Thursday, March 19, 2009

Wellness Challenge -- The True Story


If you've read my novella Challenging Carter, you may remember the Wellness Challenge that Carter convinces Dani to enter. What you may not know is that the challenge is based on a real-life activity sponsored by my health club. (Okay, not really *my* health club. The health club I belong to.)


I've been participating in the Wellness Challenge for a couple of years now, signing up more often than not. For some reason, paying to enter the Challenge is a huge motivator for me. (I guess I just don't want to waste that $25.) If nothing else, it gets me to the club three times a week, which is better than nothing. And the idea of winning half the pot (which can be in the hundreds of dollars) is a motivating factor, too. I'm even taking some exercise classes this time around. Lots of fun, good instructor -- even if there is one woman who always sets up right in front of the instructor and DOES EVERYTHING WRONG. Seriously, wrong steps, wrong side, wrong tempo, wrong everything. It's very distracting.


So the current Challenge just ended, and yesterday I weighed out.


Not my favorite part.


It wasn't too bad, though. In ten weeks, I managed to lose three pounds and reduce my body fat percentage 3%. Not huge numbers, but better than gaining! (Signing up for a challenge over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays is an exercise in futility. New Year's is a better bet.)


I'm thinking it's time to step up the actual workouts when the next challenge rolls around in a couple of weeks, though. I've got a trip to Hawaii scheduled out a year or so, and I'd like to be swimsuit-ready by then. I've been watching the discussion of C25K (Couch to 5K) and debating starting.


Any other suggestions? Good ab workouts? I'd love to actually win the Challenge one of these days!

3 comments:

Diane Craver said...

That's wonderful you lost weight and reduced your body fat! I need to exercise. I'd be happy with any weight loss.

Have a great weekend, Kate!

Kytaira said...

Congrats on the weight loss. And even more so on the body fat loss!

Not really sure I can be much help. I need to loose alot of weight.

I don't know anything about the C25K callenge but since you like a challenge, this may be right for you.

It's been awhile since I had noticeable abs. Make that a long while! But I was doing Gin Miller's Slim & Trim Exercise Ball Workout. She was easy to follow and I noticed a change. I just never seem to keep with something like that.

I recently bought the core rhythm dvds. They are very easy to follow and do a great job of explaining how to move and where you should be feeling the move.

Kate Davies said...

Thanks, Diane and Kytaira!

I'm pretty sure the weight loss was temporary, at least since I celebrated by having a blizzard for the first time in ten weeks. :) Ah, well, back to the gym Monday!

And thanks for the suggestions, Kytaira. I'm always on the lookout for new workouts, because I get bored easily.