Um, yeah, so I meant to start this on Sunday the 16th, but since I completely freakin forgot about it, I started on Sunday the 23rd. That sets me for a December 31, 2012 completion date, which still makes the anal type-A side of me happy.
My 1st challenge had to do with moving my body.
My 2nd challenge will have to do with what I put in my body.
GOAL: 100 drinks in 100 days
Now, the goal isn’t to drink 100 alcoholic drinks in 100 days. If that was the goal, I’d consider myself the valedictorian of this challenge already. No, the goal is to drink no more than 100 drinks in 100 days. I’d say that this past summer I averaged triple that amount (yes, you mathematician you, that’s an average of 3 drinks/day or 21 drinks/week – which means zero some days but way more than that some days). So yeah, that’s a crap load of unnecessary calories, plus it’s just drinking too much lately, and that needs to stop. It’s become habit to crack a beer after work while I’m cooking dinner, and drink another one with dinner, and maybe have one more after Stella is in bed. BAM. Easy peasy to have three drinks a night (especially when you love beer like I do). But also totally unnecessary.
110 calories per Bud Light * 200 drinks I won’t have in the next three months = 22,000 saved calories = 6.3# of beer that won’t turn into additional belly fat. It’s not a coincidence that I’m up roughly 6# in the past 6 months and my pants are all too tight now. 😛 Time to reverse that!
I don’t need a lecture on my drinking habits. I don’t drink soda. I don’t drink coffee. I don’t drink sugary juices. I literally drink water and beer. The good side of that is that I’m not struggling to cut out caffeine and unnecessary calories from anything else, just the beer, and since I did just fine with that when I was pregnant, I am not at all concerned that I can do this again. For me, it’s all about the habit, and I want to get in the habit of grabbing water more often than beer after work.
SO, here’s the plan. My belly is out of control bloated and squishy right now. Post-Baby belly + a summer of drinking with friends = BLAH. So I want to focus on that part of me for the next 3 months.
Official Goals:
*No more than 100 drinks in 100 days.
*300 ab reps every other day for 100 days (so 50 days of that)
That’s it. I’m going to be working on tracking cals and continuing to move my body in other ways as well, but this belly is going to be what I’m concentrating on for the rest of 2012. I find it fitting that after nearly 3 years of blogging about many things, but mainly about my IF experience, my 700th post is back to the basics of why I started this blog – wanting to be a healthier version of me.
Ready…set…go!
Great challenge!!! I think I may have to copy yours exactly! Although the 300 ab reps scare me… but my tummy definitely needs it too. Best of luck to you! I’ll try to get organized to post mine later today too.
300 reps scares me too, but a personal trainer friend of mine is challenging her clients to this (actually 60 days of 300 reps every other day) and doing it with them, so I figured if they can do it, I can too!! I meant to email you about this when I thought about this, sorry. I hope you do join in!
Love it! It’s a great challenge and a good reminder that not only do we need to do MORE but we also need to keep an eye on certain excesses. Good luck and I’m sure you’ll kick ass!!
Also, do you the 300 ab reps have to be all at once or can you spread them out throughout the day?
I hadn’t thought about this! I was thinking all at once, but I don’t want to skip doing it b/c I don’t “have time” to do all 300 at once. I’d say I want to do at least 100 each time, and if it’s 3 sets of 100 in a day, that’s fine too!
Yes! Or in little spurts during commercials or something!
Exactly – 100 situps could easily be done in a few minutes, and I’ll be switching up what type of ab exercise I’m doing so that I don’t get bored out of my mind and so that I’m working different muscles. I’m really excited for this challenge!! Ab work is ALWAYS the exercise I skimp on, and my abs have ALWAYS been the part of my body that drives me nuts b/c it’s where I hang on to the majority of my extra weight. Time to get on that!
The plank is always a good one too
I wasn’t thinking calories, I was thinking money, that’s 200 drinks you don’t have to pay for. I bet that not all of those were at home, many were out with friends, out to dinner and such. I know that they weren’t, but if hypothetically all 200 extra drinks were purchased out rather than drank at home, averaging about $5 a piece, that’s $1000 saved! I guess the point is about the calories and not the money though
LOL, if I wasn’t so cheap, you’d be absolutely right. There is no denying this will save us a little bit of money, but not as much as you’re guesstimating. The vast majority of our drinking is done with friends in the back yard after work. We eat out maybe once every month or two (and it’s usually for breakfast!) and I go out maybe 2x/month. I drink Bud Light at home ($19 for 24 beers) so that’s a $160 cost savings if it was ALL beers from home, though I do go out here and there and have either beer or liquor (maybe spending $20/night?) so that’s where the real cost savings will be. All in all, maybe a $250 savings? Still, not too shabby. Going point! What should I do with that $250? 🙂
Buy yourself a hot new outfit for your hot new body!
700th post! Holy crap! Congrats! Good luck with the beer! Maybe putting 1/2 into a smaller rocks glass when you get home and relax and cook, and then pour the rest for dinner, and then water before bed? When my husband and I split a bottle of wine, we make one bottle last quite a while by pouring it more frequently into large glasses, rather than just filling the glass up. It feels like we are having more glasses than we actually are. 🙂
Honestly, I’ll probably try to skip most weeknights and then not feel bad about having a few at a time on the weekend. 🙂 Here’s to hoping my tolerance goes down after this little challenge. I have NEVER been someone who was drunk after 3 beers (and I never drank in high school and rarely drank in college, so it’s not like I’ve been a huge partier my whole life or something).
Wine and beer…my drinking habits too! But throw in a margarita now and then and the caps really catch up! I love this new plan of yours!
Yeah, I like tequila + ruby red grapefruit juice a LOT, but then there’s all the extra calories. *sigh* I wish I liked soda water or tonic water, but I never have, so I tend to just stick to beer.
I try to not drink when the girls are awake. Not bc I think it’s bad, but bc it feels so special to finally drink that glass of wine once they’re down for the night. It’s like a reward!… which is probably like sign number one you have a problem or something haha. Anyway, I’ll still have a glass when they’re awake with dinner on Sundays or stuff like that, but this way definitely keeps the number down. I’m not a big drinker anyway, so two big glasses and I’m buzzed and a bit hungover the next day! No tolerance anymore 🙂
Ba ha ha “I don’t need a lecture on my drinking habits” I love it! Every time I have a drink I use you as my excuse! Josey does it and Stella is awesome. No berating here 🙂 the move every day is a good one. I made a zucchini slice and poured into muffin tins and had them for lunches. Low cal and filing
This is so awesome! I love it! Good luck!
Ooh, but it’s pumpkin beer season my dear, and we missed it last year.
22,000 calories?!?!?! Holy hell, that adds up!
I’ve stopped drinking all alcohol while we do this cycle. It’s not something I have to do, but it was a good reason to stop. Even the one random beer at dinner was unnecessary in the calorie count.
I need to come up with a goal…
Have you ever tried American Honey? I drink it with Caffeine Free Diet Dr. Pepper a few evenings a week and it’s DELICIOUS! It’s a really sweet whiskey and only 60 calories per shot!
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This is a fantastic goal! It really is the little things that add up to something big. Little things like those light beers… I’m very excited to see what these changes add up to in your life! Keep it up!