*closed group* Flab to Fab 3 Month Challenge!

I took some progress pictures this morning. I'll try to get them in my profile later today. Anyone else take and post yet?

I will take pictures tomorrow or Monday and post. I will have them from Jan 5th and now. They will probably be of just my mid section as I do not have a full length mirror at home.

Kacylaine - Congratulations on your pregnancy! I'm so sorry about your miscarriage. I had one before I got pregnant with my daughter, so it's tough. I'm really happy you are pregnant again so soon!

DreeDub - Congratulations on your engagement! How exciting!

Sooo ... I am Bridget, I live in Orlando and I'll be married 6 years in July to an awesome, totally supportive man. Second marriage, finally got it right. I have a daughter who will be 5 in June and a son who will be 4 in December. I also had 2 miscarriages. One before my daughter in 2005, and one just last year in October. I absolutely adore my children, and I loved being pregnant, but man, I do NOT love the weight I put on carrying them, or the "pooch" I got from two c-sections. Things weren't so bad with my first pregnancy, because I had horrible morning sickness for months and I only put on about 10 lbs. But when I was pregnant with my son, I put on about 20 lbs, and then he was colicky and a terrible sleeper, and I'm fairly certain I had some mild PPD after he was born. Sleep deprivation is a very bad thing, especially for me, because I have a hypo-thyroidism, so I'm already tired a lot anyway. Being so exhausted all the time really had me making some poor decisions food-wise. Having an under-active thyroid means its that much easier for me to pack on the pounds, too.

My screen name is leftover from high school. My maiden name is Shanahan, (Irish) so a lot of people called me Shanny Shamrock - for some unknown reason. All it takes is one bozo to start a nick-name in high school, and it sticks. I guess it's better than what my ex-husband's family used to call me, "la Gordita" - the fat one. The 40 in Shamrock40 is because I will be TURNING 40 IN SEPTEMBER!! Yes, for all you little youngsters about to turn 30, I'm here to tell you ... stick with it and get healthy now, because it doesn't get any easier when you're older!

My dream is to do some combination of the following:

- Go to culinary school and/or learn to cure my own meats and make cheeses and bake breads
- Open a salumi or an Italian deli and sell sandwiches and healthy, nutritious prepared foods ... and wine(?) I'm such a wine-o!

Anyhooo ...

Right now, I've had amazing success since I started logging on MFP on January 3rd. I am still having issues with my achilles tendon, but we bought an elliptical for our house, and after being away this last week, not exercising and not logging, I gained a pound, so I'm getting back to work tomorrow!

I finished reading everyone's intros, so I'm totally excited to be a part of such a great, interactive challenge. I love that everyone is so into this. I truly hope the enthusiasm doesn't die down. We can do this, ladies! We have a great support group right here!

Oh, and my starting weight for this challenge is 218.6 from yesterday. My goal weight is to be under 200 lbs by the end of the challenge. I can't "weight" to kick butt! (ha ha ha!)

haha OOH even better idea to take a picture of myself in it!!! , so i know where I started and where I'll be at the end of the challenge!

you definitely need to take pics NOW! lol

Hey girls!! Here is my work out plan for this week. I think this will help me accomplish my goals
Work Out Schedule
Week of 4/3/2011
Sunday: Walking Intervals/Yoga
Monday:Insanity
Tuesday: Xtreme Trainer/Running
Wednesday: Zumba/Boxing
Thursday:Insanity/Xtreme Trainer/Running
Friday: Insanity
Sat: Xtreme Trainer/Running

I get bored....so I like to do different things!
~ We just booked our vacation for June 21 = I need abs and to look good in my suit. Going to take a pic of myself in my suit and I will put the comparison photos up later. Hope you all doing well.

****I challenge you all to do something active for 30 minutes EVERY day**** We can do it!
Have a great week!!

Ok, today we're off to Disney, so I'm not going to get my exercise in other than walking all over the place, but I will be back on the exercise wagon tomorrow. For my weekly workout plan, I'd like to:

- Do my elliptical for a minimum of 30 minutes, and hopefully get up to 45 minutes at least twice this week.
- Do the 5 challenges Kerri posted and get my numbers in. I have issues with my wrists, so I'm not too sure how I'll do on the mountain climbers or the push-ups, but I'll give them a whirl.
- Stay under my calorie goal - might be a little challenge since I've been on vacation, but I think I can reel myself back in in short order. I have a big function on Thursday morning, but I'm going to make it happen!
- Track my water intake more accurately. I usually don't have a problem drinking enough, but some days I'm not too sure and it might be close.

So, I'll catch up with you all soon. Enjoy your Sunday, ladies!

Did my 1 mile run today. I managed to run 1 mile in 10 min 45 secs. THis was a personal best for me. When I started running in January it took me 14 min 45 secs to do a mile so that is a huge improvement! I will do the other challenges and post tomorrow.

Alright, finally started feeling better Friday! Thank goodness, I could hardly breathe out of my nose and I love my yoga so that killed me! I have started Couch to 5K, I really really REALLY want to be able to jog without feeling like I'm dying after a minute. I have asthma caused by allergies, my doctor advised me to be careful with the Couch to 5K and to redo any days that seemed tough. I haven't had to use any inhalers in over a year (really didn't want to use them while pregnant), so I'm hopeful that I can continue with that!

That being said, my mile running time is about 17 minutes right now. SO not good!! I really hope to improve that a lot! I will post my 4 minute challenges tomorrow.

This week my challenges for myself are:
- Complete week 2 of C25K
- Complete Kerri's 4min challenges
- Drink 100oz of water a day
- Workout at least 30 minutes each day

I also got my husband to do a challenge with me. Starting tomorrow we will be doing the 100 push-up challenge! I'm excited I have gotten him involved, at least a little bit

Goodluck on everyone's beginning challenges!

Good Sunday evening everyone. Hope you all had a good weekend.

My work out plan for this week:

Sunday--Jazzercise and Ballet Body. Completed
Monday--Hoping to at least get Kerri's 4 minute challenge in. I don't know when I'm getting home from work and can't work out at lunch....would like to get a DVD in.
Tuesday--Strength training at lunch, Jazzercise in the evening
Wednesday--Bowling
Thursday--Lunch work out, DVD evening
Friday--Express Jazzercise and Ballet Body
Saturday-Step Jazzercise

Getting the mile run in will depend on the weather. I don't feel enough in control on the treadmill to be confident of my time.

I need to get control of my sodium intake and keep my good water drinking consistent on the weekends. I'm only on cup 5 and it's 9:30.

Hello Everyone!! Finally time for my introduction, sorry it's late but I was on holiday in Mexico last week and I'm still playing catch up

My name is Michelle and my screen name is nothing special just my initials and my last name (boring I know)
I am Canadian and I live on the east coast in Lake Echo, Nova Scotia. Any other Canucks in the challenge??

My husband and I have been married for 15yrs (together for 23yrs). We have 2 children Jarrett (boy age 14) and Logan (girl age 11 on the 15th of this month). They keep us very busy.

I am a registered dental assistant and have been at my current job 19 years. I'll probably retire at this job as i love it so much and my boss is great and we have a fantastic relationship. He is actually taking me to Vegas in October for the ADA Convention. Can't wait it should be a lot of fun.

As for hobbies and interests we have an old camper in a very small campgroud on the ocean and we try to spend every weekend there from June 1 to Sept 30. As the kids get older this is gettting harder to do every year. We have a boat there and go fishing or just out for a cruise.
Hubby and I also belong to a recreational dart league. Have been playing darts for 20+ yrs and still can't hit the broadside of the barn most nights. It is totally a for fun league so it doesn't matter.
I also love to travel. So far I've only been to all inclusives in the caribbean. DR once, Cuba once, Costa Rica once and Mexico the last 4 years in a row. I love it there. I usually travel every year (lucky me) girls one year and couples the next. This last trip was couples and next year the girls are planning on going to Jamaica. You all can join me if you want. What a way to reward ourselves for all of our accomplishments. That sound like way too much fun. Hubby and I have an agreement about me travelling. He is a recreational hunter and fisherman. He goes away every weekend for 6 weeks in November and is away fishing most weekends from Apr 1 to June 1. That leaves me home with the kids so I've totally earned a week of fun in the sun with the girls. We do go fishing as a family sometimes at our shack (it really is a shack) in the woods on a lake. Totally isolated from everything no running water or electricity. So quiet and peaceful.
We also like to garden. Just flowers and shrubs because we are away most weekends in the summer.
I like to read too. I need to take more time to do this as it some times takes me a few months to finish a book because I'm too busy.
As for a sports team I don't really have one. We follow NASCAR but my favorite driver (Dale Jarrett) retired a few years ago and I really haven't followed it like I once did. Can you guess who our son is named after?? We follow hockey a bit but only because Sidney Crosbey lives very nearby. Went to the homecoming parade the year the Penguins won the cup and it was awesome.

Now for my weight. I was always a skinny kid growing up. My kids are too so I guess there is a skinny gene there (my hubby doesn't have it). My son at age 14 is 100lbs (I don't believe him) and my daughter age 11 is just over 50lbs. They are tall too. I wish I had that skinny gene back. After I left home my weight quickly rose. I weighed 98lbs when i left and in the first 4 months of college I gained over 20 lbs. I've always been an emotional eater. So when things are rough or stressful I eat. I've been a lifetime member of WW for almost 20 yrs. So based on that I know how to eat right. I still base my daily eating habits on their old points system even though I haven't attended a meeting since 2002 when I lost 47 lbs. My highest weight was 165 and I went down to 118lbs. Even though this was considered a healthy weight for me I was way too thin. I'm only 5'3". I set out to gain back 8 lbs which took almost a year. As I've aged (I'm 43) losing weight is getting harder and harder. I also don't think that the low low weights associated with the BMI charts are healthy so I've set mine on the higher end of the scale.

I also need help getting my husband to eat better. He has never been a small man. Right now at age 47 and 5'6" he is 205 lbs. I can talk till I am blue in the face but it doesn't seem to sink in. I am very worried that he will die early due to his weight. He doesn't have any medical problems but I'm sure they will come due to his weight. PLEASE HELP.

Counting calories with MFP is alot harder than I thought it would be but I love this site. It is very time consuming entering everything.I was never aware before of how many calories I was eating or what a healthy amount was. I am not athletic at all and I HATE EXERCISE. SO PLEASE HELP ME!! I can lose the weight but I need to move so I can be healthier and set a good example for the kids.

I am up for this challenge but I'll need some help along the way. But that is what friends are for. Thanks for helping me achieve my goals. WE CAN DO THIS TOGETHER!!

So excited to time my mile.. i haven't done that since high school.. I know the time will be bad but I'm looking forward to seeing it improve!


Yesterday (Sunday) I got back on Couch to 5k plan.. nearly died... plus it was 91 degrees outside here so that didn't help matters.. it was discouraging but I'm just going to keep working hard. I don't really have a plan for the rest of the week except to definitely DO something! And I'll get the 4min challenge done and finish out the first week of c25k woot woot!

im walking a 5k in may and hope to be running one in July... supposedly it's one of the hardest 5ks to do.. so i better get training!

My goal is to stay under calories this week (NOT eating exercise calories) and REALLY up my water intake! good luck ladies!

Hey ladies! I'm ready to start this challenge and I'll make sure to get in my mile 2moro.

Hi everyone and Happy Monday! :flowerforyou:

I decided that I would try to start planning my workouts for the week too. I think it will really help me. Lately I have been really addicted to spinning and I think it has been detrimental to me. As much as I like it I have been doing it too much and I need to switch it up a little bit. Here is my new plan for this week. I'm going to try some different things instead of spinning EVERY DAY AHHHHH!

Monday:
4 minute challenge
spinning

Tuesday:
4 minute challenge
vinyasa yoga (55 minute class)
walk 40 minutes on an incline at 3.5 - 4.0 speed (definitely will cover the challenge)

Wednesday:
4 minute challenge
spinning

Thursday:
4 minute challenge
weight training
elliptical 40-60 minutes

Friday:
4 minute challenge
spinning
spinning
(yes spinning twice Fridays because I love both teachers this day and yay for Fridays!)

Saturday:
weight training
elliptical 40-60 minutes

Sunday:
I'm going to NYC so I will be walking around all day.


I also increased my activity level on MFP yesterday so I have more calories to play with. I hope this works for me. I have not been losing as fast which I know is normal but I feel that since I'm still in the obese range I should be losing a bit faster than I am. Maybe this will help me still reach at least a 1200 NET with all this exercise I am doing.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!
Good luck with the challenges! I will keep checking back here. I bet Kerri is right and we will fill up this thread really fast.

Caity

Kerri--It is sets of mountain climbers, or do we count each step?

Kerri--It is sets of mountain climbers, or do we count each step?

Lori, each step!

and Dani, I can't do ONE real push-up!! Modified from the knees is good!

If we are counting mountainclimbers by each step than my number should be doubled, i counted every time my right foot was back in start position.