July 4th to Labor Day Challenge 2016

[dancefoxtrot]

Welcome one and all to our next challenge for better health and weight loss or maintenence.

We gather here to support each other, cheering and empathizing with the process of life style

change to improve our health and quality of life.

Set reasonable goals so you can feel success.

USW= heaviest weight when you began to lose

SW=starting weight

CW=current weight

GW=goal weight for Labor Day

UGW = Ultimate goal weight - long term healthy weight goal

Some people include their BMI = Body Mass Index, and some add their height as well. 

You can stop by once a week and post your progress or every day to get and give ideas and support. 

Most people track their food intake as well as steps to make sure you burn at least 500 to 750 more calories than you consume. Remember eat healthy food and portions in a way that you can maintain.

We can do this together. We have seen great progress over the last 7 challenges. 

Welcome.

Barbara G

[SGwyn]

USW - 198 (2/14/15)
SW -179.4 (7/3/16)

CW - 175.6 (7/19/16)
GW - 160 (Labor Day)
UGW - 150- (by end of 2016)

[Cherylwith5]

Vacation over....back to the grind. Didn't gained like I thought I would (thank goodness!!).  PA hills are everywhere and we did TONS of walking!  Paid off with just a little bit of gain.

USW - 231

CSW - 217

CW - 218.4 (7/19)

GW - 210

UGW - 135

[dancefoxtrot]

Thinking of you all. Another day to stay on track and eat low carb. Trying to keep carbs low like under 65 per day with no refined carbs

Down another .01 lbs to 145.9 this morning so I'm smiling.

I tell you it was a welcome sight to see the 145 peeking up at me even with the .9 tagging along. 

Spoiler

Stay strong challengers,

Barb G

[mommo77]

Congrats, Barb!  I know the feeling of wanting to see that next number, even if it's only barely there.  I finally managed to go down a bit, so I'm pretty psyched.  Hubby and I leave tommorow for a few days so I've packed my snacks and will be careful not to go overboard. 

SW 212

CW 175

GW  150

Ultimate goal 135

[Bobbinyc]

@dancefoxtrot Sorry to hear about the pump and the tree coming down.  Hope it's not too expensive. Congrats on the weight loss!  It took its time but maybe now there will be some momentum.  How are your injuries doing?  Did you see a doc?

And thanks for the support, advice.  I do think it might be my thyroid.  I have no energy at all.  Just have to wait a bit for an appt. (vacation time) but will hopefully find out soon.  Meanwhile, I dragged myself to the gym and only managed 20 minutes.  But I think the scale should go down because of effort.

[CynC]

@Bobbinyc, it could very well be your thyroid. Before my hypothyroid was diagnosed, I spent months working out every single day and cutting way back on calories. Couldn't lose weight. Once diagnosed and given medication, I lost six lbs. In under two weeks. And my energy picked back up, I stopped feeling cold, and my head felt clearer. Good luck.

[rachel_g22]

Here's my check in!

Start: 152
Today: 151.6
Goal: 144

Super slow going, but I guess it's going! I had a crazy busy weekend last weekend and I ended up eating a lot of unhealthy junk. But, I also have been keeping up with the 10k training, so that's probably where the balance out came from. I'm hoping that by next Wednesday, I'll be down to 150!

[almost_where]

USW-363 - March 9

Independence Day Weight - 314

Week 1 - 311

Week 2 - 309 - CW

- 2 lbs

Went to NYC on vacation and evey time I blinked it seemed like a hot dog stand or pizza by the slice sign appeared. out of thin air.  Managed to stay away from most of it. Looking foward to getting back to regular foods in my kitchen this week.

Have a good week eveyone

[scottie0714]

@DJC_63 Thanks for the feedback!  I do have some items (clothing) in smaller sizes that I have been able to lean on.  Some items were goal items too - so I'm extremely happy about that.  But, now some of those items are starting to be looser.  At any rate, I'm trying not to invest too much in new clothing.  Shirts are strange because I was used to just grabbing a L or XL automatically.  Now my XL and some L are too big.  

I saw that we are the same weight - yay us!  I'm truly striving for the 181 by Labor Day! 

[scottie0714]

Hi - does anyone in our group do any meal prep?  I've been attempting to move toward this, as it helps me stay on task.  So far, I've only accomplished breakfast and dinner.  For those that do, any ideas for lunch?

[CynC]

@scottie0714, what we do is make enough at dinner for leftovers for lunch the next day. Easy. Put it in a container, stick in fridge. Grab & go.

[Ayomideaa]

First Fitbit Challenge  

Height: 5'7

USW= 150 (sometime in 2014)

SW= 147 (April 22 2016)

CW=139 (July 20 2016)

GW=134 (labor day 2016)

UGW = 129 (October 5 2016)

I hope I make it...also trying to do my first 10k on 09/08

-Ayo 

[Ayomideaa]

@scottie0714 Meal prep is soo helpful!! 

I don't like cooking so I make realy simple things...I usually make all my food for the week on sunday. 

Lunch: Chicken breast salad 

Spinah & arugula (or any greens really) 

Chicken breast...I prefer grilled

Walnuts

Blue cheese

Boiled eggs(sometimes)

grape tomatoes

Italian dressing (rarely) 

Goodluck!

[Bobbinyc]

@CynC Thanks for the response.  I was diagnosed with thyroid problems many years ago and have been on meds and did fine until now.  Hopefully I will get an answer soon.  Thanks.

[Bobbinyc]

@almost_where NYC street food and you still lost 2 pounds!  Bet you walked a lot.  Somehow in the city I can walk endlessly.  Hope you had fun.

[Bobbinyc]

@scottie0714 I was just thinking about meal prep this morning.  I used to and it was incredibly helpful.  I am making a big batch of an Italian soup that is vegetables and beans.  Will freeze it in containers that I can take out of the freezer the day before.  It's actually nice knowing I have some cooked healthy food that is filling on hand.  I used to bake chicken breasts, eat one hot for dinner, and slice up the rest to have cold on a salad at lunch for the next day or two.  That could be done with fish, turkey, meat or chick peas or black beans too.  

What are you trying?  How do you do breakfast and dinner?

[A_Lurker]

@scottie0714 - since you asked specifically about lunch.  On the weekend I make a couscous salad.  I take:

1 cup couscous, hydrated

~ 1 cup chopped red onion

~ 1 cup chopped celery

~ 1 cup chopped green pepper

Mix together with various salad dressings (greek, balsamic, etc.).  I may eventually move to homemade dressings and spices, but using something bottled is way faster. Just enough to keep the couscous from becoming one big lump.  You could toss in some seasonings as well.

This base salad keeps well over a week.  I take a portion each day, I add (to chop fresh) cherry tomatoes and cucumber.

Weekly I'll change up what I add to it.  Sometimes black olives and feta cheese, other times boccocini balls, sometimes just the veggies.  I'm not a huge fan of cold chicken, but some weeks I'll poach up some chicken thighs (they don't dry out as much as chicken breast) and also chop this in.  Usually I'll cook up chicken thighs and/or pork tenderloin and just warm it up and take it on the side.  I've been eating a version of this for at least a couple of months I think and I'm not tired of it yet.

Then I add whatever fruit I want either with the meal or afternoon snack.

[rachel_g22]

@scottie0714 I usually do a super healthy lunch, which makes me feel better about eating a larger dinner and some sort of dessert!

I either make a massive veggie stir fry (like literately, 4 bell peppers, an onion, carrots, brocolli, and whatever else I have on hand..) with brown rice. I portion that out to 2-3 cups veggies with 1/2 cup of brown rice with a little bit of teriaki sauce or peanut sauce. Or, I'll make a bunch of huge salads, basically with a lot of the same ingredients, just in a salad rather than a stir fry. For dressing, I usually use 1 tbsp oil oil, the juice from 1/2 a lemon, and a little cayenne peper. When I log it in myfitnesspal, the stir fry usually comes out to about 300-400 cals, and the salads are typically a litte less.  

Have fun with it though! I started doing meal prep with my mom a while back when her diabetes got bad and you can really make any of your favorite recipes in bulk,  portion them out into smaller containers, and take one each day! 

[mommo77]

Scottie, the little bit of meal prep I do has absolutley saved me this summer.  I saute (in batches) a bunch of zucchini and squash, onion, garlic, chives, bell pepper, and fresh or low sodium canned tomatoes, whatever I have that I need to use up basically.  I put it altogether and portion it out.  Since I use another site to track my calories, I put the ingredients in and figure per serving, usually a half cup each, and unless I go crazy and use chicken broth or really salty tomatoes, the results are usually good (for me), around 112 calories and 50 mg sodium. This has been my vegetable staple this summer.  I also brown a pound or two of turkey, season it with Mrs. Dash taco seasoning, add some onion and garlic.  I started cooking my own dried black beans to control the sodium and steaming my own corn. Mix some corn and black bean with some low sodium salsa and it's pretty delish.  It's easy to grill some fish or chicken, portion out my healthey veggies, add a fruit and voila, my lunch is tasty, easy and healthy.  Not sure how I'll manage when school starts and I'm back at work, but for now, it's been a life saver. It also helps that I'm not a very adventurous eater, and don't mind having the same things over and over, lol.

[DJC_63]

@scottie0714,
I've started doing really basic meal preps and it does help a lot. I buy chicken breasts or tenderloins and separate them and freeze them, then when I want a wrap I just cook the chicken on a George Foreman grill (best thing ever IMO). I use Flat Outs, kale, spinach, a little cheese and I indulge in a little sour cream. Still much better than the chicken Caesar wraps that I used to buy. I also get ground turkey and make my own turkey burgers and freeze them. My other favorite snack is Pom Seeds (Arils). They're hard to find in the summer but such an easy healthy snack. I'm off to Trader Joe's to get some now.