Thinner for Thanksgiving! 7 week challenge

Maria, Mimi, and Dave -- congrats to you three for a loss! Rocked Week 6!

I recorded my weight of 125.5 today. I am happy with a loss from last week overall. But for the last three days, I was at 125.0 so I was a little disappointed this morning. Hope I can get down to 124.5 for next week. Not going to make my goal for the challenge, but I don't be too far off, I think. One more week then it's on to Thanksgiving!

***Week 7 Mini-Challenge*** Let's do three sets of 50 "step-ups" each day. You simply step up onto a step until both feet are there and then right back down. That counts as one. I did 25 starting with my right leg and then 25 starting with my left leg just now. It took a little over a minute and a half. At three times per day, we'll all sneak in another five minutes of exercise each day. Sweet!

As far as going forward, I am thinking to start a "New Year, New Me!" Challenge to run from the Friday after Thanksgiving through Friday, January 6th. That's a total of 6 weeks. What do you think? Would anyone be interested?

On to Week 7 friends in fitness!

I would love to join the New Years challenge! I really need the motivation...I just wish my work would slow down so that I can get my exersize on and get to spend more time on MFP. I really enjoy seeing how everyone is doing..

Thanx for organizing this Mandy!

PS, Mandy thank you SO much for keeping up with this and keeping us accountable! I am definitely interested in the New Year New Me challenge!!! I really want to start running more and that's a perfect way to start!

Oh--and I so want to be part of the "New Year-New Me" challenge! Hopefully, life will slow down and I can communicate a bit more with the group. I definitely will need to motivation & encouragment to get me through the holidays!

Ok, guys.....I'm up 2 lbs. :sad:
It's been a really rough week---month to be honest! I've been dealing with illness & death in my family, traveling a lot and honestly, just dealing with discouragment.
BUT today, I woke up with a renewed commitment to get back on track. I just hope I can get these added pounds off before Thanksgiving (and a bit more would be nice too). I may not make it to my goal now by Thanksgiving but I"m sure gonna try! Thanks for cheering me on, guys. I love having a challenge & group like this to keep me going. Sorry I haven't been able to participate as much as I'd like the last few weeks.
You are all doing great. Keep it up!

I'm sorry to hear about your rough patch. Stay strong! We're here for you!

Thank you!!! I'm gonna hang in there. Hope you are doing well.

I agree I really like the challenge and have to say I appreciate you saying a little message to all of us here and there ). I think I need to focus more on getting a JOB rather than exercising, but I can't help it I just love health and fitness and am bound and determined to get these last few pounds off. The Marine Corps Birthday Ball is the 19th of this month (one week from today) and I am definitely going to be crazier than ever this last week about looking great at the ball!!! The morning of my friends and I are doing a 10k! I do not plan on running more than half of it, but hey that's better than nothing! Hell, walking is always better than nothing and I love to power walk!!!! Hope yall are having a great weekend!

Forgot to post on Friday...

Sept. 30: 269.8
Oct 07: 269.8
Oct 14: 267.8
Oct 28: 268.8
Nov 04: 267.0
Nov 11: 265.4

Down another 1.6 lbs. Don't think i'll hit the 12 gone by Black Friday, but I'll keep aiming and working toward it.

You guys amaze me. Every last one of you. It's so cool to know that we are in this together.

@ Mandy - ditto! And thanks for being such a great challenge leader! :flowerforyou: Its fantastic how you monitor everyone's progress and give each person encouragement. Its very motivating!

I just got the updated spreadsheet posted. http://www.schmole.com/myfitnesspal/results.htm Sorry it took me so long - my in-laws from Germany arrived yesterday and I have been busy entertaining!

Mimi - Congrats on rocking your challenge goal already! Gold star for you, lady! Can you tell me what exercise you do? I am in awe of your calorie burns. We are about the same weight, and I'd like to get my burns a little higher. I am thinking about joining a gym, because the cold, wet rain is really discouraging me from getting out there and running. Took a nap when I could have run today, so I ended up being over on calories. Argh.

Thanks so much! :happy: I'm really flattered. :blushing: Joining a gym is a good way to make sure that the weather doesn't interfere with your workout. I've found that working out at home works best for me because it saves a lot of time since I don't have to go anywhere. I usually get up ~4AM and do my workout first thing in the morning, to ensure that I get it out of the way before going to work. My daily workout consists of 45 min (6.61 mi.) on the Stairmaster and 20 - 30 min. of calisthenics (squats, pushups, crunches, etc.) -- that burns ~400 cal. During the day I burn an extra ~200 cal while doing routine daily activities by walking more and moving instead of sitting/standing still whenever I can (e.g., do leg lifts continuously whenever I have to stand (e.g., when cooking, watering plants, etc.), walk continuously instead of sitting while talking on the phone, etc.). But I think the most important thing is that I weigh all of my food so I'm able to control my calorie intake precisely and keep it at ~1600 cal/day.

With that said -- I have to admit that during the past 3 days (Sat. - Mon.) I've kept up with the exercise but failed miserably on the eating part. On Sat. my boyfriend and I decided to break up. We've been together for 9+ years (we've been living together for the past ~8 years). We've tried for a long time to work out various problems, so it wasn't a surprise, but making this final decision was emotionally devastating and my eating went completely out of control. I've been binging every night and have eaten a total of ~2600 cal over maintenance during the past 3 days. Right now I'm really struggling to cope and to get my eating back under control. In the meantime, I'm clinging to my exercise routine like a lifeline, because that's the only thing that's keeping the binging from being even worse. I'm going to try really hard to stick to my eating plan tomorrow, and try to undo the damage of the past 3 days by the Friday weigh-in. This week I'll be happy if I don't gain any weight and can get back to where I was last Friday.

This week is going so much better for me. Thanks for everyone's kind words of encouragment! Really hoping to see a loss this week....

I have to admit that during the past 3 days (Sat. - Mon.) I've kept up with the exercise but failed miserably on the eating part. On Sat. my boyfriend and I decided to break up. We've been together for 9+ years (we've been living together for the past ~8 years). We've tried for a long time to work out various problems, so it wasn't a surprise, but making this final decision was emotionally devastating and my eating went completely out of control. I've been binging every night and have eaten a total of ~2600 cal over maintenance during the past 3 days. Right now I'm really struggling to cope and to get my eating back under control. In the meantime, I'm clinging to my exercise routine like a lifeline, because that's the only thing that's keeping the binging from being even worse. I'm going to try really hard to stick to my eating plan tomorrow, and try to undo the damage of the past 3 days by the Friday weigh-in. This week I'll be happy if I don't gain any weight and can get back to where I was last Friday.

I managed to stick to my eating plan on Tues., had a huge binge (~2100 cal over maintenance) on Wed. after getting overstressed at work, and maintained today.

I'm going to skip tomorrow's weigh-in since my weight will probably be a lot higher than actual due to retained water from all of the binging this past week. But I think I did gain back ~1.25 lbs of fat from all of the binging. I'm going to just try and maintain for the time being, until I'm more stable emotionally.

Well I am at my tope weight 207 at 53 pounds . even though I am fat, and a double chin. I still think I am a pretty good looking woman. However I haven't turned to many heads lately. Just think what a fox I would be down 30 pounds. Gotta keep trying.

Well, I am 149.4 today, which is a 1 lb loss from last week ~but I had gained 2 last week. Slowly, getting back down to where I was...and hoping to see a drop by Thanksgiving. I'm already trying to mentally prepare myself for all the Thanksgiving temptations. If I decided ahead of time what I will/won't eat, I think it will help--especially if I not only promise myself but others as well. And I'm gonna make myself continue some sort of exercise every day I'm out of town visiting relatives.
Hope you all have a great next week! Looking forward to seeing all of your victories!
Don't be so hard on yourselves, guys! You are all an inspiration to me. There are gonna be tough times along the way, but the important thing is that you keep pushing forward Thank you, Mandy...you've been great! :flowerforyou:

Also, guys, I am trying. I swear. But I have been over on my calorie goal the last few days. My in-laws got to town (from Germany) on Thursday and we have been doing family dinners every night (some lunches, too) with dessert and alcohol, which I usually don't have any more. I have been having small portions, but eating non-healthy food racks up the calories so fast! They are going to be here for seven weeks, so I just can't keep going like this or I will never get my last ten pounds off! Twice a week, we are supposed to eat dinner at my sister-in-law's house and she is a fabulous cook but super fatty food. For example, last Thursday she made a baked pasta dish with kale and pumpkin (good) and whole eggs, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, butter, and milk (bad). Should I simply take my own food? That seems so anti-social. Argh. It feels like every other day is a holiday type meal and I just don't know how to handle it. Advice?

@ Mandy - is it feasible to contribute a healthy dish, and then plan on eating mostly that dish while sampling the dishes that your sister-in-law serves? Alternatively, could you eat some healthy food ahead of time and then just have small samples of the dishes that she serves?

By the way, here are some links that have good tips for staying on track during the holidays -- I think a lot of those tips can also be applied to your situation!

http://www.tomvenuto.com/articles/holiday_survival_guide.shtml

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/10-tips-to-deal-with-holiday-weight-gain.html

Hi Everyone!

So sorry I've been gone - no excuses really, just totally swamped with business travel and being sick this week (ugh). I say no excuses because I have a choice, well, not on the being sick part, but on making sure I make my health, well-being, and fitness a priority. As I write this I realize how empowering it is to fully realize you have that choice and in the end if you make it your first priorty everything will fall into place. Granted sometimes it's a struggle or a sarcrifice, but it can be done. I see it being done everyday by people on MFP and on this thread.

A very sincere thank you this group for being open, honest, and continually encouraging even when someone goes off the wagon. One thing I've learned is that when I fall off it can be really hard for me to get back on. Looking at my own profile I realize it's the getting back on that makes you successful and you have to continue no matter what, otherwise, the darkness and all your bad habits want to swallow you back in - like a very slow domino effect.

So, here I am, back, facing the darkness and getting back into the groove and even though I feel somewhat embarrassed by only doing 4 weeks of our 7 week challenge I would very much like to do a New Years challenge.

Thanks to Mandy for organizing this and being our challenge leader. All of you have really done an amazing job!

@ Kelly - glad you're back on track! What you said is very true. As you've seen from my recent posts, I'm getting back on track myself after a whole week of bad binging. Let's focus on doing well going forward!