Spring-Summer Slimdown Challenge Support Thread

EDIT: Week 5 Info is up. Please post stats for weigh in on June 1st here.

http://caloriecount.about.com/spring-summer-s limdown-challenge-week-ft140533

Greetings Everyone. This is the place where we can chat and support each other, posting our daily successes and struggles, ask questions, etc. Post often!

Please let me know if there's anything you would want to change about the way the challenge is run and how I"m posting info.

Great job on organizing this by the way. Haven't really done a challenge where it's set up so official. I think it'll help keep me on track with posting consistently and the motivation. And having teams is great, because it really makes you want to do your best for everyone else.

I just want to add that I've ordered the P90X program which should be arriving this upcoming week, so that is primarily what I'll be using for my exercise. I created a blog so that I could track my progress, and the link to that is:

http://90daygrit.blogspot.com

Good luck to everyone!

The P90x sounds cool. Glad you're on board with the challenge. I'm really looking forward to it motivating me. I've got my husband's 20 year HS reunion in June and mine in October, so I decided I had to get going. I'm going to be running, getting back into a half marathons for exercise, but I also will be cross-training.

Awesome! Well, I'm sure you're going to reach your goals and be absolutely smashing in time for those reunions. I've got a few years before I get to go to one of those, but I'm getting married in October, so that (and the honeymoon) is one of my major motivations!

Good luck everyone, and let's blast some fat, gain some muscle, and kick some butt!

cdanda...

I signed up for the challenge on April 30th or May 1, but why am I not on a team? Is this a mistake, or are you only giving certain people the opportunity to be in the challenge. Could you please let me know soon??

Sorry for the mistake. I edited the list and you are signed up for team 1. Glad to have you on board. Everyone is welcome as long as they're signed up by the end of the day today!

woo hoo! I'm excited for this :) FEW QUESTIONS though! 1)  are we supposed to post the goals for the current week, AND THEN the official results at the end of the week? Or just the end of the week results? 2) Correct me if I'm wrong, but 1 pt is earned for meeting our loss goal for the week and pts can also be earned for completing the challenges?

Great challenge! I look forward to it!

Just wanted to clarify those things :) .

I like this challenge!  I really need to start tracking my cals. again, and this will motivate me. 

So if a lb is about 3500 cal and I want to lose about 1.5lb a week, my cal deficit should be around 5200 a week or around 750 a day. I can do that.

I just want to say thanks to you for doing all the organisation for this challenge - it's really going to make such a difference to us all.

I am looking forward to giving support not just to my team but to everyone. Good luck to us all. :)

Original Post by vandalgirl59:

woo hoo! I'm excited for this :) FEW QUESTIONS though! 1)  are we supposed to post the goals for the current week, AND THEN the official results at the end of the week? Or just the end of the week results? 2) Correct me if I'm wrong, but 1 pt is earned for meeting our loss goal for the week and pts can also be earned for completing the challenges?

Great challenge! I look forward to it!

Just wanted to clarify those things :) .

Answers to questions. You're right vandalgirl59 and I didn't make it clear with this post that we should post a goal weight for the week, but we'll start with week 2 just to avoid confusion of starting and ending the challenge weight.  You also get a point for every day you meet your challenge goal -- for this week, meeting your calorie deficit.

I just want to let you know that  I am super excited for this challenge! I've been looking forward to it all weekend and I've talked my boyfriend's ear off about it. It's such a great idea - different weekly goals and making it a competition between teams and everything! I can't wait! By the end of this challenge, I will be in a healthy weight range (not might be - WILL be!!)!! Thanks so much for organizing!!

-natalie

I am so excited that everyone is pumped up for the challenge. It's definitely heightened my motivation. I'll be excited to see all the stats just after week 1. Go everyone go!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good first day of our 8-week challenge!

I am happy to announce that after taking a long walk and doing one of the 30-day shred workouts I have a calorie deficit of 694 for today! I hope I can keep up that level of motivation all week...

Good night!

-Sarah

Bummer. I was doing SO well until the dreaded night eating kicked in. I think I was also VERY hungry left over from an 8 mile run yesterday. And I think 1200 calories is too low (which is what I would have to eat on my non-exercise days) so I think I'm going to decrease my deficit goal to 300 on non-exercise days and/or at least try to get some exercise in. So hard to get up and get the exercise in, which is what I have to do 'cause I have 3 young boys and work and hubby is out several nights/week too. Anyone else have any suggestions?

great job sarah_ch, I too had a pretty good day.  Although I didn't get any formal excercise in I did run around at the park with the six year old boy I babysit so I'm sure I burned some calories there.  Mostly I was proud that I avoided temptation all day.  I have a hard time sticking to my meal plans and end up eating like crazy.  But yesterday I said no every time temptation tried to derail me and I feel so empowered haha.

I totally know what you mean about the dreaded night eating cdanda, although mine hits me more in the afternoon because thats when I'm alone and free to eat whatever I want.  What I try to do so I don't eat is to keep my hands busy like drawing, knitting, folding laundry, lifting some small weights, etc.  And I agree upping your calories is a good idea.  Also since you do have three young boys I'm sure you get a bit more excercise daily then you think!

good luck everyone!

Jnielsen, contrats on your first day!

About night cravings...

This is what I have been doing for the past 2 months or so:  as soon as I get back from the grocery store, I wash, dry and cut a bunch of fruits such as melon, grapes, strawberries, kiwis, etc. and make a nice fruit salad. If you let it sit in your fridge for a couple of days it tastes even better!  When you're hungry, it's just such an easy, healthy thing to grab! Anyway, at night I usually get a small bowl (50 cal), add a bit of non-fat peach yogurt (15 cal) and one tablespoon of granola (25 cal) and that is a filling snack for under 100 calories.  Usually, this is sweet enough to satisfy my sugar cravings.

Have a great day everyone!

Well. I have been on plan with no mess up days for 2 months!!!!.....until last night! I'm glad I have you guys to hold me accountable because it'll make it soooo much easier to get back on plan today :)

Vandalgirl59...congrats for staying on your plan for two months!! That is really awesome. It is always ok to cheat every now and again.

Tonight I am having fast food...well Pita Pit, so it could be worse. I went for a 3km walk today and I went for two 3 km walks yesterday + did pilates dvd+ danced for 20 minutes!!

I think this challenge is going to be fun and a great motivator. I think I am going to get really serious tomorrow.

hi everyone! so far so good with my calorie deficits, but i have a question for you! when you calculate your calories burned through exercise, do you use calorie count's estimate or do you go by the numbers on your cardio machines (treadmill, elliptical, stepper, whatever, if you're using them)? i feel like i'm working my bum off at the gym, but the machines are telling me i'm burning fewer calories than what i see when i put in my workouts on calorie count. hmmm...which to believe? do i really believe that i've worked off this afternoon's chocolate chip cookies (2)? or should i adjust for what the machines are telling me and cut back at dinner? how do you guys calculate your workout calories burned?

good luck to everyone--and go team 1 !!!!!!!!!!!!

Original Post by kgingerk:

hi everyone! so far so good with my calorie deficits, but i have a question for you! when you calculate your calories burned through exercise, do you use calorie count's estimate or do you go by the numbers on your cardio machines (treadmill, elliptical, stepper, whatever, if you're using them)? i feel like i'm working my bum off at the gym, but the machines are telling me i'm burning fewer calories than what i see when i put in my workouts on calorie count. hmmm...which to believe? do i really believe that i've worked off this afternoon's chocolate chip cookies (2)? or should i adjust for what the machines are telling me and cut back at dinner? how do you guys calculate your workout calories burned?

good luck to everyone--and go team 1 !!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I would go with the calories suggested by CC if the machines at your gym do not take your weight into account.  I know that CC adjusts the calories burned in function of my weight... For example, when I started at 137 lbs one hour of circuit training would burn close to 500 calories and now at 127 lbs I only burn 465 calories.