Serenity, cool article! I know I heard the '300 more calories burned' thing before, but I never really took it seriously.

Rho, I know I'll be staying on plan, watching the scale, and taking measurements so I'm down for any one of those, or all of the above. I'm placing a personal emphasis on inches because I'm beginning the 30 Day Shred on July 1st. Can't wait!

I really want to try hoola-hooping some time. Back in elementary school gym class, I was always too chunky to make the hoop spin around my waist. :P

6 days left...So as of today I am down 6lbs for the challenge. Not close to my origional goal but I am okay with that. I am officially down 10lbs since I started trying to lose Mid May so that is fine. I'm just going to really push these last 6 days, make sure I work out every day and drink lots of water. I am also going to pay a little more attention to make sure I get my daily fiber in. My new mini goal for the challenge will be to get into the 130's and stabilize there.

Rho- I love that you did the hulahoop class! I love doing something different and trying to keep it fun! Who cares what the barbies in class look like-ha!
And I am down for a labor day challenge too!

Congrats Gina and Brook on the losses! YAY!!!

Ramra- Heard a lot about Shred and know people get good results from it...I don't think I am ready for it yet-lol, you go first and tell me how it is!

Air- Good plan on making the last part of the challenge getting back on track...you will be ready for the next one that way!

Ok guys, lets push through these last 6 days!!! Good luck!!!

Rho - Scale free until labor day sounds perfect. My "goal" is going to be 20 gym visits during the challenge.
My friend teaches hoop dance and pole dance classes and is always super excited to see women who are just starting to get fit and left their comfort zone to come to her class. If your hoola hoop instructor is anything like my friend, she's much more impressed with you than any of the fit, tiny, college students.

:wave: everyone and thanks for all the support and congrats..

my goal is to stay at this weight every month so I will be weighing myself each week myself.. I'm still jetlag.. **** I've travelled from the mediterrean to the pacific ocean practically and it has only been 1 week today and last night was the first time that I slept normally without waking up..

yes I've already gotten into the coffee which is crazy as I didn't drink coffee in Italy LOL well the expressos were too strong and here I add a little of creme and no sugar and I'm all good..

Everyone is doing good and just keep on going.. if I can do it anyone can.. I had my slip ups and it took at least 6 weeks to lose those last 6 pounds and I was gung ho about it as well.. but my determination did pay off and this forum helped a lot.

Rho, any challenge you come up with for Labor Day, I'm in! I think the losing inches thing is a great idea!

The scale hopefully will stay down for my WI tomorrow. Another wedding tomorrow evening. That is the third in a month. But I still weigh less than before I started the July 4 challenge, so I'm happy.

Ramra, I was too chunky for the hula hoop too, either that, or my stomach muscles always were lacking. lol

:wave: TTFN

breyers carb smart bars have been my best friends the last couple days! So very hot out and the kids are eating a ton of ice cream I needed a little help. They did put me a bit over 20 as I am counting the sugar alcohols too. Now I am just hoping I dont have a stall. I am down 3 more lbs now that af is officially gone!

I hope you all are doing well good job on the loses! Almost there!

It's midnight where I live, and I just got out of bed and binged on brocolli salad! It was incredibly yummy, but I went over my carbs by 6g, and my calories by 300.

No more getting out of bed to eat!

Brooklynn, wtg on the 3 lbs lost. I have never seen the Breyers smart carb bars in my area, but I do eat SF popsicles, they are 0 carbs and are very refreshing in the hot weather.

Ramra, I do agree getting out of bed to eat is dangerous, but your confession of a binge on broccoli salad had me smiling.:D

Good news from the scale. Another 1.5 down. I managed to lose 4 lbs so far on the challenge. :carrot: I'll take it.

Have a great weekend. We can do it.

Globe --- coffee yummmmm. I am a coffee nut. I only normally have 2 large cups in the morning but I would love to drink it all day long .. I have some half-caff In case of emergencies - yep a coffee emergency it happens :dizzy: and yay on getting a good nights sleep - it takes time between excitement and all of moving in addition to time change and exhaustion. And you are doing great maintaining too!

Ramra - broccoli binge had me giggling too .. Getting out of bed to eat not so good ... Did you eat enough during the day and hunger just caught up with you? And most important how do you make your broccoli salad? ;)

Brooklyn maybe you will sweat out the difference from the ice cream .. I've been afraid to get that thinking I will love it too much - we do have sugar free Popsicles that I did when the last heat wave hit us. And it was a nice treat. On another site they were talking about putting a package of cream cheese in the blender and making SF jello and whirring it up in the blender and then putting in the fridge I may try that one soon... Sounded refreshing. I was wondering it the lime jello would taste like key lime pie?

Serenity - have fun at the wedding.. You are going to have wedding food down great by the end of the summer unless this is the last one for awhile ..

Ultra ... I got my new hoop yesterday and I had to ask for the next size down - still an adult hoop - because I didn't have room in my house to use the big hoop ... It is waaayyy harder lol. I laughed at myself last night - I would do six drop then maybe 8 drop then maybe 3 drop -- a couple of times I got up to 30 before dropping lol. I know I will get it - and I'm having fun and oh am I sore today - you really have to work the smaller hoop more. I should be getting 2 DVDs today and one on Monday to work with and get tips. My Instructor is away for two weeks (could I pick a time to start or what) and the week she comes back I may have jury duty ugh ugh ugh - I call the Friday before. The worst part is they don't even tell you where they say "all of Suffolk County". That could be extra sucky with distance and gas milage thrown in if I get picked.

On the next challenge - I think no matter what we should use the July 4th weight to begin and then decide what you want to do ...I am obsessive about daily weighing so I will continue doing that .. And I do my measurements once a month... So I will add in making an actual meal plan and shopping for it once a week to make it easier to make meals ... I tend to decide in the morning what I'm going to cook .. This will be a good habit to get in I think for me ..

I know when I've had struggles just saying that I would get thru the next meal on plan or today on plan and the next day on plan was a help to get back in to the swing of it... Maybe if you are making that a goal - have a pad that you can check off each meal and snack that was on plan for the day. I like making things games so doing that and putting a day star on the day would help me (and yes I would go out and buy gold stars and silver stars for days that was almost perfect .. Heck I'd probably buy a pretty new little notebook to do it in so I would have space to journal about each day)

We really need to keep fun in our lives and making this journey as fun as possible can only help .. So I play games with myself along the way.. Remember "growing older is mandatory - growing up is optional" let's find our inner child and celebrate her. Life is too short not to have fun!

So everyone think about their challenge for Labor Day.. Record your weight July 4th and that will be the beginning (I think we need to have a weight number to compare to at least) right now my challenge could be long if I break down all the things I want to do :^:

159 - I made my challenge goal. And, I'm on my period, so I'll probably lose a little more when that's over. Woo, I no longer have an overweight BMI and have less than 20 lbs to go!

Awesome stuff, ultrapeaches! You're getting close to your final goal.

The broccoli salad had baby broccoli florets, 3 cheese ranch, and shredded cheese. My boyfriend's mother made it and sent it home with him. D*mn that woman can make good food.

Today I worked it into my calories. I also went out and bought groceries; I walked 2 miles there and 2 miles back with 6 bags and a blender. I struggled. People stared. At one point my strapless dress fell down (glad I wear a bra!).

I made my first protein shake with ice, in a blender, and it was amazing! I can't believe I've been drinking it with cold water for so long. I'm getting chocolate next time and blending it with ice and coffee. Hurray for having summer treats.

I just weighed myself and got 146.5, but that will soon disappear as I'm expecting my period. I was supposed to have it around the 20th but it likes to come and go as it pleases. Doesn't do much for my peace of mind. I'm hoping to start our next challenge with 148.

Oh and they didn't have the 30 Day Shred at Walmart! I have it downloaded on my notebook, but it's TINY...So I bought "JM's Ripped in 30", and it looks pretty intimidating. I feel like I'm jumping a huge step. But even if I can't keep up, I will do my best, so there is progress to be made. Maybe I'll be "Ripped in 60". :P

Oh Ramra you had me giggling with the strapless dress falling down... I'm sure carrying the groceries and thlender home was a struggle but think of all those burned calories ;)

Ultra - a huge loud happy WHOO HOOO for you! I'm so excited for you I could just dance :carrot::carrot:

:dance:Doing the happy dance for Ultra!

Rho, is it hot out by you? Because where I am, it is going to be another scorcher today. The good news is it is so hot I don't even feel like eating. The bad news is that I make the heat a sorry excuse for not exercising.

I have made my mind up that I am not going to use "Fourth of July" food as a reason to go off plan. Plenty of delicious food I can it though. It is our tradition to have lobsters, and lobster with all the drawn butter I want is perfectly on plan.:D The only thing I'm going to miss is my pina coladas, but I'll stick to ice water this year. When you look up the carbs and calories for a pina colada it is shocking.:yikes:

Keep on doing it!

It's 88 but I'm sure it is hotter in by you - even Riverhead and Smithtown are usually hotter than us .. But it is HOT in my house for sure ..AC in the bedroom only :dizzy:

I'm making a smoked fish dip/spread for a BBQ we are going to tonight .. Its hot enough that The cream cheese gets warm enough to mix it up fast lol then it will go back in the fridge to chill ... I'm bringing my metal water bottle filled with water and ice and I can add more water as I need it .. And I'm really not too worried about eating because like you say it's too hot to care and by 5 it will be brutal I'm sure. I just had some leftover taco salad for lunch so I will probably be good if they have salad and a burger or hot dog ... And can ignore the rest of the stuff.

Lobster and a salad sounds great to me (just to have some veg in there lol) for the 4th of July ... Hubs is in charge of the fire department after parade hot dog party for the families that marched .. I won't be going and I won't see him much from tomorrow to the 5th I'm sure

Happy Canada Day to all the Canadian peeps! Enjoy your celebration!