Biggest Loser 9 Spring Challenge -- thread closing -- see new thread Part 2!

[50sjayne]

Ok, so I removed my 20 pound stickie this morning as motivation to earn it back quickly! Gained back 8 of what I lost last challenge, 4 just yesterday! Darn Chinese food, rum, and Christmas goodies and chips and dip! It's my own fault and I take full responsibility! But I had an AWESOME time last night with our good friends so that's what counts!

I have written down the COW for the week and think I can handle this one!

Today's plan of action: LOTS of water! Walk around the neighborhood a few times with MOM! A couple Leslie Sansone workouts to see which my mom wants to take home with her. Yogurt for breakfast followed by a BL Protein drink. Pork chops for the main meal. Probably will eat some snacky stuff but will try and work it off!

I'm hoping to show my mom the boards today as she wants to join in. She's never done MBs before but wants to lose weight too and sees how much I enjoy everyone here and how much it helped me last round!

OK time for some water and yogurt!

Happy New Year 2010 to everyone! May it be full of weight losses and happiness and health for us all!

PS My goal for the challenge is 145. So I need to lose 21.8 pounds!

Yeah me too- I'm gonna take mine down in a little bit, gained 6 back since our last weigh in. Jeez. Gonna have to change my status here too lol. yeah last night was by far my worst night. Was doing ok until a phonecall confirmed that my daughter hadn't got her christmas card still. Husband put $100 in it (I was very against this but it's what he wanted to do) then I started stressing over that and eating of course. Well it's what we do New Years eve anyway. Decided today that it's just the mail being slow- I was thinking he mailed it out sooner than he did. Anyway. the Holidays are over and now the real fun starts--this challenge! Biggest Loser starts uesday- can't wait for that!
So I have 5 pounds to lose this challenge then I'll switch to maintaining

 

[Peace.love.mickey]

GOOD morning and happy 2010! WOW! Seems like those 10 years flew!!!

Here is our QOTD (Question of the Day): Do you have a goal for this challenge?
I want to work out at least 4-5 times a week and lose 20 lbs for this challenge.

And a bonus QOTD do you want to have a group goal for this challenge?
Since I am new, not sure..maybe a goal of total weight loss!

Guess I better go weigh myself! OH DEAR!

 

[tigger813]

Oops...made my protein drink and had a raspberry white Russian instead! Any protein there? Probably not! Oh well! Just put protein drink in the fridge for later!

We ate snack stuff for lunch and now it's time to put it all away. Watching the Bruins play hockey against the Flyers at Fenway! Woohoo!

Mom is taking a nap so hopefully we will do a WATP workout later! Gonna have pork and stuffing and veggies for supper later. Gonna have thin cut pork for my dad whose teeth don't allow him tough meats.

I hope everyone is enjoying Hew Year's Day as much as we are! It's all about family and enjoying the day! GO BRUINS! and on Sunday, GO PATRIOTS! Love my New England teams! We have a Build A Bear for each NE Sports team!

 

[drinkme]

Hi! This is my first BL Dis challenge.

I have always been one of those people with a great metabolism who could eat anything and never get overweight. Then a few years ago, my ds had some medical problems. When he was getting weaned off of his feeding tube, the nutritionist we were working with advised me to feed him anything he would eat that was high in calories no matter how unhealthy it was. Our goal was to get weight on my ds without the use of his feeding tube. I ate pretty much everything he ate, and then the weight came on ME (and the dog...lol). It was then that I realized that it wasn't that I had a great metabolism (well, maybe a GOOD one), but that I usually ate the "right" type of foods my whole life. It didn't take long for the whole family to be hooked on high fat, high calorie food. We eat McDonalds all of the time, we eat high sugar snacks constantly, etc, (you get the picture). We've been living like this for about 2 years now.

My dh got diagnosed with high blood pressure 2 weeks ago and is now on medication. What a wake-up call!

TODAY is the day my whole family goes back to healthy eating. It's only the afternoon and I can already feel the MASSIVE cravings for the sugar and fat. I'm hoping it's going to go away in a few days.

My goal is to lose 5 pounds before our Disneyland trip in 3 weeks. My next goal is to lose another 5 pounds. I would like to eventually take 15-20 pounds off, but I'm just going to focus on 5 pounds at a time.

But my main focus is getting the family to stop craving the bad foods. And somehow get my ds a high enough calorie intake eating healthy.

Oops! Sorry so long!!!

 

[denise]

Sadly, on Christmas Eve, I lost my 18yr old cat "Magnus".
He has been my confident for a lot of my adult life, thru some very hard times, the understanding that I wouldn't have the fairy tale husband and little ones, loss of my Nana and many other difficult times. I haven't really had any support, Magnus being "just a cat" that's him below with my Dsis.
Sis and I love Disney but cannot get there as often as we would like. Last trip was a surprise 50th birthday to CSR from my Dsis. What a great time we had.

I am so very sorry for the loss of your best friend. I know what you feel, I lost one cat who got to be 21 1/2 years old. It was so hard. He was the man in my life for a long time. I said no more cats. Yeah right! The cat we have now is about 12 years old. She belongs to my DD but follows me everywhere. The moment I sit or lay down she is next to me. She even walks around with my slipper in her mouth looking for me. (gotta get a picture, she always drops it when I try)
I pray you find comfort knowing you had your cat so long and how wonderful he was. May his memory be eternal.

denise

 

[rgrutland]

I have not started off the new year on the right foot!! Way too many left overs from last nights get together at my house!! I think I will PM my weight tomorrow - is that okay?

My goal is actually to start with 10 pounds! I need to loose 40, but I have a tendency to start things by going over board and doing really well for a long time, but then crashing. So now I would LOVE to take a smaller goal and take baby steps to get there!

My girlfriend last night was laughing at me b/c she know how I go overboard and was listening to me rant about my goal of running a 1/2 marathon. She said she will be there at the finish line if I do it!! So there is my motivation! I know I can do it, but if I do I want to be able to run the whole thing, not walk which I could do now, and maintain the training I will be doing to get there!

So there you go - my goal is 10 pounds -long term 1/2 marathon at Disney of course!!

 

[Rose&Mike]

Here is our QOTD (Question of the Day): Do you have a goal for this challenge? 15 lbs for this challenge along with exercise at least 5 days a week. My long term goal (for 2010) is 33 lbs. I'm still thinking about a long term exercise goal.

And a bonus QOTD do you want to have a group goal for this challenge? I like the retention goal, but not sure what the right number should be.

Here's a question for everyone--Does anyone else find when they drink 6 glasses of water they are even hungrier? I have always found this to be really hard. Does only one cup of coffee/ tea count in the 6 total, or can you count more than one?

 

[Colleen27]

I thought I would do a warm up QOTD (Question of the Day) for the next couple of days while we wait for our challenge to officially start. As you chime in on our new thread -- so we know we didn't lose you -- please introduce yourself.

I'm Colleen, SAHM to 3 wonderful children, ages 11, 8, and 16mo. I live in semi-rural Michigan at the very outer fringe of the Detroit area, and I HATE winter so exercise this time of year is a challenge at best. I've struggled with my weight my whole life, at least in my own mind; even as an athletic teen at what was in retrospect an ideal weight for my body, I obsessed over the fact that I was never within the "ideal weight" range on those stupid charts in Seventeen. I wasn't really overweight until the combination of college and kids broke the exercise habits created through years of competitive swimming, and it took years for my eating habits to even begin to adjust to the drop in my activity level. I lost 14 lbs on the BL8 fall challenge, despite all but giving up around Thanksgiving under the busyness of the holidays and a December Disney trip, and hope to lose much more on BL9!

Also - I just started a thread for Friday for an exercise challenge. I'm challenging everyone to do some sort of exercise on Friday to get themselves started with a BANG! Anyone game? Come join me.

I got out my new Wii game this morning, the Gold's Gym cardio, and it certainly does get you moving. I've been fighting a cold since we got back from FL on the 20th, and though I was at least feeling good enough to try it out, by the end of about 15min I was back to coughing fits and decided to call it a day. But at least it was something, and that's my goal for this year - something every day no matter how much I don't feel like it, even if it is only a quick Wii Fit weigh in, a little yoga to stretch, and a few minutes on one of the aerobics games like I managed this morning.

I've been a swimmer for most of my life-and I never had to worry about my weight. When you're swimming 3000 yds at practice every day, you can eat pretty much whatever you want. I swam enough even in the off-seasons to keep me as "the skinny one" for a pretty long time. That is until I got into my 30's and stopped swimming....everything I'd eaten during all those years had been hiding somewhere and before I knew it-it was all in my gut, butt and thighs. I'm sick of being this heavy and I made a promise to myself that I would NOT enter the next decade wearing this size.

I've tried the run/walk thing and it's ok-but I really think returning to swimming offers me the best hope to succeed because I LOVE it. So far this week I've put in two really good workouts-only 2000 yards each so far-but hopefully I can get back up to my old distances. My long term goal is to get back to the level where I can do 3000 yards in an hour, 5 days a week. My short term goal is to get up tomorrow and get to the pool before work.

I think that's going to have to be a big piece of the puzzle for me too. I swam competitively from the time I was 9 until my freshman year of college (stupid me, I went to a school without a swim program, and just didn't keep up with the community team), and swimming has been the only exercise I've ever really and truly enjoyed. Walking/jogging is okay in nice weather now that I've got a nice, scenic route to follow, but it isn't something I look forward to the way I did when I was swimming. We do have a community pool nearby, which is a big plus after 9 years of living in a town without an indoor pool, but I never seem to get myself moving to make it for their open lap swim.

My husband is thin and probably eats more than anyone I know. His metabolism is amazing and annoys me to death....lol.

I have one of those too. He's 39 and just this past year went up a size from what he wore in high school for the first time. He's a builder, so the physical work keeps him fit, but also keeps him from being all that interested in active activities in his off hours. When he's not working, he's a total couch potato, and he's the stereotypical meat & potatoes guy. If I ate the way he does, they'd make a Discovery channel special about me when the crane came to get me out of the house!

Here is our QOTD (Question of the Day): Do you have a goal for this challenge?

And a bonus QOTD do you want to have a group goal for this challenge?

I'm starting this one with a very ambitious goal, only because I normally lose some weight (5-10lbs) over the spring months without making any effort. So my goal for the challenge is 33 lbs, just over 2lbs per week and enough to get me under 200 for the first time since my second pregnancy, 9 years ago.

I think a group goal is a great idea! This is a big group, so I think 500lbs would be a good place to start. If we hit that goal, we can always set a higher one later!

 

[pjlla]

Good afternoon all! I was skipping the "introduce yourself" QOTD because I kind of figured everyone knew me from BL7 & 8, but with so many newbies here, I guess EVERYONE should get introduced. I'll try to be brief (but if you know me, you'll know I am RARELY brief ).

My real name is Pamela.... had I know I would be here on the DIS for so many years, I probably would have chosen a better user name.

I have struggled with my weight off and on for years. My first time on WW was in my very early teens. But my weight stayed mostly under control in high school and somewhat in college. After college, when I met my DH, I put on the weight. I can remember weighing about 165 and thinking I was HUGE!

After many ups and down, I hit an all-time non-pregnant high of 219 in 2002/2003 (around then). I lost 40-ish pounds in 2003 (in anticipation of a January 2004 WDW trip). Over the next two years I regained about 20, but managed to keep off about 20. I started 2008 DETERMINED to not return to WDW bigger than I was during our last trip. I started 1/2/2008 at 200 pounds even and managed to lose about 30 pounds before our April 2008 trip. I was looking good and feeling good. The biggest change that happened then was that I GOT RIGHT BACK ON PROGRAM after that April 2008 trip and continued to lose weight. I have had more success than failure since then and am finally 5 pounds (about) away from my goal weight.

Some days I feel like I FINALLY have a grip on this diet/exercise thing for LIFE... and other days I KNOW I am just one fall down that slippery slope to going right back to my old ways and regaining. I get up EVERY DAY determined to eat right and exercise. Some days I am more successful than others, but as long as I have more GOOD days then BAD days, I figure I am ahead of the game.

I weigh less now than I did on my wedding day... less than I probably did in high school, less than I did in college. I am actually normal... almost slim! I can wear normal sized clothes... size smalls and mediums and pants sized any where from 3 to 8. It is THRILLING on a daily basis to not DREAD the feeling of getting dressed and finding out that my clothes are getting tighter.

In regards to my life.... I am a married, mostly SAHM (I am a substitute teacher here in our town... mostly elementary school, sometimes middle school). I have been married for almost 18 years. I have two kids... DD is 14 1/2 and DS will be 12 in a few weeks.

Most of the time, during the school year, I am the primary cook, dishwasher, maid, and taxi driver for my kids. DD is a swimmer, both with her high school and with a club team that she has been swimming with for 6 years. DS is involved in town athletics (soccer and basketball) and FLL Robotics, which I co-coach with DH and another Dad. DH works full time and then some... he works at home sometimes, but is away a great deal also.

My primary hobby is scrapbooking. I don't get enough time to do it, but I fit it in whenever I can. I know we have a few scrappers here on the WISH board... hopefully we can talk about it more later!

I hope that is MORE THAN ENOUGH about me!

Here is our QOTD (Question of the Day): Do you have a goal for this challenge?

And a bonus QOTD do you want to have a group goal for this challenge?
Personal goal.... GET TO MY GOAL WEIGHT!! I have been hovering within 7 pounds of goal for many months now and it is driving me NUTS! I need to get dedicated and get to goal!! Part of that goal, I suppose, would be to continue my exercise FAITHFULLY.

Personally, I don't care about a group goal. If others think it would be helpful, then go for it. Since I only have about 5-6 pounds left to lose, I wouldn't contribute much.

We are having game night here tonight (those of us who aren't going out visiting). I am really looking forward to it... I love games. Boggle, Bananagram, Othello, etc, etc.

It is SO nice to "meet" so many new folks. I look forward to learning more about all of you!...................P

 

[lecach]

I started the day with exercise but shouldnt have eaten what I did at lunch . Oh well, I will get there.

 

[NCRedding]

QOTD: I don't want to pick a pound goal, so my personal goal for this is to keep up with the challenge, keep posting my weight, even if it isn't good, and actively participate in BL9 with all of you.

Bonus QOTD: I think it is awesome that you came so close to the 500 pound goal last challenge. I also think a goal of 80% retention would be great too. So, I'm really not much help here.

 

[MaryAz]

QOTD: I would like to get to my WW goal weight which is 11lb down. I also want to go the gym at least 2x per week and walk all the other days. To motivate my hubby (who has signed up too)

Bonus QOTD: I would say a 75% retnetion and 400lb.

Going for a walk with the family in the desert today. Started drinking my water again!

 

[corinnak]

Why oh why doesn't it come off as easy as it comes on?!

Jennifer, I have been giving this a lot of thought lately! (I know, it probably doesn't merit so much thought!) The only thing I can think of is this - if I need 2,000 calories per day to maintain, it is far, far easier for me to eat 3,000+ than it is to cut down to 1,000 (which is not even enough to be healthy). All it takes is an extra PB&J, glass of milk and a brownie to go over by that much. To burn off 1000 calories - for me, it's about an hour and a half running on the treadmill.

It didn't take long for the whole family to be hooked on high fat, high calorie food. We eat McDonalds all of the time, we eat high sugar snacks constantly, etc, (you get the picture). We've been living like this for about 2 years now.

Welcome to your first BL challenge!! It is amazing how addictive those foods can be. I read a great book earlier this year that really put it into perspective for me. If you're interested, it's The End of Overeating by Dr. David Kessler The cravings really do reduce after you're off the stuff for a little while. There are so many calorie dense foods that are also healthy - hopefully you'll find the right balance for your family soon.

My goal is actually to start with 10 pounds! I need to loose 40, but I have a tendency to start things by going over board and doing really well for a long time, but then crashing. So now I would LOVE to take a smaller goal and take baby steps to get there!

My girlfriend last night was laughing at me b/c she know how I go overboard and was listening to me rant about my goal of running a 1/2 marathon. She said she will be there at the finish line if I do it!! So there is my motivation! I know I can do it, but if I do I want to be able to run the whole thing, not walk which I could do now, and maintain the training I will be doing to get there!

I think you're smart to make a manageable goal for yourself for this challenge! It can be so discouraging to set a lofty goal and then fall short. 10 pounds will make a difference for you and is a great thing to strive for.

As for finishing a half marathon, running all the way - you can definitely do it! How much are you able to run at this point? I started with that goal in 2007, not able to run more than a minute at a time, and I ran 2 half marathons and quite a few other shorter races in 2009.

Here is our QOTD (Question of the Day): Do you have a goal for this challenge?

Weight-wise, I am very close to where I want to be. I want to kick this last pound to the curb and join the Maintainer's Club after the WDW Half Marathon next weekend.

My goals for this challenge are less scale-based, therefore, than ever before. I want to see a reduction in my waist measurement, even if I'm not losing pounds.

I plan to increase my strength and flexibility.

I plan to try a few more classes at the YMCA.

I plan to learn how to maintain my loss long-term.

And I want those darned size 4 Levi's to fit comfortably. Almost there on that one, too! If the red dress I wore to my rehearsal dinner (yes, 14 years ago) fit and looked nice later this spring, I'd love that as well. It is a size 9. How confusing.

And a bonus QOTD do you want to have a group goal for this challenge?

Like Pamela, I feel like I won't be much help to a pounds lost goal, but 500 sounds like a good one to strive for again.

I think a retention goal is great as well. Do we know what the percentage of attrition has been for the past few challenges?

I also wonder if some of us would enjoy a group exercise challenge. See how many minutes we can rack up total - I could help with that, for sure!

 

[Christine & family]

This will be my first time participating and I have a lot of weight to lose (about 70 pounds). I'm so glad to know I have this thread for support.

My Personal Goal: To lose something every week and to exercise 5 days a week.

Today has been a good day. I've felt very motivated!!

 

[creativeamanda]

Happy New Year to all our BL 9 participants!

I hope that your year is joyous, prosperous and finds you meeting all your goals!

Today is the official start of our challenge. It's nice to see so many excited, motivated people joining our group. We're here for each other for motivation and support but ultimately it is up to each one of us to make sure that we meet our goals. We can do this!

Here is our QOTD (Question of the Day): Do you have a goal for this challenge?

And a bonus QOTD do you want to have a group goal for this challenge?

I set myself a goal of losing 20 pounds for this challenge. I lost 19 pounds last year -- a couple found their way back while I was on vacation but I know they will be gone soon. I would be very happy to meet my goal and set another before this challenge is through.

In our fall challenge we had a group goal of losing 500 pounds. At the time we had over 60 people and it seemed like we would blow through that goal pretty quickly. The reality was that as our number dwindled that group goal seemed farther away. We ended up about 45 pounds short which I think was a great showing.

If we do a group goal again, I suggest that we start slowly -- 300, 400 or 500pounds and then see how it goes. We can always set it higher.

Let us know what you think.

Please be sure and PM your starting weight to LuvBaloo today and take a look at the COW that started today. There is a link to the COW in post #4 so it is easy to find and report.

Thanks for joining our challenge and good luck to all!

Happy New Year!

My goal for this challenge is to lose 20 pounds. In all, I want to lose 40 pounds, and although in the past that has been attainable for me (10 pounds a month) I don't want to push myself!

The goal for the group to me would be 400 pound weight loss!

Good luck to all!

I lost 50 pounds in 2007 on Nutrisystem and when I started gaining the weight back, it was because I had lost my support. Nutrisystem changed their whole website makeup and I became disinterested and left.

I have re-gained 35 of the 40 I lost. And I want it back off.

Oh, yeah--and as for introducing myself--I'm a 35 year old mom of 3. I've been married for almost 14 years to my college sweetheart and we live on a farm in North Carolina. I am a special education teacher/administrator in a small school district in South Carolina.

 

[leamom2princesses]

Hi everyone, I am Leanne! Boy this thread is moving fast. I participated in BL5 & 6 but dropped out of 6 about midway. I'm remotivated to change things in my life. I work full time, I'm married and have two daughters (9 & 4). I am 35 years young. I can't wait to go on this journey with each of you.

My personal goal is to lose 40lbs by May 22 which is the start date of our next trip to Disney. I started the couch to 5K program on Monday and will use my Wii Fit Plus at least twice a week in addition to the scheduled run/walks.

As for a group goal, I think 75% retention and 450lbs is reasonable for a group this size. If we each lose half of what we would like to lose we should have no trouble reaching the goal.

Good luck everyone!

Leanne

 

[leamom2princesses]

QOTD: I would like to get to my WW goal weight which is 11lb down. I also want to go the gym at least 2x per week and walk all the other days. To motivate my hubby (who has signed up too)

Bonus QOTD: I would say a 75% retnetion and 400lb.

Going for a walk with the family in the desert today. Started drinking my water again!

Hiya Mary! Have fun on your walk.

 

[tmfranlk]

Happy New Year everyone! So far, so good for the day. A little snackage, but not too bad and keeping the overall in control. Gotta get home to the Fit still, but that is coming soon.

For the QOTD today:
My personal goals - I would like to lose 20 lbs this challenge and finally break past that 189 mark that keeps losing me. My biggest goal is to remain active in the challenge from beginning to end - weekly weigh-ins, all COWs and the majority of the QOTDs. If I can do that, I know I'll be on the way down to where I want to be!

 

[LegoMom3]

Well, since I'm part of this group I guess it's time to jump in and introduce myself and stop lurking! Although I'm very much enjoying reading everyone else's posts!

So, I'm Maria. SAHM (mostly - small part-time job about 3 days/week) to 3 boys who also home schools. One word sums up my life: BUSY. I have struggled with my weight since the birth of my first child, who just turned 13. I just never really bounced back I guess. As weight-loss goes, I don't need to lose a lot, but I'm barely 5'1" so every little pound shows up in a big way!!! I see so many success stories of people who lose 50, 100 pounds or more, and I can't even seem to drop 10!!

Here is our QOTD (Question of the Day): Do you have a goal for this challenge?

Yes, my goal is two-fold: to lose 15 pounds and to exercises on a regular basis (at least 4x/week to start, but 5 or 6 would be better).

I am going to be doing a 2-week free trial at the gym my DH goes to. Before we had kids I would go to the gym all the time, then it gradually tapered off after they were born, especially when they were little. If I can consistently get there and make the cost worth while, then I will likely join up. I really just hate exercising at home and always seem to find an excuse not to! I have been walking, though, which is something I enjoy and since I'm enjoying my first winter OUT of New England and IN the south, it's going well!!

Oh, another "goal," if you will, or the carrot on the string perhaps - I'm looking at taking my first solo trip to Disney this year! Not sure when just yet, but most likely in September. People always guess me to be younger than I am (about to turn "thirty-fourteen"!!) so I want to be smokin' by the time that trip rolls around!

Anywho, that's me in a few paragraphs! Oh, I forgot to add that for my "diet" I follow Paul McKenna's program. I find it to be simple and love that it doesn't deny you anything and I don't have to count anything. I do want to make healthier choices, but overall I find his system very easy to do and when I did it in the past, I did lose weight (my biggest struggle is eating out of boredom and "mindless" eating, like just filling your face with popcorn or chips when you're watching TV....ugh!).


Happy New Year everyone!....let's make it GREAT!

.

 

[pppiglet]

I am new to BL also and hope to stick with it.

I am 49 and married for 28 years with a 26 year old son and 10 cats. I work full time in accounting and have a hard time finding time for exercise. I use to do Jazzercise 4 times a week and was able to keep my weight off, but a new job 2 years ago and classes moving in the opposite direction and 1/2 hour away make it too hard to get there now.

My goal is to lose 20lbs before we go on vacation in May. I usually do well during the week, but weekends kill me! I usually eat the same foods all the time, so I did an excel spreadsheet with all my food items and their calories, carbs, fat, etc.....and last year I lost 10lbs right away. Unfortunately I didn't stick with it.

My friend is my motivation now. She has always loved food and always ate desserts and apps when going out for meals. She was always heavier than me. This past year, she joined overeaters annonymous and by just portion control she has lost 50lbs! I am so proud of her. Now I have to try this. I really need portion control.

I'm also a fan of low carb as we did it two years ago and our whole family lost weight.

Another of my goals this year is to walk at least 3 nights a week and do more yard work and not spend so much time online sitting on my butt!

Someone suggested exercising earlier, but I already get up at 5am to feed the cats and get to work on time so that is out of the question! ( I do two sets of 10 push ups ever morning just for the strength training and it gets me going)

I am looking forward to reading your tips and what works for you!