Easter Challenge
 

So .... I thought we should move the challenge thread over to this forum - I was thinking that maybe people not doing strict Atkins might feel odd posting in a challenge on the Atkins forum. And hoping to bring more folks into the challenge since more people equals more fun.

The challenge can be whatever you decide it should be - it can be a specific amount of weight - or days totally on whatever variation of the plan you are doing - or a combination of both. Just remember to make the goal something that you can attain maybe something that will stretch your resolve a bit but something do-able. If you set a weight goal and surpass it that is great. You can always add a few pounds more to your goal..

So the dates of the Challenge will be Wednesday February 15 thru Sunday April 8th 2012 -

Come on in and join - it makes it fun and reading and posting here daily helps keep me going ..

Hmm...Since we have about 8 weeks, I think my Easter challenge is going to be to shed 25 pounds between Feb 16th (my weigh-in day) and Easter Sunday.

I wish I were "in tune" with this enough to know what size pants that might be...:bunny2:

I was thinking of setting a goal of 15 lbs... but now that I think about how it is 8 weeks I want to raise it to 20 just to motivate myself to exercise more. I won't be heartbroken if I lose only 15 ;)

I'm still thinking about my goal. I've had such a frustrating few months, with my christmas gain being utterly unlosable in January and February's loses have been so slooooooooooooooooooow.

I think my goals are:
- stay on plan each day
- walk the equivalent of 45 mins per day (.e. 315 minutes total for the week) but can divide up over the week however I please.
- get 7 hours sleep minimum per night.

If I do this, the weight loss should take care of itself.

Challenge accepted! LOL. I'm new to the site and new a kick in the butt; I need to lose some weight. I'm not sure what I should make my goal. It took me six months to lose ten pounds. I'm sure what I can achieve in eight weeks. I will shoot for ten and see where this takes me.

Violet, LOL at your name, we're twins!

Welcome!

Yay let's all try to check in at least once a day!

We are doing our Valentines dinner tonight instead of last night - we've been doing lots of work in the house and yesterday was washing curtains - I am sooo allergic to dust and had such a reaction to it yesterday that I said why have lobster when you can't fully enjoy it. I was feeling a bit sad that I didn't get a card from hubs and then we were delaying dinner and then thought about my dear friend who was coming home from vacation alone yesterday because her husband died on that vacation and realized how lucky and blessed I was to have hubs around to help even without a card ...

Another thing I am challenging myself to during this time is sitting down with sales flyers and planning my shopping and menu for the week and sticking to it. I usually would plan so many chicken so many beef so many pork dinners then wing it in what recipe I was going to use --- But I'm going to work on figuring it all out at once and be sure that I have everything on hand so I don't have to do emergency runs to the grocery store

Count me in for the challenge. My goal is to stay OP, taking it one-day-at-a-time. I'd also like to get some exercise in, since it's starting to say light later (and time does change in March :carrot: ).

We're going to Branson the last week-end in April, so I think my Easter Challenge weight-wise goal will be to fit into a tight size 16 so I can shop at some "normal" size stores while we're there--If I can stick to my WOE and get in some exercise, I should be able to!

189.8, already easing in to the challenge!

Had my "Beginning of Easter Challenge" weigh in this morning - I have lost exactly 20 lbs. since 1/14/12! :carrot::carrot::carrot::carrot:
I AM proud of myself. I now weigh 258.6 and my goal is to weigh 233.6 or less by Easter!

Happy HumpDay! :wave:

One for each 5 lbs that have "left the building!"
:yay::yay::yay::yay:

Mini-Goals:
Started Ideal Protein Diet on 1/14/12 w/ over 100 lbs to lose (278.6).
Goal 1: Lose 20 lbs (258.6) ~ 2/15/12 ~
My Reward: Electrolysis for eyebrows and upper lip!
20% of the way there – YeeHaw!
Goal 2: :bunny: EASTER CHALLENGE ~ Drop 25 lbs (233.6 or better)between 2/15 & Easter (4/8/2012)

Hi All!:hug: Psyched and ready to go!:carrot:

It's my night shift "morning" and just weighed in to see I finally got my "whooosh!" Funny what staying OP will do for a girl? :dizzy: A day late for the VDay weigh in - but hey - I'll take it!

I've got to slurp some more coffee before setting a goal . . . want to be realistic but just not awake enough.

Think it's a great idea that we've moved over from Atkins - it IS motivating to see and read along with everyone here!

The "breading" we used in the fry daddy for the chicken and later the fish strips was essentially pork rinds pounded to a powder mixed with parmesan. Seasoned a bit differently for each meat---like old bay for the fish and paprika for the chicken (with garlic and onion powder etc in both . . . DH added red pepper flakes for a bite to his chicken) - they just turned out awesome looking and yum. I also made an induction friendly cheesecake . . . got it cut up in tiny squares and ready to snack on when tempted to cheat.

Going broke buying half and half and heavy whipping cream for sure tho.

Will come back and post goals . . . love the ones on here already . . . sensible and "food for thought?";)

At this point, thinking I just gotta go for it. . . . and having been this heavy before, I know this is the time that the most actual weight will come off in big numbers so am going for 30lbs by Easter Morning . . . with mini goal half of that at the halfway St. Pats. The closer I get to 200 is when the weight will come off more slowly . . .

*Stay on Induction
*Exercise (walking or biking) on days off
*Office stuff OR floor exercise when watching tv (I've got literally BAGS of filing stored that I need to go through--remnants of the last time I was in office) Clutter is really bad for my overall state of mind, ya know?

Dreamt of lobster last nite rho . . . was it great? Tx so much for starting this one up!:carrot:

I wanted to make a goal to journal like you steph, but think I will just come here and post daily to stay accountable, for now. If I run into problems, I do have a diary type book I can start logging. I weigh daily like you do as well, just cuz I need the focus at the beginning.

Congrats on the loss gem . . . I grew up with horses and ponies.

Branson is a day trip away for me here, 4my, and my niece (adult) and her fam have the season pass . . . so not sure why I haven't been there in years lol . . . great goal! We are tentatively planning a NYC trip in July with same niece . . . she said its a LOT of walkwalkwalking . . . definitely not ready for that yet!

Really like your goals anabee:hug: . . . love your spirit and how you keep at it. We can do this!

CYA all after the nite shift . . .

ETA: Hi and Welcome to our nuBee>Violetbee!:hug: I think you will love 3fc and the motivation to be found here - awesome folks.

Here's the cheesecake I'm keeping handy . . . just knowing I have it in the fridge is keeping me from feeling "deprived" as skinny Hub scarfs all the half-price Vday candy I got him in the Wee hours last nite/Walgreens:o:

http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/cheesecake_squares.html

CHEESECAKE SQUARES
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2-3/4 cup Da Vinci sugar free syrup, vanilla flavor
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, then the remaining ingredients until well blended. Pour into a buttered 8x8" baking pan. Bake 350º 50-60 minutes until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean and the cheesecake is golden brown on top. Cool completely before cutting; chill well before serving.

Makes 9 servings
Freezing not recommended

Per Serving: 204 Calories; 20g Fat; 5g Protein; 2g Carbohydrate; 0g Dietary Fiber; 2g Net Carbs



Linda says> "I used 1/2 cup syrup and it was only mildly sweet. I served it with Splenda sweetened raspberries as shown in the photo. This was pretty good, but has a bit of an eggy taste. Serve without the berries for induction."

Hi everyone! Stayed on (my) plan yesterday, yay. I'm out of flax again and I'm not going to buy any for a while as I think it ups my calories too much, it's quite calorie-dense and then I add a tonne of butter... This morning for breakfast I had coconut milk with protein powder and half a splenda packet...sounds weird but quite tasty. I guess technically it's a shake but I have it in a bowl with a spoon because bowls are easier to wash than the shaker thing. I used to find shakes made me hungry, but coconut milk is super filling (all that fat!) and it does a better job of cutting the protein powder taste (I get the plain protein powder).

Still feel super bloated from TOM... even my ankles swell!

Hey all I am new to this site and ready to jump back on the Atkins wagon after falling off 4 months ago due to a back injury. I am hoping a challenge is the motivation I need to make it past the initial carb withdrawal and stay on track. I have two goals: lose 15 pounds by Easter and start exercising at least twice a week.

Welcome airomatic :)

Hi there! I like your challenge!! I'll go with yours as well! Let's support each other! I also love horses :)

189.6 today, still losing just not as quickly.

I told myself I would cheat if my husband got me something Reese peanut butter and chocolately for Valentines, but he didn't. I was feeling sad but kinda glad because it will keep me on plan. He ended up giving me one of the chocolates I bought him and I savoured it for sooooo long haha. It was small but a whopping 5 carbs.

Starting a new strength training plan for the next four weeks, hope this helps bring the weight down faster :) My husband has kindly reminded me when the snow goes it will be bear season here and he'll have to get me bear mace if I want to take walks with our daughter. One thing after another huh?

It's Thursday! That means I've been on plan FOUR DAYS in a row!! Now, if I can make it through the week-end, maybe I'll have good results on my Monday weigh in.

Aud: before I had the babies (4 & 2), my mom and I would go to Branson 3 or 4 time/year. Just to go. We live about 5 hours from there and we love it. I've been thinking about switching up to Nashville (Opryland) since I've had the kids, but I'm waiting till they get a little older. Plus, I don't know as much about Nashville and the unknown makes me nervous!

StephanieM: Isn't it sad how many carbs such a teeny-tiny little piece of chocolate has? Sigh. Thank goodness for the occasional Quest bar!

Hope everyone has no problem staying OP and has a great weigh-in as a result! Still no exercise for me, because I've been working late & it's been cold and rainy (yeah, I know--excuses, excuses). I will get better.

My goal for Monday is to be able to move my tracker from a 43-lb. loss to a 45-lb. loss!!

Morning everyone - thrilled to see so many people here and with such great goals!

The lobster was yummy last night - one of my challenge things is that we are going to be sure to eat at least one seafood meal a week so I guess that counts for this week huh :D. Next week I think we may see if the market has some wild salmon - then starts mostly local fresh stuff from then on. Been hungry for Wasabi Glazed Salmon for awhile and I serve it with spinach. Soo yummy.

Have got to get a zip up three ring binder holder so I can organize my menu and shopping/sale (maybe even try coupons) area. Um can you tell part of my resolutions for the year is to get more organized in my life and health. Life includes things like house cleaning and organizing - and tossing stuff and giving stuff away and donating things that we haven't used and don't absolutely love. And health is my live-it and exercise (still struggling with that one) and getting more consistent with taking my supplements ... I'm doing my own version of Flylady (much like I do my own version of Atkins/LC diet) so my thoughts are that it may all take time but it will happen and I will learn the new habits to go along with these things as I go along. So all together it falls into my new LIve-it.

Gotta love Linda's recipe site - it's my first go to site for recipes - I'm going to try her White Castle hamburger pie tonight - have knitting tonight at the library so I can make this ahead and it will just need to warm it up when I get home - not sure if hubs will eat at home or at the FD drill tonight.. BTW If you haven't tried the Lasagna Stuffed Peppers do - they are super ...

By the end of tonight's knitting I should have this sock done and starting on sock two. I love knitting toe up socks - easy to cart around - can do it without much thought and quick projects ... Little goals like everything else in my life. ;)

Everyone have a GREAT DAY!

I can crochet socks, but knitting them is beyond me. Anything that takes more than two needles leaves me a confused mass.

rho, I crochet little socks for my daughter, I love how easy it is!

I think this baby is making me lazy. She's only a month and a half so she's still sleepy all the time but has trouble staying asleep at times. It doesn't help that I'm tired and I know she'll sleep if I hold her. What happens is we end up cuddling and napping together haha. I only get a few hours sleep at night so I know the nap is justified but I really need to get my butt moving.

Aww, Stephanie, she sounds so cute! And I meant to say before, I think it's awesome you've gotten started so fast after she was born. It must be easy to let that go for awhile.

Rho, I have to take a million pills for my various health issues and I keep them all lined up where I can see them. Not terribly attractive but it helps me remember. And it becomes a habit when you take them every night (and morning in my case).

Yay for four days in a row 4myloves! I hope you have great loss on monday (btw, I always read that as "amyloves")

I'm sleeping over at the museum with the brownies tonight, should be fun but I'm a bit apprehensive about not getting any sleep after the week I've had at work. They are getting pizza and a donut for dinner (!) but I can't eat either since I'm gluten intolerant, so I've made chicken curry with veges and I'll eat at work before I leave to meet them. I have some little salami sticks too, they were a good find at the supermarket, hope they are tasty. It was hard thinking of snacks that were low carb, gluten free, didn't require refrigeration and didn't have nuts (two of the girls have allergies) or dairy (I'm experimenting with dairy free, though still eating butter and not fussing about trace amounts)

This was my first week on high protein - no carb - Atkins - and I feel great....but I do miss bread! LOL! Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels thou eh!!!

Glad you're feeling good Lcard! Isn't it great?

If you miss bread, the muffin in a minute (MIM) made with ground flax is really good. More cake-like even than bread :-)

Just one thing... Atkins isn't really high protein, it's adequate protein. Bizarre as it feels at first, we get most of our calories from fat :-) If you tell people high protein they'll freak out at you about kidney problems, but I've found when I eat low carb I'm not eating anymore protein than I did previously.

Just popping in to read along (HI ALL!:hug:) before I pass out . . . and want to add seafood to my goal now--at LEAST once a week, and more when I can. Already getting stuck in beef/pork ideas only.

A co-worker and I joined a six-month "fitness challenge" at work today:carrot: . . . we're trying to win humongous flat screen tv"s . . not sure of the details other than we weighed in and a trainer gave us routines to do in the weight room . . . we're shooting for M/W & TH work outs.

Been so busy . . . seems like OT on nite shift is harder than days?

AnaBee, I have issues with gluten too! I cut it out for a year and I found it really helped with the weight loss. That's why I like Atkins, you don't have to worry about eating wheat, barley or rye. When I was pregnant it stopped bugging me and a few weeks after having her I started getting an upset stomach and diarrhea again. Going back to Atkins has made me feel so much better.


So guess what I got in the mail from my mom yesterday? A box FULL of chocolate and baked goods. And you know what was among them? My chocolate peanut butter Reese heart that I coveted for Valentines day but my husband did not get me. I gave it all away to my husband but kept the heart for myself.

And you know what happened? I ate it. And I feel horrible! I woke up with pain in my tummy, had diarrhea and now today I have a major carb hangover. I can't believe I used to eat like this, the hangover is a sign it's just not good for me. I weighed 190.0 today as well. I'm staying on plan going forward, no more treats or anything. I can do this if I stick to it and push myself.

I added a pic of my daughter with my husband for you guys :)

Aww, she is such a cutie, Stephanie, thanks for the picture!!! Awwww!

Gluten free is the best, I'd really encourage you to stick with if for life, if you've noticed how different you feel. I tested negative to celiac but I'd read a lot about the neurological effects of gluten and I wondered about my terrible balance (I've spent years walking into walls and my chiropractor discovered I was unable to stand with my feet together and my eyes closed and that's apparently not a good test to fail). Not only did my stomach problems go away within a few days of going gluten free, over a period of 6 months of being super strict my balance issues resolved too. If I accidently get a crumb now, I get terrible stomach pains, and if I get traces over a period of days the balance problems come back and can be so bad I have to have time off work. I live alone so I can be fine for most of the time, but travelling is really hard and so is eating out if you don't research first.

So I am firmly convinced that gluten is completely evil! No matter how I struggle with my weight, I know I'll never eat it again. I didn't really lose weight going gluten free, but it does make it easier to stick to better eating (since there's practically nothing I can eat at work morning teas or fast food) and having more energy really helped too.

I spent the night at the museum with our Brownie unit (girl scouts). It was super fun but I am so tired! I ate before I went (at about 5.30pm) and then not again until 8am this morning. I felt really lean this morning, I'm going to try and eat earlier on other days this week.

Oh so many things to try to respond to .. First Stephanie Awwww what a cutie and dad is so in love with her already you can tell.. Ohhh sorry on the issues from the candy .. But write down how you feel somewhere so if you are tempted again you can refer back to it.

Ana - Night at the museum - that sounds like fun - what type of museum was it?

aud - keep us up in the fitness challenge so we can throw our encouragement in how cool would it be to win?!?

You guys who crochet are the amazing ones that baffles me - although one of the women at our group did a skirt that I got the pattern for - all double crochet so I think by the time I do it (when I do it) I will have double crochet down by the end... I want to lose some more before I do it though.

Knitting socks is great - I do toe up and it's just knit knit knit then a few increases then some decreases for the heel and knit knit knit for the top and knit and purl for the cuff.. The only thing that might change is if I want to play with a pattern on the leg portion. Great car knitting to keep my mind off traffic lol. And I don't need a pattern for plain ones so if we are traveling and I see a yarn store I can get trip yarn for the memories... Cause yarn for socks isn't much...yay! Oh and I don't do 4 double pointed needles - that is so far beyond me it's not funny although a friend does - I do one circular needles that has a looong cord and just sort of loop it.. In fact it's called magic loop ..

Welcome ICard the cravings get better honestly..

AnaBee, I do feel so good when I eliminate gluten from my diet. I felt so good I started exercising almost every day, it was great! I tested negative for Celiac as well but decided to cut it out based on how I was feeling. I believe I have an intolerance and if I had little bits of it it wouldn't bother me but that was almost never.

Rho, thanks! He does adore her. It's his second daughter and he's such a good dad.

I did write down what I did in my journal, I fully expect my weight to stall for a week due to this cheat until my body goes back into ketosis. I've been eating really well for the past two days :)

189.8 today, think I'll be bouncing around this number for a few more days.

Sunny but chilly here so off to the river trail with my girls (14 yo has new skateboard--hope my next update isn't from the emergency room?:dizzy:) Scale staying the same but still OP:carrot: . . . and getting weekend exercise:carrot::carrot:

Catch up more later--cya 2nite!:cool:

Hey guys, I'm still around, no time to nuttin though....

Teaching job is a challenge, I'm so very green at it. At least I'm the 4th instructor for the class and FAR from being primary.

Day job is difficult. Nobody wants to do what I need them to do, but in the end I still have to give answers for what happened.

I feel like through the week I live at my desk, in my car, in the classroom...

I've not lost another pound, but haven't gained one either. I'm compliant most of the time. That being said, the golden arches have become one of my biggest obstacles, two on my route to and from things. I've been working on that pretty hard.

My aunt with cancer is starting chemo in 2 weeks, and thus I don't expect any reprieve soon. I will certainly be needed to help her some too.

I need an assistant!

but then again, I always did better under pressure.

I've been sick for the last couple of days so I haven't quite been OP but haven't eaten much period. Mostly just a cold but it's my first illness (and hopefully last!) of the winter so kind of hit me hard.
It's interesting to read about others intolerance to gluten, after I first went on Atkins and then relapsed I had the same issues. I have a feeling that my body has always had issues with it but I got so used to feeling bad that I had no idea until I weaned myself off of it.

THIS. I had no idea how sick I was until I stopped eating it and my body had a chance to heal. Amazing. Seriously, antacid makers would go out of business so fast if everyone gave up gluten.

Sorry about your bad cold!

Kel! Great to see you. You sound super busy, but that's great that you're holding steady - so much better than giving in to temptation and gaining. Sending your aunt lots of good wishes.

My challenges this week:
(1) giving up diet coke. I fell off that wagon ridiculously badly over the past month, after doing so well for about 6 weeks from mid December. I have practically been swimming in vats of the stuff lately. Besides being all round bad for you, I'm pretty sure it's not doing me any weight loss favours. I'm still struggling to see any losses at all and except for this, and point 2 below, I'm totally on plan.
(2). Good bye, flax muffins. They give me cravings (for more flax) and I'm eating a ridiculous amount, low carb or not. And butter has calories worth considering when you're eating so much. Plus I had a really weird TOM and when I did some reading I think flax is great in small amounts, but can be of concern if you're eating large amounts (as I was because it so GOOD) and especially if you have PCOS. Sigh. I'm going to lay off it now until my birthday in late march when I will have some as a treat.

188.6 today, first drop I've seen since the chocolate heart incident! This will encourage me not to cheat in the future, it sucked not losing for a few days. I was really good yesterday even though it was my step daughters birthday. They were having roast beef sandwhiches, pasta salad and there was a chocolate pudding pie. I just ate the roast beef and a greek salad :)

Hope everyone else is doing well :)

I am really excited about the first week of my diet. I did great! Week two now. I am doing a no carb diet - sure do miss bread. I tried to convince myself into some rye bread yesterday, but it just doesn't look appealing!

For the poster who said McDonalds was a hard one to resist...I used to be like that as well. I am finding it easier in the last month or so - even thou I see it all the time at Walmart.

I so want to be thin, but eating yummy and fattening foods is always in the back of my mind!!! LOL!!

Hi Gang!:hug:

Made it to the river and then pedicure (feet-claws:o..now an interesting sparkly kelly green:dizzy:) b4 having to make a mad dash out of town again for Gramps then spent the nite at my brothers, where I went ridiculously off plan.:( Back up to 245 today for my trouble.:mad: I'm almost sick of typing the same thing over and over here . . .

Did get a great walk in yesterday and am off to meet my fitness co-worker at the gym b4 work so trying to dust myself off and ever onward blah blah . . . making my shake 4 tonight and taking the yummy peppers for lunch . . . will get the link . . . din't use jalapenos . . . bought two larger type peppers and cut them up/filled with seasoned cream cheese. I did the chopped cooked bacon on top . . . you'll see if ya scroll down the recipe:

http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/jalapeno_poppers.html

Off to change my bloated ticker . . . cya all in the Wee . . .

I weighed myself today and I was 218, down 6 pounds! I will thank the cold for that weight loss. That's a big motivator for the next week.
lcard: there is low carb bread you can buy, I think the one I had was made by Julian Bakery and I found it at Market of Choice here but it's expensive and I found it's better to just completely wean myself off of it.

aud, I'm sorry to hear things aren't doing well with him again. Best of luck with your contest at work, I know it can be hard to stick to things when life gets crazy like that.

I bet if I never left the house I'd do great, but with family dinners every weekend and friends inviting us over it gets hard to stay on plan.

Lately I'm craving carbs in a bad way. Why now? Why two weeks later?

airomatic and lcard, congrats on your losses and successes!

Congrats on your weight loss airomatic! How does it feel...

I agree Stephanie it isnt easy being on a diet when the majority of people have very little control over what they eat or even seem concerned!!

I eat at Boston Pizza alot, as I can sync my computer there during my lunch breaks. I started eating their Pecan salad. No cheese, no pecans, no dressing. LOL! It still is good and something I can eat at a restaurant, which I like :)