This week has been crazy hectic for me at work. I am a kindergarten teacher and I just had one class graduate and I'm going to be welcoming a brand new group of four year olds tomorrow morning. It's been a lot of work to get prepared, but I'm happy to say that I seem to be staying more or less balanced.

I woke up to an incredibly pleasant surprise: my scale read 225! Yay! I started February at 234, an all time high, and I was struggling with confidence. I need to lose this weight. Can I actually lose this weight?, etc. Anyway, I'm happy to see that I am finally making some progress in losing the 50 (50!) pounds I gained during college and the year and a half following. I'm just sorry I am only just getting around to paying attention to my weight at 24 years old.

Anyyyway...

Start of Feb.: 234
Start of challenge: 229
Start of TODAY: 225

I'm pretty sure my goal of 219 by the 17th is out of reach, but I'm going to give it my best shot!

Keep it up everyone!

Tuesday: 1625 calories. 45 minutes on treadmill.

Yesterday wasn't great. Ate too many calories at work but then was so hungry when I got home. Too many carbs last night also. Tried to run on the treadmill but got a stitch in my side(obliques were sore from Monday's body sculpting) so I switched to walking at 3.7mph on an incline.

horo, how exciting for you!! hope it all works out!!!

lori, size 1 - can't even imagine! sounds like a fun shopping trip!!!

fruit, glad you're doing better - keep doing small meals if it's easier on your stomach and take care of yourself!

rainbow, it sounds like you did pretty well to me - don't be so hard on yourself.

megems, 2.2 is a great week - be happy!

chick, 5.9, OMG! Hope you were doing the happy dance:carrot:

k15, 100 days w/o a binge is an amazing accomplishment!

Northern, I will send some snow melting vibes your way! Most of it is gone here in NY, all that's left are some really dirty, disgusting piles. My backyard is totally green again - ahhh!!!

Vickie, 2.4 sounds pretty good to me. Hope March goes even better for you.

See everyone later!

Well the week got off to a good start workout wise and a little crazy eating..I fell victim to the cookie monster yesterday and Monday. I don't really eat cookies, never buy them but that d$&! boss of mine has been bringing them EVERYDAY for a long time. I gotta get back to and continue to walk away from the cookies as if they were a chair. Nevertheless, I will press on. I didn't get my kettlebells in this morning but I will do them tonight. I LOVE THOSE THINGS!!! I feel the pain of the workout in the most jiggly places so I'm sure that one day I will be boasting a tight toned body. I'm hoping my arms will be close to fitting that jacket in two weeks from that work out. I can only press in and see how it goes.

Well, this weekend turned into the weekend o' calories! :yikes: Lots of eating, lots of drinking and quite frankly, a lot of non-guilt (even though I was up to 174 by Monday). Although I went out to dinner last night, it's been a good, but very busy week. I don't really anticipate meeting my challenge goal but as long as I still strive for it, I'm okay with that.

Sounds like everyone is having their ups and downs. Wishing everyone lots of encouragement! :cheer2:

Well after a week in the twilight food zone Im back in gear. changed my goal to 5 lbs for this challenge. I am so bad at these things lol.

That's so funny!! :rofl::rofl::rofl:

So that's where I've been. I was so confused and lost.

Small victories...today I resisted the yummy homemade cinnamon rolls our cafeteria ladies make for staff meetings. I caved last time, but today I stood firm!

chick: wow, 5.9! These days it takes me like 2 months to lose that, lol.

Meg: congrats on your loss too! I'd be thrilled with 2.2 (even if I was making up for a slight gain.)

Fruit: glad to know you're no longer "afraid" of the foods you need to eat to stay healthy!

Lori: size 2 too big...wow. I can't even wrap my brain around that one!

Horo: awseome deal about going abroad! So glad you're taking advantage of the opportunity.

Nat: walking is SO much better than doing nothing. Give yourself some credit :)

Jiggle: I've never tried kettleballs. Do you use them at a gym or do a video or what? My tummy, upper arms and inner thighs still need a LOT of help!

Manders: I feel you. There are certain events that, while they probably slow my weight loss, I just refuse to give up in my life. As long as I know I can keep going in the right direction once the event is over, it's all good.

Surfn: 5 lbs gets you solidly into the 160's...that's awesome!

Got TOM yesterday without any warning signs, I was 3 weeks late. Probably cause of the nutrition issues I was having. It's funny how as soon as i change my diet for the better, my body just straightens itself out. No water weight or cramps, well never do have cramps since i lost weight, I usually just have a little water weight gain. Rode the bike for 30min. & took a short walk for 17min. cause it was cold. Calories are 1304, I'm raising my limit to 1325 cause I'm losing weight right now, i will change it if I have to.

rainbow - you were still within your calories, and your McD's choice seems like a reasonable one to me. We all get stuck in those situations where we just have to choose something that we wouldn't normally.

Lori - hearing about your shopping is making me want to buy new clothes, lol. The pants I own are definitely getting loose, but I think I'm going to wait until it's time for some new warmer-weather clothes. I adore my trusty black dress pants... but I hope that by the time the colder weather returns, I'll have lost enough to sprinkle a little more variety into my wardrobe.

Horo - that IS great motivation! Congratulations! I really hope it works out for you for this summer.

ish - congratulations on your loss!!! And you never know about your goal for St. Pat's Day... it could happen!

natmars - walking on an incline is my favorite cardio activity right now. :) Got to get myself running/jogging one of these days...

jigglefree - my best friend swears by kettlebells. I need to give them a shot at some point... maybe buy some so that I can do them at home. Do you have your own?

NorthernExposure - This has been an unusual week, and I think it will come off a LOT more slowly once I get down to your weight! I hope that I'll be able to do as well as you are and still pass on the cinnamon rolls at that point. :)

fruitlady - I'm VERY glad to hear you're feeling better and are getting the nutrition you need. I was really upset to read your post about being in the hospital. Very scary.

manders and surfnmom - way to keep pushing forward even after a rough week/weekend! It always feels good getting back on track.



I was all ready to post a thread about feeling kinda concerned that I've dropped some weight very rapidly this past week... until I realized that TOM ended while I was away on business, and that could totally account for the sudden drop. Whew!! I feel really relieved... and now finally feel like I can celebrate meeting my first real weight loss goal - 10% of my body weight lost!! Woohoo!! I CAN do this, I know that now. I can, and will, keep working to meet all of my goals.

And I never, EVER thought I'd say this... but I really like going to the gym. :D

chick: I too, need to get new clothes (again!)...but I'm kind of waiting so I can buy warmer weather stuff too. No way my stuff from last summer is going to fit. This is, of course, a good thing...but costly! Some of my work pants are getting way too big though, so I might look at the 2nd hand stores for some "filler" clothes to get me through the rest of the school year!

Fruit: I am very encouraged by your latest posts. I worry about you too!

As for me: Had a great workout yesterday (45 minutes WATP with resistance band plus 10 minutes pilates)....the only downside is I was so HUNGRY afterwards. Ended up doing more nighttime snacking than normal. Had a 100 calorie pack of popcorn (not a horrible choice), but also busted into the baked cheetoes. Kept my portion reasonable, but way too much salty stuff. I am pre-TOM...but still...I definitely don't need all that salt that late in the evening! Well, it's a good thing I at least passed on that cinammon roll yesterday morning, lol.

WI tomorrow. Not sure what to expect being pre-TOM, but overall I've had a good week. We shall see!

Wednesday: 1305 calories. 1 hr. body sculpting.

Getting a little easier to keep the calories down now. Will be having a cheat meal on Saturday - taking out a friend who's going through a rough time, and won't spend time obsessing about calories and portions. Will get some extra cardio in over the weekend.

Northern, sounds like you're doing great. The only thing helping me w/ nighttime snacking is physically removing myself anf going upstairs to read or watch TV. I'm too lazy to go back downstairs!

chickadee - 10% is HUGE!!! Congrats!!!

fruit, glad things are straightening out for you!

Everyone: we have 2 weeks to go! We can do this!!

I feel like I am doing well this week, but that's kind of silly to say as I've only hit my 1500 calorie goal once so far this week - other than that, numbers have been 1115 on Monday, 1333 on Tuesday, 1513 on Wed and yesterday was 1215...so I guess "good" in my mind is too few calories? I know I've kind of been doing it this week for two reasons - one is that I know Saturday will be a high calorie, maybe over 2000 day and the other is that I'm sick of my weight going up and down but never properly down, it's just been fluctuating across the same pounds for a couple of weeks now.
So I dunno. I'm frustrated.
I hope I can make it to my goal still - I made a super realistic goal based on previous loss, and it was so realistic I kind of thought I might lose more than what I'd set as a goal - but now I'm going to be lucky to lose 2 pounds in the next 2 weeks!

Thanks all- you guys are so sweet.

Rode the bike for 25min. my knee felt stiff this morning, I didn't want it to get worse. Weight stayed exactly the same for three days straight(109.3), tonight I ate too much junk food, so I'm sure I'll gain. First time I had ice cream & peanut butter in a week, it tasted good. Back on plan tomorrow!

Rainbow: I definitely feel you! I made a super realistic goal, secretly thinking I could go a little lower...but with 2 weeks to go I still have almost 3 lbs to lose! (Depending on my WI tomorrow....but with TOM coming, I'm not too optimistic.) *sigh*. Well, I guess all we can do is keep plodding along, right?

~Quick check in ~super tired ~worn out from running errands today & wednesday went shopping at my favorite thrift store to get my daughter Some more pants/Jeans~To keep her off my new levis LOL!(She already has her eye on them...My luck!) I got medium length so they would be to long for her & almost me too~I know I am a mean momma! (LMBO)
Anyways Got her all name brand~3 pairs of jeans & 2 pairs of pants~Got me a bracelet,necklace,Pair of cool boots~look like there from the 70's so cool! & got her 1 american Eagle top & me 2 tommy hilfiger tops ~all like new for just $5.25 for everything! OH & I almost forgot the hoarder in me even got a snowwhite themos in with that & 4 Like new bras! 2 for my daughter 2 for me. All For $5.25~I LOVE THRIFT STORES Annnnnnnnnnd...

I love u all too~I am too tired for personals talk to everyone soon. (SORRY) I AM WORN OUT TODAY

I did add 2 pics~just click them to view them bigger~One with the hubby Chris & Me in my new jeans size 1 levis & I was also wearing one of my bargain thrift tops And look at him~OMG~ with his sexy shaved head `god that man is a sexy thang! LOL~(must calm down hormones)
.................................................. ...............
Ok & too pic # 2 Me & My oldest son ~just age 13 And taller than me ~he is 5'10"~also named Chris & me acting silly ~had to place it on here he (my son) would not let me place it on facebook & I thought it was hilarious!)Had to share with someone & thought he will never know I shared it with my 3fc Family!:D(or I hope not) LOL

As always stay strong & DO YOUR BEST!

Thursday: 1715 calories. No exercise.

Struggling to keep my calories under 1500 some days. I went over 2 days this week. Need to work on this if I want to keep losing.

Weighed in @ 135.2 this morning, down .6 from when we started the challenge. Still hoping to meet my goal!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Morning all.

I'm down a whole .2 lbs this week, lol. Well, at least it's enough for me to "round down" on my ticker (187.4). I'm sure it's mostly pre-TOM issues...hoping for a bit of a "whoosh" next week to make up for lost time. 2.4 lbs to go to meet my challenge goal. (Though if I can at least get to 185.something, I might call it good! lol)

Lori: I need to go shopping with you! You sure have a nose for the bargains. You look great.

Nat: I hear you. I try to shoot for 1500 a day too, but it's really hard some days. Usually I end up OK if I "count" my exercise calories...but I really don't want to get in a habit of doing that.

Happy Friday all! Hope everyone is having a good week!

I have been extremely hungry the last two days, and no reason for it! It's driving me insane. I even had an extra cup of coffee to curb my appetite until lunch, and I feel like I could eat anything you put in front of me! TOM isn't for a couple more weeks, so it is DRIVING ME CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

K. I feel a little better.

Well after my first three days of the week being really good, somewhat good and really good, Thursday was really, really bad. It started at breakfast when my yogurt, cereal and half a banana didn't quite fill me up so I finished off the banana. Then at lunch, I started eating dry cereal waiting for my pizza to cook. After my pizza and an orange, I decided I needed a bowl of the cereal. And not a serving size bowl either. Filled that baby up to the rim and dug in. Had another one at 5. And then around 8 I decided to **** with it and just started in on anything I was craving.

As usual, while I have some guilt, I mostly don't. And I think I've finally figured out why. Maybe my goal weight just wasn't meant to be. Weight loss prior to a few months ago wasn't necessarily easy but it certainly wasn't this hard! And while I'd like to be a little thinner, I don't think being unhappy to boot is worth it. Seriously considering changing my lifestyle again to work but not be a pain in the butt also. Cause really, who wants that???

I hope everyone elses challenge is going well. I'm going to start a thread about my thoughts, get some feedback and then probably change my challenge weight loss goal to a calorie allotment goal. Not totally giving up on the challenge but want to make sure my goal doesn't drive me to insanity. :D

My goals are going well so far! I've lost 8 of my 10 pounds and I've been exceeding the 45 minutes of exercise! people are starting to notice my losing and its exciting lol

Lori- love your photos! Your getting so thin!

Woke up to stomach problems, i should of just stayed in bed. Hubby had to take my daughter to school. I had junk food yesterday, processed food does not agree with me anymore. I get sick every time I eat it, never fails. I took 6 multi symptom Rolaids, after the first 4 it got better. I know it wasn't a sodium problem, it felt different. I was determined to make it better myself, no more hospitals! I was able to ride the bike for 31min. I didn't eat on plan cause I just ate what I thought would feel good in my stomach. I didn't want to get it back. Ended up at 2266 cal. Already gained 2lbs from yesterday, I know I'll gain more. Depressing, but I just didn't care today!

I dropped 2 pounds to 268 today and arrived at my St Patricks day weight goal challenge which was to get into the 260's :D:carrot:

Larry,

Huge challenge tonight...Chinese restaurant meal followed by drinks/dancing at a club. I've kept calories fairly low the rest of the week and today, it's nearly 5pm and I've only had 470...so I should be ok. I think I'm just so frustrated that I seem to have stopped losing at the moment, I'm scared one night like this will cause a gain. Just like the gain I saw last weekend (which went away again).

Rainbow- It looks like you set yourself up to stay in your calories for the day so I hope you had fun!

Down 2 lbs, 5 so far for the challenge...I'm dying to get to onederland!!!!

Congrats Larry!!! :cheer2:

I would love to join in!! Since I am starting new today I won't go crazy with the goals but here are a few

1. Eat no more then 2000 calories per day
2. Exercise at least every other day
3. Find some weightloss buddies

Good luck to everyone! I can't wait to get moving!

I lost .2 lbs the other week and though.. well at least I didn't gain .2.. right? :) Good luck!

Larry: Congrats!!

Tamlynne: welcome! Sounds like some great goals! And thanks for the encouragement...yes, definitely better than a gain!

Well...kind of went off the deep end yesterday. Got a last minute invitation to go to dinner with a friend last night that I haven't seen FOREVER. Went to the casino and guess what? Yes, ANOTHER seafood buffet!! Two weekends in a row now. Again, I did 'ok' on my most of my actual food choices (peel & eat shrimp, crab legs, salad, fruit...stayed away from starchy, fried and creamy stuff...except for a little veggie lo mein and a tiny dab of crab salad) but just too MUCH of everything. Oh, and of course dessert. I just can't resist. Chocolate cake with a little side of ice cream. At least the portion was reasonable, lol.

Well, the good thing about a Friday night splurge is I still have the rest of the weekend to make up a little for yesterday. Definitely going to be watching very carefully (normally I relax a bit on weekends...but now I will be counting every bite!)

Hope everyone is having a great Saturday!

Well, after some sage advice and a lot of thought, I've decided to increase my daily calorie allotment. I'm aiming for 1,683 for the next four weeks. After four weeks I'll reevaluate and see if it needs to go up, down or stay the same. I'll be looking at dealing with PMS and TOM for the next two weeks so I'm definitely nixing my challenge goal of weight loss and revising it:

• Eat a minimum of 1,400 calories a day but try to reach my daily calorie allotment.
• Continue my weight training along with my standard cardio work outs.
• NO BINGING!!!

They seem somehow less strict that the weight loss goal but I still think they will be hard work. I'm just hoping feeding my body more will cause a positive reaction. So...

- Breakfast: Jimmy Dean D-Lights Canadian bacon sandwich (230) and an apple (80). 310 calories total.

- Lunch: Leftover sloppy joes made with ground turkey (180) over baked potato (110), half a serving of baby carrots (17-1/2) and light blueberry yogurt (90). 397-1/2 calories total.

- Afternoon Snack: Orange (64). 64 calories total.

- Dinner: Out to eat tonight for Mexican. As chips and salsa are my downfall, it will certainly be challenging to not eat an entire house but I will give it my all! It's restaurant week and the restaurant we are going to is participating. So while that means several courses, it also means smaller portion sizes. And since I've never been here before, I have no idea what those might be. However, I've already picked out what I'm going to get: sampling of brisket, chicken, and carne al pastor nachos; grilled chicken breast stuffed with shrimp, topped with sautéed spinach and chipotle-wine sauce; flan and Mexican apple pie shared between two. I feel like right now I could totally skip the alcohol but we'll see. :devil: Although, I just looked at their alcohol prices and it might be very easy to skip! :yikes:

771-1/2 calories so far, total calories for the day TBD

Bike, elliptical and stairs at the gym before hitting the park for a long walk. Hopefully it warms up like it's supposed to by then so I don't freeze my rear off! :D

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

The past three days have been so hard. Can't seem to stay away from junk food. There's nothing left here, so it should be better now. I'm going to get my fruit & veggies at the farmer's market today, I hope I can just walk right by all those baked goods. My calories will be 1900, way too high for me. Rode the bike for 30min. Lost 3 ounces, don't know how with all the crap I was eating. Back on track for the rest of the day and hopefully for at least 7 days straight.

Morning all, I'd like to join in. I've been trying to figure out what diet plan will work best for me the past few weeks. I've basically been counting calories and watching my carbs. I try to stick to 1500 calories with a cheat day here and there...that has resulted in 16.5 pounds lost since Feb. 5. My goal is to lose another ten pounds by April 1 and to start excercising..

Well I managed to be pretty good at dinner last night! :cheer2: No alcohol, the dessert ended up being one shared instead of two and the apps weren't too big. Can't say that I managed to control my chip and salsa intake though. :D A bit of a lazy day today, grocery shopping and a walk later.

- Breakfast: Four slices of French toast made with low-cal wheat bread, egg substitute and almond milk (230) topped with caramelized bananas (200). 430 calories total.

- Lunch: Individual Canadian bacon and gruyere pizza (560). 560 calories total.

- Afternoon snack: Orange (64). 64 calories total.

- Dinner: 2 cups spaghetti squash (100) topped with 1/2 cup pasta sauce (50), 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms (9), 1/2 a basil chicken sausage (80) and 1/2 serving Parmesan cheese with one slice of 45 calorie wheat bread topped with 1 wedge LC basil mozzarella (80). 374 calories total.

- Evening snack: 100 calorie allotment though I have a lot of food listed up there so it may not be necessary.

1528 calories total for the day

I'm a little worried about the spaghetti squash. I do not like squash at all but keep hearing about the miracles of spaghetti squash so I'm ready to give it a try. Hoping it turns out yummy!

Looks like it will be a nicer day here than originally forecasted so I should be able to enjoy a nice long walk this afternoon.

Quick check in~I got to 128.8 the other day~Been hanging in the upper
120's to lower 130's~I am trying my best to maintain these numbers.~Maintaining is kinda hard to figure out But I think I am starting (hopefully) to get the hang of it.

~Northern~I would love to go shopping with u! If it's cheap priced & nice I will find it!

Congradulations to you LARRY!

Everyone else~Sorry Kids are yelling for the computer~(YAY ME)
TTYL GOT TO GO. Will check back in ASAP

I am still around, just very frustrated with the lack of loss.

Chip up girl! Look at how far you've already come...the rest will be lost too! :hug:

manders Thanks! I think it's just that I didn't change anything and all of a sudden I've just stopped losing these past couple of weeks. I really don't want to drop my calories but I might have to..I also don't know how long to wait til I really consider it a proper plateau that requires change..

Well, my weight keeps creeping up. It really bothers me when my pants start getting tight. Rode the bike for 30min. at racing speed, had 1250 calories, first time I stayed in my range for two weeks, I was so happy. Now to keep doing this everyday, I'll have this weight gone in no time. I'm not buying junk food for the family for a while, if it's not here, I'll do fine.