First of all a big welcome to reina_mia and Precious One

You have come to the right place for support and motivation. Glad you've joined us. Stick around, things will get very interesting as time goes on. Lots of challenges I'm sure. We're an eager group, very determined to reach our goals. With the help of each other we're on our way already.
A big welcome to Miki

, I'm really happy to see that you've joined us. Any thoughts or tips you may have would be very much appreciated. We can use all the help we can get.
Ok everybody, I'm so proud of everyone that took the challenge tonight and you all did great.
As for me, you all put me to shame.

I didn't make my 45 minute challenge. I could only last 38 minutes. But I'm looking on the bright side, that is 8 minutes longer than I usually stay on the bike during 1 session. So the way I look at it, I gave it my best and it's a lot better than I usually do. In my way of thinking the challenge helped me a great deal. Made me push myself just alittle bit further. For some reason during that last 5 minutes I could swear I felt Cyan's foot kicking me in the behind.
LadyRider, so very proud of your accomplishment tonight. I've been using this stationary bike for around 5 weeks now and you were only 8 minutes behind me. Something tells me with your motivation you will pass me in no time. Keep up the great work. And believe me, I do know what you mean about that bike seat. Mine is just like that. When I first started out on it I had to put a piece of foam rubber under my behind, I felt like I had blisters.
Cjunk, sounds like you had a very rewarding night. You definitely have the will to reach your goals. Your session tonight sounded very interesting. Unfortunately I don't know how to swim. You ladies stop laughing at me. I just never learned how, wish I did. Swimming is one of the best excercises there is. Builds great muscle tone. (also keeps you from drowning

) I would sink like a weight. Keep up the good work Cjunk.
Cyan, what is power yoga? Sounds very interesting but very complicated. Sounds like you had a great work out session. A whole hour of working out, you must have felt great afterwards. I think these challenges are a great idea.
Precious One and reina_mia, did you two come up with an exercise tonight? Hope you had great success.
Cjunk, I agree, we need another challenge going. What do the rest of you think we should try next? Maybe we can switch back and forth from exercising to diet in our challenges. One day can be exercise challenges, then one day it can be with food, or should I say lack of!

Sounds like everyone is having difficulties with eating balanced meals with lower calories. I think it might be a good idea to maybe put a challenge to each other about what we ate for 1 day. For example eating from the food pyramid, the right amount of servings per day. Don't know if this all makes sense. Maybe we can help each other to cut down on calories and eat the proper foods.
For example it would be sorta like, how many servings of veggies did you consume today, fruits, etc. It won't be a contest to see who does the best, it will just be a way to get everyone on track. Possibly help others to see what they could eliminate from their diet and what they need to add. I know Cjunk was talking in one of her replies about the website that Cyan had posted and how she felt she was needing to readjust her intake of certain things. Maybe this could be a way for all of us to readjust our eating habits.
This is just a suggestion, it probably sounds pretty boring, especially after all of us just spent a session tonight working our behinds off. But diet is a big part of it also. Maybe we could even have a challenge about what foods we were able to resist during the day, or how many glasses of water we were able to get down opposed to other beverages we consumed. The hardest part of my diet was being able to readjust what I was eating and how much of it I was consuming. We all have those days where we know we shouldn't eat something that is going to add unhealthy weight to us. Maybe this could be a start to getting even more healthy in our food choices plus our exercise challenges. LadyRider and I both keep a journal of what we eat. It's a great thing to do. I write down everything I consume in one day, even if I have 1 jelly bean I write it down. I learned a lot about what I was consuming in the beginning by doing this. I learned where I was making mistakes at. I allow a certain amount of calories for each food group that I eat. Certain veggies you can have quite a bit of, gives you a very full feeling. I always have more veggies on my plate than meat. There are other sources of protein besides meat. I always felt that I had to have lots of meat in my meals. Guess it was the way I was raised. The meat was the center of the meal. That's been one of the hardest things for me, cutting back on the portion of meat I consume. So I learned to add more veggies, I consumed less calories but still felt just as full as when I used to eat a plateful of meat. Reminds me back when I could eat a whole steak, a big baked potatoe with all the trimmings, a big salad topped with everything, and then my favorite part, dessert. I would feel stuffed and uncomfortable. Something should have told me then, I was defintely overeating. Sorry, going on and on as usual. That should be a challenge you ladies give to me. To see if I can post a short reply.

I'm up for any type of challenge. Let's keep the motivation going. So far we're off to a great start. So, does anyone else have any ideas on a challenge? We can stick with the exercise ones, maybe one day later on we can do something concerning diet. Or maybe even do both in one day. So let's hear those challenges.
Good night all, Stay Confident.
