NEW for 2008 - 40 LBS to Lose Club - GROUP NOW CLOSED!!! (sorry)

All -- this is a continuation of the original 40 LBS to lose club started by JDBECKERS.  Due to the inactivity of the thread starter as well as the drop out of some of it's members, it was decided that we would begin a new thread. 

We are looking for people who are SERIOUS about coming to check in, taking the weekly challenges seriously, offering support and asking for it when needed.  Weigh-in's will be on Friday.  Some of us no longer have 40 LBS left to lose, but because that is where we started and how we initially bonded, we are continuing with that title. 

All those interested:  Please include the following information - we would like true starting points for everyone -- I will include my own information first.

Age:  32
Ht:  5' 5"
Current weight:  165
Goal weight:  135 - 140
Starting weight:  189
Weaknesses:  chocolate, sweets and bread.

I look forward to hearing from you all and being an encourager to help everyone (including myself) reach their goals!!!

I almost forgot!!! 
1/2/08 Challenge:  Stop beating yourself up over holiday indulgences.  Restart one healthy habit from pre holiday 2007 (or before that if necessary!)  :)
1/7/08 Challenge:  Get to the gym (or your workout equivalent at least 3 times this week.  Whatever your workout is - GIVE IT YOUR ALL! :)
1/14/08 Challenge:  Fit in an extra serving of fruit or veggies every day this week (which means you will ultimately have to eat the required daily allowance, THEN an extra serving daily)!
1/21/08 Challenge:  Log EVERYTHING that you eat on this week - from the biggest thing to the smallest - even bites of something count.  It is not necessary to use the log on CC, and estimates are fine.  Good luck!
2/4/08 Challenge:  Make ONE VERY AMBITIOUS goal for yourself and make small changes to reach it.  Let us know what the goal is - maybe others can offer advice/tips on how to help you reach it!
2/18/08 Challenge:  Do something good for your body today - it can be anything from making a doctors appointment to check on an ache or pain, to having a mani/pedi/or facial to give your winter skin some relief, or exercising a little longer/harder/faster to get it to fighting stage.  It is your call!
3/3/08 Challenge:  Try one new exercise on this week.  Feel free to alert the group to exercises you enjoyed, or really felt the burn... the goal being to shock your body into giving you a loss.  Good luck!

I have closed the group at 30 members who I have logged as follows:

Socioval
Pol_spock
Sharans
mlejoygrn
jeansmith
mahogany_horizons
brandy_m_gray
doost13
lakemom
jane3001
jjlewis305
hajduk
devbanana
tgegogeine
hitherm1
rdjustice
convertible_chic
infinityiz
kibabird
ktcort13
michelle_bachelor
kortam
malaun
candyluvr
jennip81
thewritesteph
no1ricanbeauty
darwin82much
crazineko *
Shanfood

The asterisk is for one of the original members who hasn't checked in yet...  An official welcome to you all.  As some of the original members can attest to - I have been known to pm  if I see that you haven't checked in for a while just to make sure all is well and to get you back on track.  No one has complained yet :)

Hey Brandy - Looking to hit the gym right after work - the prospect of doing a kickboxing class has me uber excited!!!  Good job getting going already!

Kickboxing has always looked fun to me :)  Unfortunately, I have memberships to three different gyms now and no time to use any of them!  So I'm still stuck on my treadmill at home...but its better than nothing!

Have a blast at kickboxing!

Wow - I thought I was bad with my two gym memberships!  I am switching gyms - but the one closest to me is still being completed (they are moving into a different building) so until that one is done, I go to the old gym which is also up the street (about a mile away).

I can't wait until the new one is done.  I have been driving to the gym in a different suburb just for the newness of it all!

BTW:  I just perused some of the posts on the weight loss board, and it is a little depressing how the new year brings in loads of people looking for quick fixes.  If there were any quick fixes that worked without sacrificing health/comfort then I am sure we would all be purchasing the magic pill/injection/weight loss machine/gum, etc.  But since no such thing exists that allows you to eat all you want and lose 30 pounds by Friday then I guess I will just be extra thankful for the support and motivation I receive on this board!

Happy Monday all!

Happy Monday, all!

Spent a miserable weekend cooped up inside while all hell was breaking loose outside...what a wallop we got in California from that storm. Happily, I was able to do some weight work in front of TV so the time wasn't completely wasted. That, and completing another 5 blocks on the Pine Burr quilt I'm working on. Thank goodness no major damage in my neighborhood...just lots of tree branches down in the street.

I discovered a new love last night...spaghetti squash with marinara sauce and one Aidell's chicken sausage cut up in the sauce. Heavenly! A very filling meal for not many calories and good for you!

Have a great night, everyone. I'm going home soon to watch the national football championship...go LSU!

Hello all!!

I just wanted to report my dinner disaster last night.  I made whole wheat rotini with chicken breast roasted with scallions and artichoke hearts.  Sounds yummy, right?  Well, I don't know what happened, but it was awful!!  I will not give up though, the recipe sounds delicious, so I will let you know what happens the next time I make it.  

On a positive note, I think my scale is broken!  It says I have lost 3 more pounds since yesterday.  That can't be right!  Well, they say it goes fast in the beginning, but this is wonderful.  I have been eating better foods, and haven't even been working out religiously.  

 Have a great week everyone!!

I have always, always, always wanted to try kickboxing

 

SO FAR, I've made all my goals this week.  And looks like I"m permanetly in the 140's @ 149 now.....pray for me.

 

Got the gym in this morning, heart rate up to 192, and even though I'm sweating, i'm now not panting like an out of shape blubber like I used to.  I'm so proud of my cardio vacular endurance.

 

2 glasses of water down.

 

HOw is everyone this morning.

Well after 3 disasterous commutes in/out of work in a row I am a little vexed - public transportation system in Chicago region SUCKS sometimes.  Train was delayed yesterday morning by 30 mintues.  It took me 2+ hours to get home last night, and this morning, I got on a train that should have gotten me to work by 8:30, and I just sat down.  UGH.

Anyway, I missed my kickboxing class night, which made me extra sad. So I will hit the gym today - maybe try to catch a spin class or something.  I don't know.  It will be enough for me to just make it into the gym.

I was having back pain last night which is weird.  There is one part of my back right underneath my shoulder blade which always gives me problems when I am stressed.  I am not really stressed right now, but my shoulder blade is on fire! 

Hope everyone has a better Tuesday than mine is starting out.

Angelic

Oooooh man angelic....too bad.  I hope you feel better soon.  *hugz*.

hi everyone! I've been a little busy so I ahvent' been able to read up on everyone's posts like I want to. But it soundsl ike you guys are doing pretty good w/ getting to the gym. I just started a Monday spin class last night and wow! What a great workout. I wanted to die after 10 minutes, partly b/c I didn't eat enough during the day to sustain that crazy workout, but i stuck it out. It was 45 minutes and a great way to start the week off. I will hopefully be doing the Master's swim on Thursday. I will be trying to get some home weight workouts in as well. I'm still down to about 193 so I'm happy about that!

Well good morning everyone.  It is sad to say that I have made the gym zero times this week.  I had an accident with my foot Sunday night so it hurts to wear a shoe right now...not to mention this is just a bad week for me.  My left knee started something wierd this past week also, it is making a little popping noise when I bend it all the way...it doesn't really hurt but I am afraid to do anything until I go to the doctor. I am trying to get an appointment by next week at least.  Angelic, I can certainly understand the shoulder pain because I am having that too...I told a friend that I work with that I think I am falling apart....my neck/shoulder has been bothering me since last March and I finally went ot the doc a couple of month's ago and I've been taking anti inflammatories for the last two months but it is still bothering me so I am going to by pass my gen. doc and go see an orthopedic for my shoulder and knee both.  I just hope it is nothing too serious.  My hubby had knee surgery last year and I WANT to avoid that at all cost if possible...I hate going to the doctor but I am kinda worried about it.

Oh well...enough about me whining and all.  I hope that everyone is doing better than I am and meeting there goals.  I am drinking plenty of water though and eating right.  :-)

Take care all, I am fixing to head to the house and take a tylenol PM and pray that that helps some. 

~Rhonda

 

Rhonda - I know about the popping sound in the knee - I kept having that after the accident when I first started walking.  My ortho said that if it wasn't causing me pain to ignore it - he said something about how sometimes our joints (especially as we age or after trauma) getting a little out of place, so it makes it noisy when we engage it.  I did as told and now it doesn't do it anymore.  I hope you feel better - I am downing aleve as I type this and getting ready to have a coworker help me apply a heat patch to my back.

Ktcort13:  I am going to do the spin class tonight.  I loved it when I used to do them - I alternated between spin and kickboxing.  I know I will be extra exhausted afterward - I will probably adjust my calories this afternoon to compensate.  My average calorie intake for the past 7 days has been 1400 which is awesome!!! 

Mahogany:  Thanks for the hugs; I am sure I will be ok - as soon as I get these aleve going! :)

Angelic

One thing you guys might try (esp. before surgery) is go to a chiropractor.  They are amazing!  I have one hip thats smaller than the other, so my joints get out of whack pretty easy, and chiropractic does the trick every time!

Diva: there's a reason why pain right there at the base of the nexk and around the shoulder blades is called a tension headache.  Try a couple of these moves...it might help (even if its not tension related...although sometimes stress can come from places that we don't even know about!) I think the eagle pose (they call it eagle arms) might be especially helpful.

http://www.yogachicago.com/mar05/shoulders.sh tml

Hi everyone,
Does anyone have some tips for getting started? I count my calories and succeed for a day or two, then in a hail of cookies, I'm back to saying "I'll start up again tomorrow." How do you take it one day at a time? I feel like each day I watch my calories takes so much effort, and sustaining it over days, weeks, etc seems really difficult. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Steph

Steph, I started by giving myself short term goals - so if you are logging your food - don't stop even when you are having a rough go at it.  It shows you patterns that you might not notice until you do.  I used to get extra food crazy right around my TOM and I didn't notice it until I started logging my food - good, bad or otherwise.  So now the week before I am due, I just go to the grocery store, load up on 100 cal packs of all kinds of chocolate, and have at it.  By the time I am over my choco craze I have only done about 400 worth of calorie damage. 

I also used the boards to find low fat / low cal substitutions for sweets - can you tell I am a sweet tooth person by nature?!!!  I started making lowfat/lowcal cakes (using store cake mix and diet soda - search the boards for the many different flavor combinations) with fat free cool whip and pudding mix as a frosting, seriously hard to do major damage with it and it is soooooooo tasty!

You just have to know how badly you want it and be willing to talk yourself out of stuff.  On Christmas, I had 2 slices of chocolate cake - and I was on my way back for a third.  I read the label, got mortified by the number of calories/servings and walked away.  It totally wasn't worth all the hard work I knew I had been putting in the weeks prior to the holiday to maintain.

I hope this helps - and if needed just come in and vent - one day on the previous board we talked about the food that we wished we could eat right that second.  It does help to know that you aren't alone.

Angelic

I agree, short term goals.  A lb. here, a walk there, will get you there, everytime, rather than setting an insurmoutnable goal.

 

i thought that with my busy stressful job, I couldn't eke out time to loose weight and do what was right for my body.

 

But I was wrong!

 

M.

Oh, one more thing - if you really struggle with something in your house that you can't stay away from - for me today it is cornbread - I cut myself a giant hunk without thinking this morning - THROW IT/GIVE IT AWAY!!!  I have found that sometimes its easier for me to throw something away -- now I CAN'T have anymore!  I just threw half my cornbread in the garbage cause I would have eaten the entire thing.  It might be wasteful - but I would rather feel like I let it go to waste than I let it go to my waist! :D

Thanks for the advice. My daughter is selling Girl Scout cookies and there are CASES of them in the trunk of my car! It does help that they're not in the house, but still...those cookies are SO good. I will be happy to get the rest of those sold.

Hi guys hope you are all having a good day. I have decided that I hate the possibility of ordering food online, it means it is always so tempting to order something (just me, cooking for one is boring, and I have no oven or microwave, only a pathetic hot plate). If I had to talk to somebody I would never order (the only thing I suck at more than talking german to people in front of me, is talking german on the phone).

Anyway, I closed the internet window, and made myself some fruit to eat. Other plus points include that I went for two 35minutes walks today, the minus is that I pretty much failed at writing the paper i am supposed to be doing. But at least I procrastinated with out eating pizza so that is a good thing!!!

I hope that all of you with aches and pains are feeling better soon!

thewritesteph, I find it helps if i allow a little bit of a treat every day. So one cookie every night included in my count, or something like that. I also do wall pushups when making tea or coffee in my 'kitchen', so i don't get tempted to eat something from the cupboard while the kettle boils. (or some other such exercise).

Also I figure that any day I eat less than i would have before, isn't a bad day (maybe not a good one, but definately not bad).

Okay, back to my paper. have a good day!

Hey Everybody!

I've had a busy start to the new year. My kids just went back to school yesterday, so it's been a bit hectic getting everybody where they're supposed to be again. I think I did great during the holidays. I stopped losing at such a steady rate, but I didn't gain! I actually broke into the 160's this morning which felt great. I wish I had more time to exercise, but being a mom to 4 kids under 6 years old, and a sweet husband in grad school leaves me very little time. I try to do a video here and there which is fun. Especially with little kids climbing on me! I'll do my best to work out 3 times this week. Keep up the great work everybody! REMEMBER: it's a new day to be healthy, don't stress about yesterday!!! Pretty soon, your yesterdays start adding up to a very healthy future!