Labor Day Challenge!
 

Okay, Calorie Counters, it's time for a new challenge! :carrot:

Congrats to all those who met their goal on the Canada Day challenge. :celebrate:
Officially, that one doesn't end until tomorrow, but since a lot of challengers met their goal early, I thought we'd get this thread going, so folks can sign up.

Here's how it works: Set a goal for yourself. It can be anything you want or need to work on in the next 8+ weeks, between now and Labor Day. Some like to set a goal for pounds/kg they want to lose, some set a goal to stay OP (on plan) with their eating and/or exercise, to fit into a special outfit, cut down on certain food/drink addictions, whatever. It can be anything that keeps you OP and motivated this summer!

Here are my goals for the Labor Day Challenge:

Scale: 191 lbs or lower. I am not setting a bigger number than that, because I just started back weight lifting, and that tends to slow my numbers way down. I like to think it's because I'm getting so "buff", but in reality, it's usually more about bloating up with water weight the next few days after a hard workout. 191 will get me out of the "obese" BMI range, so I'll just be "overweight". I can live with that! :D

Exercise:
Skating 2-3 nights a week
Lifting 3-4 days a week (Mon/Tues, Thurs/Fri)
Cardio (including skating) 6 days a week, Mon-Sat
- for skating, has to be at least 2 hours to "count"
- for jogging, at least 2 miles
- for intervals, 20 mins
(not including warm-ups on any workout)
Sunday off from workouts

Eating:
Keep it OP! 1600 on Sunday, 1600-1800 Mon-Sat

That is the plan. We'll see if it works! Good luck everyone!

PS: FB and yoyoma, you can just get your fuzzy butts over here on the new thread, and not try to be all exclusive over there on the Canada Day thread. You can report your final results over here, is what I'm trying to say! :hug:

Sounds good, Cheryl. Accountability has always served me well.

It's nine calendar weeks to Labor Day so I'll commit to hitting the gym 36 times.

I registered for the Miami Marathon today and will need to log those miles if I'm going to get across the finish line in less than six hours, which is when they close the course.

I imagine if I stick to that plan, the fat loss will follow.

My fuzzy butt has arrived, no elitist here!

My goal this time is to be under 200 pounds by the time Labor Day hits.

I've come pretty far this year, but seeing the '2' in front is oftentimes discouraging. I realize it's all mental, and a silly number - but oh, I want it sooooo badly. After all, my goal weight starts with a '1', that means I'll be edging closer and closer with an end to weight loss (and a beginning to maintenance! WOO!! YEAH!) in sight. That's the overwhelming thing, sometimes it feels like there's no end in sight. I don't get too discouraged or entertain thoughts of quitting, just want that visual encouragement of a '1' really badly.

I'm more than halfway through my numbers goal, but the realization of how far I've come won't really hit until I see 199 on the scale.

I'm 214 today and ever so close to 199.

So, 15 pounds from today I'll reach that benchmark. 15 pounds!

Diva! Great to see you here...I remember you from last year on the CC chat. Good luck with your marathon! I'd imagine the weight would come off, running those training miles.

That's what I'm starting to focus on now, myself, not a marathon, but focusing more on what my fitness goals are. I'm working out, but "why?". What do I want to be able to do, that I can't do now? I know the weight will come off if I'm eating right and exercising, at whatever pace, so I'm now looking forward and trying to make sure my workouts are helping reach some goals that are more specific than "lose the weight", KWIM?

FB! :hug: I know you will hit ONEderland very soon! Then you will blast past me and be sitting there at goal, sipping marguaritas, waiting for me to arrive on the slow train, lol.

Now, where is everybody else? Busy, busy, apparently! I'm off in a few minutes to hit the PO and then the rink for a little skate practice...hopefully it won't be packed with a load of daycampers, but other than tomorrow night, it will be my only chance to skate for the rest of this week.

Cheryl,

I GWUM.

*wink*

Why not register for a 5K? 3.1 miles isn't terrible and the euphoria is there. What do you think?

Hi everyone..I havent joined a challenge yet,so Im a virgin:dizzy: with these on the board..Be gentle ;)..lol..Anyways my challenge is to be down 10 pounds, bringing me to 143

labor day is my one year dieting anniversary!! I would love to be 35 lbs down and at 133 which would be just below my 20% weight loss!!

Im in..I set my july 4th goal for 250...and im at 253. I am setting my goal for labor day at 235. That would be 18lbs from where I am now. My weight loss seems slower right now..I think its due to not getting exercise as reg .
I am getting my minitramp back out and get with it. I sat down and wrote out my goals for the next year..and by labor day next year I should be at goal of 170. Im in no big hurry to lose all the weight. Just want to keep losing and improving my health.
debi:trampo:

Hey ladies...I'm going to stick with a goal of staying on plan until labor day, with calorie counting and exercise.

I'm actually leaving for Paris to live for a year right around Labor day. I have a ton of things to do between now and then, and I'm worried about the stress of being very busy, combined with the stress of moving to a foreign country for a year, combined with the stress of the week I'll be visiting my hometown and staying with my parents (my mom, specifically, stresses me out)!

I don't want to try to use this stress as a reason to go off plan, especially with the exercise!

Technically, if (when) I stick to it, I should lose 12 lbs in 8 weeks, and it would be great to leave with that goal.

Hi, I am new to this board and this seems like a nice place to land. I am up for a challenge for labor day.

In nine weeks, sounds like a good goal for me is to get down to 160. A pound a week seems reasonable.

Plus I commit to getting 30 seconds faster per mile on my 10k pace. A bit ambitious, but I need a good kick in the pants.

My goal will be to 189 by Labor Day. I know this sounds easy (only three pounds) but I've been stuck at 192 and the scale jumped to 195 today :rolleyes: so hopefully I'll meet my goal in three weeks and I will re-evaluate my labor day goal but I need to do SOMETHING to kick start the scale. So I am going to bust my butt.

I changed my mind, I'm going to set it at 185 so it's more of a challenge. I won't beat myself up if I don't make it... but I think 189 is not really enough of a "challenge"

Woohoo, we're getting a lot of challengers! :carrot:

Diva, I did my first 5K in March, and it was great. Not sure when I'll get to do another fun run, but I'm sure there will be more in my future. One goal I do have (not for this challenge, just in general) is to improve my flexibility, which will translate to being a better skater and maybe less prone to injury. I'm going to order a yoga dvd this month, and try it, because I think it will help me work toward that fitness goal.

Peach! :hug: I've missed chatting with you! You look more fuzzy and chicken-shaped than I remember, though... :chin:

Everybody else, it's not that I'm not feeling the love, but I've only got another minute here, so I'll just say "welcome, and good luck!" to everybody I missed! :celebrate:

Cheryl,

My hip flexors are getting tight again and I looked into yoga classes and found very few that would work into my schedule. Let me know what you find for a video and I'll copy you.

I wanna be Gumby, dammit!

I would love to join in on the challenge if possible. I am still very new to this board and haven't posted much. What better way to start than to jump right in on a new challenge? I am a teacher and would love nothing else than to go back to school the day after Labor Day and be able to start a new year in a new body!

Right now I am at 230 pounds. My goal for Labor Day will be to be in the 210-215 range, so a loss of 15-20 pounds.

Hello,
This time I am just going to stay on plan until labour day and see what weight comes off. That way I will have a better gauge as to what rate I lose weight at.
My plan is
2 days a week: some sort of sport, I play baseball and women's ball hockey
5 days a week: running 4km
3 or 4 times a week: weight training

1400-1500 calories on weekdays
1500-1600 calories on weekends

Good luck to everyone and thanks Jammy for starting one again!

I'm in again. I really enjoyed the Canada Day Challenge. This time I'm going to live dangerously :lol: and go for a 10 pound loss along with staying OP eating and exercising during the summer months especially when I'm on vacation.

I'd like to join the challenge. I'm going for 10 lbs. lost by Labor Day, which would bring me down to 153.

Good luck everyone!

I had my weigh in just a few minutes ago so I'm going to post my first weight loss on the Labor Day Challenge. 1.5 pounds lost. I stopped weighing in on the Canada Day Challenge last Saturday so this has been a week since I weighed. All the best to everyone on this challenge.

1.5/10

Isabella, congratulations on the weight loss this week! :cb:

Diva, I'll let you know what I find on the yoga. :)

Chele and Ursus, welcome to the challenge, and good luck!

Sgirl, welcome back! :hug:

I hope everybody (in US) had a good holiday yesterday. My sister and I went down to the Tall Ships festival at the waterfront, then walked from there to the city's annual 4th of July fest, since they were only about 2 miles apart. Including walking both of the festivals and in-between, I think we walked at least 10 miles yesterday. Eating was pretty good, just a burger with veggies on it and water at the fest, then I came home and cooked brocc and salmon for dinner. My sister and I watched a movie and called it a night. My ds was at a friend's house, so I didn't have to do the whole fireworks thing, which was nice for me. I was all set to sleep in this morning, but the dogs had other ideas. I have my dogs, plus boarding dogs, and everybody decided they had to go out at 7am this morning. Dogs..you just can't teach some of them about weekends and sleeping in!

On the scale, I hit 194.0 yesterday, and 195.0 today, so I'm hopeful of seeing something under 194 this coming week.

I would love to join this challenge. :D

I am going to go for fitting back into a favourite pair of denim pants by Labour Day. I have been unable to wear them for a while, now and I am sooo sick of the awful knit ones I have had to wear, instead.

Good luck on your challenges, everybody! :)

Rain dancer, that's a great goal. Welcome and good luck on your challenge goal! Congrats on your weight loss so far! :carrot:

my goal is to lose 7 pounds by Labor Day, bringing me down to 150. I've been stuck in a rut for a 2 straight weeks and cant get below 157. I've been staying between 1200-1400 a day. I'm really hoping to break through soon....these are the times I usually give up on watching what I eat. I get frustrated. On a good note..i've controlled my bad habits enough so that I dont have any urge to binge like I used to so that will go a long way to keep me on track. :)

I'll go for the challenge...

Been in an exercise plateau and would like to increase my running speed and distance, so that by labor day I am able to do long runs of 8-10 miles. Right now my longest runs are about 5 miles.

As for weight, I'm not too sure, maybe 8 or 9 lbs, down to 149 or 150.

Kind of ambitious.

--Caroline

Caroline, have you discovered the Cool Runners thread, on the exercise forum, yet? There are experienced (and friendly!) runners there, that may be able to help, if you need advice for your running goal. Welcome to the Labor Day challenge, and good luck!

Val, welcome to the challenge! How long have you been at 12-1400 cals? I wouldn't call 2 weeks a plateau (though I know it can feel that way!), but you may find some helpful advice on the Featherweights or Maintainers forums. Losing that last few pounds is a different ballgame, and sometimes your body gets protective when you're in the low cal range too long, so you may have to do something different, like go with maintenance cals for a week or two, then drop it back down, or take a week off exercise if you've been working out hard and heavy for a while.

Anyway, I'm glad you are here, and I hope you figure how to get past 157 soon! Have you tried tracking your weekly average weight? I do that, because it will show the weight loss trend if there is one...even when the big number on the scale seems never to change. For example, if you take 7 daily weights this week, add them up, divide by 7, and get 157.6, then you do that again next week and your average is 157.4, you know you're losing, it's just so slow that it doesn't seem like it, because you're seeing that 157, 157. It's just another tool, but I know it's helped me, some weeks when I feel like I'm not losing anything, to see, "hey, my average did go down, so I must be losing something!" It smooths out those spikes, too, that happen after a hard workout, during TOM, or after a high sodium day. :)

Hi Cheryl. :) Thanks so much for the encouragement. I am on my second round of calorie counting. I stopped for a long time and gained back about 16 of what I had lost. I just started again on June 9th (I was 164 then). I lost 7 pounds in the first 2 weeks and then nothing more.

The problem I seem to be having most often is that I am staying within my range but I am not eating enough fruits and veggies. Its an old habit of mine, even while i'm trying to lose weight. Every time I try to pack in all of the recommended fruit, veggies, meat, dairy and grains...I feel like I am going to bust!

anyhow..I am going to stick with it this time. It might take me a bit longer but i've got plenty of time to work at it. :)

Thanks for the averaging tip..never heard of that but it makes sense!

This sounds like a great challenge, count me in! I would like to down to 140 by september, not sure what i weigh at the moment because i dont own a scale but im planning to buy one tomorrow. I think this challenge will help me focus.

I'll post my weigh in tomorrow ;)

so I spent the weekend NOT on plan because I was SICK like a dog!!! Ate like 400 cal a day cause I was so sick...but lost a lot of water LOL, can't wait to get back on the bandwagon!

One week into the challenge and pleased to report that I've done what I set out to do.

Hit the gym four days this week, lifting four days and running three.

I like that Diva, reporting how your week went. I'll be a copycat.

July 1st-6th:
4 long bike rides, 3 5k's (for the 3fc 5k dealy), 4 lifting days at gym.

Food was A+, tracked every single morsel all week.

I should have walked my dog more. That's criminal. What I'll change this week is to add some time in for him.

ETA: Those 5k's were walked. I'm not ready to be a runner yet.

Both the running and the eating went well this week. And I lost one pound which is right where I need to be right now.

Hello Ladies. I hope its not too late to join in. Like FB my FIRST mini goal is to be in Onederland by Labor Day. I want this so bad i can taste it.

To meet my dream target (mid-September), I really need to be at 149 by Labor Day. That's just over a pound per week, so maybe a little aggressive, especially as I'm no longer overweight. But, so far, most all my weight loss has been diet and a being generally less sedentary. I haven't taken up any regular exercise. So, with regular exercise and a little determination, I should be able to do 1.5 pounds per week.

Val, I don't know if this helps, but my simple method for getting the veggies in is to have a big serving of steamed (or grilled or stir-fried) veggies first, with lunch and dinner. I usually cook those up, eat them, then put any other food on to cook while I take a break of about ten minutes or so, usually with a cup of tea. By the time the meat/etc is cooked, I'm past feeling like I'm starving, so it keeps me from overeating there, besides making sure I'm getting the veggies in first. For fruit, I usually have a serving as one of my snacks...currently, I'm all about fresh peaches, then I use frozen berries in my protein shake, which is my "breakfast" after my morning workout. It usually looks something like this (I don't really eat the grains, which might be bad, but I'm just not into that sort of thing right now):
wake, eat a FF yogurt
do chores, then workout, then protein shake (1% milk, protein powder, banana, and either frozen strawb or 3 berry mix from Costco, sometimes I add a couple tablespoon of peanut butter)
-that's calorie dense, so I usually don't eat again till lunch-
lunch: steamed brocc or stir-fry zucchini
break: cup of tea
lunch part 2: chicken, salmon or a turkey bratwurst
afternoon snack: peach or a few strawberries
dinner: same as lunch, just pick a diff veggie or meat
-if I'm skating, I cook up dinner, but split it in half, eating half before I go, then the other half when I get home, because skating always leaves me hungry..this keeps me from raiding the fridge or going over cals on skating nights-
eve snack (if I'm up late enough, though I try not to be!): fruit or FF yogurt

Anyway, hopefully that makes sense, and gives you some ideas for how to fit your fruits/veggies in.

Cheryl,

Your plan rocks! Nice job of balancing it all.

Now what are we going to do about them grains? LOL

Really.... you've really pulled it together in the last year and it shows.

Nice job!

Thanks, Diva! That means a lot to me, coming from you. Speaking of you, I had no idea you were old enough to have grown kids, sheesh! You look really young in your signature pic! Good luck on your marathon goal...it's so huge, I love it! I like how you've got the last one planned for HI..that seems like a nice reward!

Raemie, welcome to the challenge, and to 3FC! Good luck with your goal!
Sgirl, I hope you are feeling better now...? :hug:
FB and Diva, you guys are the boss of me on the exercise! I did get in something every day since Wednesday last week, but didn't make my goal of hitting it twice a day. I'm still struggling with scheduling and exhaustion from starting up "new" again with the lifting. I may just have to get over my bad self for a few weeks, until my body gets used to the lifting again, or stop being a wimp and do my cardio anyway!

Slowmo, congrats on the 1 lb loss this week! :celebrate:
Courtney Rae, welcome and see you in ONEderland by Labor Day! :cb:
Layri, congrats on getting into the 150s! woohoo!
LED, welcome and good luck with your goal! :hug:
(sorry, I'm running out of smileys that I remember the code for, lol)

Lifting is a killer, isn't it, Cheryl? I came home the other day and had to climb my stairs backwards. Husband says I'm going too hard. I tell him.... lift heavy or go home.

Photo is three years old. Still have all my hair and all my teeth. Those are the true signs of youth.

You work out twice a day every day? Damn, girl. I'd be cranky, too. I'm going to start doing that in September but my advantage is that the house is empty except for the husband (who is just the most beautiful man I've ever known so I'm happy to keep him) and I own my own business so I control my schedule.

I don't know how you're doing it. Do you fear burnout?