September/October weight loss challenge

[azfiddle]

116.8 this morning...

Susan- another voice in the chorus for you. About a year and half ago, you said something very encouraging to me on this same message thread. I wasn't to my goal yet, but had been achieving a steady success for some time. I don't remember exactly what you said, but it was a comment about the big picture and was encouraging.... in any case, it was very much appreciated. And here your

I can relate to your frustration- I'm a little discouraged myself that I was able to get my goal and maintain it for about 6 months but then a bit of the weight crept back on. It's not that much- but enough so that all my new clothes are a little too tight. It was just a little bit of extra here and there, 2 lbs on vacation, and all of a sudden the scale was reading 117, 118, even 119 again. So I am trying to find my focus too...

I have had the most success in losing / maintaining my weight when I was able to get into a daily train of thought that what I was doing was what I wanted to be doing when I was eating healthy. Then I didn't feel I was giving something up by turning down sweets or extra helpings. But extra stress sometimes just makes it impossible to keep that frame of mind for me, and maybe that's true for you as well.

You have so much to be proud of with your recent accomplishments. Welcome that, and then think about giving back to your body what it needs to replenish itself from all your riding in France. Good luck and stay with us!

[Titania]

Week One weigh-in: 186.0

Goal: 182

[skhill]

119.0 today. At least I'm not underweight as measured by BMI anymore, even if just barely!

[Mako]

Kicking off with a bad start - 148. I appear to have gained weight...
I blame it on lack of cycling and being in a total bloody grump

[Blueberry]

Weigh in this AM: 227

Goal: 215

I have changed a lot in the last week. Coming up with a new plan. If the new plan doesn't get results, to WW I go. For those who have had success with it - did you do online or meetings? I somehow don't think I would appreciate the meetings (and they're not convenient) - but I've heard they work better.

[goldfinch]

I listened to one of Nancy Clark's audio books and one thing she said really stuck out to me: sometimes we are in a place where we need to fuel our body and take care of ourselves instead of focusing on losing weight. Sometimes you just need to give yourself a break.

Yeah, I think she is right. My issue though is that the increased calories I have eaten have been empty of nutrition. Brownies and ice cream kind of empty. I am pledging to cut those out and eat better extra calories if I feel the need for a bit more.

[maillotpois]

178 today. Goal 168.

I completely agree with that Nancy Clark thing. I knew I was going to be going through some very difficult times work-wise (leaving a firm, starting my own practice, fears of retaliation from former partner) between fall of 2009 through fall of last year. So I gave myself a break. I kept riding, but didn't worry about food choices. Yes, I gained weight, but it came off and I got through the very difficult time without pushing myself in every area of my life.

I also give myself a couple of cycling breaks throughout the year where I'm not pushing to ride long distances every week, etc. That keeps things fresh.

[Caddy]

Finally kicking up the nerve to do this - I usually hate giving myself a definite goal since I stray a lot and wind up with massive guilt trips, but what the heck!

Sept 9: 124
Goal in October: 115

I can relate about work leading to non-exercise. Finally, finally landed a real job mid-August that actually requires my diploma and a comparable salary. While it's been busy, the job security has definitely lowered my stress level and I feel more enthusiastic about exercising.

[oxysback]

Ok, I'm in! Today was the last day of another fitness challenge I participated in, so I feel I still need someone to be accountable to. This one is way more laid back, though. No points to keep track of!

Starting weight: 235.4
Goal weight: 225

On a side note, at my heaviest I was 305 at the beginning of last summer. Yikes! I feel a lot better now...lol!

[Possegal]

I usually hate giving myself a definite goal since I stray a lot and wind up with massive guilt trips, but what the heck!

Some folks join in but don't put down a goal. That is totally fine and completely understandable. This is to help folks in any way that works for them. So if it is better for you to just track the weight without any goal in mind, that is totally fine!

Here is the link. Let me know if it gives anyone any trouble. There are some blank lines that have whited out names of folks from last go around. I'll clean it up in a couple weeks once I'm sure those folks are just taking a challenge break and not that I missed them signing up.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...5tYkE&hl=en_US

[channlluv]

231.4 for me this morning.

Goal: 220. I can do it. I can do it. I can do it.



Roxy

Fast food-free since August 7, 2011 <g>

[Susan Otcenas]

Thanks, ladies!

Ok, deep breath.... starting weight for this challenge is 144. (I guess that 139.5 I saw on Monday was just dehydration from the long flight. ) That's pretty much consistent with what I saw on the scale before I left for France (and consistent with the lastt couple of days, too),so at least all the croissants and cheese didn't do too much damage!

Ok, so goal weight for the challenge... Hhmm, I want something achievable and realistic, that will make me work for it, but not so optimistic that I disappoint myself by missing the goal. Eight weeks. I'm going to say 6 pounds. Enough to see progress, but not so much that it's unrealistic. So, 138 for my goal.

Thanks, Possegal!

Susan

[GLC1968]

Wow, Ellen - that's a lot of lost weight already! Good job!!


My starting weight: 151.0

I'm going to adjust my goal to 142 for the end of October. It's what I weighed exactly 10 years ago (I know this because it's what I weighed when I met my husband and we met 10 years ago on Monday ).

[chryss]

143.4 this morning. Well, I'm not moving around much (some pain where my incision scar is knitting itself into shape). Yet.

It's heartbreaking to hear some of you be so awfully harsh on yourselves about your weight or body fat. Susan, as others have said, you've just completed Paris-Brest-Paris -- you're being really far out there, woman! 10 or 20 or 25 pounds of extra body mass are minuscule in the greater scheme of things. And I'm saying that as a recovering hater-of-my-own-body (and myself). I don't think I was much below 200 pounds, or for very long, during any period between the ages of 28 and 40. Now that I've dropped about 1/3 of my body weight in the last year, my partner has been wondering what I changed to make it happen. (She's been naturally skinny all her life, but now, in her 50s, is suddenly accumulating some extra fat, which bothers her -- we've been converging slowly towards the same weight range, she from below, me from above.) It occurred to me that I needed to make peace, at some level, with my body and work with it instead of fighting it. I'm not more disciplined at 140 pounds than I am at 200: I'm exactly the same person.

What I do note is that I'm less motivated to go from 145 to 130 (unheard-of since my teens) than from 200 to 180 or from 175 to 150. I can wear regular clothes now (except that my legs are STILL short, so that many pants don't fit), and all is more about getting fitter than about losing fat.

[ny biker]

147 this morning. Dammit. Stupid sedentary vacation.

Goal remains 140.

Tomorrow is the Civil War century (metric). Normally any ride >60 miles earns me a trip to Five Guys for a giant burger and absurd quantity of fries. However if the Antietam Dairy folks are back with their ice cream, I will have that tomorrow, and no Five Guys.