Slimming Minis - August

Challenge yourself to create the good habits to achieve your health goals.

This challenge was originally started to be for folks under 5'4", but it evolved to be an all-comers challenge. So welcome, and I hope you enjoy participating! Let's get slim and trim together. You can start anytime. You may not be the challenger with the most points at the end of the month, but you'll still be a winner. GOOD LUCK ! ! !

(If you just want to post your goals for the day, that's ok, too.)

Here are the guidelines:

• Email me your starting weight.
• 2 points each for every 8 ounces of water. Plain or bottle (No flavors)
• 3 points for each 15 minutes of workout time. This is structured workouts - as in you went for a walk with the intention of it being exercise - and there are no points for anything other than 15 minute intervals.
• 1 point if you complete a physical challenge.
• 1 point if you complete a personal challenge.
• Send your weight at the end of the month.
• Person with the most points wins.

Note: 1 point bonus if you suggest a challenge! You can suggest a challenge by posting it in the thread or by messaging me and I'll post it. Challenges can be completed at any time during the month - just tell me which one you did after you do it. Just give your challenge a title and give a brief description of how to complete it, and you're good to go (and you get an extra point!) For example: "I would like to challenge everyone to do 10 pushups today." would be a physical challenge. "I would like everyone to do 5 minutes of quiet reflection/meditation" would be a personal challenge."

Please send your information to me via private message daily or every other day in the following format:
3x 8 oz of water
45 minutes of treadmill
completed side bend challenge

If you go out of town please let me know ahead of time, and then when you get back please send me your points broken down by dates.

I usually update points every few days.

Post or message me if you have any questions.

Good luck everyone!

The Contenders - AUGUST - Points to Aug. 26

kyashiis - 581

dish15 - 705

nycgirl - 295

ival - 45

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Physical Challenges

Change It Up! - Try a workout you've never done before (1 point per new activity tried)

Strength Training - One point for at least 15 minutes of strength training - this will also get you 3 regular exercise points!

Crunches - As many sets of 25 as you can (max 1 point per day)

Pushups - As many sets of 25 as you can (max 1 point per day)

Plank - Hold the plank position for 20-30 seconds (1 point per day)

Squats - with your weight centered over the middles of your feet, squat down and stand back up again. Keep your knees centered over your toes and your back straight. Repeat as many times as you can - try it in sets of 10-25 (max 1 point per day)

Jumping jacks - one, two! one, two! try a few sets of jumping jacks (max 1 point per day)

Zany workout! - one point per day for the oddest, most creative workout you can think of

Positive Challenges

5-a-day - eat the recommended 5 fruits/veg a day (recurring)

Go Outside - enjoy the great outdoor

Litter Busters - Pick up a piece of trash when you go outside

Eat Breakfast - The most important meal of the day!

Reading - get one point per day for picking up the book you've been meaning to read (if you want to share what you are reading with others, post about it)

Finish a Book - back by popular demand - one point for every book you finish

8 a Day H2O - You will receive one extra point per day if your water totals 8 x 8 oz or more.

Straight A Students - log in your food and get an A for the day, and you get a point

Set a Goal - one point for setting a total points goal for the month

Meet Your Goal - one point for reaching your goal

Get Some Sleep - get at least 7.5 hours of sleep a night

Stay Under Your Personal Maintenance Calorie Level - one point

Log Your Food By Midnight - one point

Zany Workouts - one point

Post a comments to others - one point for supporting others

This is where I'll be posting your creative/crazy workouts ...

Edited Aug 05 2009 22:32 by nycgirl
Reason: Moved Per PM with OP, moved from Motivation to Games & Challenges 9 Replies (last)

Kyashii Enjoying life, becoming smaller and better kyashiis
Aug 03 2009 21:23
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I haven't been doing well with my goals.  I ate out all meals today.  Yesterday we had a big Mexican food party.  Tomorrow, I promise myself to get back to the program.

Kyashii Enjoying life, becoming smaller and better kyashiis
Aug 04 2009 17:17
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Ok.  It's tomorrow... I am being careful.  The sun is out.  I can get some exercise in somehow or other.  No particular goals today...  just not do myself any damage.

dish15
Aug 05 2009 00:26
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Hi, I'd like to join. I hope 4th August isn't too late. (But I'm guessing it isn't.)

I'll send you my details and points for today. Yesterday's points would probably be cheating.

Just for your information:
I'm British (hence the strange mix of imperial and metric measurements I use), short (5'2''), 38 years old, and living in Shanghai with my gorgeous (and annoyingly skinny) Chinese husband.
Just to give you some idea of how annoying he is: DH is 20cm taller than me, and today in the gym was the first ever time he's weighed in as heavier than me. Sadly, that wasn't because I've lost weight. It was because he's been working out and now has some very nice muscle definition (he's looking hot).
I'd like to look hot too. So, um...yeah...can I join?

Kyashii Enjoying life, becoming smaller and better kyashiis
Aug 05 2009 08:54
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Welcome aboard.  It's never too late.  Also, it's not cheating to add in yesterday's if you can calculate it acurately.  We have a few things in common.  I'm American living in Japan to a annoyingly slender Japanese man.  I'm just under 5 foot, and he's 168 centimeters... so quite a bit taller.  Doesn't have much muscle definition at age 61 though. 

I haven't been to Shanghai.  I've heard the air quality is terrible.  Is that so? 

We're both living in hot climates (I think?), so we can commiserate with each other.  What part of Great Britain are you from?  I'm originally from Alaska.  I've lived here so long that I'm adjusted to a hot climate (if you can actually ever adjust to it). 

Please send your numbers of what you have achieved daily if you can.

Kyashii Enjoying life, becoming smaller and better kyashiis
Aug 05 2009 10:12
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I am going out to dinner with a former student who now lives in Tokyo and two other former students and DH.  It should be fun, but it will be hard to stay under maintenance without getting some serious exercise in first. 

It's so hot.  However, I commit to the following today:

1. jog/walk/run of 3k
2. 15 minutes exercise at home
3. 8 glasses of water

dish15
Aug 05 2009 16:43
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Original Post by kyashiis:

Welcome aboard.  It's never too late.  Also, it's not cheating to add in yesterday's if you can calculate it acurately.  We have a few things in common.  I'm American living in Japan to a annoyingly slender Japanese man.  I'm just under 5 foot, and he's 168 centimeters... so quite a bit taller.  Doesn't have much muscle definition at age 61 though. 

I haven't been to Shanghai.  I've heard the air quality is terrible.  Is that so? 

We're both living in hot climates (I think?), so we can commiserate with each other.  What part of Great Britain are you from?  I'm originally from Alaska.  I've lived here so long that I'm adjusted to a hot climate (if you can actually ever adjust to it). 

Please send your numbers of what you have achieved daily if you can.

 I think the air quality here is about average for China. It's better than in other cities than Beijing or Guangzhou, but much worse than the smaller countryside places. Overall - so-so.

Yes, Shanghai can get hot. It's a steamy humid hot, which makes working out even hotter and stickier than it already is. Inside everything is air-conditioned, which dehydrates me. Actually, that's good, because it makes me want to drink more water.

In the UK, my family is originally Scottish, but they live in South London, which is where I grew up. I also spent 10 years in Edinburgh (now that's a nice city).

NYCGirl Just finished grad school! nycgirl 
Aug 05 2009 22:41
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I would love to participate and will start late with today. I am not trying to lose weight but rather just tone up and motivate myself. I know what workouts I have done in past 4 days and water tallies so I can do an estimate. I will send you weight and tallies later today!

Thanks for organizing!

Kyashii Enjoying life, becoming smaller and better kyashiis
Aug 06 2009 13:06
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Nycgirl, thanks for joining.  It's hard work to lose weight, but with a little help and encouragement from others, it's doable.  Go ahead and send me you tallies, and I will add you to the group for this month.

Kyashii Enjoying life, becoming smaller and better kyashiis
Aug 06 2009 13:13
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Well, I'm not sure if I went forward or backwards yesterday. LOL 

I got some exercise in, but I ate so much at dinner with out-of-town friends, my stomach hurt.  I have noticed that my stomach has strunk a lot.  I had to make an effort to eat a light breakfast this morning. 

A typhoon is coming to Okinawa.  That's a long way from where I live, but the weather is lousy, and the humidity is terrible.  Sooooo,,,,

Today, I commit to:

1. Exercise at home a minimum of 15 minutes. 
2. I will drink 8 glasses of water.

The Slimming minis has been transfered from Motivation.  Please post your messages here.

Let's enjoy the battle to lose weight and shape up with a balanced lifestyle!

We've got stormy weather as well - possibly it's the same typhoon.

Eating out is dreadful, isn't it? Last night  we went out with friends. Originally they'd planned on a Thai restaurant, but then they changed it to an Italian place that specialises in chocolate desserts. (Yeah....). Let's just say I went over my mainainance calories.

Working full-time yesterday and today. I'll try to get my scores in within the next few hours.

Sounds good. ... I just submitted my tallies.

I am doing a workout class for the first time in my life (big financial investment but let's hope it pays off). I have done it 5 times so far, last night being my 5th time and it really kicked my butt. I think I was probably too tired to do it, and maybe should have skipped it b/c I was so tired, but I didn't. I struggled through it ...  Since it really exhausted me, I am waiting until Saturday to do it again.

Til then I will do some homemade stuff at home.

Foodwise, this week has been awful, loads of junk since I haven't been shopping and don't have much at home to cook ...

Even so, I feel like it's better to be working out than nothing!!!!

I finally got of my b*tt and exercised before bed.  I really sleep well when I do that though I don't know why.  I got half of the water down.  I drank more than two liters of liquid for the day though.

I don't know why, but I feel kind of slow-moving and dullwitted the last few days.  My stomach has been hurting too.  I think it may have to do with some of the crunches and the chin ups I worked on last week.  I have muscles in my back and shoulder I didn't know exited...  I guess that's a good thing that I need to exercise them and am actually getting it done.

Today, I commit to the following:

1. 30 min exercise
2. 8 glasses of water

So yeah, I am still eating terribly but I went to my fitness class at 8:30 am this morning and did an intense hour. It felt great ... so motivating to have that all done before my husband even got up.

I cannot wait to be toner even if the weight never hits my goal weight again ...!!! Now I just need to drink all the water!

nycgirl - you are doing great on your water.  Yay for the exercise too.  It is so hard to get started...  I went for a half-hour run yesterday.  Yay for me, too. 

I was expecting to be a guide on a three-hour mountain hike, but there is a typhoon hitting China now that is affecting our weather.  Torrential rains and heavy thunder and lightening are expected this afternoon, so we had to cancel.  Ggrrhh.  That was supposed to be my exercise for the day.  It will be hard to replace it.

That same typhoon they've been predicting for the last four days has finally made it to Shanghai. Luckily it's hit us in the middle of the night. The intensity should have lessened, since it travelled all the way up the coast from Taiwan, but it still sounds pretty fierce.

Did you manage to get some exercise in kyashiis? Maybe you could try turning some music on and dancing round the house?

I sent my scores for the 5th-7th on Saturday. Sorry it was a bit late; they asked me to work in Suzhou this weekend so I had a bit of a rush to get packed and off. I'll send the 8th & 9th now, and then try to get 7.5+ hours of sleep through the sound of breaking glass and my neighbours' car alarms.

I didn't get any exercise done yesterday, but I got a lot of rest and reading time in.  That is nice as every day is usually so busy for me.  It was a lazy day.  Not good for dieting but good for the spirit... 

Another typhoon is headed our way.  We expect it to be a strong one.

Is it too late for me to join?  I was looking for some sort of game or challenge to help with my motivation.  I will start today if you will allow me to join.

Ival -  Sure.  All are welcome to start when ever they want.  The more the merrier. 

Send my your start weight and your statistics for the day in a message to me. 

If you have time why don't you tell us a little about your health-gain journey.  And, lets have fun getting to our destinations.

My name is Linda and I am from the United States.  I live in Ohio.  This is one in many past starts to get healthy and lose weight.  I hope not to run off track this time.  I am 31 years old and am pretty overweight.  I need to lose about 75 lbs, but I will be happy with any pounds I am able to shed.  I have had some previous success on Weight Watchers, but some how managed to gain that all back and then some.  I hope to make this a slow and permanant process....I don't want to see any more weight come back.  I hope to exercise more and drink more water.  I seem to shy away from both.

You guys look like you are doing great so far this month.  I see lots of points, and lots of encouragement.  I can't wait to get in on the action.  I also look forward to getting to know all of you better.

Nice of you to join us Linda.  I'm from the USA, too.  I have lived in Japan about 25 years.  I came over here in good shape at 123 lbs on my just under 5 foot tall frame.  I'm the muscular type (at least I used to be).  People who know about the western zodiac would not be surprised to learn that I am a Taurus, the Bull.  I'm built strongly like that, and have that good and bad trait of loving food.

I have learned a lot about myself since joining the CC group.  I can now turn down food without feeling deprived.  I have found out what real hunger feels like from eating at regular times and proper amounts for my body.  "Food" doesn't drag me around (phsycologically of course):  I make good food choices happily. 

I have added exercise to my day to day living routines.  I have started taking care of myself in other ways also.  I feel prettier on the outside without the triple chin and massive shelf of a bust... Whew.  Glad those are gone. (At least partly...)

I also started with the need to shed about 80 lbs.  I am halfway there.  I feel like a flower with the petals unfurling slowly, slowly... as I shed bad habits and gain radiant health.

Sorry, for the "flowery" intro of myself, but that's how I feel today at this moment.

Let's give this our best shot, and when that isn't enough, let's cut our losses and start again. 

I think it's the "baby steps" I take that will get me to my goal as I re-learn how to live healthily with the occasional slip ups.

I have a question:  I put all of my activity in my activity log, such as cleaning and yardwork, should I be counting this as exercise on here too?  It says structured, so I was wondering.  I know on Saturday I will though, we have a big yard project going on, and that is my planned work out for the day.  I will be rototilling, raking, planting, hauling stuff in the wheel barrow and so on!  I hope you all are doing well and racking up those points!  Thanks for the input.

Original Post by lval:

I have a question:  I put all of my activity in my activity log, such as cleaning and yardwork, should I be counting this as exercise on here too?  It says structured, so I was wondering.  I know on Saturday I will though, we have a big yard project going on, and that is my planned work out for the day.  I will be rototilling, raking, planting, hauling stuff in the wheel barrow and so on!  I hope you all are doing well and racking up those points!  Thanks for the input.

 Well, the way I do it is:
- if I was going to do it anyway, it doesn't count
- if it's something I did specifically as exercise, then it counts.

So, if I went on a walk to the shops, it doesn't count because I would have done that anyway. But if I specifically decided to go out at lunchtime for an exercise walk, then it counts. If I ride my bike to work, it doesn't count because I would have done that anyway. But if I go out for an extra ride to burn some calories, then it does.

I hope kyashiis is ok, and that typhoon didn't cause too much trouble.

Yes, I do things similarly.  I sometimes plan to do garden work as my exercise.  Then it counts...  especially if it's garden work that gives me a workout where I work up a sweat...

I am away from my usual computer for the next couple of days, so I will update the points later.  I hope you don't mind.

Original Post by kyashiis:

I am away from my usual computer for the next couple of days, so I will update the points later.  I hope you don't mind.

 Of course we don't mind. Just glad to hear that you didn't get washed away by the typhoon!

I sure hope the extra few pounds I have put on this past two weeks is b/c I started to work out and it's an increase in muscle ... otherwise I am in big trouble. Overall though I shouldn't be too upset as I am working out consistently for the first time in my life (well ok, since high school when I was on sports teams).

I find it really really helps to eat a banana before my workout (it's not high impact). It really gives me extra strength and I can push myself a wee bit harder in class.

Now I just need to work on my diet, I have really fallen seriously off the health wagon in that regard.

How is everyone else doing??

If you want to see a "rant," read my journal.  Too tiresome to go over the same stuff here.  I'll try the banana... and the exercise.  I haven't been doing well on that.  The rainy season is over, and we have blue skies for a change.  The humidity is down, but the temperatures are around 28 C (96 F).

I find I can run in this heat if I can just make myself get out of the house.

nycgirl - Yay for finishing grad school.  That is a real accomplishment that takes a lot of focus.  Now you can spend more time focusing on getting to the healthy state of health and weight goals.

Just wanted to say 'thank you' to you all, especially to kyashiis for making this thread. I'm now well into week 3, and this is the longest I have ever lasted on any kind of eating plan. I couldn't have done it without this thread, so ... thanks again.

Dish - I'm glad it is helping.  It worked the same for me.  I have my ups and downs, but overall, I have been fairly steady on tracking my points for three months now.  It feels good doesn't it?