(this pic is not of our challenge group. It's from Super Saturday last year. But we all got sweaty together . . . really, not virtually. Virtually works well too!)

It’s been a while since I’ve run a challenge of my own. I’ve been involved with other people’s challenges – which is fun in its own right, to see how other people do this thing – but I bet it’s been three months or more since I’ve introduced people to each other online and seen the excitement and posts from something I put together.

Challenge groups, challenges, are groups of people who are meeting online, in secret Facebook groups, to motivate and encourage each other toward health and fitness goals. Everyone has shared a goal – everyone is doing a Beachbody program of one kind or another. Many people are taking advantage of the pure good nutrition in Shakeology.

The weird thing is how well these groups work. You wouldn’t think that telling someone ON THE INTERNET that you’ll work out at 6 am (or 7 pm, or midnight) will actually make you set the alarm and get sweating. You wouldn’t think that strangers sharing pictures of the water they’re drinking or the delicious-looking food they’re eating (healthy too!) would make you do the same.

It does. It works. I’ve lost 37 lbs in 2 years with the help of these groups. I’m helping 6 people in one right now, and we are FIRED UP. Fired up about our own fitness goals – and fired up about helping one another.

Helping people. It’s about as badass as you get. And that you help yourself at the same time? Even better.