Consistency

There is something to be said about consistency and routine.  Being out of my normal routine with my kids being home this summer I find I'm not nearly as consistent with my eating.  Here's hoping this challenge will keep me consistent enough to at least lose a few pounds the new month!

I've been out of town for two weeks and haven't done the challenge as well as I could have done.  I just received Steph's email where she stated that we are almost halfway finished with the challenge.  I was about to give up after not doing very well the past couple of weeks and was about to just throw in the towel, but decided that I am going to re-commit and finish out the challenge.  Thanks again for setting this up, Steph!!!!

One thing I notice about myself is, if I tell myself I can't have something, I then crave it and think about it all the time. So this week I made some protein balls and they have been so good to snack on.
Last week I didn't do so well with the group challenge, this week been better but I'm going camping this weekend. Here's to trying everyday to make good healthy decisions.

Week 3 Results and Prize Winner

I didn't hear from everyone this week...hopefully you forgot to report your points because you are on a fun trip or something.  Just let me know when you can so I can add it to the running totals.

Also I forgot in the last email to mention that the prize up for grabs this week is a $10 Target gift card for anyone that completes the healthy snacks challenge.

Here are the standings after 3 Weeks:

1.  Amber F.                  270
2.  Sarah C.                   264
3.  Sarah V.                   261
4.  Cameron                  258
5.  Susie                        256
6.  Stephanie               250
7.  Linsey                      249
8.  Danica                     246
9.  Brian                        238
10.  Erica                      235
11.  Melanie                 229


Week 3 Prize Winner!  Who won the movie pass?:
Watch
HERE to see who won

One day at a time...

So I'm motivated in this challenge to lose my baby weight and after going to my 6 week postpartum visit yesterday, I'm even MORE motivated! Stepping on the scale is still so unsatisfying...but I know that one day at a time, I can make a difference in my goal. So here's to full commitment!!

NOOOO HEALTHY SNACKS!!! My nemesis!

Welp...this week I already blew one cheat day! Oh crap! I am terrible at healthy snacking. But it helps me to not snack at all because I don't have a healthy option. But lets get real...I'm doomed this week. I have a family reunion and am traveling. But even though I'm not going to be able to do the group challenge...I'll do as good as I can until this weekend!

If your feeling discouraged and you feel like you're just going to give up...take the opportunity to rededicate yourself. Even if it's just on the little things. You got this!

Red Robin....YUM!!!

  Last week we did the no eating after dinner challenge and I was able to complete the challenge....and then completely binge on steak fries at Red Robin. It was pretty freaking awesome and I don't care if i disqualify myself from this week if I was supposed to go the whole week cause you cannot not eat 3-6 basket of their steak fries. Basically communism if you don't :) 

  One of my personal goals is to stick to a carb and protein limit and it has been helping a ton. I do feel that I have more energy and that i'm not weighed down by all of the extra stuff that I was eating. I still have energy and even though on paper i've been eating less calories than I normally do I still feel that I can get done most everything that I plan on between work, family and school. the healthy snack challenge will be good so I can plan my extra calories out and have something good rather than...Hi-chews. Which are gods gift to man and the universe. Good luck everyone!

Exercise

The hardest part of the challenge for me is trying to fit in 30 minutes a day for exercising. I make sure I drink water, eat healthier, sleep, etc but I just can't get motivated to exercise ! We have been outside a lot working on our chicken coop and been very busy running around this summer but I need to be better about going for walks or doing something this summer!!!

Loved the weekly winner drawing video.   Why did Carsen get to be Batman?😒😒  I wanna be Batman!!!!!
Anyway,  found the Group challenge to be my undoing this week.  Didn't get the points but as I am finding out, there is still a benefit to failing....I better understand my weaknesses.  ( Is that a word?  Is the plural of weakness; weaknesses, weaknesss, weaknezzes or weaknessessess?) Anyway I got more then one.
I was pleased that I accomplished my personal goal... taking my daily vitamins and supplements, medical professionals are never very compliant so this was a good one for me.
Still finding it a challenge to pee 8 cups of water in a day.  Anyone got any tips?

 This week we were on vacation. Not eating after dinner was hard. I kept on forgetting. My points this week are going to be low. Going to try not to let that get to me and finish this challenge strong.

The most challenging thing for me this week was sleep.  I only got 4/7 nights.  I'm going to try to wind down earlier this next week.  I did great on exercise this week.  I biked to work, jumped rope, went for extra walks, went kayaking for 3 hours, etc.
I am going to try to complete my personal goal every day this week.  I feel like I weigh more every week!  Too much water!  ha! ha!    Hopefully it is muscle!
This will be a difficult week because I am traveling to Southern California for a wedding1  Too much tempting food probably.  Wish me luck!
😼

Goals

I'm finding summer time a hard time to stay motivated, it's just so busy.  I'm hoping the healthy snack challenge will force me to plan ahead better and make better food choices this upcoming week.  I think it's important to keep goals that don't involve the scale...goals about better health, or fitness goals.  One of my goals this summer is to build some muscles so I can slalom water ski by the end of this summer.  What goals are keeping you motivated?

Yay!!

So I went to my yearly drs appt yesterday. My blood pressure was 110/70. Last year it was 138/90. And I had lost 20 pounds since last year. Sometimes I get frustrated because as far as weight loss goes I still have a long way to go but it really made me feel good!!!! Yay!!!!!

Week 2 Results and Prize Winner

Hope that your week is going well.  Now that I've collected everyone's money I want to give everyone a run down on the prizes.  17 people paid the entrance fee, so I'm working with $340.

$75 will go toward 7 weekly prize drawings.

Final Prizes will be rewarded based on final points:

1st Place - $100

2nd Place - $75

3rd Place - $50

4th Place - $25

5th Place - $15

Here are the standings after 2 Weeks:

1.  Sarah C.                   186
2.  Sarah V.                   182
3.  Amber F.                  180
4.  Linsey                      177
5.  Cameron                  174
6.  Brenda                     173
7.  Susie                        171
8.  Danica                     169
9.  Brian                        167
10.  Stephanie               163
11.  Briana                    160
12.  Carsen                   155
13.  Erica                      152
14.  Melanie                  140
15.  Trishia                    96

See who won the Week 2 Prize!
CLICK HERE

This week is the hardest!

Last time I did this challenge I was in Mexico and we didn't have as much access to food after dinner so it wasn't so bad. But this time...I'm home. My husband is snacking after dinner. And I WANT TO EAT EVERYTHING! But even though I feel like I haven't eaten in DAYS it's only been like an hour by the time I want to start snacking on everything. But good news. I didn't waste away last night...I made it through the night and felt fine. OBVIOUSLY a bad habit that I have to work on! Ha ha!

Keep at it everybody!

Wish this was me!

Feeling frustrated

My weight loss is always such a Yo Yo. I lose four pouns, I gain two, I lose one....up and down until my net weight loss is about zero!!! I did good with the no sugary drinks. That is about the only thing I do good on. I've never been a soda drinker. On the flip side my snacking habits are horrible!! Here's to a more positive week!!!

This week is a little harder for me,  oh how I love to piece and snack after dinner.  My kids always want a dessert after dinner so this week is a challenge for me.  Has anyone ever tried water walking? I did last night and if was so much fun, Ana it helped with wanting to eat a snack because I was exercising and then when I got home I was to tired and went to bed.   I hope everyone keeps up the good work.  I know I didn't do very good Sunday with my eating , time to be motivated again.  

Week 2

I made the challenge of not drinking any sugary drinks besides milk or water. It wasn't too bad since this is what I mostly drink anyway. We did however buy some capri-sun and had them nice and cold so...the 6th day I definitely drank a few to make sure I remembered what it tasted like. I do feel good as I've been maintaining my weight and even keeping down to around 207. This helped with my cravings since drinking a cup of powerade at lunch would just make me want even more sugar throughout the day. this has been extremely helpful in keeping my carb intake down since that has been my overall goal of this challenge. I even celebrated by getting a fruit punch at Jersey Mike's today. if you haven't been there they make some amazing philly cheese steak sandwiches.

My biggest accomplishment for the week was figuring out how to post to the blog.   Yep, I missed those 10 easy points the first week.  Been pretty happy with my calorie intact and  exercise the past two weeks.  I think my biggest challenge is the 8 cups of water.  It isn't the in-tacking of the water its the elimination of the water that is my challenge.  Seems I got to go all the time.   Very inconvenient when your in sterile gloves doing surgery.  Also hate getting up 2-3 times during the night... Any suggestions

This week I really made it a point to exercise each day.  A couple of days I was really proud of myself....since I exercised twice in a day!  Every day I tried to take my 10,000 steps, but a couple of days I went the extra mile by biking to work and running.  This week I hope to continue this practice but start to see some weight shift.  Too many parties, celebrations and company.  I need to focus more on portion sizes and not turning to snacks.  

Just Keep Moving

Summer is a tough time to do a challenge!  So many trips, celebrations and just being out of the normal routine.  Summer is also a great time to be on the challenge because it's seems so much easier to be really active.  On Friday I went hiking (TWICE)!  Since recovering from 2 major surgeries the past 8 months I've been really hesitant to push my body very far in my workouts, but it felt great to push a little this week.  I love being out in nature and doing fun active things with my family.  It gave me a little extra motivation to keep trying.  

Hope you all will keep trying too!

50/50

This week I felt like I did awesome in my exercise but not great about my food choices. I logged my food but was always disappointed with the choices I made, either lack of time to make something healthy or simply craved something unhealthy and indulged...I plan to do a lot better this week! I was happy with my 5 days of exercise, water intake, and participating in the challenge, which felt pretty easy to accomplish for me. This next week I'm definitely going to find my motivation to make healthier choices! I know I won't regret it.

This week... was not good. I still logged all my food and water and joined in the challenge but a lot of my motivation had faded. I have alway been bad at working out... essentially I am completely sedentary, which is something I would love to change about myself. I worked out one day this week...  and the rest of the week I sat in front of the TV too tiered from the day to move or just having no motivation. But next week is a new week... and I am really going to try to get 25 points for working out. Even if that means doing sit ups while I watch Jane the Virgin.

Bree

It is amazing that when you are so busy it is so easy to forget to log food... it does take energy to remember. I found that when I skip one day it is very easy to skip the next day too. This next week my goal is to make a to-do list so I have to check off things, not just with this challenge but with my busy day as well. I am hoping to refocus this week.

Carsen

This week was a little better. I had a family reunion this weekend I brought healthy snacks, my family didn't I blame them for tempting me. This next challenge will be good for me eating after dinner is a horrible habit for me. I'm also hoping for ideas this week for healthy low calorie snacks any recommendations ??

I went to girls camp this week and had no teats!!! That's huge for me. I love sugar. I don't drink soda already but I could wolf down chocolate so I'm thrilled I was able to stay away from the sweets. Hope everyone is staying motivated. It's hard to change habits...at least it is for me.

Hello all, this week has been so crazy busy for me but so much fun also.  I started cutting out soda a few months ago so this weeks challenge has been super challenging for me:) yay! I do like to do infused water with fresh fruits though. Yummy.

my favorite challenge

YESSS! It's the one week when I hardly have to think about the challenge. I don't like carbonation, don't really care for most juices, and drinking only water, it's not really different for me. HOWEVER...I am doing this challenge again partially because my whole family is doing it...but the other reason is because I noticed how little water I was drinking when i started the last challenge. I get kidney stones...and I should be drinking tons of water...but when i started making myself drink 8 cups a day I realized...I definitely wasn't getting my water. And I need this habit to stick. Kidney stones ARE THE WORST. So I'm enjoying my week of not worrying about which drink I need...but reminding myself of how important it is to drink enough!

Week 1 Results and Prize Winner

Good job everyone on a great first week!  I didn't get points from everyone, so if you don't see your name on this list, please let me know your points total from Week 1 as soon as possible.

Week 1 Results:

1.  Sarah C.                   94
2.  Stephanie                 92
3.  Sarah V.                   91
4.  Amber F.                  90
5.  Linsey                      89
6.  Briana                      88
7.  Brenda                     86
8.  Cameron                  85
9.  Carsen                     82
10.  Danica                   81
11.  Erica                      76
12.  Susie                      74
13.  Trishia                   52

Week 1 Prize Winner!
Click  HERE see who won!

Week 1

Well, this week I lost 4 pounds...seriously !!! Haha I'm not surprised tho. Since school got out the kids and I have run constantly going somewhere to swimming, soccer camp, splash park, city park rides....yikes! So consiquently I've only eaten like one meal a day....that's not really healthy tho....I am grateful for this challenge to help me stay focused over the summer weeks of temptations.

Week 1 done!

I don't know if you all know but teachers eat a lot.  Our team room is constantly filled with food that someone brought in or gifts (aka chocolate and candy) from students.  I did the spring challenge a few months back during the school year and it was much harder to stick to those calorie goals.  Now that I am on summer it is much easier to say "no" because it isn't in my line of sight constantly and I don't have friends around to social eat with!

Week 1

Week 1 went much better than I originally thought. I did the Spring into shape challenge a few months ago and fizzled out by the end. I was still doing what i could to earn the points, but for the most part i wasn't really tracking and just going in the motions. This challenge my first week was to hit my RMR calories and I have felt a lot better. I haven't really been doing much differently besides trying to stick as close as I can to my carb, protein, and fat goal. I don't feel as sluggish as i used to and have been more motivated to plan out my meals (driving my wife nuts of course :) )I hope that everyone else's week went just as well and if not that this week is better! Good luck all! No sugary drinks...

last week not so good

Ok....last week not so good.  Too many parties and not enough time to do everything.  Also I think I was trying to get the hang of things.....I think I didn't record enough points for exercise either.  So maybe I'll have to adjust that next time.



I'm determined to do better this week!

 Hi everyone! My name is Sarah. I've done a few of these challenges. Thanks Steph for putting these on. You're the best! I didn't have a great first week. Lots of candy and ice cream. It's good to see all the calories though. 😳 Big eye opener. I'm excited for next weeks challenge. I need to quit the sweets.

Hello my name is Brenda. I grew up with Stephanie I succeeded with her last challange motivated every day. This last week I have been less motivated than planned I keep finding myself say tomorrow I will do better. Well tomorrow is a new week. I WILL KEEP MOTIVATED.  No soda will be the hardest for me but I know I can do it.  My goal is to loss 5 lbs during this challange. Wish me luck.

Hello from Vernal

My name is Trishia Lawson.  I live in Vernal, Utah.  I know Stephanie through the Petersen side of her family.  I married one of her cousins.  I have seen her posting about doing these challenges and never wanted to quite commit, but I decided to do the challenge this time around because I have gradually lost ALL CONTROL of the amount of junk food I allow myself to consume.  I'm hopeful that joining this challenge will help me be more conscious of my daily caloric intake.  

And here we go...

Hello everyone! This is Briana and Carsen Dumas. We are blogging together because I, Carsen after many attempts kept getting an error page as I would try to join the blog page. We are both from Boise, Idaho and very excited to do this challenge together. I chose to take part in this challenge not only to be a support and get support for and from my wife, but as a way to kickstart my way back into the level of activity and nutritional discipline that I have accustomed myself to in years past. 

Carsen

I have been hearing about these challenges for awhile. My sister, Erica, participated in the last challenge and KILLED it. Carsen and I have been feeling like we needed something to get us out of our bad eating funk. I felt pretty inspired by my sister and it was really a no brainer. We excited to start and super happy that we have a lot of friends and family that are participating with us. 

First week is going good, we are already feeling better... less bloated, we feel lighter, and just happy that we are taking care of our bodies. 

Bree

Hello all,
After all my motivation and give a darn left me I gain a few extra pounds, so I've decided to join this challenge in hopes to loose them again. :) I hope we can all have a little fun and learn some good healthy habits too.

Sarah Carothers

Hello I am so happy to be doing the summer challenge! My kids go to school with Stephanie's kids and I'm so happy that I met her!!! My goal is to lose ten pounds during this challenge and then hopefully many more after that!!!! Good luck to everyone!!!!

Why Not??

Hey Everyone!

I'm Danica and I was willingly convinced to join in on this challenge because I had a baby 3 weeks ago!! While I'm still adjusting to a new baby and getting my life on track again, I was open to doing this challenge because I'm the type that totally needs structure in my diet and exercise in order to see results. I look forward to committing to this challenge and getting where I want to be --- back to my pre-baby body and mindset!

Thanks!

Danica

COMMIT! You can do it!

 Last time was the first time I ever did this healthy habits challenge. It was very difficult for me mentally. I found myself doubting that I could do it. If you're like me you might have a few internal conversations asking yourself why you did this. But  focusing on some healthy habits and paying attention to what you take into your body is so important. I'm glad I did it last time.

 Just commit now that you're going to stick to it. If you have a bad day or a bad week don't give up just get back to it and start again. It's not about the competition it's about you. 👍🏻

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Silk Touch MD

Erica K. Peterson

Hi Everyone!

Hello!
     I'm Amber. I did the spring challenge with a little success in the weight loss arena but I did learn a lot about myself.  I hope that now we are on summer break (I'm a teacher) I can devote more time to the challenge.  I also hope that a lower stress level will help increase my results.  Have fun everyone :)

Summer Challenge

Hey guys! Excited to be back. this week my calorie challenge is 1950 or less. I've been trying to hit my RMR or lower and what do you know Stephanie sent this email out to keep me motivated. I did the spring into shape challenge with my wife, Kiersten, and it helped me create some good habits like logging my food, counting calories, tracking my workouts, attempting to sleep (maybe more then 5 hours??) and prioritize my time with school and family.

Here is an RMR Calculator that I found online

https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calrmr.htm

seems to be pretty consistent with the other health calculators. bodybuillding.com has a lot of other things for information as well.

Good luck!

I'm excited to get started on this challenge.  I was down to 137 pounds last month....but with all the crazy parties and such...>I'm back up to a whopping 143 today.  This will be good to get me disciplined.  More importantly, than losing weight, I want to get back in shape and put on some muscle.  Let's get the party started!

Stephanie Signing In

 Hey Everyone!  Thanks for participating in the summer challenge.  This here is a picture of me with my 4 fun kids on Mother's Day.  The little cherub there in pink joined our family almost 8 months ago.  She is a delight, an exhausting little delight.  I feel the past months I've been in survival mode to keep the family up and running, so the first thing to go is always taking care of myself.

I know if I want to live up to this portrait my 9 year old son made of me, I need to lose some weight and get in shape!  I have quite a bit to lose, but I know even losing 15 would help in the way I feel right now.  So I'm going to work hard these next two months...hoping to be a better me and better able to keep up with these kids.