[Bigmid]

Hi blue team

Well 9 weeks down and only four to go in this challange...so hard to believe its already been that long though. I haven't done as well as I hoped but I'm still down so that's always a good thing.

I may be absent a bit this week as I'm taking my mom to the hospital tomorrow morning and I'll be there a lot visiting and then home to get things ready for her return. I'll be busy with work and doing everything at the house and for her for the first while as she won't be able to get around. She is having a total knee replacement done. I'm hoping it goes better than her last one did. The thing about this one is it's the right knee do if it doesn't do good she doesn't ever drive again either. So here's hoping for a good outcome all the way around.

My friend is in the hospital but doing better....went to see her today, she has a blood clot in each lung so she has lots of pain and hard to breath. But she is getting better and hopes to be released in two or three days.

I am probably going to have a bad eating day tomorrow as I won't be home at all so it's all eating out but I hope to get in a few good workouts this week. At least that's the plan

Well I hope everyone has a great night and a great week.

I'll say CONGRATULATIONS to our biggest losers in case I don't get back on for a day or two.

[LeslieB]

Blue Team Total Lost: 6.6 lbs. as a team or 0.32%

Blue Team Biggest Loser: pagelynn (-3.4 lbs., -1.87%)

Honorable Mentions:

karenp1120 (-1.4 lbs., -1.01%)
EofAZ (-1.0 lbs., -0.45%)
LeslieB (-1 lbs., -0.40%)

Congratulations to all the losers this week !! Hope everyone has a great week 10 !

Bigmid - My thoughts are with you for the next while... hope everything goes well and know we're all here for you if you need us.

I've been keeping very busy for the past few weeks... been working out like a fiend and feel 'on' again. Friday we did a 10 mile hike and saw 3 amazing waterfalls... it was incredible ! This week will be crazy with Halloween and I'm self-learning a computer language and hope to get a good amount of progress on that.

Here's to a great week 10 !

[EofAZ]

Bigmid-Hope all goes well with your Mom. How old is she? I had both my knees replaced in 2009, one done in February and the Second in May. The key is the therapy, it is the worst part but if you can push through the pain the outcome is so much better. I can move better than I have in 15 or 20 years. Almost no pain and much more energy. Every once and a while I will do something stupid that causes some discomfort but my day to day life is so very very much better.

October and November are my busiest part of the year at work then you roll into Christmas season and well you know how busy that is, so hope everyone has a successful week if I don't get to pop in right away.

Oh, BTW Bigmid. No excuse for not being on plan. You may not be eating the way you normally would but you can make wise choices when you are eating in hospitals and restaurants. Stick to veggies and protein and choose grilled over fried and you will be surprised at how well you can do. If you have to, pack an ice chest with your lunch and a couple of snacks to throw in the car. Then go to the car and get your lunch instead of the restaurant. If you really have your heart in sticking to it you will find away. Whenever I eat out I always just have my protein on a bed or lettuce instead of chowing down on fries and rolls. A McDonalds hamburger roll is not good enough to throw my program away over. If I go off plan it is going to be at a much finer restaruant than a McD's or a Hospital. This needs to be a lifestyle change and eating out is part of life so you need to practice how to handle it successfully.

Sorry, just felt like I need to dishout a little tough love. Hope you take it in the spirit it is given. I just felt like you were planning on being off plan and you really don't need to be off unless you allow yourself to be.

[PageLynn]

Congrats to all our losers this week! Let's keep it going!!!!

YAY! I can't believe I was the biggest loser. All thanks to that swosh lol!

BigMid - Good Luck with everything (from your mom's surgery to your eating)!

[thinkfit]

So... I'm super embarrassed to admit that I totally caved to peer pressure last night, but I want to be held accountable for this so I need to fess up. I was hoping to skip the drinking but let's be real it's not easy for an almost 20 year old to tell their friends they're good with water. I mean normally it's no big deal, but since it was Halloween it made me feel like a huge spoil sport so I gave in. Tons of sugary drinks I have no idea how many calories (especially since once the alcohol starts flowing it's easy to tell yourself hey, what's one piece of candy?) and just ugh. I'm adult enough to admit that the decision was ultimately completely my own and the fault of no one else, and I realize it's also my responsibility to make sure this doesn't effect me on a grander scale, but man, like I said... embarrassing!

How was Halloween for the rest of you?

[EofAZ]

You know thinkfit, of all the holidays I've struggled with the hardest one was Halloween. I think it was because I never really considered it a holiday and didn't prepare enough for it. I was so shocked that it did as much damage as it did. Just watch yourself because it can be a slippery slope and the next thing you know it's New Year, so make a plan for the rest of 2012 and come New Years you will be celebrating your success rather than being disappointed.

[thinkfit]

Yes exactly! I agree Evangeline, for me the only challenge on Halloween I had even considered was that I'd have to stay away from the candy. I guess I know better now! I think I did pretty well recovering, I stuck to my promise to myself not to continue overindulging (we definitely had sweets lying around) and I finally kicked myself in the butt enough to get back to working out. I was majorly up on the scale yesterday morning (bloat I'm sure but still) and seeing that number get only a few away from 300 again was enough to scare me into action, I think. I definitely need to plan ahead for Thanksgiving, Christmas parties and New Years Eve especially though.

[PageLynn]

Holidays are the worse for weight loss! I am realizing I do better when I do not have to feed other adults. When its just my kids and me, we eat great. My grandma shows up for one weekend and the house has junk food again. UGH! My weight loss is showing it...

[thinkfit]

This has been a really hard decision for me but I've thought a lot about it and I think it's best for me to step out of the competition. I know there's only three weeks left and it's stupid for me to quit so close to the end, but those are three weeks where I might see some loss I don't think I otherwise would. It's not any of you, because the support here is amazingly wonderful, but the stress of not letting down my team has been making my loss stall and bounce around like crazy. Most people do better with that kind of pressure, but I guess I just kind of fold under it. My end of challenge goal was 275 (?!) but as of today I'm back to only three pounds less than my starting weight. The thought of only getting off three pounds in ten weeks makes me want to cry, but I know I need to learn from the bad choices I've made and move on. I did get down to 291, but the next week I shot back up and it hasn't stopped. I really hope to keep in touch with you guys and maybe I'll be more emotionally ready to use this competition to help me succeed instead of letting it stress me out next time, but I don't know. Good luck to all of you, and thank you so much for all you've done for me these past ten weeks.

[EofAZ]

Thinkthin-I understand perfectly. I have had the same results in challenges before. You will find it comes easier when you start eating to improve your health instead of monitoring your weight. No matter what you do you cannot control how much weight you are going to loose in a specific period. Just look at what TOM does to our bodies. But what you can control is eating healthy. You can choose to eat 1600 cal (or whatever is a health number of cal your body needs) with a heathly balanced between carbs, protein and heathy fat. This will bring results but no one can predict at what rate each week the results will show on the scale. So good luck, remember to be true to yourself on your effort and the results will take care of themselves.

[LeslieB]

Thinkfit - I understand what you mean about the pressure we put on ourselves and respect your decision to pull out of the challenge. Please stick around... even though your numbers won't be part of the challenge we still very much appreciate your support. This works both ways... whenever you need our support just ask ! Feel free to stick around as an honorary member of the team... I won't officially count your weight but feel free to use your recording post if you choose.

[Bigmid]

Hi everyone I'm going to post the new threads so won't chat lots here

Thinkfit - I too am ack to only a couple pounds of my start weight and I was so close to goal. If you come back next challenge remember we are a team but this is still something you are doing for yourself. I struggled with that the first time and it affected my moods and everything. I still want to lose for me and the team but if I don't lose and I ate well and did some form of activity then that's all one can hope for. The scale will show a loss it's just never when we want to see it. I'm with Leslie please stay on and chat even if you don't join the next one come onand chat with us there too and let us know how your doing.

To everyone else thanks for the wishes for my mom. Here surgery went well and she came home in Friday. I'm doing everything now and we had a leaking water pipe so water in the ascent I discovered last night at 11:30pm and had to be up at 5:30am.....not fun. Just got it fixed about an hour ago do at least I can have a shower tomorrow for work....lol

Okay moving on to the next thread.