Mother's Day Challenge. Lose 20 by Mother's Day! Who is with me?

[Shelley]

Being involved in a challenge helps keep me motivated and it seems like it works for others too.  It also helps to have a goal and a deadline to get there.  Let's all get healthier for ourselves and for our families.  Let's do this for our kids, or our grandkids, or for our own mothers as well as for ourselves.  Come join me and let's do this!

[Elansc]

Inspiring to hear about everyone's successes. Scale did not move for me this week but met my step goal 5 of 7 days. It is getting warmer here too so I am not feeling so BLAH. My goal this week is to meet my step goal (10,000 steps) AND try to get at least 15 minutes/day of active minutes. My highest was 18 minutes last week but I had more than a few days of 0-2 minutes. By the end of the month I would like to be up to 30 active minutes/day. Going to try the rebounder today to see if that works to get the active minutes up

I also tried on my goal pants yesterday and got them up and if I was braver I could have done up the zipper but I figured why take the chance and blow the zipper on you goal pants :). After 15 months of a pound or two a week I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel

For this challenge I am 6.5 lbs down and 13.5 to go

[Elansc]

Great Mellowcrunch!!! I have managed to hit 15,000 twice and it such a great feeling!

[Mickeydee]

I couldn't wait until tomorrow, so I measured to day!!! Down a total of 3.75 inches!!!!!

[Shelley]

Way to go Elansc!  You are doing great!  I am feeling proud for you and am envisioning you wearing those goal pants one of these days!  You will get there.

For everyone who is not seeing the scale move as much as you want even though you are working out and eating healthy, take a look at this picture below.  It shows how the same weight in muscle takes up much less space than the exact same weight in fat.  This is why you can weigh the same but actually be smaller than you were.  Having some smaller pants as a "meter" rather than the scale makes more sense when you see this picture.  If I ever set up another challenge it will be to lose inches rather than pounds!  The scale can be deceiving and can make you get demoralized when it isn't changing fast enough.  But remember that when you are exercising you are doing so many good things for your body including building muscle as well as many other health benefits.  We might need to have other great measures of success such as increased energy and stamina, improved mood, or improvments in cholesterol and blood sugar if those were off to begin with.  So remember that this challenge was to get healthy for Mother's Day as a gift to our families as well as ourselves.  If the scale doesn't show success look for other measures.  And if you are new to the group, this challenge started Janurary 1st so we had over four months to lose 20.  Please don't push too hard and put your health at risk if you are just now starting.  Adjust the goal to reflect the shorter time period.  Here's to your health!!

[Shelley]

Fantastic Mickeydee!  You go!  Now that's what I am talking about.  You posted while I was writing my other post with the picture of the fat and muscle so that is why I didn't get to congratulate you prior to this.  Sometimes we are all writing at the same time and stuff comes out of sync.  But your post really demonstrates how it is more than just a measurement on the scale to see if you are being successful.  In fact, I have had it where I fell off the wagon but was not seeing any difference in the scale so told myself it was okay that I wasn't eating right or exercising since the scale didn't show weight gain.  Well, guess what??  All of sudden I found that my clothes didn't fit anymore and eventually the scale started changing really fast.  I would gain 5 pounds in one week eating exactly the same food as the few weeks earlier.  The fat to muscle ratio is what changed and THEN my metabolism changed.  So, we are all doing good for ourselves if we are sticking to the exercising and eating healthy!  Keep up the good work Mickeydee!

[Elansc]

Wow thanks for that picture Shelley. I am posting it on my fridge!

[Mickeydee]

Whoo hoo!!!  I've lost a pound, FINALLY!!!!!  🙂  I went up on the calories I was eating and what do ya know 1 pound gone.

[gelamama]

I like the visual Shelly:) I am joining a bit late but will count what i have lost since the beginning of the year! good luck everyone!

[Mickeydee]

Good luck to you also!!!

[Mickeydee]

I just got my badge for 15000 steps!!!!!

[Elansc]

Great day for you Mickeydee. -1 lbs AND 15000 steps. Congrats!

[LGI0524]

So, this hasn't been my most active week, but I have been tracking everything I eat and keeping it right around 1,200 calories a day. Weighed in this morning, and I am down 2.5 pounds from last Friday's weigh in! That puts me down a total of 7.5! I'm feeling great so far, and a couple of my coworkers told me they could tell a difference, and who doesn't like to hear that? 🙂

[MellowCrunch]

Hey everyone. I love reading all these supportive posts. Keep up the good work!

I've been doing pretty well at meeting my goals. I feel like a rock star on the tread mill and keep increasing my speed. I can get in a solid 2.5 miles in 30 minutes now so if I can just manage to do that everyday (or at least 5 days a week) I'll be really happy. I've also been doing a lot of yoga which is my prefered strength training form of exercise. I used to have a strong yoga practice pre-kids, so it's feeling so good to finally get back to it. In fact, tomorrow morning I'm headed to the studio for an actual class instead of just a home practice. I looking forward to the challenge. The scale in still not budging but, like the photo posted earlier, my body shape is definitely shrinking so I'm just focussing on that. Plus, I feel better than I have in years.

If anyone is interested, I LOVE the 'Yoga Studio' app on my iPhone. It has really been a great help getting me in to a routine. I highly recommend it, even if you haven't done yoga before. 

Enjoy your weekend!

[Elansc]

Hi MellowCrunch,
I had never thought of yoga as strength training???? I was gearing up to start going to the gym -- lost 70 lbs so far without but it is time to tone up 🙂 -- but I would much rather "do" yoga. Any one else had success with yoga as strength training alternative?
Elansc

[Elansc]

Yippee!!! Lost another 1.5 lbs this week. If I can keep this up I might even reach the goal of 20 by Mothers Day -- I will be close!!!

Met my step goal of 10,000 steps 6 of 7 days (Sunday is always the hardest day for me) BUT I met my active minutes goal of 15 active minutes every day!! Tomorrow I am going to change it to 20 minutes and try that for a week. It is SOOOOO much nicer outside that I might even be able to get in a walk at lunch a few days this week. I use myfitnesspal to log my food and I also met my calorie goal (set at a 500 calorie deficit) - usually 50 to 100 calories under but a couple of days I was 200-250 under --I try not to do that too much as it seems to have the opposite effect for me -- I don't lose weight.

Down 8 lbs and 12 to go

[MellowCrunch]

Elansc, great work with your goals. I like the achievable active minutes goal. I find I am so 'all or nothing' that it's not always helpful. Maybe I'll try it your way. 

Yoga is definitely strength training, especially for core. I find it also works the legs well but if you are going to use it for serious upper body you likely need to take a class and push it pretty hard. Since so many of the poses are standing a lot of people aren't familiar with the more advanced poses that really work the arms and shoulders more. A typical DVD doesn't usually get in to those. I am going to start incorporating some free weights too, though. Maybe 2 times a week. I'm in a wedding in June and really want my arms to look good!

[JenniferP1]

I have been using my Fitbit for a while now but miss the motivational groups of the old program I was using.  Is it too late to join this Mother's Day Challenge?  I would like to participate....I do much better when I have goals and have a group to talk with about the progress. 

Thanks, 
Jennifer

[Mickeydee]

Down another three inches. 🙂

Welcome aboard Jennifer, having motivation is always GREAT!!  I know it keeps me going. 🙂

[KAnn]

Good Morning, All.

I am new as of Jan 1, 2014 to FibBit-land.  I want to join this particular Mother's Day group and achieve 10 pound weight loss in the remaining 7 weeks.  I have a question...should I aim for the "calories burned" goal in order to achieve the weight loss?  I have been tracking my calories (meeting that goal) and 10,000 step goal (meeting that goal)...but not meeting the calories-burned goal....if I meet that goal, will I start to see weight loss?  HELP>>

Thanks,

KAnn

[Elansc]

hang in there KAnn -- sometimes it takes a bit of experimenting to figure out what works best for you -- I learned to "up" my protein (have it set a 25% of my daily calories -- I use myfitnesspal to log my food).  Shelley (on this challenge) also set a great pic of 5 lbs of fat and 5 lbs of muscle -- you may be losing fat BUT gaining muscle -- so the scale is on moving but you are still shrinking.  Not to worry, eventually the scale should start moving.  I have now lost 70lbs (1-2 lbs/week for the last 15 months) and it is getting a bit harder to lose weight as I get closer to my goal weight which is at the top end of my BMI range (27 lbs to go).  Depending on where you are, it might just be a bit harder to lose weight so keep walking and build up that muscle -- in the long run your muscles will burn calories and will make it easier to lose the fat.