St. Patrick's Day is March 17. That gives us a full month to work on some new goals! Lets see if we can support each other and lose big this month!
My goals are as follows:
1. journal at least 5 days a week (I can't seem to get past 3!)
2. exercise at least 5 days a week
3. start WI this Tuesday
4. lose 5 lbs

What are your goals and obstacles?

Happy Valentine's Day Ladies

Thank for starting the new thread Tara

Tara, I got DH a Pot of Gold box of chocolate covered cherries, we both really like them (and a card). He didn't get me anything, but agreed that I could have hafl the cherries, I didn't get anything, I should have, oops, his first VD and all. He got Grandma a card. I haven't see the magnet thing you're talking about, how old is baby again. Regarding the VD challenge, I did pretty similar to you, I wanted to lose 11 and lost 8. I'm ready for this next challenge. Bring it on! My goal is to lose 8 pounds, I know that is a lot, but I should have tried harder with the last one, that would bring me to 177.
WEll, gotta go

Diana,
I never realized we had such similia weight loss stats! Was your highest weight after you had your ds? Mine wasn't- I lost over 60lbs before I got married, 3.5 yrs ago. Then I was even higher at the end of my pregnancy- so much fluid retention from high bp!
My dd is 16 months, and crazy crazy crazy! We just met my parents- they live 30 min away- and they took her for the night. It is our 2nd night apart. It is a little easier this time.
We are going out for supper, then hanging out with friends. Hopefully it will be fun! I hope you enjoy your chocolate cherries!
TTYL!

Tara, was it you that was looking for black bean recipes?
Diana

O.k. Girls... Here are my goals... I am on a roll and have decided that I WILL do better this challenge.

1) Go to the gym 5 days a week
2) Increase treadmill from 2 miles in 30 minutes to 3 miles in 30 minutes.
3) Stick to fruits and veggies
4) Drink Green Tea
5) Go from 176 to 165

Keeping my fingers crossed this time!!!!!

HI, you mind if I join. I need some positive accountability. I am still trying to get back on track after the birth of my second child. She is 9 1/2 months now, and I am not finding the time for me. My ultimate goal is to lose 20 pounds by her first b-day. But for St. Patty's day I would like to be down 5 more pounds and exercise no less than 3 times a week. Oh and eat more veggies, less junk!!

Diana- Yes, it was me that was looking for black bean recipes. How was your weekend?
Glad to see you back, Golfergirl! You have good goals, I am sure you will do well!
Welcome to the challenge, Jen! How old is your first child? Good luck with your goals!

Tara, how was your night away from DD? Hope you didn't miss her too much I hoep I do well with weightloss this week, I have a bad feeling though How are you doing with your goals? I was starting to gain again after baby and that is what my highest is. Now I'm below prepregnancy weight. I'm happy with that, but I gained a ton just before I got pregnant

Golfergirl, and I thought I had a huge weightloss goal, but if you can do it, you will be so proud of yourself. I mean you CAN do it, oops. I hope I reach goal, it would make me even a happier person How are you doing with your goals?

Hi Jen, welcome here! Congrats on baby #2. How much weight do you have to go before you get to the 20 you're hoping to lose this year? Hope we can be of a support to you!

Diana- Why do you have a bad feeling about weightloss this week, did you have a rough weekend? When was the last time you were at your goal weight? How tall are you? Since we have such similiar stats, it would be so cool if we could get to goal together!
My night away from dd was ok. I missed her, cried about 3X, and was horribley engorged. (Now I know how it feels to have breast implants!?!?!)
Doesn't it suck when you start to gain again after having the baby! I reached my goal about a year before I got preg. Then, I gained about 15 of the weight back right before I got pregnant. I am about 5lbs more than that right now.
I will finally have my first WI tomorrow. I find it hard to commit right now, just because I know that if I am working hard before that WI my loss will not be as great when I go next week. I know this is just a stupid mind game, but thats how I feel!
I am eating healthy today after a very unnhealthy weekend.
I am going to do everything I can in the next month and one day to reach my goal!

Ok, my oldest daughter is 3 1/2 years, youngest is 9 1/2 months. I have lost a whopping 9 pounds since she was born. BUT, I have regained a lot of muscle back and been maintaining mostly, with an up and down of a couple pounds. I am currently up 40 pounds from my pre-PG weight with an additional 20 I would like to lose. HOWEVER, those 40 pounds are not all PG pounds, I gained 12 pounds while TTC-ing (shame on me). So all in all, I would like to lose 60 (gasp) more pounds.

My 1st b-day goal is to be down 20+ from my high weight. Like I said, I am down 9 now. I would have liked to be down 29 pounds, but I don't think it will happen, so I just added the already lost 9 in. 11 more to go. I can do it, I can do it!!!

I have been moving in the right direction lately. Now that my baby is being more independent (meaning she plays in little spurts by herself), I can do short things for me while I set her down.

Jen- It sure is harder to take care of yourself when you are trying to care for little ones! My dd is 16 months, and I still find it difficult! Your goal seems very "doable"! Are you a working mom/stay at home mom? Diana and I are both at home with our children right now. It is great to have you join us!

I am a working mom that wishes she could be a stay at home. Tho I think I would go nuts being home all day. But I do miss my kids a lot. I get some freedom tho, like today I get to leave 30 minutes early to take my oldest to dance class. Last week was her first time and she didn't do so well. She got very scared. But we are trying it again today to see if she is more brave. She is quite excited, so we will see what happens.

Tara,
my sister who is a great cook (she'll probably see this post, so I have to say that ) saw your post and gave some ideas. No actually, she is a great cook and I call her all the time for cooking advice It's funny because we were talking about black beans the day before you posted your question. Okay, adding the beans to a chili and adding cumin will make a great southern style chili. She also said that AllRecipe.com has good blackbean recipes.
you ask when the last time was when I was at my goal weight. Probably grade 10, so 10 years ago. How sad. I hated how I looked and wanted to lose weight then too. Ahhh..the eyes of a teen I'm 5'2" how about you? My goal was to be 147, but the range they recommend at WW says I can be 137 at the most.
Okay, the breast implants thing is funny, but not the crying or being engorged. How did she do without Mommy? I hardly got engorged when I quit breastfeeding my baby cold turkey, it even took a few days before I felt anything. Like I've said before, I never had enough milk for him to begin with, I wish I had known htat then, it would have saved me much grief. I do have hopes that things will go better second time around.
Tara, the mind games are amazing. I can understand how you feel about next weeks weigh in. Good luck tomorrow though.

Jen, I have an almost 9 month old and the new little freedoms I have are great, I understand what you mean. 11 to lose in 2.5 months is totally doable, you can do it if you try. SOmetimes that is my problem, I don't try Jen, being at home is great, I have to go back to work in 3 months, hopefully part time, but who knows. I thought I would go nuts being at home but I'm not really that nuts. I did have severe postpartum depression, so I guess I went sort of nuts, my DH would probably say I did, I'm better now and have been for 2 months. Oh what a wonderful life I now live Good luck with the dance class, I hope she isn't so scared today! Poor thing.

Diana

We made it through dance class with flying colors. She told me in the morning "Mommy I try it one more time"... and she did and she liked it! I was so proud of her. I snuck in and took some pics even.

I am so tired lately. I just feel like I can't get enough sleep. It really sucks. I am going to the gym at lunch time and try to get myself back to normal.

Diana... I try, but I just don't have the time to really think it out. That is my biggest problem. Like this morning, I wanted to make a salad for lunch. By the time Emma was done with tantrums, I barely had time to throw some things together. My Emma (3 1/2) is in such a mommy mode, she is so clingy. She has a girl complex lately and it doesn't give me much free time. It is driving me nuts. I hope this stage is over soon!

Everyone and their babies :-) That's part of the reason that I am trying to lose weight now. I would like to start the family next year and want to be in good health for the baby as well as wanting to not gain a ton of weight while pregnant.

Anyway, I am doing well on my goals. I did 2.5 miles in 35 minutes last night. My only bad eating was FF Pringles, which isn't bad, but not as good as veggies. The one bad thing with losing weight fast is that it comes back fast if you don't stick to your diet!! This weekend after a couple days of not eating great (not bad either) I have gained a couple pounds so I am working on getting that off now as well. My shirts are fititng better so that is great for the motivation!! I just keep drinking the green tea!!! Whether it really works or if it's just in my mind I don't care, I think it's working!!

I am doing very well with the goals so far. But I leave this weekend for FL and it's going to be hard to be on vacation and eat good. But I am going to try to do that. As well as try to walk and exercise as much as possible!!