Jan. Challenge/Weigh in Friday - a beginning not an end

Hey Everyone 

I wanted to lose 8-10 pounds this month and lost 6.  Am I sad, do I feel like a failure?  The answer is a big "NO".  Why you say?  Because you guys and this challenge has done for me what I could not do myself.

My husband as been well for several months now.  I have equipment at home, DVD's I can stream from Netflix, fittv and on and on.  But for some reason, there was a wall there stopping me.  Do you call this success?  

Before                    After
no water                 at least 8 glasses if not more before I drink anything else
no workouts           going to the Y, doing cardio and this week started back on my weight lifting/bag
skipped vitamins    choking down all my supps/gag/gag/ but doing it
4 hours sleep         7-8 hours
feeling down           feeling energized
dreading summer   can't wait for summer
carbs/sugars         protein, protein, protein

I could go on and on but I think you guys get the picture.  Let us know how you did, and share with us what good habits came into focus during these last 30 days.

DON'T GO AWAY    Accountability makes us stop and think, get back on track quicker and helps us get through a tough day.  Continue to post your food and exercise in the BOTT Cafe and Cardio thread each morning.  It's our thread no mine or Cathy's.  Whomever comes on first get the ball rolling my friend.

Emotional/Blew it issues.   I am going to start a daily thread called BOTT 911.  I want us to use it if we are having a bad day, feel like we are going to have a bad day, or just a place to come and think through why were are making bad choices.  As we all know, we have to get it right between our ears as re-arranging our plumbing doesn't work alone. 

So we have an accountability thread for our food and exercise and a place to come and work through our emotional, why can't I stay on track thread.  I am thinking this may be the year we do it BOTT's.  And once we do, maintaining is just as much work, so don't you go anywhere 

LET'S ROCK AND ROLL        

Take care,
Kathy          

Kathy - You are so right about maintaining!!!!!  It is just as much work as losing - in fact I would say more because when we are losing we can always lecture ourselves with "You want to lose, don't you" and we usually have a time-line (usually unreasonable, but we have one) when we want to have off xx # of pounds.  With maintenance - it's FOREVER so "You want to maintain, don't you" doesn't have quite the emotional punch for the here-and-now that losing does.

BUT, the good news is that If I can do it ANYONE can - and I'm doing it!!!!!!

Hey Kathy and Everyone,

Kathy, your before and after was me to a tee.  I actually started on December 28th; so I will post both numbers.

Challenge starting 01/04/2010 - I lost 5.5 lb. (3%) - didn't hit the 5% - but that is okay.
I also lost a total of 3 31/2 inches.  My BMI went from 31.7 to 30.7 - I am on the verge of going from obese to the overweight category.  So I am very please with these numbers.

From 12/28/2009 - I lost 13 lb. (7%)  and BMI from 31.9 to 30.7.  My BMR went from 1532 to 1417.  Still very pleased.

Since 12/28, I joined Curves, made myself realize this is for life - meals, exercise, living!  I feel better, sleeping better, no low sugar issues........and the list goes on.

Since starting, I looked at my daily plan....only adjustment I made was limiting my snacks to a 100 calories.  Looking back, some of my snacks were like meals.  That may have contributed to the scale not moving.  

Is there a next challenge............I am ready!

Wish everyone a safe, warm, and great weekend.  We are suppose to get 1 to 3 inches of snow along with an artic blast moving thru.......burrrrrrr!

See you all in the BOTT Cafe and Cardio!

Janet

Hi Janet                                                                                                                                        GREAT JOB!

We are going to continue the challenge by posting our food and exercise in the BOTT Cafe and Cardio thread daily.  We are also starting a thread called BOTT 911.  So if  you find you are having a bad day, come there, post what is going on and we all will see if we can help.  We had one member post she had the donut in hand and we all talked her off the ledge.  She reported in several times during the day and we got her through.  So if we have a place to address our emotional/having a bad day issues and be accountable with our food/exercise/water/vitamins and such I think this could be a good year for us all  

Take care,
Kathy

Hi, Kathy and BOTTers:

I really liked the accountability this month.  Thanks, Kathy, for starting this up...it has really helped.  Thank you, too, for the tips you have given me over the mnonth.

While I lost 4 lbs this month (about 3% instead of 5%), the scale shows it has come back on in the last week since starting the circuit training again.  I am not worried about it, though, because I know that it is the exercising.  It will balance out in good time. 

I made some improvements in my "routine:"  (1)  Increased my fluid intake  (2)  Increased my protein intake  (3)  Started tracking my intake and exercise again  (4)  Started doing weight exercises again. 

The downside is I am still struggling with the need to have "crunch" and leaning on carbs more than I should.  While I focus on healthy carbs, it is still more than I should have and I have to really work on that next month.  I have to make sure I continue with the changes I have made (noted above), because I know that I can get lazy when things get busy...so, pushing myself to do the right things is still a biggie for next month.

Thanks to everyone for all of the support and input over the last month.  You are a wonderful group!

Have a great weekend!  :)

Hi BOTT,
The January Challenge was really a help to me.  It made me stop and look at a lot of the obstacles in my way.  I've learned how to prioritize and realize that I must place me first.  Did I lose weight?  Maybe a few pounds but I gained more self esteem and knowledge than you can ever imagine. 

Dreamgirl119

Good Evening Kathy and Everyone!  I have been MIA this last week due to work. I really appreciate all the support everyone has shown. 

I have been approximately the same weight for the last year and a half.  Until late October there was relatively no change either up or down.  Then in October my weight started climbing with no noticeable change in my eating habits.  That was until we started the challenge.

Since January I have lost 10 lbs., have become much more aware and mindful of what I eat and when.  I have increased my fluids and protein intake.  I noticed that my body will release weight then rest.

Week #1 -6.5 lbs
Week #2  no change
Week #3 -3.5 lbs
Week #4  no change

I will continue to post when possible.

Thank you so very much for being here, I sincerely appreciate every single one of my fellow BOTTers.

I am happy for all losers, tryers and strugglers CONGRATS.