Maintainers May Goal Challenge..Anyone?

[homestretch]

Although my initial goal was 155 I have decided that I would like to reach 150 by my 2 year anniversary on May 26. I have 3 pounds to lose. Any other maintainers need a little encouragement to reach a new goal be it exercise, weight loss, or any other goal? If so keep in touch on this thread and we can support one another. I am excited that May is here and summer is right around the corner. It has been a long, cold, dreary winter hear in the Midwest!

[Deb79fl]

I'll join you! I'd like to get rid of a few more pounds this month and make a commitment to exercise at least 3 times a week. I'm at 144 this am and would love to get into the 130's before the end of the month.
My 22 year anniversary is May 8th, so I'm not sad to lave lost "almost" sixty pounds at this time! The best gift is the gift of health, that I gave to myself this year!

[JuliaL]

I'm in! My goal is 140 and as of today I have 4 lbs. to go. Really I'd love to get just a little below that, maybe 137 or 138. I know it doesn't matter (what's the difference between 140 and 137 really?) but I've never been below 140 in my adult life, so I think that would be cool.

Hopefully now that I'm being treated for hypothyroid I can get there.

[Ailuros]

I'd like to join, but mine isn't a weight loss goal. I'm happy about the way I'm eating at the moment, so I'd like to focus on being more consistent with exercise and doing some meditation (I've done it before, but it fell by the wayside somewhere along the way). I've recently started following some of Schwarzbein's recommendations, so I'm eating slightly higher carb than I was. I'm looking for better energy more than weight loss at the moment.

[Deb79fl]

Julia,

For me, that small goal (of about 5-8 pounds) will finally bring me into a "healthy" BMI. A good "mental" feeling as well, to be able to say I'm in the 130's again. I figure 3 pounds is do-able without stressing too much. Seems to be what I can lose w/o too much trouble in a normal month.

[LindaFaye]

Julia.....You look great...To me you look like you weight
close to 120 pounds....You carry your weight well...
Linda.....220/139.6/130.0

[Prairieprof]

Hmm, I like this idea and would like to have a goal to motivate me, but what should it be? I'm aware that my wish to get to 115 or to stay regularly under 117 is a touch disordered; I really shouldn't lose more weight. And I'm exercising about 6 days a week as is. Any suggestions??

[BellaHMB]

Sure count me in. My weight is stable, and that is my goal!

Bella

[JuliaL]

Originally Posted by Prairieprof

Hmm, I like this idea and would like to have a goal to motivate me, but what should it be? I'm aware that my wish to get to 115 or to stay regularly under 117 is a touch disordered; I really shouldn't lose more weight. And I'm exercising about 6 days a week as is. Any suggestions??

How about setting some fitness goals for yourself? Like how much weight you can bench press or how fast you can walk/jog/run a mile?

[Ailuros]

Originally Posted by Prairieprof

Hmm, I like this idea and would like to have a goal to motivate me, but what should it be? I'm aware that my wish to get to 115 or to stay regularly under 117 is a touch disordered; I really shouldn't lose more weight. And I'm exercising about 6 days a week as is. Any suggestions??

Or is there something in your diet you'd like to change - any area where you want to improve the quality by having more of something, or less of something, or add interest by trying some new recipes?

[homestretch]

Originally Posted by Prairieprof

Hmm, I like this idea and would like to have a goal to motivate me, but what should it be? I'm aware that my wish to get to 115 or to stay regularly under 117 is a touch disordered; I really shouldn't lose more weight. And I'm exercising about 6 days a week as is. Any suggestions??

It may sound silly but how about a month of not worrying about getting to 115 and liking the weight that you are at?

[homestretch]

I am really excited about everyone joining in! Good luck to all of us! I should have clarified that my 2 year anniversary is my low carb anniversary! Heck I have been married for 19 years as of May 20....not nearly as exciting as my low carb eating anniversary hahaha!

[JuliaL]

Good morning, May Maintainers! How is everyone today? I'm really happy it's Friday! Tomorrow I leave for a week's vacation, and I'm kind of worried about mantaining/not gaining while I'm gone. Fortunately, DH likes to exercise too, so we're renting bikes. There are great paved bike trails all over the area where we're going, and we'll also be doing lots of walking. I just hope I can keep the food temptations under control. Since I work at home it's easy for me to make sure I have only good food choices around me, but when I'm away there are so many opportunities to mess up.

Homestretch - congratulations on your Aktkinsversary and your Anniversary!

Prairieprof - have you thought about any non-weight related goals you'd like to shoot for?

LindaFaye - thank you for the compliment

Waving to Bella, Ailuros, and Deb

I have a suggestion: maybe we could share our real first names with each other if they are not already part of your screenname?

Julia

[LindaFaye]

Mine is already here but everyone calls me Linda.

[Prairieprof]

Hi everybody. My name is Anne (feels like a big revelation online!).

Still thinking about the goals. Getting my life organized and productive for summer is surely one of them -- as a college prof, how I spend my days will change completely for the summer after finals next week. The completely unstructured time can be hard (and lonely, since I live alone and my colleagues in many ways feel like my "family").

I'm also coming up on a year since I was diagnosed with thyroid disease and became very anxious about and focused on health, weight, etc. I've made amazing positive changes and feel great, but I know the next step is to maintain all the good habits I've put in place without being so obsessive about it all, or thinking that gaining a pound is a sign of terrible things being about to happen.

[Prairieprof]

Originally Posted by JuliaL

How about setting some fitness goals for yourself? Like how much weight you can bench press or how fast you can walk/jog/run a mile?

Yes, I'm sort of groping for a specific fitness goal to push me onward. (I talked with my trainer about this, but she wasn't much help.) The problem is that I have a bad knee that seems to limit what I can do (jogging is out, anything involving a squat is a problem, etc.), and it flares up when I push too hard. I've ordered a book on weightlifting and hope that will give me some ideas.

Also, I recently decided to try out a laser treatment my chiropractor offers that's supposed to help soft-tissue injuries (I have arthritis in the knee, but recently learned that much of the pain come from the muscle known as the "IT band"), and so far it actually seems to be helping! And I've begun getting massages that focus on loosening that muscle. So I guess that's one goal I've already begun working on: to see what steps I can take to improve the knee, so that it will interfere less with things I want to do. Not exciting, but as I write about it I realize it's important, as the knee pain is the only thing at present that feels like a drag on my relationship with my body.

Anne

[Prairieprof]

So how did everybody do over the weekend? I'm feeling very good -- mostly over my cold, near my all-time low for weight, and increased my weights at the gym this morning!

My goal is to really eat clean this week, as I have some visitors and then travel up ahead and will be facing more dining out. Wednesday this week I've decided I'm going to think of as my "challenge day": there's a lunchtime dessert reception for a secretary in my department who's retiring, and I agreed to bring pizza for the last meeting of my seminar class. But I've already got some plans about how I'm going to handle these events....

[JuliaL]

Hello Maintainers! I'm on vacation, and the eating has not been the best. It could be worse though. We are staying at a place with a kitchen so we're cooking most of our meals. I've been doing lots of bike riding and beach walking, so trying to keep active, but I've also been drinking more than I normally do - wine every evening. Hopefully I won't have too much ground to make up when I get back.

Anne - congratulations on being near your all-time low!

[Deb79fl]

Morning Everyone!

Just a quick note and hello before I'm out the door. Did well over the weekend, on track foodwise, exercise... not so much. Worked on house projects and fighting a little cold right now. But, small goal achived. I hit my sixty pounds lost today. I'm now at 142!

A new co-worker and I were talking yesterday about making healthier choices regarding smoking, diet, etc. and I mentioned that I've been smoke free for over 13 years and that lead us to weight gain, etc. when quitting. I told him that quitting didn't get me heavier, but my love of food and all things bad for me and of course, my tendency to stress eat. I then told my story of going low carb and my weight loss this year. He was surprised and said I didn't look like anyone that had ever had a weight problem. I think he was most surprised when I told him how often I went "off plan" over the last year and how successful it still was. He also said he'd never met anyone that had been able to stay on a low carb diet. I think he understood more about this way of eating when I explained the "rungs" etc. to him.

Even though I wish I had stayed completely on track with my diet, in hindsight I'm glad I didn't. It not only helped me realize that I could still have treat days and get back to a healthier way of life, it also helped me get used to the "new" me a little easier. On previous attempts to diet, if I went off plan I either totally stopped dieting and regained all the weight and then some or just gave up and thought why bother??

I'm really glad that I found this way of life and this board! I think I would have given up long ago if I hadn't seen how many others have the same struggles as I have. The support of the forums is great!!

Have a great Tuesday everyone and I'll try to stop in later this evening!

Debbie

[LoraJR72]

I've reached my realistic goal weight of 135lbs. and I'm basically maintaining now but I'd like to reach 130 or 129lbs. just to say I hit the 120's!

[LChottie07]

Hi Maintainers... May I join you guys? I'm slowly but surely trying to make my way around here. I knew several of you from *ahem* another site... and have been learning this maintenance thing by sheer grit and the skin of my teeth (is that LC? ). I've been doing fairly well, but due to several extenuating circumstances from the beginning of this year which included several hospital stays and a couple of surgeries... I have about 10 now that I need to get off... so I'd love a challenge if you'll have me. I'm also challenging myself for my exercise. Due to my most recent surgery, I have not been able to exercise at all and it's been very hard on me. I'm recovered enough now that I can begin again, so I'd like the accountability.

Thanks and good luck everyone!

[BellaHMB]

Hey Christin,
Nice to see you and great on maintaining!

Bella

[Ailuros]

Welcome, Christin .

I've not really reported back yet, but that's partly because it doesn't feel as if I'm being challenged: I'm eating lots of good food and enjoying a few minutes meditation each day. So far, I'm just doing it. I know that having signed up to add the meditation in does make a difference to actually doing it each day, rather than putting it off until tomorrow.

I'm still amazed that I added about 60g carb and 2-300 kcalories per day about three weeks ago, and my weight hasn't changed! There's a lot more to this metabolism/hormone stuff than we understand.

[NWLoser]

I would like to join you as I am now in my goal range. I plan on maintaining between 130-134. So my goal this month is to get to 130. Good luck everyone!

[TaDa!]

Hey Maintainers! Hey Dianne!!! (my siamese twin ... we have been weirdly at the same weights all along this journey, lol!).

I also am looking to get to 130 - (as my lowest weight). I weighed 133 last weekend and have bounced up back to 134.5 possibly as a result of an oatmeal add-in <sigh>, so, I am going to set my May goal to get to 132 ..

At the moment am trying not to obsess on the weight as a number and am more "into" trying to figure out what more I can eat to slow down weightloss without stopping it, but I guess I am having trouble, lol!! adding in more (food that I LIKE! lol) while keeping net carbs at 70 or below.

Anyhoooooooo, maybe I'll also join the Friday weigh-in thread and make that my official weigh day. Thanks for starting the Challenge Homestretch!!

[homestretch]

Hi everyone! Looks like we are all working on some good goals. I had a wonderful week last week and this week has just been nuts! My exercise is great but my food has just been ok. Why is it that every year I forget how busy the end of the school year is. I have had so many commitments that I am running through my days like a crazy woman. When I am the busiest is when my food is less than perfect so I am trying to be very careful today although I have a choir banquet (with food) to attend tonight with my daughter...ughhhh!

Wishing everyone luck and much self control!