So I finished the 12-week Body-for-LIFE Challenge (or my version of it, at least), and I managed to lose 15 pounds! This is just about exactly what my doctor told me I should aim for, so obviously my hard work paid off.
HOWEVER, we are now in the midst of the heavy eating and drinking portion of the year. Between Thanksgiving, various holiday parties, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve, I’m afraid the temptation to be bad has been overwhelming, and I’m not eating with as much discretion as I was while I was in the middle of the challenge.
Also, I have not reached my goal weight of 160 yet, and I think I may need another challenge to motivate me. My friend Ellen has been participating in a weight-loss motivation program called Lose It or Lose It, a website where you make a monetary investment in your weight loss, and if you don’t lose the weight, you lose your money. It’s a pretty clever idea, actually, and I’m considering joining the program (once New Year’s Eve has come and gone and I’ve stopped eating so many darned Christmas cookies).
In the meantime, Ellen and I have been talking about the Two Hundred Situps challenge, which, like the Couch to 5K program, trains you to gradually be able to do 200 situps in one day. Talk about six-pack abs! There are related challenges, like Hundred Push-Ups and Hundred Squats.
So we’re going to go triple-threat and participate in the 100 squats/200 situps/100 push-ups challenge and get our bodies nice and strong! The great thing about these programs is that they have an log book that is connected with Facebook, so Ellen and I can keep track of our progress and stay accountable to each other. Right, Ellen? And I invite any of you to come along for the ride and post comments letting me know what you think and how you’re doing.
So I started the Push-ups/Squats/Situps Challenge today with an exhaustion test, to try to see what level I belong to. Turns out Cindy Whitmarsh’s abs workouts on Exercise TV have done me a whole bunch of good, because I managed to do 100 situps in one set (N.B. – the “situps” recommended by the 200 Situps site are actually crunches, since full situps are not good for your back). I got 80 squats in, but only 18 push-ups! So now I know I need to work on my arms most of all.