🧮 Countdown & Pre-Challenge Activity #1: YOUR INPUT & PARTICIPATION! 🧮
On behalf of the overall leadership team (Barb @ladyluk1 ~ Ceri @Ceriusly1 ~ Diane @Dianedoessmiles1 , and Heidi @hicim705 ) as well as the leaders of our eight individual challenge teams (Fit Force ~ Mission Slimpossible ~ Positively Strong 4 Life ~ Rain Dancers ~ Red Hots ~ Shape Shifters ~ Tenacious GR8TERS ~ Thinner Winners) …
For many, the Autumn/Fall season brings about cooler temperatures and our days are getting shorter. In certain areas the colors of Autumn are in full display as you travel to/from your respective destinations (even if that destination is to/from work). The fragrance of apples and pumpkin spice fills the air, farm stands and stores offer a bounty of produce that is synonymous with this time of year. The autumn/fall is the perfect time of year to begin getting ready for some of the celebrations and gatherings that ultimately will take place toward the end of the fall and into the winter (did anybody immediately think of fall cleaning/decluttering?).
I found a printable fall checklist to help YOU pick and choose some things to help you celebrate this wonderful change of season. The checklist is by: Whitney English and was published in 2023. If you are interested in taking a look to begin planning your fall activities, please visit:
For the several hundred of us who join the Seasonal 5% Challenges from one season to the next, we come here because we are looking to make a change or even to stay on course. We seek support and strive to cultivate our long-time friendships (even if they are virtual) and we are looking forward to connecting and supporting new members. Many times we are hoping to receive support from like-minded individuals.
So many of our 5% Challengers followed us from SparkPeople after they closed in the summer of 2021. Many of those Challengers have been with us for over 15 years!! Our sense of community helps us to welcome new friends and Challengers from the MFP site who are now regulars to our seasonal Exercise and Healthy Habits Challenges. Our longevity is a testament to our commitment to ourselves and to one another.
To those of you that have been with the 5% Challenges for some time, you are welcomed to skip this paragraph/section. For those new to the 5% Challenge and do not know our history, I ask you to read an older article that discusses Team Challenges. Our own 5% Seasonal Challenge was highlighted (It is the 2nd item). Lynn, @kaliswalker (one of the original founders of the 5% Challenge) was interviewed. The article talks about the 5% Challenge model and the importance of teams, support and camaraderie. The article was written in 2016 ~ and is still relevant today.
Here is the link:
(As of this writing in September, 2025, this article still shows up, and it is still worth the read.)
Our story continues to grow!! When SparkPeople’s site went dark, we - the current Overall Leadership Team, realized that without SparkPeople and its team spirit - hundreds of individuals could be lost and struggling. We could let that happen so we sprang into action and searched for an alternate site where we could continue our journey and to continue to write our story. Many sites were considered and MyFitnessPal was ultimately chosen as our 'new home' with the start of the 2021 Autumn/Fall 5% Challenge. Bringing the 5% Challenge to MFP was a true labor of love! It was not smooth sailing as we had hoped, but the Overall Challenge Leader Team kept working incredibly hard to make this transition work. We continue to have faithful 5% Challenge ‘followers’ from SparkPeople and are fortunate to have been able to spread our message to MFP and its members and welcome them into our 5% Challenge Community!
2024 presented its own set of Challenges and reminded the Overall Leadership Team that we are mighty despite having been presented with our own share of real-life obstacles. As a result, we were not the mighty fabulous five that we had once been and struggled to find time for ourselves, never mind the demands of our volunteer duties here. We quickly developed strategies to work together to continue to forge ahead. We collaborated with one another by sharing thoughts and ideas to stay on track and we revamped our 5% Challenge ‘travel/LTGL’ format into a more exercise-based and healthy habit (HH) focused format. Switching to this new format gave the Overall Leaders a chance to flex their creative muscles. We are proud that we were able to keep the Challenges going and even more proud that, in the end, 2024 was still a successful year!
In 2025, we are celebrating 15 years of 5% Challenges and we continue to grow and thrive. We are listening to our 5% Challenge community members and are striving to embrace some of their ideas incorporating some of them into our current model to keep our Challenge(s) fresh and engaging.
🗬🤔 Now that you have been provided with a bit of a background, please think about what YOU need and how YOU are going to be approaching the 2025 Autumn/Fall 5% Challenge. Will you continue to practice healthy habits that you have already learned and are working for you? Are you looking to begin something entirely new? Are you still trying to identify where you are right now and what you would like to get out of the next 8 weeks? There are no right or wrong answers here as everyone’s healthy lifestyle goals/journeys are unique - like we all are. 🤔🗭
😊Your FIRST Countdown Activity for this Challenge will be for YOU to decide where YOU would like to go on YOUR Seasonal 5% Journey (as an added bonus, how would YOU would like to begin to write YOUR HEALTHY LIFESTYLE STORY?). Everyone's reason for joining this Challenge is different. We would like you to dig down deep to share what your motivation is for coming here. We would like you to share what brings you here and, even more importantly, what keeps you coming back! Perhaps there are things that you would like to get out of your personal 5% journey that we haven't discussed and/or researched. Why don't you write down some of YOUR ideas ~ we might even be able to incorporate some of those things in this or future Challenges!😊
✍️Feel free to add your comments to this thread outlining your exercise and healthy habits plan for a successful 2025 Autumn/Fall 5% Challenge. If you blog, please consider writing about this topic. You may add the link to your blog here or you may simply wish to copy/paste your writing here - or do both!), but please consider sharing!!
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PLEASE NOTE:
The Seasonal 5% Challenge Teams are very active. You will be encouraged and asked to participate to the best of your ability.
ALL challenge weeks run from Sunday through Saturday - you will be asked to record your exercise and ‘Healthy Habits’ points based on weekly Challenge themes. You will record these points daily or at least as often as you can during the week but no later than 11:59 pm each Sunday (your local time). In addition, weigh-ins are requested one time per week by 11:59 pm every Sunday (your local time). Your individual team leaders and/or teammates will help to answer any and all questions about where to record your points.
🔮 Our 2025 Autumn/Fall 5% Challenge Teams are currently being set up! 🔮
✉️You will be invited to your individual team soon, giving you enough time to get to know your team leaders and teammates. Until then, get to know some of the Challengers in the 5% Challenge Community who will be participating right along with you.
📢Announcements will be made when invitations to your individual teams are sent. Please visit this team, the 2025 AUTUMN/FALL 5% COMMUNITY TEAM, often, as this will be the best source for up-to-date information.
Replies
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i am looking forward to the challenge! have an amazing day, everyone!
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My theme for the upcoming challenge will be "getting back to health." I am recovering from my first bout of COVID and it really set me back in terms of my ability to exercise and other healthy habits. The upcoming challenge is a great opportunity to get things going in a positive direction.
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I want to continue with my exercise and healthy eating habits in order to keep my A1C, cholesterol and blood pressure regulated. The added benefit is that I feel more energetic to play with the grandkids. I keep coming back for accountability; the team helps with that as well as with encouragement and great ideas for keeping habits going.
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My goal is to stay very active despite ongoing appointments with sleep specialists, cardiologist, neurologists and more. I focus on healthy foods, moving a lot throughout my waking hours and standing up for myself if doctors try to overtreat me. So far this has worked because my doctors are amazed at my fitness considering my lifelong health issues.
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I'm looking forward to this challenge and plan on changing my weigh in day from Monday to Sunday. I'm undecided as to what my HHF will be for this Fall challenge.
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Even as an OAL (Over All Leader), I still have my own goals for the FALL challenge. To watch my sodium even more (I'm even making some of my OWN condiments! WOW! Ever make ketchup? It's NOT hard and only takes a few minutes!). To stay where my body is comfy, exercise while also not slacking off. I'll be trying on a new team. I am quite excited about this prospect!! Looking forward to knowing MORE MFP members with us on the 2025 5% FALL Challenge!!
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Nice to read the history of the challenge. It was recommend by a couple of my MFP friends, and I'm looking forward to it. I am at my goal weight, but find the maintenance part of this journey a dull one - need some fun to keep it going.
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Why am I here? Accountability and Support. That's why I stay with the 5% Challenge, even though I've been maintaining at my goal weight for years. Maintenance is HARD. It takes all the same hard work and dedication that it took to lose the weight, but without any of those rewarding WooHOO moments when you step on the scale and see a loss, or when you fit into a smaller size. There's not much WooHOO in staying the same. So I'm here to connect with like-minded people, and to report my exercise, try new healthy habits or remind myself of some forgotten ones, and above all to weigh in weekly.
My goals for the Fall Challenge are to meet my daily freggie goal, do a daily Strength Training workout, do some HIIT Cardio a few times a week, and walk every day. I think my Healthy Habit for this round might be a 10-minute daily Declutter Mission.
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Why am I here? I have been doing the 5% challenges since 2011 when I started on Spark People on the SUDS Team. I stayed on the challenges even when I was going through chemo and radiation. I did what I could as far as exercise goes, but the support and caring I got from the team made it my safe place to go. I have always enjoyed being a part of these challenges and I love to give support to those that I can.
My goals for this challenge is to keep going with my exercise and pre-diabetic diet. I have finally started losing weight again and I am getting closer to my goal weight every challenge. I get stuck once in a while, but I keep moving along and never quit. I have been using an app called Lazyfit and it is different 28 day challenges and they have chair yoga and chair exercises that are designed for seniors. It is a lot of fun and I do them everyday.
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I am here for accountability and health benefits. It is motivational to be a part of a team with similar goals, and it is wonderful to encourage each other and understand what a struggle weight loss and good health is for everyone
know that I need to track my food and exercise for the rest of my life in order to live a better life. My main goal right now is to lower my blood sugar. I have lost 80 pounds from my previous highest weight, and want to make sure that doesn't creep back on. My taste has changed and my sugar jones is gone, Thank You Father!
I plan to be low-carb for the rest of my life. I feel better and have more energy. My taste has changed and the food I'm eating now really satisfies me. Also doing intermittent fasting……..fasting 18 hours and eating 2 small meals in a 6-hour window.
Oh, by the way, I do not care for the new tracker at all. It is just like all of the others on the market that I rejected. I have my vitamins in groups and named them in the Meals section, having Breakfast vitamins being a meal, and Dinner vitamins being a meal. It kept me from having to type all of that in every darned day, as I could click and add it to my posting. Now we have 2 choices with the Meals…..look at it or delete it. Also, it says you can try the new one and go back to the old version but that didn't work for me. I will start tracking elsewhere.
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Well, I'm back on the tracking and getting healthier bandwagon for the I don't know what time. This will be my 3rd or, 4th challenge. I took a break for about 2 years but, I'm back. The challenges kept me accountable and, I need the support from the community. This is one reason I'm not caring for the lack of news feed or, whatever mfp called it. I liked being able to cheer my friends on and, to have the supportive feedback.
I noticed In August when on our annual family vacation that I was not wanting to participate in activities because of how my body looks. I can't have that for my own mental and, physical health. It's also not a good example for my 9&11 yr old daughters. I have my annual physical in October with my gp and, I'll be having my a1c and cholesterol tested at that time. I almost wish I knew what my a1c was back in August to compare but, I'm not waiting to make changes.
I feel like I need to not concentrate so much on my weight and, weight loss but, more on making healthy eating choices and, moving my body. I'm going to be checking my measurements every month, making sure I get my 10k steps, and, getting a resistance routine in place.2 -
My goal is continue to maintain after losing 65 pounds and to FINALLY hit that elusive goal weight which I set almost 10 years ago! I've been anywhere from 1-4 pounds away over the past couple of months and I'm detemined to make it to that goal. Even then, I will probably focus on losing a few more pounds. The goal that I set when I was way over 200 lbs was one that seemed reasonable and attainable at the time.
The challenges keep me exercising which I probably wouldn't do consistently otherwise so moderate exercise which will include stretching and dancing to music I enjoy daily, will continue to be part of my plan. I'll also include workout videos that incorporate strength training and other cardio.
Making healthy food choices as consistently as possible focusing on keeping protein and fibre consumption high is also a part of my plan.
I do need to work on being more consistent with my bedtime which can sometimes be all over the map.2 -
I am looking forward to the fall challenge because I've had some life/health challenges this year & I want to have my healthy habits in place as a regular habit no matter what challenges or changes life/body goes through & the reminder in the group & the challenges really helps keep me on track also I always learn something new & to share some things that have helped me
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My fall goals are during a time of health challenge / change for me. I am having IBS & Thyroid med issues & changing up my protein smoothie as well as continuing IF of 7 hours food / 17 hours only water. In season of "detective" to find what works best for weight loss & digestive healing. Reminding myself of truth: I got this!! 🍁🍂 Fall here we come. Smiles Barbie 😊
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My Fall Goals - continue to focus on eating better/ exercising AMAP/ and enjoying life . Multiple health issues have popped up and are being dealt with .
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My Fall Goals are to focus on my exercising and choresteral.
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my goal is to focus on me and my health I seem to have lost myself , overweight , high blood pressure and prediabetic … how did that happen?
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I am primarily here for the support. Last month I received positive results from my 1 year check after my 2nd Spinal Fusion in August 2024. I was thrilled. Unfortunately, recently I've had some additional back pain which just came out of nowhere. So now I will be having yet another MRI, a CT Scan, and another visit with my surgeon to find out what's going on. Last week I would have said my overall goals are to continue with my exercise routines, create healthier meals, and work toward getting better sleep at night. Today, all those things are quite painful. So my plan is to take one day at a time, do what I feel I am able to do each day, and hope the upcoming tests result in positive outcomes!
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I'm here to hold myself accountable. The challenge gives me a starting point, and a foundation to return to daily. My health is important and I need to work on improving it daily.
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My fall goal is to take off the 5 pounds that I gained this summer while not on the 5% challenge…😐️
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Hi Everyone! I'm Terri. I joined the 5% challenge to encourage and challenge me in my weight loss goal to lose 20 pounds, maybe not all in this challenge (but maybe)…I will be doing all I can.
But its not just weight for me, it is so much more than that. I have to get back to my healthy self, exercise has been something I have neglected, but lately I am working more towards, I am 51 so I need to get to it everyday. Getting in my steps, and doing some strength training.
One of my motivations is my mother. My mother has Alzheimer's and I need to be healthy for that as well as just aging well. I'm 51, but this is a hard time for me. I think they used to call this the "sandwich generation" - I am here for it (but low carb bread for me LOL).
I am managing my emotions of my two grown girls coming into their own adult lives, while my mother is declining with Alzheimer’s. I am really close to my twin sister, who is also working on her weight and wanting to live a healthier life as well! I have great supportive husband, but he doesn't have a weight issue like I do. I realize my health can't be put on the back burner anymore. I'm ready for this challenge.
My goals are,
1. Break through to 159 by Jan 1 2026, which will be a bit after the challenge ends
2. Drink 8 glasses of water a day
3. Fast 16/8 daily
4. Limit my carbs to 20-25 a day
5. Minimum of 6000 steps a day
6. At least 30 minutes of exercise a day and strength training at least 3 times each week.
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Accountability - I retired this past summer and want to enjoy the future.
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My goal is to reset my healthy daily routines. I lost them the last two months while my husband was in the hospital then rehab and then to our new home with caregivers coming in several times a week. We moved to be closer to loved ones - so packing up a house, packing a moving truck, unpacking the truck and now unpacking a house each day. I finally found a buyer for my business so I can retire soon and that means even more transitions and changes in the next month. So much upheaval and chaos at one time upset my daily routine. Time to get them back in place and get some consistency back into my life.
Each new season reminds us that live revolves a steady rhythm of change. Things change around us requiring us to adjust to those changes. I am looking for the number of changes to slow down by the end of this challenge.
Focus on consistency and routine.
Have a Great and Healthy Day!!!
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Getting ready for the challenge! Looking forward to making healthy changes and improvements in my life. I will be focusing on increasing my physical activity and finding and sticking to an eating plan that works for me. I am happy that the MFP Premium membership now can include eating plans with recipes! Soooo very helpful!
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October 2, 2025:
I've written about my Countdown and Pre-Challenge Activity in the MFP Group:
🖊️📓💻 Seasonal 5% Challenges ~ BLOGGERS!! ✍️🖊️📓💻Please visit hicim705's Haven. Here is the link:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10878935/hicim705s-haven#latest
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I need to focus more on food and restart daily morning walks. For some reason I’ve lost my GUNG HO it has gone bye-bye. I like the challenge because it keeps me accountable. I joined Silver Sneakers at the Y 5months and haven’t been there yet. This has to CHANGE!!!
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My goal is to get back to "lifestyle" mentality. I kind of went of the rails for a moment but I am back and this time I didn't just spiral out of control but just hopped back on. My goal is:
- Stick with intermittent fasting and occasional lengthy fasts.
- Moderate carbs.
- Water intake
- Daily movement
- Self care
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My goal for Fall challenge is to continue building a new gluten-free diet plan. I started gluten-free as a trial hoping to alleviate digestive issues and joint pain. DH and I both have lost our "wheat bellies" and FEEL better. A lifelong bread lover, I'm amazed at not missing wheat. Joint pain has reduced and digestion is coming around to normal.
Daily yoga & meditation will be a fall goal. Both have helped me to lean into enjoying day to day living, give me more energy and focus to keep up with our dear grandchildren and their families, our primary life goal.
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