75 Medium - Week 1

This last week, Chad and I started our physical/mental fitness challenges. He is doing the 75 Hard Challenge and making sure to adhere to all of the rules. I am doing the 75 Medium Challenge which is not as strict but still a challenge. The rules I'm following are:

• Track all food eaten each day, stay under 1800 calories 
• Do at least 45 minutes per day of exercise 
• Drink at least 100 ounces of water per day
• Read at least 10 pages of any book each day 
• Take a progress picture once a week

So far, it is going well. The hardest past is the 10 pages of reading because I keep putting it off until the end of the day. I have fallen asleep more than once. Making sure to get in enough exercise isn't too hard, but it is a bit tricky when I work in the temple after work. Last Tuesday, I walked 3 times for 15 minutes. I think I'm going to have to do it that way each time. I don't know how else to fit it in. The rest is a bit easier. 

I know I need to make changes in my life. I am the heaviest I have ever been. Not trying because I don't want my clothes to get too big is stupid. At the rate I'm going, everything people have bought me this summer for graduation and birthday will be too small by the end of the year. My hope is that by doing this challenge, I will have new, healthier habits that will continue through the foreseeable future.

My Odd Dilemma

 I have been struggling with what may or may not be a strange dilemma. I want to lose weight. I hate the way I look in pictures, and I am close to the largest I have ever been. I have a plan to once again start the 75 Medium challenge after I get back from my trip for graduation. (Chad will be starting the 75 Hard challenge again, but I don't think my body can take two 45 minutes workouts a day right now.) It would be wonderful to prove to myself that I can take control of my eating and exercise habits, and my hope is that it would be something I can keep up with for years to come. (The past has proven otherwise, but I would like to give this a try.)

So what is my dilemma? I just bought a few new dresses and stuff for the cruise I went on a week ago. I like these dresses and want to still be able to wear them. One of the dresses is already a bit too big and needs to be slightly altered on top. If I start losing weight, will I have to completely give up this dress that I just bought and like. The other dress is more like a t-shirt dress, so I will probably still be able to wear it if it is too big at least as a swimsuit cover up or pajamas. Some of the other clothes that I bought would have to be replaced. This has been a reason for me to sabotage my efforts to lose weight in the past. 

Even though these are the thoughts that are in my head as I think about doing this challenge, I will try it. I have about 4 weeks to try to rid myself of these self-sabotaging thoughts, and I will do my best to do so. 

75 Hard Fail

I did not do well today. I got one workout in this afternoon and did the intermittent fasting. I did not drink enough water, read, or do my second workout. I had a lot of homework to finish and I went to a party. The combination was not good. The thing is that if I had done the homework throughout the week, I would not have had a lot to do and would have had the time to get other things done. 

I talked to Chad about my failure today and the idea of changing my goals which would take me off of the 75 hard program. He agreed with me that I am trying to do too much because it is taking away homework time. He helped me feel better about my idea of dropping down to one workout per day. I can do that without feeling guilty or like a failure. I can also keep the good habits that I want to create. 

Starting tomorrow, I will be doing the 75 medium challenge. I will be reading only 5 pages per day of my nonfiction book and only doing one workout per day. Other than that, I will keep doing what I have been doing. The graphic I found with the rules days I could go down to half gallon of water, but I drink about a gallon on the days that I work and need to do better on the weekends, so I think I need to keep this goa. I will adjust my tracker in the afternoon. 

75 Hard Day 6

Today was a bit easier than yesterday. I slept better last night. I think that helped. My ankle is doing a bit better which made it a bit easier to get my workouts in. My first workout was 45 minutes on the Gazelle while I watched the news. My second workout was a strength routine on the front porch. I did it in the front because I wanted to do step-ups, and we don't have steps in the backyard. It was a bit difficult and I wanted to quit after about 30 minutes and just walk around the block, but I kept going until the 45 minutes were up. (I'll post my front porch workout on my main blog tomorrow.) Drinking a gallon of water was easy today. I had drank all of it by dinner and kept going until a little while after my last workout. The last 30ish minutes of my fasting period went by so slow. I made a smoothie to break the fast, and it felt so good in my stomach! I need to have them more often. I crave them sometimes and tell myself that they are a hassle to make, but they really aren't. I finished "I am Malala" tonight. I will work on finishing the next book starting tomorrow. I am so thankful for this goal. It has shown me that I can make time to sit quietly and read something other than homework. Overall, I would say today was a successful day. Best of all, I do not feel broken. 

75 Hard Day 5

Today was really hard. I feel like I am breaking. I don't know if it is the challenge, the fact that I didn't sleep much last night, or other life circumstances. Of course, it could be a combination. I have to quit my Glow Up challenge which was specific exercises daily, Monday through Friday. My injured ankle has been getting worse as I do the jumping jacks and butt kicks. I also can't really run until it heals a bit. Today, I did some yoga and went for a walk. I don't enjoy yoga very often, but it actually felt good today. I may need to do this video more often. The fasting part was a bit more difficult than it should have been because I took Noel to 7-11 and had to wait to eat my snack for about 3 hours. I made it and was quite proud, but it was hard. I know I need to make better food choices during my eating window. I have the food in the house, so I will make a better effort tomorrow. Hopefully, that will help me feel fuller longer. All I have left to do tonight is my reading. I will read the next 10 pages of "I am Malala." It is an easy read, so it won't take too long. 

75 Hard Day 4

 

Today was a bit more difficult. I struggled with the desire to workout. I had planned to do yoga with the Wii, but the controllers didn’t work. I hopped on the Gazelle instead. Then, I sat and talked to Noel until I made dinner and left for a youth activity. By the time we got home it was almost 8:30, and I still needed to do my workout outside.  With my right achilles hurting, I opted for a walk. The cool breeze felt good, and I don’t regret doing it. It was hard to convince myself to get out and do it, though. 

Tomorrow, I will hook up my dvd player and do some yoga from my videos. If my tendon feels better, I’ll get that run in that my body is craving. 

75 Hard Day 3

Today was a bit harder in some ways and easier in others. When I’m working is the main time I snack, so fasting until10am was really hard. I sensed up drinking half of my gallon of water trying to clam the hunger pains. I texted a friend who has done intermittent fasting to get some ideas on how to stay full longer and implemented some of them during my eating window today. I hope it will make it better tomorrow. The workouts weren’t too bad. I played tennis with Chad for one workout. That was nice. The other one was a bit more difficult because I hurt my ankle and tried to do jumping jacks. I will wrap it tomorrow to see if it helps. Other than that it is now 9pm and I still need to do a ton of homework that is due tonight. I’ve got to get my schedule figured out better. 

75 Hard Day 2

Today was a good day. I did a bike ride in the afternoon and some strength work tonight. Having a day off helped. Honestly, I’m a bit concerned about it working with all of my other responsibilities. I’m crossing my fingers. 

75 Hard Day 1

I have officially completed day one of 75 Strong. It wasn’t too bad. I know other days when I have more to do will be harder, but I am ready for them. I have a plan. 

Day 1 picture: