I am returned from the Y. Today was Zumba and Pilates. My food has not been all that healthy today but I think I have managed to keep the calories down to a reasonable amount. The scale was down a smidgen this morning so all in all I guess things are going as expected.

dancerindenver-Your food plan looks ambitious. I admire your ability to eat half a tortilla. I see another dancing carrot in your future!

Ouch!

The scale bit me this morning! After all my excitement yesterday about being 249, I knew it may not stick... But to be up TWO pounds today, up to 251 again?? I could've done without that!!! Ugh! Must make a point of hitting the gym today. Must must must.

Thanks everyone for the welcomes! And I, too, agree that summer is way more accomodating for weight loss. Plenty of good things going on... Lots of fruit, excuses to get out and do stuff, getting so busy you forget to eat... Hahaha. It's all good! Although I have to say, summer is getting off to a bizarre start in my little corner of California!

Hey Everyone, is it to late to join the challenge??

terapet - sounds like a great workout. Have you been doing pilates for a long time? How fun to have a height/weight twin out there (I'm a few pounds above ticker but am in temporary denial ) - I'm wearing pretty much medium tops or a 10 if they're numbered and a 10 or 12 on the bottom. How about you? I'll keep you posted on how the half-tortilla thing goes

ninepaw - did you make it to the gym? Hope so!

nichole - welcome!

Sticking to plan so far today and just got back from Costco at lunch with a ton of summer fruit which should help me keep temptation at bay. Hope you are all doing well!

Hop on board! There's always room for more! I just came in yesterday, no reason for you to not come on in today! So welcome!!!

Haven't made it to the gym yet. Thinking of getting myself a snack, then heading out. Was hoping my favorite Zumba instructor had something today, but she doesn't seem to do Fridays. Dang! Elliptical and whatnot it is, then! I'll be sure to let you all know what I do.

Snack is gonna have to be a sliced up banana with some sliced up strawberries... Yummy!!!

Oh, I wanna join!

1. Tell us a little about yourself….

Three years ago I had lost 80#. I hit a plateau, got frustrated, and relapsed into all my old bad habits (wrong foods, binging, no exercise). I gained back half the weight and really started feeling awful, both physically and emotionally. I knew what I had to do to feel better, so…here I am. I’m following the same plan that worked last time (see #2) but I’m relying on a support system and I’m mentally and emotionally preparing myself in case I hit a plateau again.

2. Develop a plan….

Food: Low-carb. Basically following the principles of the IR Diet. 1400-1600 calories. Macronutrients: 25% carbs (17% fruits & veggies, 8% grains), 40% protein, 35% fat. Also doing wheat-free.

Exercise: I really loved going to the gym the last time I did this, but my schedule isn’t going to allow that, so I’m looking for some alternatives. I’m going to try the Couch-to-5K program. (Eek!) I also ordered a couple DVDs - Jillian Michaels "No More Trouble Zones" and something called "Budokon" (a yoga/martial arts combo).

3. Weigh in…

Weight today: 228
Weigh in plan: weekly (Sunday)
Goal: 29 pounds to….199! (And if the Couch-to-5K program is successful, I'm signing up for a 5K in October! )

4. Participate…

Accountability and support. Check!

5. Tweak…

If it’s not working, fix it. Check!

6. Be real…

I didn’t get fat fast and I’m not gonna get skinny fast. Check!

Ooooh yes, I'm feeling so AWESOME right now you guys!!!

I DID make it to the gym, just like I said I would(Which I have to admit is a bit of an achievement in itself!) and I feel the best I've felt after any of my workouts in the last month! I spent 10 minutes warming up on a bike, 5 minutes on a stairmaster(Not the kind with real steps, just the things that move up and down... I'm convinced I will fall off the other ones! ), 33 minutes on the elliptical(Which came to just over 2 miles traveled!), 5 minutes on a handbike(Which I have decided is the most evil machine I have ever encountered, apart from the treadmill!), AND....

I'm super proud, because I figured with my weird time from the 33 minutes(who decided on that, anyway??), I would do some crunches on one of those situp contraptions. So I figured why not, I'll go for 100. Did that, still felt pretty good... Alright, why not 200? Did my second set of 100... Abs were kinda angry with me, just a little, so I figured... WHY NOT!? and did 50 more! Yeah, that's right... I did 250 freakin' crunches!!! And I feel super pumped up and happy and and and...

I'll stop shouting my praise from the rooftops now, I think y'all get my point!

Happy long weekend to everyone who has Monday off!! It's also my mom's birthday, so we'll be eating out at least once this Memorial Day weekend. We're going to Olive Garden, so I'm going to have a fun time avoiding the breadsticks. Other than that I already have plan A and plan B ready for my meal. I'm hoping they'll let me order the chicken speidini off the lunch menu even though we will be there at dinner time. I'm going for walks every morning during the long weekend. I can't do that when I'm working, cause I have to be at work at 7 or so!

Welcome to all the newcomers!! It's great to be part of such an interesting active group.

As I read through these posts, I made a list of everyone who is participating and their goal. Thought I'd share it (in case anyone else is a compulsive list maker/checker like me! )

So here's the list by screen name/real name/start weight/goal weight/goal total

(Some of them I couldn't find all the info, or I tried to do the math. Sorry if it's wrong! )

Mckenziesmomma (Melissa) 263/218 (45)
Eliana 185/155 (30)
Vertigosky (Danielle) 165/145 (20)
Julie131 (Julie) 154/135 (19)
TornadoSiren (Kris) 167/135 (32)
fcmonroe (Frances) 232/209 (23)
shadowclaw (Linda) 295/?
Aleks 265/240 (25)
Wilma729 275/?
Xooma 160/?
cheerios 175/160 (15)
WormwoodDoll (Corine) 213/185 (28)
dancerindenver 170/150 (20)
TheWildcat 140/125 (15)
TERAPET 167/152 (15)
TeaRose 207/?
ninepaw (Diana) 249/229 (20)
Rochester 228/199 (29)
rainbow84uk (198/170) (28)

morning, girls!

Rochester - welcome! Love the list you made -that was thoughtful. Your plan sounds great and I've heard nothing but good things about C25K. I'm a runner too and look forward to hearing about your progress.

ninepaw - way to go on the amazing workout!

fcmonroe - oooh - breadsticks at olive garden are evil! Good luck with that!

So I did good last night at the mexican place (no margaritas, a few chips instead of the planned 1/2 tortilla) and the scale is rewarding me this morning. Down two lbs for the week. I'm hoping I can keep this up and get to goal by the end of the summer!

How's everyone else doing? Hope you're all enjoying the holiday weekend...

Rabble rabble rabble!!! My body seems to be content chillin' at 250 pounds, since that's what the scale told me today. Evil!!! I know, I know. It's only been two days. I knooooooow. But... I want it DOWN!

So after I weighed myself this morning I had my morning bowl of crispix and realized it was only 10:15. My favorite Zumba instructor does a class on Saturdays... At 11. So I made a MAD dash to get into workout clothes, get water in my bottle, and RUNNNN! (Okay, I admit it. I drove! :P). And I made it! So I did my zumba, then 150 crunches, just for good measure. I figured that since I was there, I'd do it! Still broke it up into sets of 25, but eh. It works. So I'm happy to say I got exercise in and done... Before noon!?!? That's unheard of!!!

Hopefully my scale moves in the right direction soon... I'm still trying to meet my mini goal in my signature my the 6th... It's just five more pounds... I should be able to do this, darnit!!!!

dancerindenver: Good job at the mexican place! Glad to hear you were able to stay in control. Kinda jealous of your scale rewarding you!

Rochester: Nice list! That's awesome. Glad to have you here... Your plan looks great! I keep hearing about the Couch-2-5k program... I just don't know if I could pull it off! I am so NOT a runner...

fcmonroe: Ooooh, Olive Garden... I would be so screwed! I love my carbs. Good luck! Hope to hear good things from you when it's all over!

Anyone heard of the 100 pushup/200 squats/200 situps/25 pullup challenges? I was thinking I might try the squats or the situps... I'm not cool enough to try anything that involved my upper body yet, seeing as how I can't even do one full knee push up... They each have a website, like twohundredsitups.com or hundredpushups.com. Seems like they have a pretty good setup for those programs... I don't know! We'll see how it goes, if I ever get started!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend. Sorry for the super long post!

EDIT: Ooh! This is the 100th post!

Greetings All,

Today is reality check day. Taking off the first 5 pounds in the last few weeks was making me feel pretty accomplished but this week I only lost 1 pound. I will apparently need to adjust by eating habits some more. Goodness knows I exercise enough! The holiday is going to make this weekend difficult. My only line of defense right now is to try to keep the damage to a minimum because I know tomorrow's plans includes chocolate cake! Thankfully I have a family to share it with. The most important thing for me is to stay patient and keep working on it! Probably wearing a swimsuit at the pool party on Monday will make curbing my appetite easy!

dancerindenver-I have done Pilates in the past but not for a long time. I forgot how difficult it was. It was a challenging but I enjoyed it. Although we share the same weight, I wear bigger sizes then you. Weight distribution is funny that way. Unfortunately, I am pretty bottom heavy. Congrats controlling your calories with the mexican food. I love mexican food. I can't even think about going there for awhile!

ninepaw- That was some serious exercise! Good for you! I enjoyed reading your post. I'm glad it made you happy.

Rochester-Love the list. It makes me feel more motivated to meet my goal.

nicholeg-

Ninepaw, fantastic! 250 crunches?! Impressive! Bet your abs will be talking to you tomorrow!

Rochester, awesome list!! That really was very thoughtful of you!

Dancin, you went out for Mexian AND dropped two pounds? Where, please, do you dine?! I'm very good when I go out for Mexican, but the salt you can't avoid catches up with me every time. I always get chicken fajitas and only eat the fillings. (No tortillas, chips, sour cream, guac, etc.) I eat half the beans.

I got my workout in this morning. It's a good thing I got to work with my trainer because I just wasn't into it. It was also a good thing that he entered me into the computer wrong. I showed up at 8:00 for a workout and he had me down for the wrong day. He squeezed me in at 8:30 but that meant I had a half hour to kill. I ended up doing the elliptical before my workout with him. Otherwise, I probably would not have done any cardio today.

Ninepaw, I tried the hundred push-ups challenge. I wasn't quite ready for it when I tried it. I was stubborn and wanted to start out with regular push-ups. (Not on the knees) Now today during my workout with my trainer I managed two sets of 10 regular push-ups, 3 sets of "girl push-ups" and finished with a final set of 10. So I was able to 30 regular. Basically, I think I'm ready for the program now, and I've learned that "girl push-ups" are excellent stepping stones to regular push-ups.

Hahaha, I can see how that could go awry. I may try it someday... But, like I said. Even doing ONE "girly" push up is a stretch for me... My arms are sad and lacking in muscle. Gotta spend more time on that dreaded hand bike!!!