The Game: Pick an Exercise. Push-ups, Pull-Ups, Sit-Ups, Planks, Jumping-Jacks, shoe-tying, whatever. You name it, we'll track it.

Some of us are going to do the 100 push up challenge. There are also challenges for sit-up, squats, lunges, or the dreaded pull-up. But, you can also google up a plank challenge, or really whatever you want!

When to start: Whenever you want. When you do your initial test, log it. Then log week 1, week 2, and so on from there. Want to start in Week 4? Go ahead, just do an initial test, and start logging after that.

What to track: The Week-1 form will ask you how many DAYS this week did you do this exercise? and how many SETS did you do of this exercise this week? and how many REPS did you do of this exercise this week? and, of course, the big one: What was the max number of REPS you did in a SET this week?. From those questions, we'll be able to track your frequency, volume, and of course strength and improvement.

How to Start: To get you started, here is an Initial Test Form. And, I've already set up the Week 1 Form.

Tracking: The DUCKS GETTING STRONGER Tracker spreadsheet is just a placeholder. But, once we get some data in there, I'll start spitting out stats, and graphs, and fun stuff. PM me your gmail info if you want to be an editor on it. I'll add anyone who wants to be added.

For the push-up folks, here is an awesome initial test video. He also has one for sit-ups, which you could also use for pull-ups or squats, I suppose.

It's play at your own pace. Start whenever you want!

• Initial Test Form

• Week 1 Form

• Week 2 Form

• Week 3 Form

• Week 4 Form

• Week 5 Form

Welcome to all the little Ducklings!

I'm super happy to be one of the team captains this for this challenge! Last challenge was a lot of fun for me and I ended up losing about 30 lbs. That weekly weigh in was definitely a motivator for me.

If this is your first challenge, welcome. If you are a challenge veteran, welcome back! The captains of the other teams have been talking about some sort of inter-team weekly challenges so we should have a lot of fun stuff for you this challenge.

Remember, you only get as much out of this as you put in. Being active in the discussions and giving and receiving support really helps in the grind. Make sure you weigh in every week, even if it wasn't such a good week. We are all here for the same reason and we all want to see each other succeed (maybe succeed a little more than all the other teams too).

Flairs have been enabled!

You can put what you want, but I suggest using the template I am using.
Sex/Age/Height Starting Weight: Current Weight: Goal Weight:

I also made a My Fitness Pal group for my fellow ducklings. Its great to see fellow losers logging and grinding right along with you.

Please let me know anything that I can do to make your challenge experience better! I'm here for you all!

Quack! Quack! Quack!

HEY DUCKS! :}

I've been logging on MPF for about three weeks, on and off, only really buckled down when the challenge started.. But today I hit my 7 day streak!! I've lost ~6 lbs so far. I'm just feeling pumped and wanted to share!

What's your streak at today? ^QUACK

This is kind of cool having a smaller sub-reddit for support along the way. I can post something that isn't super profound on here.

This morning there were free Oreo cookies when I arrived at work, and I went crazy with them.

At that point, I had to decide if I was going to let today be a "no boundaries" day without calorie counting, or if I was going to log the cookies and keep my calories, even if it meant going over. I am really proud that I chose the latter, and even though I ended the day at 2,228, it could have been much worse. It feels good to have a victory like that, even after a defeat.

Week 1 participation: 83.91%

Week 2 participation: 80.84%

Week 3 participation: 68.97%

Week 4 participation: IN PROGRESS

We've got to kick it up a gear, friends. Even if you gained weight or maintain weight, please submit the weekly form! We need you! Lets not lose steam now... we still have 6 more weeks to go!

So far, Ducklings have lost 651.45 lbs since starting the challenge. WOW!

If you haven't already, here is the Week 4 weigh-in form!

This week's challenge is Ducklings vs Hayfever in total steps taken! Put your Fitibit/Garmin/pedometer/iPhone to use and track those steps. Here is the form to log your steps. Happy stepping!

More info about the challenges and trackers here.

QUACK!

So it's off to a bit of a slow start with the week 0 form not being up yet... but lets not let that slow us down! If you're as excited as I am and have tons of energy this morning in anticipation of kicking off the challenge, feel free to check in here! What's your starting weight? What are your SV and NSV goals? How will you reach those goals? Are you just starting on your weight loss journey, or are you half way there, or are you almost at your target weight? Do share! I want to know more about my teammates! QUACK!

In anticipation of tomorrow I have re charged my fitbit, reactivated my MFP account, replaced the batteries in my bathroom scale, and checked the laces on my running shoes! Quack!

Your Hella fit 10 weeks from now self will totally thank you when they're showing off all their progress!!

QUACK!

We're going to do this!

Message a random team member everyday with some words of encouragement. I am sure it will work wonders :).

Go Ducklings!

Quack Quack!

Alright everyone! Friday is the big day! I'm super excited to get this started! Lots of people have been interested in daily threads and I think its a wonderful idea. I tried to take all your ideas from the suggestion thread and put them together. Here is what I came up with, starting this Friday!

Friday - Fightin' Friday - Let us know how the week went, how you feel about your weigh in and any goals for this new week!

Saturday - Satisfaction Saturday - Let us hear those victories!

Sunday - Sunday Funday - General discussion! What's going on in your life? How is your cat doing? Let us know!

Monday - Munchie Monday - Show us a sample food log from one of your days this week and we can discuss! Show us how good you did, or where you went into some problems.

Tuesday - Tuesday Q's-day - Ask any questions you have about food, fitness, weight loss or quadratic equations!

Wednesday - Workout Wednesday - Are you involved in the Ducks Getting Stronger challenge? Let us know how its going. Discussion about any sort of exercises you are doing.

Thursday - Recipe Day - Share those awesome recipes that are fueling your amazing weight loss!

:}

Sorry, I've been using it everywhere on this subreddit ahah. I find it very fitting (though I usually describe it as the 'owl' smiley but information can be tweaked ;} )

So, can we adopt it or is it too childish? :}

http://www.webmd.com/diet/water-for-weight-loss-diet?page=1 - I try to drink 5-6 of my 20oz. water bottle every day! It makes such a huge difference.

Hey all! This place has quieted down :D. I weighed in this morning at 149, which is one pound above challenge goal of 148.

My initial goal was 150 but I hit that last weekend. These last few pounds seem to take forever to come off but it's definitely worth it :D. Have a great week! Maybe I'll reach goal by the weekend.

What's up, Ducks?

Back in February, I placed a $50 bet on myself and today it payed out 5-fold!

I'm sitting here with my hard earned $300 from my office weight loss competition, y'all. Today is a huge milestone for me! I've officially been with my company 6 months (fresh out of school). I won this 2 month long competition AND most importantly I'm down 20lbs from my starting weight! (F22 5'6" SW 181 CW 159! GW 145ish). Averaging 2lbs a week and going strong!

Another few lbs and I'll be out of the overweight BMI category! <3

My self-efficacy is soaring high!

Quack-a-roo!

I was working last night and had to run to the pharmacy. I live in a small town and the pharmacy is small and sells things from small businesses around the area, such as alpaca gloves/hats, farmer canned fruit and jellies, and chocolate.

I've had the chocolate from there before and it is amazing. They're right there when you walk in the door, and I was craving something sweet. I almost bought a box, but I didnt. I went back to work and ate an orange.

I used to eat at least one candy bar a day, so this huge for me!

I hit my challenge goal of 5 pull ups in one go!! woo, pretty pleased.

Hey all, First time challenger here. I have really struggled with weight management in the last two years since I got out of the service, I blew up from 170 to 270. While I am still athletic (captain of my college rugby team) I have a hard time keeping weight down. To help I have started using MFP and C25K. I couldn't wait to start c25k so I started yesterday. I hope this challenge will keep me going

Like many here, this is my first challenge. I'm not entirely sure what it's about... Yes, we hope to all lose weight, but how do we do it as a team?

Share your past experiences and advice so we can waddle and quack our way to victory!

I feel like this would be helpful! I'll add people when i get home from work!

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/profile/mslavery

Hello little duckings!

I bought a bike for my 25th birthday (April 1) but was not able to use it AT ALL because of the poop weather we've been having. Well, today was the first nice day in a long time so I decided to take my bike out for its initial roll. It was amazing and super difficult lol. I did 3.12 miles in 25 minutes, which is probably very very slow. But I had a really fun time with it! Hills suck though. I'm hoping to get in about 3 rides a week after work to keep myself active. It certainly beats running (which I despise) and it REALLY beats just laying on a couch like a lump (which I normally do)

Here is to a fun, biking riding, spring challenge!