STARS 9 WEEK CHALLENGE (CLOSE GROUP) WK 4

Congrats Blue Team! Pink team, we gotta get on it.

Well done everyone!!

Great work everyone!!!

Hey guys! It looks like Mondays QOTD was started in last week's post. I am going to answer here so we can hopefully move over to this thread for the week!!

QOTD Monday 10/17/2011: Can you see an improvement thus far in your weight loss journey? How are you staying motivated to continue to lose weight?

I think that I definitely am seeing imporvements in my weight loss journey. When I started back up this year, the loss was really slow and sparadic (even though I was being consistent). I would lose 3 pounds, put 2 back on, lose 4, put one back on. It was all over the place, and I never knew what I would see when I stepped on the scale. But, the longer that I am watching what I eat, minimizing processed carbs, and going to the gym, the more consistent my weight last has been. I like this so much more than the big losses and then slight gains. It is easier for me to take. Now I am slowly losing 1-2 pounds a week, but maybe .5 lb gain during the week. It makes losing weight and seeing the end much more realistic to me.

I am honestly not sure how I am staying motivated. I am tired, and would like to sit on the couch and watch tv at night. But, for some reason I want to go to the gym. I think that I have gotten into a routine, and when I don't go to the gym, my night feels off. It is strange. I do think that some of the things that keep me going are my own critical thoughts of myself. I really have issues. I can look in the mirror and see something that looks great (like I am really starting to look trim), but then I noticed a bulge of fat, and that is what I focus on. I tell myself, you won't look good until that is gone. I hate being so critical, but I think it is the reason that I am so motivated to keep going in this journey. I am an all or nothing type of person, and sometimes that is a good thing, sometimes it is detrimental to my psychy. Oh well, what can I do..... Just keep my head down and get to my goal weight (which seems to change on a daily basis)

Thanks Naomi,I could not find the link this morning.

YAY!!! Blue team!!! :drinker:

CONGRATS Tiffany! So proud of my partner!!!!

QOTD Monday 10/17/2011: Can you see an improvement thus far in your weight loss journey? How are you staying motivated to continue to lose weight?

I have been struggling for the past two weeks and have gotten out of my groove. I haven't been losing weight and I feel a little frustrated with myself, but when I was going to the gym and logging faithfully; I was starting to feel the difference in my body. I felt leaner, healthier, happier, and more confident. I noticed that I could go a little further, a little harder. I was lifting heavier, burning more calories, and so on. By me just writing this down makes me want to get back on track and do better. Thanks for this question

FIRST OFF: WOW and Congratulations to the BLUE TEAM for snagging the win this week and such a huge win!!!! Congratulations to my Partner for being one of the big winners this past week. I made some major changes in what I'm doing this week and hope I see the results. I've plateaud for so long I had to do something!

QOTD Monday 10/17/2011: Can you see an improvement thus far in your weight loss journey? How are you staying motivated to continue to lose weight?

I am near the end and having a hard time staying motivated to get the last 10 pounds off. Probably because I had to buy all new clothes and I feel pretty darn good where I am at. I am however very motivated to exercise (way more than watch my food). I am finding that changing it up is the key to staying motivated. If I do the same thing over and over it just get's boring. I have been joing fitness challenges and it's very motivating.

QOTD Monday 10/17/2011: Can you see an improvement thus far in your weight loss journey? How are you staying motivated to continue to lose weight?

I am seeing an improvement in my energy level, my attitude, my focus.... I'm starting to like to take pictures again... Still not into taking body shots, but I've sucked it up and done a few. My clothes are definitely getting looser and I am now wearing rings that I had to take off years ago. (they are still snug but they aren't hurting me).

I'm trying new things like a 5k and spinach.... I'm getting more disciplined and I'm learning how to push forward hard, but pace myself enough to look behind me and pick up someone else who needs to pulled a little. (I never had the patience before for people saying I can't.... But somehow now, it doesn't upset me or aggitate me, it fuels me to try to show them how they can and to stay understanding of them not being able to believe it yet) That's it, I am getting patience now...

I stay motivated by all of my friends and the Non-Surgical Weight Loss program employees who are watching me and cheering me on. I get text messages, phone calls, emails and all kinds of stuff... Also, I have goals that I keep in front of me... Like the two 5k's coming up in November and December. Now I added the Disney Marathon next year. Things like that are helping me to stay motivated. My 13 y/o son watches what I eat while my 2 y/o daughter keeps begging me for bike rides. My mom wakes me up to go running while my Grandma has food waiting for me when I come home. Little by little everyone is getting involved! Oh and at work, they are doing this Booing thing where you receive a little note that you've been boo-ed with some goodies for Halloween. It's been going around for about 2 weeks. And from what I've seen it's been candies for treats... Well I got boo-ed today and I got 2 100 calorie popcorn bag, some small amounts of dark chocolate and a notepad.... Even my co-workers are cheering me on! I'm loving it! This is not a journey I would want to do alone. And I will never take all of the credit... All of you have been awesome. And everyone who has joined hands with me in this time has touched my heart immensely! This is how I've stayed motivated....

QOTD Monday 10/17/2011: Can you see an improvement thus far in your weight loss journey? How are you staying motivated to continue to lose weight?

I have seen improvement in my weight loss journey. I feel that my body is toner and I have more energy. I am able to complete my workout routines with greater ease. I have more confidence and feel better about myself. I believe that reading people's postings on myfitnespal helps keep me motivated. I take it one day at a time. If I had a bad day, I just start over the next day and try not to dwell on it.

Yay blue team, we finally did it!

Hey Rhonda - I dunno if you saw my other note but I really encourage you to consider lowering your weekly weight loss goal. You and I both have less than 25 lbs to go and a large weekly goal is a lot tougher when you are at that point. When my daily calorie goal was low, I really struggled to stick with it. I am now set to .5lb/week and I get to eat 1680/day + exercise calories. That means if I go out to sunday brunch and I want to eat 1000 calories of food, I can. no big deal, not breaking my diet, just need to have lighter meals throughout the rest of the day (which is easy becuase you never want to eat two huge meals in a day). It also means if I want to have pizza, I have 2 slices of pizza (less than I used to eat but plenty of food) and am happy that I had pizza.

The eating portion of your diet shouldn't feel like a huge struggle - it should feel like SMALL changes. Like making your sandwich without a mayo and less cheese, or having fruit/vegetables as your side dish instead of something higher in calories.


QOTD Monday 10/17/2011: Can you see an improvement thus far in your weight loss journey? How are you staying motivated to continue to lose weight?

Yes, absolutely. I have lost 30 lbs since I started on MFP and about 10 before that. I am now a size 10 jeans and I COULD (I know because I tested this on Sunday) put on a size 8 if I don't mind having the hugest most disgusting belly hang over in the world (my boyfriend was so horrified when I showed him, I was just pleased that I could zip them up).

Now if only I could find some jeans I liked that weren't also 60 dollars :ohwell:

Getting into a size 8 and having it look NOT like the most disgusting thing in the world is probably going to be my next great NSV.

Also a lot of change in my face (YAY!) and legs and WEIRDLY my *feet* actually shrunk (width, not length). I didn't think I had gained enough weight to carry fat there but my shoes fit about a thousand times better now. SO weird.


I am staying motivated a few ways. One is I increased my calories and decreased my weekly expectation - and if i'm hungry, I go ahead and eat something but I try to keep it a lighter option (under 150 calories for an additional snack). If I eat WAY over I tend to try and make myself burn some of the extra down but I don't sweat it. This makes the diet portion a breeze - I do things like order fruit or vegetables instead of potatoes, or I pick the sandwich that's chicken instead of the steak and brie sandwich or if I want something really bad I find someone to share it with and have something healthy for the other half of the meal, but otherwise I basically get to eat what I want, and as much as I want, as long as what I want isn't ridiculously high calorie and 'as much' as I want is close to or below my maintenance calories.

And then when I don't lose one week I think "well, I'm glad I didn't gain!" and leave it there - so far this has worked out really well for me.

For exercise motivation I am very motivated to increase my strength - I want to do more pushups and better ones, I want to be able to do a pullup, I want to be able to deadlift and squat more weight. Heavier weights for shoulder and chest presses! And it helps a lot that I go to a trainer 2x a week - that means at the very least I do a regimine 2 x a week and someone increases my weight and tracks my progress for me.

QOTD Monday 10/17/2011: Can you see an improvement thus far in your weight loss journey? How are you staying motivated to continue to lose weight?

Although I haven't seen an improvement on the scale, I feel like I have changed my outlook on losing weight. I'm not going to give up and this is a huge improvement! I'm staying motivated thanks to this challenge and my awesome partner Rebecca!

Yay blue team, we finally did it!

Hey Rhonda - I dunno if you saw my other note but I really encourage you to consider lowering your weekly weight loss goal. You and I both have less than 25 lbs to go and a large weekly goal is a lot tougher when you are at that point. When my daily calorie goal was low, I really struggled to stick with it. I am now set to .5lb/week and I get to eat 1680/day + exercise calories. That means if I go out to sunday brunch and I want to eat 1000 calories of food, I can. no big deal, not breaking my diet, just need to have lighter meals throughout the rest of the day (which is easy becuase you never want to eat two huge meals in a day). It also means if I want to have pizza, I have 2 slices of pizza (less than I used to eat but plenty of food) and am happy that I had pizza.

The eating portion of your diet shouldn't feel like a huge struggle - it should feel like SMALL changes. Like making your sandwich without a mayo and less cheese, or having fruit/vegetables as your side dish instead of something higher in calories.


QOTD Monday 10/17/2011: Can you see an improvement thus far in your weight loss journey? How are you staying motivated to continue to lose weight?

Yes, absolutely. I have lost 30 lbs since I started on MFP and about 10 before that. I am now a size 10 jeans and I COULD (I know because I tested this on Sunday) put on a size 8 if I don't mind having the hugest most disgusting belly hang over in the world (my boyfriend was so horrified when I showed him, I was just pleased that I could zip them up).

Now if only I could find some jeans I liked that weren't also 60 dollars :ohwell:

Getting into a size 8 and having it look NOT like the most disgusting thing in the world is probably going to be my next great NSV.

Also a lot of change in my face (YAY!) and legs and WEIRDLY my *feet* actually shrunk (width, not length). I didn't think I had gained enough weight to carry fat there but my shoes fit about a thousand times better now. SO weird.


I am staying motivated a few ways. One is I increased my calories and decreased my weekly expectation - and if i'm hungry, I go ahead and eat something but I try to keep it a lighter option (under 150 calories for an additional snack). If I eat WAY over I tend to try and make myself burn some of the extra down but I don't sweat it. This makes the diet portion a breeze - I do things like order fruit or vegetables instead of potatoes, or I pick the sandwich that's chicken instead of the steak and brie sandwich or if I want something really bad I find someone to share it with and have something healthy for the other half of the meal, but otherwise I basically get to eat what I want, and as much as I want, as long as what I want isn't ridiculously high calorie and 'as much' as I want is close to or below my maintenance calories.

And then when I don't lose one week I think "well, I'm glad I didn't gain!" and leave it there - so far this has worked out really well for me.

For exercise motivation I am very motivated to increase my strength - I want to do more pushups and better ones, I want to be able to do a pullup, I want to be able to deadlift and squat more weight. Heavier weights for shoulder and chest presses! And it helps a lot that I go to a trainer 2x a week - that means at the very least I do a regimine 2 x a week and someone increases my weight and tracks my progress for me.

I did see it! Thank you so much for the advise!

QOTD Monday 10/17/2011: Can you see an improvement thus far in your weight loss journey? How are you staying motivated to continue to lose weight?

I have seen an improvement, but I had to take pictures to really see it! I posted some before and during photos a couple of weeks ago on my blog, and it really took seeing those to get it in my head that there were changes! My biggest motivator right now is seeing the numbers on the scale drop. I am also looking forward to getting down to the next size jeans!

QOTD Monday 10/17/2011: Can you see an improvement thus far in your weight loss journey? How are you staying motivated to continue to lose weight?

I can see improvements! My body has changed a lot. I have lost a few inches all over. I am having a really hard time staying motivated these days. The last 2 weeks has been really hard for me and I gained 3lbs! I am back on track today though and feel like I can get out of this funk.

QOTD Monday 10/17/2011: Can you see an improvement thus far in your weight loss journey? How are you staying motivated to continue to lose weight?

I can feel a difference in my clothes they are feeling quite loose!! :happy: also after going back to work everyone is commenting on my weight loss so that has really motivated me. i am also finding that i dont need to eat as much at tea time so instead of filling a huge plate of food and eating it all ive got myself a small plate and fill that - mentatlity is that i have still eaten a plate full! lol one thing i seem to still be struggling with is snacking i go to the cupboard and there is nothing i fancy in there so i eat rubbish! i am getting better but it is still an uphill battle with that one!

claire. xxx