Diamond Dolls Week 1- Closed Group

Hi All...

So excited to be here...first challenge ever and I'm ready!

My name is Monica and I'm on the ORANGE TEAM!! Go Orange Team...just so you all know...we are going to dominate this challenge!

Anyhow, I have changed my eating to be between 1000-1200 calories per day and I exercise a minimum of 4 days per week for at least 45 minutes each time! The exercise is new to me because, before this I HATED to exercise and I now find that I actually enjoy it once I'm there at the gym and doing it.

Good luck to all!!

Hello everyone,
My Name is Amber I am 23, and had my first baby 12 week ago her name is Kayley Rayne and she is my number one reason for losing weight!! I gained over 60 lbs during my pregnancy and I am not proud of that. When I was 19 i lost 50 lbs to join the Army, got in injured my hip trying to deploy and after 3 years in I was medically discharged. I gained most of my weight back then because of my injury and lack of mobilization. I got to my peak the day my daughter was born at 231 lbs!

I decided then I wanted to change! I started dieting after she was born and started exercising slowly at about 4 weeks after my C-section. Today I weighed myself and I can Happily announce I am 179.5 lbs!! that is 52 lbs lighter! and a few steps closer to my goal weight of below 150 lbs!

Question of the Day: 6/20
What changes have you made to your diet/fitness routine, if any, to kick off this challenge?

I have decided to do my treadmill work out 5x a week instead of my usual 4x I am also adding in abs, lower body, and upper body workout every day before my treadmill. I will take breaks on Saturdays and Sundays from exercising but keep up my 1200 calorie diet!

Exercises:
My treadmill work out includes a 5 min warm up at speed 2.7mph, then I will run at speed 4.0mph for the following minute intervals 5-2-2-3-2-2-2-3-2 with a 90 second walk at 3.0mph in between each run and ending with a 5 min cool down for a total of 45 minutes and 416 calories (according to my treadmill)

Abs: (3 sets max reps) *30 second rest*
Yoga Crunches (crunch to the left, to the middle, to the right, to the middle holding 4 seconds)
Reverse curls (Hands under small of back lift legs up and lower down but not to the ground almost touching the ground)
Plank ( left side, right side, middle, hold 15 seconds each)

Upper Body: (3 sets max reps) *30 second rest*
Push-ups (I do real at least 1 or 2 real pushups and the rest girl push-ups to work up my arm strength)
Behind head ( I use a large jar of applesauce but basically anything kinda heavy, but it behind your head and lift straight up)
4 count Overhead Arm Claps ( arms extended straight out to the side, bring upward to clap your hands together counting 1-clap 2 straight out to the side 3-clap 4 straight out to the side = counts as 1)

Lower Body: (3 sets max reps) *30 second rest*
Squats
Jane Fonda’s ( lay on side, hand behind your head elbow on the ground balance and lift your leg as far as you can, both left and right sides of your body)
Straight Leg Deadlift ( stand straight focus on something like the top of a door, keeping your back straight bend forward holding a weight, or something about 10lbs, while keeping your eyes focused on a high thing like a window, bend over keeping back straight and eyes forward.

Welcome PartonSarah!!!

I go by a childhood nickname: Skylar. I am 23, and an MBA student in New York. I got injured as a kid (did serious damage to both knees) and was in and out of PT for a very long time. I finally got to the point I could ride horses again and I jumped at the chance my senior year of college. By then I had hit my highest weight two years earlier - 265lbs. I was down to 245ish by mid-senior year and last summer through riding and being with MY first horse, Cody, I was down somewhere around 230. Cody is my world - she's like my daughter and if you are one of my friends, you'll notice I post about her OFTEN (she's the one on my ticker & profile pic). Anyway, when I moved to New York and couldn't ride 5-7 days a week weight crept back on. Our winter was especially harsh and made things tough - there were weeks I couldn't go riding because the snow was so bad.

I decided this spring, through educating myself & talking with friends that I needed to be more realistic about where I'm 'supposed' to be on the scale. I'm a large-frame girl. I've had doctors tell me time and again a single-digit size isn't going to fit me. So for awhile I thought why try? I carry the extra weight well - I don't look morbidly obese or even obese. And most people thought I weighed 40-60lbs less than I actually did. And, I could always find clothes that looked pretty good. It took a lot of time shopping, but I could find them.

I'm doing this for me - to be healthy, fit & riding with my horse(s) until I'm 85+. To be able to go on grand adventures with kids, grandkids & great-grands in the future. I've got BIG dreams and its time for me to stop standing in my own way!

From March 28th - my first day on MFP - to today I've lost 30lbs (now 215). I'm hoping to lose another 15-20 before August 8th. August 9th is the first day of my business fraternity's biennial national conference. I truly hope to be in 'one'derland by conference time. I know my brothers will be proud of what I've achieved. My second short-term goal is to be 185 or less by September 18th. This is the high end of 'healthy' BMI for me (I'm 6ft) and the 19th is my LAST first-day of school! If I'm 185 or less by that time... I will weigh the same or less than my first day of 8th grade, a decade previous.

My first major goal is to be down to 175 (70lbs lost!!!) by early November/Thanksgiving. After that my weight loss will cease to be a numbers game and be all about toning this awesome body of mine into a lean, toned, tight machine! My final target weight is between 155-170 with 20-25% body fat (athletic/fit).

So. How in the WORLD am I going to accomplish this?!? Well, for starters I'm focused on utilizing my summer to its fullest, because losing weight while school is in session is MUCH more difficult.

So, for the question of the day:

From today through Sept. 18th I am going to burn 750+ calories through exercise 5 or more days a week! I am biking to work each and every day M-Fri (with the exception of thunderstorms...), horseback riding 3-4 days a week, completing the Wii EA Sports 30 day challenge on the hard setting, and after the 30 day challenge - I'm going to do 30DS for two months. That should get me close to my 750 cal/day goal... I think

I have also applied for a scholarship to a top-notch gym and if I get that I will be doing HIT and Water Zumba classes 3-4 days a week. At some point, I hope to find the motivation to re-start C25K training too... but I need to be careful about not putting too much on my knees every single day... so this may be a school-year/winter project on the treadmill.

And, hopefully this will be the longest post I write this summer - sorry for the novel!

Lets do this Diamond Dolls! GO PURPLE!

Welcome everyone, and Skylar you are doing an amazing job!! :-) Keep it up and I know you will reach all of your goals right on track!!
My mini goals are to reach below 150 lbs by the time Kayley turns 6 months old, I want to take family pictures and be able to feel confident in them.
Then my next goal is to hit 135 by Christmas adn then from there I will not focus on losing anymore and just work on toning and maintaining! :-)

Hi all,

I'm Tacita and I'm on the purple team! (In the tiny photo I'm the one in the purple jumper!)
To really get myself into this challenge I've decided I'll work out 6 days a week! I want to try to incorporate Zumba, swimming, 30 day shred and some yoga!

Hope everyone is having a good first day!
Tacita

Hello Dolls!
So.... Changes for the challenge... In addition to my regular workouts I am going to start c25k. I've always hated running and I really want to try to get to the point where it's not as terrible and maybe even enjoyable. Also a new change is protein shakes for dinner. I have started a new job that is 4pm to 11pm waiting tables at an insanely busy restaurant. If I have my protein shake that I drink during work then I don't snack on bread and the fettuccine Alfredo they put out for staff meal And the protein shakes are actually really tasty so that's good. I'm having one rest day on Sundays. How I feel having already lost the first 10 pounds is great motivation not to slide back. We're going to accomplish so much together!

Question of the Day: 6/20
What changes have you made to your diet/fitness routine, if any, to kick off this challenge?

I have begun doing Zumba (only on the PS3) and am aiming to do at least 2 classes/sessions a week

Hello I'm Macy!!! add me if I haven't added you, I tried to get everyone!

Sorry I'm kind of in a rush today so I wish I could read everyone's reply! I wanted to at least do my duty and answer the question!

I'm really just going to try and use the challenge as a reason to push harder and a reason to eat healthy! I'm not really changing anything because I'm having steady results right now

I'm soooo excited about this!!!

Hi everyone, I am so excited about this challenge. Go Orange

What changes have you made to your diet/fitness routine, if any, to kick off this challenge?

Changes I have made is to TRY not to eat any bacon at work. This has been really hard for me, everytime I walk thur the kitchen at work it is sitting there in big piles. Bacon is my favorit food. I'm going to try my best not to eat any. Also i'm trying to give up Deit Pepsi or atleast limit it to on bottle a day. This has been hard for me this time, before I had no proublem giving up soda don't know why I can't this time.
I'm also going to get in at least one hour of exercise most days. I went hiking on Sunday and I wanted to give up in the first 20 minutes because it was very steep in the begining, Last time I tried to hike this mountain I quite and turned around, but on Sunday I made it to the top:).

Hi ladies!! And welcome PartonSara, you’ve done so well already you’re a great inspiration to have on the team :happy:

My name is Betty (purple team!!) and I have been with MFP (on & off) since November of 2010 with varying degrees of success…I own both the successes AND the failures as I know what I need to do…I just need to DO it!! I’ve been playing with the same darn 20lbs for a few years now and I’m ready to hit Onderland and not look back!! So I’m really excited to a part of such a supportive group who I’m hoping won’t be afraid to give me that kick in the behind I might need from time to time!

Question of the Day: 6/20
What changes have you made to your diet/fitness routine, if any, to kick off this challenge?

My plan:
1) Regimented Exercise: my first goal is to work on my elliptical at least 5x week. I’m going to start at 15 minutes and move up from there…
2) Journaling my food: OMG…I can tell you this is the FIRST thing to go…and historically I’m horrible on the weekends. But I’m going to be positive and my new motto is “if I bite it I have to write it!!!”
3) Liquid intake: my weakness is soda, so NO soda for me for a while as I need to get that H2O intake going!
4) Eating Healthy(er): I’m just plain trying to eat better…control my portions…try to avoid concentrated sweets…etc. I’m not interested in starving myself to 150 then gaining it all back in a year…I want this weight off for GOOD!!
5) I’m making a collage of inspiration to hang in front of my elliptical. This way when I hit minute 12 and feel like I’m going to die if I do ONE more step…I’ll be reminded of why I need to push that extra mile…my health, my horses and to feel good about myself :happy:

Welcome to the team PatronSara!

Hi all my name is Sara and I think this challenge is just what I need. I started MFP at the beginning at May and did awesome in the beginning, but I have really started to slack due to school and an injury. Since I am super competitive I figured doing a challenge would really kick me in gear! What I am doing to start of this challenge:
1. Logging in what I eat, I have gotten really bad in the past couple of weeks so I need to get back on track.
2. 15mins (or more) on the elliptical in the morning. This is going to be really hard to do, i get up for work at 4:30 am so getting up even earlier is rough. Also the elliptical is my nemesis, for whatever reason I have the hardest time on the machine so 15 mins is going to be rough. I made a deal with my partner so I have to do it!
3.STOP drinking soda, I love, love, love soda and I drink to much.
4. Since its getting quite hot and I hate the heat, I am going to try to do a workout DVD 5x a week.

I can't wait to see how we do at the end of week 1, go Diamond Dolls! Especially the purple team!!

First of all my heart goes out to my fellow Orange teammate, Mona, who has to work around bacon, also my favorite food. Big piles of bacon, did you say? I think I just got an erection. Am I allowed to say that on MFP?

What changes have I made to my diet/fitness routine to kick off this challenge?

I bought a treadmill. I’m too self conscious to run around the neighborhood and I’m going to use C25K to ease back into my favorite exercise. I’m keeping my eye on Craig’s List for an Elliptical Machine although I really prefer the swanky ones at the gym.

I joined my local recreation center for water aerobics. (Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday – plus, Friday if possible)

I cleared a space in my basement for all the exercises I don’t want to do at the gym and for DVD workouts. (Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday). 30-Day Shred, Tai Chi, Yoga, and Budakon.

I hired someone to prepare fresh salad lettuce every day. Actually, I just increased my kid’s allowance but it feels like I hired a personal chef.

One last thing.... Gooooooooo Team Orange!!!

Hi everyone

I'm really excited about this challenge it's the motivation I need. I've made changes in general from around a month ago in that I've been exercising by doing long walks - longest so far is 13.1miles! Doing Zumba class once or tiwce a week, doing press ups, sit ups and squats every other day and generally just moving more. I've also joined a slimming club to give me a bit of a kick up the butt :laugh: For this challenge I'm also going to cut right back on alcohol, I have 2 social occasions in the 7 weeks where I will have a drink and that's it.

Hope to get to know you all soon, oh and GO PURPLE TEAM!

My dream vacation would be to go to Ireland and Greece for about a month. My dad's side is from Ireland and my mom's side is from Greece. I would love to be in such good shape that I could walk all over each of these places and see all the amazing things there! That is my ultimate gift to myself when I reach my goal weight!

I'd love to go somewhere exotic and warm like Tobago or the British Virgin Isles, for a city destination there's so many I'd love to see, St Petersburgh, Venice, Florence, Bruges. I could go on and on, with 2 young kids I think it'll be a while before I get anywhere like that!