Are you perpetually frustrated when it comes to dropping your freshman fifteen, your twenty-something twenty, your thirty-something thirty-something…? How about feel a little bit better about yourself and have more energy?

Me too!

Yep, I’m the same guy who was considering amputation just to shed a few pounds. But now I’ve got a great solution I’d like to share – and it doesn’t involve dismemberment. One I can speak positively of from personal (and extremely current) experience.

Here it is:

Set up a fitness group with like-minded friends and/or colleagues. Set a daily calorie intake goal, track what you eat (meet your calorie goal), and what you do (exercise).

That’s all we’re doing. We started about 5 weeks ago and formed what we call a “fitness challenge” to help us become more aware of what we’re eating/or not, and to ultimately, lose some weight (the one with the highest percentage of weight lost is the one who takes home the cash).

Now there isn’t even much structure to our group. We weigh in once a week (not even required) to chart our progress, but in the end whomever loses the most in our 12-week competition wins! You just have to weigh in when you begin, and when the contest ends.

Here are 2 things that have made the contest so successful for us so far and will for you too when you start your own:

1. Create a group site where you can chat about progress, invite others to run/walk/workout as a group, encourage others when necessary and talk smack when deserved. We chose livestrong.com. From the site, we all created our own free accounts that we’ve linked to a private forum that I set up in about 10 minutes. At Livestrong we can also read articles on health, fitness, diet, nutrition and get inspiration from people who have been there and lost weight themselves. Now I guess you can do this elsewhere, but my favorite part of the site is MyPlate, where you can track all the foods you eat and see the calorie count for everything you eat. Talk about an eye opener! All this is FREE, too. There is a premium part of the site, but I haven’t found it necessary–yet.
2. Make your workout routine a priority and keep track of what you do. Besides tracking what you eat, you really need to exercise consistently to burn off additional calories. I’m not a big gym person, or to0 good at standing in front of my TV and working out while trying not to fall into my coffee table (or TV for that matter). So I run–spiritedly, in fact.  I keep track of the time I spend running and the routes and input them all into my FREE account at runnersworld.com. In a way, it’s similar to the Livestrong site in that it allows you to track your progress (in this case, it’s distances, routes, calories burned, etc.). It even lets you track how far you’ve run in your shoes. The site also has more than I can ever read on running, fitness, nutrition, etc.

The takeaway here it to track what you’re doing. There’s no better way to see how well you’re eating or working out than putting it in print (or online) so you can keep focused on your goal daily.

Until next time,

Rob

P.S. – How am I doing you ask? Well five weeks into our challenge, I’m hangin’ tough. I’m in 3rd place having lost close to four percent of my original weight. Not a super-fast plan, but lifestyle changing. Plus, I’m making some new friends at work. I hope not to lose them when I kick their butts and take home the cash!

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