Hi all, and welcome to the Christmas Challenge.

From the sign up thread we have:

TAKINGCONTROL
REDBUTTON
KEEPEROFTHEHOME4
SHANHAT81
OMGZITSMIRANDA
2CUTETOBEFAT
ALEKSANDRA
SLIMMER DOWN NOW
ZOGO
AHYESSOPHIE
MONTECRISTO
NIXE007
KIML1214
IMANNOTT
SHEA5
LOP92
JOISGETTINGFIT
GETTINFIT
JULIASTL27
TOODLES11

That's 20 of us so far, if I've missed you off (sorry!) or if you'd like to get involved, please join in, everyone is welcome!

Please can everyone take a look at the 'Christmas Challenge Weigh In thread' and enter your starting weights.

Let's use this thread to get to know each other, and set our goals for the challenge.

I'll also set a couple of 'mini challenges' for this week, but everyone is welcome to set them as and when they have ideas that will help all of us to stay on track!

Good luck Everyone

xxx

Week One Mini Challenges!!!!

Here are a couple of challenges, it's entirely up to you if you choose to accept them or not! If you do, please post and tell us how you've got on with them!

1) FOOD CHALLENGE - Try something new! Be it a new fruit/veg or a branded product or WHATEVER! When you go shopping this week or when you're eating out, choose something you wouldn't normally. Something that is healthy of course, eat it, tell us all about it and what you thought of it.

2) EXERCISE CHALLENGE - Star jump challenge! How many can you do? It really doesn't matter, but today try and see, then throughout the week do them as often as you can and tell us how many you've done by the end of the week. I thought we could do this once every few weeks and hopefully see an increase in the numbers we can manage. Try to keep a running total for the week, as well as how many you can do in one go. *It doesn't have to be starjumps, if you would rather, change the activity for something that suits you better*

3) LOVE YOURSELF CHALLENGE - Do something nice for YOU. Just once in the next week, do something you wouldn't usually to pamper yourself. It doesn't have to be anything expensive (although a trip to the salon/spa/palour would be amazing!) it could just be a facemask, foot soak, painting your nails, it doesn't matter, but do it, and feel good about it!

Good luck and have fun!!!!!!

Hi all, a little about me......

I'm 26 and about to go back to university at the end of September to get a masters in English Language Teaching. I've moved back home with my parents for the first time in 8 years, and it's not fun! But, moneywise, there is no other choice boooooo!

I started my 'diet' quest around last November, and seriously in the new year. After 3 years living in Thailand, and a year in India before that, and 4 years at Uni before that, I'd slowly but surely got fat and unfit, and I decided I needed to make a change.

The heaviest I ever weighed myself at was 103kg or 227lb, but I know I was much heavier than that at one point.

For the first four months of this year (I was still living in Thailand, and worked so hard to eat right and begin to exercise) and I got down to about 180lb then I moved back to the UK, and life got in the way, this was topped off with 5 weeks working a residential teaching job with terrible food, and put me back at 194lb today. Now, I'm ready to really get back on this, pick up my exercise again, and really work on my eating choices.

Aims for the challenge
I hope to reach my goal by Christmas, I've set my ticker weight, but I'm not sure that is the exact I want to be. When I'm in size 12 jeans, I'm done!

I'm not following a particualar plan, just eating what I know to be the 'right foods' and treating myself rarely rather than the daily treats I used to enjoy! I'm also really hoping to get fit, and learn to love exercise, that would make me really happy!

I think that's enough about me for now, I'm looking forward to getting to know you all

I actually started my weight loss journey several years ago, and got within spitting distance of my ultimate goal when my parent's went through a divorce and it threw my personal life into a disaster. Now I'm almost up to my high weight again, and I'm prepared to get back in the game and whip my body back into shape. I'm 25, and I live on my own, so I really have quite a bit of free time that I can spare towards this goal, I just need to quit being so lazy, lol.

For exercise I will be doing P90X starting the 24th of September with another online support group. Until I start that I will be getting in at least an hour of exercise, 30 minutes of Elliptical & 30 minutes of yoga/abs. My goal is to lose 25lbs and get down to a size 12 again.

Current Stats.

Weight - 210.0 lbs
Size - 16 / L
Chest - 47 inch
Waist - 38 inch
Hips - 46 inch

I'm really excited for this challenge! I just found 3FC last week and just joined the forum yesterday. I love that 3FC embraces all styles of diets and workouts, anything that improves our health.

I'm 27, married, 2 little kids, work full time, also a part-time student that will be done on Dec 10th!! (want to look good at graduation!). One of my biggest obstacles is making the time to exercise. I have so many other obligations so it does feel like an added chore but once I do it, I'm so glad I did. I was always thin without much effort until about the age of 21. Then came adulthood with eating out all the time, drinking high cal-sugary drinks, office job sitting in a chair all day, little exercise and the pounds started to creep up. So here I am now, I want to be thin, healthy & fit and I'm not going to put it off any longer. My weight right now is 171, which is right about the highest it's been without being pregnant/post-partum so I am ready to shed it. Since I had my 1st child (5 years ago), I've never been below 150lbs so I will be SUPER happy to see a 14x number on the scale!

Hi all, well after a weekend 'off' I'm back on the route to a skinny me from today. I've got a bit of a challenging week, with a friend round for lunch today, my Grandma's birthday tomorrow and I'm taking her out for lunch, then the bank holiday weekend here, all topped off with the fact I'm living in limbo just now waiting for start at university at the end of September is driving me crazy!

Montecristo, I hope this time your journey sees you getting to the place you want to be, and you manage to stay there. I'm scared that when I reach my goal I won't actually be able to stay there, but I hope so! I think living on your own means you've got to have a lot more self control (which is something I lack!) If my parents are in, I'll eat 'normally' but if I'm home alone I find it so tempting to constantly raid the fridge etc. Good luck with P90X, my fitness level is terrible right now, but I'd love to do it one day!

Hi Toodles11, I'm really excited too! I REALLY hope this is my time, and I find the strength to follow through and finally lose all the weight I've had for far too long now. Well done you for taking this on while you're so busy, think I'll call you Superwoman! Good luck

I'm psyched for this challenge!!!

So far, so good, on my WW journey, but it's not very much fun to do it by myself.

I'm less than 4 lbs away from my 10 percent (my avatar is my goal present). I feel like 10 percent deserves some princess-style bling.

Once I hit that, I'm going to change my ticker to a Christmas (well, Hanukkah, for me) challenge one.

I can't wait to go shopping today and buy some exotic fruit!

I'm so excited to be part of this group!

I'm 37 and a mother of 2. I work part time, but until 1 month ago I worked full time and never made any time or put any emphasis on doing healthy things or eating right. After 2 kids in two years i ballooned up to 263, and have been hanging steady just below that for the past year. Now that my oldest started kindergarten today, and the youngest is only a year away, I want to get back to being healthy. I'm so glad this challenge came up as a jump start to get me on my way! I look forward to going through this journey with everyone

So I passed the food challenge already for this week. I've been wanting to make these egg "muffin" cups for awhile but kept putting it off but today I did it. They are great for people on the go in the morning or if you don't like cooking first thing. I ate 2 of them with a piece of whole wheat toast.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
2oz Broccoli, chopped
2.5oz Onions, chopped
2oz Bell Peppers, chopped
1 tsp Olive Oil
4 slices Jennie-O Extra Lean Turkey Bacon
1 cup + 2 Tbsp liquid egg whites
6 eggs
1/2 cup feta cheese crumbles
1/2 tsp Coarse Kosher Salt
1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Original Blend Mrs. Dash Seasoning

Directions
Heat oven to 375. Spray muffin tins with nonstick spray.

Saute oil and veggies in skillet until soft. Chop up bacon & add to veggie mixture. Saute until cooked. Spoon a rounded tablespoon of veggie/bacon mixture into each muffin tin.

Whisk egg whites & eggs in large bowl. Add salt, pepper, & Mrs Dash seasoning to eggs. Pour evenly into each muffin tin to fill 3/4 full.

Add feta cheese evenly to each muffin tin.

Give each muffin tin a stir so all ingredients are mixed.

Bake at 375 for 25-30 mins, until eggs are cooked to desired doneness.

Egg cups can be kept in fridge for 4-5 days. Can be frozen and thawed if you want to keep them longer. To heat, microwave for 45-60 seconds.

This recipe makes 12 cups. Each cup is 80 calories, 4g fat, 2 carbs, 1g fiber, 8g protein.

So I got something at the grocery store called "green avocados" (although aren't all avocados green?). They're the size of a mango and supposedly less caloric than normal avocados.

But they have no taste!

I'm going to have to up my game and go to Whole Foods.

Hi everyone!
I just came back from a holiday-week-end, and am now up for some acountability and very excited!

I'm 25 and also and about to go back to university at the end of September. to get a masters in Architecture though. Losing weight, eating healthy and full time studies are definitely gonna be a challenge, but as I'm reading about you other students and working mam's, I feel like in a good place and we can do it!

My weight has been going up and down for the last several years. I've never reached my happy goal weight but now - after an emotional break down -am as high up on the scale as only once before in my life. So I decided to make a new and serious attempt and I joined 3fc.

My goals for this challenge are to drop 30 pounds (15kg) and maintain my goalweight, to feel at ease in my body and to have at least some work done on my emotional wounds which i numb with overeating.

So looking forward to go through this challenge with you all.

takingcontrol, where should we post our stats and their updates again? on the old thread?

PS: Food challenge: done. I bought an organic mixed vegetable juice, not not my thing a room temperature. I'll update my thoughts on it once consumed chilled

fyi found the weigh in thread

Hey everyone! I am also super excited about this challenge! Definitely gives me motivation. I gained a ton of weight after having my gall bladder removed. This is my highest weight ever and I am determined that it will only go down from here! I am excited to see how much weight everyone will lose! We can do this!!!

Can I join in? I hope so! I really want to be at Onederland by Christmas....or at least darn close! I love the idea of mini-challenges along the way too.

Hey all! Looks like a lot of us are coming off of an "off" weekend! I just got back from vacation and am ready to get going.

So .. I am 32 yr old researcher right now, but will be taking a class to get my teaching license this fall. Going to teach high school biology (yes, I've been called crazy!)

My goal is to lose 2 lbs a week. Of course, if I can do more, I would LOVE that, but I know that I need to set realistic goals for myself so that I don't get discouraged and give up. So...today it is 17 weeks and 5 days away… so I’m going to just go with 17 weeks… My goal is to lose a minimum of 34 lbs by Christmas! I’m excited to do it with all of you!!

As for the mini challenge.. I had to google what a star jump is! Haha!! It’s the same as a jumping jack right?

We just had an earthquake here so there’s lots of excitement… and I’m going to start the gym this evening with a friend … we’re going to do a cardio class. We’ll see how it goes, as long as there isn’t any huge traffic snarls from the bridge and tunnel inspections! Hope everyone’s doing well today!