Join the challenge! Lose a pound a week in August!

125by125

Hey MFP friends!

I just recently started a new account to jump start the last ten pounds of my long long long weight loss journey and thought hosting an August challenge be the perfect way to stay accountable and make some brand new friends!

Here's how it works.

1. Reply to the this thread with your Current Weight and your first name (if you're comfortable)
2. Check back tonight to see a super cool chart with your information and the information of others who are taking part in the challenge
3. Check back into the forum throughout the week to encourage, inspire, or commiserate with fellow challengers as we discuss what foods we're eating, what exercise we're doing and how we're feeling!
4. Weigh in and post your progress every THURSDAY NIGHT. If I don't have your updated weight by 10:00 pm every THURSDAY NIGHT this month then you won't be updated on our cool chart!
5. Lose weight and get that push you need to lose a safe and healthy pound a week!

If it goes well, I'll roll the challenge through September and beyond!

NOTE: If you can't commit to actively participating in the challenge by checking into the forum often, encouraging others, and getting your weight in ON TIME EVERY WEEK then maybe sit this challenge out and watch until we start up another where you think you can commit! This challenge is for people who really want constant encouragement and friends who are consistent and positive!

Alright, enough blathering! I'll start!

Sara - Current Weight 136.5

tenajh

Would love to see a "cool chart". you must be graph savy ; ) I had reached my goal wt,,,but after a month of steroids and hormones and inability to move around much, I have regained the 10 pounds, plus 2 more. My name is Janet and this morning I weighed 133 pounds. Thank you for this thread, I commit to daily logging and to positive encouragement of others. My goal is to lose a pound a week. Thank you, oh yeah, I am 5 foot 2 inches and 49 years of age. Major vascular surgery yesterday, so no evercising is possible for next 2 weeks. I will eat sensibly and not ramble in future posting. LOL

125by125

Welcome Janet!

Good luck with recovery from surgery, that sounds super rough :-(. We're in a similar situation! I'm 5'2, reached my goal a few months back and then had to deal with the stress of moving and finding a new job and planning my wedding and have suddenly gained back 12 pounds as well! Lame!

And please, ramble away :-)

125by125

Just bumping to see if anyone is on MFP on their lunch break and wants to join :-)

Shari325

I have considerably more weight to lose, so I am still losing at a pretty rapid rate (2-4# a week).
Would it be discouraging to those struggling to lose a pound a week if I joined you?

lovelyloola

My current weight is 133.6 and my name is Cindy.

shelbyj72

My current weight is 201.0 My name is Shelby

125by125

Welcome All!

Shari - Absolutely not! I have been at many different stages of weight loss and losing more weight (as long as it's healthily) is ALWAYS a good thing! Happy to have you! Do you have starting weight I can add to the chart?

Hi Cindy! Hi Shelby! Can't wait to get to know you gals!

So I'm going to keep this open for new members for one more day and then I'll make my final chart for the month and close it off until September. So if you have any friends that might be interested, please let them know they are welcome to join throughout tomorrow!

So excited to meet you all and have a kick butt August!

teresa1121

Hi my name is Teresa and my current weight is 232

kare5625

My name is Karen and I currently weight 302. This sounds fun

Shari325

I generally weigh in on Friday, so right now, I would say my weight is 268#.
I'll shift to a Thursday weigh in starting next week...
Goal weight of 175#, 5' 11"
Thanks!

ETA - my name is Shari

R55T

Hi all,

I'd like to join too please. I'm Rachel, CW - 176lbs.

Good luck everyone on their weight loss journey.

125by125

Welcome Teresa, amazing progress so far, you're looking great!

Hi Karen! This should be fun! Having a community to push you through has always helped me!

Shari - Thanks for moving your weigh in day, I super appreciate it :-)

Hi Rachel! Glad to have you! You have a gorgeous picture on your ticker, what's it from?



What a wonderful group we're becoming! Can't wait to get started! I just moved three days ago so my food has been crappy and my exercise has been all but impossible to track. How many calories does unpacking burn? Either way, we finally have healthy groceries and are mostly unpacked so it's time to kick this into gear! Tonight I'll post the chart with our final group and I'll add a fun food and exercise challenge for the week. They are totally optional, but I think it's fun to focus on a short term goal to get us through the hard days. Woot Woot!

trackmyday1973

My current weight is 241.6 lbs and my name is Paola

Shari325

Sara, you may want to update my stats, or I'm going to show a huge loss next week.
Weigh-in this morning 265
Shari

125by125

Welcome Paola, good to have you!

Shari- Holy Cow lady! Congrats on your loss today!

For Shari and anyone else who wants to make their end-of-August goal more than four pounds, reply to the thread with your weight loss goal for the month. In the chart I'm putting together I automatically set everyone's goal for four pounds from their starting weight (one pound for each week) but if you'd like me to use a different number, let me know and I'll change it!

Get pumped for a healthy August everyone!

Shari325

My goal for August is to lose 10#
I have been going to Physical Therapy for back issues and was limited on exercise. I was released yesterday, now I am on my own to begin exercising. My other goal for August is to develop an exercise routine - 3x week cardio and 3x week strength training.

My total weight loss goal is higher then some of you ladies weigh! My ultimate goal loss is more than my 22 year old, 6'2", Marine son weighs!! I would really like to lose at least 20# before Sept. 13, when he comes home. He hasn't seen me since before I started weight loss this time. 245# would put me at a lower weight than before he was born! Haven't seen that number in 23 years.

125by125

Alright ladies! We've got a great group going so I'm going to go ahead and close the challenge for August. Come September we'll re-open for new members!

Each week I'll offer up three mini challenges for those who are interested to attempt. There will be one food challenge, one exercise challenge and one motivation challenge. It is totally up to you if you want to attempt one or all of the weekly challenges but if you do, report back to us so we know how it's going!

So this week's mini challenges are:

Food Challenge: Make sure you have one fruit or vegetable in two of your three main meals each day. Real produce people, tomato sauce doesn't count :-P

Exercise Challenge: Get outside once a day for at least 20 minutes for some outdoor cardio. Walk around the block, go for a jog, find a hike, or simply park in a distant parking spot when you go to get groceries. It's August, the weather is lovely, get some vitamin D!

Motivation Challenge: Weight loss is way easier with friends so reach out! Post on our thread with a challenge you face in your specific weight loss journey, your least favorite exercise and the food that always gets you into trouble. Commiserate with others and give some suggestions to help others along!

And here's our lovely chart for the week. I think it's pretty self explanatory and it will get cooler as time goes one. As I said in an earlier post, I put a default goal weight for August at four pounds less than the starting weight you gave me. If you want to push it with a bigger goal feel free to let me know and I'll change it for you!



I'm going to friend all of you guys and then we'll officially be started! Get pumped!

125by125

Happy Saturday!

I managed to get fruit and veg into breakfast and lunch so dinner might be loose affair. I'm thinking pasta... yum.

Also decided to walk to the store to replace my sodastream canister instead of driving. It's so nice to walk when you can! Such beautiful August weather here in the 'burgh.

Now if I could only motivate myself to send out some more job applications....sigh.... you can't win them all. But for now, it's Saturday night, so time to partay.

125by125

Happy Tuesday morning everyone! Hope all is well and the weight loss is happening! Haven't heard much from anyone but don't forget our weigh in night is approaching! I need those weights by 10:00 pm ET on Thursday Night!!

Also, update everyone on your week so far! It's so lonely here...

Shari325

Hello all, How is your week so far?

My eating has been pretty good. I was starving on Saturday and wanted to gnaw my own arm off, so I went over on calories. But, I should be OK as far as weight loss, because it was only 400 calories, and only one time. Yesterday was one of those days I struggled to eat all my calories. Some days I just struggle to eat enough. I even eat calorie heavy items (nuts, full fat cheese, avocados) and still struggle. I know I used to eat 1600-1700 calories for lunch alone, now I sometimes struggle to eat that many in one day.

My biggest struggle this week is exercise. I seem to have lost all motivation. I was doing some intensive physical therapy session twice a week since April. I was released from that last week, and now I'm struggling to get my butt back to the gym. I'm not going to make it to the gym again today, but I commit to at least 30 minutes of some exercise today. I'll report back and let you know what I did.
How are you moving today?

teresa1121

I am making a attempt to exersize in some form every day I have joined 2 other challenges also squats which are a killer and crunches I will let you know after the 30 days if I am stil able to move lol.. all in all a good week .. I usually weigh in weekly at my Tops meeting (take off pounds sensibly) but since I am going to a concert tonight I weighed in at gym this morning... the scale is almost identicall to the tops scale I weigh in at gym every wed and com-pare to tops anyway.. after that explaination I weighed in at

229.8 on August 7 Yeah !

125by125

Shari - Great to hear from you! I've definitely been suffering from lack of motivation as well. Since I'm new here and my fiancee is attending school we are working on getting a spouse card for me so I can use the University gym for free. It's been a bit of a pain so it's been almost a week since I've had some good exercise. Never fear though! I think we've figured out the bureaucracy and should have a gym card in hand tomorrow. If it works, I'm totally doing my cardio at the pool!

Teresa - Congrats lady! What kind of challenge are you doing with squats and crunches? Maybe I'll attempt it in the coming week as a weekly challenge to see if I can keep up ;-).

Alright everyone, make sure you send me your weights by 10:00 PM ET tomorrow night! Until them, keep up the good work and check in so we all know what's going on in your weight loss lives!

shelbyj72

SW-201.0
Weight today 198.0

3 pound weight loss (not sure why it is not showing up as 3 pounds but oh well)

Shari325

Hello Ladies,
I didn't make it to the gym this week, partly due to financial reasons. As I stated earlier, I had been doing physical therapy. They will allow me to continue to come workout on their equipment, but now I have to pay a monthly fee. I have some equipment at home, so justifying spending money is hard. I can't justify that right now. Maybe next week...

I am also interested in hearing about the squat and crunch challenges. I've been doing cardio work at home (less than I would like...) I need to add some strength and toning items.

Hubby took me for Mexican after Bible Study last night. I expected I would be retaining water this morning, but apparently not - weigh-in 262. (I'll weigh-in on Thursday for this group, however, I'm going to keep my official weigh-in day as Friday - if you wonder why my ticker hasn't changed.)

kare5625

The last two weeks have been hard for me. Last Monday I got into a car accident then this week I have been sick all week. I belong to curves so I have not been able to go. I have been excersing at home. My starting weight was 302. My weight now is 298. I lost 4 pounds this week.

Shari325

Karen,
I'm sorry to hear you are having such a hard time. I hope you weren't injured and that you are feeling better soon.

Congratulations on your loss.

rebeccaensley

Hello everyone. As I read down through your posts, I am already inspired and encouraged by the positive approach so many are taking to battling this beast we all are facing. I am going to work hard to join in with you. I bought a new set of scales this past weekend, and as I faced judgment, I knew it was time to stop *****footing around and get serious. I will need support, but I also know I can do this... without going under the knife to do it. My goal weight is 165!

milkmaid1980

Is it too late for me to join?

Name: Rebecca
Starting weight THURS. a.m.: 180.2

rebeccaensley

Way to go! Although you found challenging circumstances in your past week, you still accomplished losing lbs. Hope you are feeling better and that you are able to get back at it soon.

Rosie7255

Rosie - 159 pds. :-)