"The Thanksgiving Ten" - losing those last annoying pounds challenge & support group

I have realized that as we get within about 10lbs of our goal weight, the challenges and struggles that we have to deal with are a bit different than for those earlier pounds.  I want this thread to serve as a sort of "kick in the pants" to get those last pounds off.  I also want this to serve as a "support group" where we can share struggles and successes or just to vent frustrations.  I chose Thanksgiving as the goal date because many people will be seeing their families and want to look their best!  I also think Thanksgiving in 8.5 weeks is a long enough time to get those last roughly 10lbs off.  Someone had mentioned having the goal be the Monday after Thanksgiving and everyone is free to chose their own goal date, but for me personally, I want to do it before the holiday.  We can then help each other develop strategies as to how to avoid the Thanksgiving overeating while still being able to enjoy our favorite seasonal foods and the decreased motivation to keep exercising and eating well between Thanksgiving and Christmas that seems to always happen.  We will also share tips and ideas about starting a maintenance plan and keeping those pounds off!  

Please post your stats: age, sex, height, current weight and goal weight for Thanksgiving (November 22nd, 2007).

We will start on Monday October 1st.  Feel free to weigh in and post at any time.  I won't impose and official weigh in day, but I was thinking that Saturdays might work well as a motivation not to over do it during the weekend.  I will keep a running tally of where everyone is.

For weigh-ins, please send me a private message, I think it will be easier this way.  I will then update this post.  You can weigh in at any time, but I suggested Saturday as a good day.

WEEK 7 UPDATES: 

PLEASE CHECK YOUR NUMBERS!!!

I have only included those that have sent me their stats.  Feel free to keep sending.  Good job everyone!!!

142by42 SW 169 CW 163 GW 155 PL 6.0

daniellew79 SW 150 CW 142.5 GW 140 PL 7.5

hbbroadbent SW 140.8 CW 130 GW 130 PL 10.8

iridescent_identity SW 135 CW 124.4 GW 125 PL 10.6

mamamunoz SW 172 CW 166 GW 162 PL 6.0

mctami SW 143.2 CW 135.8 GW 135 PL 7.4

smader SW 147 CW 139.5 GW 137 PL 7.5

southcarolinaguy SW 190 CW 182.3 GW 180 PL 7.7

caniche SW 147 CW 143.5 GW 137 PL 3.5

roc07 SW 117.6 CW 116.6 GW 110 PL 1.0

tabathar SW 133 CW 122 GW 120 PL 11.0

x17star17x SW 152 CW 139 GW 142 PL 13.0


Good job everyone!!! 

kate i am going to do the same! :-/ had an off week as well, hopefully i can get myself back in gear

willin,

its hard to get back on the wagon, but I find that all I need is one day.  One day of fighting the urge to eat food I shouldn't, one day of not skipping the gym etc.  The next day I'm back to my program and feeling good.  Hopefully you are doing well this morning.  I'm sure feeling better.

Hi Everyone,

 So I sort of joined this group late a couple days after you folks started the 10 lbs by Thanksgiving.  I need a little advise I was doing so well these last couple of months.  I have lost 12 lbs since July.  But now I have hit a dead end.  I am 5'2 and today I weighed 142, but last Tuesday I weighed 138.  I know you have talked about TOM and water weight, but it is still so frustrating.  I am only 24 and I feel my body can no longer lose weight anymore.  I am very busy at work and in my social life and I try to work out, but it becomes hard to fit in.  Then there are skinny friends and my bf that can eat everything in sight and be skinning. 

How do you all get through these plateaus and find time to eat healthy with other and find time to excercise?  Suggests are NEEDED!!!

megan: if you're feeling burnt out, maybe you should focus on maintaining for awhile before getting back on the weightloss wagon. i think this helps our bodies recalibrate to new, lower norm, and then allows you to drop when you start up again. (i would only watch for gaining through the holidays and starting at a higher weight when you want to lose agian.)

but i would encourage you to try to counter your thought about your body NOT being ABLE to lose any more weight. i really believe these thoughts can become self-fulfilling prophecies. of course you can still lose weight! look at all you've done since july! 12 pounds is amazing, and you did that, you & your body know exactly what to do to lose weight! but if you're tired right now, you can always take a break.

and if it makes you feel any better, lots of us are experiencing stalls. i've been at this since july too, lost about 14 lbs, but have been swinging up and down w/ no more real weightloss since september! but i am going to keep it up, i know my body will drop the weight again.

actual suggestions:

• try and find non-eating things to do w/ your friends & boyfriend. it does take creativity, i know the staples are restaurants, bars, and even movies have so much temptation. this season there's pumpkin carving, christmas shopping, halloween costume shopping, maybe they can go to the gym with you or you can take a workout class together, bike riding, walks...
• i'll sometimes ask people over instead of going out, then i control the food. we can play games or watch movies or they can drink and i have better control of what goes into my drink when not at the bar.
• when you eat at home with the boyfriend, refuse takeout and do not pander to his tastes. make the healthy meal you want to make. he will eat it and he will be amazed by what he likes. seriously. i blame my boyfriend (now husband) for alot, if not all,  of my weight gain ;) so i feel ya.
• if he INSISTS on takeout, this is great- stock up on lean cuisines (which i love btw) they have chinese, italian, thai, pizza, anything he could be eating you can bust out your lean cuisine (on a plate) and eat the same thing at the same time!
• have you tried telling these friends it makes it hard for you when they eat in front of you, things you can't eat?

mysteriously, double post.

Hi all,

I'm now feeling much better, just trying to shake off the last of this cold! My weight loss isn't going very well, I seem to be maintaining weight instead of losing it. I'll be surprised if I even lose 3lbs by 22nd Nov but I don't know, I seem to be constantly full or bloated all the time, so whenever I do weigh myself I feel like I've eaten a heavy meal, I don't know why my stomach is like this as I usually eat 6 small meals a day instead of large meals.

I did buy some new clothes yesterday in a UK 6 (Think that is a US 2) and they fit quite well, alot of my old clothes are quite baggy on me now. I've dropped a little on my waist too, it's now 25 inches. I wish I could drop some inches on my thighs they are the bain of my life, no matter what I do I can never get them to reduce in size. I really hate my large thighs and being short makes it look worse!!!

Hi All,

I survived TOM AND a brutal first two weeks of my new job.  I have some very loonnnggg hours, so I've been a bit slow about turning in my weight stats

CW:  133.5 (as of today)

GW:  127

Only 6 and a half more pounds to go!

Good luck everyone!!!!

Hi everybody.  I am hanging in there.  Kind of in maintenance mode but weight is coming very SLOWLY.  I am not giving up, though, have realized that one pound per week is probably unrealistic for me as is 10 by Thanksgiving.  Apparently my body likes where it is, no matter what I do.  Heading out for my 4 mile run...Have a great weekend all.

SW: 136.6 (this is where I originally started CC on sept. 25th)

GW(thanksgiving): 125

GW for 1-10-2008: 120

Final goal: 118 (70 lbs lost)

CW: 127.2

TWL: 9.4 lbs

Ugh. I need to stop binging.

CW: 116 :( GW: 104

I decided that the best way for me to do this is to start calorie counting again. I am going for 1800 per day (I eat about 2700 now). Is this too much?

I was upset that I hadn't lost much weight since starting this challenge but I have noticed that I have lost inches rather than scale weight so that's my consolation right now. I still want the scale to go down too!!!!!

Plus its TTOM now so I have gained a few lbs!

CW: 142.8

:) 

weighin in at 128 this week.. which means i'm back to where i started.. i guess it could be worse though!  i'm gonna re-set my thanksgiving goal to 125 to give me something attainable to work towards :-/

Original Post by hbbroadbent:

megan: if you're feeling burnt out, maybe you should focus on maintaining for awhile before getting back on the weightloss wagon.

Sounds like good advice. I wish I did that in midsummer. Instead, I took a complete break and gained five pounds before getting back to business. It was maddening having to lose the same five pounds twice. I should have done maintenance for a while instead.

I'm back on track now.. 4 pounds to go. 

southcarolinaguy: how many days did you take as a break? i have been eating like crazy on the weekend. Basically, I had everything I wanted......For sure I am ready for the bad news but I have been eating non stop for two days. Just wondering how long it took from you to gain 5 pounds?

Original Post by safina1:

southcarolinaguy: how many days did you take as a break?  Just wondering how long it took from you to gain 5 pounds?

 LOL. Days? It was more like weeks! A month or more. See chart here

I just got weary and stopped counting calories. Fortunately, I didn't stop weighing myself daily and charting it on CC. It was that upward bending graph that motivated me to get back with the program.

Hey everybody and southcarolina guy,

Awesome chartwork s.c. guy!  I, too, use the chart to stay on track.  I'm feeling skinny today and am down a half pound to C.W. of 133 as of this morning!  To celebrate, I'm wearing my small suede skirt and sky high boots to work today.

Let's keep plugging away.....

Nice chart south carolina.  I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds daily weigh-ins motivating.  I actually look forward to the weigh ins and they do keep me on track.  I've started running again after some nagging foot injuries and so far so good.  I'm hovering around 130 and ready to head into 120's, I can just feel it.  Keep up the good work everyone.

Go Eskima Go!

I want to be in the 125 to 127 range!!  You are inspiring!!

Crapola! I forgot to update for this past weekend, but my Saturday weight was 169.8. Oops!