I've been crusing the Midsummer Madness Fitness Challenge thread and feeling (1) inspired and (2) intimidated. A few of our club members are bravely participating (Go Lessara! Go DarB!) but there aren't a whole lot of people signed up in my 'weight class'. Plus, I'm just not that comfortable posting front, side and back pictures on the internet!

I started thinking what I'd like in a "fitness challenge" ...

1. A goal that will push my fitness comfort zone without injury.
2. A reasonable timeline ... short enough to feel attainable and long enough to create some real change. (8 - 12 weeks?)
3. Instead of counting inches or pounds lost, the idea would be to add time or intensity to my chosen activity in small increments each week.
4. Support and encouragement from others with a similar focus.
5. A lot of attention placed on loving the body I have while gaining strength, flexibility and endurance.

What do y'all think? Anyone interested in doing something like this with me? I'd appreciate all comments and ideas.

After reading your post, AntiM, I went and found the Midsummer Madness folks and decided they are out of my league entirely - and no internet pictures of this girl, no way, nohow. Why? I don't know, but there you have it )

I would love to participate in some kind of fitness group. Your point about pushing oneself without injury hit home; Tuesday I walked too far and got blisters, then couldn't walk for 3 days. I am sort of finding my way alone right now and it would be wonderful to have some friends to talk to.

As to how to structure it, I have no idea, but please count me in for whatever anyone comes up with.

I'm getting excited!

I'd be happy to participate! With all the real life stress I've been under lately, my gym sessions and exercise have been vanishing. I need some motivation, ASAP.

Count me in!

This sounds like a wonderful idea to me. I have in the past joined another fitness challenge and then felt totally out of my league with people who weigh in at 150-175 lbs. So lets get this started..........shall we start a thread just for the challenge???

I dunno how to do it either, but I'm in. I need a little angel on my shoulder poking at me when I don't want to work out but I don't need my all and sundry posted for all to see. Catch me fifty pounds from now but today...? Uh uh. There has to be some sort of structure to it though or we'll get so airy fairy the only work outs we'll be doing is napping All in all not a bad idea....stop me before I snooze again! I'll keep an eye out for your plan or you guys can stop by my journal if you want to kick ideas around. Looking forward to it.

Hi DusterCat, Breecita, Gotaloseit and Hope1,

I was so glad to see your posts! Let's do this thing! I've been doing a little research, here are my ideas:

I think we should set a start date soon ... I was thinking Friday, July 25th. This will give the other folk from the TDC time to see our thread and join us if they desire.

The last few years, I've been working on only making commitments I can keep. I think I'd like to make a contract with myself for 8 weeks of forward progression (September 5th). How does that sound to everyone? We can always go longer next time ... (see how optimistic I am?!)

This should be our 'brainstorming' thread, and when we're ready to go, I'll start another one in the appropriate forum (Countdowns, Challenges and Buddies).

I agree with everyone that a Challenge needs structure. This is what I propose ...

In our first ‘official’ thread posting, we would make a personal goal statement naming what form of exercise we’re choosing. The time or intensity or distance would reflect where we are right now, fitness-wise. For example, "I will walk 10 minutes everyday”. This would be more than the minimum of what I can accomplish and well within what is do-able. Next week it could be “I will walk 13 minutes a day and do 5 minutes of Physical Therapy for my hip on M, W and F".

Realistically … meeting my goals isn’t about ‘perfection’, it’s more about stamina, perseverance and consistency. I want to end up having made great gains in my physical fitness in eight weeks. Now should I be a victim of alien abduction, I’m not going to stress out that I couldn’t go for my walk that day - but the next morning, I’ll be strapping on the sneakers again.

In our last Challenge posting, we could see how far we’ve come by comparing where we began to where we ended up. Maybe we could even consolidate everyone’s fitness gains and post them to the TDC Forum?!

Finally, I want to focus on loving my body right now. Simply being on a diet, a “WOE” is hard on my body image. Instead of appreciating what I have right now and what I'm doing to improve myself, I focus on what I don’t have and how far from okay I am. I believe large people are inundated with so many messages of fat hatred and disgust that it seeps into our psyches. The act of working on changing my body’s size seems to stir up those deep places, and I’ve got to draw out the poison and nourish my spirit if I want to my total health to improve.

I propose we focus on a different area each week: Arms, legs, head, belly, hips, chest, back torso and the full body. Modifying an exercise from Leslea Newman’s book SomeBody To Love, we’ll remind ourselves about what’s right with our body and pamper ourselves, too.

What do you all think? Anything to add or take away or change? I’m open to any and all suggestions!

Woo Hoo!

Welcome Graceful! We are so glad to have you with us. Let's hope this will get us all moving!

Breecita, your World Walk website is fabulous! You are a web wizardess, as MisterE says. I'll be logging my miles there now, too, since there will finally be some miles to log (eventually!). I appreciate your offer to create a web page ... what do you think we could do?

The official thread is up at: http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=125288

Everyone participating should receive a PM with this information, as well.

I'm looking forward to seeing you all there!

As for a webpage... well, it would be easy for everyone to have their own little "goal journal", and on the main page we could have a link to everyone's personal pages, so we can share our progress.

I'm picturing each person having a profile where they set their "goals", and then each day (or at the end of each week) they can update and say what they've accomplished and how theyr'e doing or pretty much whatever they want. It could be a fun way to keep track!

I'm open to suggestions, however. If you can dream it up, I can probably think of a way to do it. Until school starts up again, the sky is the limit!

Hi all!
Count me in too. I have just joined here and would love to be a part of this 8 week challenge as exercise is one of my major goals in my quest to get healthier and stronger.

My exercise goals are to exercise 6 times a week. I will do 3 times cardio (I usually do am exercise video) right now I am at 20 minutes and would like to work up to 30 minutes. I will do 3 times weight lifting.

I also love the body image work. I, too, believe that is so important in our lives. Thanks for getting the ball rolling!

Mary

I'd be happy to copy my post to the official web site, but I don't know how to copy. Help please

Hello Ketodiva!

I have a Microsoft / DOS based sytems, if you work on a Apple computer this might work a little differently. This is what I'd do to copy a post:

1) Go to the very beginning of the post you want to copy.

2) Holding down the Left button of your mouse, move to the end of the post. (The text should now be white and the background black.)

3) Click on the Right mouse button and choose 'Copy'.

4) Go to the Official Thread: http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=125288

5) Click 'Post Reply'.

6) Go to where you'd normally begin typing your post and Right click on your mouse once more. Choose 'Paste'. Your post from this thread should now be copied into the new reply.

7) Click on 'Submit Reply' and you're done!

I hope this works for you ... if not, write back and we'll find someone who knows more. Good Luck!