1. Walk 12,000 steps a day. Those extra 2,000 steps a day (compared to last year's challenge of 10,000 steps a day) seemed to make a difference as I lost three pounds in a month without changing anything else.
Because I am really smart I started out the month by walking nearly 30 miles over two days and consequently developed a touch of patellar tendonitis in my right knee (also known as jumper's knee, which makes me sound very athletic). This stress injury meant I was hobbling down any and all stairs and hills for the first two weeks of this challenge.
2. Nix the hair dryer. Aiming big for this challenge, really making a difference in the world.
I have wavy/semi-curly hair that tends to frizz up easily. In high school, a friend jokingly called me "poofy hair girl". To avoid retaining this moniker, I took to half-assedly blowing my hair out most every day. It was finally time to embrace my natural hair texture. So how much money and fossil fuel-based energy did I save by doing so?
The facts:
1875 watt hair dryer
.33 hours per day for 30 days
$0.14 per kilowatt hour
The savings from not using a hair dryer for a month:
18.6 kilowatts saved
$2.60 saved
Hey, you can buy a coffee with that.