12 replies to this topic

[Leslie74]

Welcome to WEEK 8 of the SURVIVOR Weight Loss Challenge!


And Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates the holiday! (Happy regular Sunday to those that don't.)


WEEK 8 MINI-CHALLENGE:
For the past 2 weeks, our merry little band of ladies has had some ups and downs and some struggles. So this is the "Pick Your Battles" week. We have not had a whole lot of success on our mini-challenges lately, so for this week, pick the ONE thing to focus on that you feel will help you the MOST in your weight loss journey this week. Some suggestions include (but you can come up with your own):

• 64 Oz water daily (or more!)
• Steps challenge (can you increase by 2000 from your average days?)
• Food challenge (staying on plan and within calories!)
• Activity Challenge (try something new? # of days? # of minutes/hours?)

YOU DECIDE! And be sure to post what your goal is for the week. Remember - make it ATTAINABLE and REALISTIC. Let's see 100% success this week and get us all back on track!!!

[Leslie74]

This week I am going to focus on 64 ounces of water daily (I'm letting the diet sodas outweigh the water intake!) AND 10,000 steps at least 5 days this week. I am getting really close to hitting 10K steps as a daily average, so I want to push for it at least 5 days, which is tough since I sit at a desk for 8 hours a day during the work week.

This will be a very stressful week getting prepared for our big conference in L.A. next week, so I am focusing on managing my stress levels - and the water and steps I think will help me do just that.

[Lisa Bilz]

Hi All,

First the good news, I had my WI yesterday and I was down 3.6 lbs and I made it into the 170's. I felt really good about this because I have had the flu for the last two days and haven't been eating on the plan at all. I was eating whatever would stay down.

I am also going to go for two of the challenges. I am in for the 64 oz of water because this has been a tough one for me. I would rather drink anything else! I also want to do the step challenge. I also sit for long hours and really need to get moving, so my challenge is going to be to get on the treadmill after work for the next two days and put in my 10000 steps, then go for a hike on Thursday, Friday and Saturday after I workout with my trainers.

Leslie, I love the idea of walking the Iditorad or up a mountain. There is a mountain climbing goal called The Seven Summits. The goal is to "bag the highest peak" on each continent. We could do this as seven different challenges. Here are the peaks and the steps.....

Asia - Mt Everest 29,035 Steps
South America - Aconcaqua 22,829 Steps
North America - Denali 20,320 Steps
Africa - Kilimanjaro 19,340 Steps
Europe - Mt Ebrus 18,510 Steps
Antartica - Mt Vinson 16,067 Steps
Australasia - Carstersz Pyramid 16,023 Steps At this point we will have done 1,421,124 Steps

There is controversy over the original Seven Summits, which had a peak on Australia which was a short day hike, but we could add it as a mini challenge. Bonus Australia - Mt Kosciusko 7310 Steps

I am so happy to be a member of this group, you are all amazing women. Thanks for the positive motivation, you keep me on task. We are strong, healthy women working towards a common goal!

Lisa

[Leslie74]

Doing well so far on the water this week...I won't be weighing in until Saturday this week due to work conflicts.

Lisa - AMAZING weight loss! That is AWESOME! Sorry to hear you have been sick.

I like the mountain idea because it would be fun to accomplish all 7 - is 1 step equal to a mile or something? Seems like not very many steps per mountain, seeing as how we can get 10k or more in a day. Maybe we look at the miles and not steps? How many steps on average is an actual mile, does anyone know?

I found a website where you can log your virtual cross country miles, but it was really slow. The cool thing was that you can set up friends and teams and be notified when one of your friends "passes you up". But the site looks like it needs some enhancements.

I also found one where you can hike the pacific rim trail or the ATL (virtually of course). There are so many to choose from!

[Ladybug 88]

I too like the idea of virtually walking somewhere - I believe there is one where you can walk across Canada - each province could be it's own individual challenge - apparently people come out to cheer you when you reach a town! I don't know if there is one like that for other countries - maybe we could do a walking tour of Europe?

The mountain one sounds cool - but the steps are way too low for a group. Maybe it is the summit height in feet to the peaks? is 20,000 feet high for a mountain? I am terrible at estimating stuff like that, have absolutely no concept. I think it is something like 1700 yards in a mile but i could be completely wrong.

This is only an estimate, but I read somewhere - possibly jenny materials - that it is roughly 2000 steps per mile - hence Jenny goal is 5 miles over a full day.

I need to pick my battle over food this week - seems like i am having trouble reigning myself in after Easter plus my upcoming job change is wreaking havoc with my routine, sleep and stress level through the roof! All triggers to turn to food for me. So I am going to try to stay within calorie target (no more than 1500) for the rest of this week until WI on Saturday!

[Ladybug 88]

Hi All,

First the good news, I had my WI yesterday and I was down 3.6 lbs and I made it into the 170's. I felt really good about this because I have had the flu for the last two days and haven't been eating on the plan at all. I was eating whatever would stay down. :huh:

Great loss Lisa - too bad you were sick, hope you are feeling better!

Blessings, Ladybug

[All-in-Ang]

Hi everyone,

Sorry I've been MIA. Was on vaca for a week then came back to a raging fire at work and at home. Starting to get things in hand though.

Unfortunately, even though I ran a lot while on vaca (my best day was 7 miles) and was burning about 3300 cals on average, I fell off the wagon from an eating perspective and may have had one or ten adult beverages. That led to a 4.5 gain when I weighed in on Monday (needless to say I was less than happy). I actually went in again on Tuesday (as I was convinced that it was mostly water weight due to alcholol and salt as I did log my food everyday and was always in deficit). When I weighed in on Tuesday I was down a lb..so only 3.5 in the hole at this point. Really working my butt off to try and have it all gone when I WI on Monday...will do my best but it seems like such a big number when I generally lose 1 to 2 lbs a week. Then again I did lose 1lb in 24 hrs:)

I'm trying not to beat myself up too much as it was vacation...but definitely can't do thay too often. As you can tell I haven't had the heart to change my ticker. Hoping tha I can get back to where I was by Monday and I won't have to....

All of that said, I'm going to focus on food and keeping under 1500 cals this week (regardless of how much I work out). So far so good....

Cheers,
Ang.

[Lisa Bilz]

Leslie said: "I like the mountain idea because it would be fun to accomplish all 7 - is 1 step equal to a mile or something? Seems like not very many steps per mountain, seeing as how we can get 10k or more in a day. Maybe we look at the miles and not steps? How many steps on average is an actual mile, does anyone know?"

Leslie, I think we could double the steps. When I looked at this, it was based on the actual distance in feet to the summit. We would be doing twice that to get each summit and back. I think this is doable, especially if we look at each summit as a separate challenge.

Thanks Ladybug for your support. It felt really good to put up a loss after my gain the previous week. Y'all inspire me to push harder.

Ang, don't beat yourself up over a gain. Travelling, especially for pleasure is always problematic. My JCC helped me to put it into perspective. She told me that it's all about balance. If you are on vacation and you know that you are going to be eating and drinking outside of what you would be doing normally, you need to realize that some weight gain is going to happen. Adding exercise into the mix really helps, and you have to remember that any travel tends to affect your body and slow your metabolism. Just the fact that you lost a pound in a day is pretty solid proof that travel affects weight loss. Keep up the good work!

[LoseItIn2011]

I was down 2.2 today - I should be really happy but I don't feel I did that great this week. I didn't go to the gym at all, I found myself picking at my kid's snacks, and just don't feel I have the motivation I had. Since I gained last week I don't feel as good about this loss - but I know I should. Anyone else get this way?

[Ladybug 88]

Loseit - I know exactly how you feel! I am forever analyzing and rationalizing and making statements much lik yours. "Oh I lost XX but really that is relly for 2 weeks".

You know what - I am trying so hard to get out of that mindset. It is not healthy for me. I need to just relax, celebrate my losses whether .6 or 3.6, and work my plan to the best of my ability each week and accept the consequences, allow for mysterious body fluctuations without getting too bent out of shape over them! I also must take ownership of how I worked my plan - off program meals/days, adding little bits here and there, no/little activity - whatever i did that may have slowed my progress. Do i want slower progress (maybe this is OK to me as long as I lose?) or do I want max benefits from the plan (lose as quickly as safely possible and control my off plan moments/urges completely?)

I believe I will be the same or up a bit this week. My daily deficit has averaged only 500 calories for the first time - usually it is 1100 - and while this should translate into a 1 lb loss, on my home scale I am up .6 from what I was in the morning before last week's WI. I am also going to WI later in the day than last week, so expect actually to be up even more by then. I am struggling under a heavy workload & lots of stress as I am being transferred office, am trying to oversee new branches while tying up loose ends at current branch & train my replacement, also hire for new branch, physically move myself and desk - absolutely no time for activity and I sit at a desk so not much activity built into my day naturally. This week in addition to Easter, there was a baby shower and graduation to attend!

I hate excuses and hate not losing weight but I choose to accept my progress not perfecton and press on towards the goal. It is so frustrating to know that if i just follow the plan i will lose weight - now why is that so hard for me to do?? The plan is not hard - it is simple - so what is my problem?

Why don't we all KISS? Keep It Simple Sweetie - stop rethinking and reworking the plan - and just follow it? Can that be our challenge for next week lol??

[Leslie74]

Hi friends! Glad to see you all back and posting once again.

QUESTION: Can anybody on here start our Week 9 thread tomorrow for me??? It is my birthday tomorrow (turning 37) and I doubt I will be online at all. Whoever starts it gets to make up the challenge for next week! I will still track everyone's stuff, I just need someone to start the thread please.


BIG SUCCESSES FOR ME THIS WEEK:

• I drank my 64 oz daily of H2O
• I bought size 16 pants this week - WOO HOO! (I started in size 20s back 10 weeks ago)
• I have made 4 days over 10K steps, so today I HAVE to get them in to meet my challenge goal
• I LOST -3.8 pounds at my weigh in this morning! HUZZAH!!!!!!
• I am feeling different - like I noticed I can "reach" things better in the shower (so to be so graphic, but its true, I can tell a difference) and I don't feel as close to the steering wheel in the car anymore, and I just "feel" thinner. It sounds weird to say, but I consider that a big success for the week!
• I started added in some short spurts of jogging in my dog walks this week - and much to my surprise, I didn't get winded like I thought I would. In fact, my lungs seemed to handle it much better than my joints. I'm still pretty heavy to be jogging but I'd like to continue working up to being able to do it.

This next week is going to be REALLY hard. Tomorrow is my birthday, then I leave Monday morning for Los Angeles and don't come back until Thursday night, and then Friday hubby and I have to drive to the bay area so I won't be near a microwave. I picked up my JC food this morning and have planned a balance of JC travel meals with some times I know I will be eating out. I'm going to do my best, but it will be super stressful as I will be running the conference. Hopefully I can steal some time here and there to go to the hotel gym, but we'll see. I'm usually pretty pooped at these things.

I probably won't be posting next week....but I will be keeping you ALL in my thoughts, and I PROMISE to post on Friday to let you know how the week went, and to post my WI on Friday - the good, the bad and the ugly. Good luck everyone!

[Lisa Bilz]

Congratulations Leslie!! 3.8 is a great weight loss. I know exactly what you mean about feeling different. I noticed it when I didn't have to struggle to zip my pants one day and then I realized that they were even a little bit loose. Keep a positive attitude about your travel. If you have a "smart phone" there is an app I use that really helps me track calories and even exercise. It's called Calorie Counter by Fat Secret. It's a free download and it has helped me tremendously while I'm travelling. Most foods/restaurants/fast foods are listed in there and I find it very useful because it tracks all my exercise (kind of like the metabolic max armband).

Lose it in 2011 said "I was down 2.2 today - I should be really happy but I don't feel I did that great this week. I didn't go to the gym at all, I found myself picking at my kid's snacks, and just don't feel I have the motivation I had. Since I gained last week I don't feel as good about this loss - but I know I should. Anyone else get this way?" Yes, all the time. Especially when I've been eating off the plan a lot. But I think we need to stop being so hard on ourselves. All of you are the motivation for me, if you need a little boost, we are here for you. I agree with Ladybug that it's progress, not perfection. Ladybug, you are doing great.

If someone hasn't done it by about 900, I'll start Week 9.

I was very successful with my water challenge, but I didn't get all the walking or hiking done that I had planned on.

[All-in-Ang]

Hang in there everyone...sounds like a lot of us are having a tough couple of weeks. I'm trying to remember that this is a new way of life for me now....not a game I'm trying to finish as quickly as possible.

I also echo everyone's thoughts about feeling different. I can run much longer and faster now...I've decided to train to do my first half marathon in Oct....I've asked my sister to run it with me. She's VERY atlhetic, has run and climbed competitively. So it'll be a great challenge and fun to see here (she lives in Ottawa, Canada while I'm in Atlanta.

Also, I'm buying size 10 clothes now (I started at 16), and am comfortable wearing shorts (something I haven't done in years).

So even though I haven't been perfect the past couple of weeks (this week has been much better than vaca week...but with Easter and a pulled hamstring I've had some bumps in the road), I'm trying not to get in the old habit of being negative (and then I would inevitably binge on chocolate or comfort food to make myself better). Instead I concentrate on my successes and try to stay positive. I'm still trying to dig myself out from the weight gain I had on vaca (still 3.5lbs to go as of Tuesday..hopefully Monday's WI erases that!). The only way I can do that is to put on my big girl panties and own when I haven't been on plan and say, I'll try and do better today.

Anyway..that's my soapbox for today:))
I think that we're all doing amazing things!!!!

Cheers,
Ang.