Halloween to Thanksgiving Challenge 2015

[awood08]

Hello everyone! Welcome to the Halloween to Thanksgiving Challenge!!!

This challenge will begin on Halloween October 31st and finish on Thanksgiving November 26th. This is a little less than 4 weeks so try and be realistic with your weight loss goals so you don't feel discouraged if you don't hit your mark.  

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.

HAVE FUN!! Most importantly enjoy yourself and your journey! 🙂

A little rundown of terminology for anyone who is new.

USW- Ultimate Starting Weight

CSW- Current Starting Weight

GW- Goal Weight

UGW- Ultimate Goal Weight

PW- Previous Weight

CW- Current Weight

MFP- My Fitness Pal

[Farisdayoff]

I forgot to update last week! Everything is still going good and falling steady.

USW  468 September 30, 2015

CSW  434  October 29, 2015

LW    425 November 4, 2015

CW    419   November 16, 2015

GW    399  November 26, 2015

UGW  285  June 14, 2017

[jescoleman]

Checking in:

USW -185

CSW -185

CW - 181

GW- 175

UGW- 135

I'm sad today. Last Monday I was down to 179lb and today it was up two pounds. Over the weekend I went on a mini vacation with my mom and was very aware of everything I ate, made sure to track it all, and did not go over board. I even walked laps around our hotel in the evenings to make sure I got my steps in. It's disappointing to be up after working so dillegently all week.

But, reviewing my diary entries there were a couple days where I had a doughnut and one day where I did not get all my steps in. The numbers don't lie, so this week I'm going to work harder. I'm still shooting for a challenge goal weight of 175lb, but know it may not be possible now. We'll see.

[awood08]

@jescoleman

Do not feel bad, I gained 2 pounds just over the weekend. One of my best friends got married, so between reherseal dinner, all day wedding festivities, and then add in the dessert & food at the wedding followed by lots of alcohol....yikes I woke up Sunday feeling like BLEH...Honestly, I've had these weekends once or twice since starting my weight loss journey and it seems like if I have a bad weekend, gain a few my body will reset it's self in a few days and I usually end up dropping those I gained back plus some. It's very possible to hit your goal weight!

[HelenKr]

Checking in because I'm very happy today...

I'm only 5'2" and my weight today dropped my BMI from obese to overweight.  Just barely, but I think this is a great step for me to get healthier.  Good luck all! 

USW - 176

CSW - 168 on 11/2

             166.4 on 11/10

             163.7 on 11/16

GW   - 163

UGW - 140

[liz6969]

Where do I post my weight and goals? And how

[HelenKr]

@Ilz6969

I think you just put them in your post.  At least that's what I've been doing.  Good Luck!

[IamRBrown]

I'm beginning to get frustrated... not gaining (good), not losing (bad)...  been 190 now for over 2 months.  Last week I cut my calorie intake allowed to nearly 500 below what fitbit says I can eat & STILL sitting at 190...  not giving up, but sure am getting frustrated with this plateau.

[Movingnow]

Great going *HelenKreider, Any step in the right direction is reason to celebrate. I had 3 parties this last weekend and * *gained 1.6. so I am not happy. Will increase my activity for the next few weeks and see if I can get it off. *

[dianenyc]

Good on you, Helen.  I have similar starting numbers but haven't broken through to "overweight" yet.  Happy with my progress though.  I just love my fitbit -- it's been keeping me moving and watching my food intake.  Usually, in November, my energy is so low due to the lack of sunlight that I work, come home and order take out.  Not this year.

Hope to join you in the "overweight" category early next year.''  Meanwhile, congratulations.

[viny2242]

Could someone please help me on this, on the dashboard the cal dial indicator gives me 3 readings over, under and on track if I eat before exercise pointer goes to over eating I normally eat 400 cal for breakfast but if I do my 2 mile walk first pointer goes to under and usually never moves from there the rest of the day. I usually walk 6 miles a day with this pointer always being in the under position am I putting myself in starvation mode making it harder to lose weight. Trying to keep cal intake at 1200 to 1400 but web sight says I should eat 2200 for the day seems like this would have me gaining weight any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[awood08]

I would not follow what the indicator says, say you have a big breakfast and a light dinner, it's going to show you are over eating throughout the day. That's why I sync my Fitbit with My Fitness Pal and just disreagard tracking anything but my sleep in Fitbit. MFP has a set calorie amount and awards you extra or less based on your activity with Fitbit. I honestly wouldn't ever track it just alone on Fitbit because of the same issue you have. If you are burning 2500 calories a day, and taking in 2200 then you will only have a 300 deficit and will not see the weight loss you are looking for. I usually eat around 1500 a day and burn 2500-3000 depends on activity and then adjust accordingly.

[Shanzjuanz]

Sooo i gained 2 pounds. sigh super depressed 😞

[IamRBrown]

I agree.  Another poster on here gave a formula to calculate your own calorie intake limits & explained why the fitbit method doesn't work too well...

The basic formula is:

      target weight * metabolism factor + calories burned

Where the average metabolism factor is around 10...  I used 8 since I figure at almost 50 years of age, mine is bound to be a little lower...

According to the explaination, fitbit calculates based on your CURRENT weight, not where you want to be...  I built my own spreadsheet to track my calories with & use that instead.  And it consistently shows me needing between 1000 - 1500, depending on my activity level.  Now to see if this helps me past this plateau I've been on for over 2 months...

[saraj91]

Morning! 

We had a lovely weekend away in Falmouth. Had some yummy food but didn't really indulge too much. We had Fish & Chips by the harbour & a cooked breakfast on Sunday but because the meals were really filling I didn't snack either day & only had a light tea on Sunday. That plus all the walking & swimming I think helped keep my cal in v out balanced. I love going to Cornwall, really feel like a weight gets taken off my shoulders when I go down to our favourite Hotel, it's so relaxing. 

So after a 6.5km run last night & the weekend away I was really pleased to be down 1lb, I'm making slow & steady progress.

To those struggling, keep at it, you are doing amazing work, if your weight has gone up remember that could be muscle growth, water weight or a bunch of different things so don't be down hearted, we all know you can do it!

USW 23/3: 186

PW 11/11: 142

CW 18/11: 141

GW: 26/11: 140

UGW 5/3/16: 126

[viny2242]

Thanks awood08 I used MFP up until I joined this fitbit group I liked there cal count much better never put the to together looked like they had some compatibilities issues do you have any problems with it?

[awood08]

Once or twice if I added multiple items say for lunch, and log it separately it would add the calories from the first item, then the second item and first together, and then if there was a third it would add the calorie total from the first, the 2 together, then the 3 together so I ended up with 1 400 calorie meal being more like 800 calories from duplicate entries being logged in Fitbit. I just logged and logged back in both MFP & Fitbit on my phone and then didn't have any problems.

[Katrice]

Is it too late to join?

Usw 272.4 5-04-15
Csw 211.6 11-18-15
Gw 199 12-21-15
Ugw 160 07/2016

[Katrice]

Weight always fluctuates. Keep doing your work and the lbs will go the other way tomorrow.

[Jeff686]

Mid-week update:

USW-      292      10/9/15

CSW-      279.4    10/30/15

GW-        267.5    11/26/15

UGW-      <200

CW-        269.6

Loss for this challenge: 9.8 lbs

2.1 more to go.

Played 1.5 hrs of tennis today!

[viny2242]

Good morning everyone thought I would pass on some good news that I got from my doctor after losing 27 lbs over the last 3 months my A1C diabetic reading is down in the safe zone, Cholesterol is down to safe zone and Triglyceride in the safe zone. Doctor said to keep doing what ever I am doing I never realized how much the extra weight was hurting my body thank you all for helping out.