Hi August All-Stars,

I like to set goals. I truly believe that a failing to plan is planning to fail. With that said, I am ready to set some goals for this summer and I thought it might be good to do them in the form of a challenge.

We can discuss the details and then decide what is best but I would like to set 3 major weigh ins - first Memorial Day (5/25/09), second Independence Day (7/4/09), and third our individual anniversary days in August.

I have set specific goals for myself for those days and it helps me to have someone tracking those as well. I was thinking that for those of us who want to set these goals, we could just track them as part of our normal Friday weigh-in with special posts on the goal dates.

I know that all of our goals will be different. Some of you are trying to get to goal weight. I am trying to get to onederland (if I make it, I will still be losing faster than my doctor would like). My goals are 8 lbs by 5/25, 9 more lbs by 7/2, 8 more lbs by 8/22. What are yours?

Anyone else have ideas or suggestions?

I don't think I have been on since the middle of June. I didn't meet my 7/4 goal but I got very close; mainly because I was so sick last week I couldn't eat.

I am going to have to really watch it for a couple of weeks to keep it off especially since I now have heel spurs and can't run for a while. I don't know what this is going to do to my marathon training. The doc said that I might be able to run by the weekend (let the pain dictate what you do).

I WILL NOT be discouraged. I am closer to onederland than I have been in over a decade and I am not giving up now!

Well, I didn't hit my July 4th goal either, but I'm down to 196. I seemed to have been stuck in 201-204 land forever, but I'm finally losing again.

Keep Trying Everyone!!! We're weight losers and life winners!!

Bryan

I think my last challenge was Easter and I haven't been on since then

But I got what may have been my last fill (dr. said he didn't need to see me anymore) on June 30th and I'm down 5lbs. I lost 19.5 since my last fill in March, but lost nothing in the last 6-8 weeks and had started gaining before my June fill.

I would love, love, love, to get to the finish line by my one year bandiversary, but I'm going to try for what I put in my signature. Good luck everyone!!

Just wanted to post that I hit my July 4th goal today! LOL!

Woke up to 179.3 this AM! I'll need to work hard to keep it and not go back up again. Next fill is in 2 weeks and I can't wait!

On to the next goal:

August 25th - 170lbs

Michelle~ WTG! Weight loss and in need of a fill - that is awesome! Keep up the good work.

Thank you! I quit salt this week and I think that's what helped the most. I'm also just stopping, whether full or not. We'll see what happens!

Gained .2 this week. I was down .1 yesterday. Then last night I got hungry and ate some trail mix right before bed. Darn it! Oh well. Moving on. It's only .2

Have a great week!

Hi August Bandsters!

Well, I can't compare with the weight many of you have lost over this last year, and man am I impressed with all of you!! You all have really supported and inspired me along the way, and it has certainly been a challenging year for me.

After three months of plateau, I finally started to lose again, and am now down a full 31 pounds! Understand that it is extremely hard for me to lose weight, even with the band and exercising, so for me this is a very big accomplishment.

I'm so pleased for everyone here as we round the corners of our anniversaries. I'm raising my virtual glass of champagne to everyone. You all have truly rocked my world. I thank each one of you for your courage and kindnesses along the way.

Reading everyone's story is so encouraging. I appreciate your sharing. Thank goodness my anniversary is toward the end of the month because I have not been doing as well as I wanted even though I have been going down. I hope I don't embarrass any guys saying this but this past week was my first PMS week since October where I lost weight! YEAH!

I can still make my onederland goal if I lose 2 lbs per week. I am going to do my best! We can do this!

I realized today that with one more pound I will be half way to my goal. I honestly thought I would never see this day before my band. Thank you LORD for everything you are doing in my life!

Someone please give me a swift kick in the xxx. I was on a plateau for about 5 months (Jan -May) finally got a fill that felt like it was doing something and lost some more weight, was feeling pretty good about myself. But lately I haven't met any short-term goals and I am stuck at about 6-8 lbs short of my 1 yr goal (anniversary is 26 Aug so still have a little time but not much). I don't understand why my losing has slowed so much AGAIN. I log, I exercise, I think that I am eating the right things--mostly chicken, turkey, low-fat cheese sticks, some fruits (peeled of course) and Water.

Lezlie, how are you losing 1/2 lb a day??? I need some hints, please!:bored:

Irish, are you eating enough? I was at a plateau for a while earlier this year and decided to start using The Daily Plate to track my food. It recommended that at my weight, to meet my goal of losing 2 pounds a week, I should have been eating about 400 more calories a day than I had been. The first week tracking I kept to my regular way of eating and discovered that I seldom reached 1200 calories a day. I was also working out 5 days a week, expending about 450 calories at each workout. That week I didn't lose any weight. THe next week I decided to add between 100-200 calories a day - I just couldn't bring myself to add 400! At the end of that week I lost almost 2 pounds. I've kept to the slightly higher calorie count and have continued to see good losses most weeks.

If you haven't tried increasing your daily intake, and nothing else is working, it might be worth giving it a try. Worked for me! Good luck.:thumbup:

MistyD65

Thanks for the words of wisdom. I am going to go to the DailyPlate and track using that for a while and see what happens.

I think that I'll double check my salt intake too. heartfire mentioned it in an earlier post. Slipping back into old habits is so easy to do--I am practically a PRO at it.

I realized today that with one more pound I will be half way to my goal. I honestly thought I would never see this day before my band. Thank you LORD for everything you are doing in my life!

Half way to goal is a huge accomplishment! WTG!:thumbup:

Someone please give me a swift kick in the xxx. I was on a plateau for about 5 months (Jan -May) finally got a fill that felt like it was doing something and lost some more weight, was feeling pretty good about myself. But lately I haven't met any short-term goals and I am stuck at about 6-8 lbs short of my 1 yr goal (anniversary is 26 Aug so still have a little time but not much). I don't understand why my losing has slowed so much AGAIN. I log, I exercise, I think that I am eating the right things--mostly chicken, turkey, low-fat cheese sticks, some fruits (peeled of course) and Water.

Lezlie, how are you losing 1/2 lb a day??? I need some hints, please!:thumbup:

I hear ya! I have been the same weight since March- it really is getting old! Seems like the scale won't budge. I upped my exercise this week by an additional 30 min a day and I think :laugh: I might actually be down a couple of pounds tomorrow morning when I weigh. I did jump on the scale last night and I was surprised to see the needle down!

I agree about getting in enough calories during the day. I do use Daily Plate and find it helpful. It also shows a pie chart with your Protein, carbs and fats - so it is an easy reference point to see where you are getting most of your calories.

Crossing my fingers that I am moving down the scale and will reach the goal I set for myself!

tutornmom, WTG!!

Irish, hang in there!

Kristen, I'm so sorry you're still stuck!

I finally got a fill yesterday afternoon! Had some Soup last night and could only eat about 1/2 a cup and it took a long time. I saved the rest for lunch today. We'll see what happens!

I lost 1.3 this week. VERY happy! And hoping and praying it STICKS!! Like Kristen, I'm so tired of the up and down. Doc gave me .5cc +. Not sure exactly but doesn't matter. I don't get wrapped up in the numbers.

Still shooting for 170 by the 25th. I keep wanting to change my goal so it's not so big but I'm not going to. :cool2: A little more than 8lbs in 4 1/2 weeks is scary to me!

Have a great week everyone! TTFN!