Happy Weekend!

Sorry today's posting is out late- my hubby and I are in the car right
now on our way up to Lake Superior for the weekend. I am running in my
first marathon tomorrow morning! Mixed emotions of course, but I am so
excited!

It makes me think about how each of our journeys to our fit selves is
a marathon. Like I said a couple days ago and like Abby said on BL
this week, "it's not a sprint; it's a marathon." I just keep thinking
of that over and over. Think about it- you have the support of your
friends, it's a hard undertaking, it takes courage, and it is
intimidating. A lot of people talk about having that same goal as you,
but very few will have the determination and fight inside to undertake
it. Along the journey, if you take off too fast, you'll lose steam
later in in the race and might not finish strong. You have to
constantly feed yourself the whole time- food fuel during the race and
positive/emotional/support fuel during our weight loss journey. You
will hit seemingly insurmountable walls when uou feel like quiting and
it will take an extra umpf to get over them. BUT, the hardest part of
it all in my opinion is just deciding to do it and lace up your
running shoes. AND guess what?!? You already did that! You did the
hardest part! You started the journey! You laced up your shoes! You
decided to undertake the challenge! You decided to hit your goals!
You decided to show your body you are the master of it- not it the
master of you! I am so proud of all of you :) Keep your chin up. It
is a marathon, not a sprint. The goal is endurance and slow steady
progress. The woman who sticks with it the longest will hit her goal.
And I KNOW that can be each of you :)

What are your thoughts on that?

Feel the Burn Thursday!

Good morning, Ladies!  What have you been doing this week and what do you have planned for this weekend for torching those calories and melting chub!?! Share with us your workouts.

This Active.com article 3 Ways to Make Every Workout Fun touts the importance of mixing things up and making workouts fun so that you will stick to them.  "Whether exercise is your passion or just a means of staying healthy, it's important to find ways to enjoy every workout. Try something new--you never know what might work for you."

1. Find a workout buddy (I think we're "virtual" workout buddies here on this blog!)
2. Add variety to your workouts
3. Set a goal for each workout

I am going to be sending an email of info to those of you who live in my local area for a free one week trial at a fitness bootcamp next week that I'm going to check out. 

Keep on truckin' and keep on blasting those calories!  Every little bit helps :)  So I know he's no exercise guru, but this cool quote I came across yesterday, think about it in light of this 10 in 6 challenge: "Nothing happens by itself...it all will come your way, once you understand that you have to make it come your way, by your own exertion." - Ben Stein.  Its up to you, beautiful ladies!  Only YOU can make you hit your goals!  You can do :)

Whatcha Eatin' Wednesday?

Snacking helps you lose weight?  Seriously?! Seriously.  Check out this Mayo Clinic article and this Runners World article that shows how and why it's important to eat often and lightly if you want to lose weight.  Here are the benefits to snacking lightly and in moderation all day long, as opposed to the yo-yo of huge meals and interrim starvation:

• Helps manage hunger
• Helps reduce bingeing
• Conducive to grab-and-go busy schedules
• Supply body with constant energy instead of valleys and troughs
• Spread calories evenly through the day
• Fuels you up for workouts
• Helps you get in a wide variety of nutrients
• Sustain blood sugar levels (which reduces cravings)
• Keeps metabolism revved up high (which burns more calories)

Need some new healthy snack ideas that are around 100-200 calories and packed w/ nutrients & energy?  There are so many suggestions out there, including great suggestions in these: Glamour-8 Snacks to Eat for Weight Loss, Women's Health- Weight Loss Snacks, Yahoo Health- Best Snacks for Weight Loss, The Healthy Snacks Blog, and Shape- Grab-and-Go Snacks.

• Fresh broccoli or cauliflower w/ fat free ranch dressing
• Almonds
• Fresh or frozen berries
• Fat free or light yogurt
• Hummus w/ whole wheat pita chips
• Hummus w/ carrot or celery sticks
• Half an avocado
• Cherry tomatoes
• Laughing Cow cheese rounds
• Mini-bag of microwave kettle corn or popcorn
• Mini Clif bar
• Handful of cereal or granola
• Kashi bars
• One packet of instant oatmeal
• Whole wheat roll
• Fat free, sugar free chocolate pudding or mousse
• Little chocolate milk chug
• Protein shake
• Banana
• Fresh pineapple cubes
• Skinny Cow mint chocolate ice cream sandwich
• 10 Olives
• Half an english muffin w/ marmalade
• Low-fat cottage cheese
• Hard-boiled egg or egg whites
• Edamame
• Whole dill pickles
• Smartfood popcorn clusters

What are your favorite healthy snacks??? I can't wait to see them all! I posted the pics of my absolute favs on here :)

Tuesday Motivation

Good morning, beautiful ladies :) A huge part about being successful in hitting weight loss goals is attributable to being motivated, obviously.  Read through this fun list of 20 Weight Loss Motivation Tips.  Does one strike you particularly strong- something that if you did it now would help you stay on track? Share it with us! 

Zero in on #1 for today's post: "Weight loss motivation is all about desire rather than willpower...List all your reasons for wanting to lose weight, or stay healthy and slim."  Share with us your reasons and your motivation!

Amy F. had a wonderful FB status last night that she exclaimed she CAN have willpower :)  You all CAN have willpower!  Have a phenomenal day today, ladies!

First Day :)

Ready to hit the ground running? You ladies are all going to do great :)  I am very excited! First thing first, this blog is to encourage positivity in hitting our goals. Please make comments as encouraging as you can. If you're having a horribly rotten day, then we'd love it if you would just skip that day and comment the next day; no problem, we all go through that. Second, first thing this morning log into your My Fitness Pal free profile, click on check-in, and enter in today's weight and other body measurements (customizable for which ones you want to track). You'll want to do this after you use the restroom and before you eat breakfast if possible. Check out the "How to Accurately Weight and Measure Yourself" link on the left sidebar. This is your starting point. Second, track what you eat and track what you burn off in exercise in the My Fitness Pal profile. We'll only weigh in once per week and we'll only measure once every three weeks.
Here's a little Metabolism 101 lesson for us: Your body has a base metabolic rate that is the amount of calories your body naturally burns just by breathing in and out each day, pumping your heart, operating bodily functions, etc. There are additional calories your body requires just in normal walking around in everyday life (why MFP asks if you're usually sedentary, moderately active, etc.).   These things contribute to the goal of net calories that MFP determines (diff for each of us) with our stated weight loss goal.  Whatever you burn above the net calorie goal you eat.  The basics of losing weight is that you burn more calories than you take in (a.k.a. calorie deficit). The more complicated explanation of losing weight is that different behaviors, foods, and workouts lend themselves to increasing the rate at which you burn calories (metabolism) or some foods will burn faster and more efficiently than other foods or will sustain your energy for longer than other foods, etc. We'll talk more about that later. So this being day one, just try to, in the words of Abby from the Biggest Loser, "Watch your calories. Keep moving. It works."
Google metabolism and weight loss then share with us what you learn or already knew about how to pump up our metabolisms and make them burn more efficiently! We are calling the crash cart to rescue our sleepy metabolisms and make them amped up and ready to rock this next six weeks! I know you all can do this challenge and hit your goals if you DECIDE you can and DECIDE to challenge your excuses and DECIDE to do whatever hard work it takes to make it happen :)