SDMB Weight Loss Club May '08

Happy May Day to all my favorite losers. How’s everyone doing? Nobody had started a new thread yet so I decided to put on my big girl panties and go for it.

For reference, here is the link to last month’s thread. Happy losing everyone!

I’m experiencing a bit of a setback this week with a cold/sinus infection/allergies/or whatever the damn hell it is. I still did half an hour on the elliptical plus some weight training (I couldn’t do everything) yesterday but it was tough. There’s no way I’ll make it today. The good news is that I weighed 171 this morning, my lowest in about five years. The bad news is that I felt sorry for myself last night and ate some potato chips. Eh, a few won’t kill me.

I lost another 1.5lbs this week, making a total of 17lbs since the middle of January. At the moment, my loss is quite steady at once a pound or two per week and whilst I might wish it was quicker, I’m pleased that it’s all going in the right direction.

This weekend I have to go and buy an outfit for a wedding later this month so for once I’m almost looking forward to it.

One to two pounds a week is spot on for healthy weight loss. Any more than that, and chances are you’re going to gain it back. It’s hard to be patient though, isn’t it? I’ve only been losing about half a pound a week, but it’s coming off, so I can’t complain too much. Have fun shopping!

I love Sparkpeople.com! Since I started, I’ve lost six pounds, I’m keeping track of my calories, and I’m more motivated to go the the gym. I’m using the food scale to measure out portions, and I’m being very careful what I order in restaurants.

I’m beginning to think I may actually have a handle on this now. I’ve been able to tighten the belt on one of my pants by one hole.

My name at SparkPeople is the same as it is here…so add me as a friend if you haven’t already done so!

I’ll check out that Sparkpeople. Sounds good.

I’m still maintaining at around 140, give or take a pound or two, depending. I’ve gotten a bit sloppy with my diet but I guess not that sloppy. Still, I know I need to keep a better eye on it.

May you all have good losses this month, my friends!

Aaaaaaaaaaand what a shocker, my May 1 weight is 171.5, same as April 1.

I’m in at 147.2, which is 2.2 down from a week ago! yay!

ivylass, I just signed up for sparkpeople, but I haven’t a clue how to “friend” you yet.

I swear I’m going to be better about working out this month.

I swear I swear I swear I swear I swear I swear I swear I swear

You have to create a SparkPage. There’s a lot of fun stuff, and I’ve signed up for several daily e-mails. Did you know that a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder has less calories than a McDonald’s Grilled Chicken Sandwich, no mayo? Shocker, huh? But that’s stuff I’ve learned.

I’m in the exact same boat Ginger. My average weight hasn’t budged for a month, not significantly. April 1 I was 169.6, today I’m 170.4.

I’m just having a hard time getting motivated to eat less. Exercising I’m doing (but maybe not enough).

I really, really, really wanted to be down to 160 by June 18 when I got to Caloifornia. At this rate I’ll have to chop off an arm.

Happy May everyone. Let’s get losing!

I stalked you by going to ivylass’s Sparkpage and added you as a friend. Just in case you’re wondering who that strange person was who added you. For anyone else who’s planning to join Spark, I’m vsquist if you want to add me as a friend. If not, that’s fine too. I’ll just be crying in the corner. If we get enough people from SDMB to join, we could even start our own Spark team.

ETA: I’ve also lost six pounds since joining Spark. I’ve lost eight since joining the gym in February.

Okay, I just joined sparkpeople. I was going to keep track of this whole thing on my blog but I think it might become tedious. I also like being able to see whether or not I met my activity minute goals.

The only downside is that since I eat mostly Indian food or stuff I make myself (I have a super healthy breakfast muffin recipe) nothing comes up on the food calculator for me. Does that mean I should basically calculate the points myself (most likely an approximation) and enter everything?

You can manually enter your own foods. I’ve done a lot of that, and you can create “food groupings”, like a PB&J sandwich, so all that information will come up when you enter your meals.

I’m sure if you do a bit of digging you can figure out the nutritional information of the food you make.

Hey Ivylass, thanks for the sparkgoodie.

I’m going to go ahead and order a couple of bikinis from Victoria’s Secret to keep myself motivated.

Since I’m on the last stubborn pounds of tummy pooch (I’m reasonably happy with how I look, I think I look nice in my clothes currently, I’d like to be a bit more confident near-naked on a beach) I’m working on interval training.

Can you share the recipe for the super-healthy breakfast muffin please?

I weighed in at 183 today, which is a loss of 2.8 pounds from last week!

Mummy’s Bran Muffins

3-4 ripe bananas, mash well, and in a large glass bowl, add

3 eggs

1/2 cup of whole wheat flour

1.5 cups of bran cereal (read labels, they often contain HFCS, I have to use an organic one that is psyllium and bran)

Raisins

1/2 tsp of baking soda

1 tsp. of baking powder

Vanilla extract (you can also use pie spices like cinnamon and allspice if you like)

1/4 cup of oil (use corn, I think my last batch came out wonky because I used safflower)

1/4 cup of splenda/sugar mix and 2 extra packets splenda

Orange rind (of 1 whole) and juice of 1/2 an orange.

Mix all ingredients well and then bake in a muffin pan at 300 degrees until cooked through.

I eat half a muffin and some boiled egg whites for breakfast.

Here are my interval sets. #1 I do on the elliptical, though I want to attempt it on the treadmill once a week. It’s harder.

#1

0-4 warmup

4-5 push

5-6 recover

6-8 push

8-9 recover

9-12 push

12-13 recover

13-17 push

17-18 recover

18-21 push

21-22 recover

22-24 push

24-25 recover

25-26 push

26-30 recover

Interval #2 (I like this one for the treadmill)

0-4 warmup

4-9 build (5-6 mph on treadmill)

9-10 peak (very hard push…I tend to run 8.5 mph on treadmill at this point)

10-13 recover

13-18 build

18-19 peak

19-22 recover

22-27 build

27-28 peak

28-31 cooldown

I got these off MSN Fitness. I burn approximately the same number of calories as in a steady workout, actually, because I really push myself during the “push” phases.

Can I join in guys? I’ve decided to knuckle down and get healthy again, but I’ve got serious motivation issues.