Alyssa, it's, pretty much, whatever works best for you. Daily check-ins keep me motivated and accountable.....even when the scales are up and I've done everything right. Plus, it gives you a way to vent the downs and rejoice the ups. But, not everyone is wired like me and some people may get sick of reading my posts. LOL!

Weighed myself today although it's not officially my weigh in day yet!

SW: 200lbs
CW: 195lbs
GW: 190lbs

Ohh, haha. Okay thanks jb1975. I used to weigh everyday. I had to stop. Trying to do once a week or twice a month. Not sure yet.

Hey, I would like to join if its not to late. My reporting day is Monday, however I am a daily weigher... My goal weight for XMAS (Dec 22 for Monday) is 185.0.

10/27 199.2
11/03 196.5

Welcome ginamay28! I just joined this thread not too long ago, so I'm sure it's not problem. :)

Nov 1st - No pm snacking.
2nd - No pm snacking.
3rd - No snacking
4th - No snacking(and that was a challenge tonight!)
5th
6th
7th

Weigh in day for me today... :)

SW: 200lbs
CW: 193lbs
GW: 190lbs

Welcome to the new "faces".
SW: 249.6
CW: 241.6

GW: 235 (6.6lbs to go!)

Hey everybody.... i'be been maintaining and it's been hard. This week i'm doing better with no migraines yet and i hope to lose some weight. Yesterday i did something pretty bad... i bought pistachios, almonds and chocolate (!) and binged on those. I woke up at 3 am and spent maybe 15 minutes in the bathroom..... need i say "never again"? Sorry if this is too much information... :o

ginamay28,welcome! Of course you can join! The weigh-in day is a sugestion but you can post your weight daily if you want to. Some people here do it, and I think it's great. :smug:

alyssarof2012 What JB explained you is right. Part of your confusion is my fault, i don't have much challenge-thread experience. I had never created one, so sorry for not being clear! Oh, and i do think your goal is realistic. I miss the early stages when i'd lose faster but then again i had more to lose.

workinglikeadog I might as well join you in your no pm snacking challenge. OMG, i am doing it all wrong! Lol! I guess mine would have to be sort of an "only one portion of sugary treat a day and no snacking in between meals unless I am truly hungry which i know it's actually pretty rare" challenge. Lol.... ok, i like this idea. I'll join you in november and then see how it goes. :D

Bllondy I've never been to Ceará, but my partner has and she says its lovely! Lot's of sun and nice people, not to mention the exquisite foode. Iam vegetarian so no coxinhas for me, but i love pastéis. I thought they were like chinese food and could be found anywhere. The chinese were the ones who introduced them here in Brazil. Fresh fruits and vegetables are sometimes taken for granted here. We grow acustommed to having them and only realize how lucky we are when we travel abroad... fresh food is expensive in some countries i've been to and here it's cheap. :smug: Have you been going to the rec center?

I didn't weigh in on Monday and I've been sick all week. I just stepped on a scale this morning and I gained a pound :-( I'm number, but it's just more motivation to keep going.

SW: 281
CW: 282
GW: 261

Anyone else just in the mood for Christmas? As an American, I know that thanksgiving is just around the corner, but this year I want to skip it and go straight for Christmas! I think it's because of my kids.

My body is hanging onto this weight for it's dear life. I ate OP, low cals all week, and I am up. I think I am ovulating though. So I am hoping to see a drop in a few days. I need to learn to handle these weeks when I feel I do everything right but my body does not want to co-operate.

My goal for next week is to add water and exercise back into my life style. I have been doing poorly on both subjects.

I tried on my size 6 party dress. It is tight around my butt and chest :) But 10 pounds should make it fit beautifully. I will keep trying it on each week, and hoping to "feel" some difference. BUT, I CAN zip it up...LOL! There is hope! :D

SW 144
GW 134
CW 146.4

Sum, congrats on getting in your dress! Such a sweet sound, the sound of a zipper that wouldn't zip before!

SW: 249.6
CW: 241.2

GW: 235 (6.2 lbs to go!)

JB: "Sum, congrats on getting in your dress! Such a sweet sound, the sound of a zipper that wouldn't zip before!"

:D LMAO I am not a woman, but I can sure appreciate that thought!!

And Sum, I always thought women loved dresses and pants that looked like they had been melted and poured into them :)

Marina: "I miss the early stages when i'd lose faster but then again i had more to lose."

No kidding !! :)

Keep it up all, wishing us all the best

B F R

My Goal is to be in the early 240's by Christmas so I'll say -
Start Weight (SW) is 256.6 (gained .8 lb. overnight due to eating binge yesterday *grrr*)
Goal Weight (GW) 242 (nude) by Christmas/2014
The best to all of us! <3

11/1: 244.4
11/2: 243.4
11/3: 244.2
11/4: 243.6
11/5: 243.2
11/6:241.6
11/7: 241.2
11/8: 239.8!!!!!

OMG, that is so funny!! NOT in million years with my curves! :rofl:

Not quite where I was at the beginning of this challenge, but making progress.

I am back to calorie counting, and throwing in an occasional fast day when I feel up to it. Maybe 1-2 times per week.

Now luckily I am back to my 8's fitting "well". It is a good thing because I gave away all my 10/12/14's. So when the 8's started fitting snugly; I looked like a sausage in them. So that is a relief! I gave all my 10's away, on purpose; when I hit 136 last summer... I did not want to balloon to 150 again (which I did)... and I knew if I did, lacking clothing would give me motivation to get back on track, which it did. :) -- If I ever get down to my goal weight, parting from my 8's will be a huge deal, since I have a closet full of beautiful things in that size. But it will be fun to rebuilt my wardrobe in smaller sizes; woot!

Today's plan is to eat low cals; 800-1200; walk the dog at a brisk pace. And to hope that I will be closer to my 140's than 150's at tomorrow's weigh in. :D

Everyone have a FAB day! :wave:

SW 144
GW 134
CW 145

Nov 1st - No pm snacking.
2nd - No pm snacking.
3rd - No snacking
4th - No snacking(and that was a challenge tonight!)
5th No pm snacking
6th No pm snacking
7th No pm snacking
8th blew it, pity party over, time to refocus.
9th
10th
11th
12th
13th
14th
15th

Good luck to everyone on keeping your goals and exceeding them this week!

Marina, Nice to hear I have a partner in my no pm snacking challenge. I started putting 16 oz of cold water by my seat and am now drinking more pm water. One sugary treat a day is also good. I allow myself a sq of dk choc after lunch and dinner. If I have a sugary treat before lunch, watchout, I'm gonna snack and have a hard temptation day all day long. Gonna refocus on writing down all foods and act as if I have to show you ladies, that is a real motivator for me.

Sum, I do the same thing with tossing out big clothes. I still re-gain more weight than Ild like to but there is an earlier alert alarm that goes off to get back on track. I am so glad to be going down and having more focused healthy habits moments. Could you share how you do a fast day. I probably need to consider something like this when I know I have a low physical exercise day ahead of me.

workinglikeadog I have followed 5:2 plan on and off. What I do, on my fast days, I usually skip bfast and lunch and have 500-600 calories for dinner. Some people spread out the calories through out the day. If I wake up starving, I have an egg or two and then a smaller dinner (big salad with grilled chicken). The funny thing is, after a fast day, I am not hungry on the following day and it usually means a healthier and lower calorie day.

Just weighed in at 147 (3lb gain since start of the challenge), my sister got married yesterday and the last week has consisted of lots of family meals out and grabbing food on the go. I also had a hangover today which has resulted in a carb frenzy!

I am hoping to drop most of this as I return to my normal eating habits, really need to sort out the exercise side of things though as I am rubbish at fitting in any. I am going to start by walking part of the way home from work each day and see how that goes.

I'm a little late to the party. Sorry about that. This will be my first challenge so I'm excited. This challenge also coincides with my 4th goal which is to get to 259. Getting to 259 lbs means I have less than a 100 lbs left to lose! :D Even though I weigh myself daily my official weigh ins are on Fridays.

SW - 270 lbs
GW - 255 lbs

11/14 - 269 lbs - Loss of 1 lb

~This week totally sucked. I worked hard and lost 3 lbs, then between my Mom in the hospital and driving out of state to see her almost every other day I was eating on the run a lot so I gained it all back. Being that it's also that TOM is not helping in the slightest. :(
PS I screwed it up and accidentally put the wrong beginning weight in the ticker and SW. So I actually did lose 1 lb.

11/21 - 268 lbs - Loss of 1 lb

~ This week was the same as last week, but add in even more emotional stress about my Mom's upcoming surgery, future surgery for myself and depression eating too. I'm very surprised I lost anything.

11/28 - lbs - Loss/Gain of lbs

12/05 - lbs - Loss/Gain of lbs
12/12 - lbs - Loss/Gain of lbs
12/19 - lbs - Loss/Gain of lbs
12/26 - lbs - Loss/Gain of lbs

I HATE TOM!!!!!!!!! Up 3.4 lbs since yesterday and feel miserable! I HATE IT!!!!!! Ok, as you were.

JB, yall sure make me glad I am not not a woman. I would sure as heck hate Tom also, sounds to be a really awful dude.

Monday weigh in
start 210.8 goal 197
today 207.2 10.8 to go

B F R

SW: 313
CW: 319
GW: 290

I'm going in the wrong direction! (haha... *sigh*) Realized that it's mainly all the Halloween candy I've been replacing real food with.
Edit: I'm also on my period, though, so hopefully some of that 6 lbs is just water. Or maybe I've really been stuffing my face that much.

Decided to start over today (not really, but mentally). I didn't realize I'd eat a bunch of candy this year, because I wasn't planning on buying any (which I didn't). Leave it to family to buy it for you and present it as "gift."
I've just gotta be stronger than that.

LOL Rooster TOM is cursed by every woman for five days out of every month. Haha

Congratulations on your loss!! :D

Yes, thank your lucky stars! Every month I want to slap EVE. I hold her, personally, responsible for this.

I am doing a little better this morning. 241.0, which is down 2.0 since yesterday but still not feeling well! No Water Aerobics yesterday and none today. If I get to feeling better I plan to walk/jog later. As of right now, I can't stand up without getting dizzy. I think my iron has dropped.....I have issues with it. I guess supper will be a steak cooked in an iron skillet with a spinach salad....unless I get to feeling better.

Today is my 9th day OP and I have made zero progress, actually 1.6 pounds heavier :mad: And I can not even blame the hormones! UGH! Mathematically I should have lost with the calorie deficit.

I have said this before, I can not lose with diet only. I know people say it is 80% diet and 20 % exercise, but diet alone won't do the trick for me.

The first 25-30 pounds I lost, I did it with 1200-1300 calorie diet and exercised 100-120 minutes per day; HARD!

So I need to go back to exercising. I will keep my calories at 1200 and add atleast 100 minutes of cardio/weight training to my days.

I will evaluate my situation in 9 days after exercising each day.

Plan for today;
Exercise
4.2 mile power walk through woods (4-4.2 mph) for 60 min
Weight training 45 min

SW 144
GW 134
CW 145.6

JB, Changing our diets to lose this kind of weight affects our system a lot. Everyone losing weight should be taking vitamin and mineral supplements. They don't cost much and make one heck of a difference.

It sure made a difference in the way I felt and my energy level after I started taking them about a month after starting weight loss.

B F R

Hah, a whoosh happened! I dropped 2 pounds yesterday, woot! I am finally below the starting weight. Not by much, but still :D

I added my exercises in; I power walked at 4.2 mph for 60 minutes through woods and hilly terrain, lifted weights for 40 minutes and hopped on a super fast 4.7 mph 20 minute session on treadmill. Total 120 minutes exercised!

Eating was perfect too! I really need to focus on my water intake more next. I drank a lot yesterday because of all the exercise.

SW 144
GW 134
CW 143.6

I'm in. I'd like to be down 10 lbs by Christmas. I will weigh in on Sunday

I do need to look into some supplements. It worries me that I'm not getting what my body needs right now. However, I think what is going on right now has more to do with my demon visitor in my girly bits. LOL!
What do you take? Any words of advice on what has helped you?

11/12: 240.3

Count me in! Traveling got in the way of the usual challenges I participate in so I was happy to see this one come up. I'd like to be 10 lbs lighter by :rudolph::tree::clause::candy:. I know I'm late to the party so we'll see how this goes.

SW: 193
GW: 183

curvynotlumpy, welcome aboard!!

JB, the list is long and can be individualized. I will give you a link to National Institute Health (NIH) Dietary Reference Intakes (DIR). Input your personal data (weight, height, age sex etc), click the info you want-- I chose all of them to get how many units of the 15 essential vitamins are recommended, both the minimum and the do not exceed (tolerable) amounts, if applicable for each. Plus it does the same for the fifteen essential minerals. It also lists the non-essential vitamins and minerals with some info about them, mainly saying there is no reason to add any of them, and also list the upper safe limits of these.

Also listed are the suggested intakes of protein, carbohydrates, fat and water. Suggested calories are also listed, but use caution. Though over-all calorie recommendations work for the average person, few people are average. Were I to eat even one half of their caloric suggestion I would gain weight. Everyone needs to learn their own maintenance requirements, as it varies according to each of our metabolism rates plus the differences in our digestive systems ability to process and metabolize the food to be taken into the body for use, of which any overage becomes fat deposits.

http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/fnic/interactiveDRI/

Use the suggested lower amounts and try to purchase a multivitamin that meets your lower requirements. Remember, you will be getting most of what you need in the way of vitamins and minerals from your foods. I suggest purchasing a vitamin B-12 supplement to go along with that. The following are taken from NIH concerning taking vitamins and supplements, give them a bit of thought.

"Some people take an MVM as a form of dietary or nutritional "insurance." Ironically, people who take MVMs tend to consume more vitamins and minerals from food than those who don't. Also, the people least likely to get enough nutrients from diet alone who might benefit from MVMs are the least likely to take them."

(MVM = multivitamin/minerals)

"The recommended amounts of nutrients people should get vary by age and gender and are known as Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) and Adequate Intakes (AIs)."

The link for the page containing those quotes:

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/MVMS-Consumer/#h4

I do hope those help you in your quest.

Good luck

B F R

BFR, thanks for the info. I'll have to look into that.

SW: 249.6
CW: 240.4

GW: 235 (5.4 to go)

I ate too much yesterday, I don't know what happened, but I could not keep my cakehole shut. Well, it was a first "binge" day in 10 days; I am really proud that I stayed OP for 10 consecutive days. AND back OP today. Calories are low plus I did 2 workouts today; first puppy and me walked 4.2 miles at 4.3 mph speed, I was so sweaty! Those hills are killers at that speed. Then this evening I hit the gym and lifted for 40 minutes and spent another 35 minutes on treadmill doing a power walk.

I also drowned myself in water to flush out all that bad stuff I consumed yesterday. Potty has been my best friend today :rofl:

So it was a good day!! :woohoo:

I kinda stopped losing weight in March and have maintained ever since; I lost my mojo at that point. -- I feel like I found it again, and maybe I can stay focused long enough to finish this journey. :crossed:

Tomorrow is my birthday :) It will be a challenge since I am seeing 3 sets of different people and it all involves food and alcohol. I am a little scared. -- I need to give myself a pass, and enjoy my day!

Sum, you've always been an inspiration to me! I enjoy the transparency in how you write about your struggles. Agonizing for you, I'm sure, but very helpful for those of us in same boat. I hear you about losing mojo. I lost mine about a year ago and can't seem to recapture it. I often think back to what I did that was so "special" last time that I was so focused and mindful about my eating and exercise. Honestly, at times it didn't feel like it was even work if you can believe it!

SW: 193
GW: 183
11/13: 192.6

What a sweet thing to say curvynotlumpy!!! :hug: -- I so wish weight loss was linear.

Today is a GREAT day! First of all, it is my birthday, and I woke up really happy! Second; my scale gave me a fantastic birthday gift... all my bloat from my "binge" left and on top of that I lost another 1.2 pounds! :woohoo:

Scale won't be my friend tomorrow, since I have a full day of celebrations ahead of me. Lunch date, dinner out and later on at night drinks with friends. I am sure my calories in will be over 2000. But I am trying to be mindful. I will order a salad with grilled chicken or salmon for lunch. Filet for dinner, and limit myself to 2 vodka and tonics (or club soda and lime) tonight. -- All low carb.

I better get my butt off this couch and go for a walk. Trying to get atleast a little bit of exercise today.

Put on 1lb this week. Serves me right as I ate junk food and had a few glasses of wine. Better week next week me thinks!

SW: 200lbs
CW: 194lbs
GW: 190lbs