So, where are you headed?
Do you know where you're headed this fall? Have you made plans for what you'd like to accomplish for your weight loss, health, and fitness? Or are you going to sit back and let life lead you rather than you lead your life?
That's what I would have done a couple of years ago. I liked the familiar. I liked coming home at the end of the work day and eating myself into a numbing coma. I enjoyed watching television show after television show and eating and eating. I laughed through the comedies, worried along with the characters of the dramas... got up to get something more to eat and then plopped back down on the couch to do nothing but enjoy myself.
The reality of my situation was that I was killing myself. I was numbing myself to life by overeating and allowing myself to become morbidly obese. The continued eating of high sugar, high fat foods truly numbed my emotions to the point where - at the end of the evening - it was an effort to climb the stairs to fall into bed.
That wasn't 'the good life'. I pretended that it was. I pretended I was happy. But - deep down within me - I was miserable. My health was deteriorating. My happiness - true happiness - was non-existent. I was suffocating within my own self-imposed walls of fat. And I wasn't motivated to do anything about it.
And then something within me changed. I decided I was worth the effort and I wanted to live the rest of my life as a truly happy and healthy person. I realized that to be HAPPY, I first needed to get healthy. I started to listen to audio tapes about reinforcing positive behavior, positive energy and the power of attracting good things with positive actions. I began to believe I could change my life and got up off the couch and - in the privacy of my own living room - began to move more. Then I ventured outside and began to walk around the block, and then the high school track, and then a half mile, and then a mile, and then a 5k charity walk.
I had given myself a tremendous GIFT. I'd unwrapped within me the gift of believing in myself and reclaiming my health.
For the next 90 days I'm going back to basics. Ninety days from today is Christmas. I'm going to give myself the best gift I can imagine: the gift of wellness. I plan to lose 25 lbs. and hit my goal weight in December. I've been slacking for months and months and am ashamed of myself. That disappointment all changed on Saturday when I went to the gym and 'got back at it'.
So what is the 90 Day Challenge?
I would love you to join me on the next 90 days and reclaim whatever it is that YOU have let slide or set aside, too. Is it your weight loss goal? Your fitness routine? Your promise to yourself to go to the gym three times a week? To stop overeating or drinking too much? You know what it is... you're probably saying silently what that goal is as you read this.
I don't need to know your goal if you don't want to share it. But
you need to
write down your goal somewhere that you will see it everyday... preferably first thing in the morning and throughout your day. Place a calendar reminder in your auto-calendar on your phone or laptop and have a "reminder" come up daily that motivates you to keep at your goal... "eyes on the prize" as the saying goes.
Only join this 3 month challenge if you're truly committed because we're going to keep one another accountable. I need someone to get in my face on Twitter and Facebook and here and say "how many miles did you walk this week?" or "how many lbs. have you lost so far?" and badger me 'til I tell you! Hey, I need accountability, too, and expect that if I'm supporting you, you'll be there to support me! :)
This time the challenge is accompanied by some very cool incentives!
Besides the fact that by committing to yourself your own weight loss or fitness/wellness goal you will feel proud of yourself,
if you are the challenger who checks in the most the first 14 days (either here or on Facebook or Twitter), you're going to receive the top of the line Conair Weight Watchers glass body analysis scale.* It is so incredibly cool!
If you are in the challenge and are actively checking in and posting and have decided to start walking outdoors or begin a new outdoor activity (think canoeing, biking, hiking, golf, running, etc.), you'll be entered in the
gift set of Eucerin products for Everyday Body and Everyday Face lotion.
If you're going to stop eating junk food and are trying to eat healthier and are posting during the next 90 days often about how you're doing, you'll possibly
win one of three cookbooks to keep you motivated and help with new recipes and changes you're making.
But, friends, the biggest, BEST gift that you will receive, is the gift of your own self-esteem and self-discipline. You will be able to look at yourself and say "I'm worth it. I'm doing this for me! I'm accomplishing my goals!" and mean it. You won't feel that old feeling of lying to yourself that everything is great when you can barely pull yourself up off the floor, when you have to buy another size bigger clothes when you swore to yourself you'd never get past the size you're in now... you'll really push yourself out the door to run that 2 mile loop at 6:30am.
So here are the details in condensed form:
1. In Comments here, on Twitter, or to my HealthyLoser Gal Facebook page, tell me that you are IN the #hlgFitGift 90 Day Challenge. Use the #hlgFitGift hashtag on Twitter.
2. Somewhere, preferably on paper where you can tape it to your frig or bathroom mirror or somewhere you can't miss it, you're going to write the weight loss, fitness or wellness goal you're going to challenge yourself to achieve in the next 90 days. (i.e., I'm writing "I'm losing 10 lbs. in October, 10 lbs. in November and 5 lbs. in December. I'm walking 5x weekly. I'm not eating after 8pm nightly.")
3. You check in as often as you can (I'll be going for every other day here, daily on Twitter) and support other people in the challenge. If you need help, you ask for it! :)
4. You commit to exercise in some way for at least 10 minutes a day 4x a week every week of the challenge. That is easy-peasy, friends! Everyone - no matter your fitness level - can squeeze in 10 minutes 4x a week.
5. You drink a lot of water and be kind to yourself! Develop a POSITIVE mantra about how you can do whatever you set your mind to accomplish! :)
6. You're honest to yourself and other challengers about how you're doing. If you fall off five times and begin again six times during this challenge, you're still in it! It isn't about how many times you fall down, it is about how many times you get back up and continue! ; )
I know where I'm headed the next 90 days... I've got goals written down and I'm going for them full throttle! I hope you'll join me in the Fit Gift Challenge!
Dream. Believe. Achieve!
Jan / Healthy Loser Gal
*If there is a tie on who is checking in most often, I will do the random number prize selection.
In the past year, thanks to Ocean Spray providing me with samples, I learned of Diet Sparkling Cranberry juice which is now my fav drink (and mixed 50/50 with pinot grigot over ice makes a heck of a low-cal Cranberry Spritzer!).
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