Christmas 2016 to Valentine's Day 2017 Challenge

[Bobbinyc]

Welcome all Challengers!  What an amazing group we have!

Let's all continue together to take off the excess pounds and keep getting healthier.

This challenge will begin on Christmas and finish on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14. 

All you need to join this challenge is to post your stats regarding your weight, and check in weekly or as often as you'd like. We are a great support group and enjoy keeping up with each other and being there for our ups and downs.  Generally we have found that the more we check in and offer support, tips, info,  and ideas to others, the more we get for ourselves.

We list our weight, as well as any other goals we might have related to being healthy (such as increase water, more active minutes, etc).  Developing good health habits is primary.

A little rundown of terminology for anyone who is new.

USW- Ultimate Starting Weight

CSW- Current Starting Weight (for this challenge)

GW- Goal Weight   (for Feb 14)

UGW- Ultimate Goal Weight   (what your healthy target weight is)

PW- Previous Weight

CW- Current Weight

MFP- My Fitness Pal

List as much info as you like.  Some people include age, gender, height....whatever seems relevant to you.

We keep it as serious or light as we feel, but we always keep it focused on being as healthy as possible, while we support each other kindly.  We can do this together!!

[Gayle1018]

Looks like everyone is doing pretty well on the challenge!!  GREAT JOB!

I stayed the same which is OK (152):heart:, cause I did make my V-D Goal-154

trying to learn to maintain is 3/4 the battle for me.  Pretty day yesterday - so had a nice walk in the woods, very good time to be outside and fresh air and no heavy coat, gloves etc.  

I too hope for a continuation challenge to April -- either April 1(fools day)  or TAX Day the 15th would be fun.  

Stay strong all! have a good week...

[HeartBiller]

@GershonSurgeWell I am not going to pretend I know what we have...lol. I NORMALLY do not pay any attention to any of that stuff. I know I should, but haven't..lol. Anyhow, I do not believe we do. It is wired to the wall. (I assume) in 20 years, I have never changed batteries..lol. It is an out side heat and air unit. I do not know if they have pilot lights or not. I need to hush before I make myself sound any dumber...lol. BUT Thanks for the ideals, I will pass them on this evening.

[almost_where]

@Bobbinyc

Congrats again on the loss Bobbi and look at you hiting the gym daily and passing on desserts (French nonetheless).Keep up the great work.

[CorgiOnslaught]

Just hit 205 lbs Sunday putting me down 5 lbs since Dec 2016. I managed to fit in 5 workouts last weeks (running, weight training, etc) and a 4+ hour binge cleaning/home repair session that I had been putting off for weeks.

Feeling pretty good about my progress and going to enjoy the 60 F weather tonight.

[GershonSurge]

@HeartBiller,

You probably don't have an electronic thermostat. Outdoor units don't have pilot lights.

I don't have anymore suggestions. Hope it's something simple.

[_Lilac_]

My rest day was a success! 4700 steps instead of 11,000-13,000, I ate within 300 calories of the target zone and did a little writing, a little knitting, did some housework, and generally didn't do any workout at all. I have been doing my thing 7 days per week for so long that this is sooo odd. 

I got completely frustrated with the news and I felt like calling the cable company to tell them to turn me off. Internet, tv, everything. I want to live off the grid, not connected to anything or anyone, but I'm much too lazy to grow my own food or install solar panels or chop wood. I might start wearing blinders and skip the news channels and put my fingers in my ears, chanting, "Lalalalala" when anyone mentions what's happening. 

Tomorrow I am back to my routine, walking the mall and doing a bit of veg and fruit shopping. I'll walk the dogs and do a workout. We are getting hit with another storm Tuesday night into Wednesday, so I might be stuck in the house. With the dogs. Going crazy. 

Bedtime. Have a great night all and keep on keepin' on. We have a week to go!

[nightswimming]

Here we are at Tuesday again. Hope everyone has a good final week.

F/35/5'0"

USW: 174

SW: 120.3 (12/26)

PW: 122.4 (01/03)

        119.4 (01/10)

        120.2 (01/17)

        115.8 (01/24)

        117.4 (01/31)

CW: 116.2 (02/07)

GW: 118 (maintain under!)

UGW: 112

[HeartBiller]

Well I guess the weekend splurge didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would. I am by no means where I want to be, but am very happy with it for now. I have to still lose another 4 ounces to get back to where I was this time last month, so it was a bit of a set back, but I am moving forward. I am going to "try" to make this a good week for me and not do any splurges so that "hopefully" I might could make my goal. I will just be happy to get any closer to it.

We have a dinner date on Friday night, but I will prepare for that through the day so I can save calories and be sure to drink plenty of water so I don't overeat as well.

I have a set of twin granddaughter's who are having their 10th birthday party on Saturday, but I am figuring I can make it through that with out to much struggle... I think. lol. I'll try to eat before we go and then there will be a lot of kids so I should have plenty to keep me busy and not pick at finger foods...lol.

Well at least I am preparing my mind for this weekend..lol. Now I have to work very hard to get my steps in and make this happen. I hope everyone is having a wonderful Tuesday!

MY stats
USW - 210.0 lbs April 25th 2016
SW   - 173.0 lbs 12/30/16

01/03/17 -  171.2 lbs - Lost 1.8 lbs 

01/10/17  - 165.4 lbs - Lost 5.8 lbs 

01/17/17  - 166-4 lbs - Gained 1 pound 

01/24/17 - I didn't weigh in

01/31/17 - 168.4 lbs - Up 2 pounds 

02/07/17 - 165.8 lbs - Lost 2.6 lbs

GW   - 163.0 lbs - Feb 14th 2017
UGW - 125.0 lbs

[Cele21]

Thought I had posted Saturday but can't find it so doing it now:

USW- 215.0

CSW- 213.4

LW- 212.2

CW- 211.4

GW- 199.4

UGW- 150

Down almost another pound. Don't think I'll hit my goal but every loss is a win.

[_Lilac_]

Not even noon yet and I have almost 8500 steps. Did shopping, walked our laps at the mall, thinking about baking some bread and making stew in preparation for the storm tonight. I hate to mess up my pristine kitchen though after working so hard on it yesterday. Haha. I have to clean out the fridge of food my daughter left behind that I won't eat. (She's back at school and won't be back for a month). Bologna. She had a craving one day and asked me to pick some up for her. I never touched it. It's been in my fridge and I didn't have any! Now, if you know anything about die-hard Canadian Maritimers, you'll know that we love our bologna. And I didn't have any! It's in the bin now. Green beans have taken up it's spot on the shelf.

I have another workout to do later to keep my metabolism active for the day. I'm going to dedicate some time to cleaning off my computer desk. It's one of those stressful life things that I avoid, since there are bills and letters and reminders piling up. But the best thing to do to relieve that stress is to sort and eliminate, so that's what I'll do. 

Ok, on with my day. I hope you have a great Tuesday and wish me luck in keeping my kitchen clean. It's so hard to do!! I need a remodel so badly.

[em.kz]

@nightswimming Wow! Great job! You have come so far and are so close to your ultimate goal, I hope you're proud of yourself because you should be!!

[Tybokitty]

My weight hasn't changed any from last week. Still at 167. Not sure what is holding it there. Doing more moving and still counting calories. Probably won't make my goal by next week. Going to have to try harder and figure out what is going wrong. Granted had some hectic weekends and weeks lately. Sitting more during the day since I am busier.

Sent from my iPhone

[Bobbinyc]

@almost_where Thanks again for all your support and inspiration.  I think of you with my food prep and workouts - you are the one rocking it.

[Bobbinyc]

@_Lilac_ @HeartBiller  How are your home?  Windows and thermostats - oh my.  I live in an older home - about 80 years old, though most of the homes around here are much older.  I love the architecture, the real plaster walls, the beautiful stone work, wood floors.  But the stress of what will break next - ugh!  Last year I replaced the heating/cooling system.  Year before it was the roof.  No wonder I'm broke!  That said, several friends moved into new homes and have all kinds of problems too.

At least my 15 year old car is still running!

But, like Lilac always says, take the stress and walk it off.

[Bobbinyc]

@_Lilac_  I'm glad you had a "rest" day.  I know it was a rest for you, but I had to laugh.  Your rest is other people's active.  

Yes, the news is so crazy. A national security chief who is a white supremacist, a head of education who doesn't believe in public schools, a head of the environment who thinks climate change is fiction - I keep thinking this weird sci fi movie with "alternative facts" will end soon.  And almost all campaign promises broken already.  Hard to believe it is just getting started.

On the other hand, when a mosque in Texas was burned down last week, the local synagogue gave the leader the keys to the synagogue  building so they have a place to pray whenever they wish.  And over $600,000 has been raised for them so far.

Warm, caring, rational people still join together for the general good.

So, don't listen to news at bedtime.  Do lots of deep breathing and walking.  And keep taking good care of yourself.

[HeartBiller]

@BobbinycWell I had a repair man at the house this morning.. and I must say I LOVE the way they reply to you. He starts by telling me that I have a part broke.. it is $25 to replace, so I am thinking very positive.. then he proceeds to tell BUT, you don't have hardly any freon in your unit and yours should hold like 160 units and I have like 3, so with that said, since my unit is what he called an older unit... (its a 99) not to old to me..lol. BUT anyhow, he says you could fill it and it possibly leak right back off in 3 months.. His guess is if you have the money for a new unit, we should just get a new one... So I was already late for work, wasn't really feeling like he and I were on the same page, so I simply took the chicken way out and said, well thank you for coming, I will have my husband call your boss and talk with him after you turn your report in..lol. So I have no clue where we are headed... Can't say that either options are in my budget at the moment, so I guess time will tell. "God's Got This"

[_Lilac_]

@Bobbinyc My house was built at the end of WWII, when the 'boys' were returning from Europe. The local barracks and base were at the very end of my street, so they built this entire neighbourhood of small houses to accommodate the families. The baby boomers were all born and raised here. Lots of seniors as my neighbours but they are trickling out. I bought just over ten years ago and I need repairs and updates. Not much has been done to the house. I have the original kitchen floor (flowery linoleum tiles), original cupboards, etc. The windows are old. I put on a deck, fenced the backyard for the dogs, built a spare room in the basement. The windows will delay my kitchen refit. Since i'm on disability i'm going to have to turn into one of those 'extreme money misers' to afford it. Dig out of dumpsters, sell my blood, etc. Haha. I have a roof. I pay my bills. I'm lucky!

[Brujita]

USW- 171.6

UGW-   135

MFP- brujitabrujita 

• CSW: 171.6 (12/28)
• PW: 170.4  (-1.2 1/03)
• PW: 169.4 (-1 1/10)
• PW: 167 (-2.4 1/17)
• PW: 167.1 (+.1 1/24) 
• PW: 165.9 (-1.2 1/31)
• CW: 167 (+1.1 2/07)

GW-   165 (for Feb 14)  

1.1lb up. Which oddly im ok with. the scale has been floating in the 167.5-169 so i'll take it. I almost think the 165.9 from the previous week was a fluke. I hope I can reach my goal next week. This time last year I weighed in at 161.8 so a total difference of 5.2lbs- which to be fair I started this journey in Jan 2016 at 168 so really not all bad. 

I hit my 70K last week, hitting 10k during during weekdays. So better than the previous week. took the dogs for plenty of walks too. eatting habits- mixed. I turned down fastfood multiple times. I cooked almost daily with the exceptions of leftovers. 

Goals for this Last week

• 10k daily
• Loving movement aka Exercise daily
• log food

[A_Lurker]

I'm trying to catch up tonight and I decided to try and do one big post instead of multiple small ones. I'm sure I've missed lots of posts, so just a general big wave hello to everyone.

@Gayle1018- I know I'm commenting late on this, but best suggestion after a melt down day is pick yourself up, go back on plan, drink plenty of water and stay off the scale for a couple of days. Unless you truly ate 7000 calories it is pretty much impossible to gain a couple of pounds overnight. Increased glycogen stores will pull excess water, they just take a little longer to deplete usually.

@HeartBiller- I agree with @Cele21 - a crockpot can be a good thing. To make lunches easier lately I've been doing at least 3 days worth of grilled chicken and/or pork and roast a packaging of frozen veggies (750g) with some seasonings and then divide into 3 portions. I'll likely get bored of it at some point but they make quick lunches with a large granny smith apple. Or, if I come home and don't feel like doing any cooking I'll put them all in the oven with some potato. I should probably go make some rice as that's also an option to keep dinners quick as well. I can vary them up with some different sauces (although at the moment I'm using a dry rub so that usually limits me to no sauce or some bbq sauce).

Also, congrats on the NSV (Non-Scale Victory) with the clothing. It really is more important to focus on items other than the scale. However, it can be hard to do so.

@_Lilac_- I'm not completely offline, just not on as much as I was. I'm going to keep reading the challenge threads, but I'm not going to be in the next one. I'll just do my regular weigh in for the weekly thread. It's more about where I am right now. Somewhat burned out (who really though 20,000 steps a day and more calories burned than I was 100lbs ago was a good idea). For some it might work, my history says it ends in a disaster. I've dropped my goal to 10,000 steps and not even focusing on the calories burned. I changed my deficit to 750 calories a day and will do that unless I slowly ramp up the calories burned.

I've also been in the same place that you've been. When you're in the middle of weight loss the strangers you meet don't know how far you've come. They only see where you are. In the end, you and the people you know, are what's more important. Even now, consider that every now and then (usually when I'm buying lunch) I'll bring back a 50 pack of tim-bits. I prefer them because I can have 2 or 3 without blowing the calorie budget, and I've been doing it as I've lost my weight.

Yuck, yuck, yuck on the water. I had a mini-flood last spring and water can be so destructive. I'm hoping that I'll read something further on that you've had someone in and it's not as bad as you thought.

@BLLingg- I used to like the goal day challenges. When I was doing 15-20,000 steps I actually increased my goal. However, I've seen a couple of times where people have a really low goal and then hit 400%. The last time I looked and they had been hitting this high number forever, so it felt almost like they needed to win. I actually have issues with my phone (a Blackberry Z10) syncing and connecting, so I don't always join the challenges.

[A_Lurker]

The good news is that it had warmed up slightly when I left work.  Otherwise this would have been a problem.

The little rodent (reference to groundhog day) said it was going to be an early spring.  I want my spring!