Summer 2 of 101 Days of Summer Challenge

So happy I have so many people to check up on each week to make sure they are on the right path to their Summer 2011 goals! 😀  You can check out how everyone did last year on this post – I’ll be replacing this post next Sunday. 😀

So here are our participants, in no particular order:  and now updated to add all the people I forgot!  (and again, if I missed you – sorry it was a brain dead day at jury duty!) please email me at mybizzykitchen@gmail.com. 

Christina of Dinner at Christina’s.  I’ve had the pleasure of having lunch at her house, and meeting her at Big Bowl with some other local bloggers.  She’s funny, beautiful and has a lot going on in her life now – not only is she getting married in December, but she’s moving from Illinois back to her home state of North Carolina.  She’s gained 25 pounds over the last 5 years, they kind of just snuck up on her.

Her plan is lost 10 to 15 pounds.  The two nearest grocery stores to her parents house are a little over a mile away.  Her plan is, weather permitting, to ride her bike to the store intead of driving.  Pop and alcohol have also snuck back into her diet, she she plans on drinking just water and tea.

Jenn of Slim-Shoppin.  I think I may have guilted my twin sister to joining this challenge, but I don’t care!   Her goals are to ride her bike to work every day. Write down what I eat – stay away from the food at work i.e. donuts, muffins, cake, candy, etc…and join the pilates summer class near my house.  She found out through her Blue Cross Insurance that she can take as many pilates classes a month for only $29!  Blue Cross picks up the rest and pays the pilates club directly – how cool is that?

Blog reader Janie is a new momma, having her baby at the end of April.  While she can’t start to exercise for a couple more weeks because of her C-section, her goals are to exercise consistently 4 days a week.  While she is already back to her pre-baby weight, its not at a weight she wants.  Thanks for joining the group Janie!

Blog reader Christine – let’s just say that when I forgot to add her to the list, she had a quick thought of “oh well!”  But that isn’t going to give her the accountability she’s looking for – I’ve already told her be prepared to be stalked by me! 😀  Her focus is simple – maintain her weight loss (which is turning out to be more difficult than losing the weight and she’s realized she hasn’t resolved all of her food issues) AND to exercise at least 30 minutes, 5 times a week.

Morgan from Back Off I’m Starving, another 101 Days of Summer alum!  Her goals is a doozy – she needs to successfully complete her half-marathon training so that she can successfully complete her first ever half marathon at Disneyland on September 4th.  She’s already started and has just finished week two – but its going to be  along summer for her learning to run!

Jacky from Jax House is our next participant.   Jacky and I went to the same high school and I am so excited that not only does she have a recipe blog, she lives in Oak Park and runs into my sister from time to time.  Her internet has been down in the last couple days, but will be getting back to me shortly with her summer goals.  She’s also an avid reader, so check out her summer book selections!

And because of Jacky, I have now gotten into contact with her sister Jody, who is our next participant!  Jody was a senior when I was a freshman, and I consider her to be a mentor when I started my field hockey career.  She has always been fit and kept her weight between 135-140 for years.  Now at 164 pounds, she wants a major intervention!  She doesn’t want any sob stories or excuses – she’s just been complacent and hopes that this public summer challenge will find her mojo back.  And she’s a regular reader – can’t wait to catch up with you!

And how could I forget my blog BFF Shelley?!   She’s been a total inspiration to me – she’s lost so much weight, when I look at her blog I don’t even recognize her “before” picture!  And she’s stuck with her healthy lifestyle, even while she went through a plateau for I think a few months!  She went to a trainer, and changed things up, and while she’s gained a bit back, she’s refocused (especially since her Momma is doing great with her battle with cancer!)

For her challenge, I think I’m going to commit to eating super healthy for 5 out of 7 days each week. Time to get back to basics for her, and hopefully fit back into her smaller pants by the end of summer.

Blog reader Aide is a regular reader and thinks I am inspirational, so she’s a new friend in my book! 😀  Her goals – to lose 15 pounds – as of 5/31/11 her start weight is 246.  She also wants to continue eating les carbs, she’s also diabetic and needs to watch her carb intake to manage her blood sugar, and to get back into the gym so she can get stronger. 😀  You can do it Aide!

Maggie from Say Yes to Salad.  First of all, Maggie has been reading my blog since almost the very beginning.  She was my first giveaway winner and the first person to introduce me to kabocha!  Her goals are…lose 5-10 pounds that I put on when I started my office job last year

Lori from Fit and Healthy Mama.  She just discovered my blog not too long ago and is ready to jump on the bandwagon!  Her goals. .  

1. Lose something each week. No gains.
2. Try a new recipe each week.
3. Run at least 2 5ks this summer – I’m sooo not a heat & humidity person, so this is going to be the biggest challenge for me. I have one lined up for June 4th so I’m hoping the summer temps stay cool until then.

Tish from Incremental Improvements.  She is the grandma of two adorable kids, and has her hand full with her adult son that lives at home.  I especially enjoyed a recent post about her son being tempted with pop – he would sneak to get them, no matter how many times he was told he could only have one can. 
The solution was simple – he doesn’t shop for himself, so they no longer have to worry about him drinking too much pop.  But how do we handle temptations on a daily basis?  Food for though!  Her goal is to lose an avg of 1 pound per week (or more!) for each summer week.

Blog reader Ashley C wants to lost 25 pounds and reduce her food waste.  I am totally on board with that one – especially when I clean out my fridge and am like “I would have eaten that if I had remembered it was there!”  Maybe all my hot sauce and mustard containers get in the way sometimes? 😀  Go Ashley!

Ally of Sweet and Savory.  Ally is just going back to work after having her second child – a baby girl!  While she was able to stay home for a year with her son, this time around its back to work after 9 weeks off.  Ally also made my baja fresh salsa last summer and with the help of her Mom, sold it at her local farmers market – love that!

1. Lose 20 pounds by Labor Day, or sooner, via Weight Watchers.
2. Attept to get in 3 long walks a week with her kiddos in the double stroller.
3. Continue to blog at least 3 times a week, with new and exciting recipes.

Errign (pronounced Erin) of Errign’s Adventures.  Errign is quite the world traveler having spent time this spring in Singapore!  And she’s got lots of changes going on in her life – she’s no longer with her boyfriend, and while that was a trying experience, I know she’ll be stronger because of it.  This summer she’s transferring schools, moving to a whole new city and is more than ready to have a kick ass summer.

Her goals are to:

1. Run 8 miles outside
2. do a yoga style handstand without the wall and
3. make new friends in her new city of Asheville!

Next up is Tyler of Life of Ty.  I like to think of myself as Ty’s blog momma.  Her husband is in the military, currently deployed while she is at home going to school – I’ll brag about her – her last semester she got a 4.0 GPA!  Apparently she had a rough freshman year and is paying the price, but all her hard work is paying off – you should be so proud of yourself Ty!

1. She participated last year and promises to stay in touch better this year – I already told her I plan to stalk her this summer. 😀
2. Get closer to size “healthy.”
3. Drink more water – turns out she’s a diet Coke addict!
4. Use her juicer 3-4 times a week
5. sweat 3-4 times a week (or more!)
6. try yoga on break from school
7. get all A’s in all of her classes

Sam of Sam’s Weight Watchin’ Menu.  I also like to think of myself as Sam’s blog momma.  She took her site down a while back, and I got concerned.  I mean, its your choice if you want to keep up with a blog, but I always think worst case scenario.  But, turns out she wasn’t living the life she wanted to and just shut it down.  Well, she is getting back on track, her site is back up and she’s ready to kick some ass!

1. lose 30 pounds
2. finish the Couch to 5k program

Blog reader Jill came out of the woodwork to participate – yeah!  She reads my blog every day through Google Reader, and hasn’t left a comment yet – love it when daily readers contact me! 

1. move more, sit less.  get outside for at least an hour a day
2. eat dinner at home at least 3 weekdays a week.  Her daughter left home for college and apparently she and the mister are having fun eating out a lot more! 😀

Sara from Cupcake Muffin.  She’s been a past BSI hostess, and she’s having a cookbook giveaway – check that post out here!

Her goals for 101 days of summer this year is to cook more, and incorporate more vegetables into that cooking – she’s gotten into a bad rut of going out to a lot of restaurants and eating a lot of frozen pizza, packaged meals, etc. – not good for either physical or financial health! She wants to focus on eating more fresh produce, and creating interesting, healthy, and less expensive meals at home.

Blog reader Joan is in for a challenge too!  Thanks for leaving a comment. 😀

Her goals will be 1) lose 1 pound a week, 2) try at least one new recipe a week and 3) walk at least 2 miles 6 days a week.

Nicole from Prevention RD.  Not only did Nicole and I go to the same high school (ahem, many many years apart!) she’s been great at answering my questions about diabetes – she’s trying to get certified as a diabetes specialist as a registered dietician – holy cow, it’s a lot of work to get certified!  

Her main goal is to track her food – she’s also a second timer as she participated last year and it help her stay on track. 😀

MaryBe from Accidentally Vegan.  She’s a very loyal blog reader and just turned 50 not too long ago. 

Her Dad’s been very sick and she is SO stressed…her challenge will be to do yoga every night, for at least 30 minutes. That will help clear my mind and help me sleep better!

Tracy of Tracy’s Journey to Health.  Tracy had a blog around 2009, gave up, but has now resurrected her blog and hopes to be an inspiration to the weight loss blog community.   Um, just noticing Tracy you haven’t posted since March – I need an update. 😀

Her goals are 1) to lose something each week. I don’t care if its .2 of a pound, I just want to weigh less than the week before and 2) to exercise 150 minutes each week (30 min 5 days).

Rachel of Losing It!  She and her finance Dave are trying to live healthier lives – which can be good or bad when you are doing it with your partner – I know when I lived in a two flat with my sister, we could be the best of influence and do Tae Bo after work, but just as easily look at each other and say, “let’s just order a pizza!”  Rachel was also generous enough to send Tony some cool “Fuck Cancer” refrigerator magnets that I see every day – thanks again Rachel!  (oh, and she sent me some really good meat rub too and hot sauce!).  Oh, and Rachel is also a 101 Days of Summer Alum!

 I’m ready for the 101 Days of Summer Challenge part deux! My goals are:

(1) Track everything I eat
(2) Exercise at least 2x/week
(3) Continue to lose weight and not gain anything back at my weekly weigh-ins. I have a wedding dress that most likely doesn’t fit me right now and it has to fit by OCt 29 (or earlier for my fittings)!

Mo’Betta aka Kim of This Little Life of Mine – love her blog.  She’s got adorable kids and I love all of her recipes from comfort food to making smores! 😀

She hopes the challenge will give her extra incentive to stay on track! Her goals are (1) Lose 15 lbs (20 would be better!) (2) Exercise at least 3 x a week for a minimum of 30 minutes.  She’s started taking aerobics classes at the Y this week, so is hoping to stick with it!

MB is another 101 Days of Summer Alum!  And people. . . she’s already down 92 pounds! and is so close to goal.  She and I both have the same love/hate relationship with BL too – not realistic, but we both tear up when we see how the people have transformed their lives.

She’s up for the challenge.  Her goals are to find a way to continue her workouts now that she’s going back to work, avoid eating the junk food that’s always there, and finally get to her goal of losing 101 pounds. I’m so close I can almost taste it. Then the real hard part begins, maintenance….

New reader Autumn Rose is maintaining her weight loss.  She recently ran a 5k, then went hiking with her family for the rest of the day!  Her goals are to contine to clean eat, i.e. no processed food, refined sugars and grains, add more strength training to her workout routine and drop body fat percentage.

And then there is me!  At last years Day 1, I weighed 169, so I am proud to say that I am starting this Day 1 at 158.4.  My goal for the summer is to get down to 140, so I have 18.4 pounds to go.  I need to continue to watch portion sizes, set down the glass of wine a little more often, and continue to realize this is my lifestyle, and not a diet. 

If I missed your comment or email and you still want to join – could you send me another email at mybizzykitchen@gmail.com and I’ll add you to the list.

I am actually headed to my first jury duty – I hope I don’t get picked because my office is going to be very busy this week and I’d hate to have the other two secretaries have to cover my desk all week.

Hope everyone had a great long weekend – I’ll be back tomorrow with our best ribs made at home – smoked to perfection!

Hmmm… I didn’t seem to get an email from my twin sister?  What gives?! 😀