25-35 Pounds By Christmas? ***GROUP CLOSED***

Christmas is approximately 22 weeks away, give or take a few days. I would like to lose a minimum of 28 pounds by then...but losing 35 pounds would be even more awesome!!! I think this is a healthy and realistic goal...25-35 pounds in about, let's call it 21 weeks, is the equivalent of losing 1.19-1.66 pounds a week.
Would anyone like to join me? I would like to find a group of committed people who can support one another and celebrate together all along the way. Is anyone with me? I find it easiest to weigh in on Fridays, but we can each weigh in whenever. Just check in and support one another at least twice a week!
I currently weigh 222.4...I am trying to get to 195 by Christmas and 188 would be downright awesome!

Hi Christmas Buddies!
Thank you all for joining!  What a great group we have.  I kept smiling while reading all of the posts because everyone is so excited and positive and encouraging already!  I especially loved the post about Santa's elves needing to make all of us new wardrobes!  Can't wait for that!!!
I think it will be easiest if everyone posts their progress each week on the thread - yes, it is going to be very long by the end!  Some of the threads on these forums have hundreds of pages of posts!  I have tried doing groups like this that were done other ways, but this really seems to be the easiest on everyone with such a large group.
We have a great group of people in here with a great weight range.  It is so much easier to do this together...and yes, it is true that the "Me, Myself and I" group isn't always the best!!!
If there is any way I can help you, let me know.  I am not an expert, but I am losing weight the healthy way and people are noticing and commenting and I am not killing myself to do it...and I am willing to encourage and support you all along the way!
Have a great night - Betsy

Hi Betsy,

I just checked out your stats. You're doing great! How wonderful for you! How long has it taken you to get where you are now? I've been doing it since Mid June and am happy with my progress so far but am dreading any plateaus or the results slowing down.

I know I am doing it the right way with eating between 1500-1700 calories a Day and I have a personal trainer. Talk about leaving someone's comfort zone!

My personal goal right now is to complete my own Rocky Montage! While it may sound silly, I found Rocky music and theme very inspiring, and I looove those movies.

Wow, Betsy!  Looks like we've got quite a group!

I too am working on losing slowly and healthy.  (Although see my journal post on "If God was a woman.....")  Sometimes too slowly!

Anyone have any problems keeping your calories in range and not below?  I have gotten in a bad habit of skipping meals on days when I'm really busy at work....especially lunch.  I keep thinking I'll get to it later in the day and then it's too close to dinner....then I'm tired by the time I get all four kids home and to their activities....then I just want to go to sleep!  I really try to plan ahead, but some days it's just impossible!  I'm also trying not to fall into the trap of convenience foods (or the "well, I haven't eaten all day so I can just grab something from Burger King....")

Help!

I started losing weight in November.  My first week or two I was simply logging calories to see how many I ate on a normal day...I wasn't trying to do anything special.  I exercised about 10 minutes a day, three times a week.  Yes, I am serious!  I just needed to get into the habit, so that is what I did.  I eventually was working out on my gazelle (like a ski machine) for 40-60 minutes a day for 6-7 days a week.  I was really watching my calorie intake and eating lots of veggies and drinking lots of water.
Then we moved cross-country and we went through a ton of changes and then had 6 weeks of company stay with us.  Yikes!  So, between November and February, I lost about 25 pounds.  (About 3 months.)  Then I gained back about 11 pounds by July!  EEEK!  Now I have dropped about 8 of those pounds again.  I have never been one to diet or yo-yo...I don't think this was a yo-you, simply a big slip-up during a lot of change.  No big deal.  I am on track and I have learned a lot!
You know...I will say that I usually eat around 1700-1800 calories a day.  Some sites say I should eat 1200, 1350, 1500, etc.  I tried that and I was miserable.  I would rather exercise an additional 15 minutes and eat some extra calories!

WE ARE MOVING!!!

Just so you guys know, Coach_K emailed me and told me that we need to move our thread to the "Challenges" forum, so it will be moved on Thursday.

Hello ladies (and gentlemen if there are any-- I didn't check), congratulations to all on your current weight loss and the determination you have to lose the rest -- and the bang up job you are doing at supporting and motivating each other!

This is to notify you that this thread will be moving to the Games and Challenges forum tomorrow, in accordance with CC+ guidelines for Challenges. I recommend each of you tag this thread (click the "tag it" phrase up at the very top of the thread (just above the title) -- then you will be able to easily find the thread by going to My Account -> Tagged Items and selecting forums (it defaults to food).

Hi All!
Hope you find this thread, we are officially moved in! :)

Good Morning everyone.  Tomorrow is weigh in day.  I am excited about our Christmas group!  I joined CC last year about the same time Betsy did, and lost over 30 pounds.  But holidays and my birthday rolled around and I fell off the wagon.  And went wild I guess.  I gained back almost 20 of those pounds.  It is very depressing and I am very thankful for this new group.

Thanks Betsy!  Good luck everyone, let's lose this weight!

Hi all -

Fridays are not good weigh-in days for me.  So, I'm going to post on Thursdays (hopefully that's ok!).  I'm looking forward to a successful challenge!

SW: 238 (185 at start of challenge)
GW: 155 (160 by Christmas!)

7/31/08 - 185.25
8/7/08
8/14/08
8/21/08
8/29/08
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9/11/08
9/18/08
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10/23/08
10/30/08
11/6/08
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11/27/08
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12/25/08

Good morning everyone!  Hope you all are winding down your week and looking forward to the weekend.  It's back to school for us here, so it will be a pretty full one!  Still have school supplies to purchase, open house tonight and tomorrow morning, etc.

I'm coming in to work late tomorrow morning, so I will post my weigh-in as soon as I get to my desk!

Alle--It's awesome that you have lost so much weight already! Keep up the great work. It's great to know someone who has lost so much. It actually can happen, imagine that!

Jenne--Back to school already? Gesh, how'd that happen! :)

Hey all!  Just wanted to share with you a little something I experienced yesterday...

I was working a long shift... 2pm - midnight.  I ate my lunch/dinner around 5, but by 10 I was starving and SO bored I figured, what the heck... I'm going to buy a bag of chips.  So I walk over to the store, grab a bag of Cheetos and get in line.  As I'm in line, I flip over the bag and look at the nutritional info... 480 freaking calories!  Luckily, the guy in front of me was having issues with his transaction, so I used the delay as a sign to drop the bag and leave the store immediately!  I overcame my temptation and I'm soo happy about it!

Just wanted to share my little story and I hope some of you think of this when you're about to give in ;)

Great job  tryingtoloseit and at_oneinthesun!

It's such a great feeling when we can push through and overcome our challenges.  And thank goodness for nutrition information on the back of packes.  LOL   How can a package that small have that many calories? 

Here is a repost from my journal....

"If God was a woman....."

I'd lose 3 pounds every time I met my fluid intake goal for the day....

I'd lose 5 pounds every time I met my calorie goal for the day.....

I'd get a 15 pound bonus loss for passing up chocolate one time.....

My abs would look like a weightloss infomercial after only 10 crunches.....

TTOM would mean all the crave foods I could eat without gaining an ounce!

Love it!  Especially that last one.  :o)

Wow!  Great job on resisting challenges everyone!  You guys are doing fantastic!!!

I decided to challenge myself to have a 100,000 combined calorie deficit between now and Christmas.  That way I am sure to lose at least 28 pounds (since 1 pound = 3,500 calories).  I posted a ticker on my page.

Okay....off to hop on the gazelle and ride!!!

Hey all! I'm excited about tomorrow!!

I've had a pretty good day.. I made ladyfingers this afternoon for a tres leches cake and I only had two cookies (at 40 kcal each) which is pretty darn awesome for a treat! - for me at least.. LOL

I'll let you know what happens with the tres leches.. ha!

jafzelius - thank you for the encouragement!  It actually hasn't been too difficult after finding my groove :)

therealbetsy - I love your idea of trying for a 100,000 calorie deficit - that's a great way to think of things!

Oh Alle - meant to say something about your new avatar - love the hair! and you can really, really see a difference between the last photo and the new one in terms of weight.. you are looking great!