My week has been great for exercise, but when I stepped on the scale this morning . . . I wasn't happy. We've been eating dinner late and I've been using too much salt. At this moment, I cannot get my wedding ring off. Eeek.

I'm going to follow Shan84's lead and focus more on healthy food choices this week. Decrease salt and increase water intake.

Okay, a little about me... I'm 27, and currently living in Toronto, Canada. (But I'm originally from Utah.) I'm calorie counting for the most part, trying to eat less unprocessed food, and staying away from any food in a box, generally. And I'm doing lots of walking and exercise videos from The Firm.

I'm actually going back to Utah next week for a month, so I'm nervous that it's going to disrupt the plan that I've been on. Staying with other people always makes it difficult for me to eat healthy, especially when the people I'm staying with, like to eat out and eat junk. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep motivated and not succumb to the candy my niece and nephew wave around in my face!

Hi everyone. I am new to this site and new to the challenge.

I live in Hawai‘i, I am a teacher, and this was my last day of work for the summer! I started the South Beach diet almost 2 weeks ago and am really loving it (although I did cheat a little today because carbs don't do any damage on the last day of school!).

I used to run and do yoga religiously, I am not too sure why i stopped, but i do know that after i stopped running I gained almost 30 pounds, and am now determined to lose that weight!

Now that I am on vacation I plan to start exercising again. I am going to start running again, but slowly using the Couch to 5k running plan. I am also planing on doing some yoga and 30 day shred on non running days.

I am looking forward to getting to know all of you and help the red team win this challenge!

Hi Red Team,
I wasn't able to finish the challenge last time, but intend to work hard and make up for it this time. I'm married ( 30 years this summer) with 2 children, a DS who is 21 and a DDwho will be 10 in a few weeks. I've had PCOS (treated) and thyroid problems(untreated) for most of my life, as my dr told me about my weight I didn't stand a chance. Now everything is in reasonable working order I do have a chance of losing weight.
I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone, I do tend to talk a lot about my garden and the 100+ year old house I'm living in and fixing up. I'm moving everything out of the living room to get started on fixing the plaster and painting.
I hope everyone has a great week.
BetteK

It's Saturday! Hooray!

I've been struggling to get my exercise in this week. I've been sick, yuck! Between being sick and getting up so freaking early with my baby, it's been hard. I'm hoping to kick this sickness soon! I am for getting off the couch and doing my pushups and situps and a workout DVD today. Sorry baby, momma's gotta get moving!

HELLO RED TEAM!!!!!

I'm Courtney and am a returning Red Team member. I participated in the last challenge but let the MANY stresses of life get me down and I ended up pretty much disappearing for the last half of it. I need to keep myself motivated and I want so much to reach my goal of 135 sometime sooner rather than later! After all, the older I get the tougher losing weight becomes. Finances are really rough right now and I've got a LOT on my plate right now. I don't have time to concentrate on myself because I am too busy dealing with stuff for everyone else. I am hoping that I can force myself to take time for me during this challenge and make it happen. We'll see how it goes.

Good luck to everyone!

Hey everyone

I am kind of a returning Red team member I participated in about half of the last challenge but I ended up losing motivation. It will be different this time since I have a summer vacation I would love to lose weight for. Also right now I am not in school and barely working (only a few hours available) so I figure now is the perfect time to start since I have a lot of free time. Good luck to everyone

Good morning everybody!

Nice to see so many new people posting. GFS, Kilikila, CourtneyD, & Rated!

Bettek - I remember you from a few years ago! Good to see you here.

LongTallBee - I like the FIRM videos, too. I did Rock the Wave this morning. It makes me feel rather klutzy and off-balance, but I like it.

Looks like there are a lot of teachers and/or students that have put on weight during school. It's hard to balance studying, life, and taking care of yourself. I am hoping to get healthy habits this summer so I can maintain a steady weight during my last year of nursing school. We can all keep each other motivated.

Courtney- Welcome back for another challenge!

Hello to everyone else!!

I will post the first official threads by Sunday evening.

Everything is great here diet wise. A great loss for this week. Hope to add to it for next week. On the homefront- back in the states, my dads in the hospital. We don't know the exact nature but it looks like he might need surgery. i'll keep everyone posted. I'm doing my best not to emotionally eat. It's hard not having someone here to talk to...with the bf traveling right now thru China, communication has been spotty.

Anyways, hope everyone else is having a good weekend.

An interesting read: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.p...d-in-80-diets/

What I Eat: Around the World in 80 diets.