When you read about these amazing people who have gone and lost over 100lbs, its really inspiring -to have that amount of determination and consistency over such a long period of time is a real achievment and measure of personal strength. It makes me annoyed that I can't even be consistent enough to lose 20lb!!
I'm sticking my head in here a little hangdog since I also joined during the "extension". However, I have been vigilant since Aug 1, and my pics were taken July 30, so I was really in the challenge, just thought I had missed the cutoff!
I am really looking forward to this. I've been on my fitness journey for 2 years in September, and I'm heading into the home stretch now. I'm tired of dragging this out and I want to be done with weight loss by December.
So hey everyone! You can make fun of me all you want for being such a latenik. : )
Elisabeth
my motivation comes from realizing I can do it. I just have to push through the funks, and blahs I experience. The feeling of accomplishment is a huge motivator for me. God and I have been working a lot on my tendancy to allow one thing blow it all for me. I am learning to cut myself some slack and not pushing back when others push me to try things on my own. Like not getting anymore more sessions with my trainer right now is forcing me to go out on my own. To not allow my intimidation factor to rule me. I will not allow myself to gain that weight back. Still working on keeping my nutrition in line but that is because I am relearning how to eat to fuel my body not eat to sooth my emotions.
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Vickie
Momma to Joel (6) and Sean (5)
Wife to John for 10 years
Now I'm replying to the thread about motivation...
Three years ago, I did interferon therapy for chronic hepatitis, as my liver was beginning to be fibrotic, the first stage to cirrohsis. I responded so badly to the therapy that I went on disability, could not take care of my 3 kids the way I wanted to, and by the end of therapy (a year) I had lost so much muscle mass I had trouble getting out of chairs. I slept 10 hours a night and still needed a nap in the afternoon. I had terrible pains in my hips, sciatica, back pain, and I was 45% bodyfat.
I have taken my weight loss slowly, in part because I know that my body needed the healing and reorganization inside. I've made the best progress over the last year, though--the first year was learning how to eat properly and to forgive myself if everything wasn't perfect. This last year, I have just refused to listen to my negative voices. I still get sick a lot, so instead of falling apart and backtracking every time I got some ailment, I just started up again as soon as I could. I really appreciate NROL4W, because it's such a long program, and Lou's take on weeks off shifted my way of thinking about time off.
I keep going because I never, ever, want to be as weak and sick as I was 2 years ago. I am going to keep lifting for the rest of my life, because I love it and I'm convinced that I will age so much better--I look much younger now than I did 2 years ago!
I lost 2 close family members in the last 5 years, one from preventable illness, and in the last month a dear friend had a tragic accident which resulted in brain trauma. He is still in the hospital. Several of my close family members (yeah, my husband has 7 siblings so I have a lot of those) are overweight or obese, and already suffering from diabetes and heart disease, even though they are all younger than me. All of these things, and my illness, makes me take my fitness very seriously. I know that I would have died young had I stayed on the path I was following. I consider myself so very fortunate to be alive and capable of working myself like a maniac in the gym.
Whenever I get demoralized I remind myself that I need to be thankful to have a body that has responded so well to my new fitness regime and that has allowed me to have what I feel is a kind of rebirth.
I have worked so so hard over so long that I would feel like a fool to backtrack. Truly. : )
So, see how in the first picture she has stretch marks? You don't see those in the afters. Do you think it is surgery or what? As you all can see in my pictures, I have some bad stretch marks on my stomach from my pregnancies and they don't go away.
Just curious.
She is wearing high pants too - nearly up to the navel.
She is wearing high pants too - nearly up to the navel.
That's what I noticed, too. Both shorts and bikini bottoms. In the before it looks like her stretch marks are below the navel, so now they are mostly covered.
Ginger... I have horrible stretch marks but am also finding that they are improving with time. I will always have lose skin though below the navel unless I have that removed.
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
I wanted to add that Leigh's podcasts are a big help! I listen to the one about guts & glory over and over to remind me that I am tired of the
yo-yoing. I have been losing and gaining for years, went from 170 to 230 when I became a truck driver then after about 5 years lost back down to 150. Since then I have been anywhere from 150-190. Never reached my goal. Her podcast reminds me to get in and get out. I want that now more than ever.
I may have missed this somewhere... where can I find Leigh's podcasts?
Thanks for all the well-wishes! I'm feeling much better today. My jaw is still very swollen and I'm a little self-concious of it, but I'll get over it. I'm gonna talk to the dr about the antibiotics on Monday. It seems these are a special antibiotic that target a certain bacteria. According to the pharmacist, there isn't much else out there that does exactly what this drug does.
About motivation... mine has always been the same.... for my health and physical fitness. I remember back in 2001 when I was totally in denial about how fat I'd gotten. My ex and I went to Atlanta and hiked up a mountain. I thought I'd have no problem at all since I used to go hiking ALL the time. WRONG! I was a sweaty, breathless mess after a mile. I constantly think of that day and how I never ever want to be like that again!!!
"You only ever grow as a human being if you're outside your comfort zone." ~Percy Cerutty, athletic icon
"Hard training, easy combat; easy training, hard combat" ~Marshal Suvorov, Russian General
"Jogging is very beneficial. It's good for your legs and your feet. It's also very good for the ground. It makes it feel needed." ~Charles Schulz, Peanuts
Were you able to do any racing this year with the foot problems?
Yes, I did one triathlon... on a broken foot! My foot hurt pretty badly when I was walking around barefoot that day! A few days later I found out it was broken, so no more races for me. There is a duathlon in Oct that I'd like to do, but now that's dependant on my jaw.
"You only ever grow as a human being if you're outside your comfort zone." ~Percy Cerutty, athletic icon
"Hard training, easy combat; easy training, hard combat" ~Marshal Suvorov, Russian General
"Jogging is very beneficial. It's good for your legs and your feet. It's also very good for the ground. It makes it feel needed." ~Charles Schulz, Peanuts
Welcome Elisabeth... it sounds like you've made an incredible comeback!
I agree with you about something you said in the first post... being in the homestretch and just wanting to be done! That describes me, too... I've lost 70 lbs. since Jan. 07 and feel like the last 20 are just taking F.O.R.E.V.E.R. I hope that joining this challenge and using Leigh's OPT program will give me the boost I need to get this done once and for all!
I've had quite a few ups and downs in the past 6 months or so with my weight.... basically I've felt like I've just been treading water. In the past, this would have been enough to send me right back into gaining... but I feel like I've finally got a handle on avoiding that and staying the course.
Here are some things that keep me motivated:
I post quotes around my house that I see on a regular basis... like the ones in my signature.
I have a before picture of me from 70 lbs. ago on the fridge... definitely DON'T want to be there again!
I keep my Advantages for Losing Weight (from the Beck Diet Solution, if you're familiar with that) on my laptop desktop so that I see them every time I turn the computer on.
I have signed myself up (and paid for LOL) a few 5K/10K races so that I always have something to train for.
I have become active in this forum, where I find SO MUCH motivation from the people who are in this *fight* with me!
I get rid of all of my bigger clothes regularly, and usually buy stuff at Goodwill that's a little on the small side so that I have a goal.
I SET GOALS... this is a big one that my trainer always pushed me to do. Set goals, reach them, repeat LOL!
Hope this helps! I'm sure there are other things too, but these are the things that come to mind right away.
"As far as (healthy) eating, either do it, or don't. Same issues repeated over and over is just insanity. We either commit to the endeavor or pay lip-service to it. This is the hardest part of the whole process, and it needs to be practiced more than the actual physical training. It's mind training." ~ Matt Thorne
"The reason that most people fail instead of succeed is that they trade what they want most for what they want at the moment."
I've had a few people PM be about how to post pictures. And, looking through the challenge thread, we've got a few that are real tiny and you have click on to see, some links instead of pics, etc. So, here are some instructions on posting pics. I hope they help those of you who asked. Go ahead and experiment and try posting a pic in your log and you'll be posting away in no time (well ahead of the next pic date of Sept. 1!).
1. You need to host your pictures somewhere. This can be your own webhost or website, if you have it. The majority of people use Flickr, Photobucket, Picturetrail or many others that serve this purpose.
3. OK, now you are ready to post your pics. Click on the little yellow box you see on top next to the earth with the paperclip. It will pop up a box and ask you for the URL of your PIC. You've got it copied. So now just do CTRL V and copy it in that box. OK, now it's posted. Continue to do this until all your pics are posted.
If anyone else has clearer instructions or wants to add onto this, feel free. I just wanted to give everyone a change to practice for next pic date.
Does anyone here find they are hungrier and crave carbs more when they are tired and lacking sleep. My baby has been sick again for the past few days and has been waking up every 2 hours........and I am sooooooooooooooooo EXHAUSTED. Seriously, I am dead.
Yes! One unstated goal of this challenge for me is to really pay attention to where I fail and I know that when I am tired or stressed, I go for the fast sugar fix. I did that two days in a row this week. I've been dealing with a lot of stress at work and very little sleep due to some medication I'm taking and have faltered, but I'm determined to find a better solution.
Last challenge we started with 54 and 24% (13 of us) finished. Let's all of us stay strong and focused and finish with 100% for this challenge. We can do it!
I am definitely in this for the long haul. I was nervous about joining the challenge - never done anything like this before - but now am excited about it and feel strong in my commitment.
When you read about these amazing people who have gone and lost over 100lbs, its really inspiring -to have that amount of determination and consistency over such a long period of time is a real achievment and measure of personal strength. It makes me annoyed that I can't even be consistent enough to lose 20lb!!
Apologies to the womenfolk for trespassing, just wanted to point out that it's tougher to lose the weight the closer you are to your goal weight.
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Tom
No "happy hours" makes for a lot of miserable days. - Mahler
Can you believe I haven't seen this thread until now? Anyway, just wanted to sub and encourage all the challenge ladies to stay strong and work hard to achieve our goals!
Just thought I'd pop back in before heading off to my bed. I zoomed through a lot of logs... and commented on very few. It just became a time thing (ran out of it today). I'm not sure tomorrow will start any better though as I need to do a Costco run in the morning before lifting. I'd normally just con my mother into going but we want something that's on the coupon this week so we'll make one trip and both go through the checkout separately.
Miss Jane, Thank You for the motivating pictures and article. It does make me want to get out there and exercise and stick with it. Next year at this time, that could be me!!!
Do you guys have any other good tips for lightening a recipe?
I have lots of tips, not really related to your salad dressing recipe, but just in general:
substitute apple sauce or canned pumpkin for oil in recipes
substitute flax meal for some of the oil/fat in a recipe ( not really "lighter" but you get more good fats)
replace some flour with ground oatmeal (don't do this for all of the flour, or the texture will really change)
use cooking sprays instead of sauteeing in butter or oil
mix lean ground turkey or chicken into your ground beef to lighten it up but save the texture ( like realcdn does!)
make your own condiments - ketchup, BBQ sauce, etc are filled with high fructose corn syrup. Use salsa or homemade versions instead
add cooked, pureed veggies in a color/ flavor that matches your recipe. for example, pureed carrots in tomato sauces, pureed cauliflower in cream sauces
use yogurt instead of sour cream
use cottage cheese instead of cream cheese - if you blend it, it gets really smooth and creamy. makes a great dip and a good cheesecake.
use evaporated nonfat milk instead of cream
Ok, that's all I can think of for now, but I know I use more...
So, see how in the first picture she has stretch marks? You don't see those in the afters. Do you think it is surgery or what? As you all can see in my pictures, I have some bad stretch marks on my stomach from my pregnancies and they don't go away.
Just curious.
Also competitors use products like JanTanna to hid stretch marks.
Not to take away from the amazing work and results. I'm just sayin...
I may have missed this somewhere... where can I find Leigh's podcasts?
Go to i tunes and download her podcast, or go to her website avidityfitness.com or it could be avidity fitness i cant remember. if you subscribe (its free) you go to a section with her podcasts. they are short, usually under 10 minutes but they are really good, i listen to them on the way to work and it helps to set up my eating for the rest of the day
[quote=SwimBikeRun;597708]I may have missed this somewhere... where can I find Leigh's podcasts?
have a look at her website avidity fitness, or just google the fat loss troubleshoot, if you subscribw which is free you will go through to her subscribers section which has her podcasts. or you can subscribe through i tunes.
I'm a twit, sorry I doubled up on the post, i had a message flash up that there was a 30 second delay between posts and that I had to wait 29 seconds to post my reply. v weird. anyway, better get back to work and stop peeking here..
Heather, so glad you are feeling better!
Another good podcast I like is the fitcast on iTunes.
It is general fitness and some bodybuilding (which I am in to)
It is nice to have this thread to look forward to every day! It really encourages me. Thanks so much for letting me jump in this challenge. I will be starting my log Sunday, looking forward to that!
Motivation- like the name of my log, I will never be fat again. I know what it's like to reach my goals, and this time I will not allow myself to go back. I may have gained a few pounds back, but I will not keep buying bigger and bigger pants. I used to think that I would always be a little bigger, now I know that's not true. I don't have to be. I also know that the longer I stay on the wagon, the more momentum I have, and the easier it is to keep doing it.
I'm down half a pound so far (wish it was more by this point, but oh well, so I'm hoping to hold on to that and maybe improve it. I'm talking my oldest to a birthday party on Saturday, though, so I'll have to dodge the cake (or save calories for it!).
I have friends coming for dinner tomorrow, but obviously I will control what it served, so no issues there. I'm down from Sunday but up from yesterday so who knows where it will land on Sunday again.
The weekends are where I sometimes indulge too much. So far today my cals and macros are PERFECT! I am so proud of my nutritional choices today. I am determined to maintain this momentum and control my weekend. I have a plan!
Everybody ready for the weekend? Got your diet plans in check? Remember your goals and be strong!
I had a Starbucks chocolate donut but it was my indulgence of the week and I shared it with a coworker, so I only ate half. I'm thankful he wanted to share or I would have eaten it all! *burp*
I'm a little discouraged I haven't lost any weight in 2 weeks on OPT but my pants are looser. How much muscle can one really gain in a week?
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