CHALLENGE!!! 4/10-8/31 Who Can Reach Their Goal?!?!?!

Our loyal little group consists of these wonderful ladies, who are dedicated to moving forward with a healthier, more vital lifestyle.

• pinkpinkotter (a.k.a Pink)
  
• aperfectblink (a.k.a. Blink)
• ocean_girl88 (a.k.a. Surfer)
• loveitmm (a.k.a. Love)
• moonlight_liz (a.k.a. Liz)
  

and a few other ladies that are not mentioned who are just as important.

sorry ladies!!! i know i haven't been around. a bit depressed is all. i'm still at 210. not moving anywhere in inches or pounds... still doing training sessions at the gym... my PT said not to worry... i probably won't see anything until the 2-4 month marks anyways. but it's still sad. other than that i'm working working working!!!! sav up to buy a house and all that wonderful nonsense you're supposed to do when you get older lol. so i'm partly stressed... and i will admit... partly eating pretty crappy... and have not been logging anything at allllllll.... so here's to a brighter tomorrow!! i think i'm just setting myself up for failure time and again... because i cut sooo many calories... and it's just not realistic... i'm essentially starving. so i went to my doctors and he said instead of cutting... or trying to cut to 1500 cals.. to go for something more reasonable.. like 1800. and when i'm down 10 pounds then go down to 1700, etc. until i get comfortable with eating less a little bit at a time... makes sense eh?

i suppose that's not bad :)

how's the intern going ocean?!?!

where'd liz go?!?!

blink!!!! how's being back at home?!?! good on the weight training!! i love the burning feeling the day after... it's just so.. satisfying!! lol

surfer, that is freaking awesome. im jealous.. i work at the container store.. hehe

pink, just stick with it girl! think where you might be had you not started changing your life! and yeah i finally might get toned! 

bring it back beezies!

come on you guys?! what happened? where did everyone run away to?

well, i've been doing pretty well, lifted again today and ran for a bit. i'm trying to get back into working out without burning myself out in the beginning. it's been good so far and i love the burn! i'm feeling a walk with my dog is in order soon too, yay! i expect more posts when i visit this thread later on today. i MEAN IT. 

edit: double post. 

I know this is really really bad.  Time to get those rally caps on!

So the other day I hit 147!  Gah finally.  I even saw low 146s at one point.  Then TTOM hit a few days later, but I'm pretty pumped that even just a few days before TTOM I hit a new low!  I think my internship is all the exercise I needed to get my metabolism crankin.  And lemme tell you it's a crazy long day.  But I'm learning some new behaviors with the whales now!  And they're actually starting to get to know me which is really fun to see.  I just come home completely exhausted.  And on top of that we're now moving from 5, 8hr days a week to 4, 10 hour days!  10 hours?!  Man I can hardly stand 8.  But that means more time with the whales.  I just have a hard time figuring out now how much I need to eat because of how much more I'm probably burning b/c of my job.  It's gonna take some time to figure out I guess. 

PINK: you'll be right in no time.  Just give it some time, don't be too hard on yourself, and it'll get there.  You're awesome!

BLINK: yay for working out!  Making that little bit of time makes all the difference in the world huh?  You go girl!

surfer, i'm still uber jealous. want to switch jobs ? yeah, didn't think so. that is really neat that whales begin to recognize people like domesticated animals, then again, i guess those whales have been sort of domesticated. what all do you do at your internship? is it just a watch and research kind of thing, or more of a hands-on approach? i hope its the latter, cause that would be way more fun. 10 hours a day?! i can barely handle 7 hour shifts at work.. but then again i don't get to work with fun animals and play in the water with them. OH, and i bet once you get off TTOM, you'll be down another pound. i betcha! congrats for breaking the 50s!

i worked out again today.. and it was awesome. i RAN on the treadmill for the first time. that sounds kind of pathetic, but i've been an elliptical junkie ever since i started working out. i decided that treadmills simulate outdoor running more accurately and have since been planning to switch over, but have never gotten the guts. i had a bad incident with a treadmill when i was younger.. hah, yep.. one of those turn it up as high as it can go and try to run on it things.. i kept holding the handles, but my feet had flown behind me and the tread was just ripping apart my knees and i was scared to let go for some reason, and when i finally did my whole body like smacked the tread and flew backwards. now that i think about it, its almost hilarious.. but as a 12 year old, somewhat terrifying. lol. ANYWAYS... so today i got over that. i started out by walking at 4.0 mph on a small incline for 15 minutes and then i ran at 5.0 for ten. i know it isn't much, but i want to work up from there and not burn myself out. i feel great! i have work in an hour too and that means more exercise cause i'm walking, lifting, climbing ladders, and carrying things the whole time.

if you peoples don't get your butts in here soon, i'm gonna come a-knockin on your doors. haha, not really, but COMe BACK!

looks like it's just you and me blink!  I think we should send out little messages or something to get everyone's but back here!  So for my internship, it's ridiculously hands on.  I work with all the whales everyday in training sessions.  I've been passed a few behaviors like a 'point-follow' where I point at them and they follow me around the whole exhibit, 'targets' where they make contact with my hand and hold it there, i give them lots of tongue rubs (yes I stick my hand in their mouth and pat their tongues!), i use toys in training sessions to play with them, and so much more.  But I do also have a research project which I get to start tuesday!  It's so amazing.

And kudos to you for running on the treadmill!  I discovered a month or so ago that I love to do that too, I just don't have the access to one anymore really.  But keep it up!  It feels sooo good.  You're awesome!

that sounds freakin amazing! do you ever get nervous putting your hands in their mouths? i guess you'd get over that fast.. but still. and yeah, looks like its just me and you! so what do you want to do once you get out of school? 

well, i lifted weights again yesterday and walked pretty fast paced on the treadmill on an incline.. it felt so good. i want to run today, but i don't think i can :(. i usually go with one of two friends to the gym are their respective apartment complexes.. neither is really available today though. maybe i should run outside? who knows. i'm supposed to play soccer with some friends in an hour, but it's never very competitive, so it isn't a good calorie burn. 

oh my god. get this. ok, my scale has been slowly running out of batteries over the last few days... and today when i hopped on, it said 116.8 pounds.. which i haven't weighed anything near for a while. i stepped on again to check, and sure enough same thing. i figured it might be because i just ended TTOM, but it was still crazy. i replaced the batteries, and weighed 120. UGH. it totally got my hopes up. sad.

lol!!!! that's so sad blink!! stupid scales all getting your hopes up... i didn't weigh myself this morning... but i figure it's same as always. lol. though i was down a pound earlier in the week. Yay! lol.

i decided not to get my bunny fixed!!! i don't want to chance him not making it.... :( ... they're prey animals... so they fight the anesthesia (however that's spelt). so i'll just put up with his silly horny ways. plus i don't want him to become a fat cow bunny that just sits in corners all day once he's fixed... i like how active and fun he is to play with. he jumps over logs and follows you around and throws his furniture and toys around.. drags his teddy bears around.. it's cute.. you guys should see lol.

i don't actually get messages anymore when someone posts something in here.... do you guys??? it just kind of stopped... i got one like two weeks ago... but none since then.. dunno if it's the system or what???

i go to my trainer tonight again :) yay!!! i found out i have some genetic knee problem... my knee caps are facing inwardish i guess... and they're wearing away the cartiledge... so now they always creek and make noise and hurt when they're bent... so i have to start exercising the inside part of my knees and when the muscle gets bigger it'll push the knee cap out ane relieve some pressure off the cartiledge... more pills for me to pop too :P i'm like a vitamin junkie apparently lmao.

ewwwwwww a whales tongue?!?! .....ewwwww lol. i'd be terrified it'd snap shut and take me for a ride... i saw it hapen on when animals go bad lol. today is mine and my fiance's one year!!!! yep that's right!!! we're engaged already and it has only just been a year!!! lol.

i stopped drum lessons.... because i was paying 27 bucks and hour for them to tell me stuff i already know.... boo that.. i can do that at home on my own. which i will do with my new drum set :)

hopefull i move out to a new apartment soon... living at jeffs moms house (though she doesn't charge me rent) is killing me... she buys cakes and ice cream and pizza and pastas and lasagna and sheppards pies and doesn't eat it herself... i think she wants to keep me fat lol.

hiw's the pseudo boyfriend going blink?!

Hey Ladies!

Sounds like you are all doing really well.  As for me I haven't weighed myself for a couple of weeks.  I guess I'm afraid because I don't want the number to in the 150's again. 

blink...it looks like you're doing really well.  sorry for the false hope, but hey think of how much you'll really celebrate once you reach that weight for real?

pink...Happy one year anniversary!  how long have you 2 been together, in total?  My fiance (now husband) just got married this past Saturday May 23rd.  I hope you are doing okay with the wedding planning and it's not stressing you out too much

surfer...I think i mentioned this before, but your internship sounds amazing!  Tongue rubs?  I remember that in the movie Free Willy...but I didn't think it actually happened.  What an amazing experience.  You should post photos of your internship.

Sorry I've been MIA, these past couple of weeks.  I've been reading, but haven't had anything to report and I've been so busy!  I will start weighing myself again & hopefully it will be a number I can live with. 

Hope to hear from you ladies soon!

YAY! i was hoping everyone (ish) would be back! i kind of messed up today and ate a bunch of chocolate cake. i made it the other day when my family and cousins and everyone had dinner at my house.. i managed to not eat any then, but today i decided to eat some. oh well :) i'm working out later.

pink, no idea why it isn't messaging you anymore. check out your settings and make sure the right box is checked. so glad you're back! sounds like bunny is more fun not being fixed.. i'd do what you're doing. i didn't know you played drums! that's so awesome, i got into drums while i was in high school, but haven't played for a while. girl, you rock! seriously. you've been working out even with your knee? i'm impressed!

harl, welcome back! i understand the fear of being above a certain weight when you haven't scaled in a while.. you can do it though! better to know now and really get back on track than to do well and step on to think you haven't lost any.. if that makes sense? i didn't know you were about to get married!! you should've told us! how was it? where did you honeymoon? congrats!

Hey blink!

Thanks for the congrats.  I'm from NJ but we had a small wedding (50 people) in Fort Myers, FL.  the weddig was beautiful - extremely hot.  we were worried about rain, and although it didn't rain it was 95 degress outside.  So, even though it was nice, we cried, laughed, etc...I was actually dehydrated throughout the whole thing.  And although this wedding was nice, it wasn't the wedding we wanted - so next year we're going to do it our way, large party, religious ceremony, etc...

Unfortunately we did not get to go on a honeymoon.  I had taken too much time off of work already with planning the wedding.  So we might go away in the summer.  it kinda sucked getting married then having to go back to work the following week. 

and about weighing myself, you do make a lot of sense...I just gotta bite the bullet and do it

okay...so i stepped on the dreaded scale this morning...

keep in mind that it was the morning after I ate a 1/2 calzone and 1/2 portion of lasagna - probably not the best dinner choice, but tasted really good and I had portioned 800 calories for dinner.  But my guess is that I went over that 800 calorie mark. 

So I came in at 152.  Kinda sucks that I'm getting higher into the 150s again - seeing 149 was really nice.  but today is a new day and I'm starting over!

where is Liz lately?

yes where IS liz??? ya my bunny is way cooler when he's horny lol. i think i've been doing really well. i still eat crappy food sometimes... but what i'm really trying to do is stay away from mcdonalds and other bad fast foods.. and only eat smaller portions. stop eating as soon as i' satisfied. i'll eat a 6 inch sub instead of the foot long like i normally did... and just try to have one helping at dinner... not two. i like to think it's working.. my scale isn't budging too too much... but i know i'm getting healthier... i can do a lot more in my exercise routine than i could a month or two ago. that's progress. and i eat healthy... so i know even if i'm not getting smaller (YET), at least i'm getting healthier!!! it'll be better when i finally get to move out and can buy my own groceries without ppl buying snacks and cakes and lasagna's and stuff that want me to eat them. lol.

how's being home so far blink??? i bet a lot different then at school :)

you're going to get married AGAIN harl!?!?! crazy times lol. i'll settle for one time... lol lol... which won't happen till like 2012 :( oh well. that's the way it is when you're broke.

Yay!  I'm back down to 149.5 (now let's keep it that way!)

I wanted to share with you guys a realization I had yesterday.

My husband (hehe, saying "my husband" still sounds weird...) and I went to Outback steakhouse last night for dinner.  If I wasn't watching what I was eating - I would get the following: 

1. 1/2 portion of Aussie Cheese Fries - 1450 Calories
2. Cheeseburger (with more fries) - 784 calories - and doesn't include the cheese
3. side of fries (because apparently the appetizer wasn't enough) - 724 calories
4. split - Chocolate thunder from down under - 610 calories
5. oh and of course a diet coke - because I wanted to save on the calories LOL...

So that brings it to a grand total of.....::drum roll please::  3568 Calories!!!

When I look at this now and what my daily calorie intake is, that's over 2 days worth of calories

But here is what I got for dinner last night:

1. Appetizer - side of broccoli without butter - 30 calories
2. grilled chicken and veggies - 340 calories
3. 1/4 of the honey wheat bread - 25 calories
4. I did take a couple of pieces of the bloomin' onion my husband ordered, not sure how many calories that was...
5. And instead of soda, I got water (3 glasses!)

So that was a grand total of a little over 400 calories with the onion...I know that seems low for dinner, but I did finish off some fries I had left over from a diner when I got home and I try to eat more during the day, so I don't eat so much at night, we didn't have dinner until 9pm.

Now...here is what my DH ate:

1. 1/2 bloomin onion - 1155 calories
2. Victoria Filet 7 oz - 490 calories (does not include horshradish sauce)
3. sweet potato - 225 calories
4. side vegetables - 69 calories
5. Yeungling beer - 128 calories

His grand total was - 2067 Calories! and he complained later that his stomach was bothering him...well..gee...let me guess why your stomach was bothering you. could it be the day's worth of calories and the over 100 grams of fat you just ate?

If I would have ordered all that stuff...my body would hate me.  As I said, I had part of the onion, but I find it waayy to salty now.  Even his sweet potato was like dipped in butter, had brown sugar on it, and over it was butter sweetened with sugar.  I had a bite and my teeth were hurting. 

Just wanted to share my revelation with you ladies.  I felt great after dinner, I had energy so I straightened things up around the apartment a little bit and then went to bed.  My DH went into like a food coma when we got home and it was so hard getting him out of bed so he could brush his teeth.

I really don't miss that type of food - I feel so much better for a longer period of time if I eat healthier, rather than that initial "high" I get if I eat crap and that horrible crash afterwards.  But you need to treat yourself every once in a while, just not 3500+ calorie worth

Hope you ladies are doing well!  How is everyone doing with weight loss?

now it's just me and you Harl :P lol kidding blink and ocean.

i have nothing to report... i'm trying this whole "portion" thing lmao. not that i didn't knwo what portions were before... just... i would always have seconds... or a footlong instead of a 6 inch... so instead of eating until i'm FULL... i'm trying to eat until i'm SATISFIED... which is so much harder to do lol... because you always want that "full" feeling... but i think i'm doing good :) . we applied for this cute little apartment yesterday... the two applicants before us had bad credit... so we're next in line... and hopefully our collective credit is good enough... his is perfect... mine is... a lot less than perfect lol... but getting there!!! if so i'll be down the mountain (actually an escarpment... not a REAL mountain)... so i'll be walking distance to work... walking distance to family.. and walking distance to friends... kind of lol... so i'll have in a lot more exercise :) ... and my own food to buy!! grocery stores are walks away too lol.

lets hope i get it!! yayyyy!!!!!!

other than that... just checking in to see how you lovely ladies are doing :) ??

now it's just me :( lol. well no one came in to post yesterday!!!! but neither did i so i guess i can't complain... but i'm down to 207.5!!! which is 2.5 grand total lol. although i suppose since i've been on here it's been 7 whole pounds... not a lot... i have such a longggg ways to go. but slowly but surely right?? at least i actually moved!! i was getting so upset there for awhile!!!

and guess what?! me and my hunny got an apartment for july 1!! so i'll be walking home from work... and the gym is on my way home... so i can always stop in for some cardio or some weight training when i'm bored :) . and i will have control over my diet... mostly lol. yay!! i'm excited...

how did you ladies fare this week?

No! I'm still here!

I only weight myself on Fridays.  On the weekends I tend not to eat as well and I use the week to burn off and eat right.  So I will know my weight in a couple of days =)

7 pounds is still great!  I've been at this for about 2 months now and I've only lost 6.5 pounds.  But you are losing weight in a healthy way and that's what matters.

Yay for the new apartment!  that's great that you can walk home from work.  I work about 60+ miles away from my apartment...that would be a very long walk for me =)

I'm doing good, enjoying the married life.  Since we didn't get a honeymoon we went away this past weekend to Hershey, PA.  Bought lots of chocolate, ate fried food at the park, but also did a lot of walking, but I don't think that made up for it =)

*sneaks in... *waves...

i'll be around more lately. i've been super super busy lately. it's ridiculous. i finally broke down and told my parents about how i was unhappy at school, well okay, i broke down when they flipped **** on me about my grades (they were less than stellar). so, now, i'm completing my degree off-campus and finishing it here in dallas. it's SUCH a huge relief. it's also going to cost about 1/10th of what we pay for out of state tuition in colorado. i only have a semester to go, so i'm really happy about getting to stay home and work and just get it done. 

when it comes to my weight, i fell off the wagon again.. haha typical. i'm back on now though and i didnt really gain. i've been maintaining which is alright with me, as long as i'm not gaining, i'm alright with it. i'm still working out, which is AWESOME. i want to really work on my thighs and arms, those are my problem areas. i'm also trying to gain endurance because i can't run for very long intervals.

where is liz? where did ocean go? summer is so much harder to stay on track! so many temptations. we can do it though! keep on truckin' ladies. heads high! 

i have been pretty good so far. i'm not losing that much. but i'm very proud. i normally don't have too many calories in the day.. and i try not to eat seconds... although i did yesterday because i was starved... and went to the gym.... and it was rice and pork... not the worst thing i could have had seconds on. :)

that's good to hear blink!!! i would like to get schooling done at home... or... done in general... but i cannot afford it. sad days for me.