25 pound challenge: Jul-Nov '09

This is a continuation group for the members of "25 pound challenge" which started in Feb and is to end June 30th.  I know many of us need to continue in our goals, and to kick it off I decided to start a new group -- hopefully this will give us extra motivation too!

The woman who started it all "pook" had the following original post, and I wanted to post it here so that we have the same ideas/goals/points.

I hope to see all the members of the old group, and any additional people who would like to join us!

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Original Post (modified with current dates):

I’m looking to start a support and accountability group whose main goal is to lose 25 pounds by the end of November. That’s about 1.5 lbs a week, which I think is very doable. I’m looking for folks who are losing with healthy diet and exercise, any plan is fine, but no “cabbage soup” fad diet nonsense, no pills, etc.  Just healthy lifestyle changes.

Goal: To lose 25 pounds by November 30th.

Motto: Who dares, wins!

Members: Anyone with 25 or more pounds to lose.

Post: Daily if possible. Post goals, daily food and exercise stats, problems, anything related to your weight loss journey. Post tips, articles, stories, anything helpful or motivating. Post recipes and exercise routines too, if you want.

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If you’re in, do an introductory post including: stats, weight loss plan, exercise plan, weight history, etc. and anything else you'd like us to know!!

Here's my introductory post:

SW: 278 (2005)
       220 (2006)

CW: 211

GW: 180-175

Lowest Weight: 197 (Nov. 08)

I'm ekai, 25, 5'11.  I like to exercise and lift weights, but nothing specific because I switch it up a lot.  Anything that makes me move is good!  I need to eat 1200 calories a day in order to lose weight but I need some encouragement because I've not been sticking to it lately...  that's where you guys come in!

Hi I'm Jaylene! Im 23 and I am female.... I love to be outside and swim... I try and work out 5-6 times a week but sometimes it gets tricky with work and school...

SW 209

CW 201

GW 165

Hi: Roger from Western NY,  71 year old male with limited activity, have had both knees and both hips replaced in the last ten ears. I need to loose weight to keep the stress off from the "new" joints.

SW  Jan 2009 = 250 +-

CW 220

GW 155

Exercise around the yard and house doing the mowing and gardening.

ROGER!!! down to 220???  Congrats!!  I'm so proud of you for sticking to it!  You're doing so great!

Hi Jaylene! Nice to meet you!  Sounds like you have a good workout plan, but I know what you mean with other parts of life getting in the way.  Hope to see you here often!

Me:  I have catered lunch the rest of the week at work... never helpful.  But, I ate super healthy yesterday to balance it out, and hoping to exercise at least 1 hour in the evening on either Wed. or Thurs. in addition to my daily walking and do 2 hours on Saturday.  Weighed the same today...  maintaining.

Hello, I am Tracy. I am new to the weight loss program but i am motivated because according to my BMI (and how my body feels) i am seriously overweight

SW 228lbs

CW 225lbs

GW150lbs

I recently joined the gym and i have been going twice a week. I am an emotional eater so i will start the day out very well but by the end i have binged on chocolate or some other junk. I need to get serious for my health though so let the challenge begin!

Hey, everybody, I'm Rebekah. I'm in the last week of another challenge that seemed to peter-out. There were over 20 of us when we started 8 weeks ago and I think there's only 4 or 5 now. But I am still working hard and I love that these challenges provide the extra motivation to get movin'!

SW 168

CW 154

GW 130

I try to exercise at least 5 times a week. I combine weights with cardio for four days and a lighter routine on the 5th day. If I work out extra I'll go for long walks or do Pilates at my house. I aim to eat 1500 calories a day.

I'm currently doing well in the fight against emotional eating. I'm sure there are a lot of us who battle with our feelings about food. Tracy, check out the book on cd called When Food is Food and Love is Love by Geneen Roth. It changed my outlook on food and my entire life. 

Hi everybody.  I'm Susie.  I'm 29 and just had my beautiful daughter four and a half months ago.  Looking for a little motivation to get off my butt and start exercising again.  My wake up call came when I logged onto this site for the first time and it told me I was moderately overweight and needed to lose 35.5 pounds.  I was ignoring the scale and my body, but seeing it stare me in the face really hit home.  For me, counting calories has been a great start.  I'm battling emotional eating every day, but doing well so far.  I know I'll need all the support I can get as time goes by! 

SW: 165.5

CW: 159

GW: 130

Hi everyone, my name is elly and i am 17 and will probably end up being the youngest in this challenge, but that is ok.  my stats are:

SW:116

CW:113

GW:90

height: 4'11.5"

i know my weight goal is considered underweight and may seem unhealthy, but i am a serious ballet student and to be taken seriously, i need to lose this weight.  plus, i am really short.  i plan on eating 1,000- 1,200 calories a day.  i want to lose this weight for nutcracker in december.  i've struggled with my weight for the last two years and want to get back down to where i was earlier.  i'm hoping sharing this journey with all of you will keep me accountable and on track!  good luck to everyone!

Hi.  I'm Jamie, 23 years old.  My starting weight was really 226, the weight on the day my son was born on 8/16/08.  I need to lose 1 more lb to make it 50 lbs lost! I dieted here and there until finally on Jan. 28th 2009 I decided to take it seriously.  Since then i've lost 34 pounds.  I have 27 pounds to go then i'll be happy! I try to exercise at least half an hour daily and I try to eat around 1500 calories daily .

SW: 211
CW: 177
GW: 150

Hey, count me in. I could use the extra push twords getting my weight to a healthy range.

SW: 183
CW: 181.5
GW: 140-145

I'm Jen, a 21 year old college student going for a degree in Computer Science. During the summer, I work 40 hours and take a night class during the week, and hang out with my boyfriend and family during the weekend. I've just recently gotten into really caring about my weight and hope that joining this challenge helps me be a little more focused on my goals. ^_^ Good luck all.

Hey y'all!  I'm Natalie and am frustratingly plateaued at the moment (Ironically at my midway point, aaaargh)... I did a challenge on here a few years ago and loved it, but it was broken in to teams. I love the competition aspect! Hopefully I can find motivation with you guys!

At 5'7"-

SW: 187 (2 years ago when I started WeightWatchers, which was my kickstart)

CW: 158

GW: 128 (Just in time for my brother's wedding)

I just started p90x, love being outdoors hiking and walking/running!  I think my problem is that I look so much better now than I used to that I kinda settled there for a second but it's been almost a year at this weight and I know that I can be better...

I can't wait to meet everyone and get this going!

Hey! I'm Tanya. I'm 16 years old (lol, so Elly, you're not the youngest after all :) ) and 5'7. My biggest struggle is that I absolutely love food and I often give into temptations. And when I break my diet once, I end up binging for the rest of the day, and even for a few days afterward. However, I am happy that I am now strong enough to eventually get back on track, whereas before, I would just quit my diet altogether and gain all the weight back.

I am on a crew team, and in rowing, we focus on efficiency. We need to be both strong and light. I am the strongest on my team, but I do not have the top efficiency because of my weight. I am hoping to get to college with a full rowing scholarship, which is why I need to be the best that I can possibly be. And to do that, I need to lose weight. But that is not the only reason I'm looking to lose weight. I would also like to finally be able to look good in a bathing suit, or be able to fit into clothes when I'm out shopping. I'm hoping that joining this challenge will help to eliminate my "off days" where I binge, and motivate me to reach my goal!

SW: 192.5

CW: 174.5 (or at least that's what I was before I pigged out today...lol)

GW: 150

For exercise, I do the elliptical for 80 minutes every other day. On the other days, I do a body circuit three times through and sometimes go for a 45-90 minute walk.

BTW, sorry this ended up being so long. I tend to give too much information, lol...

Hi everyone, Weighed in this Friday am at 220 lbs. up one pound but that is OK, I wanted to be at 220 lbs. for the end of June. My goal is to remove 5 lbs. per month till I get to 156. We shall see how that works out. Roger from Western NY

Hi,

Im Jennifer. Age 31 5ft 1

I have struggled with a binge eating disorder on and off for the past 3 years and have lost and gained back 14kg (33lbs).

I have managed to finally get my eating disorder under control and am now ready to lose weight slowly and healthily..... I can eat 1250 cals per day according to CC and i have restarted running in the past few weeks after having a year off with stress fractures in my knee. (As a result of a poor diet and overexercising)

So..... Great to meet you all!

CW 138

GW 110 (for my wedding in Jan!)

Count me in!!
This is my first challenge and I'm hoping that it will give me an extra boost of motivation

CW:  152
GW:  125

In my first year of University I gained 20 pounds... by April I was trying to lose weight but kept giving up and falling into old habits... Now that I've got my life back on track for the summer I'm ready to make the lifestyle change needed to lose weight!

Last week I started a walking/jogging routine... it takes 8 weeks and gradually builds up more jogging time than walking...by the end I should be able to jog for 20-30 minutes easily.. which would be a huge accomplishment!!

Good luck to everyone starting this challenge :)

so i'm starting strong, and i've already lost 2 pounds!  this morning i weighed in at 110.9 pounds.  i'm going to NYC with a friend on the 6th, so i want to be under 110 by then.  so i've got a week to lose a pound which is completely doable... more than a pound would work too, but i'm trying not to get impatient!  that is when i don't eat enough and then binge which, if you didn't know, is NOT HELPFUL.  but then i have to stay on track in NY.  i'm super excited though so i am going to try and enjoy everything and not fixate on food and definitely not over eat.

keep it up guys!  we are going to look amazing by november!

I'm in... this looks like fun and a do-able challenge! I'm 25 years old and want to lose about 50 pounds. I've been trying to stay within about 1200-1500 calories (a challenge in itself at times). As far as exercise, this is where I really struggle and need to buckle down on. I made myself a challenge for this week... treadmill for at least 10 minutes everyday (no skipping). I know that doesn't sound like much but my life is so busy right now, that that's a huge sacrifice. I'm open for input on exercise from you. I know exercise will give me the boost I need.

SW: 192

CW: 187, July 1- 185.4, July 8 - 186.4, July 20 - 186.6

GW: 145

Here are my rewards... would encourage you to try this, it helps.

10 lbs new sandals (need them badly)

20 lbs dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant

30 lbs some new clothes

40 lbs a day off to do what I want

45 lbs a little get away with my man

50 lbs the $2 per pound my husband promised me

hi i'd like to play too :-D

SW 183

GW 158

That would be amazing! And would be back to my average adult weight too.. so i'd be really pleased but will just be chuffed to lose 10lbs!!!

All the best for everyone!

hey ya'll!

So I need to be honest....  I haven't started trying yet.  I feel a little guilty, however, the challenge does say july to nov!    I'm part of another challenge here that starts July 1st.  I decided that since I've had so much trouble sticking to it lately that I would give myself these last days of June to really have a break from all.  No counting calories, no logging my food.  I'm eating some things that I normally would think twice about.  (I should note that even though I'm going "all at it" for me this isn't so bad...  there's still no way I'm going much higher than 2,500 calories but it's double from my normal 1400 a day)

Anyway, today is the last day of my food frenzy, and I feel like in doing this I can't have any excuses for saying, "oh, I haven't been carefree in so long, one day won't hurt."  I really need to get serious about this!

mfajita:I like your method of rewards!  (Not so sure about the mexican restaurant, but if it works for you, great!)  I think I might try that out as motivation too!  Thanks for sharing.

lofudge13/elly:  I just wanted to say that I calculated your BMI for your goal weight, and it's not unhealthy, so I respect what you're trying to do.  I'm sure you've been criticized before though.  Congrats on the 2 lb. loss!!  I'm really impressed!  Don't push too much, like you said...  you're doing awesome!

Susie: Sorry to hear about the wake up call, but sometimes its just what you need to make you ultimately happier.  Good luck!

Shaye/Holly:Don't worry about being "the biggest" ..  you can't look at it that way.  We're all going thru the same thing, and you just had a baby!  It sounds like you have some great plans to stick to it.  Do a lot of research about what is healthy to eat at the restaurants you go to often.  Hopefully that'll help you enjoy going out, and spending time with your fiancee!

Natalie: also plateaued here, and preparing for a wedding...  I definitely relate!  let's beat this!!

Tanya: Wow, if only I exercised like you do!  I really want to see you succeed.  You obviously have a lot of dedication for many things in your life.  Try to focus that dedication on yourself!!  :)  You're more important than anything!  I think you need to be very very...  VERY detailed in what you're eating every day.  There's no reason you are exercising that much and having weight gain.  Counting calories can be a huge eye opener...  and it changed my life!

Roger:  I'm so proud of you for hitting your goal!  Of all of us from the last 25 lb. challenge, you were one of the only ones to stick to it and really meet the goal!  I really admire you!

Jennifer/mustfitthedress: I'm getting married too!  Mine's in February so we've got just about the same length of time!  Maybe we can help each other! 

Everyone: To those I didn't respond to, I'm not ignoring you, I just skimmed thru the replies quickly.    The biggest reason for successes in our last group was lots of member interaction.  We developed friendships and knew about each others' personal struggles.  Please be involved!!  We all need support.  It really does work!! 

Ekai... thanks for all the encouragement! I think will all the positive attitudes going on around here, the pounds should just melt off.  The last group I was with just fizzled out and it was so discouraging to come to my computer and no one had even weighed in. So let's stick with this all the way, guys and gals. There's a saying that goes, "Good planning means half the work is done" and that is so true! "If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time."