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

[dancefoxtrot]

@Bobbinyc

Thanks so much for all the healing energy. I feel blessed about  how little injury I walked away from my totalled car with I must say. I love my 2011 Prius that I now have. Still have an exagerated startle response when driving and had some trouble falling asleep twice last week. I'm finding it hard not to fix things but I need to let this chest heal. The chiropracter has me taking 3 Tumeric pills 484 mg each. Last night I took 400 mg of Ibuprofen but I try to keep the NSAIDs to a minimum. I just rubbed on Arnica cream.  If I don't sneeze or hiccup the pain is very mild and forgetable especially got sitting at the computer. 

This Wed. I'll take my first private lesson without the very arched upper body position to work on patterns and lower body. If I feel worse after that I'll stop for another week or 2. 

I feel more vulnerable and a bit more fragile than I'm used to so that is an adjustment. 

Thanks for the water reminder as that is so important especially in hot weather. My dancing friend Linda and I drove along the coast where it was about 65F perhaps 20 degrees less than inland yesterday. 

I had a smoked trout salad with red onions, capers and frisee salad leaves. Very tasty indeed and water, 4 glasses full. 

Bobbi- When is your MD appt for your thyroid check up? Might you need a little more thyroid hormone to be balanced? Have you found an excellent endocrinologist for your hormone balancing? Do you get adequate iodine for your thyroid?  How marvelously strong you were at the Italian restaurant!!!! Great choices you are making to heal yourself. Keep at it in spite of the resistant scale. That high humidity baromic pressure idea might have something to it in terms of an added ounce or two. Wish we can blame more on it.

All the best my NYC friend,

Barbara G

[dancefoxtrot]

Hi all

Bouncing scale let go of .5 lb in a day leaving me back at 146.5  when I began on 7/4 at 147. so this is sure a slow loss process this challenge. I'll keep eating my healthy food and work on walking more to burn more. Check in day is tomorrow for me. I notice that when my weight is not moving down I go to the BMI calculator online to console myself a little. It says that I'm in the healthy range of 23 and I don't need to lose more. It just can't see the belly bulge of fat that I'm aiming for in spite of the normal BMI. Enough about weight.-time to eat breakfast and start moving. Still haven't found my fitbit!! 

Keep on the path that leads to health,

Barb G

[scottie0714]

Hi update for the week. As of today I'm down 1/2 lb. It was more a few days ago, but go figure. On a positive note I finished prepping my meals for the entire week (breakfast/lunch and dinner). 👍😊

USW - 213 (1/14/16)
SW -191.1 (7/3)
PW - 191 (7/10)
PW - 190.0 (7/17)
CW - 189.5 (7/24)
GW - 181 (Labor Day)
UGW - 170's

[khreed]

@dancefoxtrot This seems like the story of my struggle. It's been slow -- but over time, we'll get there together.

[dancefoxtrot]

Yipee I found my Fitbit and I hope it will charge as it has been dark since Thursday. I had a very yummy Indian dinner with my son and his lady friend. I'm stuffed on Salmon and veggies with a little brown rice and an almond cookie. I hope I didn't give the scale an excuse to bounce skyward again. It was soo good and healthy too except the cookie.

Hope that you all had a good weekend. 

My sternum is hurting less so the Tumeric and Ibuprofen may be working. Yes, I get to dance the Waltz on Wednesday.

Barb G

[DJC_63]

@scottie0714  Congrats on getting below 190!! Is that a good feeling? I thought that I was going to get there a few weeks ago but unfortunately I've went in the other directiion.  😞

---

@scottie0714 wrote:
Hi update for the week. As of today I'm down 1/2 lb. It was more a few days ago, but go figure. On a positive note I finished prepping my meals for the entire week (breakfast/lunch and dinner). 👍😊

USW - 213 (1/14/16)
SW -191.1 (7/3)
PW - 191 (7/10)
PW - 190.0 (7/17)
CW - 189.5 (7/24)
GW - 181 (Labor Day)
UGW - 170's

---

[DJC_63]

@dancefoxtrot  I'm glad that you found your Fitbit! And equally glad that you're feeling a little better. Sounds like you had a nice dinner out, too. A good weekend for you!

[DJC_63]

I'm finally getting a chance to post an update. Unfortunately I've been going the wrong direction the past week.  I'm getting a lot more activity in general but not as many actual workouts. I did go to the gym for a pretty good weight and elliptical workout on Thursday. A big thanks to those of you who encouraged me to put myself first sometime since my mother has been sick. That motivated me to just go to the gym, even though there were other things to do. My Mom should  be feeling better soon; they shocked her heart back into a normal rhythm on Thursday.  The Dr's think that her leukemia caused the heart problems, since there are no blockages of the arteries. She'll start chemo soon for the leukemia. She has the chronic type so her Dr. feels that her prognosis is good. I'm hoping that she won't be too sick from the chemo, but I suspect that she will be. She has a tendency to be dramatic about a lot of things, especially injuries and illnesses.

So I'll be working on balancing my priorities to myself with helping her. Now if I could just get the very hot & humid weather to go away so that I could go for more walks outside.  🙂  Anyhow, here's my stats.  

as of 7/24:

USW - 207.5 (1/14/15)

CSW - 202 (1/1/16)

PW - 191.0

CW - 192.1

GW - 185.00

UGW - 160.00

[hanmi]

USW = 149.9 lbs (April 26, 2016) 28% BF

Week 1 - 137.1 lbs (July 4)

Week 2 - 136.3 lbs (July 11)

Week 3 - 137.7 lbs (July 18) 22-24% BF

Week 4 - 136.5 lbs (July 25)

GW   = 132 lbs

UGW = 128 lbs

Height = 5'4

My weight varies on a daily basis from 136 - 140lbs depending on what I eat and how much water I drink. I lift 3-4x per week (1-1.5hrs), HIIT/cardio 1-2x per week (30-40 min), 2x low intensity walking (1-2hrs) BUT my job requires me to sit down for 12+hr periods. Still a work in progress and I need to find motivation to do cardio.

[scottie0714]

@DJC_63 Yes, being under 190 is awesome.  However, I am fluctuating between the 190's and 189, so it doesn't feel permanent yet.  Hopefully after this week, it will drop a little more.  It's so strange..I was looking at upwards of 200 for soooo long, that I almost forgot how it felt to be a little lighter.  I'm aiming for 180 for this challenge and I cannot wait to see it!  

I swear if it wasn't for you and this group - I don't know where I would be. Thanks for the support!  

[khreed]

@scottie0714 I agree about the support. You and I are struggling around the same weight point. We are going away for a couple of weeks. I hope I can manage "on the road."

Good luck.

Kathy

[nmroadrunner]

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all had a great week. We're still hot in NM although we did have a brief rain shower last evening which cooled things off for a short while. Next week Hubby and I are taking off in the RV for a month in the mountains and some relief from most of the heat. I'll be taking my scale and, hopefully, a big dose of will power and will report in to keep me honest. In the meantime, keep stepping!

USW  199

CSW  181.8

CW     179.2  down 0.6 

GW     176.8

UGW  <150

[klan7044]

USW 199lbs
GW 181.4lbs
UGW 140lbs
PW (last week) 185 

SW (for this challenge) 191.4lbs

CW 184

I was actually as low as 181.8 this week but this weekend has been hard to eat well. I swear my boyfriend tries to sabatoge me! haha Boscoe sticks and stuffed shells for dinner last night are hard to resist and are not figure friendly! It would be so much easier if he was dieting with me.

[Chlz1997]

quick post - I am BAAAACK

LOTS going on the last few weeks.  Ended up having a surgery, still recovering from that, was still able to go hiking in Hocking Hills with the hubby - just couldn't do as much as I wanted and I just wrapped up our annual Relay For Life event this past weekend.  Kind of bitter sweet as this is my last year heading up the event but life is pulling me in another direction & there is only so much of me to go around

My FitBit is starting to fall apart - just contacted customer support since its only 7 months old.  Hoping we can get it resolved soon cuz I am kinda addicted to it & the challenges lol. I'll post all my stats on Thursday but the good news is I haven't completely went off the deep end while I was away

Keep Moving Forward!!!

[scottie0714]

@khreed Kathy - you can do it!  It does take some effort - but just take some extra walks or get some activity in and it will help while you're away. 🙂

[almost_where]

If you are having a bit of trouble getting the motivation to go for a walk / hitting the gym etc. then start your day off with a small task. Small such as cleaning or organizing your junk drawer or unloading the dishwasher or going around the house and emptying all the trash cans. Just focus on the small task ONLY at first. Once you get going with the task and you start moving it is much easier to get the motivation to tackle larger goals. Besides you might just find that 10 dollar bill you lost a month ago in the junk drawer.

[Onmiwei]

I'm still here. Went on vacation last week did tons of walking up mountains so I was able to get al my stairs plus enough for a month in 😄  I have not weighed myself at this time but I feel better. I just keep plugging away...Hope all is doing well. 

[Cherylwith5]

USW - 231

CSW - 217

CW - 218.4 (7/19)

CW - 215.8 (7/27)

GW - 210

UGW - 135

[rachel_g22]

 Wednesday check in for me! 

Start: 152

Last week: 151.6

This week: 151

Goal: 144

Ok, so didn't hit 150 like I was hoping for this week, but I'll take the .6! I also am definitely noticing a theme - I am so good over the weekend. I've been keeping so active, with my half marathon training (which was a 10k training last week, I decided to just go for it!), swimming, and other fun summer activities. But then, come Monday, which is a rest day from the half training, I'm a slug. I hardly get 4,000 steps and I eat pretty horribly. I don't know if it's just because I exhaust myself over the weekend and crash out on Monday, or what. How do you guys get the motivation to get up and move when it's Monday you're pooped and would rather sleep in until 15 minutes before you have to leave for work??

[dancefoxtrot]

@rachel_g22

We all need a break. If Sunday is your rest day take a slow walk, sleep in, but try to eat healthy food. Try to get to 5K and enjoy your time off.

We all need to rest and recover.

Best,

Barb G