About a month ago, an adored friend of mine, invited her bloggies to join a fitness challenge, hosted by one of her friends. The fitness challenge mostly is related to our physical health, each week having a different focus, like getting 7 hours of sleep or counting your calories. And every week, 6 days a week, we are expected to get our heart rate up, stay away from dessert, read our scriptures at least one chapter a day, stay away from soda, and not eat after 7:30. I'm definitely more motivated to do things when I work in a group, and these are all habits I strive for, so I paid my $25 fee and was excited to "join up."
I began the fitness challenge during our Disneyland. I really thought I would be able to workout every day, on vacation. Our hotel had a nice gym with a kind scale. But vacations are exhausting. I only got my heart rate up three times during that week. I logged miles each day, but one cannot call walking around Disneyland aerobic exercise. I was really good at avoiding dessert unless it was birthday cake or on the tasters menu at Napa Rose. I successfully avoided eating after 7:30 until the Warlock made 8:00 reservations for us to have dinner together on our last night of vacation. So you can see I was off to a rocky start, but I was much more conscientious than I usually am on vacation.
The next week was also full of travel and vacation schedules. How do you maintain good habits while travelling by car? Apparently I don't know...but I'm figuring it out because I hit the road again this weekend. I think I can do it with p90x as my friend.
I have to admit that I thought this would be much easier than it has been. I'm learning a lot about our familyand my personal habits. It turns out that I don't sit down to eat. How are the kids supposed to know proper behavior when no one ever sits down with them? And if they had manners,wouldn't they be more fun to eat with? Processed foods are evil. Even just one serving of crackers put my sodium intake way over where I want it to be. (Thanks livestrong.com for pointing this out to me.) Morning workouts are the best for me. If I get to bed on time, I can sleep 7 hours before arising at 5 am, giving me plenty of time for a good workout before the kids wake up. My day is shot if I don't workout and shower early. One of my friends, Christine, leads an aerobics class at 5:15 am MWF. It's been a great way to start the day. The other 2 days a week I've been going to the gym. Weight bearing exercise has been hard since I pulled my Achilles tendon, but after nearly a year and numerous physical therapy appointments I can finally run a mile on the treadmill with no pain (Woohoo!). I've learned great things from this injury about how to listen to my body.
Okay, that's enough for struggles. I have some strengths, too. I have never used caffeine or soda to get me through a test, a hard day, a long drive, or anything. And I won't. I don't need to develop any more bad habits. I do drink green smoothies almost every day, giving me an incredible nutritional start, and making it super easy to get my daily fiber. You should check out Green Smoothie Girl if you haven't already. She's read a lot of books and done a lot of research on nutrition, and is not politically influenced like the FDA. As for scripture study, I haven't figured out a way to stay sane without it. So I do it, and I love it. I need Lord on my team to be who I want to be, scripture study is one small way that I can do my part. If I skip scripture study it's really hard for me to have the patience to do what I need to do in all aspects of my life.
6 comments:
Go Maren! I was doing really well until we were invited to a couple of barbecues this weekend. I will be traveling at the end of the month too, so I am totally out of the running for the prize. But I've lost over a pound a week, so I don't care a bit!
PS. If you ever figure out the traveling thing I'd love to hear your tips!
thanks for your thoughts, I was wondering how you were doing. while I may not be following all the rules all of the time either, I am also learning about myself and my family through this... and heaven help us all as we are on vacation next week too!
Good for you for trying! Honestly I think that is one of the hardest things to do when you are a mom - unless you have help (i.e. personal nanny or grandma next door!)The last year I've been trying to be more healthy, exercise and I've discovered that even though I've had success, the level of success that I would like to have will only be acheived when I have more control over when I can sleep, eat and pee - which means my children will have to be older ... I am amazed at the lack of nutrition I found we had in our diet -- 'veggies at every meal' is my new mantra ...
I agree completely with everything you said. I HAVE to get my fitness in in the morning, and I have a real problem forcing myself to sit down and eat when there is so much to be done around the house while the kids are occupied with eating. Of course, I'm to the part of my pregnancy when it's a work-out just to roll out of bed in the morning. I can't wait to get my body back. Good luck with your challenge, and may the fruits of your labors come quickly!
Way to go super sister! Let's P90X together while you're in MT. I invested in the videos after you showed my how awesome they are, so you don't even need to bring your own copy. Oh yeah, and the green smoothies are fantastic with fresh lettuce from Mom's garden. Things to look forward to. I can't wait to see you!
Good for you. I think it is interesting when we really evaluate ourselves and sometimes our perceptions and reality do not align. It is hard to have time for everything, but I think you do a lovely job.
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