Jolly - it must feel wonderful to get moving again - that's great! So I take it you exercise before going to school? I'm still trying to 'regularize' my exercise; it's so easy to 'put it off until later' when I have no set schedule in my day. I'm trying to imagine what it will be like once I'm back at work (I'm on leave until around Jan-March, I think). I work in a really nice area where I can walk by the canal/lake, or skate in the winter if the ice is nice. Can't wait!

1) Daily posting - day 20, 3/3 pauses left
2) Follow exercise plan - day 19, 2/3 pauses left
3) No deep fried foods - day 19, 2/3 pauses left
4) Follow menu - day 18, 1/3 pauses left

Almost to the end of this set of challenges. What I am picking to do next is HARD, so wish me luck. Unless it is pouring rain, I will have to take a pause on Saturday for exercise plan. They changed the swim time at the pool, and I had made recreational plans with a friend. Ah well, will get other exercise in.

I work full time, and go to school part time, SeaWave. So, depending on the day, I get up at 3 or 4 in the morning, so I can work out before work. I hate the early mornings, and hope by next year will be more in maintenance, so I don't have to work out on school days. But for now, it is what it is. I need to work out, and mornings are my best time to do it without distractions. It is too easy at night to not wanna. Which is why I have focused on getting that second owrkout in on some evenings. It felt great to be brave and try to jog. One day of success

Hope you had a good day SeaWave, and to everyone else.

Today was a good day, much better than the past couple of days energy-wise.

1. 7 fruit/veggies per day - DAY 21 (0/3 pauses left) DONE
2. Get fresh air twice per day - DAY 21 (1/1 pauses left) DONE
3. PT exercises for arms - DAY 21 (1/1 pauses left) DONE
4. Pencil in my menu for the next day -- Day 15 (2/3 pauses left)

With only one challenge left, I've been thinking what to tackle next as well. I guess we'll be pondering at the same time, Jolly! (Edited to say: early morning would actually be good for my work-out, but the gym here isn't open that early!)

For you lurkers out there (lol) I hope all is going well!

OK I've fallen down on the job reporting here.

1. Drink at least 48 ounces of water daily - Day 1 (3/3 pauses left) Finally!! It took the Dietician telling me I was borderline dehydrated.
2. Eat only "on plan" foods - Day 2 (3/3 pauses left)
3. Log foods contemporaneously - Day 5 (3/3 pauses left)

Hi Web! Glad to see you back! You must have been feeling poorly if you were borderline dehydrated - yikes! Glad you caught that and are fixing it!

1. 7 fruit/veggies per day - DAY 21 (0/3 pauses left) DONE
2. Get fresh air twice per day - DAY 21 (1/1 pauses left) DONE
3. PT exercises for arms - DAY 21 (1/1 pauses left) DONE
4. Pencil in my menu for the next day -- Day 16 (2/3 pauses left)

Still thinking about what my next challenges will be... I'm thinking one of them will be to use sparkpeole to track nutrition more closely, because I've just found out that I'm really off in my estimates - yikes!

1) Daily posting - day 21, 3/3 pauses left CHALLENGE COMPLETE
2) Follow exercise plan - day 20, 2/3 pauses left
3) No deep fried foods - day 20, 2/3 pauses left
4) Follow menu - day 18, 0/3 pauses left

I just need to say to me. What a crappy day. Could I have made worse choices??? What was I thinking Oh wait. . . WAS I thinking No. The answer is clearly no. Geez, can I even follow my menu for 3 more days and finish the challenge???

Keep up the good job Web, and good luck deciding on your next challenges SeaWave. Everyone else Hope to hear from y'all soon.

Oh, and SeaWave - sorry you don't have a 24 hr gym near you. I don't know what I would do without. I do have some fitness equipment and tapes at home though. I bike, do weights, walk/jog, do yoga at home. Good luck!

Good morning all. Well, despite my poor choices this week, I managed to lose 1 of the 1.4 pounds I gained last week. goofy. Here's to better choices, I guess!


Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Is it too late to jump on here? If I start a challenge now, can I just carry it over when you start the new thread? This really fits what I need right now!

1) Daily posting - day 21, 3/3 pauses left CHALLENGE COMPLETE
2) Follow exercise plan - day 20, 1/3 pauses left
3) No deep fried foods - day 21, 2/3 pauses left CHALLANGE COMPLETE
4) Follow menu - day 19, 0/3 pauses left

Well, did miss the swim time at the pool. Should have been more careful when doing my exercise schedule, huh. So, hopefully tomorrow knock out my exercise challenge, and Monday my menu - then on to bigger, better and more to b#$% about challenges!

Welcome Amy. We all just start whenever. You are more than welcome. What challenges do you want to try?

Amy! Nice to "see a new face"

Jolly - hang in there, you're so close, and you're doing so well!

I'm still thinking about my next challenges as well, and waiting for a couple of things to fall into place that could affect them. Until then, I only have my fourth challenge left, which nearly feels like cheating because I've got my menu done up for the next week. Once I got started, it was pretty easy... so with yesterday and today, I'm up to:

Pencil in my menu for the next day -- Day 18 (2/3 pauses left)

1) Daily posting - day 21, 3/3 pauses left CHALLENGE COMPLETE
2) Follow exercise plan - day 21, 1/3 pauses left CHALLENGE COMPLETE
3) No deep fried foods - day 21, 2/3 pauses left CHALLANGE COMPLETE
4) Follow menu - day 20, 0/3 pauses left

OK. 3 challenges down, one to go. Almost there. Whew. And you too, SeaWave - almost there! Way to go.

Red, hope to hear from you soon. Hang in there, and we are always here for you!!

Everyone else, get on in here

Hi everyone, and thanks for the warm welcome.

My goal is to stay on food plan for 21 days. This is a level 2 for me. "On plan" means at my calorie goal of 1700 calories. If my weight goes below 120 I will tweak to maintenance, and will continue the challenge at a maintenance calorie level. Basically, I went into maintenance in mid-July but have had major calorie-creep and have been eating too much crap. Back to good food, back to plan! I have my 20-year HS reunion in 5 weeks and I want to rock it.

Red, I hope everything is OK.

Jolly, are those English Cocker Spaniels in your avatar? Or Springers? I had an ECS growing up and I rarely see them. Your doggies' ears look so similar to my Morgan's.

My challenge starts tomorrow -- although I did pretty well today -- 2049 calories -- but I ran a half marathon!

1. Drink at least 48 ounces of water daily - Day 4 (3/3 pauses left)
2. Eat only "on plan" foods - Day 5 (2/3 pauses left)
3. Log foods contemporaneously - Day 8 (3/3 pauses left)

Congrats jollygirl & SeaWave.

Good morning all Thanks Web. Glad to see you are moving right along on your challenges. Amy, good luck with your challenge. and my avatar is a picture of my two Springer spaniels. These are teh 3rd and 4th ones I have had. Glad you didn't think they were American Cockers - I would have had to get grumpy

I am dead tired today. Worked a 7p-mid at one of my programs, than up for payroll and budgets today. Woo hoo. A little extra coffee in my protein shake today.

Later all