The Weigh In

Happy Wednesday, Shrinkers!!  Wow, here we are in February already!  How is that even possible?!  It seems like just a week or so ago that it was the start of the New Year and our first challenge of 2012!  So far, we’ve completed four full weeks of the challenge which means it’s time for another weekly check-in!

As for me, I’ve been doing pretty well considering I’m nursing a bum knee which makes exercise extremely difficult.  I’ll be having laparoscopic surgery on it fairly soon, so hopefully I’ll be able to get back to my workouts in the near future once I’ve recovered.  Even with the decreased exercise, I still managed to rid myself of 5.6 pounds in January.  Thank you Weight Watchers and GO ME!!

So, how about you? Have you been rockin’ it and shrinking yo’self?  If you have, well done!!  Keep up the great work! If not, never fear.  There’s still plenty of time to jump back on track and see progress before the end of our challenge on Feb. 29.

The Fitness Challenge

Our fitness challenge is the same each week. We’re asking you to do either 20 minutes of vigorous exercise three times weekly OR 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times weekly.  If you aren’t sure what the different is, check out Heather’s great explanation over here. Are you getting your weekly quota of exercise in?  Be sure to let us know how it’s going!

Have you joined us for the 52 Small Changes challenge? Week 5 is all about being positive and seeing the glass half full.  This is a principle I learned as a child from my Gran that I’ve tried to embrace throughout my life.  It’s definitely not always easy, but just like when we work out our muscles through exercise, being positive is also something you can get better at the more you exercise that “muscle” in your daily life, too. Give it a try!

If you haven’t joined us yet for the 52 Small Changes challenge, it’s not too late!  You can join this challenge any time and it will continue the rest of the year! Please join our group at the Hood for support, motivation and discussion.

Ok, enough from me.  It’s time for all of YOU to head on down to the form and check in for the week.  Have a great day and another great Shrink Yo’Self week!

Be sure to check out our newest development here at the Sisterhood: The Shrinking Kitchen. It’s our brand new site that just launched today!!

Sorry this post is up so late today, friends! Looks like somebody forgot to check the calendar this week!

The Weigh-In

Alrighty, get on the scale if you haven’t already! Fill in your numbers down below in the form, blog about your week, go offer your Shrinking Friends some support and encouragement, I’m sure they will do the same for you! Brand spankin’ new around these parts and want to join in the fun? All the details on this challenge can be found here!

The Assignment

Dear Me. We asked the future you of 2013 to write your present self a letter about all the wonderful things you did this year, as if you had already done them. We want you to talk to yourself about your accomplishments and what you learned, what you overcame, and so on. Have you written your letter yet? If not, DO IT! You won’t be sorry. Also, next January, when you pull out that letter and see all that you did do- it will be awesome. You can go here to link up your letter post and to read every one else’s Dear Me letters.

The Fitness Challenge

Our fitness challenge is the same each and every week. We’re asking you to do either 20 minutes of vigorous exercise three times weekly OR 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times weekly. Our rockstar Heather outlined the difference between vigorous exercise and moderate exercise over here. Are you getting your weekly quota of exercise in?

Other Business

• How many of you have joined us for the 52 Small Changes challenge? Week 3 consists of GETTING OFF THE COUCH. Please join our group at the Hood for support, motivation and discussion.
• Monday nights at 8 p.m. Central we gather at the ‘hood and have Sister Chat about all things healthy (and not-so-healthy)! It’s totally fun and funny. I promise you won’t be sorry if you come, but you will be sorry if you miss it!Every Tuesday, we have a Tworkout (Twitter + Workout = Tworkout) at 8 p.m. Central time. You won’t find a more fun workout anywhere, trust me!

The Check-In Form

So, last week was Christmas, and we all know how the holidays can sometimes go. You go here and eat and there and eat and this place and eat and that place and eat. So, let’s get that out of the way first, how was Christmas for everyone?! How were your holiday meals? I confess that I ate a little more than normal. But I did only stick with one dessert rather than sample all of them.

The 25th marked that last day of O, Fitness Tree-25 Days of Exercise. Did you get your 25 days in? Was it hard to squeeze in that little bit of exercise this time of year? Or did it help you keep from going overboard with everything?

Also, how did you do with the 10K A Day Challenge? Did you get those 10,000 steps in?

Now, it’s time for you to check in! Tell us how you did. You can either check-in in the comments below or blog all about it and leave the link to your post in the comments. Tell us how the holidays were for you! We want to know!

Don’t forget, we have a brand new challenge coming right your way soon, so don’t forget to check back on SUNDAY JANUARY 1ST for details! New Year = New Challenge, and let me tell you, it’s a good one! We’re calling it Shrink Yourself in 2012. There will be something for everyone (shrinkers and non-shrinkers) so tell all of your family and friends about it! Tweet it! Facebook it! Let’s make this the biggest challenge ever and start off the new  year right! (Please note: on Jan 1st, you will need to weight-in and check in that morning!)

Every one have a great day and rest of the week! See you next year! Bwahahahahaha!

How is everyone doing this fine day? I’m trying my hand at being annoyingly happy because I just received some very tragic news.

SNOW IS ON THE WAY!

Ugh. I realize this in no way effects anything having to do with weight loss or healthy living other than the fact that it makes me very unhappy, LOL!

Anyway, on with the post.

How did everyone do this week? Is our current 10KaDay challenge helping you in your weight loss efforts? Last night on The Biggest Loser, I heard them say that people used to get around 14,000 steps a day, but now we are down to around 3,000. That’s just crazy! Strap on those pedometers, folks, and get yourself moving!

You know what’s really been helping me? The O Fitness Tree. My six year old daughter is doing the challenge with me and she is usually the one that says “Mommy, is it time to do some fitness yet so I can get a sticker?” Or, “Mommy, don’t forget that you still have to go for a run!” She’s really been keeping me on my toes.

Gift giving time is just around the corner, so don’t forget to check out our Shrinking Gift List. You still have a few more days to enter to win the BodyMedia FIT Armband, so don’t delay! Check it out!

That’s it for me, everybody! Have a fantastic week!

Fitness Challenge

You guessed it, MINUTES! Gasp! Run, bike, jump, ski, you name it. Get that body sweating and your heart pumping. Pump, pump, pump it up! Count all of your fitness minutes and report them next week!

Mini-Challenge

How did you do last week with the water? Did you get in your daily dose? This week, I have a very, very hard challenge for you. I hate to even say it. Seriously. It pains me. Ouch.

I want you to STEP AWAY FROM THE CANDY. No.Candy. Okay, wait. I take that back. You can have 2 fun-size pieces. Total. All week. So you better pick the best two pieces from your kids’ buckets and then BACK OFF. No excuses. A little on the lips = a lifetime on the hips. ;)

We Don’t Want to Beg, But….

Go vote for us! I’m sure you’ve all heard by now that the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans was nominated for the Shape Magazine’s Best Blogger Award! We need your votes (oh, do we ever)!! Go right here and vote! It’s because of all of YOU that we were nominated in the first place, so THANK YOU!!

Run the ‘Hood

I can’t believe it’s over! Results will be posted at noon today! Stay tuned!

Prizes!

Now onto some more good stuff — remember that each week, we’ll be giving away an awesome gift pack to one random challenger! BODYGLIDE is providing some great products for our SHRINKVIVORS!

In order to qualify, you must check-in by our cut-off time of 9 p.m. CENTRAL time. Winner will be chosen via random.org and announced on this post tomorrow. Prize packs include:

For Women:
1 Bodyglide For Her .8oz
1 Liquified Powder Tube 1.6oz
1 WarmFx .45oz
1 Sun & Sport .45oz
1 Bodyglide Cap

For Men:
1 Original Anti Chafe 1.3oz
1 Liquified Powder Tube 1.6oz
1 WarmFx .45oz
1 Sun & Sport .45oz
1 Bodyglide Cap

Thanks to our awesome sponsors, we have some very sweet prizes for our Ultimate Shrinkvivor and Exiled Shrinkvivor.

Grand Prize Sponsors

More details coming soon!

Tribal council will be posted Thursday night, hosted by the one and only Thea Probst. Remember, if you don’t check in by 9 p.m. Central you will be OUT of the challenge. Get movin’ and fill out the check-in form!

Check-In

Go! Weigh! Report! Blog! Link! Or something like that. You know the drill by now, right? Make sure you link to your blog post below, and then go visit your fellow Sisters! Everyone needs a little love now and then! Make someone smile by leaving them a nice comment!

Linky!

Happy Shrinking!

It’s time for you to go and weigh in. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Now, go fill out the check in form. Be sure to fill in all the spaces. Be sure that you do this BEFORE 9:00 p.m. CENTRAL time. If you do not check in by 9:00 p.m. Central time you will be disqualified and who wants that to happen?

It is also time for you blog about your week and link up in the linky thing below. Be sure you go visit the other shrinkvivors who have linked up and leave a comment so they know you were there!

Fitness Challenge
Every week we issue a physical challenge. The physical challenge is something you must do in order to try and secure the Immunity Idol for your tribe. The immunity idol will give your tribe immunity for the week and keep someone from your tribe from being voted to Exile Island.

Last week we kept track of our exercise minutes. We liked that so much that we are doing it again this week. Get out there and walk, run, zumba, go to boot camp or whatever it is that you like to do. Make sure you keep track of your minutes.

Mini-Challenge
This week’s mini-challenge is something that I struggle with just about every day. We are going to try to get a good nights sleep. I am the worst at this. We should all be sleeping at least 7 hours a night, 9 is even better. I average about 5 or 5 1/2 hours a night. Not good at all! So let’s all give this a try. I promise you’ll feel better with more rest and it will even help with weight loss. That is what Marci Crozier from last season’s Biggest Loser said Monday night when I saw her.

Remember that each week, we’ll be giving away an awesome gift pack to one random challenger! BODYGLIDE is providing some great products for our SHRINKVIVORS!
In order to qualify, you must check-in by our cut-off time of 9 p.m. CENTRAL time. Winner will be chosen via random.org and announced on this post tomorrow. Prize packs include:

For Women
1 Bodyglide For Her .8oz
1 Liquified Powder Tube 1.6oz
1 WarmFx .45oz
1 Sun & Sport .45oz
1 Bodyglide Cap

For Men
1 Original Anti Chafe 1.3oz
1 Liquified Powder Tube 1.6oz
1 WarmFx .45oz
1 Sun & Sport .45oz
1 Bodyglide Cap

Thanks to our awesome sponsors, we have some very sweet prizes for our Ultimate Shrinkvivor and Exiled Shrinkvivor.

Grand Prize Sponsors
Body Glide
Road ID
Hydrapak
Ryders Eyewear
Gu Energy
Pearl Izumi

More details coming soon!

Tribal council will be posted Thursday night. Remember, if you don’t check in by 9 p.m. Central you will be OUT of the challenge. Get movin’ and fill out the check-in form!

Check-In Form

Mr. Linky

Hello Shrinkvivors!! Welcome to Shrinking Jeans Island. Here you will join with your tribemates and try to Outfit, Outlose, and Outlast the competition!

If you’re new to SHRINKVIVOR, please go check out the Frequently Asked Questions right now! It will make everything much easier to understand.

So what do you need to do right now? Go weigh yourself!! If you’re in it to win it, you need to take a photograph of your weight on the scale. No need to get all jazzy, just click it with your camera phone and make sure you save it. If you do end up being in the running for our Ultimate Shrinkvivor title, we’ll need to see that photo so we know everything’s kosher. Sound good? Good!

After you weigh, go blog about it and link up below in our fantabulous linky thingy. We make it easy for you to hop around the island and spy, I mean support, the competition!

Challenge

Every week we’ll issue a physical challenge. The physical challenge is something you must do in order to secure the Immunity Idol for your team. The immunity idol will give your tribe immunity for the week and keep someone from your team from being voted to Tribe Exile. Got it?

This week’s physical challenge is to get up and get moving. As in exercising! We are going to count ALL EXERCISE MINUTES towards this week’s Fitness Challenge.  So if you run, walk, jump rope, swim, bike, go to bootcamp, Zumba, spin, weight-train, Jazzercize, belly dancing, #tworkout, go to yoga (etc.) it counts. If you park in the furthest spot at the grocery store and walk for 2 minutes to the door, or if you walk fast to the coffee maker, it DOES NOT count. You must be exercising to count your minutes. A great way to log your minutes, it to sign up for a free account on Daily Mile. All the cool tribes are doing it….

Each week, we’ll be giving away an awesome gift pack to one random challenger that will keep the chafe at bay! BODYGLIDE is providing some great products for our SHRINKVIVORS! If you’ve never used BODYGLIDE, you’re missing out! It’s not just for the chub rub, but also works wonders at preventing blisters, clothing chafe, and I even used it on my chapped lips when I ran the San Diego Rock N Roll 1/2 marathon last June!

In order to qualify, you must check-in by our cut-off time of 9 p.m. CENTRAL time. Winner will be chosen via random.org and announced on this post tomorrow.

Prize Sponsors

• Road ID
• GU Energy
• Hydrapak 
• Ryders Eyewear

Thanks to our sponsors, we have some very sweet prizes for our Ultimate Shrinkvivor and Exile Shrinkvivor. We’ll give you more details on those prizes soon!

Check-In Form

Link-up!

FINALLY

Make sure you fill out the check-in form BEFORE 9 p.m. CENTRAL time tonight, okay? So when it’s 10 back east, it’s time. If it’s 7 in the west, it’s time. Those of you in mountain time are just odd, so figure it out :P ONLY KIDDING!

If you don’t check in by 9 p.m. CENTRAL time, you are OUT. No ifs, ands, or butts about it. (Unless of course you let us know in advance and have a damn good reason! And by advance we don’t mean at 8:59 p.m.)

All prizes have been generously donated by our sponsors! We were not compensated to tell you how awesome they are!

So tell me, how did you do this week? Did you take a break after the Burst Into Summer Challenge? If so, no worries, but don’t let yourself slide down that slippery slope and undo all the good you did over the past few months.

So go for it! Weigh yourself, blog about it, and come back here and leave your link! If you’re not a weigher, then let us know how you did this week. Did you stick to your eating goals? How did you do with your fitness? Are you joining in on the C25K program we’re currently doing?

Last but not least, have you registered for the Run the ‘Hood Virtual 5K/10K and 1 mile Family Fun Run? If not, what are you waiting for? It’s going to be a BLAST!

Some other things you might want to check out:

• We’re menu planning our butts off at the Sisterhood! Plan your menu, blog about it, and link up each Sunday!
• This week’s Sister Spotlight was on Julie, our Burst Into Summer Challenge Champion!
• One of our favorite Sisters, Tiffany Zook, is doing an excellent series on Charity Racing. You can see her first article on Finding Your Passion, and her second on Demystifying Fundraising. Both excellent reads for those interested in charity racing, and those who’ve never even thought about it!

It’s Wednesday, and not only is it hump day (am I the only one who giggles like a ten year old boy at that saying?) – it’s also the day where we say hello to our friend the scale.

How did it go? Are you still on speaking terms with Ms. Scale? Did you give her the stink eye? Did you kneel down and give her a kiss?

However it went, you know the drill…blog all about it and link up! We want to hear all about your week. Good, bad and ugly.

If you had a great week? High five, friend! You rock!

Not so good? Hugs and a huge kick in the tush. We love you, but get on with it already. We KNOW you can do it.  Rah rah!

Make sure you make the rounds and hit up your other sisters (and brothers) blogs. Everyone needs some bloggy lovin’.

MINI CHALLENGE

Last week our mini-challenge was kicking fast food to the curb! How did it go? I am happy to report that we partook in NO fast food in this house last week. And believe me, I was tempted. When it’s 5:oo and nothing is defrosted for dinner and the baby is in full blood curdling scream mode (colic, oy vey) and the three year old is attempting to make his own dinner out of eggs and watermelon? It’s hard not to get in the car and drive to the nearest golden arches (and liquor store). My best weapon is a fridge full of fresh veggies and whole wheat pasta. I can usually cobble together something edible in ten minutes. That’s even faster than hitting the drive thru.

This week is a new challenge, and it’s one that I NEED, badly: for this week, SLEEP  7+ HOURS PER NIGHT (or go to bed one hour earlier). I have a two month old. Wish me luck.

To accomplish this goal, I need to:

• Realize that being well rested is more important than catching up on housework. It can wait.
• Go to bed without my iPad and leave the TV off. It’s amazing how much later I stay up if I’m stalking people on Facebook reading.
• Get the baby to go to sleep when I say. If someone knows how I can do this, I’ll pay you a million dollars.

Do you have any other tips for getting more (and better quality) rest? Feel free to share them in the comments below!

Don’t forget, New Balance is sponsoring this challenge, and that means the winners will get a new pair of New Balance Bootcamp Training Shoes. How sweet is that? To be eligible to win, your team will need to check-in EACH WEEK BY 9 p.m. CENTRAL TIME. No exceptions.

One last thing! If you want to join the challenge, make sure you register HERE first, mkay? You can join anytime!

Now get out there and burst into summer! Burst I say! (Not literally. That would be gross.)

CHECK IN FORM:

Good morning bursting into summer-ers!

How are we feeling today? Have we hopped onto that scale this morning? (Was he/she your friend?)

I have to say my scale was pretty good to me but only because of ills that hath befallen our house, and though it’s definitely not my favorite way to lose 3 pounds,  it’s definitely a bonus, especially when it has sidelined me from working out. I hope, however, that you are all healthy and losing happily!

Go forth and blog about your week and let us know how you’re doing so far! There is still a LOT of time left to kick it up a notch so if it was a slow start, DO.NOT.FRET. Mkay?

MINI CHALLENGE

Last week our mini-challenge was to get in your fruits and veggies! How did you do?? We were extremely successful in getting our 5 year old to LOVE sliced zucchini. So much so, he wanted to leave zucchini slices for the toothfairy for a snack, which he did, and which she loved (or so I heard.) This week is a new challenge, one that I am VERY EXCITED to partake in: for this week, NO FAST FOOD. What do you think? Too hard? Too easy? For me, it’s hard. But worth it.

In order to change this habit, I have to change other habits, like:

• take our lunch to the pool for after swim lessons instead of driving through afterward
• No Dunkin Donuts as a reward. No, not even Munchkins.
• Being prepared for lunches in general, which means shopping.

Do you have any other tips for avoiding fast food? Feel free to share them in the comments below!

Don’t forget, New Balance is sponsoring this challenge, and that means the winners will get a new pair of New Balance Bootcamp Training Shoes. How sweet is that? To be eligible to win, your team will need to check-in EACH WEEK BY 9 p.m. CENTRAL TIME. No exceptions.

PSSSST! If you want to join the challenge, make sure you register HERE first, mkay? You can join anytime!!!

CHECK IN FORM: