Challenge…Accepted!

I’ve joined a fitness challenge and I’m doing my best to not let my competitive spirit destroy my running shoes. We are two weeks in to a 10 week challenge where participants compete to lose the greatest percentage of weight healthily. There are prizes weekly and an overall monetary prize at the end.

This competition couldn’t come at a better time. Today marks 96 days until our wedding and I want to be in tip-top shape for my walk down the aisle. I also know that I have the tendency to be lazy not very active and think this competition could really help me start making healthier plans for my life.

Each week we are challenged to exercise at least 150 minutes and keep track of our food consumption on MyFitness Pal. If you want to join in on the fun, you can join the website for free. My username is selawrence – feel free to add me as a friend! Having to be responsible to log my progress in each day makes me accountable to the other people I have added on the site. Peer pressure can be a good thing!

I was on vacation for the first week of the challenge so am a week behind the others competing. I have cut my calorie intake to 1200 per day and have started exercising three days (or more) a week. My friend Sarah is helping out by coming with me to the gym and encouraging me to keep going. I have also cut out all sodas and coffee and am drinking at least 8 cups of water a day. I plan each meal of the day and break it into smaller portions that I section out into sandwich bags.

Let’s talk about no caffeine…really? What was I thinking! This was my own decision for the dieting portion of this challenge. You have to understand how hard of a sacrifice that is for me. I was raised on Diet Coke. My future husband works for Buffalo Rock. Sodas are everywhere and I don’t even have to ask. At work, I had been thriving on at least three cups of coffee a day with lots of sugar. Under periods of high stress, I’m known to roam with soda in each hand. Needless to say, I did regret my decision for the first three days of the challenge - I had headaches nonstop. That has passed and I have even taken my coffee pot off of the counter.

One Week Results:

1.4 pounds down! 

Portioning and water consumption was the most difficult part of this past week. I learned that its better to eat with others around, especially when they know the challenge you’ve accepted. I exercised for 120 minutes total last week and did about three hours of outdoor work on Thursday (raking and bagging leaves, etc). Each Monday I will log my progress on my blog so that I feel even more accountable.

Questions – Have you ever gone through a fitness challenge before or decided to suddenly up your game in dieting/exercising? How did it go? For you caffeine lovers out there…ever given up the sodas for a period of time? Were you able to survive? I will definitely need encouragement for this!

Thanks for reading!