Samhain Challenge Anyone?
 

Hello All - I'm a former chick returning to the flock and trying to get my motivation back, and I'm LOVING that there is now a Pagan chick forum!!

Is anyone intersted in a Samhain challenge? I'm personally aiming to lose 32 pounds by Samhain which is just over 16 weeks away...

I'll join you! :D

Excellent!

As I said, my plan is to lose 32 pounds by Samhain (weight would be 298). I'm aiming for an average of 45 minutes of exercise a day, and eating between 1850-2000 calories (I track using CalorieKing). I'll post my progess weekly. I'm also trying to cut out sweets from my diet as well as junk/fast food and soda...yeah, I'm cranky an awful lot! ;)

I also have a "triathlon" with my Evil Trainer :drill: and a good friend - it's one we made up, but it will kick my butt nonetheless. It's in late September, and I HAVE to be ready for it!!

The triathalon will be a great incentive!

I'm working on losing my last 10lbs to get to my goal of 160 lbs.
My main issue is that I don't get enough exercise so I would like to be in better physical shape by Samhain.

I need to slim down my lower body as that is where my weight sits but I also need to increase my upper body strength.

Well mauvaisroux, looks like it's just you and me. And 10 pounds away from your goal??? I'm SO jealous! :bravo:

I did pretty good this week - lost 3.6 pounds as of yesterday. I'm not taking today's weight because of a night out on the town last night (too much food, too much booze, and 4 pounds of water weight gain overnight). :ink: I slacked on the exercising because, in spite of the holiday, it was a hellish work week :tired: - but I'm back on track this week. :running:

So my goal for next week is another 2 pounds to bring me down to 325, and I want to do 315 minutes of exercise as well. Both very doable goals.

Thanks it's taken me a while to get there but I've been struggling up and dlown with these last 10 lbs.

I did really well this week eating wise - every meal was vegetarian except I had tuna with a salad once during the week and last night I had salmon for dinner.

This afternoon my DH and I are trying out a bikram yoga class. I'm hoping it will be good because I really need to be more active but I need to do something that interests me - I just can't stand doing aerobics or going to the gym. I will be going back to my belly dance classes in Septembe but I need to do something now.

I hear ya on the booze thing - I did that a couple of weekends ago on a Martini night out with my girlfriends and did not bother weighing in the next day as I knew I blew it!

Good luck with the 2 lbs! :lucky:

Wait wait
 

I'll do it with you!!!

Welcome buonoj13 - Very glad to have you join us!

yay! We have more company brunissen! :carrot:

How are you doing this week?

I'm still managing okay with the vegetarian meals and made an amazing supper last night of curried veggies, spicy potatoes with spinach and yam koftas. I'm enjoying experimenting. :)

Not sure what to make tonight though as I've run out of ideas. I'm trying not to fall into the trap of too much pasta and too much cheese. It think I'm going to try to duplicate a couscous salad I ate at a restaurant and a fresh beet salad - we'll see what happens:crossed:

DH and I enjoyed our yoga class and are going to take another this weekend.

It really ticks me off that I have been at goal twice now but haven't managed to maintain it. But on a good note I did lose 1lb this past week. :cb:

I'll join!

I'd also like to lose about 30 lbs by Samhain. That'd put me at 250. So far I've only lost 2 of the 30...but it's a start!

Welcome Lyrae! :)

YAY! Our little group is growing! Welcome Lyrae!!

I'm doing just okay this week so far - work has been ****, which always throws my exercise plans, but on the plus side I've been doing VERY well with my food - staying within my calorie range so far every day :cheer:

My Evil Trainer :drill: is back in town next week, so I'm sure I'll be MORE than paying for any slacking I've done. I'm going to do my Pilates tonight, and then I think I'm going to hit the pool tomorrow. It's in the 100's here now, so I don't have any desire to go outside - I miss all the :rain: we had last week.

Well, the pooch needs attention - have a wonderful evening all!

Sorry I am late! But I want to join too!

Let me think of some goals here:)

I have so many mini goals going I gotta think what I wanna do for this one! :)

well I have 41 lbs till my goal weight now, If I loose 3 lbs a week for 14 weeks ( I am guessing at Samhain because I dont have a calendar infront of me, not sure if that math was right or not..lol )
thats 42 lbs by Samhain, only have 41 till my goal....so I guess

and that is about right because the weekend before Halloween we have some huge belly dance stuff going on and I was hoping to be at or dam close to my goal weight by then anyways..

so Yah I will do mine as the Samhain/Halloween Dance event and the big witches ball I go to every year challenge:)

And my goals will be to be at my goal weight:)

Which is 41lbs away..

I will change my ticker up there to reflect some of that:)

oh and other goals to get to the goal weight
I need to eat more veggies and a lil less nuts ..just a lil less..but for sure more veggies

veggies and more veggies and more veggies:)

and to practice dance more then just the one night a week I teach

and yah..the big one..MORE VEGGIES..

:devil: Yeah! This is more exciting than seeing J. Depp as Jack Sparrow again, well no not really, but the next best thing. I can do this with your help. I'll put my goal at 30 pounds by then. Let's do it,

I think I will join y'all on this challenge...I am not using a scale, so my goal is to go from my loose 26 jeans back into my 22's and be comfortable in them.

Yeah, I wan't to lose the last 10 lbs but I really need to focus on exercise.

I think my main goal for Samhain is to be in better physical shape. I look okay but I need to build up my strength and flexibility and I would like to lose a few inches in some spots. I'm going to measure myself when I get home tonight so I can monitor my progress. :)

I'm in too!

By Samhain I'd like to..... let's see. I'd like to be in the 180's. ANYWHERE in the 180's. If I lose 1.5 pounds a week average, I should be around 179 by Samhain. I'll also focus on maintaining my 4:30am exercise call. I've been 90% faithful since starting a couple months ago, but I assume once the sun starts rising later and later it might get a little more difficult. We shall see!

Gods, another excuse to have to buy more clothes! Yeah!!!!!

Yeah us!!!!

Terri

OMG - Exercising at 4:30 AM??? You are a far stronger person than I am... I keep meaning to take the pooch for a walk before work, but bed is far more comfortable :) Although this morning, I did take him out at 5:15 for a walk - and he sure enjoyed it, then I had a nap when we got back home before I got ready for work - and I sure enjoyed that nap.

buonoj13 - Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow? Few things hotter than that!!! :devil: I haven't seen the movie yet - I hate opening weekend crowds, but it definitely on my must see list....

Welcome to all the new members of the challenge!!!

Thanks for the welcome everyone! :)

Well, so far so good for me. I've been swimming a LOT every day with my sister. I'm really enjoying it, because it's been far too hot for me lately. My sister has a few extra pounds that she wants to lose (she's already lost quite a lot), so she's become my workout buddy. I find it so much easier to get motivated when I have someone to do the exercise with me.

Well, just did my weekly weigh-in. I'm down to 326.6 - I was hoping for 325, which I could have made if I had gotten my butt off the couch and worked out. BUT I am still on track for my 2 pounds per week goal, so I can't complain.

I'm off to walk the pooch and do my grocery shopping before it gets too damn hot. Have a great Sunday ladies!

Congrats on the loss!!!!!

Way to go Brunisssen! :cp:

Bad day today. My home scale appears to be slightly....off, to say the least.

I visited my mom during her lunch break today (she works in a hospital). We started talking about my weight loss plan, and she offered to weight me on the fancy scale she uses there. So, she did. 292.3. What the heck? How does my home scale possibly say 278? Argh. Guess I'm buying a new scale... :(

On the plus side, my jeans have started fitting a bit looser, so I guess I've lost something. Still frustrating though. I guess I'll aim for 260 for Samhain...that'll still be about 30 lbs.

Lyrae -

I am so sorry about the scale, I also recently had a scale shock, and it sucks!!!! But your jeans are looser, which I think is a better indicator than the scale, one size = approx. 10 pounds on me, I would guess that might be for most people. But don't get discouraged. I am not weighing myself until next week. I have had a sudden craving for white rice and salsa, go figure, I am scared to step on the scale. Have a great day.

Lyrae, sorry about the liar of a scale, but it sounds like other progress is being made, that the pants fit better is probably a better sign of what's going on in the bod than the numbers. I highly recommend Tanita scales. Mine is dead on with WW's. They can be a little spendy, but it's better than "finding" weight on one scale that you thought you lost on another!

Congrats on the loss brunissen!!! :carrot:

No, getting up at 4:30 isn't me being strong, it's just 30 minutes earlier than my normal wake up time. I start work at 6:30am and have been getting up at 5am for 7 years now. 4:30am isn't such a stretch. Tho there have been times when insomnia hits, when I do reset the ol' sunrise alarm clock for my normal 5am - when I NEED that extra 30 minutes! :yawn:

Tonight's my first weigh in since before the 4th. I'm not expecting much since I've pretty much eaten out *almost* every night since then (while my dad was visiting and he won't let me cook - even though I CAN cook!). I might be down a smidge, but that's ok. In the "old days" eating out daily would equal huge gains, not maintenance. THAT is progress!

Later gators!

Terri

Terri, I love to cook! It is so relaxing, actually, I am trying to start up a small catering business. When school goes back I will be selling calzones twice a week to the teachers lounge at the school where my mom works. Hopefully, some cake orders will come too, I love decorating cakes. I haven't cooked in while because I am pretty sure that I eat a meal while I cook. But you gotta make sure it tastes good :)

Anyway here's :dust: to all our successes!!! Have a great day.

Buonoj, it's a shame we don't live closer.... I've always dreamed of opening a catering/party coordinator business. Waaaaay back when, when I worked in San Francisco, part of my job was "party coordinator" for our office of 200. I arranged the Christmas, retirement, birthday parties, etc. I once had a 10 foot long sub sandwich delivered via the freight elevator!

I love to cook too. Favorite time of year is in the Fall, spending a weekend cooking soups and stews to toss in the freezer. I even have a friend that thinks it's blasphemous that I cook a whole turkey to freeze and eat on all year ("that's supposed to be only for Thanksgiving!").

But, for some reason my dad would rather foot the bill for numerous trips to steak houses, chinese food palaces and other food-fest o'plenties when I'd rather KNOW exactly what was in my food. Oh well, I just may refuse to go next year!

Terri :)

Lyrae - that sucks! But again your pants are showing your progress so don't lose heart.

Buono and Punkinseed - I love to cook too! :chef: In fact I am at the same point as you are Punkin, I would rather eat at home too. :yes:

How's everyone doing?

I'm on track so far -- lost 2 lbs this past week! I now have a scale that gives me the same readings as the one my mom uses at work, and I'm feeling a lot better. :)

Congrats on the 2lb loss! :cb:

I'm doing well too - I lost 2lbs and I've stepped up to 2 yoga classes per week! :cb:

Ok, I am failing, I won't even get on the scale right now, I just can't get motivated to get back on track. I think if I can lose 10 pounds it would be the kick I need, what is wrong with me? I beat myself up everyday over how fat I am and then I sit on my *** and do nothing about it. What gives with that? I don't think I want to hate myself but yet here I sit doing nothing about it. What keeps you motivitated?

:woo: however, congratulations to you both!!!

Sorry that should have been the first post, not the second,

buono - don't lose heart. You can do this, you just need to find your motivation. :hug: Try writing down what your reasons are for losing weight it might help you see things more clearly and regain your focus. Also if you need to exercise try something that you enjoyed doing when you were younger. Revisiting that might make you enjoy exercise. You can always try taking a class or picking up a DVD that involves dance if you like to do that - that was what worked for me.

My motivation is health related. I'm not worried about not being thin etc. It's more that I don't want to have the health problems that my parents have. My dad has angina, my mum had breast cancer (10 year survivor!) and she also has arthritis which is affected by her weight. Some friends of mine have knee and joint problems and are borderline diabetic and they are not even that old yet. Some of my family members are diabetic and my mum's sister had osteoperosis and IBS. I don't get wrapped up in worrying about all of that but it is the reason I want to take care of myself now to increase my chances of having good health when I get older.

Having said that I'm going with more of a whole foods diet and a holistic approach to taking care of myself and my exercise focuses on strengthening my body (yoga, pilates, bellydance).

Hola Ladies. I've spent the last week trying to keep from falling COMPLETELY off the wagon - with some success. Didn't weigh myself this morning - between the eating over the past few days and TOM, I just didn't want to know what the scale had to say. But I'm doing well today. The weather here has been ungodly hot - so it's hard to have ANY motivation to do anything, and my evil trainer has been in and out town so I've had a whole lot of couch time. But it's back to having him kick my butt 4x a week starting tomorrow *sigh*

Anyway, keep hanging in there!!

Hi everyone--:wave:

I'm new to this forum--I usually post in the 300+ thread. I would like to join the Samhain challenge with all of you. I want to lose 40 lbs. by Samhain. I figure that I can do it if I can actually get myself back to the gym. I have to admit that I've been slacking in that department. :^: Well, I'll start in the morning. Wish me luck. :)

Vicki

Welcome Vicki! :wave: and good luck! :lucky:

Aww, buono...I'm so sorry you're having difficulties. I completely understand, because sometimes it's so hard for me to get motivated!

What does it for me is health stuff, really. I like my life, and I want to live long enough to enjoy it to the fullest. I just remind myself of that whenever I feel the urge to fall off the wagon. So far it seems to be working better than trying to motivate myself by thinking of how thin I want to be...which is what I did in the past. You'll find your niche too -- you can do it! :)

Also, welcome Vicki!

Hello! I have not been around in ages (because I commited to a weight loss program and then promptly fell on my face), but I'm back with a vengeance and determined to do it!

I would love to join your challenge! My goal is to lose 30 pounds by Samhain, which would put me at 200. OH no, i take that back. My goal is 31 pounds so I could get down to 199!!!!

Blessings!
Aileen