In the middle of March I started thinking a lot about spring and the coming planting season, which always makes me look forward to my herb garden and all its loveliness. While Pinning all the world has to offer about DIY herb gardens and raised-bed gardens, I started thinking hard about what I'm feeding my family. And so began my Clean Eating Pin-binge. I wanted to know more about cutting the processed food and bringing in more Real Food, and then I stumbled upon a Clean Eating 5-Day challenge on Facebook.
I can do anything for 5-days. So I did.
I learned a lot about what it means to fuel my body rather than just eat mindless calories and chemicals. Yes, chemicals...gross. I loved it. I felt better, I was so, so happy and I sincerely enjoyed every meal. Why? Well, because it tasted good, was easy (enough) to prepare and it was darn good for me. In the process I reread Michael Pollan's Food Rules, and started bringing the kids and Kevin (sometimes begrudgingly) along for the ride. For the most part, the experience was a pleasant learning curve. Only one dinner was rough, and everyone pretty much agreed that the frozen organic brown rice won't be served again because, as Connor would say, it tasted like plastic. As a result of that week, we swapped out fruit snacks for raisins, raw almonds and dehydrated banana chips (gag...oh the horror...but the kids love them). They supported me and no one died in the process as we cut out Hidden Valley's light Ranch, substituting it for a preservative-free version from Marzetti. No more Country Crock -- instead a butter dish which sits nearly untouched. Our new peanut butter only contains nuts and salt...what else could you ask for? We added in whole grain pasta and lots of zucchini and asparagus...we were happy and we ate well. It was awesome, so I knew I needed and wanted to make it stick. This was the foreshadowing to the chapter that was about to begin.
Enter the 60-day Fitness Challenge...gulp. And here is where I nearly always bow out. As you may recall, Ido not did not like to exercise, and if you didn't know that about me, read all about it here. So when Angie, the super-awesome leader of the 5-Day Clean Eating Challenge, invited me to do the 60-Day Fitness Challenge, my response to her Facebook message was exactly this...
"Fitness is where I falter. Want me to modify me diet? I'm on it. Want me to move my butt? Well, let me think about it for a while. Then I get moving, get sore and...you know the rest. I'm not an excuse maker. Exercise is hard and I don't like it, and fitness DVDs are the worst at motivating me."
Thankfully, Angie didn't let me off the hook that easily. She encouraged me to try and find something I like...telling me to work with my old Billy Blanks dvds if that makes me happy. But then she mentioned TurboFire, and I was all eye-rolly and imagined the gimmicky infomercials where "Mary has lost 21 pounds in 4 minutes with TurboFire." I gave it a half-hearted thought and that was that, then started browsing Amazon Prime for workout dvds. I added a few to my Watchlist and begrudgingly told Angie to add me to the group, and I knew it was time to tackle my excuses, and I knew the biggest of all was TIME.
When on earth am I going to do this? My drive is at least 45 minutes each way...if it's not raining, sunny or Tuesday. When I get home I'm so tired, and we've got gymnastics and soccer...Kevin has random meetings and occasional late nights. Plus, when my kids 'help' me work out I feel like they're in the way, and I don't want any of us to get hurt because this isn't going to be pretty.
So I made the dramatic decision to...wait for it...wake. up. early. I already set my alarm for 4:40 am before deciding to add workouts to my schedule, so my choice to wake up early was a big one, but completely achievable if I really wanted to do this, and that was the thing... Something was making me really, really want to do this. It might have been the delightful zucchini and salmon dinners, but more likely, it was because I was finally ready to put myself first, in action, not just in words.
Rumor has it that it takes 21 days to create a habit, and today marks 29 days, so I hope I'm not jumping the gun here, but I think this thing is going to stick. Today we are starting the 5th week of a roughly 8-week challenge, and I'm proud to say that I've been up early 25 of those days to get my workout in before work, soccer, Easter and all the other things that would have forced me to cross exercise off my list in the first place. I literally placed exercise as the first priority in my day, and 95% of the time I am super-excited to get to it. The other 4 days, you ask? Rest. Seriously who am I?
I'm able to do it because I did 'cave' to the eye-rolly infomercial magic of TurboFire because my friend Jennifer B. (I have a lot of Jen's) loaned me her dvds, and I've never looked back. I'm completely hooked on the kickboxing-cardio style, and I love Chalene, the fitness instructor. I love that she's not uber-chipper, nor is she tough and gruff (ahem, Jillian Michaels)...she's just awesome. Yes, I said it. I've found a workout program that is worth waking up at 4 am for!
I'm also completely in love with the accountability of the Facebook group and its daily check-ins and post-workout posts. The kind words of encouragement along with the success stories of those who are in the group inspire me to stick with it. It reminds me that when I do have a bad day (full of Easter candy and Fritos), all I have to do is just pick up right where I left off. This is about changing my lifestyle...it's about fitness and health, and most importantly, it's about being a better version of me, and these ladies are helping make it awesome!
I'm posting this with the hopes of keeping myself accountable and because I'm just so damn happy about this new chapter. And that must be a good thing...waking up at 4 am to sweat my butt off, adding kale to smoothies, packing and planning weeks' worth of lunches and dinners, drinking water every chance I get, grilling fish and not burgers, adding in evening walks with my friend Marcy and feeling amazing along the way. It's totally worth it. Here's what's changed in the last 29 days (really, it's been a bit more time b/c of the 5-day Clean Eating Challenge)...can't wait to update on day 60!
1. I cancelled my Weight Watchers membership...that was a major step in the Clean Eating direction. It's hard to connect a real food mentality to a company that sells and endorses products full of chemicals and preservatives (I'm looking at you Yoplait light and WW SmartOnes)...it just seemed a bit out of touch with the direction I'm heading.
2. Weight: -13.5 lbs
3. Measurements
Waist: -3.5"
Hips: -1.5"
Bust: - 1.5"
Thighs: -2" each
Calves: -.5" each
Arms: -1" each
4. 34 consecutive days logging with My Fitness Pal app.
Stay tuned for information about how this chapter ends...only 31 days to go.
See you then!
Click here to see my end-of-challenge post.
I can do anything for 5-days. So I did.
I learned a lot about what it means to fuel my body rather than just eat mindless calories and chemicals. Yes, chemicals...gross. I loved it. I felt better, I was so, so happy and I sincerely enjoyed every meal. Why? Well, because it tasted good, was easy (enough) to prepare and it was darn good for me. In the process I reread Michael Pollan's Food Rules, and started bringing the kids and Kevin (sometimes begrudgingly) along for the ride. For the most part, the experience was a pleasant learning curve. Only one dinner was rough, and everyone pretty much agreed that the frozen organic brown rice won't be served again because, as Connor would say, it tasted like plastic. As a result of that week, we swapped out fruit snacks for raisins, raw almonds and dehydrated banana chips (gag...oh the horror...but the kids love them). They supported me and no one died in the process as we cut out Hidden Valley's light Ranch, substituting it for a preservative-free version from Marzetti. No more Country Crock -- instead a butter dish which sits nearly untouched. Our new peanut butter only contains nuts and salt...what else could you ask for? We added in whole grain pasta and lots of zucchini and asparagus...we were happy and we ate well. It was awesome, so I knew I needed and wanted to make it stick. This was the foreshadowing to the chapter that was about to begin.
Enter the 60-day Fitness Challenge...gulp. And here is where I nearly always bow out. As you may recall, I
"Fitness is where I falter. Want me to modify me diet? I'm on it. Want me to move my butt? Well, let me think about it for a while. Then I get moving, get sore and...you know the rest. I'm not an excuse maker. Exercise is hard and I don't like it, and fitness DVDs are the worst at motivating me."
Thankfully, Angie didn't let me off the hook that easily. She encouraged me to try and find something I like...telling me to work with my old Billy Blanks dvds if that makes me happy. But then she mentioned TurboFire, and I was all eye-rolly and imagined the gimmicky infomercials where "Mary has lost 21 pounds in 4 minutes with TurboFire." I gave it a half-hearted thought and that was that, then started browsing Amazon Prime for workout dvds. I added a few to my Watchlist and begrudgingly told Angie to add me to the group, and I knew it was time to tackle my excuses, and I knew the biggest of all was TIME.
When on earth am I going to do this? My drive is at least 45 minutes each way...if it's not raining, sunny or Tuesday. When I get home I'm so tired, and we've got gymnastics and soccer...Kevin has random meetings and occasional late nights. Plus, when my kids 'help' me work out I feel like they're in the way, and I don't want any of us to get hurt because this isn't going to be pretty.
So I made the dramatic decision to...wait for it...wake. up. early. I already set my alarm for 4:40 am before deciding to add workouts to my schedule, so my choice to wake up early was a big one, but completely achievable if I really wanted to do this, and that was the thing... Something was making me really, really want to do this. It might have been the delightful zucchini and salmon dinners, but more likely, it was because I was finally ready to put myself first, in action, not just in words.
Rumor has it that it takes 21 days to create a habit, and today marks 29 days, so I hope I'm not jumping the gun here, but I think this thing is going to stick. Today we are starting the 5th week of a roughly 8-week challenge, and I'm proud to say that I've been up early 25 of those days to get my workout in before work, soccer, Easter and all the other things that would have forced me to cross exercise off my list in the first place. I literally placed exercise as the first priority in my day, and 95% of the time I am super-excited to get to it. The other 4 days, you ask? Rest. Seriously who am I?
I'm able to do it because I did 'cave' to the eye-rolly infomercial magic of TurboFire because my friend Jennifer B. (I have a lot of Jen's) loaned me her dvds, and I've never looked back. I'm completely hooked on the kickboxing-cardio style, and I love Chalene, the fitness instructor. I love that she's not uber-chipper, nor is she tough and gruff (ahem, Jillian Michaels)...she's just awesome. Yes, I said it. I've found a workout program that is worth waking up at 4 am for!
I'm also completely in love with the accountability of the Facebook group and its daily check-ins and post-workout posts. The kind words of encouragement along with the success stories of those who are in the group inspire me to stick with it. It reminds me that when I do have a bad day (full of Easter candy and Fritos), all I have to do is just pick up right where I left off. This is about changing my lifestyle...it's about fitness and health, and most importantly, it's about being a better version of me, and these ladies are helping make it awesome!
I'm posting this with the hopes of keeping myself accountable and because I'm just so damn happy about this new chapter. And that must be a good thing...waking up at 4 am to sweat my butt off, adding kale to smoothies, packing and planning weeks' worth of lunches and dinners, drinking water every chance I get, grilling fish and not burgers, adding in evening walks with my friend Marcy and feeling amazing along the way. It's totally worth it. Here's what's changed in the last 29 days (really, it's been a bit more time b/c of the 5-day Clean Eating Challenge)...can't wait to update on day 60!
1. I cancelled my Weight Watchers membership...that was a major step in the Clean Eating direction. It's hard to connect a real food mentality to a company that sells and endorses products full of chemicals and preservatives (I'm looking at you Yoplait light and WW SmartOnes)...it just seemed a bit out of touch with the direction I'm heading.
2. Weight: -13.5 lbs
3. Measurements
Waist: -3.5"
Hips: -1.5"
Bust: - 1.5"
Thighs: -2" each
Calves: -.5" each
Arms: -1" each
4. 34 consecutive days logging with My Fitness Pal app.
Stay tuned for information about how this chapter ends...only 31 days to go.
See you then!
Click here to see my end-of-challenge post.
