Jammin' January — Weight Off My Shoulders

Welcome to 2012 everyone! Who else is as excited as I am for what it can hold? Who else set some great fitness goals for the 366 days 2012 holds? I am coming off one of the best months I have had weight loss wise in awhile: Dynamic December.

Here is the biggest thing I hope to accomplish this month ... hit my new goal weight. That means I need to lose 4.2 lbs this month. It will be tough with my work schedule picking up, but I am going to give it a whirl! And here is my motivation:

So let's get on to a new phase: Jammin' January! Catchy? Maybe? No?

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1) #100ozchallenge - This is actually the first challenge that I started on my own! I have even had 15 people say they are interested in participating. Woo! I feel wicked cool. Okay, that wasn't cool. Dammit!

Anyway, this is a pretty simple challenge: drink at least 100oz water a day. That's it. Keep yourself hydrated during the winter months. I just saw on twitter today that "Dehydration can cause ageing & can slow down metabolism as much as 3%" - I am here to not let that happen! Stay hydrated!!

2) #plankaday - This has been lifechanging for me. I am not one for crunches, especially with my back injury, so this is a great way to get some core work in without sitting and doing a bunch of crunches - I don't want to do - on the floor.

This program was started by Dr. Sherry Pagoto (@drsherrypagoto) and is open to interpretation. For me, I started with doing a 60 second forearm plank every day for a week. The next week I upped it by 5 seconds and did 65 second forearms planks every day for a week. I did 5 second increments until I could hold a forearm plank for 120 seconds - yes! I can hold a plank for 2 minutes. Ahhh, I never thought that was possible.

I am now working on improving my side planks. This week I am doing 2 60 second straightarmed planks and 2 45 second straightarmed planks on both sides.

I am going to continue to do my #plankaday every day. I am enjoying the versatility and loving the #plankaday community.

3) #30for60 - The #30for60 challenge was created by Samantha (@runcupcake) and Jim (@runbikesurf). The jist is to keep people moving for a minimum 30 minutes every day for the next 60 days (so December 1-February 1). This will helpfully be an easier task for me since I will be using the same activity for Weight Watchers, #30daychip & #30for60. But, I will take as much motivation as I can.

This challenge does have a possible prize attached to it, but I don't usually get caught up in those since I don't usually win contests. :P

4) #back2basics - I think this is a great challenge and it was a huge success for me last month. I also like this challenge (started by Colleen - @tryn2bfit) because it again leaves the choice of what you focus on up to the individual. I think that is a great way to keep people's attention and driven when they are working on something extremely personal.

For me, I will be focusing on hitting all 6 of the Weight Watchers Healthy Guidelines. Every day of the month I will be sure to have my required amounts of liquids (water), fruits/veggies, vitamins, dairy, healthy oils & exercise.

5) #FT100- This is an amazing challenge set up by a couple of my fellow #FFCheer peeps. For me, it was a no-brainer to join. The deal: run 100 miles by January 31, 2012 - roughly 62 days). This works out to about 1.6 miles a day or a little over 11 miles a week.

Unfortunately, I have been derailed in this challenge due to a recent IT band/patella injury so with 30 days remaining I am just 34 miles in to the 100 needed. It's okay. I am going to keep trying and get back to it whenever my Physical Therapist gives me the a-ok.

6) #30daychip - I owe a lot of success to the man that created the #7daychip/#30daychip program: Brad Gansberg (@bradgansberg). He has been a great motivator and has gotten me back on track more times than I can count.

This is yet another great challenge that you set for yourself. I have done a few different #7daychip topics, which you can see here.

The basic premise is to do something healthy for seven consecutive days ... or if you are feeling like you want a real challenge you can go for 30 or 100 days.

For this, #30daychip (which today marks Day 36) I am looking to track my food every day. That means: log it into Weight Watchers eTools, write it up as a food log post on my blog and Facebook/Tweet it out.

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What will you be doing to make the most out of your own Jammin' January?