6 week challenge

Last Monday (I think I actually started on Tuesday) I started a 6 week challenge with some Facebook friends. Holly decided we all needed a little kick in the rear to get back into the groove with taking care of our bodies. She has a 6 month(?) old baby, and I have a 2 year old. Hey, it is still baby weight okay?!?!

I was excited to get on board because to be honest. I need a little motivation. A little competition. It always works best for me.

I couldn't figure out why I was so UN-motivated to lose my baby weight. I had lost 10 lbs of it over last spring, but quickly put it back on during the summer months when I was on the road for 3 weeks, and came back to 115 degree weather. That kind of weather will really stunt the desire for exercise. That is for sure.

I did figure out that my major motivation for losing the baby weight in the past was so that I wasn't compounding my weight through each pregnancy. I always wanted to get back to point B, before I was pregnant so that it wouldn't turn into point C, and that wouldn't turn into point D and so forth. It was pretty good motivation, until we has determined that we had had our last baby.

So, I took the 6 week challenge. Nothing extreme. Just good old fashioned doin' it.

Here is the just of it.

No treats (I did it last year for a month as well)
No eating past 7:30
7 hours a sleep at night
NO overeating (no second helpings)
1 hour of exercise 6 times a week
8 8 oz glasses of water a day

I had been doing it for just a day or two, when I decided that I was going to look into the book Eat to Live. I read up, and adjusted just my breakfast and lunch, and altered my dinners like I had mentioned before. Not only that, Dr. Furhman, the author of the book gives you his blessing to EAT AS MUCH AS YOU WANT. As long as it is a veggie or a fruit. You heard me . . .Holly, I am EATING AS MUCH AS I DANG WELL WANT TO. I am so glad I did. Because for the first time in my life, I am not really struggling with losing weight. It is coming off, and coming off quickly, AND I don't have the cravings that I usually have. And isn't that what we ALL hate about dieting? Denying the stuff that our bodies WANT?

Well, think of this?

What if . . .

You didn't crave it.

Just a thought.

Because I don't.

And that is pretty much a miracle, since I have lived on a serving or two of cookie dough at least a few times a week. Not to say that I wouldn't LOVE to shove some cookie dough in my mouth, but it is a whole heck of a lot easier when aren't craving it!