Healthy for the Holidays Challenge - 9/06 - 11/22

Starting Weight on September 6, 2011: 158.4lbs
Goal Weight by November 22, 2011: 143.0lbs

Week One on September 13, 2011: 156.4lbs
Week Two on September 20, 2011: 154.8lbs
Week Three on September 27, 2011: Didn't weigh in. TOM.
Week Four on October 4, 2011: 153.0lbs
Week Five on October 11, 2011: 151.8lbs
Week Six on October 18, 2011: 150.6lbs

Down 1.2 pounds again. Pretty steady loss. I'm a little confused as to how I ended up losing weight... I binged a few times.

I'm getting bored of the Walk at Home DVDS and it's getting too cold here for me to walk/run outside. I need to find something new to do. Any ideas?
I'm thinking when I get paid on Friday I'll go pick up some hand weights (or an exercise bike.... or both...) and start on the 30 Day Shred. I've been wanting to for a while and now that I'm bored with my current routine it seems like a good time.

Any ideas for at home videos or anything are appreciated. :]

129.2 today...should be able to get more active on here really soon. Took a licensing test on Saturday and passed, so much relieved...also relieved I didn't have a huge gain as I let myself eat whatever I wanted last week...OMG, we're farther into this challenge than I realized...so sorry to have gotten lost for a while, but really glad to be back!

Hi all, quick check in but will post properly soon. Very happy this week:

H4H SW 302
CW 18 oct 298.5

Yippee!

Thanks all for support xxx

Weighing in at 178.4 this week, so down 1.6 Life has been extremely stressful lately, and exercise has been virtally non-existant, so I'm very thankful for the loss. Have a great week everyone :drinker:

I have a gain and I am depressed about it. I wasn't going to post but after reading other's posts, I know I need to...and now to move on. I hope my body does what it needs to do so I can get back to my usual pattern.

My weight is 201.8

So... I got on the scale this morning and I'm back down to 142.6.. my weight makes NO SENSE!

My weight loss journey I can actually pinpoint where the weight gain began. My dad died when I was 15 and I went from a size 5/7 to a size 11/13 seriously within a matter of months. Not sure on the exact numbers but I want to say I gained like 40lbs. I remember being in the 120's, then jumping into the 160's. Then after that I had a verbally abusive boyfriend who put me on a diet. I lost 35lbs when I was with him, but it was far from a 'healthy' way. I was on diet pills, he watched everything I put in my mouth. Don't get me wrong I looked great! but when it all came down to it I still felt really crappy about myself. Once I was out of high school (and single) things got better. I did put the weight back on (160) but I was taller so it seemed to fit my frame better and I was more confident with who I was. It wasn't until I met my husband, got married, had babies that I gained the rest of the weight. Slowly but surely. After my 2nd baby I had PPD but something clicked in my head when the scale said 198 and I knew I couldn't touch the 200's. My dad was obese. he weighed 450lbs and he actually died not too long after his gastric bypass surgery (he had complications). So my friend and I were casually talking about weight watchers as she had already lost 20lbs and I was saying how I would join 'someday' and she said 'why not today?" so I did. dropped the first 20 really quickly.. then Christmas came and I put 15 of it back on. Through 2010 I got back down to 160 through eating right and exercising (Jillian saved my life). Christmas came again and I put 10lbs back on. this year I managed to kill almost 30lbs.

for me its a LONG struggle but the weight loss feels more permanent. I'm still a total food addict and thats actually where my problem is still. I love the crap. and for some reason i have the inability to actually feel full no matter how slow I eat. So I still struggle. I think I'm one of the biggest complainers in this group because I still have a hard time coping with my weaknesses.

So here's my weight loss journey so far. I'm one of those people who has basically struggled with being a little overweight my whole life. After college my activity levels slowly starting declining and my weight slowly started going up. About 6 years ago I hit my max weight which was around 225. I knew I had put on a lot of weight but I guess I was in denial at how bad I actually looked and like so many others it was seeing some picutures of myself and hearing some comments from strangers that woke me up about it. My reasons for gaining weight are unfortunately much more mental than physical so this has been a long and difficult struggle for me and it continues to be. I won't drag on about all of that on here, but using MFP has actually helped wake me up about some of the issues I have and I'm slowly finding new ways to deal with things that will hopefully help keep me going in the right direction. So to quantify how far I've come-I've 5'7 and I went from a very tight size 14 to currently a size 8 and I'm down around 70 pounds overall. That's not too shabby :happy:

Thanks for sharing Ellen. All this time I have "known" you here and didn't know that you had come so far. Also, forgive me, being a Boulderite myself, I tend to assume that I am the only overweight person in this town, being one of the fittest places in the country has it's advantages, but makes you feel really weird if you are not a triathlete sometimes.

I think this is a good reminder for us all to remember our own journeys, struggles, hangups and successes. Only by reflection can we see the true picture of our work!

for me its a LONG struggle but the weight loss feels more permanent. I'm still a total food addict and thats actually where my problem is still. I love the crap. and for some reason i have the inability to actually feel full no matter how slow I eat. So I still struggle. I think I'm one of the biggest complainers in this group because I still have a hard time coping with my weaknesses.

You know what, though, I think a lot of us on here have similar or related issues with food regardless of whether we've ever come out and said it. Maybe that's part of why we've all stuck together in the same group for so long! I don't see you as a complainer at all.

Olivia, you are so right about Boulder making you sort of feel bad about not being super fit (even though I did move to Denver over the summer). I spent my heaviest years up there and you really do feel like you are the only person around with weight to lose, I used to actually be embaressed to go to the gym because of it! On the up side I think that also got me in the habit of getting up early to get my workout done

What is bumping? And how can I save this thread?

Olivia, you are so right about Boulder making you sort of feel bad about not being super fit (even though I did move to Denver over the summer). I spent my heaviest years up there and you really do feel like you are the only person around with weight to lose, I used to actually be embaressed to go to the gym because of it! On the up side I think that also got me in the habit of getting up early to get my workout done

Ellen I didn't realized you had moved to Denver, obviously. How do you like it? Never lived there, but did go to grad school there and have a fun night out on the town every so often in the big city.

Ugh! That's how I feel. I'm beating myself up because I can't seem to get any motivation to exercise. I've fallen into eating way to many sweets! With Halloween around the corner, it's everywhere! I try not to even bring it in the house, but my daughters talked me into getting some nutty bars while we were on vacation. They came back home with us and now they are yelling at me to eat them...Oh the pressure!

So, I'm going to get into my weight loss story and remind myself of why I'm doing this and how far I've come. The weight loss part came around in June of this year when I started Insanity. My decisions up until that point is what led me there. I've always viewed myself as being bigger than other girls my age, especially in high school. Looking back now I can't believe how wrong I was! I got married while I was in college and pregnant. This is where the weight gain started. Living a healthy lifestyle was not part of our lives. I completed college, started grad school, had another daughter, got a full time job as a park ranger, and got a divorce (all within the span of two years). No my life wasn't busy at all...:noway: Anyway, since I was pretty active as a park ranger, I didn't gain much more weight, leveling off somewhere in the 170s (where I am now). Unfortunately, the salary of a park ranger does not support a single mom and her two girls. So, I started a profession I always said I would never get into, teaching. This is when I started packing on the pounds, between struggles with depression, exhaustion, and girl scout cookies, I reached 210 pounds this past spring. I knew I had to do something. I didn't like me. I didn't have energy. I didn't want to do anything. A friend of mine was doing Insanity, so her enthusiasm spilled over to me, enough so that I purchased the outrageously expensive workout set on ebay. I've never invested money so wisely. It took about 2 months to arrive, but I was able to start right as school was getting out for the summer. I spent the whole summer developing healthy eating and workout habits, so that when school started back I could continue my new healthy lifestyle. It's been difficult, between girl scout meetings, soccer practice and games, dance practice, and church suppers. I'm exhausted when I get home and struggle to get a workout in. I'm also taking courses for my PhD online, so that's one more wrench thrown in my schedule. That brings me to the struggles I have now. I'm still dropping pounds, but my habits are wavering. I grab too many bad foods because they are convenient. I fall into bed at the end of the day instead of putting on my workout clothes. I'm burning myself out and I know it, but I don't know how to fix it. I keep saying to myself that I just have to make it through to summer. Then my PhD courses will be over, and I'll hopefully be at my goal weight.

I hit my Heathy for the Holidays goal weight today!--149.6 I missed having it for this week's weigh-in, drat. I haven't had cheese for the last two days, and my sodium has been <1500, so I'm really thinking that might have been a factor this past week.

NSV--My blood pressure last night was 110/65, the lowest I've seen it in over 30 years!

Way to go x2!

Singer, Congrats on reaching your goal, and of course your great blood pressure numbers.

Olivia, you are so right about Boulder making you sort of feel bad about not being super fit (even though I did move to Denver over the summer). I spent my heaviest years up there and you really do feel like you are the only person around with weight to lose, I used to actually be embaressed to go to the gym because of it! On the up side I think that also got me in the habit of getting up early to get my workout done

Ellen I didn't realized you had moved to Denver, obviously. How do you like it? Never lived there, but did go to grad school there and have a fun night out on the town every so often in the big city.

I'm loving it so far! I had been up in Boulder for most of the last 14 years so it was time for a change!

My favorite color is blue. Thanks!