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649848 tn?1534633700

HOLIDAY WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGE 2018

Summer is long past, so as we begin November, with the holidays approaching, it’s time to begin a new challenge.  This one will be our Holiday Weight Loss Challenge.    

Fall brings certain challenges, because of the approaching holidays with the parties chock full of family, friend, and work gatherings, complete with all the goodies and comfort foods of the season.  Fall also brings with it a lot of opportunities because of the abundance of fresh veggies and fruits that are harvested this time of year in some parts of the country/world.   That’s what I hope to take advantage of.

As we put aside the abundance of the Halloween “haul” the kids might have brought home from trick or treating, it’s time to think about dropping a few pounds before the holidays – if you have any to drop… If you don’t need to lose any weight, perhaps you simply want to maintain your current weight over the holidays, which can also be quite a challenge.  It’s easier for me to have people to do these things with, hopefully, it is for you, too.

Anyone who wants to can go into a “holding pattern” over the actual holidays, if that’s your choice and simply maintain the weight you start the holiday period with.  For example: I might simply try to maintain my weight over the Thanksgiving week – that would be holding whatever weight I have on Sunday before Thanksgiving until the following Sunday instead of trying to lose that week… you can choose how you want to handle that.

There are many different methods of losing weight -- a new diet comes along almost every day; new articles are printed in magazines with suggestions of all kinds, from diets to exercise routines and of course, they all profess to be the best.  

I still find that making small changes and taking baby steps is the safest way to go.  Healthy lifestyle changes that we can maintain are by far the best...

As many of you who have been around for a while, know, I began my weight loss journey in 2008, when my thyroid malfunctioned and I suddenly gained 30 lbs and still struggle to lose all of them.   Of course, along the way, other health issues have required medications that only added to the problem.  I'm quite sure that I've gained and lost the same 5, 10, or 20 lbs, numerous times, over the past few years.  Sometimes, frustration runs high, other times I look at lab results or my notes on how I felt at a given time and determine to "forgive" myself and start over again.    

If you have medical issues, like I do, please make sure they’re under control before embarking on a weight loss journey, or you may only set yourself up for disappointment or even further medical issues.  It’s a good idea to talk to your doctor to make sure the plan you are starting is appropriate and safe for you.  
I’m not a fan of “dieting” per se, as I believe in making diet and exercise choices that I can maintain over the long term vs drastic choices that I’ll only be able to tolerate for a week or two.

I’ve been doing okay lately, and over the duration of the summer challenge I managed to lose about 3 lbs, which didn’t meet my goal, but was the right direction, so I’m determined to keep going.  I hope many of you will join me.

Safe weight loss is 1-2 lbs/week, but with my medical conditions and the medications I take, the most I hope for is 1 lb/week.  I’m challenging all of you to “meet or beat” my goal.  

All you have to do to  join, is make a commitment to lose at least 1 pound/week.  Can’t be *that* hard, right??  Hmmmmmm, we’ll see about that!!  LOL

So here we go; just post below that you want to join, then start by losing (weight, that is).  As those who have been in previous challenges know, I’ll post a weekly weigh in thread on Sunday morning in which everyone is welcome to post their loss (or gain), along with anything else they would like to post regarding their weight loss/gain, including challenges you might run into, etc.  If you need help of any kind, whether it be support, motivation, weight loss tips, advice or whatever, please ask and we’ll do our best to provide help and/or resources for you.

Remember, you never have to post your actual weight – only the pounds lost/gained…

Everyone is welcome to join the challenge and/or post on the Sunday weigh in thread, whether or not you choose to join this challenge.

Are you ready??   LET’S “WIN” BY LOSING (weight)
9 Responses
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168348 tn?1379357075
I'm in ... just too sure that I can do a pound a week.  But will definitely try my best
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Hey, CC9... glad to have you aboard.  Nobody really has to lose a pound a week... I sure don't manage that every week, but I give my best shot; that's all we can do is try... glad to have you with us.
134578 tn?1693250592
Checking in here. Will we be posting our Holiday Weight Loss Challenge results on just the weekly weigh-in post? It's been for the summer challenge, but I assume we just continue there? :) I'm down a whopping .4 of a pound since last week. Not complaining, it's a matter of tenths of a pound for me for the last several weeks. How depressing it would be if I didn't have a digital scale! :)

Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Good morning... yes. we'll just continue with the Sunday weigh in as usual.  I'm sorry if I didn't specify that.  Shame on me.  You can give me 10 lashes with a wet noodle because that's for whatever challenge we have going or even if we happen to be between challenges, which happens sometimes, if I don't start a new one... :-)  

0.4 lbs down is still going the right direction, even if it's not a huge amount.  It's still good. I get it - there are days I'd have to sit and cry if I didn't have a digital scale... Don't we love them?  lol
20856219 tn?1541792336
Hi -

I'm joining!
Helpful - 0
2 Comments
Welcome to our little group.  Be sure to let us know what, if anything we can do to help.
Thanks :)
495284 tn?1333894042
Interesting thread so far!  I really dont need to lose anymore so i can join anyways?  If not that is okay.
Helpful - 0
3 Comments
Absolutely you can join anyway. We'd be disappointed if you didn't. You can just work to maintain your own weight, cheer the rest of us on and have fun with us.
Thanks Barb.
Maintenance is all part of it.  Even when we don't need to lose . . . trying to maintain and not gain can be a challenge.  (is for me).  Glad you are here DS!  
649848 tn?1534633700
COMMUNITY LEADER
Welcome aboard, specialmom and AnnieBrooke... we're glad to have you back in this challenge.  

Wow - pumpkin cinnamon rolls... blows my diet just thinking about them; I'd be derailed for weeks if I actually ate one... lol   I wonder if I could come up with a gluten, sugar-free version... :-)

Here's to ending the affair with Dr Pepper and pumpkin cinnamon rolls...
Good luck everyone...
Helpful - 0
6 Comments
It's sad when a love affair dies. :)
Well, yes it is...I've rather enjoyed hearing the gory details of your affair with the good doctor.  bahaha
I have bad news for anniebrooke.  Her secret beau courts me as well.  The Dr. is a cheater luring all of the pretty girls in who long to be skinnier but just can't resist him.  

But NO more.  

The Dr. and the  cinnamon pumpkin  rolls are in the trash for me!
Oh no, SM... you've been cheating with Annie's special beau and you've even got cinnamon pumpkin rolls to boot...

The good (errr... bad doctor) really must be kicked to the curb now - well, only if you're both inclined to do so...  :-)
i accept the challenge!
Welcome to our little group, gforhealth.  Good luck...
134578 tn?1693250592
Pumpkin cinnamon rolls? *Awestruck*

I'm in, too. I lost a good 5 lbs. with the summer challenge, significant because I've never dieted before.  But I have a carb problem in Dr. Pepper, not lo-cal but the full high-fructose corn-syrup kind. (Some months I am able to drop it entirely, other times I'm off it for the odd week, but a lot of the time I handle it just by cutting it in half with sparkling water.) So, I was ready to drop 10 lbs. when the summer challenge came; five to get me to my usual weight from the past ten or more years, and five more because I think I look better if it is also gone. And I dropped 5, with mostly minor tweaks to eating and exercise (and not sneaking around with Dr. Pepper, my secret beau). This next 5 will be harder because where I am is obviously a set point, but I'll see what I can do.
Helpful - 0
973741 tn?1342342773
Ya, I'm totally in too!  I actually had nothing but stress most of the week and eating wasn't on the agenda.  I'm sure I had a little weight drop and will find out shortly but it's that unnatural kind born of stress where eating isn't high on your to do list.  But don't worry, I'm back.  Made pumpkin cinnamon rolls for the kids today and had to taste test, naturally.  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I am accepting the holiday challenge. I weighed this morning and will post next week.  Thank you for starting this challenge it will help me be accountable.
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Welcome Kelcoo... it's good to see you again.

I just posted a weigh-in thread for this week, if you'd like to go ahead and get started since you just weighed.  

You can access it  via this link:  https://www.medhelp.org/posts/Weight-Loss--Dieting/Sunday-Weigh-In-November-4--2018/show/3038429

Of course, you don't have to post your actual weight... but feel free to let us know about any specific problems you might have, support or motivation you need, etc.  

I'm also not sure if you're using the weight tracker here on MH... Have you checked that out?  It can be helpful as well.  I track my weekly weight there also.  It makes a graph so we can see the ups and downs... sometimes I have more ups than downs but I keep trying...LOL
Avatar universal
Just to note, no matter how much you pig out on Thanksgiving and whatever religious holiday you do or don't observe, it won't matter to your weight.  It will only matter if you continue to binge after the holiday ends.  Metabolism doesn't change over one holiday, it takes time for that to happen, so after the holiday, if you return to your normal routine your weight will be pretty much the same.  This holiday fear is a marketing ploy by gyms and diet sales, not a fact.  So enjoy without guilt, but once the holiday is over, go back to your more healthy lifestyle.  And if you can, keep exercising, it won't really make a difference in weight but it will keep you on your routine in that regard and also burn off some of the bloat so you can eat more!
Helpful - 0
11 Comments
We aren't marketing anything and have no intention of causing anyone fear.  Our challenges are simply an effort to achieve a common goal together - either lose weight or maintain current weight.  There is never any guilt applied to anyone, no matter how far they stray from the plan they've chosen to follow.  

The party "season" whether one actually observes any holidays or simply follows the parties, typically lasts for about 6 weeks - from Thanksgiving through New Year's (I won't even talk about all that Halloween candy lying around). If one skips from dinner to dinner or party to party over that 6 week period, with no thought to what they may be eating or drinking, it's very easy to gain weight.  

If one has attended many dinners/parties with tables laden with sweet desserts or other unhealthy foods/drinks, it's very easy to develop or re-develop a taste for this type of food and it's not always so easy to "go back to your more healthy lifestyle".  Although some of what one gains will be bloat or water weight, it's very discouraging and can cause one to give up on a healthy eating plan.  

In addition, sugar addiction is a real thing and for those of us that have been addicted and "kicked the habit" or are in the process, a season of with round after round of dinners/parties with sugar laden foods can be devastating - both physically and mentally.  This isn't fear-mongering; it's fact based on research.

Our challenges are always meant to support and motivate anyone who chooses to join and most important of all they're meant to have fun.

Not sure who "we" are unless you're using the editorial we, and personally, I haven't kicked the sugar habit, but I guess I don't live in the kind of world perhaps my parents lived in -- I'm a baby boomer, and don't really know anyone who does that whole round of parties thing, so maybe I just live in a different world from others.  For me, Thanksgiving is a four-day feast and then it's over and I go back to normal.   I don't keep partying because I don't party much, so I guess I really didn't look at it from that angle, Barb.  I think it comes from being Jewish -- while I haven't been in a relationship with a Jewish woman forever and so have done a lot of Christmases, for me they've again been just that couple of days and then they're done.  Chanukkah isn't a pig-out day, it's more of a gift-giving thing.  So yeah, if you have the kind of social life that includes weeks of parties and gatherings, I can see that could turn into a problem.  But if you are one of the people who doesn't go to a 6 week round of food-laden parties, and keep it to finite feasts, that won't lead to long-term weight gain.
Also, Barb, I know you aren't marketing anything here.  But the notion that a couple of holiday splurges lead to long-term weight loss is a marketing ploy that most of us have bought into, just as my parent's generation bought into the notion that breast feeding was bad for the child so Nestles could sell more formula.  Gyms use this to sell memberships, which works, as most of their memberships are sold in January and thereabouts and by diet programs.   Again, if you're not the type to go around for six weeks eating your way through that entire period of time but just have a couple of feasts, that won't alter your basic metabolism.  Only long-term changes do that.  That's all I meant, and only said it so people here might enjoy their holidays more and not worry about it so much.  Fun is really important, too.
paxiled, in the holiday spirit, you sometimes remind me of the grinch.
said with affection? But said.  

Your notions are often your own and differ from mine.  That's okay.  

And my life is such that starting before Thanksgiving and going until New Years, temptation of food is everywhere. They keep a buffet set up where I get my hair cut with delicious appetizers home made and desserts for crying out loud.  I can't even go get my hair cut without temptation!  It's a challenge man.  

I like the accountability here.  Thanks for starting the challenge, Barb.
Thank you SM... many of us encounter a lot of temptations over the holiday season... I know a lot of people that go from party to party starting with Thanksgiving and going all the way through New Year's... that includes those that don't celebrate Christmas; they just like to party so they follow the crowd.  I run across is so much anymore because I'm retired but when I was working, I was out and about all the time and everywhere I went there were tables full of desserts and tempting food.  Not to mention a variety of cook-offs and other events and yes, even the place at which I get my hair cut has plates of fun things to eat sitting around... Even going to church on Sunday morning presents  a fellowship consisting of a variety of goodies provided by various church members.

We don't all live the same kind of lives and just because everyone doesn't encounter these things doesn't mean it doesn't happen.  
Mom, no idea what the Grinch is about, never read it, never saw the movie.  But if I get it, the Grinch tried to ruin Christmas, and here I am telling folks not to worry so much and enjoy themselves.  Who's the Grinch here, assuming I've got the story right?  And you so often say that thing you say, my experiences are only mine.  I'm assuming you mean your experiences are valid and mine are not.  Kind of Grinchy, no?  But that's irrelevant, what is relevant is, again, folks, life isn't a trial.  It's a life.  Enjoy it while you can and stop worrying so much that a few days of fun will turn you into an obese monstrosity -- won't happen.   Happy holidays from the Grinch, whoever he or she really is.
How can you not have seen the Grinch?  That's like an American tradition!  This is my for the holidays for you.  You should watch the original cartoon version of the grinch. It will waist about 24 minutes of your life and then the movie that stars Jim Carrey should be viewed for enjoyment as well.  The truth is, the grinch has a heart underneath.  :>))  You weren't trying to ruin Christmas, just Barb's challenge and thread.  

Most people . . . really MOST . . . have extra social obligations during the holidays and food is a big part of those gatherings.  About the only time of year I go on a cookie baking spree is December. And I'm a girl that can't have cookie dough or cookies in my house.  I try to make things festive. That's often done with yummy delights to eat for the family!  I go places where everyone is doing the same.  And like I said, it can be as dumb as just getting my hair cut.

And so many go hog wild in December which then spurs the whole new years resolution and working out craze.  My gym is beyond crowded the month of January.  Ghost town in December.  If it were one or two big meals or parties during the month, it would be no big deal. But it's usually so much more than that.  
Thanks again, SM... I really appreciate your efforts.  The bottom line is that we all go through our holidays in different ways.  Maybe I'll come to your house and sample some of those cookies you're going to bake... lol

It's not just the parties and dinners associated with the holidays that some people have to worry about.  There are many people for which the holidays are a very difficult time of year because they have no family or friends with which to celebrate the season.  In addition, the weather in many parts of the country doesn't allow people to get outside and participate in their favorite activities.  These things can also cause added stress and for those that are stress eaters, it can be especially difficult.  Having someone/something like us and a challenge such as this to participate in helps them feel part of something they wouldn't, otherwise, have.  

Studies have shown that winter and the holiday season are the most difficult time of year, for depression and for weight gain.  We're going to have our challenge and if Paxiled doesn't want to join in, that's his choice.  The challenge and this thread can only be ruined if we let it be.  

Let's ditch the negativity and have some fun...
I need to ditch my typos!  LOL
What typos?  I didn't see any typos... I did notice that I messed up an entire sentence in a previous post though... LOL  
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