I want some people who are SERIOUS about losing 15 pounds by Christmas to join me! I need buddies!

I desperately want to lose 15 pounds by Christmas that is 9 weeks away.This is a very realistic goal.so if you are SERIOUS about doing this join me,PLEASE!!!

starting weight was 198.4 on 7/24/08

current weight 179.0 on 10/23/08

WE CAN DO THIS!!!!!!!!!

Hey girls, hang in there, sometimes the scale really doesn't cooperate but eventually the weight goes down if you stick with the good old eating and exercise combo. And I totally believe that the guards go down closer to the goal. I keep wondering how it's going to be for me then and what I will do. I think it's good to keep counting the calories for at least 3-6 months during this transition until you get a good grasp of how many calories is your actual maintenance level. I think it must be difficult after so long to let yourself eat  more without going overboard. And definetly avoid the scale, maybe just once a week, it shouldn't be focus of your life. And please do strength training!  I heard Dr. Oz saying that it's really important to help women not only to lose but mainly to maintain their weight. Because muscles burn more calories and gives a little more room on the eating part. Increase muscle mass (important for bone health too), that's the way to go.

gram, thanks for your support. I'm also in disbelief that I'm running myself. Today the weather was beautiful and I tried running outside on the track. It's much more difficult than on the treadmill! There's the wind, the harder surface and it's so difficult to regulate speed. After 1.25 miles I had to stop and when I calculated my speed I realized I was running at 5.8mph. No wonder I was ready to colapse! So I walked another mile and manage to run another 1.25 miles a little bit slower. You see, I set another goal for myself. There's this 4 mile race in NY city (Miles for Moms) and benefits cancer research. So it would be a great way to comemorate my 1 year new lifestyle anniversary running in Central Park. Maybe I'm way over my head, but I'm giving a shot. Wish me luck!

Healthmd,

That is a perfect goal.  Running in Central Park with a bunch of like minded women?  That is soooo cool.  You must do it.

I am glad to see your post as I was wondering how you are doing.  What is your strength training routine right now?  Are you are following a specific program?  I do better with programs.  I have 3 more Shreds before I am done with my second round of 30 days.  It is still hard but definately easier than when I started.  I am just getting bored with it and my body is not showing the results it did on my first go around.  It is amazing how quick your body tends to adapt to exercise.  You just have to keep mixing it up.

Gram,  You are I seem to be in the same boat.  Let's buckle down this week and see what happens.  I just can't seem to keep on track with logging my calories.  I am still mentally monitoring but having a hard time hopping on the computer and continuously logging.  I might just try writing everything down in a notebook instead. 

Good luck everyone and hopefully we all will be a little lighter on Thursday.  And then, St. Patrick's day is just a few days away.

LeAnn

Thanks for the support augenblick! It would be really cool, I just have to go slow. I was going to run today because of the good weather and Monday it's supposed to rain a lot. But I can't run today. My knees are good this morning but my lower back is screeching a bit. Knees and lower back are my weak spots. But I'm usually OK resting for a day. I'm still going for the race goal, just have to remember to slow down and that I'm not in my 20s anymore!

The strength I'm doing is at the gym. They have these Lifestyle machines and I work upper body and lower body on alternate days and abs everyday. So usually I work each muscle group twice a week. On the weekends I don't go to the gym and do the shred at home  which I think has a pretty good strength program. You're very right about the body adaptation, many books I read recommend variation to avoid adaptation. But in the case of your second round of shred have you changed the weights? You may need to increase them a bit. I recently bought this other popular book: New Rules of Lifting for Women (lift like a man, look like a godess). I specially like the look like a godess part. Hehe. I haven't done the program yet, I'm still shy about going to the free weights at the gym, but I may invest on some dumbells if finances allow.  I think my husband has some weights burried in the garage somewhere, what a big buff he is! He doesn't even know where he stored his weights. Now that it's getting warmer I may go for an archaeological dig to find them. LOL. But in this book NROLFW he mentions about that women cannot bulk up on a restricted calorie diet. It's more likely that we lose muscle mass along with fat. They recommend eating 30% of protein and drinking a protein shake (whey protein) just after strength workout. Even with the shake my total protein is never higher than 24%. They also have a quick diet section with some recipes that I still have to try. That could be a starting program if you have access to dumbells. In summary my workout routine is: I usually go about 4-5 times a week to the gym, I start with 30min cardio (run on treadmill 3x/wk for C25K or HIIT on the eliptical 2x/wk) then strength (4x/week, about 1h upper/lower alternatedly),  abs and if I'm up to it I finish with the crosstrainer (10-30min). 

I also started this http://hundredpushups.com program that will increase upper body strength and abs. Pushups can be done the correct way, knee, wall, whatever is better for you as long as you're challenging yourself. After doing the shred I'm pretty good at real pushups, I bet you too, augenblick. Bkmanda is doing it too from the Monday to Weigh group. I just finished week 1, have a look at the site, anybody would like to join? I'm just having to figure out how to put the pushups together with the machines at the gym and avoiding over working the muscles.

Here is a quick article from Mayo clinic explaining why it's good to do strength training: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/strength-tra ining/HQ01710 and about.com listed the best exercises for strength (all covered in the shred except for the latpulldown) http://exercise.about.com/cs/weightlifting/a/ bestexercises.htm

Jillian Michaels have 2 new DVDs that got 5 stars from all reviewers: Banish fat boost metabolism is one and No more Trouble Zones is the other. If I read correctly the first doesn't require weights while you need some weights for the Trouble zones.  I'm thinking of buying the trouble zones one, it's a 40 min circuit and one reviewer mentioned she bought both and was more impressed with the Trouble zones one. It might be worth a shot for you augenblick that's looking for something new and  Amazon has good price on them too, $10.50 and gram-gram, the shred is only $8.50 now.

Oh boy so much to do! Anyway, just keep on moving and have some variation, we're going to melt our fat!

Original Post by gterv:

HI!

Bkmanda don't give up, after a looong plateau I can finally say 149!!! so happy, but it was so hard. keep up the good work and it will pay off for sure! last Sunday I did a 10k race and broke my record 50min 35 sec, I was hopping for less than 50 but I will take it happily, last year I was running my 10k 16 minutes longer, so it was a great improvement and my best time ever. I guess that running with 44lbs less helps a lot.

Healthmd congrats on your milestone! 170's  I'm happy for you!

Candilovesjon is good to read you again

 You are amazing, congrats on breaking your record, keep on running!!

Original Post by healthmd:

Hey girls, hang in there, sometimes the scale really doesn't cooperate but eventually the weight goes down if you stick with the good old eating and exercise combo. And I totally believe that the guards go down closer to the goal. I keep wondering how it's going to be for me then and what I will do. I think it's good to keep counting the calories for at least 3-6 months during this transition until you get a good grasp of how many calories is your actual maintenance level. I think it must be difficult after so long to let yourself eat  more without going overboard. And definetly avoid the scale, maybe just once a week, it shouldn't be focus of your life. And please do strength training!  I heard Dr. Oz saying that it's really important to help women not only to lose but mainly to maintain their weight. Because muscles burn more calories and gives a little more room on the eating part. Increase muscle mass (important for bone health too), that's the way to go.

gram, thanks for your support. I'm also in disbelief that I'm running myself. Today the weather was beautiful and I tried running outside on the track. It's much more difficult than on the treadmill! There's the wind, the harder surface and it's so difficult to regulate speed. After 1.25 miles I had to stop and when I calculated my speed I realized I was running at 5.8mph. No wonder I was ready to colapse! So I walked another mile and manage to run another 1.25 miles a little bit slower. You see, I set another goal for myself. There's this 4 mile race in NY city (Miles for Moms) and benefits cancer research. So it would be a great way to comemorate my 1 year new lifestyle anniversary running in Central Park. Maybe I'm way over my head, but I'm giving a shot. Wish me luck!

 Its always harder outside because you have to adjust to all of the factors you mentioned, but you did a good job of running and walking, and really just maintaining movement. Keep doing more runs outside along with the treadmill and it will help you get ready for that race. Good luck! and have I told you you're freakin amazing?!:)

This is quote and reply day for me, augenblick add more weights to switch up the intensity for you body. And do you rotate workouts? Such as level 1, 1, 2, one week, and say 2 3 2 the next? Vary the intensity as well and that will help with seeing more gains.

Thanks for the advice guys.  I have been upping the weights on the Shred and alternating workouts but the results just aren't great for the second time around.  I am now going to try My Fitness Coach for the Wii for a few weeks and if I don't see some results, I will probably jump into the New Rules of Lifting for Women. 

Healthmd (and whoever else is interested), would you want to do a NROLFW challenge starting April 1st?

Talk to you all soon.

Can you tell us more about the NROLFW challenge?

LW: 152.4

CW: 151.4 Lost 1 pound! and i'm happy because I was at this weight on monday, so i'm hoping, lawd i'm hoping to do another consistant pound by next week.

Good luck with the Thursday weigh in ladies. I'm still doing my push ups, which is getting harder, but i'm loving it! I swear my arms look bigger:) I added weights yesterday though which was much harder.

Have a great day ladies.

c.w. 123.9:( bouncing all around!! drinking at least 10 glasses of water a day

s.w. 132.7

Great job bkmanda that 150 is getting closer by the day,:) Keep up the good work.

I know the rest of you ladies are going to do fine this week.  St. Patty's day so close.

Hello ladies, this week has been tough! It's ttom, Monday I was 178.6  (2lbs up from last Thursday!) and yesterday I was unfit for human contact. I was ready to take a bite of someone's head, sheesh, even skipped the gym.  But today I'm much better and my CW 177, still 0.4 lb up from last week, but improving, I'm hoping for much better next week.

gram-gram: good job on the water, I've been drinking less and less lately. I gotta take your cue and start drinking more.

bkmanda: Yay!!! You broke the plateau and I hope you stay on a roll and break that 150 before St. Patty's. The pushups are getting really really tough! I don't even think about adding more weight, I can't hardly do the minimum recommended on the last set! Great job! And thanks for the compliment and support!

augenblick: I might be able to do the NROLFW in April, I just have to be sure hubby has some dumbells before I start. I don't think I can afford buying them right now. I'm also training for the 4 mile run in May, which is my priority. I ran 3 miles on the track on Tuesday and another 3 miles today on the treadmill (too cold this morning to run outdoors!). So I'm feeling quite confident at the moment. I bought the Nike+ ipod sensor, which tells my pace, distance and time on demand, it's been a huge help for me to control my pace.

Have a great weekend!

Frustrated and annoyed by my lack of progress lately.  I am bouncing around 150 and would love to consistently show numbers below 150.  I have been exercising, eating clean and whole foods, drinking plenty of water....doing everything by the book.  I think my body just wants to be 150 and my mind wants to be about 10 lbs. less.

Anyway, maybe next week..

Hi everyone, so we've reached St. Patty's week! It started with 9 weeks and here we are 21 weeks later if I calculated correctly. My total results are:

SW 204.5

CW 174.4! I can't believe I lost 30 lbs during this time. Losing 1-1.5lb a week seems so slow but it really adds up. The old slow and steady wins the race is so true. The race isn't over, ever I guess, but I've learned so much about myself and my behavior that I feel more comfortable and confident towards the future.

Thank you all so much for your stories, support and motivation. I wouldn't have done it without you. I'd love to hear from you from time to time! Write a message OK? Good luck to all and remember to take one day at a time and don't give in to frustations. Slow and steady we get and stay there!

Love, Monica