This is starting to get ridiculous

I'm beginning to have trouble keeping track of all my games and competitions and challenges...

• GymPact which requires five 30-minute workouts a week
• DietBet which requires that I lose 4% of my body weight by this coming Friday (spoiler alert:  I think I'm about there!)
• PN Coaching (of course)
• And now... another Whole Life Challenge

Whew.

The Whole Life Challenge started this weekend and runs for 8 weeks, requiring me to not eat things I enjoy, like PopTarts and Diet Pepsi (which, let's face it, are like manna from heaven).  Also - workouts, drinking water, stretching, and a new lifestyle habit every week (this week is no TV/computer/etc while eating). Not bad timing for it, I suppose -- while things have been going well around these parts, I suppose a good nutritional kick in the butt won't hurt (too much).

I've been thinking about all these social media type challenges and interactions I've been signing up for -- it's comfortable for me because I don't have to actually, you know, meet and talk to people in person.  I'm finding that the older I get, the less I like leaving the house.  Don't worry -- I haven't yet gotten to the stage where I sit on my porch and yell at the kids to get off my lawn (give me another year or two... oh, and a lawn for kids to have to keep off of, I suppose).

But when I do leave the house?  After a short while I'm ready to go back home.  

Anyone else like this?  I find that even small groups of friends can wear me out; don't get me wrong -- I love my friends and love hanging out with them, but after a few hours, I just need to leave and not have to talk to anyone at all.  It's better one-on-one, also better if there's activity that doesn't require conversation.

I'm an introvert of the highest order, for sure.  Once I read the true definition of an introvert, I knew I had found a home. I read this article and found myself emphatically shaking my head in affirmation: YES.  Someone gets it (let's not mock that it's Huffington Post that gets me).  Being social drains my energy; being alone recharges me.

For a long time, this really bothered me.  Why was I the only one wanting to go home when all my friends were ready to continue the party?  It seemed to me that I was fundamentally broken somehow.  But whether it's the recent media coverage of introverts, or hard-earned wisdom or just being too old to give a shit anymore, I now recognize that this is simply the way I am. Just because I want to stay home all weekend and read and exercise and snuggle with my dogs doesn't mean I'm no fun.  It just means that I find different things fun.  And that's okay (no one but me has to like it).  And now that I know how to take care of myself, it's much easier planning outings. I don't want to be a hermit (well, not most days, at least), just want my social events in small doses is all.

Anyway.  That was quite a tangent, eh?  So - let's run some numbers, just for kicks.  Since the beginning of PN (this time around), I'm down 5 pounds and about 4 inches. I've missed only one workout and have fit in more than I was supposed to on a few of the weeks. I'm in a good groove and I'm just trying to not do anything that might upset the ol' apple cart. As easily as this groove has come is as easily as it will go. That sounds like a great title for a song, doesn't it?  You can have it.  You're welcome.

Surprised?

Well. 

This is like a Weeks 41,42,43,44,45... review, isn't it?

So sorry, no excuse other than not feeling like sitting at my computer much these days. And now I'm left with a lot of ground to cover -- because you wouldn't want to miss out on all the details, now, would you?

• Perhaps I should to be surprised by this, but I'm not -- measurements, while seesawing over the past weeks, have essentially settled back to where I was however many weeks it's been since I last blogged. The upside is that I'm not any worse off, but the downside... well, that's apparent, isn't it.
• I've started and finished the Whole Life Challenge, which included a whole bunch of restricting myself from eating food that I wanted to stuff down my gullet. Of course, it also included pushing me into eating healthy stuff instead, working out regularly and doing good-for-me things like stretching and taking a supplement.  I found that while I can cut down on all my sugar, I haven't been convinced that there's a good reason to do so (within reason, of course).  And I like eating grains.  And some raw vegetables are my mortal enemy.  In summary: sugar = good and vegetables = bad. Math doesn't lie, right?
• While measurements may not have moved much, the baseline workouts that I did for the WLC showed that I gained fitness, if nothing else.  My initial baseline mile run 8 weeks ago came in at a 9:20m/m pace, but this morning I was a veritable speed demon out there with a pace of 8:34m/m. I was hoping for a full minute of improvement, but I'll take this. And with everything I've been doing, frankly, fitness is the most important measure to me.  If I can do everything I want to do while 30 pounds overweight, then I'll still be quite happy.
• Lean Eating is still going on, but winding up.  The finalists for the $25,000 have been picked (spoiler: I'm not one of them) and we've got just a few weeks left before being sprung free from the monthly payments, weekly emails and daily lessons. I'll definitely have some final thoughts to share on what my opinion was of the entire program.
• The WLC nutritional component kind of fell apart for me the last few weeks of the challenge. Through the first 5 weeks I rarely lost a point, but during the last 3, I was lucky to get 3 of 5, especially since I started back up my love affair with Diet Pepsi (oh, how I missed it!).
• My mountain biking weekend has come and gone and I had a BLAST. And was unceremoniously reminded that all this sort of stuff is much more fun when I'm in good enough shape to really enjoy it.  That said, I loved all the biking (and didn't break any bones!) and the hanging out with the other ladies in our gorgeous cabin was totes awesome.
• And next up on the list is my week-long Canadian Rockies hiking trip.  Can't wait! Of course, I've got a lot of work to do in the next 5 weeks to do as much as possible to prepare myself for it. I don't want to be the doofus holding the rest of the group back, that's for sure.

So, that's the quick overview of what I've been up to. Definitely more later since I'm planning on writing a wrap-up of both the Whole Life Challenge and Lean Eating.

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