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!

Welcome to the group karah1389. We weigh in on Fridays and try to exercise at least three times a week. Post your starting weight when you get a chance because I am going to try to keep a spreadsheet with percentage of weight lost to help us stay motivated. I'll try to get it going after I get everyone's weight on Friday, for week 1!

I've lost all motivation :( I don't know what's wrong with me, but I've been eating horrible and not exercising for a few days. I'm talkin like mcdonald's here and other shi* that i know I shouldn't been eating. Help guys!

I'm really frustrated. Luckily, I haven't gained weight, but I haven't lost any. I need help getting back into my exercise routine!

How is everyone else doing?

Melika08, were you exercising too much and got burned out? Maybe just try to get back into it by doing it for not more than an hour three times a week. Maybe you were just doing to much and it got old. I've had that happen. Don't give up. We are all in this together. If you haven't gained any weight than no harm done. Consider it a lesson learned and move on. You can do it.

Well, I dont know what it is, but you must be right. I must have been doing too much.  Sometimes I would work out at the gym, then I'd do a video again when I get home. The past few days I haven't been wanting to do anything. As for my diet, I think I was restricting myself too much to just low cal foods and I got sick of them and eating the same stuff every day. I've been eating so much junk since friday, i've barely been counting calories. I need to start eating food I enjoy, not just because it's low cal.

What kind of exercise routines is everybody doing right now? I need some ideas to mix it up a little bit.

I haven't been able to make it to the gym for the pass few days either, but i've been doing squats, lunges, and bicep curls whenever I get a few minutes here and there. I finally got the time to do a video this evening, so hopefully every little bit will help... back to hitting the books in a few minutes as I have a test tomorrow.

I feel like I've wronged after eating something without knowing how many calories is in it. Like today, me and some friends went out to eat in chinatown to celebrate our friends departure to navy bootcamp. It's not like i overate or anything; I had about 6 slices of fried tofu with shrimp inside and a bowl of rice. I know that it's not even close to being considered a binge but it honestly bothers me that I can't even estimate how many calories that was. Can any of you take a swing at it?

smokey, did you try the calorie counter on the site? I know they don't often have everything in the database. Another thing that I find with chinese food....SODIUM!  I always weigh more after eating it. So don't be suprised or discouraged if you find it showing up on Friday's weigh in. Sodium can really make you gain a few. Just drink lots of water. That helps to flush it out and get you back to your regular weight.

If I don't know how many caloried are in something I've eaten, I just log it in as my best estimate. Or I'll look up something in the food database that is similar and use that amount of calories. It may not be 100% accurate, but at least your counting something.

I've been doing pretty good dietwise for this week. Not so much with exercise though. One of my big problems is getting diet and exercise going together. I don't know why. Self sabotage I guess!  Oh well. I'll keep working on it. The diet part, for me, right now, is more important.

Melika - doing some new exercizes that you've never tried may help? Things that target muscle groups that you normally don't hit... Feeling a burn in my muscles the day after working out makes me feel like I've accomplished something.

As for me, I'm not sure that I've lost anything this week. I wish my doc would give me an oral hypoglycemia med, but since he refuses, I have to overeat through my whole ToM just to keep my sugars up so I don't faint... again. That's over now, and I'm back on track, but it may be too late to salvage this week's weigh-in.

Don't forget, tomorrow is our weigh in! Good luck.

My weight for today is 171.  On paper, it sounds good because I lost 4 pounds. However, this is the same four pounds that I keep bouncing back and forth. So the real victory will be next week, if I can get in to the 160's and then go down from there! But I am still happy. I just don't want the bouncing ball effect this time. One day at a time.

218 even. Not bad, if I do say so myself... I've finally passed the halfway mark, and have lost more weight than I have left to lose.

lulu I feel the same way. I'm down to 138 (-2lbs), but I've been losing the same 2 pounds for the past 2-3 weeks. Hoping to get past the 135 mark soon.

Today's weight is 146 (-1.6). Thanks lulu for reminding me about the sodium, I didn't feel as bad yesterday because I knew it was only water retention. Anyway, on days that I dont have raquetball/handball practice I find it really hard to add exercise too!That is, unless I have a moment of spontenuity and decide to do a mini workout to make me feel better about hibernating all day.

Today I'm going shopping for a party outfit for my friends birthday, and I'm a little aprehensive. It's been so long since I bought new clothes (I vowed to have a substantial weight loss before buying anything new) and I'm afraid I'll get too excited, get there, and have nothing fit me. Oh well, I'm going to hope for the best!

Today my weight is 195. I'm a little bummed with only a 1 pound loss for the week, especially since I've been working out so much at the gym and eating super healthy since almost all week. Well their was the small diet mishap last Saturday, but apparently I've been making up for it all week. Hope everyone else is doing good. Have a great weekend.

Smokey - I've heard lots of people say that if you dress to flatter the body you have now, you feel more confident when you see your reflection. Of course, sometimes that's not possible (My job requires you to wear the company polo... I have a regular large-shirt-size stomach, and 2x boobs, so I gotta wear the 2x.)

Novi- I have the same problem, my stomach isn't so big but my boobs are huge, I can never find shirts or dresses that fit right. I can't even where a button up shirt, because it will either gap between the buttons around my boobs, or look way to big. I like them sometimes, but they could definitely go down a size or too.

Sorry, I'm a day late, but I like to weigh myself at the same time. I forgot to weigh early, so I thought I'd just wait til today. I was 134 this morning. I cannot seem to get past this, but honestly I've been totally off track. I'm sure that I lost muscle, but next week I have a gym buddy to keep me on track.

Last week was full of pizza and McDonald's. I feel guilty, but i was restricting myself too much and I ended up goin crazy. I barely counted calories last week. This week I'm just going to watch it and see how it goes. I really don't wanna end up goin overboard and binging on fries. Yesterday I did well, even though I didn't count. Is everyone else counting? i hope to get back into it soon without being obsessive about it.

Hi

Sorry I haven't been on in a while.  Work is too busy to get online and do what I want, damn work!!  I haven't lost anything this week which is a little gutting as I have been quite good with my food.  This means I am still on 154.  I'll keep going ad hope that I shift some in the next week.  How is everyone else doing?

Christina - I don't mind having big boobs, but I hate seeing such cute bras for C-cups, and not even being able to find one 46-DDD anywhere, even at plus-size stores. Then having to order online and finding out when it gets here that it feels weird because the straps are too short and I never got to try it on to notice that problem before buying.

Melika - I've been keeping up on my counting pretty well. I've gotten good at rounding to the nearest 10 and keeping a rolling count in my head through the day. Since I'm still losing, I'm not counting specific, every single piece of sugar free gum calories. Definitely helps to keep you from feeling burdened by your calorie counting.

Melika - I've been counting pretty well the last few weeks. I haven't been so particular about weighting the things I eat I've just been estimating a little higher.

I had a rough drinking night yesterday. I went to play football with a bunch of guys I work with after I was at the gym for an hour so I burned a lot of calories yesterday. Afterwards we went to someones house had a cookout and watched some football, I even though ahead and brought my own chicken and snacks to eat for the night, so my food intake was great. However I had 5 lite beers, 2 jager bombs, 3 mixed drinks and 1 shot, which added up to about 1000 calories in alcohol. I hope this didn't effect my body for the week but i'm sure it did, I guess I just have to drink water like crazy and work really hard this coming week to keep everything in check. Maybe it will only take a few days for my metabolism to bounce back.

I hope everyione is having a great weekend.