I'm Back ~ To An AWESOME Challenge !!

We're back from our quick, too-short visit to Williamsburg, VA.  As I was telling my challenge buddy via email this morning, I said a little prayer this morning that we get help in reaching our weight loss goals.  So, what did I fire up the computer to find?  Allan's (blog: Almost Gastric Bypass) AWESOME weight loss challenge! 

The challenge begins TOMRROW (Monday, October 25) and runs for two weeks.  I said to count me in, I think the timing of this, just coming into the food holidays, is perfection itself!

The challenge is a good one.  Here are the rules:

Your goal weight x 11 = your daily caloric intake, for the next two weeks.

Drink 64 oz of WATER, each day.

Record/count everything you eat/drink.

Weigh-in tomorrow (Monday, October 25) and again on Monday, November 8 - post on your blog.

And, rather obviously, no cheating and NO EXCUSES.  Just do it - make it happen.

The challenge starts Oct. 25 (tomorrow) and ends Nov. 8 - two weeks.  Hey, almost everyone can stick to something for two weeks, right?  A little extra effort and discipline and FOCUS is just the ticket for getting a boost before the holiday season.  I've signed up, and hope you accept the challenge as well.  If you want to see what living life is like AT your goal weight, this will show you just what you can, and can't do.

In my case, my goal weight is (for now) 145 lbs., so I need to eat 1,595 calories per day, starting tomorrow.  I also need to get in 64 oz of water each day.  I was going to post my weigh-in on Tuesday this week, given my last one was Wednesday, but for this challenge, I'm switching weigh-in to Monday (tomorrow).  Next, I need to get a little notebook, so I can keep proper track of food intake.

I'm naming Allan's challenge the "Living The Life" Challenge.  But Allan's official name is "Double Dog Dare You" Challenge.  You can see the challenge avatar under my "Goals and Challenges" tab.  (Who doesn't LOVE a pug??!!)

In other news, I got in a mile on the treadmill this morning (00:29), before it was time to get in the car and head for home. I don't count exercise "burn" against caloric intake.  I do it for health - man, my cardiovascular system is NOT what it used to be!!  Besides, I don't need the extra (potential) excuse to eat a little more, just because I have more wiggle room in my daily calories.  If I do that, it defeats the extra effort toward weight loss a little bit.

I noticed my blue timer box (right side bar) has just dropped below 300!  That means we're 65 days into our 60-pound challenge (to lose 60 lbs in one year).  Wow, it seems like we JUST started that challenge too.  Well, here it is, just under 20% into that challenge year, and I'm officially down 1/3 (20 lbs).  We'll just have to see if the next 65 days are as successful.  We have Thanksgiving and Christmas in there.  Who needs Halloween - facing Thanksgiving and Christmas, while dieting, is scary enough!  LOL

Time to catch up on some more reading of blogs.  I found an email, saying thanks for the fabulous day (Saturday) and that my blog buddy returned safely home (to the D.C. area) ... their ride was about half of ours. 

Still Day 96, onward and downward ... and accepting Allan's Two-Week "Living The Life" Challenge (I call it that, because for the next two weeks, we're living the life we are going to get, when we reach goal.)