Welcome to the Strong Healthy Mom Challenge update! Wondering what this is? Check out this post to join us. Then read on to find out how to enter to win this week’s giveaway and join us for a little accountability!
Welcome back everyone! I’ve been thinking about all of you and wondering how it went, and I’m excited to see your updates! Here’s a look at how the week’s goals shook down for me:
1) Menu Planning – I did it! I usually do some form of menu planning each week, but I had been limping along for about a month or so. Last week, I got everything written down for all meals. So helpful! (You can find a free menu planner as part of my Home Management Binder Set.)
2) Start the Eight-Week Fat Loss Plan for Busy People from Fitness Blender — Week 1 down. It was more challenging than I expected for a {mostly} 30 minute workout each day.
3) Go to bed by 10:30 PM each night. I actually did this six out of seven nights, so I didn’t quite make it. But this is a huge improvement for me, so I’m counting it as a success.
I’m sure you all are with me in this, but the upcoming week is looking difficult. We have three big family get-togethers with large amounts of food. It’s going to take some planning and perseverance on my part to stay on track!
Goals for Week 2:
1) Continue with the Eight-Week Fat Loss Plan for Busy People from FitnessBlender.com. I am loving this!
2) Eat mindfully at our get-togethers. My goal here is not to declare anything off-limits, but to consider the consequences–and then decide what and how much to eat. In other words, I don’t want to go on some kind of crazy eating binge just because it’s the holidays. I’ve often set myself up for failure, because in my all-or-nothing messed-up-eating-thinking, I put rigid restrictions on myself. Then, I fail and just say what-the-ever (and eat what-the-ever for days…). After reading through Intuitive Eating, I’ve realized how much I sabotage myself, so it’s all about mindful eating this week!
3) Continue working on improving my digestion. After watching several of The Digestion Sessions over the past few weeks (specifically Mike Mutzel’s presentation about his book The Belly Fat Effect), it struck me that my weight-loss resistance is definitely digestive-related. I’ve been following Trim Healthy Mama pretty strictly for about 3.5 months and have only seen about a six pound loss, so this is very frustrating to me (especially when I see some of the amazing success stories from the THM Facebook group)!! I’ve been struggling with this issue for about a year-and-a-half, but I think what I’ve learned from those sessions is going to make a huge difference. We’ll just have to see…
If you missed last week, here is a recap of what the challenge is all about:
Strong Healthy Mom Challenge: Holiday Edition
From now through January 11, I will be posting weekly goals and sharing updates on how it is going. Even better, I want to invite you to share your goals and progress…and be eligible to win. Here’s how it works:
1) If you haven’t yet, leave a comment on last week’s post with your long-term goals for the next eight weeks. (This post will be open for comments throughout the challenge.)
2) Leave a comment on this post about how your week went. Then, share your goals for the next week.
That’s it! Each week, we’ll just share and be accountable to each other. To keep it fun and mix things up, I’ll be throwing in a giveaway each week. There will be things like Amazon Gift Cards, Jillian Michael’s DVDs, Fitness Blender programs, Trim Healthy Mama books, and Starbucks gift cards. These winners will be randomly chosen from the comment section on each week’s post, and I will share those winners each week. Each weekly post will be open for comments until the following Sunday at 8 PM CT.
Our “big” giveaway will be at the end of the eight weeks. Those who have commented and joined in with us for at least four of the eight weeks will be eligible for that giveaway. The winner will be able to choose what they want from these three options: $100 Gift Card to Amazon, $100 Gift Card to Trim Healthy Mama store, or a $100 gift card to Target. The final winner will be chosen on January 12, 2015!
I will be posting on Instagram (you can find me here) under the hashtag #stronghealthymomchallenge. If you are on Instagram or Twitter, there will be a special giveaway at the end for those who use the hashtag, so use it so we can find you!
You can also join our Facebook group – Strong Healthy Mom Challenge!
Last week’s giveaway winner was comment #7 from jovicki@. I’ll be contacting you within the next 24 hours to claim your giveaway prize!
This week’s giveaway will be your choice of any digital Fitness Blender Program guide ($9.99 value), a Kindle copy of The Belly Fat Effect, or the paperback version of Intuitive Eating. You have until 8 PM CT on November 30 to share your comment below to be entered to win. The winner will be chosen from the comments with help from Random.org.
Alrighty! How did it go last week? What are your plans for this week?
1) Yes, I got my water in
2) Yes, I got my fruits and veggies in
3) Yes, I exercised 4 days
This week? It’s Thanksgiving so I’m not going to crazy
1) I upped my water goal my 1 cup each day
2) I’m keeping my fruits and veggies goal the same
3) Exercise on 4 days…this will be tougher with the holiday
http://leadmeguidemewalkbesideme.blogspot.com/2014/11/strong-healthy-mom-challenge_24.html
Last week:
1. Completed 5 PiYo workouts
2. Paid more attention to hunger signs
This week:
1. 4 PiYo workouts
2. Be mindful of my eating at holiday get-togethers.
Love your thoughts on mindful eating! My week went well. I’m down 4 pounds and hit my first major milestone goal I’ve been working towards. My goal this week is to continue my low inflammation eating plan, even on Thanksgiving. My brother is on the same plan, so we divided up food we are bringing to share with each other. My goal is to get to bed earlier and up my water intake.
1. Was able to do a little menu planning done not like I had planned.
2. Water in take so, so
1. This week will work on water in take again.
2. Not over eat since it’s a holiday
I did our menu planning last week and we stuck to it except for one night! I ran 4 out of 7 days. Not aswell as I had hoped, but I plan to do much better this week.
My goals for this week:
1. Stick to my exercise schedule EVERY DAY.
2. To not overindulge at our two Thanksgiving meals we will attend.
3. To stay fit spiritually as well by being consistent with daily quiet time and prayer.
4. To not eat anything past 6:30pm.
Last week, I meal planned day by day so that wasn’t what I had planned. I didn’t workout any. 🙁 I am, however, doing well with eating less sugar.
This week, I’m going to drink more water. And I’m jumping on the bandwagon of vowing to not eat too much this Thanksgiving week. 😉
Started a daily planking exercise and which has been working helping to work my arms and core. I will continue the month long various daily planks to strengthen my body.
I hope to work a meal plan for next week as this week my family will be celebrating thanksgiving and our meal will be with others. I’ll be watch what I eat and howich this week!
Just starting tomorrow morning.
This week I will:
Travel Strong workout 5 days
Walk outside 5 days
Locate a copy of Intuitive Eating and begin reading
Last week:
1. Ate more mindfully
2. Got more exercise in by doing simple things like parking at the back of parking lot, and being more “vigorous” while cleaning house.
This coming week plans:
1. Drink more water
2. Meal plan
I wanted to drink more water and will continue to try to do that. I also, this week, want to add drinking a detox tea by Yogi. It tastes better than I thought it would, lol.
If I could add some exercise time other than walking, I would be doing good. thx
I didn’t meet my weightloss goals for last week, but I did do my workouts! Yay!
This week
1 64 oz of water per day (hard when it is cooler)
2) weight loss 1 lb
3) 4 or 5 days of workout
I have definitely decreased my sugar intake. I haven’t baked any sweets at all and only had two cans of Pepsi for the week.
-I didn’t run as much as I would have hoped. There were two days where I didn’t make my step goal.
-I did my PIYO workouts three days.
To me, this is terrible. I am proud of my water intake and I have been eating better, but I want to be stronger. I don’t even think I could do 2 real pushups.
Goals for this week:
1) Find the time to run at least 1 mile three days a week.
2) Cook simpler meals.
3) Eat mindfully at family dinners.
Next Monday I start a morning fitness class about thirty minutes away in the nearest town. I hope that can be my jumpstart!
I didn’t do great with either this week, but thankfully didn’t gain any weight. My kids were sick this week and we seemed to have these “important things” blow up right at bedtime (like insurance problems, etc.) It was a good week, just didn’t do as well on my two goals. I have no idea what will be attainable for me this week. I am just going to try to stay in my daily calorie range (I like this because no restrictions on “what” food I eat.)The bedtime thing won’t happen this week because of family. But, I would like to continue my workouts.
For wk 1 I was able to use food diary every day and we took our meals to basketball games all week except one lunch. So that was a great week.
For wk 2 I want to work on some core strength exercises at least 4x this week. Also I want to mindful of what I am eating over the holiday gatherings. Choose wisely but enjoy some of my favorites we don’t eat at other times of the year.
I did a decent job of cutting back on carbs but my hubby made two meals that included bread and I couldn’t possibly turn down a meal he made 🙂 Exercising every day was a complete fail. The teething baby was not interested in letting me get much alone time, and when I did have a free minute I was trying to keep up with housework. Excuses excuses.
Did well last week:
*Purposefully made healthier eating choices at least 7 times (like fruit instead of candy, water instead of pop, etc.).
*Exercised three times.
This week:
*Purposefully make healthier eating choices 10 times…you know, like fruit pie instead of chocolate fudge. LOL
*Exercise three times.
*And another healthy choice that I am choosing not to disclose.
Thanks for this challenge. I am enjoying it!
Well, I definitely did not do as well as I would have liked to, but I didn’t gain any weight either. My short term goal was to work out at least 30 min, 3 times a week. I honestly have not been feeling well, but I think the hours of organizing I did (the pantry, laundry room, refrigerator, and hall closet) definitely burned some calories. 🙂 So, I’m doing ok. Next week it’s on!! Some other goals I want to add, and keep up (since I did it intentionally this week due to the healthy mama challenge) are:
-making sure I drink enough water
-continuing to watch carb intake
-and going to sleep by 10
I’ve been doing this consistently for the last week, and it makes a huge difference. 🙂 Good luck ladies!!
So last week went pretty well, but this week is going to be harder.
I would still like to workout 5 days
I really like the idea of mindful eating, so I’m adding that to my list.
And on my quest to add more variety of veggies and fruits to my diet I want to eat at least one veggie that I haven’t had in at least 3 months….
Last week went pretty well.. I met my daily goal of water and replaced breakfast 2 days with green smoothies. I still need to get into a better fitness routine! This week is crazy, but hopefully I can not get too off course! 🙂
Past week: I did indeed drink more water, but still need to up the amount. I did not do Pilates or do much very active with the kids, because for the first time in a long time, I got very sick. Then, my kids also joined in. So, we relaxed as much as possible, and I’m still fighting the illness with caughing and runny nose.
This week: I will continue to add to my water intake, eat less sugar, and try to get back into health ao I can be more purposefully active with the kids. (Will be wonderful weather here for some outdoor activities.)
I did pretty well last week with practicing breathing deeply and stretching. My water intake was good. I did walk every day except 2.
This week, I am going to keep stretching whenever I think of it and breathing deeply. I am going to strive to drink over 2 quarts of water per day, and strive to walk at least 20 minutes each day.
Last week went well! I had a great trip over the weekend and enjoyed good food but did not overeat. I’m really working on teaching myself to stop when I feel satisfied.
This week I want to concentrate on hydration. I noticed when I have off days or special events, I tend to fall short on my water intake. On regular routine days I do well, but when it’s not normal routine I don’t get in enough fluids.
I’m also attending a Thanksgiving morning exercise class and hoping to be very mindful not to over eat on Thanksgiving day. I live far away from my family, so the comfort of the old family recipes I make is a big deal to me emotionally. I know this is a mine field, so I want to do well.
I did loose a little weight last week but I know that I wasn’t eating very well. I’ve been stressed and eating lots of sugar to ‘cope’. I did walk at least 30 minutes most days so that’s a positive. This week I want to continue walking and find better ways of coping.
Last week was successful in food diary and swimming – this week’s goals aren;t going so well:
Swim 3 times
No snacking
keep a food diary
Considering that it’s currently midnight and I’m on the computer, that’s pretty telling how I’m doing getting to bed by 11pm and asleep by 11:30. 🙁 I’m doing good getting my water in and I couldn’t walk over lunch this week because we only worked one day and had CPR recertification, but I have been making it to my class, hitting the treadmill and walking in the evenings.
This week:
1) Clearly I still need to work on getting to bed early. (this will probably be a forever goal)
2) Exercise over lunch at least once and continue to work on drinking more water.
3) Pay closer attention to what I’m eating. Get in my fruits and veggies.