Week #4

drjennelle

first off, i'd like to congratulate everyone on a STELLAR post-thanksgiving week!!! ESPECIALLY faith! you KILLED it girl! nice job to everyone, it's so great to see everyone continuing to stay strong!!!

secondly, i'd like to welcome christina "superfox" to our holiday bootcamp! everyone please give her a warm welcome! christina, on the first week we shared a little about ourselves and why we're interested in the holiday bootcamp (you can find the thread on the group page), why not tell us a little about you?

thirdly, we are starting our 4th WEEK!!! that means after this next week is over we're already halfway through bootcamp! we've survived thanksgiving, let's really CRUSH december and keep with the losses all the way through the holidays and the new year!!!

to get us started, let's talk about our biggest accomplishment so far in bootcamp, our biggest struggle, and one area we are going to work to improve on in week #4 (which may or may not be addressing your biggest struggle). as usual, i'll start

biggest accomplishment - I AM 5 LBS AWAY FROM THE LOWEST WEIGHT I HAVE EVER BEEN AND 11 LBS AWAY FROM MY TRUE GOAL WEIGHT!!! for the first time EVER 120 lbs actually seems attainable! i am so ecstatic to see the scale continue to move, to feel great with my workouts, and to know that i finally FINALLY have my nutrition under control!!! it's an AMAZING feeling! i am SO ready to push extra hard for the next 25 days of december, i'd like to be at 125 lbs by christmas!!!! HOORAY!

biggest struggle - i probably sound like a broken record but all i can say is WATER WATER WATER!!! i do NOT drink enough water!! and for the first time i really noticed that i felt THIRSTY quite often this week! and you know they say by the time you're thirsty you're already dehydrated! eek! with all the fiber i eat, drinking enough water is CRITICAL!!! so....

week #4 focus - WATER WATER WATER i am going to really try to focus on my water this week, i am going to not allow myself to get my afternoon coffee unless i have already had at least 32 oz of water, and i am going to not allow myself to eat my dessert until i've had at least 56 oz of water! i hope this really helps me stay focused!!!!

so what about you ladies? what's your biggest accomplishment, biggest struggle, and week #4 focus?? i can't wait to hear these!!!!

Superfox

Hello to all!!! Thank you so much for letting me join in on the Holiday Bootcamp halfway through it! This seems to be the hardest time of year for me to stay away from the sweets and other holiday meals that would pile on calories.


A little about myself, I am currently living in Ohio... looking out the window its dark, gray, and snowy. I am not much of a person for the cold weather! I have to dress in plenty of layers so i don't find myself freezing! I have my bachelors in Early Childhood Education but instead of becoming a teacher right away ( not too many job openings where i am) I am a nanny for three boys whom I have been working with for the past 6 years! The thought of leaving such a good thing just wasn't sitting well with me! I also have my personal training certification! That was an interesting course to take and I did learn a lot about different exercise but it somewhat lacked on the nutrition content! I have 6 dogs...Yep thats right 6! I foster dogs and two of the many fosters that I have had over the years I just couldn't part with! This is what we call a foster failure! Along with the 6 fur babies I also have 4 puppies that were pulled from a high kill shelter that Im fostering right now! So its safe to say that my hands are pretty full! lol

Now on the the weight issue! I started my weight loss journey in 2008 and with the combination of diet and exercise I have lost a total of 60 pounds. For the past year I have lost and gained the same 10lbs! Its harder to stay focused when all my friends can eat whatever they want and never seem to gain weight. Most of the time I have enough willpower to not partake in eating all the junk food but every once in a while I will slip and it will be a disaster! Its not just one cookie its like 5! I think this has a lot to do with the fact that I have deprived myself of so many food groups!

Right now I can't seem to get myself together or focused enough to keep the weight off I have been reading diet book after diet book! I have tried low carb diets, high protein diets, liquid diets. Nothing. My weight either doesn't change or I gain it all back! Now with the holidays approaching I am a little nervous about gaining even more weight. My weigh in today was the highest I have seen this year. I was at 141:sad: . The lowest I have seen on my scale is 130 and that was back in March of 2010. My ultimate goal would be to stay in the range of 130 to 135!

As of December 1st I started the i diet thanks to the recommendation of Jennelle I have read great things about this particular diet and I am very excited to share with you my experience with it!

gdb86

Holy weight loss! 60 lbs is fantastic! Congrats/Welcome Christina! This group/the MFP Community is a wonderful tool to hold you accountable and keep your head in the game if you have an "off" moment or just want to be around likeminded souls.

Jennelle! Way to go, lady! Busting through the numbers like a champ and getting down to your lowest in just a few short pounds. Congrats to you! Keep it up and keep being the inspirational queen that you are!

Biggest accomplishment is simply joining back in the race even with so much chaos going on around me. It's always easier to start something when you are in a really calm focused situation, but instead of making excuses I have taken the reigns on my life regardless of what's going on. Whew! A little deep much? Geez... haha. Moving on...

A struggle has been - dun, dun, dun - being a sickling. I'm sure you all have seen my continual status updates going back and forth on how to handle this annoying bump in the road. This past week I really did continue to count calories/exercised on a day I felt "better," but it has been no bueno. I'm just going to buck up and except that it's just a cold - I'm going to have to rest, give what my body is asking, and wait for the germ-erific storm to pass. THEN, I will be right back in the game full force! <- You better hold me to it!

I figured until then, I will still check up - include myself in the MFP community/Bootcamp boards, but instead of having my #'s rule my mood (because they are clearly so low w/ no exercise and what not) I'm just going to take a hiatus until I am back to a non-sneezing/coughing sweating-only-due-to-exercise-and-not-a-cold day!

Thank you all for your continued advice & support! And as always happy losing!

nelsons417

Welcome Christina! The more the merrier!!!

Jennelle, you're going to be there in no time, great job!!

This was a hard week, and I should have done better but I know I could have done worse. I'll keep this brief...

Biggest Accomplishments:
1) I'm close to the 180 range! It doesn't seem great, but I haven't been there since last year so it's nice to see the slow steady decline in my weight.
2) I didn't eat my weight in food (which would be a lot, trust). I still ate a good bit, but running in the morning opened up calories and I rationed what I was going to eat between the two Turkey Day locations so I didn't become the epic glutton I usually am!
3) Stress has been really getting to me, mainly because of financial/employment woes. I am employed part time, which is in the evenings, and I honestly think that's a big reason I'm not gaining more is I usually eat at night. I'm not gorging on anything in sight and I'm actually not bringing things into the house that I know I'll pig out on.

Struggles:
1) Water. Seriously, I have only gotten one day of water. this week, I don't care if I chug 4 cups before bed I WILL get my body used to that much water!!!
2) Stress is really getting to me and making me procrastinate on logging and pushing me to make bad choices. Its an improvement on what I normally do, but I know I can do better.
3) Exercising hasn't been my strong suit this week. Besides the run, I've been slacking a bit and I know it. I'm hoping to just get 45 minutes a day of something -ANYTHING! *BTW- super sad I missed my dancing with Nicole this week *

Overall, I'm hitting the point where I normally go into a chocolate/carb eating frenzy and I'm not. Although I have pigged out on homemade stove top popcorn, it isn't too bad for you and you can only eat so much! I love the friends on here that are so encouraging and my husband has said he is starting to notice a difference Basically, I'm starting to gain control of my emotional eating when I lose control everywhere else, and it feels good to be health about it!

MermaidFaith

My friend and i at work both just take our water bottles to work with us. his is 32 oz i think, and we just drink anytime we have a free moment. if you constantly chug water you will just start doing it as a habit. Just keep your water bottle with you all the time.before i eat i chug a large glass and then after i have another glass. makes for alot of bathroom breaks though :-\ im suprised the water part for me is working out so well, because before this challenge i was lucky if i drank 4 oz of water a day. it was all sweet tea all the time, i made mine with 2 cups of sugar per gallon. The taste of plain water would make me gag. i'm telling you, if i am now craving water, ANYONE can do it!!!! haha.

P.S. i work at a mental hospital and there are patients out there that seriously are addicted to water, they can gain 3-5% body weight in one shift if they are not monitored. They get drunk off of it. isn't that wild?! Do Not go to those extremes lol

MermaidFaith

Biggest Accomplishments:
1) I'm close to the 180 range! It doesn't seem great, but I haven't been there since last year so it's nice to see the slow steady decline in my weight.

I think it seems VERY great and what a great feeling to know you are getting to your goal!

drjennelle

christina - SO happy to have you joining us! 60 lbs is crazy impressive girl! and being a personal trainer, your experience will be super helpful to all of us! and unrelated... my boyfriend and i are hoping to adopt a rescue/ shelter/ foster puppy in the spring, so i may have to call on you

geri - being sick completely sucks and it can COMPLETELY derail you so i am SUPER proud of you for staying committed in ANY way you can - it's so much easier to just let it all go, crawl under covers, and resort back to old ways! the numbers don't define you, so of course you should ignore the spreadsheet for now while it will only make you feel weak (which it shouldn't because you're NOT!) just happy you're still here, your health, in all aspects is what matters here - and you're continuing to put that as a priority and that is a fantastic accomplishment!

sandy - you are doing fantastic! just always remember, you're doing more now than you were before and that you can always be proud of popcorn is a great almost-guilt-free snack for when you do want to binge - so you are already choosing better options! as long as you stay focused like you are now, i know you will get to the 180 range and well below!!

faith - i cannot imagine drinking too much water, sometimes i wonder if i have the opposite condition where i have sucked all of the fluid out of my body by not consuming enough water hahah that's crazy though!!

afm - as you may have seen on my status updates, i got a little drunk on friday night (all on low cal bevs obvi) and didn't have dinner until 11:00pm so i was sure to wake up to a gain yesterday morning, but i was down .6 lbs and went to my turbo kick class too! i felt great! after coming home and cleaning up the apartment, my boyfriend and i decorated the apartment and put up our christmas tree! we both felt a little hung over and decided - for the first time in two months - to order take out and get pizza! i ordered a small pizza early in the afternoon and ate the entire thing by 8:00pm, i also ate some steak cut french fries, and finished it off with a few chocolate covered strawberries with light cool whip. i was definitely CRAZY full when i woke up this morning, and i knew i'd see that pizza on the scale today (im up exactly 1 lb from yesterday) but i also was ok with that choice, it was a special treat and i really enjoyed it (other than feeling a little too full by the time i went to bed). i woke up today and got right back on track with a big bowl of fiber cereal we're going to my boyfriend's grandmothers for the afternoon which we do every year as a pre-christmas celebration - she is very classic sicilian and makes a LOT of really amazing home cooked food. i had my breakfast so that i knew i wouldn't be ravenous when i get there, and i will only eat small portions of the items i really love of hers - the eggplant parm especially - and no bread! i plan to come home to another big bowl of fiber cereal! today is my scheduled rest day so we'll see how the scale reads tomorrow if i am unable to get any exercise in later on today - but i plan to be really focused and diligent for the remainder of the week, i'd LOVE To see the scale read below 130 by the end of this week, it would be AMAZING motivation, but we'll see...

hope you all have an amazing sunday!!! *keep shakin it*