Featherweights: JULY CHALLENGE!
 

Seems a lot of us have goals and mini-goals to meet in about a month, and some want to do a '30-day challenge', so I thought I could start a thread where we can keep accountable together. So...





These next 31 days are going to mark a nice change in a lot of us! We CAN meet our goals! Who's in? What's your goal?

Awesome idea!

Starting Weight: 132.4
August 1st Goal: 128

Plan of attack: Continue exercising 4-6x a week and counting calories.

This month is going to be tough for me because my husband is coming home from a 6 month deployment, so there will be many celebratory dinners and two vacations thrown into the mix!

Starting weight: 130
August goal: 125 or a drop down to at least 18.5% body fat plus a 5k at the end of it

Plan of action: Morning run everyday for at least 30 minutes (or go for a swim if muscles are too sore), pilates for an hour everyday and 30 minutes stretching, hour long walk after dinner and overall just burn 700-1000 calories a day in exercise :) Also count calories and increase protein to a minimum of 80g daily.

In case you haven't noticed I just LOVE exercising and I find it so much easier to decide to eat healthy high protein, low fat (and high GI if it's just after a particularly hard work out so as my muscles can repair properly) meals if I base them around what nutrients I'll need in order to train to the best of my ability.

Hi all,

I am new and excited to join you ladies in this challenge! I've been lurking for a while, and I really love this forum.

Starting Weight: 116
August 1st Goal: 111

Plan of attack: Things have been utterly crazy in my work life lately, thanks to a recent promotion. I gained five pounds (ouch) and I blame stress and not making myself and my wellbeing the priority that it always should be! So, this month I want to lose the weight that I gained by:
- Revamping my diet: I want to give up sugar, real and artificial (except for fruit of course), and while flour on a daily basis. I will allow myself it for a treat (ie: a piece of cake at a birthday party). But I really want to scrap it from my daily lifestyle. I've been reading a lot by Gary Taub, and I really believe what he says about sugar being a TOXIN for our bodies. I also want to eat 8 servings of fruit or veggies so that the hungry monster doesn't kill me!
- Getting serious about calorie counting: I am going to plan my meals the night before/that AM and will stick to it rigorously
- Working on the mental stuff: I have a problem with binging and stress eating. I have found Beck Diet Solution helpful in the past, but never completed it. So I will be recommitting myself to that program.
- Exercise: I was always a dedicated daily exerciser, until all this work stress kicked in. It was how I offset the damage from the point prior. I am going to get back into it and give my lazy elliptical routine a major kick in the a$$ with a mix of running, spinning, and Jillian Michaels.
- Forgiving myself: I have still weighed daily for the past month, and I have been beating myself up for letting myself go. But you know what? It happens. I want to forgive myself and move on.

Ah great, exactly what I need! I am going on holiday on 2nd August, and need to keep on track :)

Start weight: 67.7kg

Goal weight (2nd August) 65.5kg (goal) or a flat stomach, whichever comes first

Plan of attack: Keep to a whole foods, low sugar, low carb, high protein diet (1,500 calories a day). Try to walk around as much as poss, even with crutches, and do Pilates and or weights 4 x a week. I have lots of time on my hands now because we're in the school hols so I'll try to use it productively :)

I'm not going to seriously weigh myself until 2nd August because:
a) It is getting on my nerves!
b) I have to wear a massive clumpy post-surgery shoe, my foot is really swollen and I swear that makes me heavier than I would be normally. Soooo I will weigh myself on 2nd August, when all the bandages etc come off :) I'll check in with my daily calories and exercise though :)

Yes! I will def. join. Love that all you ladies have such ambitious goals! You girls are awesome. Sheesh, I couldnt imagine burning 700-1000 calories in exercise a day. I can barely do my 2.5 mile run everyday and thats only around 200 calories! :dizzy:

SW:136
Aug 10: 125.8
10.2 pounds!

Goals: Hard 30 minute exercise at least 5 days a week.
Calories: NO more than 1500 AVERAGE for the week.
Food plan: Barely ANY processed foods. All clean!

My weight goal is modest this month. It is simply to not GAIN any weight. Optimally, I would like to lose 3lbs, to get to 129, but with all the fun and activity going on, I will be happy with just not gaining.

Regarding eating habits: July is going to be a binge-free month. I will also keep striving to eat more healthy whole foods. All too often, I will choose one serving of potato chips for 120 calories, instead of a banana, or some almonds for the same amount. I will remind myself more often of what my body needs versus what my mouth wants.

Fitness wise, I will keep running 3 miles 3 to 4 times a week with a longer run thrown in here and there. I will keep working on my push-ups and try to increase it from 10 to 15 by August.

Start weight: 132.
Goal: 129 to 132.
Eats: 90% of what my body needs/10% of what my mouth wants.
Exercise: Keep sweating off the fat and stress by running every other day. Tone up these flapping arms by doing push-ups, tricep dips, and hand weights.

So great to see you girls join in!!! :D

My Goals
Start Weight: 125.6 (as of this morning :carrot: )
Goal Weight: 117, Lose 8.4 lbs
Fit into my beach clothes from last year for our big beach vaca in the beginning of August.

Plan of Attack
~Exercise about 6 times/week. Take a day off to spend at the pool.
~Burn over 800 calories/day through intense cardio (running, elliptical, aerobics), strength training, outdoor walks & hikes and some pilates & yoga.
~Eat 1400 calories or less/day.
~Try to minimize my sodium intake & up my protein.

Am loving the 'Burn over 800 calories/day' goal skinny fast ;) If you're up for it we can compete with each other to see who can burn the most calories in a day?

Anyways over here in Scotland it's about 11pm so here are my results for the day:

~2.8K morning run (and I only walked for 6 minutes of it)
~pilates for 70 minutes plus 50 minutes pilates stretching spread throughout the day
~instead of that hour long walk I took the same route (4.8K btw) and ran it in half the time (got back an hour ago and I feel AMAZING) :D
~Consumed a bit under 1300 calories
~Consumed a massive 99g protein!
~Burned 930 calories :D

Am feeling very proud of myself and let's see if you can beat that skinny fast! ;)

love this idea!

Starting Weight: 122
August 1st Goal: 118/119 (just to break out of the 120s is all I really want!)

Plan of attack: listen to the nutritionist...which is scary because I have to eat MORE which is terrifying to me (she thinks 1200 is the lowest i can eat AFTER exercise...meaning on days i work out and burn 400+ she thinks i should be consuming 1600 calories!)

I want to start using myfitnesspal calorie tracker more religiously again. ive been lazy about it. and I want my minimum amount of exercise to be 4x a week, for at least an hr.

Wooh! I go home to california august 1st, here's to hoping I can look hot in a bikini by then :)

I'll join in.

SW: 127.8 (but I've been at ~125.5 until today so I suspect there's some water weight in there)
GW: 124

Plan: 1. Stick to 1200-1400 calories on off days, 900 net calories on running days 2. Run/walk 5mi 3x/wk in no more than an hour, working up to 6mi in an hour by the end of the month.

Results today: ran/walked 5.2mi in 1.05, 600 net calories so far

Whoa Chooks! You're off to quite a start.

Great goals you guys!

@JuliaTN after yesterdays almost 5 miles my legs are KILLING ME but I still want to burn at least 700 calories today so I was wondering (since you are a runner type) if you know of any other types of exercise I could do that will still let my leg muscles recover aside form swimming and using an elliptical? :)

And if anyone else read that as well then feel free to offer any contributions :D

Fantastic - I will join you!

Goal #1 - Get in a 10 mile run before 7/31.
Goal #2 - See 159 on the scale. This will be the first time in 6 years!!

SW - 161
GW - 159

I know 2lbs seems awfully slow...but that's the way it's gone for the last year. Immensely frustrating since I train 6 days a week and count all my calories. Oh well, I see the muscle mass increasing and the body fat decreasing - so let's just KEEP WORKING!!

Cycling is a Quad heavy cross training activity. I hurt myself, running, at least once a season - and I end up on the bike. Not sure which muscles/joints are hurting, but cycling is something that is impact free so your joints can rest as well. Also, a long, gentle walk does wonders.

HTH :hug:

Chooks! I'm up for it!! Sounds motivating :)

My totals yesterday:

Consumed about 1400 cals (1300-1500?), but my protein was a tad low & sodium was too high :( (I treated myself to avocado 'sushi' rolls and Vietnamese summer veggie rolls for dinner instead of watching my nutrients.)

~elliptical for 4.4 miles
~treadmill at an 8 incline @ 4.5mph for 2 miles
~strength training (total body, but 1/2 was arms alone) for 25 min
~tried that youtube aerobic workout, the 9 min one, thx Chooks
~stretching & a few yoga exercises for 30 min while watching tv
TOTAL burn around 1100 calories

I'm sore today. I planned to run this morning, but my 5 year old woke up sick. I may hit the treadmill for a run still. My sodium intake was high yesterday, so I am afraid to weigh in, lol.