The object of this thread is to take on at least one challenge related to your weight loss goals for 7 days straight. Choose whatever inspires you - a certain amount of water intake, no sugar, 30 minute walks, etc.

I will award accolades for each day you maintain your goal(s) and 7 day winner awards and pounds down at the end of the week. We will begin each challenge on Monday - you can choose a new challenge or repeat any challenge for extra mileage. If you would like to stretch yourself, take on more than one challenge.

We will support each other keeping in mind to stay focussed on our successes and/or challenges of the day and week related to our weight loss. There are plenty of threads where a lot of time is spent on personal stories, so let's try to keep that to a minimum.

mscat-
All that we have is right now.
Yesterday is gone, Tomorrow is not promised, and Someday is not a day of the week!

To start our week off - Look to the following Pacesetters!
Bonnie Your promises are never empty for us - we are here to help you make those promises a living reality You are human and we are one! for your goals this week!
mscat
squiggly everyday you make your goals is another step closer to towards new life - Keep it up - you are doing great!
Haleys - We will miss you! It is your right to take a break - You don't have to follow a weekly challenge to post - Stop in and let us know how you are doing when you can.
carla Way to go carla! Your commitment is awesome!
Bev Your words are powerful, your example is even more so! You are a blessing to us all.
Sushi You can do the 21-day challenge! You are a star on both sites!

mscat-
All that we have is right now.
Yesterday is gone, Tomorrow is not promised, and Someday is not a day of the week!

Happy Monday all -
Start of another new week. I'm keeping my same goals -- Wed will be difficult as we are going into Chicago (about 3-1/2 hrs) to see the musical "Wicked". Plan to leave here early in the am so very likely will not get my walk. And I've decided that's ok -- Nobody's perfect and if I only walk 6 days out of 7 that's much better than no walking at all. Besides I'm sure we'll have to park 30 blocks from the theater, but won't count that as "official" walking.
Bonnie - I am so glad you decided to stay with us!! And re-assessing your goals is a good idea. I have done the same - am going to concentrate on the positive (the things I DO do) and not the times I stray a bit. We just have to remember that this is a life-change and make it do-able. I did look at your tracker and look how far you have already come!

Haleys - nothing wrong with taking some time to just coast a bit, but do let us hear from you now and then.

MsCat - I'm going to post my fruit/veggie servings every day just so I really focus on the things I should be eating. Will still have OP treats but be a bit more accountable. I have also started watching my portions closer - really got a surprise when I actually weighed what I thought was 3/4 cup of my healthy cereal. I have a scale and measuring cups - and I have 'em to use 'em!!

Carla - you are so close to onderland - can't wait to see you doing the happy dance!

Squiggly & Sushi - good luck to you both. We are an awesome group of women and we can do whatever we really set our minds to. The support on this thread is great ... Bev

Hey ladies!

Time for another week's challenge. I'm really raising the bar this time, so it may be a little tough for me to stick it out. Today I drank my 32 oz of water, and have not yet stopped. I did ALL my laundry and ironong, which covers today's clean/tidy goal. and I'm going to us the 45 minutes of last night's walk that was past midnight as today's deliberate exercise. (Would have done more, but my feet hurt and I've run out of time and oomph.)

I'm not getting the amount of sleep I'd like: my Bigboy gets very loud around 5:30 or 6 am, and doesn't stop yowling and chirping until I get up and talk to him. Since I've been going to sleep around 2 or 3 am, that's not working. I have no idea what to do to make it stop. Between that and the really smelly poops (which he doesn't deign to cover) and his far too rough playing with little Lily, he's lucky he's so sweet or he'd be off back to the orphanage.

Bonnie, glad you were able to swim in a poop-free pool today!

Mscat, Bev, Sushi, Squiggly: Here's to a successful week!

Woo-woo, am I sick of water today! I'm trying to tough out my goal of 9 glasses, and I couldn't start until 6:30 pm. 'Tis goin' to be a jolly night!

Mscat, how do you come up with things to say to everyone, and always have the most fitting words? You amazing lady, you!

Bonnie, great to hear you decided to stick with the weekly challenge! I'm sorry I didn't post anything to encourage you last week, just wasn't up to it... It is a great idea to re-assess your goals, especially when we need an re-adjustment period after a vacation or something. I'm sure you can get back to meeting the old ones in no time! Just take it one thing at a time!

Haley, hope you'll still drop by and tell us how you're doing.

Bev, enjoy the musical! I can see how it might be hard to go for the usual walk. What do you think, perhaps you could set a different challenge for Wednesday only, something challenging but also suitable to what you've got to do on that one day?

Carla, kudos for upping the bar, you can do it! Go girl! If Bigboy is a bird (hope I got that right!), it's natural that he gets up with the sun... And I certainly know what you're going through. The only tree at my old place was next to my window, and every spring it took me weeks to learn to sleep through the 5 am awakening call of the lovely birdies... which would get through closed windows and earplugs! Perhaps covering the cage with a piece of cloth would solve the problem? The bird would still get the air, much less light and hopefully he'd sleep longer.

I hope Squiggly joins us this week as well. Good luck to everyone!


ETA, it wouldn't hurt to post my own goals, right?
Here they are:
- not to forget to take the stupid iron supplement
- drink at least 2.25 liters of water every day and not eat after 7 pm
- exercise: gym each day (fitness class or workout) OR a home-based workout if I really can’t make it to the gym; try the treadmill at least 2 times (10 min.); skip rope (at least 2 times for 15 min.)
- keep on working on my sleep schedule and posting get up and bed times (goals: get up at regular times, bedtime 10:30 pm)
- re-start 21 Day Challenge
- keep my August goals in mind (and work at them) - they're posted in 20-somethings forum


Last night I didn't get to sleep until 3:30 or 4 am or so, but I woke up at 1 pm, which is progress. Tonight I hope to be asleep by midnight. Things should be back to normal in the next few days.

Today we went for a hike/walk in a distant park by the shore and spent about 3.5 hrs there. I'm counting as exercise, equivalent to 2 hrs of walking. At 6:40 pm I sat on a bench and had my last food of the day. It was not a proper dinner, and I've only eaten twice today, so I hope I can last till the morning.
There were no toilets in the park, so I couldn't drink my water, which is why I'm trying to drink all of it now. Just about 1.5 glasses left...

I had my iron, got an idea for the 21 Day Challenge and got a start on my August goals. Just need to finish the water. Tomorrow I'll tell you how many times I had to get up during the night!

Sushi, if Bigboy were a bird, I would follow your advice in a second. But he'a a big grey tomcat I just adopted, and he makes a sort of loud chirping noise when he wants attention - which is usually when I'm asleep or busy. When I'm available to play or cuddle, he's usually asleep or beating up his 2-month old co-adoptee Lily. They're both adorable, but more trouble than I expected. (I haven't had a cat for almost 20 years, and the last one was an outdoors cat. This is an entirely different story.)

Good luck with the new goals, Sushi, Mscat, Bev, Squiggly, Bonnie. And Haleys too, if you're out there lurking.

It's Monday Night ladies - still struggling with points - Water was not good today either, but I am going to resolve that before the night is over.

Bev - I have to go to the store and stock up on fruits and veggies so I can follow my plan. I am soooo jealous of you. I love Wicked - I play the CD so much my family is sick of it and probably won't go with me to see it. Count your walk from the parking lot - I have walked downtown Chicago!

Sushi - good for you - hang in there. That water will get easier.

carla - you really inspired me - I am starting a home/office organizing business and really need to start with me! So I took my before pictures and totally reorganized my linen closet.

Bonniebelle Awesome progress on your goals.

Have a great night.

Monday report - walked 40 minutes and drank 48 oz of water and 12 oz Crystal Light. Ate 7 servings fruits/vegs - tomato juice, field greens in my sandwich, watermelon, small red potatoes, squash, peach and more watermelon - total 23 pts (used 1 flex pt) but just couldn't resist that 2nd serving of watermelon!

Everyone have a good Tuesday -- Bev

Mscat - sorrry, but I can't take credit for the inspiration. But I would love to hire you to sort me out! Actually, I find it much easier to do "purges" of other peoples stuff than mine. Somehow I just look at the mess and feel defeated. Masybe if I do it a tiny bit at a time. I think today I'd better clean the guest bathroom (litter box room). In fact I'll have to clean everything a lot more now that the cats are trailing litter and hair everywhere. Goals met yesterday, nothing yet for today.

Good luck does not just randomly appear. Good luck comes to those who attract it.

Live this day as if it is the most precious and important day in your life, and you'll make yourself lucky. Seek ways to provide real, lasting value to others, and you'll make yourself lucky.

Be anxious to learn, to explore, to hone your skills and you'll make yourself lucky. Live with patience, discipline, integrity and a commitment to truth, and you'll make yourself lucky.

Focus on the positive possibilities, and you'll make yourself lucky. Take the actions that will manifest the best of those possibilities into reality, and you'll make yourself lucky.

There's no limit to the amount of good luck you can enjoy when you take the positive, productive actions that will bring it your way. Make yourself lucky, and experience for yourself how great it can be.
-- Ralph Marston

Are we not lucky that we have this website and each other? Have a great day!

mscat

Monday up 1:15 pm, bed 11:35 pm
Tuesday up 7:50 am, bed in a bit ;-)

I was actually up at 6 am, had breakfast, but then got scared of the treadmill and didn't go to the gym (not a treadmill fan here).
Water was great today, I didn't even notice that I drank almost 2.5 liters until I added it all up! Toilet trips weren't as annoying. Yesterday I had all my water within just a few hours, and by the 8th glass I had to run every 5 minutes... thankfully only had to get up once at night.

Had the iron, worked on August goals, ate dinner at 5:15 pm. 70 mins. of skating for exercise and got off several long stops to walk to work. 21 Day Challenge restarted, veggies eaten and I'm having the YUCKY herbal tea right now (supposed to drink it in the evening).


Carla, you're not the first person telling me their cat likes to get up early! May I borrow him for a bit? Does he ever snuggle on your pillow?

Today I met all my goals! Drank more water than my goal, tidied out some boxes of papers (well, reduced four boxes to one box - I'm definitely not "there" yet...), and went to a gym this morn to do 20 min elliptical and 10 min rowing machine. Yahoo!

Sushi, it sounds like you're on top of your goals. Good for you.

Bonnie, you may find some of those "new" pounds will vanish as the salt and grease or whatever works its way out of your system.

Sushi and Bonnie, I would gladly lend you my Bigboy. Especially when he lets off one of those silent-but-deadlies. Gas masks mandatory. Which means I'm glad he doesn't snuggle on my pillow... Besides, I seem to be a little allergic to his fur if it gets too close to my face, so it's all for the best. He's available for rental any night between 11pm and 8am. (Actually he's becoming cuter and cuter as he settles in. A big, handsome, affectionate goof who loves to have his big head rubbed and scratched.)

To all my fellow posters: Please don't hesitate to tell me when the cat stories get old. After all, this IS a weight loss site, NOT Carla's personal cat chat site. I won't be offended at all. (Sniff, sniff,....)

It's Tuesday night and I am not too well on my challenge. I agree with Bonnie - falling off the wagon - hard to get back up again. I have been lazy today - did do a little Richard Simmons this a.m. but I am still working on water.

carla for consistency and I am crediting you with the wonderful idea of tidying up one thing/area a day. Yesterday the linen closet for me - tomorrow the home office!

Sushi

Bonnie Congrats on the weight loss!

Night all! mscat

Mscat, sorry you're having a tough time climbing back on the challenge horse. I'm sure it'll all fall into place before too long. I must say that while I do like the idea of drinking a fair amount of water, I'm not convinced that huge quantities do much apart from filling our tums and keeping us hydrated. I have a feeling Richard did more for you than the water would have done. And don't forget those 7" from a week or two ago!

I would LOVE to take credit for the tidying idea, but in fact it was Redballoon on the 21-day-challenge thread. (Render unto Caesar and all that.)

I hope you all sleep well (Sushi!) and wake up refreshed and thinner.

Mmmmmm. Mac and cheese...... Get thee behind me, Bonnie! (er, I meant to say Satan)