[clarita osita]

As far as I can see, October was the last time we had a challenge up! Sorry, guys. I'm starting this one for anyone who wants to join.

For those of you not familiar with the monthly challenge, members interested in changing their health, weight, exercise, etc often post their goals and track their progress here.

I'm still deciding on my goals for January (and for the year) and I won't have control over what I eat, nor a place to exercise, for at least another week. But I'll post my goals then, if I have internet by that point.

Happy 2012, everyone!

 

[arcoftime]

Well seeing as its New Years Day, and traditionally the time for resolutions here are my weight related ones:

1. Eat 'healthily' 90% of the time. I'm not going to beat myself up if I have the odd unhealthy treat every now and again. By healthily I mean properly portioned (and calorie counted!) meals following the veg pyramid.
2. Lose 8lbs in January - Kind of self explanatory that one.
3. Swim 3 times a week
4. Eat 3 cooked or prepared meals a day - the last time I had a decent cooked meal was Christmas and before that I can't remember. I'm pretty certain sorting my diet out will help my depression both from a physical and mental sense, and so I'm going to start by making sure I have 3 'proper' meals.

Good luck with your goals everyone!

 

[AddieB]

I think I'm in this month. My goals are:

1. Lose 6lbs
2. Integrate more trail running into my routine.
3. Pack my lunches more often.

 

[Raven815]

I'm ready. Here are my January goals:

1. Go gluten-free.
2. Transition to vegan by March 13 (2 year anniversary of going vegetarian).
3. Lose as much poundage as possible every week (by doing WW).
4. Exercise at least 3X per week.
5. Eat whole foods or raw as much as possible.
6. Work on inner peace.

Laura

 

[Annia]

This must be at least the 10th time I've done one of these..

But this time I've got to stick to it!

Overall goal is to lose around 100 pounds. (I'll settle for losing 90 or so but I would like a 100.. And no more than 110.. )

I need to lose 70 by mid-June. Then the other 30 by October.

 

[AddieB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Annia

This must be at least the 10th time I've done one of these..

But this time I've got to stick to it!

Overall goal is to lose around 100 pounds. (I'll settle for losing 90 or so but I would like a 100.. And no more than 110.. )

I need to lose 70 by mid-June. Then the other 30 by October.

Well then, to start, you should probably have some short-term goals. What are January's goals?!

 

[Annia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AddieB

Well then, to start, you should probably have some short-term goals. What are January's goals?!

Hmmm... I thought I'd written them out..

Something's gone wrong!

1. Lose, on average, 3lbs a week.

2. Use the rowing machine and exercise bike at least three times a week.

3. I will, obviously, still be taking the dog out for two walks a day but I'm going to try to get over to the hills twice a week. Won't be able to take my dog (motorbike) but I still want to go walking.

4. Start taking more food with me to college. Sounds counter-productive but I have a problem of not taking that much for lunch because when I make it (the evening before or the morning) I'm not hungry and I just don't want to be around food. Also have a problem in that just being at college makes you ravenous. Not just me, pretty much everybody. And the only vegetarian food available at college is cheese sandwiches, cheese and onion pasties, chips, crisps, chocolate and sweets. So by morning break I'm completely starving so I have a choice of either eating my lunch then or going and buying crap and eating it... And the same thing happens at lunch (because I never take enough food for lunch) and again at afternoon break.
So I need to take more food with me to college but healthy food! (I hardly eat when I'm at home so during 1 day at college I can eat the same amount of food that I would usually eat over 2 to 3 days at home... Even though I'm more active at home.

)

5. Stop eating cheese.

6. Stop snacking on nuts and start snacking on fruit and veg...

7. Stop drinking so much coke.

 

[svzee]

I'm joining in-I really need to get things under control! When I became a vegetarian this past fall I was working on losing 15lbs of stubborn baby fat (I had three kids all 22 months a part and that did not help the weight lol). Well, December was BAD for eating-I stayed within the vegetarian diet but ate so many carby foods that I gained 3lbs eek! So now I'm 18lbs away from my goal wait bleh.

January goals:
-cut back on soda and drink water religiously (at least 8 glasses a day)
-do a Leslie Sansone workout video 3 times a week
-take 2 long walks a week (at least a mile long)
-lose 1-2lbs a week
-cut way back on carb loaded food-especially pasta and bagels
-eat breakfast everyday
-up the fruit and veggie consumption big time

 

[Pixie]

1. Buy healthy food to keep at home and cook from scratch more often.
2. Do some exercise everyday.
3. Stop drinking fizzy drinks and fruit juice, make fruit/green smoothies instead.

 

[SuicideBlonde]

I have got to start back up doing yoga at least 3x a week. I was doing it but got so sidetracked with life.

 

[jaskins]

This is perfect, so glad I found it, I need this!

1. Stop drinking all non-diet sodas. (February will be no soda at all - well, except for vodka-(club)sodas

)
2. Follow my walk/run plan I printed off from Women's Health - it's a 6 week walk/run and strength training program that gets me to where I can run for 30 minutes nonstop. I used to run cross-country in high school...then college came and I discovered beer and gained 10 lbs and got WAY out of shape. Now I probably couldn't run for more than a few minutes without stopping. So I'm really going for the full overhaul!
3. Cook more! And cook real stuff - I tend to go the mac n cheese route a lot being a poor college student. Also I crave junk food. More beans/grains/fruits/veggies, less processed stuff.
4. Lose 3-5 lbs (I want to lose all 10 I gained since freshman year of college by spring break) - beach bod here I come!

Long-term, I want to lose a little more than the 10 lbs I gained from college (read: beer

). I want to be fit like I was in high school when I ran and swam all the time. I struggle though, because back then it wasn't "working out" - it was just after-school practice. Working out just feels like a chore to me and I need serious motivation to make myself go. You'd think my skinny-minny self in all my high school pictures would convince me...

 

[Phoenix Days]

I need to stop eating so much junk food.

 

[yally]

Bum, I gained a stone in a matter of weeks. I lost 4 pounds already, but would like to lose that 10 again, I don't feel comfortable like this.

So, goals:

1) run more, this is the major thing that will help
2) cook more (I cook healthy, I just need to stop avoiding the kitchen)
3) swim more again
4) eat less sugar
5) lose 5 pounds at least by end of January

 

[Envy]

Maybe I should toss out energy drinks for the current time being.

 

[Poppy]

I'm joining too. My short-term goals are to lose 4 pounds by 1/27. On 1/27, the husband and I are flying to LA where I hope to meet with my high school boyfriend and then visit family. Don't worry, my husband knows him and likes him a lot!

So, I'm going to vastly reduce alcohol, exercise 6 days a week - one of which will be yoga, and post on livestrong.com.

I started Monday, and I'm down half a pound.

 

[yally]

[SPOILER=Warning: Spoiler!]I did a really big poo yesterday[/SPOILER]

SO I guess I didn't have quite as much to lose as I thought.

 

[yally]

Moving a lot more and so proud of myself. I got a takeaway but I actually managed to save some for tomorrow instead of eating it all in 2 minutes

 

[arcoftime]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yally

[SPOILER=Warning: Spoiler!]I did a really big poo yesterday[/SPOILER]

SO I guess I didn't have quite as much to lose as I thought.

That's the second time I've heard someone say that today...

[SPOILER=Warning: Spoiler!]though the first time, what he actually said was 'I doubled over in front of a customer today, because the sudden urge to lay a really big foundation hit me like a freight train'[/SPOILER]

 

[TapatioQueen]

Ok, so my December/January challenge was to give up dairy and try to eat whole foods, no soda, no fast food. I'm still going good but what's weird is that I've lost a whole pant size but only 1 lb...I'm not really working out that much...I know people say that it's the fat turning into muscle, but how could I be making muscle when I'm not really concentrating on working out right now?
Anywho...that's my personal challenge.

 

[clarita osita]

Ok, I've got internet now.

I'm trying to take control of my food and exercise habits after three months of being totally controlled by my host family, but it's been four days and it hasn't gone well so far... I'm trying to get back in the habit of cooking for myself but people keep bringing me food (basically, rice with some kind of sauce). I don't want to toss it, so I'm still eating tons of rice. I'm also having trouble falling asleep so I'm waking up late and skipping breakfast to make it to the school on time, and because I'm new in the community everyone wants me to visit them constantly. To say "no" in the first month would be a really bad decision in this culture, and could potentially ruin my possible future relationships with people. But of course that means spending 4-5 hours a day visiting other people and drinking all the coffee and eating all the food they give me. "No" is not acceptable, and would be considered a rejection of the person and their family, regardless of "I just spent 3 hours at so-and-so's house eating lunch, I have no room left." Apparently that doesn't translate. Ugh.

Long story short, not going well so far. But, here are the plans:

2012:
+more water
+be able to do 20 full push-ups
+be able to do the splits all three ways
+get my waist down to 28 inches
+be able to do a back bend from standing, not a bridge from the floor
+eat at least six pieces of fruit per day by the end of the year

January:
+more water
+exercise at least 4 times a week, not including the 66 stairsteps up the hill from the school to my street
+eat at least two pieces of fruit per day
+stretch for 30 total minutes per day six days a week in addition to the exercise

Here's to a fantastic January, everyone!