Good idea making a chat room for everyone. I know I can't be on daily because of my crazy life but I do try to check in at least every other day. I have members on my team though that do help if someone needs it and I am grateful to them.

Hi all,

Hope you all doing well and off to a great week 1 start. I have not been one in the past to join or really contribute to online groups/message boards but I am really dedicated to this challenge and finding that I want to share, motivate and inspire others.I know that the more I put into this and dedicate myself to this challenge the more I will get out of it. I thank you all in advance for your contributions so far and your future contributions.

I wanted to share with you something that I am doing to keep me motivated and to see my contributions to my progress: My Motivation Boards. I have a workout area in my basement and have posted these on the wall so I am always looking at them when I am working out.

Photo Motivation Board:
I created a photo sheet (12x12 - I used digital scrapbook software to create it) that reminds me of what is important in my life and why I am trying to be a healthier me in mind, body, spirit. For me it is about being the best I can be for my family, being able to play and run around with my kids, having balance in my life, being a true martial artist inside and out, and more.


Workout Motivation Board:
I also used a big pieceof bristol board to create a calendar to write down my workouts. As you will see, I give myself a star for every day that I am active. (Yes, similar to giving my 3 year old a star every morning for sleeping in his own bed for the entire night). It is satisfying to see my progress and I find the more I workout out, the more I want to continue to workout. There are weeks I know that I am not as active (being sick last week for example) but I at least try to do something.


I know that there are a lot of different ways to keep ourselves motivated. I hope that by sharing one of my ways will help to inspire some of you. Another version of the photo motivation board is to create a vision board of pictures (can be digital like I've done, pictures tacked to a cork board, etc) that reflect your goals (e.g. you finishing a 5K race and envisioning that will be you finishing a 10K race; a slimmer version of yourself, etc).

Oh salt is such a weakness for me. I seem to crave sweet and then immediate crave something salty. Wish I had some solutions for you. I just stay away and drink more water!

Hi all,

I posted the note below to my team thread but thought I would share it will you all as well.

I wanted to encourage you all to try the challenges if you have not already been doing so. I find it has been helping me stick to my exercise plan, try new things (exercise and food included), and probably most important for me at the moment - increase my water intake. I'm a diet coke addict and I've been working on decreasing the d.c. and increasing the water. I'm drinking 8-9 glasses of water a day now and I can tell already that I am feeling more clear minded and focused. Also have been sleeping better which is probably a combination of everything.

Today I'm making my fish recipe - Tom Yum Soup with shrimp. For those who "salt" seems to be an enemy (or definitely not a friend) I'm making the soup stalk from scratch and without salt (there will be salt already from the fish sauce that gets added to the base) so it will be more "friendly".

Keep up the great work you are all doing!

Hi all,

Here is one more post I wanted to share with you.

I know when we have lots of weight to remove and toning up our bodies to do, it can be hard to envision what we might look like at our goal weight. I came across a weight loss visualizer tool that lets you upload your photo, input your current weight and height, select your goal weight (e.g. amount to lose) and it will re-image your photo to give you an idea of what you might look like at your goal weight. Keep in mind it is a virtual tool and it may not be exactly what you will look like at your goal weight.

Here is the link: http://makeovr.com/weightmirror/

I tried mine out and saved the images. I'm going to compare the "virtual" after image with my "real" after image once I reach my goal weight. I'm curious to see how close (or not) the 2 images will be.

That is so much fun to play with....I also took it the opposite direction so I could see what it though I looked like with a weight gain...it unfortunately was much more flattering then reality but still fun to play with. :laugh:

Ugh. I am down with the virus. I heard you're not supposed to exercise? I am so annoyed. What do you all think? And there's zumbathon tomorrow morning!!! :frown:

Thanks!

Hey Ladies - I was just wondering how much weight you had to lose before you starting going down in clothing sizes? I had a baby 4 months ago. I delivered at 218 lbs and I am now 189 lbs. I only gained 20 lbs during my pregnancy. I started at a tight size 16 jeans and XL shirts. Well, I am still in both!!! 30 lbs and still in the same darn clothes! Yes, the clothes fit better but I would love to move down just one size.

Were you wearing the size 16 jeans and XL shirt pre-pregnancy or during your pregnancy? If it was before, I would suggest looking at your weight loss from you pre-pregnancy weight and not the your pregnancy top weight (e.g. if you were 208 pre-pregnancy and wearing the size 16 jeans at that weight and now you are at 189 - that would be a loss of 9 lbs).

For me it is about 10-15 lbs (closer to 15 lbs for me to go down a size). It can depend quite a bit on where the extra weight is distributed on your body and where you lose it from. When I lose weight it most often shows up first in my face and neck. My friend tends to lose it first in her chest.

Hope that helps and keep up the great work! The changes will come!

Thanks for the link. I sit all day at work and find it hard to do as much as I want during my work day. This will help.

Hey Ladies - I was just wondering how much weight you had to lose before you starting going down in clothing sizes? I had a baby 4 months ago. I delivered at 218 lbs and I am now 189 lbs. I only gained 20 lbs during my pregnancy. I started at a tight size 16 jeans and XL shirts. Well, I am still in both!!! 30 lbs and still in the same darn clothes! Yes, the clothes fit better but I would love to move down just one size.

I am down about 20 #'s total in my journey, and I am still in my 18 jeans!! most are lose but the next size down is still too tight.
I do see a difference in my overall body shape though. my butt and hips are smaller even if my waist hasnt changed much. I also have noticed that while my bra's cup size hasnt chaged much either.. .I used to be on the last set of hook... now I am on the far insides hooks and really need to go down one size, there... So hang in there... your doing what you should!!! :smokin:
Sometimes our bodies fat burns inside first.

A good friend of mine has lost almost 60# but not moved down more than one size. Her Dr. told her she had lots of fatty tissues built up around all her organs. so the first 60#'s she hs lost was that fat around her organs. she is now begining to lose weight on the "outside" if her body... (hope makes sense).

Not saying that is what you have going on... just an expamle of other ways your body could be changing. KEEP GOING!!!! you will get there... all this effort does count and is improing your health even if your still wearing the same size!!

Hugs!! :flowerforyou:

Hey Ladies - I was just wondering how much weight you had to lose before you starting going down in clothing sizes? I had a baby 4 months ago. I delivered at 218 lbs and I am now 189 lbs. I only gained 20 lbs during my pregnancy. I started at a tight size 16 jeans and XL shirts. Well, I am still in both!!! 30 lbs and still in the same darn clothes! Yes, the clothes fit better but I would love to move down just one size.

I am down about 20 #'s total in my journey, and I am still in my 18 jeans!! most are lose but the next size down is still too tight.
I do see a difference in my overall body shape though. my butt and hips are smaller even if my waist hasnt changed much. I also have noticed that while my bra's cup size hasnt chaged much either.. .I used to be on the last set of hook... now I am on the far insides hooks and really need to go down one size, there... So hang in there... your doing what you should!!! :smokin:
Sometimes our bodies fat burns inside first.

A good friend of mine has lost almost 60# but not moved down more than one size. Her Dr. told her she had lots of fatty tissues built up around all her organs. so the first 60#'s she hs lost was that fat around her organs. she is now begining to lose weight on the "outside" if her body... (hope makes sense).

Not saying that is what you have going on... just an expamle of other ways your body could be changing. KEEP GOING!!!! you will get there... all this effort does count and is improing your health even if your still wearing the same size!!

Hugs!! :flowerforyou:

Oh wow! That is really interesting. I've never even thought about fat "on the inside!" LOL. I have noticed a major difference in my thighs and above my waist (like the rib cage area) also my bras are getting quite loose. Thank goodness I haven't gone down a cup size yet. I mean I don't mind if I go down a size but right now I think being busty kind of offsets the fat tummy a bit. hahahaha!!!