Just sitting here watching the rain come down. I wanted to take a walk, guess I'll just wait for a lull and go out with an umbrella.

As far as weight goes, heck, it's not even been a week yet. I don't think it will be a big loss week for me, but a loss is a loss.

Hello Everyone~I am Feeling much better today.
Finally 191.8~A new number I haven't saw before~ So that extra exercise and adjusting my calories a little bit seems to be paying off.
(I HOPE)

Anyways I will check back in again later.
Hope everyone has a great day.

Alright~I walk indoors alot. It was rainy here yesterday also.

Hello! :wave:

Just popping in for a moment. My posting time has been limited lately. All is good. I ate a lil off plan yesterday, but back on track today! I have a zillion errands to run, along with hitting the gym so I'll catch you fabulous folks later!

:)Barb

Morning, all! :coffee:

The scale finally moved down a little this morning, and I even got a new low that I haven't seen before. (woot!) 168.4 this morning. I'm happy to see that, after bouncing around in the 170s for a week. :dizzy:

I skipped the crossfit gym yesterday morning. Didn't want to, but just had a lot going on in the morning, and there's only 1 workout time on Saturdays, and I missed it. It's okay, though, because I was pretty beat up from the past week of too many killer workouts in a row, so having the extra recovery day won't hurt a bit. I did get out on the bike though, did some yardwork, tried some headstands and handstand push-up progressions, and did a few sit-ups and push-ups, just so I wasn't totally slacking.

I'm still doing chores, and have to make a Costco run soon, but will check in later to do replies and catch up on reading your posts! :wave:

Id like to jump in here if its not too late. Quick intro: I was on the South Beach forum but I just couldnt hack that "diet". I think what I really need to do is track my eating/exercising to ensure that I dont have some long-term problem (overtrained badly about 3 years ago and have been struggling since) and a little accountability would be good!

My partner and I just returned from a visit to his parents/friends in Sweden. After two weeks of eating fresh potatoes at seemingly every meal, lots of meat, and at least three binge-drinking episodes due to parties I weighed myself when I came home and I ... lost three pounds. Granted I was walking a lot here and there, but I also realized I was eating far smaller portions, was consistently eating BREAKFAST (even if it was small), was eating purer food, wasnt snacking, had little access to low-calorie drinks, and the sodas I did have were made of sugar, not HFCS, in moderate amounts.

Before we left we would keep diet soda around and I was always looking for a snack or chocolate fix- since we got back I havent touched the stuff (or normal US soda for that matter) and poof! problem solved! Ive also maintained the breakfast eating and making sure I get up to make food when I start to feel hungry-lest I be tempted to start up on my "ill just have some crackers for lunch" pattern.

So my strategy is to maintain eating healthy, homemade food (I never realized just how much US McDonalds tastes like soap compared to McD in other countries), steer clear of snacks unless i REALLY am hungry, and get back into my training/weights mode. Oh- and if I want something sweet, then homemade with real sugar :)

Current weight-199- TOM is taking its sweet time- too much travel I think!
Goal weight- Im going to go easy with 190 here so I can work out calorie needs and give myself leeway to get into counting everything and writing everything down!

Other goals:
1) Maintain at least 2x week weight training
2) Work back up to 100+ mile weeks of cycling
3) Work back up to 3000 yd swim workouts
4) Keep working on running longer distances!

Hi all!

Looks like I'm going to have to revise my goals a bit. I'll have to think about it a bit. My sprained ankle is HURTING. I mean, it hurts after exercise. I tend to exercise 1.5- 2 hrs per day, and my doctor okayed exercise, so I figured I was fine. Well, it hurts. So I asked on another site about what they think I should be doing exercise-wise and they basically said little to no exercise at all. That's totally not cool with me. To go from exercising all day to nothing at all... NO. Also, what am I supposed to have as my calorie level? I'm currently around 1200 (dietitian recommended). Should I go lower because I'm going to be basically sedentary?

Maybe water exercises would be okay. It felt good to go into the pool yesterday. I did water jogging for 45 minutes. Would have done it longer, but I was all alone and got kinda lonely.

My weight has stayed the same for 4 days now.. Ick. Not good. I hope everyone is doing better than I am!

MrsLovett :(

MrsLovett ~I have read everywhere not to go under 1200 calories~but I would ask my doctor...They may inform you otherwise... Sorry to hear about your foot.:hug:
Hopefully everything will come back together for you once it heals.
I figure the more you rest it the quicker it will heal & you can get back to your normal routine.:)

Hey All! I needed to pop in and check in. Last week was a complete loss with exercise due to an asthma flare up! :( Im back on Prednisone.. and I can breathe again.. so I am hitting the scale and the gym tomorrow morning.

I am a little afraid to get on the scale due to what the prednisone does to my body.

I'm jumping in a little late, but I'd love to join! My goals:
- I know it's a little ambitious, but I'd love to lose 13 pounds by Labor Day. I'm 153 so that would put me at 140. But I have plans for the fall that I would love to execute with a slimmer figure :).
- I'll also be measuring so I'd love to lose inches from the bust, waist, and hips, although I can't say how many right now. But even if I don't lose a pound but lose inches, I'll be happy.
- Maintain my exercise level (30-45 minutes brisk walking/stretching DVD every day)
- Add yoga DVD for relaxation (I need it!) most days, if not every day
- Make time for ME (and that does not mean going brain dead for hours in front of the TV) - writing, reading, yoga
- Find alternatives to binge cravings (journaling, Facebook, taking a hot bath)

I really need support and encouragement because I've done 2 diets "by the book" the last month, kept away from the junk food, and lost only 1/2 pound on one and nothing on the other :(. If this doesn't work, I may have to look at other reasons I'm not losing weight, like thyroid issues (but I'm 39, so I know that weight loss is tough when you reach 40 and beyond). I want to turn this downward spiral of weight gain and binge eating around.

Tam

My weekend was a total write-off... my youngest has had a fever all weekend and i'm running on 1 1/2 hrs sleep over the last 3 days... I ate well, but NO exercise at all.. i'm afraid i'll hurt myself 'cause i'm so run down.. lol! Hoping for a good nights sleep tonight so I can get back on track tomorrow... on the upside, since i've upped my calories (calorie cycling 1300-1700) i've lost 1 1/2lbs!! Yay! lol!

MrsLovett, what about doing only upper body exercise that you don't have to use that ankle for? Like taking a resistance band (they're very cheap at Walmart and online, if you don't have one) or weights (also cheap at Wally's) and doing stuff like bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, etc. I'm sure you could find a bunch of upper body exercises on the web. It might not be much but it would be some exercise at least. I know I've gotten into the habit of doing exercise daily that I would go crazy if I couldn't do at least something!

Just a thought...

Tam

Thanks!! That makes me feel better then! She's still not feeling well, & no sleep for me.. Ugh! Maybe I'll try some simple toning exercises tonight, it's gotta count for something.. ?

Weight is down 2 lbs for the week. Super cool.

I did wake up with a kink in my neck which is never fun.

I am having some decent loss FINALLY I am at 191.2 today and sooo dang close to those 180's~
I added more exercise and adjusted my calories by about 25 a day.was at 1375 to 1400 now at 1350 to 1375 I am nearly 2/3 of the way to my Main weight loss goal.
those changes has helped me alot. Once I get to 187 I am 2/3 of the way to main goal goal~WOOT! WOOT!

Anyways~I still got 12 more lbs to go for this challenge and Hopefully along the way I am officially in a 10 or less!!)



Good Job Everyone!!!

2lbs is awesome alright!

Will type soon~Glad to see you joined challenge Tammay~WELCOME!

OK.. I got on the scale and it was bad. up 4.5 pounds. But I can tell you that it is water weight mostly because I feel swollen. even my fingers are sausages. darn steriods.

The good thing is getting on the scale motivated me. I have a meeting at church in a couple hours then after that.. I am driving to the gym and working out.

I realized I am leaving for Italy in 14 months... and I really want to be at goal by then!

Bertine and Tam, :welcome: to the challenge!

MrsL, you don't want to be sedentary, you just need to modify your exercise routine, to take it easy on that one ankle. So, yeah, the Wii balance board might be a bit much for that ankle, but you could use your good leg and keep a highback chair or wall within easy reach, so that if you're losing your balance, you don't come down hard on that ankle or twist it again. The swimming is definitely a great exercise option right now. Also, you can do things like knee push-ups, whatever abs stuff you like, upper body weight training, upper body or standing on the good leg Wii games, lie on the floor and do leg raises or use lower body weight machines that aren't putting pressure on that ankle. Just get creative. Think about how you can do what you do, without tearing up that ankle. Laying yourself up will actually make that ankle take even longer to heal than normal, so just modify the exercises, rest it when it starts to hurt, use crutches if you need to if it gets sore just from walking around (but I wouldn't use them all the time, just maybe in the afternoon or evening, if you have to be standing and walking past the point where that ankle is getting sore/painful), but keep the rest of your body moving and functioning normally. And definitely keep the cals where they are.

Jovi, hope the return to the gym went well. Glad you're breathing normally again. I have a friend at the gym that is on prednisone. I don't know all the details of what it does to a person, but I know how hard she has to work, sometimes walking the running workouts, or modifying exercises, so I can imagine how hard you're working. Great job, sticking with it! :hug:

Moralia and Alright and Lori, congrats on the weight loss this week! :celebrate:

Well, yesterday was a rest day, after all. I'd planned to workout, but didn't get to it, so will do that today. Trying to decided between a bike ride, or a regular crossfit torture workout. :chin:

I had to check in and let you all know how I did!

• 65 Minutes on the Treadmill walking with the hill cycle.
• 25 minutes of upper body weights and Abs
• 5 Minutes of stretching!

I feel pretty good! My knees are a little sore, but my breathing is great. I go see the Sports med doc tmo... so we shall see what he says about my knees.

Jamsk8r - Prednisone is a PITA! side effects include water retention, increased Blood sugar levels, cravings, plus stuff like vision changes, Calcium leaching, etc. Fortunately about 2 years ago I had sinus surgery which got me off the constant prednisone, and I only need it when I have flares... but even then, I am having to work really hard. The one thing I did discover is that anything with HIGH quantities of real sugar in them can cause a flare.. so Splenda and Stevia are my friends!

Well, didn't start today as I planned :(. But I did tweak my menu a bit so that I'm having more protein, which is what I think I need right now. I've been doing a lot of low-protein diets lately and I don't think my body does well with this. Went shopping today and all raring to go tomorrow :D.

Tam

I decided that I want to do that 10 minute strength training boot camp thing that I mentioned in my goals at least three times a week. Last week, I did it three times and did it again yesterday (for time 1 of this week) and my thighs are absolutely BURNING!!! haha.....that's gotta be a good thing though, right? The pain means that it's working ;)

But everything else is back on plan.....good eats throughout the day, 50 minutes on the elliptical this morning (couldn't do any more because of aforementioned thigh burning), and already at 72 ounces of water with another 32 to go while watching tv tonight.

I just want the damn scale to go down ;) LOL

Is it too late to join in?
If not, here's what I'd like to achieve by labor day:

-Exercise regularly (6 days a week) :carrot:
-Keep my calories consistent, apx 1200, with one 1800 day a week :hun:
-Get down to 165 (20 lbs total lost) :goodscale:

Good luck everyone!

Good morning everyone. I see lots of good steady progress in all of our stats.

Went out for sushi last night, that was yummy.

Today I plan on just taking it easy. I'm experiencing a bit of muscle aches and pains and just know it's rest time. I have a massage scheduled for this afternoon too.

I'll try to eat low today, since I'm not expending any extra energy, but I will let that fall into place as needed.

Wishing everyone the best today.

Hi all! I'm a bit late to the party but would like to join in.

My goals:
- Run 3x a week
- Lose 9 lbs to get to 165
- Strength train 2x a week

Woot! It's been a while since I've joined a challenge. I'm excited. :D :carrot:

Hi all,
Today is my official first day on calorie counting. I've been doing some research on calorie cycling and it looks as if this has been successful for many people so I decided I'm going to try it. So I adjusted my menu according to a website where you can enter your age, weight, height, and activity level and it gives you suggestions for level of calories in cycling. Since I have a pretty low calorie average to work with (about 1270 per day for "extreme fat loss" :D), the cycle doesn't include huge jumps in calories every day, which actually makes me feel less nervous about it. I think I would be scared to try something where I'm eating 1200 calories one day, 1800 the next, etc.

Weighed and measured today. I knew it would be pretty bad, since I've eaten nothing but junk food the last two days but it wasn't as bad as I thought:

Weight: 153
Bust: 41.5
Waist: 39.5
Hips: 42.5

I ate a lot of salt, so I'm sure some of that on my waist is bloating which hopefully will go away in a few days. I plan on adding very little salt for the next few days to see if I can get it to go down.

The nice thing about calorie cycling is that I'm not focusing on food groups, limiting this, eating unlimited that, but on calories, so basically I can eat from every food group. I haven't tried this yet, as the last 2 diets I've done have limited certain foods. I'm hoping this way will make me feel less deprived. I am a vegan, so I do cut out some foods by nature (meat, dairy) but I don't have a problem with not eating these foods. I'm trying to focus on eating mainly whole fresh foods, so we'll see what happens :D.

Tam

Tam, good luck with the calorie counting. It worked well for me, as I'm one who has to take the "cutting out the bad stuff" one step at a time. It sometimes takes trying on a few different food plans, to find the one that you can stick with long term.

Michelle, good to see you here. :) Welcome to the challenge! How far are you running these days?

Alright, I wanted to say that I always enjoy your posts. Just hearing about someone else getting a massage... :beach: Ah, I'll live vicariously through you. I had my first massage this year, at one of those "free massage" booths at the 5K run. I was ready to sell the kid to the gypsies, so I could buy a few more sessions! ;)

Amma, it is never, ever, ever too late to join these challenges. :welcome: to the challenge, good luck with your goals! And, :wel3fc:

Chele, glad to hear that you are back in the groove. Have fun (haha) with the boot camp workouts! Every day at my gym is like a bootcamp workout from heck, so I'm feeling your pain!

Karen, thanks for explaining the prednisone effects in more detail. I had no idea! Hope you can get back off the stuff pretty quick, since that does sound like a pain!

Phew! Made it through all the replies...it pays to check in at least once a day!

My workout is done. First day back at the gym after a long weekend, so of course, the trainer tried to kill us. I'm hoping against hope for a weighlifting focus day tomorrow. Probably won't happen, but a girl can dream!

just got back from tahoe...will weigh in tomorrow...lets just say that ill be glad to get back to work cuz its so much easier to stay in control

o-kay I am late but jumping in.
I REALLY need to get my eating under control. I have the world's worst sweet tooth.
My exercising is fine. I just seem to be stuck. I know I should eat better..... I did a lot of stress eating last week due to my DH being laid off work, plus he got on my nerves always being under foot :)
I feel as though I have hit a plateu & not sure where to go at this point. Hopefully this can help me get back in gear.

Jam~ SHAME ON YOU~I just read about the massage And selling the kids to gypsies:yikes:

HAHAHAHAHA:rofl:~You crack me up


I have never had a massage ~So now I am soooooooo wanting one.

Dang you for making it sound so good!:frypan:

hahahahaha~Just picking with ya:lol:

Will type again soon.
Take care everyone.

Morning all (or rather, afternoon :D),
Well, not feeling so well this morning :(. Went to bed last night with a slight headache and woke up at about 2 a.m. this morning with a migraine. I took one Excedrine Migraine (the dose is usually 2 but I always start with 1/2 the dose) and went back to bed but woke up this morning and the migraine has developed and it's horrible! I'm dying to take another Excedrine, but I haven't yet eaten anything and I know from experience that it will make me sick if I take it on an empty stomach so I'm waiting until my breakfast is done so I can eat something and take it. I really hope it makes the migraine go away, but if it doesn't work, I have a light working day today and I work from home, so if I have to, I'll go sleep in a dark room for a few hours.

On the plus side, I had a great food day yesterday and got a 30 minute Walk and Firm DVD (Leslie Sansone rocks!) as well. I weighed and measured this morning and here are my stats:

Weight: 152 (down a pound, whoohoo!)
Bust: 41 (down 1/2 inch)
Waist: 39.5 (same)
Hips: 41.5 (down 1 inch)

I'm very happy that I'm seeing progress at last after 2 week long diets of not losing anything (or almost nothing), although I know a lot of this is water, since I had 2 days of junk food eating and I was definitely bloated. But I really enjoyed my eating plan yesterday and loved the fact that it wasn't cutting out anything that I didn't want to eat (like grains and chocolate). So I'm hoping that alone will make me stick with it!

Tam

Woohoo I'm proud to say I'm finally down 1.5 lbs. after about a week of hanging on at 137 lbs.! I dropped to 135.5 lbs. this morning!

I've been doing somewhat limited exercise because of my ankle being sprained, so I may have to re-evaluate my goals. I'll see in a week or so if this all resolves itself. I just heard that my doctor had a sprained ankle for 3 months??? He must've sprained it really badly. Mine's just mild. I think. It hurts worse on some days than others.

I've gotten about 45 minutes exercise today... maybe a little more. I've been doing some crunches as well since they don't involve my ankle and I need to get my strength training in. I do them throughout the day though, so who knows what they add up to...15 minutes?

MrsLovett

Yeah, David is back! I know what you're saying, brother! The food is scary in vacationland!

Crystal, welcome to the challenge! Try dark chocolate, or just have sugar, but wrapped in a guilt-free package...I like the fat free yoplait yogurts, myself...it's my "dessert" these days, and satisfies my sweet tooth, while not seeming to affect the weight loss negatively. Anyway, you just have to find what works for you, and stick with that. :hug:

Everybody else just gets one of these, :wave:! I've got to get out the door and get to work. Just wanted to drop in and say hey, workout is done, now off to do a yardwork job.

Well, I took 2 Excedrine Migraine and went to bed for a few hours and I felt much better. The migraine isn't totally gone but it's about 98% gone. However, I'm still feeling a little queasy, so I changed today's menu a bit. I'm still eating healthy and keeping within my calorie count, but I'm doing more cooked grains and simple veggies than the usual beans and tofu and spices that I plan. I know that's going to be easier on my stomach.

And I didn't get any exercise in today because of my migraine :(.

Tam

Ohhhh...massages!!! Now you are talking my language. I love getting a massage. Actually I've started seeing a chiropractor for some neck/upper back pain/tightness and she has a massage therapist in her practice. My insurance covers massage! It's wonderful. I'm going tomorrow. :)

So...Jam....you tried out the massage...is a pedicure next? :lol:

I had a fun, late night at work tonight. It was a summer sales meeting for one of our big groups and I was invited. It was a little like a field day/carnival...there was the water balloon toss, sack races, hula-hooping, bean bag toss, dizzy bat, etc. Dinner was a typical BBQ stuff. I enjoyed grilled chicken. I certainly passed on the pie-eating contest, but watched in horror. ;) As much as I like sweets I couldn't imagine that. Anyway...it was a good night.

DH and I are hanging out in our room...he's watching TV and I'm chatting....because our almost 4 yo is in his room fighting sleep and we are determined to get him to sleep in his own bed. Yes....for those that have known me awhile...the sleep issues continue.

I think I'm gonna consider sleep. I'll catch up with you all later!

Keep up the wonderful work! GO CALORIE COUNTERS!!! :cheer:

:)Barb

Barb, I see you got the scale to move, finally...woot! :carrot:

Tam, glad the migraine is better. Hopefully it will be totally gone tomorrow! :hug:

I'm back from about six hours of sawing on tree branches. That wasn't too bad, but by the end of the day, my right leg was feeling pretty sore. It cramped up in my workout today, I think more from yesterday's wallball/ropeclimb ordeal than anything else, but it's going to need to some tlc to get the knots out of it, apparently. I'm wiped out, so I'm going to bond with some rubbing alcohol, and call it a night. I'll talk to you peeps tomorrow!

Morning all,
The migraine that mostly went away came back this morning :(. It's slightly better than yesterday morning but only slightly (i.e., no queasiness). Not a great day for it, as in addition to work that I have to do I'm in the process of doing an online training for another online university and the second part of the training starts today, so that's added pressure for me. Luckily, this part of the training deals with a computer program that I'm familiar with, so it's not totally new to me.

On the plus side, I did keep to my calorie count yesterday, even though I changed my plan a bit to include whole grains (brown rice, couscous) instead of the more protein rich foods (beans, tofu) because I knew they would be easier on my stomach. I weighed and measured today and I weigh 151 (so lost another pound :carrot:) and measurements stayed the same. I'm very happy to see the scale go down, even if it is probably only water weight from the a couple of junk food binge days I did prior to this. I'm not happy about the fact that I didn't get exercise in yesterday because of this damn migraine and I won't be exercising probably today unless it goes away (which I'm hoping it will). I'm not used to not doing exercise and since I work at home, I actually love taking an exercise break in the middle of the day to get m butt off the chair and my eyes away from the computer for a half an hour or 45 minutes. Maybe even if I'm not feeling the best, I'll try to squeeze in a 20 minute walking workout. It won't be hugely strenuous but at least it will get me off of the chair :D.

Hope you all are doing better than I am. I hate it that I've been hit with this cycle of migraines just when I started really watching my calories and see results on the scale because I'm enjoying what I'm eating. It's getting me back into the kitchen to do some cooking. I'm still trying to work out the time issue, since it's taking me longer to prepare, but I love the recipes I've pulled and the variety. Better than just throwing some instant rice on the stove and some veggies to roast in the oven and calling it lunch :dizzy:.

Tam

I stepped on the scale for an unofficial weigh in and have lost 3 lbs for the challenge so far. Hurray for that.

Nothing exciting to say, just plugging along with it all.

I too love my massages and get a lot of trigger point therapy done too. It sure can hurt though.

i got on the scale... gained 3lbs in tahoe...im back on task so that 3 will be gone in a day or 2...i hate backtracking but im on a mission...thanks for the support everyone....have a great day!!!

Yay! The scale said I was another 1.5 lbs. down this morning! That brings me down to 134 lbs.! :carrot: I almost was going to have to drop out of the challenge, I felt so sad about my weight not moving too much. Hope it keeps on going.

Went a little overboard on my exercise this morning (my ankle is still sprained and quite sore :( ) I did some cardio this morning and some water jogging just before. Wow, quite nice weather for it here in NJ! My mom also had me clean the whole house for my niece's birthday party this weekend! That took me about 2 hours, in spurts. I don't think I'm done yet though.

Off to change my tickers!

MrsLovett

Had to go back and quote so I could remember my goals!
I've been tracking every meal, every day except yesterday.

My yoga practices have been between 40-60 minutes 5-6 days a week, which I'm loving. And I signed up for a 2 hour back-bend workshop next week!

Knee is feeling better.

Not sure any more weight will have come off by tomorrow (my normal weigh in day) but that's ok. It's been coming off fairly quickly, so a leveling out is ok for a week. I've been at or under my cals, and will hopefully be able to get a hike in this weekend.

Well, thankfully, the migraine has finally completely gone away (not to be back, hopefully!) I tried a bunch of stuff and I think the ice cube to the temple was finally what did it :D.