Weigh In - Week Four

Well, how did you do? Were you able to stay on top of your exercising and healthy eating? Was it easier this week than it was last week? Were you proud of the numbers that you saw on the scale when you jumped on it yesterday?

I sure hope so!

Check in here and let us know how much weight you lost, if you had a little difficulty, or if there is anything else that we can help you with to help you reach your goals. That is what we're here for afterall!

GOOD LUCK during Week Four!

Challenge Check In

So how did you do with your Week Three Challenge? Were you able to be active in regular daily activities for at least 30 minutes every day? Did you find it easier to get up and move around? Were you motivated a little more this past week to get up and move around?

I hope so!

Let us know how you did this last week with the challenge. Check in here and share your success.

One Pound Equals What?

I'm sure you've been wondering, what does it take to lose one pound a week? Well, I'm here to tell you. First, I want you to go to your fridge, and get one pound of butter or margarine. If you don't have that in your fridge, make a little trip to the store, and find a one pound tub of butter or margarine. What you will find, is that four sticks of butter or margarine is equal to one pound. That's our goal, at minimum, each week....to lose one pound, or four sticks of butter, each week. Think of that pound of butter as a pound of fat, which it is really. Pretty gross, huh? Does it help to motivate you to lose it a little more? I know it did for me. :)

Okay, so now that you're totally grossed out, let's get down to the mathematics of it all. According to Fitness magazine, to lose one pound each week, you need to lose 3500 calories somewhere throughout your week through diet and exercise. What Fitness magazine suggests, is to aim to eat 300 calories less (300 x 7 = 2,100) while burning 300 calories from exercise five times a week (300 x 5 = 1,500).  Since we've already learned how many calories we need to take in to maintain weight, we've already deducted at least 500 calories from that in order to lose weight. So if your daily calorie intake is 5,000 calories to maintain your weight, you should be taking in 4,500 calories in order to try to lose weight. While that alone is enough to lose the 3,500 calories, or one pound a week, we have also learned that the optimum combo to lose weight is watching what you eat, and exercising, too.

Last week, charts were put up to show us how many calories are burned per minute depending on what type of exercise you do, and at what intensity you do it at. So take a variety of exercises that you enjoy doing, whether it be walking, swimming, running, etc., and see how long you need to do each exercise in order to burn at least 300 calories per day. If it helps, split up the time that it takes. For example, if it takes 1 hour of swimming to burn 300 calories, do two 30 minute sessions in a day to burn the 300 calories.

Good luck on your goals this week, and remember, YOU CAN DO THIS!

Weigh In - Week Three

So we're starting our third week, how are you doing? Are you keeping up with your goals? Are you continuing to lose weight? If not, where are you finding you struggle the most?

Check in here with your weightloss for week two as we head in to week three. If you're having some difficulties keeping pace, let us know where we can help, and where you are having problems. We are here to help and are anxious to do so. 

GOOD LUCK for the week ahead of us all!

Challenge Check In

Okay, so our challenge for week two was to try and eat a fruit or veggie with every meal and snack every day. I know, it was a bit of a tough one. But it only had to be a serving, which is merely adding banana slices to your morning oatmeal, putting lettuce on your sandwich at lunch, having fruit slices with cottage cheese or low/no fat yogurt for dessert. That's not too hard now that you think of it, is it?

So how did you do? Check in here and let us know how you did with week two's challenge.

How Many Calories DO YOU BURN?

So you've exercised for the day, you've eaten for the day, now what? How do you know if how you've exercised will properly counteract how you've eaten? Well, since you are keeping track of your caloric intake in the foods that you are eating all day, and you know how many calories you need to eat to maintain your weight, you also know how many calories you need to burn a day through your activity to lose weight. Yes, decreasing the amount of calories that you eat will work, too, but remember, we are here to have healthy bodies, and healthy bodies require activity. :)

With so many places on the internet telling us how many calories are in what, and doing so much of this activity will burn this amount of calories, there really needs to be a standard for us. So, I have purchased the Biggest Loser Calorie Counting book, which lists millions of foods prepared different ways, and even those great places that we love to eat out at, too. So if you are stuck for finding out how many calories are in a serving of something that you just ate, email us at HealthyFitandFabulous@cox.net and let us know what the food was and how it was prepared and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Emails are now being checked regularly throughout each and every day to help better serve its members.

So that just leaves the question of how many calories did I burn? Well, here's what our standard will be.....

For Low Intensity Workouts like:

Gardening (raking leaves, pulling weeds, light shoveling, etc.)

Housework (vacuuming, sweeping/mopping, cleaning windows, etc.)

Walking (like while running errands, parking car a little further out in the parking lot, etc.)

Painting

Washing the car

If you weigh ____ lbs. then you burn ____ calories per minute....

100-125...1

126-150...1

151-200...2

201-250...2

251-300...3

301-400...4

Over 400...5

For Medium Intensity Workouts like:

Brisk walking

Bicycling

Sports (tennis, basketball, swimming, etc.)

Dancing (square dancing, salsa, swing, etc.)

Hiking

100-125...3

126-150...5

151-200...7

201-250...8

251-300...9

301-400...10

Over 400...11

For High Intensity Workouts like:

Running

Briskly climbing stairs

High-level aerobics class

Spinning

Jumping rope

Strength/Weight Training

100-125...7

126-150...9

151-200...12

201-250...14

251-300...16

301-400...20

Over 400...22

So if you were to go swimming for an hour, and you weighed 215 pounds, you would burn 480 calories for those 60 minutes of exercise. That's pretty good, right? I can tell you right now that an hour of swimming for me at my weight burns off all of the calories of my lunch and dinner. Pretty amazing, right? So obviously, the more intense your workout, the more calories you are going to burn.

What are you waiting for? Armed with this information, you are set to make the best of your exercise and healthy way of eating!

GOOD LUCK in our third week!

Meet Becky!

Name: Becky

Birthday: March 26, 1973

Location: Chicago Ridge, IL

Why do you want to lose weight?

To live longer for my son, Maverick, and to help "cure" the little health problems that are starting to creep up on me.

How much weight do you want to lose?

To be what the experts say is my ideal weight, I need to lose over 200 pounds. What I want to lose as my big goal is 100 pounds, then work from there.

What is your favorite motivational, get you moving, workout song?

Any upbeat country song or 80's rock song. I love Poison's song Fallen Angel.

What else do you want to tell us about you?

I am 36, married for 10 years, son Maverick who will be 6 in just a couple of weeks, currently stay at home mom that would love to find a job outside the home...after 6 years, it's time!

Weigh In - Week Two

Okay, so let's weigh in here for our second week. How did you do? Did you notice a difference in the way you were eating? Did you feel more energized and alert because of the foods you were eating? How did you do on controlling your portions? Did you see where you were over eating? Were you able to catch yourself and change your over eating habits?

These, and many more things, are things that we are here to work on TOGETHER. Are you having a hard time getting through some of these trials? Let us know! We can all help each other, and that is what we are here for.

So let's weigh in, and GOOD LUCK for Week Two!

Challenge Check In

So how did you do? Our first week's challenge was to participate in daily activity for at least 30 minutes for at least 3 days this week. Were you able to accomplish that goal? Did you only make it for 2 days? Were you only able to make it for 1 day?

Whatever you were able to accomplish, we can now push you further, and expect to see you doing at least that much daily activity each week, gradually increasing your activity until you reach the 6 days a week. Our goal here is to easily progress through making these things a habit. Many diets that are out there will want you to drastically change everything right from the start. Getting in shape and changing your eating habits is something that cannot be changed overnight. Much like quitting smoking, or quitting drinking, it takes a bit of effort, and the will. Slow and steady will win the race. You will get there, and we will help you. Just don't move too quickly. That is often the driving force to quitting, because it overwhelms you and you begin to think that you just cannot do it.

So check in here and let us know how you did with our first week's challenge. Tell us if you were able to accomplish the goal, and if you weren't, let us know how many days you made it.

GOOD LUCK for Week Two's challenge!

Walk It Off!

As we all know, walking is a great way to relieve some tension, AND to lose weight. :)

I know, it's not the most exciting way sometimes, but it's exercise, and that is what is important! But when you've decided to go for that walk, have you prepared yourself? Have you motivated yourself? Are you totally geared up for it? Here are some ways to help you out with preparing yourself for that walk.

1. Know How Far You Are Walking ~

You make a couple of trips around your housing or apartment complex, but do you know how far you are walking? If you don't, how do you know how many calories you are burning? When I was a teenager and got my first job, I had to start buying the things that I wanted. My mother had taught me to look at the things that I wanted in terms of how long I would have to "work" to get it. So if I made $10 an hour, and whatever I wanted was $40, I had to work 4 hours just to earn that one thing. Was it worth 4 hours of my time? Did I want it that badly?

Diet and exercise works the same way. It's fine if you want to indulge one day a week in a small 500 calorie piece of double chocolate cake and some ice cream on the side. But make sure that you burn off 500 calories so that it doesn't effect The Plan. How much walking would it take to burn 500 calories? Well, if you walk a mile in 20 minutes and you weigh 200lbs, then you will burn 105 calories in that walk. So you would have to walk 5 miles, or 1 hour and 40 minutes, just to burn off that piece of cake and ice cream. And that's on top of any exercise that you are already doing. Is that cake worth it? 

You might be surprised to find that one trip around your complex is a 1/2 mile. That's what I found when I jumped in my car and drove my walking path around my condo complex. So two trips around my complex, which is what I regularly walk, is a mile! How amazing is that?! So it's worth it to track your exercise.

2. Stretch, Stretch, Stretch!

It is very important to keep yourself in prime exercise condition. This is not as heavy as it sounds. It just means to keep yourself well stretched before you exercise. Allow yourself a 10 minute stretch to slowly stretch every part of your body before you do your exercise. Allow for about 2-3 minutes worth of a slower walk to warm you up before you hit the pavement hard and start that brisk walk.

In the same respect, allow yourself a 2-3 minute cool down walk before just stopping. It will allow your heart to slow down at a calmer pace, rather than just stopping the exercise. Then, after your cool down, stretch yourself again to keep the muscles from just tightening up. Diet and exercise is not the only way to take care of your body. Protect your muscles by properly stretching before you exercise.

3. Turn It Up!

Do you have an iPod? A walkman? Don't underestimate the power of music! Download some really motivating music to keep you pumped as you're walking. Music that motivates might get you walking a little faster, too, so that's an added benefit. What kind of music moves you? Maybe it's country, maybe it's rock, maybe it's heavy metal. Whatever it is, download it and download it alot! Make a workout track with the music that keeps you pumping. It will help you more than you know. :)

Take these tips and incorporate them into your exercise, regardless of whether it is walking, going to the gym, even swimming (but don't wear an iPod or walkman! DUH!). Taking care of your body is important. We're here to help. :)

Now go take a walk! GOOD LUCK!

First Weigh In!

Okay, so here it is! Our first weigh in! Are you totally excited?! Are you ready to make life changes?! I am!!!

So, for our first weigh in, you need to leave a comment saying your name (first name only!), how much you weighed in at this morning, and how much weight you want to lose.

I'll go first!! 

It's the beginning of something wonderful! I can just feel it!

Welcome!

Hi! Thanks for joining us here on Healthy, Fit, and Fabulous! You've taken the first step to a new you, and we are so glad that you are here! We are people from all walks of life, and from all over the world, banding together to help motivate one another to accomplish our goals of a thinner, newer, healthier you! I will briefly go over the little things, but first thing's first.

In order to get you all of the start up materials that you need, you need to email us at: HealthyFitandFabulous@cox.net with your name and email address so that we can send you the Welcome Packet. Inside the Welcome Packet, you will find much more in depth information than what we are about to share with you. Now, on to the good stuff. :)

Every Sunday, there will be a Weigh In post here at the blog. Everyone participating in The Plan will need to come to the blog every Sunday and post their pounds lost for that week. There is no need to tell everyone how much you weigh every week, a simple, "I lost 3 pounds this week!!" will suffice. :) Each week, after Sunday is over and everyone has posted their weight loss for the week, the numbers will be tallied, and we will keep a Pounds Lost tracker in the top right corner of the blog so that we can always see how much weight we have collectively lost. Obviously we want that number to be as large as possible, so we will all want to do our best to feed the meter! What is the most important is that we are honest in our weigh ins every week. It does us no good to merely wish away the pounds and report false numbers.

Every week, there will be a different challenge posted off to the right hand side. This is a challenge to help keep us on our toes in being more active throughout the week. Each week, they will get progressively more difficult. The challenge could be anything from "Try to add an extra ten minute walk in this week on at least two days" or "Try to eat more 4-Star foods this week." The challenge could be exercise related, food related, or a challenge with a reward attached to it. Whatever it is, it is not mandatory that you participate. Nothing on this site is mandatory at all. It is just a way of keeping people motivated. In your Welcome Packet, there is a Weekly Challenge Log, where you can write down (or fill in using Word) the challenge for the week, and then check off the days that you accomplish that challenge. On Sunday, there will be a Challenge Check In to see how we did in accomplishing the weekly challenge.

Along with the weekly challenge being posted off to the right hand side, there will be a poll for everyone to participate in each week. It will just be a random question for everyone to answer, and the answers are anonymous. It will be a fun way to break up all of the serious talk on here. :)

A key factor to losing weight is knowing where you are starting. The Welcome Packet will walk you through finding out your BMI, how many calories you should intake in order to lose weight, how to weigh and measure yourself, as well as give you charts for you to mark your starting points and check in points along the way. We have done our best to come up with the simplest charts and logs to use, but, again, if you find that you do not like them and you have an easier way of keeping track of your progress, these are not mandatory forms that you need to keep.

Each week, we will try to share a new healthy recipe with everyone, or another day's worth of meals to help keep your meals fresh. If there is every anything that you would like to share with us, whether it be one of your day's worth of food or a new recipe that you tried and loved, you can always e-mail us and we will review it and then share it on the blog. If you are sharing a recipe, try to have the nutritional facts included at the end of the recipe so that we can pass these numbers along as well. However, don't let it stop you from sharing the recipe. We can always do investigative work to find out the numbers. :)

The Welcome Pack has a Personal Bio sheet included. We are asking that everyone fill it out and e-mail it back to us along with a current photo of you. Each week, we will feature a different member participating in The Plan so that we can all get to know each other.

Losing weight can be difficult. Especially when you go at it alone. It is always easier to have a group of people who are trying to achieve the same goal as you are who will stand by your side and help to push you to be a better you. That is what we are trying to do. We are here to keep you motivated to reach your goals. Share with us your success stories, your dreams, your fears. Let us help your to be the Healthy, Fit, and Fabulous person we know you are!

Our First Bio!

Hello! I'll be the first bio this week, just to kick things off! 

Name: Coree

Birthday: June 6, 1978

Location: San Diego, California

Why do you want to lose weight?

I want to lose weight because I am diabetic and I want to be around for a long time. I need to have my blood sugars under control in order for my husband and I to be able to try to have children, as being diabetic carrying a child is a tough challenge since many things can go wrong.

How much weight do you want to lose?

I want to lose at least 75 pounds, but if I get that far and I could stand to lose another 5-10 pounds, then I'll do it!

What is your favorite motivational, get you moving, workout song?

I love Christina Aguilera's Stripped album! It is very upbeat and gives me something to move to. My favorite song off that album is Fighter. That's like my life theme song!

What else do you want to tell us about you?

I've tried a million diets. You name it, I've most likely done it or a version thereof.  Nine years ago, I had a surgery to remove a cyst that had made me gain so much weight, that I was near 300 lbs. It took me forever to get down to 250. Last year, I saw myself climbing up the scale again, and I said, "NO MORE!!" I started dieting, watching what I ate, which being a diabetic I really should have been doing all along, and I started to try to be a little more active in my daily activities. At the year's end, I had lost 45 pounds! This is nothing that I cannot do. It is nothing that we, together, cannot do. Anything is possible. I have my goals, and I am out to set them, and will not be stopped. I'm tired of being overweight, and I'm on a mission!