It's Not Christmas Anymore

So I've been doing a Get Fit Challenge for the past few weeks. It is a 12-week challenge, and we are just beginning week four. I am part of a team, and the team with the most points at the end of the challenge wins. It has been a lot of fun to be part of something like this, especially since I am ordinarily such a do-it-by-myself type of person. And it has been a great motivator to run, work out and eat better. Here is what we get points for each day (with one free day each week):

• 5 Fruits and Veggies each day


• No eating after 9pm


• No sweets (ice cream, brownies, cupcakes, candy, etc.)


• Drink 48 oz. of water


• Minimum 30 mins. exercise


• Contact with team member

We also get points for losing weight or maintaining and lose points for gaining weight. And each week we have a "challenge" to earn extra points. This week's challenge is to add a new workout to our routine, set a goal, share it with our team and accomplish it. My challenge goal is to try two new P90X workouts this week and do planks every day.

Last week's challenge was giving up soda, and the week before we had to keep a food journal. The food journal was hard at first, but now I love knowing how much I am eating and burning. I just wish the daily updates on how much I would weigh in five weeks based on my daily totals would start happening. Somehow, in spite of some serious calorie cutbacks last week, I only managed to maintain my weight. I am going to ramp up the workouts this week and see what happens. If I still don't lose some weight, I'm not sure what else to do. I can't drop my calories too much more without starving.

So, with more workouts on the horizon, there is a good chance I will continue to look like this most of the time:

My Bean took that on the way to pick up The Princess from school. Pictures like this are starting to fill up the photo gallery on my phone. Whenever Bean is playing games on my phone, I inevitably hear: "Mom, say 'It's not Christmas anymore.'" (Our go-to phrase instead of Say "Cheese!" during the holidays was Say "It's Christmas!" Apparently this is what she thinks it should be now that Christmas is over.)