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October Challenge – Meatless, Clean Eating, 5 hours of Exercise

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Hey Ladies!!! It’s time for our October Challenge.  We will begin on OCT 1, 2012 with 3 goals – Meatless, Clean Eating, 5 hours of exercise each WEEK.

I hope you consider all of the goals, but ultimately it’s up to you what you chose to do.  If you only want to do 2 out of the 3 for example, that’s fine.  If you want to eat fish, that works too.  The goal of our monthly challenges is that Black Women Losing Weight members try new positive habits that can enhance their weight loss efforts.  You are committing to these lifestyle changes for a whole month!

Determination is KEY!!  I will post resources and links daily on our Facebook page, online community, and here on the blog to help you stay on track.


What do I have to do to participate?

  1. Decide what parts of the Challenge you want to commit to. – Meatless Eating, Clean Eating, 5 hours of Exercise EACH Week.
  2. Each Saturday you will check-in and give a status of how the week has gone within our online community, www.blackwomenlosingweight.com.  You can do this as a blog post or status message on your profile page.  You can also post to our Facebook page to let your BWLW sisters know how the Challenge is going for you.  This is how keep each other accountable and encouraged.  You will also be able to discuss the challenge every monday night during our LIVE weight loss support chats.

October Challenge Goals – This is what you are committing to!

  • We are going MEATLESS for 31 days – That means no fish, no chicken, no pork, no beef, no bison…no flesh foods.  If it has a mom, we aren’t eating it.  In essence we are going vegetarian for 31 days.  You will need to consider how you can cook more and plan your meals.  I will provide a number of resources for you daily via Facebook and here on our blog.I suggest that you take a B12 supplement or B-Complex supplement at least 3 times per week while going meatless.   Most multivitamins have B12 in them as well.If you are wanting to continue our September Smoothie Challenge for another month, please do so as part of the meatless goal.  Oh, Eggs are optional.  It’s up to you.
  • We are committing to CLEAN EATING for 31 days –  What is clean eating?   When you eat clean you will be eating unprocessed, whole foods that are cooked in ways that don’t add a lot of extra chemicals and toxins.  We are talking  fruits, vegetables, tofu, soy, whole grains, lots of water, healthy dairy, fresh juice, and lean meats.We will be working to avoid fried food, white flour, artificial ingredients, soda, commercial juice and sugary drinks, processed sugar (white sugar, corn syrup), foods with preservatives and extra chemicals, saturated fat, and trans fat.
  • We are committing to WORKING OUT FOR 5 HOURS EACH WEEK – You can work out at home with DVDs.  You can work out in the gym.  You can walk at work or in your neighborhood.  It’s up to you.  Running, yoga, weight lifting, walking, jumping rope, pilates, spin class, zumba…the choices abound.  The goal is that you commit to 5 hours of exercise each week.

Challenge Resources – Here are a few links to get you started.

Meatless

Clean Eating:

Exercise: Free Workout Videos Online

 

Related posts:

  1. 14 Day Plan and Prep Challenge
  2. Nov Challenge Week 1 – Clean Eating Resources and Recipes
  3. April 2015 Challenge: Plant-Based and Moving It!
  4. October Challenge Day 2 – Instagram Love and Posts with the Hashtag
  5. Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #21: Look for Free Weight Loss Related Offers Online
  6. Day 9 – New Workout Resources – BWLW October Challenge
  7. Day 5 – Recipe Resources for BWLW’s October Challenge

Reader Interactions

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Comments

    • Fiona,
      I hope, I spelled your beautiful name correctly. But, I know just want you mean…
      Not only am I not home. I’m not a great cook either. But I managed to lose 10 pounds last month. Now I am working on the ‘October Challenge’ with this beautiful web-site.

      This is what am doing:

      3 x’s LOW IMPACT Aerobics per week, (More; if my knees allow me, or walk 1 mile.)
      2 LOW FAT FROZEN DINNERS, one Breakfast and one Dinner. I counts my points; although I’m not a member of the WW club.
      Plus 1 big salad with salad dressings…only 2 TBS. Eat lots of veggies. I’m going meatless this month. But I eat about 4 eggs per week. Sometimes only the egg whites. Watch the dairly products! I’m a cheese lover, so be careful; if you are too. Pavolone cheese is very low in calories…I think?
      1 yorgurt cup – Lowfat, anybrand you like, or 1 delicious spinach smoothie (There are recipes everywhere). And most importantly 64 ozs. of water daily, preferably Akaline water, but tap or bottled water will do the trick too. Well nice meeting you, and the very best success for us this month.
      ~ Shirl Ann

      Reply

  4. I am going to do all three challenges. Meatless, clean eating and 5hrs of excerise a week. I got it, and I am in.

    Reply

  5. I don’t know why but, “I AM IN!” I just finished grocery shopping and restocked my freezer with, meat! It will have to wait, I am going meatless, eating clean and exercising 5 hours a week! Yeah Me!

    Reply

  6. I am going yo do clean eating and 5 hours a week exercise. I am ready and excited … this going yo br great because I include my husband and my youngest daughter to do the challenge with me.

    Reply

  8. This will be the first challenge I participate in but I’m so I will be doing the clean eating and exercising 5 hours each week!

    Reply

  11. I feel an extra 5 lbs creeping on and it must go…I am definitely on this challenge…Wishing all my BWLW family all the inspiration in the world…let’s do this!

    Reply

  12. My daughter and I are going to attempt to do this challenge. I’ve never gone “meatless” but I have gone without red meat. Looking forward to the challenge!!!

    Reply

  15. I do not eat meat a lot, and can go meatless. But this evening just happens to be the day I have have 4 very small chops in the oven covered in bbq sauce. So after eating the chops I will return to meatless. I will begin attending All Fit gym tomorrow. I have a personal trainer, which I was thinking about but decided after my physical assessment last Wednesday. I committSo after the chops are eaten I will committ to no meat and exercising no less than 5 hours weekly.

    The clean eating may not begin tomorrow, I know me, as I will have to plan for this. Plus I do not cook a lot. a personal trainer is I want a change.

    Sometimes I could just cry constantly asksing myself how is it I did not see this weight getting on me. People ask why I want to loose weight. My response is always, ‘because of what you can’t see.” I welcome this additional challenge. I know if I stay committed and do what I need to do the best I will succeed.

    Thanks for challenging us!

    Reply

  19. I plan on doing the clean eating and 5 hour workout. As far as meatless goes, I’m going to stay away from red meat. Let’s go ladies!

    Reply

  22. I’m going to do 2 out of 3 eat clean and 5 hours of working out each week. As for going meatless this is something I will work on, for now it will be grilled chicken and fish.

    Reply

  27. I’m in!! Doing 5 hours a week with clean eating. I will be eating fish so, that counts me out for the meatless portion. Well, 2 out of 3 is still good!!!! Good luck ladies.

    Reply

  32. OKAY IM DOING ALL 3 I CAN DO THIS!!!!! WISH ME WELL! THE OMLY PROBLEM I HAVE WILL BE THE WEEKEND THE WEEKDAYS ARE Grrrrrrrrreat ….MY HUBBY TO BE EAT OUT 24/7 THATS ANOTHER PROBLEM……….WISH ME WELL…..OTHER THAN THAT I CAN DO IT(*_*)

    Reply

  34. I am in! I will eat clean, exercise for 5 hours a week. I will be as meatless as possible, so I will start off with grilled chicken and fish only. Definitely no red meats or fried meats! I am excited to start this challenge. I will be including my Husband in this as well.

    Reply

  35. Great challenge….I’m definitely in. I’m already doing two out of the three somy challenge is the working out 5 hours a week. This will keep m accountable. l.

    Reply

  37. I’m going for the 5hrs of exercise….and will be incorporating the smoothies! This is my first challenge but I have already shared this site with alot of my friends so we were going to try the smoothie challenge this month! I love this site…very encouraging & inspiring~

    Reply

  41. Hi I plan to attempt to eat meatless Monday-Friday, limit my processed foods, and I already excercise 5 hours a week, so of course I am going to do that. This challenge is going to be hard, but wish me luck. I wish all of you luck too! We can do it!

    Reply

  42. OKAY I’M IN!!!!! No red, pork or chicken meats, will do fish not fried though, and count me in for the clean eating and 5 hours each week!!! This will be my first challenge but if I want something different I have to do something different!!! Let’s Go ladies!!!

    Reply

  45. I’m committed to all parts of this challenge. I know it will be tough but I’m ready for the challenge!

    Reply

  49. I think I can do the clean eating and 5 hours of exercise a week.. I need to reboot my routine so I can see more weightloss….this just might do it!

    Reply

  52. I’m so stoked!!! This will be my first CHALLENGE and I’m ready to take it on! I am COMMITTING to all three…meatless “@_@”, clean eating and 5 hrs (or more) a week.

    Going meatless will be the toughest, however not impossible. I generally eat fish almost EVERYDAY! “^_^” I don’t eat red meat, pork, nor chicken…

    **Looking forward to joining you ladies on this journey…

    #STAYSTRONG

    Reply

  55. I was thinking about going vegetarian for the month of October…so this is perfect. I now have a group of people doing it with me also! Love it! I’m in for all 3 – will eat fish:-)

    Reply

  56. Here we go again. I’m a go for the Oct challenge, but I will also add fish. Hope this month I can actually lose some weight.

    Reply

  58. I’ve been giving meat a lot of thought lately. Why is it so hard for me to give it up? Compared to the wide variety of flavors and textures in vegetables, fruit and grains, there are only four flavors of meat; chicken, beef, pork and fish. What we end up doing to make it more flavorful is marinate, season, smoke, fry, bbq, bread it, sauce it, grind it, beat it, shred it and pull it. Any food that requires that much preparation must not be very tasty in its own right. And i don’t even want to get into the hugh amount of energy, vitamins and minerals we sacrifice to digest it. So, yes count me in for not eating meat, eating clean and excercising 5 hrs week.

    Reply

    • Same here, its a big struggle for me and meat. I have always loved meat more than any food so this is going to be difficult but I will try my best. Good luck!

      Reply

  59. I have actually been meatless already for a week. I was only doing it for 3 weeks. after my 3 weeks are up I will do clean eating. I WANT SOME MEAT!!!! I have already been doing the 5 hours of exercise so I am in!

    And btw this first week of going meatless I lost 9.4 pounds!

    Reply

  60. I have already started a meatless journey a week ago with the Eat to Live book and diet, so this challenge is right on time. Count me in for all 3!!!

    Reply

  66. Not good at commitments but count me in for the challenge. My life is at stake! I’m in for the meatless & 5 hours a week exercise.

    Reply

  67. I’m in with the clean eating and exercising…can’t quite do meatless yet but I can cut back and do lean meats

    Reply

  68. I’m going to try two of the three meatless and exercise,, it’ll be after today forgot it was the beginning off the month and new challenge

    Reply

  73. I’m ALL in…I’ve been trying to go vegan and have been about 80% effective…with the resources provided here, perhaps I can make it the rest of the way! Thanks for this challenge…started tonight with brown rice and veggies!!!

    Reply

  74. Love Love Love this one:) I’m vegetarian anyhow, and prepare meals from soy and make wonderful vegan dishes (Happy Herbivore:) even my son loves and he’s a hearty meat eater. My appetite has been on the down side lately but I still wanna participate, so I’ll be juicing a lot and most likely more on the vegan side of things. I exercise anyway because I love to walk and do it b4 I go to bed. Once ya start and keep at it, it’s easy to maintain the lifestyle:) Good Luck Ladies:)

    Reply

  77. This sounds doable. I posted once that I was working on a plan…well…turns out that Some family members are relocating to my area. We’ve agreed to split into teams, and see who can lose the most in six weeks! I’m going to present this to them when they arrive, and see if they are willing to incorporate this into our competition. It’ll be interesting to see who gets busted at TacoBell first…lol!

    Reply

  80. I know I can do this challenge because I love fruits and veggies I have lost 29 pounds in 3 months I have 61 more pounds to hit my goal and I’m determined to hit my goal I have been so amazed with the weight lose of all the beautiful ladies and I know if they can do it I can to me coming from being a 126 pounds back in ” 1993 ” to ” 270 ” back in July and now in October I’m 241 pounds I’m very proud of myself I’m my own motivation

    Reply

  82. I think I am going tdo this challenge. I will not be able to committ to the workout because i just had breast reduction surgery a week a ago. I feel like this challenge would be a good detox to cleanse my body and keep my weight in check until i can get back to working out

    Reply

  85. I plan to do the healthy eating and the 5 hour workout part and instead of meatless because I have growing boys that I have to cook for I will do more lean meats and sometime meat substitutes, without letting them know…. So I plan to do lean and healthy meats maybe twice a week for them and cooked veggie recipes for me for the rest of the week

    Reply

  88. Well this month is going to be my first month beginning the challenage. It seems like I may have joined on the hardest month however I will do what I can. I am encouraged by others stories and I know myself too can do it. I have been down this road before and I need to buckle down and get focus and watch what I eat mostly, and exercise and I will begin to see the pounds melt away. Currently I hate my self image and I need to do something about it, also I can’t fit any of my clothes and I refuse to buy new clothes because I have wayyyyy to many in closet. So its time to loose weight, I just need help with accountability and having to check iin with someone. Can someone help me with that?

    Reply

  89. I am so glad I came on this site. I started the no meat and exercise for my challenge but I didn’t know no meat mean no fish, so here on out no fish as well. Lord help me.

    Reply

    • Hey LaShena, You can have fish if you decide to. It still falls under clean eating so you’d be doing 2 out of 3. It is lean meat!

      Reply

  90. I am committing to clean eating and exercising 5hrs/week. I can also cut out beef and pork…but gotta at least have chicken breast and fish. I love this site…also dedicating myself to logging in more frequently for support and good advice.

    Reply

  91. Okay, I have not gone meatless any longer than three weeks before, but I really want to do this. I just bought Joel Furhman’s Eat to Live, and I am psyched about doing this… a little nervous too. I want to do it right!!I plan to stick to the exercise, five hours doesn’t seem like too much, but every time I commit life gets in the way. But I am determined!!

    Reply

  94. I am already Vegetarian but the clean eating and adding more exercise is exactly what I need! I want to lose some weight and break through this plateau! 🙂

    Reply

  96. THIS SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT CHALLENGE I WILL TRY IT LORD KNOWS I NEED TO DO SOMETHING. JUST NEED THAT FIRST PUSH TO GET STARTED…….

    Reply

  98. I am excited to say that I too will participate in the clean eating approach with mainly fish, low fat dairy, fruits and vegetables, as well as working out 5x’s per week in October!

    Reply

  99. I have been doing all 3. I really love the Spinach and Oatmeal smoothies in the morning. They are very filling. I look forward to the next 24 days of this month for the challenge!

    Reply

  100. I had a great week with the food. I have a full glass of water in the morning, then I drink my smoothy, lunch I had salads or veggies. I am spending more time in my kitchen because I am making my own food. I set myself to weight every monday but I could not resist I weight myself today and I am already 2 lbs down. I had about 4 hours of exercise for the week. I hope next week I will put a little bit more and do the minimum 5hrs.

    Reply

  101. I am committing to the 5 hour a week workout. I would love to go meatless for a month, but as part of my job I have to eat.

    Reply

  103. I am committing to clean eating and at LEAST 5 hours of exercise per week. I am currently at a plateau and this will definitely get me past that.

    Reply

  104. I am committing to 5 hours of exercise a week. I will try to cut down on the meat. I am a meat eater. This is my second week and I have lost 4 pounds already.

    Reply

  105. I am in!!! All 3 goals…even though I will be going on a mini weekend vacation!! I am ready…
    with God’s help all things are possible! 🙂

    Reply

  106. I love meat….period. But I will try all three. I do two of them anyway and I will go without meat for atleast 30 days. Wish me luck.

    Reply

  110. This has been a great challenge with the change in the types of veggies and fruit….I am attempting the 5hr. exercise per week challenge. Have started slowly but surely.

    Reply

  111. The last two weeks had been a challenge for me I’m not able to workout at this time, but I have lost twenty seven pound and I not stoping until I reach my goal. I also have maintain my good eating habits.

    Reply

  112. I’m wanting to do this challenge. I must say it will be a challenge, but I’m in.. Hope I get plenty its motivation because its going to be hard. I’m not sure if what to eat. I do not like yogurt. Do anyone have any suggestions as to what type of things I could eatwith less sugar as far as snack.

    Reply

  113. I didn’t stick to the clean eating plan very well, but I increased my activity overall this month and have another 6 lbs this month, so I’m feeling great!!! Looking forward to November’s challenge!!!!!

    Reply

  115. I am all for this! I just stumbled across this blog and page on Facebook today. I will join the challenge. Good luck ladies!

    Reply

  116. The other day, while I was at work, my cousin stole my iphone and tested to see if it can survive a thirty foot drop, just so she can be a
    youtube sensation. My apple ipad is now broken and she has 83 views.
    I know this is totally off topic but I had to share it with someone!

    Reply

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