Contrary February — Step Challenge and REVISED Resolutions

[Baltoscott]

So how did January go?  Are you still holding strong on those New Year’s resolutions?  Or have you completely forgotten about that?  🙂

Well, Contrary February is here. And rather than quit those lofty January goals altogether, how about the contrary approach of just dialing things back a bit? Instead of 6 days a week at the gym, commit to putting on your workout shoes for 3 mornings and walking a couple of miles, followed by some body weight exercises (you can still go to the gym, but if you’ve been missing, change the commitment somehow — less often, switch from morning to evening or vice versa — so it is easier to meet). Whatever it was you committed to in January, if you were not successful, try doing half as much of it in February and see how that goes. (Of course, if you hit your goals in January, YAY YOU! Now keep practicing the goals you want as lifetime habits, and increase effort or time a bit).                                                     

   
How It Works

The primary purpose of these monthly challenges is to keep track of your daily step goals for the month; though many of us track other things as well, like body weight exercises, sleep, trips to the gym, logging food, etc. This is not a competition to see who can do the most of whatever, instead it is a challenge to measure your consistency. So whether you do 1k, 5k, 10k or even 40k steps a day, this is measuring how many days out of the monthly total you can hit your goal.

Some might have a constant goal of 10k steps every single day and others might have a variable goal throughout the week, (and some might even plan days off!) for example.
Monday -> Friday = 10k steps a day
Sat & Sun = “6k steps a day,” or “not tracking”

Regardless of how you structure your daily goals, the only thing that matters for the monthly challenge is whether or not you reach what you set out to do.

Suggested Posting Format    
1) Post either your constant or variable step goal.
2) Keep track of the # of daily goals achieved out of the monthly minimum and or monthly total

Picture Scavenger Hunt — 3 pictures

The theme of the photo scavenger hunt for Contrary February is to find the ‘odd duck;’ something out of place; someone oddly dressed; something a little ridiculous; or just unexpected.

Where's Jayhawk?

Posting

Although you certainly don’t have to post daily, you’ll likely stay closer to what you set out to do by updating the thread several times/week

Injury Notice
If you injure yourself during the month and need to scale back due to the injury, then all you have to do is adjust your goal for that period. If you normally do 10k steps a day but pull a hamstring and decide to do minimal walking (2k steps a day), then all you have to do is change your goal.

[SunsetRunner]

Contrary February - Day 17
12,000 steps: 11/18 days
20,000 steps: 2/2 days
1-min (or longer) Modified Plank: 7/15 days
Training w/weights: 7/15 days
40 jumping jacks: 12/20 days
Line Dance: 1/4 days
IF5/2 (stay under +/- 600 cal): 1/6 days
Eat a piece of fruit: 13/20 days
Scavenger Hunt Pics: 2/3 pics

[WendyB]

Contrary February      Day 17

 Steps: Goal 13,000 28 days: 17/28
Boxing 28 days: 17/28
Bike 3 times 28 days: 17/28
Weights DVD 16 days: 9/16
Stomach YouTube 28 days : 17/28
Wall Push Up/Counter push ups 28 days: 17/28
250 Steps per hour 28 days : 17/28
Post Scavenger hunt photos: 2/3

@SunsetRunner  the water fountain looks awesome!

@BMANintheUPWelcome! Have you tried Leslie Sansone Walk away the pounds? I use it when the weather is bad. She has several on YouTube if you want to check out

[BMANintheUP]

@WendyB

I have not tried any walking fitness routines from YouTube.  But I'll be sure to look that one up.  Last winter I lived in a different location where a friend of mine had started his own fitness gym.  So Dec 2017 through April 2018 I got most of my exercise thru cross-training boot camps about 3 times a week.  I have done Yoga and Cardio workouts from YouTube...just not one that was walking based.  Thanks for the suggestion!

I've been trying to add a photo cause I have a great one with something unusual hiding in it...but I can't seem to get it to work.  Any suggestions?

[WendyB]

@BMANintheUP click on the camera above and it will open up to locate it on your phone or computer

[BMANintheUP]

I get a pop up window that has boxes for source, image description, and dimensions.  I don't have any other options or a place to send/upload/etc when I fill the boxes in.  I tried "enter" but nothing seems to work.  And could you give me an idea of what typical dimensions are for this type of site?

[Sergiu37]

Very bad week this one for me as I got a bit of cold and didn't felt well.

7300 steps 12/17 (initial goal 25/28 failed, updated goal 22/28)
Exercise 12/17 (goal 20/28)
Sleep at least 6 hours 14/17 (goal 20/28)
Sleep at least 7 hours 4/17 (goal 10/28)

[SunsetRunner]

Contrary February - Day 18
12,000 steps: 12/18 days
20,000 steps: 2/2 days
1-min (or longer) Modified Plank: 8/15 days
Training w/weights: 8/15 days
40 jumping jacks: 13/20 days
Line Dance: 1/4 days
IF5/2 (stay under +/- 600 cal): 1/6 days
Eat a piece of fruit: 14/20 days
Scavenger Hunt Pics: 2/3 pics

Glad you liked the fountain @WendyB!

[SunsetRunner]

---

@BMANintheUP wrote:

I get a pop up window that has boxes for source, image description, and dimensions.  I don't have any other options or a place to send/upload/etc when I fill the boxes in.  I tried "enter" but nothing seems to work.  And could you give me an idea of what typical dimensions are for this type of site?

---

@BMANintheUP -- it took me awhile to get the hang of importing photos into my posts, too. Don't give up! As Wendy said, right at the top of the comment box there is a camera icon. Click on that. A little window pops up and in the middle you should read 'Tap for upload options'. Click on that. You should be able to nabigate to access your Photos file, scroll until you find the one you want to share, select it :white_heavy_check_mark:, and click 'Done'. You can then add a caption below it. Then click 'Done'. This will close that pop up window, and the pic should be in your comment box. When you're ready, hit 'Post'. 

😊

[kschurman]

oh ok

--
***Sent from a Racine Unified School District Elementary School student 
account***

[BMANintheUP]

Can you find IT hiding in this picture?

You wanted something unusual!  Well, my landlord is a practical joker and in October placed IT out by the barn to scare me.  And scare me it did, when I saw IT for the first time it was really early in the morning and all I could see was the mask and thought a person really was standing there.  If you can't find IT, let me know and I'll give you a hint.

And thanks for everyone who helped me with photos.  For some reason it wasn't working yesterday for me, but I did the exact same thing today and it works just fine.   I'm usually pretty good with computers...OH Well!  

Hope everyone is out there crushing their goals!

[Baltoscott]

Contrary February Day 18

15K steps/day		18/28
1 pushup/day		18/28
12 weight-lifting days		7/12
post scavenger pics		4/3
Sleep 6+ hours 12 days or more during the month		8/12
1 pull-up/day		18/28
Complete Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat		1/4

So I was walking through the US Botanical garden last week and saw this Malaise Trap, which I thought was a pretty cool idea. 

@BMANintheUP -- I can see your dog bounding through the snow. Nice. But I can't see a mask on or near the barn.  

[SunsetRunner]

I've never seen a Malaise Trap @Baltoscott. Soundslike an interesting scientific research project.

@BMANintheUP Congrats on uploading your photo. I think I may need stronger reading glasses to see the mask. I think I spotted it, but will wait til the others guess. 

[GSaldiveri]

February Goals: Day 18

15K Steps/day - 18/18
20k steps/day - 15/20
64+ oz water/day - 18/28
30(+) cardio - 05/14

Lose 3 pounds - 3.4/3 ** Goal Met

I'm having a hard time this year with my cardio, just can't get my head into it for some reason.

I am getting my steps in though:

Year To Date

• 1,378,778 steps
• 653.48 miles

[NellyG]

19 February 

10,000 steps a day for 20 days                                       15/20     

4 days over 15,000 steps                                                 4/4              

1 day over 20,000 steps                                                    1/1

Swim 2x per week (when I'm home)                              4/5                                                

Dance prac 6 hours a week (when Im home)              16/18

5 bike rides or interval walks per month                         3/5            

3 Scavenger Hunt pics                                                       3/3  

[WendyB]

@BMANintheUP

Is this it where the arrow is?

Glad you got the picture upload figured out

[WendyB]

Contrary February      Day 19

 Steps: Goal 13,000 28 days: 19/28
Boxing 28 days: 19/28
Bike 3 times 28 days: 19/28
Weights DVD 16 days: 10/16
Stomach YouTube 28 days : 19/28
Wall Push Up/Counter push ups 28 days: 19/28
250 Steps per hour 28 days : 19/28
Post Scavenger hunt photos: 2/3

[SunsetRunner]

Contrary February - Day 19
12,000 steps: 12/18 days
20,000 steps: 3/2 days
1-min (or longer) Modified Plank: 9/15 days
Training w/weights: 9/15 days
40 jumping jacks: 14/20 days
Line Dance: 2/4 days
IF5/2 (stay under +/- 600 cal): 1/6 days
Eat a piece of fruit: 15/20 days
Scavenger Hunt Pics: 2/3 pics

Pushed myself to get in 20,000+ steps today. Hope I can walk tomorrow! 😅

[WendyB]

@SunsetRunnerWhen I did it the first time I was sore the next day but I still walked it help take the soreness away

WTG on the 20K!

[BMANintheUP]

Yes, if you zoom in just above the dog there is a fence post with an IT (scary clown) mask on it.  All thanks to my practical joking landlord.  LOL  It's caught quite a few people by surprise there.

Also, everyone here posting their goal updates has inspired me!  I set a daily step goal based on my stats for January.  So for February I was trying to have 5325 steps each day, or at least average that out for the week.  During nice weather I'm always between 10,000-15,000 steps, but as much as I love winter my steps are greatly reduced.  Anyways, you all have some interesting goals and are tracking much more then just steps.  So I've been working on setting my goals for next month.  I'll be sharing them soon enough, but not quite done yet.  I want to focus on things that my FitBit will track for me, such as peak heart-rate which I seem to only hit about 3 times a week.

Does anyone else have a suggestion for goals that are helpful to them?

[WendyB]

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@BMANintheUP wrote:

Yes, if you zoom in just above the dog there is a fence post with an IT (scary clown) mask on it.  All thanks to my practical joking landlord.  LOL  It's caught quite a few people by surprise there.

I can image it has! LOL