TEAM DONALD--Biggest Loser 11 Spring Team Challenge

[RutgersAlum]

Question of the Day-What is the one thing that you have done this week that is helping you along this journey?

As a few others said, tracking my food intake is helping me stay honest. I am using SparkPeople (which I learned about here last year). It is also showing me I really don't drink enough water, so double bonus.

Sorry I'm a little incommunicado, it was back to work Tuesday and back to full speed ahead with the kiddos. We had dh's birthday tonight, I splurged and had a tiny piece of cake and a slice of pizza and I'm still ok on calories today, hurray...hope the weigh in goes well for us all tomorrow

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Just downloaded the Weight Watchers app. I need a better way to track food.
I used to do the old points system so I need to see if I can follow the new program.

 

[Tauwillow]

I am hoping to try kayaking while we vacation on HHI this summer. Looks like something DH, DS and I can do together.

I hope you love it! Theres nothing like being right on top of the water, and watching the scenery go by. Its just delightful.

one way I've been adding extra veggies in is by pureeing (I use my coffee grinder) lightly steamed cauliflower and adding it to loads of stuff like pasta sauce, white chicken chili and regular chili, soups, etc.

Thats a great idea! I'll have to try that. (I just love hiding my vegis)

My newest niece, Laura was born this morning..

Yay babies! Congrats. I love your description of geocaching.

My favorite memory is being on a stretch of the Winding River with very few people around. The only one ahead of me is my ds2 and he is just sitting in his kayak letting the river take him. It was just so peaceful.

I have one of those too! (from last summer)

Kayaking is so wonderful.

I just spent TWO HOURS here replying and posting and it all just POOFED away!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

I write my comments in notepad while I read the thread, then C&P in the Dis reply field when I'm done. That way if something hiccups, I still have notepad open.

Unfortunately, though, it's less than 1 week in, and I'm already getting a bit discouraged... I weighed myself again this morning, and I'm up 1lb from Monday... I hope I don't let all of you guys down tomorrow...

Don't get discouraged, we're just starting to make the right choices. 1 pound is such a normal fluctuation! It could be from so many thing that are completely out of your control. Don't worry about the weight right now, and just focus on making meaningful changes.

I was over by 100-300 calories each day but its a start to be accountable for my food.

Good for you! Tracking when you know you're going over is the the hardest thing to do! I have a nasty habit of ignoring my calorie tracker once I go over, which is a dangerous thing to do. Im bound and determined not to do that anymore.

QOTD 1/06/2011: What is the one thing that you have done this week that is helping you along this journey?

I cleared off my treadmill and purchased two new exercise videos.

I haven't managed to exercise the past two days, but I have been really good about tracking my calories. I went and shopped for all of my OAMM foods today and hope to cook the entire months worth tomorrow! I'm so optimistic about this plan that I hope I don't end up disappointed at the results. I'll be sure to let you all know.

 

[LuvBaloo]

Question of the Day

What is the one thing that you have done this week that is helping you along this journey?

Cut back on pop (soda) and I did not stop and get fast food for supper the other night. DH was expecting me to because I had gone to the hospital at 4pm to meet my niece and was bringing back the 1.5 yr old to have supper and had to get my own girls off to their Sparks/Guides meetings by 6pm. So it was tight for time, but I had a meal planned and came home and made it instead of buying fast food. Big victory for me as I truly like the fast food. One problem with moving to the bigger town last Sept is that now there is many more choices for fast food.

Today I am going to break out my Dancing with the Stars Cardio Dance DVD to try. I have had it for a while and have not used it yet. Wish me luck.

good luck

Since I'm off to a slow start (will be in full swing come Monday) I've cut back on my night-time snacking. That's always been my issue. I'll have to go back to my teeth whitening strips. I woujld pop one in around 7:30 pm, leave it on for the 30 minutes and after that I wouldn't want to eat. So it prevents me from snacking and I get white teeth. It's a win-win.

the tooth whitener is a great idea. I've got some dissolving whitening strips that I keep forgetting to use. I'll have to try that.

be proud of your success!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I just spent TWO HOURS here replying and posting and it all just POOFED away!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!


Well... I said SUPER nice and SUPER supportive things to EVERYONE!!! I solved all your problems and I was funny and witty and compassionate and insightful!

love the humour while handling the frustration. Hope you have better luck posting next time

Today was my weigh in day for WW -- down 4.5 pounds! I ended up with 41 weekly points and 26 activity points that I didn't use though -- that's like two full days worth of points. It worked out fine this week but I can see how that might cause me to get stalled out, especially with the Princess training. I'll have to try and at least use my weeklies this week.

congrats on a fantastic loss!

LOL that's funny!!! We have a lot of geocaching spots around here. I've been trying to find something fun to do with the kids, maybe this is it!

I highly recommend geocaching.com to find out more about it and to get a list of caches in your area. When going with kids, I recommend looking for larger caches that have things to trade in them. Just make sure and take a few small things as the basic rule is you don't take anything unless you are leaving it. Caches come in many sizes with some being very small and only holding a piece of paper to record your visit on. Its way more interesting for kids to find larger caches and look at the stuff inside and maybe do a trade.

On what planet did I think that taking a boot camp class ten a tabata class would be a good idea? I was ugging the banister when I was attempting to get down the stairs today. I did a quick 3 mile treadmill run this afternoon, trying to run the kinks out. Still waiting for it to take effect....OUCH!!!! (did I mention that I have boot camp tomorrow at 5AM? Oh joy)

...off to make my lunch for tomorrow. Have a great night everyone!
Jude

I'm so impressed by the exercising that you are doing and how you enjoy it

 

[cclovesdis]

Welcome to Healthy Habits!

My name is CC (short for Christina) and I will be your Healthy Habits coach for BL 11. I love the BL challenges and Healthy Habits has helped me significantly in achieving many of my goals.

Some Background Information: Thanks to donac (Dona-hostess of Team Donald) and jenanderson for their amazing help so I know how to coach! I couldn’t do this without seeing them in action previously. I will be continuing the prizes that Jen started.

Here’s How Healthy Habits Works: Each week there will be 3 Healthy Habits (HH) to complete. The first two HHs will always be drinking water and exercising. (Note: The amount and time will increase throughout the challenge!) At the end of each week, you will tally up the number of points you earned for the week and send me a private message with your total. Here’s an example. For Week 1, the 3 HHs are drink Six 8 oz. glasses of water a day, exercise a minimum of 20 minutes per day, and eat at least 3 servings of vegetables a day. If on 4 days you get in all 3 HHs, you would report your points like this:

4/6 days of drinking water
4/6 days of exercising
4/6 days of eating veggies
Your total points (ex: 12/18) should be in the subject of your PM.

This is a team competition. On/about Tuesday evening, I will post the week’s results. I will share the number of participants on each team and the top scorers on each team. New for BL 11: I will also list the people who earned 7/7 on one or more of the HHs for the week. If you participated on the team with the most participants, you will be entered into a drawing for the week's prize. Each prize will have something to do with the 3rd Healthy Habit for the week. I will post the winner and ask that you PM me your contact information. (Please Note: If you do not wish to be entered into the drawing, please let me know in your PM. I understand people’s WISHes for privacy.)

Participation in Healthy Habits is entirely optional, but I encourage you to participate and help your team be on top for the week. Good luck on your journey and I hope that HHs helps you as much as it continues to help me!

Welcome to Health Habits Week 2

Week 2 is 1/7-1/14

This week's 3 Healthy Habits are:
1) Drink Six 8 oz. glasses of water. (Up to 1 glass of coffee or tea count.)
2) Exercise a minimum of 20 minutes a day.
3) Journal/track what you eat.

At the end of the week, please PM me your points. I will post the results on/about Tuesday. Don't forget, this is a team competition!

If you have any questions, please free to ask. And, of course, have fun!

 

[donac]

Good Friday morning I just had a post and it went POOF!!

Now I don't have time to say any more than send your weight to tigger813 and your HH points to cclovesdisney.

I haven't weighed in yet but I did get 17/18 points for the HH.

Good luck everyone

Have a happy and healthy day.

 

[mikamah]

Good morning, and good luck to everyone who as you weighin today. Hope you all see good numbers on the scale that motivate you to continue on this healthy track.

If you do not see the number you are hoping for, hang in there. Our bodies are amazing things and can do funky stuff with electrolytes and fluid, and our success and accomplishments do not always show on the scale. Don't give up. The small changes we all make will add up, and patience and persistance will help us all reach our goals!

I am down 2 pounds today. For me on my journey, that is a fabulous weight loss, and my goal is to continue what i'm doing, and slowly and steadily, I know I can continue to lose.

Have a wonderful friday!!

 

[flipflopmom]

Happy Friday Team Donald! Hope you have good weighins today, I think. Lisa and Kathy are kicking it this week!!!! Way to go ladies!

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Hi! I'm going to be on your team for this challenge. I did some of the previous challenges, but found the huge thread to be too overwhelming so ended up not participating. I am an elementary school teacher and was just married in December. I have struggled with my weight for a few years now, but have managed to lose 10 lbs since last year. I'm hoping this will motivate me to keep losing.

 

[Rose&Mike]

Hi Team Donald!!!!

Just a reminder:

When you send in your weigh in and your healthy habits PLEASE include what team you are on. It will make things so much easier for CC and Tracey if they don't have to try to figure out what team you are on. I have over a 160 people signed up for the challenge, so that's a lot of names to sort through! Thanks!

 

[lisah0711]

Good morning TEAM DONALD!

Please PM (private message) those weight to tigger813 and HH points to cclovesdis today. Be sure you follow the format for submitting your information with the date, your team and weight -- not your loss -- in the subject line. On the HH the subject line should be the date and total number of points. If you get a message that a mailbox is full, please try again later. No WIN! measurements this week.

A big thank you to our weightkeeper, tigger813, HH coach, cclovesdis, and WIN! coach, Connie96 -- we totally outnumber them now!

Remember you can always send in weigh-in, HH points or WIN! measurements but if they are late you may miss the cutoff for the results post.

I'm going to post the QOTD and then come back for replies. I am a left coaster so it may seem that my questions come up a little later for you east coast folks.

It was good to see so many people talking about tracking their calories (or points) yesterday. A study published in the Harvard Journal of Medicine showed that people who tracked their food lost twice as much as people who didn't!

Whenever I go back to faithfully tracking my food I am always surprised by how some foods end up having so many more calories than I thought they did. So I am attaching a link to an article from sparkpeople.com that shows you what 300, 400 and 500 calorie meals look like.
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=1260

It really shows that what you eat can really make a difference as much as how much you eat.

1/7/11 QOTD: Are you surprised by how much (or little) you can eat for the calories, depending on which foods you choose?

BRB with some replies.

 

[dvccruiser76]

Happy Friday everyone!

I do the WW, but I do it on my own and I haven't updated to the new program yet. My mother got me the starter set, but I still need to read through it before I start, so I'm probably not a good source of info yet.

1/7/11 QOTD: Are you surprised by how much (or little) you can eat for the calories, depending on which foods you choose?

Not really surprised. My husband is a volume person. He'd rather eat a lot of something low in points where I'd rather enjoy something good in a smaller portion. I guess that's the foodie in me


Kathy - You have to check this out (or anyone from Mass interested in a flashback). I guess the North Shore Shopping Center was the Bay States 2nd mall. If you read through it says there was a Stop & Shop, though I'm guessing they weren't as popular back then. Some of the pictures bring back memories. I wasn't around for the kiddie town they mention, but I did go to the movie theater that's now Barnes and Noble. I saw Dirty Dancing there with my sister. Ah the memories.

http://mall-hall-of-fame.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html

 

[karliebug]

What I did this week to help me was bring my treadmill into the living room where I can watch tv as I walk and also I joined Weight watchers again this week (for the umpteenth time). My goal this week is to track what I eat and add minutes to my treadmill time. So far, so good. Baby steps, right?

 

[lisah0711]

Don't worry, it's just the tracking I'll give up in disney, not all the healthy habits i've formed by then. I'm not a vacation tracker.

Me neither!

I'm hopeful about the weigh in tomorrow. I would love to say I don't care - because I FEEEEEL so much better/awake this week from cutting the processed stuff out. I would never have thought it would make such a difference.

I'm afraid of the scale... but hopefully it will be agreeable. If not, I'll blame it on female factors coming up

Remember it's just a number and not who you are -- you can tell that the changes are making you feel better and that is the important thing!

QOTD: Tracking my food and drinking my water early in the day has helped me this week. Having a place to check in and see other people helps too.

I forget that i didn't gain all this weight overnight, and know that it doesn't all come off overnight. I feel so much better already, but its hard when the numbers don't reflect that as quickly as i want it to.

Just like the changes that occurred on the way up were slow and subtle, unfortunately the changes on the way down will be the same. But you will be surprised at how quickly you feel better and start to notice those positive changes so hang in there!

Well I took a nap this afternoon and woke up with a stuffy nose and no energy to exercise. So the dvd will wait until tomorrow.

Hope that you are feeling better soon!

I've received about 3 weigh ins so far out of 143 so I definitely don't have enough room in my in box so be patient if my box is full.

I also want to apologize ahead of time for not responding to all the PMs. If you have a specific question I will try and get back to you ASAP! But with 143 people reporting in I won't have time to get back to you all! I will post on Sunday night or Monday morning those who I am missing weigh ins from. And remember all weigh ins must be received by 7:30 pm on Monday night, NO EXCEPTIONS!

The cut off is for the results posting. She will continue to accept weigh ins but you just won't make the results post.

Zumba is a big thing around here but it's not for me - there isn't enough alcohol in New York State for me to move like that!!!

I gave up going to Weight Watchers. Don't get me wrong, it's a wonderful program - just not for me. I found I manipulated the food choices - and was eating mostly junk and lost and gained the same 20 pounds. I took that money I would have spent there and bought a Bodybugg. Strapped it on January 1, been very careful of measuring and weighing food, inputing the data into the bodybugg program, and I get a graph of where my calories are going. Protein/Carbs/Fats - then it tracks other things you may be concerned about - cholesterol, sodium, fiber, calcium. I never felt I had a lot of sodium in my diet - but a couple of days I went over the maximum for sodium. With the feedback I am getting from the Bugg, I feel more in control. Hopefully the "Honeymoon period" will last.

I just put the Biggest Loser Jump Start exercise DVD on my Ipod. It does exercises in 10 minute increments - I can run in the back of the locker room on breaks and get a little exercise in. LOL

The encouragement on this board is really keeping me focused, being involved with the challenges. Onward and downward!!!

Not every program is works for everyone -- if there was a magic bullet we would know by now. I'm glad that you kept looking for something that would work for you!

Hi Donalds!

I've haven't been doing too good the last couple days as I had appointments/hauling kids around and my eating wasn't the best. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but wasn't great.

I did go out and get EASA2. I like it (so far). I also got 30 day Shred, but I haven't done it yet.

It happens! Don't shoot out the rest of the tires, just because one went flat. As long as you get back on track right away, it's all good!

so true, I feel the same way. It is so hard to get over the need to lose weight quickly. I get very discouraged when i think about how many more weeks or months ahead I have to diet to get to where I want. But I also know i don't like the weight I am right now!

You may not see it, but your body is changing with every good choice you make!!

I see that there are a lot of folks losing their awesome posts. I just wanted to make a suggestion that seems to work for me.

I open up a Word file and paste all of the text from the Reply to Thread box into the Word document and I do my responding within the Word file. I save often. When I'm finished I copy from the Word file and paste it back into the Reply to Thread box over the old text. Then I add the smilies. At least if the poof fairy strikes on the DIS board I still have a copy and can try it again.

Does this make sense? I hope this helps.

Thanks! Any weapons against the poof fairy are helpful!

QOTD

I rejoined WW online. Started tracking my food and started walking again. next week, back to the gym!!

 

[TimonTracy]

Hi! I'm going to be on your team for this challenge. I did some of the previous challenges, but found the huge thread to be too overwhelming so ended up not participating. I am an elementary school teacher and was just married in December. I have struggled with my weight for a few years now, but have managed to lose 10 lbs since last year. I'm hoping this will motivate me to keep losing.

Welcom to Team Donald ! Full Disclosure that this thread moves very fast. But there are great nuggets of advice to be found. I find that I can't read everything on a daily basis and that is OK !

Weigh-in was very good to me this week. Like ridiculous - I lost 8 and my husband lost 10 (Go HappyMatt ). There's a long road ahead - but we are very motivated. Can't wait to see how next week goes, we will be sticking to our eating plan. (no excuses, right?)

We are going to treat ourselves to a little something nice - non-food. For me, it's a stick vacuum

I hope everyone is having a GREAT Friday and good luck on all the weigh-ins and even more importantly, the Healthy Habits !

 

[tigger813]

WOW Team Donald is kicking some major butt!!!!!! You have some large losses!!!

Great job to all!

Keep those weigh ins coming. I went and put DD2 on the bus and came back and had 8 more weigh ins!!!!!

Have a magical day!!!

 

[Dreamer24]

QOTD - I'm not surprised by the calories in a particular food but I do always find myself surprised by portion sizes if that makes any sense.

I hope it was a good weigh in for most. I'm up a half pound. It's a little disappointing because this week was SO MUCH BETTER with both eating and exercising then the past 4. I can feel myself getting back on track and I know that if I continue it will go down. The best thing I did this week was select the days I was going to the gym and stuck to them. It didn't matter that I was tired or not in the mood, I went. This week, I will plan out the gym days and my meals and my goal will be to stick to it.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. If the scale was good to you, remember what you did to make that happen and try to do the same this week. If the scale was not a pleasant experience this morning, don't get too discouraged, look into how you were successful and how you were not and try to improve this week!

 

[lisah0711]

As a few others said, tracking my food intake is helping me stay honest. I am using SparkPeople (which I learned about here last year). It is also showing me I really don't drink enough water, so double bonus.

Sorry I'm a little incommunicado, it was back to work Tuesday and back to full speed ahead with the kiddos. We had dh's birthday tonight, I splurged and had a tiny piece of cake and a slice of pizza and I'm still ok on calories today, hurray...hope the weigh in goes well for us all tomorrow

Happy birthday to your DH and way to get right back on track!

Just downloaded the Weight Watchers app. I need a better way to track food.
I used to do the old points system so I need to see if I can follow the new program.

Tracking takes a bit but it is so worth it! Is that an iPhone app for WW? I need to check that out.

I hope you love it! Theres nothing like being right on top of the water, and watching the scenery go by. Its just delightful.

Tau, your kayaking picture reminds me of Soarin'!

Cut back on pop (soda) and I did not stop and get fast food for supper the other night. DH was expecting me to because I had gone to the hospital at 4pm to meet my niece and was bringing back the 1.5 yr old to have supper and had to get my own girls off to their Sparks/Guides meetings by 6pm. So it was tight for time, but I had a meal planned and came home and made it instead of buying fast food. Big victory for me as I truly like the fast food. One problem with moving to the bigger town last Sept is that now there is many more choices for fast food.

for resisting the fast food!

Welcome to Healthy Habits!

My name is CC (short for Christina) and I will be your Healthy Habits coach for BL 11. I love the BL challenges and Healthy Habits has helped me significantly in achieving many of my goals.

Participation in Healthy Habits is entirely optional, but I encourage you to participate and help your team be on top for the week. Good luck on your journey and I hope that HHs helps you as much as it continues to help me!

Welcome to Health Habits Week 2

Week 2 is 1/7-1/14

This week's 3 Healthy Habits are:
1) Drink Six 8 oz. glasses of water. (Up to 1 glass of coffee or tea count.)
2) Exercise a minimum of 20 minutes a day.
3) Journal/track what you eat.

Give HH a try, if you haven't already. It is a great way to build those good habits that you need for success. Remember that you don't have to do all or even any -- it is optional.

Good Friday morning I just had a post and it went POOF!!

Now I don't have time to say any more than send your weight to tigger813 and your HH points to cclovesdisney.

I haven't weighed in yet but I did get 17/18 points for the HH.

Good luck everyone

Have a happy and healthy day.

on the HH points and thanks for coaching last week and hostessing our thread!

If you do not see the number you are hoping for, hang in there. Our bodies are amazing things and can do funky stuff with electrolytes and fluid, and our success and accomplishments do not always show on the scale. Don't give up. The small changes we all make will add up, and patience and persistance will help us all reach our goals!

I am down 2 pounds today. For me on my journey, that is a fabulous weight loss, and my goal is to continue what i'm doing, and slowly and steadily, I know I can continue to lose.

Have a wonderful friday!!

Down 2 pounds!

Happy Friday Team Donald! Hope you have good weighins today, I think. Lisa and Kathy are kicking it this week!!!! Way to go ladies!

Hi Taryn! Thanks for checking in!

Hi! I'm going to be on your team for this challenge. I did some of the previous challenges, but found the huge thread to be too overwhelming so ended up not participating. I am an elementary school teacher and was just married in December. I have struggled with my weight for a few years now, but have managed to lose 10 lbs since last year. I'm hoping this will motivate me to keep losing.

and congratulations on your marriage.

Hi Team Donald!!!!

Just a reminder:

When you send in your weigh in and your healthy habits PLEASE include what team you are on. It will make things so much easier for CC and Tracey if they don't have to try to figure out what team you are on. I have over a 160 people signed up for the challenge, so that's a lot of names to sort through! Thanks!

Please make things as easy as you can on our leaders who give so much of their time for us!

Not really surprised. My husband is a volume person. He'd rather eat a lot of something low in points where I'd rather enjoy something good in a smaller portion. I guess that's the foodie in me

I am a volume person, too.

What I did this week to help me was bring my treadmill into the living room where I can watch tv as I walk and also I joined Weight watchers again this week (for the umpteenth time). My goal this week is to track what I eat and add minutes to my treadmill time. So far, so good. Baby steps, right?

Baby steps are what it takes!

Have a great day all!

 

[tink_lover]

OK guys, I have to post this quickly and get kids to school. I'm really bummed - the original scale I used broke (long story about kids trying to weigh one of the 70 lb dogs). Anyway, bought a new scale yesterday, but it is weighing differently (more). I know I have lost weight this week because I have been exercising at the gym and using the scale there. I'm down 4 lbs according to that scale. But I have to go with this new one at home and feel like I'm back at square one. Sorry to have to post the gain for the team.

 

[pjlla]

Just FYI if it poofs because of a DIS problem (which happens often!) if you quickly hit the back arrow then sometimes you can retrieve it. Otherwise I also try to highlight and click copy every few paragraphs when I am doing something long and/or insightful just in case. My new keyboard has the hidden delete key too and it drives me crazy!
Poof Fairy! I love it! I'm going to start blaming her too!

I think that it is a particular key on the keyboard, near the "shift" key that is causing me problems. I think I am somehow highlighting and deleting at once. I was typing in a Word document and cutting and pasting to avoid this problem, but I was being lazy yesterday. That will teach me!

Thanks for all of your support! That stinks that you lots everything. We all appreciate your encouraging thoughts though!

Thanks!

QOTD: What is keeping me on track? I am off to a very slow start with making changes in my life (I did not say diet). I have tracked what I have eaten, even though I have not been following the program. I am having a hard time eating veggies. All the fresh stuff around here looks awful, and the canned/frozen stuff bores me.

Glad to see so many of you making positive changes and having good starts!

Glad to see you did not say the word "diet"! I have thrown that word out the window and it isn't allowed here in my house. I am sick and tired of people asking me (after doing WW for a solid 3 years) when I am going to be "done with the diet". THEY DON'T GET IT!!! I will never be DONE! The day I decide I am DONE is the day the weight will start coming back on. This is a HEALTHY LIFESTYLE and I don't plan to be DONE, EVER!

BTW, look around the produce department at some new stuff maybe you've never tried. It is SO hard to find decent produce in the winter.... the apples and cucumbers were disgusting yesterday. But the oranges looked good (it is citrus season) and they finally had some nice cauliflower (guess it must be cauliflower season somewhere ). Look for late fall/winter crops like winter squashes, beets, citrus fruits, carrots, brussel sprouts.

Waiting on a tow truck for DS25. I get the bad mommy award for making him call to arrange it! lol!

So far, so good today. not sure I will stay on track, but knowing you all are here is really helping! Thanks!

Of COURSE we are here! Glad it helps you to know that!

I gave up going to Weight Watchers. Don't get me wrong, it's a wonderful program - just not for me. I found I manipulated the food choices - and was eating mostly junk and lost and gained the same 20 pounds. I took that money I would have spent there and bought a Bodybugg. Strapped it on January 1, been very careful of measuring and weighing food, inputing the data into the bodybugg program, and I get a graph of where my calories are going. Protein/Carbs/Fats - then it tracks other things you may be concerned about - cholesterol, sodium, fiber, calcium. I never felt I had a lot of sodium in my diet - but a couple of days I went over the maximum for sodium. With the feedback I am getting from the Bugg, I feel more in control. Hopefully the "Honeymoon period" will last.

I just put the Biggest Loser Jump Start exercise DVD on my Ipod. It does exercises in 10 minute increments - I can run in the back of the locker room on breaks and get a little exercise in. LOL

The encouragement on this board is really keeping me focused, being involved with the challenges. Onward and downward!!!

I LOVE WW, but that is definitely a drawback to their "nothing is forbidden" type of plan. It doesn't really TEACH people about making the very best choices. Theoretically, you could live on diet coke, oreos, and chips, as long as you stayed within your points, and lose weight. I'm hoping that their NEW program will encourage/teach people more about making healthier choices. I can't wait to learn more about it.

Glad you found something that works for you.

Good Friday morning I just had a post and it went POOF!!

Now I don't have time to say any more than send your weight to tigger813 and your HH points to cclovesdisney.

I haven't weighed in yet but I did get 17/18 points for the HH.

Good luck everyone

Have a happy and healthy day.

Guess the Poof Fairy flew to your house last night! Sorry about that.

Good morning, and good luck to everyone who as you weighin today. Hope you all see good numbers on the scale that motivate you to continue on this healthy track.

If you do not see the number you are hoping for, hang in there. Our bodies are amazing things and can do funky stuff with electrolytes and fluid, and our success and accomplishments do not always show on the scale. Don't give up. The small changes we all make will add up, and patience and persistance will help us all reach our goals!

I am down 2 pounds today. For me on my journey, that is a fabulous weight loss, and my goal is to continue what i'm doing, and slowly and steadily, I know I can continue to lose.

Have a wonderful friday!!

WOOHOO on the TWO!!!

Hi! I'm going to be on your team for this challenge. I did some of the previous challenges, but found the huge thread to be too overwhelming so ended up not participating. I am an elementary school teacher and was just married in December. I have struggled with my weight for a few years now, but have managed to lose 10 lbs since last year. I'm hoping this will motivate me to keep losing.

So glad to see you back! Congratulations on the marriage! Want to share some wedding pictures? We'd love to see them!

1/7/11 QOTD: Are you surprised by how much (or little) you can eat for the calories, depending on which foods you choose?

After three years+ there isn't too much that surprises me any more, but occasionally a food will pop up and I will be SHOCKED by the calories (usually in a bad way, but sometimes in a good way). I made it my goal to NEVER eat something unless I know the points/calories in advance. I've had too many bad surprises..... like the Coffee Toffee Twisted Frosty from Wendy's that ended up being something crazy like 13 points!!!!! Who'da thunk that!?

And I bought some chocolate covered pretzels to bring to our late Christmas celebration. I grabbed a few here and there throughout the day, but not many. But I finally pulled out the container and read it.... 200 calories... for FOUR stinking little pretzels!!!!!! So not worth it!

But I could have a full dinner plate full of oven roasted beets, carrots, cauliflower, and onion.... for zero points!! Makes the decision pretty easy sometimes.

OK guys, I have to post this quickly and get kids to school. I'm really bummed - the original scale I used broke (long story about kids trying to weigh one of the 70 lb dogs). Anyway, bought a new scale yesterday, but it is weighing differently (more). I know I have lost weight this week because I have been exercising at the gym and using the scale there. I'm down 4 lbs according to that scale. But I have to go with this new one at home and feel like I'm back at square one. Sorry to have to post the gain for the team.

Sorry about this..... I had this happen a while back. I woke up one morning and was shocked to find that my scale weighed me at EXACTLY my high weight that I started this journey at! I actually had one panic moment where I thought that the entire weight loss was a dream and that I still actually weighed 219 lbs! But it was just a scale glitch. I bought a new scale and moved on.... and yes, the new one weighed a bit different from the old. But after a week or two it all kind of works itself out. Sorry this happened week one!


Morning friends! I am 10 minutes past my allotted computer time for the morning, so I need to be quick. And I don't want to risk losing this whole post!!

I have lost 4 of the 5 pounds I gained over the Christmas/New Year's week, so I am THRILLED. That is a HUMONGOUS loss for me at this stage of the game... and it actually is only since Monday, since I was away over Fri-Sun and didn't have my scale. THat said, my exercise has been really lacking, so I need to kick it up a notch in that department.

DD is supposed to have a pasta supper for her swim team here tonight, but they are predicting snow throughout the day, so I'll have to play it by ear and decide if this is going to be a go by about 3pm. Luckily, most everything is saveable (frozen or pantry), so nothing will go to waste if we have to cancel. The ice cream cake I made will keep in the freezer for another week (if I can keep the kids away from it! ). I'm going on the assumption that they will be coming, so I need to get this house picked up a bit!!

DH has another doctors appointment today, but fortunately this one is only about 35 minutes away, not 100 minutes! I can't WAIT until he can really drive! And DD has swim meets all weekend and DS has basketball tonight and tomorrow, so I may not make it on here much over the next few days.

Happy Friday to everyone! TTYL..............P