Welcome to Riestrella's Sizzling for Summer 2016 Challenge!!

Hey you. Yeah, YOU! You’re awesome and beautiful. If you don't think so then I'm sorry, but you are totally wrong. Go listen to some sexy music and dance in the mirror like it’s 1999 and believe you are delicious! Otherwise we’re gonna have a problem here.

However, I know sometimes when you’re overweight you can feel a little pudgy and a bit like a sad panda. ESPECIALLY when the hot season is almost upon us (anyone else feel like saying “summer is coming” instead of “winter”?) Not to worry though! You can do something about it! Amazing right? You have the ability to change your future and morph yourself into a delicious candy panda. High fives all around.

To help you along the way is another of my spreadsheet challenges! Please read the rules below before joining.

1. You can join this challenge at any time up until the final 2 weeks of the challenge!!
2. -->Click here to access the spreadsheet used to document your weigh ins!<--
3. Enter your Username on 3FC, the forum you’re joining from (either 20-Somethings or Chicks up for a Challenge), your starting weight and goal weight for this challenge NOT your overall starting weight/goal weight.
4. Be sure to have your weekly weigh in on the spreadsheet by Sunday, because I make the charts on Monday. In the spreadsheet when the column is labelled "WK 1 8/31", that means the week BEGINS on the 31st August NOT the particular day you have to weigh in!
5. Check back in to the thread and I'll publish a weekly chart to show who's dominating over us all. Charts are Top 15 biggest losers only!
6. If you want to take a break from weighing in then right click the cell for that week and select "Insert Note" (definitely not a "comment" because these won't move with your username if new members join the spreadsheet!) and add your reason for not weighing in. If you have a week that you know you won't weigh in ahead of time - let me know and I'll insert the note for you.
7. If you don't weigh in for more than 2 weeks without a noted reason you will be moved to Standby. Come to the thread and opt back in if you want to re-enter the challenge!

Optional before and after measurements challenge! Read below:

• I've included a tab on the spreadsheet to enter your measurements! Measure yourself at the beginning of the challenge and at the end to see how much you shrink!
• -->Click here to access the measurements sheet!<--

That's it!* A huge part of this challenge is the community support, so please use this thread to talk to each other and update us on your progress. It’s less about just saying “today I weigh ___” and more about actually communicating with fellow sexy candy panda’s and talking about your life and all its ups and downs. Think of this thread more like a chat thread rather than just a place to post weights. We're here for you on your road to awesomeness!!

• Can I change my Goal Weight once the challenge has begun? ~ Yes!
• There's a - mark in my cell for a week, but I know what I weighed! Can I change it? ~ Yes! The more information you can put in the better. Let me know your missing weights and I'll input them myself.
• My weight changed during the week but I already entered my weight, can I change it? ~ OF COURSE! Just submit your weight again using the same form, no problems.
• The chat thread for my forum is dead...can I talk in a different thread? ~ Absolutely! The 20-something thread is the most active in these challenges, please feel free to drop by no matter how old you are. We honestly wouldn't know the difference even if you're not in your 20's!

Enter your starting weights now and the challenge begins April 18th 2016!!

Whoo-hoo. I'm in! I've set a fairly moderate goal weight - the secret inside-the-sealed-envelope goal is a bit lower but I will be more than happy with my stated goal. Thanks for the challenge Rie! Good luck everybody!

Hi Rie - thanks for doing another challenge. Good luck everyone.

Thank you Rie! I am ready! I need this challenge right now. I'm going to wait a few days before I post my start weight and my goal weight.

I love what you said in your welcome. My daughter is always telling me I need to love my body the way it is. I'm trying to, but I am so conditioned to dwell on my imperfections that it is hard to change my thinking. I keep working on it though.

Good luck with your goals everybody!

Heya All, thanks for the New Challenge Rie Looking forward to this one, managed to lose a little more since the last challenge too
Good Luck Ladies with your goals and lets get sizzling for summer!!!

Thank you for this! I've hit a small plateau and I've been letting it upset me a LOT more than it should. The previous challenge was so motivating and inspirational, I'm really looking forward to doing it again!

Hey everyone!

Just to let you all know I will be gone for 1 week starting tonight. I'm going to Atlanta tonight to look for an apartment, I'll be back on Saturday 23rd. Until then, if a seasoned challenge participant can answer any questions that would be great! Honestly all the rules are in the first post so you'd just have to look there . I was going to be leaving on Sunday but there's a big storm heading our way this weekend so when our airline was offering to change our flight for free we decided to take it. It's going to be a crazy day trying to finalize viewings for apartments and get everything ready to leave, but we can do it!

I'll be taking my laptop with me so I might still be able to post, so we'll see. If not, have a great week!

Thankyou for starting this, Riestrella!

I've put in a hefty 20lb goal, because I'm back up to a hideous 169.4 today, after a week away. I'm really going to have to concentrate because within that 10 weeks I've got my birthday, a week's holiday in Germany, and a pilgrimage/holiday in Norfolk. Blimey. It'll be a good test to see if I can finally get into "way of eating" mode, rather than "I'm on holiday, the diet doesn't count" mode !

Good luck, everyone

I hope and pray I can stay accountable to weigh-ins for a month. I am in the process of moving but I seriously need to get serious about re-losing some weight.
SW: 172
GW: 160

Hey everyone!

Week 1 is a-go! Get your week one weights in by Monday 25th for when the charts will be made .

I have time today to relax a little, so I figured I'd update you. I've definitely been eating less on the whole while in Atlanta, loads of apartment viewings means less time to sit and snack! The family friends we're staying with are very courteous, we've been having home made meals. Not always amazingly healthy, but all fresh produce so that's good.

As for the apartment search, it's been stressful as expected. Monday we saw a lot of dud apartments, the type you walk in, smell the damp and want to walk straight back out. Yesterday we saw a great apartment, it got us excited enough to apply! Unfortunately because I'm an immigrant we hit a snag in the application process, they have to verify that I'm here legally before they can approve us. My credit score also shows as 0 too because I haven't had a credit card long enough. We're very, very nervous we'll be turned away...so we're continuing our search but with a little less vigor. We saw an apartment the same day after we applied, great location but old and not as nice. The location made us contemplate applying though.

Today we're just relaxing, we've got a viewing at 5pm at an apartment complex that is in a great location - however the unit we would apply for isn't available to be seen which is always unnerving. We also might be seeing one that's literally around the corner from where we're staying too. So a lot less frantically looking around now and more being selective with our viewings.

Keep your fingers crossed for us! We really want to hear back before we leave

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K9Owner - Welcome and good luck!

Rosinante - Great to see you! Losing weight is difficult on holiday, but I think maintenance is definitely possible. I think it's the difference between thinking "I'm going to eat everything because I'm on holiday" vs. "I'm going to eat a little of everything and try and exercise the best I can." I think it's still possible to indulge but stay on track! But difficult...

wolfchan, flower1, Vehuel - Great to see you back, good luck!

Koshi - Ooh, well done on losing in the last month! Good luck with this challenge.

magistra - Welcome back! Yes, you definitely should learn to love the body you have, it's the only one you'll ever get so better make the most of it!!

Meh. I am having a really weird time weight-wise. The scales are all over the place on a day-to-day basis. I'm pretty sure it's water retention, then loss, then retention. Thinking it's the HRT as it can take six months for your body to get used to it.
Still, onwards. Hoping everyone is having a good week!

Good luck with the search/application, Riestrella!

Thank you for the helpful words too. Concentrating.

oO good luck with the house hunting Riest! exciting stuff.
I am back to work/university on Monday so not looking forward to that, I am going to miss being with little man every day
Good luck with everyones first weigh ins

Hey guys!

We found an apartment!! We heard Wednesday and we're beyond thrilled we were approved, especially after the worrying immigration check. It's a gated apartment complex with a pool and a gym, both are small so I doubt I'll be using them much! Our apartment is a spacious 1 bedroom apartment, but spacious for us isn't difficult after living in a 250 square feet apartment in Japan! I think this one is about 950 square feet. It's got a living room/dining room area with built in shelving and a small built in desk, which is a plus. We also have a balcony with an outside storage room which is useful too. The kitchen is a decent size, oldish appliances but we'll make do, plus a pantry. We also have a 2 sink bathroom, a decent sized bedroom with a big walk in closet. The location is decent, not a "roll out of bed and you're there" type place, but a mile walk from downtown Decatur which is a lovely area. We're very happy, but now comes the stress of moving! Also that pesky green card interview...

We've been eating like kings the last few days which is good and bad. This morning we went to a breakfast place and I ordered 3 pancakes thinking they'd be small plate sized. Nope, 3 giant dinner plate sized thick waffles. I was happy that I only made it through 3/4's of ONE. Welcome to the South, as they say! I'm a bit worried about my lack of training this week also which a 10K around the corner. I think I'll have to map out my runs soon to make sure I train enough before the big day. I'm contemplating doing the Bolder Boulder too if we haven't moved by then. Our move in date isn't confirmed yet, I think we want to see how much we get done in the next couple of weeks.

I'll be flying back to Colorado tomorrow, back to reality!

Rie I'm so glad to hear that you found an apartment. I bet that's a huge relief!

I had a pretty good week this week. I lost 2 pounds.

I'm working on putting some exercise into my day. When I work, I use my brain (yes, I have brain ) and it's actually a lot of hard thinking, so it does tire me out. To relax, I put my feet up and do fun things on the computer. The challenge is to get out of my chair and move. For now, I am trying to move at least once every hour. I get out of my chair and either stand and do demi-plies or walk around for a few minutes. This week I am going to try doing 15 minute easy walking workout three times a week. Then maybe I can increase it to more. I think I would like to do 15 minutes every day, but I am unmotivated.