I'm in, thanks for starting us off, Mike, our southern beau. My goals are really for Monday to Friday but I will check in on Sunday. However, next Saturday I begin the long voyage home: train to London (1 hour 40 min,) tube to Heathrow (20 min,) flight to Canada (6 hours.) I don't think I'll be able to check in that day. Especially since I am going directly from the airport to a fundraiser my mom is organizing. It will be impossible to log my food and I'm praying I don't go crazy at the fundraiser. It's at an Italian banquet hall and the meal is like 5 courses!

So, this is it, my last week in the UK! I cannot believe how quickly these 11 weeks have gone. I was terribly worried that I would gain weight here in England because I tend to do that when I am away from home, away from all the health food stores I know, away from my gym, my workout DVDs, my usual running trails, etc etc. I was worried I would come here and want to try everything and I pretty much did for the first 2 weeks (it was BAD.)

Here is my assessment: my stay in the UK was for 11 weeks total. I pigged out for the first 2 weeks, then at the top of week 3, I joined a gym and worked out regularly for what will be 9 weeks in total, made 3 weekend trips to London, 1 weekend trip to Scotland and 1 weekend trip to Amsterdam and during those weekend trips I went off the rails so I had some back tracking but all in all I will still come out a few pounds less than when I got here back in August. I don't know the exact number but I will on Thursday.

Let's all kick butt this week!!!!!!!

MY GOALS:

1. Calories between 1100-1300
2. At least 25% protein
3. Water: 2-3 litres per day!
4. Exercise 4 hours.
5. Multivitamin & vitamin B daily.
6. Achieve a deficit of 5000 calories.
7. Weigh in on Thursday (and only Thursday!)

Mike. Somewhere i missed the "how to donate to Mike post". Can you tell me again please.

Monday and no movement again this week but better than going up I guess, so goals for this week and I WILL say how I am doing with them.

1. Log everything and stay below 1200 cals
2. 30 mins ex at least 5 days
3. Eat more vegetables and less carbs
4. NO chocolates.
5. Wine only on Fri when I go to the charity dinner.

General

1. Phone my insurance company to get my engagement ring added.
2. Take a TOIL day Friday and organise to have my armchair recovered.
3. Take all those clothes I sorted down to the charity bin.

Good morning ladies and Mike. I'm in for another week. Last week was really nutty for me, but that's no excuse for not logging in on the thread although I did log my foods and activities for the most part. Anyway it's a bright fresh Monday morning so I'm back, with the usual 2-3 lb weekend gain to lose and then some. Workout is done, went 80 min instead of my usual 75 trying to atone for the nephew's birthday party yesterday. Remember quinn's orchard issues? Yeah, well yesterday I attended a birthday party at an orchard!!! OMG, we started off with apple picking, and apparently I'm the family expert on apple varieties, and with the trees not labeled all that well, people kept bringing me apples to try, ended up eating probably 3-4 LARGE apples worth. Then there were trays of fruit, veggies and crackers & cheese and birthday cake with (no lie) clouds of frosting (seriously?) followed by a tower of doughnuts complete with candles. OMG I was really bad, ate and ate to the point where I suffered. And then of course we got in the car for the 3 hour drive home, so no exercise, not even my usual busy day to burn any of it off. And DH doesn't understand why I dread these family gatherings?

Health & Fitness

1. Calories 1,300-1,400 M-Th + Sun and 1,600 F&S.
2. 100oz water.
3. Protein 25% or higher.
4. Calorie deficit 5,000 or higher.
5. Exercise 7 hours.
6. 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and 15 sets of twinkle toes.
7. Log all foods and check in on this thread daily.

Other Goals:

1. Housework 45min daily + 1 load of laundry.
2. Get 2 Halloween costumes finished.
3. Call grans.
4. Finish beets & tomatoes.
5. Finish picking the garden.
6. Plants the odds and ends in the flower bed.

Good luck everybody.

What is a TOIL day? I feel like most of mine involve quite a lot of toil really.

Hi All,

OK I'm in.
Goals:
1) drink 8 glasses of H2O daily
2) join new gym
3) stretch
4) no or low sugar
5) write 1 hour 4x a week (low balling it just to get back)
6) call Armand
7) stop obsessing over colleges for DD
8) get new sneakers

Rose, how do you feel about going back home? Are you OK with it?
Hi Amy, how's it going? 3-4 apples aint bad, the other stuff you'll burn off.
Mike, I wanna see you in pink. Everyone, it is easy to donate and Mike has a link in his first post here.


Have a fabulous week everyone! Tawk at ya soon. I'm gonna try to stay on this one!!!

2nd donation already for the week

Hope, you get a


Thanks!

Whew, ya'll are a chatty bunch! This week... it's my birthday on Wednesday!!! I'm celebrating by having an exam. But then over the weekend I'm driving down to my parents' place (they live in West Virginia) and they're going to take me out to dinner. I don't plan on a cheat day, but no doubt my calories will be inflated that day - I'm not worried. Finally saw a little movement on the scale today, so that's encouraging. I kept my calories low (for me) over the weekend, so I'm going to try to keep doing that - even though it's difficult at work where I'm surrounded by cookies!

Tonja, welcome to the thread! I'm also working on my PhD, so I empathize with living a sedentary life. I force myself to the gym twice a week and always do something on the weekends. It's not a lot, but I figure it all helps.

Alright, goals:

1.) Stay under 1400 calories/day
2.) Keep track of water intake
3.) Keep protein above 25%
4.) Exercise 3 times
5.) Study for Astro 501 exam!

I confess; I only did it for the banana!

BTW 18 is chai in the Jewish tradition. It is a mitzvah or good luck number;that's why I chose that amount. Chai means life.

Ok guys....I suck!!! Sorry I have been MIA for a few weeks. Landed a new job and start on Monday, had my daughter's 2nd b-day party, have been trying to get daycare nailed down and overall been lazy. So officially, and you can mark my words, back on the wagon as of today. Will be running tonight and pretty much all week if I can help it since the hubby will be in Hong Kong all next week. Did find a gym right down the street from my new job so will be working out once again during my lunch. Feel crappy since I let myself down but getting back into it again and I am sure will take me two weeks to catch up and get back on track. Thanks as always for your support and hope you all had a nice weekend.

Happy b-day in advance, Joanna! But taking a test is a strange way to celebrate, I must say. Couldn't you, for example, have gone dancing instead? JK, good luck!!!

Ph'ds, huh? A buncha smarty pantses here. Good luck to you both!!!

Ann, for the record, you so not suck. You have been busy and you are back. I'll stay on this week if you'll stay. Deal?

Hi Tonja, Lizzie, Darlene. Did I get everyone?