Spring Chick Challenge Update: All Done!

It's over! It's done! Finished!

The Spring Chick Challenge has ended and Stormy has a few questions for us.

1. What lessons have you learned? I've learned many lessons since I joined my first online challenge on June 5, 2011, not the least of which is that joining a challenge is very helpful to my success with losing weight. Until recently, have a challenge to hold me accountable has been just what I needed.
2. What would you do differently? I wouldn't change much of anything. I've made so many lifestyle changes in the past year that there's really no need to change things further at this point. However, I am keeping myself in a constant state of learning and am always willing to change whatever I need to change to get fitter and healthier!
3. How will you proceed from here? I have been involved in a challenge for 10 months now and have decided to take a break to see how I do on my own. I still follow all the blogs from this and past challenges and I plan to keep up with everyone. If I am unsuccessful on my own, I will most certainly join another challenge!
4. What advice would you give someone about to join a weightless challenge group? DO IT! I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I joined my first challenge but it made the world of difference! I believe that there is no way I would have been successful without it. It's just time to see how I'll do by myself now that lifestyle changes have been made.

My last week's update:

WALKING/RUNNING: 7/7 days for one hour each day.
WATER: 96 oz 7/7 days
CALORIES: Still not tracking as an experiment to see how I do with eating and no tracking. Pretty sure I've stayed true to not going over 1500 calories based on food choices and amount of food consumed.
WEIGHT: I'm only weighing once/month now so I won't have a number until the end of March. However, the challenge weight loss total was -10 lbs. Nothing stellar. Certainly not what I had hoped for. BUT- that means that, since June 2011, I've lost 79 lbs. Which is pretty darn good. Unfortunately, there's a whole lot more to go.

Thanks so much to everyone for all your encouragement and support through all of this! A weight loss journey is a tough one to travel but, for me, nearly impossible without y'all! Support and encouragement from friends and family is vital and I can't thank you all enough!

I'll be devoting (or trying to) the A-Z challenge to this journey I've been on, for what seems like forever, in the hopes that it will not only keep me on track to lose the rest of the weight, but also help someone else out there on the same path.

Keep it simple, keep it positive and do it one day at a time!