Yey yey yey yey yey 10 stone gone!!!! Wohoo!!!!
Next milestone BMI of 25 huh?? Not too far away either!!!
Camy

Hi Camy

Thanks for your congratulations.

I must admit that I am pleased to be under 11 stone and to have lost 10 stone. I certainly am looking forward to the BMI 25 milestone that you mention - although the ten and a half stone milestone should be really special for me. At that point I will have lost half my starting weight. I will literally be half the woman that I was!

Take care
Love
Margaret

Congrats Marg for getting to 10 stone! I'm so proud of you! Just keep going chica and soon enough, that ticker will reach its destination. This is just so amazing. You've come so far and achieved so much and you're still motivated to keep going. That's an incredibly honorable characteristic. In instances such as this, character isn't built, it's revealed. This is you, and you're made of awesome. Good job, hon. I'm proud of ya'!

Thanks Rae.

Although there is an age gap - we are cut from similar cloth - you and I. We can lose a whole heap of weight - but the job isnt over until it is over. For me there is a reasonable amount of weight still to be lost - but you didnt pack in when you were still my distance from goal. It just isnt good enough to lose enough weight to remove the worst medical predictions.

Take care
Love
Margaret

I am still not convinced about you only having 2weeks of weight loss per month--and I have the challenge stats to prove it..lol.

Biggest Loser Challege weight lost
Week 1--0.6 lbs lost
week 2--2.6lbs lost
week 3--1.4lbs lost
week 4--0.6lbs gained
week 5--2lbs lost
week 6--1.2lbs lost
week 7--4.6lbs lost

Holiday Challenge:
wk 1--3.4lbs lost
wk 2--0lbs lost
wk 3--2lbs lost
wk 4--3.4lbs lost
wk 5--1.8lbs lost
wk 6--2.8lbs lost
wk 7--.2lbs gained

If your statement was correct, you'd only have 7 weeks out of 14 with losses, yet here you clearly had 11 weeks with losses, 1 week with no change, and 2 weeks with slight gains. I will not compare it with my own stats, b/c it would only depress me..lol. So there you have it. I'm right--you're a bigger loser than you think..hahaha

Here is some more data to analyse:

Example of my weight loss over the same biggest loser duration shown daily with cycle days added
30/12/2007 12st0.4
31/12/2007 12st0.2 day 20 - pre-period low weight
01/01/2008 12st0.4
02/01/2008 12st0.6
03/01/2008 12st0.8
04/01/2008 12st0.6 challenge weighing - start of challenge
05/01/2008 12st1.2
06/01/2008 12st1.0 day 0 - period start
07/01/2008 12st1.6
08/01/2008 12st1.0
09/01/2008 12st0.4
10/01/2008 12st0.4
11/01/2008 12st0.0 day 6 - finally got back to pre-period low weight challenge weighing
12/01/2008 12st0.0
13/01/2008 11st13.0
14/01/2008 11st12.4
15/01/2008 11st12.6
16/01/2008 11st12.6
17/01/2008 11st12.0
18/01/2008 11st11.4 challenge weighing
19/01/2008 11st12.2
20/01/2008 11st11.2
21/01/2008 11st11.8
22/01/2008 11st10.8
23/01/2008 11st10.4
24/01/2008 11st10.0 challenge weighing
25/01/2008 11st10.0
26/01/2008 11st9.4
27/01/2008 11st8.6 day 22
28/01/2008 11st9.4
29/01/2008 11st9.6
30/01/2008 11st10.6
31/01/2008 11st10.6 challenge weighing
01/02/2008 11st10.8
02/02/2008 11st10.8
03/02/2008 11st10.6
04/02/2008 11st11.8
05/01/2008 11st10.2
06/02/2008 11st9.6
07/02/2008 11st9.4
08/02/2008 11st8.6 day 7 - finally back to pre-cycle low weight challenge weighing
09/02/2008 11st8.2
10/02/2008 11st7.6
11/02/2008 11st7.8
12/02/2008 11st7.8
13/02/2008 11st7.8
14/02/2008 11st7.4 challenge weighing
15/02/2008 11st7.4
16/02/2008 11st6.6
17/02/2008 11st7.0
18/02/2008 11st5.6
19/02/2008 11st5.2
20/02/2008 11st4.4
21/02/2008 11st3.0
22/02/2008 11st2.8 - day 21 challenge weighing - end of challenge
23/02/2008 11st3.0
24/02/2008 11st3.0
25/02/2008 11st3.0

You will see that I get 11 or 12 days around a period when I simply get no weight loss. OK so maybe it isnt quite a whole fortnight but it certainly feels like one. I get my period every 28 days - so it kind of takes away half the month.

I have marked on my challenge weigh days from the biggest loser. You will see that I naturally chose the best alternative available. The timing was such that a good couple of days carried some bad days making it seem a shorter problem spell.

This was a 7 week challenge. Your data indicates that my dead spell is 7 days out of 49 - you will see that it is nearer 11 days out of 28. Maybe this further data makes you feel less depressed with your own statistics.

Draw your own conclusions the probabilities of my losing weight over the next two weeks. I admit that last month I had one fluke lower weighing on day 27 - but that confused me at the time. I did not return to the low weight of 22/2/08 until 08/3/08 - day 8 and it took me until day 12 to get down to that fluke lower weighing. All that I need add is that this Thursday is day 20.

Hi Margaret,

I love the way you just leisurely put in "afternoon walk = 7 miles". At first glance it's like, ah an afternoon walk. Then you see the 7 miles and you think yeah, killer walk!

Congrats on hitting a new goal.

Oh, you've given me hope. I'm pre-menstrual (I irritatingly get random PMS symptoms for a whole week before it starts), and I've been so stalled. I PRAY I see some losses once I get this over with.

Sophie

Thanks for visiting.

Sweatpea

I do a long walk every day. It tends to be a similar distance (I often mark it down as being 6.3 miles because I know that it is at least that as I have checked a 6.3 mile route in the car several times). I have extra streets that I sometimes add in and make it actually higher. I am in a mini challenge this week that gives points for distance in exercise miles - so I am making a note of my start and stop mileage from my pedometer for that. I normally do it in the morning - but we travelled 300 miles that morning so I actually did less walking than normal that day.

Sophie

My advice is to accept that some people get skewed weight loss and that there is a serious difference between skewed weight loss and no weight loss. I keep working consistently hard for my weight loss and my body gives up the weight when it is ready to. I suggest that you do the same. Try not to get caught up in the fact that it may look like you are gaining - it will be water and not fat that is gained in such circumstances.

As I said to Kimberly earlier on:
Walking may help your PMS. PCOS ladies often know all about how ladies hormones can affect their mood. Janice (Abbagirl) and I swear that we feel more tranquil from our walking - it may be worth giving it a try.

Take care
Love
Margaret

Wednesday 19/03/08

General Data:

Morning walk = 7.7 miles
Round the block = 5 times
Extra exercises = none
Weight = 10st 12.6 lbs (i.e. 152.6 pounds)
Steps = 30,028
Distance = 11.61 miles
Remembered to take normal vitamin / supplements
Continued my creaming regime – missed one bio-oil massages
Continued ankle exercises

My Food / Drink:

Basic eating plan

1 banana
3 weetabix, sweetener, 350 ml skimmed milk
1 large handfuls honey Shreddies
1 large handfuls honey Shreddies
Cabbage soup
1 clementine
1 clementine
1 pear
1 pear
1 apple
40 grapes
2.5 litres of cold water
some diet cola

Breaded plaice, tin of baked beans
1 large handfuls honey Shreddies

Congrats on your new low, you must feel fab, it seems to be coming off now in leaps and bounds, I really must try and get online more often!

Tab x

Good Morning Margaret!
Looks like things are going well for you.
Guess what?! Today is the 1st day of Spring and the area that I live in is under a Winter Storm Watch!!! Arggggg! LOL
They're even saying that we should get some "accumulative snow".
This just stinks! Especially since my Easter dress is sleeveless. I am going to freeze to death! LOL
Well I gotta get going. Just wanted to give you my little weather update! haha

Great progress, Marg! I'm so proud of you!

It seems like all of us gain at least three pounds of water weight at the TOM. Surprisingly though, I've never been inflicted too badly with symptoms of PMS save for my sensitivity toward becoming more easily irritated sooner. I can say for certain that if I exercise during my period, it allieviates any discomfort I may be feeling. You're absolutely right, walking is a huge reliever in TOM symptoms. Personally, it takes me about a week afterwards for my scale to get back on track with my body. I may still be losing during my cycle, my it won't register for at least 10 days.

I hope you're having a great Thursday and this wonderful 1st day of Spring brings you good weather!

I don't care about the days in between the challenge weigh-ins--just the actual weigh in--and there you do very well 10 out of 14 weeks. That is much better than I do..lol. That was all my point was--that you are too modest regarding your weight loss.

I would still be depressed if I compared your statistics to mine, b/c since mid-Dec i've only lost 3.5lbs. You've lost about 21lbs in that time.

Thanks for visiting. I hope that the start of Spring brings happiness, success and pleasure to you all.

Tabitha and Rae

Thanks for your congratulations. I do love getting new lows. This is normally the best week of the month for my weight loss. It doesnt last long enough - but it is great while it lasts.

Tabitha

I am so far behind visiting diaries it is silly. My trip to Newcastle has really got me behind with so many things.

Dawn

I know that we havent had any snow yet - and you have pretty much lived with the stuff for the last three months (and got truly sick of it) - but hubby tells me that we have snow forecast for this weekend. I will keep you posted as to whether we see any white stuff this year.

Rae

My hormonal problems have a track record of getting tricky at any point in the month. My hormones have behaved better over the past year than over the twenty years before - and I credit this to the walking. There is nothing that can be done but accept TOM weight gain as a fact of life.

At my age - how long this will continue to be the case should be a bit of a surprise. I have discovered that my mother and cousin had assumed that my periods had stopped ages ago. Everyone keeps telling me that I dont get periods anymore. For goodness sake - I am 48 - not 58! I clearly have been sending out menopausal signals for some time. Either that or my mother has been making assumptions and then passing them on round the family as a definite fact. There comes an age when you really dont need to always inform your mother that you have a period - that doesnt mean that they have stopped!

You dont have to be young to find parental assumptions irritating.

Kimberly

I fully agree that I am lucky to be getting the level of weight loss that I get this far into a long term project. Also - there is no way that I would be as happy with the 3.5 pounds that you mention in comparison. Your metabolism is causing you problems and you are working on rectifying it.

I mainly mention it because both you and Dawn will be affected if a gain hits my weight for the challenge. I am currently toying with whether I want to use today's weighing for the challenge - or see what happens tomorrow. Part of me feels that it may be better for me to use the higher of the two in order to mitigate the effects of an almost certain gain. That strategy does carry a risk of increasing the chance of being eliminated in the short term. It may however reduce the risk of an elimination next week.

Previous challenges involved a simpler strategic decision since the weight points were cumulative and there was no down-side to maximising the weight loss of the current week.

Take care
Love
Margaret