Kicking *kitten* In Our Twenties - February Challenge!!

quick selfish post for me.. just trying to keep things on track. I have to "readjust" my goal. In the begining of the month I wanted to reach 157. I dont think thats going to happen. (had a very stressful month) I started out at 163, so all month I have only lost one pound. I feel like thismonth as been soo long and so unproductive for me. But I cant get too discouraged. all I can go is take my weight and continue. uhh, I would be lieing if I wasnt super frustrated though. But uhh... here goes..

160 by Feb 28th
week 4/5 of Feb.... gym 4xs. home w/o 3xs. at least 25 situps a day 10 push ups every other day.


~NicNac... way to go on the loss!~!~!

it's been a couple weeks since i've been on the forum. i was depressed over valentines day & had a few really bad food days & got off track & then i was sick & stopped doing the 30 day shred, but through being sick (majority lost was prob water weight), i dropped the rest of my goal for this month! i'm 124lbs ) so i'm back & feeling much better & starting back on the 30 day shred today & eating right. fresh start! i'm kind of expecting to put another couple pounds back on or maintain the rest of this month because i was sick & not keeping anything in for most of last week, but i'm happy with the results now that i'm feeling better. it's crazy that like 5 pages of the forum were added in the last week or so that i haven't been on here! i'll read back & catch up with everyone & hope everyone else has been making progress & doing well!

so monday weigh in is 124lbs (-4 this month!)

Rachel - I have a membership at my school's athletics centre which is included in our fees, but a paid membership runs about $45 monthly I believe. Before using the gym at school, I had a membership at Goodlife, which was $22 biweekly for a year membership and way too steep imo compared with the facilities at other gyms for the same cost or less.

Tj - that dinner looks amazing. Slowcooker meals are the best!

Cait - hugs to you - I hope things look up, and your attitude is great - you are so right, it's more how we handle what life throws at us rather than the content of the situation itself. Keep on rocking on with that awesome outlook and you will come out the other side soaring.

NicNac - Welcome! And that recipe looks so good - totally trying it tonight, I usually end up throwing some approximation of those ingredients into my wok as I'm finishing a stirfry to make what I like to think is a kind of curry haha. This sounds much better so I'm totally going to give it a try.

Meag - Also an Ontarian so I feel you on the ridiculousness of having a civic holiday today. I just rained all over my roommate's parade as she was heading out to the post office by being the messenger of that there's no way she's overnighting any package today.

Oh and after a trip to the grocery store last week, pondering the squash for several minutes, googling pictures of buttercup squash on my phone while at the grocery store still, and consulting another person in the produce section, I ended up with - an acorn squash according to the more thorough googling I've done since. What I now recognize as the buttercup squash had a label written in spanish I think and google image results maddeningly show pictures of both the acorn and the buttercup. I know you linked a picture of what it looked like, and I definitely looked at it - I just have a really terrible memory apparently. Ah well, trial and error is a good form of learning.

AFM - Feel kind of thrown off my workouts, had midterms last week so was crazy busy and didn't work out as much as I wanted to (though I still got in the minimum amount at least planned for cardio) and then got slammed on Friday with a nasty 48-hr kinda bug. It was the oddest thing, I felt fine Friday morning, suddenly felt exhausted early afternoon so laid down for a minute, and then woke up 5 hours later with swollen glands, a seriously painful throat, and all fevered and feeling like garbage. Totally came out of nowhere, and I'm glad its seemingly completely gone now. But I finally broke the plateau I've been on for the last couple weeks so I'm stoked about that - seems like upping my daily intake by a bit and getting better about eating at least some of my exercise calories did the trick. Maybe just coincidental timing since it was about a week after I put my daily levels up, but it seems pretty in line with what everyone says here about calorie deficits and eating your exercise calories. Anyway, I'm going to get back into it today and finish the month strong with all of the kicking *kitten* people! There's a pilates class at the gym I'm wanting to try to mix up my workouts more, does anyone have any experience/tips/whatever with pilates they want to share? Definitely stretch enough beforehand would be number one I'm assuming lol.

Hope everyone is having a great Monday! :happy:

I'm back! I've been gone from the board, but not gone from MFP for about two weeks. Was at my parent's place in AZ and then when I came back to Canada I had so much work piled up that I really had to focus on it for about a week. Also had a lot of job stuff rolling around. I've been on multiple 2 - 3 month contracts for the last year and this week I interviewed for my own position so that I could get a 13 month contract (until next fiscal). Finally accepted the job last Thursday but am still sorting out some of the compensation details.

I'm kung fu-ing so hard! 3 x a week for the first time last week! I was very proud of myself. I'm learning a basic form that I can hopefully compete with at the next big martial arts tournament in May. My sifu (chinese equiv of japanese sensei) says that I'm learning very fast thanks to my athletic and dancing back ground, so that's my new goal right now: to master the form to a solid novice level so I can compete in the Novice 18+ in late may. We'll see how it goes!

Here's what my week's look like work out wise:

Monday: Step class
Tuesday: Kung fu!
Weds: Spin Class
Thursday: Yoga and Kung Fu
Friday: Pilates
Sat: Rest
Sunday: KUNG FUUUUUUU

Thanks for the well wishes guys

Unfortunately I forgot to take any pics - d'oh! But if any of you guys give it a try let me know how it turns out ok?

Me and a couple of friends are thinking of starting to go to a Zumba class. I'm unsure really. Has anyone here ever done any?

Have a great week

Echo - Lame! Acorn squash is NOTHING like buttercup and way underwhelming... Sorry to hear it. Please don't let the acorn squash sully your opinion of winter squash in general. I promise you the buttercup will redeem it With the acorn, just steam it quickly in the microwave (whole with a few piercings), cut it in half and roast it in the oven with spices, brown sugar and cinnamon, or whatever you like! A quick recipe search will yield loads of ideas - I know that there's a stuffed acorn squash recipe on these threads somewhere, too... I think Melissa posted one last month (??)

Great work everyone! Will catch up more tomorrow

Just posted a few days (last week at the most on here)...didn't post recipe but when I have time would be more than happy too! It was pretty good...

Good morning everyone...woke up well before my alarm this morning so had some time to catch up on here before I head into school. The kids all have the day off (mid-winter break) but we have professional development...blah, blah, blah!!! :grumble:

Plus my smart husband had to take his truck in to get the front bumper fixed (decided to take it out 2 tracking a while back and well let's just say it wasn't a GREAT idea!) So he has a rental car-hmm....did he choose something that would work in the middle of winter???? NO!!!! He has been driving around in a 2011 Camaro....nice car but not the best with SNOW on the ground!!!! So now I have to get up extra early to drop him off at work!

Going to make some jamacian chicken and butternut couscous recipe I found. Will post if worth anything. Going to also get 4.5 miles in on the TM today after work in my new Brooks. Wore them yesterday for a quick 2 miles and they felt pretty good. Even though I am sore as all get up from yoga and strength yesterday. YIKES!!!!

Have a great day everyone!
Melissa:flowerforyou:

Thanks allie - might have to give it a go!

Tuesday... Blahhhhh
Looking at my February goal... WAY TOO ambitious.. more like unrealistic and wishful thinking!!! I wanted to lose 10 lbs in a short month, but it's looking like 4 lbs will be a stretch! I plan to bust it the next few days and strive for 2 more lbs. I know I can do it "swimsuit, swimsuit, swimsuit." :glasses:

I heard on the today show this morning that:
"On average women think negative thoughts about body image 13 times per day." They said there is no correlation to your size. They also said that exercise led to decreasing this number (not because women who exercise are more likely to be a desirable size). Interesting because I started thinking about my patterns and how "frequently" (assuming I am one of the average women putting myself down 13 times daily) I put myself down because of my shape... AND I realized before I had heard the show on the today show... I had already counted two--- Once getting into the shower and once while getting dressed....
CHALLENGE

---

Do you fall into the average? Thinking negative thoughts about body image 13 times daily??? Try to talk yourself up and fire back with a positive about your body when you start thinking negatively! Look at how far you have come... or how far you are about to go!

Alli-- your journey is an inspiration! Great job with mega loss!
NicNac--- I love love love love ZUMBA--- I do it three to four times a week!!! Even if you are uncoordinated... you can still rock at it! Give it a try for some variation to your routine.

REMEMBER- Postitive self thoughts... I am going to try to make a conscious effort!