Monica’s Birthday Challenge- We Have a Winner!!!
Before I announce the winner I would like to take a minute and say a few things.
To everyone who participated in the challenge; thank you! This has been so much fun for me; creating new challenges weekly and pushing myself. You have been great support during a time when I needed you the most.
I am even more thankful because this challenge reminded me of the importance of having a good support team and camaraderie through this journey. Although I am the only one accountable for my progress I know that I am not in this alone and that is the best feeling. You guys are all so amazing, I hope you recognize that and feel proud of everything you have accomplished and excited for everything you will.
Also, I need to mention that there is another weight loss challenge, similar to this one, that is about to start in just a few weeks on May 12. It is going to be hosted by follow MBC participant Sarah (@SarahLou1976, http://uktocalifornia.blogspot.com) and it sounds awesome. Read about the details here. I am going to do it. I am hoping this helps keep me pushing myself through the summer, working my way toward goal. Are you up for it? I hope so! Because I am totally going to kick your butt. Just kidding. Well, kind of 😉
By now you are probably ready for me to get to the good part- announcing the winner so I will get right to it.
Drumroll please….da da da da da da da da…
Congratulations Alexis! Miss @divaonadiet, you are the official winner of Monica’s Birthday Challenge with an astounding 9.18% loss! Great job! That is beyond amazing! Please email me so we can discuss the details of your winnings! 🙂
Again, thank you to everyone who participated. You all made this such a fun competition. Love you guys!
Thanks for reading!
Monica’s Birthday Challenge: Week 7 Results and Week 8 Challenge
Another week has come to an end for Monica’s Birthday Challenge. We now have just one week remaining in the challenge. Crazy!
Are you happy with your progress so far? If not, know that you have the power to make this week different. You can change your path starting now so do it. No excuses!
The results are in and our current leader is still Alexis A. (@divaonadiet) with a total loss of 8.29% so far. I am not even kidding, that is really her number. Woo hoo! Congrats Alexis! That’s pretty amazing! Would you care to share your secrets? 😉
I am so proud of Alexis and the progress she has made but if there is one thing I have learned by watching her weight drop every week is that this challenge, this competition, is personal and unique for each of us. I cannot compare myself to Alexis and wonder what I am doing wrong, why I am not getting the same results as her. All I can do is to be honest with myself, make the best choices I can and try my hardest and whatever the results are is how my body reacts to those choices. I cannot change that. We can only do our best and have to be satisfied with the outcome regardless of whether that number is 8%, 4% or .50%- if we gave it our best we have to be happy with the results. Each day we chose to put our health and wellness first is a victory. I am so proud of all of you for making the choice to do so!
Are you ready for week 8 and our last challenges?
Challenge 1: Minutes…Make them count!
Can you dedicate this week to exercise? I hope so. I hope each of you can carve out some time every day for yourself. It’s important. We need it.
This challenge has two levels; you pick which one you would like to attempt.
Level 1: 200 minutes of fitness. That is roughly 30 minutes a day. For those of us that are super busy, work, kids, travel, etc, 30 minutes a day is still doable. Take a walk on your lunch break. Pop in a DVD after the kids are asleep. Anybody can take 200 minutes out 10,080 minutes in a week for themself, right?
Level 2: 300 minutes of fitness. This is roughly 45 minutes a day. This is a little more intense of a challenge geared to those who have a more flexible schedule and like to spend a bit longer at the gym/working out. Still totally doable for a busy person. It’s only 300 minutes out of 10,080- that’s not even 3% of your week. Yeah, you can do this!
Challenge 2: H20 Baby!
It is only right that if I tell you to bust your butt this week on the fitness side that I also challenge you to make sure you are drinking enough water. This because even more important when you are working out because you need to replenish what you sweat out. Also, this is just something I do and I am not 100% sure if I am correct in doing so but I do not count the water I drink at the gym/immediately after as part of my intake since it is replenishing what was already in my body. For me I do a minimum of 2 liters a day in addition to what I drink working out. A good rule of thumb for water intake is drinking half of your weight in ounces of water or 64 oz, whichever is higher. Can you drink that every day? I think we should try to reach our recommended water intake every day this week.
Challenge 3: No Crap!
There are certain things that I think are just crap for our body. Meaning they either do more harm than good or no good at all. The reality is, if we eat calorie dense food with no nutrients (think fast food) that our body won’t feel satisfied. It is why we can eat an insane amount of calories at a meal and still feel hungry a few hours later. It is why obesity is out of control in this country. We are over fed and nutrient deprived. It’s SAD- the Standard American Diet.
Choosing to eat foods that are full of nutrients satisfy our bodies, leave us feeling full and decrease our chances of overeating while also giving us the nutrients we NEED to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Foods with vitamins, minerals and essential amino acids in addition to fat, carbs, protein and fiber. All of these things are imperative for our health.
Without me going into foods I think are crap that may be more difficult for people to eliminate from their diet I will just pick some of the key players and let you decide which one you would like to eliminate this week.
Soda– I haven’t drank soda in I don’t know how long. Maybe 10 months. I used to be a junky (I only drank diet soda all day long, like easily a 2L a day) but now soda disgusts me. Filled with high fructose corn syrup (or other nasty chemicals if you drink diet) and caffeine and whole slew of bizarre shit we probably shouldn’t be putting in our body. It provides us with zero nutrients, it dehydrates us, and it adds in bad chemicals that we work so hard to flush from our system by drinking water. It does nothing good for our body at all. And if you care to know, I feel the same way about pretty much any flavored beverages like Crystal Light or any artificial sweetened drinks. I drink herbal tea and water only but I wasn’t always that way. I am just saying it is possible to break the addiction, if you want to.
Chips/French Fries– the result of following the Standard American Diet shows that half of our fruit and vegetable intake (which is only 12% of what we are eating, very sad)comes from one vegetable in particular. POTATOES. My guess is that the 6% potato intake comes from crappy fries and chips not healthy baked potatoes. Potatoes are not the enemy. Well not until you strip away all the nutrients they provide (like fiber from the skin) and then deep fry them adding in fat, usually the bad kind. Or maybe just as bad, take a healthy baked potato and load it up with bacon, cheese, butter, sour cream. Yes you get some protein from bacon but really you just added in fat, fat, fat, and fat. Yes, we do need fat to survive. Fat intake is important but in the land of good fats and bad I lump butter, cheese and milk in the bad fat category but I understand if you don’t feel the same. Everything in moderation, right? I eat baked potatoes and sweet potatoes pretty regularly and when I add in my fat it comes from avocado or beans (both of which provide more than just fat) and am completely satisfied after I eat and never feel deprived. So, this week I challenge you to give up potato chips and french fries and try swapping them out for healthy baked potatoes with yummy and nutritious toppings.
Candy/Cake/Cookies-sugar, especially white seems to be the number one enemy of the Standard American Diet. There is sugar in everything. EVERYTHING. That’s how I felt when we did the sugar challenge a few weeks ago and realized it was added into almost every packaged food I bought. Crazy. Another junk food item I feel we could all do better without is sweets. Again, when you look at what it is you are eating and how much sugar is in it maybe a week without sweets is a good thing. Not all sweets are bad, I know dark chocolate has antioxidants which are important but it doesn’t mean to eat a whole cake just because it has dark chocolate frosting. I think a piece of dark chocolate now and again isn’t a bad thing. It’s the bags of candy, cookies and cakes that we eat too many of too frequently is a bad thing. Too much sugar is no bueno so take a week and try to live without it. If you want sweets eat a piece of fruit. I particularly like to keep frozen white grapes on hand in the summer for a cool, sweet treat.
So there are three food items I consider crap. Pick one and eliminate it from your diet this week. There are healthy swaps for all three so you don’t need to feel deprived. Deprivation is never a good thing but finding healthy items to replace the junk is.
Good luck and thanks for reading!
MB Challeneg: Week Six Results and Week Seven Challenge
Another week has come to an end for Monica’s Birthday Challenge. We are now 3/4 of the way through the challenge. Crazy how fast those six weeks flew by!
Are you happy with your progress so far? If not, know that you have the power to make this week different. You can change your path starting now so do it. No excuses!
The results are in and our current leader is still Alexis A. (@divaonadiet) with a total loss of 6.51% so far. Woo hoo! Congrats Alexis! That’s pretty amazing! Would you care to share your secrets? 😉
I am so proud of Alexis and the progress she has made but if there is one thing I have learned by watching her weight drop every week is that this challenge, this competition, is personal and unique for each of us. I cannot compare myself to Alexis and wonder what I am doing wrong, why I am not getting the same results as her. All I can do is to be honest with myself, make the best choices I can and try my hardest and whatever the results are is how my body reacts to those choices. I cannot change that. We can only do our best and have to be satisfied with the outcome regardless of whether that number is 6.51% or 0.51%- if we gave it our best we have to be happy with the results. Each day we chose to put our health and wellness first is a victory. I am so proud of all of you for making the choice to do so!
Are you ready for week 7 and the new challenges?
Challenge 1: Miles or Reps- You Choose
Last week we racked up the miles and although I loved this challenge I know there is a large number of people doing this challenge who focus on weight/strength training. Since I don’t want to exclude them this week I am going to change the challenge to miles or reps.
Walk/Run: 16 miles
Bike: 60 miles
Reps: 500 My logic behind the 500 was this; I know I usually do 30 reps of an exercise or on a machine. I figured 5 machines/exercises would be 150 reps. Three times a week equals 450 reps. Rounded up to make a nice even 500. Seems realistic, right?
Challenge 2: 100% Perfection
This week I want you to pick one thing you are struggling with and do it every day, no skippsies! So if you are struggling with your water intake try for 100 oz a day for all seven days. If you hate tracking but know it works (cough, cough wink, wink) then track for all seven days. Even Easter/Passover. No free passes this week.
Challenge 3: NO CANDY
I really wanted to say this challenge will include today and that you can’t have any candy whatsoever but then you might think of me more like a dictator, not a friend. So for this challenge I say go ahead and have a couple pieces (2-3) today. Don’t go crazy. WW peeps those fun size bars are like 2 PP and if you have just 5 of them that’s ten points. That’s the equivalent of a meals worth of points. And guess what? You’ll still be hungry because they provide no nutrients to your body. So have a piece or two, paired with some fruit for a filling snack and then step away from the candy. You’ll be very happy you did.
Then tomorrow when you are in a house/office filled with leftover candies be strong. Fight the temptation. Arm yourself with good, filling, healthy alternatives and walk away. We are all strong enough to beat the candy monster.
Ok, so that’s about it for this week. Are you ready for the challenges? I hope so.
Happy Holidays!
Good luck and thanks for reading!
MB Challenge: My Progress
I have been really struggling with my blog lately. It’s been a combination of not enough free time and not enough new topics that have kept me from getting in regular posts. I apologize about that and am going to try to do better with posting more frequently.
Having a lot on my plate is not really a good excuse though. Who doesn’t have a lot on their plate? Everyone I know is busy so if my fellow bloggers can write multiple posts a week then so can I.
Today I want to share with you my progress in Monica’s Birthday Challenge. Although I am not eligible to win it I am still tracking my progress and participating in the challenges. So far I have lost 4.61% percent of my starting weight going from 178.0 down to 169.8 pounds. I am pretty pleased with my progress so far. Getting my workouts in during the AM definitely helps as well as tri training and having a new bike that I love to ride. I am guessing you figured that out when you saw this week’s miles challenge.
Speaking of the miles challenge so far I have rode for 27.27 miles (20.4 on my bike, 6.87 at the gym) and have walked/ran 2.69 miles. I am over halfway to my 50 mile bike goal but less than 20% to my 15 mile walk/run goal. Definitely need to step it up on the walk/run portion.
I planned on going for a walk last night but I was just so exhausted, my body had a different plan. I hit the gym in the AM and then had my lunch time yoga class so no, I didn’t feel guilty not getting in a walk last night. Yes, I want to reach the 15 mile goal but not if it means overexerting myself. My body was tired; it needed rest so that is what I gave it.
Tuesday is my Weight Watchers meeting at work so I don’t normally workout. I try to take it easy on my weigh in day and so I won’t be hitting the gym at any point today. I will, however, be heading out for Girls Night later this evening. We are having our second girls only outing at the roller skating rink. I am super excited. Not only is skating a great way to have fun while being active it also allows you to be carefree for a few hours. I totally feel like a 12 year old when I am out there. I don’t think about work or other life stressors and just focus on skating and having fun with my girls. It’s great.
My workout plan for the rest of the week includes; swimming (W, F), yoga (W), Couch to 5K week 6 days 2 &3 (Th, Sat), stationary bike (Th, Sat), cycling (W, F, Sun) and walking (Th, F, Sat) and I am pretty excited. Oh and how can I forget Kick-Ass April and Six-Pack March from the Sisterhood? I am doing squats, burpees, wall sits, push-ups, sit-ups and planks daily, too.
I wanted to point out that if you are following the Kick-Ass April routine set up by the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans the burpees are in seconds, not reps. So for day one it was 30 seconds of burpees not 30 burpees. Just wanted to clarify that since I have heard from several people that they thought it was reps. It’s not, don’t kill yourself doing burpees. 😉
Although I have been doing really good with tracking I have not been doing really good with food choices. This weekend I ate a lot of junk and drank more than I probably should have. So for this week I am trying to make better choices. For my lunches this week, I made a batch of Asian Inspired Vegetable Soup (recipe courtesy of Weight Watchers) to which I added some thin rice noodles to make it a little more substantial. I will be having my standard salad with that, too.
For breakfasts I am going to start my day with a pre-workout meal of a banana and an almond date roll. Post workout I will have a Vega recovery drink and then a Vega One nutritional shake. I switched over to the nutritional shake instead of my normal green monster smoothie because it is filled with so much good stuff and so much faster to prepare in the morning it is totally worth the additional cost.
For dinners this week we are having; BBQ mushroom sandwiches, pasta primavera, pitas with veggies and healthy hummus, pad thai and a red quinoa lentil tart. I am still not sure if we will have a special dinner for Easter Sunday but I do plan on making baked quinoa oatmeal for breakfast that day. I did just see that Engine 2 posted on their blog some Easter meal ideas so I am going to definitely check that out.
So, that about wraps up my week; how I plan to complete the two fitness challenges along with what I am eating which will hopefully help me conquer the food challenge as well. I would love to see another loss this week and am hoping this plan helps me get there.
How are you facing your challenges this week?
Thanks for reading!
MB Challenge: Week Five Results and Week Six Challenge
Another week has come to an end for Monica’s Birthday Challenge. We only have a few weeks left so it’s about to get crazy. I am about to become your worst enemy. OK, I may be exaggerating but the reality is you might not like me very much after you see this week’s challenges. Yep, challenges. Plural. Three in fact. But we have some business to take care of first.
The results are in and our current leader is still Alexis A. (@divaonadiet) with a total loss of 4.91% so far. Woo hoo! Congrats Alexis! That’s pretty amazing!
I just have to mention that this has been the closest leaderboard to date. Someone is right behind Alexis at 4.90%. Isn’t that crazy? Right now first and second are within 1/100 of each other. This is still anybody’s game so keep pushing!
I’m excited to see if next week we will have a new leader or can Alexis hold on to her spot?
Congrats and good job to and to everyone who reported in this week. You may have done better, worse or as expected but by being accountable to yourself and the scale you acknowledge that this is a journey and that along it you will encounter all sorts of bumps in the road. Just keep at, be honest with yourself, and hold your head up high. You should be proud of where you are and how far you’ve come.
Are you ready for week 6 and the new challenges?
It’s about to get real up in here….lol! Yeah, I am pretty dramatic about all this. I want everyone to take it serious this week and really bring your A game!
Challenge 1: Kick-Ass April from Shrinking Jeans
I am kicking myself for not participating in the March challenge from the awesome ladies over at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. Not this month though. I am not missing out on April’s move-it challenge and I don’t want you to either. It’s a good one. The focus is on legs and it will be challenging getting through the month so let’s start with week one’s plan and go from there. Each day this week (with the exception of Saturday which is a rest day) we will be doing squats, burpees and wall sits. The post about this challenge (click here) has the whole month laid out for us as well as instructions for how to complete each exercise. I have my calendar printed and on the fridge ready to go. You won’t need but a few minutes each day to do this but I promise it will be a great and rewarding challenge. The Sisterhood doesn’t disappoint.
Challenge 2: Racking up the Miles
Ok walkers, runners, bikers, and ellipticalers (doubt that is a real word) it’s time to start counting our miles. This week I am challenging my walkers/runners/ellipticalers to log a minimum of 15 miles. And anyone who bikes/cycles I challenge you to log 50 miles. Of course you can always go crazy and try for 65 miles doing both- combining the walking/running and biking minimum goals. Did you guess that is what I am going to try for this week? I’m so predictable. If you don’t typically walk, run or bike then this is your week to give it a whirl. Walking for 30-40 minutes daily can probably get you 15 miles this week so give it a try. It’s a challenge, it should be challenging.
Challenge 3: The Hunger Games
Food. Ugh! I really would love to give you some crazy food challenges but that’s just not fair so I am going to stick with last week’s food challenge (because it doesn’t involve buying/trying anything new or spending any additional money) but with a tweak. Last week I challenged you to only eat when you are hungry and to stop eating when you are full. I talked about mindless snacking and overeating being my weaknesses and wanted us to focus on listening to our bodies and our hunger cues to eat only when we were hungry. However, I forgot to mention something equally important. If you are hungry then you need to eat. There is no way around this. If your body is telling you it needs food then listen to it. I know I struggled with this early on in WW because I would be hungry at the end of the day but not have any points left so I wouldn’t eat. That’s not good. Especially if you are exercising. Your body needs fuel. It needs to repair itself. Eat when you are hungry, stop when you are full. Seems pretty easy but it really isn’t.
Ok, so that’s about it for this week. Are you ready for the challenge? Are you ready to really push yourself this week? I hope so. I can’t wait to do some burpees tonight! Well, not really but damn if I’m not ready to challenge myself this month!
Good luck and thanks for reading!
MB Challenge: Week Four Results and Week Five Challenge
Another week has come to an end for Monica’s Birthday Challenge. We are now at the halfway point of the contest- are you where you hoped to be? If so, keep it up. If not, well I guess it’s time to step it up 🙂
Were you able to keep up with this week’s first food related challenge? Did you notice any changes in how you felt? Did it seem to help you? I hope so. For me, eliminating sugar was really helpful. I saw my weight dip into the 160’s for the first time. However, once I my TOM started I really struggled with the no sugar thing and succumbed to temptation a handful of times. Going forward I do think I will try to pay more attention and check for sugar on ingredient lists trying to limit it wherever I can.
Well, the results are in and our current leader is Alexis A. (@divaonadiet) with a total loss of 5.62% so far. Woo hoo! Congrats Alexis! That’s pretty amazing!
Another loss this week has helped to keep Alexis in the number one spot for the second week in a row. Are you ready to try to steal the lead from Alexis this week?
Congrats and good job to and to everyone who reported in this week. You may have done better, worse or as expected but by being accountable to yourself and the scale you acknowledge that this is a journey and that along it you will encounter all sorts of bumps in the road. Just keep at, be honest with yourself, and hold your head up high. You should be proud of where you are and how far you’ve come.
Are you ready for week 5 and the new challenge?
Or should I say challenges….
Yes, this week I am throwing down two challenges; one food related and one fitness related to help us all really push ourselves this week.
Food Challenge
Don’t eat when you are not hungry. Sounds easy enough, right?
This means no mindless snacking in front of the TV, no stress eating (turning to food for comfort), and it also means stop eating once you are full. These are all difficult habits to break. This week (it’s only seven days- I know we all can do this) only eat when we are truly hungry and stop eating once we are full.
Fitness Challenge
Do something that scares you. This could be a fitness class, DVD, using a new machine, trying out weights. It could even be putting on a bathing suit and swimming. Whatever. This is up to you. Only you know what you have let fear prevent you from doing. Right now I am at the place in my journey when I am starting to overcome the fears that have prevented me from trying new things and it has been so liberating. But I also don’t overlook the fact that when I was 266 pounds I started boxing (which was scary as hell) and at 260 pounds I started yoga, pilates, Nia and all other sorts of classes. So my point is you can try something new, step out of your comfort zone, at any weight and be successful.
So what scares you? What is something you have wanted to try but didn’t think you were strong enough/fit enough/ready to try? This week- just do it!
Good luck and thanks for reading!
Some Extra Motivation
I have received so much positive feedback from yesterday’s post about triathlon training and for that I am beyond grateful.
This morning I received a message from Meredith C. (@meredithclark) who is one of Monica’s Losers in the Birthday Challenge and a phenomenal and inspirational woman. She shared this story with me and it brought me to tears. I had to share it with you. Meredith is a very special person and I hope you take a few minutes to read this article.
I hope it will inspire you to promote health and wellness and become a positive role model for others the way Meredith has. I know it inspired me to follow in her footsteps.
Check it out: Meredith’s Triathlon
Thanks for reading!
MB Challenge: Week Three Results and Week Four Challenge
Another week has come to an end for Monica’s Birthday Challenge. I know this has been an interesting week for me, to say the least. It was filled with trials and triumphs and I feel like I am coming out of it ready for the next leg of my journey.
Were you able to keep up with the challenge of no excuses this week? I hope so. It helped me every time I wanted to go back to bed instead of hitting the gym in the AM.
Well, the results are in and our current leader is Alexis A. (@divaonadiet) with a total loss of 4.32% so far. Woo hoo! Congrats Alexis! That’s pretty amazing!
Are you ready to try to steal the lead from Alexis this week?
Congrats and good job to and to everyone who reported in this week. You may have done better, worse or as expected but by being accountable to yourself and the scale you acknowledge that this is a journey and that along it you will encounter all sorts of bumps in the road. Just keep at, be honest with yourself, and hold your head up high. You should be proud of where you are and how far you’ve come.
Are you ready for week 4 and the new challenge?
We’ve been focusing on fitness these past three weeks so this challenge is going to be all about the other half of the equation- food.
Through a Google search the other day I found this article on LIVESTRONG and it inspired me to turn it into a challenge. The article talks about problems associated with the typical American diet. Basically, in a very quick summary, we eat too much sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, processed/refined foods and not enough fiber. I thought about what this article said and whether or not these statements apply to my diet.
I eat A LOT of fiber. That kind of happens when your diet consists of grains, legumes and plants. So the fiber thing is not too big of a concern for me.
I don’t eat too many processed/refined foods. I try to stick to eating only whole grains and there are relatively few things I buy that are refined/processed I buy.
I don’t ingest much high-fructose corn syrup. I don’t drink soda. I really limit processed foods which helps keep the HFCS at bay.
I do, however, eat sugar. Yes, I do use organic, vegan sugar (trust me, you don’t want to know why regular sugar is not usually vegan approved) and limit the amount of white sugar I use but I still eat sugar nonetheless. Like how once a week I eat a half (or sometimes a whole) cupcake from Green or a chocolate chip cookie from Whole Foods.
Plus this week I baked up two batches of beer cookies which used both white and brown sugar.
Oh, and I use jam on my toast. The jam is made with sugar.
Oh, wait. There is also sugar in my salad dressing.
And added to spaghetti sauce.
Damn that sneaky sugar!
So this week, the challenge is to eliminate (or add, in the case of the fiber) one of these things from your diet. Or if there is something else you wanted to try, like maybe eliminating dairy, then you could do that instead. Don’t make it too easy though. Like eliminating something you seldom eat or something you dislike already. That’s kind of like cheating 😉
This week you can choose to eliminate:
Sugar or High-fructose Corn Syrup
Limit processed/refined Foods
Or increase your intake of fiber
Or add/eliminate something of your own choice
My challenge is going to be to eliminate sugar from my diet. And I am pretty sure it will be a lot harder than I think.
What will you choose for your challenge?
Good luck and thanks for reading!
MB Challenge: Week Two Results and Week Three Challenge
Another week has come to an end. I hope everyone is still excited and going strong. If not, let’s recommit ourselves to giving it our all this week.
Did you attempt or complete your personal challenge? Were you able to get in 30 minutes of activity a day?
Well, the results are in and our current leader is Racheal K. with a 3.06% loss so far. Racheal is standing atop the leader board this week but will she still be there next week? Do you have what it takes to bump her out of first place?
Congrats Racheal, I am so proud of you!
And congrats to everyone who reported in this week. You may have done better, worse or as expected but by being accountable to yourself and the scale you acknowledge that this is a journey and that along it you will encounter all sorts of bumps in the road. Just keep at, be honest with yourself, and hold your head up high. You should be proud of where you are and how far you’ve come.
Are you ready for week 3 and the new challenge?
This challenge is all about giving this lifestyle 100%. That means no shortcuts this week.
Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Make your meals instead of takeout (or if you have to eat out, make smart choices). Don’t skip workouts to watch TV. Move faster, push harder, eat better, and drink more water.
Put your health and fitness first this week and everything else will fall into place.
Remember that everyone around you is looking to you for inspiration. You are setting an example for others. This week it’s time to be that person you would want as your role model.
So, are you ready to give it your all this week? No excuses!
Good luck and thanks for reading!
MB Challenge: Week One Results and Week Two’s Challenge
How was the first week? Were you able to get in 30 minutes of activity a day?
Well, the results are in and our current leader is Amy W. (@yerttlesblog) with a loss this week of 2.90%. Woo hoo!
I know most of you are thinking WTF – 2.90% is crazy. Let me just tell you that Amy was very sick this week and I am sure she is not celebrating this loss. Right now she is trying to keep down solid food. Today she ate a banana. Yay! So, yeah, the number is kind of high this week due to her extenuating circumstances.
Just try to keep in mind that we are all different and lose differently. Don’t fall into that trap (I know I’ve been sucked in) where you compare your progress against that of others.
Just be proud of your week ; loss, gain or no change, because you spent it dedicating yourself to getting healthy and that makes you a winner. Hey, it may sound corny but it’s true. Just being here, determined and persevering, means you have already done the hardest part- taking that first step. I’m so proud of all of Monica’s Losers which maybe I should rename Monica’s Winners 🙂
Are you ready for week 2 and the new challenge?
Sticking with an activity related theme for week two I challenge you to create your own challenge and then complete it. Ok, I know that sounds lame but here is what I had in mind for this week.
Do you watch the Biggest Loser? The other week one of the contestants was challenged to climb 103 flights of stairs in an hour. Then the next day I decided I would climb 103 floors on the stair master in honor of that contestant. Tuesday night on BL all the contestants were challenged to row 10,000 meters as fast as they could. The contestant who did it the fastest won $10,000. I thought that would be a great challenge for this week (minus the $10K prize of course) until I realized not everyone has access to a rowing machine. So, I decided that we should each create our own challenge and then complete it this week.
I’m going to do the rower challenge but since I have rowed to 10,000m before I am going to challenge myself to row for 15,000m. What are you going to do? Is your challenge for endurance (like mine) or intensity?
I also think we should try to keep active this week so I am re-challenging you to getting in 30 minutes of activity a day too.
My friend says, “eating right helps you look good, exercise helps you look good naked.” So let’s get moving people! 🙂
Good luck and thanks for reading!
thirtyfourandfabulous 