SUPPORT GROUP/CHALLENGE for 20-somethings!

This is a now CLOSED support group for 20-somethings looking to loose 20+ pounds over the next several months.  We will have our weigh-in closing date on Monday (meaning if you would like your weigh in to be counted for the week the posting should be made by midnight on Monday night). We also will have weekly challenges for whoever wants to participate!  Which I believe should start on Mondays unless anyone thinks otherwise.

I have posted all of the stats as a Journal entry under my name, and will post an abbreviated version below which I will update weekly. I still believe the important part of this group is posting and helping each other on a consistent basis, so if you don't want to do the weigh in that's fine, you just need to be actively participating in the group by posting. At this point looking at everyones goals I think that this group should go at least until the end of the summer (last weigh-in 9/1/08) and then we can choose if we'd like to continue.  I also think those of us who are committing to the weekly weigh-ins should maybe set mini-goals for ourselves.  Something like the end of May and middle of July may be good.

Future Weigh-ins should be posted like this:

LW (Weight last week): ***

CW (Current Weight): ***  

Just to make it easier for me to find and post. Let me also note that because of the nature of this group (it's size and it's purpose) the only thing that I feel needs to be steady in this group is people being consistant.  It is totally fine if you choose to not weigh in, or if you are busy for a few days or are going on vacation, but the main purpose of this group is to have a support group, and I don't want the group to be defunct by the end of the month because everyone has forgotten about it or has just given up (which this group should help anyone from doing!).  I have done it myself, joined a group and fallen behind, and just forgotten about it, but since this group is so small to begin with, it would be pretty pointless if that happened.  So the one rule that I feel should be in place is that you need to check in at least weekly, and if you aren't going to be able to just place a post saying that you will be gone for awhile.   If you are gone for more than a week I'll send you a message seeing how you are doing, because I am here to help :)  But if anyone vanishes for over 2 weeks your spot will be open for someone else to take.  I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, I just feel that it's the only way to guarantee that everyone is committed.

Please let me know if there are any mistakes in my postings of your stats.  

emma_lizardbreath:

SW:  227       CW:  220          GW:  170  *

funshinevenus:

SW:  157       CW:  136          GW:  130  -1!

katie4983:

SW:  189       CW:  181          GW:  135  *

kerrilynndrown:

SW:  139       CW:  137.4       GW:  115-120  -1.2!    

marie_von:

SW:  147       CW:  137.5       GW:  115-120  *

megoo4u:

SW:  183       CW:  155.8       GW:  142  -2.4!

milwaukeegal:

SW:  185       CW:  176          GW:  135 -1!     

sparkleriot:

SW:  180       CW:  168.2       GW:  135  -2!

star_dust_03:

SW:  194       CW: 176           GW:  150  

weddingmama: 

SW:  188       CW:  175          GW:  150  *   

xzcandizx:        

SW:  175.5    CW:  165          GW:  125  -1.4!

6/25  Our loss for this week is 9 pounds!  

This brings our total loss to 114.8 pounds!!!

REMEMBER The challenge this week is to stick with the basics of healthy living.

Hi all! Sorry I'm late checking in, school got me tied down ..ugh.. anyhoo..

I am from Cali too, the Bay Area! Whoo!! So far...I try not to get on the scale everyday but it is so hard and then I end up disappointed. I put a post-it not that says "DANGER!! STAY AWAY!" on it so I would remember. I think it will work, I will just have to be patient until Monday comes.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to this challenge =D It's nice to know that there are other people willing to help each other out ... OH, and also by joining this I'm a lot more motivated than before since we are all on the same boat and we're here for each other. As for the activity challenge, I think that's a great idea as we are just starting. So far I haven't missed a day of activity. Well, that is today is my rest day lol after running 40 minutes yesterday .. sheesh.

Well, I do hope to get to know everyone! Have a nice day =D

hello everyone! sounds like most ppl are in still in school here and that keeps everyone pretty busy! it's sooo hard to find time to exercise when you are dealing w/ classes and projects and tests. I feel your pain but gladly am past that.

quint--i run. i do 10ks about once a month. i just did one on sunday and took 5 minutes off mytime! I was super excited. I don't run a whole lot though. i mainly do spin classes when i go to the gym, but i'll get in about 1 run a week. have you done any events? i find i hav ea much faster time during an event. they are a lot of fun too.

so is our challenge for 3 days of activity this week? are we going ot have points or just a "high-five" for doing it. i find that ppl can get discouraged in long challenges if they fall behind in points. i think it's best to just be motivational, but i dont' know what other people think.

i'm excited! i have my first swim workout for my triathlon team tonight. I'm actually going to workout w/ the half ironman team, but I do the olympic distance tri. i havent swam in months so this should be interesting!

I have some school-related frustration today! I had a nice healthy breakfast and a good lunch with more protein and fibre than I can usually manage and then...my 2:30pm class went long and ran right into the start of my nuclear cardiology lab, which went extra long. I just got home and it's 8:45pm. I'm trying desperately to not just eat everything I see! My brain needs sugar! I just ate a small piece of bread with oil and vinegar and an ounce of cheese so I'm going to wait a few minutes to let it sink in and then I'll be able to think more clearly and make a good decision. Posting is actually a good way to get my mind off how much I'd like to be eating Nutella out of the jar right about now!

quintanion and ktcort13 - I run too, I think I'm probably about where you are quintanion. I can do about 3 miles in just over 30 minutes. I ran a half marathon last September but then I've been away for a long time and I feel like I'm starting from scratch and can't really believe that I actually did it. I've been running about 2-3 miles every couple days and I'm going to try to build up slowly to be able to do some 5 and 10k's this spring and summer and another half marathon this Sept. I did some shorter races in 2004 but nothing except the half since. I'd like to do some to see how my times compare from then.  

kingje- I know how you feel!  I had a busy day too, class, gym then errands and I came home at 6 and wanted to eat everything in sight, but I knew dinner wasn't until almost 8.  It's HARD!  I ended up eating 1/2 an apple and 1/2 a high-fiber cupcake.  Not the best choice but at least it was only half, but it still left me with less calories for dinner.

I actually have a confession to make on here.  Although I clearly love the message boards here, I don't actually log my food on here.  I'm seeing a nutritionist and I write everything I eat on a sheet that I give to her weekly.  There are positives and negatives about it.  I'm less sure of the exact number of calories I'm eating, but I think it makes me a little less crazy about it (although I do feel like I could be loosing slightly slower), but at the same time, I go out to dinner almost every night so it is really hard to log accurately.  I probably should just do both, but the time and the inaccuracies make it tough.  Like how do I log a Barbeque Ranch Chicken salad from cheesecake factory tonight?  I'm not sure exactly how much I ate (about 1/2 the salad) and I asked for it lightly dressed.  But without the nutrition stats from them I am clueless!  And this is pretty much what happens every day.  So for me, for now at least I think I'm just sticking with the paper copy, if I stop loosing or it slows down I'll likely start to guesstimate my calories on here.

ladycroft-what part of the Bay Area are you from?  I live in San Mateo and go to school at San Jose State university, it's a bit of a drive, so that makes things stressful and even more busy!

quintanion, ktcort13 and kingje-I run too, or at least I attempt to do so!  Unfortuately, things have been so busy the past two weeks I haven't really had time to get out there and do it.  I'm not as fast as you all by any means, I only run about a 12 minute mile.  Hopefully, I can take it down to a 10 minute mile eventually...we shall see!

xzcandizx - I know what you mean about eating out and not sure how to log it. Even some of the food I make at home I find a hard to log. When Im eating out I try to look up the facts on the resturants website, if there are non then say I eat a grilled chicken ceasar (a large bowl) but I eat half, I try to think how many cups that is, then I look for a similar item on here or at the very least add the chicken and salad seperatly. Seems to be working, its nice to have a rough estimate. Im curious about something, is everyone only eating 3 times a day? I found that if I had a late night that i'll be way to hungry before dinner and im trying to avoid that. Right now I have a light breakfast (puffed wheat, milk and sometimes an egg usually). That is around 7am. Then around 10am I have a snack. Since im in class I usually bring an abble and some low fat yogurt, or some cheese and some nuts. Then I have lunch around12:30, another light snack around 3 (carrots or other veggies and some  nuts or cheese) and dinner around 6. If I've had a good day t hen i'll reward myself in the evening with some popcorn(about 100 cal worth) or 1 chocolate piece (only every few days)

I really found that since I started eating snacks I feel less hungry all day and have more energy. It takes alittle bit away from my meals, but Im usually ok (everyone has their bad days )

I eat around 5-6 times a day. I think it actually helps me eat less, I eat a small amount at each time, and then I think if I'm still hungry in an hour or so I can eat something else. Then a lot of times I don't. It's also helpful because it keeps my blood sugar more stable, and I tend to have problems with that.

I eat around 5-7 times a day...I don't think I'd be able to cut back anymore than that!  Granted, when I do eat it's normally small amounts, but it does help keep me in check.  I've always eaten this way, the difference is that now I'm actually really pay attention to everything I eat!

steviegiles~ Really!? LOL it's always a joke that -nobody- knows where Hemet is except those who live there ^^ That's awesome! So what's the biggest difference you find between Northern and Southern Cali... or is it too soon to ask ;D?

 

I too eat about 5-6 meals a day. lol I like the freedom of having a number of calories set aside for "snacks" instead of a whole lot of calories for three main meals. Also, I find myself doing alright with about 1200-1400 calories each day, even though CC allows me 1650. And I drink 2 or more liters of water each day, that -really- helps keep my appetite down. Oh, and writing down what I eat, it (usually) keeps the inbetween snack snacks away... ^____^

I also hate the cc thing.  I usually over-estimate on here what I eat for the day because it keeps me in check.  Like when I eat pizza it's pizza no cheese, but they don't have this on here.  I also don't know portions and I don't like spending time figuring out how much I eat, because I don't think I should spend more time on food than I have to or else I fear it could be an addiction. 

 

For the most part, I know what's good for me and what's bad for me, and how I feel.  I'm actually going to do a cleanse the week after next because I've been eating way too many bad carbs.  So the week after next I'm going to go on an all veggie all fruit and water cleanse for 1 week.  Because I'm feeling high-strung lately.

yennifer- have you ever tried the cleanse before?  I know some people are dead set against it but I find the concept interesting (although I'm so picky that I dont think I'm a good candidate for it). 

As for how many snacks/meals for me- I used to be a strict 3 meals/day or I'd go crazy and oversnack.  I'm really bad about lunches and dinner is usually my biggest calorie meal (I know it's not great to have that many calories that late in the day, but this is one thing I don't see changing soon) as I eat dinner out almost every night.  I know I am making better choices but I still leave myself between 500-650 or so calories for dinner.  So that leaves me with about a 250-300 calorie breakfast and about the same for lunch.  Then I always have some type of dessert at night about 150 cals and usually leave room for a small 100-125 cal mid-afternoon snack.  This is why I think I would be crazy if I actually tried to imput on here!  haha  I usually eat between 1400-1600 cals.  I should prob stay closer to 1450-1500 but most days that night hunger gets me.  But having the snacks really does help curve my cravings.  My dinners used to be 800+ cals.

I eat about 5-7 times a day too, but I definitely focus on the big three or I'll snack too much because I feel like I've missed a meal. Lately I've been having a 250-300 cal breakfast around 7:30am and I usually need a bite of something (~100 cals: a third of a protein bar, a banana, a yogourt, etc) around 10am to keep me from eating too much at lunch. Then I can grab another small snack in the afternoon, especially if I'm going to the gym that day. I never used to do the afternoon snack but I've found it can help me to eat dinner later, so I don't need a snack at night (or as big of a snack), and in the end I'm eating less.

Awesome that Im not alone on the snacking. Ive noticed a big difference since I started.

So ive been trying to cut back and eat healthy for about a week now and I wanted to know what people thing about "cheat" days, and if they take them.

Friday was my cheat day. I like it because if i dont have a good week then I wont reward myself with this little "cheat".

I went for a walk friday and did 30 min cardio so I felt really good. My cheat was i had pizza for dinner ( 4 thinly sliced pieces O.o) So it was about 610 calories and alot of fat. I snacked on popcorn all night too. (about half a bag of light popcorn)

I really like the idea of rewarding myself with something alittle more unhealthy after a good week. Alot of health/diet books Ive read suggest doing a cheat day too.

All in all i was still at -300 calories (mostly because of the walk and cardio) so I still felt good. ( I usually aim for 1300calories a day, so it was more around 1900 yesterday)

Does anyone else give themselves a cheat day? If so what are your awesome pleasure/reward foods? (Pizza, pasta and chocolate are mine!!)

I sometimes have cheat meals, I had one last Tuesday when my family went out for dinner for my dad's birthday, but I don't cheat for an entire day. I don't really get big cravings because I like my diet foods so much (South Beach Diet bars taste great), but I do feel tempted to cheat when I'm around a lot of good food. But then again, I only started my diet about 3 weeks ago, so that might change after I'm deprived of good food for longer.

I haven't done a complete cleanse before for a whole weak but I've done it for a few days.  I've done more extreme ones.  They're not about losing weight, but it makes your body feel better overall because you're eating less processed foods and less "bad" sugars.  After the cleanse the taste of processed foods is different and it changes your taste pallete so you don't want processed foods.  I don't know if anyone here has ever done atkins.  I did once in highschool and after I spent 3 months on it, I tried a cookie and thought i'd be sick.

I've though abotu doing a cleanse, but i like food too much. and if i go a couple days w/o eating, i will go a lot longer w/o eating than I should. i feel very in control when i dont' eat so it almost becomes a challenge to myself to see how long i can go w/o food. so i don't even go there.

and i dont' like to say i have "cheat" meals or days. I'm not on a diet. I make good food choices and aim to keep my cals at 1800 a day. whether i get there by eating fruits and veggies or by eating pizza, it doesn't matter. i allow myself more leeway than a lot of ppl on here b/c i'm not interested in really restricting myself and putting some foods "off limits." But there's a really awesome mexican restaurant nearby and if i'm going ot splurge on anythign, it's that place. yum!

I just wanted to check in, I had problems finding the posting hahaha. I am not too good with this site yet. Sorry. So yesterday was my weigh in day and I am happy to report I went down to 158!  I'm so excited its been about 3-4 years since I have been in the 150's!!

I'll do whatever challenge everyone wants to do. I was thinking about getting Turbo Jam but I have really bad knees (1 operation a few years ago then the other I need done but I don't have medical insurance, ugh!) but I'm still really thinking about it. Hahaha, I figure if I get it and can't handle it then maybe down the line I could. I dunno. Usually for cardio I just do some Richard Simmons and go for a 1-2 mile walk.  I workout like an old person and I'm only 25 LOL!!

Instead of having a whole cheat day I have a cheat meal. It was going really well til this last one. I always get pizza but this time, I ate it and thought I was going to be sick. I think my body was just like "I don't want this junk in me anymore!".  For breakfast I've been making 3 egg white omlettes with fresh mushrooms and 1 slice of kraft american cheese. OMG! That is my favorite thing in the whole world right now. Its so filling and I feel like I'm cheating but really it comes out to less than 200 calories. Thats including a peice of wheat toast too!

lillysmominpa- Im not sure how effective it is, but in Turbo Jam they have 2 people doing low impact versions, no jumping , etc. What i liked about that over some other videos is they put the low impact girl right in the front row so its really easy to see, they will also do some closeups on her so you can see everything nicely and make sure your on track.

you can also add light 1 or 2lbs wrist weights or weighted gloves to the low impact workout to work the upper body some more ( i tried this once and wow, it makes a big difference)

but i think alot of the videos have the same sorts of things.

Im going to be starting Richard Simmons with my cousin this week :D hehe should be fun.

I see everyones point on the "cheat" thing. Ive never really looked at my diet before, this is my first time trying to eat healthy so i think i might have the wrong approach. Im just a really big chocaholic, so if there is chocolate in the house i have to really hold back and not eat the box lol!

How does everyone deal with going to the bar or to a party? IVe been wondering about this. Im not a big bar person, but I do like to drink on special occations (friends birthdays, holiday weekends) so maybe once every three months or so. I really love shooters, and im wondering if one day drinking will mess up a week? any ideas of a better drink ?(id probably have 3 to 5 )

Congratulations lillysmominpa! I can't wait to see 158, it's been about a year since I've seen the 150's too.
Also, I have a TurboJam DVD. I would say you would probably be able to do it without hurting your knees. They have low-impact versions of most exercises that are pretty gentle.

I agree with you ktcort13, I sort of have cheat meals but I don't like to call them that and I don't really plan for them. I just try to stick to a healthy diet as best I can and the odd inevitable time that I eat too much or the wrong thing because it's my birthday or my friends go out for an unexpected drink after work I just look at as a good shock to my metabolism and try not to overdo it

The hard part is trying not have the unexpected extras happen every day. I guess the idea is that I want to feel balance between being healthy and enjoying food/friends/wine! I hope I never get too obsessed with calories because I like cheesecake too much to never eat it.

mysticdragon: Ooooo, finally!!! Someone else who is going to do Richard Simmons! My favorite video is "Blast and Tone". I've gone from using 3 pound weights with that video to using 5 pounders and I cann't believe how much of a difference it made. He is funny and does help keep you motivated during the workouts. Thanks for telling me about that low-impact versions. That would so help me out. Hahaha, I could see myself jump and go to land and my leg just decide to not work. I'd be laying on the floor and my dog would think I was playing and start licking me to death. Shes 100 pounds, no way I could get her to stop.

I'm lucky I don't really like chocolate. My mom on the other hand is like the biggest chocolate addict I have ever seen in my entire life!! Don't they make some kind of yogurt that is like chocolate musse or something? I think they do that would be a good option I think or a Special K bar that has chocolate on top? Oh! I think they make chocolate "rice cakes" now too, I know they make 100 calorie packs of them with peanut butter on top. I dunno if these ideas will help or not.

I'm not a big drinker at all, I'd rather spend my calories on food, LOL!! But I read people on cc talking about how wine is good for you and isn't full of calories. Or what I would do is go out have a couple drinks but make them drinks that are juice based. Then think "well, its got orange juice in it at least."

Thanks for the congrats everyone. I can finally tell I am losing weight in other places than my feet now, its really exciting and motivating!!