Healthy Challenge

Back at the beginning of November, I started a healthy holiday challenge with a group. We had over 30 people sign up to join. Of course, not all of them have stuck with it, but it’s been a good experience for me. I’ve done these challenges before, and I always start out with good intentions and then get all lazy. But, if I were the one RUNNING the group, I would Have to stick with it, right? Right. It’s been 7 weeks. I’ve lost 10 pounds. Who would think I could actually lose weight between Halloween and Christmas? Crazy, right?

And while I’m not down to the next size or anything, I can feel the difference in some of my clothes. You see, even within the same size of clothes, there are the clothes that fit and are comfortable (I wear those ones all the time, like the jeans that I have worn through the thighs and really should throw away, but instead I tried to repair them), then the clothes that I could wear, but they aren’t super comfortable. And then there are the clothes that just laugh at me because even though they are in “my size” we really know that they AREN’T my size, and I’m not going to be able to wear them until I’ve lost WAY more weight than I have. They mock me. Really not nice, clothes.

The other day I was looking for some jeans to wear, and I pulled out a pair of jeans that I haven’t seen for quite some time. Oh, I loved these jeans. I wonder why I haven’t been wearing them. I put them on. Pretty tight, still. Oh, yeah, I remember. I grew too fat for them. Well, a couple weeks later I put them on, and while they are still tight, they are a little less tight.

I had one friend comment that I looked skinnier and asked if I had lost weight. Why, yes, I have, I told her. It’s GREAT to be able to say that and not be just fibbing.

There are some super annoying over achievers in this challenge, too. They have to get EVERY point and eat ALL the vegetables and lost TONS of weight, even though they are really skinny to start with. That’s ok, though. I can deal with a little annoyingness because it is helping to motivate me. Today, I trudged through my treadmill time and really hated every minute of it, but I did it. I’m hoping we can buy a stationary bike after Christmas. I’ve discovered that I have foot issues and when I walk for 30-45 minutes on the treadmill, my heel hurts all day. I think a bike would be less stress on the feet and I hope that I would use it more.

We have two weeks to go in this challenge, and then the winners will get the cash or a prize. I haven’t totally figured out how many winners there will be, but at least one for the points, and one for weight loss. The points are SO close, though, we may have to break it into smaller amounts and give out more prizes. We’ll see.

It’s been a positive thing, and I’m SO glad I followed through with my thought to start this group.