What is Hot & Healthy Challenge Chicks?

A bunch of us were all part of different challenges together, and when the challenges ended, we decided not to! So we all came together and decided to start a long term challenge group, and we called them the Hot & Healthy Challenge Chicks!

-Anyone can join the group no matter what your goals are or where you are in your weight loss journey.
-We are here to support each other, encourage each other, laugh together, and cry together.
-Our unified goal is to exercise, eat right (whatever diet plan we may each separately be following), and have fun!
-We encourage new members, as the more that join, the more friends we have to support us along the way!
-We only ask that you follow one teensy, tiny rule. At the beginning of each month we state what our goals are, and they can be WHATEVER YOU WANT!
Then at the end of the month we can share how well we did with our goals, etc. However, sharing at the end of the month is completely optional.

We can do this!!

Okay ladies. Sorry I have been gone so much lately! As you all know I have been so busy cooking from scratch and all that fun stuff! I have some pics I'll share in a bit. I was a bit depressed last week with the whole Anna Nicole thing. I always kind of liked her, never too big a fan but if I seen an article about her I read it, when the show was on and I had cable I had fun watching it even though I was surprised how out of it she was at times. In a world where Hollywood glamorizes anorexic girls etc. She was great. Showing the world just cause you are big doesn't mean you can't be beautiful etc.

I cried like a baby when her mom was on court tv talking about her. I feel family is very important and I have already lost both my parents. My mom was addicted to prescription meds as well, etc.

Anyways. I really need to start focusing on my exercise again. I have been maintaining but have been really bad lately and it seems the more I stay away, the more bad choices I make. I need to try to come by at least once a day. I miss all of you and I do hope everyone else is doing well.

I recently found a neat site.

Organized Home

They have free printable shopping list, menu planners, price books, freezer and pantry inventory etc.

I'd love to join you guys!

I lost 70 pounds, had my son move in with his dad and promptly put back on 30 of it. I'm working on establishing some equilibrium with exercise and regular healthy eating patterns again, this time for one instead of for two.

My biggest weight-loss success has come from incorporating a lot of vegetables, lots of support from 3FC and my TOPS group, and drinking enough water. I also try to eat more fish, chicken, and lentils for protein over red or fatty meats.

Hi Michelle! *BIG HUGZ* You are more than welcome here hun!! I am so sorry to hear about your mom. My mom and I were very close and it hit me very hard although we knew it was coming for years. She was diabetic, pacemaker, kidney trouble, cirrhosis of the liver, heppatitis C, I could go on and on! She was only 52!!!! Her death has actually been a huge inspiration to me to clean up my act. She always warned me of the dangers of drugs and alcohol so I never went that route. I drink maybe once to twice a year, never touch drugs. I never realized how bad food was and how many problems it could cause til I watched her die and my dad was 65 but also a diabetic, getting dialysis etc. That really hit me hard. My aunt told me that even despite the prescription meds and diabetes etc it was ultimately the hep that did her in completely.

I am sooo sorry to hear about your mom! It has been 2 and a few months for mine. If you ever need support I am here for you. If you need to pm me you are more than welcome as well. What did she pass on of?

Well about my weight. When Joe first came out here in Oct of 2004 I was about 250 and gained about 30 more while working for dominoes, dealing with a divorce, two parents dying back to back etc. It was the following June of 2005 when I realized how unhealthy my parents were and why etc. Joe was a big instigator. He is 5'10 and weighs 150!! So I seen pics of us and I was HUGE and he was thin and I seen all the love and adoration he had in his eyes for me and I wanted to see what he saw. Because of him and Gods help I started wanting to be healthy. I didn't want to die like my parents. I wanted to look great for him and see what he saw when he looked at me, etc.

So starting june of 2005 was when I decided to get up off my butt and start walking. I made slow changes and started eating fruit. If I could live the rest of my life healthily off pizza chips soda burgers and fries believe me I would!

I started cutting back and only eating out once a week, only sugary soda that once a week. By December of that year I was down to 250. The new year hit me hard and despite using an IUD I found myself pregnant. We were overjoyed, it was just unexpected. But the iud was still there. I stopped the walking and just tryed to eat healthy. I only gained 2 pounds by April but I know I lost muscle etc. We did marry 4-6-06(We had already been engaged since the previous year) Anyhow unfortunately at 4.5 months along we lost our son a few days after the wedding.

At the end of April I kicked myself in the pants and told myself to get back on with the exercising. So I did, along the lines I made more changes. We eventually switched to more chicken, not frying cept once in a while. More veggies, red meat once a week. Potatoes once a week. It is when I started cal counting when I started losing on a consistant basis. If I walk 30-60 minutes 5 days a week and eat about 1700 cals a day I lose 2 pounds a week.

The holidays hit me hard as they did most and January I got back on it but in Feb I had numerous flare ups including a teenager daughter who decided to start cutting herself, cps and the cops coming to my door due to my ex lying, (they shut the case) etc. It has been rough. But at least I am maintaining and I am looking forward to losing again. I hope that sums up what you ask. This is a lifestyle to me, its not a diet. So even when i get offtrack, I just jump back where I left off and keep going.

I try to incorporate the food I love into my eating. I have chucked the low fat approach as it seems foods are healthier in the original state they were intended. I just practice moderation. We have also incorporated alot of ground turkey! It is really yummy when seasoned correctly.

Yes it is so sad about Nicole. I watched the court stuff last week and am sickened about howard. Did you see the clown video? I really doubt he has anyones best interest at heart. I hope Daniel is the dad. I know there were angry emails but I can see why. He truly seemed to care about her and the baby and wanted her off drugs which is why he was shut out of her life etc.

I look forward to getting to know you and feel free to share anything else you like about what plan you are on, how you are doing, etc.

Hi everyone;

Jasmine, you do need to catch up...I even posted a pic. for you last week.

welcome to phantastica and Michelle! (sorry, I'm not an Anna fan, I cringed at her lack of articulate speech during her last interview with Larry King--but I think she's being horribly exploited in her death---please bury the poor woman--it's going on 3 weeks).

Phantastica, I sent my daughter to live with her dad and had a hard time dealing with it for a few months, then one day I came home from work and was able to appreciate the peace and quiet, and the fact that my house looked the same way I had left it in the AM.....from then on it was OK, I saw it as an opportunity to focus on ME....congrats on your progress, you are down almost 50#!

spent the weekend catching up.......no formal exercise, unless you count cleaning out huge storage closets, cooking, laundry...just call me Cinderella....

I did manage to poke myself in the eye, moving a giant plant, one of the stalks jabbed me...it made my eye water all day and I couldn't go to the movies! I so wanted to see "23"...anyone see it yet?

phantastica:

Hi hun! We'd love to have you too! I have nejoyed some of your post on the board. Are the shoes from Dorothy? hehehehe

marbleflys:

I know. I am sorry!

The pic is great! You look very pretty, Carmela has nothing on you!

Heavy duty cleaning is very like exercise. What is 23 about?

thanks....at the moment my nails are "off", I'm staining my new french doors in bedroom....

23 is Jim Carrey's new movie...it's a serious role and a thriller, he gets a book, based on this number and begins to think his entire life is actually the book, there might be some good scary scenes...(murder/mayhem)...I love being scared and I like to see him act out of the usual comedic role....I'm a true movie and TV Addict....I can probably recite scenes from many shows, ver batum....

French doors? Cool! Take pics when done!! I would like to see that too. I like most stuff he does.

WOW, thank you ladies for making me feel so welcomed!! I have seen the movie 23 advertised several times on tv, and it looks very intense. I just told my DH that I've never seen Jim Carey in anything other than comical before. I too wish that they would just get Anna buried and let her be at peace.

Jasmine ~~ Thanks so much for your kind words, and I appreciate always knowing I have you to talk to. My mom was 63 years old and had MANY health issues which included: 2 open heart surgeries with a mitro valve put in during the second surgery, 5 strokes, cereberal hemorage in her brain where she lost most of her short term memory, bone cancer in her left leg femer bone and had to have a kadavar bone, steel plate and steel rod inserted, became diabetic after going into a diabetic coma and permanently lost half of her hearing, skin cancer on her nose, was diagnosed with dimentia two months before passing away, was in congestive heart failure and she had to take 33 pills and two insulin shots every day. I think that covers everything, but what she ended up passing away with was in August, she had to have surgery all over in her leg again because the bone and steel rod had broke in two places from her falling a few times. About two days after she was back in her own home at the assisted living center, from being at the rehabilitation center a month, she fell out of bed on her good leg and the bruising was horrible. The coloring was so bad and she was in so much pain, so she was put in the hopsital so that they could monitor it and have physical theraphy work with her. She was there three days and on the day they were fixing to release her back to her home, physical therapy had been in to work with her and she had her breakfast and then they put her back in her bed while they were getting all of her paperwork ready to discharge her. I tried calling her room and there was no answer so I called the nurses station and they went into check on her and they found she had passed away in her bed. They found out that she had thrown a blood clot from that horrible bruising and it went to her heart and killed her immediately. I was very close to me mom and did so much with her, but the past six months before her passing had been very hard, because she was not the same person anymore with the dimentia, and it was so hard seeing my mom this way. I know that where she is now is where she wanted to be and she's now out of her pain and suffering, but it's so hard some days, and some people just do not understand when I have my good and bad days. I'm also so sorry for you losing your son and what all you have had do go through. Thank you so much for explaining all of your weightloss with me. Do you keep track yourself of your calories in a little book, do you use Fitday or something else? I've done LAWL in the past and lost 40 pounds, but after my hysterectomy a couple years ago, gained most of it back. I'm going to go back to keeping track of calories again and for my exercise, I love WATP with Leslie Sansone, because you can do them in your own home, and I have about 13 of her dvds. Okay, sorry for the long windy post, but it feels good to have someone I can talk with.

Mimi; the stability balls are harder than they look....I roll off frequently. and I confess to eating 1/2 an entree of veal Picatta this weekend....no regrets, it was really good.

OK, no movie Number 23....it has gotten TRASHED by every review I've seen (including the rotten tomatoes site which is gospel)...But ZODIAC looks even better!

Michelle, it's ok to be long-winded,,,,you'll see several lengthy postings at various times. I'm very sorry to hear that you lost your Mom...(my X is a cardiologist, I know in depth that she did not have an easy time, after all that to die from a DVT?)...and when your parent suffers from dementia, it's hard to accept, my mother is 87 and i find myself so frustrated to communicate with her at times!

it's time for me to crawl back on the exercise wagon this week! My February goal was 4 hours a week and the most I got to was 3 hrs. and 20 mins. last week I didn't even hit 2 hours...pathetic...but this week is going to be different, or I'll die tryin' BBL

Hey everyone. Time is flying by so freakin fast. I have about a week before I move into my apartment. I can't wait! I have to get another job since I'm not fulltime at the VA yet but I don't care. I know that I will do 100% better at eating better in my own place. I did when I was on my own in California. I have to learn how to ride the bus again though which sucks. My tax refund was way less than I thought it would be so it will be a while before I'll have enough saved up for my car.

So I talked to my best friend Karina in California for the first time in months the other day. We've been best friends since I was 10 but drifted apart when she moved to Cali. The friendship actually got worst after I moved out there, mainly because she was seeing this guy Ryan and was all about him. Anyway, they got married on my birthday and a few months later, he left her pregnant and started a whole lot of drama. She's now almost eight months pregnant and when I called her, she sounded happy to hear from me. She said she wanted to call me but had lost her phone and found out later on that Ryan had stolen it. Her baby (who I love already) is due April 3 and it's a boy! She's going to name him George Lucas. When she told me that, I almost died. But it's her grandfather's name so...*shrugs* I've already decided that I will call him by his middle name or a nickname. I'm so excited! She wants to bring him down as soon as he's old enough. When we were young, we always said we would raise our kids together. When the whole mess with Ryan first started, she wanted to move back to Alabama. I doubt that will ever happen though. She lived here for about 7 years and hated it. She's a Cali girl through and through. So yeah, I have a nephew on the way!