My goals is to lose 5 lbs. by Easter... HERE I GO!

Yay!!! 176.4 today..... and this is he first time in my life that I didnt know what to wear for the day cause I'm ok how everything looks on me. I just bought some new jeans last month size 14 and now another 5 pounds I will need new ones, already lose. Thats such a great feeling. I can see my ultimate goal around the corner and it doesnt seem impossible anymore. The running really got my wieght loss moving from a stand still.

Northern, you could do it. I went on to google map and found a walking route around my house that was about two miles and I try to do that at least everyother day.

jdanato- Don't worry it happened/happens to all of us..... if you keep on track the numbers will start moving again.

All the others your doing so well hang in there.

1600 cals yesterday and a 30 minute walk OUTSIDE with the dog! Had to cut it a bit short as it was threatening rain, but I live in a hilly area so I think I still got a decent workout (felt my calves working for sure!) It was SO nice to do something outside. 72 degrees yesterday!! A little cooler today (April is such a wild card month around here) but it definitely motivates you to get out and take adavantage of the nice days we do have this time of year.

Phat: your flowers are so pretty! I admire people who are into gardening...I seriously have a black thumb!!

Manders: hope you're feeling better! I think it was wise of you to take a rest day. One missed workout is better than complicating an injury and having to miss even MORE workouts.

Tired: I just bought some new pants too (some 14's...yay!) I hope I have the same "problem" as you in that they're too big in another month or so

Newbies: welcome!

Well, we are halfway through another week. Hope everyone is doing well!

Well, due to my injury and the subsequent pain, working out and in turn eating will be "game time decisions". No planning today cause I just don't know what will happen. But will definitely strive for my 1200 calories net so if there ends up being no exercise, there will be light meals. Even with a lunch out.

Have to spend some time in the kitchen this afternoon and will attempt not to eat a million cupcakes. I had taken them off the menu for a while because they weren't coming out quite right but since I need to be in the kitchen for other things, it will be a good time to work on them. Lord, give me strength!

Hope everyone is doing well! Halfway through the week! It's pretty glum in Denver today and we are expecting rain today and tomorrow. Sure signs that spring is here! And I'm trying not to complain as we had a very dry winter and if we don't get some precipitation, wild fires will be out of control this summer. But I sure can't wait for the to come back out!

LOL Thank you! Well, at first it was definitely an excuse but as the night wore on, I'm really glad I didn't go. Getting up a walking around was somewhat painful. And after I did some research online, I changed to ice instead of heat because heat hinders, ice helps! Whoops!

Thank you! And congrats on your determination to keep it up! You will see the positive effects soon, I'm sure of it!

Tulips are my absolute favorite flower. And yours are beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you! Great minds think alike! While I woke up with very little pain, I still had pain. So I had decide that maybe taking at least today off would be a good idea. Iced it again this morning and will go in to do my arm weights but definitely no leg weights or elliptical. I may try the bike but I will make that decision at the gym. I have to be in the kitchen for several hours this afternoon so that could cause added stress on it and want to take that into account before I make a commitment to myself to hop on a bike. And if for some reason I'm not able to do any of it, I'll be disappointed, but okay with that two. I'd rather be out 2 or 3 days than 2 or 3 weeks as some places online said it takes to recover from a hamstring injury!

I was looking at a pretty 131.2 when I stepped on the scale this morning! 130 here I come! Maybe I can even actually make it to 130.0 by Easter! Although, like I said, if I'm 130.9 I'll take it!

P H A T - I love your tulips! They're beautiful! I can't keep any kind of plant alive, I can't remember to water them or anything. Good thing my dog lets me know if he's hungry!

Have a LOVELY day everyone!!!

Good morning and thank you everybody for all the well wishes and congratulations...it sucks because I can't actually see any of the changes (yet) but I know I am losing weight. So coming in here is a great motivator...anywho, I'm stuck at 239.4 (okay, just 2 days at this weight...but still) but it's okay. I have a new challenge goal of 237, so 2.4 lbs to go (when is Easter?) in 10 days, I hope I can make it!!! It's supposed to start raining here in a few hours, so I gotta get my walk and ab stuff in...

Have a good hump day ladies!!!

Having a good day. I got in a kettle bell workout last night and felt good going to bed. I ended the day at the upper end of my calories and that was cool since I did two workouts. I was just so hungry after getting off the eliptical. I will be taking the little girl to the park and getting some time in on the track before letting her loose on the playground. Once I do that, it's a wrap for me because she has to be tossed out of the park. When we leave she has a meltdown. Staying within my calorie limits today and should end at the 1400-1500 end which is my preference.

phat- your tulips are so nice! It rains here everyday since spring started, so i can't enjoy my flowers.

manders- glad you feel somewhat better, I'd be going buggy if I couldn't exercise.

Finally didn't go over my calorie limit today, had 1400. I'm right at the limit, but didn't exercise, i had so much to do there was no time. If it wasn't raining I would have made time for a walk. I'm down 1 more pound, hope to see another loss tomorrow. For the past 4 days, all i want is junk food or peanut butter & I have resisted. So I think the scale should reward me!

Thanks! I was not liking the fact that I wasn't going to work out but since I spent 4 and 1/2 hours in the kitchen, I don't feel as guilty. Though, since I ate while I was in the kitchen, it might be all for not! I actually think the time in the kitchen and a couple of short walks I did today did it good though. I'll be careful at the gym tomorrow but I will definitely be there!

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That's right, ate at the kitchen. I could have helped myself, I could have avoided, but I didn't. I allowed myself to eat 4 cupcakes at 60 calories a piece and 6 snickerdoodles at 52-1/2 calories a piece. I have absolutely no excuse. I needed to test at least one cupcake and two snickerdoodles. I could have taken one bite and thrown the rest away. Or even eaten the entire thing. But I ate more than I needed to. I don't really feel guilty just know that what I did was "wrong" and I need to learn how to be in the kitchen baking without shoving it all in my mouth. Not only am I eating needless calories but I'm also eating profits. That's bad!

Before I even left the house to go to the kitchen, I also had 4 oatmeal chocolate chip cookies at 52 calories a piece and 2 snickerdoodles. Again, didn't need to eat all of them. Just needed to check their freshness. Could have done that with one bite a piece.

Although I was slightly under my calorie allotment today (not the 1200 net calories, my allowed 1638 calories), I had some dinner when I got home. I was not hungry but felt like since I had eaten not so good for me stuff all afternoon, I needed to get some good stuff in my body. So I had a bowl of Fiber One cereal topped with sliced banana and blueberries with almond milk. I feel good that I added to my fruit and fiber for the day even though I probably could have gotten away with not eating them.

I don't necessarily feel like today was a bad day but it certainly wasn't a good one. Not really much I can say but "It is what it is" and start fresh in the morning.

Ugh...I had a mini-meltdown this evening after a math test I took. I suck at math and this is the 2nd time I've taken it in my college career (my 6 YEAR college career...and that's just undergrad) and I NEED this class to graduate. So, this was our mid-term tonight and I think I did not-so-well and I was just depressed and stressed and ate 239 calories over my limit for today...ugh. Okay, I am back on the horse tomorrow with an ab and stair work-out in the morning...I'm not going to beat myself up over it. Night ladies!!!

Well, it's official, I weighed in this morning (Th is my official weigh in day) at 249.7 so I met my challenge goal to be in the 240s by Easter!
I am going to aim to be a bit lower in the 240s by the end of the challenge.

PHAT What pretty flowers! I love tulips and yours are beautiful! Glad also to hear your niece is doing well.

Fruitlady Great job on staying within your calories!

Manders Thanks for the pep talk! You were right, I did end up seeing some results because I stuck with it! I'm sure you'll be right back on track after some challenges with the baked goods (yum!) and your injury. You've done some amazing things and look at how much you lost so far, wow! Also, are those cupcakes and cookies from your own recipe? The calorie counts sound amazingly low!!!

Fit Congratulations on taking that math test, even if you were dreading it. You probably did better than you thought. I think you have the right attitude, 239 cals is not so bad and you can't beat yourself up about it; you can only get back on the horse! You've been doing awesome - keep going!

Oh sooooooooooooo not fair. So here's the gimped up way I am doing things...Weigh in is typically Monday (this week was Tuesday though). For the next 3 days I'll let myself weigh daily, then for the rest of the week I won't get on the scale until weigh in day (so weigh in can be a "surprise").

Weird and wacked out, I know...but hey, that's totally me.

So this morning was my last morning "allowed" on the scale before Monday. I got on, same as every other morning, but this morning I was UP 1.5lbs. I just finished TOM on Monday, so it's not that. All I can conclude is that the Subway Salad I had last night (Buffalo Chicken Salad) must have had a fairly high dose of sodium in it...that or I'm gonna cry! LOL Of course, the subway site doesn't give the nutritional information for "Buffalo Chicken", so I had to wing it in sorting out the calories...but I think I did ok.

Super not fair!!

Alright, now you guys are really going to laugh at me. I have been trying to get the cupcakes just right in the looks department. They taste great but don't look so hot because the centers keep caving in. My original recipe called for a ganache on top but it doesn't hide the cave in. So today I'm going to be testing out whipped frosting. I will behave, I will behave, I will behave.

Other than that, a day filled with more errands and to-dos. But honestly, sometimes I like those days just as much as the ones I get to be a bum on the couch. At least makes me feel like I'm doing / accomplishing something! It would be easier to be motived not to lay on couch today if it wasn't . Rain, rain, go away, come again another day!

Right now I have 1268 calories planned but don't have a morning or evening snack planned so there's room for them if needed. I'll do my arm weights, might try my leg weights and the bike so we'll see where the exercise calories burned comes in at. Hamstring is feelin' much better after the stretching I did in the kitchen yesterday so I'm ready to get back to and !

Good for you! You're not too far over your limit and you can always try to be under by that much today if you feel like it would be helpful. I'm sure you did great on your test!

Congratulations!!! I can't help but hear that soccer announcer who was on the Geico commericials yelling, "GOOOOOOOAL!" whenever someone hits a goal weight.

Thanks! All my recipes for my business are either my recipes from scratch or inspirations from other recipes. Inspirations because not only have many of them had ingredients changed for flavors, they've all been changed to be low-cal. The cupcakes are an adaptation of the Hungry Girl Brownie cupcakes and the cookies are standard recipes that I made low-cal.

Buffalo chicken sauce has a TON of sodium. If they use the most typical recipe (Frank's Red Hot Sauce and butter), Frank's is 190 mg a tsp and butter is 95 mg a tbsp. Most recipes I'm seeing online are calling for 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of Frank's and 3 to 4 tbsp of butter. So on the low side the sauce may be about 1285 mg (since a whole recipe of the sauce is probably two servings). Regardless, I would think yes, that is the reason. You'll be back down at your next weigh in, I'm confident of it!

Feel better soon!