Lose 5 Pounds A Month March 2012 Challenge

I'll give it a shot, hopefully I can do it!

For me:
CW 141lbs
GW: 136lbs
3/1: 142lbs
3/8: 141lbs
3/15:
3/22
3/30

This is what I needed too!! It is so easy to turn back to bad habit eating!

My starting weight today, 3/3, is 215.2
My goal weight is 210

3/10 214.0
3/17
3/24
3/31

wooo hooo first weigh in went amazing!

CW 154
GW 149

3/1 : 154
3/5 : 151 (-3)
3/12 149 (-2) woo hoo
3/19
3/26
3/31

I just came across the challenge but I am in!

CW 240
GW 235

Weigh In Dates

March 17
March 24
March 31

CW:155.4
GW:145

3/11 153.2
3/18
3/25

I am seeing some great weigh ins on this week!! Yay!! Good Job everyone you are All doing Amazing!!!


DMG and Franny bob if you have pcos and are having troubles then metformin is an amazing drug they use it not only for insulin resistance but to help treat PCOS. When I started taking it my ovaries got less sore and all that so Iv been liking it alot altho Im taking it to increase my chances of getting pregnant. I was on regular met for my first two babies and now im on extended release at a lower dose and it has taken 3 times as long to get pregnant and Im Still not pregnant but i am going in today to request regular met..
there are some side effects to met but there are positive feedback that if those side effects get really bothersome then the extended release usually is not as intense with the side effects. also sometimes pcos women lose weight when they start taking metformin lol : )



well I have officially lost my first pound of the month!!!!

3-01 ---> 165.4
3-12 ---> 164.4

I am seeing some great weigh ins on this week!! Yay!! Good Job everyone you are All doing Amazing!!!


DMG and Franny bob if you have pcos and are having troubles then metformin is an amazing drug they use it not only for insulin resistance but to help treat PCOS. When I started taking it my ovaries got less sore and all that so Iv been liking it alot altho Im taking it to increase my chances of getting pregnant. I was on regular met for my first two babies and now im on extended release at a lower dose and it has taken 3 times as long to get pregnant and Im Still not pregnant but i am going in today to request regular met..
there are some side effects to met but there are positive feedback that if those side effects get really bothersome then the extended release usually is not as intense with the side effects. also sometimes pcos women lose weight when they start taking metformin lol : )



well I have officially lost my first pound of the month!!!!

3-01 ---> 165.4
3-12 ---> 164.4

@55 - Well done on the loss Thanks for the info on metformin, I'll have a look into that.

@belle-74 Well done on your great loss in the 8 week programme - how are you doing since then?

@Frannybobs, things are going well since the programme finished! The programme finished two weeks ago and I am down three pounds since so I am delighted with myself.

I was so surprised this morning when I weighed myself as I really wasn't expecting a 2lb loss this week. I have been 'experimenting' since the last weigh-in with my calories as during the 8 week programme we did not eat back our exercise calories but I was reading here that you should do this so I said what the heck I would give it a try.

At first I was eating back all my exercise calories but now I only eat back about half of them as I started to panic that the calories the machines at the gym told me I was burning was wrong so I said I had better err on the side of caution and only eat half back!

That's great to have lost 3lbs in the 2 weeks since your programme ended - well done you!!

I agree with you on the "eating exercise calories back" neverending debate!! I don't eat them all back normally, I try to eat half back, as you're right all calorie burns are not completely accurate, even with an HRM and my body seems to work ok with only eating half back - I haven't plateau'ed yet, but if I did I'd tweak things a bit. Every body is different and generally we all know our own body's better than anyone else!

What sort of workouts do you do?

Finally checking in... Some of you may have seen my status updates about the weekend, and the Battle of the Bloat that I am waging. I was pretty off-track most of the weekend - mommy/daughter day on Friday which included meeting up with daddy for lunch, a girl's night on Saturday night which included a few glasses of wine and munchies, a birthday brunch on Sunday, as well as friends from out of town over for supper on Sunday. So, a very fun weekend, but I ended up with quite a jump on the scale come Monday morning! Eek! I have been very good the last two days, and have dropped back down to last Friday's weight. YAY! Now to stay on track the rest of this week, and go for another loss to stay on track for this 5 lb challenge!

Ok, this may be TMI for some people... feel free to skip it...
@Fran, for my PCOS... it started out as a complaint about my 'mustache' in grade 12 - the esthetician thought it might be hormonal where I was so young, so I went for a bunch of tests, and ended up on the bc pill to 'cure' me. I was 16 or 17 at the time and had never had a proper TOM (spotting here and there, that's about it), and I suffered from cystic pimples (you know those painful ones under the skin). Anyway, with BC, all these symptoms were helped. Then when it came to having babies, I was very lucky to get pregnant more or less right after going off the pill (so I figure I still had some leftover bc 'hormones' helping me along)... Whether the weight gain was due to PCOS, or the BC pill, or just change in lifestyle (i.e. going to university), I will never know. I weighed less than 120 in high school, so weight certainly wasn't an issue then. I decided the one way to find out if the hormones are affecting my ability to lose weight was to get off them. I just felt that my PMS cravings were derailing me every month. I tried going from the BC pill (I was using Diane-35 for many many years) to the NuvaRing, thinking I'd see if using a 'localized' hormome instead of a 'systemic' one would help. That didn't go so well (let's just say that I think having a foreigh object in my hoo-hoo was causing yeast infections). I just stopped the NuvaRing last week, so right now I'm using nothing. Just trying to heal, and then will discuss with hubby about IUD for me or a vasectomy for him. The strange thing is that I stopped taking the pill around the end of Jan, and although I had been stuck around the 150 mark for a LONG time (all of 2011), I managed to drop under 145 finally. Whether that is mental, hormonal, or the gym membership motivation thing, or a mix of them all, I don't really care, as I'm finally starting to see results. I will be going to see my doctor again soon and will ask about the glucose testing.

Bru, congrats on all the miles you're racking up! I'm guessing a baby-Bru (girl).

What sort of workouts do you do?

@Frannybobs, At the moment it is cardio all the way. I thought I might start strength training this week but could not motivate myself to talk to someone at the gym about it - maybe next week (I know I should do it but I just HATE lifting weights, doing curls, lunges etc).

During the 8 week programme we followed the C25K training programme, which went ok and I even managed to 'jog' the entire 5k by the end of it but I was very slow so I am redoing it (well I am doing an advanced beginner version of it). I am on Week 4 now and the runs are getting tougher. I am doing it all in the gym at the moment as I only get a chance to go around nine at night so don't fancy taking to the roads in the dark (not where I live anyhow). Hopefully next month now I will be able to run outside - which I am sure if going to be tough at first!!!!

I normally spend between 30 - 40 minutes on the treadmill, and then 15 minutes each on two of the other machines (bike, stepper, cross trainer or rower). I try to go four times a week but sometimes (like if we are away at the weekend) I will only manage to get there three times.

I'd imagine once I start the strength training (well hopefully start it) I will have to change my routine as I won't have time to do everything but I will work something out! I think I will miss the 'calorie burn' of not doing the cardio if I have to give up some of the time for strength training!

What do you normally do?

CW: 176.5
GW: 171

3/03: 176.5
3/09: 175.5
3/16:
3/23:
3/30:

@Belle (and anyone else who needs suggestions for figuring out strength training)

I had a personal trainer for awhile a couple years ago, and it helped me to a certain degree. You do work out harder when someone pushes you. But I didn't ask questions or talk about muscle groups. And I would hear other trainers say things like "Ok, we've done the triceps, now lets do some shoulder work", things like that.

So I found this website just this week and put together, from it, my own routine where I know I'm working all of my muscle groups and feel like I'm getting it done as far as strength training goes. Here it is:

http://exercise.about.com/cs/exbeginners/a/begstrength.htm

I did ten minutes of elliptical before and after, to get hrm up.

Hope this helps!

@Ptyson4, thanks for that. It looks like I have a bit of reading to do! I know absolutely nothing about muscle groups etc. so this looks good as a starting point for someone who literally does not have a clue! I'll let you know how it goes.

@Frannybobs, they have classes in my gym too. Zumba and Kettlebells are very popular but all the classes are on too early in the evening (or during the day) for me to attend. I know if I bought some Kettlebells for home I wouldn't use them. I have a few exercise DVD's but they are only gathering dust ... :laugh:

@getthere120, I have never even heard of bikram so I am no help to you at all. Well done on your loss!

@BrunetteWife, best of luck tomorrow! and well done on the walking (don't know how you do it !

@ames3456, yay, well done on your loss!