Weight-Loss Summer Shake-Up Challenge Chat Thread

[Omega]

Kirsty I am so pleased that you are feeling the benefits from eating the fruit and vegetables. I really dont know why I spent all those years not eating too much of them - they are just so very good for you. I have done a fair bit of reading up and it seems that they can ward off an amazing quantity of ailments that cause havok for people of all sizes. The fact that they can help to keep us feeling full on comparitively a small amount of calories can appear to be an amazing bonus. There is even an extra bonus that fruit can help to satisfy cravings for sweetness!

Any change of eating (and drinking) habits can take a bit of getting used to - but it is well worth perservering with fruit and veg.

I have to say that I am really enjoying this week's last minute bonus of extra fruit and veg not on the list for week 1. I used a huge variety in week 1 (and am pretty well known for being a creature of habit) and I would have probably repeated them all in week 2. Having an incentive to eat something healthy and different is causing me to think and plan. If it is causing me to test my boundaries I expect that it is causing most other people to do the same.

This can only be good and at the minute I am very inclined to continue the extra veg bonus where we all get inventive with a further five kinds of fruit or veg not had during week 1 or 2. Since I think that I had a wider selection in week 1 than anyone else - I should run out of things first. I suspect that I will be looking to see which fruit and veg everyone else has had to get ideas...

 

[Omega]

Okay, everyone, I'm off for a few days.

It will be a struggle to keep up with the water and the 5-a-day while I am gone. But I will give it my best shot.

The annoying thing is that, after a week of good weather, it is forecast to rain every day during my trip (during which I had planned to do some serious hiking), and will clear up again as soon as I return home.

Feh.

Hope everyone stays on track and does well!

Have a great trip and I hope that the forecasters have got it wrong...

Try to stay on track - but if you dont - remember all your friends here know just how easy it is to slip up. The biggest thing after a splurge (like a holiday can easily become) is to get straight back on track the minute that you are home.

 

[Bellaryna]

Alright Margaret!
I am taking this challege very seriously!!! LOL
After a slow start the first week due to camping most of the week I plan to bring home the proverbial bacon in maximum points this week.

Already I have eaten tons more *different* fruit/veg than I did last week.

*wk1 fruit/veg: yellow apple, baby carrots, bananas, grapes, peaches, nectarines, tomato, red onion, lettuce, green beans
wk2 fruit/veg not in wk1 list: strawberries, pineapple, blackberries, radishes, mushrooms, red pepper, yellow pepper, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, asparagus*
Game On!


I even went so far that when I shopped at the store this past weekend I browsed around the produce section looking for stuff I had not had the week before.
In fact when I was checking out at the register the clerk was having a hard time ringing it all up due to the fact that she had to keep looking up all the different items.
The girl behind me was getting soooo impatient that she finally just told the clerk to have a "free fruit day"! hahaha
I was of course all for that! Especially since fresh fruit tends to be more expensive than canned/frozen.

 

[Omega]

Alright Margaret!
I am taking this challege very seriously!!! LOL
After a slow start the first week due to camping most of the week I plan to bring home the proverbial bacon in maximum points this week.

Already I have eaten tons more *different* fruit/veg than I did last week.

*wk1 fruit/veg: yellow apple, baby carrots, bananas, grapes, peaches, nectarines, tomato, red onion, lettuce, green beans
wk2 fruit/veg not in wk1 list: strawberries, pineapple, blackberries, radishes, mushrooms, red pepper, yellow pepper, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, asparagus*
Game On!


I even went so far that when I shopped at the store this past weekend I browsed around the produce section looking for stuff I had not had the week before.
In fact when I was checking out at the register the clerk was having a hard time ringing it all up due to the fact that she had to keep looking up all the different items.
The girl behind me was getting soooo impatient that she finally just told the clerk to have a "free fruit day"! hahaha
I was of course all for that! Especially since fresh fruit tends to be more expensive than canned/frozen.

WOW Dawn - when you get your teeth into something you really go for it!

I never thought for one second that you would do other than be taking it seriously now that you are home.

It's a shame that we appear to have had one or two people drop out. I am actually very concerned about Tammy - because we chatted a fair bit in facebook and she was hoping that the challenge would help to motivate her. She actually copied one of her notes to me into her diary - so I am not revealing a confidence here. I dont know whether you saw it... I have told her that she can join at any time (as can anyone - and anyone can pick it up if they dropped out)... I would be overjoyed if she signed up because I know that the challenge is exactly what I would need if I was in her shoes. I know that she is very busy with 5 kids - but she is clearly very unhappy with her current size.

I cannot believe how extensive your list of extra fruit is. You will get as stuck as me next week - now that I have pretty much decided to push us all further out of our comfort zone fruit / veg wise.... You might decide to save one or two things and not eat them until next week

I think that we all need to get someone to campaign for a free fruit day at our local stores...

I shouldnt be surprised at your determination though --- you are the one who ate a whole lettuce last week and I know your track record in challenges. I will always remember how you forced your body to lose an enormous gain that you suffered when you had an operation mid week in a challenge a year and a half ago. I remember being stunned when you didnt get negative points for the gain and grateful because you were in my team.

LOL - we always did strive to win in the old days....

 

[Bellaryna]

~WOW Dawn - when you get your teeth into something you really go for it!
I am really feeling the determination this time around. Must be those overly tight jeans of mine! haha
~I cannot believe how extensive your list of extra fruit is. You will get as stuck as me next week - now that I have pretty much decided to push us all further out of our comfort zone fruit / veg wise.... You might decide to save one or two things and not eat them until next week
Oh don'tcha worry about me, haha.......you forget I work at a the Distribution Center for Walmart. I know exactly what kinds of fruits and veggies are still available to me since I see them "all the time". I already have my eyes on the mangos, kiwis, honeydews, squashs and corn. Not to mention blueberries, pluots, plums..........see I got the produce section at my beck and call! LOL
I think that we all need to get someone to campaign for a free fruit day at our local stores...
Wouldn't be great if that could happen? We hae a local farmers market that meets every Saturday uptown. I think that I may check them out this coming weekend.
As well we also planted a Victory Garden. So I am looking very forward to harvest time.
I shouldnt be surprised at your determination though --- you are the one who ate a whole lettuce last week and I know your track record in challenges. I will always remember how you forced your body to lose an enormous gain that you suffered when you had an operation mid week in a challenge a year and a half ago. I remember being stunned when you didnt get negative points for the gain and grateful because you were in my team.

LOL - we always did strive to win in the old days....

I am still humbled by your admiration.
You will always be an inspiration to me.
You didn't let anyone tell you that you had to do all different kinds of exercises or eat some kind of funky foods (or lack of foods) to achieve your goals.
You did it with good ald fashion common sense and determination.
You are the stunning one.

 

[thecabbie]

Hey Folks, I'm back after a long weekend.

Margaret, my own bad for Friday night, I was not around and so therefore could not update, but it didn't really matter, as I had already gotten max points for exercise on the week, and hadn't gotten all my veggies in...

Have had some fruit fun this week though, bought a whole bunch of fresh fruit and simply decidded to substitute this for side dishes with my meals. Have a sandwich with chunks of watermelon, blueberries, apple slices and red grapes on the side. A meal with dessert built in!

Got some cycling in on Saturday, then went to a BBQ. Sunday we swam at the lake, and went tubing behind my buddy's powerboat. Today I got an 18 mile ride in. I missed my strength work out today though Yup, thats right, the first time in almost a year that I have missed a work out...

Why, you might ask? Ohh, remember the tubing and swimming? Yeah, a little re-application of sunscreen would have gone a long way towards my comfort today...

A bright red back is not comfortable when laid down upon a vinyl covered bench with barbells being pushed against it... I barely managed to keep it together for my bike ride today.

 

[bikinibound]

I want to thank Margaret for the water bonus this week, as it's really helping with the bathroom dept--no consitpation here.. I realized that I wasn't drinking enough water, so this has got me back on track.

Karl--Sorry to hear about your sunburn. I did the same thing at Lake Michigan last year. Dh and I were so burnt, we were in misery for a week. If only a second application of sunscreen had been applied..lol.

Margaret--It is funny how determination can turn things around..lol. I was ashamed at my poor amount of exercise last week, and figured there is no way I can eat ice cream, chocolate and peanut butter the way I have been and get away with it unless I kick up the exercise. I think I will have to exercise 2hrs per day.

 

[bikinibound]

Are we also getting pts for eating 5 fruit/veg per day like last week in addition to the water and the 5 new kinds of fruit/veg that we didn't eat last week? I'm confused..lol. Haven't been keeping track of the fruit and veggies this week--aside from ones I didn't eat last week..lol

Also Margaret can you look at my points for last week again b/c I think I should have more unless I did my calculations wrong.

 

[Omega]

I am still humbled by your admiration.
You will always be an inspiration to me.
You didn't let anyone tell you that you had to do all different kinds of exercises or eat some kind of funky foods (or lack of foods) to achieve your goals.
You did it with good ald fashion common sense and determination.
You are the stunning one.

Thanks for the kind words and support. My own achievements are far from unique here.

I think that you need to remind yourself of your own extreme level of determination... Lets look at things rationally. Dawn - you do a physically demanding job in adverse surroundings (you work in a freezer for goodness sake and have to wear arctic clothing..) working a highly non-standard shift pattern. You are raising children of quite a wide range of ages. You also hold a responsible and involving role in the local community due to being a minister's wife. In addition to ALL of the above you get up at a rediculously early time in the morning to work shifts at a gym in order to get free membership and classes for your weight loss project. If that dedication to your weight loss project is not an example to anyone on this forum - I want to know what is!!!!!

Frankly I think that the entire forum is packed full of inspiration at every turn. Much of the nutritional advice could be gleaned elsewhere - but it is the inspirational camaraderie that keeps everyone coming back time and time again. I very rarely buy slimming magazines these days because the "inspirational" stories in them are dull and often not that impressive compared to what everyone here is doing. I sometimes think that we should form a co-operative and set up our own magazine - we have enough stories already to fill magazines for years to come - and use the profits to all get together for conventions in exotic locations.

 

[Omega]

Hey Folks, I'm back after a long weekend.

Margaret, my own bad for Friday night, I was not around and so therefore could not update, but it didn't really matter, as I had already gotten max points for exercise on the week, and hadn't gotten all my veggies in...

Have had some fruit fun this week though, bought a whole bunch of fresh fruit and simply decidded to substitute this for side dishes with my meals. Have a sandwich with chunks of watermelon, blueberries, apple slices and red grapes on the side. A meal with dessert built in!

Got some cycling in on Saturday, then went to a BBQ. Sunday we swam at the lake, and went tubing behind my buddy's powerboat. Today I got an 18 mile ride in. I missed my strength work out today though Yup, thats right, the first time in almost a year that I have missed a work out...

Why, you might ask? Ohh, remember the tubing and swimming? Yeah, a little re-application of sunscreen would have gone a long way towards my comfort today...

A bright red back is not comfortable when laid down upon a vinyl covered bench with barbells being pushed against it... I barely managed to keep it together for my bike ride today.

Karl - I am so sorry to hear about the sunburn. These days we all know to be careful about such matters - and generally try to do so. As with all things - we all miss the odd occasion and suffer for doing so... I am sorry that you are suffering now - and hope that it eases soon for you. Often calamine lotion helps.

Well done with doing the bike ride despite the pain. Dont feel bad about missing the gym session - after all - you did a fair bit of exercise over the weekend so while you are suffering your project is not...

I am pleased to hear that you are continuing to do well with the fruit and veg. It is so very good for us.

I am sure that you will remember about the scoresheet deadline from now onwards. As the bonuses accumulate you will probably be wanting to claim some Friday points - even when the day conspires to stop you claiming max points.... The deadline is 6pm British Summer Time on Saturday. I put in an earlier reminder posting saying "deadline in x hours" last Saturday - it being the first week. If you do not know when 6pm BST is - if you look at the earlier posting and check the time on it - you should be able to figure it all out.

 

[Omega]

I want to thank Margaret for the water bonus this week, as it's really helping with the bathroom dept--no consitpation here.. I realized that I wasn't drinking enough water, so this has got me back on track.

You are welcome. I only plagarise the best challenges...

Margaret--It is funny how determination can turn things around..lol. I was ashamed at my poor amount of exercise last week, and figured there is no way I can eat ice cream, chocolate and peanut butter the way I have been and get away with it unless I kick up the exercise. I think I will have to exercise 2hrs per day.

Determination is more important than anything in getting us to where we want to be. The funny thing is that we know if we look back on some of the things that we have already done on this weight loss journey - we can do almost anything if we set our mind to it. We can certainly do things that people would have told us was impossible. It is fantastic that you are wanting to do the exercise at your more normal levels again.

The funny thing is that we like ice cream, chocolate and peanut butter etc as much (if not more than) the next person. We just happen to like the notion of having a healthy body even more. When in the house I drink from a mug that I got at Slimming World. On one side it says "nothing tastes as good as being slim feels!" On the other side it says "in the world of slimming the greatest lie we can tell ourselves is 'that bit won't matter'". Reading my mug often helps me stay away from the chocolate and ice cream that is always in my vicinity (Rod still has it so it is still bought!).

 

[Omega]

Are we also getting pts for eating 5 fruit/veg per day like last week in addition to the water and the 5 new kinds of fruit/veg that we didn't eat last week? I'm confused..lol. Haven't been keeping track of the fruit and veggies this week--aside from ones I didn't eat last week..lol

Also Margaret can you look at my points for last week again b/c I think I should have more unless I did my calculations wrong.

Yes there are still points for 5-a-day.

Basically it is an accumulation thing.

There is one main bonus of the week where you typically get 3 points per day (eg 5-a-day last week, water this week).

Then there is extra bonuses that are a reinforcement of a previous good habit. On these you get typically 1 point per day (eg 5-a-day this week).

On top of that there are ad-hoc bonuses that are "one week only" - eg recipe, extraveg. They may be repeated but they are not there to stay.

You can see how in this format the last week will have people trying to eat 5-a-day, drink water and do everything else all at the same time.

I am hoping to give us all some incentive to form some great habits that I believe will benefit both weight loss and general health. This is as important for us "old hands" as anyone brand new to the forum and indeed weight loss - and a valuable lesson at any size - including those that we would consider as slender already. I am sure that you will agree that while the "old hands" may already know the rules - we are probably more inclined to have got to the stage where we cut ourselves a little slack - I gained a lot over winter because I hadnt counted my sodium in far too long!

Sorry if I have done my sums wrong. It is always worth checking up on me. I will check up on it and send you a PM so that we can compare our sums to be sure that we agree.

LOL - I plagarise the challenges and offload the points calculations - how good a shirker can I be!!!

 

[Omega]

I have just posted the bonus information for the week that starts on Saturday.

WEEK 3

We all know that calcium is important for our bones to be healthy. Whilst we all know about the importance of calcium for children and we may well hope to keep out bones strong in order to reduce our risk of osteoporosis or hip problems as we get older – we may not know that research indicates that calcium can have an impact on weight loss.







Many authorities promote 1000mg calcium per day.



The following calculator may give inspiration on things that could boost your calcium intake.



Calcium can be calculated using

You can see that while research indicates that we would all benefit from a calcium intake of at least 1000mg – there is some uncertainty as to whether there is added benefit in it ALL coming from dairy sources. Some research indicates that a vitamin tablet with the correct level of calcium would cover this. I more than cover mine from nutritional sources simply by having 4 low calorie fat free yoghurts every day.

My challenge to you for this week is to become aware of how much calcium is in your diet – and improve your intake (either from food or a supplement) so that you have 1000mg each day - 3 points per day.

Either way – be aware that there may be an added benefit in getting your calcium from dairy sources.

So – have 1000mg calcium for each day to collect 21 points.
Reinforcing previous bonuses, I will give 1 point for each day that you have 5-a-day and 1 point for each day that you drink your allocation of water giving a possible maximum 14 points. Anyone reporting a 3 litre lower level of water drinking will earn half a point for each day.

ADDITIONAL ONE-OFF WEEK 3 BONUS ADDED
I really like the way that the week 2 bonus has worked out. I have therefore decided to have another very similar bonus in week 3. We can each try 5 new fruit/veg. For week 3 I will remove the requirement to have so many veg as a minimum – just it needs to not be on either earlier list. I will give 2 points for each different item of fruit /veg that we eat a portion of during week 2 – maximum 5 items. Portion sizes were given in the week 1 challenge. Check my scoresheet to get the idea…

Wk3---0hrs 00mins----ssmtwtf---ssmtwtf---ssmtwtf---newveg*0-----
If someone completes all of their tasks I would expect their Wk2 main scoresheet line to look as follows:
Wk3---5hrs 00mins----CCCCCCC---WWWWWWW---VVVVVVV----newveg*5-----

 

[thecabbie]

Damn, woman, you are not making this challenge easy... It's getting more complex as the weeks go by... Just tracking is going to take up all my time!

 

[charlieemma]

Damn, woman, you are not making this challenge easy... It's getting more complex as the weeks go by... Just tracking is going to take up all my time!

I didn't know challenges were meant to be easy.....

 

[Omega]

Damn, woman, you are not making this challenge easy... It's getting more complex as the weeks go by... Just tracking is going to take up all my time!

Yes - but would you complain if you found that you were calcium deficient and by simply boosting your calcium intake you improved your speed of weight loss or indeed your ease of maintenance at goal.... ?

I thought that you had twigged that I had an evil side..... !!!! (evil laugh!!)

Just think how confusing I am going to find doing the sums each week if it makes you feel better.

 

[Blancita]

Just wanted to wish everyone in Omega's challenge the very best of luck reaching your goals (and winning of course )!

 

[Omega]

Thanks Claudia - and I am sure all my poor tortured victims thank you too!!!

(They think that I am too cruel for words!)

 

[bikinibound]

Bah, the calcium bonus will be a piece of cake for me as I already make sure I get at least 1200mg of it per day. I've been doing this since I found out I was preggers, and continue bc I'm breastfeeding.

And ice cream has calcium in it....

 

[Bellaryna]

Bah, the calcium bonus will be a piece of cake for me as I already make sure I get at least 1200mg of it per day. I've been doing this since I found out I was preggers, and continue bc I'm breastfeeding.

And ice cream has calcium in it....

Mmmmm.........
Ice Cream.
What a splendid way to get all my calcium.

Just kidding Margaret! hahahaha