[CLOSED GROUP] 36 Pounds Challenge - Welcome!

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Welcome to the 36 pounds challenge!!!

Ok, I tried to use the email feature to send you the first message, but it clearly does not work. I cannot add more than 1 person per email. So I will be posting all the information related to our challenge to this message board instead. Reply to this with a short comment to make this your topic, too - and you should be kept up-to-date when things get posted here.

First, please add the following people as your friends - these are all your 36 pounds challenge pals:

melbaby925
amomii
verair
mikeyken
MissKahli
fat351
echeindl
elmobabie84
DebGaDavey
kellicarter11
Kimmy546
«13456

Replies

  • weightlosssw
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    So far we are 12 participants including me. I will add up to 3 additional people if I get contacted until August 1st, and then this will be a closed group. If you want to stop the challenge, please let me know and I will remove you from the list.

    Over the course of the 8 month, I will announce some additional fun parts of the challenge to keep things interesting and keep everyone motivated. But the first month, let's just focus on the basics.

    Here are the basic rules one more time:

    1. The challenge starts August 1st, 2011 and ends April 1st, 2012 = 8 month challenge.
    Everyone, make sure to get on your scale on August 1st, and record your weight. Whatever your MFP account shows as your pounds lost at 6pm on August 1st will go into my table as the entry point!

    2. The challenge is to lose weight, but slowly and healthy = 4.5 pounds/month
    Over the course of 8 month this means 36 pounds.
    I'll be recording your total weight loss (from your profile) in a table and send it out every month. If your weight loss is greater than or equal to 4.5 pounds you are good to go!
    If you lost less than 4.5 pounds or gained weight, you are doomed to do 3 extra exercise routines every week till the next weigh in (in addition to whatever you are doing already!!!). What kind of exercise? Read on.

    3. On the 2nd of each month, I will communicate the three biggest losers (=people who lost the most weight in the last month). Each of them will name one of the extra exercise routines that people need to complete.
    The exercise routine should be communicated by the 3rd day of the month.
    Each exercise routine needs to be doable without any equipment (e.g. walk extra 30 minutes, 30 extra crunches, etc.) and should not take more than 30 min per exercise. Keep in mind these exercises will be in addition to whatever people have set as their individual exercise routine.

    4. Have less than 36 pounds to lose? Participate until you reach your target weight and then maintain to avoid extra exercises.
    Make sure your profile is up-to-date, so I can see your weight loss target. Once you reach this target, the goal is to maintain rather than lose.

    Looking forward to the challenge!
  • weightlosssw
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    DebGaDavey will be on vacation through August 8th, and will join the challenge then. As we all know losing weight on vacation is not really easy, so I will record her weight only on August 9th, and then she will get 1 pounds credit for the time lost, meaning she should have lost 3.5 pounds or more by September 1st in order to avoid the additional exercises :) Sounds fair to everyone?
  • Aprilstar480
    Aprilstar480 Posts: 2,910 Member
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    I'd like to be one of the last 3 players please:bigsmile:
  • weightlosssw
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    The challenge is now filled up. The last three participants are:

    Aprilstar480
    savvynurse
    AmerTunsi

    Please make sure to add them as friends as well!
  • Aprilstar480
    Aprilstar480 Posts: 2,910 Member
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    Yeah!!! I love these challenges:bigsmile:

    So, we have weigh-in on the 1st of every month by 6pm... right? Is there any other requirements? Do we need to check in here to keep each other motivated or anything?

    Glad to meet you all... good luck:flowerforyou:
  • weightlosssw
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    Yes, we should use this to motivate each other. After the first month, the exercises will start - for the people who are below the 4.5 pounds, so then they should be reporting their progress .... I will be posting a table with the progress once a month.
  • elmobabie84
    elmobabie84 Posts: 112
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    cant wait!!! i'm also doing another challenge as well. hope that doesnt disqualify me!
  • Aprilstar480
    Aprilstar480 Posts: 2,910 Member
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    cant wait!!! i'm also doing another challenge as well. hope that doesnt disqualify me!
    What other challenge are you doing?
  • weightlosssw
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    nope, you can do as many challenges as you want :) what is the other challenge?
  • Aprilstar480
    Aprilstar480 Posts: 2,910 Member
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    I'm doing 2 others... One is the Diamond Challenge and the other is Fit n Trim Challenge. We started the Fit n Trim one 13 weeks ago with about 17 players and I'm one of the final 5...pretty exciting:bigsmile:
  • elmobabie84
    elmobabie84 Posts: 112
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    cant wait!!! i'm also doing another challenge as well. hope that doesnt disqualify me!
    What other challenge are you doing?
    my other challenge is called LOT TO LOSE CHALLENGE its for those of us that have 100+ to lose. We start friday. we just got our teams. i'm excited!!
  • Aprilstar480
    Aprilstar480 Posts: 2,910 Member
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    cant wait!!! i'm also doing another challenge as well. hope that doesnt disqualify me!
    What other challenge are you doing?
    my other challenge is called LOT TO LOSE CHALLENGE its for those of us that have 100+ to lose. We start friday. we just got our teams. i'm excited!!
    That's awesome... these challenges are great! I've lost 14lbs so far in my first challenge (we have a month left) and it has really motivated me to bump up my exercise and eat good plus I've learned alot through the people on my team. As an example, I always thought water weight meant I drank too much water when in fact it's cause by retentions due to not enough water. I had no idea:ohwell:
  • elmobabie84
    elmobabie84 Posts: 112
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    cant wait!!! i'm also doing another challenge as well. hope that doesnt disqualify me!
    What other challenge are you doing?
    my other challenge is called LOT TO LOSE CHALLENGE its for those of us that have 100+ to lose. We start friday. we just got our teams. i'm excited!!
    That's awesome... these challenges are great! I've lost 14lbs so far in my first challenge (we have a month left) and it has really motivated me to bump up my exercise and eat good plus I've learned alot through the people on my team. As an example, I always thought water weight meant I drank too much water when in fact it's cause by retentions due to not enough water. I had no idea:ohwell:
    YEP! and if you eat toooooo much salt that also causes water retention... i learned the hard weigh so i always try to drink more than 8-8oz glasses of water a day
  • savvynurse
    savvynurse Posts: 292
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    Thank u for adding me
  • weightlosssw
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    4 days till the first weigh in and the challenge begins ... after the challenge, we hopefully will all be 36 pounds lighter, or for the ones who want to lose less than 36 pounds, they will be at their dream weight.

    For all people who want to lose more, you all know it is one step at a time, so this will hopefully get you to your first (or second or third or ...) 36 pound milestone!

    Now let's start with some introductions. We have 15 participants (assuming everyone is still in). I suggest everyone writes 1-2 sentence about themselves - anything - diet related or not. Here is mine:

    Hi, I am about 36 pounds overweight, so I started the challenge to help me to get to my normal weight. By normal I mean to get a normal BMI, it might not be my dream weight, so I might want continue afterwards, but I would like to get a point where I am not overweight. I want to look good for myself, my husband and everyone else :) I was recently diagnosed with PCOS, so I want to eat healthy to keep the symptoms under control and plan to have children soon.
    I used to be thin when I was 20 something, but over the years I took more and more weight. It went so quick, and I am not happy with myself right now.
    I am pretty strong minded, so if I really set my mind to things, I know I can do this. And I hope I can motivate you along the way as well :) I need your motivation for sure!
  • weightlosssw
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    I guess that was more than 1-2 sentences for me :)
  • savvynurse
    savvynurse Posts: 292
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    Hi my name is Laura and I am approximately 20-25 lbs from
    Where i want to be. I'm tired of joining all these lose 10 lbs this month groups and feeling like a failure for not doing so. Hope to take it slow and steady and get to where I want to be. Do we need to post pics of our scales on the official weigh in day?
  • weightlosssw
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    I want to keep it easy. On the weigh in day, everyone records their weight in the myfitnesspal. I can record the total weight loss from everyone's profile this way. I will put it all in a table and share with everyone. In addition, you can post your weight, and I will add it to the table. But posting the weight is voluntary. Recording the weight in myfitnesspal so I can record the weight loss is important!

    I agree, I don't want a one month crazy workout or starve myself challenge. This challenge is all about losing weight in a healthy way, so the pounds stay off for good. I feel ~0.5 pounds / week is a realistic goal, so that's why I came up with the 4.5 pounds / month.
  • elmobabie84
    elmobabie84 Posts: 112
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    Hi my name is Paula aka Elmobabie (nickname from my husband bc i collect elmos, I'm 27 years old. I decided to go on a diet on June 19th, 2011 when i tipped the scale at 302lbs. That was the most I've ever weighed. Since i started my diet I now weigh 286. The main reason i decided to go on a diet was so that my husband and I can have children one day. I'm not getting any younger and i decided a long time ago that i wanted to have my first child by the time i was 30. So hopefully i'll be able to lose enough weight to accomplish my goal of having children.
  • mikeyken
    mikeyken Posts: 118 Member
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    hi guys. I can't wait. My name is Michelle, but have been called Mikey by my family all my life. I am finishing up a competition at work for the biggest loser on Aug 9th. I want to keep motivated to complete my 1st goal of 50 lb loss. I've lost 21 lbs since I started trying to lose wt in May, (18 lbs since starting on MFP). I started at 225 and would really like to be down to 175 at least by the end of this challenge. I need to become a healthier wt to keep up with my children and be a better example for them to follow. My ultimate goal is 150. Seems unbelievable at this point, but I have seen some awesome stories on here that have kept my dreams alive. I hope we can all achieve some of our goals through this challenge.