Spring Lotus

Well it definitely wasn’t my best week ever, but you know what.. I’m still proud of myself.  I haven’t quit yet.  I’m still exercising, still trying to eat right, still losing weight.  Even though  I’m not where I would have wanted to be at this point, and I always look back and wished I had pushed harder and done more, I still keep going despite trying to tell myself every excuse in the book as to why it’s ok to stop.  I refuse to give up.  I’ve done that cycle too many times.  I want to do better.  So, it was a good week to look at my progress, refocus, recommit, and no matter what keep moving forward.   

Write a list of your trouble foods. What do you habitually struggle with? Write them down. 

1. French Fries
2. Pizza
3. Homemade cookies
4. Chocolate

I successfully stayed away from them all week.  Once I decided I wasn’t going to eat out or buy these things at the grocery store, then the rest of the week went by fairly easy and I didn’t really miss them that much.

Write down three foods you’ve never eaten. Ever.

1. Edamame
2. Pomegranate
3. Quinoa 

 I wouldn’t say I was scared to try these foods, I just assumed I wouldn’t like them.  This week I tried edamame and pomegranate.  I didn’t love the edamame, but I didn’t hate it either.  I just followed cooking instructions that said to boil them and season them with some course sea salt.  Since then a friend told me she likes them better a little crispy from the oven so I’m going to try that before giving up on them.  The pomegranate was delicious other then being a little more messy and in depth to clean then I had expected.  Once I figured that out though.. yum!

Focus on eating.  Stick with your exercise routine.

I definitely kept focus on eating this week.  All of my meals were home cooked/prepared.  I tried to use fresh healthy ingredients whenever possible.   I stayed away from my trouble foods, and picked healthy choices when I was hungry for a snack.  Although food was my main focus, I did keep up with working out and even pushed myself to reach my push-up and planks goals.   

Looking forward to Week 8!

I’m so happy to have finished another week of the Do Life Challenge.  Ben was spot on when he said this week is about the time people start falling off.  For me, it was by far the hardest week yet.  

Did you push hard this week? 

I really did, but I guess it’s relative.  I had to push myself to even find the motivation to work out all 7 days, but once I got started I wanted to keep going and push hard.

How about your buddy? Did you stay connected?

Sadly, I didn’t.  But I do want to.  We both have crazy schedules and live completely across the world for each other (she’s in Ireland and I’m in Delaware).  We did well the last two week’s and it does help, so hopefully we can reconnect soon.  

How have you improved since day one?

 I’m probably most proud of how far I’ve come.  Starting the challenge I wasn’t working at at all and hadn’t been for about 5 months.  I was back to unhealthy eating habits and on an erratic eating schedule.  Now, I am regularly exercising (all 7 days this week), making progress in my workout times/distances, trying new things, eating fresh healthy food, and I don’t want to stop.      

How did you do life?

This week I kept up my eating habits and worked out all 7 days.  I did a variety of workouts from walking outside, to jogging on the treadmill, to yoga, kickboxing and more.  I even tried something new.  My friends and I went to a swing dancing class.  It was lots of fun and I got plenty of exercise trying to keep up with some of the pros!  I’m also enjoying things like reading and trying to make changes in life so that I can successfully keep up and maintain what I’m doing!  

Bring on Week 7!

I set 5 quantifiable goals to achieve from January to February.  Here is my assessment for each of these goals:

1. Lose weight by eating right (less sugar, more fresh vegetables, portion control) and exercising. When I started the Challenge I weighed 270 pounds and my goal was 264 pounds. As of this morning my current weight is 263.5 for a 6.5 pound loss. It feels great to have successfully met this goal!
2. Exercise. When I started the Challenge I was exercising 0 hours a month and my goal was to log at least 25 hours of exercise this month.  Unfortunately I’m just slightly shy of this goal.     I only logged 20.5 hours.  I unexpected got very sick and decided I needed the rest more.  I checked myself to make sure it wasn’t an excuse and even tried to fit in some light walking, but ultimately I fell short.  Even though I hate not meeting this goal I’m still really proud that I got over 20 hours in and how I focused even more on eating right and didn’t use not feeling well as an excuse to go back to my unhealthy behaviors.     
3. Eat mindfully.  When I started the Challenge I was regularly waiting until I was starving to eat so I was eating really fast and usually while working, surfing the internet, watching tv, etc and I’d feel hungry again almost right way. My goal was to not wait until I was starving and slowly eat each meal/snack mindfully.  I have to say I found this goal the easiest to tackle and quickly became accustom to eating regularly and mindfully.  I also found this to be very rewarding as I had the urge to snack less and felt satisfied eating less as well. 
4. Embrace Tumblr.  When I started the Challenge I had a Tumblr blog, but I hadn’t touched it in months, so my goal was to post something at least once every day.  I did pretty well with this at first.  I even updated who I was following, commented to others, etc.  Slowly I’ve started using it less and less.  I just have had too much on plate and was sick on top of it, but no excuses I should have managed my schedule better and kept up with this.  I will do better.  
5. Read.  Prior to the Challenge I used to love to read, but I never made time for it anymore, so my goal was to finish a book and start a new one.  I finished reading Eat, Pray, Love and am a little over a quarter through The Shack.  While I did complete this goal (and enjoyed every minute) I might not have if I hadn’t spent a day in bed while I was sick.  So while I’m glad I met this goal, if I’m being honest, making time for myself is still something I need to work on.  

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As part of the Do Life Challenge I set 5 quantifiable goals to achieve from January to February.  Here is my assessment for each of these goals:

1. Lose weight by eating right (less sugar, more fresh vegetables, portion control) and exercising. When I started the Challenge I weighed 270 pounds and my goal was 264 pounds. As of this morning my current weight is 263.5 for a 6.5 pound loss. It feels great to have successfully met this goal!
2. Exercise. When I started the Challenge I was exercising 0 hours a month and my goal was to log at least 25 hours of exercise this month.  Unfortunately I’m just slightly shy of this goal.     I only logged 20.5 hours.  I unexpected got very sick and decided I needed the rest more.  I checked myself to make sure it wasn’t an excuse and even tried to fit in some light walking, but ultimately I fell short.  Even though I hate not meeting this goal I’m still really proud that I got over 20 hours in and how I focused even more on eating right and didn’t use not feeling well as an excuse to go back to my unhealthy behaviors.     
3. Eat mindfully.  When I started the Challenge I was regularly waiting until I was starving to eat so I was eating really fast and usually while working, surfing the internet, watching tv, etc and I’d feel hungry again almost right way. My goal was to not wait until I was starving and slowly eat each meal/snack mindfully.  I have to say I found this goal the easiest to tackle and quickly became accustom to eating regularly and mindfully.  I also found this to be very rewarding as I had the urge to snack less and felt satisfied eating less as well. 
4. Embrace Tumblr.  When I started the Challenge I had a Tumblr blog, but I hadn’t touched it in months, so my goal was to post something at least once every day.  I did pretty well with this at first.  I even updated who I was following, commented to others, etc.  Slowly I’ve started using it less and less.  I just have had too much on plate and was sick on top of it, but no excuses I should have managed my schedule better and kept up with this.  I will do better.  
5. Read.  Prior to the Challenge I used to love to read, but I never made time for it anymore, so my goal was to finish a book and start a new one.  I finished reading Eat, Pray, Love and am a little over a quarter through The Shack.  While I did complete this goal (and enjoyed every minute) I might not have if I hadn’t spent a day in bed while I was sick.  So while I’m glad I met this goal, if I’m being honest, making time for myself is still something I need to work on.  

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1. I found a buddy for the Week 4 Do Life Challenge!
2. I worked out for over an hour!
3. I helped one of my favorite charities expand their social media reach.
4. I remembered to take some time for myself.  

To say that this has been a rough week would be a huge understatement.  I’ve been so sick, but I’m really proud of myself that I’ve still worked towards my goals and still tried to do this week’s challenge.  

The scavenger hunt was way out of my comfort zone for several reasons.  First, I am really shy and so talking to others and posing for pictures in public makes me nervous.  I don’t like to draw attention to myself.  I also hate being in pictures, I avoid them whenever possible and I never post them to the internet.  For example, I was nominated for an Emmy Award this year for a project my company did and I went to the Emmy’s which were like the coolest thing ever and I didn’t post a single picture.  So this challenge really pushed me and I hate to admit it, but even though I was sick and felt awful, I found myself having fun!  So thank you!

Unfortunately, I was only able to complete 14 of the tasks!

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1. I got out of bed today.  (it was one of those days and so yes I’m proud of this!  LOL)
2. I only got about a third of the picture Do  Life Challenge done this week, but considering how far out of my comfort zone it was and how sick I’ve felt, I actually feel pretty good that I got that many done.
3. I drank a ton of water today!
4. I’m still working towards my goals with another week of the Do Life Challenge in the books!

1. Not only did I workout today today, but then I still went out and shoveled our snow!
2. Even though I was exhausted from shoveling the snow (there was ice on top and it was super heavy) I still took the time to play in the snow with the puppy who thinks it’s the coolest thing ever!
3. I made another fresh smoothie today (they’re so good) in lieu of a less healthy snack.
4. Even though I’m super sick, exhausted, and there is snow/ice everywhere I’m still trying to get some more pictures done for this week’s the Do Life Challenge.