4th of July Challenge!! Please join me!
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Well the healthy eating and insane amount of exercise I have been doing is really paying off. My original July 4th goal was 153. Since I weighed in this morning at 154.6 I am really close already. so I am adjusting my goal to 150 by July 4th. No real changes in my life when I hit it. It is just a mini goal on the way to my healthiest weight possible.0
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Well the healthy eating and insane amount of exercise I have been doing is really paying off. My original July 4th goal was 153. Since I weighed in this morning at 154.6 I am really close already. so I am adjusting my goal to 150 by July 4th. No real changes in my life when I hit it. It is just a mini goal on the way to my healthiest weight possible.
WAY TO GO RJ!!!!!!!0 -
Hey Ladies! I haven't checked in in about 3? Weeks. First i was out of town for two weeks helping my mom with rental property issues down in Fl, but I think i checked in briefly on the Friday I got back home, but that night around 2 am my fiance called (drunk)
and begged me to come visit me..so of course i did. i drove 7 hours and was up for almost 24 hrs before i got there So needless to say i didnt eat very well while visiting him, so I was happy to see that when i came home I only gained one lb back! Then my mom needed me to drive her back down to Fl the day after I got home from NC! So I just got home on Thursday from all of my travels and was surprised to find that I had lost 2 lbs compared to the last time I weighed myself on the previous Friday!
So since being home i've tried getting back into my routine of things, but the hardest part has been exercising..it rained here for two days and I didn't feel like doing anything but i made myself go walking when it let up! Today I cut our front and side yards, walked on the tread mill and did the wii fit free stepping for an hour....so i worked off the Zaxby's i ate tonight :0
So I'll have to look and see what my start weight was and what it is now to give a progress update but my goal for the next four weeks is to do as much work outs as possible and decide what I'm going to do while James has his Pre deployment leave
Manda B!0 -
Amalia, I am trying to do the Food Lovers Fat Loss plan. It is basically a serving of protein a serving of carbs that your body processes quickly (like brown rice, whole grain breads, potatoes, etc. – for instant energy) and a serving of carbs that your body processes slower like fiberous and green veggies. The idea is that you get instant energy from the fast processing carbs to keep your metabolism going and the slower processing carbs are there for your body to process longer term. You also eat ever 2-3 hours so you are constantly feeding your body small meals or snacks and don't get too hungry and binge and so your body is almost constantly processing and knows food is always coming so it doesn't go into starvation mode. There is a 21 day plan, changing one small thing each day (more water, adding some exercise, eating snacks, etc.) for 21 days and after that your metabolism should have sped up. This is a plan that I think I can stick to for life (so I'm not calling it my "diet" which seems temporary) because nothing is really off limits. As you get further into the 21 day plan you are supposed to start cutting out things like high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils and other stuff like that in a lot of the processed foods out there.
Anyway, when I first ordered the program I tried to follow the 21 day program but I was too busy and felt like I needed more than 1 day to get used to the new little change. So now I'm doing it with one new thing ever 3-4 days. So far so good. 2.2 lbs since last Sunday, My official weigh in is tomorrow though.
I think you may be right though Amalia, I think my snacks at least were lacking in protein on the days that I was hungry. I think what I ate in general was pretty good and having enough water both probably kept the cravings away but I think my protein was a little lower those days. Eh, it's a process, live and learn. I've also not been getting enough sleep lately but slept in this morning and things seemed much better today. I think that is a big key for me, not sure how to fix it just yet because I'm so busy I don't feel like there are enough hours in the day but I have to find some way to fix it because sleep or lack there of can really affect weight loss/gain. Wish MFP had a way to track # of hours of sleep you got the night before. Official weigh in tomorrow, hope it's as good or better than today. I was finally under 170!!!0 -
Amalia, I am trying to do the Food Lovers Fat Loss plan. It is basically a serving of protein a serving of carbs that your body processes quickly (like brown rice, whole grain breads, potatoes, etc. – for instant energy) and a serving of carbs that your body processes slower like fiberous and green veggies. The idea is that you get instant energy from the fast processing carbs to keep your metabolism going and the slower processing carbs are there for your body to process longer term. You also eat ever 2-3 hours so you are constantly feeding your body small meals or snacks and don't get too hungry and binge and so your body is almost constantly processing and knows food is always coming so it doesn't go into starvation mode. There is a 21 day plan, changing one small thing each day (more water, adding some exercise, eating snacks, etc.) for 21 days and after that your metabolism should have sped up. This is a plan that I think I can stick to for life (so I'm not calling it my "diet" which seems temporary) because nothing is really off limits. As you get further into the 21 day plan you are supposed to start cutting out things like high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils and other stuff like that in a lot of the processed foods out there.
Anyway, when I first ordered the program I tried to follow the 21 day program but I was too busy and felt like I needed more than 1 day to get used to the new little change. So now I'm doing it with one new thing ever 3-4 days. So far so good. 2.2 lbs since last Sunday, My official weigh in is tomorrow though.
I think you may be right though Amalia, I think my snacks at least were lacking in protein on the days that I was hungry. I think what I ate in general was pretty good and having enough water both probably kept the cravings away but I think my protein was a little lower those days. Eh, it's a process, live and learn. I've also not been getting enough sleep lately but slept in this morning and things seemed much better today. I think that is a big key for me, not sure how to fix it just yet because I'm so busy I don't feel like there are enough hours in the day but I have to find some way to fix it because sleep or lack there of can really affect weight loss/gain. Wish MFP had a way to track # of hours of sleep you got the night before. Official weigh in tomorrow, hope it's as good or better than today. I was finally under 170!!!
srosebar, it sounds like you have things under control! I agree with you, I don't call my program a "diet" either. It's the way I'll be eating from now on. One of the hardest things to do is to unlearn all those bad habits we had that got us where we are and adopt new, healthy habits we can live with. This is why I try to be lenient with myself if I slip up. These changes are hard to make from an emotional point of view.
Sleep is one of the most important factors in weight loss. I wasn't getting enough sleep either this last month and it reflects in my very slow weight loss. Last night I did get 7 hours of continuous, uninterrupted sleep. The result? This morning my scale showed a loss of half a kilo (1 lb).
Best of luck in your weight loss journey!
Amalia0 -
Good morning everyone! :flowerforyou:
Another beatiful day in Athens and I'm trying hard to stay positive!
It's my official weigh-in day today and I'm dutifully reporting my results, even though they are not spectacular! :ohwell:
Challenge starting weight: 108 kilos (238 lbs.)
Today's weight: 106 kilos (233 lbs.)
Total loss to date (May 23) : 2 kilos (5 lbs.)
May 30 - 105.5 kg (232 lbs)
Total loss to date: 2.5 kg (6 lbs)
June 6 -
June 13 -
June 20 -
June 27 -
JULY 4TH -
4th of July GOAL: 100 kilos (220 lbs) - or as close as possible!!
Hey, at least I'm not gaining!! :bigsmile:
Good luck to all of you.
Amalia0 -
Good morning everyone:bigsmile:
For those of you in the States, hope everyone is enjoying their Memorial Day weekend.I'm happy to report I can do a man push up!!!! I now am trying to aim for 5 by the 4th:laugh: and I lost 1.5lbs, so I'm quite pleased I think I owe it all to the HRM my hubby got me this week, it really pushed me in the latter part of the week (personal best of walking/jogging 10 miles yesterday)!
Heres my week 5 weigh in
4/25~145
5/2~ 144
5/9~143.5
5/16~142.5
5/23~142.5
5/30~141
July 4th goal~ 135
Actual goal ~123
Good luck to everyone in week 6:flowerforyou:
~Jessica0 -
Week 5 check-in! Second week in a row with no weight loss.
I know I have had water weight issues for the past 2 weeks so I just keep doing what I"m doing. I use my Friday weights so officially I still have zero weight loss but the scales did drop 2 lbs this morning. I think the extra water is finally gone. I'll record the loss next week if it stays.
I need to get back to walking more. I only got in 11 miles this week and that's one of my lowest. Gonna try and make up for it with this long weekend.
Everyone have a great weekend!
Starting weight: 211
4/25/10 Challenge starting weight 191
4/25/10 Challenge start pants size
Current weight 185
Current size 16
Challenge goal size 14
:flowerforyou:0 -
Good morning ladies,
It's so good to see great updates from everyone.
Sherrell - Your new meal plan sounds like a good one. Please keep us updated on how it goes. Best of luck to your husband with his job application. It sounds like that job would be a good thing for your whole family.
Amala - 5 lbs is a great loss for a month. You're doing so well! Especially since you didn't feel well for a while. Keep on going :flowerforyou:
Jessica - Congrats on the man pushups. They're so challenging! :bigsmile:
Sandy - Good news on the water loss, can't wait to see what your total loss is next week.
rjadams - How awesome that you're almost to your goal already. You are an exercise inspiration!
I dropped to 157 (1 pound loss) this week for a grand total of 3 pounds lost for the challenge. I've slowed way down but that loss puts me at more than halfway to my goal weight :bigsmile: I finished C25K and am running a 5K 3-4 times a week. This week I started Jillian's 30 Day Shred and a 45 minute stretching/relaxation yoga workout. Jillian is kicking my butt!!! My legs can hang but my arms are dying. The yoga is definitely helping with flexibility and muscle soreness. It's very relaxing and it's perfect in the evening followed by a warm bath, cup of hot tea, and DEEP sleep.
No chocolate or coffee for the last two weeks and I'm not missing them, mostly.
I'm eating better but am struggling a bit with my exercise calories. My work schedule is based on fire activity. Some nights I leave work at 5 PM and some nights I don't leave until after 11 PM. My workout time is after work and I usually don't know until 5 or 6 PM if I'm going to be able to workout. Several nights this week I was left with over 1000 calories at 8PM. I don't want to eat that much late at night and it's hard for me to eat lots more during the day, not knowing if I'll be able to workout. Does anyone have any good suggestions? I'm really enjoying the workouts and don't want to cut back on them if I have the time.
For the questions - I ate pretty well yesterday and there wasn't anything I should NEVER eat again. I had loads of calories left last night and stopped at the gelato place I've been avoiding ever since I moved here. Their homemade ginger gelato was unreal and they had so many flavors that looked just as good - like sake, plum, honey apricot, chocolate fudge, oh dear lord they all looked good. I need to not make a habit of going in to see what their flavor of the day is, even if I do only get the kids size and have calories to burn.
I don't think I'll change anything by the end of this challenge. I just want to continue to work towards finding physical activities I love and delicious healthy foods. I feel like these changes are for life and I want to enjoy that life. :drinker:
Have a great Memorial Day!0 -
So, we're about 5 weeks from our challenge date... and I realized I still have 13lbs to lose to meet my goal of weighing 200lbs by then. Since I'm a total chocolate addict, I've decided now is the time to cut it out completely! I can already feel the anxiety in my system just knowing the hold it has on me and that tomorrow is "the day" that I quit it cold turkey! I really feel in by spirit that this is what I need to do... I've been having these "feelings" for a couple of weeks now, the "ya know ya just need to kick it out" feeling, but have been too much of a wuss to really do it! So, please wish me luck for the next few days as the withdrawal kicks in... yikes!!0
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Once you meet your 4th of July goal, what will be different in your life?
For me it will mean being smaller than I have been since middle school (and I'm 35 now). I can't remember the last time I was under 200lbs, seriously I think it was middle school. That's a HUGE milestone for me. While it's somewhat daunting, it's getting so close (13 lbs away) and it feels like it might just be that barrier that I need to cross to truly feel like a success and to go the distance. I will have been the most successful in this weight loss journey than I have ever been before. While I won't be finished, I will know that I'm in the 100's and that's so much closer to my goal weight than anything in the 200's. Hope that makes sense without too much rambling. :blushing:0 -
Hi everyone,
Sorry I didn't post on Sunday because I was out of town for the holiday weekend. But any ways I did manage to lose 1.2 lbs. on my weigh in day (Saturday). I was happy since it is a loss although not a big one but still a loss
My weekend was busy but fun. We went to San Antonio for the entire holiday weekend and we had a blast. It was good to get away from Houston and just relax and have fun. No thoughts on work or anything else for that matter LOL. I did get off track on Monday and gave in to a strawberry daiquiri and a piece of cheesecake but overall I did well the rest of the weekend
Hope everyone's week goes well!!0 -
Posting for me is becoming easy because its so redundant. I am exactly 107 lbs. Same as last week. Same as the starting week. I'm going to follow the advice I give to everyone else and mix things up a bit. I'm going to start interval/wind sprints training every other day in between my regular runs. I'll let everyone know how it goes! I'm so darn close to goal, that its sort of annoying that the scale won't move!0
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I'll finally be considered healthy! :bigsmile: according to my drs health charts
I have a question for everyone. Once you meet your 4th of July goal, what will be different in your life?0 -
SW: 174
CW: 172
July 4 GW: 160 (would love to be 150 by then but not sure that's even possible in 9 weeks, so maybe by the 31st for the party!)
Ultimate GW: 125 (preferably by Aug. 2011 at the latest)
Sherell
UPDATE:
CW (5/30): 169.4
Down 4.6 lbs so far. 5.4 to go to reach 10 lbs from my starting weight on this challenge. 9.6 to be under 160 like I would LOVE to be by July 4th. I lost 2.4 lbs this past week!! If I keep up that pace I could make it to under 160 by July 4th! I hope I can keep it up!
I'm very proud of how I did over the holiday weekend. Saturday I walked 9 holes of golf with my husband while carrying our clubs. We ate out at a steak house that night. I ordered a 6 oz. sirloin, steamed broccoli, a salad with light Italian dressing on the side and I did eat 1 roll with butter but it fit in to my calories after all the golf and it kept me from feeling deprived from a "normal" meal.
Sunday was a cookout at my mom's. I took low calorie (80 ea) wheat hot dog buns and 97% fat free Hebrew national hot dogs (only 40 cals each), a veggie tray and some broiled asparagus. My mom had fixed a bunch of high calorie/fat foods which I casually avoided and ate what I brought. Hopefully I didn't offend her (I did ask beforehand if she minded if I brought the stuff I brought) but I also hope I set an example for her that you can eat like everyone else at a cookout without eating all the bad stuff. I had 2 hot dogs and a bunch of fresh veggies. Later for a snack I had another hot dog and more veggies. I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything or eating anything "special" (though my mom was quick to point out to everyone that I brought my own stuff because I was trying to lose weight...whatever.)
Yesterday (Monday) we took our girls to the zoo and walked around for about 4-5 hours. We left fairly early and I grabbed some of my healthy options for breakfast to eat on the way. Took some healthy snacks and water. We had to eat at the places in the zoo. I chose a turkey wrap and some sunchips. The wrap was premade and soggy and gross so I didn't eat much of it but ate the turkey off of it and the chips. That evening we ate at Hard Rock Cafe and I ordered salmon which came with steamed broccoli and white cheddar mashed potatoes. It was all SOOO good! I'm sure the potatoes weren't the best for me but I was already low on calories for the day and this was a special meal with our family at a restaurant we'd never eaten at so I didn't want to feel like I was depriving myself of that experience. Turned out I'd burned enough calories I was okay, which I thought I probably had. So I didn't feel guilty about it at all.
It was so great to have such a busy yet "normal" life and be able to fit my eating plan into it all without feeling deprived, guilty, or like I'm having to eat so different from everyone else. I feel like this is actually possible and that I can actually do this for life and not just as a temporary "diet"! This feels SO great! Sunday is my official weigh in day, my goal this weekend was to be 169.8 and I was actually 169.4!!! Feels great to be out of the 170s again and I don't plan on ever going back! Next Sunday's goal: 167.8. Wish me luck!0 -
So, we're about 5 weeks from our challenge date... and I realized I still have 13lbs to lose to meet my goal of weighing 200lbs by then. Since I'm a total chocolate addict, I've decided now is the time to cut it out completely! I can already feel the anxiety in my system just knowing the hold it has on me and that tomorrow is "the day" that I quit it cold turkey! I really feel in by spirit that this is what I need to do... I've been having these "feelings" for a couple of weeks now, the "ya know ya just need to kick it out" feeling, but have been too much of a wuss to really do it! So, please wish me luck for the next few days as the withdrawal kicks in... yikes!!
If you can't take not having chocolate in your life (I'm a big believer in not depriving yourself of something you love or you will end up binging on it) maybe try sugar free fudge pops (40 cals. each and they don't taste diety at all) or sugar free jello pudding cups (60 calories). One of my favorite desserts is a sf jello chocolate pudding with a little fat free redi whip and a 1/2 tsp of mini chocolate chips. It taste like something totally bad for you but it's only about 75-80 calories and really kicks that chocolate craving. Maybe instead of saying no chocolate at all you could find some lower calorie alternatives and limit yourself to one chocolate treat a day or week. Then you know you can have it so you don't feel deprived and make your cravings make you crazy but you are also keeping yourself in check with your chocolate choices. Good luck...hope I didn't make this worse for you!:flowerforyou:0 -
Posting for me is becoming easy because its so redundant. I am exactly 107 lbs. Same as last week. Same as the starting week. I'm going to follow the advice I give to everyone else and mix things up a bit. I'm going to start interval/wind sprints training every other day in between my regular runs. I'll let everyone know how it goes! I'm so darn close to goal, that its sort of annoying that the scale won't move!
It is so frustrating to get so close and have the scale stop moving! Good luck, you have come so far, keep up the good work. I home changing things up works for you!0 -
Hello All,
I am belatedly checking in. To review what has happened since we started this challenge, I went back and pulled my post for the end of last month:
I have been on MFP since April 2009. ....
1) Lose 25 lbs.
2) BMI in "overweight" category/out of "obese" FOREVER;
3) Maintain healthy eating habits/focus on fresh and minimally processed food options; avoid HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup);
4) Fit in to size 12 Jeans purchased in January;
5) Use new strength training equipment 3 times per week and cardio the other three days;
6) Take measurements on Monday May 3rd; Friday June 4th; and Sunday July 4th;
I will post all my weight statistics after my weigh in this coming Monday. I started MFP at 245 on April 13th, 2009.
Barb
Well, I did the weigh in this morning, and the news was NOT good.I finally have to face the music for April, and it is not a song I want to play in the future. On April 4th I weighed 5.5 lbs. LESS than I did this morning!:mad: :mad: :mad: :sad: :sad: :sad: I did it to myself. Over the past week, there have been too many "MayaSWELLS" & as we know, the scale doesn't lie.:grumble: So I need to get back on the horse-- Also, get my rug shampooing done and get that Total Gym set up. It has been languishing in the garage for 3 weeks, still in the box, and as we all know, it isn't doing me any good there!!!
So my goals for May are, 1) to get my ticker moved to 60 lbs. down by the end of May, which would mean losing about 12 lbs. The first 3 should be pretty quick as it is probably water due to some high sodium days on Saturday and Sunday;2) exercise 6 days per week, using the TG 3 x's per week; 3) refocus on the things I had done in the past that worked--IE "just say no" more often!!!
Based on the current numbers, if I meet my 25 lb. loss, which means moving my ticker to 78 lbs. down, I would be out of the "obese" BMI and into "overweight" territory--a better place to be. I would also weigh 2 lbs. less than I did at my lowest in 1989--talk about turning back the clock!!
.... Weight today 197.5; lowest was back in January 191.5; Was at 192 on April 4th. I forgot to do my measurements this morning before eating, so will try to take care of that tomorrow. Here I go again.
Good luck to all. Amalia, good for you in identifying your carb issues. I have similar problems, and I need to keep temptation out of my house in order to stay on track.
Got to get a move on or the day will be over.
Barb
So now it is the beginning of June. I still don't have my rug shampooed, so I don't have my gym equipment set up either.
I DO have my insurance license training completed and passed my exam, and will have my license as of this Thursday, so now maybe I will be able to get the house dealt with.
I didn't make my "down 60 lbs." goal for Memorial Day. I was 2.5 lbs lower on 5/31--195 lbs.--than I was at the beginning of May, BUT, that was up from 5/27, Thursday, when I was at my lowest weight 191.5. If I could have stayed there, I would have lost 6 lbs. this month. Instead, thanks to bad eating choices and limited exercise, I am back up. Phooey. At the end of the month, I didn't do a very good job of refocusing and doing what worked for me before, so backsliding is the result. I didn't say "no" as often as I should have.
The good news is I did refrain from buying things that tempt me at home. My downfall has been eating out--most recently, last night, a belated birthday dinner at The Olde Spaghetti Factory. I had the least lethal thing on their menu, spaghetti with meat sauce and mushroom sauce, but of course the sodium is too high. I also had 3 slices of that darn bread, and ate my spumoni ice cream.:blushing:
Today, I did stay within my calories, despite eating lunch out.
I am climbing back "in the wagon" to see if I can maintain some consistent progress toward the 4th of July. If I can actually hit the "down 60 lbs." in my ticker, it would mean that I weigh 185--not where I wanted to be by this time, but better than where I started from.
Good luck all.
Barb0 -
Barb, don't beat yourself up. Maybe you're not where you wanted to be and maybe you made a few mistakes, it happens. The fact is you know where you went wrong and you can learn from that and not make the same mistakes again. Get back in there and you can make your goal by July 4th. The other fact is, you're further than you were when you started. If it takes an extra week or even month to get to your goal is it really the end of the world? No, you'll get there, just learn from mistakes and don't beat yourself up. We all make them, it's just a matter of what we do with them. Good luck!0
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I'm a late joiner, but I'd like to.
Here's my goals:
I'm currently 238. I'd like to see 229.
Log into MFP every day.
Exercise at least 30 minutes per day.0
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