Hello all! Checking in since it's been a while. Doing good so far and finally losing at a steady pace. I should be down to 154 tomorrow or Monday which marks 20lbs!! So excited :) I'm kinda concerned that I won't reach my labor day goal of 149 since my 2lb a week loss won't get me there. I'm thinking of cutting sugar/carbs the week before to help me down to 149 to reach my goal!! Other than that re-focused and cut out bad cereal, granola bars, snacks, and cookies. I found I was overeating these items so I just decided they would be off limits. Working great so far :) Happy with my week and working out (Day 5 of Jillian Michaels 30 day slim down done!). 4 more weeks and I'll be home :) Take care all and be strong through the weekend!!
Oriana

Didn't exercise again today, we drove to a farmer's market that's 20mi. away from where I live. My stomach is messed up so I didn't eat any sweets like I usually do on a Sat. My weight is down, but I am looking forward to a treat when my stomach feels better. Had 1302 calories today, my daily average for the week was 1698.

Hi everyone!

Sadly I don't have time to write a lot. I just wanted to say I reached my revised Labor Day goal today, I was exactly 185 this morning. :) I'm not going to alter it or any of my other goals unless for some reason I'm way ahead by the end of September.

Have a great Sunday!

Wow, I didn't exercise in 3 days. Not feeling well the past 2 days & today it was storming all day. I never went this long without it, tomorrow for sure! Had 1253 calories, my weight dropped another 6oz. I've been craving banana cake & didn't have time to make it!!

fruitlady - Yum! I might have to make some whole wheat banana bread tomorow. Hope you are feeling better and are able to walk tomorow.

LemonZest - Congratulations!!!

OVWgirl - you are doing great.

TDI - it is great that you got right back on track...I am sure that a lot of it was water weight, but it is a good reminder to eat healthy as often as you can.

Jigglefree - At my sons hockey rink they have kettlebells...I may have to give them a try this winter.

My scale had taken a break for a while, but decided to start moving again today! I was super excited, because I also had a great NSV. My pants that were too tight at the waist are too big now! I currently am fitting into 12s perfectly and can even wear some 10s too.

Morning all!

So, as I said, I finally broke my mini-plateau of 118 and am down to 117. Then what happens? TOM hits! Thank god I had my weigh day the day before, haha. So I'm dealing with cravings and certainly haven't been the most observant calorie counter this weekend. I ended up having quite a bit of chocolate. And I had pizza last night. Both off plan. Ah well, today is a return to OP, and I'm excited! Honestly, every time I go off, my body feels worse and worse so going back op is a recharge! I also missed the two days exercise, which isn't unusual for a weekend because I'm normally at work all day. So I'm hitting it hard today!

Envelope- :carrot: Congrats! It must be banana season or something! I just made banana bread on Saturday. I adapted a recipe for the first time and it came out so good- using agave nectar instead of white sugar and I added flax seed. Was going to use whole wheat flour too, but didn't have any on hand, sadly! I can't wait to try it with that! This morning I'm making myself a banana strawberry smoothie...yum!

Fruit- I hear you on the exercise! It's been two days for me and now I'm feeling all wonky. Banana cake sounds so tasty! Hope your stomach is feeling better today. And thank you!

Lemon- Sounds good! Hope the rest of your weekend went well! Apple cider donuts are so tasty- they're like a cake donut. Definitely a fall favorite over here. It's best to get them fresh and warm while pumpkin picking and a hot cup of mulled cider! Ah, I love fall!

OVW- :carrot: for 20 pounds! It's such a great milestone! For me, when I hit 20 I knew then that I wouldn't ever be going back. Sounds like you've got it all planned out. Keep it up!

TDI- You've really inspired me to start that push up program! I think I may start it up next week when school starts. Hope you had/have and awesome time camping! I loooove to camp, but it looks like the most camping I'll get this year is sleeping in a barn, haha. Yep, it is hard to find a balance for maintenance- I think it's because we're all so used to losing it's hard to see the same number on the scale! It's especially tough because I'm trying to make it down to 115 to see if I can maintain around there and have a maintenance range of 115-120. So, I'm in this strange losing/maintenance mode, ha. I think I need to relax and enjoy the journey.

Jiggle- I've been looking into kettle bells- do you recommend any site that gives good tutorials of the moves? (Of course, first I should probably purchase said kettle bells, ha)

Not much time today, but a quick update... I've had visitors all week, and it's driving me maaaaad! My mother-in-law has been here since Tuesday and she is THE MOST intrusive woman in the entire freaking world. She redecorated my fireplace mantle while I was sleeping. She took blinds off some windows and put them on others, without asking. She mowed the front lawn because we 'did it wrong.' She changes the temperature on whatever I'm cooking if I leave the kitchen for two minutes. ARRRGHH.

Anyway, good news is, I've been minding my portion control (although I've been too busy to log everything on fitday) and I've kept up with my C25K (it's the only break from her I get...) and I lost a pound and a half, despite the stress! So go me. :D She leaves tomorrow morning, and I can not wait to have my house to myself again finally.

envelope & Corinne- thanks, I much feel better, finally got to bake the banana cake! I love banana bread too, maybe I'll do that one next.

Since my stomach was better, my calories were high(2879) Had ice cream & banana cake, I've had enough now. I ate what I was hungry for and that's all I needed. I'll be back on track til my birthday next Sunday. I plan on having cake!

Hey ladies sorry I've been missing but my life was total chaos. TOM showed up and everything went bananas. We had to have a come to Jesus meeting with the daycare, work has been days from ****!! I get home so tired and all I can do is eat, read with my daughter and go to bed. I had some bad eating days Saturday and Sunday so the increase in pounds from TOM and the water weight was horrible. However I've lost 1.4 of those pounds since yesterday. I'm still in ONEderland...thank heavens!!!

For all of the Kettle bell questions...I LOVE LOVE LOVE them. The workout is awesome. Twenty minutes and it feels like you have worked 40-60 minutes. I love it so much because in 20 minutes you get cardio and toning done and you feel it. I bought my bells from Walmart. They are the Jillian Michaels ones that cost $25 for a 5lb, 10lb and 15lb bells. This is going to sound sorry but I checked out some workouts on youtube, watched the kettleworx infomercial and checked out the moves on the video that came with the kettle bells Then I came up with a couple workouts for the change in workouts my body needs. There are a gagillion of them on youtube so you can get a lot of ideas. They are fun too. I was doing my workout this morning and my daughter was trying to do it with me. I had to give her one of my 2lb weights so she didn't hurt herself. :carrot:

I usually get online at work but I've been so busy but I couldn't let today pass and not say hello to everyone and I miss you guys. Things should be back on track because we are only short one person today.

Today's Nugget: No matter what it cost you to get healthy it's still cheaper and more fun than being in the hospital or having to take medications to stay alive!! Let's get it done ladies. :broc::broc:

Hi all :) I've been AWOL because I am doing a 2 week "diet break"/"refeed" and I didn't like to post about it knowing how much I hated hearing about people eating things/in ways I couldn't while I was cutting calories. 1 more week and I dip back down to the 1200-1400 range.

I can tell you all this, though, after 10 weeks of eating low cal and restricting carb intake somewhat (no simple starches or sugars) it is really, really hard to eat 1800-2000 per day and I'm supposed to be at 2200 but simply cannot do it! I should say to do it healthily. I could go the crap food route and go over but I am trying to keep good habits for this little experiment.

I am maintaining at 155, still working out 6x a week, and feeling pretty good about that because I am hopeful it means that I will be able to handle long term maintenance when I finally get there.

I probably will not make my Labor Day weight goal due to this, but I have made my fitness goals (still doing the pushup challenge but that goes way past Labor Day) so I am pretty well satisfied :)

It looks like everyone is doing really well! Congrats on all the losses ladies!

I'll be back next Monday when I am back on my low cal program. Until then I hope everyone has happy and OP days!

A quick update--I was down 2 lbs last week and made my challenge. Should be losing at least 1 lb. this week and will eat well & exercise as much as possible while I'm gone to KY this weekend. I was told that the hotel is sorta in the middle of nowhere; as a 1 1/2 hour a day walker, it will be hard to get it in w/the dog and if I have to walk circles the walks will be incredibly boring.

Walked 58min. & had 2510 cal. I over ate again! I'm gaining weight too!

I trust myself now, I know I am done with over eating and will automatically be back to healthy food tomorrow!

Hey all! I had a really fun camping trip. I'm glad it was only a few days since I was eating over my caloire count (mainly in beverages LOL). It was a lot of fun! We went on a 4.5mile hike yesterday before we left, sat by campfires for a few days, watched the stars!! The sky was gorgeous!! We stopped at a winery on the way in. Made a small investment, but I'll have some tasty wines for the next few months or so..
I ate a lot of food that was not the best to eat, but it was quite yummy!
Back to the normal routine, definitely upping my exercise today to get me back to normal.
I won't be weighing for a week. It's funny how sometimes if I eat crazy for a few days, I'll weigh-in because I need the kick to get back to "healthy" eating. Other times though, I am ready to go and really don't want to weigh-in, so I don't. Odd...

Corinne: YAY!! You will enjoy the program!! I struggled through week 3, I am going back and doing week 3 again this week. It's a pretty brutal program as it goes on, but you will feel awesome! For some reason, when my arms feel like jelly I feel so happy and accomplished! LOL
You will figure out your balance too. But, like you said, you're used to losing numbers so to see the same number is a bit freaky. After a while though, you'll get excited to see the same number :) I like your idea though of getting to a low end so that if you have a few bad days, you are 'okay'. Keep enjoying it and have fun!!

Fruitlady: Sounds like you're doing awesome! Keep up the awesome work! I'm sorry you weren't feeling so well, I hope you're feeling better.

jiggle: Life gets very crazy at times! I'm sorry :hug: I do the same thing as you do with most workouts. I LOVE youtube for that! (besides, they do get paid every time someone watches a video.. so you're helping someone out) I will have to check the kettleball stuff out, prolly in a few weeks or so since I really want to get a set of dumbells next.
As for your nugget: You're so right!! Who wants to be stuck up in the hospital poppin' pills???? I do think though finding ways to cut the cost of weightloss is great though too. That's why I picked calorie counting, it's free!!! That way I can spend a little more money on good food!!

Bigchief: Your MIL sounds horrific!! I am so sorry! Is there anyway to make her realize what she's doing? You've probably already tried though. Hope she leaves you soon!!

h82sweat: Sounds like you're enjoying your food! That is really good, especially trying to keep it healthy! Keep it up. See you when you're back!

tdi- thank you!

Ok, I'm at my red line! I hope I don't gain again!

Walked 33min, had 1780 cal. I was cooking like crazy & had to taste everything to see if it was seasoned right, those calories add up quick. I wanted to lose this water weight by Sunday, we're going out to eat for my B-Day and are having cake. I don't want more weight added on to what I already had gained. I better really cut back til then!

Good morning!! It's going to be a great day. I feel it and I dressed for it. I had a good day yesterday. I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone ends this challenge.

Any input for the next challenge? How long or a good end date...Let me know. I'll start the next one unless someone else would like to start it.

Today's Nugget: Impact someone's life today. Don't just live or yourself. Do something unexpected for someone that wouldn't expect you to do anything for them. It will feel really good when you're done!!