VERTICAL CHALLENGERS! Home to all shorties out there. (OPEN)

Glad everyone is excited for the new challenge. Remember to update your information. In addition, make sure your information is correct. I noticed that when the spreadsheet was altered my information was incorrect. Please check it out and we'll see how much weight we lost as a group! Thanks!

Hey all!

It's been a busy few weeks so I haven't been around much. Still logged most of my food and exercised when I could.

I know the challenge ends today, but I'll update my weight for it when I weigh in first thing tomorrow AM. I'm hoping to have a little bit of loss this week. I've been pretty good with my calories and had some good workouts.

I'm excited for the next challenge. I have trouble drinking enough water - so I hope this motivates me to drink more. I have a question about water though - does coconut water, vitamin water and stuff like that count as water? I never know if I should log it or not.

Oh - and to piggy back on some of the other discussions, like others here I have a small dog (pekingese and shih tzu mix) and a tall soon to be hubby, he's right around 6' a full foot taller then me. In all of our pictures he's bending his head over mine.

And my personal information. I'm a full time student finishing my MBA. I'm done with classes in December and can't wait. Now comes the hard part of finding a J O B. Besides the dog, I also have 2 cats. And I'm getting married to my best friend, love of my life, and most amazing man next June.

Okay, I'm back from vacation! I haven't caught up with reading all the posts I missed but I will. Right now I'm just checking in with everything before I go frantic running around to prepare for our black tie event tonight. I didnt fit into my glorious size three but I do fit into my 6P so I'm happy.

I had a ton of fun on my vacation, snuck in a few drinks and ate 1500 calories on four of the days! Bad me but I still lost one pound. But I *also* just started TOM so maaaaybe I lost more with all the crazy hiking I did. That'll show up later I hope.

Grand total loss for the challenge: 8.8lbs!

I have to go through and find out what our next challenges are. Water is pretty easy for me but I didnt see how many exercise minutes we had to do.

I hope you guys are all doing well, welcome to all then newbies, and ONWARD to the next adventure for us all!

Does 5'3 count?

I found my secret weapon for water drinking yesterday! I have a 40 minute drive to and from work so I brought my water bottle with me both ways. That's 4 cups down just while driving! After that it was super easy to drink 4 more throughout the work day. (Taking lots of bathroom breaks though! Haha!)

MY WATER DRINKING TIPS:

I used to be TERRIBLE at drinking enough water. I got serious about it about 4 months ago. I used a tool to help me and it worked so I thought I'd share what I did with all of you!

I downloaded a free app on my phone called "drink water". It is a simple app that reminds me to drink water throughout the day. You can set the amount you want to drink and then you click on a little water cup icon when you drink a cup.

Ok I'm not doing a great job describing this app, but it really helped me and now I always drink at least 8 cups of water every day! I don't use the app anymore because I just log it on MFP, but someone else out there might be interested in using it!

My other tip is to start drinking from a 32oz bottle. I drink a whole bottle in the morning before, during and after my workout, and then I drink one in the middle of the day, and if I'm feeling like it I'll drink another one towards the end of the day.

Happy drinking!

Urrrrgh so I've gained back so much this weekend....I am seriously hoping it's just hormaonal and at the end of the week I will see a much better number on the scale And of course I ate crap all weekend cos I was feeling miserable (vicious cycle huh!) I have however been keeping up with my water so yay for that haha!

Alas, Monday is a new week and I have my water bottle filled and ready to go. Back to the gym after work tonight to work on my minutes for the week

I have my brother in law's wedding this weekend, so aiming for less bloat which means I am also going to attempt a low carb week too. I say that very enthusiatically now, but as pasta is my absolute weakness we'll see how that goes!!!!!

Happy new week girls, Mwah!

It's hard getting the water in on the weekend. Don't think I quite made it...but try try again!!

Good morning all you shorties!

Drinking lots of water must be helping. I ate fried and salty foods all weekend, but drank lots of water. When I stepped on Cruella (some of you will remember that's what I call my scale--she's evil), I saw a half pound loss.:drinker: Cruella loves showing weight gain. But she makes me work really hard for a loss.

Hope you all have a great week!
:flowerforyou:

Hi ladies! I'm 5'2" and would like to join this challenge as well. I have already completed 30 minutes of exercise today and will exceed my 8 glasses of water by dinner. :flowerforyou:

I have added myself to the roster. I go by Sassy, am 41 years old, live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and have 3 kiddos (young adults) who are 24 (d), 21 (s) & 18 (d). I also have 2 grandchildren who are 4.5 (gd) and 14 months (gs). I was always slim and fairly active until I was in a car accident 12 years ago. I developed some heath issues since then but I've decided they aren't going to stop me or slow me down.

I gained about 60-65 lbs within 6 months of the accident and my weight continued to climb until November 2010. It was around this time when the last of my children moved out of the house and I was trying to find something to do with myself. In November, a local gym decided to have a contest to see who could get in the best shape based on their individual starting point. To start the contest, you were weighed, measured, given a fitness test and provided with your body composition. After the 12 weeks, you went back to the gym to have the same things done and to see how much you improved. I struggled during the fitness test and it was the wake up call that I needed. I decided to apply myself, in the ways I knew how to, and ended up losing 7 lbs during that time. This loss was enough to kick start my belief that I could lose weight despite my health issues and the medication I was taking. I began looking for other ways to motivate myself. I also joined MFP in November to track my weight loss but stopped using it shortly after the contest ended. It wasn't until March 2011 when I saw a friend post her weight loss on facebook and noticed that she was using MFP that I really started to utilize the program. In March 2011, I started logging my food AND losing more weight. I also started exercising and logging that as well. I found challenges on the Message Boards and starting joining them. It's the challenges that provide me with the motivation and accountability I need to keep going.

At the beginning of the contest in November 2010, I weighed in at 229 lbs!! :sick: Since then, I have lost a total of 51 lbs!! :bigsmile: I am off all but one of my medications and my health has greatly improved, as has my endurance and fitness level. I have about 50 more pounds to lose but I am DOING this and I WILL reach my goal weight!!

Good luck to all you Vertical Challengers... we can do this!! :flowerforyou:

Is there room for one more "midget" (not to offend anyone) it's what my husband calls me. I'm 5'2" and he's 6'1"-6'2". I recent;y joined the site and am looking for motivation! I gained weight right before/after my wedding (40-50lbs, I am an emotional eater and the stress....it got to me) I was doing very well before that, was about 10-15lbs away from my goal at that time. And now I am "starting over" so to speak on my journey. I have a wonderful DD who is about to be 5, and my husband who is finally getting motivated to go to the gym and be on "myside".

I don't want to have anymore "problems" with my emotional eating, I am working on stopping/controlling it now, with a few books I purchased.

Hi there Jillee! You've absolutely come to the right place if you're looking for motivation and support. We're all going through the same things and particularly among this forum, we have have about the same goals. Oh, and No offense taken. I've been called a midget from time to time lol. Welcome aboard the team! Fill out the roster with what you'd lke to share. Our 1st challenge ended on the14th thus, a new challenge started.
Log every Saturday your total exercise minutes and water intake for the week.
The goal... 150 minutes of exercise a week and 8 glasses or more a day throughout the week.

GOOD LUCK!!:flowerforyou:

Here's the roster link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlcJqG9B3Q27dFRGRTRYMHNoQ3U2R2FRbnpoeDItcHc&hl=en_US#gid=0

Is there room for one more "midget" (not to offend anyone) it's what my husband calls me. I'm 5'2" and he's 6'1"-6'2". I recent;y joined the site and am looking for motivation! I gained weight right before/after my wedding (40-50lbs, I am an emotional eater and the stress....it got to me) I was doing very well before that, was about 10-15lbs away from my goal at that time. And now I am "starting over" so to speak on my journey. I have a wonderful DD who is about to be 5, and my husband who is finally getting motivated to go to the gym and be on "myside".

I don't want to have anymore "problems" with my emotional eating, I am working on stopping/controlling it now, with a few books I purchased.

Hi there Jillee! You've absolutely come to the right place if you're looking for motivation and support. We're all going through the same things and particularly among this forum, we have have about the same goals. Oh, and No offense taken. I've been called a midget from time to time lol. Welcome aboard the team! Fill out the roster with what you'd lke to share. Our 1st challenge ended on the14th thus, a new challenge started.
Log every Saturday your total exercise minutes and water intake for the week.
The goal... 150 minutes of exercise a week and 8 glasses or more a day throughout the week.

GOOD LUCK!!:flowerforyou:

Here's the roster link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlcJqG9B3Q27dFRGRTRYMHNoQ3U2R2FRbnpoeDItcHc&hl=en_US#gid=0

Thank you!! I just added myself, and I did get my water in on saturday!!! It was a day off from the gym though. With exercise does it matter what it is? I do some cardio, and some toning. I usually try for 30 min of each a day when I am there....I will also be doing a mini-bio too.... Thank you again!!

As long as it feels like exercise you can count it. Cardio and toning sound good to me Welcome aboard!

After a week break from mfp due to relocating, I'm looking forward to getting into the exercise challenge (water tends not to be my issue).

Is it the same document place? A new one?

Same document. Click on the Oct-Nov tab for the new challenge.