5 people to lose 7% before spring break --- starting now!

March 13th is the first official day of my spring break from work/school.   I have been within a few lbs of my original goal of 150 for MONTHS.    I never thought I would get here, starting at 230, but I did.   I am starting at 155.  7% for me is 10 lbs.   I would be STOKED to just finally breach and stay under that elusive 150 barrier, but I figure in 10 weeks, 10 lbs is just about right if I am good and work hard.  

I would like to do some kind of challenges like water, workouts, and goal setting.   I do well with fun, talkative, competitive people  ---   I work out almost every day, jogging with my doggie or riding my bike.   I drink 100 oz water at work every day and more at home, try to eat right, 1500-1700 cals a day, REALLY REALLY REALLY wanna get under my goal weight.

I look forward to spring break almost more than I do Christmas break from work, so this is a two fold post.   LOL ----  something positive to focus on and a good challenge.  

My rewards?   if I lose 5 and hit 150, haircut.    if I manage to lose all 10, freak out and then get a new pair of jeans.  

JOIN ME????      

 no one?    really?    hmmmmm

I don't bite.....

Okay, I'm IN!!!  You knew I'd be here, lol.  Crap, 7% is a LOT for me, its about 18.5 lbs.  I gave up last year after 15 remember?  Will you hold my hand and make sure I don't go buy tons of meat, hahaha!!

So what will our goals be?  Since I'm starting all over again, I'm open.   Did you want to make personal goals or ones that we can compete with each other?  I was looking at Spring Breaky time frame myself because I might be going to Australia for a wedding.  

So for me, the basics will be important:  Exercise, staying within calorie range (1600-1800 for me) and I guess I can incorporate water consumption too, it makes sense!

I've started today, MAN was I faced with choices choices choices.  I had breakfast and started making an scramble but decided to use two egg whites and two whole eggs (I know it is still too much, shhhhhh) but I normally would have had 4 whole eggs.  Only 1 tortilla, not two and I used nonstick spray instead of a tablespoon of butter.  So I figured I cut back on about 320 calories that normally would have been in my breakfast.

Okay, I ADMIT I went to the grocery store today.....I needed toilet paper this time, but you know how it goes...  I spent nearly 15  minutes in the meat section and even picked up another leg of lamb because it was marked down....but then I PUT IT BACK!!! YAY ME!!!   I did the same thing with chicken thighs ($1.24 a lb!!) and Foster Farms Turkey Meatballs (BOGO!!).  I did not buy any meat!!  I did buy 8 more oranges though...they seem to really nip the hunger cravings.  And a butternut squash and two boxes of low calorie kettle corn and some fat free chili con carne.  NO MEAT!!!

And I walked for 25 minutes today.  Had to just go out the door, not think too much about it.

MY REWARDS?  If I lose 18.5, I will treat myself to a full body massage.  If I surpass the 18.5, I will also get a Facial at the same time...woo hoo!!

I see you still need 4 more people so I guess I could do it. 7% for me is 9 pounds and would put me sooooo close to goal weight. Ummm when is spring break though? It is different for so many people and since it doesn't matter to me; when is yours? I think it is so cool you teach english. I wanted to do that for so long but I kind of got off track getting pregnant at 16. My grandmother was a teacher. What grade do you teach?

So, goals? I think it would be good to challenge ourselves (maybe a little competition) to try and drink 600 ounces of water per week. Any other ideas? Exercise? Deficit? I am already in a deficit challenge and I get so much exercise as it is but I am open for a challenge like that.

My own personal goal is to get at least 21 grams of fiber a day. It isn't easy and I have digestive problems as it is and am trying to get everything ummm regular.

Rewards? I really don't know. I am trying to let my hair grow out so I don't think that would be it. Maybe some new jeans since the ones I have are getting really big on me. Oh!! And some new underwear/bra. The matching sets. Maybe if I can lose the 5% by V-day then I can get those and wear them on my "HOT" night with my hottie.

Hey Carlynj21, welcome to the challenge!  Where are you from?  I'm in California.  I accept your challenge on the water intake...I actually need to reduce my alcohol intake, so I'll try replacing it with more water and tea drinking.  Janay101, I did not know you were an English teacher, that's one of my favorite subjects from school and what prompted my creative writing endeavors!! Is it Literature or English Language that you teach? Who are your favorite authors?

Okay, I'm off to go do 30 minutes of cardio and drink some water!!!!! cya!!

I pledge to not drink again until the weekend ~~  to drink hot tea like mykanos...  ~~  I drink entirely too much if it is in the house, so none this week.     I will be REALLY bored, so if you seem talking to myself on this post, say something, ok?   

just a tip I will probably have to reimplement for my own evenings, is the DO 50 challenge.  If I want a snack, I have to do 50....   abs, pushups, squats, leg/butt lifts or a combo thereof before I can have one....     

how'd the cardio go, girlie??   I am NOT looking forward to getting up at 5AM again and jogging in the fff-fffff-freezing morning, but school must go on.   I am spoiled.   I had 2 weeks off, luckier than most people.   =P   

More all around English/language arts -- small school = just the basics mostly.   ( :

as far as books go, how long do you have?  what genre do you want to start with?  LOL   I read a ton of stuff for school that I might not otherwise read just to keep up on new stuff...   I sort of pride myself on being able to find ANY kid a book.   I need to get my butt back in school to get my library degree....  that is the only conceivable way I might actually move to St Louis and give it a go with M.......    ok --  so my choices are usually murder mystery, psychological thrillers and the like --  John Sandord, Jonathan Kellerman, James Patterson...  Stephen King, earlier Dean Koontz....    if you do not mind things more for a younger crowd, I like the Twilight series (BEFORE all the stupid hype -- god)...   reading all the Sarah Dessen books now cause the girls at school l.ike them so much ---  pretty good.  Dreamland was the best so far...  Carolyn Mackler is great --  The Earth, My Butt, and Other, Big, Round Things is me all over.   cracked me up and make me think too.    (and you HAVE to love the title.)  

something I was thinking about.........   mykanos, we've been talking a lot, and I just remembered something I wanted to tell you.  I will forget by the time I get around to reading jounrals, and it's a good tip for us all.  (another one??)   LOL     If I eat emotionally, I don;t usually do well.   like today...........  heard from a friend, my ex was at his house last night, was/kept getting more and more drunk, saying really terrible things about me, generally ruining the mood, you know.....      I started to get upset, but then I thought wait.  he is a mess.  he is flat out messed up and all that negativity cannot be good for him.    and it isn;t good for me.  YES, I wish he did not hate me with so mucbh venom, but I cannot do anything about him,.....  right???  and all the times I spend sad about him, he won or something which is BS>     SO ----  instead of going to get junk food and booze like I wanted to for a second, I got another cup of coffee....     wrote a long journal to clear my brain of his poison and at least get it out, and THEN I ate.   I ate slow and really chewed and tasted instead of shovelling Sonic in.....      had a bowl of my homemade chicken and rice soup and an open faced sandwich, and I was full half way through.....   If I think about my eating more consciously, I do better vs.  emotionally.    anyway....  that;s my 2 cents.   o((((((( I guess the philopsophy for me for eating is the opposite then of what I told you about the exercising, Nat!!!  the working out I just roll out and get done without thinking ---  weird ))))))) 

I live in Indiana. I hate it and sooo want to move. I am actually from TX. I ended up here because my ex-husband's parents lived here and now I guess I am stuck until we can get out. That is okay because if things hadn't been the way they were then I wouldn't have met the love of my life and I wouldn't have this wonderful toddler (currently driving me batty!!!)

That snack thing (making yourself exercise to get one) is a great idea. I tried something different today, too. I logged all the food that I planned on eating today. Breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner. Got it slightly under calories so this evening I can have something. That way there's no guesswork or overage on accident. Havn't drank much water though, yet. Hopefully I can do better the second half of the day and the rest of the week.

my sister lives in TX with her husband, near Dallas in Wylie....      and LOL ---  lucky crazy making toddler.   ( :  

good for you, carlyn.....  I usually do that too.....   actually, a lot of days, I just put in chunks of cals I know I had, like on lunch at work, I put in my pre work shake, my break time banana and my lunch all at the same time since I know within a few cals what the count is on all of them....    People stop looging because "it takes too long" but if you tag things or just get it stuck in your brain, it is easy to keep a running tally in my head of what I ate.... 

( :    glad you like my DO 50 thing.   works for me.   usually by the time it is 50 later, I am not even hungry anymore...  =P 

Hey ladies!  My workout was Ahhhhh-SOME!!  I donned my Heart Rate Monitor that I picked up last summer but never got into useing.  I find that the calorie guide on CC is not quite as accurate and tends to over estimate calories burned, so that is why I got it.  I walked my normal bike trail route for 44 minutes and then when I got hom I decided to finish out a 50 minute workout with another 6 minutes on the elliptical and I was SO HAPPY to read that I burned a total of 462 calories!!  YAY ME!!

Another revelation I had was when I measured all the half and half (full fat) in my coffee.  I really love coffee and real cream so I have decided to leave it alone for now because it is my Life's SImple Pleasure at the moment.  Anyway, I measure it out and I take big cups of coffee so it takes big blurbs of cream and when all was said and done I used 1/2 cup of half and half for a whopping 160 calories.  I decided that the cream would be my morning "snack" of which I have alotted 150 calories per day for this one.   I had a Fiber One Bar and an Orange for breaky, so that was fewer than the alotted 400 cals I planned for breakfast, so I'm good.  I have to think about all this stuff hard, because I was all about mindless eating before.  Once I get into a routine, it should be much easier.

ROCK ON for the workout, girlie!!!!!!!!!!!    &nbs p; *high five* with your bad self! 

godo for you, mykanos.     That's one of those small "more aware" calorie things.......     &n bsp; Kind of like did you know Equal has 4 cals a piece?  I stil ldo not count that because I didn;t count them in my cal count for like the first year, so If figured it might not matter so much, but like when I am off work, I drink a pot of coffee usually a morning....  I cut way back on creamer and all, but I try to be judicious with the sweetener....     and with the holidays, I had Xmas gift flavored creamer and I used too much of that some days = too many cals.     something for me to remember....  

AGREED on the routine, girl.    once you have a bunch of recipes/menus you know you like, cooking and shopping with be a routine.  Getting up and working out = routine.  drinking lots of water instead of booze  = routine.    it's hard, but it's worth it   ( : 

Hey ladies!!!!  I been gettin my bad self out the door two days in a row now in the early morning hours to walk.  I did great on  water yesterday too.  I just wish all this wasn't going to take as long as I know it is going to take, I have very little patience.  I've been telling my self to "keep swimming" and have been revisiting the goals that I wrote in my journal the other day.  I have to keep fresh.

How's your progress?

Got pretty pi**ed off at the scale this morning. It hasn't moved in 5 days. I am used to fluctuation because I weigh everyday and normally I don't let it bother me but its NOT moving. At all. Not up or down. Staying at the 128.4 mark. Not even a 10th of a pound budged. I have really tried getting to 100 ounces of water a day but it is so hard. I can usually get to like 70 but that last 30 ounces is a journey. And I upped my fiber intake because I havn't been getting enough for a while. So, maybe my body is taking time to even everything out before it starts losing again. Hopefuly, it will be a few pounds once it does decide to let some weight go.

Other than all of that though I have been doing good. I am in the deficit challenge and the exercise roll call and am really having to push myself to meet my goals. So, far though I have like 400 minutes of exercise and a 3000 calorie deficit since the new year started. Today is resistance training and I have been procrastinating...well I kind of need my shoes which are in the closet where my b/f sleeping and I will have to wake him to get to them. He works nights so I am trying to wait. BUT I could do almost all of my workout without them so I am still stalling I guess. LOL. K ladies have a good day.

GOOD JOB, mykanos!!!!!  ROCK ON!!!!!  keep up the good work, and keep on swimming  ( ;  I love that little blue fish --  she makes me smile and keep my butt moving!

hang in there, carlyn.     it'll move ----    maybe just sodium or stress.   here's to a new number tomorrow!   and I hope the bf got up so you can work out.    I think if you shoot for 100 and get 70 -- that's pretty darn good too...  ( :

I'm not doing so great on my water intake but I'm not stressing about it.  I am drinking one on the way into work and even had one on the drive home.  I slammed one bottle in the morning before I went for a walk and I tend to leave these halvsie (half finished) bottles laying around the house and I'll drink those when I come across them since I'm the only one in the house I know who's lips have been on them and that there's no kerosene or chemical in the bottle :)  And then last night I did have two big cups of hot tea and tea at work so I'm about 60 oz at most.  If I can squeeze in two more bottles, that would be great, i'll have to work on that.

I wanted to ask you ladies what kind of scale you use?  I have this older one that I bought about 18 years ago and it actually does weigh me consistently 4 lbs less than the doctor's office so I haven't worried about it too much since it is so consistently inaccurate.  Its funny though because I find myself squinting in the morning to actually see the number on the scale.  I'm thinkin I would like to get areally good digital, but afraid I'll get a lemon.  Suggestions?

Janay101, I did not intend to steal your Swimming Dory as my mantra!  In my head for years and years even since I was 16 on the cross country team in high school running for miles, I would have this little cadence in my head like the jogging Marines staying in formation "Keep, keep...keep on....Go-ING! Keep keep keep on...keep on gooooo ing!!!  You'd have to be inside my head, goofy I know.  So Janay101 has her little blue swimming Dory fish and I have my Marines marching to a cadence... hahah.  Okay carlyn, what makes you keep going?

I would like to accept your challenge. It means an eight pound loss for me. I've been lazy and tired about diet and exercise. I think this will help me to get going. Even if I lost 5-6 pounds, that would be awesome! Thank you for thinking of this.

I would like to accept your challenge. It means an eight pound loss for me. I've been lazy and tired about diet and exercise. I think this will help me to get going. Even if I lost 5-6 pounds, that would be awesome! Thank you for thinking of this.

article1, we WELCOME your bad self to this group!! 

Can you tell us more about you?  I can see from your profile that you just joined today, that is kinda funny, because I joined exactly one year ago today.  I was doing well and then completely fell off the wagon as soon as I lost 15 lbs and opened up my mouth about it and didn't get the affirmation I was EXPECTING!!! Waaaaaaaah!!  So anyway, in December I poked my head back in here and looked up some old buddies and I was amazed when I saw that some of them had lost 25-50 lbs and they had joined the same time as ME.....more Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!  So after I quite feeling sorry for myself, I came back, contacted a few good trusty CC buds like Janay101 and now I'm BACK!!  And happy about that.  I will add you as a friend/buddy.

Oh, and I have a confession to make....I went to the supermarket today to buy cat litter and to get some surimi, which was on sale for 1.50 per 8 ounce package of Crab or Lobster style surimi.  I decided that I could allow myself to buy some because I took one to work the other day and ate it with steamed broccoli and for 200 calories for the whole 8 ouces it was quite good and worked like a charm because all I had to do was take the package to work.  I have to eat protein/meat or I can't handle it, so this was a safe choice for future eats.  ANYWAY, I'm at the store and I bought 10 packages of this Lobster style surimi chunk and I notice that the chicken thighs are now marked down 30%.  THIRTY PERCENT and they were already on sale, so a package of four chicken thighs was roughly about $2 a package and I could not help myself and started envisioning (skinless, lowfat version) Chicken and Mushrooms or Chicken Cacciatore or Chicken Coq au Vin....Chicken Marsala, Chicken Piccata.  And I ended up buying 4 packages....

I just felt the need to confess.... Janay knows the story, I already have a freezer FULL of meat and I had comitted to eating my way through it before I started buying any more. 

Today I did GREAT on eating though.  When I joined back up I had decided to target 1850 calories but I have not been eating that much, in fact I have not been eating the full amount of calories that I alloted for breakfast so that's good.  There will be days when I have 400 or 450, I'm sure, but right now I have been eating a fiber one bar 140 cals and an orange 100.  and half and half 160, I consider that my mid morning snack, lol.

welcome article!!!  -- agreed!   ( :   tell us about you!   

you know I was teasing, md!!!    =P    keep on swimming is the only thing that keeps me moving some mornings on the jog or bike!  

your meat sounds yummy though and I want recipes when you make those chicken things.     ----  we all drop the ball.  you know that.  I drank my dinner Monday ----  all we can both do is do it better today!!!!! 

((((HUGS))))

Lets see..I have a digital scale. Couldn't tell you what kind though. It is one that measures fat, water, and muscle too. Got it at target on sale when b/f really got into his weightloss. And I think the only thing that keeps me going is telling myself how great I feel. LOL. And then in the end when I am really tired I tell myself 10 more minutes....5 more minutes. Or sometimes I lie and say you can stop after 5 more minutes but then I keep going and say just another 5 and THEN that's it. Probably not building a good trust bond with myself. Haha. K, I really need to get off this website and get going with my day. Its 2 mile jog day from smart coach. They call it the easy jog. BAH! And it's bathroom cleaning day according the the darn chore chart. Double BAH! Talk to you ladies later.