The End of the Challenge

For about the last ten weeks, I have been taking part in a Biggest Loser-style challenge set up by a friend-of-a-friend here on the Internet.  It has been interesting to be working toward a goal like that, and I thought that my competitive spirit would really drive me in my efforts over those ten weeks.  Interestingly, while I did well the last ten weeks, I wasn't quite as obsessive about is as I thought I would be.  And I think that's a good thing because I am looking for lifestyle changes that I can live with in the long term, and making some sort of crazy efforts for ten weeks really might have led to some burnout.

Anyway, here are my stats for the challenge:

Starting weight - 249.8#
Final weight - 231.8#

In ten week, I lost exactly 18 pounds!  I was pretty happy with this, especially since I had a week of no loss and a week with a small gain.  The final results have not been posted yet, but I expect to be somewhere in the middle of the pack, which means I won't win any money.  However, I feel like I won in that I stuck in for the entire challenge and met with some good success!

I posted a "before" picture here when I started the challenge, and for reference, here it is:

And here is the "after" picture that I posted on the challenge board:

All the lumpiness is there in the same places, but I can definitely see that I am narrower across the beam.  I was happy to see such a difference in the photos because sometimes it's difficult to notice such differences in the mirror from week to week.  I think I might plan to take another picture in another ten weeks to gauge my progress.

I am setting some new goals for myself in the gym.  As I detailed here, I started the C25K program a while back to try to get back into jogging.  After about six weeks doing the program (during which time I completed the first three weeks twice each), I went on the elliptical one day and then never looked back.  However, my original goal was to become a runner again, and I don't want to lose sight of that goal.  At the gym yesterday, I got on the treadmill to see if I could run a mile.  I made it a half mile and then stopped, although I probably could have pushed myself to go longer.  I did follow it up with some speed walking and was on the treadmill for a total of 24 minute, after which I got on the elliptical for 33 minutes.  In all, it was a great workout, and I want to keep doing this so I can build up my running endurance.  I might pick up week four of the C25K program at some point, but for now I am just going to hit the treadmill before the elliptical each day and see what I can do.  Once I get to a mile, I feel like I can keep adding time and distance without following an interval program.  If I find this to be untrue, however, I have C25K to fall back on and will certainly get back to it.

Yesterday was a day of excess, with two picnics on our agenda.  I definitely enjoyed myself, but I am definitely ready to get back in the swing of things.  I started the day my making a big pot of steel cut oats for the week, and after I eat some of that and let it sit for a bit, I am headed to the gym.  Because I had yesterday off for the holiday, I have to work two weekdays this week, so my gym schedule will be messed up a bit.  I want to get in a good workout today for that reason.  Our yoga class doesn't meet tonight either because of the holiday, so I am planning to do a yoga DVD today to replace the class.  It should be a full day!

Make it a great day, everyone!