'm so excited! And I'm so excited for you!!! :balloons:

Thanks for the kind words, everyone.....it is an awful lot of behavioral change, but it's all positive, and it feels really good to be in control. Today.

I do hear you, Soozie, on the baby steps/take it one day at a time thing, and I'll carry that gentle reminder in my pocket for the difficult moments. And I'll join my voice in the support chorus whenever you need it. :goodvibes:

Take care everyone!

Hey Sarah,
Cool...we have a lot in common, I just sent you a semi-whiny pm...reviewing all of my complications after this surgery. :cry: The rest of you girlies...i spared you the horror of hearing it all again!

Anyway, I'm already feeling less whiny, even if it is Monday.

And I do love my new boobs, even if they're still alittle swollen and they're starting to look more like small D's than C's...maybe because
I'VE GAINED SO MUCH WEIGHT SITTING AT HOME, EATING, AND NOT EXERCISING...PLEASE, SOMEONE, STOP ME!!! :moo: :fr:

ahhhh....thank you for letting me vent. you know how smokey the bear says, only you can prevent forest fires...well, you know what I'm getting at, only I can stop myself from bingeing on junk food and staying couch bound. I know that I can't start upper body work yet but, I could get off my rear and walk a tad bit.

oh, Soozie...get up off of your bum you bum...remember how good it felt when you were growing those yummy muscles... :yes: :barbell:

okay, that's it, I'm going to the gym today. Honest. I don't have to be at work until 5pm, so, no excuses. I felt really depressed last night because I've gained so much weight in the past three weeks that I feel like I'm attempting to regrow my old boobs. It's time to get back on program.

don't let me off of the hook girlfriends...kick my a** :rollpin:
love, Soozie

Soozie... just running off to my psycho appointment, but... :drill: ... get it together, girl!! :grouphug:

Thanks El,
Tell your psycho I said Hi.
love,Soozie

Weigh in tonight and I have PMS :( I am trying to drink my water today- I was at 163 last Thursday - will post results later.

I will be getting two extra walks in today though :)

Oh my gosh, Soozie... your little Petunia is just the sweetest thing. :)

Hugs, Mauvais... I just finished mine. You're certain to drop next week. :grouphug: