Hey there, everyone! Hope everyone is doing well and one week closer to their goals and one more step towards a healthier you. I’ve actually had a few thoughtful moments and ideas that have made me think deeper about my intense approach. Stay tuned for an article tomorrow. The article will be a feature from another amazing writer. This article is one that has given me quite a bit of food for thought. I also have a little bit of a confession to make. I have had bad days and days that I gave in and had something I shouldn’t have. However, for the first time in over 8 months, I completely let go for the entire weekend. I didn’t count calories or worry about what I was eating all weekend. I thought I would feel a lot of shame and regret over this last weekend. However, my thoughts have been more of an eye-opening experience about how far I’ve come. I’m realizing that I am getting better at changing my lifestyle for the long-term. Thinking about the amount of food I would eat during a bad weekend is at least double what it is now. My mindset this Monday was also more like, well that isn’t happening again for at least another 8 months. I feel like I got a lot of pent-up tension about being so strict for so long, and now getting back on task feels more like a relief more than a chore.
Goals
Mental, Physical, Spiritual – I am still definitely learning how to relax and meditate. I am trying to not let my thoughts wander to any of the stresses or worries of my life while meditating. This will be something I continue to work on. I have been fairly decent about reading my pages. I actually love reading, but life gets busy sometimes. Really having it as part of my challenge makes it a good excuse to be able to set aside time to sit and read. Physically I am definitely on top of getting my exercise right now. Either with running or yoga, I have been getting some exercise every day.
Ragnar – I am training and doing well. I have stepped up my running routine quite a bit. I did go out on Saturday for a 6-mile run, that didn’t end up six miles. I was using a running app to track my distance and when it said I had hit 3 miles, I turned around and ran back to where I started. When I got home and was going over the information in the running app, I realized there was something wrong. It was claiming my pace was 4 minutes faster than my normally expected pace. Looking into it further made it clear that it didn’t accurately record it, especially since my stop and start were in completely different locations. So, with a little assistance from google earth I was able to work out the distance to about 4.5 miles which put my pace right where I was hoping at an 11-minute mile. Not sure what happened with the app, but I think next time I will plot my course beforehand and make sure I run the correct distance.
Intermittent Fasting – Not much new to report of this front. I am still really liking the fasting. The one thing I’m trying to adjust is that I would rather do most of my eating in the middle of the day rather than at night. My normal eating window I was limiting to 6 pm. Now I am shooting for about 4 pm. It has been a little bit of an adjustment not going to bed with a fully satisfied stomach. I’m going to push through and see if I like it better. I do sometimes have a hard time going to sleep when I can feel pressure or bloating from a fuller stomach. The goal is to see if this helps with going to sleep at night.
Squat Challenge – I was starting to have a little bit of knee inflammation from all the running and squats. I took a break from running for a couple days and did 50 squats those days as well. This really seemed to make a big difference. I feel like there was a lot of recovery that my body did, and I haven’t noticed an issue since and have been at the 100 squats a day since. Today is my last day of 100 squats! I do plan on continuing 100-ish squats probably 3 times a week.
Push-ups – I have hit a wall with push-ups right now. I am not letting it get me down, but I will continue to do my best. One thing I’ve been learning lately, is that it shouldn’t be so much about the numbers but the hard work and pushing to your limits. I have been struggling to even get to 20 push-ups this week. Mentally I’m telling myself that it will just take a little longer than I wanted but I will not quit.
Another week down and I will check in again next Wednesday!
Mel's Health and Fitness 