Hi, I've juse seen this and would like to join Gryffindor. I'm not sure what kind of challenges and things will be part of the group but I really want to get involved.

Welcome! The official rules are in the first thread of this group, and this week's challenges are this:

WEEK 2:
(Starting after check-in between 1/6-1/9
and ending with check-in between 1/13-1/16)


OWL (exercise): Planks! http://www.howcast.com/videos/388-How-To-Do-the-Plank-Pose I suggest setting a goal in seconds. Even 30 seconds or a minute can be REALLY tough at first!
Each day you reach your daily goal you earn 5 OWLs, you earn 3 OWLs for reaching half way to your goal, and 1 OWL for trying but not reaching half way.

NEWT (food): New recipe for the new year! Find a new recipe (big or small) just to shake things up 5 NEWTS if you try a new recipe this week.

SPEW: Earn 1 point every time you post something encouraging or motivating or how your day is going in the Common Room (ANYTHING BUT A CHECK-IN POST COUNTS TOWARD YOUR SPEWs).
Up to 5 points possible per day, 35 points possible for the week.

***Remember to double check the dates for this challenge! Don't start early and lessen your progress for the current week!


OH! Here's the blog link, too: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/bronwenhilary/view/january-gryffindor-owls-newts-185091

Let me know if you have any questions!

Hope everyone is having a positive week so far. I have been feeling really motivated this week and playing around with a lot of new recipes based on this weeks newts, my G/F has even bought into it this week and i'm cooking a really tasty home cooked low calorie meal tomorrow night, very excited. Haven't been able to do much exercise so far this week (weird hours in work) but I plan to kick some *kitten* this weekend in the gym.

Hi Gryffindors! It's good to see so many of you in the Common Room, and doing the OWLs! Who all's tried a new recipe so far? A friend on Facebook is posting a recipe tomorrow that she says is really good. Something with spinach, so I'm sure it'll be good. I'm going to try it this weekend.

I think I'm slowly finding my stride. When I put so many expectations on myself to do this or that in exactly that order or exactly at that time, I set myself up to fail at every mishap that I can't control. My new motto is a mix (or the sum) of 'Victory is achieved one choice at a time' and 'Find a happy medium.' Sometimes the happy medium is more than good enough, but I don't let myself see that when I try to do too much at once (which is the story of my life).

So, in saying that, my plank goal for the rest of the week will be one minute per day. I know how hard they are, and I know this will be a struggle for me to do all at once. So I have three more days left this week, and doing AT LEAST one minute of planks per day is not so much to ask in the grand scheme. I'm going to push myself to make the time.

So, in saying that, my plank goal for the rest of the week will be one minute per day. I know how hard they are, and I know this will be a struggle for me to do all at once. So I have three more days left this week, and doing AT LEAST one minute of planks per day is not so much to ask in the grand scheme. I'm going to push myself to make the time.

i know you can do it Bron!! i have faith in you!! and what you put your mind to

Hello Gryffs! After taking a break for the month of December (and my honeymoon in January!) I'm back and more motivated than ever!

CW: 163.0 lbs
GW: 148.0 lbs

Hello Gryffs! After taking a break for the month of December (and my honeymoon in January!) I'm back and more motivated than ever!

CW: 163.0 lbs
GW: 148.0 lbs

i just want to tell you OMG that pic of you in your wedding dress is BEAUTIFUL! you look amazing in that pic

I agree! Totally smokin!

Good evening Gryffs! I just got back from another walk with my hubby, and feeling good! I still have some time for some wii fit tonight too!

I hope everyone has had a great day and an awesome weekend :flowerforyou:

so its 3am here and i had fallen asleep watching a movie (at 9pm) so i am now awake and cant seem to go back to sleep. grrr i doubt anyone is awake but i wanted to stop by and say i hope you all have a great sunday! remember although you may feel alone in your "get healthy" journey, you are not!!! i know how lonely it can feel but i just remember all my great MFP buddies and my gryffindor family and it makes the loneliness go away!!

i am so proud of each and everyone of you for what you have already acheived and what i KNOW you will acheive in the future!!!

Checking in with my absolutley craptastic week totals.

CW: 167 (gained 4 pounds :sad: )
OWLS: 0
NEWTS: 0
SPEW: 0
HP: 0

This trip totally screwed me up. I went from reporting an awesome NSV of fitting into an old dress, to sabotaging myself.

You do sound down, did you really eat an extra fourteen thousand calories? I bet you didn't!

Have a nice big drink of water, get a good night's sleep and check your weight tomorrow, it's probably just from eating sodium / putting back on the water weight you lost when you started dieting. I bet you'll have lost most of it in a few days.

I didn't do yoga yet even tho that was my goal, so I'm going to hard core workout sometime today (and do some planks and yoga with it). I'm holding myself to it, and not making excuses because I'm not going anywhere today!

I did try this recipe for my NEWT this week. It was SOOOO yummy, and not really that bad. It's a new favorite of mine and Emily's!

Here it is:


Stuffed Flank Steak

1 flank steak, about 1 1/2 pounds (I actually found a cheap round steak that was cut thin and it worked wonderfully!)
1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
4 ounces sun-dried tomato- or herb-garlic-flavored feta cheese, crumbled (the stuff I found came in a 6oz package so I just used the whole package)
2 tablespoons seasoned bread crumbs (I left these out and it was still delicious!)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Heat oven to 425. Place a rack in a shallow baking pan. Coat with cooking spray.
2. Lay steak on work surface. Starting at a long side, slice steak in half without cutting through all the way. Open like a book and flatten to an even thickness.
3. In a bowl, combine spinach, feta, bread crumbs, 1 tablespoon of the oil and the beaten egg.
4. Season steak with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper. Press spinach mixture onto steak, leaving a 1-inch border. Beginning on a short end, roll up to enclose filling. Tie steak with cotton twine at 2-inch intervals.
5. Rub steak with remaining oil and season with remaining salt and pepper.
6. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Brown meat on all sides, about 5 minutes total. Transfer steak to prepared rack.
7. Roast at 425 for 35 minutes or until internal temperature registers 135 on an instant-read thermometer. Remove meat form oven; let rest, covered, 10 minutes before slicing.

WARNING - this serves two @ 385 calories each, but it's really only a starter and is not very filling - don't expect to have this and not be hungry afterwards!

My recipe is to put a 150g Camembert into a hot oven, still in its wooden box (remove any nasty cellophane but a good one will be wrapped in heavy greaseproof paper) for 15 minutes, adding a part-baked French baguette for the last ten minutes.

Serve by cutting open the top of the Camembert with a sharp knife, tearing off pieces of French bread and dipping it into the molten cheese.

NOTE - This is best served when you have a few friends round, so they can eat most of it and you can just enjoy a small taste. :bigsmile:

WARNING - this serves two @ 385 calories each, but it's really only a starter and is not very filling - don't expect to have this and not be hungry afterwards!

My recipe is to put a 150g Camembert into a hot oven, still in its wooden box (remove any nasty cellophane but a good one will be wrapped in heavy greaseproof paper) for 15 minutes, adding a part-baked French baguette for the last ten minutes.

Serve by cutting open the top of the Camembert with a sharp knife, tearing off pieces of French bread and dipping it into the molten cheese.

NOTE - This is best served when you have a few friends round, so they can eat most of it and you can just enjoy a small taste. :bigsmile:

OR you just eat it yourself and work it off after That sounds AMAZING!

WARNING - this serves two @ 385 calories each, but it's really only a starter and is not very filling - don't expect to have this and not be hungry afterwards!

My recipe is to put a 150g Camembert into a hot oven, still in its wooden box (remove any nasty cellophane but a good one will be wrapped in heavy greaseproof paper) for 15 minutes, adding a part-baked French baguette for the last ten minutes.

Serve by cutting open the top of the Camembert with a sharp knife, tearing off pieces of French bread and dipping it into the molten cheese.

NOTE - This is best served when you have a few friends round, so they can eat most of it and you can just enjoy a small taste. :bigsmile:

I love cheese!!! This sounds awesome, and odds are if I am left unattended I will eat it all by myself lol :ohwell:

Good morning Gryffs! I just read an interesting post on mfp "What is your reward for reaching your final goals?"

I hadn't really thought about what mine would be, but I am curious to know what all of yours are

Besides the slightly obvious 'new wardrobe,' I want to save up to have braces again. My dog ate my retainer (no joke!) after the last time and I couldn't afford to replace it then. I have my gap between my front teeth coming back, which doesn't bother me that much anymore, but my overbite is also coming back and it drives me CRAZY! I feel like my teeth are running away from me, lol.

What do you want to do for yourself when you reach goal?

I definitely don't want to make my goal something to do with food (bad food that is LOL!) I would have worked so hard, it'd be a shame to gain a few pounds back on

So far I've thought about maybe wedding dress shopping for our formal wedding. I loved our little beach wedding, but we have so many family and friends that couldn't come due to our budget and restrictions of party size on the beach, we want to be able to celebrate at some point with everyone I loved how I looked in my ivory dress, but I would love to wear a white wedding dress when I am 135lbs

I think that's a perfect reward! Plus, new dress!