Calling all 40-Somethings who are looking for the next challenge - here it is! If we put in the work this month (hence the showers), surely we will enjoy the fruits of our labor in May! Let's challenge ourselves to lose as much weight and get as fit and healthy as we can by Monday, April 30, 2012!

Everyone who wants to participate should post their goals for what they want to accomplish over the next month and a half. If you want to post your daily/weekly weigh-ins, great! If you want to post your menu/food diary for the day, great! If you want to post about your exercise progress, great! If you want to post about the emotional challenges and daily hurdles you are facing, great! However you want to approach this challenge thread is up to you.

Here are my goals -

- Drink at least 6 glasses of water per day.
- Maintain a higher protein and lower carb diet (including lots of green leafy vegetables!).
- No snacking between meals.
- Get in at least 30 minutes of exercise per day.
- Lose 4lbs (that would put me at 155lbs).

I won't be posting as often in April, because of family visiting and also being out of town for a bit. However, I will be trying with all my might to stay on track!

Anyone care to join in? Let's make April a successful month!

I'm in! I'm going to give it my all this month, trying to break through my plateau.

I commit to:

* 8 glasses of water a day
* daily tracking on livestrong
* max 1700 cals, even on weekends
* exercise daily except sunday


SW: 253
CW: 253
GW: 243


IT's a tall order for sure, but I'm going to try my hardest!!

Great, kirsteng! This will be a challenging month for me for sure! I am doing well so far, but the weeks coming up will be chock full of large meals and off plan foods. I am going to have to navigate carefully, but I know how easy it will be to cave in when everyone else is indulging. Although, they don't even see it as indulging - food is there, so why not eat it? It kind of blows that I will always have to see eating off plan foods as indulging if I want to stay on track - but, that's the price I need to pay for losing weight and getting healthy. It's always a trade off.

Okay I'm in! totally screwed up and dropped out of the March challenge, but I think now Im ready. If anything I am going to try.

My goals:

No sugar
Higher protein/lower carbs. NO BREAD, it makes me feel sick and bloated.
More water per day
Take my mulitvitamin and Omega oil supplement
Lose 5 lbs.

Sounds good, ladies! All we can do is try, right?

Yes, and having the strength and motivation to try and sometimes half the battle! I am so tired of feeling depressed, bloated and sickly. I also am tired of having a closet full of clothes that I can't wear and I'm always reaching for the ugly sweatpants.

Will post how I did later..just wanted to weigh in for the start of this challenge. Have a good day everybody.

All righty. I'm in. Looking over my last few months I see that in January when I started I lost 5 pounds, February 3.5 and March 2 pounds. My loss has been going down every month. Well that is about to change.

My goals for April are:
Drink at least 64 ounces of water every day (the water in my coffee does not count)
Maintain a calorie defict every day
Achieve 40 hours of physical activity (measured by my BB)
Post progress here 5X a week M-F
Last but not least, lose 5 pounds.

Have a great day everyone.

Kim

Kim, that is great tho! Last year was the first year where I sort of stayed the same, no loss or gain. I was sad at first, then I realized; last year was the first year in 5 or so years where I did not gain! I went from 115 to 170 in 5 years.... so if it took me 5 years to put on 55 pounds, I will give myself a year or two to shed it.

I lost 3.5 pounds in Feb, and I think I lost 3.5 pounds in March. For this month I set my goal very low, 2.5 pounds.

I am just feeling better and better each passing day.

Slow Dancing

My weight loss has really slowed down too - but like Sum said - no gain is progress!!

Today I weighed in at 158lbs. My goal over the next 2 weeks is not to put on more than 5 lbs. It's going to be tough, lots of food and celebrations. However, I am going to enjoy and not stress too much. I really need to pay attention to my body, and when I am full - stop eating! Social eating is my downfall...when others eat, I can't stop myself from grazing and pecking too!

So far, I am on plan today. Let's make it a good day, everyone!

I'm in, again.

Goals:

Lose 8 pounds.
Lose 4% BF. Ugh. Wanna get to where I can use the calipers. I still can't at 25%. If I was better at using them maybe I could.
Lose another inch off my prodigious gut.
Exercise 5-6 times per week.
Continue to make good food choices and eat within my calorie budget.
Going to try to support others more, I haven't had much time lately.

Let's "git 'r done".

Hey! I'm in.

Here are my goals:

* follow my plan as laid out by my nutritionist.
* continue a 6-day a week yoga practice.
* drink at least 100 oz of water daily.
* only weight in once a week @ nutritionist.

As far as the weight goes... I'm just going to do everything I can and the weight will be what it is. I can't get nuts about it if I'm doing everything that's laid out for me to do to succeed.

I think I lost about 10 lbs in March... *think* LOL! I'll get my first weigh in next Thursday.

Have I told you all how much I appreciate and admire you!? I really feel like the like the 40s bunch of gals and guys are my "friends in weight loss." It's so nice to know that I am not alone in this struggle, and that this is a safe place to talk about this journey. Thanks so much.