Me too, Elvislover! I really thought I was gonna have up to 15-20 takers at the most then have some few join in along the way. I am happy though! I was worried my first challenge was gonna be a bust, I just wish I didn't wait 2 whole days before finally posting it. :D

Likely I will set up another challenge after this one ends... Either for Labor Day or Halloween.

alinnel ~ You must be very proud of your DD. :congrat: to her!

amandie ~ Ha. Well thanks but I really just got coaxed into it by my dad. He is an avid runner and he was all like, "you should do it with me" and I was all like, "are you kidding me"....but hey, we shall see. I hope I get some good pictures from the race. I hope you guys don't mind me sharing. If I survive this, then I will be quite proud. (Its supposed to rain to.) Way to go on getting that workout in. Now who is the amazing one? :carrot: :carrot: :carrot:

zoesmom ~ Bless your heart. Kids are resilient aren't they? Glad she is doing well. Goodluck with your workout!

Emula ~ Thank you so much. Good luck with your venture to the gym as well.

Oh and :welcome: to all the new additions as well.

Well today has been a long day for me. Granted my day begins at 3, so all days are long..:lol: In any case, still on plan and did get my strength training in so I'm doing well. If I can just keep the late afternoon munchies away I will be doing great.

That's so weird Amandie this is what mine looks like:

Anyway, I really appreciate the help but I didn't mean drag the thread off topic, sorry! :( You guys are super sweet for helping!
And it really is an awesome thread Amandie you're a very good leader! :)

So this is officially my favorite thread ever! Y'all are so nice here.

Delphias much fun as working out in the great outdoors sounds, I live in the wrong climate/pollen zone to be outdoors for any length of time until the temps near 100s for about a week straight to kill off all the pollens I'm allergic to :(. The catch-22 is that once it reaches 100, there's no way I want to be outside working out! As of today I'm incorporating some balance ball ab/core work at home in addition to some leg exercises from when I was doing PT for my knee.

Emula - you wanna know what's really sad, I've belonged to a great gym for over 10 years (family membership is a free benefit through DH work) and have probably used it a total of fewer than 200 days - in 10 years!!! I did used to love going to the gym, I really don't understand the anxiety I'm having right now - it has to be the fear of failure.

I did take a small step forward today. I've emailed the director of my gym back and forth a few times today inquiring about an upcoming program -Bodyfit Challenge - that I'm considering enrolling in. Baby steps...

Good Morning!

superheroteacher ~ That is awesome about the challenge! Sounds like that would be fun. I really wasn't thinking about the hot temps. Right now it is rather nice here in Tennessee but soon the temps shoot up and the humidity hits 100% and I really do not know how I will handle that. Sounds like you got a good plan though. Lets us know how that works out.


Well the day is just starting and I have plenty of work to keep me busy until 9 and then its off to the park to do my last 3 miles of training. I can't believe I made it this far. Checked the scale and the 195 wasn't a fluke yesterday as "darth scale" gave me the same reading today! So I'm happy with that. Just need to keep myself busy. The next couple of days will be busy but that is always good thing. If I can keep moving, I'm burning calories, so I'm happy with that. Well, I suppose I should get to work. You ladies and gents have an amazing day.

SuperHeroTeacher That's wonderful. I know this is very cliche but I really do believe that the first step is the hardest! Sounds like a great programme, too.

Delphi You are officially my hero; I think I'd fall down and never get back up if I was as busy as you! Also, I LOVE "darth scale" by the way, it's hilarious.

Yeah, well I have a love/hate relationship with my scale. I swear I just do not get it. I see other people posting steady decreases with no fluctuations and I am all over the place when it comes to the scale. Just craziness I tell ya! Sometimes as much as 5-8 pounds. I know we should not tie are success or failure to the number on the scale but I, as illogical as it sounds, need that validation from the scale. I know its irrational and I know about all the science behind fluctuations and such but at the end of the day, there is a part of my screwed up brain that needs to see progress. Crazy...maybe, maddening...yes. :lol:

ALL - once again, thanks for the support for my wee one. I hit the gym, ALONE :eek: yesterday for an hour. It wasn't as bad as I had imagined...but then again, I didn't venture off the treadmill either. Baby steps. All in the baby steps.

SuperHeroTeacher - I hear your pain. As a severe asthamtic living in Georgia with record pollen setting days, I can barely step outside without having attacks. I actually live in fear of the outdoors, especially in the summer, and even more now given last August I dang near lost my life (42 O2 saturation level!) due to a severe attack (plus other ailments.) I ended up in ICU for three-four days and was in the hospital nearly two weeks AND THEN was on an O2 tank until almost November. By the time every thing was said and done, i couldn't even walk up the one flight of stairs to get to my apartment. I had to take five stairs at a time and just work on those five. Every couple of days, I would add another one in. Now, here I am, 8 months after knocking on death's door and I am able to do a brisk walk/jog for an hour. All from baby steps. Those steps matter the most. And a funny thing happened (on the way to the forum), this spring, the pollen has been at its worst since I moved to Georgia and this is the FIRST YEAR I've been able to step outside and actually BREATHE! Amazing what losing a little weight and exercising can do!

You are on the right track...keep it up...you can DO THIS!

Emula - off track agin...you probably have a different browser than amandie. That would be the mostly likely explanation of why your text box looks different. Despite that, the same thing applies on all browsers. :)

Curiosity killed the cat...you get to the gym yesterday?

Delphi - I WANNA DARTH SCALE (a literal one...with the voice proclaiming "Join me on the dark side")!!!!! :cry: And three miles of training. I am both envious and glad it is not me all at the same time. You rock it girl!

amandie - I haven't said it yet, but THANK YOU for putting this together. For your first time, you did dern good! I'd never had noticed!


QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstances permit. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.” ~Unknown

:lol: zoesmom! I swear I hear the Imperial March as soon as I start to get on the scale. Sounds like you had a very tough time from all that. Is it always that bad in Georgia?

LOL! I have it! I am going to invent a Darth Vader scale (sadly I looked and none exist). It will have the following catch phrases:

When you step on it and weigh less than the previous weight, it will proclaim, "Yes, the Force is strong with this one." When you weigh the same as the previous weight, it will proclaim, "Look inside yourself, you know it to be true." And if you weight more, it will proclaim, "You are unwise to lower your defenses!"

And yes, the pollen has been insane, breaking records for the past two years.

(and for all the phrases, the Imperial March will play softly in the background)

zoesmom woohoo lady! :cheer2: that is fantastic!
I didn't and I have no good excuse, so I'm not going to try justify myself. But tonight's the night! Going straight after work so I can't psych myself out again.

zoesmom :lol: Thats great. I want to preorder one now! Oh and :woohoo: on making it to the gym. I missed that in your comment earlier. Bet it felt great. I can never make it down to the fitness room, I always stay up on the track. I think I'm the youngest person up there, ever. I think you have to have an AARP card to be up there, but I love everyone up there. Have really gotten to know everyone over the months and they are all so supportive. Anyways, :congrat:

Saaweeet, I'm in! Just what I need to get my rear in gear :) 236 to 210 is my goal :)

The Thursday weigh-in is perfect for me. I decided to change the path of my life on March 28th; which was Thursday. -- I was just done being slow, fat and gross....as a matter of fact I was done being many other things as well, which I will not disclose here. It was time for me to take care of myself. -- It has been a heck of a month for me. Lots of personal obstacles.... but one thing I am ready to do, become a babe! I owe it to myself. (What kind of a babe a 45 year old woman can become :lol3: ????)

So I am toasting :cheers: all of us! Let's all become babes! 18-99!!

:welcome: sum38 and jessicado22. Great to have you guys join us. Kick off your shoes and stay awhile.

Well I just finished up my final 3 mile recovery run. Which is actually run a mile, walk half a mile and then finished the last mile and half with a brisk run. Its done! Now if I just can keep myself busy the rest of the day until the kids come home, I'll be golden. Hope you ladies are having a wonderful day!

:welcome2: sum38 and jessicado

Delphi - you have no idea how much I really want to do that, or something similar. It would ROCK! If only I could convince Disney it would make a killing. :devil:

Thanks for putting this together! I had my own 4th of July challenge, but this is even better. I could definitely use the support.

My weigh-ins are actually on Wednesdays, so I went ahead and put today's loss in so I'll be on track for the final weigh-in on the 4th. Otherwise I'd be a week behind everyone.

Sum: As a 46 year old woman with full intentions of hitting babedom soon, I am with you. I think we can be amazingly fabulous babes!!!

So-my kiddo kept me accountable today. :) She made sure I ate my zucchini chips (OKAY! Those are great anyways!!!!) and asked me to take her for a walk...which turned into a mile jog. WOOHOO!!!! :D

So rocking this :)

Argh, don't get me started on Lucus selling out. Just hope they do not run the franchise into the ground. And kudos for the on-plan day and the support from the kids can be amazing..eh? That is just so sweet. Its also nice to spend time with the kids and burn calories. The boys had me out on the trampoline Sunday and we had a lot of fun and momma burned quite a few calories. Win/win in my book.

:welcome: 2fat2jump, glad to have you join us!

Well I had a weird day. My dad sent me some final eating plans for the next few days leading to the race. Not only are these rest days (no exercise), they apparently should be high calorie days. So it looks like no deficits for me until race day. :cry: Oh well, come Monday, it is on like Donkey Kong! You ladies have a great evening. I'm off to bed!

Haha, love the convo today re: "Darth scale" and what it should say whenever you get on with a gain, maintain and loss. Love it!!!

:welcome:, 2fat2jump and jessicado!

Delphi- I am the same way with my scale, I need the validation too especially having been basically the same weight for over 3 weeks and on top of TOM, just argh!!! I have stopped the daily weighing for now and just sticking to once a week WI days. No deficits means you'll maintain, better than gaining and your body will need it for the marathon!

Zoesmom- Good on you for getting to the gym yesterday and your kiddo is sooo sweet, helping momma be accounable! ;) You really need to get on that Darth Vader scale invention, I will order one from you for sure! ;)

Emula- How did it go at the gym if you were able to make it there?

SuperHeroTeacher- I agree, baby steps! The bodyfit challenge sounds cool! Let us know how you like it if you decide to enroll in the program.

Sum38- :grouphug: :cheers: Here's to babes and hoping it is a better month for you!
_________________________________

Today was good, mostly cleaned the basement and helped BF seal all the corners to prevent leaks/seepage from rain. I am about to do 60 min on the elliptical, that is if my knee doesn't hurt. For the first time, my knee felt kinda weird last night when I was finishing up the last 10 minutes... Not pain exactly, kinda like really tense, I dunno how to explain it exactly... Luckily it seems to be okay today. I will keep an eye on it while on the elliptical because I would hate to hurt myself and not be able to exercise for a long time like last year. I better get off and get my butt to work!! Have a great night, all.

Well, I guess the one good thing I can say about my climate is that the humidity is super low (that and it doesn't snow). I've been to Tennessee in July, I was miserable (but allergy free :dizzy:), I felt like I was swimming in my own sweat at all times!

I'll keep you posted about the body fit challenge - I still haven't made a decision. I feel like my brain cells are leaving with my fat cells - I can't seem to make decisions about anything these days. :?:

ETA - I NEED a Darth scale!!! Can you please make it play that music when you first turn it on??? Awesome!

THANKS Zoesmom! I don't know how you southern girls handle the humidity! So happy to hear your health is improved. I've had a smooth allergy season so far (knocking on wood). My doctor has me on a cocktail of medications to keep me as symptom free as possible - plus I avoid the outdoors at all costs...


All - can somebody tell me how to include multiple quotes in my post? Thanks!!!

Did you go Emula??? I'm having a rough day, so no workout for me. No excuse - I just couldn't make myself do it.

Hi guys, yes I went to the gym last night but I don't think I did very well and the staff were just so unhelpful, they were friendly but unless I asked very specific questions they didn't tell me anything. I felt a bit out of place. Thanks for asking though, makes me accountable...heh.
I'm sorry I'm not in a very good mood today; I gained and I feel just... yeah, I'm sure you guys know. I'm sorry for posting so negatively.

Anyway!
Amandie I really hope your knee is okay! :( There's nothing worse than an injury that prevents exercise. Take care of yourself, or you'll be in trouble with us! lol

I hope everyone has a good day today :)

I use 2 pages open if I do multiple quote posts and the tried and true copy and paste method. Or you can just manually add quotes by using the actual brackets etc.

You know that can be the most frustrating part. Do you have any questions that perhaps one of us can help with you. Was it a particular machine? No worries. You do fantastic! You got up and went and that my dear is an exceptional accomplishment indeed. Be proud. I know I am very proud of you.


Good Morning. I am kind of running late this morning. First a few hours of work and then going to the health and fitness expo downtown to browse and pick up my race number, swag bag and timing chip. Really excited. I will check in with you guys a little later. Don't forget your smiles today and have an exceptionally groovy day!

Oh, and amandie the spreadsheet is not working for me. Gave me an error. Don't know if I did something wrong. I put in my number for the week and nothing changed across the sheet, then I refreshed the page and there were errors. Sorry!

Yeah down -1.5 since Sunday.... Its my TOW as Ian talks about :) ( Thursday, Friday & Saturday)

Hope everyone does have a good weekly posting today! LOVE that spread sheet Amandie.. You have done a cool thing!

My first weigh-in here. Down 1.6lbs since we started!

So I had a good weigh in for today. Yay. I am worried about next week though because I fell and my ankle/foot is killing me. It has been about 4 days and it still hurts. I probably should get an x-ray, but who has time for that? I figured since I didn't have any swelling or bruising it muat be ok. Maybe not. Certain spots are tender to the touch. I really really hope I don't have a stress fracture. I'm hoping to get an x-ray tomorrow after work. Keep your fingers crossed that it will be ok!

There's a much easier way to multiquote. Next to the quote button, there's a little button with a quotation mark and a + sign. Click that on all the posts you want to quote, except the last post. Click the button that says "quote" on last post that you want to quote. The end. :)

I'm a bit frustrated to only be down 0.4 lbs since the start. I know it's still early, but I can't help but wonder if the 15 lb goal I set was a bit too ambitious.

Delphi - amandie has to manually change the the totals at the end. Only thing you need to do is enter your weight. :)

Kudos IanG and saggzz and wanna and frieden for having a good weigh in. Job well done! Hopefully everyone else can claim the same (i.e. no weight gain!)

amandie and SuperHero - you have no idea how badly I want to make a Darth Scale after seeing Delphi mention her metaphorical one. Oh lord...if only I could come up with a way. My hubby is a geek, but I think that might be outside of his realm. Best he could do is make me a prototype that only says the phrases. But gah!

SuperHero - I am not a southern girl :lol: I just reside here due to a misunderstanding between my real dad and I. He thought I would like living here. I thought he was going to stay here. Nope. He moved us as far away from our relatives as he could than dropped my mom, sister, and I off and headed back west. No worries though. This is where I met my husband and where my mom met my wonderful step-dad, so joke's on my real dad! HAHA! I am actually a Carmichael, CA girl originally. I go back time to time for visits but ultimately, I don't think I would move back. As much as I HATE the humidity here (I will GLADLY take 115 degree weather out west than 73 degree weather here...GAH! HUMIDITY!!!) I really don't want to be parted from my mom, and she's made it clear that this is where she wants to be. So, such is life, humidity and all. Still hate the words "yonder" and "o'der" and still can't stand the taste or smell of deep fried everything, but ultimately, not as bad as I once thought it was. Helps that I now live closer to Atlanta now. When he moved us here, he moved us to Tate City, GA. Look it up. You can find a picture here or there of the "city" sign proclaiming a population +/- 32. I mean, the barn is both City Hall AND the church! :eek:

Emula - :hug: and AWESOME for getting to the gym! I ended up doing YouTube videos to figure out how most the machines worked in my gym, for the same reason you are still a bit confused on how they all work. It helped, a lot.

amandie - Hope your knee is doing better. Lordie how knee pain sucks.

Jennifer - You are already a babe. But here is to better babedom! ;)

2fat2jump - welcome, welcome! :)

Hope I got everyone :lol:

I managed a 2.4 pound lost since last Thurdsay, so I am super happy...as I am NO LONGER MORBIDLY OBESE! I am SEVERELY OBESE now. HURRAH SEVERE OBESITY!!! (Such a WEIRD freaking chant:dizzy:)

Zoesmom: You are too sweet :) Thanks!

Happy weigh in day, everyone! I was down 2.6 pounds!! It is a little whoosh from losing a water bloat, and it may not stay, but today it makes me feel good!!

Down 3lbs! 173!

Week #1 160; 1 pound drop.

My scale is inching downward, but I have to admit, I'm not doing well at all on the exercise front. Best of intentions, but I give in to excuses.

Happy weigh In day everyone ! yay ! we all made it through week 1 ! only 10 more to go ! Congrats to those already checking in ! This week I lost 1 pound. I'm happy with that ! i'm a slow loser but a consistant one.

wannaskipandlaugh, IanG, saggzz, Sum38, Tibbits2u and all others congrats!! :carrot:

I am sad to say that my scale went UP 1 pound! Of course this is only my third day of being on track, and yesterday was when I weighed in, and today I'm wearing heavy clothing and it was pre-bathroom as apposed to post-bathroom, and I had breakfast and water...and and and...

None of that matters because I know if I just keep working...
I WILL DO THIS!
I CAN DO THIS!
I AM DOING THIS!

I've gone to the gym two days in a row now (this is a big deal for me) and counted my calories for 3 days, woot! woot!

I'm hoping that little rise will result in a woosh next week. Kick booty this weekend everybody! Today is my Friday so I'm psyched! :carrot::carrot::carrot:

Week 1: 221.8- lost 2.4!

Emula- Your post was not negative at all!! I'm sorry that they weren't that helpful. Maybe it was just first time jitters? I hope the next time will have better staff with better assistance! I am soooo proud of you for going! Thanks- my knee seems to be okay, WHEW! ;) Next week will be better.

Delphi- Zoesmom is right, I have to go in manually to change it for the %. You kinda freaked me out thinking the spreadsheet was messed up, oh noes!! Haha. It's all good. Congrats on the 2lbs down!! :carrot:

Wannaskipandlaugh- Way to go on 1.5 downnn!!!! Glad you like the spreadsheet as much as I do!!! :D

IanG- Nice going on the 1.6! I really think you will make goal at this rate. Good luck at the gym today!

Saggzz- Congrats on your WI! Sorry to hear about your ankle, I am also sorry but I chuckled when you said "who has time for that?" and you inspired me to make a meme out of it... Anyway, I am really :crossed: that it isn't anything serious! :crossed: You can always fall back on an eating deficit for now if you cannot do any activities.

Frieden- Oh thank you!!! I knew there was a way to multi-quote but how?? Thank you for helping SuperHeroTeacher on that!!! As for your WI, .4lbs is great! Better than gaining, IMO. You may have a bigger loss next week, who knows? I also like being more ambitious because it encourages me to try for it as best as I can, ya know what I mean?

Zoesmom- Way to go on the 2.4 down! I did the same thing re: the chant, lol. It really is a worthy NSV, seriously!

Nice going, Jennifer1966!!! Water weight or not, I'd be feeling good too! :)

WolfGirl69- Wowzers! WTG on the 3lbs down!

Sum38- Yay! Great job! 9% of your challenge GW gone!

Alinnell- I totally understand, I'm so bad with exercise and excuses. This may be dumb but I convince myself to workout with incentives, like if I do 30 minutes on the elliptical , I can watch my fave show or if there's a special weekend coming up, I tell myself I gotta exercise at least 5 times that week or I'm not going. That usually gets my butt in gear, lol.

Way to go, Tibbits2u!!!

100Mother I love your positive attitude!!! Happy Friday to you! ;)

Katie- What a great loss! Way to goooo!
_____________________________________

As for me, I was up .8 this morning. I'm assuming it may still be TOM weight leftover, at least I hope!!! :D I'm not letting it get me down though! I gotta keep going with the workouts and eating right and hope that it just falls off, lol. :crossed:

amandie ~ Thank Goodness. I probably clicked something somewhere. My bad! I was really tired this morning and probably should not have been operating any electronic devices. Isn't TOM the pits? I'm sure you will see that swoosh soon after TOM. Just means an even better weigh-in for you next week.

:woohoo: and :congrat: to all of you guys that saw a loss this check in. You guys are amazing and keep up the good work.

100mother ~ You have an amazing attitude. Awesome job with making it to the gym and staying on plan. I'm sure you will get your swoosh soon. Keep up the exceptional work.

tibbits2u ~ You sound like me. I lose the weight but at a snails pace but hey, we are losing it and that is all that matters.

alinnel ~ I am pretty sure we have all done that at one time or another, and thats probably why many of us are here. Maybe start out with just one workout and stick to it no matter what and perhaps add another the next week then so on and so forth? You are doing a great job. You CAN do this!

zoesmoms ~ You are such a hoot! Thanks for the info. Like I said above to amandie, I was just completely out of it this morning. You know what, you do your little chant. Its a step in the right direction so chant as loud as you can and be dang proud.

frieden ~ Thank you so much for the information. I do not multi-quote that much but I sure will be using that technique when I do. Don't get too discouraged about your goals. Ambition is a great thing. Just remember any loss, is not a gain and that my dear you should be very proud of.

saggzz ~ Sure hope everything is okay with the ankle. I know it is tough and frustrating with an injury. Do let us know how that x-ray comes out. Goodluck!


As for me, I just returned from Nashville with all my stuff. The expo was great. Lots of free goodies to.

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...37995707_n.jpg

Well I got all my stuff and I'm so excited. Gotta get out of here. I get to have a treat tonight. Since I need a high-calorie, carb heavy meal tonight, I thought I would use my cheat meal and we are going to have some Jets Pizza. My mouth is just watering thinking about it. I sure hope you ladies are having a wonderful day.