~*~ Gingerbread's Great Weight Loss Raffle ~*~*Prizes Updated!*

[Gingerbread]

Ok ponies, I gotta be honest with ya. All that cooking and baking and well, tasting that I just love to do has caught up with me. I've been trying to get back down to my ideal weight for a while and I've actually been doing pretty good. I'm down 25lbs so far but I still have a ways to go. I some weeks, find myself slipping up and it seems when I have a few bad days it's hard for me to get back on track. I've been exercising and counting my calories with MyFitnessPal.com and this has seemed to be the thing that works for me. The thing I think I need now is accountability. Using an online program leaves you lacking outside motivation. MFP has forums and chats but I feel much more at home with the people here that I'd rather ask you all for support.

I'd like to use this thread to keep me motivated, accountable and honest. It's sometimes easy to just not enter my weight online cause no one is there to point a finger at me and say, "Hey, chunky butt you avoiding me cause you had McDonalds 5 times this week". I would like to lose another 60lbs and could use some encouragement, so I've decided to try to make this daunting task a little fun. Sixty pounds sounds like such a big number and sometimes thinking about it like that makes me feel overwhelmed. I would much rather think of it as having to lose 10lbs six times. For some reason breaking it into smaller goals makes it less intimidating!

So here is how it would go. I am going to post my weight every week *gasp, and cue the dramatic music*. I will keep it tracked in the below post and update it every Saturday morning. Each time I reach a 10lb goal I will draw one prize winner. There will be 6 prizes, for the 60lbs I wish to lose and each winner will get to choose from the list of prizes. I will also be throwing in lots of extra goodies with your prize so look forward to getting a nice little surprise package in the mail. I will cover the cost of postage, unless you live overseas in which case I will split the postage cost since that can be a bit pricey.

So how do you enter? Simple, just visit this thread and post some encouraging words or check up on me and ask if I've been bad LOL! Or just tell me you really want me to hurry, get my butt in gear and get to the drawing time so you can win a pony! Drawings will be done on the Saturdays when I've reached or surpassed a 10lb mark. So let's see that would put my drawing days at days when I've reached 195, 185, 175 and so on and so on. I will assign a number to each persons post and will use a random number generator to select the winner. Each 10lb loss will be treated as a new raffle so even if you missed out on the first or second one's you can still post to be entered in future drawings. You will only get one entry in the drawing per person but please feel free to make multiple posts anyways and remember each 10lb loss will be treated as a new raffle. Once the drawing has happened it will reset the raffle until the next 10lb loss. To continue into the next drawing you will have to come back and make a post again to be entered. I hope that all makes sense, it probably sounds more complicated than it will be. I will keep this thread updated and make sure it's clear what's going on.

Now, sixty pounds is a lot and this raffle could be going on for several months (I'd love to make it by Christmas, but that would really be pushing it). I'm hoping this will be the challenge I need to keep me going and I hope you guys will stick with me through it. Also, I'm looking forward to being able to giveaway some goodies to my pony peeps which is always fun and with you guys checking in on me I think it will help me stay motivated.

On to the prizes!!!

G3.5 Starsong, MIB
G4 Target Shine Bright Pinkie Pie, MIB
G3 Pinkie Pie Ornament, MIB
G1 Cherries Jubilee
G3 Lulabelle
G1 Small Clock *GONE*
G1 Sundance Tee Shirt XL, NWT
G3 Cotton Candy plush
G1 Princess Pony Balloon
G1 Sparkle Baby Gusty
G4 Dewdrop Dazzle
and lastly 2 Sets of random G1 Movie stickers, each set has 100 random stickers for the G1 Movie album. They are from Argentina and the images on the stickers are just ok, not as nice looking as the ones from the US. I think maybe they used cheaper paper or adhesive cause the picture looks a little "splotchy" like maybe over the years the adhesive seeped through??? They are also not complete sets and they likely have doubles but thought I'd throw them in if someone people were interested.

[Gingerbread]

Ok, here we go...

Gingerbread's Weigh In's

8-18-12 = 205
8-25-12 = 199
9-1-12 = 194 *1st drawing*

From here to the new year, had little progress just up and down a few pounds the whole time but......

On to 2013! I'm gonna make it happen!

12-29-12 = 194
1-5-13 = 193, not bad considering I pigged out on New Years *shame on me*
1-12-13 = 193
1-19-13 = 194...I don't want to talk about it :(
1-26-13 = 192
2-2-13 = 192, I plan on really cracking down post Superbowl....I swear
2-9-13 =191
2-16-13 = 193, Darn, chinese food and chocolates Thurs!
2-23-13 = 192
3-2-13 = 192
3-9-13 = 193 - I bought girl scout cookies :( lots of girl scout cookies!
3-16-13 =
3-23-13 =
3-30-13 =
4-6-13 =
4-13-13 =
4-20-13 =
4-27-13 =
5-4-13 =
5-11-13 =
5-18-13 =
5-25-13 =
6-1-13 =
6-8-13 =
6-15-13 =
6-22-13 =
6-29-13 =

I'm sure it'll take longer than this to reach my goal of 145 but I'm just tired of typing ATM

[ristvak]

Good luck Gingerbread! I need to get my butt in gear on something like this too *sighs*

Question! (cause I'm a smart butt) if you hit a 10 pound goal but then gain a couple pounds, will you do another drawing when you re-reach that 10 pound mark? hehehe >=D

And don't be too hard on yourself during the holidays! If nothing else just make your goal for those few weeks to stay constant. Don't feel bad if you don't lose, just bump up the exercising a little bit so that you don't gain either. It's not really working toward a goal at that point, but it's better than back sliding, ya know? Best of luck!

[Gingerbread]

Originally Posted by ristvak

Question! (cause I'm a smart butt) if you hit a 10 pound goal but then gain a couple pounds, will you do another drawing when you re-reach that 10 pound mark? hehehe >=D

Thanks ristvak, and let's see I really hadn't thought about that. I say, what the heck, challenge accepted! IF I regain (although I would hope I don't) and it puts me back up over my previous 10lb mark I will do another drawing.

You my dear, are a good motivator! I feel the stakes just got a little bit higher for me but it's all good...you should see me at the casino

[Melissa]

Good luck! It know how hard it can be. I am 5'2" and my freshman year of college, I got up to 165 (not that I would admit that very willingly) and it took me ages to drop 15 lbs. I was still miserable at 150, but at least I was somewhat comfortable. Then, about a year ago, I developed stomach ulcers and lost 30 lbs very quickly. It was nice for people to tell me how good/healthy I looked, but the truth was I was not healthy AT ALL. Now I'm back to around 135-ish, and I don't love it but I actually AM healthy now.

[greengrrrl]

What a great, and fun way to keep yourself accountable. Personally I think we're trained to focus far too much on that ridiculous scale. I'm a size 15/16 and am quite happy in my chubby body... but it took me a long time to get so body positive. LOL I hope you find happiness with yourself, at whatever size you find yourself. (((hugs)))

[Hunniebun]

Good for you on doing this! I have a family friend who is working on the same thing, and she's doing great and so will you. All that matters is your happiness and your health.

My problem is the exact opposite, I actually have a problem keeping weight on. I'm 5'3" and I weigh 105lbs right now. Among other health issues I already have, one of my doctors suspects I have Celiac's disease as well, allergies to gluten. So nothing stays in me properly and just ends up leaving too soon. I won't find out until November but it bugs me because I eat normally, sometimes more than I should, and I've even tried eating a lot of junk and it didn't do anything. Bah! We'll see what happens I guess.

[Argentum-Zeena]

Best of luck to you! I've actually been wanting to work out myself lately. Maybe I'll join you

Don't be too hard on yourself to meet your goals. Sometimes slow and steady wins the race

[Tiegrsi]

Good luck Gingerbread! I know I sure need to do something to motivate myself as well. But 25lbs. lost already is a great start.

It's awesome that you are doing a raffle - but I don't want to be entered for a prize, please. You should be the one getting the prizes for doing a great job when you reach each goal!

[Gingerbread]

Thank you everyone for your positive vibes!! I was a little apprehensive about "putting it all out there" but I felt I needed something to make me think twice about going all-you-can-eat or having a binge weekend. I'm hoping it'll all go well but even if I have to report an embarrassing weight I think it'll be worth it to get support from my pony pals. Now I feel like I can't let ya'll down