January Challenge/Contest/Tool
It does not matter if you have gained ... maintained ... or lost in the past. Put that behind you.
Today is a NEW BEGINNING ... a new challenge... a new chance to work at improving your way of life. So everyone needs to wipe your slate clean. Throw away any guilt you may be carrying. Cast away any doubts. It is time to START ANEW !!!!
Today... January 1st 2005.... step on the scale,write down your weight and start at where you are.... as of today.
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GOAL
Our goal of this event is to estabalish new, healthy and weight loss behavior...While having a little fun.
For some of us this is a CHALLENGE.
We don't like the pressure of a contest, but we do want to challenge ourselves so we can improve our results.
For others of us this is a CONTEST.
We enjoy a little competition and it gives us that little extra push to do MORE.
We not only are competeing against others... we are competeing against our former selves.
Then for some of us this is merely a TOOL.
A tool to use to discipline ourselves. A tool to improve our behavior. A tool to change our bad habits.
We don't have to analyze which aspect we are doing this for.
We just want to utilize it.
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There are 4 main parts to this competition.
FOOD
We need to first "define" what our food plan is.
You may choose any food plan of your choice or make up your own.
It is our goal to have a safe and sane plan of eating.
REMEMBER....What we eat is as important as what we don't eat.
After you have determined your food plan ... record it on the first page of your new journal.
Then each day record your success at following your plan .... either the naughty for no ...or NICE for yes.
WATER
In almost every book, article, or diet .... WATER is an important part of weight loss SUCCESS. We are to drink a minimum of 64 oz of water per day.
Again... each day you record your water goal success on Santa's checklist.
EXERCISE
Exercise is not only good for your weight loss efforts... it is also good for your physical, mental and spiritual health too. Our goal is to exercise a minimum of 20 minutes per day.
Hopefully your exercise program will include both strength training and aerobic. For some of us... it is just getting off the couch and moving.
But the choice of exercise is up to you. Some of us may have to start with 2 sessions of 10 minutes each.
Don't forget the FUN exercises too. Swimming, bowling, dancing, biking, golf, horseback riding, walking the dogs to name only a few.
Once again...NO...you do not get to count "making whoopee". It is FUN.... great exercise.... and good for the heart.... but it does NOT count toward your minimum 20 minutes.... Sorry.
Be sure to mark your snowflake or drip list for exercise.
Last but not least is to JOURNAL.
We already have recorded our food plan on page one.
And we are recording what we eat each day... and HOW MUCH we eat too.
We are keeping track of our water intake.
BUT... we all know how many of us eat to stuff feelings... or to celebrate feelings ... AND WE EAT WHEN WE ARE STRESSED !!!!! Winter is a prime time for depression or boredom eating. Overeating is as much a MIND GAME as a food problem. A weight loss attempt that does not deal with our emotions is like a three legged stool with only two legs. It is doomed to fall.
So ... we need to write about our feelings.
It can be as simple as MAD / GLAD / SAD. ?? ...or STRESSED ????
It can be as detailed as you want/need.
The important thing is to WRITE it out.
Maybe write out a gratitude list each day.
Okay... to summarize... we are keeping track of our ACTIONS.
The first step of action we want to do today is weigh ourselves.
Then we want to record it in our new JOURNAL..
Write out our game plan concerning our food and our exercise.
We then follow that game plan.
We need to drink plenty of water.
And we need to WRITE about our day.
That pretty much sums it up.
We are "learning" a new way of life here.
We are "learning" a new way to eat.... and a new way to live....
a new way to deal with Christmas.
Our old ways DID NOT WORK.
Okay ladies...
Let's take this opportunity to CHANGE the things we did in the past.
Let's DO what needs to be done.
Let's WANT IT bad enough to take the ACTION needed to succeed.
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So, give yourself a snowflake for each of the four actions you do each day. Give yourself a drip for each that you don't accomplish. You'll have to track your own this month.
Bonus:
2 points for losing the full 2 pounds on our first 2x2 challenge (begins 1/3/05 and ends on 1/17/05)
2 points if you made a contract with yourself for 2005. You don't have to do it on the thread or make it public.
2 points if, at the end of January, you can say to yourself that you have remained committed to your contract and have actively worked to fulfilling your contract for the whole month.
2 points if have tried something that you haven't tried before. A new, harder exercise? A new healthier food? Something that your weight was holding you back? This one is about setting the bar higher for yourself and going for it. You have all month to earn this one.
(Might be more later)
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