Feel Good Friday

Good morning, slimmin' women :)  Everyone's comments yesterday were great- I am so impressed with all that movin' & shakin' going on! 

Fridays are all about positive mental vibes, each of us inspiring ourselves and each other to hold strong through the weekend to our commitments.  Often, the huge chasm between doing the healthy lifestyle and bingeing has to do with a teeny tiny mental dialogue we have with ourselves.  The biggest one I used to fall victim to a lot was "Oh, well, who cares, this little thing isn't going to make a difference" and another one was "I worked so hard- I deserve this!"  BIG pitfalls!  I think that's why I love this article so much: 7 Mental Tricks That Shed Pounds.

I think to change our internal dialogue, we first need to reflect on all of our accomplishments and hard work, acknowledging our little successes, the decisions where we made the right choice, each bead of sweat that dripped from our bodies, every time we reached for the veggies and fruit, etc.  After you've got your good base foundation of feeling proud of yourself, then add to that all the things that you are grateful for, building your resolve tall and strong.  Then finally, after you're filled to the brim with good pride and gratitude, add a little roof to that tower, a roof of all of us 10 in 6 gals who are in your same position, who are trying our hardest, who are cheering for you and supporting you.  That's a pretty good looking building, eh?  :)  YOU are amazing and YOU deserve to feel confident, sexy, and proud NOW of all you've accomplished this week!  YOU are showing your excuses and old habits who's boss!  YOU are defining who you are and what you will become, not letting life just happen to you.  YOU rock, girls :) 

Here's the first side-challenge, should you choose to participate :)  This will run from today to next Friday morning.  Those who participate and email me their plan by next Friday morning will be entered into a drawing for a fun little prize that I'll give or mail to you. 

Date nights or Girls Nights Out don't have to be nights and they don't have to be centered around a 10lb italian pasta dinner with a dozen breadsticks- challenge the traditional notion of dates/GNO! Schedule a fun and active adventure instead! Plan and schedule a big active activity for you and a significant other or for you and a girlfriend to do some day within the remaining 5 weeks of this challenge. Pencil in the date, get confirmation from the other particpant, and then let me know via email what your plan is! Once I get them all, I'll make a post of them (censoring specifics so we're stalker-free). Come up with even better ideas than I have here :)  Is there an indoor rock wall gym near you that you and a friend could go to for a few hours of workout and laughter? Is there local gym that you and a friend could try out a "free-look" day pass at (pretend you're interested in joining) and take a spinning class, or take a dancing class, then relax in the pool, sauna, or hot tub afterwards? Is there a local dance studio that you and a friend could venture into for one lesson? Is there a yoga studio you've been wanting to check out that you and a friend could make a date to pop in for one session- maybe try Bikram if you've never tried it before? Is there a local ice skating rink or roller rink? Is there a state park that you and a friend could plan a hike through? Is there a local park district cross-country ski class that you could sign up for? Plan an afternoon or evening at a ski resort learning how to snowboard or ski with a friend (many places offer highly discounted evening passes from 5pm to 10pm). Try something new! The key here is to HAVE FUN and to be creative! And when we do it with a friend or spouse, we have even MORE FUN! Show your friend/spouse the new committment you've made to live life with spontenaity and fun, to be active, to make workouts an adventure! "When a friend is waiting for you, you're less likely to back out!"

Feel the Burn Thursdays

Good morning, calorie blasting beauties :)

Have you gotten in any good workouts this week?  What do you have planned for the weekend?

Here are my two favorite moves right now that are both kind of fun :)  Wacky Jacks that really work your obliques (sides of your core) and Swing Kicks (horrible quality video but all I could find on you tube) that really work your hips, quads, hamstrings, and lower abs. 

Did you know that your public library has workout DVDs you can check out for free (even TurboJam & all the expensive infomercial DVDs)?  And Wal-mart has all the Biggest Loser and Jillian Michaels workout DVDs for around $9 each?  Do you have a gym membership & go to the gym?  Do you practice yoga, running, cycling....?  Do you have equipment at home you use? 

Whatcha Eatin' Wednesday

Good morning, healthy girls! 

Here's the simplest explanation for weight loss that you all know: You burn more calories than you consume.

Here's a little bit more complicated explanation: If you cut calories alone and don't exercise or strength train, the weight that you lose will be a good portion fat but also a good portion muscle.  Exercising combined with a reduced calorie diet will help you preserve muscle.

Here's a little more indepth look at the calories you're eating:  Eating highly processed foods doesn't take your body much energy to digest (an article from two weeks ago that we shared on here equated highly processed fast food to partially-digested food---ick!) and eating more "raw" or "natural" type foods like veggies, fruits, nuts, etc. take your body a lot of energy to digest and burn, thus burning more calories!  So over time, as you're getting used to a reduced calorie diet, you'll find via trial and error, that some foods just stick with you longer and some make you feel more satisfied, while others feel empty.

And here's what I'm really interested in studying out as of late: Will certain foods (i.e. high protein foods) further yet increase the fat lost vs muscle lost ratio?  We already know that high protein foods help us feel fuller longer, help our muscles repair and grow stronger, and give us lots of energy.  And we know that six 300 calorie meals/snacks are healthier for our metabolism and mental satisfaction than three 600 calorie meals.

Ok, ok, enough technical mumbo jumbo, but please do share if any of you guys know something or feel like researching the subject :)

Today's the day where we swap snack ideas and meal recipes :) So what have you been eating?????  What are your favorite healthy recipes?  Any yummy snacks you've come across?  Speaking to Kim's question, can you share breakfast & lunch ideas, too?

Tuesday's Motivation

Good morning, weight loss wonderwomen! Your "whys" behind embarking on this challenge are great :) How did your first day go? The beginning of any new fitness adventure, or any goal for that matter, enjoys high motivation. This post will hopefully help us all prolong that motivation for the long haul, so we can all hit our goals!

There are a few really short articles for you all to check out. This one is all about how to stick to the great goals that you've set for yourselves. Scheduling in workouts and treating them as a high priority in my day has helped me a lot. I love how it suggests to focus not on what you have left to accomplish but focus on your mini-successes. This one is about the importance of surrounding yourself with positive people, a network of friends and family who are dedicated to you achieving your goal. Share what you're undertaking with your spouse, boyfriend, best friend. Tell them why you're doing what you're doing. Try to spend more time with those friends or family members who are positive and less time with those who are negative. This one talks about motivation for beginning exercisers. Check out the fourth tip. It's exactly what yesterday's post was about! When you're feeling low, go back to yesterday's post and read why you're doing what you're doing. Remind yourself this is a lifestyle change and not some little fad or race. Your reasons for why are passionate, important, and worthy of you giving it your all. You can do it!

This blog's mantra is to Challenge your Excuses. Each of us has excuses, some more than others, but they're debilitating and crippling sometimes. Only we know what our own excuses are, and likewise, only we can make the consious decision to challenge them. Every morning we make a choice if we're going to sit idly by and let those excuses steamroll us OR if we're going to step up to them and try our darndest to challenge them. Ask for tips & tricks from other ladies on here! Re-evaluate your schedule. Decide that your healthy lifestyle is a priority for all the reasons you gave yesterday. Find a way to work out at home before the kids wake up or find a way to involve them in your workout or swap babysitting with a friend a few days a week for an hour. Try working out on your lunch hour or in the morning if you're too tired in the evening. Put the effort into making up a healthy meal plan and buying healthy snacks so that you eliminate the "it takes too much time to eat healthy" excuse. Whatever your excuse, decide today to challenge it!

Today, comment and tell us all how your first day went, what are your initial thoughts, what in any of the 3 articles struck home with you for your particular situation, and what you're going to do this week to challenge your excuses!!!!!!

Monday Morning Check-in

Good morning, girls!  22!!!  That's how many ladies are on the same boat as you, about ready to give it their all just like you, ready to challenge their excuses and rock this challenge just like you! So exciting!

So this morning everybody should weigh in and measure.  Record your weight and measurements in your MFP profile by clicking on the "My Home" tab, then click on "Check-in."  When you're all done entering in your data, click "Save Changes."  If you've already entered data into MFP before with another challenge or something, be sure to then click "Edit Previous Entries" and delete out your old weights (you can keep measurements in there, that doesn't matter) so that today's weight is the only weight in there.  You can also customize which body parts you want to measure and track.  Click on "Change Measurements" and at the bottom you can type whatever you want in the empty box to add your own.  I like hips, bum, thigh, calf, upper arm, waist, ribcage, & bust.  You can track more or less, whatever your preference is.  When you're ready to start tracking today's calories consumed, click the "food" tab, then "add food" under whatever meal you want.  You can customize the names and # of meals, too, by clicking "settings" and change "meal names" or you can customize the nutrients that show up on your daily summary by clicking "settings" and change "nutrients tracked."  I like to have breakfast, late morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner.  And I like to have fiber & sodium on my front page, too.  So ENOUGH housekeeping :) On to the fun stuff!

You've got your journey started now! Yay!  We're all going to be very different in what season we're at in life and what we do on a daily basis, but this connects us to a common purpose.  I find it SOOOO inspiring to hear everybody's "why" and their inspiration for losing weight.  Please comment on this post and share with us all WHY DO YOU WANT TO LOSE THE WEIGHT???  WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO DO IT???  HOW WILL YOU FEEL WHEN YOU LOSE THE WEIGHT???  WHAT WILL YOU BE ABLE TO DO WHEN YOU LOSE THTE WEIGHT???  WHY ARE YOU GIVING THIS BLOG A SHOT???  WHY WHY WHY???