An Eleven-Day Challenge

I agreed to participate in an 11-Day Challenge with two of my daughters and three other "teamates" unknown to me.  It was called "IsaGameOn".  Fortunately, I had been given four cannisters of Isagenics shakes for Christmas.

The challenge involved agreeing to...

• weighing and measuring ourselves on days 1, 5, and 11 (with penalties for doing so on any of the other days).
• having two Isa-meals and one 400 to 600 calorie meal each day
• having one ounce of ionix and one ounce of cleanse every day
• exercising thirty minutues every day
• drinking three litres of water every day
• sleeping seven hours of sleep every night
• giving up one bad habit
• taking on one good habit
• connecting with at least one team member every day
• visiting the IsaGameOn blog every day

I gave up watching dvd's for eleven days. 
I took on reading two chapters of Proverbs every day. 
My exercise consisted of either walking, shoveling snow, or "dancing" on a DDR (dance dance revolution) mat. 

This simple challenge was surprisingly difficult and at the same time refreshingly simple.  As fate would have it there was a tempting array of snacks and candy free for the taking at my work most days.  It was good to have the challenge to give me the fortitude to resist.  It was invigorating to discover how productive my evenings could be when I wasn't absorbed in movie viewing.

I was so glad I had already created my eleven intentions for 2011.  I used the IsaGameOn challenge to put me on the path to seeing some of these intentions become reality.

Happily, together Jasmine, Margret and I released 20 pounds and over 40 inches!  Hooray!  And not a minute too soon.  I was on the threshold of growing out of my clothes as we began.  The process of the challenge helped us reshape our eating habits and reconstruct other healthy lifestyle components.

I heartily recommend this exercise for all!

Vivian's Top Eleven Intentions for 2011

1. Attain & maintain optimum health (walk, bike, or ddr 4 days a week; make steady healthy progress to ideal weight of 145 pounds and stay there; have laser maintenance for health & cosmetic reasons) and reward myself by giving away existing wardrobe and acquiring new wardrobe.  Yippeeeeeee!
2. Attain (by paying off all credit cards) & maintain optimum wealth by giving
• 10% to charity--including Trina's mission; putting
• 10% in short-term savings--to pay for trip in Sept. 2012 to pick up Trina in Croatia and go to Greece; paying
• 20% to support Steve's (BYU-I)  & Julia's (Jefferson Montessori) education; giving a
• 10% tithing; putting
• 10% in long-term savings; living on
• 40% of our income--
• AFTER establishing a minimum of $1,000 emergency fund).
3. Acquire a luxury economy vehicle (something sleek, feminine, in good condition so will need little or no maintenance or repairs, is good on gas mileage). 
4. Acquire a computer set that will support digital scrapbooking (computer--a desktop & a laptop, flat sceen monitors, keyboard, scanner/copier/fax, high-speed internet, will support all the current web-browsers and downloads, with back-up support) and if I am working full-time outside the home use it at least five hours a week and not more than twenty hours a week.
5. Plan and do my own twelve-month "Happiness Project".
6. Apply myself to traditional scrap-booking two - ten hours a week to complete six years of Christmas albums, six years of family albums, and three sister albums.  Use Sunday afternoons and one evening and / or Saturday each week for this project.
7. Acquire a Visa and a Passport and research travel options to Croatia and Greece.
8. Support "turning the hearts of the children to the fathers" through weekly temple attendance, incorporating family history into home-school curriculumn and continuing to complete digital books on four generations of direct ancestors.
9. Travel with Steve and Julia and other family members who are able to join us to visit Tara in Montana, and three other destinations of our choice within an eight-state radius--Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, California .
10. Support my on-going journey as an auto-diadact through monthly reading & writing with my father and sisters in a Five-Pillar Program; through reading/listening to and reviewing four works of non-fiction each month and four works of fiction each month; attending or conducting one book-discussion each month, and reading aloud to Julia at least four days each week.
11. Support preparedness by driving on the top half of the tank; reviewing risk management skills; engaging in daily personal prayer and scripture study and daily family devotionals; making daily/weekly blog entries; supporting relationships through FB, notes, phonecalls, planning and having quality/quantity times together; giving thanks and showing kindness and appreciation to spouse, children, friends, parents, extended family, neighbors, co-workers, service providers --everyone!