The Challenge is going GREAT!

[Rachel]

I can not tell you how much better I feel now that I'm exercising regularly again. It is a 180 degree change! I have exercised every day since Wednesday and every day I have felt better and better. Honestly, for the past few weeks it's been so hard to get out of bed in the mornings and I have just felt bad when I woke up. Since I started exercising more again, it's been easier to get up and I am having way more energy in the mornings!

I bet the fact that I haven't been exercising very much since my half has only added to my negative feelings about myself as well as not helped my stress at all. So now that I have this piece of the puzzle, I just need to work on eating! My eating definitely hasn't been on plan the past few days, but I haven't been eating as bad as I normally would either. And technically I lost 2 pounds this week because last Sunday I was 140.4 and today I was 138.2. And I'm going to commit right now that I'm not going to weigh myself for one week. This is going to be very difficult for me but it needs to be done. I'm focusing on nutrition and eating when I'm hunrgy (and stopping when full) and the scale isn't something else I need to be worrying about on a daily basis.

So yesterday and Friday I had two awesome workouts that I'm so excited about. Friday I did the full NMTZ for the first time in almost 6 weeks! And I was so happy that I was able to get through the whole thing... and I wasn't too sore yesterday! I'm so motivated to keep it up now. Then yesterday I decided to bike 2 miles to the park/trail, run 40 minutes, then meet my husband and daughter at the park to play. Then I biked the 2 miles home. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do it, but it went totally fine! The biking was easy, but the running definitely was not. I just paced myself though and went at a rate I felt comfortable at. I think I went a little over 4 miles.

Today since it's supposed to be nice again (in the 60's!) I'm just going to bike to the park again with my daughter. Maybe we'll get in a walk too, but I'm just going to take it easy other than that.

I'm back to counting points today. I'm aiming for 25 points plus ap's and flex. I figured out that is an average of 1600 calories a day, which is perfect to me. Any less than that and I feel like I'm too hungry. I decided that if I'm too hungry on this amount of points, I'll just let myself eat more until the point I'm satisfied. I think Tanya was right in a comment she left me, that not eating enough could lead to binging and then it's just a nasty cycle. So I'm going to make sure I'm eating enough.

I know that the time will probably come that I will be tempted to binge this week. And when it does I'm really going to try and blog right then and see if that helps, as much as I probably won't want to. I'm also going to try prayer and scripture.

The other thing I'm doing this week is really working on cutting down and diet coke and caffiene. I know I try this every week but I'm going to keep trying. It's going to be so hard!

So how's the challenge going for everyone else? I know it's only been 2 days but if anyone has an update I'd love to hear it! I can tell it's already changing me.

[Tanya]

Way to go!!!! It sounds like you are really geting this going!

[Erica]

I got the eating part under control if only I could get myself to exercise! If only we could swap motivation right now! Maren is right I feel a huge difference when I exercise too!!

[StEpHaNiE*]

I love that you're back on track again and I totally agree about exercise! It just makes you feel sooo much better!! I went to the gym on Saturday for the first time in a while and had a nice, long two hour workout and it felt soo good - definitely helped to get me back on track. And I'm with you for this 7-week challenge (although I think I'm going to make mine 8 weeks so that it goes right up until my trip to Thailand) GREAT IDEA!

[Yelena]

Rachel, good luck to you! I lost over 60 lbs and have kept it off for about 3 years now, real simple, I just stopped eating the wrong things, and started walking daily. Took about 12 months to drop from a size 16 to a size 4, but I feel so much better (and prettier - hee! hee!). I try to make time for exercise daily, even if it's just a walk around the block, or some push ups. I realize I'm not getting any younger, and so the more the reason to exercise. Food and exercise - it is a daily challenge, but I love how I feel. Now I need to lose these last stubborn 10 lbs - need lots of encouragement.

[Maren]

Exercise is key! It is definilty the best anti depressant out there. I also feel a change if Im not exercising so thats why I make it a huge priority! Im glad your feeling better. Its good to hear! I also quit caffeine about 6 months ago. I slowly went from Diet Coke to caffeine free Diet Coke. That helped a ton. I still drink Diet soda. Its something i LOVE...Ive been thinking about ditching it all. Maybe one day I will:) Have a great binge free week!