mortonpixie, glad you're leg is a bit better. I wish I had the willpower to not weigh every day, but I can't help it! I usually weigh in twice a day actually, once in the morning and again after I workout/shower (it's usually lower after a workout, so it motivates me :) ). Good for you though!!

Chooks, having that extra time is great. Wish I had more time during my days. Between my kiddos, husband, housework, my work... ugh. And once I shower (which is after my intense cardio when I'm super sweaty) I don't like to work up a sweat again. So I can usually get in one good workout and some stretching/yoga/etc in the evening. We do evening walks with our kids sometimes, but then they usually like to walk too, so it's just a stroll, lol. But thanks to you, I am getting in some Youtube workouts after my cardio (I've done that aerobic workout several times, some pilates, core work and strength training.). :) :hug: :carrot:

Hi everyone! I ate on point yesterday, hoping that my Friday weigh in won't disappoint me. Until the the scale is NOT a friend and I will stay away from it!

Managed a run yesterday but it was a crappy one, I was lacking energy. I blame all the crappy food and sodium and alcohol from the previous day.

I had my greek yogurt and a sliced up banana for breakfast and a GIANT, awesome salad I'm stoked about for lunch. Making a flatbread pizza with a couple of turkey pepperoni and lots of veggies for dinner. Some carrots and blueberries and cottage cheese in there for snacks.

Definitely planning on a better run tonight, as well as working with the handweights a while since I have marshmallow arms! :lol:

Chooks - Holy crap, you are definitely inspiring! I can't believe how much you manage to do! I'm glad to see you eat enough to fuel those workouts, that's excellent. Rock on!

mayness - I have to agree with skinny fast, those calories seem low -- especially if you are exercising 45 minutes a day on average! I wouldn't have energy to do anything on that, be sure you're not hurting yourself.

aimeebell - Game on, indeed! You've got this!

skinny fast - I can't say anything about indulging on holidays! :lol: But good to see you're buckling down this week! Me too! Damage control! Haha.

mortonpixie - Ah, you inspire me so much, I seriously have thought of you when exercising to push myself harder. Love your goals!

Good luck, everyone!

Weight today: 123.4 :dizzy:

Total loss: 14 lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (beginning on April 18th, 2.5-3 months time)

July Challenge loss: 2.2 lbs

Though I didn't get to eat as much yesterday, so I think my weight would average out a bit higher. Right? Is what I'm losing fat though??? I guess you could say I'm averaging around a 5 lb loss/month. I wish I had taken measurements at the beginning of this journey.



Exercise today so far:

40 min on very hilly paths pushing my kids in the double stroller (kid 1: 34 lbs, kid 2: 47 lbs, double stroller: who knows, but this is a heavy load! lol) Plus, I got 2 bags of groceries on our way home, not including an additional 2 gallons of milk :) .

40 min on the elliptical

12 min run... and then one of my kids went after the scissors, decided to try to cut his brother's hair, and that was the end of my workout.

I still plan to *try* to do some pliates and maybe yoga later, and hatha yoga.

And after 4 days of my husband being home I have some serious house cleaning to do!! I think I'll try to work fast and hard, lol, trying to burn some extra calories :) .

Oh, and soccer tonight.



I'm exhausted!

Omg you guys tonight has been disaster. You have no idea. I have eaten just. Ugh. So much. The strange thing is that the majority of it was fruit. But I still probably made it to around 2500 calories. And no exercise you guys. Thats right, for like the first time in months I have not exercised today. I won't even bother posting my stats as they are PITIFUL but I'll start out tomorrow slowly with a 3K and move onto some pilates about an hour and a half after a light (very light) breakfast then probably take ma wee sis out or do some shopping and come back for a late lunch and then a walk or something. I was just so drained today and when I went to the shops I noticed they were selling fruit that was about to go out of date for like half the price and I bought 500g of cherries, a quarter watermelon, 250g strawberries, and two mangoes and omg I ate it ALL. My digestive system is going to HATE me but dammit I love fruit so much!!

So today, I decided to try on pants that I haven't worn since the beginning of my freshman year (about two years ago). It's a size 4, and earlier in the year I couldn't even pull them over my thighs...but now I can! They're a tight squeeze and can hardly button but I reckon that by goal I'll be able to fit into them again. They're my favorite jeans so I'm SO excited.

I'm headed to the gym for a quick cardio session, adding to my morning workout routine.


Chooks We all have slip up days! I had more than one just this past week (not too thrilled about it, either). Don't worry about it, though, just pick up the plan tomorrow and stay on the plan! I am the SAME way with fruit. My mom always leaves it out and it's so tempting and SO easy to eat a lot of it.

Well....the scale read 129 this morning. I haven't seen the scale bounce around this much my entire journey. I saw 129 for two days about three weeks ago, and since then it has been 130 to 132. Normally my weight is VERY steady, to the tenth of a pound, but my "normal" since January has been 95% of on plan days. Lately, its been about a 70/30 split. I think my real weight is about 129ish right now, but with additional food, waste, and fluid from my off plan days is causing the weight variance.

July Goals/Plan of Attack
1) drink water throughout the day (1 liter minimum)
2) limit unhealthy foods & watch portion sizes
3) workout 4x/week

"Weigh-Ins"
SW on July 1st: 116.5 lbs
GW by Aug 1st: 113 lbs

(just purchased a 1-month zumba membership, so I plan on going Mon-Thur evenings through July)

Week 1 (7/1-7/7)
7/1: 25 min intermediate zumba (xbox kinect)
7/2: 10 min abs workout (dvd) + 3 mile "shopping walk"
7/5: 55 min zumba (group class)
7/6: 50 min zumba (group class)
7/7: 50 min zumba (group class)
Week 1 SW: 116.5 lbs
Week 1 EW: 115 lbs

:goodluck: to everyone!!

Chooks - oh yikes, that would lead to some serious digestive discomfort for me, I hope you're feeling ok today! Just move on and don't beat yourself up too much.

I appreciate the concern about my calorie levels, ladies... but somewhere around 1400-1600 seems to be maintenance for me when I'm doing about half that much exercise, so I figure 1000 cals and more exercise will get me some fast but not unreasonable results.

I was hoping the weight from my crazy weekend would drop right off but then I had cake and ice cream and a little bit of chinese food (ugh, sodium) and somehow I'm even higher today. GRR.

I've spent my free time at work today planning what to next: I think I'm gonna try out the "Rapid Fat Loss" plan from Lyle McDonald (despite its awful name) starting on Saturday.

Okay, I'm new so this is a bit scary. But I'll name a July Goal! hihi.
The 29th is my birthday and I just started on a new 'plan' - so weight loss will go quickly at first. Which is why 10lbs in 3 weeks is not as ambitious as it might seem.

July Goals:
- 4/5 days per week excercise
- Stick to 1500 calories intake
- Don't hide inside so much!
- Be at 145lbs when I turn 26 and wear that supernice pair of linen pants

"Weigh-ins"
- SW on July 7th: 154lbs
- GW on July 29th: 145lbs

Alright the past 2 days have not been so great. I had to take a rest day on wednesday from running which always seems to set me up for a bad day and yesterday we had heavy rain and thunderstorms (Summer in Scotland apparently doesn't exist) and so I was stuck inside all day! I tried to be good with my food and succeeded until around 7-8 when my father made Kleftiko (greek lamb, very fatty, can reach up to 800-1000 calories per serving) and homemade fruit cake and I utter the dreaded words, the words that have ruined my healthy eating plan time after time again and again: Life is short. And so I pigged out something awful and afterwards I had so much self loathing that I just ate bowl after bowl of cereal until I went to bed. Not a good night. I thought I had gotten past the whole "omg I had a slice of cake now I hate myself" thing but I had been feeling pretty miserable all day so it was bound to happen sooner or later. So this morning I woke up at 6:30 and made a massive calender for this month to hang beside my bed and I wrote out my entire workout plan for the month so as I am never forced to go without exercise again. I then went out for a quick run and discovered that I cut my time down for a 3K from 20 minutes to 16! HOW AMAZING IS THAT? Alright so I know it's not that impressive but still I feel as though I have purpose and can achieve anything (or at least that's what I'm telling myself).

Thanks for the concern and support guys, it's really helped and I have fully recovered form my fruit binge :P

Chooks you probably cut your running time because you ate more the days before, or your body needed a few rest days! Well done :)

I just bought the Tracy Anderson 30 Days workout book. I'm going to ignore the cardio and the quite frankly ridiculous nutrition advice (700-1,000 calories a day and 1 1/2 hr workouts, no thanks) but the strength training section looks really good! I'll do that plus Pilates and a bit of walking for cardio. Good luck everyone :)

Hope you don't mind if I join in.

I've only just joined so this is my first challenge.

I plan to try and lose 5lbs by the beginning of August.

Going to try some yoga for the first time ever this evening, hoping I enjoy it, hopefully it will increase my flexibility as I miss being able to do the splits.

Also looking forward to my early morning swim training tomorrow. Though I took up swimming again in February and been loving it. Making me wonder why I ever quit in the first place.

Just got to try avoiding binging now :/

claire: what?! 700-1000 calories a day? Wow, I would be a grumpy grumpy person on that one.

Blah, I ended up going out last night and had more to drink than I should have. Then, adding to that, we went to breakfast this morning and I seriously ate way too much, mostly because I figured I ruined my diet anyways.

I'll be at the gym all night...

Ahhhh I've pigged out all week long. I got back from my beach vacation on Wednesday (where I ate everything in sight) and haven't been able to get back on the healthy eating bandwagon. I need a kick in the ***. I'm up FIVE pounds (It was up 9 yesterday morning!) WTF?? :(

I'm hitting the gym first thing tomorrow morning and hopfully that sets me up for a good eating day.

Today is the start of my new diet plan, and I kinda went crazy over the past 2 days because I knew it was coming. :p Ugh, hate that I do that!

Weighed 143 this morning. Gonna take nausea-inducing bikini pictures, and do measurements today.

Hi everyone! I've been busy with summer fun, but I want to catch up.

Seems like there are a few set backs. Hang in there ladies! Take a deep breath and remember to take it day by day. Yesterday is over :) Concentrate on today. We're only 9 days into this challenge. You can make anything happen!

And there are a few great updates too! Good work!! I'm super impressed :)

I've been exercising less, but staying really active and keeping my calories in lower than my calories out. I still manage to get some form of exercise in every day.

Today, we spent about 3 hours at the pool (swimming leisurely and chasing the kids), and then did a 30 min intermediate yoga DVD that kicked my butt (thanks to my hubby fixing the DVD player yesterday, yippeeeeee).

Yesterday I only got in 30 min on the elliptical. I just couldn't do it. My mind said yes, but my body gave out. What is that??? I wasn't sleepy.

Today's Weigh In:
122.2 Wahoooooooo! 15.2 lbs GONE baby! Gone.

I got to make a ticker :D Just testing it out. And I upped my chickie!

very cool skinny fast! 15lbs is a nice result! How long did that take you? And I wish I could use a ticker, but I have to wait a few weeks, I'm too new. lol.

I've only had 1100 calories today - while i stocked up on proteins. I don't know if i should eat some more or just make sure I get to at least 1500 tomorrow. Don't want to eat too little. Oh well, good excuse for a soda before bedtime?

Thanks! I started April 18, so nearly 3 months. But I didn't start working out hardcore until about 2 months ago. That's when I really started seeing changes. Before that I worked out just a couple times/week.

As long as you don't eat too little every day, 1100 is just fine (as long as it's the right food, of course). It's actually best for your body to change your calorie intake regularly. Like 1500 one day, 1350 the next, 1400 the following, 1100 after that, back to 1500... Same as exercise, you'll lose the fastest if you don't let your body get too accustomed to anything. For example, it's great to run, but if it's all you do you'll plateau.

Good luck to you!

I just came back from a grad party...meaning, I stuffed my face on catered food and desserts. Ugh, I was doing so well all day. For the past 3 days I just seem to have fallen off of the wagon. It's awful. Luckily for me, the next week seems pretty uneventful, so crossing my fingers that I'll be okay.

I did a 5 mile run today! Burned about 525 calories :) Even though I'm sore from yesterday's Yoga.
Going swimming later too.

Weigh in today: 121.8
My waist measurement is down to a 26.5

I foresee a plateau in my near future. :(

Hope you all are having/had a great w/e!

How about some updates on your July Featherweight challenges, ladies? How is it going? Is everyone still in?

I indulged last night and it was fantastic! We were taken out to dinner and I had a veggie flatbread pizza, a garden salad WITH homemade croutons, stole a handful of sweet potato fries AND ate most of my son's extra small vanilla ice cream, as we were taken out for ice cream too :) Oh, and I can't forget the margarita (tho I drank 1/2 only) and the 2.5 glasses of Shiraz.

YUMMY!

You would think after ALL of that I wouldn't be hungry today. But I am! Don't give in, don't give in, don't give in, lol... So far, so good, but it's only about noon here.

I borrowed a few exercise DVDs from our library today. Hopefully I can find something fun enough to keep me focused. Off to workout! Hope you all are having a good day...

Everyone is doing a fantastic job!

Especially nice work, skinny fast, and your dinner last night sounds AMAZING!

I'm at 124.6lbs this morning, VERY exciting for me being in the LOWER half of the 120s. 122 by August 1st will be possible if I work really hard!

I have a sexy outfit to pour myself into this Saturday for my boyfriend and I's movie/dinner date, so I'm going to be working hard until then!! :D

Had a rough first 8 days to the month, but now I'm doing GREAT! It's day 3 of doing Lyle McDonald's "Rapid Fat Loss" and I'm currently experiencing some rapid water loss - I've lost 3.4 lbs in 2 days. :dizzy: I'm finally under 140 lbs again, which is exciting! Hoping it STAYS there, but of course weight loss is rarely that neat and linear. :p

Dorian! Congrats on being under 125! Kill it till Saturday girl!!! You got this. :)

mayness, water weight or not, how motivating is that! 3.4 in 2 days, yippeeeeeeee! Way to turn it around!!

Hey CHOOKS!!! Where are you? You're MIA girl. How are things??

Two months ago is when I started working out hard core too! I made myself a promise that I would try to stay on point with my diet and exercise since the kids school year was winding down and I could have a few months to devote to me. I agree that once I gave it my all, the changes in my body were very rapid. I worked out like you only 2-3 times a week before that.

I usually stay b/t 1200-1600 calories a day. Any less than 1200 and I'm lacking energy big time but everyone is different.

What a difference it makes when my period is over! In the space of 24hrs I have lost 2kgs, and dropped inches all over. My new stats are:
Weight: 67.6kg (massive loss of 0.1kg hehe)
Measurements: 36 - 27 (-1 inch) - 38 (-1 /1/2 inches)

Not sticking to the calories I said I would in the beginning, but have been doing Pilates/ Tracy Anderson and a bit of weight training. I probably won't hit my 65.5kg goal by the end of the month, but I'd be happy with any kind of loss and/or inch loss. Good luck everyone :)

@claire0412:: I hear you on the period making your measurements go haywire. Mine is due to make an appearance like any second and my stomach is so incredibly bloated. Not a good look, lol.

I've always wanted to try Tracy Anderson. I actually did some Pilates last night. My favorite moves are: the hundred, the frog and the bridge.

I just want to maintain what I've lost and not blow it when I go away on vacation next week. I know I probably won't lose any weight and my workouts will go out the window b/c of all the family time. Disney does have a tendency to do that to you, lol. As long as I don't gain. Time to step up my diet and workouts this week. Onward and upward! Good luck to all.

Well I only just started my new Slimming World diet last week, when I lost 4.5lbs, so I was really hoping that the fast losing would continue. But I've been a bit naughty with the scales and I've been checking daily - and I've added 2lbs on from yesterday!! I admit, I was oddly hungry yesterday and had snacks between meals - but all were healthy snacks. And I worked out too. Gutted. That puts my grand total of losing 4lbs. I've gained an extra .5lb from last weeks loss! Hopefully it falls back off again by the time Friday comes on (which is the start of my third week).

So my new August goal is to lose 4lb. 121lb here I come!

50 min cardio today (running + elliptical)

Weigh In: 120.0 Man, so close to the 110's! I was hoping today was the day. :)

Ate sooo clean yesterday and today, all week I've been killing it on the food front, but my exercise is lacking. Usually once I start running I can just keep going, but lately my body is just sooo tireed... my runs are abbreviated. I usually eat around 1200-1400calories, thinking that after this weekend I'm going to add ~100-150 calories each day of something healthy and see how that does for me and my workout.

I've seriously upped my protein and fiber lately and I love it, I'm seldom feeling hungry!

skinny fast oh my gosh, I'm so excited for you to see that middle number be a 1!!!

GOOD LUCK everyone!

Dorian, that's something that really changed things for me too- upping my fiber & esp protein. I drink an Orgain (protein) shake as my lunch and it energizes me and makes me feel satisfied until dinner. As soon as I cut the snacking I starting loosing fasssssst! Our calorie counts are about the same :)

Speaking of, do you use a calorie counter website? I use caloriecount.com and it really changed the way I see my food. I'm learning things I thought were nutritious really might not be for me, and vise versa.

Keep it up! You are doing great... Saturday must be very motivating! ;)

Can't wait to see that 119 too!!!! Thx!

Just stepped on the scales this morning for my second proper WI and my weight has gone done to 63kg (138.8lbs). On target for at least 5lbs by August. I've been really good on the eating, I've just need to do something to mix up my exercise routine.

That's SO great!

Still 124.6lbs this morning, but I'm retaining some water, I think -- had sushi with soy sauce for dinner (it was SO yummy!) But since I was out late-ish with a friend and then cleaned my place before the boyfriend came over, I didn't get any treadmill time in. :( /lame excuses

Tomorrow is my official weekly weigh in day so I'm hoping hard for a lower number! I move my ticker to 124 when I can round down (124.6lbs rounds up to 125, ugh!) My scale measures in increments of .2, so even the smallest incremental drop will put me at 124.4 so I can move my ticker. Silly, isn't it, that it would matter that much? :lol:

---

Skinnyfast - I use caloriecount.com as well as other ones, I mostly have all of the calorie counts I use regularly memorized and/or written in a notebook that I carry around everywhere. :)

Saturday is TOTALLY motivating! I had all these places to eat planned (free day!) but now I think I'm just gonna settle for splurging at dinner instead of all day. I really don't need to eat a bunch of crap just for the sake of eating it! Red Lobster is no-holds-barred though, those garlic cheddar biscuits don't stand a chance. :lol: My super skinny jeans will have to be peeled off when I get home after eating all that!

TheManekiNeko - Nice work, keep at it! You're doing great! What are you thinking as far as switching up your routine? I need to do the same, I get a lot of cardio and that's about it. :/ I have some 4 pound hand weights, but they are way too light so I barely even use them anymore.

Good luck everyone!

Alright I have been in sunny spain for the past 5 days and been LOVING every minute of it! Of course my diet has gone right out the window but I figure since all I´ve been eating has been fish with a side of fish and some more fish (oh also some of the most DELICIOUS fruit I have ever had) that I´m probably not doing TOO horribly. I´ve also been swimming about 40 lengths a day, taking several 3 hour walks, and keeping up with my hour of pilates so for the first time ever I actually feel that I´ve gotten slimmer since going on holiday! My downfalls seem to be peanut butter (a recurring fault) eating waaaay too much of the most fabulous old goats cheese with quince jam and drinking too much booze and chocolate soy milk but what the **** LIFE IS SHORT! :D

Edit: They appear to have blocked a word that I really didn´t consider a swear word. I´ll rephrase it: "What the heck"

Dorian5 - I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to change about my exercise.

I'm the same with doing only cardio at the moment I swim a lot and walk everywhere so only cardio. But I've just realised that with my summer job I get free gym so I might try doing some weights.

I've always wanted to run, I was pretty good when I was younger, but I have knee issues so that's probably not a great idea.