Hi there everybody!

After successfully shedding the Xmas weight I had gained a couple of months ago, I've been majorly stalled for the last few weeks because I keep briefly falling off my various wagons... I haven't gained as such, but I haven't lost either. All I've managed to do is to maintain my weight, but that is not where I want to be: I want to start LOSING AGAIN!!!

I really want to lose ten pounds by May 1st 2009 so I will be able to get into my summer clothes comfortably.

If there's anyone out there who would like to join me for this mini-challenge, please post a hello!

I would suggest posting our weights every Monday: that's the beginning of the week for me.

In order for me to achieve my goal, I solemnly promise to keep to the following strategies:

- max. 70g of carbs per day
- absolutely no beer or apple or plum cake (three of my major weaknesses )
- strength training at least twice a week.

I shall also try to take the following foods/supplements as regularly as possible to boost fat burning and general weight loss (these have been useful for me in the past): milk thistle (silymarin); alpha-lipoic acid; L-carnitine; a teaspoon or two of virgin coconut oil after every meal; my special raw honey and unpasteurized apple cider vinegar mix (not for the faint-hearted and it does have carbs, obviously, but I am sure it does something for my metabolism). I also supplement with Vit D3 and magnesium on a daily basis. I take zinc and selenium about two to three times a week, too, in various combinations! As spring is coming, I shall be getting my Vit D3 via the sun soon, but at the moment winter is refusing to leave this part of the world!!!

This is what works for me and I'm just trying to recommit to this strategy, as well as hoping to remain accountable to myself by starting this thread.

Anybody is welcome and there is no method which will be frowned upon: we're all different and all have to tweak these weight-loss strategies to suit our particular metabolisms, needs and lifestyles.

I shall steal a table out of another thread to use as our accountability chart. The way we do it is to copy the most recently updated chart from the thread, change your own stats and repost it. If anybody needs me to explain how to do this, I'll do my best or direct you to an old thread where it is already explained .

OK?

Looking forward to meeting lots of committed low-carbers who want to shift ten pounds by May 1st!

amanda

Name............Start.........Current.........Goal.....+/- This Week....Total Loss

amandawood...139.5........139.5...........130......n/a...................n/a

Obviously, seeing as I'm just starting with this today, there's no losses to report!!!

If you want to join, just copy the above chart into your reply and add your forum name and stats into it. Always use the most recently posted stats so that nobody has to see a chart which doesn't contain their latest loss!

I'll be checking in daily to welcome new members and will post my new stats next week. I'm already factoring in a no-change status for me for the coming week, because I will be looking at a TOM situation coming up, which usually means I put on a pound or two of water weight... Kind of frustrating, but there's usually a nice whoosh once it arrives. But I shall be vigilant with my carbs nonetheless!!! Promise, honest!!!

amanda

Hey Amanda-

Here I am! Yes, lets have a super week!!!! I'm ready! Although I ate wayyyy too many nuts today. Ouch! Maybe I'll try to work in some late night workout to make a dent?!


Name............Start.........Current.........Goal.....+/- This Week....Total Loss

amandawood...139.5........139.5...........130......n/a...................n/a
in2009............138.9........138.9...........128.9...n/a...................n/a

Nice to have you join me!

I see we've got pretty much the same weight stats and the same goal. You write 128.9 as your goal - do you normally weigh yourself in kilos and convert? It's just a funny number... It comes out as 58.5kg, I just calculated.

Did you manage to do a late-night workout? I have a really small window for strength training and - shucks - I missed it again this weekend... Mind you, what I did instead was help spring-clean my YD's bedroom (cleaning windows, moving furniture and crawling under furniture with the vacuum cleaner) so I kind of did a workout of sorts!!!

Anyway, so far so good, only 63g of carbs, yesterday, today's weight 138.6lbs (63.0kg) and no beer last night!

I shall see the 62kg mark soon, I'm sure, which would give me such a boost!!!

Must get to the housework now!!!

Good luck with your weight loss project! It would be nice to hear what your general strategy is, just to compare notes, if you want to share it.

amanda

Hey amanda,

I know. We practically have the same stats. haha, funny. Yes, my scale is in kg so I convert. Nice detective work.
Me too. I soooo want to see the 62kg mark, but my weight's been bouncing up & down. So it's actually up from the chart. Frustrating... How's your progress going?

I feel a little tired today from not getting much sleep last night, but I had some coffee. My strategy isn't too fancy. Just to limit my carb to approx. 40g/day and workout. I'm not seeing a tremendous progress, but I know I must be patient. I'm thinking of riding out this weekend of what I've been doing and if I don't see much progress, it's time to switch it up a bit.

Ok, gotta prep for my workout now. I CAN DO THIS!!!

Name............Start.........Current.........Goal.....+/- This Week....Total Loss

amandawood...139.5........139.5...........130......n/a...................n/a
in2009............138.9........138.9...........128.9...n/a...................n/a
lilozzi..............126...........126.............118......n/a......................n/a

Hello people

Thought I would pop by and ask if I could join you? I'm in need of a little motivation and I think logging my weight with some people aiming for a similar goal may help.

What day is everyone weighing in?

I'm on anywhere between 20-30 grams of carbohydrates a day at the moment. Trying REALLY hard to stick to the 'clean' foods.

I'm hitting the pool tomorrow, aiming for 1km swim in less than 17mins. Should get my heart rate going and hopfully a pound or two moving!

Hi In2009,



Having been a mum for 12 years has made me into a detective!!! I'm always finding strange signs of criminal activity in this house that I have to put together to work out what my kids have really been doing!



We will, we will!!! In fact, I have twice so far this week, which is good, but now my TOM is due and I've gone up again into the 63s!!! But I'm hanging on in there, and will stick to my 70g limit. Hopefully, once the TOM gets here, there'll be a nice whoosh on the scales!!!



On the sleep front: do you take magnesium supplements or Vitamin D3? Both of them are great for helping you sleep, although a small number of people say magnesium keeps them jazzed, and Vit D3 needs to be taken in the morning so it doesn't keep you awake at night, but it gives you better quality of sleep. Where on the planet are you located? Is spring coming up in your part of the world? If so, then you can get your Vit D3 outside in the near future!

On the workout strategy and your progress: if I understand you rightly, are you hoping that working out will help you lose weight? Because, it might not! From what I've read on this forum and elsewhere, workouts can cause you to retain water because your muscles grab water after the strain they've been through (I think the theory goes something like that, I'm not sure, if you googled through the exercise forums on this forum, you'd probably find a more scientific explanation). Secondly, you can gain weight by having bigger muscles, which can make the scale numbers look "wrong" even though the inches (or centimetres) are giving you different information. Are you taking your measurements too, so that you have motivation from the tape measure, even when the scales are not being friendly?

That said, there is no way I would discourage you from working out!!! It is absolutely the best thing for females to do to slow down ageing and remain fit, agile and pain-free into old age. It is good for your balance, co-ordination and so much more! But, as a weight-loss strategy, workouts suck. Cutting the carbs (and, some say, though I'm undecided on the matter, cutting calories too) is the key.



Yes, you can!

Oh, btw, do you drink alcohol? To do the LC thing successfully, you need to starve your body of all alternative sources of fuel - i.e. a minimum of carbs and no alcohol - so that your liver can work well and convert your stored body fat into fuel easily. If you drink alcohol, then you will mess up this process. Just FYI. If I drink beer (my weakness, rather than chocolate), that sabotages - or at the very least seriously slows down - my weight loss.

amanda

G'day to you, too!

I suggested we weigh in on Mondays. Look forward to seeing you again then!

I'll try to find time to reply to your post in more detail later. Have a good swim, but just enjoy it for the good it's doing to your body! Don't think of it as a weight-loss strategy (see above post). The "calories-in = calories out" principle is, to put it in a nutshell, BS. See Gary Taubes, "Good Calories, Bad Calories" or check out Barry Groves' website, "Second Opinions", you may find something there, too. Or posts by Hutchinson on exercise. He can't exercise because of post-polio syndrome, but he lost weight on low-carb nonetheless!!!

Exercise is great, but not for weight loss!

(Must get my butt off this chair and out of the house!!!)

amanda

MAY DAY! MAY DAY EVERYBODY!!

Name............Start.........Current.........Goal.....+/- This Week....Total Loss

amandawood...139.5........139.5...........130......n/a...................n/a
in2009............138.9........138.9...........128.9...n/a...................n/a
lilozzi..............126...........126.............118......n/a......................n/a
fatnhappy........177.6.........177.6..........167.6...n/a...................n/a

I'd like to join your group. I would like to see the 160s next Month!

I would like to increase to mild exercise & stay on my plan.

See Ya Monday!

I'm in! I'm also part of the lose 40 by Aug (end of Aug for me) challenge, and I think this would be a great way to start out.

Name............Start.........Current.........Goal.....+/- This Week....Total Loss

amandawood...139.5........139.5...........130...........n/a...................n/a
in2009............138.9........138.9...........128.9........n/a...................n/a
lilozzi..............126...........126.............118...........n/a...................n/a
fatnhappy........177.6.........177.6..........167.6.......n/a...................n/a
jmr410............194.5.........194.5..........184.5........n/a...................n/a

Name............Start.........Current.........Goal.....+/- This Week....Total Loss

amandawood...139.5........139.5...........130...........n/a...................n/a
in2009............138.9........138.9...........128.9........n/a...................n/a
lilozzi..............126...........126.............118...........n/a...................n/a
fatnhappy........177.6.........177.6..........167.6.......n/a...................n/a
jmr410............194.5.........194.5..........184.5........n/a...................n/a
Steph.............204...........204.............160...........n/a...................n/a

I'd love to join and have someone who I have to be accountable too!

Hi Amanda,

Thanks for the info. I've always been an active person and find that the workouts are more for mental health more than anything else. It also helps me sleep better too (In2009 does this help you at all?). I try and hit the pool in the evenings... I think it's the controlled breathing that makes it really relaxing and it hasn't stalled my loss to date (fingers crossed!!).

I'm really looking forward to getting through these pounds with some support and having weigh day on Monday puts the pressure on the weekend temptations. Talking about temptations I have a friends birthday dinner tonight and it's going to be hard. I hear you on the alcohol front too... even harder then the food for me. My friends are all big drinkers!

Wish me luck!

ps. I love the post PMS whoosh!

fatnhappy, jmr410 and Steph

Welcome aboard ladies!

Time for Monday Weigh in Peeps!

I had an unexpected Whoosh this morning & I'm sure happy to see it!

Name............Start.........Current.........Goal.....+/- This Week....Total Loss

amandawood...139.5........139.5...........130...........n/a...................n/a
in2009............138.9........138.9...........128.9........n/a...................n/a
lilozzi..............126...........126.............118...........n/a...................n/a
fatnhappy........177.6.........175.2..........167.6.......2.4........... ........2.4
jmr410............194.5.........194.5..........184.5........n/a...................n/a
Steph.............204...........204.............160...........n/a...................n/a

Hope you have a Great Week Everybody!

Hello everyone,

I had a bit of a whoosh this morning, along w/ TOM.


Name............Start.........Current.........Goal.....+/- This Week....Total Loss

amandawood...139.5........139.5...........130...........n/a...................n/a
in2009............138.9........137.8...........128.9........1.1......... ..........1.1
lilozzi..............126...........126.............118...........n/a...................n/a
fatnhappy........177.6.........175.2..........167.6.......2.4........... ........2.4
jmr410............194.5.........194.5..........184.5........n/a...................n/a
Steph.............204...........204.............160...........n/a...................n/a