Weight-Loss Summer Shake-Up Challenge Chat Thread

Weight-Loss
bikinibound said:
Luckily I wasn't in a chair that was easy to fall out of. Good Lord, you're killing me, Margaret! 10hrs!! I can barely manage to get 3-4hrs...lol. Between taking care of May, laundry, cooking, cleaning, errands, a bit of real estate, etc there is just no way. How about I get a point for every diaper I change? :smilielol5: What about making it 1pt for every 30min of exercise beyond 5 hrs? pretty please? :D
Click to expand...

I thought long and hard about appropriate points. The fact is that there will be a lot of exercise that people have been doing that has not been rewarded - and I really didnt want to go the route of unlimited hours. I know what I am like - and suspect that Karl is exactly the same way when it comes to exercise... When you add in the fact that my weight is up and I am getting a bit twitchy about it - I am really toying with increasing my exercise levels as a way out of this birthday mess... Even doing my current "low levels" of exercise of 6.5 miles per day that is 2 hours per day if done outside - not unreasonable in August and unavoidable if away from home. On top of that I normally have classes... You used to always limit the exercise aspect of your challenges - when I was looking around for likely numbers for the exercise fiends if unlimited - so I dug out my old long term Valentines day challenge scoresheet to get an idea of impact...

Omega said:
15/11/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
16/11/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
17/11/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
18/11/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
19/11/2007 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr keep fit = 4 hrs = +32pts
20/11/2007 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr yoga = 4 hrs = +32pts
21/11/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
22/11/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
23/11/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
24/11/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
25/11/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
26/11/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts (keep fit class cancelled)
27/11/2007 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr yoga = 4 hrs = +32pts
28/11/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
29/11/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
30/11/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
01/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
02/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
03/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr keep fit = 4 hrs = +32pts
04/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr yoga = 4 hrs = +32pts
05/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
06/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
07/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
08/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
09/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
10/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr keep fit = 4 hrs = +32pts
11/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr yoga = 4 hrs = +32pts
12/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking + 30 mins palates = 3 hrs 30 mins = 28pts
13/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
14/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
15/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
16/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
17/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr keep fit = 4 hrs = +32pts
18/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
19/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
20/12/2007 - no walking = +0 pts
21/12/2007 - 2 hrs walking = 2 hrs = +16pts
22/12/2007 - 2 hrs walking = 2 hrs = +16pts
23/12/2007 - 2 hrs walking = 2 hrs = +16pts
24/12/2007 - 2 hrs walking = 2 hrs = +16pts
25/12/2007 - 2 hrs walking = 2 hrs = +16pts
26/12/2007 - 2 hrs walking = 2 hrs = +16pts
27/12/2007 - 1 hrs walking = 1 hrs = +8pts
28/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
29/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
30/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
31/12/2007 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
01/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
02/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
03/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
04/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
05/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
06/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
07/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr keep fit = 4 hrs = +32pts
08/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr yoga = 4 hrs = +32pts
09/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
10/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
11/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr keep fit = 4 hrs = +32pts
12/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
13/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
14/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr keep fit = 4 hrs = +32pts
15/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr yoga = 4 hrs = +32pts
16/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
17/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
18/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr keep fit = 4 hrs = +32pts
19/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
20/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
21/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr keep fit = 4 hrs = +32pts
22/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr yoga = 4 hrs = +32pts
23/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
24/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
25/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr keep fit = 4 hrs = +32pts
26/01/2008 - 2 hrs walking + 1 hr body jam class = 3 hrs = +24pts
27/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
28/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr keep fit = 4 hrs = +32pts
29/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr yoga = 4 hrs = +32pts
30/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
31/01/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
01/02/2008 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr keep fit = 4 hrs = +32pts
02/02/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
03/02/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
04/02/2008 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr keep fit = 4 hrs = +32pts
05/02/2008 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr yoga = 4 hrs = +32pts
06/02/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
07/02/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
08/02/2008 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr keep fit = 4 hrs = +32pts
09/02/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
10/02/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
11/02/2008 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr keep fit = 4 hrs = +32pts
12/02/2008 - 3 hrs walking + 1 hr yoga = 4 hrs = +32pts
13/02/2008 - 3 hrs walking = 3 hrs = +24pts
Click to expand...

I didnt want to end up with some people handing in scoresheets with 21 hours to 28 hours of exercise or more which was actually a possibility if I had gone down the route of the original request...

Looking at last weeks points - even if everyone that claimed 20 exercise points had claimed 40 exercise points - there would have still been more points available on the nutritional side of things...

I am actually stuck walking outside today as the treadmill is now out of action after an incident that happened Sunday night (4 hours after I increased the exercise challenge points available). The treadmill was plugged in but no-one was near it. It started up by itself and was going extremely fast - with zeroes in all the fields on the screen. There was a smell of burning. Pressing the stop button did nothing - so we pulled out the plug. There are brown scorch marks on the belt... An email has gone off to the appropriate people... Thankfully the weather today seems bright but rain is forecast for later in the week...

Thank goodness the treadmill is in our living room and we were in or we could have had a house fire if we had not been aware of it and able to take immediate action.

If it makes you feel any better - everyone has dropped points somewhere along the way with this challenge. Your old (excellent :)) challenges used to have a clique which were pretty much guaranteed to pick up max points leaving it ALL down to weight in the end. I have given out so many potential points that EVERYONE has dropped some. If you glance up - you will see that I dropped a point this week (compare my week 5 with CharlieEmma) - and with a holiday coming up I am pretty sure that I will be dropping some more. If I weigh in on the last day with the weight that I got at WW on Tuesday I would get ZERO weight management points for the entire challenge...
 
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Hi everyone.

Just letting you know that I still exist.

Things are going particularly poorly for me right now, but I haven't given up on myself or anything. Just not going well right now.
 
Cord the Seeker said:
Hi everyone.

Just letting you know that I still exist.

Things are going particularly poorly for me right now, but I haven't given up on myself or anything. Just not going well right now.
Click to expand...

It is good that you are still here. All to often people disappear from the entire forum. I have done it myself. It certainly worries their friends still here.

Sorry to hear that things are going through a sticky spell for you. We all get times like that. Indeed I sometimes think that matters of weight loss go best when nothing special is going on... That tends to be when we can build up to quite a dramatic level of control in matters of both nutrition and exercise.

All too often we hit a sticky spell as we get back from a holiday or have a birthday or Christmas. Basically anything that makes us eat and act with less restriction. It is fine when it happens - we allow ourselves to act like a sensible version of our former selves... Kind of how quite a lot of people that have never been big act. We tend to put on a little weight though (which annoys us) and we know that we have to tighten up our control to get back to how we had recently been - which can be a struggle. I think that a few of us are going through this right now...

For myself - I have got so that I define myself by my walking. I know that whether a day is a good day or a bad day, good weather or bad, busy or quiet - I have to do my long walk (6.5 miles minimum). This tends to get me through those blah days...

Is there anything that we can do to help?
 
We're definitely giving a damn or two! :)

Hope things will get better for you soon. If you manage to find that time machine, I'd like to be a passenger please?!

Personally I'm not doing too bad, even though getting back into the swing of things seems more difficult than I thought.

I seem to be doing okay with most things, but do I struggle with getting enough protein in or what?? I had seafood for dinner last night, and still didn't even make it to half of what I should be eating. Doesn't look as if I am going to get anywhere close today either, despite a chicken breast sandwich for lunch. I must be doing something wrong. :confused:
 
Cord - we most definitely care what is going on for you.

After a wedding anniversary, a birthday and a week away from home - my July is not going to go down in history as a great month for weight maintenance (never mind losing!!!).

If anyone finds that time machine - maybe we all want to go back a bit. All I can say is that I have behaved myself better for doing the challenge than I would have done otherwise. I can also say that it is a good thing that I didnt give out points for calorie counting when Kimberly suggested I could... I would have dropped a lot of them.

San - It is good to hear that you are getting back into the swing of things - these things always take time... I had a tough time when I first started trying to get my protein in - and I had for a while a food plan which meant me having a grilled pork loin steak mid afternoon every day just to be sure that I was getting enough protein (I used to grill up a batch). I have been having a look at some of the things that I get my protein from in case you are looking for ideas:
31.6g - from my 4 Shape yoghurts - which also cover my calcium
18.1g - tin of baked beans
26.4g - 110g salmon
47.6g - 2 * 4oz pork loin steaks = 8oz
52.9g - 1 medium chicken breast
16.6g - 1 egg

Every day I have the yoghurts - I have got so that I swear by them.. Tonight for my main meal I am having pork loin steaks with baked beans.
 
Cord, I've taken a sabbatical from here myself in the past and found that it was easier to stay honest with myself if I stayed accountable to people here. I had a tough time on my own. Hang tight, hang in. Things work out, even the rough ones do.

Speaking of being here, there are a couple of notable anniversaries for me that I would like to share with people that are all part of my project.

August 8th will mark one year since I decided to go to the campus rec center and try working out at the gym. I am afraid I created a monster because that guy doesn't exist any more, the new one cannot imagine what life would be like without going to the gym at least 4 times a week.

August 16th marks one year exactly since I quit smoking for good. Maybe someday I'll post the rather humourous, but slightly embarassing, personal and provocative story as to what finally made me drop them. I will state that if I ever do, it will need to be read with an open mind... (and a sense of humor).

August 22nd marks one year since I joined this forum. The main reason I joined was actually not entirely weight loss. It was more because I was trying to find ways of keeping my mind off of eating while going through the aforementioned cigarette withdrawal process. I didn't want to gain back a ton of the weight I had already lost prior to quitting because I was substituting food as a crutch.

This forum helped me with that in a big way.
 
Cord--I would love to re-do July as well. My eating was terrible. I gained about 10lbs. I totally hear ya. The good thing is that you can make a fresh start and make August a great month. :) Don't beat yourself up, just do what needs to be done. :)

Well, I think I finally found a way to get some motivation to eat properly..lol Dh grew a beard shortly after May was born and I HATE it! Yes, I do hate it with every fiber of my being. Dh loves it as much as I hate it..lol. So we have been struggling with this issue..lol. So today we agreed that when I get to 216lbs (my low before getting pregnant) he will shave the beard off that very day--no excuses. So now I'm gonna work my ass off to shed those 12lbs asap! :smilielol5: Then, once I get below 200lbs he'll have to shave it again if he's started to grow it back. It's a win-win situation, He is happy bc he gets to keep his beard longer without me nagging him to shave it off--and he gets a thinner wife. I will get rid of this weight and dh's beard. :sifone:

I have eaten well for 3 of the last 4 days. :hurray:
 
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I'm still here too.. sorry i haven't checked in forever.. i have been extremely busy with school and the boys and now my new niece who was born July 22nd. Plus i have been having more migraines recently which makes it hard to be on the computer for very long. anyways.. i'm still plugging away and my weightloss and hoping to have some good news to update tomorrow at weigh in
 
Well, today was a pretty good day.

Partly, I think, because I went back to work. It adds a sense of order to your day that makes it easier to keep other things in order. On the down side, that is eight hours a day I can't do other stuff, like spend time with the family, work on the house, or work out.

But it seems to work well for food. Hit most of the bases - water, 5 a day, calcium, fibre, even protein. Feel pretty good about that, although I had to go over my caloric target go get it all in. Can't win 'em all, I guess.

Squeezed in a 30 minute walk at work (lunch break), and hit the gym and the pool tonight for a partial version of each - about 3/4 of my regular weight routine, and 1/2 of my regular swim.

Thanks for all the support, everyone. It means a great deal to me.
 
bikinibound said:
Well, I think I finally found a way to get some motivation to eat properly..lol Dh grew a beard shortly after May was born and I HATE it! Yes, I do hate it with every fiber of my being. Dh loves it as much as I hate it..lol. So we have been struggling with this issue..lol. So today we agreed that when I get to 216lbs (my low before getting pregnant) he will shave the beard off that very day--no excuses. So now I'm gonna work my ass off to shed those 12lbs asap! :smilielol5: Then, once I get below 200lbs he'll have to shave it again if he's started to grow it back. It's a win-win situation, He is happy bc he gets to keep his beard longer without me nagging him to shave it off--and he gets a thinner wife. I will get rid of this weight and dh's beard. :sifone:
Click to expand...

LOL - why do husbands think that we want them to have beards??? As you know Rod and I have been together for quite a long time. Well when I met him (he was a 22 year old youngster back then....) he had been going through an impressionable age. He had been reading up about pirates and the like and really had been impressed about pirates having beards that they plaited and decorated with things like twigs on fire and similar. Well he had this beard - and I think that the band zz-top had been similarly inspired. In my opinion it was not a good look... Add in a moustache and I am sure that you have the picture.....

As you know he is now pretty bald and what little remains of his hair is grey. Well this wasnt always the case. His hair actually was a moderately auburn shade of brown - not red - but with that sort of tinge. Add in the freckles which used to often appear and you have it all.

Well - he certainly needed a little guidance regarding his appearance. But - the look appealed to him for some reason...

Well - he got quite serious about the relationship fairly quickly (and even proposed after 6 weeks) - so I had started this little catch phrase of "how can I take seriously someone who looks just like a garden gnome". I went out and bought some red wool and announced that I was starting to knit him a hat to finish off the look.

It was funny - within a few days the beard / moustache were gone and the red hat had been abandoned.

He held out a fondness for having his hair long at the back until after our marriage - but I managed to persuade the hairdresser to taper it so that it was pretty much invisible in the wedding photos.... Eventually it went too.

I can easily imagine how David's beard will give you great inspiration to get rid of those surplus pounds once and for all. With hard work you will see the last of it.
 
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As a counterpoint to this discussion...

I used to be clean shaven. A number of years ago I decided to try growing a beard. I kept getting sick of the itchy stages and usually shaved it off after a bit. Eventually I tried the goatee set up I have now. Told my wife one day that I was tired of it and wanted to shave it off.

I was forbidden to do so. In fact over the years my wife has repeatedly told me not to shave the goatee.
 
reluctantcabbie said:
As a counterpoint to this discussion...

I used to be clean shaven. A number of years ago I decided to try growing a beard. I kept getting sick of the itchy stages and usually shaved it off after a bit. Eventually I tried the goatee set up I have now. Told my wife one day that I was tired of it and wanted to shave it off.

I was forbidden to do so. In fact over the years my wife has repeatedly told me not to shave the goatee.
Click to expand...

The obvious conclusion as I see it is a loving wife's decision is final regarding what is an attractive look for her husband... :)
 
reluctantcabbie said:
there are a couple of notable anniversaries for me that I would like to share with people that are all part of my project.

August 8th will mark one year since I decided to go to the campus rec center and try working out at the gym. I am afraid I created a monster because that guy doesn't exist any more, the new one cannot imagine what life would be like without going to the gym at least 4 times a week.

August 16th marks one year exactly since I quit smoking for good. Maybe someday I'll post the rather humourous, but slightly embarassing, personal and provocative story as to what finally made me drop them. I will state that if I ever do, it will need to be read with an open mind... (and a sense of humor).

August 22nd marks one year since I joined this forum. The main reason I joined was actually not entirely weight loss. It was more because I was trying to find ways of keeping my mind off of eating while going through the aforementioned cigarette withdrawal process. I didn't want to gain back a ton of the weight I had already lost prior to quitting because I was substituting food as a crutch.

This forum helped me with that in a big way.
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those are some great anniversaries that you have coming up.

It is funny how we have become so VERY different from the people that we were.

When I was out walking this morning a couple of men said "hello treacle" to me. LOL - I can assure you that didnt happen to the old me....

Now we are all curious about the funny story that you havent told us yet!!!.... You will have to tell us now....
 
momma4alex said:
I'm still here too.. sorry i haven't checked in forever.. i have been extremely busy with school and the boys and now my new niece who was born July 22nd. Plus i have been having more migraines recently which makes it hard to be on the computer for very long. anyways.. i'm still plugging away and my weightloss and hoping to have some good news to update tomorrow at weigh in
Click to expand...

It is great that you are still here. We all know how busy you are. The migranes sound really nasty. I hope that you can find a way of preventing them. I imagine the stress that you have regarding your son's health does not help things there - stress can have a way of triggering our weaknesses. I know that stress often is involved in triggering Rod's gout.

You have done well to be still keeping up with your project under difficult circumstances. Good luck at the scales for tomorrow.
 
Cord the Seeker said:
Well, today was a pretty good day.

Partly, I think, because I went back to work. It adds a sense of order to your day that makes it easier to keep other things in order. On the down side, that is eight hours a day I can't do other stuff, like spend time with the family, work on the house, or work out.

But it seems to work well for food. Hit most of the bases - water, 5 a day, calcium, fibre, even protein. Feel pretty good about that, although I had to go over my caloric target go get it all in. Can't win 'em all, I guess.

Squeezed in a 30 minute walk at work (lunch break), and hit the gym and the pool tonight for a partial version of each - about 3/4 of my regular weight routine, and 1/2 of my regular swim.

Thanks for all the support, everyone. It means a great deal to me.
Click to expand...

We are all here to support you. We know what it is like...

I'm pleased to hear that you have had a good day. As I was saying yesterday - things seem to go easier when we are doing "business as usual". It sounds like being back at work is agreeing with you. Your exercise was good too - even if it was not at your normal levels. Those levels will be back soon.

It does cost quite a few calories to hit all our nutritional targets. There is always someone new on the forum that is convinced that they need to cut their calories down to something like 1,000 calories a day to lose weight. They never seem to believe it when they are told that they will never hit their nutritional targets with that. They somehow get the idea that if they have a little bit of fruit and veg and a little bit of meat they will be fine for all fibre / protein needs. Add a glass of skimmed milk or a yoghurt and in their heads they have hit calcium too. Add a few glasses of water and they are more than hydrated (whatever their current size). In my experience - it is only when you do what we are doing and calculate the nutrient levels that you are eating - that you realise that you werent getting enough and the amount of calories that it takes to get you there. Naturally for some of us that means eating more calories, and for some it means cutting back on some areas where we were being a little generous with our allowances. Some of us may have been allowing ourselves some fat or starchy carbs that we decide we can trim.

I know that my diary is full of entries where I speak of my fondness of eating cereal not to mention my fondness of eating raisins. Neither appear at all in my current food plan. Each was axed in turn as I realised that I would never get to goal without a major change to my food plan. We can find that healthy food can hold us back if we eat too much of it. We need to find a food plan that ticks all the nutritional boxes at a calorie price that we are willing to pay...
 
Omega said:
We are all here to support you. We know what it is like...

I'm pleased to hear that you have had a good day. As I was saying yesterday - things seem to go easier when we are doing "business as usual". It sounds like being back at work is agreeing with you. Your exercise was good too - even if it was not at your normal levels. Those levels will be back soon.
Click to expand...

Actually, since I usually alternate weights and pool, doing part of both in one day was actually a little more activity than normal for me.

Really wore me out, though.
 
Cord the Seeker said:
Actually, since I usually alternate weights and pool, doing part of both in one day was actually a little more activity than normal for me.

Really wore me out, though.
Click to expand...

Wow - I hadnt realised that you had done extra there... Very well done. You confused me by doing a mix and match ... LOL

I imagine that it did wear you out...

Just think of the extra exercise points up for grabs this week though!!!!
 
It is funny how some women like the facial hair and others don't.

LOL@Rod looking like a garden gnome! :smilielol5: I will have to read that post to David. That cracked me up!

So far so good today with the eating. But I usually do well during the day. It's in the evening when I tend to misbehave--in the eating dept that is. :smilielol5:
 
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