Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Slimmer This Summer Weight Loss Challenge


I've been a part of several online weight loss challenges over the last year. I started out with Biz's challenge which led me to many, many blogs that have helped me so much.  I didn't have too much success with weight loss in my first couple of challenges but they each did help me a great deal. 

One of the reasons I've loved being in these challenges is that I love to help and support people. I don't always have time to read everything and comment all the time but I love visiting people and witnessing their successes and trying to help when they fail. 

My good friend Mir and I are starting our own challenge.  We're calling it Slimmer This Summer.  It will run June 6th through August 28th.  12 weeks, 84 days of commitment to get fit!  We would love to have as many people join us in this quest to get healthier. 

Our goals are to lose weight and move more.  Simple, huh?

Here's what we're going to do in this summer challenge.  We're still working on the details but this will give you an idea of how it will go.
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I believe that to be successful you have to have a plan and a goal.  Without it, you're just flying blind. Here's the plan.

1. Blog our goals!! Please do an initial post stating what your goals are. We have 12 weeks of this challenge. How much do you want to lose in 12 weeks? How much water or liquids do you intend to drink daily? How many workouts are you going to do? What is your exercise plan? Measurements? This way you'll have measurable goals to aim for. End goal could simply be an increased level of exercising or entering a 5K run or being able to do X number of repetitions or adding an extra hour a week. The type of exercise and level of challenge is an individual choice of each challenge participant. All the challenge asks is that you be accountable weekly to how you met your goals for calories, exercise, fluids and other personal challenge goals.

2. Tracking food and water is essential.  It was the only way I have found success and if you talk with anyone else who has lost substantial weight, they would agree.  Tracking and journaling is a must.  I am planning to track my daily calories on my blog and encourage you to do the same. We'd love to see what you eat and share ideas!  It certainly isn't manditory though.

3. I've tried different diets and have found that eating between 1200 - 1400 calories works for me. That comes to about 9800 calories per week maximum. Tracking calories keeps us aware of food labels and portioning. If you don't have a food scale, get one. They are inexpensive and essential for accurately tracking calories.  Round numbers, let's keep it under 10,000 calories a week. TOPS. Water or liquids should be at 10 - 8 oz. cups a day.  Good chance your body needs more than that so this is minimum!  Keep hydrated!

4. Get moving!  If you're already sticking to an exercise routine.  Great.  Keep it up and maybe see how you change it up or kick it up a notch.  If you're like me and struggling to get into a routine, well then what the heck are you waiting for!  Let's set some goals and plan our exercise for the next 12 weeks. Exercise should be "challenging", ie, get you to work up a sweat and get stronger. Whether you choose walking, biking, jogging, lifting weights, Pilates, CrossFit, home videos, salsa dancing, it should be for at least 20 minutes and should grow progressively more challenging as the weeks progress. If you start with 20 minutes, then increase it a bit week by week. If you are already doing an exercise regimen that works for you, then simply state your goals for how often/how long and keep accountable.  We need to FIT exercise into our schedules.  It's not going to happen by itself.   

5.  We want to lose weight, so lets stay accountable and blog weekly with results.  We're not going to be the scale police but we expect results.  Twelve weeks is enough time to see some awesome results from everyone.  I'll put a linky up on a post on Sunday night.  You can do a weekly results post over the weekend and post it to the linky on Monday morning so we can all see your progress.

6. No winners or losers. So don't quit! If you have a bad week, get over it and get back on track. That's what we're here for, to stay on track!   Challengers should have fun with this. It should be "challenging", but it should not be a huge pain in the keister. Blogging and the rules are to motivate, not to burden.


7. Challengers should support other challengers. Please consider supporting via comments on blog posts. 
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No specific prizes but I do intend to do some giveaways at the end for those who stick with it and stay super supportive. More details on that later.

You are welcome to be in any other challenges as well. We all need as much help and encouragement as possible.

So there it is.  The Slimmer This Summer Challenge. Email me or leave a comment with your email address if you're in! 
Please include the challenge button and link back to this post so others can join as well. Your initial post can be anytime between now and June 6th but I won't start tracking until the 6th. Email me with your initial post.  I can't wait to see what your goals are!

52 comments:

  1. You've got to include me. You just gotta. Challenges are what just keeps us going. I'll work on some new goals and get a post ready for the 6th. The will be after my 5K so I'll be needing a goal since no other runs/walks are planned.
    Take care Debbi and have a blessed and awesome day.

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  2. Count me in!! I love the idea of challenges but I have too much guilt when I don't follow the meal guidelines so I think a general support challenge would be perfect for me! I'll blog about the challenge and hit on every topic you mentioned soon in a post :) Thanks for doing this, and I'm very excited that you and Mir are involved: two bloggers I adore!! My email addy is pizzacakespies at yahoo dot com (have to spell it weird so the robot spammers don't find me, lol)

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  3. I'm in! I will work on my list of goals and get it to you asap.

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  4. I'm in!! Sounds like fun!! I love challenges!!

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  5. This is a great idea! I'm definitely in! I like doing the challenges especially one that allows me to use my own meal plan (you know, so I can keep to my food restrictions). This one seems to do just that!! I'll be away next week so I'll have to work on my goals and get that to you when I return .... you'll have it by June 2nd!

    So be sure to count me in!! :)

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  6. Me Me Me oh pick me.... LOL, I am so in on this. I really could use the moral support. I too, will work on setting my goals. This is great Debbie. Thanks Gracie

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  7. I want to do this, I have to get back on track and this sounds like what I need. (Lord knows I need the support!)

    peeweepinson@hotmail.com

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  8. Hahaha . YOu guys are funny! Yes, let's do it. I think I"m gonna aim for 24 lbs during the challenge. That's a lot for me as I'm not as big I used to be in the first DDDY (more than 50 lbs less), and that means loss is not as big with the same calories. But I'm willing to think HIGH and hope my body is cooperative. :D

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  9. I'd like in on this challenge, too. Sounds like a great idea!

    Oh, and I was looking for the chocolate hummus recipe, and can't find it.. do you have a link to it? I love beans.. but can't imagine a chocolate hummus!

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  10. This food is beautiful. I swear with carbless lattes and this food...oh screw it let's open a chain of diet restaurants LOL and become rich and then pay for some hottie personal trainers to chase us around in some exotic place!
    No seriously, I am in. I need some motivation to do more exercise. I am just sitting around doing normal things and being on my plan and "weighting" for the pounds to drop. If I exercise to a plan...I think that will be like school and I am anal about school. I hate red marks on my paper of the teacher telling me I spelled a word wrong. LOL

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  11. I know, Susan. Every time I come to Debbi's diet blog, I have to kind of tell myself NOT TO SEE, MOVE ALONG, NO FOOD PORN!!!! hahahahhaha It makes my mouth water so bad!!!!

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  12. A diet restaurant with hottie trainers???? Can I have the one that looks like Gerard Butler or Tetsuji Tamayama please? PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  13. Gerard is fine, but Tetsuji is a bit young for me...I prefer Ken Watanabe. He is just a couple of years younger than me and loved him in "The Last Samurai".

    Yes it IS food porn. The Enchiladas-Ranch Biscuit..Oh the peas in it. Low carbing it and I know peas are banned for me.

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  14. I think making your own challenge is a great idea! I'm following the Weight Watchers program and don't really feel like joining any challenges right now, but I will totally root for you as you do yours!

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  15. This sounds good! Please include me. I haven't done my initial post yet as I'd like something up to date i you're not tracking until June 6th, but I'll do it closer to the time.

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  16. Okay! I'm in! I'll start working on my initial post and plan out my goals. Finding TIME to work out is a challenge in itself, then there's the whole getting my butt out of the recliner thing to deal with! But I'll see what I can do! I've been wanting to wipe the dust off of the Wii Fit for a while now! :)

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  17. I'm in! I just emailed you and will work on my initial post. Here we go!!! :) (almost)

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  18. I don't know any of you, but I hope you don't mind if I join the party.

    I just set up my blog.

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  19. I'm game! Sounds like FUN!! :D

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  20. I am sooo in on this challenge!! I will email you my initial post with my goals in it. Please follow me as I am new to this whole blogging thing and just recently started my blog...thank you :)

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  21. I'm in!!!!!! I'm going to work on my goals tonight while I'm at work and I'll set up my post and link back to you once I figure it all out. This is something I seriously need!

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  22. I may be in, but let me consult with my Trainer first. I'm currently on a plan where I am not supposed to weigh myself. I'll discuss weekly weigh in's with her and get back to you.

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  23. I love a challenge!! Count me in!!

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  24. I'm In! I could use a little boost...

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  25. I couldn't possibly get into any diet seeing all these sumptuous foods embellishing your blog. lol.

    Best wishes.
    Tim

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  26. Hi, Count me in! My goal is a 10 lb weight loss. And the summer is always the most challenging for me. So this along with blogging should keep in line. I'll be posting over the weekend my goal on my blog. Thanks for getting this together!

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  27. Pooh! I wanted so much to do this, but I can't meet your 10,000 cal/wk limit. I need to have 1600-1700 cal/day, and that puts me over 11,000/wk. Good luck, all! I'll be watching your successes.

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  28. Okay, I'm in, but with my higher calorie limit. Thanks, Debi. ;)

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  29. I'm in! I love it!!! I am with some of the others though, I have to be at 1600 cals per day... Unless the 10K calories are AFTER exercise, then it's met, no problem!!

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  30. Hi Debbi,
    I think I will join after all. I wasn't sure I wanted to because I royally messed up the May Your Way challenge because of having too many goals and then getting discouraged. I figured because I messed one up I wasn't getting the silly point for it so I might as well not worry about the other goals. The one problem I will have is I will not be able to stick to the calorie limit you have listed, please let me know if this is a problem and I just won't join up. I will try to journal and write down what I am eating, but I do not have the time to count the calories. I have to focus on our lesson time more. I was so focused on exercise for the first couple of months of the year that our lesson time slipped. The reason I am not limiting myself to the 1200-1400 calories is also because I am still nursing. Please let me know if this is a problem. I would love to join up. I am also joining in with the Plus Size Bloggers again for the 12 week challenge there.
    Please let me know if it is okay if I sign up.
    kewkew34@yahoo.com
    Did you ever receive the email I sent a while back?
    Blessings

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  31. I would like to join as well. I need something to motivate me, and maybe meeting some new people who are struggling as well will be what I need. I will do my post over the weekend and shoot you an email!
    Thanks : )

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  32. Hi I am a newbie and I just set up my new blog today. I will work on my goals and get them posted.
    Thanks,
    Amber
    @overcomingmysugaraddiction.blogspot.com

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  33. Hey, if our calorie goals are a little different can we still be counted in? (I aim for 1200-1700, trying to stay around 1400 most of the time, but allowing for variances on occasion.)

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  34. My email address is hoamsch1@gmail.com

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  36. I'm in! Found your blog through Myra's Journey.

    Just posted my goal post. Looking forward to seeing the results! :-)

    seecevolve@gmail.com

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  37. Arrived here via Julie and I'm am totally convinced that you, your blog, your recipes are all a God send. I am giving serious thought to the challenge---an will hopefully decide to join in!

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  38. Ok, that's it. I'm IN! Will post my goal post tomorrow morning!

    momaloft4@gmail.com

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  39. I'm in! Just completed my first blog post on the challenge and am fixing to send you an email!

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  40. Just found this! I'm defintely in. I need something to get me into gear and motivated. :)

    Good luck to all!

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  41. I hope its not too late! I would like to join, just found your blog, and i am starting fresh today and need some motivation, so a new challenge will hold me accountable :)

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  42. I want in, but didn't get a pic because my 2 yo broke my camera. I'll post later this evening as long as its not too late.

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  43. Sorry about that, my email address is bayla_bean@hotmail.com :)

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  44. Good Luck!!! I'm looking forward to doing this challenge with you!! We can do this!

    Weight Gain

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