The Knitting Diet Challenge/KAL

Knit-Alongs
1

:knitting: I [I]used[/I] to be a svelt size 4 [I]before[/I] I had two children. Now, I’m a whopping size 14 and SICK of it! I need to lose 50#. My goal is to lose 1 pound a week. I plan to do it with the help of WW and knitting. :aww:

So here’s the deal:

To join, you have to pledge the following:
1.) To work on an UFO at least 1/2 hour each day
2.) To pick up an UFO instead of nibbling
3.) To decrease your stash along with your weight
4.) To post pics of your FOs
5.) To share your joys and frustrations whether weight or yarn
6.) To share links to free patterns you are working on that are terrific!

There will not be a set project or set sign up date. Who’s with me?!

2

I’m in. Just posted in the other section but will add…

I have 100 lbs to lose but will start with 1-2 lbs a week and exercise. I will post my UFO’s tomorrow after taking pics.

Thanks for the KAL - it will be a tremendous help.

Mary

3

count me in! :thumbsup:

4

I’m in! I am very inspired by Shandeh’s terrific 30lb weight loss on her low carb diet.
I would like to lose 20lbs and finish my lace shawl. It keeps getting put to the bottom of the WIP pile…
Thanks for starting this, Knitpurlgurl!!:hug:

5

What’s funny, is I remarked to my DH tonight that knitting kept me from munching.

I’m joining this, but in a modified way. Because, as we know, being pregnant, is NOT the time to go on a diet. However, I’m at the point in my pregnancy where all I want to do is eat! And not always good things either. See, Emily wants me to eat every 2-4 hours. If I don’t, she makes me nauseous and I start gagging. It’s not pretty. But, if I’m bored, I tend to get snacky. So tonight, I started a new sock pattern. It’s a little lacy and a bit complicated. Before I knew it, 2 hours had gone by and it was really time to eat.

Here’s a little about myself, and why I’m obsessed with my weight, even though I’m not supposed to be…

In high school, I was never tiny. I stopped growing at 5’9", and graduated high school around 175 lbs. I also graduated pregnant, although I didn’t know it. I gained almost 50 lbs with that baby and lost all but 5. Of course I gained it back and got pregnant again. That pregnancy only netted me 11 lbs, which after my son’s birth, was gone and then some.

Long story short, up until 2 years ago, I topped the scales at 300 lbs. I had RNY gastric bypass surgery in Oct 05 (took my knitting with me to the hospital too). I lost 158 lbs total. This past July, after finding out I was pregnant again, I lost 10 more pounds due to the nausea and just plain feeling icky (included in the 158 total :p). So far with this baby I’ve gained about 10-15 pounds…perfectly normal. However, I’m terrified of gaining too much and not being able to lose it.

So…I’m going to watch what I put in my mouth and when it goes in there. If it’s not feeding time, it’s knitting time.

I hope that even while pregnant, I can be part of this…/beg

6

I’m in! I had similar ideas…here’s my yarny fitness plan.
I set goals each week. Right now they are 8 servings of water & 30 minutes of exercise each day.
I cannot go to my weekly knit meet until I’ve worked out and had a healthy meal (no eating at Starbucks).
I reward consistency with non food items. I put star stickers on my wall calendar for each goal I met ever day. Something splurgy and small like a manicure, hair cut, spa visit and all the girlie stuff I never do.
I reward pounds lost with knitty/spinny stuff.
So far I’ve lost 6 pounds and that was during the holidays!! What a miracle.
Healthy tip I have learned recently: Drink lots of water, even flavored water like Crystal light. Your body holds on to water if it does not get a steady supply because it is trained into thinking it will not get water soon. Once you retrain it, it will get rid of the excess water it has been storing. Also, lack of water slows your metabolism. Your liver doesn’t function properly and stores fat instead of processing it. I have started drinking two servings of water first thing in the AM. Juices, colas, coffee, and such do not count as water. They contain ingredients which can aid in water retention. Plus they contain significant calories. Don’t drink your calories.
I hope that helps someone.

7

I’m in!!! I need to reduce my stash and my waistline. I don’t have many UFO right now but I do have a huge stash that needs to be worked up into something.

I too want to begin eating healthier and exercising regularly. This will be a fun challenge to work on both at the same time :slight_smile:

8

This sounds like a great idea. Count me in! I have my own little reasons for wanting to lose weight- I’m getting married in October on the twenty sixth! My family (everyone minus one brother and an aunt) died over the last year, and needless to say it left me a little depressed. So I gained weight. I think dieting with other people (and being rewarded with knitting stuff, not food) will help me actually stay consistant. I shall happily begin tomorrow!

9

This is great. I’m starting right now. So far so good. I think i’ll do weigh ins on Mondays an see how i’m doing. Anyone want to do a Monday weigh in and report with me? Track our progress? We can do it everyone!

10

I’m IN!!! Only problem I have is the pics part…don’t know how to post pics.:verysad:
Don’t know when I’m going to fit everything in - 11 hour work days, 30 min. exercise, fixing a meal, knitting, laundry…ah well, where there’s a will, there’s a way!!!
BTW, I need to lose 65 pounds. YIKES!!! Amazing how that stuff creeps on a year at a time.

11

Hi Gang,
Shandeh and I were talking about exercise on her blog, and I thought I post the suggestions here as well:
I try to find creative ways to exercise, as it is difficult for me to get to the gym. There are so many things you can do around the house, that I can’t believe I [B]still[/B] find excuses not to work out. :??

Anyway, according to the Yarn Harlot, knitting burns 90 calories an hour! :woot: Knitting while walking or doing alternating leg extensions while kntting would certainly burn more (and help keep blood from pooling in my legs which is a problem for me),

Vacuuming, mopping, etc are all very aerobic. Anything that gets the body moving and the heart rate up is good for us. Video games can be a great workout if you really get into it! DH and I play Wii tennis and bunch of other Wii sports, which are a surprisingly good workout - and it is so much fun that you don’t realize how long you’ve been doing it.

A workout partner can also be a great motivator. Arranging to meet a friend at the fitness club, or for an exercise walk, will make me do it, but I won’t if I have to do it on my own.

The support from this group will be a great motivator for me.

Dark Hippy - Congrats on your engagement! I am so sorry about all of the loss you have suffered over the past year. All the best for a MUCH happier 2008, with treasured memories of those loved ones.

12

Little ways to get tasks done:
Work out as you can. Break it up. Do 10-15 minutes at a time.
Focus on moves that will target the most muscles. Crunches, Squats, lunges, push ups.
Take a lunch walk break.
Wake 20 minutes earlier if possible to get it done first thing.
Plan meals and do as much cooking and preparing ahead of time. I do it over the weekend. Also when I am pressed for a work lunch I go by Publix and get one of their salads.
Keep healthy snacks at work. No vending machines.
I do laundry almost every morning. Start a load then toss in dryer when I get home from work. Next morning take out clean clothes and fold as much as I can in fifteen minutes.
I knit mostly at night or at work lunch break.
Start small. Don’t make yourself work out 30 minutes at first, start with 10 minutes then next week go for 20 minutes. Build good habits. Same with diet changes.
I keep a food journal & work out journal. I’m also in a cardio team challenge where we compete to see which group gets the most cardio minutes.
Right now I use knitting & spinning as a reward when I work out and eat healthy. However, I think I may use it for when I want chocolate =-)
Today I’m off to grocery shop and meal plan for the week. Then I come home and measure everything out & put into containers to grab.

13

I do my weigh in on Saturday, but will post my progress. This week 0 pounds lost total of 6 pounds lost since I started keeping track.

14

I want to say I’m in…but I’ve already started my own personal challenge and reward system.

Basically it’s just cutting portions, trying to eat healthy, and at least 30 mins of extra (ie not including housework) exercise at least 5 times a week. I’m on week 4 and I’ve lost 5lbs, and I didn’t put any on over Christmas week! :cheering: I weigh myself each week (usually Fridays) and my reward is that for every lb I lose my DH gives me £1 to save towards whatever I like! At the moment I’m planning on taking at least some of the reward money along to the Stitch and Craft show that my mum and I plan to go to in February. That’s if there is any money…for every lb I put back on I have to give £1 back!

The exercise I’m doing is either I use my manual treadmill, or I use one of my Rosemary Conley workout videos. I’m loving the videos so far :yay:

So can I join in a little bit even if I don’t do the exact KAL? :hiding:

15

What a neat idea! Dh and I are starting back up on our South Beach
Diet after the first of the year and I love the idea of using my
knitting as a way to keep the nibbles away! I have already lost
20 pounds just following the diet but I hope to add some more
regular exercise when we start back up and hopefully get some more
weight off. I want to lost at least another 20 pounds and I have a
ton of knitting projects I want to do this coming year so what a perfect
partnership! :slight_smile: I’m in!

Libbie :slight_smile:

16

Fantastic stuff!

I’m in also… 50 pounds to go, and that’s a modest estimate - but lets see how that goes first!

I’m signing up, don’t have that many ufo’s, but i have to say my stash pile is remarkable!! I didn’t know I’d stashed so much yarn here and there!!

Will try and post picx of me plus stash plus ufo (2 at the moment!) soon!

Happy New Year, and happy knitting!

El.

17

psquidy - I’m in for Monday weigh ins. Why don’t we report our progress for our weigh in as well as any finished projects or progress toward finished projects?

Our first official weigh in will be on Monday, January 7th. You don’t have to report your weight, but the anound lost or gained. We’ll post in this format:

(Example)

Weight: [COLOR=“Red”]-2 lbs[/COLOR]
Project/Progress: [COLOR=“red”]Baby Blocks Baby Blanket/Finished 20 rows[/COLOR]
Non-Scale Victories This Week:[COLOR=“red”]Exercised 3 times this week![/COLOR]

Whoever wants to start the post on Mondays, can start it. We can do this together!! :slight_smile:

18

I am IN!!!

Well ladies I think that we all share the same goals here. And that is to Knit and To Lose some poundage here. lol Well I know for a fact that i completely lose track of time when I knit so, this is a great idea. Now how can I do my crunches and knit at the same time. mmmmmm. guess I have to put the needles down sometime.

But let’s do it ladies. I have 17lbs to lose and a bin full of stash to help me stay away from the munchies.

Current WIP is a sweater that I started that has tried to defeat me time and again, but i am stubborn as we all are, when we want to finish a pattern that is just to pretty to let go. Other than that i am looking at socks, more socks, an afghan and more socks.
Til then , lets KNIT!!! and SWEAT!!!:knitting: :grphug:

19

I like that…maybe I will try and include my knitting, I AM trying to de-stash after all!

20

I’d like to join as well, but I also have the problem of posting pics. I haven’t joined the most recent decade when it comes to gadgets and a digital camera is not among my posseesions. I can sometimes have a friend take pics for me but it’s not very often since we see each other only once in a blue moon. :pout: But I can commit to everything else. As we speak, I am having a snack of 10 baby carrots and 32oz of plain ice water…and I have my crochet hook in hand. I am working on a baby blanket as I sit here at the computer. I have dial-up so I can crochet or knit in between pages loading.:aww: I am going for a walk with my boys later in the day. At least 30 min. I recently lost 8 lbs in 12 weeks on WW so I plan to keep that momemtum going.:woohoo: