Health Challenge of the Week!

I don't know if we can keep this going here, but here's how it works:
Day One will be Jan 1 (a Tuesday), which means that challenges will run Tuesday through Monday, and a new challenge must be posted each Monday. Anyone can post a challenge, but only one challenge per week (so once the challenge for the week has been posted, don't post another until the next week!) The challenge can be a food-related one, or a challenge to up the workout, or it can be a fun fitness challenge--anything simple related to health. Be creative--and specific!

Anyone can report on the current challenge--how they're doing, how they adapted it for themselves, how it helped. Anyone can cheer on those accepting the challenge. Only one person can post a new challenge, and that must occur on Monday.

First challenge--Three Days Three Bites. Over the next week (Jan 1-7), I challenge all PT users still struggling with food to go four days without their biggest weakness food, and on the remaining three days to limit their intake of that food to three bites per day.

Mon. Dec 31, 1:31pm

OK, I'm in! I'm going to try chocolate. I'm always sneaking a Hershey Nugget or 2 or 3 out of the cupboard! Starting tomorrow, no Nuggets for 4 days!

Monday, December 31, 2007, 2:01 PM

Ok, I'll try it. My biggest weakness food is crackers.

Monday, December 31, 2007, 2:11 PM

I'm in!

Mine is chocolate also. I just knocked off the last of the kisses in the house today. So - this will be good for me! No touching those other chocolate things in the house!

Monday, December 31, 2007, 8:08 PM

Oops....forgot my name....

The last comment was from CoffeeGal!

Monday, December 31, 2007, 8:08 PM

OP here, just clarifying that the four days and three days can be in whatever order, as long as at the end of the week you've had four weakness-food-free days and three days where you limited your weakness-food intake to three bites!

Mine is ALL sweets.

Monday, December 31, 2007, 11:02 PM

I Choose IN

Okay, I go for all sweets. Minus the ceral i had before I read this challenge. That means no more sweets this week. Now that will be challenging.

itsalguod

Tuesday, January 1, 2008, 5:45 PM

GREAT IDEA!!

I love this idea...can you imagine a whole community of us doing this for a whole year??? We could move mountains and get healthy as we do it!!

So I am altering the practice to suit my needs ...and piggybacking on something I am doing this week. I am leaving out the 3 bites until NEXT week. I am doing a sugar purge THIS week. No sweets to get them out of my system so I can enjoy moderately again.

OK! Who's next???

Tuesday, January 1, 2008, 7:12 PM

l love this idea...wouldn't it be great to see more of these challenges and less OT cattiness on the threads???

I'm Judifaye, and my food is pasta. I have a special secret love for that awful stuff out of the can and macaroni and cheese.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008, 9:49 PM

OP here--LOL, Judifaye, yours sounded like a 12-step intro! (maybe that's not so off...)

thought I'd mention, I'm mejaka, and I'm joining 7:12 in not eating any sugar this week. not even three bites. I blew my own challenge today--very hard to eat right at my inlaws' home during a holiday. They do well at other times, but they all seem to have the willpower of Gods and can eat three or four bites of something and stop, or just indulge for a day or two during the holiday and then go right back to good eating...so those of us who struggle are surrounded by junk!

Tuesday, January 1, 2008, 10:11 PM

I'm In! And just figuring out PT!

My weakness is anything SUGAR! From here on out, there is no more for the rest of the week! I'm not sure if I can have the 3 bites, so, between now and next week, I'm committed!

Thanks for the challange!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008, 2:18 PM

Forgot to introduce myself...

Hi, I'm Robin and I just joined PT today...I'm still figuring it out!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008, 2:20 PM

CoffeeGal, checking in...

Oh, I want some M&Ms so bad it's not even funny. I'm back at school today, and in meetings that just pissed me off to no end. I usually have some chocolate to help me out here. It's not even the chocolate that does it, it is the ritual of biting each M&M in half, chomping on the crunchy part, then sucking on the chocolate part. for some reason that soothes me.

I need some other ideas of soothing things I can do around other people, at school and stuff. HELP!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008, 3:07 PM

How about "chomping" on sugarless gum? That's what I do when I feel the need to eat, it does help.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008, 3:41 PM

can i suggest something? it might be easier to create a new team and in the community thread of your team you can organize your weekly challenges and comments. hope this helps!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008, 5:45 PM

I'm in as well

My biggest weekness is fried rice. I could live in it. NO MORE!!!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008, 6:34 PM

Creating a team is a great idea - 5:45! op?

Wednesday, January 2, 2008, 7:02 PM

A team is good....but doing this thread is fun too. Gives me fresh ideas to take back to the teams and groups I belong to...and it is fun to have crosscurrent energy from people I haven't run across at PT. I came to the the open threads just to check this particular one...and I feel excited checking out something that is so open. My guess is it will last a while because it has energy....

So to report YAY....day 2 sugar purge....got through with flying colors and I feel good. Glad to see some other folks on board....and it is fun to see how people shape the challenge to suit their own needs....GO THREADIES!!!!
~Healthy2

Wednesday, January 2, 2008, 9:16 PM

This is such a great idea! I am staying clear of all cheese! No cheese and no sweets.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008, 9:24 PM

OP here. Anyone who wishes is welcome to steal this idea for a team, but I deliberately chose not to put it in a team for two reasons:

First, not every challenge is going to suit everyone, and in a team people would feel either obligated to participate or else frustrated that the challenges don't suit them. Here it's more casual, folks can float in and out, no sense of needing to be a good team member.

Second, this board so often has OT stuff, meanness, etc on it, I really wanted to toss something different out here. This kind of thing has really taken off in some of the forums I've belonged to over the years (I'm an old-timer on the Net; in fact, I remember when a colleague of my husband's first got Prodigy and was trying to explain how it worked to us--how hard it was to shift our paradigms where phone lines were concerned to include this new technology; in addition, my father-in-law first explored the Web using a 300-baud modem--so when I say Old-timer I mean reaaaallly old...But I digress).

Anyway, I blew my own challenge so badly the first day that I'm making up for it by going without sweets for the rest of the week. None today, even though we were on the road for eight hours in a car full of kids and leftovers from parties and pinatas...

Wednesday, January 2, 2008, 11:24 PM

I'm in too. Even though I'm a couple of days late, I'm going to go the rest of the week with 4 days of no chocolate, and one day with three bites.

-marionm88

Thursday, January 3, 2008, 12:23 AM

I just joined yesterday and this sounds like a great idea. I wasn't sure what to give up and one of my coworkers suggested chicken fingers. He says I'm going to turn into one if I don't lay off. So here goes........no chicken fingers for the rest of the week. I'll have to skip the three bites, there is no way I can just eat three bites of a chicken finger!

Thursday, January 3, 2008, 9:06 AM

CoffeeGal Checking In...

I ate some chocolate today. Just 3 bites (maybe this will be a 3 bite day?). 2 days good, then one with some chocolate. Eh, I'll count it as one of the days!

Thursday, January 3, 2008, 2:52 PM

I concur. Great idea!
My weakness... left over Holiday Cookies. Here we go to no cookies!

Thursday, January 3, 2008, 3:28 PM

alcohol. I will try to limit it to one day of three...

Thursday, January 3, 2008, 4:46 PM

Checking in - I did 2 days with no chocolate, then today had Ghiradelli dark chocolate square. Good thing there was only one in the house!! I guess today counts as a 3 bite day!

Thursday, January 3, 2008, 6:00 PM

Day 3 no sugar ...hanging in there with my breaking with sweets for a week. Will see about amending this next week. Doing OK. Fruit is filling the gap.
Yay!
Healthy2

Thursday, January 3, 2008, 6:29 PM

4:46, you will face the same problem I do with hot chocolate. Three BITES is easy...but even though technically I think the equivalent action for hot chocolate would be limiting it to three swallows, I just can't do it.

So...no hot chocolate...

Today is Day 2 without any sweets!

Good goin' to all who are making progress with this. I know that the three bites rule has really helped me before--it allows me to eat a little bit of anything that I'm really craving, but I have to feel like it's worth it. Sometimes I'll pass it up in case something better comes along, lol...

mejaka, OP

Thursday, January 3, 2008, 7:35 PM

Crackers? Really? I wish that was weakness for me....sounds much more harmless than the chocolate I'm eating everyday. ;)

Thursday, January 3, 2008, 9:22 PM

cereal killer

My weakness is cereal. I have abstained for 2 days. I will abstain tomorrow and allow myself 3 bites on Sat, Sun, Mon.

Thursday, January 3, 2008, 11:43 PM

advice

I'm one of the many here using chocolate for the challenge, and I have a question: I usually take a viactive calcium chew every day, which is chocolate flavored. Do you think that counts as chocolate, or is it ok for the challenge?

Friday, January 4, 2008, 12:13 AM

Glad I misread the Challenge

Ok, I guess that I did okay. Cereal on Monday morning. No candy/chocolate till this evening when I had a Dove extra dark promise candy. So I am still good.Thought I blew it big.

s/f jello with lite whipped cream is a good alternative also for sweets, or cottage cheese with dry jello.

This is a great challenge.
Thank you,
itsalguod

Friday, January 4, 2008, 1:24 AM

re Viactive question...

The thought behind the challenge is to make it your own so it has personal meaning and will make a difference as you make long term personal change.

If chocolate flavored viactive sets off a chocolate binge then maybe I'd look at substituting another flavor. If it doesn't, I'd stick with what you have and consider chocolate to be the real thing...like chocolate candy.

The ultimate goal is to eat healthy in moderation and chocolate in tiny quantities is a real food with benefits. I have to steer clear from time to time because I start eating too much. When I moderate, I go back to a tiny amount of really good quality dark chocolate and I fully enjoy it. Think that is the idea behind the 3 bite challenge...health, moderation AND enjoyment.

We are doing well here. I don't think you ever "blow it"...instead you learn....and "mistakes" are an opportunity to learn. That's what I hope will come out of our weekly challenge thread. We will each learn to join up with others with meaningful tiny sustainable changes we set up for ourselves and we learn to give and receive support and feedback. So yay us!
~healthy2

Friday, January 4, 2008, 10:26 AM

abstain on weekend

I love this idea too! One week at a time is nice. Hard to narrow down just one weakness food. I'm going to say refined carbs - bagels, corn syrup, sugar for the next three days so that will keep me good on the weekend then three bites monday. I wish everyone luck!

Friday, January 4, 2008, 10:51 AM

I'm on Day Three of no sugar and haven't even really felt cravings. I have to bake a birthday cake on Sunday...my daughter turns 8. That should be a challenge.

mejaka

Friday, January 4, 2008, 1:59 PM

Crisp apples like Fugi's sliced really thin and dusted with cinnamon really help with sweet cravings for me. I serve them on a pretty plate and it takes a while to eat them.

Friday, January 4, 2008, 2:33 PM

4:46 here

so yeah- no way I can cut back to 3 sips of wine for the week. Atleast not most weeks. Right now I usually have a glass with dinner 3-4 nights a week. sometimes on the weekends I will have 3 glasses. not a problem- just I really like trying different wines and going to parties with friends and family. there are plenty of times I will just drink water and I do have fun. but is alcohol in moderation really going to hurt me - if I have budgeted for them?

Friday, January 4, 2008, 2:34 PM

Day 4 no sweets....it was harder today but I made it....more food cravings I think because the weather is really cold.
~Healthy2

Friday, January 4, 2008, 9:26 PM

I don't think anything in moderation will hurt your weight, 4:46. But I'm a teetotaler myself and my general answer as to whether alcohol would hurt you is, well, yeah...heh...It's got risks like anything that affects the way your body functions.

I know, recent research, red wine, antioxidants and all that... :^ )

mejaka

Saturday, January 5, 2008, 12:10 AM

My 2 cents on alcohol calories

Judifaye here...one day at a time, but no pasta. (Although I'm not sure if a steamed rice dumpling counts...I had 2 today at an Asian restaurant.) I have also cut out alcohol for the month. I generally do this every January and take off 5 lbs. So yes, I think it does help.

Saturday, January 5, 2008, 12:53 AM

....I meant that not drinking alcohol does help you lose weight
Judifaye

Saturday, January 5, 2008, 12:55 AM

cookie girl, good job!

I'm on Day 5 without any sweets. There are plenty around but I'm avoiding them. I'm actually really hungry this morning--a sign that I'm not constantly over-caloried!

Saturday, January 5, 2008, 12:12 PM

yay cookie girl! I walked away form free cookie sample this morning...mint chocolate too...my favorite! I am doing a dance. I'm avoiding sweets.

Saturday, January 5, 2008, 4:01 PM

yeah, this is the idea, fun and encouraging!

Saturday, January 5, 2008, 8:55 PM

mejaka here--

Got through Day 5 without sweets. Tomorrow's the birthday. I've planned a killer cake--a castle with fighting dragons (the dragons are toys). I can't wait to make it, but wo...the tempation.

Saturday, January 5, 2008, 9:36 PM

CoffeeGal Checking IN!

Well, I didn't make it through Friday - it was a bad day, and I thought the M&Ms would make me feel better. They didn't even taste right and I polished off the bag. On to the next day. It's really a stress thing eating them, I just like the way the crunch...I need something to eat that would replace that. I've been trying fruit, but it really doesn't cut it.

Sunday, January 6, 2008, 10:14 AM

CoffeeGal--I wouldn't recommend this except as an alternative to something even less healthy, but have you considered replacing sugary, fatty M&Ms with white-flour pretzels? They crunch nicely too and if you eat a whole bag of pretzels, while not healthy, you're ahead of where you'd be if you ate a whole bag of M&Ms.

Baby carrots are crunchy, too, though it's not the same kind of crunch. But maybe start with baby carrots and move on to something else after you've crunched through, say, 15 or 20 of those and still need a crunch fix?

Sunday, January 6, 2008, 11:16 AM

I haven't had a chicken finger all week! I know this doesn't sound impressive but I work in a restaurant and I love them.

Sunday, January 6, 2008, 12:21 PM

Day 6 no sweets...yay. Think I will continue for another week before I institute the planned dessert....planned, out, extremely high quality, shared, social, every bite enjoyed, eaten slowly....
We are doing really well here!
~Healthy2

Sunday, January 6, 2008, 12:23 PM

Thanks for the ideas...

I can't have gluten - which rules out pretzels and most gum. I've done carrots, but I don't really like the flavor of them. I made some home-made granola, which has the crunch.

It's weird with them M&Ms - it's not even the chocolate I want, it's the crunchy shell.

-CoffeeGal

Sunday, January 6, 2008, 2:49 PM

Yay, cookie girl, you are doing great. A ww muffin is a minor skid and not a true fall.

And we all just get back on the horse ( or the bike, or on with the plan) when we fall. No mistakes either...it's all just learning to ride.

Anyone starting to think about the next challenge? It starts Tuesday, right? I am excited about round two. Wonder what it will be?

Sunday, January 6, 2008, 5:38 PM

trying to avoid the bad carbs!

Hey teammembers. Well I can't say I've avoided the refined carbs completely but this challenge has definitely made me think twice about my choices. This evening hubby wanted to go out for dinner for asian so I managed to eat the veggies and protein a few noodles and give him the rest! Versus in the past few weeks I've been stealing off of his plate. Keep the challenges coming!

Sunday, January 6, 2008, 7:35 PM

I missed out on the start of this, but will definitely be in for next week!!!

Sunday, January 6, 2008, 7:49 PM

OP here--I did decide to have a small piece of cake (four bites) and two bites of ice cream with my daughter on her birthday. But I had five sugar-free days, and one more tomorrow!

Okay, so tomorrow someone can post a challenge, and Tuesday morning we'll start it. I will refrain from posting one, because I posted the first.

For those who avoided eating so many cookies, chicken fingers, M&Ms, refined grain products, or drinking many glasses of alcohol--or whatever else--kudos to you! And if you broke down once or twice, stay focused on all the crap you DIDN"T eat!! One more day on this challenge--let's make it a great one!

mejaka

Monday, January 7, 2008, 12:24 AM

What about some sort of exercise challenge. Nothing too major that we might give up on but something we could really commit to everyday. I'm new to this site (just joined at the beginning of this challenge) so I'd rather not post one yet.

Monday, January 7, 2008, 7:38 AM

What do you think about this challenge??

I have an idea for a challenge....somewhat exercise related.
Judith Beck wrote in her book about unplanned exercise (can't remember what she called it) but it is the little add on you throw in as you are living your day to day life. I read that and thought about the suggestions I used to read to become more active...like parking at the far end of the lot when you go somewhere, walking the stairs instead of taking the elevator.

I am wondering if there are more fun and creative ways we can do this....little things we can track as we become more active because that is the point of it all. Guess I am wondering about is how can we make it more fun and real?

So the challenge is to look at our days and follow an instinct to throw in that little extra that makes you just a bit more active....and reporting on it.

I am thinking we can learn from each other this way....AND the regular stuff is allowable too (stairs instead of elevator). But if you get up and dance while you hear a favorite song, or something else like that by all means let us all know so we can celebrate with you. It's all the little stuff that adds up to make a difference.

PS....thanks mejaka for starting this GREAT thread!
~Healthy2

Monday, January 7, 2008, 10:56 AM

i'm 27, but last night I skipped through the parking lot from one store to another while my huband drove there. kipping is so much more fun than speed walking. :)

Monday, January 7, 2008, 11:02 AM

This is a great idea. I work 10-12 hr days so finding a few little extra things to do would be awesome. I started doing the stairs instead of the elevator this week and when there aren't alot of people around I marched instead of walked!

Monday, January 7, 2008, 11:17 AM

I got some resistance bands that were just lying around so the other night, I pulled them out and started doing little exercises while we watched the debates on tv. Even my super fit husband joined in!

Monday, January 7, 2008, 11:24 AM

crunchy

hey coffee gal,
have you tried the gums with the shell like dentyne blast there's a chocolate mint one I love for the sweet and crunch.

Monday, January 7, 2008, 12:20 PM

Guess we are jumping the gun here!

We are still on last weeks challenge til tomorrow but I am psyched ...so here I go....

BUT FIRST...thanks to poster who suggested choc mint dentyne gum. I am a chewing gum person who uses it to bridge those tough moments when I think I need a snack....and choc mint is a favorite flavor. And yay coffee gal for sharing the struggle with M&M's ...good stuff came out of that.

So I am sitting here at the computer....spend LOTS of time reading and writing and I remembered this research I read quite a while back.....FIDGETING is a great way to stay active (check out the link).

All those exhortations to "for goodness sake dear, SIT STILL" we all grew up hearing get in the way of staying active. And something as little as tapping your foot or wiggling around in the chair make a difference in your burn for the day. So I am going to look at this and some other things this week as activity boosters.

BTW..love the skipping entry, and the debate banders, the marcher and the stair climber. We are are a bunch of fun loving creative folks! (there may be more I missed.... can't wait to tune in again)
~H2

Link

Monday, January 7, 2008, 1:12 PM

Actually, nobody's jumped the gun, because in order for all of us to start the new challenge on Tuesday it has to be posted on Monday. And I love the new challenge!

I already park at the back of lots (I have my special parking spots everywhere). This kind of "extra movement" was part of a point system I developed for myself a few years ago and used for a while. Here are a few things I used to do that I've fallen out of the habit of doing:
*NEVER ask the kids to do running for me that I can't do for myself. It's one thing if I'm holding a laceration together and send them for butterfly strips. It's another altogether if I am sitting on my butt with a book and say, "Honey, could you run find my green blanket?"
*If it's less than a half-mile away, walk, period. If it's less than a mile away and I'm not rushed, walk. If I am rushed, bike. If it's less than two miles away, consider walking or biking if I have the time.
*Never just sit and watch TV. Do curls, sit in a "hinge" to work the abs (leaning back at a 45-degree angle, either seated or on knees), get up during commercials and do grapevines or jog in place.
*Walk around the block after every meal.
*Unless I'm rushed (like company is arriving in fifteen minutes), don't collect all the upstairs-downstairs items for one big trip. Take them as I find them, and go up and down those stairs as many times as it takes!
*Don't yell for people in the house. Walk until I find them, talk to them, and walk back to where I was.
*Less power! Argh argh argh! (Tim the Tool Man Taylor, if you know...) Don't blow snow if you can shovel it. Use the hand wheat grinder rather than the electric (yeah, I have both...I know most people have neither). Hang clohtes outside (well, okay, in summer--this is an old list I'm modifying). Whatever you normally do by electrical power, if you can use your own power, do it!

This challenge starts tomorrow--and I'm going to try to keep up the three bites challenge also.

mejaka

Monday, January 7, 2008, 1:52 PM

Are we going to start this challenge (1/7) in a new thread?

Anyways, I live on the sixth floor, and since last Thursday I've stopped using the elevator (although if I am bringing home more than 4 grocery bags, there may be an exception)! And you know what, its actually faster than taking the elevator!!!

Monday, January 7, 2008, 5:07 PM

Someone has started another thread dated as suggested above, with a different challenge.

Not sure how to handle that...

mejaka

Monday, January 7, 2008, 11:49 PM

We can keep both going....I haven't had soda in a decade so I am out of that one....but I am interested in how this one goes. That's the beauty of tiny steps AND they are in different areas so there isn't any overlap.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008, 10:01 AM

My plan for this week is to take on this movement challenge, and in the spirit of the soda challenge (but taking into account what I know about my own response to all-or-nothing actions), to limit my weakness foods to a maximum of three bites per day. And as a friend once said, "These must be bites that would satisfy the Queen." No stuffing a whole brownie into my mouth and calling it a bite because it all mostly fit.

Today I will spend a lot of the day in a ceramic studio painting, but I hereby commit to parking at Costco, walking the quarter mile to the studio, doing my painting, and then walking back to Costco where I need to pick up some milk. At least that! I'll see what else I can fit in...

mejaka

Tuesday, January 8, 2008, 11:45 AM

I have a two year old daughter and whenever I let her watch Dora at the end of the show they do the "We did it!" dance. I have started getting up with my daughter and imitating Dora and shaking and dancing and singing "We did it, we did it!" She always laughs histerically and I'm off the couch dancing around. Win, win!

Tuesday, January 8, 2008, 12:54 PM

Mejaka, I loved your list of everyday stuff. The stairs are no longer a holding place ...I'm walking stuff to the destination. Also, I'm giving up...."since you are up, will you..." Also I am going to vacuum a little bit more.

Continuing with last week's challenge too. I had dried fruit yeaterday as first step back and dang....decided to have some dried plums in addition to the figs. Not a terrible choice but more than I needed. Had food cravings. So I am continuing with sweet avoidance for a while longer and having dessert out!
H2

Tuesday, January 8, 2008, 1:24 PM

I walked from Costco to the studio as planned, despite cold and snow--and THE STUDIO WAS CLOSED!! LOL...they had a class off-site and opened late. I walked right back to Costco; my hands were freezing by the time I got there.

mejaka

Tuesday, January 8, 2008, 5:13 PM

Oh Mejaka, you deserve a medal for that! Too bad you didn't get the reward of painting pottery. My costco is up a really steep long hill....hope you didn't have to walk a hill like that after finding the store closed.

I walked all my piles today...the stairs are empty!

Love the Dora dance!
~H2

Tuesday, January 8, 2008, 10:29 PM

Yeah, H2, for empty stairs!

We have a snow day. I'm taking the kids sledding! Lots of uphill climbing...

Yesterday I had a small mug of hot chocolate, and that's all for sweets--and no seconds on any meals--and this morning I weighed under 180. I've promised myself a massage if I can stay below 180 for three days...

Wednesday, January 9, 2008, 10:33 AM

I love this challenge! The last two days I've thought many times things like "I'll take the elevator", and then I think "but I have to have something to write for the challenge!' and I take the stairs :)

marionm88

Wednesday, January 9, 2008, 7:16 PM

Pushed my daughter around the block twice in a dunebuggy!

Thursday, January 10, 2008, 7:40 AM

That's good, marionm88! That's an active attitude!

And 7:40--way to go!

Thursday, January 10, 2008, 10:20 AM

Did some more marching today. As long as no one is watching!

Thursday, January 10, 2008, 10:33 AM

Trinton here

I am in on both challenges..my weakness is cheese..no cheese for 4 days and extra movment every chance I get.

Thursday, January 10, 2008, 12:41 PM

This week's challenge

I'm new to this challenge thing, so I couldn't start on Tuesday. But starting today I will participate in this week's challenge. Let's see how it goes. I will post with updates!

Thursday, January 10, 2008, 2:02 PM

The above post

Sorry, I wrote the post above and didn't identify myself!!

I also am presenting this idea to one of my groups that seems to be really cohesive and motivated to see if we'd like to give it a try.

-osbornmr

Thursday, January 10, 2008, 2:19 PM

I work at the front desk in a lost and found office and we get several items a day. Today, instead of tagging everything and then taking the items to their respected storage places, I have tagged each one and taken each item to the storage area individually. Thankfully the storage room is right behind me so my boss doesn't wonder if I'm crazy!

-osbornmr

Thursday, January 10, 2008, 2:38 PM

Good job, osbornmr--that kind of thing gets us over the tendency to always look for the method with the least possible movement. Sometimes I think we have a fear of activity--we condense and consolidate so much when we ought to just take activity as it comes!

I am reading an old biography of Louisa May Alcott (_Invincible Louisa_, written in the 30s; fun to compare to a more recent biography of her and Bronson Alcott, called _Eden's Outcasts_). So anyway...well into her 30s, with the lingering effects of mercury poisoning from an illness she contracted during her six weeks as a military nurse, she went to visit a cousin, missed her train home, and so--wanting to attend a party that evening--she went ahead and walked.

TWENTY MILES. In heavy skirts, and those heavy-heeled black boots they all wore, no doubt. Louisa was also fond of running, which she did most days--not in wicking microfiber and Nikes, but most likely in skirts and heavy boot-shoes again.

This reminded me of reading once of a woman from about the same era, who was not well and was ordered by her doctor to exercise. She had a physically debilitating disease; can't recall what it was but it made her joints ache and made her feel weak. But, she said, she began to feel better after she started her daily walks. TWELVE MILE WALKS that took her entire morning; she arose early and returned in time for lunch.

We are so lazy!

Friday, January 11, 2008, 11:20 AM

I walked to a friend's and back today, despite falling rain and slushy, messy snow on the roads!

mejaka

Friday, January 11, 2008, 4:06 PM

I'm trying something slightly nutty and unusual today. Everytime I notice the stationary bike I'm hopping on and riding for a minute. It's in an upstairs bedroom so I will have to see how much riding gets added to my daily routine. My thought is I will get a tiny metabolism boost everytime I do this....and what's a minute? ...nothing. This won't add cardio benefits...it's a little more like stretching...but I am curious. How will I feel at the end of the day?

Saturday, January 12, 2008, 12:16 PM

Hey, I think that's a great idea!

Saturday, January 12, 2008, 3:59 PM

So since starting this whole challenge on Thursday I have been really tired! I never really knew how many shortcuts I take in my everyday activities! Since I work in an airport, it's very easy to find ways to add things. For instance, my fiance usually drops me off outside of the parking garage and I walk to the elevator and go to the bottom floor. I took the stairs instead of the elevator and walked down the escalator when there were no stairs. Because of the former, I ended up in a different part of the parking lot and had to walk even more to get to the car at the end of the day. And I walked the whole way to and from the office instead of walking on the "moving walkway".

Saturday, January 12, 2008, 10:37 PM

Bedroom bike riding report....

This challenge is inspiring me because all the feedback others are giving.....gives me ideas for becoming more active. So here's the stationary bike report.....I rode for 8 minutes yesterday. I felt a glow after each ride and didn't break into a sweat. I am going to conitinue today to see how I feel!

Sunday, January 13, 2008, 10:30 AM

Hey everyone.... the challenges continue.....so look at the threads for the next one which is now dated because we are doing a new challenge every week. This is one of the BEST threads I have run across at PT. People are even signing their names...
~healthy2

Monday, January 14, 2008, 9:03 PM

GREAT job, airport employee and bedroom biker!!! Those 8 minutes, biker, are gonna boost your metabolism a lot.

Everyone's done great here--keep thinking about extraneous activity! and I'll see you in this week's new thread!

mejaka

Tuesday, January 15, 2008, 10:23 AM

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