115 Days from Now...

UPDATES ARE BELOW ORIGINAL POST

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morning weight: 276 lbs

...is Valentine's Day 2009.

On Friday, September 26, 2008, before my departure on the business trip from hell, I weighed 265 lbs. Today's weight: 276 lbs.

I gained 11 lbs in less than 30 days. No, thank you, carbohydrates. Now fuck off and die.

Oh miserable me.

Alrighty then! Call to arms!

Off to the right, you may notice that I put up a countdown clock. It surpasses my birthday in December. It surpasses New Year's Eve. It ironically falls on Valentine's Day. (Ew.) But most importantly, it is the date that pitchers and catchers report to spring training. In case you didn't know, the Red Sox didn't make it into the World Series. But, we are not crying about it (not anymore, at least) because the players surely are not. They did their absolute best, and they're going to rest and train and look ahead to next season.



And so am I. Here's my game face. Grrrrrr!

I don't know how much weight I can lose in 115 days. I don't want to put a number on it. As noted so clearly in this last year of blogging, I always fail when I do that.

I would like to be less than 265.
I would like to be less than 255 = 22 lbs.
I would like to be less than 244 = 33 lbs.

I think that's optimistically realistic, don't you? Did I say I didn't want to put a number on it? Um yeah. LOL I'm hopeless but how else can I make a goal?

Anyone want to join me? If you're not a baseball fan, you can call it your Valentine's Day gift to yourself. Just try to lose as much as you can by that date.

I promise if you tell me you're aiming for it, I'll support your efforts. I'll make a nifty little award you can display. Other ideas are welcome!

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WORKOUT:
treadmill, 30 mins
incline, 3.0
speed, 2.8
heart rate, min 124 / max 150

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UPDATES

Yeehaw! Some of you want to join in the Spring Training / V-Day Challenge! Feel free to post a link to this specific post and /or copy the spiffy image and countdown clock I made. If you need the HTML code for the clock, just click on the widget box and you can make it yourself or under file in your browser, select view source on this page and you might be able to find it if you're html savvy.

Current challengers, show them some love and support:

Carolina Girl: starting new
Deb: 7 lbs
Fab Kate: 3 lbs
Manda31: 5 lbs
Butterfly: 5.8 lbs
Me: starting new

I will check in with you often and leave you support comments and I hope we will all try to do so with each other. It is up to YOU to share your progress, feel free to leave comments on THIS post, as it'll remain dedicated to this challenge.

CHECKING IN (voluntary)
Ideally, every Monday (or when you weigh yourself already, don't change what is working for you) leave a comment here saying HOW MUCH YOU LOST since the previous Monday. For privacy sake, if you do not want to post your TOTAL start weight, don't post it. You can just say "lost 2 lbs this week." That's it. I'll tally the results each week and put them up next to your name above. This is NOT a competition to see who loses the most. This is a supportive "let's lose as much as we can by February 14, 2009" group.

MOTIVATION
Some have asked me for motivational reward. Some have asked me for motivational words. Well, we all respond differently to these things, so I have come up with some really basic suggestions.

As I said, I hope we will all be supportive, visiting another's blog as we already do to begin with and leaving encouraging comments. However, if you specifically want me to "kick your ass" for motivation, you have to ask for it. It isn't my nature, I'm no Jillian Michaels so, just know that. But people do say that I seem to have a way with words sometimes.

END OF CHALLENGE REWARD
We're all in different locations, with different eating and exercising plans, and different lifestyles and circumstances. And we also respond differently to motivational attempts. While I wish I could offer up something like $100 gift card, I simply cannot. Plus, EVERYONE must get something at the end as this is not a contest.

So, with that in mind, here's my suggestion for some self-motivation:

Get a jar or a box.
Call it your Spring Training / Valentine's Day Challenge jar / box.
Determine your own reward based on pounds lost. My example:

$1.00 per pound lost goes into the jar. On February 14, I will use that money to buy myself some flowers (or wait until the 15th when they're all even cheaper). You get the concept?

If you want it to be $5 (or whatever) per pound so be it. Too expensive? Make it 25 cents per pound or 10 cents per pound. Want it to be something other than money? Write a specific reward per pound on a piece of paper and put IT into the jar/box each time. One kiss, one hour of free time, one day to do "XYZ" - pick something that has SIGNIFICANT value to YOU. Withhold something from yourself that you know you will get when you've reached the end of your challenge. Tie it to EACH pound so that it accumulates for continued motivation.

Feel free to share what you're going to do, so we can help you stick to it.

You're all so creative to begin with, if you have additional or alternative suggestions, please do type it out! In the end, you have to do what works for you. No one can force you to eat right, exercise, and lose weight. You get what you put into it my friends. We have to control our own actions. So let's get to it!

BLOGGY BLING
Hey Challengers, I made some BLING for your bragging rights. Help yourself when you reach that point! If you would like some customized bling, let me know. I would be thrilled to make you something as unique and special as you are.