31 Day Fitness Challenge

31 Days of Pain. 31 Days of Gain.

Hopefully by the end of the month, it will be more gain and less pain.

Yes, I’m committing to exercising (and eating right) every single day in January. Are you with me? I’m also committing to blogging about it each day – though you don’t have to go that far. It’s something my husband has challenged me to do to keep me accountable…and it’s actually a pretty good idea because I know that I’ll have to tell you if I don’t exercise. ; )

Here’s how this whole thing is going to go down:

1.) I am going to exercise every day. I’m going to be using The 30 Day Shred, but I don’t know if I’m going to start with that because my Achilles tendon feels strained/pulled and it hurts and I don’t want to injure it in someway to screw up exercising all together. I may start with either some exercising on The Gazelle or with one of my yoga DVD’s instead. I have a Family Yoga DVD that I may do with the kids and even do it some days in addition to the Shred – how’s that for dedication? =P My main plan, though, is to start using the Shred in a day or two and do that every single day. If you have that already, you can do that along with me, or you can do something else – just get moving!

2.) I’m going to blog about it every day. These will be short updates, nothing time intensive or complicated. It’s important to note, though, that I will acutally be blogging the day after, since I will most likely be exercising in the evening. So on January 1, I’ll exercise in the evening. On January 2, I’ll blog “Day 1” and let you know how it went. As I stated, you’re welcome to blog each day, but if you do you’ll have to let me know so I can come check in on you, too! Otherwise, you can just join in the weekly update posts I’ll be doing.

3.) I’m going to post a weekly update and weigh-in at the end of each week. Every Friday I will put up a “Check-In” post with a linky so that you can write your own review of the week and link it up. These will stay open all weekend so that you’ve got plenty of time to join in.

4.) I’m also going to be using www.fatsecret.com to help me with my challenge. They have a food journal, activity journal, recipes, goal tracker and a lot of other things. The coolest part is the ability to build your own support group. If you you and I both joined and added each other to our support group, we could see each other’s progress and encourage each other along the way. I really like the sound of that! If you’d like to sign up there too (free) I’d love for you to join my support group. It’s just an added bonus on the side, but it’s not a “required” part of this 31 Day Challenge. I do think it’s helpful, though, to find a place to record a food diary and activity level, so I definitely suggest finding something that suits your needs. (Find me on fatsecret.com: Amber{AT}ClassicHousewife{DOT}com)

5.) I’ll wrap up the 31 Day Fitness Challenge on February 1st. On Feb. 1st, I’ll post my last update and final weigh-in with another linky for your final posts. Though that will mark the end of this challenge it will not mark the end of my journey. The goal of this challenge is to help me get INTO the habit of exercising regularly. If I can push past the hard part and keep going, I can keep it up and keep exercising in February, and March.. I have 45 pounds I NEED to lose and 10 more on top of that I’d LIKE to lose. Even if I lose 10 pounds a month that will take me almost 6 months! I’m considering continuing the weekly check in posts in February and so on, but February 1st will mark the official end to the daily exercising and blogging challenge.

Now, no challenge is complete without goals. Here are mine:

1. Obviusly, exercise every day, blog every day, those two are non negotiable with this challenge. ; )
2. Also, cut out junk food, eat healthier, and track it all.. those, too.
3. My weight loss goal for the month is 10 pounds.

When I challenged myself once before, a couple of years ago, I lost ten pounds that month by changing my diet alone and not really exercising. In theory, I could lose more than that. However, I don’t want to push myself too hard and ten sounds like a reasonably safe starting goal. On the other hand, I’ve never exercised every single day before. I could find that I lose weight a lot faster when I do. I have no idea what to expect – we’ll see!!

Edited to add: It’s important to note here that your goals may or may not include losing weight. It may just simply be that you need to get in the habit of exercising, or that you want to get stronger and build some muscle tone — that’s great! This challenge isn’t about LOSING WEIGHT (though that’s one of my goals and probably by-products..,) this challenge is about exercising every day in January to develop the habit of an active lifestyle. Even if you have been exercising and you got out of the habit over the holidays, I’m not going to fault you for joining in!

So now it’s YOUR turn.

Share your goals, decide what you’re going to do to get them done. Grab the BUTTon and get your BUTT in gear! Let’s do this. We’re “all in this together.”

Sorry, I couldn’t resist. ; )