Christmas Weight Loss Challenge

[Purplepiggie]

I have decided since it is 90 days til Christmas the best gift I can give myself is better health. In the past 9 months I have slowly lost 40lbs give or take usually stays a between 35-40lbs. I would like to lose another 20lbs + by Christmas. This would put me at almost the halfway point for my weight loss. I was doing paleo for a while but found myself bingeing on cheat meals and eating way to many things that I shouldn't. So now I have decided no foods are off limit I will log every bite of everything and if I choose to eat more than allotted for my activity I will have to be more active to stay within my calorie deficit for the day and see how everything goes from there. Feel free to join me on this journey. Also add me as a friend so we can challange each other.

Moderator Edit: Corrected subject

[AndyDandyPandy]

USW: 305

SW: 213

CW: 198

GW: 195 or less

UGW: 170+/-

Haven't update for awhile. Don't feel the need to to stay on track anymore. Just another day of life. Still losing weight at a pretty amazing pace. 6 weeks since this challenge calculated at 2.5lb loss per week with moderate exercise and eating. Will have to start lifting heavy soon with more protein. Get them gainz. Just live on and be mindful of your health and what you eat and you'll see the changes overtime. Over thinking and being too worrisome will make this journey a lot more painful, tedious, and longer.

[wannabelf]

"Forgot" to log in but I was up a lb a that point.149. Doesn't look like I'll make my goal but I'm not lowering it! If I don't make my goal I'll be more inspired to keep going and make it next challenge. I really have been walking a lot more and it's the "Seasonal" goodies....that I never experienced with fitbit until now, And my hearty winter home made meals that are keeping me up. Not enough chef salads for dinner! giggle. I honestly think that the Next challenge I find,after Christmas, I'll be on track like I was a year ago with less stress. I do know what I'm doing wrong and still staying Barely within normal BMI so it's really OK with me. Best wishes to all!

[BLLingg]

Yes and No, @Glenda.  It's hard to cook when there's just you and all you know (well) is how to cook for a whole Group of People!  I "cheat" a lot and hit Safeway where I can purchase Packaged PreCut Veggies & Fruit or the Deli where I can really CHEAT and grab some Poppers or something similar. 

Yesterday, I had Safeway's 10 oz Pkg of Leeks, Onions, & Mushrooms sauted with 2 T of Olive Oil for Lunch.  Before that, as a MidMorning Snack, I had some Sourdough Bread w/ Smart Balance Olive Oil Buttery Spread.  After it, I had some of my Landlord's Ham (BAD Girl!!!) which he had just cooked up followed by some Watermelon (Safeway Cut) and some Grapefruit (from a Jar).  For Breakfast, I had had 3 halves of Deviled Eggs left over from Wednesday's Potluck here at Work.  And a small piece of the Brownies (BAD BAD Girl!!) I had made for the Potluck.

For Lunch today, I'm going to have some Green Beans w/ Potatoes, Onion & Bacon—leftovers from what I had also made for the Potluck.  Not sure what I'll do for Dinner yet.  Maybe some Split Pea Soup (Homemade).  Or some Basil Tomato Soup (canned).  Both of those sound good!  And Watermelon since I still have some left.

[almost_where]

Week 1 - 283 - (11/06)

Week 2 - 278 - (11/13)

Week 3 - 275 - (11/20)

Week 4 - 274 - (11/27) 

Week 5 - 272 - (12/04)

Week 6 - 272 - (12/11)

Week 7 - 269 - (12/18) - CW 

Christmas Goal = 269.99 lbs. (Revised Goal: 267)

-3 lb

Alright this next week, call it temptation week, has just begun. Good luck everyone, finish strong.

[A_Lurker]

---

@A_Lurker wrote:

USW: 407.0

CSW: 360.0 (Feb 2016)
PW: 265.8 (12/04/16)
CW: 265.0 (-0.8)
GW: 259.2 (Christmas)  <-- not really aiming for this anymore
LT: 2.11 lbs/week for 45 weeks

Okay, perfect example this week of how you can do lots of good but end up going in the wrong direction.  I did tons of steps, my eating was mediocre (but not bad) but my weight is still up.  I'm not super concerned about this.  Yesterday for example I didn't go over calories, however, way too many of them came from cookies.  I didn't drink enough water and I didn't get enough sleep yesterday.  So, I'm up this week.  I'm not likely going to even address it until after Christmas, so be it.   I only posted this week to show that even I have a bad week. 

USW: 407.0

CSW: 360.0 (Feb 2016)
PW: 265.0 (12/11/16)
CW: 266.8 (+1.8)
GW: 259.2 (Christmas)  <-- not really aiming for this anymore
LT: 2.03 lbs/week for 46 weeks

[BLLingg]

Well, I changed my Mind.  I decided to hit my Goal then change it.  I hit it on Tuesday, the 13th, and changed it to 175.  I stayed at 185 for 2 more Days then bounced back up to 185.4 on the 16th.    Stayed there for 2 more Days.  I sort of allowed myself to indulge my Taste Buds.  On Wednesday, the 14th, the Day of our Company Potluck, & again on Saturday, the 17th, I actually consumed more than I burned.    Yesterday, though, I was a very good girl!  And it shows!!!

06 Jun (First FitBit Weigh in - 216)   NEW INFO

14 Nov (CW = 191.8)

21 Nov (G 191;  Reached 190.2)

28 Nov (G 190;  Reached 188.2)

05 Dec (G189;  Up to 189)

12 Dec (G188;  Down to 185.2 then back up; at 186.6 Today!)

19 Dec (G187;  Down to 184.6) 

Christmas (G 185)

My 66th is Tomorrow.  To my knowledge (historically), no one will do anything for it so I shouldn't have to deal with Temptation.  As for extra Motivation, first, I'm in another WorkWeek Challenge.  Those really help!  Secondly, I went Clothes Shopping this Morning on my way to Work.  (WalMart is 24 Hour)  Until now, I've done virtually all of my Clothes Shopping at OneStopPlus (now FullBeauty).  But one of my FitBit wearing Co-Workers has been nagging me to stop shopping at the Plus Sizes Store and get some Clothes that fit me.  (The Plus Size Pants are HUGE in the Thighs and bag horribly even on the first wearing!!!)  I am now wearing a Pair of Slacks size Women's XL (16-18) and a Fitted Top size 20!

I'm flying down to Arizona for Christmas.  Mom hasn't seen me since October (197.6#).  My Sister hasn't seen me since March (±235#).  I will definitely be wearing clothes that fit!!!

[Glenda]

                                    BLLing,  You are doing so well!!  I'm very impressed by you an A_Lurker.  I hope your family notices and is happy for you.  I read recently that Walmart is going to start having Plus sizes and maybe more  other regular larger sizes too, since they seem to be recognizing that it woud be appropriate to say the least.  I am sorry to hear no one ever celebrated your birthday much.  My daughter's birthday is Dec 17 and starting with her second year I just changed her birthday celebration to October 17.  We had parties and gifts then and I took all the kids to an amusement park in good weather.  December birthdays are extremely difficult to do much for.  Crystal thought that after she was an adult and married she could have a December birthday but after 3  years her husband said he just couldn't do a good job of a Dec. birthday and they changed it to June.  So don't be too hurt.  It isn't personal.  I'll bet your family loves you more than you realize.  Happy Birthday Dec. 20  Glenda

[_Lilac_]

@BLLingg  Well, I hope you have a GREAT birthday. Do something nice for yourself. I get really annoyed when some kind of event comes up and the first thing we do is EAT or celebrate with food. I've always wanted to turn down dinners or whatever as get-togethers. Doing something ELSE would be better for us and get our minds to change about food being a 'reward'. So...having ranted about that...do something fun for yourself like going to a special place, taking photos to remember the day and your surroundings, reflect about how great it is to be 66!! 

My son arrives tomorrow after moving far away for the first time in August. It will also be a celebration day for me, so I'll think about your birthday and cheer you on. I'm not giving you birthday cake though. I'll do an extra 1000 steps for ya!!

[Glenda]

BLLingg , Happy Birthday. Treat yourself well today.

[Birkenhead]

BLLing, Happy Birthday!!! You can do it and should be proud of what you've done so far!  We're all certainly proud of you!  One 'step' at a time and you'll get there!

[TT_is_me]

SW: 258.5 on Oct 31

Week 1:  257.8   -.7 lbs 

Week 2:  258.5   +.7 lbs 

Week 3:  252.5    -6 lbs

Week 4:  255.5   +3 lbs

Week 5:  254       -1.5 lbs (Dec 6)

Week 6: 254        0 lbs

Week 7: 249.8     -4.2 lbs GOAL!!!

Week 8:  (Dec 25)

GW: 250

UGW: 160

Apparently I forgot to post on here last week but it would have been anticlimatic any way. I'm really shocked by this weigh in but I will definitely take it. Now to face the huge temptation week and still be below the goal by Christmas. I would love to be at 248.5 by Christmas (make it -10 lbs down) but will be happy with being below 250. 

I just wanted to say how impressed I am that people are still trying to lose weight during this holiday season. It is the hardest time of the year for most of us yet we are tackling it head on. In the beginning of the month, I started to think about just wanting to maintain my weight, thinking it was just going to be too hard. I was inspired by everyone's posts and goals, though, and pressed on. Thanks for the extra motivation for this time. 

[TT_is_me]

Week 1:  257.8   -.7 lbs 

Week 2:  258.5   +.7 lbs 

Week 3:  252.5    -6 lbs

Week 4:  255.5   +3 lbs

Week 5:  254       -1.5 lbs (Dec 6)

Week 6: 254        0 lbs

Week 7: 249.8     -4.2 lbs GOAL!!!

Week 8:  (Dec 25)

GW: 250

UGW: 160

Apparently I forgot to post on here last week but it would have been anticlimatic any way. I'm really shocked by this weigh in but I will definitely take it. Now to face the huge temptation week and still be below the goal by Christmas. I would love to be at 248.5 by Christmas (make it -10 lbs down) but will be happy with being below 250. 

I just wanted to say how impressed I am that people are still trying to lose weight during this holiday season. It is the hardest time of the year for most of us yet we are tackling it head on. In the beginning of the month, I started to think about just wanting to maintain my weight, thinking it was just going to be too hard. I was inspired by everyone's posts and goals, though, and pressed on. Thanks for the extra motivation for this time. 

[Annabel398]

10/10 | (start)

10/17 ████▌-0.3

10/24 █████████████▌-2.7

10/31 ████████████████████████ -4.8

11/07 ████████████████████▌-4.1

11/14  ████████████████████████████▌-5.7

11/21  ███████████████████████████▌-5.5

11/28  ████████████████████████████████ -6.2

12/05 ████████████████████████████████████▌-5.6

12/12 █████████████████████████████████████████ -6.8

12/19 █████████████████████████████████████████████▌-8.0

12/25 ██████████████████████████████████████████████████ (goal: -10)

Still behind schedule, but still losing. I doubt I'll lose 2# before Xmas, but it ain't over till it's over.

You know what I really hate? Accepting a challenge and then leaving my Fitbit hanging from its charger at home. Grr!

How's everyone else doing?

[HeartBiller]

Well its been a rough week for me..I haven't done very well. My mother in law had her Christmas get together on this past Sunday.. and I was BAD BAD BAD... My sister in law had made peanut butter balls, which is a terrible weakness of mine.. So I am up a pound this week. Which means, more than likely, I will not meet my Christmas goal. Which does make me sad... So I need to kick my own butt and get it in gear.!!!!

My daughters church (which I visit alot...lol) has several members which are going to do the Daniel Fast starting Jan 2nd, so I think my husband and I are going to do it with them... It is 21 days of eating a healthy and natural food.. BUT no meat.. and I am a meat eater..lol. So if any of you have any input on the Daniel Fast I would be happy to hear it. I am sure gonna need meal ideals... We did it once before a couple of years ago, But it seems like my memory is gone from it now..lol.

Well I hope everyone else is doing well and better than I did this week...I wish everyone the very best on which ever diet/plan/ lifestyle change that you are working on. I know all to well the struggle we are all going through... BUT WE WILL GET THERE! YES WE CAN!!!

MY stats
USW - 210 lbs
SW - 210 lbs
10/25/16 - 178.4 lbs
11/01/16 - 177.6 lbs - 0.8 lbs
11/08/16 - 174.8 lbs - 2.8 lbs
11/14/16 - 174.3 lbs  - 0.5 lbs

11/22/16 - 171.6 lbs - 2.7 lbs
11/29/16 - 175.2 lbs  3.6 Gain 😞

12/06/16 - 171.4 Lost the 3.6 I had gained plus lost 2 more ounces .. . - 3.8 lbs

12/13/16 - 170.0 lbs - 1.4 lbs

12/20/16 - 171.0 lbs +1.0 lbs

Total Lost so far this challenge - 7.4 pounds Goal Weight by Christmas - 167.5
UGW - 125 lbs

[BLLingg]

I'm sorry, @Glenda, I didn't clarify about my Birthday. 

My Family & Friends always do something to let me know that I'm getting older.  LOL  It's here at Work I was speaking about.  The Production Gals "celebrate" one another's Birthdays.  Cake, Donuts, all sorts of "Goodies."  But they don't do anything for Admin Birthdays.  Good thing, too!  That's the LAST THING I need!!! 

I wasn't feeling hurt or neglected.  I was rejoicing that I wouldn't be hit with Temptation.  (I mean how the heck could / would you say, "No Thank you" to a piece of your own Birthday Cake?!?!?!?

[BLLingg]

You nailed it, @TT_is_me!  Without one another, I doubt most if not any of us could manage during this Holiday Season.  But with one another, we have HOPE!!!  We have ENCOURAGEMENT!!  We have SUPPORT!!!  In exchange, we have to give HONESTY!!! 

And it's that dern Honesty that really Motivates us to keep trying!  'Cause if we gave up to ran & hid, we would have no Hope, no Encouragement, and no Support!

It was murder for me to fess up about my Weight in the beginning.  Almost as hard as it used to be when someone asked me how old I was.  (My standard Replies to that were, "A Lady never reveals her age and a Gentlemen never asks!" and "Sorry, Need to Know Basis only!")

[jlow]

So, clearly, I won't be meeting my goal, but I'm pretty happy with the fact that I'm lower than where I started.  I have to say thank you to you all for your honesty.  One reason I have failed at this in the past, is due to getting discouraged - feeling like everyone else is succeeding, but I'm not.  I have to say, seeing everyone's very real struggles helped me through this, and will continue to.  Well done everyone on sticking to this, no matter what the results.

Hoping some of you may friend me 'fitbit@lowtek.ca' ; perhaps we can do some step challenges?

jl

Nov. 8th SW - 186.5

Nov. 13th - 186.6 (I'm calling this the same)
Nov. 22nd - 188
Nov. 29th CW - 186.8

Dec. 6th - 185.2

CW Dec. 13th - 185.3

CW Dec. 21st - 182.9  wow!  That never happens for me!! 

Dec. 24 GW - 179

[BLLingg]

Thank you, @Glenda, @_Lilac_, @Birkenhead, and everyone else here!!!  I did do something nice for myself!!  I got my Hair cut and I bought more Clothes that fit me now!!! 

Today, I'm going to let our Web Photographer take a Photo of me.  It's going to be my "Mid" Photo.  I'm going to post it along with a Before Photo on my Profile.  At least I'm planning on doing it Today.  The problem is that every time he takes my Photo and I get a look at it, I chicken out.  (We've had several Photo Sessions.   Good thing he's such a nice Fella!!!) 

Everyone here says that I'm lookin' really good and that they can see the Weight Loss.  Me, all I see is a Fat Girl.  (OK Old Lady!!!)  And yes, I know that accepting yourself Mentally is a BIG Challenge and an even BIGGER Stumbling Block!!!

[Glenda]

                                    BLLingg,  It is so great that you are going to have a beginning of the year picture.  You will be  glad you did that 6 months or a year from now.  Good for you for being brave.  Having your hair done was a good idea too.  When you catch a  reflection of yourself somewhere and look better to your self, it will make you feel happier and others will enjoy it too.  Everyone who hopes to lose weight  would enjoy having a before picture if they go to the effort to make it "public quality".  (regular clothes and hair combed etc, not swimsuit).  Good job  BLLingg!!

[SunsetRunner]

Hi all and best of the season! This week I am very late in posting, everything seems to be going wrong this week (hot water tank lines burst) but did manage to stay on track. No ups or downs which is good so just staying the same at right around 201.

My old fitbit flex totally crapped out on me so have a new charge 2 on order but it won't be here until after Christmas (they say the 30th). I am still going to stay active and follow the routine.

I have been thinking a lot about all the challenges that many people on this board face. I don't have a lot of those as I work from home as my own boss so can control treats, food, social things, etc. My big problem is finding time to work in exercise and to get sleep. In addition to my "real job" I am also a full time caregiver for my husband, he had a massive stroke 8 years ago and is fully dependent on assistance for everything, including communication and any type of movement from his chair to the wheelchair. He also has cognitive problems from the stroke and no sense of day or night, so since wearing the fitbit I have found I get less than 3 hours of sleep in any one block for the 5-6 hours of my "night".

Sorry, not trying to sound like a sad story here but I have been reading a lot about sleep and weight gain. I am wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this?

Thanks again, love to see all the support on here, you really do make a difference!!! Merry Christmas to all, will do a proper weight chart next week!

[BLLingg]

Here they are:  Before and Mid.  (Please don't let me know if you can't tell the difference!)  Taken in 2008

Taken Today

I can actually see a difference myself.  But I still look Fat!!!  That's ok though!  This is just a "Mid" not an "After" Photo!!!

Hey!  I just noticed.  I look like I'm in a Star Trek Uniform!