Sunday Funday: Week 40 Review

This will be my last week of nutritional freedom; starting this coming Saturday is the beginning of the Whole Life Challenge.  No sugar, no processed food, no grains, no dairy -- none of my go-to emotional eating foods.  What's a girl supposed to do?

Seriously, though, I'm looking forward to this challenge.  While it doesn't exactly follow the Lean Eating tenets -- meaning, some food is completely off-limits, which isn't the focus in LE -- it is everything I'm supposed to be eating.  And since I've been indulging way too much in sugary treats, keeping them completely off the menu will be good for me.  I've said it before, I do much better with abstinence than moderation.

And some of my most favorite people are doing it with me!  Honestly, that's probably the best part, the part I'm most excited about.  I absolutely LOVE group activities like this! For as much of an introvert that I am, I like shared experiences and encouragement.  Add in a bit of game play -- there are points to earn every day for nutrition, exercise, etc -- and that's the perfect vehicle to deliver me back to good health.

Anyone interested in joining?  Let me know and I'll tell you what team to join!  The more the merrier ... or, as I like to say, misery loves company.  

Onto what you're all here for ... 

Measurements
Everything is up.  Some might call this "strategy" since it'll make my WLC starting stats artificially higher, so I'll go with that.  Seriously, though, I need to stop eating so much crap.

Workouts
Kind of hit or miss this week for no real good reason.  That said, I did get out and run a few times, which is a nice switch.  Next week I have a 5 mile race (wait, let me put air quotes around that ... "race"... in my current state of fitness, there will be nothing fast about this), so that'll kick start my season.

Habits
This week's new habit was to fashion a personal mission statement.  This was an interesting exercise, and I spent a lot of time thinking about it.  At it's essence, this isn't difficult:  I want to live my life in such a way that I can go do anything and everything without having to worry about fitness limiting me.  I love being active and right now I'm too out of shape to really enjoy it.  So, I used that as a starting point and finally ended up with a few paragraphs that define how I want to live my life.

Habit Log
Weeks 1-2: Fish oil and probiotic
Weeks 3-4: Eating slowly
Weeks 5-6: Stop eating at 80% full
Weeks 7-8: Lean protein with every meal
Weeks 9-10: 5 servings of vegetables a day
Weeks 11-12: Make smart carb choices
Weeks 13-14: Plan Meals
Weeks 15-16: Log all food
Weeks 17-18: Create a sleep ritual
Weeks 19-20: Drink only zero calorie beverages
Weeks 21-22: Use targeted recovery strategies
Weeks 23-24: Eat only whole foods
Week 25: No new habits (work on the previous ones)
Weeks 26-27: A little more, a little better
Weeks 28-29: Lean protein and vegetables with every meal
Weeks 30-31: Stop eating at 80% full (an encore presentation)
Weeks 32-33: Modify carb intake
Weeks 34-35: Do a 5-minute body/mind scan every day
Weeks 36-37: Fitness media fast
Weeks 38-39: 20 minutes of de-stressing every day

Week 40:  Write a personal fitness mission statement

Sunday Funday: Week 39 Review

Ah, yes.  Another long absence on my part.  Sorry about that.  Last weekend turned into a work cluster, with a 20-hour day in the middle of it, and it took me almost a full week to recover from it (okay, not really, but it felt like it).

While nutrition-wise it wasn't the worst week, it took me the majority of the time to get my butt back to working out.  And with the all-nighter on Saturday, I missed -- BY ONE WORKOUT -- completing my 4-week challenge to get my dual monitors.  *sigh*  Back to the beginning...

Anyway - Happy Easter, everyone. This will be short since I have to wrangle up the dogs and get over to the Easter celebration at my parents' house.

Measurements
All slightly higher.  Disappointing, to say the least.  This needs to change.

Workouts
Better towards the end of the week, capping off with a 4-mile run-type thing this morning.  Next week, totally back on track, promise.

Habits
The new habit is 20 minutes of de-stressing per day.  While meditation is what they're going for, any time spent without distraction counts.  Basically, just sitting and not having TV, music, books, computer, people, etc around to pull your focus away from just being.  I've been trying to make a conscious effort to do this, and I like it.  Nothing life-altering, but there is a sense of calm to achieve when you stop everything.

Intermittent Fasting
Only did this on 2 days, though I was better about not eating at night after dinner. When it doesn't happen for me, it's almost always that I don't wait long enough to have breakfast.

Habit Log
Weeks 1-2: Fish oil and probiotic
Weeks 3-4: Eating slowly
Weeks 5-6: Stop eating at 80% full
Weeks 7-8: Lean protein with every meal
Weeks 9-10: 5 servings of vegetables a day
Weeks 11-12: Make smart carb choices
Weeks 13-14: Plan Meals
Weeks 15-16: Log all food
Weeks 17-18: Create a sleep ritual
Weeks 19-20: Drink only zero calorie beverages
Weeks 21-22: Use targeted recovery strategies
Weeks 23-24: Eat only whole foods
Week 25: No new habits (work on the previous ones)
Weeks 26-27: A little more, a little better
Weeks 28-29: Lean protein and vegetables with every meal
Weeks 30-31: Stop eating at 80% full (an encore presentation)
Weeks 32-33: Modify carb intake
Weeks 34-35: Do a 5-minute body/mind scan every day
Weeks 36-37: Fitness media fast

Weeks 38-39: 20 minutes of de-stressing every day

Sunday Funday: Week 37 Review

This weekend has been a wonderful vacation from the cruddy weather that we've been having for oh-so-long now.  It hasn't been particularly warm -- perhaps mid 50's -- but sunny and nice enough to be outside without wanting to shake my fist and curse at Mother Nature for being so cruel.  So, there's that.

And doggie drama-wise it's been a quiet week (I didn't this was possible anymore)... Clarke is limping around less, and the two dogs haven't been sniping at each other much at all, either.  Of course, Clarke feeling better is both a good and bad thing -- he's much more likely to go running or want to play, which is still strictly verboten.

As far as I go, things are moving along.  It was another LE milestone weekend -- measurements, photos and caliper body fat testing.  Oh, joy.  Coming up to the end of the year, which is entirely too weird to even think about -- the next big measurement weekend will be the last one, I think.

And on another front, I've signed up to be on a team for the Whole Life Challenge -- I vacillate between thinking this is going to be the best thing ever and wondering what the hell I was thinking. There'll be another blog post in the near future about this -- I think the 8 weeks I'll spend doing this is going to have a big impact on me.

Measurements
Again, about the same as last week, though the week was one of going up and then coming down in time for the weekend. I've been doing fairly well with trying to keep things in line, so I was a little surprised not to see the numbers move downward.  So - weight and measurements are approximately the same.  The body fat measurement, unfortunately, went up from last time, back to what it was in October -- with the weeks of studying, walking boot and complete lack of control, this was not unexpected. More work to be done, that's all.

Workouts
Another week of 100% completion! Feeling good about it all, I have to say. This is week 3 in the books towards getting my dual monitors! And I'm really looking forward to the day when it's nice enough to run outside without having to think about how many layers of clothing I'll need to wear.  

Habits
This completes the second week of the fitness media fast. Like I've said, I haven't been paying too much attention to this, so I'll be looking forward to a new habit tomorrow.

Intermittent Fasting
This remains the best weapon in my arsenal, I just need to do it more consistently.

Habit Log
Weeks 1-2: Fish oil and probiotic
Weeks 3-4: Eating slowly
Weeks 5-6: Stop eating at 80% full
Weeks 7-8: Lean protein with every meal
Weeks 9-10: 5 servings of vegetables a day
Weeks 11-12: Make smart carb choices
Weeks 13-14: Plan Meals
Weeks 15-16: Log all food
Weeks 17-18: Create a sleep ritual
Weeks 19-20: Drink only zero calorie beverages
Weeks 21-22: Use targeted recovery strategies
Weeks 23-24: Eat only whole foods
Week 25: No new habits (work on the previous ones)
Weeks 26-27: A little more, a little better
Weeks 28-29: Lean protein and vegetables with every meal
Weeks 30-31: Stop eating at 80% full (an encore presentation)
Weeks 32-33: Modify carb intake
Weeks 34-35: Do a 5-minute body/mind scan every day
Weeks 36-37: Fitness media fast

Sticker mania

Just in case you were wondering about the status of my 4-week, can't-miss-a-workout challenge to myself, it's going great, thanks.  So far I'm two weeks in and still on track to meet my goal and gift myself dual computer monitors. I'm even being smart about planning workouts around days when I know I'll be too lazy to fit something in.  Impressive, I know.

Now here's my confession:  I've started using a motivational tool that I'm a little embarrassed about...

And yes, that's me there on the 3rd.  My birthday.  This calendar is my sister's creation and she
was nice enough to note my age (even though she didn't do that FOR ANYONE ELSE IN THE
ENTIRE CALENDAR). Still, isn't it pretty?  And luckily on the 3rd I was still in a walking
boot so I didn't have to put a sticker over my face.  Though that'd be kind of funny...

Yup, stickers.  I feel a little like I'm back in 3rd grade when stickers were THE COOLEST THING EVER and if I wasn't spending my money on candy, I was spending it on stickers.  I even kept them all in an album for safekeeping and easy perusal (yes, I was/is a geek).

So, yea, each day that I complete a workout, I get to put a sticker on that day.  Note that Sundays are typically days off for me, so the empty 23rd and 30th are totally legit, just so's ya know.  And this really does motivate me!  I love seeing the pretty colors and it's a little pressure to get the workout in so I don't have a lonely, blank day (that screams "FAILURE!!" and "YOU SUCK!") in the middle of my week.

I'm telling you -- it works.  Give it a try!  Just make sure you get cool stickers.