Here we go:

• Starting Weight: 138 lbs.
• Last Weigh-In July 20: 129.2 lbs.
• Today’s Weigh-In July 27: 128.0 lbs.



• Loss since last week:  1.2 lbs.
• Total loss: 10 lbs.
• Left to go: 0.0 lbs. by 8/1/09

Here are my daily exercise and calorie consumption stats from last week:

• Monday — 2000 calories, ran 4 miles, 30 mins strength training, one hour rollerblading
• Tuesday — 2000 calories, ran 6 miles
• Wednesday —1500 calories, ran 3 miles, one hour rollerblading
• Thursday — 1800 calories, ran 4.25 miles, 30 mins strength training
• Friday — 1500 calories, 30 mins walk at beach
• Saturday – 2000 calories, ran 6.25 miles, 30 mins walking
• Sunday – 2000 calories, ran 4.25 miles, 30 mins strength training
• Thank goodness I did 3 days of strength training because, if you recall, I was going to let you guys punish me with a truth or dare! Scary!

So?

Here’s me via video going off on a little tangent about the challenge.  Feel free to skip over!

URL here, too.

Since 8/1 was the challenge deadline, I will still be posting a sort of “ode to the challenge” on that day, even though it’s a Saturday.  So, I will be keeping my lips partially sealed on my sentiments until then.  I will also be announcing the Holey Donuts winner!  If you don’t recall (it was indeed nearly two months ago, see here), a lot of you entered for a chance to win by announcing your own challenge goals!  It could be you!

So how will I celebrate this 10-pound victory? By indulging in all my favorite foods, of course! LMAO!  Did you think I was serious?!  I was joking with the boyf that I was going to order a pizza (my fave) with toppings of all my favorite foods.  So imagine a large pizza topped with orange tofu “chicken,” pita and hummus, fried rice, cheesecake, brownies… Sound yummy?  Hehe. Yea…that’s not happening.  I will reward myself by laying off on the compulsive scale-weighing.  That is one habit I’m happy and excited to break.

Which Brings Me To…

The nature of a challenge.  I see a lot of you readers out there doing challenges and it’s really inspiring. I know a lot of you have gone without caffeine, have gone raw, have challenged yourselves to complete strength training routines and eliminate sugars, all in the name of a challenge.  Does it help to have someone going through these challenges with you? Is virtual support as effective as real-life support?  Is it the fact that inherent in a challenge is a foreseeable end-date?  I want to know what you guys think.

There’s No Such Thing As Free?

I want to address an issue of contention in the blog world and that’s the FTC wanting to impose disclosure rules on bloggers reviewing/promoting products on their pages.  I would suggest reading Caitlin’s post here and looking at the comments section where some very interesting and intelligent remarks were made.

Just to clarify (since we’re all on defense-mode hehe):  I will always be honest if a product is sent to me by a company and I will always be honest on whether I like it or not and why.  But the real power here, I think, is always in the consumers’/readers’ hands.  I enjoy reading about new products on other bloggers’ sites, but I will take the review at face-value and do my own research because I know from personal experience that I can only speak for myself when I give a review.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried something and thought it was amazing only to pass on a bite to my boyf who has belted, mid-bite, “that tastes like dirt!”  So, yea, we all gotta take each others’ opinions for what they are: OPINIONS.  Granted, I do realize the level of responsibility that comes from giving a product review on a blog with thousands of readers (um, not my blog, FYI), that’s why I don’t shun the FTC wanting to impose some limits.  And yes, I do hand it to the marketing departments of these companies who market to bloggers.  I wrote last post about a Fitness Magazine give-away on three different blogs!

But seriously — shouldn’t we be focusing on the “bigger fish?” Aren’t countless politicians and public officials able to weave through disclosure laws as they accept under-the-table bribes from lobbyists and private interest groups?  Also, until recently, advertisers could market to children on t.v. commercials reaching millions in one swoop without so much as a blink of an eye.  I’m just sayin’.  I think the main motivating factor in these proposed laws is lost profits.  Because big companies can reach thousands via a blog with very little over-head costs, this might be having a trickle-down effect on the economy.  Does this mean justified cuts in marketing and PR budgets?  In t.v., radio and outdoors advertising?  Just a thought.

Want more on the issue?  See these links:

• The New York Times, “Approval by a Blogger May Please a Sponsor” (7/12/09) here
• Ars Technica, “FTC to Crack Down on Undisclosed ‘Sponsored’ Blogging” (6/22/09) here
• BusinessWeek, “Blogola: The FTC Takes On Paid Posts” (5/19/09) here

On to something less serious, how was your weekend?!

<3,  The Cranky One