Labor Day Challenge 2015

[GoneForARun]

Hello and welcome to the Labor Day Challenge 2015. 

We welcome all newbies and the awesome achievers from our 4th of July Challenge. 

This new challenge starts on July 5th and ends on Labor Day, Sept 7th.  So please feel free to post your Labor Day weight loss goals here and we'll be sure to provide lots of encourgament and support along the way.  I've listed my goals below.  Hoping to ready for my Labor Day Disney vacation.  For the newbies, here is a short key: SW = Starting Weight, CW = Current Weight, GW = Goal Weight, UGW = Ultimate Goal Weight.

SW: 200 (Jan 5)

CW: 173.3

GW: 159 (Labor Day)

UGW: 150 (Oct 13th, Wedding Anniversary!)

Trish

[CoolAzzRob]

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/plain;" /> body { font-family: "Calibri","Slate Pro","sans-serif"; color:#262626 }

Thank you very much.

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.

[Mermaid3011]

Awww thank you so much @Bobbinyc

I think being off work right now is making me rethink my whole approach of living a healthier, happier and more balanced lifestyle.

I have also realized how important peer support is! I love this group here and the positivity we give each other!

But since many of my friends are on Facebook and not on fitbit I actually created my first ever private Facebook group today. And it's all about peer support, sharing experiences, success, drawbacks, recipes and especially accountability.

I am going to start a 60 day challenge on Labour Day and hope that others will join me. Losing 25 lbs by Halloween would be pretty amazing and I think with a bit of "umpf" and the support of a group it can be done!

[Mermaid3011]

@CoolAzzRob

How amazing!!! Congratulations!! That's so wonderful! Now just keep going - you have done well and done it right in the last few weeks!

[Mermaid3011]

@dancefoxtrot

Oh yes... the up and down is so exhausting!! 

Right now I am feeling though that my excitement for some things is coming back, which is really good! I've started a Pilates and Yoga program I can do from home and for the next 60 days I'll keep myself accountable through peer support, follow the food plan that came with the program and can't wait to see what the results are!

That should also give me a bit more stamina and help make the yoga teacher training easier. I am wondering if all my co students are skinny, super toned girls and I am the only one who doesnt fit in a lululemon pant. LOL

[Mermaid3011]

@Bobbinyc

I have heard and read so much about HIIT... running is just not for me (yet) because of my joints and current weight.

So I started looking into other options and everybody was talking about P90X, this super extreme HIIT workout. I just couldnt imagine myself doing it, but there is now a lower impact, beginner level program that is actually a whole program with a guideline for 90 days, checking off each workout as i do it. It sounds like it's geared towards people with former injuries... moves are adjustable and doable... 

I am thinking of doing this P90 thing... even if it's just for 30 days. Cause the time will go by anyway, if I do it or not. 🙂 And the cost is actually not that bad, especially since I am already a customer for the protein shakes they make. 

Have a look and join me if you like!!! It would be so much more fun to do it together!!

[CoolAzzRob]

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/plain;" /> body { font-family: "Calibri","Slate Pro","sans-serif"; color:#262626 }

I'm you can do it!!!

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.

[CoolAzzRob]

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/plain;" /> body { font-family: "Calibri","Slate Pro","sans-serif"; color:#262626 }

Thank you very much. I can't wait for the next challenge to start so I can lose these next 20-25 pounds. 

After that I will only have to work on maintaining.

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.

[Mermaid3011]

Well, I thought i'd share this in case people want to join in and invite friends who don't have a fitbit or just follow different approaches to live a healthier life:

I just started this private facebook group today

https://www.facebook.com/groups/436598776550364/

We are currently about 20 members following various philosophies, diets, exercise routines etc to live a healthier, happier and fitter life.

We want to cheer each other on, share recipes, run a "clean eating for a month" challenge in September and a "get your daily workouts in" challenge in October. 

It's all about support, accountability and motivation. Helping each other to reach our goals.

So if you feel that might be something of interest for you - feel ‎free to join us! 

The more the merrier!

Cheers

Birgit

[Bobbinyc]

@Mermaid3011  Your Facebook group sounds like it will be great for you.  There is an enormous amount of information about health out there.  Of course, an equal amount of mis-information.  But if you read enough of it you can figure out which are the gimmicks and what really is based on good research and makes sense.  Generally, I've learned that if we eat the way our grandparents ate - no processed food, no chemicals, no sugar - as close to the way food grows as possible - with lots of vegetables (they seem to heal us), then we do well.  Our bodies were designed to be very active - not running ultra marathons or being olympian weight lifters - but using our muscles very regularly.  We have become so sedentary that we need gyms or classes to use our bodies now.  In less modernized cultures, people walk a lot, carry heavy things (water buckets, gardening tools, etc), do home repairs, garden, do physical labor.  Even our parents had to do more than we do.  

As you get more and more into better habits, it gets easier and feels so much better.

And you deserve that.

[Bobbinyc]

re: Next Challenge

Should we do Halloween?  Or the day after so we are less tempted by any candy that finds its way into our lives?!

[Bobbinyc]

@dancefoxtrot  And thank you for your support.  Much appreciated, always.

My thyroid crashed about 20 years ago.  It took some time to get diagnosed and then medicated correctly, (I went from skinny and hi energy to heavy and exhausted with hair falling out - how was that hard to diagnose?) but has been mostly ok since.  Once in a while something changes.  I think since I had gained so much weight I probably should have been on more medication.  But, like everything else it is not an exact science; the range of "normal" doesn't mean that every woman will feel right in the middle of that range.  I went to a specialist who did far more testing than my own physician did.  Maybe your sister should get another opinion, just to be sure.  Mine is auto-immune and is affected by inflammation, so eating well and being active is extra critical.  I buy packaged seaweed -kelp, kombu, wakame -as that has iodine.  

What are your favorite dances?  How is that going?

[pcobb8]

@Bobbinyc  I would like to see that.  I didn't join this challance because i noticed it late.  The only part that concerns me is 7 weeks enough?  Thanksgiving would be 11 weeks long. 

[dancefoxtrot]

Hi all

I think that the day after Halloween is great since candy isn't in my healthy food column that's for sure! Not saying that I don't like super dark chocholate or yummy marsipan. Halloween as a candy orgy is part of our cullture's sickness. 

Nov. 1st is great but we can call it the Halloween Challenge. I like these 2 months or so at a time Challenges. 

Stuck at the 138 something plateau but in truth that is pretty close to final goal. Hope to burst through to 136 or 7 in 8 days on Labor Day. I feel good keeping it at 138 or below now and I'd be okay with 137 on Labor Day really. Sept 19 is a Merit Ball Competition in Waltz, Foxtrot and Viennese Waltz so that is when I want to lose the last 3 lbs by.  I have a new used ball gown that I will be gluing rhinestones to after it is altered. I'm very excited I must say. Let's see if I can stay calm enough to dance my best.

Best wishes for a steady on course final week of our challenge for health.

Barbara G

[Mermaid3011]

@dancefoxtrott

Wow Barbara I hadn't realized that you were dancing on competition level! No wonder your "light" weight and your goal to lose a bit more. Weight, balance... So important when one dances competitively!

And how wonderful that you are almost at goal! I am crossing fingers for you that the scale will play along!!

[Mermaid3011]

@Bobbinyc

You are so right - if I ate like my grandparents and we're working and walking/biking like them I would probably be less fluffy!
Well. It is what it is and after double checking I am down 57 lbs which feels pretty awesome. Now of course I wonder if I can do another 25 by year end. But even 20 would be amazing. And therefore groups, peer support and my coach who keeps me going!

[dancefoxtrot]

Mermaid,

Many yoga students are not skinny and toned that I have seen and are various ages.  It doesn't matter if they are as you are courageous enough to follow your dreams. I went to class where I was the oldest I think and I did a few 1 legged poses near a wall for support when and if I needed it.  Boy I was sore the next day I think from the plank among other things!  I loved Pilates too and that was a challenge.  I didn't stick with either of them for a long time, but I dance and teach a stretch, strengthen, slower Zumba like class for older adults. That is good for me too.  

I hope that you get out of your own way and enjoy your classes and groups. I am working on noticing negative fantasies that pop into my mind so I can ignore them. Rubbish, pure rubbish from defensive places inside. A good waste of my time, me thinks.  

All the best,

Barbara G

[dancefoxtrot]

Mermaid

I think the p90 low impact is doable bit by bit. I tried it at my friend's house once and did some of the moves and it was fun.  Do what you can at first and build up to it. Nothing is all or nothing really.  You can do hiit without running, just swinging your hips and arms wildly to get your heart rate up even 30 seconds at a time. Some people do it on a stationary bike or rowing machine. 

Barb

[Bobbinyc]

Barbara, I am so excited about your competition!  I love both waltzes.  I bet you will be just elegant.  Gluing rhinestones must take quite awhile.  You are living out the dreams of a lot of people.  Wish you the very best with it.

[Bobbinyc]

@Mermaid3011  In thinking about how our grandparents lived, I wasn't thinking about the scale at all, but about being as healthy as possible.  Although I am trying hard to lose weight, I do know I feel much much better since changing how I eat and move.  I keep trying to improve on how I do it as I go along.  To me, how we feel, our health, our aches and pains, mood, energy, all that is so much more meaningful than the scale, although they can go together.  You are doing such an amazing job.  I really am very inspired by you.  I've known women and men of all different sizes and shapes to be healthy and taking very good care of themselves.  It has been hard for me to make that my top priority but I do meditate and focus on it daily so I can stay on track.  You really are impressive in your accomplishments and dreams.

[Bobbinyc]

@pcobb8 Hi. Join in any time.  I know I won't achieve my goal by Halloween, but I find that breaking it down into small goals along the way keeps me focused and makes it feel more reasonable.  For me, if I think "I need to lose 50 pounds in 7 months" I will either feel overwhelmed or procrastinate, allow myself to have a few cookies today and start tomorrow.  If I break it down and I have the goal of 10 pounds by the next holiday in 7 weeks (just an example) then I think about how much that means for this week, for today, what do I need to do right now.  So, for me this works.  It also means that I get to celebrate each tiny loss and re-evaluate what I did each time I have a tiny gain, without waiting.  Some of us struggle over every single pound, and I love the support, information, suggestions and ideas along the way.  It really has me focusing on the details, which  I am so good at ignoring.

You could use this next week to lose one pound, or to start a new habit - one more glass of water each day, or one more vegetable, or a few more minutes of activity. I have a routine of creating a new habit each week and use a type of meditation to make it stick.   Whatever works for you.