Hi everyone,

Thanks Julie, this is a great challenge. I really like the idea of adding a new weekly challenge every week. Nine weeks - that's a lot of changes!

Well, I like to keep my life simple and I believe that being consistent and developing good habits are key to success so my challenges are

1. Continue to follow the Canada Food Guide.
2. Continue to exercise every day, (Julie - OMG the first challenge is a killer for me) - okay to step it up but I've changed my mind about how I'm going to do that after reading about exercise and weight loss. I'll walk for 1/2 an hour (aerobic exercise) and then add two strengthening exercises to build muscle (and tone) in addition to that. This week I'll add free weight biceps and free weight triceps weight training exercises. Each week I'll add another two strengthening/toning exercises to the routine. I'm still reading but it sounds like I should be doing this 3x per week with a rest day between so that's how I'll start - Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
3. Get enough sleep every night. This is really important to my success the next day.
4. Stick with this challenge, do my best to meet the weekly challenges and FINISH the Holiday Journey lighter and more fit than I am today.

Rewards: image I'm starting with a reward! I finish the Halloween challenge tomorrow and I'm getting a manicure on Wednesday while I'm at the hairdresser having highlights put in my hair. This is only the second manicure I've had so it's a big deal for me. I'm going to have to think about rewards because I do NOT want to reward myself with food. That's a habit I want to break, no special meal out, no Cafe Mocha or special drink - I'm NOT going to celebrate with food. Hmm, well it didn't take long to think of one. image I've changed my mind about how I'm going to step up my exercise but I think Plan B is better for me physically and also something I think is attainable and sustainable so I'm going to buy myself a Johnny Reid CD (love his voice) as a reward when I finish the first week and believe me I'll deserve it. WHEN I complete the Holiday Journey Challenge I'm going to reward myself with a new watch. I have a gold one but I "need" a silver one. I think if I can stick to my challenges for the next two months I will definitely deserve that new watch.

HOLIDAY JOURNEY CHALLENGE

START - November 1 - 263.0 Okay, here we go!
Week 1: November 8 - 263.2 (+0.2) Now isn't that a kick in the a**! I'm on day 110 of my streak and I followed the food guide as usual. I haven't had a bounce up for 10 weeks and the last time it was 0.4 lbs and I only lost 0.2 lbs the following week so I hope I'm not stuck here for two weeks too but I'll just keep following my plan it will be what it will be. I did step up the exercise this week. I walked every day and yesterday I walked 2.8 miles instead of the usual 1.6 and I added some free weight strengthening exercises on M, W, F. This coming week I will add two additional exercises. I feel really good about everything I've done this week to move myself forward.
Week 2: November 15 - 261.0 (-2.2) Wow I already eat a huge variety of veggies and fruit. I'll have to go and see what the store has that I don't already eat - maybe squash or eggplant? This week I caused a lot of aggravation and worry for myself by eating food from a platter shared with friends instead of waiting and eating dinner at home or ordering something healthier. I considered it the end of my second long streak in 2009 and today I am on Day 5 on the third and I hope final streak of this year. Then I compounded my poor choice by weighing myself almost every day and until this morning I appeared to be stuck on 263. I know I didn't lose 2 lbs overnight so I would have been happier if I'd waited until this morning and then weighed myself and that's my resolution for this week. I will not weigh myself again until next Sunday! I walked 6 days out of 7 and did weights once so I'd better concentrate on doing my weights three times this week instead of worrying about the scale. This journey is far too long and bumpy to be concentrating on the number on a scale instead of my behaviour. I ate an Asian Pear this week (first time ever) and today I am making an Eggplant and Feta recipe (it will be the second time for Eggplant). Cooked the eggplant and it was fine but my recipe had too much oil for my taste or at least the way I cooked it had too much oil. But I've met this challenge. I tried one new fruit and one new vegetable. What done is done, I'm thankful my weight is going down again and I'm looking forward to the third week of our challenge.
Week 3: November 22 - 261.0 (0.0) Hmmm. Disappointing. Things rolled along pretty smoothly until this month. So far I've lost 2 lbs in 3 weeks and I'm still following the food guide. I really thought that I had lost weight this week, I felt like I was lighter and my clothes were looser but whatever. I did track my food on the Daily Food and Exercise board and I tracked my walking on the Walk Around the World board. I was sick for two days but I don't think that had any affect on my weight. I guess I just have to wait for next week but once again I resolve to stick with my food and exercise plan and not to weigh myself again until next Sunday.
Week 4: November 29 - 260.8 (-0.2) Well, who would have thought that it would take me so long to get to the 250s! Not me and that's for sure. I'm not going to bother changing my ticker for .2 lbs. I ate fish this week, a LOT of fish and even that didn't do the trick. I think that I'm retaining fluid from the long drives and shopping that I did but even so I decided to just go ahead and weigh today and see what was what. I seem to be well and truly stuck but I know I'm eating healthy and I'm still walking every day. I'm going to figure out exactly how many calories I'm eating in a day. I have the feeling that it might be low but I also know if I just keep following my plan I will lose weight eventually and in the meantime my body is getting stronger and my health is slowly but surely being restored. I guess I'm getting a lesson on sticking with my healthy lifestyle regardless of the scale. As tempting as it is I will not weigh myself again until next Sunday. I did complete this week's challenge "The Attitude of Gratitude."
Week 5: December 6 - 256.8 (-4.0) Week 5 challenge is to try a new recipe or two and it just so happens that Friday I bought an eggplant, tofu, and ginger root to try a new recipe "Spicy Tofu and Eggplant." I have it ready to try because I wasn't sure that I really got the best out of the Eggplant that I used when I tried a new veggie and fruit and that challenge. I tried Portobella mushrooms recently. I also bought an avocado which I've never tried before so I'm living up to the "try new foods" challenge. I always eat my two fruit and almost every day I eat at least the minimum servings of veggies. I still walk every day and I did do weights once this week but I'm not sticking with the strengthening and toning exercises quite as well as I had hoped to yet. I am sticking with the overall challenge though and I'm still posting my daily food. All good habits to get into. Another week completed, I did make the new recipe, I did try the avocado (good but holy cow - the calories!), I walked 6 of the 7 days but I didn't do my weights.
Week 6: December 13 - 254.2 (-2.6) A "Self Examination" challenge. Great idea! I've read that what's going on in our head (the mental part of this journey) is more important than anything else and that you have to deal with that to successfully maintain weight loss. We're more than half way through this challenge and it hasn't been easy! Here's to a successful Week 6! image I had major YUKU issues this week which seemed to throw me off stride a bit but I ate according to plan, I drank green tea and usually more than two cups/day, and I answered the challenge questions and took a good look my goals and how I'm working to get there. Sticking with this challenge is definitely one way to stay on the straight and narrow. I did not get enough sleep this week and my exercise slipped so I am planning on concentrating on the basics in the upcoming week which has more food hurdles than usual to avoid. I ate a lot of beef this week (left over roast beef and beef liver), I ate eggs twice and fish twice. But I did carefully weigh my protein and I did eat all my veggies plus more and I did stick with two fruit servings each day. I still don't get all my milk every day but I did better than usual. I was short on fats some days. I ate 6 bread group servings more often than 5. I have no idea what the scale is going to say tomorrow because I haven't got on it once this week but I sure feel that I was well fed this week so I'm not confident that I lost anything. Three weeks to go here. I actually think I can make it to the end of this month lighter than I was at the start. Whew I did lose this week. I think it's safe to say that November was one big, long plateau and I'm glad I hung in there and worked through it.
Week 7: December 20 - 253.6 (-0.6) Whew! Thank goodness for De-Stress week because I know come January 1st we'll all be reflecting and revved up to work hard at living healthy and losing the weight that's holding us back and strengthening and toning our bodies with EXERCISE! This is a good opportunity for me to try using the resistance bands for Julie's exercises and I haven't tried any YOGA for a long time and a little stretching and flexibility would surely help me de-stress. Or I could try out the dance exercise tapes I have. Remember Dancing to the Oldies (or some such title) with Richard Simmons. I know I have one or two of those and some country line dance tapes too. Yeah for de-stressing! Thanks, Julie! Okay, I did really good this week. I ate healthy and there were a LOT of "holiday treat" food fests going on all week, it was an extravaganza of high cal temptations in every direction. I walked every day except Sunday and even made it an outside walk today and I did step it up and I met this week's challenge of 15 minutes of two different exercises. I did Fitness Ball strengthening exercises (some with free weights) and I did Resistance Band exercises some using the treadmill as an anchor. I did a better job of getting enough sleep. This week was a huge challenge and I met it. Now all that is left is my weigh-in tomorrow morning to see what the scale has to say about this week. Well for Pete's Sake I seem to have forgotten that this was supposed to be DE-STRESS week and instead I was stressed over avoiding all the treats so I stuck to my "rules" like glue instead so that I could make it through the last week of work before holidays without any mishap. I guess I fail the De-stress challenge but I hope that I can use the next two weeks of holiday time to relax and enjoy what I've accomplished in the past year. You would think a major effort like the one I made this week would earn a major reward but that does not seem to be the way it's going throughout this challenge. You have to laugh because this has been the rockiest challenge yet when it comes to being rewarded by the scale. But half a pound is half a pound and maybe the scale is keeping the big reward for January 1st. Here's hoping!
Week 8: December 27 - Well I have been on holidays and went to visit my children in another province for Christmas. Food planning was excellent but I did not exercise - not once. Got back Tuesday evening, December 30th (and got my exercise getting all the snow moved from the driveway, sidewalks, steps, etc.) Since I missed weigh day on Sunday I will wait until January 1st to see how this vacation has affected my weight - or how me on vacation has affected my weight. Today I bought myself the silver watch that I wanted for my reward. Goodness knows I've worked hard on this challenge. I never did find myself in a store where I could buy that Johnny Reid CD. Oh well - the watch was expensive and I can live without the CD.
FINISH: January 1, 2010 - 253.4 (-0.2) Eleven straight days of meals away from home and no exercise adds up no matter how careful you are! At first I thought "Well I might as well have eaten all those things if this is all I get," but I know that if I had I would have undone all the good work I did on this challenge, I would be feeling regret, remorse, and thinking that it was no use even trying because clearly I can't stick with it, and I would be feeling bloated and uncomfortable with the added pounds and water retention. So the reward on the scale isn't much but the emotional and mental rewards of sticking with it are totally worth the sacrifices. I'm proud to say that I completed the challenge and I lost 9.6 lbs through the most challenging part of the year.

Challenging ourselves right through to the new year! Good luck everyone! image

My picture in July at 296.6 lbs My picture today at 263 lbs

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Hmmm. Well the hair is better and I'm wearing size 24 in the second picture but other than that I can't see much difference although I have gone down two clothing sizes. Well maybe the end of this challenge will show a bigger difference.

We CAN do this!

Cheryl

"No matter how long you have traveled in the wrong direction, you always have the choice to turn around. ~ Anonymous

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Last Edited By: sunny 70s girl Jan 1 10 11:46 PM. Edited 27 times.