Day 1 of 101!

Big storms came through this morning, so I had to keep the computer off – the sun is out now! 😀

Can you even believe it’s Memorial Day already!  Seems like we were just celebrating Easter!  I am so happy that so many people have decided to join my 101 Days of Summer Challenge – I am hoping this will light a fire under my ass to MOVE!

In no particular order. . . . the participants!

Debbi at Debbi Does Dinner Healthy.  The first time I went to her blog, I immediately put her on my blog roll – she does normal, healthy meals – each around 500 calories.  In fact, she’s got a buffalo chicken and potato dish that has been on my list of things to make soon!

• track calories daily
• ultimate goal is to lose 40 pounds by the end of the year

Brooke of Brooke Not On A Diet.  With the help of Weight Watchers, Brooke has already lost 100 pounds and look fantastic!  You can see your “victory log” here.  I love that idea!

• get out of BMI range of obese, by losing 21 pounds

Helen at Doing a 180.  I love Helen – she started her blog out so anonymously, which is fine, but I love how open and honest she’s become!  And she has a beautiful 20 something daughter and a husband who just threw her an awesome 50th birthday party! 😀

• Weekly:  Track food, even on days when she’s “relaxing.”
• Consume no more than 11,700 calories during the week
• Burn at least 2500 calories through exercise
• Entire challenge – lose 8 pounds and do one road race!

Allison at And Miles to Go.   I am new to her blog – she’ll be 30 years old in a year and a half and wants to be the best shape she can be in by that time!

• Ultimate goal to lost 10 pounds during the challenge to be in a healthy BMI range
• kickboxing 2 times a week and run 2 times a week
• Log calories every day (I thought it was funny when she wrote to me and said “If Biz can take a photo of everything she eats, the least I can do is write mine down!”

Rachel at Losing It!  She and her boyfriend Dave have decided to lose weight together to support each other.  She’s gone down 2 pant sizes since January – you rock sister!

• Strength train 3 times a week
• Cardio 3 times a week
• water fitness class 1 x week
• track food and stay within Weight Watcher allotment
• lose 20 pounds
• be in a size 16 pants
• hold a plank for one minute (that’s hard!)

She’s already lost 37 pounds! Way to go Rachel!

Ren. Ren is a long time reader and does not have her own blog, but could not be more thrilled about this challenge.  She emailed me and said “my 101 days of summer game face is on!”

• Not eat out of the office candy jar for 101 days
• track food for 101 days
• work out at new gym 3 times a week
• ride her bike and/or roller blade 2 x a week
• lost 15 pounds in 101 days
• Weight: 171, Waist: 31″, Hips: 41 “, Chest: 38″, Thigh: 26′, Arms: 14”

Beth at 990 Square Feet.  Not only do I like her because we share the same name, but she is an awesome cook and an even better cake decorator.  Check out her 4 year wedding anniversary pictures – beautiful!

• she plans to set “fresh” workouts and try new activities this summer

Veronica of Recipe Rhapsody and Going Down.  She is a fellow insulin dependent diabetic.  I just made her crock pot refried beans and am about to make her 7-layer dip for our Mexican fiesta later today – Veronica – the beans turned out so creamy!!

• Lose 15 pounds
• Do 30 minute aerobic sessions 3 days a week
• Strength train 3 days a week.

Christina of Dinner at Christina’s.  Not only do I love her recipes because they have normal ingredients, I’ve actually had the pleasure of having a blogger pot luck at her house last year!  And I scored and brought home some of her dad’s amazing homemade sausage – hands down the most flavorful breakfast sausage I’ve ever eaten!

• lose inches – she isn’t concerned so much what the scale says, but would like to lose inches by moving more – whether it be a DVD, bike ride or walking her dog, she vows to move every day!
• Arms: 11″, Chest: 34.5, Waist: 25.75″, Hips: 41″, Thighs: 22.5″, Calf: 14.5″

Christina’s (from above!) Mom – Debbie-Lyn. When Christina told her mom about the challenge she decided to join as well – welcome! 😀

• lose 1 pound a week until Labor Day
• getting active by doing her own personal triathlon – walking, biking and swimming

Leslie of Something Brilliant is Brewing.  She’s been a long time reader of mine.  And although she has knee problems, she still tries to get up and moving.  Her blog is bold and honest and a great read as she continues to make herself a better person.

• exercise 30 minutes at least 5 times a week
• lost 10 pounds in 101 days

Shelley of My Journey to Fit.   What can I say about Shelley?  Oh, that we are blogging best friends and pretty sure if we lived next door to each other we’d be awesome exercise buddies too!  She’s lost so much weight – 100 pounds and is still trying to wrap her brain about wearing size 8 clothes!  I have been loving her Friday fashion posts – she loves dressing up now! 😀

• To run 8 miles without stopping.  Oh, did I tell you she’s signed up for a half marathon in November – and she only just ran her first 5k this year??!!  Woot!

Jenn at Slim-Shoppin.  I just recently found this girls blog.  Kidding! Jenn is my twin sister!  We both lost our initial weight in between 1999 and 2000.  We both kept our 70 pound off for years, until she had her third child (who is now 8, so she can’t say its baby weight anymore) and I started taking insulin.

• Wants to be a size 12 in 101 days
• wants to do P90X at least three times a week

Angie at Losing It and Loving It.  She’s already had quite a success by losing 82+ pounds – and it all started with giving up soda, and then adding good habits a little bit at a time.  And she lives right by me – we need to do a blogger walk together soon!

• Minimum of 5 days of exercise per week
• run 4 times a week
• 100 stability ball crunches every day
• stretch after each run!

Tricia of Fight Fat Phobia.  Oh my gosh, where do I start with Tricia – she has a super smart wit and not a post goes by that she doesn’t make me laugh out loud.  She recently had a weight loss challenge at work and lost 8% to win all the loot – almost $200!!

• wants to lose 30 pounds in 101 days
• fit into jeans she already owns
• exercise a minimum of 2 times per week

Errign of 365 Days.  First of all, I love her name (pronounced “Erin”).  Second of all, she goes on long bike rides and likes to show the pictures of all her bruises all with a huge smile on her face!  In the winter you’ll most likely see her skiing with her boyfriend and Dad.

• lose, not gain
• do one thing every week that makes her happy (most recently Thai food!)
• Run 5 miles per week
• Bike 10 miles per week

Kalli of Fit and Forty Something.  Holy shit this woman is a rock star – she and her hubs just biked 45 miles over the weekend!  And while she is fit, she does have a goal!

• increase her workouts, just kicking it up another notch!

Nicole at Prevention RD.  First off, she and I went to the same high school!  I am going to pretend that she graduated some 15+ years after me though!  She is a diabetes specialist registered dietitian, and I have seeked out her advice on more than one occasion!

• Run 1 mile at least 70 out of 101 days
• keep up with the speed of life!
• make the most out of each day both mentally and physically

Brooke at Famished to Fantastic! I just recently discovered this blog – I think when Nicole wrote about the challenge, she found me!  For the life of me I can’t seem to find her email to me so I apologize in advance for not knowing your first name! She is overcoming an eating disorder, and has a 3 year old daughter and just found out she’s 7 weeks pregnant!  So exciting!  Please email me again so I can add your first name! 😀

• walk 30 to 60 minutes 5 times a week
• strength train 2 -3 times per week

Robin at Running Circles Around Turtles.  She is a fellow diabetic, but thankfully not on insulin.  She controls her diabetes with diet and exercise.  And has become an avid runner!  She’s training for a marathon!

• keep on track with the group marathon training

Robin Sue of Big Red Kitchen.  I’ve been reading her blog for about a year and a half, and also feel that if we lived next door we would be bffs!  She is so creative with her kids, and has the best ideas about hosting parties.  Oh, and her photography is to die for – you just want to reach into the screen and eat everything she makes!  And I love the stories about her “Ma!”

• 3-4 days of cross-fit
• power walk 3 miles 3 times a week

My Mom!  Yes, my mom, who is about to be 70 years old in September is joining the challenge!  Unfortunately for my Mom, she’s extremely short – like 4 feet 9 inches short!  When I look at pictures of her when she was pregnant with me and my sister, I don’t know how she did it – don’t think she saw her feet for six months!

• her goal is to lose 5 pounds in 101 days

Sarah of Hoge Runs – And Eats!  She is such a cute 20-something gal who loves to run – and get this. . . she’s training for a 50k race!  Holy shit that is hard core! 😀

• break her Starbucks habit
• 18 week marathon training plain starts June 13th ( marathon #2 is in October!)
• Cross train 2x a week
• Cook at home 6 nights a week

Suzi at SpunkiSuzi.  I have to admit, I’ve been reading her blog for a while and haven’t commented very much.  I found her through Shelley’s blog I think?  In any event, she has lots of fans, has so many blog badges she’s won from other bloggers – she rocks!  So glad her daughter Jen is home to visit – it was way overdue! 😀

• My challenge is to get to my goal weight by my birthday September 30!
• Work out at least 5 days a weeks
• Journal my food no matter whether it’s good or bad!

Julia – Julia’s Journey! She is a new blog to me, but I already put her on my blog roll – can’t wait to see who she is!  I love finding new blogs to read! 😀

• Track WW points daily
• lose 15 pounds in 101 days
• work out at least 5 days a week
• stay on plan while on vacation and not use being away as an excuse

John of 2010: Time to Challenge Myself.  He just ran his second half marathon!  Oh, and I should mention he’s already lost 78 pounds! Go check out his latest race recap here.

• I’ve decided to join and my challenge will be to seriously train for the full marathon with my likely goal date being Oct.10th. I realize that’s longer than 101 days away but my main challenge will be to not let a cry inducing long run to derail my training for a marathon. 3 years ago I was almost bawling on my cool down walk home and talked myself out of training for it anymore rather than figure out a way to do it without pain. So Biz’s challenge will hopefully keep me focused if that 17 mile long run turns out to be a killer again” 😀

Buffy of Oops I Ate The Cookies.  She just started a brand new blog – pop on over sometime today and say hello! 😀

• Work up to walking 3 miles by the end of summer
• Lose 20 pounds
• Follow a healthy 1200-1550 calorie diet
• keep her blog updated
• go back to WW

Connie Munoz.  Still need to figure out what her blog is, she just started it because of this challenge!  Hopefully I’ll figure out her site later today.

• stay focused this summer
• lose 40 pounds

Claudia of Journey of an Italian Cook.   You have to check out all her great recipes and food – I think I have met someone who likes goat cheese almost more than I do!

• Lose 40 pounds from May 2010 to May 2011
• buy new bike
• move!

Al at Losing Harry.  Brand new blog to me and I can’t wait to check it out further!

• To be under 400 pounds by the 4th of July
• Lose 60 pounds by Labor Day

Satu of Body Capable.  She just started her blog, so look out for new content soon!  I just met her through Angie at Losing It and Loving It.  Just in the short email I read, I can see she has a great sense of humor already!

• dress size (pants size)  from 10 -> 8 *
• exercise consistently 4 times a week
• Feldenkrais method exercises 4 times a week
• learn to prepare 10 new dishes, preferably vegetarian (guess where I’m going to get some recipes to try?)  hoping my site 😀
  

Linzi from Destiniation 26.2. She is a super cute 20-something who turned her hobby of running into a full out preparation for her first marathon in October 2010!

• No diet soda (Well I don’t drink regular anyways, but would like to cut diet soda out of my diet)
• Do 30 minutes of physical activity daily
• lose 10 pounds
• Keep on track with my marathon training plan (Run 4x per week)

Dave from My Year on the Grill.  Dave grills the most amazing food, that is before he and his wife Jackie got transferred to the Virgin Islands for her job and get this: no grilling allowed! I guess it’s a fire hazard!  But I don’t feel too sorry for him, I mean, he is in the Virgin Islands for goodness sakes!  He has a wonderful sense of humor, which you will appreciate with his picture he wanted me to share:

he wants his ass to be smaller so he can fit into size 38 jeans!

He’s done Weight Watchers, Adkins, South Beach – all with success, but each time felt deprived and would gain all the weight back.  You can tell by all his delicious food on the blog, he does not cut corners – you aren’t going to find kale chips there!  Here’s his goals:

• portion control
• moving his ass
• eating real food, i.e., if you can’t pronounce it, not eating it!
• no prepackaged foods as much as possible
• cook from scratch and avoid artificial ingredients (i.e., sugar, milk, coloring, etc.)
• incorporate fresh fruit every day

MJ Jacobson.  We are still trying to figure out her blog site, but until then, MJ is a 50-something, who like me is short, and if we were 6 feet tall we’d already be at goal weight! 😀

• Exercise 5x a week (compared to 2 x a week now)
• Mindful eating
• to be able to tuck in a t-shirt into her jeans by November
• reach goal weight of 145

Morgan of Kicking My Trash.   Poor thing has been sick the last week, but she wants to jump on the summer challenge bandwagon!

• get to a size 12
• 30 minutes of cardio, 5x a week
• drink 64 ounces of water every day
• get a tan while doing it! 😀

Susan of Susan’s Journey to Keep Fit.   She’s an empty nester who wants to kick start her exercise routine, despite having health problems, wants to keep herself accountable.

• lose 10 pounds
• go down a dress size
• drink 64 ounces of water
• eat veggies 3 x a week
• and the big one for Susan?  no more soda!

Amanda at Two Boos Who Eat.  I love Amanda – she just recently completed a 5k – I am so proud of her!  I still love the video of her and her husband Andy at the Foodbuzz festival last year – Andy had balls and tried a raw oyster for the first time – he declared it “not bad!”  Amanda’s birthday is in October, and she’d like to fit into a smaller dress! 😀

• Run 75 miles in 101 days
• eat out less – down to a minimum of 1-2 times a week
• make desserts that are less than 300 calories
• strength rain with workout videos 3 x a week

Kelly of Fitting Back In. First off, I wish I had Kelly’s fashion and decorating sense!  And I believe I have met my match in recording everything she eats – love that she still goes out, has a couple drinks, works out, walks a lot while reading too!  Every time she does a book review I am reminded of how much I don’t read!  Keep the book reviews coming, hopefully I’ll pick one up soon!  Oh, and check out her latest post – she’s got some serious cooking organizational skills going on!

• Run 2 to 3 runs per week (she feels she’s been slacking lately!) 😀

Ty of the Life of Ty.   I am new to this blog, but couldn’t be happier she’s decided to join the challenge!  Her husband is back from a tour of duty in Iraq, so this past Memorial Day has even more of a special meaning to her.  Glad he got home safe!

• kick the soda habit and drink more water
• lost the 10 pounds she’s gained since the hubs has been home from Iraq and keep it off!
• mix it up with workouts and eats

Janie.  Janie is a long time reader, and she and I emailed back and forth when she was a little down on herself – over a year ago – in May of 2009!  Janie, I am sorry I’ve lost touch, but am glad you are joining us!

• exercise, exercise, exercise!!
• go to her fitness center and take classes so she isn’t throwing money down the drain!

Laura at No More Weight for Me.  I am new to her blog, but through SparkPeople, she’s already down 17 pounds and is up for a new summer challenge!

• lost 15 pounds (1 pound per week)
• exercise 5 times a week
• drink more water daily
• to run more
• to actually go down a size in clothing
• lose a few inches

MB of Why the Weight?   She’s been steadily losing weight (30+ pounds!) but at a snails pace and wants to light a fire under her ass like me!  Oh, and guess I am not the only one not to wear sunscreen!  She got burned doing an outdoor routine with none other than Jillian Michaels!

• lose an additional 20 pounds by the end of summer
• continue to hit the gym HARD every day she’s home
• start the C25K program
• get off the elliptical once in a while and start hitting the weights 2x week
• get some sort of activity on th eweekends while away at her camp
• limit nighttime snacking

Amy of Please Don’t Eat Me!   Amy and I go back probably well over a year!  We had a similar beginning, us both getting pregnant while young and unmarried.  One of the first things that she said that made me smile is “I am glad to see someone made it!”  Her daughter “peanut” is growing up so fast!   And I love all the dance movie videos she posts!

• eat more healthy fats
• 20 minutes of yoga every day
• biking 15 miles a week

Teale of Teales Meals.   I just stumbled upon her blog the other day, and when I saw she was on WW,  I invited her to join our challenge and am so happy she agreed!

• make her 10% Weight Watcher goal
• do a 5k as a walker

River of Losing On Purpose.   So happy she found me and is willing to join the challenge!  Also a new blog for me so I need to check her out! 😀

• lose 20 pounds
• track food every day
• weekly limit of 11,000 calories
• limit fat and sugar
• workout 4 times a week
• keep my living space organized * this one is important!

Katie of Katie J is on Her Way!  I love Katie, again I think I found her through Shelley’s blog.  Get this . . . she’s 13 pounds away from losing 75 pounds! Woot!   She also made my cool badge!

• lose 13 pounds before her July 23 Alaskan Cruise!

Anne-Marie of Part of the Whole.  She is the cousin of Christina – so now I have both Christina’s mom and cousin – love the family group effort!  She used to have a much more toned body and wants to get back into that shape.  Her incentive?  A wedding in mid-October that she wants to look great for her college friends and to look good in a bikini – the wedding is in Myrtle Beach!

• track daily eating habits, both exercise and “f-ups!”
• eat more raw
• some form of daily exercise, whether its a walk, bike ride or yoga
• a stronger push toward local, in-season produce

Jenn of Jenn’s Menu & Lifestyle.   I love Jenn’s recipes because they use real ingredients and her photography is stunning!  I am so glad she decided to join the summer challenge! 😀

• Lose 20 pounds by the end of August
• Track calories at least 80% of the time
• workout consistently, at least 4-5 times a week
• keep sodium intake below 2000/mg a day, by ideally under 1500 mg/day
• keep her days of indulgence to less than 4 times a month
• stop wasting food!  She wants to buy less at the store and eat what they have first (I may need to steel that one from her!)

Joanne of Weight On Me at 50.  I am new to Joanne’s blog, so I can’t wait to “meet” her and check out her blog!  So glad she decided to join the group!

• lost an additional 15 pounds by Labor Day
• Start lifting weights at least 2x a week
• try to eat cleaner by eating less processed foods
• cut red meat to 2 x a week (which will be difficult because her hubs loves it!)

Mara at What’s For Dinner?  I have had the pleasure of meeting Mara in person – and its such a small world, one of her co-workers is the sister of someone I work with!!  She is a newlywed, and she and her husband just did a Food Buzz 24x24x24 by seeking out the best Chicago style hot dog!   My mouth watered just reading the post!

• lose 20 pounds (more if possible)
• be active every day, even the days she’s not working at a kids camp!

Biz of Biggest Diabetic Loser!  Yes, I left myself for last.  My long time readers already know this, but I was a four season athlete growing up – fall was field hockey, winter was indoor track, spring was outdoor track and summer was softball.

Here I am my freshman year of high school - a sprinter! Yes, I had big 80's glasses!

Fast forward to my senior year of high school!

But turns out after you stop moving you can’t eat whatever the hell you want!  I did great maintaining my 70 pound weight loss, until I was put on insulin – suddenly foods that I never ate were available – “you mean I can have bacon cheese fries for an extra .99 cents?”  I’ll take more insulin!  In three years I’ve gained 35 pounds back.  And while not as short as my Momma, I am only 5’2″.  My doctor reminds me on a quarterly basis that someone my size needs to weigh around 125!

Please ignore my awesome farmers sunburn!

I was going to take a picture like Rachel in my bathing suit, but it was a size 10 and didn’t fit.  😦

• starting weight . . .fuck . . . 169 pounds!
• thigh: 24.5; hips: 40.5; bicep: 14″; waist: 38″; chest: 39″
• work out 4 times a week at my new gym
• make the most out of each workout
• do Jillian 30-day shred at least 3 times per week
• reduce wine consumption!

Please let me know if I forgot to add you to the list! I had tons of emails to go through – just send me an email at bdl319@gmail.com and let me know if I need to add you to the group!

Thanks to everyone for jumping on this band wagon with me – we are going to have a great summer!