Hi All~Got a Funny for ya~My son says Mom you have droopy drawers! You have room enough to lay an egg in there! LOL I guess I do need new clothes for Christmas! Catch ya all later Pat

Pat - that is GREAT!!! I love it! Yesterday DD (6) came up to me out of the blue and said "you're pretty" - melted my heart! and earlier today I was running arouns the house topless looking for a tank top to work out in and she said - "Momma you look skinny" I LOVE IT!!!! Someone is noticing my efforts! Oh and I was thinking about your sexy black dress that you're GOING to fit into for Christmas, and it made me think - maybe I'll get one of those cute, sexy little Mrs. Claus numbers to parade around in front of Joe in... hmmm...

Eny~That is a wonderful idea!! We can show off our new figures! Your daughter sounds like such a sweet heart. That is so cute for her to say that. Kids do say the most wonderfully warm fuzzy things. Give her a big kiss! Pat

Ps: I love your new avatar!! You go girl!!

Good morning ladies!
Sounds like everyone is doing well.

Patty, Great job by your baby at the fair. Those presentation are killer. I am 42 and it makes me nervous, so I am in awe of a little one getting it done!!

Eny & Pat, Great job on the losses! I have a visual of both of you in those little pink Santa outfit's from Victoria's Secret. You go ladies!! I am with ya, I just want to walk into a store and pick up whatever I like that day and know it looks just fine. It would also not hurt my feelings if I could get bikini worthy abs. I would love to wear a bikini next spring on vacation. I realize the road map of the United States is still on my belly in the form of stretch marks left by my beautiful children, but I'd wear it anyway if I was thin enough!

Moonring, WTG on another pound lost!!

Asynch, I am with ya, I hardly ever eat out during the week, but DH and I do go out to eat almost every weekend at least once, so I save calories for that.
Last night I made marinated pork chops with corn on the cob and fresh green beans from the garden. Yummy!

OK, everyone, have a faboulos day. I want to go get a run in before I jump in the shower. TTYL. *** OK, I just did my run (2 miles only today) and 75 upper and 75 lower crunches!

MM~You rock!! Santa's naughty little elf. HUMMMMM sounds very interesting. Is that before or after the slinky black dress????? LOL My ex would have a heart attach. I had to back off the exercise for a couple of days. The old body was rebelling loudly. I think for the time being I will stick to stepping or other cardio, abs, and upper body weight training and leave the lower body weight training alone for awhile. I can't get another shot of cortizone in the hip right now. The c25k will have to wait until the hip recovers a little more. I feel much better today, so I am ready to go. Catch ya all later. Pat

MM- that sounds like a great dinner! We're having left-overs tonight, too much to do between teaching and harp lessons and running to make dinner. It's the white chili from this site, which is really good! I've made a few minor changes to it to make it more "me," but otherwise I cook it exactly the way it is, and it's great!

Last night we had friends over for dinner- 10 of us in my tiny apartment- and it was a sandwich night, everyone brought some meat and some cheese, as well as either condiments or a side. Well I made a fruit tray so that I would have an option, everything else was chips and soda. I did have a *tiny* bowl of cookie dough ice cream, but I figure in moderation it should be ok, and I made my sister (who brought the 1/2 gallon) take the thing home. In fact, I was very proud of the fact that even though dinner wasn't the best, I made everyone take all their bad snacks and drinks home with them, instead of leaving them for me to munch on.

Wendi - great job! and you're right - moderation is the key! Good job making everyone take there stuff home with them!

Pat - LET's DO iT! I'm ready for the sultry girl that I feel inside (at times) to come out and play!

Hi everyone, I hope it is not too late to join you here in the Xmas challenge.

My xmas goal is to lose 40 pounds. I started on July 20 but barely found this thread! I am calorie counting but it is confusing me a bit. I use The Daily Plate which says I can have up to 1700 calories a day! Oh my! I used a different web calculator that says 1300. hhmmm How do you all decide what is best? Trial and error?

Nice to be here with a goal! I hope to stick around and make some progress this time.

Hi Annabella04! Welcome to the challenge! When I was calorie counting I used www.mypyramid.gov to help me track all of that. It put me on 1800 calories based on height, weight, age, sex and physical activity level (I chose low activity). I liked that site a lot. They have a meal planner as well as food database that's easy to use. I'm certainly no expert, but 1300 calories doesn't sound like enough. Best of luck to you!

Hi everyone! Boy this thread's been hot! Lots of activity! Not much to report here, still pluggin' along. Missed my walk yesterday but got some exercise working outside.

I'll be so glad when I can see a "real" weight-loss! I can reach 189, but it's only briefly then my weight will fluctuate and go up and back down. (today is an up day) Drives me crazy! I tend to give myself a 10 pound cushion in both directions from any lengthy weight (for instance i've been around 193 for a long time now, so my cushion is from 188-198 - to allow for fluctuations due to water gain or dehydration or a million other causes). So I will be TRULY happy when I break past that 188 barrier because THEN I'll know that things are moving in the right direction and that I'm not just spinning my wheels! I'm really pushing to break that 188 this month! Got to do it! OK, that was my mini rant. lol

Anna -

I'm also a calorie counter. What you want to do is find your BMR. (here's a good one: http://walking.about.com/cs/calories/l/blcalcalc.htm) For example, I'm 5'2" - #186 - and I do light activity (generally 1-3 xs a week) so mine is 1900-2200 calories/ day. In order for me to lose weight I have to eat less then that. You should NEVER go under 1200 calories a day - your body needs AT LEAST that much! I keep my range between 1200-1500 a day.

#1=3500 calories. So to lose #1 a week you would need to burn 3500 more calories then you ate. My goal is to have a "Calorie Deficit" (burned more then ate) of 750-800 calories a day which is about #1.5 - #1.6 a week.

Of course there are always other factors that play in, sodium, hormones etc.. but this is a good starting place There is a calorie COunters forum on here too which those girls know a TON more then me!

I would also like to join! My goal weight is 172 lbs by christmas, which will be very hard to achieve.But Ive been (succesfully) on vlcd's in the past, so I hope it will happen. I just can't afford too many mistakes.

SW 254 (8/8/08)
CW 244 (just realised I lost 10 pounds already!)
GW 172 by Christmas

So 10/82 lbs!

Welcome Quillie! Sounds like you're off to a great start! Best of luck!

Quillie - It looks like you have a lofty goal for Christmas! just keep working girl! Great job on losing #10 already! What plan are you on/what are you doing???

I'm SO ready to be OUT of the #180's!!!! I DESPERATELY want to see a #17x on the scale!!!!!! Right now the lower 1/2 of the #180's would be nice to see too!!! UGH! I know I just have to keep working. I'm completely on plan today too. I'm getting ready to do day 7 of 30 day shred. I AM noticing a difference, even after a week!

Checking in for the evening, my boy took me out on a date tonight =D It was great, I went out and bought a cute purple shirt and a nice skirt a few days ago, and he said I needed an excuse to wear it. So, I'll get a day off on my running, but totally worth it.