Labour Day Challenge?

[Elansc]

It is only 15 weeks until Labour Day. I have 20.5 lbs to go to reach my goal weight (lost 76 so far) but recently decided to focus more on my % body fat -- I am about 1.5-2% away from the normal range. Anyone up for a challenge? 1-2 pounds/week from now to September 1 OR decreases in your body fat (your choice). I am going to try to lose 0.5% body fat each month (although I have no idea how realistic that is.....)

[Rg1111]

I'm up for it. Will see my husband and would love to have lost a few (20) pounds. Starting abit late tho so will shoot for 10:-)

[Queen_Cookie]

The next badge to hit is 25,000 steps.  I will have to try and do that on a weekend day...I am game.

Biggest problem is actually finding the time to get the steps in, so it has force me to become creative.  I am on conference calls about 3-4 hours every other day.  So I have decided that during those times, I am going to pull up my 1 or 2 mile "Walk Away The Pounds" routine and do it in my office while on the call.  This way I am getting in some exercise, getting some work done and it covers me in the event that I am too tired or have something to do and can't work out after I get home.

Not much in the way of a loss this week...down 0.9 lbs, but I will take every ounce 

Hope everyone is having much success with the challenge.

[patmckee]

Sounds like a great plan. Congrats on the weight loss!

[Elansc]

Just checking in for this week- although I think I missed last week. It is day 3 of my 3 week vacation. I decided that I had two goals for the next 3 weeks -- 10,000 steps a day minimum and I would only buy veggies and fruit and clear out all the grains in my cupboard (which includes most every kind of rice you can think of 🙂 - by the end of my vacation I would like cleaner, emptier, cupboards.... I am finally shopping for a skinnier me and there are things in my cupboard that have definitely been there for at least a year. So far so good on both goals
And I had a lovely surprise this morning when I got on the scale (try to weight myself once/week). After 3 weeks of no movement on the scale, I am down 3.5 lbs. 81.5 lbs gone and 15 to go. Trendweight says I will reach my goal by November -- I plan to celebrate with a trip for my son and I to Disney this Christmas (seems only fitting that he benefit from the "prize" since he is my biggest motivator)
BUT the best news is that today I saw a picture of myself that someone took about a month ago and I thought "can't be me.... Too skinny". But it was me!!! That is the result of losing 1 pound/week for the last 19 months! Now I look at myself and think I am skinny!!!

[LewWagner]

Kudos, Elansc!  It's great stories like yours that inspire the rest of us to keep at it with our weight loss efforts.  I have only about 19 lbs to go to reach my initial target desired weight of 170 lbs.  It's been a long haul 8 1/2 months so far, but with the proper diet and exercise I'm doing, I feel I'll get there by mid September. 

Lew

[SunsetRunner]

Great story, @Elansc! You've motivated me to join the challenge. May be a bit late but let's see what I can do between then and now. I lost 60 lbs but see the lbs trying to crawl back on. It's time to get serious again and stay serious! I worked too hard for those 60 lbs!

[Shelley]

Whoo hoo Elansc!  You are doing great!!  Hope you are continuing to enjoy your vacation.

Also great job Carol-B on losing those 60 pounds.  You can keep them off!  Hang out with us here and we will all do this together!

I have lost 10 since joining this challenge and have 8 more to go!  I got thrown off a bit last week when my home was burglarized and I lost my computer as well as a lot of other things.  I lost my appetite which helped this challenge goal but I also lost my desire to cook and exercise.  I was completely focused on trying to locate serial numbers, call insurance, send lists of missing things and update the list as I kept discovering things that were gone.  It made me depressed.  But I am recovering and hope to get back on track this week. 

BTW, I have now lost 52 pounds since joining Fitbit last September.  I hope to lose another 18.  But the 8 by September will put me into the "healthy" range and out of the "overweight" range on BMI.  That would be a great Fitbit anniversary gift to myself since I started out in the "obese" range last September.  

[SunsetRunner]

I would like to join this challenge. want to lose 10 pounds by Labor Day!

[DianeF]

I would like to join in on the challenge.  I am little late, but, I would love to target 10 lbs by labor day.

Cout me in!!

Happy Fitbitting all!!!

[Queen_Cookie]

Good morning everyone,

Been a while since I have checked in...started using the fitbit in June and as of today I am down 14.2 lbs.  I am totally loving wearing the fitbit and can see it makes a difference as far as tracking my activity and food.  

Seeing the numbers actually stirs my inner competitive spirit, so I find myself competing with myself each day.

So far, so good....taking it one day at a time.  As I told my GF, I didn't gain the weight in one day, so it is not going to drop off in one day.  I do feel so much better since I started working out again and feel lighter.

Doing the "Walk Away The Pounds" videos early in the morning while on conference calls has been a big help.  It allows me to get a good solid workout in the event things pop up and I can't do it after work.  I have found an area where one of the warehouse worker's hangs out...he keeps it on the cold side (35-40 deg), so I take my iPad and phone and have been going in there Mon-Fri to do 3 or 4 miles walk.  Temp is great as I don't sweat that much.

I have also started drinking more water....not that I wasn't before, but I have been adding fresh squeezed lemon juice to it and now I can't live without it!  As a scientist, I am not buying all of the claims that are on the internet about it helping with weight loss per se, but it is great for my skin and it hydrates me

[DianeF]

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@Elansc wrote:
It is only 15 weeks until Labour Day. I have 20.5 lbs to go to reach my goal weight (lost 76 so far) but recently decided to focus more on my % body fat -- I am about 1.5-2% away from the normal range. Anyone up for a challenge? 1-2 pounds/week from now to September 1 OR decreases in your body fat (your choice). I am going to try to lose 0.5% body fat each month (although I have no idea how realistic that is.....)

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I am checking in for the challenge.  I targeted 10 lbs by Labor Day.  So far I am down 3.9 lbs.

Happy Fitbitting!!!

[JMedler]

I'm going to join your challenge and try my hardest to lose some weight and inches by Labor Day! Good luck to everyone joining!

[vishwanr]

How do i join this challenge?

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[Spicegal]

I'm just checking in. I have had much success in losing any lbs for the challenge or Labor Day, but I can finally report I have lost 2 lbs. I still have 6 to go before Labor Day and I'm still motivated to keep losing. I may not reach my goal by then; however I'll still be headed in the downward direction!

I hope you all are having better success than me and keep up the good work. Good Luck!

I like the challenge because it keeps me motivated!

[Queen_Cookie]

You just did

[kitkat82]

am i to late to start this just got my fitbit?

[Elansc]

Hi everyone!

    It has been weeks since I checked in! The scale has not been moving --I am down 81.5 pounds (5.5 in this challenge) but still 15 pounds from my original goal weight (which is at the top end of my BMI range).  I had a few good weeks getting in my 10,000 steps (until I went back to work   ) and I knew that I was losing fat and gaining muscle this week when I put on a pair of pants that I last wore in May -- they were a bit roomy  . So this morning I wanted to see how i was doing on my goal to reduce my body fat so I took all the measurements and calculated (when I started this I used the military formula so I used that one again).  I was curious about whether I could "focus" this week and do the work I needed to do to get to 34% (my goal was to get to the top end of normal for women).  But I much to my surprise -- according to that method I am at 32.2%!!!  YIPPEEE!!!!

    This is why you have to take those measurements every few weeks and focus on how you feel (and your clothes feel) -- my scale has been hooving around the same number since July 14th but I am clearly still loosing fat and I know that all that muscle will just make it harder to gain the weight back.  I will keep plugging along with my steps and logging my food and I know that I will do this!  

   Hope everyone is well and making strides toward their goals!

[SunsetRunner]

What is the military method??

[Elansc]

It is just one of the ways to calculate your body fat using neck, waist, and hip measurements (search online for "body fat military calculation" ). Just one of several ways but when I started it this journey in jan 2013 it came up with the highest number so that is the one I have used

[Queen_Cookie]

Been a while since I checked in but I am down 11 lbs since starting the challenge on 7/6/14