Okay July is almost on us. Pick two of the following to choose your challenge. I also want to add something new this month. We need to try and check in everyday. In our check in I want one positive thing that has happened to you on that day. One great thing you did for your diet, or one great thing you did with exercise. Any good thing that has happened that day. If the day is horrible look in yourself and choose to make it better. You determine how you react to things. Life is 10% things that happen to you and 90% how you react to those things. I want us all to have the best month of our lives. We are doing awesome and we can keep doing this!

July Exercise Challenge

Level 1- 12 days

Level 2- 15 days (you guys could have told me this said 20 days also lol)

Level 3- 20 days

Beginner-20 minutes

Moderate-30 minutes

Intermediate-45 minutes

Advanced-60 minutes

Elite-60+ minutes

I am shooting for Level 3 Elite this month.

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Welcome, Carole! Glad to have you on here! We have a thread dedicated to bitching and moaning, and another one dedicated to accountability. Feel free to sound off on those as well!

Thanks!

I feel a bit better now. I'm sure it'll start coming off soon. I hate the number thing. I know that I'm looking better, I definitely feel better. I was excited this morning - I pulled a pair of skorts out of my closet that I bought about two years ago with the price tag still on them and THEY FIT!!!!! :whoo: Down 3 sizes. I just really wanted to hit 299 pounds for my six month anniversary. It'll be tough 20 pounds in a month but I'm damn sure that I'll try my hardest to get as close to it. t's been almost 15 years since I've been in the 200's.

Okay really did anyone notice in my first post for both level 2 and 3 I have 20 days listed. I am a bone head lol.

Wait a minute! Here I thought you meant to say "15, 20, 30" not 12/15/20!!

Or 15/20/25/30 even?? I mean, what happened to the EVERY DAY level?!?

Is that not your goal this month, BabyGrl?!? Well, we still need a Level 4, too, for those who'd want to go for the full month! That, as yet, is NOT me, but I hope to be there one day...! I was so impressed by your dedication in June - even when it sucked in the rain & all!!!! I'm surprised to hear you plan to cut back by a full 10 days! Why, it's MY goal to do 20!! Surely you can beat out a SLUG like myself!!! :biggrin1:

Suzanne

Feb'07 July Challenge: Level ?-Moderate

1 of 20 days exercising for 30 minutes

<snip> I was excited this morning - I pulled a pair of skorts out of my closet that I bought about two years ago with the price tag still on them and THEY FIT!!!!! :whoo: Down 3 sizes. <snip>

That is GREAT, Carole!! :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: Wahoo!!!! Quite an affirmation!

Sure wish my clothes were reflecting progress! I'm no longer growing out of a 32W, but I'm not shrinking out of a 28W yet either! I can't wait to be able to shop in TJ Maxx or Marshalls again... Just to go in there & know I'll be able to find something that will fit without breaking the bank -- Fat Lady clothes are expensive!! That's my goal for 6-months: discount shopping!!!!

Oh just because I am shooting for 20 days does not mean I won't do more. The problem with the every day thing is that it is everyday lol. Even if I am sick, even if I feel like crap, even if I broke my leg I would be committing to that. After exercising sick last month I don't want to put myself through that again just to prove a point to myself and to not fail. Heck in May I did 28 days which was more than the 20 I was shooting for. Exercise has become a part of my life but I don't want to feel like a failure because I only did 30 days instead of 31.

Carole awesome job on the skort. I tried on a few of my old things today actually. Some size 14 skirts...way too tight to wear but I did get them on (they were made of stretchy material) and on to my biggest accomplishment (besides yanking my DD's tooth out today, but I digress). I put on and zipped up my prom dress today. I did not have to pull or tug and it was a tiny bit too big thus leading me to believe that I am just slightly smaller than I was when I graduated high school. I forced my Mom to take pictures so I will have to show them to you all when I download them. Now my next task in formal wear is to get into my 9th grade farewell dance dress. I could get it on but I could not zip it up. I must admit it made my day and made me pissed about the cookie dough lol.

So anyhow onto the tooth. DD showed me her loose tooth this morning which was a bit loose but not super loose. Well by 8pm it was super loose from hours of playing with it. While we were at the fireworks she kept crying and complaining and whining so finally I just told her to open her mouth and I yanked it out. My baby girl has officially lost her first tooth. Had I not been in public I might have cried. Now of course even though I have to work at 5am and it is midnight I have to wait for her to go to bed so the Fairy can visit. What is the going rate for a 1st tooth these days?

<snip>What is the going rate for a 1st tooth these days?

In our house, the tooth fairy always left "coin dollars" -- be it the Susan B's of my childhood or the Sacagawea & Presidential dollar coins of today. We've been collecting them since my son was born for tooth fairy time!! Who knows how much other kids are getting, but mine are gonna continue to receive coin dollars. (My 4-1/2 yo had his 2 middle bottom teeth fall out a few months after a good bonk on the chin, so it has already begun here, too. How old is DD?)

She is 6. The TF left her $3. She really likes dollar bills so I am sure she will be happy with what she has. She was very close to getting $1 and some batting cage tokens though seeing as it was 10:45 at night and the ATM only gives out $20s.

My affirmation for today: I did NOT stop on the way home from my fill for the BK strawberry milkshake that was calling my name! Instead I went to the Vitamin Shoppe & got a cold drink box of Muscle Milk Light. Yea ME!

I'm just about to jump on the treadmill, but I wanted to check in first!

Hope all is well in our far reaches of the country!

Suzanne

Feb'07 July Challenge: Level 3-Moderate

2 of 20 days exercising for 30 minutes

Okay I just had the time of my life. I enjoy riding my bike but today was the first day I really loved it. Dh and I did 14 miles in a little over an hour which is my new longest ride in one stretch. We were at the metropark which is super hilly and I felt like I was flying. It was amazing.

Zannie you rock.

Welcome Carole!

I'll be honest, I'm not as good as the other ladies with exercising. They have to kick me in the butt. I break my exercise up and I know I don't push myself like I should. My walking is more like a stroll and I only last a few minutes on the eliptical. How or how do I get motivated. I'm so dog tired from work. This software conversion is killing me.

I am going to relax this weekend at a scrapbookign retreat and maybe treat myself to a massage, and pedicure.

today a co-worker at work said I looked great that I lost a lot of weight. It felt good.

Keep up the great work ladies.

Hi Fellow February Bandsters,

I haven't been on this thread too much but I would like to join the July exercise challenge. I haven't lost any weight in the last 2 weeks. This is partly due to some poor food choices on my part. I am hoping to have my 3rd fill at the end of July. Right now I can eat way more than 1/2 to 1 cup of food but I'm trying to limit myself. I am going to the gym 4 days per week and doing 30 min of cardio and 30 min of weights.

Everyone's weight loss looks great. I've definitely got to step things up. How many of you had to do a liquid diet preop? I was so happy that I didn't but I'm envious of those that went into surgery with pounds already lost.

Hi Elm65! :welcomeB: Two new Bandsters in as many day! Hot damn! And I did not have any pre-op diet at all, except to eat easy-to-digest foods the day prior to my surgery.

I've already confessed my sins on the food Accountability thread, but I wanted to post my Frosty here too... Argh! Better than eating a slew of crap that could disturb today's fill, but not a pattern I want to have become regular!

Two days in a row on the treadmill -- lets keep focused on that!

Suzanne

Feb'07 July Challenge: Level 3-Moderate

3 of 20 days exercising for 30 minutes

I only got in about 20 minutes of exercise yesterday.... So I'm still at

4 of 20 workouts (60+ min)

Today will be better.

For the record oatmeal is delicious with sugar free maple syrup.

So I totalled my bike today. Well not completely totalled but I am out of commission until I get to the bike shop and get at least a new wheel and everything else that may not be working fixed.

Let me set the scene up for you....

This morning I decided to play Tour de Oakwood (pretty much I was trying to ride to work as quickly as possible.) About 2 miles from my house a bee flies into my face and gets into my hair. I am freaking out trying to swat it out because I am deathly afraid of them. I start to swerve right where there is a bunch of landscaping going on and as hard as I try I can't keep myself from falling into the 12 inch deep 6 inch wide ditch that is on the side of the sidewalk. I sort of dove headfirst over the handlebars and landed on this huge piece of plywood and sort of slid along it. Due to the dusty piece of wood I don't have a mark on me but I am covered in dirt. My bike was not so lucky. Chunks of mud everywhere, handlebars turned sideways, cracked pedal, chain popped off. Off course there are several people to witness this and my pride was wounded lol. I was shaking for about 5 minutes and once I calmed down I get ready to hop back on and go. I fix the chain and straighten the handlebars and try to get back on. The wheel is bent to shit and I can't ride it. So I walk the bike two miles home and drive to work.