Fit to the FINISH! (guest post)

MizFit is truly one of the stars of the blogging world, even if she is too modest to admit it. Every time I read her blog I am inspired to stay on track with my strength training and be a better person. Honestly.

I am so honored to share a tiny bit of my 150 pound weight loss experience on her blog today because like MizFit, I believe that when we share our struggles and our victories with each other, we become stronger people.

I gained over 100 pounds between year one and year four of my marriage. The first 50 were just from eating too much and being sedentary, and the other 75 were from a pregnancy. There I was, 25 years old and morbidly obese. It wasn’t a good place to be either physically or emotionally.

I struggled with morbid obesity for 10 years, finally hitting my highest recorded weight of 305 pounds. Although I had a great life externally, internally I struggled with feelings of inadequacy, failure, and frustration with myself. I tried every diet that came along – except for ones that were absolutely ridiculous or recommended using supplements. Nothing worked for long.

Finally, after the birth of my third child, I got to the point where I realized it was now or never for me. I did not want to leave my children early because of my food choices. I was tired of feeling exhausted, and I had the sense that the time was now.

I started on a 14 month journey that saw me go from a size 28 to a size 6 or 8. I moved from sitting on the couch as much as possible to running a 5K. But best of all, I was finally able to be present in a new and vital way to my family. And I did it on my own, without joining a group or eating weird food. Just healthy eating, reasonable exercise, and a commitment to dealing with the emotions I had surrounding food. This is what my book 150 Pounds Gone Forever is about – getting in control of your weight for life.

It has been 14 years since I got to my healthy weight and during that time I’ve had four more kids and experienced a lot of life’s challenges.

I encourage you to never give up on yourself and your goals. Whether you are striving to reach a healthy weight, want to compete in an upcoming event, or just be able to climb the stairs without getting out of breath, take that first step today. You never know where you will be 14 months or 14 years later.

View the original article here

Finish It Monday: Home Stretch Thoughts

We are in the home  s-t-r-e-t-c-h! Only one week left. While finishing sometimes requires outside encouragement that I hope the Challenge has delivered these in past weeks, I’m scrutinizing myself over how the Challenge could have been even better. ((sigh))

Welp, all that aside, I hope you’ll finish out this final week strong as you look to what lies ahead for you. It’s so dang important that you don’t drop the ball on your goals. There can be all kinds of the challenges and motivation and personalized cheerpeople coming at you from every direction, but the fact remain that it’s still all up to YOU.

Today I’m headed to New York City for that Glamour Magazine photoshoot I told you about. I’ve done this kinda thing before, so why the heck am I so nervous? Eh, I dunno. But I’m sure it’ll be awesome. See you when I get back!

View the original article here

Finish It Monday: Prune Away The Unfruitful Things For More Growth And Progress

prune

1. trim or weed out unwanted or unnecessary things

2. cut off or cut out for the purpose of improving growth

3. do away with, terminate or eliminate

You gotta prune away the things that don’t matter; the things that waste time and get in the way of you achieving your goals. Those time wasting activities and bad habits. The things that don’t contribute to your growth, but instead, hold you back, keep you down and prevent you from getting what you want; the things ‘n stuff that distract and prevent you from making consistent, goal oriented moves.

Don’t cleave to the unfruitful things in your life. It’s holding you back. So get rid of it.

Josie’s “to prune away” List

Up late, past 11:30pm. Because it causes me to have a sub-par, next day workout.Wasting way too much time on celebrity gossip websites (yeah, I do that). It’s a distraction. My time could be better spent.B!tching and whining about stuff completely out of my control (like dealing with incompetent people and situations that “aren’t fair”). It’s a waste of time to keep complaining; a distraction that drains my positive spirit and makes me to lose focus.

Now it’s your turn.

But don’t just write a list and forget about it. Make like a gardener and start pruning away the “dead” things in your life right now.

To all of my Finish What You Started Challengers: You earn one bonus star for every dead ‘n idle activity you successfully keep pruned all week long. Stay in it, guys! This Challenge is NOT over yet. You’ve got things to accomplish. If you’ve allowed your challenge goals to fall by the wayside, jump back in right now. Re-starts, do-overs and picking up where you left off is totally encourage. But quitting is NEVER allowed.

(photo credit)

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Finish It Monday: You Can Reach Your Goals Faster With This Simple Dietary Twist

I had to learn the long and drawn-out way, but there’s no reason why YOU should have to take the long route, too.

It took me more than two years to realize that clean eating would contribute to faster fitness progress. If you’ve been doing a great job at keeping your daily calorie chewing within a decent range, but your food choices still primarily consist of processed/packaged foods, highly refined foods and empty calories, it’s time to make some changes right away.

You want that progress faster, don’t you?

Sorry to bust your ballz, but please don’t get too comfortable patting yourself on the back for the healthy habits you’ve mastered so far. There’s more work to be done. Aim for more improvement. More progress! Especially where your eating is concerned. If you’re NOT totally brand new to fitness, but you still haven’t pushed yourself to move beyond the bare bones of healthy eating that you started with…why not?

Clean Eating is one helluva powerful twist to break out of a newbie fitness routine and take it to the next level to come closer to your goals.

Clean Eating is what our bodies are designed for. Here are some questions to ask yourself to know if you’re in the clean eating zone:

Can I pronounce the ingredients on the label and are there as few ingredients as possible?Is this food made from whole ingredients, or is it highly refined and stripped of its nutrients?Do I try to avoid meals that come out of a box or package, including eating out?Am I eating fresh fruits and vegetables everyday?Am I eating lean cuts of meat?

If most of your answers are a resounding “no”, then excuse me, but you are NOT in the clean eating zone. Packaged food is easy and convenient. Highly refined and processed food can be tasty and fun. But none of these foods will contribute to the best you that you can be.

My Own Clean Eating Story

It’s cool that I lost my first 20 pounds simply by counting calories while staying in the process/packaged/refined foods zone. But then my progress stalled and my body still looked “soft” and undefined despite a faithful weightlifting regimen.

It wasn’t until I became open to the idea of clean eating and started to put it into practice that my weight loss revived itself and I got leaner. Yes, I still enjoy my sweets, carbs and  fats, but those foods are the exception now – not the rule. I also still enjoy packaged foods, but I swapped them out for healthier packaged options, like Larabar instead of cereal bars and Fage Greek Yogurt instead of popular mainstream yogurts, like Yoplait and Dannon.

So what can you do today to start eating cleaner?

You might think muffins, cereal bars and burgers can remain standard and acceptable so long as you stay within your calorie range, but you’ve got it all wrong. You’re not doing yourself any favors. Go with clean eating instead. It’s actually pretty simple. It’s not complicated and it’s not a hassle. You just have to change the way you shop and understand that planning is key. It doesn’t have to be an “all or nothing” approach either. Start out slow. Get the hang of it, build on your clean eating ways, and I bet you’ll see better, faster fitness results.

Livestrong’s 5 Simple Steps to Clean Eating.

The Gracious Pantry’s 6 Tips To Get Started With Clean Eating.

I’m calling on all of my Finish What You Started Challengers to earn their bonus star this week by ditching one processing/packaged/refined food and replacing it with a cleaner option. If you’re already a clean-eating pro, your bonus star challenge is to expand your clean eating horizons: try a new food or new clean eating recipe! (and by all means, share that recipe with me)   

View the original article here

Finish It Monday: No One Can Do It But YOU (Plus, a Planking Challenge!)

If it were all up to me, you would all be finishers. You would all be on track and you would all get it done. There’s over 100 peeps who committed to the Finish What You Started Challenge, but as we creep into the final weeks of the Challenge, the cold hard truth is that not all of you will finish with flying colors.

I am not a psychic nor do a practice crystal-balling in my spare time, but I do have some end of challenge predictions: When the Challenge is over on October 31st you will fall into 1 of 3 categories:

Category #1: You committed, but it wasn’t sincere. Why? Because you barely followed through (if at all?) with the disciplines and actions necessary to get the results you want. There is no evidence of real change or progress in your life.

Category #2: You committed, and despite your occasional need for some do-overs that caused a few set backs, you pushed through to finish in a better place than when you started. Your goals are not yet met, but you’ve created solid habits that are constantly moving you closer to where you want to be. Although you are still working to pave out those bumps in the round, your desire is like a bulldozer and you won’t stop plowing through until you get what you want.

Category #3: You committed and you got it done (woo-haaa!), but you also understand that “finishing” also requires a lifestyle of consistency to hold onto what you’ve achieved. Your bad ass ways are a lifestyle now.

Whatever category you fall into, it’s by your own design. No one can get this thing done but YOU.

I want to hear about your fitness plans for this week, so sound off in the comments. Be sure to give yourself one bonus star for salad-chewing AND a 2nd bonus star for at least 4 days of planking.

Yep. It’s time to plank it out! Hold in the static position pictured above. Body straight and in line. Don’t bow your back so your hips drop down or poke your booty up.

Let’s see how your plank hold times increase by the end of the week! When I did my very first plank over a year ago, it held it for 18 seconds. With consistent practice, I progressed to my best plank time of 3:20 minutes. I didn’t plank much after that, so my recent best time is down to 2:04 minutes. I’ll report in next week with my latest planking times. You go for it, too!

I earned 26 stars last week. Download your Star Chart and keep it movin’ and have a great week!

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Finish It Monday (Video): Dealing With Flames Of Fitness Burn Out

Sooner or later we all feel the flames of fitness burn out. Unfortunately, that time for me has arrived. Like right now. Yep, I’m a little burned from being on the consistent grind with my fitness goals (it’s hard work!), and I’m feeling it quadruplefied from also tending to the Greedy Family. You know, being a mom ‘n stuff.  There’s ALWAYS so much to do.

So here’s my vlog to explain how I’m dealing with the very real issue of burn out. What’s a flaming woman to do? Does she shut down completely to fan the fire, or handle it another way…

So how about YOU? Anybody else feel the fitness flames sometimes?

How To Earn Your Bonus Star This Week (your assignment)

Shall we talk about D-word? …DOING! It doesn’t matter if you’re “doing” at 100 mph, or for whatever reason, you have to turn down the throttle to 35 mph for awhile: JUST DON’T STOP DOING. There is absolutely no way you can Finish What You Started if you don’t “do”.

Doing takes you places. Doing moves you forward. Doing gets you progress. Doing leads to finishing.

Your assignment this week is to  “do” on those days that you’ve planned to “do”, yet the urge to “not do” creeps up as a better option. (I hate when that happens!) And just like I yapped about in the vlog, if you’re forced to adjust your doing because of overwhelming irritations like burn out, injury, other unforeseen crap, etc., then please go on then. So long as you’re doing something! Because something is waaaay better than nothing.

Have a great week!

(photo credit)

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Finish It Monday: Don’t Take a Sh!t On Your Goals

So you know how last week I didn’t offer you any bonus stars? What a party pooper I was, huh? Welp, the goal of me party-pooping was for you to become more aware of your own motivation in the absence of outside motivation (aka, earning stars). But you know what?

I promise not to party-poop this week.

…and please, definitely don’t party-poop on yourself (aka, take a sh!t on your goals) by not following through with finishing what you started. The only thing goal-sh!tting does is flush your progress, and any hope for achieving the end result, down the toilet. Just like this:

Don’t do this to your goals.

Salad-chewing and push-ups stars are back! You earn one for each activity. So yeah, get on that. But wait! There’s a really important 3rd bonus star for this week that I want to force encourage you to take part in: the Wild Card Bonus Star. This is how it works:

Wild Card Bonus Star

Think back to last week… are you thinking yet? Sure, go on and bask in your healthy victories, but that’s actually not the point of this assignment right now. Instead, think with fervent thought about the bad, semi-decent, half-assed, or any totally flucked-up moments you experienced in last week’s quest for healthy living. Maybe it was too much bacon? Or perhaps an overactive lazy bone?

Whatever it might have been, the Wild Card Bonus Star is gonna give you a do-over. Your mission this week is to make improvements over last week in any area(s) where you personally feel you could have done better. If at the end of this week your Wild Card efforts led to better, healthier moments compared to last week, then give yourself that star!

I intend to earn my own Wild Card Star this week by drinking more water AND getting to bed on time, because I overslept twice last week and it caused my workouts to suffer.

You should be giving yourself do-overs ALL the time, because this finishing road your on is not 100% smooth, straight, or without incident. The finishing path has everything from bumps, potholes, wrong turns, hidden ditches, unexpected detours, and goal-eating zombies.

Download the Week #7 Star Chart.

Last week I earned 24 out of 28 stars. Shout yours out in the comments. Have a great week, everybody! xo

View the original article here

Finish It Monday: Insanity Winner And A Quick Note On Bonus Stars This Week

Frivolous Demands:
*Subscribe to the blog
*Follow me on Twittah
*Like me on Facebook
*YouTube my videos

Fitness Romance Saga? It’s like chick-a-bow-bow with some cardio & weights thrown in.

Product Spotlight: Put Some Zensah On That Ass!

My workout week: Week #3 of Insanity,  days 15-21 out of 60. My legs are morphing into sexy-awesome! Click here for my daily training log.

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Grab some Shakeology in my Beachbody shop.

Shakeology is a complete meal (shake) developed by Beachbody, the makers of P90X. It contains 16-18 grams of protein and 140 calories per serving. The shake will help you lose weight, reduce cravings, improve digestion, and lower cholesterol. It can also improve stamina and libido, alleviate hormonal issues (including menopause-related), aid memory, support immune function and boost serotonin levels to improve mood and symptoms of depression, while also reducing the symptoms of high blood pressure, diabetes and arthritis.

Shakeology 30-Day Recipe Calendars

Chocolate and Greenberry nutrition labels.

90 Days of Shakeology: My Experiment

Shakeology money back guarantee.

If you’re passionate about helping people achieve their fitness goals and you’re committed to achieving financial independence, contact me now about becoming a Beachbody Coach.
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Finish It Monday: One Month Down! It’s Time To Self-Critique What You’ve Done So Far

Me, after Insanity. Not sure how I was able to crack a smile. LOL!

Depending on when you started with us, you are now either one month into the Finish What You Started Challenge, or you’re just now joining in and ready to ROAR! (and a big ‘ole hello to all of our newest participants!)

The Challenge ends on October 31st, so you’ve got two more months to reach your goal, or, for you long term goal peeps, the Challenge is for you to remain consistent and end the cycle of stopping and re-starting with what you intend to Finish. Right?

(Download and view Week #5's message on the Star System Tracking Chart.)

This is your assignment for this week to earn 3 bonus stars for a total of 31 maximum for the week! 28 stars + 3 bonus stars = 31

Earn one bonus star gnawing on 3 or more salads.Earn 2nd bonus star for continuing with your pushups. I really wanna see you guys be able to celebrate some big time push ups progress when this is all over!Earn 3rd bonus star by evaluating what you’ve done since the Challenge began – a positive, honest critique of yourself (not self-judgement that brings guilt) – and then make any tweaks to your fitness and eating routines as necessary.

More On Evaluating Your Current Progress And Taking An Honest Look At What You’ve Done So Far

Okay, okay, I’ll go first so you can see how this is done….

Fitness: You probably already know I’m doing Insanity (it’s in my Beachbody shop), but the workout calendar is very rigorous. Maybe a bit too rigorous sometimes. It’s delivering quick results as promised (big time results!), but it can also be physically and mentally challenge to the point where the urge to quit pop ups in my brain a little too often. Noooo!!! So in order to prevent those urges to quit completely, I recently decided to do Insanity every other day (with a different workout in between) instead of two Insanity days back to back. This fitness critique/tweak means it will take me longer to complete the entire program (boo), BUT it’s working out better for me, because it’s eliminated my urge to quit completely, AND I discovered that a rest day in between Insane workouts actually enables me to perform at a high level and push harder on my Insanity days.

Eating: It sucks sometimes. Usually when I’m bored. I don’t get bored that often because of my happy-crazy-busy life, but when boredom does creep up, I’m capable of downing a whole day’s worth of calories before noon. Oh, hell no! So how do I fix this? I’ve decided to plan/pack food even when I’m home from work on the weekends. WeekDAY food planning has always worked for me at about a 95% success rate, so why do I abandon this concept on the weekends? No more weekend self-sabotage for me. The majority of my weekend eating will be planned ahead of time from now on, as much as possible. If I get bored and want to chew, my food selections will already be pre-determined.

These self-critiques did not reveal that I’m a loser. They do not prove that I can’t stick to a plan. It does not mean that I have to abandon all. It simply reveals that my plan needed tweaking.

So do you see how this works? Now it’s your turn. Go grabs your stars and make it a great week!

View the original article here

Finish It Monday: My Most Insane Giveaway EVER!

Calling all crazies! Go on and click the video above for inspiration.

(Special note to FWYS Challengers: Download this week’s Star Chart here to track your progress and earn your bonus stars.)

Well put me in a straight jacket and feed me happy pills! Surely I’ve gone insane in the cranial membrane? If you Like me on Facebook you might already know I’ve been itching to do this, and since it’s Finish It Monday, this Giveaway is reserved for my Finish What You Started Challenge peoples. Is that YOU?

I’ve been in the throes of Insanity for over 3 weeks now. It’s the toughest workout program I’ve even done in my life; much tougher than my beloved Bodyrock.Tv. And although I’m experiencing the fast results Insanity is designed to deliver, I still sometimes question myself (usually in the middle of a workout) with, Why am I doing this?  The discipline factor is also insane. It’s taking a lot for me (mentally) to get up every morning and push myself to do these workouts.

So in the the spirit of finishing what I, myself, have started and will definitely see through to the end, this is what I’m crazy enough to give away right now. One winner gets its all:

Brand new Insanity 60-day workout program. It comes with 10-DVD’s, Elite Nutrition Plan, Fitness Guide, Workout Calendar and 20-minute Bonus Workout DVD.Shakeology 4-pack Sampler Bonanza (because those shakes are dang important with these workouts).

How To Win It All

1) If you’re not already part of the Finish What You Started Challenge, sign up now. You must be part of the Challenge to qualify for this Giveaway prize. But serious people only, okay? No slackers allowed – not unless you’re ready to turn yourself around and make a change.

2)  Leave a comment to show me the stars you earned this past week (I earned 26) and/or share with us all how you’re working to overcoming any urges to quit or slack off in your goals.

Other Stuff To Do (But It’s Not Mandatory To Win the Prize)

1) Like me on Facebook so you can follow my short vlog updates on Insanity.

2) Join me on Team Beachbody to make me your coach. It’s free to join and it’s an awesome resource! Let’s connect there.

Your chance to win ends Wednesday, 8/31/11. Winner announced Monday 9/5/11. United States entries only. Totally null and void where prohibited.

Ready? Set? Go Insane!

View the original article here

Finish It Monday: Star System Chart Gets Fancy And Eat Smart Joins The Crew!

Click on image to view/print Week #3 Chart

I trust that you’ve put on your big girl panties by now (or your big boy jock strap?) and are settling into some improved food and fitness habits. You are officially in week #3 of the Finish What You Started Challenge (yay-zers!) are you’re on your way to the October 31st finish line!

I know some of you have been enjoying your vacations and this caused your Star System to somewhat collapse. I was on Staycation all of last week, complete with food indulgence (Oooo!) and a bit of lazy dazing (Ahhh!) so there was definitely some star implosion going on over here. I earned 23 out of 30 possible stars. Darn. But thank God its a new week with a clean slate!

EatSmart Joins Our Crew!

Go on and print out the pimped-out Star System Chart for this week. I revamped it to be real fancy for your eyeballs, and you can see that EatSmart Products has joined us as a Challenge sponsor! They’ve empowered me to spread the love onto you with some fabulous giveaways coming soon, so be sure to browse the land of food, bathroom and kitchen scales at EatSmartProducts.com.

Close to one year ago now, I surrendered my former bathroom scale in favor of an EatSmart. Best decision ever. It’s sleek, lightweight and easy to use. Not only that, but EatSmart stands behind their scales with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee pledge AND they have fantastic customer service.

Follow @EatSmartScales on Twitter and Like them on Facebook.

This Week’s Bonus Stars Challenge

This and every week you have the chance to earn a perfect count of 28 stars for consistency with your food and fitness activities. So what’s this week’s challenge to earn 2 bonus stars?

It’s a double-doozie, my people.

Earn one bonus star for continuing with your minimum of 3 salads for the week.Earn a second bonus star for working on your push-up activities.

**More about the push-up activities: I keep hearing people say, “I wish I could do push-ups”. Well it’s time to stop wishing!! By the time October 31st rolls around, you’re going to be a BEAST at push-ups. When I started out doing push-ups, I could only do one. O-N-E. It really sucked and I was very discouraged. But I worked at it…consistently, and experienced fast gains in my progress. I can now do 75-100 in a workout circuit.

You’re going to experience fast gains, too.

Work on your push-ups 3-4 times this week, but definitely no less than 3 times. Whether you’re doing the girlie ones your knees or the full body version (my tutorial is here), earn the push-ups bonus star by doing this:

1) Make time to actually do the push-ups, and

2) By the end of the week, attempt achieve 1 or more reps than you did on your first day of push-ups. Do you feel the burn, baby!?

Have a great week everybody. And don’t forget to shout out your earned stars for last week in the comments section and link up to your blog posts!

View the original article here

Finish It Monday: Objects In Mirror Are Stronger Than They Appear

…and in case you don’t know it, that “object” is YOU.

There’s a popular fitness instructor that always encourages you to “do only what you can”. For a long time I thought that was a good, comfortable philosophy to live by, but I beg to differ now. You’ve got to do MORE than you think you can. Why? Because there’s more in your ability-tank than you think you have. There is always more – and that is the realm where the breakthroughs come from.

Welcome to week #2 of the Finish What You Started Challenge.

No matter your current state of fitness, you are stronger than you appear with the ability to do more than you believe to get what you want. This realm of extra strength is not drawn from your muscles or cardio power. It’s a mental thing. I have literally pushed myself into doing more (like finishing a hard workout when every fiber of my being wants to quit) by pushing myself mentally. I’ve literally talk myself into finishing, as in, “C’mon Josie! You can do this!” …or, “Keep going. You’re almost done. You can’t quit now.”

Ugh. It’s hard. But we’re all stronger.

Even though it might cause you discomfort – more sweat, more discipline, the pain of refusing your favorite snacks (yes, that is painful), getting up at the butt crack of dawn to ensure your workout, etc. – I encourage you to get used to being uncomfortable while you draw out that strength.

If it’s not uncomfortable, it’s not a Challenge. But don’t worry. The discomfort doesn’t last forever, because those beneficial-uncomfortable things you’re doing will become habit. You’ll go from hating it to craving it. So go on – get uncomfortable for awhile.

Show Me Your Stars!

So how’d you do? Last week you had the opportunity to earn 29 stars in the Challenge. Me? I earned 25 stars. My week of fitness was stellar, but I ran into a shallow ditch with my eating due to a family beach barbecue over the weekend. Daaang. Although 25 stars ain’t too shabby, the expectation I’ve placed on myself is to grab the max number of stars each and every week. Have you placed expectations on yourself?

Sound off in the comments section and show me your stars! This is all about accountability, so share with us how many stars you earned last week. 

Download your Star System Tracking Chart and log daily your progress.

Your Homework For This Week

Last week I introduced you to Team Gorgonzola and talked about the mysteries to unlocking a delicious salad.  But we’re not just talkers ’round here. We’re doers. Right? We take action and get stuff done to move forward. Yes? Salad-chewing is one of those things that will help you reach you goals, so while you’re shooting for your 28 stars on the Tracking Chart, give yourself 2 extra bonus stars in the “other category” when you complete your homework by eating 3 or more salad entrees this week. Meaning, instead of eating a lunch or dinner that looks like takeout, a frozen diet meal, cheeseburgers, or some other salad-inferior meal, you reach for the the lettuce with all the trimmings instead.

So there you have it – shoot for max number of stars this week, eat your minimum of 3 salads to snag bonus stars, and get uncomfortable! If you haven’t joined the Finished what You Started Challenge yet, here’s how.

I also want to hear about how your past week of fitness has been, so tell me all about it in the comments. And if you blogged about it, be sure to leave your link so I can read your post!

[photo]

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Finish It Monday: Getting Started And The Star System Tracking Chart

So here we are at the beginning of it all. Yeah baby!

Today is a week to get organized, start planning and get into the habit of doing something each and EVERY DAY that will keep your progress moving forward so you can finally reach your goals. So are you ready? Close to 100 people have already made the decision to join the Finish What You Started Challenge, and if you’re one of them, you’ve already written down your goals.

As you head into your chosen healthy eating and fitness activities for this week, here are some things to consider:

Don’t overwhelm yourself with the pressure of an “all or nothing” approach. It doesn’t work.Work on becoming awesome at one or two small changes at a time, and don’t beat yourself up for the areas you’re still struggling in.Get strong and consistent in the changes you’re focusing on, then build on that by adding more positive changes.If you mess up and need a do-over, you canNOT quit. Finishers don’t quit. They get up and keep going. That’s the kind of person you are.

A word on Planning: Anything less than a plan is a hit or miss situation. Planning creates a sense of urgency and expectation. It encourages you to be disciplined and consistent so you actually follow through. Your plans will tell you ahead of time what must be done, how it will be done and when you will do it. Planning sets you up for action. And then you take those actions. Each day this week and every day throughout the Challenge, plan to have a daily plan. That’s how stuff gets done.

THE STAR SYSTEM

It’s time to get familiar with the Star System Tracking Chart, a personal system to rate your daily progress and achievements. Each day you will award yourself zero, one or two stars in each category for food and fitness (two stars being the best). This means you can earn up to 2 stars in the Food Category and 2 stars in the Fitness Category for a total of 4 stars in a given day.

Here’s how the ratings translate in each category:

Two stars = Great day!One star = Meh, but still decent.Zero stars = You need a do-over.

You have the opportunity to earn up to 28 stars during a stellar week (4 Stars x 7 Days = 28 stars), plus extra stars in the “other” category of the Star System Tracking Chart for any mini-challenges I dish out to you that you complete successfully.

The star system is for YOU to analyze your progress and pinpoint where you are excelling or need to improve. It’s for you to see just how much work you’re putting in (or lack thereof) that’s either keeping you stagnant or propelling to you the finish.

Here are some “gray area factors” to consider when rating yourself:

A scheduled fitness rest day counts as 2 stars, because rest and recovery is vital to your fitness.Occasional indulgence on sweets, high carbs or fatty foods also counts as 2 stars (what!?), but only when you gnaw in moderation. The key here is “occasional indulgence”. If indulgence turns into an overeating-fest, that would not be 2 stars.Be honest in your ratings. You know without anyone telling you whether you’ve done well or not. If you don’t rate yourself honestly you cannot expect to improve.

Bonus Star activity for this week, August 1 – August 7th: Give yourself 1 bonus star on the Star System Tracking Chart if at the end of this week (on Sunday, August 7th), you consistently logged your stars on the chart each and every day. And yes, I will be nosy and wanna know how many stars you earned. That’s called accountability.

Okay! There ya have it. Let’s get it STARted!

On “Finish It Mondays”, please link up in the comments to any posts/vlogs that document your journey during this Challenge.

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Finish What You Started Challenge

Start. Stop. Start. Give up. Re-start. Lose patience. Get discouraged. Stop again. Oh, damn. Now start over…

Does this pattern sound familiar? Isn’t it time you started and finally finished that thing without the mold and maggot juice eating away at your goals? (emmm, of course it’s time…)

If your fitness life is bad ass and overflowing with the splendor of many diamond encrusted unicorn hooves, please feel free to be a spectator. But if you need some ass-kicking encouragement with a dose of accountability to get fitness the job done, then I invite you to embark on this 3-month journey with the Finish What You Started Challenge!

I’m gonna be lighting a flame under you ass and you WILL get results.

How Does The Challenge Work?

At the beginning of each week, Yum Yucky will dish out one or more Missions (like small homework assignments and fitness challenges) and uber-motivation while YOU commit to getting things done. There is only starting and finishing. There is no in-between. Over the course of 92 days (August 1st thru October 31st) this partnership between me and you is all for your benefit – it’s for your progress and success. No more stagnant results!

The Challenge will help you to:

Develop a game plan with clearly defined goals.Work your plan with discipline and consistency for real results.Stay accountable to everything you commit to.Break bad habits and overcome other challenges that hinder your progress.Push you out of your comfort zone.Handle your “fall of the wagon” moments without crushed confidence and lost ground.

The Finish What You Started Challenge will guide you through 3 major components:

Fitness: Centered around body transformation and wellness.Personal: Why? Because personal stuff can impact your fitness goals.Rewards System: To motivate and help you gauge “Perceived Effort vs. Actual Progress”.

So are you ready for this? Here’s how to join the Finish What You Started Challenge

You first Mission right this very minute is to sign up. Why? Because you are making a formal commitment. There will be weekly posts for you to follow along, but you also don’t want to miss out on the other awesome stuff I’m dishing out only to challenge participants who sign up.

Once you’ve joined the challenge today, start thinking about what it is you finally need to finish (or at least work towards consistently over the next 3 months) and then put it down on paper. This is serious stuff because whatever you write down is exactly what you will get out of this Challenge (if you stay committed). Then stay tuned for more info and your mission for the upcoming week (to be released this coming Sunday)!

Welcome to the Challenge, and may you finish STRONG!

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I Didn’t Finish it!

Yet again I have a fussy baby on my hands. ugh. It seems 10pm is his "witching hour" as my Great Aunt would say. I should have blogged about this on Babble today but instead I posted all these cute baby photos. They made me smile. :)

Anyway, just wanted to post my food journal real quick and celebrate a NSV (Non Scale Victory) I’m sure other Mom’s can relate to.

My day started as it always does except with a game of Uno mixed in.

I’m loving spring break! I forgot how much fun it is having Little Guy home in the mornings.

I had a 2 egg, 1 egg white western omelet, no cheese and with spinach. Delicious!

After breakfast we headed to the Mall. I had a Green Tea and hung out with Evan while Ryan took a Lego class.

After class, we splurged on Dippin Dots

I love these things!

So does Little Guy but he has this amazing ability–like his Father–to stop eating when he’s full.

He handed me his cup with some left…

and I DIDN’T finish it.

Ohhh how I could have.

But I didn’t.

This is a HUGE NSV. I’m normally the garbage bin when it comes to food. I just eat it becuase it’s there. I’m trying though!

Oh and I’m also proud of not going out to lunch while we were there. Something I do way too often. Instead I came home and cooked this…

A Cheesy Salsa Tuna Burgers, click here for the recipe. I’ve been a bit burger obsessed lately.

A few hours later I grabbed a Larabar. ALMOST forgetting to record it in the journal. So I snapped this pic real quick on the computer.

Tonight, I whipped up a quick dinner for the family–pork chops, brown rice and broccoli but I forgot to snap a picture. :( It was a good looking meal too.

Oh well, I just finished a light yogurt cup and now I’m ready for bed.

Oh! And I finally posted those pink cupcakes! Click here to check them out. And if you haven’t already, click here for those baby pics. I can’t stop LOOKING at him. He’s so stinkin’ cute!

Alright.. I’m off.

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