Christmas Countdown Challenge (Closed) - Week #9

JustJenn419

And so we begin again! From 140 to 70, but completely understandable. I have removed those I haven't heard from in weeks and hopefully now you will be better able to focus on your numbers rather than the size of the chart. Here it is!!!




Now I know there was an issue with the thread rolling over and some people were not able to post or couldn't find the continued thread (this happens when a thread reaches 500 posts, it rolls into a new one). For those that found it, GREAT!!!! :happy: For those that haven't, no need to worry. Post your info here and we will move forward :bigsmile:

So now, the question becomes... WHAT'S GOING ON?!?!? :noway: :noway: There are a bunch of you that are doing AMAZING and the pounds are just dripping off. But for others (LIKE MYSELF) we are completely moving in the wrong direction!!!! I know life gets in the way, the challenges faced during this challenge has been a perfect example. HOWEVER.... I know that I am INCREDIBLE at making excuses. And that's exactly what I have done. I haven't pushed as hard as I'm capable. I haven't made the best food choices. I haven't logged all of my calories. I haven't given it that extra umph that's needed in order to succeed. Now that's just MY story, what's yours???

15 weeks, that's it. What is YOUR plan????

Physical Challenge:
PLANK! When I saw this I thought it would be the easiest thing... WRONG! Within seconds my whole body was shaking!!! :sick:

http://www.howcast.com/videos/388-How-To-Do-the-Plank-Pose

I prefer to plank on my elbows. I have very bad wrists and the push-up position doesn't work for me. If you would prefer to do the same, you use the same exact position as the one in the video but instead of holding your body up with your hands, you are doing it with your forearms; elbows to wrists on the ground.

Your physical challenge goal is to complete 25 minutes of planking by Sunday. Break it up, trust me you will need to. I can get to about a minute before my arms want to jump off my body. Make sure to keep your abs tight, hips up, and body straight. Just when you think you're ready to give up, push it for another 5 seconds! :explode:

Personal Challenge:
I have seen some really wonderful recipes posted here and I would LOVE to see some more!!! :drinker: Please post one of your favorite recipes on this thread. I will compile them to make a CCC Cook Book to email out to everyone if you so please. I am really excited to see what you all have in store for the group! Remember, keep it healthy and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE try to include the nutritional information when you can. We want to make sure we are paying attention to the caloric details too :flowerforyou:

Don't forget about your $5!!!! And your water, and fruits, and veggies!!! And I loved reading about all of the random compliments. Imagine how many people's days you all made! What an incredible group of people you all are. And thanks again for sticking with me during that crazy time. NOW LETS GET MOVING!!!!!

Kagard11

I'm ready! I have been slacking myself, but am back on the right track! I will do the challenges !!! Life gets in the way sometimes, but I'm just pushing it out of the way! I'll post some recipes! I missed some time in between, what do we do with the $5?

Kathy

kthom

bump

Cateyes0831

As my good friend Dory would say/sing "Just keep swimming Just keep swimming...." (LOVE ME SOME NEMO LOL). This past week has been a stressful one but it's over now and I am ready to kick some butt! I am so happy you are back Jenn :happy: I can't wait to see some new recipes and I hope I can find a good one to share as well Lol.

:drinker: Here is to a great week everyone!

angiemcnett

My life has it a speed bump. My bad chest cold that I have had for a week is pneumonia. That explains why I can't breathe. Unfortunately I discovered it after I passed it along to my 18 y/o mentally disabled son. He now is in the hospital's ICU with a ventilator because his oxygen levels are low. I can't be there with him because I am still sick so my husband has to stay while I am at home with our 16 month old. Doctor told me to rest. I don't think it possible to rest with a toddler. I hope I get over this soon. It is breaking my heart not to be with my son. I hope the rest of you are having a better week. Have a great night.

cohawk11

My life has it a speed bump. My bad chest cold that I have had for a week is pneumonia. That explains why I can't breathe. Unfortunately I discovered it after I passed it along to my 18 y/o mentally disabled son. He now is in the hospital's ICU with a ventilator because his oxygen levels are low. I can't be there with him because I am still sick so my husband has to stay while I am at home with our 16 month old. Doctor told me to rest. I don't think it possible to rest with a toddler. I hope I get over this soon. It is breaking my heart not to be with my son. I hope the rest of you are having a better week. Have a great night.

OH, I am SO SORRY to read about your illness and your son's hospitalization!! Bless your heart -- I can tell how understandably emotional you are about not being able to be with your son, and how physically and mentally draining it is to try to care for someone when you are sick (especially a toddler who can't care for themself and is too little to understand that mommy is sick). I will keep you and your son in my thoughts and prayers!! I hope that you can get the rest you need and that you are both much better soon -- you need to rest so you can regain the strength you'll need to care for your son when he becomes strong enough to come home!! :flowerforyou:

Much love and God Bless,
Eve

pinkita

Bump for later!

And welcome back Jenn!!!!!!!!!!!

pinkita

By the way are we still measuring ourselves once a month?

Sugs94

My life has it a speed bump. My bad chest cold that I have had for a week is pneumonia. That explains why I can't breathe. Unfortunately I discovered it after I passed it along to my 18 y/o mentally disabled son. He now is in the hospital's ICU with a ventilator because his oxygen levels are low. I can't be there with him because I am still sick so my husband has to stay while I am at home with our 16 month old. Doctor told me to rest. I don't think it possible to rest with a toddler. I hope I get over this soon. It is breaking my heart not to be with my son. I hope the rest of you are having a better week. Have a great night.

Prayers for your son!!! Take care of yourself as best you can and know that we are thinking of you.

Sugs94

I have struggled to find motivation recently as well. Had burned out of points for WW and now seem burned out for calorie count. Took a psychological profile for weight loss and result was that my personality type doesn't do well with structure. Then left wondering what the heck to do. So have decided to do what their advice was for a while. Keep healthy foods around. Lots of choices as I am very spontaneous. Don't strictly count, but eat healthy foods, wide variety of them. This past week I have adopted this and scale looks like it will be budging down again this week. No one in my family has difficulty eating healthy and in moderation...don't know why it is such a chore for me. But have passed on the 300 calorie dessert with lunch and have been bringing my lunch and refusing to stop by fast food on way home. Then can have a dessert with dinner or flavored latte if I have eaten reasonably. Tonight decided on the latte which I drank during Bible study, so I passed on the pumpkin pudding I was going to make. I just need to keep plowing along. To those of you whose motivation has wavered.....if I can keep up the fight, so can you!!!! For those who haven't.....yeah and keep it up. We are all here because we really do want the best for us...it is just hard at times to find that.
PS...another great motivator is trying on clothes.....seriously made me not want to drive through for french fries after I tried buttoning some of the pairs of pants I was trying

abjedi

Let's do this!! I've been slacking too.. Time to get back in my grove!!! Sorry some of you are being challenged right now keep your chin up!! We can do yhis!!&

gennybunny1

Oh Angie, my thoughts and prayers are with you. Take care and I hope everyone gets better.

My NSV today, I went for an hour long walk tonight instead of sitting on my butt and boredom eating. One step at a time right?

Welcome back Jenn, you were really missed.

Good night everyone.

Sugs94

Jenn-
Just wanted to thank you for your work in all of this. Hasn't been easy for you with the hurricaine!!!! Wanted to let you know that on Friday I will weigh and post my CW. I will be leaving that afternoon for 17 days in Italy and won't have access to a scale. I want to stay in the challenge and will start weighing again when I come home...week of the 14th. Thanks!!!!

jiminyc

Welcome back, Jenn! We missed you and are glad that life has gotten back to normal for you. Nice to have you back here kicking our butts again!

I'll be away from my computer starting Thursday morning - my husband and I are heading down to Disney World (yay!) for the weekend. We'll be eating a lot, but I've already scoped out the menus and know what my healthier choices are plus we'll likely be doing enough walking to compensate for the extra calories. I plan to log everything and am interested to see how it comes out.

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend! Good luck with those planks!

luvmyjp

I just bought a book tonight called "Cook This not That" I LOVE it...it gives you healthier recipies for some of your favorite dishes!! .ill work on posting some...

chrisraem

So I've kinda been sucking...but ready to get it back together. Lost sight of my water intake and can definitely notice the difference. So glad to jump back on the wagon and make e best out of thees 15 weeks...planks super nervous and excited about it..yeah!!! Also a little confused as to what day is now weigh in day, is it still friday thru Sunday or was it moved to monday? Hope all is well with everyone...

shelly650

Im so excited we are back to normal!! I have been struggling lately but hopefully that will all change!! Cant wait to try this challenge!!

sfalk1977

Even though I gained 1lb last week, I'm still happy with that - I allowed myself to as I had visitors staying and it was my wedding anniversary. Still really focused, doing 30 day shred every morning and walking about 5 miles in the morning taking the kids to school and nursery. Also walking 1.5 miles in the evening with the dog (can't do any more than that as he has arthritis and is restricted to 1/2 hour walks). Logging all my food - good and bad, eating relatively healthy food most of the time with some biscuits and chocolate thrown in when I've earnt extra calories from exercise. A little of what you fancy and all that!

I just looked at the chart and I have lost just over a pound a week since we started - not too shabby if I say so myself!

SArah

kristinkt

This morning I was all ready to get started on those planks especially after getting a dose of Biggest Loser last night. THOSE are NOT going to be as easy as they look!! 25 minutes -- Did I read that right? Jenn, you are really pushing us! I hope I can meet your high expectations.

btw - I lost track of how much money I should have put away by now. Can someone clue me in? I saved for a few weeks then lost track.

want_it_25

My life has it a speed bump. My bad chest cold that I have had for a week is pneumonia. That explains why I can't breathe. Unfortunately I discovered it after I passed it along to my 18 y/o mentally disabled son. He now is in the hospital's ICU with a ventilator because his oxygen levels are low. I can't be there with him because I am still sick so my husband has to stay while I am at home with our 16 month old. Doctor told me to rest. I don't think it possible to rest with a toddler. I hope I get over this soon. It is breaking my heart not to be with my son. I hope the rest of you are having a better week. Have a great night.

I am sorry to hear to hear that. I will be praying for you and your son to get better.

MelL1205

My life has it a speed bump. My bad chest cold that I have had for a week is pneumonia. That explains why I can't breathe. Unfortunately I discovered it after I passed it along to my 18 y/o mentally disabled son. He now is in the hospital's ICU with a ventilator because his oxygen levels are low. I can't be there with him because I am still sick so my husband has to stay while I am at home with our 16 month old. Doctor told me to rest. I don't think it possible to rest with a toddler. I hope I get over this soon. It is breaking my heart not to be with my son. I hope the rest of you are having a better week. Have a great night.

I am SO sorry to hear about you and your son. This is an unbelievably challenging time for you, but I have faith that you will remain as motivated as possible and come out of this stronger than ever! :flowerforyou:




As for me, half of my medications were switched recently because I was getting killer migraines and they thought that might be causing it. So, 5 of my 11 daily meds are now different and wrecking havoc in my body. I have been so overwhelmed with full-time grad school, working two jobs, taking my mother to all of her drs/treatments and pretty much being a mother to my younger brother... that exercise has been nonexistent. I have been (mostly) watching my eating, though, so the scale continues to trek downward. Going to do 1 minute of plank now before I head off to school / work since by the time I get home, I'll be too tired.

APO_Katie

Man. I agree with everyone here! I have been wavering the last two weeks,a speed bump like several people have remarked. I'm sitting at a wieght that I'm not happy with and I need to jump start my exercise program again!!!!

abeks

Bump

liz4214

bump

Neize

Jenn - I emailed you on Monday CW 150

PositivePower

As my good friend Dory would say/sing "Just keep swimming Just keep swimming...." (LOVE ME SOME NEMO LOL). This past week has been a stressful one but it's over now and I am ready to kick some butt! I am so happy you are back Jenn :happy: I can't wait to see some new recipes and I hope I can find a good one to share as well Lol.

:drinker: Here is to a great week everyone!

I love DORY!!! I'm swimming! But this great site might make me later for a meeting!!! So I will catch up with you all later. I am still in the game and strong. I don't know what has gone off in my brain but I am going to ride the wave to thin town!!! I have some recipes LOVE that idea Jenn!

OK I really have to go - Make Good Choices

lauralu71

Welcome back Jenn!

Angie - Thoughts and prayers are with you, your son, and your family. Hoping all of you are in good health soon!

I can honestly say I have been waivering back and forth with the same 5 lbs. I need to let it go for good! Too much of this up and down. No excuses - it's just so easy to fall into old habits. I haven't been able to exercise as I would have liked, but should be back on the road as of today (or tomorrow - today is work then class until 9:30).

Best wishes for a great week everyone!!

Laura

sfalk1977

Angie,

OMG, I missed your previous post. So sorry to hear your boy is seriously ill - all my prayers are with you at this hard time. I hope you are feeling better soon too.

Butterbuns30

I just bought a book tonight called "Cook This not That" I LOVE it...it gives you healthier recipies for some of your favorite dishes!! .ill work on posting some...

Would love it if u posted some...or u know xeroxed it n sent it to ur best friend. Either way. Just saying. :-P

Cmuehe

OK! Hello Jenn and everyone!

First, COHAWK11 is totally right on when she said in one of the last week 5 posts, "...it's crucial to stay as positive as possible and to work hard at being kind to ourselves!" We do need to be kinder to ourselves ladies (and men) as we are working hard. What we're doing is not easy! It's a lot of work! One thing I'd like to challenge myself with (and please feel free to join me in this), is everyday, when you get up, look in that mirror and say at least one positive wonderful thing about yourself. I'm going to do this everyday, because lately, I've been doing that negativity thing, and it's just not working. So, I'm going to strive to find one great thing about myself everyday and carry it around with me. No excuses!

My scale moved UP to 0.8 lbs today, and yes, I was completely disappointed, because my muscles HURT! I was very grumbly when I saw that stupid number on the scale. :grumble: However, what I need to stop and realize is that my body is changing. I'm on Day 3 of the 30 Day Shred video, and today was easier. Yes, I'm still sore as heck, but I'm pushing through it and working harder than ever, so I'm not going to let that 0.8 get to me. I'm just going to keep pushing through and realize that I'm probably going to gain weight, now that I'm lifting weights, before I start losing again. That's how this works sometimes. We're going to have hills and valleys through this, but we have to remember, it's a journey and there's no turning back.

I'm praying for those out there that are sick, have sick kiddos (or other family members), or are just having a hard time with life right now. As Dori says, "Just keep swimming!" We're all pushing for you and sending our prayers. Sometimes it's all we can do to keep our head above water. I think we all have been there and know that feeling all too well, so hang in there and take care of yourself. You are loved.

Peace and Prayers :flowerforyou:
~ Christine

Cmuehe

OK! Hello Jenn and everyone!

First, COHAWK11 is totally right on when she said in one of the last week 5 posts, "...it's crucial to stay as positive as possible and to work hard at being kind to ourselves!" We do need to be kinder to ourselves ladies (and men) as we are working hard. What we're doing is not easy! It's a lot of work! One thing I'd like to challenge myself with (and please feel free to join me in this), is everyday, when you get up, look in that mirror and say at least one positive wonderful thing about yourself. I'm going to do this everyday, because lately, I've been doing that negativity thing, and it's just not working. So, I'm going to strive to find one great thing about myself everyday and carry it around with me. No excuses!

My scale moved UP to 0.8 lbs today, and yes, I was completely disappointed, because my muscles HURT! I was very grumbly when I saw that stupid number on the scale. :grumble: However, what I need to stop and realize is that my body is changing. I'm on Day 3 of the 30 Day Shred video, and today was easier. Yes, I'm still sore as heck, but I'm pushing through it and working harder than ever, so I'm not going to let that 0.8 get to me. I'm just going to keep pushing through and realize that I'm probably going to gain weight, now that I'm lifting weights, before I start losing again. That's how this works sometimes. We're going to have hills and valleys through this, but we have to remember, it's a journey and there's no turning back.

I'm praying for those out there that are sick, have sick kiddos (or other family members), or are just having a hard time with life right now. As Dori says, "Just keep swimming!" We're all pushing for you and sending our prayers. Sometimes it's all we can do to keep our head above water. I think we all have been there and know that feeling all too well, so hang in there and take care of yourself. You are loved.

Peace and Prayers :flowerforyou:
~ Christine

Also, credit to Cateyes0831 for that Dori quote. I have been thinking it for weeks now, so it was great to see it!