Maintainers Spring Fling Challenge
 

New Years Challenge has just about reached 500 and is closing. You don't have to be a maintainer to post on this thread. We are just a group of dieters that are facing challenges. I was just short of having 4 years at goal the longest time I had ever maintained a loss when I slipped, fell, relapsed, got lazy and gained 19 pounds. I was pretty mad at myself but decided I didn't want to stay there. Others of you are facing challenges that are completely out of your control. We all understand what it is to face challenges. We are just trying to support and motivate each other.Feel free to join us.

And here I was hoping I'd be back at goal by my birthday, but that is way too close for it to happen at this point. I hope to be down 12 pounds by my birthday and perhaps be at goal by the time my oldest graduates from college. From there, it's maintaining through our cruise to Hawaii at the end of June.

Well put, bargoo. I guess my only real challenge is between my ears. :D That, and getting (finally) to 140 by my birthday, May 17.

I like the name for the new thread. Thanks again for inviting me to join in with you guys. =)


Last night I was all ready to have a bowl of cereal that would have put me over my calories. I had the milk in my hand ready to pour... then I put it back in the fridge and the cereal back in it's box. :D

I had set a goal of 132 by 3/1. I'm not thinking I'm going to make it - I got down to 134.8 late last week, but bad eating and bloating swung me back up to 137 for today. At this point my highs are lower if that makes sense, so I can see I'm making progress, just slowly. I've reevaluated the goal to a little further out, we'll see what 4/1 shows... I turn 40 on 5/15, I would like to be at 130 by then.

Good job !
Glad you like the name , I was thinking March Madness but it was already taken.

That's about when DD graduates. I want to be 140, too. We really are sisters.

Losing weight is a strange thing. During the month of January my net weight loss was 8.4 pounds. The month of February my net loss was 2.6 pounds, so far. I didn't change a thing, still eating the same amount of calories. I find, for me, perseverance is the key, no matter what, keep going, do not give up.

I went back to religiously tracking on Sunday due to a little "slippage" and weight creep. It is amazing what I will decide not to eat knowing I have to log it.

Scale is very, very slowly cooperating.....

I will be 45 on March 3 (uggh!)
I would like to be comfortably back under 120 by then-- not just fleetingly....

DD just posted a picture of herself on the Nutrisystem chatboard. She's lost 18 pounds (is now about 182) and she looks so much better!

Michele~try 49 on March 17th!

Yes, bargoo, never give up!

Bunneh - fantastic job! That's sheer willpower. Bottle that stuff!

bargoo - giving up only has one result, and it's not an option.

shannon - fellow Taurus! I'm turning 45 on 5/17. Or as the swimmers say, "Ageing up". :D

michele - same here. Nobody looks at my log but me, but there are still things that I don't want to have to admit I ate. Hey ... 45 is not an "uggh!" 45 is a glorious tweener between being too young to know any better and too old to do anything about it. ;)

allison - if I ever get out on that side of our great country, we'll have to play golf and drink some good wine! Perhaps not at the same time, though.

Close shave. Felt the compulsive pull toward the 2oz bags of Cheezits that nest in the vending machine. Fortunately, they cost $1. I have 90 cents in change, and everything else is $20 bills. It bugs me that I got as far as counting my change. I'm going to have to start leaving my wallet in the car again.

:wave: I'm here but super busy today.

Dagmar :dizzy:

The scale verified what I already knew from pressing dents into my swollen ankles yesterday: I'm up a whole whopping 3.7 pounds from last Friday.

Blame it partly on dining on a ham steak portion on Wednesday night, which I forgot to remind my mother to soak in water before cooking. Then, last night, I ate London broil marinated for 24 hours in a soy, ginger and sesame oil concoction that was probably a bit heavy on the soy.

And blame it on stress and Aldi's natural trail mix in handfuls.

Whose signature line has that wise quote, "You can't out-exercise a bad diet?" Or something to that effect?

I'm facing another frenetic day on the job, including a sit-down with my boss to talk about my performance requirements for the coming year, and then a long drive to Albany to spend the weekend with friends. And a four-hour round trip on Saturday from Albany to the Litchfield CT area to pick up an antique clock that I bought several months back & which the dealer has been holding for me in the meantime. My Albany friend will be in the car with me. We can have a nice long talk as we drive. I hope the weather co-operates.

saef, sounds like you will have a pleasant weekend, lots of driving but you will have company. When will your apartment be ready ?

Hey all, I need to be here! A lot of us have birthday goals it seems! I will turn 30 in July and told myself I'd like to finally lose this creep weight by then. I'm sure a lot of you know this creep and attempt at weight loss has been going on for several years with me. I told myself if I don't make it this time, I will accept my weight and buy new clothes here, bc this banging my head against the wall for the last 3 years has been so stressful.

I started off the new year at 158 and would like to get to somewhere around my maintenance weight of 140. I lost 4 lbs in January but February is not looking so promising (I haven't been staying OP food-wise like I should). :o

My eating has been poor this week and already at 9:20 AM I'm trying to resist the siren call of Fritos sitting in my office common area. Free! I wish someone would just put them in a box you have to put 50 cents into to get them out. "Free" is the magic word for me.

I've been working out as scheduled but as saef posted, "you can't out-exercise a bad diet". Ain't it the truth.

It seems several of us have that magic goal of 140! We can do it!!!

Megan, welcome aboard. My January was great but February was sloooow, but still a loss.
Keep at it, Megan, I know you can do it.

I'm off the cliff today - sequestered at home due to snow. :) I'm a weather wuss. Still had to drive the kidlet 30 minutes to school, though - his is one of the few private schools open in SE Michigan today, I think. There was a small window of opportunity this morning to get everybody to school and work ... but it's coming down heavy and I'm not looking forward to having to go out and get him at 3:30. :p

Fortunately, the spouse is working from home too, which will help keep me honest and away from the pantry.

I'm here too. Already I caved and ate a bagel today so I will call it a victory if I can refrain from eating a second bagel. My general goal is 133 (130 would be better, but I'll be happy with 133). My average weight for this month is 137 (up from 135 in November). I told DH that starting on Monday he needs to boot me out of bed when he gets up at 5:45. On the days I don't run I will ride my bike trainer, and once it gets sunny outside in the morning I'll ride outside. Working out in the morning usually sets me up for a good day food-wise.

Becky, I was born and raised in Minnesota, I remember those days when school was closed because of a snow storm, fun for us kids but not so good for parents. I guess that is why I live in California now. We have problems, too , rain, floods an earthquake now and then . We even have snow once in awhile. I have skidded on the ice while driving to work, now that is scary.

You've got snow and it was 90 here yesterday. I'm beginning to think this summer will be a doozy since we're heating up so early. And I used to love snow days when I was in school but since moving away from Utah I don't like driving in the stuff either.

Still no change in the scale today, but I'm hoping for something tomorrow which I've now dubbed my "official" weigh-in day despite the fact that I actually weigh daily.

I WILL walk the dog after work today. No excuse.

Saturday we'll golf.

Sunday I think we have a block party (potluck) to attend which just means food, but I told MIL to make a huge tossed salad so I'll eat a lot of that and not much of anything else (I will only taste ONLY that which is homemade--no KFC, Domino's or anything just picked up from the grocer except fresh veggies).

Also on Sunday we'll go pick up our "commissioned" piece of art. I say commissioned as we asked the original artist to try and recreate a piece we bought from him last year but the cat knocked off the table and shattered it.

Speaking of bringing store bought food to a potluck. A couple of months ago I was invited to a potluck where I literally didn't have time to make anything. I went to Safeway and bought some of their potato salad. One of the guests asked who made the potato salad, I said I brought the potato salad. Her comment, it was great, make it again. Whew ! It was OK, but not great in my opinion. I never said I made it just that I brought it as I can definetly make better potato salad than Safeway's Deli.

:wave: I wouldn't mind being 140. It's a little way off.

Megan, how tall are you?

I walked over to the Fritos cabinet about two hours ago, paper towel in hand to dole some out into, and stopped myself. I ate my lunch kind of early, but then went a bought some sugarless gum which I'm now chomping ferociously. I can get over this "hump", I think I can I think I can.

The friends party I'm going to tomorrow is a potluck, too. I'm bringing a Greek salad so I know I can fill up on that. I'll try to remember that I don't need store-bought foods, not to mention I've already had my share of chips this week. :p

Silver, I'm 5'5". My lowest weight as an adult was 136 and I wore a size 4-6 (couldn't have gotten any smaller - it was not fat but my hipbones keeping me from another size down), but I also hit that after basically living like a monk, drinking alcohol maybe 1x per month or less, no desserts ever, for a whole year, and I was single and had no social life at all (not that being single means having no social life, but it's easier to be a monk when no one is there in your house with you asking you to go out and interact with the world). When I maintained my weight more easily for 2-3 years after hitting maintenance, I was at 140-141, so I think that's a more realistically sustainable weight for me. Because I can't live like a monk.

I have a small mini-goal. I started my diet Feb. 1 and wanted to lose a total of 20 pounds (no deadline), but hopefully at least 15 of those by my birthday (early June). The last 5-10 will be a lot harder, so i was hoping to lose 5 in the first month and 5 in the second month. Well, i would have already lost 5...if i didn't keep binging every weekend! So this weekend i have a mini-goal of not gaining, and then i just have to lose another 1/2 pound by next Tuesday to be sort-of on track (since i've lost 4.5 pounds so far). I don't usually believe in being so specific with numbers, since weight can fluctuate a lot...but it's just getting ridiculous how i am stuck at the same weight because of my binging! I figure a small goal of 1/2 pound can't be that hard.

Welcome surfergirl2! I think I have the same weekend goal as you--don't gain! I've been trying to lose just half a pound this week and I'm hoping it'll be gone by tomorrow and then I have to survive the weekend so it doesn't pop back on. Although I take Sunday's "off" I still record and count everything and try to keep it all in line, although it can be tough. Last Sunday involved too much cheese and I've been paying the price for that all week.

Snow for some of us, 90 degrees for some, and here it was an unseasonably high 76 when I went for my run. This weather is crazy this year.

Becky - During my half marathon on Sunday I met two girls from Montgomery and fell into conversation with them the last six miles or so. They were 30 and 31. Told them I would be 40 in May and the reply was 'oh yay, this is your last race before the Master's Class!' I'm not sure I would call that a big 'yay'. :) - you be safe in the snow.

Megan - stay away from the Fritos. They don't exist.

Jessica - I'm having a hard time getting up early, too. I need to get DH to kick me up when he gets up - that is a great idea.

I'm back at 135.5 today - if I follow my pattern I'll eat something bad for me this weekend and pop up for the first few days next week. Dh & I are going on a double date with another couple - we are setting up one of my friends with one of his friends, so we are going along for this first one. We are going to a taquiera and tequila bar. I think I can be okay if I avoid the sauces, and the tequila. :)

:wave: to everyone else! Have a great day today!

Good job avoiding the Fritos Megan! I still think we are nearly twins separated at birth. I'm an inch shorter than you, and I haven't been able to get under 130 at all and barely managed to get/stay below 135. At least, not with any muscle on me. I just want my maintenance range to be 130-135 instead of 135-140.

I did not do as well, I ended up eating a second bagel. It wasn't even that good. Ugh.

Fail day for me. I guess I am truly a creature of routine. Bad food, no exercise. Tomorrow, a baby shower ( yay!) and another chance to prove I can do this. Sleep, please clear the slate.

ICUwishing :hug: I messed up last night and didn't log my food in the evening. We can both do this if we dust off and keep going.

Bunneh, thanks! I will heed your signature, and not stay down! I'll try to estimate today's damage ... but only for historical value. Tomorrow will be a clean day. With exercise minutes.

Last night I watched Oprah interviewing Anthony Robbins. He spoke of people's "stories" - I think we've discussed this somewhere on the forum before - the scripts they write for their lives.

My usual "script" for the weekends is something along the lines of

"I've been working hard all week and I deserve some down time. I'm stressed and need to wind down. I deserve to go out and eat in a restaurant, instead of cooking. I've been eating healthily and deserve some treats. I'm going to be alone on Sunday night and I need a couple of beers to offest my disconnection with the world."

This script gets me a gain of 3-5 lbs. every weekend.

So this is my new script for the weekends, so that I'm within sight of my goal of 130 on my 55th birthday, will get to goal late in March, and then maintain at 129-132.

"I've been working hard all week and I need to recharge physically and mentally. Eating healthy food, limiting caffeine, and not drinking any alcohol will help me sleep. Sleep is my most important step to recharging myself. I deserve treats and I will take myself out to a gallery, museum, or event to reward myself for staying OP all week. Sunday night I will be alone so it will be "spa" night, a chance to walk around with goop on my face, soak my feet, and generally pamper myself. I will buy myself some delicious herbal teas to drink and some new cosmetics products to try."

Good weekend all!

Dagmar :yoga:

dagmar - good script! Now you've got something that sounds like a lot of fun. :)

I started off the weekend on the right foot (left foot, right foot, left foot, etc) by getting on the treadmill for 45 minutes as soon as I got up. I haven't reached the point where I don't want to do it yet, and I think it's been 3 weeks. I'll have to be on guard today - we are going to a baby shower this afternoon that is going to have some spectacular, unusual food. The kinds of foods that must be tried, because they truly may never come my way again. I'm going with a very low calorie breakfast and dinner plan to compensate.

Dagmar, good plan.
Becky,tell me more about unusual food, once in a lifetime food.
As for me , I accidently allowed a loaf of sourdough French Bread into my house, big mistake. I must neverr do that again.

I'm finally back to ticker weight this morning, I was hoping for a half pound less than that.

I did my walking yesterday and I'm going to do my golfing today. I will stay on plan today.

I'm starting to think my Sundays off are part of my problem. I know, only a part. I need to at least not allow myself more than my 1-2 glasses of wine on Sundays. I should probably also disallow beer (I usually have one at lunch on Saturday and Sunday).

Good job, Allison !

bargoo, I promise to report back after the shower. The mom and dad-to-be are an amazing multicultural blend - her mom is Filipino, her dad's Polish, his dad is African-American and his mom is Chinese. And they all dearly love good food (no one's overweight). Together, they do fusions of cuisine that are intimidating, beautiful, and absolutely unique. They are producing the food for the shower. It's going to be a tasty exploration ... I am really glad that DH is coming along, because he's got the skills to duplicate foods based on flavors!

Allison - yay you! Moving isn't so bad, I'm finding.

I used to work with a Filipino. Every year on her birthday she'd bring in a huge batch of pansit and lumpia. I really miss that! I'm trying to imagine a Filipino-Polish fusion food!

I also worked with a Swede (I'm half Swedish) and he'd bring in Swedish meatballs on his birthday.

Ok, I'm making myself hungry. Must get moving--the grocery store awaits.

Had a pleasant surprise this morning. Down 2 pounds !!! That puts me below goal but I still want to get to sticker weight. If I can stay between those two numbers I will be a happy camper.