"Every-Day" 21-Day Challenge -- Countdown to success!!

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  • 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 secular 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.

    Well, all's said. Please join us!!

  • I's is BACK!!!!
    Chiquitas!!! Heh there, everybody...I am coming to life again...and I am going to start up a bunch of challenges...a megachallenge tomorrow! You betcha! I am going ALL OUT!! (instead of hog wild... ) Stay tuned!
  • day 1 - Exercise 30 minutes a day - good - level 3
    day 1 - No food within 2 hours of bedtime - good - level 3
    day 1 - At least 4 servings of fruit/vegetable per day - good - level 1

    Day 1 was a success. Managed to more than 4 servings of fruits and vegies yesterday. I think it helped me to eat less of the other stuff, which of course helps with my calorie total (even though I'm not counting).

    Red - I'm so glad you're coming back to us! I hope that means things are getting more managable for you. Good luck with whatever challenges you set for yourself.

    SweetPea - Take it easy on that ankle! Make sure you're letting it heal. Congrats on the weight loss though. That's great!

    Apple - on that water challenge! And great going with the beer! You're almost done with that too.

    Jolly - Hey, you got day 1 under your belt, good job! You can do this!

    Have a great weekend everyone!
  • Good morning all. First off, I have to report a non challenge, non weight loss, success to report. Yes, the human is trainable, because I finally got the timing right this morning, so puppy had no accidents It is good to know I can still learn.


    Glad to see you Red. Can't wait to see what mega challenge is in store for you.

    DJ - I need to tackle the fruits/vegetables thing again too. I think that will be the next layer of my challenge. First, following menu and decreasing the I can do this.

    Have a wonderful day all. I will check in later.
  • ha jolly girl I'm impressed. one of my darn dogs left a sloppy mess inside last night. arggggghhh

    ok i will come back soon to report on my challenges (listed in my signature)
  • I must confess to taking a day off all the way around yesterday, but I'm back on the program today. So:

    Calories <1500, day 4 with 1 pause taken
    Candy <100 calories, day 4 with 1 pause taken
    Walking - 8,000 steps, day 4 with 1 pause taken
    Logged food, day 4 with 1 pause taken

    Sweetpea - sorry to hear your ankle is not improving, but great news on the weight loss.

    Red - glad to hear you're coming back - and with megachallenges even!

    Jolly - Congrats on day 1 and the puppy success. My daughter has been fostering a dog lately from the humane society, and had a big crying jag recently when she couldn't get the dog to "go" outside for almost two weeks. The dog must have heard my daughter crying, because the dog's been "going" outside ever since.

    DJ - glad you found some new challenges that appeal to you. Good luck.

    I am happy to report that I've met my first mini-challenge weight of 190. I was one pound short of the mini-goal when I left for vacation, but had a temporary gain while visiting home. It was a real treat to see the scale hit 190 this morning. Next mini-goal is 179.
  • Hi all. Just combining doing my nails and posting to you all, to try and keep from binging. After months of eating pretty much whatever, whenever (and spending considerable amounts of time with my favorite men Ben and Jerry), it is hard to rein things back in. To top it all off, I am very broke, mainly due to poor spending choices on . . .. you guessed it, FOOD! I am not proud of the backsliding I have done, and I know I need to make changes. It is just difficult to do again. So, I am doing whatever I can to stay in the house, and not go out to buy bad crap. There is only so much damage I can do in house.

    So, everyone, hope you are doing better than I am at the moment, but at least I am here, right? I will keep up the good fight.

    Catch you all later

    Last note before bed. Day 2 both challenges met. I did eat after I did my nails. While portion sizes are definitely something I need to address and adjust, I made something healthy and didn't spend money. So that's something, anyway. Good night all!
  • still thinking here...
    Ok, let's see, what was I saying about mega-challenges?!?! Wow, must have been the suds....
    No, honestly, I AM going to get this butt in gear again....all daylong I contemplated whether to do everything all at once or to split them all up....this was on top of deciding sometime around noon to NOT start at all... but wait till tomorrow....(sigh).

    But yes, I am going to start tomorrow. Monday here. Day 1 of whatever I decide in my slumbers.

    Wish me luck.

    **************

    dj -- Hello there! Thanks for sticking around and keeping things going. I'm glad to see you're back on new challenges as well. That should add some motivation to mine. I hear you on the hating calorie counting. It's something I just can't stand and believe I wind up paying way too much attention to what I eat and not enjoying the food at all. I HAVE to learn that there is more to life than eating! Good luck. You've got some tough challenges!

    jolly -- Good to see you back too and glad you've got yourself a new pup. Welcome Belle!! And great going on successfully notching Day 2!

    sweet -- Looking good! Glad to see you came back too. Best of luck!

    Ashley -- You are doing great! Tough challenges! I've thought about doing the "just a little bit of sugar" thing...but I don't know..it's such a trigger for me. Heh, and congrats on the weight goal met!! Hurrah!!

  • day 2 - Exercise 30 minutes a day - good - level 3
    day 2 - No food within 2 hours of bedtime - good - level 3
    day 2 - At least 4 servings of fruit/vegetable per day - good - level 1

    Did good yesterday, made all challenges. Today, will be my tough one though. Since I have to go back to work Monday morning, I have to make sure I get dinner on the table early today. During the week, my dh works swing shift, so I don't have to cook dinner at all if I so choose. Sunday of course, he's home and I do cook a nice dinner. To make him eat before 5pm is going to hard! I will do my best and see how it goes I guess.

    Gotta run, have a great day all!
  • Calories <1500, day 5 with 1 pause taken
    Candy <100 calories, day 5 with 1 pause taken
    Walking - 8,000 steps, day 5 with 1 pause taken
    Logged food, day 5 with 1 pause

    Hope everyone had a good weekend and are ready for a successful week.
  • Hey all. Day 3 challenges met, barely. I think I am coming down with something. I have no energy, I am tired all the time, and my taste buds are off. I need to get over this.

    I finally figured out how to download my pictures from the camera to the computer. Unfortunately, I could not figure out how to get the picture small enough to use as my avatar I have tried to attach two pictures. Hope it works.

    Anyway. Have a good night all. Here's to a better tomorrow.


  • hi all

    i have no idea where i am with binge free and exercise so i will have to start over as i have lost track of my days. so far i am still binge free so for now i have 3 days under my belt but today isn't over so we'll see

    ashley you're going great
    jolly nice doggies - can't see the doggies clearly but they look like spaniels???
    djs -= well done!!!
    red looking fwd to the mega challenges
  • day 3 - Exercise 30 minutes a day - good - level 3
    day 3 - No food within 2 hours of bedtime - good - level 3
    day 3 - At least 4 servings of fruit/vegetable per day - good - level 1

    Wow, I actually made it through a Sunday. Had to get a tire on my car fixed yesterday, so I took my car to a place at the mall and walked around and around until my car was done. That got my exercise in. For dinner, I didn't even say anything about eating early, I just made dinner and called them in when it was ready so I was able to eat well before bedtime. Now, I just need to make it a habit!

    Have a great day everyone. Gotta run!
  • Hello all. Day 4 challenges met. I survived my first day back at work. Missed my pup lots! (can you imagine if I ever had a baby ) Wasn't too bad being back at work - I even felt more energized than I did last week.

    Here's to a great week.

    Oh, and yes, Sweet Pea, they are Springer Spaniels.
  • i fell off the wagon yday so today i am restarting both challenges

    djs - well done@!

    jolly. ah yes with the colouring i thought they would be springer spaniels - english or welsh? i had friends with spaniels and they were pretty hyper. she used to exercise them 2x a day