So here we are at the beginning of it all. Yeah baby!

Today is a week to get organized, start planning and get into the habit of doing something each and EVERY DAY that will keep your progress moving forward so you can finally reach your goals. So are you ready? Close to 100 people have already made the decision to join the Finish What You Started Challenge, and if you’re one of them, you’ve already written down your goals.

As you head into your chosen healthy eating and fitness activities for this week, here are some things to consider:

• Don’t overwhelm yourself with the pressure of an “all or nothing” approach. It doesn’t work.
• Work on becoming awesome at one or two small changes at a time, and don’t beat yourself up for the areas you’re still struggling in.
• Get strong and consistent in the changes you’re focusing on, then build on that by adding more positive changes.
• If you mess up and need a do-over, you canNOT quit. Finishers don’t quit. They get up and keep going. That’s the kind of person you are.

A word on Planning: Anything less than a plan is a hit or miss situation. Planning creates a sense of urgency and expectation. It encourages you to be disciplined and consistent so you actually follow through. Your plans will tell you ahead of time what must be done, how it will be done and when you will do it. Planning sets you up for action. And then you take those actions. Each day this week and every day throughout the Challenge, plan to have a daily plan. That’s how stuff gets done.

THE STAR SYSTEM

It’s time to get familiar with the Star System Tracking Chart, a personal system to rate your daily progress and achievements. Each day you will award yourself zero, one or two stars in each category for food and fitness (two stars being the best). This means you can earn up to 2 stars in the Food Category and 2 stars in the Fitness Category for a total of 4 stars in a given day.

Here’s how the ratings translate in each category:

• Two stars = Great day!
• One star = Meh, but still decent.
• Zero stars = You need a do-over.

You have the opportunity to earn up to 28 stars during a stellar week (4 Stars x 7 Days = 28 stars), plus extra stars in the “other” category of the Star System Tracking Chart for any mini-challenges I dish out to you that you complete successfully.

The star system is for YOU to analyze your progress and pinpoint where you are excelling or need to improve. It’s for you to see just how much work you’re putting in (or lack thereof) that’s either keeping you stagnant or propelling to you the finish.

Here are some “gray area factors” to consider when rating yourself:

• A scheduled fitness rest day counts as 2 stars, because rest and recovery is vital to your fitness.
• Occasional indulgence on sweets, high carbs or fatty foods also counts as 2 stars (what!?), but only when you gnaw in moderation. The key here is “occasional indulgence”. If indulgence turns into an overeating-fest, that would not be 2 stars.
• Be honest in your ratings. You know without anyone telling you whether you’ve done well or not. If you don’t rate yourself honestly you cannot expect to improve.

Bonus Star activity for this week, August 1 – August 7th: Give yourself 1 bonus star on the Star System Tracking Chart if at the end of this week (on Sunday, August 7th), you consistently logged your stars on the chart each and every day. And yes, I will be nosy and wanna know how many stars you earned. That’s called accountability.

Okay! There ya have it. Let’s get it STARted!

On “Finish It Mondays”, please link up in the comments to any posts/vlogs that document your journey during this Challenge.

Start. Stop. Start. Give up. Re-start. Lose patience. Get discouraged. Stop again. Oh, damn. Now start over…

Does this pattern sound familiar? Isn’t it time you started and finally got consistent with your workouts and reached your fitness goals without the dust, mold and maggot juice eating away at your progress? (emmm, of course it’s time…)

If your fitness life is bad ass and overflowing with the splendor of many diamond encrusted unicorn hooves, please feel free to be a spectator. But if you need some ass-kicking encouragement with a dose of accountability to get fitness the job done, then I invite you to embark on this 3-month journey with the Finish What You Started Challenge!

I’m gonna be lighting a flame under you ass and you WILL get results.

How Does The Challenge Work?

At the beginning of each week, Yum Yucky will dish out one or more Missions (like small homework assignments and fitness challenges) and uber-motivation while YOU commit to getting things done. There is only starting and finishing. There is no in-between. Over the course of 92 days (August 1st thru October 31st) this partnership between me and you is all for your benefit – it’s for your progress and success. No more stagnant results!

The Challenge will help you to:

• Develop a game plan with clearly defined goals.
• Work your plan with discipline and consistency for real results.
• Stay accountable to everything you commit to.
• Break bad habits and overcome other challenges that hinder your progress.
• Push you out of your comfort zone.
• Handle your “fall of the wagon” moments without crushed confidence and lost ground.

The Finish What You Started Challenge will guide you through 3 major components:

• Fitness: Centered around body transformation and wellness.
• Personal: Why? Because personal stuff can impact your fitness goals.
• Rewards System: To motivate and help you gauge “Perceived Effort vs. Actual Progress”.

So are you ready for this? Here’s how to join the Finish What You Started Challenge

You first Mission right this very minute is to sign up. Why? Because you are making a formal commitment. There will be weekly posts for you to follow along, but you also don’t want to miss out on the other awesome stuff I’m dishing out only to challenge participants who sign up.

Once you’ve joined the challenge today, start thinking about what it is you finally need to finish (or at least work towards consistently over the next 3 months) and then put it down on paper. This is serious stuff because whatever you write down is exactly what you will get out of this Challenge (if you stay committed). Then stay tuned for more info and your mission for the upcoming week (to be released this coming Sunday)!

Welcome to the Challenge, and may you finish STRONG!

[photo credit]

In honor of Christmas in July, I present to you…the Santa Pimp. But would somebody PLEASE fix the Santa Pimp’s panty tag? It’s stickin’ out the back a little bit.

But anywaaay. Santa Pimp and I are just wondering something… With this year more than half over already, how’s your fitness progress going? Are you on track? Ahead of schedule? Or have you fallen so behind in your goals that you can’t even remember what you were shooting for in the first place?

…and what’s this very important announcement I’m talking about?

Santa Pimp and I want to tell you there’s a new fitness challenge brewing.

The “Finish What You Started Challenge” begins on August 1st! But before I release all those spine-tingling details, I’m asking that you do a bit of self-examination to take an honest look in the mirror at where you’re at right now and where you wanna be.

This next challenge won’t be as easy as the Bikini Body Challenge. With that one, I just kinda left you to your fitness-work and you reported in at the end, but with the Finish What You Started Challenge, there will be more accountability. There will be fitness homework (yessss). There will ME pushing YOU out of that comfortable state where fitness progress is only so-so at best.

You’ve started over again so many times. Isn’t time you finally finished what you started? Get ready, because that’s exactly what you’re about to do. I want to see you succeed. You can doooo this!!! Okay?

*Full details and your opportunity to join the Challenge coming next week. Now would you please, stop gazing at Santa Pimp’s ass. That’s just….wrong.

It’s FRAN! Congratulations, girl!

Everyone did great and it was such a tough call. Depending on whose eyeballs you were using, the winner could have been almost anyone. Their transformations really showed fantastically. But many commenters agreed that Fran should be the body transformation champion.

Please give our winner, Fran, and the other Bikini Body Challengers (Tonda, KrisB, Anna, Lynn, Angela and Donna) a hand clap for their commitment to seeing this challenge through the end. Although the $200 cash prize could only go to one person, I’m confident that what all of these ladies learned and accomplished in these past 4 months is priceless.

Ps. In accordance with the microscopic fine print that the contestants didn’t now they agreed to, Fran, as the winner, must use her $200 cash prize to purchase 12 cases of my new line of Organic Toe Jam Ointments that will be hitting the black market soon.

Vladimir is ready for bikini season. Now it’s your turn.

UPDATE 7/4/11: The Challenge is over! Go here to view my “after” pic and stayed tuned this week for the announcement of the Challenge winner!

I must be half-crazy for deciding to do this, but it starts right now and I dare you to get on board.

If you want to look sexy like Vladimir this summer, you have to start NOW, not in June when all the magazines come out with their “Tone Your Booty for the Beach” articles. Hellooo! It’s too late by then.

You have to start toning and cardioing and abdominaling and eating well right NOW to be bikini ready for summer.

THE CHALLENGE

Commit to being bikini-ready by July 1, 2011, but YOU define what bikini-ready means. It can mean getting to an actual bikini, slipping into a one-piece with confidence, or finally heading to the beach in shorts and a tank top instead of covering your entire body while you sweat in the summer heat. Bikini is a very loose term here. But for me? It means an actual bikini. (GASP!)

THE RULES

1) This is about body transformation, NOT weight loss numbers so (no offense), but I don’t care how much you weigh. You will not be asked to report pounds lost, so feel free to abandon your scale during this challenge. Body transformation is what counts!

2) Commit to the challenge simply by leaving a comment, then actually follow through and put in the work to look sexy(er) and transformed by July 1st.

THE PRIZE!

Bonus Commitment: Those who blog about the challenge with a recent picture (no old pictures!) as a point of reference for their soon-to-be body transformation will be entered to win a $200 cash prize (but, eh, I may up the ante later on). And remember to post your blog link in the comments!! The person with the most  ahhh-mazing body transformation gets the prize money. If it’s a close call, I will look to all of you to cast your votes for the most deserving whiner winner. **If you don’t have blog, you can Facebook your commitment or email me a recent pic instead. The “before” pic does NOT have to be taken in a bikini or mankini!

Cash prize winner will be selected within one week of the July 1st deadline.

Transforming your body to look great in a pair of jeans is one thing, but actually committing to transforming into bikini shape (remember, a loose term) is an entirely different ballsy game. This challenge is all about discipline, courage, commitment, accountability and finally pushing yourself to get to where you want to be. If you don’t possess those qualities, or aren’t willing to begin developing those qualities right this very second, this challenge is NOT for you.

So, uh, will you do it?

**please use the #bikinibody hashtag while Twittering so I can follow all your escapades.

It’s Plankmania, baby! This is how it all got started and now it’s catching on! Us competitors want YOU to be the next plank victim challenger, so film yourself in the plank hold for as long as possible and I’ll post your Youtube video here! Although any plank hold is a great plank hold, if you’re going for the gusto to whomp some azz and call yourself champion, here’s who you gotta beat:

Best Overall Forearm Champions (the most popular plank position):

• 6.05 minutes by @Saganlives
• 6.01 minutes by @darnfood
• 3.20 minutes by @YumYucky

Current Female Plank Champions

• Forearm plank hold: 6.05 minutes by @Saganlives.
• Straight-arm plank hold: 4-minutes by @juliie007.
• Knee plank hold: 3-minutes by Beckara.

Current Male Plank Champions

• Forearm plank hold: 6.01 minutes by @darnfood
• Straight-arm plank hold: 90-seconds by @Rspnsblty199

This challenge is ongoing and has no deadline. I’m sure there will be new champions crowned and dethroned champions whomped on a regular basis. muhahahahaaa! (And be sure to check out @DebRoy’s video tutorial on different plank styles. It’s excellent!)

Watch all the Plankathon Video Challengers

88-year-old MamaMcFoodie (@FoodieMcBody‘s Mom): 20 seconds!

@Saganlives: 6.05 minute forearm plank hold. Ridiculous!!!

@darnfood: 6.01 forearm plank hold. Wow-zer!

@juliie007: 4-minute straight-arm hold.

@YumYucky: 3.20 minute forearm hold.

@FoodieMcbody: 3-minute forearm hold. (click image to view on Facebook)

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Behold the sign on the front door of Blockbuster. This is the ONLY reason the Greedy Kids were allowed inside. (hence, the animalistic part)

But wait! Can you spot Greedy Kid #2 at the car? If you can find him in the background, you win 5,000 bonus points redeemable for (only partially chewed on) Hamburger Helper.

…and here comes the Challenge

What is that one bastard-of-a-food that grips you on the weekend and totally screws up some (or all?) of your hard work fitness progress that you did all week?

I challenge you to NOT let it grip you this weekend. Easier said than done, huh?

The bastard-of-a-food that grips me is pizza… 4 slices every Friday night. Then it takes me straight into a food coma, seasoned with bloating and a dash of  “Why the hell did I eat so much!“.

But I didn’t do it this time. I refused the pizza suggestion and, instead, ate a bowl of bella mushrooms sauteed in olive oil, wine, fresh garlic and onions, and then poured over rotini pasta. One bowl.

And you know what happened next?

The food coma never came. Neither did the bloating.

…or regret.

That one small decision saved me calories AND fueled my power to make more good-small decisions. So I’m gonna keep building on that. After YEARS of eating greasy pizza every Friday night, I feel like I don’t have to anymore. There are better, tastier choices.

This weekend, I challenge YOU to say no to the food that grips you and replace it a better choice. Nothing drastic. Just one small change. Even if its eating a smaller portion of your evil-favorite.

Can you do it?

Who? What? WAIT! I thought Subway asked me to Commit to Fake, so I stuffed my bra bigger and changed my hair color (haven’t you done this, too?)

…turns out I was wrong.

It’s Commit to Fit in celebration of Subway’s own Jared, who dedicated himself to running this year’s NYC Marathon. I’m glad I made myself real sexy ‘n stuff, but that was not part of the challenge. Subway and I want to know how YOU will Commit to Fit.

Will you run a marathon or train for your first 5K? Will you finally join the gym to go spin and Zumba, or will you try rock wall climbing, like I commit to do?

Yum Yucky gets to celebrate YOUR commitments with a series of fun-themed giveaways over the next few weeks that will help motivate you to reach your goal. Subway hooked me up with all this stuff for myself, and now I get to share this same splendor with you. Check out these upcoming series of giveaways:

• Green iPod Shuffle + iTunes gift card
• $50 gift card to LuluLemon
• Gaiam gym bag and yoga mat (it’s really, really niiice)
• Famous Fan themed reusable lunch bag of your choice, plus lunch on Subway with a gift card.
• Up to $100 to help you meet your Commitment challenge
• $25 Subway gift to celebrate Yum Yucky’s upcoming interview with Jared

In addition to this awesomesauce, Subway is dishing out $26,200 in sweepstakes prizes on their Facebook Page ($1,000 for every mile Jared will run), plus more Subway gift cards galore.

I’m super curious how you will Commit to Fit. I’ll take on rock wall climbing, so leave a comment and share your own goal. Then stayed tuned for this series of giveaways to make your commitment shine brighter.

**So tell me, am I very sexy? Or just a fake-azz blonde? (tell the truth, dammit)

Show me those guns, baby! Mine are, eh, okay. And I already know how you feel about this guy. So let’s get down to business.

THE CHALLENGE

Focus on your guns this week (your biceps) for 5 out of 7 days, and add a smathering of ab work to make it extra excruciating exciting.

WHO’S IN?

My challenger is Tanya from InTheGym.net, but I don’t wanna go this alone. Will YOU join in with me?

THE GUIDELINES

First, take a picture of your bicep muscle (flexed). Measure it, if you can, and take note if it has or lacks definition.

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Here it is, people. This is the Cashier’s Check infused with $403 in awesome donations made during the YumJared Sugar Sweet Free fundraiser to support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. It’s going in the mail today.

And congratulations to the four winners of the NuNaturals giveaway that accompanied the fundraiser: Claire, Merri, GiGi, and Kate. You girls are da bomb.