That's great! Well done!

I, of course, had to go and get sick in the beginning of the week. So typical Also experiencing an "extreme" lack of sleep at night. So no workouts for me so far, and the food has been so-so. I'll get back to it sometime over the weekend. Very motivated though!

I will not post any "tips" that have not been actually done in "real life" by "real people". I hate it when someone posts tips that are so hard to follow that you wonder if anyone actually tested them to see if they were "for real". Also, I strongly encourage you to share what is working for you and what isn't. Let us work together as a team to get our weight off this year. There is strength in numbers.

1) Throw out the word "perfect" once and for all. No one is perfect here and don't delude yourself in having a perfect day or perfect week. It just ain't gonna happen. The word that we all need to replace "Perfectionism" with is "Excellence". Do YOUR PERSONAL BEST. You will know it when you do because you will fall asleep with a big smile on your face and know that you did your best. That is all that counts.

2) Showing up is half the battle. Those people who lose weight and then eventually keep it off do so because they show up no matter what. Now, this doesn't mean that if you are having a family emergency, been in a car accident (God forbid) or are puking your guts up; that you will "show up" in the same form as when all the planets are aligned in your favor but it does mean that you are "committed". You are "walking the walking", not just "talking the talk".

3) Think outside of the box. Be creative in how you engage activity in your days. If you work in a multi-storied building, take the elevator when possible. If you usually walk to the lunchroom for a mid-day vending machine snack, still take the walk but skip the empty calories snack. If you take public transportation, get off two stops before your "usual" and walk the rest of the way home (weather permitting). Most overweight people are very efficient in their use of physical movement. Now, I want you to become "in-efficient". Make it your daily goal to add more steps into your daily routines, even if they seem silly. I have carried one plate and utensil at at time from my computer to the kitchen just to get in added steps. Sounds silly, yes but it does translate into more movements.

4) Take this same idea and use it in your food plan. When preparing your meals you take to work, think of foods that "travel well", like pre-measured nuts or dried fruits, a single piece of fruit or even dry cereal (healthy, of course). This will help you from turning to those work place vending machines for your afternoon dips in energy. Tired when you get home from work or school? Make sure that you have some quick and easy meals that you can make without a lot of energy expended: some low cal meals you can nuke or cook up quickly. Sometimes, a carton of yogurt along with some pre-cut vegetables and healthy dip can satisfy your meal needs.

5) Two important challenges you should not forget and make sure that they stay high on your list is: drinking more water and taking a multi-vitamin. This is especially important during the winter since many of us are indoors more and we are breathing recycled air and someone else's germs. Many times when you are feeling fatigued, it is because you are dehydrated. A multi-vitamin covers when we make bad food choices or we inadvertently miss a meal here and there.

6) Sleep is very important when you are under a lot of stress. De-compress about 2-3 hours before you go to bed at night. Do not do work on the computer because the blue light emitting from the screen can be overstimulating for some people. Use your bedroom only for sleeping if possible. If it does double-duty like for studying then make sure that you have a separate designated area for that and don't study too close to bedtime. Exercise can be stimulating if done too close to bedtime unless it is some kind of stretching and/or relaxation techniques. Try drinking chamomile tea or take melatonin if you have sleep issues.

These are just a few key "tips" that I hope you can benefit from. Although the #1 "complaint" with this challenge is the structure itself; these are all habits that people who have lost weight and then kept it off do almost every day. Give yourself a break and pat yourself on the back for completing week 1. Those people who stay the distance find that they really learn to rely on this structure to keep them on the weight loss path.

Take care, Pam :

Yay I found this thread again -LOL- Remembered to subscribe this time! I won't be weighing in next week, and the following week I might be a few days late as I am away at the beach.

My Monday weigh in for this week was 79.6kg (-0.8kg or -1.8lb)

weight today was 244.4, so that's a 0.9 lbs loss from last monday.

If I have done everything right, I have 205 points, mainly from vitamins and the "clean kitchen" challenge. As I haven't really tracked my food, I don't know if or when I have stayed under my calorie limit, so no points there either

Feeling great now, so this week will be much, much better. Started off with an hour at the gym after class

Well done Em I gave up on the points tracking because my life is too crazy at the moment. But I am all for weighing in.

I hope I added up my points correctly because I have some questions

Track your food 15 points per day + 25 bonus points if you use an app
Does this mean if I track using myfitnesspal I can get 40 points per day? or is the 25 bonus points additional added at the end of the week?

Steppin more than 5000 steps 100 point bonus but what if you have less than 5000 steps is there no points for that?

My points for this week are 690 (maybe more since if I wasn't sure about bonus points I only awarded them once).

Weight in: 170.2 (-1.2 lbs)

Steps: 37153

Hope this answers your questions:

Drinking Water:

10 pts daily for drinking 8 8 oz glasses/cups of water. 5 extra points for each additional 8 oz you drink in a 24 hour period. Weekly Pts.=70 plus whatever you drank above the 64 oz. per day.

Staying Within Specific Calorie Range:

10 pts daily also. Weekly Max Pts= 70 pts.

Measure Your Food:

10 pts per day Weekly Max Pts=70 pts.

Track Food:

15 pts per day (if you are using an electronic device, since this is more accurate give yourself an additional 25 pts. for each time you use the electronic device or app)

Post to this Thread: (once a week) a one time 25 pts.

Daily Vitamins: 10 pts. per day Weekly Max Pts.=70 pts

Cardio Conditioning:

5 pts per 10 mins. (ex. 30 minutes workout=15 pts.) 15 bonus pts. if worked out longer than 40 minutes. One bonus per day. (total on that would be=35 pts)

Strength Exercises (upper/lower and core): 1 pt. per rep finished. This has no limit.

Steps: (must use a pedometer): since pedometer is tracking these, just read what the pedometer has at the end of the day and record that. Ex: 7831 steps. If you walk more than 5000 steps per day, add 100 bonus pts at the end of the day to the steps (line below where steps are recorded). For bonus pts. weekly max. pts=700 pts.

Each of the Weekly Challenges for Week 1 were 100 pts. bonus. Count once for entire week for each one you did.

Pam

I have sent the thread link to everyone who requested the spreadsheet. See my previous post regarding explanation of the points.

I came down with the influenza on Sunday so I have had two days of sleeping nearly 10-12 hours each day. Right now, it is in both my head and upper chest.

I will post this week's results in a few days. I would like everyone to get a chance to post what their weights are (at least). I am expecting that it may take a week or two for everyone to find their comfort level with this challenge.

Thank you to all who have responded to the PMs that I have sent out. I am a hands on person and I like to communicate how things are going as they are happening; although when I am sick, it will probably be briefer.

Yesterday started Week 2 so please open up that worksheet and check the Weekly Challenges because they are different from week to week.

Week 2's Weekly Challenges are:

1) eat 3-5 servings of vegetables per day (10 pts per day, 70 pts max per week)

2) Add one additional strength exercise to your workout. 25 pts. extra for week.

Again, this thread is also for chatting so I hope you will feel like both sharing and supporting your fellow "chicks" in their own weight loss efforts.

Today, this will be brief because I am quite ill but I will read and respond to all of your inquiries (ideally within 24 hour turn around).

Have a great day, keep up the good work all! Pam

Oh Pam take care of yourself, the flu can knock you so much.

I apologize that I am late on posting these results. I am finally feeling like my old self but alas now I have slept so much, I am not tired at all in spite of keeping up my exercising and water this past week.

Here are the results for Week 1 in the weight loss category:

jitterfish: -1.8 lbs. (thanks for the conversion from kg)

rated: -1.2 lbs.

em coconut: -0.9 lbs.

Late (but Great) Addition: becky quilts : (0.8 lbs.)

rated: is first in steps and with points

Please note this: Since it sounds like several have had the flu as well as a few who started out the New Year with an injury I will extend the time for you to get whatever stats you have to report (weight loss, points and/or steps) to this coming Monday when you report your Week 2 weight loss.

Again, in order for you to receive a gift award of a Subway gift card (or an equivalent of your choice), I need to hear from you.

I am feeling better so I am upping my game. Let's all have a great weekend and I hope to hear from more of you this coming Monday.

Take care, Pam

Thanks, pamatga, for putting this together and coordinating.
1/10 - 174.4
1/17 - 173.6
- I will need to catch measurements at home, and will edit
- Height –5" 7" (medium frame)
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...ages/17182.htm
- Upper Arm (at the largest part) – "
- Bust – "
- Waist (at your belly button) – "
- Hips (at the widest part) – 51"
- Upper Thigh – (at the largest part) - "
- Calf (thickest part) -

Making Exercise A Daily Habit

The first objection that most people say is that "they don't have time". Let's examine this closer. Do you have time to talk endlessly on the phone, texting or talking? Do you have time to watch mindless t.v. programs that you have seen before or informercials even though you don't have the money to buy what they are hawking? Do you have time to play online games on the internet or cruise your FB page for hours on end even though you might be seeing some of these same people face to face during your daily or weekly life?

If you dare this coming week try this experiment: keep track of all of your 24 hours and how you spend it. It might only take a day to see where your "time is going" or it might take a couple but soon you will see a pattern. Before you think that I am coming down hard on you, I want you to know that I am guilty on all accounts of everything I just mentioned above. Yes, I watch informercials, I talk and text even though "nothing much has happened" in my life since the last time I spoke with someone, I have spent hours playing online games (which I hate to admit I am pretty proficient at) as well as checking out FB feed not realizing how much time it both cuts into my sleep time (very important for any of us who are serious about losing weight) as well "potential" exercise time. Ah, yes, exercise time.

I am not saying that you have to give all of the above out because I haven't. I just put limits on how long I will do some of those things. I check FB every 36 hours. I stop playing online games by 1 a.m. for my bedtime. I track and log my food between the national news and the first good program at 8 p.m. EST. I do my strength exercises (core, upper and lower) sometimes while watching t.v. or sometimes I put that person on speakerphone and exercise while we are chatting. In fact, I had a friend last year who did the same and we worked out together talking while we were lifting those hand weights or doing those core exercises. As for those informercials; well, there is a favorite one but I have told myself that once I have lost a specific amount of weight I am going to order that set of dvds. It gives me an added incentive to work out.

Besides getting in that daily exercise, it also has the added benefit of keeping me from wandering into the kitchen looking for something to snack on. I call that a "two fer". I am getting a "two for one benefit"; more calories burned than calories ingested. Not a bad deal in my book!

The key in fitting in daily exercise is looking for and then filling those time slots in yours (and mine) busy life that is "down time". If you do better by working out with a group or at a specific location (fitness center, gym, pool) then decide that instead of watching those fall re-runs you will devote some "me time" to engaging your muscles below your neck. You will be happy that you did all of this now when it comes time for summer and swim suits.

Also, think "outside of the box" when it comes to what actually constitutes exercise: any kind of physical movement is burning calories---some more than others. It might be time to become a "neat freak" around the house, dorm room or apartment, if it means that you are vacuuming more, doing laundry or other mundane chores. "Move It and Lose It" is the motto I live by. This is where wearing that pedometer can help you reach beyond a specific goal. If you have a personal goal of 5000 steps a day, see if you can pass that by looking for extra steps in your day. You would be surprised at how motivating that pedometer can become and how it can be a part of your overall effort to bring more movement into your life.

If you haven't gotten the "exercise bug" yet, don't worry, you have plenty of time. Start today and then don't stop finding new ways to bring more movement and activity back into your life. You will be glad you did when it comes time to remove the winter coats, baggy sweats and show off all of your hard work.

As the song says "You gotta move it, move it....".



Keep it up, Pam

Everything else remains the same for daily and weekly "challenges". Here are the new Week 3 "Weekly Challenges". [Note: I will always have a one new one that is regarding your food plan and one new one regarding your workout routine/program]

1) Do NOT eat out more than 2x this coming week. If you do, then add 1 additional cardio workout (30 mins.+) for each time you eat out.

2) Add 1 additional strength exercise for your lower body (can be either for legs and/or core).



Pam coach:

No change in weight for me this time. I know why, just side-effects from being a girl... And I have not counted points, as it has been a really stressful week with classes starting up again and I just haven't been able to concentrate on anything.

Weight in: 167.4 (-2.8 lbs)

Steps: 76112

Points: 77461 (most of my points are from steps)