It's so much fun reading everyone's stories and getting to know one another. If anyone wants to read my intro post it should still be towards the top on the Introductions board. Sorry, I'm too new to link to it.

Yesterday I managed to eat better than usual, I think - tough to say as I had to estimate on my dinner and dessert. I consider any day I keep my calories under 2,000 to be a win, since according to FitDay just my lifestyle and basal metabolic burn adds up to about 2,500. If I eat 2,000 calories or less per day I should lose a pound a week even if I don't get extra exercise, right? I guess it depends on how accurate FitDay is.

I also got exercise in yesterday morning which is good since I'd kind of slacked off for about a week. I did a Yourself!Fitness Physical Challenge, which is where every 10 workouts it checks to see how you do at jumping jacks, squats, crunches, push ups, and flexibility. I showed improvement in most areas, which is good. Then I did Jorge Cruise's 8 Minute Moves from the book of his that I have "8 Minutes in the Morning for Extra Easy Weight Loss". I was curious to try these because they seemed way too "extra easy" to make any difference. But I think they must be as good as he says, because despite how simple and easy they were I was feeling the muscle ache by afternoon, and am still feeling it.

Mmavis, I do try to measure as well, but I've only just started a week or so ago so I haven't seen any change yet.

On the discussion of goal weights; I chose my goal of 165 as it is just barely into the range that the BMI considers healthy for my height. (Also it's around the top of the "one size fits all" range for hosiery and I have a passion for funky tights.) I would very much like to be a bit lower than that, but given that I'm going to be putting on a bunch of muscle to get there I don't know if I really will. I'm also fairly large boned, and I can't imagine weighing the lowest "bmi healthy" weight for my height and looking good or being healthy. I weighed about 125-130 when I was really ill once and I looked terrible! Boney and disproportionate. I'm very bottom-heavy because I have what my mother calls "child-bearing hips" so when I'm very skinny I just look weird. It's so true that weight is how we measure our size because it's easiest, not because it's the most accurate portrayal of our health or size.

Good heavens, I can tell I didn't get enough sleep last night from the way I'm going on and on. Time to pull myself away from the computer and see about doing my exercise. Oof! Still sore, maybe I'll take an ibuprofen first...

Well....i'm doing good on the exersize part of my goal to christmas. REally working on the food part so i can start seeing some pounds leaving. I have been checking my measurements and i haven't lost anything yet. Matter of fact, looks like with this extra 5 pounds i put on...i gained about an inch or so. So..gotta drop back down inch wise and weight wise. I have just got to start cutting out my fav foods and go back to tuna, chicken and egg whites. No more sweets AT ALL!!!!! Time to buckle down. But don't get me wrong. I feel much better this summer putting on a bathing suit than i did last year. I am still down 20-25 pounds from last summer. And that is a good feeling...but i really want to hit my goal of 120 or 115 by no later than christmas.

ive been doing good all around this week weighin day is friday. its so hard getting the ball rolling lol

My weigh-in day is Friday too, I'm eager to see how I'm doing. I admit I succumbed to scale-addiction and checked my weight just now. Down 1.5 lbs, but I'm trying to keep to once a week as my "official weight" so it's always the same places in my cycle. Hopefully the unofficial loss will keep me motivated to stay on track so I can make it official!

Evening all!

It was a pretty good day and the kids had a beautiful day to be outside. Only minor injuries this year. I am not sure I will be able to manage 2 hours of dance class without eating a little more, or a snack between classes, but we went fairly slow tonight. Tyler- except for a few weeks of High School dance classes, I had never done tap. My daughter does tap and jazz, and when they had an adult class last summer, I thought "how hard can this be if an 8 y/o can do it?". Fooled me! But it's fun, and I'm learning something new, and it's exercise. I want to get back to some water aerobics this summer.

I think I will join the bunch of you who weigh in on Fridays, to make it official. It will help me to both remember, and keep it honest.

Hi to all the new names (don't you just want to say faces?) and welcome.

Have a great Thursday! Kathy

I SORTA weigh-in on Fridays. I actually weigh-in Thursday nights before work and typically don't get to log it anywhere other than my notebook until it's technically Friday ... does that count?

I'm actually looking forward to getting on the scale this week. It's my first week on SB after many MANY not-so-good weeks on WW. I'm not really expecting as big of a loss as some have had because I'm going from one plan to another and haven't changed what I've been eating all that much, but I am real interested in seeing what cutting out my fruit & bread & beloved pasta has done!

I'm still going to shoot for 172 for my Christmas goal for weight and I think I'm going to add an exercise goal of getting off my butt for at least 20 minutes 3 times a week BEYOND the massive amounts of walking I already do! I don't drive so the walking is a necessity just to get around so I really don't count that as exercise much. I know I SHOULD get more than the 20 minutes x 3, but between the wacky work schedule and the toddler I figure this is a pretty high goal for me right now! I've got some of those 10-minute Solution dvds that I could probably manage to pop in twice a day some days without too much of an issue ... I hope!

Morning everybody!

I weigh in on the weekend, usually Saturday AM, I may change it to Friday to be consistent. I had a crappy couple weeks b4 starting this challenge and have to get back to my ticker weight before I can start counting down again ( I really want to change my ticker, always seems like such a big deal for me!).

Karen, welcome, nice to meet you. Your baby is so cute! What eyes!

Josephine, I was really motivated by your 69 days on plan note, that is so awesome. I am trying to look at this like when I quit smoking (6 years ago) I don't ever plan to start that again either, but when the craving would get really bad, I would try to just wait 10 more minutes, telling myself if the craving wasn't a little better, then I would think about it, but it always worked) I am trying to do something similar here, if i think I can't resist, just wait-go for a walk, get on the elliptical, something...we'll see, so far so good.

I am off until Wednesday after I work today, it's always hard to be good at home, but I am going use the time to get back to my running and get started on my 500 miles.

Lumi- I am with ya on the focus on the food, I have also tried to go back to my basic meals, I know what works and I need to stick with it!

Betsi, sounds like you did great with your exercise. I am a fan of Exercise TV, I pick one video, pretty much every morning. Some of them are great, some of them I hate (the Carmen Electra one's I can pass on!) but it gives me different workouts to try and I have the attention span of a hyperactive grasshopper.

Everybody, happy Thursday, have a great day!

Good morning everyone! Hope you all are feeling motivated and strong today! I know I am - I ache all over, and while that makes me a little grumpy it also makes me feel powerful and in control because I got my muscles moving and improving yesterday, and I plan to again today. Sometimes it's a fun challenge to see how many days I can keep up the ache, you know? In theory, I want to be exercising often enough that something always hurts a bit from exercising the day before.

I've been thinking about everyone's goals and how some of you are creating exercise goals as well. One of my exercise goals right now is to be able to do a pull up. Some of my friends are into circus arts and I was told that to get into doing aerial silks I need to shoot for being able to do that to start with. (My friends have some really wonderfully weird hobbies!) I'm wondering about setting that as a Christmas goal for myself. I'd like to think that it's too easy, but maybe I'll set that as my Christmas goal and if I reach it way beforehand I'll turn it into a challenge to see how many MORE than one I can do by Christmas.

I'm really trying to squeeze more muscle building into my day, and as I'm working through my Jorge Cruise book that's getting easier. I'm learning to hold both are out at the sides, or push down on a table, or other things I can do anywhere. I even do little bits while I reheat my coffee!

Yesterday was a weird food day for me. My calories were really low all day until after my sweetie and I got back from going for an evening walk together and we were hungry. Suddenly a snack bumped me from 1300 calories to 1900, according to my estimates. Ah well, still a good number for me - right now I'm typically burning 2,500 calories or more a day so if I keep my eating under 2,000 I'm all set.

Speaking of food and watching my calories, I'm really nervous about tonight because I'm going to a dinner for a friend who got promoted at her job. The place is a bit pricey so I'm feeling nervous about both the monetary cost and the potential calories. Thankfully they have their menu online, so I can try and plan ahead. I think my best bet will be this: Kathy - your dance classes sound awesome! What a fun way to get some exercise. You're motivating me to see what kinds of classes I could take in my area. I'd love to take bellydance, but it can be hard to find a class for that. If I find one, maybe I will use it as a reward for a mini-goal. It'll make it easier to justify the cost.

Karen - weighing in Thursday night works too. I think if we can all check on each other the same day, that's what will give us consistency about it. And if other people prefer another day than Friday I'm sure we'll all be here to cheer them on!

Mmavis, I know what you mean about the ticker. As a new member here I can't put one in my sig yet, but I got one from tickerfactory anyways, just because I could. I'm so antsy for tomorrow because I think I'm gonna get to bump that ticker downward. Since I recommitted to my weight loss a couple months ago the lowest I've seen on the scale has been 193.5 (it goes up and down a lot because of the whole added muscle thing) and I just can't wait til I can beat that!

Exercise TV sounds cool - is that a cable channel? I haven't had cable in years. So far Yourself Fitness is working well, but I wouldn't mind a bit more variety sometimes!

Guess that's all for me for now. Have a GREAT day everyone, and stick to your goals!

P.S. Love that "Santa can bring me skinny clothes" sig! That's just how I feel!

Morning all!

I weigh myself every morning for one of the challenge threads I participate in, but for my own blog I track my weight once a week with a Monday morning weigh in. It took some time to get used to stepping on the scale every day, I thought it would drive me crazy, but as it turns out it is very motivating and helps give me focus every morning. Since I weigh myself everyday I can report on Thursdays (or Fridays) for this thread if that is what everyone would like to do!

Betsi -- When I lived in Vermont I had a passion for funky tights, too. Now that I live in Florida I don't even own a pair of tights or a pair of hose, I'm bare-legged all that time. It's just too darn hot! "Circus arts"?!?! How cool is THAT! I'd love to try aerial stuff, how exciting! My sports are alot more pedestrian. I've done several triathlons and lots of running races with my longest race being a half marathon. In the future I'd really like to do a full marathon and some Olympic-length triathlons. And I'd like to do them reasonably well. So I keep that goal firmly fixed in mind when I'm out training.

Hey all!
OOOOH! Let me know how those 10 Minute Solutions are, Karen. I got one as a freebie in a package and haven't opened it yet.

Betsi-if you have cable, look on there to see if you carry the HealthiNation sessions. Our cable has bellydancing on one of the free exercise stations from HealthiNation. You might find something there. They also have videos on women's health, diabetes, HBP etc. Maybe your park district has adult classes, or the YMCA. I am working with the 3 Hour Diet book too. I am still getting hungry, but it could still be work related.

You are all so inspiring, and I'm having a good time reading the posts everyday. Thanks for sharing.

Kathy

Hello my lovelies!
5.6lbs GONE!!!!!!!
End of my 1st week on South Beach and really good headway made towards becoming a healthier Momma for my boy
Can't wait to see how everyone else is doing in the morning!

Good job, Karen! Makes me excited to check mine tomorrow morning. Did I just say that?

I didn't do any exercises today after last night, just some stretches especially since my one foot is sore. It was the one I broke 2 years ago, so maybe that is another thing to think about. 2 hrs together may be too much.

Everyone have a great Friday. I will try to get on to post my results in the 3 hours I have between work and night call. OOOh that could be a rough 24 hours. Kathy

Hope everyone survived the crash!!!
It was awfully strange logging in and seeing that the "last post" was made 2 weeks ago.
It is unbelievably and unbearably hot here. I've got Johnny upstairs in his room (I THOUGHT he was going to sleep, but I still hear him playing) and I've got to get a start on some of the massive cleaning that needs to be done by Sunday's party.
Fun.
If I had a box of ice cream I'd probably be eating the whole thing right now just to cool down some!

It's bizarre knowing that everything I posted in the last 2 weeks only exists in the ether now! I had a good day today except for missing 3FC.

Hey all! I am happy to report that I am back down to where I was the 1st time, 1.5 lb down! Guess I am either back on track, or the extra exercise of moving my son helped. I am on call tonight, but will catch you all tomorrow. Hope I don't have to go in.

Kathy