Sunday, March 13, 2016

Final Results

Congratulations to everyone that started this challenge!  It was fun to see everyone's results at the end.  I'm so impressed!  I will be sending out all of the prizes from the weekly drawings and the final prizes this coming week.


Thursday, March 10, 2016

Thanks Stumps

Made my weight goal.  Learned a few things. Feel good.  Thanks Stumps these challenges are very motivating. 

Great job everyone!

Thanks for the great challenge stef, it's been fun!

No carbs

So I have read books and listen to people talk about no carb diets. Has anyone had success.  I don't think I agree with them.... I like Ashley's idea.

Birthday Week!!!!!

Happy Birthday to me!!! This week has been tough on me. One of my favorite birthday traditions is getting free stuff...mostly food. So this week I got a free birthday pasta, pizza, burger and huge frozen smoothie from local restaurants!!!! While I legitimately feel 8 # heavier, I had a great birthday week!!!! Thanks Smokey Mountain, Red Robin, Dutch Bros! This partial week aside, I have enjoyed having reason to make an extra effort regarding health and exercise choices. Good work. Thanks Stephanie for making it fun!

  

12 hours and it's over

Congratulations to everyone who completed this challenge.  While I'm sure not all of us lost as much weight as we had hoped (I'm definitely in that group), I'm confident that we have improved our understanding of what our body really needs to function and how we can make better choices.  Good luck to everyone in maintaining or improving the habits you've developed over the last 8 weeks.  Thanks for putting it on again, Steph.

I am happy.

I had high hopes with the beginning of this challenge- to get rid of my colorado weight. I had a huge hiccup from my cruise and it took several weeks to recover from that,  so I haven't met that goal, but I did drop a few pant sizes, and I am very pleased with that!! I have found more work outs that I have enjoyed, my endurance for cardio has increased, and I have found some yummy recipes.  Overall, I feel it was a success!  Glad it's almost over, but I have embraced a few life style changes, so hopefully even without the weightloss challenge I will drop the couple more pounds that I desire to lose.  Here's to earning my summer body in the winter!!

Wrap Up...

Well, I didn't do as well with this challenge as I thought I would. I am 6 months postpatum and have about 6lbs left to lose, which isn't terrible. Once I meet that goal I still have other goals I want to reach. During this challenge I realized that I really need to be better at drinking water. Of course I can down Diet Coke in no time but have to be dyingggg of thirst to drink water. Anyways, thanks for letting me join in with ya'll. Congrats on everyone's successes!

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Last week!  Not where I wanted to be but better than I was.  Established healthy habits.  Now just to stick to it and keep moving in the right direction.

Love Hate

I have a love hate relationship with counting calories. For my food log for the challenge I just decided to log my food on my fitness pal and stay within a set calorie goal...I love this it really keeps me focused on portions and how much I should be eating the biggest downside it that you have enter ALL your food! It takes a long time and if I make a meal at home I have to enter it piece by piece or try to find something similar and then guess at how many calories I think it would be...I am just a little OCD :) so it really bothers me to not know exactly how many calories I have actually consumed!!! This challenge has been great! I want to keep up with the goals that I have set for myself and continue this whole process:)

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

I'm glad I did this challenge. I didn't do as well as I had hoped but I'm not going to stop trying to live a healthier life just because I've had some set backs. Anyway, good luck to everyone and here's to next time ;)

Monday, March 7, 2016

Love

Ending my Healthy Challenge journey with this quote I found:
"Did you ever realize how much your body loves you?  It's always trying to keep you alive.  It's making sure you breathe while you sleep, stopping cuts from bleeding, fixing broken bones, finding ways to beat the illnesses that might get you.
Your body literally loves you so much...
It's time you start loving it back."

Thanks, body. You're amazing!


Sunday, March 6, 2016

New green smoothies

I have tried a few different Green smoothies this past week as I was incorporating all my fruits and veggies and I have to say I have found a few new ones I like. Who knew a tiny amount of coconut oil along with pineapple would be so amazing?!! I also have found a love for water aerobics! I was getting discouraged about not seeing as much progress as I would have liked but I have to acknowledge its been a life style change, just a bit, and I am happy with the journey. I have lost some inches along the way and because of the different challenges I have also found a love for a few different workouts! Here is to a last week - but a lifetime of benifits!

Almost to the finish line

When it comes right down to it, 8 weeks is pretty short in the grand scheme of things.  There were times during the challenge when 8 weeks seemed REALLY long!  I agree with what Steve and Melanie said in their posts.  Some of us saw some great results with intense pushing the last 8 weeks.  My hope is that everyone made some healthy habits that can be a consistent part of your life long term.  
  
Progress is progress!  Keep up the good work after you celebrate the challenge being over!

Great Week!

This was a great week to draw everything to a (almost) close. I followed several of the challenges this week; no sweets, new exercises, no food after 7:30...it felt awesome! I too have learned some things that will be life long helps. I'm glad I did it and I'm glad it is almost over.

I came, I saw, I conquered

This has been the third weight loss challenge that ashley and I have been in. During the first two challenges we really focused on getting all of our points every week and really pushing hard for a short period of time, knowing that the competition would be over in several months. This challenge we focused on making small life long changes that we can maintain indefinitely. I think this has been the best out of the three challenges because I have finally made some real changes in regards to my weight and my lifestyle. It has been great! Thanks to everybody for competing, and special thanks to Steph for setting it all up.

Eat Less Move More

I heard some doctor or another on tv say everyone needs to eat less and move more and I really liked it. It is so simple and straight forward while actually doing that is not I still like the saying and try to keep its simplicity in mind when I am feeling like this whole process is not working...

60 Puffs > 42 Pretzels

I will have to one-up my brother on his pretzel post.... my newfound favorite treat was introduced to me by our 9 moth old son. They are his Gerber Graduate puff cereal pieces!! Blueberry is my personal favorite, although peach is a close second. Seeing how 60 pieces is only 25 calories, I find my self knocking these things back all day long. The best part is, by the time I get to 100 calories of these bad boys, my work day is over. Long live the puffs!


Saturday, March 5, 2016

Pretzel Crisps

I had something funny to blog about but forgot what that was so I will blog about pretzels.
Pretzel Crisps Minis Originals are my new fav. You can have 42 crackers for only 100 calories. 

Biking

So every challenge I've been in I have read a story about someone who decides to make a healthy choice and it quickly becomes a catastrophe. This week it was me!!!  I decided that I would bike my son to story time, it's only five miles away!! When I got to the library I picked up my cell phone and had 6 missed calls from my daughters school, of coarse she is sick and I am clear across town on my bike.... I am explaining to the secretary what I was doing and that it would be a while before I got there.  She just snickered and said if you want to be healthy why don't you just come pick your daughter up and put her in the bike cart...  Needless to say a huge wind storm came up on the 5 mile ride home.... I really thought I might die!! I was biking up a hill and was certain that I was going backwards...

So there is a good laugh for everyone's week....And you know laughing burns calories!

Friday, March 4, 2016

Old Clothes Fit

I have been purging junk from my house like a mad woman this week. One thing I went through was my clothes. I found a box of my old "fat" clothes and it made me realize how far I have come already. Then I found a bag of my "skinny" clothes. I decided to try on a pair of my capris and as they slipped over my thighs I realized "HOLY CRAP these FIT ME" and not just "i can squeeze into them" but "im comfy....heck they are even a little loose". So what I learned this week is that INCHES mean way more than pounds. I will be hiding the scale until the end of the challenge and just pushing forward with excerise and eating well.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

1 week from tomorrow...

What will you be doing 1 week from tomorrow?  Will you be excited to continue your current habits?  Will you be pleased with your progress?  Will you be ready for an ice cold Dr. Pepper?

You can guess which of these I'll be doing.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Week 7 Results and Prize Winner!

Another great week in the books!  Hope you are all enjoying to choose your own adventure this week!  Keep it up!

1. James              658
2.  Weston           657
3.  Mary G.          655
4.  Patty               653
5.  Clark              652
5.  Jenni F.          652
6.  Melanie          645
7.  Mary C.          643
8.  Jennifer J.       642
9.  Ashley            635
10.  Steve            628
11.  Katie            609
12.  Stephanie     606
13.  Megan          604
14.  Sarah            594
15.  Sam             587
16.  LauriAnn     578

The Week 7 Prize up for grabs was $10 CASH!  Who will be this week's big winner?



Bravo!

Some of us have lost weight and/or inches, some have made exercise a bigger part of their daily routine, some have learned to love and accept their body (no matter the size), some don't let a bad day or week derail their goals, and most of us have committed to eating healthier. All of us have been successful!!!  Woot Woot
I'm not ready for this challenge to be over!! It is the only thing that keeps me on the right track when I want sugar!! I could honestly live on sweets and mexican food.  Why cant I crave salad??