My real goal here is to find the motivation to push on in weight loss mode. It kinda comes down to this: I have multiple issues eating my time and multiple stressors. I decided to switch to maintenance because of that. What I have since decided is that by doing that I put *myself* on the back burner.

What it comes down to for me is finding the motivation to put myself on the front burner, and the things I cannot control either on the back burner or out of my life entirely. Your challenge came around at a perfect time, PJ.

You've done so awesomely! But you're proof of what all the weight loss success stories say: that maintenance is just as hard as loss but is forever, LOL. I do think that shifting back to your normal schedule with DH working nights probably will help, I mean, if you've built a routine on that for a long time. It's summer -- can you barbecue? Or use foreman grill (so as not to heat up the house)?

Plus, it's SALAD SEASON! I'm hoping to come up with a variety of different salads that I actually like. Lettuce and 'something-else' drenched in dressing is really not the only (or most ideal) salad but it's like the only one I eat. More greek salad, and this awesome spinach pesto salad I saw yesterday, is something I thought might be a cool idea. There's got to be more to salad than vinegar/oil or ranch/bluecheese!

Yeah me too, the only good thing I can say about my eating plan the last year is that it apparently balanced the OFF with the ON because I'm the same weight. On the downside it means I didn't lose a pound! And I think I'd be more ok with that if I'd done something else really useful, like worked hard on even a single healthy-habit that I need to better establish, but noooooo, I am a tree sloth! So I'm determined to at least set some good habits, and by the end of the year have that to be glad for, as well as whatever weight those better-habits help lose!

PJ
I'm in. This challenge is perfect!!! You've hit my diet period. May-Dec, lol!!! That's how my body cycles.

My goals
stay Atkins12/CAD2
Pack my lunches
Take my supplements
Drink water
Get plenty of sun
Make sure I'm eating veggies
Get enough protein

I'm excited to be a part of this group!

Yep, PJ, grilled meat and salads - that's the mainstay of my summer/fall diet, too.

Add "take my supplements more consistently" to my goal list, too.

BTW, enjoyed the running story, but feel a little cheated. I wanted to hear what happened when you puked on the b$tch! LOL!
I've never been even remotely athletic, have hated exercise my whole life, and don't even know if I could run if I was being chased.

Lunches! You know, the world really needs a good lowcarb lunch blog. It is WORK coming up with something that can be done as a packed lunch.

I'm hoping this next year to have the kid take bento box lunches to school for food, with lowcarb stuffs. But although I have a *few* idea -- er, not too many.

To me one of the harder things about lowcarb is dealing with it in situations that are not "at home, with time to cook". I think sometimes when 'the rubber meets the road' and one really demonstrates facility with the eating plan, is under unusual or trying conditions. Like packing a lunch!

I'm trying to figure out how to get a suntan without going outside showing skin. I wear a tank to work in the yard so my face, arms/shoulders get tan (right now my shoulders are peeling slightly from a recent slight burn -- sooooo attractive...)

I really want a pool. For 7 years I promised my kid a pool "if possible". She is turning 12. I don't think she believes me any more but she still hopes. I could have done it already this year but an ATT celfon and a variety of issues with it ruined my financial life for the last six months... I'm still thinking maybe I should try to swing it. I'm talking about a $400 pool from walmart, like 4' deep and 12-15' diameter. Getting in and out of it is sure to be an intriguing engineering challenge (the ladder'd be lucky to fit her, definitely not me) but I think it would be so cool to be able to jump in a pool and get some sun for half an hour once in awhile -- the only people who might see me are a couple of neighbors. And they all have barking dogs living outdoors, so they deserve any trauma my cellulite provides LOL!

PJ

Yes! I do want to play.

I started LC after the first of the year lost about 30 and regained a few back while on vacation. Since then I have been floundering around without results, although eating mostly low carb. I think portion control and carb creep are probably to blame.

Some Goals for me.

30 pounds gone by the end of the year.
At least a 20 minute walk three times a week. (heh, set the bar low so I have a success!)
Strength training 2 or 3 days a week, just a short workout. have an impressive gym in the garage and I know how to use it, just don’t.
Minding my portions, this should involve measuring food and will be the hardest thing for me to do. Something about the whole process just irks me.

Thanks for the challenge! I’m looking forward to this!

Cool avatar Maxine.

I made a workout room in my spare room, but it keeps getting stuffed with things from housekeeper and kid unfortunately. I really want to do more weight training. I love it so much while doing it I find myself wondering why I don't do it all the time. Someday once I can do the whole walking park regularly and in a shorter time, I'll start carrying tiny weights with me. :-)

If you can swing it, go for it on credit...do they have a Xmonths no interest offer somewhere? I did that with my freezer and paid it off in x-2 months to be sure the interest wouldn't accrue...if you don't pay it off by the end of the free interest, they go back to the beginning and calculate the interest from there--so you can wind up with a shock of a balance.

If you can't swing it mentally--for me the mental anguish of bills is worse than being poor, wait until next year.

But PJ, once you do get in it...do use it. Your body has just as much right to free space as they do to use free space. It's in your yard...let them look.

But then I was always one to walk naked/scantily clad around my house with no curtains on the windows, lol!!!

If they want to go to that much trouble to look, let them!!! If they don't like it...they can look elsewhere!!!

Oh How I'd love to have a pool! However, we live in military housing and that just isn't allowed. We do have a community pool I could use, but I REFUSE to get in myself! No No No! We took the kids there 2 weekends ago (DH got in the pool with them) and there were about 15 other moms with string bikinis that looked like they needed a good helping of lard doing laps then talking about how they needed to lose 5-10 lbs before they could wear their "skinny" bathing suit.

Honestly though, I would love to take part in a Water aerobics class, but I am so afraid of being the "fat one" there....I won't even check it out.

It's ironic how different things are just based on our own perspective. When I weighed what you do, I felt the same way you do. Hell I didn't even want to go to the store. But now I weigh just over 100# more than you do and I feel like, "If I weighed what she did I would be way more brave than I am now about the pool." Even though to the people looking on, there would be no knowing about what I "used" to weigh, for me it matters.

I have the same problem with any spare surface in my house ... it attracts junk and I am responsible for at least half of it. I had to relocate some boxes in my garage so I could do a short workout but I did it. It really felt good. I also love weight training once I get STARTED. I can find sooooooo many reasons to talk myself out of it, ugh. Lets encourage each other, there is no reason to wait till whenever to start, it's amazing how fast one can get stronger with even a very modest program. I have always weight trained for the strength aspects of it, I hate being a weakling. Besides with my blanket of padding, its not like you can see any muscle. I have a walking park within walking distance although by the time I get there that is pretty much the whole session. It's brand new, so its like some cosmic force located it there for me!

I had a pool where I lived last and while I liked it I was surprised how much work/expense it took to keep it swimable. If I had a child your age, I surely would try to swing it! When you pick the size of it, remember you have to pay the water bill to fill it (if you dont have a well), then there is the cost of chemicals and perhaps a filter. But its so worth it if you like floating in the water!

Am I ever in!

30 by the end of December, I'm sorry to say, will probably be a stretch the way things are going, but I'm glad to have something less improbable than 100 pounds to aim for.

My goals are:

- 30 pounds off by the end of December
- stop eating processed meat
- stop eating nuts (which are handy food on the go, but make me suffer nearly as much as gluten)
- work up to walking 30 minutes 3x week
- work up to strength training 3x week
- and the biggie: stop pretending like my autoimmune and probable thyroid issues are going to fix themselves and get to a doctor.

Thanks, PJ!

The story of my life! If it's flat and horizontal, it's fair game for collecting "stuff." My dining room table is piled at least a foot deep right now!

I made a spare room into a "gym," too, and now it's full of boxes and other stuff. I gotta get rid of some of my junk!

Boy oh boy! Me too! And I think it's all connected. Junk on the floor. Junk on the butt. We're just about through the season that's usually easiest for me. It's 102 out today. Supposed to be 104 tomorrow. I like walking in the evenings, but I'm guessing it won't be below 90 till way after dark, and I don't do well in the heat. Time to get out the WATP dvds I guess.

I'd really like to join you folks. 30 lbs would get me down the "overweight" category, and would be a lot healthier. I've taken my calories down to 800. Back up to 1700. I'm still stuck. I'm eating VERY low carb. No cheats. No sugar alcohols. I really think I'm just not moving enough.

My goals:
Get back to losing about a pound a week. More or less.
At least 30 minutes walking-type exercise, 3X a week.
Strength training, 3X a week.
More general moving around, including picking up the house, daily.
More salad and veggies.

My next trip to town I'll get a new battery for my pedometer, and start using it. I'm not going for 10,000 steps. I think I'll just see where I am and try to increase it by 1000 steps a day for, say, a month, then re-assess. How does that sound ?