Sunday Funday: Week 40 Review

This will be my last week of nutritional freedom; starting this coming Saturday is the beginning of the Whole Life Challenge.  No sugar, no processed food, no grains, no dairy — none of my go-to emotional eating foods.  What’s a girl supposed to do?

Seriously, though, I’m looking forward to this challenge.  While it doesn’t exactly follow the Lean Eating tenets — meaning, some food is completely off-limits, which isn’t the focus in LE — it is everything I’m supposed to be eating.  And since I’ve been indulging way too much in sugary treats, keeping them completely off the menu will be good for me.  I’ve said it before, I do much better with abstinence than moderation.

And some of my most favorite people are doing it with me!  Honestly, that’s probably the best part, the part I’m most excited about.  I absolutely LOVE group activities like this! For as much of an introvert that I am, I like shared experiences and encouragement.  Add in a bit of game play — there are points to earn every day for nutrition, exercise, etc — and that’s the perfect vehicle to deliver me back to good health.

Anyone interested in joining?  Let me know and I’ll tell you what team to join!  The more the merrier … or, as I like to say, misery loves company.  

Onto what you’re all here for … 

Measurements
Everything is up.  Some might call this “strategy” since it’ll make my WLC starting stats artificially higher, so I’ll go with that.  Seriously, though, I need to stop eating so much crap.

Workouts
Kind of hit or miss this week for no real good reason.  That said, I did get out and run a few times, which is a nice switch.  Next week I have a 5 mile race (wait, let me put air quotes around that … “race”… in my current state of fitness, there will be nothing fast about this), so that’ll kick start my season.

Habits
This week’s new habit was to fashion a personal mission statement.  This was an interesting exercise, and I spent a lot of time thinking about it.  At it’s essence, this isn’t difficult:  I want to live my life in such a way that I can go do anything and everything without having to worry about fitness limiting me.  I love being active and right now I’m too out of shape to really enjoy it.  So, I used that as a starting point and finally ended up with a few paragraphs that define how I want to live my life.

Habit Log
Weeks 1-2: Fish oil and probiotic
Weeks 3-4: Eating slowly
Weeks 5-6: Stop eating at 80% full
Weeks 7-8: Lean protein with every meal
Weeks 9-10: 5 servings of vegetables a day
Weeks 11-12: Make smart carb choices
Weeks 13-14: Plan Meals
Weeks 15-16: Log all food
Weeks 17-18: Create a sleep ritual
Weeks 19-20: Drink only zero calorie beverages
Weeks 21-22: Use targeted recovery strategies
Weeks 23-24: Eat only whole foods
Week 25: No new habits (work on the previous ones)
Weeks 26-27: A little more, a little better
Weeks 28-29: Lean protein and vegetables with every meal
Weeks 30-31: Stop eating at 80% full (an encore presentation)
Weeks 32-33: Modify carb intake
Weeks 34-35: Do a 5-minute body/mind scan every day
Weeks 36-37: Fitness media fast
Weeks 38-39: 20 minutes of de-stressing every day