New Beginnings

Well here I am up extra early and completely floored by how many new people are starting this next 30 day challenge with us tomorrow.  Many of you don't even know who I am lol!!    How exciting though, all of the new friends we are going to make :)

Tomorrow is the big day, a new beginning!!!   For those of you that were not part of our last challenge or maybe even those that have joined the Facebook community but not committed yet by finding me on myfitnesspal I thought I would share a few successes with you all from the last challenge

First of all the reason this is a HEALTH challenge and not a weight loss challenge is because not everyone is trying to lose weight but everyone should be making healthy decisions.

Second because weight loss is overwhelming.  People don't start or they give up on weight loss so my intent with this health challenge was to shift our mindsets.  If we start making healthy decisions weight loss will be a healthy side effect.

So with that in mind I wanted to share with you a few comments from emails I was receiving in the last week of the last 30 day challenge.  I was so surprised at the results people were able to get in just 30 days with a simple shift of their mind.

One girl whose goal it was to lose her last eight pounds of baby weight told me how surprised she was at the amount of calories she was consuming for breakfast.  Becoming aware helped her to lose four pounds in the challenge.  This may seem small but she achieved 50% of her goal and her pants were loose!!  It doesn't take much to be able to button up jeans easier!

Team Captain success:  These are some of the comments that came from our team captains last time.

My husband lost 14 pounds,  another girl sent me an email that said she was FINALLY able to bust through a weight she had been sitting at forever!!  Another girl said she lost two inches off her waist.  Another lost one!.  Once girl who had given up on losing weight dumped ten pounds without even realizing!!

My favorite success story came from another woman who was told she was pre diabetic.  In the 30 days she didn't weigh herself once!!! she committed to getting her 10,000 steps and logging her food.  A month later she went back to the doctor and both were excited to see that she had lost ten pounds!  This stopped her from needing metformin and her bad cholesterol came down 20 points.  For this frustrated girl a shift in her mindset saved her from being labeled a diabetic.

So with some of those little tidbits I wanted to encourage you all to commit to a number.  This can be any number for any reason but commit!!  Each of these people discussed above committed to their 10,000 steps and their weight loss was a happy side effect of that.   For me, I commit again to my 10,000 steps.  I also lost ten pounds last time as well (lol I still have masters degree weight and baby weight to go).  Here is a list of other numbers you can commit to.

15:  March in place for 15 minutes.  Watch funny TV while you do it.  15 minutes of dedicated time to yourself will ensure that you hit your 10,000 steps. Laughing, that's important too :) Its my favorite thing to do.

5:  Hit your five points every day!!  Our grand prize winners Tresa and Jay used this as the key to their success.  

1:  Try one new thing.  One of our live vibrant people ran her first mud run and had a blast doing something new.

30: Commit to logging food for 30 days.   You can do almost anything for 30 days!!


Make this number simple, something that that doesn't get you down or overwhelm you.  Write it on your bathroom mirror and celebrate it as if it is already done!!!  This will be fun.

Don't forget to share things on the facebook page.  Anyone can post on there and it was fun to see motivational things that other people liked to look at.  People who posted frustrations on there were lifted up by our whole community!!!   Get involved we need you :)

Find me on fitnesspal, commit to a number, take before pictures, or measurements then tuck them away and dont worry about them again until the end.  They are not the focus just a fun way to see just what you have accomplished

I'm excited for tomorrow I hope you all are too!!!
Love
Stace

Wahoo for #2

I cant believe its time to start the second challenge!!! Sorry I am a little slow to get rules up here my schedule was thrown off from a sick grandpa that passed away.  SOOOO get moving quick if you are new to our second challenge!!!  Things are slightly different.....but only slightly!  I was originally going to do a different challenge altogether but I had so many emails thanking me for the simplicity of this one that I didnt want to make the next challenge to intense.  This is a Mommy friendly challenge!!!! lol n (P.S I dont know who the swimsuit chick is.  Lol I just put it on there to catch your attention on face book).

Getting Started!!

1) Registration: For those of you that are new please find me on the myfitnesspal app.  My email attached to that account is Voolevoo@yahoo.com.   Please include a message telling me your real name.  Some of you have very silly usernames that I don't recognize (but I laugh at later lol).
For those of you that did the previous challenge don't worry about finding me you are good to go.  You will however have to add your team captain as a friend.  These are the people that will be keeping track of your points for the duration of the challenge.  I am trying to assign everyone to team captains that they already know.  Its more fun that way.  Feel free to heckle the other teams a bit on the facebook page, Jay, Tresa, And Laurie are already up to some of that :)  For those of you logging your food with programs such as weight watchers that works too.  You will just have to report your food log differently to your captains.

2) $$$: There is a $10.00 buy in this time.   I had to up it a bit and the reason is I am doing all cash prizes this time.  Last time we had some really cool prizes from places like Intermountain Healthcare, Thrive fitness, Anytime Fitness and Riven athletics.  It was a little tricky to get these to people.  You can give your money to me or your team captain.  We are setting up an account for this challenge so for those of you that are out of the area or dont see us often that will be an option.   More information will come from your captains.  If this cost puts any sort of burden on you please do the challenge anyway.  Contact me privately we will make it work!!  All money goes towards weekly and end of challenge winners.  I will not keep a dime of money collected for the challenge!!

3) Pedometer!!!  This is the heart of the competition.  Please make sure you have a reliable pedometer.  By having a visual reminder and a defined goal of 6-10,000 steps a day we are ensuring success because we have a solid goal to work for.  If you are unable to obtain a pedometer or can not walk a 30 minute brisk walk will count towards points or modified exercise.  I know some people have surgeries coming up or have limited mobility anyway, contact me privately we will modify this for you please don't  feel cut out of the challenge you can still be a winner.

How It Works

Each person may acquire up to five points a day

1 point for 6,000 steps

1 additional point for hitting greater than 10,000 steps a day:  Walking buddies help!! Get a friend!  

1 point for keeping a food journal

1 additional point for staying within your goal calories (this will vary depending on your personal goal.)

1 point for a persona goal:  anything works here, make sure its a quality goal towards health.  No soda, no sugar, more fiber....all these things are good goals

Remember I cant see what or when you eat, just if you did log and if you hit your goal.  

WARNING:  My fitnesspal accounts for exercise and will increase your food calories.  Please do not eat to few calories!!!  It is important your are fueling your metabolism!!  Please be wise this is about health!

If you want more information on why I chose this criteria for points you can refer back to the first post on this blog.  For those of you unable to walk at this time we will modify it to something you can do.

Each night you will email your team captain and tell them your total points.  The easiest way to do this is to send messages on myfitness pal.  Your team captain can see that yes you are actually logging and hitting your goals.  This is the only information they can see I promise :)
By emailing them they know you are totally done for the day.  Don't rely on them seeing that you completed your journal because you may realize you have a few more steps to go to hit your calorie goal.  Email them so they know for sure!   At the end of the week they will turn in points to me and I will draw winners.   

Prizes

There will be a weekly winner and a weekly consistency prize given.  Last challenge every weekly winner had a perfect five points every day so the competition is tight.  At this point it will be a $50.00 cash prize.  The team captains will give me the names of their members with the most points and the winner will be drawn randomly from a hat....you can win more than once!!

Consistency prize:  This is for those of you working hard that are unable to hit five points daily for one reason or another.  If you you log your food you are still showing an effort.  Those people who log food daily will be put in a drawing for another cash prize. 

NOTE: If we have more participants than expected this cash prize will go up and I will try to offer more weekly prizes.  I want as many people as possible to win so lets get recruiting!

If you have bad week and  know you wont be a prize winner recommit!!  You can still win the next week because points re set on Monday.   This allows us to make mistakes on our way. An accumulation of points counts towards the grand prize winner at the end of the 30 days though so remember EVERY POINT COUNTS!!!  Do what it takes to squeeze even one more point out of yourself.  Tresa and Jay won over the next highest score by 1 single tiny point!!!!   

At this time the grandprizer winner will be around $100.00 and the consistency prize for people that log food every day around 50.00.  Like I said...more participants means more winners so this may go up.

I am really excited about this you guys.  We made some really cool new friends last time.  We also saw some huge successes that I am going to be sharing with you next week when we start the competition.  I am so excited about all of the contributors to our blog this time as well!!!  So much fun stuff to learn and cool accomplishments to highlight!!  This is a fun, easy, low stress challenge so no excuses! Please find me on myfitness pal by Monday so I can send you info on who your team captain is.  If you have been recruited by a team captain let me know who they are and I will keep you together.

10,000 or BUST!!!!

WINNERS WINNERS WINNER

WOWIE What a fun post to write.  Before I announce the winners I just want to thank all of you again for supporting me by participating in the challenge.  What we did together was a good thing.  By making small every day decisions like logging our food and getting 10,000 steps great changes will eventually happen! I am truly grateful for all of the new friendships that I have because of this challenge.  Please please join our next challenge as well.  The next one will be announced in the next week as soon as I have team captains established.  This challenge will start in October!!!  

I wanted to send an especially big thank you to Jonny Johnson, and Vanessa Rae Merrill for all of your support each week.  I couldn't have done this without you guys.  Thank you to Megan Roberts, Maggie Freer, Jessica Day, Becah Ogden, Lex Grimley, and Jessica Smith Olsen for giving us expert advice and to all of our participants that shared their inspiring stories.  Over 100 people a day read your words on our blog.  Love you guys!!

Thanks to all of the companies and people that sponsored us as well
Riven Athletics went above and beyond for our group and donated some great prizes!
Jayreed Homes for donating money for a weekly winner
Laura Klarman and Intermountain Riverton Hospital for our weekly consistency prizes!
Scott and April Robinson for our grand prize free year member ship to Thrive Fitness
Rachel Dimmick and Anytime Fitness for our weekly winners and grand prize winners!!!!

Your amazing contributions are greatly appreciated!!!

Now for last weeks winners!!!!

 Congrats to Jamie Rust Winner of our month free membership to Anytime Fitness!!!!  This girl would text me at 11pm to tell me she was running around her house trying to get the last of her steps in.  Way to be dedicated Jamers!!!

Also congrats to Lorene Hreinson for our consistency award.  This is the mom of my good friend Sherron and I am so happy that Lorene had become my friend as well.  She is one of our participants that got stronger and stronger as the weeks went by instead of going the other direction.  Thank you for being a part of this!  I have enjoyed getting to know you.   You win an OGIO bag from Intermountain Riverton Hospital!!!

CONGRATS JAYSON REED AND TRESA RUGAR

 Tresa is amazing.  She has had a perfect score of five points every day for the entire 30 days.  She had some amazing personal goals that she was able to accomplish and she was an amazing cheerleader to our other participants.  She contributed to our blog as well and I am so glad that she has become my friend.  Congrats you have won a $50.00 cash prize compliments of some of our participants five dollar buy ins lol.

  Jay Reed has also been an strong competitor with a perfect 5 point every day score.  He contributed a prize to our week one winner and will be featured on a bonus success blog post tomorrow.  Yup before and after pictures included lol.  Enjoy your year of work outs with Scott and April at Thrive Fitness, my personal favorite gym!


     

Our competition was soooo close I decided we had to have four big winners at the end!!!


Congrats to Luara Lewis and Dustin Croff who have put forth a strong effort the entire competition!!! I am so glad you were both part of our challenge!!! (Dustin dont kill me for using this picture.  I wanted to brag about you running multiple Ragnars!  I am one proud sister in law!!)



 Dustin and Laura you have won some amazing apparel (T- shirt and hat) from Riven Athletics!!  (I wanted this one for myself!)   http://www.rivengear.com/




 Last but not least our consistency winner for the entire competition goes to Kathy Wilson!!!  I am so excited about this award because she has been present the entire challenge!!  Even if she missed a point she logged faithfully and didnt let that get to her, she just came back strong the next day.  I have loved having her be in this challenge and cherish the little extra moments I have had with her.  Congrats for this weeks $25.00 prize!!!   Love you Kathy!

be your own kind of beautiful...

Hello friends. What a journey this has been. I can not express how grateful I am to have been apart of this blog. To share with you some of my insights and things I hold dear. I hope along the way you have gathered new inspiration that you will carry with you into your next chapter. More than just what you can do for your physical body, but what you can give to your soul.

I asked Stacy what she would like me to share with you and she posed two very good questions. What would I want to pass along to my children and if I had the chance what would I tell my past self? Both of these questions I have asked myself many many times. And the thing that rings most true to me is to love myself for who I am and not what the world wants me to be. Be my own kind of beautiful.

Getting married at a very young age, left me unable to really gain an understanding to who I was as a person. I took others advice and examples instead of learning for myself. I did as they did. Got married, had kids, fill in the basic blanks. All the while never deciding exactly the kind of person I wanted to be or the life I wanted to live. I lived for others, not for me.

After my divorce, that gave me the time and strength to become the person I am today. I chose my own path. I want my children to have that same opportunity. I will instruct and give them as many life tools as possible, but in the end, I want them to stay true to their own heart and dreams. As a very young girl, my grandfather always told me, "Vanessa, it's a big world out there." This has always stuck with me. And I truly live by that now. I am not fearful to go out and live outside the norm. I love to travel, try new and exciting things. Fear is a funny thing. It can hold us back in so many ways. But once you decide that no matter what, you are are in charge of your own life...that fear seems to disappear.

For my children, I want them to see beyond what is in front of them. Live a life of fulfillment.  I want them to be kind humans and seek out new adventures. I want them to be comfortable in their own skin and not just follow what others do. Stand on their own two feet and follow the standards they have set. Learn that living outside the box will give them a greater appreciation for themselves and life. That whatever they set their minds to, they will accomplish if they stay true to their passions and are honest with themselves. To live doing right by others and being compassionate. And most of all, to truly love themselves.

For my past self...I would tell her that no matter what, loving who she is is the most important thing she can give herself. That when you can finally love you, the rest of your life falls into place. To not take things so seriously. And realize that through trials her greatest accomplishments were made. I would tell her that crying in the shower was okay, failing was going to happen, but in those times she will become stronger and braver. I would want her to understand that love is and can be special with the right person. That believing in something and seeing it through is true character. That gaining patience for herself and others will give her more compassion. And most of all that at the end of the day, life always works it self out..so be patient.

I think the best thing I ever did for myself was learn to listen to me. We all have a beautiful inner voice, if we just clear the noise and listen. Listening is such a great tool if we learn to use it. Our souls never steer us wrong, and it always pushes us through the hard times. Once I started to listen...I achieved things I never thought I could do. I made it being a single mom, I ran a 5k and 10k, I lived my passions, I tried hard and scary things, I loved life, and I met the man of my dreams and now have the family I always wanted. Your attitude is everything. It literally can make or break you.

"a beautiful day begins with a beautiful mindset. when you wake up, take a second to think about what a privilege it is to simply be alive and healthy. the moment we start acting like life is a blessing I assure you it will start to feel like one."

If I could sit down with each of you, hear your stories, and ask you these same two questions. What would you say? Are you on the path you need to be on and gaining the tools to get there? Or are you sitting ideally by?

A friend once told me, Look at life as a story, a novel you are writing. Everything you go through, every event is part of your own biography. You will have many chapters, some small, some big. But every chapter has a purpose and a meaning. Your story could not be told without them. Be present in the chapter you are in. Embrace the past for what it was, and look to the future to guide your path. Be proud of your story. And be happy with the words you write today.

I often think of that, my story, my chapters. In the end what do you want to leave the world with? I hope my stamp on this world is that full of love and hope. That even though I am not perfect, I tried my best. I, in the end, was a good human.

Here's to becoming a good human, ~Vanessa

Expert Advice: Megan Roberts

 

Megan and I met ten years ago and I have loved her since the very beginning.  At one point when we lived far away from our families Megan and her hubby Josh (who I went to high school with) became our family.  I have many good memories with them and am so happy she is contributing to our blog.  Thanks Meggers I love you!

Let me introduce myself. My name is Megan Roberts and I am an all-around fitness enthusiast and food-fanatic.

However, I wasn’t always this way. When I was in high school, I was a gymnast and worked out for several hours after school and ate fairly healthy. When I graduated high school, I actually quit gymnastics at the same time. I quit being active and I ate poorly (maybe rows of Oreos at a time, and big bowls of ice cream) and blew up my small 5’3ish” frame by about 30lbs in ONE summer. I never thought weight gain would happen to ME. To say the least, I was pretty annoyed that my butt would not fit into my size 0 jeans, but I guess this is when I would start to understand the importance of the almighty CALORIE.

My stepbrother was a “gym rat”. I asked for his help and he did just that. He helped me understand HOW to workout and how to eat. That’s when my life changed from declaring a college major of, “I’m-not-sure-what-to-do-as-a-career” to now choosing fitness!

Lets fast forward 13 years later, with 9 triathlons, 2 marathons, 2 bikini/bodybuilding show competitions, a few CrossFit competitions, and many, many years of personal training established under my belt.

I decided that I enjoy fitness, oh wait…I LOVE fitness!

I like to ask clients this question:

“What does ‘being healthy’ mean to you?”

Does being healthy just mean an absence of doctor visits because you are well?

Does being healthy mean you have the ability to run, skip and jump whenever possible?

Does being healthy mean you have the blessing to physically keep up with the demands of your daily job?

Think about that. What does it mean to you?

To me, It means being able to experience life at it’s fullest capacity! I never want to be told I cannot do something. If I’m challenged by that phrase, “Oh you can’t do that…that’s too hard”….then I’m only fired up to break through that judgmental phrase and prove it to myself.

So that’s me.

I have a passion for fitness and for teaching others how to live a life of fitness and not a ‘diet’ of fitness. If there is one thing I’m constantly asked, it is how to escape the depressing “fitness plateau” and how to overcome it. Jeez, I wish I could even escape a plateau. Alas, I cannot. Our bodies are so amazing with the power of adaptation that it becomes inevitable if we DO NOT change things up constantly. If you feel like you have experienced a plateau, let me see if I could help you.

If you’re into this process, (and you’ve been 100% strict and honest with tracking food) and your progress is SLOW, then here are some ideas, to name a few:

• Increase cardio output by doing more anaerobic sprint training.
• Start doing 2 workouts (wods) a day, 2-3 times a week
• Decrease any fat in your diet by a few grams and increase the complex carbs and lean proteins.
• Make sure your calories are high enough. Lowering calories too low will cause your body to plateau dramatically faster and more frequently.
• Add more sleep/naps to your schedule.
• Increase water intake.
• Add more heavy weight to your workouts, if possible, while keeping good form
• Wear a weight vest, during workouts (if it’s appropriate for the workout or WOD—you’d need to consult with your trainer or coach or even trust your gut)
• MAKE SURE you are consuming food within a 30min window AFTER you wake up.
• MAKE SURE you consume enough protein after a workout.

Plateaus WILL happen and slow weight loss is inevitable too. However, weight loss can be faster for others. It is up to you to stay on course and realize that your body WILL lose when it realizes that it’s receiving the correct nutrition in the right portion sizes.

Calories ARE NOT created equal. The quality of food, matters. Real, whole foods are the key to long term success.

Here is an example of my plateau:

Left: 110-112lbs, 16% body fat

Right: 102-104lbs, 10% body fat

The beginning of January 2013, I was on a mission to bust through my plateau. I was sitting at 16-18% body fat for what seemed like forever and I wanted to prove it to myself that I could step on stage at  8-10% body fat and be in a fitness show.

I worked real hard for 13 weeks. Oh my. Some days I wanted to throw in the towel and throw up at the same time because I was just sick of seriously SLOW results. As I was doing this competition prep work, I realized that no matter what, I was feeding my body exactly what it needed and it eventually responded. I stopped stepping on the scale and instead relied on pictures to help me visually see my results.

That, in my opinion, was the key to my success in learning how to “stick-with-it” and literally not giving up. Taking progress pictures is what I needed to do.

The top picture was 110-112 lbs

The middle picture was 106-108lbs

The bottom picture is 102-104 lbs

Yes you're right, its not a lot of weight loss on the scale but one thing to remember is that its MORE important to watch body fat loss progress than it is to watch the scale.  These pictures were taken over a 13 week period.  

These pictures are also taken periodically over a 13 week period. 

And then, I made it to my goal.....13 weeks later! My  moment has come.

I worked to 8-10% body fat and felt very ready to get myself on stage to compete

I stepped on stage at the end of March 2013 and realized that anyone could do this as long as you realize that it WILL TAKE TIME and effort but it is incredibly worth your time and effort.

Thank you for letting me share my story. 

Keep going, keep going, and keep going!!

You'll be so proud of yourself with every day that goes by

Keep Going!!

Winner Winner: Rob and DeAnn

So I had to do things a bit different this week.  Normally the free month gym pass to Anytime Fitness would go to the person with the high score, which was Rob, but there is not a location in his area.  So I switched the two prizes.  Deann, who was only one point behind Rob, will win the gym pass and Rob is taking home a water bottle and earphones from one of our sponsors, Riverton Hospital, as well as a small cash prize.  Each of these prizes are a $30.00 prize (I know lol, big spenders here).


This weeks prize winners are a big deal because they are becoming stronger competitiors while some of us, me included, are starting to get a little wimpy.  There are a few others, Like Kathy and Lorene, who are also heating up our challenge!! Great job guys.

https://my.intermountain.net/intermountainstories/Documents/UCR-9-1-14.pdf

Also, Intermountain Healthcare did a story on our 30 day challenge for their newsletter that is sent out to all of their employees.  Wildly embarrassing but here is the link if you want to copy and past it to your browser to read.

Don't forget the photo challenge!!!  10,000 or bust.  Sent me those pictures we have a bunch of photographers in our group!!!

Be strong this week guys.  Three weeks in and it all starts getting mundane.  Break through that the end is soooo close.  
Stace