Unwrap the fat..lose 20+ pounds by Christmas

I think there is another group but it is closed...so I thought I'd start a new one. It really helps me to have some sort of accountability to a group when I want to lose weight. Even if its not really a competition, having others in the same boat helps me to keep going. Hey, I don't want to be the only one in the group who doesn't lose weight! This helps motivate me. Here is what I am thinking:

1. Weekly weigh in on Fridays.
2. Exercise at least 3 times a week. Post to let us know what you do, how long you do it, how you'd like to improve etc...
3. Keep track of your calories whichever way is best for you.
4. Have a reward picked out for your success at the end of the Challenge
5. BEGIN:Friday October 10, END: December Friday December 19th (10 weeks)

I'd like to keep the group not too large, that way we can really get to know each other and motivate each other. So, I will close it at around fifteen people or so. I know some people tend to drop out, so if we keep the group small enough, maybe we can help everyone make it to the end and reach our goal!

Together, I hope we can make it thru the Holidays. This can be such a challenging time to lose weight. With some support, and some structure, and some motivation.....I think that we can do this!

If you are interested....Post your introduction. Please include your current weight and your calorie target. Also, please post a little about yourself. I'll make a new post and go first!

Hello, I'm weighting in today at 196. I'm still doing well with eating healthy, and I took a night off from the gym yesterday, but clocked 1 1/2 hours this evening after work.

Novi- Usually I spend about an hour and a half to two hours working out. But this week I just pushed it to 2 1/2 hours on Tues and 3 hours on Wed. I'm feeling a lot better than I was yesterday though, I think the break from the gym and extra sleep really helped. I'm going to try not to do so much as once from now on.

 

Good Luck with the weekend!!

Soraya - I actually started my weight loss journey after being diagnosed with diabetes. Its especially bad during my ToM... ie, now... and I end up with some horrible hypoglycemia. I wouldn't wish that on you or anyone!

Christina - 3 hours? Goodness, girl... Unless I was walking somewhere very far away (don't have a car) or REALLY loving whatever I was doing, I couldn't stand it! I've read that smaller bursts of higher intensity working out is more effective than going a very long time at a low intensity.

I did ok day one! I stayed withing my calories range. That is a victory for me! I woke up this morning wanting chocolate chip cookies! Weird, I know. Anyway, I told myself that if I really wanted to I could have some....but I would have to budget the calories. Thats how I am trying to think about this. I can eat whatever I want, but I need to budget. Healthy stuff is cheaper so I can eat more of that, but when I want a sweet, I can have it and its not cheating or failing, I just need to budget it. So far this way of thinking about it is helping me because I am not thinking like I am on a "diet" and can't eat any good stuff. I feel like there is no food that is off limits, as long as its in the budget! Have a great weekend guys.

Hey, sorry I couldn't post yesterday I came home dead tired from school and just fell asleep. I weighed 147.6 yesterday, which was slightly higher than the day before that because I over did it on the chocolate. Anyway, today I'm going to a ymca in manhattan for my usual saturday handball/racquetball workout. I get in for free from 3pm-9pm because of their teen program so it's really convenient. I tend to over do it sometimes though, like last saturday it was really scary. I played non-stop for like four hours and I was really dizzy afterwards. I stumbled on the steps at the train station.

This time I'm bringing FOOD to eat there. I'm preparing a 100 calorie snack thats really a lifesaver. Its a stirfry with 100g of vegetarian noodles, 50 g of smoked ham, 15mL of soy sauce and 30g of cauliflower. Ideally I wouldnt be adding the soy sauce, but without it the noodles really dont have any flavor. 

 

lulu, I woke up today with the same craving! Fortunantly I took an apple instead.

Well, last night I was horribly sick after getting up from my nap and I threw up my snack and my dinner. After I felt better, we went to McDonald's and I had a big mac :( I know, I know! I hadn't had a big mac in soooo long! I felt bad, but i really didn't think it was going to stay down anyway. Still, I ate 100 cal below my maintenance yesterday. Unfortunately, I threw up the healthy stuff and kept all the fat lol. Today, I feel better and am eating healthy.

I cleaned my whole apartment and actually broke a sweat cleaning all the floors. I did two hours of cleaning and it was about 300 cals according to cc for light cleaning. I am a little hungry, but I think I can make it to dinner time. I want to weigh myself sooo bad. I'm going to have to hide the scale.

Well my weight came down to 146 this am so I know the water retention is a problem right now, I'm finally off TOM but I still feel that I'm holding onto water... a friend came over last night and bought the most delicious bottle of wine I've had in a long time! so back on wagon today... I drank wine, had a small deep dish pizza and a brownie! so today I have to focus on clean eating, drinking lot's o water' and cardio!

I did yoga about two days ago and my arms are still sore! those vinyasa's are seriously hard! the weather is finally better so I have a choice to run outside and walk, hike or go straight to biggest loser dvd... I get bored soooo easily! I'm still a little hung over from last night but need to wake up...

you guys! next week is my birthday and my sisters are having a dinner for me, so I want to look really nice... I want to get rid of some of this water weight and am thinking about doing cabbage soup for a day or two, any thoughts??????

I didn't do that well today... during my ToM, I get faint-worthy hypo if I don't eat double or triple the amount of complex carbs that I normally do - and I'm sure you know, complex carbs are so high-cal! I managed to work it all off, but my deficit wasn't as high as I'd have liked, even after working out.

Melika - Eew. I can barely eat SOUP after getting sick! You can eat a big mac? That alone makes me not hungry!   Soraya - I'm not sure that cabbage soup is the way to go. I mean, if you're eating NORMALLY and still snacking on brownies and pizza, I can only imagine the binge-streak you'll go on after a day of nothing but cabbage soup!

Sorry to hear you were sick Melika. That sucks!

I did great yesterday and this morning and early afternoon. Then, the stress got to me and I had some chips, pizza and wine. We also have our left over chinese food to eat for dinner tonight. It was expensive so we have to eat the left overs. And tomorrow is the baptism dinner. I am not too worried about that. The stress was in today and getting ready for it while taking care of the kids, who were a little feverish and complaining of sore throats. My house is once again, a mess after my hours of cleaning. Oh well, four kids will do that. I feel I am still doing better than I was, because at least I had a good day yesterday and a good half a day today. That is better than I was doing before!

You guys are inspiring me to exercise! I will do some running/walking on Monday. Sorayazada, I have always wanted to try yoga. Do you have a video or take a class?  I have the biggest loser dvd but only did part of it once. I need to kick my exercise up. I need to get back on track and find a better way to deal with my stress. I got that stupid chub run between my legs from heat rash today. It really sucks!!!!! I hate being fat. That should motivate me, but sometimes, just makes me say screw it, I'm fat anyway, hand me the M&M's.

lulufit- I completely understand and I get the chub run too sometimes... it gives me motivation to get rid of it! I do yoga the on demand channel from my cable network, just found the channel and it's free! well I pay for it w/cable but I don't have to go to a gym for that... the biggest loser dvd is my main focus...jillian kicks my ass!!!! and bob too... it's sooo hard that I have to take a break from it... I did a 2 hour walk/jog today to offset what I ate! but I got to keep it moving! no giving up, can't do it this time... but yoga my body snaps back into shape quickly when I do add yoga/pilates to it, I have a hidden hour glass so yoga shapes me and strengthens my body, it's hard but worth it...

novileigh - your right! I probably would binge if I did the cabbage soup ... but to my defense pizza, brownies, are not things I have on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis... the last time I had pizza was probably about 3months ago and brownies maybe about a year so it was a definite indulge... over it now... already

melika - I hope you feel better...  I haven't had a big mac in about 10 years... I stopped eating beef about 10 years ago ! I remember the taste... yum it's that secret sauce, the thousand island dressing and pickles that I miss....

I just did Jillian Michael's 30-day shred for the first time. Oh, man is she one tough bit**! It was an amazing work out and I only did level 1. It was only 20 minutes long. I could barely take it! I've done many other dvds, but this is by far the best I've ever tried. She is super encouraging. It's definitely a no bulls**t way to workout. I can't wait to do it again.

How is everyone else coming on their workouts? I get bored very easily and I like to try different things so suggestions would be great! I've also enjoyed step, which I can't wait to do again also. I never thought I'd be so excited about exercise.

I haven't gone anywhere near the Jillian Michaels/WORKOUT/Biggest Loser/Celebrity Fit Club dvds. Anything that's become a TV show, I don't really go for, because I expect that they're just going to teach things that are common knowledge... Bicycle crunches or something that I could've learned just as easily online.

Novileigh - I gotta tell you that girl Jillian Michaels she is NOOOO joke when it comes to working out your body... she has me doing things I never had seen before! and it's not just like bicycle crunches and online stuff it how fast and hard she pushes you from one move to the next! I do both the cardio max and sculpt.. Bob kicks my ass in the power sculpt he makes you do these planks, then lift leg in air and holding onto them it's hard! and she's got me doing tire runs, and mountain climbers and ski jumpers it's not easy... it's so hard that I have to really really give myself a pep talk like you can get through it, you can do it... Celebrity fit club I don't know what that would be like but that girl Jillian I ache in places I didn't even know I had muscle in!!! for real!

So last night I went to a friends house and played poker with some people from work. By the time I went home I had 4 beers 2 slices of pizza and a lot of guacamole. I tried to drink a lot of water today to flush out the sodium in my system. I'm hoping that since I have been eating so healthy for the past two weeks that it won't hurt me that much. I was back on track today though.

Monday is the start of the new week, a chance to let the bad weekend choices roll off of you and start fresh. Have a happy and motivating Monday everyone.

cbell, pizza and beers....mmmmmmmmm sounds good!  I like your attitude though, that Monday is the start of a news week and to let the weekend roll off and start fresh. Thats sounds good to me.

I had a rough weekend and so I ate alot of unhealthy choices. Not so bad quantity, just unhealthy choices. And perhaps a little too much in quantity! But like cbell23, I am starting fresh today. I am doing great calorie targetwise, and I think if I stick with it, I'll reach my goal for today. I just need to stay strong with the stress of my poor kids who are sick and VERY VERY whiney. It drives me right into the kitchen to grab handfuls of whatever to stick in my mouth. Stress eating sucks. I just need to make some sugar free jello and eat that!

I am going to get my husband to do the Biggest Loser dvd with me, even though I don't enjoy doing it in the evening (makes me not be able to sleep). However, I committed to exercising three times a week, at least, so that is what I am going to do.

Lulu, taking care of sick kids is rough, I can image how it would result in stress eating. Good job on staying on track today with calories and the exercise. Just to give you some ideas, here are a few snack items I like to keep around me: unsweetened freeze dried strawberries, I like to leave a bag in my car just in case I'm stuck somewhere with no good food options, carrots - I've been eating a serving of carrots everyday because their low in carolies and have 2g of fiber, and flavor and fiber bars, I eat two of these for breakfast everyday, they have a lot of fiber in them and fill me up until lunch. One other thing I do is green teas in the mornings instead of coffee, green tea helps to suppress your appetite. Hope this is helpful, and keep up the good work.

Norning people.  ANother meeting yesterday with the most delightful food for lunch.  I did indulge somewhat but then didn't have any tea later so my intake was 2000.  I did an hour of cycling so I;m pretty much even.

That's what I'm saying though... I went online when I started developing
my exercize routine and was told to do planks, one legged planks, one
legged one armed planks... its just no fun to watch a video telling you
how to do something you already would've known how to do.

I don't go with the whole "start fresh" idea... it doesn't help me. My
body is the way it is from lack of maintnance. The idea of "starting
fresh" is just an easy way to tell me I can eat whatever I want with no
consequence. I guess I need to monitor myself more closely than others do...

Novi, I think the starting fresh idea is a way to help me keep going when I screw up and eat too much. Instead of thinking, "Hey, I screwed up, I ate way too much....that means I'm a big fat loser and I am a failure so I might as well give up and eat whatever the hell I want to" I think to myself, its ok, I screwed up, I'll start fresh today and try again. And I will keep trying until I get there. It doesn't mean that it is "just the easy way out so I can eat whatever I want with no consequence", to me. I can screw up, hate myself and give up, or I can try again. Thats all.

In this group, we each have different ways of coping, trying, and doing. What works for one might not work for someone else. Remember, we are not here to criticize or judge each other..... only to support and motivate and learn  : )

I agree, I need motivation and support for sure... uh! this wknd was a wknd of pure debauchery ... I went out with friends drank till 5am ate a whole pizza the next day ...so today I have to balance that out... I think I'm going to go for a long long walk/jog and clear my head and heart! so much going on !

it's my bday thils sat. so I'm going to stay away from the alcohol until sat... so over it.. I know it is clearly the one thing that holds my weight loss back... I must do it... I must stay focused ... going for a run... have a healthy day everyone!

soraya

Hey guys, 

I'd like to join the group too!  Last year I suffered the freshman 15...so now I'm getting in control and dropping it!  Motivation I think is the key for me...I've got to get constantly remind myself what the plan is.  I hate not being comfortable with my body...so it's time to change for my sake! 

We can do this guys!