Weight-Loss NEW YEAR: 12 Week Biggest Loser Challenge!!

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Addicakes - the more that I think about it - the more that I think that it is worth you looking up that link into Tony's diary on ADF. He had been exercising hard and had been fine with it - then suddenly feeling really exhausted. The extra calories and extra protein really perked him up no end. The whole situation is so similar to what you were saying about the gym. :)
 
Food Log Day 4

1 cup light chocolate ice cream (bad cravings D; ended up adding lots of calories)
150 grs of Trout
1 slice of low cal cheddar
1 cup lettuce
2 tbsp soy sauce
4 servings of chop suey (60 cals)
1/2 cup of corn
1/2 tomato
1 cereal bar
2 big peaches
Cilantro

Total Calories: 1015

Lots of carbs and not enough protein or calories but during the afternoon I was feeling a bit sick. The fish just made my stomach upset and I felt like throwing up all afternoon. I'm starving though so i'll eat more today.
 
neveragain said:
Food Log Day 4

1 cup light chocolate ice cream (bad cravings D; ended up adding lots of calories)
150 grs of Trout
1 slice of low cal cheddar
1 cup lettuce
2 tbsp soy sauce
4 servings of chop suey (60 cals)
1/2 cup of corn
1/2 tomato
1 cereal bar
2 big peaches
Cilantro

Total Calories: 1015

Lots of carbs and not enough protein or calories but during the afternoon I was feeling a bit sick. The fish just made my stomach upset and I felt like throwing up all afternoon. I'm starving though so i'll eat more today.
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I suspect that this calorie level is what Kara was referring to...

I am sorry that you were feeling ill - but I have to say that I would like to think that you ate more calories than this most days. I mention it because a lot of people come to this forum who are convinced that you have to eat at around this level if you want to lose weight. I used to think so myself - and that notion ended up keeping me a very big person for a very long time...

It is very hard to manage to hit your nutritional targets on this level - and you can make things a lot harder for yourself in the long term. No wonder you feel hungry and get terrible cravings that cause you to eat ultimately unhealthy food and feel bad about having done so.

Things like milk, yoghurt and soup can give you nourishment while being gentle on a queasy tummy.

I hope that you have began to feel better.
 
I'm very sorry that the OP feels the need to walk away from all the members of the challenge and I'm glad to see that others have stepped in to keep this going. The changes that have been made work well .. and promote healthy habits.

Please understand that it's not my intention to "yell" at anyone and I absolutely do NOT want to close down a challenge. Challenges are important - as I said, they build community and they really do help people by giving them a unique support system. And the competition element doesn't hurt either.

My concern was that I got 3 PMs from 3 separate people on the same day asking me to come have a look at the challenge. When I saw the recommendation that people eat "no more" than 2 servings of veg, and when I saw some of the calorie levels that were posted, I felt that it was important to comment.

No one expects all our members to be nutritionists or fitness "experts" by any means, but I would say to all members as a general rule - if you think you might want to run a challenge, PLEASE do your research before doing so. Remember that when you choose the role as leader of a challenge, you are providing guidance and information for your participants - some of whom may be complete newbies to the world of losing weight, getting fit, and learning to eat right. You are, in effect, setting yourself up as someone with knowledge, a leader, and even to some degree an "expert". If you don't feel capable to accept that role, then finding someone with more experience to help you in leading the challenge is something you could consider as an option. :)

There is no blame being apportioned here - just a reminder to make sure you're being safe and healthy while you're having fun! :)
 
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Today's Food: Tuesday
Breakfast:
1 Banana- 90
1/2 c Blueberries- 41
Kashi Oatmeal- 150

Snack:
6 Brown Rice Veggie Sushi- 155
(Protein Smoothie)
1/2 c Skim Milk- 45
4 Pieces Mango- 18
2 Strawberries- 7
1/2 Banana- 45
1/4 Scoop Protein Powder- 32

Lunch:
6" Roast Beef on 9 Grain Wheat- 310

Snack:
1 Honey Butter Baked Wheat Stix- 90

Dinner:
12 California Sushi Rolls- 402
1 FF Chocolate Pudding- 80

Total- 1465
 
Tuesday - day 5
calories 1902 eaten
calories burnt from exercise (from fitday) 2150
protein 109.7g (in excess of 1g per pound LBW)
fibre 38.1g
calcium 1218mg
sodium 2669mg - high!!!

water 2.5 litres (alloc 2litres is sufficient)

Certainly had more than 5-a-day hitting lots of colours

Exercise
6.5 miles on treadmill at 4.3mph.

Fitday gives values for 4.0mph and 4.5mph. I take the time spent and assume a calorie burn mid way between the two.

My calcium would have been low nutritionally hitting only 418 but I log in fitday as I go and caught it and took 800mg calcium supplement.

The calories went higher than I would have liked because I started early. After a high protein day - the day before - I was still craving protein.

I got up in the middle of the night and had 84 calories of chicken breast. I didnt allow it to cause me to change my food plan though

What I ate

I tend to have a very light breakfast then a large lunch that many would think of as being a brunch. It is very much on a par in size with my evening meal. I dont go in for snacks as such - but do like to eat my s/f sweets

chicken breast

2 pears

cooked lunch
3-egg omelette cooked in fry light
250g mushrooms
1 small onion
1 tin (420g) of low salt low sugar baked beans

evening meal
6 oz salmon
5g olive spread to grease the surface of the salmon on wrapping in foil to cook
garden peas
sweetcorn

I also had lots of sugar free sweets
 
Kara - I have to say that I was very concerned that people may get the impression that two portions of vegetables was an optimum level based on this thread. I was having more than that when I ate a very unhealthy diet. Thankfully no-one could come to that conclusion now.

It is a shame that PlumpHope decided to walk away from another challenge - but thankfully Jericho has stepped into the breach and resolved the issues. :)

We always have to remember that it is not just the participants that are influenced by a thread such as this. PlumpHope herself said that she gained her information from a swift scan of the internet. Anyone can post on the internet (a thread such as this comes up for instance) - and we really have to consider the source of the information before we decide whether to accept their advice. In general terms it is best to go for research from government agencies that publish RDAs, health services, charities and respected universities.

Very few people on a forum such as this are nutritionists - but we can take sensible steps to ensure that the advice that we listen to is worth following.
 
After talking to Omega, I want to run by the idea of us having a second thread just for scoring. The idea that a second thread removes the need to PM and opens the results for people to see and applaud. If response is positive, I'll make the thread towards the end of the day for tomorrow.

And I know I've been slacking my own challenge lol. To be honest, being busy has messed with me. Sorry!
 
I know only too well how annoying it is to try to PM a full mailbox before a challenge deadline. Mailboxes are so small that there is no possibility of retaining an audit trail in case of errors in transcription too.

My mailboxes are always hitting full - and I often feel sorry for the people trying to contact me.

All these issues can be resolved so easily by using a scoresheet. This method has been used regularly for challenges such as this over the years.
 
Well there havent been many lunge and squat numbers posted - but those that have been have all been equally impressive when factors such as initial fitness level and weight are considered.

In my book you are all champions - so I will not post in other than alphabetic order.

Addiecakes ... 510 is excellent - and it is excellent that you lost 2.4 pounds

ChefAshley . 1160 is brilliant - and there is much to be said for maintaining weight.

JJJay ............. 525 is great - and a maintained weight is excellent - I would not be in a "weight loss" challenge if I had managed to do that last month.

Trusylver ... 4573 is fantastic - as is a 5.2 pound loss (although I wonder if a little water weight is involved there - I stopped being twitchy when I saw that it is a good loss at a healthy level over two weeks with a slight gain in week 1)

:party: congratulations to you all

I will be delighted to add further statistics and repost if I get any more data.
 
KaraCooks said:
I'm very sorry that the OP feels the need to walk away from all the members of the challenge and I'm glad to see that others have stepped in to keep this going. The changes that have been made work well .. and promote healthy habits.

Please understand that it's not my intention to "yell" at anyone and I absolutely do NOT want to close down a challenge. Challenges are important - as I said, they build community and they really do help people by giving them a unique support system. And the competition element doesn't hurt either.

My concern was that I got 3 PMs from 3 separate people on the same day asking me to come have a look at the challenge. When I saw the recommendation that people eat "no more" than 2 servings of veg, and when I saw some of the calorie levels that were posted, I felt that it was important to comment.

No one expects all our members to be nutritionists or fitness "experts" by any means, but I would say to all members as a general rule - if you think you might want to run a challenge, PLEASE do your research before doing so. Remember that when you choose the role as leader of a challenge, you are providing guidance and information for your participants - some of whom may be complete newbies to the world of losing weight, getting fit, and learning to eat right. You are, in effect, setting yourself up as someone with knowledge, a leader, and even to some degree an "expert". If you don't feel capable to accept that role, then finding someone with more experience to help you in leading the challenge is something you could consider as an option. :)

There is no blame being apportioned here - just a reminder to make sure you're being safe and healthy while you're having fun! :)
Click to expand...


I agree with you and I am sorry that Plumphope took such offense. I will say that the proper amount of calories are important!! I know a girl at my gym and she is using a trainer that is a boxer and not a certifed personal trainer and he is having her only take in 1000 calories IN LIQUID (and not protien liquid) and she can not understand why she has not lost any weight in the last month. She is working out like 4 hours a day and weighs in at 260. So pretty much her body is starving.

I also totally plateued myself by not eating enough. So calories and proper calories not empty calories are important!!

With that said..............I am dropping out of the contest as I am having my own personal issues with getting back into the swing of the gym and keeping my head on straight. Good luck to everyone!!
 
Tracy740 said:
With that said..............I am dropping out of the contest as I am having my own personal issues with getting back into the swing of the gym and keeping my head on straight. Good luck to everyone!!
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Is there anything that any of us here can help you with getting back into the swing of things. I think that most of us have been there before...
 
I know I have said I am going to take over heading this challenge, I'm acutally going to let Omega run it (I'll still help!!). I'm still fairly new here and Omega obviously has the experience to handle something this size. When I do a challenge, I need to start running a smaller one first :)
 
Jericho has said that he would prefer to help me to run it.

I am sure that together we will make a wonderful team. :)

As Jericho mentioned earlier - I always think that a scoresheet thread is a good way of keeping track of where we are with this kind of challenge.

Here is the thread:
http://weight-loss.fitness.com/club...iggest-loser-challenge-scoresheet-thread.html

Go into the scoresheet thread and a couple of postings down is the template. Copy and paste it in and then edit your scoresheet with your details. You just need to fill in a couple of weights for yourself plus the amount of exercise you have done this week and which days you have logged your food. You can see what I have done with my scoresheet. :)
Then you can edit the same scoresheet as the weeks go by. :)

PlumpHope was quite adamant that new people could not join the challenge - but I am inclined to think "the more the merrier". New people should feel welcome to join this challenge at any time. In order to ensure that people realise this change of policy - I have had a new posting placed at the top of this thread which makes this very clear. I want to help as many people as possible realise their weight loss dreams.

I would also be delighted to welcome back any people that have decided to leave the challenge over the past few days.
 
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Another change that I am bringing into effect is that I am going to allow people to choose any day of the week on which to weigh themselves - but they should stick to the same day from now onwards each week.

This means that people who are in the another challenge have the option to be in both challenges and only weigh themselves once a week. It also means that people who attend slimming clubs may feel free to use that weight if they prefer.

All I ask is that they update their scoresheet on a Thursday (business as usual) - but I do not mind if it is for instance their Tuesday weight that they enter. :)
 
Jericho said:
Proposed Correction AND change in points

I'm proposing the following. For now on, you will get points for doing the challenges. If you complete it fully, you get 2 points. If you least do it halfway (in terms of days..4 out of 7), you get 1 point. If you skip completely, 0 points. It will be a seperate total from the weight loss. Bonus points will be given for a 'higher' standard like doing the most.

Week Four: I have walked 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more...
Let's make this challenge about walking. To get 2 points, you need to walk at least 1 mile a day. We will give a bonus of 1 point of you do the most miles for the week.

Week Five: Are you ARMED and dangerous?
January 29th to February 4th is the week we focus on our upper body strength... For this one, full points is doing least 30 pushups a day. Bonus point of 1 for the most pushups or curls done.

Week Six: Fruits and Vegetables are Friendly!
February 5th to February 11th is another diet focused week. This time we're working to see who is consistantly eating the correct portion/servings of fruits and veges each day. The goal to aim for is at least 4 servings of fruits and veggies, every day. 2 points for meeting the goal all 7 days. 1 point for the 4 out of 7. You will get 1 bonus point for posting a healthy, vegie/fruit recipie.



What do you all think?
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I love the concept of awarding points each week and will certainly keep that up. I am however going to change the points structure.

I feel that Jericho was being a little mean with his points. I think that most of the behaviours that we are talking about are quite hard to adopt on an everyday basis. I think back to the people who said that they managed their water some days but missed it on other days. I think that they deserve points for the days that they did it.

Moving that concept forward - I will give a point for every day that you do most good behaviours. For instance - I will give 1 point next week for every day that you walk at least 1 mile. If you do it 3 days you will get 3 points.

Some weeks I will give points for more than one good behaviour. We may be working on one that we have previously done to reinforce it. We may be giving an alternative to a behaviour where it is not certain that all will participate. For example many people made no attempt to do anything other than lose weight and 2 hours of exercise on the squats and lunges week. They could have been working on a dietary behaviour and earning points...

I will give points for those two hours of exercise too.

I will award the main weight control points at the end - based on the percentage of weight lost. This will smooth out the ups and downs that come with such things as TOM and food weight.

As an added incentive - I will award a 3 point bonus to the person who loses the most weight in pounds each week and a bonus of 2 points to the person who comes second with that...

This is just enough to make the weekly weigh-in interesting... :)

With the concept of working on more than one good behaviour at a time sometimes - I will rewrite the tasks covering the next three weeks. All the things which PumpHope and Jericho mentioned will be there - plus the opportunity to earn more points too. :)
 
Jericho said:
Week Four: I have walked 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more...
Let's make this challenge about walking. To get 2 points, you need to walk at least 1 mile a day. We will give a bonus of 1 point of you do the most miles for the week.
Click to expand...

I am going to change this to the following

Week Four:
Task 1 - I have walked 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more...
Let's make this challenge about walking.
Earn 1 point every day that you walk at least 1 mile - under task1 on the scoresheet change the day of week to Y for each day you achieve this.

Task 2 - Brown is beautiful
Look carefully at your starchy carbs and where appropriate - switch to wholemeal. That means - when you have bread - choose wholemeal; when you have pasta - choose wholewheat; when you have rice - choose brown or wild rice.
Earn 1 point for every day that you make such a switch and change the day to Y under task 2. You get the points ok if you have no bread, rice or pasta that day. :) It is just a question of going for the healthier alternative with that type of food.

I will give a bonus of 3 points if you do the most miles for the week. Enter the total of exercise miles walked in the task count column

That way we learn more good habits and earn more points. :)
 
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I'm not really following the whole points system thing, but I'll just trust that I'll get the hang of it. So there is going to be a chart that we fill out ourselves now instead of pming tomorrow? Right.. I think thats what I got out of all of that.

Today's Food: Wednesday
Breakfast:
(Smoothie)
4 Chunks Mango- 18
2 Strawberries- 7
1/4 c Blueberries- 21
1/2 of a Cherry Light Yogurt- 50
1 Kashi Oatmeal- 150

Lunch:
1 Lean Cuisine Steak Sandwich- 340
1 Green Bell Pepper- 24

Snack:
7oz Chicken Breast- 280
2T Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce- 70

Dinner:
6 Veggie Sushi- 177
1 Apple- 57
1 Bud Select 55- 55

Total: 1249
 
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