Week 7

That cold I mentioned last week... I spent most of this week pretty sick also. I am slightly down, to 202.4. Not a huge loss, but I'll take it. 

The only reason I met my step goal every day is because I walked on my breaks. Some days it was just my am and pm break, but I was also able to walk on my lunch break a day or two. 

  

On Tuesday, I wanted to go to the gym, or at least part of my wanted to. But my body just laughed at me. So instead, I went home after work and did housework so my house would be clean before leaving for Women's Retreat on Friday. Thanks to the housework, I ended up with over 20,000 steps!

On Wednesday, I was going to go to the clinic after work, but while I was walking on my lunch break, Jennifer called and asked if I could cover youth group that night. Instead, I went to the clinic Thursday morning. I can't even remember the last time I was this sick with a cold. I was literally up every night coughing, trying to sleep upright on my couch. I was headed out of town the next day and needed to feel better. So I did a few things at work, and then left early to go to the clinic. The doctor gave me some antibiotics and then I went home and went to bed. I pretty much slept all day!

Thanks to the antibiotics, I slowly improved over the weekend. I was worried I'd keep the ladies awake at night with my coughing, but the cough medicine helped me sleep through the night. 

Earlier in the week, I joined another workweek hustle. I was shocked when I took 3rd place, since I didn't try very hard. It just serves as a reminder how all those steps can add up. I haven't had time to walk at night, so I've been squeezing it into my work breaks. I'm glad to see those little efforts are adding up. 

I've loved having more Fitbit friends. I'm usually in at least one challenge, and it keeps me motivated to work hard. But each time I add more friends, I go down in rank. I think it'll be another week before I can go back to running, but hopefully after that, I can climb back up the ranks again. 

Week 6

I started out strong this week, until I got the nasty cold bug that is going around, which pretty much stopped me dead in my tracks. So I'm still holding strong at 203.8. I must say, 203 is starting to become my least favorite number. 

I didn't make it to the gym this week, but I did make sure to walk on my work breaks every day. I also think I hit my water goal the first few days, but then over the weekend, I stopped tracking because I was too sick to care. Seriously, I need this cold bug to go away!

On Thursday, I was able to walk on my am break, but then I wasn't able to walk on my lunch break or pm break. I wanted to walk when I got home, so I could at least hit 10,000 steps. But the second my body saw my couch, it was done. I had been trying to fight off the cold, but its like my body knew it was the weekend and it could just rest. I was in bed by 7:30 on Thursday night and I slept until 7:00 on Friday.

I woke up on Friday, took a test and then went back to bed for a few more hours. I kept hoping if I slept enough, this cold would just magically disappear. 

By Sunday, I was feeling slightly better, but I decided to still take it easy and give my body one more day of rest. 

 I'm in a Fitbit Challenge group to get 300,000 steps in the month of October. I'm also in a few different Mile-A-Day Challenges. As of October 15th, I have 202,956 steps and I've walked 87.73 miles. 

Week 5

The DietBet I'm a part of ended on Thursday night. I had to loose 4% of my body weight in order to be able to share in the winning pot. That meant I had a month to loose 8.40 pounds. I did well the first week, but then didn't do so hot the next two weeks. But I was able to work my butt off this week. At the end of the contest, I was down to 202.6, so I was able to be a part of the winnings. Unfortunately, I'm now back up to 204. So I know its possible. I think the next thing I need to focus on is making better eating choices on the weekends. 

Given the incentive I had from the DietBet, I was able to hit the gym a few times this week. 

On Monday, I walked for 5 minutes, ran for 30, walked another 5 and than I ran for 20. That upped my running time so I am now running for 50 of those 70 minutes. 

Tuesday was a day of crushing goals. I had joined a Fitbit challenge group called the Valley Loop. There was like 20 people in the group, so I didn't expect much. So I was surprised on Tuesday morning to see I was neck and neck for 2nd place. I tried all day to pass up 1st place; I even went and walked 2 miles at the walking park on my lunch break. But I never could catch up to her. 

After work, I went to the gym. I think I was about halfway through my run when I got the notification I had taken 2nd place in the race. I finished just over 3 hours after 1st place. 

My legs weren't quite recovered from the run yesterday, or my lunch break walk, so I decided to walk for 5 and run for 15 and then repeat two more times. 

Another crazy Wednesday. I knew it wasn't likely I'd get a walk in tonight, so I decided to walk on my breaks. I tracked it on my phone and 2 laps around the warehouse and pole yard is a mile. I was able to do a mile on my am break and another mile on my pm break. I might have to keep that up, I hit my 10,000 steps by 3:30. 

 I wasn't sure I'd get a workout in on Thursday either, so I decided to walk on both my am and pm walk again and to go to the walking park on my lunch break. During my lunch walk, I earned the Fitbit Sahara badge, which is equivalent to walking 2,983 miles (since I purchased my Fitbit in June 2015). I always love earning badges, but they are more exciting when I'm in the middle of a workout, or long walk. 

 Friday morning, I decided to head to the gym. I needed to weigh in for the Dietbet and thought I'd get one more workout in. Almost a year ago, I had a bad day. The judge was supposed to sign my divorce, but he ended up waiting another day. I was pretty upset, so I went to the gym that night. I threw the towel over the screen and just ran. It was the first time I ran for a full 60 minutes without slowing down to a walk. I've tried to do it a few times since then, but never could power past 45 minutes of solid running. 

On Friday, I decided to try it again. I did peak under the towel at around 50 minute, so at that point I decided to go for it. I ran 4 miles in 57 minutes and ran for 60 minutes straight. 

I was also in another Fitbit Challenge, the Workweek Hustle. I crushed it!

It always harder to stay motivated on the weekends. But I am in a few different FB challenges, which are keeping me motivated. The first one is a FB Group that is trying to reach 300,000 steps in the month of October, which basically breaks down to an average of 10,000 steps a day. I realize I have days well above that, but I've decided to try and aim for at least 10,000 each day. 

I'm also running a walk a mile day challenge group. Since its my group, I figure I better show commitment and get a walk in every day. So on Saturday, I went to the walking park and walked 3 miles. 

Sunday is usually the laziest day, but I still managed to get 12,000 steps in. After church, I did a quick one mile walk so I could count that to my mile-a-day challenge group. 

Another thing I'm proud of this week is my water consumption. I was in a water challenge group to hit your water goal everyday. Drinking half my weight in water is even more motivation to lose weight. 100 oz a day is a ton of water! But despite that, I actually ended up drinking even more than that on most days. Hopefully I learned some new habits, such as drinking 2 large glasses when I first wake up, that will stick with me. 

I can't remember the last time I saw all green across the board. I've learned how to do cooler screenshots of my daily steps, but it doesn't show the active hours or water. But I figure if I'm getting over 10,000 steps a day, that's still awesome. 

I've been adding friends on Fitbit from a FB group I'm in. I try to stick to those with similar goals to me. There are people on there who get 60,000+ steps a day! So I try to just accept ones that average 10,000 - 15,000 steps. Its definitely kept me motivated so I can hopefully finish in the top 3. 

Week 4

I was hit and miss this week. Where has my energy and motivation gone? But still, I am down slightly to 203.8. Some days I feel like I'll never get under 200, or be able to stay there. 

On Friday, I decided to hit the gym. I didn't think I ran as well. I walked for 5 and then ran for 15 and then did that 2 more times. I was disappointed I couldn't run for 30 minutes, like I usually can, but in the end, I had 4.75 miles. I'm so close to hitting my 5 mile goal! I love starting my day out with a run. I wish the gym was open earlier so I could go before work. Well, maybe it doesn't matter. I've started doing my bible time in the morning (I call it my coffee date with Jesus), so I guess I wouldn't have time in the morning anyways.

The big thing is I decided to start a FB Mile-A-Day Challenge. It started October 1st, which seemed to be perfect motivation to get me moving. Hopefully it will be the motivation I need to get back on track. 

10th place? I guess that is what happens when you start adding new Fitbit friends from a Facebook group. Before, I only had like 6 friends, so it was easier to finish in the top 3. But I now have several friends, so I can compete in different challenges. Guess I'll have to "step-up" my game so I don't finish last anymore.