12 Day Challenge...

12 days ago, I started a challenge that my dear cousin, Kristin proposed.  The guidelines were simple.  Weigh yourself.  Pick a new weight goal for 12 days out--4 pounds on the scale, bringing me to a new 10's.  What the heck, no one reads this anyway...it brought me to 159.  Figure out one or two food that you know are trigger foods for you, and cut them out of your diet (mine are pizza and dt.coke, and I've since figured out bread in general is a trigger for me).  Her rules also included no alcohol.  Since I'm doing Weight Watchers, I needed to stay within my points goal (and not use my weekly bonus points or exercise points).  And, since I have been known to start and restart the Couch25K program several times, she wanted to me to restart, and commit to exercising daily.  I choose to not only restart C25K on week 2, but I was going to walk the same route on my off days as well, which meant I was walking at least 2.2 miles a day.  I also made the choice to park in the last parking spot at work for the duration of the challenge, to remind myself that I was doing this, and could this.

There were days during this 12 day challenge I woke up, and thought, NO WAY.  I can not get out of bed early, I don't want to face the cold. There were days I really wanted a celebratory drink.  This fell right in the middle of parent/teacher conferences...there were days I needed a Dt. Coke like nobodies business!!  And last night, I ordered the kids pizza for dinner because I knew I wouldn't be home in time.  I totally wanted to come home and eat a few pieces!  There were days I wanted to buck out and be done with it!  But I did it.  For 12 days, I did it.    And guess what?  I weighed myself this morning (and several time during the challenge), and I was at 158.8.  Yes, folks, I was down 4.2 pounds. 

For me, this was pretty big.  I have been doing Weight Watchers since the beginning of August, and had only lost 8 pounds.  So for 10 weeks, 70 days, I lost 8 pounds.  But by being specific and intentional in my goals and my procedure, I lost 1/2 that in just over 1/7 of the time.  Pretty cool!!!  That's what you call a SMART goal, folks!  And it works.  :)  So, thanks, Kristin, for motivating me to get busy and just do it. 

Now, Kristin has challenged us to another 12 days.  Re-evaluate what worked, and what didn't work, and do it again.  She has also added the element of journal ling, which I think I will just do here for the world to see (what do I have to hide, anyway??)  And last but not least, a to-do list of projects that are just there and weigh on us daily to get finished.  I'm going to start that here.   I'll be honest, I usually have a to-do list around here or on my phone, and it's pretty fluid.  But, I will comply with Kristin's request, and go one step further and put it on my blog for the world to see.  :)  Kristin has also asked us to come up with 5-10 smaller weight loss goals before we get to our big goal...and make a spreadsheet to track those goals.  I will do that offline--OR on my new favorite place, googledocs!  :)

My 12 day goal weight is another 4 pounds--155 by Friday, November 4th.  I'm not sure it's possible, but hey...I didn't think it was last time either! 

So, my plan for the next 12 days.  Same triggers as last time.  Pizza and Dt. Coke.  Also, I'm going to add candy, because with the Halloween candy everywhere, it could easily pack on the pounds for me...quickly.  I think I ate enough candy corn tonight for the whole week!!!  Plus, that adds a level of discipline that I need right now.   I will sit down tomorrow or Sunday and prepare my meal plan for the week(s) ahead.  I will bring my lunch to school 9 out of 10 of the challenge days.  Another thing that I noticed myself doing was that in the past, I chose chocolate milk at school most days.  During this challenge, I chose 1% or  skim.  I am going to commit to only drinking water or 1% for lunch every day.  

I will get up by 5:30am.  (This is a struggle for me, and I found myself getting out of bed later and later each morning).  I am going to up my distance.  I thought I had tracked out my walk and it was 3.1, but it was only 2.2, so this 12 days I will up my walk/run to 3.1 miles.  I will continue to park in the last parking spot as my visual reminder to myself. 

OK, this is getting too long, so I'm going to stop.  Tomorrow, I will post a meal plan for the 12 day challenge. 

~Missy