♪ ♫ Walked And Walked And Walked And Walked AND... ♫ ♪

I made sure to get my 15 minute walks in everyday last week, most of the time it was late at night and I was pacing in front of the computer BUT I did them! I almost forgot a few nights but I would remember right as I was getting ready for bed, or some other really inconvenient time. I also wrote the why I matter letter, so I did both of the challenges!

I worked out twice with the 'ripped in 30' like we were supposed to, this is our last week on level 1 of the dvd and i'm kind of scared of what level 2 holds!

Because I was walking everyday, I didn't do any other workouts (besides the 'ripped in 30') though I did do the stretch segment on my pilates dvd after I did the 'ripped' workout once, I was hoping it would help me to not be as sore... I think it worked but I still kind of feel like I was beaten up...

Season 4 Challenge 2

In case you are new:

Each week we are given two challenges. These challenges will start on Sunday and go through the following Saturday.

At the end of the week, we will each write a post explaining our experiences with the challenges.

BE HONEST. If you failed the challenge, tell us why. If you rocked it, tell us how. Most importantly, tell us how you feel about it.

This week's challenges

Physical: This week get your blood pumping! Three times this week do at least 20 minutes of cardio exercise. It doesn't need to be fancy but if you can breath and talk normally than you aren't pushing quite hard enough. You can dance, do a workout or rush around a store while shopping but get that heart rate up!... Though I can't promise you won't get funny looks if you do your carsio in the store... I'm just saying.

Nutritional: This week have a veggie meal, by making the main course with vegetables! It could be a large salad, a veggie burger, eggplant parmesan or anything else and then give us your recipe! Do that for at least two meals this week! And add an extra point to the completed challenge if you do it 4 times!


AND remember our continual challenge this season is to do the Ripped in 30 DVD twice each week.

Good luck!

let's just pretend this posted yesterday.

DISCLAIMER:

We decided to go with Verizon internet!

...but we maybe chose it a day too late, because my neighbors moved yesterday, and took their internet with them.

Since I am writing this on my Android, its going to be kind of short. And I can't promise that Autocorrect won't make its presence known.

This week I have done great with my no refined sugar diet. I especially enjoyed my cheat day. We had book club and a baby shower on the same day, which was incredibly convenient :)

I haven't done my second day of the Ripped dvd yet, because I am STILL SORE. Holy smokes you guys. I could barely walk the next day.

But I have gone on 15 minute walks each day, no problem. Sometimes I even go the extra mile. Literally.

I would write more, but my thumbs are getting tired. See you Monday!

It's almost like Wednesday....Right?

I'm a little late posting this week. It's been a busy one! How is everyone doing? How are your fitness goals? I hope you are pumped for this season! Do you realize that after this season we would have done a full year? Wow! I am taking a health and nutrition class this semester and I hope to share some items on here with you! I tend to snack at night while doing homework so my goal is to on Sunday night cut up veggies I can munch on during the week while studying. Another new favorite snack? Cara Cara oranges. For some reason I like them so much better than regular oranges!! Try one!

First week

I have to tell you guys, I'm already working out more during the weeks than I normally do... 

I usually work out 2 times a week. Sometimes less. ;-P

But I've been working out with Bryn to help her be motivated to win her offices Biggest Loser. Last week I worked out three times with her (two days in a row at one point) and I've already worked out 3 times this week and I'm not even done yet! I plan on working out Saturday too, and maybe tomorrow... but I'm not sure yet. (that isn't counting the walking everyday for this weeks challenge)

I did the Ripped in 30 again today, and I did the 30 day shred yesterday. 

It's only the first week in but I already feel like I've been working super hard at this.

It feels good though. Aside from the sore muscles that is.

One thing that I'm thinking I'm going to try with my diet is dairy-free pudding. Amber told me about it, and now I'm interested :)

My diet is coming along alright, but not great. Not yet.

One thing that makes me lose motivation is sore muscles and not feeling well. When I feel nauseated, really full, have a headache, tummy ache or my back is hurting it's hard to be motivated to work out. Any suggestions?

In other news I will hopefully hear from Dr. Cousins tomorrow. Please keep that whole situation in your prayers. I'm hoping he'll believe me.

One Week In

Last week was our first of Season 4 and I have been enjoying it so far! I haven't used my cheat day (though I have had many temptations!) and have stayed away from meat (even ate veggie hot dogs on Sunday) and am excited to keep up my no meat challenge for the rest this season. Even though we didn't have to yet, I did the 'Ripped in 30' DVD twice last week! It made me super sore, so I did a pilates DVD to help stretch me out. My favorite one to do is the

10 minutes solutions: Pilates

It is great because you get a really good workout but it does a good job at stretching you out too. It has 5, 10 minute workouts you can play in a row, or do separately. I normally do 4 of them so it lasts about 40 minutes. It is my go-to workout, especially when I'm already sore from other workouts, it never fails to make me feel better!

Season 4 Challenge 1

Before I tell you the challenges, I have an exciting announcement!

The winner of this season (4) will get an extra prize!

My good friend Bryn, from Black Hat Media, has offered the winner a photo-shoot! So next time Helena is out here, we'll all go together and get some sister shots taken, and the winner will get some extra portraits! How exciting is that?!?

Now... It's time for our first weekly challenges! Are you ready for it?

In case you are new:

Each week we are given two challenges. These challenges will start on Sunday and go through the following Saturday.

At the end of the week, we will each write a post explaining our experiences with the challenges.

BE HONEST. If you failed the challenge, tell us why. If you rocked it, tell us how. Most importantly, tell us how you feel about it.

This week's challenges

Physical: Take a walk everyday this week. Inside, outside, at the gym or even in place while watching TV! It doesn't matter how you do it, but take a walk everyday this week for at least fifteen minutes. Take a friend, spouse or go alone.  Just have fun and enjoy the (hopefully) nice weather!

Emotional: Write a "Why I matter" letter to yourself. Anytime this week write yourself a letter about why you matter, it can be a list of things or a traditional letter; write it however you want! Be genuine and put it someplace safe where you can read it whenever you're feeling down.

Good luck! I can't wait to hear how you did.

And since we didn't have a challenge last week, on your day to blog this week tell us all something that motivates you AND tell us a new recipe you're going to use with your diet!

Season 4- Helena!

Hey guys, I'm Helena.

Here's some info about me: I'm the 26 year old sister to the lovely ladies in the posts below me. I am living in Pittsburgh, and I was kind-of-recently laid off from my job. Terrible for my wallet, but fantastic for my exercise goals (in theory). In between all my sleeping and traveling, I am hoping to make this summer a healthy one.

Just like everybody else, I am on a restricted diet. My lost love for the next three months is Sugar. Any kind of sugar. Fructose, Corn Syrup, Aspartame, all of it (although, who tries to eat aspartame?). The only sweeteners I am allowed are Honey, and Agave.

I don't know that I will be cooking with these all that much. I might just spend my time avoiding, and call it good.

The challenge: have you looked at an ingredients list?? High Fructose Corn Syrup is in everything. I guess I'll be making my burritoes from scratch, and eating a lot of salad.

(and living for those cheat days)

Wish me luck!

Season 4: Chantel

Hey ladies! My name is Chantel, and I love those ladies you can see on the right of the screen. they are awesome.

Can I just tell you that I'm psyched about this season!! It's going to be loads of fun.

I did really well with the challenges last cycle and I'm hoping to do just as good, if not better, this time around!

My diet is to avoid dairy, which will be a little harder than I had originally anticipated because Michael's family is Italian, and they love their cheeses. But it's totally doable! I'll just be looking forward to my cheat days ;-P

Some of my goals are to get a little more toned, do well in the challenges, start running more often and to become a stronger swimmer. I am not a good swimmer. I never have been, and I have a slight fear of drowning which doesn't make it any easier to improve. Any tips?

One thing I do to try and keep my motivation is to think about you guys. Thinking about you helps me to keep going, because I know that that helps you guys to keep going.

I have a hard time maintaining my motivation when it's the weekend, when I'm out of town or sick.

Let's get this party started!

4th Season!

My name is Annie! I am sister and friends to the other lovely ladies you will be meeting on here. I am sooo excited! Season 3 was a last and I am excited for season 4! I am really excited mostly to do the DVD Amber talked about in her intro. I hope it is fun! Just like Amber I have a diet challenge. No simple carbs! I'm good with this. I can do it! my biggest concern for this season is the working out. I love it when I do it, but my schedule is getting busier, not simpler! But I will make it work!!

Season 4- Amber

Okay guys I an excited to start this season, I think it will be a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to our new rules!

A little about me-

My name is Amber and I came up with the idea for this blog after being inspired by my sisters-in-law. I really liked the idea of being accountable for getting in shape and having a support system in place too. It has been such a blessing to do this blog with all of you, I have not only gotten more fit but have grown closer to all my sisters (who are other contestants on Reasons To Lose). I have found working out has become a great outlet for stress and since starting I have lost weight, dropped a few sizes, toned up and gained a ton of confidence. Last season my motivation wavered a little, I had been getting sick and was dealing with a lot of stress but now I feel good and am really looking forward to jumping head-first into this season!

This season my diet restriction is-

NO MEAT!

I have a bunch of things planned and recipe ideas, i'm really looking forward to it. I'm not just going to eat fish and avoid meats until the three months are over, I want to incorporate tofu and other substitutes too. I want to make dishes that would normally have meat and then change them to be vegetarian-friendly!

Season 4 baby!

Welcome back from our week off!

I hope you are well rested, cause it's time to work HARD!

No dairy! No sugar! No meat! No simple carbs!

...What do those things have in common?

US! Each of us will be giving up one of the aforementioned foods for the next three months.

We each get one cheat day a week. When you cheat, let us know what you had! and when you find an awesome recipe that coincides with your diet, share it!

Since it's the first week our only challenge is to write a little introductory post in which you should explain: your new diet (remember, the new diets start TODAY), 

what your summer goals are 

and the reason you've been losing motivation during our seasons or how you've been keeping your motivation. 

Whichever is applicable.

AND I'll remind us all about the rules:

• We need to blog at least once a week (if you go too long without blogging, you are disqualified from winning)
• See who, in a 3 month period, can push the hardest
• Each contestant can choose their own workout plan
• Try to do all the weekly challenges (no disqualification if you don't, or fail at them.)
• Each contestant will give $25 at the end of the season, the winner wins $80
• Whoever completes the most weekly challenges, and blogs about them, wins $20
• The winner will be determined by a vote at the end of the season
• Stick to the diet plan you drew out of the hat for the next three months

And this season we're implementing a new rule:

We must do Jillian Michael's workout DVD "Ripped in 30" twice a week.

Our goal is to motivate each other and reach our personal goals, whether it is to lose weight, get healthier, tone up, or just feel better about ourselves! Hopefully by reading this blog you will be inspired to do the same and reach your own personal goals, whatever they may be!

If you're following our blog, we encourage you to do the challenges with us, and if you share a link in the comments to your own post about how you're doing, we'll include it in a challenge update post each week!

And The Winner Is....

ANNIE!

We all voted and Annie came out the winner of this season of Reasons To Lose!

Congratulations Annie you are the winner and that means you get the prize of $80, don't go spending it all in one place (I guess you could if you really wanted to...) Let us know what you decide to do with your winnings!

The award for most challenges completed throughout this season goes to-

CHANTEL!

Way to go Chantel, because you won that part of the season you get the prize of $20, let us know what you decide to do with it!

Good job everyone! Now lets get ready to rock Season 4 (coming this Monday, May 16th!)

I'm here! And we're done!

"Helena. Get your butt to your computer and write your final post. NOW."

Uh, hi guys. I've been, uh-hum, kind of busy.

But here are my stats!

I lost 4 lbs, and an inch and a half in my waistline!

I feel like I can see a lot more definition in my arms. And in my cheekbones. So even though 4 lbs isn't a giant number, it's making me pretty happy.

And it's making me itch to start our next season. I feel like I'm on a roll. A healthy, whole-wheat kind of roll.

As for the points I accumulated doing our challenges and posting about it...

Well, I think it's safe to say I came in last place again on that one.

But with a new season coming up, there is always hope!!

Congrats everybody, I feel like this season was our funnest yet (mostly because we discovered the Wii dance party thing, and I got to do it with you all in person.)

And here's to the next season- the swimsuit season!!!

(yeah, that will be a kick in the butt)

-Helelna

Finish Line!

Three months flew this time! But t was fun along the way!

End results:

Lost 7lbs. Lost 2 inches in stomach. I can take my pants off without unbuttoning! SO cool!

Challenges completed: 11

I really wish I could have done better. Although unrealistic I see the contestants on the biggest loser lose so much weight and I want that to be me!! But, I can't workout 8 hours a day. I can't devote my life to that now. But If I knew I could get paid leave from work and not have any worries I would be there! Even the fitness ridge in Utah would be amazing!

Bad news. My life is getting busier. I will still do the blog, and the challenges, but have to cut down on Monday exercises with the ladies to every other week. I first week of school is kicking my butt!

Finished!

Alright! We made it through another three months!

I tried writing this yesterday, but blogger was not working at all yesterday (at least for me). I tried different browsers and I even tried posting from my ipod and phone but nothing would work.

Also, I totally wrote a blog on Wednesday night, and blogger told me it worked, but I just saw that it didn't. I'm frustrated because it happened on this blog, and on My Thoughts and Treasures blog as well... stupid blogger.

So on Wednesday all I pretty much said was that I would post on Thursday letting you all know how I did, and then I told you how I did on the last challenges, which I never posted about:

I made my summer fitness plans, which include running, tummy crunches for at least 10 minutes a day, three days a week, and hopefully doing some zumba (water or land) with you guys.

And I failed the 15 minutes a day every day last week. I did it once, but that was it.

So, without further ado, here are my stats:

I lost a half an inch around my neck, an inch and 1/4 around my hips and my body fat percentage went down 1%

My weight fluctuates, but it's stayed consistent with my last stats, and my BMI hasn't changed. Which is good for me right now.

And as for the challenges, I counted one point for each physical, emotional and nutritional challenge that I completed and I counted a half point for the ones I mostly did but missed a day (if it was an everyday thing.) Let me know if I need to count differently.

And my final score is 20 points!

I'm excited to hear how everyone else did!

Final Challenge Updates

I realized I never updated you all about how I did with the week 12 challenges!

So silly of me...

I'll be posting tomorrow to let you know my final stats including counting my points for the challenges. 1 point for each completed challenge, and a half point for the ones that are mostly completed right?

Well, for week 12 I did well! kind of... ;-P

I wrote my summer workout plans, which include doing tummy crunches for at least 10 minutes three times every week. The amount of time will undoubtedly change, but I wanted to start a little smaller. I am determined to have a little definition.

They also include going for runs more often, and doing Tai Chi more as well.

I'm also hoping to get some water zumba, or land zumba, in there with you guys :-)

As for the working out for 15 minutes every day... yeah, I didn't do it.

I did it two days, but that's all. 

I'll let you know tomorrow what my final stats are! :-D

The End

This post is a summery of how I did this season and what my results were! At the beginning of this season I was really on top of things, I was working out every day, doing all the challenges and was feeling great. I was down for about 2-3 weeks because of an illness, and afterwards I was ready to start back up full force, but sadly, my body didn't agree. I was still doing what I could but it wasn't as much as I thought I should be able to do. The last month of the challenge, even though I was feeling pretty good, I seemed to be running on fumes. I was still getting workouts in but sometimes only once a week, a big difference from past seasons. I just seemed to be off my game. My motivation wasn't as strong as it needed to be, there was always a 'reason' that things didn't go as well as they should have, but that doesn't change the fact that I didn't do as well as I could have...

After looking at my stats, this is how I did-

Challenges, 10*

Inches lost, 0

Weight, fluctuates between a few pounds

I am at my ideal BMI for my height, so my weight is going up and down between a few pounds everyday and hasn't really changed, which is normal when you are at your target weight. I didn't lose any inches but I do see more definition and I went down a size in jeans (I'm fitting into jeans I wore in high school!). I feel a little discouraged that even with all my work, I didn't really see a difference in my stats, though my stamina is great and I keep feeling better and better physically. I'm really excited for season 4 and can't wait to start up next week!

*that is 10 individual challenges, the physical counts as 1 challenge and the emotional counts as 1 challenge.

The end of Season 3!

Our season has come to an end again and it now time to post your stats. How did you do?

Did you lose any weight or inches?

Did you meet your goals?

What did you learn?

How do you feel?

Thanks for a great season! Can't wait to read the results!