Hello Red Team & welcome to week 1 of the Fall Back to Basics Challenge.
This is where we can chat & encourage each other during the week.

A little bit about me:
My name is Mel, an American living in Canada. I have 3 kids ages:12, 10 & 8.
I started my lifestyle change in Jan 2009. I lost 60+ pounds at one point, reaching a weight of 147 in April 2011. Since then I've been battling the same 10 lbs!
This is my 4th challenge as Red Team Leader & I've lost count of how many challenges I've participated in.

Share as much or as little about yourself as you would like.

Remember this is a positive, supportive, environment.

You must participate in the weekly chat thread to be named the weekly biggest loser.

Our weekly weigh in thread is located here. You may weigh in (and post your weight) on whatever day of the week works best for you. Just be sure to post your weight before 6pm central time on Sundays (starting September 2nd).
Your starting weight is the weight you posted in the sign up thread- please do not edit your starting weight.


We have 2 other Red Team threads that you may participate in:

Red Team Exercise thread

Red Team Nutrition thread


Looking forward to getting to know you all! Let's get this Challenge Started!

LET'S GO RED TEAM!!

its good to be back....i was away for a few challenges so back to hang tough with the reds!!!

we can do it!!

great to see familiar names as well as new names!!!

welcome everyone

Hello all! I'm so excited to get started!
I'm Angie and I'm a new mama. I had lost about 30lbs right before I got pregnant last Oct. now that my wonderful little man is here, I'm ready to lose the rest of the weight and finally reach my goal weight!

So part of me is glad I've got this new challenge to keep me accountable, but the rest of me is going WAAAAAAAH that summer's over!

Erg. I'm up from my starting weight already. I know it's not fat gain, but not sure if it's water or muscle. I did eat some baked beans and cake last weekend, but I also took a couple hot yoga classes for the first time. So back on the stick all week, and hope the scale cooperates.

Let's go red team! We are awesome!

YAYYYYYYYYYYYY RED TEAM!!!

WOW, "official" feels great Mel!!!

I'm Elizabeth, and I'm 58, and I live in California. I have a DH, a DS (grown), and a cat and dog. I work nights and sleep days so I will be posting at odd hours. I like to post on the thread -- that's part of the fun! It's going to be a challenge for me to be consistent with food, exercise, and also work nights, and get enough rest, but I'm going to make this challenge time a priority because I believe this is KEY to my success to be a healthier and happier mom, worker, friend, wife, sister, me, etc.

My goals during the the Fall Back to Basics Challenge are:

1. Lose 30 pounds during this time. That would put me down into some new numbers and be very encouraging to me.
2. Eat consistently around 1,700 calories per day.
3. Be consistent when getting some healthy exercise. I enjoy working out in a gym, and I have the Kettlebell exercise videos here to use when I can't get to a gym.
4. To have fun while I participate in this challenge.....my BFF is also on Red Team (Dahlia), and we both have been planning how we will be successful during this Challenge. It should be a lot of fun sharing this with online friends (old and new) and sharing this with her also. The potential reward is better health, flexibility, attitude, confidence, and NEW CLOTHES!! lol

Riddy -- Hi Gal -- good to see you back....I just believe you're going to do great in this challenge.

Mel -- Hi Mel -- I thought you were Canadian, and today i learned you are American-Canadian. Also, with 3 children those ages, I'd imagine you are very very busy. Thanks for continuing to lead our team. And I wish you the best for continuing toward the finish line with your weight loss goal. Go Mel!

Mamamia -- Hi and Welcome to Red Team. Congratulations on your baby boy -- my "baby" is grown, but I did have so much fun raising a boy. You sound very determined to continue your successful weight journey....glad you're here. Go Mamamia!

Rainbowsmiles -- Hi, and Welcome to Red Team. It is nice to meet you, and looking forward to getting to know you. Go Rainbo

Well everyone, here we go! My hope for our team (besides winning of course) is that we will all "hang tough" together as Rainbowsmiles said, and have a successful and fun Challenge together.

GO RED TEAM!

Hi everyone! This is my first challenge here and I'm quite looking forward to it already! I'm 24, from Toronto, Canada and going into my last year of school. I only started my new lifestyle this summer, but so far so good! This is the first time I haven't been pressured into it, so it feels a lot better and more natural. I have one very floofy cat. She may have as much fur as I do fat, but she certainly keeps me laughing!

Every December I go to Mexico for Christmas (my parents retired there) so I am definitely focused on these next 3 months. I don't even care about bathing suits and all that, because I'd wear 'em anyways, but I'd love to not be a constantly sweaty mess!

Hello everyone. My name is Rosa and I live in Victoria, BC, Canada. I am a 30 year old youth counselor with a wonderful fiance and a feisty 4 year old daughter.

I am fairly new to 3FC and officially started my lifestyle change on June 19, 2012. I have always wanted to be a runner, so that is what I am doing. I run at least three times per week. When I started I could only run for 30 seconds at a time and today I ran 8k!

I am really excited about the challenge and getting to know you all!

Burg, I hear you. I've always been the sweltering one. FWIW, last summer when I was down 25-50 pounds, I could tolerate the heat better than the year before. This summer, it's gotten even better for me. I've even taken a couple hot yoga classes - I never would have considered that even last summer. So there's hope your Mexican vaca will be less sweaty this year!

Hi, I'm Antonia. I'm 26, and I live with my dog Sydney (18mo lab/spaniel mix) and my cats Alexei & Lyla (18mo brother/sister American Shorthair silver tabbies) in Arkansas. I've been working on this weightloss thing for 5 years now...got down to 155 (so close) but had a little familial upset that set me all the way back. But this time I'm determined to make it stick.

My goals for this challenge
1. Lose 26lbs
2. Keep my eating between 1200-1600 calories per day
3. Exercise 5-6x a week
4. Get back into running

Hi (and hi again) to everyone!

I'm Shana, 31. I'm a writer.

I got diagnosed with hypertension a year ago and joined WW the next day. I've lost 37 lbs to date, but even better, my BP is down into normal levels.

I'm currently on deadline, so I'm about to stab my eyes out with a fork. But come 9/1, I will be free, free, FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Good morning everyone. I hope your week has started off well.
I have a busy day at work today, so this is just a quick fly by to remind everyone to drink their water! Your body needs it, so drink it at every opportunity.

I am terrible at responding individually to everyone- but I'll try my best.

Antonia- I love that you put goals down for this challenge.
I always have trouble goal setting.
For this challenge I am trying to break my scale habit. I am addicted to seeing the number on the scale. I will weigh myself sometimes multiple time a day. So my self- challenge is to weigh once a week and that's it!

Okayy- back to work- i'll check back in later tonight!

I'm Velvet and I am from Maine. I have lost around 60 lbs so far, but have gained 5 back since I quit smoking 7 weeks ago. I just need to exercise more and stop eating whatever I want....lol. I am also insulin resistant so that makes losing weight difficult. Excited to be part of this challenge and starting next week once the kids are back in school and my routine even outs, I will most likely start incorporating better exercise. Oh yeah...I am also a full time student, work part-time, have 3 kids, ages 10, 11, & 16, and a husband.

Oops, just realized I never really introduced myself, just started chatting away.

I'm Kris. I live in Upstate NY with my 2 corgis. I'm 39, and I'm doing all this with hypothyroidism, ACL repair in 1 knee, chondromalacia in the other, and plantar fasciitis in both feet. Yet I'm doing hot yoga, working the couch to 5K running program, and I've lost 102 pounds on Medifast since 4/16/11!

My last straw was unexpectedly being asked to be a friend's maid of honor. I did NOT want to be the morbidly obese bridesmaid in her wedding photos. Unfortunately it wasn't til 10 months after she asked me, when we went dress shopping, that I finally did something about it. The store was going to have to order the biggest size the dress came in (28) when I was only wearing size 20-22 jeans, and then alter it to drape properly over my big belly. I lost 50 pounds by the wedding, and they had to take 4 inches out of that dress!

I don't do well with weight loss on a deadline, so my goal for the challenge is to lose weight and exercise every day. I'm in week 8 of couch to 5k (but only running about 2 miles), so I want to enter a 5K and run the whole thing before this challenge ends, too.

Good luck red team!

hi
i'm doing my first 5k next month!!!! won't be running the whole thing, but hope to run a little haha i'm on week 4 but still just walking mostly and running a little but i will get there!!