At the very least I have been consistant in this challenge ! I have maitained a gain of 3 pounds for 6 weeks UGGGGGHHHH! I must of gottne to close to the edge of the wagon cause I fell off again! With only one week in this challenge left I would like to at the very least get back to my start weight ! Hopefully some of you will reach the goal you have set for yourselves ! I am starting to think of the new challenge and I am not so sure what it will be? Any suggestions are welcome ! Ladies please dont follow in my foot steps as I am on the wrong path but I am hoping to change that this week as there are only 10 weeks to spring! Maybe I should drag out my bathing suit and hang it on the wall LOL HUGGGGGS Hope you all had a great week and I will bbl to check in with all of you !!!!!!!!!!!

SW 204
SW FOR CHALLENGE 160.4
CW 163.4 (+3)
GW 145

Well FGNM don't give up you have come soooooo far and now that your closier to goal I hear it gets hard so keep your faith and I we will all be here for you every step of the way !!! So before I tell my loss this week I would like to say that last week after gaining back the only two pounds I lost this challenge I had a long talk with myself and I told myself that I would give my all from here on out and really focus on losing the weight. So I am on WW and over the last couple weeks I haven't been 100 % on program. So last week I put my foot down and really wrote everything before I ate and so on well I got on the scale I lost 5 lbs in one week YEAH YEAH YEAH I am so happy. Thanks Ladies for listening sorry it was so long but I am now really focused on the next 5 POUNDS !! Thanks again ladies and hope you all have had a great week.
Stacey

That a girl Stacy WTG I am so proud of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Ladies ~

I am SO excited !!! I have met my V-Day Goal a week early !!

I lost my 10 lbs !!!

Keep up the Good Work !!

You can do it !!

Well, this morning I apprehensively approached that evil white box you might call a scale and placed all of my self-esteem upon it and lo and behold, it gave forth some great news!!! I am officially down two pounds which is not earth-shattering, but good nonetheless. The tricky part is that I have steadily been averaging about two pounds a week for the last two or three weeks, but I have three pounds to go to make goal. This leaves me no option but to (in the immortal words of Emeril Lagasse- ironic, isn't it?) KICK IT UP A NOTCH!!! So here goes. My-7-day-until-diet-goal-weigh-in-day-failure- is-not-an-option-pledge-of-alligiance (whew that is a mouthful!)

I vow to drink 10- 8 ounce glasses of pure water every day
I vow to do one thirty minute strength training exercise every morning to jump start my metabolism and one hour of cardio a night to keep it going!
I vow to eat a healthy breakfast and begin my day right every morning!!!
I vow to move throughout the day as much as I possibly can (stairs, here I come!)
I vow to eat 5 healthy meals a day to keep my metabolism high and my morale even higher!
I vow to eat all of my servings of fruit, vegetables and legumes daily and take my multivitamins regularly!
I vow to get 8 hours of quality sleep every single night!

Who is going to hold me accountable you might say? You will! Here is my fitday journal! http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJ...ner=aimin4thin

Valentine's Day Goal


SW 165
CW 157
VDay Goal 154
TG 130

Hey FGNM- I think next challenge could either be St. Patty's Day on the 17th or "First Day of Spring" (can call it Spring Fling or something clever) on the 20th. I know that is a shorter time frame than our v-day challenge but it might make a nice mini-goal as folks are striving to become svelte for warmer weather fashions and dare I say, swimsuits ::::!

Momma ashley WTG WOOOHOOOOOOOOO and you did it early no less !!!

Aimin good goals stick to em and you will see the finish line I am sure !!!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone, I lost 1.25 this week for a total of 9.5lbs for the challenge and 3 more lbs to go. I also lost add'l 6.50 inches since Jan. 6 Hope you all are doing fine.

Hello everybody. I am sad to say that I haven't lost any weight this week, but I didn't gain either so I am grateful for that. This losing weight thing has really been a rollercoaster of emotions for me as I am sure it has been for all of you. I am still really hoping to lose the rest of my weight by Valentine's, but if not, I will still rejoice in the weight I have lost and the fact that I have made friends with some like minded people. I hope we can continue to have challenges and keep in touch. Congrats to all who have lost and keep up the good work everyone!

Better to stay even than to gain BB! You can do it ~~ Still thinking of what the next challenge should be, what do you all think of so many exercise minutes in a month (you create your own number goal) Let me know or we can just do another 5% of our body weight !Or both for that matter !

You know, you are on to something there FGNM with the exercise hours. That is the area I skimp on the most because my job and volunteer work take up a HUGE majority of my time, but I do love a challenge. I like your ideas of doing both!!!

Hey I was thinking about our next challenge April Fool's Challenge again maybe 5% weight loss and also a exercise challenge to complete 75 to 100 min of exercise a week for some of us that exercise only 2 or 3 days. Just a thought.
Stacey

OK- so I am not a doctor by any means but I have been trying to figure out this whole plateau thing because it squelchs diet morale and motivation faster than bad news can squelch your appetite!

And then it hit me. It is soooo simple yet it is something we ALL need to be aware of as we are working toward our goals. There is a formula you can use to create a safe and effective calorie deficit for yourself. Take your body weight and stick a 0 on the end of it, so if you weigh 160, make it 1600. Then add 20% of that weight to it to account for your daily basal calorie burn so 1600+320= 1920. Let's assume that is the amount of calories you would have to eat to stay at your current weight (which we don't want to do!) To lose one pound a week for a sedentary person, you should create a calorie deficit for yourself of 500 calories so 1920-500=1420. Of course this is just basic, you have to tailor this for your own activity level, muscle composition etc...

Secondly, as you lose weight, your basal calorie burn drops with your weight. You are no longer moving 160 pounds around, you are now only moving 140 pounds around - you get the idea. So, you have to make adjustments to your calorie intake and activity levels to see results as you were seeing them at the beginning of your weight loss journey. Make sense?

It seems so simple but it is something we all need to keep in mind when we face those dreaded plateaus. Best wishes and happy scale scoping!

Stacy YOU ARE ON LOL so we will lay out the details for the challenge nest WI which is TUES (the weekend upon us be good girls) Weightloss is simple doing the math is not diffucult , its actually applying it LOL I can not be that regimented to count every little thing that goes in my mouth I just try to keep things reasonable and lower fat ! I read a lot of lables and try to think if things are really worth it ! Its like shopping in the cupboards to see what I can afford LOL Have a great weekend Ladies HUGGGGGGGGS

Uggg, I love weekends but they are BRUTAL to get through. Can you believe that Saturday night I have actually been invited to a chocolate and champagne buffet and the worse part is that I have to go to it!!! Wish me luck. See you all on Tuesday! Y'all have a great weekend too.