First Day of the New Challenge

Good morning, weight loss wonder women! Hope you’re feeling great this morning- excited, refreshed, and rejuvenated for a fantastic 6 weeks ahead of us. For those who are brand new- Amy F., Carla, Isolde, Marnie, & Marin (the original creator of this blog now back post-baby)-WELCOME! Can’t wait to get to know you better & hear all you have to contribute to this great group of ladies. For the rest of us who are continuing on from previous challenges- let’s ramp it up a level to really bring it this time around!

To all of us, we have our own individual excuses for falling out of fitness or for gaining that extra weight over the years or for not getting our sneakers on or for not finding the time to work out or for not having the energy to plan healthy eating. Only you can determine what your excuses are, and chances are you know them better than you’d like to know them- you’re intimate bosom buddies w/ those dang excuses. Many are going to be unique to just you and your psyche or just you and your current living dynamics. But whatever those excuses are, determine today that you’re going to do your darndest to challenge them! Sever the umbilical cord to those excuses that kept you plump and sedated. Adios, excuses! It’s a daily choice to challenge them- it’s not a once at the beginning of this challenge. For many of us, it’s multiple times every day even AFTER you think you have a habit established. And speaking of habits, it takes at LEAST a good 6 weeks to develop a habit, so give yourself the full 6 weeks of trying really hard to live a healthy lifestyle. Show your body who is boss. Mind over matter. Daily decisions on our attitude. Feel GREAT again!

This morning you should have weighed in and taken your body measurements (whatever areas you want to track: I like tracking a ton of areas like waist, hips, bum, thighs, calves, ribcage, bust, neck, upper arm, etc. Gosh darn it, I’m gonna see a millimeter loss somewhere :) You also should have entered these measurements into your My Fitness Pal profile and made sure that today’s starting weight is the only weight that shows up in there so that your badge on the ride side of this blog starts at ZERO lbs lost. For instructions on that, see the last post, or let me know and I can walk you through it.

Starting today, you're going to begin tracking everything you eat or drink in MFP and tracking every calorie you burn in MFP.  Whatever you entered in for your goals, MFP will determine a daily net calorie value that you should aim for.  If you workout and burn x number of calories, then you eat the calories you burn to get to that net calorie value.  Make sense?  You'll should get it when you play around w/ it enough, but let me know what questions you have & I can help you walk through it.

Alright, blog housekeeping out of the way, how are you all feeling today????!!!! Browse all the side bar names, bios, and rewards. Comment on today’s post by clicking “Challengers Check-in” underneath the post. You may have to log in w/ your Google/Blogger account (free to create one if you don’t have one already) or you can also just make it an anonymous comment, but tell us who you so we know. Introduce yourselves, welcome the new gals, and share w/ everybody (even if you did before) exactly WHY you’re going to lose this weight. I love this part!  Hearing everyone's reasons is motivating for all of us!

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???

Feel Good Friday

Happy New Year, Ten-in-Sixers!!!!!!!  Doesn't it feel awesome to have ALREADY been doing phenomenal things for yourselves and your bodies BEFORE new year's resolution time?  Yay, you!  Welcome, 2010!

Here is a fun New Year's quote I found:
“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.” -Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Think about your Most Amazing Future.  This is something we talk about a lot in the business world, with various coaches & authors touting the advice.  If you could think about your most amazing future possible, not just a cool future, not just a so-so future, not just the future that you think will probably happen, but DREAM HUGE and think about your absolute most amazing future, absolute best case scenario, if there was sno limit whatsoever to your dreams.  Take a piece of paper, write in big letters in the middle of it My Most Amazing Future.  Then all around it in smaller lettering, write all the things that are in your most amazing future, whether its qualities, characteristics, actions, habits, locations, activities, feats, accomplishments, whatever it might be.  And when you think you have it complete, DREAM BIGGER!  Add more.  Add it until the whole page is full.  If you want, do this as a family for an activity and come up with your FAMILY's most amazing future. 

Check out this audio clip that is the audio version of the emailed message I got earlier this week from the motivator Jon Gordon, that's kept me excited. 

Think about your goals within that Most Amazing Future (some of them will be short-term goals and some of them will be 30-year goals, that's ok).  Every choice every day will take you closer to that most amazing future or it will keep you stalled where you're at.  LEAP despite your self-doubts.  In that moment  when you're on the edge of decision, on the edge of choice in your attitude, remember that you have a choice- to give up or keep striving forward.  No longer allow fear to paralyze you.  No longer allow your self-doubt to limit your potential.  Be excited to jump into the ocean of abundance!!!!!  Take a leap of fate.  No one is going to push you over the chasm of struggle to create the life that you want.  YOU must take the leap!

What are a couple of things from that Most Amazing Future that MOST excite you?????????  Share a couple that are fitness related maybe....

Our Creation Boxes

I love them all!  I hope those of you who participated in this second side-challenge had a good time capturing via your creativity all the goals and dreams you have in quotes, pictures, clippings, etc.  4 of us did it that I have emailed pics of so far...but send them later on and I'll add them in :)

AMY F:

-Rollerblades - because I LOVE the feeling I get when I rollerblade and I want to get back into it

-Tennis - Tennis makes me happy and I would love to be in a tennis league or tournament someday

-My boys - why I try to stay healthy.

-Skiing - there is a rush that comes with this sport, and I want to get back into that too.

-5K run - One of my goals in the next year or 2.

-Me and Dave - our engagement picture - where I want to be weight wise!!! When I felt the sexiest!

I also have a list of a ba-zillion things that I want to do before I'm fifty - some are physical things, some are vacation things, but all things I want to experience in life!

This was a great thing to do, and I have mine now on my window ledge above my kitchen sink, where I am most of the day! hahah!

NICKI:

My printer hasn't been working so I couldn't print any photos off. I'll definitely add to it though. :) Basically I wrote down all of my "Why's" along with all of the other things you suggested. I also included a bunch of other goals and dreams that I'm headed towards that don't have anything to do with health, but definitely go along with the person I want to become. Thanks for getting us to do this, it was very good for me!

MEGHAN:

Here's my creation board! I put pics of my family and me to remember who I want to b healthy for. I have a pic of a cruise liner and Bora Bora b/c that's where I want to go looking all hot and sassy! The Berbee Derby runners are on there. And most important, two quotes with happiness in the center reminding me that I hold in the palm of my hand.

SARAH W:

My jar is filled with a whole bunch of quotes I love all about us becoming what we think about the most, about dreaming big, about letting the inner us guide us along, about achieving goals. 

Same with Nicki, my things in the jar aren't all physical fitness goals.  A lot of them are things I want to accomplish in my life, like run a bunch of marathons in fun places, look smokin' hot on our vacation to Hawaii next  June, have toned arms & shoulders, have a home filled with redheaded kiddos, have snuggly pups, be an active and healthy mom, and finish a century cycling ride (100 miles).  I also have some clippings from some magazines of some cute skinny clothes I want to buy. 

I plan on adding to this jar throughout the next year or so.  I love it.  Absolutely adore it :)  I shared all its contents and quotes with my hubby and it was a really good experience. 

And I love that you all have opened your hearts and spirits and shared such beautiful dreams and goals with me over the last 5 weeks!  I appreciate and cherish each of your contributions, words of encouragement, tips & ideas, and overall support.  YOU are what makes any one of our fitness programs a long-term lifestyle change and not just a temporary kick.  THANK YOU!!!!!

I know a couple others of you were working on boxes of your own.  Whenever you do finish, and no pressure, no rush, email me it and I'll post it on here :)  Keep dreaming big!  What you think about yourself and your future is what you'll become...

Tuesday Motivation

"I've forgotten what I've started fighting for" is more than just an REO Speedwagon song :) Do you remember what you are fighting for in this challenge in deciding to take on your bad habits and excuses?

Sarah: To lose weight and feel sexier, more confident, and healthier
Sarah F: To reprogram her brain to reprioritize exercise, to tone up her legs
Nicole: To lose weight to feel better in her own skin again, to teach her kids a healthy lifestyle
Linds: To maintain her weight, exercise regularly, get toned, and eat healthily
Jessie: To get back into her playing-sports-every-day-body, exercise 3x a week, eat healthy foods
Kristin: To feel strong, healthy, and confident, to develop good eating and exericse habits so it's easier to keep good study habits
Valerie: To lose weight and be able to run a 4 hour marathon again
Meghan: To lose weight to look and feel better, to take better care of herself so she can take better care of those she loves
Jamie: To lose weight and keep running half marathons
Michele: To lose weight
Shanda: To lose weight to have the energy she used to have
Laura: To lose weight to fit into her pre-baby jeans
Tara: To lose weight and not eat fast food anymore

All of us have noble causes we're fighting for. YOU are worth improving and strengthening! YOU are worth all the time and effort you've been putting in the last 5 weeks. YOU deserve to hit your goals. No one is going to change you but you. Don't be afraid of the sweat sessions this week, pushing it hard, eating lots of healthy veggies, fitting in extra workouts, and just loving yourself.



Sometime today, close your eyes for a minute and visualize your goals above being achieved. Dream in HD :) Imagine you having hit your goal. How do you feel? How do you look? How is your energy? How does that affect other aspects of your life and relationships? How is your confidence? Are you smiling? Are you doing things you weren't able to do previously? Are you happy?

Weekend Motivation

Try to be good this weekend and check-in is on Monday morning, along with the first one-week side challenge starting up :) Maybe a little reminder of why we're doing what we're doing will help us all have a tremendously successful weekend full of long sweat sessions and fresh wholesome foods :) Your motivation and enthusiasm has contagiously bouyed me up. Thank you all for participating in the first week of the challenge. Your beautiful bodies thank you, too!

Why do you want to lose 10 lbs in 6 weeks?

For me, I want to lose weight to feel sexier and more confident. Yes, you can argue that's a state of mind, just a decision that you make, but for me, when I look great I feel great, and when I feel great, I feel confident, and when I feel confident, I feel sexy & powerful & like nothing in the world can stop me ;) I might be addicted to the "high" of losing a pound. But I think that's a pretty sweet "high" to have! Another lesser side reason for me to lose weight is to become the healthiest vessel possible for a future baby (sometime in the next few years). I want unhealhty habits kicked to the curb long before that time happens and I want to be physically fit.