December Challenge – Week 4
For December, we focused on the exercise aspect of fitness. We targeted our arms, abs, and butts with the 30 Day Guns, Buns, & Abs Challenge.
To track our progress each day, I’ve created this 30 Day Guns, Buns, & Abs Challenge Worksheet so that we can simply check off each box as we complete the activity! Click on the link above to grab your own.
We have two days left of this challenge and then we’ll see the final results on how much progress this challenge helped us with on our journeys.
My Progress
As usual, I used my Challenge Tracker page to help me track what I was able to complete each day. But I also kept a daily journal because I think it’s important to note how I’m feeling each day.
Sometimes on this journey, we see progress in the form of our workouts being easier or our stamina lasting longer as opposed to inches or pounds lost. Because of that, I think it’s important to keep a journal of how you’re feeling when you work out.
I still didn’t really remember to document how I felt each day, new habits are hard. But I can pretty much tell you how I felt. This week was a good week as far as pain was concerned. I’ve increased my step goal to 10,000 so my feet have been hurting, but everything else has been about normal for me. This week was a little bit different because I rearranged and reorganized my entire house this week, so I was sore but otherwise felt great.
Sunday – Day 22
I started my day by posting my Sunday Stats and publishing Beck’s. I’m so happy to see that we’re both keeping up with this challenge. Next, I completed my 30 minutes of cardio with Autumn on Country Heat. After a short rest from my workout, I made Keto Peanut Butter Cookies and Cinnamon Bun Cheesecake. By the time those were done, I needed a break and had achieved 5,373 steps for the day. Next, I worked a little bit on one of my research posts and then I got up and started the first set of challenge tasks for the day. I got up and made Cinnamon Butter Cookies next and then got my Sesame Chicken going in the crockpot. While that cooked, I did a couple more sets for the challenge tasks. By this point, push ups were done and I had 6,755 steps in.
Monday – Day 23
This was Christmas Eve. I laid around for most of the day watching movies and stuff with my son. I finally got up around 4:30pm and did my 30 minute cardio workout along with the first couple sets of my challenge tasks. Immediately following that, I went outside and talked with my neighbors for a couple of hours. I came back in from that and ate dinner while finishing a show with my son. At this point, I was only at 5,338 steps for the day. After the show, I finished the challenge tasks and did another workout in order to reach my 10,000 steps.
Tuesday – Day 24
Merry Christmas! I completed my Country Heat workout and the challenge tasks at the end of the day after a power nap got me to 3 and a half hours of sleep for the day.
Wednesday – Day 25
So I have exactly 6 days of vacation left and a lot of stuff I want to get done in that time but I also want to take some downtime. I woke up and worked out first thing in the morning because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do it at the end of the day because I’d be in pain. My son and I ran a couple of errands and then came home and I got to work rearranging the garage and clearing out stuff I no longer want so I can donate it. I finished the garage around 3pm and had achieved 10,198 steps in the process. YAY! Now it’s a matter of completing the challenge tasks. Rest first. After resting, I started cleaning up the Christmas morning mess and rearranging my living room. I took breaks from that to complete the sets of challenge tasks. When I finished for the night, I had 12,635 steps achieved.
Thursday – Day 26
Being honest here, this challenge is getting very old. The amount of squats and leg lifts we have to do for this challenge is crazy. It’s just so many. I can’t do more than 50 squats at a time without my knee giving out completely, so I’ve had to split the squats up into several sets. On the plus side, it keeps me from slipping back to a sedentary lifestyle just sitting at my desk all day every day. I have to get up several times throughout the day to do the challenge tasks, that helps. I finished cleaning up the living room and started rearranging the kitchen and dining room. I took breaks from that and did challenge tasks before getting started again. I completed my tasks for the day, but not without some complaining.
Friday – Day 27
Seriously…I want this to be over. It’s just too much. Thank God tomorrow is a squat rest day. Today was all about getting the living room, dining room, and kitchen cleaned up from moving everything around. It’s a lot of work getting things put away again after rearranging. I completed my challenge tasks right before bed because I procrastinated as long as I possibly could on this today. I started the sets right after dinner. Almost done. We got this.
Saturday – Day 28
I took my time waking up Saturday and didn’t bother doing my cardio first thing in the morning. My feet were hurting already when I woke up. I’ve been hitting my 10,000 steps a day goal for two weeks now and doing my cardio work out every day without rest days. And after rearranging the entire house this week, I needed a break. So, it was time for a rest day, I took it. I totally feel guilty for taking it and I feel like I need to double up on the work outs Sunday to make up for it. But I took a rest day. I ended the day with 2,777 steps. This will not help me with my Jingle All the Way Step Challenge on HealthyWage but that’s alright. I’ll make up for it by taking a small amount of extra steps each day. I did complete my challenge tasks for the day because it would just be silly to come this far without missing a day and then give up during the last 3 days, besides…squat REST day! We’re going to tie this challenge. That’s awesome!
New Measurements
- Bicep: 14.5″
- Chest: 51.5″
- Upper Abs: 48″
- Lower Abs: 49″
- Hips: 49″
- Thigh: 24″
- Weight: 247.8
Challenge Success
For this challenge, I’m introducing Forget Skinny gear into the mix! The winner of this challenge will win a Forget Skinny Challenge Winner spiral notebook for all of their journaling needs!
The journals came in this week and are ready to be shipped out to the challenge winner(s)!
The challenge winner will be determined by the person who has accumulated the most points.
Now, since this is a points based system, there is the possibility of a tie. In the event of a tie, we each reward ourselves with the selected prize gear.
Otherwise, the person that does not win the challenge will purchase the selected gear for the winner of the challenge.
Points Earned
- Challenge tasks: 3 per day x 7 days = 21 points
- Measurements: 1 point each for the three required = 3 points
- Sunday Stats Post: 1 point earned for posting on time = 1 point
- Points earned this week: 25 points
- Total Earned: 100 points
Personal Goals
Aside from this challenge, I have two personal goals going on this month…to achieve 30 minutes of cardio each day and to transition to a Keto diet…plus I added a third goal to achieve 10,000 steps per day.
As I mentioned last week, the transition to a Keto Diet is proving a little harder than I expected but I’m still working on this one. I ate like crap this week…just because. The next grocery shopping trip is scheduled for the first weekend in January will I will kick start the Keto Diet again and get serious about it this time. I have money on the line now, so I need to make this happen!
As far as the exercise, I’m getting this one done. I am using Sunday as my rest day from Cardio but I’m getting more than 30 minutes throughout the week to make up for it.
And for steps, I did much better this week.
So, how did you do? Are you following a long? Let us know how your week went in the comments section at the bottom of this page. We’re here to support you on your journey too!
For now, take care and hug your loved ones!
~Ki
P.S. If you’d like my free weight loss progress chart (shown here) to use for yourself, just submit your name and email in the box at the upper right hand side of this page and it’ll take you to your own free copy.
- For challenge worksheets and the Forget Skinny planner, see our Planners & Worksheets page!
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