Okay, everyone, as is the tradition, I start a new thread when I personally start a new challenge.
Below is a short explanation of how this challenge works so all you newcomers can take a look and decide if you're game or not! I hope you are! Hop aboard and enjoy the ride. We've got a great bunch of supportive people, so I hope you'll give us a try. A lot of people try for a while and then disappear.. I hope some of you will keep trying. There is NO shame in starting over. Remember, it's not over till you give up. And our motto around here is:
NEVER GIVE UP!!...Just start OVER!! EXPLANATION AND RULES:
It works like this: you decide you'll do something for 21 days straight, every single day, so keep it doable. Then you count ....one through 21.....and if you flub it, you MUST go back to zero and start over again. Everyone will be on different days. You can start anytime. At the beginning of the challenge you declare what level it is -- Level 1, 2, or 3. Level 1 means you feel it's a relatively easy challenge for you and means you only give yourself ONE pause day (see explanation of pause days below). Level 2 would give you two pause days and so on...
And taking NO pause days is what I'm going to call "aceing a challenge," as in "I'm aiming on aceing this one!" Yowzah!!
With a pause day you pause in your counting and continue the next day with the number you left off with. Pause days are NOT substitutes for days, i.e. Day 12 -- Day 13 -- Pause Day -- Day 14..... I suggest taking a pause day late in the game (better to go back to Day 1 early on) if you need a break or screw up when you're well into the challenge, meaning, when you're on Day 15 or something like that.
In any case, the trick is to keep going. The momentum builds and it's great incentive to stick to your guns, cause if you don't.........back to START you go. And the really great thing about this challenge is that you are forming new habits that will wipe out the old! AND, you get to do it with a great bunch of really supportive people to whom you are accountable! THREAD GUIDELINES:
In the interest of maintaining structure, a sense of solidarity and facilitating support I ask anyone who wishes to join this thread to please strive to follow the following guidelines while participating in this challenge and in posting.
1. Although this is a fabulous support group, the focus is to be on your CHALLENGE/S and/or other people's challenge/s AND weight loss, whether your challenge is about it or not. Please keep the challenge a priority, although we welcome chattiness! This means tell us what day you're on when you post and it's a good idea to make regular mention of just what your challenge is. This an action-based thread. Our members are ON a challenge, RESTARTING a challenge, or just in between and looking to start up again REAL SOON. We also welcome posts from admirers, encouragers, and old friends!
2. Please refrain from posting food logs or recipes, except where you are really looking for help and advice on your eating. If journaling is your challenge, please keep the journaling off the thread and in a notebook or blog and just tell us if you've done what you set out to do. We have ALL types of dieters here, low-carb, high-carb, low-fat, high-fat, vegetarians, meat-lovers...please use simple mentions if you have something you want to share and then links and/or private messages to do so.
3. Please do NOT go into glowing accounts of any slipups, food indulgences or binges, what we here call "food porn." Simple mentions are fine, but use of smilies etc. as substitutes where possible is encouraged.
4. Please keep this a nonsecular thread. Of course, passing references to your beliefs, a bit of introduction about your beliefs, brief faith-related words of encouragement are fine.
5. Please show support, support, support! This is key. You can waffle on about yourself but please, at least occasionally,come up and look around at others and what they are doing and MENTION it with words of encouragement and/or praise or sympathy. We understand "busy," poor computer connections, and bouts of self-pity and life problems where the focus turns to "me" and dealing with those problems, but these should be temporary, not a habit! ('cept in the computer case.)
In conclusion, let me say, the above are just that, GUIDELINES. Please realize that these guidelines have been added in an attempt to keep this a supportive and beneficial thread, at the LEAST, to those who need it MOST, those for whom weight loss is the hardest and, more often than not, the most crucial as well as for those who still, perhaps despite great success, know all too well that the road they walk will always be a slippery one.
The guidelines are also meant to cultivate an atmosphere of consideration and concern for ALL, not individually, but AS A GROUP.
Heh, all. I blew it! Friend came back from the States and it was another long night of talk AND brew....Dang! I was almost there too and kept myself hungry all day long. So, actually, caloriewise it probably wasn't all that bad but I just couldn't call it "clean living," and since I had no more pause days I had to restart. Oh well, nothing really lost except the satisfaction of a notching yet another complete challenge round. Well, I'm back on the wagon from today.
Challenge 1: Crunches -- 10 sets of 20 reps
Challenge 2: Journaling -- all my food and exercise
Challenge 3: Reduced Caffeine --coffee in the morning, then max of 1 mug of tea in afternoon
Challenge 4: CLEAN LIVING!! -- no sugar, no processed food, exercise in some form, minimal alcohol, brown rice and whole grains and fresh vegetables and fruit in abundance
All Level 1s, except for the last one, meaning I am allowing myself only one pause day for the three challenges I have successfully completed in the past.
Wish me luck. Things are sooo incredibly frustrating at work and I am becoming depressed by it all. I need for things to get out of the mud and moving in a positive direction. I was doing that with myself, with eating and exercise but the rest tipped the scales against me and I floundered there for a bit (not helped by the alcohol). Wish me luck, please!
We have had constant rain for three days now. It's not fun.
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mez -- Hi there! Glad to see you're doing so well on your challenge. The fiber in your diet IS crucial. When I eat brown rice and vegetable, the junk doesn't even tempt me. Swear to God! Keep up the good work. I'm rooting for you!
jolly -- Glad to see you again and glad the computer is back up and running, as are you! Way to go! With riding, I do get out regularly but it is very difficult. I really become in a bad mood and feel very out of sorts when I can't ride, so that helps me get there. Glad you've had some good rides. I certainly hope the best with your dog. Two of my cats are getting very old and problems crop up all the time...a very messy one at present, the details of which I won't go into here. Good luck!
dj -- Yikes. I know what the heat is like. I don't have air conditioning either as I have to ride in the heat and need to acclimatize to it. Still, often I can't sleep at all because of it. I shower 3-4 times a day in the summer and sweat pours off me constantly. Hang in there! Great going on the challenges. Just one more day, right? You're probably wrapping it up as we speak (as I type).
Shad -- Thanks for stopping in and thanks for the kind words. I really need them and they are rare these days. You're a sweetie.
Pink -- You're doing fantastic! Keep it up!
Chic -- Congrats on the weight loss! Ah, you must feel good! Like dj says, you do what you gotta do!
Sushi -- looking forward to hearing from you!
Everyone else, a big hello! Newbies, come join us! Just jump in and tell us about yourselves! Later all!
Last edited by redballoon; 07-18-2006 at 11:25 PM.
OK I'll play, I am on day 12 of walking at leat 3 miles, ( took 2 pause days in there, have to when I am on call), aND TODAY i WALKED 4 MILES!!! I consider this for me a level 3 cuse I am morbidly obese. hope this is cool?Keep on truckin!!!!
hey, this sounds like fun. i have been fighting my weight since the birth of my 1st child 14 yrs ago. for me, late night eating is my vice. so i am going to challenge myself to go 21 days without. wish me luck!
lucky -- Welcome! So, are you starting on Day 12 with only one pause day left or are you starting at Day 1 with three left? In any case, best of luck and kudos for you for getting out and taking action.
trob -- A big hello to you too! Sounds like a toughie! Best of luck! How many pause days will you allow yourself?
I would love to jump in if that is ok. I constantly battle my weight, I was able to get a lot of weight off before I got married (just a little under 2 yrs ago) - than I got preagnet within the first couple of mths of marriage and well I dedicded I could eat anything and everything I wanted and than was put on bed rest for 16 wks - needless to say I put on 80+ pounds - I took 50 off right after my daughter was born - but than I stopped (some post pardum drepession issues) and I gained another 20 pounds - SO I have alot to loose. WE are trying for baby #2 - SO I want to basically focus on being healthier and not doing any crazy diets I'll have to stop when I get preagnet.
My challenge is I want to go 21 days with exerciseing for 30 mins every day (actually exercise - pushing the vacume carring a 23 pound child is not for whimps, but I'm talking walking or exercise tape or something) THis is going to be very very difficult for me - SO I think it will be a level 3 - wish me Luck I start tomorrow
Hang in there Red!! You are such an inspiration, brush off and get started again!!
Challenges:
Day 7/ 1 pause used -Only one glass of Diet Coke a day or less (Level 3)
Day 8 -At least one bottle (34oz) of water a day (Level 3)
Day 6/ 2 pauses used -20 minutes of exercise a day (Level 3)
Day 8 -No eating after 9pm (Level 3)
The words may be rare, but you deserve everyone of them and more. Once I get back into the swing of this place I'll be back and challenging. These extra kilos have to go, go, go..... and they are proving sooooooo stubborn.
I really ought to change my ticker. Yuk, yuk, yuk. Maybe I'll leave it there for inspiration. It is not true - not by several kilos which I am so ashamed to admit.
Shad -- Thanks again! Well, you've admitted it! A good place to start. I did that last year, just knew I was packing on the fat and wouldn't dare weigh myself. A lot of good that does, eh? Finally, I took up the reins and got crackin'. Don't you love how us horse-obsessed types throw in equine-tinted metaphors at every chance?
Pink -- And thank you too! I will take your words to heart! Racking up those days, aren't you?
EviesMommy -- Of course it's OK for you to jump in. In fact, we have been waiting for you to! Welcome to our humble challenge... I take it that is Evie in your avatar? Beautiful! Good luck on your challenge. You bet it'll be hard. But, every day you get out there and move that bootie is a day that has seen you in control, making the day yours! Good luck!
"But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? — Carpe — hear it? — Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day . . . , make your lives extraordinary."
Last edited by redballoon; 07-18-2006 at 11:50 PM.
I think I'm doing a "max 15 cheddars/day" challenge, and I think I'm completing Day 3. Not really a conscious decision, it sort of happened this way, and I thought I might as well continue.
I had more challenges planned, but those haven't had a good start yet (i.e. had lots of false starts though).
I'm out of work again, which is really frustrating... got a call on Monday afternoon about some work for 3 days this week, but I didn't pick up the message until after working hours, and when I called them up the next day, the opportunity was gone. Very annoyed with self because of that, and with my cell phone... it never rings when I check for messages and/or calls and generally make a big effort not to miss any incoming calls. And the one afternoon when I forget about it...
Last edited by Sushi Penguin; 07-19-2006 at 07:16 AM.
I did it! I notched a day on all fronts! It was REALLY hard. I dragged myself out and walked in the direction of the gym. I wanted to turn around so many times on the 50-min. walk there and sometimes I even just stopped walking and stood there. It was mostly mental but I am a bit sick as well (couldn't stop sneezing) but I knew it was mostly mental, I am so down about work. Anyhow, I wanted to pig out or drink coffee or eat some sugar, start the challenges tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow and then I just say, no, I can do this and I'm going to start today and I did! I didn't go to the gym but the 2 hours or so walking was good and I did the crunches and didn't eat junk and stuck to my permitted tea. I was stoked!
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Pink -- your quote helped me too. I kept thinking about it, kept just thinking I have to put one foot in front of the next, just keep going, keep going, keep going. Thanks.
Sushi -- Heh, too bad about that call. Just figure it was a bad job. Figure that you were SPARED taking it. Something kept you from getting the call you normally would have. It may have been so!
hey all, thanks for the welcome.
one day down!!!!
red-good job on all counts!! i am not giving myself any pause days even though my midnight kitchen trips seem to have a power all their own. i know if i give in just once i will be right back to square one.
good luck to you all and just keep positive!!!
"Every-Day" 21-Day Challenge -- Countin' on YOU!!
And the really great thing about this challenge is that you are forming new habits that will wipe out the old! AND, you get to do it with a great bunch of really supportive people to whom you are accountable! 
This means tell us what day you're on when you post and it's a good idea to make regular mention of just what your challenge is. This an action-based thread. Our members are ON a challenge, RESTARTING a challenge, or just in between and looking to start up again REAL SOON. 
We also welcome posts from admirers, encouragers, and old friends!
etc. as substitutes where possible is encouraged. 
had to start over...
Good luck!
Keep it up! 
Ah, you must feel good! 
Like dj says, you do what you gotta do! 
cool!! some newbies!!
So, are you starting on Day 12 with only one pause day left or are you starting at Day 1 with three left? In any case, best of luck and kudos for you for getting out and taking action. 
Sounds like a toughie! Best of luck! 
How many pause days will you allow yourself?
wish me Luck I start tomorrow 
Lucky and Trob and Evies!!
Well, you've admitted it! A good place to start. I did that last year, just knew I was packing on the fat and wouldn't dare weigh myself. A lot of good that does, eh? Finally, I took up the reins and got crackin'. Don't you love how us horse-obsessed types throw in equine-tinted metaphors at every chance? 
