The OFFICIAL University/College Challenge

andforpoise

Oh yes ...swimsuit season!! I'm actually going to go for one this year...instead of shorts and a tshirt :P I'm in love with this one from urban outfitters right now: http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=23807019&itemdescription=true&navAction=jump

And it covers trouble spots :P

And 5 lbs over Christmas group - brilliant! lol

LittleMissAlx

Oooh, I quite like that. Very vintage!

I've got a gorgeous one which is a full swimsuit but it has a skirt attached to it at the bottom, which makes me feel so much better because I alway worry about my thighs, lol.

I would so love to go on holiday :P

swinginchandra

Man, story of my life right now... I was doing really well for a good three weeks... then had a crappy weekend. Now I'm fighting to get back. But starting to get more serious about the bike racing stuff...I'll hit like 200 miles this week. Starting to think my semester goal isn't going to happen... but I'd like to atleast halfway hit it... 142.5

andforpoise

200 miles is awesome!! Just keep on truckin' girls... that's all ya got to do!! We're still ten times better than we were before any of us started this journey right?

I need to vent for a moment - about the judgement I've been receiving all throughout this. One person (my sister) decides it's okay to call me flubby and make me feel like an *kitten* because I don't know how to pose in pictures. And then on the other hand, a girl I went to highschool with starts texting my best friend last night (while she's visiting me in Halifax) and telling her that I look "freakishly" skinny and that she wonders if I even eat. Really? We get judged for being "too big" or "too skinny" ... does it ever stop? I'm making healthy choices, I feel good about myself for once, and now I feel like I'm being attacked by people - thinking I have an eating disorder - what the? If only they knew how hard I've been working!

Thanks, needed to rant!

Hope you guys are doing awesome!!

LittleMissAlx

In the end, you'll never please everyone. Some people just like picking on others. They've never really grown out of the high school stage. You've got to do what makes you happy - I'm pretty sure neither of the people you're talking to will be making as much effort to be healthy as you, and you can take consolation in the thought of outliving them :P

LittleMissAlx

I had a friend up from home this weekend, so food wise we didn't make healthy choices, but we walked 32km in total - crazy how much just general wandering adds up.

My half marathon schedule started today, but I've skipped the run because I think I've pulled a muscle in my calf - but on wednesday, I'm going to start following it properly.

cyuenkel

My name is Christine- soon to be graduate from UWW. I am a 22 years old and am currently 5'5 and 235 lbs. I've lost and gained and lost and gained weight so many times I've lost count. Since new years I've been trying to get my life back on track and eat better and workout more-but I'm having a really hard time maintaining that. I find that I struggle with binge eating (especially at night) and I have a real lack of motivation to work out, partly due to the fact that I feel intimidated to go to the campus gym. My goal is just to be healthy and happy with who I am. I have a short term goal of 190 and a longer term goal of 140. I need all the motivation and support I can get!

LittleMissAlx

Welcome!

I'm not a huge fan of the campus gym for that matter, so I go to one in town for the general public. If you don't have other options, could you try different times to see when it's quietest?

The binge eating I deal with by only having healthy snacks in the flat, so if I eat, there can't be that many calories to go over by

JuStDoIt87

I feel similar! I've always had a dream to be more toned and have a more athletic body type. Right now I weight 143, but I would love to be around 120. I am 5'1 so everything is more condensed :P Basically, I'm a petite person, so I'd love the weight to match.
My problem is motivation....I always start a diet and then lose it over the weekend. The weekend is my diet enemy. Another challenge I have is my difficulty to put time aside to work out. I feel like the only time I have to work out would be if I woke up early in the AM, but I'm a night owl so it's hard for me to go to sleep. :P

Anyways..i have high aspirations---but I finally wanna start getting closer to my goal!
Nice to meet you and to hear about your goals!

JuStDoIt87

annnd i forgot to add that I am a senior in a bachelors of nursing program so that keeps me busy!

LittleMissAlx

Welcome! If you want friends and support...

swinginchandra

Yay! Welcome all the new people! I hope you all stick with us! We can do it together!

I'm still struggling to get back to where I want to be right now... Stupid Christmas eating. Working out is on a good track though, so hopefully eventually I can get there.

LittleMissAlx

You're not the only one. I'm really struggling to find the time to even get all of my work done, let alone do any exercise. Have an exam in 3 weeks, and then two more in 7 weeks, but in between those two I have placements during the day which means virtually no time to study so my plan is to try and learn it all now. Argh! Lol. Have taken to planning my weeks out in advance so that I know exactly what I want to achieve that day, which worked really well workwise this week, so am adding in exercise for next week and we'll see how that goes - I'm a bit OCD with regard to plans!

And yes, Beth, I have exactly that problem. My Mum keeps refering to my diet - which it isn't so much anymore, more maintenance and healthy lifestyle - but then feeding me exactly the same portion sizes as I used to eat and more frequently than I would eat at home, and then there's all the snacks! I avoid going home as much as possible, for a variety of reasons.

And ooh, C25K is awesome. Depending on what you want to achieve (I'm very competitive and wanted to beat someone elses time) I really recommend backing off with the running training the week before the race, because then you're more able to go fast on the day. Worked for me, anyway.

swinginchandra

How's it going for everyone??

I still haven't dropped my 5lbs, but I'm starting to thinly they may be at least partially leg muscles. I know I've gotten a lot stronger on the bike recently, and hopefully that's translated to some muscle gain.
I did a fit test at the gym yesterday, which included an impedance body fat percentage test. Not super accurate but should be good enough as a comparison standard. I got someplace between 16% and 22% depending on whether I was considered athletic or average. (their standard for athletic is 10 hrs a week of excercise or more, which I definitely hit, but I honestly thought 16% was really low for me) its a cool reminder for me though, because I'm so used to thinking 'I need to lose weight', when realistically I fall to the low end of healthy / lean...

andforpoise

So, I've totally fallen off the face of the earth - I'm in a bit of a crummy place right now... bleh... how is everyone doing? End of term approaching?

LittleMissAlx

Yeah I've kinda fallen away as well. I've been logging in but not tracking calories at all because I've literally been all over the place the last few weeks. Dreading getting back on the scales as I suspect the 5lb I had to lose before will have gone up further. Life gets a bit less hectic in a couple of weeks, so hopefully back to normal then.

How is everyone? Sorry to here you're in a bad place right now. Need to talk about it?

LittleMissAlx

So, I know I've been saying this for ages, but tomorrow I'm going to start getting back on track. Have half marathon on the 27th May (so 5 weeks), and I'm getting sick of feeling like I'm getting a belly. From tomorrow, I'm going to start logging my calories again on here (I've been really slack with it lately because life has been manic), and I'm also going to start running again. Hopefully up to 10k minimum by this time next week. Not going to worry so much about what I eat, as long as I log it, because have an exam on Friday and I need brain food to revise. But after that, I'm going to be strict with myself.

Helps that my man is on a 120 day plan to lose his weight - no cheat meals or anything, but if he loses his weight at the end of it, he gets an ipad (which we can't really afford (and I doubt he'll use), but he kinda needs motivation to get out the flat).

Not feeling particularly motivated though, to be honest, but I'm hoping after a few days of kicking myself out in the mornings, I'll be back with it. I really want to finish the half marathon, as I've already pulled out of one (meant to be in Feb), and this one is in my home town so I don't really have excuses this time. Maybe I should view it as a competition. Don't want him to finish and me to give up part way round the course :P

Hope you're all doing well. We're all a bit quiet lately!

LittleMissAlx

We're being a bit rubbish these days!

My good intentions fell apart somewhat, but I've restarted, and I think the important thing is consistency. And I realised that this time last year when I was trying to lose weight, I was eating entirely different foods. So, I'm swapping back to that.

Come on, people I miss you guys! x

swinginchandra

Good to hear from you again!!! I think you're right... consistency is the key.

I'm doing ok, I think... I'm training for a summer of about 5k miles of biking... starting out in San Diego, then biking to colorado, driving with friends to the midwest, then racing for a month... then biking back to San Diego. (Maybe)
I've decided that operating at the level of caloric deficit I was trying to was pretty stupid... I'm biking like 300 miles a week, and I was still trying to stick to ~1500 calories. I basically decided not to try to lose weight right now. Focus on gaining strength, and hope to very gradually lose weight over the next year. Drop 10 lbs before next january would be ideal, but that's a long time from now. Scary scary scary... Upped my *net* calories to 1700!!

Amy

LittleMissAlx

That sounds like an awful lot of biking! I miss my bike. Outdoor biking is so much fun! Definitely agree, good idea to up the calories. It's not like it's a race, anyway.

andforpoise

So we all kind of fell off the face of the planet eh? Oh dear... I miss chatting here that's for sure

LittleMissAlx

Yeah me too!

Don't know, maybe we should start again?

Hollyana

Hello - can I join the University Challenge if it's still going? I'm 26 and a postgrad, in the 3rd year of PhD and (after 9 years of uni!) finally trying to get fit. I'm not too bothered about losing weight but I want to be able to run faster and have more muscle!

CassieReannan

Hi guys! My name is Cassie, I'm turning 20 in October and I am a first year student nurse. I am starting my second semester in a weeks time and hoping to finish in the next 3 - 4 years. I come from Australia, QLD.

SW: 115kg
CW: 102.6kg
GW: 80kg

Would love to join!

LittleMissAlx

Hey! Welcome! Course you can join. Would be nice to have some new activity on here. We were all really chatty to start with but I think lives got in the way for some of us.