Many Mini Challenges | The Shrinking Jeans of Beth

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Posted by beth on March 26, 2009

Do not adjust your computer monitors.  It is Beth, finally posting on the Shrinking Jeans site and while I’m doing that, I’m eating an apple.

Which can only mean one really cool and very important thing:  I am finally inspired to lose weight.  We all know that you can’t take a weight loss plunge without the right frame of mind and I finally have it.

I was hit a few weeks ago with the urge to lose weight and have actually lost 4.2 pounds in the past month or two (according to Wii Fit.)  Now I’m looking to really step it up and lose this ENORMOUS belly of mine that is currently hanging over my jeans and spilling onto my laptop.  (I know, it sounds so glamorous, doesn’t it?)

Yesterday was my first official day of counting points and I have to pat myself on the back because I did really well.  I realized two big things yesterday.  The first was that I was snacking entirely too much.  Now, in my house we don’t really have fattening things to snack on, mainly because Brian and I love to snack, but we do have too many low fat snacks.  I was finding myself all too often peering into the pantry to see what I could munch on for no good reason at all.

The second thing I realized is how important it is for me to challenge myself all of the time.  I realized that I break down this big eight week challenge in to many mini challenges.  For instance:

Shrink into Summer Challenge is 8 weeks long.

Brian and I have challenged each other for the first week to see who can lose the most weight.

Each day I challenge myself to do some form of exerciser, even if it’s just stretching for 20 minutes.

I also challenge myself daily to count and enter my points online.

Between meals, I challenge myself to not snack.  I typically set a time that I would like to eat the next meal.  Take this morning, for example.  I had a small breakfast at 9:30 and made the decision to try to eat lunch at one.  So, I challenged myself to not snack on anything and to just eat my scheduled lunch.

Then at lunch time I eat my lunch.  After lunch I decide to eat dinner around six and to not snack until then.  Which usually means that I need to keep myself very, very busy to keep my mind and my stomach off of food.

At the end of the day, if I can succeed at all of my challenges, then I’ve had a very successful day!  I make a mental note of how good I feel that I did not let myself down and make sure to remind myself the next day of that great feeling if I have a hard time not snacking.

It’s amazing what a mental game this weight loss gig is, isn’t it?

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