Ultimate Goal Challenge--Invitation
 

I am 35 years old and I have been on and off this journey many times. But for the first time EVER I know this is it. Does anyone else feel that way? I know by the end of 2008 or earlier I will make it to my ultimate goal of 120 pounds. I pride myself on being self aware and I just feel it this time. This is an invitation to join me. I will start a weekly thread on Sunday.

How Will I Get There...

1. I am doing WW at Home, not an online member. I just got a new WW Starter Kit after using the books and materials I got in 2004, when I was a member briefly, for the past 2 months. My support group are the girls in the WW at Home forum here on 3FC. Also my friends on the TBL Red Team. I have also been posting in the Cool Runners thread in the exercise forum and 20-30's group in the WW forum. So a lot of support here on 3FC. I use the flex point system and am currently eating 26 points points a day and I use the extra flex points and activity points. I've lost 19 lbs since starting in September.

2. I am blogging. I love my 3FC blog.

3. I am exercising. I just started that this week. I am doing the Couch to 5K program. Today will be Week 1, Day 3 for me. In December I plan to move on to exercising 4x week incorporating pilates. In January I will move up to 5 days a week incorporating pilates and weight training. What I learned about myself is I need to move slow. I burn out by overdoing it in the beginning. So I am starting out with 3 days and slowly increasing my days. I'm getting support for running on www.coolrunning.com. They have a weekly thread for WWr's that run also. Great group. In the spring I plan to join a running club so I can take the running outdoors. Right now I'm on my treadmill.

4. I am really working on getting 72 oz of water in on a daily basis.

5. I am also working on getting to bed at a decent hour. I am a night owl. I can stay up most of the night and still manage to wake up between 5am-6am each morning. I need to go to bed and get at least 5-6 hours a night. I've noticed just the 2 days I've been running has helped my sleep pattern. So hopefully this will continue as I progress through the C25K program.

How do you plan to get there? How do you plan to get to your Ultimate Goal?

Since no one has joined me yet I will leave the invitation open and continue to post in this thread. Weigh in is tomorrow for me. I'm expecting to maintain. TOM just left and I began my exercise program this week so I am hoping to lose next week. I completed Week 1 of the Couch to 5K program. I really enjoyed it and I am looking forward to starting Week 2 this week. Water is going well and I'm OP for WW.

I maintained this week. Um...still no joiners. I'm not interested in posting in this thread all by myself. I can do that in my blog. Maybe more people may be interested after Thanksgiving or in the new year.

OK...I'm here. You sound very organized and motivated.

What I need:
Ratchet up my workouts--need to go at higher intensity

My eating is on track--I'm at 127--as long as I stay below 130, things are OK in terms of appearance and personal satisfaction.

Yeah! Someone is joining me. Welcome Elanajel! I figure we can hang in here until some more people join us.

To be honest I always start out so great then lose focus. I feel different this time. Still OP and drinking a ton of water. I did the C25K Week 2, Day 1 and it was great. Tougher than last week but of course that is the expectation. When I add an additional day of exercise in December I'm thinking of making it an outdoor bootcamp as opposed to Pilates. We'll see. I have time.

What type of exercise are you doing? Are you doing as specific diet program?

Hey likenoother....i'll try to post here as much as i can. I am currently in the naughty and nice challenge...and the hugs and kisses challenge. Kinda hoping that the february challenge will put me at my final goal of about 120...but we'll see.

I try to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day, excersize 3 or 4 times a week and eat 1200 calories a day. I do pretty good at losing about 5 pounds a month. I go the gym 2 or 3 times a week and try to get out on the weekend and jog/walk about 2 miles.

I do have children so carving out this excersize time is very hard to do, but i do my best to balance a little me time and time for my kids. I also work a full time job 30 minutes from my home.

Sounds like you are really ready to this. I can't explain it but sometimes things just finally click and you just know you are ready to do this. I started in January of 05. Lost about half of my goal (which at the time was 66 pounds), met my boyfriend, gained back 7 pounds and started over this march to drop that 7 plus the other 33 pounds. I am almost at my original goal...and looking forward to passing that goal and meeting my new goal of 120.

Good luck to you. I just know if you put your mind to it...you can do it!!!

Hi Lumifan4ever,
WELCOME! You are really close to your goal--both of them. Doesn't feel great? I know its hard to take time for yourself when you have kids. Thanks for joining us here!

Right now I'm in a hotel room for a conference tomorrow. I planned really well and feel good about my efforts this week. I did day 2 of week 2 of C25K. It was great. It seems the 2nd day feels better than the first and then by the 3rd I am really good to go. That's with doing the same thing all 3 days. At some point in the plan I know the days are not all the same so I will see how that goes.

oh....i am sooooo sore. I excersized tooo hard wednesday night and now i am so sore all over my poor little body. Hope all is going well at the hotel. I find it so hard to really stay on plan when i go out of town, but try to make good choices and not over eat the yummies i order when ordering out. Today is going to be tough because we are having our thanksgiving meal at work today. I am just going to try to pick my favorites and eat less of them.

Hi,
Lumifan4ever--I hope the soreness has gone down.

It is difficult to eat OP when traveling. I am a planner so that helped. I took snacks and my breakfast food with me. That made a difference. For some reason my neck and my back feels a little stiff today. I hope it will be okay when I run today. I will do that at 11am. Later.

Hello....ahhhhhh I am in, if the invitation is still there. I need alot of help! I just join this site and I am not even certain how to paste that tracking monitor onto the bottom of my messages.
I am 36 and when starting my challenge in August was 232. I was very ill with an ulcerative colitis flare up and dropped down to 206. I had to go on steriods in the hospital and went back up to 217. I am so on track now though but need huge motivation. I just LOVE FOOD SOOOO MUCH!!! Please help me get motivated because I so badly want to weigh 120 pounds! I dream to go on a holiday and wear a bathing suit where I can be proud of my body and have my husband think I am beautiful again!! (he says he loves me the way I am but I know he is not being honest) You sound like the perfect person to help me reach my goals. First goal of 200 and the second of 180 and so on. (20 pounds at a time)
Share all your secrets on how we are goinna make this happen!!

Hi csi442! Of course the invitation is still open. Everyone is welcomed with open arms! I see I just needed to be patient. I think the way to make it happen is to plan, plan, and plan. Stick with that plan and post often! If you're having a good day post. If you're having the most horrible day ever post. That's what we are here for. This site has been so helpful for me and I hope it will do the same for you. I think we can continue to post in this thread then I will start a weekly thread on Sunday, December 2nd.

The tracker--1. Scroll up to the top of the page and click on "user cp". 2. In the column on the left click on "edit signature". It will walk you through how to add a tracker to your posts.

Okay so my report about C25K---Wk 2, Day 3 was my roughest so far. Not because it was difficult just that as soon as I got on the treadmill my head started hurting. A few minutes in my right foot started hurting from my previous injury. Then, yes there's more, my left knee started hurting. I was like WTF??? But I was also like whatever. I am not getting off this treadmill. This is the end of Wk 2 and I am completing it today. I started counting down the running intervals, 1 down 5 more to go, 2 down, half way there, only 2 to go....last one. During the last one I felt better. Off to Week 3 on Tuesday.

sorry to be mia....i don't get on the internet over the weekend. Things are going good here.

I have to agree with what likenoother says. Plan,plan, plan. That is the only way i was able to learn how to eat was by planning out every meal, every snack...even my coffee had to be planned in. When i was just starting out, if i hadn't planned that days food, i was way off on my food stats....calories, fat grams, carbs, protiens....i find planning the way to lose weight.

So, i had thanksgiving luncheon at work on friday and my daughters birthday party on saturday. Not too bad. I did eat a little more than i had "planned" but instead of sitting around afterwards, i went out for a 30 minute walk. I did okay at the birthday party.

Hope everyone else is doing good.

Hello all you motivated women! I need support, and I am joining this challenge :) I had my first child in June 2006 and gained 63 pounds with the pregnancy. I'm a muscular person to start with, but all those muscles seemed to vanish under baby weight. I did weight watchers for a while, but then I moved to some tiny hick town (150 people live there), and it's too far to go to meetings. I'm unofficially doing LA weight loss now... my mom's on it and she loves it, but living so far away, I need more support. So, by the end of 2008, I will be at my goal weight :) Just reading the posts makes me feel better :)

Welcome Desiree! We are here to support you. I'm here at all hours. I'm a night owl so if you need some support I should be on here somewhere. This website helps me get through the night sometimes.

Lumifan4ever--I also ate more than I planned yesterday but no damage done.

I am still at 221. This is the 3rd week in a row. I am determined to lose at least 1 lb this week even though Thanksgiving is on Thursday.

Thanks! It really helps to have someone to talk to when you're having a bad day! (Or to cheer you on when you have a good day) :)

See ya around!

Hi Everyone!

This looks like a good place to start! Again! LOL! My name is Sarah and I started trying to lose weight in February 2006. I ended up getting frustrated and giving up and then toward the end of the year I got pregnant with my second son. I had him in June, so it is time for me to start again. My starting weight way back when was 248 lbs. I ended up getting down to 226 around the time I quit. Right now I am back up to 234. I am serious about losing the weight this time, and have committed to myself. I had some blood work done at the dr, and my triglycerides are 5x what they should be. He suggested a slow carb diet for me also known as the GL diet. So far so good. However, I have decided to stay off of the scale for a month. I am too afraid to get discouraged again. Staying away from the bad carbs for the first week was a little hard in the beginning but now I don’t seem to be craving them as much. I think that this is something I can stick with. I look forward to chatting with each of you.

Hi Sara. Welcome! We all look forward to getting to know you better and supporting you along the way. I love all the postive affirmations you have in your mini goal ticker. I also like your long term ticker. I will add one for this challenge when I start the new thread on December 2nd.

Hi! Count me in too. I'm feeling the same way, like this time this will just work. I think I need to follow the advice of plan, plan, plan, because I just don't! But I feel good about this effort, and having so many supportive people surrounding me will definitely help!

I am 28, I am a music teacher in a high school, and I never thought I'd be chained to a desk so much! I was a fat baby, and fat kindergartner, a fat 6th grader (oompa loompa ish but cute never the less... ) I've grown up to be a fat adult. I was always active in high school and college, but still big, and now sitting at a desk all day doing hours of paperwork my muscle has all given way to fat.

I am definitely ready to regain some muscle and run circles around my teenagers!

TimeToTryAgain you have come to the right place. Welcome! We are here to help and support you meet your goal. I have always been fat myself. I have had brief periods of being smaller but basically fat my whole live. So I think it is amazing that we have all arrived here.

I keep changing this but here is what I have finally decided. Here is the plan: We will continue to post here until November 30th. On December 1st I will start a new thread titled "Ultimate Goal Challenge--December". We can do monthly threads unless along the way we decide weekly is better. You can chose to make a ticker for the challenge or not . The planned challenge ends on December 31,2008. If we need to keep going a bit longer that is okay too. I am very flexible. Anyone can join along the way. It doesn't matter if it is a month in or 6 months. We are a very accepting group.

Let me say hello to the newbies....Desiree brown, TimeToTryAgain, Saric...and anyone i may have missed on the first page. I really have to say that this is the greatest place i have ever come to lose weight. I've been thin and overweight all my life. My weight has always yoyo'd....usually without me making a conscious effort to gain or lose...just depended on how things were going in my life i guess. This is the first time in my life i have ever actually tried and succeeded to lose weight. I tried about 4 years ago to lose and just never lost a pound. It wasn't until i found this website two years ago that i "learned" how to eat and excersize and started losing weight. I never knew anything about how much protein, carbs and fats to eat...or how many calories i needed to take in to lose weight...until i came here. Now...it seems like a no brainer. I think you will all have much success if you really join in and read different post in different parts of this website.

I definitely agree with Lumifan4ever. This website is so helpful. As I stated before it gets me through the night most nights. Meaning when I am on here reading posts and giving support I don't think about eating. It is open 24/7. I tell everyone I know about it. They laugh when I say 3FatChicks but everyone knows how important it us to me. There are certain threads that I try to check on a daily basis.

C2K report--I just completed Week 3, Day 1. Okay everyone was right, the 3 minutes was definitely doable. I like the progression each week. Each week is a little bit more challenging but not so much so that you want to quit. I'm saying that now but lets see what I say Week 5 when you have to run for 20 minutes straight on Day 3. Well I will be able to complete this week and move on Week 4 based on today.

Gotta go watch The Biggest Loser!

I agree with you all.... this website is the best thing that happened to me while I'm dieting. Whenever I feel like I'm going to fall off the wagon, I just come on here and it motivates me and inspires me to keep going. I haven't cheated once :) You guys rock!

I would like to join. I have fallen off the wagon hard, but I am determined to reach my final goal.

I need to reassess my diet. And jumpstart my excercise. I haven't decided on exact increments yet LOL.

Sorry I'm joining a little late.. I didn't see this thread until today. :)

I am in... This is it. 1 year, 9 months ago when I started dating my boyfriend I was at #241 pounds. I didn't care... I was depressed, fat, ugly (those were self inflicted wounds) and then I started dating Joe. He made me happy again. It was wonderful. And I knew that I was losing weight, because I had to buy new clothes... I wasn't "doing" anything to lose it though.

In September of this year our HR manager at work had the idea to start a Christmas challenge... I hesitated as i stepped on the scale - It read #197.9. That was #43.1 pounds down from where I was in January of 2006! I knew right then that I had to make this happen for real!

I decided also to quit smoking at this time.. my biggest motivation - my family. My loving boyfriend, and my adorable 5 year old daughter Hunter. I know in my heart that I don't want to die an early death because of something I could have prevented.

So Now I'm eating a ton better, exercising everyday..saying no to excess sweets, fat, food in general. I'm eating until I'm not hungry instead of eating until I'm full. I have a whole new approach on how I look at food and life.

I'll be honest - the beginning was hard I did good a few weeks, and not so good a few. I believe I have a better grasp now. Currently I am at #192.8. My goal over all is to be at #125 on Memorial Day. I want to have this next Swim Suit Season to be fun, and not shameful.

And as vain as it may sound I don't want my daughter to grow up with "the fat mom" - the one that the other kids look at and laugh... i went through that, and it's not fun. I know - crazy motivation.

I have to take this in little bites though... for right now my Christmas goal is to see the #180's!!! I know I can do it!

Desiree--This is definitely the best website ever. I've tried others and they're not as great or as supportive.

Welcome sockmonkey70 and Enygirl! We are so happy to have you. Continue to post in this thread until November 30th. I will start a new one on December 1st. It sounds like we have a determined bunch here. I'm excited. Is anyone else? How will you reward yourself when you make it to your ultimate goal? I am thinking maybe a cruise with my BF.

Oooh, a cruise! That sounds perfect! If you've never been, it's the only way to travel!

I think, and I realize this is totally impractical for the Colorado climate, but I think that when I reach my goal, and it's a BIG goal, I am going to by my dream car. Luckily, I have some time to start saving for it!

Good morning everyone! Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you and yours have a terrific day. It will be me and BF. My parents are local but we do Thanksgivng separate and Christmas together. I will begin cooking in a few hours bc I don't have anything complicated to make. Well I weighed in for my Thanksgiving Mini Goal and I am still at 221. I am determined to lose 1lb by Monday. We'll see how that goes.

TimeToTryAgain--My goal is a big one too. As of today I need to lose 101 pounds to get to my goal. We'll get there together. I've never been on a cruise and I've heard great things about them. Regarding your dream car you can use it for special occasions.

Enygirl... your motivation is not crazy! I was the same way... everyone in my family is big, and they all got teased. People are so rude! (Especially kids). My mom used to give us dinner sized plates full of food (nearly as much as she ate), and expected us to eat it all when we were 3 or 4. Not only was she big, but she ended up making my brother and sister big too. (I didn't gain my weight until I got pregnant.) The biggest and best thing you can do for your daughter is to give her healthy choices and a positive attitude towards food. With any luck, she won't have troubles with food, and you'll be a hot mom! My daughter is 17 months old and her grandparents LOVE to give her junk food. I am really having a hard time trying her to eat good healthy food when all they offer is junk. But, slowly, we're turning her around.

I'm currently at 183, and my mini goal for November is to say good-bye to the 180's as well. Good luck!

:DGLOATING TIME!!!:D
Generally I try to keep my caloric intake around 1200. This number lets me lose about #1/3 a day. I'm not completely strict with this number because as a true character of rebellion - If I am limited then I subconciously rebel. Well with yesterday being a holiday full of food - I decided to allow myself to increase that. I wrote down that I still wanted to stay under 1800 - that way I'd stll lose about #1/8 - and all this work wasn't for nothing.

Well.. I added up all of my totals just now (I'm extremely anal about writing every bite down) and I was at 1543 for the WHOLE day!!! I have to say I'm proud!! I'm also impressed - because I had 2 helpings of the dessert I made... luckily I made it w/ low fat/no fat ingredients this year! :)

I didn't work out yesterday. I do a 6 days on, 1 day off schedule - and yesterday was my day off... back at the routine today! :)

Ok I'm done gloating!

Good job! 6 days a week working out? WOW! I have a hard time doing 3!

I know I agree with Desiree, Enygirl you are truly dedicated! Great job on sticking to your plan for Thanksgiving.

Wow Enygirl! You kick butt!

Shay,

The cruise is an excellent idea. I have told myself that I won't go on one until I lose weight. That would be a great motivator for me.

I did not do too badly on Thanksgiving. With that much temptation I was afraid I would stuff myself, but I did not. I am starting to get some comments from people starting to see a difference in my face. Yea! But it is still gonna be a bit until I get on a scale. I am going to try to wait until December 7th to weigh in.

My biggest issue is finding the time to work out. I have 2 boys (6 yr old and 4 month old), 2 jobs, I go to school full time and my husband owns his own company and works really long hours. Sometimes he is out of town for weeks at a time. However, my full time job offers free membership to a YWCA. I just need to figure time in my schedule.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I'll check in later.

Hi Sarah. I am happy you had a good holiday. Does the Y have childcare? Or how about the gym at your school? Do they offer childcare?

Well, ladies I decided to put my ticker up early. I've realized I need to make some changes so I was editing my signature and I plan to make some changes in my blog too. I put a lot of pressure on myself to lose weight which makes the situation worse for me. I need to relax a little and stick to my plan. Planning, designing, implementing, evaluating, problem solving, and seeing the big picture are huge parts of my job so I felt I needed to do that with my weight loss too. I'm a planner. I don't like to be rushed and I like to take my time. So long term planning works best for me. I decided to only focus on my long term goal. I do plan to celebrate the victories along the way but not to set them as goals so I won't be disappointed if I don't meet them by the deadline I have set. That is why this challenge will be flexible. You don't have to do a ticker, you don't even need to weigh in weekly, just check in with us often and let us know how you are doing on your "weigh" to reaching your ultimate goal.

Wow Sarica!!! You are one busy girl! Congratulations on being able to function with such a hectic schedule! :) LOL
GO SUPERMOMS!!!

I have just discovered blogging in the last few days- add that to my list of "how I am going to get there strategies! There are things that I can rationalize in my own little mind, but as soon as I put them down on cyber paper, they become so much more true and factual. It's like standing naked in front of the mirror. And I am learning that instead of judging what I write (or see, to continue the metaphor...) If I just look at it for what it is and see what I need to to tweak in terms of the way I approach things, rather than try to cover it up with justifications that aren't really relevant, I just might have a chance!
Yesterday I realized that my husband's triggers for overeating are things that don't affect me, and vice versa. I made brownies, knowing I could eat them in moderation but not expecting the pan to be gone in a day!!! He made bread a few weeks ago that I think he got 2 pieces of. As soon as I wrote about the brownies yesterday I realized how much more aware we are going to have to be of each other's issues.

Oh, and I didn't pig out yesterday!!! (Sorry for the long post...)

TimeToTryAgain--I LOVE blogging. It's great that it has helped you realize some things. Long post, no judgement here. Whatever you have to say, say it. That's what we are here for. Great job on Turkey day!

I also love blogging... I never did it before, but it's kind of an accountability thing for me now. I LOVE it! I can't do it everyday, (I'm on dial-up), but while I'm visiting my mom, I'm on here at least twice a day.
Oh no.... what am I gonna do without you guys when I go home??? :( This will be much harder next week...

I liked blogging initially but then it seems like I kept having the same problems and rambling reptitively LOL....So I haven't blogged for awhile. I was sounding like a broken record LOL.