"Fall Into Fall" Challenge

Hellooooo ladies! (Still not sure if I have any “gents” around here yet…) Hope you’re all having a great start to your week.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my Summer Slimdown Challenge was a bust. I started the 6-week challenge at 162 lbs, and I finished it at 162.4 lbs. LAME! Not impressive, I know, but I’m telling you all anyway because I like to keep myself honest. Besides, let’s be real: you all knew I was blowing it big time! No sense in hiding these things!

The GOOD news is that during the past week, I’ve really gotten my eating (mostly) back on track, and I feel like I’m in a much better mindset. So I am excited to bring you all my “Fall Into Fall” challenge! I make these cheesily-named challenges for myself for motivation, and to help me achieve my goals. And corny or not, you are welcome to join me!

I’m challenging myself for the six weeks between September 1st and Canadian Thanksgiving. I like my challenges to be no longer than six weeks, because any longer and I lose interest. Hey, what can I say – I’m human! And right now, the six-week timing works out perfectly because my family is taking a mini-vacay over the Thanksgiving weekend – not to anywhere fancy, but nonetheless it’s extra motivation, right? And what’s even MORE of a motivation is that I tried on my “go-to” jeans - you know, the jeans that you just LOVE to wear, not matter how old or ugly they get, because they make you feel awesome – and it wasn’t a good story. They looked like this:



MUFFIN TOP CENTRAL!!! Aren’t I a hottie?

Here are my goals, and my plan for how to achieve them:

Goals:
-Lose 10 pounds (the amount I gained back in just one summer.) This will bring me back into my goal range of 148-153. I am, however, thinking about changing that range to 150-155 which might be more realistic. We'll see.
-Lose inches, and get more definition back in my arms and “abs”
-Fit back into my “go-to” jeans (WITHOUT the muffin top)
-Get back into the “lifestyle change” mindset – this is NOT a diet!
-Have more energy once again!

How I’ll do it:
-Exercise 3-5 times per week
-Cleaner eating, staying within my daily Points value
-Lots of water
-CUT OUT before-bed snacking (I can’t even tell you how much peanut butter I’ve shoved into my pie-hole between the hours of 12am and 1am)
-MORE vegetables...aiming for 3 servings at least per day
-LESS EATING OUT (my biggest problem this summer)
-I’ll go back to posting my “Fat-Free Friday” posts to track my progress on this blog

Feel free to post your own goals in the comments section – let’s help keep each other accountable!

And, finally, here are my starting inches for the areas I’m most concerned about:

Arm: 12.5
Waist: 29.75
Hips: 43

Come on, everyone…let’s do this!