Fitness challenge IV: Join Our Fitness Team!

**Crystalblue** · 10-30-2011 08:20 PM

It's so awesome to be starting the fourth part going strong. If there's anyone having trouble staying motivated or that needs a team to cheer them on, this is the group for you. Every month we've kept the encouragement coming to keep pushing and staying true to our fitness goals. The only thing we need to do to be successful, is to keep trying. The greatest part about this is that by being accountable to our team, we're teaching ourselves to be accountable to ourselves. Simple excuses to ourselves don't work any more. Anyone is welcome to join, just starting out or already in a fitness routine, need some work out buddies or have more than enough gusto to share with the team. It's going to be a fun month. I can feel it. Lol

I'm going to try not to change too much. Post your weight, height, and measurement(chest, waist, hips). Don't recheck measurements again until the end of the challenge. Include your goals and how you feel about your fitness level.

Keep track of your calorie intake and nutrients, but you don't have to post if you don't want to. Do post the weekly results though, the under/over accumulated for that week. Keep track of your daily water too. I'm still struggling to get the full 8 cups of water everyday, so I thought this was a good one to keep. I'm going to say you don't have to post that either, but I plan on doing it anyway since I need to work on it.

I'm going to change the workout part a bit. Don't do the same workout everyday. Have a plan of strength training workouts. Building muscle is important for losing weight. Muscle burns calories so even just sitting, someone with good muscle will burn more calories than someone with weak muscles.

Pick 4 or more moves to worked in repitition for about 15 minutes. Example: pushups, crunches, calf raises, lunges. Do these every other day at least 3 times a week.

If you really wanna be tough, choose a 2nd set of moves to use on alternating days. If you have pushups, crunches, calf raises, and lunges one day, the next day switch to leg lifts, squat thrusts, chair dips, and glute bridges. If the workout moves start to feel stale you can ask for new ideas for the area you'd like to work or check fitness sites for ideas.

Cardio: choose at least 3 different cardio exercises to do for at least 30 minutes, we'll stick with 5 days a week. Try to alternate days as much as possible so the same exercise isn't used 2 days in a row. My example: Sun. basketball, Mon. elliptical, Tue. jogging, Wed. elliptical, Thur. jogging, Fri. stationary bike.

Post your daily exercises, both strength training and cardio, and calories burned. Don't forget your rewards. We should see at least one fun day or treat each week. Did I forget anything?

Ok everyone, let's do this. Who's in for round 4?!

**Cyndie32** · 10-31-2011 07:07 AM

i am in. you can count on me. i weighed 138 lbs and measure 39-32-36. just for clairification the pushups lunges and the like are the strength training portion of our challenge?

i got up early this morning and did my cardio, i did elliptical and bike at 4:30 A.M. CRAZY!!!! but i have to go to the grocery tonite and didn't want to start the challenge as a slacker!!! come on y'all. lets do this. one month at a time we are going to transform our bodies. lets make our first day of this challenge rock. i am gonna stand most of the day at work too. have a great day

**Crystalblue** · 10-31-2011 07:43 AM

The strength training part would be the stuff like pushups and crunches or weight lifting. I wanted to keep this part general so everyone could pick the area they wanted to work on. I know I've got some moves I like more than others. Share which ones your using though, so we can all get different ideas. I think it would be better to switch them around here and there so we don't get too comfortable in the same routine.

Ok, weight 164.2. Height 5'8". Chest 38", waist 32 3/4", and hips 39". I found a site that says you can increase hip size by doing butt and leg exercises. Between my regular workouts, the moves like lunges and squats, and going up and down stairs all day, I'm pretty sure that's what happened with the extra inch...I hope. Lol

I'm keeping my goal at toning and losing the flab. I don't want to pin a weight to my goals and I'm not really sure what I'd like my measurements to be at. Mostly, I just want to get fit and let my body decide where it needs to be at naturally. I've always felt like everyone has there own natural structure and to force yourself out of that can be unhealthy. I'm getting a new energy with my workouts. It feels like I've been even more eager to get out to run or head to the fitness center. I still get hungry pretty quick after eating, so I've been keeping the fruits and veggies stocked. I've been using a smaller plate at dinner so I don't eat so much I get full. I eat enough to not be hungry, and I have healthy snacks when I need them.

Well, it's time to get this challenge started for the day. I got a laundry workout to do and an elliptical to ride. I hope everyone has a happy Halloween!

**Cyndie32** · 10-31-2011 08:09 AM

remember proper posture on those stair trips. suck in that belly and put your shoulders back and down away from your ears! train your body to walk tall and proud.

**Cyndie32** · 11-01-2011 07:20 AM

wow. where is everybody. was expecting to see lots of results posted and nothing. hey bd, chey, and ordun, where you at? we need you! on that note:

yesterday my calories was 1214 with protein of 83 and fiber of 33. i burnt 413 calories with exercise which put me 399 calories under budget. 11 cups of water. for exercise i did my cardio which was 20 minutes on the elliptical and 10 minutes on the bike. i had a 45 minute walk. and i did 4 sets of 10 each of side leg lifts, push ups, bridge with leg lift and squats.

went to the grocery and got some fresh salmon. gonna give it a try. lets have a rockin day crystal. oh yea. i stood all day yesterday at work. i actually got a couple of boxes and propped up my computer so it is at eye level when standing. and the key board is at elbow level when standing. we will see if standing helps my back. later!!!!

**Crystalblue** · 11-01-2011 11:15 AM

Great idea with the boxes Cyndie. I bet that's more comfortable then bending over. Lol. I've been wanting to start getting fish for dinner, but I've never cooked it before. I'm a little worried I'll ruin it. Lol. Let me know how yours turns out.

I am worn out! Yesterday I used the elliptical for 45 minutes then lifted weights for about 40 minutes. I did three sets of 15 bicep curls, 20 tricep lifts, 15 on 4 different shoulder lifts, 10 hanging crunches, 20 squat press, 30 calf raises, and 10 lunges. Then I took the kids trick or treating here at the apartments. There are 14 buildings, 3 floors on each, and two sides of each building. 14x3x2=a whole lotta stairs. Lol. They gave us a list of all the apartments participating in trick or treating, but since I don't know my way around the different buildings, I didn't know which side to go up the stairs on to find the right number. We had to go up a lot of extra stairs by the end of the night. Lol. No wonder I'm getting buns of steal. Lol.

After all that, my calories were 520, 1170 under. I burned 1144 on the workouts. Fiber was 18, protein was 71 and I had 10 cups of water. I did much better with that yesterday. I think I just wasn't keeping track very well.

I'm trying to decide what to do with my day. I'm thinking pushups, bridge glutes, crunches... I'm gonna look some more ab stuff up online. I saw someone using a dumbbell, sitting up, with their feet raised off the ground, and kind of twisting back and forth holding the dumbbell with both hands. It looked like a fun one to try, but I thought I'd see if I could find some new ones.

**Beautiful Disaster** · 11-01-2011 02:21 PM

I'm here no fear. lol I'm so flustered by the log in issues. I'm confident now that it has something to do with my work server. I dunno, but it's frustrating. I will be following along, sticking with you gals on the challenge but if you don't see me posting you know why.

I'm hoping the others are maybe away on vaca or something and that's why they haven't joined.

**Cheyenne** · 11-01-2011 03:13 PM

I is here!!! I made it!! Sorry I'm late...

I haven't mesaured myself yet, but I'll do it in the morning. I also didn't get a scale

but hopefully I'll get one soon. I weighed myself at my aunt's yesterday afternoon, but it said 134 and it was in the afternoon, so I'm not counting it. But right now, I want to wait a little while longer before I weigh myself.

Does it matter what cardio and everything else we do? Or is it just whatever we want to do?

I'm excited for this month!!

**Crystalblue** · 11-01-2011 09:02 PM

You pick your workouts. The main thing was just not to do the same stuff everyday. There are a lot of exercises I just have more fun with, and I was guessing you guys probably had some favorites too. Pick the ones you want and post your workout.

**Cheyenne** · 11-02-2011 05:19 AM

Oh, ok, just making sure!

My measurments are:
Hips: 37 1/2 inches,
Waist: 33 1/2inches,
Bust: 38 inches.
All together, my hips haven't changed, my waist has lost half an inch, and my bust has lost an inch and a half.

My calories for yesterday were 1,118 and I was 96 under. Fiber 16.4g and protein 17.6. Water intake was around 4 1/2-5 cups. I did my dancing for 20minutes. I didn't do anything else for working out. I think Monday I did something to my ankles, and they're really sore and I have to be careful of how I move them. But hopefully if I can do P.E. today, I'll try and lift some weights tonight.