March 25th June 10th, 2024: Weight Loss PVP: 10 or 12 lbs in 10 or 12 Weeks!

[Snarkyfishguts]

Welcome aboard one and all, once again and once more to...

 

The 10/12lbs in 10/12 weeks weight-loss Player-versus-Player challenge! 

 

 Now's the time to sign-up for a Player-versus-Player accountability challenge sure to motivate you to tackle those weight loss goals!  Of course, we only advocate losing healthy weight and using healthy methods to get there! This playful side quest is less about beating your peers to the finish line than it is about challenging yourself, making some new accountibilibuddies, and having a place to share your battle plan or struggles along the way.

 

Feel free to set your goals online with either the 5 weeks of your next two challenges, or include both Week Zeros for a full 12 weeks.  Set goals that you think are realistic (that could even be 6lbs/12weeks or whatever works for you) It's okay to need a break sometimes, even if it’s not Week 0. If you find you need to take a week off, that’s okay. Take the time you need, and hop back into the spreadsheet when you’re ready. Stick around for the excellent company and to cheer on your fellow pirates.  

 

 Weigh-in sometime this week, and again every week.  Share your data in the SPREADSHEET!  Post your successes, struggles, and tips.

 

The Rules

1.      Sign-up using the SPREADSHEET.  Add your name & starting weight, waist measurements optional. Don’t enter a value for “Current Weight” just yet. That will update automatically as you enter your weekly weigh-ins.  10 or 12 lbs in 10 or 12 weeks (roughly 1lb or 0.5kg per week) is the goal but feel free to increase or decrease the difficulty as you see fit.  Whatever your goals are, you are most welcome to participate (even if you'd like to join in late)!

2.      Introduce yourself to your fellow competitors!  Feel free to mention your goals, any battle plans for getting there, and what your primary motivation or inspirations are.  Feel free to mention your Challenge goals or BattleLog too!  This is an excellent place to get to know others from the forums.

3.      Update the SPREADSHEET with your weekly weigh-ins.  We're using Monday as the 'official' day, but if Sunday, Tuesday, or any other day work better, go nuts!  Just keep it at roughly a week for tracking purposes.  This challenge is aligned with the current and next 5 Week Challenges, with optional weeks off for Zero Week at the start and in between. 

5. Have fun, encourage everyone, and keep each other accountable!

 

      

Make sure you warm up and cool down during exercise to help prevent injuries! Also if you bicep curl a cat, I wanna see that.

 

Tips for Success!

1.      Get some exercise! 30 minutes of cardio is great for your bloodpressure and HDL cholesterol! Strength training is great for building muscle and burning fat, and yoga is a great stress buster that challenges your body to move in new ways! Also, exercise is great for getting good sleep!

2.      Eat your veggies! Green leafies are fantastic, but so are non-leafy greens and other colorful veggies!

3.      Stay hydrated! It's good for you whole body, including your brain!

4.      Visit and update us (and the SPREADSHEET) regularly to build that accountability network.

5.      Share your workout playlist for MAXIMUM HYPE!! 

6.      Get enough sleep, and schedule rest days. Not only does rest and sleep help repair and make our bodies        stronger, studies show that a good night's sleep will actually clean your brain so you feel refreshed, focused, and less moody the next day. 

7.    Make your inner critic WALK THE PLANK! (arrr, we can still be piratey)

 

 

This group concept and spreadsheet were created by Rurik, stolen ruthlessly and edited by  Snarkyfishguts because we be piratey that way. Additional Thanks to The Most Loathed and TimovieMan for coding help with the spreadsheet

[Snarkyfishguts]

Starting up! 

 

I'm Snarkyfishguts! This is my battle log! 

This session, I'll be aiming for an 8 pound weight loss over the 12 weeks. I want to focus on consistency, instead of pushing myself to do more and more and more. Even though it snowed last night, I'm excited for spring and hopefully getting some good hikes in over the next few weeks! I'm also relaxing my diet, but am going back to counting calories so I stay within a healthy calorie range and also using it as a meal planning guide to be like "Oh yeah! We ate that! that was good. let's put it back on this week's menu"   

 

This is such a great and positive group, and I really appreciate y'all. Wishing you great success as we tackle our goals together for the next 12 weeks!

[Jarric]

Hi all, glad to be back for another round of this. This time I'll be looking to lose 11lbs in 12 weeks, as that would put me under 11 stone, and conveniently also under 70kg. Whatever the result I'll be ending my cut after these 12 weeks and going into maintenance for a while, before bulking October to December, so I'd like to put a good effort into this knowing that I have a (self-imposed) time limit.

 

My plan remains unchanged, set a calorie goal for the week (currently 18,000), divide it by 8, and try and stick to that goal every day with excess calories going into my buffer (the 8th share of the weekly goal). I've made some changes to my standard breakfast and how I think about lunch over the last few months, and this now feels a lot more achievable than it did in January.

 

Thanks again for setting this up @Snarkyfishguts!

[Darciana]

Thank you so much, @Snarkyfishguts for getting us all set up ❤️ 

 

My goal is smaller - 5lbs, hoping for strict fat loss. I'm focused on weight training and a paleo/primal way of eating (WOE) so I'm expecting any fat loss may be hidden by my little baby beginner muscle gains. I can measure BF% on my scale and my watch. Although likely very inaccurate, they're consistent enough I can still monitor overall trends with a few outliers.

Ramblings about plans/events:

Spoiler

Monday - Legs

Tuesday - Chest

Wednesday - Back

Thursday - Arms/Shoulders

Friday - Cardio (run or Peloton bike)

Saturday - LISS

Sunday - Rest & Meal Prep

Big Disruptors/Events

I have the Total Solar Eclipse (the path is directly over my town) on April 8th meaning that week my schedule will be off slightly due to being on call and working at the fire department plus all the traffic/madness. Will adjust as needed to make that work, even if it means shifting cardio (Peloton) to Monday before FD shift and pushing the gym back a day to end Friday instead.

I have a 10k April 28th and I've only managed to get up to 4 miles continuously so my goal is to run for my cardio day so long as my peroneal tendonitis doesn't flare up again. I've come to terms with possibly needing to walk some of the 10k come race day, but I'd like to run as much as possible, if not all of it, if I can.

To finish up, I have a 5k trail run June 1st, but I've managed to maintain my 5k endurance thus far and shouldn't be a big stretch (the trail part might be... that's why I have ankle braces  I suppose)

There may be some work travel sprinkled in somewhere in this challenge but that's still up in the air date-wise. I've made that work in the past, though, I'll just be without a scale. I've heard great things about this Renpho scale, maybe I should invest?

 

[DrFeelgood]

I'm in!  I also took care of some formatting and updated a couple of formulas on the spreadsheet; hope you don't mind

 

Target is to lose 12 pounds in 12 weeks, which would put me under 200 for just the second time in 20 years.  I've already dropped 36 lbs over the last two PVPs by restricting calories and exercising (mostly cardio and golfing) 3 times a week.  Things have started to slow a bit recently so I'll be tweaking my TDEE numbers and switching over to a more strength-oriented exercise regimen to shake things up.

[Sovalis]

Starting weight: 268.0 lbs

 

I got as low as 264.0 last PVP and was disappointed to see the number go up at the end. However, I did my InBody scan yesterday and discovered that I had almost three pounds of fat loss last challenge and that my weight is up largely due to inflammation and water retention. That made me feel better about the whole thing, so I am reinvigorated and ready to keep going! 

 

One of the key causes of my inflammation is eating wheat so this challenge I am going to be trying to reduce that. I am not aiming for complete elimination because that makes life really, really difficult, but I will go back to making smarter substitutions and not eating store bought wheat things (if I want bread or cookies or whatever, I need to make it myself). I haven’t really felt like baking much lately so that should help keep things in check. This does complicated work lunches because I usually just buy a sandwich on their delicious seedy bread. I may need to be bringing lunch from home which means food prep which I am not the most reliable with. But it does offer me the opportunity to sneak more veggies in, so it can’t be all bad. 

 

Looking forward to cheering you all on! ❤️ 

[Elennare]

I'm in!  Setting my goal at 10 lbs, though I'll be ecstatic if I hit 5.

 

My plan for this time around is to follow the roller derby diet plan,  which I have finally had time to look over.  The basic ideas are to eat every 2-4 hours, include veggies and protein with every meal or snack, and if you're aiming for fat loss limit starchy carbs to after exercise.  Honestly, it seems mostly like it's a slightly more refined version of what I've already been working on, so that's encouraging.  Hoping the meal plans included with it hit the sweet spot between fat loss and keeping me fueled for playing sports!

[DrFeelgood]

3 minutes ago, Sovalis said:

One of the key causes of my inflammation is eating wheat so this challenge I am going to be trying to reduce that. I am not aiming for complete elimination because that makes life really, really difficult...

It took me about a year to figure out how to live gluten-free, and every now and then it still bites me.  Definitely sucks, but once you've done all the initial work it can be relatively sustainable.

[Sovalis]

3 minutes ago, DrFeelgood said:

It took me about a year to figure out how to live gluten-free, and every now and then it still bites me.  Definitely sucks, but once you've done all the initial work it can be relatively sustainable.

Yes. I have had long stretches of gluten free eating so I have a decent toolbox in place, but I haven’t been using it diligently. Need to shape up on that again. I am very open to tips if you have any to share!

[athousandwords]

38 minutes ago, Darciana said:

There may be some work travel sprinkled in somewhere in this challenge but that's still up in the air date-wise. I've made that work in the past, though, I'll just be without a scale. I've heard great things about this Renpho scale, maybe I should invest?

 

I have a Renpho bathroom scale and it's pretty good - are you looking at that model or a travel one?

[deftona]

In! 

And I mean it this time. 

[Darciana]

22 minutes ago, athousandwords said:

 

I have a Renpho bathroom scale and it's pretty good - are you looking at that model or a travel one?

The travel one. I'm in a group on MyFitnessPal and several people use the travel one as they're retired and travel often. Most of them said the travel scale is quite accurate and often gives them identical readings to their home scale. 

I need to save up for it, though, so I'll have time to research. Please share anything you've experienced! I'm open to suggestions 😁

[DrFeelgood]

On 3/19/2024 at 8:58 AM, Sovalis said:

Yes. I have had long stretches of gluten free eating so I have a decent toolbox in place, but I haven’t been using it diligently. Need to shape up on that again. I am very open to tips if you have any to share!

I don't have any tips that I know of, mostly it's exactly what you'd expect:  I can't eat out, period, and every time I try I get smoked.   I don't participate in pot-lucks; and I go out of my way to tell people not to bother trying to make GF foods for me since they'll frequently fail unknowingly.  I encourage my kids to eat all their gluten-y nonsense during the day while I'm at work, and then they have to sanitize my kitchen before I get home.  For most of the last three years I've been making gluten-free dinners and taking the leftovers to work for lunch the next day, but recently I've started meal-prepping the entire week's lunches ahead of time.  I eat a lot of rice, corn, and potatoes with fresh meats and veggies.  It definitely helps to know how to cook and to enjoy doing it!  I have a couple of GF flour blends that I like for occasional tasks (gravies and dredging) but I don't really bother with baked goods or bread-substitutes anymore.  None of them are really worth eating in my experience.  Eating wheat is actually so painful for me now that it actively repels any cravings I used to have for those things.

 

Years of damage to my system from gluten have also rendered me sensitive to certain other foods:  eggs are sometimes problematic, beans can really jack me up, almost all pills give me terrible reflux, and I've yet to discover a safe amount of cayenne pepper.  On the plus side I sleep so much better now, and I haven't needed anywhere near as many sick days at work in recent years.  I used to get bad headaches and those have practically disappeared.  The body aches and brain fog are gone, and as long as I avoid contamination I don't experience as much bloating or water-retention as I used to.

 

I've gotten really good at reading food labels, but at this point I stick to whole foods as much as possible.  The only processed foods I'll eat must have the magic words ("gluten free") on the package, and I make absolutely no assumptions.  Early on l frequently got crossed up by stuff that should have been gluten-free but wasn't:  for example, regular Reese's cups are GF, but the holiday versions--eggs, trees, pumpkins, whatever--are not.  For months I continued to eat corn flakes because I thought they were safe, but almost every brand has malted barley syrup which is a no-go for me.

 

Smothered fries are my friend, especially now that we have an air-fryer and I can pop a single batch on short notice.  They're a good way to satisfy any yearnings for sandwiches or burritos.  I eat a lot of tacos on soft corn tortillas.  All of my lunch preps are based around brown Jasmine rice, which is excellent.  I have to be mindful of getting enough fiber in a world without wheat (and barley and rye) products.  I've kept my own personal microwave in my office at work for years, so that required no adjustment.  It's just been a slow process of whittling down to what's safe for me to eat then figuring out how to make those things as good as possible.

[TimovieMan]

I'm in again!

 

Thanks, @Snarkyfishguts, for setting this up.

 

I've had two half-hearted (failed) attempts at a respawn this year. With the new challenge starting next week, and with spring around the corner, it's high time I did a *proper* respawn. Put a little heart into it, and a lot more effort.

 

 

So over the next 12 weeks, I'll be aiming for a loss of 12 pounds. And make a solid attempt at it this time. 😇

[athousandwords]

Starting weight: 176

Goal weight: 165

 

Eleven pounds is probably a super optimistic because I have three trips planned in the next twelve weeks - all of them fun! - but hopefully it's a good reminder to not go overboard on drinks/food and maybe even squeeze some exercise in during travel. But if I can get to 165, I'll be down 20lbs this year and will have met my first maintenance milestone. So we'll see how that goes - worst case, I'll be chasing those last few pounds during the next PVP.

 

Thanks @Snarkyfishguts for setting this up - this PVP was so inspiring last challenge and I loved cheering you all on and seeing your progress. I'm excited to spend another 12 weeks with y'all! ❤️ 

 

 

[Shello]

I'm in again too!  Here is my battle log where I am focusing on non scale victories because I was getting bummed about not having scale victories.  But I keep showing up because obviously weighing less will help with all the other things too.  

 

I'm sure I need to be doing something differently as what I am doing is not really working.  Well, it's working but sooooo slowly that any slip up just sends me back to start.  I'll figure that out in my next challenge.  For this 12 weeks I'm setting my goal for 10 pounds.  I do have a vacation to Hawaii near the end. 

 

Thanks Snary for putting this together and keeping it going.  

[DrFeelgood]

1 hour ago, deftona said:

In! 

And I mean it this time. 

And yet almost two hours later I've had to put your name on the spreadsheet for you. 

 

Don't worry, I made your goal fairly reasonable.  If it offends you then please forgive me and remember that I speak 'Merican pounds instead of kilograms. 

 

Nevermind, I tap-danced for a few minutes and couldn't actually think of a way to do it that was funny without being potentially hurtful.  You do you.

I'll just watch

[Jarric]

On 3/19/2024 at 1:26 PM, Darciana said:

I can measure BF% on my scale and my watch.

 

How does your watch measure BF%? Even if it's not totally accurate, that's super cool that it's even possible.

 

On 3/19/2024 at 1:44 PM, Sovalis said:

One of the key causes of my inflammation is eating wheat so this challenge I am going to be trying to reduce that. I am not aiming for complete elimination because that makes life really, really difficult, but I will go back to making smarter substitutions and not eating store bought wheat things (if I want bread or cookies or whatever, I need to make it myself). I haven’t really felt like baking much lately so that should help keep things in check. This does complicated work lunches because I usually just buy a sandwich on their delicious seedy bread. I may need to be bringing lunch from home which means food prep which I am not the most reliable with. But it does offer me the opportunity to sneak more veggies in, so it can’t be all bad. 

 

Not a gluten tip, but maybe a meal planning top. One thing I realised on the last PvP is that as long as my lunch hit my goals, it didn't really need to look like a lunch. I've now ended up where if I haven't prepped a meal for lunch, rather than getting a sandwich at work I instead just throw stuff in a lunch box until the calories add up. So that could include hot cross buns, biscuits, carrots, celery, crisps, apples, oranges, kiwi, chocolate - whatever's in the house. (It's really just stealing @deftona's snack box idea, but I tend to eat most or all of it an once.)

 

Just thinking about this more (as I sit here having eaten the massive sandwich I prepared for today), I also think I feel more sated from spending my whole lunch break grabbing lots of little things, rather than eating one big thing.

[Darciana]

8 minutes ago, Jarric said:

How does your watch measure BF%? Even if it's not totally accurate, that's super cool that it's even possible.

Galaxy Watch 5 - there are 2 buttons on the side plus the back of the watch where it touches your wrist. So you push the watch up on the wrist a bit higher and then put middle and ring finger of the other hand on the two buttons (without touching your wrist - there's a photo in the article below) and apparently it sends the electrical impedance thingy (similar to scale, I'm sure you know what I mean) through the upper body. Goal is keep arms up and armpits open and avoid touching each side to each other except through the watch. It's been pretty dang close to my scale's BF readings. I thought it was really cool!

Here's a study (on Samsung's website, take with grain of salt) regarding a study on the accuracy and precision of it.

[Jarric]

6 minutes ago, Darciana said:

Galaxy Watch 5 - there are 2 buttons on the side plus the back of the watch where it touches your wrist. So you push the watch up on the wrist a bit higher and then put middle and ring finger of the other hand on the two buttons (without touching your wrist - there's a photo in the article below) and apparently it sends the electrical impedance thingy (similar to scale, I'm sure you know what I mean) through the upper body. Goal is keep arms up and armpits open and avoid touching each side to each other except through the watch. It's been pretty dang close to my scale's BF readings. I thought it was really cool!

Here's a study (on Samsung's website, take with grain of salt) regarding a study on the accuracy and precision of it.

 

Wow, that's really cool! I'm constantly amazed how much technology we can put on a wrist these days.

[TimovieMan]

7 minutes ago, Jarric said:

Wow, that's really cool! I'm constantly amazed how much technology we can put on a wrist these days.

We've come a long way in the last two decades... 😅

 

Who remembers this?

 

[Darciana]

43 minutes ago, Jarric said:

 

Wow, that's really cool! I'm constantly amazed how much technology we can put on a wrist these days.

It's really fascinating! I stumbled on it while exploring the watch (I just got it last week as an upgrade from my old, failing Fitbit. RIP little buddy) and been using it daily alongside my daily scale readings. It's crazy how close the two are so long as I confirm my proper body weight (have to weigh or give best guestimate before doing it)

[DrFeelgood]

03/24:  216.5  (+5.6)

 

Alrighty, folks, I'm kicking this PVP off with a huge sandbag.  I let my eating run completely free for Zero Week between challenges and had a big scale number this morning.  Calorie math predicted a gain of 2.5 lbs this week, and I knew I'd beat that handily--especially since yesterday was the biggest of seven consecutive big days.  It was good!  I needed and enjoyed a week off, and going for maximum nonsense in that off week has completely fueled me up and primed my motivator for another sustained cut.  I expect to be able to bail most of the gain in this first week and will be right back on course in no time.

 

I have a prize in the freezer awaiting the week I break 200:

 

 

One of their newest gluten-free flavors that I've been dying to try. 

[Snarkyfishguts]

3 hours ago, DrFeelgood said:

03/24:  216.5  (+5.6)

 

Alrighty, folks, I'm kicking this PVP off with a huge sandbag.  I let my eating run completely free for Zero Week between challenges and had a big scale number this morning.  Calorie math predicted a gain of 2.5 lbs this week, and I knew I'd beat that handily--especially since yesterday was the biggest of seven consecutive big days.  It was good!  I needed and enjoyed a week off, and going for maximum nonsense in that off week has completely fueled me up and primed my motivator for another sustained cut.  I expect to be able to bail most of the gain in this first week and will be right back on course in no time.

 

I have a prize in the freezer awaiting the week I break 200:

 

 

One of their newest gluten-free flavors that I've been dying to try. 

Oh I hope the ice cream is good. And I'm glad you had a good week 0 and feel relaxed and restored!

 

 

[Sea-to-sky]

starting weight 239.25lb
 

Joining in. As usual im not setting a goal loss amount due to energy unknowns and assorted possibility of spanners ending up in plans. Any weight loss is good for me. 
Currently on 1,220 calories, which i need to work to stick to better at the moment. More effort needed there. Meal planning and avoiding the temptations of sugar. Ho hum. 

Spring is definitely here, so hopefully more nice days now to tempt us all outside.