Week three

 It is absolutely amazing to me the dedication I have put into this journey. I mean I have always put in this type of dedication but it usually wanes by week three. And so far that hasn't happened.

I have not found excuses to avoid a workout, sometimes I do not do a full cycle and strength workout, but I always do something, yoga or even meditation.

Sure meditation might not get my cardio heart rate up but it is helping me with my focus, with my staying attached to these goals, it also gives me the grace to be ok if I don't put in a hard workout. Usually my meditation days do come after I have closed my exercise ring, so for what it's worth I am still getting in some activity according to my watch (How somedays I have no idea)

Journalling isn't going as great as I would have hoped, I mean it's better than it was before but I still forget or just don't do it, it's more consistent than it's been in the past, yet I don't journal as I feel I should. There I go shoulding on myself. That's something I'd like to stop this year.

Stretching, this is still a work in progress, but I have incorporated a couple of yoga routines into my weekly schedule to help with that. It's still a workout but it's a stretch too. I've found a couple on the Peloton App that are amazing (Dennis Morton Flow for Riders!!!) and the hip flows. I think I need to do a few feet and wrist flows as well because those are trouble areas during some of my workouts.

It's been one week into the second half of the school year and I have completed some type of activity every day, I think I had 5 workouts (cycling, core and strength) last week and I have done my workout today, tomorrow will be interesting I have signed in to do a live ride with Ally Love (she's one of my favs) but it is at 5:30, I'm usually up by this time when I don't have to be, I just don't know how it will go when I actually have to wake up for it. Fingers crossed it all goes well. I am trying to time my cycles so that I can jump on a live ride for my 100th Cycle, it would be so cool to get a shout out and to also get a PR that ride as well. 

I have a goal to read 55 books again this year, I have read 3 books already and finished one audio book. I think I have gotten back into my reading groove and it is refreshing, still working on the intentionality of my reading during the day so that it's purposeful and helps me settle for the night.

I'm not sure if these progress photos are showing in changes, I know the scale is changing, recording lower weights and less body fat. But I am going to keep taking them because this is a journey and not a destination.

Also I do feel like there are changes and they are subtle, and soon others will notice, but at the end of the day, this is for me, for my confidence, my health and my self esteem. This isn't a journey for anyone else or for anyone else to comment on. I know it's not reaching an audience because I don't share this and I have no plans to.

The one thing I notice though is how long my hair is! It's incredibly long now and it's pretty healthy!

Journey to Health 2023 Update 1

 Last week I set some lofty but doable goals for myself this year. I think Tunde (from Peloton) calls them standards. I set standards for myself to help me reach my lofty goal of getting in shape and being strong in 2023. I am going into my 44th year on this planet with a driven mindset.

What I recognize right now is it is super easy because 9 hours of my day are not dedicated to work, or having to drive the children to various appointments. Having those 9 hours free makes it so easy to work out for 30-60 minutes, journalling for 15 or reading for 15. There is so much time in the day to do all those things. When those 9 hours are dedicated to work and fulfilling my role as a taxi driver for my children it is not as easy.

So how do I overcome these impending barriers???

I plan, if you fail to plan you plan to fail. So I have to dedicated some of my free time on the weekends, finding recipes for supper and having them ready to go (Crockpot, instapot, quick stove top) If I do not have to do much to get supper ready, I can do a workout after work, easy peasy, if I have to prep and cook everything I am losing that time. Utilizing my son and husband to also take on part of supper will also have to happen. 

I have had some success this week. I have workout every day this week, even done some intense strength exercises after finishing a cardio. I feel good, like  I have extra energy, I am sleeping better. My food is better and I am making better choices and avoiding those tasty snacks that do not have a lot of nutritional value. I have lost weight, but what I think is more exciting is having lost 4.5% body fat. 

I took my measurements this week, most are exactly where they were six months ago, but my belly bloat is down by 4 inches which is saying something to the things I have been doing. 

Today I am tired, but I spent time in a hot tub yesterday and was up late with an early morning wake up, it's been all good and I already finished my workout, so tomorrow I will do my meal prepping and figure out how to make this stick. The only person stopping me from reaching my goals is me.

2023 Journey to Health

 I would say my life since my first child 24 years ago has been in a weird love hate relationship with my body, my size  and my own health. Even before my first child I could not claim a healthy relationship with my body. To much external pressure to have the perfect body, the flat abs, to look like my skinny friends and yet I wish I was a skinny as I was the first time I thought I was fat. 

In the last year I have done a lot of growth and no longer have any hate for my body, my body is a strong machine that has supported me through so many things. Three babies, a couple half marathons, different exercise programs and regimes and it has allowed me to enjoy so much food. And I do love food, especially baked goods and anything sweet. I know that there are lots of things that influence my body shape, the number on the scale and how I feel about it all. The biggest growth I have had I think this year is the learning that it's not just my body's physical health that I need be aware of, I need to take care of my mental health. Deal with my stresses and use my strategies to support myself as I go through different stressors. Be that relationship, job or finances. 

So these are my most current pictures. I am the largest I have ever been  and it makes me extremely uncomfortable, but the reality is this is my reality and I put myself here with my poor habits and choices. 

Some of these choices would have been due to convenience and the stress of the last two years. A pandemic and my masters didn't make for a relaxing life and I am not really good at identifying my stress or when I am fully in the a stressed state, which is probably more problematic than one could know. 

Things still aren't as bad as I feel they are though. I mean I am strong, I can still carry things, I can still do hard workouts without getting completely gassed. I have a lot of strength underneath this layer of padding. I am also super thankful that I do not seem to only gain weight in one area, but I gain it all over fairly evenly.

I am not writing this blog hoping people will reply and comment and encourage me, which I have done in the past, I am writing this for me so I can track my journey with my photos and build some new healthier habits in 2023. 

These habits will include 

1. Journalling: I have some beautiful notebooks to journal in and I will also use this platform to journal once a week and overall statement. So planning to have 52 blog entries this year.

2. Meditation: I love meditations to put myself to sleep at night, I want to be more mindful of this practice and I am going to try to start with one meditation a week, and slowly increase to two a week.

3. Stretching: I know my body is doing well by me, it works hard for me, it gets me through each day and I need to return the love and stretch after my workouts more, or stretch at night before bed to get some better sleep.

4. Work outs: I would love to work out 7 days a week, but the reality is that I do not have that dedication yet, I need to slowly build it up and I need to structure my days to include all those things I love to do. This first week I am going to work out every day. Kick start the new year, but once school starts and activities start back up I need to be realistic about my expectations. If I can get in three workouts a week for this whole year that will be amazing!

5. Reading: I am an avid reader, but I will sometimes not do any reading because of my mental health, so I am planning to do 20 minutes of reading every night before I go to bed. I am going to change my ipad watching habit to a reading habit, even if I do turn on the ipad after to go to sleep I will have to read for 20 minutes before I do that. I am also going to get up each morning and read for 20 minutes. 

6. New morning routines and new bedtime routines: By the end of the year I would love to have built a habit in which I wake up each morning and do a 20 minute work out, followed by 20 minutes of reading and 20 minutes of writing. In the evening I would love to have an hour set aside in which I would do 20 minutes of journalling, 20 minutes of stretching and 20 minutes of reading.  I am going to start my mornings with exercising and my evenings with reading. Once those feel set then I will add in the writing. and then the last one. 

To my future self: You are amazing and you can do wonderful things, just keep going one step in front of each other. You just have to keep working on yourself and everything else will come around.