FRESH START GROUP - Week 1 (GROUP CLOSED at this time to new members)

Week 1 – Day 1

Hello Ladies!  First I would like to say thank you for joining our group which I think we should name, Fresh Start!  Fresh Start, because it sounds like for the most part we all have been battling with our weight “forever” and have been on the roller-coaster ride of ups and downs on the scale.  Today we start fresh with fresh commitment, focus and accountability to one another (because let’s face it being accountable to ourselves got us where we are = unhappy with our weight!) We all need a fresh start from time to time and here is it…today is our Fresh Start!

Weekly Goals*

Food:  Track ALL of your food and drinks – the good the bad and the very high in calories and stay within your “eat meter”  or calorie intake number each day (this is kind of a 2 part-er)

Exercise:  Work-out (in some way, shape or form) at least 3 times this week – get those bodies movin’

Mental:  Think about 5 reasons you REALLY want to do this

(*Please note with the weekly goals, since we are all at different points of this journey it will be difficult to make a goal that will fit everyone’s needs, so my suggestion would be that we start at the beginning.  For folks who have already conquered the group’s weekly goal(s), feel free to set your own personal goal, just remember to keep the group in the loop so we can help you stay accountable. J)

Again, thank you for joining the group and I am really looking forward to getting to know each of you and us helping one another to reach our personal goals!

WEEK 1 STATS:

Elaughter (Liz)

Weight:      &n bsp;     194.3

10%:        ;       &n bsp;  19.4

Measurements:

Arm:        ;       &n bsp;  13 1/8

Bust:      &nbs p;       & nbsp;  40 1/2          &nb sp;               &nb sp;

Waste:      &nb sp;      40

Hips:      &nbs p;       & nbsp;  43 1/4

Thigh:      &nb sp;        27 1/2

Goals – I am going with the group goals.  I am starting “fresh” so I am going to start at the beginning!

Dutch-girl

Weight:      &n bsp;     209

10% Goal:      &nbs p; 20.9

Measurements:

Bust – 43

Waist – 38

Hips - 48

Personal Goals: “This week I am going to try not to eat any cookies or chocolate, I have been working them in my cal. allowance but I should eat something healthier and more filling. I don't keep any "bad food" in my apartment but I work as a nanny/housekeeper and there are plenty of tempting sweets available all day. Most of which I prepare. I have been extra motivated because I am going on vacation in Aug. and am meeting some friends I haven't seen in over a year and really want them to notice I lost weight. (vain, I know)”

Desertbreeze

Weight:      &n bsp;     243      

10% Goal:      &nbs p; 24.3 

Measurements:

Bust – 48.75

Waist – 47.5

Hips - 51

Lischae (Lisa)

Weight:      &n bsp;     225

10% Goal:      &nbs p; 22.5

Measurements:

Nillytoots

Weight:      &n bsp;     209

10% Goal:      &nbs p; 20.9

Measurements:

Buttonsmum

Weight:      &n bsp;     176

10% Goal:      &nbs p; 17.6

Measurements:

2babetterb

Weight:      &n bsp;    

10% Goal:

Measurements:

Smk1211cjk (Sara)

Weight:

10% Goal:

Measurements:

Shannyshan

Weight:      &n bsp;     243

10 Goal:      &nbs p;    24.3

Measurements:

Jella

Weight:      &n bsp;     195

10% Goal:      &nbs p; 19.5

Measurements:  Will update in July

Personal Goals “GOAL - food - have at least 6 full plates of vegetables/salad this week.  GOAL - exercise - walk 3 times this week plus go for a swim.  GOAL- mental -  be patient and acknowledge the journey -this week, write a journal about how I percieved/percieve/imagine my health, fitness, body and self-esteem at different stages in this journey ie. "back then", "now" and "goal".”

Ladies, good luck to you all!  I am truly looking forward to hearing about all of your successes throughout the week and at next Monday’s weigh-in.

PS – next week I will set-up the thread Sunday so that everyone can have access first thing Monday (this week I was allowing some extra time to allow for new members to join but now we are at 10 and closing the group to new membership (for now at least)).      

Thanks elaughter for setting up the group! 

Some of you have long screen names - let me know if any of you are happy to shorten them (eg. laugh, toots, babe)... makes it easier to chat to eachother.  My online name is a shortening of my real name and is what my baby niece calls me.  Also reminds me nicely of the jelly belly i want to lose!

Thanks for including me Liz!

My name is Erin, and my current weight is about 175. I'll take a more accurate reading and get my measurements when I get home from work tonight.

I love all of the group goals, and I'd like to add, for myself, a goal to eat more fruits and veggies (especially veggies!).

elaughter - I would love need to be in this group.  I have lost 51 lbs as of today... and have been 'off the wagon' for far too long!  

Here are my stats:

weight:  199.0/height:  5'7

10% goal:  180.0

(have to add measurements later)

5 reasons for losing weight?

1.  My son (run & keep up with him)

2.  To ride in my Jeep with the doors off & feel I look good.

3.  My husband (has to make sex better, right?  haha)

4.  To feel comfortable in front of others that are smaller than me.

5.  To promote others into healthy lifestyles.

gingerkabureck - I will gladly add you to our group!  You will be the last though! :)

We are closing the group out at approximately 13.  We have such a wonderful response but the point really is to keep the group small so we can really get to know each other! 

Best of luck to you all and I cannot wait to hear all the success stories! 

Today is your "Fresh Start"!

Original Post by jella:

Thanks elaughter for setting up the group! 

Some of you have long screen names - let me know if any of you are happy to shorten them (eg. laugh, toots, babe)... makes it easier to chat to eachother.  My online name is a shortening of my real name and is what my baby niece calls me.  Also reminds me nicely of the jelly belly i want to lose!

Jella - my name is Liz and I am happy to simply go by my first name...I agree screen names are confusing, no need for elaughter (although you should know my last name is Laughter!) 

Okay, so here's my first measurements... I had to look up EXACTLY where to measure... I had been doing it all wrong!

Bust: 42 3/4

Waist: 41

Hips:  51 1/2

Thigh:  30 1/2

Weight : 225

One personal goal that I'm going to make in addition to the keeping track of my food intake and exercising is not gorging after dinner.  That seems to be my worst time, when I have downtime and we're just hanging out waiting for bedtime.  My goal is to have a glass of water with me as soon as I finish dinner and keep it filled until I go to bed.

Take care all,

Lisa

Thank you for letting me in! And...drumroll please...here are the first measurements!

Weight 214.4

Bust 42.5

Waist 37.5

Hips 47

thighs 26.5

Well...I've gotta lot to improve on and lose!  I can't wait to get to know you guys better!

I like the goals.

Ok I'm finally home from work and the gym. By the way, I just joined a new gym and took their Body Pump class where you use a barbell with weights to do different exercises - it was intense but I feel great!

Height: 5' 2"
Current Weight: 175.4

10% goal: lose 17.5 lbs (by early Sept? I'd like to lose 25 by my bday on the 29th!)

Waist: 35.5"

Bust: 42"

Hips: 45"

Thigh: 27.5"

Arm: 14.25"

So far I've been logging all my food today, yay! Fruit/veggie-wise I've had a banana and an apple and my lunch was a salad and my dinner had some mixed veggies. I think I'll have another piece of fruit and then maybe a WW ice cream bar to reward myself for my good workout tonight.

5 reasons I wanna do this (not necessarily in this order):

1. To feel/be healthier.

2. To fit in my old clothes again!

3. To wear a bikini again! (related: to not worry about tummy fat rolls showing if my shirt comes up a little bit, and to get rid of the nasty back fat rolls I'm starting to get!)

4. To be able to run a 5K.

5. To not feel like the bum of my family - my youngest sister plays soccer, other sister runs, dad is a distance runner, and my husband comes from a fairly active family as well

Ok, my official start weight is 207.  I'm 5'7".

Measurements are: 40-37.5-48.5.  If I did it right, my thighs and arms are 28.5 and 15 respectively.

I'll adopt the group goals and I'm trying to increase my fiber & protein percentages and decrease my fat and carbs, especially carbs.  I don't have any trouble staying under my calorie limit, but, like dutchgirl, I make room for my "treats".  I don't keep really bad food in the house--if I wanted to seriously fall off the wagon without leaving home, it would require baking!  But I keep a few lo-cal sweets and snacks with little nutritional value "just in case" to keep myself from doing something stupid.  I don't want to cut them out completely and feel deprived, but "just in case" has become every day!

Hope everyone had a great day 1!  Day 2 here we come!

Here are my 5 reason I want to get rid of this fat and unhealthy lifestyle that has been holding me back! (reasons not in any order)

1.  To look and feel better on the inside and out - to have a body that matches my personality and to look good in clothes again.  Being thin and in shape felt AWESOME!

2. For my son - to have more energy to play with him (wow, little boys are really active and will make you feel like you are completely lazy, even on a day you think, wow, I did a lot today) and to set a good example for him.

3.  To fit into my old clothes and to actually want to buy new clothes - whenever I go shopping I buy my son a ton of cute clothes but nothing for myself... 

4.  To improve my confidence - I am known for appearing to be "confident" but truth be told I have about 0% confidence in how I look, anytime someone is looking at me I automatically assume they are thinking something negative...I never think guys are checking me out (which let me tell you has done nothing for the old love life)...a few past relationships and rejections have added up to some serious confidence issues!  I want to WANT to go places again - now I shy anyway from events that are not necessary - I hide behind my son in pictures...oh ladies, this list goes on and on (but I will not)!     

5.  To prove to myself I CAN take control of my life and get back on top of things!

I found in reading the resons you ladies listed above all of us seem to have almost idenical reasons to want to do this, therefore, I think we can all really relate and really help each other!   I think these lists will become important to us - like a check-list as we reach our goals we will be able to check off 1-5, how great will that be?!?!?!

Original Post by smk1211cjk:

Hey all! I have a hard time figuring out how to get back to out board/discussion?!?! Any advice?

Just wanted to let you know that you can "tag" the forum.  Near the top of your computer screen there is a "tag it" tab, click on that and it will add the forum link to your account.  Then when you log in later you can go to My Account and under Tagged Items there are like 4 categories - one of which is "forums" the link will be there for you to just click on to get back to us!  Also, my email address is laughter4all@hotmail.com - some of the other members of Fresh Start have their email addresses listed as public on their profiles. 

Original Post by eerominn:

Ok I'm finally home from work and the gym. By the way, I just joined a new gym and took their Body Pump class where you use a barbell with weights to do different exercises - it was intense but I feel great!

4. To be able to run a 5K.

Congrats on joining a gym and rocking it out on day 1!  Body pump is a kick butt class.  rach9898, you and myself all would like to run a 5k one day!  I know rach9898 is using the couch to 5K program are you using any tools to help you reach this goal?  Would you ladies be interested in setting a deadline goal...we could each search for 5K runs in our areas and then set a goal to run in one by _____ date?  Just a thought, let me know.  (Anyone else in the group interested in this, let us know!)  

Original Post by lischae:

One personal goal that I'm going to make in addition to the keeping track of my food intake and exercising is not gorging after dinner.  That seems to be my worst time, when I have downtime and we're just hanging out waiting for bedtime.  My goal is to have a glass of water with me as soon as I finish dinner and keep it filled until I go to bed.

Lisa - I have this problem too - I am a single mom and I am running until my son goes to bed and then...there is down time to do what else but eat!  I am going to try to switch it up and instead of eating use this time to exercise!  I have a treadmill at home so really I have NO excuses and although in the past I have still managed to come up for a few (okay, a lot) those days are behind me!  Great idea about keeping water with you. 

Eeek!  Running!  Sorry, I can't join that challenge.  Walking, however, is a joy.  I live in tropical North Queensland on the beach - check out the nature pics in my gallery to see the view i have when walking!  I did interval training every day during April - running & jogging with intervals of brisk wlaking in between.  Loved it - got better and better and better and then developed shin splints. Ouch! 

Talking shins - my son (15 years) fell down the back stairs and punctured his leg on a bolt.  He's nicked his shin bone which is a real worry - this kid has already had osteomylitus (infection and death of bone) 6 years ago after a catfish spike pierced his heel bone.  5 weeks in hospital and 11 operations, permanent damage to the achilles tendon and loss of quite a bit of heel bone... we don't want to go there again so please pray that no infection enters his bone.  The worst thing was that he was home alone when it happened  - lucky he's such a level headed kid, shoved his finger into the wound to put pressure on the bleed - apparently blood was squirting up every where (the state of the back stairs and wall supports what he said), he asked the neighbour for a bandage and did his own pressure bandage.  By the time he finally got to the hospital it had well and truly stopped bleeding and the doc said it wouldn't have been arterial - but I think Matt is probably right, he's not the kind to exagerate.  Definitely a good thing that he did a first aid course when he joined the local lsurf ifesavers.

Children sure make life interesting!

elaughter, I found some podcasts that help!  There is a guy on the podcast (there is one for each week) that tells you when to run or walk.  It's a great help, and the music isn't so bad either!  I'm glad to hear that you want to run a 5K as well!  It's been my goal for awhile, but I'm just now getting the guts to do it!!  Here's the website for the podcasts if anyone's interested: http://www.ullreys.com/robert/Podcasts/page4/ files/category-7.html

As for my 5 reason to lose weight:

1. For my family.  I want my boys to have a positive role model growing up!  I want them to see that you can be healthy by eating right and exercising.  I didn't have that positive role model growing up so that's why I'm determined some of my problems stemmed from.

2. I want to be able to play sports or do activities without being short of breath!  I'm an asthmatic and I've used my asthma as an excuse for SO long!  It's the way I got out of running the mile in school!  When I had lost some weight about 5-6 years ago...my problems with my asthma actually diminished...go figure!

3. I want to have a good self esteem again.

4. I want to wear the "cute" smaller clothes again.  The simple, black dress looks SO much better on a fit body compared to mine with the back rolls!

5. I'm stealing elaughter's...my husband (because it WOULD be nice if the sex was better!)

Well...I'm going to go on a walk with my oldest right now and prepare for the lovely salad for lunch (I honestly am trying to be excited about it).

Take care, ladies!

Hi, I'm  Shannon and Liz (elaughter) is my best friend so I was the first person to join this group, but it looks like I'm the last to get on here and post! :)

I have not measured myself and don't know when I will be able to -- guess the next time I see Liz -- because I live alone and I doubt my dog has the dexterity to hold the measuring tape.

My weight as of Sunday was 243.  So my first goal is a 24.3 pound loss.  I am gung-ho for doing the 3 group goals and will start them tonight. 

My 5 reasons for wanting to lose weight are:

1.  To look better in clothes

2.  For my feet to not hurt so I can quit wearing granny shoes and go back to my cute ones.

3.  For my sleep and fatigue and stress levels to lower so I can have less complaints about what's ailing me.

4.  So I can prove to people that I am the same girl in the photos that I show people of when I was a size 8 (they can't believe it's me!).

5.  For my dad - he has diabetes and one of his worst fears is that I will get it.  As much as it bothers me that he monitors my eating, I understand why he's doing it and I'm such a daddy's girl and love him so much that I respect his concern for me.

So there it is . . . ShannyShan in a nutshell!

Five reason I want to do this.

1. To feel better about myself, like most here I lack real confidence and feel unattractive.

2. To have more energy and feel healthier. My sister wants us to run the Berlin marathon but I just can not see that happen with all this extra weight. Even without the weight I have my doubts :)

3. To make traveling easier. I fly alot and HATE it that I just fit in the seats.

4. I am planning a trip to Marrocco, with a desert safari on camels but I am so uncomforable in the heat and generaly out of shape that I am worried I won't enjoy it as much as I could.

5. I change jobs every 2 years or so and I think I will have more job options if I am in better shape.

Sorry I didn't post on Monday! Am I fired already?? I sure hope not. 

Monday, July 14, 2008

Current weight: 208.2

10% goal: 20.8 lbs

Measurements:

Bust: 45"

Waist: 40"

Hips: 49"

Wrist: 7"

Neck: 15.5"

My goal is for eating is the same as the groups, continue to eat within my range and cut back on fast food/eating out.

My goal for exercise is to do all my exercises in the morning instead of slacking until just before bed.

My mental goals are the same as the group, listing 5 reasons why I'm losing weight:

1) Get to a healthy BMI.

2) Regain some of the physical strength and stamina I used to have.

3) Be at a proper weight before becoming pregnant with my 3rd child. (I was over 200 for each of the other pregnancies)

4) To not be able to literally lift up my own stomach.

5) Not be embarassed to stand next to my devilishly good looking (and healthy weighted) husband and not feel like everyone is saying "What's he doing with her?"

Good luck to everyone!! I'm excited about this!