Guess what, you gorgeous gum drop penguin? It's 8 weeks until Christmas! Say whuuut? Time for another of my spread sheet challenges! For any newcomers - welcome! Please read the rules below to find out more about this challenge.

This challenge…is the hardest challenge of the year. To get to Christmas you have to face Halloween candy, Thanksgiving madness and Christmas treats galore. I know in my family the entire month of December is a treat yo’ self extravaganza, so please only join if you are going to be dedicated to staying accountable towards Christmas.

For this challenge, BE REALISTIC! Are you aiming to maintain or lose? Set your standards a little lower for this one, because it’s good to enjoy the holidays with family, but it’s also good to not go overboard and remember you have an overall goal in life to achieve! One helping of food is enough! So let’s support each other in these trying months and make sure we feel proud by the time 2016 is over and we can say hello to 2017 feeling confident and ready to face the new year!

Here’s the aim of the game…lose the most percentage of body weight by Christmas and sit in your living room on Christmas morning in your PJ's and feel healthier and happier than ever. The challenge will run from Monday 7th November to Sunday 25th December, winners will be announced on Monday 26th December and awarded shiny badges to include in their forum signature! Check them out:

Let's Keep This Simple! Please Read These Rules!

• You can join this challenge at any time up until the final week of the challenge!!
• ~~>Click Here to view the Spreadsheet!<~~
• Enter your Username, Starting Weight (at the weight you are at NOW), which forum you're joining from (20-Somethings or Chicks up for a Challenge) and scroll to the right and enter your Goal Weight.
• The rest is all filled out automatically by the spread sheet monkeys! Don't worry, they get plenty of bananas.
• Week by week enter your weight on any day you want between Monday and Sunday.
• 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!
• Check back in to the thread and I'll publish a weekly chart to show who's dominating over us all.
• 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 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! -->Access this optional sheet here!<--

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!!

*FAQ

• 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.
• My weight changed during the week but I already entered my weight, can I change it? ~ OF COURSE! I always like to use my lightest weight of the week and that's perfectly acceptable to change a weight as the week progresses.
• 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!

I signed up for this. I figured hey... if most people going through the holidays gain in average 1 pound, I am better off doing this!!!

I don't have much to lose, around 10 pounds, but I am in!!!

Let's go everyone, we can do it!!!

Thank YOU for this challenge - much needed at this time of the year. I will be okay with not gaining any weight but am hoping to put an exercise program in place and lose a few pounds by the end of the year.

Thanks for another fun Challenge Rie Really - thank you! this will help my motivation to make up for tonight.

Candy and wine for dinner. It's Halloween - what-r-ya-gonna-do? hahaha But, I budgeted calories today for this, rode 15 miles today, and I will have to budget tomorrow and ride again to to make it up. One thing I have learned in the last 6 months. Life happens and I just need to adjust when it gets a bit too fun!

Stronggal - Welcome, welcome!

workinglikeadog - As I've heard, bikini body training begins in the middle of the winter . Good luck with the new exercise program, what is it?

rebelle - No problem, just be sure to weigh in before the end of the week and you'll be counted in the final chart. Yup, I definitely tend to feel the air of gluttony in December. Instinctively when the weather gets colder we want to feast for hibernation, and add Christmas cheer on top of that and it's a recipe for disaster .

Nightowl - Welcome back, glad to have you here! Definitely agree with you on life happens and just have fun! I'm sure your bike rides will keep the weight off .

Hi Riestrella! Love the new picture. You always look so happy and it cheers me up. I stopped doing challenges for a while because I wasn't successful, but now I'm up a few more pounds so I really need to do this. Thanks for all your hard work. It is really appreciated. I have set a doable goal, and hope to be able to meet the challenge.

One thing in my favor....I am not a drinker, so I don't have those temptations to worry about. Back in my younger days when I was a drinker, I controlled my weight because I was always too sick to eat the next day! LOL Not a good thing, by the way.

Wishing success to all!

rebelle - Do you live in California by any chance?! Getting some stupid hot weather in Georgia, I don't like it one bit. I wanna wear layers dammit! Hormones are definitely a cruel mistress in my life, I don't drink too much but when I'm around people who do they snack which makes me snack! Resisting the snack monster is a big challenge. But if we think before we eat we can do it!

wannabe - Welcome back, so great to see you! Aw, thanks, I'm a pretty happy person in general I'm very lucky and don't have much to complain about . I completely understand the feeling, I've wanted to walk away from my own challenges and have in the past because it's too disheartening to not be losing. But, staying accountable is still a huge part of weight loss, we can do that at least. I'm not a drinker either, but I'm definitely a grain-maniac and get sugar cravings! Either way, we can do this together!!

Riestrella, I can imagine the change for you to where you are now from where you were before. I know here in SW PA we are having a warm streak that is not normal for November. Winter is just around the corner, but I hear it's short in GA.

Hey everyone!

We're approaching week one for our challenge! Are you ready?! Here's a list of things I want to tackle in the near future:
- Only eat oatmeal for breakfast on days when I run
- Start eating 1 slice of bread instead of 2 for lunch (with the intention of eventually cutting out sandwiches, but I need to work on this slowly)
- Stop eating in front of the TV and sit at the dinner table, I might have to do this every other day before stopping completely
- Start 10K training

I said I would start my 10K training on Wednesday, but I've been pushing it back for some unknown reason. I think finishing my project that took a month of my life made me feel I deserved a break?! Either way, need to snap out of that mentality!

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wannabe - Yes, I hear it's short too . But those months will be bliss!

rebelle - Oof, I don't envy the heat you must get down there! I can JUST manage GA heat! So happy the humidity has gone from here though, that was a real killer. Made me hibernate!

Riestrella, I can understand your wanting to cut out bread/sandwiches, however, I was wondering if you have ever tried some of the breads out there that are very small thin slices, so you can still have 2 slices for a sandwich but the 2 slices are around the same calories etc as one slice of the bread we are used to eating. One such bread is Sara Lee 45...each slice is 45 calories, and another name I can't remember that contains 35 calories each slice. Or they have those sandwich thins, that I think are pretty expensive for what you get but lower calorie.

Wannabe - Thanks for the suggestion! Though I honestly eat based on nutritional content rather than focusing on calories. I buy the healthiest bread I can find, even with the price tag, but I need to start phasing it out because it's not good for me to be eating so many grains in a day. I literally have some sort of grain with every meal and if I can eliminate them as much as possible then I'd be doing myself a huge favour!

I understand, Riestrella. I also try to keep grains and carbs to a minimum as they raise my blood sugar. I don't eat bread every day, but keep my loaf of bread in the freezer and it's there when I want it. I buy a sprouted grain bread from Target called Little Big Bread, very small thin slices...but I still don't eat it every day. If I don't have it available to me, I will eat regular bread when I get a craving. I try to focus mostly on protein and vegetables, but it's hard when I have DH who eats everything and never gains an ounce.

We can do this!

Take this Halloween candy away from me! I'm tempted to throw it away, but I HATE wasting food. I think if I see my neighbour across the hall I'll see if he wants it, I've seen him with a kid and maybe he'd like it! Otherwise, I'll rely on my boyfriend to hide it from me/eat it before I can. Thankfully everything is in fun size form, so if I reach for multiple portions I feel like a pig and stop myself. Thankfully my weight has not been affected, but it's only a matter of time!

wannabe - I definitely need to focus on protein and vegetables, so that's why I'm trying to slowly phase out grain focused lunches. Eventually I want to be able to have protein + fruit for breakfast, a vegetable based lunch and then a protein/vegetable/a little grain dinner.

Just posted in the 20 something thread thinking it was this one. Oops! Rie, count me in. I'm back with lots of pounds to lose. Thanks for setting up this challenge. My birthday is next Friday so I'm excited to see what I can do during this time.

Hey guys!

Since the Halloween challenge is almost over I figured I would begin my updates in here . Last night I updated my blog for the first time in a while. I wrote up my experience of the 5K and I also set a plan for myself for the coming months. The idea is to introduce good habits slowly, both with exercise and with food. I did something similar a while ago here on 3FC called the pyramid challenge, but this time I'm not going to focus on making fancy charts and just get on with it . I've definitely learned a lot about myself in the past 5 years of trying to lose weight, the first is that I'm not good at changing my routine if I try and go cold turkey on anything. The second is I'm just not good with calorie counting, I get too lazy with it. Thankfully over these years I've learned so much about food, nutrition and the knowledge about weight loss that I can apply it slowly into my lifestyle. I've had to accept that I just don't have the personality who can snap into focus and change everything to reach my goal quickly, but rather I have to build slowly to attain my goal. I once heard someone say "there is wisdom in knowing yourself" and I truly believe this. We should all know our limits and what works for us, otherwise we'll be miserable on this journey. Losing weight is supposed to be the greatest gift you can give to yourself, not torture. Sorry, I wasn't intending on ranting so much!

My life outside of weight loss is going good. I finished up the film that I've been editing all October. Unfortunately I had to export the thing about 6 times because the director wasn't clear on some details and exporting the film once is about 2.5 hours so yeah...it was a pain! But I THINK we're finally squared off so I can put that to the side while he works on fixing the sound. In the meantime I have 2 projects coming up, one is for a church band's Christmas concert (I'll be making clips to be projected behind them) and the other I'm pretty excited about. It's a true crime short film, they're ambitious and want to see if they can get a budget for a feature or even pitch it as a TV series, kinda like Netflix's "Making the Murderer". In my contract they're gonna give me the right of first refusal, which is how it sounds - they will offer me the job to edit anything that they make next and I can refuse it first. I've got that voice in my head that's saying "you're not good at this and they'll see it and fire you" but I need to silence that and do the best work I can do.

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curvy - So great to see you back! I'm so happy to hear you find these challenges inspiring. I do too! Aw, thank you for the compliment about my profile pic! I love playing with eyeshadow and eye makeup so when I feel good about the results I snap a picture and that one turned out good . Any plans for your birthday?