Hi everyone I am new. My name is Michelle and I have twin 3 year olds.

my current weight is 190.4 and my goal is 186.4 for the end of the month.

good morning Ravenclaw and happy wednesday (yes, korkster-it really is wednesday now)!! got a short walk/run in with the dog last night. i had hoped for a bike ride as it was a beautiful day here but by the time i got home it was too dark so had to settle for a walk. (on the up side, Zoey really enjoyed herself!! :laugh: )

welcome to puff and mommyof twins!!

sue-i came home to 2 people requesting Wendy's for dinner "since you have to go to the store anyway"!! now my car smells like french fries-happy to say i had my whole wheat pasta and not Wendy's. although, i have to say, on the rare occasion someone else here cooks, it isn't at all healthy!!

gotta get moving. likely gonna be a late day at work so not too sure about a workout tonight.

hope everyone has a great hump day!! :bigsmile:

right previous post was me in HoH mode, now I'm in just me mode...

Why, why, why do I sabotage myself?! Last week, Tuesday and Wednesday were really bad days for food and exercise. I knew Tues and Wed this week were going to be the same food wise, so did I do anything about it? NO OF COURSE NOT! So have been eating junk all day, am now hungry because I haven't had anything substantial (but I did have THREE starbucks coffees, really necessary...!) but I'm already well over my calories despite just doing an hours hardcore exercise to try and earn some back (also not a healthy mind set- exercising to earn food?! really healthy mentality!!)

I hope you guys are doing better than me, am going to bed now to sulk...

First of all, I just wanted to say congratulations for such an AMAZING week to end the month! We ended with a weight loss percentage in Week Four of 0.767%, which is a huge improvement from last week! We also hit our goal of breaking the 200 mark with our HPs, yay!

Congrats to all of those who achieved losses this week: azsuzi, bethanyweathers, blackhawkgirl91, cenedria235, emmie_rene, karinane, korkster, lottee1000, mish3131, twiFan5, WhatsEatingYou, and me. :drinker:

Also, congrats to our Quidditch All-Star of the Week for the highest % of weight loss: bethanyweathers, with a % lost of 1.85% (woohoo!)

For our January Quidditch Captain with the overall highest % of weight lost for the month, technically our winner would have been lottee1000 with an impressive 4.65% weight loss during the month. But since she's already HoH, our official winner is our newcomer mish3131 with an awesome 2.88% loss! Congratulations! :flowerforyou:

I really wish we could still use the badges in our signature because I would love for you to be able to show off your success, but does anyone have any other ideas for how we can celebrate those? Would love to hear it!

Now, like lottee, I'll take off my HoH hat and just post, lol.

I actually have a question for anyone who'd like to put in some input. I have a friend who is going to be doing one of the weight loss surgeries, most likely by the end of this month. Now I won't get into whether I'm for them or against them because for me, it depends on a lot of different factors. I will say my mother did the gastric bypass surgery yeaaars ago at the suggestion of her doctor and did very well with it, so I'm not anti- by any means.

My concern is that he's been eating everything he can get his hands on lately leading up to this surgery. And that isn't me being judgmental. That is him actually saying that, and in fact, saying that part of his reason for "eating everything in sight' is that he won't be able to soon, so he's enjoying it all now. I wish I was even just talking about splurging on some treats here and there, but large quantities of food and nothing healthy in it.

To me, the surgery isn't the solution in that case, then. He's young (early 20s), with no real health drawbacks that would prevent him from exercising, and as long as I've known him, I have never seen him on a genuine attempt to lose weight by cutting calories and changing his food habits (maybe small changes somewhere, but nothing that carried over to a noticeable effort). So if his mentality is that he's trying to get healthy, what's the benefit of eating nothing good and attacking his body with 10-20 pounds of more fat that it will need to lose? Is it just the assumption that the surgery is an easy fix? And if that's how he's basically training himself before the surgery, how difficult is it going to be when none of his habits have changed to help him after the surgery? Is he going to cause complications for himself or end up gaining it back?

So here's the question. I have a feeling that my thoughts wouldn't be very warmly welcomed if I tried to talk to him about it, but I also have a feeling that it's going to eat at me and make me feel guilty if I don't at least say something as a friend to try to keep him from getting in a worse position. I really, really am concerned that he's taking the surgery lightly as a fix-all, and he isn't really thinking about it more than just an option to lose weight.

Would you say something? And if so, how? Just position it as being a concerned friend or try a different approach?

OK ladies . . . . doctor gave me the "all clear" sign yesterday and I can resume normal activities- of course his normal isn't my normal so his normal is- physical therapy 3x a week, I am only allowed to walk for 30min at a time (yeah we'll see how long THAT lasts), and no work out videos or running for a bit (again his "little bit" isn't necessarily my little bit). I would love to get back into Ravenclaw for February. I love you guys and have missed talking with you every day! I added myself to the spreadsheet and entered my start weight and goal weight for Feb.

Just checking in today - I am sooo hungry today. I finally started lifting weights and I have to say I think it's changing my hunger levels. When I was just doing cardion I was okay with my 1400. Now lifting I'm like HUNGRY. I'm sure I'll get used to it - probably only take a week or so to adjust.

My body is starting to feel different and I think I have to go out and get some new pants. I had lost about 5 pounds before I started MFP and I'm down another 5-6 so the pants are starting to feel big. I'm going to wait another 1-2 weeks before I go out and spend any money. I'm still surprised by how committed I'm being so I want to see if it lasts.

Take care all.

Also, congrats to our Quidditch All-Star of the Week for the highest % of weight loss: bethanyweathers, with a % lost of 1.85% (woohoo!)

Really? Wow! Sweet!

Today I couldn't go to any classes or work. I can barely move or get out of bed I'm in so much pain. Everyone keeps saying I should go to the doctor, but I know they'll just tell me to keep taking the meds, or prescribe me yet another pain killer. I've spent over $100 on pain killers alone because of all this. I don't want to waste any more money on something that they'll change in a week. Very frustrated.

Hello February...Get Ready to get your *kitten* KICKED!

AAAAMEN!!! :laugh:

I am loving "Map My Walk" (www.mapmywalk.com) because now I can track how long my walks are when walking around campus and in the neighborhood. For example, the walk I took today (down the big steep lane, five blocks up, and back) was just under 1.5 miles, which is very convenient to know when I don't have access to a treadmill. I also learned that walking around the perimeter of the main campus is just over 1/2 mile, so twice around is just over 1. It's just much more enjoyable to walk outside and not on a treadmill....gets very boring very quickly, lol!

Hi Ravenclaws, I have entered my Feb goal as 101 and am hoping to reach it, I am still having a hard time with my health and it really is annoying but I am at a loss of what to do about it or where to go next. and who to talk to about it. Hope that everyone is having a fantastic week and am looking forward to weighing in.

Good morning Ravenclaws!!!!!!!
So far so good on the "kicking February's *kitten*" front. Its a gradual slow kicking but its still a kicking!

hi everyone! :happy:

this is my FIRST post as a real Ravenclaw and i'm so excited to start february challenge!!!
i promise, i'll try more than usual. this week i'll have many house points because i joined a challenge in which i have to burn 3500 cals and i usually burn just 800... so... i'm sweating like a pig, but i'm gonna do it and i'm gonna do it properly! woo! :happy:

p.s. i want to let you all know that if i write something wrong or with a bad grammar- it's because i'm from Croatia(a small country in Europe, just next to Austria and Italy) so english is not my native language. thank you all for understanding :flowerforyou:

Greetings, fellow Ravenclaws!

Today is Thursday and I'm stoked for the weekend. I only have to work half a day tomorrow; the rest will be spent hiking with my brother. I got invited to go hiking with some co-workers on Saturday, and on Sunday I get to clean and organize some equipment. So much activity!

I'm not sure I can make the Saturday thing. Although I enjoy hiking, I've JUST started, and am not sure what "extreme" this hiking trip will be. Don't want to kill myself; I just want to have fun.

I think I'm going to get a FitBit. It's only $100 and I'm interested to see what calories I'm NOT tracking. And sleep patterns would be fun. Anyone have complaints on this product that I should know about?

Have a great day!

Welcome mommyoftwins08, tboothgethe, puff and anyone else I missed!

Congrats to bethanyweathers & mish3131 for some awesome loses!! Woohoo! *cheers*

Bethanyweathers- I’m sorry you’re having such a hard time with this *hugs* Hope it eases up soon.

I did pretty good for my "weekend" stayed under calories both days and worked out each day. Yesterday wasn't the best day food wise. It was my moms birthday so we went out to Denny's and then there was cake and ice cream at her party that night. Stupid garlic bread *grumbles* I need to learn better control at social functions. I'm such an introvert that even at family gatherings I end up in a corner somewhere eating to look like I have something to do. I was proud that instead of sitting the whole time I tried helping in the kitchen to keep my activity level up (thanks to my fitbit and my determination to keep my flower growing). Definitely didn't stay under sodium but made my water! Going to try for a better sodium level today. Hope everyone is having a great day! Let's go kick February's *kitten*! Woot!

Ayla