WOW — All Awesome Things Must Come to an End

It appears we’ve come to the end of the Get active. Get AWESOME! Exercise Challenge, and I have to say, it was awesome while it lasted. What started as sort of a New Year’s Resolution lasted through 5 months of the year, which is far longer than most eat-better-exercise-more resolutions last. For that, I am incredibly proud of each and every one of us. Seriously you guys, we are so awesome! And it’s not like our resolve to be more active has ended; hopefully for most of us it’s only our resolve to document how active we are that has waned. As I said last week, just because we’re no longer reporting minutes doesn’t mean we’re no longer getting active and getting AWESOME!

To conclude this truly awesome challenge in the most awesome way we could think of, Anna, Deidra, and I decided that rather than announcing this month’s top five, we’d go out with a bang and announce the people with the highest total minute counts from January 1st all the way through May 31. The GRAND PRIZE WINNER — the person with the most activity minutes overall — will not only get the Awesome Trophy, but she will get to keep it for-ev-er. Awesome, right?

Before we get to that, though, let’s crunch some numbers. In the 5 months of GaGA, there were 218,880 minutes in which we had the opportunity to get active. Of those 218,880 minutes, we Awesome GaGA Participants were active for a total of 87,338 minutes, or 1,455 hours and 38 minutes. Or, for those of you who are percentage-minded, we were active for 39.9% of the last 5 months. You guys. That is a lot of awesome activity! Every last one of you should be incredibly proud of what you’ve accomplished.

Okay, are you ready to break down those numbers and see who was the most active over the last 5 months? Without further ado, the top 10 overall GaGA participants are . . .

10. Christar! With 2,496 minutes!

9. Lauren! With 2,875 minutes!

8. KM! With 4,550 minutes!

7. Audrey! With 4,940 minutes!

6. Erin! With 6,280 minutes!

5. Lindsey! With 6,285 minutes!

4. Heather! With 6,715 minutes!

3. Kat! With 6,918 minutes!

And the runner-up, who will keep the GaGA trophy should the winner be unable to fulfill her duties, is . . .

2. Suzanne! With 9,306 minutes!

At this point, the remaining contestants are all holding hands, hoping to win but preparing their Gracious Loser Smiles just in case. Everyone in the audience is on the edges of their seats, just dying to know who gets to keep that fabulous trophy in her home forever and ever. Are you ready? Can you not take another second of suspense? Okay. The Awesome Winner is . . .

(drumroll)

1. OPH!!! With 9,630 minutes, or 160.5 hours of activity in the last 5 months!

Now, I don’t have a “There She Is, Miss Active and AWESOME” song to sing (sorry OPH!), but I would like to say congratulations once again to everyone on becoming more active and more awesome in 2008. And thanks for making GaGA so much fun for us. We had a blast, and we hope you did too.

Stay Awesome, you guys!

WOW — It’s Not You, It’s Us

Gather round, y’all; we need to have a little chat.

The past five months have been truly Awesome, but due to changing circumstances and schedules, Anna, Deidra, and I feel that it’s time for us to step down as leaders of Get active. Get AWESOME! Much as we have loved getting active and getting AWESOME, none of us has the time necessary to give GaGA the dedication and leadership it deserves. We will finish out the month of May, but that will be it for the three of us.

But! Just because we are short on time doesn’t mean GaGA has to come to an end. Would any of you awesome ladies be interested in taking over the operation? We’ll turn over this blog and the monday minutes email to anyone who wants it, and GaGA will be completely in your hands. I can’t speak for Anna and Deidra, but I know I would still love to participate in the challenge — just because I won’t be helping run the challenge any more doesn’t mean I’m going to stop being active. So if you’re interested, please leave a comment or send us an email!

If nobody is able to take over, thens May will be the last month of this exercise challenge. Of course we all hope that the challenge can continue in the coming months, but in case it doesn’t, we do have a back-up plan that will ensure that GaGA ends in the most Awesome way possible. So get as many awesome activity minutes in as you can next week and be sure to report them on Monday. I’ll post the Winners next Wednesday along with either an introduction of your new Awesome Leaders (hopefully!) or a final farewell.

Stay awesome, y’all!

–Audrey

WOW — Is it really Wednesday?

This week has been crazy busy for me, both at work and at home, and I find that I generally have no idea what day it is lately. I’m so scatterbrained that I actually sent out a work email requesting that elements of a design be moved from the left side of the page to the right side, only to have my boss come back and tell me, “No, it’s on the right side already. We want it moved to the left.” Nothing makes you feel quite as awesome as giving your boss the impression that you don’t know your left from your right.

You know what does make you feel awesome, though? Being uber productive at cleaning up your mess of a yard . . . and racking up a ton of activity minutes in the process! All the time I spent moving rocks last week, in addition to my normal weekly exercises, landed me in second place for the week.

And with that, let’s get on to the rankings.

In 5th place this week we have Suzanne, whose recent post on The Princess Bride made me wish I could skip work and spend some quality time with Wesley and Buttercup, with 385 minutes.

In 4th, Kat, who has some great recent additions on her art site, with 405. (You know the totals are high when the top 4 all have more than 400 minutes!)

In 3rd is the lovely OPH, whose last post had me craving garlic in a major way, with 445 minutes.

I landed myself in 2nd place with 545 hard-earned minutes.

And in 1st . . . y’all are not going to believe this number when I tell you, so brace yourselves . . . we have Heather with . . . are you ready? . . . 800 minutes! Holy guacamole! Heather says she’s been taking advantage of the nice weather with long hikes — lucky her! I think we may need a testimonial post from Heather, what do you think?

Congrats to everyone this week — everyone who reported in had very impressive totals. You are all incredibly awesome!

WOW - In Case You Didn’t Notice It’s Not Actually Wednesday

You’ll notice that it is not Wednesday.  In fact, it is almost Friday.  It is all my fault, all week long I’ve been one day behind.  I don’t want to keep you waiting any longer so I’ll make it short and sweet.

For the last week of April our top 5 were:

Erin - 225

OPH - 190

Heather - 150

Lindsey - 102

Kat and Me! - 90  (This is what happens when only 9 people send in minutes, I somehow manage to crack the top 5).

And for the entire month of April we have the following, from fifth to first:

Lindsey - 1237

Erin - 1395

Audrey - 1415

Kat - 1525

AND in first place for April is

OPH with 2245 minutes! 

Congrats!  We’ll be contacting you.

Flab to Fab - Maintaining

Wait, did I forget to mention that this is going to be a bi-weekly feature? No? Um, well I think it’s turning out that way.

I really, really wish I had great news to report, but unfortunately the scale has been stuck at 142 since my last weigh in. I seem to have weeks where I eat pretty well but don’t exercise or I get a lot of exercise and eat crap. Somehow I need to figure out how to do both simultaneously.

This week is a perfect example. I got decent workouts in four days in a row using the elliptical and hiking at the dog park. I even made a tasty stir fry for dinner on Monday night, but I also ate Chipotle on Wednesday and Wendy’s tonight. Ugh. I’ve been pretty lazy lately about cooking (as you can obviously tell) so this weekend I’m going to hit up the library for some healthy cookbooks and then do some major grocery shopping and meal planning on Sunday. If you have a favorite healthy recipe I’d love for you to share it! Also, healthy snack ideas would be great too.

Audrey had a down week too. Her dilemma? A freelance proofreading assignment that is taking up a lot of her evenings and weekends time leaving little time for her awesome husband Tim, let alone working out. I think we can all relate. Everyone is busy - how and when do you find the time to exercise? Tell us! Especially those of you GaGAs that seem to have huge numbers each week. Fortunately Audrey ate well this week so she maintained her number of 129.

Here’s to a productive and healthy week next week - or next two weeks!

WoW! I’m baaaaaaaaaack!

Hey everyone…The Bug here…I’ve been MIA around these parts lately, and I haven’t been very active OR awesome, but now that we’re allowed in the competition?  I’m stepping it up a notch!  Let’s get to it!

In first place….KAT!  with 840 minutes!  She spent her Sunday working hard and has been kicking some serious BOOTIE at the gym.  Keep it up, Kat! 

In second…with 515 minutes…OPH!  OPH is no stranger to being in our top three…I think it’s about time those of us that have been hanging out at the bottom (me included!) start making her work harder for her top 3 status!

And our third place finisher for Week 4 of April is Heather!! with 445 minutes!!!!

Way to go everyone!  I have vacation coming up in June, so I’m going to be getting BUSY!  And even if you don’t have vacation coming, shorts and short sleeves are on their way to a town near you!

Have an AWESOME week!  And don’t forget to send us your testimonials!

WOW — The Competition Just Got Tougher

The three of us discussed last week’s comments, and after about 5 seconds of deliberation, we have decided to officially join the competition. No longer will your three humble moderators stand back and simply observe how awesomely active y’all are. No longer will our minutes count for nothing more than a few calories burned and a few muscles toned. Who cares about calories and muscles when there are prizes to be had? Not us!

So step up your game, ladies. You’re now competing with one another AND with Anna, Deidra, and I. Game on!

Here are the top 5 minute-earners from the last week:

1. Operation Pink Herring! With 510 awesome minutes!

2. Me, me, ME! With 315 minutes! (Have I mentioned that I’m very competitive? And that I REALLY like to win? Oh, it’s on.)

3. Lauren! Who earned many of the same minutes as me when we went hiking together last weekend. She pulled in 300 minutes this week.

4. Lindsey! With 295 minutes!

5. Erin! Who, despite being sick last week, still earned 255 awesome minutes!

Great job, everyone!

Flab to Fab Week 3

I apologize for the lack of an update last week.  I was battling some weird flu-like disease.  Unfortunately that disease did nothing to help my quest for fabulous-ness.  I do have an exciting bit of news to share.  It looks like I’ll have a partner on this little journey of mine!  The very awesome Audrey has asked for a piece of the action.  Each week we’ll both share our progress.

I was really proud of last week.  I felt like I made good food choices about 85% of the time (the other 15% included 2 pieces of pound cake at work and a trip to McDonald’s).  On Sunday night I cut up fruit and vegetables to bring for work snacks and along with eating low fat vanilla yogurt for breakfast every day and taking smaller portions at meals I ended up losing a half of a pound.  

This week was pretty much the exact opposite.  My best day was Tuesday when a combination of getting over being sick and whacked out emotions led me to eat exactly 14 saltines and two clementines.  The rest of the week was a mix of greasy food from the work cafeteria and frozen pizzas or meals out for dinner. 

Unfortunately due to the above mentioned flu and emotional upheaval I didn’t work out much at all.  One of my main problems with regular exercise is that I get really, really bored.  Some nights I’m fine with slogging through 45 minutes on the elliptical (I’m very, very lucky to have one in my basement) but a majority of the time I quit after 10 or 20 because I just have too many other things I want to do and I can’t force myself to keep at it.  My goal for this week is to try circuit training.  I think the short bursts of different exercises will help keep me interested.  I also want to try to fit in fifteen minutes of exercise each morning before work.  I know it doesn’t sound like much, but I LOVE those extra fifteen minutes of sleep each morning.  My overall goal with F to F is to change my bad habits.  Choosing exercise over sleep (and veggies over fries) is one small step in that direction.

My dirty details for Week 3:

Current Weight:  141 lbs (I was actually surprised that I didn’t gain more)
Weight Last Week:  139.5 lbs
Left to Lose:  11 lbs

Here is Audrey’s info from her first week:

Weight: 129 (According to my $5 scale that probably isn’t super accurate, but it’ll do.)

Goal: 125 (I think. I’d like to say 120, but that might be too skinny — especially if I’m replacing fat with muscle. I figure I’ll get to 125 and re-evaluate from there. Mostly I want to tone up — lose the love handles, the rolls in my stomach, and the double chin that occasionally rears its ugly face.)

Training: My tap class always kicks my butt on Mondays, and it’s a great way to start the week. I did a few other little things throughout the week, but the day I’m most proud of is Thursday, when I actually went home and worked out for the first time in a long time. Lately I’ve been lacking the motivation to work out on my own — without the structure of my dance class or my at-work walking buddy getting me to go on a lunchtime walk, it’s far too easy for me to spend an entire evening on the couch. I need to get back in the habit of working out in the evenings, and on Thursday I took the first step toward getting back on track with an intense 30 minutes of cardio. And it felt great!

Eating: Best — I have been much better lately at not eating when I’m not hungry. Rather than stuffing myself on dinner, I’ll just eat until I’m full (but not bursting) and then stop. Like Deidra said in her comment on last week’s post, this is one of the most important steps toward keeping the weight off. Worst — On Thursday, I had Chipotle for lunch. And, uh, stuffed myself completely on that delicious carnitas burrito. But at least I worked out that night!

And this week:

Weight: 129 still, but at least it didn’t go up!

Training: I spent all weekend doing squats and step-ups while painting, and I’ve also exercised every day this week. Last night (Wednesday) I did 45-min of cardio and then a 10-minute ab toning workout off of one of my workout DVDs, and I really liked it. My goal is to do at least 3 of these Cardio+Abs workouts every week, and get some form of exercise — whether it be a lunchtime walk, a hike, or weight training — every other day of the week. That oughta help burn the calories and tone those lovehandles away, right? (Absolutely! This is what I’m trying to do too. -Anna)

Eating: Best — last night Tim made delicious spaghetti and meatballs and even though I REALLY wanted seconds, I knew I didn’t NEED any more food since I was no longer hungry, and I resisted the temptation. And there was some STRONG temptation, believe me! (Okay, I may have eaten a couple of extra meatballs when I was putting the leftovers away, but, um, they wouldn’t all fit in the tupperware. Yeah, that’s it!)

Worst — I had more fast-food lunches this week than I really should have. (I hear you. I did too. -Anna)

————————————————————————————-
Your assignment for this week (What? You didn’t realize there would be homework? Well, technically it’s optional) is to share your favorite healthy snacks and fun workouts.

Tell us what you eat that’s healthy, but easy and great-tasting too.

How do you beat the workout blahs? What do you do to change it up? Keep it fun?

Enough questions? I’d say so.

WOW — In Which You Guys Rock and So Do I

Hey, y’all! It’s me again, with another installment of Work Out Wednesday.

You guys totally rocked it this week, as usual. Let’s cut the small talk and get right to business, shall we?

Leading the way for the second week in April is — you guessed it — OPH with 440 minutes.

Coming in second is Suzanne with 330, followed by Erin in third with 285.

Rounding out fourth and fifth places are Lindsey and Lauren with 212 and 207 minutes respectively.

And just because she was THISCLOSE to placing this week, only missing 5th place by 2 little minutes, I’m gonna give a special shout out to Kat for her 205 minutes.

Well done, ladies!

Now, would it be okay if I bragged for just a minute or two? It would? Awesome, thanks. As you’ll see when Anna posts this week’s Flab to Fab Friday (she missed last week, but promises to be back with a vengeance this week!), I’m working hard at stepping up my activity levels. I know, I know, as one of your moderators I should really be setting an awesome example for all of you, but what can I say? Since I’m not able to join the competition, and my main motivator for working out is apparently my competitive spirit, I just haven’t been getting as much exercise as I should be.

But that’s all about to change. Or, rather, has already changed, as I clocked in an impressive (if I do say so myself) 590 minutes last week! Granted, the main reason I got so many minutes in is because I painted pretty much the entire main level of my house over the weekend (don’t even try to tell me that painting isn’t exercise — after almost 8 hours of squats and step ups [gotta get to every part of the wall -- floor to ceiling!] my legs are STILL sore!). And even though painting isn’t an activity I do regularly (thank goodness!), earning that many minutes made for a great first week of my new exercise-more resolve. Although I know better than to aspire to 500+ minutes every week (come on, I’m no OPH!), I am feeling extra motivated to do more than I have been. And that, my friends, is awesome!

With summer approaching, I think earning those minutes is going to be easier than ever. Between hiking, early evening dog walks, and yard work, warmer weather means more opportunities to get off the couch, get outside, get active, and get AWESOME!

So tell me, what outdoor activities are you most looking forward to as summer approaches?

WOW — April Showers Bring March Winners!

This first week of April seems to have left a lot of you feeling less than awesome, am I right? Is that why only 12 of you reported minutes this week? Y’all, I know you’re out there being active and awesome — but if you don’t tell us about it then you can’t get any of the glory (or prizes)!

Anyway, those of you that did report minutes clearly have gotten April off to an Awesome start. Let’s look at the numbers, shall we?

Coming in first with the high total we’ve come to expect from her, is OPH with 590 minutes!

Holding strong in second is Erin with 360.

In third and fourth place are Kat and Lindsey, with a respectable 300 and 295 minutes respectively.

And in a very close fifth is Christar with 273 minutes.

Way to go, girls!

Now, was there something else we were supposed to be talking about today? Something really important maybe? Something like . . . I don’t know . . . March’s Totally Awesome Winners!

Thanks to all those hours logged moving boxes and furniture, I’m pleased to announce that Suzanne is our big winner this month with 3,905 minutes! Way to go, Suzanne!!

The rest of the top five, who will all get to display awesome March Winner badges on their blogs are:

• Heather in 2nd place with 1,995 minutes.
• Kirsten in 3rd with 1,960.
• OPH in 4th with 1,780
• and Lindsey in 5th with 1,559

Congratulations to March’s Totally Awesome Winners! You all kicked some serious exercise booty this past month! Watch your inboxes for an email with details on how to claim your fabulous prizes! (Due to technical difficulties at the SangriaLover household, the winners’ badges won’t be available until tomorrow — sorry!)

To everyone else participating in GaGA, congratulations to you, too, for being incredibly Awesome! Anna, Deidra, and I are seriously impressed with all of your minutes every single week. Keep up the good work!

When you comment this week, help us help you — tell us what we can do to make GaGA work better for you. Is there anything you’d like to see us do that we’re not doing already? GaGA is all about you guys, so let us know if there’s anything we can do to make it more awesome!

Don’t forget to check out Anna’s Flab to Fab Fridays. She’s inspired me to jump on the Flab to Fab bandwagon, and we’ll be doing joint posts starting this week. It’s sure to be awesome, so check it out!

Audrey