Valentines Day to April 18th

[BLLingg]

@Bobbinyc, I hope it's ok for me to plagerize your Christmas to Valentine's Day Topic Starter but it was absolutely perfect!!!

Welcome all Challengers!  What an amazing group we have!

Let's all continue together to take off the excess pounds and keep getting healthier.

This challenge will begin on Valentine's Day and finish on (American) Tax Day - 18 April 2017.   (Really!  It's the 18th this Year, not the 15th!)

All you need to join this challenge is to post your stats regarding your weight, and check in weekly or as often as you'd like. We are a great support group and enjoy keeping up with each other and being there for our ups and downs.  Generally we have found that the more we check in and offer support, tips, info,  and ideas to others, the more we get for ourselves.

We list our weight, as well as any other goals we might have related to being healthy (such as increase water, more active minutes, etc).  Developing good health habits is primary.

A little rundown of terminology for anyone who is new.

USW- Ultimate Starting Weight

CSW- Current Starting Weight (for this challenge)

GW- Goal Weight   (for Feb 14)

UGW- Ultimate Goal Weight   (what your healthy target weight is)

PW- Previous Weight

CW- Current Weight

MFP- My Fitness Pal

List as much info as you like.  Some people include age, gender, height....whatever seems relevant to you.

We keep it as serious or light as we feel, but we always keep it focused on being as healthy as possible, while we support each other kindly.  We can do this together!!

[_Lilac_]

@BLLingg  I don't know if anyone lives up to the standards of their own mothers. haha. Maybe we see them in a glorified light or something and they'd feel the same about their mothers in some respects. But, my kids know I'm slobby. 

I have a feeling she'll probably spend the day with me but I'll be fine to stay alone tonight. She would be uncomfortable here, just because it isn't home. She likes her quiet routine and I have wild dogs. If my sister wasn't working today and tomorrow I'd have asked her to stay. She sometimes comes over for sibling time (and to do laundry).

Ok, I have to prepare myself for my dental work today. Ugh. 

[Ava_]

@_Lilac_ A huge congratulations on the numbers!!!  That is a serious milestone!  Let the happy adrenlin carry you through the rest of the day and the dental work will pass like a dream!!!

[Cele21]

USW- 215.0 (2/4/14)

CSW- 211.4 (2/14/17)

LW- 209.4

CW- 210.8

GW- 202.4 (4/18/17)

UGW- 150

Using this as my final weigh in.

Obviously did not make my goal but that's ok. This weekend was very little movement (lots of visiting and spiritual reflection), little water (didn't think about it) and LOTS of food.

The up side is I did lose a little bit and I know I can get back to better behavior pretty quickly.

[Bobbinyc]

@_Lilac_  Hooray!!! Look what you accomplished!!  You have been so impressive from the start, pushing yourself so hard and never quitting.  You had so many obstacles, but you just knocked them out of the way.  There is no stopping you.  I remember giving you virtual stickers early on for your success. We need to come up with a real celebration now.  What would feel like you were really celebrating you?

Of course, I'm writing this to a woman who is having dental surgery at the moment!  Hope it goes well.

By the way, when I made my "signature" about the hummingbird, I was thinking of you.

[TravellingSunny]

USW- 160 lbs (January 8, 2017)

CSW- 150 lbs (Valentine's Day)

CW - 149 lbs (02/20/2017)

         147 lbs (02/28/2017)

         145.4 lbs (03/06/2017)

         144.4 lbs (03/13/2017)

         142.6 lbs (03/20/2017)

         142.8 lbs (03/27/2017)

GW- 140 lbs  (Tax Day)

        139.6 lbs (04/03/2017)

        138.8 lbs (04/10/2017)

Mini-Goal: 138 lbs (Healthy BMI)

            137.2 lbs (04/17/2017)

UGW- 129 lbs (Middle of healthy BMI range)

[Bobbinyc]

This is just about my week so feel free to skip it.

This has been a crazy 2 weeks for me.  It started with family coming in for a visit for a couple of weeks, and  my son and friends staying for various amounts of time.  It was Passover, which is a big deal for me, and I wanted to make everything perfect.   And a couple people from a nearby church I do some work with, who had never been to a seder before were coming the second night.   I had bought enormous amounts of healthy food, including organic meat and chicken,  I had stuff for the whole week, cooked up a storm and froze a lot.  And the next morning discovered that the fridge had died, all the food was room temp. and  I  had to throw out all that gorgeous food! (Checked with various health departments) That hurt.  And then we had to eat out every meal.  Oh, did I mention my oven began acting very funky?  No working burners and now I can't the temp  high enough to cook.  It's like, my kitchen saw me cooking, wondered what on earth I was doing and found a way to stop me!

I have been trying to eat well.  There's a tiny restaurant nearby that is reasonably healthy and is fine with asking for things to be made a certain way (no frying). And I have very sweet neighbors and friends.  And despite all the salads, I have gained 3 pounds.  

I decided to let myself have a good cry over the wasted food, not having the warm experience of people I love being together for meals in my home, how much this is costing me, and those darn 3 pounds that took forever to lose.

I cried for about 10 seconds.  I mean, how lucky am I that I got to see some family I don't see too often, and this year we are all healthy (wasn't true last year),  something I never take for granted  As things go, this is a blip.  I ended up making jokes about it and we all laughed a lot. And even though the chocolate covered strawberries I made were melted and gooey, we ate them anyway. ( It helped that the wine was still good.)

So, I'm ending this challenge with a tiny gain, but still able to move, and ready for the next challenge.

[klan7044]

3/29/17 SW 158.6 lbs

4/3/17 PW 158.8 lbs   

4/4/17 PW  156.8 lbs

4/10/17 PW 161 lbs    

4/12/17 PW 158.8 lbs

4/13/17 PW 155.8 lbs

4/14/17 PW 153.8 lbs

4/17/17 CW 153.4 lbs

GW for challenge 154!

Weight still on track after a crazy weekend. My uncle's dad ended up in the hospital Friday night by our house so we ended up cooking them dinner at Midnight that night. Then on Saturday my fiance rode my bike (only been rode a couple times) and he broke it (haha not really since he got it for me on Christmas the few times I rode it it didn't seem right). He ended up spending maybe 2 hours messing with that thing only for him to have issues every time he tested it. Then we had a bowling fun night/banquet for the end of the season and I ended up being DD so I only had a couple beers that night, no dessert but lots of pasta... there really weren't any healthy options except for a small veggie tray. Then Sunday was of course Easter and we ended up going over to my fiance's parents for a lamb leg roast and some side (all with lots of butter). I did also end up eating some hershey kisses and peanut M&M's but I did keep it at a decent portion. Drank lots of water too and it seemed to help me not just devour everything in sight... thought about it though haha. 🙂

Anyways eating vegan today. Not intentionally just kind of worked out that way and I am hoping it will help me bounce back to the weight I saw yesterday before all the food. (152.6 lbs. on 4/15/17). within just a couple pounds from 55 lbs of weight loss. Hoping to get that next challenge as I plan to participate the whole challenge this time... 

[HeartBiller]

Well I have definitely had an action packed week. Some for good reasons, like revival at church. Others for bad reasons, like my oldest granddaughter(19) decided to become MIA with out letting anyone know, so after an all night escaped with the police, she was found, safe and unharmed. I do thank God for that however, teenagers can be the death of us sometimes. So I have had extreme lows this week and extreme highs. My husband turned 50 this week. Our daughters and I actually pulled off a surprise party for him. It was nice. Nice to have a big family get together, nice to reminisce over old pictures and all. Then we had Easter, a wonderful sunrise service at 6:30 in the morning, an 11:00 regular service and the the evening service, not to mention the Easter dinner at mom's with family.  This whole week has whooped my butt. I have gotten my steps in most days, but I have not eaten the best. I did really good with my eating all week except Saturday (the birthday party) and Sunday (Easter Dinner). SO I am OK with what ever tomorrow holds. I will just set me another goal to aim toward for the Memorial Day Challenge.

@SunsetRunnerCongrats on being so close to your 75 pound badge. As of right now, that is my next dream. I honestly can not imagine it, but I do dream about it. Major CONGRATS!

@_Lilac_- Major congrats to you and you below 300 victory. I know you have worked very hard to get there! You deserve a major victory dance and then some!

@TravellingSunnyCongrats on beating your own goal!

@_Lilac_@A_Lurker@BLLinggit is so nice to hear other say they are not all neat and tidy at home...lol. My sister is constantly asking me how I do everything I do in a day and manage to keep everything done. I told her, as long as you don't see my house you think everything is done...lol. My house is what suffers the most...lol. Oh well there is always tomorrow to try to get better at it..lol.

[_Lilac_]

@Bobbinyc  I can't imagine! Wastefulness makes me itch horribly. For all the food to go bad would have sent me into tears too! I'm glad you could make the best of the situation though and have a good time anyway.

[_Lilac_]

Had two of my wisdom teeth out. I'm on tylenol 3's (which I hate taking but if I didn't I'd be in a jam!) and trying to keep my mind busy so I don't think about this whole thing too much. Tried watching tv but the dogs were going wild, trying their best to force me to take them for a walk, so I'm now hiding in my room. I'm too tired and get dizzy spells so I won't risk going out with them. The nurse said no strenuous activities, including walking dogs that pull...and that's my big guy. 

Mom made me scrambled eggs and yogurt when I got home and a very brothy veggie soup. She's gone now though. The nurse said she'd only have to be with me 2-3 hours and that's what she stayed. Her only comment was "I wish I could conjure up a new house for you." Not exactly sure what that meant, but I suppose it's because it's old-ish (built at the end of WWII). Otherwise, no 'cleanliness' comments. Oh, she did tell me I had to do something about the stuff I have stored in reusable bags in my room because I was going to trip over them. Yes, ok I'll get right on it. 

No walking today. But then there's no real food today either. So maybe I'll balance out, huh? Still feeling great about my weigh-in today. It's encouraging. My daughter congratulated me over messenger this morning and said, "Only a 100 more to go." and I replied, "Pshaw...that's nothing." And it really felt like it. I've lost 57lb since August. I'm not looking at the next 100 as if it's Everest to climb or anything...it's completely manageable. I've done it, I know how to do it, I will plateau and I'm aware of it. I'll question, I'll worry, I'll just have to remind myself to change up my routine every once in a while and it'll all come off. 

And I will have all of YOU to help me through it. Onto the next challenge!!

[_Lilac_]

@Bobbinyc  I love your hummingbird quote! But I'm not so sure it's so similar to me. haha. I do my best, though. Thanks for your congrats. When I feel up to it, I'll do some sort of 'celebration of me'. And it WON'T include food. That's one of my rules. Don't make food part of celebration or use it in any way as a reward. That's what gets us in this mess, right?

I think I'll treat myself to figuring out how to get by bus to the natural park for a good hike in nature. Next nice day!

[dancefoxtrot]

@JMW567

Hi there,

I don't bring sweet things home usually. A little orange or tangerine.  A few nuts, a hard boiled egg, veggies raw dipped in hummus or steamed veggies.  When I'm being aware and focused on my goals I make a pile of veggies since 2 cups are only 80 calories.  Then I drink water. 

So I'm ingesting what I know I should not what my impulses say. If I did what I felt like yesterday I would have had more than 2 dark chocolate covered nut clusters. As it was today I showed .8 lb more than Easter morning. growl.

Best to your wise voice inside,

Barbara G

[dancefoxtrot]

@_Lilac_  Good trade off - you clean up for Mom and she makes you healthy soup. Cool.  Friends or family coming over get me moving on the cleaning front. I love the result but seem to tolerate more piles of papers and dishes in the sink for longer than many.  In fact, I can pry my tired body up sort through papers on the table right now. They need to be filed!!! Yuck, I find paperwork boring but feel relieved when it is done. Okay, let's try a half hour of paper sorting.  

Best to all. Let's be strong tomorrow is weigh in day.

Barbara G

[Bobbinyc]

@dancefoxtrot  OK, we are tackling paperwork together.  We may be on different coasts, but for the next half hour, we are in it together.  Thinking of you doing the same thing might help.

[debb21]

Going thru papers is my weakness too.

[RachelShrinks]

Well, didn't make my goal, but I'm okay with that (sort of). Okay, less than sort of okay with it, but it is what it is. I've lost more than 25 pounds since the new year, and that's nothing to sneeze at! As has been said—on to the next challenge!

USW (12/2016): 195

CSW (2/14/2017): 180.8

PW (2/19/2017): 180.2 (-0.6)

PW (2/26/2017): 178.4 (-1.8)

PW (3/6/2017): 178.1 (-0.3)

PW (3/12/2017): 174.8 (-3.3)

PW (3/20/2017): 172.6 (-2.2)

PW (3/27/2017): 172.2 (-0.4)

PW (4/2/2017): 173.1 (+0.9)

PW (4/9/2017): 169.4 (-3.7)

Final challenge weight: 168.2 (-1.2) 

GW (4/18/2017): -13.5 (167.3) (Missed it by 0.9 lbs.)

UGW (?): 145-150ish

Must get back into the swing of things. Spring Break really, honestly, broke my stride completely. I didn't eat poorly, most of the time, but I had the worst activity week I've had in 2017. I'm heading to the gym tonight if it kills me, I tell you! Back on the horse!

[RachelShrinks]

@_Lilac_! YOU ROCK! 299 must be so exciting! And you're right, you've totally got this next 100!

@TravellingSunny, I said it in our challenge but you, too, are awesome! I'm still 18.2 pounds away from a healthy BMI—I bow to your skinniness :).

[DJC_63]

@JMW567 @Ava I like to have fruit at night, or pomegranate seeds. Pom seeds are hard to find at this time of year, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods usually have them. I love them because they're easy to just open and eat, and obviously they're good for you.

[DJC_63]

Congrats, @_Lilac_ !! I agree that the feeling of accomplishment is the best part of this. Getting to those milestones is such a great thing. You are so dedicated and do so well all of the time. Great work and a much-deserved accomplishment.

[DJC_63]

@TravellingSunny  Congrats!! You did it!  You should be very proud.