Vibrant Nation

Thanks Moongoddess for all the support. I am happy to report a 10% success rate of my over all goal - just 90% more to go!  (Disclaimer, I started in November, not January so the 10% represents 3 months.)

Ladies,  Do I have the tip of the week for you this week:  For just $20 and 3 days, you can lose up to 50 pounds - sort of. 

I am not a visual person.  I write papers, my sister creates photo books. But for the 4th week of our challenge, I was looking around for photos to create a digitial VN Weight Loss Vision Board for us.  Why bouncing around, I found this site.  Many of us who have been overweight for many years (decades in my case) no longer have a realistic view of what we would look like lighter.  We have our old "skinny pictures", but we know that age as well as weight has changed us. (In my case, I'm a balloon of my former self.)

I stumbled on a website that takes a current picture of you and makes you up to 50 pounds lighter for $20.  You send them a current photo of you and choose the 30 pound or 50 pound package.  If you choose 30 pounds, you are sent 2 photos, one of you 15 and 30 pounds lighter.  If you choose 50 pounds, you are sent 2 photos of you 25 and 50 pounds lighter. Personally, I think this will be a great motivation tool and I'm giving it a try. 

If you are interested, check it out:  www.fitpics.com

I copied one of their press releases is below:

YOU CAN LOSE 50 POUNDS IN 2-3 DAYS!
7/30/2008

50 pounds of weight loss in 2-3 days? It’s true…sort of. Scottsdale, AZ based Motivo, LLC debuts website www.fitpics.com Tuesday, July 29, 2008, featuring a revolutionary “Digital Re-Visualization Process” designed to provide motivation to anyone interested in weight loss. Simply upload a picture of yourself today, and within 2-3 days you will have 2 photos returned showing weight loss up to 25 or even 50 pounds.

“Losing weight is difficult, even painful, and maintaining motivation is the key to success,” says Shane LaPan, co-founder of www.fitpics.com. “By actually seeing the end results before going through all the lifestyle changes required to lose weight, and being able to revisit that photo during times of weakness, you can get beyond your initial excitement and continue to be motivated to follow through with your plan.”

In addition to “FitPics”, the website offers a free motivation course delivered by email. Shane is a 5-Time marathon finisher and a 3-time IronMan Triathlete. So be forewarned, the course delivers motivation from that perspective and excuses or external influences are not given much merit. “You have to be able to motivate yourself and understand your own goals before anyone else can say or do anything to motivate you”.

To schedule an interview – or to get to know more information about motivation – call (602) 369.4045

More Information Links:
www.fitpics.com

I'm baking a cake for two of the ladies who work in my department.  As it's aromitizing my kitchen (is that a word?), I am thinking of how to handle looking at that cake and not partaking.  So, this is how I'm going to handle it.  I'll be strong and take a token, 1"x1" square and then, fill my plate with the veggies from the vegetable tray that I'm also bringing.  Then, I'll give the rest to the girls to take home! I'll let you know how it went. 

I'm feeling mildly virtuous today even though I have been messing up on my new regimen big time. 

Last night, I had my ex over for dinner (we're still good friends) and instead of gorging ourselves on the usual fried foods or Chinese food, we opted for Japanese instead -- shrimp shumai, California rolls, dumplings, etc.  Not exactly 'diet food' but much lighter fare than we usually have.  It was tasty and delicious and best of all, we didn't have to loosen our belts after dinner.  Had breakfast at a diner this morning and instead of having pancakes or my usual ham and cheese omelet, I opted for a veggie omelet and tea and I didn't eat the home fries.  

The minute anyone tells me I have to follow a specific regimen, I immediately try to figure out how to change it  - I am innately rebellious! :-)   So I know that for myself, I have to find ways to make better choices in doing the things I enjoy.   I lost nearly 25 lbs just five years ago so I KNOW I can do this if I can re-focus!  Today my focus is to not beat myself up for going crazy last week and to just try to keep going in the right direction.

Good Morning.  Finally, a 2 lb weight loss this week, and a 1" inch loss from my waist!  I'm 152 lbs, with a 32" waist and sore muscles!  HOORAY! Gotta do the HAPPY Dance!

It's weigh in time.  Oh boy!  I only maintained this week.  I'm ok because, we remeasured and I have been losing inches.  Not bad.  I'm going to keep working on it. 

I was looking in the week 2 and found this from i'm not your mother and I want to share it.  She put something up right before this and I asked her to explain further.  It makes sense.  We are not the experts and it's helpful sometimes to know that there are other ways to measure and we shouldn't rely solely on the scales. Here it is verbatum:

Well, let's see... scales weigh your whole body weight. If you are working out, you will most likely gain muscle weight. You might also get bigger in certain areas of your body. Muscle weighs more that fat. Bones weigh more than fat. The best way to understand your true fat/muscle ratio is to be evaluated for that specific thing. I am not against scales per se...however,  if the goal is to loose body fat, then what you must do, is metabolize fat. You do this through aerobic exercise and eating fewer calories. Water is necessary for every metabolic function including metabolizing fat, but it is neither more nor less involved in metabolizing fat than any other cellular function. Therefore, drink the  amount of water required for optimum health, but not because it flushes fat.  It doesn't really.

Water can reduce your appetite and give you a sense of well being, and is necessary for metabolic function in general. Not drinking the required amount of water daily can lead to health problems. You probably know what those are... from lack of mental acuity to gout,etc.

Your anesthesiologist needs to know your exact weight in order to keep you alive during surgery. You need to know your fat/muscle ratio. And what size jeans you wear. If you dropped two jean sizes, would you be weeping on the scale?

I just realized that I did not post this where requested...very confusing. Sorry

only .5 lb this week but at least it went down and not up.

BTW...congrats for all the success this week.  The earth is 52 pounds lighter this week.

Hi,

Better late than never.   I am joining you at the weight loss challenge. 

I am 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighed 213 pounds last Friday.  The weight is pretty evenly distributed. 

I read your posts and love them all.  I'll try to contribute as much as I can. 

Just finished a 12 hour night shift and did pretty good at eating the right things at work.  Drank my 7 to 8 glasses of water.  Walked to work and back, which is only a ten minute walk each way, but adds up to twenty minutes a day.  I also walked up the stairs instead of taking the elevator.  O.K. so I only had two flights, but I figure every little bit helps.  Sometimes it is four flights up. 

It is -16C this morning, -27C with the wind chill factor.  OOps!  I think that is about -15F or ... anyways, it is cold.  Am I glad I had the wind at my back walking home!  Of course the layers of clothes, tuque and heavy gloves helped to keep me warm.  

Going to bed now.  A good 6 to 8 hours of sleep will help me get back the energy I need to get me on the treadmill before I go back to work tonight.

anir

Well, I knew it didn't I.  I'm back up to 218.8. :(  I'll have to try and be more aware of what I'm doing and know that when my time schedule goes wacky, so does my eating.  A good thing is that I pushed myself (and I mean REALLY pushed myself) to go for a walk yesterday, and I'm going to do it again today.  It's my father-in-laws birthday and he doesn't live tha far away, so I'll walk over and back and only take a small piece of birthday cake.  Nope ... I won't give up.

I am still in Florida with new Grandbaby and no scale and a daughter in law who is insulted if I don't eat enough for three people! I am still trying and will report in after I get home. Love reading everything and am inspired by your losses and great attitudes.

I want to join your challenge. I am 5 feet tall and weigh a whopping 150 pounds, 20 pounds of which has crept on since November. Surgery has sidelined my exercise efforts, but I have also been pigging out.

I want to lose this twenty lbs asap. Plan to use w w points mostly, as this worked for me well when I used it a few years ago.

Sign me up!

p.smith

Week 5 link here: http://www.vibrantnation.com/conversations/56435-weight-loss-challenge-2010---week-5/

Go visit it and state your February goals there.  If you say it out loud, it takes on energy and the universe reaches out to help you obtain it.

I have been on a product that is fabulous. Lost 20 lbs and 12 in. in 3 months. Feel great have lots of energy and absolutely no cravings. I am a chocoholic and a carb eater but not since I have been on this product. I love it.