Christy

As far as my habits, go, I’m doing a pretty good job. My focus for this challenge was water, and I’m proud to say I’ve met my goal everyday. I also chose to focus on 5 servings of fruit and vegetables each day, and aside from a few missed days while out of town, I’ve done quiet well and actually look forward to my daily 5.

The last habit I wanted to form was getting exercise every day. This one, my fine Sisters and Brothers, I have failed miserably on.  Sure, I’ve worked out sporadically, but not in a habit forming way, and that makes me mad. I truly set out on this challenge with the intent of exercising and making it a habit. I’m not going to give up, though. I know that we have the EA Sports Active 30-Day Challenge on the horizon, so I’m going to prepare myself for that, and workout as much as I can between now and then to prepare.

My weight, well, it hasn’t gone down. Nope, I haven’t shrunk. I’m not making any excuses, because I know exactly what happened. Over the last month I traveled 3 of the 4 weeks. I traveled to places like Chicago, Atlanta, Tennessee and Austin. And if I’m going to be really honest, I’ll just tell you I ate my way through those cities and states. Oh yes I did. I’m not going to say I ate things I shouldn’t have, because really, I don’t feel like anything is off limits. I can’t live like that. But when you partner day after day and trip after trip of eating out, and not making the healthiest of choices, it doesn’t matter how much walking or hiking or babywearing you do. Calories in do not equal calories out which equals a gain.

So here are my numbers:

Last official weigh-in at the end of the Shrinking Days of Summer challenge: 142.6

Today’s weigh-in after weeks of debauchery: 146

Do you know how long it took me to get to 142.6? MONTHS. Months of working through a plateau and struggling so hard. I was so proud. I know I will back to it, but OMG, nothing sucks more than getting there and and then losing it. Can I get an AMEN?

And here is my new commitment: I am going to start using Weight Watchers online again. Today. I used it and lost 45 pounds before my daughter was born. I know it works. I know how it works and why it works. I will do it. Help keep me honest okay? I’m going to blog here everyday about my points and tracking and how I’m doing. Come back here and harass me in the comments if you don’t see me post. Please. Every time you comment, I get an email which is just like a swift kick in the ass.

Smooches.

It takes 21 days to form new habits. Goodness knows I need to work on creating some new habits that I’ll stick with. I’m just as good as anyone else at declaring that I’m going to do something, then doing it for a little while, and then slowly petering out.

As we all know, this journey is about making changes that we’ll live with for the rest of our lives. There is no quick fix. We must make changes and stick with them. We must form new habits.

So here are the habits I want to make permanent parts of my lifestyle:

1. Working out. I was never a fitness enthusiast, but after taking part in the Shred with the Sisterhood challenge, I saw the results you can get from working out regularly. I liked the results. I felt strong and fit and so good about myself. So why haven’t I continued to workout? Life has gotten in the way. Summer and vacations and non-schedules have tripped me up in a major way. Right now, I am committing to getting in at least 30 minutes of exercise a day. It might be a workout DVD, it might be a walk or hike, all I know, is I’m going to do something every.single.day.
2. Water. I’ve always been good at getting in my daily water. I usually get in over 100 ounces a day. Traveling has really thrown a wrench in that for me. It’s hard to drink that much water when you’re flying and driving everywhere, and sadly, that’s when you probably need it the most! So I’m committing to reforming my habit of drinking a ton of water each day.
3. Fruits and vegetables. Five a day is what’s recommended. I can do it, and I will. Enough said!

I don’t want to overwhelm myself with new habits (even though these are things I’ve done before!), so I’m going to limit it to these 3 items this time around. I will do these three things for the next 21 days in order to form new habits, and then I won’t stop there. I will make sure that these 3 habits stick with me forever and ever, because afterall, it’s about making changes, not quick fixes.