&-Week Challenge Team Europe / UK

Pearl_Normal

Hello Team! Big THANKS to Jitterbug for initiating this great challenge - We CAN do this.

Together we are strong, we WILL lead the way and show the other teams how committed we are to achieving our united goal.

Thanks to all the Team for your Friend requests and check - in weights. Keep me posted on your progress and lets aim to be the group winners on the first week "limit your chocolate intake" challenge :-).

Today's tips for sucess: DRINK PLENTY OF WATER!

PLAN your food for the day the night before and keep good food options with you to avoid temptation from vending machines and sweet displays in supermarkets and garages.

GOOD LUCK and GOOD EATING to all the Teams Europe / UK team - lets get this challenge off to a great start!

nikkiws

Great advice captain! Thanks for organising gathering stats etc
Go Europe!

Stacebob85

Hi all!

I've set my diary to Friends Only so if y'all want to check out how I'm doing then feel free. I try to be as honest as possible, though I do find it difficult recording calories if I eat out (which happens quite often as I'm quite social!) If you guys eat out in a pub/bar/restaurant, if the specific meal isn't on MFP, what do you do? I find this really difficult as I could be adding far too many or way too few calories to my count!

Anyways, thanks for setting up the thread, Cap'n! I look forward to weigh-in day to see how we all did!

little_lion

If you guys eat out in a pub/bar/restaurant, if the specific meal isn't on MFP, what do you do? I find this really difficult as I could be adding far too many or way too few calories to my count!

A lot of places now have the calorie content on their websites (it can be very well hidden but it's there somewhere!) e.g. nandos, pizza express.. bigger chains like that usually do.
if i go somewhere and they dont have info on their website i just try and order things that i can easily estimate the calorie count, like vegetable dishes, soups, or salads with no dressing. if all else fails just pick the healthiest option!
you can always post a description of whatever you have on here if you want us to try and help guesstimate xxx

Eviesmum

Aha - found you

I just want to apologise. I don't keep a diary of my food in the diary bit, I do it in a blog instead. Hope that's not going to annoy everyone. I'm not good with being bothered to search for it all.

:flowerforyou:

sylvia1970

Hi.

So is this our thread now where we log our weigh in on saturday and so on till we win the competition? heehee. I've never felt so determined since the kids were born; Its wonderful.

Stacebob85

Sounds sensible. I'm always just a bit shocked sometimes when I try to guess what it would be and then it turns out to be a lot higher/lower than I expected!

Zeeba81

Good morning everyone, hope you all have a good day. Have just done a 20 minute workout before work to set me off for the day.

Boooie

Morning all i got zumba tonight and doing one of my Jillian Michaels dvds i can feel the pain already ouch lol have a great day all x

Eviesmum

Morning all i got zumba tonight and doing one of my Jillian Michaels dvds i can feel the pain already ouch lol have a great day all x

Wow - you've done great so far, well done. :happy:

Stacebob85

Right, I have a question for the ladies that is a little gross but I don't know who else to ask! It's common knowledge that most women are a little heavier when they're on their period. My question is; how do you manage this when recording weights? With this little challenge on the go there's obviously going to be at least one week when I'm on, and I don't want to have to broadcast that to the whole thread when I post my results. However, I have been known to weigh between 2 and 4lbs more during those weeks, which will look like I've made no progress whatsoever! Should I just knock a few pounds off when I weigh myself at these times, or do I just record what the scales say and hope everyone understands that I wasn't being a pig that week? :P

Also, I've been given word by the challenge creator that my breakfast chocolate Weetabix will not count towards the chocolate challenge (hurrah!) but unfortunately the Options low calorie hot chocoalte I absent-mindedly made for myself at work yesterday will (boo!). I promise not to have anymore chocolate this week to make up for it though!

Boooie

The thing i found to stop me putting on during tom is water, i drink loads of it around that time, before that i used to gain anything up to 7lb in that week but since the water drinking i tend to stay about the same, now i've said that ill have a huge gain that week lol

Pearl_Normal

GOOD MORNING ALL!

Wow, great to see the exercise updates from Zeeba and Boooie - good work and an inspiration to the rest of us :-)

I walked the dogs this morning and will weight train tonight. I do it at home, it saves time travelling to and from gym - plus the shower is better and I can drink coffee when I am training!

Stacebob - yup I know what you mean about not broadcasting your hormonal staus to the world. Just do what you prefer when recording your weight, you can make a note on your food log mentioning the "water weight" if you like, only your friends will see it. Don't beat yourself up over the Options, it was a far better choice than half a packet of chocolate biscuits :-)

OK so, check out my food log and you'll see I went over my intended calories yesterday :-(

Not the best start to the 7 weeks, but I have been honest and recorded everything I ate.

Stacebob gave me a great TIP FOR TODAY - if your find yourself overeating stop and think WHY are you doing it.

My trigger was the Nom yoghurt. I had not tried them before and I ate 2 more then I planned because:

a) They had a crunchy honey flavoured oat granola which I loved

b) The high sugar content made me crave MORE, MORE, MORE!

Lesson learned - I took the rest of the pack home so they are not in the fridge at work to tempt me and my husband can share them. Today I will just climb back on the wagon, I have a pre prepared lunch , fruit and plan yoghurt to snack on and a huge bottle of water on my desk, so hopefully am all set for a better day.

KEEP ACTIVE, try fitting in a walk at lunchtime to keep your mind and body occupied, and keep thinking postive thoughts for team Europe / UK

GOOD LUCK to you all and keep us posted on your progress, together we are strong and I am too weak to do this without you to inspire me!

Pearl_Normal

Also, I've been given word by the challenge creator that my breakfast chocolate Weetabix will not count towards the chocolate challenge (hurrah!) but unfortunately the Options low calorie hot chocoalte I absent-mindedly made for myself at work yesterday will (boo!). I promise not to have anymore chocolate this week to make up for it though!

Don't worry Stacebob - Jitterbug says about the "limit your chocolate intake challenge"

"Chocolate shakes are fine! This is just talking about straight chocolate or like brownies, cake, etc. If you have a breakfast shake or meal bar that is chocolate flavored, it won't be used in this challenge. Chocolate flavored stuff is fine is when you get to the nitty gritty chocolate candy bars and stuff when it counts. I hope that helps !

Stacebob85

Thanks all I did actually drop Jitterbug a DM about the hot chocolate, and she said that because it's mostly chocolate then unfortunately it has to count. Ah well, just have to make double the effort on next week's challenge! Unless it involves eating less pasta, because that might make me cry!

In an effort to try to combat the fact that I went a little calorie-crazy on Sunday, last night I busted out Dance Central and busted some grooves in my living room. I must say, that purchase was a totally awesome idea! I love dancing but I'm too self conscious (and a bit too poor!) to go to a class, so grooving away in my living room is perfect. According to the Fitness Mode setting on the game, I burned around 110 calories doing 6 or 7 songs, so I can't complain

My biggest issue with this week is that on Friday (my usual weigh in day) I won't be at the place where the scales are as the clinic has been cancelled, which means I have to weigh in clinic tomorrow. This scares me because I know I'll have had a day less to lose some weight, and also I'm supposed to be going out tonight so that might not go too well either. There's also the fact that, because of tonights outing, I won't get a chance to do any exercise (though I'm thinking I might try to get into the City Centre early and go for a 30 min walk or something)...

sylvia1970

Hi everyone

you all seem to be getting along fine. I was up all night with little-un teething but I managed to walk them 2 miles so i'm pretty pleased.

Stacebobs - I was thinking exactly the same about periods. I put on about 3lbs when i'm due on but losing weight and exercising may help. i'm just gonna see how it goes and if i do i'll make a note of it at weigh in. They should accept that.

morty1966

Hi everyone, you all sound so focused and motivated :0) its very inspiring as I am really struggling to get going, I have a run of good days then get busy and find I am not being as careful as I should. I weighed myself today and I hadn't lost anything again. I haven't been able to do any exercise this week but am hopeful that I can do some tomorrow, Friday and Saturday. Its those last chance workouts.

I will carry on keeping my food diary and at least things are not getting worse! I really hope I lose something for the challenge.

morty1966

Woo hoo, weighed myself today, and I have lost a pound. I'm chuffed to bits about that. I am definitely going to exercise tonight and tomorrow and saturday morning now. I reckon that will help me secure that loss. I've got my lunch in the fridge here at work, all healthy and tasty, and tonight's dinner is already sorted.

I feel mooooootivated today, in the groove lol x

Stacebob85

Hi all

Well, apparently my stress about extra TOM weight was unnecessary; I've lost 2lbs! Quite the shock but a massive motivator; I feel I could achieve anything now! Hopefully I can keep it up for the whole challenge and win some points for Team UK (aka The Greatest Team On Earth :P)

Morty, I'd try not to worry too much about not losing; although I know just how much of a kick-to-the-gut it can feel to clamber on the scales and see no difference, you just have to keep reassuring yourself that at least there's no gain, and use it as a motivator for the following weigh in. I went through a period where my weight plateau-ed for 5 months, and I tell you it was hard not to take it badly and shove a cake in my mouth to cheer me up, but no-one ever said weight loss was easy. We're all here to support each other so you'll never run out of people to talk to should you need advice or a friendly ear

Pearl_Normal

Ho Morty! CONGRATULATIONS! You sound well prepared for another good day sticking to your food plan. What exercise do you do?

Sylvia - WELL DONE for getting a 2 mile walk into your busy day.

morty1966

I usually go to a zumba class twice a week, but couldn't go this week as it was my son's birthday, then parent;s evening so I missed out. I shall get on my treadmill tonight, as I have cleared out the conservatory and found it again! we are in the middle of building work, and life has been chaotic. Nothing like half a dozen builders in the house to put you off doing an exercise DVD.

But they are gone now, so no more excuses. I think I will do 30 mins on the treadmill and 30 mins biggest loser on the wii. That should do it.

How is everyone else this morning?

little_lion

Hey everyone!
Sounds like you are all doing really well keep it up!!
Stacebob - in regards to TOM, i think most of us who are doing this challenge are female so we're all going to have to go through that at least once in the challenge, dont worry about it i usually find that the weight i would have lost that week shows on the scale the following week so you might have a big loss next week too. even though you've already lost 2lbs this week anyway! well doneeee

ive had a couple of days where i've eaten more than planned, MFP is telling me i went over my calorie goal - however, my calorie goal on here is a little low sometimes, i have it set to sedentary and the last couple of days i was really active, walking around london all day up and down lots of stairs and slopes, and i don't see it as going over my goal really because i think i needed those extra cals as i was busy.

however i am still going to do a crazy last chance work out today AND tomorrow to try and burn as many off as possible before saturday! is anyone else doing a last chance workout? would be cool to share what we did if so
xxxx

Stacebob85

Thanks Little Lion Unfortunately for me I don't have access to scales on a Saturday so my only chance for a last minute calorie burn was yesterday; and I ended up going out! Although actually, I am visiting my Ma this Saturday and she has scales, so I might try to shed a teeny bit more by then if I can... Start the challenge as I mean to go on, eh? Although, I am slightly worried about the rest of the challenge; I'm going to Ma's on Saturday as we're off to my wedding dress fitting, so I have to be careful not to lose too much between Saturday and the wedding (end of May) or else there won't be time to adjust it again :S I might tell them that I plan to lose around 10lbs by mid-April and see if they think that's work-able.

A friend and I were supposed to hit the gym tonight but she's just text to say she's sick, which means I'll either go to the gym by myself (which I don't particularly like doing as all the other people who seem to go there do so just to maintain weight and are therefore not as wobbly as me and I get very self conscious) or I'll bust out Dance Central again and do a bit of grooving in the living room! I have the afternoon off work tomorrow too, so I might try out a new DVD I bought the other day. It's an abdominal-specific DVD containing 5 10 minute workouts that you can do all in a row, mix and match a few, or just squeeze one in on a busy day. Since most of my weight is in my tum and bum I'm hoping it'll help me tone my problem areas. I'll let y'all know if it's any good

ephillips792

hi im new on here and dont know why its not showing iv lost 2lb?

nikkiws

Hi all, hope you are all having a good week. I have had to travel to cornwall yesterday as my dad is very poorly so am battling with trying to stick to the diet in difficult circumstances. Still within calorie goals but not able to hit the gym at the mo. Took the baby for a stroll this afternoon to try to combat cravings to do some 'emotional eating'.
Hope to keep the side up and resist those yummy cornish parties!

morty1966

Oh Nikki I hope your Dad is Ok. That's a lot to deal with, alongside a small baby too x

nikkiws

Thank you...
I meant cornish pasties not parties!
There's also the clotted cream and scones!

Eviesmum

Aww Nikki, sorry to hear about your dad. Its always difficult with illness (and a baby) to not just grab and go as it's so much easier than thinking about what to cook/eat.

Keep at it though you are doing a great job. :flowerforyou:

sylvia1970

Hi all,

I really can't see me losing the silly 3lb goal I stupidly set myself for this challenge last week.

My normal weigh in day is Monday so i'm 2 days down. So i've decided to do the challenge weight for Saturday then I will log my own weigh in on the Monday. That way if I lose weight by Monday then I will be happy.

i''m finding it easy to ignore chocolate. That was an easy task for me. I wonder what the next task is

Stacebob85

Good morning all!

I've woken up in a proper chipper mood today; weight loss yesterday + gym jaunt last night + half day at work today + wedding dress fitting tomorrow = one happy Stacebob

I hope everything's OK with your Da, Nikki x And I'd watch out for those Cornish parties as well as the pasties!

I'm intrigued by the next challenge too. I thought the chocoalte one would be a doddle for me as I've much more of a savoury tooth than a sweet tooth, but I didn't factor in how much I'd miss my hot chocolate at night! I'm starting to get withdrawal symptons :P

little_lion

i` don't normally eat chocolate but since I'm not allowed it this week, i've been craving it all the time! proves you always want what you cant have.
i've just had some nice porridge and banana and i'll be off to the gym shortly, feeling good today.

stacebob - definitely tell the wedding dress fitters you are losing weight and see what they suggest. im sure they will be able to accommodate your loss, brides are always dieting for their weddings aren't they? lol !!

WHere do we post our weigh-ins tomorrow? on here or the other thread? or would you like us to send them to you Pearl_Normal?

Nikki i hope things are getting better for you today xxx