Making small manageable changes

September 30, 2013

I started the morning with a nice cry.

 “"Washington Irving said, "There is in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but which kindles up, and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity." You may not have always "beamed and blazed" in the face of the adversity which you yourself encounter, but you have long stood in the face of adversity for those around. Whether we are your close friends or those who have been privileged to know you and witness how you care for your friends and family, we have always seen a woman with a true heart. It's time for you to apply that to yourself, as you deserve it."

Thank you to the anonymous commenter.  You’ve made an impact on my journey.

Day 1:

I went to bed late knowing I had a 12 hour day in front of me.  That is one of those bad habits I can never seem to get myself out of.  Mornings just aren’t meant for me!  I had intentions of doing some sort of physical activity this morning but my snooze button had other plans.  However, I made breakfast!! When I came back from BLRN, this was a habit that I loved and felt like I needed.  (They told us if we didn’t feed our body within 45-60 minutes of waking up, our body went into starvation mode and starts storing FAT, quite frankly I have enough of that.)

I have only had water today, which is a huge score.  I took my lunch to the park and it was awesome.  I leisure walked a half mile, but that’s better than nothing.

The difficult part is dinner.  After this job, I go to another job from 5-9 and they always have SNACKS.  Not to mention it’s a store where you can purchase them.  We’ll see.

Day 2:

It flew by! However, it was the first day of October I did my first challenge.  Out of BLRN there is a group of people that have been putting up monthly challenges, which has been renamed to Monthly Awesomeness Challenge. Last month was a 1000  burpees and 980 fails by me. This month I believe it is 800 squats and 800 pushups!  25 a day.  However, my trainer from there has a marathon this month so I am doing 26 in her honor.  (I love you guys, thank you for the extra support!!)

Under my calories! I had to have a coffee in the morning. My soda detox has left me feeling like I have a hangover. 

Had to work 5-9 again, mini reeses on the counter.  I had a serving…I wanted to eat the whole bag.  A win, right?

Day 3:

Meeting with Michelle today.  I will continue to call her crazy!  She has so much energy!  Weekly goals established, no soda and logging food.  I will get to the YMCA 3 times this week. 

Had a calzone for lunch, essentially the unhealthiest thing I have had all week.  I paid for it.  I crashed. I felt awful, I could not stay awake! You always forget the effect that food has on your body.  Literally, one bad choice leads to another and my evening was pretty shameful food wise.  I was under my calories, (I keep saying that, I track on myfitnesspal) but only because I went to the Y and walked my dog.  That doesn’t make my bad choices okay.

I cannot forget that.

Our kick off was last Monday and it provided a lot of enthusiasm and excitement for this upcoming challenge.  With the start week this past Monday, I’m looking for more opportunities to revamp that enthusiasm.  I think it is going to take some time to get all 11 of us on some sort of same schedule or event, so we can all get to know each other and really see where each of us struggles.  Generally speaking, we are all there for the same struggle, but have different personal demons keeping us from reaching our personal goal. 

One of most exciting changes this week is a dear friend of mine, known as Grasshopper from this point forward, has agreed to start making small changes with me.  She is logging, swapping soda for water and joining the Y! 

When I did my half, I wrote on my shoes BE INSPIRED and BE INSPIRING.  Don’t think I’m down and out yet, just making small manageable changes! 

Did you write your daily goals down?  

Shawna

Thank you BetterU

What a great day, the sun makes everything better and BetterU makes everything, let's say heightened. The day started with Michelle at the YMCA yesterday, (Tuesday)with the arm machine and really did not feel it in my heart, but trust that it got it pumping. I love the recumbent elliptical and feel like it has already helped my knee. That is one of my goals. I tried 2 other machine, but they hurt my knee and ended with a treadmill walk and home to a chicken and fruit dinner. Went back to the YMCA today after work and had none of the apprehension that I had the first day. I knew my way around, upped the workout a little and ended with some stretches. Great day all the way around. Thank you BetterU. 

 Joey

yoga boot camp

2 Oct - omg. omg. omg…… Yoga right, you know, where you slowly stretch and balance and sit chanting, THAT is what I signed up for!  What I got was yoga boot camp!  It was only about 45 minutes longer then I was prepared for (physically & mentally) and it did things to my body that haven’t been done in a VERY long time!  I am 55 years old (almost, it adds to the dramatic statement) and there were girls in there half my age looking at Barb with “You want me to WHAT?!?!?”.  I swear, when was the last time you stood on one leg with the other straight over your head for like 10 minutes (okay, maybe it was only 1 minute) and no I did not do it, I have some dignity! Besides I would have fallen over on the little pregnant girl and crushed her, I can’t be responsible for that!  I made it the whole hour, (I did) Barb was watching to make sure I was keeping up (or not stroking out, there’s that too).  But I have never sweated so much, doing what seemed like so little, so slooooowly, it even fogged up my glasses!  But when she got to the “go into Downward dog to Plank to Cobra”, I was doing it before I realized I had been tricked! I do not do Plank’s, nope, not modified, not cobra-like, the only Plank I do is the one with my whole body on the floor.  My indignation had just passed when she did it again! So when she tried a third time I was ready for her, yup, I went right from my Downward dog into my Cobra (Ok, maybe my arms gave out and I didn’t have much choice), but I showed her!  The piece de resistance (literally) is when she did something called The Bow (google it). Now I could do the half Bow thingy, but I took one look at Barb demonstrating a full Bow, and literally, my mouth dropped open and when I looked over, one of the other girls was chuckling at the look on my face. THEN she rolled over on her side and back up again!  My arms are jelly, my legs are rubber and I am pretty sure I bruised my chakra.  Thank goodness the class is only once a week, it is going to take me that long to feel normal again (and practice The Bow). As an aside, I now understand why Yoga clothes are fitted, loose clothing gets in the way and hampers movement, something more defined would help a lot.

Going to Walk the BRT with Chrissy today, share the secrets of Yoga with her……….

Laurie

Little less stiff this morning

1 Oct - Little stiff this morning, knees are def feeling it, but not to bad, not retaining as much fluid as yesterday, so that is a plus! Back to work today, maybe get a walk in before hand…….. 3.5 miles in 58 minutes, oh yeah!

I looked up to see what fruits were lower in calories and found out the apricots, cherries, cranberries & melon are way better alternatives then the bananas & pears I have been eating. In addition to being more calorie conscious, they also pack more bang for your buck in the way of nutrients, fiber and cancer fighting ingredients.  Also, it said that juices can count as your fruit source, need to check that one out.

Laurie 

Michelle was great!

Day 2 of the challenge and I am still feeling excited! I started my day off with a 2 mile jog then made my way to Watertown to meet with Michelle at the Y.  Michelle was great! She helped me articulate my fitness goals and stressed the importance of following a healthy diet in order to really have progress. Michelle showed me how to use a hand peddled bike machine which was really interesting as well as how to better utilize a treadmill so that I do not get shin splints. My post workout snack was an apple, which is a lot more healthy than my go to granola bars. My "mini goal of the week" with Michelle is to make it to one fitness class. So, Thursday morning I am joining Michelle for her Rip class which is a class that utilizes dumbbells to target each muscle group and is set to music! How exciting!!

Feeling blessed to have this opportunity,

Chelsea  

I was able to do my 3 mile route 40 seconds faster than normal!

Today was the official start of the 12 week challenge. I have been so excited for this challenge and all of the new information I am going to gain. To kick start my own motivation, I decided to start my day with a morning jog over waiting until evening when I am usually faced with 100s of excuses such as being too tired, too late/dark to do anything outside, etc. I pushed myself a little harder than I normally do and it felt amazing. I was able to do my 3 mile route 40 seconds faster than normal! I have only taken my 3 mile route a couple times and usually opt for the shorter route which is 2 miles; so, to push myself that extra mile and cut the time down felt awesome! Tomorrow I meet with Michelle at the Y where I am hoping to learn various ways to exercise that can be tailored to my body and physical abilities. My overall goals for this challenge are to learn how to make healthy food choices, exercise more consistently and lose 20 more pounds to be really close to the healthy weight I should be at.

Feeling excited,

Chelsea