10% by Halloween Challenge (CLOSED)

(Note: This challenge is no longer accepting new participants.)

This is a 12-week challenge (starting on August 11, 2008) where participants will work toward losing 10% of their current body weight by Halloween. 

Here's how it works:

• Weigh-ins: Weekly weigh-ins will occur on Mondays.  That's right ... no more slacking off on the weekends. 
• 1-3 rule: Participants are encouraged to comment on three other posts when they do their weekly weigh in post.  This will ensure that each participant will get an adequate amount of support as they journey toward better health.
• Journals: Participants are encouraged to add other participants to their friends list and leave plenty of comments about their journal entries.  Of course, it's also encouraged that each participant write their own journal entries.

Your weekly weigh in posts should appear in this format:

This week: XXX lbs.

Last week: XXX lbs.

Loss/Gain (week): XXX lbs.

To JohnnyAppleseed ... Crazy how much weight you can lose by just eating apples!  Good job!

To PaulaDeanFan ... That butter will kill you.  I sympathize with you as a fellow butter lover.

To CookieMonster ... I wish I had your willpower!  Truly inspiring!

The results of the challenge will be tracked on this online spreadsheet.

Good luck to everyone in this challenge!  I can't wait to see the transformations!

I love my Wii Fit. It was one of the things that first helped me motivate myself to do this. I love love loveee the yoga because it has helped me correct some postures that I was doing wrong and stuff.

Also I love the hula hooping. I hurt after doing 10 minutes of those.

Leanne: I too love my Wii Fit. I don't own another scale, and in fact I didn't own a scale for the first few months I was on this "diet". I love the strength games, the squats always kick my butt, and the nice thing is it tells you how your weight should be either centered if both feet or on the board, or the percentage of your weight that should be on the foot on the board, making some of the stuff more difficult.

nbkelly: I am with you on the fat Mii, I want mine to be skinny too. The graph is great too, the only thing I don't like about it is the game yells at you if gain more then 1 pound in between weighings, and the options for reasons does not include too much salt or TTOM.

sarah: Just think the less you weigh the easier it will be for you to get drunk or tipsy or whatever you are trying to acheive lol! That equals less alcohol consumption haha!

I totally know where you are coming from though! Before I got pregnant I was a "party girl" like every night and alcohol every night is a recipe for disaster especially when trying to lose weight lol! Alcochol made me really lazy too and I would never work out! My prepregnancy weight was 194! eeeek! So I think cutting alcohol out of my diet for 9 months helped me drop the pregnancy weight quick, plus I only gained 21 lbs. throughout my pregnancy!

But everyone has to indulge in some cocktails every now and then!

saxkat...I always tell the Wii I don't know why I gained weight...if I did I wouldn't have!

It also yells at you if you don't visit enough...my bf doesn't do it too often and it is very snarky with him. I laugh.

uberman:  Yeah I usually just make sure that I do 2 sets of whatever weight allows me to do about 8-12reps for each muscle group. I try to vary my exercises each day though. Generally I'll just start with legs, then move to back and shoulders, chest, then arms and lastly core. I'm probably gonna end up changing my routine a great deal when this weight training class starts, cause I'm sure I'll learn many better ways to lift than what I'm currently doing. I'll update you guys later after the first week of class.

Oh and all this talk about WiiFit has got me really wanting to buy it...

I totally agree! I want a Wii so bad! That's awesome that it yells at you and makes you own up to your weight gains!

Yes! I love the wii fit. On days I dont feel like going out for a 5-6 mile walk, I workout on the wii for about an hour or so. And the time goes by so fast.

Wii fit: Best thing nintendo could have ever came out with!!

Lisalac: I think we have the same scale, because my scale will tell me something different in a matter of a second. Dont understand, I hop on and it tells me one thing, hop back on and Im a different weight, so I dont know which weight to record. I must admit, that I am obsess with the scale though, can't help it...They are tricky...lol

Yeroc: Congrads on the lost. This morning my scale kept going from 199.5 to 201, back and forth, so I dont know if I am actually out of the 2's and in the 1's or what..its crazy, but looks like we both are trying to get in the 1's. Good luck, we will do it!

The plan:

Pretty much what everybody else said...lol Yall have some good goals, Im gonna try to follow...lol

random hypothetical: if there is a limit to how much you can lose in a day, is there a limit to how much you can gain? if i hooked myself up to a butter IV, could i conceivably gain 10 lbs in 24 hours or is that as rediculous a concept as losing 10 lbs in 24 hrs? i don't have a butter IV... just 88 agonizing minutes until work's out and i'm procrastinating all productivity :)

A butter IV too funny!  I think it might follow in the losing 10lbs in 24 hrs concept!

I really want a Wii. 

Original Post by magaroonie:

random hypothetical: if there is a limit to how much you can lose in a day, is there a limit to how much you can gain? if i hooked myself up to a butter IV, could i conceivably gain 10 lbs in 24 hours or is that as rediculous a concept as losing 10 lbs in 24 hrs? i don't have a butter IV... just 88 agonizing minutes until work's out and i'm procrastinating all productivity :)

Theoretically, you could gain 10 lbs in 24 hours if you consumed 35,000 calories in that 24 hours.  As far as losing, I think that there's a limit of how much "fat" you can burn in a day.  I know that after burning 2 pounds of fat in one week, the rest of the weight you may lose will be either water or lean muscle, which is why most experts suggest not losing more than 2 lbs. per week.  As to whether you can lose that much water or lean muscle in one day, I'm not sure.  Maybe someone will volunteer to hood themselves up to a butter IV, or maybe move into Paula Dean's house instead.

I want a Wii! I was at Best Buy the other day and was playing Rock Band with my little brother on their little demo setups. Next to it was the Wii Fit! And I'm so surprised there was YOGA! It looked soooo cool! I'm totally gonna save up for one!

alexanderrob: I think I've dropped a few pounds since I first told you my weight. When the challenge starts, can I adjust? I haven't weighed myself in forever but have been staying active, and I feel my body got thinner. I still want to lost 20 pounds by Halloween, so maybe my goal weight should be 143? Also, thanks for commenting on my journal. I'll let you know if I return from Lebanon married or have a future husband arranged :D Hahaha.

 EDIT: Haha! Paula Dean uses 2 sticks of butter minimum in EVERYTHING she cooks. Probably in salads, too.

alexanderrob: ha! Paula Dean... *sigh* her show is like food porn :) Thanks for the science... it's good to know.

Quick question on the burn meter - Where do you go to see yesterday's burn totals?  I went to the gym last night - yea - and added the activity today, but I can't find my totals.  Thanks!

denalou18: Go to... My Account>Logs>Activity Logs and then put in the dates! :)

Thanks!  I was hoping for something to show total calories for the day, not just calories burned by the exercise, but that helps!

Original Post by diva_n_da_making:
Wii fit: Best thing nintendo could have ever came out with!!

 

Welllllll... I dunno. In MY mind there's nothing that beats all the Zelda games or Super Mario Brothers.

Original Post by jamminatorr:

Welllllll... I dunno. In MY mind there's nothing that beats all the Zelda games or Super Mario Brothers.

 ZELDA FTW!  W00T!

As much as I want one I just can't justify the cost of a Wii.  At least not now. 

 So instead I'm buying a book!  Have any of you read "The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess- Lou Schuler; Hardcover
??  I would like soft cover but it won't be out till after Christmas.

I've seen it mentioned and recommended by a few people in the fittness forum.  I have the weights, I think I'll have the drive but I need the knowledge.  I'm a book nut.  If it's good I'll let you know.  I'm looking for another so I can get the free shipping.  Any excuse to shop! 

denalou18: If you know what you burn on a regular day without excercise you can add that number to the number of calories you burned by excercise and that should tell you.

Like I burn naturally 1900 calories a day and I have mine set to sedentary. Then I just add that number to the number of calories I burned by excercise and that gives me the number.

If I am understanding your question correctly? If not just ignore me :)