CC's Biggest Loser Challenge Week 8

Hi everyone. I know lots of us have been struggling so I wanted to post a few suggestions to fuel our weight losses. All of my "tips" are based on my experience and research. I am not a professional so this is just my opinion.

Drink your water. Different sites suggest different amounts but if you are getting 8 glasses that should be close. If you are like me you may not enjoy the taste of plain water. If that is the case there are lots of ways you can get water that tastes good. There's flavored sparkling water (I love the ones at Walmart) and there's different brands of powders you can mix into your water (I like Crystal light's little packets that you can mix with 20 oz of water) According to my research if you don't drink enough water your body will retain water.

Log your food. Often we underestimate what we are eating. Logging every meal every day can help you keep your fod under control. It's important to not starve yourself and to eat a variety of food (remember the food pyramid from grade school!) Another good think about logging is if you overeat you can catch it and do more exercise that day to burn off the calories. There's been plenty of days I realized I went over and decided to go for a walk with my daughter or do an exercise video to make up for it.

That brings me to exercise. It is sooooo important to exercise. You may lose weight just by eating good but exercise does so much for you and you will lose more. Exercise does not have to be boring hours at the gym. Do what you love. Skating, volleyball, walk in the park, play frisbee, go window shopping at the mall, go swimming, dance, I could go on and on. I enjoy running so I like to do charity walks/runs. There's tons of people there so it's reallly fun and doesn't feel like exercise. Most charity walks cost $20-40 and that is well worth the good feeling you get from helping and getting exercise. Another cool idea is to volunteer to walk dogs at a local shelter. If you are exercising and eating good but still not losing you may be overestimating your calorie burn. I usually consult multiple sources (MFP, my HRM, and other sites) and I don't eat all of my exericise calories just in case I overestimated it. As you lose weight you body doesn't need to work as hard to do the same activities so you it's good to keep changing up your activities. Many people say they are too tired to work out but I find myself energized after workouts and much happier.

Hope that will help everyone. If you have tips please feel free to share.

Dree- changes are normal. A few years back when I was running a few miles every day mine stopped all together and my doctor recommended going on birth control to balance out everything. If the changes continue for another month or two I'd see a doctor to ensure it's from exercise.

I am really enjoying the Wii Fit, I bought it this weekend and love it. I never want to stop playing! Had a bad eating day. I ate junk food and underestimated the calories in my dinner. But it is what it is, tomorrow is a new day.

Congrats on all the losses.