Ok you. I was just going to run my errands, then come home and veg ... but thanks to your inspiration, I decided to stop at the Y for a 30 minute walk. :-)

I love all the tips, but I hope that when people only eat half the hamburger they save the other half for later or share it with someone. Please don't waste food that a precious animal died to provide! : ) Okay, that's my mini stump speech.

It's lent, so now is a good time to replace those fatty red meats with lean proteins like fish! I'm amazed by how many calories I've cut by eating more fish. The past few days we've had swordfish, ahi, salmon, and tonight we're having tilapia. Shrimp is another great one. We used to buy bags of frozen shrimp and portion them out into little bags. They defrost in no time and were so easy to put together a quick meal. I think I'll remind my hubby and we'll get back into that habit!

YAY!! Thank you Davina!! I love these Move It Monday posts....It's so fun to read what everyone else does!! :)

Congrats Nicole! My goal for this month is to get swimming again! That combined with yoga, I should feel great all month!! I'm so excited!! i'll keep everyone posted!

I am struggling due to an unexplained knee injury....cant exercise so I get a little bummed! i am trying to stick with all my new habits, but i find that pain makes you more succeptible to just eating whatever!!!! :-(

tomorrow will be better....

Congrats Nicole! So, after reading this I asked my husband if he wanted to go to the gym and he said, No, he's too tired. (The gym is right across the street, you'd think we'd go more! ;)
So, me and my daughter just played and ran around our living room for about 20 minutes, whew what a workout trying to keep up with her!

Today I ran for 15 minutes and walked for about ten to cool down. I ended up running about a mile and half. Yesterday I worked my arms, so tomorrow will be my legs. I also left part of my lunch and didn't go back for seconds even though I was pretty hungry. I am excited to be running again and have made the goal of being under 200 pounds by my birthday which is in 3 weeks. Thanks for the inspiration, Davina, and ladies, she is totally living the lifestyle of 20 minutes a day and leaving something on her plate every meal...I'm not kidding!

Congratulations Nicole :) My big downfall is not being prepared or running out of time to workout. Excuses! So this week I packed my "Raw" bars put them in my desk at work and eat one when I am hungry and then walk at lunchtime. I make sure I've packed hand foods that I can eat without heating etc..so that I do have that extra time to walk before lunch is over. Little things that work.

We finally unwrapped some salad bowls that were a wedding gift. The bonus is they're twice the size of regular bowls. SO ... now before dinner, we both eat big salads (I usually eat vinigarette dressing ... b/c it's lighter!). I'm also trying to have TWO veggies at dinner (I don't eat nearly enough of them). The big salad, and another veggie. It ain't easy for me to get them both in .... but I know my body needs them.

Congrats Nicole! I've also been working with a tricky knee and am determined to keep going one way or another. Yesterday I worked out with my weights and floor exercises while watching "What Not to Wear". I felt good afterwards. My newest challenge is the "plank". Basically you rest your front half on your forearms, your back half on your toes. I am up to 30 seconds. It is intense! You have to keep your body straight and aligned. Today I will walk to pick up my son from school. I have an arnica cream from Whole Foods for my knee. Also I go to acupuncture and the spot in question ties to my spleen. She recommended going off of wheat and dairy to help my "soggy" spleen. I know this sounds crazy, but I have been off wheat and dairy before. I know how good I will feel and how I can easily drop weight doing this. I am willing to try anything to keep walking. You may still eat "carbs", just in other forms like oats and rice. Wow. Hope I have something to say next time!

Karen, GOOD FOR YOU!! YAY!

Gwendolyn, I love fish. How are you preparing your dishes?

Yay for Deb!

Rebekah, I hear you! Are you in physical therapy or just in the first week of trying to recover from surgery?

Kayleen, way to make the most of the situation! You got your 20 minutes in...awesome.

Thanks, Mike. I'm excited that you are feeling the 20 minute plan!

Ingrid, way to make a plan! I love it!!

Karen, great idea on the veggies. I started that with my family at dinner time a while ago and got totally away from it. A salad and two veggies at dinner is a great way to eat a lot of healthy stuff and not pack on the weight.

Laura, what a lot of great info in your comment. Thanks! I'm totally going to have to try the Plank. It sounds like a really great core exercise...and it sounds hard to do!! Good luck going off of wheat and dairy. I've gone off dairy before and it's not easy but you will feel really good!

Even though I'm not in the running for the prize :) I'm going to post anyway...Yesterday, I walked 20 minutes with Gracie (not quite the workout I was hoping for but we got to talk about the sky and the birds and the horses and the...and the....). When we got back I did some strength training with my free weights and tried some exercises that I've not done before. I worked out for a total of about 40 minutes. Today, I went walking at the middle school track. I've been going for about 20-30 minutes. When I got out there and it was such a gorgeous day I ended up not worrying about what I had to do at home or the studio and went for 50 minutes. Fun times...

I did a leg workout this morning for about 20 minutes. I tried some new exercises from a magazine that Davina had ripped out...I'm get desperate for something that I can stick with! I plan to go out and throw the football or frisbee with Emmett this afternoon so that should give me some cardio as well. I am sorry to hear about troubled knees from a couple of others...I find that if I try to run every day, me knees and ankles ache somthing fierce when I get done. If I do every other day, my joints have a day to recover and I can run 1-2 miles in the neighborhood without too much pain. I am hoping the strength training I am beginning will help make running easier as well.

I did leave part of my lunch again and had about half of the snack that I would have like to have...so, that is two days in a row of leaving something on my plate. Now, if I could just quit craving chocolate...

Such great ideas!! I am so glad I come here!! Although, it makes me realize that there so so much more I could be doing, challenge is good!!

Amen to the Plank! It's beyonce's favorite exercise or so I've read. Okay so I just got back from walking. We (me and my daughter) walked to the playground and then played at the park. I can't wait til it gets a little warmer here so we can stay out longer!

This is fun! :) I did walk to pick up my son. About 2 miles round trip. Thanks Mike for the tip. I think I was overdoing it. Today was successful and pain free. :)
A new tip. I added tofu to my smoothie for more protein, plus ground flax, a banana, frozen berries, and a huge wad of fresh baby organic spinach. It was so good and you never would guess how HEALTHY it was!

Tried a new weight machine, as well as a "slow lifting" technique ... well, slowER than I usually do. We'll see if I bulk up like Brad Pitt (as suggested in the reading material!) ;-)

Oh, and it's 2 veggies INCLUDING the salad, so one salad veggie, one other cooked veggie. heck, I"d be a diva if we ate 3 veggies at dinner.

Mike, you are doing awesome!

Deb, so glad you're checking in...

Kayleen, yay for walking...it's my fave.

Laura, way to go walking 2 miles. I'm so glad Mike's tip helped you. That's great. And I'm not sure I believe you that that smoothie tastes good with all that healthy stuff in it! lol. Can you taste that spinach?

Karen, so if you lift really slowly it works your muscles so that you bulk up? Thanks for setting me straight on the veggies...Diva. :)

Oh. and I didn't walk today and I ate way too many dove chocolates. I need to reform my ways tomorrow!

Tough day today...I was out of the house all day and did not pack a lunch! Three meals eating out, two of them with kids in Clover, SC where there is not a plethera of healthy choices...I left something at every meal, but still, not a good plan...I am going to run again in the morning. I am excited about that...

Oh, and my legs are still killing me from my leg workout yesterday...don't ever stop doing every other day weights...the soreness when you start again stinks! Hope the rest of you are doing better than I did today.

Hi friends, I walked over two miles with my walking buddy today! Boy it felt good. I'm sore today from my weight training from Tuesday. But good sore? I also had my knee ultrasound(ed). My mood is better. Getting out in sunshine is good stuff. Davina, just say YES to a big wad of organic baby spinach! You won't taste it a bit! It will turn your smoothie green unless you put dark berries in to over-ride the color to purple. I'm trying to get more greens in. I also started poached eggs in the morning. There's something fun about them. Floating the eggs in the water...maybe I should photograph that. :)
Davina and Mike, tomorrow is a new day. :)